Volume 8 Issue 8

TTHEHE SSTUYVESANTTUYVESANT SSTANDARDTANDARD

Friday, February 27, 2009 Volume 8 Issue 8

By: Rammiya Nallainathan

By: Muhammad Tambra and Hesham Saleh

Continued on page 3

HVAC Is Out of HVAC Is Out of Our HandsOur Hands

At Stuy many students complain about the problems with the temperature in some rooms. Students who sit next to the vents complain that it gives out cold air during the dead of winter and ex-cessive heat during warmer days. There always seems to be one room on a student’s schedule that he or she dreads because of its ex-treme conditions. Some teachers even refuse to teach in classrooms that they deem to be too uncom-fortable. The custodial staff head, Mr. Lopa, responded to the ques-tion of why such a problem exists by saying “There is no problem,” and declined to comment further stating that the logistics of the is-sue were between him and Mr. Teitel. Other members of the cus-todial staff said that they do not know about it and it is the engi-neer’s job to take care of it. The custodial engineer, Edward Malli-coat, was unable to be reached for comment.

When approached for comment Mr. Teitel explained that the HVAC ( heating, ventilating, and air conditioning) system “runs on an old operating system so we can’t control some of the system.” And according to Teitel, the De-partment of Education does not plan to do anything about this. Teitel jokingly said, “We’re poor. They don’t have any money,” al-luding to the current state of the economy and cuts to school budg-ets across the country. And the school administration will not be doing anything to combat the prob-lem. Teitel explained that, “the school itself doesn’t handle it. School Facilities [a company that provides “school administrators and facility managers that provide safe, comfortable and modern cam-puses for students of all ages” ] takes care of it. The school will not spend any money on it.” Students have differing views about the HVAC issue. Jun-ior Emily Zhang said, “generally they’re [the condition of rooms] okay. But there are rooms where it’s freezing all the time and it’s

Continued on page 3

In This Issue Page 9

A Look at Stuy’s Own

Mark Surya

Anissa Mak and Adam Sealfon are two of this year’s Intel competition finalists.

TSS/ Elissa Tam

Forty high school seniors were named finalists of the 2009 Intel Science Talent Search on January 28, 2009. Two of the final-ists are Adam Sealfon and Anissa Mak, students of Stuyvesant High School. The Intel STS is Amer-ica’s oldest and most prestigious pre-college science competition for high school seniors. It is owned and administered by Society for Science and the Public since 1942. Anissa Mak submitted a mathematics project for the Intel Science Talent Search that created a certification algorithm for the

modular decomposition of a graph. One cannot be sure that the computation of an algorithm is free of error. However, one way to check that a computation is correct is by using a certifying algorithm. Anissa’s project uses a certification algorithm for modu-lar decomposition. Anissa began working on her project in May 2008. Her math research teacher, Mr. Rubin-stein introduced her to mentor Dr. Ross McConnell, a professor at Colorado State University. His

Stuyvesant Home to Stuyvesant Home to Two Intel Finalists Two Intel Finalists

By: Elissa Tam

Continued on page 3

A Tribute to A Tribute to Sari HalperSari Halper--DicksonDickson

Sari Halper-Dickson, from Stuyvesant class of 1987, passed away the morning of Janu-ary 30, 2009 from cancer at the Sloan-Kettering Hospital. She was the President of the Stuyve-sant High School Alumni Asso-ciation from 2002 to 2006 and served on the Alumni Association for 13 years. As a student of Stuyve-sant High School, she was best known for being one of the man-agers for the high school football team, the Peglegs. She worked diligently and was very close to the team. After graduating in 1987, She attended the State Uni-

versity of New York at Bingham-ton and there she received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Sci-ence in 1991, and an M.A. in Pub-lic Policy Analysis and Admini-stration in 1992. Halper-Dickson held posi-tions in various organizations throughout the city. She was on the New York City Board of Elections for Queens County. She was also one of the fifteen on the Advisory Board for the Queens Council on the Arts. In addition to this, Sari served as Assistant Commissioner at the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal under David Diamond Counsel's Office and on the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation. Before she passed away, she was Director of

Page 5 Teaching Methods Matter

Page 3 Impact of Stimulus

On Education

2 The STUYVESANT STANDARD February 27, 2009–VOL.8, NO. 8

The Executive Board AMNA AHMAD EDITOR IN CHIEF HESHAM SALEH MANAGING EDITOR

DAVID MANNES DIRECTOR OF FINANCE ANGEL WONG DIRECTOR OF FINANCE SHAYRA KAMAL LAYOUT EDITOR GUERGANA BORISSOVA COPY CHIEF

RAMMIYA NALLAINATHAN NEWS EDITOR MUHAMMAD TAMBRA NEWS EDITOR

MARINA TAWFIK OPINIONS EDITOR ROBERT COLBOURN ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR OMAR AHMAD SCIENCE EDITOR QI FAN ZHANG TECHNOLOGY EDITOR ROBERT STEVENSON LITERARY EDITOR MICHAEL BLOCK SPORTS EDITOR ELISSA TAM DIRECTOR OF PHOTOJOURNALISM MEGAN BRESLIN FACULTY ADVISOR DANIEL EGERS (‘03) FOUNDER ERNEST BASKIN (‘04) EDITOR EMERITUS

Publication THE STUYVESANT STANDARD is a non-profit publication produced by the students of Stuyvesant High School.

