How to Get Great Photos of Your Free Running

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When it comes to action packed and amazing looking sports there are few more visceral and exciting to watch than free running or parkour. The basic concept in case you’ve been living under a rock is to use a city or town as essentially an urban assault course by leaping between buildings, flipping over cars and diving through railings in order to maintain a ‘flow’ from one object to a next. There are some philosophical aspirations, but essentially it’s about looking amazing and it’s no wonder that Hollywood has become such a fan of the activity featuring it in films like Casino Royale and Die Hard 4.

What this also tells us is that parkour looks amazing on film, so if you enjoy doing parkour already then you have a great opportunity to capture some amazing action packed images. The only problem is, how do you go about getting photos of something that’s so fast moving and dynamic? Here we will look at some tips that can help.

A little help from your friends

First of all, this isn’t something you’ll be able to do entirely yourself. If you want to get some great images of yourself in action then you’re going to want to have a friend or a helper come and take the photos for you so that they can get you from an outside angle as you fly through the air, flip from pillar to post or generally twirl like Spider-Man through the environment. Make sure they have a great camera and that they know what they’re doing with a camera.

The camera

When it comes to choosing a great camera you want to make sure that it’s high definition in order to capture crisp and sharp images of the environment, and that it isn’t liable to blurring which of course is a real danger when your subject is so fast moving.

At the same time you also need to bear in mind that there’s a very limited window of opportunity when it comes to capturing these great shots. For that reason there are some features that can really help your camera to perform in the situation – for instance using a camera with a rapid burst feature so that you can get action shots, or even just having a high definition camcorder so you can choose and freeze particular stills from it.

For something a bit different you should consider using a GoPro HERO camera. There are all kinds of models here such as the ‘GoPro HERO2 Motorsports Edition HD Camera‘, but any of them will work by attaching to a helmet or a bag and that way enabling you to get a first person view of the action in stunning HD. This way you can film some action without needing someone standing by to handle it for you.

The composition

There are many tips that you can use to make your action shots really pop, but generally it’s important to just take time considering all the elements. This means following lines to create depth and height, using foreground elements to give a 3D feeling or framing the shot in more interesting ways. Of course this will be down to your photographer, but it may be worth just having a word with them before letting them loose…

Oh and of course you also need to pull off some amazing stunts yourself!

Kyle Brandt is a well known name in the blogging world. He is passionate about writing and technology. So in his free time he combines both his passions and writes insightful blogs about the upcoming technologies and gadgets.

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Is Your Home Bad for Your Health?

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A home is supposed to be somewhere we go to feel cosy and looked after, and spending time there is meant to be a joy. At the end of a hard day at work, if you aren’t looking forward to heading back home and putting the kettle on then something is very much wrong.

At the same time of course our home is supposed to be somewhere healthy, and it’s one of our basic needs for survival to have ‘shelter’ that can keep us hidden from harsh weather and other dangers. But this is something that not everyone can say with confidence – and for some of us home can actually be quite unhealthy and even unhygienic. Let’s look then at how this could be, and how you can go about combating the problem.

Cold

If your home is very cold a lot of the time then of course this isn’t going to be good for you When we are very cold our immune system needs to fight to keep us warm and that means that we use up a lot of energy and aren’t as easily able to fend off other assaults on our system caused by bacteria etc. and are thus more likely to become ill. When it’s cold we also often end up not sleeping as well and this of course compounds that effect making us even more unlikely to get sick.

Air

If your air isn’t clean then of course this isn’t going to be overly good for your health and there are many reasons it might not be. One of the most common reasons for air being difficult to breathe is of course that it is full of dust and that’s one of the reasons it’s so important to make sure that you dust and vacuum often – it’s not just about the look of your home, but also your hygiene.

Likewise you also need to think about mould which can often cause problems for your breathing. Mould releases ‘spores’ into the air and these can then cause damage by making it harder for us to breath and drying out our skin – they can exacerbate and even cause eczema or asthma.

