miossi arts

Once the core app is upgraded, no manual up gradation should be required.   The skin designs should be upgrades easily. How the task of easier up gradation is fulfilled?  The software uses these tools ‘containers’ and ‘widgets’ to fulfill the task of easy up gradation. The latest version of the software, the skins define containers by such names as “Header” or “Sidebar”.   On the back-office side on the other hand, a b2evolution host can easily add widgets to the containers of his choice.   As for example, he can add a “Calendar widget” or a “Logo widget” to the Header and an “XML feeds” widget to the sidebar. It is also possible to change the order of these widgets at any time.

Once the widgets get their display parameters from the skin containers, they are automatically turned into the look & feel of the container they’re used in.  However it is also possible for the widgets to define their own parameters. A user can set this parameter through a form. Already have a b2evolution hosting and just want to upgrade it? Simply turn your existing template into an evoking and take full advantage of the evoking skinning system to get a fresh look for your blog.

What are diamond blades you may ask? Well, have you ever been driving down the road and you see some construction workers cutting either the road or cement? The circular metal tool that actually cuts the material is what the diamond blade is. This metal is very strong only if it is used correctly. There are many different diamond blades made especially for different types of metals and concrete. Each diamond blade is made for certain abrasive material and if you do not have the right blade for the job it will not cut it. Finding the correct diamond blade for the job is crucial if you want to complete the job. Diamond blades can be used to cut through many different types of abrasive metals and concretes.

Diamond saw blades are usually used on construction sites, home remodeling, or repairing city roads and highways. There are many different diamond saw blades and accessories such as core bits to select from but each one is made for certain abrasive materials and if you choose the wrong one I can guarantee you that you are not going to be happy with it. Each diamond saw blade is made unique so that it is very efficient in cutting a certain abrasive material. Diamond blades are made unique to cut through asphalt, concrete, brick, and block. The reason why each diamond saw blade is created different is so that the user can get the maximum strength and potential of the blade without having to replace it every time you are finished cutting.

When selecting a diamond saw blade you will have to take into consideration which core bits you will need to use. The core bits are basically used as the power of the diamond saw blade and the diamond blade actually does the cutting. You have to make sure you match the core bits and the diamond blade saw. Just like diamond saw blades the core bits are matched to fit certain diamond blades to provide efficiency, speed and strength. Some core bits are used especially for speed because some material needs a higher rpm to cut through it and if the blade does not have the required speed it will either warp or probably break. If not the blade will not work to its potential and may even warp or break. Some diamond blades are also made to cut while running water over them while they are cutting. This helps keep the diamond blade temperatures lower so that the blade does not warp and keep it from cracking. You will want to make sure that you do not purchase the wrong diamond saw blade and core bits because you will be spending a lot more in replacements. These are not cheap so please do your homework.

There are many varieties of diamond saw blades and core bits to choose from with each made for cutting a specific type of abrasive material. Make sure you take your time and plan which blade and core bit you will need to purchase for the desired abrasive material you will be cutting. There are also many online diamond blade distributors that you may be able to purchase some blades at a discounted price. More importantly these online stores can provide you will online information and some even provide a phone number that you can call to receive more information. Good luck on your purchase and the job it will be used for.

There are many Christmas traditions that are gradually being lost in today’s high-tech, always-on-the-go world. But Christmas is the perfect time to slow things down and get back to basics to really enjoy the season. The following are three ways to have a traditional, old-fashioned Christmas.

1. Decorations

For many people, decorations are what make Christmas time special. The right decorations can set the mood for a traditional Christmas and let the whole family get involved in creating the Christmas spirit.

Start with an old-fashioned Christmas tree. Traditional decorations were all hand-made. Take a day early in December to get the whole family together to create the decorations such as stringed popcorn and chains made from colorful paper. Play Christmas music, serve eggnog and get everyone into the spirit.

Check your local thrift or antique shop for some old-fashioned decorations. Wax or blown-glass ornaments were commonplace in years past, and there are often some great examples to be found in thrift stores for next to nothing.

You can also look for antique tins with Christmas themes. These make great candy or fruit dishes.

2. Baking and Cooking

Baking and cooking come a close second to the Christmas tree for setting the mood for Christmas. Cookies, pies, and hot cider are all staples of an old-fashioned Christmas celebration.

