The Phoenix Inquirer

News & Features January 18, 2017

Anjali Gupta ’18 Takes On the PMEAs

This article is about a high schooler who competed in a music competition called the PMEAs, which stands for the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association. The interview is below. Can you please tell me your name? My name is Anjali Gupta and I’m in 11th grade. What instrument do you play? I played oboe for four maybe five years now. I heard you were competing in a competition called the PMEAs. Yeah, it’s really competitive and basically all schools are divided up into districts. We are is in District 11 so I compete against twenty or so other oboists in our district. Some of them going to Lower Merion High School and there are a couple more. They have blind auditions to determine the best players. What is a blind audition? The judges can’t see you and you can’t talk so they can’t recognize you. How did you do? I did really…

Puzzles January 11, 2017

Rage Inducing Puzzles #3

Welcome back to Rage Inducing Puzzles! Last week’s puzzles were worth a total of 60 RIP points. However, this week’s puzzles are winter specials! The risk is higher, but so is the reward! 150 whole RIP points are up for grabs this week. Let’s take a look on last week’s puzzles: 545+5=550. 6 pts. If 1=5, then 5=1. 5 pts. 706006 upside down is GOOGOL(10100). 01 upside down is 10. The answer is 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. 8 pts. Twelve has six letters. Six has three letters. Eight has five letters. 7 pts. (-2 if you said 4.) 1. The decimal expansion of 1/7 is .1428571428571… 1000000/7 has a remainder of 1, so the answer is the first digit of 1/7, which is 1. 10 pts. 4. 4/9=.444444444… 4 pts. 9. 1/11= .09090909090909090909… Since we want an even digit, the answer is 9. 5 pts. Put the marbles in 3 piles. Two have…

News & Features, Opinions January 11, 2017

Study Resources for Students

Throughout the year tests are often a key source of stress for students, but this can be avoided. Students often feel overwhelmed or scared, even when they have studied. The problem isn’t usually that students don’t study, they do. The problem is that they don’t know how to study for different subjects, especially math. We hope to show you different resources and ways of studying so you can ace your next test. Bad Study Habits We all have bad habits when it comes to studying. Many people believe that these habits are harmless, but they can do some damage on your overall education. They may seem to be the low hanging fruits; maybe the test is tomorrow and it’s midnight, but breaking them will do much more in the long run. The following unhealthy habits should be broken. Multitasking. Killing two birds with one stone will not help you. As…

News & Features January 11, 2017

The Phoenix Inquirer is Back and Better than Ever!

The 2016-17 school year has been a very interesting year for The Phoenix Inquirer. From service issues to social media, this year represented a year of growth and change for the newspaper. First of all, as the new school year started, we have gotten a bunch of new members in all three grades, plus our first members from the Class of 2023. And while we did lose some newspaper legends (such as Julian Brenman ‘20, Evan Sweitzer ‘20, and Liam Giszter ‘21), it has been made up with all of our newest members. In the first months of the new school year, the “new”spaper got to work immediately, publishing tons of new content, and by also entertaining the rest of the Middle School through videos and assembly announcements. From “Hexudoku” to “PhoenixTechTips,” the month also had tons of new series and debuts from new members. Shortly after, home.friendscentral.org shut down….

Opinions January 11, 2017

Top 9 Best Cafeteria Items for The Price

Though not all, many FCS students buy lunch and snacks from the cafeteria. I am here to present to you the Top 9 best cafeteria items for their price In the future, I’m planning to create lists of cheap meals, best snacks, and more. 1. Ice cream novelties: $1.35 (1 point) 2. Full container of fruit (6 oz.): $2.00 (2 points) 3. Small pasta: $2.00 (2 points) 4. Enhanced water (16 oz.): $1.55 (1 point) 5. Any milk (8 oz.): $1.25 (1 point) 6. Whole fruit: $1.25 (1 point) 7. Chips: $1.30 (1 point) 8. Three cookies: $2.15 (2 points) 9. Cereal with milk: $2.50 (2 points)

Opinions January 9, 2017

Review: Portal 2

In this review of Portal 2, we’ll rate each aspect of gameplay on a scale of 1-10, then discuss our opinions of the game. *Disclaimer* We will not be covering Portal in this article, as we find Portal 2 to be more fun and entertaining. Just a quick disclaimer. Gameplay: 9/10 Plot:8/10 Design/Characters: 7/10 Soundtrack: 9/10 Creativity: 10/10 Gameplay (9/10): Portal 2’s gameplay is fantastic and has better than some games made recently (*cough cough* No Man’s Sky *cough cough*). Portal 2’s gameplay ties into its creativity because the idea of shooting portals and progressing through puzzle rooms, or test chambers, while listening to an evil robot is clever and a new type of game. The genre of Puzzle/Story! The co-op of Portal 2 is a bit lackluster compared to the main story. The co-op delivers the main idea of gameplay but doesn’t deliver the personality or creativity of the main story…

Puzzles January 4, 2017

Rage-Inducing Puzzles #2

Welcome to Rage-Inducing Puzzles #2! This week, we will reveal the answers to RIP #1, and the first opportunity to earn RIP points! Last week’s RIP issue was worth 50 RIP points. Check the chart at the end of the answers for how you did. Since 0 is a multiplier, the answer must be 0 because anything multiplied by 0 is 0. 3 pts. Since X minus all letters is included in the puzzle, X-X is included also. X-X must be 0, so, using the same rule as before, the answer is 0. 5 pts. Place 3 marbles in one cup, 3 marbles in a second, and 4 marbles in the third. Then place the second cup in the third. Cup 1 has 3 marbles, Cup 2 has 3 marbles, and Cup 3 has 7 marbles. 5 pts. Place the five poker chips in a line. The first, second, third,…

Opinions January 4, 2017

Naruto for Beginners

I like manga, but the real question is do you like manga? I’ll introduce you to my all time favorite manga, Naruto. Disclaimer: I really like Naruto and I’ve almost completed the series. The Story: Naruto tells of how when the title character was a baby, the fourth Hokage sealed the nine-tailed demon fox inside his body to protect the village from its wrath. But the people of the village shunned Naruto and blamed him for the demon’s attack on the village. Naruto growing up with no parents (they died in the attack) or friends was the class clown at ninja academy. When he saved his master Iruka from a ninja attack, Naruto passed the exam he was put in a four-man cell. Cell 7 consists of Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, and their master, Kakashi. Naruto is a clumsy, joking, prankster ninja who is only serious about becoming the world’s greatest ninja. Sasuke is a serious,…

News & Features January 4, 2017

History Repeats Itself: A Historical Comparison

Note: This article is a comparison between two events and talks about a potential war; this war is only hypothetical and is not likely to happen. Not long ago on December 19, 2016, the Russian ambassador to Turkey was assassinated in Turkey. This may not seem like a big deal, and hopefully is not, but the situation eerily reminds some people of an event that unfolded more than a hundred years ago. For those who have not taken eighth grade Social Studies yet, the event mentioned was the cause of World War I. The archduke of Austria-Hungary was assassinated in Bosnia, which lead Austria-Hungary to declare war against Serbia. Alliances were then involved. However, World War III is not likely to be a product of the recent assassination. Relations between Russia and Turkey have actually improved since the incident. A chilling video exists of it, but I would not recommend…

News & Features January 4, 2017