THE
STANDARD
Monday, June 22, 2009
Students in Store for New Policies
By: Yelena Vayner
Although the 2008-2009
school year has almost ended,
there are new prospects for next
year at Stuyvesant High School.
There are a couple of changes be-
ing made to the school, although
none have been set in stone.
Though there is still no definite
word on the new out-to-lunch pol-
icy, Principal Stanley Teitel may
restrict out-to-lunch privileges for
the incoming freshmen class. “I’m
thinking about it,” Teitel said.
“We’re trying to alleviate prob-
lems with local businesses; fresh-
men may have to earn their privi-
leges for lunch.”
One solution suggested
that no freshman would be allowed
out to lunch for an entire semester.
After that semester, the school
would see how well the students
have behaved and decide from
there. One semester may be too
long, however, so another idea was
suggested. If, after the first mark-
ing period was over, an individual
student had passed all their classes,
Library Faces
Changes
By: Nada Elmansy
It was no secret that renovations have taken place in the
back of the library. However, very little information has
been released about the purpose of the renovations.
In
This
Issue
STUYVESANT
Volume 8 Issue 12
that person would be able to go out
TSS/Amna Ahmad
for lunch. If someone failed class,
he or she would have to wait until
the end of the semester, when an-
other decision would be made.
Teitel adds, “If the policy doesn’t
work, we’ll think of something
else.” The final decision on the
matter has not been made as of yet,
but by September 1, the day of
Camp Stuy II, the choice will be
revealed to the incoming freshmen.
Students have mixed feel-
ings about the policy that might be
enforced. Freshman Tanya Jain
says, “I don’t think it’s fair to pun-
ish the incoming freshmen for
something they didn’t do. I think
that they should be given a chance
to share the same privileges we
have, and then look at what hap-
pens. If there is a problem, that
privilege should be taken away.”
Another student who wished to
remain anonymous states, “Since
the freshmen and sophomores did
not behave as they should have,
it’s fair not to let them go out for
lunch. Who knows what can hap- As the 2008-2009 school year comes to a close, students anticipate a number of policy changes by members of the admini-
stration. Some of the changes that could take place have to do with freshman lunch privileges and gym locker rooms.
Continued on page 3
NYC Takes Fourth
in ARML
One of the places Stuyve- By: Jenny Shan these ninety team members, forty-
sant students visit most often is the one are Stuyvesant students.
TSS/Nada Elmansy
library. However, throughout the On May 29 and 30 2009, The ARML competition
year, the library has been going approximately two thousand high consisted of four events. The first
through many different changes. school students from around the event was the Team Round, in
One of the most apparent changes nation competed in the 34th annual which each team had twenty min-
is the construction that is due to American Regions Mathematics utes to solve ten questions. Five
occur at the back of the library. League (ARML). The ARML is a points are awarded for every cor-
It was Principal Teitel’s mathematics competition held rect answer. New York City’s
decision to remove the book every year on the weekend right Murph & the Magictones team
shelves and clear out the back of after Memorial Day. This year, the scored forty points at this event,
the library in order to build an ex- competition took place at four dif- tying with the top score. The next
tra classroom. This decision was ferent locations: Penn State Uni- event was the Power Question. In
taken in order to allow more room versity, the University of Iowa, the this event, each team was given
for incoming freshmen. Most Stuy- University of Nevada in Las Ve- one hour to complete a guided
vesant students found this to be a gas, and the University of Georgia. proof. Fifty points can be earned in
“rather disappointing decision” Teams consisted of fifteen high this round. New York City’s
considering the limited student school students, each representing Murph & the Magictones team
space. However, sophomore Adam their own city or state. New York earned forty- six points, again ty-
Yabroudi feels that the endless City sent six teams to the competi- ing with the top score. The third
tion, a total of ninety students. Of
Continued on page 3
Continued on page 3
Page 3
Page 5
Page 9
Looking Swine Flu An
Back: Makes Editor-in-Chief
A Year to Be Appearance in Says Goodbye
Remembered NYC Schools
 2 The STUYVESANT STANDARD June 22, 2009–VOL.8, NO. 12

Staff Editorial:
Speak Up for
Student Rights
The Executive Board As the end of the year ap-
proaches, the students of Stuyvesant
absence of student feedback. It is
our hope that the appropriate repre-
High School should learn from this sentatives of the SU and the class
MARINA TAWFIK EDITOR IN CHIEF past year’s mistakes, especially the caucuses make a point of reaching
MUHAMMAD TAMBRA MANAGING EDITOR incidences that took place at Whole out to the administration in ways
CHARLOTTE RUBY COPY CHIEF Foods and Barnes and Nobles. They that we have not seen in the past
should take heed that their actions few years.
TIFFANY CHOI LAYOUT EDITOR
have consequences. They should
NADA ELMANSY NEWS EDITOR realize that the fact that they are The administration has
JENNY SHAN NEWS EDITOR among the privileged few to make it also had discussions about cancel-
HUI TING JIANG OPINIONS & LITERARY EDITOR into Stuyvesant High School does ing the out-to-lunch privileges of
DANIEL AFONIN ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR not give them free reign. They the incoming freshmen class. As
OMAR AHMAD SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY EDITOR should know that they are given soon as rumors of this started to
MICHAEL BLOCK SPORTS EDITOR many privileges not because they spread there were accusations that
CODY LEVINE SPORTS EDITOR should have them, but rather be- the administration was taking a
MEGAN BRESLIN FACULTY ADVISOR cause they earn them. “draconian” and “unfair” approach
DANIEL EGERS (‘03) FOUNDER During this year many to controlling student conduct.
ERNEST BASKIN (‘04) EDITOR EMERITUS events took place that forced the While the Stuyvesant Standard
administration’s to reevaluate their does not support the proposed pol-
approach toward the student body at icy, the current students have not
large. Because various policies of taken any real initiative to show
Publication the administration depend on the the administration that Stuyvesant
ability to trust students to behave students are worthy of the “rights”
THE STUYVESANT STANDARD is a non-profit publication produced by
responsibly, it is in the students’ they have been given. It is up to
the students of Stuyvesant High School.
best interests to ensure that they act the student body to prove that they
respectfully in and around the Stuy- deserve of the privileges that they
vesant High School building. are granted. Therefore, it should be
THE STUYVESANT STANDARD distributes 2,000 free copies on a bi-
It is also the student’s re- the goal of the student body to start
weekly basis to the students and faculty of Stuyvesant High School and
sponsibility to communicate the as soon as possible to repair rela-
throughout the adjoining neighborhoods of TriBeCa and Battery Park City.
needs and concerns of the student tions with the administration to
body to members of the administra- protect those privileges that every
THE STUYVESANT STANDARD welcomes letters from its readers. For a tion. Unfortunately, this year Stu- student cherishes. The new Student
letter to be reproduced in print, a name and method of contact must be pro- dent Union leaders did not do an Union representatives should do all
vided. effective job of representing the in their power to communicate
perspective of the student body, so more effectively with the admini-
THE STUYVESANT STANDARD reserves the right to edit any published it goes without mention that in stration in order to put an end to
material. The viewpoints of contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of many ways the administration was the continuing trend of shrinking
the Standard staff. forced to base policies on what they student liberties.◙
Copyright ©2009 THE STUYVESANT STANDARD believed was best for students in the

