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The magic roulette number is a uniquely personal number. If you have a favorite number between 1 and 36 you are in luck because that could be your magic roulette number. You could have two or three numbers, as this idea for gaming does not require a lot of money. This idea is for betters who are not roulette players and are just willing to take a flyer from time to time.

Let’s say your favorite number is 26 and 27. Using the rule of three, the bettor plays this or these numbers three times in a row. If the number comes up you press the bet one unit and play one extra time for each win. The rational for this wager is it can be played every time you are in a casino. You may play it many times before it ever hits and then it may repeat or show up several times in your next random plays. There is no logic to this play and it takes no skill whatever, but it also can win and pay off a nice amount of 35 to 1.

If it wins for you, it may indicate that you are going to be lucky today and it also raises your humor and confidence. If it loses, so what, it is such a small amount of money bet and in the scheme of things it should not make or break your gaming trip.

You can do a similar idea on the roulette table and play the bet, which covers 1 to 12 or 13 to 24 or 25 to 36. This bet pays 2 to 1 when it wins. You are on your own as to how many times you will play this wager. My suggestion would be an odd number of times.

For those of you who would like to become serious roulette players, there are several sites on the Internet which layout many different strategies. There is however no strategy that guarantees a win. This is true, no matter what the seller of the strategy claims.

Parlay systems in roulette are okay as long as they are reasonable and do not lead the player off of a cliff financially. Parlay systems seem to work until they are tested in the real world of casino gaming. Do not go hog wild on any system in roulette as it comes down to if you are lucky you win and if not you had your gaming fix.

This article is the property of onlineslotsguide.org/ Online Slots Guide

Most people are only interested in buying the Apple iPods. Few know that there are other mp3 players that are just as good as the iPods. This is one of those mp3 players.

The creative mp3 player that is most noticeable in the market right now is the Creative Zen Vision: M. This creative mp3 player was released in 2005. This mp3 player is very similar to Apple’s device. In fact, it is so similar that Creative sued Apple for infringing on its copyright of the Creative interface and the case was settled with Creative receiving $100 million. The Creative Zen Vision: M has a 2.5″ screen and a familiar interface that is used by Apple’s device.

The Creative Zen Vision: M received the awards, Best of Show and Best Portable Audio & Video Device, at the 2006 International Consumer Electronics Show as well as the Red Dot Design Award.
On March 11, 2007, Creative released slimmer versions of the Zen Vision:M and Zen Vision:W 60GB capacities. The slimmer creative mp3 players are as slim as the 30GB counterparts. The changes are only available in Japan right now but may soon be released everywhere.

The Zen Vision: M has integrated a ZEN Vertical Touch Pad. Rather than the “click wheel” of Apple’s iPod where you click the button in the middle to select a song or category and have to spin the wheel to scroll up and down, the ZEN Vertical Touch Pad has you click the button in the middle and you simply have to scroll up and down.

Features*:

This creative mp3 player can hold up to 240 hours of movies. It supports many video formats, such as: AVI, DivX 4 &5, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MEPG4-SP, WMV9, and Motion-JPEG. You are also able to view tens of thousands of photos in 320 x 240 resolution. The creative mp3 player can also hold an outstanding 15,000 songs based on 4 minutes at 128kbps WMA.

To view movies and photos from the creative mp3 player to a T.V. or projector all you have to do is connect the mp3 player with a AV cable. You are also able to just watch the movies and photos and the large 2.5″ high-definition screen.

The rechargeable Li-ion battery allows you to enjoy up to 18 hours of music and 6 hours of movies.
If the impressive 15,000 songs is not enough for you, you are able to listen to live FM radio. With 32 station presets it allows you to switch stations with ease. Also using the voice recorder, you can record the songs straight from the radio to your music library.

This creative mp3 player, the Creative Zen Vision:M, is the best creative mp3 player on the market right now and is definitely a must buy, even above the Apple iPod.

