Facebook Review

At the beginning of the semester I had no clue what to do for my Facebook campaign.  After talking to a lot of my friends I finally decided to make a page for the Coral Canyon Grille.  I had never made a Facebook page before for a business so this was very helpful.   My strategies were to add beautiful food pictures and get as many likes as I could.  I soon found out that a lot more goes into a business Facebook   page.   I learned how to boost a post and add good posts that people will view.  I felt I did a great job getting the page up and running.  Unfortunately I should have been a little more frequent with posts and pictures.  If I could change things I would have added a lot more post. I would also try o get a budget from the business I was running it for so I could network better and boost items.  I would also try to get more of the go ahead from the business to write what I want.  I never felt I could post enough because I had to say what I was told.  I was pleased I received a 112 likes.  Coral Canyon also told me they had several people come in to just eat and not play golf. This was a big accomplishment because they were no getting any costumers outside of golfers. Overall it was a great learning experience.

 

Not the same without Tiger

For better or worse, golf is dependent on Tiger Woods' playing

Originally Published: April 4, 2014

By Skip Bayless | ESPN.com

AP Photo/Dave MartinSince Tiger Woods won his first Masters as a professional in 1997, the game has belonged to him. No one has seriously challenged him, and no one has duplicated his charisma and magnetism.

My jaw dropped and my temperature rose as I watched Tuesday's 6 p.m. "SportsCenter." One after another, commentators and analysts delivered solemn eulogies. Tiger Woods was out with back surgery. Golf was dead.

At least, that's how it sounded to a guy who has loved, watched and played golf for 48 years -- me. No Tiger, no interest. It almost felt as if they should just cancel next week's Masters or at least postpone it until Tiger says he's ready to go again.

Here's what I almost yelled at my TV:

DOES ANYONE BUT ME REMEMBER TIGER WOODS HASN'T WON A MAJOR CHAMPIONSHIP IN ALMOST SIX YEARS AND THAT HE HASN'T WON THE MASTERS IN NINE?

Instead I folded my arms and thought: Masters Sunday has long been my favorite day in sports -- no event provides more consistently astonishing closing drama. I will miss Tiger, but I will still sit in my pew as always, watching my Masters and my U.S. Open and my British Open and my PGA with or without Tiger.

I was so steamed I thought about calling my best friend from childhood in Oklahoma City to commiserate -- but quickly remembered he loves Tiger almost as much as he does his wife and son. So I settled for calling my mom. She loves Tiger, too, but she loves golf more. She used to be quite a player.

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"You looking forward to watching the Masters?" I asked.

"Oh, I guess," she said.

"You guess? You are going to watch, aren't you?"

"Oh, probably."

"Probably?"

"Well, it's just not the same without Tiger."

Mother knows best. Those words pierced my pride like one of Tiger's stingers. I realized I'm going to miss him far more than I was admitting to myself.

OK, I'll give you this: Since he won his last major -- on a broken leg at the 2008 U.S. Open -- golf hasn't come close to replacing Tiger Woods. No Next Tiger has stepped into the vacuum, in consistent dominance or force-field aura.

So no matter how Tiger deceived us into thinking he was a model husband and father, no matter how the resulting scandal and rehab and shame wrecked his confidence, no matter how much he threatened his Nicklaus-catching health with vanity-fueled power-lifting, distance-running, wind-sprinting and even "I am invincible" maneuvers with the Navy Seals, no matter his four knee operations and multiple Achilles/neck/shoulder/elbow injuries and now microdiscectomy surgery -- Tiger Woods STILL owns golf at a broken-down 38.

How lucky is he? How spoiled are we?

For 11 years he took us places we'd never been. His 12-shot, hello-world breakthrough in his first Masters as a pro in 1997 remains the single most stunning sports performance I've ever witnessed. I covered many of his greatest triumphs -- the terminal crushing of Sergio Garcia's confidence at the '99 PGA, the 15-shot win that closed the 2000 Open, the trick-shot shootout win over Bob May in the 2000 PGA. I never much cared for Tiger off the course -- pompous brat -- but never tired of writing and debating his human thunderstorm of cursing, club-throwing, fist-pumping and field-slaying.

Beginning in '97, Tiger was the only golfer in the world who played with Jordan-esque fury. His "rivals" bowed to him -- even rooted for him -- because he magnetized so many new fans and helped make even average competitors rich with new endorsement millions.

Yet for me, this was the shocker: I thought in '97 that Tiger Woods had thrown open the Augusta National gates for a parade of young African-American golfers to come charging up PGA Tour leader boards. Remember the Nike ads featuring kids of all colors saying, "I am Tiger Woods"? Did not happen. I envisioned that by now, the PGA Tour would be on fire with eight or 10 young African-American stars -- maybe more -- who'd be taking some of the spotlight off Tiger. Instead, today's Tour has zero African-American players. Not zero African-American stars. Zero African-American players. Maybe the game is too expensive for underprivileged kids. Maybe course proximity is a problem. Maybe minority kids just haven't been made to feel welcome enough at advanced levels of competition.

