Xatal

A few days ago, I was watching the classic movie Sandlot with my girlfriend. As we were watching it, we talked about how great it would be to have that kind of childhood — one full of all kinds of memories with friends and stories worth telling for years to come.

Playing sports as a kid was always great fun

The more we talked about it, though, the more we realized that we both had childhoods with plenty of memories and quality stories. In fact, the difference, we realized, was that we didn’t appreciate those things as much when we were younger. Being out with was just something that you did as a kid, it never seemed like a big deal, but as I get older, I realize how incredible that really was. Things that I took for granted then, like walking down the street to a friend’s house everyday, are not really as possible now as they used to be, especially since my friends and I are starting to go our separate ways as life pulls us apart.

Another big difference I noticed was that the kids in the movie had something in particular to be extremely passionate about: baseball. Personally, there was nothing in my childhood that I was that excited for. Sure, video games and sports were fun, but my friends and I were never really that into any one thing in particular.

Yesterday, I decided to take a walk around my old middle school (it’s right down the street). As I roamed the sidewalk paths again, I thought back to all of the good times I had there. Middle school was the last year where all of my best friends went to the same school — after that, we began to go to different places and see each other less and less. High school brought a lot of changes and really was what ended that era of my youth.

This is a bit of a ramble, but it’s been on my mind a lot lately. I know a lot of people who wish they could go back to relive their younger days, knowing what they know now. Has anyone else ever thought a lot about why that is? I’m interested in hearing what other people think.

Normally I like to post quite frequently, but these past few weeks have been a bit busy!

I’ve been trying to take care of a lot of odds and ends around my house, including cleaning and rearranging my room. I’ve been doing some of my summer reading for college, and I’ve been spending a lot of time with friends. I leave in about two weeks, and I’m trying to make the most out of the opportunities I have to see these people while I can. Who knows how much I’ll see them next year.

My host went down for a bit on Thursday, and my traffic took a fall from that. Oh well.

I intend to write some good posts these upcoming days, hopefully one (or more!) will tickle your fancy!

In 2005, the California state legislature passed a bill for stricter nutritional guidelines on foods that could be sold at public schools. The new policy took effect during my sophomore year in high school, and I noticed an immediate difference in students reactions around my school.

Before the policy went into effect, a major income source for our student government was from the student store. There we could buy sodas, chips, crackers, and other snacks for rather cheap prices. Vending machines around campus were always properly stocked.

California has strict nutritional requirements about what schools can offer for lunch.

However when the new standards kicked in, snack bar sales plummeted. My old high school has an open campus lunch, and often vendors will come right up to the school boundaries to sell food to students during lunch time. Immediately, these vendors started selling all of the foods that the school no longer could. Students that couldn’t drive flocked to these like wildfire, and students that could drive went out to lunch more often.

Because the student government primarily used food sales to stay financially alive, they ended up in a massive debt when the sales dropped. School and class activities were cut down to bare-bones celebrations.

Twice a year, our school also held a food fair: all of the clubs would sell some sort of food. Of course, the clubs were held to the same state regulations. This greatly limited the types of foods that could be sold, meaning many foreign foods had to be substituted for healthy alternatives. So much for cultural awareness.

The biggest problem with the nutritional guidelines is that the only foods that can be sold rarely taste good. As a kid, taste is most important. If I’m eating a chicken sandwich, I want it to taste like chicken, not some healthy junk that tastes more like rubber. I didn’t receive discounted lunch, so my choice was simple:

Do I spend $2.25 and buy an awful school lunch, or do I go to Taco Bell and get a couple of burritos for the same price? It was really a no-brainer.

In the end, the stricter nutrition guidelines hurt much more than they helped. A lot of this was caused by our school having an open campus at lunch. What would have happened if we had a closed campus?

Keep reading »

It’s impossible to ignore, and you can’t escape the sad feeling that comes with it.

I’m talking about the unusual light weight of your wallet after you spend money to get gasoline. Due to the high costs of gas these days, it’s really unfortunate.

Getting gas does not have to bankrupt you. Source

Teenagers are hit the hardest by it because we have such a small income, whereas adults have more money and gas costs take up a smaller percentage of their expenses. Of course, tips for cutting back on gasoline costs apply to everybody.

