text: Emerging in 2004 with a blend of woodsy midtempo rock and reverb-laden vocals, Band of Horses gained an audience in their native Northwest before Everything All the Time made them indie rock darlings. Multi-instrumentalists Ben Bridwell and Mat Brooke founded the group after an eight-year run with Carissa's Wierd, and an early concert alongside future labelmates Iron & Wine caught the attention of Sub Pop Records. Sub Pop signed Band of Horses in 2005 and reissued their self-released EP later that year, while the band retreated to the studio to record its full-length debut. Everything All the Time appeared in March 2006 and was warmly received; however, Brooke did not tour in support of the album and had officially left the group by July, choosing instead to devote his time to another Sub Pop act, Grand Archives. Bridwell soldiered on with now-permanent bandmates Rob Hampton (bass) and Creighton Barrett (drums), playing stateside shows and touring Europe in support of the band's debut. The bandmembers returned to the States and relocated to Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina to be closer to their families. Soon after, Band of Horses entered the studio with producer Phil Ek (who also helmed Everything All the Time) to record their second album. Cease to Begin was released in October 2007 to extremely warm reviews; it also peaked at number 35 on the Billboard charts, giving the band a taste of commercial success as well as critical approval. Although Band of Horses spent most of the following two years on the road, they also found time to return to the recording studio, where they began working on a third album in 2009. This time, the band's five members all contributed to the songwriting process, making Infinite Arms a collaborative effort between Bridwell, Barrett, and new members Ryan Monroe, Tyler Ramsey, and Bill Reynolds. The album hit shelves in mid-2010, marking the band's first effort for Columbia Records and earning a Grammy for its country-rock sound. Preferring to take a more grounded approach on their fourth long-player, the group tapped legendary producer Glyn Johns (the Rolling Stones, the Who), who helped to rein in some of the group's more experimental tendencies by insisting on a more intimate live approach. The resulting Mirage Rock, which was preceded by the single "Knock, Knock," arrived in September 2012. Early 2014 saw the release of the live album Acoustic at the Ryman, a compilation of tracks recorded in a stripped-down fashion during a two-night stint in the spring of 2013 at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium. While working on material for their fifth studio album, Bridwell teamed with fellow Columbia, South Carolina native Sam Beam of Iron & Wine to release a covers album titled Sing Into My Mouth in 2015. The record featured common song influences from the likes of Talking Heads, John Cale, and Sade. In the spring of 2016, Band of Horses debuted a new single, "Casual Party," from their forthcoming fifth studio LP, Why Are You OK? Released in June of that year via Interscope and Rick Rubin's American Recordings, the album was co-produced by Grandaddy's Jason Lytle with Rubin acting as executive producer. ~ Andrew Leahey


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Love Life Rules Hanging Plaque
These 'love life' rectangular shabby chic hanging plaques make a lovely addition to your home. How often we think these sentiments but don't tell those around us. Coloured to blend with all décor styles. With a charming rustic hanging twine.
- Oblong shabby chic plaque
- Off-white background
- Lettering in complementary pastel shades
- Hanging twine
Height: 35cm (Approximately 48.5cm when hung)
Width: 22.5cm
Depth: 1.5cm
Material: MDF
Free Standard Delivery
Standard delivery can take up to 3 working days
All orders placed and paid for by 2pm Monday to Friday (excluding Bank Holidays) are dispatched that day.
Express Delivery Next Working Day - £4.99
If placed before 2pm Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays), your order will be dispatched same day for delivery the next working day.
Northern Ireland, highlands and islands may take an additional day
Items are sent with DPD, Royal Mail or APC
Next working day orders are sent out with DPD & APC so there should not be any delays.
Due to carrier limits we are unable to send curtain poles were the shortest dimension is over 90cm / 0.9m to Northern Ireland, Islands or the Highlands of Scotland
Extreme weather and other unseen circumstances may cause delivery delays - when possible we will provide updates either through the email address on your order or on this page.

subset: commoncrawl


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I'm not a resident of that neighborhood and I do not find the proposed changes to the overpass at all threatening. I voiced this opinion in an email which I accidentally sent to the wrong person, and received a "deer in the headlights," response.
The level of anger and fear seems completely out of proportion to the planned project. Several other neighbors, and the organizer of the meeting, apologized for the outburst, and so did the individual who sent it. Her comments didn't offend me, but I wondered why so many of the residents, who live at least half-a-mile away from the overpass are so opposed to it.
The "dangers" listed in their flyer are not likely to happen.
? Proposed HOV Ramp design on Norris Cyn will put PUBLIC SAFETY AT RISK.
? Freeway access ramps in residential areas increase neighborhood crime rates and over-tax our law enforcement resources.
? Freeway ramps and traffic lights on Norris Cyn will cause more congestion and costly delays in Police and Fire services for both sides of 680.
Wait a minute, San Ramon Valley Blvd. is just West of the overpass. There's more traffic on SRVB than would be coming out of the HOV exits. Most of the HOV traffic would be in the morning or late afternoon and going East to Bishop Ranch or the Transit Center.
Police and Fire are both West of Norris Canyon and can easily get to Twin Creeks on SRVB or Twin Creeks Road. If they needed to use Norris Canyon Road they would use their sirens just like they would through any other intersection. There's a lot more traffic from the big Safeway shopping center there than there would be from the HOV lanes. Does this reaction make any sense?
This project is part of a County plan to improve the I-680 corridor and prepare for projected growth in this region. Planning for this goes back to 1988 when Contra Costa County residents voted for Measure C approving a half-cent sales tax for highway construction and improvements. Measure C was reauthorized in 2004 by Measure J.
Measure J was passed by 71% of the vote. According to the Impartial Analysis of Measure J "The revenues derived from the half-cent sales tax will be expended for the transportation projects and programs set forth in the Contra Costa Transportation Authority's (CCTA) adopted transportation expenditure plan (TEP)."
The Transportation Expenditure Plan includes recommendations from the "I-680 Investment Options Analysis Report" prepared for the CCTA in 2003 by DKS Associates. The number one recommendation in the Final Report was, ". . . the HOV Facility/Express Bus package (Option Package D) be pursued further as a potential candidate for Measure C Reauthorization." The #2 priority in the Final report is the Norris Canyon HOV ramps.
I attended the Scoping meeting on November 30, 2012 in which the project was introduced to residents of San Ramon. The turnout was much greater than usual for this kind of meeting. Residents raised questions about increased traffic, bicycle and pedestrian safety, and unwanted vehicles coming into their neighborhood.
Project Director, Susan Miller, tried to explain the purpose of the HOV ramps, which many residents considered unnecessary since San Ramon already has freeway ramps at Bollinger Canyon and Crow Canyon Roads. However, the HOV ramps go directly to and from the High Occupancy Vehicle lanes, and are primarily designed to make it easier for busses to enter and exit the freeway without crossing over three lanes of traffic to get to or from the HOV lanes.
CCTA is just starting the Environmental Review process, which was elevated from a Negative Declaration to a formal EIR based on residents' comments at the Scoping meeting. San Ramon Transportation Manager, Lisa Bobadilla told me that an EIR is required because this was approved by voters and nothing will be started until the EIR is completed which will take two to three years. Construction on this project, if it is done at all, will not begin until 2018.
Susan Miller is planning to hold workshops for the Norris Canyon neighborhood on the proposed HOV ramps. "We have their email addresses and will be getting back to them next week," Miller told me in a phone conversation Thursday evening.
As far as fears about pedestrian and bicycling safety, Miller told me the existing overpass would be replaced by a larger, seismically reinforced bridge, with sidewalks and bike paths on both sides, which would make these uses safer.
The City of San Ramon produced a Project Study Report (PSR) in 2010, which was required by CCTA. This is a 93 page document, which you can download from the CCTA I-680 Norris Canyon HOV Ramps webpage along with other documentation on the project.


