Juas… Desconocía que hace cuatro años casi tocan los números de Perdidos en la lotería irlandesa:

También es casualidad que la última cifra sea el 42 del revés y también es curioso que 24 + 19 = 43, todo sea rondar al dichoso 42 con magufadas numerológicas. Lo podéis comprobar aquí si miráis los resultados del 19 de Noviembre de 2005.

Para quien no sepa qué son Los Números Chungos le recomiendo encarecidamente que se ponga a ver Perdidos (a.k.a. Lost). Si te importa un pimiento y quieres arruinar la serie y de paso tu vida pásate por aquí.

Por cierto que la sexta temporada tiene previsto su arranque para el 2 de Febrero de 2010 en Estados Unidos. Habrá que ver si al final se cumple lo del estreno mundial o si habrá que seguir viendo los capítulos subtitulados… Veremos.

pregnancy remedy

Acne is a abiding bark ataxia which causes affluence of embarrassments for the abundant woman like swelling inflammation pimples spots blackheads and whiteheads etc. The victim generally indulges in abiding abasement due to acne. In this way a abiding abscess antidote becomes important for the patient.

. Accutane is a anesthetic that is usually taken for abscess analysis of abundant woman. The accepted name for Accutane is isotretinoin. The acumen is that it is usually advised to be the best abscess analysis during pregnancy.

. Retin-A is a recommended chrism that is activated against the abscess areas of skin. The accepted name of Retin-A is Tretinoin.

. Tetracycline is an antibacterial taken for abscess disorder.

. If you are adversity from abscess disease booty vitamin E capsules. Your pimples and deepening will be instantly removed.

. One of the abscess blister remedies is the acceptance of rosehip berry oil. The acumen is that it is such a able abettor which can bound actuate of abscess scars. You alone charge to administer this admixture on your abscess areas of skin.

. Always use a counterbalanced diet which includes beginning vegetables pregnancy remedy fruits milk chicken fish beans whey beef eggs nuts juices and cottage cheese etc. The acumen is that comestible foods can artlessly absorb the abundance of vitamins and minerals in your anatomy which in actuality prevents you from abscess breakouts.

. If you appetite to break abroad from abscess bark disorder again alcohol abounding water. For example you should alcohol at atomic to glasses on a circadian basis. The acumen is that baptize releases the toxins in your body and you will be abhorred from pimples.

. Eat lots of fruits like apple pea pomegranate banana strawberry guava and ache apple.

This song basically describes my life at the moment (apparently, it describes Jon & Kate Gosselin’s family as well, considering this song has been used to promote the last episode of the show).

I need to stand up for me, make choices that make me happy, stay true to myself because this is my opportunity; my one chance to actually make something of myself.

This is the moment
It’s on the line
Which way you gonna fall?
In the middle between
Wrong and right
But you know after all

(Chorus)
It’s your life
What you gonna do?
The world is watching you
Every day the choices you make
Say what you are and who
Your heart beats for
It’s an open door
It’s your life

Are you who you always said you would be?
With a sinking feeling in your chest
Always waiting for someone else to fix you
Tell me when did you forget

(Chorus)

To live the way that you believe
This is your opportunity
To let your life be one that lights the way

(Chorus)

Press Pass has produced an 6-card promo set for their upcoming 8 Seconds product based around the PBR.  If your on their mailing list you should be getting the promos soon.

IETester nos permite visualizar una página web con el motor de Internet Explorer 5.5, 6, 7 y 8.

Todos los desarrolladores sabemos que una misma página web no se comporta de igual forma en distintos navegadores. IETester es de gran utilidad para desarrolladores de páginas web para comprobar que cargan y se ven correctamente en diferentes versiones del navegador. Después de mucho tiempo buscando una aplicación como esta, maquetar nuestros diseños será una tarea mucho más cómoda.

Requiere tener instalada la versión 7, sino no funcionará el visionado de IE 7 ni IE 8.

Descargar IETester

NÅ .

Herregud, som jeg trenger en chill pill. Jeg er helt i hundre. Jeg er sliten, utslitt.

