All Entertainment OK

Grammy Awards are the Oscars of the music industry. The music industry launched its own awards thirty years after the Academy Awards were established. The Grammys, the Gramophone Awards–as originally named, were created in 1957 by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.

The Grammys were conservative. At that time, rock and roll was not included in the nominations, since it was considered a fad. Although the committee consisted of representatives from pop, jazz, classical, R&B, country etc, most innovators never won any awards for years to come.

The first Grammy Awards were presented for the year 1958, on May 4, 1959. Although Elvis Presley’s records were half of the music sold that year, The King wasn’t even nominated.

It is said that Frank Sinatra, the chairman of the board, had a hand in this, since he did not appreciate Rock’n Roll, and in the second year, when Bobby Darin was granted the Record of The Year Award for 1959 for “Mack the Knife,” Sinatra despised the new music even more. During the later years, however, Sinatra recorded the same song.

The end of the sixties still stayed conservative, although with Woodstock and with the push for following along with the times, the middle-of-the-road choices started to take hold. In 1969, the group 5th Dimension proved to be a godsend with their soft jazzy rock music, winning two awards for the same song, “Aquarius–Let the Sunshine in.”

The traditionalist view lost its hold during the seventies when the Grammys relaxed the strict judging criteria and included the rock music artists like the Eagles and Stevie Wonder.

A slap in the face came to Grammys with their biggest scandal when the Best New Artist Award was given to Milli Vanilli. Milli Vanilli were a twosome who had three singles at the number one spot. It was later discovered that the two never sang any of their songs, but lip-synched. Their German producer said afterwards, “We made a pact with the devil.”

The Grammys were broadcast on television for the first time by ABC until CBS bought the rights of telecast in 1973. The Grammys were held in Los Angeles at the Shrine Auditorium for several years and then moved to the Staples Center because of the increase in the size of the audience and the categories. For years, New York and Los Angeles have competed for hosting the Grammys.

The Grammys now boast 108 categories with more than 20 genres of music and chapters in Atlanta, Chicago, Florida, Los Angeles, Memphis, Nashville, New York, Pacific Northwest, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Texas, and Washington, D.C.

The 49th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony took place on February 11, 2007 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California with Dixie Chicks becoming the big winners. In 2008, Grammy Awards will celebrate its fiftieth year, a milestone in the music awards business and will be held on a date to be yet announced at Staples Center, Los Angeles, California.

Joy Cagil is an author on Writing.Com/ Writing.Com/
which is a site for Writing.Com/ Creative Writing. Her education is in linguistics and foreign languages.

There are several reasons to learn a foreign language. Firstly, it is a well-known fact that by learning a new foreign language we get acquainted a new culture. So this is a way to become more intelligent and get to know more interesting facts about other countries and societies. This may be a poser if you are not interested in learning new cultures but still, if to get a closer look at the problem, you may find more reasons to do it. For example, you travel abroad to have a nice rest, let’s say to Paris, and you don’t know even a single word in French. You can’t expect every Frenchman to know English; you’ll for sure meet a person that is not familiar with it. Then, just think about possibilities for your career growth if you are a free foreign language user.

Some people earn pretty good money translating different books, english essays and articles into their native language. If your company is involved in international affairs, you must know at least the basis of the language of a partner to find a common ground with your foreign co-workers. English is an international language, no doubt about that. Native-speakers don’t have to worry about being misunderstood at the airport, but what to do if your native language is for example Chinese or Arabian, that is extremely difficult to learn. But they, betraying their folkways, learn English and visit foreign English speaking countries to find success in their future business. Learning a foreign language has become an obligatory part of school program and now we can see some miraculous results. The english essay of the foreign school child may be more literate and well-structured than the one of the native-speaker.

As we can see, there are many advantages of learning a foreign language. But don’t start learning it just because you need, that will bring no result and get you frustrated in no time. Think carefully about the schedule and materials you are going to use. Also you may want to choose a teacher among the best and the most qualified to do it. Communication with the native-speaker may be a plus and a visit to a foreign country will bring you not only practice but joy and pleasure. But before doing all the above-mentioned, you are to consider, what language you are going to learn. If you passionately want to learn Icelandic and know that there is no way of using it in practice, what’s the point in starting to study it? An easy question may turn out to be difficult so good luck in your future studies!

