There are many paths that lead to becoming a professional writer, and some people succeed with no formal training at all. A writing degree doesn't guarantee success as a writer because, unlike some fields, the profession is not an area that mandates a specific educational trajectory. However, a formal education in writing can equip you with the basic skills you need to succeed in a writing career, and it can provide you with many opportunities for feedback on your writing.
The Lifestyle series of home theater systems are the premium surround sound systems designed and manufactured by Bose. These home theater systems output clear sound by default, but you can further customize their settings to get the most out of them. Increasing the bass during one of your parties is a simple task that can be performed in just a few seconds. All you need is the Lifestyle's remote controller.
Foursquare is a location-based social networking site that enables users to check in to locations via mobile phone or the Web. Check-ins can be shared with other users through Foursquare or its links to Facebook and Twitter. First opened to public registrations in March 2009, the service announced it had over 20 million users by April 2012. Foursquare users can earn rewards and save money at the venues they visit. Both end users and the venues and businesses registered on the site benefit from participation in Foursquare.
Kernel32.dll ranks among the files that prove vital to the operation of the Microsoft Windows operating system. Among its other functions, it handles memory management and system input and output operations. Errors involving this file may occur when programs try to access the file's protected memory space. In the case of the PCSX2 PlayStation 2 emulator, driver-related problems often cause such errors.
Building your own bathtub is not an inexpensive or easy process, but it can be done. Tubs can be built from wood, concrete or tile-covered masonry. Probably the easiest is to build a tub with concrete backer board and tile it. A homemade tub will generally cost more than a purchased tub, but can be shaped to fit an unusual space or made longer, taller or wider than standard tubs.
You don't have to sign up for an expensive gym membership if you just want to lift some weights. Build your own weight lifting equipment with help from a personal trainer in this free video clip.
Building a meat, cheese and vegetable tray requires you to keep a few key things in mind. Build your own meat, cheese and vegetable tray with help from the founder of The Cheese Store in Beverly Hills in this free video clip.
Building your own crystal filter for your radio is both entertaining and educational. Quartz crystal is used to create ladder filter, which serves as a radio receiver to receive sideband signals. Although filters are fairly complex, a simple filter can usually be constructed from the use of crystals with similar frequencies.
Beam antennas, also known as Yagi antennas, are commonly used in ham radio operation. Beam antennas use a series of elements to send and receive transmissions in a focused direction, rather than 360 degrees as in omnidirectional designs. They can be as large or as small as needed. A simple version is something even the novice hobbyist can attempt. Once completed, you can send and receive transmissions surprisingly well, given the low cost and simple nature of the design and materials.
“Shrinking” sheet metal refers to shortening an edge of the sheet, thus forcing it into a radius or curve. Commercial shrinker/stretchers clamp the edge between pairs of jaws that are then drawn together to shrink it or pulled apart to stretch it. The shrinking action creates small “tucks” in the edge, and this tucking process can also be accomplished manually by placing the edge between parallel metal fingers and then simply twisting it. The more tucks you form, the greater the shrinking effect. The round, tapered ends of steel drift pins are perfect sources for these rigid fingers.
Many residential chimneys are finished with stone or brick to help insulate them and provide a traditional appearance. However, a masonry chimney may begin to show its age over time. Replacement and resurfacing can be expensive, which makes cladding a masonry chimney with siding an attractive option in some instances. Installing siding on a chimney requires a layer of wood furring that serves as a base for the siding itself. You can only install siding on a chimney if there is sufficient clearance between your furnace, fireplace or stove and the chimney's exterior to prevent the risk of fire.
Microsoft SharePoint is a useful program that allows users to distribute documents securely in a core portal. While SharePoint allows for files to be shared and edited in one central site, issues may arise when users access the files or documents and do not share them to the server, resulting in broken data links and loss of information.
Determining the exact boundary lines of a piece of real property is very important, whether you're involved in a land transaction or are simply trying to figure out where your new fence should go. Professional surveyors can cost many hundreds of dollars to provide exact measurements of your property boundaries. Using a Global Positioning System, or GPS, device, you can find corner monuments or formulate a close approximation of your boundary lines.
Changing files in your Xcode project or upgrading to Xcode 4, the latest version of the program on the date of publication, can create broken links within your project. A link is broken if the name of the file text is red instead of the normal black. Your project won't work as intended if you have broken links. By updating the location of the files, you can fix broken links.
