Die Abfahrten bei der ORF Ski Challenge, kurz SC:10 haben nur ein Ziel:
Komm heil unten an, mit der besten Zeit, die dir möglich ist – und lasse keine Fahne aus!

SC:10 - Die besten Fahrer Tipps

Das ist leichter gesagt als getan: Es verlangt nicht nur eine perfekte Streckenkenntnis, sondern auch Reaktionsvermögen, Fingerspitzen-Gefühl sowie ein gutes Nerven-Kostüm. Um eine, gute Fahrt runter zu bringen müsst ihr die Strecke kennen, die richtigen Ski-Einstellungen nutzen, möglichst auf der Ideallinie bleiben und die Sprungtaste gezielt einsetzen, nur dann bringt ihr am Ende DIE eine Fahrt in den wichtigen Rennen ins Ziel.

Ich gebe euch hier die besten 10 Tipps & Tricks zur SC:10,  damit jedes Team-Mitglied der CHIP*Allstars das bestmögliche aus der Saison herausholen kann. Wenn ihr diese Tipps beherzigt, habt ihr das theoretische Handwerkszeug, um euch stetig zu verbessern. Jetzt müsst ihrs nur noch auf den Pisten umsetzen

Top Fahr-Tipps zur SC 2010

1) Ski-Einstellungen optimieren

Ein wesentlicher Schlüssel zum Erfolg bei der Ski Challenge ist das Menü zu den Ski-Einstellungen bzw. Ski-Settings. Über drei Regler lassen sich die Eigenschaften für Drehen, Kanten und Gleiten einstellen.  Neulinge der SC sollten die Ski-Settings zunächst ignorieren und die Standard-Werte “Anfänger” oder  “Classic” aus dem Menü aufrufen, um erste Zeiten einzufahren.

• Drehen – Je höher der Wert, desto leichter wird auf Richtungs-Änderungen reagiert, ihr kommt also besser um Kurven
• Kanten – Manche Tore machen es erforderlich die Kurven “hart” zu nehmen und damit auf den Kanten der Ski zu fahren. Damit verliert ihr in der Regel an Fahrt, es sei denn, der Wert ist eben perfekt auf die Strecke abgestimmt und ihr kantet immer nur gerade soviel, wie es das Hindernis erfordert – sonst: Speed-Verlust!
• Gleiten -  Sehr wichtiger Wert, den man tendentiell immer so hoch wie nur irgend möglich einstellen sollte. Warum? In ruhigen Strecken-Abschnitten verharrt ihr in der Hocke und nehmt mit hohen Gleitwerten richtig Fahrt auf.  Wer dann noch Sprünge durch den Einsatz der Sprungtaste verkürzt oder komplett durchgleitet, gewinnt wertvolle Sekunden.

Jede Strecke erfordert ihre eigenen Ski-Settings – und dazu auch für jede Wetter-Bedingung (Sonne, Neuschnee, Eis). Einen schnellen Überblick für jede Strecke und jedes Wetter gibt die Extra-Seite Ski-Einstellungen hier im Blog. Schaut dazu in die Kommentare anderer *Allstar* Mitglieder, die euch hier sehr hilfreiche Tipps für jedes Quäntchen an Optimierung geben.

2) No Quali – no Race!
Eigentlich logisch: Wer die geforderte Qualifikation nicht fährt bzw. die Qualifikations-Zeit nicht schafft, kann am Rennen nicht teilnehmen und damit keine Weltcup-Punkte sammeln! Die Quali-Zeit ist in der Regel sehr, sehr human und von jedem zu schaffen.

Tipp: Sowie die neue Strecke zur Verfügung steht, fahrt die Quali unter besten Wetter-Bedingungen, sprich: bei Sonne! Damit habt ihr die Pflicht erfüllt und seid im Rennen dabei. Für jede Strecke haben wir die passenden Ski-Einstellunge für euch parat, mit denen ihr die Piste meistert. Je nach eigenem Fahrstil könnt ihr diese dann geringfügig anpassen und so die Strecke oder auch nur Passagen im Trainings-Modus üben.

3) Rennkalender eintätowieren
Ich sage es euch aus eigener, leidlicher Erfahrung: Wenn ihr aus irgend einem Grund auch nur ein Rennen verpasst, ärgert ihr euch grün und blau. Tätowiert euch die Zeiten für die Rennen auf eine Arschbacke oder wohin auch immer. Nein, im Ernst > Merkt euch die Renntermine vor. Verpasste Weltcup-Punkte sind nicht mehr aufzuholen! Die Schmach im Team währt ewig, wenn andere sich vor euch platzieren, die alle Rennen gefahren sind, aber sonst viel schlechter als ihr seid! Ihr habt erst im nächsten Jahr wieder eine Chance, diese Niederlage zu beenden ,-)

4) Strecken-Videos studieren
Bevor du die Piste runtersaust, verschaff dir einen Überblick. Schau dir erst einmal Videos der Strecke an. Entweder gleich die Tutorial-Videos, die wir euch hier zur Verfügung stellen und stetig ergänzen – oder nimm dir einfach eine Ghost-Fahrt von einem der Führenden oder einer Zeit, die du anstrebst und schau dir die Fahrt mehrfach aus der Fahrer-Perspektive an.

Achtet darauf, wie die Tore angefahren werden, schaut auf Anhaltspunkte wie bestimmte Schilder, Bäume oder die blauen Linien, um für euch Marker zu setzen, wo ihr später einlenkt, die Sprungtaste drückt, etc. – behaltet auch mal die Speed-Anzeige und Zwischenzeiten für die Strecken-Abschnitte im Auge. Wenn ihr später selbst fahrt, wisst ihr gleich, in welchem Abschnitt ihr zu wenig Fahrt habt um das Rennen gleich abzubrechen oder eben bestimmte Streckenteile im Training gezielt zu üben.

