InFlight Issue 5, Jan 2013

Auburn Riverside Student Voice Jan 30, 2013 • VOLUME 18 • ISSUE #5

All too familiar break-in See page 5

Longtime coach steps down See page 11

Riverside joins the green teal movement See page 4

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Opinion

InFlight Jan 30, 2013

Gun control faces tough battle

Jonny Myrick STAFF REPORTER

Ever since its conception, the Constitution has always been up for questioning and various interpretations. One of the most loosely worded and most sensitive amendments is the Second Amendment, the right to bear arms. Gun laws and gun control, in order to prevent tragedies such as Sandy Hook and Columbine, have been talked about for years, but why does it take something so large to spark up the topic?

Currently the U.S. now has the highest rate of homicides in the world. It really is selfish for people to covet their freedom to own a gun more than they worry about the safety of other people. Some say, “Maybe if we give more people guns, than they can protect themselves from other guns.”

Although I see where they’re going with this, it makes no sense because at some point everyone will be armed. Then when a crime takes place and a courageous citizen steps in with his gun and fires a crip-

pling blow on the criminal, who’s to say another citizen won’t misunderstand the context and shoot the man who stopped the crime, because you certainly aren’t going to walk up to someone and ask them “Hey, you aren’t shooting an innocent person are you?” because by then you yourself could have been shot.

The reality of the situation is that guns, whether we like it or not, are always going to be a part of society, and people are always going to say what they want in order to get what they want, whether for recreational purpose or for self defense.

The New York senate has officially passed a bill with a vote of 43-18 to pass a bill of gun control that would do the following: Restrict bullet magazines from 10 bullets to 7. It also changes the definition of an “assault weapon” from a weapon with two “military rifle” features, to a weapon with one “military rifle” feature, including the all-popular pistol grip, according to Fox News.

According to the freedictionary.com,

the legal definition of “assault” is an intentional act by one person that creates an apprehension in another of an imminent harmful or offensive contact. An assault is carried out by a threat of bodily harm coupled with an apparent, present ability to cause the harm. It is both a crime and a TORT and, therefore, may result in either criminal or civil liability. Generally, the common law definition is the same in criminal and TORT law. There is, however, an additional Criminal Law category of assault consisting of an attempted but unsuccessful battery.

Hypthetically the term “assault weapon” is completely relative and can mean any kind of weapon. Example: Hold on, let me go into the kitchen and grab my assault spoon.

It seems that each side of the idea of gun laws has counterpoints. Stricter gun laws will reduce misuse of guns. But when have criminals ever followed the law? It’s a Second Amendment right to bear arms. So that means we can let you buy them with-

out a proper background check?

Gun laws have always, and I’m sure will continue to be, one of the biggest constitutional issues this country faces. The realism of the situation is that it really is impossible to stop gun-related crimes unless we just eliminate guns completely.

Criminals are criminals for a reason; they don’t obey the laws set forth to protect the people. There’s nothing we can do about that. Even when something is attempted there is always trouble. The side with opposing opinions almost always puts in favor the ideas that give them what they want, rather than considering what might be best.

It’s madness!

Large shootings are tragic. Let them be tragic, don’t turn them into some big to-do. Whatever laws and regulations are put in place will just restrict the law abiding gun-wielding citizens considering, once again, criminals don’t follow the law! The only way things will change is by criminals no longer being criminals.

With Valentine, gifts hard to buy Sierra Rader STAFF REPORTER We have all been in either two positions on Valentine’s Day: We are either the person who gives the bad gift, or the person who receives the bad gift. It happens to the best of us! We run out of time or we just don’t know what to get. When it comes to buying gifts, chill out. People make Valentine’s Day into a crazy important and intense holiday, but it’s not that hard. You may think it’s impossible to find the right gift, but the best gifts are sometimes surprisingly the most obvious ones.

On Valentine’s Day less is more. Cliché things like flowers can make her day and something as simple as food can make his.

Senior Brett Davis likes the idea of giving roses to girls. “Single roses are nice and bouquets are too.”

InFlight editor-in-chief Jaymes Fleury business manager Lisa Gray cover photo Jaymes Fleury staff reporters Mackenzie Brown Danielle Chiriguayo Phil Couture Autumn Gray Lisa Gray

How you present your gift can mean a lot more than the gift itself. Know your audience. If you’re planning to give something to someone who’s outgoing, give the gift in a public place (like school). Others might not appreciate having an audience when opening their gifts, so if you plan a time outside of school to meet and exchange gifts, then giving a gift that you aren’t confident about might go down better than expected.

It can be hard to find the right gift for someone you care about, but the important thing to do is to not convince yourself that, because it’s Valentine’s Day, it’s all about love and not about material gifts. Girls and guys alike can agree: getting an actual gift does matter. Nice poems and serenades are cute, but not if you can’t hold a song.

Sometimes it helps just to treat the holiday like a birthday and get a gift you would give them if they were turning a year older.

If you really are struggling, you can never go wrong with chocolates. Allergic to chocolate? Well then, you’ve gone terribly

staff reporters Alexa Grim Jude Hanno Dylan Johnston Karlee Johnson Jonny Myrick Ariya Phaophongsavath Sierra Rader Alex Vasquez guest reporters Myra Nguyen Alex Vandenberg adviser Patrick Swenson

InFlight policies InFlight is compiled by the student newspaper staff at Auburn Riverside High School, 501 Oravetz Road, Auburn, WA 98092.

The InFlight staff strives to maintain accurate and objective reporting for our stories. However, opinion stories are included. Any commentary which is signed by the author accounts for his or her opinion only, and not necessarily that of anyone else on staff. An unsigned editorial reflects the majority opinion of the InFlight staff.

