September, 2021

May 12

Photoshop Tutorial – Reflections

Many see the pretty reflections in lots of Photoshop work these days. Logos with a reflection in the space below them, reflected buttons, what have you. But how is this effect achieved? After reading this article, you’ll be capable of this dazzling effect with ease.

The attached images illustrate what the effect we’re creating is, so take a look at them before proceeding.

Let’s begin, shall we?

Part 1 – Reflection of an object.

Step 1. Create an object to create a reflection of.

This is the part where you get creative, decide what you’d like to make a reflection of. Reflections can add realism, pseudo-realism, or just a nice graphical flare. They create a nice effect with text, so that’s what I’ll be discussing here.

Pick your favorite font, and make some simple text.
Rasterize it.

Step 2. Make a copy of the object.

This is going to become the reflection.

Select the layer that your object (the text, in our case) is on, and right click- gt;Duplicate Layer (or hit ctrl+j).

Step 3. Flip and position the copy.

This is what gets us ready to turn the copy into a reflection. It’s fairly simple…

Select the layer with the copy.
Press Edit- gt;Transform- gt;Flip Vertical.
Hold shift, and either use the arrow keys, the mouse, or a combination thereof to move the copy until it’s 1-2px away from the original.

NOTE – Though it may seem obvious, I should mention that the copy should be below the original.

Step 4. Turn the copy into a reflection.

Here’s where the magic happens.

Select the copy layer.
Add a layer mask. There are many ways to do this, one of them is to click the icon below the layers area that looks like a paper with a hole cut from it.
Click in the layer mask (it is a second box to the right of the layer preview).
Set your colors to the defaults (click the small black and white boxes near your colors on the left).
Select the gradient tool, and be sure it is on “Normal” blend, with the standard non-transparent gradient selected.
Hold shift, then click and drag the cursor from the bottom of the copy to the top of the original object.
If this doesn’t look correct, repeat the last step, but starting at the top of the original then going down.

NOTE –

I recommend you link the reflection and original layers, it makes it easier to move them without messing things up.

Step 5. Revel in your glory.

You have gained 1 point in photoshop cs6 mac. Congrats.

By : Lucille

Category: Software

May 11

Backroads and Bus Trips in Guatemala

A grizzled bag lady lay sleeping by the entrance and a shopworn inebriated street walker with ‘viewing ports’ for her upper assets wobbled by on high heels. Standing on the sidewalk outside the Galgos Bus Line at mid-day in Guatemala City’s crusty Zone 1 is another side of life in Central America. To be fair, the Tica Bus terminal in Managua, Nicaragua is just as gritty. Be advised that bus terminals in Central America, as in most large cities anywhere, are invariably located in the older parts. Urban renewal is a foreign concept and the denizens of the dark are only worse-looking in day light.

Traveling carless in Central America is always a challenge. The choices don’t include air travel except between the major cities, which leaves buses, shuttles, taxis and the three-wheeled rattle-traps imported from India known as tuk-tuks. There are rental cars available, for the brave and the foolish: spend a few moments in traffic or on any of the roads except in El Salvador (with the best highways) and it becomes immediately clear that there’s a reason for the plastic Jesus on the dashboard.

Yes, there are roads, highways and signs: there’s also passing duels between the brightly painted ‘chicken buses’, usually involving blind uphill curves and the occasional mishap involving ‘pilot error’, a ditch and a rollover. The larger buses, aside from the premium lines such as Ticabus, Hedman-Alas and King, are typically recycled older Greyhound models, subject to the occasional malfunction, never at the junction and usually miles away from salvation or repair. Hence, it is important to book some reservations about your transportation to avoid hassle. For example, you can book an aspen to Denver shuttle if you are going to Denver or vice versa. This will make your life easier and more convenient.

This all began as a recent foray up the Pacific Coast of Guatemala, which started in Antigua, where I hang my panama. The end point was a Mayan site known as Tak’alik Ab’aj, up-mountain from a border town with the unpronounceable name of Retalhuleu, shortened by even the locals to ‘Reu’, or slurred as ‘rayo’ or ‘rayu’. Note that the ten passenger shuttles are always filled to capacity and then some: plan on 12 at a minimum and they never make trips without at least four passengers. The taxis are invariably equally overloaded Japanese mini-models but the Pullman-styled buses are by pre-purchase ticket only, so there’s no overcrowding. The ‘chicken buses?’ Originally yellow Blue Bird brand school buses, imported from the United States and built to hold forty students? I counted over eighty passengers crowded into the last leg of this week’s journey of hell, sweat and religious sermons.

