Evidence of Intelligent Aliens? Smoking Illegal? 6 By: Emma G

INSIDE THIS ISSUE: WINTER ISSUE - VOLUME 13 FREE E-VERSION WINTER 15’-16’ The Hyperloop 3 2015 Shopping Guide 4-5 Evidence of Intelligent Aliens? Smoking illegal? 6 By: Emma G. Strongest Material 8 Pencil Tech 9-10 Phobias 11 The idea Currently, there are two major theo- New Dinosaurs 12-13 of UFOs ries - a large group of orbiting com- and intel- ets, or a structure created by intelli- Movie Puzzles 15 ligent life gent aliens. on other Google Self Driving Car 16 planets The more realistic scientists has always been considered an idea believe that their idea, saying that of science fiction, ever since science the light was dimmed by a crowd of fiction has existed, anyways, and for comets that orbited KIC 8462852, most people, it still is. If you pick up is much more likely. How could

a book and start reading about a civ- aliens possibly build such a large ilization of aliens, that discusses structure that orbits the sun, and their strange way of life, what sec- why? Besides, the Allen Telescope tion of the library did you most like- Array, also known as the ATA, has

ly get it from? Science fiction, right? not been able to pick up any signs However, soon a very similar book of life from the planets circling this could be found in the nonfiction sec- star. tion, perhaps with a title like, A The ATA is a high-tech ar- Guide to Life in the KIC 8462852 ray of telescopes that has been de- Solar System - When in KIC signed to detect life and examine 8462852, Act Like the KIC 8462852- events in space that could advance ians. the human search of space, or other human technology. They can pick Recently, NASA’s Kepler up signals to a high level of accura- space Telescope has shown that a cy, and have a much wider view star called KIC 8462852, which is than can currently be seen with a about 1,500 light years away from single telescope. Although the array Earth, has faded largely, and then is very large, and is considered cut- regained its light, several times over ting-edge technology, it is really an the past few years. It has been innovative and inexpensive collec- dimmed by up to 22% at times, tion of small radio dishes, and it which is an extremely large amount, can easily be upgraded as comput- especially considering how much ers and telecommunication technol- light the star emits in the first place. ogy advance. Page 2 EVIDENCE OF ALIEN LIFE(CONTINUED) BY: EMMA G.

The intelligent-life-theory critics also provide another piece of well-supported evidence - according to Occam’s razor method, the simplest theory is often the correct one, and the theory of intelligent life is not the simplest. Really, how likely is it that an advanced alien civilization built a mega structure, such as a solar panel, and then somehow blocked all evidence of life on that planet from the ATA down on Earth? According to these researchers, not very likely.

However, hopeful scientists suggest that it could have been caused by a man-made (or, rather, alien- made) structure, such as a gigantic collection of solar panels, even though most of the evidence points against it. Although the ATA is not able to pick up signals of life from this planet, that doesn’t necessarily mean there has never been life on this planet. For example, the life forms may not emit signals that the ATA is able to pick up, or they may have gone extinct years ago, or traveled to a different, more favorable planet, and left the mega structure behind. Even though the correct theory is often the simplest, it isn’t always correct.

This mystery is really just a complicated probability problem. How likely is it that aliens are or have been on this planet? How likely is it that they are advanced? How likely is it that they built a collection of solar panels, or some other structure that would dim the star’s light so greatly? How likely is it that those aliens do not emit signals that our Allen Telescope Array can pick up? If you add in all of those variables, it doesn’t seem very likely, does it? However, there is still a chance.

Although this possibility seems unlikely, scientists continue to investigate it, trying to collect evidence of this theoretical civilization that may have caused this odd wavering in KIC 8462852’s light. Wheth- er they find life on this planet or not, humankind will surely learn lots about the universe, and collect more evidence to where another species might be. According to Seth Shostak, “It almost doesn’t matter where you point your telescope, because there are planets everywhere. If there's somebody out there, there are going to be so many of them out there that I do think there's a chance." Before we know it, the idea of aliens will become a reality - everywhere we look, there is a chance some other being on another planet is looking right back at us, wondering if there is such a thing as aliens. Page 3

THE HYPERLOOP BY: MOHAMMAD K.

Imagine zooming from Madrid to Barcelona in half an hour, That’s 385.9 miles, and would take 5 hours and 53 minutes by car. And you travel it in half an hour. Isn’t that amazing? It will revolutionize travel and commute and will reduce car accidents. Let me tell you all about it.

The Hyperloop has not yet been made, but a test track is scheduled to start in 2016 and finish in 2017. When the system is finally made, here is what the Hyperloop routes will look like.

We will be able to travel across the country very quickly, with stops at most major cities. The Hyperloop will be most likely built in countries without deeply embedded transportation systems first. It will be mostly in developing countries in Africa and Asia before U.S. or Eu- rope.

This will revolutionize travel because instead of having to drive or take a plane, they can go there much faster with the Hyperloop. There will be less crashes, and people will get to where they need to go much quicker. But the downside is that we will not be seeing the Hyperloop connecting the U.S. for a long time, but systems within states and cities might not be that far off.

So in conclusion, Hyperloop will revolutionize travel. It will let us travel the country very quickly(when it comes out). It will take a long time to get to U.S. and Europe, but a test track and transport systems within smaller cities and countries are not that far off. It also looks really cool! In short, the Hyperloop is the future!(in the future). Page 4 2015 HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE BY: ESHANI R. As the 2015 holiday season rolls around the corner, everyone is putting the finishing touches on their pre- sents. And so should you. But if the holiday hustle and bustle is just a tad bit too stressful, here are some top picks for gifts that have got you covered!

The Bookworm As 2016 rushes in, help a bookworm get a head start on their New Year’s Resolution. Conveniently located in downtown, Barnes & Nobles as well as Anderson’s Bookshops are stocked with all the latest best sellers in the literature industry.

The Fashionista

For the person who knows the ins and outs of fashion 24/7, you really want to gift them something classic and timeless that will never go out of style. Thinking a bit out of the box than just apparel, you may want to venture out into accessories, shoes, handbags or jewelry shops to find something to keep your favorite fashionista warm and cozy this winter.

Page 5 2015 HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE (CONT) BY: ESHANI R.

The Makeup Guru When someone knows how to take a face and turn it into a masterpiece, gifting is a breeze when you know just where to look. Whether your budget fits high street or the drugstore, there are rows of endless options to give your blooming Picasso the perfect present.

The Foodie

Always the first to spot the hottest eatery in town, surprise and treat your foodie to a delec- table (local) restaurant this holiday season. And remember, gift cards are always an easy alter- native if you’re not one to go all out.

Page 6 SHOULD SMOKING BE ILLEGAL? BY: UJU K. Yes There are many reasons why smoking should be illegal. First, there are health issues. Smoking causes cancer, heart disease, and respiratory diseases. Every year, over 480,000 people in the U.S. die because of these reasons. Not only can the people who smoke die, anybody around them could be affected as well because of the smoke. That is called second-hand smoking. But what is the cause of all these deaths? The main “ingredient” in tobacco that causes this is nicotine. Nicotine is a drug that can lead to seizures, vomiting, and more unwanted side- effects. Without nicotine in tobacco, many would not smoke. Any- ways, smoking should be illegal since it has many health issues that can lead to sad endings.

No Smoking should not be illegal for a couple good reasons. Even though it can cause many different issues with your health, if smoking is banned there will be many economic problems. First, tobacco will be put in the black market, just like all of the other illegal sub- stances. Next, even if the law is issued, people will continue smoking because they are outlaws; that’s what they do since their “job” is to break the law. Government officials would argue about this and worst comes to worst, there could even be physical battles about it. All in all, if smoking is banned, the world will be worse than it is right now.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/10566.php Page 7 RODS BY: DANIEL B. AND JAMES S. When taking pictures or videos, there is sometimes an elongated object zipping across the screen when the file is viewed back. Also known as skyfish, air rods, and solar entities, these creatures have wings that move like waves and go through the length of the entire body. Seen in videos of planes taking off, war zones, caves, and even tornadoes, to some people they feel like something from the fourth dimension. People speculate that this is part of a larger craft or creature that can at will take any part of itself out of the fourth, and into the third, dimension. However, we’re not even to the craziest part. They are invisible to human eyes. In every single video where we can see a rod, the people claim they didn’t see anything unusual. Their length varies between inches and feet. They are harmless and are non- sapient. Their diet, lifespan, and subspecies are unknown. They have also been seen flying into water without slowing down. Skyfish were first documented by filmmaker José Escamilla, who discovered them by accident. In 1994, Escamilla had videotaped a "conventional" UFO near Midway, New Mexico. Fourteen days later, while seeking to photograph the UFO again, he instead captured a flying object that was not a vehicle of any kind. At first he thought it was just an insect or bird. When he examined the film frame by frame, however, it became clear that what he had captured on film was something unknown. Later, more distinct images were captured while Escamilla was filming cliff jumpers at a deep cave in Mexico. When he developed the film, small flying things could be seen zipping around the divers at a high rate of speed - so fast that they weren't seen with the naked eye. However, in many experiments, crypto zoologists and photographers have tried to capture a skyfish, with surprising results. Photographers set up a slow motion camera and a regular camera. The light revealed that what looked like a golden shining rod was actually a moth that shined because of the light. So why didn’t people see them? you ask. This is because people see birds and insects as birds and insects, not rods, and when they say they didn’t see anything, that means they didn’t see any rods. Thank you, and have a nice kitten day. Tune in on our next article on AWESOME QUOTES!!! Page 8 THE STRONGEST MATERIAL ON EARTH BY: CALEB Y. The strongest material on earth. Sea snail teeth are the strongest material on earth. It beat the spider silk. The teeth of the common limpet species (Patella vulgata) are tougher than Kevlar. Limpets are tough little snails that live everywhere in the ocean. Barber and his research team tested microscopic pieces of limpet tooth. Each curved tooth is about 1 millimeter long (0.04 inches). These fibers are much smaller than man made Nano fibers. Barber's next challenge lies in recreating the mecha- nisms these tiny creatures use to make their tough materials. Though spider silk has proved notoriously difficult to mimic in an artificial setting, Barber said it might be possible to 3D- print limpet teeth fibers. The strongest silk ever found is made by the Darwin's bark spider in Madagascar, which spins silk that is reportedly 10 times tougher than Kevlar, thanks to its elasticity, or ability to stretch without breaking. The secret to the tooth strength lies in the size of the fibrous structures that form each tooth, Barber said. "Nature's kind of clever, because it figured out millions of years ago that if you grow these fibers below a critical size, even if you have flaws in the material, it doesn't affect the strength," Barber said. "I think the potential for growing these crystal fibers is much higher [than spider silk] because it's just about growing them to a particular size," Barber said. "I think this is going to be a much greater op- portunity for materials that have high strength." These limpets have the strongest material on earth I wonder when they can re- produce them.

Limpet teeth (left), A Limpet (above) Page 9 PENCIL TECHNOLOGY BY: HELENA H. What if we could make pencils in a few seconds by using paper that you would have otherwise thrown away? All you would need was a little glue, some wastepaper and lead and you would have a pencil!

This new gadget is very useful, since if your pencil breaks, a second later, you have a fresh new one coming. It can also save space and save paper, since a pencil takes less space than a crumpled piece of paper. If some bully who sat behind you kept breaking your pencils, you could generate new ones immediately. If a friend wanted to borrow your pencil, you could make one for them.

