Tuesday, May 3, 2016

College vs. High School: Which one is harder

Being close to completing my second semester of college, I begun to compare college and high school, and have noticed that they are very different but in a surprising way. For starts college is a lot easier than I expected. Sure you get a good amount of papers to write but you don't get homework everyday , and if you do, then its due in two days. In high school you have homework every single night and its always due the next day. Another thing that i found to be interesting is that both college and high school are both stressful,but in different ways. In high school I was freaking out about my grades, getting work done on time, and AP Tests. In college I feel i have more time to worry about school so school work is not as stressful but what is stressful is the whole financial aspect of college. Applying for FAFSA and filling out all the paper work for every semester and trying to figure out what the financial offices still need has given me such a headache that no amount of ibuprofen will help. In the end i'm glad i'm in college because I do feel less stressed out than I was in high school

Monday, May 2, 2016

How to properly buy a used car

Buying a car is always a fun, exciting, and stressful experience, and buying a used car is a great way to save a ton of money. Sometimes you stumble upon a gem, but other times you might end up with a lemon. There are a lot of things you can do to ensure your new used car is not a lemon.
First thing that you want to do is when you finally decide on what car you want it is wise to check the forums for that vehicle to see what problems the owners of these vehicles are reporting. There are also websites like carcomplaints.com that will show you a list of the most common issues reported to the site by owners.
Second, if you dont know a lot about cars, bring a friend along with you that does, so that maybe they can notice some problems with the vehicle you are looking at. If you do not have any friends who are mechanics you can usually have the seller take the car to a mechanic and have it checked. These types of check ups usually cost around $150, but they will save you from repairs or give you a peace of mind when you drive your car home.
Third is make sure the owner of the vehicle has taken car of the car. Check and make sure the car is clean, has a service record, or check to see if the car has ever been in a wreck. you can check to see if a car has had an accident my opening the trunk or the hood and looking for paint abnormalities along the body of the car.
If you use these three tips you should be able to make a good informed purchase and hopefully enjoy your new ride.

Sunday, May 1, 2016

Tesla's autopilot is saving lives

Recently at a talk in Norway, Tesla's CEO Elon Musk stated that "The probability of having an accident is 50% lower if you have autopilot on". Now it is simple to understand why autopilot would be safer and that is without humans you do not have human error. Tesla's Autopilot, even in its early from, still helps keep drivers safe from their own mistakes. In autopilot mode if a driver wants to switch lanes the car will not let them if there is another vehicle in the opposite lane. I do not have enough fingers to count the amount of times when someone has almost crashed in to me when they are switching lanes and forget to check their blind spots. Another thing about the autopilot is that it will always maintain a safe following distance, which means that if someone suddenly decides to slam on their brakes the system will apply the breaks before the driver even realizes what is going on. It will be interesting to see how far Tesla's autopilot technology can go and it will certainly be good to see how many crashes it has prevented.

Saturday, April 30, 2016

Gumball 3000

Gumball 3000 sounds like a name for some kind of a crazy gumball machine but in reality its is actually a really cool event. Gumball 3000 is a car rally where multiple celebrities and car enthusiasts participate in a roughly 3000 mile long rally. This year they are travelling from Dublin, Ireland to Bucharest, Romania. Any one can participate in the rally, as long as they pay the entrance fee, which this year was set at £35,000. Many different celebrities participate in this yearly event like the Deadmau5, David Hasselhoff, Tony Hawk, Snoop Dogg, and even some race car drivers life Ken Block and F1 driver Kimi Räikkönen. The point of the event is to try and get to the end destination first, and this is where people have a lot of problems with this event. Many drivers are pulled over and given tickets, some have their license suspended, others even have their cars impounded. Overall it is a really great event that in the end raises money to help underprivelaged kids. It will definitely be exciting to see who wins this years rally.

