Author Archives: Ethan W.

Best Hikes and Camping for the New Year

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The new year has come around, and it’s a great time to get some exercise and go outdoors. A great way that I enjoy getting outdoors and getting some exercise is by going on hikes as well as going camping. There are many great spots to camp and hike in Orange County, so here are a few ones that I would recommend to start out your new year on a positive note.

  1. O’Neill Park

One of the best places in Orange County for outdoor activities is O’Neill Park. It is located in Trabuco Canyon near the foothills of the Saddleback Mountains and it has great nature and scenery. It is very easy to access and it has many great spots for camping, as well as a large variety of trails and hikes for all skill levels and ages. I personally would recommend bringing water and a snack for the longer hikes, and to try the flat trails first if you are a beginner.

2. Carbon Canyon

Another great spot for hiking and camping is in Carbon Canyon in northeastern Orange County, about 40 minutes from Mission Viejo. It is very beautiful and has a large grove of redwood trees, the only redwood trees in Southern California. It also has several good lakes for fishing, as well as great views. I would recommend the scenic nature trails in the park which are great for beginners. The park has guided hikes and many other events as well.

3. Aliso Wood Canyon Park

Aliso Wood Canyon Park is also a great place to visit. It is near Laguna Beach and it has many miles of well-maintained trails that are great even for beginners. It also has great views of the ocean and has a variety of plants and wildlife. A hike that I would suggest is to Dripping Cave, a large natural cave in the area. The hike is very flat and largely paved, and is great for everyone. Another great hike is the Top of the World hike, which is also fairly easy and has great views and scenery, however, it often gets hot especially in the summertime, so I would recommend bringing a water bottle.

4. Niguel Botanical Preserve

The Niguel Botanical Preserve, an 18-acre botanical garden in Laguna Niguel, is also a great spot for your outdoor adventures. It has an enormous variety of beautiful, well-kept plants, and it is a good place for taking a walk. It is a very short and easy walk and is very accessible and not very remote. I also saw a variety of wildlife and the preserve overall is a great spot for nature. The preserve is located on a small hill, and I would recommend hiking to the top as it has a great view. It also has many other features, such as a butterfly and rose garden and a vista overlooking the preserve. It also has a variety of rare and interesting plants and is a great activity for everyone.

These are a few of the best options for outdoor activities in Orange County for anyone who is interested in hiking or camping to start the new year. So be sure to try these fun hikes, campgrounds, and outdoor activities for yourself to kick off your new year!

Study Tips for High Schoolers

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Finals season is almost here, and tests can be a lot to study for. However, with the right tools, you can make studying and taking tests a breeze. Here are a few helpful study tips and tricks that I learned.

The Pomodoro technique is a great tool to use when studying, and it’s a good way to get more done. First, you pick one task to complete. You next find a timer and set it for 25 minutes and work on the specific task until the timer rings. Next, take a short 5 minute break, and then repeat the process four times. After you have done this, you then take a longer break of 15 to 30 minutes. This process greatly helped me with my studying and with my homework and made my schoolwork much easier in general, so be sure to try this the next time you study.

Another studying strategy that I found helpful was to make study guides. I write down the important ideas from a lesson or unit as well as terms and definitions, and then review it before a test so you are familiar with all of the important ideas. If you are given a synopsis for a unit, it will usually give many of the important ideas, so try to write these down on the study guide. Making these study guides made taking tests much easier, and they also make studying for finals easier, as they contain all the important information.

I also found it useful to spread out studying for the period of time before a test. Try to study every day or couple days. I also found it helpful to not cram the night before a test, as it is harder to learn the material and is not very helpful. Also, if you have vocabulary to learn, I would recommend reviewing it by making flash cards by hand or online on sites such as Quizlet.

Finally, I found using a planner or calendar extremely helpful. You can plan assignments and projects and break down your work and studying into manageable blocks, and I found this valuable, especially when working on large projects or assignments. Using a planner or calendar is also helpful for meeting deadlines with assignments, as well as keeping you organized. Overall, all of these study tips were very helpful for me and they’re sure to be useful for you as well, so be sure to use these the next time you’re studying for a test or project!

Book Review: Humble Pi by Matt Parker

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One of my favorite books that I have recently read is the book Humble Pi by Matt Parker. It is a very interesting book about how math mistakes affect the real world. I also found it very humorous and funny, and it was very interesting how it described many real-life examples in detail as well.

One thing that I liked most about the book was how detailed the descriptions are, giving a great deal of information on each of the various topics. I found it interesting about how it talked about how math affects and can even cause problems in the real world. I also liked how the topic was unique, as it talked about many things not covered in most books. It gives many good explanations for countless areas and topics, and it is sure to provide you with a very interesting, intriguing read.

The book is also very humorous and funny, also helping to make it an entertaining read. It has a very witty, delightful sense of humor, making for a lot of laughs. I found the book to be very amusing and entertaining overall, merging a funny, comic tone with fascinating descriptions. I also liked how it used many drawings and images to explain the different ideas and causes behind the events in the book.

One of my favorite sections from Humble Pi is about how math can go wrong in video games and other computer programs. I found it intriguing about how much math is used in everyday things like computers, and how important it is in the real world. I was surprised by how much math and numbers are used in things like programming. In addition, I found the book as a whole to be very educational, as it taught many ideas about how math and the real world interact.

