Asking the question "who invented the automobile?" is like saying "who invented the computer?"... No one person really did. They are compiled of thousands of patents, and dozens of hard working inventors, and a handful of very dedicated industrialists that think to the future.
    Between 1769 and 2013 we went from steam driven one man military grade three wheel tractor, to solar powered family car that can run 250 miles on a charge without sunlight.
    But, we're here to try and answer the question, and also give credit where credit is do. So lets start where so often people have made the mistake and move backwards in history together -> 1908 Henry Ford. He improved production methods so that from here on out, automobiles would be among the masses, and very quickly knock out the horse. Quite litterally in some cases ;-)
    In 1902 is where Gasoline engines really took off, and finally out paced both steam and electric powered cars. (yes electric powered cars were first used in the mid 1830's in Scottland!) They were first manufactured between 1893 and 1895 by Charles and J. Frank Duryea.
    Working backwards we come to where we first really invision the first "modern" look of the car. Everything before this resembles other forms of "autos" such as carriages and tractors. This was 1873-1883 by Amedee Bollee Sr. The particular year we'll mark for this major transformation is 1878 when 3 particular things took place to make the automobile take its modern appearance -> front mounted engine (steam powered), modern looking steering wheel on a vertical shaft, and shaft drive to the differential (this not only changed the look of the auto, but allowed for a better more modern handling of the autos. It allows the tire speeds to be different while turning).
    1801 was the first Road Carriage. This steam powered road beast was built by Richard Trevithick in Great Britain.
    Here we are in 1769 when Nicolas Joseph Cugnot made the first self-propelled road vehical. It was a 3 wheeled steam powered military grade tractor. Now although he is getting the credit for this, he also gets credit for the first automobile accident 2 years later when he crashed into a brick wall. That said it was a great achievment. But he didn't do it on his own, completely. He used drawings and inventions from both Leonardo DavinVinci and Sir Isaac Newton, along with the following already made working invention: 
    -->Thomas Newcomen's Atmospheric Steam Engine that was invented in 1712. This was the first practical and useful of the steam engines that were being invented around the world for years at the time. But our credit must not stop there, because Thomas Newcomen was inspired by a specific working invention that he used to make his Engine:
    --> The first steam engine: Thomas Savery's Steam Engine in 1698. Although it was a crude machine, it did the basic, but that's because his design was used for its ability to act more like a  "vacuum pump". He was working on solving the problems of getting water out of mines... BUT WAIT, yes there is one more credit we must give. For Thomas Savery's design was not based on a hunch. His idea was built off of an already made invention:
--> based on Denis Papin's Digester in 1679. AKA the pressure cooker.

    So you'll notice we started with a car manufacturer, and made our way to a kitchen appliance.... That's saying something! You never know where the future will end up. And to say one person invented something is fine and dandy, but you must understand that they most likely had help and research, and many before them and around them for inspiration.

   This movie came out in 2010 staring Will Ferrell as a man with a drinking problem. Its focus is him spending a few days struggling to get himself together on his front lawn, because his wife changed the locks while he was at work, and he was fired due to his alcoholism on a business trip, leaving him broken and feeling alone.
   Personally i think someone could really enjoy this movie and go away with a new look at Will Ferrell in this more serious acting roll, as apposed to the fall down humor we're use to seeing. Sadly I went into this movie thinking it was going to be just another comedy about a guy struggling in humorous ways...but it was not. It was really deep, and you even find yourself not liking this man. So if you are a big fan of "funny" Will Ferrell" you may not enjoy this movie as much as the previews would leave you to believe. But, if you are looking for something new, or interested in how this movie plays out, i suggest giving it a look.
   I rated this movie a 6/10. again, had i gone into it knowing what i know now.... I'm sure i'd h

    My wife Becky was having a rough week followed by a hard weekend at work. So, i took it upon myself to give her something fun to look forward to!
    She often makes the meals at home for us, and i'm very appreciative about it, and try to do the dishes and help when i can. But, sometimes a man needs to do a little something extra so she doesn't feel so robotic. I decided a 3 course meal was perfect!
    In all it took me about 4 1/2 hours (including researching meals, shopping, prepping, and waiting for somethings to soak and chill).
    Part of the making the meal special was presentation. I made a center piece with 3 candles around our goldfish, Marlin, in a vase. (the 3rd candle is on the otherside of the fish)
    I started her off with a salad, complete with carrots and croutons.