Tyler Benson is a senior writer of BestEssays.com -

In the world of cult games, probably none captured the imaginations of kids more than Dungeons & Dragons. This was a game that was so unique that the rules of the game were that there were really no rules. How you played was limited only by your imagination.

The game was actually influence by the great book “Lord Of The Rings”. The gentlemen who created Dungeons & Dragons, Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, were such Rings freaks that they turned their love of the book into what became one of the most popular role playing games of all time. This vision first took form in 1973.

This game was not like your traditional board game. The fact is, it didn’t have a board at all. The original Dungeons & Dragons game came with a map. The players would follow the map to see where it would take them and ultimately uncover the rewards and dangers that lay in store for them.

There were no real rules to the game. Each game that was played could have as many players as you wanted. Each player would take on the role of a different character, which was also made up based on various races. The common races were humans, elves, dwarfs, orcs and a number of others. Each race then had various professions or specialties. For example. You may decide to play a human character who was a fighter. Maybe you preferred to play an elf who was a cleric, someone who healed other characters. The common professions aside from fighters and clerics were wizards, mages, paladins and thieves. Each profession had a different skill. Mages and wizards were very adept in casting magic spells that could be quite powerful in a battle against the enemy. Clerics had great healing powers. Thieves had the ability to pick locks and disarm traps.

In putting together a party to go out adventuring, it was a good idea to put together one that had a number of different skills. A common 6 member party consisted of 2 fighters, 1 cleric, 1 wizard, 1 thief and 1 paladin. This party was diverse enough to handle anything that it happened to run into.

And what exactly did these parties run into? Anything and everything. There were monsters of all kinds in the game of Dungeons & Dragons, from goblins to skeletons to the all dreaded dragon itself. Each monster had its own powers and abilities. Some monsters were easy to defeat and others were quite hard.

The excitement of the game was in creating a character and watching your character gain skill levels. Characters start at the lowest levels and work their way up to the highest levels possible. This could literally take months or even years of play.

Each character itself is made up of various abilities such as dexterity, strength, intelligence and a number of others. The scores for these abilities are randomly generated by dice, which are the whole engine of a Dungeons & Dragons game. The common dice used are 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 20 and 100 sided. These dice are also used to determine the outcome of battles and the ability to disarm traps. They even determine what treasures may or may not be found. And the amazing thing about all this is that there is no board, no pieces, nothing but paper and pencil and the dice. It is just about the cheapest game to play while being the most fascinating.

If you have never experienced the fantasy world of Dungeons & Dragons, you owe it to yourself to get yourself a party and go exploring.

Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to games-guides.com/ Games

I started writing a short history for each of the Top 100 films on the American Film Institutes list, and then I realized that the AFI list is problematic for a few different reasons. It only represents the opinions of film critics, it stays within the boundaries of Hollywood and American born films, and it tends to pander towards the classics with films that were extremely important but don’t necessarily represent the opinions of those that watch them, the movie going public.

So, I present the exact same project with the Top 100 movies from The Internet Movie Database’s Top 250 list. The IMDB list is a much greater tool, and one I’ve used in the past because it’s dynamic. Over the course of the years it has changed substantially adding new films, removing old films and generally reflecting the opinions of those that watch the films.

Number one on that list is the greatest book to film adaptation ever made, Mario Puzo’s classic saga of the Corleone family in The Godfather. At any time, it’s possible this venerable classic could slip below The Shawshank Redemption as the two have been neck and neck for years, but by far it will never be below second place (and I’ve never seen it in second place).

Released in 1972 by Francis Ford Coppola, the film tells the story of Don Corleone’s handover of the family to his reluctant son over a nine years stretch from 1945 to 1954. The film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Diane Keaton, and Robert Duvall, one of the greatest ensembles on screen. The film was the first real breakout success fro Coppola, but it took a hardheadedness on his part to make it happen.

He was the third choice to direct, and the studio was dead set against either Brando or Pacino in their roles. On repeated occasions he was almost fired and the studio was unsure of how it would be received so the budget was slashed. Fortunately for all, Coppola stuck strong to his ideals and made the film in his vision, into the Gangster opus we have now.

To summarize the film would take away from its majesty, plus it’s an amazingly long complex plot (one in which you’ll be more than caught up). The beginning of the film takes place at the wedding of Don Vito’s daughter. Here we meet each of the major players, Michael, Sonny, the Don. Soon after we learn of the method by which Don Corleone makes his offers, we learn of the new rival in town and the burgeoning drug trade. The Don isn’t comfortable with getting involved in the drug trade, unsure that his pocketed politicians would be willing to help smuggle heroin and so a violent war between factions takes off.