About the author:
I am just a guy that watches my money, so I look for low priced stuff over the internet. I also like to help people, I search for quality products on the internet, so they don’t have to. Find more info and articles at: puters.biz puters.biz

Good handicappers put a circle around a team every time they have an exciting fourth quarter comeback. One betting angle that’s worth playing attention to is how a team performs the week after a fourth-quarter comeback. Often times the team’s excitement carries over the following week, especially if that team is in the race for a playoff spot or a division title. Simply put, it appears that the good karma carries over at least one week helping that team.

We saw this a few weeks ago when the Chargers came from way back to shock the Bengals, 49-41. The next week the Chargers traveled to one of the most difficult venues at Denver in a key AFC West game. There was no let down, which some might have expected, as the underdog Chargers won straight up with another solid offensive performance.

A few seasons ago there was a three-year trend where teams went 21-6 against the spread the week after coming from 7 points or more down in the fourth quarter to win. It’s going to be interesting to watch the Tennessee Titans this weekend against Indianapolis. They are a big home dog, but come off of one of the most exciting fourth quarter comebacks in years, overcoming a 21-0 deficit to stun the Giants, 24-21.

Three weeks ago the Ravens came from 9 points down in the fourth quarter to beat Tennessee 27-26 as QB Steve McNair threw for 373 yards. The next week the Ravens had no let down, spanking Atlanta 24-10, an easy win and cover. Earlier this season Vikings rallied from a 17-3 fourth-quarter deficit to beat Lions with a 23-0 fourth quarter. The next game the Vikings stomped Seattle 31-13 as a 6-point road dog.

Big late rallies appear to add a jolt to a team that often carries over the next game. There has been a lot of talk this week reminiscing about the Tennessee Titans Music City Miracle of 1999, when they stunned the Bills on a last second miracle TD on a kickoff return in the playoffs. Some may forget that there was no emotional let down, as the next week the Titans were a road dog at Indy and won 19-16. The point is the momentum and confidence gained from a comeback appeared to be a contributing element in the team’s performance the next week.

The 2001 Chicago Bears might be the poster child for this angle, as they had a remarkable season with several wild comebacks. They fit this angle in consecutive weeks and got a split. The Bears trailed 28-16 at home going into the fourth quarter against San Francisco before pulling out a 37-31 win in overtime. The next week Chicago got the cover in an incredible comeback against Cleveland, rallying from a 21-7 deficit late before getting the win (and cover) on Mike Brown’s 16-yard interception return in overtime.

The Bears finally ran out of gas the next week, losing 20-12 to Green Bay as a 3 home dog. Still, dramatic comebacks can provide a team with confidence and fire that can carry over to the next game. That can provide a bettor with excellent wagering opportunities, which the Titans will test Sunday!

Bryan Leonard is a documented member of the Professional Handicappers League.
Read all of his articles at

Nominated for three Golden Globes, Good Times premiered in mid-season 1974 to widespread critical acclaim and audience popularity. A spin-off of the Bea Arthur (of Golden Girls fame) sitcom Maude (1972), Good Times became the fourth of five highly successful sitcoms brought into being during the 1970’s decade by Norman Lear. In addition to Maude, those sitcoms were All In The Family (1971), Sanford & Son (1972), and The Jeffersons (1975). The second of three to focus exclusively on African-American family life, Good Times became a source for groundbreaking social commentary in compliment to its penchant for hilarious family comedy…

The Good Times DVD features a number of hilarious episodes including the series premiere “Too Old Blues” in which James is exciting at the prospect of being hired for a high-paying job. But while at the interview, James learns that the training program for the job only accepts qualified applicants aged 18-35. At 42, he’s too old for the job. Meanwhile, Florida and the kids have put together a surprise party unaware that James was rejected… Other notable episodes from Season 1 include “Getting Up the Rent” in which the Evans family is faced with an eviction notice, prompting each member to devise a scheme for coming up with the necessary cash, and “The Visitor” in which Michael’s letter-to-the-editor about the housing conditions at the Evans’ project merits a visit from a housing commission official who experiences the squalor firsthand…