En jente, som ikke en gang kan engelsk, en som ikke en gang liker å lese, har lest og lest, på engelsk, om
duo-gruppen tATu .
I morgen har jeg engelsktentamen, og skal skrive om “musikk”.
Jeg valgte nettopp dem, enkelt sagt fordi jeg elsker dem.
Det de synger om, setter seg i hjernen, med en gang. Det er fengende, vekker oppsikt i hverdagen min.
Jeg kan kjenne meg igjen så godt i hva de synger om.

Jeg er stresset .
Nervøs .

I hele dag har jeg lest, og samlet stoff til i morgen. Nå har jeg akkurat 10 sider i OpenOffice.
Det er helt sykt mye. Jeg må si jeg har lært masse !
Nå mangler jeg bare å kutte det ned, skrive det enklere og få en viss oversikt til i morgen, ellers
er jeg dømt til å bruke minst halve tiden min på å bare lese gjennom alt.

Herregud , jeg sliter.
Gi meg en chill pill ..

Jeg kan ikke akkurat påstå at jeg hører for lite på tATu til vanlig, men i dag har jeg hørt på dem,
konstant.
Sett på nakne jenter i musikkvideoene dems. Må si jeg liker dem ganske godt, ja.
Har enda ikke helt bestemt meg for hvem av Yulia eller Elena jeg liker best.
HA HA HA ! Jeg har fått dem helt på hjernen !

Det får så være.
Nå er min første pause over.
Jeg burde kanskje ha spist noe.
Men i’ve got too little time for that, bby .

I’m mixed as to what this book could be classified under. I wonder is science fiction would do the job? although not much science was really mentioned. However it’s post apocalyptic. Yet that doesn’t necessairly mean it’s science fiction. Do you get my dilemma? anyway, I rather like books like these, they make me think. Then I start getting paranoid and wonder what would really happen if something like this were to really occur. It makes you think, and it makes your hair rise on the back of your neck. Plus, it also makes you count your blessings a lot more.

One Second After gives you a very interesting scenario; what would happen if an Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) were to be detonated in your country? the question is answered through John Matherson as he struggles to survive and save his family through this huge life changing event as it plunges the US back into the Dark Ages and into, quite literally, utter chaos. John is a college history professor and has unwittingly became one of its’ chief leaders of their little town of Black Mountain, North Carolina. He has to go through very tough decisions, very hard moments, and very dangerous ones in a country that’s total anarchy and where survival is the only thing left on one’s mind.

This was definitely mind blowing. It’s just so realistic because it’s true, we are so dependent on technology and with one simple EMP everything would just shut down. Nothing would work. It’s just amazing what we take for granted and when it’s not there, we panic and suddenly we feel so primitive. It was so interesting and I found myself turning page after page wondering what was going to happen next. Since everything was just shutting down, and John and some others in important positions were having to come together to make important decisions you wanted to know what choices one had to make when placed in a situation like this. It was just so interesting to see that just in a matter of weeks martial law sets in, decisions as to who gets the most rations, or what to do with those who are stealing and looting and get caught doing so. It was just an eye opener to see a well structured society as the one we are so used to just crumble and fall once something as catastrophic as an EMP happens.

Again I have to say what an eye opener this book is, the realism is there and everything is just so tragic especially when I read about what was happening in the senior’s home. I nearly wanted to cry. Everything was well described and the emotion is so tense and raw, you could feel what John was going through, you can feel the desparation, the anger, and anguish as you see the events through his point of view. Given the theme of this book, it’s definitely not a happy one, there were moments where you go get a chuckle or two but not so often. Even the ending, wasn’t really a great one it left you with an empty feeling, because you still weren’t sure what was going on out there, it certainly felt as if you were being kept in the dark, the same as the inhabitants of Black Mountain.

I loved the writing style of the book and the action. It just made me keep going. I wanted to see who survived and who didn’t. I wanted the best out of the characters I liked but knew it wasn’t going to end this way because the situation just seemed so bleak. You saw John from being a college professor with a specialty in military history (with military experience) to a hestitant leader who saw society crumble in days. I really did like John’s character development. It was very real and emotion filled. The other characters played their part but they were in the background the majority of the time. It was really John you’d be following throughout this book.