The kidnaps, offings, and epic intergang rivalries between Sollozzo and the Corleones crafts one of the greatest crime films, nay the greatest films of all time. The film won best picture and Marlon Brando won best actor (which he famously refused in protest of American Indian treatment at Wounded Knee) and has been consistently rated among the greatest films ever made on every list ever compiled. At the time, it became the highest grossing film of all time, crushing studio expectations and spawned an immediate sequel, The Godfather II considered also among the top movies ever made. Many even consider it to be better than the original. The infamous lines of Don Vito, “I’m going to make him an offer he can’t refuse,” was named the second most famous movie quote of all time, and the film essentially created the subculture of the Italian Mob in film and literature. Television Crime Dramas as well as shows like The Sopranos all pay homage to Coppola’s masterpiece as nearly every scene from his film has infiltrated the deepest pores of American Pop culture.

I’m a self avowed unemployed writer, working on semi-constant basis to try and overcome the need to go and work a real job. I’ve written more than 200 articles and reviews and am constantly scouring the internet for any and all excuses and methods to make myself less dependent on corporate pay days. Visit my website at

Jon Jost, independent film-maker. The early films

9. Stagefright

‘Stagefright’ (1981) is very different from the other early Jost films. The reason for the difference is two-fold: firstly it was originally made (in shorter form) for German TV, and Jost has adapted his methods to suit the medium, and secondly the subject under examination, the theatre, is examined in close-up, rather than, as in the pervious two films, through its effect on society at large.

The film looks different because it is all shot in a studio with actors performing against a black background. The emphasis, therefore, in on expression through the human figure, which both suits the TV medium and reproduces the methods of the theatre. In fact, since we are made constantly aware that we are watching actors performing, and since the camera does not move, watching the film is almost as much like being at the theatre as like being at the cinema.

The film has no plot, and like ‘l, 2, 3, Four’ and other early shorts, the sub-text is in essay form. The argument has four stages: an introduction, an exposition, a climax, and a conclusion. The introduction is a short history of human communication, and, like everything else in Jost’s films, it can be read on more than one level. Firstly we are made aware that the subject being illustrated is communication as part of the evolution of mankind. Secondly we are aware that the story is being illustrated by actors, and that developments in communication have also taken place in the theatre. And thirdly we are aware that what we are watching is a film, another area in which developments in communication have taken place.

The film opens with a dance representing birth. It can be seen as the birth of mankind, and, in the way the dancer communicates through the use of her body, as the birth of human communication, and of theatre. The following sequences illustrate, visually and aurally, the refinement of this process towards communication through language. First we see the human face, which communicates states of mind through its expressions, then we close in on the mouth, and the extraordinary range of sounds it is capable of making. Then comes the addition of vocal sounds, and finally, as the image cuts back to reveal the full-length naked figure, we hear the first word of the film: ‘Human’.

The next sequence follows the development of language, first with a figure clad in a toga reading Latin from a book, illustrating the birth of Western civilisation, the written word, and costume, and then, as letters proliferate wildly on the screen, the arrival of printing. The latter scene is the first with no human figure in it, showing that language has now taken on a life of its own; and the power of this new medium of communication is shown in the next scene: we see a close-up of a text, and, as it is read aloud, drops of blood-red ink fall on the pages, eventually obscuring the words.

So far, other than “Human”, not a word of English has been spoken; we have been looking at forms of communication in relation to their source and raison d’être - the human being - without being distracted by meanings.

The next scene, in which a cabaret hostess welcomes us to the show, marks the beginning of the exposition. We have followed the evolution of language into an important arena of communication: the theatre; in other words, as we sit there watching the performance, into our immediate situation.

The film then takes us through a medley of theatrical entertainment, while at the same time entertaining us with a medley of trick photography. The emphasis in these scenes, in both form and content, is on trickery, illusion, and falseness, showing how, in the world of show business, actors are used to create characters and images which effectively prevent any real person-to-person communication from taking place.

In a scene commenting on cabaret we watch conjuring tricks, while the camera is performing its own conjuring tricks by showing two characters, one shot from a low angle, and one shot from a high angle, simultaneously.

