VampireS Sumo

Whatever pops into my head is usually written down on a yellow legal pad. Today’s scuttlebutt is no exception. I am giving you fair warning that what you are about to read is not something you would normally think of in the context of daily life (nor would you want to)…unless you are waiting in line for long periods of time, which in my case, I usually am. This time I was waiting for early morning, bumper-to-bumper traffic to clear so I could get out to the barn. I said a few choice words, which led to the subject matter for the next paragraph.

Listed below are a dozen ways to describe the substance that exits the back end of a horse after said equine ingests 50 pounds of hay daily, along with six to eight quarts of oats, pasture grass, and an assortment of treats which include, but is not limited to, carrots, apples, molasses horse cookies, sugar cubes, and candy canes (winter months) or cellophane-wrapped peppermints (summer months). This of course is accompanied by 10-15 gallons of water per diem.

What goes in must come out, so here is the list:

1. Meadow Muffins

2. Road Apples

3. Horse Balls

4. Horse Shit

5. Manure

6. Crap

7. Pucky

8. Doo-doo

9. Horse Plops

10. Poop

11. Pooh

12. Reconstituted Vegetable Matter (for people too proper to call it what it really is…horse shit)

Pick your favorite word above to describe horse excrement and win a prize. Read my next article and find out what the prize is.

Pamela Beers is a freelance writer, educator and horse trainer. She has discovered that waiting for stalled traffic can be an adventure in creativity. Visit her website at pamelabeers.com pamelabeers.com for writing and marketing tips.

When I was a new user of the digital camera I sailed merrily along, not giving much thought to white balance. My first digital camera, a point and shoot Canon A-310, was excellent for color. An awkward sort of change came when that camera was dropped in the waters of a creek crossing. The camera was left damaged, with only the memory card untouched. My second digital, also a point and shoot model, was a borrowed Sony cyber-shot. This camera was new to me and I didn’t know it had no white balance mode. It had most of the same mode settings otherwise. It also had a snow mode, which I loved. Perhaps there would be no more bluish overtones?

I discovered the difference of not having a white balance mode the day I had a bad photo shoot. I took off-white pictures! I took many poses of my cute sisters dressed in their matching black and white attire. Little did I know that when I clicked so many times I disturbed the white balance, only the first few pictures turned-out. Being very disappointed, I wanted to learn how to take the best color photos. I had to understand the white balance of digital cameras, as this was the key to good color photos.

The day I took the pictures of my sisters it was sunny with overcast periods, the background was not the best, either. To many times I had asked my models to pose in different positions. The models became impatient and smiles were fading. I had assumed that changing between the cloudy mode and the sunny mode, the images would be color balanced. How can you tell if the image is off-white? When the image is off-white it will be dull looking. I also know because those peculiar shots were refused by an online photo stock company as having an off-white balance. This is harder to tell on your little digital LCD screen, where it is easier to see on your computer screen. This is why it is always best to check your white balance before hand.

I also learned that different light sources have varying color temperatures, including neutral. The balance is a reference point in which your camera determines the true color white. The camera has a harder time judging true white, a harder time than our eyes do. The camera will calculate what it is told: you need to tell the camera how to handle the lighting condition. Film photographers use filters and lens, with digital cameras you use white balancing.

One has to understand white balance if you want to program your camera. Learn enough about balancing when your camera has no white balance mode. I had looked-up a Kelvin color chart spectrum chart. 5000 K (K for Kelvin) is neutral light. Our automatic white balance mode is set-up using a neutral light measurement. To set a balance you can take a picture of a non-glossy white surface, but first place it where it is not in shadow. I use a small to medium piece of cut cardboard and I carry it with me. You can also use a white T-shirt surface, or the underside of a coffee container lid, if available. It would be a good investment to buy the credit card size white or grey card. They are professionally made for this so there is more chance it is correct.

