How to Use Speedball Screen Print Materials

www.dickblick.com. Watch a step-by-step process of the popular Diazo Photo Emusion screen print method using Speedball's Ultimate Screen Print Kit. This product can be purchased at www.dickblick.com Visit www.dickblick.com for all your art materials, crafts, framing supplies, gifts and more!

Writing Your Life Story - Tips And Techniques For Success

Once a luxury of the rich and famous, technology has, for the first time in history, made it possible for anyone to capture, share and preserve their most precious life stories. With the advent of computers, the Internet, digital photography, video, and audio, anyone can capture the richness and texture of their life stories. These personal histories will be appreciated by family, friends, and future generations.

Today it is possible to easily blend the art of traditional biography and memoir with powerful new technologies into a new form of individual life storytelling: the personal life history. Personal life histories are satisfying to create. And, because of the interactive multimedia possibilities inherent in computers and the web, a well-done personal life history can be rich and fully rounded in ways that are impossible to achieve in text-only memoir or biography. But most importantly, personal life histories preserve vital individual and family stories. And, when properly done, they will last for generations.

In this article you will discover how to use time-honored life story writing techniques along with the latest technologies to create a story that is uniquely "you."

The Art of Traditional Life-Story Formats

For anyone interested in creating their own autobiography, memoir or personal life history, it is important to understand the distinctions between these forms of telling one's own life story. To over-generalize for a moment, an autobiography is more fact-based, while a memoir is more emotion-based.

Autobiographies are written by the subject, sometimes with the collaboration of another writer. Autobiographical works take many forms, from intimate writings made during life that are not necessarily intended for publication (including letters, diaries, journals, memoirs, and reminiscences) to the formal autobiography. Interestingly, the autobiography format does not necessarily have to be true. It may also be a literary fictional tale.

Memoirs are a form of personal recollection that has grown enormously in popularity in recent times. Memoirs often focus on more subjective recollections such as memories, feelings, and emotions and are generally written from the first-person viewpoint. The memoir is often focused on capturing certain meaningful highlights or moments.

In his own Memoir, Palimpest, Gore Vidal writes that "a memoir is how one remembers one's own life, while an autobiography is history, requiring research, dates, facts double-checked."

Memoirs usually focus on a brief period of time or a series of connected events (an autobiography covers a longer time period). In a memoir, the writer is usually retrospective, and contemplating past events. Memoirs may incorporate the techniques of storytelling such as setting, plot, conflict, character development, foreshadowing, flashback, irony or symbolism. And lastly, writing one's memoir often has a therapeutic effect for the writer.

Oral History Recordings

An oral history is a verbatim transcription of an interview, left in the narrator's exact words. These are usually left in a question-and-answer style and are an economical way to preserve family stories. A recording system with a good-quality microphone and a quiet spot free from interruptions are all that is really needed to capture an oral history. It helps to have questions prepared in advance of the interview.

Oral histories are usually recorded using analog tape or digital recording equipment, but it is also possible to record directly into a personal computer. Oral histories are often transcribed (typed or word processed) into a document format. The conversational style is appealing for its easygoing informality.

Caveats: Recording formats and standards are constantly evolving and could become difficult or impossible to play back if the equipment becomes obsolete. Taped recordings decay over time.

Video History Recordings

Do-it-Yourself: At the basic level, it's easy and fun to create a basic video history. Camcorders are relatively inexpensive, and many computers today come with basic editing software. Capturing a good video history shares all of the same prerequisites as an audio recording: a quiet spot, with questions prepared in advance. Plus, you will want an uncluttered background, flattering lighting, and right clothing to improve the quality of the end product. White shirts, pants or dresses, for example don't show up well on video. Likewise, busy patterns can be distracting. Solid light-colored neutrals or pastels are usually safe.

Professional videographers: A large number of professional video companies specialize in the creation of life story productions. Productions may range from a 10 or 15 minute short to an hour or longer mini-movie, complete with titles, music, and other Hollywood-style effects. Naturally, you'll pay more for a professional production than a homegrown effort.

