EVERGREEN VALLEY CHRONICLE

EVHS GIRLS CROSS COUNTRY- NASSIM ATAII

Through scorching heat and freezing winds, the evergreen valley cougars have consistently given outstanding effort this season. As a top rival team in the MHAL A Division, the EVHS Varsity Girls have raced close meets against the top schools each year; finally claiming their own this season. The Varsity Girls dominated every dual meet in the 2011 season, making an extraordinary defeat against all seven teams in the Mt. Hamilton Division. 

Led by our senior runner, Samantha Garcia, the Varsity Girls proved to be a dominating team at every home meet, taking home first place in each one. Garcia is the holder of the fastest home course record in EVHS history, and is known as a local legend in the MHAL division. Garcia also holds the all time junior and senior home- course records,  as well as many out-of-school-rankings. Alongside Garcia on this record board is sophomore runner Anna Le is also listed, claiming the 8th spot on the all-time records. 

New to the EVHS record list were Allison Dang and Jackie Ramirez his season, breaking into the 14th and 15th spots on the rankings. Dang made an impressionable leap this year from Junior Varsity to Varsity, accomplishing multiple Prs along the way. Ramirez is a returning runner that also broke tremendous ground and took a spot alongside Dang as the one of the top of Varsity this season. 

With their team efforts, including the outstanding races of Natalie Pang, Michelle Fung, and Catherine Tran, the EVHS Varisty Girls took home the title of League Champions of the Mt. Hamilton A Division, finishing in 2nd place at BVAL Championships and earning a spot in the CCS Finals.

An amazing job by our EVHS cougars, and the best of luck in next season!

Gaming-Akhilesh Yeluru

2012 Gaming

TUMBLR- KAYLIE LU

When you need to express your feelings, what do you do? Go on tumblr! This social networking website is like a popular, current version of Blogger or LiveJournal, tailored to make it easier for people to share pictures, videos, words, and music. To start tumblring, you make an account on www. Tumblr.com and choose a Url that is also the “title” of your blog. After confirming that your URL is unique, you can start sharing things that interest you.

Tumblr was founded by David Karp in 2007 with Marco Arment. Currently, it has over 6,000,00 users. Whether it is tumblr’s easy sharing process(just click reblog) or modern, fun, and customizable design, this website is obviously popular, especially among teenagers. Also, you can follow celebrities, such as President Barack Obama, and see what his or her interests are, similar to Twitter or Facebooking. Also, you can rant on tumblr about things that your friends probably would become offended about, and if they don’t follow you, they’d never know.

Some say that tumblr is overrated, but like most good social networking sites, it does a wonderful job of centralizing everything and making it easy for you to see what everyone likes, thinks, and sees. Therefore, I recommend that you use tumblr if you’re looking for a new blog site. 

A NEW ERA FOR THE LAKERS: FAN’S TAKE- Nikhil Kalluri

The Lakers were up by 15 points in the third quarter. With such a large lead, there was no need to anticipate a rapid comeback effort from the Knicks. After all, the opponents were shooting under 38% that night, anyway. Or was there? The lethal combination of Amare Stoudemire, Carmelo Anthony, and Tyson Chandler was enough to prevent Los Angeles from winning their second straight game in the midst of a compressed NBA schedule that forced them to play three consecutive games in three consecutive nights!

Nevertheless, Kobe Bryant( #24), or as us fans lovingly call him, “Black Mamba”, paused for a split second to observe the positions of all the players in front of him. Then, deftly turning around midcourt , Kobe swerved past a trove of defenders, made his way past the baseline to the inside, and still managed to execute a fade-away jumper flawlessly. #24 put up 28 points and shot 10 out of 17 from the field. Kobe tenaciously averted tricky defenders, especially Forward Renaldo Balkman, to give the Lakers a comfortable lead, and whenever possible, he passed the ball to teammates, who then smoothly got their shots in. Of course, the fellow Lakers were just as stellar on the court. Pau Gasol, or as you may all know him as the towering Spaniard Center, put up double-doubles, using his tremendous stature to grab rebounds whenever possible, and Derek Fisher put up several assists as well. The versatile bench also performed well. ( Hint hint: Josh McRoberts’ reverse ally-oop with a pass from Steve Blake, and Matt Barnes’ slam dunk from a Kobe pass) and Metta World Peace’s sinking 3 pointers from the baseline. ( For those of you who are impervious to the world of basketball, the formerly known player Ron Artest changed his name to Metta World Peace this year).

