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Friday, November 13, 2015

Issue IV

Origin of... (Black Cat Superstition!)

by Allie Monahan

 

     Black cats are bad luck? Many people have cats (including me), and some people have black cats. They seem just fine. In fact, a black cat acts no differently from any other cat of any fur color. This week’s ‘Origin of’ is the black cat superstition, and how it started.

     Black cats weren’t always bad luck. Back in the times of the Egyptians, they worshipped cats. Stealing one or killing one was thought to be a capital crime so the kitties were very honored. Now if you fast forward to the age of the witches and magic, then you will find the roots of the bad luck. Back then you didn’t know who was a witch and who wasn’t and what was associated with them and what wasn’t. The black cats just happened to walk into this.

     There used to be (and still are) many stray cats wandering around. People want to feed them so that they don’t go hungry.That was the case back then with an elderly, lonely woman who would feed and talk to the kitties. People would jump to conclusions and assume that any lonely woman that was feeding cat was a witch. Soon the black cat became associated with witches and people feared them. People still do as the black cat is the least adopted of the cats. Shelters have a black cat appreciation day to adopt them out. Don’t be fooled by the past, and maybe pet a black cat?

 

Mr. Rook's Failure Reframed

By Hannah Umphlett

     As many have discovered for yourselves, you are only able to move forward after failure. By moving forward after encountering failure, be it more personal or public failures, you begin to look for new experiences, opportunities, and grow.

     Mr. Alex Rook, Northeast Academy’s Engineering coach, grew the most from a more personal failure: him being homeless during his time spent at the Florida Institute of Technology. “I became more self reliant and less dependent on others. I’m okay with teamwork, but I’m definitely more independent while working.” Self reliance is the attribute of relying on one’s own power and resources, rather than those of others.

     Mr. Rook has experienced multiple failures in his life, and no, his six month old daughter Catherine is not one (“I prefer the term ‘happy accident’.”) However, he doesn’t regret any of the decisions he’s made, but what he has not taken the initiative to do.

And the Winners of The NEAAAT Times Pumpkin Contest Are...

Chase Update!

     We have just gotten the pallet delivery to build a goose hollow in engineering! The Chase Activists are also working on a grant for a thousand dollars for Chase’s food and plants. We have to build the shelter soon before it gets too cold. Since it is still warm, we have a little bit of time. Winter is still coming so we are trying our best to go fast for Chase! People that read the newspaper are also asking where to donate to Chase. You can donate to Chase at...

 

 

by Grace Bassett  

  

     Northeast Academy for Aerospace and Advanced Technologies is starting its first school wide project. NEAAAT students will work in groups to create an audio or video walking tour around the ECSU campus. The project will extend until mid January to complete and will have elements of every subject incorporated. Students have already begun to build their tours and will start to identify landmarks on their maps and complete software analysis in the weeks to come. When the project is finished, students will have an audio file, transcript, presentation, brochure, and a research paper. NEAAAT students are nervous, but excited for the project to come.

NEAAAT Beat!

  • Friday, November 20 - Early release

  • NEAAAT High school Art Showcase won 1st prize! Congrats!

  • Saturday, November 14, Regional Dance Competition 

  • Thanksgiving Holiday: November 23-25, no school!

Schoolwide Project!

New "Orgin of" column, Chase update, nerd poll, and grumpy cat bio in this weeks issue.

Veteran's Day!

by Aly Nygaard

 

     In the middle 19th century Veterans Day was called “Armistice Day”. It was set as a U.S. legal holiday to honor the end of WW1 on November 11, 1918. Armistice day, officially became a holiday in the United States in 1926, and a national holiday 12 years later. On June 1, 1954, the name was changed to Veterans Day to honor all U.S. veterans. Happy Veterans Day!

Random Answers to Random Questions from Random People

by I. G. Crazy-Me

With Samantha Stanwick

 

> If you woke up and had 2,000 unread emails and could only answer 300 of them, how would you choose which ones to answer?

> I don't really answer e-mails in the first place... so...what would be the point? Are the emails from important people or are they just spam? Does it really matter if I reply or not?

 

> Describe the color yellow to somebody who's blind.

> That’s literally impossible.

 

> If you were to get rid of one state in the US, which would it be and why?

> I would get rid of (nothing personal) Iowa..it's kind of just....there...? I don't know anything about Iowa

Tartar Sauce, the Grumpy Cat

by Destiny Cook

     Most of everyone has heard of Grumpy Cat, the internet sensation that first swept the nation in 2012, but not everyone knows why she looks this way. Tardar Sauce (Grumpy Cat) is a Snowshoe Siamese cat with feline dwarfism. This means she is undersized and has hind legs that are slightly different from a normal cat’s. Combined with an underbite, her dwarfism is why she looks like she’s frowning. Now that Grumpy Cat has become a celebrity, she has her own book, movie, and even her own merchandise. Tardar Sauce has been on many talk shows and in many magazines. In 2013, Grumpy Cat got a sponsorship with Friskies to become the official Spokescat. It was announced in August 2015 that Grumpy Cat would get her own wax figure at Madame Tussauds. Tardar Sauce is still living life unhappily, just the way she’d want it.