The entire family can take part – even the non-bakers. They can help to decorate the sugar cookies or gingerbread men. Kids can help cut the cookie shapes before they’re baked.

3. Christmas Day

There are plenty of Christmas day traditions that can help create old-fashioned fun. Find someone to play Santa Claus and deliver the presents for everyone in the family.

Make the gift exchange time special. Don’t just tear into them en mass, give everyone a chance to open them separately. This gives everyone a better chance to show their appreciation, and people get to watch their reactions.

If you’re lucky enough to have a white Christmas, take some time out of the day to go sledding or have a snowball fight. Top it off by serving hot cider or hot chocolate.

These family traditions can be passed on from generation to generation, with each one adding their own extras.

“The excellence of a gift lies in its appropriateness rather than in its value.” – Charles Dudley Warner

You’ve found the perfect gift, one completely appropriate for the recipient. But now you’ve realized that this gift also happens to be the impossible-to-wrap gift.

Maybe the gift is oddly shaped and won’t fit in a box. Maybe the gift is digital and doesn’t have a physical form. Or maybe the gift is too big and can’t fit through your door. Here are ideas about how you can easily “wrap” even the most impossible gift.

Oddly Shaped Gifts

Some gifts just were never meant to be wrapped. Try one of these ideas to get that oddly shaped gift properly covered.

- Gift bags are a popular way to wrap an oddly shaped gift. Just place the gift in the bag and cover with brightly colored tissue paper.

- Put a large sheet of wrapping paper on the floor, design side down. Place the gift in the middle, and pull the four corners of the paper up and toward the middle. Close the top by tying the corners with a festive ribbon.

Gifts Without a Physical Form

Our modern computer age has brought a whole new challenge to wrapping gifts, those gifts like electronic books, downloaded software, or downloaded music. These ideas will turn your digital gift into something that can still go under the tree.

- Burn the files for the digital gift onto a CD. Alternatively, buy a thumb drive or memory stick and copy the digital files onto the memory device.

- Print the download instructions for the digital gift. Then purchase (or make) a Christmas card and include the printed instructions inside the card.

Gifts Too Big to Fit Under a Tree

For large gifts you’ll have to find a “safe” hiding place. Some merchants might allow you to store the present at their store until just before Christmas. Alternatively, perhaps your garage or a storage shed can server as a good hiding spot. You might even consider using a neighbor’s garage (and getting your neighbor’s permission first is probably a good idea!).

With the gift in a safe spot you can still “wrap” the present and put it under the tree with one of these ideas.

- Use a Christmas card (or make one either by hand or using your computer) and announce the gift inside the card.

- Wrap a small item to represent the gift and put it under the tree. Try to choose an item that hints at what the present is without immediately revealing the secret. For example, you might use a bike tire pump to represent a new bike, a car owner’s manual to represent a new car (I think most of us won’t be giving a gift this big), or a house key to represent a new house (this one requires some possession of sizable wealth).

So don’t let the impossibility of wrapping a gift keep you from selecting the present that is most appropriate for your loved one. Use one of these fun ideas to get that present “wrapped” and “under the tree.”

When a woman becomes a mother, whether it be for the first time or not, life changes at that very moment in time. When a mother has a child there is pride that is associated with that child. The pride associated with having a healthy baby boy or girl is amazing, but it is hard to put into words. As much as a mother would love to spend every minute with their child there are many who are unable to. When life starts calling there are many parents who are required to place their infants into childcare. Leaving a child behind, even only for a little while, can be heartbreaking, but what if there was a way to reduce that heartbreak even just a little bit?

When a mother returns to work for the first time after having a child it is likely that she will take a number of photographs with her. Photographs are a great way for mothers to always keep their child in their thoughts, but there is a newer more modern way. A custom photo purse is one of the newest ways to bring photographs alive and they can literally be carried everywhere you go.

A custom photo purse is created by using a special purse that is able to have a photograph constructed on a portion of it. The purses used to create a custom photo purse often come in a wide variety of different styles and sizes. It is possible for color or black and white photos to be constructed on a purse. There are only a small number of limitations; therefore, creating a custom photo purse is great way to help brighten up any mother’s day.