Anyways, let’s cut to the chase. The overall result? The Lakers winning 99-82 over the New York Knicks, and putting up a 2-2 record- which is still impressive regarding the absence of their starting Center, Andrew Bynum, who served his four game suspension, and the loss of Lamar Odom( NBA Sixth Man of the Year recipient last season) to the Dallas Mavericks. On top of such extenuating circumstances, legendary Laker coach Phil Jackson retired last year, and the team has had to adjust to new coach Mike Brown, who unlike his triangle-offense- stressing predecessor, heavily stresses strong defense. Brown, the former coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers, had some miscommunication issues with Kobe in the first game, when he pushed the star player to go clutch mode with a few seconds remaining against the Chicago Bulls. Yet, it seems as if he has trained all of the starters and benchwarmers to prevent their opponents from scoring easy points. His efforts seem to be working, as Los Angeles has limited other teams to scoring under 40% for the first four games, and in fact, limited the Knicks to only 82 points! The secret? Kobe mentioned in the previous game against the Utah Jazz, “ Coach Brown holds everyone accountable for defensive executions. It’s paying off.” No one could have said it any better.

With some veterans, lost players, and a whole lot of new guys on the team, this year’s Lakeshow has had to earn every one of its points. Additionally, PG Derek Fisher has received ample criticism about his declining performance, which is partially attributed to his old age. If anything, I agree, and the Lakers either need a stronger starting point guard, or give their rookie point guard, Darius Morris, more playing minutes. ( From what I could tell, he looks like a promising player from the first few games.) For now, though, the Lakeshow looks promising this year, and in spite of Kobe having to play through his injury, and new team members having a short amount of time to find their tempo in a compressed season, Los Angeles should be a decent playoff contender, if not championship level yet.

As a loyal fan, I expect good things to happen this season, and if you guys don’t watch them play, be sure to check out a game or two! GO LAKERS!

Freshmen 15- Srivarsha Nandula

There is a saying that goes for college freshman known as “Freshman 15!” It refers to the 15 pounds that freshman college students add on to their weight when they reach college. This happens due to many reasons and the main ones are that the students no longer have home cooked food, their stress levels increase as work increases, and late-night cramming causes a lack of sleep.

            Food is one of the five essential requirements of life. Proper diet is required for a person to succeed both mentally and physically. Even though college freshman have all this in mind, it becomes a minor priority compared to essays and tests that college brings. One of the main reasons that college kids do not get healthy food is that they no longer have home-cooked meals, but are relying on dorm cafeterias or fast food places for quick and affordable lunch and dinner. This habit causes students to forget to check the amount of fat, cholesterol, and calories they gulp down with every bite of their fast food. The solution to this problem is to try to keep the number of calorie intake down or going out and getting some exercise.

            College requires cramming studying hours and footlong essays to write. Everyone is aware of that fact. Still, homework and new environment are the two main causes of stress for college students. Stress is not only harmful to the brain since it makes the brain kick into panic mode, but stress also causes people to put on fat. How is that possible? We have to go back to the olden days. In the olden times, stress came when winter was nearby since food was scarcer. As a result, the body stored up fat whenever people stressed out. Our bodies still have that reaction process when we stress out, causing the pounds on our weighing scales to go up. To avoid this, students should think of stress-relieving activities such as yoga or meditation to keep their minds and bodies relaxed.

            Late night cramming causes not only stress but a deprivation of sleep. Lack of sleep tires out the body so much, it is impossible to believe. When students get only four to five hours of sleep, the are only half-focused on their next day’s lessons. This routine has nothing but bad effects on the body, both physically and mentally. To avid such a complication, there is unfortunately only one solution to this problem: getting more sleep. The common mistake people make is thinking that all this sleep has to be done at once, with no gaps. The truth though, is that getting “sleep” doesn’t necessarily mean it has to be done in one stretch. You can sleep a two to three hour right after your lessons are over for the day. Then if you get a five to seven hour sleep at night, it will not matter as much since your body is still energized!