White color balance is so important for good color. I check my white balance often now. It’s good thing we can experiment with the digital camera. We can shoot many frames as they can be deleted or saved at no cost. The saved images can be further edited in a photo editor computer program. In an editor program, a color balancing tool can take away the wrong color cast. For regular photography the automatic white balance and other mode settings work-out just fine. It is good to have an understanding of the white balance so you can take the best color photographs.

I am a young grandma, keeping-up and keeping fit. A self starter and entrepreneur.

Jessie Eldora Robertson - freelance photographer and writer - gotmydigital.com gotmydigital.com

Many people have switched from mere bird watching to a more exciting hobby of photographing birds.The pleasure of bird watching, and the capability of preserving the visual image that brought that pleasure is possible only with photography.Therefore, bird watching and bird photography complement each other.

You don’t need to be an experienced birder to enjoy photographing birds,but you need to know your subjects - study birds and know their biology,travel patterns,habits, and behavior.

The best way to start photographing birds is to begin in your backyard with subjects that are easily accessible.To attract birds - set up a feeding station in your backyard. Choose some location with a non-distracting background. Set up a blind close to the feeder and shoot.Or,you can shoot through an open window.

Also, you may have some of your best luck with photographing birds at bird sanctuaries.

Begin photographing from a distance, and with a wider angle lens, and photograph birds in a larger context.Wide-angle lenses and short zoom lenses are useful for some of the more creative aspects of bird photography.

For bird photography you′ll want to own the absolute best quality lenses you can afford.A 400 mm lens is usually considered the minimum acceptable focal length for serious bird photography - a quality 500mm f/4 telephoto lens is ideal.

Alternatively,use extension tubes.They move the film plane further away from the lens resulting in magnification of your subject.However,extension tubes reduce the amount of light reaching the film.

Some form of camera support is required for bird photography. A tripod is recommended since you’ll use a long focal-length telephoto lens. When photographing birds from a vehicle in a game park, a good window support is useful.And,for photographing birds in flight,the shoulder stock is very helpful.

Use the slowest film possible for the conditions you are shooting under.If the light is low, go with film in the ISO 200 and above range.On bright sunny days,you can use slower films such as ISO 50.

When photographing birds, study their reactions.If they become agitated - back off.Never put their safety into question. Avoid photographing nesting birds and also be sure not to stress a bird for the sake of a photograph.

With the right equipment and a little patience, you can get impressive results photographing birds.

Felix Zhucha owns postersphotosartwork.com postersphotosartwork.com. Come and find popular photographs and posters.

If your birth date falls in the range of July 23rd through August 21st, you were born under the sun sign of Leo the Lion. You probably know your Horoscope, but did you know that Numerology shows us a particular behavior for Leo based on your specific Date of Birth? We can find out this modifier by calculating your Birth Day number.

Birth Day Calculation

Your Birthday number is the date of the month you were born on, reduced to a single digit by fadic addition. For example, actor Ben Affleck was born on August 15th, 1972, so his Birthday number is (6) as shown below.

Birthday = (Day part of your birth date) = (15) = (1 5) = (6)

The Birth Day number values, and their affects on your Leo Horoscope are shown below.

Birth Day (1) - Proud

You have tremendous pride in yourself and your deeds. You also have a strong sense of responsibility for the task you take on. If you mess it up, you will fix it.

Birth Day (2) - Generous

You are very generous with both your time and your money. You are also a lavish host, delighting in really impressing people with your hospitality. Don’t let people abuse your welcome too much.

Birth Day (3) - Responsible

You are responsible almost to a fault. Your word is your bond; you don’t give it lightly, but when you do, you will always come through for people.

Birth Day (4) - Stubborn

You tend to sulk when you don’t get your way. Tenacity can be a good thing, but you tend to be stubborn for all the wrong reasons. Try to be more flexible when dealing with other prople.

Birth Day (5) - Plagiarist

You have a nasty habit of taking credit for other peoples efforts and ideas, particularly when you think you can get away with it. Guard against this urge bad karma can be really rough.

Birth Day (6) - Self-sacrifice

You need to moderate your tendency to self-sacrifice. You may find yourself resented for always giving in on small decisions.

