the PDF file.

Features
page 4:
The Egyptian Uprising
A&
page 11:
Black Swan
page 13: Pujol’s Contract Claim
From The Archives:
IHS in the 70s page 8
ALL THE NEWS THAT’S fit
to tattle.
PHOTO/PROVIDED
March 22, 2011 • Estd. 1892 • Vol. 119 • No.5• Published Monthly • www.ihstattler.com • Ithaca High School, 1401 N. Cayuga St., Ithaca, NY, 14850 • FREE
Governor Cuomo’s
Plan for New York
With more than two thousand people packed into
the Empire State Plaza’s Convention Center in Albany
on January 5th 2011, Governor Cuomo gave his state
of the state address. As noted by his speech, the main
topic of interest that has concerned New Yorkers is
how the governor plans to “transform” the government. Cuomo addressed these concerns by initially
stating that, “In government, as in life, you can never
solve a problem if you refuse to acknowledge it.” Such
problems include the 800,000 New Yorkers currently
unemployed, the state taxes that are 66% higher than
the national average, and just the fact that the state of
New York spends an incredibly large amount of money each year. The latter is a problem that has persisted since the early 1990s and has continued to affect
the rates of unemployment and the increase in taxes
in NYS. The governor also pointed out that while the
state is funding more money on education and Medicaid (both have exceeded inflation by more than 3%),
the state is still ranked number 34 in terms of better
education, and 21 in terms of Medicaid. These poor results show the need for radical reform, which is exactly
what Cuomo plans to do.
In his speech, the Governor declared that in order
to radically reform New York’s economy, economic
regional
councils
continued on p. 3
Ithaca Math Circle
Shines at HMMT
By FOREST TONG
A group of 8 Ithaca High students from Ithaca Math
Circle (IMC) participated in the 2011 Harvard-MIT
Mathematics Tournament (Division B) held at MIT on
Feb. 12.
The IMC team won 2nd place in the team round and
was ranked fifth overall in Division B. The team round is
a 90-minute test composed of 15 challenging short-answer and proof-style questions, which focus on several
topics in algebra, combinatorics, number theory, and
geometry. Team members Forest Tong, Anying Li, and
Ofer Grossman won 3rd, 5th, and 7th place in the Algebra/Geometry individuals, respectively.
The annual Harvard-MIT Mathematics Tournament (HMMT) was established in 1998 and has grown
considerably into an international event with over 900
participating students in 2010. This year, it attracted
100 teams from across the U.S. and a number of international teams. Ithaca Math Circle’s participation in the
2011 HMMT was made possible by the sponsorship of
Cornell Math Outreach.
The Ithaca Math Circle was formed in April 2010 by a
group of local middle and high school students interested in mathematics at the competition level and beyond.
They meet every weekend to learn, mostly from each
other and occasional
continued on p. 3
PHOTO/PROVIDED
By MANSI VOHRA
Destruction in Japan caused by the 9.0 magnitude earthquake has left people without homes and infrastructure in ruins.
Disaster Strikes Japan
By LARRY GE
On Friday, March 11 at 2:46 p.m. Tokyo time a
9.0 magnitude earthquake struck northern Japan,
setting off a destructive tsunami that sent waves as
high as 30 feet crashing into the Japanese mainland.
The resulting loss of lives and damage to property
has been catastrophic; the estimated death toll is
over 10,000 and rising, and Prime Minister Naoto
Kan declared the tsunami Japan’s worst crisis since
World War II.
The quake was the strongest recorded earthquake in Japan’s history. Japan is located in an area
prone to violent seismic activity, and Friday’s quake
left thousands homeless in a matter of minutes
and stranded millions without water, power, heat
or transportation. Japan has mobilized more than
100,000 troops, which amounts to over half of the
country’s active military force. In addition, thousands of volunteers aided in the recovery of survivors and the general relief effort.
Currently, the most pressing issue is the nuclear
crisis at Japan’s nuclear reactors. The Japanese government declared a Nuclear Power Emergency on
March 11. At the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power
plant, which contains six nuclear reactors, the quake
and tsunami knocked out the cooling systems of the
reactors. Many fear the damage may result in full
meltdowns.
Hydrogen explosions have also hit three of the
six reactors, destroying much of the roofs and outer
walls of the reactors as well as damaging reactor
two’s suppression chamber, which allowed a crippling surge of radiation to escape. This surge of radiation, which is 800 times more intense than Japan’s recommended hourly exposure limit, is what
caused the evacuation of over 750 workers Tuesday
morning. Only 50 workers stayed behind in an attempt to cool the reactors and quell the fires resulting from the explosions.
Traditionally, when a nuclear reactor is shut
down, electric pumps pull cool water in from rivers
and oceans to draw off the massive amounts of heat
emanating from the fuel rods. However, the quake
knocked out both the electric powered pumps
and the diesel backups. In a last effort to prevent
full meltdowns, Japanese officials have resorted to
flooding the reactors with seawater to cool the fuel.
As the seawater boils, pressure builds up and steam
must periodically be released into the atmosphere.
However, the steam released in this process has
potentially radioactive particulates in it if the fuel
rods of the reactors have begun to melt, which could
result in lasting environmental harm as well as potential risk to human lives. The winds have mainly
taken the radioactive material out towards the Pacific, but Japanese officials have urged people who
live within an 18-mile radius of the plant, an estimated 100,000 people, to take precautions such as
staying indoors and sealing their houses. On Tuesday, Tokyo officials stated that they had detected radiation levels over the city twenty times above the
normal limit, though they quickly stated that such
levels had no immediate health risk.
For now, officials at the Fukushima Daiichi have
two risky options, assuming that a full nuclear
meltdown has been averted: they could continue
to flood and vent the reactors, hoping that winds
do not carry the resulting steam towards populated
areas, or they could hope that the worst of the overheating has passed, and that within a few days the
cores would cool enough to essentially entomb the
radioactivity within the plants.
As a result of the disasters at the plant, Tokyo
Electric has had to implement rolling blackouts
across the region, the first of their kind in over 60
years. Unnerved by the events at the nuclear plant,
Japanese investors have also responded with a 10.6
percent drop in the Nikkei 225 index, which closed
at 8,605.15 points, the lowest in nearly two years.
March 22, 2011
Opinion
Editorial:
Where’s The Beef?
Although Taco Bell wants customers to “Think Outside the
Bun,” people are beginning to wonder what exactly is inside the
bun. A lawsuit was filed against Taco Bell by the Alabama law
firm Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, suing the fast
food chain for false advertising. The suit claimed that Taco Bell’s
beef tacos and burritos do not really contain the seasoned ground
beef advertised. In fact, Attorney Dee Miles, who represents the
plaintiff, analyzed the mixture and found that it contained less
than 35 percent ground beef; the rest of the mixture was made up
of fillers such as water, starches, spices, and preservatives.
Taco Bell denies the claims made in the lawsuit. Greg Creed,
president of Taco Bell, stated that “the lawyers in this case elected
to sue first and ask questions later – and got their ‘facts’ absolutely wrong.” He went on to explain that Taco Bell buys their beef
“from the same trusted brands you find in the supermarket…
we start with 100 percent [United States Department of Agriculture] USDA-inspected beef.” Taco Bell restaurants have fired
back against the lawsuit with “Thanks for Suing Us” full-page
ads, listing the ingredients of the beef in the Wall Street Journal,
the New York Times, and USA Today. However, Taco Bell has
admitted that their beef mixture is only 88 percent beef and the
other 12 percent is their “secret recipe.” While Taco Bell’s claim
of actual beef content is greatly higher than the lawsuit’s claim, it
still means that the beef contains fillers.
The Taco Bell lawsuit has caused people to pay more attention to exactly what they are eating. While most restaurants have
the ingredients and nutritional information on their website, the
information is not available in the actual restaurants. It is the
customer’s responsibility to make healthy decisions. In order
to protect the customers, the USDA requires that ground beef
must have no more than 30 percent fat, and meat filling must
be at least 40 percent fresh meat. However, USDA press officer
Neil Gaffney stated: “that requirement applies to raw meat sold
by manufacturers. The USDA doesn’t regulate what companies
such as restaurants can describe … in advertisements as ‘beef,’
‘chicken’ or ‘meat.’”
There are other gray areas when it comes to fast food. For example, what exactly qualifies as “beef ”? Beef simply means that it
comes from cattle. It doesn’t mean that all beef products are the
best quality of meat. In fact, beef may contain parts of cattle such
as connective tissue or skin. It is true that you may not know
exactly what you are eating at fast food restaurants, but if you are
only paying 99 cents for a beef taco, do you really expect to get
the best quality of food?
Fast food restaurants are known to be easy, fast, and inexpensive options for eating out. Even so, it is not the fast food restaurant’s responsibility to provide healthy, nutritious, top quality
food. If the food at fast food restaurants were of better quality, it
would be more expensive. Consumers are responsible for making
healthy decisions, but customers can only make those decisions
if they are informed. Fast food restaurants should be required to
list the ingredients and nutritional information for their food in
all of their restaurants. There shouldn’t be any secrets about the
food that people buy. And if restaurants provide all the necessary
information about their food, then they can avoid lawsuits such
as the one filed against Taco Bell. Customers should not expect
the best quality meat when they pay 99 cents for a beef taco, but
they deserve the truth.
Editor’s Note: All editorials published in The Tattler are not anonymous and represent the views of the sixteen students on the editorial
staff. Editorials are written about topics the Tattler staff deems important. Such issues may be global or specific to IHS.
Letter to the Editor:
To the Editor,
People may not think it is a big deal
when they do things distractedly, like
texting while walking or talking on the
phone while driving. However, those
moments of distractions can really affect the people surrounding them.
Where I work, I am surrounded by
hundreds of college students. It is a
great job, but it really gets to me when
the young adults cannot put their cell
phones down for even five minutes. I
deliver food as a part of my job, and it
is common to be elbowed in the face
or chest and drop the food because the
people next to me were too absorbed in
the technology in their hands to notice
anything off the screen. It is also common to have people order food while
talking on the phone, consequently
holding up an entire line of people
waiting for their turn. It really is not
necessary to talk or text right when
you are ordering; put your phone down
for a moment, and give the person who
is taking your order some respect. My
job can get very busy some days, and it
would make it so much easier if people
would just pay some attention to their
surroundings.
Don’t get me wrong, I am myself
attached to my cell phone and like to
have it on me, but I take care not to use
it when I should be focused on something else. Text or talk in an area where
it does not make it inconvenient for
everyone else. Practice some common
courtesy, please.
Editor-in-Chief
Jade Fang ‘11
[email protected]
News Editor
Larry Ge ‘11
[email protected]
Features Editor
Rehan Dadi ‘11
[email protected]
Centerspread Editor
Ingrid Sydenstricker
‘12
[email protected]
Arts & Entertainment
Kyle Rothman ‘11
[email protected]
Sports Editor
Geoff Preston ‘11
[email protected]
Penultimate and
Back Page Editor
Kelsey Shang ‘12
[email protected]
Copy Editor
Annelise Raymond ‘12
[email protected]
Photography Editors
Medeea Popescu ‘13
Mansi Vohra ‘13
[email protected]
Layout Editor
Anna Gill ‘11
[email protected]
Webpage Editor
Yuqi Yang ‘11
[email protected]
Fact Checker and
Fundraiser Chair
Julie Stover ‘11
[email protected]
Business Manager
Jeff Setter ‘11
[email protected]
Advertising Manager
Jason Setter ‘11
[email protected]
Distribution Manager
Katherine Hambury
‘11
[email protected]
We value our local educators!
