From the overwhelming feedback, our customers absolutely love the new Didgeridoo Starter Packs!

So, with the Christmas spirit in the air… they just got sweeter!

As a Christmas bonus, we are including a FREE CD of Ash Dargan’s “Earth Rhythms”, with every Starter Pack purchased.

and YES… we ship to every country… including yours!

The Didgeridoos in our Starter Packs are proudly 100% Australian Eucalyptus!

Here is what our customers are saying about the starter packs…

Thanks guys, my didge arrived today and it’s excellent! I can even get a nice sound out of it already. Thanks for the safe packing and speedy delivery.

Keep up the great work

Russel, Canada

Got a surprise today at work… my didgeridoo and gear were delivered. It takes me longer to get a letter sent in this country than it did for my new didge to travel half way around the world. Thanks so much! The didge is perfect and the bag is beautiful. I can’t wait to get home and get stuck into the DVD.

I will let you know my progress.

Thanks again from a very happy customer

Sarah, UK

Hey Team. Got my new Didgeridoo Starter Pack. It Rocks! Its way better than my other didgeridoos and I’m learning some new sounds off the DVD. Got the circular breathing too. Yeee Haaa! Thanks again fellas. Hope to come visit some day!

Paul, Australia

YES… We ship to every country… including yours!

100% Australian Eucalyptus Didgeridoo Starter Packs from $99 AUD

Click here to buy yours today!

Monday is Advice Day! This is the first of a series of English riding tips for the beginner. This week is concentrating on brand new riders (at least to the English world), and building up strength.

Whether you’re a western rider or completely new to riding, riding English is tough for the first few times. These are some words of wisdom from a rider who was there not too long ago (aka: ME!)

Tack: People always try to make life easier for new riders by adjusting their tack. While I agree that riding in stirrups the length appropriate for 3′ jumpers is inappropriate for a beginner (or anyone doing flatwork, for that matter), adjusting the stirrups for ease of use and comfort (in the beginning)  is just not that helpful! I rode with longer stirrups for a good while, and trust me, it was one unpleasant change when they were the right flatting length for a huntseat rider. I had near-dressage length stirrups for a while, and after I started over fences bigger than a foot, I got them cranked up a hole, so they were a good length for flatting and small jumps. After a posting trot around the ring for a lap, I was thinking Holy crap! I hurt really badly! So, it was unpleasant, to say the least, and I wasn’t going over more that cavaletti for a week because my legs weren’t strong enough all the sudden! So, my advice is to start out with appropriate-length stirrups, and learn to ride with them.

Also, don’t ride with wonky contact, even when you’re going over from Western. Ride with light, firm contact with both hands on the reins. The reins should be untwisted, and if for some reason you started with reins attached to a halter (for God knows why) or loose reins on a lead, don’t be all grabby with them. You don’t need them, really.

Legs and Seat: Pretty simple tips here, but lots of exercises. As I said before, you don’t need reins, so you need to balance somewhere else. That is in your thighs and seat (maybe a little in your heels). Now, when a new rider starts out (I trust Western riders to know this), they might not have the muscle mass to balance in their seat (which is really your butt and inner thighs), so they snatch the reins and use the neck. And this is where I think the longe line is good. Have someone longe your horse as you tie up your reins. Pick up whatever gait you’re working on and hold your hands out to the side or on your hips/head. Practice picking up and riding the gaits without hands, just using your seat to balance. Go up unto two point at any gait and hold it for as long as you can. It’s pretty painful, and you might not be able to walk the next day for the first few times.

Once you’re comfortable on the line with stirrups, take them off. Do the same stuff. And maybe try the stuff bareback!

After that, learn to soften your seat a little by learning to sit the trot and canter. Soften your lower back and relax your hips (don’t slouch!) and try to keep your butt in contact with the saddle. Whatever you do, don’t stiffen up or let your horse slow down (plus, it’s sitting trot, not sitting jog). Maybe lean back like a German dressage rider (don’t exaggerate it, though!). This works even better bareback. Remember to move with your horse and balance with your seat. DON’T SLAM ON THEIR BACKS, EITHER!!!

And remember, lots of two-point, cavaletti, and sitting trot! It might hurt, but it’s worth it!

Come back next week for tips on confidence!

Wow! Let’s learn how to make cables! Soon soon soon there will be an intro to cables class starting so don’t miss out!

Just one of the many exciting possiblities in the world of cabling.

ポッドキャストとは、Webサーバ上にマルチメディア・データファイル（音声データ・動画データなど）をアップロードし、RSSを通してWWW上に公開すること。その内容は、個人のブログと同様のものもあれば、テーマに基づいた対談などもあり、多岐に渡る。

ポッドキャストは、アップル社のポータブルマルチメディアプレーヤーであるiPod（アイポッド）と、”放送“を意味するbroadcast（ブロードキャスト）を組み合わせた造語である。^[1]元々は『iPodなどの携帯プレイヤーに音声データファイルを保存して聴く事が可能な放送（配信）番組』という意味で名付けられた。配信に利用されている音声データファイルのほとんどは標準的なMP3形式のオーディオファイルであるため、iPodに限らず、MP3オーディオファイルを保存して再生できる全てのデジタルオーディオプレーヤーで聴く事ができるというものであったが、現在ではMPEG 4やH.264形式の動画配信も含めて、ポッドキャストと呼ぶ。

一般的にはポッドキャスト(Podcast)という言葉でこの仕組み自体を指し、ポッドキャスティングはこの仕組みを利用して実際に配信を行うという行為を指すのに使われることが多い。またポッドキャスター(Podcaster)は、一般的にポッドキャストを放送（配信）している人物を指す。