Finally it’s also important to ensure that your air has the right moisture levels – not only to avoid mould building up but also to ensure it is optimum for easy breathing. If your air is too dry this can cause just as much of a problem.

Bacteria

Of course if you aren’t cleaning your surfaces and floor regularly then this can lead to a build up of bacteria that again can cause a number of illnesses whether that’s an infection or a cold or flu. Use antibacterial sprays and wipes regularly and avoid touching your face after touching door knobs or surfaces.

Toxins

Finally your building itself could also be poisoning you if it’s very old and this could be true if you have lead pipes for instance, or if you have asbestos in your roofing. If you have the latter then asbestos roof replacement is advised to avoid it causing an illness over the long term.

Michelle Quad is a well known blogger. She mostly writes article on health care and about the things that affect our day-to-day life.

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Making Intellectual Property Law Work for You

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If you have an idea then that idea is yours and no one can take it from you. Your own mind is perhaps the only place where things are straightforward and where you live by the rules you make. There is no bureaucracy here, and no conspiracy (unless you’re schizophrenic perhaps) and of course if you’ve come up with something then it’s entirely your right to with it as you please and to make money from it and keep others from using it if you so wish.

That only seems fair and right, and you might think that that should be the way things work in the outside world as well. The problem is though, that as soon as you tell someone your idea or write it down things change and suddenly it’s not so black and white. And while this might seem unfair, the complicated laws are actually there for a reason.

Take patents for instance. If you instantly had the patent on anything you invented and keep it forever, then you would be able to have ideas and keep them to yourself preventing others from making any business from them. Imagine if someone came up with the design for a chair and then instantly patented it forever – we’d all be standing up to this day.

That’s why there are complications and limits regarding intellectual property law and why things aren’t quite so black and white. However if you take the time to understand the system and the various laws then you can still make this work for you in order to protect your intellectual property. Here’s how.

Understanding the Basics

There are three different ways you can protect an idea and each one is used in specific circumstances. For instance, if you produce a creative work such as a story or a poem then you can copyright this which will protect it for your entire life and even a time after you’re deceased. Copyright goes into effect as soon as you create something, the only reason you might need a lawyer or legal help is to register that copyright so that you can prove that it was yours first.

Then there are patents. A patent applies to an invention or a process and here you are protecting the ‘how’ not the what. In other words then you couldn’t in reality patent chairs, but you could patent the four legs design that we all know and love. Even then though this would require a lot of paper work and expense via the help of commercial lawyers and would only last for ten years.

Finally there are trademarks which are used to protect names and brands. For instance you could use a trademark to protect your business name or to protect the names of characters in your story. ‘Superman’ is a trademark for instance, as is ‘DC Comics’ and this doesn’t prevent you from writing or saying those names (otherwise I’d be in trouble) but it does prevent others from making money from them directly.

Choosing the right type of protection is very important, as is making sure that you are protected against all situations. Find a lawyer to help ensure that only you can make money from your ideas and creations.

Georgia Rae is a successful freelance writer. She is the owner of a very popular blogging website where she blogs about various business topics and ideas

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Asian Customs and Traditions You Should Know about Before Visiting

Asian Customs

Asia is home to some of the most fascinating countries in the world. Whether you are planning to visit China, Japan, India, or other parts of the Earth’s largest continent, you’ll want to be a good ambassador for your country and not offend anyone. In order to do that, you should know a few Asian etiquette rules before you arrive. Here are a few customs that will help you along the way.

The Importance of Saving Face

Saving face is an important fact of life everywhere in Asia. Even an accidental infraction is seldom excused. “Face” is a mixture of reputation, pride, dignity, honor, social standing and influence. If you cause someone to lose face, you have committed a great disservice. Many things may cause someone to lose face, including:

  • Causing a scene in public
  • Pointing out the error of someone’s ways, be it a mistake or lie, in front of others
  • Failing to offer sincere compliments when deserved
  • Refusing a gift; gifts should be refused at first but always accepted with both hands in the end
  • Not allowing a vendor the final say in negotiations
  • Showing disrespect to elders, those in uniform, or who have rank or title
  • Refusing to let your host pay for dinner if offered

These are just a few of the ways you could cause someone to lose face. Losing face is a great insult, so tread carefully.