Or maybe what has happened to baseball has happened to golf: Maybe kids of color just find football and basketball more fun to play. Golf is just so damned hard. So despite First Tee programs providing instruction, encouragement, equipment and course privileges in cities across America: zero. I've done my small part for the First Tee site in Oklahoma City. First-class facility. I've seen lots of black kids hitting lots of balls on its practice range. Zero. Tiger wins again.After 17 years on Tour, part of Tiger's appeal remains the perception that he, and he alone, is beating White Country-Club America at its own game. This subplot has drawn in Tiger supporters of all colors who wouldn't know a five iron from a branding iron. The only reason they watch what to them is a slow, silly game is to root for Tiger. If he's out, they tune out. Stephen A. Smith, my "First Take" debate partner, readily acknowledges he isn't much of a golf fan, but he sure is a golfer. Jim Watson/AFP/Getty ImagesWoods departure from golf for a few months is a bleak prospect for the sport. This occasionally offends the lifelong golf fan in me.I did not grow up around a country club. I paid some dues. My first clubs were bought at a pawn shop. I played a lot at a public course called Lincoln Park, off what's now

Martin Luther King Blvd. in a predominantly black neighborhood. I often saw black people playing golf at Lincoln in the 1960s, and I see them there every summer when I play what remains my favorite course in the world.Yet what still baffles me is that through my childhood and early sports-writing days, more black golfers were having more impact on pro golf than they are now. Lee Elder. Charlie Sifford. Jim Thorpe. Calvin Peete. Look 'em up.What frustrates me now is that through my childhood and early sports-writing days, golf was far more week-to-week captivating because Jack Nicklaus had far more hungry challengers who could sometimes match him in talent, desire and backbone and who sometimes surpassed him in popularity and leading-man charisma. Arnold Palmer. Gary Player. Julius Boros. Johnny Miller. Tom Watson. Ben Crenshaw. Seve Ballesteros. Look 'em up.That era also had its gate-crashing, establishment-rocking outsider, Lee Trevino, known as the "Merry Mex," who was so offended by the way Augusta National members ran their Masters that he refused to dress in the club's locker room, instead lacing up his spikes in the parking lot like any public-course hacker.How I miss those days. Now it's Tiger or bust.Sure, there's Phil, as in Mickelson. He'll do when Tiger can't. But Phil's 43 now, still trails Tiger by nine majors and too often has left his fans dumbfounded just when they thought they could trust him. Ireland's Rory McIlroy is a nice, curly-haired kid with rare talent but no Eye of the Tiger -- no killer will, drive to dominate. Bubba Watson is a delightfully uncomplicated lefty who looks like he might just be content with his one major, the 2012 Masters.So Tiger has kept us hanging on the past six years by, incredibly, winning eight times in his last tournament before a major. Now he's ready! April fools: He has become a bigger tease than the annually 8-8 Dallas Cowboys.Tiger Woods keeps showing up at majors with the slump-shouldered, long-faced confidence of an imposter. Now he's gone again, and it almost feels like he's becoming a sympathetic figure again. I just feel sorry for golf.

One of the biggest social media buzzes for golfers as of late has been Tiger Woods dropping out of the masters.  The media creates the feeling that without Tiger golf isn’t golf.  They make is seem like people only watch golf to see him compete.  I am a huge Tiger woods fan but that certainly doesn’t mean I will not be watching the Masters.  After all it is the biggest golf event of the year.  If you look at The PGA website or ESPN golf it is headlines that golf is not the same without tiger.   To me this uses the context of psychological effects.  Basically by the media telling everyone the Masters just won’t be the same it’s not.  Where as in all reality it is still the same.  Tiger Woods has not won the Masters in 9 years.  I am a huge fan of his and what he has done to the sport but it makes no difference on how the masters will be played.  The culture of the event does not change.  The masters as a tournament has been around way before Tiger Woods time. 

A Contextual Impact

            

The Masters Golf tournament is coming up and I can’t believe how all they seem to talk about is Tiger Woods missing it.  In the media to day I feel sports put a negative psychological role on games when the star athletes do not play. Tiger woods not playing the Masters this year has a huge negative role on all the TV stations airing it.  I believe this all because of how the media portrays it.  Above I showed you one of many articles only listing all of the negatives about Tiger Woods not competing.  If they would change up their attitudes towards the events and talk about other start players competing it could save the TV stations ratings.  This would also keep the viewer’s more interested.  In golf there are so many different athletes that the media would have plenty of options to create exciting stories going into the Masters. 