Below is a list of episodes included on the Good Times (Season 1) DVD:

Episode 1 (Too Old Blues) Air Date: 02-08-1974
Episode 2 (Black Jesus) Air Date: 02-15-1974
Episode 3 (Getting Up the Rent) Air Date: 02-22-1974
Episode 4 (God’s Business is Good Business) Air Date: 03-01-1974
Episode 5 (Michael Gets Suspended) Air Date: 03-08-1974
Episode 6 (Sex and the Evans Family) Air Date: 03-15-1974
Episode 7 (Junior Gets a Patron) Air Date: 03-22-1974
Episode 8 (Junior the Senior) Air Date: 03-29-1974
Episode 9 (The Visitor) Air Date: 04-05-1974
Episode 10 (Springtime in the Ghetto) Air Date: 04-19-1974
Episode 11 (The TV Commercial) Air Date: 04-26-1974
Episode 12 (The Check Up) Air Date: 05-03-1974
Episode 13 (My Son the Lover) Air Date: 05-10-1974

About the Author

Britt Gillette is author of The DVD Report, a thedvdreport.blogspot.com movie review site where you can find more reviews like this one of the thedvdreport.blogspot.com/2006/02/good-times-dvd.html Good Times (DVD) Review.

Your painting art journal is a powerful way to jump-start your future painting projects. Consider the following tips to get started.

1. Obtain an 8 1/2 x 11 size hard cover sketchbook. Of course, you could make your own journal, but that is for another discussion. Why keep a journal? It is important to maintain a journal to record important ideas that you receive. If not those great ideas will fly out of your mind as quickly as you receive them. Therefore, Keep your journal with you at all times.

2. Use zip lock or similar pint sized storage bags.

These bags will contain small clip files. Keep images in these bags that can be drawn on for inspiration and included in your painting. Also, keep a sharpie pen to write on the zip lock bag to record its contents.

Get a glue stick to paste some of these image ideas into your journal with notes stating the possible uses of the images. Try recording your notes with color. This will give you a good visual record of the direction that you planning to go in.

3. Write your thoughts about your painting ideas into your journal.
Your thoughts are in addition to the notes you have recorded in step 2. They should be images that inspire your creativity.

When possible include the time, date and place where you obtained your inspiration. The recording of the TIME may help you in understanding what time of day, or month you tend to be more creative.

When you record the location where you got these gems of insight it will encourage you to re-visit that special place.
This will allow you to capitalize on you peak creative times. And the surroundings that inspire your spirit.

4. Use color swatches for ideas and paste into your journal.

Look for color samples from magazines clippings that can be inspiring in your color choices. This can help in the overall color feel of your painting series. They may have an earthly color feel, a warm color sense or cool colors made up of blues and greens.
This is also the time to play around with different color combinations. These color swatches can be pasted into your sketchbook with your glue stick.

5. Paste photos inside your journal and maintain records.

A photographer’s best friends are the records that are kept for future reference. These records include:

• Camera and lens combinations used, what digital settings were used or film type.

• Time of day that light in a scene was observed. Some great light is seen early dawn or near sunset. It is usually during this time that you can get nice color changes and light angles.

• Seasonal changes. This will enable you to know where and when to go to get that breathtaking photo.

For example, once a year there is a park in my area that has Cherry Blossoms. If I capture a picture there and decide to paint it in the future I need to record the season and place of those beautiful flowers.

6. Draw, Draw, Draw.

Drawing is fundamental. Drawing is the key foundation to all art forms. With the use of note taking in your journal you can record studies for future artwork.

I like to do thumbnail sketches first. These are small quick drawings that record the sense of composition before a more careful worked out drawing is done. Sometimes in the thumbnail stage I will record notes that will be helpful in my later work. The incubation stage for a series of paintings can be born in your journal.

7. Carve out a time and place each day to visit your journal.
Sure there may be days you just do not post to the journal. But if you aim to do it daily then you will miss not doing it. As a result you will go to your journal the next day or two that week.