InFlight accepts student, faculty, and community member’s letters to the editor,

wrong and you should just give up because clearly your girlfriend/boyfriend is just allergic to love.

Advertisers will portray Valentine’s Day to be a day to buy extravagant gifts.

If you aren’t married, spending big money isn’t worth it. You have to calm down on the spending and find a gift that won’t burn a heart-shaped hole in your wallet. “Cute and simple means more!” sophomore Caprice Gauthier said.

There are always ideas for things to get someone you’re already dating, but sometimes people get gifts for someone they aren’t already romantically involved in (but they hope to be!) There is a very simple rulebook to follow if that’s the kind of gift you’re giving: Don’t. Get. Creepy. Normal things like chocolate and bears are always the best idea. Also, stick with the “To… From…” format and avoid sappy notes.

Most likely, if you’re giving them a gift on Valentine’s Day, the gift alone is enough to get them to know that you like them. Long

artwork, opinions and comments. However, we will not print any unsigned letters or work. Please contact us in room 402, through e-mail at inflightnews@yahoo.com or by calling 253-804-5154.

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notes/letters show more of an obsession versus just a regular crush.

Don’t make Valentine’s Day out to be more than it really is. All in all, it’s just a Hallmark holiday. Save the big gifts and the intense planning for birthdays and Christmas.

PHOTO COURTESY CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSE WWW.NPR.COM

Greetings from Newspaper

I’m a chick magnet!

Opinion

Auburn Riverside High School

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Westboro: potential hate group?

Ariya Phaophongsavath STAFF REPORTER

Imagine being in a military funeral for soldiers killed on the front lines. Everyone is grieving and mourning over their loved ones, the 21-gun salute honoring them for their sacrifices, and the sounds of protests and picketing are being heard 300 feet away.

Over the past decade, the sounds of protests and picketing are coming from the Westboro Baptist Church. Their words of hate foward on homosexuals, Jews, and religious figures such as the Pope.

With all these words of hate, there is no surprise that the current hot topic involves the Westboro Baptist Church. There is a petition for them to be officially recognized as a hate group. With over 300,000 signatures, which is three times the amount of signatures needed to get a response from the White House, the idea of having the Westboro Baptist Church becoming a recognized hate group might soon become a reality. Yet having the Westboro Baptist Church recognized as a hate group won’t stop them; labeling a group as a hate group has never stopped anything.

When an organization or group becomes a hate group, they are put on an unpublished list and are closely monitored. Two of the primary organizations that monitor these hate groups are the Anti-Defamation League

(ADL) and the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). Already the Westboro Baptist Church is being monitored by many other anti-hate group organizations and the SPLC. “They just want to make everyone angry, senior Dax Chambers said. “It’s all for attention.” They might as well be marked as a hate group, considering they’ve also been counter-protested by the KKK. The Westboro Baptist Church believes that God is angry at the homosexuals, Jews, the Pope and even Barack Obama, and that God is causing all the tragic events as divine punishments. They believe that 9/11 was a divine punishment and are still holding signs that say, “Thank God for 9/11.”

“I think that they’re calling themselves a hate group for doing all these things,” junior Tristen Tracey said.

With all these signs and protests blaming homosexuals, they really brought this upon themselves.

But even if Obama does officially recognize the Westboro Baptist Church as a hate group, the likelihood of the label changing anything is nearly none. “I like that

they’ll be a hate group, but I don’t think it’ll do anything,” junior Austin Husseini said.

As a hate group the Westboro Baptist Church would have to jump through hoops to do anything as a group. They would have to sign a large amount of papers to make speeches, they would have to pay taxes because they are no longer tax exempted and they would have to be fearful of the constant watch of the anti-hate organizations.

Unfortunately, they’ve proven that they would jump through as many hoops as needed when Obama signed the Honoring America’s Veterans Act. This act made it so anyone who wanted to protest stand 300 feet away from the funeral and they can only do this 20 minutes before or after the funeral, yet they still always make an appearance.

Another thing is that when the organization pays taxes, they would only have to pay $4,000 dollars, which doesn’t even make a dent on the $250,000 they already pay yearly to make those trips to the funerals.

The Westboro Baptist Church may be considered a hate group soon, and maybe their actions will start slowing down a bit.

The label hate group hasn’t stopped anyone from continuing on with their spread of hate, the KKK and NeoNazis have proven this much. The point is, if anyone thinks that this hate group petition will stop them, then they are in for a hateful surprise.

PHOTO COURTESY CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSE, WWW.NPR.ORG

Lady gamers demolish stereotype Jude Hanno STAFF REPORTER

across XBOX Live and other online gaming communities.

Senior Maryssa Lagervall has had some nasty experiences. “I’ve been told ‘women in the kitchen’ jokes many times,” she said, “and other bad things have been said that I shouldn’t repeat.”

Sophomore Stephanie Olson avoids it completely. “I didn’t want to admit I was a girl, because they’re annoying!”

Why do guys harass girls for playing video games online? “Well, XBOX is typically a guy thing and they’re just immature about it,” sophomore Kelsey Erwin said.

Throughout the virtual world of online game play, women gamers around the world are being harassed daily for playing video games. What’s the big deal, right? The big deal is the fact that they’re female. Girl gamers around the globe are constantly being criticized and discriminated against for the simple reason of being a girl.

The way women are treated in the online gaming world is unnecessary. Women not only have the equal capability to press a few buttons with their fingers, but they also have the ability to rock at it. While playing online, I hear so many comments from boys telling me to get back to the kitchen and quit playing. This type of behavior is not an appropriate contribution to the gaming community and not only does it offend women, it also brings a bad name to the gaming community as a whole.