THE STUYVESANT STANDARD distributes 2,000 free copies on a bi-weekly basis to the students and faculty of Stuyvesant High School and throughout the adjoining neighborhoods of TriBeCa and Battery Park City.

THE STUYVESANT STANDARD welcomes letters from its readers. For a letter to be reproduced in print, a name and method of contact must be pro-vided.

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Staff Editorial: Too Hard to Grin

and Bear It There a number of things about a school environment that can distract students from learning. Stu-dents exhausted from juggling the demands of extracurricular activi-ties, and academics, in the midst of their social obligations must com-mute to school and travel up and down ten floors to reach their classes. The least any student could ask for is heating in the fall and winter and cool air conditioning and the spring and summer months in the classrooms where they find themselves for the majority of the school day. Normal temperature condi-tions should not be treated as a lux-ury by the administration. Whereas the faculty members responsible for ensuring that the HVAC (heating ventilating and air conditioning) system is functioning properly are unable to repair the outdated system themselves because the Department of Education is responsible for funding maintenance of the system, the Stuyvesant community should not wait around for the Department of Education to take notice of the sheer magnitude of an issue that they have merely ignored in the past. The Stuyvesant Standard

calls upon representatives of the Parents Association alongside Principal Teitel to pressure the De-partment of Education into allocat-ing the necessary funds to update the HVAC system and train mem-bers of Stuyvesant’s custodial staff to not only operate the system, but to sustain it as well. Librarians should not have to work in a space that is air condi-tioned in the dead of winter. Teachers should not be forced to adjust their regular classroom ac-tivities to accommodate a class full of uncomfortable students. Mr. Waxman explained to his tenth period economics class: “For the first time since I started teaching at Stuyvesant I actually needed to put on a coat to keep warm in a classroom.” Employees working for any company would be out-raged by the conditions Stuyve-sant’s faculty members have put up with for so long. Therefore, because Stuy-vesant simply does not possess the means to correct the HVAC prob-lem, the Department of Education has an undeniable obligation to make certain that normal tempera-ture conditions are restored to Stuyvesant High School. ◙

As Stuyvesant High School’s only independent school newspaper, we feel

that it is our responsibility to offer each and every student the

opportunity to contribute to a news publication. If you would like to join

any section of the Stuyvesant Standard, or have any comments or questions that you would like to run

passed us, please email us at:

[email protected].

NEWS The STUYVESANT STANDARD February 27, 2009 –VOL.8, NO. 8 3

Public Affairs and then Director of Annual Giving for New York Hos-pital. On November 17, 2002, she married John Dickson in Manhat-tan. She and her husband lived in Forest Hills, Queens. She had three children, Diana (five years old), Aleksander (three years old), and Zachary (one year old). The eldest two, Diana and Aleksander, were adopted from Russia. Being on the Stuyvesant Alumni Association Board for thir-teen years, she was involved in or-ganizing many events and projects such as the 100th Anniversary Stuy Centennial series of events, The

Alumni Spectator, Reunions, Allo-cations, and Scholarships and Grants. A Memorial Service was held for Sari Halper-Dickson on February 1, 2009, at the Forest Park Chapel. From now until March 2nd, there is a New York Times guestbook where you can leave your comments. Any contributions can be made in memory of "Sari K. Halper Dickson" to Wide Horizons for Children (www.WHFC.org) or American Cancer Society. In addi-tion to this, the Sari Halper Dick-son '87 Memorial Scholarship has been established by the Alumni Association in her memory. ◙

The Standard News

A Tribute to

Sari Halper-Dickson

Continued from page 1

Stuyvesant Home to Two Intel Finalists

HVAC Is Out of Our Hands


kind of annoying to carry a sweater around for the entire day just for that one class.” Junior Anastassia Kapeles explained: “I find that some rooms are either way too hot or way too cold. It’s ridiculous. I think the school should do some-thing about it. I understand the issue about the budget but at least they should do something to make us comfortable.” Many teachers also find the situation unbearable at times refusing to teach in the class-rooms with extreme temperatures. Teitel said they have the option of taking their classes to either one of

the lecture halls. But some teachers and students may view this as a disruption to the class. With the winter coming to a close many students are breath-ing sighs of relief but also growing more anxious as the warmer weather will cause their rooms to go from unbearably cold to un-bearably hot. They hope that they will not have to deal with the rooms infamous for their less than acceptable conditions including rooms 727, 427, and the rooms on the ninth and tenth floors. When asked if students will see any im-provements to the situation Teitel said, “I don’t think you’ll see any resolution.” ◙

location led to an obstacle for Anissa’s project. “Graph theory is visual,” says Anissa. However, Anissa communicated with her mentor through e-mails and tele-phone calls, which made it difficult to perceive what her mentor was trying to convey. Anissa completed her project in November of 2008. Other teachers at Stuyvesant who helped and encouraged her were Mr. Brooks and Ms. Pascu. “I really didn’t expect to become a finalist,” Anissa ex-plains, “especially since it was a math paper.” Unlike doing re-search for a science paper, doing a math research papers requires you to “discover something new.” Adam Sealfon submitted a computer science project in which he studied algorithms for testing

properties of hypergraphs. Hyper-graphs are used in areas such as biology and particle physics. In the study, Adam found the com-plexity gap between adaptive and non-adaptive algorithms. An adap-tive algorithm is a query that de-pends on the outcome of previous queries, whereas non-adaptive al-gorithms are queries that do not necessarily depend on the outcome of previous queries. Last year, four students from Stuyvesant were named final-ists, more than any school in the nation. This year, two students from Stuyvesant were named final-ists, both of which are math re-search papers. Students and teach-ers speculate that In the years to come, Stuyvesant High School students will continue to excel in the annual Intel Science Talent Search as they have in past years. ◙