When you start an art journal it will launch you into a consistent painting production mode that will fire up your creative juices.
Keep it going and keep producing those painting gems.

Copyright, 2007, Raymond Horner, Jr.

Ray is an artist, instructor and art consultant.
hornerartworkshop.com hornerartworkshop.com

View some of his art work at homepage.mac.com/hornerart/Menu1.html homepage.mac.com/hornerart/Menu1.html
and rayhorner.com rayhorner.com

Is it true that in poker, players actually can give away information about their hand without saying a word or using their body language to show tells? Yes. You may be saying, “Well, how is this possible? I thought that tells usually are given away by body language or by a players speech?” This is not always the case. The timing of your bets, calls and raises may be giving away more information than you think.

The time that you take to bet, call or raise in poker can be considered a tell. Most players know this and try to use it to their advantage. For instance, if a player is in a situation where they are really strong or even have the nuts they will sometimes put on an academy award winning performance as if to say, “Oh, wow, you got me!” They will usually take a long period of time to decide their next move when in reality, they know that they have the best hand or have their opponents beat.

Timing could also work in the reverse when a player is representing a better hand than they really have. For instance, someone may bet, raise or re-raise an opponent and seconds afterward the opponent will act as if they are strong by calling or maybe even going all in.

These types of poker plays are classic examples of the old adage of poker, when someone is weak they act strong and if someone is strong they will act weak. More often than not, if you are playing with an experienced player they will pick up on this type of tell and use it to crush you at the right moment!

Well there is a solution and if used correctly you will drive your opponents up the wall!

When it is your turn to act (bet, raise, call or fold) take exactly the same amount of time to make your decisions.

It’s almost impossible to read someone that does the same thing every time they get their cards. Think about it, if you were sitting across from someone that took the same amount of time to look at their cards, to bet, to fold or to raise what type of true read could you get from them? Not a very good one.

So here are a few tips for concealing your tells and not giving away vital information:

Tip 1:
Only look at your cards once. This may take some practice for novice players but it will be well worth it when you get this mastered.

Tip 2:
Take your time in every decision you make and make sure it’s the same amount of time. This works great in serious tournaments. If you’re in a weekly game or a cash game for fun you may not want the game slowed by using this tip.

Tip 3:
After you decide to bet, call, raise or re-raise, pick an area to stare at and stay completely still. No need to answer opponents’ questions or to smile or smirk at jokes.

If you follow these 3 tips you will drive your opponents crazy and be on your way to playing decent poker.

For more tips like these and signaturepoker.com” target=”new Poker Chips for your next home tournament, check out signaturepoker.com signaturepoker.com

Last night my wife, Nancy, and I were alone in the house. We were just falling asleep when we were startled by a thunderous thump and a loud, drawn-out dragging sound coming from somewhere within our house.

We both sat up in bed and Nancy whispered, “What was that?”

Now how am I supposed to know what’s going on in the rest of the house? I’m not clairvoyant, I’m scared. I’m the only person I know who’s childhood hero was the Cowardly Lion from ‘The Wizard of Oz.’ The problem is, if I tell her the truth she’ll want me to investigate. Apparently, during our wedding vows I agreed to take out the trash and investigate psychotic murderers crawling around our house in the middle of the night.

I decide not to panic her. “It was just the wind,” I assure her, my voice quivering with fear.

“Oh, okay,” she says and believes me! “Thank goodness you’re here or I’d be frightened to death.” Then she rolls over, closes her eyes and immediately falls back to sleep. How in the world can she fall back to sleep? Does she really believe I’d be capable of defending her from the evil fiend that could make a noise like that?

She falls back to sleep and I have to lie there waiting for some monster to break down the bedroom door. Naturally I suddenly have to go to the bathroom. Bad, but not nearly bad enough for me to climb out from under the covers.

