protobytelabs

I love eating these little guys!!! Original Article

Sun, 08 Apr 2012 18:50:52 -0400

I love eating these little guys!!!

Religion

Sat, 31 Mar 2012 16:15:00 -0400

I saw these on a friend of mines facebook thread in a discussion about religion and thought I would they were very interesting!! One is about all the different religions and the other the names of all the different gods.

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Sustainable living communities

Sun, 18 Mar 2012 21:16:06 -0400

I have been thinking a lot about the current housing market and how home ownership is dwindling lately and trying to come up with a way to support home ownership in the current market. What I thought of is how families used to live together in mini societies situated around their farms. I am not advocating we all go buy mini farms and take our families to live, but what if we used the model for housing communities.

For example if we first built a sustainable condominium complex that was based on an energy efficient and energy independent model. Then we had a supply and demand type of payment system that works on a system like most supply and demand systems. The majority of the people work of course because they are applying for a house, but if money becomes tight then the community basically has projects people within the community can do to lower there payment. You might say what if everyone starts staying home to work on projects then going to work? Well like I said supply and demand kicks into effect and the demand for paying residents outweighs the jobs available or the benefits of working the jobs within the community. Since the benefit of working on community projects would then be less beneficial to the people working on those projects would then dwindle because they would be trying to find better uses of their time such as a second job or first job for some.

I am not saying I have it all figured out but its an idea I have been wanting to get down on paper (or blog) for some time. Community projects would include things like washing cloths, gardening, maintaining the grounds, maintaining the energy systems, cooking, or any other thing that could be useful to the community. Also if certain people have individual knowledge such as working on cars, banking, or maybe they are a dentist. The point is if people feel connected to the community around them and allow their talents to be used for the bettering of the small community around them then its possible a community could thrive in this type of setup.

If anyone has anything they could add or critique please feel free to do so.

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Photos of my room

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 18:12:00 -0400

I just finished with my room for the most part. After painting I got to bring up my couch and hang my photos on the wall!

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English Essay

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 13:12:00 -0400

Localized Energy for Everyone

The green energy revolution is a common phase most of us canât go a week without hearing at least half a dozen times, but yet its as if most everyday people do not give it a second thought. Most of use believe its the government or big businesses job to fix the energy crisis economically, and with a green thumb. Not thinking about what we can do ourselves to hop on the bandwagon besides recycling or possibly shopping locally. I am not saying that doing those things aren’t good, because they are, I am just saying that we as the consumers of the energy market should do more than wait around for a fix that will cost us in the long run. I suggest we as the consumers become the producers of our own energy and with whatever energy is left over line our own pockets with some of our own green. There are a few main ways we can go about cashing in on the green revolution such as passing legislation for tariffs that gives home energy producers a fair price for what they produce, installing energy producing technologies on our own property, and for those of use that dont own property start community based investments that put us in control of the power.

Passing legislation for feed-in tariffs here in the United States would in itself drive a portion of its citizens to producing their own power and possibly a little extra for the grid. A tariff would give the everyday citizen a fair market price for the excess power they produce, which in turn drives people to consume less power for the extra dollar they can get in their pocket by selling the energy that is left over. According to Peter Maloney in Environmentalists Against Solar Power âThe average residential retail rate in the United States is about 11 cents a kilowatt hour, according to the Department of Energyâ.(363) While to some that may sound like a lot when you start producing a lot of power it is actually around 5 times less then that of Germany according to that same article. One person producing power in there backyard isnt going to affect much, but if we can push legislation to level the playing field so it is actually paying to be green and produce our own power then we as a country can become more sustainable and eco-friendly.

Producing our own power isnât anything new and yet we act like its the newest fad to hit the market. People have been using windmills and dams for I donât know how long and to say its something new is like saying the wheel is. What I donât understand though is how we as a people gave up producing our own power to relying on big companies to produce it for us. Yes, I know that it is less work to just pay someone else monthly for something we all take for granted, but nowadays producing power at home can be less of a hassle then writing out the check to the local utility company. According to Marla Dickerson in State Solar Plans Are As Big As All Outdoors in her reference to the amount of land required to offset power for California alone she states âSolar plants require staggering amounts of land, which could threaten fragile ecosystems and mar the stark beauty of Americaâs deserts.(359) Why do we need to use vacant land and risk the environment when there is usually enough roof space on each house to support its energy needs? This question looms in some environmentalists mind and should linger in ours as well even though the answer seems somewhat simple. We shouldnt cave in to the big energy companies for power, but instead create our own.