The HVAC system at Stuyvesant has been the cause for a great deal of concern among students and faculty members

TSS/Elissa Tam


Impact of Stimulus on Education

By: Muhammad Tambra

As the state of the United States economy worsens, the Obama administration moves for-ward with an economic stimulus bill worth around $787 billion. Around $83 billion allocated spe-cifically for childcare, public schools, and universities according to the New York Times. This is relief to many schools across the country. As reported in an earlier article run by the Standard [Budget Cut Woes; Issue 6] the Mayor wants all City agencies to cut back in spending by 2.5% this school year and 5% the next. In the case of the Department of Education that will mean $180 million and $385 billion, respectively. And as reported earlier on the Stuyvesant website, Stuyvesant faces a $340,000 cut to its budget this year and a projected figure of $754,000 next year. Many students were re-lieved at learning the news. Junior Manuel Castro said, “thank good-ness that President Obama realizes the value of public education. I don’t know what the school system would do if they got even further cuts. As it is schools are known to be understaffed and have very lim-ited resources. This influx of money will help combat the cuts.” Senior Rofi Islam said, “the money will help out our financially starved schools who can barely pay for anything as it is. I think the money should go towards reinforc-ing the already existing programs and also giving more to the arts which are really overlooked in most schools.” The money allo-cated to schools is reported to be used for payrolls for state and

school districts as money from taxes is dwindling according to the Times. However some people are skeptical of the bill’s promised aid. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said in a statement that the aid is, “not nearly as much as we need.” Some students also feel that it is not enough just to pump in money. Junior Mark Mays said, “they [the government] is doing a good thing by providing some money to schools in aid, however this is not enough. The stimulus provides short-term relief to us but if looked through a long terms lens it won’t do much good. Once the money runs out what will they [the gov-ernment] do then? And who will pay off the massive debt that the government is incurring trying to stabilize the country? It’s going to be us, our children, and maybe even our children’s children.” The bill’s money alloca-tion to schools though is mostly seen as a good thing. With every-thing else going down the tubes schools are pressing hard to make sure their students are not it too hard by the recessions widespread effects. According to a report by the NY Times principals across the city sent protest emails to the dep-uty schools chancellor in charge of finances, Kathleen Grimm, calling the cuts unfair. Mayor Bloomberg disagrees though. “One of the great disciplines of managing anything is to walk in and question every-thing you’re doing and say, ‘Let’s see if you can do it with a smaller budget,’ ” the mayor said in a statement to the Times, “That fo-cuses your attention on which things work and which things don’t.” But as the influx of money comes in schools can breathe a small sigh of relief. ◙

4 The STUYVESANT STANDARD February 27, 2009 –VOL.8, NO.8 OPINIONS

The Standard Opinions

Charlotte Ruby

Obama Begins His Long Journey

At eleven o’clock on No-vember 4, 2008, Barack Obama was announced the 44th president of the United States. All around New York City and the country, people cheered and rejoiced. As January 20 slowly approached, Democrats and Republicans alike awaited the arrival of President Obama in Washington, and with it, the change that was promised. People expected so much from Obama, that he once commented that contrary to popular belief, he was not born in a manger.

With the weight of the world on his shoulders, Obama took office and immediately sprang into action. The first thing to handle was Guantanamo Bay. In my opinion, this was a very good move on his part. No matter what party one belongs to or what religion he or she practices, no one who is not a sadist can think about torture without cringing a little bit inside. He signed an ex-ecutive order closing the camp, as well as banning the CIA from using from using coercive inter-rogation methods. This move showed that “we are not going to continue with a false choice be-tween our safety and our ideals,” as Obama said, but it also made it

clear that Obama is a man of mor-als.

In my opinion, everyone deserves health insurance. Some people may work but still cannot afford health insurance for their children. Other countries have taken steps in the direction of uni-versal health care, and so should the United States under our new leadership. Allowing people to survive and be healthy is not so-cialism any more than taxes for other purposes are. Health care is something vital, like education, and people should not be forced to live without it because they cannot find a well paying job. Obama, a man of his word, expanded State Children’s Health Insurance Pro-gram (SCHIP) shortly after taking office. The legislation he signed expanded the program to four mil-lion children and pregnant women. This is something that is absolutely needed, and was tried twice during the Bush administration. However, Bush, being the person he is, ve-toed the legislation.

This rapid succession of executive orders and legislation has not come as a surprise as Obama has begun to clean up the mess Bush left for him. These are policies backed by the Democratic Party and the large Democratic majority in the House and Senate.

Obama is not doing things in the interest of himself and his friends, nor is he doing things to benefit buddies in the oil companies. Obama is trying to bring this coun-try the change it desperately needs and deserves.

