Final Skills Quiz

1. How to create a blog
2. how to create a website
3. how to create pages on my website
4. how to track the activity on my webpage
5. how to add external links to my webpage
6. how link paypal with my website
7. how to link paypal with external vendors then add those links to my webpage
8. how to design and sell products online
9. how to link my website with internet search engines
10. how to add links to external sites on web pages
11. how to publish articles

Bio Fuels

Every year, nearly 30 billion barrels of crude oil are consumed! This averages out to around 82 million barrels each day. The reason this number is so high is because currently, crude oil is the best way to move transport vehicles. It is used in trains, ships, construction vehicles, cars, lawn equipment and many other things. The nice thing about oil is there is a lot of energy potential in a small amount of space. Unfortunately, our increased demand for oil is draining the oil reserves dry and is taking a tole on the environment with all the green house gasses being released. One solution to this problem would be to switch gas powered motors to electric powered motors which will then eliminate the need for fossil fuels. The biggest problem with this is electric powered engines are no where near as powerful as gas and diesel powered engines are. So the semi trucks, planes, trains and ships we rely on to bring in all our goods would not be able to function properly. Another problem with electric powered engines is they require extremely large batteries to go long distances. These batteries are very expensive to make and would most likely be worse for the environment in the creation and recycling of the batteries then the continued use of crude oil would be. Fortunately there is a solution to this problem that is both environmentally conscious and economical. The answer is bio fuels. Bio fuel uses a specialized form of algae that has been designed to consume sunlight and carbon dioxide and create a bi-product that can be separated into gas, diesel and jet fuel.  This is done by placing a small amount of algae into a tank and exposing it to sunlight. The tank can be connected to an exhaust line from a power plant to absorb the CO2 created, or it can be left open to absorb CO2 in the air. The process is slow at first, but once the batch of algae begins to grow, they begin to multiply very quickly. When the batch of algae is fully grown, it is then separated from the water that it was grown in and broken down into gas, diesel and jet fuel which can be used almost immediately. Another nice thing about bio fuel is it is cheap to produce. Because sunlight and carbon dioxide are free the only thing that need to be paid for is the equipment, labor and power needed to run the facility. Overall, bio fuels are a good solution to reduce the amount of fossil fuels being consumed year round. If you have any questions, please comment below. Thanks for reading!

Recycling

It seems like only yesterday when recycling was a huge hassle. You used to have two separate bins for plastics/metals and paper/cardboard. It used to be much easier to just toss all the recyclables in the trash rather than sort out all the materials for yourself. Today thanks to new recycling separation systems, this is no longer the case. The way this works is the recycling truck goes around just like before collecting all the recycling materials and bringing it to the separation plant. Next, all the materials are dumps then loaded on convener belts to be sorted. All along the belt, there are people removing non-recyclables such as plastic bags, organic materials and plastics that can not be sold to recycling buyers yet. They do this by throwing things like plastic bags into a vacuum directly above their work station, and tossing other non-recyclables off in a separate shoot. The first machine removes large cardboard boxes to be immediately bundled. After this, the rest of the material moves on to be hand sorted some more. Next the paper is removed from the plastics and metals. This is done by allowing the dense materials to fall to the next belt, while the office paper, news paper and adds are sent to the next hand sorting section then are bundled. The remaining materials (glass, plastic and metals) are then sent to a glass breaking machine to allow the metal and plastic to move on while the glass falls through the grate. Once the metals and plastics are removed from the glass, they go through another paper removing machine which uses electrical charge to remove any remaining paper and plastic bags. After this, the conveyor passes under a magnet to remove all steel products which are then bailed. The next steps are a little tricky. The conveyor belt passes under an optical scanner where it identifies and removes any remaining plastics to leave the aluminum products. And because this machine is not 100% accurate, there are workers who must sift out any other plastics and non-aluminum products from the mix. After all the plastics are collected, they are hand sorted where clear plastics, heavy plastics and soft drink bottles are all placed in different shoots. All materials that cannot be recycled are then sent to a landfill. Thanks for reading!