Faculty Advisor
Deborah Lynn
[email protected]
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news
March 22, 2011
IHS Participates
in MLK
Community Build
By LARRY GE
On March 9th and 10th, IHS students
participated in community building activities and events based around the ideals and
values outlined in Dr. Martin Luther King
Jr.’s final book; “Where Do We Go From
Here: Chaos or Community?” Originally
published in 1968, the book has been out
of print and unavailable for an extended
time. Ten thousand copies of the book
were reprinted especially for the Tompkins County area with copies available to
the general public, in addition to each student receiving their own copy as part of the
community build.
The Martin Luther King Jr. Community
Build is a collaboration of several organizations in Tompkins County, including members of the Africana Library at Cornell, The
Center for the Study of Culture, Race, and
Ethnicity at Ithaca College, teachers and
staff from across ICSD, the Family Reading
Partnership, the Tompkins County Public
Library, and the Multicultural Resource
Center.
The project was started in 2008 with the
goals of addressing the issues of inequity in
our community, and opening up the discussion on community building across racial, political and economic backgrounds.
The origins of the project came out of a
series of workshops entitled “Achieving
Equity: Where Have We Been, Where Are
We Now, and Where Can We Go?” held at
the Tompkins County History Center in
the spring of 2008.
After receiving the book in class on
March 9th, students and teachers participated in a short, open discussion about the
ideas of apathy and indifference, and how
they related to several quotes by Dr. King
on social action. These discussions helped
prepare students for the next day’s events; a
three session community building event.
The student population was divided
into three groups which rotated events
from session to session. The first session
was a presentation by Dr. Luvelle Brown
in the newly renovated Kulp Auditorium;
this was the first time that every IHS student had the chance to be inside of the new
auditorium. Dr. Brown was accompanied
by a group of elementary school students
from Beverly J. Martin School who performed songs highlighting Dr. King’s message of nonviolent coexistence. Dr. Brown
then gave a short speech to the students
using an interesting new technology; students and teachers with smartphones that
had internet access had the ability to post
short messages that would be displayed on
the projector screen behind Dr. Brown.
The second session consisted of smaller
discussions in classrooms with guest speakers; topics ranged from Dr. King’s life to human rights. The third and final session was
a trust building activity in which students
and teachers were randomly paired up in
the gymnasium with one member blindfolded. The partner that was blindfolded
was to be safely led around by the other using verbal communication.
Student responses to the community build events were mainly positive. “I
think it’s unfortunate that there are not
classes dedicated to social change in the
IHS curriculum. Having these workshops
is definitely a step in the right direction,”
says Marcel Gremaud ’11. Other students
shared their hopes for the continuation
of the program. “It’s nice that we received
these books and had this day to reflect
on community building, but I think that
it can’t stop here; there should be further
opportunities for discussion in the future,”
says Jason Setter ’11.
CUOMO
continued from p.1
MATH
continued from p.1
must be established.
The main two functions
of these private sector
partnerships will be to
create job development
plans and to coordinate
the economic development money that flows
into that specific region of the state. When
confronted with the tax
situation in New York,
Cuomo put forth his
idea of a 2% tax cap on
school districts, local
governments, libraries
and other special districts. Schools all over
the state, however, were
not pleased with this decision. In fact, superintendent Jerome Melvin
of the North Syracuse
PHOTO/PROVIDED
School District stated New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has an ambitious political plan set out for the state.
that, “It’s going to cripple school dis- sign team on January 7 to find alter- more money the federal government
tricts, because it’s coming at a very nate ways to reach the government’s is willing to fund. Two competitive
bad time.” The superintendent also budget target for the Medicaid cut. funds are offered: both are worth
admitted that by passing a tax cap, In a sense, the team’s goal is to pro- $250 million; one for schools which
the district had to cut 102 programs vide better services for less money.
improve performance in the classbecause they drive up local cost.
As for mandate relief, the Gover- room, and the other for districts that
The budget, as Cuomo puts it, has nor also proposed putting together find administrative savings through
three flashpoints: Medicaid, educa- a team of officials that eliminates efficiencies and shared services.
tion funding, and state/local man- any unnecessary state mandates.
Overall, Governor Andrew Cuodates. His solution to “the Medicaid This team will be headed by Larry mo’s solution on how to transform
problem” was modeled off a program Schwartz, former secretary to Gov- New York’s problems is to set up prostarted in Wisconsin by Jason Helg- ernor Paterson, and current senior grams such as the Medicaid Redesign
erson. The industry and government advisor to Andrew Cuomo.
team which is efficient, agreeable,
both met with each other and negoFor education funding, the main and gets results. As Cuomo ended,
tiated on accepting a budget target, response was to rely on funding “They’ve seen the ugly, they’ve seen
which they ended up meeting by from the federal government. In the gridlock, they’ve seen the corredesigning the government’s Med- this case, by means of competition, ruption. Let them see how beautiful
icaid program. Cuomo, inspired by the higher numerical formulas New the government can be when it cothis idea, initiated a Medicaid Rede- York school districts receive, the operates and is enlightened.”
guest speakers, advanced concepts and solve competition-level problems.
In the most recent Princeton University Math Competition, held last November 2010 at Princeton, IMC won
3rd place in the Power Round, 3rd place in the team round
of the main competition, and 4th place in overall ranking.
The team also plans to compete in the final rounds of the
Mandelbrot Contest.
ICSD Budget Proposals Revealed
By LARRY GE
On Tuesday March 15, the ICSD
and Ithaca community got their first
look at the 2011-2012 ICSD budget
as proposed by the administration in
a Board of Education Special Budget
Meeting.
Speaking to a crowded room, Ithaca
Teachers Association President Susan
Mittler opened the meeting by urging
the Board of Education in a time of
“widespread stress, uncertainty, pressure and fear where unions and workers are scapegoated for…the continuing effects of the recession” to “look
at the reality of those who work in the
school district and treat them with respect…”
Attending the meeting were a large
group of teachers, some holding “No
Teachers Left Behind” signs or dressed
in black, mourning the lack of a settlement in the ongoing teacher contract
negotiations.
The meeting was then turned over
to board member Josh Bornstein, who
encouraged the general public to be
more active in the Budget planning
process and urged them to attend the
meetings or make use of the literature and material available online. The
board also encouraged special “budget-watching parties” in which people
could gather and learn about the budget as well as submit questions and
comments online.
Dr. Brown then went on to discuss
the specifics of this year’s budget; he
stated that major sources of cost increase for the 2011-2012 school year
included unforeseen “escalations” of
health and retirement benefits, and
that cuts would need to be made. However, Dr. Brown was also careful to not
specifically use the word “cut.” “In our
proposal, you won’t see the word ‘cut,’
and you won’t see the word ‘reduction’…The things we’re doing are called
‘adjustments’ and ‘efficiencies,’” said
Dr. Brown in his presentation.
The budget that Dr. Brown is proposing, what he calls his Tier 1 proposal, would include a budget of
$103,685,818 with a 2.9% tax levy increase based on the current expected
state aid levels. In his Tier 1 proposal,
there are several reductions of teaching
positions, or FTE’s. At the elementary
school level there is a proposed net loss
of one FTE, which Dr. Brown justified
with decreasing enrollment rates. At
the high schools, the Tier 1 plan calls
for 7.9 FTEs. Another aspect of Dr.
Brown’s plan is that he is calling for a
minimum of fifteen students per class,
but he was quick to say they were not
explicitly cutting any courses. The Tier
1 plan would also call for the adjustment of two FTE Vacant Maintenance
positions, in addition to the cutting
one FTE Maintenance Clerical. Other
efficiencies that Dr. Brown mentioned
involved power management: automatically turning off computers at
night, and changes to bus routes.
Dr. Brown also presented two more
budget proposals: the Tier 2 and Tier
3 plans. These would come with a
1.9% and 0% tax levy increase and less
money in the budget respectively. Dr.
Brown argued strongly in favor of the
Tier 1 budget over the Tier 2 or 3, stating in his own words that the Tier 3
proposal “would hurt us.”
When asked what surprised him
most about the budget development
process, Dr. Brown spoke frankly and
said, “What surprised me was the lack
of trust in the process.” He stated that
too often it felt like a “us versus them
mentality…[yet] nobody is going to do
anything to hurt the children.”
The meeting on March 15 only covered the Operations component of the
budget. A meeting on Curriculum and
Instruction will take place on March
22 at 7pm in the Board room. The final
budget vote will be on May 17.
After the presentation, a brief period for public input was opened. The
public was allowed to ask questions on
the operations and maintenance aspects of the budget, but when Shirley
Kennedy, English Department Head
at IHS, asked whether salaries would
remain stable under Dr. Brown’s budget, the question was not answered by
the district because it was a function of
collective bargaining, and the school
district is currently in collective bargaining with the union.
The budget process is far from over,
and meetings in the coming weeks will
be of particular interest to students and
the general public, as they will directly
affect what happens in the classroom.
Features
Current Affairs: The Egyptian Uprising
Protesters join together in Egypt to fight for political freedom.
By REHAN DADI
An unprecedented number of revolutionary
waves and protests have been taking place in the
Middle East and North Africa since December
2010. To date, Tunisia, Egypt and Libya have seen
revolutions of historical consequence, and many
other Arab and North African countries have seen
major protests. The protests have shared similar
techniques of resistance, including strikes, demonstrations, marches, and rallies, as well as the coverage of Al Jazeera, and use of such social media
websites as Facebook and Twitter (to organize,
communicate, and raise awareness). The uprisings
in Tunisia and Egypt, which have ended in regime
change, have been called revolutions.
Numerous factors led to the protests, including
government corruption, dictatorship, human rights
violations, unemployment, and extreme poverty.
In Tunisia, the protests began in December 2010,
following Mohamed Bouazizi’s self-immolation in
protest at police corruption and mistreatment. Due
to similar problems in the region and ultimately
successful protests in Tunisia, a chain of unrest has
started, followed closely by protests in Algeria, Jordan, Egypt, and Yemen, and to a lesser degree in
other Arab states.
To date, two heads of state have been overthrown,
Tunisia’s on the 14th of January and Egypt’s on the
11th of February. Tunisia’s revolution led President
Zine El Abidine Ben Ali to flee to Saudi Arabia. In
Egypt, after 18 days of protests, President Mubarak,
who had ruled Egypt for 30 years, resigned.
Some American media initially colored these
events to look like a radical jihadist attack. For example, in a recent interview with Bill O’Reilly, the
famous television host Glen Beck stated that the
uprising in Egypt is extremist-led and part of the
jihadist movement. Beck stated, on a video posted
by the Huffington Post, that he was sure the uprising “is being orchestrated by the Marxist Communists and the Muslim Brotherhood.”
The U.S. has been the major supplier of weapons to Egypt and has supported a puppet leader in
place named Hosni Mubarak. Through the use of
U.S.-supplied modern weaponry and multiple &
advanced surveillance systems, Mubarak was able
to crush any opposition to his rule for decades.
He was the longest-serving Egyptian
ruler since Muhammad Ali Pasha,
who ruled Egypt from 1769 to 1849!
Mubarak continued his rule through
sham and orchestrated elections over
the years.