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Intilop releases 16K Concurrent TCP & UDP Session Hardware Accelerator ported to Xilinx VC 707 development board.
The Complete 'Full TCP and UDP stack' pre-ported and tested with their 6th generation industry leader '77 nanosecond TCP& UDP processing times and 95% TCP throughput', Network Hardened, most reliable, mature and most widely adapted worldwide over the last 5 years. TCP & UDP Accelerator boards are targeted towards the next generation of Cloud Computing, Data Center, Network Security, Telecomm and all other Hyper Performance Network Computing applications.
Milpitas, CA., July 2nd, 2014 - Intilop, Inc. a pioneer, most respected and recognized leader in providing Ultra-Low latency and Hyper Performance Complex Networking Protocol Accelerators, Mega IP Cores, Systems and Solutions, has released a Xilinx Virtex-7 based development platform (INT_VC707) with pre-ported and tested 10G TCP & UDP Accelerators (TCP & UDP Full Offload Engines) which implement from 2 to 16 Thousand Simultaneous TCP & UDP Connections, unlimited continuous connections and Bandwidth of more than 1.1 Gigabyte/sec per port regardless of number of simultaneous or active TCP & UDP Sessions. In addition, it delivers the same hyper performance with same ultra-low latency (TCP/UDP) and Zero Jitter, irrespective of number of active connections.
The FPGA platform offers an 'Out of the box' working TCP & UDP hardware stacks with unprecedented functionality, ultra small core size, high performance and flexibility. The Full TCP and UDP cores run without any CPU involvement. The TCP and UDP connections maintain the same high throughput and low latency/processing times regardless of number of simultaneous connections in progress. This is a vast difference compared with other leading TCP Accelerators that implement partial TCP Offloads and suffer major performance degradation when handling just 10-20 simultaneous TCP Sessions, not to speak of thousands of simultaneous TCP connections. The unprecedented TCP throughput of more than 95% for large and small size payload data transfers on a 10G network, which is 8 – 20 x higher as compared to TCP/IP software running network traffic which is the de-facto standard.
In addition, the whole SOC subsystem containing PHY & EMAC & TOE & UOE, only takes up less than 12K Slices/26K LUTs and 4MB BRAM. It also integrates a DDR-III interface. The architectural innovation allows it to automatically switch to DDR when running thousands of TCP/UDP sessions. Customers can also use the DDR-III for their use as well. This allows customers to have maximum flexibility. They will be able to utilize smaller and less expensive FPGAs or ASIC technology to get all of the benefits of TCP/UDP hardware acceleration. A complete FPGA board/development Kit is delivered with pretested TOE/UOE subsystem which allows customers to start using it right away. It is expected to hasten the adaption of this technology in the vast array of next generation network connected devices. This new technology and platform offers many system level choices and flexibilities to customers in pretty much every vertical market who are building solutions for Hyper performance networking applications.
Their previous 5 generations of Full TCP Accelerators provide up to 256 Simultaneous TCP Connections and have also been available on the same and many other FPGA boards/platforms.
A similar platform will be available with Altera FPGA devices in the near future.
As a pioneer, Intilop was the first company to deliver a series of Full TCP Offload Engines on FPGAs in 2009. Their sub 100 ns latency MAC+TOEs & UOEs are considered a 'Gold Standard' by the industry experts.
The latency barrier of sub 100 nanoseconds and throughput of more than 1 G byte/s per port had been set by them since their first 10G Series of TCP engines in 2011. And, now the same performance metrics are provided across all 16 Thousand Simultaneous TCP and UDP Sessions. A live demo is available upon request.
The highly deterministic performance, reliable and proven ultra-low latency, coupled with customizability offered by the 10G TOE & UOE is being effectively applied to gain wire-speed competitive edge by all Networking Equipment makers.
Customers now have a larger variety of cutting edge TCP offload products to choose from, when they want to move up in the nanosecond league from the microsecond league. By utilizing the full benefits of pivotal 10G UX TOE and UOE technologies they can confidently exceed their challenging network system performance objectives.
The TOE's Patent pending architecture is highly scalable, customizable and adaptable without compromising the low latency and performance. Intilop's product-line solutions are available in flexible FPGA/ASIC/SoC technologies which can easily accommodate diverse set of appliance maker's technical design specifications.
About Intilop:
Intilop is a developer, recognized leader and pioneer in advanced networking silicon IP and system solutions, custom hardware solutions, SoC/ASIC/FPGA integrator and total system solutions provider for Networking, Network Security, storage and Embedded Systems.
Websites: www.intilop.com
Pricing and product info contact: firstname.lastname@example.com
Intilop Corporation. 830 N Hillview Drive. Milpitas, CA 95035. PH: 408-791-6700