Many students have experienced harassment from boys Freshman Cami Werden plays video games regularly.

PHOTOS BY JUDE HANNO

Sophomore Natasha Lassak agrees.

“Gaming is for guys, apparently. They’re kinda sexist.”

Lagervall views girl gamers as an entirely new concept, which is reason for boys to be rude. “People don’t want to accept the fact that girls are nerds to!”` Students of the male gender also give their input. “Girl gamers are hot . . . sometimes,” sophomore Daniel Vanegas said. “I don’t make fun of girl gamers. Well, unless they’re ugly.”

Junior Robin Mendoza takes a positive spin on the way boys react. “I think girls don’t usually play because unlike us, they have lives.” But if a girl does play? “I hope she plays Minecraft!” Mendoza does not make fun of girl gamers. “Well, because, they’re people, too.”

So many stereotypes are given to girls because they game. “The comments that are usually said are noob, scrub, telling a girl she belongs in the kitchen,” sophomore Jesus Camarillo said.

Although some of these jokes are fairly amusing, they do hurt and are completely unnecessary. There are many ways to fix this problem. For example, many anti-bullying campaigns take place across the nation for both face-to-face bullying and cyber bullying. There should also be campaigns for bullying during online gaming which would provide women a safer environment for gaming.

Junior Leah Ball (above) and senior Sam Branch (below) both spend hours gaming.

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News

InFlight Jan 30, 2013

“Kick the Can” next step in teal movement Jaymes Fleury EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Lately, Auburn School District has been Kicking the Can. Some say we should have started earlier with the haunting statistics of 617 non-recycled trays a day and practically no recycling at all. Riverside was definitely behind in this game, especially compared to Auburn Mountainview. Now our programs are identical with compost, trash, plastic trays and recycle.

Mountainview was built with a more modern and forward thinking design. Nat-

urally, their system has become a sort of blueprint for the other schools in the district to follow.

Yesterday the administration planned on ditching the paper trays entirely. Instead, the trays will be made of recycled plastic and will be washed and reused. Tray stacking stations are placed throughout the perimeter of the Commons for tray placement.

By day one of the recycling program, the student body had “cut [their] garbage amount by half,” Vice Principal Frank Ramierez said. Much of this

success is attributed to the tray restriction.

Students may not leave the Commons with a food tray until it has been properly recycled.

The school’s previous attempts in recycling failed due to pure operator error. The dozens of blue cans throughout the building had the best intentions. But if any non-recyclable item (e.g. gum, greasy plates, used tissues, spit, etc.) were thrown in amongst the mix, the entire bucket is “contami-

nated and the recycling becomes waste,” Ramierez said.The contaminated items are thrown into the trash with the rest of the school’s filth.

With this new installment of “teal” thinking, our trash output will decrease and our profit will rise. Why? Well, facilities such as schools have to pay for the trash to be taken. Each trash bill depends on the weight of the trash. Less trash plus more recycling equals more money.

PHOTOS BY JAYMES FLEURY

Riverside recently began a recycling program that includes the recycling of cafeteria items such as paper trays and bottles.

Students help newly open Humane Society Lisa Gray STAFF REPORTER On Saturday, Janurary 19, a plan was set in motion. A plan made by teacher Kelly Jensen’s Independent Living class. The plan was to spread awareness for pet licensing.

The pet fair’s theme was “Postive Change” and it was a service project organized and ran by the Independent Living class.

The class started planning all the way back in October. The class had multiple brainstorming activities to decide which organization they wanted to help. Some of the other ideas they thought of were

to bring awarness to breast cancer, animal abuse and child abuse.

“We wanted to help the animals and create a project for their grand opening,” senior Eric Melgar said.

The Indepent Living class raised $1,000 dollars, and all proceeds went to the Humane Society. They also raised $1212 through donations such as the raffle, not including the donations made by corporations like Sam’s Club, Walgreens, Albertson’s, Pet Pros, Tiki Tails and Top Foods.

“We could have had more community outreach, but the event itself was definitely a succsess,” Melgar said.

There were more volunteers at the fundraiser other than just the people in the Independent Living class. A new club, The Animal Rights Club, has recently been added to the long list of clubs here at Riverside.

The club was started by senior Laila Forghani, the club president, and teacher

Angela Rigley is the adviser. Anyone who has a passion for animals can join this club.

The next meeting is on February 7.

If you have any animal food, cleaning supplies or even toys, the Animal Rights Club and the Humane Society would love to have them.

PHOTO COURTESY KELLEY DURHAM

News

Auburn Riverside High School

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Multiple portables vandalized

PHOTOS BY ARIYA PHAOPHONGSAVATH

Seven portable windows were broken to get inside, including these.

Ariya Phaophongsavath STAFF REPORTER Portable classes were ransacked late at night on January 21. Five portable classrooms were hit all around the same time.

The thieves broke in through

the windows which they destroyed with rocks. “They threw rocks at the windows,” math teacher Ernie Zeiger explained. “Big rocks.” The thieves broke a total of seven windows.

Various items were taken from each classroom, items such as an iPod dock,

some pens, and a projector. Teacher Shawn Martinson’s classroom was hit the worst.

“They took 700 dollars of personal stuff and my camera with all of my wrestling videos,” Martinson said.

The police are involved with the search for the perpetrators. The police have lifted fingerprints off of the items that were moved around the room, but there are no known suspects.

Last year a similar incident occurred with two portable classrooms. “We did nothing last year,” Principal Dave Halford said.

“This year we’re trying to bump up security over in the portables.”