Birth Day (7) - Braggart

You need to guard against being a braggart. Let your accomplishments speak for themselves. A little bit of humility goes a long way with people.

Birth Day (8) - Love Starved

You appear self confident to people, but secretly crave praise and recognition from those around you. You may not say it, but you Love it when people thank you for your efforts.

Birth Day (9) - Joyful

You are the ray of sunshine in peoples lives. You have a generous nature which infects those around you with your happy outlook on life.

Keith Abbott is the developer and owner of ‘Numerology 4 You’ where you can order your own

Eric Bachman played the Casbah Thursday to an emptier house than he is accustomed to. He was traveling solo this time. He played a handful of new songs and some of his classic Crooked Fingers pieces. It was very interesting to see him play solo.

He started the night off playing electric guitar with his pod effect pedal that allowed him to get a loop going that he played over. I was hoping to hear more of that.

You know, more layers of sound. Playing solo and listening to soloists can be terribly difficult and boring. We’ve all seen our share of guitars and singers. But, Eric’s voice is what warms your heart. He sings songs of love and horror. Mature lyrics coupled with his experience of being on the road forever.

He picked up his nylon string guitar and played a handful of new songs that were both great and difficult. In the full band of Crooked Fingers you can get this amazing drone of sound, loud sound. With the nylon string guitar he would approach these driving songs and sometimes hit and sometimes miss. The fragility itself was riveting. The out of key notes added flavor.

This man knows what it means to play live and soloing for anyone is a challenge. I had an interesting night of thinking listening to his songs.

Blog San Diego is an online resource for blogsandiego.com/” target=”_blank live music reviews, cd reviews, blogsandiego.com/” target=”_blank music news & features.

Scene: A June dawn illuminates a peaceful farm in southern Wisconsin. A couple of cows are resting in their stalls, a third seems to stare at a crooked crack in the barn door, thinking cow thoughts.

Here comes the sun. Finally. It seems I’ve been waiting all night. Do they know what it feels like to have a full udder with no calf in sight? Maybe if I moo real loud, they’ll wake up. No, that’ll wake up all the flies and I don’t need those mean bastards biting away at my rump. the last time I grazed in the field, there were some nice burrs I picked up near the woods. They made great fly killers, even though it stung right through my hide. I don’t care, as long as I get them dead.

I hope they send the boy - that girl has the coldest hands I ever felt. I wonder what they do with all that milk? I sure as hell wouldn′t drink it myself. Give me grass, weeds and plain water anytime. M-M good. Hay′s O.K. but where’s the flavor?

If that owner shows up, I′m gonna let him have it. Sure, he cleans out my stall, but never a kind word and then he puts me out in the rain while he’s cleaning up. A soon as he puts me back, I′m gonna let a load go on the new straw. That’ll get him mad!

Oh no, here come the dog. Nasty bitch. So let her bark at me, it doesn’t hurt me. It’s just annoying. I’ll just give her the evil eye. She might go away. Maybe if I smell her nose, real friendly-like, she′ll be off guard and I can nip her with my teeth.

Oh, boy, here we go. I love the out-of-doors! I can’t wait to get to the mud bog, especially right after a scrub down. There’s nothing like cool, wet, gooey mud to squelch around in. I hope I don’t scratch my head again, trying to get at those delicious weeds on the other side of the barbed wire. I know there’s lots of food inside the fence, but, god, that forbidden greenery smells good. So I’m addicted. So what. Do I tell you what to eat? On the other hand, I’d better not go there. Nightmare country. The Big M. Danny’s Steak House. I don’t believe all those rumors. Nobody can be that mean - or that stupid. Who′d want to eat a cow?

I think of fiction as a vehicle for promoting opinions. It also should be entertaining.

Roger Ebert, together with Rex Reed, is arguably one of the best movie writers in the business. I read his columns regularly.