Nothing Obama has done so far is something that millions of Americans did not sign up for when they flicked the switch next to his name in voting booths across the country. Besides shutting down Guantanamo Bay and expanding SCHIP, Obama overturned an ex-ecutive order, thereby granting foreign aid to groups in other countries that do abortion counsel-ing. He placed tough restrictions on people in his administration being able to leave the office and lobby. He also helped push an 800 billion dollar economic stimulus plan through the Senate and the House. All of the things that Obama has done are things that are desperately needed. With our econ-omy in the toilet, we need some kind of stimulus plan. Some Re-publicans are opposed to this plan, because it includes some Democ-ratic programs. However, the largely Democratic House and Senate have passed it, and liberals around the country have much sup-port for it.

As reported in multiple

media outlets, there has been some outrage over the members of Obama’s cabinet who have not paid their taxes. Senator Daschle, who was supposed to work on Obama’s healthcare plan, has had to decline the nomination because of tax prob-lems. However, Obama is deter-mined to look to the future. healthcare will go through with or without Daschle. One person is not enough to get in the way of Obama’s vision for the coun-try.

Obama has just begun to clear out the mess that this coun-try has become, but in my opin-ion he is doing a good job. Be-fore criticizing him, one must take into account the amount of pressure and responsibility that comes with being president. One simply has to put the articulate, calm, cool, and collected Obama next to former President Bush to realize that he is not so bad after all. Hopefully, in the days to come, Obama will continue to push through legislation that will help Americans and small busi-nesses instead of benefiting large corporations. He simply has to keep his head up and stay deter-mined to make this country the country he promised us in his many uplifting speeches. ◙

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OPINIONS The STUYVESANT STANDARD February 27, 2009 –VOL.8, NO.8 5

Teaching Methods Matter

By: Angela Fan

Period One likes to lecture. Period Two is a film. Period Three is Physical Education. Period Four likes to have you copy notes. Period Five is lunch. Period Six is another note-taking class. Period Seven is always a discussion. Period eight is even more notes. Period Nine is free. Period Ten you’re gone. We all have so many teach-ers, and with that comes adjusting to the many ways they teach. As a new term has now begun, we all scramble to get to know our teach-ers and become accustomed to vari-ous teaching styles so that we can get the best grade possible in a cer-tain class. Many teachers like to lecture, but this puts several students at a disad-vantage. Namely, those poor stu-dents sitting on the windowsill without desks are at an inconven-ience. But it is not just they who do not appreciate the long class lec-tures. It is those of us who cannot necessarily write fast, and those who just cannot pick out the main idea before the teacher moves on to the next idea who do not appreciate lectures. Some of us end up with only a few sentences of notes a day, while others are able to write com-plete transcriptions of their teach-ers’ speeches. Other teachers are more note-oriented and are known for writing copious notes on the board for students to copy. This is a good way to learn, except for those of us who happen to have sore hands after a few minutes of intense scribbling. Some teachers like to hold extensive class discussions, which are fun for all of us…unless we do not like to participate. Others among us find it hard to take notes during a discussion, making it hard

to remember exactly what we dis-cussed from a week ago. Which is better? Would you rather have a teacher that talks all period, writes all period, or has the class lead the lesson? Some teaching styles benefit certain students, and others put many students at a disad-vantage. Teachers should teach with many different ways throughout the term to make sure that all of their students are learning something. People say that it is up to the student to learn what the teacher is teaching, but sometimes, you simply cannot write fast enough. Teachers should help us by teaching in ways that ac-commodate all of us. Maybe one day they would have a discussion, other days would be lectures, and other days could be lots of class notes. This way, every student has a chance to catch up and understand what is going on in the classroom. Freshman Maya Averbuch says the following: “I think that teachers should attempt to incorpo-rate a variety of methods into their teaching because people learn best in different ways. Discussion stimulates your own thoughts about what you are learning and leaves room for opinion, lectures help me understand whatever I have read in the textbook much better, and notes are beneficial for reviewing. It should really be a decision between the teachers and the students in each class, and not just something the teacher decides.” Anika Rastgir believes that “it all depends on the subject. In English, discussion is the most effec-tive style because that is how the class can communicate. I personally like some variety in teaching with the other subjects. There should be a combination of lecture and notes with a class discussion to see if the class can grasp the concepts.” ◙

Living in NYC: A Blessing or a Curse

Most of us probably do not realize how different New York City is from the rest of our coun-try. In movies, we have seen little suburban towns with one super-market, one mall, and a single school that all the students attend, but most of us cannot relate. Even other big cities like Los An-geles and San Francisco cannot compare to the vastness of New York and the variety that it has to offer. Yes, LA is a huge city stretching over 20 miles, but it does not have all of the excitement and possibility that New York does, and even though it is a met-ropolitan area, it is sometimes hard to get around without a car. In sub-urban areas, most kids get their driver’s license at the first possible moment, because without it, they are trapped inside the walls of their house with no way of getting any-where. In New York City, how-ever, many young people do not even bother getting a driver’s li-cense because using public trans-portation is much easier and more efficient than driving. New York is very large, yet it is also very easy to get around the city. The networks of buses, trains, and railroads make the big city seem small and acces-sible. The size of the city might seem like a problem, but if you consider it, would you be able to go to ice-skating, eat, and catch a movie afterwards all in a 3-block radius somewhere in Missouri? Probably not. New York might even be considered “smaller” than suburban cities since everything is connected. There are many things to do, so you can easily stay enter-tained within the comforts of your neighborhood, or around school. Living in NYC does have its draw-backs. The massive number of people constantly pushing through the streets creates large crowds, lines, and overpopulated transit. There is likely to be more garbage surrounding us, as well as more pollution. It might seem more un-comfortable than a clean quiet little town with 500 residents, but who likes quiet? Who likes boring? I would greatly prefer somewhere crowded and loud to somewhere quiet and boring. The people, the

