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Batteries Included - A Future Of Green Silence

Often people are surprised by the fact that the earliest powered vehicles were actually driven by electricity, not oil based fuels, and that the idea of electric vehicles today is anything but a new idea. In fact, it was back in the 1830s that a man named Robert Anderson created an electric carriage, whilst over in the Netherlands at the same time similar projects were also underway. These early electric vehicles managed to achieve speeds of just over 65 miles per hour, which would be considered fairly impressive even by today’s standards, but was far in excess of the achievements of the gas powered vehicles of that era.

Today the average person may still think of electric cars as being either a very new idea which may or may not catch on, or imagine that all electric cars are like milk floats or golf carts - rickety old vehicles which are so slow that the average child on a scooter can beat them into town. However, with cars like the Tesla Roadster overtaking a Mercedes SL550 with comfort, and leaving the poor old gas guzzling Ferrari Spider standing at the lights wondering what happened, popular opinion and understanding is changing. With a top speed of 130 miles per hour and a round trip of 250 miles easily manageable on a three hour charge, this is hardly a golf cart.

It isn’t just the fact that these electric vehicles produce lower gas emissions, they also produce far less noise pollution too - an often forgotten element of our gas powered vehicles. Some people who have lid comfortably into the driving seat of a sport electric car are shocked by the lack of noise, vibration and raw growl - and it has jokingly been suggested that speakers be installed in some of these models to simulate the growl of a familiar engine. On the flip side of the coin, some people have expressed concern that with almost silent cars nipping around town, there may be an increase in the number of children and elderly people injured on the roads, since the familiar clues of oncoming traffic will no longer be available.

As far as the consumer is concerned, there has to be an advantage - having a clean conscience and knowing that you are doing your bit to help create a greener environment is certainly one of them, but there also need to be advantages in the pocket too. There are many of these, and in the UK for example, by splashing out under five thousand pounds you can obtain a nippy little G-Wiz, which can be parked anywhere in London for free, (itself a saving of over 5,00 - paying for the car in just one year), and there is also no road tax to pay. Not only that, but the car is rated as being in the lowest category for insurance, without losing out on performance. The advantages really are very clear, and financially it makes far more sense than an equivalent gas powered vehicle.

On a larger scale, Israel has launched a scheme called Project Better Place and it is the intention of this scheme to make Israel completely oil free within just ten years. With half a million re-charging points across the country, and with top distances for vehicles between charges reaching two hundred kilometres - easily enough to travel from any point of Israel to any other within the country, this is a practical reality. The model being put forward is not unlike that for mobile phones, with the suggestion that the vehicles are given away free, and that instead of paying for fuel and tax in the normal way, drivers can choose various plans, such as pay-as-you-go options for recharging costs, to buying credit for unlimited mileage for a certain period of time, and so on.

As with any major change to long established consumer habits, there has to be enough demand to make the whole idea of replacing gas powered vehicles with electric ones, otherwise the finance is simply not going to be sufficient to enable change on any real scale. Most people are now aware that milk floats are not the be all and end all to such vehicles, and with films such as Minority Report showing Tom cruise tearing up the road in a sporty little electric Lexus, many people are starting to see that there are multiple advantages to the idea of switching over, and that there is no need whatever to sacrifice style for efficiency or even for the environment.

Many people are worried that, rather than saving fossil fuel from being burned, we are in danger of either using even more, or simply shifting emphasis and focus from the world outside our front doors to the distant and easily ignored world of the power plants. Electric cars still need to be re-charged, and this power needs to come from somewhere. With most of our electricity being generated from the burning of fossil fuels, there’s no long term advantage. This argument is not true however, and with power plants increasingly trying to source energy from renewable means, and with electric cars using the energy produced in a much more efficient way, the overall consumption of fossil fuel will be dramatically reduced.