5) Sprungtaste nutzen
Topzeiten bringt nur runter, wer die Sprungtaste beherrscht. Als solche funktioniert in den Standard-Einstellungen der Ski Challenge die Space- bzw. Leertaste.  Sie erfüllt, richtig eingesetzt, mehrere Funktionen:

1. ihr reduziert die Sprungweite drastisch und kommt früher wieder ins gleiten bzw. zur Ideallinie
2. ihr gleicht Unebenheiten und Dellen komplett aus, Fahrer bleibt “on Track”
3. ihr springt an manchen Hügeln gar nicht, sondern gleitet komplett drüber = mehr Tempo!
4. ihr kommt enger um Fahnen herum bzw. schneidet Kurven

Es gibt zwei Arten, die Sprungtaste einzusetzen.
Erstens: kurz drücken für Slides oder ein Art Drift um Fahnen herum.
Zweitens: drücken und gedrückt lassen bei Sprüngen.

Die Strecken-Tutorials zeigen euch die entsprechenden “Potential-Stellen” um hier und da noch ein paar Zehntel Sekunden, manchmal sogar mehr rauszuholen. Pflicht ist der nicht gerade einfache Einsatz der Sprungtaste nicht! Ihr könnt auch komplett ohne die Leertaste zu drücken eine akzeptable Zeit hinlegen. Aber die Topfahrer könnt ihr so niemals ernsthaft gefährden. Am wohl dosierten und perfekt getimten Einsatz der Sprungtaste trennt sich die Ski Challenge Spreu eben schnell von den Profis im Fahrerlager.

6) Kurven und Fahnen schneiden
Manchmal habt ihr gar keine Wahl, ihr müsst regelrecht über die Fahnen brettern. Das geht, denn sie sind keine Mauern! Natürlich auch potentiell sturzgefährend, darum ist es wichtig, in welcher Fahrer-Position und in welchem Winkel ihr die Fahnen streift oder gar überbügelt.

Bei der SC:10 werden viele Fahnen “von hinten” angefahren. Das meint, in einem weiten Bogen  aus einem flachen Winkel.  Ihr solltet als Faustregel maximal mit der halben Spielfigur, sprich Mitte vom Helm auf die Fahne zurasen. Dann drückt die Figur die Fahne noch weg.  Bei manchen Fahnen ist die Kollisionsabfrage aber wesentlich drastischer und die Toleranz geringer. Bei anderen widerum könnt ihr sie komplett überfahren. Wundert euch nicht, nehmt es als kleine Strecken-Geheimnisse hin, die ihr aus den Tutorials ergründen könnt. Wie gesagt, grobe Faustregel ist halbe Spielfigur!

Andere Fahnen müsst ihr aus spitzem Winkel anfahren, teilweise mit kurz gedrückter Leertaste für einen Slide. Hier darauf achten, dass die Figur max 1/3 der Fahne erwischt und diese mit dem Handschuh weggeboxt wird, sonst liegt ihr. Etwas mehr Toleranz gibt es, wenn ihr aufgerichtet über solche Fahnen bügelt, aber eben auch nur an den Stellen, wo es der Ideallinie entspricht. Darum gilt auch hier: Selbst herausfinden, üben und/oder Tutorials schauen.

7) Bremsen!
Wer zur richtigen Zeit auf die Bremse tritt, was bei der Ski Challenge die Cursor-Taste nach unten ist, bleibt auf der Ideallinie und muss wegen des zuviel an Geschwindigkeit nicht hart kanten, weiter springen oder die Kurve gezwungen ziehen, was immer Zeitverlust zur Folge hat.  Der abwechselnde Einsatz von Bremsen-Leertaste-Bremsen- Leertaste ist z.B. das Erfolgsgeheimnis beim „großen S“ in Kitzbühel (kurz nach dem Start). Auch Garmisch ist ein Track, bei dem die Bremsen-Taste wertvoll ist.

Geist nutzen, von anderen lernen
Ghosts sind ein tolles Feature, das in der SC:10 nochmals mit einer Favoriten-Liste und den farbigen Ideallinien-Spuren aufgewertet wurde.  Zum einen könnt ihr den Namen eines beliebigen Fahrers, des Nächstbesseren oder einer Platzierung eingeben und euch in aller Ruhe die Fahrt anschauen und Streckenteile studieren. Zum anderen könnt ihr so natürlich immer einem Ghost hinterherfahren und euch so langsam verbessern.

Irgendwann fällt die eigene Zeitverbesserung aber schwer und man ist „auf die eigene Linie“ eingeschossen. Achtung! Jetzt könnt ihr nur von viel besseren lernen.  Darum solltet ihr jetzt mal als Geist jemanden wählen, der ganz klar 1, 2 oder gar 3 Sekunden vor euch liegt. Ob ihr hier den Rang einstellt (jeder 500ste, 1000ste oder so) oder eine Zeit vorgebt,  bleibt euch überlassen. Der Abstand sollte nur eben gerade so groß sein, dass ihr den Ghost auf der Strecke immer noch in Sichtweite habt und so seiner Linie folgen könnt. Ihr werdet feststellen, dass ihr manche Stellen grundlegend falsch anfahrt.   Es schadet nicht, sich die Fahrten (Videos) der Top-Fahrer anzuschauen. Mit der C-Taste stellt ihr die Kamera-Perspektive ein und bekommt so andere Eindrücke von schwierigen Strecken-Teilen.

Tipp: Könnt ihr eure eigene Zeit nicht mehr toppen, kann es hilfreich sein, sich selbst als Geist zu nehmen. Warum? Wenn euch euer eigener Ghost überholt, gibts keine Chance mehr, das Rennen mit neuer Bestzeit ins Tal zu bringen. Abbruch -  neu starten!

9) Tutorials anschauen
Auch wenn ich es oben schonmal angerissen habe, es ist einen eigenen Punkt wert: Ihr wollt unter die Topfahrer? Dann müsst ihr alle Widrigkeiten der Strecken kennen! Das trifft auf nur wenige zu, aber davon sind einige so nett, für uns alle Video- und Strecken-Tutorials zu veröffentlichen.

