World web designer, musician, writter, humanity.

Hot News Introducting 2010 The Blogger Template Designer

noreply@blogger.com (facebook gamer) — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 05:14:00 -0500

We’ve added a fair bit to Blogger over the years, but one thing that’s been constant for some time has been our collection of templates. While a number of talented designers around the web have offered their own fresh and interesting designs that you can apply to your Blogger blog, our stock set has grown a bit stale, and you’ve noticed. You let us know — in the forums, on Twitter, sitting next to us on airplanes, even from across the counter at a Harvard Square stationary store, and we’ve been listening.

Today we’re taking a big first step in improving not just our template designs, but all the ways that you can customize the look and layout of your blog. We even made a video with jaunty music to show it off:

Here’s what we’re launching today to Blogger in Draft:

15 new, highly-customizable templates from our design team, split into four families: Simple, Picture Window, Awesome Inc, and Watermark
One-, two-, and three-column layouts for each template, with complete control over the size and arrangement of the columns
Hundreds of background images and patterns from iStockphoto, the leading microstock image marketplace

Try it Now
Go to http://draft.blogger.com/ to log in to Blogger in Draft. (If you’ve never been there before, Blogger in Draft is just like regular Blogger, except with new, in-development features like this one.) Click on your blog’s “Layout” link to go to the Layout tab. The link to the Template Designer is at the end of the row of sub-tabs.

You can use the live preview to see your new template without affecting your blog. When you find a new look that you’re happy with, just click the “Apply to Blog” button to publish it to the world. Note: You can backup your existing template ahead of time by going to Layout > Edit HTML. We recommend this if you have a customized blog design that you might want to go back to.

Classic template blogs: If you have a “Template” link or tab instead of “Layout,” you’ll first need to switch from Classic to Layouts before you can try out the Template Designer. Go to Classic > Customize Design and follow the instructions there. You’ll need to switch to one of our old templates first, but then you’ll be able to use the Template Designer to pick a new one.

Tips from the Blogger Team

Get your links to match a background image quickly by using the Background panel’s “Main color theme” to adjust all of your blog’s colors at once. This works particularly well with Simple’s second design.

With a three-column footer, you can fit in several gadgets to interest your readers after they’re done reading your post. For inspiration, read Derek Powazek’s post, “Embrace your bottom!”

If you’re using our new Pages feature, put the Page List gadget in the wide section at the top of your blog. We’ve added unique tab designs to all of the new templates.
Many of the patterns in the background image picker are semi-transparent, to let your blog’s background color show through. Look for the “transparency page curl” to see which patterns these are.
The Attribution gadget (added to the footer by all new templates) is there to give credit not just to the designer and artist of the background image, but to you as well. Edit its settings by clicking “Edit” on Layout > Page Elements to add your own authorship or copyright information.

Get Involved

Show off your new design on Twitter by tweeting your blog’s URL with the hashtag #newbloggertemplate. We’ll be looking for creative designs to feature in upcoming blog posts or as Blogs of Note.
We’re taking feature requests. Let us know what else you’d like to see with our Google Moderator page. (And don’t worry: uploading your own background image is already filed and at the top of our list!)
To report bugs or discuss the Template Designer in more detail, start a thread on our discussion forum. Include “Template Designer” in the subject so we’ll be sure to see it.
Do you design templates for Blogger? Join our template designer group for documentation and discussion on working with the new templates, as well as details on how to get your designs into the Template Designer.

Over the coming weeks and months we’ll be adding new features, templates, and images guided by the feedback we hear from you.

Miscellaneous Notes

The Template Designer is not supported on Internet Explorer 6, nor, for that matter, are the new templates. While we’ve made an effort to ensure that they’ll still be readable, the new designs are not going to look particularly attractive on IE6. We strongly encourage the very small number of bloggers and readers still using IE6 to upgrade to a more modern browser. For more information about browsers, visit Google’s What Browser? site.
The rounded corners and drop shadows used in several of the templates may not be visible in older versions of some browsers. Opera users will need to wait for Opera 10.5, currently in public pre-alpha release. IE7 and 8 users will not see these effects within the Template Designer, but will see most of them on the live blog itself.
From within the Template Designer you can only move gadgets around, you can’t add, delete, or change their settings. Those features are still on the Layout > Page Elements page.
Some gadgets, such as Poll, Reactions, or third-party Google Gadgets will not reflect color changes in the live preview but will after the template is applied. Others, such as Followers and AdSense, will not change colors automatically at all. It may be easiest to remove and re-add these gadgets to refresh their palettes, though you could also tweak the colors by hand by editing their settings.
Customizations to widget templates will be cleared when applying a new template to preserve the new layout. If you have made changes to your widget templates, save them first by going to Layout > Edit HTML and clicking “Download Full Template.” You’ll be able to copy them back in as needed after you apply your new template.

Posted by Pete Hopkins

Free Twitter Anti-spam Service Has Been Launched

noreply@blogger.com (facebook gamer) — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 05:35:00 -0500

Researchers from the University of California-Santa Barbara have created a free spam-filtering service for Twitter that detects malicious accounts and forwards the information to the microblogging service for enforcement.
The service, dubbed Spamdetector, is the brainchild of Ph.D. student Gianluca Stringhini.
"We started studying social network spam one year ago," Stringhini said. "With the rise of social network sites, this problem became really important. During our studies, we found out that spam bots (which are likely infected computers) have some peculiar behaviors that [differ] from the [ones] legitimate users have."
For example, spammers are usually very aggressive when it comes to following users in the hopes they can build up a large pool of followers of their own. This point was underscored by a recent analysis by Barracuda Networks, which found 26 percent of users have at least 10 followers and 40 percent are following at least 10 people. Spammers also send similar kinds of tweets, Stringhini said. But the service is also helped by users submitting information about suspicious accounts.

"The usefulness of users flagging spammers is that leveraging this information we can 'target' the crawling to those profiles that send tweets similar to the ones that have already been detected as spam," he said. "In this way, we are able to detect more spammers in a shorter period of time."
Twitter security has taken more than a few hits in the past two years as the number of users has soared. In response to the growing abuse of URL shortening services to send malicious links, Twitter recently launched a URL scanning service.
"It is not easy to reliably detect malicious users, because there's always the risk [of suspending] legitimate accounts by mistake," the researcher said. "However, the Twitter spam detection improved a lot during the last months. Many spam profiles get deleted even before we flag them to Twitter."
To sign up for the service, follower the user @spamdetector on Twitter.

Comparison Of The Web Browser

noreply@blogger.com (facebook gamer) — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 05:49:00 -0500

Learn what a web browser is by watching this 1-minute video

Web browsers by year

A rough estimation of usage share by percent of layout engines/web browsers as of Q2 2009, see usage share of web browsers.

This is a table of personal computer web browsers by year of release of major version, in chronological order, with the approximate number of worldwide Internet users in millions. Note that Internet user data is related to the entire market, not the versions released in that year. The increased growth of the Internet in the 1990s and 2000s means that current browsers with small market shares have more total users than the entire market early on. For example, 90% market share in 1997 would be roughly 60 million users, but by the start of 2007 9% market share would equate to over 90 million users

Graphical time line of web browsers

Historical web browsers

This table focuses on OS and browsers of the 1990s and turn of the century. The year listed for a version is usually the year of the first official release, with an end year being end of development, project change, or relevant termination. Releases of OS and browser from the early 1990s to before 2001-2002 time frame are the current focus.
Many early browsers can be made to run on later OS (and later browsers on early OS in some cases); however, most of these situations are avoided in the table.

How to Become a Video Game Designer

noreply@blogger.com (facebook gamer) — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 16:40:00 -0600

One of the most exciting jobs out in the market today is video game designing. Many have the impression that it would take too much time and skills to accomplish this. Well reality check people...it does not! If you are into video games and love spending your leisure time (even your work time!), playing games then you have already passed the qualifying stages to becoming a video game designer. May it be for console, arcade, or PC; video game designing reaches all these platforms. Now, let me explain to you some of the basic principles to get you an idea of how to make this dream job work for you.

Throughout the years, games have evolved from the simple Atari and first generation Nintendo graphics to the complex 3D and multi level games of the present. There are just no limits to game designing these days. This multibillion-dollar industry is ballooning and encompassing other industries at a pace no one ever thought was possible. A major factor to this can be attributed to the gamers who are in their 20's and 30's and have never stopped picking up on the latest games and game platforms. Walk into any gaming shop and you will find adults mingling with kids to check out latest releases and try them out...together! So combined with the teenage market, this raving monster called the Gaming Industry is eating chunks out of the adult and teenage market today.