Tipping in Asia

When you travel to China or Taiwan, tipping is not expected and in some areas is actually illegal. In these two countries tipping is looked at as charity. Instead of offering a monetary gratuity, it is better to give a small token of appreciation such as candy. Throughout the rest of Asia, a tip is usually only expected in luxury hotels or at four and five star restaurants. You are never expected to leave a tip at local eateries, hostels, or for street vendors.

Study Customs Specific to the Land You’re Going to Visit

Although saving face is critical throughout Asia, there are some differences in customs in various countries. Japan and China do not share all the same customs and neither do other countries across the continent. There are different rules about visiting mosques and temples, greetings and departures, table manners, and other customs and traditions of each individual land. In order to prevent embarrassing yourself and to be a good representative of your native land, take the time to research the customs in each of your destinations.

Traveling to Asia is an adventure and an opportunity you may only have once. By preparing to follow proper etiquette, you will enhance your amazing journey.

About the Author: Cliff Lechliter loves to travel. He recently went to a China travel agent to book a tour throughout the country in ealy 2013. He plans to return in the summer of the same year to tour Japan.

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Is Your Relationship Holding You Back? And What Should You Do About it?

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Some people are very lucky and they have their life laid out for them on a platter. These are the people who have simple and straightforward goals and dreams in life, and the people who can easily follow their goals to achieve the kind of satisfaction and happiness that many of us struggle to accomplish. At the same time there are those for whom ‘dreams’ entail being with their partner and settling down to have a family. Such people are lucky of course because they can realize these ambitions and not make any compromises, and because they know what they need to do to be happy.

For others among us though things aren’t so simple. Many of us it seems have dreams and ambitions that are a little more lofty and this may mean hopes of moving to another country, or of having some kind of highly successful but hard-to-attain career. For such people life is a little more difficult and we often find that ‘reality gets in the way. How many people are there that wish they were rock stars? Or astronauts? Or football stars? Or actors? And then there are those of us who just aren’t ready to commit to one dream, who aren’t ready to grow up, and for whom living life to the fullest means partying and having a good time.

For such people it’s largely society that stands in the way of them getting what they truly want, and it can be a lot more difficult to be really happy. And by ‘reality’, many of us really mean ‘partners’. The sad reality is, that even the best partner in the world can sometimes hold us back in life and prevent us from living our dreams – which of course isn’t healthy for our relationships or our eventual psychological health. So is your relationship holding you back? And what can you do about it?

Signs Your Relationship is Holding You Back

There are many tell tale signs that your relationship is preventing you from really cutting loose and being yourself and these include:

  • Letting go of something you really want so that you can be with your partner – but struggling to make peace with it
  • Changing who you are on a fundamental level so that your priorities change or your behaviour alters
  • Missing out on nights out and activities with your friends that you would have otherwise gone on – on a regular basis
  • Struggling to take up a hobby you’re interested in learning
  • Doing a job you don’t want to do because it’s ‘stable’ and because it will help them
  • Constantly worrying about what your partner will say and feeling constantly ‘judged’ for your actions

Of course while many of us may feel this way, not all of us are happy to just end a relationship – particularly when it’s otherwise healthy. So what do you do?

The first and most important thing to do is to work out what it is that you really want. Before you do this you won’t be able to convict to that ideal and you’ll just be wasting your partners time – so take some serious time and use hypnotherapy or another kind of therapy if necessary to get to the bottom of it.

Then you should talk things out with your partner. Let them know your concerns and see if they can’t come up with a solution or start being more supportive. If you don’t give them this chance then you aren’t being fair to them.