You might of read this far and thought how can people living in apartments and condos, or people that dont have enough money for the expensive home power units of the day be expected to help out with the green energy demand. The answer is through community invested power plants, where the community invests money to build green energy producing power plants that pay them back over time. The idea has been proven in Samso, a Danish island, that curbed their energy dependence over a 10 year period ,according to Elizabeth Kolbert in The Island in the Wind. (357) Speaking on the turbines that Samso has as a collective Elizabeth says At least 450 island residents own shares in the onshore turbines, and a roughly equal number own shares to those off shores. Shareholders, who also include many nonresidents, receive an annual dividend check based on the prevailing price of electricity and how much their turbine has generated.â(352) That type of community involvement is the type we could incorporate all over the United States and with the economy down as much as it has been energy is most likely the best sector to invest in. When we have an active role in investing in our own communities then being green can not only be rewarding but also fun.

Even though I would love to see legislation for tariffs to be put in place, energy being created by the everyday citizen, and community invested power plants to take a major hold here in America the important thing is we work towards green energy as a nation of individuals instead of as a nation of big business. According to Laurence Behrens and Leonard J. Rosen in Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum As of 2007 according to the U.S. Department of Energys EIA, only about 7 percent of the nations energy consumption was being generated from renewable sources(280-281) Which to me means we need to learn to supplement our own power needs and if we each do our part then becoming green will be a quick and easy task instead of a major undertaking. Green energy is here to stay and we as individuals should take pride in paving the road it leads to our future without the middle man(energy companies) in the way to over charge us and ruin what little ecosystems we have left. We have plenty of green initiatives on the table and all we need to do is figure which one is best for us individually and push ourselves in that direction.

Sources

Writing and Reading across the Curriculum. Boston: Longman, 2011. Print.

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Voting on the issues

Sun, 11 Mar 2012 22:34:09 -0400

I know I did a post not long ago about my issues with the general public voting and I believe after thinking it over for a few weeks in the back of my head that I might have a better way to allow everyone to vote. What if instead of voting on a candidate we just voted on issues. For example if the candidates got a ballet with all the top issues at hand and marked for or against those issues then the public could do the same. Whoever the public matched up with on the greatest percentage would win the election. This to me would be better then the system we have now, because it forces people to think about what they are voting on instead of just who. Since no one can vote party or any other biased way then they have to vote based on there opinions of the issues.

Even though everyone opinion isn’t educated it would make most people stop and think about the issues and do a little research before they go to the voting booth or at least one would hope so. I also think that all the money spent in elections and raised in them could be put to an end by this method since it would make for a better government if corporations took there hand out of the cookie jar. Again this is solely my opinion and I would even say I have a lot to learn as far as how everything runs in politics.

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My Son!!

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 08:52:00 -0500

For those of you that might not of known I had a son or didn’t know what he looked like well heres a few older photos of him . I don’t get to see him very often since he lives with his mom, but I think of him alot and hope one day after I graduate and get a good job maybe I can be the father I would like to be. Anyways its a touchy subject for me, but I thought I could at least share some photos.

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Update!!

Sun, 26 Feb 2012 19:19:18 -0500

This is just a small update so you guys know what I am working on and also to keep me on track working on them.

