How to behave in case of emergency

ALWAYS BE PREPARED!

In our world of current disasters and weather changes, it is important to be prepared for any last minute 

surprises… Whether they are from earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, 

firestorms, extreme heat/cold or floods/droughts. Here are some ideas 

for things to do for any emergency: Maintain a list of emergency 

telephone numbers at your fingertips. Create an emergency evacuation 

plan. Keep all of your important papers in one safe place, including 

copy of documentation on your family keep travel carriers close to the 

door for quick evacuation. Keep your car’s tank filled up. Make a list 

of emergencies and what to do for each one, in order to remind 

yourself should you get upset in an emergency. Include the telephone number for your veterinarian. 

Keep a first-aid kit on hand with you and 

make sure to update it every six months. 

Keep at least three days supply of water and food on hand. Always update the supplies. This also 

includes some of your family's favorite "dried" foods, such as canned 

food or soup, which your family will eat, no matter the 

circumstances. If you’re in an earthquake area (or potential area), 

make sure your baggage is strong enough to withstand the 

pressures. Always have the following supplies: flashlights/batteries; 

(non-scented) candles/matches; portable radio/batteries; 

disinfectant/bleach; gas lanterns/fuel; first-aid kit/spray bottle; 

and blankets.

Emergency Preparedness - A Plan of Action

Most people at some time in their life will be faced with an emergency situation. It could be the result of a fire, flood, lightning or sever electrical storm, earthquake, mudslide, avalanche or various other forms of disaster situations. An emergency plan will help you and your family or colleagues know what to do in case of an emergency. Every household, school and business needs an emergency plan. When making your emergency plan, consider the following guidelines.

Family Preparedness: 

Have a 72-hour emergency survival kit by the door for easy access (an extra one in the trunk of your car is also a good idea) 

Safe exits from your home (consider doors, windows, stairs - never elevators) and neighbourhood - practice once a month so it will be an automatic response when an emergency does occur. A meeting place to reunite with your family members or roommates. 

A designated person to pick up your children should you be unavailable to do so A place for your pet(s) to stay 

Contact person(s) close-by and out-of-town (include name, address and phone number) 

Pertinent health information (consider keeping a copy in your 72-hour emergency kit) 

Location of fire extinguisher (know how to use it), water and gas shut-off valves, electrical box, floor drain (keep a wrench near for turning off valves) 

Possible risks in your region. 

School Preparedness: 

Safe exits from your school building Possible transportation of children out of the neighbourhood (buses or parent vehicles) Prearranged meeting places to reunite children with their family members A coordinated group of contact persons to relay information between parents and school personnel Phone number parents are encourage to call specifically for emergency information The location of your fire extinguishers (school staff should know how to use them) Possible risks in your region.



Business Preparedness:

Have a 72-hour emergency survival kit by your desk or within easy reach

Safe exits from your building and neighbourhood (never use the elevator)

The location of building fire extinguishers (personnel should know how to use them)

Possible risks in the region

Building codes and regulations

Internal and external resources and capabilities.

Emergency Preparedness For Pets:

Take your pet(s) with you - leaving them in a "safe place" is not the best option

Try relatives, friends, kennels, vet clinics, motels or campgrounds that allow pets

Keep a copy of your list of possible shelters in your Emergency Kit

If you know of a possible disaster situation or severe storm brewing, keep your pets with you

Make sure your pets are wearing collars and identification tags

An emergency situation does not have to be a disaster. Be Prepared - Before Disaster Strikes!

Sailing the boat

The beauty of sailing (and a curse for many) is that you harness nature to move you from one place to another. And nature a lot of times likes to be finicky and unpredictable. Location is not only important for views and attractions, but also for winds, currents and obstacles. Even an experienced captain cannot bring wind. So pick your sailing charters location carefully. Here are some great location ideas...

1. Adelaide. Enjoy this sailing location with calm scenic waters of the St. Vincent Gulf and River Torrens. A group of competent skippers and instructors will surely get you in tune with sailing know how and help you enjoy you sailing adventure with your vessel of choice.

2. Brisbane. With a variety of sailing charters to choose from, have the Queensland coast as your campus if you want to learn to sail, and have the Moreton Bay as a spectacular backdrop on your sail boat. This location boasts of the largest selection of water vessels and charter packages that will surely keep you coming back for more sailing adventures.

3. Broome. The Broome climate is perfect for sailing as it has tropical climates with hot summers and warm winters. Ecosailing is very popular in Broome and you can choose from a wide variety of sailing charter destinations such as the famous Cygnet Bay, seaside towns of Broome, the Kimberley's and the splendid Mitchell Falls.

4. Canberra. It is Australia's largest inland city and ranked 8th largest city in the land down under. Even with this prestigious label, it still has more to offer as a sailing destination. Having the third lowest annual rainfall and a continental climate, sailing is as enjoyable and suitable in Canberra. Sail on the picturesque lake Burley Griffin on your very own dinghy for a day and get a shot at learning how the pros do it!