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Death Rides a Horse (orig. Da uomo a uomo or "From man to man," a much better title), 1967, color. Giulio Petroni (dir.), Lee Van Cleef, John Phillip Law, Mario Brega, Luigi Pistilli, Anthony Dawson. 1:54.
Remember the blue-eyed blind angel in Barbarella? What if he was a 21-year-old whose family was slaughtered (after his mom and older sister were raped) and house burned down 15 years earlier by a truly evil gang—one of whom saved him from the fire? And he became a crack shot, presumably planning revenge sometimes? Now mix in the ever-stoic, ever-slightly-sardonic Lee Van Cleef as an outlaw just emerging from prison after a 15-year sentence, after he'd been sold out by the gang he thought he was part of—and he finds that some of the gang members are now Highly Respected Citizens. Throw in a Morricone score with singing that's either supposed to be incoherent or is marred by a poor soundtrack—oh, and a Mexican village so suppressed by an outlaw gang that they won't even rise up against four of the gang left to guard a million-dollar theft.
There you have it: The seeds for a movie that combines vengeance and revenge, generational (and style) conflicts (Ryan, Van Cleef's character, calls Bill, the younger one "kid"; "Grandpa" is the responding epithet), suppressed memory, lots of trick gunplay and not-so-trick gunbattles, truly bad bad guys and the gray Ryan and more. Law does a fine job as a hate-filled but naïve young sharpshooter; Van Cleef is, well, Van Cleef (after just two movies, I see why spaghetti western aficionados hold him in high regard.) It's a solid spaghetti western, the print's generally fine, and even with the muddy score I'll give it $1.50.
Sundance and the Kid (orig. Vivi o, preferibilmente, morti or "Alive or Preferably Dead,"), 1969, color. Duccio Tessari (dir.), Giuliano Gemma, Nino Benvenuti, Sydne Rome. 1:43 [1:23].
Is there a theme here? First movie on a disc is a first-rate spaghetti western—and the second one is something else entirely. This time, the "something else" is tolerable, but maybe tries too hard, beginning with the on-screen title, "Sundance Cassidy and Butch the Kid."
It's a comedy/slapstick Western, and that's a tough genre to bring off if you're not Mel Brooks. The setup is that one of two brothers, a city slicker/gambler, finds the other—because they're set to inherit $300,000 if and only if they live together peaceably for six months. The other brother, a down-to-earth Westerner (the time's a little indistinct, but the first brother arrives in an early automobile), really wants nothing to do with it. And on the first evening, a huge bandit ring shows up, steals the horses and burns down the ranchhouse because the city brother challenges the theft.
Oh yes: Before that, the city brother's had an encounter with an apparently down-on-his-luck gambler who's "lost it all"—and after suggesting a friendly game, next thing we know the gambler owns the car (he later becomes the agent or coconspirator of the brothers). The brothers become wholly incompetent outlaws; there's a kidnapping where the father really doesn't want the daughter returned, which allows for romantic stuff; and there's lots more. Oh, there's also a score that uses kazoos heavily and has songs that comment directly on the plot (but the sound's sometimes a little distorted to make sense of the lyrics).
Interesting details (along with the real title) at IMDB: the on-screen credits have good "American" names for the leads—e.g. Gemma's billed as "John Wade" and Benevenuti as "Robert Neuman—and that includes renaming Sydne Rome (the heroine) "Karen Blake," which is interesting because she hails from Akron, Ohio and Sydne Rome is her real name. Not terrible, but not terribly funny either. Maybe the missing 20 minutes would help? All things considered, it barely rises to $1.00.
Grand Duel (Il grande duello), 1972, color. Giancarlo Santi (dir.), Lee Van Cleef, Alberto Dentice/Peter O'Brien, Jess Hahn, Horst Frank, Klaus Grünberg, Antonio Casale, Marc Mazza, Dominique Darel. 1:38.
Here's a true oddity—not necessarily the picture (which is a good spaghetti western) but the situation with Mill Creek. That is: I saw Grand Duel in late 2008, as part of the Classic Western set (see C&I October 2008). I gave it a so-so $1.00 rating.
But this isn't the same print—not by a long shot. That one was full-screen; this one's wide-screen. That one was missing 10 minutes or so; this one's nearly full length. (Don't expect miracles: It's still VHS-quality at best, which is all you're going to get with four films on one double-density/single-sided DVD under any circumstances.) And, maybe, I'm a little more attuned to the qualities of spaghetti Westerns and, particularly, Lee Van Cleef.
Anyway…the plot's too complicated to summarize, but it involves an (ex-)sheriff (Van Cleef), a condemned (but innocent) murderer who has to be the most acrobatic sharpshooter I've ever seen (although Van Cleef's the fastest gun in the state, the younger guy's definitely the most nimble), a truly evil clan who slaughter the innocent and rule a town (with their name), the mystery of who really shot "the patriarch" of the clan and a "grand duel" that runs about three minutes and may be the least interesting part of the flick, even if it is the climax.
Somehow, it all seemed more logical and interesting than last time around. The flashbacks made more sense. The dialogue ranged from not bad to fairly tasty. Great scenery, good production values. (The film was coproduced by companies from Italy, France, Morocco and Germany.) Despite an absurdly large body count (but it becomes Movie Violence) and a lovingly-filmed massacre of innocents that seemed more brutal than really needed, I found it enjoyable, and give it an easy $1.25. (Lower the innocent body count, or at least don't show it so vividly, and it gets $1.50.)
Twice a Judas (orig. Due volte Giuda), 1969, color. Nando Cicero (dir.), Klaus Kinski, Antonio Sabato, Cristina Galbo, Jose Calvo, Emma Baron. 1:32.
This one might have been better if presented widescreen (the movie itself was very widescreen), since it seems to be more "cropped & chopped" than panned & scanned, with some really awkward scenes resulting. It's awkward in several other ways as well, including a beginning that's never really explained and a situation pitting one set of bad guys against another force that's pretty obviously bad, even if briefly semi-sympathetic. It's also a movie that seems to view valiant Confederate fighters as noble, but overrun by those villainous Union soldiers and their murderous ways.
I'm not sure I can really summarize the plot, but it involves one long-lost brother who's hired to kill his older brother, gets amnesia along the way as a result of an unexplained shooting, and at the last minute prevents the killing. There's a drunken doctor, a sympathetic lady of negotiable virtue, a sheriff who really does seem to be favoring neither side and a banker who may or may not be evil.
Unfortunately, it's sort of a mess. In the end, I found it brutal and incoherent and worth, at best, $0.75.


