Yearly Archives: 2022

Tech/Games

Wordle: The new popular vocab game

Leave a comment

By: Olivia Miller

“Wordle” is a new daily word game that has become incredibly popular in the last 6 months. The online game that is currently being run by the ‘New York Times’ has taken the nation by storm, and unlike other vocabulary games, has managed to reach players of all ages.

How does this game work? Well, it’s quite simple. Everyday, there is a new five letter word that players have to attempt to guess in six tries. On your first try you guess any random five letter word, and afterwards the game tells you which of the letters in that word are either not in the word, in the word but in the wrong spot, or in the word as well as in the right spot.

With these clues comes a tactic most players use, which is when typing their first guess, trying to include as many vowels as possible. This tactic helps get at least one correct letter in the first try, in turn helping you guess the full word quicker. Some people (like myself) always use the same first word every day, mainly because they think that word is most effective in getting the most letters correct.

There is no explanation for this simple game’s rise to popularity, possibly because there is only one word a day. This causes people to end the round of the day wanting to play more, so they come back the next day, the next day, and so on.

I asked students of Highland Park High School what they think of “Wordle” and here are some of the responses.

“I think it’s fun to compete against your friends to see who can guess it in the least amount of tries” – Mila Hart.

“It’s a game that’s fun but works your brain at the same time… it’s also helped me learn new words I didn’t even know existed.” – anonymous.

This game has become so popular that there have been many spin offs of the game created. These include “Wordle Unlimited”, which name explains itself. Apparently players can’t wait a whole day for another word so an unlimited version of the game has been created.

Another popular spinoff is “Heardle”. This game plays a small clip of a song that you then (like “Wordle”) have to guess in a limited amount of tries. There are tons of more spin-offs that have been created, so if you get sick of “Wordle” you can check out these many other games.

Editorials/Student Voice, Travel/Food

Why is soda so addicting?

Leave a comment

By: Haroon Yonis

Soda is a common drink in America. It’s tasty, sweet, and most importantly it’s refreshing. You can’t go a day without seeing it, whether it’s in your household, on a commercial, or in the restaurant you’re having your meal in.

It’s undeniable that soda is involved in our lives, and especially plays a major role in American culture and cuisine. 

But what makes this drink so addicting and tasty? The answer may surprise you, and may finally make you realize how much of a danger it really is.

Firstly, soda contains a ton of sugar, and some brands may have upwards of 60 grams in their drink! This insane amount of sugar releases chemicals in your brain, chemicals that make you feel good, and makes the soda much more refreshing. One of these chemicals is known as dopamine, and it makes you feel pleasure, a common feeling associated with sugar and soda.

On top of that, many sodas contain ingredients such as artificial flavors, and additives such as caffeine, that make you crave it, and as a result sometimes causes one to create an unhealthy addiction and obsession with the drink. Diet sodas have further promoted this widespread addiction, as many view them as a healthier alternative to regular sodas, when in reality they may even be worse.

The availability and cheap price of soda also makes it appealing to many customers, especially those who cannot afford healthier sweeteners, and as a result opt out for soda instead. They are found in practically every restaurant, and the honest and rather harsh truth is that it is almost impossible to avoid soda. There are very limited options when it comes to alternatives, and the sweet tasting drink has become a staple in America.

Some advice would be just to cut out soda from your diet, and as your body slowly adjusts to the change, you’ll realize that you no longer crave or want the drink. Soda has many detrimental effects on your body, and it simply isn’t optimal for human digestion. Do yourself a favor and stay away from that can of poisonous sugar!

Editorials/Student Voice

Why more people should go to therapy

Leave a comment

By: Mila Hart

Everyone in the world has troubles in their life. Some people’s troubles may be much more severe than others, but that doesn’t change the fact that pretty much everyone is struggling with some sort of conflict or unwanted feelings and emotions.

I know it might seem pretty weird, making appointments to dish your struggles to a stranger, but you may find that you will often leave your appointment feeling much better than you did when you came in and with some potential solutions to your problems.

Therapists are professionals that are trained to provide mental and emotional treatment and rehabilitation. They can help people through many many things. People go to therapy for guidance through some very personal and painful experiences. They can help people overcome depression, live with loss, guide them through grief, work through anxieties, and many other things.

But therapy isn’t just for dealing with some big painful thing that has happened to someone. It is also used to help people in their day to day lives. By helping and encouraging people to understand their thoughts, moods, and behaviors, therapy can make the biggest positive difference in how people live their day to day lives.

Seeking and going to therapy is not as taboo as it once was. The American Psychological Association collected data that showed that nearly half of American households have had someone seek mental health treatment this year. Russ Newman, PhD, JD, and the American Psychological Association’s executive director for professional practice said that “We’ve made progress in people’s attitudes toward getting mental health treatment or seeking it for their loved ones, but cost, lack of insurance and access still can be barriers for people in getting the help they need.”