Protobytelabs.com- The site as you can tell hasn’t changed too much except for some grammatical errors and the headings on the right of the blog page are no longer pencils. Hopefully soon I can make the blog look more like the rest of the site so the transition will look a little better. Also I am hoping to start doing some more interesting posts, change the heading to a better logo, and also going to change the banner/about me page. Also if someone has any ideas like always get with me and let me know.
College- Lately I have been procrastinating a little too much and I am working on getting a handle on it. I know I have a 4.0 in History and Speech, but I am not sure what my grades are in English, Chemistry, and Chemistry Lab. I believe they are pretty good but at the moment I am unsure.
Life- Right now life pretty much seems like a drag to be honest, but things might be looking up as I am supposed to go look at an apartment on Tuesday across from campus. I really hope they allow me to rent out the room from them as it will be nice to have somewhere to relax. I will most likely have to get a job if I get the room, but that won’t bother me too much. Oh and I got a new tattoo Friday night.
Feminists for Progress website is a work in progress. The main thing with this one is having a little bit of help and getting access to campus computers.

I believe that is all I have to update you guys on. Or maybe its just all I need to write down so I don’t feel as bogged down. ;)

Original Article

The Top 5 Myths About God?

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 10:05:40 -0500

So I am sitting here in the Humanities building at South waiting on a lecture on the top 5 myths about god by the South Alabama Muslim Student Association. Considering I don’t believe in god or gods I thought it might be an interesting lecture to see what all could be a myth about something or someone that in my opinion is a myth to begin with. (Lol they brought up how the atheist’s talk to them when they have a table out front.)

Myth #1 There is no creator and there is no god. It isn’t possible to come out of nothing is their argument for their being a god.

Argument against Myth #1 This is like arguing with a rock. They believe in a god that they say has always been and wasn’t ever created but it is harder for them to believe in evolution that can be proven. If its impossible to come from nothing then where did god come from? I asked them the question “Isn’t it just as easy to believe we came from nothing as that god came from nothing” Their answer ” god didn’t come from nothing he has always been”.

Myth#2 There has to be a creator but there is no purpose for us being created. They are referring to the Koran for their facts just so you guys knows. They say if you believe a god made us without a purpose he would be stupid and god isn’t stupid.

Argument against myth #2 Of course first one has to believe their is a god to believe that god made us without a purpose, but to me making us just so he can have people worship him/her is kind of stupid too. Why would someone all powerful and that can make the whole universe make us a speck on a little planet just so we can worship him one day.

Myth#3 God became a man. Stems from the myth that Jesus was god in the flesh. They believe in basically everything about Jesus but that he was god. Jesus is mentioned more in the Koran than Muhammad and they believe that Mary was the greatest woman that ever lived. They ask “Did Jesus pray?, then who did he pray to, and finally why did he pray. Why would be pray to himself? They overstated how god can’t be Jesus and how he cannot of been born from a woman.

Argument against Myth#3 They had some pretty convincing reasons of why Jesus couldn’t of been god or even the son of god. Didn’t have any argument there, but did find their argument interesting.

Myth#4 God begot a son. They say he couldn’t have a son if there wasn’t anyone besides god in existence besides what he created.

Argument against myth#4 No argument here ether. They basically went on to say god was the one and only and that he had no other god or goddess with him. Also stated that god wasn’t anything like us and so he is neither male nor female.

Myth#5 God rested on the 7th day of creation. If god has to rest then he isn’t perfect. God has no defects or deficiencies.

Argument against myth #5 I actually thought it strange that they even thought to bring this up but it was interesting anyways and made a lot of sense from a logical standpoint.

That was the basic overview of the lecture and only one or two people screamed stuff out, which was kind of funny. I was intrigued with their arguments and the free pizza was very good. Also they made a good case of how the bible was a good book but could be discredited by the new testament. Something along the line of how the books of the new testament were written in a different country, and different language then that of Jesus or his disciples and that the oldest record we have of it is like a century after the time period. The lecture in my opinion was good and enjoyable.

Original Article

Knitting a hat!!

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 18:00:00 -0500

So the other day when I was at the thrift store I saw a bunch of yarn and thought what a waste it would be to get thrown out. The thrift store I go to is Goodwill on Airport Blvd. and its like the last stop before everything gets thrown out from the other goodwill stores. Everything is super cheap for the most part and since you pay for stuff like yarn by the pound I decided to get it. I think I paid a dollar for like 8 packs of yarn (sorry don’t know what you call a pack of yarn) and was wondering when I got to the car what to do with it. So of course I went to the craft store to get some ideas and found a book that showed you how to make toboggan hats. The book cost like 20 dollars and so I sat there and read a little about how to do it, but I couldn’t figure it out by the jargon they use. After a little while I found a set of knitting looms for pretty cheap and after looking over the instructions I decided to get them. So the picture above is my first toboggan hat. Yes, I know its a little small but I made it for a friend of mines daughter and I think its super cute.

