What is Music?
May 26, 2008
That’s a fair question!
Basically, you can call music any noise that is set to either a rythm as in percussions or that follows a melodic line of some sort.
Our early ancestors sitting outside the cave by the fire, after a hard day of gathering and hunting food, probably made music by tapping bones together or blowing in sea shells. While the rest of them would make conveniently placed grunts and howls.
Obviously, this was not Beethoven or Vivaldi musicality:) However, music is music!
This begs another question and that is: What is “good” music?
Altough this may seem like an impossible question to answer, there is a simple one.
Good music is any music you enjoy listening to! That’s it!
Music is a deeply personal experience, the more varied your exposure to music the wider your taste in music will be. My own personal taste are very ecclectic to say the least. My personal collection includes over 5000 songs and will forever keep growing.
The music I create is computer generated and I will sometime voice over one of my poem. How good is it? I have been reviewed as an heir to the famous group Kraftwerk!
Civil War Uniforms: 10 Tips to Picking the Right Colors for Your Trousers and Jacket
May 26, 2008
Civil War Uniforms: 10 Tips to Picking the Right Colors for Your Trousers and Jacket
by: Paula and Coach McCoach
1. There seems to be a lot of discussion on color and fabric. The most accurate statement on this issue that I can make was there was a great variety of colors and fabrics.
2. I personally believe that much of the renowned butternut look was due to unstable dyes that faded quickly.
3. Many of the items that may have been gray quickly turned to shades of ranging from light tan through a brownish green. Some reenactors love the butternut look and that is perfectly ok, but I wouldn’t overdo it.
4. I try to include some gray in my uniform whether it is hat, jacket or pants. I feel like the all gray look or mostly gray look gives a better appearance than the all butternut look.
5. I recommend staying with a gray jacket and kepi. Add butternut pants. I feel kepis and jackets look better in gray. This is just my personal preference from the research I have done. There is no hard and fast rule about this.
Rules for Getting the Story Down
May 26, 2008
1. Write it fast, fix it later.
2. Commit to writing 16 ˝ minutes per day or 3 hours per week. If it is easier for you, commit to writing 3 pages a day.
3. Quality is more important than quantity. If you only get one paragraph done but it conveys your feelings and paints a picture the reader can see, then it is good.
4. Write stand-alone anecdotes, stories or chapters. You can connect them later with a theme, but if you don’t the "pearls" will still have great value.
5. Make sure each piece has a "hook" which brings the reader in, a "middle" which gives the necessary information and the "end" which teaches a moral, makes us laugh or delivers the point. The end is usually tied in with the hook.
6. Don’t worry about literary style. Write your story as if you were sitting at the kitchen table swapping tales. Be yourself.
7. Include lots of details. Remember what was going on in society, the family, and the neighborhood as well as physically and emotionally with the people involved in the story.
Xeriscaping is Waterwise Gardening
May 26, 2008
What is xeriscaping? You may have heard of xeriscaping as a way of landscaping in the Southwestern United States. You may picture xeriscaping as a lot of gray gravel and cactus in a hot desert yard. People call that “zero-scaping,” and that is not what xeriscaping is. Xeriscaping is a method of gardening and landscaping that will reduce your water use and maintenance requirements by as much as 60 percent. Xeriscaping can be done anywhere by any gardener, and in any yard, with the result being a beautiful, even lush, landscape.
The word “xeriscape” was coined in the early 1980’s by the Denver Water Board when creating their water conservation program. Denver Water trademarked the word in 1983. It comes from combining xeros (Greek for “dry”) with landscaping. Thus, it is a water-conservative approach to landscaping. Plants whose growing requirements are appropriate to the local climate are emphasized, and care is taken to avoid wasting water to evaporation and run-off.
There are seven established xeriscaping principles. Applying these principles will help you achieve a beautiful landscape that will save you water and work in the long run.
Principle One - Planning and Designing
A Moving Experience: Making Your Move Easy on Your Parrots
May 25, 2008
Moving is about as stressful a time as any in our lives and the lives of our fids. Having just completed moving the “gang” into a new house, I thought I would share some of the things that helped our move go smoothly. The feathered crew (Alex and Zeke, African Greys and April, Umbrella Cockatoo) have settled in nicely and things returned to normal quickly. Granted, the move was to a nearby city and we were not on the road in the U-Haul for more than an hour, but I believe preparing the birds had everything to do with their reduced stress level and smooth transition.
I also want to mention that there is the coolest service for moving called PODS (Portable On Demand Storage). I had it delivered to my old house the weekend before the actual move. This allowed me to pack up all my non-essentials at my leisure, clear out the house and cut down on the stress and chaos of the actual moving day. They took the “POD” away and stored it at their warehouse until the day I scheduled it to be delivered to my new house. I only had to rent a U-Haul for a few left over things and the bird cages.