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How to capture nature in the city
Ossi Saarinen shares the best camera settings and creative techniques to use for photographing urban nature.
Ossi Saarinen has amassed hundreds of thousands of Instagram followers with his urban nature photography, most frequently featuring endearing animal photos captured in and around the city streets of Helsinki and nearby Espoo in Finland.
In an antidote to the pressures of modern-day city life, the 22-year-old searches the city suburbs each week cultivating a portfolio of intimate, expression-filled animal portraits: "When I go outside, all chores disappear from my mind and I can relax, even when I'm taking photos. I love every single moment in nature," he says. Here, Ossi shares his urban nature photography story, from the first time he stood face-to-face with four fox cubs, to his rise to fame on Instagram (where he goes by the handle @soosseli) just a few years later. He even gives advice on how to build an Instagram following.
Whether your closest green spot is a park or the shrubberies dotted around the city streets, Ossi's story and tips will inspire you to pick up your camera and capture the nature around you. With urban animals being less shy of humans than their rural cousins, you could find yourself face-to-face with the perfect subject sooner than you might think.
"For as long as I can remember I've been very interested in nature, and especially in animals. Three years ago, when I was 18, I took my first photo and realised that I could record the moments that I cherish in nature."
"Yes. I think it's been growing in popularity very quickly – at least from what I've seen on Instagram, where lots of new profiles have appeared. People are becoming more interested in nature, perhaps because they see so many good photos out there.
"I enjoy taking nature photos so I can save a moment to come back to later. And I like the challenge. Every day, I try to take a better photo than the day before."
"My dad had a Canon EOS 100D and he lent me that. I used it for one or two years. I used a Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS STM lens with it, which was not very expensive. Now I have a Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM lens and full-frame Canon EOS 6D."
"You don't have to go far to find nature in the city; in my old apartment in Espoo there was a fox den in my back yard, and even in the centre of Helsinki it's possible to see squirrels, raccoon dogs and owls. All kinds of places – even those with just a little bit of nature, such as some bushes and shrubs – will have animals gathering around. Even in the smallest parks, you can find wildlife."
"I once set up a camera trap in a forest near a fox den just to see how it worked, and because I wanted to see what happened there during the night. Besides that I haven't used them. I probably would use them more in the future if I wanted to photograph shy species in rural areas, but with city animals I don't need to use them."
"My favourite photo was actually taken the first day I photographed foxes. I was driving through countryside and had planned to photograph some flowers in the early morning. But the flowers were closed after a cold night, so I decided to drive back home. On the way, I saw some small creatures crossing the road.
"I wasn't sure what they were, so I parked my car and stepped out carefully, and saw the little creatures go under an old shed. I lay down a few metres away and waited to see what would happen. After some time, these tiny fox cubs came out. They weren't really afraid of me and they played around by the shed. I took maybe 200-300 photos there, and my favourite one is where there are four fox cubs in the same photo and they're kind of walking towards the camera [pictured above]. I think nature photography has made me patient – you have to be to get the shot."
"I don't think about it when I take the photos; it's more when I choose which photos to share that I try to pick the ones where the subject is 'popping', almost as if it's dancing out of the background. I get this effect by using a big aperture, so the background is out of focus.
"I usually use Aperture priority mode (Av mode) and set the aperture as big as possible, for example f/2.8, depending on the lens. Sometimes I use Manual mode, but often the light changes so fast, and the animals move to different places, so the Av is easier to use than Manual mode for faster responses.
"At first I didn't try to make them look [cute] – I think it's because the tail of the birds is often not visible, so it makes them look rounder. I also often try to take photos where they stare straight at the camera. I take many photos at once and try to choose the ones that have a funny facial expression or quirk."
"Phones can be OK for some landscape snaps but for photographing animals, you can't get that close with a phone's limited lens reach. Animals also move quickly, and a phone's camera is just not good enough to freeze the movement. And, you cannot shoot in the dark with a phone."
"I'd say the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM lens, which I use with my Canon EOS 6D. The zoom allows me to photograph animals both near and a bit further away, and the f/2.8 aperture is great for low light. I prefer lenses with a wide aperture like this, because you need fast shutter speeds to freeze animals in motion. Plus, the lens isn't too heavy or big to carry. I'd like to upgrade to the second or third version some day [which both add Image Stabilizers, to help images stay sharp] but the most important thing for me is that the autofocus is fast."
"I've always just posted my favourite photos on there. I started to get noticed with my first fox photos that got shared by some of the Instagram accounts that feature other people's work [Ossi uses popular hashtags and hashtags associated with these accounts when he uploads his photos, which help these accounts to find his work]. When they shared my pictures, I got more followers.
"Now, websites also share my photos and write articles about them. A few days ago, a website shared my photos in an article, and it went kind of viral [with 467,000 views at the time of writing]. I got around 15,000 new followers in three days."
"Yes. Recently, I have started to think about how the photo will look on Instagram because it's my main channel for sharing my photos. So I usually try to have the animal in the middle of the photo. I take both horizontal and vertical photos, but if I only think about Instagram, then the vertical shots are better. To keep my followers interested, I only share new pictures rather than just reposting old photos. All cute animals, such as fox cubs and other baby animals, work very well."
Written by Kathrine Anker and David Clark
Get Inspired is your key source of useful photography tips, buyer's guides and insightful interviews – everything you need to find the best camera or the best printer, and make your next creative idea come to life.Back to all Stories
Ossi Saarinen shares the best camera settings and creative techniques to use for photographing urban nature.
Capture stunning images of wild animals and birds with these prime and zoom lenses.
Pro Dani Connor shares her best advice for industry success with an aspiring young wildlife photographer.


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- Drums of Autumn. New York: Delacorte, 1997.
- The Fiery Cross. New York: Delacorte, 2001.
- A Breath of Snow and Ashes. New York: Delacorte, 2005.
- An Echo in the Bone. New York: Delacorte, 2009.
These novels in the popular Outlander series picks up the story of 20th-century time-traveler Claire Randall and her 18th-century Scottish husband Jamie Fraser as they continue their adventures in the American colonies. Largely set in the colony of North Carolina in the 1760s and 1770s, Claire and Jamie must navigate through the political tensions leading up to the American Revolution, and the war itself, with the added twist that they know the outcome of the coming war. Rich in historical description, humor, and romance, these books add four more tales to the saga of the Frasers.


