How To Make Money Identifying Beetles And Butterflies

http://determix.com/

Before the rise of the Digital age, research and forensic scientists, biologists, and botanists, painstakingly identified each and every living organism by searching their various ranks in the Nomenclature Code rule book. Using advanced technology however, has made it possible to simplify these steps in just a couple of clicks on the computer. Determix has created Lysandra Online, an internet-based, biological database that classifies all organisms using interactive catalogues and identification guides. Everything is basically there; and unlike a trip to the library, it wouldn't take a day to find a strange organism's Domain, Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and Species classification—all in one sitting.

This is good news to scientists all over the world. Lysandra Online is co-authored by leading specialists in the fields of zoology and biological sciences; and it uses complex algorithms to search for an organism's specific hierarchies. It makes things even easier by adding illustrated catalogues, handy navigation, and print output in its features. And here's the best part: it can organize random search lists from the general catalogue and even create mini-presentations. Some of its published works include beetles and butterfly classification, butterfly identifcation database, and all that can be easily accessed via website.

The best part, however, is that it’s free. All its database and facilities are available after installation, and some of its demo databases don't even need registration. Today, it is used as an accurate guide to biological classification, and Determix has now released a commercial version of its database that contains completely illustrated tools, maps, and pictures for better identification.

[Via - MadConomist.com]

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Pond Scum Cleaners

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http://www.bluewaterpond.com/

Pond scum, or blue-green algae, is a common sight in the Land of 10,000 Lakes.

For Blue Water Ponds, a start-up company operated by two recent college graduates, pond scum is a business opportunity.

The company, which won the student division of the 2010 Minnesota Cup challenge, aims to prevent summer algae blooms with a sustainable solution: barley. The company offers its services placing bales of pelletized barley into ponds in the spring and then harvests weeds in the summer to allow beneficial plants to continue growing. The treatment for the average pond hovers around $400 annually, said Ben Schurhamer, president of Blue Water Ponds.

"Barley straw has definitely shown efficacy," Dave Wright, a scientist with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, said. But the exact science behind the barley treatment is unknown. Two theories exist:

•The barley might create a competition between harmful plants and other bacteria for nutrient resources that wouldn't normally exist.

•Other bacteria might create a growth-inhibiting compound after feeding on the carbohydrate-rich barley, reducing algal growth.

"We don't know how, but the barley changes the biological composition of the water," Schurhamer said.

The idea of using barley to clear bacteria from water is not a new one.

Though the method has been around for thousands of years, it was modified in the 1990s by researchers in England and became a standard practice for the many lakes, canals and ponds across Great Britain.

The treatment has received a wide following in the past few years as a more environmentally stable means of algal control. Normally, pond and lake owners use synthetic algaecides such as Polyquat or the hypertoxic copper sulfate to control the plants.

Blue Water Ponds is one of the few companies in the area that offers the barley service. Metro area cities have used the treatment in more than 100 ponds in Bloomington, Shoreview, Minneapolis and others.

Connor McComas, an environmental sciences graduate of Iowa State University, and Schurhamer, a biochemistry graduate from the University of Minnesota, co-founded the company in 2007 after completing internships with an environmental sciences research group.

Blue Water Ponds started officially in 2009 as a two-man operation, but recently added two more full-time employees, and often adds one or two others during the spring. The company expects to complete barley treatments on 200 to 400 ponds this summer, and to generate between $20,000 and $30,000 in revenue, McComas said.

Bloomington used the method last year to clear local ponds of algae, duckweed and other nuisance plants in a more sustainable way.

"We've used herbicides in the past, but we started the barley method to try and identify a more sustainable measure," said Bryan Gruidl, a water resources specialist for the Bloomington Public Works Department.

Dawn Sommers, a public information manager for the Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board, said that the city has been using the barley method for several years, and said it has been "very successful in helping control algal growth."

Sam Villella, a homeowner in Blaine, lives near a community pond that had serious algal problems for several years. The residents were eager to remove the slime that covered nearly a quarter of the water, but were extremely wary of pesticides that might add harmful chemicals to the water and hurt the wildlife in the area. Villella said after some searching, he discovered Blue Water Ponds, and employed them the next year. Villella said he and his neighbors were thrilled with the results.

"The difference was night and day," Villella said. "We were very happy with the clarity of the water, there was no slime, and there was no stink. Even people that were skeptical were amazed.''

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Uncle Milton Uncle Milton Giant Ant Farm Story

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Uncle Milton Uncle Milton Giant Ant Farm

Milton Levine liked to give his customers advice from the Bible: "Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways and be wise."

Mr. Levine, who died Jan. 16 at age 97, knew whereof he spoke. He introduced the Ant Farm to America in 1956.

A mail-order entrepreneur, Mr. Levine said he came to the revelation at a Fourth of July picnic that included the inevitable uninvited insect guests.

Mr. Levine developed the narrow green plastic case with barn and windmill that became a toy sensation of 1957-58, when two million were sold.

Mr. Levine made no claims to have invented the formicarium, as homes for ants are formally called. A patent on one was issued in 1937 to a Dartmouth professor who made and sold "Ant Palaces" from a workshop in Hanover, Vt.

But Mr. Levine, who knew a lot about ants despite lacking formal training, insisted the formicarium was older still. "They're about as old as glass itself," he told The Wall Street Journal in 1958.

