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Gas Mileage Improvement February 7, 2010 - 14:42:11
Now that gas is almost three dollars or more a gallon, people will do anything to see some gas mileage improvement when they drive long ways from home. However, it is starting to hurt just driving back and forth to work as well. When gas prices go up, people stay home more and that means a loss for the travel industry and hotels. Along the same lines, people have to pay more for services that rely on gas like air travel and bus travel. Until the prices go down, if they ever do, you have to do a few things to save money.
The problem with gas mileage improvement is that there is not much you can do to save money other than stay home or carpool. You can keep your engine in top shape, and make sure all filters are clean and clear, but the difference is not going to add up to much. Some suggest that turning off the air conditioning and rolling down the windows will help with gas mileage improvement, but some think that having the windows down creates more resistance to the wind, and that means more gas is needed to travel at the same speed as usual.
You might want to skip the small things you can do to see gas mileage improvement, and go for the larger things that will show and immediate affect in your wallet. This means that you have to find a new way to get to work. You should find someone to ride to work with, and you can take turns driving and/or paying for gas. If you can get more than two people in on the deal, you are going to save more money. You could also ride a bike to work, but that is not always possible or reasonable for everyone.
Some are saying that gas prices are not high enough to effect true gas mileage improvement. They say that prices must get higher in order for people to make real changes and to become less reliant on gas. I can see the logic behind this, but I don't think that is something that is fair for most people. A lot of use would love to go out and get a hybrid car or truck, but most of us can't do it at the moment. It would only serve to hurt those who are not wealthy and destroy the economy.
- mrknowitall
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A Fundamental Guide To Obtaining Bedroom Furniture January 31, 2010 - 11:13:13
Although hidden away from other rooms in the house, the bedroom is an important place to spend quality time relaxing & sleeping. That is why it is incredibly beneficial to invest in first-rate furniture and accessories in order to make your bedroom a more tranquil liveable space.
The most required bit of furniture you can find a bedroom is definitely the bed. Beds in this day and age come in many different sizes & forms. For example, beds can be procured as a single, double, king-size or even super king-size.
While size is a very important aspect, the shape of bed you agree on will also make an enormous difference in how your bed will be specifically used. If you are restricted by available space, plump for either a cabin bed or storage bed as these have functional storage drawers underneath.
If you get pleasure from having guests over regularly then make sure you get a guest bed to meet your requirements. A guest bed has a further pull out mattress below. You can also get a folding bed for friends & family as this bed is normally small & lightweight, which provides easy manoeuvring.
If you are limited on available bedroom space for your friends and family, then it is recommended to purchase a sofa bed. Sofa beds look similar to sofas and can be effortlessly coordinated to your bedroom decor, but also convert into a comfortable sleeping option for friends and family. Find a vast selection home products including; bedroom furniture, coffee tables and duvet covers from leading brands online.
In order to get the most satisfaction and durability out of your bed, you will definitely need to procure a mattress. There is a large choice of mattresses to pick from lately, with one of the most bought styles around being a Memory Foam mattress. The value of a Memory Foam mattress is that it can mould into the shape of your specific body for enhanced comfort and support.
When buying your mattress, confirm that it's the matching size as your bed frame. For instance, a single bed will take a single mattress, while a double bed needs a double mattress.
To finish your bed, pick & choose a duvet cover that fits your current décor. Not only do duvet covers come in an extensive variety of finishes and shades, but they can easily be made with Eco-Friendly fabric. Best of all, duvets are both light and easy to wash.
Another handy item of bedroom furniture you should buy is a chest of drawers. A chest of drawers can store a lot of your garments, & effortlessly be matched to other bedroom furniture you may have.
- mrknowitall
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Wind Power As a Viable Solution to Meeting Alternative Energy Needs January 25, 2010 - 12:52:48
Although it is much less expensive to initially get hooked into the local electric company's grid than it is to set up and hook into wind turbines, in the long run one saves money by utilizing the wind for one's energy needs—while also becoming more independent. Not receiving an electric bill while enjoying the advantages of the modern electrically-driven lifestyle is a wondrous feeling.
Electric bills and fuel bills are rising steadily—but the cost of wind turbine energy is zero, and the cost of installing and hooking up a turbine is steadily coming down as demand rises and more commercial success is realized by various companies producing the turbines and researching technologies to make them ever more efficient. In addition, people are moving away from the traditional electric grids and the fossil fuels for personal reasons including desire for greater independence, the desire to live remotely or rurally without having to "go primitive", political concerns such as fears of terrorist strikes on oil fields or power grids, or concerns about the environment. Again, this motivation to get away from the traditional energy sources is the same one that causes people to seek the power of the wind for their energy, giving more business opportunities to profit from wind turbine production and maintenance, which drives their costs down for the consumers. In nearly thirty states at the time of this writing, homeowners who remain on the grid but who still choose to use wind energy (or other alternative forms) are eligible for rebates or tax breaks from the state governments that end up paying for as much as 50% of their total "green" energy systems' costs. In addition, there are 35 states at the time of this writing where these homeowners are allowed to sell their excess energy back to the power company under what are called "net metering laws". The rates that they are being paid by the local power companies for this energy are standard retail rates—in other words, the homeowners are actually profiting from their own energy production.