Hot Air

Recently I read an article on CNN explaining a new potential form of energy that harnesses the power of rising hot air. They used the example of how an attic is always hotter than the rest of the house because hot air rises. Well this new form of alternative energy intends to harness this energy using towers and a very large canopy. The canopy would work similar to how a hot air balloon works. He plans to eventually build a 2600 foot high tower with a canopy larger than a football field. And when it is all said and done, the air lifting and lowering the canopy will spin several turbines fast enough to generate 200 megawatts of power (enough to power 100,000 homes). And this is only one of the many benefits this generator will bring. The air powered generator doesn't need any water to function, unlike many other forms of energy. It will be generating energy during the day and at night, unlike solar power and tidal power, because as the air warms up in the morning, the canopy will rise turning the turbines, and when the air finally cools at night, the canopy will fall, once again spinning the turbines. And the final benefit is that it will work when there is wind or when the weather is calm unlike wind turbines. The reason this structure has not been built yet is because of the enormous cost of creating a 800 meter tall building would take years to offset the costs. It is estimated to cost $750 million to build the structure. Another concern for environmentalists is will the benefit of creating the 800 meter structure offset the environmental costs to haul in all the materials and to run gas powered machines day and night to create this building. The Mohammad Taslim, the spokesman for Enviromission assures that the benefits of this form of energy will far outweigh the costs. In fact he said the amount of CO2 released in the creating of this structure would be offset by the clean energy created in less than 3 years. Overall, this form of energy seems like a feasible option in theory, but until an idea like this gets funding, it will never become a reality. If you have any questions regarding this post, please comment below. Thanks for reading!

Wind Energy

Today, wind power generates approximately 5.7% of the total electricity used in America today and is currently the fastest growing form of energy generation in the world. According to the wind energy foundation's website, the wind energy produced in 2013 reduced the total amount of CO2 produced by the United States by 4.4%, which is equivalent to the emissions of 17 million cars in the same time period. The way windmills work is actually quite simple. A vertical fan is placed in a field that has high winds, and the wind spins the fan the same way that a pinwheel spins when you blow on it. The only difference is attached to the base of the fan blades is a fixed generator that uses friction to generate electricity. Thanks to windmills being so profitable, the technology has been able to improve greatly over the past decades. In fact, windmills today produce 15 times the energy that windmill produced in the 90's meaning they are much more efficient at turning mechanical wind energy into electricity. One benefit that wind power has over almost every other form of clean energy is it hardly uses any water in the generating process. This saves millions and millions of gallons of water daily. The only drawback to wind power is it is completely reliant on wind of course. And wind is often very unpredictable making the amount of power a windmill produces every day, or week, or year hard to determine. This means there needs to always be another electricity generator available at the windmill power grid to feed extra electricity into the grid when the windmills aren't preforming to par. Besides this one flaw, wind energy is an excellent form of clean energy that can hopefully put an end to the use of fossil fuels. The Wind Energy Foundation has a lot of interesting data regarding wind power, and I would highly recommend visiting their website to learn more about wind power. Thanks for reading!

Wave Energy

Yesterday, I gave you the rundown on how solar energy works and a few of its many uses. Today, I will be going over wave energy and how we are currently trying to harness it and turn it into usable electricity. First of all, there are two types of waves, wind powered waves and waves generated by other disturbances. Wind powered waves form when wind blows over the water and creates ripples, as more wind goes over the water, the waves either become higher or longer depending on the type of wind hitting it. So essentially waves are powered by the sun because wind is created when the heats up air molecules causing them to rise and cooler air molecules fill in the empty space causing wind. The other type of waves are caused when tectonic plates collide, or large amounts of ice fall off of an ice sheet, or from large mudslides into the ocean, or other non-constant events. There is also the tide which is caused by the moon, but this only happens twice a day and does not have the same potential as wind generated wave power. So the only consistent form of wave power that is actually even more reliable than wind power is wind powered waves. This is because the wind is not always blowing, but the waves will always be crashing in. So how is wave power collected? There are a few different ways to collect it, but the main ones are using pressurized air or pressurized water to turn a turbine. The way to pressurize air is to create a sealed container with only one exit for the air. On bottom side of the container, the water will rise sending the air through the small exit. This will send the air out a constant quick speed which will turn the turbine, then when the water leaves, the air will be pulled back though the small hole spinning the turbine again. The other way is to pressurize the water in a cylinder and again leaving just a small exit for the water to go. When the water is sent through this small hole, the jet stream will turn the turbine generating electricity. Both of these methods sound good on paper, but unfortunately it is still very expensive to create these wave powered systems. And at this time, it is still much more economical to use coal, oil, solar and wind power mainly because wave still only collects just a small portion of the potential energy sent in through waves. Perhaps as oil prices continue to rise, corporations will have more of an incentive pursue alternative energy, and maybe there will be a breakthrough in wave power. If you have any questions or comments, please post below. Thanks for reading!