名称の由来がiPodに関係しているため、『ポッドキャストはiPodを使用しなければ聴く事ができない』という誤解を招き易く、ビジネス的にも不公平感があるという意見も存在する。しかし、ポッドキャストという名称は、iPodが（かつてのウォークマンのように）一般名詞に近い状態になった段階で、アップルの社外から派生してきたという経緯もあって、名称変更を望む声は比較的少数である。なお、ポッドキャストに代わる、より中立的な名称としては、ブログキャスト(blogcast)などが提案されているが、やはりメジャーな名称ではない。

広義のポッドキャストでは、公開するマルチメディアファイルの種類は問わず、ポッドキャストのダウンロード専用ソフトウェア（アグリゲータ）を利用して、RSSから指定のファイルを得られる仕組みそのものを指す。だが一般的には、ポッドキャストと言った場合には音声データファイル（MP3など）の公開を意味するのが普通である。現在では音声データファイルだけではなく動画データファイルの配信も広く行われている。これらはビデオポッドキャストやビデオキャスティング、もしくはVlogなどと呼ばれる。

配信する音声データファイルがAACの場合、ファイルにチャプターマーカー（チャプター毎に画像やURLリンクを埋め込むことも可能）を付加することができる。これを拡張ポッドキャスト(Enhanced Podcast)と呼ぶが、これに対応した再生環境はiPod+iTunesなどに留まっている。拡張ポッドキャストを編集できるソフトにGarageBand、Sound it!などがある。

聴き方

大きく二つに分類される。

一つはその音声ファイルを配信しているウェブサイトをWebブラウザ等で訪れてポッドキャスト・ファイルのリンクURLを探し出し、直接ウェブブラウザ等を使用してファイルをダウンロードし、マルチメディア・プレーヤー等に読み込ませて聴く方法である。その場でポッドキャストを簡単に聴きたい時などに向いている。

もう一つはポッドキャスト・ファイルをダウンロードする為に作られたアプリケーションソフトウェアを使用する方法である。これは一般的にアグリゲータ(Aggregator)と呼ばれる。アグリゲータはポッドキャスト用RSSへとリンクするアドレスを登録し保持することで、登録されたRSSの最新の情報を入手し、RSSに関連付けされているポッドキャスト・ファイルを一括または選択してダウンロードすることを可能にする。RSSを発行しているポッドキャスターがデータを更新すれば、自分でポッドキャスターのサイトを訪れなくとも即座に最新の音声ファイルを入手できるため、複数のポッドキャスト番組を定期的にダウンロードして聴くのに適している。この方法がポッドキャスティングにおける最大の特徴を活かした聴き方であり、かつ最も一般的な方法となっている。

アグリゲータで登録できるRSSは、前述の通りRSS 2.0のフォーマットで、エンクロージャー要素によって音声ファイルへのURLアドレスが記述されている必要がある。

ポッドキャスト用アグリゲータの主な目的はRSSに関連付けされているポッドキャスト・ファイルのダウンロードだが、音楽再生機能を持ち、ダウンロードしたファイルを直接再生できるものも多い。また、ポッドキャスターが管理するウェブサイト上でMacromedia Flashを利用して直接聴けるポッドキャスト・Webサイトも既に多く存在している。携帯ゲーム機のプレイステーション・ポータブルでは、ポッドキャストのストリーミング再生、時刻設定して無線LAN経由で保存するタイマー保存に対応している。

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Speak! English Salon/スピーク英会話サロン
http://web.me.com/josephcamcinnis
福岡市中央区大名１－１２－３６

After the morning dive, I am suddenly awake and filled with energy and enthusiasm as I look forward to the next dive. We took a break for lunch, the food actually taste good, the resort even prepared fried tapioca which we ate as snacks. After lunch, the instructor briefed us for the next dive before we set off to other part of the island. We reached our dive spot and geared up. I am finally out in the open! There were few fishes to spot, we spent the time tracking our instructor. I dived close to the sea bed and felt the sand…so special.

We came up after 15 mins and went to another dive spot. This time, we down to almost 18m and stayed longer. I started to feel nauseous, probably because of the nitrogen intake. When we surfaced, I puked a few times and shared my lunch with the fishes. As we were paddling back, I saw a big jellyfish we avoided as its stings are poisonous. That’s it for the day! I made 3 dives in my first day and that is a big achievement. Another milestone in my life! Now for the next day and I hope to see more life underwater.

Hello there!

I am very glad that you have come back to here. If you are visiting for the first time…a BIG welcome to you and hope you come here often.

Its been a week or so since I wrote my first post here and tried to motivate you guys to start off with a fitness schedule. Now, some of you (I hope) would have taken it up and would have been going out for walks/jogs etc.

One week is time enough for your muscles to gradually accept and adjust to the new levels of activity they are getting, and now its time to ratchet it up another level and ACTUALLY start feeling the groove. So pick up your music and let’s go get sexier

What we will try to do here is incorporate three facets of exercise in our regimen. These are:

1. Cardio
2. Strength training
3. Flexibility

Now you already are getting some amount of cardiac activity (simply put, your heart is getting a smallish workout) when you walk brisk. You already are burning more calories than you did! GREAT work. Lets add-on to it..shall we?

1. We will from now on not just walk around in a park. What we WILL do however is start by walking slowly for five minutes or so, then add pace to our walk till we are walking as fast as we can without losing our breath. We will go ahead and do 10 minutes or so at this pace. There on we will break into a slow-paced jog. Now there are a couple of things that we need to watch out for.