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MCAD Modeling Methods -- Software Strategy: Midrange Modelers II28 Feb, 2005 By: Sara Ferris
Midrange modelers from IronCAD, think3, VX Corp. and Kubotek offer more options for mechanical designers.
His second installment of Cadalyst's MCAD software strategy series continues to focus on midrange solid modeling products. As noted in the first installment (January 2005), virtually all products available today provide competent core tools for solid and surface creation, assembly modeling, drafting and sheet-metal design.
Rather than a point-by-point review of capabilities, our goal is to look at where each product excels from the perspective of the machine, product and mold design industries. Unlike the three we looked at in January (SolidWorks, Solid Edge and Inventor), the lineup here is developed by privately owned companies, so it's harder to get a handle on such nontechnical factors as the financial stability of the developer.
All of the products here have been around long enough to be able to provide customer references. None of the vendors has an extensive third-party developer corps, so you won't find too many integrated add-ons. Instead, look for such vendors to support standard exchange formats or to develop their own integrated add-ons. Vendors are also often the main resource for training materials and support, though such materials may be available only to customers who purchase maintenance contracts.
For an additional midrange option, see the review of CoCreate's OneSpace Designer.
IronCAD the product originated in 1998, but the technology it was based on appeared a few years earlier in the Trispectives product from 3D/EYE, which was acquired by IronCAD developer Visionary Design Systems. Visionary Design Systems was sidetracked by a competing vision to be a Web company. It changed its name to Alventive, developed collaboration products, and in 2001 spun off IronCAD to focus on development of its CAD product.
|www.odencontrol.se) used IronCAD to create this new gear design."/>
Figure 1. Oden Control AB (www.odencontrol.se) used IronCAD to create this new gear design.
TriSpectives created quite a stir in its day, selling for $500 and offering a host of innovative features that have since made their way into other CAD modelers: integrated rendering and animation tools, the intuitive Triball navigation aid, SmartSnaps, and IntelliShapes, which changed depending how they were positioned.
Today, IronCAD, now at v7, retains its easy-to-use reputation. A well-populated Shapes Catalog contains solids that can be dragged and dropped to build complex shapes. Users can also create solids by extruding from a sketch.
IronCAD incorporates both the ACIS and Parasolid modeling kernels, so users can switch back and forth, even within the same part. This provides valuable flexibility for organizations that must supply models in a prescribed format. IronCAD also comes with translators for IGES, STEP, Pro/ENGINEER Granite and CATIA. It also supports DWG and DXF import and export.
Another difference between IronCAD and others in this class is that it has no separate assembly mode. A single file supports both parts and assemblies. IronCAD also offers direct feature modeling, wherein users can bypass the feature tree and edit any feature directly. This capability is particularly handy with imported models that lack a feature tree.
IronCAD comes with surfacing, rendering, and sheet-metal tools. The company also offers Inovate, a scaled-down version of IronCAD designed to aid collaboration. IronCAD does have a developer network with about 30 partners offering products for analysis, surface modeling, CAM, sheet-metal design and more.
IronCAD offers a user forum and phone and online technical support to customers who purchase an annual support contract. Online tutorials are available in PDF format. The IronCAD Web site offers a 60-day trial version for download.
Think3 thinkdesignwww.thinkdesign.com
Founded in 1997 and now at v9, thinkdesign uses a proprietary modeling kernel, which think3 says helps it respond faster to user demands. Thinkdesign is aimed at midsized manufacturing firms, mainly in machine design. Last year think3 introduced a separate product, thinkID (formerly known as thinkshape), for industrial design. Both products are complemented by the thinkteam product data management product.
Figure 2. Hydrocontrol, a directional control valve manufacturer based in Bologna, Italy, uses thinkdesign.
ThinkID uses the company's GSM (global shape modeling) technology, which enables users to make changes without consulting the history tree. New zone modeling functionality lets you then define a GSM change as a feature that is part of the history tree. The product supports both surface and solid modeling and supplies a full complement of 2D tools. It includes sheet-metal and mold design capabilities.
Think3 has more than 5,000 customers and reported $40 million in revenue for 2004.
Think3 is one of the few developers to use an annual subscription fee model exclusively. The annual fee covers upgrades, support and training resources. Thinkdesign is $1,995 per year, thinkID is $4,500 and thinkteam is $1,295 per year. The Customer Care offerings covered by the annual fee include 24/7 phone and e-mail support, a customizable training portal and on-demand Web seminars.
In recent years think3 has branched beyond product development to offer a variety of consulting services, including a design development team based in India.
VX CAD/CAMwww.vx.com
VX CAD/CAM began as a modeler developed for Samsung and was released commercially in 1999 by VX Corp. (then known as Varimetrix). It integrates CAD and CAM functionality into one application, which makes it popular with mold makers and others who need to move designs to manufacturing. A complementary strength is its ability to import and heal surface data from other 3D applications, again a draw for those companies that receive models created in different applications.
In This Article
VX comes in six different bundles ranging in price from $2,000 to $10,000. The two entry-level bundles are VX Mechanical and VX Modeler. Separate bundles are also available for solid, surfacing and sheet-metal design, mold and die design and milling. VX End-to-End includes the entire set of tools. In addition to integrated CAM tools, VX features reverse-engineering capabilities for processing point-cloud data from 3D scanning devices and CMMs (coordinate measuring machines).
Like think3, VX is built on a proprietary modeling kernel that handles surfaces and solids. Its Morph Shape commands support easy editing and surface modification. The interface is not as intuitive as those of the other programs covered here. Dialog boxes can consume considerable real estate, and it's only in the most recent release that an icon-based history manager appears.
Kubotek KeyCreatorwww.kubotekusa.com
KeyCreator ($3,495) is the next evolution for the CADKEY mechanical design product, among the first to offer 3D capabilities. Now being developed by Kubotek USA, an arm of a Japanese technology company, KeyCreator v4.0 focuses on enhanced interoperability with the addition of translators for SolidWorks and Inventor to existing support for DXF, DWG, Parasolid, SAT, IGES, STEP and others. The data from these files can then be used and modified as though created natively.
|www.spitzinc.com) to model this design for the Glasgow Science Center. Based in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, Spitz designs planetariums and dome structures with more than 1,200 installations worldwide."/>
Figure 3. Kubotek KeyCreator was used by Spitz (www.spitzinc.com) to model this design for the Glasgow Science Center. Based in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, Spitz designs planetariums and dome structures with more than 1,200 installations worldwide.
Though the company's immediate goal is to upgrade CADKEY customers to the KeyCreator product, Kubotek describes its long-term plans for the product as Measure, Model and Machine. It will incorporate its own add-ons for CAM and reverse engineering to provide all the tools needed by small and midsized manufacturers to move from concept to market. Kubotek developed its vision from its experience designing high-end audio equipment, which must continually adjust its output to correspond to a changing view of a physical space. Where conventional CAD focuses on mass production, Kubotek wants to serve mass customized manufacturing needs—for example, custom motorcycles and medical devices such as hearing aids built for individual consumers. Such manufacturers need to integrate real-world input with their software models.
The company claims more than 20,000 customers worldwide. KeyCreator is available in various configurations and sold through a reseller channel. Online support includes a knowledgebase and user forums for registered customers.
Stay TunedNext month we look at the big guns of mechanical design, those that start in the midrange and extend up into the high end. These include CATIA, NX and Pro/ENGINEER.
Sara Ferris is Cadalyst's editor-in-chief.
About the Author: Sara Ferris
For Mold Designers! Cadalyst has an area of our site focused on technologies and resources specific to the mold design professional. Sponsored by Siemens NX. Visit the Equipped Mold Designer here!
For Architects! Cadalyst has an area of our site focused on technologies and resources specific to the building design professional. Sponsored by HP. Visit the Equipped Architect here!