Unfortunately, the cost of therapy stands in the way of many people getting the help they need. Many people believe that health insurance should cover mental health services and that access to mental health services is extremely important.

Movies/TV/Theaters

Netflix losing subscribers

Leave a comment

Since Netflix launched, it has had over 222 million subscribers in over 190 countries. It is one of the world’s leading entertainment services that includes: TV series, documentaries, and feature films. Subscribers can play, pause, and resume watching, all without commercials. 

Netflix has reported that they are losing subscribers for the first time in a decade, which brings their total subscriber total down to 221.64 million. It has also been reported that they will lose another 2 million subscribers before the end of June.

Due to losing subscribers, Netflix has begun firing employees that work on Tudum, a pop culture website that markets Netflix programs. The Tudum website launched last December 

 Experts have given reasons for why this is taking place. Netflix has increased its price, leaving subscribers to pay a third more than they were less than two years ago for the same service. For the people who share passwords with family members, Netflix has stricter controls with the hope that those sharing passwords will turn into subscribers. 

Netflix has released a letter that says, 

“Sharing passwords likely helped fuel our growth by getting more people using and enjoying Netflix. And we’ve always tried to make sharing within a member’s household easy, with features like profiles and multiple streams. While these have been very popular, they’ve created confusion about when and how Netflix can be shared with other households.”

But, Netflix continued in the letter, the free rides — the company estimates more than 30 million accounts are sharing their passwords in the U.S. and Canada — aren’t going to continue indefinitely. One solution currently being tested in Chile, Costa Rica, and Peru is paid sharing plans.

“There’s a broad range of engagement when it comes to sharing households from high to occasional viewing,” the company said in the letter. “So while we won’t be able to monetize all of it right now, we believe it’s a large short- to mid-term opportunity.”

I feel that they have increased their price without upgrading it like adding new shows, and adding more features to it. Also, if they keep the shows people like on there they wouldn’t be losing so many members. For example, ‘Friends’ and ‘The Office’ recently left Netflix for Peacock.

Netflix losing subscribers also contributes to them canceling shows and not renewing them for another season. ‘Julie and the Phantoms’ is one of the cancelled shows that upset many on TikTok. The fact that you often have to wait a year or more for a new season of a show, also doesn’t help.

The upcoming addition of commercials seems like just another reason why people will want to cancel their subscriptions. Overall, Netflix should stay away from commercials and keep shows people like.

Travel/Food

Origins of matcha

Leave a comment

By: Ashley Harris

Matcha was originally discovered in the 8th century by a Buddhist monk named Myoan Eisai. However, matcha was not made popular until the 12 century. There is no specific place where matcha was first found, but it can be traced back all the way to the Tang Dynasty in China.

Contrary to popular belief, matcha’s original form is not powder. In fact, to make just 30 grams of matcha, it takes on average, 1 hour to produce.

You might be wondering how exactly matcha is created. Well, it’s actually pretty simple despite the amount of time it takes. According to TeaSource, “It is made from the highest grade of Gyokuro Japanese green tea. The finest shade-grown tea buds are plucked, the stems and veins are removed, and the leaves are carefully ground into a fine powder.”

While matcha can be drunk by itself, it is widely preferred in many different flavors and milks. Some popular milk choices involve, almond milk, oat milk, whole milk, and even goats milk. As well as this, there are many different flavors to choose from such as, brown sugar, toffee nut, raspberry, cinnamon, strawberry, and pretty much anything you can think of!

It is not only the sweet earthy flavor that draws people towards matcha, in fact, matcha has countless amounts of health properties such as: enrichment of antioxidants, possible protection of the liver, boosting in brain function, prevention of cancer, promotes heart health, and many more.

Matcha has been evolving since its first day of arrival in the 8th century. From only drinking it with water, to being able to order a venti matcha frappuccino at Starbucks, matcha has paved the way for many teas around the world.

So, now that you know more about matcha, are you willing to give it a try?

Movies/TV/Theaters

‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ teaser

1 Comment

By: Salman Said

The new teaser for ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ has arrived and the teaser garnered 34 million views on YouTube in the first 10 days of its release. The last we saw of the lovable god was during ‘Endgame’ when he went into a deep depression from the deaths of his family, and failure to save the universe. Towards the end of the movie he finds solace and begins his travels with the Guardians of the Galaxy. 

During the teaser he goes through a rigorous training montage wearing a trucker hat titled “Strongest Avenger” a memento to the self-proclaimed nickname he gave himself in ‘Thor Ragnarok’. Afterwards, he comes out muscular; his hair is back to its long blond ponytail look, and his prosthetic eye finally matches the color of his other eye.