• Always wear Sport Shoes with adequate amount of cushioning to avoid injury and discomfort.
• Always exhale when your LEFT foot hits the ground (It will help you avoid a stitch, or a sharp pain at the bottom of the ribs)
• Make sure you had something to eat an hour or so before your workout.
• Try and hold your abdomen in tight while jogging (It will help you start on those abs)
• Always run on a jogging track/even grassy ground (this helps prevent joint injury)
• Try and hold the jog for 5 to 10 minutes, gradually increasing the duration every time you do it.
• When you jog, hold your head up, chest out, shoulders pulled backwards (i.e. DON’T slouch) and breathe evenly.
• Your foot should hit the ground heel first and the last to go off the ground should be the toes.
• Always carry some water and glucose powder with you in case you feel faint.
• In case you feel faint, mix a little glucose in the water and drink up. Lie down and put your feet on a higher level, say a bench.
• Always, Always, Aways consult your doctor before starting on this schedule, for you may be diabetic, have joint problems, asthmatic, or have some other disorder which requires further precautions.
• Here is a video to give you and idea or the correct form of running:

2. Once you finish with your Jog, its time to get into some strength training. It will help you increase your lean muscle mass, increase the rate at which your body will burn calories and kick in that ‘feel good’ factor.

• First we will try and do a basic free hand exercise.
• Its called a Push up.
• It probably is, the BEST exercise you can do to tone up your upper body!
• This video will tell you how to do Push-Ups. Its good! :

• Do 10 to 15 repetitions.
• Do push Ups twice a week to start with and then ramping up to four times a week
• The next step is to increase the sets as you go. Try and increase a set every four days till you reach three sets with 10-15 repetitions each. Three sets for Push Ups and three sets for sit ups.

3. The last bit we will figure out is stretching our muscles. Stretching improves flexibility, increases the range of motion of various joints and increases agility.

• Here is a Video which will tell you how to stretch:
• Enjoy
• You should Ideally Stretch everyday
• Start with three times a week and ramp up from there
• Make sure you are breathing normally
• NEVER stretch to the point of pain…If it starts paining, relax a little till it FEELS like a stretch and hold.
• ALWAYS stretch AFTER your cardio and strength training…i.e. the body is warmed up.
• Stretching a cold body can very well injure you.
• Have a slow well-defined movement. No jerks!
• If the position involves balancing, take support of a wall or hold a railing.

So now we have done a bit of cardio, some strength training and some stretching. This schedule should have you covered for half an hour, to an hour if you decide to throw in more cardio.

Lets go on with this schedule for a month or so, post which we will look at different options available to increase our levels of fitness.

One thing though. The push ups and the stretching will give you muscle pain the next day initially. Do not get bothered by it, and more importantly, don’t give up on working out. The pain will subside within four days of workout and you will feel like there was NOTHING to it!

I am sure you will have questions about this article.

Feel free to mail me at aaditya@fitfunda.com for any support, questions, critique…any correspondence is welcome.

Have a GREAT time working out.

Cheers!

P.S. – Here is something that you might enjoy…A VERY saucy workout video. The song is called Call on Me and its by Eric Prydz. Its my favourite cardio song! Caution: Some might consider it Not Safe For Work!

A very good video tutorial for beginners about getting started on Twitter by Sue from sueandsteveshow.com

Als Journalismus-Student bekommt man relativ bald vor Augen geführt, dass der Beruf des Journalisten einen ziemlich schlechten Ruf in der breiten Öffentlichkeit genießt. So unbeliebt wie Politiker etwa.

In der deutschen Rap-Szene sind (heute eher: waren) die Medienvertreter oft verpönt, manchmal wird sogar explizit gegen bestimmte Magazine getextet. Wenn ich die Zeit 10 Jahre zurückdrehe, dann habe ich die bis dato goldigste Hip-Hop-Ära im deutschsprachigen Raum vor meinen Augen. Die Beginner sind durchgestartet und haben Rap in ein neues Zeitalter katapultiert, die Musik wurde zum Massenphänomen.

Zu den Beginnern (Crew: DJ Mad, Denyo – als Solokünstler “Dennis Lisk”, und natürlich Eizi Eiz – als Solokünstler meist unter Jan Delay bekannt) hätte ich zwei mehr als amüsante Beiträge.

1. “The Dome”: Bei dem Musik-Event The Dome wollten die Beginner live rappen, die Veranstalter waren dagegen. Daher ließen die Beginner Doubles auftreten, der Fake-Auftritt wurde erst Tage später aufgedeckt – niemand (nicht einmal die “Fans” im Publikum) merkte, dass es sich dabei nicht um die Beginner handelte.

2. Die Beginner wurden berühmt, der Bravo entging das nicht und das Teenie-Heft startete ein “Rap-Casting”. Die Beginner sollten Juroren spielen, sie willigten ein. Nur gab es so ein Casting – trotz zahlreicher Bewerber -  nie, denn die Bravo hatte sich schon vor Castingbeginn einen idealen Kandidaten ausgesucht. Die Beginner hätten nur gute Miene zum bösen Spiel machen müssen, taten es aber nicht. Nach heftigen Auseinandersetzungen mit dem Blatt, folgte ein “Diss-Track” gegen die Bravo mit zahlreicher Unterstützung von Größen wie: Samy Deluxe, Illo, Ferris MC, Das Bo, Dendemann etc.

Das Video dazu gibt es hier. Samy macht den wohl witzigsten Part mit der Zeile: “… ich würd hier gern bei der Jam ein paar bumpige Tracks bringen, doch die Veranstalter mein´, ich soll warten bis meine Pickel weg sind…”

Die Folge: Streit mit der Bravo, dieser legte sich aber nach einiger Zeit wieder.