In a scene commenting, perhaps, on psychological drama, we see a young actress, in full-face and profile simultaneously, standing dumbly and nervously as two men, perhaps the director and producer, smother her with advice and instructions. The actress has no voice of her own, she is being manipulated by others, and the only thing which is genuine about the whole scene is the thing they are trying to eliminate; her stagefright.

In a scene commenting on the theatrical performances of statesmen three actors don masks of politicians and act out the kind of hand-shaking routines we see in TV and newspaper pictures. This scene makes two points: it exposes the public image-making of statesmen as a branch of show business, and it shows actors having to act out roles imposed on them by people with political power.

Every now and then during these scenes an actor doing an absurdly exaggerated James Cagney impression walks across the screen saying: “No wonder there are so many casualties.” And every now and then a hand holding a camera reaches down from the top of the screen and takes a photograph of us, the audience in whose name the whole bag of tricks is being performed.

The film’s climax is a sequence in which the cheapest trick in show business, the custard pie in the face, is rendered grotesque and terrifying by being shown in extreme slow motion. We see every detail as the pie flies through the air, hits the actor in the face, and begins to fall away. This is a very long take and its effect is deeply disturbing.

The action which is normally supposed to make us laugh is now seen as a vicious and humiliating assault on an actor whose suffering is all-too apparent. He looks as if he is being injured, and, indeed, psychologically he is. As with the scenes of the exposition we are being asked to question the relationship between actors and ourselves. Who are actors? What is being done to them, and, through them, to us? Why are we sitting watching? And who is controlling it all?

Then suddenly the film cuts to the famous newsreel footage of a Vietnamese peasant being shot through the head. We see more of it than is usually shown on TV: the man falls to the ground and blood fountains from the wound. At the same time there is a scream on the sound-track, and the film jumps out of alignment, as if it is about to break. The effect creates a powerful shock, a shock which should make us think and force us into an awareness of the film’s message.

The meanings are many. The sudden intrusion of a chunk of reality throws into perspective the artificiality of the rest of the film, and, by implication, of all forms of show business. While people, including ourselves, flock to theatres and cinemas to be entertained and distracted by artifice, wholesale slaughter is going on every day in the real world outside.

The fact that the film appears to break, or come adrift from the screen, both adds to the visual shock, and suggests that the medium of film cannot accommodate reality. It also disrupts our attachment to the screen, reminding us that this is no mere cinematic event.

Finally, a parallel is being drawn between the actor being ’shot’ with the custard pie, and the peasant being shot with a bullet; a parallel which suggests that both men are being manipulated and made to suffer by forces beyond their control

‘Stagefright’ ends with an explicit statement of its message, or at least, part of its message. This is presumably because, being originally made for TV, Jost saw an opportunity for his film to reach a wide audience, large numbers of whom would probably not make head or tail of it.

The message is delivered by the actor doing the exaggerated Cagney impression: a device which reinforces the message by its conspicuousness as a means of holding our attention. The actor, who has already been established in a choric role with his repeated line: “No wonder there are so many casualties”, comes close to the camera, as if taking us into his confidence, and says (approximately):

“You see, to communicate you’ve got to entertain. The great playwrights, like the Greeks, and Shakespeare knew that, but today intellectuals seem afraid of it, as if to entertain was to cheapen, and this leaves the way open for cheap entertainment, I mean entertainment with cheap intentions.

“Those with access to an audience have a tremendous responsibility, which is often abused.

“Everyone wants to be somebody, and in this wonderful world of the theatre they get a chance, but as often as not they betray it to someone else.

“They say theatre holds a mirror up to society, but as often as not it’s a vanity mirror.

“The bard said, ‘All the world’s a stage’, and maybe it is, but what they don’t tell you is that all of life is stage-managed. You got your TV, radio, theatre, films, and pop music; it’s all divertimenti kids, all divertimenti.”

Then the actor, obviously thinking the shot is finished, relaxes, drops characterisation, and takes his hat off. Then Jost walks in front of the camera and speaks to the sound man: “Did you get it?” “Is the camera still rolling?” says the confused-looking sound man. “Are you still filming?”

Then, one by one, Jost turns out the studio lamps and the film ends in darkness. This ending, of course, breaks the cinematic illusion, reminding us that everything we have seen on the screen has also been stage-managed, by Jost himself.

* All quotes, from the films and the interview, are approximations taken from notes made immediately after seeing the films.