Then ultimately you need to decide: is it your relationship, or your dreams that matter more to you? And if it’s the latter, you may have to do the courageous thing and cut your ties.

The article is written by a freelance writer, James Swansea.

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Top Considerations for Any Event or Function

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If you’re throwing an event or function then this can be an exciting but highly stressful occasion. Of course on the one hand you will be throwing an event where you’re likely to invite only people you like and where you’ll be able to call the shots which means that in theory it will be a night tailor made for you. Likewise if you’re throwing a do in order to celebrate a business then you will probably be doing so because it in some way benefits your business which of course is another reason to be please.

At the same time though all this also means that everything is on you and that if things go wrong – you will be the one held responsible and it will be your reputation that lies in tatters. Meanwhile this of course means that you will have a lot to organize and you will not be getting much downtime until all that’s done.

There are many things to consider for any kind of event and it can all get a bit much – unless you know precisely what you need to do and can work through it in a systematic manner. Here is a checklist for the most important considerations at any kind of event be it corporate or celebratory…

The Venue

The venue is one of the most important considerations for any event because it will set the scene (literally) for all your other decisions. This will dictate how many visitors you can have at your event, and it will also influence the way you decorate and the activities you have room for. Of course in choosing the location you also need to think of the area and location that will be most convenient for your guests.

Decorations

In some cases the party venues you choose will be fine as-is and that means you don’t have to worry about decorations. In other cases though you will need to add a little bit of personal flare to those spaces which might mean renting flowers or installing some kind of centre piece.

The Guest List

Once you know what your environment is going to be like and its limitations you can start to assemble a guest list. This is crucial to a good event – because without guests you would have no occasion. Likewise you need to have a mixture of the right people to ensure all goes well.

Timing

You know who’s coming, and you know where they’re going – but the missing piece of this puzzle is of course when. Make sure your timing is convenient but also conducive to people relaxing.

Food

Food is also highly important of course. This is something that can make or break an event and if it’s good then people will be sure to enjoy themselves no matter what else follows.

Drink

Drink is a great social lubricant for a party or social gathering, but in business it can also be useful for helping people to chat and network. In general the right amount of good quality alcohol can make people enjoy themselves no matter the occasion.

Music

Finally music is important for ambience. Even if you can’t get a live performance or the like, make sure you give proper time and consideration to the kind of music you play.

The article is written by Henry Stew who runs an event management blog through which he shares tips and ideas on managing and planning events.

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Should You Let Your Staff Decorate Their Desks?

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When you run an office as a manager or a CEO, you walk a fine line between trying to be popular and keep everyone happy, and turning a profit and keeping things as professional as possible. One of the times this dichotomy becomes most apparent is in choosing the dress code for where they’ll work – do you make it strict and thus ensure that everyone looks the part if ever you have visitors while at the same time creating a professional vibe that will hopefully rub off on the way your staff work? Or do you keep things casual? Thus allowing your staff to feel relaxed in their own skin and happy, letting them express their personalities, and winning friends in the process making yourself a ‘good boss’ in their eyes?

The same goes for decorating their personal space, and there are many arguments for and against letting people bring their own things in. Here we will look at them and hopefully help you to come to a conclusion on what to do.

Pros and Cons

The pros of letting your staff decorate their desks are of course the same as letting them come in in their own choice of clothes. As soon as you introduce more relaxed rules here, you’ll find that your staff feel happier at their desks and have a sense of professional pride when they work there. Having colour and stimuli at work does not actually stifle productivity – but it encourages creativity and positivity which are both things you should seek to cultivate in your workforce. Meanwhile your staff will be grateful for your leniency and will hopefully work harder out of a sense of obligation at least.

On the downside of course by letting people decorate their own space you introduce a lot of arbitrary rules where you will have to make it clear what’s okay and what isn’t which can immediately cause more disputes – people can bring in things that other members of your team find offensive, or that makes others jealous, or they can bring in things that you believe to be distracting, but which they believe is no different from what ‘Jeff has’. Then there’s the fact that they can clutter the area and make finding papers more difficult, and that the mix of styles will create something of an eclectic look that’s not going to gel across the whole office.