Machen wir einen Schwenk zum besten Rapper Deutschlands, Samy Deluxe. Auch Mr. Deluxe hatte so seinen “Beef”. Nach einem Bericht des Rap-Magazins “Juice” über einen angeblich “ausgebrannten” Samy, meldete sich dieser fulminant mit einem grandiosen “Diss” zurück und stellte das Blatt bloß.

Meine Lieblingszeilen: “Ich weiß warum ihr Juice heißt: ihr seid ein scheiß Saftladen…”;

“… disst mich sogar weil ich eine Anzeige geschaltet hab, dass war doch nur damit im Heft mal eine gute Seite war…”;

“Ich wollte nur in diesem Jahr der ganzen Jugend was sagen und zwar über Deutschland, über Hip Hop und euer Magazin, Juice gehört in den Sondermüll gleich neben die Batterien”

Rap ist sozialkritisch und unglaublich kreativ. Obwohl die Musiker von den Medien abhängig sind, gab es immer wieder ein “dagegen halten” seitens der Rapper – großartig!  Beim nächsten Blog-Eintrag folgen noch zwei Tracks, die sich eindeutig gegen bzw. an die Medien wenden.

I probably should have covered this topic first. Well, I never said I was organized.

Maybe you don’t have a digital camera yet and you’ve read the previous posts and decided that taking a photo way more than you ever wanted to learn.

I promise you it’s not as hard as it sounds and even if you ignore every word I’ve written, you will still get some decent photos.

People often ask me “What kind of camera should I get?” This is probably because they see me shooing in unusual places and figure only a “real” photographer would pick something like this.

And in a way that helps answers the question. Which is what do you want to use your camera for.

I shoot everything. Whether it moves or not. I have scenics, portraits, candids, snapshots, wildlife, flowers, sunsets, stock photography and on and on.

You, on the other hand, may just want a camera to shoot your family and your vacation. You’re not really interested in photographic art. Not that the above photo is photographic art. I just saw it and thought it would be interesting. You have to give me interesting.

Btw. Aunt Sally asked me if I was getting ready for a flood when she saw that photo. I think I mentioned she’s very concrete.

I advise people to buy up. Meaning get a camera that does more. Digital point and shoots are becoming more sophisticated and offer more features and are still very affordable.

Everyone starts somewhere with photography and most find it fascinating and want to do more. Like photographing sandbags in industrial hallways. It would be a shame to want to shoot a close up of your beautiful heirloom rose and not be able to.

There are different kinds of digital cameras.

First there’s your basic point and shoot camera which doesn’t have a lot of options.

From there you move up to a point and shoot with more functions.

Then there’s what is called a prosumer camera. This is a fixed lens digicam with a lot of different modes  and controls.

Finally, there are the DSLRs. These are cameras that use interchangeable lenses. They cost way more too. And I have seen some fine photos taken with fixed lens digicams.

You’re probably not going to want a DSLR unless you have a lot of disposable income and you’re going to get very serious about photography. Or unless you have a background using film camera with interchangeable lenses and you have already have a basic understanding of what’s involved in photography and you wouldn’t be reading this if that were the case.

I have a DLSR and I still use my digicam. I’ve gotten some of my best photos with it.

I don’t recommend one camera company over another.

What I do recommend is doing your homework and I also recommend paying a little more to get the extra features. A little more nowadays is not much.

Here is one site where you can read reviews.

DP Review

If you scroll down, you will see categories for different kinds of compacts. You’re probably not going to be interested in the Leica M8 for only $6000.

There is also this site.

Steve’s Digicams

I recommend looking for a camera with the following modes and features: aperture priority, shutter priority, manual mode, macro mode, manual focusing, ISO selection and if possible ability to shoot in RAW.

Also look at the optical zoom number. Higher is better. Ignore digital zoom. If you’ve read the previous posts, you’ll understand why I say this.

Auto focus is another nifty feature. It works better if the camera has an AF assist light. It also helps to be able to select between spot focusing and multi area focusing (AEL). Manual focusing is a plus for when the camera decides it’s not focusing where you want it to focus which they’ve all been know to do.

Another feature you’ll find useful is Image Stablization (IS). This allows the camera to compensate for any shake at full telephoto (zoom). I don’t know how it works. Different cameras use different methods. But it works.

I also like having the ability to control the intensity of the flash by making it stronger or weaker.

I know this sounds like a lot more than you’ve ever wanted to deal with but do you really want to be that guy taking a photo of the sunset with the flash firing who keeps saying “Why is the flash going off?”

Here’s Karen with the weather. Taken on Thanksgiving. Aunt Sally always insists we visit the cemetery so she can put flowers on her second cousin’s grave who has special meaning to her none of us understand.

We did not let her take her rifle. Which was fortunate as it turns out or we’d be eating venison for the next month.

I have several shots of this scene but this one was panned meaning the deer was moving so I moved the camera with her and that is why the headstones are blurry. I picked it because it’s a cemetery and I thought it looked more spooky that way. That’s just me.

Later.

Happy Thanksgiving! 

Remember how I ♥’d this skirt in the December Burda?

Burda 12-2009-112

Well, I made up the muslin yesterday (sz 40) and it fit!  Here’s a pic of my muslin. 

I can’t believe it but I actually understood all of the directions on my own without any help.  It’s a 1.5 dot pattern with 1 dot being the easiest, hence the title of this post.  It went together pretty easily.  I hope making up the fashion fabric goes even better.

stretch suiting from paron's

I pre-treated the fashion fabric (the grey one) by steaming it with a wet towel in the dryer and cut it out last night.  I have two yards left I think, in case someday I want to make a matching jacket or a dress. 

