Goal For The Green

To get the best performance and mileage out of your vehicle, regular maintenance is a must. However, most of us prefer to take our vehicles to our neighborhood mechanic shop, because they usually have the best prices and great personal customer service. The local guy knows how to treat and value his customers and appreciates your business.

All the car maintenance places in Pittsburgh really don’t understand the value of a good customer-or one that keeps coming back because they like the service they received. But, the folks at Western Pennsylvania Toyota are an exception to that notion. They truly have customer service down to a science. You bring your car in, they greet you at the door and immediately start trying to help you. It’s a smooth process, and makes the trips in for service and maintenance so much faster each and every time.

Pittsburgh, PA: Scion xD (Photo credit: harry_nl)

In addition, they have great deals at Pittsburgh Toyota maintenance, so no matter what kind of condition your car is in, they can help you fix the problem. They offer every kind of service under the sun, and they don’t make any fuss about answering your questions, even if you’re not sure what’s wrong with your vehicle, they can figure it out.

The mechanics on site at Pittsburgh Toyota maintenance, are also very friendly and respectful. They treat cars extremely well, so your car looks even better than when you went in for a repair or checkup. With the maintenance plans they offer, you can even get to know the staff and find out about more specials that they offer each week.

They currently have some amazing deals on tires, probably the cheapest in Pittsburgh. But, the best part has to be the staff at Pittsburgh Toyota maintenance. They truly don’t “fake” personality or customer service. They realize that your time is as important as their own. They are courteous and prompt,and don’t allow you to wait around, so that you can carry on with your day. They value you and your time, and that is a major factor that keeps a happy customer returning for future service.This is one dealership maintenance department that goes out of their way to treat you right. With some of their amazing specials you can understand the value, save a lot of money and get great service each and every time from someone you can trust.

UPDATE: Congratulations to ecodads for achieving their funding goal of $20,000, with 6 days left to go.  So far, there are 69 backers and $20,562 pledged for the project of making Touchable Textbook Apps a reality!

For the past few months, Michael Leifer, a Cultural Anthropologist, has been creating some really fun and Educational (Interactive Textbook) Apps for Kids and Teens, with his friend Jory Prum, (who has worked with Jim Henson / Muppets, Pixar and Lucas Arts).

Here’s a demo video link that they put up to give it a kickstart :   Kickstart, is a crowd funding way to help promote your idea or project.  Note the deadline is in nine more days, and Michael and the ecodads group is very close to reaching their goal. Currently, their project is 77% funded.  It will be funded if at least $20,000 is raised by 8:39AM on Thursday, December 27,2012. They only need $4,535 to make this happen! Your support of this project, can help make a difference in educational needs across the country.

The California next-generation parenting movement ecodads® co-founded by Michael Leifer, have created a new form of fun Interactive Textbook (iBook) Applications for the Apple® iPad® called “Touchable Books.”  They target and engage the iGeneration of digital-native students. These iBook modules bring to life classroom units with touch-based local habitat maps, 3d views from atop the Golden Gate bridge, time lapse cinematography, videos from award-winning directors, interactive slideshows, an instantly accessible glossary, flashcards, games and content review quizzes. A demo video of the technology, full description and strategic roll-out plan for the apps can be viewed at the Kickstarter crowd-funding project.

For the 1st set of iBooks, they have selected a landmark CURRICULUM called “Education and the Environment” (which has been unanimously-approved by the CA State Board of Education and is for K-12th graders).  It also works with Common CORE and STAR Testing Education Standards, so teachers can easily integrate these apps into their classrooms.

The K-12 curriculum is comprised of 85 units teaching select science, history and social science academic standards. Naturally, the successful elements of this effort could be utilized to benefit schools across our country, AND produce generations of environmental stewards, that learn and seek environmental jobs of the future.

I would like to encourage you to review the video demo and brief plan, and to consider lending your support. What better way is there to give educators a wonderful way to merge experiences in the classroom with enriching activities in school gardens, parks, aquariums, and science centers, than with these interactive apps?

According to CalRecycle Director Caroll Mortensen, “Our biggest challenge in bringing the EEI to teachers and students is the high cost of printing and distribution. The proposed EEI apps will significantly reduce costs and give students an improved and interactive environment-based curriculum.”

If we as a nation are serious about providing our students a world-class education, be it home school or whatever option we choose, we need a plan that leaves no school and no child offline, or left without this option.  This is achievable, by making these apps widely available, and by reaching the funding goal.

Together, with your help and support, we can collectively demonstrate a new guiding model for the antiquated textbook publishing industry.  This can and will improve both our student comprehensive and education system overall, and it can happen nationwide.  Lets invest in our children, their future, and a green future for everyone. Together we are working toward many brighter tomorrows.

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• Touching Base with Touchable Books, a Kickstarter Project

Guest Post by Amanda Green

In today’s world, the investment arena has changed drastically compared to what it was just a few years ago. While there are still plenty of people focusing on putting their money into traditional stocks and bonds, many other investors are looking for legitimate alternatives to put their money into. As some natural resources on the planet are becoming more scarce, investors are realizing the opportunity in front of them. Investing in natural resources is an endeavor unlike any other, and it has vast potential for everyone involved.

English: Natural Resources GIS (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Why Invest in Natural Resources

Investing in natural resources is a strategy that makes a lot of sense from a financial standpoint. When you put money into something that has a limited quantity, you know that the value of your investment will eventually increase. Many investors are putting money into precious metals like gold and silver because of the uncertainty in the fiat currency markets now. As governments continue to print paper money, the value of this currency continues to deflate. By putting money into gold, silver, and other precious metals, investors are hedging their bets.

In addition to investing in precious metals, many investors are also putting money into other natural resources like oil and natural gas. As the population on the planet increases, more people are going to be in need of these resources. This will lead the price to increase over time.

Ways to Invest

For those who are interested in investing in natural resources, there are a lot of different ways to do it. On Reed Cagle’s blog, he discusses a lot of different strategies that can be used by investors to profit from natural resources. For example, you could buy stocks of mining companies or of companies who drill for oil.

In addition to buying stocks of these companies, you could also trade futures contracts on them. When you trade futures contracts, you actually speculate on the prices of commodities themselves. Another option is to simply buy the commodities yourself. For example, you could buy gold or silver bullion and keep it.

Regardless of what strategy you employ, investing in natural resources carries with it a lot of promise. You are investing in tangible assets in limited quantities. This is quite different from putting money into theoretical assets like stocks or bonds. Just make sure that you do your homework before choosing which natural resources to invest in.