Solar Panel Breakdown

Today, I will be giving you the quick run down on solar panels, how they work, what some of their many uses are, and some interesting facts regarding solar energy. Solar panels use heat energy from the Sun's rays disturb and release electrons in the panel. The way this is done is the solar panel is made up of a neutral material, silicone which doesn't release many electrons under extreme heat, and by adding a material like phosphorus to the mix which does easily release electrons easily, when the few electrons are released, they will have no where else to go. Solar panels have 2 layers like this with a barrier in between them to insure the electrons do not find a home on the other layer. When the electrons are released, they only have one direction to go, and that is into the conductor, usually copper, where the electrons then flow through the conductor into whatever is being powered. This is only a very simple explanation on how solar panels work. But if you would like some more information on this topic, I would recommend the How Stuff Works article on solar panels. Today, solar panels are used in many applications. They are used in everything from calculators to road signs to powering your home to NASA satellites. The applications for solar panels are almost limitless. In fact it is probably the form of energy available because solar energy is free and the sun won't stop shining for another 5 billion years. The sun gives off so much energy that if we collected just one hour of the suns rays, it produce enough electricity to power the world at its current energy consumption rate for a year! If you have any comments on this post or any of my other blog posts, please comment below or contact me via email. Thanks for reading!

Composting

Recently I added a new page which went into details on how to compost using waste from your yard and home. This page is labeled How to Compost if you would like to go into a little more detail on this topic. There were just a few benefits I would like to mention regarding composting and how it helps you and the environment. First off composting can be just as easy as taking out the trash, except the waste is recycled and the nutrient is used to fertilize plants. Sure there are a few extra steps to take, but the benefits to composting make them worth while. Secondly, composting can give you the motivation to weed your gardens because weeds before they seed are an excellent source of nutrient in the compost. Going along with motivation, by composting fruit and vegetable scraps then using that compost to fertilize the garden, it motivates you to use the compost fertilizer to give your new vegetable garden the nutrients it needs. And finally, composting is a great way to reduce waste that ends up in landfills. Overall, composting is an excellent way to go green, because not only are you reducing your trash that ends up in landfills through recycling yard waste, fesses, and food scraps, you are also have the means to become self sufficient by using the compost fertilizer in vegetable gardens and to feed fruit trees. If you have any thoughts or ideas about composting or any other green topics feel free to email me, or comment below. Thanks for reading!

Chevy Volt

If you are looking to go green through cutting energy usage and reducing green house gas emissions, where better to start than your gas or diesel powered vehicle. Today car companies are coming out with better and more fuel efficient cars to meet government regulations and to satisfy consumers needs with rising gas prices, but this only reduces the problem. The issue is around 20 million barrels of oil are consumed in the United States alone each and every day and as more cars are produced and new drives begin driving with the rising population, this number will only be going up, even with hybrids and fuel efficient SUVs and compact cars. In order make a real dent in this problem, we the consumers need to avoid using gas powered transportation whenever possible. This means biking to work, carpooling, using public transportation (even though the buses and trains run off of fossil fuels, they will be completing the same route regardless), walking, or purchasing an electric powered vehicle. The first four options may actually save you money right away, but purchasing and electric or partially electric vehicle will definitely take a while for the financial saving to show. But it's not always about the money. If you were considering purchasing an electric vehicle, you may be thinking about buying the Nissan Leaf or the Mitsubishi I-MiEV because they are some of the only all electric vehicles on the market. These vehicles would seem like logical choices if your commute from work and back, or to friends and family were relatively near to you, but a 100 mile range definitely limits a vehicle. I would recommend purchasing the Chevy Volt. I recommend this vehicle for three reasons, first it is an electric, gas powered hybrid where you see all the benefits of an electric car with few of their drawbacks, such as limited range, charging takes hours and could leave you stranded if your battery runs out, and the extremely small interiors with virtually no trunk space. The Volt has the option to be fully electric for 35 miles before needing to be charged (which the vast majority of people live within 35 miles of work), but if the battery runs out, the car won't simply stop, the gas powered generator will turn on and charge the battery as you continue driving. The second reason I would recommend the Chevy Volt is because of its extended range. Even though the battery will only get you 35 miles, the gas powered generator gets nearly 40 mph which totals nearly a 400 mile range including the 35 miles of fully electric miles. And finally, the Volt is a standard size car where you will actually have some elbow room and trunk space unlike many of the other all electric vehicles. If you are looking to reduce your carbon footprint, buying a Volt is a good place to start. Thanks for reading!