When selecting a professional use all the usual smart-consumer tips. Ask for references. Ask to see samples of prior work. Get all costs, production timetables and commitments in writing. It's delightful to have movies of an individual or family. When well-executed they often have entertainment value and are great for special occasions.

Caveat: As with audio recordings, formats change over time, and media can degrade, even with proper storage methods

The Integration of Art and Technology: Web-Based Personal Life Histories

Just in the last few years, the Web has emerged as a powerful new medium for creating and sharing life stories. On the web it is not only possible, it is enjoyable and easy to create a rich multimedia story with text, photos, audio and video. This is the new format of the personal life history.

Web-based personal life histories enjoy several advantages over paper-based publishing, audio, video, or even CD life stories. Specifically, Web-based publication is updateable-one can add new information at any time. It is easily shareable among friends or family. The most advanced sites offer choices of privacy and security protection. The web is also multimedia, meaning you can add text, photos, audio, and video. Photos, audio, video are never lost, damaged destroyed. An finally, many sites offer print-on-demand, allowing you to create instant books. The books may be printed on your home printer, or sent out to small-run publishers. If you choose the small-run option, be sure to specify archival quality paper.

One of the biggest advantages of web publishing is the ability to build community around similar interests, occupations, backgrounds or life events. For example, a WWII veteran pilot who posts his story to the Web and makes it available to the public may be contacted by long-lost friends, other veterans, students, historians, museum personnel, or others interested in this pivotal chapter in American history.

Why Create Your Personal Life History?

Mark Twain once said: "There was never yet an uninteresting life. Such a thing is impossibility. Inside everyone, there is a drama, a comedy, a tragedy."

A personal life history can be as short as a few pages, or several volumes in length. Whatever the length or medium, it requires thoughtfulness and sometimes quite a bit of work to accomplish. But the work is worthwhile because it has the ability to influence generations ahead. Your personal life history may leave a legacy for your children and grandchildren. As with memoir, writing a personal history allows you to examine and reflect on your life up to the present day. It lets you add your story to the larger historical record of your family, city, and country. And lastly, if you don't do it, who will?

Start with a Timeline of Life Chapters

How does one start to tell the story of a life that may cover 60, 70, 80 years or more? Often it's helpful to create a chronological timeline of major events in your life. It helps to jot down a few notes around key phases in your life. In fact, you may already be thinking of your life as a book, with separate, distinct chapters built around important life episodes.

Of course, not everyone's life follows an identical chronological sequence, but here are a few ideas for chapter headings for your book or story. GreatLifeStories.com uses the following "chapters" to organize life stories:

o Your Beginnings

o In Your Neighborhood

o School Days

o Off to Work

o Romance and Marriage

o War and Peace

o Triumphs and Tragedies

o Words of Wisdom

o Humor

o Words of Gratitude

The chapter system is very flexible. For example, you don't have to start your life story with the days of your birth and youth. Perhaps you had a fascinating experience during the war. As with a movie, you might open your life story with that "scene," then tell the story how you got there.

Once you've got an idea for the "flow," of your story, here are some more specific guidelines to help add color, texture, and authenticity:

Just start writing! Do a mind dump. Get it out of your head and down on paper, the computer, the tape recorder, wherever. Don't worry about how it sounds. Just write. Resist the temptation to edit yourself; there will be time for editing later.

Be yourself. Don't worry if your grammar or spelling isn't perfect. Write it as you would say it.

Honesty is everything. The best writing tells it like it happened.

Include humor. Favorite jokes, stories, anecdotes

Detail, detail, detail. What kind of floor did the kitchen have? What color was the scarf she wore when you first met?

Go at a comfortable pace. Don't try to capture an entire lifetime in a single session of furious writing. Write, allow time to reflect, and return again to writing.

Consult others. Family members and friends can be invaluable sources of facts and interpretation.