It’s not that I’m really afraid, I know those things only happen in the movies and the Grim Reaper is not wandering around my living room looking for his next victim. The only reason I don’t investigate the noise is because I know it really was just the wind. And I don’t have to go to the bathroom that badly, it can wait until morning. Everything always seems better in the daylight. Besides, Nancy always gets up before I do.

Gary Mosher is co-author of the award-winning ‘Buddha in the Boardroom’, the book that shows you how to excel in today’s chaotic and stressful workplace environment. Read the first chapter for FREE at bodhitreepublishing.com bodhitreepublishing.com

What makes a great picture of people? Ninety percent of its quality lies in the
facial expression, the rest is composition, lighting, and the natural presentation of body language. A tripod is a plus for sharp pictures and the camera should be set at the lowest ISO speed.

I want you to picture yourself and your family outside on a nice afternoon. It’s Thanksgiving, a great day for a family portrait. Unless it is a cloudy day, some nice shade will produce a flattering lighting ratio for your portrait. This means that the brightest part of the picture and the darkest part are not too far apart in value for the film or hard drive card to capture. Then choose a uniform background for you portrait. A stand of dark evergreens, a barn wall, a distant lawn, or a high hedge are all excellent backgrounds. The back of the house and patio, the driveway with the parked cars, or partially sunlit woods are too busy a background for your picture.

Next find something for people to sit on: a log, a small table from the patio, a picnic bench or a patio chair. The object is to have everyone’s head at a different level. Small children are, of course already low to the ground. Seat some people at chair height, others on the ground. Sitting like an Indian is not a viable pose. Try sitting the person down on the ground with their knees together, ankles crossed and to the side. Standing and leaning against something also provides a different height for your composition. Try to place the heads so that they do not line up either vertically or horizontally. Rather than presenting a square shoulder to the camera, a slight turn to the body is preferable. Eye glasses can be held in the hands or tilted down. Be creative in you grouping – two, threes and fours in a close grouping look better than one group of seventeen evenly spaced. Remember to overlap shoulders so that heads are closer together. One shoulder is all that is necessary to see.

Arms should never hang straight down. Instead, place some hands in pockets, around shoulders or holding hands. Diagonals in the composition increase the dynamic qualities of your portrait. Pay attention to the legs and feet. Natural looking positions include crossed ankles, placing the feet forty-five degrees apart (standing), and crossed knees. After the positioning everyone, stand back and squint at the effect with blurred eyes. Turn any straight on bodies and relocate any misplaced color or glaring whites for a more pleasing effect.

A broad, low light source is ideal for a flattering look to your portrait. An open sky overhead will result in dark eye shadowing. Reflecting light into the shadow areas or using fill flash will correct this situation. Take advantage of the light from a white building or a setting sun. A natural solution is to place your group under some overhanging branches.

Center your grouping in the view finder, paying close attention to the edges of the finder. Leave a little space on the ends for cropping since the format of an eight by ten or sixteen by twenty photograph will crop ten percent off the ends. At the moment of exposure, do or say something to capture the attention of the whole group in order to coordinate the eyes in one direction. You can save a big paper smiley face until the last minute. The alternative is an interactive pose where everyone looks at each other, instead of the camera. This type of composition is more difficult, since facial profiles are less desirable. In order to insure open eyes, talk through the moment of exposure and for a good selection, take lots of pictures. Above all have fun and everyone will enjoy the experience. Happy shooting!

I did this for 30 years.

Have you noticed the dummying down of our society or the lack of intelligence? Well, it appears to not only be in the United States, but also in a number of modern societies. There are definitely some issues, which need to be addressed. What sort of issues? Well humans in modern societies and civilizations do not think or reason much, only a few do. Most simply recite their purported knowledge and opinions most of which is merely what they read in the paper or saw on TV. Occasionally it includes conversations with their hairdressers, which is a nice touch indeed.

Can we put together think tanks to get the ball rolling again and teach people to think, by actually practicing the art of problem solving in groups? Isn’t that the purpose of the think tank? I suppose for some this might be the idea of a think tank, but people sitting around trying to impress each other with knowledge or memorization of facts they were Told in school or from an electronic medium of entertainment are not thinking of course.