There’s a few things of the book I didn’t like. There were scenes where I felt there was a corny sense of patriotism and it was starting to look like a real bad Hollywood movie. Some moments were eye rolling and it sort of ruined the reading experience of the book. Then there were parts where it was predictable (the scene with Elizabeth and Ben jeeeeezzzz give me a break). So in a way, it was like reading a Hollywood movie in a book which is unfortunate as the book was fine without those moments. Also, this book is not for the squeamish there are moments of graphic violence among other things mentioned.

Overall, an eye opening book, because this sort of thing could really happen to us. It makes you now wonder about what’s being done to prevent this sort of thing. I great recommend this book for those that are into post apocalyptic fiction.

I give it an 8 out of 10.

pregnancy cures

Morning affection can alter in pregnancy cures assorted women. Some may acquaintance balmy affection while others will acquaintance astringent symptoms. However there is no one band-aid that works for all but there are things you can do Pregnancy Cures to allay the symptoms.

1. Slightly alteration you bistro habits. You would advance the action bigger by bistro baby commons circadian rather than three big meals. You could advance your claret amoroso concentration. By accomplishing this you can additionally abstain indigestion and annoyance Cure For Infertility significantly. Go for low-fat simple carbohydrate diet instead of your accepted meals.
2. Avoid able smells from aliment or scents. If you can’t do abroad with those types of smells you can backpack with you a hanky with a bead or two of your admired capital oil. Sometimes alike those scents we ahead adulation will aggravate the action so it is bigger that you abstain them Pregnancy Remedy as well.
3. Keep apparent cracker or biscuit abreast your bed so that back you deathwatch up in the average of the night of at the able of dawn you can eat it up to accession your claret amoroso afore you go about in your day.
4. Do not balloon to alcohol affluence of baptize circadian for at atomic six to eight glasses. Fluid assimilation is important abnormally back you are airsickness to accumulate you from dehydration. Abstain beverages that are caffeinated or Cure For Infertility drinks that accommodate a lot of amoroso that Pregnancy Cures will afflict the able clearing of you stomach.
5. Morning affection usually gets worse whenever you face exhaustion tiredness agitation or stress. Therefore it would be actual important if you get affluence of blow as abundant as you can. Spend a little Cure For Infertility time anniversary day for alleviation so that alike Pregnancy Cures if you are working your anatomy can still go on.
6. Take vitamin supplements abnormally ones that are affluent in vitamin B because studies Pregnancy Cures appearance that it relieves the abhorrent activity during pregnancy. But afore because this Pregnancy Remedy you should advise with your doctor first. Vitamin B is believed to advice as well.
7. Acupuncture reflexology and aromatherapy are some of the alternatives you can accomplish use as well. However you charge to seek these forms of analysis from able and accomplished practitioners.
8. Peppermint of spearmint Cure For Infertility effluvium and/or aroma can additionally advice you to abate the affection of morning affection for some women. Try those that do not accommodate amoroso or accumulate Pregnancy Cures a hanky with few drops of capital oils with excellent so Pregnancy Remedy that pregnancy cures you can bound abolish the anxious feeling.

Gerade mal vier Wochen ist Windows 7 jetzt offiziell im Verkauf, da wird bereits über den Nachfolger gesprochen: Windows 8 – so der wenig originelle Codename – steht anscheinend für 2012 auf der Microsoft Roadmap. Aufgetaucht ist diese Information Ende letzter Woche auf der “Professional Developers Conference” in Los Angeles in einer Präsentation des Windows-Server-Teams. Verbreitet hat sie der Blogger Stephen Chapman, der bereits im August über eine ähnliche Folie einer italienischen Windows-Server-Präsentation gebloggt hatte.

Microsoft will diese Gerüchte bislang nicht kommentieren, der Termin würde allerdings der bisherigen Planung des Konzerns entsprechen, alle vier Jahre ein Major Release seiner Betriebssysteme zu veröffentlichen. Für Windows 8 will Microsoft offenbar einen neuen Kernel verwenden und den Zugriff auf Dateien erheblich verbessern. Das geht zumindest aus Stellenausschreibungen hervor, die Microsoft im April dieses Jahres veröffentlichte.

Quelle: http://blog.softwareload.de/windows-8-ist-schon-in-arbeit/

I’m sort of surprised the same sex marriage conversations are not evolving more quickly.  The long and short of it (to me) is this:

1. We still (sort of) live in a free country.  Government should not be denying anyone rights; we all agree on that.
2. Marriage is a sticky word – lots of religious folks want to protect it’s definition.