When it comes to choosing an instant-messaging carrier, never have there been so many to choose from. IM services are now offered by social-media websites like Twitter and Facebook, email services like Yahoo and Windows Live, and voice services like Google and Skype. Before choosing an IM carrier, consider which will work best with your computer and any other Internet-enabled devices you use, as well as those used by the people you will want to connect with.
Online portfolios for hobbyists and serious photographers provide sharing options that eliminate the tedium of sending your photos by snail mail. Uploading your pictures to a photo-sharing website not only gets them out of the camera but also provides a safe place to back up your treasured memories. The best photo-sharing sites also make it easy to upload from mobile devices and to publish your photos on blogs and social media sites. Many of the best sharing sites offer free accounts with storage limits and paid accounts with upgraded features.
Website servers do not magically run themselves. Between the computers trying to connect to a server and all of the server's website code and application files is a program that connects the two. One of these pieces of software is Apache, an open source server management system. The number of connections to an Apache server will dictate the details of the software's configuration and performance tuning.
Over the years, your favorite armoire can take a beating. Everyday use can damage the doors -- and if you move, the doors can get dented or broken in the process. At some point, you might decide to either replace the armoire or just replace the doors. Although the idea of making custom armoire doors may sound like a job for a professional carpenter, it's a fairly simple project. You can create new armoire doors in a weekend, saving a favorite piece of furniture and money in the process.
Ektron CMS400.NET is a Web content management system, or WCMS, developed on the Microsoft .NET framework using ASP.NET. It appeared on the market in 2004 as an upgrade from the original CMS100 and CMS200 Web content management systems. It brought with it an advanced WYSIWYG editor, XML compatibility, built-in RSS syndication and fast integration with all Microsoft software suites, including SharePoint Portal and Microsoft Word.
Save money by building a seedling light cart. The cart is a self-contained unit with lighting frame, lighting and a shelf to place plants. Build several seedling light carts to grow many varieties of plants and use them to brighten up different rooms. By starting seeds indoors, you give your plants a head start on the growing season. Putting healthier, more mature plants in the ground increases the number of harvests the plants produce. This project requires approximately two to three hours for completion.
A gravel vacuum faucet is a pump that attaches to a gravel vacuum using a hose to efficiently clean a fish tank without using a bucket or other tools. The system allows users to quickly clean their tank without spilling water or stopping to empty the bucket as the gravel vacuum fills it with dirty tank water. Gravel vacuum faucets sold in aquarium stores are often expensive. Build one yourself not only saves money, but the time and mess it saves may encourage you to clean your tank more often, keeping your fish healthy.
Remodeling a sagging floor requires locating the issue and repairing it before putting down new floor covering. For instance, hardwood and tile flooring requires a level floor, or bucking and breaking occurs. Inspecting the floor and determining whether the damage is structural or non-structural helps determine the best method of repair.
Laundry drawers are common features of modern front-loading washing machines, but they are usually an additional cost or upgraded machine feature. The drawers are at the bottom of the washer and dryer, and they pull out to allow you to store laundry detergents, bleach, dryer sheets, and similar products. If you have front-loading laundry equipment, you can build your own drawers to both elevate access to the machines and provide convenient storage space.
A flue that is too small for the fireplace opening can sometimes cause smoke to leak out through the top of the fireplace. When this happens, you can end up with soot stains on your ceiling, walls and fireplace surround. Smoke guards keep the errant smoke from slipping out of the fireplace. You can build your own fireplace smoke guard with a simple piece of sheet metal and heat resistant adhesive found at your local home improvement store. A coat of heat resistant paint to complement the fireplace surround and mantle provides the finishing touch.
Building LS headers is not a job for a novice or amateur automobile mechanic. The job requires welding, fabrication, design and mechanical experience that most novice mechanics do not have. The header attaches to the side ports of your car engine and collects the combustion gases from the pistons, then sends them into the exhaust pipes. The best way to fabricate your LS headers is to purchase a header kit. These kits have the header components required to build your own LS headers for your engine.
Chloe is an elite French fashion house specializing in romantic and classic looks with soft colors and a focus on leather goods, such as bags, wallets and boots. While their handbags are imitated more frequently then their boots, both objects have been subjected to scams in which individuals make imitation versions of the original product.