Read the full version of this essay at: literature-study-online.com/essays/jon-jost.html

Ian Mackean runs the sites

The 2007 NBA Playoffs may look like an open and shut case, but lawyer-by-training Big Al McMordie cautions that as good as Dallas (67-15) looks on paper, the jury’s still out, especially in the Eastern Conference.

McMordie, a Professional Handicappers League member and winner of the 2007 World Series of Sports Handicapping’s $100,000 grand prize, generally agrees with conventional wisdom that any of the West’s “Big Three” could prevail, but views the East as a crapshoot, though he’s very doubtful the Heat can repeat.

“Detroit SHOULD come out of the East since it has home court advantage, but the Eastern Conference teams are all flawed, so nothing would surprise me — even a repeat of 1999 when the No. 8 seeded Knicks made the Finals!” McMordie said.

“Detroit is sixth in defensive efficiency (Chicago is first and San Antone second), so if one is looking for a team other than Detroit, Chicago would be a better option than Miami, which ranks just 8th in defensive efficiency.

“Chicago ranks first in defensive efficiency, which is a key statistic, but the problem for the Baby Bulls is that they are just 19th in offensive efficiency.

“So getting Ben Wallace in the middle will benefit Chicago in the Playoffs, but the Bulls still need better scoring options to get in a position to win the NBA Championship.”

Looking at the standings and won-loss records, McMordie, an impressive 31-10 during March Madness this spring, concurs it’s tough not to go with the Mavericks in the long run.

“Any of Phoenix, San Antonio or Dallas could win this year’s title, but the Mavericks surely have the inside track,” he said.

“They started 0-4 and then went on a season-long streak that we haven’t seen since Michael Jordan played for Chicago.

“They’re healthy and they have one of the top coaches in the game in Avery Johnson.

“Certainly, Dallas learned a lot after last season’s collapse in the NBA Finals, and they will have a fairly easy road to the Finals this year (the real Finals will be the Western Conference Championship series), having only to get by Golden State and (probably) Houston.

“San Antonio could be upset by Denver and Phoenix will have a tough time getting by San Antonio, so Dallas should emerge with the Larry O’Brien trophy.”

Nevertheless, McMordie, who splits his time between Las Vegas and Los Angeles, considers upsets a distinct possibility.

“It all comes down to matchups,” he said

“Denver, for example, could shock the Spurs, which would be great for the Suns, who will have a tough time getting past San Antonio in Round 2.

“Houston could give Dallas some difficulty with Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady.

“The Rockets are third in defensive efficiency, and have a great record with both McGrady and Yao in the lineup.

“But the NBA is notorious for being a league whose champion generally has one of the Top 3 records (unlike baseball and hockey, for example, where upsets are common), so the winner should come out of Dallas, Phoenix or San Antonio.”

Pro basketball’s postseason prom tips off this weekend following an 82-game regular season that concluded with a flurry of dramatics Wednesday night as the league did a whacky seedings dance that was designed to pay homage to divisional winners.

The one-time dynastic Los Angeles Lakers beat Sacramento to grab the seventh seed in the West and a date with No. 2 seed Phoenix.

Golden State, which will appear in the Playoffs for the first time in 13 years, now gets to meet the high-flying Mavs in Round 1.

Meanwhile, Cleveland snatched the East’s second seed from losing Chicago, setting up Cavs-Wizards and Heat-Bulls series.

Brian Gabrielle is a documented member of the Professional Handicappers League.
Read all of his articles at

As a budding guitarist it is important that you learn every facet of your new chosen hobby and the most important 1st step is almost always overlooked.
You must know the parts of your guitar you will need to be very familiar with the different names given to the parts of your guitar.

Although there are many different types of guitars (acoustic, classical and electric etc) they have many things in common.

Starting at the top of the guitar you can see the headstock; it connects to the neck. The tuners are located on the headstock and you will use those to alter the pitch of your strings on your guitar.

The nut is located where the headstock and the neck meet. The ‘nut’ is a small strip of bone or plastic with grooves to guide the strings into the tuners.

The neck of your guitar is where you will focus alot of your time on, as you will have your fingers on various places on the neck in order to make different notes.

As we go down the guitar you can see the neck joins onto the body of the guitar. The body of the guitar can vary greatly, an acoustic and classical guitar have a hollow body and a sound hole, it’s made that way to project the sound. Electric guitars are usually solid so they don’t have a sound hole instead they have pickups where the sound hole is usually found.