Many students feel irritated towards the actions of the thieves. “I don’t think that there was any reason to steal the stuff,” senior Judo Lata said. “If they wanted something, they could just get a job.”

Stealing for a profit has never proved easy or successful due to the police’s constant watch. “I don’t know what they’re going to do with all that stuff,” freshman Jacob Diolata said.

Because of the broken glass, many classes had to have their classes in the library. “I hate having to have class in the library just because of some selfish actions,” senior Joy Bernier said.

The incident occurred on January 21, on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. “Martin Luther King Jr. Day and they still did it,” senior Matt Lundberg said. “I just don’t understand why they would do it.”

U.S. saved from falling over the “fiscal cliff” DanielleChiriguayo STAFF REPORTER On January 1, Bush era tax cuts expired, and Congress approved new legislation in order to avoid the economic “fiscal cliff.” A fiscal cliff, by definition, is a shorthand term to describe the situation that the U.S. will undergo when Budget Control Act begins to take effect.

For months, the “fiscal cliff” was the talk of many discussions, lending itself to be a financial crisis that was waiting to happen. But in a bipartisan vote, the House of Representatives approved a new set of tax rates which will allow tax rates to rise only on the wealthy, and suspend a large amount of spending cuts necessary to the infrastructure of the country. The new legislation will shift tax rates on individuals earning more than 400, 000 dollars, from 39.6 percent to 35 percent, while allowing tax redemptions on those earning 250, 000 dollars or less.

These new rates and legislation will only last until March 31 however, and Congress will have to agree on a more permanent solution that will last for a much longer amount of time.

According to CNN.com, if an agreement had not been reached in Congress

in time, “broad tax increases would have kicked in, as would $110 billion in automatic cuts to domestic and military spending.”

If estimations are correct, the new legislation will also raise about 600 billion dollars in revenues which will, in turn, stimulate the economy.

But despite avid worries of economic turmoil, the Fiscal Cliff frenzy did boost business in the fourth quarter of the 2012 fiscal year. Banks, lawyers, and a variety of companies all reported economic growth. The Wall Street Journal reports that about 155,000 jobs were added to current businesses, and “factory output rose.”

On January 2, President Obama signed the legislation into law.

If new legislation had not been enacted, tax rates for all economic classes would have risen, and across-the-board spending cuts would have taken place.

PHOTO COURTESY CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSE, www.leftandright.com

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Feature

InFlight Jan 30, 2013

4chan’s control ruins everything Mackenzie Brown STAFF REPORTER An internet forum set out to troll any and all users of the internet called 4chan ended their year with triumph after successfully ruining a variety of online contests for big name companies such as Walmart, Papa Johns, and Mountain Dew through the process of targeting contests in which users can give their own input by voting. Although it’s debatable whether their antics are meant to be joking or harmful, they’re ability to target and take over contests can lead to some incredible results.

Back in July, Pitbull teamed up with Walmart to help promote Sheets Energizing Breath Strips. A contest was created where Pitbull agreed to go to whatever Walmart in the country that got the most likes on Facebook for two weeks to promote the product.

A writer, David Thorpe, came up with the idea to send Pitbull to somewhere crazy, like Kodiak, Alaska. That’s when the campaign started to send Pitbull away to Alaska. As soon as someone saw what was going on, the entire website of 4chan rallied up and started voting to make sure Kodiak won. After the contest was over, and Kodiak was announced the winner, it was expected that Pitbull would opt out of the contest or change his location (because it says that he can in his contract). However, to everyone’s surprise, Pitbull made a video saying that he would gladly accept the outcome and go to Kodiak.

4chan’s next target Papa Johns and Chegg created a contest where internet

nothing to do with the contest and that it was a restaurant who started it, hoping to come up with a title for a green apple soda they planned to sell.

In an attempt to start the new year off with a bang, 4chan took over the Time Magazine “Person of the Year” contest in hopes that they might get someone to win the contest that they felt truly deserved it. Like they did in 2009, 4chan took over the contest, getting users to vote for Kim Jong-un, the dictator of North Korea. After they got Jong-un to the top, they took it a step further. By voting specifically for certain candidates, 4chan was able to line up the candidates so that the beginning letter of each of their names spelled out “K.J.U. GAS CHAMBERS.” In the end, even though the editors of Time Magazine got to make the final decision, Jong-Un got the most votes with 5,635,941.

The term “anon” was originally coined by 4chan, meaning anonymous user. The anonymitity behind 4chan and other websites is what allows people to hack major websites and corporations.

Junior Emilio Paull remembers a After the end of the “Dub the Dew” contest, forum users created a prototype bottle for the winning name ‘Hitler did nothing wrong.’ time when Anonymous ruined, not a contest, but something very important to him. “The [anonymous users] hacked Sony and the Playstation 3 beup winning the contest after 4chan decided beetus.” Then, a hacker took hold of the cause their security was bad and they ruthey were the best fit for the concert. Swift website, titling the page “Mtn Dew salutes ined it for everyone,” Paull said. “Now they opted out of the contest and instead sent the Israeli Mossad for demolishing 3 tow- have super strict security.”

You can help 4chan by joining in their the school $10,000 and a ticket for every ers on 9/11!” After realizing nothing could student to attend her next show in Boston. be fixed, PepsiCo shut down the website. conquest to get enough signatures on a peMountain Dew was the next target only Later, the company claimed that they had tition to potentially build a Death Star in 2016! a month later. Users could submit name users could vote online for their favorite college to win an on-campus private concert performed by Taylor Swift. Horace Man School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, school for hearing impaired students, ended

ideas for Mountain Dew’s new green apple soda in Mountain Dew’s “Dub the Dew” contest. After 4chan took over, some of the top voted names included, “1. Hitler did nothing wrong” “2. Gushing granny” “10. Dia-

Death Star shot down by White House Dylan Johnston STAFF REPORTER On November 14, John D. started a petition to build a Death Star in 2016. By December 14, this petition needed to reach 25,000 signatures to get an official response from the White House. The petition reached the required amount on December 13, with 25,609 signatures on the petition. Because of petitions like this we now have to get 100,000 signatures on a petition for it to get recognized by the white house.