    After the salads I brought out the dinner of champions: Broiled Steak--Shoulder Tenders smothered in Chicago Style Marinade, and pan fried Jumbo Shrimp. Both parts of the main dish soaked in the fridge for 2 hours in the appropriate substances -- steak in olive oil and marinade; jumbo shrimp in butter, oil, and black pepper.

    After the Surf and Turf i had brought out my secret weapon. This was what took most of my prep time (20 min. before having to chill it in the fridge for 2 hours) and it was far worth it! A White Chocolate Mousse topped with heavy whip cream (i whipped in the mixer) and a smidgen of Hersey Cacao. I had the spoons and the glasses in the freezer during dinner so they would be nice and cold for the Mousse when i served them up!....OH MAN IT WAS GOOD!

If you're wondering, the neon spoons are from Peach Wave. I didn't feel the need to just throw away such cool spoons after using them once. And the glasses i served the Mousse in are a wedding gift from our friends Andrew and Jess. They say Mr. and Mrs.

Choosing a presidential candidate to vote for is a very big stand both for you and for the country we live in. This is a freedom that should never be taken lightly, and you better believe that the millions that don’t vote every year would become activists pretty quickly if voting were ever taken from the general public.

            Now, I’m going to share with you the simple steps I take when deciding on who I vote for during the presidential elections. Granted, this 2012 election will only be my 3rd, but I started this simple effective system on my very first, and will continue to do so through my very last.

            First, I see who is actually going to be running on the ballot. It may surprise you to find out it’s usually 5 main runners or more, not 2. So I draw a table (or if you’re lazy like me you can make one on a word or excel document on the computer!!!). In this table I make several columns that cover the 5 main issues I feel are most important to me. For instance, many people feel Foreign Policy is very important (especially if they or their loved one has a military based career), whereas I feel it’s a good one but not on my top 5. If you WANT to write down 25 main issues and compare all 10+ candidates in your state, be my guest. But I found taking the top 5 runners, and my top 5 issues can give me a large incite on my choices, and I’m comfortable with that.

            Secondly, I make 5 rows with those 5 main candidates in them. Then I make 5 columns with the 5 main issues I want to compare with. Now, you can see where this is going; I look at each candidate and the opinions they have on each issue, and I also look at what they have actually done involving those issues. For instance, Mitt Romney is not for gay marriage, but did you know he has signed legislation to actively ban anti-gay discrimination in the work place? Also, did you know Barrack Obama reformed the no child left behind act, which many didn’t like, but many DID like that he also reformed the Pell Grant for college  and increased it from $4,050 to $5,100?

            Lastly, and most obvious, I look to see who I fall into agreement with the most. I was very surprised this year how often I fell on neutral or positive ground with both Obama and Mitt Romney, and was equally surprised how much negative ground I fell on with Ron Paul.

            In order to stay on point and not raise any bad feelings within you, I’m going to only tell you the 7 main issues I used this year, and not go into detail on where I personally stand on the issues. Now I say “this year is 7”, because it use to be 5, but as I’ve gotten older the Economy and Military have become much bigger deals to me. And I’ll tell you how I matched up with the candidates on some pros and cons, instead of going into detail; again to not start any unneeded feelings in this simple blog.

            The 5 candidates I marked down to look into are as follows:

Gary Johnson, Barrack Obama, Mitt Romney, Jill Stein, and Ron Paul

            The 7 Issues I looked for pros, cons, and medium ground, where as follows:

Abortion, Crime, Environment, Economy, Education, Gay Rights, and Military

Now I’ll give you a personal Pro and Con from each of the candidates. NOW YOU MUST NOTE these are my personal pros and cons.hahaha, they are not yours, or anyone elses. Perhaps we agree and perhaps we don’t, but we are not here running against each other, I’m simply showing you how you can reasonably decide who you are voting for, and at the same time you can learn about other people!! It may surprise you know that republicans and democrats agree a lot more often than the media leads you to believe, and that libertarians and socialists can provide a lot of good ideas too!