Friday, April 29, 2016

People need to learn how to protest

We have seen it numerous times, people upset with their government so they take to the streets to voice their opinions. Now this is a good thing, showing your government that you are not happy with they way things are being run, but when i becomes a problem is when things begin to get violent. We have seen it more and more, "protesters" going to events or out on the street and destroying everyone's property. Most recently these types of protests have been happening at Donald Trump rallies and after police involved shootings. What people need to learn is that by destroying cop cars and shutting down entire events like, Trumps speech in Chicago, or destroying your city, like Ferguson Missouri, does not help you get your point across.  There is a difference between protesting and rioting and people need to learn that difference.

The Hennessey Venom GT: the car that wants to kill you

Most people have probably never heard of Hennessey let alone the Venom GT. Well Hennessey is a small tuner company created by John Hennessey. His company has grown significantly over the years and now is able to offer tuning packages for people who buy powerful cars and don't think they have enough power. Now the Venom GT. The Venom GT is one of Hennessey's own production cars. It is based on the Lotus Exige chassis but, unlike the Lotus, the Venom GT has a 7.0L twin turbo V8 for a heart. This V8 will put out 1200hp. Now this sounds crazy enough but when you consider the fact that the car has a curb weight of 1200kg you begin to see how ridicuolos this ca really is. The Venom GT comes with a six-speed manual transmission, no ABS, and no traction control. This makes this very powerful and light car an absolute nightmare to drive. Many people who have reviewed the Venom GT feared for their lives when driving the car. John Hennessey was interviewed as part of a review of the Venom for /Drive, a popular car YouTube channel. Mr. Hennessey said in the interview said that every time he drive a Venom GT it thrills him and it scares him. Matt Farah, a popular car journalist, described the Venom GT as the I-want-to-scare-myself-every-time-I-get-in-it car. The Venom GT is probably the scariest car to come onto the market in a very long time. Too bad only a select few will be able to drive it considering the car has a price tag of over a million dollars.

Thursday, April 28, 2016

Why Dodge is the cool company

Dodge is not known for its reliability, like Honda. Dodge is also not known for its luxury, like Mercedes. But what Dodge is known for is the Hellcat, a 6.2L supercharged HEMI V8 that produces a crazy 707hp all for a reasonable price. That is not the only reason why Dodge is a cool company. While its competitors decide to take their muscle cars and turn them into sports cars, Dodge has stayed true to what makes a muscle car a muscle car in every aspect. From the engine, to the looks, to the way it drives Dodge has been able to capture the spirit of the classic muscle car in a new modern way. But this is still not the reason why Dodge is the coolest. The reason Dodge is the cool company is because they listen to their consumers more than anyone. For example Dodge heard people talking about how they wanted a Jeep Grand Cherokee Hellcat and so Dodge is know in the works of making that happen. Now is this a great move in terms of sales? Not really, these will probably be a rare sight on the road. Dodge seems to have that screw-it-lets-do-something-awesome mentality and that's why I think Dodge is one of the coolest companies out there.

Celebrating Ferruccio Lamborghini's 100th Birthday

On this day in 1916, Ferruccio Lamborghini was born. He passed away in 1993 but the legacy he has left behind still impacts us today. The cars he helped create are still some of the best performing vehicle on the road today. the history of his great company, that he created way back in 1963, continues to be one of the most recognizable in the world. The company was created in 1963 in a bit of a funny way. In the 60's Lamborghini had already become a very successful man through his tractor business. He owned multiple high end cars including some Ferrari's. There is a story that floats around that one day Lamborghini became upset with the clutch in his Ferrari and drove over to Enzo Ferrari's office to show him how poor of a quality his cars were. When he arrived apparently Ferrari just waved him away because he had no time for a tractor man. Ferruccio believed that he could do anything Ferrari had done, but better. Thus one of the greatest car rivalries was formed and what came out of this rivalry was two companies trying to out do the other and create amazing cars. So thank you Mr. Lamborghini and Happy Birthday!

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Is it possible to drive a car with zero emmisions?

This is a question that i actually thought about and answered in my recent research paper. To answer this question you have to throw out any car with a gas engine.the only cars you are left with are electric vehicles. now electric vehicles don't produce emissions directly from the car but produce emissions through using energy that was created by burning fossil fuels. The only way that you can drive a car with no emissions is to charge your electric vehicle using energy that was generated by green methods. These methods include things like solar energy and geothermal energy. So is it possible? Yes, but its going to cost you a lot of money.