On Jan. 9, the White House responded to the petition. As of right now they are not going to build a Death Star. It would cost $850,000,000,000,000,000 to build this Death Star, and the administration does not support blowing up planets. “Why would we spend countless taxpayer dollars on a Death Star with a fundamental flaw that can be exploited by a one-man starship?” said the administration. We already have the fiscal cliff to worry about lets not make the economy worse.

There is already a football field-sized international space station in orbit around

the Earth, helping us learn how humans work and live in space. There are six astronauts who work on this space station, American, Russian, and Canadian. There are also two robot science labs roaming around Mars looking for whatever life existed there.

They are building a probe that will fly to the exterior layers of the sun, also a telescope that will be a more powerful successor than the Hubble space telescope so we can look back to the early days of the universe.

As of Janurary 16 there are 34,435 signatures on the petition. If you would like to find this response from the obama administration, you can go to https://petitions. whitehouse.gov/response/isnt-petitionresponse-youre-looking to find more information.

Maybe in the very far away future we might have enough money and resources to build such a mighty starship. But for now we can hold out on a giant planet busting spaceship.

The Death Star is an imperial sphere of death that shoots giant planet busting lasers. The concepts had been explored even before the Clone Wars, and were originally made to destroy Tarkin Doctrine. The Death Star allowed Emperor Palpatine to rule the Galactic Empire with fear.

There were three Death Stars. One was completely built by the Empire and the other two were never finished. All of the Death Stars were destroyed, the first one by Luke Skywalker, the second by Wedge Antilles and Lando Calrissian. A third was destroyed by the Rebel Alliance shortly after.

Feature

Auburn Riverside High School

7

The Matrix; film fiction or reality?

From a philosophical standpoint, there are many solid points from both sides of the equation as to whether or not a simulation theory is possible from a thought-process type of standpoint.

When thinking of the movie The Matrix, we think of Schrodinger’s cat is one prime example of the philoincredibly complex supercomputers from the future consophical idea of multi-dimensionalism. Schrödinger’s cat is stantly running a simulation of our world, controlling everya thought experiment, sometimes described as a paradox, thing we do; every possible outcome precisely calculated devised by Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger in 1935. and analyzed without the simulation’s knowledge of such The scenario presents a cat, a flask of poison, and a radioevents ocurring. A great work of fiction. But what if it’s active source all placed in a sealed box. If an internal monitrue? It may seem far-fetched; however, it was not very tor detects radioactivity, the flask is shattered, releasing long ago that people thought the Earth was flat, or that the poison that kills the cat. There the planets in our solar system is a supposed 50% chance of this revolved around the Earth. Many happening. Until an observer peers factors limit the possibility for evinto the box, the cat is in a state erything we’ve come to know to of being both dead and alive. Howbe simply labeled a simulation; ever, when the observer looks into however, it isn’t simple at all. One the box, the cat will either be dead such factor is a concurrent design or alive, which, from a philosophiof the universe, such as the Fibocal standpoint leads us to the idea nacci number that is often found in that in that situation, there are two nature, or the discovery of binary seperate events that could simultacode being linked to string theory. neously occur if simulation theory An excerpt from Philosophical were to exist; The cat living, and Quarterly by Nick Bostrom from the cat dying. the Faculty of Philosophy, Oxford So the conclusion is that it University: At least one of the folcannot be proven or disproven, lowing propositions is true: (1) the and that theories such as this have human species is very likely to go as much substance as many of the extinct before reaching a “postPHOTO COURTESY CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSE, SCRATCH.MIT.EDU other theories to the origin of our human” stage; (2) any posthuman civilization is extremely unlikely to An artist’s depiction of Schrödinger’s cat. From an observer’s perspective, the cat is both alive and dead until the box is creation. run a significant number of simulations of their evolutionary history (or variations thereof); (3) we are almost certainly living in a computer simulation. It follows that the belief that there is a significant chance that we will one day become posthumans who run ancestor-simulations is false, unless we are currently living in a simulation.

“There’s a French philosopher named Rene Descartes,” Physics and AP Calculus teacher Ernie Zeiger said, “and he is famous for the quote ‘I think, therefore I am.’ You can go through the motions of everyday life, but how can you think as you do if you’re in a simulation?”

Phil Couture STAFF REPORTER

opened.

A

ttention Ravens! Did you have a good time at Homecoming?

Are you bummed that unless you’re a senior that’s your only dance? Well get excited because this year is Riverside’s first Winter Dance.

Skip the date, the limo and the expensive dinner. Get your group of friends together, and put on your semi-formal attire and hit the dance floor.

Ladies, this is the time to pull out your favorite little black party dress or your favorite high low dress. Fellas, pull out your dress pants and a nice button down shirt. Now’s the time to wear those black Vans your date wouldn’t let you wear to Homecoming.

This dance is low stress, and low cost! It’s only $8 a ticket to dance the night away with your best friends. The dance is 8 p.m.

- 10 p.m., so don’t show up hungry. A couple good ideas for dinner would be to make a meal at home and eat with all of your friends.

Then you’re all in one place and it makes it easy to car pool. You could also just make a quick stop to McDonald’s!