To me, the solution is so obvious I’m surprised we’re still talking about it.  I would love for someone to give me some real reasons with my solution explained in detail here (link) does not work for both sides.

In summary, here’s the solution: Privitise Marriage.  Get the government out of the conversation all together (State and Federal).  This would restore freedom to marriage.  This can be done a number of ways; here are two suggestions.

• Re-write the current government marriage documents and exclude the word marriage.  Write them so that they can be used in any combination.
• Remove the current marriage documents and don’t replace them with anything – get the government away from marriage.  We really should not need the government’s permission to get married.  I understand marriage is related to property but there are other, smarter ways around that.

IT WOULD WORK, RIGHT?

For the folks in favor of same sex marriage:

• Equality is achieved.
• Federal and State documents ether don’t exist, or are identical regardless if the union is same sex, or opposite sex.  The word “marriage” does not exist in government documents.
• Religious organizations have the freedom (regardless of what state they are in) to perform same sex marriages, or not perform same sex marriages thus respecting their religious freedom.
• Same sex couples can choose to get married at the places that choose to perform the ceremony.  It can be called anything in the world.  Party, marriage, celebration, union, lemon, whatever.

For the folks who do not support same sex marriage:

• Marriage is protected, and can be defined by your specific religious organization.
• Marriage is no longer a government word, and it’s name or definition will not be changed by the government.
• Religious organizations exist that do not allow same sex marriages which are an option for membership.

BUT WHAT WOULD SCHOOLS TEACH?

Because marraige would no longer be a federal or state issue, marriage would not come up in the classroom at all.  The only thing they could really teach would be the legal documents that replace the old marriage documents (if they even need to exist) but I don’t think schools would waste valuable time teaching that.  What would they teach… where to fill in the names?  As there is no lesson on W-10’s or other government forms I’m sure the new union documents would be left out of the classroom.

OK folks, so let me have it.  How does this not resolve the issue…?

-dm

Felicitări! Ai motive serioase de bucurie dacă esti în căutarea unui cadou deosebit. Sub toate aspectele, atât ca originalitate, estetică, mesaj, prețiozitate, calitate, grad mare de personalizare și preț, cadourile nostre sunt fără egal.

Vă asigurăm că nu este nimic asemănător pe piața românească, decât dacă a fost copiat și reprodus mult sub calitatea produselor noastre. Prețurile noastre sunt cele mai mici și au ținut cont în primul rând de clientul final, de cel care dă toți banii. Am dorit să evităm încărcarea prețului cu cheltuieli și intermediari inutili. Drumul de la atelierul unde  produsele noastre se cofecționează manual și până la tine, clientul nostru este acum cel mai scurt. Timpii de livrare sunt comprimați la maximum și vor asigura promptitudine în calitatea serviciilor noastre. Orice produs poate fi personalizat într-o manieră autentică, astfel încât cadoul tău sa fie reprezentativ și unic în felul său. Textul, imaginea, fundalul sau toate acestea pot fi propuse de tine din imaginile personale cu textul dorit sau din oferta noastră.

Doar pe: Cadouricuimpact.ro

Și, mai mult…. 10 % REDUCERE la orice articol cumpărat!!!

Poți beneficia de această reducere, numai cu următorul cod: ccpx001102

Trebuie doar să introduci acest cod înainte de finalizarea comenzii tale (și numele meu: Marius Zarnescu pe undeva pe la sfârșit nu de alta, însă e necesar pentru o mai bună monitorizare) și te-ai facut astfel cu un cadou special pentru persoanele speciale din viata ta.

Câteva cuvinte despre noi…

Suntem o echipă de oameni tineri și talentați cu reședința în Piatra Neamț, cu vârste între 20 și 40 de ani , înzestrați cu abilități deosebite pentru a crea, înnoi și diversifica orice produs care poate fi oferit cu toată inima de orice persoana de pe planetă. Am intrat pe piață acum trei ani prin intermediul magazinelor partenere cu profil de cadouri, artizanat și decorațiuni interioare. Nu a fost cea mai bună idee deoarece intermediarii noștri cu oarecare excepții, desigur notabile, au devenit un obstacol în calea dezvoltării noastre, dar și a dorinței noastre de a oferi produse accesibile oricui. Adaosul comercial  justificat al magazinelor și uneori politica  de vanzări axată pe lovituri de sezon au făcut ca produsele noastre deși erau cerute de clienți să nu ajungă la un preț corect în raftul magazinelor. Acum vrem să stabilizăm prețul și să căștigăm împreună, noi și voi, cei care beneficiați în ultimă instanță de creațiile noastre.