Some federal lawmakers are pushing to get the federal government to mandate these tax breaks and other wind power incentives in all 50 states. Japan and Germany already have national incentive programs in place. However, "A lot of this is handled regionally by state law. There wouldn't really be a role for the federal government," the Energy Department's Craig Stevens says. and as might be imagined, there are power companies who feel that it's unfair that they should have to pay retail rates to private individuals. "We should [only have to] pay you the wholesale rate for ... your electricity," according to Bruce Bowen, Pacific Gas & Electric's director of regulatory policy. However, the companies seem to be more worried about losing short term profits than about the benefits, especially in the long run, of the increased use of wind turbines or wind farms. Head of the Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies of California V. John White points out, "It's quality power that strengthens the grid."
- mrknowitall
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Our Neighbors in Space January 25, 2010 - 12:51:22
We have a special feeling toward the other planets that circle our sun. Maybe it's all the science fiction stories about visiting the moon, Mars and other planets. But we love to think about those planets that make up what we call "the solar system." that do what our planet does but do it very differently indeed.
The planets of our solar system have taken on personalities and mythical appeal in our literature and arts. It is easy to find artists who render their vision of the planets that make up our society of planets near our sun. The names of the planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are all from our cultural past being gods from Greek and Roman mythology. But the solar system is not just made up of these planets. The solar system is a very busy place indeed.
In 2006, there was quite a bit of controversy as scholars and astronomers agreed to downgrade Pluto and remove its status as a planet. So you have to wonder, what is it that makes something a planet and what happened to Pluto? It didn't just go away so it must still be out there. A planet, by scientific definition is any object in orbit around a sun, that has formed into some kind of round object is a planet as long as it has cleared away any other orbiting items around it. By cleared away, that doesn't mean it has destroyed all space debris etc. For example, our planet has not "cleared away" the moon but it has captured it into its own orbit so we classify as a planet. That's a relief huh?
There are many objects floating around in our solar system other than the planets we know of. It's an interesting piece of trivia that in addition to the planets there are 165 moons orbiting around those nine planets. Some of those moons are so advanced that some scientists have suspected that they might have supported life at some point.
In addition to the regular planets and moons, there are dwarf planets, asteroid belts and routine visits by comets that create a lot of traffic in our cosmic corner of the universe. The two known dwarf planets that exist on the outer rim of our solar system are Eries and Ceres. So when Pluto's status was changed to be removed from the list of planets, it simply joined those two bodies as dwarf planets but still a solid citizen of the community of celestial bodies around our sun.
In addition to these larger bodies, there is an asteroid belt that exists between Mars and Jupiter that most of the asteroids that we see in our night sky come from. There is another belt of large objects further out called the Kuiper belt as well as a "bubble" in space called a heliopause and there is a suspected additional belt outside the known solar system called the Oort belt that we think is the origin of a lot of large asteroids and comets that frequent our solar system and come to orbit our sun.
As fascinating as these many celestial bodies who are our neighbors in space is the origin of our solar system. We have to break it down to simple terms to understand the terms but we know that the early history of the solar system and the universe was one of great bodies of gas and clouds of matter eventually cooling and heating, exploding and spinning off stars and other massive space giants that became more stars, galaxies and solar systems. It was from this erratic activity that our sun separated from the gasses and carried with it the material that became our solar system. The gravity of the sun captured sufficient matter that it began to go through the process of forming, cooling, exploding and separating. This is what happened as the planets all went through he same process eventually establishing stable orbits and small objects falling into orbit around them.
When you think of how powerful and out of control this process is, it's amazing to step back and see the beauty of the organization of our solar system today. The more detail you learn about the history of our solar system, the more you will enjoy your explorations of the planets with your telescope. That that discovery is part of the fun of astronomy.
- mrknowitall
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This Season Sees the Best of Musicals in the Capital City August 5, 2009 - 20:11:48
With the great sunny months close approaching you can get an array of musical productions at the breathtaking west end Theatreland. The most eagerly anticipated theatre production to premiere this Summer is Sister Act, this theatre show is directed by the amazing Whoopi Goldberg. The musical production is based on the beloved feature films and features a brand new cast and a whole host of new sing-a-long songs to sing along to. The theatre show has already premiered to the journalists and had awesome reviews. The best coming from The Sun and the Guardian, both who published how good the musical production had been put together and how awesome the songs were. This show sounds like a massive hit and a musical that you must see.