            “Freshman 15” is an ongoing problem for freshman college students. It is caused by a mix of causes such as unhealthy food choices, increasing levels of stress, and lack of sleep. So in college, try to remember these solutions to keep those fifteen pounds off your body weight!

The Recap- Random Bits of News- Andrew Truong

Important things that happened last week: Another sports coach is accused of molesting little boys, a semi-mad scientists engineers a deadly flu, and your printer can blow your house up.

Penn State Scandal 2: Syracuse

            After that horrific event that was the Penn State scandal, you’d think we’d be done with stories of sports coaches raping little boys. But now Bernie Fine, an assistant coach for men’s basketball at Syracuse University, has been fired after revelations that he may have molested at least one child years ago. A recording of a conversation between the victim and Bernie Fine’s wife was released.

            “I know everything that went on, you know. I know everything that went on with him,” said Laurie Fine in the recording. “Bernie has issues, maybe that he’s not aware of, but he has issues … And you trusted somebody you shouldn’t have trusted.”

Deadliest Flu

            The avian flu is one of the deadliest strains of flu known to man. Fortunately, it’s quite difficult for a person to catch it-one must be in direct contact to be infected. However, half of those infected end up dying from avian flu. It’s a good thing there have only been 600 reported cases in all of human history, right? It’s not like it it’s an airborne disease.

            Except now it totally is. A virologist in the Netherlands found a way to make the avian flu exponentially more contagious than it is now. This strain of avian flu can easily pass between humans, and just breathing the air around the infected can give you the disease. Ron Fouchier, the virologist who made the discovery, is trying to publish his findings so that biologists can prepare a vaccine in case this becomes weaponized, but many scientists are against the publications, fearing that terrorists could replicate a strain of the H5N1 disease that could potentially cut the world’s population in half.

Honey, The Printer Burned The House Down

            It sounds like something from a bad movie written by someone who has know idea how technology works: hackers take over an internet-connected printer and force it to heat up until it sets on fire. However, this could actually happen. Researchers in Columbia have found an exploit in old HP LaserJet printers.

            MSNBC says that “in one demonstration of an attack based on the flaw, [researchers] showed how a hijacked computer could be given instructions that would continuously heat up the printer’s fuser – which is designed to dry the ink once it’s applied to paper – eventually causing the paper to turn brown and smoke.” The paper could then catch fire, and then that fire could spread, resulting in the destruction of your house. (Editor, if you are reading this delete all this stuff in parenthesis. If you are reading this on tumblr, the editors haven’t been reading the articles they post. Tee hee.)

            But don’t worry about constantly unplugging your printer–the LaserJets have a fail-safe. Inside most printers is something called a thermal switch, which basically shuts down the printer when the internal temperature reaches a certain point. HP announced that they would look into the problem, while downplaying the nature of the exploit. The thermal breaker “cannot be overcome by a firmware change or this proposed vulnerability.” That doesn’t mean that a different vulnerability can shut down the fail-safe. It might be best to watch your printer for smoke.

Semi-Public Service Announcement: Winterfest

            EV is hosting their very first Winterfest on Friday, December 9 from 5-8 PM. I encourage everyone to come, as admission is free. Along with the standard holiday festival stuff, there will be performances from school clubs and classes. However, the best part of Winterfest will be in A Building, where three bands will perform. (Disclaimer: I am in one of those bands, and an EV Chronicle editor is in another). Dressed to Impress, Dance Dance Angela, and Press Start will play music throughout Winterfest, so come on by and rock out.

Pepper Spray to a Whole New Level- Gurtaj Dhindsa

            A lot of people might have heard that pepper spray has been used for years as a form of self-defense. This is very true, especially for someone who loves sales. That’s right! A woman in Los Angeles was trying to get a video game at a cheap price, right when a whole crowd of people jumped in. What could this lady do? She truly loved the game; at least it looked like it.

