The Worthington ALC Insider
Volume 1, Issue 17 March 26, 2004
Easter traditions: where do they come from By Steven Blue Arm? Today Easter is a celebration in memory of the Resurrection of Christ. But did you know that it began as the ancient Saxon festival of Eastre? Eastre was the pagan goddess of spring and offspring. So how did this pagan festival come to be a Christian holiday? Clever Christian missionaries transformed a local pagan custom into a Christian one, thereby preventing local Christian converts from being persecuted by pagan traditionalists. Since the Eastre festival occurred in spring, it coincided with the Christian observance of the resurrection of Christ. In AD 325, the Emperor of Rome decreed that Easter would be celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox. That’s why Easter never falls before March 22 or after April 25.	But where do the Easter bunny and Easter eggs come from? Well, the Saxons worshipped the goddess Eastre by using the symbol of a rabbit, and this eventually evolved into the custom of the Easter bunny. The Easter bunny tradition was later brought to America by German immigrants. The exchanging of eggs in the springtime is an ancient custom. Ancient Egyptians liked to bury eggs in their tombs. The ancient Greeks also placed eggs on their tombs. According to an ancient Roman proverb, "All life comes from an egg". The egg is universally understood as a symbol of birth. So when the church began to celebrate the Resurrection, or re-birth of Christ, the egg was an obvious symbol to use. Chocolate was unknown to Europeans until the Spanish conquest of Mexico. How Easter eggs became chocolate Easter eggs is anybody’s guess.

ALC Insider March 26, 2004 Page 2
SEX! By Justin Alm Now that I have every one’s attention I’m going to tell you about my favorite activity outside of school. It just so happens that my favorite activity is bowling. The reason bowling is my favorite activity is simple… I’m the best. Ask anyone. Perhaps they probably won’t admit this, but that is just because they are jealous. I’m so good that I get to train in New Zealand and then fly to Sydney, Australia for a nine game tournament and if I place high enough in that I might get a chance for a tournament that pays $250,000 for first place. I also get to go to the Pepsi Tournament in Pipestone, but that is small stuff because they let any bum in that tournament. I have around 13 or 14 trophies just for league in this town and over 20 to 30 badges. I also have a pin coming for 200 games. My average at the moment is only 151 but it’s been a slow year. It should be around 165-170.	I just got a new ball this year and I had to adjust from full-finger to finger-tip. It gives a lot more control and movement (hook, or spin) and also better pin action. The bad part was that I was throwing 22-25 mph and I had to slow down to 15-17mph. That was the hardest part. I’ve been bowling in league for about 9 years and out of league for even longer. I don’t want to get anyone nervous or anything, but if there is anyone in this town who wants to take me on, go for it. You’re going to lose. Just incase you didn’t catch on that this entire essay is about me and my bowling and how great I am, I’ll repeat myself. I’m the best. If you don’t believe me all you have to do is go the bowling ally and ask Gary or Radar
Animation by CNCWeb

ALC Insider March 26, 2004 Page 3

Is there a 10^th planet in our solar system? By Adrian Gonzalez On November 14, 2003, an object was seen far into the deep space well beyond the little planet known as Pluto. This little object is so far away that it is three times the distance of Pluto. It is so far from the sun, that if you were standing on this object you could cover the sun with the tip of a small pin. This little object called Sedna is 8 billion miles from the sun (Earth is 93 million miles from the sun). The place where Sedna is found it is so cold that the temperature never rises higher than 420 degrees below zero Fahrenheit. Artists conception of Sedna

Sedna compared to the Earth, the moon and Pluto Sedna is found in the Oort cloud, which is a chain of icy rocks that orbit the solar system. The Oort cloud goes out half way to the nearest star. Though we do not know what this region looks like, we do know that it does exist due to the high number of comets we see that originate there. The size of Sedna is less than half the size of the planet Pluto. Sedna is anywhere from 1000 to 1800 km in diameter. We know it is within this size range because it was so hard to detect. If this little object was large enough, we would start calling it the tenth planet, but it is too small to even be considered one. People still argue about calling Pluto a planet so why should we call something that is not even half the size of it one. Sedna will be categorized as a planetoid. A planetoid is any small round object out in space or in the solar system that is too small to be called a planet.