The Solution

Of course there’s no simple straightforward answer to this dilemma, but what you can do is to make some kind of compromise. Speak with your office fitout provider and ask them to include an element that can be personalized in the office such as a notice board where they can hang pictures, or an area of their desk designated for particular ornaments. If you do this, then your staff will be able to bring things in and add a splash of personality but remain within the parameters you have set out to prevent arguments and discord. Of course this is going to be affected by the kind of office you have, how much space your staff have available to them, and policies that are beyond your control.

The author of the article, Thomas Brown is a home decor blogger and also works as a interior designer who designs office and home space for his clients.

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Research Reveals: Find Out if Your Online Date is Lying

Find Out if Your Online Date is Lying

Due to the rising number of online dating websites and profiles of single guys and single girls worldwide, the online dating population can seem like an overwhelming mass of potential lifetime partners. Deception is easy to implement in an online setting. The reason for this is because there is a lack of interpersonal interaction between the two parties, having communicated only through their computers. Nonverbal cues, body language and gestures are absent during the actual conversation so these do not help the case of these single girls and single guys who use online dating to meet their “soul mate” at all.

In line with this, an individual online dating user can realize that it is actually a difficult task to determine if the person they are communicating with is making a real effort to connect with him – he desires to know if his online date is actually telling the truth or concealing a lie. Is his date a single girl, a cheating wife or is she part of some online criminal syndicate? Is his date actually free to meet him? Is his date telling him the absolute truth?

Since there is no fast rule about quickly differentiating deception from the truth in the online dating setting, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Cornell University conducted a study about online dating – specifically speaking, the research study was about the relationship of online dating behavior and online speech pattern.

Researchers found out that by analyzing the speech of a single girl or a single guy online, they can be able to determine if deception is being put into play or not. They were able to actualize this by comparing the actual age, weight and height of seventy-eight (78) single guys and single girls who use online dating to their online profiles on a number of online dating websites.

The following are the findings of the aforementioned research study:

•    Online dating users tend to talk less about the topics they lied about.
Whatever the topic of deception is, online dating users rarely inject it during the actual conversation. Since they have lied about it, they do not really have much information about it so they decided to talk less about it to cope with the fear of getting caught lying.

•    Less eating-related words and more achievement-related words were included in the conversation. Online dating users who have lied tried to compensate for their lies with a few truthful words. Because they have deceived with their outward appearance, they tend to highlight rewards in their school or workplace setting, with the hope that their dates will soon forgive their physical faults, in case they get discovered.

•    Online users who deceived other people used fewer words and wrote shorter profiles than average.

These deceptive users used fewer words so that they will avoid contradicting themselves and giving out their lies to single guys and single girls in online dating. The less they say, the less they need to memorize what they have said.

In conclusion, the best way to identify the truth and differentiate it from a lie is to actually meet personally with their online dates. Security and safety advice should be taken seriously by single guys and single girls who meet via online dating.

About the author: Matt Fuller writes for the Australian online dating platform, GirlsMeetGuys Free Online Dating. Matt has been a freelance online dating writer for more than 5 years.

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Top Health Hazards In Your Student Home – And How to Avoid Them

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My memories of student life are memories of the best time in my life – and particularly the second year when we rented a house together after moving out of halls. I remember hanging out with friends, eating cereal in the kitchen, making copious amount of tea (cupious?), lying in until 2pm, partying all night, having barbeques and chatting about philosophy and politics while listening to music. I had all of the freedom of being in the ‘real world’, without having to go to work every day. I was completely supported by the University, by my loan, and by my parents, but I could stay out as late as I liked. And I lived with my best friends… Sigh.