The return journey home from a few days at the Mayan site didn’t augur well: my taxi driver in Reu didn’t want to be disturbed, not even for the other half of the $40 round trip fee. To be continued.

By : Lucille

Category: Travel

May 10

Proofreading Essentials that Guarantee Polished Projects

The day had finally arrived! April 1st, 2003 – the day yet another manifestation of my literary goals came to life! I logged in countless hours, brought together some of the best novice talent to showcase, and utilized the best of the best free Web enhancements I could find. My husband and children barely recognize me for all the time I’ve spent “in the lab”, but that doesn’t matter. On this day it was all going to pay off! I cut the ceremonial ribbon and launched The Essence Ezine amidst a flurry of flash and fanfare! I promoted my fanny off and positive reviews started rolling in from family, friends, and the writing community. I began to receive potential contributor Emails almost from the moment I set up shop. I was pumped. I was excited. I was floating in a buddle of unabashed euphoria! And then, I took a gander at my announcement Email – typo… repeat word… missing letter… sentences not recognizable in the English language or any other that I knew of. Panic surges through me as I log onto the Ezine hone page and notice more errors. And even more on the corresponding pages. OH MY GOD! How many viewers had seen this? What will they think? How unprofessional has my venture appeared? After weeks of build up and promotion how will I ever live this down?

Hold up drama queen – it’s not the end of the world as we know it and there will be no Simon Crowel proclaiming to my peers that I am the worst writer ever. I just succumbed to the first mistake new writers often make: forgetting to proofread in my excitement to present my work. While this is almost as common as Writer’s Block, proofreading (or the lack thereof) can make or break your writing career. The first thing that is sure to turn off agents, publishers and readers a like is a writer who does not care enough about their work to present their best possible effort. And nothing says that louder than mistakes in a manuscript or Web site. So how do you keep this from happening? To help you with that, I offer four foolproof ways to present error free work that allows your talent to shine through. At the search engines, there can be checking of the Proofread Anywhere reviews for the benefit. Along with the positive ones, there will be availability of feedbacks of the staff. The members of the staff should be compatible to clear the concepts of the education among the students available.

Read, read, and re-red –

Once you are done, or even before you pen “The END”, continuously read through your work to pick up on commonly make mistakes. If you get to the point where you are “tired” of reading, and time allows for it, put the piece down for a while and come back to it when you are refreshed.

Never trust your PC screen –

Always print a copy of your piece and read it, even after you’ve proofed it in your monitor. There are very subtle errors that can bypass even the most classically trained English professor if they’ve been staring at a computer screen for too long.

Enlist “editors” –

Get friends, family, mentors, and peers in on the job. Sometimes it takes two, three, or even four pairs of eyes to find the most obvious mistakes your eyes may overlook.

Read the piece aloud to yourself –

Typos are not the only mistakes that you can make when penning your first draft. Grammatical errors can rear their ugly heads as well when you aren’t looking. Reading aloud to yourself will give you a feel for how your work sounds, as well as aid in catching tense, context, and punctuation errors.

There are many more techniques that help spot possible blemishes in your work, but these four should come in as handy staples in your writing process. Always remember, even the most seasoned writers make mistakes. But the most successful ones will never let you see it.

By : Lucille

Category: Tips

May 10

CBD Oil- Popular Technique for Usage Results in Better Health Benefits

What can you do to keep your body fit and healthy? Naturally, you would follow the same routine plan of eating healthy and nutritious food, exercising for hours together in the gym and go out for long walks in the evening and so on.

We are in 2020 and the year could not have begun on a worse note as the corona virus pandemic has taken the entire world in its grasp as a result of which the federal government of all countries have issued a nationwide lockdown and so people have been confined to their homes since the past few weeks so as to prevent further spreading of the disease.

Regardless, things were no better long before this pandemic came into being as mankind was anyhow grappling with diseases and ailments ranging from tuberculosis to cancer and falling prey to it in large numbers.

Luck by Chance

It can be seen how grave the situation is but there is a silver lining amidst it all in the form of Cannabinoid, an extract from cannabis plants from which CBD oil originated that provides immense relief for regular ailments like joint pain.