Don’t miss out on this dance that ASB has worked so hard to put together for you.

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Arts & Entertainment

Apple reinvents pixel Alex Vandenberg GUEST REPORTER

Standard definition (SD) to high definition (HD) to Bluray, and now the retina display. Apple recently came out with this new technology in their 2012 Macintosh computer systems, pararticularly their Macbook Pro series. The display is phenomenal with an impressive resolution of 28801440 pixels on a 15.4” screen.

Packing over 5 million pixels into a 15.4” screen makes the pixels undetected by the human eye. The screen is without a doubt the latest and greatest display on the market. Apple is selling their Macbook Pro series with the retina display for $2500-$4500. The price tag is well worth it! For a graphics design engineer or any other careers that utilize computer design, this display will surpass any competitor. To present the point clearer, Microsoft, Apple’s leading competitor, switched to Mac computers to simplify their design projects.

Apple changed the face of entertainment again with their retina display. With an exponential amount of college students switching to Macs, it is making students have a more universal feel because of their computer compatibility. Also, huge corporations and fran-

chises have switched to Mac computers because “they just work.” Now with an additional feature, the retina display, more companies are switching over to this new generation of computing.

The retina display is rated a 4.98/5 stars from Apple customers. It was one of the top advancements in 2012, and is still impressing design engineers in 2013. Apple’s project resulted in an outstanding display, and I’d recommend it to anyone!

Sales go One Direction tinually topping the charts and blasted through the radio stations for quite a while. Overall, the album is a solid four and a half stars out of five, and is a must-have for fans of The British-Irish boyband One Direction is at it again Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, and of course, One Direction’s with their highly anticipated sophomore album, Take Me own fans.

Home. With high expectations from everyone from critics to fans after the mainstream success of their debut album Up All Night that launched their careers into overdrive, the boys from across the pond tackle their doubters head on with seventeen new tracks.

The masterminds behind their #1 hit single, ”What Makes You Beautiful” Rami Yacoub, Carl Falk and Savan Kotecha, are back at it, writing their lead single, “Live While We’re Young,” for the album. With less restraint from their management, the boys try their hand at songwriting and manage to cowrite four songs. To add to this mix, two acoustic love ballads were written by fellow British newcomer, Ed Sheeran.

Packed with a variety of songs, Take Me Home shows improvement in the vocal ability of the boys, and a more equal spread among solos. Although there are a few cheesy songs in the album, not a single song is “filler.” The boys continue to serenade girls around the world with the hopes of love, successfully bring back the popularity of boy bands, and show no sign of stopping.

If this album succeeds or even matches the success of their first album, One Direction is sure to be con-

Myra Nguyen GUEST REPORTER

InFlight Jan 30, 2013

Valentine’s Day approaches Alex Vasquez STAFF REPORTER Chocolates, balloons, and flowers. Cards, Teddy bears, and cheesy love songs. Pink, red and white. Sound familiar? No? Well, it’s Valentine’s day!

February 14 is a special day. All the lovers exchange cards and chocolates, and people hand out cards and flowers. Freshman Jessica Willfor said, “I love to give candy to people.”

This lovely holiday started around 498 A.D, but way back then it had a different meaning. Valentine’s Day really started catching on in the mid-17th century, and was well recognized in the 18th and so on, although in the past few centuries the meaning has changed according to different religions and beliefs.

“To me, the meaning of Valentine’s day is to be with someone you love, and to celebrate my mom’s birthday!” sophomore Emily Polkow said Also, some religions have different traditions for this day. Around 270 A.D, the Christian church was believed to have a Valentine’s Day feast in the middle of February to try to Christianize their celebration Lupercalia.

Around 150 MILLION Valentine’s Day cards are exchanged each year, making this the second most popular card-sending holiday after Christmas. “I still hand out cards,” sophomore Lexi Chinn said. “Even after all those Valentine’s Day parties in elementary school. I make one for every one of my best friends, so about 10.”

Still stuck on what to give that special someone? No need to fear! We’ve got your back. “I usually get really cheesy cards and then put personal notes inside,” Chinn said.

Polkow added, “I usually give a couple close friends a Teddy bear, and if they’re lucky, chocolate.”

Either way, whether it’s chocolate and a rose, or just a card, that special someone or really close friend is bound to be happy with whatever they get.

A cute balloon and a little card are a perfect gift for your special someone.

Arts & Entertainment

Auburn Riverside High School

9

Hasbro takes over Hollywood: game over!

Jaymes Fleury EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Michael Bay and Hasbro, the deadly duo responsible for painfully terrible movies, are on the case. The famous toy and game company Hasbro has struck a deal with a dearth of Hollywood studios in order to film some … films. Though subtle at first, Hasbro has been plotting this for years. The previous three Transformer films drew a “love/hate” response. Come 2014, the series will have a new installment, and apparently (thankfully), the last. But the plot thickened in mid-May with Hasbro’s classic Battleship game made into a film. There was also the forgettable G.I. Joe film, also a winner of a sequel. Britain needs some love too. So why not? Hasbro presents: Action Man. One would think the duo would have learned a lesson and halted all movie adaptations of board games. Optimism levels sank with the announcement of Hasbro’s next brainchild: Monopoly. Announced in 2008, the movie based on the game that destroys friendships will be released sometime this year. No word relating to aliens buying Park Place, but Ridley Scott is the planned director.

This next film takes the cake. Prepare yourselves for: Hungry Hungry Hippos. For

those not familiar with this game’s strategy, let me shed some light. There are four hippos attached to a pedal. You smack the pedal as fast as possible and try to collect as many white marbles as possible. Yes, this will become a full length film within the next year.