Use photos to jog your memory. Tip: Set out photos in a timeline of your life, starting from your very youngest days, and moving through current times. Write or record to your visual storyboard

Look for themes in your life. Themes are broad ideas that are central to your life. Did you always want to be a pilot? A preacher? Own a restaurant? Be a farmer? Tell the story of how you met your goal, or how the goal changed to something else totally unexpected.

Here are just a few other thematic life story possibilities: a. The Spiritual quest b. The Confession c. The Travelogue d. The Portrait e. The Complaint f. Humor g. The Family history h. The Road to Recovery i. War Story j. Romance

Another Option: Hire a Professional

Most of this article has been focused on creating the do-it-yourself personal life history. There is, of course, the option of working with a professional. The right professional writer or videographer is a highly skilled interviewer and has the proper tools and equipment. And, believe it or not, it is sometimes easier for someone to open up in front of a stranger rather than in front of a family member.

There are many approaches to working with writers or videographers. However, there are a number of similarities in common. The writer/videographer often:

1) Meets with you to determine the scope and cost of the project.

2) Usually sets up taped interview sessions. Depending on your objectives, these may be an hour or two, or 10, 20 hours or more.

3) The recording is transcribed and edited with your input and guidance

4) Once a final manuscript/movie is agreed upon, it may be sent out for printing or duplication.

5) For books, personal history professionals recommend archival bindings and acid-free paper for longevity

6) You receive the number of books/movies agreed upon in your contract.

7) Be sure to discuss services, fees and end products in advance, and get all agreements in writing.

Thanks to high technology, the art of capturing and preserving the stories from one's own life is now open to more people and easier than ever before. A new genre of personal storytelling is emerging that draws on the literary traditions of the autobiography and memoir, while adding audio, video, and web technology to create personal life histories. On the Web, these personal stories personal life histories are multimedia, collaborative, shareable, and instantly updateable.

Enjoy capturing your life story!

References and Further Reading

Web Sites:

http://www.greatlifestories.com

Associations:

The Association of Personal Historians is a 600+ member organization of professional personal historians who create life stories in all formats: text, audio, video. http://www.personalhistorians.org

How-to Books:

There are many good books filled with different approaches and tips for writing a personal life history. Here are just a few:

Daniel, Lios, How to Write Your Own Life Story

Rainer, Tristine, Your Life as Story Books

Roorbach, Bill, Writing Life Stories

Mike Brozda is one of the founding members of the GreatLifeStories team. A veteran journalist, he has more than 30 years experience writing for national and international publications. He has also created more than 150 personal life histories for people across the US, Canada, and Mexico. Contact him at mike.brozda@yahoo.com

A Review of Brother Laser Toners

Brother is right up there with HP and Samsung as one of the most sought-after brands of laser toner. The Japan-based Brother Industries was first famous for its sewing machines. It went on to produce all kinds of office equipment, such as machine tools, fax machines, label makers, printers, and other office equipment. They began making dot-matrix printers in the 1970s. In the 1980s, after HP blew up the market, Brother began releasing their own laser printers to consumers, and to other companies under the name of OEMed. Brother has a great reputation for printers and printing accessories.

You can buy new toner from Brother. There you will find plenty of personal, home, and small business laser toner cartridges and refills. You can also buy new toner refills in bulk, for middleweight to heavyweight business in need of massive amounts of toner on a daily basis.

One popular Brother laser toner cartridge costs about $34 from their website. This will yield about 2200 pages at 5% printing capacity. This percentage means that 5% of the page is assumed to be covered in ink. If you print a lot of photographs, that number will be much lower.

Be careful when buying Brother toner from third-party distributors. They will offer you lower prices under the umbrella terms of "compatible" or "remanufactured" laser toner cartridges. While some of these are perfectly reputable and suitable for a full range of printer uses, many others are below par. These phony cartridges will produce bad printing results and possibly damage your printer. Sometimes a third-party distributor might even package phony cartridges in real Brother packaging. You can find a list of authorized Brother retailers at their website.

