Backgammon is a great challenge between two players. It is a fun
and exciting way to pass the time, whether it is at home or on
the go. No matter where you play, backgammon rules stay the
same. There are directions included with any game that describe
how to play and a complete guide with backgammon rules.
The first thing is backgammon is to set up the board. You sit
opposite of your opponent on both sides of the board. You both
will roll the dice to determine who goes first. The player who
rolls the higher number will go first and move their game pieces
in accordance to that number. You both may even decide that the
lowest number goes first.
In the game of backgammon, you move in a counterclockwise
position. You can only move your game pieces to open spaces on
the board. You are not allowed to move onto points (or spaces)
with two or more of the opponent’s checkers. You can only move
your pieces or checkers in pairs.
The player with all of their games pieces off the home board is
declared the winner.
There are some things to remember when you play backgammon.
Rolls of the dice do not count if they land on a checker or if
they fall off the board or on their side. If both of the dice
land with the same number facing up on any roll after the first,
the player gets doubles and gets to move two times the roll. If
you are lucky enough to get two sixes, that means that you will
get four moves of six. Wouldn’t that be great?
You are allowed to move any of the checkers or game pieces that
you want to. However, remember that the object of the game is to
get all of the pieces into the home board.
This game is easy to learn and fun to play. There are a lot of
rules to the game, so it may be a wise idea to keep the
directions and rules for the game nearby so that if you get
stuck, you can get the answers you are looking for. Getting the
proper answers makes for a rewarding and fun game.
There are certain rules that do change for backgammon
tournaments and challenges. These rules are set by and agreed
upon by the people and player in charge of the tournament.
Playing online is the same as playing at home with the board.
The rules and strategies are generally the same. The only real
difference here is that online you may be playing for money.
© backgammonholygrail.com
Recent upheaval has affected the major record labels, powered by economic fluctuation, the MP3 revolution, online music piracy, home recording technologies and the amazing growth of the personalized listening experience (iPods, etc). Radio is losing its dominance as well… and is now just one of many forces that influence whose music one listens to. In fact, personal referrals from friends is just about the only force that remains unfazed by changes in technology… and, in fact, it’s probably more important than ever.
This is great news for independent musicians (also known as “indies”). Anyone can make an album these days, and anyone can afford a web site… allowing them to take their music directly to their potential audience without interference from managers and labels. As a result, more and more talented and inspired artists are writing songs, recording albums and trotting their music out before live audiences.
Most of these artists have also discovered that it helps to make some of their music available for free (and legal) MP3 download. By picking a good, strong song or two and putting it on their web site (or another site devoted exclusively to free music downloads), these songs become evangelistic forces for their music… working for them 24/7/365. MP3 music is not hindered by geographical boundaries or time zones. In many cases (especially instrumentals), it’s unaffected by language differences as well. And it’s no longer even slightly unusual for an artist to record a song in their little bedroom studio and post it online… while someone downloads it and is listening to it in their car or bedroom on the other side of the world just a matter of hours later!
Of course, there’s still a lot of mediocre (and even downright BAD) music out there. This is where the power of personal referral really kicks in. When someone discovers some music that really turns them on, and then shares it with their friends… the cream truly rises to the top. If they go a step further and purchase an album or pay to download more MP3 tracks, the artist is encouraged and can afford to put more time into honing their skills and creating new music. The good stuff thrives and the mediocre stuff dies off.
So…help independent music succeed. Support quality where you find it. Share it with your friends. Pick up a copy of their CD or pay to download more songs. Catch the artist in concert when you can. Send them an email telling them how much their music means to you. Everyone wins when we actively support great music!
About the author:
Chuck Brown is the webmaster of the Free Music Group, which offers a bunch of free MP3 downloads from gifted artists in genres such as children’s music, solo piano, acoustic guitar, holiday music and Christian music. He also created The Free Music Directory, which offers free links to artist sites with at least one free and legal MP3 download available. And he’s released several albums of his original compositions, available at HealingPiano.com, TheChuckleberries.com and GraceProjectMusic.com.
Review of “Dora the Explorer - Dora’s Ultimate Adventure Collection”
Paramount Home Video, October 2004
DVD, 291 minutes
Rating: Not Rated
ASIN: B0002V7OHO
Recommended Ages: 2 - 5
Review by Sherri Allen:
“We did it, we did it, we did it, yea!” Your children will be ready to celebrate when they help Dora and her best friend, Boots, meet exciting challenges and arrive at the varied destinations found in “Dora’s Ultimate Adventure Collection.”
This 3 volume set is made up of the Dora the Explorer favorites Map Adventures, Rhymes and Riddles and City of Lost Toys.
Map Adventures contains the following stories:
Lost Map: Dora and Boots set off to rescue the Map after it is taken by a nest-building bird.
Super Map: The Map becomes a superhero and helps Dora reach her super surprise.
Three Little Piggies: The piggies escape from their pen. Dora and Boots hurry to round them up and put them back where they belong before Swiper the Fox can swipe their presents.
Lost and Found: A game of hide-and-seek turns into a mission to find baby bluebird’s mommy.
Rhymes and Riddles contains the following stories:
Dora Had a Little Lamb: Dora and Boots meet nursery-rhyme friends as they help little lamb get back to Mary.