Today, while Jack is napping, I’ll try to sew most of it.  I am adding a lining using a method from this book, “Easy Guide to Sewing Linings,” by Connie Long.  It sure sounds easy.  Let’s hope that’s the case. 

I hope Jack takes a long nap! 

Happy sewing!

A lot of people are going to get cameras this holiday season, or have them from the last few seasons.  They have a basic SLR and the kit lens.  There’s a lot you can do with these simple combinations, but they’re limiting as well.  I’ve been involved in a few discussion forums for these mid-level beginners and wanted to echo a post here about an individual who was looking to upgrade, primarily interested in wedding photography, but wanted advice on path forward.

“Agree with others, 18-55 kit *can* take a sharp photo, but it’ll be a challenge if you’re handheld, in low light, and don’t have a high-contrast subject that’s moving. The variable aperture also makes using Manual difficult, try Shutter Priority (Tv) or Aperture Priority (Av) first to get comfortable with working your exposure. If using a flash head, try fooling with bounce flash and Program mode (P). If you have an older Rebel without a thumb wheel, then you won’t really be able to use Manual for anything beyond posed shots, because you’ll only have one of three exposure parameters (shutter, aperture, sensitivity) assigned to the index wheel. Oh, thoroughly read the manual for your camera as you explore each setup. Some people are able to know just the basics and get great stuff, some people need to really dig and understand the nuance. Find out which you are and how much effort you’re willing to put into your craft before laying out cash. Regarding upgrades, I’d stick with the Rebel and first invest in glass. That 50 1.8 is a good choice, you can even get them used for $75 or lower, although they are a bit long on a 1.6x Rebel, almost 85mm. It’ll take some getting used to, which isn’t a bad thing. The 50 1.4 is an even better choice if you can drop a few hundred. Zooms, I’d say go for the 17-55 2.8 IS.. it doesn’t say L (no weather sealing, etc) but it’s L-quality glass. Every bit as good as the 16-35, 24-70 or 24-105 for under $1000. And if you don’t have one, get yourself a 580ex or 580exII flash head and rechargeable batteries (I like Ansmann 2700mAh AAs, they’re a bit pricey but pay for themselves over time) or an external battery pack. Learn to use bounce and fill-in flash and your photos will improve dramatically. More light means smaller aperture and faster shutter, which means more sharpness. More light also means greater saturation. I’m of the philosophy that photography isn’t cheap. Yes you can get by, and yes in the end, it’s the photographer not the camera. You can get some amazing photos with a $250 point-n-shoot, I know… but the proper kit makes it possible to get 500 amazing photos in a night as opposed to just 10 or 20. That’s once you’re ready to “go live,” you can learn everything you need to learn on the Rebel with one decent (fixed aperture) zoom, a prime or two, and a flash head. Best of luck and let’s see some of your photos as you progress!”

Click the photo to see Bryan Carnathan’s excellent review of the latest Rebel offering from Canon, the T1i, an incredible bang-for-buck DSLR package.

I hope everyone had a very Happy Thanksgiving and ate way too much. It’s only one day a year after all.

I’ve received a couple questions. One was about cleaning your camera lens.

So just a quick post with 10 tips for caring for your camera.

Ten Tips for Taking Care of Your Camera

1.  Although it’s a good idea to take your camera everywhere you go so you don’t miss any photo ops do not carry it in the rain. Never get your camera wet.

2. Invest in a camera case.

3. Put your lens cap on when not using the camera. They made it for a reason.

4. Carry extra batteries.

5.  Clean your lens carefully. Do not use Windex or alcohol based products. The lens has special optical coatings. Always use a soft brush, preferably one made for camera lenses, and pointing the camera downward brush the lens. If you have smudges take a dry microfiber cloth made for camera lenses and wipe in gentle, light circles. You will only need to wet clean your lens if it gets really gunked up and maintenance and care will make that very infrequent and you will need to use a product designed for camera lenses. If you do need to wet clean it use a very small amount of liquid applied with a microfiber cloth and then dry it gently with the same procedure as dry cleaning.

6.  This one is a no brainer. Never drop your camera. Use the shoulder strap and put it behind your neck as a precaution.

7. The little knobs and buttons on your camera need a delicate touch. Do exert the same pressure you use to open a jar of pickles.

8. Attach the lens cap keeper. This is a tiny cord that goes through a hole in the lens cap and then attaches to some part of the camera like the strap buckle. Otherwise you will lose it. Lens caps have the same disappearing properties of TV remotes and car keys.

9.  When not in use  put your camera in a dry safe place.

10.  Be aware that weather extremes can adversely effect your camera. Do not leave in it the car for hours during the summer with the windows up. When coming indoors in the winter leave the lens cap off until the moisture on the lens has evaporated. The lens will fog up like your glasses.

11.  Save those little dessicant packs that come with various products and put them in your camera case where you store the camera. Not loose but secured in a pouch with webbing. Then put your camera in the case when you’re not using it.

Okay, so it was 11 tips. But I thought of the last one after I typed the first 10.

The other question I received was about macro shooting. Most digicams have a macro function. It is usually a little flower on the mode dial.

Macro mode is simply close up shooting. It allows your camera to get closer to your subject than shooting in regular non macro modes.

Remember I mentioned you could only get so close with your camera depending on what kind you have without it being able to focus. Your manual will tell you this, btw.

Macro mode lets you get a lot closer.

It seems that people are having problems with this. So I will address it in my next post.

I have to get out my Olympus C5050Z digicam and take some photos first. And there aren’t a lot of flowers this time of year which is what most people like to shoot in macro mode.

Here’s Karen with the weather. The aerial tram at Pipestem Resort State Park in Pipestem, WV. It’s shut down for the winter.