Gary Johnson: Pro – Cut Military Expense; Con – Eliminate Corporate Income tax

Barrack Obama: Pro – Tighten restrictions on Death Penalty; Con – Limit the purchasing of guns to 1 gun a month

Mitt Romney: Pro – No tuition break for Illegal Immigrants, Con – Increase defense spending

Jill Stein: Pro – Tax cut on lower incomes, Con – Fully Opposes the Death Penalty

Ron Paul: Pro – Reduce Congress Salary, Con – No tax incentives for renewable energies

            So I hope you understand what I’m trying to do here. I’m telling you 2 things: First that you should vote. Not because I’m saying it’s a good idea, or because it will get retards off your back. You should vote because it’s both the best way to Rebel and the best way to stand up for your Freedoms and truly have a say in the country’s decisions! You don’t even have to vote for one of the main candidates! There is a Communist Party, Libertarian Party, Green Party, Constitutional Party, Labor Party, and there is even a United States Marijuana Party! AND DOZENS MORE!

            Give voting a chance and have your opinion etched in history, even if it’s not important to you, It’s important to all the freedoms we enjoy, and the ones we still want. In 2008 Mickey Mouse received 11 votes. Talk about rebellion, and so many people were too lazy or self centered to even do that. Not voting isn’t making a statement, when you literally have the right to vote for any Natural Born American Citizen, the statement is only made when you actually VOTE!

First I'm going to give you what you came for, and then feel free
to read on if you would like to see how the 15 strongest was
determined.

To go into some detail on how I decided what countries to place in the Top 15,
and why they are placed in this particular order.
                 
I first had to decide what makes a military so great. In the general
sense of things, there are hundreds if not thousands, of small factors that must
be powering the machine at any given time. Taking this into consideration, I have
made a valid attempt to group these factors into major categories.
For instance, the amount of healthy young men, birthrates, amount of people in the working class,
amount of people suited for military but not in military, so on and so forth;
all have to do with a country's military capabilities, but instead of spending
forever trying to determine what those numbers are for each country on the
planet, i just used one major category called "Country's Total Population".
Given the total population of a country you can determine that those with a much
  higher amount of citizens will generally have more in those smaller
  categories. 
                 
Now that you understand why i chose these certain categories, i'll tell
you those categories and why they are a very good indicator of a countries
military strength.

 - Total Population        
The resource of humans is unmatched in a military, because without them
you have none.


- Total Population in Active Military              
Clear indicator of how sturdy a country's immediate offensive and
defensive military capability adds up.


- Amount of Operational Tanks
 Since WWI tanks have been major deciders on every battle
front.


- Amount of Armored Personnel Carriers (APC) and
    Infantry Fighting Vehicles (IFV)
 The purpose of these are not direct battles, but for enforcing the army as
whole. These vehicles are perfect for what they do: Safely move the troops. The more
of these you have, the better guarantee you have getting your troops to and from
the battle.


- Amount of Operational Logistical Vehicles
 The major support system to any military are the "miscellaneous" vehicles
  that carry all the supplies. No fuel tankers, and your tanks loose incredible
  capabilities; no food or water, and you lose your men... lose your men and lose
  the war.


- Amount Total of Military Grade Air Craft 
While the Air Force doesn't win wars all on its own... Take away those
fighter jets, bombers, and helicopters then you'll see just how vulnerable those
countries become.


- Amount Total of Military Grade Navy Ships
 History has shown us that a country's coastal boarder is a very good
indicator of military strength, because it provides an easier defense against
invading enemies, and allows for the development of a Navy. With that in mind,
having a Navy alone gives a country a higher rating, but we must also look at
the actual numbers of the many different types of ships that make it both tactical
and over all powerful. For instance, submarines and carriers are so tactful
 that they can can make or break a Navy in a very short period of time.


