VoIP Blog54676

Say "Happy Birthday"

Capture the precious moments of your kid birthday party for all time by taking great pictures with your still camera, digital camera and your video camera.

Your child gets ready to blow out the candles on their birthday cake (the cake you spent so much time making), you pick up your camera to capture this very important moment in your child's life and...

You're out of film, you've run out of Smart Media cards for your digital camera or you're out of tape for your video camera, or you're out of batteries! Sound familiar?

While everyone waits, the candles on your wonderful kid birthday cake are now melting away, and your child and all their guests are getting impatient.

Film cameras, digital cameras and video cameras are now fairly common in more and more homes.

But most of the time, our cameras sit forgotten on a shelf in a dusty closet... Then, at the last minute we say "now where did I put the camera?"

So do yourself, your family and your child a big favor...

Several days before your kid birthday party, find your camera or cameras and get them ready to capture all the very special moments of your child's birthday party.

Pick up plenty of batteries (make sure they're the right ones)

Charge up your video camera batteries

Pick up plenty of film

Pick up Smart Media cards for your digital camera

Pick up plenty of blank videotape

Make sure your cameras are working

You absolutely don't want to leave these preparations until the last minute...

If you do, it's very likely you'll run out of time and won't be able to stop for batteries or film or videotape.

How To Take Great Pictures Of Your Child Birthday Party

*A Tip From Grandpa Mike

I spent a lot of years as a professional videographer,(I even won a regional Emmy) so when it comes to taking pictures and shooting video, I know what I'm talking about.

First of all, if you don't have time to take pictures yourself, make sure you ask (someone you can trust) to be your "official" photographer and or videographer...

Don't pose all your pictures... Literally "capture" some of the action of the kid activities you've planned... Take pictures of your guests as they arrive (especially if it's a costume party).

Take pictures of your child and their guests playing birthday party games, doing crafts, playing with balloons and anything else they do...

After a while, your guests will forget about the cameras and you'll be able to capture some excellent candid shots.

Don't pose your subjects in front of any windows. The outside sunlight will cause your subjects faces to be much too dark, even if you use a flash.

And remember, you can give some of your guests disposable cameras so you'll be sure to get some "kid's point of view" shots.

Polaroid cameras are also great because everyone can see polaroid pictures soon after you've taken them and you can even let your guests take their picture home as a party favor.

So remember

Get all your cameras ready well in advance so that when your birthday child gets ready to blow out the candles on that very special cake, you'll be more than ready to capture the moment on film or video.

Who knows, that shot could turn out to be a wonderful family heirloom!

For more great informations and tips to help you put together a fun kid birthday party, visit us at Fun-Kid-Birthday-Parties.com

# posted by voip71722 @ 4:50 PM 0 comments

Self-fulfilling prophecy means bringing about an outcome that was assumed to be inevitable beforehand! Self-fulfilling prophecies work by belief. (Belief means assuming that information received is true before confirming it's true!)

These beliefs can be conscious or unconscious. Usually they're unconscious and a person may believe one thing consciously and something that opposes it unconsciously! Unconscious beliefs tend to be more emotionally embedded and more potent than conscious beliefs.

Self-fulfilling Examples

If a woman believes she is stupid shell tend to find ways to act out that belief! Even if she manages to suppress that belief and gain some successes, her unconscious beliefs may still sabotage her with self-doubt, causing her to do things to undermine her accomplishments proving that what she believes about herself was true all the time!

People usually base their predictions of whether theyll succeed or fail at a goal by their past experiences of succeeding or failing at attaining their goals! The more they've succeeded in the past the more they'll believe theyll succeed in the future! The more they've failed in the past the more they'll believe theyll fail in the future!

Sometimes their predictions aren't based on experience at all, but on being told repeatedly when they were children that they could never succeed at their goals! Convinced of this they never seriously attempted to attain their goals because they believed it was useless to do so from the start! If they did make an effort and experienced setbacks, they used the setbacks to prove that they were right to believe that they would fail all along!

Self-fulfilling PatternsSome studies have shown that people who are optimists are happier and accomplish more out of life than people who are pessimists! For whatever reason, optimists believe they are good people that life is good, that good things happen to them and studies show that they usually do! Optimism is based on belief! What we believe affects what we do! What we do affects what we accomplish!

It was once considered impossible for a mile to be ran in less than 4 minutes. To the experts and those influenced by them this was an obvious reality! The belief that this feat was impossible to do stopped most runners from trying to exceed this barrier (Self-fulfilling prophecy). People were ridiculed for daring to believe that a mile could be ran in less than 4 minutes, until some "fool" proved it could be done!

More self-fulfilling Examples

Alcoholics believe that alcohol is controlling their lives! They believe that theyll always be alcoholics! But alcohol is an inanimate fluid! It has no life or intelligence! How can it control their lives?

Once alcoholics have been detoxified all alcohol is out of their systems and they're no longer physically addicted to it! Then what keeps them vulnerable to it? Is it the belief that they need alcohol to feel normal, have fun and to cope with life's problems? Ignorant of the power of their beliefs theyve learned to project that power into alcohol!

Religious Beliefs

Religious beliefs can be self-fulfilling also. In the New Testament Jesus says, "All things are possible to him that believes." People have recovered from all kinds of illnesses and diseases by firmly believing that God or Jesus was healing them! But its not their conscious beliefs thats the source of the healing power, but their unconscious beliefs, which are more potent than their conscious beliefs!

