During the eclipse, the new moon will pass between the sun and the Earth, obscuring most of the sun’s light but leaving behind a halo of light that astronomers call a “ring of fire.” Due to its elliptical orbit, the moon will be reaching its farthest point from the Earth during the upcoming eclipse, causing not a total eclipse, during which the moon blocks the majority of the sun’s light producing almost total darkness in the middle of the day, but what is called an annular eclipse, during which the moon blocks only 88% of the sun’s light.

A NASA image of an annular eclipse

As a result, it is extremely dangerous to look at an Annular eclipse, and the so-called “ring of fire” can cause permanent damage to the retina. Because the sky will look partially dark, a viewer’s eyes can comfortably focus on the sun during an annular eclipse. However, the lens of the eye will focus the sunlight on the retina, causing permanent burning and scarring. Since the retina has no pain receptors, the damage will be insidious but harmful nonetheless.

There are many ways to safely view the solar eclipse. You can create a pinhole camera using a shoe box, an exacto knife, a piece of aluminum foil, and a piece of white printer paper. You can also order eclipse-viewing goggles online from telescope manufacturers. Some hardware stores also self grade 14 welding glasses, which also allow you to protect your eyes while viewing the eclipse.

Unfortunately for Scarsdalians, the annular eclipse will only be visible in Asia, Canada, and a strip of states across the southwestern United States, beginning on the West Coast in Oregon and a majority of California, spanning southeastward across Reno, Nevada, the Grand Canyon, and Albuquerque, N.M., and ending at sunset near Lubbock, Texas.

However, most states, including parts of New York according to NASA, will likely see a partial eclipse, during which the moon will only partially obscure the sun, causing it to appear as a crescent.

Wouter De Backer, better known as Gotye, has released his third single “Eyes Wide Open” off of his most recent album, Making Mirrors.  The Belgian-Australian musician skyrocketed to fame with his chart-topping hit “Somebody That I Used to Know.”  ”Eyes Wide Open” is a soaring song with an infectious chorus and strong instrumental backing.  The music video features stop-motion animation of spider-esque creatures crossing a desert-like land.  Enjoy!

Gotye

]]> http://www.shsmaroon.org/song-of-the-day-eyes-wide-open/feed/ 0 http://www.shsmaroon.org/a-day-in-the-life-high-school-students-across-the-world/ http://www.shsmaroon.org/a-day-in-the-life-high-school-students-across-the-world/#comments Sat, 19 May 2012 00:16:19 +0000 shsmaroon http://www.shsmaroon.org/?p=7968 Maroon explores the various lives of high school students from all across the world.  These students share their personal experiences regarding their respective educations.

Alejandra Monjelos, 17 – Asunción, Paraguay – American School of Asunción

Every Monday, at 8:00 A.M. all high school student hear the announcements from a speaker that is located in every classroom. These announcements are conducted by two seniors who talk about school news, etc. The annoucements start with the national anthem (where we stand up and sing) and finish with a song (pop music, reggeaton – a genre that is very popular here). The class has 14 students and in every class you have different classmates. This is great because you get to see your friends that you did not see in the first period on another class. During recess time, the students go to a “kiosko” or the “cantina” where they go buy a snack. The most popular snacks are mbeyu (which is a typical paraguayan food), empanadas or mixtos (hot sandwiches). You can also see people rushing to the computer lab to print a paper they forgot to bring from home and you can also see people laughing and sharing what they did on the weekends while they finish their homework. My best friends and I usually meet in front of the lockers and laugh about anything funny that happened that day. Usually, we share jokes, talk about news, etc. During lunch time, at about 1 P.M. most students go to the “mango areas.”  This place got its name by the mango (fruit) trees that fill the area to eat lunch. There we can see people playing soccer in the nearby field or other students playing basketball. Some students even bring their guitars and sing songs with their friends. At 3 P.M., we have advisory. This entails a period of 30 minutes to work on homework before the final bell rings, and we can all go home. However, my school is filled with athletic students so, many stay till 6 P.M. on campus because they are busy with after school sports.