- Countries Total Land Mass
 The sheer size of a country and the layout can mean the difference between
fighting off an invasion and falling to the enemy. Ask any American
Soldier that has fought in the Middle East; ask Russia about WWII,
Napoleon about Egypt, or the British about the Revolutionary War in America. The
pros far outweigh the cons in a country's total size; both due to the available
resources, and the tactics involved with so much geography.


- Oil Production (barrels per day)
 The Amount of Oil a country can produce on its own could mean everything to
military abilities. This is taken on the basis that if a country was all on its
own, and by being on its own would it be able to fuel all those tanks, ships,
and planes without the oil from other countries? Most countries are an easy No.
So the more oil a country can produce in a day, the higher its military strength becomes. 
                  
To put into perspective, Kuwait is clearly weaker than Greece when looking at man power
the amount of people, air craft, navy units, and sheer size of the countries, but if the
countries had all outside help and resources cut off, we would see them become
far more equal. Kuwait could easily be self sufficient in fueling its number of vehicles
while Greece would come to a halt.


- Total Spending on Defense Budget
 It's not how much you spend, it's how you spend it. That's true, but if
you are spending billions of dollars more than the competitor, it's very
likely that you have certain capabilities he doesn't. Tanks don't run for free, and
special forces don't do so well with $10 gadgets.


- Weapons of Mass Destruction Capabilities
 It is exactly as it reads. A countries ability to apply massive damage
with few bombs. This includes not just "does a country have nuclear weapons" and
"if so how many" but also major ballistics that do a certain amount of damage.
Then if they have them, how big of a reach does this country have with
those weapons, because if you have 10,000 short range ballistic missiles, you're
not much of a threat to anyone 2 or 3 countries over. 
500 mile missiles are frightening when you're 499 miles away.... not so
much at 5,000 miles away.
                 
That being said, only 9 countries have a confirmed nuclear arsenal of
some size, 1 has capabilities, and after that only 5 other countries have short
to long range Ballistics. Which means only 15 countries can fight a battle more
than 100 miles away, without having to move.
  


                 
     Now that you have all this information; there are a few countries i feel
deserve an honorable mention. This is because these countries don't really excel
to the very top in any of these areas, but overall they have a very well rounded
and established military, and do frequent the top of the charts. For example
Italy doesn't have weapons of mass destruction, or large land mass; but they do however
have a major influence in population size, and military expenditures.


My 5 Honorable mentions: 
- Israel , South Korea,  Italy, Syria, and Japan

    This was easily my favorite movie of 2011....and if we are going that far, it's safe to say it has become one of my all time favorites in general. It had everything you want in a top movie: great acting while taking you on a deep personal journey to the center of the characters, which causes you learn to love and feel for each and every one of them; it had bits of true to life humor to give you that much needed giggle or smile in a drama, and of course action and excitement on top of a well written story.
    I recommend this movie to anyone, because your elements are in here somewhere. This movie only got better and better as it went on, and that's what i love. When it reached the ending I personally was feeling in so many directions i had no idea how i wanted it to end, and was so afraid it would be ruined as so many movies have been... BUT NO! It was an ending i didn't really know that i wanted or could have thought up until it happened! I was very happy with how it ended, and I will be adding this movie to my collection very soon, and sharing it with my friends.
    This movie is all heart, and full of the awesomeness of the cage so many hate to love, and others love to hate. Whether you are a fan of professional fighting or not there is tons you will take away from this movie you wouldn't expect.

    The series as a whole is as good as it gets for Trilogies. When you decide to make a squeal, this is how it should be, better than the first. Don't get me wrong, i really like Batman Begins, but the second 2 are of Epic Proportions!
    The entire cast works in perfect harmony with their characters and fulfills arguably the best movie in one of the best series to hit theaters. I'm sure there are many people that will hesitate to put this movie above Heath Ledger and The Dark Knight. So i'm curious to see how it holds up, because had the Dark Knight not gone through what it went through, I believe this movie would already be called the best of the 3.