Laser Toner Info provides detailed information about later toner cartridges and refills, as well as reviews of laser toner products. Laser Toner Info is the sister site of Brochure Printing Web.

The Miracle Worker of Montreal - Brother Andre

We want to discuss Brother Andre - the Miracle Worker of Montreal - 1845 - 1937

Brother Andre was a man of prayer. He prayed long hours, several times a day, sometimes alone, at other times in the chapel, while traveling, with the sick and in a packed church. [It reminds us of Mother Angelica; she and her Nuns pray and God does the miraculous!]

Brother Andre prayed and miracles happened! Sometimes people would only have to mention the name of St. Joseph and healings would take place. On other occasions Brother Andre would just be in a room where there were sick people, and they would be healed. He might hand out medals of St. Joseph, or St. Joseph's oil taken from the lamp at the chapel of St. Joseph and have people pray together. Healings took place.

In 1916, there were 435 cures; this did not include those never reported. He quickly and adamantly corrected anyone who asked him to heal them, or who credited him with having brought about miracles, always pointing to Jesus, Mary and Joseph. He would scoff, "As if human power can heal!" It was important to Andre that the crutches and other evidence of healings be displayed for all the visitors to see and upon seeing, have faith.

When the Provincial of his Order saw the many crutches, he ordered him to take them down. Brother obeyed! As God would have it, the Provincial became ill and was in the same infirmary as Brother Andre the miracle worker. Now, he would have an opportunity to talk to him! He began, "You have always taught us that Miracles are signs given by God."

He went on, saying "crutches are signs by God that miracles have taken place, through the healings that have come about at the Oratory." He continued, telling the Provincial that God has given these signs to His children to show that He cares so much, He will bring about miracles to heal them.

Just as miracles are signs given by God, so are the crutches. And if God has granted these signs, who would dare take it upon himself to hide them? Besides, they were the outer signs of His foster-father's love and concern for us. "Jesus spoke, using signs that the people could relate to," Andre insisted. These are the signs that the faithful of today understand. Needless to say, the crutches were replaced, lining the walls, with new ones added each year.

Saint Joseph sends a priest

The sick came; they were cured.

There was need of the Sacraments so that no one would take his or her eyes off the One and Only True Healer. Yes, Brother Andre did pray, and Saint Joseph did intercede and does till today; but the Healer was, and always will be, the One Who walked the earth and healed, Our Lord Jesus Christ.

The people needed a priest! It was 1910; a professor, Father Adolphe Clement came to the oratory. The young priest was sent by his Superior to help Brother Andre. Brother was overjoyed to be working with him.

He was so excited! He explained how people came with more involved ills than he could handle; their needs were more often Spiritual than physical; they needed forgiveness.

Brother Andre's Feast Day is January 6

Bob and Penny Lord are renowned Catholic authors and television hosts on EWTN, Global Catholic television. They are prolific writers about the Catholic faith, especially the Saints for which they have been dubbed "experts on the Saints." For more information about Brother Andre go to: http://www.discover-catholic-miracles.com/miracle-worker.html

Organ Printing

Dr. Gabor Forgacs made that prediction. Now, he is making it a reality. Gabor is a University of Missouri researcher doing groundbreaking work in regenerative medicine. He is also the Scientific Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Organovo, the latest company to receive support from you, the donors of the Methuselah Foundation. As we work to identify breakthrough technology that will help us reach our shared goal of extending healthy human life, Organovo stands out. Thanks to your contributions we are able to assist them as they apply their proprietary technology to "print" new organs. Organovo: Printing Organs The "ink" in the bioprinting process employed by Organovo is composed of spheres packed with tens of thousands of human cells. These spheres are assembled or "printed" on sheets of organic biopaper. By precisely placing the cells with the bioprinter, and providing them with the proper natural developmental cues, they do exactly what they do in nature: they self assemble into fully formed, functional tissue. The unique science blends biophysics and cell biology with computer aided design and high precision deposition to recreate the micro-architecture of the most complex human tissue. Organovo is currently developing blood vessels and intends to use the same technology to create organs or bio-constructs that reproduce organ function. Dr. Forgacs envisions fully implantable organs printed from a patient's own cells. "You give us your cells: we grow them, we print ...