It can be said that old age folks got lucky by chance when they came across this medical miracle that gave them the relief and relaxation that no other medicine prescribed by the best medicinal practitioners in the world did.

The atmosphere in current times is replete with pollutants that include the 3 basic necessities essential for survival- air, food and water while the medicines that are known to provide respite from ailments are full of artificial chemicals and pesticides.

This is the reason why most of the tablets and capsules come with inscribed words that state who all can take it and who cannot. In other words, they can have grave side effects if taken by a particular age group and for no good reason.

Fortunately, CBD oil does not fall in the same category and can be used by all age groups right from small children to senior citizens with no side effects in the bargain and that too with 100% results, which patients grappling with diseases are in dire need of.

Positive Effects

The most authentic CBD oil for pain is not something found in every medical store in the vicinity nor can be grown in your garden as it needs a particular climate and place to grow in its pure and original form.

It is only then will the oil have positive effects on the body and some of them are as follows:

CBD oil is the perfect remedy for joint pain and people grappling with this problem have give positive remarks on the relief they have felt upon using it on a regular basis
CBD reviews at greenthevoteok have declared it as the best form of oil for pain relief and are of the opinion that it would shut down the pharmaceutical business in the near future
It has proven to be a worthy solution for treating arthritis pain which vanishes within 6 months to a year

By : Lucille

Category: Health, Healthcare

May 10

What HTML/XML Does

Since the internet exploding back in the late nineties, a ton of terms have been birthed in the public mind. HTML, Javascript, Java (which is entirely separate from Javascript), CSS, XHTML, and XML. Just to name a few. And that’s just in the area of web development. In my opinion, though, XML is the most fun idea ever.

What is XML? To put it deceivingly simply: it’s labels for the internet. XML allows you to identify pieces of information, describe what they are and how a web browser should use them. The fun part, though, is how much more flexible it is than it’s predecessor, HTML.

HTML

HTML, or HyperText Markup Language, is one of the biggest reasons the internet is so useful today. Prior to HTML, when the internet was still just a government and university project, all you could do was pass entire documents back and forth. Straight text. No formatting, no bold, no font size. No nothing. Just. Text.

In the late eighties, early nineties, two guys, Tim Berners-Lee and Robert Cailliau worked together to create what would become a markup language that was used to describe what certain parts of the document were. It used tags that were a word or letter inside two carrot brackets lt; gt;. For example, the “h1” tag ( lt; h1 gt;) was used to describe a header section, while the “p” tag ( lt; p gt;) was used to describe a paragraph. You could nest these tags as well, so you could have a header inside paragraph, and so on. HTML included tags for quotes, tables, listed items, and a bunch of other fun stuff.

Even Robert Cailliau and his partner would not have thought that their markup would be such a success, thereby making HTML a benchmark for other programming techniques in the current times web design company has taken inspiration from it for their projects.

The Problem

HTML changed the way the internet worked. To a limited extent, you could use some HTML properties to describe how things looked. You could use a table to organize the layout of a page, you could change the color of text to distinguish it from other text. And best of all, the link tag ( lt; a gt;) allowed you to link to multiple pages.

But it was still limited. If you wanted to make a calendar document, you didn’t have a lt; date gt; tag, or a lt; startTime gt; tag. If you wrote YouTube, there was no lt; inaneComment gt; tag. It was all just paragraphs of text. HTML only describes data on the most basic level. Once again, you could send an entire document to someone across the world. But you couldn’t send just a piece, or use the information in your document to fuel some other application.

The Reason

Under the hood, HTML is pretty simple. It has been called a programming/scripting language, but it’s really not. Because you don’t decide what the tags do. You just tell the computer what information is what. It decides what it’s going to do. Every HTML document refers to a specific file called a Document Type Definition (.dtd). Most websites refer to the official HTML .dtd for instructions. And all web browsers have a default in case none is specified. On any web page you can View Source and see just which .dtd a document is using. Usually found at the very top of the document.

This document is the real engine behind HTML. A .dtd is what says that an h1 tag is going to be bold and be bigger than an h3 tag. It determines that an ordered list will have bullet points while an unordered list will not. And while the appearance can be altered by CSS, that .dtd document determines how a web browser will structure the HTML a document contains.

This document contains all the rules for all the HTML tags that exist. Nothing else is defined. Which is why you can’t have a lt; description gt; tag or a lt; facebookStatus gt; tag.