    The batman begins series directed by Christopher Nolan is perhaps one of the most talked about with violence and psychological issues influencing real life nut cases. But, the people that are out there protesting these movies need to really take a second look at these movies... They are about a man who is brought to his knees broken, bloodied, and lost, again, and again, and again. YET, he finds the wisdom, will, and courage to get back up and do what is right, not only for himself, but his loved ones AND complete strangers. All the while he searches deep within himself to be strong and merciful even after watching those closest to him murdered by those he chooses to let live and be brought to justice! Batman Begins isn't about teaching people to lose their minds and rain chaos amongst your neighbors, it's about finding the light in the darkest of places, and rising far above your abilities when it would be so much easier to fall. Becoming the ultimate good, to conquer the ultimate evil.
    That being said, i see far more children pretending to be batman, than i do pretending to be bane, scarecrow, or the joker....lets give those kids a little more credit shall we ;-)

    If you saw 'Clash of the Titans' and didn't enjoy it you will NOT enjoy this movie. After the first 15min i was only partially interested, and 15 minutes after that, the movie was so far away from mythological awesomeness and character depth i was getting a headache from the current train wreck i was watching take place (minus the actual excitement of watching a real train wreck).
    I endured the movie only because of the 20minutes worth of actual Titan wrath and some half-way decent diologue with Liam Neeson as Zeus. Go into this movie with mediocre hopes, small dreams of awesome Titan on God battles, and low story line expectations, and you may walk away feeling  somewhat entertained... But, my advice is to watch the preview for the movie and stop there, because that's as good as it gets.
    Personally, i'd give this movie a 5.5/10.

The Solar System isn't that hard to understand. Scientists seem to always be "changing" things, but what actually is happening is that we are getting more and more information from satellites we sent out years ago, some nearly 50 years ago, and advances in telescopes and computers, and so on are helping discover more things and fix gaps in our understandings of our solar system! So lets take walk across our solar system as we understand it today.

                Our solar system is everything held in place within our suns gravitational pole. So we'll start at the center and make our way to the outside part of the solar system to give you the full picture.

                The Sun: Is a star (a giant fusion ball of gas and dust that releases both heat and light). Our star, aka the Sun, is a young small star compared to what we know of.

                Now we will talk about the objects within the Suns pull, aka our Solar System, which will include the following: 8 planets (and their moons), 5 Dwarf Planets (and their moons), The Asteroid Belt, The Kuiper Belt, and countless comets and debris.

                 Planet Mercury: Closest planet to the sun, smallest major planet, greatest temperature variations due to lack of atmosphere ( +800 degrees F on day side, -250 degrees F on night side). Zero Moons

                Planet Venus: 2nd planet from sun, very thick atmosphere and distance from Sun make Venus the hottest planet in our solar system, with temperatures reaching over 850 degrees F;  that along with the high density of sulfuric acid in the atmosphere make it nearly impossible to probe the planet. Only Planet to have a longer day than year!!! A day on Venus is equal to 243 Earth Days while a Venus year is equal to 224 Earth Days. Zero Moons

                Planet Earth: we are the most unique in the most ways including, advanced life, major amounts of liquid water, hottest core temperature, and diverse atmosphere. 1 Moon

                Planet Mars: 4th Planet from the Sun. Closest day equivalence time of Earth (24 hrs. 37min.) and temperature quivalence of Earth (-184 dregrees F to 77 degrees F), and has the largest volcano in our solar system (Olympus Mons).

                The Asteroid Belt: A ring of asteroids ranging from the size of you to the size of Rhode Island. It takes about 6 Earth Years for all the asteroids to orbit the Sun.

                Dwarf Planet Ceres: Located within the Asteroid Belt, first space body discovered within the Asteroid Belt, Largest Space Body within the Asteroid Belt containing over 25% the total mass of the Asteroid Belt, smallest of planets. Zero Moons

                Planet Jupiter: 5th planet from Sun, Largest Body in Solar System other than the Sun, Has a Storm that is more than twice the size of Earth that has been active since it was first discovered over  250 years ago!!! There is no true atmosphere and surface differentiation on Jupiter, instead it just gets denser and denser from the Gas in the Outer Atmosphere to the metal Core. 63 Moons

                Planet Saturn: 6th Planet from Sun, Least dense planet containing no solid surface, Highest atmospheric pressures that would crush a space ship like an aluminum pop can, Has thousands of rings but from a distance look like 7 large ones. 60 Moons