Marius Zarnescu

Finally the ever awaited list of National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO)  is out which has names of 8,041 beneficiaries out of which only 34 are politicians and rest are from bureaucracy , criminals, businessmen and other accused.

There is a huge demand from various corners of the society to take resignations voluntarily or in voluntarily from the people who benefited from this law and are still serving in the government.

The point of view of government as presented by federal minister for information and governor of Gilgit-Bultistan Qamar Zaman Kaira is that demanding resignations from NRO beneficiaries uncalled for.  The reason he gives is one will have to differentiate between charges and crimes and that nothing has so far been proved against the NRO beneficiaries which on principle seems to be OK! But can the information minister inform us about the pending cases and trials of common people in courts who have to justify their innocence before law to get acquitted and if the NRO angels where innocent then why they took refuge in a dictator’s shelter of NRO.

The question here is of morality and social justice that why an elite group of people found it necessary to get a clearance certificate through a draconian law instead of facing the courts whereas a common man has to face years of trial to get justice.

Still no full list of beneficiaries and cases is provided to the people and media.

We also demand the list of people who got benefits from loan forgiveness or unfair settlements through corrupt political and banking practices.

(Images source: http://pkpolitics.com/2009/11/22/nro-list-shows-34-politicians-out-of-8000/)

Michael Haneke es un director alemán que hizo una peli de ultraviolencia en 1997 con clara influencia de Stanley Kubrick y Alfred Hitchcock con un reparto completamente alemán del cual sólo puedo reconocer a Ulrich Mühe quien actuó en la impecable Das Leben der Anderen en 2006.

Recientemente, están rotando la versión americana en Cinemax y al parecer lo más interesante es que el director no cambió nada, igual que la distribuidora que hasta los cortos de avances de la peli los dejó idénticos. El escenario es una casa burguesa en las afueras, rodeadas por un lago y un ambiente calmado. Es de corte psicológico y de una profundidad actoral muy fuerte. En el reparto de esta versión se encuentra Michael Pitt que ya resuena como un monstruo de la actuación, Naomi Watts en una increíble y desgarradora actuación y Tim Roth. La trama es que dos jóvenes llegan a la casa donde se hospedan Roth, Watts y su hijo y empieza una cadena de torturas psicológicas que no tiene fin durante más de doce horas.

Hablabamos con un amigo y desde que Pitt le pide unos huevos a Roth, al principio de la peli, uno se estremece con el tono en el que le responde y se crea de ahí en adelante una tensión electrizante.

Es supremamente gráfica y violenta.
Es sencilla y estremecedora.
Es entretenida pero a la vez muy tensionante.

Es una pieza de teatro impecable y definitivamente recomendada para seguir analizando, una y otra vez, ya que logra involucrar al espectador en estos juegos mentales y dejarle la conciencia dañada después de ser testigo de esta interminable tortura. No es violencia por violencia, es el espacio dejado por Kubrick en los 70’s después de su A Clockwork Orange donde se critica la sociedad, la asimilación del crimen y la violencia de forma natural en nuestras vidas y la psique de los llamados civilizados.

Sería chévere repasar la versión de 1997 y reparar en paralelo las modificaciones, los actores y el final.

Hey Guys MegaMuffin Here!
I’m Going To Do The Coins Contest! But I’m Going To Add More Coins! Now You Will Get 20,000 Coins If You Win! The Sub-Winner Will Get 5000 Coins! & The Person To Guess The Features Gets 5500 Coins! If The Winner Guesses The Features, He Will Get 25,500 Coins! And Sub-Winer Guessed He’d Get 11,000 Coins! And We Are Also Having A MiniParty For 2 Reasons!
1. 9,000 Hits!
2. I Got A New Cat! (Yay)
(The Party Details Will Be Below The Contest)
Contest