Beginning on January 25, 2011, a
popular uprising called for Mubarak’s
resignation as president of Egypt. On
February 1, Mubarak announced that
he would not seek another term in
the upcoming presidential election.
However, he hired thugs to break up
any protests occurring. He also appointed on January 29 a new prime
minister, General Omar Sulaiman,
who was the intelligence chief of the
vast repressive Egyptian internal security, and who also worked with the
Bush administration to illegally rendition prisoners for torture. These
steps were clearly not acceptable to
the Egyptian public, who are mounting larger protests as this column
goes to press. The anti-government
protesters have been mostly peaceful;
most deaths and public damage are
caused by Mubarak’s own troops and
hired thugs. Mubarak finally resigned
on February 11 due to intense public
PHOTO/PROVIDED
pressure.
Egypt is struggling to attain the freedoms we in
the United States have enjoyed for over 200 years.
But instead of supporting these revolutionaries who
are attempting to gain basic freedoms, our government has supported the tyrant for 30 years. Many
ignorant or misleading commentators in the U.S.
media are calling the uprising an act of extremist
terrorists. The Obama administration was late in
asking the Mubarak administration to step down,
and this indecision and prior support for the regime will create anti-American sentiment to grow
within Egypt.
As the famous Egyptian historian and professor,
Noury Alkhaledy, predicted back in 1961, “Egypt is
tired of rule by royalty. It hungers for democracy.
One day that is what will happen. It will likely not
be long. There are tenets within the better parts of
Islam that can guide democratic government, not
in the ways Westerners believe, but nevertheless
that can work.” The United States needs to rethink
its position in this conflict, support the people of
the entire Middle East and North Africa region to
achieve their basic and natural rights, and help it
move towards a true democracy.
Teacher Feature: Mr. Weissburg
By MEDEEA POPESCU
Steve Weissburg’s first mathematical revelation came when he was observing his mother cut brownies. He
realized that there was a relationship
between the number of cuts and the
resulting number of brownies. Based
on this, Steve deduced his first formula—the number of brownies is
equal to (n+1)(n+1), where n is the
number of cuts, both on the horizontal and the vertical. He was eight.
Despite his obvious mathematical
genius, Steve never wanted to be a
math teacher: “The one thing I knew
that I wasn’t going to do was set foot
in a high school again.” After studying engineering in college, he joined
the Peace Corps for two years. This
was when he first encountered teaching: rather than build bridges and
schools in Africa like he signed up
for, he got a call telling him he would
be teaching math to children—in
French.
Two challenging and interesting
years later, Steve knew he still didn’t
want to make teaching a career. He
had various other jobs in the States—
cabinet-making, carpentry—but it
“wasn’t satisfying.” At the age of 30,
he decided to become a teacher.
When Steve applied for a job at
IHS, people told him not to bother.
The Math Department hadn’t hired
people in years. Luckily, Steve was,
as he said it, “in the right place at
the right time.” He started out teaching Honors Geometry, his passion.
The first year was very challenging
because in the same year he also
bought a house and his wife had a
child. “It was an insane first year,”
said Steve. Since then, he has never
looked back.
Almost everyone knows Steve as
“the guy with the Converse shoes,”
his trademark fashion statement. It
started six years ago, when he was
co-department chair of the Math
Department. Because students and
teachers often wanted to discuss issues and ask questions, the two chairs
wanted to divide the responsibility.
They decided to each buy a pair of
gold converse and wear them on alternating days, to let people know
who to talk to. It worked so well that
every year, they got a new pair.
After 11 years of teaching, Steve
has about 15 pairs of Converse, because “people just give me sneakers;” he even has a pair autographed
by a student who majored in math
at Harvard. And finally, his favorite
part of his job is teaching motivated,
unique students at IHS.
Features
March 22, 2011
Ciao Restaurant Review
As a “casual fine dining, Italian restaurant,” Ciao’s
atmosphere provides a warm, elegant area for families
and friends to dine. The restaurant is dimly lit, with
a cocktail bar for those who just want a drink or to
grab a quick bite to eat. Ciao’s newly installed granite
tables, new chairs and appliances, as well as a woodfired stove, give the restaurant a polished, new, clean
family feel.
Although the restaurant is still very crowded since
it opened very recently, guests were seated within 45
minutes despite the packed parking lot. Once seated,
a simple menu of drinks of coke brands, milk and iced
tea were offered. After drinks, there were a variety of
appetizers, including the antipasto platter (imported
Italian meats, roasted peppers, tomato bruschetta), Kalamata olives & Caprese salad, eggplant rolatini, grilled
chicken wings, calamari fritti and zucchini, and mussels marinara. Entrees include classic Italian favorites,
like their wood-fired pizza that comes with a variety of
toppings, as well as lasagna, fettuccini alfredo, grilled
panini, butternut squash ravioli, and a variety of salads.
The food took a long time to arrive, especially since the
pizzas had to be cooked. After waiting a while for our
food, we received large, hot plates with large portions.
The lasagna was well cooked and the sauce was excellent and creamy, as was the Alfredo sauce. The pizza
was crispy, and cooked so you could taste the woodfired flavor. However, almost all entrees seemed to be
heavy in cheese, so be cautious of food allergies. If you
are still hungry after entrees, a platter of deserts is displayed. Desserts include classic cakes like cheesecake
and chocolate cake.
Overall we would give this restaurant three and a
half stars out of five. Although the sauces were tasty
and the pizza was unique, there was just too much
cheese incorporated into the food, leaving some of
us with stomachaches. Also, the food took a while to
make. However, the menu was reasonably priced, so
Highly Biased Politics
By ALEJANDRO YOUNGER
I honestly had no clue what
I was going to write about
this month, so I went to my
favorite newspaper, The New
York Times, for current ideas.
If you have never had the joy
of browsing the NYT website,
I highly recommend it...especially if you recently became
a second-semester senior and
don’t have much to do.
While browsing NYT Online, I saw an article on the
murder of a prominent Ugandan gay-rights activist, David Kato, who was murdered
brutally with a hammer in
his home Wednesday, January
26, 2011. While I am pro-gay
rights, I am not outspoken
about the matter. However, I
am in serious need of an article topic, and so I should tell
the world (read: The Tattler’s
reader base) why I think homosexuals have the right to
marry.
First, some background on
Uganda and Mr. Kato’s death.
Uganda is one of many African countries with strong
anti-gay policies, but only
recently gained attention for
considering a bill that makes
homosexuality punishable by
death. Next, Mr. Kato’s death
is rumored to be connected
with three American Christian evangelists who went to
Uganda and preached that
“the gay movement is an evil
institution [whose goal is]
to defeat the marriage-based
society and replace it with a
culture of sexual promiscuity.”
Background completed.
I find it hard to eloquently
state why I think gay rights
iPhone
should be granted; put simply:
they are people too. They are
no different from you or me,
except in their preference of
partners. However, I am much
better at finding fault in the
arguments presented by antigay movements. First, the idea
that gay people want to ruin
marriage-based society is ridiculous. Correct me if I am
wrong, but have they not been
campaigning for years to have
their marriages recognized?
(Or is that just a tactic to cover up their evil plot? Ya, that’s
probably it). The next thing
is the idea that God hates homosexuals, or that God intended marriage for only man
and woman. To those who use
God as their argument, I say:
Go back and read the Bible. I
mean, wasn’t Jesus’ big thing
continued on p. 11
we recommend it if you are looking for a different dining experience from any other restaurant in town.
PHOTO/MANSI VOHRA
By YUQI YANG and JULIE STOVER
Ciao! restaurant located on 2 Hickory Hollow Lane in Ithaca, NY..
GLOBAL
LINGUIST
Commonly Used Words of Japanese Origin
By REHAN DADI
anime
Japanese animation; refers to animation in general in
Japanese
bento
a single-portion takeout meal; box lunch
4G
By KHALID VREDE
PHOTO/PROVIDED
clearer onscreen image: 326ppi (pixels per inch) in
its 8.9 cm (measured diagonally) 460x640 display.
The fourth-generation iPhone was released in
The iPhone 4G also includes high-definition
June 2010. The most recent development concern- video-recording capabilities with two cameras: one
ing the product was its release
front-facing camera intendto the Verizon wireless neted for video chatting and the
work on February 10 of this
typical rear camera equip
year. Qualified Verizon cuswith an LED flash. Manutomers were able to pre-order
factured by LG and designed
the iPhone 4G starting from
by Apple, it will also serve as
February 3. When the iPhone
a mobile hotspot for up to
4G was released in mid-2010,
five other devices such as the
its main selling point was the
iPad, the second generation
introduction of “face time,” a
of which is expected to be
new app that allows iPhone usreleased in 2012.
ers to video chat with incomThough issues with the
ing callers.
iPhone 4G’s external anThough most of the media
tenna and rear camera have
features from earlier iPhone
been reported, the phone
versions are still present and
has been met with generally
relatively unchanged (think
positive reception. In 2010,
books, movies, music, games
over 600,000 people pre-orand web/email access), the
dered the iPhone 4G, makiPhone 4G does have some
ing it the most pre-ordered
new and innovative features.
Apple device to date. Studies
It measures 4.5 inches high,
have also been conducted
2.31 inches wide and .37 inchcomparing the iPhone 4G
es deep, making it 24 percent
to its rival smartphone, the
thinner than its predecessor,
DroidX concerning several
the iPhone 3G. This shrink
different categories, in most
in size is due largely in part Verizon’s introduction of the iPhone has contrib- of which the iPhone just
to the insulated stainless steel uted to the product’s increased popularity.
barely surpassed the Droid.
external antenna used to acOverall, the iPhone has recess the Internet through the iPhone. It also has ceived favorable reviews and is now finally enjoyed
an increased pixel density, which contributes to a by Verizon users.
fugu
the meat of the toxic pufferfish; must be prepared by specially trained chefs by law
kabuki
a traditional form of Japanese theater
karaoke
“empty orchestra”; entertainment where an amateur singer accompanies recorded music
keiretsu
a set of companies with interlocking business relationships and shareholdings
manga
Japanese comics; refers to Japanese comics in general
noh
a major form of classical Japanese musical drama
otaku
a geeky enthusiast, especially of anime and manga (the
Japanese usage has a much stronger negative connotation
than the Western usage)
shogun
the title of the practical ruler of Japan from most of the
time between 1192 to the Meiji Era of the 19th century
tycoon
“great prince” or “high commander”; later applied to
wealthy business leaders
zaibatsu
a “money clique” or conglomerate
6
Features
March 22, 2011
rememBerinG viCtoria ChenG
By RACHEL POLLAK
A
few
weeks ago
we lost our
wonderful
friend, Victoria Cheng.
Victoria
came to the
high school
at the beginning of her
sophomore
year
and
immediately graced us
all with her
PHOTO/PROVIDED
loving presence and loyal friendship. These numerous
friendships will always hold strong, regardless
of the fact that she isn’t with us anymore. As
we grew close with her, we realized just how
truly wonderful she was. She was always on
good terms with everyone, and was loved by
all. She was a great listener, and she could always be counted on for the best advice. She always knew how to make everyone feel better,
and was always ready to pick her friends up or
come see them, anything to make life easier;
to make people happy.