Gates Cao, 16 – Shanghai, China – Shanghai Pinghe School

Gates Cao

A typical school day, for me, starts when morning sunshine lights up my dorm room rather than when the bell rings for the first class. The dorm room is not big but clean and neat, with only three beds, desks and chairs. Usually I can hear people in other rooms brushing their teeth or washing their faces, but today those sounds are covered by rock music played by some crazy kids. Overall, it would be a nice place to spend your morning if there were no dorm teacher to bother and urge you to get up every five minutes. Unfortunately though, it is not the case.

I leave the dormitory building at around 7:30 a.m. as I usually do and go for breakfast. I haven’t had breakfast in the school cafeteria for a couple of weeks since I will be late otherwise. What I do is to bring the food to the classroom, just like how “take away” works at McDonalds. Fortunately, I am not caught by the high school dean today.

School officially starts at 7:50 a.m. when the food is still in my mouth. My first class is Business & Management today and we are going to have a quiz. Grabbing my pens and textbook, I rush to the classroom. My business teacher is an energetic lady who likes Steve Jobs and iPhone 4 very much with strict disciplines. As a result, she never allows me to be distracted in the 50-minute class. However, some teachers in my school allow students to use mobile phones, laptops and even sleep during classes. It was funny when the exchange students from Scarsdale found it so surprising that students slept in class since they would be in huge trouble if they did so at Scarsdale —— an American high school is even stricter than a Chinese one.

My next three classes this morning until 11:40 are Chinese, Economics and Mathematics, among which only math class interests me. We can make fun of each other in his class and learn the stuff very well at the same time. However, I am not really fond of math itself. But fortunately, I do have an expectation which supports me to live through the seemingly endless lectures —— lunch. Lunch is more than a meal for me; it is an opportunity to relax, to talk to friends, to bathe in the sunshine and most importantly, to enjoy the pleasure that food brings to me after a starving morning, as you may have noticed that I was not able to eat much at breakfast. The not-so-good part of the lunch; however, lies in the fact that I have to sometimes queue up for a long time before getting the food. My competitors include elementary school kids who are dismissed from classes earlier than we are; dormitory teachers who get more than 5 sets of meal at a time for their kids; and undisciplined students who jump into the line shamelessly.

My first class in the afternoon is English which I enjoy the most among all subjects. My English teacher is an interesting lady who likes to bewilder us by speaking French in class which makes us feel like ignorant foreigners sometimes. But what is interesting about this is that we can understand some French unexpectedly after a period of time. Her lecture style, in my opinion, is very successful in the sense that we can exchange our ideas freely but seldom digress. She creates a class atmosphere which blends freedom with seriousness. The next class is called Theory of Knowledge (TOK), a subject similar to philosophy but the two are not quite the same. Mainly we talk about language, logic, perception and stuff like that. It sounds interesting but is not really the case if you get the chance to know more about it.

The afternoon classes end at 2:25 and here comes CAS time. CAS is the acronym for Creativity, Action and Service, a program in which every IB student has to complete 150-hour activities in total, with at least 50 hours under each category. Students spread out to attend clubs such as Japanese club, dancing club, MUN, drama club, music bands and sports teams such as tennis team, basketball team and swimming team. I have been engaging in swimming team since grade 10 and regarding it as the best way to escape from the stress that the mundane school life brings to me.

Most of the time I go back to my dorm room after swimming. It is the quietest place that I can find in school in the afternoon to do some readings or study alone. I have finished many novels such as The Catcher in the Rye, A Tale of Two Cities
and The Picture of Dorian Gray.

As a boarding school student, I have to attend the evening class after dinner from 18:00 to 20:30. Maybe it is more accurate to call it “evening period” than “class” since there’s essentially no teacher teaching anything. Students are supposed to study by themselves in a classroom and it is normally the most productive period of time in the whole day. I usually finish most of my homework during the evening period.

The lights in the dormitory won’t be out until 22:30 so that I have 2 more hours in the dorm. Sometimes I will be wandering on the floor just to see what other people are doing. There is a variety of ways to spend the time before sleeping: talking to each other, playing guitar, studying, playing computer games, working out, watching movies, chatting on renren (Chinese Facebook) or simply doing nothing. Again, it would be perfect if there were no dorm teacher asking me to go back to my own room or to turn down the music or to go to take a shower. But anyway, it is still my favorite period of time during a school day.

