Yearly Archives: 2012
If you have a single creative bone in your body, you know that even the dullest objects can be a source of great ideas and entertainment. If you don`t, well, you better keep reading.
It only takes fifteen seconds to go from dishwashing to good old fashioned fun
Fifteen seconds and a straw that is. And before you say you`re not a child anymore and you don`t have time for sully games, please, do the following- mix one part dishwashing liquid, two parts water, stir well with a straw and blow a bubble. Just one. Doesn`t it feel good? Are you smiling right now? Point made. Now continue having a good time.
Candles! Candles everywhere!
No one can deny their charm. They can be romantic, classy and cheerful. They come in all shapes, sizes and colors, and so do candleholders. The thing about candleholders is that while there are some insanely expensive models out there, it will only take you a minute to create your own, which will be equally beautiful and original.
Suggestion 1: Set the mood with some floating flames. Take a tall glass and put a few of those shell you collected during your vacation or some pebbles from the garden in it. Add a flower or a green leaf to make it more colorful. Pour water to let`s say an inch from the edge, take a tea candle out of its tin coat and gently place it on the surface. Don`t try to submerge it, just let it float and be careful not to get the upper side wet, or you have problems with lighting it.
Suggestion 2: Take an apple and carve a hole exactly on its top. Nothing large, just big enough to hide a tea candle. Insert the candle, light it and enjoy the fresh apple scent that will spread as soon as the wax heats up a bit.
Voila, two fast and easy candleholders that will surely get the ovations of your family and guests.
Never let a crate or a wooden pallet go to waste
Never ever. Unless you`ve been living under a rock for the last year or so, there`s a good chance you`ve heard of how designers and DIY enthusiasts have found ways to turn them into amazing pieces of furniture. It does make a lot of sense when you think about it. For one thing, you`ll rarely see expensive, sensitive item transported into anything else than packing crates. Why? Because these things are made to endure pretty much everything and last forever. Plus, that weathered look of the wood itself is not something you can say â??noâ? to. It`s like it has a story to tell and all you have to do is sit down and listen. And vintage never goes out of fashion, so there`s that.
If you need a more practical take on the subject- think of this as recycling. Why throw away perfectly good material, when it can be reborn as virtually indestructible, rugged, but at the same time stylish shelves, shoe racks, desks, chairs, tables, even beds and wardrobes.
Do yourself a favor, open a new tab on your browser and search â??pallet and crate furnitureâ?. You`re bound to get an itch in the hands or at least some fresh ideas.
Ruth Scruton is hipster designer wannabe who writes for PHS Teacrate, the crate hire company to call every time you need to get quality packing crates, wooden or plastic food pallets delivered.
There are many unanswered questions about the unusual in our world and it is part of its wonder. And this wonder is perpetuated by the possibilities of monsters that exist in the wilds of the natural environments that cover our lands.
Sceptics will rubbish the idea, but non-believers are merely closed minds – we’re here to contemplate the possibility of mighty and rare beasts existing on the very same bit of space rock as us.
Bigfoot
Bigfoot is also known as Sasquatch and believed to inhabit regions of north America, specifically the pacific northwest. Its preferred surroundings are forest and the beast is reckoned to walk on two feet, while maintaining an apelike appearance.
There are plenty of reported sightings of Sasquatch and recordings of footprints and similar evidence that provide evidence for scientific investigation. The general consensus among the scientific community in relation to this is that Bigfoot doesn’t exist with about 90% of this evidence definitively considered fabricated.
However, fossils found of large apes, in particular gigantopithecus blacki could have camera shy living relatives.
Loch Ness Monster
Nessie is one of the oldest myths relating to rare beasties. It is believed that the first sighting was in the 6th century. It is thought a monk witnessed a burial by the River Ness and was told that the man had been swimming and was attacked by a water-beast.
The Loch Ness Monster is believed to be a surviving plesiosaur and modern sightings began in 1933 with all of them stating very similar proportions of the beast. Nevertheless as time has gone on and technology improved and belief in Nessie has dwindled with the debunking of ‘evidence’. In 2003 the BBC sponsored a sonar study of the loch and nothing was discovered, this basically left little doubt that the monster was a myth.