However, this pencil-maker has a downside. People will start making too many pencils, and then even paper that has not been used will go in the machine. People will start turning others’ homework into pencils. Also, graphite is expensive. The machine does the work, you provide food. The machine will only work if it has 3 types of food; graphite, glue, and paper. Paper is easy to get, but graphite is not. Glue is okay, but how many times would you have to go and buy graphite and glue, and buy extra printer paper? This machine could put pencil factories out of business and graphite businesses in huge business.

Also, most people now type on computers. When they print, and then they are done with it, they will make a pencil from that paper. That means that some people will print extra paper on purpose just to make pencils because it is addictive. That leads to the waste of ink, meaning people also have to buy ink. Maybe some people may not realize it, but it takes pencils to make pencils. You have a clean sheet of paper. You get a pencil and write on it as scratch paper for your math homework. When there is no space left on either side, your pencil is already pretty dull. You insert your sheet into the pencil maker for a new pencil. So what do you do with the other one? You throw it in the trash? You stick it in a pencil case and keep it there for the next five years? What a waste of graphite. Now you have to spend money for more even though there are about 20 forgotten pencils waiting to be sharpened and used.

As you can see, this pencil-making machine is helpful, but there are too many bad things that can happen for this to actually come to be. No matter how much people want it now, when they get it, they will complain and it will be their own fault and they don’t even realize it. This will impact our society heavily on the negative side, and the negative overpowers the positive. Even if there was one thing wrong with the machine, people would not buy it anyway. Then the manufacturer would be out of business within a year, maybe less.

Page 10 PENCIL TECHNOLOGY (CONT.) BY: HELENA H.

U.S. businesses use about 21 million tons (19 million metric tons) of paper every year -- 175 pounds of paper for each American, according to the Clean Air Council. This has led to office recycling programs, "please think before you print" e-mail signatures and printers that offer double-sided printing. Now a trio of Chinese inventors hopes to add another device to the cubicle environment: the P&P Office Waste Paper Processor, which turns paper destined for recycling into pencils. The machine, looking a bit like a three-hole punch crossed with an electric pencil sharpener, was a finalist in the 2010 Lite-On Awards, an international competition that seeks to stimulate and nurture innovation.

Here's how the pencil-making gadget works: You insert wastepaper into a feed slot. The machine draws the paper in, rolls and compresses it, and then inserts a piece of lead from a storage chamber located in the top of the device. A small amount of glue is added before -- voilà -- a pencil slides out from a hole on the side. It's not clear how many pieces of paper form a single pencil, but you figure the average office worker could generate a decent supply of pencils in a month.

And that seems to be the biggest drawback to the pencil-producing gadget. How many No. 2 pencils can an office really use, given that most workers take notes on their tablet PCs or laptops? And how much glue and lead core do you need to buy to keep up with the overflowing paper recycle bin? Too much, we would suspect, which is why you may never see this gadget in your office supplies catalog.

RBI BASEBALL GAME—A REVIEW BY: JAMES S. RBI Baseball is a game published by MLB.com and is rated E for everybody. The game compares favorably to the great Madden football series of games. In this game you may either start a season or do an exhibition game. For an exhibition game, you get to choose 2 teams, one that you are and one you want to face. You can be a legend and play against the team that you want to wreck. You can also do a season as the team of your choice where you have a schedule and can change your roster to improve your playing. If you can get to the world series, you will have to blow away the other team because from my experience, your opponent plays well. When you complete the season, you get to start a new season with a new team or continue with the same team. The all-star game is almost as tough as the world series. The game overall is actually amazing and you need to try it! Page 11 PHOBIAS OF THE WEEK BY: ETHAN X. Phobias are an extreme fear of something very random. Don’t laugh, you just might have one to. Here are a few of the most specific phobias out there. Still, don’t laugh, this might be you.

Somniphobia: Fear of sleep. Can you imagine?? Nomophobia: Fear of not having a mobile device on hand 24/7. Over 50% of the world has it, so you’re not alone. Ergophobia: fear of working and being in a workplace environment. this may build up from early fail- ures on assignments. Ablutophobia: fear of taking a bath or shower. AKA fear of cleaning yourself. Heliophobia: fear of the sun. No more sports outside!!(actually no going outside in the first place if the weather is sunny) Haphephobia: Fear of being touched Aurophobia: Fear of the Northern Lights Barophobia: Fear of Gravity Aurophobia- Fear of gold Chrometophobia or Chrematophobia- Fear of money (didn’t think GOLD was enough??) Atomosophobia- Fear of atomic explosions, most people had this during the cold war Automatonophobia- Fear of ventriloquist's dummies, animatronic creatures, wax statues - anything that falsely represents a sentient being. Autophobia- Fear of being alone or of oneself Batrachophobia- Fear of amphibians, such as frogs, newts, salamanders, etc Ballistophobia- Fear of missiles or bullets, AKA don’t go to war if you have this phobia Catoptrophobia- Fear of mirrors, creepy… Cathisophobia- Fear of sitting, my, tiring Chronophobia- Fear of time Chronomentrophobia- Fear of clocks (didn't think TIME was enough??) Phonophobia- The fear of Phobias Page 12 NEW DINOSAURS ON THE BLOCK BY: JEFFREY H. Dreadnoughtus

The biggest and baddest dinosaur ever discovered is on the block. Weighing nearly 70 tons, and almost the length of a whole Boeing 737-900, this creature dwarfs even one of the most famed of dinosaurs. Tyrannosaurus, Brachio- saurus- and even, of course, dwarfing a modern day ele- phant, which is one of the largest animals on our Earth right now. What is this new dinosaur? Well, the name given to this giant by its founders, is Dreadnoughtus Schrani, or simply Dreadnoughtus in short. The largest sauropod up to date, it would have been a terrifying sight up close if you were, say, another dinosaur. “Shockingly, skeletal evidence shows that when this 65-ton specimen died, it was not yet full grown,” Says paleontologist Kenneth Lacovara. “It is by far the best example we have of any of the most giant creatures to ever walk the planet." As scientists begin to uncover more about this amazing creature, it seems that before, on the farthest reaches of our young Earth, there was more giant creatures than we thought. Considering this animal wasn’t even fully grown when it was found,- and also considering that it’s 65 tons, we can’t imagine how big it would have been when it was alive. Something that amazed scientists more than the giant sauropods bulk and brawn, was how complete the skeleton was. When they uncovered it, more than 70 percent of it were complete. The dinosaurs daunting size and the giant whip like tail made nearly every threat in the area nothing but an annoyance. Because of this sauropods large size, it must have eaten a ton of food during its day. “Imagine a life-long obsession with eating.” Says Lacovara. Of course, an area with such a giant plant eater has to have a giant meat eater too. This is a true state- ment. In every area where a large sauropod found, whether the sauropod is Argentinosaurus, Paralititan, or Diplodocus-and much more- there was always a giant predator that came along with it. Whether it was Ma- pusaurus, Carcharodontosaurus, or Allosaurus. As a matter of fact, these meat eaters actually depended on these dinosaurs as a major food source. A study shown that whenever these massive sauropods died, these carnivores died out as well. The carnivore that must have preyed on Dreadnoughtus is still in the midst of being discovered, but in the meantime, all we can do is wait.,

Page 13 DINOSAURS (CONT.) BY: JEFFREY H.

Wendiceratops

A distinct ancestor of triceratops, discovered recently. This was discovered pieced together with 200 bones- along with 4 other skeletons. Since it was a herbivore, its leaf shaped teeth weren’t made for slicing through flesh. It would lower its head to thick vegetation and naw of a chunk with it parrot-like beak. These teeth were made for chewing. But the one thing that made wendiceratops pinhornensis such a distinct relative of triceratops however, was the curvature of the horns protruding from its skull. A large frill that protected its neck, and three forward curling horns, would have been a fright- ening sight, but it probably wasn’t used for combat. The reason being, an attacker would have to be stabbed quickly, and give the dinosaur enough time to run away. These horns were curved, meaning the hook shape would instead of releasing quickly, it would stay grappled to the skin in any attempt. This would give the predator enough time to simply finish it off. It would have instead been meant to fend off predators, in a non- physical way.“Beyond its odd, hook-like frill, Wendiceratops has a unique horn ornamentation above its nose that shows the intermediate evolutionary development between low, rounded forms of the earliest horned dinosaurs and the large, tall horns of Styracosaurus, and its relatives,” said Ryan, co-author of the study. “The locked horns of two Wendiceratops could have been used in combat between males to gain access to territory or females.” This distant relative of the ceratopsians would have been a daunting sight in its glory days, but now, it’s nothing but bones. Page 14 A MIXED BAG OF STUDENT QUOTES BY: JAMES S.

“Wait, 0+0=2?” “Life is good. Sometimes” “He just didn’t have that green thumb, so he painted it purple..” “If space blows up, then we have less space :( “ “Bob the Builder is busy right now” “It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No! It’s a FLYING WOM- “People are definitely humans.” “WOMBATS!!!” BAT!!”

“But I’m busy looking for images of gophers!” “HAHA! EXCLAMATION POINTS!!!” “Well that was a waste of a foot.” “Somebody got hit by a bowling pin...in sixth “I ate a blue pig named Fred.” “When I have nightmares, I eat them.” grade!” “It’s a turtle. His name is Tank.” “That makes perfect cents.” “Never fall into a pit of lava.. Just saying” “THERE’S NEVER TOO MANY WOMBATS!!!” “Tardy waffles are here because you exist “Bert the turtle reminds you that ducking and cover- ing and seatbelts save lives” “I keep dying from the hat!” “You have pizza. Eat him->.” “And there was a bright flash …” “I am the most elegant creature that ever refused to “Billy the sensei.”` survive.” “Anonymouse” “This is the best quote ever!!!” “Every once and awhile you need to daydream .” “Life is a good thing. With the power of our new MRIT machine, standing for Magnetic rhochermatic “‘Wut,’ said the chipmunk.” “Don’t quote me on that.” (It’s a real thing) ichnomatic techotic processor, we can increase short term mem… Wait, what was I “Kit Kats? More like Kit Kows!” “That is what you think but not what you know.” saying?”

“I agree(n)” “Wait, when did my folder die?” “Exactly.”

“No comment, wait that is a comment.” “It’s a drum, you hit it with a stick.”

“Why did you inflate a giant rubber glove?” “Two men walked into a bar. The third one did too” “‘I know what school you go to,’ he said in science class.” “The meat should be as big as meat.” “The apocalypse has come! Oh look, a pancake!”

“Hey. It’s Ireland today.” “It’s Jeff the Evil Roomba!!! “Oh no, there’s a giant spider running after me!”

"Do not take life too seriously. You will never get “You are a slightly acute triangle.” out of it alive." “Oh look, another giant spider!”

“The glove attacked me.” “Ebooks, Email, EVIL.” “Day to day.”

“This is?” “Then he slayed the mighty, oh look, a squirrel” “I’m carrying a dead caveman.”