However sometimes when I think a little bit harder, I realize that some aspects of student life were less than perfect, and that I may sometimes look back on them with rose-tinted glasses. While it’s true that uni was a lot of fun and provided a very laidback lifestyle – it’s also true that I was completely broke, and that we were a bunch of kids living together with no real understanding of how to look after ourselves. Our property was in many ways a death trap and it was a miracle no one was badly hurt…

This is true of many students and there are many common health hazards in your average student real estate. Let’s look at what those are and how to deal with them.

Mould: This is one of the big problems with any very cheap property, and something that many students live with without realising. Any coldness or dampness in your property can make mould a real problem and many student landlords aren’t fast enough to deal with the problem despite the risk of asthma and eczema problems. Make sure to clean any mould regularly using bleach, and to allow lots of air to circulate throughout the property. Don’t try to save money by avoiding using your heating as in the long run this will cause more problems than it will solve.

Junk: I remember dumping an old bed outside in the front drive of my student house, and I know lots of other people who did the same. This might not seem like a big deal, but it is a health hazard and not just for you. I used a garbage removal Vancouver company to get rid of it eventually, and you should make sure to do the same.

Disease: Disease is a big risk at Uni because you’re all living together, all sharing glasses, and all partying and studying all night. At the same time if you have piles of washing up then this is going to attract bacteria and you’re likely to quickly become ill. Avoid this by making sure to eat lots of fruit and veg, to do your washing up and encourage your housemates to as well, to go home if you’re feeling rough so you don’t infect anyone else, and to get plenty of rest.

Security: Finally, if you are a student then you will risk being broken into perhaps more so than the average resident in the area, which can be dangerous should they break in while you’re around. This is because you will present an easy target and because many students are a bit overly lax with their security. Make sure that you are not one of those students, and be sure to badger your landlord for some decent security features like CCTV.

The guest author Johnson Phan is a enthusiastic entrepreneur and works with Student Works Disposal. Connect with .

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What is a Conveyancer? A Basic Introduction

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When you buy a property you are going to be dealing with a range of different professionals who will all exist to try and make sure you get a good property for your money, that you get a good deal, that the transaction goes smoothly and that you are happy in your new property. Unless you work in the industry yourself then, this is probably going to involve a lot of things that you didn’t previously fully understand and some of these professionals you might not even have heard of before. Here we will look at one of these service providers – conveyancers – and what their role is when you buy a new property.

Conveyance

Conveyance essentially is the process of transferring a legal ‘title’ from one person to another. A title is a ‘bundle of rights’ regarding the property and this means that you will not only  buy the physical brick and mortar of the property, but also the right to access easement for instance, and the right to live in that property/modify it/sell it etc. Without getting the correct title to your property you will be limited in what you can do with your new home and so this is very important.

Conveyance will often take place around a table then where you will have three attorneys to represent you, the seller of the property and the bank or lender of the mortgage respectively. Here they will literally pass the papers and the contracts between one another that they have previously prepared. On the part of the buyer – you – that paper will be your offer contract which will have been written out to once again protect your rights in the purchase. This contract for instance will normally give you the right to pull out of the purchase in the case that the property is found to be unfit for purpose by your surveyor, or  if you should find defects in the title which prevent you from getting all the rights that you should get.

Roles of the Conveyancer

As such then your conveyance has several roles that are crucial to ensuring this transaction goes smoothly. For one they will be able to help you by preparing your offer contract in such a way that you are tied into the property before you want to be. At the same time they will represent you during the conveyancing process and pass the papers on your behalf. Finally you will use them to go over your title and to make sure that you have all the rights that you should have. In some cases for instance you might find that the title might mean that one day the council could build a road through your land. Using your conveyance you can ensure that your title doesn’t have any such problems so that you don’t end up making an ill-advised purchase.

Conveyancers can also serve a range of other roles. They are specialist lawyers who deal with the legal aspects of buying and selling property, and as such they can help you with a range of other problems regarding your property and at the same time inform you about the legalities of particular property purchases and plans you may have.

The author of the article, Steve Hewitt is a real estate expert and shares his ideas through guest posts.

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