Solche Tutorials findet ihr vereinzelt auf YouTube, die brauchbarsten gesammelt bei uns im Weblog, auf der offiziellen ORF SC-Website, bei Playerworlds oder im inoffiziellen SC-Forum von skicha.

10) Relaxed bleiben
Wird euch jeder Profi-Sportler bestätigen: Bleibt locker – gaaanz relaxed. Es bringt nichts, sich ein ums andere Mal das Tal hinab zu stürzen um doch nur zu scheitern. Mit Ärger und Frust im Bauch, nichts im Magen und vollkommen übermüdet hat noch nie einer Bestleistungen gebracht.

Remember: Don´t drink and drive!
Kein übermäßiger Alkohol, keine Drogen wenn ihr Ski Challenge spielt.

Bleibt vor allem klar und entspannt im Kopf. Wenn ihr partout keine neue Bestzeit schafft, ist es manchmal das beste zu pausieren. Fenster auf, Augen entspannen. Mal ein, zwei, drei Stunden oder auch mal den halben Tag nichts machen.  Setzt euch später wieder ans Keyboard. Frisch, erholt, unbelastet und ihr werdet euren „Run“ haben. Und wenn nicht, immer dran denken: Es soll Spaß machen!

The Read ‘Em ‘Cause You Got ‘Em series charts my attempt to read all the books in my gaming library that crept in over the years and went overlooked for too long.

I have to confess to a certain deficiency. When it comes to some campaign concepts and settings, I really need my hand held as I go through the mental process of figuring out what to do with it. I need, for lack of a better term, worked examples.

So texts like Phil Masters’ Age of Gold, a companion setting to the magic system toolkit GURPS Thaumatology, drive me nuts. As a setting, it’s an mystical take on the pulp adventure genre and the mystery men like the Shadow who preceded full-on super heroes, as magic undergoes a resurgence in the 1930s and alchemy literally transmutes people into something more. Age of Gold has amazing brain-tickling passages like this:

India also can be used as an avenue for supernaturally themed pulp adventures, including any number of temples of doom and resurgent thuggee cults, as well as attempts by Nazi occult researchers to infiltrate the Himalayas, or efforts by mad scientist Theosophists to “salvage ancient Lemurian devices” from the treasure vaults of maharajahs.

It sounds totally awesome and I have no idea what to do with it. Even with sample characters like the Secret Pharaoh and Madame Jasmine to guide me on what sort of happenings go on in this world, my reaction is, “These are great. I wish there were more material here to really walk me through the steps.”

While Age of Gold is a mini-setting, I wish there were more to it in terms of showing what PCs could get up to, even with the opening vignettes that kick off every chapter, rather than talking about it, as in the above quoted passage. Leave them wanting more is a good way to go out, I guess.

STUPID BRIT, VERY SORRY USA!

Thanksgiving or Thanksgiving Day, presently celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November, has been an annual tradition in the United States since 1863. It did not become a federal holiday until 1941. Thanksgiving was historically a religious observation to give thanks to God, but is now primarily identified as a national holiday.[1]

The First Thanksgiving was celebrated to give thanks to God for helping the Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony survive the brutal winter.[citation needed] The first Thanksgiving feast lasted three days providing enough food for 53 pilgrims and 90 Indians.[2] The feast consisted of fowl, venison, fish, lobster, clams, berries, fruit, pumpkin, and squash. However, the traditional Thanksgiving menu often features turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie.

The Obamas

And so on…you can read the Cockney Masterpiece too LOL

An announcent from Blue Mars

As of today we will be incorporating Cockney Rhyming Slang into our chat. To start you off me old china, Blue Mars can be referred to as Supa Stars.

Cockney rhyming slang (sometimes abbreviated as CRS) is a form of English slang which originated in the East End of London. Many of its expressions have passed into common language, and the creation of new ones is no longer restricted to Cockneys

So “

• Not another frog to cross? Me plates are killing me, wish I could be-a-sport like in Supa.
• ” Not another road (frog and toad) to cross? Me feet (plates of meat) are killing me. Wish I could teleport (be-a-sport) like in Blue Mars (supa stars).

Please note that only the first word of the phrase is used. Comments please and maybe my trouble will show you her bristols.

Tee Shirt for the first translation of:

‘Allo me old china – wot say we pop round the Jack. I’ll stand you a pig and you can rabbit on about your teapots. We can ‘ave some loop and tommy and be off before the dickory hits twelve.

Oh btw Virtuality Labs dot com is Live and so is La Carissima dot com

Video being coverted as we speak………………..phew AND my minces ache cause Mick took my Gregories by mistake stupid merchant banker

And CRS is OK, this from the BBC:

A cash machine operator has introduced Cockney rhyming slang to a number of its ATMs in east London.

People using Bank Machine’s ATMs can opt to have their prompts and options given to them in rhyming slang.

As a result they will be asked to enter their Huckleberry Finn, rather than their Pin, and will have to select how much sausage and mash (cash) they want.

The rhyming slang prompts will be available from five cash machines in east London for three months.

Other rhyming slang prompts people can expect include a speckled hen (£10), while the machine may inform users that it is contacting their rattle and tank, rather than bank.

Ron Delnevo, managing director of Bank Machine, said: “We wanted to introduce something fun and of local interest to our London machines.

“Whilst we expect some residents will visit the machine to just have a butcher’s (look), most will be genuinely pleased as this is the first time a financial services provider will have recognised the Cockney language in such a manner.”

Out of respect Pray Silence For Her Royal Highness, Her Majesty The Queen.

california 2009 fodors tourist guide the calamity girl the idea girl says great for researching a settings

I’ve been rushing around the past few days, doing some shopping and trying to read the travel guides that I got from the library.

If you want to research an area, tourist guides are awesome.

Fodor’s gives a good description about the arts, culture, entertainment and environment of each city plus it’s suburbs.

I’ve been writing down notes and trying to keep it organized.

I find I like jumping back and forth between books, so I put the name of the city at the top of my page.