In his review of Syriana, Ebert forwards a very interesting thesis:

“The movie’s plot is so complex we’re not really supposed to follow it, we’re supposed to be surrounded by it. Since none of the characters understand the whole picture, why should we?”

I never thought about a situation in which ALL the characters would be confused about what’s really going on…

If that is the case, does the script itself need to reflect that confusion?

And does this mean that the script should end up confusing the audience, by design? It’s hard to buy that.

The first chapter of Faulkner’s unforgettable The Sound and the Fury comes to mind…

But in the later chapters Faulker lets us discover the genius of that first and utterly confusing first chapter. At the end of the book, we also agree with the author that the first chapter HAD TO BE that confusing in order both to understand one of the characters and also savor the aesthetic structure of the whole edifice.

However, I cannot think of myself leaving a movie more confused than I was in the beginning.

RASHOMON is an example where it is totally legitimate to reflect a LACK OF CERTAINTY. But Kurosawa is never confused about his take on the relativity of “facts.” He is very CLEAR about lack of clarity in life.

Syriana seems to be opening the gates for a new post-9/11 kind of “post structuralism” where we’re permitted to confuse the audience as a matter of “high concept” and not only the style.

—————————————–

Ugur Akinci, Ph.D. is a Creative Copywriter, Editor, an experienced and award-winning Technical Communicator specializing in fundraising packages, direct sales copy, web content, press releases and hi-tech documentation.

He has worked as a Technical Writer for Fortune 100 companies for the last 7 years.

You can reach him at mailto:write𛶿@gmail.com write𛶿@gmail.com for a FREE consultation on all your copywriting needs.

Please visit his official web site writer111.com writer111.com for customer testimonials and more information on his multidisciplinary background and career.

The last book he has edited: lulu.com/content/263630 lulu.com/content/263630

What do you think of when you hear jewelry? You can think of the same old classics of silver and gold which match with everything, but now with more modern jewelry the use of stones has also become popular along with the same similar materials used to make the trendy jewelry seen at most stores. Still, these same materials and styles have been used and re-used throughout several decades. Where is the innovation to jewelry?

In Latin-America, artisans are using all kinds of different materials to make jewelry, and now, with companies such as Innovations Arts, they are available here. With pieces such as the sets Springtime Sensation 1 and 2 that use tagua, coconut, and asayan, Innovations Arts really does follow its name. Why settle for the same simple designs when you can have jewelry that resembles art? The exclusive designs that can only be found through Innovations Arts really are artwork. Each design is unique and made with products that make its creation true handiwork. The necklaces sold at www.innovationsarts.com are held together by unique materials such as waxed thread and leather that make them great accessories to stand out at any event whether you are dressed up or going for a more casual look. There are also bracelets, earrings, and combinations of all of them that cannot be found anywhere else. Take advantage of knowing that you are the only person with this much style anywhere you go.

Cathleen Plazas is a 21 year old college senior studying
Psychology and International Theater. She is also the press director for
Innovations Arts and has been working with Hugo Puerto since the company’s
founding. An Orlando native born to Colombian parents, with a keen eye for
fashion and a heart for helping others she is very excited to be part of
such a great company.

innovationsarts.com innovationsarts.com

The Polish language can be a complex one for non-native speakers. One of the difficulties foreigners in Poland encounter is with the unspoken rules which govern everyday interactions. You may know the words you want to say to someone, but you may not know how to address that person, and you may not know if you are somehow offending them unknowingly.

In Polish, there are levels of formality which govern how you address people, from relatives and friends to business clients and strangers. In addition, the sex of the person being addressed often plays a role in how you address them. Furthermore, your own gender plays a role in how you should address others.

The Slavic languages, which include Polish, are closer than modern English to what linguists believe was the original Indo-European language spoken thousands of years ago. In Polish and the other Slavic languages, verbs are conjugated (change their form) depending on person, number, gender, aspect, and tense. For example, to say the phrase “I saw it” in Polish, a man would say Widzia&amp#322;em to, while a woman would say Widzia&amp#322;am to.