Vicky was an accomplished tennis player
on the Varsity Tennis Team ever since moving
to IHS. She was so consistent, almost never
letting the ball off the court. She always had
an expression of calmness on her face, and
never got upset if the match didn’t go her way:
she just laughed it off. She was such a joy to
watch and cheer for, and always cheered
her own teammates as well. When some
players left to do homework or hang out
with friends, Vicky stayed until the end of
a match, sometimes after dark, just to cheer
her teammates on. Even if she didn’t win a
match, she had a positive attitude that she
maintained off the courts as well, always a
smile on her face.
If there is one thing Vicky was, it was genuinely selfless. She constantly put the happiness of her friends over her own, and was
always there for them to help them through
any problem they might have. If her friends
were in a fight, Vicky always stood on middle ground until they were friends again.
She was always bringing people together,
creating new friendships that we will cherish forever. It is just so sad to think that that
night nobody was there for her. From this
terrible accident, it is essential that we learn
to always be there for our friends as Vicky
always was.
Losing Victoria is certainly the hardest
thing many of us have ever gone through.
It isn’t often that anything happens to one
of your closest friends that takes their life.
Even though Vicky is gone, we keep her
with us all the time. Every day as we go
about our daily lives, she is with us, laughing at us when we do something silly, and
hugging us when we fall down.
We will never forget her beautiful smile,
her laugh, and all the love she blessed everyone with. She was truly an amazing person who brought out the best in everyone.
We will never forget her. She will always be
with us in our thoughts and memories.
PHOTO/PROVIDED
UGANDA
continued from p.5
tolerance and love for all mankind? (Nope, not
possible. Jesus wasn’t a hippie). I was certainly not
the best Christian during my stint, but I am positive that Jesus also told us that God loves everyone, even the sinners (phew, at least I am safe).
I am going to force myself not to harp on why
I despise religion, but I will say that using God
(read: perverting God’s message) to justify antigay ideas is a good example of why religion is a bad
idea. However, there is hope! In the comments on
the NYT article, I found gems such as this: “Listen up, Christians. Jesus wouldn’t hang gays. Stop
the hate.” Finally, a sensible use of God’s message.
And lastly, I leave you with my favorite comment
on the NYT article: “I’ve never had a gay person
try to recruit me, but I’ve had many Christians attempt that. They knock on my door and accost me
on the streets. Even on Sunday mornings, when
I just want to sleep, they bang their bells. And
they target children on those Sunday mornings. If
Christians just lived in the closet, I wouldn’t mind
them so much.”
Gay rights activist David Kato, defended equal rights for homosexuals in Uganda before his death.
write
PHOTO/PROVIDED
for The Tattler
email [email protected]
Arts
Section continued on p. 11
&
The Johnson Column
The Fighter Packs A Punch
Unpacking the Nano:
´´´´
An Investigation of the Latest People’s Car
By PETER PILLARDY
By INGRID SYDENSTRICKER
PHOTO/PROVIDED
Imagine trying to pursue your
dream while surrounded by the family you love. Imagine that this family
is also trying to help you accomplish
your goals in life. You tenaciously
endure setback after setback for this
dream but after a while, you start to
question if what you’re doing even
makes sense anymore. Then, you
meet someone who opens your eyes
to what is really going on in your life:
your family is the one thing holding
you back from what you’ve always
wanted. Welcome to The Fighter.
Based on a true story, “The Fighter” is a boxing film set in the small
town of Lowell, Massachusetts. It
is the story of Mickey Ward trying to have a successful boxing career and the opportunity to be in
the welterweight championship. He
does this in the shadow of his older
brother, Dicky Eklund, who became
the “Pride of Lowell” for defeating
Sugar Ray Leonard in a championship fight but then succumbed to a
life of crack addiction and, in this
Bale stars alongside Mark Wahlberg, in a standout perforway, left his boxing dreams behind. Christian
mance as washed-up boxer Dicky Eklund.
After participating in fights set up
by his mother and Dicky, Mickey loses most the choices he made. Mickey would make
of the fights and is referred to as a “stepping choices that his family thought were right,
stone” by many people in the town. After his but in the end would only hinder his boxing
continued losses and a bout of depression, career. Only when he met Charlene did he
he begins seeing Charlene Fleming, who start to see this.
becomes the voice of reason in his life. She
The movie was directed by David Russel
is the first person to show Mickey that the and starred Mark Wahlberg as Mickey Ward,
reason that he continues losing isn’t actually Christian Bale as Dicky Eklund, and Amy
him: it’s his family.
Adams as Charlene Fleming. The movie has
The main difference I found between this been a project Mark Wahlberg wanted to do
film and other inspirational boxing mov- for a long time due to his friendship with
ies was the noticeable lack of actual boxing Mickey Ward and seeing him as the “local
scenes. Though Rocky-esque at times (I even sports hero” growing up in Lowell, Massafound myself humming “Eye of the Tiger” chusetts.
during some scenes), the main focus of the
Though all of the acting in the movie was
film was Mickey’s relationship with his fam- done well, the one that stood out the most
ily and how this family dynamic influenced to me was Christian
continued on p. 12
The Nano is a revolution. It costs $2,200 dollars, weighs 1,320
pounds, and is forever changing Indian society. The project, to design
the world’s most affordable car, began in 2003 under the direction of
Tata Motor Chairman Ratan Tata, and has exploded into one of the
most important changes in India.
Unpacking the Nano, at the Johnson Museum of Art until March
27, is a look into the design and impact of the automobile. Featured
at the center of the exhibit is the car itself, with each part’s structure
and function explained: the innovation process, fancy mechanical
terms, and how it ties back into Indian culture. For instance, originally there were to be no doors on the car, but rather a type of curtain
or sheet; however, this would be impractical during monsoon season
and would give the car less legitimacy. There are now four doors on
the vehicle.
The walls of the exhibit portray the inevitable societal changes the
Nano has brought to India and what it now represents. The Nano
equals 150 sacks of rice, two scooters, or five Blackberries. It contains
1,500 fewer parts than standard cars and has significantly smaller CO2
emissions compared with American vehicles, at 7,700 ft3 per year of
CO2. Two balloons are also part of the exhibit: one portrays monthly
CO2 emissions, while the other portrays yearly CO2 emissions emitted by the vehicle.
The Nano is set to revolutionize India
continued on p. 12
PHOTO/PROVIDED
Our Rating:
The Nano is on display at Cornell’s Johnson Museum of Art until March 27th.
Ithaca Underground Finds New
Venue and Fresh Acts in January
By LEO WINTERS
On Thursday, January 7, Ithaca Underground
hosted a show in its brand new venue, the Greenstar Annex. It was a little tough to find the place, as
it is tucked away in the back of an alley down the
street from Greenstar with a sign on the building
that says “Class Act” instead of “Greenstar Annex.”
But when I entered, I was greeted with a familiar
scene: instruments and amplifiers being set up, a
table of CDs, LPs and flyers for upcoming shows, a
few groups of people huddled together chatting, a
row of unfamiliar college-looking kids with piercings and skinny jeans leaning up against the wall.
Everyone was cramped together in a corner walled
off from the rest of the building, which you could
see was a huge warehouse over the short, white
walls.
The first band to go on was Kaboosh!, a kind
of folk band featuring Parker Callister and Conor
Stanhope, who spent the set switching between
banjo, guitar, drums and a keyboard. They impressed the crowd with yelling vocals over catchy,
indie-folk jams.
Next up things got a lot louder with a brand new
band—formed from veteran performers Corey Mahaney ‘11, Peter Pillardy ‘11, Dylan Wells ‘11, Alex
Reposh ‘10 and Kyle Rothman ‘11—called DAADs.
The group came out dressed up like stereotypical
dads, in flannel shirts and baseball hats, drummer
Pillardy in a suit, and singer Rothman barefoot in
a shiny, red, Hugh Heffner-esque robe. The group
delivered hectic, booming noise punk songs that
sounded equivalent to what the effect would be if a
bunch of crazy, rambling homeless people started a
Black Flag cover band. And I mean that in the best
way possible.
Following the insanity that was DAADs, things
quieted down for Underground River, a band from
Binghamton consisting of only guitar, keyboard
and vocals, along with what I think was sound clips
from one of the member’s iPcontinued on p. 12
in focus:
centers
From The Archives: IHS in the 70s
Straight from our cluttered archives, the IHS Tattler gives you a mishmash of all things 1970s. What was Mr. Drix up to? What were the
major events? Who were the hotties on the hockey team? You name it, we got it. So read up on home away from home and get groovy...
Mr. Drix becomes World Champ Winker (1974)
Smoking (1970)
Severin Drix, a math
teacher at IHS, became
the Worlds Singles Tiddlywinks champion Saturday,
Nov. 30th after defeating
title Holder Bill Renke in
six games of a best-of-seven
tournament.
Mr. Drix qualified for the
championships after winning
the North American singles
title last spring. He called
himself and “up and down” IHS’ own World Singles Tiddlywinks champion.
Once again, tradition has bowed to the forces of
change. As usual it was a long time in coming. And
unfortunately, it has not gone far enough.
The new smoking policy, permitting smoking in
designated outdoor areas but prohibiting it in buildings, does not seem to solve the problem. It has failed
to eliminate the stigma associated with smoking.
Why is smoking prohibited indoors? The School
Board has failed to present adequate reasoning for denial of an indoor area.
Sure, smoking is a health hazard. But a high school
student who smokes will do so whether or not the
school condones it. He’s made up his mind. And is it
any better for his health to smoke outdoor than in>?
It’s probably worse.
Maybe it’s a fire hazard then. But so is smoking in
the teachers’ lounges. So is illicit smoking in bathrooms.
Is there a lack of suitable place indoors to smoke?
No reasonable objections have been found to using the
lobbies of A or C buildings, among others.
The fact is that prohibition of an indoor smoking
area maintains an atmosphere which is inconvenient
and unhealthy to smokers and non-smokers alike. In
bad weather will students stand out in the cold or rain
to have a cigarette? No, they will use the bathrooms as
they always have, creating miserable conditions for the
non-smoker.
And permitting indoor smoking would eliminate
the air of defiance which many smokers are forced to
assume.
The students who asked for new smoking regulations deserve more than they got. Of course they were
wrong to cause the disruptions that they did. Some
even admitted that they were wrong in not waiting the
two weeks for the Board’s decision.
But when the Board nearly rejected any change
whatsoever in the policy, even the moderate nonsmoking students at the meeting could not help be infuriated and sense the frustration felt by the others. It
is pathetic that it took as stand by a group of parents to
cause the Board to adopt a change.
What is the Board’s reasoning? Not all the Board
can be condemned; a minority was sincere in their efforts to gain a change. But it appears that the Board as
a whole only went as far as it felt it had to in making
its decision. And then it dumped the burden on Dr.
Graves by leaving the details up to him.
The Board doesn’t want to get into hot water with
public opinion. But maybe they ought to risk it for
once. They are supposed to act in the interest of the
schools; maybe they should look at it from the students’ point of view.
The students at IHS should use their present smoking privileges responsibly. If they do, then perhaps the
Board will reconsider. An indoor area might not be the
most politically wise solution, but it’s the most logical
and the most just.
player, with about a 30%
chance of winning. Mr. Drix
described Renke’s play as being completely unshakeable,
very steady and reliable.
Apparently Renke’s style
is not completely unshakeable, as Drix won the first
three games of the tournament on Friday quite handily. Drix said it “was a well
played match” won by his
good play and not Renke’s
bad play. Fluke shots also
helped Drix win.