Career Column

by Jorim Cole

Artist

     It seems very easy to become an artist, and for those who like it, it is a fun and inspirational job. For those who draw for a living, it is often a career in which you can relax and enjoy the true feelings and art of the work that you create. One can simply draw for fun and distribute their work to the public. Professional artists draw, sculpt, and illustrate for businesses or to be put on display.

     The average salary is about $43,000 a year. To become a professional artist, you have to meet some specific requirements. You must have a high school diploma, an area of expertise and at least 2 or 3 years of experience. Finally, you have to have and be able to demonstrate artistic and creative abilities.  

     Possible perks include the usual passion for doing your job. As long as you meet certain deadlines, you pretty much govern how you work. (Being an artist can be very stressful). It feels good to walk past a painting, sculpture, or watch a movie knowing that you put forth the effort to make the visual images happen.

     Possible negatives include the relatively low pay, especially if you have a large family, and the instability that your job can have depending on where you work. Most professional artists have secondary jobs, or being an artist is their secondary job.

 

Messi: Injured and Missed

by David Johnson

     For all of the soccer fans here is an article on a player who almost everyone knows. Lionel Messi, the FC Barcelona star Striker and Argentina International team star striker. Messi is the number one scorer in the world. He is also the most popular player in the world. 

     It has not been a great year for Barcelona. Despite winning the treble a season ago, the team has struggled in the early going, already accruing three defeats in all competitions this season; the team has also had two draws in all competitions and is out of first place in the Spanish League.

     The team's shaky start has only been result of injuries and none more crucial than the loss of Lionel Messi. He is undeniably, at this moment, the most effective offensive player in the game, capable of coming off the bench and changing a game with one touch (just ask Atletico Madrid).

     In his total time of absence, which is almost over, the team has looked somewhat shaky. The reason is, other teams are more confident playing Barcelona knowing its best man is nowhere to be seen. Since losing Messi, teams have looked far more committed to attacking Blaugrana head on. Just witness how Sevilla attacked with wild abandon, allowing for a wide open counter attacking battle that could have gone either way for both teams. Bayer Leverkusen did the same exact thing in its contact, pressuring Barcelona in the midfield and launching quick strikes.

Ask Athena

“I'm dating someone from another school. I really like them, but I think I have a crush on someone in one of my classes. How can I get rid of my feelings for the person in my class?” - ConFuSed

 

Dear ConFuSed,

     I think that you should spend more time with the person you’re dating. If you really like them your feelings will become more clear. Maybe you have a crush on the person in your class because they have some of the characteristics of the person you’re dating. Or it could be that the person in your class has a characteristic that you wish the person that you’re dating had. Either way you should spend time with the person that you’re dating now to see if that person is the best fit for you.

Love,

Athena.

P.S. Quote: “You may think the grass greener on the other side but, if you take time to water the grass it would be just as green.”  

 

 

“So there is this person that I like, but I'm not sure if they feel the same way...
What should I do?” - Anon

 

Dear Anon,

Find out if there is anything you have in common or that you both like. Try to talk or start a conversation about that topic. If they try to keep the conversation going it might be a clue that they like you too. Basically, just talk to them but, don’t be too overbearing. Be confident in who you are and don’t be afraid to let them see the real you.

 

Love, Athena

P.S. Quote: “Say it before it’s too late.”

 

#96 Sarcastic Questions

by The Sarcastic Penguin

     Due to the utter kindness of society and all of its “beautiful” (not really) inhabitants I was given these oh-so-clever (not really) 98 sarcastic questions to a sarcastic advice column. It is quite obvious that this was from the internet so I condemn the lack of creativity and thought. Thanks a lot dirtbag.

 

# 1. After they make styrofoam, what do they ship it in?

          A box with glass packing bits.  

 

# 2. Before they invented drawing boards, what did they go back to?

          The problem.  

 

# 3. Do illiterate people get the full effect of alphabet soup?

          I’d surmise that they don’t.

 

# 4. Why do irons have a setting for permanent press?

          It's more "somewhat-wrinkle-resistant-while-the-garment-is-relatively-new".

 

# 5. How can you tell when sour cream goes bad?

          When it becomes sweet.

 

# 6. How much sin can I get away with and still go to heaven?

          I don’t know, ask Tim Tebow.

 

# 7. How young can you die of old age?

          42.

 

# 8. Can you be arrested for selling illegal-sized paper?

          What defines illegal-sized paper?

 

# 9. How is it that "Fat Chance" and "Slim Chance" mean the same thing?

          Fat chance is irony, slim chance is literal.

 

# 10. If all the nations in the world are in debt, where did all the money go?

          The tax collectors.

     The second watch I’d like to cover is called the Asus ZenWatch, one of the newer competitors in the Android wear line. It comes out rocking a 1.63 inch amoled display with a leather strap and a Qualcom Snapdragon 400 processor. The Asus ZenWatch has a  smooth interface and a comfortable, more refined feel compared to other competitors. The ZenWatch is composed of a smooth, brushed stainless steel body and a leather strap for aesthetics, but in order to compete in this world, it has to be more than just a pretty face. On the ZenWatch, you can respond to text messages, make phone calls, track your steps and sleep, and most of all—check the time! The Zen watch is an affordable, functional, and great looking watch for Android users to consider.