Another brilliant musical production to open up in London is another film adaptation, Priscilla Queen of the Desert. The theatre show has Aussie television soap star Jason Donavan as the main role and sees Jason Donavan dress up in the campest costumes ever seen on the West End. The songs again are catchy and upbeat. This musical show is a definite smash hit and a theatre production that is sure to capture the heart of Londoners and London tourists.
From time to time there are certain theatre productions that stand the test of time. One of the most popular theatre productions is Phantom of the Opera. This theatre production draws in the crowds week after week and is one of the most popular theatre shows in London. The theatre show has been showing for over twenty years. The musical is based upon a French novel and was created by the popular play writer Andrew Lloyd Webber. The story is about a young lady who’s dad dies suddenly and sends her an angel from heaven to look after her. The angel from heaven falls in love with the girl and things turn dangerous with the angel her father sent her threatening the young girls childhood sweatheart.
- mrknowitall
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A True Confession: How I Set Out to Improve My Handwriting and Succeeded! August 5, 2009 - 19:31:39
When people think of poor penmanship, they often think of a doctor first! Although I sometimes see a doctor, obviously making a best effort to write a legible prescription succeed in part, the cliché is generally true and a subject of jokes.
However, most of the rest of us can't get away with it. While I suspect that pharmacists must take a class in school, covering deciphering prescriptions, if you send a hand written letter that even you can't read a week later, to Aunt Mary, whatever you have to say may never be known. Students with poor handwriting may take notes diligently at a lecture and not be able to read it in two weeks time when their paper is due.
The computer culture is only exacerbating poor handwriting. After more years of writing on a keyboard than I care to disclose, I set out to improve my handwriting. My previously legible script was getting worse and worse as time went on.
A few years ago, I sent my sister a letter of several pages, jam-packed with all the latest. She's one of those retrograde people who has never owned a computer and wants nothing to do with them. I must communicate by snail mail or telephone. A letter printed on my computer's printer seems a bit impersonal.
This particular letter had all sorts of interesting content, yet I received no response. When I called, she told me she couldn't read it so she thought she'd just wait for me to call and tell her. This was a definite heads up. I had to improve my handwriting. Who knew what sort of future hand written communications might be tossed in the round file for lack of legibility?
I set out in a concerted effort to improve my handwriting, at least to my earlier level of readability. Here's how I accomplished my objective.
If you've got poor handwriting, it's likely due to a lack of practice, as was my case. I started with an online search, 'improve my handwriting'. To my astonishment, I found software I could use to relearn manual formation of script! I downloaded a copy and set to work. This was quite helpful, but there still remained the task of turning practice sheets into unfettered prose. I had to be able to depart from 'The quick brown fox ...” to plain writing.
A teacher friend advised me that practice was essential. She also clued me into a few practice techniques with which I ultimately did improve my handwriting. Use a fountain or calligraphy pen for practice. This forces you to apply pressure on the paper in an evenly weighted way. Sit up straight. This promotes smooth script. Allow your hand to move freely across the page. Don't reposition your hand every few inches.
Practice does make, if not perfect, better. If I can improve my handwriting, there's no question that you can, too!
- mrknowitall
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Bass Guitar August 5, 2009 - 19:27:48
Bass guitar is one of the most underrated instruments. Although it is still a crucial part of pretty much any rock band in the world, it is often neglected because there is less glory attached to it than vocals, lead guitar, or even drums. In a lot of band I have been in, the bassist is simply the less talented guitarist. Because of this, many otherwise good bands are plagued by mediocre bass players who do not really feel all that passionate about the instrument.
This is really a shame because, when played will, the bass guitar can really do wonders for the music. A bass player needs a great command of dynamics, a flawless sense of time, and a minimalistic aesthetic that will keep him playing just what the band needs to keep going time after time again. Bass guitars form the rhythm section together with the drums, and this is the bedrock on which the rest of the music rests. If the bass guitar builds a really solid foundation, the music will benefit a great deal. If the bass line is sloppy and indifferent, however, the band will never really rock out to their full potential.
Nonetheless, although it is important, there are some features of the bass guitar that make it a great instruments for musical neophytes. First of all, it is really pretty easy to play. You usually only have to play one note at a time, and you can get by with playing very slow, simplistic things for most kinds of music. The bass guitarist does not have to be an innovator. All you really have to do is to keep everyone else together. If you can do that, you can do your job in the band.