Gym Goes Bisexual (1971)
By Mary Brazo
PHOTO/PROVIDED
Public smoking, as seen everywhere during the 1970s.
PHOTO/PROVIDED
By David Hecht
By Peter Campbell
Last year, in the Physical Education Department,
the idea of co-educational gym classes was under
consideration. This idea has been modified and developed into the system which is being tried this year.
So far the program has been successful, but it does
have its growing pains. One member of the department feels the biggest problem has been the amount
of schedule changes.
The students’ attitude in general has been favorable, and classes have been going well. Beside the
co-ed tennis, golf and swimming; co-ed skin diving,
beginner and intermediate swimming, life saving,
bowling, and badminton will also be offered this year.
There are a few other schools that are involved in this
type of program, most of which are in the Rochester area. One that has been exceptionally successful
is Greece Olympia. They are in their fifth year of the
program and have developed it into a kind of elective
system. Cortland is also trying the program for the
first time.
Sometime during the year after both students and
teachers have gotten used to the classes, the students
will be asked for an evaluation. Since the program is
still under development, student opinion is important. Perhaps future classes could be modified more
to suit student needs and tastes.
McDonald’s vs. IHS: Shaken Up (1970)
By Dave Plane
McDonald’s:
This milkshake proved to be the best bargain of the three. It cost us only 2.81 cents per ounce, but probably wasn’t worth much more. Lacking a sufficient amount of chocolate and ice cream, it still only barely beat
out the Carrols [restaurant] shake by one vote in the blind fold test. Despite this, the board judged it to be of
sufficient quality to merit an Acceptable rating.
The School’s
An incredibly dense milkshake, it passed all our tests with flying colors, all that is, but one. The Glob test is
a standard milkshake rating tests which is based on the amount of time one standard teaspoon of milkshake
takes to drop back into the cup when the spoon is held at a 45 degree angle. Generally speaking, the longer
it takes to drop, the thicker and better the milkshake. If this commonly accepted rule is true, then the school
milkshake must be by far the best ever invented as after nearly 5 ½ minutes it still hadn’t dropped. At this
point the test was ended by an overzealous panel member who “accidently” licked the spoon.
Test
McDonald’s
IHS
Weight
10.627
6.521
Price
30 cents
20 cents
Darkness (Chocolateability 1-7, 7 is darkest)
2.71
3.87
Price per ounce
2.81
3.07
Thickness (1-6, 6 thickest)
3.19
6
Bubbles (No./sq. cm)
7
less than 1
Size
Medium
Monstrous
Glob Test
7.2 seconds
--
March 22, 2011
Inquiring Photographer (1970s)
What Is A Greaser?
“Someone who wears white socks,
uses hair oil, and slicks his hair
back every morning without a part.
Sometimes he pinches a wave (in his
hair)!!” -Mrs. Clark
What is a Hippy?
“Long hair on a guy, grubby
clothes, long beards, and lazy. He
does his own thing and is cool.”
-Marlene Rollins
“Someone who has really long
hair and shoots acid in his kneecap.”
-Winton Rossiter
good singing.”
-Andrew Bulkey
What is a Jock?
“Something you wear around your
waist so your thingies don’t fall off.”
-Kirby Wuori
A Woman President?
“Shirley Chishom. It would be a
good breakthrough for both blacks
and women.”
-Dorian Howard
“A person who is obsessed with
increasing his muscles or something
like that, or destroying people who
aren’t jocks. They don’t appreciate
“I don’t think that a woman could
make a good President. They don’t
have what it takes.”
-Angie Centini
Feminists Fight
Discrimination
(1970)
Fifteen girls and two female faculty advisors, Miss Beth Reeves and Miss Janet
Riggs, are the cores of the new IHS chapter
of the women’s rights movement. The group
is planning exhibits to increase awareness
among students of discrimination against
women, reading programs to educate girls
about the problem, and discussion sessions
to develop unity.
The organization’s goal is to strike at the
discrimination of female at the high school
level where attitudes are still flexible. Discrimination is found:
• In male feelings of superiority
• In unequal pay and unequal opportunity for jobs
• In a society which does not encourage women to pursue careers
• In enrollment quotas of colleges
and graduate schools restricting the number of women
• In the family structure which forces
the household chores and child care upon
the wife
Polling by Scott Bierman and Jay Heck (1972)
Recently, the Tattler conducted a poll among students from all three grades (only 10-12 at the time) in an attempt
to discover the political distribution in Ithaca High, 200 students were randomly selected and asked two questions:
If the national elections were to be held tomorrow and
you were eligible to vote, who would you vote for to be
President of the United States?
When you come of age, with what political party will
you register?
Candidate
No. of Votes
Party
No. of Registrations
President Nixon
95
Democratic
63
Senator McGovern
67
Republican
59
Governor Wallace
3
Independent
20
Pat Paulson
2
Liberal
15
Craig Abbotts
2
Communist
4
Senator Proxmire
1
Conservative
3
Eugene McCarthy
1
Polish
1
“Hoot” Gibson
1
Undecided/Don’t Care
45
Jim Turk
1
Undecided/Don’t Care
27
Is U.S.S.R. Falling Apart? (1970)
By Gil Crawford
It has become apparent in the last two months that
the U.S.S.R is in its worst crisis brought about by a
chain reaction that includes three major events. These
can be divided into three categories: crop failure,
Foreign Policy setbacks, and shortage of consumer
goods.
The first problem, and the greatest of the Soviets, is
the massive crop failure in the major food staples such
as wheat, potatoes, and sugar beets. This year’s crop
failure is the worst since 1963, because of the incredibly poor weather, putting produce down 10% to 15%
from 1971. In Russia the historic implication of crop
failure in political unrest and strife.
The second big problem facing the Soviet is their
foreign setbacks. In China the bitter conflict over the
disputed Sino-Soviet border still rages. Talks are again
struck, this time with no hope in the near future. In
the Middle East, Russian military personnel were expelled from Egypt. This is a major blow to Soviet influence in the Middle East. The U.S. Sixth Fleet has
just reserved a new port in Greece, much to Russia’s
dismay. Iran and Iraq are still insisting that they in-
crease sales of vital oil to the U.S. and Western Europe
market.
Increasing trouble in Eastern Europe has put the
U.S.S.R on the defensive in diplomacy. In Rumania
there is an increase in anti-Russian sentiment in the
population and in the government. In Albania the
open hostility with Russia has not cooled and she has
new alliances with Peking. Hungary has just adopted
a new farming style. In Czechoslovakia, the underground fire still burns after the Russian invasion of
1968. Who knows when the fire shall burn to the top
and ignite all of Eastern Europe into bloody revolution?
The Russian government has fallen on hard times
all across the world and the Russian doctrine of revolution through warfare may be dying a slow death.
In recent years, the Russian consumer has been
complaining bitterly about the lack of luxury goods.
Russia has spent all her industry on building space
programs and military defense. Now the Russians feel
the need for more of the luxuries that the Americans
enjoy.
In the near future we may see China taking over the
position of Mother of Communism.
The everyday encounters with male feelings of superiority bother women the most.
“Men denigrate our ideas just because we
are women,” insists Miss Reeves.
“Examples exist in cases of women administrators and professors” says Miss
Riggs. “The male professors and administrators dislike them and distrust them just
because of their high positions.”
Male dominance is here at the high
school. Miss Reeves has noticed that boys
dominate classes, and have more outside interests while the girls revolve around boys.
Members of the IHS group recognize men as stronger than women, but as
one member, Dianna Visek, points out,
“Strength is becoming less important in our
society.” Feminists reject as a myth the male
argument that women are mentally weaker
than men.”
To many men, it seems logical and natural that women should be in charge of the
children. Mrs. Hubbard feels “ Our civilization is advanced enough to disregard ‘logic’
in this case and free women for careers.”
Why don’t men take the women’s rights
movement seriously? The feminine reactions are: ”Something new is always laughed
at”, “Men can only think of women in their
traditional role of wife and mother”, “Men
may be afraid that they will no longer be
‘mothered,’” and “They feel threatened by
women who want equality.”
“Some males feel that women join the
rights movement as an escape; that they are
unsuccessful at being feminine,” reports Lewanne Jones.
“Just because some of the very radical
feminists are masculine-looking and some
are lesbians, the males use them as symbols
of the entire movement, “Miss Riggs explains.
The IHS organization follows the views
of NOW (National Organization of Women), a moderate group , more than those for
the more radical Women’s Liberation, and
the ultra- radical SCUM (Society for Cutting-Up Men), a man-hating group they
consider ridiculous.
Feminists are pleased with the national
coverage they are receiving from the mass
media. The IHS group is optimistic; awareness is growing rapidly, much has been
done since the 1950s and women are using
the 1964 Civil Rights Bill to take their cases
to court. The national movement is growing and the IHS movement is growing but
it is still new. Miss Reeves understand that
“The girls are a little frightened at what they
are doing.”
10
March 22, 2011
Top Ten Books (1972)
1. The Exorcist – William Blatty
2. Future Shock – Alvin Toffler
3. Summer of ’42 – Herman Raucher
4. The Hobbit- J.R.R. Tolkein
5. Slaughterhouse Five – Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
6. Summer of the Red Wolf – Morris West
7. Catcher in the Rye – J.D. Salinger
8. The Godfather – Mario Puzo
9. Love Story – Erich Segal
10. 1984 – George Orwell
Top 10 Records (1972)
1. Mountain – Flowers of Evil
2. Abraxas – Santana
3. Aretha’s Greatest Hits – Aretha Franklin
4. Bangladesh – George Harrison
5. Band of Gypsies – Jimi Hendrix
6. Live at the Regal – B.B. King
7. Tapestry – Carole King
8. Chapter Two – Roberta Flack
9. Madman Across the Water – Elton John
IHS’ 1972 production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. PHOTOS/ANDREW GILLIS
10. Teaser and the Firecat – Cat Stevens
This December, 1975 Tattler article
reports on the IHS Varsity Girls’ swim
team, which appears to have just as
successful a record as more recent
teams. Features of the paper during
this time period were the photos taken
by Ithaca Journal photographers.
Draft Responsibility Faces American Young Men Today (1969)
By Colleen Ryall
One of the responsibilities facing young men today is the draft. All American males between the ages of eighteen and twenty-six are eligible for the
draft, and are required to register at the local draft board within 5 days of their
18th birthday.
To register, one goes to the board and fills out a registration form. He is then
classified according to his status, which is determined by his job, education,
marital state, etc. If he is classified 1A, the draftee is required to take a physical
Deferments are also given according to statues, i.e. only draftees who are
classified as 1A are drafted. Young men who join Vista or the Peace Corps are
also deferred; however, they are once again eligible for the draft after their
term with either of these organizations is finished.
Of those men who are classified 1A, the oldest are drafted first. Their tour of
duty is two years, and the pay is approximately $110 a month. Many of the men
who are drafted will be sent to the war in Vietnam, however some will also be
sent to Korea, the Mediterranean, or other areas where the U.S. has bases.
Draftees who have a brother in war, whose fathers were killed in military action, or who are the sole supporters of the family will not be sent to the battle
front.
Of course if a would-be draftee does not wish to fight, there are other openings available to him. He may dodge the draft by going to Canada, burn his
draft card, or simply refuse to go. The penalty for draft dodging is usually a
prison term. There has never been an incident of this nature in Ithaca.