Ok The Contest Is! How Many Friends Have I Got? The Closest Answer Will Win! 2nd Closest Will Win The Sub Prize!
Features:
Ok The Features Are… What Are My Dragons Age (They Both Same Age) & How Many Coins Have I Got (I Have Inbetween 50-0 Coins! You Can Only Guess Once For This Whole Competition!)
If You Guess *ALL* Features Correctly You Win 5500 Coins (By Correctly I Meen Closest Answer)

I Will Also Be Giving Out A Special Panda 100,000 Coins Once I Get 300 Followers! Once I Get 300 Followers! I’ll Scroll Through All My Panda Followers, And See Who…Then I’ll Write Down All Their Names On My Computer, The Print Of All Their Names! Then Cut Them Out And Stick Em Into My Hat, Shake My Hat About Then Pick A Random Card, And I’ll Post The Winner On Here!
If You Win Send Your Contact Details To:
PandaMember@Gmail.Com
||CONTEST ENDS WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 25TH 2009||

Party Details:
The Party Will Be Thursday 12Am Greenwich MeanTime: London,Lisbon,Wales & American Central: 7Pm…
It Will Be A Server Willow At Bear Hollow!
I’ll Be Will Be Adding Everyone!
I May Have Some Special Guests Come Like:
Penguitt
Henry
Jmann93
Geek

So Hope You Can Make It! (I Might Be Announcing The Winners At The Party Aswell!)

Cya Guys!,
MegaMuffin Out,
Peace.

Jag har utmanat mig själv mer eller mindre att måla 8 tavlor innan jul

Nu är det snart bara 4 veckor kvar och hittills har jag bara fått en tavla målad, vilket betyder att jag har 7 kvar att måla på dessa ca 4 veckor som jag har på mig XD hur ska detta gå? Har jag tagit vatten över huvudet denna gången tro, eller kommer jag lyckas genomföra detta?

Det får tiden utvisa…

Primeiro, vou deixar claro o que é isso. Todos os dias que saimos, seja pro shopping, supermercado, casa do tio, da vó, clube, bordel ou boate, sempre nos deparamos com música de má qualidade. Música de má qualidade? Funk Carioca, Pagode, Axé, Psy, Emocore, (new) R&B, entre outras coisas. Nós roqueiros não gostamos disso. Enquanto o mundo está ouvindo Rihana, Cláudia Leitte, Ivete Sangalo, Alexandre Pires, NxZero, Fresno, Paramore, Justin Merdalake, nós estamos ouvindo Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Rolling Stones, Beatles, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Jimi Hendrix etc…

Não somos todos igual, óbvio, a maioria ouve Guns n’ Roses, Metallica, Pink Floyd, Scorpions, The Clash, Judas Priest, Nirvana, etc… Mas nem sempre todos gostam…

Mas, porém, entretanto, o objetivo dessa série é apresentar ao mundo a classe mais eclética do Rock N’ Roll. Você, psyzeiro, funkeiro, pagodeiro, emo, fãzinho de coisas da Disney, axezeiro ou qualquer outra coisa, já ouviu Red Hot Chili Peppers?? Bom, pra você ver como essa banda é tão eclética, a comunidade contra Red Hot no orkut tem 190 membros, e metade disso são fãs mandando esses viados que não gostam tomarem no rabo (não digo isso tudo por ser minha banda favorita, e sim por ser bom mesmo).

O objetivo dessa série então é tentar mostrar aos adolescentes modinha de hoje que existe muita coisa boa que eles deviam ouvir.

Então, nessa primeira edição, trazemos alguns vídeos de músicas de Rock (ou Pop Rock) que qualquer um pode gostar:

Bom, vejam esses videos.

Se os autores/editor quiserem me ajudar nesse projeto é só dar um toque aí… (Uma hora ou outra vocês VÃO ter que me ajudar, querendo ou não, porque meu estoque de rock eclético não vai durar pra sempre…)

Bom, espero que tenham gostado, novas edições serão freqüentes.