5. Gold Coast. You have plenty of sunshine all year round with the sub-tropical climate of the Gold Coast and plenty of sailing charters to choose from. You will run out of sailing sun before you can even cover all the beautiful ports of the Gold Coast. From the southern coast of Queensland to that South Stradbroke Island and the spectacular Rainbow Bay. In between sailing, you may want to engage in the different activities that these ports offer. From swimming, snorkeling, even picnicking as you stretch those sea legs for a moment of lunch with family and friends. You can choose your own adventure and work with your skipper as to what course and sailing experience you want to do for the day. For the others that you have not visited, you can keep these locations for yet another day of sailing bliss only the Gold Coast can offer.

6. Melbourne. If you want to do a check on your sailing skills, Port Philip Bay is for you, it's where professional sailors gather into a sailing community together with coaches, officials and the world's best sailors. If you want to learn to sail, this is one spot that you will find and abundance of instructors in. Do you fancy a more subdued and private backdrop? You can go for the Mornington Peninsula for your sailing pleasure.

7. New Zealand. The South pacific oasis just waits for you to drop anchor as New Zealand gives you some of the best sailing charters. Float past the most magnificent beaches of the remotest of islands. Take your pick of boats that have passed New Zealand safety standards that give you the perfect sailing experience. You can never find a climate that's perfect for sailing anywhere else as New Zealand has many hours of sunshine, moderate rainfall and climate to go with your sailing adventure. As the climate is dominated by mountains and the sea, you are sure to find perfect wind and waves to sail on.

8. Perth. Enjoy the cool waters of the Swan River or go for an adrenalin boost sailing the nearby Indian Ocean, whatever you fancy, Perth will surely be one of your favorite sailing locations. WA waterways are just as tranquil as you like it providing the ultimate retreat from the city. The best part of sailing in Perth is that sailing charters give you the option of daytime or twilight sailing.

9. The Whitsundays. This tropical paradise location is just irresistible that you must and just have to set sail here. There is always something for that sailor who requires luxury to that economical but thrilling sailing adventure. Get a blast from the past by sailing on a historic boat and anchoring on the world heritage Fraser Island.

10. Sydney. With a climate moderated by the nearby seas, it is definitely a perfect sailing location. Choose from the numerous ports and bays to anchor and sail from. Or just simply go for the most beautiful harbor in the world, Sydney Harbor.

All about your Yacht

Yachts come in a number of designs, models and types. When selling yachts, you must be able to address your prospective boat owners' wish lists. They are looking for varied combinations of very diverse features when it comes to their yachts. Their first impressions matter, of course, but because of the hefty investment cost, buyers rarely rely only on first impressions when buying yachts.

Among the more frequent and valid concerns that you must be prepared to address are the (1) construction materials; (2) hull design and make; (3) warranties and resale value; (4) cost; and (5) maintenance.

Materials matter:

Boat owners regard their safety above all conditions. They want their boats to be strong and tough. Hurricanes and other sailing accidents, over time, tested the durability of materials used in building yachts. Consumers look for superior materials to ensure this. It has been observed that the boat building industry rarely tests new materials that it uses and that lessons were learned when sailing disasters or even very ordinary collisions prove or disprove the dependability of the materials. Even boat batteries are a common concern for boat owners.

The Hull:

When selling yachts, it is important to stress the make and the design of the hull. After all, it is the hull that guarantees the kind of ride that the sailing will be. Depending on the sea conditions of your prospective boat owner, stress that various hull designs are available to cater to their own liking.

Warranties:

A superior product will not be wary to offer the best warranty. This is another category where consumers feel confident that they have a good buy, i.e. the warranty offered and how the warranty repairs are to be made. A lot of issues and even lawsuits exist between yacht manufacturer, resellers, and disgruntled customers. It would be a come on for your buyer if you have a written warranty handy.

Competitive Price:

If you are selling yachts that are second-hand you might be a bit deficient in the resale value factor, and your best bet is the price. As with all other consumer products, price is among the top influencers of decision. Consumers these days are wise and they do understand that quality is paid for. The benefits of superior products often far offset the price. But still the cost that is far beyond reason rarely gets the sale. Except maybe if it is the America or the Gypsy Moth IV! Bear in mind that people buy boats that have the essentials and boats that they can afford.

Maintenance:

Yachts require maintenance and repairs. These cost more money for the purchaser. Osmosis and blisters are among the very common concerns of boat owners most especially if you are selling used yachts. While new boats do not require much maintenance as used boats do, it is a must if the owner wants to keep the resale value at par with the market. Yachts that depreciate easily will be hardest to sell, if the need arises.