However, seeing as sightings have occurred out of the water it has been speculated that the beast was ashore, or even dormant on the surface of the loch during this investigation.
Yeti
The Yeti is very much like Bigfoot. The beast inhabits Nepal and Tibet regions though and has white fur as opposed to Sasquatch’s brown. The Yeti is also known as the abominable snowman. In 1921 Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Howard-Bury led a team to Everest and while there witnessed footprints he thought to be that of an oversized wolf. He was however informed by his local guides that it was ‘metoh-kangmi’, the wild man of the snows. When talking to the team about the trip journalist Henry Newman translated ‘metoh’ as ‘filthy’ and changed it to abominable presumably because it sounded better.
Evidence has surfaced fairly regularly in relation to the Yeti, however it has always been quickly discredited. A lot of the discussion focuses on how easily in the conditions it would be to mistake much of the local wildlife, which includes various mountain bears, for a Yeti.
However, as recent as 2008 a team of Japanese adventurers photographed footprints that were difficult to identity and led to renewed intrigue. The leader of the team Yoshiteru Takahashi claims he saw a beast five years earlier that was a Yeti and is currently endeavouring to capture it on film. Watch this space.
David Moore is considered monsterous by most of his Find Me A Gift colleagues. That is until he’s had his first coffee of the day, then he’s lovely, quietly investigating the world of beasties of a more cuddly variety.
Learning a new language can be tough challenge for most people. Not everyone of us has the natural aptitude to quickly learn a new language. For those who want to learn a new language using various tools to help them in their study can be a big help.
Fortunately, there are many tools that are now at your disposal. Among them are various apps that you can download and install on your iOS device. These apps have been designed to assist people in learning a new language. So if you want to study Thai, you can have technology help you.
Here are some of the more notable language apps for the iOS.
Learn a Language with Michael Thomas
If youâ??re an aspiring polyglot and want to use a single app to learn various languages, you can test Learn a Language with Michael Thomas. You can choose from either French, Spanish, German and Italian â?? the most popular European languages. This app has a unique payment structure, described as â??pay as you learn.â? In this scheme you pay for the individual hour long lessons. Itâ??s a cool concept and a very effective tool as well.
Chinese Essentials by AccelaStudy
This is a free app that has been used by, according to the company who makes it, more than one million people. This app can help you learn and become more fluent in Chinese. This is a great addition to the language apps collection on your iOS device.
Basic Italian for Dummies
The â??â?¦ For Dummiesâ? series of books is a runaway success so itâ??s natural that the same concept made successful by the book series will be carried over to the digital realm in the form of a â??â?¦For Dummiesâ? language app. Basic Italian for Dummies is an app you should consider if you want to learn Italian quickly so you can impress your friends and family with actual Italian phrases and sentences and not just some words you heard from movies or from that Italian guy down the street.
500 German Flashcards
Using flashcards is a proven method of quickly learning anything, including languages. This flashcards app from PFG Software has German to English translations of 500 oft-used words in English. If youâ??re trying to learn and memorize German words, you canâ??t go wrong with this app.
French in Space
Who says learning a language has to be a bore? French in Space is a language app that is also an arcade game. You learn new French words in a fun and challenging way â?? and one that is definitely not going to bore you.
Zachary is a recent college graduate and an aspiring polyglot. Currently is trying to study Thai.
Laser tag is a great to enjoy with your friends or with a new set of people. Most children will have grown up playing tag and simply the electronic, more modern version of that game. How to play laser tag? Here are some things for you to keep in mind:
Plan ahead
If you can get your hands on a map of the arena, you can check out the layout and scope out possible hiding areas and key spots where you can score the most lights. It’s going to be very dim inside the arena so familiarizing yourself with the layout only when you get there can take some time.
