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A very large number of people who have never attended a Sci-Fi convention have the idea that they are all about people standing in line to get autographs of actors while wearing Klingon makeup and costumes or pointed ears. I’m not saying that those stereotypes don’t exist but the Convention experience is much richer and diverse than you may have been led to believe. To get the best experience it is important first consider your interests and then match them to what conventions are available.

Conventions come in two primary flavors. Professional and fan run. Professional conventions should have actors who have appeared in genre television and films ready to sign autographs and have their photos taken with fans. Some of these conventions include the costs of autographs and photo sessions in the cost of admission others operate in more of an a la carte fashion.

Often genre conventions have previews of new shows and films, and usually an extensive dealer’s room where you can buy anything from jewelry, ornaments, t-shirts and action figures to full scale replicas and costumes…and more. While there are a number of professional promoters the best known and run are Chiller Theatre Expo, Creation Entertainment, Fed Con ( Germany ), Starland and Vulcon. Do expect things to be as advertised and run on time. Do not expect warm and fuzzy.

Warm and fuzzy is more the field of fan run conventions. Fans who get together to run conventions have a great deal of enthusiasm, but usually are run with a volunteer staff and can be a bit “bumpy” with organization of the activities. What you can expect? A movie room, anime room, gaming room, art show, dealer’s room, and various special interest group rooms and tables. It is a rare con that doesn’t have a dance and a masquerade. Many fan run conventions also have guests ranging from actors, authors, cartoonists, illustrators, scientists etc. You may also find workshops for writing, acting, art, costuming, make-up and special effects. It all varies from convention to convention and year to year. Older fan run conventions such as Aggie Con, Balticon, Bay Con, CONvergence, Dragon Con, ICON, Shore Leave, United Fan Con, Toronto Trek to name a few.

The following sections may help you in selecting the kind of convention you would enjoy the most. Don’t be afraid to try other sorts once you’ve sampled those that are in your comfort zone. Exploration can be fun:

• LITERARY CONVENTIONS

Love to read speculative fiction? Do you have an interest in attending workshops on writing and publishing? Would you like to mingle with like-minded fans and meet professionals in the field such as authors, editors, illustrators and publishers? Then a literary convention would be the place you might enjoy most. Conventions such as World Science Fiction Convention (which is where the Hugo awards are announced), the World Fantasy Convention, World Horror Convention, Balticon, Philcon, Lunacon, Boskone, Readercon, Wiscon and Capclave are all reader friendly and while you may find the occasional filking group, men in kilts, swords and women in medieval garb I doubt that you’ll see many people dressed like the attendees of the convention seen in the movie Galaxy Quest. OK maybe one or two but they are a tiny minority.

• MEDIA CONVENTIONS

Media conventions are very much about television and film. Science Fiction & Fantasy or Horror & Paranormal guests abound. You may meet and hear behind the scenes stories of actors and illustrators, SFX experts and make-up artists and a host of media professionals. Many of the attendees may be wearing costumes. Depending on whether you are going to a “pro” con or a fan run con the rest will vary greatly. Parties are expected and encouraged. At a pro convention this will take the form of a banquet with the guests at a fee and/or a dance or cocktail party all for various prices. Fan run convention also may have a price attached to a banquet or “private” gathering with a particular celebrity or celebrities but they will also have fee free dances, masquerades, art shows, filking, sword demonstrations etc. Toronto Trek, Celebration, BotCon, Dragon Con , Comic-Con ( both Dragon Con and Comicon will appear under many categories)

• GAMING CONVENTIONS

Gamers come in all shapes, sizes, ages, colors and ethnic backgrounds but they all have something in common. A love of games. Role playing, live, pen and paper, MMOG as well as video gamers and board gamers all have a lot of interactive fun at gaming conventions. You can meet game designers, try out new games that have yet to hit the general market, and play in tournaments for glory and prizes. Once an almost male-only pursuit, gaming now has a growing number of female enthusiasts Gaming has become so pervasive that it is now nearly socially acceptable to the mainstream public. Nearly.
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A very large number of people who have never attended a Sci-Fi convention have the idea that they are all about people standing in line to get autographs of actors while wearing Klingon makeup and costumes or pointed ears. I’m not saying that those stereotypes don’t exist, but the Convention experience is much richer and diverse than you may have been led to believe. To get the best experience it is important first consider your interests and then match them to what conventions are available.

Conventions come in two primary flavors: professional and fan run. Professional conventions should have actors who have appeared in genre television and films ready to sign autographs and have their photos taken with fans. Some of these conventions include the costs of autographs and photo sessions in the cost of admission others operate in more of an a la carte fashion.

Often genre conventions have previews of new shows and films, and usually an extensive dealer’s room where you can buy anything from jewelry, ornaments, t-shirts and action figures to full scale replicas and costumes… and more. While there are a number of professional promoters, the best known and run are Chiller Theatre Expo, Creation Entertainment, Fed Con (Germany), Starland and Vulcon. Do expect things to be as advertised and run on time. Do not expect warm and fuzzy.