It is exactly 12 a.m. now and the lights have been out long before. The only sound I can hear is the sound of my typing. The sole reason why I am still writing this article is that I am eager to give you an account of what a school day is like here at Pinghe from my perspective.

Emanuele Macchi, 17 – Galliate, Italy – Liceo Clasico

Emanuele Macchi

The alarm wakes me up at 6:30 a.m. Another great day it’s waiting for me. I’ll drive half an hour and get to my school in Novara (near Milan). A not-so-good-looking building hides the wonders of what is considered the best educational system in my country.

It is a 5 year long course (instead of the usual 4 of high school), that focuses on humanities, but with a very strong focus on scientific subjects. The most atypical study fields are certainly Ancient Greek and Latin. The learning passes through two phases: mastering of the grammar rules and translation of ancient authors masterpieces. This year I’ve explored the Greek tragic theater, Plato’s Dialogues, Julius Caesar’s De Bello Gallico, Cicero’s orations, etc. All this is done without forgetting about scientific subject: currently we’re working on biology, physics and mathematics. I also study philosophy, world history, English literature, Italian literature and sociology. These courses are spread on a weekly schedule of 6 hours a day of classes, Monday to Saturday ( yes, even Saturday). Class goes from 8 a.m to 2 p.m., with two breaks of 10 minutes each. This is a non negotiable study plan. You need to know that in Italy one chooses the school for the subject it offers. There are schools where they teach economics, law, basic architecture, accounting, etc. You don’t pick subjects in a school, you pick the school for the subjects. The school I go to, called Liceo Classico, offers probably the most well rounded preparation, allowing students to get a solid knowledge of both humanities and sciences.

Since today is Wednesday, I’ll grab a sandwich in town and head back for physics lab. This year my class decided to carry on a project of renewal of instruments ( as inclined plans, scales, etc), dating back to the XVIII century. We are planning on organizing an exposition for the end of may. The goal of this project is to create a small museum for the school. Therefore event for raising funds are being scheduled.

Around 5 p.m I get home, and a huge amount of homework awaits me. The philosophy of my school is that during classes professors have to cover the theoretical part of their subjects, so the practical part ( as translations, math problems, etc) it’s all on us.

"Trespassing" Album Cover

As a self proclaimed Glambert, after having seen Adam Lambert live seven times, I was extremely excited to download “Trespassing” at its midnight release. At first listen, I noticed a pronounced difference between the first and second halves of the album. The album opens with the attention grabbing title track “Trespassing”, co-written by Pharrell, that is driven by electric guitars and synthesized melodies, in which Lambert proclaims “Wait ‘til you get a load of me!” This track serves as a dramatic introduction to an exceptionally cohesive track list.

“Trespassing” focuses much more on lyrics and melodies, than on the glitzy dramatics that his first album “For Your Entertainment” was centered around. With each song, Lambert moves further from his glam rock roots and nearer to heart wrenching, emotional ballads. As he has described in various interviews, his goal was to create a feeling of “light and dark”, a theme which can be seen in Lambert’s video for the first single off of the album “Better Than I Know Myself”, a song that will be appreciated by anyone who enjoyed his number one single “Whataya Want From Me?”  On his sophomore album, Adam Lambert worked with a team of producers and songwriters who are responsible for numerous chart-toppings hits, including Bruno Mars, Dr. Luke, and Claude Kelly.

While still on the American Idol tour, Adam Lambert speedily compiled his first album, with shock value as the main goal. Because his first album was driven by provocative lyrics and performances, Lambert chose to spend over two years executive-producing this new album in order to effectively represent his versatility as an artist. Overall, this album is a must have for anyone who enjoys catchy pop songs and heartfelt ballads. Within hours of its release, “Trespassing” reached the number one spot on the iTunes charts.