The son of Russian Jewish immigrants, Mr. Levine was born in Pittsburgh. His father was a dry cleaner, and Mr. Levine's main contact with ants came on visits to his uncle's farm, where he gathered them into mini-terrariums he constructed in Mason jars.

After serving in the Army in World War II, he and his brother-in-law, E. Joseph Cossman, started a mail-order business selling toy soldiers through ads in comic books. Later, they sold novelties like shrunken heads and spud guns.

The Ant Farm was initially sold by mail and later through retailers nationwide. Each Ant Farm came with a coupon for a vial of ants that was mailed separately, since ants don't have a long shelf life.

The ants themselves—red ants known as Pogonomyrmex californicus—were collected in the desert by workers armed with shovels and vacuums. At first they were paid a penny per ant, and the Christian Science Monitor reported in 1967 that the most productive of them made $3,000 weekly.

In 1965, Mr. Levine bought out Mr. Cossman, who went on to become a marketing consultant and author of "How I Made A Million In Mail Order."

Mr. Levine renamed his company Uncle Milton Industries—he said it was "Uncle" Milton because people often asked him if he was in the ant business, where was the uncle?

In a 1970 book Mr. Levine wrote, "Ant Facts and Fantasies," he explained that "this writer is of the opinion that ants are truly socialist. After all, their life is truly a communal one."

As the Cold War was winding down in 1989, Uncle Milton Industries sent representatives to Moscow to explore selling Ant Farms in the Soviet Union.

Uncle Milton Industries also offered products involving live butterflies and frogs, and other science-oriented toys.

Mr. Levine's son, Steven Levine, took over the business in the 1980s. It was sold to a private-equity firm in 2010.

"I love ants," Mr. Levine told Smithsonian magazine in 1989. "They're the greatest things on Earth. I've got three kids, and ants put them all through college. I never even step on ants, I tell you. Never."

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Sniff The Mold

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http://www.1800gotmold.com/

Impenetrable rainforests, palm-studded beaches--Hawaii has many stirring sights. But for Jason Earle, the putrid, mold-ridden Hilton Hawaiian Village's Kalia Tower in Waikiki was most inspiring. In 2002, during a sojourn to the Aloha State after he ditched a nine-year career as a stockbroker, he watched as the $95 million hotel was closed down one year after opening because of ventilation problems. "They thought it was a $500,000 mold problem, then it grew to $5 million," he says. "In the end, it cost $55 million to fix."

The closure got personal after Earle talked to one of the cleanup workers and read about health problems associated with mold. As a child living on a small farm in West Windsor, N.J., Earle had had serious respiratory problems that were eventually diagnosed as asthma compounded by chronic pneumonia as well as allergies to grass, wheat, corn, eggs, milk, cotton, animals, pollen and just about everything else. He had lived like the Bubble Boy, but after moving to a new house nearby, Earle's health problems had miraculously evaporated. Everyone assumed he had outgrown his illnesses, but in retrospect, Earle became convinced mold had debilitated him.

"After reading about the Kalia Tower, I asked my dad if we had mold in that house," Earle says. "He laughed and said we had actual mushrooms growing the basement."

Earle became passionate about detecting dangerous fungi and after traveling, settled in New Jersey to work for a mold-remediation firm. When he heard about a dog that had been trained to sniff out hidden moisture, he flew to Florida and bought the dog, a black Lab named Oreo, and set off on his own, combining traditional detection techniques with Oreo's sniffer.

1-800-GOT-MOLD? was a hit. (An inspection runs an average of $1,200.) And Earle began franchising the concept this year, training a small battalion of mold-sniffing labs in Florida and opening 23 locations in New Jersey and the Carolinas. He expects to open 30 more in the next 12 months and more than 300 in the next three years.

How big is the mold problem?
The mold-detection industry is growing fast, and we're the only national brand. About a third of Americans suffer from asthma, allergies, sinusitis, bronchitis and other respiratory problems. That's100 million people sensitive to mold issues. According to one website,

80 percent of homes will eventually have problems with flooding or leaks. We also try to market ourselves through doctors and medical services, not real estate companies, and emphasize mold's health effects. That's a huge separator for us.

Why use dogs?
With the dogs, we can offer superior service, and they create a tremendous amount of confidence. The dogs almost validate the human inspector because people naturally trust dogs so much. It's a huge marketing advantage. Plus, scheduling a mold inspection is up there with scheduling a root canal--it's not fun. The dog changes the dynamic. We don't use dogs as a replacement for anything, but they give us an even greater amount of data. They pinpoint problem areas that would be missed, and they reduce the size of remediation to the smallest dimensions, so there's no need for wholesale demolition of a wall.

How do clients react to the dogs?
It can be an emotional experience when homeowners see a dog alert in a room they know is a problem or makes them feel sick. It validates their concerns. They don't feel crazy anymore.

Do you breed moldhounds?
No, we use rescued female black Labs and Lab mixes. We use Labs because they are the friendliest and America's favorite dog. For some reason, black dogs are usually the last to be rescued, so we get them from kill shelters. Females are easier to train, and have a better sense of smell.

Are you still allergic to mold?
I tend to limit my time in moldy houses, and I haven't experienced the symptoms I had as a kid. I think that going in and out of so many houses with mold has reduced my sensitivity, kind of like getting allergy shots. But that's just my theory.

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[Via - Entrepreneur.Com]

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