Warm and fuzzy is more the field of fan run conventions. Fans who get together to run conventions have a great deal of enthusiasm, but usually are run with a volunteer staff and can be a bit “bumpy” with organization of the activities.

What you can expect? A movie room, anime room, gaming room, art show, dealer’s room, and various special interest group rooms and tables. It is a rare con that doesn’t have a dance and a masquerade.

Many fan run conventions also have guests ranging from actors, authors, cartoonists, illustrators, scientists etc. You may also find workshops for writing, acting, art, costuming, make-up and special effects. It all varies from convention to convention and year to year. Older fan run conventions such as Aggie Con, Balticon, Bay Con, CONvergence, Dragon Con, ICON, Shore Leave, United Fan Con, Toronto Trek to name a few.

The following sections may help you in selecting the kind of convention you would enjoy the most. Don’t be afraid to try other sorts once you’ve sampled those that are in your comfort zone. Exploration can be fun:

* LITERARY CONVENTIONS

Love to read speculative fiction? Do you have an interest in attending workshops on writing and publishing? Would you like to mingle with like-minded fans and meet professionals in the field such as authors, editors, illustrators and publishers? Then a literary convention would be the place you might enjoy most.

Conventions such as World Science Fiction Convention (which is where the Hugo awards are announced), the World Fantasy Convention, World Horror Convention, Balticon, Philcon, Lunacon, Boskone, Readercon, Wiscon and Capclave are all reader friendly and while you may find the occasional filking group, men in kilts, swords and women in medieval garb, I doubt that you’ll see many people dressed like the attendees of the convention seen in the movie Galaxy Quest. OK maybe one or two, but they are a tiny minority.

* MEDIA CONVENTIONS

Media conventions are very much about television and film. Science Fiction and Fantasy or Horror and Paranormal guests abound. You may meet and hear behind the scenes stories of actors and illustrators, SFX experts and make-up artists and a host of media professionals. Many of the attendees may be wearing costumes. Depending on whether you are going to a “pro” con or a “fan run” con the rest will vary greatly.
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Have you ever been curious about the first Dragon in history? Where it was from, did it have a name? I know I was. I also realized that I would have to settle on the first Dragon in recorded history. Since time travel still eludes me. That is when I decided to do a little surfing, well, a lot of surfing and a lot of reading, as it turned out. Yes, I even hit the hard copy.

At first I was instantly gratified, as I’m sure many have been before me. A lot of web sites that I went to all told me the same… my quest was over…it was Anzu of Babylon, a.k.a Zu, c.1st Millennium B.C. From “Ninurta vs. Anzu” or “The Myth of Anzu”. I read the descriptions, and with the exception of a few minor variations, it was this: Body and head of a lion, wings of an eagle (I didn’t realize they had eagles in Babylon), razor sharp talons, the beak of a bird with teeth, and an armor-plated breast. It to me was a bit of a let down. I don’t know about you, but to me Anzu sounds more like a griffin than a dragon. As I’m sure you will agree from the Babylonian depiction to the right. I also noticed a lot of copy and paste activity between a lot of the sites. So I decided to take a closer look, and actually read the original story as translated from the Babylonian clay tablets. At no time is Anzu referred to as a dragon. In other Babylonian text it is actual referred to as the Anzu Bird. In Sumerian text of the 3rd Millennium BC, Anzu was known as, the Zu-bird, a mythological creature which at times wrought mischief. From - Gilgamesh, Enkidu and the nether world - (Sumerian) : “In its branches, the Anzu bird settled its young.” So, as far as the Babylonians and I are concerned, not only is Anzu not the first dragon, but not a dragon at all, and deserves no further mention. I did feel I was on the right trail though,

so I pushed on into deeper study of Babylonian text.

My Reading and the views in other web sites brought me to an older “Dragon” in Babylonian and Assyrian text, Tiamat, creator of the gods and earth. c.2nd Millennium B.C. From the “Enuma Elish” or “The Seven Tablets of Creation”. The fact that Tiamat was a dragon is not clear. In fact she has about as many detractors as she does supporters. She is often described as a Serpent type Water Dragon. Except for that fact that she was said to have given birth to dragons, along with a host of other creatures;

“She set up vipers and dragons, and the monster Lahamu,
And hurricanes, and raging hounds, and scorpion-men,
And mighty tempests, and fish-men, and rams;
They bore cruel weapons, without fear of the fight.
Her commands were mighty, none could resist them;
After this fashion, huge of stature, she made eleven [kinds of] monsters.”

the descriptive evidence in the tale leaves one wondering to the fact of her being a dragon. She is in fact called a woman in the text, and mention is made of her lips. The following are all the pieces of description contained in the text of the Enuma Elish for Tiamat:

First: (Tablet 1)

unto Tiamut, the glistening one

Next: (Tablet 2)

Tiamat, who is a woman, is armed and attacketh thee.
.. rejoice and be glad;
The neck of Tiamat shalt thou swiftly trample under foot.
.. rejoice and be glad;

Next: (Tablet 4)

But Tiamat… , she turned not her neck,
With lips that failed not she uttered rebellious words:

Next: (Tablet 4)

Tiamat opened her mouth to its full extent,

Next: (Tablet 4)

He seized the spear and burst her belly,

Next: (Tablet 4)
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You have read volumes about ghosts and have browsed hundreds of websites to devour more information on ghosts, but have you ever wondered how many types of ghosts there are? The fact is that there are various types of ghosts out there and all these are minutely described and documented by the Spiritual Science Research Foundation (SSRF).