Why Lamborghini is my favorite super car company?

Lamborghini has always produced amazing looking cars. They have also always backed these amazing looks with amazing performance. What i appreciate most about Lamborghini is that they have stayed true to what they always were. Ferrari began to downsize its engines recently moving towards smaller displacement turbo charged engines. Lamborghini on the other hand decided to stick with the great sound naturally aspirated V10 that powers some of the beasts in its line up. Lamborghini has not bowed down to the increasingly harder emissions that they have to meet. That's why i like Lamborghini the most its because they decided not to take the easy way out like Ferrari did.

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Volvo's top 3 coolest (in my opinion) safety features

Volvo has always been a brand with safety as a number one priority. The amount of memes comparing Volvo's to tanks and trains is endless. No one really thinks of safety as being cool but Volvo has made some really interesting inventions that will ensure you will make it out of any trouble you happen to find yourself in.

1. RUN OFF ROAD PROTECTION- the run off road protection that is offered on the new XC90 is a really cool system that is designed to protect passengers when they are driving fatigued or tired. The system has a lane keep assist making sure the driver stays in his lane. If the driver begins to fall asleep the car will alert the driver and also show directions to the nearest rest stop. If these systems manage to fail the new XC90 can sense when the driver leaves the road and will tighten the seat belts holding the passengers in their seats. Volvo also added energy absorbing materials to the seat frame which well help reduce spinal injuries.

2. PRE -CRASH PROTECTION IN REAR IMPACTS- Volvo knows that it is hard to see a crash coming, especially one in the back. Volvo, with its use of cameras and sensors around the car, have made a system that could potentially decrease the damage done to passengers when the car is hit in the rear. When the car senses an impending collision it will automatically tighten the seat belts, apply the brakes, and begin to flash the hazard lights.

3. PEDESTRIAN AIRBAG- This is a bit of an older system that was introduced in 2012. What the system does is if a pedestrian does not look both ways and is struck by a Volvo the car will release airbags to protect the unlucky pedestrian. This system works by having airbags inside the A-pillar of the car and when the car realizes that it has hit a pedestrian and not a vehicle it will deploy the airbags on the outside.This is a really great system that can save many lives

Monday, April 25, 2016

What the Focus RS means for the competition

Ford has released its newest performance car: the Focus RS. The Focus RS is a new hatchback from Ford  that has a very powerful 350hp 2.3l turbo charged 4-cylinder. Ford has used Ken Block, a successful drifter and rally racer, to help design and tune the cars suspension and drive ability. The Focus RS, unlike it ST brother, is 4wd which means it is competing in a very small segment. With the Mitsubishi Evolution dead, the Focus' only competition is the Subaru WRX STI. The STI loses to the ford in power, fuel economy, and interior design.  A new Focus RS will cost you $35,900 while the STI will set you back $34,695. So for customers looking for cars in this segment they can either choose the STI or pay an extra $400 and receive an extra 45hp, 2 more MPG, and have a more comfy interior. Subaru has been using the same engine in the STI for a long time and now with Ford ready to steal all of their customers, I think we will be seeing a more powerful STI coming very soon. Now this is a win-win for everyone because we will be getting a newer STI (finally) and we get the new and proven Ford Focus RS. Competition is always good.

Should certain modifications on your car be illegal?

This is a question that if you ask a car enthusiast you will most likely hear a resounding no. some people will answer yes for many various reason. One of the strongest arguments for making certain modifications illegal would be that a lot of these modifications require someone to play around with the cars emissions system. Many time f someone is doing a crazy build and decides to add a turbocharger to their car they will most of the time remove catalytic converters and mufflers in order to gain as much power as possible. This of course is bad for the environment but is it so bad that it would require banning. I don't think so. For one, there are not that many car enthusiasts in the U.S. which means that it is only a small handful of cars that would be polluting the air. Also a good majority of these cars are rarely driven. I have a friend who owns an RX-7 who has no catalytic converters on it. This car only sees a few hundred miles a year because he wont drive it in the winter and he doesn't drive it everyday to school and work. The environmental damage that his car does is very slim compared to some cars that are driven everyday. So like every other car enthusiast, if you ask me should certain modifications be illegal, you will hear a resounding no.