Me and Adam Lambert

Top Tracks

Upbeat:

Trespassing

Never Close Our Eyes (penned by Bruno Mars)

Cuckoo

Ballads:

Better Than I Know Myself

Underneath

Outlaws of Love

Current top three American Idol finalist Joshua Ledet belts out with his signature pipes on his cover of James Brown’s “It’s a Man’s Man’s World.”  The 19 year old Louisiana native, Ledet charmed America and the judges with his uniquely mature voice and seemingly impossible vocal range.  On Wednesday, May 23rd, the finale of American Idol airs – revealing the 2012 winner to be one of the three remaining contestants: Joshua Ledet, Phillip Phillips, and Jessica Sanchez.  Enjoy!

Joshua Ledet

Craig Dershowitz

Dershowitz and Brega have both obtained lawyers and Dershowitz claims that his ex is purposefully dragging out the process in order to drain his already limited bank account. He even started a website, called “Rescue Knux.” In a recent post, he recognizes that many may view his actions as slightly ridiculous. He writes, “I know it might sound funny and I understand that. If it wasn’t so painful, I would be laughing too (I mean, c’mon – dognapp – really?) but this is very serious to me and I miss him a lot.”

Knuckles

In order to raise money Dershowitz is offering services through his website such as a “Portrait Session” for $1,500 and $3,500 “Wardrobe Styling in NY or MA.” Knuckles, who is a mix between a pug and a beagle (puggle) “ lives a happy and healthy life in California with me, where he has ample room to play, and lives in close proximity to a beach for off-leash dog-park outings,” Brega claimed according to an msnbc news article.

SHS students expressed sympathy for Dershowitz and understood his devotion, to a certain extent. ”I would definitely spend as much money as it took to get my dog back if it wasn’t going to be a serious financial burden,”  said Danny Goldenberg ’13.

“I would [spend the money] because I love my puppy! She is worth every penny,” added Emma Pendrill ’13. Others felt that Dershowitz may be going too far. “Frankly, I just wouldn’t spend $60,000 to get my dog back. it’s not like he got lsot or was stolen. At least he has a home and will be cared for. $60,000 is just too much money,” said Nathan Kim ’13.

How far would you go to get your dog back? Comment and let us know!

Swedish singer-songwriter Kristian Matsson performs under the moniker The Tallest Man on Earth. Strongly influenced by American folk music, Matsson seeks inspiration from such luminaries as Woody Guthrie, Joan Baez, and Pete Seeger. Matsson’s nostalgic, raw vocals accompanied by his soothing and melodic acoustic guitar have prompted to critics to liken the artist to Bob Dylan. “The Dreamer,” one of The Tallest Man On Earth’s most popular tracks, is infused with calmingly poetic lyrics that proclaim, “Sometimes the blues is just a passing bird/And why can’t that always be?”

Swedish singer songwriter The Tallest Man On Earth

For those that enjoy The Tallest Man On Earth, his wife, Amanda Bergman, is also a singer-songwriter. The two often collaborate and perform together. Under the epithet Idiot Wind, a reference to a popular Bob Dylan song from the 1970s, Bergman performs “honest, fragile, and solemn” ballads drawing from the same American folk influences as her husband. Her single “Canary Bird” features candid lyrics regarding guilt and lost love.

The victory over Mamaroneck, their first in nearly a decade, was a big accomplishment that boosted the team’s confidence. Going into the game, Coach Jim Mancuso had been confident that the team could win, having worked hard in the pre-season and having won their first game just the night before. “We got out there – we got on the board first. Devon Shell, a freshman, had both goals and they got a weird bounce that went in.  It was 2-1 going into the third period; it was a really, really close game,” said Ian Klein ’12. The game ended in a 3-1 victory.  “[Beating Mamaroneck] was the best feeling ever,” remarked Will Seider ’12, co-captain of the hockey team. Mancuso was as elated as the players themselves.  “After the game, I was so happy for our team,” he said.

After this emotional victory, the team fell into a losing streak. “After we beat Mamo, we just didn’t care… and for a while, we were really bad because no one was focused… but then we came back,” David Ko ’15 explained.  For Seider, there was one particular game during this losing streak that he deemed their low point.  “[The low point was] probably when we lost 1-5 to Rye before we went off for break.  That was pretty bad. We were expecting a really good game against them, and we came out completely flat,” he said.