Perhaps it is becoming increasingly easy to picture a world in which we can glide around quietly and serenely, with no smog or fumes choking our streets, no noise roaring through our urban spaces, and no need for concern when stuck in traffic that fuel is being wasted. Although fears have been raised that when we all return home for work and plug our cars in for the night we’ll overload the mains grid, these too have been quashed, with energy companies pointing out that only a fraction of capacity is reached at night, and with all of us switching to electric cars the overall need for energy will be massively reduced. Perhaps we can even envisage a day when our cars are recharged from the energy our own solar panel roofs collect through the day whilst we are at work - a recipe for a virtually clear conscience.

July 18th, 2008 Posted by Stuart Russell | Reference & Education | no comments

One Simple Change That Will Double Your School Fundraiser

Education in schools has taken on a broader meaning than I remember it. Today there are a variety of events and activities that students have available to them outside of the classroom that add to their education. These things usually cost money. With cuts in school budgets, principals and PTA / PTO organizations have to turn to fundraising in order to raise the money needed for them.

It is fundraising that many consider to be like the “third rail” on a subway system. It is either viewed as the power source to make things go or it is viewed as the thing everyone wants to stay away from. However, a properly run fundraiser is a blessing for all. There really is no reason why teachers, volunteers, students, parents and the community should dread the start of the school fundraising drive. If the product is right, the incentives are worthwhile, the rewards will be enjoyed by all.

Fundraisers that are view negatively are usually ones that are done for just a small segment of the school. For instance, if you are having a school wide fundraiser that most of the money raised is used for the 5th grade field trip, 80% of the school is being left out. Unless something is done to make it worth their while, you’ll have allot of unhappy kids and parents.

Sometimes you just have to wonder why it is that some schools will have huge sales and other schools in similar neighborhoods and similar size student bodies will have average results. They can even be selling the same fundraising goods, but their results will be miles apart. The answer to that question is not something that is readily apparent. It’s not the product or the neighborhood, it’s “How’ they run their sale that makes the most difference in the outcome.

An example of this fact is Raymond Case Elementary in Sacramento, California. They have over 800 students and had never had a sale over $27,000. Last year, by making a change in the way they ran their sale they had over $52,000 in sales! All they did was change the way they did their fundraiser from all the years before. It wasn’t the product and they didn’t suddenly have a bunch of rich people move into their neighborhood. They just made a simple change in “How” they went about their fundraiser.

One added benefit of the change was that because they had more people “into” the fundraiser, they cured their problem of not having enough volunteers. They even had teachers pitching in and helping on delivery day! That had never happened before.

All this came about because they chose to run their sale differently than they had run it before. What they discovered is that by making a change in the why they thought about their fundraiser and by running the sale with this different philosophy in mind, they were able to get more of what they wanted.

July 17th, 2008 Posted by Daniel Hatcher | Reference & Education | no comments

Avoiding the Scholarship Con Artists

Despite all of the stories to the contrary, there are probably numerous honest people selling used cars. The same can’t be said about people who claim to be able to help families, for a fee, increase the amount of college financial aid they will receive.

Estimates vary, but it seems likely that these crooks…and that is an appropriate word…collect in excess of $100 million annually from unsuspecting families.

Because college costs scare nearly all of us, and because many people do not realize that there is money available to help them send their children to college, these scammers have found it very easy to find and exploit their victims.

It all starts with a letter from a company with a name that makes it sound like a benign organization whose mission is to assist students and their families.

The letter often looks like it comes from a top college or university. Thats not an accident. The font, the grade of paper, and the logo are chosen by the scammers to give the letter an academic look. Its junk mail alright, and its far more malicious than most, but thats not what it looks like. As a result, instead of throwing the letter away, many families open it. Thats mistake number one.

The letters almost always begin by frightening families about the high cost of college.

Once they have stated the problem…paying for college…they assure you they can provide the solution. They may offer to “teach you the secrets of financial aid”, “locate millions of dollars in unused scholarships”, or otherwise help you take advantage of their special expertise.

The letters are not always the same, but one element is. They invite you to come to a hotel function room or other reasonably large venue to learn more about financial aid and scholarships, at no cost. Sounds like a no-brainer, right? If you think so, think again.

