Now that the weather is warmer and kids are heading outdoors to play, it is important for parents to take some essential precautions to create a safer backyard play environment. According to the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC), there were nearly 47,000 injuries to children under age 15 on home playgrounds in the last year studied. The chance of these injuries occurring-ranging from bumps and bruises to head trauma-can be reduced by following some simple guidelines.
"Nothing is more important than active adult supervision to enforce the rules that will help prevent a serious injury on backyard playgrounds," says Meri-K Appy, president of the nonprofit Home Safety Council. "In addition, parents and caregivers should make sure their children's play set is age-appropriate and in good condition-and that the surface underneath and around the equipment provides a soft landing if and when their kids do take a tumble."
Backyard Play Set Safety Tips:
1. Ensure your play set has proper surfacing. Proper surfacing is an important component in reducing injuries due to a play set fall; however, it is often an overlooked backyard playground safety feature. Dirt and grass do not provide the appropriate level of cushioning. Instead, loose fill materials such as wood mulch, wood chips, fine sand or fine gravel is recommended. The material should extend at least six feet in all directions and depth should vary from nine to 12 inches, depending on the surfacing type.
2. Make sure that your backyard play set is sturdy. Lumber sturdiness is also an important element to play set safety. Using four-by-four corner posts will minimize the side-to-side sway motion that less substantial lumber may sometimes cause. Also, make sure that you use A-frame legs to provide a firm footing for the swing beam.
3. Select a backyard play set that meets maximum safety guidelines. Parents also want to choose play sets that meet ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials) standards. Although these standards are voluntary, they can help assure parents that the play sets were designed with safety in mind. One manufacturer that complies with these guidelines is Swing-N-Slide. It has introduced an innovative new bracket technology for play set assembly called the Rapid-LOC system. This system features four special brackets combined with self-drilling fasteners, which provide secure anchoring for deck supports, four-by-four uprights and accessory beams. The interlocking nature of the Rapid-LOC brackets keep the play system's supports tightly locked-even if a screw comes loose-producing a stronger backyard play set.
State, local officials try to smoke out K2
Bryan and College Station's city councils this week will consider banning K2, a substance that officials say has marijuana-like effects and, as a matter of public safety, must face similar restrictions. Opponents of a ban, such as managers of loc ...
Mario is easily one of the most recognizable faces to come out of Nintendo, but did you know his original name was Jumpman? That's right, in 1981 Mario first appeared in Donkey Kong, but then, he went by the name of Jumpman, but Mario was used as his name in some promotional material.
This game surprised Nintendo by its extreme success. To test the popularity of Mario, Nintendo released an arcade game called Marion Bros., which included Mario and his brother Luigi. This game was an immense success for Nintendo. Because of the success of both Donkey Kong and Mario Bros., in 1983, when Nintendo release the NES (Nintendo Entertainment System), they also release Super Mario Bros.
References to his original name appear in a couple of Mario games, such as in Paper Mario: the Thousand-Year Door, when an audience member refers to Mario as Jumpman before a battle, and in Mario Hoops 3-on-3, where his nickname is "The Jumpman."
Mario's look, even to this current day, can be blamed on the limitations that were placed on the programmers and artists back in the early 80s by their current technology.
The programmers couldn't animate Mario's arms when he moved without making them disappear, so they gave him overalls and a solid shirt color.
They also didn't have room for a face or ears, and couldn't animate his hair, so they gave him his mustache, sideburns, and a baseball cap. Shigeru Miyamoto, Mario's creator, has stated in interviews that Mario wears a baseball cap because he finds it difficult to draw hair.
Mario's surname or last name is also Mario, which explains the use of Mario Bros. as game titles, because Luigi is Mario's brother, so they have the same last name. was first used in The Super Mario Bros. Super Show, and then again in 1993 in a movie called Super Mario Bros.. Nintendo as a whole has never officially confirmed it, but it was put up on Nintendo of Europe's official Mario Megasite.
Ever since Mario has been popular he has been the unofficial mascot of Nintendo. He has been extremely and possibly over-merchandised along with his one time rival Sonic the Hedgehog, who came to be Sega's mascot in the early 1990s.
They competed fiercely until 2001, when Sonic Adventure 2: Battle came out for a Nintendo console due to Sega's new third-party status. Even though Sonic and Mario were now on Nintendo consoles, they still competed with each other, though not as much as before.
It hasn't been until recently, that they've been seen working together in the newly released Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games for the Wii. They will also appear in Super Smash Bros. Brawl together as well.
Mario is a 5 foot tall, portly plumber from Brooklyn, New York who lives in Mushroom Kingdom. He is considered to be the most famous video game character in history, and his series of games has sold over 193 million copies.