Additional Examples

Self-fulfilling prophecies affect our health and whether or not we'll recover from illnesses! Studies have shown that people who believe that they will recover from cancer do far better than those who believe that cancer is a death sentence they won't survive!

People who believe theyll recover tend to do all the things that increase their chances of survival. (They take their medication faithfully, kept doctor's appointments, exercise, get proper nutrition, have a positive attitude, etc,). While those who believe cancer is a death sentence tend to be depressed, wallow in self-pity, become less active, and don't do the things that may increase their chances for survival! The belief that one will recover from cancer has a positive affect on the immune system and a healthy immune system is a potent weapon in the fight against cancer and other diseases!

Self-Fulfilling Old Age

Some people believe that they're old at certain ages. Some think they're old at 30, 40, 50, etc! It's usually such a firmly held belief that as they start to approach those ages they unconsciously start to conform to whatever image or lifestyle they've associated with that age!

I know a guy who when he was 39 and hed forget something, he'd attribute it to his being distracted. If he felt sore after working out, he'd attribute it to working out too much! But when he turned 40 and he'd forget something, now it was because "I must be getting old!" Now if he felt sore after working out, it was because" Boy! I must be getting old!" If he noticed a gray hair in his head he'd say " Wow! I'm really getting old!" Any mistakes or perceived signs of physical deterioration, which he hardly noticed before, were now seen as confirmations that he was getting old in accordance with his belief that people are old at 40!

All these beliefs are inculcated in us from childhood through adulthood and usually go unquestioned! They're like computer programs that trigger processes and reactions in computers, except that these beliefs trigger processes and reactions in our minds and bodies that are acted out to the benefit or detriment of mankind and ourselves!

Self-Fulfilling Conclusion

If you want to know the difference between what you consciously or unconsciously believe. Observe whether your cognitive responses about an issue correspond to your emotional responses about the issue! Emotional responses are triggered mainly by unconscious beliefs! Cognitive responses mainly by conscious beliefs! For example, it's easy to believe that you're not afraid of Tigers when there's no Tigers around! (Conscious belief) But let's see how you react when you're face to face with a Tiger! (Unconscious belief)

Self-fulfilling prophecies are based on beliefs! Beliefs control our minds. Our minds control our bodies and behavior! What kind of self-fulfilling prophecies are you allowing to control your mind, body and behavior?

May the Light never cease to Lighten your Minds!

Copyright 2006 El-Veasey Publishing Inc

# posted by voip71722 @ 4:44 PM 0 comments

The general look of a piece of furniture tells the expert whether it is old or not, but this is a matter of experience. If you are interested in old furniture see as many genuine pieces as you can; go to museums where you are certain of the authenticity of the articles. Slowly the eye and mind can be trained to recognize whether the appearance of a piece is true or not.

The aging of wood alters its colour according to the timber from which it is made, and according to the treatment it has received over the years. Even the hidden inside parts change with time; if a drawer-lining is scraped it will show at once how the surface has aged. Equally, the old polished outside surfaces mellow, and repolishing changes the colour of the wood completely.

It is worth while studying the methods of making furniture, and how they have changed from time to time. How, for instance, the crude dovetails on the heavy drawer sides of 1600 were modified and improved in the course of the century. When examining a piece of furniture in a strong light, it is as well to look for signs of alteration, and to try to reason what was done and why.

New screws differ markedly from old; prior to about 1850 they did not taper to a point, Also, the slot in the head was hand-cut and seldom central; in modern machine-made screws it is invariably exactly across the middle of the head.

Old veneers were cut with a saw by hand, and are consequently quite thick; many of them almost an eighth of an inch. Modern veneers, however, are cut with a machine-driven saw, and are much thinner. This, with other factors, is a useful indication of the genuineness of a piece.

The use of some of the rarer woods implies that an article cost more for materials and probably also for labour, and that it was probably made to a high standard throughout. The better-quality eighteenth-century pieces were fitted with oak linings to the drawers, but in exceptional instances this might be mahogany or cedar. Practice varied from workshop to workshop and from period to period, and a guide can give only clues not answers.

If you are really interested in discovering more ways to appraise antique wood furniture, then the most comprehensive book on all aspects of old English furniture is The Dictionary of English Furniture, by Percy Macquoid and Ralph Edwards. It is in three large volumes, copiously illustrated, and was first issued in 1927. A further edition, revised and enlarged by Ralph Edwards, was published in 1954.

Also, an excellent guide to the period 1720-1820 is Georgian Furniture, issued by the Victoria and Albert Museum, 1951.

A standard work on French furniture is Les Ebenistes du XVIW Siecle, by Comte Francois de Salverte, of which the fourth edition was published in Paris and Brussels in 1953. Also written in French, but less exhaustive and cheaper in price is Les Meubles Francois du XVIW Siecle, by Pierre Verlet. It is in two volumes: i, Menuiserie, ii, Ebenisterie, published in Paris in 1956. In English the Wallace Collection, London, Catalogue of French Furniture, by F. J. B. Watson, issued in 1956, containing a great deal of information and many illustrations.

The more you educate yourself on the matter of fine wood furniture, the better eye you will develop over time, resulting in an antiques collection to make you the envy of all your house guests!

# posted by voip71722 @ 4:31 PM 0 comments