Do you mean that people’s opinions are directly influenced by their background and thus unless they change their intake of mass media that this problem will not be solved; I mean the average household in the United States watches TV 8-hour per day? If you call background, the background noise of Television or mass media hysteria, yes, if that were changed there could be a positive effect. If more people watched the Discovery Channel or History Channel and more often instead of the repetitious nightly news in 6 minute snippets or segments, then you could see a change.

If you mean background as one’s over all experiences, observations, trials and errors and accomplishments, I would say that is not the norm, although that would be a place one should draw upon when reasoning. And to that point perspective based background is not a negative issue in my observation, different views do help enlighten the perspective of a group to get up and look outside the cave and think outside their pre-defined dimensional boxes, yet can you really name 5 individuals you know who can do this consistently, without reverting back to faithful servant side thinking filled with hokum and/or the sound and theory of mass media fury of more than a day gone by?

Would you say that by one who choices to only have liberal based input and accepts this as the total possible of their background knowledge base is a balanced person? A Lib-Dem might deny the innate human characteristics of the species to “want to do as little as possible and get the most for it.” What do those Christians say, with that cute little antidote; “Give a man a fish?” Would the background or belief system allowing one to forgo this observational aspect of mankind be a worthy perspective in a think tank to solve the problems of the human race or any problem at all for that matter? If re-training people to think in Think Tanks in the liberal laced world of academia is one’s potential solution to this dilemma in our society; well then, I would say that is no solution at all. In fact that may also be part of the problem.

In other words if you think like us, then you are thinking properly and thus OK. But in fact that is not thinking but rather simply following a certain pre-conceived line of reasoning, which is the same a watching TV and accepting that as Gospel? In fact wouldn’t that merely enable the group, like other human groupings who are in charge of various decision making endeavors to continue the non-ending loop and be doomed in the repetition of follies known throughout our many civilizations brief written recorded history? Think on this issue.

“Lance Winslow” - Online WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/ Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance in the Online Think Tank and solve the problems of the World; WorldThinkTank.net www.WorldThinkTank.net/

Are you a creative klutz? Does the thought of playing piano not only frighten but also intimidate you? If so, there’s a solution. It’s called the open position piano chord and with it, you’ll be able to create your own music within 1-hour guaranteed! Here’s how…

Chords are used to make music at the piano. The same way a guitar player can pick up the guitar, strum a few chords and make music, so too can the pianist. The problem is, note reading is what has been usually taught while creativity with chords is relegated to background status. The open position piano chord is a unique chord structure that utilizes both hands right away to create a modem sounding chord that is used in today’s contemporary music.

You don’t need years of theory in order to play it and you don’t need to understand harmony. All you need to do is practice this chord at the piano and within minutes, you’ll be able to improvise your own unique music. For example, in the lesson “Reflections in Water” (available below) you have 4 chords from the Key of C Major to work with. And four chords are more than enough to begin creating your own music.

We finger the first chord, C Major 7 and notice that our hands are used to their maximum capacity. That is, this chord structure really stretches your hands allowing you to cover more than 2 octaves (16 keys). It really is quite amazing! It will take a little while to get used to, but once the chord position is mastered, a whole new world of sound awaits you.

Many piano courses begin students with triads. There is nothing wrong with triads. They’ve been used for centuries. The problem is that the sound is not something most students equate with “modern” sounding styles, i.e. New Age, Jazz. The open position piano chord allows you to create a modern sound right away and is perfect for the creatively challenged beginning piano student!

Edward Weiss is a pianist/composer and webmaster of Quiescence Music’s quiescencemusic.com/piano_lessons.html online piano lessons. He has been helping students learn how to play piano in the New Age style for over 14 years and works with students in private, in groups, and now over the internet. Visit quiescencemusic.com/piano_lessons.html www.quiescencemusic.com/piano_lessons.html now and get a FREE piano lesson!