The leveling transit is a land surveying tool with many practical applications. Outside of the hands of licensed surveyors it's also useful for building and construction. The leveling transit has been used for hundreds of years. Today's models are electronic and much more user friendly, but the setup and operation is relatively unchanged. A transit allows the user to accurately and precisely determine the relative positions of points, lines and objects. It allows the operator to learn a point's true horizontal and vertical (inclination) angles. Using a leveling transit requires two individuals: one to operate the transit, and one to…
The EVO 4G, an Android smartphone manufactured by HTC, has a built-in GPS sensor and support for AGPS (assisted GPS). This means that the EVO can use global position system satellites to estimate its location, and can do so accurately to within a few meters. There are several applications available in the Android Market that can help you track your EVO, whether you have it in your position or if you need to find it when its lost or stolen.
Flash is an animation technology, originally developed by Macromedia and now owned by Adobe, which is perhaps best known for its use in web applications. Flash powers social media and online games and is used for online advertisements, greeting cards and interactive web content. You can build your own flash applications using Flash Builder, a Flash/ActionScript CASE tool, which you can download from Adobe’s website. You can start by building a very simple, basic Flash application and eventually build applications of enormous complexity as your knowledge of the technology increases. You may need to do some graphic design if you…
Building professional websites involves a variety of techniques and technologies, including Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). You can build a stylish, effective website by using CSS declarations in conjunction with HTML markup and optionally other languages such as JavaScript. Each of the technologies is accessible, so you can learn to use them effectively regardless of your level of technical experience. The key to creating a site that looks professional is to carry out each step in turn, rather than trying to implement all of the different elements at the same time, which can be tempting.
There is no substitute for a tube amp played at top volume for authentic electric guitar tone. In tight spaces, loud guitar amps can bleed into microphones on other instruments, reducing separation. Loud amps in small spaces present threats to the hearing health of those nearby. Each of these concerns is addressed with a isolation cabinet designed to enclose both amp and microphone to reduce the amount of sound escaping into the room. Such an isolation cabinet can be built with basic woodworking skills and readily available materials.
Gun enthusiasts are familiar with the name Brownells; in addition to selling a wide variety of guns and accessories, the company stocks a large assortment of reference material, including books and videos. As a companion site to their online stores, Brownells has developed a website that allows customers to virtually create and customize five different types of guns, including an Agency Style M4 Carbine. Once the M4 is selected, you can customize it with over 100 different pieces, such as stocks and sights. The AR-15 Builder website is free to use and anyone can access it.
Children revel in art activities. Providing children with opportunities to create art work meets many developmental needs: personal expression, practice in large and small motor control, color recognition and following directions. A plexiglass easel can be set up indoors or outdoors, furnishing children with regular chances to explore the craft of easel painting. A plexiglass easel can be made with a minimum of materials. Access to a table saw will facilitate the construction process.
The purpose of using shims in home construction projects is to take up space, or level or square the object that you're installing. Shims are available in straight or wedge form depending on your project needs. You can use shims to level or raise treads, plum risers or align stringers when installing stairs in your home. Cut the shims following the face length, rather than the width, of the wood grain for best results.
Outdoor cooking usually conjures up images of charcoal grills, barbecue pits or hot dogs on a stick -- baking bread and pizza, not so much. Not only is it possible to bake outdoors, you can build a homemade oven out of rocks, whether you want to make a temporary rock oven while camping or a permanent addition to your backyard.
If you wish you could go through your morning beauty ritual sitting at a vintage vanity, you don't have to spend your days scouring yard sales and antiques shops. Instead, you can make your own vanity that looks authentically worn. All you need to transform your current vanity into a faux vintage one is a little hardware and a propensity for destruction. With these, you'll be able to beat down and build up your once-pristine vanity into a weathered, shabby chic dream.
A grill cooks meat quickly with flame and direct heat. A smoker uses a slow indirect technique, with smoke carrying the heat to the meat and imparting a special flavor. Steaks can be grilled in minutes; ribs, roasts and briskets take hours on a smoker. A Texas grill can be used to cook both ways. You can make a Texas grill from a 55-gallon drum, but it requires oxy-acetylene welding equipment, gas tanks, a torch and protective gear, and expertise in cutting metal with a chop saw and welding by melting welding rods to fuse two pieces together.