                Planet Uranus: 7th Planet from Sun, with 11 faint rings that were not seen until Voyager 2 visited the planet in 1986, does not have a solid surface, Has an extreme tilt that makes the planet look as though it is on its side!!! This major tilt of the poles causes winters to last nearly 40 years with no sunlight on the night side of the  planet. 27 Moons (one thought to have collided with the planet causing the tilt)

                Planet Neptune: 8th Planet from Sun, has 4 very faint rings discovered when voyager 2 passed in 1989, has the Great Dark Spot which is another long lasting storm in the Solar System (like the Great Red Spot) with the fastest wind speeds of all the planets, reaching 1,200 mph! Does not have a solid surface. 13 Moons

                The Kuiper Belt: Group of objects that make up the edge of our Solar System, this is where comets outer ranges are before shooting back across the solar system, known as our solar systems "final frontier", reaching about 5 billion miles from the Sun!!! There are tens of thousands of objects that are estimated to still be discovered, and the actual beginning of the Belt is not fully agreed, either starting just after Neptune or just after Pluto. ---all other planets to be mentioned are found in the Kuiper Belt---

                **Before we mention the following Dwarf Planets, lets understand the difference between a Planet and a Dwarf. Dwarf Planet -- Large, nearly round object orbiting a star that has not cleared the neighborhood of its orbit (meaning there are many small objects yet to be knocked out of the path like our orbit, or to be scooped up in ring form like Neptune and Saturn) Planet -- Very large, nearly round object orbiting star that has cleared its path. So you'll notice that the only real difference is that Dwarf planets are just too small to clear their orbital paths.

                *The Following Planets have never been visited. In 2006 New Horizons Spacecraft was launched to get close and personal with the Kuiper Belt and these Planets. It is scheduled to arrive at Pluto in 2015

                Dwarf Planet Pluto: Only Body to be demoted from Planet to Dwarf Planet, very odd orbit that causes it to cross over Neptune's orbit, sometimes being closer to the sun! Light from the sun takes over 5 hours to reach Pluto. 3 Moons

                Dwarf Planet Haumea (how-may-ah): Unusual football shape, has fastest rotation speed of all planets with a day lasting 4 Earth Hours! Discovered in 2004. 2 Moons

                Dwarf Planet MakeMake (Mah-kay-Mah-kay): Coldest average temperatures of all the planets at -406 degrees F.

                Dwarf Planet Eris: Largest of the Dwarf Planets (even bigger than Pluto), over 6 Billion miles from the Sun, discovery of this planet caused the controversy of what is a planet.... leading to the demotion of Pluto. 1 Moon

                I'll conclude this with 3 additional interesting facts:

                Fact One--- Lets say you weigh 150 pounds on Earth, this is how you would match up on the surface of other planets: Mercury-57 pounds, Neptune-180 pounds, Jupiter-381 pounds

             Fact 2---   An Earth Year is how long it takes Earth to Orbit the Sun. But the Sun orbits the center of our Galaxy, meaning that a Year for the sun is how long it takes to go all the way around the galaxy, this is known as a Cosmic Year, and a Cosmic Year for our sun is about 225,000,000 years!!!

               Fact3---  In the future as our knowledge continues to expand, especially with our spacecrafts soon reaching farther into our solar system than ever before with better instruments of measurements, things will be changed and improved as far as our understanding of the Solar System is concerned.  So things to look for in the future:

--Pluto and its moon Charon actually orbit Each Other. Charon is the largest moon related to size of its host planet (the planet it orbits), but as mentioned it actually is orbiting Pluto while Pluto is orbiting it! This means that Charon could very well be promoted from moon to Dwarf Planet.

--Sedna is right now classified as a planetoid object, because not much is known at all. The orbit is so eccentric that it makes it hard to classify because the orbit goes in and out of the Kuiper Belt, and is so far that it can only be seen at certain times when the sunlight makes it bright enough for us to catch a glimpse of. So in the future when more is understood about planetary bodies, perhapse you will also find Sedna being added to Dwarf Planets, making our solar system much larger than thought at the moment, which could also add to the finding of others!