The strings of the guitar come down from the tuners, over the nut, down the neck, over the body and over the sound hole down to the bridge where they are anchored.

Looking at the neck of your guitar you will see thin metal strips going across the entire surface, these are called frets
The first fret is the area between the nut and the first metal strip, the 2nd fret is the space between the first and second strip of metal and it continues down, you get the idea!

bestguitarlessons101.com bestguitarlessons101.com

Underwater digital cameras are fun and easy to use under the water and great above the water as well. Use your underwater digital camera in all kinds of weather, for many activities and in a variety of locations that could be either wet or wild.

Are underwater digital cameras better than the film underwater cameras? It’s up to you to decide. The digital camera cannot run out of film. It has the ability to delete bad shots or change to a lower resolution if you need extra shots.

They have better (up to 4 times) depth of field. This is also great for wide-angle photography in low light conditions. Shooting with film at f4 would typically produce fuzzy backgrounds and edges. The same scene shot in digital will give you sharp photos

When using a strobe, most film cameras are limited to shutter speeds of 1/60th - 1/250th of a second. The new consumer digital cameras don’t have mechanical shutters and will sync at speeds up to 1/800th of a second. Therefore, you can shoot in bright shallow water where high f-stops would make strobes ineffective. Higher shutter speed options allow you to keep your f-stop at a better setting. These high shutter speeds are also great for freezing light rays and fast action.

35mm zoom lenses don’t do well underwater. They are bad at close-focus. The built-in lens in the new digital systems offer a large zoom range with minimum focus ability to 8 inches or less. So if you had a new digital camera and a high quality aspheric housing port, you could take a 100degree wide-angle shot and zoom into 1:3 macro shot without changing lenses. Who likes to change lenses all the time?

Underwater digital cameras are small and lightweight, and the quality is comparable to film if you go for the higher resolution shots. Scans and digital camera images require a small amount of sharpening in Adobe PhotoShop®. Just apply the “”unsharp mask”" filter for an instant improvement.

Underwater digital cameras are not perfect, however and like video, the cameras have a tough time with high contrast scenes. Also, it’s fairly expensive to transfer your digital files to slides if you are interested in having your images presented in slide shows. However, most digital cameras allow you to plug directly into a television for image display. And there are digital projectors on the market that produce brilliant images and even professional presentations complete with audio tracks.

Unfortunately the underwater digital camera has not fixed the one worst digital camera problem: when you press the shutter release, the camera will not immediately take the picture. This shutter delay could be a problem–fish swim fast.

If you’re just starting with underwater photography, it would probably be best to purchase a digital underwater camera instead of a film underwater camera. The instant feedback of digital imaging will take years off your learning curve. With the 5 megapixel cameras, print qualities are great.

Regardless of your photo experience, think about your goals with underwater imaging. Shooters looking for instant results, quick web posts and prints of 11 in. x 14 in. and smaller will be thrilled with digital. Digital is probably the best solution for all new shooters that are comfortable with computers. Instant feedback is always great.

If you are still not sure, however, try out the equipment before you buy it. Take a class with demo gear and instruction. Then buy something wonderful and go out and have a great time with your new digital underwater camera.

e-underwatercamera.com Underwater Cameras Info provides detailed information on underwater cameras, including underwater digital cameras, underwater video cameras, and underwater fishing cameras, as well as underwater camera housing and cases. Underwater Cameras Info is the sister site of e-disposablecameras.com Disposable Cameras Web.

Dr. Stephen Hawking is one of our best-known cosmologists, a person who studies the universe and develops theories to explain its creation. Dr. Hawking suffers from a debilitating disease, is in a wheel chair, and speaks with a special computer. You may have seen him on television at times.

Dr. Hawking is an example of a man that did not let adversity conquer him. Despite his illness, he has outlived the prediction of his doctors by years. He has children and a loving wife who cares for him despite what his outcome was supposed to be. He is known and respected worldwide. He should be admired by youth and held up as an example of a person who did and does very difficult things despite his physical short comings. All of us have shortcomings. All of us can succeed.

When my children were young I told them to do things that were difficult for others. Many people shy away from mathematics, chemistry, physics, foreign languages, political science and other difficult subjects. When you do difficult things, you improve your ability to do still more difficult task. Why are engineers, scientist, medical doctors, nurses and architects paid more than other people. It’s because they form a smaller part of our population with special skills. Rarity has always paid off. That is why gold and diamonds are worth more than iron and coal.