And if I have loads of Novel Notes, I’ll number and Alphabetically categorize my notebook. Section A page 7 – Toronto, dining spots for Michael while filming on set. (Giving myself a plot idea, a character and a story to work with)

toronto-best-new-restaurants-the-calamity-girl-michael-ferraras-the-idea-girl-says-good-research-for-places-in-novel

Michael Ferraras is my fictional movie producer from The Calamity Girl.

I’ve entered the rough draft into the competition and now I’m gathering facts to expand the ideas of the book and I’ll probably add to the word count as I go along.

I’ve been chatting in Pro Blogger, where the topic is, how to draw attention to your blog, talk to your audience not at them.

There it was!
The reason I didn’t like my novel, was because i’m talking At the reader.

Giving mundane information about all the tourist attractions that Rachel and Michael visited while in California.

Even including the actual names of some of the spots located in Disneyland and Universal Studios.

But there wasn’t much of a description of what it was LIKE to visit there.

And that’s where I have to work on a better story line.

In order to engage the reader, they must feel like they are standing there right beside you and seeing what your character is looking at.

Boy that was a mouthful.

But you get the picture, right?

I can describe Mickey Mouse, he’s a big colorful mouse with huge ears, and a big smile on his face.

As I walked by, he asked if I’d like to have my picture taken with him.

I said, “Sure!”

We stood there posing and that was when I felt very silly noticing the little children tugging on their parents sleeve saying, “Mommy isn’t she kind of big to be taking a picture with Mickey Mouse?”

Maybe that’s not the best example but you get an idea of how “foolish” Rachel feels upon hearing this child’s comment.

As a reader, you can relate to the feeling of embarrassment but you also have to WRITE that she’s embarrassed.

I stood there feeling silly and my ears turned red and my cheeks turned pink, I tried to ignore the kid and smile. I wanted to get it over with. Then I turned to the little boy and said, “I’ve been a fan of Mickey Mouse for years and I’ve always wanted to get my picture taken with him. It’s my first time here.”

There!
I just saved my face.

The little kid is happy with my explanation and my readers can giggle about my retort to the little kids remark.

I’m glad to see that Michael Jackson was never embarrassed to get his picture taken with Mickey Mouse.

More than likely Mickey Mouse was the one to ask for a picture to be taken!

michael_jackson_and_mickey_mouse_300 the idea girl says

After installing VirtualBox here are some quick screenshots showing what “Settings” are exposed for Virtual Machine properties.
These are all fairly typical, but I’ve posted here as a handy reference. 

General 

System 

    

Hard Disks

CD/DVD-Rom

Floppy

Audio

Network

Serial Ports  

USB

Shared Folders           

Synopsis_Logo the idea girl says

Yes, I’ve reached another goal!

I copy and pasted my notes from ONE NOTE into WORD and created a 5 Page Synopsis from a 20 page/chapter Synopsis and then condensed all that into 1 page for the NaNoWriMo site. They only wish to have a short synopsis and this will be my FIRST one that I’ve ever written in my life.

Should be interesting to see what happens with it.
I didn’t give my characters any description at all in my Synopsis, even though I’ve seen that in others.

I just give the names, type of job and what they do in my story.

The first time I mention the name it’s put in CAPS AND BOLD I read somewhere that is what you’re supposed to do.

I’ve watched lots of videos and have been reading how to do a Synopsis books for the past year.

So I think I’ve got it.

I gave an Intro about my main character and some of the surrounding characters in the story.

What their relationship is to Rachel Tornquist (main character).

A short outline of what happens in the story, how it begins, the conflicts, the resolution then the ending.

I think that’s all I’m supposed to do for a Synopsis.

Then I’ll have to work on a Query letter.

Now that will be a challenge, how do you condense 25 lines of type into a 5 line paragraph that describes the heart of your book.

How do I promote my ability to be a writer with no formal education or degree?

I’ll have to present myself as a long time internet blogger, whose spent the past 20 years making websites as a hobby.

I’ve got hundreds of websites out there and don’t even remember half of the addresses for them.

I just started back in 2008, on a new project and started writing novels then blogging about it on wordpress and building hobby websites on Squidoo.

I’ve integrated my writing skills with my imagination and created a kind of tourist type website that evolves around a fictional story.

I figured I’d bring visitors to the areas mentioned, and have fun using my imagination of what I’d be like if I were a millionaire, travelling and sight seeing.

That’s how I’ve started two of my novels.

The Munroe Mansion – The Beginning, is a mystery, paranormal romance.

The Calamity Girl – The Promotion is a chic lit, romance with a hint of mystery in it. I’m building a website about the plots and settings for the book. I use this tool for future reference, a way to showcase my novel notes and give other writers ideas on how to keep their stories moving.

I plan to do a detective series in the future and more chic lit.

I’ve already started up to 20,000 words for about 15 books (The Munroe Series), and built websites about them on Squidoo. (a late night, when I can’t sleep hobby – making websites for fun.)

I’m even doing research now for book two of The Calamity Girl.

Not sure how many books will be about Rachel Tornquist, but with my imagination I’ve developed several key characters and I’ve got book ideas for every one of them.

For more funny how to videos visit EElumir on youtube.

Right now, at the threshold of the long dark days of winter, we still have enough summer sunshine in our bones to savor the idea of a long, cold, dark winter, shut in our houses, with happy snowdrifts and icicles outside and lots of warm rosy light and hot cocoa inside. The holidays are ahead of us, and our boots and sweaters feel so, so good after so many months of shorts and t-shirts.

The Danish have a word that every source I’ve read has assured me I simply cannot understand because I’m not Danish myself: hygge. Hygge incorporates the happy feeling of being with the people one loves; the conversation, the light, the laughter. It also incorporates good food and a cozy environment. It sounds to me as if it captures this late-Autumn, early-Winter feeling precisely.

Every so often, when I can see it, I like to watch the movie version of Roald Dahl’s The Witches. It is, by a landslide, my favorite of all his books, and the movie version of it thankfully doesn’t disappoint. It is puckish and gruesome and charming in just the right amounts, and the beginning parts set in Norway are oh! so charming and full of hygge. The pointed houses, the long braids of hair, and need I mention the Scandinavian knits? Sweaters and stocking-caps and mittens, all covered with white motifs against blue and red and green and black backgrounds. Arrrrr, good thoughts indeed. If you’re looking for a movie to give you that cozy winter feeling, I suggest that you check it out.