The Solution

That’s where XML comes in. XML or eXtensible Markup Language is a technology that allows you to write your own tags, and then write a definitions file to determine how they are handled. And it’s this massive flexibility that makes XML so much fun.

One of the best and certainly most popular examples is an RSS feed. RSS or Really Simple Syndication is just that. Most blogs’ (and a lot of frequently updated websites) entries are automatically encoded into an RSS feed. Behind the scenes, RSS, which is one application of an XML standard, places things like lt; title gt;, lt; content gt; , lt; author gt; and lt; date gt;tags around all the pieces of information in a blog entry. That information can then be passed from one website to another.

My website is ocentertainment.net. It’s blog-based which means any new entries are made into a blog editor. Once I’m finished, it passes all the information to the main page, where you’ll find the title, the content, who wrote it, etc. But I also have my site set up to syndicate to my Facebook account, where the entry is posted as a note. The Facebook note application retrieves that information from my RSS feed, and is able, based on the RSS standard built in XML, to determine what part is supposed to be the title, the content, the….you get the idea.

Similarly, when I get invited to an event on Facebook, I have that set up to syndicate my events to my Google Calendar. When I accept an invitation on Facebook, the name of the event, the start and end times, the description, they all get sent to my Google account and appear right inside my pre-existing Google calendar. Without XML, Google would just see a bunch of lines of text and not have a clue what to do with it.

The Future

XML has already changed how we handle information a ton. From blogs to music metadata, from productivity applications like calendars, to internet forums, we can now describe to a computer what information is and how to use it.

It’s no surprise that the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) has decided to standardize XHTML. XHTML combines the best of both world. The bare necessity of HTML, which, to be fair, changed the internet as it is, and is a thorough, robust backbone. Combined with the flexibility that XML offers in describing complex pieces of information.

I’d like to say you’ll start to see this happen in the future, but truth be told, I’m late in the game. It’s already happening now. Websites utilizing XML-based technology are already revolutionizing what the internet is for. Combined with AJAX concepts, which is a whole ‘nother article in itself, and we’re looking at the worldwide merging of information and computing.

Another day, another tale, though.

By : Lucille

Category: Web Design

May 09

You Can Quit Smoking

I smoked for 25 years and I can tell you, it’s not easy to quit, either cold turkey or with major help like nicotine patches.

I should know. I quit over a dozen times, sometimes for a day, sometimes for a week, a couple of times for several weeks. People told me that it was easier after the first three weeks. I found out they were wrong.

I did quit though, after I figured out just how to do it, and I’ll guarantee that this method will work for you.

The big secret?

You have to have a reason to make you really, truly determined to quit. I don’t mean wishing you could run and breathe at the same time again, or some faint worry about the high cost of tobacco. Neither of those things will deter the true addict. I mean something that gets under your skin. Something that convinces you, once and for all, that you want to quit.

Mine was fear. My father died of a heart attack in his forties and my mother had high blood pressure. An aunt had a stroke in her thirties. I had rheumatic fever when I was a child which led to a heart murmur. I was a prime candidate for heart problems and I was fast approaching menopause.

Women have natural protection before menopause, but after that, they are just as susceptible as men to heart problems. I was entering that phase, and I knew, without doubt, that I had to do something. I still had a family to care for and things to do and see and enjoy and work toward in this world.

The time had come. I was prepared; I was ready; I was scared.

In this frame of mind, I went to a doctor and asked for nicotine patches. He wrote a prescription without asking any questions and I filled it before I went home.

On the first day, I found that if I smoked a cigarette while wearing a patch I would get dizzy. I discovered, also, that if I waited until a patch had run out, I could smoke a cigarette before I put on another one without it affecting me.

Talk about a diehard smoker! I used every trick I could think of to get just one more cigarette.

Then I read that it was dangerous to smoke while using the patches, so I went a couple of days without them! I knew I needed to quit. I had to quit. I was ready to quit… but I struggled so much with the addiction that I fought even the patch that gave me relief. Eventually the fear of a heart attack or stroke won out.

I began to use the patches all the time, the way I was supposed to. I quit complaining and began to make an effort to stay away from nicotine in any other form but the nicotine patch I was wearing.

The time came when I realized that I hadn’t had a cigarette for a whole week. It wasn’t until then that I really began to believe that I could win the battle.

With that discovery, determination set in and that, coupled with fear and now embarrassment at having fought it so long, compelled me to make it another week… and another one.

I was afraid when I took off the last patch. I felt as if I were standing insecure and alone in a strange land – the land of nonsmokers.

I also considered vaping or e-cigarette smoking. This kind of smoking is far different from the traditional smoking. The good thing about vaping is that is is considered to be way safer. Vapers can also choose wide variety of flavor. For more information, you can visit https://greyhaze.co.uk

In reality, that was the day I quit. I quit thinking of myself as a smoker and began thinking of myself as one of that great throng of people who can smell and breathe and taste the food they eat. And who don’t worry about heart attacks with every breath of smoke.

That’s why I say that you, too, can do this. You can become a nonsmoker. When you’re ready, you’ll know it and you’ll do it.

By : Lucille

Category: Guide, Health

May 07

Versace The Dreamer: Cologne Fragrance Review

Hi, my names Shane and I’ve had many colognes in my days, I’m only 24 though. Somehow I was able to collect and enjoy many colognes this world has to offer. I found that alot of people are misinformed when it comes to using a fragrance or how to apply it. This will be my first written review on one of my favorite colognes, The Dreamer by Gianni Versace. I will explain it wonderful characteristics and tell you what I like or might not like about this fragrance. I’ll also give advice on how to apply it, how much is enough and when or where is the best to wear it.

The Dreamer was released in 1996 by World famous fashion icon Gianni Versace. Jean-Pierre Bethouart is the perfumery behind it. This was the last fragrance Gianni Versace took part in before he was shot to death in cold blood. A very horrible and tragic end to such a great person. I do believe he is proud of this fragrance though, he should be. The Dreamer is very elegant and beautiful, which are not words to describe a man’s cologne. If you shy away from compliment and don’t want any attention from the ladies then this isn’t for you.

The Dreamer by Gianni Versace is sweet but, by no means a gourmand, gourmand is a typical men’s fragrance that is made to smell sweet like candy or food. This is one of the most unique perfumes I’ve ever wore, and yes guys, cologne and perfume are the same thing. The names derive from the three classifications of concentration, Eau De Cologne(3-5%), Eau De Toilette(5-8%) and Eau De Parfume(8-15%) of natural perfume oils. So there is perfume for guys and cologne for women, it just how strong the designer would like their fragrance to project. Back to this cologne though, there are classification to categorize a fragrance like citrusy, woodsy, gourmand, fresh or even leather/tobacco. This would fall under leather/tobacco which might not sound too nice but, I can explain why it is.

The notes of a fragrance are the individual scents that make up the anatomy of the perfume. Top notes of this cologne, which are what you sense when you first spray it, include: Juniper, Lilly and Wildflowers. The middle notes which last throughout most of the scent’s life are iris and linen. Then after the fragrance dies down you are left with the base notes: Tobacco, Amber and Tarragon. Juniper is actually an original favoring for Gin and through the Dutch word for Juniper is how Gin got it’s name. Juniper is a piney scent and is why people would classify The Dreamer as a woodsy fragrance but, I don’t think it is with wildflowers, amber and tobacco. Tarragon is a very pungent and sweet spice used in soda within Russia giving this fragrance it’s originality.

Formal events or social gatherings are perfect for wearing this cologne. I believe it can be used year round because some perfumes are too heavy for the summer. I don’t want to say only certain people should wear this but, I does seem to fall into a mature crowd. I want to be clear that when I say mature I do mean as in sophistication and not age. Wearing a particular fragrance should reflect how you feel and not what you look like. On my skin The Dreamer lasted about 8-10 hours without reapplying or using the bodywash. Guys and gals layer their fragrance by using bodywash, aftershave and lotion(aftershave balm for the guys) so to make the scent last longer on the skin, not stronger.

The skin is the only place a cologne should be applied because the oils collaborate with your oilsin your skin creating your own unique smell. The pulse points are the best places where the fragrance will project the most. Pulse points are the areas on your body that generate the most heat, usually because that’s where main arteries and blood vesiles are closest to the skin. They include both wrist, both sides of the neck and your declite(base of your neck). So four to five sprays should do it, any more is too much. Women like to spray it in their hair too and that’s a big NO. Because there are oils in your hair and alcohol in the perfume, your hair gets fried from the alcohol and the oils don’t react the same for the scent. In addition, makes sure to have a nice container for your cologne. This should come very handy. You should be able to put it in women or mens travel wallet so you can bring them wherever you want.

The Dreamer is just that, a dream to your nose. This stuff really puts a smile on my face and to people around me. I can’t think of any other fragrance I would recommend more than Versace The Dreamer, coming from me that says alot! I can’t think of a negative about it but, some people say it’s too strong at first. To me it smells like pure spearmint at first, then it drys down to remind me of fresh laundry when you go by a laundry mat. If you feel this might be your style, try it on your skin first. A fragrance can be very different on your skin than that on paper. I do have the feeling most if not all will love it!

By : Lucille

Category: Guide, Shopping and Product Reviews

May 06

Civil War Movies to Celebrate the Sesquicentennial

A few good Civil War movies can help any movie lover to get a better grip on the conflict that tore our nation apart one hundred and fitty years ago. During the current sesquicentennial celebration of the American Civil War some will chose to connect to that historic time by visiting battlegrounds, listening to presentations or reading relevant books. Even though I completed a history major in college and taught American history to high school students, I still plan to enjoy and make use of the valuable window into history that is provided by less scholarly Civil War movies.

Of course all Civil War movies pale beside the great Civil War epic, “Gone with the Wind”. Though I wouldn’t direct students to this movie as a factual reservoir, there is lots to be gained by allowing yourself to simply be immersed in this film. For me “Gone with the Wind” points to the clear reality that the Civil War wasn’t just about battles and generals. Throughout the Civil War, life, especially life in the South. was profoundly altered. A way of living that had been taken for idolized and taken for granted by some, suffered through by others and ignored by an entire half of the nation was slowly grinding to a halt. The Civil War marked a turning point in American history. In its own, sometimes less than accurate accounting, “Gone with the Wind” gives us a romanticized sampling of that pivotal time in our history.

Looking for a good Civil War movie that adheres more to the facts will could draw you to sitting down to view “Glory”. This film can open your eyes to what the Civil War meant in the eyes of black Americans. It traces the development of the Massachusetts 54th as a black company of Union soldiers under the direction of white officers. I have seen this movie multiple times and each time it has given me a window into the great differences in the life style of northern and southern, free and former slave African Americans. “Glory” requires us to look at the Civil War as more than a white man’s war. Celebrating the sesquicentennial of the Civil War should include taking time to wrap your mind around what that war meant not just to northern and southern white Americans but how it changed forever the lives of all African Americans from that time forward.. “Glory” can help you to do just that.

When you start assembling Civil War films that can help to enrich your understanding of that conflict, don’t leave out the John Wayne – William Holden film “The Horse Soldiers”. This film records one attempt made by Union forces to go behind Confederate lines to try to upset Confederate rail transportation. Though Wayne and Holden are both Union officers, they have very different views on war. Their constant bickering is entertaining, even amusing, but more than that it demonstrates the many different attitudes that make up a supposedly united army. When a charming white Southern woman appears in the story she only accentuates the truth that every person on both sides entered the Civil War with his or her own ideas of what war would mean, how long it would last and what changes it might bring. Talking about the war as between North and South as if both sides were unified bodies leaves out the human element so clearly presented in “The Horse Soldiers”.

Finally there is my personal favorite, “Shenandoah” with James Stewart. It’s a poignant tale of a peaceable man and his family living in violent times. Stewart stars as the widowed father of six sons and one daughter. The family lives in Virginia. When the Civil War begins Virginia determines to leave the Union and join the Confederacy. As a history teacher I have a special attachment to this movie because it spotlights the difficulties ordinary people encounter in times of war. The father in “Shenandoah” pronounces to his family that the Civil War has nothing to do with them. They are just farmers trying to make a living and survive from day to day on their farm. He insists they have no interest in politics or power, they just want to be left alone.

The position that this father takes is one that has been shared by people throughout time and one that deserves recognition as an honest and fair reaction to the violence that comes with war. As much as the father wishes to keep his sons out of harm’s way, the family is forced to get involved when the youngest son is kidnapped by Northern troops and taken away from the farm. “Shenandoah” gives history students and family members a fictional background against which they can discuss the meaning of neutrality and conscientious objection.

Of course during the sesquicentennial I will read some good Civil War books, watch pieces of Ken Burns’ “The Civil War” and maybe even visit a battlefield or two. But when it’s all over some of the strongest images and thoughts I will retain will be those that come to me from motion pictures. And that’s not a bad thing.