The other course of action open to a young man who opposed the battle
is to become a Conscientious Objector. Draftees who wish to be classified as
a “C.O.” must first state their beliefs to the draft board members, who make
the final decision on this classification. Although a C.O. will not be sent into
battle, he is still eligible for the draft, and will probably end up doing paper
work.
After his tour of duty is completed, a draftee is eligible for government aid
programs which loan money so that the veteran may among other things; set
up a business or continue his education.
11
March 22, 2011
A&
Arts
Black Swan: The Best
Kind of Nightmare
´´´´1/2
By LEO WINTERS
(Mila Kunis) who exhibits every aspect
of the black swan. She smokes, comes to
rehearsals late, and stays out every night,
club hopping. Thomas quickly takes a
liking to her, for which Nina feels threatened. Lily constantly makes friendly advances at Nina, asking her if she wants
to hang out, but Nina always turns down
her offers. However, she soon gives in,
and they go out together for a night on a
town which results in some...interesting
situations, and from that point the film
spirals into a psychological nightmare
with the feel and atmosphere of a horror
film thought up by David Lynch.
So, I left the theater having gotten
exactly what I had hoped for: a genuinely frightening and incredibly unique
film that leaves you thinking about it afterwards for days. If you have not seen
“Black Swan,” go ASAP because it is, in
my opinion, the best film to come out
since Inception (and it probably will not
be in theaters much longer). Those of you
who think you’re too cool or macho to
see a ballet movie, I guarantee it’s scarier
than any Rob Zombie slasher film you’ve
seen recently, and those of you looking
for an innocent drama about the arts, I
suggest looking elsewhere.
When I first heard about the movie
“Black Swan,” I did not have much interest in seeing it. Frankly, a movie with
Natalie Portman starring as a ballerina
did not sound like my cup of tea, but
the film had rave reviews, and was frequently referred to as an “intense psychological thriller,” which finally peaked
my interest. Plus, it was directed by Darren Aronofsky, the director of one of
my all-time favorite films “Requiem for
a Dream,” so I decided that was reason
enough to go see it. I ended up being
very glad that I did.
The story revolves around Nina, a ballerina in New York who shares her apartment with her extremely overprotective
mother. In an otherwise very slow and
normal beginning, her mother‘s creepiness served as a precursor to how weird
things were going to get later on in the
film. Nina dances in a high-end ballet
company, run by artistic director Thomas Leroy, a smooth-talker with a thick
French accent given to sexually harassing his ballerinas. Thomas has decided
to replace veteran
dancer Beth for the
company’s upcoming production of the
famous ballet Swan
Lake. Nina is initially his choice for the
replacement—however, the lead has to
embody the personalities of both the
“black swan” and the
“white swan.”
Nina has the
“white swan” part
down pat; she is controlled,
innocent,
and timid; however,
the role also requires
her to become the
white swan’s counterpart, the black swan,
who is everything
the white swan is not:
lecherous and intimidating. Thomas constantly tells her she
needs to “let herself
go” in order to become the black swan,
but she can’t. Then Natalie Portman shines, as a mentally-unstable ballet dancer, in the
along comes Lily role that earned her an Academy Award for Best Actress this year.
continued from p.7
The King’s Speech:
a Royal Success
Our Rating:
´´´1/2
Colin Firth’s portrayal of King George VI’a speech impediment
brings his otherwise lofty royal persona down to earth.
PHOTO/PROVIDED
By khalid vrede
PHOTO/PROVIDED
Our Rating:
&
The critically acclaimed movie “The King’s Speech” was released in
the United States in November 2010. The film was directed by previously
Emmy-nominated Tom Hooper and written by David Seidler. It chronicles the real events that took place within England’s royal family during
the 1930s, specifically centering around King George VI and his faulty
auditory skills. Lionel Logue is called upon to help the king resolve this
issue due to his position as a public figure.
In the end, he not only helps George VI conquer his problem but also
serves as a vital friend to him in his time of need. As stated by the writer
and director, the film accurately portrays real events, most of which were
acquired from a journal written by Lionel Logue stating many of the techniques he used to treat the king. Some artistic liberties were reported to
have been taken, but not in vain. The movie presents an interesting adaptation of history and a gripping plot that will have you rooting for George
VI the entire way through.
The film begins with George VI (Colin Firth) and his wife (Helena
Bonham Carter) awaiting an address that is to be made by George. When
he finally takes the stand, he struggles to read his speech and is ultimately unable to finish. The film cuts to a scene of the
continued on p. 12
TRON: Legacy: No More Than Eye Candy
Our Rating:
´´´
By ELISE (YUQI) YANG and JULIE STOVER
We were excited for “Tron: Legacy” after seeing its
mesmerizing previews, and loved the colorful costumes and props as well as the special effects. As it
turned out, the special effects were as breathtaking
as we had expected. The 3D was nicely incorporated
into the film, and was not, thankfully, overbearing.
Also, the costumes had fluorescent lights woven into
them, which we thought was really cool and unique.
However, although the special effects were amazing,
the same could not be said for rather lacking plot.
The movie starts off by introducing Sam Flynn
(Garret Hedlund), a tech-savvy but somewhat rebellious 27-year-old. Sam’s father, Kevin (Jeff Bridges)
was once the best video game developer in the world
and the CEO of Encom. However, Kevin mysteriously disappeared 20 years before, after having told Sam
about a miracle that could change the world. As time
passes after Kevin’s disappearance, everyone, includ-
Flashy effects make for a visuallysatisfying sci-fi flick.
PHOTO/PROVIDED
ing Sam, eventually believes that Kevin ran away.
This causes Sam to be bitter and to refuse to take responsibility as the primary shareholder of Encom.
Then, one day, Kevin’s old friend Alan tells Sam
that he got a page from the Flynns’s old arcade. Sam
goes there to investigate and discovers a room with
a computer and a laser. Sam is then pulled into a
digital world known as The Grid, in which his dad
has been trapped for the past 20 years. Sam soon
meets Clu, a program that Kevin created to perfect
The Grid. However, Clu is now evil and plans to kill
Kevin as well as Sam. Sam is saved by a mysterious
girl named Quorra (Olivia Wilde), who takes him to
Kevin. As the story unravels, the viewer learns that
Sam and Kevin have eight Grid-hours to get to the
portal, which will take them back to the real world.
However, they must risk their lives to get past Clu
and his minions.
Overall, we would give this movie three out of five
stars. The plot was rather unoriginal, but if you can
get past that, the movie was visually stunning and
featured some cool technology.
12
FIGHTER
Bale as Dicky Eklund. The way he plays the character shows convincingly a man who tries to be
a helpful role model to his younger brother but
cannoot accomplish this due to his crack addiction. The character shows a man with a problem
but does not label him as a terrible person because
of this. He is a person who happens to be addicted
to crack, not a crack addict.
One of the biggest issues I had with the movie
actually had nothing to do with the acting or the
script but with the soundtrack chosen. With songs
ranging from the Red Hot Chili Peppers to various
classic rock songs such as Led Zeppelin’s “Black
Dog,” I felt that the film could have benefited from
a more fitting soundtrack. At times when appropriate music could have complemented what was
happening on screen, there were overplayed songs
from 40 years ago.
Overall, I felt that “The Fighter” was a pretty
good movie depicting the inspirational underdog
story of Mickey Ward and how his relationship
with his family changed. Though it is a boxing
movie with surprisingly few boxing scenes, the
most important fights actually take place outside
of the ring, between members of the family. It is a
well-told story that shows the importance of family even if they are causing problems, and of having the tenacity to succeed against all odds.
KING’S SPEECH
A&
March 22, 2011
couple seeing an evidently unreliable
doctor in an attempt to treat George’s
speech impediment. The doctor’s unorthodox methods make clear their
desperation, which inevitably drives
George and his wife to the practice of
Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush), an old
actor specializing in speech therapy. At
The Fighter is propelled by a strong supporting cast, including Melissa Leo (left) and Amy Adams (not pictured).
first George is skeptical, but after the
doctor’s methods seem to work, he begins to attend sessions regularly, eventually leading up to a speech George
must give concerning a national matter. Clever dialogue and wit pepper the
immaculate classic ‘30s rooms, occupied by the intimidating ensemble of
HELP WANTED
email [email protected]
for more information
continued from p.10
through mass production of a true “people’s car”: affordable, accessible, and practical. Tata Motors may
swamp the nation with these little metal critters, bringing a new quality of life to this growing nation.
And why Nano? “Nano” means superior technology and smaller size. It was the dream, it was the
goal, it is reality.
Also currently at the Johnson:
Splendor of Dynamic Structure: Celebrating 75 Years of the American Abstract Artists
Salvatore Grippi: Selected Works 1945-2009
The Stories Objects Tell: Life in Latin America Before Columbus
UNDERGROUND
continued from p.11
lion worldwide. At the 83rd Academy
Awards, the film sweeped multiple
awards, including Best Actor, Best Directing, Best Original Screenplay and
finally, Best Picture. Any moviegoer
who wishes to see a smart and uplifting
movie with a happy ending will greatly
appreciate “The King’s Speech.”
and most of all,
cartoonists,
columnists,
superb actors. Members of different
social classes and their unique difficulties is also an explored theme.
“The King’s Speech” was met with
very positive reviews, with a “fresh”
score of 96 percent from Rotten Tomatoes and the highest per-theater gross
revenue of 2010: more than $300 mil-
PHOTO/PROVIDED
photographers,
The Tattler needs
JOHNSON
continued from p.10
continued from p.10
ods. The best
way to describe them
would be a
dark Western
movie
in audio format, because
of their very
cinematic,
bluesy
sound.
After their
set was over,
Rochester
band Attic
Abasement
Noise-punk band DAADs performs at the Greenstar Annex on 700 W Buffalo St. in Ithaca, NY.
took the stage
to finish off the show. The band, consisting of guitar, bass and drums, was touring for the
release of their new album, “Dancing is Depressing.” The band had a lo-fi indie rock sound to
them accompanied by low, bummed-out vocals from singer Michael Rheinheimer.
If you missed this show there are plenty more coming, and I suggest you go to one, because
if you haven’t yet, you’re seriously missing out.
writers.
My Take
By Geoff Preston
the nfl Crisis
How does one split a 9 billion-dollar pie? This is the
question facing the Owners and Players Union as they
attempt to do what some consider an impossible task:
fix a league that does not need to be fixed. Despite being the most popular league in the country by far, the
NFL is threatened by what seems like an inevitable halt
that could bring drastic changes to the game we all
love so much. Commissioner Roger Goodell has proposed adding two more regular season games to bring
the total to 18. This increase in games would coincide
with cuts to retired players’ health care package, a hotbutton issue among former and current players. Both
sides have been using the public as a negation tool as
they attempt to get the most powerful force in the entire process on their side: the fans.
This got me thinking: fans in these types of negotiaPHOTO/PROVIDED
tions are usually ignored unless they are implored to
lend their support to one side or the other. Fans drive idea that spews from his mouth. Everything he says is
the entire existence of the NFL. The NFL would not ex- a contradiction. How can you care about player safety
ist without us masses attending games, buying jerseys, when you want them to be put in these dangerous situand paying 11 bucks for beer after beer. We are the ations more often and with less of a cushion after they
reason the NFL has $9 billion in revenue to fight over. retire?