Tech Block!

by Connor Reavis

     Hello tech lovers of NEAAAT! I'm hitting you with a new edition of tech block! This week I’d like to start a new series of smart watches! The first one I’ll be talking about is a personal favorite of mine! This is amazing! Stupendous! Way too many exclamation points!!! Here we go!


     The Pebble Time is one of my favorite smartwatches to date. The Pebble Time is one of the three in Pebble’s latest line of watches. It uses a 1.25 inch simple color E-paper display that is fully visible in broad daylight  by reflecting the sunlight back at you. The Pebble Time is by no means advanced but it has a very simplistic goal that has a  retro charm.  It has a 7 day battery; way more than any of the competition. Pebble uses a new UI called “Timeline”, in which the whole experience surrounds. It displays anything you have coming up, as well as things you have already done. When the Pebble Time came out on Kickstarter, it raised over 1 million dollars in 49 minutes, breaking records. The Pebble Time is available to Android and IOS users.  The following links are reviews of each of the Pebble Time watches in Pebble’s latest lineup.

Organized Madness

by Samuel Avondo

Written 11/9/15

     To preface this I am not working against my will. Also look at this, I haven’t missed this week. While a bi-issue column would have more content and (un)helpful insights, I (and by that I mean the benevolent lords of newspaper) have elected to do it one per issue. There wasn’t anything particularly interesting going on during the past week, but I’ll comment on what did happen anyways.

     Report cards came out. This generally heralds multiple students doing their best to ensure their parents don’t see them. To prevent this the school had a parent night so that the parents had to come out and talk to the teachers before their children received the report cards. Except that this was kind of a lost effect, because the next day the students that didn’t come out got their report cards without having to show their parents. This isn’t ridicule, I’m just pointing it out.

     November is the “National Novel Writing Month” or “NaNoWriMo” for short. NaNoWriMo sounds less like a month-long event and instead some science fiction nanomachine. I didn’t want to comment on this because I felt it kind of useless for students to be reading it (because if you haven’t been listening to Mrs. Rook you don’t read the newspaper either) but I am anyways. I may just name this particular column “Being forced to report on various redundant subjects”, but I’ll wait to do that for some Upton Sinclair-esque novel about the dark inner workings of a school newspaper.

     Have you ever made the mistake of trying to pull off a piece of plastic wiring with your hands? I tried that this weekend, and now I have a rather annoying cut one the end of my index finger.

     In an attempt to give back to ECSU for the wonderful things they have offered us with harboring this school, the coaches have decided to start a project: The students will create walking tours for ECSU. I’m going to preface my reporting on this as pure opinion backed up with details that annoy me.

     With that out of the way, I would like to say that I’m dissatisfied (putting it lightly) with this. I have no issue with creating the walking tours and I believe that they are a good idea, but we have 30 teams each creating a walking tour. To me it seems like a waste of manpower to be having each of these teams doing an entire tour (if that’s the way it works, it’s possible that I’m wrong and each team is only doing a single area, each class having one whole walking tour). This means that we’ll have around six whole tours for the campus, which will then have to be narrowed down to one tour for the whole school. I’m not going to tell you that I can solve the problem, but I’m pointing it out. If I’m looking at this wrong I’m sure someone will tell me.

     The weather last week was very rainy. I enjoy precipitation in general, but by far rain has to be my favorite. What I’m saying is that it rained. A lot.

    As far as I know, that’s all I’ve chosen (been forced to) report, which means that my wonderful piece of organized madness has to conclude.

 

Jokes!

by Alan Sessor Jr.

 

Why are bananas so good at gymnastics?
They do great banana splits!

 

What kind of hats do they wear at the North Pole?

Ice Caps!

 

Which runs faster hot or cold?

Hot! Because everyone can catch a cold.

 

Why is music like fish?

They both have scales!

 

How do athletes stay cool during a game?

They sit near the fans!

 

Did you hear about the man who lost his left arm and left leg in a car crash?

It’s okay, he’s alright now!

 

How do hens stay fit?

They egg-ercise!

 

Have you heard of the music group The Three Dwarves?

Probably not, they aren’t that big.

 

Two wrongs don’t make a right, but what do two Wrights make?

A plane.

 

Where do fish put their money?

The river bank.

 

What did one math book say to the other?

"You’ve got problems."

 

What is the only bow you can’t tie?

A rainbow.

 

 

Geeky Controversies
  • 73% of NEAAAT responders believe that gif is pronounced GIF.
  • 42% of NEAAAT responders believe that Pluto should be considered a planet.
  • 92% of NEAAAT responders prefer Star Wars over Star Trek.
  • 68% of NEAAAT responders prefer Marvel Comics over DC.
  • 81% of NEAAAT responders want to keep the controversy going.

Wanna Join Newspaper? Newspaper is always looking for new members! If you would like to join, email studentnewspaper@northeastacademy.org.

 

Thank You for reading this week's issue! Please leave any comments or suggestions in the form below:

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