Despite this streak, the team managed to tighten up, pull off a 15-9 record, and qualify for the Section 1 Division 2 playoffs as the #8 seed. In the first round, Scarsdale crushed #9 seed Pawling, 6-0. “[In the past] We always got knocked out in the first round of playoffs, so it felt like a success in itself to get past the first round,” Chris Katchis ’13 explained.  In the second round, the team faced powerhouse #1 seed Brewster, and defeated them 6-4. Scarsdale moved on to face Rye, which proved to be an emotional game. “We were losing 2-4, and we came back with four goals,” recounted Ko.

For the first time in anyone’s memory, Scarsdale had reached the sectional finals, facing off against #2 seed Pelham. “Playing in the sectional championship game at West Point was a real high for our team,” said Mancuso. But a complete Cinderella story was not to be.  “They went ahead and we tied it up and then they scored again pretty quickly after that. At the end of the second period, James Nicholas scored, so we were 2-2 going into the third period. We had a few really good chances in the third period right at the beginning, but with 5 minutes left they scored and won, 3-2,” described Klein. “But after being that high and playing our hearts out and losing, the sinking empty feeling was overwhelming,” said Mancuso.

When asked if he thought the team could repeat its success next year, Katchis was skeptical. “I hope so,” he said, “but honestly, we’re losing a lot of our talents for next year, so it’s going to be tough to do the same thing.” Mancuso agreed and expressed his concern about losing some of their key players, adding that he is unsure of how much help the team will get from incoming freshmen joining the team next year.  He also warned that, after the team’s success this season,  “there is a danger for returning players to become complacent and lazy.” Ko, on the other hand, felt that the team looked promising for next year and suggested that the seniors’ leaving is only a minor setback.  “Even though the seniors are leaving… I still feel like we have a lot of skills and passion for our sport, so we’ll be good next year,” he said. Ko felt that the remaining team members could be just as successful, commenting that this year’s freshmen “added a little spark” to the team and helped the team out a lot. Regardless of next season, though, one shared belief among all the players is that this was a season to remember.

By Colette Torres

Additional reporting by Rachel Wolfe

Sam Waters receives the Latin Award from Ms. Corten (photo courtesy Becky Schwartz)

SHS students were recognized on the evening of May 9th, 2012 in the auditorium for their excellence and achievements in various categories, ranging from English to 3-D Visual Art.

Follow the link below to watch a recording of the Awards ceremony:

http://scarsdaleschools.org/site/default.aspx?PageType=3&ModuleInstanceID=11324&ViewID=7b97f7ed-8e5e-4120-848f-a8b4987d588f&RenderLoc=0&FlexDataID=12881&PageID=10268

To Conde, competitive shooting has been a way of life. “My family has always been into recreational shooting,” Conde said.  So, when he started the sport came naturally.

Conde at Nationals

After training extensively, Conde started going to tournaments as a sophomore. Entering in the lowest class, the D-class, he moved up three levels in one year and is now in the AA-class.  In each tournament, there is a main event and other assorted side events.  The main event usually consists of shooting one hundred clay pigeons and the side events can include shooting from five different positions or not raising the gun above a certain point before the target is fired.  Conde usually shoots with a Baretta AT 10 12-gauge shotgun, which is about 30 inches long.  The targets can be anywhere from 5 to 60 yards away.

Conde finds that there are not many competitive shooters in Scarsdale because he has gotten the sense that it is a mostly “anti-gun” community. However, when he goes to Ten Miler River Preserve or Dover Fernis, where he shoots in Pawling, New York, he meets other kids who enjoy shooting as much as he does. “It’s really amazing to see how many people enjoy it but they just don’t say they do,” said Conde.

In the future, Conde sees himself competitively shooting in college. Professionally, he thinks that he would enjoy instructing aspiring shooters like himself. However, competitive shooting, for right now is just a passion.  What does Conde love about shooting?  “It’s just you and the target. I find that in a world like this with Facebook and everything else, with everyone always checking up on you, to do something where it’s really just you and your brain, is great.”

By Kate Schnitzer

Additional reporting by Jonathan Faust