Need for video game design teams have increased dramatically because of this growth in the industry and the demand for better and more creative games by consumers. Therefore, the outlook for anyone trying to enter this industry is not bad at all. If you have the love and drive to create games then there is more than a lot of opportunities to do that. Become a video game designer and you could take part and even play a major role in producing legendary games such as Sims, Unreal tournament and Halo to name a few. Get a chance to team up with the best companies and game studios by becoming a video game designer. If there ever was a time to take that leap of faith and trust your gut instincts then it is now! A genuine love for games is one of the most important qualities a game designer must possess. For natural love for gaming spawns creativity and a drive to excel in producing games people will endear themselves to. You could even ask yourself a question. Why would I do a job that I do not have the talents and passion for? Now, if your answer is I am doing this because it is what I love to do, then you are the right man for this job.

This natural passion, even though very important, is only one of the aspects that makes a good video game designer. Companies who hire designers are also looking for someone with good problem solving skills and who is inhumanly patient. There are so many bugs and potential problems when designing a game that it could drive someone mad. These problems range from collision detection to making things look convincing animation-wise. Many of these complex problems need to be resolved quickly and with ingenuity. You should always strive to improve and to innovate the game at any point of the production. This can be profoundly stressful and take up huge amounts of your time even to the point of exhaustion but the rewards are more than worth it. The experience brings a completely new meaning to the phrase sleeping on the job!

Being a perfectionist is also a quality sought after by many of these gaming companies and studios. Making sure everything is up to the highest quality standards and done as efficiently as possible in as little time as possible are talents which are definitely sought after in this fast paced industry. Now, if you have all or even just some of these qualities then this job is just waiting for you out there... so go out and grab it.

So now, you are ready to proceed and create games huh? However, wait, you just cannot walk right into one of these companies and apply for this job if you do not have the skills! Knowledge about such things as graphic designing, computer animation and game development is necessary here. You need very specific training on these and other elements in order to be a certified video game designer. Below is a listing of where you can get the best training in these areas of expertise. With no further ado, here are some of the premier video game design schools you will need to enroll in to become a top video game designer.

International Academy of Design and Technology: The Bachelor of Fine Arts in Visual Communication (Game Design) is designed to provide training in principles and techniques used to create interactive 2D and 3D computer games. Students can learn design software; modeling and animation skills, networking principles, level and world editors, and game engines used to design and develop games, and will examine market research and business concepts related to game production and distribution processes. Project management, creative design, and communication skills are integrated throughout this dynamic curriculum to help prepare students for entry-level positions in the game design industry.

DeVry University: Offers something more towards the programming end of things with their hot Game and Simulation Programming program. This should really get your feet nice and wet. Take it Online, or check out the various campus locations.

ITT Technical Institute: The ITT Technical Institutes offer a bachelor degree in Digital Entertainment and Game Design. Courses in this program offer a strong foundation in digital game design through the study of subjects such as gaming technology, game design process, animation, level design, and general education coursework. In addition, with over 85 locations nation-wide, there is a good chance that you can find a school near you.

The Art Institutes: At The Art Institutes, you will receive hands-on training from industry professionals, and you will build your portfolio.

The Art Institute Online: The Art Institute Online courses have been designed with extensive input from game-industry professionals and focus on the artistic side of games - not on computer programming. You will concentrate on the specifics needed as a professional game artist: Scene and set design, Motion capture, Character development, Visual storytelling, Game design strategies, 3D animation, Low-polygon modeling, Game level design, Texture mapping... In other words, a lot of the fun stuff.

Westwood College of Technology-Online: Strong creativity, design, computer, and problem solving skills are the keys for success in this exciting and growing field. With these specialized skills in mind, Westwood College has designed a Bachelor degree program in Game Art and Design.

Digital Media Arts College: Learn from industry experts from leading companies such as SEGA, ImageWorks, Disney, and more. They are one of the United States' most technologically equipped digital artist colleges. They have the tools and techniques to empower your creative career.

Digipen Institute of Technology: Located in Seattle, take the first step towards becoming a video game designer by learning computer science, computer engineering and fine arts degree programs related to the digital entertainment technology.

The best schools for 2D Animation, 3D Animation and Video Game Design

noreply@blogger.com (facebook gamer) — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 16:25:00 -0600

The following is a list of colleges, universities and tech schools with programs that would help someone in their pursuit of a career in the technical direction of the animation industry or the creative side of animation. The list is dedicated to schools that many animation studios feel caters to technical direction and to the more artistic field of character animation

A career in animation is custom made for you. With your bachelor's degree in animation from Westwood College, you'll have the skills to work in the exciting field while doing what you love to do. And your courses are as interesting as your career will be-with classes that incorporate audio/video technology, laws of motion and drawing with general education. Business classes provide you with important skills in critical thinking, logic, communications and problem solving that will help you address workplace challenges. You'll leave qualified for entry-level positions, like web animator, 3D animator/graphic designer, desktop publisher or flash designer/animator.

DeVry University

DeVry's Game and Simulation Programming curriculum prepares graduates to join the private and public sector game software industry in a variety of software development roles across the game programming life cycle, including programmer, software engineer and project coordinator. Applications-oriented, the program provides preparation in the math and physics of games; programming fundamentals; game design; modifications (MOD) and massively multi-player online game (MMOG) programming; two- and three-dimensional graphics programming; and simulation and game engine design. Also included is a full complement of general education courses, recommended by game industry experts as critical for well-rounded development team members.

The Digital Entertainment and Video Game Design program in the School of Drafting and Design at the ITT Technical Institutes can help graduates prepare for career opportunities in a variety of entry-level positions involving the technology associated with the design and development of digital games and multimedia applications. Courses in this program offer a foundation in digital game design through the study of subjects such as gaming technology, game design process, animation, level design and general education coursework.

Graduates of this program may pursue entry-level career opportunities in a number of different digital entertainment and game design companies. Job functions may include working in a team to design, develop, test and produce video games, or create animations and 3D scenes for use in video games.

3D Animation Program

Animation involves bringing artwork and characters to life with such precision that they truly seem real. Animation is part acting, part storytelling, and part visual art - it's a mix of both electronic arts and traditional animation skills. You'll study methods to create realistic movement in 3-D digital environments, and collaborate within a team environment to gain practical experience. Graduates are prepared to seek entry-level employment such as 3-D character animator, modeler, and storyboarder.

Game Art & Design Program

Graduates are prepared to enter the Game Art and Design field as modelers, storyboard artists, animation artists, 3-D illustrators, digital artists, FX artists, video post-production artists, and broadcast graphics designers, as well as game designers. Learn what it takes to produce great art and design and use the skill to create applications used by the business, education, training and entertainment industries.

Westwood College Online offers a diverse curriculum that focuses primarily on the chosen degree field and is enhanced by general education courses. Students receive a truly comprehensive education; our Game Art & Design Program teaches both Maya and 3DS Max, which allows students to work in their preferred format. Many other video game design programs teach only one of these packages. To top it all off, students get exposure to game engines through our program, and this is certainly a benefit to them.

* Conceptualizing and developing ideas for cartoons and animations

* Using life drawing and rendering techniques to develop characters, backgrounds and stories

* Creating 2D and 3D characters and animation for the Web, digital media, television, movies and software

* Utilizing the laws of motion and physics to create life-like motion for the animated characters you create

* Integrating audio and video effects to create animated features

This is just a highlight of our online animation program. Students are prepared for the challenges of a career and provided with skills to navigate the ever-changing trends in animation. Picture yourself in the creative career you have been dreaming of, and work towards that goal with the help of Westwood College Online!

Learn from industry experts from leading companies such as SEGA, ImageWorks, Disney, and more. We're one of the United States' most technologically equipped digital artist colleges. We have the tools and techniques to empower your creative career.

Take classes in artist-designed labs and facilities. Learn from experts in digital artistry. Work with industry-standard animation tools, 3D software, and imaging technologies. All at DMAC.

Bachelor - Computer Animation

An artful blend of creative vision and technology, computer animators work in 3-D to bring their imagination to life. Animators can specialize in motion, feature films, materials, and more. Our new motion capture studio will give you the opportunity to train on the same equipment that's used in major motion pictures. The computer animation program is designed to teach you how to develop drawing skills and combine them with storytelling in the digital realm to acquire the skills you need to help you enter the field of computer animation.

Bachelor - Visual Communications: Game Design
The Bachelor of Fine Arts in Visual Communication (Game Design) is designed to provide training in principles and techniques used to create interactive 2D and 3D computer games. Students can learn design software; modeling and animation skills, networking principles, level and world editors, and game engines used to design and develop games, and will examine market research and business concepts related to game production and distribution processes. Project management, creative design, and communication skills are integrated throughout this dynamic curriculum to help prepare students for entry-level positions in the game design industry.

Our diploma program in 3D Animation for Film, TV & Games focuses primarily on animating characters for film, game and television production.

The department head for our program, Calvin Leduc, has over 20 years experience in the animation & gaming industry, including 9 years at Walt Disney Feature Animation. The program also includes regular live web chats with Pixar animators Andrew Gordon and Mike Venturini, direct from their studio in Emeryville California! Together with additional instructors from Industrial Light & Magic and other studios, our students learn to master their craft and produce a professional demo reel for studio recruitment.