The above example demonstrates how verbs can change according to who is speaking. However, when you are talking to someone in Polish, that person’s status and/or gender also plays a role in the conversation.

The main thing to remember about Polish is to not speak to strangers or business colleagues in the second person unless you are acquainted with them very well, or are on personal terms with them. Strangers (people who are not related to you, whom you do not know intimately) and professionals are referred to first and foremost in the third person.

While it may seem awkward to refer to someone in the third person while they are standing right in front of you, this is the correct way to do it. The equivalent of “Sir,” “Madame,” or “Miss″ is used. The corresponding forms in Polish are: Pan (Sir), Pani (Madame), and Panna (Miss).

After Pan/Pani/Panna the person’s last name is used–if known; otherwise it is omitted–unless they have a professional title, in which case the title is used instead. When addressing a professional or a business executive, it is customary to refer to that person by their rank or title. For example, a woman with a doctorate degree would be referred to as Pani Doktor.

Note, however, that doktor in Polish does not mean the same thing as “doctor″ in English. Doktor refers to a person with a doctorate degree (Ph.D.) from a university, not a medical doctor (though you can obviously be both). The word in Polish for the English concept of a medical doctor is lekarz. Note also, that if someone happens to both have a doctoral degree and be a doctor, they are referred to as doktor rather than lekarz.

Furthermore, names in Polish sometimes have two forms (a male and a female version). The male version usually ends in -i, and the female version in -a. It is important to remember to use the correct form. Thus Mr. Dobrowolski would be called in Polish Pan Dobrowolski, while Mrs. Dobrowolski would be referred to as Pani Dobrowolska.

Martin Cheslak is a professional low-cost translator between Polish, English, and Latin, and is a native Polish and English speaker. Find more articles about the Polish language on the website of SlovoPol Group at slovopol.com slovopol.com.

Fred Showker catches a line from a Pete Seeger classic, “Where have all the flowers gone?” His flowers are the web designers that he thinks are going extinct. He laments on the seeming “decay” in the art of web designing and says gone are the designers who made a difference in the making of web designs and who provided quality sites for the people to visit.

Showker argues that he has seen a decline in the quality of web sites basing from reviews he made of several sites. From his statements, I can see that he is well-versed in making analyses of web sites and is a credible source of information. Many sites came under his meticulous scrutiny and not one was spared.

Some of the sites that he revisited were dead and others that are still up failed to meet the expected standards. The changes he saw came as a shock since he did not expect many of them to go down the drain.

Riddler.com was one site that Showker said proved to be a disappointment as it took out of consideration the reading pleasure of the reader and instead took on a much commercialized look. Webshaker.com is similar as well.

Ben &amp Jerry’s ice cream was another site that was axe by Showker. Indeed, I was surprise to see a content in the site about the Black History month with Martin Luther King Jr.’s picture in it. I have to agree with Fred on this one as I see no relevance of the content in promoting B&ampJ’s ice cream. Perhaps there is an underlying purpose for that but I honestly don’t see its bearing here.

Of course there are web sites that met Showker’s scrutiny like Hallmark, Camobell Soups and Smuckers. These sites provided a good site for browsing and had a good visual offering for the visitor.

Fred Showker’s main thesis in his review is the importance of the reader as an element in the creation of web sites. The site must be tailor-made for the reader for it to reap the fullest benefits. The content must be of relevance to the reader and not just provide a stiff approach to giving out information.

He further adds that a site may come up short on the design aspect but it still should follow this basic concept, “The reader is the most important element in the equation.” Style gives way to message, and content is STILL king.

About The Author
Ariel Velasco goes by the author alias of Paul Hood. This author is into books and writing. Reading is an essential part of his life and this has lent a considerable influence in his writing. Well traveled and would always want to travel more. He loves learning more about people and their ways. Took up a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology to further this fascination and had a fulfilling educational experience having been exposed to a wide spectrum of people. Always ready for new opportunities to learn and have a great deal of interest in different fields of expertise.
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