• The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

    Posted on September 27th, 2009 Mark No comments

    One of the biggest auto racing events in America is the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Sprint took over sponsorship of the NASCAR Cup Series in 2008.  The cup series was previously known as the Nextel Cup Series and before that the Winston Cup Series. The Cup Series was changed a couple of years ago to make it more competitive and exciting for the fans. The NASCAR Sprint Cup “Race to the Chase” was established, much like a “playoff” system.  After 26 regular season races the top twelve drivers in points are eligible to compete for the Sprint Cup over the last 10 races of the season. The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series rewards drivers points for leading laps, wins and for the most laps led. Drivers who lead a whole lap during a race receive five bonus points. Five points are awarded for leading the most laps in a race while winning a race gets the winner 10 points.

    Owner’s points frequently differ from drivers’ points over the season. It is rare for owner and driver in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series to be one and the same. This is partly due to the structure of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series  favouring multiple car teams such as Childress Racing, Goe Gibbs Racing, DEI and Hendrick Motor Sports.

    It takes several people besides just the driver to win the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.  This ranges from the pit crews who service the cars during the race for the cup to the designers and car builders, who work all year to find ways to improve the cars and gain a slight advantage over other teams. Computers and simulations are used by crew chiefs to help them judge how well a car will perform at the various track configurations.

    NASACAR has become of the most popular family sports in the US. It’s a sport that all members of the family can enjoy. Many show up in their RVs and watch the race from lawn chairs perched on their roof. NASCAR fans are very loyal to their favorite drivers. One of the biggest crowd favorites is Dale Earnhardt Jr. His fans are affectionally known as the “Junior Nation”.

  • Indoor Flash Photography Tips

    Posted on September 27th, 2009 Mark No comments

    Over the years, you’ve probably seen plenty of indoor flash pictures that have a pitch black background and a washed-out, overexposed foreground. Many factors conspire to produce these stark, unflattering shots, but one of the major contributors is, once again, your camera thinking on its own. You’re letting it decide when to turn on the flash and which shutter speed to use.

    First of all, you don’t always need the flash. Indoor photography offers many opportunities for stunning existing-light portraits and moody interior shots. And when you do have to turn on the flash, you can make certain adjustments to preserve the ambiance of the room so that your background doesn’t fall into a black hole.

    Flash shots may have a pitch-black background for a couple of reasons. The first problem is that the light from a typical digital camera’s flash reaches only about 2 to 3 metres. Anything beyond this range, and you’ve got yourself an inadvertent ambient-light photo.

    If your camera has a manual mode that allows you to dictate both the aperture (f stop) and shutter speed, you can easily overcome these problems.

    Once in manual mode, try this combination as a starting point for flash photography indoors:

    * Set your film speed to 100

    * Set the aperture (f-stop) to f-5.6.

    * Set the shutter speed to 1/15th of a second.

    * Use the forced-flash mode. (Don’t use the red-eye reduction feature)

    When you use these settings, hold the camera as steady as possible or better yet, use a tripod. At these slow shutter speeds, your shots are more vulnerable to camera shake, and therefore to blurriness. Your flash will help freeze everything in its range, but the background, not illuminated by the flash, may blur if the camera isn’t steady.

    If your camera doesn’t have a manual mode, all is not lost. Almost every consumer model has a night time or stow-synchro mode (look for a “stars over a mountain” icon). The intention of this mode is to let you shoot portraits at twilight. But you can also use Nighttime mode indoors to open up the background. Granted, you don’t have as much control with this setting as you do with manual mode, but you may be pleasantly surprised with the results.

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  • Nothing Like Muck Garden Shoes In The Garden

    Posted on September 27th, 2009 Mark No comments

    Not so long ago, I was married, had two children, a beautiful house, and a very loving husband. I guess it has been a long time, 20 years in fact. Now I still have the same beautiful house, my husband has since passed, and my two kids are older and have moved away from the area.

    I’m a retired schoolteacher with twenty seven years of teaching, and I can still remember every single year, and that one child in each class that I had such an impact on. I love running into my kids all over town, just about everywhere I go.

    My other lifelong passion is a hobby that I tend to every summer is gardening. Having the summers off is the biggest benefit to teaching school, us teachers used to look forward to it more than the kids every year.

    Now, my house doesn’t have a very big yard, but what it does have is enough room for me to plant quite a few rows of vegetable and other plants. Every morning, I slip on my Muck Boots Garden Shoes and head out to take inventory. There are not too many things that give me as much joy as seeing the progress of a growing plant. Of course my children provide my greatest pleasure in life, but this is a close second.

    My neighbor across the street bought me these Muck Boots for Mother’s day on year. I love the fact that they resist any garden type contaminants. I love the purple color too. It’s one for the ladies.

     

  • Harley Davidson Decals – for your bike or helmet

    Posted on September 27th, 2009 Mark No comments

    Initially founded in nineteen zero three, Harley Davidson is a prominent and well established motorcycle brand known in the world. The American motorbike producer was founded in Wisconsin, United States, where its H.Q are still located. The Creaters William Harley, Arthur Davidson, William Davidson, and Walter Davidson titled the enterprise after themselves; after William Harley and childhoodlong-time friend Arthur Davidson designed a powered motorcycle in the year nineteen zero one which was a humble first effort which was not good at hill climbing, but they swiftly began on other cycles and also Harley Davidson Decals .

    The late twenties and into the 30′s were extremely cruel times for enterprises in the United States as the economy plunged into the great depression. Sale numbers dropped briskly for Harley Davidson, yet the enterprise continued and it carried on adding to its motorbike line up. Harley Davidson was only one of two motorcycle manufacturers to see it through the great depression – thanks to a good idea to start selling Harley Davidson Gas Tank Decals.

    The motorbike maker created high quantities of motorbikes for the US army during the Second World War, just as other businesses shifted their manufacturing to serve the war efforts. Harley Davidson was already aiding the Government with bikes prior to the war outbreak, but America and her allies required a extraordinary number of military motorcycles. The business was honored with the Armed forces-Navy E Awards twofold which was honored to producers that did the best in the construction of war equipment — but the real buzz was over the Harley Davidson Decal .

    Harley (as the venture is regularly referred to) mainly manufactures huge engine cycles designed for cruising. The Harley design is extremely distinctive and gave birth to the chopper motorcycle design. Harley Davidson currently employs over 9,000 personel and has an yearly return exceeding five billion dollars.