Vanarts is a member of the Softimage Education Partner Program. All students graduating from the 3D Animation Diploma program, will now receive a FREE one year commercial license of the computer animation software SOFTIMAGE/XSI Essentials. This will allow graduates of Vanarts 3D Animation to continue using Softimage/XSI to freelance, to set up their own companies to do commercial work or to keep in practice.

Careers in the 3D Computer Animation field include character and effects animators, modelers, lighting and texture mappers, concept designers and storyboard artists.

Bachelor - Game Design

The curriculum in our Game Design Program is designed to equip you with game essentials like C++, Java, 3ds max and AI (Artificial Intelligence) so you can make your quest-driven concept a game reality. Your education in Game Design can take you from game research and planning, character development and storytelling, all the way through level design, modeling programming and project management. It takes more than imagination to be a game designer, and we can help you to take your ideas from concept to completion and beyond.

BA Visual Art w/ Game Art Major
As a student, you can learn to create characters and settings that bring a game to life. You can learn the fundamentals of sound design for game projects and explore the workflow concepts behind the art department of a major game studio. You can visualize a concept and acquire the computer skills necessary to render it in 3D.

Enroll in this exciting Visual Arts degree program with a major in Game Art and you'll take classes such as Creative Visualization, Audio for Gaming, Game Design Project Management, 3D Studio Max® 1, and 3D Modeling. Computer labs, traditional animation labs, photo/video labs, and a photography studio lab are available to students who choose this Visual Arts degree program. In approximately 31 months, you can earn a degree to help you enter today's workforce as a Game Designer.

Digital Visual Media Program

Ex'pression Digital Visual Media Program is designed to enhance your knowledge and skills through an intensive series of courses that cover a wide spectrum of digital visual media including 3D modeling and animation, texture and lighting, compositing, digital film and video effects, creating graphics for the Internet and more. You will gain experiential knowledge through extensive lab time using multiple hardware platforms. A one-to-one (student-to-machine) lab ratio allows you to individually explore the intricacies of a wide variety of graphics software.

The Animation Mentor curriculum has been designed by professionals, working at the top animation studios in the industry, focusing 100% on character animation. This gives our curriculum a "real world" insight into what studios are looking for in new animation talent. At Animation Mentor, students are mentored one-on-one by professional animators from major studios. Our approach prepares students with the skills and attitude they need to take into the studio arena. Our online campus is built with a studio focus in mind, allowing our students to get comfortable with the many challenges and opportunities they will experience when working in a studio environment.

Admissions: (510) 809-1177

3D Modelling Animation Art and Design - Are you passionate about 3D animation? Ready to turn this passion into a fun-filled creative career? In the 3D Modelling Animation Art and Design diploma program at VCAD, you'll learn the tools and develop the skills to succeed in the Computer Generated animation industry.

Career opportunities can be found in a variety of CGI-based industries, including computer animations studios, game development companies as well as post-production and special effects studios. Positions may include 3D modeler, character modeler, technical artist and junior production designer. Employment may also be found at industrial design firms, software producers or other companies that require the production of 3d graphics and animation.

Project Bidding Sites for Web Designers

noreply@blogger.com (facebook gamer) — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 08:19:00 -0600

If you are a freelance web designer chances are you have heard of project bidding sites like elance and getacoder. Before you use these sites you need to make sure you understand a few things otherwise you will get ripped off and left in the dark. There are no better ways to learn than actually dive in and try the sites yourself to get the experiences. The following tips will hopefully be useful to you as a london web designer who just started using these type of sites to find work.

Only do projects you know for sure you can do. Let’s say you bid on a project to develop an e-commerce website but have no experience setting up shopping carts or interfacing to credit card merchant services. While every other aspect of the project may go smoothly, you are bound to hit a roadblock when it comes time to implement the shopping cart. Since you are web developer, you know how to research and figure the problem out but all this takes time and the result can be a canceled project, no payment, and a poor review for all other buyers to see.

Be aware of the bidding site fees. Most of these sites take a fee from you when the buyer awards you the bid (even before you get paid for the project). A few only take the fee when you get paid. But the bottom line is that the fee should be calculated into your bid.

Don’t be a consistently low bidder. You’ll quickly get work but you will also become overwhelmed in the same manner. Although, with the number of other bidders you will be competing with, sometimes a low bid is what it takes to get awarded a job—especially if you are new on the site. This is also called penetration pricing and eventually you’ll have to start bidding at a fair price in order to be profitable.

Use freelance bidding sites to get you started. But have a plan to gradually move away from them and start dealing face-to-face with clients directly. It’s easier to build trust and strong customer relations when you can see the person you are dealing with. Communication is far easier in this way too. Not to mention that you will not have to compete with people who are offering web design services for peanuts.

28 Principles of Animation

noreply@blogger.com (facebook gamer) — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 16:37:00 -0600

This article was given to me by Mark Kennedy (storyboard artist on Hercules and Tarzan). Thank you Mark for all those handouts!!

Often times animators and storyboarders in the industry are able to get handouts from some of the artists who are great teachers. This is an example of such kind of handout that gets circulated among the artists gradually. It took me quite a while to retype and scan the images from this handout. Please don't reproduce this on the internet without permission. (if you'd like to print it out and give it to another animation student, however, PLEASE do!) The entire article from here on out is by Walt Stanchfield (sp?) I included the images in approximately the same spot as they were on the original hand-written article.

This is a wonderful article for not only beginners but also for practiced animators. Please read it.

28 Principles of Animation

There are some principles of animation that can be consciously used in any scene. We should familiarize ourselves with them for both animation and animation-cleanup.

To illustrate these principles, I have chosen a supposedly simple scene. When the scene is analyzed, it is apparent how far one may go in using these principles.

The action in this scene is quite broad, making the principles easy to find, but they should be applied to subtle scenes also. Rarely in a picture is a character doing nothing- absolutely nothing. Snow White and Sleeping Beauty spend a short time in complete inactivity, but even then certain of these principles were used.

The use of held drawings and moving holds can be very effective, but only if they contain the vitality of an action drawing. Again, the use of these principles makes that possible.

28 Principles of Animation

The purpose of studying and analyzing a scene like this is to acquaint oneself with the possibilites in the use of the principles of animation. I have listed 28 principles, though there well may be more. At first these will have to be used consciously, then hopefully in time will become second nature. These are the tools of animation and should be incorporated whenever possible. Some of them are accidentally stumbled upon while animating in an emotional spurt, but when the emotions are lax, knowing these principles will enable the artist to animate his scene intellectually, logically and artistically as well as emotionally.

28 Principles of Animation

Here is a list of things (principles) that appear in these drawings, most of which should appear in all scenes, for they comprise the basis for full animation

-Pose and Mood
-Shape and Form
-Anatomy
-Model or Character
-Weight
-Line and Silhouette
-Action and Reaction
-Perspective
-Direction
-Tension

-Planes
-Solidity
-Arcs
-Squash and Stretch
-Beat and Rythem
-Depth and Volume
-Overlap and followthru
-Timing
-Working from extreme to extreme

-Straights and Curves
-Primary and secondary action
-Staging and composition
-Anticipation
-Caricature
-Details
-Texture
-Simplification
-Positive and negative shapes

28 Principles of Animation

An example of the observations that might be made by flipping and studying just these two drawings. By shifting your eyes from one drawing to the other you can see these things happening. Watch the negative shapes also.

This drawing would be called the "push off". Note that every line and shape on the drawing helps the upward thrust. Even the tail, which is still following the path set up for it by its primary force, the rump, helps by way of contrast and followthrough. Pick any shape on the figure and compare it to drawing #6 on the preceding page. Note how each shape changes to enhance the overall shape and action: the neck, the chest, the legs, the back, etc.

Even though this is just one drawing, there is no doubt about the action that is taking place in this part of the scene. This should be true of any drawing in any scene.

Consider Anatomy Alone:

Aside from its purpose in the scene each drawing can be analyzed for different aspects of drawing. The whole body is a caracature of an animal, but all the parts of a real animal are present i.e., head, neck, back, hips, tail, etc. And each of them work and move in a plausible way.

Anatomy Continued

Anatomy, of course is essential to any drawing whether it has a direct reference to nature or is completely imaginary. Though a character and/or its action may be greatly exaggerated or caracatured, anatomy in a sense remains fairly constant. An elbow is an elbow and only bends in a certain way, and has its limitation. Liberties may be taken but the "reality" of even a cartoon must be kept or it will lose plausibility or credulity. It is not an easy thing to convert one's knowledge of structural anatomy to the cartoon medium.

It has been said that the location of a joint is more important than the joint itself. For instane if an arm shape has been established, it cannot have an elbow bend in an improbable place, no matter how well the elbow is drawn. Compare tiger's arm to that of a real tiger.