Original Article

Castle Building

Sat, 18 Feb 2012 15:57:17 -0500

This is a series of writings I did not long ago on building my castle. Some of you might of read the one as I posted it on facebook a couple of weeks ago. If anyone know hows to put them into proper format I would be grateful for the help as I am not the best at writing (even though I wish I was or even would love to consider myself one). Also if anyone wants to make their own I would love to hear it and post it here as well. I believe we all have a story to tell of the hurts, pains, and of course good times in our lives. I hope you guys enjoy them as I actually want to maybe publish them in the University publication if I can tweak them enough and of course put them into proper format. As many of you already know (or are finding out) I have numerous hobbies and I also have numerous goals for myself as well such as being published. I don’t mean in a major author kind of way ether (I don’t ever set my goals that high) butÂ being published in the school publication would be plenty to me. Anyways enjoy!!

Where can I cry when I am all alone, but in my castle built of stone.
You might wonder how I built my castle well let me tell you so. It started when I was younger, a boy many years ago. I had a problem with my speech that wasn’t really bad, except the kids that were around me laughed like It was the fad. I built my wall with all the stone and rocks that I could find. I built a wall around myself, so I was safe behind. I thought I was safe from everything but little did I know, the death of my dear papa would land a deadly blow. Afterwards my ground began to shake, so I built a firm foundation because that’s all my heart could take. The next was a little tragic as it involved lot of kissing, but in the end I think my heart had quiet a few pieces missing. So I began to build my castle with lots and lots of doors, I connected the rooms with a mile of crazy looking corridors. Shattering my sanity came a year or two of regret, so I built a dungeon to house it and soon forget. Loneliness was the next awful cry, so I built me a keep way up in the sky. With the keep I could see beyond my walls, but was just as safe with a view of all. Little did I know their was more still to come, a semester in college living as a bum. Being in a slump I about gave in, until I picked up a book and I started to grin. Inspiration stuck me would you look at that, I built me a library and that is where I sat. The books allow me to travel to far away lands, so not only am I not stuck here my minds allowed to expand.

When I was a boy I used to get picked on. So I started building up walls to defend against the attacks. As I got older and experienced loss, I built me a firm foundation to keep me grounded. Then came love, which made me fortify the interior with a maze of rooms, corridors, and more walls, because I thought if my heart couldn’t be found it couldn’t be hurt. Next came loneliness which made me build a tall keep, so that I might be able to see out of my castle but not be vulnerable to attacks. After loneliness came regrets, so I built a dungeon deep under my foundation to keep them locked up. Finally came inspiration and so I built a library fit for kings and that is where I now reside. Books have made all the difference inside my castle walls as they allow me to travel outside my castle without being harmed. So within my castle I can travel daily to the far corners of the earth and at times beyond that. Now that is a castle built for a king or at least a kings heart.

Original Article

Should votes be educated?

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 20:55:43 -0500

Today in my Chemistry class we had to take a vote on whether or not to use a hardback textbook or softback. Our teacher I must say was pretty strict about us answering the question with out much debate. His basic question was would you rather have a hardback that costs 220 new or a book that goes in a ring binder for 110. Now looking at the question for its face value one would say 110, but that’s without any logical reasoning. He did say that the Chemistry dept. was looking at a proposal for the ring binder textbooks for next semester and he wanted our votes. Below is a list of questions that no one seemed to think about because the vote was 10 (for the traditional book) to 50 (for the ring binder book).