            The media can ruin people’s cultural beliefs also in sports.  In this particular event of Tiger Woods not playing the media slammed the cultural sides of things.  They said the Masters did not hasn’t the same feel as past years with him in it.  The crazy thing to look into though is that tiger woods have actually won the masters since 2003.  And all the winners since then are currently competing in it.  This event also supports a young Jordan Spieth who has been on fire lately.  The media needs to talk more about the exciting things.  It does not change the course at all and the history of the masters by not having one player. 

This reminds me a lot of the social buzz that was going on when NBA players were choosing to sit out because they need rest.  The stars would not go to away games and compete against the worst teams.  This helped prevent injure and rested them up.  People began getting very mad because they would buy tickets to watch these stars play.  If the media would have changed how they talked about it and only mentioned how excited they were to see some of these back up players compete people may have been more interested.  Instead they just acted like it was a waste of time and not worth watching. 

            In the Tiger Woods articles talking about the masters it is all negative.  The media managed to evolve the masters into just another event.  This is a true tragedy for all golfers.  We love our sport and love watching everyone compete.  For me personally this year’s masters will be just as important and fun as all the others.  Tiger Woods not playing in it does not make a difference on the excitement level.  Tiger Woods does amazing things but so do all the other players.  He will be missed in this tournament greatly but it certainly doesn’t change the culture of the event.  The media needs to quit using psychological tactics to make people think it will be less entertaining.  

http://espn.go.com/golf/story/_/id/10723399/skip-bayless-tiger-woods

We’ve all seen solar panels adorning an increasingly large number of roofs. Not just on homes but offices, factories, railway stations and many others.
But solar power has plenty of other applications beyond lowering electricity bills for the environmentally aware in the developed world.
We look through some of the less obvious, sometimes less useful, applications for the harnessing the sun’s rays.
Make beer
A brewery in Michigan in the US has invested in 300 solar thermal tubes to heat the water it uses in its attached restaurant as well as in the beer making process itself.

Solar powered and poison free. (Source: Flickr/Wystan)

The Arbor Brewing Company has almost halved its demand for gas for water heating making a decent cost saving as well as some delicious liquid bread. Each bottle carries the guarantee that the beer is “pure and without drugs or poison”.
Fly a plane
It may have only completed one flight over a significant distance, and that may have taken 19 hours, but it’s a start.
The jumbo jet sized Solar Impulse craft flew from Madrid to Rabat earlier this year with only its pilot on board.
Whether we’ll get commercial solar planes in the future is anyone’s guess but this at least, is a start.
Power a stadium
Taiwan’s Dragon Stadium (or Kaohsiung National Stadium to give its full name) is remarkable for several reasons as these pictures show.
The “scales” on the spiralled dragon-shaped arena are in fact solar panels providing all of the electricity required to run the stadium
Cook a meal up Mount Everest
Solar cooking works on the same basic principal, reflecting the suns rays to a concentrated point, where a (well-insulated) cooking pot absorbs the heat.
They are increasingly being used in refugee camps and in disaster struck regions, where access to fuel may be restricted. They can also be used in remote wilderness regions, including Mount Everest base camp.

The Himalayas reflected in a solar cooker at Everest base camp. (Source: Flickr/Rick McCharles)

Turn seawater into drinking water
With water scarcity one of the related and amplified consequences of climate change, this solar-powered solution could prove to be very useful in the future.
The technology uses a concentrated solar power (CSP) plant, which generates electricity by focusing the suns rays on a liquid-filled tank to drive a turbine. This electricity is then used for an attached (energy hungry) desalination plant.
Qatar is leading research on these technologies and has pledged to share it with other countries suffering water shortages.
Power a Kenyan village
RTCC has previously looked at what off-grid, small scale solar energy can do rural communities in Africa. A number of schemes, such as Eight19’s pay as you go system can improve health (by cutting out the need for indoor kerosene burning) and save residents money.
Mark Kragh from KnowYourPlanet, is working to help communities make money from going solar by establishing cottage industries that produce and sell small-scale residential panels.

The finished article after Mark Kragh's workshop in Kenya.

Save lives
An estimated 1.5 billion people have no access to electricity. This reduces quality of life at home, but it also impacts access to education, communication, banking and health care.
This super-efficient solar powered fridge can keep vaccines and other medicines cool for ten days between charges and in any location, freeing access to health care from the confines of electricity grids and the cost of diesel generators.
Power a space station

The solar-powered International Space Station. (Source: Flickr/FlyingSinger)