Dress appropriately
Most, if not all, indoor arenas will feature low lighting conditions. As such, it would be to your advantage if you can blend in so wear dark clothing. Avoid logos on shirts as much as possible and stay away from whites and light colors on clothes because black light will make those glow in the dark, making you an easy target in the arena. Don’t forget to wear comfortable shoes as well since you will be doing some running around.
Listen to instructions
Laser tag generally follows the same game rules but there may be specific guidelines in place for the arena you will be playing in. Make sure then that you listen to everything that will be said in the briefing period before you are allowed to enter the arena. Apart from game rules, instructions on how to operate equipment will also be highlighted so you must definitely listen, as well as special areas within the game where you can score more points.
Test your equipment
You don’t want your equipment to malfunction. If it does within the game, you’ll probably spend the rest of the time just running or hiding. No fun in that.
Hide
Once you’re inside the arena, go and find yourself a good spot to hide. Go where there’s cover so you don’t easily become the first target taken out. It depends on the laser tag arena though but you may be required to start at a station or base before the game begins. Go where your team’s base is and then immediately find cover when the game starts.
Aim for kill zones
Kill zones will vary depending on the outfit but hitting larger zones will earn you more points.
Communicate
Good communication with your team is essential in winning. You will mostly have to think on your feet but it will always be a good thing to have someone covering your ass when you’re trying to avoid getting hit.
Ambush
A surprise attack always hurts and the element of surprise may just be what you need to win.
Use mirrors
Mirrors might be in place in some laser tag arenas and you can use them to your advantage by letting you see enemies and shoot at them without having to actually face them. Be careful though because if you can see them, they can also most definitely see you as well.
Daniel Ruyter lives in Orlando and writes on behalf of Hard Knocks, the nation’s premier laser tag and combat simulation arena.
Throughout the history of silent film comedy there were pies everywhere, whizzing through the air like gooey bumblebees. Their purpose was to smash into the faces of cinema clowns, such as cross-eyed Ben Turpin and walrus-mustached Chester Conklin, as well as straight men like Mack Swain and Bud Jamison, not to mention innocent beauties like Mabel Normand or the statuesque Marie Dressler.
Whether the product came from the Mack Sennett Studio, Hal Roach, or the Christie Educational Studio, hardly any slapstick film during the 1920â??s was complete without someone getting a foamy pastry right in the kisser. Audiences expected it, demanded it, and laughed uproariously when it was delivered.
The most famous cinema pie fight of all time was undoubtedly Laurel & Hardyâ??s 1927 short film, Battle of the Century. Stan and Ollie, along with an entire neighborhood of deranged people, plunder a pie truck of its contents and send them hurling about with hilarious accuracy. No one has ever been able to count exactly how many pies were used in that film, but it could not have been less than several hundred!
How did the movie technicians make those pies? Were they real custard or fruit filling?
No, they were not!
As a former circus clown, I know how those pies were made, and are still made today when clowns want to toss them around under the big top. The old clowns I worked with told me that the formula has been the same for the past 110 years.
You see, if you were to throw a real pie, a pie with a thick filling of custard or fruit, into someoneâ??s face, youâ??d probably break their nose! The next time you are at the supermarket, just go ahead and lift up a fruit pie. Heavy, isnâ??t it? Should you hit someone with something that heavy, there could be some real damage. Besides, the filling is not very photogenic â?? on black and white film it looks rather gray and dirty. It canâ??t be wiped delicately out of the eyes with just the fingertips, the way Oliver Hardy would do it; it is too thick and pasty for that. Custard and fruit filling does not make the spectacular spatter you see in the old slapstick movies when the pie makes contact with the victimâ??s face. Besides, do you know how difficult it is to clean up after a direct hit with a generous helping of custard or fruit filling? You canâ??t do too many retakes using real pies.
At this point you may be thinking, â??Oh, right â?? it must be shaving cream!â?
Well, yes and no.
It is shaving cream, but not the kind that comes out of a pressurized can. That stuff wonâ??t keep firm for more than five minutes, especially under the hot lights of a circus tent, or a movie studio. It melts into a thin, runny stream of sweet smelling bubbles. It looks like milk.