So what happened to my children. My oldest son is a neurosurgeon, hand surgeon, and neurologist, my second son, a ventriloquist and juggler in his spare time, is a pediatric anesthesiologist, my daughter married a cardiac anesthesiologist and is a professional portrait artist, my second son, who has 13 children here in my hometown (9 adopted), is a veterinarian, and my youngest son, who has triplets, is an attorney. All of my children have musical ability and music is a major part of their lives and the lives of their children.

One thing that some youth don’t know is that people who are not as smart or able are doing things that they themselves could be doing. The difference is hard work and desire. Be like Dr. Hawking. You can ask Dr. Hawking questions at
hawking.org.uk/home/hindex.html Please be patient for an answer to your question.

Would you like a more detailed explanation of cosmology? There is a good article at
reference.com/search?q=cosmology

I have asked Dr. Hawking for answers to universe questions before and I got an answer from his staff. I have some more questions for Dr. Hawking but first we must explore the universe a bit.

Here is the time-line for a Big Bang theory universe:

Too-Big Boom: Energy blows everything apart too rapidly, matter that form never coalesce into stars, everything is dark and boring. God takes not-so-deep a breath and tries again.

Too-Little Boom: Too little poop to pop. Not enough time for stars to form. All is black. God again decides to start over.

Ah, Ha! Just Right!: God gets it right this time. The universe is created from nothing everywhere at the same time (that’s what one member of Dr. Hawking’s staff told me in an e-mail some years ago).

As the universe expands, stars form. I think black holes may be already around from “incomplete combustion.” (Well what do you expect from a ceramic engineer?)

Anyway, black holes form at some time as stars and galaxies get confused and forget that they are supposed to be moving apart from each other.

Stars go supernovae spreading the stuff that men are made of into the surroundings. Planets form and gather up the star dust as they do so. A planet of just the right size and composition forms at just the right distance from just the right size star and Taylor Jones, the Hack Writer, is created in Salt Lake City in January of 1932. The universe continues to expand, things get colder as even the background radiation of the universe dissipates (well, it wasn’t enough to keep us warm anyway) everything gets so far apart that except for local traffic, entropy wins.

I’m sorry I threw “entropy” in there. Now you will have to read about thermodynamics at reference.com/search?q=laws of thermodynamics

Read about entropy at reference.com/search?q=entropy

Here are the Three Laws of Thermodynamics in simple terms if you are a gambler who likes Texas Hold’em (read my ezinearticles.com article Texas Hold’em is Not a Sport:

First Law: You can’t win.

Second Law: You can’t break even.

Third Law (entropy): You aren’t even in the game!

Back to cosmology.

Here is a homework assignment: Read the article at time.com/time/covers/1101010625/story.html

Here is an excerpt from that article:

“THE FATE OF THE COSMOS

“That means that the 100 billion or so galaxies we can now see though our telescopes will zip out of range, one by one. Tens of billions of years from now, the Milky Way will be the only galaxy we’re directly aware of (other nearby galaxies, including the Large Magellanic Cloud and the Andromeda galaxy, will have drifted into, and merged with, the Milky Way).

“By then the sun will have shrunk to a white dwarf, giving little light and even less heat to whatever is left of Earth, and entered a long, lingering death that could last 100 trillion years—or a thousand times longer than the cosmos has existed to date. The same will happen to most other stars, although a few will end their lives as blazing supernovas. Finally, though, all that will be left in the cosmos will be black holes, the burnt-out cinders of stars and the dead husks of planets. The universe will be cold and black.

“But that’s not the end, according to University of Michigan astrophysicist Fred Adams. An expert on the fate of the cosmos and co-author with Greg Laughlin of The Five Ages of the Universe (Touchstone Books; 2000), Adams predicts that all this dead matter will eventually collapse into black holes. By the time the universe is 1 trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion years old, the black holes themselves will disintegrate into stray particles, which will bind loosely to form individual “atoms” larger than the size of today’s universe. Eventually, even these will decay, leaving a featureless, infinitely large void. And that will be that—unless, of course, whatever inconceivable event that launched the original Big Bang should recur, and the ultimate free lunch is served once more.”