Consider Weight

The pull of gravity is one of the most important principles to deal with in animation. Everything has a certain amount of weight and will act and react accordingly. One easy way to lose the attention of an audience is to have feathers falling like bricks or bricks falling like feathers.

A certain humor can be gotten by bending the rules but should only be used where humor or special effect is called for. In shorts cartoons defying the laws of gravity, weight, speed, squash and stretch, etc., is a the rule of thumb. In Disney feature cartoons such flamboyant abandonment must be handled more discriminately.

The US and Russia hold some 95 per cent of the world's nuclear arms

noreply@blogger.com (facebook gamer) — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 09:40:00 -0600

Rachel Courtland, reporter

After almost a year of negotiation, the US and Russia have finally settled on a plan to further reduce their vast nuclear arsenals. If the new agreement is approved, the number of deployed warheads by will be cut by 30 per cent over previous targets. But an ongoing dispute over a European missile defence shield has the potential to scupper the plans.

The US and Russia hold some 95 per cent of the world's nuclear arms, including an estimated 4700 deployed nuclear warheads. The new agreement – a follow-up to the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) – would cut the number to 1550 warheads per country over the course of seven years.

The significance of the new agreement is largely symbolic. A fraction of those warheads could still assure mutual destruction, Vanity Fair notes.

But US president Barack Obama and Russian president Dmitry Medvedev hope the new START will show other nations that the world's nuclear superpowers are serious about disarmament. A review of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which has met with faltering support, will be hosted by the US in May.

The US Senate and Russia's Duma must ratify the new START treaty before it can take effect. But this may prove difficult, as some American legislators have expressed concern over Russia's attitude toward the treaty.

While the two countries have agreed on a new plan for offensive weapons, they differ on the subject of missile defence. The US hopes to install a shield of interceptor missiles in Europe to protect against potential attacks from countries like Iran.

Russia suspects the shield is really there to block its own missiles, and in a separate, nonbinding statement has declared it reserves the right to withdraw from START if US missile defence plans seem to threaten its national security, the New York Times reports.

Best Suited For portofolios And business sites

noreply@blogger.com (facebook gamer) — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 12:13:00 -0600

A magic number was reached today: 100.000 template downloads from the three primary download locations (OSWD, OpenWebDesign.org and my own template page) since andreas01 was released in the end of July 2005. Huge thanks to everyone who has supported me during my first six months on the open source design scene, it has been a lot of fun and incredibly inspiring! And also a big apology to everyone of you who are still waiting for a reply to e-mails you have sent me during the past weeks. I've left much of the work behind during the holidays, but I will catch up with the mail in a few days.

One of the things I have planned for a long time that will be launched at the same time as the new design (tomorrow, always this tomorrow…) will be theme variations. Pre-created customized versions of the themes, based on common requests from users and other designers. For example, a lot of people have asked me for Swedish versions of my themes, so translations are ready to be released. And others have asked for wider versions of the WP-Andreas00 and WP-Andreas01 themes for WordPress, and I will provide that as well.

Each theme will get its own page, where all these custom versions (and other modifications) will be listed with direct download links. Want a light version of Daleri Dark? Or a 3-column version of 1024px? If the demand is big, I will create it and add it to the list.

What kind of variations would you like to see to the themes in the future? Let me know, your opinion matters! This will apply to the website templates as well so feel free to write in comments for those as well. But please keep in mind that the templates will take much longer time for me to create all those variations since I will have more than 20 templates to work with when the new ones are released…

To see one really beautiful example of what a modified theme can look like, you can visit the newly launched website of the Ã�jtte Museum here in Jokkmokk. The site is based on a wider version of WP-Andreas00 with a number of small changes – and translated to Swedish. It is probably the prettiest site I have seen using that design, the enlarged header and the large amounts of beutiful photos add a lot of value to the design…

By the way, does anyone have a good name suggestion for the next series of templates?

Top Musician Songs And Best Album Downloads

noreply@blogger.com (facebook gamer) — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 13:40:00 -0600

While playing around with a music project I am working on, I got the idea to try a few things one of the songs I made for Lagoona many years ago, a FastTracker-based song called "Parterial Enfino" (which it is just a made-up nonsense title that doesn't mean anything). I wanted to make the song a little longer and let it start and end with drums so that I could put it in a non-stop music mix. I fired up the music programs and started playing around, but it all went a bit further than I had planned… In the following couple of hours, I basically recorded a new version of the song!

When I was done, I realized that it was a long time since I had that kind of inspiration, and that I should celebrate that in some way. While this song is not really the style I plan to work with, I will let "Parterial Enfino (2008 edit)" represent my return to the world of music. I have uploaded the song as a demo to Swedish online music site Allears.se, and I would like to invite you all to check it out. Feel free to post a comment here, feedback is always appreciated. Don't judge me too hard from this song, it is just the first step in an adventure that will hopefully go far…

On my Allears.se artist page you'll also see the artist name I will use for the upcoming music project. It may be somewhat familiar to frequent visitors and friends, since it represents my creative work with newer templates and themes as well. I will adopt Daleri as my artist name, and the old testing site Daleri.com will soon be re-launched as a separate artist site while this site will continue to focus more on web design and my everyday life.

Edit: I have removed my music from Allears, it was definitely not the right place for my music. I have tried a whole lot of music sites over the last ten years, and it is always interesting to see that the ones that are owned or sponsored by big record labels are the ones that gives the worst member experience… Anyway, my music is now located on PureVolume.com – I hope it will work a bit better!

A five-point The Ocean Manifesto plan

noreply@blogger.com (facebook gamer) — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 15:16:00 -0600

High-tech geoengineering might one day just be able to return atmospheric carbon dioxide to below 350 parts per million, at which level coral reefs can persist. But long before then the multiplying effects of changing climate and human pressure will have crippled marine ecosystems. For the ocean to survive, we need to throw it five lifelines by doing the following:

1: Establishing marine reserves

Less than 0.01 per cent of the ocean lies within reserves, but reserves do work: they boost biomass and biodiversity and allow ecosystems to grow resilient. Around the British-controlled Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean, for example, the seas are not part of a formal reserve but have effectively been protected since 1965 by the presence of the US base at Diego Garcia; reefs here have been able to recover quickly from bleaching events.

2: Ending the freedom of the seas

Only by zoning and controlling access to the ocean can it be rescued. The present situation has led to a depletion of the ocean’s biomass, something which is as important as biodiversity for the resilience of ecosystems. For instance, 95 per cent of filter-feeders have been removed from the ocean. The North Sea and our estuaries once had clear waters full of oyster beds; restoring even a fraction of these will lead to cleaner water and an increase in sunlight for seabed organisms.

3: Controlling fishing fleets

The fishing industry is destroying essential biodiversity and biomass because of huge subsidies and overcapacity. Ending both will mean more fish in the sea as well as on the plate, while cutting the amount of fuel used to catch them.

4: Banning bottom trawling

A widespread ban would allow seabed habitats to recover. The hidden complexity of seabed life is a key component of the ocean’s ability to recycle nutrients.

5: Controlling pollution

Agricultural fertilisers being washed into rivers are a major cause of the growth in deoxygenated dead zones in coastal waters worldwide, and plastics are pulling poisons into food webs.

Giant Ocean Earth Found In Stomach

noreply@blogger.com (facebook gamer) — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 20:53:00 -0600

Which appeared on the left side of the picture above is a picture of the image seen to the right, revealing abnormalities attenuation (weakening) mesofer shock waves in the depths of 620 miles under the ground.

In between the two images, the red color layer to explain the extraordinary rock is weak and loose, and considered the interior contains water, while the blue color to explain unusual rock hard (white and yellow colors are located in the middle).

For the first time humans discovered a giant water systems in the inner Mesosphere. According to the life science com, that when memayar in the inner depths of the earth, scientists discover a giant reservoir beneath eastern Asia, the volume of water in it equal to the amount of water in the Antarctic sea or the Arctic ocean. This is the first time humans discovered a giant water system in the inner mesofer.

These findings are the result of joint research geologist at the University of Washington, namely Michael Wysession by Jesse Lawrence, a student from the University of California, and these findings will be published in the monograph published by the American geophysical institute.

They both have mengalisis with graphics almost as much a shock wave of 600,000 (record shock waves that arise when an earthquake across the earth, collected from the equipment scattered in various regions of the world).

They found, that the wave of earthquakes beneath the Asian mainland showed a weak phenomenon, but it also slightly slowed its speed, Wysession said: "The water can slow the speed of earthquake waves, a large number of signs of slowing and weakening it can predict where there is water. "

According to previous calculations, when the layer of rock that sank into the cold mesofer deep underground thousands of km, the high temperature deep underground will be out of water vapor in the rock layers.