If you are a new mother yourself or know a new mother you are encourage to consider purchasing them a custom photo purse. For a reasonable price it is possible to turn a baby photo or a family photo into a custom photo purse. There are a wide number of companies or individuals who specialize in making custom photo purses. This means that different individuals may have different purse styles or design options. While it may not always occur, it is often possible to select not only the style of the purse, but the interior and exterior border colors as well. This feature truly makes a photo purse a custom photo purse.

Going back to work after having a child is one of the hardest and most painful things for a mother to do. Almost always the child is being cared for and it is the mother that is suffering the most. With a custom photo purse you can help a friend or family member cope with their return to work.

Taking a good photo isn’t as hard as you may think. You don’t need the most expensive camera or years of experience, just 10 simple tips.

Enjoy!

Tip 1 – Use All Your Available Space

Don’t be afraid to use all the space in your photo. If you want to take a picture of something, it’s ok for it to take up the whole shot with no or very little background showing. Keep distractions out of your shot

Tip 2 – Study Forms

This is a vital aspect to photography. Understanding forms in your photos. Don’t see an object, she its shape and its form and find the best angle to photograph it from. Form is all around us and I highly suggest you read as many books on it as possible.

Tip 3 – Motion In Your Photos

Never have motion in your photos if you are photographing a still object. If there is something moving while you are trying to photograph a stationery object, your photo won’t turn out anywhere near as well. Also never put a horizon line in the center of your frame.

Tip 4 – Learn To Use Contrasts Between Colors.

Some of the best photos have shades of white, gray and black. You can take great shots with just one color on your subject, but the contrasts between colors in a shot is what makes you a great photographer.

Tip 5 – Get Closer To Your Subject

This is one of the biggest mistakes most photographers make, not getting close enough to their subject. Get up and personal and close the distance gap. You can always reshape and resize a good shot but you can’t continue to blowup a distant object.

Tip 6 – Shutter Lag

Shooting action shots with digital camera’s can be tricky due to shutter lags. What this means is, when you press the button to take the photo, it can take up to a second for the shutter to take a photo, by that time what you were photographing would have moved or changed somehow. This means you have to compensate for shutter lag by predicting what your subject is going to do and taking the photo just before it takes the action you want. More expensive digital cameras don’t have this problem.

Tip 7 – Pan

If you are taking an action shot and your shutter speed is slow, pan with the object. Follow through with the subject, from start to finish and one of those shots will be a winner. You have more chance of getting a good shot if you take more then one photo.

Tip 8 – Continuous Shots

To pan like I suggested above you will need a camera that does continuous shots and doesn’t need to stop and process after every shot.

Tip 9 – How To Take Fantastic Night Time Shots

Night time shots can be spectacular, almost magical…. if done right! If not they can look horrible. Really horrible. Without adequate lighting, even good camera’s can turn out crappy photos if the photographer doesn’t know what he or she is doing.

Tip 10 – Study Your Manual

If your digital camera has a special night time mode, read the manual and follow their instructions on how to use it properly.

Kids of all ages love to have their faces painted (especially the younger ones!), so it’s the perfect thing to learn how to do if you have young kids… or you’re planning to have a birthday party for your children.

With this in mind, I’ve prepared a few tips for people just starting out in face painting. Here they are:

1) If you’re painting a design that needs a large area to be covered with paint, use a sponge instead of a brush. Why? Because applying the paint with a sponge means it will dry quicker. It’s a good idea to have a few sponges set aside if you need to use different colors, because this means you won’t have to try and clean the sponge for each color…which would take time.

2) Always let the first color dry before you start painting on a second! If you forget to wait for it to dry, they colors will most likely mix and you’re going to have to start from scratch again.

3) Make sure you know what you want the finished face to look like. Don’t mak it up as you go along. You need to be able to paint faces rather quickly, as if you have children, you already know that kids aren’t always very patient…and they may get bored or restless if you’re thinking on what to paint next.

4) If you’re not good at painting freehand yet, don’t be afraid to use a stencil. You can get stencils of stars, hearts, flowers, and all sorts of things. These are perfect for stencilling onto a cheek. You’ll need stencils of different sizes to accommodate different face sizes.

5) If you want something faster than stencilling, why not try temporary tattoos? Make sure the person’s skin doesn’t react badly to it first, by asking them (or their parents)…or testing it on a small area first.