streets, and the life define a city. New York, by that definition, is vast, exciting and diverse. I went to a friend’s house in New Jersey a few weeks ago. The whole time I was there, it was eerily quiet. I heard no outside noise the entire weekend aside from one or two cars that passed by the empty street. It felt hollow, and I felt like a part of me was missing the whole time. This feeling followed me up until I came out to the crowded streets of Broad-way. With my first breath of the con-gested Manhattan air that never stops smelling like hot dogs I felt at home. All the awkwardness completely dis-appeared when I got pushed aside on the sidewalk for standing motionless a little while longer than I should have. New York is actually not as hostile as people believe it to be. Most outsiders claim that they never see smiles on our faces. People think that we all hate each other, and some even hate walking down NY streets because of all the unfriendly stares. I personally do not see that at all. Of course some people are rude when they push you aside, rushing to work, but mostly people are not hostile. On many occasions, I have seen passen-gers give up their seats to the elderly on the train. In less populated cities and states, even though there might be a little more hospitality, it cannot be used as much, since there is less in-teraction between people. People use their own personal cars to get to a specific place and then drive back. They are isolated, keeping in touch only with people they know. There is little room for anything spontaneous or interaction of any sort. You cannot find yourself walking randomly down a crowded street looking into little stores, becoming inspired by the different cultures, people and new things. In New York, you can be-come acquainted with different parts of the world just by walking far enough down one street. You cannot find such fluent mergence of so many different people and cultures anywhere else. The exciting atmos-phere of New York cannot compare to anything else. I cannot imagine ever moving to a less populous and diverse area. But then again, who knows where life will take me? ◙

Common methods that teachers use in the classrooms include class discussions, lectures, guest speakers, and video-tapes.

TSS/ Elissa Tam

Despite living in the leading global city, with numerous sources of entertainment and culture, New Yorkers are not necessarily the most pleasant of people.

By: Anna Tsenter

TSS/ Elissa Tam

6 The STUYVESANT STANDARD February 27, 2009 –VOL.8, NO.8 SCIENCE

By: Omar Ahmad

The Standard Science

Stuyvesant High School, an institution which boasts its in-tra-borough diversity, is largely composed of students and faculty alike who travel to the school by public transportation, specifically the MTA’s train system. In a survey of noise levels of the New York City transit sys-tem, researchers at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health found that contact with noise levels in subways has the likelihood to surpass recom-mended guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). According to the investiga-tion, as modest as 30 minutes of exposure to decibel levels meas-

ured in the New York City trans-portation system per day intro-duces the possibility of a result in hearing loss. "Noise exposure and noise-induced hearing loss is a global health problem of signifi-cant magnitude, especially in urban settings, yet published data are ex-tremely limited," stated Robyn Gershon, professor of Sociomedi-cal Sciences and front writer of the study. Dr. Gershon and co-authors detail that, "Daily exposure to noise on subway platforms and subway cars has the potential to cause hearing loss. At the highest level obtained on the platform (106 decibels), the allowable limit under WHO and EPA is only 30 seconds. More than 1 in 10 of the platform measurements exceeded 100 deci-bels—which translates into an al-lowable limit of only 1.5 minutes."

Standard and highest sound measurements were made using an accuracy sound level me-ter on subway platforms located Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Queens. The average maxi-mum noise level on subway plat-forms measured was 94 decibels. The average maximum inside of subway cars was 95 dBA, and at bus stops, the average maximum was 84 dBA. For comparison, ap-proximate levels of familiar sounds are: 45-60 dBA for normal conver-sation, 100 dBA for a chainsaw and 140 dBA for a gunblast. The logarithmic nature of decibels means that every 10 dBA equals a 10 fold increase in intensity. Thus, according to the study, a 90 dBA sound is 10 times as intense as an 80 dBA sound. When asked about his daily commute, junior Alan Wong

stated that “[his] father has been traveling to work everyday by train for the past 20 years,” and now, “needs to use a hearing aid, and wears ear muffs often, to drown out all of the noise.” Alan, being a student who also commutes daily to Stuyvesant said that he “[doesn’t] feel any different, but [hopes] not to end up like [his] dad.” Many students ride the trains daily as a round trip, to get from home to school and vice versa. However, few truly take into consideration the health hazards involved with taking the trains and buses of New York City, such as the Department who encourages use of the MTA by distributing free-fare Metro-Cards to all who live past a certain distance from the school. ◙

