'Stumbling' On Interesting Sites

Have you ever heard of the new craze of www.stumbleupon.com? I was 'stumbling' recently, and you can put a lot of your interests down and find great new websites, interesting facts and so much more on this site! I love it (too much during finals week)...I was interested in urban agriculture and new ways it is being integrated into urban culture. I found a lot of great sites! This one was one of my favorite findings!

Check this out! This is an up-and-coming building in Seattle! How cool does this look?! Food, water, and energy are the focus of the “Center for Urban Agriculture” (CUA) design. This amazing building would not rely on city water, but have it's own system! This building is looking to be more of an apartment complex, with an organic cafe on the bottom level. There would be storage as hydrogen gas in underground tanks to get through the seasons! 
As cool as this looks, what would be the implications of this? I think overall, it is a great and outstandingly driven idea. I also think that this would be beneficial to all that would reside in the building, but there could definitely be some complications!!! What are your thoughts on this project?!
Read more: http://mithun.com/projects/project_detail/center_for_urban_agriculture/#ixzz1L1bo7AXJ

What Our World is Counting On

Hope everyone had an awesome Easter weekend with their families and friends! I know I sure did! 

While I was surfing on the web today, I wanted to focus on our world in general. A lot of people are fearing the end of the world...(Can't say i necessarily believe it!) and forgetting about a lot the important factors that make our world turn in these moments. I think that are a lot if different 'counts' such as births, deaths, environmental, health issues, and economic standings are very important factors to our world today. I came across a website called Worldometers, which actively updates world counts in real time. Notice how quickly and numerous the number of births increases. The world isn't stopping for anyone. 




Check out this great website and let me know what you think!
http://www.worldometers.info/

Earth Week 2011

Good morning! For those of you who don't know, Earth Week is happening NOW! One of my roommates and best friends (See blog interview about Leslie Lewis) is an intern at the Illinois State Sustainability Office and she has made me more aware of Earth Week than ever before. I remember in grade school when we would do activities regarding this week, but I never understood the reasoning beyond arts and crafts. I think this particular week is overlooked a lot, but now more than ever, we are in desperate need of the recognition of our earth. There are so many reasons to recognize the needs of our earth and take the necessary steps to take care of it. In researching a little about Earth Week, I came across an Earth Week website with daily updates on the happenings around our earth. Check it out! http://www.earthweek.com/

Also, if you are an Illinois State student, check out the various Earth Week activities this week!

April 18 - 22nd: RSO Commuter Challenge

April 18: The Great Green Race 5pm

April 19: Food Inc Screening 7pm SCH 130

April 20: Guest Speaker, Jeff Corwin 7pm BSC Brown Ballroom 

April 21: Earth Day on the Quad - Freecycle 10-3pm

April 22: Tree Walk with Dean of Green 12-1pm Old Main

It's A New Day

Recently, I have been doing a bunch of marketing projects for my classes at ISU. The last project I had was a group project which required us to make a commercial and a filmed presentation of our finding on what the best ways to de-market gasoline would be and how to direct people towards alternative forms of transportation. Hmmmm...we started off by creating our commercial in order to get our ideas flowing. We were thinking about all the different forms of transportation...walking, bicycling, trains, buses, hybrid and electric automobiles, etc. We incorporated these typed of transportation and their benefits throughout our powerpoint commercial. Such benefits as staying healthy, saving money and helping our environment were the best benefits. I just wanted to share with you our final product! Let me know if this influenced you in any way!

Project four (2)

View more presentations from klportw.
This is the music in the background, I couldn't get it to upload! :(

Fun Facts to Brighten Your Monday

MONDAY-


Is Monday one of your least favorite days of the week? i know it's one of mine...right after relaxing all day on Sunday's (especially yesterday with the great weather we had here in Central Illinois). I just thought I'd try to brighten your day a little by sharing some fun facts!

-If you have three quarters, four dimes, and four pennies, you have $1.19. You also have the largest amount of money in coins without being able to make change for a dollar.

-When you're going to shop for a new car, do it on a Monday. Car sales people make the bulk of their sales on the weekends. When Monday rolls around, there are usually few customers in sight, and the weekend is a long ways off. That's why car sales people
are more desperate on Monday, and they'll be more willing to cut you a deal.


-U.S. dairy farmers receive less than $1.32 per gallon of milk they produce.
The average retail price of milk is $2.76.
The average dairy cow produces seven gallons of milk a day.
The average person consumes 584 pounds of dairy products a year.


-When you place a seashell over your ear you are hearing the blood in your veins rushing, rather than the ocean


- Elevators in the Statue of Liberty use a soy-based hydraulic fluid.


- On average, people who use their right hand live 9 years longer than people who use their left


- There are 3 colors that don’t rhyme with anything (silver, orange, and purple)


- Americans today consume 17.3 billion quarts of popped popcorn each year! The average American eats about 68 quarts!


- In the United States, lettuce is the second most popular fresh vegetable.


- Blueberries are a good source of Vitamin C and fiber


- Pasta is one of America’s favorite foods. Last year, 1.3 million pounds of pasta were sold in American grocery stores. If you lined up 1.3 million pounds of 16 oz. spaghetti packages, it could circle the Earth’s equator almost nine times!










- The peach is a member of the rose family and will have a sweet fragrance when ripe.

Historic Farm In Central Illinois

Good afternoon readers!


I'm from a small town in Central Illinois and I thought it would be appropriate to share some history about famous farms/towns in the area. Take a look at Macon County in Central Illinois at the Homestead Prairie Farm! 
This is a great place to visit and get a feel for how people were living in the days of the Civil War. Can you imagine how much simpler life was? 


Joseph Trobaugh and his wife Elizabeth were born in Illinois and their family were the first known occupants of the one room log house and owned it from 1853 to 1866. Trobaugh was a farmer and sawmill operator.  He changed the house by adding rooms and making other renovations. 
Emanuel Good and his family, Emanuel was a Civil War veteran, were the second family to live in the house. 


I think that the people who lived and worked on this farm have impacted the lives of farmers and their families today. Farmers now work just as hard as those back in the Civil War days, they've just had technology and innovation to help make the process easier. Now, farmers are able to work faster and cover more ground, which eventually increases the output of their farms. 


Post comments about your experiences to the Homestead Prairie Farm or any other historical farms in Central Illinois. I know I would love to read them!


Have a good Thursday everyone!