Sunday, April 24, 2016

Explaining my interest in cars

Cars have always been an interest of mine. whether it was playing with toy cars when  was 4 or driving around in my car right now at 18, it is a topic i have always enjoyed. Cars are a great way to help me deal with stress. Just going out for a drive at night on a fun road can help you clear your mind of all the troubles in life. To me and to many others cars are like a pet. Car guys take care of their cars greatly. I remember doing research on different types of gas stations to make sure that i picked the best gas for my car. I have friends who have bought what others might view as "undesirable" and but a lot of time, money, and love into their cars and now drive something that they are proud of. The car community, for the most part, is a great community that appreciates the way everyone expresses their individuality through their cars. The amount of friendships that i have built over the years through our common interest in cars has been great. So, this is why I love cars. It might be an expensive hobby but its worth it.

The blackhawks might actually survive

After the Blackhawks lost game 4 to St Louis, I was pretty sure the season was over after that I did not expect the hawks to win the next game... but they did. My father and I, both huge Blackhawks fans, were very excited after game 5 when the hawks survived the Blues in St Louis. My father seemed a little more optimistic in the Hawks being able to make it out of round 1 while I thought the Blues would finish the Hawks in game 6. Yesterday while watching game 6 I was astonished at the way the Hawks were playing. It was like watching a different team all together. Throughout the whole season and playoffs, every game between the Blues and the Hawks was a very close game. The Hawks in game 6 obliterated the Blues 6-3. With the Hawks riding on the momentum of two huge wins and the Blues morale low after two huge losses I am very excited for game 7 and the rest of the playoffs.

Thursday, April 21, 2016

Why i think Koenigsegg is an important company


For those who are not as interested in cars as others might be, then you probably have never heard of Koenigsegg. Koenigsegg is a small Swedish car manufacturer who produce extremely powerful vehicles. their newest addition to the line up is the Regera. The Regera is a beast of a vehicle that produces 1500hp from a twin turbo 5.0L V8 and three electric motors. Now, hybrid super cars are nothing new, we do have the Holy Trinity of course (Ferrari LaFerrari, Porsche 918 Spyder, McLaren P1), but what makes the Koenigsegg Regera so important is the new technology that it posses. Christian von Koenigsegg, founder and owner of Koenigsegg, invented the Koenigsegg Direct Drive system(KDD). This system was invented and developed for the Regera. The KDD is a new drive system that eliminates a standard transmission. This is what makes the Regera such an interesting car. When i first heard of this system I wondered to myself how they planned on getting the power from the engine to the wheels. It is actually quite simple. The Regera features a single gear near the rear axle which will allow the car to turn it wheels with power from the engine, but the gear is to small for the engine to put any decent power down at low speeds. Well Koenigsegg has got that covered. By adding three electric motors the Regera is able to propel itself at low speeds while a hydraulic coupling, placed in between the engine and the final gear, allows the two to slip so no power is given. At 30mph the hydraulic coupling locks and the engine begins to drive the wheels. What is cool about this is that the gear size that Koenigsegg chose allows for the engine RPM to match the wheel RPM after the coupling locks. This means that the car will reach its top speed when the engine reaches its max RPM. Koenigsegg as a company are finding new ways to differentiate between a car and a hyper car. Other hybrid super cars have similar power plant layouts to plain hybrid cars that people buy to save gas, while Koenigsegg stands out among them and is changing the hyper car game.

Saturday, April 16, 2016

The Importance of Duncan Keith to the Blackhawks.

Nearing the end of the season Duncan Keith, one of the NHL's best defense men, was handed a six game suspension after he intentionally high-sticked Minnesota Wild forward  Charlie Coyle. This would mean that Duncan Keith would miss the first game of the playoffs. In this game the Blackhawks were able to hold off the St. Louis Blues until overtime in which the Hawks lost. There were some plays during this game that definitely got fans of the Blackhawks wondering "What is the defense doing?". In game 2 Duncan Keith and helped the team secure a big win on the road. Keith scored one goal and also assisted on another. Keith may only be one person but he makes a huge difference when it comes to the Blackhawks offense. Keith also put out a huge amount of play time with almost 31 minutes played. St Luis Blues head coach Ken Hitchcock said that Duncan Keith was just "another player on the other team" but clearly, and gladly, Duncan Keith proved him wrong. So how important is Duncan Keith to the Blackhawks' ? To answer simply, he is very important.