To make the goo for a good slapstick pie, a pie that will sail across the room and land with a satisfying â??plopâ?? in someoneâ??s snoot, splattering all over the place, you first start with a dozen bars of hard shaving soap. The kind that your grandfather put in a ceramic mug and stirred with a brush for a thick, sturdy foam to lather up his chin. Next, use a carrot grater to grate up all twelve bars into a large galvanized trash can. When all the hard soap is grated into the garbage can, add cold water from any water source handy until the can is a third full. Add one full pint of glycerol. Glycerol is what gives the goo its body and keeps it springy and foamy for up to an hour. Â For a more stiffer foam, add a few drops of one of the essential oils, such as clove oil. Â If you want, you can add food coloring to change the color. Then whip the mixture with a paint mixer on an extended rod, like the old-fashioned malted milkshake mixer. It will need to be mixed for a good fifteen minutes, after which you will have a whole garbage can full of aromatic and creamy pie filling. You can put it in pie tins, buckets, fill syringes with it â?? itâ??s very versatile! This shaving cream filling stings a bit in your eyes, and is not very pleasant to swallow, but it has no permanent aftereffects and is relatively easy to clean up.
So there you have it â?? the next time you chuckle over some hapless silent film character getting walloped with a pie and spluttering with rage, remember itâ??s just good clean fun with shaving soap!
Tim Torkildson is a former circus clown who now works as a free-lance blogger.  Among other things, he is writing a series about comedy and essential oils for http://www.essentialoildetails.com/
After the 90s, Sonic games have been considered to be pretty mediocre. But thereâ??s something about this gaming series that have always been charming. Yes, the characters of this game! Although the graphics of the game has let its fans down, there are a few characters that just make people go back to this game even after all these years.
Some of the top sonic games characters that should be used more often in future sonic series are listed below:
- Shade The Echidna, Sonic Chronicles â?? One of the most interesting characters of Sonic Chronicles is Shade the Echidna. She was deadly, calculating, quick and an awesome character. When her story ended, there was a hint that it was unfinished and that Sonic fans could expect to see her but there was not much to see by way of her powers.
- Mighty The Armadillo, SegaSonic the Hedgehog â?? Mighty was actually introduced in SegaSonic the Hedgehog and not in Chaotix as many fans believe. He was a match for Sonic in his running speed and could also give Knuckles a fight worth remembering. So, when three of Chaotix characters were brought back, and Mighty was not one of them, it was surprising. Such a popular character should be back.
- Robo-Knuckles, Sonic R – The best part of Sonic R is Robo Knuckles. This robotic version of Knuckles with slight variations was interesting, the best thing being that you could not tell the difference between the original and robotic version.
- Blaze the Cat, Sonic Rush â?? There are 2 versions of Blaze â?? one that appeared in Sonic Rush and the other in 2006, Sonic Hedgehog game. She was one reason why the 2006 version was tolerable. Add to this, the fact that she was well-liked because of her noble and positive traits. She just kept moving.
- Bean the Dynamite, Sonic the Fighters â?? Sonic the Fighters starred all the big characters of the games. It had a character, Bean the Dynamite, who was an insane bird. A weak fighter, his main reliance was on projectile attacks using bombs and explosives to cause damage. Now just imagine! What if he teamed up with Nice Holystone!
These are some of the characters that most Sonic fans would love to see again. Once these characters begin to appear more often, there are good chances that gaming freaks wouldnâ??t mind playing sonic games 365 days of the year. Of course, this list does not even begin to cover all the favorite characters but it is a start. If you add all of them, then it would be a big list.
Eru Jones is a gaming enthusiast and a technology freak. She loves playing sonic games on sonicgames365.com.
Prometheus, a horror movie that was released in early June, has given science fiction fans a new reason to visit the movie theatre. Part of the allure of Prometheus is that it tells the story of what happens just before the classic movie â??Alienâ? from the late 1970s.