Mario has not only appeared in plat formers, but in other genres as well. The other genres include reaching, with Mario Kart, sports games such as Mario Tennis, and RPGs such as Super Mario RPG: The Legend of the Seven Stars.
Although Mario's said occupation is being a plumber, he is almost never seen doing any actual plumbing. With the exceptions being in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga and in the original Mario Bros.. Pipes have still remained a mode of transportation, however, although the reason as to why might not be clear. However, in the original Donkey Kong games, Mario, who was still called Jumpman, was actually a carpenter.
Mario has also appeared as a doctor in Dr. Mario. He has even been shown as an archaeologist in the Game Boy game, Mario's Picross.
Mario's favorite pastime seems to be saving Princess Peach, and Mushroom Kingdom. Other ways he spends his time is battling villains, namely Bowser. In the role-playing games, Mario is given a heroic status for saving the Mushroom Kingdom so many times. In Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, he and Luigi are called "superstars", which basically means huge celebrities.
Ever since his first appearance in a video game, Mario has been given the role of the hero, destined to save the damsel in distress. In the original Donkey Kong, he had to rescue his girlfriend, Pauline from Donkey Kong. Pauline obviously didn't stay in the series, as she was replaced by Princess Peach, who was originally referred to as "Princess Toadstool" or just "the Princess" in the English releases, in Super Mario Bros.
In 1993, with the release of Yoshi's Safari, Princess Peach was finally used in an English release of a Mario game, but it still wasn't used as widely until the release of Super Mario 64 for the Nintendo 64, three years later. Pauline has only been seen twice since the original Donkey Kong, once in the remake for the Game Boy, and once in Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis, in 2006.
She has since been described as Mario's friend, not girlfriend, as that appears to be Peach's position. Mario has received a kiss from her countless times, after each time he's rescued her, but the true status of their relationship has never been officially revealed, most likely to avoid the problems experienced with Pauline, but there is obviously affection shared between Mario and Peach.
Most of Mario's abilities come from the items that he collects and uses. In the platform games, there is the Super Mushroom, which makes Mario double in size. He is called "Super Mario", when he is in this state, and he also gets an extra hit point.
Other examples of items include the Fire Flower, which turns Mario into Fiery Mario, or just Fire Mario. This allows him to throw fireballs at his enemies. Another item is the star, which makes Mario completely invincible, and allows him to defeat all enemies with a single touch.
In other versions of Mario plat formers, there are other unique items, such as the Raccoon Leaf, and the Cape Feather. The Raccoon Leaf turns Mario into Raccoon Mario, and allows him to fly short distances by whipping his tail around in the air, sort of like Tails from the Sonic the Hedgehog games.
The Cape Feather obviously turns Mario into Cape Mario, which allows him to whip his cape at enemies to attack ,and also allows him to fly. In Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins, Mario can pick up the Power Carrot, which transforms Mario into Bunny Mario and makes his falling speed reduced.
Obviously, Mario is an extremely popular character, who has been in many games, and has even inspired indie games and online flash games, which get tons of hits and plays because they are free. With the increasing demand for new games, you can look for Mario to keep evolving and testing the waters in new genres as well. The future is still as bright for Mario as it was 20 years ago.
About the Author
Do you like playing super mario games? Well why not checkout my Super Mario dedicated arcade site to play all kinds of great free online mario games.
Is their a definate release date for Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix on the UK playstation network?
SF4 comes out soon so i would have thought it'd be out before then, does anybody have any (reliable) info on this?
i heard it was the 25 i think i know for sure it is this month
New Super Mario Bros Wii release trailer from Nintendo
Henderson leaves Warriors for England
Warriors hooker Ian Henderson will leave the NRL at the end of the season after the club agreed to release him to French-based Super League club Les Catalans.
To develop the required skills to drive legally on public highways, a teen must commit a set amount of time to a driver's education course. The abundance of online driver's ed courses makes it easy for a new driver to find the right program that fits their needs. First of all, the course needs to be completely approved and accepted by the local governing court. The state department that administers driver licenses needs to recognize the driving school's certificate of completion.
When browsing the web for online drivers ed schools, students should always make sure the course is legitimately approved by the state in which they reside. After confirming the driving school is valid, students can review the rest of the website's features like course content and interactive lesson plans. Online drivers ed courses utilize instructional videos and flash animations to carry out the training with high tech teaching methods. It is a good idea for prospective drivers ed students to inspect each school's website and ensure the curriculum is reputable and comprehensive.
Most established online driving schools post customer reviews to demonstrate the success of their course. Older driver's ed schools are more likely to maintain a higher level of customer satisfaction because of their experience as an online educator. Students can be easily confused by this relatively new education system. Online drivers ed classes must be prepared to assist students in any way necessary. The student interface must be user friendly and make it easy to navigate through the course sections. Technical errors are especially common among all online education courses but these websites must be equipped to address any issues and provide a solution at a moment's notice.