Once on a message board I read a post by a person who had spent his childhood in Norway. The thread was about memories of school and childhood. He said that every morning for breakfast, his mother gave him a big bowl of oat porridge, with a handful of raisins in it. It was surrounded by a moat of whole milk and capped by a pat of golden, melting butter.

After breakfast, he and the other children would ski to school. It was so cold outside that in addition to their delightful Scandinavian knits, they all had to wear down snowsuits. They were perfectly comfortable as they skied in the morning darkness, but as soon as they got into the warm cloakroom of the schoolhouse, it was a scramble to get the snowsuits off as soon as possible.

After skiing back home from school in the afternoon, he would spend the evening doing his schoolwork, sitting right in front of the fireplace with the two or three big family dogs snoozing around him. He and the dogs and the fire all kept each other warm, and his dripping boots drying by the fire gave a very comfortable sensation of how toasty and nice it was inside, compared to the frozen wilderness outside.

I think there’s plenty of fodder for some Scandinavian daydreaming in that. Truth be told, it’s one of the most charming things I’ve ever read.

Some of us like the little foldaway travel-style blow dryers and some of us prefer to pull out the monstrous, tangle-ridden bump and fall to the ground blow dryers. Sound familiar? Well its time to inspect what you have been using and or hiding away in your vanity. Anything that plugs in can start a fire. You should inspect the cord periodically and never wrap it up like a puzzle for storage next to your sink.

Heat is a great enemy to your hair. That means hair dryers must be used with great care and on a moderate setting. A blow dryer on its hottest setting will reach temperatures above that at which water boils. This can be disastrous on the hair.

The best choices for Blow Dryers and their care:

It seems the ION hair dryer includes all the bells the whistles. It offers technologies separately or together, with ionic only, ionic and ceramic, and ceramic only settings. A full complement of features includes several heat settings and speeds, a quiet motor, concentrator attachment and a hinged filer for cleaning. Your best bet for one of these would be Tourmaline, BaByliss, and Revlon.

There is a huge price difference between professional and home hair dryers. You get a longer duty cycle for the extra money. Professional hair dryers are supposed to last for 1200 hours where as the more inexpensive blow dryer lasts about 500 hours. Professional hair dyers are also generally larger and generate more airflow than consumer blow dryers.

For an inexpensive, professional hair dryer, we found the Tourmaline has rave reviews. This dryer is different from other blow dryers because of its crushed tourmaline jewels, which generate more negative ions than any other mineral. The jewels are injected into all the dryer compartments. It the only dryer with a true ceramic heater coil. It weighs only 13 ounces and packs a whopping 1800-watt motor.

If you’re looking for a travel dryer with the same power as a full sized model, the CONAIR ION Shine Folding Handle Blow Dryer has 1875 watts with ionic technology to reduce frizz and offers two heat/speed settings. It has a concentrator, removable filer and a cool-shot button with a quiet tone motor.

The most important feature of a blow dryer, airflow, depends on its motor. However, unless you buy your dryer from a beauty-supply store that lets you test it first, there’s really no way to determine motor quality before you plunk down your money. Powerful motors reduce drying time, but some also sound an awful lot like jets taking off in your bathroom. Blow-dryer manufacturers are addressing this by developing quieter motors. For example, several of the CONAIR Ion Shine hair dryers feature a Quiet-Tone motor.

I say the best blow dryers should have the following features:

Power of 1200 – 1500 watts for fine/damaged hair, and 1875 watts for thick, wavy hair.

Two or three heat settings.

Automatic shut-off if the dryer overheats.

A cool setting for a cool-shot button to set your hairstyle.

A removable air intake grill/lint filter.

I wish you happy heating, curling, waving, and styling. And remember to check out your existing hair dryer and keep it safe, clean and stored properly.

For many, the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday is a green light to indulge in once-a-year comfort foods. If it’s only once a year, then it’s not a big deal, right? Perhaps not, but what happens at the Thanksgiving table can set the stage for the rest of the holiday season. As much as we look forward to feasting, we certainly don’t look forward to feeling uncomfortable in our clothes and worrying about weight gain. Here’s some food for thought, if you will, to consider as we approach the holiday:

During our celebrating, keep in mind that for some it is an overwhelming and stressful experience to have such a strong focus on food during Thanksgiving. And then there are those who are dealing with other concerns, or grief and don’t look forward to the holiday and its food and celebrations. Whatever type of stress – positive or negative – that we bring to the holiday table, our eating choices are impacted as a result of our emotions. Being aware that our emotions can play a powerful role in how and what we eat allows us to make more conscientious food choices.

Although it seems like a wise idea, avoid “saving up” for the holiday meal by skipping breakfast, snacks, or lunch beforehand. Even if the big meal is at a non-meal time (2pm anyone?), try to keep to a regular schedule as much as possible. When we enter a meal overly hungry and/or deprived, it sets us up to overeat. And a Thanksgiving meal usually leaves us more than comfortably full to begin with, so preparing ourselves for success begins early in the day.

Survey all of the food choices, including appetizers and desserts before making decisions. Once you know what’s available, determine how your choices fit into your plan for the day. It may be hard to resist specialty items that only come once a year and they may or may not be worth the calories if other choices would be more satisfying. Remember that in our overabundance, there will always be more at a later time.

Pay attention to your portions, particularly if there is a large selection available. Taking a small serving of several different dishes may be the equivalent of a larger serving of only two or three dishes. Keep the size of your plate in mind, and well as how often you fill it.

Tune in to your body’s signals. If you’re beginning to feel full, put your fork down and take a break. Difficult as this may be when we sit around a table filled with food, the more we can relax and take our time, the better we can listen to our body.