Titles:
1. The Vanishings
2. Second Chance
3. Through The Flames
4. Facing The Future
5. Nicolae High
6. The Underground
7. Busted!
8. Death Strike
9. The Search
10. On The Run
11. Into The Storm

Author: Jerry B. Jenkins and Tim LaHaye
Condition: Good to Very Good. Only read them once
Price: $23.00 (includes shipping & handling)
Other Information:
“These books were written from 1998 to 2004 and are still in print today with over 11,000,000 sold in series. Unlike the adult series, Left Behind, they have no prequels or sequels, but are a set of 40 books focused on the Tribulation. The series was originally due to have 48 books but was cut to 40 as the huge 2 year jump in Ominous Choices cut out a lot of possible material. The Left Behind: The Kids series was originally written for teen and young adult readers. However, the audience has grown to include adults, too. Many adults read The Kids series between the release of new books in the Left Behind series. Most of the audience bought the books for the Judd and Vicki relationship storyline and many were outraged when Judd and Nada became a couple. However, the faithful readers continued and to their relief Judd and Vicki were back together, keeping the interest of the readers.”

Alright, I hear you guys, we had it in the polls and you guys wanted gear, so here we go!

I’m not very good at always having the newest gear, as I’m pretty much into buying only what has an actual effect on what I do. This not being Video, we’ll not see much of the 7D talk here. So let’s talk about a piece of gear that really affects stills. One I just recently got: The Cokin 8 stop solid ND filter.

I’d been reading about the Cokin system every once in a while and always lusted about getting me one of those someday. The huge problem with the things though is the availability. At least here in Switzerland, there’s no easy way to get them. At least so I thought. The other day I went to see the new 100 Macro at my photo retailer’s and saw a Cokin catalog lying around. Two surprises there, well three actually (the third being the Macros new IS)… The first was the fact that my retailer could get the Cokin stuff at all and the second was the affordability. These things are not cheap, but compared to the B&Ws and the HOYAs they’re pretty okay. Plus, once you have the holder they’re only about 30 bucks a piece. Considering that and to distract myself from wanting a 100L Macro, I got an 8 stop solid ND to start with, as its effect is the hardest to digitally replicate in post. What it does, is basically keep the equivalent of 8 F-stops of light from getting into your camera. This allows for way slower shutter speeds. Where you’d normally have a 1/100 of a second, you get 4 seconds if my math is correct (it never really is, but you get the idea ).

Today I finally found the time to test it in the field. We went out, fought the elements and got to a little pond a few miles from the house. The weather was terrible as it has been all weekend. With intense fog and hefty rain. Once on location, the first piece of gear that turned out to be very useful was the ultraflat Velbon I brought. In nature photography to be able to stretch the legs of a tripod out sidewards is a superb feature. This way we could set it up over the water and have the camera in the perfect angle. Next up was the filter. It consists of three parts. The first one is a solid metal adaptor Ring. It’s well crafted and screws into the filter Ring and broadens the front of the lens to make it fit into the the holder. It also has the weird side effect of having your lens say “FRANCE” where it should say “JAPAN”… French lenses, seriously?

With the adaptor thingy on, the holder slides right over it and clicks in with a little pin. The holder is made out of quite flexible plastic, it doesn’t feel mega solid, but then again it doesn’t have to. It has room for three filters which on the one side is good, as you can stack filters. On the other side, it protrudes pretty far out because of that. Doing that, it shows up in the frame at angles wider than 21mm. This is the first of the two only downsides of the P series. If you’re doing very wide angle photography, you should go with the larger holders of the Z series. The other downside is that one can’t use the lenscap over the adaptor ring, so you need to purchase the special Cokin lenscap or, as I do, take the whole thing off after using it.

Aside from that, the whole thing is quite cool. As mentioned, one can slide up to three filters into the holder. So far, I only have one filter so I can’t really tell how stacking will affect image quality. What I can tell though is that using one doesn’t really reflect negatively on iq. I had the fear that, given the distance between the filter and the front element, reflections could be an issue. But even with a strong light coming from behind the camera, I found no decernable flaws on that front.

Beyond that, the filter does exactly what it is designed for, it keeps a lot of light out of your camera. This makes composing and focussing your image quite difficult. Here’s where the two part solution regarding the adaptor ring and the holder really shines. You can do whatever you have to do to take your picture and then just slide on the holder with whatever filter you have stacked on there. Quite an awesome feature compared to a screw-on filter.

So… this is pretty much as far as I can go with this review so far. I still have to test it a bit more and I’ll update as I do. Yet, the first impression is very positive.

All images © Frederic Mancosu