Students who plan on taking driver's education online should weigh their options by evaluating several potential courses. In the online driving school industry all courses are not created equal. Students need to identify their specific requirements of drivers ed course.
Some online courses, like DriverEdToGo.com, make it easy to decide on an appropriate driver training program because of all the information they provide on their website. Teenagers can easily explore DriverEdToGo.com and find all the answers they may have concerning driver's ed online. This driver education website invites students and parents to discover all the features of their online course. DriverEdToGo.com offers a unique DMV exam preparation tool that allows their students to take a practice test. Completing driver's ed is a lot easier with this website that promotes customer service and values its students.
About the Author
About DriverEdtogo.com
DriverEdToGo.com offers state-approved driver's education
courses which are a necessary step in getting your Driving Permit. Driver Ed
DVD makes you learn the rules and laws of the road, the meaning of various traffic signs, and many responsibilities associated with driving.
A car traveling 85 km/hr strikes a tree. The front end of the car compresses and the driver comes to rest...?
A car traveling 85 km/hr strikes a tree. The front end of the car compresses and the driver comes to rest after traveling 0.80 m. What was the average acceleration of the driver during the collision? Express the answer in terms of "g's," where 1.00 g = 9.80 m/s^2.
I have tried this problem numerous times and keep getting -34 g as an answer when -36 g is listed as the correct answer.
Thanks for all your help!
Here is how I would come up with the answer:
In order to get the acceleration, we need to find out how the velocity changes over time (not over distance as given)
a basic physics equation relating distance to acceleration is:
d=1/2at^2, where d is the distance travelled, a is the acceleration, and t is the time.
We could solve for t if we knew the value of a. This might sound ridiculous since a is what we are trying to find in the first place, but we do know something about a: a, the average velocity, is just the change of velocity over time, t or:
a=(0km/hr-85km/hr)/t
if we change units to m/s and simplify we get:
a = [85km/hr(1000m/km)/(3600s/hr)-0]/t = -23.61/t m/s
We can now substitute this into the d=1/2at^2 equation above to get:
d=1/2*(23.61/t)*t^2= 0.80m
since we know d=0.8m we can solve for t:
t=(0.8m)*(2)/(23.61m/s) = 0.0678 s
we can now calculate a = (change in speed)/(change in time):
a = (0-23.61 m/s)/0.0678 s = -348 m/s^2
dividing by 9.80m/s^2 to get g's:
a= 348m/s^2/9.8m/s^2 = -35.6 g's
Your book likely rounded the answer to two significant figures.
Hope this helps.
Rules of the Road #12 - Rest Stop Captioned
No driver better at BMS than Busch
BRISTOL — It’s the perfect fit of driver and race track. Combine the aggressive driving style of Kyle Busch with the high-banked short track of Bristol Motor Speedway and spectacular results will follow.
GET THAT ELUSIVE BUSINESS EDGE WITH STEEL BUILDINGS
It may sound totally unconnected – steel buildings and business growth? Well, that would be true a decade ago. Today, with a steel building, you can have the greatest business edge over all your competitors. Read on to find out how.
Steel buildings form the greenest construction possible today. As more and more consumers shift towards going green, it is high time that you do the same. When you say you are a green company, it instantly has a certain impact on the psyche of the consumer, and he is likely to look at your business more favorably. Now it can be very hard for a small or medium scale enterprise to distinguish itself solely on the basis of the high quality of its products or services. True, it does happen many times, but when you go green, you are adding a whole new dimension to your business. The good thing for the SMEs is that the larger corporate will not be so easily coaxed into going green, which means this is one area where you have the edge over these large corporations.
Consumers and businesses are looking to do business with companies that care for the environment. To show that you do, the easiest and certainly the first step is that you choose the best possible construction for your building. It all needs to start with your end, and you can really reduce your carbon footprint when you opt for steel buildings.
Unlike the more traditional building methods, steel buildings require no use of wood. This means saving scores of trees and removing tons of carbon dioxide and adding tons of oxygen into the atmosphere each year. This is a great saving in terms of the environment. When trees are cut for construction, remember that it takes decades for them to grow back, if at all they are replanted. However, with steel buildings, this is not a problem.
Apart from the trees, there is little or no use of water in the metal building construction. This is another blessing because water is a very precious natural resource. Even when it gets recycled and ultimately enters the water cycle, the cost of purifying water is very high in terms of its energy usage. Therefore when you are going for steel building, you are effectively saving several tons of water.