“Let me be a Kangaroo.” “Pigs are made of water, Chickens are made of bone, “I just threw a dead caveman at a living caveman.” Cows are made of pig, goat, banana, crickets. “I have giant moose ears.” “Take cover, their gonna (Artificially flavored.) “NO! It lives in Antarctica.” blow!” “Stop smashing your keyboard!” “It can be found in a wide variety of environments “You want me to call you James Bond!?” such as hot springs, deserts, alpine environments, and Pokémon.” “Why did you hit me with a giant inflatable “WOMBATS!!! AGAIN!!!” balloon?” “The wind is tasty.” “What’s a question?” “Salamander bacon tomato flavored soup.” “WHY DO WE LOVE WOMBATS?!” “I promise I have never sworn in my life.” “Truth is subjective. Reality is not.” Quotes made by James, Daniel, Scott, Holden, Eron, Ishaan, Anonymous, a wombat, and Anonymous. “The names Batman. Bat. Man.” Next time, we’re talking about cute baby animals!

“Deal with it” “I like Minnesota because it tastes like orange juice.”

“I’ve found the biggest cause of death. Life” “Or did I?”

“In theory, theory and practice are the same. In prac- “FLYING WOMBATS!!!” tice, they’re not”

Page 15 MOVIE CHARACTER MATCHUP BY: EVELYN K.

Match each movie character to another character also Cabin Boy (from On Stranger Tides) played by the same actor/actress from the word bank. In Nanny McPhee the example, Saruman and Count Dooku are both played Mumble (from Happy Feet) by Christopher Lee. Queen Amidala (from Star Wars: The Phantom Men-

ace) Example: Saruman and Count Dooku______and ______Indiana Jones Dr. Schmidt (from Captain America: The First ______and ______Avenger) Ella of Frell (from Ella Enchanted) ______and ______Lady Rose MacClare (from Downton Abbey) Maria Von Trapp (1965 version of The Sound of Mu- ______and ______sic) Professor McGonagall ______and ______Uncle Foster (from The Adaams Family)

______and ______Bellatrix Lestrange Gandalf ______and ______Maria Von Trapp (2013 version of The Sound of Mu- sic) ______and ______Cinderella (2015 live action movie) Princess Mia (from The Princess Diaries) ______and ______Frodo Baggins Magneto ______and ______Peter Pan (from Once Upon A Time)

Sarah Hill (from Soul Surfer) ______and ______Elrond ______and ______Alan A. Allen (from Thunderpants) James Bond (from Dr. No, From Russia With Love, ______and ______Goldfinger, Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, and Diamonds Are Forever) ______and ______Jane Foster Doc (from Back to the Future) ______and ______Professor Trelawney Ronald Weasley ______and ______Mary (from The Muppet Movie)

______and ______Violet Crawley (from Downton Abbey) Mary Poppins ______and ______Jack Sparrow The Fairy Godmother (from 2015 Cinderella) ______and ______Ned McDodd (from Horton Hears a Who) Hermione Granger ______and ______Dr. Henry Jones Sr. (from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade) ______and ______Giselle (from Enchanted) Word Bank: The Mad Hatter (from the 2010 Alice in Wonderland) Elizabeth Swann Gru Han Solo Young Ila (from Noah) Legolas Greenleaf Padme Amidala *Answers on page 48* Will Turner Page 16 GOOGLE SELF DRIVING CAR BY: EMMA G. Crash! You are sitting in the car on the way home, and the car behind you has just hit your car. Luckily, nobody is hurt, but what if somebody had been in- jured? Car crashes, on average, happen over 5 million times per year worldwide, including minor crashes and those that cause fatalities. This is much too high and the number needs to be lowered. Luckily, Google has come up with a solution - the self-driving car! The car would definitely be a benefit to our society, because there would be fewer car crashes, less traffic congestion, and more human productivity. The Google self-driving car is able to predict what cars and pedestrians will do next, and it will always be alert and paying attention to driving, unlike humans. Because of this, there would not be as many car crashes - the self-driving car will never hit another vehicle. This could save millions of lives, and lots of money, too. There would be no need to pay to get your broken car fixed because of a car accident, if you rode in one of these amazing cars. The reduced number of car crashes isn’t the only benefit. You would also have less problems with traffic. Most traffic on the road occurs because of human selfishness and people not being alert. The Google self-driving car would not have any of these problems, so it will help people have a fairly smooth and quick ride. Since the car is doing the driving, you can use your energy and focus for other things in the car. You could read, get work done, text, or daydream - and maybe innovate more ideas to change the world. Whether you sit in the driver’s seat or in the back, you don’t need to concentrate on the road anymore - just sit back and enjoy the ride! All in all, the Google self-driving car would have a major positive impact on our society. It would reduce the number of car crashes, nearly eliminate traffic congestion, and give people more time to make progress in both their lives and the world!

COZYMELS REVIEW BY: JAMES S.

Cozymels is a restaurant with Mexican food that is actually not that spicy. I would rate this restaurant a 3 of 5. The food is mainly tacos and fajitas, the typical Mexi- can restaurant menu. You have two choices for tacos, hard or soft shell. The hard shell tacos can be filled with beef, chicken, and pork. They are all good and have great taste. They assume that you are a cheese lover and will serve everything with cheese, so remember to ask if you don’t want cheese. The fajitas are ok. They have a bland taste and unless you like soft shell taco and cheese and lettuce, I don’t recommend it. The restaurant is in Wheaton IL. My family gave this restaurant an overall rating of 3 because the food was acceptable, but bland and safe. Don’t expect the greatest food but it is still a casual restaurant with reasonable prices. Overall, the restaurant is a decent place for a night out, but not for very fancy dinners. INSIDE THIS ISSUE: SUMMER ISSUE , VOLUME 12 FREE E-VERSION SUMMER 2015 Doublets/Word Ladders 19 Arrow Mazes 20 The Lure of Fast Food Next Leap 22-23 By: Colin Y. Cow Problems 24-25 Animal Extinction 28-29 17-18 You know that Take salt as an example. Salt is Food on your own a thick, greasy absorbed into the blood, then, when it 20-23 Up on Pointe burger proba- hits the kidneys, causing the body to hold bly won’t in- onto more water, increasing blood pres- Apple iWatch 27-29 crease your sure. Increased blood pressure narrows lifespan. Yet as arteries, heart attacks, and dementia. Salt Media Reviews 30-32 many as 1 in 4 is not something you want too much of. of us Americans sits down anyways at a What about sugar? Only eight fast-food restaurant. Where is the discon- foods on the menu have no sugar. Eight nect? Why don’t people drive right by foods out of 168. Chicken nuggets, hash these fast-food restaurants and find them- browns, French fries, coffee, water, Diet selves something remotely healthy, like a Coke, Dr. Pepper, and iced tea. Even the steak, or a bowl of noodles at an ordinary, burgers have sugar. So what happens sit-down-order-and-eat restaurant? when you eat a lot of sugar? The answer is what fast-food companies have been working on for dec- First, a quick chemistry lesson. ades. They provide cheap, quick, filling, Sugar comes in seven forms: Glucose, tasty, food. Consider the difference be- fructose, galactose, lactose, sucrose, tween the fast-food restaurant, and the maltose, and xylose. Of these, only glu- ordinary sit-down restaurant. With the fast cose, sucrose, and fructose are important -food restaurant, you drive through, place to us. Sucrose is made by joining glucose your order at the speaker box, pay with a credit card, and get your food. But at a and fructose together. Glucose is what regular restaurant, you are seated, order the body normally uses as energy. Fruc- from a menu, wait for your food to be tose is produced by plants, and can also cooked, and finally, you get your food. be used by the body as sugar. However, The former takes two or three minutes, fructose is sweeter than sucrose. Thus, while the latter takes as much as twenty fast-food companies use fructose instead minutes or more. All this makes it appeal to people who are busy, overscheduled, of sugar. However, fructose metabolizes and in a hurry, all of which describe peo- in a different way than glucose, which ple today. makes it more likely to be stored as fat. Fat can clog the liver, put pressure on the There is a dark side to this system. kidneys, and increase your chance of a These fast foods, which are easy to get, are not healthy. Most fast foods contain a heart attack. Added sugar is not a good lot of calories, fat, salt, and sugar, which thing for your body. make them taste good, but also make them bad for your body. (Continued on Page 2) Page 18 THE LURE OF FAST FOOD(CONTINUED) BY: COLIN Y.

Fats and calories are linked together. Fat is a source of calories, so eating more fat also affects your calorie intake. As many fast foods are cooked with oil, which is just fat, the fat content of food skyrockets. However, there are good and bad fats. Monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats are considered ‘good’ fats, as they decrease ‘bad’ cholesterol and increase ‘good’ cholesterol. Saturat- ed and trans fats, on the other hand do exactly the opposite. Canola oil, which is what McDonald’s cooks with, is one of the healthiest oils, with high amounts of good fat and low amounts of bad fat. But even healthy fats face a common problem. Fats are a main source of energy, measured in calories. Excess energy is stored away chemically as body fat, which, as listed before, can cause a clogged liver, increased risk of a heart attack, and weakened kidneys. And no matter what oil you consume, it still gets stored as fat. Unsurprisingly, fast food contains high amounts of calories. Some menu options, such as the Big Breakfast, have half of your daily calories. Eating too much increases fat, this in turn leads to obesity. Besides causing high blood pressure, obesity, heart disease, and clogged liver, fast food can contribute to diabetes. A damaged liver will not produce as much insulin. Not enough insulin can lead to diabetes. Diabetes is the 7th biggest killer in the US, with over 75,000 deaths each year. Many times, this is preventable. With all of these factors of fast food making it unhealthy, the worst one is what it’s not. Fast food is low in most nutrients and minerals, making it a substitute for healthier food. Why someone would eat fast food appears to be a mystery, until you look closer. As fast food is cheap and filling, it is very appealing to poorer families. Poorer families are also more likely than others to be obese, diabetic, etc. They are also the ones least likely to go look for fresh food to cook. Do you see where this is going? Fast food is marketed highly to kids. When kids like a fast-food company, not only will they eat there, their parent or guardian will also eat there. However, this trend is also not good for their health. Children who are obese are more likely to have cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and bone problems. High-fat and high- sugar meals help push them there. Fast food companies continue to serve highly processed high-calorie, high- sodium, and high-sugar foods, while describing them as healthy. Meanwhile, many of the ingredients of these fast foods make them dangerous to your health. Fast food isn’t good for you. So why sacrifice your body for convenience? Page 19

DOUBLETS / WORD LADDERS BY: JUDSON L.