Perhaps the most widely accepted use of solar panels, particularly with the traditional opponents of renewable energy, is the space industry.
Solar panels have for a long time kept satellites running for decades without any physical refuelling required. The guaranteed sunshine afforded by being 36000km above the surface of the Earth and the absence of any meaningful gravity overcome many of the obstacles faced by traditional aviation.
Mow your lawn (no pushing required)
Not quite as life-changing as some of our other entries, this automatic solar powered lawn mower is if nothing else, an innovative bit of fun that shows the breadth of solutions open to solar technology.
On the downside, it is estimated to cost $5000.
Power a festival
More and more smaller cultural events are going 100% solar-powered while the big events do all they can to chip away at their environmental footprint.
Glastonbury’s Michael Eavis has installed 1100 solar panels at the famous farm and festival venue but even they are a drop in the ocean for the event’s monster 15MW power consumption
- See more at: http://www.rtcc.org/2012/07/04/ten-things-you-can-do-with-solar-power/#sthash.RZXR4WW1.dpufhttp://www.rtcc.org/2012/07/04/ten-things-you-can-do-with-solar-power/

How Solar Energy Can Help the economy 

One of the many benefits of solar power is that the industry has the potential to help boost the economy. But how exactly could this happen, and what is the reasoning behind this statement?

Solar Creates Jobs

A demand for solar power means that more materials will need to be manufactured, and more systems will need to be designed and installed. These tasks all require skilled and specially trained employees, which means that higher demand for solar power will lead to job growth in the renewable energy sector. In fact, various news sources have recently reported that job growth in the solar energy industry has outpaced the overall growth rate.

Solar Power Reduces Energy Dependence

A buzzword in the recent election was “energy independence”. The sun belongs to no one, and its energy is present everywhere. The sun cannot be taxed or tariffed, and once your solar panels are installed, there are no price fluctuations or negotiations about the cost of fuel. Solar energy is not owned or supplied by any entity in particular. Therefore, using the sun to our advantage is a step toward energy independence.

Solar Power Saves Money

No one enjoys paying bills, and your electric bill is probably a large expense. The cost of heating and cooling your home will make up the largest portion of your energy bill, and, depending on how energy efficient your home may be, the heating or cooling system may be running most of the time. These necessary expenses add up quickly, and that means that homeowners have less of their hard earned money to spend on other goods and services, because it must be paid to to gas and electric companies.
Solar power can free up more spending money, because it can significantly reduce or eliminate an electric bill. This means that homeowners that choose solar will have more money to spend, instead of being tied to rising electricity rates. Just imagine how much money could be saved by homeowners with a home solar system, and an electric vehicle

Solar Energy Business

e Companies That Are Using The Most Solar Power

Stores like Ikea, Costco, and Walmart are turning themselves into renewable energy powerhouses.
 550,000 solar panels. 1 million panels planned by 2016. Thirteen wind farms. You might be thinking we're talking about a fair-sized utility. But no. The company with all this renewable energy capacity is actually Ikea. The flatpack giant is becoming a renewable power house.

Ikea wants to generate all its own energy, and its distribution centers and stores are ideal places for solar systems, according to chief sustainability officer Steve Howard. "You can turn a fallow roof into a fertile economic asset," he says. In 10 states, Ikea now has the largest single rooftop installations.

Image: JuliusKielaitis / Shutterstock

Such is Ikea's advance, it's no longer impressed with traditional energy producers. Howard thinks their days are numbered. "I had a Chinese energy company present to us recently about their portfolio," he says. "I whispered to my colleague 'we're a bigger than them and we're a home furnishing company.'"
Most of the biggest corporate users of solar are retailers. According to a report from the Solar Energy Industries Association, six of the top 10 in U.S. are big-box chains. Walmart has the highest installed base, with 89.43 megawatts and 215 sites. It's followed by Costco (47.06) and Kohl's (44.72), with Apple (40.73) and Ikea (35.08) next.

Top 10 companies by solar capacity

1. Walmart: 89 megawatts
2. Costco: 47 megawatts
3. Kohl's: 45 megawatts
4. Apple: 41 megawatts
5. Ikea: 35 megawatts
6. Macy's: 21 megawatts
7. Johnson & Johnson: 17 megawatts
8. McGraw Hill: 14 megawatts
9. Staples: 13 megawatt
10. Campbell's: 12 megawatts

Overall, the top 25 companies had installed 445 MW at 950 different facilities by last August, SEIA says. That's up from 300 MW at 730 sites the year before. Much of that was due to the falling cost of generation. The completed installation price has decreased 30% since early 2011, the report says.
Ikea has the largest percentage of its sites with solar (89%) and its network spans the highest number of states (20). Howard says in places like California it no longer needs incentives from government to make investments worthwhile. And he expects the economics to become yet more favorable, as the cost of solar falls and the price of traditional power goes up. Ikea expects increases of 30% to 40% over the next 10 years.
"People talk about renewables as 'alternative,' but that does it a disservice," he says. "Think rationally about how you're going to generate energy now. Are you going to dig up dinosaur food and burn it, and create local pollution, and ship it around, and cause catastrophic climate change? Or, are you going to produce clean energy that's free after construction? It's not difficult to decide. This is just sensible, mainstream energy."

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