Running the Numbers is an interesting set of photographs that analyzes just what we do to our planet and to ourselves as a society. For example, in the United States, we retire (throw out, recycle, you name it) 426,000 cell phones every day. Have you ever seen what 426,000 cell phones really looks like. Thanks to these images produced by one Chris Jordan, you’re about to find out.

Tags: artwork, images, Running the Numbers, waste

Well, today was the much anticipated last day of school, marking the end of my third year of high school. It’s kind of scary to think about the fact that I’ve only got one year left until graduation comes around. Interestingly, though, this school year seemed to whiz right by, especially compared to my sophomore year, which I eulogized in a similar post one year ago. This year was certainly academically harder and more hectic than my sophomore year was, but this year seemed to be much smoother and less controversial than sophomore year was, and it might be that I’ve finally started to strike a balance between school and my other commitments. However, I thought that I’d do like I did last year and write a blog post looking back at this past school year, but this year’s post should be somewhat nicer than the one I wrote a year ago.
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Tags: 2007-08, goals, highlights, look back, plans, school year, summer, trips

Well, for me, junior year is almost done, and with the closing out of junior year means the closing out of standardized college entrance exams. This year has been filled with quite a number of tests of various things, from PSAT to SAT to ACT to Subject Tests to AP exams to all of these other things. However, one of the more contentious debates between tests of this class is between the SAT and the ACT. Both are general-subject standardized college entrance exams, and are often said to “compete” between each other to be the test of choice. Well, now that I’ve prepared for, taken, and gotten scores for each of these exams, I thought that I’d take the opportunity to review them and offer my opinion on the one that I like better. (I do promise that although my scores differ a bit between the two exams, I am not considering how I scored on each exam in this review.)
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Tags: ACT, College Board, College Entrance Exam, English, essay, exam, math, reading, review, SAT, science, test, Writing

More than a couple of times, I’ve been asked to share some WordPress plugins that I would recommend. I do have a number of plugins that I use on all of my WordPress-powered sites, and I consider them essential for any WordPress-based blog, and so I thought that I’d take the opportunity to share these plugins with you, including talking about what they do and why I use them.
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Tags: favorites, features, plugins, recommendations, review, WordPress

Okay, I totally love this article. The article apparently says that 75% of surveyed U.S. cell phone users doesn’t want talking on cell phones to be allowed in-flight, because they don’t want to be forced to listen to other people’s cell phone conversations during the flight. And apparently these folks are paying attention, because even as services like in-flight wifi are being developed, talking on these devices will still be prohibited. As a very strong-voiced member of that 75%, I must say that I’m just loving this.

Tags: airlines, article, cell phone, flight, passengers, survey

It’s interesting for me to recall my first significant appearance on the internet, but it was exactly five years ago this month, and it was in a very interesting situation. Webmacster87.info did not exist yet, my awareness of phpBB didn’t exist yet, I actually had not even touched IM services yet. However, the past way to share this would be to look at what was happening again.

The month was May 2003, and I was in sixth grade. The big story of the time was that some guy from the Bay Area named Stephen Joseph had sued Kraft/Nabisco because their Oreo cookies contained deadly trans fats, and that they were being marketed towards and sold to children, and furthermore, the public had no awareness of how bad trans fats were. Well, within a week, the suit was retracted, because it had garnered so much press that the claim of the public having no awareness of how bad trans fats are was no longer valid. Nevertheless, that suit did help to raise awareness of the dangers of partially hydrogenated oils, and helped Oreo, Crisco, McDonalds, and many others go trans-fat free, as well as convincing the FDA to add Trans Fat to the nutrition label in 2006.

But what did this have to do with me? Well, at the time that this made the news, in my English class (although at middle school, it was called “Language Arts & Reading”), we ended up being assigned a research paper based on it. We were instructed to do some research on the news and the issues and then write a short essay where we conveyed our opinion on the issue. Now, I personally went about this on the premise that what this Stephen Joseph guy was crazy by wanting to take Oreo cookies out of schools. But, as I went onto his website, Ban Trans Fats, and looked at other things about the case, my mind was changed for me and I found myself completely in favor of banning trans fats.

Not only did I complete my essay and turn it in, but for whatever reason that I do not recall, I had e-mailed Stephen Joseph and sent him a copy of what I wrote. He wrote back with high praise for it, to the point where he wanted to know if he (with my parents’ permission) could post it on his website. He gave it its own dedicated page, where it still is today. And so, when I had the opportunity to share what I wrote with the rest of my class that day five years ago, I had something to brag about.

Looking back, I obviously have somewhat higher standards of writing today than I did then, but that really represents my first free-style persuasive essay (as in the kind where I don’t have to follow “rules” and all that junk), and nowadays, I’m starting to receive awards for some of my written opinions. Plus, it represents my very first little slice of online fame–quite interesting to think about considering how much my life is dependent on the internet today.

Tags: 2003, English, essay, history, internet, memories, middle school, Oreos, Personal, Stephen Joseph, trans fats, Writing

Happy May Day! I’m reporting in stationed from Long Beach, with today being the first day of the 2008 California State PTA Convention (which I blogged about a few days ago). I’m also right in the middle of AP exams review here too, so I’m quite busy right now. But of course, I’ve got time to take a look back on the very busy month of April.
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