Going green doesn't need to be the only reason why you as a SME owner need to go for steel buildings. Steel is the next generation construction material and provides all the greatest benefits such as high structural strength and stability, fireproof, weather resistant, low cost, high quality, etc. Steel is today one of the finest materials of construction and rapid technological advances only make it better and better with each passing day. It is therefore high time that you shift to steel, keeping not only your indirect marketing in mind but also the immediate cost benefits such as reduced labor costs, reduced insurance premiums and reduced monthly gas and electricity bills.
About the Author
Armstrong Steel is one of the largest pre-engineered building suppliers in North America. Whether you want a pre-fab building kit to erect a building or a turnkey solution for your 100,000 square-foot facility, Armstrong Steel is committed to providing customers with the finest building at the lowest cost. Their buildings are durable, attractive and will meet or exceed your specific local building codes. They offer nationwide and international service and delivery of steel buildings. For more information visit http://www.armstrongsteelbuildings.com/.
microsoft ultimate steel 2007, error?
Hi, I just bought and installed microsoft ultimate steel 2007 and when finished installation it said that an error accured in setup. Doesn't tell me anything. Help.
All you need to know.
For a step by step tutorial go here.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/928218
This eventually fixed my pc but it's a long process.
Have fun, I did...
The Giant vs. The Ultimate Warrior - 9/7/98 (Steel Cage Match)
Kamikaze approach to the Bard
WILLIAM Shakespeare has a quotation or character for every occasion, it seems.
With the introduction of Digital cameras, now you don't have to spend on buying rolls after rolls when you are traveling or while on a holiday, this magic gadget can not only take hundreds of pictures and store them for you but you can also edit the pictures you do not like according to your choice. Digital cameras have changed the technology of photography. Digital photography begins with capturing images in a digital format.
Important factors of a Digital Camera:
You would find different models of these Digital cameras in the market of different price ranges and so if buying a the camera for the first time, there are basically three factors that you should keep in mind - Resolution, Storage capacity and Special features for taking a picture and storing it.
Digital photographs are made up of hundreds of thousands or millions of tiny squares called picture elements-or just pixels. The quality of a digital image, whether printed or displayed on a screen, depends in part on the number of pixels used to create the image called as Resolution. More pixels add detail and sharpen edges. The greater number of pixels or dots per inch, the higher the resolution of the finished photograph will be. Digital cameras generally range from 2.0 megapixels to 8 and even above. Consumers today are looking for higher resolution as they want more detail and color accuracy in their images. Older digital technology used under 2.0 megapixels.
Storage space in your Digital Camera:
Here in Digital cameras, the images are stored on internal disks in the camera. As most mid-priced digital cameras do not contain very much storage space hence this would require you to download your pictures to your computer once the space is full .But then of course more memory can be added to the interior of the camera, just like in a computer. A less expensive method is to add memory by using a small card that pops into the camera. These disks can be purchased with capacities between 64MB all the way up to 2 gigabytes. Larger disks can hold hundreds of pictures at their highest quality.
Once you store the image in your computer your printer can use these tiny pixels and give you your printed pictures. When you enlarge these digital images, the pixels will begin to show-an effect called pixelization. This is not unlike traditional silver-based prints where grain begins to show when prints are enlarged past a certain point. The more pixels there are in an image, the more it can be enlarged before pixelization occurs. The size of a photograph is specified in one of two ways-by its dimensions in pixels or by the total number of pixels it contains. For example, the same image can be said to have 1800×1600 pixels or to contain 2.88-million pixels i.e.1800 multiplied by 1600.
We can say that a digital camera is better quality than a film camera in some respects! Probably if you check the resolution, a 35mm film-based camera, it may crush any digital camera if you see the number of good pixels. But when it comes to color balancing under mixed lighting a digital camera has a better advantage than a film camera and even when you check the scale, the ability of the camera to capture detail in the brightest highlights and darkest shadows of a scene is marvelous.
Where can I get coupons for American Weigh AMW-100 Black or Silver Precision Digital Pocket...?
...Scale 1543 x 0 2 grain
Where can I find a discount online for American Weigh AMW-100 Black or Silver Precision Digital Pocket Scale 1543 x 0 2 grain
Technical Details
* Capacity 100g / 3.528oz / 500ct / 1543 gn
* Readability 0.01g / 0.001oz / 0.05ct / 0.2gn
* Scale Dimensions 5" x 3" x 0.75" Platform Dimensions 2.5" x 3"
* Color Black
* Reads in grams (g), ounces (oz), carat (ct), and grain (gn)
photoshop reduce noise in digital photos tutorial
Album: John Mellencamp, No Better Than This (Rounder)
The argument between analogue and digital recording methods is neatly summarised this week by comparing this simple, stripped-down offering from John Mellencamp with the second album by Klaxons, on which the songs are hidden away beneath layers of digital blah, track after track of guitar and keyboard and effect piled upon the material until its spine snaps, and all that remains is some ...
US $37.00