We are also not being represented in the labor negotiaNow this may sound like we, the fans, support the
tions. I believe someone needs to represent the fans, so players in these negotiations. Don’t be fooled. It is hard
I have taken it upon myself to do just that.
to find sympathy for a group of people who get paid
Let me start out by stating that we are sick and tired absurd amounts of money to play a game that most
of being used in the media as a negotiation tactic. We of us would play for free. A huge mistake that Players
don’t care about the millionaires who are fighting with Unions often make in trying to gain public support is
billionaires. We want one thing out of these negotia- assuming that they are like any other union in Ameritions: football on September 8th, 2011. And not a new ca. Forgive me if I see glaring differences between the
kind of football that screws up what is already a per- Steelworkers Union of Pittsburgh and the NFL Players
fect scenario; we want football the way that it was last Association. It doesn’t matter how these negotiations
season, and so should the owners. 32 teams, 16 games, turn out or what percentage of the revenue the players
12 total playoff teams, 4 teams per division. It is like are able to weasel away from the owners: they will still
poetry; it is a beautifully painted mosaic that doubles make more in one year than 97 percent of all Amerias a perfectly working machine. Everything not only fits, but fits beautifully.
Every other sport has fallen ill to the
“over-expansion” syndrome. The NBA,
MLB, and NHL all believe that making the season 6-8 months somehow is
a good thing that would not cause the
fans to lose interest. You play 162 games
in baseball. I would argue that roughly
40 percent of those games don’t matter
at all. In the NBA and NHL it’s the same.
This year the Lakers have fallen ill to
simply being bored by the length of the
regular season. When was the last time
Tom Brady and the Patriots got “bored”
by the regular season? When the regular
season becomes boring, you know your
sport needs major tweaking.
The NFL risks falling into the overexpansion category if they add two more
games. The whole idea makes no sense
from the start. Rodger Goodell has been
preaching player safety to the point of
angering current and former players by
changing the way the game is played.
He argues that players are getting bigger, stronger, and faster, and precautions
need to be taken to ensure the safety of
current and future players. Apparently,
a precaution counts as adding two more
games worth of violent collisions. How
does that make any sense? This comes
at precisely the same time that Goodell
is proposing cuts to benefits for retired players. That college education
he received at William and Jefferson is
flushed down the toilet with every stupid NFL Fans demand no change to the 16-game football season.
cans will see in their lives. I am trying but failing to find
any sympathy. While the Players Union does make
legitimate claims about not wanting an 18-game season, that’s about the only place where the fans and the
players agree. Every sports writer and talking head has
drawn analogies to their career or the careers of others
in reference to what the NFL players are fighting for.
I find major problems with this line of thinking. I’ve
always felt like playing in the NFL, or any other professional sports league, is more of a privilege than an
occupation. I’m not saying that what these players do
isn’t difficult or time-consuming, but let’s get real: they
play a game for a living, and we love them for it, but it is
still a game. This isn’t like a teachers union fighting for
a pay raise. This union is unique because of the sheer
amount of money that changes hands.
As I sit here writing this, the March 4th collective
bargaining deadline has finally struck midnight. Usually the 11th hour brings with it some kind of negotiation miracle. In happened with baseball in 2002, it
happened in the NFL in 2006. It doesn’t seem like any
miracles are in the works here, which means a lockout. The only question is: how long will it last? This is
where the fans want to make their demands. We demand that the owners and the players take this dead
time in the football season to work out their insecurities with money and realize that the product they have
put together is the best in the world. We demand that
when the leaves begin to turn color and the blistering
summer heat begins to subside, we can look forward to
16 games of regular-season NFL football. Former New
York Jets and Kansas City Chiefs Head Coach Herm
Edwards was quoted on ESPN: “Don’t mess with the
cha cha.” To the NFL, the fans say: for the love of God,
leave the cha cha alone.
PHOTO/PROVIDED
14
March 22, 2011
An Interview with Coach Armstrong
By SIENA SCHICKEL
Over the years, the Ithaca boys’ hockey team has
consistently been a top-notch team, climbing higher and higher every year with a gradually growing
number of wins. A key part of every effective and
high-achieving sports team is always the coach.
Richard Armstrong, an English teacher at our very
own Ithaca High School, also coaches the boys’
hockey team, as he has been for seventeen years.
He took over the position as coach with a team at a
high level of expectation. “I took over the year after they won state championships. So I inherited a
team that probably didn’t have quite the talent that
they did the year before, but that’s where everybody
starts out,” he said in an interview.
The hockey team has had a successful season so
far with ten wins, two losses, and one tie within the
league and two more non-league wins. They have
won Section III Championships in the years 1998,
1999, 2000, 2003, 2004, and 2007. The Division I
Quarterfinals this year is scheduled for March 5,
and will take place at the Lakeshore Hockey Arena in Rochester against Greece, the team that beat
Fairport on Sunday, February 27th with a score of
4-2. When asked about their position to win Quarterfinals this year, Coach Armstrong said “It is fifty-fifty, I mean at this time of the season, you end
up with about eight teams left. Everybody has had
some success, so you have to have a good day.”
Coach Armstrong was born here in Ithaca and
played hockey growing up. He became an English
teacher at what was then Boynton Junior High
School for three years, and then later an English
teacher at Ithaca High. He began to coach hockey in
the 1994-95 season, and has been leading the team
to success ever since. He maintains the reputation
of the team that was state and section champions
with Coach Cicchetti seventeen years ago. Coach
Armstrong took over Art Cicchetti’s twenty-two
Pujol’s Contract Claim
Needs Some Perspective
Lombardi Trophy Comes Home
By Dylan KaiseR
By Paul Westin
PHOTO/PROVIDED
On February 6th 2011,
the Super Bowl took place.
The game was incredibly
close. The two competing teams were the Green
Bay Packers and the Pittsburgh Steelers. The game
was definitely not boring
and the team that most
people were rooting for
(the Packers) won. This
was the first super bowl
victory for the Packers’
new quarterback Aaron
Rodgers, who also became
the MVP of the game. The
only dissatisfying aspect of
the game was the halftime
show performed by The
Black Eyed Peas, which
was rife in both technical
and performance difficulties. Singer Fergie usually
gives solid performances,
but on Super Bowl Sunday
she was spotty at best. This Green bay Packers Matthews and Raji celebrate after
can be attributed to micro- they defeat the Steelers in the 2011 Superbowl.
phone issues, or to her “complete lack why they won their very first Super
of talent” as some commented.
Bowl. This was a great honor for the
In the middle of the halftime show Packers since the trophy was origithe camera must have been acciden- nally theirs. Getting the trophy was
tally turned off, or must have been a like Lombardi never died and is still
very cheap camera, since it switched to with them for the rest of the year, unbars and tones for about three seconds. til, of course, the next Super Bowl rolls
The reason most people watched the around (ha ha).
Super Bowl, however, was for its funny
Not only does this mean that the
commercials. Although the commer- Packers are the champions of the year,
cials this year were pretty hysterical, but the expectations for next season
some people were expecting funnier are also very high. This is a good sign
commercials than were delivered. For for Packers fans, as we love it when exthose of you who didn’t watch the Su- pectations are heightened.
per Bowl but still want to watch the
To wrap up this article for those
commercials, you can find them all on who know the Packers’ icon on their
YouTube.
helmet (a capital G) it doesn’t stand for
As a Packers fan I enjoyed the game Green Bay. The name Packers came
and the commercials, though not so from the meat packing industry. And
much the halftime show. However, the “G” comes from the word “greatthat was just one aspect of the game ness.” And they are a great team to win
that is used to keep people from leav- their first Super Bowl in over a decade
ing during halftime.
and have their prized trophy come
The trophy awarded to the winning home to them. For this epic victory the
team was named after the Packers’ first Packers and their quarterback Aaron
coach Vince Lombardi. Lombardi may Rodgers will join an elite fraternity of
have gone hard on his team but that is NFL immortals.
year coaching career, and continues to bring forward achievements every year that upholds Ithacan
pride.
Coach Armstrong seems to be very confident in
his team, saying in an article for the Ithaca Journal
that, “I’ve been very blessed with the kind of kids
that I’ve had and they’ve done what I’ve asked of
them. I have to pass the credit around with all my
assistant coaches and the great kids that we’ve had.
It’s been an awful fun time.”
The future for the boys’ hockey team definitely
has some victories to look forward to with a steady
stream of strong modified players moving up every
year, and with Coach Armstrong leading the way.
When I asked Mr. Armstrong about future plans, he
said, “I have had some success, some accomplishments... The only thing I need to prove every day
is that we’re going to get better in practice. I don’t
have a five year plan, or a ten year plan. It’s what can
we do to help these guys be successful right now.”
Is it just me or are good guys gone
from sports? In the wake of the steroids
scandal in baseball and a lockout imminent in the NFL, with neither players nor
owners willing to budge, it seems to me
that people involved in sports are getting
more and more self centered and greedy.
Until now it seemed we had at least a few
good men left, but alas it does not appear
to be.
I speak of Albert Pujols, and his contract negotiation. Pujols emerged as the
ideal baseball player as the steroid era
was being slowly revealed, a perennial
MVP candidate who spoke out adamantly against using
steroids. He had
incredible team
loyalty to the
St. Louis Cardinals, signing a 7
year extension.
That contract
is set to expire
at the end of
this season. The
Cardinals want
to sign Pujols
to another extension, to keep
him from testing the waters
of free agency.
Pujols
wants
to be made the
highest payed
player in the
league, reportedly asking for
a 10- year $300
million dollar
contract.
Allow
me
to repeat that:
10-year $300
million dollar
contract. That
would be paying him an average of $30 million a year,
something no player has ever gotten, and
would have him signed through the age
write
email [email protected]
of 42. I do not think there is much debate
that Pujols deserves a raise, and based on
his consistent MVP-caliber performances
he deserves to be paid similarly to baseball’s best. That is now. In ten years, even
in five or six years for that matter, there
is no way that Pujols will be putting up a
.320 average, 40 homers and 120 RBI’s. It
needs to be understood that baseball players will decline and that should be kept in
mind in contract negotiations. Stan Musial, the epitome of the good guy and fellow
St. Louis Cardinal, once wanted management to cut his pay because he had an off
year and didn’t think he deserved it. And
that was from $100,000 dollars to $75,000
dollars. So why can’t Pujols understand
that as his numbers decline, so should his
massive salary? I guess that’s just for the
good guys to know...
for The Tattler
PENULTIMATE
FACT or FALLACY?
By KELSEY SHANG
On the chopping block: “The U.S. has
not only tested the largest number of
atomic bombs, but on our home soil.”
Atomic bombs: massive, awe-inspiring, destructive. For many years, nuclear
weapons have been the subject of fears
concerning Armageddon or the threat
of melting off your face. Upon thought,
what comes to mind? One would exclaim:
“mushroom clouds, radiation, war, Hiroshima,” etc. While all these are true in our
nation’s history, Nevada never seems to
surface first in people’s thoughts.
Ever since 1945, the U.S. has conducted nuclear tests on a regular basis.
Although history classes greatly emphasize the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, they hardly mention the routinely
nuclear testing on our own soil. From
July 1946 to October 1958, over 1,054
nuclear tests and two nuclear attacks have
been recorded. Over 900 of these operations have taken place in the Nevada Test
Site. Other sites are located in New Mexico, Colorado, Mississippi, Alaska; most
of these tests have been atmospheric,
or above ground, where the trademark
“mushroom cloud” is most recognized.