The song that plays in the teaser, “Sweet Child O’ Mine,” by Guns N Roses, depicts Thor’s new found freedom after vacating his royal position to Valkyrie. The song fully captures Thor’s transition to a new portion of his life. He exclaims “My superhero days are over” before the beat drops, only adding onto the fact that he’s ready for this new transition. We also see him promptly leave the Guardians of the Galaxy, further doubling down his previous exclamation.

The teaser points to a more peaceful phase in Thor’s life, one without war and bloodshed. Toward the middle we see Thor soberly looking at a snowy monster. In the comics, this monster was a god itself and a long-time friend of Thor. We don’t see the antagonist, Gorr the God Butcher, in the teaser, but seeing the corpse of a god, it’s safe to say that Gorr was the culprit. 

Gorr, who’s played by Christian Bale, is set to make his MCU debut this July. In the comics, Gorr was born in a barren land without food or water. Gorr’s family and village were very pious and prayed for salvation from the gods, but their prayers were never answered. Gorr tragically lost his pregnant wife due to these conditions and was left widowed with one son. When his son, Agar, was near death, Gorr lied to him to ease his suffering. Agar subsequently died soon after.

The grieving father stumbles on 2 gods fighting on his planet. In disbelief Gorr stands and watches but, one of the gods begins to cry out for Gorr’s help; angered that a god was asking for his help after countless times Gorr himself cried out for their help, he picks up the All-Black Necro Blade, and murders the god. 

Now on a mission to murder every single god, punishing them for their laziness and mistakes, he flies across the universe with the Necro-Blade and murders gods, one by one.

Fashion/Make-Up

‘Supreme’

Leave a comment

By: Julia Swee

Throughout the years, ‘Supreme’ has managed to amass a large and growing following as it has come to symbolize the underground streetwear that has taken over the fashion game. 

‘Supreme’ started 26 years ago as a small skateboarding and apparel brand that was famously shy about publicity. It launched in 1994, when a designer by the name of James Jebbia opened a ‘low key’ skateboarding and clothing store on Lafayette Street, in SoHo, the heart of New York’s high end fashion scene. 

Jebbia claims he was drawn to the “edgy and effortlessly cool style of the young skaters of New York City” in the late 90’s. 

It took 10 years before ‘Supreme’ opened their second store in Los Angeles. Today the brand has two stores in New York City, six in Japan, and outposts in Paris and London, as well as a singular location in San Francisco.

Instead of choosing to promote their brand consistently, ‘Supreme’ laid low and waited for the people to come to them. This added to the level of value to their clothing items. ‘Supreme’ would launch sales for one day, and only the most informed and high class members of society would become aware of them. This allowed the brand to transform into a luxury staple, as each piece was one of a kind and worn publicly by influential figures. 

The idea of keeping their launches very low key allowed for the brand to flourish as each piece was originally bought for a cheap price from the first sell, and due to its uniqueness, the buyer would resell the piece for at least 4 times the price it was bought for. The price goes up for each of the pieces as the designs get older and older. Along the way of becoming a huge name brand, ‘Supreme’s’ street cred has been bolstered by collaborations with other high end fashion brands such as Nike, Vans, Levis, and Louis Vuitton.

With the large amount of street credit came the die hard fans for the store. These fans were dubbed ‘Supreme heads’ or ‘hypebeasts’. These fans would line up for hours on end outside of ‘Supreme’ stores just for product release events that sometimes can sellout in a matter of minutes. ‘Supreme’ shoppers will pay anywhere from $30 to $100 for a hat or shirt, and from $150 to $450 for a sweatshirt or jacket.

In order to attend a ‘Supreme’ in store release, you have to register online for that day. The registries close extremely fast, and fill up almost immediately. If you manage to get registered, you will likely receive a text message confirmation telling you the time and date to show up at the store. You must show the store your photo ID and credit card, that you used to register, in order to be allowed inside the store.

The lines outside of the store can last for around 3 to 4 hours at times. The lengths that people go to, to end up paying extreme amounts of money on these items show how die hard the ‘Supreme’ fan base is about the brand. 

Throughout the years, ‘Supreme’ has grown an enormous amount. Today ‘Supreme’ is considered a high end fashion brand, with people all around the world friending to get their hands on anything by the name. Personally, I think that the brand is a prestigious, notable line that represents the ways that the fashion game has molded to the 21st century. Wearing ‘Supreme’ not only gives you a sense of style, but transports you into a world of class

Books/Art

Irish writers 

Leave a comment

By: Thalia & Abi 

There were 5 remarkable Irish writers who impacted Irish culture and influenced writers today.