Overall, Humble Pi is a great book to read as it is interesting, entertaining, funny, and educational. It has been one of my favorite books to read, and it’s sure that you’ll enjoy it as well. I would recommend this book to someone who wants to learn more or just wants an interesting read. If you enjoy this book, I would also recommend the other books by Matt Parker which cover math in a similar way to this book, and Math With Bad Drawings by Ben Orlin, which provides another fun, entertaining take on math. So don’t forget to check these books out for yourself sometime!

Book Review: The 99% Invisible City by Kurt Kohlstedt and Roman Mars

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Recently, I was looking for a new book to read and I found The 99% Invisible City by Kurt Kohlstedt and Roman Mars. I found this book about engineering in a city very interesting, as it specifically talks about how many elements of a city go unnoticed but help to lead our everyday lives in the background. I enjoyed how it expressed the complex concept of civil engineering in a more readable way, and I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is interested in engineering.

One thing that is remarkable about this book is how well-researched that the entries in the book are, providing a detailed history of many different aspects in separate cities and how they have changed over time. The book also taught me a lot about design in cities that I thought was very interesting. I was also intrigued how the book showed how much design and effort has gone into designing the modern world.

One of my favorite sections from the book is about how the national highway system was built. I thought it was interesting how much we use this piece of infrastructure without noticing it much. I also enjoyed the detailed history and backstory of these highways. I also enjoyed how it talked about how different famous landmarks around the world were constructed, and how many of them have secondary purposes, as well as how many important functional pieces of the city are hidden away.

This book is also great to read if you are interested in engineering or design because it also elaborates on its detailed descriptions with many colorful drawings and schematics, helping break down the book into readable sections. It uses both technical and understandable language to describe different ideas, and not only is it an entertaining read, but in the end I actually learned many new things from this book as well, so I would say that overall this was an extremely good read.

In the end, The 99% Invisible City was one of the best reads that I’ve ever read so far, and it’s sure to be entertaining and interesting for you as well. I would especially recommend this to anyone who wants to learn more about engineering, or is interested in civil or mechanical engineering. I would also recommend the 99% Invisible podcast if you enjoy this book. It is by the same authors of the book and is very interesting as well. And don’t forget to check out this book for yourself sometime!

The 99% Invisible City by Roman Mars and Kurt Kohlstedt is available to check out from the Mission Viejo Library. It is also available to download for free from Libby.

Book Review: Math With Bad Drawings by Ben Orlin

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When you think of math, you probably won’t think of fun at first. However, about a year ago I was looking for a book that was both educational and entertaining, and I found the book Math With Bad Drawings by Ben Orlin. It’s not that well-known but is still a great book, using its witty sense of humor to explain math concepts as well as helping to make math accessible. It’s funny to read and so interesting that you’ll want to read it again and again.

The book helps to explain math concepts such as geometry while never ceasing to keep you entertained. Even though this book is about math, it is one of the funniest books that I have read. It also uses language that anyone can understand when talking about math, making the book more accessible to any reader.

The book also uses doodles to help explain the math concepts in the book, as well as a way to keep the book interesting by adding additional jokes and enriching the book overall. There are many humorous scenarios and explanations throughout the text, but my favorite part is the section about probability that is included in the book, in particular an explanation of how the lottery works.

I enjoyed the detailed explanations in this part, as well as how it used examples from the real world to make this part more understandable. The best part, however, were the doodles, which not only helped to explain the complicated processes behind the lottery, but helping to entertain with a continued sense of humor and using jokes to help explain the concept.

In summary, I enjoyed how Math With Bad Drawings was entertaining and easy to understand. It is similar in style to What If? and XKCD by Randall Munroe, as both help to make math and science concepts accessible and entertaining. There are also many other books in this series, such as Change Is The Only Constant and Math Games With Bad Drawings, so be sure to check these books out! Overall, Math With Bad Drawings is an amazing book that’s great to read anytime whenever you want a laugh or just to learn something new.

Book Review: What If? by Randall Munroe

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Have you ever wondered from what height you would need to drop a steak for it to be cooked when you hit the ground? There’s a book that can answer questions just like that.

I recently got to reading the book What If? by Randall Munroe, the creator of the webcomic xkcd, a satirical take on science and life questions. I enjoyed how the book took real life outlandish scenarios and used scientific concepts to explain them in detail while still being funny and engaging at the same time. The hypothetical scenarios are submitted by readers. Overall, this book is sure to give you a good laugh while opening your eyes to the great, wide world of science.

One of my favorite hypothetical questions from the book was what would happen if a baseball was pitched at 90 percent of the speed of light. I enjoyed how it gave a step-by-step, detailed explanation of what would happen. I also enjoyed the sarcastic humor, as with the rest of the book. The descriptions also paint a good mental picture of what would happen in the questions, helping to keep the book interesting.

Comics are interspersed between the questions as well, keeping the book engaging by helping to convey the outlandish nature of the questions. They will also keep you laughing as you read, as they will occasionally accompany the text with a sarcastic or witty joke.

The book greatly appealed to my sense of humor, with its sarcasm and dry wit. The book even has the bonus of connected online resources and interactive games. These activities connect to the questions in the book, such as a calculator to see how far you could throw various objects, but come with a humorous twist.

Overall, What If? was a great and entertaining read, and I would recommend that more teens look into reading this book, as well as the other books in the series. These include What If? 2 and How To. Both deal with more hypothetical scenarios, approached with the same sense of humor. Not only is this book a great resource, it also helps you to gain a greater enjoyment of science, but above all, What If? is a hilarious book that you can read anytime.

What If? by Randall Munroe is available to check out from the Mission Viejo Library. It is also available to download for free from Libby.