After the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
in 1963, designed to slow nuclear fallout
(residual radiation from explosion) and
The Insert
the nuclear arms race, all tests were performed underground.
To illustrate the magnitude of the
number of nuclear tests, the list below
shows a ranking of major international
powers in terms of such tests (*note: all
values are approximated as actual data is
disputed):
United States: 1,054 tests (at least 1,151
devices, 331 atmospheric tests);
USSR (formally): 715 tests (involving
at least 969 devices);
France: 210 tests (50 atmospheric, 160
underground);
United Kingdom: 45 tests;
China: 45 tests (23 atmospheric and
22 underground);
India: 6 underground tests;
Pakistan: 6 underground tests;
North Korea: 2 tests.
Chocolate can help you live longer.
Chocolate has antioxidants that can protect you against heart disease. Dark
chocolate has eight times more antioxidants than strawberries. The flavonoids help
relax blood pressure by producing nitric oxide.
Dark chocolate has the most antioxidants. A small bar every day can help lower
your blood pressure and cholesterol. Chocolate also has serotonin, which acts as an
antidepressant.
Also, while chocolate has fat, most of the fat in chocolate does not impact your
cholesterol. Chocolate is still high-calorie and high-fat, so you need to eat in moderation. You don’t need more than about 3.5 ounces of chocolate to receive the
benefits.
Nuclear testing has literally left its
mark on the world. Nuclear threat and
arms races continue to exist in the global
community, abetted by the desire for
advancement and dominance. The U.S.,
alone, has conducted approximately half
of the total number of nuclear tests globally. While one may argue the ethics of
such rigorous testing, it’s fascinating to
observe such a bombastic history of destructive attraction.
The Verdict: FACT.
A man married a pillow.
A Korean man named Lee Jin-gyu fell in love with a life-sized Japanese body pillow called a “dakimakura.” The pillow has the image of a cartoon character named
Fate Testarossa on it, from an anime called Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha.
The 28-year-old man takes his pillow with him everywhere, and eventually got
married to it.
This is actually part of a broader cultural phenomenon. There is a growing subculture of men in Japan who engage in romantic relationships with pillows printed
with cartoons. People who have difficulty with romantic relationships with real
(3-dimensional) people instead find themselves attracted to 2-dimensional anime
characters.
Courtesy of OMGFacts.com
A Taiwanese woman married herself.
On November 16, a bride was left standing at the altar ... and could not have
been more happy about that fact! 30-year-old office worker Chen Wei-yih sees this
act as a commitment to love herself before she can begin to love others. The ceremony was a full wedding with all the usual components - minus a groom. Chen
has been in several relationships and does not consider this marriage to be binding;
meaning that she will still be free to marry whomever she chooses once she feels
the time is right.
Quiz: Who Were You in a Past Life?
By ANNELISE RAYMOND and NAOMI RAYMOND
1) How would you spend a snow day?
a. sit inside with a blanket and watch TV
b. invite your friends over and have a block party, with
blaring music
c. make cupcakes with your sister, and do snow angels
in the front yard while they’re baking
d. take your dog sledding — dress her up with a scarf
and hat and take pictures of your day out together
e. try out the science kit you got for your birthday, and
make a model volcano
2) You’re at an SU basketball game, and an annoying
old lady behind you, who may appear to the unknowing
eye as a sweet, innocent grandmother, keeps shrieking
“Defense!” at the players — right in your ear. As if they
don’t know. Finally, you’re fed up. What do you do?
a. turn around and hiss at her
b. laugh it off. Think about how you’re going to tell
your friends when you get home.
c. buy her cotton candy from the vendor as a “neighboring seats” gift. When she’s eating, she won’t be yelling.
d. mimic her. Shriek in your most annoying voice two
seconds after each time she does.
e. kindly inform her of the difficulties caused to your
eardrums and carefully explain your grievances with her
shouting
3) Which dance would you be most willing to do at
Winter Formal?
a. grinding
b. breakdancing
c. ball dancing
d. the Cotton-Eyed Joe
e. the grapevine
4) Your parents tell you they’re planning on buying
tickets for the Light in Winter Festival this year, and want
you to weigh in on which event to attend. Which do you
choose?
a. A Closer Look at Composting in the City
b. a rock concert with songs that have lyrics about sci-
ence (e.g. “The Element Song”)
c. a theater dinner
d. a stand-up comedian
e. a lecture on the relationships between science, art,
architecture, philosophy, and authorship
5) What was your favorite “Pretend” game when you
were little?
a. pretending to live in a cardboard box
b. pretending to be a TV show host from your little
theater
c. using your sheets to create pretty princess dresses
— add a tiara, and voila!
d. pretending to be animals, and crawling around the
house trying to imitate your dog
e. pretending to be president of all your stuffed animals; lining them up so they can listen to your speech
6) What is your ideal valentine to send?
a. those cards you buy in the store, which you give to
everyone in your class
b. take them ice-skating
c. send an elf to sing a romantic tune (with personalized words) and give roses to your “true love”
d. a dancing teddy bear, wearing a shirt covered in
hearts, that sings “You’re Still the One”
e. a candlelit dinner
7) Which sandwich would you get from Ithaca Bakery?
a. Sherwood Forest
b. California Dreamin’
c. The Parisian
d. The Octopus
e. Milestone
8) You’re doing a room makeover. What would be the
theme for your dream room?
a. natural earth tones, with a chocolate brown beanbag chair in your reading nook. A thick brown canopy
over your bed to help you feel cozy.
b. a music-note border, and a huge old-fashioned
boombox. A retro theme, with a bookshelf of old records.
c. pretty and pink. A butterfly bedspread, garden border, and glow-in-the-dark flowers on your walls.
d. fuzzy orange shag carpet, a jungle wallpaper border,
and stuffed animals overflowing a hammock hung in the
corner
e. geography-themed. Ancient maps hung on the
walls and a globe hung from the ceiling in the corner. A
model solar system is strung across your room.
9) What station would you listen to on the radio?
a. NPR
b. 95.5: the top hits of today
c. Broadway songs
d. Country cowboy music (103.7)
e. the “Oldies” station
10) What kind of collection would you start?
a. acorns
b. CDs
c. sea glass
d. your cat’s whiskers
e. quarters from every state
What letter did you get most frequently?
Mostly a’s — You were a dung beetle in a past life!
And you must have been a good one, too, because you
got rewarded with moving up the scale to being human.
Now, you’re eco-conscious, though you have some odd
moments.
Mostly b’s — You were Elvis Presley in a past life!
You’re that hip dude who loves what’s “in” — especially in
music and dance. You’re always at the height of fashion.
Mostly c’s — You were a unicorn in a past life! You
enjoy all things magical, pink and sparkly. You’re a happy,
bubbly person who likes to fantasize.
Mostly d’s — You were an orangutan in a past life! You
may be goofy at times, but overall you’re a very funny
person to be around. You’re loud, you guffaw, and you
love animals.
Mostly e’s — You were Ben Franklin in a past life!
You’re smart, responsible and witty. You love facts and
experimenting. You’re an organized person, and are always on the lookout for new knowledge.
backpage
Horriblescopes
By Mary Malediction
Aries (March 21 to April 19): You
shall develop an insatiable desire for
Bieber’s Never Say Never this month.
Don’t forget to bring your parent’s wallet and a pack of ravenous prepubescent girls.
Taurus (April 20 to May 20): That
special someone has been giving you
the eye. It’s about time for a restraining order.
Gemini (May 21 to June 20): A few
words of wisdom from Charlie Sheen:
Clearly I have defeated this earthworm
with my words -- imagine what I
would have done with my fire-breathing fists.
Cancer (June 21 to July 22): On the
other hand, there are 5 fingers.
Leo (July 23 to August 22): SHALALALA Kiss The Crab. Sebastian is
getting lonely.
Virgo (August 23 to September 22):
Like a good neighbor, fresh dog poop is
there.
Libra (September 23 to October 23):
The early bird gets the worm, but the
late worm cheats death.
Scorpio (October 24 to November
22): People who live in glass houses
should not run around nude.
Sagittarius (November 23 to Decem-
Ask Angelika
Dear Angelika,
Valentine’s Day is approaching quickly. Although I don’t
have a date, there is someone I’m eyeing. How can I tell if he
likes me as well? How do I make him like me? I really would
like a date before the holiday. I don’t want to be alone.
-All Alone
Dear All Alone,
Wow...You’re late. No seriously, like, by a month. Sorry kid,
I’m not Angelika. She’s had an ”accident” including “stairs”
and a “month in the hospital.” The name’s Chuck, Charles,
Charlie...whatever you want it to be, babe. I’ve been rather
busy, if you know what I mean. I just winked there but you
probably can’t see it.
Ahem...well if you don’t have a special someone already,
you must have been doing something wrong...Like my exgirlfriend who violated everything good, decent and in the
name of loyalty. Anyways, here’s some tips to get the ladies...
or guys; Whatever you are, All Alone.
1. Dress Casual
If your crush is as desperate as you are, they’re probably not
going to care what you wear or how you smell. Some people,
like your mom, may use complicated words like “hygiene” or
“cleanliness,” but we all know those are just ploys to spend
money you don’t have. Don’t bother changing your underwear for a couple weeks — or your John Mayer t-shirt. Also,
for a nice smell, rub your grandma’s scented candle on any
part of your body that stinks. My ex used to smell like vanilla
cream and fresh lavender. Umm, moving on...
ber 21): You will be compelled to give
twenty dollars to The Tattler’s Backpage
Editor.... Actually, make that twentyfive.
Capricorn (December 22 to January
19): Don’t count your chickens before
they’ve finished crossing the road.
Aquarius (January 20 to February 19):
You can lead your friend to water this
month, but you can’t make him bathe.
chilldude22
Pisces (February 20 to March 20):
The stars are quite fond of Charlie Sheen
these days: I am on a drug – it’s called
Charlie Sheen. It’s not available because
if you try it, you will die. Your face will
melt off and your children will weep
over your exploded body. Fantastic.
March Madness
2. Buy Your Special Someone a Gift
Nothing says rich like a guy who can give and give. However, with this economy, who’s got the money or the time?
For example, you can volunteer to babysit some snot-filled
3rd grader in your neighborhood. Then, with no one looking, quietly borrow a cute stuffed animal or picture frame.
Just don’t get anything sharp and pointy, ‘cause the last time
I gave my ex something sharp...she...she sliced open my chest
and...and wrenched out my beating heart and tossed it into a
fire. Oh god...
3. Don’t Call Them Back
Once you’ve got that person wrapped around your finger,
tell them that you’ll give them a call. Now, this is the final
step to sealing the deal. Don’t call them back for at least five
hours. This will leave them waiting by the phone and crawling
all over you once you do finally call. This ancient technique is
guaranteed to work about 99% of the time. Just don’t be upset
if you’ve found them making out with your best friend when
they conveniently “forget their cellphone at home.”
There you have it: three smooth moves taught to you by
Ol’ Chuck here. You can take my word for it, buddy: I’m a
serious lady killer. I’ve had lifetimes of hot chicks and sweet
babes...oh, who am I kidding? Julia! If you’re reading this, just
know that I forgive you! I miss you! You can’t leave me like
this! Please...please...Erm. Ahem..sorry Loser, I mean Loner.
Good luck.
Darth Vader
-Chuck
(Ladies! Call me anytime)
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(Solution on page 2)