If youâ??re familiar with the film, you probably had more than one nightmare featuring the alien parasites that were the brainchild of director Ridley Scott. However, Scott wasnâ??t the only one to model his creatures after parasites; check out this list of movie monsters and the actual parasites that they resemble.
1. Thereâ??s Nothing to Fear But Fear Itself
Throughout the years, there have been a lot of movies featuring parasites that feed off of humans. One early example is The Tingler from 1959. After discovering that there are parasites living in everyoneâ??s body, a scientist begins to experiment and see how the creatures operate. He discovers that they get bigger and more powerful when their host feels fear but canâ??t or wonâ??t scream. Over time, his research has horrifying consequences for everyone involved.
While actual parasites usually donâ??t play off of emotions in this way, some can influence how or when fear is expressed. The toxoplasma gondii parasite has been known to make mice and rats act differently. The little rodents are influenced to be attracted to the way that cats smell, which goes against their natural instincts to be afraid of the animal. Both the cat and the parasite benefit from this behavior; the cat gets to eat and the parasite can reproduce once the mouse has been devoured by the feline. Surprisingly, almost nothing else about the mouseâ??s behavior changes as a result of the parasitic infection.
2. The Power of Suggestion
The killifish provides us with a great example of real life mind-control. The euhaplorchis californiensis parasite settles into this fishâ??s brain cavity, and once there, makes it rise to the top of the water and flop around, showing off its shiny belly. The activity usually captures the eye of birds flying overhead and provides them with a convenient meal. After being eaten, the parasite remains in the birdâ??s stomach where it lays eggs that eventually hatch into larvae. The larvae then continue the process by infecting more killifish.
The behavior of this parasite is mimicked in several Hollywood films, including one of the Star Trek flicks. In the movie, a Ceti eel situates itself within the brain, causing the host to do things that they would not ordinarily do. Over time, the presence of the eel can cause death, just like the euhaplorchis californiensis.
3. Using Nature as Inspiration
Some movies model their monsters very closely after nature. One creature that Hollywood has gotten inspiration from is the parasitoid wasp, which plants their eggs inside a variety of bugs, including ants. As the baby wasps emerge from their eggs, they break free of their hostsâ?? body, destroying them in the process. If this sounds familiar, it should; essentially the same thing happens during â??Alien,â? the 1979 science fiction thriller starring Tom Skerritt and Sigourney Weaver.
Image credit:Â 
 Some rights reserved by AJC1
When he isn’t catching horror movies with parasites bursting out of people’s chests, Jim Flick kills parasites and pests for a nj pest control company.
If you should be unfortunate to find yourself on a desert island, alone, and deserted in the middle of nowhere, there are some key things to remember. No matter how you ended up there, what happens in the next 48 hours is crucial and will determine your fate. The following is a quick round up of what exactly your priorities should be.
Water Source
Water is the first thing you should set out to gather. The body can only survive without water for about 3 to 4 days, where as you will be able to survive without food for some time longer, perhaps weeks, as your body utilises its reserves.
There are three main ways that you can collect fresh water, ensuring your survival for a little while longer. The first is obvious, it’s the collection of water from a fresh water source located somewhere on the island. Not all islands will have one, but it’s likely that if the island’s big enough and there’s vegetation, then there will be a source of fresh water. This could be a spring, leading to streams, waterfalls, and plunge pools. Alternatively the water could be run off rainfall from the high ground which runs downhill through established natural channels.
Secondly you could make an effort to collect rainfall. Obviously there’s a chance that you may be faced with the predicament that there is no rain, in this scenario you should think about the third option.
The third option is a little more complicated and requires you to have available a plastic sheet or tarp, perhaps even a survival blanket will do the job, and a container of some kind to collect the water. This method is called a Solar Water Still and involves digging a hole, gathering vegetation and putting it in the hole surrounding your container, placing the sheet at ground level secured with rocks to keep it tight, and placing a small rock in the centre of the tarp so that it’s a little like an inverted volcano. Water will condense from the vegetation and onto the underside of the tarp, rolling down and dripping into your container, providing you with safe drinking water.