Doublets are a type of word puzzle invented by the famous Lewis Carroll, which in- volves changing a word to another word by changing a letter each turn. Each new word that has been made by switching a letter has to be an existent word in the English language. Change a DOG into a CAT - DOG, Dot, Cot, CAT You see that you start with ‘dog’ and switch the G into a T to get the word ‘dot’, then the D is changed to a C to make the word ‘cot’ (a cot is a type of bed), and finally, you swap the O with an A to get the word ‘cat’. You could solve this doublet in a different way but this is the shortest way to do it. Try solving the doublets below with the least amount of moves possible, I have categorized them into 3 levels, easy, medium, and hard. The answer key on the back shows the answer with the shortest way to do it. If you solve it with less moves then the answer key shows then uh……… double check your words and if they are valid, you’re a genius! But this will probably not happen. J EASY 14.Take COAL from MINE 1. Put the TEA in the POT 15. Change a BIRD into a FISH 2. Change the MICE into RATS HARD 3. LOCK the DOOR 16. Make WHEAT into BREAD 4. Change LEAD into GOLD 17. Make NICE into MEAN 5. Go from COLD to WARM 18. Make the POOR RICH 6. Make a SICK person WELL 19. Swap ARM with LEG 7. Change OAT to RYE 20. Count from ONE through TEN MEDIUM 21. Prove PITY to be GOOD 8. Change a HEAD into a TAIL 22. COMB your HAIR 9. Change HATE into LOVE 10. Touch FOOT with HAND 11. Change WET to DRY 12. DOCK a SHIP

TEA, Pea, Pet, POT WHEAT, Cheat, Cheap, Cheep, Creep, Creed, Breed, BREAD MICE, Mace, Race, Rate, RATS NICE, Mice, Mile, Male, Malt, Melt, Meat, MEAN LOCK, Look, Loom, Doom, DOOR POOR, Pool, Tool, Toil, Tail, Tall, Tale, Tile, Tide, Ride, Rice, RICH LEAD, Head, Held, Hold, GOLD ARM, Aim, Air, Fir, Fig, Big, Beg, LEG COLD, Cord, Card, Ward, WARM ONE, Ore, Are, Ace, Act, Ant, And, Aid, Lid, Lip, Tip, Tin, TEN SICK, Silk, Sill, Will, WELL PITY, Pits, Pins, Fins, Find, Fond, Food, GOOD OAT, Rat, Rot, Roe, RYE COMB, Come, Home, Hole, Hale, Hall, Hail, HAIR HEAD, Heal, Teal, Tell, Tall, TAIL HATE, Have, Gave, Give, Live, LOVE FOOT, Food, Fond, Bond, Band, HAND WET, Met, Mat, May, Day, DRY DOCK, Sock, Soak, Soap, Slap, Slip, SHIP FLOUR, Floor, Flood, Blood, Brood, Broad, BREAD Answers COAL, Coat, Moat, Most, Mist, Mint, MINE BIRD, Bind, Mind, Mint, Mist, Fist, FISH Page 20 ARROW MAZES BY: HOLDEN M. The goal of this arrow maze is to start at the letter “S”, the start, and follow the arrows until you reach the end, the letter “E”. Pick an arrow to start at in the start zone, and then follow the direction of that arrow until you reach a new arrow. Once you are at the new arrow, follow the direction shown on the arrow. If there is more than one direction, then choose one to follow. Continue this process until you reach the end. Good luck!

Difficulty: Intermediate Page 21 THE DIFFICULT ARROW MAZE BY: HOLDEN M.

Images were cropped screenshots of a program I made to design arrow mazes. Answers are expressed as series of arrows. The arrows tell you which pathway is the correct

pathway. Answers are upside down.

Difficult: ↓→↘↘ ↙ ↘→↖↖ ↙↘ ↘ ↘→ →↓↙ ↘ ↗→↓ ↖↓ → ↓→↓→ ↓ ↘↘ ↘→↓↗ ↙↘↓ →↓↘↗ ← ↑↑ ← ↑↑← ↑ ← ↑ ← ←↑ ↑ ↑ ← ← ↑ ←↑ ←

Intermediate: →→↘ ↗ ↖ ↖↗ ↓↓↓↓↓↓→→→→ ↖↓↓↗↖ ↓↘→↗ ← ↑ ←←↑ ↑ ↑ ←←←←← ↑ ←

Easy: ↖→→→↘↓↙ ↗ ↗↘↓↘↓→↗↗ ←↑ ←↑ ← ←↑ Page 22 THE NEXT GIANT LEAP FOR MANKIND BY: DANIEL B. On an early Saturday morn- ing, about 60 adults had gathered at George Wash- ington University had gathered to hear a man speak. The man, a balding engineer by the name of Bas Lans- dorp, was already on the stage, and ready to see the reaction of the audience. “How many of you would like to take a one-way trip to Mars?” he asked. Nearly everybody raised their hands.

Bas Lansdorp is the founder and CEO of Mars One. Along with his co-founder Arno Wielders, the Dutch man had created a foundation with a goal of making the first permanent human civilization on Mars. In 2011, Lansdorp had realized that if governments are too cautious to go to Mars, then maybe he should go. “I realized that if it’s going to happen,” says Bas. “Then I’d have to do it myself.”

Now, in 2015, Mars One is based in the Netherlands, and has more than 200,000 volunteers. In 2014, more than 80,000 people had donated more than $300,000, not much compared to the needed 6 or 7 billion dollars. Luckily, they already had a plan. In 2020, the first unmanned mission will depart to prepare the settlement. In 2026, crews will start to depart to their one-way trip to Mars, and will continue leaving in subsequent periods of 26 months. Sadly for the foundation, NASA won’t allow the expedition unless there is a guaranteed way back. “The tech to get you back from Mars simply doesn’t exist,” said Lansdorp responded to NASA’s command. “We need to do this with the stuff we have today, and the only way to do that is by going there to stay.”

By now, Mars One has spent billions of dollars, but they forgot one extremely important fact- deadly space radiation. The government will only spend $29K to protect astronauts from the radiation, a small amount compared to the billions the US uses for wars.

So now we get back to the University. For quite a while, Bas Lansdorp had been going around to uni- versities and public places to find supporters. George Washington University was surprising, usually there weren’t that many people to agree to go on a one-way trip to Mars. That brings us to the big question: Why on Earth would anyone want to go to Mars? Page 23 THE NEXT GIANT LEAP FOR MANKIND BY: DANIEL B.

One man, Max Fagin, explains why. If technically it all goes right, he will go to Mars but miss out on the feel of falling snow, the gentle breeze, or swimming on a scorching day. “I would feel incredibly sad about missing all those things,” said Fagin, a master’s student in aerospace engineering. “But the whole point of going to Mars is that you’d have better substitutes. Any human being can visit the ocean. Anyone can visit the forest. These are beautiful things, but they are commonplace. I will get the chance to experience a sunrise on Mars. I will get the chance to stand at the foot of Olympus Mons, one of the tallest mountains in the solar system. I will get the chance to see two moons in the sky. I just can’t imagine being nostalgic for a life that 6 or 7 billion people are experiencing right now.” While Max Fagin explains why it might be an interesting place, other people explain why it’s safer. Writer Tom Ligon, who publishes mostly in the magazine Analog Science Fiction and fact, pointed out that while Mars has many hazards, it doesn’t have rattlesnakes, earthquakes, terrorists, or wars. "It's hard to have forest fires over there," he said May 7 during a panel discussion at the Humans to Mars Summit in Washing- ton, which was hosted by the nonprofit Explore Mars Inc. "The volcanoes are extinct, geologically pretty qui- et. Mars is actually, in a lot of ways, a lot safer than Earth." Not only that, but thanks to the novelist Michael Swanwick, we might solve Earth problems on Mars. ”We all are running out of a lot of different minerals, some of which our civilization depends on," said Swanwick, who has won the Hugo and Nebula awards for his work. "Strange[ly] enough, there is the possibility of copper going extinct. There is a science-fiction idea for you.” To make sure that Mars One didn’t also become a science-fiction idea, Lansdorp had to plan a very important factor: technology. None of the tech will be built in-house. An expected rocket is an upgraded Fal- con 9 from SpaceX, and a landing capsule from SpaceX or Lockheed Martin. Finally, the foundation will have a pair of rovers not for science, but for moving Martian soil and laying sheets of thin-film solar panels, to prepare for the arrival of humans. Now, as Mars One grows, it proves even more that there are different humans. As Lansdorp said himself, the people who want to go to Mars and the ones who don’t will never really understand each other. Of course, that doesn’t mean that not everybody wants to go even a little bit. It means that most people are pulled back to Earth, instead of moving away to Mars. People think that the ‘Martians’ are running away from Earth. Of course, somebody argues. Leila Zucker, a physician, is trying to show people why Mars One is a good idea. “I can work to make things better on Earth while I’m here,” she said at an interview, “but I could work to make things better on Earth while I’m on Mars. The idea that I’m running away or something . . . no, I’m not. People who think that are small-minded and scared. The whole idea is to expand the human race.” Ever since Mars was discovered, people had wanted to go there. As Leila Zucker said herself, the whole purpose (at least for some of them) is to expand the human race. At the end of a session, she started to sing “I wanted to go to the Red Planet Mars/but I didn’t get picked by Bas/I wanted to go to the Red Planet Mars/now I gaze longingly at the stars/But I don’t care I wasn’t picked for space/I’m cheering for the future of the human race/Someday we’ll all go to the Red Planet Mars/’Cause Mars One leads the way to the stars!” Everyone on Mars One will, sadly, also gaze longingly at the stars. Seeing space is the most amazing sight that person will ever see, but it will also make them longingly sad. These people won’t be able to share that experience with Earth. So is Mars One really such a good idea? Page 24 ARE COWS CAUSING MAJOR PROBLEMS? BY: WILLIAM M.

Recently, studies have shown that livestock pollutes the environment more than cars, planes, trains, and other transportation combined. And standing alone, out of all the millions of livestock raised by farmers across the world, is the one animal that pollutes most. The bovine terror, the cow. Just preparing livestock for growth and health produces nine percent of all carbon dioxide in the world. The waste and wind of cows alone produce more than one third of all methane, which warms the Earth 23 times faster than carbon dioxide. Cows stink. Experts estimate that by 2030, the pollution by cows will increase by more than 30 percent. Cattle farming is responsible for over 18 percent of all greenhouse gasses released. Cows release methane through burping and flatulence, and they are overgrazing, resulting in even more burping, flatulence, and excretions. Biodiversity is being reduced heavily by cows. 2/3 of all ammonia comes for cows. Think about it. Just one cow releases between 70 and 120 kilograms of methane per year. And in just 2011, there were 30,056,000 beef cows and 9,085,000 dairy cows. And there are way more now. Cows are slowly taking over the world. The fast food industry is huge right now. 2/3 of the population of America is obese or overweight. Increasing want for food means increasing want for cows. The fast food industry gets more money from fast food; they kick out small cow breeding companies. Only big ones are left. These big cow industries don’t care about the care of their cows, like the little ones do. The cows are dumped in a truck, if they survive the feedlots, dairy sheds, and veal farms. They go without food and water for days. Cows die from heat or are frozen to walls. Many cows are too weak and tired to walk, from the journey, so many are dragged off. Then they are dumped into what is essentially a big cage, to await their slaughter. All this time, the cows are burping, farting, and pooping. On other cows. The ones that are going to be eaten by people. The need for fast food makes big industries need to produces healthy cows as fast as possible. So scientists use growth hormones and stimulants to make sure cows grow fast. They are mistreated because taking care of them is a waste of time. Whenever a cow gets sick, cow factories either put it in with the other cows and cook it, transmitting the disease to other cows that people are going to eat, or they give it medicine. So many antibiotics are used on cows that many types of strong bacteria have evolved, leading to many diseases that humans catch and are harder to cure, or more animals catch them, leading to more antibiotics and creating a devil’s triangle. Is the devil a cow? Cows pollute the environment, yes, but let’s take a closer look. When they are slaughtered, this is done by hand, unlike chickens. Many workers are poor, and get sick. Also, the chance of injuries by knives, cows, and machines are very high. One time, a person fell into a meat grinder and ended up as lard that people ate. Also, much of the cow waste that is produced is stuck onto the cows and people. With very little time to slaughter, cows are often turned into hamburg- ers with large amounts of cow waste stuck on them, causing E. coli, a type of bacteria which causes diarrhea. Remem- ber that all the time, the cow waste is polluting the environment by sending methane and C02 into the air. Even in death, cows harm the environment. Yes, it’s true. Cows can even pollute the water. They get to seas, rivers, and lakes. No, the cows do not swim over and fart in them. But, tons of water is used to water plants that feed livestock, and tons of cow manure comes out. This manure is washed down through rivers, into the drinking water and into lakes and oceans. Cows have wiped out entire reefs, and their manure causes algae to bloom, majorly decreasing oxygen levels. And, due to all the cow manure washed into the drinking water, hundreds of people get sick, and hundreds more die. Cow poop is deadly. Basically, cows can harm people in many ways. By harming the environment, they destroy the means for people to survive. They also harm people directly. Although you could argue that it is the people’s fault that cows harm us, they do harm us. Although it is true that we have brought this upon ourselves, there is nothing that we can do to change the fact that cows harm us. Or is there? We can change now. Change for the better. Cut the fast food. Use home owned farms. Stop using growth hormones and stimulants. Harness the power of farts!! Or in other words find a way to use methane as energy. There is a way. Many ways, that we can change this. But we cannot do this alone. Every single person. And it all starts with you. (See the next page for this article explained through diagrams) Page 25 HOW COWS POLLUTE AND HOW THEY WORK BY: WILLIAM M.