Tuesday, April 12, 2016

What do I love and what do I want to do?

Listening to Megan Schwarb's Ted talk raised to important questions that we should ask ourselves. Those to questions are: What do we love and what do we want to do? So, what I love or what brings me great joy is helping someone and putting a smile on peoples faces. You can build many long lasting connections when you help people. When someone is struggling and you aid them with whatever it is they are struggling with, you will always put a smile on their face. I believe that is the greatest reward you can receive, knowing that you made a positive change in someone's life. This leads into the second question, what do you want to do? What i have always wanted to do ever since i was a little kid was to go into a career as a law enforcement officer. It is one of the few jobs where you can go out everyday and make a difference in someone's life. Sure, their are times when you make a negative impact on someone, usually when you have to arrest them or write a ticket, but when you save someone who is being beaten by their spouse, that positive change out weighs the negative one.

Thursday, March 17, 2016

My reflection of my paper and my outline

My final paper was actually very similar to my outline. Most of my body paragraphs were moved around but for the most part the content that intended on including was in my final paper. One of the paragraphs i decided to change the content of it from explaining why E85 is the future fuel that we will use to why it should be good news for car enthusiast because it confirms the survival of the internal combustion engine. The other thing that was different was that i planned on having a fourth paragraph but decided to split that paragraph among the three main body paragraphs. in that fourth paragraph i intended to summarize why the power plants that i explained in my first three paragraphs would be the future of cars. I later decided that the paper would flow much better if i just explained at the end of each body paragraph why that engine would be the future of cars. Overall i was surprised on how close my outline and my final paper was because usually they are not that similar when i finish writing papers.

Thursday, March 10, 2016

Review on the writing process for the second writing project

The second writing project has started off fairly well. By generating ideas I came up with multiple topics that I would be able to write about. I picked a topic that I am very interested in so writing the paper and finding information for it was not boring at all, unlike other papers I have written before. When it came to the peer reviews of my paper i was able to get good feedback on what I should do to improve it. I have actually enjoyed writing this paper but writing in APA has been a bit weird since I have written a majority of my papers in MLA.

Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Explanatory Synthesis Notes

In my explanatory paper i plan to explain what people can expect to see what cars of the future will look like. I will specifically be looking at the possible motors that cars will most likely have in the future. There are three main types that oi will look at; electric, bio-fuel, and hybrid. I would also touch on the topic of performance cars as that is something many car enthusiasts are worried about.


My first source talks about the Tesla Model S. Tesla Motors has been the leader in electric car manufacturing. They have been nearing the ability to perfect the batteries to get a good range and they have been able to speed up the charging process for the batteries.

my second source talks about the different bio-fuels that are available. It talks about how we can make fuel out of food scraps. Most notably the type of bio-fuel we see is E85 which is a 85% mixture of Ethanol, derived from corn or soybeans, and 15% gasoline. In the article it also states that they can make jet fuel out of food and that this process will soon be very beneficial to the environment.

My third source talks about the BMW I8 hybrid supercar. The I8 has a motor that is not new to many of us. It is is a hybrid gasoline electric motor that has amazing gas mileage and performance. Si this article would tie into the last type of motor that i wanted to talk about and also why car enthusiasts should not be worried about the future.

Tuesday, February 9, 2016

a small truth that i have realized and free writing

Earlier today in my philosophy class we were discussing the concept of are our believes real or true. this discussion led to some interesting topics on what we perceive to be factual is merely a concept that we have created. for example one of these ideas we discussed was math. Many believe that 1+1=2. this is just a concept that we have created over time and one that society has claimed to be true. I am not talking about the fact that if you have one pen and you pick up another pen then you have 2, but what i am talking about is the concept of 1 and 2. this concept and belief in these numbers was accepted by many different societies over long periods of time. other beliefs that created a sense of doubt was that with reality. How do we know that we are actually in that place that we are? how do we know that we aren't at home in bed, sound asleep dreaming of all of this. The only true way to know is when you wake up and realize that it was just a dream, but then how do you know that you haven't just started your dream?