Subway Sounds Harmful For Commuters

TECHNOLOGY The STUYVESANT STANDARD February 27, 2009 –VOL.8, NO.8 7

The Standard Technology

By: Qi Fan Zhang

The bubble finally burst with the collapse of Lehman broth-ers and Merrill Lynch. While shop-pers prepare for economic hard-ships by purchasing fewer prod-ucts, they inadvertently cause the collapse of another company. After more than sixty years of providing shoppers with the latest, most ad-vanced electronics, Circuit City is going to be liquidated. Liquidation is the process in which a business is permanently shut down and its assets are redistributed. According to James A. Marcum, the president and chief executive of Circuit City, in “Circuit City to Shut Down” by New York Times’s Stephanie Rosenbloom, liquidation is “the only possible path.” It does not have the means to support itself, and therefore will be closed. This means that all its merchandise will be sold by the end of March and its 567 stores will never been opened again. Its 34,000 employees are going to join the fast growing un-employment pool in America. But what does the dissolution of Circuit City mean to its customers? According to Rosenbloom’s “Q&A- Circuit City’s liquidation,” Circuit City would still accept gift cards throughout March and re-turning or exchanging purchased products is possible within four-teen days of purchase. Extended warranties on electronics will still be honored because the warranties are supported by other companies and Circuit City’s Advantage Pro-tection Plans are supported by As-surant Solutions. However, the Circuit City website is shut down and because a liquidation company

is handling the sales, Circuit City’s Unbeatable Price Guarantee and One Price Promise will not be ad-hered to. As of February 18, 2009, the liquidation process is going smoothly, according to Reuter’s “Circuit City Liquidation Sale Ahead of Schedule.” The $1.7 bil-lion inventory is expected to be completely sold within three to

four more weeks as signs through-out various Circuit City stores marked down prices by as much as thirty percent. Many shoppers are taking advantage of this opportunity as they acquire the newest camcorders, iPods, cameras, plasma televisions, and laptops. However, according to MSNBC in “Liquidation Sales Not Always a Good Deal,” the prices of

the products during the liquidation process are not necessarily the lowest. The prices of many prod-ucts, when compared to the prices that Best Buy offers, are higher. Therefore, it would be a wise choice to compare the prices of goods from many stores in order to get the best deal. After all, America is in a recession. ◙

Cameras Competing For Attention of Consumers

Walking down the halls of Stuyvesant, you are bound to meet someone holding a digital camera or have one hidden in his or her book bag. In fact, digital cameras are so popular at Stuyvesant that there are even Digital Photography classes. Yet, among the sea of cameras, which one is the best? According to cnet.com, the best five digital cameras are Nikon D3 (body only), Nikon D90 (with 18-105mm lens), Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H50 (Black,) Canon Power-Shot SD880 IS (gold), and Canon PowerShot A590 IS.

Out of the five cameras, Canon PowerShot A590 is a great candidate. It is not only less ex-pensive than the others (the price range is between $109.00 and $129.99), but it is also travel friendly. In other words, it does not take up much space in a book bag (it is 3.7 inches by 1.6 inches by 2.6 inches) and it is not that heavy (6.2 ounces). Aside from these positive physical attributes, Canon PowerShot A590 IS produces crys-tal clear and sharp photos. It has an 8 megapixel senor resolution and it contains optical stabilization fea-tures to prevent blurring of images

due to shaking or moving of sub-jects. To further its qualities, it has fast shutter speed at the rate of 1/2000 seconds and it has a con-tinuous shooting speed of 1.4 frames per second. Moreover, it has a build in flash that is effective within one to twelve feet and it can automatically reduce red eyes. Yet, one of its drawbacks is that it is not aesthetically appeal-ing. Many other digital cameras are colorful and eye catching but Canon PowerShot A590 IS is chunky and gray. Additionally, it sometimes functions slowly. With

the flash turned off, it is discovered by Will Greenwald in the “CNET Editors’ Review” that it can only cap-ture a new picture every 2.3 seconds and with the flash on, the wait time increase to an excruciating 5.2 sec-onds. Nevertheless, Canon Power-Shot A590 IS is a good camera for amateur photographers. It is not as expensive as other cameras and it pro-duces clear pictures. That way, you can document your years at Stuyve-sant with numerous albums. ◙

Circuit City Goes Out Of Business

TSS/ Om

ar Ahm

ad

By: Qi Fan Zhang

This Bay Ridge Brooklyn Circuit City branch is but one example of the hundreds of Circuit City stores closing across the country.

8 The STUYVESANT STANDARD February 27, 2009 –VOL.8, NO.8 LITERARY

The Standard Literary By: Robert Stevenson

The Standard Word Search

Find all of the words listed below.

The remaining let-

ters will spell out the puzzle’s

secret word.