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 NEWS
Students in Store for
New Policies
Continued from page 1
pen?”
Another change we should
be expecting for the upcoming year
is the renovation of the gym locker
rooms. New lockers will be in-
stalled during the summer, and they
will be ready for the fall term. In
addition, the new lockers may come
with master locks, which are the
locks installed on regular lockers.
There have been ongoing problems
and thefts in gym locker rooms.
These are due to students leaving
lockers open or utilizing designer
locks that they have acquired on
their own. Even after precautions
were taken, such as locking doors to
gym lockers, thefts have persisted: a
phone, graphing calculator, and
other possessions have been stolen
from the gym lockers.
As a result, all students will
have to pay twelve dollars to buy
locks for the gym lockers, in addi-
tion to paying for the locks on the
Library Faces
Changes
Continued from page 1
shelves of books in the back were
not very useful to students. “We
still have a good amount of space
throughout the library and maybe
an extra classroom would be good
use of the unnecessary space.”
When this decision was
made, the number of books the
library disposed of began to in-
crease. Lately, it has not been un-
usual to see a cart full of books
outside the library. Students as
well as teachers are asked to help
themselves to these books. It was
originally thought that the library
was disposing of such a large num-
ber of books in order to allow for
room for the new classroom. How-
ever, one of Stuyvesant’s librari-
ans, Ms. Kalish, said that the li-
brarians “have to weed out the
books like you weed out a garden.”
It seems that the new plan to build
an extra classroom is not affecting
the books being disposed of.
Rather, the Stuyvesant librarians
have a very complex system in
deciding what books are no longer
needed at the library.
When the Stuyvesant High
School library first opened in
1992, the main concept was
“heavy duty books,” as Ms. Kalish
said. There was no concern about
student space or the number of
computers available. The library
The STUYVESANT STANDARD
The Standard News
regular lockers. All students will be
required to buy the locks. If a stu-
dent is not able pay the amount of
money required due to the family’s
financial situation, they can work it
out with the principal. To this idea,
one junior who wished to remain
anonymous declares, “It doesn’t
make any sense. Why should we
pay for lockers when we could buy
them for a cheaper price by our-
selves?” Freshman Andrew Scasny
agrees, “It’s not our fault that some
people don’t lock their lockers and
things get stolen. We shouldn’t
have to pay money.” But another
student says, “It doesn’t really mat-
ter to me, it’s not big deal to pay an
extra $12 for me. At least our
things will be safe.”
Nothing is final as of yet;
Teitel still hasn’t sat down with the
cabinet. No other policies have
been decided, so Stuyvesant stu-
dents will have to wait and see what
else is in store for next year.◙
was designed to simply house
shelves and shelves of books.
However, now that it is a lot easier
to access material online, some
books have to be under
“withdrawal,” meaning that they
are no longer in the library’s sys-
tem. At our school library, books
that have not been checked out for
ages, such as an interesting book
on Eskimos, which had not been
checked out since 1986, are subject
to withdrawal. Before this is actu-
ally done, the books are looked up
on Amazon.com. If the price of the
book is less than two dollars, it
will most likely appear on the cart
outside the library. There are how-
ever cases where the librarians
have to reconsider. According to
Ms.Kalish, “If a book is not in
good condition but is valuable, it
becomes part of the history collec-
tion.”
This system has been de-
veloped to protect the library’s
collection of books so that a struc-
tural change to the library, such as
the new classroom, would not af-
fect the books at the library. In
fact, all this decision is doing to
our library is compressing the
books rather than disposing of
them. Soon enough we will find
out how this change will affect the
library. For now, it is a priority to
create more classroom space.◙
June 22, 2009 –VOL.8, NO. 12
NYC Takes
Fourth in ARML
Continued from page 1
Stuyvesant High School students were among the team members that helped bring the NYC American Regions Math
League team to the tenth place bracket during a recent competition.
event was the Individual Round. In
this event, students were given five
pairs of questions, with ten min-
utes to complete each pair. One
point is awarded for every correct
answer, so each team can earn up
to 150 points. New York City’s
Murph & the Magictones team
earned 102 points, coming in fifth
for this event. The last event con-
sisted of two Relay Rounds. In this
round, each team formed five
groups of three people. The first
student solves the given problem
and passes the answer to the next
student, who uses the answer to
complete their own question. The
process is repeated with the third
student, who submits the final an-
swer. In this event, New York
City’s Murph & the Magictones
team scored five points in the first
relay and three points in the second
relay out of a possible twenty-five
points for each relay. In the end,
Looking Back: A Year
to be Remembered
By: Jenny Shan
With the school year ap-
proaching an end, many students
are eagerly welcoming the start of
the summer. Before saying the fi-
nal good-bye to the 2008-2009
school year, though, it may be time
for Stuyvesant students to look
back on the events that have made
this year a year to remember.
The 2008-2009 school
year started on Tuesday, Septem-
ber 2, with Stuyvesant High
School welcoming 843 new fresh-
men. The start of a new year has
also brought in new policies, such
as Principal Stanley Teitel has
making it mandatory for students
who have failed a course to attend
3
TSS/Jenny Shan
the New York City’s Murph & the
Magictones team scored a total of
196 points, coming in fourth place.
Lehigh Valley from Pennsylvania
came in first place, scoring 215
points.
“They were in a position to
win,” says Mr. Cocoros, Stuyve-
sant math teacher and coach of the
New York City Math Team. “It
just didn’t work out at the tail end.
But I’m still very happy.” In the
previous year, the New York City
team won first place in the ARML
competition. This year, the team
lost seven senior members who
graduated in 2008, three of whom
were considered to be the best in
the nation. With the loss of those
members, it was thought that the
New York City teams did not have
a chance in performing as well as
in the previous year. However, this
did not stop the New York City
team from finishing fourth in the
nation. ◙
AIS sessions.
The 2008 presidential elec-
tions brought much excitement
into Stuyvesant High School. On
Halloween, whether it was to make
a public statement of endorsement
or to display disapproval, many
students dressed up as the presi-
dential candidates or their running
mates. On November 4, 2008,
Barack Obama was elected as the
44th president of the United States
of America. President Obama’s
victory was historic, as it was the
first time an African American, or
member of any minority group,
won the presidency.
Later that same month,
Chancellor Joel Klein announced
that New York City Public Schools
Continued on page 6
 4 The STUYVESANT STANDARD
By: Hui Ting Jiang
Q: What do Tiger Woods and I have
in common?
A: We both tore our ACLs.
The anterior cruciate liga-
ment, otherwise known as ACL, is
an extremely important ligament in
your knee. Although it is not men-
tioned in Biology class when the
human body is taught, the ACL is
the frontal cross-shaped ligament
that is responsible for your knee’s
flexion, extension, and up-down-
side-to-side movements. It allows
one to walk, run, hop, and skip.
Without this ligament, your knee is
virtually useless.
Lately, it has become a
growing trend for Stuyvesant stu-
dents to hobble around on crutches,
limp with braces, and shuffle with
casts. As a result, the elevators usu-
ally reserved for teachers have be-
come crowded with injured stu-
dents. Most of the elevator users are
athletes, although there are occa-
sional exceptions.
The elevator is always a
great place to test one’s skills as a
Attendance Goes Haywire
By: Marina Tawfik
As the last few weeks of
school have inched by, most things
seem to remain the same. Teachers
still assign homework, tests, and
projects as though the circum-
stances have not changed. For the
most part, they are right; it may be
the end of the year, but that does
not mean work should be put aside
and summer should begin early.
Only one thing is at all notice-
able—the poor student attendance
over these final days due to the
swine flu scare.
It seems that students are
gravitating towards either of two
extremes: they either stay home
because they are scared of getting
sick, even though they show no
symptoms, or they insist on going
to school regardless of their physi-
cal state because they do not want
to fall behind. Both of these men-
talities are very flawed, but in dif-
ferent ways.
Missing school even
though a person has very mild or
no symptoms is unnecessary and
merely results in a poor attendance
record and needless missed work.
There have been recent days when
hundreds of students are absent at
a time. Many of these students
only miss school because either
they or their parents fear that they
will fall ill at school.
On the other hand, it is