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Barry Lyga
Barry Lyga
Called a "YA rebel-author" by Kirkus Reviews, Barry Lyga has published seventeen novels in various genres in his eleven-year career, including the New York Times bestselling I HUNT KILLERS. His books have been or are slated to be published in more than a dozen different languages in North America, Australia, Europe, and Asia.
After graduating from Yale with a degree in English, Lyga worked in the comic book industry before quitting to pursue his lifelong love of writing. In 2006, his first young adult novel, THE ASTONISHING ADVENTURES OF FANBOY AND GOTH GIRL, was published to rave reviews, including starred reviews from Booklist and School Library Journal. Publishers Weekly named Lyga a "Flying Start" in December 2006 on the strength of the debut.
His second young adult novel, BOY TOY, received starred reviews in SLJ, Publishers Weekly, and Kirkus. VOYA gave it its highest critical rating, and the Chicago Tribune called it "…an astounding portrayal of what it is like to be the young male victim." His third novel, HERO-TYPE, according to VOYA "proves that there are still fresh ideas and new, interesting story lines to be explored in young adult literature."
Since then, he has also written GOTH GIRL RISING (the sequel to his first novel), as well as the Archvillain series for middle-grade readers and the graphic novel MANGAMAN (with art by Colleen Doran).
His latest series is I Hunt Killers, called by the LA Times "one of the more daring concepts in recent years by a young-adult author" and an "extreme and utterly alluring narrative about nature versus nurture." The first book landed on both the New York Times and USA Today bestsellers lists.
Lyga lives and podcasts near New York City with his wife, Morgan Baden, and their nigh-omnipotent daughter. His comic book collection is a lot smaller than it used to be, but is still way too big.
Photo Credit: Devon John Photography.
Barry Lyga
- Website: barrylyga.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/officialbarry
- Twitter: twitter.com/barrylyga
- Tumblr: barrylyga.tumblr.com/


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Friday, 3 May 2013 00:01 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Reuters: Bayern Munich stormed fortress Nou Camp to claim a berth in the first all-German Champions League final when they routed Barcelona 3-0 on Wednesday for a crushing 7-0 aggregate success that saw them hailed as the new kings of Europe.
The Bundesliga champions, chasing a fifth continental crown, will play Borussia Dortmund at 25 May final at London's Wembley Stadium after an imperious performance that inflicted the heaviest two-legged European defeat in Barca's history.
Their bid for a third Champions League crown in five seasons ended in humiliation and the era during which they blazed a trail under Pep Guardiola, who will take over from Jupp Heynckes as Bayern coach next season, was reduced to a distant memory.
Last year's runners-up Bayern had effectively killed off the tie with last week's 4-0 victory in Munich and there was no way back for a toothless Barca when Arjen Robben cut inside and blasted the ball past Victor Valdes in the 49th minute.
A miserable night for the pre-tournament favourites and their fans thronging the giant arena was completed when Gerard Pique skewed the ball into his own net in the 72nd minute and Thomas Mueller, who scored twice in the first leg, nodded a third for a rampant Bayern four minutes later. The Spaniards, last defeated in both legs of a European knockout tie in 1987, were deprived of the talents of Lionel Messi, who has yet to recover fully from a hamstring injury and was left on the bench.
Without the talismanic World Player of the Year they barely threatened as forwards Cesc Fabregas, David Villa and Pedro, and later substitute Alexis Sanchez, were helpless against a resolute Bayern defence.
"We played an outstanding game but there is a difference of Barca with and without Messi," Bayern coach Heynckes told ZDF television as the German domination of Spain was completed following Dortmund's win over Real Madrid on Tuesday. "But it is a result one could not forecast," added the former Real Madrid and Athletic Bilbao boss.
"I know the philosophy of Barcelona and my team understood extremely well how to deploy our tactics. "It was harder than it looked. My team was very focused... we knew what we were up against."
The statistics made grim reading for Barca. Their biggest aggregate reverse in Europe before Wednesday was by four goals and it was their heaviest Champions League defeat at the Nou Camp since Dynamo Kiev beat them 4-0 in 1997. They were also unbeaten in their previous 21 Champions League home matches since a 2-1 loss against Rubin Kazan in October 2009.
"We would have liked to play at the same level as Bayern but we can only congratulate them now and get back to work," Barca coach Tito Vilanova, who took over from his close friend Guardiola at the end of last season, told a news conference. Fabregas was initially deployed in Messi's roving forward role in a three-pronged attack with Spain team mates Pedro and Villa.
Bundesliga champions Bayern were first to threaten when Robben burst clear on the left in the 13th minute but the Dutch winger was denied by a fine covering tackle from Pique.
The Spain centre back made another excellent intervention to nip the ball away from Philipp Lahm six minutes later before Manuel Neuer had to be alert to tip a long-range Pedro effort over the crossbar and Xavi volleyed high and wide when well placed. As the half wore on and Bayern looked increasingly comfortable against Barca's aimless attacks, their boisterous fans high up in the stadium began to make themselves heard on a balmy night in the Catalan capital.
The home crowd were silenced four minutes into the second half when David Alaba sprayed the ball across to Robben on the right wing and he cut inside Adriano in trademark fashion before crashing a left-foot drive past Valdes.
Barca now needed six goals to get through and any fans looking towards the bench to see if Messi was warming up were disappointed. The Germans even began to stroke the ball around in the style Barca have made their own in recent years, each pass being greeted with a jubilant 'Ole!' from their travelling support. Barca huffed and puffed for a goal to salvage some pride but Pique's own goal and Mueller's back-post header completed a truly awful and unprecedented night for a team often lauded as the greatest ever.
Bayern will be appearing in the final for the third time in four seasons after defeats by Inter Milan in 2010 and Chelsea last season and are on course for a treble of Champions League, Bundesliga and German Cup.
Their success at the Nou Camp may help them banish the painful memory of losing a dramatic Champions League final there against Manchester United in 1999, when the English Premier struck twice late on for a 2-1 comeback triumph. Barca should wrap up the La Liga title in the next couple of weeks but a domestic championship is scant reward for a team which had set a new standard for European club football in recent years.
"When a team is so superior you have to congratulate them," Pique told Spanish television. "Now we have to prepare for La Liga, finish it as soon as possible and start thinking about next season." Dortmund reached the final after overcoming Real 4-3 on aggregate and host Bayern in a Bundesliga match on Saturday.