The meetings are run by well- practiced pitchmen who tell families they have the special knowledge and experience required to shake the most money off of the financial aid and scholarship trees. In reality, they want to sell you services and help which are readily…that’s right, readily… available elsewhere. At no cost.

The group pitch is followed by individual meetings during which families are pressured to immediately pay for the services offered. Many yield to the pressure, writing checks in excess of $1,000 for a worthless set of services.

Don’t be the victim of financial aid con men (and women). There are lots of good websites offering free scholarship searches and financial aid advice. And, high school counselors and college financial aid counselors will gladly give you advice and answer your questions. There is no need to turn elsewhere.

July 17th, 2008 Posted by Daniel Kane | Reference & Education | no comments

Everything you Need to Know About Interior Design

You may already be aware that you have a talent, and might like to put it to good use. If you have a talent for interior design then you could turn it into a business. You might soon get bored of designing your own home and your friends home.

However to start a business and learn more about interior design you need to know more about interior design. You can get education so that you know everything that there is to know on the subject. Education from an accredited design school is very important as any other education may be undervalued by employers. The correct education will help to get you the clients you so badly need in order to make your business successful.

Many people ask me what they will actually learn at an accredited interior design school, well let?s take a lot.

You don?t just learn about the colors of walls and curtains but you will also get lots of very useful information to get your business off to a good start. Every successful interior designer needs to know this. A flare for design simply isn?t good enough when it comes to creating a business out of your passion. In order for your business to survive you need the important knowledge that every other interior design firm knows. Even if you do everything to the highest quality you will still have some difficult customers who are a pain.

Some things which are not commonly thought of is the use of lighting in your home or office space. You need to design this depending on the location of the windows and how much light they let in. Interior design schools will cover all of the basics to help you find out how much light the room will get during the morning and in the evening.

After you Graduate

Once you have finished studying and graduated you can get your hands on your degree. As soon as you have this you can decide to work with a firm, or on your own and start your own business. You might not know what to expect when you are starting your own interior design business, school is great but it cannot teach you everything that you need to know. Starting a business can be a challenging process, but if you spend time to do it properly then there is no reason that this won?t be a huge success.

The best thing about being in this industry is that the need for these interior design services is only going to increase when people rely more heavily on the services of interior design firms. Interior design firms can make over houses, offices and even shops, all of these people will need interior designers with degrees. The demand for qualified interior designers is only going to grow over time. In the near future there will be many more clients that are desperate for your services.

July 17th, 2008 Posted by Guy Morris | Reference & Education | no comments

Chromatography: Cracking Real World Mysteries

Solving mysteries has always intrigued human beings. We love mystery novels and crime dramas because we want to uncover who the culprit is. In real life, advances in science also deal with unraveling a mystery. Instead of private investigators, processes like chromatography typically solve real-world mysteries.

Chromatography is a technique that helps scientists, law enforcement, and even schools and companies verify the composition of a particular sample. Basically, scientists need a way to separate organic from inorganic compounds. The word itself means ?color writing? and the method was developed in the initial part of the twentieth century. But since the 1950?s, chromatography has rapidly developed as an important tool for the tricky job of analyzing materials and samples of unknown mixtures.

Although many different laboratory techniques fall under the general heading of chromatography, they all share the common procedure of separating mixtures. A solvent carries the mixture to be studied through some kind of stationary material. As the mixture passes through the material, the analyte-the substance that needs to be identified-is separated and can be identified.

There are several different types of chromatography that have a wide range of uses. Liquid Chromatography can be used to check water for pollution levels, while Gas Chromatography is used to test materials as varied as fibers or determine the presence of bombs at an airport. Thin-layer Chromatography provides a quick way to determine if foods contain insecticides or pesticides. Although these examples are all quite a bit different, the process is the same. A mixture is broken down, and by other chemicals and processes, unknown elements in the mixture are identified.

Chromatography is a tool that we have developed to answer difficult questions involving health and public safety. Through the use of controlled chemical interactions and reactions, chromatography helps us get to the bottom of things.

July 16th, 2008 Posted by Fabian Toulouse | Reference & Education | no comments