Call Me Mr. Riddles: Boots wants to win the Silliest Riddle contest, so he and Dora embark on a riddle-filled journey to Tallest Mountain, the site of the contest.
Backpack: Dora takes us back in time to Boots’ and her first, very exciting adventure with Backpack.
Big River: Dora and Boots make their way down the river all the way to the waterfall to retrieve Boots’ lost boot.
City of Lost Toys contains the following stories:
The Lost City: Dora and Boots journey all the way to the Lost City to find Dora’s missing teddy bear.
Lost Squeaky: Boots loses his favorite toy. Dora and Boots rush to recover it before it’s too late.
Berry Hunt: Dora and Boots find their thrill on Blueberry Hill when they venture to the home of sneaky Swiper the Fox in search of yummy blueberries.
Sticky Tape: Benny the Bull’s hot air balloon ride becomes a chase as Dora and Boots hurry to save him.
The stories in “Dora’s Ultimate Adventure Collection” are both entertaining and educational. Preschoolers love the characters and the adventures. They love how the characters invite them to participate in the action. They are proud of the fact they have a hand in Dora and Boots accomplishing their goals, whether it’s finding Dora’s lost teddy bear, reuniting Mary with her little lamb or just going home. They love learning a few Spanish words, which fosters their curiousity about and acceptance of other cultures. They love learning sequencing and logic skills, even though they don’t have any idea that is what they are doing.
In addition to the stories, the DVDs in “Dora’s Ultimate Adventure Collection” contain special features. A riddle game and a couple flash card games provide interactive fun. There are also two short episodes from Noggin’s Oobi for added entertainment.
Perfect for children who can’t get enough of Dora the Explorer (and, really, that means almost ALL preschoolers), “Dora’s Ultimate Adventure Collection” provides an abundance of self-esteem building, educational entertainment.
About the Author
Sherri Allen is the editor of an award-winning website devoted to topics such as family, food, garden, house&home and money. For free articles, information, tips, recipes, reviews and coloring pages, visit http://www.SherriAllen.com/
I recently spend several frustrating hours laying out and mailing an email newsletter. If you publish a free ezine, you will know its very time consuming to get all the information formatted correctly before sending. My long lesson should help you!
1. Use master templates
Create a master template using a word processor like MS word. Opening a word document, change the font to courier new - The same font that standard text files use.
Create a line of 60 characters across the page. Use “select all” then move your right hand margin to the end of the line, to set the margin for the whole document.
This stops this effect:
—
Hi
Welcome to
My
ezine and Hope…etc
—
Include any details that go in every ezine. -Title, date, lines for layout, contents list copyright etc
Save as a “text file with Line breaks” You can use this to format all your ezines.
Do the same for any articles you write, so your articles are formatted and ready to cut and paste into your ezine.
2. Us a word processor A lot of editors’ recommend using a new program just for your ezine, simply follow these steps:
Using the master, open MS word or similar program and open your master file you have created. Now you can use the grammar checker, spelling etc of a powerful program without formatting problems. When you paste any information, recheck the margins.
Remember to check and save as July.txt or whatever for your newsletter and not over your master.
3. Another pair of eyes
Always get it checked “twice”, wait until the next day to read it again before sending. I use my wife as a first check, before it goes any further.
4. Check Send
You can see what it looks like in your mailbox by using and email bounce service. Send it to mailto:echo@connectingonline.com or mailto:format@mail-list.com. It will bounce back to you. This is helpful especially if you publish an html mailing list.
5. Shortcut on desktop
Place a shortcut to you directory where your master and upcoming ezines are in. That way every time you find a link, that would be helpful to your subscribers, copy and paste it straight in.
6. Build over time
If you ezine goes out fortnightly, the day after it goes out make some progress on the next one, even it means just check the layout, but get it started and finish it a couple days before publishing day. This gives you time to check it before sending.
7. Write your own articles
How can this save your time? By having your own articles, you can increase your creditability and never have to look for new fresh information.
Ezines build customer trust for ongoing sales. Anybody can write articles, you don’t have to be a world class author.
8. Use a proof reader
This doesn’t have to be a large expensive service, I use students who do a good fast job. I email the information to them, the next day I get it back ready to send. The best way is to send it as an attachment and keep an eye on your formatting when you get it back from them.
9. Treat it like a 100,000
That’s right, 100,00 subscribers “and” $100,000. Keep to your publishing dates, treat your subscribers like gold and they will trust you and become long time repeat customers.
10. Use a mailing list provider.
I used a lot of services from software, like mailoop, list servers etc. So far bringing the service in house using a personalized script Mail Master Pro has been a good option, check it out at
http://www.cgitoolbox.com/cgi/mmp/
Personalizing you newsletter will make it “stand out” from the other 80,000+ ezines online.
Producing an email newsletter is an excellent way to build trust, promote your site and increase sales. Remember that it should be only one of you promotion methods and way of increasing sales. Have a great day.
Paul Easton
Power Promotion Plus-Free Newsletter, Learn the secrets of Web Site Promotion and get Free Award Software to do it! http://100Promotiontips.com/ezine.htm for more information