The first Irish writer is James Joyce. James Joyce was born on February 2, 1882. He was a poet, noelist, and a short story writer. One of his most famous works was his book ‘Ulysses’ that was published in 1922. This book is a modern version of ‘The Odyssey’. As a poet, Joyce was one of the best avant-garde writers. Joyce made an impact on Irish culture by being a part of the avant-garde movement. The avant-garde movement is a reference to art. The term means “that any artist, movement, or artwork pushes the boundaries”. James Joyce died on January 13, 1941.

The second remarkable Irish writer is C. S. Lewis. C. S. Lewis was born November 29, 1898. He was a novelist and a scholar. C. S. Lewis taught at Oxford University and he became a renowned Christian apologist writer. To support his faith, he used his logic and philosophy. C. S. Lewis is also known for writing the fantasy series, ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’. This series has now been adapted into many films. His motivations and his impact on Irish culture both had to do with religion. He restored a Christian version of humanity along with the idea of reason, and he demonstrated how Christianity could help individuals who wanted answers in life. C. S. Lewis died on November 22, 1963.  

The third remarkable Irish writer is Jonathan Swift. Swift was born on November 30, 1667. Jonathan Swift was a satirist writer and an essayist. Satire writing is a type of social commentary that uses irony, exaggeration, and other literary devices to make fun of people, traditions, or simply anything that they want to comment on. An essayist is someone who writes essays for publication. Jonathan Swift is most known for ‘Gulliver’s Travels’, which mocks English customs and politics of the day. According to the website Britlitsurvery2, Swift paved the way for political writers of the 21st century. Swift helped find a way to connect with his audiences and educate them about the economic conditions of their country through his satirical writing. Swift died on October 19, 1745

The fourth Irish writer is William Congreve. Congreve was born on January 24, 1670. Congreve was also a satirist writer like Jonathan Swift was. He was also a playwright and poet. Congreve’s most famous plays are ‘The Double Dealer’, ‘The Way of the World’, and ‘Love for Love’. According to Britannica, William Congreve is known to have shaped the English comedy of manners through his satirical portrayal of the way of the sexes. He was also known for his influence on the comedy of manners style of that period. Congreve died on January 19, 1729. 

The fifth and final Irish writer is Oscar Wilde. Wilde was born on October 16, 1854. Wilde wrote many things including epigrams, which is the “One-Liner” of literature, journalism, drama, short stories, and criticism. Wilde was most known for his novel ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ (1891) and for his comedies of manners ‘Lady Windermere’s Fan’ (1892) and ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ (1895). Oscar Wilde involved himself in two movements. One of which was the Aesthetic movement which believed “that art in its various forms should not seek to convey a message to instead exist beautifully”. The second movement that Wilde was involved in was the Decadent movement which was similar to the Aesthetic movement. The Decadent movement believed that “creativity was more important than logic”. Wilde died on November 30, 1900.

For more information (and picture sources), please visit:

Tech/Games

Predictive maintenance

Leave a comment

By: Musab Mohamud

Predictive maintenance is defined by Rockwell Automation as “The use of data-driven, proactive maintenance methods that are designed to analyze the condition of equipment and help predict when maintenance should be performed.” It is usually coupled with A.I. technology and is rooted in data. “The main function of predictive maintenance is on oil rigs and extractors. However, some examples of using predictive maintenance and predictive maintenance sensors include vibration analysis, oil analysis, thermal imaging, and equipment observation”. The importance of A.I. technology to oil rigs and their safety is visible in the reduction of failures of equipment and work injuries.

Predictive maintenance is necessary to minimize losses caused by “downtime”, which for oil companies results in massive losses which can quickly stack up, resulting in the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars. Due to the prices of energy sources decreasing, data analysis is even more important. Energy companies must be wary of losses and need to stay at a profit; predictive measures help greatly with that.

BP, a British oil company, partnered with GE (General Electric), to place sensors on 650 of their extraction wells. A program created by GE helps predict failures in BP’s system. BP and GE’s partnership has continued to evolve and keep employees safe through predictive maintenance, which improves the safety and economic state of the company.

Data tags and sensors placed on and around oil fields record data and send them back to the analytical companies. This helps the oil companies predict when failures will occur in the future. The two sides work as a symbiotic relationship; the data companies help prevent failures, and they in turn are paid for their services.

“Predictive maintenance programs have been shown to lead to a tenfold increase in ROI (return of investment), a 25%-30% reduction in maintenance costs, a 70%-75% decrease in breakdowns and a 35%-45% reduction in downtime”, according to Rockwell Automation. With the added security of predictive maintenance, companies can spend funds elsewhere after saving part of their maintenance costs.

For more information, please visit: