Quark Xpress 8

The book I read to research this post was Quark Xpress 8 Essential Skills by John Cruise et al which is a very good book which I bought from Amazon. Quark Xpress started out as a desktop publishing but has gradually also become a website design & ebook generating package. This book is quite old & I'm not sure what the latest version is but it's still interesting. If you are using Quark Xpress to create a website you can incorporate flash files & pdf files into your site. One thing I can't understand is they've got rid of the polygon tool in version 8, now you have to draw it from scratch, it was introduced in version & was a good feature. One interesting feature is ligatures which are pairs of characters or letters which are joined up for aesthetic reasons, an example being in the word final you might have the fi joined up. In Quark you should never have to create anything from scratch more than once as there are quite a lot of features like cut & paste, & also duplicate & special duplicate which let you save & reuse something easily & even let you easily modify it.

Notice

These are my primary blogs which contain a lot more posts
computing   http://scratbag.me
technology  http://scratbagroberts.com
history   http://scratbagdave.com
alternative therapies   http://daveroberts69.wordpress.com
I also have a new fiction & biography blog at  http://oldscratbag.wordpress.com
On this site I'll combine the new entries from the computing & technology blogs. This is because I think it's more search engine friendly.
All the best
Dave.

Wireshark

The book I read to research this post was Practical Packet Analysis by Chris Sanders which is a very good & an excellent introduction to wireshark. I bought it from kindle. Many of the tools that help you secure a network also play a part if you want to hack, that's a fact of life. I'm just going to do a general introduction to wireshark & the associated programs that help with wireless security. Wireshark is an open source packet sniffer although if you do a search for it in google you will find certain dubious types trying to sell it. Get the free version, I think if you do a search for snake oil there's also people selling that. Basically wireshark tells you where your data is going & don't forget although data may only be read by one computer on a network, chances are it's sent but not read by every other computer on the network. You need a proper hub on your network to read the packets & don't forget many so called hubs are in fact low level switches which aren't suitable for this purpose. Chances are if you get a proper hub it'll be a secondhand one which you may get quite cheap. Nmap is used to tell you what's on the network which you should already know if you are a network administrator. Wireshark will only scan one channel but kismet is quite useful it'll scan 10 channels per second. Finally another thing you might be interested in is cloudshark which is a cloud or online version of wireshark.

History of Dublin Shipbuilding

The book I read to research this post was The Liffey Ships & Shipbuilding by Pat Sweeney which is an excellent book which I bought from kindle. This book is about the shipbuilding industry in Dublin & its history, the Liffey is a river which runs through Dublin. My family on my mums side are from Dublin & while as far as I know none of my family worked in the shipbuilding industry I thought it'd be interesting. The early days of Dublin as a shipbuilding city can be traced back to at least the 17th century making it older than the shipbuilding industry in Belfast which was the world capital of shipbuilding. In 1667 a dubliner designed & built the first catamaran in a small Dublin shipyard & had a race against 3 other boats which he promptly won. He built catamarins for a while until he built one that was 50 feet long that had such poor handling that the crew refused to sail in her after which he lost interest in catamarins. Another dubliner took out a patent for a steamer which used a steam powered wooden to power it but it was no where near as efficient as the later screw propeller. The Dublin shipbuilding industry really took off in the 19th & 20th centuries. It's interesting that when Ireland became independent Britain still claimed 3 treaty ports until 1938 because Irelands ports were important to the british empire. Not many boatyards lasted very long they would be set up at boom times of shipbuilding but the ships typically lasted approximately 40 years so often they would have to try & get by doing ship repairs. In the first world war the shipbuilding industry boomed due to the huge amount of shipping lost. The british government put the irish shipyards under tremendous pressure to increase production with the prime minister David Lloyd George even writing to some personally. Between 1914 & 1920 the number of shipyards in Britain & Ireland increased by a huge amount. This caused a huge amount of unemployment when the first world war ended & there was a slump & also because Germany had to make reparations she gave the UK a load of her ships. What caused further unemployment for the Dublin shipyards was the british governments decision to have ships built in Belfast regardless of the cost. A dry dock was built was built in Dublin in the 60's but nowadays most ships are built in the developing world & the last of the Dublin shipyards was filled in, in 2009.

History of Coal Trains

In case you're wondering I've not done a post for a number of days due to changing my broadband provider instead I have done posts in word & then copied & pasted them. The book I read to research this post was A History of Coal Trains by Brian Solomon et al which is an excellent book which I bought from kindle. The industrial revolution really took off in britain in the 1820's & in the 1830's the USA was sending people to britain to both find out about this new technology & buy things like steam engines to send home. Initially the train network became both the largest transporter of coal & the biggest user. As electricity took off the power stations became the biggest consumer. Much coal was also sent to the various ironworks & later steelworks like the one at bethlehem. The first railroad was a 9 mile long gravity fed one where pack animals pulled the trucks up & they coasted back down. The transport of coal became the railway networks top form of revenue. Initially trains used anthracite & this was characterised by a shallower firebox but later trains used bituminous coal. A problem as more & more coal was used became smog & often sulphur dioxide was produced which is poisonous but nowadays due to legistation low sulphur coal is used more & more. The early cars which transported coal only had an 8 ton capacity but nowadays they typically have a 90 ton capacity also staffing levels have been reduced because one driver can control more than one train. Another interesting development is that the percentage of total coal output at the top 20 mines in the USA is gradually increasing. Some of the steam locomotives used to pull coal were some of the biggest ever produced. Between 1840 & 1860 coal production increased tenfold in the USA. Later on diesel & electric locomotives were used to haul coal & the last of the steam locomotives was finally phased out in 1960.
I am interested in the history of coal mining because my dad worked as a coal miner in shropshire in the UK for 17 years & one of my uncles was one for 42 years at the same colliery. Nowadays in britain most coal mining is opencast & most collieries have been closed down.

Dog Psychology

The book I read to research this post was Do Dogs Need Shrinks? by Dr Peter Neville which is an excellent book which I bought from kindle. Interestingly the red fox isn't an ancestor to the development of the dog. We know this because you can't cross a red fox with a dog, they're completely different species. However animals which we know will interbreed with dogs include jackals, wolves, the arctic fox, dingoes & the fennec fox suggesting they have probably contributed to the development of the dog in the past. The smallness of dogs primarily comes from the asiatic wolf & the sleekness which can be seen in breeds like the greyhound probably comes from the indian wolf. Some people have tried to bring up fox & wolf cubs but when they get older they challenge peoples authority more & more & become quite aggressive. This indicates that the domestication of the dog was a gradual process. They at first probably followed tribes & had a share of any kills & then gradually they got them to help kill animals & guard. Out of the pedigree breeds collies are the worst biters followed by alsations. Rottweillers aren't as bad as their reputation. Poodles are the hardest to house train despite being one of the most intelligent. Some breeds particularly boxers, labradors & alsations suffer from separation anxiety which is when a dog gets traumatically upset at the owner leaving them on their own. In extreme cases they bite their paws & tail & cause damage to things in the room. In serious cases they can be prescribed valium although obviously in much lower doses than what humans take. One bit of advise is to leave him in a room like the kitchen where he can do less damage. You shouldn't make a fuss of him prior to going out as that can make it worse. Another thing is leaving the radio on as he will think he has company. Finally you shouldn't let him know you are going out, you should just go out. Also one bit of advise I had when I first got a dog is you should start as you mean to go on which I think is good advise.

Quilting

The book I read to research this post was Quilting for Dummies by Cheryl Hall which is an excellent book which I bought from kindle. The art of quilting is very old, the oldest quilted object found to date was dated to 1BC & was found in a tomb in siberia. The applications of quilting are equally widespread, it can be used for table runners, objects which you hang on the wall, coat hangers even in the old days a door might be quilted or even a whole tent especially in colder climates. In medieval times when you wore armour part of your protection was the thickly quilted material. Most quilted objects have 3 layers, there's the backing, the batting or the filling & the top quilt layer which if it's decorated this is called appliquee. Quilting can be done by hand or on a sewing machine, often nowadays the appliquee is machine done.Cotton is most commonly used for the top & bottom layers because it's relatively easy to get a needle threw it, the batting on the other hand is often polyester or cotton/polyester composite. The reason for this is that polyester doesn't shrink much when it's wet & it's good for keeping you warm. If you are quilting clothing some people use silk batting because it's lightweight but it's very expensive & difficult to source. Polyester is quite unsuitable for the top or backing layers in quilting, it's difficult to push a needle threw & you will end up with sore fingers. That brings us to another point always use a thimble on the middle finger of the right hand if you are right handed & the left hand if you are left handed. You should use tailors chalk for marking out your designs as it's readily water soluble & easy to wash off. You should use proper fabric scissors & keep them sharp by only using them to cut fabric, don't waste money getting them sharpened instead buy a new pair. In the old days they used to have quilting bees where women meet up & show each other what they were quilting, nowadays there are quilting guilds which sometimes even get an expert on a certain aspect of quilting in to do a talk, there's also cyber guilds on the internet.

Thriving in the Workplace

The book I read to research this post was Thriving in the Workplace All in One for Dummies which is an excellent book which I bought from Amazon. Apparently the most stressed workers are managers & executives & the least stressed are the self employed. Also americans work longer hours than anyone on average except the south koreans & the czechs. In america even when employees are on holiday or on sick leave they are often expected to do work. I live in britain where we on average do 50 hours less work than americans per year. Meetings 71% of the time are unproductive according to microsoft employees. In another poll 39% admitted to having fallen asleep in a meeting & 73% brought other work to do in the meetings. Meetings that work on a project with a small group of employees can help a large corporation compete with smaller companies on an almost equal footing. It's important that every department affected by the project has at least one representative at the meeting. The meeting should be structured to get the best results it's no good saying has anyone got any ideas or something similiarly vague. Your immediate superior is often the singularly most influential person in the workplace. The most common type of problem employee in terms of you getting on with them is the screamer. The last thing you should do is scream back especially if you are not a screamer yourself. One thing worth trying is paraphrasing back to the person what they are saying & trying to relate to them so they can see you understand how they feel. Many employees are looking at online courses to help them get promotion or a new career, there's a fallacy that they are mainly youngsters when in fact many are middle aged. Many people do a course which helps them carry out a role ie design a website, hence making them a more valuable employee. Your whole career should be a continuous process of learning. Many people go on sites like linkedin & link them to eportfolio sites & also many people at university are instructed to set up an eportfolio site to encourage employers to take them on.

Home Winemaking

I have done a post on wine which details the different types on my alternative therapies blog at http://daveroberts69.wordpress.com it might be of interest if you enjoy this post. The book I read to research this post was Home Winemaking for Dummies by Tim Patterson which is an excellent book which I bought from kindle. The best wine is made from grapes although I've even heard of someone making wine from old socks. This book deals exclusively with grapes. Many people use grape juice which is easier as you don't have to remove the bits. Although people buy a press & if you make red wine the pigmentation comes from the skins. Other people buy the grapes or grape juice ready frozen which adds a nuance to the flavour & you get more juice for your buck, any winemaking specialist should do this. Wine typically takes 2-3 weeks to ferment then it must mature typically 6 months for white & 12 months for red. If it's red it's a good to let it mature in oak caskets, some people leave it in a carboy with pieces of oak wood inside, same result if cheating. French oak is best although the american casket industry has come along in leaps & bounds & is even sometimes used by the french winemaking industry to add certain nuances to the taste. If you're impatient beer making is typically a lot quicker although I think winemaking is more satisfying. When it's fermenting a small piece of copper or a small amount of sulphur dioxide is added to kill the bad bacteria. You can't skimp on cleanliness when making wine & it doesn't take much bad bacteria to make the wine go off. Never use rotten grapes as they'll turn the wine & preferably use small bunches of grapes as large bunches tend to make it watery. You can use late season grapes which add to the alcohol content. Also a good idea is making port or sherry where you add alcohol & try & retain the sugar content. Some people are tempted to add an extra bag of sugar to increase the alcohol content but bear in mind the bad bacteria feeds on sugar as well.

The Titanic

The book I read to research this post was The Titanic for Dummies by Stephen Spignesi which is an excellent book which I bought from kindle. When they were building the titanic the older workers used to amuse themselves by telling the younger workers stories about workers who were trapped inside the hull & claimed if you listened carefully you could hear them tapping the inside of the hull. Obviously a complete lie. There's also a conspiracy theory that the ship that sunk wasn't the titanic but was one of her sister ships which was already badly damaged & the owners claimed the insurance. According to the author there isn't a shred of evidence to back up this fanciful story. After the titanic sank her sister ships had to have major upgrades because of the bad publicity which meant that people didn't want to sail on them because they thought they were unsafe. The titanic lies under 2 miles of water. One thing they have discovered is that the composition of the rivets made them a bit fragile because it was incorrect & this could have resulted in the iceberg doing more damage than it otherwise would have. The lookouts didn't have binoculars & also there weren't any on the bow only in the crows nest which probably resulted in them spotting the iceberg too late. Also the titanic was going too fast which was probably because if they got to New York early they would get in the local newspapers giving them free publicity. The titanic was supposedly unsinkable & even though it had insufficient lifeboats many of them were launched half full. They told the passengers it was a precaution & many opted to stop on the ship. Harland & Wolff are currently building a ship which is almost identical to the titanic which will do cruises & there expecting it to be quite popular. Harland & Wolff who built the original titanic were different to other shipyards in that they didn't just build the hull they also had a mechanical division which built things like the engine. In them days they specialized in ocean liners but mowadays they have expanded into doing things like oil tankers & oil drilling platforms among other things.

Becoming a Personal Trainer

The book I read to research this post was Becoming a Personal Trainer for Dummies by Linda Formichelli et al which is an excellent book which I bought from kindle. A lot of this book is concerned with the nitty gritty of being a self employed personal trainer in other words running a business. If you apply for a job as a personal trainer at a gym they will expect you to be certified so that's your first step. Once you are qualified it's a good idea to get a job at a gym as you can gain contacts & experience. When you become self employed look at your personality if you are a bit like a sergeant major maybe you should be training athletes, if you are quite patient & are happy to explain things perhaps you should be working with children & adults who are new to gym training. Some personal trainers are self employed but pay a fee to a gym so they can be based there. A lot of people have a gym at home so if you don't mind travelling that's an option. Still other self employed personal trainers will rent somewhere & buy their own machines etc. It's important you have some sort of fat/muscle composition testing so you can start your client off at the right level of workout. To start with get them to use the machines rather than freestanding weights because it's easier & they are less likely to get injured. It may be if someone has special needs that you need to get permission & advice from their doctor before they embark on any kind of gym work. You will find even if you don't employ any other trainers you will have to employ other people like accountants & electricians at least from time to time.

Green Home Computing

The book I read to research this post was Green Home Computing for Dummies by Woody Leonhard et al which is an excellent book which I bought from Amazon. I'll tell you a story I worked at a garage as a trainee motor mechanic in about 1988 & they bought a computer I think in 1985 & used it for stock taking & funnily enough when they were bought out in 2010 they were still using the same computer for stock taking. I dread to think what radiation the computer was producing but to them it made sense. The bosses wife who used it didn't have to retrain & you could argue that had they upgraded every 2 years like most companies do nowadays think of all the resources that would have been used. That's the thing with green computing a lot of it's choice although I'm not suggesting you should use something that belts out loads of radiation, but whether you should use an old item that maybe uses more electric or upgrade to something that has used a load of resources in its manufacture is choice. Nobody can be sure which is less harmful to the environment. You can do things like use the power management features in windows & turn off peripherals when not in use. With the advent of cloud computing we should see less companies & homes upgrading their computers every 2 years which however you look at it is wasteful. Another development is a lot of homes use a home server which might sound wasteful but you can recycle a lot of the components used in it & it centralises your data so you can use older computers as workstations. Even games are going over to cloud computing and eventually an old computer will be able to play the latest games in high definition as the processing will be done at the other end but I think that will be in the reasonably near future.

Dogs

The book I read to research this post was Dogs All in One for Dummies by various authors which is an excellent book which I bought from Amazon. A kind of trend among mixed breeds is designer breeds where types of cross have a kind of breed name. Some people do pay quite a lot of money for these types of dogs but I would suggest having a look at your local rescue centre which may have that type of dog & may have one about a year old that's already house trained. Some types of these breeds are the goldador a cross between labrador & golden retriever, the borador a cross between border collie & labrador & the labradoodle a cross between labrador & poodle. The relevance of the labradoodle is poodles don't tend to shed their hair. The borador is particularly good for agility trials & is also good if you want a dog that is like a labrador but smaller. You do find a lot of labrador crosses in rescue centres because a lot of people have them as pups & don't realise how energetic they are & how much exercise they need. If you have quite a dominant you have to let him know his place & one way of doing this is if you eat before you feed him. I know it sounds cruel but if you were both dogs in a pack you would kill something ie a deer, & the dominant dogs would have their share first then the less important dogs would have their share. If your dog is quite docile it doesn't matter that much that he knows you are in charge he will probably automatically accept it but especially if you have something like a rottweiller it's a good idea.

Jane Austin

The book I read to research this post was Jane Austin for Dummies by Joan Elizabeth Klingel Ray which is an excellent book which I bought from kindle. Jane Austin only wrote a few books & died at the age of 41 from Addisons disease which basically meant all her organs gradually shut down. Although a successful author in her lifetime people didn't know who she was until after her death when it appeared in her obituary. Writing books for ladies was not supposed to be something they did. Her books only became part of the curriculum in schools after feminism got popular in the 60's. She lived in the georgian period in which there were 4 consecutive king georges. George was insane & funnily enough one of the things they treated it with was arsenic which made it worse. Two of her brothers were officers in the navy & you can tell from her books  that she respected them. Britain had a war with France which she wrote about indirectly. There were the gordon riots when people rioted against the governments relaxing the laws against catholicism. Indeed if you wanted to go to oxbridge or be an officer in the army or serve in public office you had to be anglican. Although Austins family were gentry they were not nearly as wealthy as in her novels. Her family were unable to afford a dowry so she couldn't get married. There was a very sophisticated form of etiquette among the gentry which is seen in her books. Also the wealthy were expected to help the poor which is frequently a theme in her books.

More Linux

The book I read to research this post was Linux All In One For Dummies 4th Edition by Emmet Dulaney which is an excellent book which I bought from kindle. Most people who use linux download it from the web but some pay a small fee for a disc from a linux vendor. A distro which is short for distributed operating system will often a load of extra software as well & is often on several cd-roms or a dvd-rom. There's even versions of linux that will work with a playstation 3. One tip I'd give is get some linux magazines because they often include a dvd-rom full of linux software & it saves the hassle of downloading the stuff from a website. A lot of linux software is very high quality & free. For example there's gimp which is a photo editor & blender which is a 3d modelling & design program & both of them are excellent. I got a book on examples of award winning sites & not a single one used gimp even though it's as fully featured as photoshop & it's free. Many companies are afraid of changing over to gimp in case they can't find employees who can use it & many potential employees would rather learn photoshop which is still an excellent program but costs over £500, because obviously it's easier to find a job using photoshop. I think gradually more & more companies will use linux more, it's already used more than windows for web servers. Although pretty much all linux distros adhere to the standards set for linux you're better off getting one of the more established versions because there might be the occassional compatibility problem running linux applications with less well known linux distros. Incidently the most downloaded linux distro is mint.

Antiquing

The book I read to research this post was Antiquing for Dummies by Ron Zoglin et al which is an excellent book which I bought from kindle. There are 3 types of things people collect, there are collectibles which are less than 100 years old but are maybe rare, there are antiques which are over 100 years old & there are antiquities which are produced by another civilisation like the romans & are extremely old. An items age doesn't necessarily make it valuable & sometimes collectibles are worth more than antiques. When buying antiques you should primarily buy things you like. There are a lot of fakes circulating in the antique world & sometimes even the experts are fooled. One big giveaway is the workmanship if something is wood & it was cut with a handsaw it won't be a perfectly clean cut, tiny bits of wood will have broken off. Handsaws weren't made to the standards they are made nowadays. If something was cut in a sawmill the saw will have vibrated back & forth & there will be signs of this. The holes won't be cut as cleanly as on a modern item either. There will be dirt & maybe woodworm. Look at the nails they should be rusted & the hole should have dirt & rust. One trick for identifying an antique mirror is put a pen point up to it & there should be a slight gap between the 2 pen points. Mirrors weren't made to modern standards & often the metallic coating will be faded around the edges. If you are buying silver or gold 1 dodgy trick is to attach a piece with a hallmark from something, look for slight lumps where it was attached, also if the metal is faded it can cost a lot of money getting it recoated.

Basketball Coaching

The book I read to research this post was Coaching Basketball for Dummies by Greg Bach which is an excellent book which I bought from kindle. Although when many of us think of coaches we think of professional team coaches, most coaches look after youth teams or school teams. A word of warning if you have maybe been elected by the parents & don't want the job or don't think you are suited to the job, don't do it, better that you let them down politely than the alternative. Your main objective in being a basketball coach for a youth team is to turn them into good basketball players, it's not necessarily winning every match also it puts you in an unique position to talk to them about life lessons like staying off drugs & tobacco. At the very young level tactics are probably not that important & enjoying playing basketball is the important thing but as they reach their teenage years they become competitive & using tactics to win a game becomes more important. It's important no one shows unsportsmanlike conduct if a coach from another team shows it get an official to have a word with them. On no account tackle them yourself as it will inflame the situation. If either a parent or member of your team behaves that way take them to one side & have a word with them if they persistently flout that rule you may have to exclude them from matches temporarily. At a professional level coaches careers often depend on a result & in a way it's understandable that they get hett up but at a youth level there's no excuse for it. Also you should focus on each member doing their best & if they make mistakes it don't matter but you should make sure you praise them when they get something right. Also in your role as a coach you will maybe get an hour a week for practise so it maybe especially at an older level that they also practise things & keep fit & watch their diet in addition to coming to your practise but it should be kept enjoyable.

Digital Forensics With Open Source Tools

The book I read to research this post was Digital Forensics With Open Source Tools by Harlan Carvey et al which is a very good book which I bought from kindle. It's worth mentioning I have done a post on xbox 360 forensics on my technology blog at scratbagroberts.com which might be of interest. At one time the only ways to become a digital forensics examiner were to join the armed forces or police or teach yourself, nowadays there are plenty of colleges offering courses. This book mostly deals with sleuth kit which is open source & runs on windows, linux or mac Os X. At one time almost all the digital forensics programs were commercial programs. If data is merely deleted it can be recovered, if however something is copied over it then it can't be recovered, often it won't all be copied over & fragments will be recovered. There is special software that destroys deleted data so it can't be recovered. Often the data that's retrieved will be things like pictures & emails. You can use a program like net stumbler to crack passwords. Although I can't see myself working as a digital forensics examiner it's a subject that interests me so watch this space as there will be more on this subject.

Casual Games

The book I read to research this post was The Casual Revolution by Jesper Juul which is an excellent book which I bought from kindle. The launch of the nintendo wii has revolutionized the console games market. Many people take their wii to their friends or parents or grandparents house & they all play a game on the wii & in a lot of cases they are all addicted to it. The wii is much more interactive than any other games console or computer although now sony & microsoft are trying to compete ie microsoft have introduced the kinect for the xbox 360. The wii has inferior graphics compared to the xbox 360 & playstation 3 but is by far the biggest selling console. Many people who haven't played games since pac mac came out are quite happy to play games on the wii. Another phenomena is casual games which are games which can often be played for a short duration & are often fairly easy. Bejewelled is a good example of a casual game, you have to match 3 of the same, it's a puzzle game which doesn't have fancy graphics but was a surprise hit. Some games like mario kart let you have a quick race & you can specify how many laps you want to do. In the westernised world more people play console play console games than don't play them. These people are often parents who may have an hour to spare & don't want to be playing a hard game for hours & hours. There will always be games that appeal to the hardcore gamer & many console & computer magazines seem to favour these games but in a world where a game budget can be $15 million which means a game has to sell a million units before it can make a profit they can't ignore casual gamers. A good example is grand theft auto: san andreas where you can explore the virtual world instead of playing the game.

Nanotechnology

The book I read to research this post was Nanotechnology for Dummies by Earl Boysen et al which is a very good book which I bought from kindle. Nanotechnology is the study of man made products between 1 nanometre & 100 nanometres in size. In the near future almost every industry will be affected by this technology. Scientists have even developed the technology to move individual atoms which it wasn't all that long ago scientists were saying would be impossible. The reason they can move individual atoms is because they are held in place be relatively weak van der waal forces. Somebody who worked for IBM was able to spell the logo with atoms. Within 20 years they will have replicators like on star trek where you will be able to program a machine to manufacture something atomically. This will also enable things to be manufactured cheaply. There's talk of them building a space elevator which will be a special cord attached at one end to an asteroid as a counterweight & at the other to a station on earth, this then would allow things to be put into space cheaply & could be solar powered. One thing stopping people settling on mars & the moon is the cost of sending supplies to them, this would go a long way in acheiving that. There's development of both biological & mechanical nanorobots but the biological field has advanced more.  Nanotechnology has been applied to things like tennis racquets making them stronger & tennis balls making them stay bouncy longer. In the near future they will be able to use bionanotechnology to kill cancer cells. Also nanotechnology is being used to improve the way doctors see what is going on in the human body improving diagnoses of illnesses.

The Arcadian Cipher

The book I read to research this post was The Arcadian Cipher by Peter Blake et al which is a very good book which I bought from a car-boot sale. This book presents some quite interesting theories especially concerning the crucifixion of Jesus. Many of the classic artists studied things like the kabalah & gnostic christianity & this often influenced their pictures. Nicholas Poussin studied hebrew among other things for example. Although in many pictures & in many hollywood films for that matter Jesus is shown high off the ground at the crucifixion in practise he may have only been a few inches off the ground. Another theory in this book is that Jesus may have not been nailed to the cross as that was reserved for roman soldiers who broke the law, it would have been a horrific death either way. Often people who were crucified took days to die & if they broke their legs so they suffocated that was seen as welcome relief. Nazareth apparently didn't exist at the time of Jesus & the title of Jesus of Nazareth was a mistranslation of Nazareone which was an egyptian religion which involved magic. According to the Talmud Jesus was egyptian & when he was crucified he was accused of being a magician among other things. As you probably know he did live in egypt as a child. We'll probably never know the truth concerning these theories but they are interesting.

How to Trace Your Ancestry

The book I read to research this post was Tracing Your Ancestors by D M Field which is an excellent book although a bit short & I bought it from a car-boot sale. There's a difference between family history & genealogy. Family history involves say if your family comes from Dublin in Ireland which my mums family does, reading books about that & finding out all you can about it. Genealogy on the other hand just involves tracing your family tree via things like wills & birth & death certificates. I'm sure you'll agree family history is potentially more rewarding. Most towns & villages have at least 1 publication about their history. Many areas have at least a local historian you can contact. Most families moved around although they might only move to the next parish. The exception to this was when a family were landowners. If members of a family left wills this can give you a lot of information like who their children were & who they were married to. The hardest type of family tree to trace is an orphan with a common name, the easiest is a noble family with an unusual name & the easiest is if they have a double barrelled name. If a member served in the armed services there will be records of this. There are books which tell you the nicknames for the different regiments for example so if you find a letter with that in you can trace it. If you can trace your history back to the mid-nineteenth century there is a good chance you can trace it another hundred years beyond that it's normally only well to do families you can trace. Often there are baptismal certificates which can be traced as well although if you are an english catholic in the 19th century that church didn't always pass on the certificates. I think they distrusted the government. If you are a mormon you are in look as they kept quite detailed records.

The Ark of The Covenant

The book I read to research this post was The Templars & The Ark of The Covenant by Graham Phillips which is an excellent book which I bought from Amazon. Very little is known about the construction of the Ark of the Covenant. We know that the exodus or the jews leaving Egypt happened about 3,500 years ago. It's thought the Old Testament was written in around 600 BC before that it had to be passed on verbally. Mount Sinai was thought to be a sacred mountain where God dwelled by the locals before Moses arrived & it was forbidden for their cattle to graze there. Nowadays there is a shrine which is a sacred site to muslims which contains a spring said to have been found by Moses. One theory about the red ball of fire which was said to be God & was brought up by the Ark is could it be geothermal plasma. When aranite sandstone is crushed by seismic activity this is released & this type of rock is found at Mt Sinai. Could the tablets Moses found be subjected to a similiar process by the Ark. It's thought the Ark could have been buried by the Essenes near where they buried the Dead Sea Scrolls but they were wiped out so we may never find it. Prior to that it had been taken from the Synagogue in Jerusalem by the Babylonians when they plundered the place but was returned by the Persians 70 years later. In the book it's claimed the Templars found the tablets near Mt Sinai & one of these was found in Britain but it's difficult to prove one way or the other.

Woodwork Routing

The book I read to research this post was Mastering the Router by Ron Fox, which is an excellent book which I bought from Amazon. A router is a fairly small cylindrical electrical wood cutting tool. The beauty of it is that you can cut any shape you want into a piece of wood. Some people cut intricate designs freehand into a piece of wood but that takes a lot of skill & practise. It's more common to either cut a piece out or attach the router to an arm which is screwed into the wood at one end & attached to the router at the other & a circular shape is cut. You can buy a hone, a routing table, a router & a set of cutters for the equivalent of under £200.00 & you can get decent stuff for that price. A hone is a kind of file which is used for sharpening your cutters & if a cutter is beyond repair you need to throw it away. Cheaper routers use a 1/4 inch shaft for the cutters which is the most common, heavy duty ones use a 1/2 inch or sometimes 8 mm & although they often have adaptors it's best to use a larger size cutter as it provides more power for the cutting. In britain we use a 240v mains voltage so you may have to adjust this information if it's different in your country but their ratings are 400-600 w for light duty, 750-1100 w for medium duty & 1300-2000 w for heavy duty. You should wear goggles when routing & a dust mask is probably a good idea. A lot of routers have an attachment that can be attached to a blower to suck the dust out.

Merlin & Avalon

The book I read to research this post was Merlin & the Discovery of Avalon in the New World by Graham Phillips which is a very good book which I bought from Amazon. This is following on from my other posts on King Arthur so if you haven't read them it might be a good idea to, they are at scratbagdave.com . Anyway in this book it's claimed that Pointpont in Brittany is the site of the final battle where King Arthur died & that the nearby lake is where excalibur was thrown into. It's also claimed that excalibur was made nearby. The locals certainly believe it & there's a thriving tourist industry at this little town. The book then goes on to say that there's an account of St Brendan visiting first the faroe islands, then iceland, then southern greenland & then america. This is contrasted with a similiar account of Merlin going to Avalon. You have to use your imagination a little bit. It's claimed for example that the description of cliffs with seabirds is the Faroes but couldn't that be the Shetlands. An interesting thing in the book is he visited a small island off Maine that has got miles & miles of white sand as in the legend. Also there's an ancient stone circle which could be Merlin's final resting place. Nobody's knows much about the stone circle. I'm not entirely convinced by this book but it remains an interesting book nonetheless.

DIY Painting

The book I read to research this post was DIY Painting for Dummies by Patricia Hart McMillan which is an excellent book which I bought from Amazon. If you are painting a whole room it's best to do the ceiling & floor first as if you do them afterwards you are liable to splash paint on the walls. It's also easy to cover the floor with a cover whilst painting. If you are repairing small holes in the walls before painting it's worth bearing in mind you may have to make them bigger with a hammer & chisel as the more plaster you apply the better it adheres. With wooden window frames you need to paint them to waterproof them & you must repair any damage first & then sand them before applying paint. If you are painting a kitchen or bathroom use a high gloss paint as it's easier to clean. If you have a lot of painting to do consider getting a paint pod it makes painting easier & also practically cleans itself. If you are painting concrete floors you clean it with TSP & water then wearing goggles & gloves clean it with etching acid - 10 parts water to 1 part acid. Either muriatic acid for alkyd paint or phosphoric acid for latex paint. Consider adding non-slip silicate to the paint to prevent it being slippery.

Baseball

The book I read to research this post was Baseball for Dummies by Joe Morgan et al which is an excellent book which I bought from kindle. I'll start by telling you a funny story. I was playing baseball at school once without any kind of protection & I was batting. Anyway I whacked into the air with all my might & I thought I bet that's going a long way & looked to see where it was going. The ball came back down & got me right in the eye, I fell over with the impact & I was stumped out. I live in the UK & am 42 & when I was at school american sports weren't very big in britain. We were lucky we had an american lad in our class who brought in some of the equipment & got us interested in baseball. Around that time an alternative tv channel called channel 4 started screening things like american sports & that got people in the UK interested. No one person invented baseball & it's interesting that in the 60's at the height of the cold war the russians claimed they invented it although that's unlikely. The manager or coach is probably the most important member of the team as he selects who's playing & comes up with tactics. One interesting tactic is using a heavier bat to provide momentum when the opponent is a slower thrower particularly if he is left handed. Barry Bonds is probably the best baseball player of all time. In the old days in the USA black players were segretated into their own leagues & as a result many top black players didn't get the exposure they deserved. Nowadays almost all baseball players use weight training but at one it was thought this made you more bulky & slowed you down. Now we know different.

Social Media

The book I read to research this post was The Social Media Bible by Lon Safko which is an excellent book which I bought from kindle. Social media takes 3 major forms which are blogging, microblogging & social networking. Many large companies employ people who surf the internet, mainly social media sites, but they look for any mentions of their company on the net & maybe answer any questions. We are going into an age where people distrust the traditional corporate messages. Instead when people are looking to buy something they often either ask their friends on social networking sites or they will look for reviews on the internet. We are going into a situation where even one disgruntled customer can do serious damage to a company via things like bulletin boards & forms of social media. If something damaging is posted about your company you need to answer it as soon as possible & look at damage limitation. If you are a small company looking to market yourself on social media, it's probably a good idea to get an employee who already uses a website like twitter & enjoys it. Failing that look at getting someone to do it like an employees partner, in any case it should be someone who understands your business. You should consider doing a podcast which shouldn't be longer than 10 minutes & it's a must to put it on itunes although I have heard they are very strict about what they accept. You can do a video log or vlog I think the thing here is to catch the viewers attention maybe make it humorous. I think sites like youtube are a must. A company which sold food mixers did a video showing an iphone being crunched up by one & sold all their stocks in 24 hours, not to mention all the exposure they had when people viewed the video.

The Chronicles of Narnia

The book I read to research this post was C S Lewis & Narnia for Dummies by Richard Wagner which is an excellent book which I bought from amazon. The initials in C S Lewis stand for Clive Staples but he was nicknamed Jack & preferred that name. He was born in Belfast in 1898 & when his mother died when he was just 10 years old of cancer he was sent to a string of boarding schools. His dad was distraught at her death but eventually agreed to both his sons having a personal tutor at home. This tutor was a good influence especially on Jack & in particular helped develop his debating skills. Jack served in the trenches in World War 1 but got discharged from the army due to getting injured. He then did a degree at Oxford University & then went on to do a masters degree. He got a job as a don which is a teacher who works 1 to 1 with students. He didn't enjoy teaching he preferred reading although he remained in a teaching capacity for the rest of his life. He went on to become a professor at Cambridge. Most writers stick to one genre but Jack's work encompasses a wide variety. He even wrote a sci fi trilogy although The Chronicles of Narnia sold more than all his other books put together. Initially they received a mixed response, many thought they were too scary for children & didn't like the religious symbolism. Lewis claims they weren't a religious allegory but were influenced by religion. He was very religious & wrote many books on the subject. There are 7 books in the Narnia series & when he wrote the first book had not planned the other books. Jack died on the same day that John F Kennedy was shot, a few weeks short of his 65 th birthday.

Network Access Control

The book I read to research this post was Network Access Control for Dummies by Jay Kelley et al which is a very good book which I bought from amazon. One thing a lot of companies don't appreciate is if someone has too many permissions on a computer network they can potentially do a lot more harm than someone who doesn't have enough permissions. They can delete & view & maybe copy important material. From a network administrators everything should be locked down with unique passwords & no one should have access to the network through anything like mobile devices or instant messaging. The users point of view however is the complete opposite & they need to come to a compromise whilst still keeping the network secure. On its simplest level assigning permissions is as simple as right clicking a program & assigning permissions to it which are then password protected. At a more advanced level it's using GPMC or Group Policy Management Console which comes as standard with windows server 2008 or if you have windows vista, 7 or 8 can be downloaded free from the microsoft web site. The network administrator needs to have a pretty good idea how the users access the system & if they use mobile devices may need to use anti virus software specifically for that product.

Doing Business in India

The book I read to research this post was Doing Business in India for Dummies by Ranjini Manian which is an excellent book which I bought from kindle. India is very promising for anyone looking to expand their business abroad. Many multinational companies have their headquarters in India. It has a very young population, the cost of living is very low, the people in general are hard working & have skills. It's the largest democracy in the world. In the coming years there's likely to be a shortage of employable english speaking indians but really that mainly affects the telephone call centres many of which are here, there will still be plenty of employable graduates. Many of what they call tier 1 cities which are the biggest cities have experienced huge economic growth & these do have excellent infrastructures which is comparable to the west. Many of what they call tier 2 & 3 cities which are smaller cities are beginning to attract foreign companies. If you invest in these you are getting in at the start also many of these cities specialize in certain trades ie IT. The Indian government has simplified things like planning so it is on a par with China in this respect & certainly simpler than europe. India has the 2nd highest amount of agricultural land in the world. For those who think India is a 3rd world country, there are poor there but it has its own space agency which launches both military & civilian satellites. Many NRI's or non-resident indians who are native indians who live abroad are in demand in helping companies establish themselves in India. Often they know the customs & language & have a reasonable general knowledge of India. Many Indians who are resident in the west are going back to their native land in this capacity.

Wine

The book I read to research this post was Wine All in One for Dummies by various authors which is an excellent book which I bought from kindle. There are various recommendations for what wine goes with what. 2 of the most interesting are an italian amarone with asian foods & a californian zinfadel with spicy foods. Sometimes you will see a classic wine at a very cheap price & the way they do it this cheap is to mix it with cheaper wine. Some expensive wines need to mature & this is traditionally done in french oak casks which especially if they are new cost a lot of money. France is the top producer of wine in the world & grapes have been grown there for thousands of  years. Nowadays the different areas specialize in specific types of wine but this has not always been so. Improved transport links & susceptibility of certain grapes to certain types of fungus like mildew has made the french do this. The french consume more wine per capita than any other nation. There are 2 major types of wine, table wine which by law has less than 14.5% alcohol & dessert wine better known as port & sherry which has alcohol added to it. Yeast dies when the alcohol content reaches 14.5% so if you want to increase it you must add it. An interesting idea in wine which is popularly produced in canada is iced wine where the grapes are frozen prior to fermentation this gives the taste a certain nuance. Although french wine is often considered the best & is probably the most expensive for a vintage one other countries produce excellent wine which is often a lot cheaper & is often better value. In particular australian & californian wines.