6) If you have a line of kids ready to have their faces painted, ask them to be thinking about what they would like a few minutes before its actually their turn. You don’t want to be delayed while each kid thinks of what he or she would like painted on their face.

7) Remember to have a mirror with you at all times so you can show the person what you have painted, and to make sure they’re happy with your work.

8) Professional face paint and stage makeup can be quite expensive, especially if you’re planning to paint a lot of faces. You can make your own simple face paint with cheaper ingredients. A quick search on Google will find you plenty of ideas that you can use to make your own face paint with. Bear in mind this won’t be as good as the professional face paint, so if you can afford it… I would advice you to get the professional stuff.

They you go, that’s my 8 tips a for professional face painting! I hope you found them useful.

Flowering landscape trees are the crown jewels of the yard.
Perhaps no other plants, individually, can have as great an
impact on how a yard looks in spring. Browse the articles to
which I’ve linked below for information on particular varieties
of flowering landscape trees. Pictures are included.

Crape Myrtles: Landscape Trees of the South

A popular choice in flowering landscape trees for Southerners,
crape myrtles have a long blooming period (mid-summer to
fall). The blooming clusters of these flowering landscape trees
come in pink, white, red and lavender. The clusters appear on
the tips of new wood. Northerners can sometimes get away
with treating these flowering landscape trees as perennials
that die back in winter but come back in spring.

Trees

Not all specimens with a weeping habit are flowering
landscape trees, but this article looks at several weeping
varieties that do bloom, headed by four types of cherry.
Saucer Magnolias

The size and shape of the blooms are what suggested the
common name for these flowering landscape trees. Want a
specimen with a brilliant bloom as big as a saucer? Access
information on these beauties here.

Rose of Sharon

Although some people think of it as a landscape “tree”
(because it gets tall and can be pruned so as to have a single
trunk), rose of sharon is, in fact, a flowering shrub. The fact
that it blooms relatively late — and for a long time — makes it
a valuable plant for those looking to distribute their yard’s
color display throughout the growing season.
Top 10 List of Flowering Landscape Trees and Shrubs for
Spring |

This article features information on ten flowering landscape
trees and shrubs that brighten our spring seasons. Included
are redbud, callery pear and crabapple.
Hawthorn: Late-Blooming Landscape Trees

This article offers information on Washington hawthorn trees,
which are perhaps most valued for the time at which they
bloom (late spring to early summer). Many of the popular
flowering specimens bloom earlier in the spring, and while
their blossoms are pleasant sights for eyes sore from winter’s
barrenness, they desert us too quickly!

The following article provides a quick guide on what to think about when preparing your artwork for printing.

It is important you follow these guidlines as any errors made are likely to cause a delay or cause unncessary stress should the final print quality be sub-standard.

1. Check your files
Check your artwork for spelling mistakes, grammar and ensure all images used are high resolution. Double check to make sure as any errors found will delay the turnaround of your product.

2. Bleed
Bleed is the extra bit of the design page which you design on, as normal, with the knowledge that it will be trimmed off the finished flyer. Any images on your artwork should bleed off the page, and essential text should be away from the trim edge by a good few mm’s. We use a 2mm bleed area on each edge.

3. Text
Keep essential text away from the edge of the flyer, by about 8-10mm for best results.

4. Print Resolution
Ensure your artworks resolution is at least 300dpi. The higher the resolution the better.

5. File Formats
If you are using un-common fonts, ensure you supply your artwork as a flattened jpeg or tiff. This will ensure there will be no font problems when your artwork is checked. The most commonly accepted program formats are Quark, Illustrator, Photoshop, Corel Draw, Corel Paint, Freehand, InDesign and Paint Shop Pro. Vector files such as .eps and pdf’s are becoming more common and ensure a better end product.

6. Colours
Unless you have a calibrated monitor your artwork is likely to have slightly different colours when printed. Ensure your colour choices are correct before sending to print.

7. A Final Check
Before sending to your printer, have one more final check that everything is as expected.

WARNING
There are two things you should consider when designing your flyers:

Due to the quick turn around of our flyers, they are trimmed down not long after they are printed, in most circumstances we try to give a printed sheet 8 hours to dry completely, this isn’t always the case. This is noticeable when one side of the flyer is left white, and the other side bleeds rich colour to the trim edge. This will cause slight powdering of the rich ink over, on to the white side. In this circumstance we recommend the use of borders.