Cows eat grass. Then they poop and fart which releases carbon dioxide and methane, which pollutes. Also, nitrogen, which rains and grows more grass that cows eat.

Cows eat plants that contain carbon. They respire and give of carbon dioxide. Com- bustion gives off carbon dioxide. Plants ab- sorb carbon dioxide.

Diagram of how cow manure gets into oceans and de- stroys fish and plants. Basic cow anatomy.

How cow manure works its way into the The effect of cows reducing biodiversity. Page 26 PERSPECTIVE ON PARCC BY: ERON R.

Every day our brains are striving for perfection and that goal of perfection is something that helps us survive from day to day. Our brains need something to focus on and cultivating it with ideas and thoughts is a good way to keep our brain active. In many ways school helps us like this and also in many ways, so does the tests that school hands out to the students. Many of the tests in district 203 has a singular goal of keeping the brain going, and the PARCC tests is one of that many. The PARCC test is an individualistic test and every student WILL take a different time amount to finish it. While waiting for other students to finish, people might be talking in small groups or reading. Dis- trict 203 definitely encourages social relationships and reading, but after taking a PARCC test, maybe there needs to be a better way of keeping the mind active. Because the PARCC test already gets your brain fired up and ready for action, we should utilize this brain boosts and use it on subjects that require extra brain thought. School was made to help you learn things, and that’s what this issue of Eagle Eye magazine is all about; keeping your brain learning in a fun way.

How PARCC works Originally, the Illinois state was taking Illinois standardized tests such as ISAT (Illinois Standard Achievement Test) and PSAE (Prairie State Achievement Examination) and each of these were tests taken by hand, by circling in bubbles and writing in essays. The PARCC test is a completely new way of industri- alized testing because it uses computers and technology to understand the many ways students think and understand things. Obviously, because it’s technology that is grading these tests and printing out the answers, there has to be some way of understanding what students are writing. The answer is neural networks. Neural networks are what most word recognizing machines use to interpret your words that you say. A few examples of these are Siri (what I-phones use), some auto-message systems and etc. The Neural networks are basically a student (in a way) and each new word is “taught” to it. The networks in neural networks is all about words and connections to words: It’s just like our brains. Our brains connect things to different things in groups, like actors on a stage; you can’t have too many actors on one stage. Every actor does a scene with another actor or acts alone, and our brain is just like that, grouping together things. Neural networks use this once hearing a word and transferring it into information, it uses a network of data to see which word/data has the best relationship to the data entered. Maybe though (most likely), all essays are submitted to an Illinois group that grades the essays, though that would take A WHILE. Some other problems that technology tests can give us is glitches; lots of glitches. Some of these many glitches can include: screen crashes, CPU overload, fuzzy texts, bobbing symbols and etc. These are all problems that can happen and will happen to someone: how does PARCC stop that? There are TOO many glitches that relate to the computer CPU system that there can only merely be some suggestions as follows: restart your computer, close everything out and reopen it, or just restart the page. In the middle of a test, all of these are not an option so what can we do about this? At the moment it seems that nothing can be done about this. What PARCC could do though is somehow reduce the amount of FPS and CPU usage of the webpage, through many little edits. Technology is complicated and like all complicated things, it comes with many problems: why not cool your brain off from all that technological stuff? Read on… Page 27 RANDOM STUFF BY: ERON R. Random Stuff The most common name in the world is Mohammed. The most money ever paid for a cow in an auction was $1.3 million. It is believed that Shakespeare was 46 around the time that the King James Version of the Bible was written. In Psalms 46, the 46th word from the first word is shake and the 46th word from the last word is spear. Flying from London to New York by Concord, due to the time zones crossed, you can arrive 2 hours before you leave. The Baby Ruth candy bar was actually named after Grover Cleve- land's baby daughter, Ruth. Babies have more bones in their bodies than adults. As the babies grow older, some bones eventually fuse together (like in the skull), resulting in fewer bones as an adult. Brett Favre's first completed pass as a Green Bay Packer was to himself. The word "laser" is an acronym. It stands for "Light Amplification by the Stimulated Emission of Radiation." The first seedless grapes were kind of an accident. Thousands of years ago in the Middle East, a random genetic mutation caused a group of grapes to spontaneously abort their own seeds before the seeds could develop hard casings. The result: seedless produce. To repro- duce the fruit, a sly farmer simply cloned the vine (with no seeds, there’s nothing to plant)—meaning that all seedless grapes today are direct descendants of that one mutated grape vine. In Ireland, Jack O’Lanterns were once carved from turnips Page 28 THE ANIMALS BY: ELIZABETH L. 99.9% of all animals have gone extinct. 99.9%. There are about 8.7 million species left on earth which means there was once 8.7 billion animal species on earth and about 8691300000 animals have gone extinct! And then every day about 200 animals go extinct. That means in the year 2135 all the animals would be extinct (if it continues at the same rate)! Why? Because of humans. Every time you use your phone or ride in a car you are helping the environment kill itself and the animals and species left on earth. The endangered turn extinct as we continue to live. But sometimes things happen. Sometimes the extinct come back. Animals have gone extinct because of us or things that we bring upon them. The dodo bird for example. They were flightless birds who lived on the undiscovered island of Mauritius until Dutch sailors discovered the island. The dodo birds were easy to catch and made an easy meal for the Dutch sailors. After a while the Dutch sailors might have stopped eating them (because they tasted bad) but the dogs and rats and pigs that the sailors brought developed a certain taste for dodo eggs and began to destroy the habitat of the dodo and other animals of Mauritius. That ended the life of the dodo bird that to this day, we still don’t know exactly what they looked like. Another animal that became extinct was the Yangtze River dolphin. It lived exclu- sively in the Yangtze River of China and was the first known dolphin that humans drove to extinction. Harmful fishing practices like gill net, rolling hooks, and electrical stunning led to their extinction. Fishermen did this to get food on their table to survive but ironical- ly this will eventually lend a hand in the downfall of the animals that the fishermen eat. Some animals are just hardly getting by while their numbers get lower and lower. These are called endangered animals. Snow Leopards are one. There are about 4080-6590 left in the wild. Threats to the Snow Leopard are farmers and hunters. Farmers hunt the Snow Leopards because they want to keep their livestock safe. Hunters want to hunt them for their coat. Then there is climate change and habitat loss that drives the Snow Leopard out of it’s home and proud rule of the mountains. Page 29 THE ANIMALS BY: ELIZABETH L.

But there is still hope with or without people helping. Animals can and have reappeared before. Take the Black-Footed Ferret. Once they were considered extinct but now there are nearly 1000 Black-Footed ferrets in the wild. What hap- pened? It could have been people or it could have been that people stopped inter- fering with the land of the Black-Footed Ferret. But now they are endangered due to habitat loss and disease. There is another animal, the Tasmanian Tiger or the Tasmanian Wolf. Inter- estingly it isn’t a tiger or a wolf but a relative of kangaroos. They are considered extinct but there are some unconfirmed sightings of them and enough that zoolo- gist are having doubts. A research team has been sent to find the Tasmanian Tiger and many reliable locals say that they have seen the Tasmanian Tiger. So there is a possibility while we consider the Tasmanian Tiger as still extinct that they are living in secrecy behind the eyes of humans. Overall some animals have or are going through cases like this where we consider them Top Five Most to be extinct while they live in secrecy but un- Endangered Animals 5. Axolotl fortunately many species' stories don’t end like 4. Javan Rhinoceros that. Many die out so we need to help save these 3. Siamese Crocodile 2. Brown Spider Monkey animals before they disappear forever. 1. Northern White Rhinoceros (This is the most accurate that could be found so the actual top five most endangered animals are unknown) Page 30 SIMPLE AS SALT BY: AERAHAN S. If you think salt tastes good with some foods Another theory about why we like salt is you are not alone. Almost everyone has access that the love of salt is caused by genetic to salt and they usually start liking it if they makeup. This is very likely because an eat it regularly. There are many theories that experiment was done in a lab where explain why most people with access to salt develop a taste for it. Some of these theories some scientists found rats and gave them are that we adapt to it and end up liking it and salt. Some like it some did not. This evi- this might be passed on through genes, we dence seems like an interesting lead but lose salt when we sweat and our body needs we are only similar to rats and we are more so we would like salt, and the taste buds obviously not exactly alike. Also the rats with the salt on it will send a message to the could be different to other rats. Even if lower part of our brain which gets our neurons we did try this on other humans we moving and we will be happy. These theories are the most likely ones that exist yet scien- would have to conduct several tests on tists are not completely sure why we like salt. different types of people to be absolutely There is probably a point for salt where we sure. With the rat evidence it would be can have the maximum taste for salt. They hard not to be biased because we will will grind salt into extra thin powder to make naturally try to shy away because we the taste very good. This is what we usually will be embarrassed if we were similar know salt as. This will make the chances of us buying more of that type of food very high. to rats The most likely theory right now is that we like salt because of a variety of factors like the

One theory that seems very likely right now is the theory that we adapt to start liking salt. This seems very similar to how animals adapt to their surroundings. Most people have access to salt because it is very cheap and plentiful. They start using it and they will start to adapt to it like animals do to their habitats and they will start liking it. This has some solid evidence but it is not enough. The evidence is that studies have been done that say that some tribes who live deep in the Amazon rainforest who don’t have access to it hated the taste of salt when they first tried it. Also kids who first start eating salt like it faster than most other adults. We know this works the other way around because a study was done using many different people and they were on a low sodium diet and they said that the low sodium foods tasted just as good as the high sodium food they ate before and some said the low sodium food tasted even better. This seems like the most likely single theory that was devised so far. Page 31 SIMPLE AS SALT (CONTINUED) BY: AERAHAN S.