If you cook, you know how frustrating it is to have burnt food on your stove top. The best way to combat burnt foods on your stove is to clean spills immediately after the stove top cools. If sugar is the culprit, it is usually more difficult to clean after it cools, and it should be carefully wiped away even while the stove is still warm. Clean your stove top according to instructions in the user's manual so you do not harm the finish and void an active warranty.
Evites are the postcards of the 21st century. For many people, the convenience of Evites makes them a preferred method of sending greeting cards. Like email, Evites are sent and received immediately, making them especially convenient if you need to send a greeting card or invitation right away. Evites offer many different customization options, such as interactive cards or musical backgrounds. Websites make creating your own Evite a simple and relatively self explanatory process.
If the heat in your home comes from baseboard radiant heat, odds are you have the basic, plain metal covering over the heaters. You may find commercially made covers to disguise these heaters, but they can be costly. Instead, build your own baseboard radiant cover by attaching galvanized carbon steel screening to the metal baseboard with magnets. Use precise measurements to create a radiant cover that extends seamlessly over the baseboard heater.
Moss is an opportunistic plant that can quickly move in and spread throughout areas of the garden where other plants or grasses fail to thrive. Moss likes moist conditions, shade and acidic soil. The plants reproduce by spores rather than seed. Eradicating moss already in the garden with Dawn brand liquid dish detergent does work. However, a Penn State Center for Turfgrass Science study concluded that it is not as effective as other methods.
Placing a nightstand in the corner helps make use of a difficult place to utilize. Nightstands in the corner are out of the way and less likely to be jostled. These nightstands are customizable to fit any corner or bed height. The best way to conserve materials when making this nightstand is to make a pair of nightstands at one time. This way, you can use both halves of a diagonally cut board.
The mantel is often a room’s centerpiece. Creating a rustic mantel for above your firebox gives your room an earthy, cabin feel. If possible, obtain a decayed and worn piece of wood for creating the mantelpiece. If find just the right piece of rustic wood is not possible, there are a few tricks that make new wood look old and worn.
U-shaped desks typically are large desks with enough space in the center of the U for someone to sit and work comfortably. Making a desk of this scale may seem like too big a task for the home woodworker, but if you think outside the box a little, it actually is quite easy. A simple U-shaped desktop made of plywood is supported by ready-made cabinets on the two arms of the U instead of legs. This not only makes the construction very simple, but gives you added storage spaced for the desk as well.
Detailed search functionality is an important component of any website. It allows viewers to find information that's not right in front of them, but that they expect to see on a site. WordPress helps designers and developers implement search into their sites through a plug-in. The plug-in works with Google to index your entire website.
Petrified wood is unique occurrence in nature that scientists are still trying to understand. As wood falls from a tree, instead of decaying as normal, specific circumstances create an oxygen-free area around the wood and minerals fill the voids within the wood. Over time, the wood changes from its woody structure to a rock structure. Cutting into petrified wood requires saws that can withstand the hardness of the minerals making up the petrified wood, most often quartz.
A “forum signature” consists of text or images displayed under each of your posts on a forum. You can add a free countdown timer in your signature to highlight an upcoming event. Some websites provide generators that allow you to customize your timer, and you can copy and paste the generated code into your signature. The timer style you can use depends on whether the forum allows HTML code or only BBCode in the forum signatures.
Most WordPress themes link the name of a post's author to a profile and list of their previous posts. Under some circumstances an author link may be broken, leading to a 404 "page not found" error. This may even happen with the blog's admin profile if the site theme isn't correctly coded or the admin's username is malformed in the database.
Kitchen islands offer additional countertop space for preparing food or acting as a serving area. If your countertop extends 4 inches or more past the island cabinetry, installing countertop supports underneath it prevents damaging the edges. These supports come in a variety of sizes and styles. These supports are screwed onto the countertop and the island cabinetry.
Broken links undermine the functionality, integrity and professionalism of any Web-based application or site. This is especially true of SharePoint as its collaborative and team-oriented environment often results in large numbers of internal and external links. Link management tasks -- including finding and repairing broken links -- are among your most important SharePoint site maintenance duties. While the process and specific steps you follow depend on the version of SharePoint your company is using, regular link maintenance using the SharePoint Designer is a scheduling necessity.