Borders on the edge of a flyer, can sometimes give the flyer a classic look. But make sure the borders are a good few mm in from the trim edge, because of the way we print flyers (up to 32 at a time) and the speed at which we turn them round (from payment, to your door) these borders may not be an accurate trim to the exact 10th of a mm. This is why we ask for a 2mm bleed. The cutting blade could go either way. We cannot be held responsible for imperfect results if these borders are slightly uneven.

A centuries-old mystery has crossed my path again …

I mentioned in a recent article that there was a dispute in many academic quarters regarding the actual Viking deity being honored by the name, ‘Friday.’ The cold, hard fact is that unless someone unearths a runic stone that confirms the issue — and that’s not likely — only a preponderance of circumstantial evidence is going to carry the day in any such debate.

So, while others while away their time contemplating world peace, I’ve returned to the search for Friday’s inspiration.

If you’ll recall, four of the seven days of the week are named after Norse gods:

- Tuesday is for Tyr, the god of truth and war,

- Wednesday is for Odin, the Allfather of Viking gods,

- Thursday is for Thor, the god of thunder,

- Friday, however is cloaked in ambiguity.

I’d always heard the day’s name-origin came from Frigg, Odin’s elder wife — he had more than one — and this is supported by the most scholarly of English references, such as the Oxford dictionary. Others say it was for either Frey or Freja, who were brother and sister in the Vanir clan. Frey was the god of fertility, so it was considered essential to keep him happy; Freja was the goddess of love and beauty, so it didn’t hurt to keep on her good side, either.

Frigg’s duties were to be the goddess of the sky. It was a subtle job, but someone had to do it.

Turning to cyberspace for resolution, I happened on an excellent guide in Norse matters, The Viking Answer Lady. She is so meticulous in her material that I felt the possibility of her bringing light to the issue was quite good. So, I contacted her. To say she did her research is an understatement. Here’s her reply to me:

“Since Western Europe all originally derived from Indo-European tribes, we find that there were a lot of correspondences between the various branches — not exact, one-for-one identity, but concepts are clearly related. So it’s no real surprise to find that the naming and symbolism of the days of the week, and the number of days in a week, might be pretty much the same in all the descendants of the Indo-Europeans.

“You can see the day-name correspondences in other languages that descend from Indo-European:

“Ancient Greek has: hemera selenes (moon day), hemera Areos (Ares’ day), hemera Hermu (Hermes’ day), hemera Dios (Zeus’ day), hemera Aphrodites (Aphrodite’s day), hemera Khronu (Chronos’ day), hemera heliou (sun day)

“Latin: Lunae dies (Moon-day, Monday), Martis dies (Mars-Day, Tuesday), Mercurii dies (Mercury’s day, Wednesday), Jovis dies (Jove’s day, Thursday), Veneris dies (Venus’ day, Friday), Saturni dies (Saturn’s day, Saturday) or alternatively Christian Sabbatum or Sabbati dies (Sabbath day), Solis dies (Sunday)or alternatively Christian Dominicus dies (Lord’s day)

“Unsurprisingly, the Romance languages clearly derive their day names from Latin, except for Portugese, which numbers the days:

“Italian: lunedi, martedi, mercoledi, giovedi, venerdi, sabato, domenica

“Spanish: lunes, martes, miércoles, jueves, viernes, sábado, domingo

“French: lundi, mardi, mercredi, jeudi, vendredi, samedi, dimanche

“Romanian: luni, marti, miercuri, joi, vineri, sîmbata, duminica

“Portugese: Segunda-Feira (2nd day, Monday); Terça-Feira (3rd day, Tuesday); Quarta-Feira (4th day, Wednesday); Quinta-Feira (5th day, Thursday); Sexta-Feira (6th day, Friday); Sábado (Sabbath, Saturday); Domingo (Lord’s Day, Sunday)

“The Celtic languages have taken and preserved the Latin names of the days, and also borrowed heavily from Christian concepts:

“Welsh: Dydd Llun (moon/Luna day), Dydd Mawrth (Mars’ day), Dydd Mercher (Mercury’s day), Dydd Iau (Jove’s day), Dydd Gwener (Venus’s day), Dydd Sadwrn (Saturn’s day), Dydd Sul (sun day)

“Gaelic: Di-luain (moon day); Di-máirt (Mars’s day); Di-ciaduinn or Di-ciadaoin (day of the first fast of the week – Friday being the second fast); Diardaoin (the day between the two fasts of Wednesday and Friday); Di-haoine or Dia-aoine (day of the fast) Di-sathuirn (Saturn day); Di-dómhnuich (Lord’s day)

“Irish: Dé Luan (moon/Luna day); Dé Mairt (Mars’ day); Dé Céadaoin (day of the first fast of the week); Déardaoin; Dé h-Aoine (the day between the two fasts of Wednesday and Friday); Dé Sathairn (Saturn’s day); Dé Domhnaigh (Lord’s day)

“The Germanic languages, however, are also related. Ares/Mars was equated with Týr as a warrior god. Zeus/Jupiter was equated with Thórr as the god who hurled lightnings. Mercury was equated with Óðinn, since both had a role as psychompomps, the one who leads the dead to their afterlife. Aphrodite/Venus was equated with Frigga and Freyja.

“German: Montag (moon day), Dienstag (Týr’s day), Mittwoch (Mid-week), Donnerstag (Donner’s/Thórr’s day), Freitag (Freyja/Frigga’s day), Samstag (derived ultimately from Latin Sabbatum), Sonntag (sun day)

“Dutch: maandag (moon day), dinsdag, woensdag (Woden’s/Óðinn’s day), donderda (Donner’s/Thórr’s day), vrijdag (Freyja/Frigga’s day), zaterdag (Saturn day), zondag (sun day)

“Norwegian and Danish: mandag (moon day), tirsdag (Týr’s day), onsdag (Óðinn’s day), torsdag (Thórr’s day), fredag (Freyja’s/Frigga’s day), lørdag (washing day), søndag (sun day)

“Swedish: måndag (moon day), tisdag (Týr’s day), onsdag (Óðinn’s day), torsdag (Thrr’s day), fredag (Freyja/Frigga’s day), lördag (wash day), söndag (sun day)

“Old English: mondæg or monandæg (moon day); tiwesdæg (Tiw’s day, Týr’s day); wodnesdæg (Wotan’s/Óðinn’s day); thunresdæg (Thórr’s day); frigedæg (Frigga’s/Freya’s day); sæterdæg or sæternesdæg (Saturn’s day); sunnandæg (sun day)

“Middle English: monday, moneday, or monenday (moon day); tiwesday or tewesday (Tiw’s day, Týr’s day); wodnesday, wednesday, or wednesdai (Wotan’s/Óðinn’s day); thursday or thuresday (Thórr’s day); fridai (Frigga’s/Freya’s day); saterday (Saturn’s day); soneday, sonenday, sunday, sunnenday (sun day)

“North Frisian: monnendei (moon-day); Tirsdei (Týr’s-day); Winsdei (Wotan’s/Óðinn’s day); Türsdei (Thórr’s day); Fridei (Frigga’s/Freyja’s day); sennin (sun-evening); sennedei (sun day)

“Etymologically, it’s impossible to tell for certain whether the ‘Friday’ words derive from Frigga or Freyja (at least so I am told, I am not a philologist or linguistics expert). We can tell by the cognates that the name is from a goddess equated with Venus and Aphrodite.

“We get into further problems in that ‘Freyja’ is derived from roots meaning simply ‘lady’ while ‘Frigga’ comes from roots related to ‘beloved.’ There have been several scholars who insist that Frigga and Freyja are just different titles for the same goddess.

“None the less, undoubtedly ‘Friday’ comes from the name of one of these two goddeses, and not from the name of the god Freyr.”

Now, that’s the sort of studied thoroughness that can achieve Master’s degrees. It’s a preponderance of evidence that can carry the day in a court of law. Even though she only eliminated one of the three contenders to the title of Friday’s Namesake, the Viking Answer Lady has gone above and beyond the call of duty to provide me with the information I requested.

I’m sure glad I didn’t tell her I was just trying to win a bar bet.