Other featured Hasbro films are as follows: Candyland starring Adam Sandler, and Ouija, a movie based on the infamous paranormal messaging board. Another surprising movie announcement is the Angry Birds movie scheduled for 2016.

So yeah, there’s that.

r i n r g a t S COURTESY CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSE, www.movieinsider.org

How to get to Carnegie Hall Dylan Johnston STAFF REPORTER

PHOTO COURTESY ARHS WEBSITE

Only a select few people get to perform at Carnegie Hall, and even fewer high school students. Junior Justin Kim is one of them.

Kim is going to perform on his cello in front of a large audience at Carnegie Hall in New York. This has been his dream for a long time, as it is for other aspiring cellists.

He received an invite in the mail from Carnegie Hall asking him to perform there.

Playing the cello wasn’t always the plan. In fact, like many other musicians, Kim didn’t start playing the cello until 5th grade. It wasn’t too hard to pick an instrument because when it came to picking, he had an idea for what he wanted in mind.

“I choose the cello because I wanted to play an instrument bigger than me,” Kim said. “The bass was too big.

Besides playing in the school orchestra and working his way through all the school’s Spanish classes, Kim is currently enrolled in four year-long Advanced Placement classes, including AP Language, Calculus, Physics and U.S. History.

In the future, Kim plans on going to Johns Hopkins or Stanford University. He wants to double major in engineering and, of course, music performance. Although he originally started playing in the Tacoma Youth Symphony, after three years Kim was invited into the Seattle Youth Symphony. He also plays in our school’s orchestra.

In June he will also be performing at the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts.

Carnegie Hall is a place where orchestras and many other performers of music perform. It was built in Midtown Manhattan in New York

by Andrew Carnegie in 1891.

It has about 250 performances each season, more than 46,000 performances since it opened.

There are five other locations that have a Carnegie Hall as well. It is one of the most prestigious venues in the world to perform at.

“It’s every musician’s dream,” Kim said.

10

Sports

InFlight Jan 30, 2013

2 superb teams, 1 super bowl Jude Hanno STAFF REPORTER

The Super Bowl is back this year on February 3, with the San Fransisco 49ers and Baltimore Ravens playing. Super Bowl XLVII will be played at New Orleans and many students are incredibly excited to see who will win this year.

With much anticipation during the playoffs, one team that made it to the Super Bowl was the San Fransisco 49ers. The players who had a big impact on their success this year are quarterback Colin Kaepernick and linebacker Patrick Willis. Many students have strong opinions on the teams.

“The 49ers are my favorite team and I like them a lot,” sophomore Betsy Ruiz said.

The other team playing against them are the Baltimore Ravens. The players who had a big impact on their success this year are quarterback Joseph Flacco and linebacker Ray Lewis.

“I’m rooting for the Ravens because they’re AFC (American Football Conference) and 49ers are NFC (National Football Conference),” freshman Harrison Tyrie said.

Our own team, the Seahawks, made it to the last 8 teams in the nation and almost made it to the Super Bowl. Senior Justin Aguilar was upset about their loss. “Ya know, It’s not a feeling I haven’t had before . . . but it hurt a little more just because they were doing so well this season.”

Senior Skyler Harris said the Baltimore Ravens will win because their linebacker, Ray Lewis, is retiring and they will play their best for him.

Another exciting addition to the Super Bowl is Beyonce performing at the halftime show. This is not her first time performing.

In 2004, Beyonce sang the national anthem for the Super Bowl.

Freshman Briget Masterson thinks Beyonce will do great this year! “She’ll definitely do better than Madonna last year,” Masterson said.

“She is newer than her, this age knows her, and all her music in general is better.”

Seattle Hawks’

Alex Vasquez STAFF REPORTER

The Seattle Seahawks haven’t always been the best team in the NFL, but the fans never gave up on them. This year, however, the fans seem to have made a huge impact. Continuing to hold their reputation of being the “loudest in the nation,” the Seahawks players made sure to put on a show at home. Seahawks had a winning total of 11-5 regular season games, and 1-1 in the postseason games.

The Seahawks made an improvement from the past

Official student prediction:

33-17

Ravens beat the 49ers

Baltimore favored to win in super bowl XLVII:

Were We Right

?

66% Ravens

man screams th years, winning all the home games this season. “They have improved a lot,” freshman Alli Hand said. “They have a lot more confidence on the field now.”

Rookie quarterback Russell Wilson has made an impression this year, at one point even making three touchdowns in one game. He is also nominated for Rookie of the Year

and will be playing the Pro Bowl. “He leads the Seahawks really well,” junior Justin Aguilar said, and he’s a really good player, for a rookie.”

Running back Marshawn Lynch is nicknamed “Beast Mode” because he never stops when he is on the field. He also eats Skittles after each touchdown in order to “unleash the beast.” Freshman Riley Mckee agrees. “Marshawn is a beast. He is a really good running back and is just awesome.”

The Seahawks came so close to the Super Bowl this year, making it to the playoffs with the Falcons where they fought to win. But, they lost the game by only a few points, ending with a score of 30-28, ending their season.

“It was a good game,” Harris said.

“I’m just sad I won’t be able to watch them [this weekend in the Super Bowl].”

Sports

Auburn Riverside High School

11

Morgan leaves behind legacy Jude Hanno STAFF REPORTER

ABOVE: Coach Bob Morgan is stepping down as varsity football coach.

RIGHT: Morgan was coach when the Ravens beat the Trojans for the first time in varsity football.

On January 15, teacher Bob Morgan, after 12 years as a football coach, decided to resign his varsity coach position. He spent the past six years as the team’s head coach.