Wysession tells us: "That's what we show here, the water in the rock layer with a layer of rock deep seabed and the water was very cold, but along with the growing level of depth, the temperature will begin to rise, and the rock began to unstable, and loses water contained in it. "then the water began to rise and go into the pile, and there be a water saturated area, but there was still like a glimpse of the rock solid, and only by putting them in your new lab can find water in it. "

Although they briefly looked like a solid rock, as much as 15% in some ocean floor rocks is water. Wysession tells us: "Concretely, the water is in the mineral structure of rock. When you heat it, it will remove the water, just like you burn a piece of clay, can remove all the water in it. "

Researchers predict that in areas of the earth's surface is covered with water, just 0.1% of rock layers deep into the mesofer could produce an equal volume of water with a sea of the North Pole.
Wysession called underground structure of this new as the "Beijing abnormal", because he found under the City of Beijing, China, the value of the largest earthquake waves recession. Wysession first used this term in an explanation at the University of Beijing.

According to Wysession: "They feel very attractive, China earthquake threat far greater than other regions in the world, so they are very interested in seismology."

As many as 70% of the earth's surface is covered by water, water, water has many advantages, one of which is playing the role of "lubricant" for the land plate movement.

Let us see Venus, which according to Wysession, the interior is very hot and extremely dry, he does not have plate structures, all of the water may have on-evaporation (yawn), no plates, and the entire system is closed.

IIDA Foundation Announced Award Recipients

noreply@blogger.com (facebook gamer) — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 16:22:00 -0600

IIDA Foundation Announced Award Recipients
The Trustees of the IIDA Foundation announced the most recent recipients of the NCIDQ Tuition Reimbursement Fund and the Sustainable Design Education Fund.

The NCIDQ Tuition Reimbursement Fund offers IIDA Associate Members an opportunity to apply for financial assistance upon passing all three parts of the NCIDQ exam.

Thanks to the generosity of IIDA Members in the 2009 Designing for the Future Campaign, additional funds were allocated to this fund which made it possible to award reimbursements to seven individuals.

The Sustainable Design Education Fund was created to award tuition reimbursement to IIDA Professional and Associate Members who take and pass the LEED Accreditation Exam.

The waters surrounding the Chagos Islands

noreply@blogger.com (facebook gamer) — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 15:25:00 -0600

A company belonging to the Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser is opposing plans to create the world’s biggest marine reserve. His company holds a government contract to manage fishing in the area, which would be banned if the reserve were created.

The waters surrounding the Chagos Islands — or the British Indian Ocean Territory — are among the most pristine in the world. In November David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, announced a consultation on whether to ban all fishing in the area after a campaign by a coalition of conservationists and ecological scientists. A decision is expected in the spring.

The company owned by Professor John Beddington, the Chief Scientific Adviser, and his wife, argues there is no evidence that a ban would improve the environment and would in fact drive fishing boats into other areas of the Indian Ocean where there is less control over what they catch.

The Marine Resources Assessment Group (MRAG) Ltd was established by Professor Beddington, a renowned expert on marine fisheries, in 1986.

A green turtle in the Chagos Islands

In 1991 a 200-mile exclusion zone was declared around the Chagos Islands and MRAG won the contract to manage the fishing. The following year Professor Beddington became special adviser to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on the fisheries around Chagos. Although the management contract must be put out for tender every five years, MRAG has always won it. Neither MRAG nor the Foreign Office will confirm its value, but MacAlister Elliott, a company that tendered for the work in 2005, put in a bid of £1.4 million for three years.

Upon taking his government position in 2008 Professor Beddington resigned his directorship but he still controls the company with a majority shareholding (50.1 per cent). The remainder are owned by his wife.

The Foreign Office earns between £700,000 and £1 million a year from licences to fish around Chagos. This income offsets the £1.7 million annual cost of running the region’s patrol boat, the Pacific Marlin. The shortfall is made up from a Foreign Office fund.

MRAG is not opposed to protecting the area’s coral reefs, but is against the proposal to ban fishing from the 544,000 sq km (210,000 sq miles) under British control. The MRAG contract ends in May, although the Government has the option of extending it for another year.

“If the whole area was declared closed there could be potentially negative consequences,” said Chris Rees, the MRAG development director. “Shark-finning is banned completely, unlike elsewhere in the Indian Ocean. If you close the fishery those boats will be displaced to areas where there is less control.”

While acknowledging the benefits of marine reserves for resident species, Mr Rees said that “for tuna fisheries the case is less strong. Unless very, very large — and the size of the waters is not sufficiently large — then reserves are not going to affect the catch of highly migratory species like tuna.”

But other marine scientists disagree. “Tuna aren’t free-swimming in a random way,” said Heather Koldewey, a marine ecologist at the Zoological Society of London. “They’re attracted to certain features and Chagos is a perfect breeding area for them.”

While scientists working on fisheries management (including those at MRAG) focus on the sustainability of harvesting key species such as tuna, those from other branches of marine science increasingly recognise that protecting the wider ecosystem is vital for the long-term health of the ocean.

“Top predators are the linchpin for the whole ecosystem. Remove them and there are knock-on effects down the food chain,” Dr Koldeway said.

A spokesman said that Professor Beddington had not been involved in the management of MRAG and had not discussed related issues with the Foreign Office. Not all science related to government business passed his office, the spokesman said, but he did oversee other chief scientific advisers.

Last July the Foreign Office hired Professor David Clary as its chief scientific adviser. If the Foreign Secretary requires guidance, it is Professor Clary that he will turn to first.

“The concern is that he [Professor Beddington] has the potential for informal influence over this decision,” said Norman Lamb, the Liberal Democrat frontbencher. “I would have thought, given his role, it is perhaps appropriate to divest himself of all financial interests while the decision is being made.”

Willie Mackenzie, an ocean campaigner for Greenpeace, said: “Scientists tell us that marine reserves are crucial to protect marine life. Unfortunately it seems that a company owned by the Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser didn’t get the memo.”

The finalist global voting of New7Wonders

noreply@blogger.com (facebook gamer) — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 17:49:00 -0600

Amazon

BOLIVIA, BRAZIL, COLOMBIA, ECUADOR, FRENCH GUIANA, GUYANA, PERU, SURINAME, VENEZUELA

The Amazon Rainforest, also known as Amazonia, the Amazon jungle or the Amazon Basin, encompasses seven million square kilometers (1.7 billion acres), though the forest itself occupies some 5.5 mil

Angel Falls

VENEZUELA

Angel Falls is the highest waterfall in the world, at 1,002 m, and is located in the Canaima National Park in Bolivar State, along Venezuela’s border with Brazil.

Bay of Fundy

CANADA

The Bay of Fundy is renown for having the highest tides on the planet (16.2 metres or 53 feet).

Black Forest

GERMANY

Black Forest (Schwarzwald) is a wooded mountain range in southwestern It is bordered by the Rhine valley to the west and south.

Bu Tinah Island

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

Off the western shores of Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates, lies a unique natural treasure, wild and undisturbed by human activity: Bu Tinah Island.

Cliffs of Moher

IRELAND

Located in county Clare, the Cliffs of Moher are amongst the most impressive places to see in Ireland.

Dead Sea

ISRAEL, JORDAN, PALESTINE

The Dead Sea is a salt lake between Palestine and Israel to the west and Jordan to the east. At 420 metres below sea level, its shores are the lowest point on Earth that are on dry land.

El Yunque

PUERTO RICO

El Yunque National Forest, formerly known as the Caribbean National Forest, is located on the island of Puerto Rico. It is also the name of the second highest mountain peak in the Forest.

Galapagos

ECUADOR

The Galapagos Islands are an archipelago of volcanic islands distributed around the equator, 965 kilometres west of continental Ecuador in the Pacific Ocean.

Grand Canyon

UNITED STATES

The Grand Canyon, created by the Colorado River over a period of 6 million years, is 446 km long, ranges in width from 6 to 29 km and attains a depth of more than 1.6 km.

Great Barrier Reef

AUSTRALIA, PAPUA NEW GUINEA

The Great Barrier Reef is the planet’s largest coral reef system, with some 3,000 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for 2,600 km over an area of approximately 344,400 square km.

Halong Bay

VIET NAM

Halong Bay is located in Quáng Ninh province, Vietnam. The bay features thousands of limestone karsts and isles in various sizes and shapes.

Iguazu Falls

ARGENTINA, BRAZIL

Iguazu Falls, in Iguazu River, are one of the world's largest waterfalls.

Jeita Grotto

LEBANON

Jeita Grotto is a compound of crystallized caves in Lebanon located 20 km north of Beirut in the Valley of Nahr al-Kalb (Dog River).

Jeju Island

KOREA (SOUTH)

Jejudo is a volcanic island, 130 km from the southern coast of Korea. The largest island and smallest province in Korea, the island has a surface area of 1,846 sqkm.

