Monday, 28 December 2009

Hints For Saving Money On Wedding Photography

By Sammy Shaw

Wedding photographs set the stage for long time memories and very few brides wish to take the cheap route where this is concerned. Although we are hesitant to offer advice to try to save money on your wedding photos, with professional wedding photography prices skyrocketing, not all brides can find the money for such services.

There are some answers here for the budget minded bride on how to save cash on your wedding pictures:

1.) Search Among Your Family or Friends for a Photographer. There is certain to be somebody who is into photography and owns better equipment than ordinary folks normally have. Try to find a relation who takes good photos and you can ask him to help out. You should employ the services of the persons who are willing to assist to trim your wedding expenses. If you do find somebody, be sure to speak with them in advance and make him/her aware of any particular poses you desire.

(2) Check with your local college or university for a photography student. They will love to have an opportunity to work an event and have something to put in their portfolio. Sure they are amateurs, but that means they will have a different view and will bring new creative ideas to give you some unique photos.

3. Providing your attendees with single-use cameras is another alternative. At every table, provide a themed single-use camera in order for attendees to snap pictures. You'll get pictures taken from a variety of viewpoints, and you can select your favourites. Appoint a single person to collect the cameras and have the pictures brought in for developing.

(4) If you must have a professional do the job, shop around and contact several photographers for quotes. Tell them you are trying to stay to a strict budget and see what they can do for you. You may well be pleasantly surprised by their reaction. Cutting back on the amount of photos taken will also help you stay within your photo budget.

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How Anyone Can Become A Remote Viewer

By Jason Faux

Have you ever wondered what your life might be like if you were a remote viewer? If this is something you haven't done before, it's hard to describe the experience and even harder to really understand what it's like.

As a remote viewer, you can see any place, any person or any object anywhere in the universe at any time in the past, present or future. You can see what's going on around the corner or view the signing of the Magna Carta. You could look into the future to see what's coming a hundred years from now. When you're the remote viewer, there is no limit to what you can uncover.

Anyone in the world can be a remote viewer however, for many they seem to have forgotten or lost their extra senses of perception. There are many different types of extra senses that the majority of humans have let go to waste or perhaps they never had the opportunity to learn more or practice their innate and natural mind powers.

Remote viewing often takes place with the remote viewer focusing on a target which they are completely unfamiliar with. In remote viewing studies, subjects practices remote viewing with no frame of reference as to what they would be viewing other than a codeword referring to the location's coordinates on a map unknown to the subjects.

However, this does not mean that you cannot remote view in an area that you are familiar with although you are not in that location at the time of the practice or test session of remote viewing. Many governments have poured millions of dollars into investigating the power of the mind such as remote viewing. Remote viewing is a term that falls under the umbrella term of paranormal or psychic, as does lucid dreaming, astral travel and other psychic abilities.

Interestingly enough, being a remote viewer is not something altogether out in left field or strangely odd, since it is something that we are all capable of doing. Whether we know it or not we do have what it takes inside us to enhance and develop our natural born abilities, these do include being a remote viewer.

What Do You Do To Enhance And Develop Your Natural Remote View Abilities?

Remote viewing, like all other psychic abilities are based on your mind power. You need to condition your mind to use its untapped potential and there are several different techniques which can be used to learn remote viewing. Meditation and guided visualization can help you to achieve the necessary state of mind to use remote viewing.

You will want to take the time to get good and relaxed while learning and practicing the various types of meditation and visualization until you find just the right ones that work best for you. Keep in mind that it will take time and effort, therefore you should not become impatient or irritable with yourself while you are trying to achieve your goals as a remote viewer.

When you're practicing remote viewing, choose a quiet place where you won't be disturbed. Since you need to relax and focus your mind in order to remote view, you'll want to be certain that you won't be interrupted as you train yourself to use your natural remote viewing abilities.

Keep a journal of your remote viewing sessions and write down what tests you give yourself and the results and the details of any images which come to you. This remote viewer logbook is very helpful to you in tracking your progress towards proficiency in this natural ability and determining which techniques perform well for you.

Not many people decide to make the effort to develop them, but all people have natural psychic abilities including remote viewing. All it takes is the right kind of training to bring out these latent abilities and begin to use them consciously.

When you're a remote viewer, the entire universe opens its doors to you. You can see into any place at any time and explore distant galaxies or even find out what's going on next door. There are no limits to what a remote viewer can see; everyone can benefit from developing this inborn sensory ability.

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Sunday, 27 December 2009

UFC 102 Highlighted By Couture/Nogueira Bout

By Ross Everett

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira left a lot of questions unanswered in the wake of his UFC 92 loss to Frank Mir. After the fight it was revealed that hed suffered from a staph infection during training, severe enough to land him in the hospital for five days. He insisted that the loss was entirely attributable to his illness. At UFC 102 from the Rose Garden in Portland, Oregon, Big Nog made a compelling case that his loss to Mir was a definite aberration. Nogueira dominated a determined Randy Couture over three rounds, en route to a unanimous decision victory over the UFC Hall of Famer.

Nogueira received a respectful welcome from the Rose City crowd, but nothing like the rousing ovation afforded local hero Couture. Couture lived in suburban Gresham, Oregon for a number of years and trained at Team Quest before leaving to start Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas.

Despite the lopsided outcome of the fight, The Natural gave his fans plenty to cheer about. Though hes no longer able to outwork opponents and earn victories, hes still an amazing physical specimen for a 46 year old man. Furthermore, he still has the amazing toughness and resilience that made him a legend. He was knocked down twice, and came close to being choked out in each of the three rounds. In the first, he fought off a DArce Choke before Nogueira relented to conserve his energy. In the second, he worked out of a dangerous arm triangle choke and in the final frame withstood a ground and pound beating and a rear naked choke attempt.

Couture in no way embarrassed himself, but he never really threatened Nogueira either. After the fight Nogueira expressed his respect for Couture and appreciation for the Portland fans before politely calling out current heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar.

Earlier in the event, Thiago Silva demonstrated why hes considered among the most underrated fighters in the UFC as he dismantled Keith Jardine. Silva perfectly countered one of Jardines kicks with a nasty straight right hand. He followed up with a quick ground punching barrage before the referee called a halt to the fight early in the first round.

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Bills Uppend Turnover Prone Panthers

By Ross Everett

Carolina Panthers' quarterback Jake Delhomme is having a season he'd like to forget, and things got even worse on Sunday at home against the Buffalo Bills. Despite dominating the Bills on the stat sheet, Delhomme threw three interceptions that allowed Buffalo to take a 20-9 victory over the struggling Panthers. Delhomme threw for 325 yards, though without any touchdowns. The Panthers dropped to 2-4 while the Bills improved to 3-4.

Buffalo rewarded NFL pointspread players with the outright victory as +7 road underdogs. The Bills have covered four of their seven games this season, while the Panthers have an awful record against the spread-they've only covered once this season for a 1-5 ATS mark. The 29 combined points went UNDER the posted total of 37. Buffalo has gone UNDER in 4 of 7 games this season while Carolina evened their NFL totals mark at 3-3.

The Bills' Terrell Owens was again a non-factor, but gave credit to the defense for earning the victory:

"You can't really complain about a win. Defensively, those guys are keeping us in ballgames."

Buffalo defensive end Chris Kelsay commended his team's performance on the road:

"Never once on the sidelines was there any doubt that we were going to win the game. Regardless if it's an ugly win over not, it's hard to win in this league."

Ryan Fitzpatrick started at QB for Buffalo in place of the injured Trent Edwards and was solid, if not spectacular. Coach Dick Jauron observed:

"He made the plays when we had to make them."

Panthers' coach John Fox has said he's going to're-evaluate' whether the struggling Delhomme should continue to start, and even the quarterback himself couldn't make an emphatic case that he should keep his job:

"In my heart, yeah, but I mean let's be honest, I don't think I'm a dummy. When you're not playing well offensively, you always have to look at the quarterback."

The Panthers' schedule doesn't get easier this week as they head west for a game against the improving Arizona Cardinals. Carolina is a +9 road underdog with the total set at 43'. They'll head south the following week to face the red hot New Orleans Saints before returning home on November 15 to take on the Atlanta Falcons. Buffalo will host the Houston Texans this weekend, with the game currently off the board due to injuries on both teams. They'll have their bye week after that and will return to action on November 15 against the Tennessee Titans.

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MMA Pioneer Helio Gracie Remembered

By Ross Everett

Helio Gracie--patriarch of the legendary Gracie MMA family--died earlier this year in Rio De Janeiro at age 95. His influence on martial arts, and even more so the sport that is known known as mixed martial arts, is staggering. The Gracie family name will forever be synonymous with Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, MMA and the UFC due to the accomplishments of Helio Gracie and his progeny.

Helio Gracie began studying martial arts early in life, and by the age of 16 had already begun to teach judo in his native Brazil. While Helio had no problem mastering the theoretical aspects of judo, he found that many of its techniques required a great deal of brute strength which made them less effective for a smaller fighter such as himself. Along with his brother Carlos, he began to adapt many of judos techniques to make them more reliant on leverage rather than strength. This experimentation led to the creation of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) which is often referred to as Gracie Jiu-Jitsu in his honor.

Gracie also had a professional fighting career of his own, taking on champions from other fighting disciplines in an early version of modern MMA. These bouts were grueling, unregulated affairs with rules that were often made up as they went along and time limits that seem barbaric by todays standards. By his own recollection, he had 15 fights against the top fighters of his day. These included pro wrestlers, boxers and other martial arts specialists.

Gracie's most famous opponent was against legendary Japanese judoka Masahiko Kimura. Gracie fought bravely in a losing cause, and ironically may have enhanced his reputation in defeat. He refused to submit to a reverse arm bar (the move that is now known as a 'kimura' in honor of its inventor), and the fight ended after his brother Carlos threw in the towel after Helio's arm had been broken.

Gracie's greatest impact, however, may have been through his progeny which is an important part of Brazilian sports and mixed martial arts even today. Royce Gracie is well known as the first UFC superstar, while sons Rickson Royler, Renzo have also achieved considerable fame in professional MMA. At the time of his death, Helio Gracie was a 6th Dan Judo black belt and the only living 10th degree master of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

The cause of Gracies death was officially given as natural causes. His last words will go down as a fitting envoi to a man who gave so much of himself to fighting:

Gracie's last words are as follows:"I created a flag from the sports dignity. I oversee the name of my family with affection and nerves of blood.

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Panthers Derail Struggling Buccaneers

By Ross Everett

Carolina Panthers' quarterback Jake Delhomme struggled on Sunday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and was fortunate that his running backs bailed him out. Delhomme threw for only 65 yards with two interceptions, but D'Angelo Williams (152 yards) and Jonathan Stewart (110 yards) kept the chains moving as the Panthers won their second straight game defeating the Bucs 28-21. Tampa Bay has now lost ten straight dating back to last season and are 0-6 for the first time since'85. The fact that they ended up starting that year 0-9 on their way to a 1-15 record doesn't bode well for the rest of the season. Carolina improved to 2-3 with the victory.

NFL sports bettors were faced with a choice between two teams with dismal ATS records in this game, and those who had the guts to take a 1-3 team as a -3 road favorite were rewarded with the cover. It was Carolina's first NFL pointspread cover of the season and left them with a 1-4 record against the number. Tampa Bay has covered one of their six games this year.

Delhomme attempted only seven passes in the second half, but the way Williams and Stewart were running there was no reason to put the ball in the air. Williams said that even though Tampa Bay knew what was coming they couldn't stop the Panthers' running game:

"I'm sure everybody in the stadium knew what we were going to do. There were times they had nine in the box and we were still getting 7 or 8 yards."

There's been little impatience locally with Bucs' rookie head coach Raheem Morris, but his weekly habit of explaining the obvious to rationalize yet another loss is starting to wear thin:

"We got overpowered at the end, and really throughout the game."

Carolina safety Dante Wesley was ejected after clobbering Bucs' return man Clifton Smith after a fair catch call. After the game, Wesley gave this defense for his actions:

"I was just trying to make a play. You can check my record. I've never really tried to hurt anybody. I've never tried to take a cheap shot on anybody."

Wesley could face a possible fine or suspension from the NFL but, in all fairness, it did appear to be a momentary mental lapse as he was trying to make a big play and not a deliberate attempt to injure Smith.

Tampa's schedule has the look of them going from 'the frying pan into the fire' as they host the New England Patriots next Sunday-fresh off of their 57 point drubbing of Tennessee. Carolina has an easier draw, hosting the Buffalo Bills next Sunday. The game is currently off the board pending the status of Bills' QB Trent Edwards who suffered a concussion in Sunday's win over the New York Jets. The Panthers will then play on the road the following two Sundays, traveling to Arizona and New Orleans.

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MMA Flashback: Aoki Beats JZC In Rematch

By Ross Everett

After a controversial no contest in their first matchup, there was no doubt as to the winner of the DREAM 2 rematch between Shina Aoki and JZ Calvan. Aoki controlled the fight from the opening bell and used a wide repertoire of submission attempts to keep his opponent off balance. Most impressive was Aokis dominance of the ground game, which many observers considered to be JZs edge in the contest.

Aoki scored early with a takedown and controlled Calvan on the ground, working a heel lock attempt before taking his opponents back and attempting a rear naked choke. He was never able to complete the hold, but maintained a bodylock on JZC for the rest of the round. In the second, Aoki put on a submission clinic and demonstrated his ungodly flexibility as he spun from an armbar to a triangle choke and back again. Calvan was able to counter or escape, but looked completely out of sync as he generated almost no offense whatsoever over the 15 minutes.

Aoki was very emotional in his postfight speech to the crowd, while JZC just looked disgusted with himself for losing such a one sided contest.

With the victory Aoki advances to the semifinals of the lightweight GP tournament. Thats the plan at least, as Aoki made some statements in the Japanese press leading up to the fight that win or lose there would be no way hed be ready for the next round with only half the preparation time as the rest of the field.

The rest of the card was devoted to the opening round of the middleweight GP tournament. Taiei Kin defeated Minowa-man Ikuhisa Minowa in a very closely contested and entertaining fight. Despite Kin taking a 3-0 unanimous decision (DREAM judges, like their PRIDE predecessors, judge the fight in its entirety) the first round could have gone either way. Minowa was clearly tired in the 2nd, and that likely sealed the deal for Kin.

Korean judoka Yoon Dong-Sik also advanced with a unanimous decision victory over Shungo Oyama. Most of the damage in this fight came from Yoons ground and pound from full mount, and he controlled the tempo from the outset. Two one sided contests followed, with Zeleg Galesic submitting Magomed Sultanakhmadov via arm bar in a minute and a half of the first round. That was followed by the MMA debut of former Pac 10 wrestling standout Ian Murphy, who had a worst case scenario draw against BJJ specialist Ronaldo Jacare.

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