Later.

Find out in the garden tips and advice on plants for your garden from a horticultureexpert in this free gardening video. Expert: Craig Morell Bio: Craig Morell have grown orchids and tropical plants for 30 + years and holds a BA degree in Ornamental Horticulture. He founded landscape restoration, a horticultural business consulting firm. Director: Paul Mueller

See Also : home DIY http://diyhouse.baywords.com http://diyelectronics.wordpress.com/

For somebody who’s new into running, it’s easy to get lost in all the available shoe styles. And with all the new technology for running shoes, and all the fashion and styles, it’s not easy to distinguish between form and function.

For a beginner, the best guideline there is is to keep it simple. Second thing to keep in mind is that it’s your feet, listen to it.

Like for other types of shoes, the best time to buy a pair of shoes is in the late afternoon. The feet would have expanded after a day’s worth of walking.

Wear your running socks. This would allow you a better gauge of how the shoes fit.

Take note to wear the pair, and take a walk. If the store has a treadmill or a walking ramp, take advantage of the opportunity to take the pair for a spin. The emphasis should be on the comfortable feel.

A common mistake for beginners is to buy shoes that fit precisely. For regular shoes this would be okay, however for running shoes, the feet expands during a workout. Get shoes which are about two sizes (or about half an inch) larger.

Get some inputs from friends who run regularly, the gym trainer or from the shoe store assistant. Understand the reasons behind the tips and advise. A word of warning though, to keep your mind open and not to focus on a particular brand or model.

Lastly, try to get a good cross-trainer till you get the feel of running. The experience would give you a better understanding of what your feet needs the next time you buy a pair of running shoes.

Friends Link : shoes for cheaps

Scanning:

When you’re scanning something, what file-format is best to use? Your scanning software will usually offer the choices of JPG, TIF, GIF, and PNG (or, PNG-8 and PNG-24). Or it may hide these behind the more generic “Document” or “Photograph” settings. The rule is simple, but most scanning software doesn’t really help to guide the user.

I generally use PNG-24.

About these formats..

The JPEG format yields files that end with the “.JPG” extension. This format compresses images to a smaller size (by “size”, I mean how much space it takes up on your disk). This is useful, but it comes at a price: it’s lossy. It dumps some information from the image, in order to squish it down. It works okay for photographs, depending upon your intent, because it’s designed to dump those parts that your eye won’t miss (much).  Are you going to do things to this image in Photoshop or other graphic progam? Then you do not want to use this format. It’s like recording audio onto magnetic tape in analogue format: with every generation of recording, you lose more information and it becomes increasingly degraded. In this case, it can be quite visually obvious very quickly.

The GIF file-format is not lossy in the same way. But it only captures the colors to a depth of 8 bits. That’s 8 bits total, not 8 bits per color. This is appropriate only if you’ve less than 256 colors in your image, and those are easily represented. Here, a sheet of white paper, with black lettering, is a good candidate. The GIF format will happily compresses all that white space. And it includes an ability to encode one of those 256 ‘colors’ as a transparency bit, meaning underlying colors will show through.

The PNG format is a successor to the older GIF format and is not a proprietary format as GIF is. It comes in two flavors: PNG-8 and PNG-24. PNG-8 is analogous to the GIF format in that it uses 8 bits to represent each pixel of the image, meaning it too can only encode 256 colors at a time.  But PNG-24 offers a full 24-bit range of colors for each pixel. It also offers the ability to display transparency, but now it’s a full 8-bit “alpha”, meaning it can show varying levels of transparency.

So which to choose?

If you choose PNG-24, your files will be larger. But they’ll contain all the image color information. They’re not “squished down”. You can open them in your favorite image-editing program and produce a highly-compressed JPEG from it anytime you want, with no ill effects on your original .PNG file.

I’d only save your original images in the JPEG format if you don’t really care about keeping or manipulating them in your image-editing program. If you’re scanning a photograph, and it produces JPEG files that are already small enough to send by email or post online, and that’s all you’re ever going to want of them, then have at it. Save it as JPEG. But if you use JPEG for your non-photograph documents, you’ll see ‘artifacts’ of the compression process around the lines and letters that degrade it’s appearance.

So in general, use PNG-24.

What about Dot Pitch?

For the same reason as above, I usually scan images at a pixel-resolution that is a bit higher than I’ll ultimately need, in order to have a more perfect ‘source’-image that I can then down-sample when needed.

For documents, I sometimes scan at 200dpi (dots per inch) if it’s a clear paper with easily-legible fonts, but generally I go to 300dpi or even higher if it merits the higher resolution.

When scanning pictures from a printed media such as a magazine, actually 75dpi or 150dpi would usually do except that you have the possibility of the moire effect messing up your image file. That, is an interaction between the scanner’s resolution, and the dot-pitch on the printed page. That can really make it ugly!

Thus for magazine photos, I avoid that by using an overly-fine resolution like 600dpi to scan the original, then I down-sample in Photoshop to reduce the resulting huge file. This is “over-sampling”. It does cure the problem. The caveat being that scanning is slower at this resolution, and the file sizes can be rather large. Even newspaper articles have this moire-effect problem and you may need to over-sample, even though the newspaper is only printed with a dot-pitch of perhaps 75 dpi. Some scanning software has a ‘compensate for moire effect’ option, which you may want to try out. Otherwise, it is a waste of disk space to scan at more than twice the resolution that the image was originally printed at.

Yes, it is an extra step – to fire up your image-editing program to down-sample your image file, or convert it to JPEG, etc. But usually you would have to do this anyway, to do a reasonably-precise job of cropping it, making it perfectly horizontal (ie, not tilted), and other processing tasks.