One of the widely believed theories by the public is the theory that our taste buds simply just like the taste of salt. Once our brain detects that the salt is near us it sends a message to the saliva glands to start creating saliva. We will want the food with salt in it and we will eat that food. As soon as our taste buds detect the taste of the salt in the food we are eating it will send a message to the lower part of our brain. Our taste buds will take the good taste of salt and compare it with the bitter taste of salt if the good taste of salt is stronger than the bad taste of salt our taste buds will just take out the bad taste and only send the good taste to the lower part of our brain which will make us want the taste of salt again. Again this is not solid evidence because there is not actually a way to test this theory. We do know for sure we have taste buds ,

We know little about why we like salt one of the only things we know about salt is that we love salt for sure. There have been many theories about why we like salt. Some of them are we adapt to it, we simply like it, and that we like it because of genetic makeup. The hardest things about determining why we like salt is simply because we still don’t know how we can test one theory. For example the theory about the taste buds with the technology we have today is almost impossible to test without nanotechnology tracking the signals of our taste buds to our brain. The theory of our genes is also impossible to test because we don’t even have a picture of what they look like much less find what types of genes have the taste for salt in them. The theory where we adapt to salt is hard to keep track of because we don’t even know how our body adapts to salt. Scientists should stop coming up with theories and instead they should come up with ways to test those theories. Page 32

ABSENCE OF SODEXO— F ROM LAST S UMMER BY: MICHAEL J.

It’s summer! No more letting Sodexho dictate what you can and can’t eat. So now if you want that doughnut, eat it! (On the first Friday of June) or if you want that Jelly-filled doughnut, eat it! (On the eighth of June) Because now you can let the national official and unofficial food holidays dictate what you can and can eat! In June you can enjoy many delicacies (such as the already said doughnut); on the first have Hazelnut cake! (Make some yourself, click here for a recipe!), on the second of June, cool off in the heat with the easy to find Rocky Road ice cream! Just walk over to your local grocery store and pick some up! (Or beg your mother or father for it). On the third of June its National egg day! So have some eggnog, eat an omelet (or scrambled eggs) and either egg someone’s house or just egg someone on! On the fourth of June get some cheese. If you have any leftover omelet from yesterday, turn it into a cheese omelet! Or get some nice water crackers and eat some! (Click here to make your own cheese). And already I’m on my third paragraph for the Fifth day of June! Nope! The fourth of June is also national cognac (alcohol) day and frozen yogurt day. But no matter what please don’t have cognac, and especially not in cheese frozen yogurt, but please sprinkle cheese on frozen yogurt. On the fifth you can reminisce about those good old days of winter. When you remembered that recipe to make gingerbread. (Please click here to remember that recipe). But please get these ingredients from an environmentally friendly source, because it’s also World Environment day!

And (although people disagree about when national applesauce cake day is) please eat some of this (cake?) between the fourth and the sixth (Please click here to learn what applesauce cake is). And if you think, that by now, after 6 days of freedom that you want Sodexho, then don’t fret! Today (June 7th) is Chocolate Ice cream day! So sit right down with a big bowl of chocolate ice-cream…and look at this article!

On the eighth, jelly-filled doughnuts run amok, for the eighth is national jelly-filled doughnut day! So please, don’t eat a bagel on the 8th, eat a doughnut! And on the ninth, there is a pie that many of you love, hate, or never heard of… the strawberry rhubarb pie! So just hunker right down inside that bunker (you may be in) and eat some pie. Or please read this recipe for it… and if you are inside a nuclear power plant, please do not try to make this recipe, heated up by nuclear power. Or if you do, please keep a safe distance away from the radioactivity! On the tenth, there is a triple whammy! So please enjoy your black cow (root beer float) with iced tea ice cream, and plenty of herbs and spices! Because on the tenth of June it is Black cow, herbs and spices, and iced tea day! So please have plenty of those. But all at once might be a little eccentric…

On the eleventh, you might fare a little better if you eat this all at once, because today is national German chocolate cake day! So please, make some of this cake and SHARE WITH ME! If you would like to make one from scratch please click here. And the next day, while you are recovering from your tummy-ache (did you eat too much cake? Please give some to ME!) Enjoy some tasty delicate peanut butter cookies!* (Warning: may contain peanuts) Just munch on them all day long to get a new tummy-ache! (Because you should share some with me too!) The twelfth of June is like a weekend to you. Because you get to choose what to eat today, just as long as you are klutzy… (It is kitchen Klutzes of America day…). And on the thirteenth have some Strawberry shortcake (and watch some too) (IF you watch strawberry shortcake please watch the old kind)(Also play strawberry shortcake video games)*(And play with Strawberry shortcake merchandise…)(Here is the recipe for strawberry shortcake)(Here is a link to Amazon.com to buy strawberry shortcake merchandise strawberry shortcake merchandise). On the fifteenth have some lobster! Maybe go to the fanciest place in town and order some lobster! I know nothing about lobster, but please let me dictate what you should eat! And now we return to a topic that I know about… Page 33

SUMMER ABSENCE OF SODEXO ( CONTINUED ) BY: MICHAEL J.

…Fudge! Because the sixteenth of June is national fudge day! So please beg your parents for fudge and do nothing else but that today. (Unless you know how to bake fudge, then click here). And if you feel sick the next day (on the seventeenth) then just eat your fresh veggies! Because it’s national fresh veggies day. Hopefully that will revive you enough so you can eat strudel! Because the seventeenth is also national apple strudel day! (Click here if you want to make apple strudel) (My birthday is during the summer; please send me a gift-basket with the following items: apple strudel, cash, apple strudel, apple strudel, apple strudel, and 10 German chocolate cakes. Thank you!). On the eighteenth, after you and I have eaten our fill of strudel you should have a delicious picnic with homemade cherry tarts and sushi. Because the eighteenth is national picnic day and sushi day and cherry tart day! (I wonder how cherry start sushi during a picnic will taste like) (Please click here to find out a time-consuming and sticky way to get sushi). You should know how to make cherry tarts. So I am not including a recipe for that. Every- one should know how to make cherry tarts. I like sweets. (In case you can’t tell).

On the nineteenth you are free to have whatever you want! (Excluding alcohol and other inappropriate sub- stances…) And on the twentieth is one of my favorites. Vanilla milkshake day! (I like all sweets days) so walk outside to your nearest steak and shake and order yourself a comically large milkshake today. And on the next day (the twentieth) don’t touch those strawberries and cream (that day is on the 21st of May, not June) because today is peaches and cream day! So get out that whipped cream, cut a few peaches up and enjoy some whipped cream covered peaches. On the twenty-second try wrapping a succulent chocolate éclair (yummy) with onion rings (yummier) because it is chocolate éclair day and onion ring day! So have that chocolate éclair for breakfast, that chocolate éclair with onion rings for lunch, and those onion rings with a chocolate éclair and those onion rings for snacks. Nothing will go wrong! A perfectly nutritious meal! I have no idea what this is and you probably don’t know either but (as long as you are not allergic to nuts, in that case you are free from the troubles of food days for today!) but please (I implore you to make these) make or find out (at least) what a pecan sandie is. Ice cream? Cookie? An unconven- tional way to eat nuts? No one knows! (At least not me) and if you would like to make it please click here.

On the 25th please enjoy some catfish with your strawberry parfait (or a strawberry catfish parfait) because… (You know why). Just grab your fishing rod (or your pocket fishing rod) and hunker down to the bank to waste your day trying to catch the elusive catfish! And on the next day after you are really tired from trying to catch those fish enjoy some chocolate pudding, and some more and some more! (Perhaps a barrel or two of it). On the twenty- seventh it is Indian pudding day (I have no earthly idea what it is) and Orange blossom day (is it a flower or a food?) Either way please click here if you are crazy enough to try Indian pudding and for orange blossoms… I think it’s a day to celebrate the orange blossom by eating orange foods? (I still have no idea).

On the 28th I know what this food is… Tapioca pudding! (The food I always ask my mother for and she says no) So don’t let your mother say no to it. Say you must eat it because its tapioca pudding day! So secretly walk to the nearest convenience store or grocery store and steal (or buy) all the tapioca pudding in the store (and send one barrel of it to me) Please. I need it. I like tapioca pudding. On the 29th it is almond butter crunch day. I have no earthly idea what that is either. But on the 30th (my sisters birthday!) I don’t know about you but my sister and I are going to have delicious ice cream floats instead of birthday cake because… Its Ice cream float day!

This was 3 pages of food-filled fun. And that was only June. Imagine what it would be if I did all the months of the year! Gluten is innocent (and not yet proven guilty)

By: Saachi K

Gluten: It is in your toothpaste, your bread, your cosmetics, salad dressings, and even stamp and envelope adhesives. But despite its popularity, many people have decided to live without this protein, not realizing the consequences. Going gluten- free is necessary for people with gluten intolerance and celiac disease, and there Over 18 million Americans are easy ways to bake gluten-free have gluten sensitivity. 3 million of those if you need to. But, what if you people have celiac disease. This leaves 302 are not allergic to gluten? Is million Americans who have a choice of it good for you to go whether they want to go gluten-free or not. gluten-free? Many of these people bite the bait and go gluten-free just because their favorite celebrities are doing it too. Is it possible that even the rich and famous don’t know about gluten-free secrets?

Gluten-Free Baking for Gluten Intolerance: Gluten is a gas-retaining protein that provides food with nutrition, moisture, flavor, and texture; so your bread rises because of gluten. Baking gluten-free is especially challenging because you have to get the goods vitamin-packed and healthy, and also flavorful and tasty so that you cannot taste a very significant difference between gluten-free and regular baked treats. If you are gluten-intolerant, gluten-free baking can help you enjoy the variety in products you are missing out on. Did you know? Most baked treats require you to make the  Sometimes, a gluten- batter or flour. To do this, you need to blend all the free diet can treat gluten-free starches and flours together. These grains autism. include amaranth, arrowroot, bean/legume, buckwheat, chia, corn flour, corn meal, flax, millet, montina, nut, quinoa, potato flour, potato starch, rice, and rice bran. If you look at the following table of grain characteristics, you can choose which grains suit you. Do “gluten-free” and “good choice” really go together in this puzzle? Maybe not… Gluten intolerance limits you to gluten-free food, and you can’t prevent it. But if you are one of the 302 million people who aren’t allergic, you can either eat the expensive, fiber and vitamin deficient foods, or eat regular enriched food that helps your immune system, gets you fibers, and moisturizes Gluten-free seems like the way to go, your food. Gluten provides you with but you might never vitamins like B9, fibers, and less realize the real issues. expensive food. The First of all, gluten-free average American is food costs exorbitant already fiber deficient. amount of money. Most Going gluten-free and gluten foods are 30% taking that small quantity more expensive than the off worsens the situation. Same food with gluten. Why would you purposefully Gluten is, overall, a want to spend extra money on marvelous protein that helps us fuel our unhealthy food instead of eating bodies for the better. It doesn’t make us nutritious food that you need to have? “fatter” ; carbohydrates and sugars do, Also, recent scientific studies are and both of these things are more showing that there is no significant common in GF foods. So, if you ever hear benefit from this limiting diet, although your friends thinking about changing to a if you are allergic, there any many GF diet (if they don’t have an allergy) you ways to fix your predicament. know how to prove Gluten innocent! A Clements Corporation Project May 2015 Up on Pointe: Dancers of Note Misty Copeland