Brother PT-1880 Advanced Deluxe Labeler Review

Have you been messing your stuff in the office? If YES Brother PT-1880 Labeler can help you solve your problem. Running out of time and too much work can lead to stress; and if we are stressed we tend to mess up our things by not realizing it.

Labelers provide help to busy people like you. All you need to do is to label everything from your office papers to kitchen, closet or even your garage. It organizes your stuff and saves a lot of your time. Labelers are classified into different categories:  there are handheld labelers, portable, desktop, vinyl cutters etc.

Brother PT-1880 is preferably for personal use but it also works great on your desktop. It has 9 framing options, 9 styles that are available on 6 different sizes and 50 various color to choose from. The print can label up to 3 or 4" wide and has a large 15-character x 1- line LCD. It features a preview key where you can check the text before you print; this allows you to avoid mistakes. Its built-in memory can save up to 5 most commonly used labels to help you print easily. You can run it using an AC adapter or 6 "AA" batteries (which are not included in the set).

Why do you need to own one? Well, you'll never realize how important labelers can be; not unless you own one.  Sometimes we tend to do things that we are not supposed to do (because of stress), and that is why Brother PT-1880 is created to help the busy YOU.

For more information, check other Brother PT-1880 Labeler Advanced Deluxe reviews.

Erika Ayala works part time for a consumer review company.

The Phenomenal Big Brother Sweden

Big Brother is a reality TV show that houses a group of people in a large house. This group of people will be isolated from the outside world even from their families. The goal of these individuals would be to avoid eviction from the house. This way, they will be able to when huge cash prizes. The evictions will be based according to the votes of the televiewers. Each country who franchised this reality show has made formats that suit their cultures and traditions well. However, the basic format remains.

The Big Brother Sweden edition actually started on 2000. They have broadcast it at the same time as Norway's version did. The two countries enjoyed an exceptionally high rating that they actually decided to co-produce a BB show together. So in 2005 they actually created a show together. This earned them more viewers and the ratings were good. In their 2005 show they mixed nine Swede and nine Norwegians together in one big house. Initially, each country has separate houses for their housemates. However, after the first eviction, they have joined the two sets of contestants in one house but still on a two different team. They still have to fight for their individual immunity and can vote someone from the other team for eviction. In a twist during this first joint production, the viewers were given the choice, which among the three evicted housemates can go back to the Big Brother House.

Big Brother Sweden use cameras around the house to monitor how the housemates interact with each other. They are given tasks to accomplish and the success of these tasks will earn them a reward from Big Brother. This creates a big wave of curiosity among the viewers of television. Everything about the housemate's environment is controlled. There are no phones, televisions or even radios. It depends on the franchisees' prerogative on what materials to provide their housemates. Even books and special gadgets like ipod are not allowed. Some countries even went as far as not letting the housemates bring their toiletries. These factors bring out the vulnerability of an individual. This becomes especially for the housemates because they would also have to deal with their new environment and adjust to their new housemates. The show thrives when there are a conflict or love affairs those blossoms in such event.

In Big Brother Sweden and Norway, only the team captains can vote who among their team will be evicted. For example, if team Sweden won the given competition in the house, the captain of team Norway would have to nominate of them for eviction. Usually, when they bring in a new housemate, that housemate could nominate but the rest cannot nominate him or her. There are also twists involve in the show where some housemates are supposed to be evicted but in reality, they were just hidden in a secret room. One of Big Brother Sweden and Norway's ideas that really gets the attention of the public is the Big Brother Exchange program, where a housemate from Big Brother Thailand gets to exchange places with one of the housemates.

Interested in Sweden? Learn more about important events, places, and people from Sweden here!

http://www.swedenhistory.net/index.html

Visit Sweden now and savor their rich history and culture

http://www.swedenhistory.net/package-tours-to-sweden.html