For other scanning tasks such as simple posters, or large photographs that don’t have a lot of fine detail or aren’t extremely sensitive in nature, it is a waste of disk space and time to scan at an excessively fine resolution. Tinker a bit, and find the resolution that gives you the results you want, and no higher.  For a large crude photograph, perhaps just 75 dpi and save it as JPEG. For a poster that has only a couple of colors, the PNG-8 format will do fine and often can yield a smaller file.

Higher Color-Depths

In this discussion of color depths where I state that PNG-24 will capture your full range of color information, I’ve bypassed the issue of color depths higher than 24 bits-per-pixel. 24 bits provides 8 bits per color, and is generally fine for a photo-realistic result. But some digital cameras are now yielding more than this. The newer Nikon and Canon DSLRs, for example, produce 14 bits per pixel in their sensors. As soon as you save it as JPG, you lose that extra information. The only option to preserve that image information is to save it as a ‘RAW’ –format file, which is the camera manufacturer’s own file format that preserves all the original color information. You can bring that into Photoshop CS4 and still preserve that higher color-depth, because Photoshop is capable of using 16 bits per color channel.

Similarly, some scanners now can save an image in a high color-depth format. In general, your workflow should depend upon your need. For common business-usage, you’ll never have need of more than 24 bits per pixel. If you’re scanning your great-uncles’ masterful oil painting that’s been hanging in a museum, you do want to preserve the full range of color information. For other images, that extra depth becomes useful only if you’re planning to manipulate the image extensively in Photoshop such that the higher color-depth stands up against loss of color information that comes from numeric rounding-errors that result from every processing step. But that’s a topic for a real Photoshop article.

Cardio Uh-Ohs

1. Doing the “gym slouch.” “We see many people in the gym leaning on equipment,” says Debi Pillarella, MEd, a spokeswoman for the American Council on Exercise. “We call it ‘gym slouch’: They’re on the Stairmaster, [elliptical cross trainer], or treadmill, leaning over, and hanging on for dear life.”

When your back is rounded, your spine doesn’t get enough support. So stand erect when you’re working out on one of these machines.

2. Getting a grip. Holding on too tightly to the cardio equipment lets you “cheat” and contributes to slouching. It also keeps you from moving your arms — which can boost your heart rate and burn extra calories. If loosening your grip makes you feel insecure, try this technique Pillarella teaches at Community Hospital Fitness Pointe in Munster, Ind. “Instead of gripping, just rest your fingers, from your index finger to the pinkie, on the bars. As you get more comfortable, drop a finger. Eventually, you may have just the index fingers resting there for security.”

3. Catching up on your reading. If you’re doing lots of reading on the elliptical machine, you’re probably not getting a good workout, says Julie Isphording, host of the radio shows Fitness Information Talk and On Your Feet.

“If you must read, stop about every three minutes and do a four-minute focus interval,” she says. During this interval, “concentrate on picking up the pace, dropping your shoulders, breathing, and using your arms.”

4. Walking with weights. Carrying hand weights when you walk might seem like a good way to add strength training to your cardio workout, but it compromises your stride. “You lean forward, and it stresses the quads, ankles, and shins, and can cause stress fractures,” Isphording says. “Keep your cardio and strength training separate.”

5. Thinking cardio is enough. Many people think they need only a cardiovascular exercise program. “We begin losing muscle at age 30,” says Isphording. “Strength training builds muscles, which increases metabolism and burns more calories.”

Strength-Training Slipups

6. Rushing your reps. Doing weight-lifting repetitions too fast raises your blood pressure and increases your risk for joint injury. It also compromises your results.

“The safest way to use strength machines or dumbbells is: in lifting phase, exhale for two counts and hold briefly at the top of the contraction, then return as you inhale for four counts,” says Pillarella. “Always exhale during the hardest part of the work.”

Find different types of exercise that you enjoy, and make it a point to vary what you do.

Are you exercising regularly, yet not seeing the results you want? Or getting sidelined by pulled muscles and other injuries? Feeling tempted to drop out because you’re so bored?

Don’t give up your fitness program just yet. Maybe the problem isn’t the exercise itself but the way you’re exercising.

Exercisers (especially beginning exercisers) often make mistakes that keep them from getting the most from their workouts. Fitness experts spoke to WebMD about 20 of the most common exercise mistakes, and how you can keep them from derailing your fitness program.

7. Giving your abs a free ride. Many people do crunches or abdominal machine workouts without ever toning their abdomens. The problem is that they’re using the upper torso, neck, and head to do the work.

“Do mindful exercise,” says Pillarella. “The contraction should be from the ribcage to the hip bone. Put your mind into the muscles that are working, and keep all the other muscles quiet.”

8. Doing lackluster lat pull-downs. On this machine, you’re seated with a bar overhead. Some people stick their heads forward and pull the bar down behind their heads. But doing it this way could injure your spine or neck — and your back won’t get that coveted “V” look.

Instead, “pull the bar down in front of your shoulders and chest, and put your mind into muscle contractions in your back,” says Pillarella.

9. Using maladjusted machines. Weight machines are made for people of all shapes and sizes. You must adjust them to fit if you want to get results and avoid injury.

For example, using an improperly set leg-extension machine puts stress on your knees, says Mark Kasper, EdD, a spokesman for the American College of Sports Medicine. “Another problem with improperly adjusted machines is that you don’t work your muscles through the full range of motion,” he says.

Have a qualified trainer show you the proper settings for your physique, and write them down on a card that you carry to the gym.

Flexibility Flubs

10. Stretching cold muscles. Stretching before your workout puts you at risk for pulled or torn muscles. “Always stretch at the end of your workout,” says Pillarella.