Look in the next is-sue to find out what

it was. Word Bank SUNLIGHT TWILIGHT [The 5 stages of grief (DABDA)] THUGS ASLAN

LION CHECK ADDER THOROUGH SHEET CHAT

BOARS HEAD SOLDER WELD ALTAR ALTER RAIN

DASHER BURNT MORONS SWING SHOOT REGAL OWLS

By: Robert Stevenson

T L W E A D D E R L D W

N O A E A R E T L A T E

R T O G L D P S S H I G

U B H H E D R H U E R N

B U T G S R E G N A E I

D O M U I R S G L D D N

A D A O W L S N I L L I

R W K R R I I I G W O A

A G C O S O O W H E S G

T E E H S N N S T L T R

L G H T A Q I S A M B A

A C C E P T A N C E X B

ENTERTAINMENT The STUYVESANT STANDARD February 27, 2009 –VOL.8, NO.8 9

The Standard Entertainment A Look at Stuy’s Own

Mark Surya

It is safe to say that Stuyve-sant is rife with talent of all sorts. Whether one is looking for an ath-lete or a mathematician, it wouldn’t take long to find them in this school. For instance, the musical talent in our school is widespread--most of which is demonstrated within the numerous bands, orches-tras, choirs, and musicals that exist within the building. Among these is a small group of composers, one of which I have had the pleasure of interviewing. Mark Surya is a rising talent in the music industry, already successfully composing numerous pieces featured throughout the Stuy-vesant community. Despite having a family who isn’t musically oriented, Mark discovered his love of music early on, beginning with the piano. He played pieces that he describes as “modernist classical”–a relatively experimental genre. His willingness to experiment is exemplified in the other instrument he plays, the theremin–the first electronic instru-ment, played by very few people in the world, so there is no set tech-nique. However, he soon discovered that he wanted to compose. So, he started closely listening to some of his favorite artists, including Frank Zappa, Erik Satie, and John Cage. Then, he took ideas he had from a personal notebook he keeps. So, what exactly did he draw upon when he began to compose? “The oddest s*** in the world inspires me.” Mark responded in a matter-of-fact manner. “For example, I was in AP music theory one day, and the bell rang. I noticed that it was a

microtone and found that very in-teresting. So I studied microtones after that so I could make musical pieces out of them.” What has Mark done mu-sically in Stuyvesant? He has been an active member of the commu-nity, starting with his participation in the Chorus, for which he was the director for some time. He has also been the chorus director for SING! (in addition to being in the cast). A very great achievement though was his involvement in Stuyvesant’s Composer’s Forum–a gathering of composers that was started a year and a half ago. He is currently working on a piece for the Composer’s Forum concert in June which will be entitled “On the Rise”–dedicated to Ava Hecht. In addition, he is working on a piece that truly embodies his ideas about music as an art form. Mark be-lieves in simplicity of music–even modern classical composers have a tendency to create very complex melodies, which aren’t necessary. So, Mark decided to compose a piece called “Crackerjacks for Dr. Seuss” (Seuss, according to Mark, was a minimalist. Green Eggs and Ham only had about 40 unique words in it, and “More happens in Green Eggs and Ham than in War and Peace.”). He is doing this on his toy piano, believing that it will force him into writing “simpler, more beautiful” music. Mark Surya’s vision of music is one that is sure to inspire many generations of musicians. In parting from the interview, he passed along the overarching idea he was trying to get at: “Music is everywhere.”◙

By: Robert Colbourn

Senior Mark Surya has been known to share his musical talent with the Stuyvesant community.

10 The STUYVESANT STANDARD February 27, 2009 –VOL.8, NO.8 ADVERTISEMENT

SPORTS The STUYVESANT STANDARD February 27, 2009 –VOL.8, NO.8 11

The Sports Beat: Lakers Looking

for Championship Continued from page 12

Pau Gasol, a cross between a power forward and a center, averages 18.2 points, 9.4 re-bounds, and an impressive 3.5 assists per game. Derek Fisher, the point guard, averages 10.2 points and 3.8 assists per game. Lastly, the small for-ward Lamar Odom averages 10.1 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 2.4 assists per game. The point is that even without Kobe Bry-ant starting and playing the entire game through, the Lak-ers can still hold their own relatively well.

The Lakers, hardly strang-ers to the NBA finals, will almost certainly be seeing either the Bos-ton Celtics, led by Kevin Garnett, or the Cleveland Cavaliers, led by Lebron James. At this point how-ever, it seems that the Lakers have everything in the bag, since the Lakers beat both the Celtics and the Cavaliers in their recent con-frontations. As long as they stick with their current strategies and hard work ethic, it is very likely that they will make it deep into the NBA Playoffs this season. ◙

No Wins For Garden Home Teams During

Dream Week Continued from page 12

world champion Boston Celtics, “the big three” and company were looking to avenge a loss to the Knicks on January 4th at the Garden. The action was back-and-forth all night, and the game was even tied at one point in the 4th quarter. With little time left, however, the Celtics proved to be just a bit too much for the Knicks, as they pulled away with a 110-100 victory.

Although none of the games during the week were won by the home-town New

York teams, sports fans got ex-actly what they wanted. New York has always appreciated its own players, both outstanding individual performances and great team play, and during this week we got a taste of every-thing. Every single game was exciting and close and while die-hard New York sports fans weren’t happy with the out-comes, there’s no denying that “dream week” at the Garden really was something special. ◙

Sports Event Analysis: Phelps’s Reputation Goes Up in Smoke


of marijuana then Phelps is a saint compared to the alternative heroes in our world of sports. The fact that Phelps got caught with a can-nabis pipe and not a syringe or a powdery credit card should be a real sigh of relief to everybody.

With all that said, I can’t feel too bad for the guy if he loses some of his endorsements. As harmless as I think the occasional use of marijuana is, Phelps cannot expect people to be perfectly okay with him being perceived as a drug user while his face is plastered all

over their products. It’s not Kel-logg’s responsibility to determine whether or not marijuana is okay to use. Kellogg’s could not care less what he does at parties as long as it’s the golden-boy Michael Phelps and not the pothead Mi-chael Phelps that joins Snap, Crackle, and Pop on the Rice Krispies box.

Michael Phelps was trying to have a few minutes of a normal 23 year-old life – chances are by the time he wins his 15th gold medal and sets his eighth world record, no one will care what he was smoking in his free time. ◙

Some anticipate that the Lakers will compete with the Cleveland Cavaliers led by Lebron James for the championship.

12 The STUYVESANT STANDARD February 27, 2009–VOL.8, NO.8 SPORTS

Sports Event Analysis:Sports Event Analysis: Phelps’s Reputation Phelps’s Reputation Goes Up in SmokeGoes Up in Smoke By: Zack Goldberg

For an Olympic swimmer, smoking probably isn’t the healthi-est choice. But at least Michael Phelps’ coaches know he’s doing some form of breathing exercise. That’s the first thing that came to mind when I saw the picture of the Beijing hero holding a bong at a party. But seeing as I’m not a doc-tor, personal trainer, or a swimmer (I do occasionally dabble in the art of the doggy-paddle) – he probably knows what’s okay to put into his body much better than I do.

Not so shockingly, how-ever, Phelps’ lung capacity wasn’t

what concerned young children, parents and the media. This 23 year old man swims over 7 miles a day, and yet we focus on his use of a bong. Smoking pot in this country is barely a crime any-more; it’s a victimless offense that in many states constitutes just a fine. The guy isn’t shooting people or holding up liquor stores. Michael Phelps is guilty of some-thing that a sizeable fraction of the country is guilty of doing eve-ryday.

In fact, if I were the par-ent of kids who idolize Phelps, I’d be ecstatic that it was just a bong because if it’s just occasional use

Continued on page 11


Recently, things have been going very well for the Lakers. Once a team that heav-ily relied on the performance of its star player, Kobe Bryant, the Lakers seem to be faring just fine with Kobe sitting on the bench, sometimes for en-tire halves of games. The coach, Phil Jackson, has done a great job in developing a team that is not only very pow-erful offensively, but also tough defensively. In a recent showdown between the Lakers and the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Lak-ers traveled to Cleveland and served the Cavs their first hometown loss this season. The Cavs had a home record of 23-0 and an average margin of victory of 15.7 points. The Lakers did a fantastic job of shutting down Cleveland’s offense, restricting them to 11 out of 39 shots made from the field; Lebron James, who only made two out of 13 attempted

field goals in the second half, was only able to make five out of 20 field goals that day. Much to the concern of Lakers fans however, Kobe Bryant has been running into minor injuries here and there. After the game against the Cavaliers, Kobe was reported as being disoriented and having flu-like symptoms. Bryant, a scoring machine, busts out 27.3 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 5.1 assists per game. He has helped the Lakers achieve their 41-9 record, and is in essence the “face” of the Los Angeles Lak-ers. Jackson, however, wants to limit Kobe’s hunger for scoring, instead encouraging him to help other teammates score more, and thus create a team that can score proficiently, even when Kobe is sitting on the bench. The Lakers also played very strong offense. Andrew Bynum, the young 7 foot Shaq-in-training, averages 14 points and 8.2 rebounds per game. Re-cently, in a game against the Clippers, Bynum managed to score a career high 42 points.


TSS/Elissa Tam

No Wins For Garden No Wins For Garden Home Teams During Home Teams During

Dream Week Dream Week

Dream Week at Madison Square Garden culminated with a record-setting performance from Kobe Bryant and Lebron James's final performance in New York this season.

By: Cody Levine

If you’re a New Yorker and are a fan of teams who play in Madison Square Garden, you had some week. In a somewhat mis-named “dream week” at the Gar-den, the “world’s most famous arena” played host to the Los An-geles Lakers, Adam Graves’ jersey retirement, the Cleveland Cavaliers and finally the world-champion Boston Celtics, all in a span of five days.

Monday night the L.A Lakers came into town with one of the best players in the league, Kobe Bryant, ready to put on a show. The fans got quite a per-formance and then some. Bryant dropped a Madison Square Gar-den-high 61 points in the Lakers’ win. The performance was so im-pressive that the home crowd even chanted “MVP, MVP” for Kobe as he left the floor.

Following up the Bryant performance was Adam Graves’ night at The Garden. The “Heart of a Ranger” ceremony before the game featured former Ranger greats including Mike Richter, Mark Messier, and Brian Leetch, who made speeches about their

former teammate. After a very heartfelt speech from Graves himself, his jersey was raised to chants of “Gravy, Gravy” and “Let’s go Rangers.” The game that followed was a close and exciting one with the home-town Rangers scoring a goal in the last 10 seconds of regulation to tie the game. Though the team lost in overtime, it was a night to remember.

After Kobe’s spectacu-lar performance the general thought was, “what will Lebron do to outdo Kobe?” Lebron James answered that question in the first quarter alone, scoring 20 points compared to Bryant’s 18. The game was another very close one with the Knicks los-ing, 107-102. James, until the game was reviewed afterward and some stats were changed, had the first 50 point triple-double performance since Hall-of-Famer Kareem Abdul Jabar did it in 1975. Though the league took away a rebound and thus a triple-double from James, the performance was remarkable nonetheless.

After an off-night on Thursday, the Garden-faithful got to see yet another exciting game on Friday. Hosting the

The Sports Beat: Lakers Looking

For Championship By: George Wu

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