The Standard Opinions
ACL FML
conversationalist. In such a confined
area, one either stands silently and
awkwardly, waiting for the destina-
tion to arrive, or grabs the opportu-
nity to make a new friend. I had the
pleasure of finding out one boy’s
peculiar reason for using the eleva-
tor. He told me, and I hope this is not
an invasion of his privacy, “I had to
get surgery on my toe…there was a
fungus.”
The sheer number of injured
students I have seen traversing the
Stuyvesant hallways takes me back
to my own injury – a torn ACL. Be-
fore the incident, I was always aware
of the possibilities of bruises and
broken bones while playing sports. I
never thought a torn ligament was
subject to occur. According to Doc-
tor Sclafani, an orthopaedic surgeon,
ACL tears are one of the most com-
mon injuries among young athletes.
If that is true, why haven’t high
school athletes been properly warned
about them?
High school athletes are
competitive by nature and push their
bodies to the limit every day at prac-
tice. They are even harsher on them-
selves during games. Since their bod-
ies are in use so often, it is tremen-
dously important for athletes to be
Stuyvesant has paid witness to a growing trend of “strategic absences” by students, but some argue that absence from
school should always be a last resort.
even more detrimental to students
who show severe symptoms to be
present in school. Most of the time,
this results in the student being
sent to the nurse by a teacher,
which leads them to go home early
anyway. However, the difference
is that their presence in school for
just a few periods can lead to con-
taminating other students.
This is truly unnecessary,
as students should come to the re-
June 22, 2009 –VOL.8, NO.12 OPINIONS
aware of their bodies. I feel it is not
TSS/ Hui Ting Jiang
only the athletes’ responsibility to
be knowledgeable and be careful,
but also the coaches’ to inform their
players of the impending dangers of
playing a sport and also to educate
them in prevention methods. I am in
no way harping on coaches’ indi-
vidual methods of training, but
rather reminding them that it is
equally important to stress condi-
tioning and strengthening as a
means of avoiding injuries common
in young athletes. Learning how to
prepare athletes’ bodies for the tax-
ing physical activity may be more
essential then actually learning to
play the sport. Athletes need to de-
velop the proper muscles to support
their bodies in motion lest some-
thing unfortunate happens.
I hope in the future athletes
will listen to their bodies instead of
ignoring the aching pains and push-
ing through them. Life is too fragile
an entity to be treated lightly or ig-
nored. It needs to be treasured by
athletes. Whereas speed, endurance
and agility will soon leave one’s
memories as the years drag on, your
body is something that will remain
with you through it all. ◙
Opinions and Literary Editor Hui Ting Jiang suffers from
an injury of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL).
TSS/ Elissa Tam
The two extremes actually
fall hand in hand, and so if one
overcomes their fear, the other
should too. That is to say that once
people stop fearing that they will
fall behind in schoolwork, less
people who are actually sick will
be present in school. This means
that the students who fear contract-
ing an illness can come to school
with no worries, because they
know that anyone who is ill is at
home resting.
The essential point for stu-
dents to understand is that health
comes first, regardless of the cir-
cumstances. Labs and tests can
almost always be made up, and
usually it is to a student’s benefit
to take a makeup exam when they
are well rather than to go in and
attempt to take it when they are
rendered incapable of doing even
very basic assignments.
The recent surges in ab-
sences were not unavoidable.
Though nothing can be done about
the past, students and teachers can
alization that going to school while work to avoid this large a number
they are sick will not benefit their of absences in the future. Both stu-
schoolwork at all. It is nearly im- dents and teachers should stay
possible to concentrate on learning home if they are ill in order to
when a person has a major head- avoid infecting others. In addition,
ache or is constantly running to get teachers should send any students
tissues. A day of rest can be ex- who appear ill to the nurse in order
tremely beneficial in that as it im- to benefit that student and the class
proves their physical condition it as a whole. Falling ill certainly is
also prepares them to go back to not fun, but attending school at the
school and participate as actively same time is all the more detrimen-
as they did before becoming ill. tal.◙
 SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
The Standard Science & Technology
Swine Flu Makes Appearance in NYC Schools
By: Omar Ahmad
Novel influenza A, H1N1
strain, more commonly known as
“swine flu” is a new flu virus of pig
origin that was first detected in
Mexico and the United States in
March and April, 2009. The initial
H1N1 patient in the United States
was confirmed by laboratory testing
at the Center for Disease Control
(CDC) on April 15, 2009. The sec-
ond patient was confirmed on April
17, 2009. It was speedily clarified
that the illness was dispersing from
person-to-person. On April 22,
CDC commenced its Emergency
Operations Center to organize the
public health reaction. On April 26,
2009, the United States Government
declared the “swine flu” as an inter-
national public health emergency.
According to CDC, antivi-
ral drugs can be given to assist
those who become strongly ill.
These antiviral drugs are prescribed
medicines, in the form of pills, liq-
uid or an inhalable media, and take
action against influenza viruses,
such H1N1 flu virus. There are two
influenza antiviral medications that
are recommended for use against
H1N1 flu. The drugs that were used
for treating H1N1 flu are called
oseltamivir (Tamiflu) and zanamivir
(Relenza). The CDC noted that as
the H1N1 flu continues to spread,
these antiviral drugs might become
diminutive in supply. Therefore, the
drugs would be given first to those
people who have been bedridden or
are at high risk of injury.
It’s widely believed that
novel influenza A (H1N1) flu
spreads in the same way that regular
seasonal influenza viruses spread;
principally through the coughs and
sneezes of infected people.
Since the outbreak began in
the United States, an increasing
number of U.S. states have reported
Clash of the Titans: PC vs. Mac
By: Omar Ahmad
Apple’s admired commer-
cials have illustrated the picture of
this struggle in plain terms: There
are two types of consumers, Mac
people and PC people. If the mar-
keting holds true, the Mac repre-
sents a stylish, young, and enthusi-
astic consumer who uses his com-
puter for video discussion, music
mixing and other unique, modern
recreations that the stiff, formal PC
users were never encouraged to do,
unless they tried on the slick Apple
interface. Then again, Windows
PC enthusiasts may think that Mac
representative is a smug slacker
with a luxurious toy that can’t per-
form true calculation and organiza-
The STUYVESANT STANDARD
Information for this chart was derived from the Center for Disease Control.
cases of novel H1N1 influenza with
related hospitalizations and deaths.
By June 3, 2009, all 50 states in the
United States and the District of
Columbia and Puerto Rico were
listing cases of the innovative H1N1
infection.
According to the World
Health Organization, 66 countries
had officially reported 19,723 cases
of infection, including 117 deaths,
as of June 3, 2009. Particularly, the
cases in Argentina, Australia and El
Salvador more than doubled. But
according to CDC specialists, how-
ever, the flu occurrence in the U.S.
is dying down in the country as a
whole. For example, as of May 30,
Wisconsin had more cases than any
other state: 1,430, but Wisconsin
officials said that this was "nothing
to worry about," pointing out that
the greater numbers largely re-
flected the state's efficiency in test-
ing suspected cases.
tional work. Surprisingly, both
stereotypes prove wrong.
With a 7.5 percent Operating
System world market share, Macs no
longer cater specifically as the com-
puter choice to artists, writers, and
musicians. Apple is, in actuality, the
fourth largest computer producer in
the world. Remarkably, as time con-
tinues to progress, the internal hard-
ware of Apple and PC computers
alike seem ever-similar. Both types
of machines utilize Intel proc-essors.
Both purchase memory, hard drives
and graphics cards from the same
small group of suppliers. The pri-
mary operating systems have mark-
edly singular tastes, but in terms of
efficiency and productivity, Micro-
soft Windows Vista and Mac OS X
June 22, 2009 –VOL.8, NO.12
As experts struggled to give
details on why so many deaths had
primarily occurred in Mexico and
nowhere else, the CDC, on May 1,
suggested a straightforward ration-
alization: "there are many cases in
Mexico, most are mild, and just the
bad ones have been seen so far."
It noted that newer and
more severe cases had focused on
patients seeking care in hospitals
and acknowledged that there could
in fact be a large number of unde-
tected cases of illness, which would
explain the much higher mortality
rate.
Other experts agreed: "The
central question every flu expert in
the world would like answered, is
how many mild cases Mexico has
had," said Dr. Martin Cetron, direc-
tor of global migration and quaran-
tine for the Centers for Disease