When selling yachts, you must love or at the very least like that yacht you are selling. It will be easier to sell her if you are truly convinced of buying her yourself in a heartbeat, if you had the means. Your customer will sense that.

Bridge Guitar to Piano

One thing that I hear musicians complain about time after time is their inability to "crossover" to another instrument easily. What's more, is that many are already very proficient on their main instrument. What I've found is that there just aren't enough guides out there which can help to TRANSLATE and COMMUNICATE music fully across the instrumental divide. We can call this the "music barrier" and once you learn to cross this threshold, you can easily map one instrument to another. How can this be accomplished? With the building blocks of songs, musical pieces and the harmonies and melodies you hear every day - CHORDS!

Guitar and Piano Chords Translation:

My particular focus for this article is translating chords between Guitar and Piano. I have played both instruments myself for a number of years and delight in taking songs written for one instrument, to the other. One thing that you must first understand is that Piano is inherently "linear" -- each note up the staff can be walked in tandem right up the piano. The Guitar on the other hand is a more "dimensional" instrument (horizontal frets and vertical strings) -- You can walk up the frets of a Guitar on the 6th string and then you can actually jump across to the 5th string to continue up the staff. You can even play the same exact tone in the same exact octave at the same exact time, albeit with a little stretch of the fingers!

By breaking down chords into their component parts and mapping each tone from Guitar to its Piano equivalent, we have broken the music barrier. Here we go!

Chord Voicings:

In order to provide the simplest method for translating chords between Guitar and Piano we must first discuss Voicings - the arrangement of notes in a chord. Guitar chords are usually played in "root position", or where the bass note is the name of the chord. For example, a C Major chord in root position would have a low C Major note as the lowest note.

Piano is a little bit different in that there is no real de facto way to arrange the tones in a chord, it can be very subjective based on the musical piece. As such, I will base all chords being translated on the Guitar voicings. Another reason that I will base our Piano chords on the Guitar voicing is because Guitar tones tend to be more difficult to wrap your hands around (literally) when they are more spread out like Piano chords are apt to be.

Guitar to Piano Chord Mappings:

Now that we understand voicings, it's time to start mapping some chords! First, we will use an E9 chord as an example. Each of the five fingers is given a number -- starting from the pinky on the left hand we have 5, 4, 3, 2 with the thumb being 1. The right hand mirrors the left with the thumb labeled 1 and then 2, 3, 4 and the pinky at 5. So, the left hand plays the left 5, 2, 1 while the right hand handles the higher 1, 3 and 5.

Spelling out this chord on the piano keyboard (please see a keyboard chart for tone positions on the keyboard), we have E (5), B (2), D (1), Ab/G# (1), D (3), Gb/A# (5).

Guitar, Piano and Staff Notation:

Now, let's translate this over to the Guitar:

The Guitar chord fingering includes of each of these same tones -- E, B, D, Ab/G#, D, Gb/A#.

For the guitar the index finger is 1, middle finger 2, ring finger 3 and pinky 4. Thumb is also sometimes used and is usually designated by a T or P. Follow this through an E9 chord (please see a guitar chord chart for tone position on the fretboard). You're now playing the exact same chord played on the Piano, on the Guitar!

Conclusion:

That's all there is to it. Our piano fingering rule can be transposed to any chord, just follow the standard 5, 2, 1 -- 1, 3, 5 format. Remember, the piano is a lot more "loose" when it comes to playing standards, some chords don't require all six fingers, so take one of them out wherever it feels most comfortable and natural. Practice playing chords with these three fingers on each hand and it will come more naturally when it's time to feel out a new chord.

Most of all, have fun with it! See what songs you can translate between Guitar and Piano. Maybe some sound even better on the other instrument, or you can find new and interesting ways to play them given the difference in timbre between both instruments.

Keep on playing, practicing and communicating the language of music!

Learn how to play guitar or piano

So, you would like to learn how to play an instrument? And you probably have no idea where to start? As you surely know, most people try to specialize first in one of more popular instruments, before they jump into more complicated ones. It's a wise choice because piano and guitar are great if you want to learn music theory, which will help you improve your instrumental skills. So, keys or strings?

When you should choose piano?

• If you would like to start writing your own music - be it popular or classical music - everything begins with piano. All composers use it while they try to come up with a new track because it's simple and fast - can you imagine hiring a whole brass section and asking them "Hey, play those three notes" over and over? Also, if you want to create music on the computer then you MUST know how to play key instruments first.
• If you wish to replay your favorite songs in new and original way - Smoke On The Water on the piano? Why not!
• If you have very stressful job - piano is great choice because playing will let you calm your nerves.
• If you want to improve your memory and concentration - learning notes is great exercise for your brain, and in order to be successful pianist you will have to learn how to concentrate on song you are actually playing - this may give you great benefits in your professional life!

Well, but when you may want to choose guitar?