Find time during the course of the day to move. What a concept! Blow off some steam, escape the family, and digest with a walk, active video games like Wii, running around with little ones, or playing games outdoors.

Focus on the meaning of the holiday beyond the food. Consider the togetherness of family and friends, traditions, and ways in which you are particularly thankful this year.

Last but certainly not least: enjoy yourself! In anticipation of the holiday, consider what elements need to be in place for you to have a peaceful and fun celebration.

Be sure to tune in next week for some ideas to put your leftovers to delicious use. HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

How Stacey Got the Shot: Thanksgiving afternoon 2008, as guests were arriving. 1/40 second exposure at f/5.6, 55mm focal length, ISO 400.

A smoke grenade is a container-type grenade, the device for various purposes, such as identification, the ice is a device used for screening or signal. It is usually not fatal, but can still cause damage or injury, if he is mistaken. In paintball, smoke grenades are usually designed to produce smoke in bright colors, so you can smoke screens, which takes from three to 15 minutes. The smoke usually spreads over an area of 30,000 to 500,000 cubic metersFeet.

Types

There are two types of paintball smoke grenades used: the standard version and the type of flame. A standard smoke grenade can create smokescreens about 30,000 to 100,000 cubic meters of surface. This type of smoke produced from orange to last for a maximum of four minutes. Smoke grenade to blow a rule, you must manually extract the pins, if near the area where you are going to communicate with them.

On the other hand there is the flameTypes. This type of smoke grenades can be fired by the use of batteries, so you can do remotely. It is generally used as a smokescreen for a military or police and firefighters.

Buy Considerations

There are two main factors that you should consider the purchase of smoke grenades. The first is the period and the second is a smoker. You want to choose a paintball smoke grenade, the smoke that lasts longer able to produce. This is all the smoke can buytime to plan your next steps.

It 'also important to the grenade smoking area factor. If you play in a smaller range, you must use a product that is spreading smoke around 300,000 cubic meters. Larger fields are needed, of course, a smoke grenade that the smoke spread over a larger surface area as possible.

Related : Best HDTV For You

One of the many, many things that gets under my skin is people not setting up their new TV properly once home and plugged in.

Why does this bother me?
By default, TVs are not set up to look their best in the home. Out of the box the settings are all cranked up way too high. This is to give them the “wow” factor when on the shop floor, trying to make one brand stand out from the next.

I can’t understand how people can be happy with radioactive-looking grass, bright orange skin tones, shadows that look like black holes and extra lines around every edge. Especially if they have spent a pretty penny on their new appliance.

It’s a shame that a more natural default setting is not common – you’re left to settle for the glowing grass, or set things up yourself.

For a proper calibration, you really need a series of test screens (found on some THX certified and Disney DVDs – Aliens and Cars are two examples) or calibration built into the TVs menu system.

So what can you do once at home if you don’t have any of the above?
Follow the steps below for a quick and dirty method to getting the best from your TV;

• Before changing anything, you should turn off any ‘advanced’ settings.
  This will be things like Pixel Plus, XD Engine, Motion Hyper Brilliance, Super Mega Wonder-Depth, or any other pointless nonsense that was probably a marketing selling point for your TV. These are largely a waste of time and can be switched back on after you have set things up, if you feel you really need them.
  
• Dynamic Contrast is common place with LCDs now. Turn this off too.

• Watching the TV in pitch black or with mid-summer sunshine beaming into the room will affect the picture greatly. It’s best to configure these settings with the curtains drawn but the lights on.
• If your input (DVR, DVD Player, etc.) has options to adjust its picture, set these to ‘normal’, or the middle value, or whatever the default option is. There’s no use adjusting your TV if the source’s colour is turned up full blast or the contrast turn all the way down.
• Turn the Contrast, Brightness, Colour, Tint, Sharpness and Colour Temp of your TV all to their middle values before starting (Don’t worry if you don’t have all those options).

Backlight
Turn this to the middle most setting for now. Too high will wash out some highlights and make blacks appear grey, too low and it’ll be hard to make out some details. There will likely be an “auto” setting for this which should be switched on once calibration is complete.

Contrast
Pop in a DVD or Blu-ray and find a scene with some highlights and shadows. Something with clouds on a sunny day above a field of trees should be suitable.
Pause the scene (a Digital TV box with a pause function will also do).
Set the Contrast to the middle.
Start to turn the contrast down.
Take a note of the value just before the detail in the shadows disappears.
Start to turn the contrast back up.
Take a note of the value just before the detail in the highlights disappears (such as the clouds).
Set the contrast to the value in between the two numbers you noted.

Brightness
This time find and pause on a dark scene.
Within this dark scene look for something dark on something else dark, such as a lapel on a black suit, or the outline of black trousers in a dark room.
This will likely be the darkest value on any source you’ll be watching.
Start to turn the brightness down.
Take a note of the value just before the detail you found disappears.
Set the brightness to that value.
Any higher can result in dark parts looking grey instead of black. Any lower and you won’t be seeing all the details in dark scenes.

Colour
Find a program with natural tones. A football match or news report will do.
Turn the colour all the way down. Yes, so the image is grayscale.
Turn the colour up slowly until the colours look natural.
Take a note of and keep that setting.
If you start with the colour cranked up too high and work backwards, your eyes will desensitise and leave you picking a setting too high.
Don’t be surprised if you hardly turn it up at all, this is normal.

Tint
This should be left in the middle setting unless you notice the colour of the TV looking “off”. As in greens looking purple, reds looking yellow etc.

Sharpness
I can’t see why this setting should even be on modern TVs with digital connections. I can understand it for old analogue connections where ghosting or bleeding would have been an issue. But on digital connections, each pixel should be displaying its own signal and nothing else. There should be no reason for ghosting or colour bleed nowadays. But, such is life.
All Digital Set Top boxes, DVD players and DVRs should have some sort of GUI.
Access this GUI and leave it on-screen.
Set the sharpness down to the lowest setting.
Slowly turn this up and take note of when vertical lines start appearing next to the letters and menus.
This should really be left at the lowest setting, but you may find yourself happier with an artificially sharper looking image at the expense of some ghosting.
Set this to your preferred value.