Civil war movies have been popular right from the days of World War II when people used to pine for such films and filmmakers like Sergei Eisenstein obliged by making them in large numbers and apart from the ones mentioned above, here is a list of the best ones https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lists/critics-picks-10-best-civil-905713.

By : Lucille

Category: Movies

May 05

FAQ Guide for MyFarm Users

In this FAQ guide for MyFarm users, you will find answers to questions like how to change the name of your farm, how to move decorations, and how to buy items for your farm. This guide should answer some of the most common questions asked in MyFarm.

How Do I Change the Name of MyFarm

Let’s start with changing the name of your farm. To change the name of your farm, you will need to click the farm name at the top of your game. Once you click it, you will see a box open. In this box, you can delete the name and type what you want. Then click the Ok button to apply the new name. You can change it at anytime by repeating the steps above.

Just keep in mind that the steps have to be done in a sequential process and not just by picking up a step at random as that would break the flow of MyFarm which is quite similar in technique to buy pokemon go accounts.

How Do I Move Decorations in MyFarm

To move decorations, trees, and other items on your farm, you will need to click the item with your mouse. Don’t click the square, but click the item. A box will open and you will see the Move option. Click this option and click the place on your farm that you want to move it too. The item will then be moved to the new place you clicked.

How Can I Buy Decorations and Other Items in MyFarm

You can buy decorations and other items for your farm by opening the store. The store tab is located at the top of your game. Once you open the store, you will see the different categories. Click a category and you will see the different items you can buy. To make a purchase, click the item.

How Do I View My Farms in MyFarm

At the bottom of your game, beside your friends, you will see the Switch button. Above the switch button you will see the farm that you are currently in. Click the Switch button and a box will open. Once the box opens, click the farm you want to visit. Your farm will reload and you will be redirected to that farm.

How Do I Plow Fields

To plow fields, you will need to click the Plow tool located at the bottom of your game. Then you will need to click a square on your farm that you want to place the field. Once you click your mouse, the new field will be plowed.

How Do I Remove Fields

To remove a field, you will need to select the plow tool and click the field that you want to remove. When the menu opens, click the Clear option. That field will be removed from your farm.

By : Lucille

Category: Games

May 04

Federal Reserve Rate Cut Unlikely to Increase Consumer Lending

Today the Federal Reserve – also known as the USA’s central bank – convened another meeting. The culmination of the Federal Reserve meeting is a 50 basis points decrease, lowering the bank lending rate to 1%. In a press release explaining the rationale behind the Federal Reserve rate cut, the Fed pointed to a “decline in consumer expenditures” as necessitating a much needed shot in the arm of America’s economy.

Unfortunately this Fed rate cut is somewhat reminiscent of rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic, and in a welcome bit of candor the Federal Reserve meeting participants acknowledge that the recent bailout, today’s rate cut, and of course the shakeup in the banking system “should help over time to improve credit conditions and promote a return to moderate economic growth” (emphasis mine).

Perhaps not surprisingly, there is precious little joy and excitement about today’s Fed rate cut and rather than anticipating a great or at least moderate turnaround, CNN Money — which just last year published articles suggesting tips for homeowners who wanted to take advantage of rate cuts then – reported that stocks went down right after the announcement.

The next Federal Reserve meeting is scheduled for December 16th, and already Wall Street gamblers are wondering if there is any chance that the next Fed cut will bring the rate below 1%. Even as this is a distinct possibility in the minds of some, it begs the question what will happen when the Federal Reserve runs out of interest to cut. This last percent is the power of economic stabilization left to the Federal Reserve Bank and once it is depleted, it is anyone’s guess what needs to happen next to stop the hemorrhaging of the American economy.

This of course also shows another fallacy of the Fed rate cut assumption: although banks are now more able to lend money to consumers, they are by far less willing. Just earlier today the New York Times remarked on the credit card crisis that is nipping at the heels of the mortgage crisis. Good thing there’s docker.com to help us avoid going through this financial trouble.

With $21 billion in defaulted credit card loans in the first six months, Bank of America and Citigroup have noticeably curtailed credit issuance to consumers who do not fit into a tightly defined mold. Fed rate cut not withstanding, consumer lending is drying up as banks are protecting their assets, and today’s Federal Reserve rate cut is unlikely to change that.