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So I got this Vivitar 285 flash last year, and it's been working great, except for one thing… the little plastic foot is no match for the weight of this thing. Eventually, it broke. Argh… To be expected though.
I found a replacement metal foot on ebay for $6.99, and I watched some YouTube video that explained replacing it. Here's the thing though… after I watched a damn advertisement, and then a 9 minute video showing how to do the replacement, I decided that I'd help people of the future by presenting the same info in a good old no-nonsense way, with words and pictures!
So here is our broken foot. Thin, old, cheap plastic. No good! Grab a tiny screwdriver and remove the foot. Don't lose the screws, they are tiny! (Also, you will need them later!)
Here is the broken one still attached, next to the new one. On the original unit, there are 4 wires. Two of them (white and green) go to the test button. You don't need these! You just need the black and red wires. The button on the new one will work just fine with only the black and red attached.
The black and red wires are short, so don't cut them, you need to desolder them. If you don't have a good soldering iron, and some soldering wick and a solder sucker, find someone who does. (Maybe your local hackerspace?) I did cut the white and green ones, and put a tiny amount of tape over the ends, just to be totally safe.
Solder the black and red wires in place securely. It appears I put the black on in the center. I'm not sure that it matters, but YMMV and I make no guarantees. (See where I put the screws? Right where they belong, because they are so damn small I was afraid of losing them!) Also, don't put the foot on backwards, as that would be stupid. (Disclaimer: I'm not even sure you can put it on backwards. I just like disclaimers.)
With the soldering done, put the foot in place, put the screws in, and put the batteries back in (you did take them out before you started, right!?) and test it!
OK, there's your short guide to replacing the hotshoe foot for a Vivitar 285 camera flash. Hopefully you read this in less time than it took me to watch that 9 minute long YouTube video.
(And yeah, the fact that this is a post about photography that has terrible photos is not lost on me. Apologies…)


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(HealthDay News) – In children and adolescents with brain tumors treated with proton radiation, health-related quality of life (HRQoL) scores are affected by both disease type and treatment, with assessments made by the patients correlating well with those of their parents, according to a study published online May 7 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
Karen A. Kuhlthau, PhD, of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and colleagues conducted a prospective study to evaluate the HRQoL of 142 pediatric patients, aged 2 to 18 years, with brain tumors, who were treated with proton radiotherapy. The HRQoL assessments were made using the PedsQL core, brain tumor, and cancer modules, with scores ranging from 0 to 100. Both child self-report (CSR) and parent proxy report (PPR) were utilized.
For the core and brain tumor modules, the researchers found that the ratings of HRQoL from parents and children correlated well, although parent reports were generally lower than those of their children (74.8 and 78.1, respectively, for CSR and 67.0 and 74.8, respectively, for PPR). Disease type was associated with PPR core total HRQoL score at the start of treatment, with the lowest scores for medulloblastoma or primitive neuroectodermal tumors and the highest scores for low-grade glioma or other low-grade neoplasms. HRQoL was lower for those also receiving craniospinal irradiation and chemotherapy.
Continue Reading
"This prospective study of children with brain tumors treated with proton radiation demonstrates the effect on HRQoL of disease type and intensity of treatment," the authors write.
One author disclosed financial ties to ProCure.
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By David Crane defrev (at) gmail (dot) com April 7, 2010 Updated 4/09/10 Looks like nuclear weapons aren't the only thing the Iranian government is after. Apparently, they've also got a penchant for speedboats, specifically high-tech, very expensive speedboats. Multiple news sources are reporting that the Iranians have surreptitiously acquired a "James Bond-style" fast mover called the Bladerunner 51 / Bradstone …Read More »
Tag Archives: lmt mrp review
LMT MRP QCB Gas Piston/Op-Rod Carbines and SBRs in 5.56mm and 6.8mm
By David Crane defrev at gmail dot com All photographic images contained in this article were taken by DefenseReview.com, and are the exclusive property of DefenseReview.com. DefenseReview.com owns the copyright on these photos. All photos were shot with an Olympus Stylus 790 SW 7.1-megapixel digital camera, which is advertised as "shock + waterproof". January 22, 2009 While DefenseReview was at …Read More »
LMT Monolithic Rail Platform (MRP)/Quick-Change Barrel System for CAR-15/M4A1
by David Crane [email protected] Back in April (2004), DefenseReview published a short article about the Monolithic Rail Platform (MRP) and QuickChange Barrel System (QCBS) for AR-15/M16-based rifles (including the SOPMOD M4A1Carbine/CQB Subcarbine), made by Lewis Machine & Tool Co. (LMT). Gary Paul Johnston has just written an excellent piece on the LMT MRP/QCBS for the September 2004 issue of "Soldier …Read More »


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CHURCHVILLE, VAKL – The UN's climate change panel is reeling from a series of scandals about unsupported claims in its 2007 report.
India has documented that the Intergovernmental Panel's claim of Himalayan glaciers disappearing by 2035 was mere speculation–and has now been proven false.
The 2007 IPCC report claimed global warming could cut rain fed African food yields in half by 2020. New lead author Chris Field says this is highly unlikely, and he can find nothing in the report's supporting chapters to document it.
The Dutch are complaining that the IPCC said half of its land area lies below sea level, when the figure is actually 20 percent.
All this criticism is valid and long overdue. But the biggest scandal in the IPCC's closet remains its 1995 claim to finding a "discernible human influence" on the earth's changing climate. Lead author Ben Santer of the Lawrence Livermore government laboratory inserted those words–after the IPCC's consulting scientists had signed off on a draft that specifically said no such "human fingerprint" had been found!
Santer deliberately reversed the meaning of the whole IPCC 1995 report–and the trajectory of every IPCC document since. He claimed the rewrite was justified by two of his own studies. However, Santer's papers "cherry-picked" the earth's temperature record from 1963—1987, ignoring the earlier and later temperatures that didn't confirm the Greenhouse theory! Thus the IPCC's whole claim of a "discernible human influence" remains without scientific support to this day.
What will we learn next about the IPCC and its frolicking alarmists? Expect proof that the land-based thermometer records have been deliberately sabotaged to lower the temperature readings of yesteryear and raise recent thermometer readings–to make global warming seem scarier.
The most obvious case of this record manipulation to date is in New Zealand, where the "official" graph shows the country's temperatures rose 0.92 degrees C through the 20th century. However, NIWA's own raw data showed no 20th-century temperature uptrend in any of its stations. Is it an accident that most of the world's raw climate historical data has disappeared?
Veteran meteorologist Joe D'Aleo appeared on John Coleman's TV special at KUSI-TV on January 14, charging that U.S. official temperatures have been rigged by quietly dropping "cold" weather stations: those at high altitude, high latitude, or in rural areas.
Clear back in 1992, James Goodridge, then California State Climatologist, published a peer-reviewed paper that sorted the state's weather trends by county population. The urban counties had a strong upward trend of plus 3.14 degrees F per century. Rural stations showed no upward trend at all.
Looking back, an "official" global warming of 0.6 degrees since 1900 may not seem all that dramatic. Especially after a dozen years of non-warming. But think how hard it would have been for the global warming alarmists to panic the people if they'd admitted the rural areas hadn't warmed at all! That "global warming" was mostly cities ratcheting up their own heat!
The supposedly dedicated "climate researchers" have nearly cost the world trillions of dollars in higher energy costs, agonies of wintertime suffering for the elderly "energy poor," and needless deaths for lack of air conditioning in the summers. They and the Green campaigners came awfully close to destroying human society as most of us have known it.
DENNIS T. AVERY is a senior fellow for the Hudson Institute in Washington, DC. He is an environmental economist and was formerly a senior analyst for the Department of State. He is co-author, with S. Fred Singer, of Unstoppable Global Warming Every 1500 Hundred Years, Readers may write him at PO Box 202, Churchville, VA 24421 or email to [email protected]