If you read the article as you were supposed to, you know that “dark energy” and “dark matter” confuse things. Present thinking is that there is little or no curvature to our universe. Now that is confusing. Here’s why:

The universe didn’t exist until about 15 billion years ago. We know that because everything we see in the universe seems to be moving away from us that we are on the surface of a great celestial sphere. Like two dots on a balloon, if we blow the balloon until the circumference has doubled in length, the distance of the two dots will have doubled too. Cosmologist do not thing in three dimensions as we do. They like to think in “n” dimensions where “n” is any whole number they want it to be. Solid state physicists do this to. They like to think of “momentum space” and “energy space,” and such.

Since I’m a simpleton, I like to think of the universe as a spherical annulus. Draw a circle inside a circle both having the same center. I’m talking about the space between the circles.

So, you can blow a balloon up inside a balloon, can’t you?

Of course you can.

If you can center the smaller balloon, the space between the two balloons is my “spherical annulus.”

Okay, so you couldn’t center the inner balloon. Neither could I. Actually, old men have an evolutionary discrepancy in their DNA. We can’t blow air into balloons without our teeth flying across the room.

So, here are my questions for Dr. Hawking and his staff (other cosmologist may jump in—we will assume that cosmological forces have not yet completely pancaked the universe):

If Galaxy “A” is on one side of the annulus and Galaxy “B” is on the other side of the annulus on the same diameter line, can I turn my super-telescope around 180 degrees and see the galaxy from the other direction?

What if I draw a straight line across the balloon to the galaxy? Will the galaxy look different from this view or will light refuse to enter a “central forbidden zone” and refuse to look in that direction?

What if I hop into my super-spaceship (For those who read my UFO articles at www.ezinearticles.com this is the spaceship owned by Xrytspet© from
Fanton in G10009845788899990766, the FnL7 Time Craft), can I fly in any direction from Galaxy “A” and get to Galaxy “B” as long as I stay in the annulus of the sphere? (Will my FnL7 Time Craft ignore the annulus and shoot across to Galaxy “B” following a diameter line? (String theory says it might do more clever things.)

Back to the flat universe idea: What does a cosmologist mean when he or she says that the flat universe lets him or her see God? Was he obscured by the curvature back in the old days?

Well, that should do it.

Dr. Hawking and you other cosmologist, send me your answers by e-mail: tjbooks@yahoo.com

I thank you!

The End

copyright©2007 John Taylor Jones, Ph.D.

John T. Jones, Ph.D. (tjbooks@hotmail.com, a retired VP of R&D for Lenox China, is author of detective & western novels, nonfiction (business, scientific, engineering, humor), poetry, etc. Former editor of Ceramic Industry Magazine. He is Executive Representative of IWS sellers of Tyler Hicks wealth-success books and kits. He also sells TopFlight flagpoles. He calls himself “Taylor Jones, the hack writer.”

More info: tjbooks.com tjbooks.com

Business web site: tjbooks.com tjbooks.com

Few get togethers are as much fun as these and casino night party ideas can add to the enjoyment of them. One favorite use of casino night is for a New Year’s Eve celebration. Giving the party goods a black tie look can make the casino theme come alive for the high rollers on the guest list even if playing for pretzels or casino chips that are only traded for party foods. If there are enough guests at casino night then several games can be operated at once just as they are in a real casino. A separate table can afford the buffet food that casino towns are know for and each guest can expect to be “comped” his favorite menu items.

You can buy some poker themed place card holders and place them at the game tables with guest’s names in them. These place card holders can then become the guest’s party favors. Alternately you can make up gift bags and baskets of card decks and pairs of those fuzzy dice rear view mirror hangers to give guests as party favors. Games for the night are craps, blackjack and poker. You may be able to rent some slot machines for the party. Have volunteers or hire some people to serve as dealers and operate the game tables. You can give them black vests and those plastic green visors to help set the feel for the party.

Other décor to really set the theme of the party can be just about anything you can think of. Have you thought about making it a costume party? Guests can come as people associated with the casino industry or as famous lounge acts from Las Vegas. You can turn the overhead lights low and put up lots of flashing decorative lights. Don’t forget to put up lots of glittery and sparkly things, like silver streamers to catch and reflect those twinkling lights. Play music in the background for your guests. How about Neil Diamond or Tom Jones? These two singers should set the mood for a Vegas style casino party.

Mrs. Party… Gail Leino is the internet’s leading authority on selecting the best possible partysupplieshut.com party supplies, using proper etiquette and manners while also teaching organizational skills and fun facts. partythemeshop.com Party Theme Shop has more great ideas for your themed event!