Control, in an interview.
"We may just be looking at
Leopard have unpredictably similar
built-in multimedia, Internet and
business-related applications.
Yet what makes the systems
feel so dissimilar is their approaches
to these applications. Internet Ex-
plorer versus -Safari, Windows Me-
dia Center versus Front Row, Photo
Gallery versus iPhoto, Backup and
Restore Center versus Time Ma-
chine—these structural mechanisms
from Microsoft and Apple are de-
signed to accomplish essentially the
same goals. To users, however, the
position and movement of the virtual
knobs and levers make all the differ-
ence.
These specifics are predomi-
nantly issues of predilection and
style, but one can still make a level-
5
TSS/Omar Ahmad
the tip of the iceberg, which would
give you a skewed initial estimate
of the case fatality rate," as he also
speculated that there may have been
tens of thousands of unreported
mild infections, which would then
make the number of deaths seem-
ingly low, and as the flu spreads,
the number of people who become
seriously ill would remain relatively
small.
It’s uncertain at this time
how somber this novel H1N1 virus
will be in terms of how many peo-
ple infected will develop serious
complications or die or how this
new virus may affect the U.S. dur-
ing its upcoming influenza season
in the fall and winter. Because this
is a new virus, most people will
have little or no immunity against it,
and illness may be more severe and
widespread as a result. In addition,
Continued on page 6
headed effort to measure them, as did
the popular technology site, Popular
Mechanics.
They tested two all-
in-one desktops and two laptops—
one Mac and one PC per category—
and created a board of testers with a
range of knowledge and penchant
that ran the scale from expert users to
the average computer layman. Their
participants were asked to set up the
computers out of the box and investi-
gate the machines through routine
objectives such as Internet browsing,
document construction, uploading
pictures, downloading Adobe Acro-
bat files and playing music and mov-
ies through Media Center and Front
Row, the entertainment software
Continued on page 6
6 The STUYVESANT STANDARD
Swine Flu Makes Appearance in NYC Schools
Continued from page 5
currently there is no vaccine to
protect against this novel H1N1
virus. CDC anticipates that there
will be more cases, more hospi-
talizations and more deaths asso-
ciated with H1N1.
At this time, most people
who have become ill with novel
H1N1 in the United States have
recovered without requiring medi-
cal treatment and have experi-
enced typical flu symptoms.
However, this still says
little about the nation’s current
cases, particularly those in
densely populated areas like New
York City. The cumulative num-
ber of ‘confirmed’ cases in NYC
is 623. This number does not re-
flect the overall incidence of
H1N1 flu, since only select cases
are tested for H1N1. Most cases
of influenza-like illness do not
need to be tested for H1N1, so
they are not included in this
Clash of the Titans: PC vs. Mac
Continued from page 5
bundles supplied in Vista and
Leopard, respectively. The testers
were instructed to remove them-
selves as much as possible from
their previous technical prefer-
ences and charge their experiences
with each computer’s software and
hardware.
The tested computers
were tested on a level of equality,
but in the interest of full admis-
sion, The Gateway One PC had a
processor that runs 400 MHz
slower than its iMac competitor,
though not a sufficient distinction
in the current age of dual-core
chips, but it also had two extra
gigabytes of DDR2 memory. In the
laptop category, the Asus M51 had
a 2.2 GHz processor, compared to
2.4 GHz for the MacBook. But the
Asus had a larger screen, a more
Looking Back: A Year to be Remembered
Continued from page 3
will be expecting more budget cuts
as a result of the economic crisis.
Though it was said that the cuts
will be made in non-school budg-
ets, there was no doubt that many
public schools, including Stuyve-
sant, have been and will be af-
fected by the new budget cuts.
A week into 2009, the
Stuyvesant community received
devastating news of Ava Hecht’s
death. Ava Hecht passed away on
Thursday, January 8 due to menin-
gococcal disease. This news struck
deep in the Stuyvesant community,
as Ava Hecht was loved by many
at Stuyvesant High School. Two
weeks after Ava Hecht’s death, a
count.
Senior Allen Granzberg,
coordinator of this year’s Student
Union Blood Drives, stated that
Stuyvesant is “a different school
[that] should have been closed
down” because “at other schools,
students don’t come in if they have
a sniffle,” but at Stuyvesant
“[students] will take an exam with a
fever.”
As many organizations,
such as the previously mention
WHO and CDC scramble to update
the world on the status of this infec-
tious disease, the virus continues to
spread through many countries and
communities, so the CDC highly
recommends minimal physical con-
tact with other people, covering
one’s nose and mouth while sneez-
ing or coughing, and of top priority,
getting oneself tested, as did Chan-
cellor Joel Klein in his outreach to
the New York City Department of
Education.◙
sophisticated graphics card and an
extra gigabyte of RAM.
The extra RAM often seems
to give a competitive advantage to
the PCs on the market. Vista,
nonetheless, is a noted memory
consumer, proving that providing a
significant amount of RAM in a
PC computer is probably less of a
perform-ance inoculation for pro-
ducers than it is an updated stan-
dard hardware requirement.
Speed benchmarks, mean-
ing, the time it takes a computer to
perform a certain task, are consis-
tent displays of performance,
though the numbers may feel
somewhat pointless to common-
place users. This proved to be the
reason Popular Mechanics created
their own unique set of tests, inde-
pendent of manufacturer standards,
to compute the speed of everyday
Celebration of Life memorial in
memory of Hecht was held at
Stuyvesant High School. Ava
Hecht will forever stay in the
hearts of everyone who is a part of
the Stuyvesant community.
During Regents and finals
week in the end of January, Teitel
announced that cell phones were
not to be brought into the exams. If
a student were to be found with a
cell phone, that student would re-
ceive a zero on the exam and fail
the course. The strict enforcement
of this policy was due to previous
problems with cheating.
On January 28, forty stu-
dents were named Intel Science
Talent Search finalists of 2009.
Anissa Mak and Adam Sealfon,
June 22, 2009 –VOL.8, NO.12 SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
A considerable number of New York City school students have reported flu-like symptoms and remained home from school
with the fear of having contracted Swine Flu.
tasks. Testers recorded boot-up and
shutdown times, and commence-
ment times for the Internet applica-
tion and multimedia player sup-
plied in each operating system, as
well as for ordinary programs such
as Microsoft Word and Adobe
Photoshop. It was evaluated how
long each computer took to burn a
CD and install large program bun-
dles. The laptops played a particu-
larly lengthy film, Saving Private
Ryan, which spans 2 hours, 49
minutes, until the computers
clicked, cut off and shut down.
Finally, all four computers ran
three different video sources (a
YouTube clip, a DVD and an .avi
file), DivX encoding, instant mes-
saging, Microsoft Word, Adobe
Acrobat and a spyware scan simul-
taneously—then retimed our
launch of Photoshop.
who both submitted math research
papers, are two of the finalists who
are from Stuyvesant High School.
The final winners were announced
on March 10.
Stuyvesant’s Science
Olympiad team competed in the
annual New York State Science
Olympiad State Competition on
March 21. The Stuyvesant team
finished tenth in the state out of
forty-nine schools.
STRIVE, Stuyvesant’s
only environmental activism club,
held its first Earth Day Festival on
April 22. This event took place on
the third floor atrium at Stuyvesant
and was open to the Tribeca com-
munity. The Earth Day Fest in-
creased awareness of the ongoing
TSS/ Hui Ting Jiang
The results provided a com-
prehensible winner in the presenta-
tion categories, but the cumulative
surprise was how little disparity
was found in user preferences. As
explained by Popular Mechanics
testers, both forms are competent
and easy to use, but only one was
the victor, the Mac.
The MacBook and iMac
alike proved to have significantly
higher battery life, processing ca-
pabilities, and multimedia capac-
ity, than those of the PCs, while
slashing weight, download and
boot-up times, as well as cost for
internal software sold separately
on most PCs. However, the PCs
held cost down, as well as overall
familiarity in running the OS,
though the appeal of the sleeker,
simpler Leopard OS X interface
put shame to the clunky, oddly
colored Vista visualizations.◙
problems our Earth is facing, and
encouraged “green” habits by giv-
ing out free Energy Smart light
bulbs and free tote bags.
Towards the end of April,
New York City was struck with
swine flu. Stuyvesant has been ex-
periencing increased absences due
to sickness. Many New York City
schools have been closed in order
to prevent more flu-related cases
and allowed for sanitary proce-
dures to be taken.
Though the 2008-2009
school year has almost ended, it
will not be long before the next
school year arrives. Now, only
time will tell what the upcoming
year will bring. ◙
 ENTERTAINMENT The STUYVESANT STANDARD June 22, 2009 –VOL.8, NO.12 7