11. Bouncing. Bouncing during a stretch can increase your risk of straining or pulling muscles, Pillarella says. Instead, “hold a static stretch with no movement at the joints. Your body should feel lengthened but not to the point of pain.”

Routine Maintenance

12. Forgetting about fun. “If you’re bored with your routine, and your treadmill has faced the washer since 1980, how much fun is that?” says Isphording, “I’d never want to do your workout, either. ? And why do we call it a workout? It should be a playout.”

Exercise with your friends or family, just as you go to movies or dinner with people. “Unless we reframe it in our minds, it will never be fun,” Isphording says.

13. Doing outdated exercises. Still doing the exercises you learned in high school, like windmills and leg lifts? Some of these oldies are a waste of time; others can cause injury. Take an exercise class or work with a personal trainer to freshen your routine.

14. Getting stuck in a rut. What’s wrong with doing the same exercise routine, day in and day out? “You’re working the same muscles, going at the same speed, and once you get in shape you no longer breathe heavily,” says Isphording. “The muscles become very efficient. They expend less energy, and you burn fewer calories.”

15. Seeking a quick fix. Many people expect dramatic results from a little exercise. “Current recommendations are for 3 1/2 to four hours of physical activity a week just to prevent weight regain,” says Kasper, who is a professor in the department of kinesiology at Valdosta State University in Valdosta, Ga. “If you want to lose weight and you’re walking 30 minutes, three times a week, without changing your diet, it will take roughly one month to lose a pound.”

Want to lose faster? Exercise more.

16. Being a weekend warrior. “If you’re only exercising two days a week, you’ll never get where you want to be, and you’ll feel awful every Monday,” says Isphording. “It leads to injury and burnout, and you’re missing the secret to success: showing up.”

17. Taking on too much at first. “Whether on a treadmill at home or working out at an exercise facility, people tend to do too much too soon,” says Kasper. “They put themselves at risk for an orthopaedic injury.”

He advises working with a qualified trainer who will do a screening, teach proper techniques, and set up an appropriate fitness program.

Sins of Omission

18. Skipping the warm-up. “Without a warmup, you’re asking your body to work before the oxygen and blood flow reach the muscles,” says Pillarella. “You increase the risk for injury, and with cardiovascular exercise, you raise the heart rate too fast. Before you exercise in earnest, spend 5-10 minutes going through the motions of your workout at an easy pace to raise your body temperature from the inside out.”

If you don’t warm up before lifting weights, meanwhile, you risk torn muscles and won’t be able to lift as much weight, says Isphording. Get your blood flowing by spending a few minutes on the treadmill or exercise bike, or even walking in place.

19. Forgoing the cool-down. Don’t come to sudden stop at the end of your workout. “If you don’t cool down, you risk muscle soreness because you haven’t flushed the lactic acid out of your system,” says Isphording. “It takes five to 10 minutes at a slower pace, depending on your fitness level, to let your heart rate come down.”

20. Skimping on water. Muscles need fluid to contract properly, so if you don’t drink enough, you can get muscle spasms or aches.

“If you’re thirsty, you’re already a percent dehydrated,” says Pillarella. “Drink water before, during, and after exercise.”

And, Pillarella says, “unless you’re a high-intensity athlete who’s depleting electrolytes and potassium, you don’t need Gatorade. Water is the preferred drink.”

I’ve often struggled personally with how to reconcile my education as a budding anti-racist with the realities of my family life.  Inevitably at this time of year, when prayers of thanksgiving are offered in my church and in the homes of various family members, we tend to gloss over or flat out ignore the significance of this day in our nation’s history.

As kids, we’re taught all kinds of wrong things about the first Thanksgiving.  Fortunately, things are improving from the time when I was a child parading around in a paper-feathered headdress in a school play.  Scholastic even has some advice for educators who still haven’t gotten the story right.  As Resist Racism points out, this is often the only time of year that non-native people even think about Native Americans, and sadly, our thinking is usually caricature.

While in my own little piece of the world, I’m reading and blogging about racial injustice, white privilege, and the life, what happens when I go home with my head full of this stuff and encounter challenges at the dinner table?  How can I present what I’ve learned in a gracious way but still remain committed to my ideals?

Love Isn’t Enough has a great guide for alternative activities that would be helpful if I were teaching elementary school, but inviting my family over for a day of mourning in solidarity with my native brothers and sisters wouldn’t exactly fly at Thanksgiving with the in-laws.  The mere mental image of that scene reminds me of the passage that says,

And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, ‘A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.’ -Matthew 13:57

I’m not looking to get run out of town, or stoned, but I know that often times those are the breaks for doing the right thing. I’ve taken my fair-share of attempts at insult, bearing up under the labels of “bleeding-heart” (which doesn’t really hurt my feelings) or hearing, “lighten up, you’re so sensitive.”

For me, it’s not just limited to participating in activities where people will remember to thank God for the bounty of America, while ignoring the past and present pain our riches have cost others.  We never neglect to give thanks for the troops, but often forget all those civilians killed in the crossfighting.

It’s also the fact that in many of these family gatherings, there will be open use of racial slurs, or stereotypes.  Because ours is a white family, we are a meeting of “us” that can launch into conversations about “them.”  Do I confront these things?  Make passive-aggressive sarcastic comments (as I’m prone to do)?  Should I make a scene or let these things pass knowing that this will be my children’s only exposure to most of the folks for a whole year, and my husband and I can clean up the mess later?

I’ve done it all, and rarely gotten any of it right.  Anyone out there have similar experiences?  How (if at all) do you handle it when you go home with this for the holidays?