“With every situation, there are both pros and cons,” Morgan said. “Even though there were a lot of positives to coaching, the challenges do outweigh them.”

This year’s football players are dealing with his resignation in a variety of ways. Senior varsity player Deion Villa feels upset about Morgan leaving. “It’s really sad. He’s been with us since my freshman year and I’m just uncertain how things will play out now.”

Doug Aubert, Di-

rector of Athletics, believes Morgan’s legacy is invaluable. “He finished his tenure having had a great influence on our athletes and having been a valuable piece of our athletic program.”

Morgan has some definite favorite highlights of his coaching career. “Beating Auburn High, and winning our first home game,” he said.

Morgan also has a favorite part about coaching. “Definitely working with the kids.”

Not only did Morgan’s coaching career end successfully, he has coached a number of players who have gone on to play football in college, and two of his players, Max Komar and David Paulson, are currently playing in the National Football League.

Aubert is grateful of Morgan’s dedication in the past years towards the football team. “Our thanks to Bob for his passion and service with ARHS football,” Aubert said. “He communicated his passion and worked well with the kids.”

The positions for a new football coach will be formally open within the next few weeks. Application packets for those interested will be located at the Auburn School District office or by contacting Aubert.

NHL lockout resolved Danielle Chiriguayo STAFF REPORTER On January 6, after months of legal dispute, the National Hockey League is no longer under an industry-wide lockout.

Reaching an agreement between players and the league, the hockey season started January 19.

Because of disagreements on a collective bargaining agreement, a CBA, the NHL cancelled much of its 2012-2013 season.

The CBA, an essential contract between team owners and the NHL Players’ Association, had not been renewed, and caused a lull in hockey games played.

A memorandum of understanding was signed on January 12 in order to ratify the CBA. According to ESPN, the lockout was the cause of financial and contractual disagreements between the NHL and the NHL Players’ Association. The new CBA includes a new economic system in which HRR, Hockey Related Revenues, are 50 percent owned by players, and 50 percent owned amongst owners, according to the NHL Players’ Association website.

This new deal will be in effect for 10 years, but either side can choose to nullify the contract after eight. The season officially started Sunday, while camps were also open, allowing players to get back into pre-game shape. Of the 30 teams in the NHL, 26 will play on the first day of the season.

Because of the season cancella-

tion, a total of 625 games were not played since the start of the lockout—approximately 50.8 percent of all hockey games scheduled during the 2012-2013 game season.

Although the season was not technically in session, a number of games were played during the lockout.

Hockey has had a tumultuous history, spanning three lockouts over 20 years—all under the current hockey commissioner Gary Bettman: one in 1992, one during the 1994-1995 season, and one in the 2004-2005 season, which spanned throughout an entire season with no games played.

Although all lockouts have ended in agreement between both parties, each lockout has been precipitated by mass disagreement over contracts and wages.

12

Sports

Wrestling Though they had a difficult time at the All South Puget Sound League championship, our wrestlers have taken a recent win. At the tournament, 18 high school wrestling teams compete in an elimination round style.Two weeks ago, Riverside defeated Thomas Jefferson High School at home with little resistance.

On Saturday Jan 19, however, AR dropped the match to a strong Mount Si team, 53-27. Freshman Hao-Nam Tran was a bright spot winning in the 113 pound match. The only other AR points came due to four forfeits in other weight classes.

After the break-in last week, many items were stolen. Amongst the stolen items was coach Shawn Martinson’s camera. On the camera were highlights of all the meets and practices. But now that the camera was stolen, there will be no highlight reel.

A match happened against Auburn last Wednesday as we were going to press and results were unavailable.

Sports Update Girls Basketball Boys Basketball The girls basketball team hopes to end their 2012-13 season with triumph. The season started back in the beginning of November and when it ends depends on if they go to State or not.

Senior Kendall Foster is satisfied with how the season has gone so far. “We keep playing better and better,” Foster said.

Thanks to key players Kendall Foster, Ilona Snyder and Brittni Williams, the team is currently 12-4 as of press time last week, after defeating Kentwood 71-59. “[I want to] make it to State and win!”

Senior Ilona Snyder said.

The girl’s last game was last night, senior night, and it was against Kent-Meridian. Due to the newspaper’s deadline, the results were not available from the game.

Catch the girl’s team at their final regular season game this Friday at Auburn High when they’ll take on the Auburn Trojans.

The boys basketball team has given their heart and soul into a season that has been tough to say the least. With only a couple games left, they strive to be the best and come out with a win.

Four of their twelve conference losses have been close, dropping the games by mere points, including their game on Jan 17 against Jefferson, fallling short to the Raiders 57-53.

Games against Mount Rainier and KentMeridian happened after InFlight went to press. At 2-12 as of press time, the boys are now playing for pride for the last few games.

Junior Derek Brown finished the season as the team’s high scorer, averaging 22.3 points per game, with senior Cody Crawford close behind with 13.9 points per game.

The final game of the season will take place at Auburn on Friday at 7:30 p.m.

InFlight Jan 30, 2013

Gymnastics The girls gymnastic team, coached

by Cathy Robinson, now in her 6th year at Riverside, is hoping their hard work starts to pay off as gymastic’s State competition rolls around. They won’t find out who goes to State until February 9.

“We’ve had to work hard to build this team but we have made a lot of progress,” assistant coach Kathy Crawford said.

Some key players for this season were seniors Kylie Urban and Casey Kaku, junior Madi Miller, and sophomores Hannah Wilson and Libby Sakai. As a team, their best event is the bars.

This season was a huge success for these gymnastics girls and we can’t wait to see their success when the gymnastic season returns next year. Good luck at State!