Everyone already has the book and if they decide to switch now no one will get to get their money back for books unless they sell online, since the school won’t buy them back.
If someone has to take the next Chemistry level which uses the same book they will have to buy the ring binder one for another 110 dollars, because it comes with its own online homework.
The ring binder books wont even be sellable afterwards which means no money back after the semester. One might say well for 220 dollars you loose 110 any ways, but if you pay 220 for a book when you can get a used one for 110 online your not very bright anyways. Plus when you get done with the one you buy online you can easily recoup at least some of the cash.

It looks to me like they are trying to make more money at the book store with custom textbook applications that has no resale potential then to actually save the student any money.

I give the example, because that was a perfect example of how politics work. The majority of people put no thought into what they are voting on most of the time. People vote looking at it from the freshly painted outside that looks inviting, when instead they should be pulling back the layers. I would even go as far as to say most people look at voting from who they think looks better on TV or maybe because the candidate is for one thing they think is important without knowing that the person is against the majority of what they actually believe.

I know most people would say we have come a long way in allowing everyone to vote, but should everyone be able to? We wouldn’t want the hospitals to hold a vote on the proper technique to perform a surgery. Nor would we vote on anything else that seems to be important to us in our day to day lives. You might think the example about the surgery to be extreme but do you want people to actually vote on someone based on color, religion, party, or anything else because they are too lazy or busy to actually put in the time and research to make an educated vote. Most would say its their right to vote that way and of course it is but why?

Did you know if someone is called into a court room for jury duty for someone killing a child for example and they happen to work at a daycare their offenders lawyer can have them replaced because they would have a biased opinion? We wont allow a potential murderer to have a biased jury, but we will allow the country to be voted on in such a way that if you don’t know the difference in one candidate or another your given a voter card. If you have a pretty smile, enough money, and can say a good speech you could be the next president in our society.

I am not sure how a country should do its voting, but just allowing the mass public to vote to me isn’t the way to go. If anyone has an opinion for our against this rant just leave me a comment or ask me for lunch as I would like some other views. Thanks

Original Article

History Timeline

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 20:35:09 -0500

I put together a little History timeline for the first part of the 11th chapter in my Western Civilization 102 class along with links to a couple of Khan Academy videos for you guys to enjoy. If you enjoy the timeline and want to see more web enabled study guides please comment below. If some of you guys have some ideas for the guides or want to help out with them ,since they will help you with your own studying, feel free to let me know that as well. I will Hopefully have another one up within a day or two for Napoleon and I will mix it up and do it differently to make it more fun and to find the best style.

Timeline

Also if anyone has any textbooks the campus wont buy back because to them they are outdated and you want to help someone out that dosn’t have the funds to spend big bucks for the new editions every year let me know. Newer books are ok if you just want to give them away. I am working on a site (hopefully be up by the end of the semester) to offer to rent these books really cheap to the students here at South. Its a project that will only be able to run off of donations and the generosity of the students. The money made will only be used for the addition of more books, storage of said books, and to run the site. Thanks ;)

Original Article

Welcome to my new site

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 15:46:01 -0500

After a long hard week of classes and two exams I still managed to finish my website! There is still a lot left to do, but for the most part it is a finished product. If anyone finds a broken link or possibly have an idea for me to improve upon something I am all ears. I am by no means a “professional” web designer, but I do learn fast and would love the feedback. I will post what changes I plan on doing in the next post. Below is an update to my other projects:

I am still trying to decide upon a website name for my online textbook store. If you have any ideas just let me know. I believe I have a theme picked out since it is quicker to use a theme and mold it to fit your needs over time then to build a whole site from scratch(at least in my opinion since I am still learning).

Other than that I am going to try and start on a project for the study guide site. I am looking to basically do a timeline with information for my History Western Civilization class as a start. So wish me luck on that one as I am going to be working with code I haven’t ever used.

I haven’t heard anything from any of the feminists as far as if they want me to host the site on my hosting account or the schools. Even though I would prefer to host it on my own, because it would be less of a hassle, I totally understand why they would want to host the site on the schools resources. So as soon as I hear from them I will get to work on that one as well.

I guess that is it for this post. If anyone has any ideas, suggestions, or maybe needs some help with something they would like to do just shoot me a line or two and I will get back with you as soon as I can. Thanks

Original Article