Kilimanjaro

TANZANIA

With its three volcanic cones, Kibo, Mawensi, and Shira, Mount Kilimanjaro is an inactive strato-volcano in north-eastern Tanzania.

Komodo

INDONESIA

Indonesia’s Komodo National Park includes the three larger islands Komodo, Rinca and Padar, as well as numerous smaller ones, for a total area of 1,817 square kilometers (603 square kilometers of i

Maldives

MALDIVES

The Maldive Islands make up an island nation consisting of 26 atolls in the Indian Ocean. They are located south of India’s Lakshadweep islands, about 700 kilometers south-west of Sri Lanka.

Masurian Lake District

POLAND

The Masurian Lake District or Masurian Lakeland is a lake district in northeastern Poland containing more than 2,000 lakes.

Matterhorn/Cervino

ITALY, SWITZERLAND

The Matterhorn/Cervino is perhaps the most familiar mountain in the European Alps.

Milford Sound

NEW ZEALAND

Milford Sound, located in the southwest of New Zealand’s South Island, is located within the Fiordland National Park.

Mud Volcanoes

AZERBAIJAN

The term mud volcano or mud dome is used to refer to formations created by geo-excreted liquids and gases, although there are several different processes which may cause such activity.

Puerto Princesa Underground River

PHILIPPINES

The Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park is located about 50 km north of the city of Puerto Princesa, Palawan, Philippines.

Sundarbans

BANGLADESH, INDIA

The Sundarbans delta, at the mouth of the Ganges river, is the largest mangrove forest in the world, spreading across parts of Bangladesh and West Bengal, India.

Table Mountain

SOUTH AFRICA

Table Mountain is a South African icon and the only natural site on the planet to have a constellation of stars named after it - Mensa, meaning “the table.” The flat-topped mountain has withstood s

Uluru

AUSTRALIA

Uluru (Ayers Rock) is one of Australia's most recognisable natural icons.

Vesuvius

ITALY

Mount Vesuvius is a volcano east of Naples, Italy. It is the only volcano on the European mainland to have erupted within the last hundred years, although it is not currently erupting.

Yushan

CHINESE TAIPEI

Yushan, part of Yushan National Park, is a central mountain range in Chinese Taipei and it also the name of the highest point of the range.

How to Design And Make Money with Your Blog

noreply@blogger.com (facebook gamer) — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 08:21:00 -0600

Many bloggers simply blog to share their thoughts with everyone else. However, there are also other bloggers that create blogs to make money online. Blog can be monetized in many ways. Some of the monetization methods include Google Adsense, CPM Advertising, banner advertising, and selling text link ads, affiliate marketing and sponsored reviews.

Google Adsense is the most popular contextual advertising on the internet. To be qualified as an Adsense publisher, you must first submit your website to Google and let the Google Adsense Team review it. The website that you submit must be 6 months old. Once they had sent you an approval email, you can login with your username and password and obtain the Adsense code to paste into your website. When the ad is being clicked, you will earn certain amount of money. The earnings per click can range from $0.01 – $100. The success of Google Adsense depends on the traffic and the click through rate (CTR) of the website. The most favorable position is under the title. You can also blend Google Adsense along with the content so that it will get higher click through rates.

CPM advertising allows you to make money through the number of impressions. Impressions refer to the number of times the ads is displayed. CPM earnings are calculated by per 1000 impression. For example, 100,000 impressions will generate $100 monthly. The CPM rates is different from different CPM advertising companies. Popular CPM advertising networks include interClick, Tribal Fusion, Technorati, Value Click, and BurstMedia. The CPM rate ranges from $0.05 – $10 per 1000 impressions. CPM advertising is suitable for website that receives a high volume of visitors.

Banner advertising is one of the most popular methods to monetize your blog. If you want to monetize your blog through banner advertising, your blog must be popular and receive lots of traffic. You will also be responsible in managing the banner sales and payments.

Since Google announce penalty for websites that sell text link ads, this monetization method has become less popular. Despite that, many blog owners still sell text links ads on their blog. You can sell text links directly through your blog or through a text link broker such as Text-Link-Ads.

Affiliate marketing allows you to make money through commission whenever someone buy a product through the affiliate link. Affiliate marketing can be based on CPA (cost per action) or CPL (cost per lead). Amazon.com affiliate program is one of the most popular methods to make money in affiliate marketing. Other popular affiliate programs include SEOBook, Ebay, GoDaddy, and etc. An affiliate network groups together all the affiliate programs which you can sign up. Affiliate network like Commission Junction offers a single payment for all the earnings that you made through your affiliate programs. Popular affiliate network include Commission Junction, Link Share, Google Affiliate Network and ShareASale.

Sponsored reviews are initially started by PayPerPost. Sponsored reviews are a monetization method that allows bloggers to make money by blogging. When you are approved, someone will be able to hire you through the website to write sponsored posts. The topic of the post depends on the buyer. The topics can range from software reviews, hotels, weight loss, gardening, technology and etc. If your blog has page rank, and receive a substantial amount of traffic, you will have a higher chance of being approved.

Tips to Create a Website in Minutes

noreply@blogger.com (facebook gamer) — Fri, 8 Jan 2010 08:25:00 -0600

To create website in minutes, now does that sound tempting to you? If it does then we would like to demonstrate you how latest internet technologies can boost up your overall business performance. You will be able to make a website in minutes with high-quality and low price.

There are a bunch of proposals on the internet, but not all of them will bring you the best result that you are looking for. With Site2you it’s a whole different story, all you need to is: a premium-quality template, ready to use texts, your original photos or images, corporate elements, a domain name, hosting space and a couple of minutes of your time.

Let’s say that you don’t have any specific software or special programming skills, but you still want to make website. Then the best choice for you would be to use an online site-builder Site2you.

For the sake of simplicity we have broken down the whole procedure into 3 simple steps that will fully allow you to comprehend how you would get that marvelous webpage.

Step number 1

You choose a template that is basically the foundation for your web child that has all the structures and layouts included. Then you edit its default items so it would correspond to your personal requirements. After that you change the name of the template to your company’s name and upload your logo. You can also play around with the replacement of some images and parts of information on the site texts. We have everything structured for you by certain subjects so you just need to replace the texts with your original ones or get the pre-written ones and change the company name and a few other things to make them match your corporate identity.

Step number 2

You choose the domain name which will be your web address where your clients will go to for information and to check out your website. If you build a website
with a virtual site-builder you don’t need to spend hours of your precious time in search of a good hosting company, since we will kindly upload all your information to the website from day one. All you need to do is to register or point your pre-registered domain name to your site and leave all the rest to our Support Team.

Step number 3

Set up your contact form and adjust it with your new email address. After that you are to test it and make sure that everything looks as good as you expected. Basically this is the final stage and at this point you can show the website you your business partners and clients, we are confident that the will be impressed by the result. As you with us you spend less time and your website and you achieve bigger results.

Site2you is always glad to help you no matter how fastidious you are about your webpage or what results you are expecting we will help you build website
that you will admire for a long time. Our Support team will help you with the design, programming and webmastering. All of this is performed at one fixed price, since we have a one standard package for all our services.

So if you are a beginner or a professional, or maybe you are just in search of a good site-builder, just visit us online at Site2you.com and you will receive the service you deserve.

Why is a U.S.-Russia nuclear deal important?

noreply@blogger.com (facebook gamer) — Thu, 7 Jan 2010 09:43:00 -0600

One Russian blogger has paid a visit to the modern Russian nuclear plant. Normally it is forbidden to take photos there, but they have made an exception for him. So now we have a rare chance to see what’s inside of the Russian most modern power plant.

This power plant is situated near Smolensk city. Its power generation potential is 3 Megawatt and it was build for 8 years, from 1982 to 1990. There were planned to be four nuclear reactors, but because of the panic after the Chernobyl accident the forth block has not been completed, so there are three of them for now.

(Reuters) - The presidents of Russia and the United States will meet in Prague to sign a new nuclear arms reduction treaty on April 8, the White House and Kremlin said Friday.

The two largest nuclear powers have been formally negotiating on a successor to the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I) since April 2009.

* WHAT IS THE NEW TREATY?

- Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev said last April that they wanted to agree a new deal by the December 5 expiry date of START I but talks snagged and the two sides agreed to act in the spirit of START until a replacement was ready.

The two leaders agreed in July that a new treaty would limit operationally deployed nuclear warheads to 1,500-1,675, and both sides said Friday that the specific limit would be 1,550 -- down from current levels of 2,200-2,700.

In the 2002 Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty (SORT), also known as the Moscow Treaty, each side agreed to cut strategic nuclear warheads to 1,700-2,200 by 2012.

Obama and Medvedev said the limit for delivery vehicles -- the missiles, bombers and systems that deliver a warhead to a target -- should be in the 500-1,100 range. Negotiators agreed on a specific limit of 800, half the 1,600 set in START I.