The lights beam down upon the face of a dancer. She leaps through the air, her wings spreading. The firebird has awakened. Her strength lifts her into the air, a streak of red against the black backdrop. Spinning, she entrances the audience with her story. The graceful and empowering firebird finishes with a flourish and the show continues. But the audience doesn’t forget the firebird. In fact, she’s what everyone remembers. Inside this Misty Copeland. A firebird for the American Ballet Theatre, one of the most prominent dance companies in the world. She inspires everyone who watches issue her. When she dances, she makes the audience believe her story. However, her story is not as great and uplifting as her dancing. In fact, it is as almost as dark as Early Life ...... 1 the ending of Swan Lake. Spotted ...... 2

Teenage Life ...... 2

Early Life Law, Dance, and Publicity ...... 2

Misty Found Again ...... 3 lived For A Second, It Could Have Dis- in appeared ...... 3 Gar- dena, Symbol ...... 3 Cali- You Can’t—Oh But You Can .... 3

Misty Copeland with siblings Lindsey Monique Brown, Erica Stephanie Copeland, Christopher Ryan Copeland, Douglas

Spotted More About On one school day when Misty was time I saw her she was sitting high the American thirteen, a teacher noticed her move- on the bleachers and I had ...I asked ment. It was fluid and graceful, like Ballet Theatre that of a dancer’s. She carried herself with elegance. The teacher recom- “I knew that she was (The ABT) mended her to a The American Ballet Theatre, or the dance ABT, was founded in 1939. They teacher at perform for over 450,000 people. the San This is the only large cultural insti- Pedro tution that does this. It makes ABT Boys and unique. Girls Club, At the time of ABT’s launch in 1939, Cindy the newborn company was directed Bradley. by Oliver Smith and Lucia Chase. Later, Succeeding Chase and Smith in Bradley 1980, Mikhail Baryshnikov stepped said, up to the director’s position. Under “The first herMisty to Copeland come downdancing andin her joinearly yearsus. And it Baryshnikov, ABT flourished. Many new classical ballets were refined and modernized.

In 1990, Oliver Smith and Jane Teenage Life Hermann became the directors of Misty set off into the powerful world of dance. She filled every minute of the company. They made an aggres- spare time she had with dance. Misty is a ballet prodigy; if she saw a step she sive agenda that brought old tradi- could do it. While it takes most dancers three years to get up on pointe, it took tions and modern ideas together to Misty a mere three months. But her mother was overwhelmed. One fateful prepare for a great future. evening, she called and insisted that Bradley take her daughter home and that the dance lessons had to stop. Misty was devastated. In the October of 1992, Misty Bradley dropped Misty off at the motel, and started to drive back home to her Copeland’s life-changer Kevin house. Halfway home, Bradley turned around and drove all the way back to McKenzie was given the role of the motel, where she knocked on the door and asked if Misty would come live Artistic Director. with her and her husband Patrick and son Wolf. Misty reminisced the events. “And I remember it so vividly, just Cindy coming and speaking with my moth- The ABT has been up and going for nearly seventy-five years. In that period of time, they have performed in forty-three countries, in a total of Law, Dance, and Publicity one-hundred thirty-six cities. Out of those cities, the ABT has performed One day, when Misty was fifteen, her mother insist- in all fifty states of the USA. Most ed that Misty come home. Misty was frightened, not recently, international success wanting to lose ballet. “I did not want to lose ballet,” Misty recalls, “And the thought of losing that and reaches out to Hong Kong, Havana, coming back and living at this motel was something Moscow, and Beijing. that I just couldn't let happen. It was like watching NEAT FUN FACT! my future slip away.” So, she entered court to try to separate from her mother. It was horrible, and very On April 27, 2006, an act of Con- public. It made headlines. After two months, Misty gress changed finally stopped fighting and moved back into the dreary motel.

“I did not want to lose ballet.” Found Again Misty Copeland as ABT’s Firebird Misty continued dancing and achieved many different feats. At fifteen, she won 1st Place in the Music Center Spotlight awards. She studied at the Lauridsen Ballet Center. Misty later studied at the San Francisco Ballet School. But her life really changed when she went to the American Ballet Theatre Summer In- tensive. Again, she was spotted by a life-changer. Kevin McKenzie, the director of the American Ballet Theatre, saw her and her grace. “She has a proportion to her body and she has a response to music a visceral response to music, and a coordination that are all the ingredients of a major ballet dancer,” McKenzie said, stating why Misty caught his eye. For A Second, It Could Have Disappeared Misty was ecstatic when she got the legendary role of the Firebird in the show Firebird. But, her leg was really hurting her. However, she wanted to dance the role. She ignored it and didn’t tell anyone. By the day of the show, it hurt just to walk. But Misty knew how many people from her African American communi- ty were coming to support her, so she hid it. Critics applauded her spectacular performance, but something worse was happening. It turns out Misty had six stress fractures in her leg. She was told she would never dance again. But here she is, working hard and still stunning audiences with her ballet skills. “She has a proportion to her body and she has a response to music a visceral response to music, and a coordination that are all the ingredients of a major ballet dancer.” Symbol McKenzie shared how important Principal Dancer in the American Misty could be in the ballet commu- Ballet Theatre, will provide inspira- nity. “You know, if she goes where tion for everyone who was told they she can go, she's going to be a very can’t dance because of their race. big symbol,” he said, “This is a very “They're being told they don't fit in, big deal here.” It’s a big deal because they won't have a successful career, rarely do African American dancers they don't have the bodies...” Misty participate in big dance companies. said,cles are“Even too tobig. this There day, areI hear times that when I Misty, if she gets the role of shouldn'tI believe it,even when be wearingI start to aquestion, tutu. I I Will What I Want don'tyou know, have themaybe right it legs, - maybe my mus-I'm see- Misty Copeland her body isn’t recently fea- right for ballet. tured in an Un- But then she der Armor ad. dances, leaping At the begin- through the air, ning of the ad, spinning across she reads her the stage, the rejection letter inspiring danc- into a ballet er. It ends with school that she the powerful applied to. It quote “I Will tells her that

Misty Copeland—Under Armor The Dancer of Next Happily Ever After Misty found her happily ever after. She’s currently thirty two, living a happy Month life with her lawyer boyfriend Olu Evans. She still lives and breathes dance, Another ABT dancer… this is part and is making history. Misty was appointed to the President’s Council on Fit- of her biography on their website. ness, Sports, and Nutrition by President Obama in 2014. Recently, she made Guess who it is! history with a fellow African American dancer by performing the lead roles in Swan Lake. Misty started from nothing and fol- Born in Sun Valley, Idaho, she began dancing at the age of three. While training at the Academy of Colorado Ballet, she won the gold medal in 2001 at the Youth Amer- ica Grand Prix Finals in New York City. In 2002, she began training at the Harid Conservato- ry in Boca Raton, Florida, on a full scholarship.

About the Author Elliott Clements, a twelve year old dancer herself, goes to Kennedy Junior High School and takes her LA class with her awesome

Bibliography

"Misty Copeland on Love, Life, and Leaps of Faith." ELLE. N.p., n.d. Web. May 2015. "ABT: Dancers." ABT: Dancers. American Ballet Theatre, n.d. Web. May 2015. "Under Armour's Stunning Ballerina Ad Aims to Lure Women From Lululemon." Time. Time, n.d. Web. May 2015. "Kam Williams Celebrity Interview: Misty Copeland." The Skanner News. N.p., n.d. Web. May 2015. "Misty Copeland." CBSNews. CBS Interactive, n.d. Web. May 2015. "Our June/July Cover Is Making Waves." Pointe Magazine – Ballet at Its Best.N.p., n.d. Web. May 2015. "ABT: Inside ABT." ABT: Inside ABT. N.p., n.d. Web. May 2015. "Jos Gandos Coloring Pages For Kids." Ballet Shoes Easy Drawing. N.p., n.d. Web. May 2015. "ABT: Dancers." ABT: Dancers. N.p., n.d. Web. May 2015. Page 40 GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOODS BY: RACHEL S.

What are genetically Modified foods If you were a farmer, beetles would attack your tomato crops every year. You have to buy gallons and gallons of pesticides to battle the beetles. However, you heard that there were scientists that created a kind of tomato plant that could produce its own pesticide, you wouldn’t have to buy your own, and you only had to get your own pesticide producing tomato plants. These tomatoes are like the fruits and vegetables that carry vaccines and the rice that can grow in saltwater. These are very helpful, but they could also carry allergens. Long term effects might not have appeared. The tomato plant relies on a gene that comes from bacterium, which is what scientist put into the tomato plant’s genome. How to create an insect resistant tomato plant There are 10 steps to make an insect resistant tomato plant. First, you have to cut out the gene. Next, put the gene into a vector with a selectable antibiotic resistance marker gene. Third, copy the vector in the bacteria. Fourth, coat the tungsten or gold particles with the DNA vectors. Fifth, load the vector-coated particles onto the Teflon bullet. Sixth, load the gene gun. Seventh, shoot, and the gene gun releases particles at a high velocity, which penetrates plant cells. Eighth, when he vector enters the cell, the genes are incorporated with the vector will grow. Ninth, the cells are plated on a selective antibiotic media, and only the cells that have been incorporated with the vector will grow. Tenth, the cells are transferred to medium which contains plant growth factors. Now, you have a tomato plant that produces its own pesticide. The risks and benefits of GMO’s

Other plants that have been modified are problems for people who don’t have access to a potatoes, squash, corn, and soybeans. In Uganda, certain nutrient. If a genetically modified plant people eat a lot of bananas. However, bananas caused more problems than it fixed, people proba- don’t have a lot of vitamin A. There are many cases bly wouldn’t bother to care for it. Genetically mod- of blindness, because bananas don’t have vitamin ified foods could do great things for us, but they A. Too much vitamin A is toxic to the body, so should first be thoroughly tested for safety. there wasn’t an easy solution. Super bananas would help prevent blindness.

Genetically modified foods could Life on Earth is at the ever-increasing help fill the gaps in nutrition and minerals, risk of being wiped out by a disaster, such as sudden global nuclear war, a but they could also harm the environment. If genetically engineered virus or other a genetically engineered plant became inva- dangers we have not yet thought of. sive, that would be a problem. There are — Steven Hawking risks with the possibility of fixing health

PRISON BREAK MAZE BY: KRISTIN C. DONUT PUZZLE BY: NANDINI K.

Start here Page 43

APPLE IWATCH BY: HARRISON Z.

The Apple Watch has stirred up frenzy within the Apple fans. The question is; does it really have potential? Decide for yourself with the following arguments. Page 44

APPLE IWATCH (CONTINUED) BY: HARRISON Z.

This is the time where everyone is have to stand up because you and you don’t even need your starting to exercise in order to stay fit. were sitting too long. The Apple iPhone to use it, except for the The Apple Watch provides numerous Watch doesn’t even need your first time, to link your Apple things for exercise, like a heart rate iPhone for the fitness app unless Watch to your Apple Pay monitor, records of your steps, exer- you want to record your daily account. cise, and standing time. The Apple fitness. The Apple Watch Watch will even tell you when you even supports Apple Pay,

YES! IT HAS POTENTIAL!