• If you want to attract your beloved one - what says "I love you" better than serenade played under her or his window?
• If you dream about becoming a rock star - the sooner you start the better you will become! And who know? Maybe creating your band will be next step in development of your hobby or even your life?
• If you like to socialize and want to stun you friends with your guitar skills - guitarists are always popular among other people, and world community focusing on guitar is huge and still growing!
• Or maybe you want to give your children a nice and educational gift? It's great to see how your kids develop new skills! And guitar is surely much better for them than playing video games.

To sum up, if you want to rest your mind in privacy of your home - learn how to play piano, but if you wish to go public with your hobby learning guitar will be the best choice. Anyway, it doesn't matter which on you will choose - both are great way to start your artistic adventure! Good luck!

A few facts about Xbox

A NEW WAY TO GAME! IS THE XBOX 360 KINECT THE RIGHT NEXT GADGET FOR YOU?

There are a plethora of game systems and games out there. Why should you consider the xBox 360 and the new Kinect? What will the Kinect do for you? Some have claimed it will change your life, will it do that? What games are available for the Kinect and do they really work well enough to justify the cost, the time, and the trouble? Is there enough variety to suit your needs?

Let's start with a little bit of history xBox 360 for you. If you will go way back in your mind and remember that the xBox 360 is a sixth generation video game by Microsoft. This group of games was known as the 128-bit era game consoles. The xBox was actually released November 2001. However, the xBox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft (the first was the xBox). It now competes well with the Sony's PlayStation 3 and the Nintendo Wii, as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles, the xBox 360 was the first of that creative age introducing HD and 1080p into the game playing mix in November 2005.

The xBox 360 was officially unveiled on television. The announcement was on MTV in 2005. Coming up to more modern time the xBox 360 was known as the xBox 360 S, but now we just call it the xBox 360. The consoles have been redesigned, as well as the hardware, and that innovation was officially announced in June 2010. And word is that Microsoft has announced, covertly, that if they ever (and with their current popularity I'm sure they will) come out with another console as a successor to the xBox 360 S it will be simply called xBox 720. The initial rumors are very intriguing.

The second edition of the xBox 360, which included 4 GB of storage, was a prelude to the current box. The xBox 360 Elite came out middle of 2010. But with the avalanche of new games being designed and released it pressured Microsoft to upgrade their hardware.

Isn't that always the case with hardware and software? It goes like this: Software becomes more complicated and needs faster processors, larger computers and capacity. And so the hardware designers and manufacturers have to race to keep up. It's the same with the gaming genre. Try playing Halo Reach on your old xBox. It's not happening.

Thus in August of 2010 Microsoft announced that they had a mega model, a 250 GB stand-alone hard drive for use with the xBox 360 S models, and that would be priced initially at $129.99.

The features of each of these models and core systems are interesting, but it is beyond the scope of this review. The remarkable features, capabilities and the capacities of the devices improved with each progressive model. Microsoft became one of the big guns in the gaming console market and will remain there with this system.

This past Christmas buying season of 2010, the xBox 360 was bundled for better consumer purchasing power, which, among others, featured the Limited Edition, as well as some of the more popular games such as the Halo Reach, Call of Duty Black Ops, and other special features including wireless remotes controllers and head-sets.

The online service is called xBox Live. This is a worldwide service that allows users to play with and against other online players or download purchased content, experience new games and it also offers movies, game trailers, game demos that can be played for a short trial period encouraging the user to then go on to purchase the full game.

There are xBox Live arcade games, images, dashboard themes as well. Through xBox Live, a person can discover new undiscovered content. There are Gold Memberships, which allows you to purchase Microsoft Points to use for downloads avatars and add-ons or additions to your current games. Those prepaid cards come in 400, 800, 1600, 4000, and 6000 point denominations for an equivalent amount of money.

I will reveal some interesting details about the negative attributes of the xBox and xBox 360. It may be a surprise to a newbie, thinking that there were not any negatives. But there are...or were.

It seems that the console can be subject to a number of technical problems. Users have reported concerns over its reliability and alarming failure rate in the older models. That led Microsoft to extend the xBox 360 S warranty to three years for hardware failure problems. Users were getting the dreaded red ring of death and a message announcing general hardware failure.

Microsoft unquestionably did not want to leave their customers hanging and helpless. It attempted to modify the consoles to improve its reliability. The unit was subsequently put together much better and inside the unit there is not as much movement in the main (mother) board during the heat expansion and now the unit has better ability to dissipate heat.

With the release of this redesigned xBox 360 the warranty on the newer models does not include the three year extended warranty for general hardware failure. The word from the experienced gaming community is that the xBox 360 is a very reliable machine and the user complaints and failures of the past have not surfaced.

The new xBox 360s are very reliable. Overall, I rate the xBox 360 5-Stars. It is now the standard in the current industry. They are the leader and the other companies are trying to keep up.