When I first started playing bass guitar, I made the mistake of assuming that I could do it all myself. I got an inexpensive starter bass and started playing songs from the radio. Although I did learn to play, I learned sloppy. I did not really develop the techniques I would have, had I had instruction from a professional. I had to go back and take lessons eventually. If I had to do it all again, I can definitely say that I would start out with a few lessons before I went off on my own. It would have made it much easier to jump through those first few hoops and really get playing like a pro.
- mrknowitall
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Money Exchanges in an Unstable Market June 18, 2009 - 15:27:38
There are lots of reasons to be very conservative during the current bad financial climate – buying foreign money is sure enough not the unfussy event it was in more stable times. Patterns such as diminishing accommodation price tags or possibly minimal inflation might all repress customer assurance as well as additional things; foreign money rates are without a doubt continually shifting exchange rates swing, sales can be deferred, annulled or perhaps brought forward based on the above mentioned changes. It could become a nightmare pinpointing the best point to proceed.
It could well be for all these & some very good further valid reasons that you might well talk to an exchange rate expert when you are thinking about your next foreign money venture. Exchanging Argentina Pesos for Hong Kong Dollar before acquiring proper counsel may well be a poor plan and could possibly end up in you shelling out much more than you initially bargained for that shiny contemporary residence.
Additional things in the financial market place are sure enough also worth taking into consideration; a survey of twenty independent forecasts included within a report highlighted financial growth would more than likely turn out to be substantially shallower and further amiss than the Chancellor’s earlier numbers within the budget. Currency exchanges can be stressful when large sums are involved.
The report is not especially likely to bring about an immediate effect on exchange rates but might well function to chip away at sureness in the pound and leave it vulnerable to all the surprise statements as observed last week with the Standard & Poor’s information. If you have an impending property purchase or a business deal requiring the best exchange rates then why wait till tomorrow with the outlook that the rates look like they should improve, and indisputably “the rates wont change that much in a single day”, as this event proved to be a very costly reminder to people sending currency abroad on that day.
It can certainly be up to date information such as this that makes it very clear that you very much should talk to an expert who has their ear to the ground before committing to the plunge and exchanging foreign currency.
- mrknowitall
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Lucinda Green's Equestrian Challenge June 17, 2009 - 16:37:59
Lucinda Green is a record holder in the Badminton Horse Trials. She won the trials for an astounding six times! What's more, she rode six different horses during those trials! Isn't that just amazing? Now, you can share her experience in the thrills of being an equestrian through Lucinda Green's Equestrian Challenge.
The game challenges players on three fronts: cross country, show jumping and dressage. The ultimate goal of the game is for you to win all four-star events in Adelaide, Badminton, Burghley, and Kentucky. Before you get ahead of yourself, however, you need to cover the basics.
The game starts with you as a young two-star equestrian taken under the wings of Lucinda Green. Full customization of the character allows you to create a rider that truly matches who you are or, at least, who you perceive yourself to be.
You also get to take care of your own horse. This is a very important aspect of the game, as your success depends on the amount of work you put into training and caring for the horse. It must be fed, watered, brushed, among other things. You also need to make sure that its attributes are distributed properly so that you will be able to grab the prize every competition.
There are four "stats" or attributes that you need to balance. They are: Speed, Stamina, Jumping, Agility, and Trust. Each person will be able to develop a horse differently by simply adjusting the allotment of stats.
Lucinda Green teaches you and trains you until you can compete in the four-star competitions. At this level, you will pit your character in various contests against the biggest names in riding today.
Graphically, the game is stunning. That is, if you compare it to other equestrian games today. The customizability of the character is also a nice touch. However, the gameplay is nothing revolutionary. The game just does not push any gaming boundaries.
It is less tedious than other games, which means you can enjoy yourself more and take care of the details less. After all, gamers who buy equestrian games are more interested in the competition rather on the simulated horse-care lessons, right? The life of the game is also quite good: you are able to enjoy the different challenges and you don't end up feeling a bit disappointed because of the length.
However, the repetitive motions that one must go through in order to compete and the actions involved in taking care of the horse can be very dull at times. The menu is also quite clumsy and this means that you might have a hard time navigating around the controls.
Not many people are bound to buy equestrian games. It just doesn't seem like a genre that appeals to the common couch soldier/strategist/athlete. Equestrian challenge attempts to change this through lots and lots of eye candy. However, its sticking to realism doesn't really help in making it more popular with gamers. Even a little bit of imagination could surely have helped this game.
The bottom line is this: Equestrian Challenge is a great game. In fact, it's superior to any equestrian games available today. However, if you are not fond of the sport, you might not see enough in this game to try it out. You should get this game if you love horses, but if you are the typical point-and-shoot guy, you might want to skip it.
- mrknowitall
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