“We weren’t first on the MP3 player; we weren’t first on the tablet; we weren’t first on the smartphone. But we were arguably the first modern smartphone, and we will be the first modern smart watch—the first one that matters.” All you have to do is open up the app, scroll through the your heart beat to your friend. It smartphone. But we were argua- credit cards, select one, and also uses the haptic engine tech- bly the first modern smartphone, scan it onto the scanner. This nology to notify you by making it and we will be the first modern means that if you by accident feel like a gentle tap on your wrist. smart watch—the first one that left your wallet at home, you The Apple Watch even can use the matters.” have a virtual one slapped right haptic engine to notify you when on your wrist. This makes your to turn by tapping you ten times if pockets free of everything ex- it wants you to turn right, and 6 cept an iPhone if you want to taps to turn left. This means that access the other features of the you can disable sound from maps Apple Watch. The smart watch if you want to listen to music isn’t a pain to lug around ei- while driving to a new place. The This story can fit 75-125 words. ther. It weighs less smart watch has Selecting pictures or graphics is an im- than an ounce, for a battery life that portant part of adding content to your newsletter. the Apple Watch is supposed to last for up to 18 Think about your article and ask your- Sport, which is the self if the picture supports or enhances most common. The hours. As Apple the message you’re trying to convey. watch is also attrac- CEO Tim Cook Avoid selecting images that appear to be tive because it makes said, “We were- out of context. new ways to interact n’t first on the Microsoft Publisher includes thousands with others such as sending MP3 player; we weren’t first on the tablet; we weren’t first on the Page 45

APPLE IWATCH (CONTINUED) BY: HARRISON Z.

NO! IT DOESN’T HAVE POTENTIAL!

The Apple Watch Sport 38mm doesn’t even have a camera, so them in exchange for an acces- size is the cheapest Apple Watch you will still need your iPhone or sory. So to others, the Apple model, and it costs $349. That is camera to take pictures anyway. Watch would be worth over an extremely expensive price to Also, unlike the Pebble Time, or $500 with a contract. The Pebble pay just for a phone accessory. any other smart watch created Time, has compatibility with An- The better the model, the more by Pebble, the Apple Watch only droid also. The Apple Watch also expensive it gets. Who would has compatibility with an iPhone relies heavily on the iPhone, care if their phone accessory was 5 or later phone. It can’t even be which is ironic because the Apple made of gold? Also, the amount compatible with the iPhone 4, Watch is meant to free you from of RAM that the Apple Watch forcing people still with a previ- a phone, but instead, is tying you has is only 512 MB, while the ous iPhone to buy a newer more to your phone. If you Samsung Galaxy Gear S has a phone, putting another couple wanted to save time and text on RAM of 1 GB. The Bluetooth pro- hundred dollars to waste. People your watch, cessing speed is very slow even with Androids, Blackberries, though the iPhone is right in Nokia, Fire phones, and other your pocket. The Apple Watch phones would have to forfeit

You would be left as a frustrated things. The new method imple- bought something not worth the person. The watch would leave mented into the Apple Watch money they paid. you with the question of why called “Force Touch” takes a you didn’t actually just take out while for iPhone users to get your phone to text anyway. Also, used to. Also, Apple’s popularity iPhone users can become frus- and reputation won’t save the trated because they are used to smart watch. That is because using the normal methods for people who already have bought zooming in and out, and other it will realize that they just Page 46 MEDIA REVIEW

Magyk Book Series: by Septimus Heap Review by: Kristin C. Have you ever wished you could master the lost art of human Flyte? Or use the Un- seen spell so that no one will hear or see you? Well you can in the Magykal series of Septimus Heap. Boy 412 is part of the Young Army. He is the 412nd boy in the Young Army, and has been sent to “guard” the wizard tower, but in reality, is spying on the Ex- tra~Ordinary Wizard, and before he has even been introduced to Magyk, he can see the Magykal Haze rip- pling off the wizards doing Magyk. Jenna Heap is the Princess. Who would have guessed? She has lived with the Heaps’ ever since her mother, the queen, was murdered. Ten years she thought she was the twin sister of Septimus Heap, who died at childbirth. As soon as she figures out who she is, the assassin is after her, forcing her to flee the only home she has know. Marcia Overstrand is the Extra~Ordinary wizard. She needs an apprentice soon, and is eyeing Septimus, because of his ability to see Magyk before he has been introduced to the art. Embark on a spectacular journey with Boy 412, Jenna, Marcia, and the rest of the Heaps as they discover Magyk, and find out who they are.

West of the Moon by: Margi Prius Review by: Elizabeth L.

West of the Moon is about a girl named Astri and her sister. Their father is in America trying to get rich and when he gets enough money, he said that he would ship the money over to the girls for them to use to get to America. Meanwhile, the girls were staying with an awful aunt and uncle that sold Astri to a wicked goat farmer so that they could get money. Astri lived there for a little bit then meets the spinning girl. They escape together and then get her sister and try to go to America. They hit a lot of bumps along the way and tell a lot of lies and do a bunch of bad things (ex. Chopping off fingers, stealing). But they still set out to meet their father. I think this book is ok but not very good. I was expecting a happy nice fantasy book but no. Everything in this book can be explained and there is nothing that magical in this book. I also never thought that is would get violent or inappropriate like cutting off fingers or letting a man die. I also thought the sisters would be nice and good and try to outsmart people but apparently not. Astri does sort of outsmart the goat farmer but mostly cutting off his fingers got her free. I didn’t like the ending either. Astri’s sister gets sick then gets claimed by someone else as their own child and them Astri gets a great job offering from a parson’s (priest’s) wife. I think that this book would be more enjoyable for adults than kids but that’s my opinion. Overall though, this book was a pretty good story and yet very sad and frustrating. It has a nice plot and storyline so if I were to rate it along with all the bad things I would rate it three stars. I think the next time I want to read a book from the Mock Newberry list, I should probably choose a fantasy book instead of a realistic fiction book. Page 47 MEDIA REVIEW (CONTINUED) Nest by Esther Ehrlich Review by: Elizabeth L.

Chirp or Naomi’s mom has a leg problem. It doesn’t work like a leg should and it drags along useless. Chirp and her sister dance for her mom because her mom can’t dance with her paralyzed leg. When Chirp just can’t handle everything going on at her house like her sister not believing her mom could dance again, she goes to her favorite place, the salt marsh. She watches birds there and learns more about the pattern and lifestyles of the birds there. One time, she meets a boy from her class named Joey, who comes from a family with “significant issues”. They become friends despite their differences and help each other when they need to. But Chirp lets him down once and Joey begins to bully her until he *spoiler alert* finds out how her mom had just left her. Joey helps Chirp through it and they go on an adventure together. I do not like this book because it does not describe a 6th grade very well. The girl Chirp is way too dumb and acts like a 3rd grader in some parts and older at other times. The overall story is creative but the characters are unrealis- tic. I do not think that 6th graders would cry so much or would make a play about the turkeys and pilgrims and need to learn about them or need to know what a prefix is. Joey acts too unforgiving and harsh at some points but too nice and kind at other points. And the only reason I thought the book was going to be good was because of the description on the back but that is barely accurate. It says “Chirp loves to explore the bird-filled salt marsh near her house. But when life feels too hard, she and her friend Joey crate their own private world and come up with the perfect plan: Escape. Adven- ture. Discovery.” It only happens twice in the book, and for a short period of time. This book is impossibly sad, sad enough that you can’t even cry and has an okay ending. There is still a lot of questions left hanging at the end but then again a lot of books have that. I think if I would rate this book I would give it 2 stars for having horrible characters doing unpredictable actions that do not make that much sense. The Turtle of Oman by Naomi Shihab Nye Review by: Elizabeth L. Aref is leaving his home in Oman and going to Michigan to live for 3 years. His father went early to prepare their home in Michigan. Everyone is telling him how lucky he is to be going there but he doesn’t feel that way. He has to say goodbye to everything he loves. His cat, his friends, his school, his rock collection, his grandfather Sidi, the turtles, just all of Oman. His cousins and their parents are moving in to his house when he leaves so he needs to clean and pack. But instead he mopes around to house until his mom calls Sidi over to get him out of the house and make him go somewhere else. They go the Night of a Thousand Stars camp and stay there for a day. Aref meets a falcon there and some other people there. They return the next day but Aref still mopes around. His mom calls Sidi over again and they go to his house and play games and spend another night there until he is ready to leave. This book was not what I was expecting. I was expecting a book on the trip over to Michigan and how Aref adjusted to life there. Instead I got a book on the days before Aref leaves. This book was bad because A. It could not keep my attention for more than 5 minutes and B. It was incredibly cheesy. The characters talk very weirdly with sen- tences without proper grammar and without much sense but that was probably intentional because they live in Oman. The book was boring because the days before a trip are always boring! It might be exciting to the person doing it but if you write it out it surely has to be boring. This book just feels too happy and has no especially sad parts so it feels cheesy. This author should probably have chosen a different topic to write on than this. Also I just need to point out that foxes are in the dog family and also turtles are barely a part of this book. It has a horrible ending (I think so at least) and I would give it only one star because this was a bad subject to write about in the first place. Page 48 MEDIA REVIEW (CONTINUED) Half a World Away by Cynthia Kadohata Review by: Elizabeth L.

Half a World Away is about a boy named Jaden who was adopted by a family when he was 8. His real mother who was the only person who he had loved and then she left him to fend for himself out in Romania. He never loved anyone after that, or that’s what he thinks and after that he was left damaged. His adoptive parents Penni and Steve take him on a trip to Kazakhstan to adopt another child named Bahytzhan. But when they find that their “reserved” baby was already adopted by another couple they have to decide on the spot which baby they want. Jaden though doesn’t like any of the babies and especially not the one his parents chose. Instead he had his eyes on a toddler named Dimash who was also a special needs boy like Jaden. Jaden tries to love the baby that his parents chose but the baby, Ramazan, just seemed so lifeless to Jaden and without emotion. I thought that this book was great because it has emotion and voice with a great cast of characters. Each person is crafted perfectly with their own ups and downs like a real person would be like. Jaden who is the main character has a lot of downs and has some special needs. He sets fires, steals, hoards, lies, and runs until he falls. He has no love for anyone until he met Dimash the little toddler who also has some problems. It’s so moving and heartrending and shows that love can be given to someone, anyone and change someone completely. It is a lovely book and amazing plot. It has a great ending and it left me wanting more on Jaden and his new family members. I would give it five stars if I were a rater. I would recommend Half a World Away any day over a book like Harry Potter (no offense).

Answers to the Movie Matchup from Page 15 By: Evelyn K.

Answers: Elizabeth Swann and Queen Amidala Cinderella and Lady Rose MacClare Giselle and Mary

Legolas Greenleaf and Will Turner Professor McGonagall and Violet Bellatrix Lestrange and The Fairy God- Crawley mother Indiana Jones and Han Solo Ella of Frell and Princess Mia Ronald Weasley and Alan A. Allen Mumble and Frodo Baggins Gru and Ned McDodd Nanny McPhee and Professor Gandalf and Magneto Trelawney Maria Von Trapp (2013) and Sarah Hill Dr. Schmidt and Elrond Dr. Henry Jones Sr. and James Bond Padme Amidala and Jane Foster Peter Pan and Cabin Boy Doc and Uncle Fester Jack Sparrow and The Mad Hatter Maria Von Trapp (1965) and Mary Poppins Hermione Granger and Young Ila