All of the preparation and studying has led up to this point in the school year. Even though most of the students can agree that testing is probably the worst thing that has happened to mankind ever. Though it is horrible, it is very important.  We have the finals, end of course exams, on-demand, Plan testing, and other tests that must be taken at the end of the school year.  Even though all of these things are very stressful, there are some good things that can happen to make things easier.

One thing would be exam exemptions.  With exam exemptions, you can exempt all of your elective class finals and, depending on your grade, you can exempt core content class finals.  This may sound good, but you might want to take the final in a class if you are failing to help your grade.  If you want to skip it, you must have your fees paid, no Ds or Fs on your 1^st semester report card, and you can’t have any referrals.

Another thing that makes the end of the school year testing easier is, believe it or not, end of course exams.  If you have an end of course exam in a class, you don’t have to take a final for that class.  Sophomores only have end of course exams in Biology, Algebra II, and English II.  For some, they only have to take 1 or 2 of those end of course exams.

These tips can help you relieve some stress.  You could also bite pencils, rip your hair out, or even kick a door down to relieve some stress.  The most logical and less violent way of relieving stress is getting sleep and studying periodically.  Don’t wait till the last minute and cram your notes into your head because if you do then your head might blow up.  Just kidding, but it’s not a good idea to study at the last minute.  Follow these tips and you have a strong chance of doing great on the finals or end of course exams.

“AHHHHHH YEAAHHHHHH!!!”  These words can be expected from NFL fans everywhere because the Super Bowl is coming up.  On Sunday, January 22, the New England Patriots defeated the Baltimore Ravens and the New York Giants beat the San Francisco 49ers.   Both the Giants and the Patriots fans will be rooting for their teams as they face off in the Super Bowl on February 5.

After defeating the New Orleans Saints by a touchdown, the 49ers were automatically given a spot in the NFC championship.  Some of the students here at OHS expected the Giants to lose to the Green Bay Packers who had the best record in the NFL regular season with a record of 15-1.  Even with their great record, the Packers could not withstand the Giants’ excellent game strategy and the Giants came out on top with a final score of 37-20.  This win gave the Giants a spot in NFC finals.  Now it was very unexpected for the Giants to make it that far, but they did despite their 9-7 record.  On Sunday, the Giants fought and came out on top despite all of the doubters saying that they were going to lose.  They beat the San Francisco 49ers, who had a winning record of 13-3, by a field goal in overtime.  The final score that helped the Giants get a spot in the Super Bowl was 20-17.

In the AFC, the Patriots were fighting to get a spot in the AFC championship against the Denver Broncos and the Ravens were facing off against the Houston Texans.  The Broncos fought hard against the Patriots, but their season was put to an end in the AFC semi-finals with a final score of Patriots 45 and the Broncos 10.  The Patriots now had a spot in the AFC championship.  They would face the winner of the Ravens and Texans game.  This was a close game, but the Ravens won by only a single touchdown with a final score of 20-13.  The AFC championship was a good game, but the Ravens didn’t play as hard as the New England Patriots and ended up losing with an end score of 20-23.

On Sunday, February 5, the New England Patriots and the New York Giants will face off in Super Bowl XLIV.  Some people are cheering for the Patriots and others are going for the Giants, but almost everyone in the U.S. will gather at bars and restaurants or even have their own parties at their own houses.  So make sure to grab your jerseys and wings while you watch Super Bowl XLIV.

The NBA season has finally started back up, but the teams have made various adjustments to their rosters.  For example, fans of the Dallas Mavericks will be disappointed because they lost Tyson Chandler.  He contributed to the team’s defense in a very important way.  A rumor has been going around that the New Orleans Hornets almost lost their star player and all-star point guard Chris Paul.  At first he was supposed to be traded to the Los Angeles Lakers, but now he is supposedly going to be traded to the Los Angeles Clippers.  Also, Lakers fans will be a little upset because they lost Lamar Odom.  Since they lost him, they have lost an important asset to their team.  Dallas Maverick fans aren’t the only fans that will be upset.  The Orlando Magic’s star player and all-star center, Dwight Howard, is claiming that he is unhappy with his trade demand being declined.  This might have a huge effect on the way the team will play during the season.

Last night Owensboro High School won big when they defeated the defending district champions, the Daviess County Panthers.  OHS managed to beat the team with a final score of 62-57.  Freshmen player, Arius Phillips, got in the game and he preformed very well.  Details of last night’s game are buzzing around the hallways.  Apparently, our school had a shouting match at the game last night.  Daviess County students were shouting district champions and we responded by defeating them.  Winning this game gave players and other OHS student some hope that we will have a strong chance of winning the title of being district champions.  “Stephen Hanley and Trey Howard helped a whole lot,” said OHS freshmen, Cali Walker.  Another student, Josh Ward, said that OHS really stepped their game up last night.

In college sports news, Michigan was able to remain undefeated at home when they defeated Arkansas- Pine Bluff with a final score of 63-50.  Michigan is now 5-0 at home while Arkansas is 0-4 with away games.  Also Mississippi State and Wisconsin both won last night.  Wisconsin was able to defeat Milwaukee 60-54 and Mississippi State beat Florida Atl. with a final score of 75-68.

On November 9, 11, a bug was found in Apple devices.  According to www.cnn.com, this “bug” allows hackers to take control of peoples iPhone and iPad apps and lets them steal photos and contacts.  It also allows hackers to send text messages to the device’s user without them knowing.  Thanks to a notable security researcher, we have this information.

Another big thing in tech news is how big the online social network Facebook has gotten.  According to Facebook’s top executives, the company is now too big to buy.  So companies such as Yahoo, Google, and Microsoft have lucked out on trying to purchase Facebook.  This company is probably the biggest online social networking device that has been created.  Facebook has made its creator, Mark Zuckerberg, very wealthy.

We all know about the award shows on television.  We also know about the death of Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple.  Well, last week during a memorial for Apple’s iconic co-founder at the MTV O Music Awards, a ceremony was streamed online instead of on television.  They thought that it would be very interesting to have a tribute for Steve if it was aired on his own invention, the iPad, instead of on a television.

Now we all have seen at least one movie that talks about robots being bad or robots trying to take over the world, but never have we heard of robots helping to run a warehouse.  The creator of these robots is Mick Mountz.  He came up with the idea to make robots that help warehouses after working as an online grocer that failed in 2001.  After the day that he failed as an online grocer, he set out to find a way to help warehouses process and ship products faster.  He named the robots KIVA systems or mobile robotic drive units.  The robots take the shelves to their spots in a very organized fashion.  Mick Mountz laid stickers out on the floor in a grid like formation and he asked the robots to take the shelves to their spots on the gridded floor.  They use laser technology to give the robots orders on where to set the shelves.  This just shows how technology is benefiting companies and how businesses are using more advanced technology than using actual manual labor.