Getting Shelter
Now that you have your water source sorted, it’s important to find shelter. Even in countries that are hot during the days, quite often the nights will be very cold, so it’s important that suitable shelter is found or built. In the event of a wrecking or crash, it may be possible to salvage materials from any wreckage that could prove useful when building a shelter.
Alternatively it may be possible to find shelter on the island, in a cave or alcove, but staying near the shore would probably be the best thing in the days and weeks immediately following the incident which brought you to the island. This is because it’s your best chance of being spotted and rescued.
You can build a shelter using logs and branches, although this may be tough going with the absence of forestry equipment. There are two main styles of shelter for you to build; the first is a lean-to, which utilises an existing tree to act as part of the shelter. The other is a tepee style. A lean-to shelter would be the best option initially as it requires a lot less work and still provides adequate shelter.
Getting off the Island
If a little further down the line you find yourself still not rescued, and in a state of desperation to leave the island then it may be a reasonable idea to put these thoughts into motion by building a raft. It can be assumed that by the time a raft is a viable option you would have an established source of water, food, and shelter.
Without forestry equipment, the gathering of materials suitable for the construction of an ocean going raft is going to take some time. There are a lot of things to consider, for example how big will the raft be and how many logs will you need? Some kind of twine will need to be sourced to lash the logs together to make it secure. In the days or weeks before you plan to set off and leave the island, food should begin to be gathered for you to take on your journey in case you are at sea for an extended period. Using the solar water still method you can extract salt from saltwater and use this to preserve some things, like meat or fish for example.
From the moment of you landing on the island you should begin to take note of the winds, direction from which you arrived, and other aspects of the environment. These can really pay off when deciding when and where to launch your raft as surface currents, manipulated by the wind, will be the driving power behind which direction your raft travels.
Citations:
For a great selection of Forestry Equipment that could help you survive a desert island, head to Buxton’s wonderful online store.
When Blackberry Bridge made its debut with the first Playbook, it became possible for BlackBerry users to connect their Blackberry handset to their Playbook, to manage applications and more.
With the release of the second version of the Playbook, called Playbook 2.0, new features have been revealed to give added functionality and enhanced performance.
With the Playbook 2.0, the application still allows you to connect your BlackBerry smartphone to your Playbook so you can access important applications from anywhere, but if you happen to download BBM then know you can now easily open and use it from the Playbook 2.0.
One of the standout features seen in Blackberry Bridge is the option called Open on Playbook, which gives you the chance to see and open any email messages, web pages, images and more on the Playbook. This will come in handy if you, for instance, receive an email with a link that leads to you a site like YouTube. You can simply hover over and click on the Open on Playbook option from your Blackberry smartphone and the Playbook will automatically open the browser to help you get to the video you were linked to. There’s so much that you can do and many expect more features such as the ability to open attachments from emails…
One step forward for BlackBerry Bridge was made in terms of functionality, with the added Remote Control feature. This virtually makes your BlackBerry phone turn into a remote control for your Playbook 2.0. Your smartphone will even try to follow gestures that will automatically be registered on the PlayBook. It will even be extended to a keyboard!
The BlackBerry Bridge Remote Control feature also gives you the flexibility to turn your BlackBerry phone into a mouse when you make PowerPoint presentations. Or it can be used as a wireless keyboard when you have your PlayBook 2.0 connected to a projector or a flat screen TV through a compatible HDMI port. The possibilities to make your life easier with Blackberry is almost endless and you’ll see steady functionality improvement as developers work on new features…
Other functionalities that come with BlackBerry Bridge include the possibility to copy and paste messages and change the size of your message fonts. It also allows you to connect to the Web with your PlayBook using your BlackBerry smartphone. With all those cool features no doubt BlackBerry fans will rush to the Playbook 2.0 when it’s released!
Want to read more from the same author? Check out this article on BlackBerry Desktop Manager…
Prev1...343536...47Next 
Page 35 of 47