What does it mean when i say that money cant buy happiness?
money cant buy you happiness is a popular saying in today's  society and everyone understands its meaning, yet people still talk about and dream about how happy they would be if they could win the lottery or become rich in some other way. then one begins to look at those people who were lucky enough to have bought the ticket with the same numbers that popped up on that screen later that night and there lives are turned upside down and the become some of the most miserable people. then you look at people who live in poorer countries who have a smile from ear to ear when they get a new soccer ball or they get a free drink. there are people out there who lose their friends and family to greed and lust and then end up depressed. There are those that don't have much and enjoy life every day with the people they love. money is just a fabrication that has no real value except for that the government gives it. money can buy you fake friends and fake relationships with those relationships only being based on how much money you have. i would rather keep my life the way it is with all my friends and my family wanting to spend time with me for who i am not for what i have.

Analogy:
believing in money being able to buy happiness is like believing that you can pass a class without ever studying. many people understand that money cant buy you happiness yet still lust after it. The same goes for those who understand that they will fail a class if they don't study yet choose to not study and lust for that A.

Reflection on my paper

Originally i was not that excited to write this paper, but after finally deciding on  a topic the paper came pretty easily to me. The design plan i originally created was a good starting point and helped me write my paper with a clear idea on how i wanted to structure my paper. The first draft peer review was helpful in helping me find out what needed to be improved and what i did not want in my paper. Same thing goes for the second draft review. Writing my final paper was really just tweaking some things that needed to be changed and adding or moving things around to help the paper flow. I thought that this whole writing process was going to be terrible but it turned out to be pretty easy. By doing this my original design plan was completely different from what my final paper was. My design plan had to be redone to conform to what my paper was. Some of the changes that i did were throw out some ideas i intended on including but later realized that this idea was not going to flow as nicely as others.
I think i accomplished my goal in writing this paper which was to inform people that the notion that money will not make us happy. I think my paper thoroughly explained this idea is false through some psychological evidence and my experience with a man who had next to nothing. Also i think through my synthesis on how the man fit into the hierarchy of needs was also a very useful tool in accomplishing my goal because it brought the two ideas together.

Thursday, February 4, 2016

My thoughts on peer review

I was never one who really liked letting others read my writing,but I found that these two peer review sessions were pretty useful. I received a few tips that I incorporated into my paper and I think that they have made my paper stronger. also I think by reading other peoples work I was able to pick up a few ideas that I can use in my paper to make it better and more entertaining.

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

What did I learn today?

    What I learned today was something that was quite interesting to me. I learned that High School was a way to get us to follow rules. I learned that we never really learned anything in high school, what we did do is memorize and repeat information. The main reason for this was to create model citizens that know how to follow rules and orders. We never really thought about the information we took in or what the purpose of learning the idea was. The only importance or value that information had to us was that we needed to know it for the test. All we did through high school is retain enough information to pass the test and then forget that information immediately.

Sunday, January 17, 2016

What are our responsibilities to each other when we blog?

In our world today communicating with people has never been easier. We are able to talk with anyone, anytime, and anywhere. We are able to post our ideas on the internet which allows anyone to see what we believe or think on a certain issue or topic at anytime. This raises the question of whether or not we have responsibilities when we blog or when we post on the internet.
I think the main responsibility that we all posses is that of respecting the person on the other computer. It's easy to forget that when you type messages and responses to other post you are writing that response to a person who has a certain belief or feeling towards an idea, after all blogging is a form of expressing oneself. The same goes for when we receive messages or comments on blogs.  We have to take in to consideration that not every one has the same opinion as us and sometimes people have disagreements. 
Blogs are a great way to express your feelings or ideas on a wide range of topics, and then share that expression with the world. People are going to disagree with you just as much as you will disagree with them. The only responsibility that we have is to respect each other disagreements.