* WHY IS THE AGREEMENT IMPORTANT?

-- The quest for a START successor pact is a key part of efforts to "reset" relations after increasing tension that peaked with Russia's 2008 war against U.S.-supported Georgia.

Obama has said improving ties with Russia, a key player in Iran and an important source of support on Afghanistan, is a priority.

-- Both the United States and Russia, which hold 95 percent of the world's nuclear arms, say further reductions in their arsenals will improve mutual trust and send a strong signal to other nations at a time when global powers are trying to rein in the nuclear ambitions of Iran and North Korea.

-- The agreement could help create the momentum for a nuclear security summit Obama is hosting in mid-April and a May conference to review the 1970 nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

-- For Russia, its vast store of Soviet-era nuclear weapons is one of the factors keeping Moscow at the top table of world politics.

After Russia's conventional forces were starved of cash in the chaos that followed the 1991 Soviet collapse, its still mighty nuclear deterrent is the centrepiece of the Kremlin's military doctrine.

-- Both sides said the new deal will include detailed verification procedures that were absent from the 2002 Moscow Treaty -- an omission cited by arms experts as a major flaw However, the verification procedures will not be as onerous as in START I.

Verification procedures such as inspections and access to data about missile tests is important because it helps the former Cold War foes accurately to predict how many weapons each side has and thus reduces the chance of a new arms race.

-- A replacement for START I is seen as the first step towards much deeper cuts. Both sides hope an agreement on START could lay the ground for more ambitious talks about reducing the silos of thousands of non-deployed nuclear warheads and shorter-range tactical nuclear warheads.

Those talks could also impose must bigger cuts to deployed strategic warheads and delivery systems.

* WHY DID THE TALKS TAKE LONGER THAN HOPED?

-- The two sides agreed on a news blackout from negotiations in Geneva, so there were few details about what caused the delay in achieving a deal.

-- Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said in December that U.S. plans for a missile defence system were the main obstacle to reaching a new deal, suggesting Moscow wanted it to limit missile defences.

Obama and Medvedev agreed in July that the treaty will contain a provision describing the relationship between offensive and defensive weapons, but the United States says the pact is not the place for details on missile defence.

-- Remarks about the treaty from both sides Friday suggested that it will not place specific limits on missile defence. But Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said either side has the right to stop reducing strategic offensive weapons if the other side increases its capacity for defence against those missiles.

-- Negotiations over verification measures were said to have been intense. Russia has called for more relaxed procedures than in START I.

That is in part because while Russia has been developing new nuclear missiles to take the place of ageing models, the United States is relying mostly on models that will be in service for years to come, prompting Russia to contend that it is getting little new information from verification measures.

(Writing by Guy Faulconbridge and Steve Gutterman in Moscow)

Music for musician inspiration

noreply@blogger.com (facebook gamer) — Tue, 5 Jan 2010 13:36:00 -0600

It was a great weekend in a lot of ways, and in order to show you a little bit of what it looked like I have prepared an image with a few of the photos that I brought back home. I have placed numbers by each image, and the image captions can be found below the image.

1. Festplatsen, Porjus (the stage area).
The weather was bad, but the event still gathered hundreds of people over the two days.

2. Johanna and me.
Check out the newest family member, little Theo, in Johanna's jacket! Theo is the third papillon around, and he lives with my father in Porjus. Most of the time. Every now and then he'll visit us in Jokkmokk where he can go wild with our two girls Elven and River (Theo is River's brother, by the way).

3. Markus Fagervall live on stage.
Swedish Idol 2006 winner (and former WP-Andreas01 theme user) Markus was the artist of the day. I had not seen him live since Snabelfestivalen 2004, back in the days when he was still an unknown local rocker. I liked the music of his old band Liquid Scarlet back then, but the more radio-friendly style he plays today sounded great as well. And extremely professional of course. I didn't get any chance to talk to the star himself, I was busy with something else after the gig…

4. Daniel Viklund lifting the 170 kilogram atlas stone!
…which was the final part of the Laponia Strongman competition, where my older cousin Daniel Viklund managed to beat the competition (including Finlands strongest man!) to win the Laponia Strongman 2007 title! Daniels brother Emil can also be seen on the image. Daniel will compete in the Swedish championship (Sveriges Starkaste Man) in Arvidsjaur soon, aiming at a top-3 placement after finishing 4th last year.

5. Dad and Ida.
My father Kjell was of course proud of Daniels achievement, since dad has been lifting weights for more than 30 years and acted as a big source of inspiration for Daniel when he started working out many years ago. Younger cousin Ida was also around, and she drove us back to Jokkmokk on sunday afternoon when the event was over. Thanks for the ride!

6. Jingle Bass, Jingle Bass…
And finally, an image that I'm posting just for the fun of it. I spent most of Saturday night watching Live Earth on TV, but I also made a quick visit to a nearby party where I met some old friends and colleagues. But the interesting thing with this image is the lovely t-shirt that I have ordered from Perrra.se. I won't spell out the artist name that is written on it, but you can see it and listen to the music on Perrra's site! Perrra is one of my true idols, and the shirt have truly caught the attention of a lot of people this weekend. Thanks for the fun, Perrra, and keep the great work up!

The 2010 Blogger Winners and Top 10 of Social Media Blogs

noreply@blogger.com (facebook gamer) — Sun, 3 Jan 2010 08:54:00 -0600

Social media is the talk of the planet. But where do you go to learn the best tips and tactics? Look no further…

Tons of nominations came in. Our panel of social media experts carefully reviewed the nominees and finalists. What follows are the winners of Social Media Examiner’s Top 10 Social Media Blogs for 2010.

If you’re looking to reap the rewards of social media, these rich blogs need to be at the top of your reading list.

Chris Brogan: The Elvis of social media and the king of common sense, Chris Brogan is in a league of his own.
Social Media Explorer: Social media all-star Jason Falls provides a fresh and interesting take on all things social media.
Mashable: The world’s source for social media news, Mashable is the place to go for breaking stories.
Convince & Convert: Jay Baer provides rich content for businesses seeking to embrace social media.
Altitude: Amber Naslund offers a breath of fresh air with smart, inspiring and personal social media insight.
CopyBlogger: The king of engaging content, Brian Clark and his team help businesses persuade in a 2.0 world.
Brand Builder: For businesses looking to dive deep into social media discussion, check out Olivier Blanchard’s rich insights.
Diva Marketing: Toby Bloomberg’s blog provides a wide array of social media advice.
Kikolani: Looking for great “getting started” social media guidance? Then frequent this blog.
Future Buzz: A nice mix of stories and reviews makes Adam Singer’s site one that should be on your radar.

Congratulations to the winners. Be sure to check out these amazing blogs!

Share the love: Feel free to post the above list on your blog (just reference this post).

The badge of distinction: If you’re a winner, feel free to post the image you see here on your blog and please link back to this page.

A special thanks to our judges! Thanks to Scott Monty (Ford), Ann Handley (MarketingProfs) and David Meerman Scott (author New Rules of Marketing and PR) for your participation.

Do you frequent any of these blogs? Share your comments below.

10 tips of effective bloggers news and guide to make yourself a better blogger

noreply@blogger.com (facebook gamer) — Sun, 3 Jan 2010 08:33:00 -0600

There are tens of thousands of blogs out there, many of which will never make it past the initial stages of early bloghood. Sometimes this is just due to bad luck, harsh competition, and poor planning, but equally as likely is that the decline of these blogs is due to their owners’ poor management or inability to effectively maintain the site and communicate with their followers. To help ensure that you keep your blog active and popular, here are a few tips to make yourself a better blogger.

1. Go in with a Game Plan

So many bloggers begin with ideas of grandeur, but soon find that they have no real structure or organization for pushing their ideas forward. If you want to be a better blogger, go into blog ownership with a game plan. Lay out what you want to accomplish with your blog, where you want it to go, and what you want it to become, and then do it.

2. Follow the Golden Rule of Blogging

The Golden Rule of blogging is to “treat the visitors to your blog as you would want to be treated.” It’s as simple as that. Being respectful to your visitors, replying to their posts in a timely fashion, and making their visit as easy and effective as possible are important aspects to winning loyal followers. Unless your site is devoted to being rude and disrespectful, or acting this way is a part of your site’s mantra, it is important to remember the old adage, “You catch more flies with honey than vinegar.”

3. Communicate Properly

A large part of enforcing the Golden Rule is by understanding how to effectively communicate on your blog. Sure, you’re busy and you may not always have time to respond to every comment or question immediately, but by making your best effort to respond constructively to as many visitors as possible, you can help keep your site visits high and your word of mouth popularity spreading.

4. Look Ahead

With the blogosphere constantly changing, it’s important to keep your eyes on the road. Just keeping pace with the competition probably won’t win you that lion’s share of visitors for which you might be hoping. Being constantly on the lookout for the latest and greatest when it comes to the subject matter of your blog can help keep you at the forefront of your blog topic.