Colour Temp
Again, this should be left at the middle, or ‘neutral’ value, but the lighting in your room may leave the image looking too warm (to the red or orange side) or too cold (to the blue side).
Stay on the program with natural tones.
Adjust the value up and down until you find a value you feel conformable with. Unless your room is lit up with blue or red bulbs, you’ll likely find this can be left in the middle.

Save your settings!

Now, go back and do all that again, but WITHOUT setting everything to their middle values first this time.
This is because you may have knocked off a previous setting as you have adjusted a later one. For example, changing the colour to a more natural value may have changed the optimum value for the brightness and contrast.

Depending on your TV, you may need to do this for every source in use. i.e. if you have your DVR and DVD Player on separate inputs.

From here on you will likely find yourself tweaking the odd setting now and then as you watch various sources. This is normal. You are more likely to spot the odd detail missing or highlight washed out on a variety of images.

Try to avoid switching on all the extra super-special-advanced hyper settings if you can. These tend to add something to the experience that isn’t needed and can often make it worse. One example is was Philips’ “Pixel Plus”. This did some motion adaptation to try and make the image flow smoother and look more realistic, but instead took away from a movie’s cinematic feeling, instead making it feel like a live-filmed sit-com.
Not all are like this, some may actually improve something. I have yet to find one.

Please remember that not all sources are made the same. You will come across some dark films that look like the brightness is turned up to high. This will likely be due to how they have been authored and not your settings.
It’s easy to tell this on letter-boxed movies – the blacks bars at the top and bottom of the screen are pure black. Anything against these bars that should be black, but appear grey, will likely be because of how the film has been mastered.

Hopefully you’re now enjoying your TV a bit more than before.

Its kind of neat to see such a well received app for this purpose.  Click here to find out the details.

environment -> Filter -> Customize
Filter rendering -> Custom
Add the filter ” Gretech Audio Filter “　with ” highest priority “

adds few menu item in settings–general

Building as an Actor?  (Hjersman) 

Copyright  ©  Peter Hjersman 2009 

     Movies often use buildings as the setting.  Some settings are beneficial and most are horrible.  The traditional haunted house…on a hill…in a storm is a static participant, like a mountain with caves.  The building itself is a means to an end but not a participant.  Walls, floors, ceiling, doors are props that allow actions to occur about and through them.  Most the interior scenes would not work in an unobstructed desert. 

     A recent example is in the Harry Potter books (1997 book by J. K. Rowling .  The stairways in the living area–move about–seemingly of their own volition and without any contribution to the plot.  The movies accent this sidelight (2001 script by Steve Kloves .  These movements do give us a characterization of the building but only as a sidelight, not as a participatory character.  The ‘Hogwarts School of Witchcraft’ is more than a static prop, but not a full participant. 

     What if…the stairways sensed the walker and turned in the direction they are going?  The swinging stairs could alter a pursuit, making capture easier or more difficult.  What if a secret hallway door opened when a basement was being sought? 

     The House Next Door (1978 book by Anne Rivers Siddons ; 2006 script by Suzette Couture uses the house itself as the evil antagonist.  Even the architect was used and has no idea what happened.  Did he “go down with the ship”?  He was fascinated by the building and moved in after previous occupants were buried.  The house itself kills occupants by dredging up fear from within and using it to their demise.  Speculation on the cause centers on the site.  Perhaps this was a sacred or burial site for the local nation of native dwellers.  Maybe a meteor or other source of strong electro-magnetic energy caused the disruption.  Perhaps the Feng-shui, the geomancy, indicates the site was not meant to support a human residence.  If…the site thirsts for blood, then a slaughter house or a crematorium might benefit on that land.  Does the micro-ecosystem of that site have a specific purpose? 

     What if…the architect returned determined to resolve the negative energy, found the reason, resolved, and provided a house that evolved to a home with multiple positive benefits? 

     In Thir13en Ghosts  (1960; Robb White; 2001 script by Richard D’Ovidio), the building was constructed for a specific evil purpose.  The building is a participant in the antagonist’s scheme, an assistant.  Walls, doors move and shuttle the occupants to certain places. 

     What if…the energy was reversed, adding some Charlie Chaplin with a bed that dumps the sleeper into the day when it is time to get up?  The walls shift, opening the bath and closet, then the kitchen and so on.  Moving walls and stairs are capable of benefiting our day. 

     Why are buildings not used as protagonists?  Many objects considered inanimate are used, such as brooms, beds, and other house items.  In a plot, what is the difference between a flying plate and the kitchen used for airspace?  Can’t they both move about?  Are we so close to the comfort, protection, hideaway we project onto our buildings that we cannot see them as giving other benefits?  Is a building, a home, more than a “shelter”? 

     Walls and ceilings could expand when the occupant wants to create and then cozy down when comfort is needed.  What if…a front door only allowed friendly people to enter?  Does a stone wall provide the same security as a wood-frame gypsum-board wall? 

     One guest from Europe said he feels insecure inside our hollow walls.  He grew up in and around stone and brick buildings.  Our buildings seem light and fragile.  He knew of the movement of California land from earthquakes, but his feelings stood.  If a building design came from the land, came from deep within, similar to the resource mentioned by writers , would this building evoke and exude higher life energies?  We all know what it feels like to be treated as a nothing, an invisible inconsequential emptiness, yet we treat buildings this way.  Farmers who only plant one crop delete the soil of prime ingredients.  Those who listen to the land know to alter crops to revitalize the soil they use as stewards of the land. 

     What if…we consider buildings as partners, like land to the farmer, resources to the writers?  If we become stewards of our buildings, would we find resources that gave us benefits?  If we listen…to the land, to our inner resources, to our buildings….  Then, we would have lives and movies with buildings that benefit the occupants, empower them to treasures within, and enhance their lives.  Buildings can be good guys—and gals. 