Geothermal Energy

Recently I read an article about geothermal energy and some of its many uses on the How Stuff Works website. Geothermal energy is a fairly easy concept to understand as well as implement into practice. Essentially geothermal energy works the same way wind turbines work, except use rising steam to power the turbine instead of wind. Initially, the engineers building the geothermal power plant dig a well to reach magma beneath earth's crust. In most locations, this layer can be reached rather easily. Then they build a pumping system to pump water down into this well where it is then heated to its boiling point or hotter, then is returned the the surface. From this point, the heated water becomes steam and rises at a quick enough rate to turn the turbine and generate electricity. This system is only cost effective at the large scale unfortunate, but home owners can still utilize this untapped energy source in other ways. Just a few feet below earth's crust is a constant 50-60 degrees Fahrenheit almost everywhere in the world. This is very convenient because for around $30,000 most home owners can purchase a heating system for the winter and a cooling system for the summer that utilizes this constant temperature. And according to How Stuff Works, this investment can will pay itself off in energy savings in 5-10 years. Geothermal energy is an excellent alternative to energy generated by fossil fuels and even other forms of clean energy because it is everywhere, all you need to do is dig straight down, making it the most constant form of energy. Geothermal energy is also one of the cleanest forms of energy because there are little to no byproducts from pumping water down a well then collecting the water on the surface and repeat the process. Finally, geothermal energy is the most reliable form of air conditioning and heating in a home because of the constant temperature several feet under the ground. If you have any comments or questions about this article please post below. Thanks for reading!

Clean Energy

I have always enjoyed reading about new forms of clean energy, how they work and some of their uses. There is a blog that writes solely about clean energy topics, under cleanenergy.org. This blog is done by a very eco-friendly family and some of their colleagues who enjoy the benefits of many forms of clean energy first hand. There are a few articles mentioning how they purchased all electric cars, installed energy efficient lighting, a mirror roof and many other things to reduce the consumption of energy, especially energy derived from power plants emitting CO2. Many of these projects didn't save them much money initially, but after the costs of installing or purchasing the items were meet with savings, the overall savings were substantial. As green technology continues to improve, the costs of many of these green projects go down making it more and more economical for businesses and homeowners to begin using new forms of energy production and energy reducing items in their homes and businesses. This group of bloggers also attend green events and promote these events through their blog. They blog about current issues regarding clean energy and give some personal insight on these issues.  They had a couple of articles on controversial topics such as carbon credits that I found to be very interesting because of their personal insight on these issues. I would definitely recommend visiting the Clean Energy website and blog page and reading some of their blogs and articles. If you have any comments please post below. Thanks for reading!

The possible impact of solar energy

Clean alternative energy has always fascinated me. Not only do I find it interesting how these energy generators transfer energy from nature into electrical energy, but I also enjoy thinking of all the possible applications for these clean energy machines. Recently I read an article about some of the uses and benefits solar power provides to rural communities from the renewable energy world blog. This article was labeled "Solar Power's Impact on Rural Exodus" by Abhishek Gupta. In the article, Gupta explains some of the many struggles that come with living in a rural area. These include things like no electricity, running water, proper education, or below average health care. Many of these things can be greatly improved or fixed if these areas had a constant source of electricity. One problem they have is with the high amount of poverty, it is not economical for electric companies to supply these areas with electricity. Also many people living in rural areas lack proper education making it difficult for them make life better for themselves. But as Abhishek explains in the article, solar power is the solution to these problems. Because solar power requires little to no maintenance and is fairly simple to install, even people with limited education can use them. Because solar panels work on sunny and cloudy days, it is a reliable source of energy. And with a reliable source of energy, people living in rural areas will be able to have running water for themselves and to water their lands, they will have light at night which could potentially save lives if there is an emergency, and they will have an opportunity to connect to the internet to educate themselves. The only issue now is producing solar panels at a low enough price so everyone can afford one and delivering the panels to very secluded areas. If you have any questions or thoughts on this article, please comment below. Thanks for reading!

Highest grossing film

After reading several lists online about movie ticket sales in theaters versus how much they cost to make, I found the movie making business is much more profitable than I previously thought. I found that there were several films, including avatar, that actually surpassed $500,000,000 in sales. This is a crazy feat considering many tickets cost only $8-$12 with profits going to the theaters as well. I found an interesting article in the week which found that many of these all time most profitable lists are only partially correct on which film actually earned the most. The article can be found through this link (http://theweek.com/article/index/263552/why-avatar-isnt-actually-the-most-successful-movie-of-all-time)
The article explains how many of the top grossing lists don't actually adjust for inflation which only makes them partially correct. For instance, if a movie was sold last year for $15 and 20 years ago was sold for $10, then the most recent movie would seem to be the most profitable. But say you had $10 10 years ago versus now, that $10 could have bought you a movie before, but not now. This goes to show that even though the profits are higher in numbers today, the actual buying power of each dollar would also drop. So for most cases, the older movies with relatively high profit margins are not accurately represented on these lists because most don't adjust for inflation. If you find lists dealing with profits, costs or other financial measurement interesting in regards to the film industry, please comment below. Thanks for reading!