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There have been several tell tale signs of large sharks showing up off the North coast of Oregon. The local news media has covered this here and here.
It is thought these shark bites are coming from either a Great White shark or a Seven Gill shark. Certainly this is something that would be cause for alarm for anyone that is surfing off the coast. This year there has been a lot of changes in the Pacific and the sightings of more shark attacked mammals may become the new normal. While most of the reporting going on in the most recent news stories has revolved around the North coast beaches in Clatsop county, we stumbled across this fresh seal carcass on a early morning beach walk back in August, just South of Cape Meares.
Sharks Kill Seals in Oregon
As reported in the KPTV story linked above, "Seeing shark bites isn't alarming, we see that quite often, but not this close together. What it tells me is something is hanging around pretty close," said Keith Chandler with Marine Mammal Stranding Network.
And while there is a couple of potential killers of seals off the Oregon coast that swim in the Pacific as highlighted by OregonLive:
"There's only one shark that would do that: a great white," said Jim Burke, director of animal husbandry at the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport.
While other sharks go for smaller prey, particularly young marine mammals, great whites stalk larger sea creatures. They are considered "ambush animals" because of the way they attack from beneath their prey, he said.
Burke noted sharks are seen or encountered throughout the year, especially in late summer or fall fishing season. The marine mammals follow the fish, and the sharks follow them.
"The marine mammal populations are extremely healthy right now," he said. "The predators will follow."
Sharks can go months without eating, Burke added, so one shark or several may be attacking these animals.
You never know what you might stumble upon on your next walk on the beaches in Oregon. While it is always a sad day for the seal, the Shark has to eat too.


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[Seandavid010] recently purchased a 2004 Volvo. He really liked the car except for the fact that it was missing some more modern features. He didn't come stock with any navigation system or Bluetooth capabilities. After adding Bluetooth functionality to the stock stereo himself, he realized he would need a secure location to place his iPhone. This would allow him to control the stereo or use the navigation functions with ease. He ended up building a custom iPhone mount in just a single afternoon.
The key to this project is that the Volvo has an empty pocket on the left side of the stereo. It's an oddly shaped vertical pocket that doesn't seem to have any real use. [Seandavid010] decided this would be the perfect place to mount his phone. The only problem was that he didn't want to make any permanent changes to his car. This meant no drilling into the dash and no gluing.
[Seandavid010] started by lining the pocket with blue masking tape. He then added an additional lining of plastic wrap. All of this was to protect the dashboard from what was to come next. He filled about half of the pocket with epoxy putty. We've seen this stuff used before in a similar project. He left a small opening in the middle with a thick washer mounted perpendicular to the ground. The washer would provide a place for an off-the-shelf iPhone holder to mount onto. [Seandavid010] also placed a flat, wooden paint stirrer underneath the putty. This created a pocket that would allow him to route cables and adapters underneath this new mount.
After letting the epoxy putty cure for an hour, he removed the block from the pocket. The stick was then removed, and any gaps were filled in with putty. The whole block was trimmed and smooth down for a more streamlined look. Finally, it was painted over with some flat black spray paint to match the color of the dashboard. An aftermarket iPhone holder allows [Seandavid010] to mount his cell phone to this new bracket. The cell phone holder allows him to rotate the phone into portrait or landscape mode, and even is adjustable to accommodate different sized phones.


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What are Motion Graphics and why would you use them?
Motion graphics are animations and footage used to create the illusion of motion in any video. Creatives use them to incorporate stunning transitions, moving backgrounds, and smooth animations of all sorts into their video projects.
- Motion graphics make your videos more exciting. Move over boring presets! Getting high-quality motion graphics means adding energy and creativity to your projects. Beaming animations are sure to make your videos more unique and enjoyable.
- They also help tell the story. Need a cool way to add a caption? You can incorporate a lower-third animation into your video. These assets provide you with a better way to "set the scene in the clip, and therefore improve the overall experience.
- Motion graphics provide professional-level transitions that help your videos stand out. Long gone are the days of a simple fade out!
- And lastly, motion graphics set the mood for your videos. There's no better way to create emotive videos than to set the mood with the right animations. An example? You can add glitch effects for tech-savvy projects, or incorporate vibrant transitions for an upbeat feel.
Now that the basics are covered, let's explore the different types of motion graphics and what they're for:
- Backgrounds can be abstract, three-dimensional, looped and a whole lot more, and will be perfect to provide your video with the right atmosphere and mood.
- Transitions are made to provide smooth and original way of transitioning from one scene to the next one. It could be as simple as simulating a page turning, or something more elaborate like an image dissolving into a glowing heart and everything in between.
- Overlays are great if you want to make your video a seasonal one: think snowflakes and stars for your Christmas wishes, and lovely hearts for a Valentine's Day clip.
- Lower thirds are the graphic overlays you often see on tv, at the bottom of the screen. They come in all sorts of styles, from vintage to classy, and can be just simple lines of text or animated with stylish lettering and effects.
- Revealers are often used at the beginning of a video-but not necessarily. You'll find them whenever you need to, as the word suggests, "reveal a logo, a name, a product, and anything else you can think of.
- And the list goes on and on with heaps of other Elements such as three-dimensional objects, animal-themed and nature-themed graphics, as well as different styles to fit the mood and atmosphere of your clip.
And while the choice is ample and each asset is unique, they all have a few features in common. First of all, the files are very easy to use. All the heavy lifting has been done for you! You simply need to insert the text or images you need for a time-saving option to improve your workflow. Plus, you can get very affordable and really great bundle packs. It's definitely good to have room for more creative options, so you can download a bundle to gain access to multiple assets-for example, a set of transitions-to use for your project and other projects in the future.