The massive increase in gas over the last year is caused by an increase in the cost of oil. While there isn’t a whole lot we can do to alter the price of gas, there are some ways to help reduce the amount we spend on driving. The biggest way is to simply become more aware of how you drive and how you use the gas that you have. Here are some good suggestions that have really helped me out since gas prices have gone up: Keep reading »

After several years of speculation that they were working on one, Google finally released their own web browser today. Named “Google Chrome”, the browser is a fast new browser.

Screenshot of Xatal using Google Chrome

This browser adds yet another alternative choice to Internet Explorer, and it will be exciting to see just how big of a part Google Chrome plays in the future of the Internet.

So far, I’m fond of the interface. Having the tabs above the address bar will take some getting used to, but other than that the interface is pretty simple.

I’ve noticed that the browser is lightning-fast, especially when it comes to JavaScript, something that Google was striving for.

Google also put each tab into its own separate process, meaning that if one tab crashes, the rest will keep running just fine.

As for my take on it, I like it quite a bit so far, but it will take quite a lot before Google Chrome beats out FireFox as my browser of choice. I’m too accustomed to my extensions. However I’ll definitely keep an eye on this interesting new browser to see how it develops.

For anybody hunting for quality free software, Google Chrome is definitely worth trying out.

You can find out more and download Google Chrome here. You also might want to check out a comic Google put up talking about the browser and how it works.

I’ve given you some helpful hints for finding a job during the summer, but once the school year starts you may have to decide if you want to keep your job or not.

Many jobs and/or the hours you work are seasonal. Your job may only have needed someone to fill the 8AM-12PM shift, and now that you’re back in school, you’re not going to be much help.

But for many jobs, you can continue working even once school starts. The decision is whether or not you want to. Obviously, having a job will give you money, but with school starting, you’ll also have less free time. It’s an important balance. Keep reading »

Fantastic Contraption
I’ve been playing this thing nearly nonstop all weekend. It’s really an interesting game: Using your knowledge of physics, the tools they give you, and your own innovation, you must move the pink block you start off with into the goal zone. While it sounds educational, it’s really just plain fun. Once you get the hang of the game, it’s neat to see what kind of creative designs you can come up with.

A sample contraption that shoots the pink ball into the goal zone

You can use rotating wheels to help move the block, you can use rods to attach to wheels or your block. You could build a giant tower or a giant cart. You can create separate machines.

A lot of these can be solved very easily using just a wheel or two and a rod, but I think the more elaborate and creative machines deserve some extra props, if only for the large amount of creativity it takes to make some of these.

Ever since I saw this posted on a forum, I’ve seen some really interesting and creative designs. I made a post showing my favorite 50, and here are some more of my favorites that might help give you ideas:

1. A clever pulley system
2. A well-crafted catapult
3. Actually, why even use the catapult? Just use the environment.
4. A spider to walk over everything. It’s like something from your nightmares.
5. Rolling the giant ball to get there
6. A simple but clever design. This is one of the hardest levels, solved so easily.
7. Using two separate machines
8. An extremely elaborate machine. This is perhaps the most impressive I’ve seen.

Also pretty entertaining to watch are when they just plain don’t work.

1. This one shows how the water bonds can break if they have too much weight attached.
2. And sometimes they just go crazy. Check this one.
3. A clever design that just couldn’t make it.

I tried my hand at this and came up with solutions for all of them. I’m not an engineer or rather creative, so none of mine are anything incredible, but I like watching these two run:

1. Using two separate machines to roll the ball where I want it.
2. Counter-weights can be a huge help.

Try your hand at it, let’s see what you can come up with! I’m warning you, though, it’s really addictive!

Alongside the SAT, the ACT is a major factor colleges use to determine whether or not you should be admitted. For colleges, these test scores are a way to compare you to all students who apply. While the scores aren’t everything, they are definitely important and it’s crucial that you do your best.

You do not want this to be you at the ACT :)

If you’ve never taken the ACT before, chances are you’re a bit nervous. You’ve probably heard of kids taking a Saturday morning. If this is your first time taking any standardized test needed for colleges, you’re probably even more nervous and unsure of what you’re in for.

Don’t worry, this post will give you the rundown on what to expect when you first take the ACT. While the test might be a bit intimidating, if you take it seriously, you can come out of it with flying colors. Keep reading »