Movie List Post

I have always enjoyed watching movies, especially after a long day at work to relax or to spend some quality time with my family and friends. This post will include my top 10 favorite movies in order from low to high on my rating scale. I have always been a bit of a harsh critic when it comes to rating movies mainly because I compare all movies to some of the best movies created in their genres. I apologize ahead of time if your movie did not make this list.

10. Up (2009)
I was strongly considering putting Bambi or Lion King on here, but I really enjoyed watching this movie, and it's on of those movies that I'm never not in the mood for.
9. Fight Club (1998)
Fight Club is a classic movie where you need to go through and watch it a few times before you completely understand what's going on. And even after watching in several times, I always seem to catch another sign I missed before which always keeps me engaged in the movie.
8. Gladiator (2000)
Gladiator is a great movie showing the struggles of the lead actor where nothing seems to go his way, but by sticking to what he believes in everything eventually falls into place. More or less.
7. The Dark Knight (2005)
This movie is just awesome! Everything worked well in this movie, from the plot to the special affects The Dark Knight always keeps you on the edge of your seat.
6. Catch Me If You Can (2002)
I really enjoyed this movie because it's one of the few movies that you want the hero and the villain to win.
5. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
This classic war movie does an excellent job showing the perspectives of all parties involved in WWII and makes you feel like you were there.
4. Forest Gump (1994)
Forest Gump is probably my favorite feel-good movie out there. Life is like a box of chocolates.
3. V for Vendetta (2005)
V for Vendetta is an amazing film that shows just how powerful an idea can be.
2. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
This movie set up what is perhaps the best trilogy every created in my opinion. The visuals are spectacular, the acting is perfect and the plot always keeps you engaged.
1. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
The Shawshank Redemption is about as close to a perfect movie as possible. There is not a single scene in this movie that needs to be added or omitted.

I hope you enjoyed this list. If you have any thoughts about any movie on this list or feel a movie should have been added, please feel free to comment below.

Business Idea

Hi, this is Steve again. I have been trying to figure out what business to create online that doesn't cost me a dime to start up. And so far the only thing I have been able to think of is a website where I answer questions in areas that I am more familiar with than the average person. These areas would include; small business management and operation, pest control operation, and business ideas and concepts. I have had personal experience working with all of these areas and may have some personal insight to questions similar to these topics. If you have any questions, feel free to comment on this post or email me personally. My contact information is located on the contact page.

Some of my pet peeves

I have had a very difficult week coping with my new job, my new boss, and a few of my coworkers. I work for a mosquito abatement company. To make things worse, by boss and some of my coworkers have a tendency to do things that rattle my cage. AKA my pet peeves. None of these are all that annoying on their own, but together, they are like nails on a chalkboard. My biggest pet peeves at work are as fallows, in this order from least to most annoying.

• Leaving the keys in the ignition and leaving the door open so the truck never stops beeping
• Shutting off the truck with the windshield wipers in the up position
• Installing the toilet paper in the bathroom backwards
• When I ask my boss a question, she gives me a cryptic answer that can be interpreted 5 different ways 
• And finally when trucks cut me off at the water filling station

I just felt like sharing some completely useless information. Thanks for reading!

About Me

I am a 22 year old college student studying business. Throughout my life I have played numerous sports including; baseball for 9 years, basketball for 4 years, and soccer and football for one year. I no longer play for any sports for a team, but my friends and I still get together to play football, basketball and volleyball whenever we can. I have also played guitar, piano and the violin. I enjoy cooking as well. My specialties are grilled wings and rips, breakfast burritos, and kale soup. I have had 4 jobs in my life. In my first job I filed and organized job orders for an industrial vacuums business, in the second job I managed a mosquito abatement company, in my third job, i was a sales person for an auto parts store, and my most current job is a spray technician for a pest control company, very similar to my second job. As far as my education goes, I have always been a numbers guy which is part of the reason why I chose a major in business. I have one semester until I get to enter the real world, find a full time job, and ultimately completely support myself. Throughout my life I have moved more than a dozen times, gone to several different schools, and have befriended many types of people. So I am not too concerned about after college life as I am used to change and adapting to new situations. But with that being said, the business world is becoming more and more competitive every day and finding a good job may be difficult and secure career will be even more difficult to acquire.