 ###

My eclipse.ini settings found in C:\eclipse\; Eclipse version is Galileo:

-startup
plugins/org.eclipse.equinox.launcher_1.0.200.v20090520.jar
–launcher.library
plugins/org.eclipse.equinox.launcher.win32.win32.x86_1.0.200.v20090519
-product
org.eclipse.epp.package.jee.product
–launcher.XXMaxPermSize
256M
-showsplash
org.eclipse.platform
–launcher.XXMaxPermSize
256m
-vmargs
-Dosgi.requiredJavaVersion=1.5
-Xms40m
-Xmx512m
-Dhttp.proxyPort=80
-Dhttp.proxyHost=www-ad-proxy.sabre.com
-Dhttps.proxyPort=80
-Dhttps.proxyHost=www-ad-proxy.sabre.com
-Dhttp.nonProxyHosts=”localhost|*.sabre.com|127.0.0.1″
-Dorg.eclipse.ecf.provider.filetransfer.excludeContributors=org.eclipse.ecf.provider.filetransfer.httpclient

My mercurial.ini settings found in C:\Documents and Settings\<home dir>:

Working in Sabre Airlines uses a proxy server.

[http_proxy]
host=www-ad-proxy.sabre.com:80
user=<username in proxy>
passwd=<password in proxy>
no=localhost,127.0.0.1,code.openbravo.com

[ui]
username = Gerard Lee <gerarldlee (at) hotmail {dot} com>

[extensions]
hgext.graphlog =

[diff]
git = 1

When I clicked through “Statement of Rights and Responsibilities” or “Privacy Policy” of Facebook, I was impressed how long the list of declarations is. Everybody has to agree with the Principles, when they sign in for a Facebook account. Yet I think nobody ever read them thoroughly. Most of the things are common knowledge (like do not use Facebook to do anything unlawful, misleading, malicious, or discriminatory) or very similar to Youtube Principals (like you should own the rights of whatever you upload).

I think every user should be aware that Facebook is not a private place to communicate with friends, but a public place. Of course, you can modify your settings so that only your friends can visit your page, but there is always the danger of data abuse. Facebook even admits in its Statement of Rights and Responsibility: “We do our best to keep Facebook safe, but we cannot guarantee it.”

There are people who try to collect users’ information, people who spread spam, people who upload viruses, etc. As long as you are aware of the risks and take precautions such as only add people you really know or only upload appropriate material, I think you are fine. Of course there is still a rest-risk that hackers target Facebook and steal private data.

I personally use Facebook and think this is a wonderful thing to keep in touch with friends, to share information and pictures. I am very aware of the risks. But I see it this way: This is the price you pay for convenience, just as everywhere. If you take the car, of course you can have an accident and die. But nevertheless I use the car. If I do online banking, someone might get my data and money. But nevertheless I do online banking.

But there is one thing about Facebook that I have just learned that makes me really angry and scares me somehow. Facebook shares all kind of information with third party application developer. A lot of apps are created by companies and once I have allowed an application to connect with my Facebook account they get access to all my personal data.

Facebook says: “If you allow an application or website to connect with your Facebook account, that application or website can access information on Facebook related to you and your friends and generate and publish stories about actions you take on that application or website without any additional permission. Unless you change your privacy settings, an application or website that you connect with can generally access the same information that you can see about yourself and your friends, and an application or website that your friend connects with can access the same information about you that the friend can see.”

And Facebook clearly states that it is not responsible for anything companies do with your data.

Morevoer I found a really good article about this whole issue with application developer and how they get access to your data.

This is Part 2 of the Color Management series.  For an overview of color management covered in Part 1 please refer to this link here.

To select the right color profile for your scanner first open the application that was included with the scanner. I have the Epson V700 so the application panel looks like this:

To access the color profile settings click the “Configuration” or similar labelled button.

Last step is to select the “Adobe RGB” target profile from the drop down list. And now your scanner is correctly color profiled!

For setting up Photoshop color profiling please refer to the Computer Darkroom tutorial.

Epson Perfection V700 Photo Color Scanner on Amazon

Track Details

The Circuit Zolder, also known as Circuit Terlaemen, is an undulating motorsport race track in Heusden-Zolder, Belgium. Built in 1963, Zolder hosted the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix on 10 separate occasions in the 1970s and 1980s. Unfortunately, Zolder is probably best remembered as the place Gilles Villeneuve lost his life during qualifying at the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix, an event that signified the beginning of the end for the Flemish circuit as a Formula One venue (although the accident was not caused by problems with the track). The Belgian Grand Prix was held here only once more before switching to Spa Francorchamps which has hosted the Belgian Grand Prix nearly every year since.

Damage information

Chassis 14
Engine 15
Front wing 18
Rear wing 17
Underbody 15
Sidepods 17
Cooling 16
Gearbox 28
Brakes 20
Suspension 23
Electronics 14

Tactic

I think that best tactic would be HARD tyres and only 1 pit. Hard and 1 pit will work with every tyre supplier!

Setups

Practice laps data (laps done 8/8)
Lap Lap time Driver
mistake Net time Settings
FWing RWing Engine Brakes Gear Susp Tyres Comm
1 1:15.181s 0.047s 1:15.134s 830 770 650 600 510 640 Hard
2 1:14.153s 0.086s 1:14.067s 870 810 690 570 400 550 Hard
3 1:14.234s 0.027s 1:14.207s 850 790 670 550 370 510 Hard
4 1:14.401s 0.001s 1:14.400s 840 780 660 560 350 530 Hard
5 1:14.266s 0.054s 1:14.212s 860 800 665 555 360 520 Hard
6 1:14.013s 0.047s 1:13.966s 890 830 692 582 390 500 Hard
7 1:13.981s 0.003s 1:13.978s 910 810 692 582 390 500 Hard
8 1:13.994s 0.006s 1:13.988s 870 850 692 582 390 500 Hard
Practice lap 8 comments from your driver:

I am satisfied with the setup of the car

Qualify 1 lap data
Time FWing RWing Engine Brakes Gear Susp Tyres Risk
1:13.807s 892 828 692 582 390 500 Dunnolop Hard Push the car to the limit