The Standard Entertainment

E3 Madness: The Techs
By: Daniel Afonin

TSS/ Daniel Afonin

Every spring, thousands of

TSS/Amna Ahmad
excited gamers flock to Los Ange-
les to experience the most impor-
tant and most awaited video game
conference of the year. The Elec-
tronic Entertainment Expo, or
more notably E3, is a chance for
the titans of the gaming industry to
showcase upcoming projects, up-
dates, systems, and games. This is
a time for gamers to find out what
innovations will be added to their
favorite consoles in the imminent
future. The E3 convention is usu-
ally held for an entire week, with
separate days dedicated to individ-
ual companies for their presenta-
tions. From year to year the most A considerable population of Stuyvesant High School students rely on either glasses or contact lenses to enhance their
vision throughout the course of the school day.
attention is always directed upon
the Big Three of the gaming indus-
try: Microsoft, Sony, and Nin-
tendo. The never-ending rivalry
between these companies, each
pioneering its own system, results
in a heated competition for stealing
the spotlight of E3. This year’s
exposition did not disappoint…
Microsoft
The first day of E3, June 1,
was Microsoft’s chance to take
center stage. Revealing an unfor-
Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony made public some of the new technologies they hope to continue developing during the E3 convention. The three companies will have to compete for the
gettable list of innovations headed loyalty of millions of picky consumers.
for the Xbox 360, Microsoft set an
incredibly high bar for this year’s tion, members will now be able to fully mimics all actions on screen Sony
E3. The first “tech-based” an- listen to thousands of streaming giving way for an entirely new ex- Microsoft’s jaw-dropping
nouncement made by the company songs and even make their own perience. Based on Microsoft’s presentation on June 1 made Sony’s
included the introduction of three radio station using the service of introductory trailer, players will be job a lot harder. Fans were not dis-
new services to Xbox Live. Draw- Last FM. Finally, instant messag- able to browse through their appointed, though, as the company
ing up partnerships with Facebook, ing will also be brought over with dashboards using simple hand ma- had two tricks up its sleeve. The first
Last FM, and Twitter, Microsoft Twitter. Microsoft’s biggest an- neuvers, scan items such as skate- trick featured the long awaited news
will be giving Xbox Live Gold nouncement was saved for last. boards to use in certain games, and of the new Playstation Portable – the
members a chance to interact with The appearance of Steven Spiel- enjoy new titles like never before, PSP Go. This new console will hit
their friends like never before. berg on stage was accompanied by whether it be fighting or racing. stores October 1, embodying a new
Gamers will now have access to the presentation of Xbox 360’s Instant face and voice recognition “slider” design, a 3.18-inch screen,
their own and their friends Face- newest entertainment endeavor – also adds onto the hype of this new Bluetooth technology, and a 16 GB
book profiles without leaving the Project Natal. Project Natal is all technology. The presentation was memory drive. In addition, the new
couch. Updating statuses, viewing about eliminating the need for a accompanied by demos of two PSP will be smaller and lighter, but
photos, and even posting screen- classical controller and actually games called Ricochet and Paint at the expense of the UMD drive.
shots from your own in-game ex- putting you into the game using Party which made Project Natal Several games were also announced
perience is just a fraction of the high tech motion sensory. Recog- one of the more memorable mo- in conjunction with the new system,
things one can do with Facebook nizing all aspects and movements ments of this year’s E3. including a new Metal Gear Solid
on your Xbox dashboard. In addi- of the human body, Natal’s camera
Continued on page 8