The Insider March 26, 2003 Page 4

Starbucks making music By Angela Ruiz Tuesday march 16 in Santa Monica, CA, Starbucks opened there first coffee shop that will now serve not only coffee of your choice but CD’s too. They already have internet connections at most of their shops. Now Starbucks will give their customers the advantage of downloading five songs for only $6.99 in about 3 minutes, and only .99 for each additional song after that with 80 minutes of music on each disk. Starbucks has deals with major record labels and some independent record companies for permission to use their music. The company plans to set up more shops soon starting in the hometown of the company, Seattle, WA. They plan on opening 10 more shops by this spring. They hope to have them everywhere soon, but are going to start in Seattle. In about two years they plan to have 2,500 stores with downloads. Right now they have about 7,600 regular Starbucks stores and hope to expand not only in this country but in others as well. Starbucks, one of America’s trademarks, is expanding with modern ideas in order to be around for many years to come. Will their new plan work? Only time will tell, but it is likely in this fast-paced world today that they will succeed.

End of School By Sami Koehne I finished my reports And turned in every test I wrote all my essays And hope I did the best I tried hard to finish Everything that was due But now I am tired And there is nothing left to do I will walkout the doors And never come back here I will get that paper And never shed a tear I will move on And my life will start I have to take my time And try to follow my heart My grades are being counted My scores are finally done I will soon get the paper That I have finally won No more food that’s cold No more uncomfortable chairs No more classes to take Where you know no one cares No longer will I have to have Anymore of those dreadful passes I am free from all of this I am done with all my classes

ALC Insider March 26, 2004 Page 5
Movie Review Dawn of the Dead By Sara Schirmacher The movie Dawn of the Dead was released last week. The movie debuted at $27.3 million, which made it the top box office seller. The movie is a remake of George Romero's 1979 horror tale that took place in the same situation where some people were holed-up in a shopping mall hiding from zombies. On Friday March 19 I went to see the Dawn of the Dead. From looking through previews of it on TV before it came it out I actually thought it was a going to be a pretty good movie. Little did I know… The movie was basically about people running away from zombies who are flesh eaters and when you get bit you turn into one yourself. There is a group of characters running from these zombies trying to escape from them. But I am not going to give the ending away because if you want to see it then I would just ruin it for you.	The thing that sucked about the movie was that there really wasn’t any ending at all. I thought it was not a good movie. It basically reminded me of the other zombie movies. If you haven’t seen any zombie-type movies though, then maybe you might want to see it. If I had to give it a score being 1-10, I would give it a 5. Some parts were okay, but it’s not a good movie. It just reminds me too much of a remake of other zombie movies.

The Insider March 26, 2004 Page 6

The Unexpected

By: Elizabeth De Leon

Have you heard about the lady that set up a drug deal with her parole officer? Pretty stupid huh.

Last week, a probation officer received a phone call on his cell phone. The lady wanted to talk to a guy named David. The probation officer played along with her and got the information. He then notified the police department of a possible drug deal.

They got the women’s address and the probation officer then called her back and said that he would stop by.

But instead, drug agents showed up. After negotiating a trade, the women went inside the home and came back out with two pills. Right then the Drug agents informed her that she had just made a drug deal with the undercover Police Officer, and was arrested.

The thing is that she initially called her probation officer’s cell phone by mistake. She is now wishing she had called information first.

ATV CHANGES?

By Jason Paplow

For those of you who are avid ATV riders there may be changes in your future.

The state legislature is trying to change the laws on wetlands and state owned land. They are trying to make a level playing field for the law enforcement. What they are saying is “If you damage or alter a water course, you’re in trouble”.

The main problem is that people ride along as if there were no restrictions and in the process destroy wetlands. The DNR bill would prohibit ATV use on type 8 public wetlands (bogs), but would allow crossing them in order for land owners or leasers to reach their property.

There are some Minnesota counties where major expanses of bogs make an exception. With this bill there would be many trails similar to snowmobile trails in the winter.

Many can’t even comprehend why the state allows snowmobile trails and then makes such a fuss when people look for someplace to ride their beloved All Terrain Vehicles. Why not convert the snowmobile trails into ATV trails during the summer months?

This Week’s Separated at Birth

Click here to read back issues of The Insider