5. Don’t Lose Sight of the Goal

It can be difficult when you get into the meat of your blogging activities not to get lost in the monotony of posts, replies, and updating of information. It is important to keep your larger goals in mind, and not become stranded in the swampy bog of your blog’s menial, everyday operations.

6. Provide Reliable Information

Try to make a habit of posting only the best information related to your blog topic. By staying current and posting reliable information, you will hopefully build a loyal group of followers and the quality of your blog will bring people back time and again.

7. Be Devoted to Your Topic

While you don’t necessarily have to love your blog topic, it can certainly help to have a strong interest in the subjects upon which you write. By being devoted to your topic, you can increase the likelihood that your subject matter remains consistent as well as get more enjoyment out of spending time working on your blog.

8. Present Information Effectively

Clear, concise writing, with a proper balance of information and graphics, and an easy to navigate structure can help keep your blog popular. There is hardly a bigger turn off for those visiting your blog than to be lost in a jumble of text and poorly placed links and graphics.

9. Develop a Routine

While not every blogger needs a set schedule when it comes to updating and maintaining his or her blog or blogs, at times, having a routine can help keep you on track. Having some structure to your blogging activities can be especially helpful if you are maintaining more than one blog.

10. Persevere

Being a successful blogger probably won’t always be an easy path to travel. It will take time and effort to create your blog and build a following. Making it a habit to understand this and persevere through the hard times might just be what it takes to raise your blog above the competition.

Your Effective Habits

What are some of the habits you adhere to in order to make your blogging effective and successful?

2010 South by Southwest Festival Film Design Awards

noreply@blogger.com (facebook gamer) — Sat, 2 Jan 2010 15:55:00 -0600

2010 SXSW Film Design Awards

Last week film buffs and industry leaders gathered in Austin, Texas, to honor awardees at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference and Festival.

And this year, they had something new to celebrate: award-winning movie posters and film title sequences.

SXSW Film has partnered with AIGA to celebrate design for the film industry since early 2009, when AIGA Austin board member David Horridge helped launch the "SXSW Film/AIGA Austin Award for Excellence in Movie Poster Design."

Following the success of the inaugural poster award last year, Horridge pitched the idea of a broader umbrella film design award category that would include both poster design and title sequence design.

The SXSW Film team jumped at the idea and established the 2010 SXSW Film Design Awards-once again celebrating excellence in poster design and adding a special contest to discover the best in contemporary title sequence design.

"The movie poster has long been an important and exciting collaboration between filmmaker and designer," said Horridge.

"It's the opportunity for both to distill the auteur's story down to a single image that will both inspire and intrigue the audience at a glance.

We're thrilled to be able to highlight that work and build on it to include motion design."

An exhibition celebrating the Poster Awards was held at the Austin Museum of Art; finalists for the new "Excellence in Title Design" award were also on display.

Most sophisticated fighter plane in the world version dera study

noreply@blogger.com (facebook gamer) — Fri, 1 Jan 2010 21:15:00 -0600

None of the aircraft on Earth that could beat him. This is the F-22 Raptor, a futuristic fighter plane from generation to 5. What is the advantage definitive fighter of the 5th generation of this than the 4th generation (F-14 s / d F-18)? Here are some major advantages.

1. Stealth
The-art fighter plane is not going to look the enemy radar. If your plane can not be seen, then you will be almost impossible shot, dropped, and was defeated. The future of this technology mainly generated by the form of aircraft structural engineering and materials that absorb radar waves, RAM, Radar Absorbent Material.

2. Mini AWACS, "First-look, first-shot, first-kill"
F-22 aircraft has a radar with a range farther than other planes, even almost equal AWACS. This means that F-22 can see you long before you could see the plane. F-22 also has a system of super-sophisticated radar LPI (Low Probability of Intercept Radar), meaning aircraft that have been detected F-22 radar will not be able to know if he was detected and its warning radar will not light.

3. Super Manuverabilitas
F-22 Thrust vectoring technology in the tail, meaning the engine energy expenditure can be directed to the more mechanically flexible. This makes higher maneuverability.

4. Internal arms

F-22 weapons hidden in the plane, and only open when going to fire. This makes his Stealth level becomes higher, and aerodinamikanya make this aircraft fly faster and more efficiently.

Based on research from the Defense Evaluation And Research Agency, F-22 is the most sophisticated aircraft and the deadliest in the world, even 10 times more deadly than Russia's best aircraft at the moment, SU-35 (SU-37 is still a experimental).

Compared to European-art fighter aircraft Eurofighter Typhoon, F-22 two times more dangerous. This means that every single aircraft the F-22 could shoot down aircraft Typhoon 2. Whereas previous generations of American aircraft, F-16, could not possibly defeat the F-22 in any condition.

Easy entry level web designer jobs

noreply@blogger.com (facebook gamer) — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 12:07:00 -0600

One of the things that is missing from this site is a real logotype. I am not a very good logo designer since I have never created vector images, so I need help! I am now searching for a logotype designer who could help me out with creating a nice logo for the site (but also for printed media, merchandise and music albums).

Since andreas09 will soon be released and I have promised that it will be the last template that I release under the "andreasXX" series, it is now time to think about what to do next. I know for sure that I will build commercial templates for 4Templates.com, but that will not stop me from releasing more open source templates. I have got a number of suggestions for different things to do, and one suggesion was very appealing: "Do a number of trendy templates, based on the andreasXX layouts but with new images and a main focus on the actual visual appearance". I like that idea. Do you? Or can you give me a better suggestion? All ideas are welcome!

Global warming is a fantasy in the environment

noreply@blogger.com (facebook gamer) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 20:38:00 -0600

Some say global warming is a fantasy in the environment. Some say it was destiny. Scientists are still pros and cons about it. To be sure, that natural phenomena can be felt in the following 10 events. And that certainly is not a mere imagination, because we've been there.

* Forest fires massive
Not only in Indonesia, a number of forests in the United States also burned ludes. In recent decades, forest fires over many areas meluluhlantakan within a longer, too. Scientists attribute this rampant fires with increasingly hot temperatures and snow melting faster. Spring came early so that the snow melts early, too. Forest areas drier than usual and more easily burned.

* Easily damaged archaeological sites
As a result of a hostile nature, a number of temples, historic sites, temples and other artifacts more easily damaged than some time ago. floods, extreme temperatures and causing tidal it all. Historic Sites 600 years old in Thailand, Sukhotai, already damaged by floods recently.

* The height of the mountain reduced
Without realizing it many people, the Alps have high shrinkage. This caused the melting of ice on top. For hundreds of years, the weight of the ice has pushed the earth's surface due to the pressure. As the ice melts, the weight is lifted and slowly lifted back to surface.

* The satellite moves faster
Carbon dioxide emissions more quickly make the planet warm, even into space impact. Terluat the air in the atmosphere is very thin, but with the increased carbon dioxide Jumah, the molecules in the upper atmosphere together more slowly and tend to radiate energy, and cools the surrounding air. The more carbon dioxide up there, then the atmosphere creates more encouragement, and the satellites move faster.

* Only the Strongest of Abiding
As a result of the growing season uncertain, the only living beings is the strong can survive. For example, early flowering plants this year, the migration of animals occur more quickly. They are moving slowly will lose food, they sementar more agile, able to survive. The same is true for all living things including humans.

* Massive Melting
Not only the temperature that triggers melting planet gununges, but also all the layers of soil that had been frozen. This melting ground trigger wrinkle causing irregular holes and damage to structures such as railways, highways, and houses. The impact of this instability on the high plains like the mountains could even cause the collapse of rock.

* Peculiarity in the Polar Region
The loss of 125 lakes in the Arctic a few decades ago led to the idea that global warming is happening more "excited" at the poles. Research around airyang source shows the possibility of missing the melting of the frozen world basis.

* Flowering plants in the Arctic
When melting Arctic trigger problems at the plant in danhewan lower plateau, also created the same situation with saatmatahari buried in the Arctic biota. Plants there is always trapped in the ice is no longer and began to grow. Scientists found an increase in photosynthetic formation of soil compared to soil surrounding the ancient era.

* Habitat Living Move to a Higher Plain
Since the early decades of the 1900s, humans had to climb in order to find lebihtinggi squirrel, beaver or forest rats. Scientists found that these animals have moved to higher ground due to global warming. The displacement of these habitats threatens the habitat of polar bears as well, because the ice where they live are also melting.

* Increased Allergy Cases
Often experience sneezing attacks and itchy in the spring matasaat, then Blame global warming. Several decades of allergy and asthma cases among the American people experienced an increase. Hidupdan pattern of pollution is considered the trigger. Scientists study showed that high levels of carbon dioxide and temperature trigger latter. These conditions also make the plants bloom earlier and produce more pollen.

(see More from www.livescience.com)