            You may be asking yourself, how did it look like she loved the cheap game? Well, she pepper sprayed the people around her. This showed how much she truly loved the game. I mean, who in the right mind would pepper spray a crowd of people during black Friday? Apparently, this woman would.

There were luckily many surveillance videos at the store recording the incident from every different angle. So there was no way the lady could escape. The lady actually didn’t try to escape, because a few days later she turned herself in. Because of her foolish act, she got about ten people needing medical treatment. Why did this lady do it? No one knows, yet. And also, does she have time to use the game now?

Ivy League Schools- Kaylie Lu

The aspiration of many parents and students in America is to get accepted into an Ivy League school. The most famous of this already prestigious group of universities are Harvard, Princeton, and Yale, but we shouldn’t forget Brown, Cornell, Columbia, University of Pennslyvania, or Dartmouth. However, all of these fantastic schools have in common are their massive endowments, histories of academic and athletic excellence, and low admission rates.

Harvard, Princeton, and Yale are dubbed the “Big Three” of the Ivy League schools because they dominated college football in the 1880’s. Harvard and Princeton tied for top colleges in America this year. Harvard is perhaps has the largest student body of all three. It is also endowed with the most money. Surprisingly, sixty-two living billionaires studied at Harvard. Princeton is a private research school, but does not have schools of divinity, medicine, law, or business. Yale is most know for its law school and has the second largest endowment of any school. Acceptance into these three schools is extremely rare.

The other colleges are original and special in their own way. Cornell’s main campus is in New York and is possibly one of the most technologically innovative of the Ivies. Its Bachelor of Architecture program was named tops in the nation. Another New Yorker, Columbia, was founded by George II of England back before the American Revolution. In modern times, it presents the Pulitzer Prize, a venerable award for achievements in journalism, literature, and music. Brown is the 7^th oldest college in the United States. Forty-two percent of its graduates study social science. The University of Pennslyvania, also known as Upenn, was founded by Benjamin Franklin. Some scientific discoveries that it’s been associated with are ENIAC, the first general purpose computer in 1946 and the Rubella(1960?) and Hepatitis B(1968) vaccines. Last but not least is Dartmouth, which is actually the smallest in population of the Ivies. Haha. It has a liberal arts college, a medical school, a business school, and and engineering school, as well as various other programs.

If your parents are pressuring you into doing something in preparation for applying for an Ivy League school, they have a good reason to. Ivy League schools are all difficult to get into, so your acceptance will symbolize how awesome you are. Going to an Ivy League college will also enable you to meet many people that can help you attain success in life and find yourself. 

Science News: Lighter than air and Faster than Light- Akhilesh Yeluru

As you were sitting in science class, listening to your science teacher drone on and on about density, did you ever wonder if there existed non-gaseous substances less dense than air? Well a few years ago, I did a little research on the internet, and came across SEAgel, a type of aerogel. This substance had a very low density, and could be made lighter than air when exposed to hydrogen. The SEAgel would then float or hang in air. Now scientists have found another substance that is even less dense than SEAgels. For now, it has been dubbed “ultralight metallic microlattice,” and consists of 99.99% air. The solid portion of the microlattice is made of 90% nickel. Now imagine a dandelion with a block as big as a match box placed atop it. You would expect that anything that big would instantaneously crush the dandelion, but the microlattice will not harm the structure at all. This is because it is one hundred times lighter than Styrofoam! Another interesting fact: if the microlattice were dropped from an average shoulder height, it would take an entire ten seconds for the substance to reach the ground.

Another interesting development in the world of science is the discovery of particles faster than the speed of light! Part of modern physics is based on the idea that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light. This theory has held strong since the time of James Clerk Maxwell, and Albert Einstein’s theory of special relativity. Now, with thousands of tests, physicists have finally proven that neutrinos can exceed the speed of light.

The implications that this may have on science is many. According to one of Einstein’s theories which were based on the idea that nothing is faster than light, a cause will always come before an effect. With particles that can move faster than light, this restriction is removed from time, and we now can have effects occur before they were caused! This idea has prompted scientists to rethink the possibility of time travel by wormholes, connections of different places in the universe. Though there are still many skeptics, time travel, and moving faster than the speed of light may become a possibility in the distant future!