In this issue: alumnus on College Jeopardy, more budget problems, Middle School, best friend vs. boyfriend or girlfriend, 'Anything Goes'

In the week leading up to February break, students and staff entering the office found themselves faced with a puzzle while looking at a big display with baby pictures. They asked themselves questions like, "Is that picture of Mrs. Ritchie or Ms. Brown?" These guessing game was inspired from the new competition started by the spirit commission in which students tried to match each staff baby picture to their corresponding name.

Both the JV and varsity Winterguard teams took home first place trophies at their first two competitions of the season on Jan. 29 at Clovis East High School and Jan. 30 at James Lick High School. The wins w*ere the result of weeks of hard work and preparation and were a promising start to the competitive season for the 23 members of the JV team and 12 members of the varsity team.

After being sent down to the lower El Camino Division this year, the Falcons had one main goal: to earn back their spot in the upper-league De Anza division. Not only is the team on its way to winning the El Camino league, but it could also make CCS.

Currently in second place, the Falcons must win the rest of the games this season, most importantly a rescheduled game against league leader Fremont, to grab the league title.

Saturday morning rolls around and a group of students wearily trudge up the steps to the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. library in San Jose. Junior Grace Kim, Synthia Ling and Kevin Mu are here to complete research on the founder of Planned Parenthood, Margaret Sanger. They are working on a short document about her life in time for History Day in June.

When sophomore Shivani Chadha showed up at the Small Gym on Jan. 31, she and about 140 other students didn't know what to expect from two professional dancers who had been hired to teach them to dance "properly." After instruction and practice, she left with a better knowledge of dances like Merengue and foxy.

Starting with "Angels and Demons" and going on to pen the best-selling "Da Vinci Code", author Dan Brown has made a name for himself writing smart thrillers involving fictional college professor Robert Langdon. Brown a lot of hopes riding on his latest installment in the Langdon series, "The Lost Symbol", which came out last September.

In the '70s, Muslim women who had recently arrived to France were usually kept behind suburban doors by the heavy-handed control of their husbands. Often, they were forced to wear the characteristic Muslim veil both in and outdoors; however, this practice was so ingrained into their culture that the women did not particularly mind. Ironically, only when the veil had emerged voluntarily during the '80s, visibly flaunted by a new generation of determined young Frenchwomen, did concern began to rise.

Sure, the Internet is convenient. Sure, it's fun, practical, and entertaining. However, its ability to be dangerous is no secret, thanks to the multitude of sketchy strangers lurking online.

The most wanted terrorist in the world, Osama bin Laden, recently released an audiotape through the Afghani al-Jazeera news network assuming responsibility for the foiled bombing attempt on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 flying from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day. He claimed that "the messages delivered to [the United States] through the plane of the heroic warrior Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was a confirmation of previous messages sent by the heroes of September 11th."

With just under 30 seconds remaining in a crucial league matchup, raucous chants of "T-I-N-O! T-I-N-O!" echoed about the Cupertino High gymnasium on Jan. 29. But moments later, the only noise was the sound of Pioneer fans filing out the door in disappointment, as the visiting Falcons boys' basketball team managed a last-second victory against host Cupertino.

The recent release of the multi-billion dollar movie "Avatar" has become the highest grossing movie of all time but it has also sparked controversy from varied interest groups around the globe.

The blue men with golden stripes. The lush, beautiful, and green environment. It seems like the Na'vi's world in the movie is a paradise to be envied—especially since here on Earth, the innocent world is under fire for about every controversy there could be about a movie.

"We can do better!" Massachusetts Senator-elect Scott Brown (R-Wentham) declared to an audience of supporters following his landmark victory. As much as disgruntled Democrats would like to believe he was referring to his election, Brown was instead alluding to the lack of tangible change made on Capitol Hill in the year since President Obama was sworn in.

Both Bill O'Reilly and Keith Olbermann showed segments of President Obama's State of the Union speech lambasting the Supreme Court for its landmark decision regarding corporate political financing, heavily emphasizing Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito shaking his head in disapproval and mouthing the words "Not true" in response to Obama's shortsighted criticisms of the ruling. The ubiquitous broadcasting of the clip was probably the most bipartisan thing to occur on Capitol Hill all year.

There seems to be a trend among the YouTube community of people starting their own daily video blogs, or "vlogs" for short. These intriguing videos are snapshots of many popular YouTube stars' lives, which create a vortex that I've been trapped in.

Just a month ago, when the season first started, few would have ever guessed that the boys' soccer team, led by a brand new coach and made up mostly of sophomores, would even be able scrape together a few wins, let alone compete for a league title and a spot in CCS.

However, with an overall record of 10-5 and a league record of 5-2, the Falcons are leading the El Camino Division and are on target to earn a spot in the playoffs.