E3 Madness: The Games

By: Daniel Afonin
Even though new technol-
ogy always steals a large part of
the spotlight at E3, game an-
nouncements are equally as , if not
even more, anticipated by the thou-
sands of gamers who keep track of
the exposition. Original new titles
as well as popular sequels to al-
ready established franchises al-
ways play a big part in deciding
which company will come out on
top and claim leadership on the
market. New games are also ex-
tremely important because not only
do they retain the interest of hard-
core gamers to a specific console
but also attract new fans to the
scene. Basically, games are what
define a console and end up as be-
ing the greatest factor acting upon
a player in search of a new system.
This year fans of all three compa-
nies were left mesmerized by the
upcoming list of titles soon to hit
stores. Featuring loads of trailers
and live gaming footage, E3 2009
brought back some old favorites as
well introduced a couple of never
before seen ideas…
Microsoft
The Microsoft E3 presen-
tation started off with a colorful
and music-filled trailer showcasing
the next installment in the Rock
Band series – The Beatles Rock
Band. Followed by some on screen
gameplay of everybody’s favorite blockbuster trailer for the upcom-
Beatles tracks including “Back in ing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
the USSR” and “Here Comes the 2, which was revealed a week be-
Sun,” the audience erupted with fore E3. Chock full of explosions
applause as Ringo Starr and Paul and action and accompanied by
McCartney made a guest appear- brilliant graphics and environ-
ance to express their reactions to ments, the trailer was followed up
the game. Following Rock Band by a segment of in-game footage
came the introduction of a new which found your character climb-
Tony Hawk game presented by ing up a sheer cliff of ice in a rag-
none other than the skateboarding ing blizzard. Next, in rapid succes-
legend himself. Incorporating an sion came a whole bunch of excit-
actual skateboard (without the ing games including Final Fantasy
wheels) controller with laser track- XIII (the first non – online Final
ing of feet and occasional hand Fantasy for the Xbox 360), Epic’s
positioning, Tony Hawk: Ride arcade shooter Shadow Complex,
gives the player a whole new Joy Ride (a free racing game for
physical experience of gaming. your avatars), Crackdown 2, Left 4
After that the lights dimmed and
the audience was immersed in the Continued on page 8
8 The STUYVESANT STANDARD
The Standard Literary
E3 Madness:
The Techs
Continued from page 7
and LittleBigPlanet. That was not
all, however. Sony presented its
own version of a new motion sen-
sor featuring the use of a “wand-
like” controller with a red globe
apparatus at the end, which works
with the Playstation Eyetoy. Boast-
ing pinpoint accuracy and the abil-
ity to detect depth, the controller
paves the way for a ton of new ex-
periences. Basically, the controller
will be able to shift into anything
you want it to be, ranging from
game to game. Swords, shields,
golf clubs, or whips are all possi-
bilities. Even a bow and arrow me-
chanic was introduced using two
wand controllers.
Nintendo
Unfortunately, after Mi-
crosoft and Sony’s innovative mo-
tion tracking developments Nin-
tendo’s technologic efforts at E3
were largely overshadowed. Even
though Nintendo did introduce a
new Wii Motion Plus sensor,
which would allow the controller
Continued from page 7
Dead 2, Splinter Cell Conviction,
and Forza Motorsport 3. Probably
the biggest reveal of all, though, was
centered around Bungie. An in-game
sequence from the upcoming Halo
ODST including a massive firefight
and explosion of a bridge left fans
more anticipated than ever. That was
not all. Bungie went as far as to re-
veal a brand new installment in the
Halo series, Halo Reach, which play-
ers will be able to experience
through a beta once ODST launches.
Finally, ending Microsoft’s lineup of
games was Alan Wake, a totally new
mystery oriented game.
Sony
In contrast to Microsoft,
Sony began its conference with a
PS3 exclusive – Uncharted 2:
Among Thieves. An in-game se-
quence revealed Drake leaping and
June 22, 2009 –VOL.8, NO.12 ENTERTAINMENT/LITERARY
TSS/ Hui Ting Jiang
to capture the actions of the player
more precisely, it was nothing fans
haven’t already seen. Following
that was a presentation of the Wii
Vitality Sensor – a piece of tech-
nology for your finger, connected
to the Wii remote, in order to
measure your heart rate and deter-
mine levels of excitement. Even
though this was an interesting fea-
ture, no games were presented
alongside it. This lead to more
questions than answers. Many fans
were left wondering how the Vital-
ity Sensor would be incorporated
into game play, and whether it was
needed at all. Thankfully, Nin-
tendo’s list of upcoming titles was
good enough to put smiles on the
faces of fans nevertheless.
The technological aspects
of E3 were probably more than
enough to get many gamers
psyched for the future, but there
was even more to come. E3 an-
nounced an entire list of long-
awaited games that would hit each
system in the future. Interested?
Well then keep reading…◙
E3 Madness: The Games
sight into Assassin’s Creed 2 fol- gameplay through a four player
climbing through the rooftops of a
lowed the PSP showcase giving story mode. After a brief an-
half destroyed, secluded city some-
players a look into one of missions nouncement about yet another Wii
where in the mountains followed
through a demo. The most memo- Fit game using an improved bal-
by a fast-paced getaway from a
rable part of the demo included ance board Nintendo went into the
military chopper. Gorgeous graph-
Ezio’s (the character) use of Da Wii Motion Plus discussed in the
ics and an interesting online aspect
Vinci’s flying apparatus in order to previous article. Along with this
to the game left many fans of the
glide through the night sky. Next Wii Sports Resort was introduced,
series itching to experience the
came two unforgettable trailers of integrating the new technology and
multiplayer beta coming out the
The Lost Guardian and Gran Tur- giving fans the opportunity to do
same day. Uncharted was followed
ismo 5 finished by the presentation archery, play ping pong, and even
by MAG, an epic multiplayer FPS
of Sony’s crown jewel – God of go skydiving. New DS titles in-
coming out for the PS3. Including
War III. cluded in the presentation were
256 people in a single match, the
Nintendo Final Fantasy: Crystal Bearers as
game stresses cooperation of indi-
Nintendo seemed to lag well as a new Kingdom Hearts.
vidual units and the securing of
behind the competition in techno- Finally Nintendo ended the presen-
strategic objectives in order to de-
logical aspects, but its greatest ef- tation with its biggest announce-
feat the opposing team. After these
forts were put into new games fo- ment, Super Mario Galaxy 2, Dead
two premiers Sony shed some light
cused on the DS and Wii. The first Space: Extraction (continuation of
on upcoming titles for the PSP in-
new game on the horizon brought the epic survival horror game) and
cluding Assassin’s Creed Blood-
to everyone’s attention was a New Metroid: Other M (a brand new
lines, The City of Final Fantasy,
Super Mario Bros game for the FPS Metroid that will redefine the
Rock Band Unplugged, and Metal
Wii highlighting cooperative series).◙
Gear Solid: Peacewalker. An in-
 The STUYVESANT STANDARD June 22, 2009 –VOL.8, NO.12 9

To Whom It May Concern:

I always have a difficult time starting pieces like this so I went looking for outlets of inspiration.
I drank 3 cups of coffee and a coolatta and spent the past two hours dancing in circles in my living room
with my 11-year-old brother to really corny old songs on satellite radio to prepare. I think I’m ready
now.
I can’t seem to wrap my mind around the fact that I am finally leaving Stuyvesant. In fact,
unlike most other second term seniors, I’m dreading graduation. I just don’t feel ready to leave this
place, and I am unsettled by the fact that so many seniors are so quick to say “I really can’t wait to get
out of here.”
I don’t think most Stuyvesant students understand just how fortunate they are to attend this
school and look onto college as a definite chapter in their lives rather than a mere possibility. Unlike
myself and the majority of my Stuyvesant classmates, my parents didn’t have it so easy in their lives.
My mother was married two weeks before her seventeenth birthday, and forced to leave high school by
her parents. She sacrificed the prospect of furthering her education and building a career for herself in
order to raise her children, while in many ways still a child herself. My father was only 21 when he
married, and experienced his first day off of work on his honeymoon. His father passed away two
months after his wedding. It was his responsibility to console his family members in light of his father’s
death, support his pregnant wife, take on two jobs, and at the same time pass a number of incredibly
challenging engineering courses as a student of Pratt Institute. My parents held their world together
when most other people presented with similar life circumstances would have likely given up. In telling
me their stories, they have taught me that graduating high school is surely more a privilege than it is an
accomplishment, and in many ways I’m not sure I deserve the honor of graduating from Stuyvesant
High School. I wish that my peers would take the time to acknowledge how lucky they are to have been
granted a Stuyvesant High School education.
One of the reasons I’m having so much trouble leaving Stuyvesant is that somehow I find it al-
most impossible to relieve myself of my commitment to the Stuyvesant Standard. It is altogether dis-
comforting to know that something you worked so hard on for so many years will be getting along very
well without you. I joined the Stuyvesant Standard my freshman year as a writer for the Opinions sec-
tion. I later created the Stuy Voice column, and went on to be Literary Editor by my sophomore year.
By junior year I became opinions editor and toward the end of the year I became Editor-in-Chief. The
telephone conversation in which the former E.I.C., Jennifer Schlesinger notified me that I would assume
the position undoubtedly represents one of my fondest memories. I was honored to be able to follow in
her footsteps. For the three years that I had known them, Jennifer Schlesinger, and Eric Mayo (the for-
mer Managing Editor,) had become both friends and role models for me. I tell them all the time that I
haven’t met many people who are as genuine, devoted, and passionate as they are, and unfortunately I
don’t expect to in the future.
In spite of the wonderful job that Jenny and Eric did in preparing me for what I would face this
year, acting as Editor-in-Chief has been a tremendous challenge for me at certain points. For that rea-
son, I would like to thank all of the ’08-’09 school year editors who worked so hard to make our vision
of the Standard a reality. I am extraordinarily proud of the work we were able to produce together this
year and I’d like you all to know that your commitment is the reason this publication will continue to
survive in the coming years. I would also like to express my sincerest appreciation toward Ms. Breslin,
our faculty advisor. I’m not sure I can effectively communicate the extent to which she contributed to
the paper this year. Not many teachers would be willing to read through an entire newspaper over the
phone during weekends and holidays, offering suggestions, sentence-by-sentence as Ms. Breslin was.
In many ways, I have learned more from discussing the Standard with Ms. Breslin this year than from
any class I’ve taken at Stuyvesant. I don’t believe it would have been possible to imagine a more quali-
fied, and motivated faculty advisor to work with. I am eternally grateful.
As one of the few Editors-in-Chief that the Stuyvesant Standard has had in its young life, I’d
also like to thank Daniel Egers for having the vision to found what could easily be deemed one of the
nations’ most progressive publications. There are very few high schools that have independent bi-
weekly newspapers in addition to a more established school newspaper and Daniel Egers surely de-
serves the credit for being able to recognize the potential of the Stuyvesant student body to continue the
movement toward innovation that the creation of the Stuyvesant Standard represents.
Fortunately, I will be able to leave the Standard with the knowledge that the individuals who
will succeed the current generation of editors will bring this publication to even greater heights. The
’09-’10 editorial board of the Stuyvesant Standard possesses a number of motivated, creative, passion-
ate, and intelligent individuals prepared to produce quality work that will impress our audience of read-
ers. In fact, the new editorial board is in many ways one of the strongest ones I would have ever
hoped for and there is no doubt that the editors will prove themselves to be worthy of the honor they
were just afforded in being granted their positions. Great things can and should be expected of them.
Marina Tawfik, the next E.I.C. is a calm force that demonstrated her enthusiasm for the paper as Opin-
ions Editor this year. She does not fear letting what she thinks is best for the Standard be known. Ma-
rina was always the editor I felt I could rely on for anything. She was always there for this paper and
as a responsible, insightful, and considerate individual who has worked very diligently in the past few
years, I am more than pleased to have her succeed me.
Because I would like the opportunity to directly address our audience of readers for the last
time, I will end by offering Stuyvesant students a bit of advice that I think they really need to hear. A
few weeks ago I cracked open a fortune cookie after dinner. The fortune read: “No one can be exactly
like you.” And it’s true. No one can be exactly like you and you cannot be exactly like anyone else.
So muster up some confidence and speak-up because others will want to hear what you have to say. If
you don’t, you’ll definitely be sorry you didn’t. Trust me.

Thank you Stuyvesant,

Amna Ahmad

P.S. If anything I said was unclear, just take a train ride up to 116th Street and we can have a chat.
There’s nothing too trivial to discuss over coffee.
10 The STUYVESANT STANDARD June 22, 2009 –VOL.8, NO.12 ADVERTISEMENT
 SPORTS The STUYVESANT STANDARD June 22, 2009 –VOL.8, NO.12 11

The Sports Beat: Pitching Phenoms

Hockey? No? Didn’t
Think So
Continued from page 12
soccer sport a net? So I confi-
dently call the owner of this argu-
ment ignorant.
The next most popular
argument is one of my favorites:
hockey players aren’t that athletic.
Okay, so the average NHL
player’s bench press numbers are
not going to impress anybody the
way an NFL lineman’s would.
When Scott Niedermayer skates
28 mph and Zdeno Chara shoots a
puck 105 mph, though, it’s hard to
take the person who challenges
their athleticism seriously. Base-
ball, even less so before needles
started pricking butts at a record
pace, is rarely challenged as a
sport – and its athletes aren’t often
called out. Baseball players are
renowned for their hand-eye coor-
dination. It’s not exactly easy to
hit a 98 mph fastball or a profes-
sional curveball. That being said,
it is definitely not easy to redirect
Chess With
Robert Hess
Continued from page 12
Compete for Acclaim
Continued from page 12 this season. While some are skepti-
cal about whether or not he will
their investments by keeping their continue to put up such impressive
a puck going 98 mph toward a six
pitchers on strict pitch counts, To- numbers, the season is already one
by four foot goal around a profes-
ronto keeps Halladay in so he can third over and he has shown no
sional goalie. For some reason it’s
finish the job. signs of slowing down.
just more difficult for people to
Zack Greinke is the only In a survey about which
accept and be awed by the athletic
player on this list who has not won pitcher fans would rather see pitch-
prowess of a guy named Jaromir,
a Cy Young Award. In fact, he is ing for their teams, Santana easily
Henrik, or Teemu.
the only one who doesn’t have a won the most votes. Out of 35 peo-
Now to my absolute favor-
history of dominance. This year, he ple, 25 voted for Santana, with
ite anti-hockey argument:
has really found his stuff. Pitching Greinke coming in 2nd with six
“boooooooooring”. Admittedly,
two complete games and three votes, Halladay with three, and
hockey on TV isn’t as engaging as
shutouts in his first three starts, Lincecum with a lowly one. I don’t
your Cinemax on-demand televi-
Greinke leads the Majors in ERA know about anyone else, but my
sion alternatives, and the puck isn’t
and has a WHIP of only .90. He vote certainly goes to Santana as
as aesthetically pleasing, or, well,
has pitched five complete games, well.◙
visible, as a football. However, if
and allowed only ten earned runs
you’re a sports fan that judges a
game based purely on how it looks
on television then you should be
condemned to a year of figure
skating and juggling.
Hockey is a fast paced,
physical, and exciting sport, which
I guess makes it exactly like your
Cinemax-on-demand shows. Until
I am presented with legitimate rea-
sons to dislike hockey, my opinion
of the average sports fan will re-
main where it is.◙
Do you have an opinion
about The Stuyvesant
Standard that you would
like to share?

Tell us what you think.

Your comments, ques-
tions, and suggestions
are welcome with us.

Black to Move
Feel free to email us at:
Ideas: Pin, Smothered Checkmate
Solution:
1... Nxf3! 2. Bxe7 Ng3+! 3. Nxg3 Rxh2#
(! Is a good move. # signifies checkmate)
The position starts off with approximate equality: black and white
EIC@stuystandard.org
have the same material, except that white has the two bishops against
black's two knights. White's light squared bishop on d3 and the queen
on c2 form a nice battery for white, while black's rook on h6 has an
X-ray attack, that is, attacking a piece with only one piece in the way,
on the white king on h1. White looks to be better with the open A-file
for his rook and the pin on the knight on g5 (if the black knight
moves, the black queen will be lost). However, black has some tactics
to significantly improve the position.
After...Nxf3, white can recapture gxf3, but black simply goes Qxh4
and is up a pawn with an attack on the white king.
After...Ng3+, white cannot recapture with hxg3 because white's h2
pawn is pinned to the king. 3. Nxg3 is the only legal move as black's
knight on f3 occupies the g1 square for the white king.◙
 12 The STUYVESANT STANDARD
Pitching Phenoms Compete For Acclaim
By: Thomas Fabrizio
With a third of the baseball
season complete, people are talk-
ing about whom they consider to
be the best pitcher in baseball.
Zack Greinke of the Kansas City
Royals, who leads the Majors with
a 1.10 ERA (Earned Run Average,
or earned runs per nine innings)
through 11 starts, is frequently
mentioned, as is last year’s Na-
tional League Cy Young Award
(for the best pitcher) winner Tim
Lincecum of the San Francisco
Giants, who leads the league in
strikeouts with 91. I have decided
to break down some of the top
pitchers this season to see whether
they are Cy Young material or not.
Tim Lincecum, the 25
year-old ace of the Giants, posted
an 18-5 record on the season with a
2.62 ERA and a league best 265
Strikeouts on his way to the Cy
Young. His unorthodox pitching
motion gives him exceptional
speed on his fastball and break on
his curveball, despite his small
frame. Although Lincecum has
great “stuff,” there are several fac-
tors that concern me. His youth,
and therefore relative lack of ex-
The Sports Beat:
Hockey? No? Didn’t
Think So
By: Zack Goldberg
It’s amazing how often
people claim to dislike things
that they clearly don’t under-
stand. For reasons beyond me
people seem to hate the sport
of hockey.
My usual reaction to
the guy who shoots down a
hockey conversation with a
simple “hockey sucks” is a
look of confusion. It’s not be-
cause I don’t know what
they’re talking about, but be-
cause they don’t know what
they’re talking about.
I sometimes try to ra-
tionalize the thought processes
of the baseball, basketball and
football fans that are so quick
to dismiss hockey. I’ve made a
small mental collection of ex-
Pitchers are often considered the most important players in baseball. Tim Lincecum, Johan Santana, Roy Halladay, and
Zack Greinke are MLB pitchers that have celebrated recent acclaim.
perience, means that he might
crack under pressure. He also
plays in a division that doesn’t
have strong offensive teams, so
his 3.01 ERA and 91 strikeouts
are somewhat inflated by the lack
of hitting. Against non-division
teams, he has an ERA of over
4.30, allowing nine earned runs in
19.1 innings. He is a great pitcher,
planations. One that I hear sur-
prisingly often is that hockey is
not accessible enough; that the
need for ice and skates is a ma-
jor detraction. One can’t just go
shoot a puck or play a pick-up
game the way you can with
football. Ignoring the fact that
there are versions of hockey
that you can play on foot, there
is some truth to that statement.
It would take a lot more text
messages to start a game of
hockey than it would a game of
football. Then again, if roller
blades and a tipped over trash-
can aren’t good enough for their
standards, why are hockey hat-
ers okay with playing football
without a goalpost or pads?
How many pick-up games of
Continued on page 11
June 22, 2009–VOL.8, NO.12 SPORTS
TSS/ Cody Levine
season at 16-7, he boasted a
league best 2.53 ERA and over
200 strikeouts. He has the ability
to pitch deep into games and work
his way out of jams. The determi-
nation he has on the mound
strikes fear into opposing players.
In 2009, he is 7-3 for the New
York Mets, with a combined three
earned runs (all coming in the
same game) in his three losses.
Not much else can be said about
Santana; his numbers really speak
for themselves.
Roy Halladay is another
dominating pitcher. The first to
reach nine wins this season, Hal-
laday has already pitched two
complete games and thrown 91
innings this season, which puts
him on pace to break his career
high. While his 2.77 ERA is not
the best in the league, his ability
to get the job done is one of the
but his stats have definitely bene-
reasons why the Toronto Blue
fited from the weakness of the
Jays are just a few games out of
division.
first place in the American
For a number of years,
League East, which is generally
Johan Santana has dominated
considered the toughest division
hitters in both leagues like no
in baseball. Halladay is one of the
other pitcher. He has won two Cy
last few pitchers able to pitch
Young awards while having a
deep into games consistently.
career 1.10 WHIP (Walks plus
While many teams try to protect
Hits per Innings Pitched) and 3.07
ERA. Despite finishing the 2008 Continued on page 11
Introducing:
Chess With
Robert Hess
By: Robert Hess
Come up with a solution for the situation in chess simulated in the picture
below for the black pieces. It is your move next. Look on page 11 for a possi-
ble solution devised by Robert Hess, an American International Master of
Chess who has achieved international acclaim in the competitive world of
chess.
Continued on page 11