Reasons for Recording Your Life Story
May 25, 2008
1. No one else will do it for you.
2. No one else knows the stories of you life quite like you do. Do you want them to tell it?
3. This is an opportunity to share knowledge, wisdom and advice to those who would be inspired to learn from us.
4. When we record something, we remember more.
5. By reflection and recording we are able to gain a deeper appreciation for all the surrounding happenings that influenced our decisions and experiences.
6. A life examined and recorded is twice precious, first the experience itself and then the memories it evokes when we read about it later.
7. Everyone has a story to tell. We each have a unique view of history from our own perspective.
8. There is an inner need in each of us to be remembered. To reflect and to see that our lives had value.
9. We want to be remembered by descendants as a real person and not just a name on a tree.
10. If not recorded, the stories you learned from your grandparents will die with you.
Enlightenment through Meditation
May 25, 2008
Helping the broadest range of people attain enlightenment through meditation is my lifelong preoccupation. I have more than 20 years of daily interaction with people helping them meditate and encouraging them to set high goals and use meditation as a tool for attaining inspiration, precious insights, enlightenment and other benefits that come along with it.
In order to practice meditation, you need a pleasant quiet place where nobody is going to disturb you. Once you are comfortably seated, you can start with pranayama (rhythmic breathing exercise), followed by pratyahara (withdrawal of the senses from the outer world), thorough relaxation of the mind and senses, and finally relaxation of the physical body. By breathing rhythmically ? inhaling, holding the breath, and exhaling while following a simple pattern (4-16-8, for instance) ? you will accumulate prana, revitalize your life force, and new spiritual strength will come to you. During the pratyahara you will play the role of a neutral observer of your thoughts, with the ultimate aim of achieving a state of consciousness without any thoughts.
Introduce Your Puppy To New Situations And Ensure Good Behaviour For The Rest Of Her Life
May 25, 2008
They may seem to be bold explorers - sniffing at and mouthing just about anything - but all dogs have an instinctive fear of anything unfamiliar to them. Fear causes stress on the body, which affects long-term health. To help your dog avoid the negative health effects of stress, it is important to socialize her. Socialization is the process of exposing your dog to a wide variety of places, situations, objects and people. A well-socialized dog is a confident, healthy dog that you can take anywhere.
An unsocial dog will attack other dogs, children, vets, and even you.
The things that startle dogs often surprise their owners. Hats, balloons, garden statues, and other mundane things that seem to pose no threat. To your dog, however, it is an unknown. If you are a subdued person, your dog might show fear around a bubbly extrovert. Basically, any situation or object your dog is not accustomed to can create fear and stress in her.
Cornell University College of Vet Medicine suggests that the socialization period lasts up to about 12 weeks (3 months) of age.
A Brief History Of Magic
May 24, 2008
A Brief History Of Magic
by: Preston Houer
With magic, illusions, spells, tricks and ceremonials are usually performed for entertainment. It is a supernatural power which makes the seemingly impossible occur.
‘Looking Back’
In ancient Egypt, there was a magician named Dedi who performed in front of a crowd, where he supposedly beheaded two birds and one ox. He eventually restored the heads of these three animals.
Because of this, the Egyptians were considered to be the first magicians recorded in history.
As the popularity of magic developed, tricks involving cups and balls were shown to the public. Then, playing cards, silver coins and dice were added to their slew of magical tricks.
Later on, ancient Greek magicians invented tricks involving the human body. A trick where a performer thrusts a dagger through one’s arm without being hurt has been developed and shown in public places.
The ancient Chinese civilization also paved the way for magic. The “linking rings” is one of the earliest tricks ever invented. To begin with, a number of rings link themselves. The rings are made up of solid metal and the illusion is that they eventually unlink themselves.
How to Grow Sweet Corn
May 24, 2008
Purchased corn, whether on the cob or in a can can’t compare for taste! Sweet corn is easy to grow in the flower and fruit gardening guides home garden with just a little know how and a few corn facts.
Corn needs warm soil temperatures (50° - 65° Fahrenheit) to germinate. Warm temperatures cause sugars in corn to turn into starches and results in loss of sweetness and creamy texture. Sugars also begin converting to starches immediately after harvest.
Sweet corn is divided into three types according to its sweetness: (SU) normal sugary or standard sweet corn, (SE) sugary enhanced, and (Sh2) super sweet.
Standard Sweet Corn (SU)
Normal sugary is the traditional variety of sweet corn. Less sweet than the other types, it will tolerate low temperatures at planting time.
Sugary Enhanced (SE)
(SE) corn is the preferred choice of many of today’s flower and fruit gardening guides home gardeners. Sugary enhanced is sweeter than standard corn and retains sweetness longer than either of the other types. While not as sweet as super sweet, it has a creamier texture and tolerates lower soil temperatures.
Super Sweet