The Spiritual Science Research Foundation has undertaken extensive research on ghosts in order to demystify this widespread phenomenon and help people in recognising and treating the adverse effects caused by ghosts through proven methodology according to the science of Spirituality.

At the outset, it is important to note that while we use the phrase ghosts (demons, devils, negative energies, etc.) as a collective noun to cover the entire gamut of negative energies, there is a vast difference between the lower order ghosts and higher order ghosts such as subtle sorcerers (maantriks) from the sixth and seventh region of Hell. They differ according to their spiritual strength. Ghosts primarily use their spiritual strength to harm humanity.

The generic types of ghosts as identified by the Spiritual Science Research Foundation in ascending order of hierarchy as well as power and strength are:

• Common ghost
• Demons
• Black serpent
• Female goblin
• Jaakhin
• Witch
• Spirit
• Subtle sorcerer
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If you’ve finished your woodworking project, congratulations. Now, what type of finish do you want to put on it so that not only will you protect your hard work for years to come, but also enhance its innate beauty? No matter what you choose, you have to choose the right finish so that your hard work will be as beautiful finished as it was unfinished. Choosing the wrong finish can make your project look less beautiful than it should.

Well, here are some things to consider. You’ll need to choose a finishing product such as a varnish, lacquer, shellac, or polyurethane; you might also need putty, wood filler, wax or polish. In addition, you’ll need to choose from water or solvent bases for the finishing products. Which to choose?

It might be confusing, but once you know what you’re doing, you can group these rather simply so that it’s much easier to choose. Once you know what each group’s properties are, you can make a better and more informed choice about what you’ll need for your woodworking project.

Let’s begin with stains. When you apply a stain to wood, you add color to the wood without covering up the grain. This is a basic difference between staining or painting something.

Stains that are pigmented are made when a pigment is combined with a liquid. Usually, the pigment itself is in a dry colored powder before it is mixed with the liquid. The liquid itself includes a binder that helps the pigment stick to the wood surface. There’s also a carrier that works with the binder. The pigment does not dissolve in the binder, but are suspended in the liquid. In earlier times, you could purchase the colored powders to make pigments up; these were usually available in such colors as yellow, red, or burned charcoal, and were made from different types of clay and crushed rock.

If a stain is a “dye stain,” it’s physically and chemically different than a pigment stain is. Dye stains coat just like pigment stains do, but dye stains dissolve in the carrier instead of being suspended in it. Because a dye stain dissolves, it can deeply and easily penetrate the wood surface, unlike a pigment stain. However, the dye stain particles are very small and somewhat translucent. This, in turn, allows the wood grain to show through the dye stain.
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Have you tried photo mugs? Mugs don’t have to be ordinary. Although they are an everyday item, we can make them into a household accessory that we will really enjoy using. We drink a lot of tea and coffee. In fact, the tea break is a national institution. There are also very few problems that can’t be improved by having a nice cup of tea. Since tea drinking is so important, why not make sure that we drink our tea out of something that we will really love – a photo mug?

Most of us have hundreds or thousands of digital photos lying around. They are stored on hard drives and memory cards, and we may even have printed a few out before the novelty wore off. That means that we don’t look at most of our photos, unless we happen to set up a slideshow on our computer. However, there is one fun thing that we can do with all those photos. We can create unique gifts such as photo mugs.

Photo mugs are mug-sized, obviously, but otherwise there’s no limit when it comes to deciding what kind of photo to use. It’s more important to choose a photo that you truly love and won’t mind looking at every day. Many people choose to use photos of children, loved ones or pets, or of scenic locations that hold special memories. Whatever your choice, all you have to do is upload your photo and the process of creating your photo mug can begin.

While most of the photo mugs you see have colour photos, you may also be able to choose black and white for a more artistic look, or sepia, which harks back to the early days of film. Whichever you choose, your photo will look striking. Before selecting the company which will make your mug, check to see what services are on offer.
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If you’re looking for the right way to commemorate a special occasion, then consider giving personalised gifts. It seems the more gift choices we have, the harder it is to find exactly the right gift for someone you work with or a member of your family. If the gift is for someone you don’t know well, there’s even more chance of getting it wrong. There’s nothing worse than knowing that you’ve given the wrong gift. Luckily you can avoid that by giving photo gifts. How will this help? Read on to find out.

People have always commemorated big events with pictures. Cavemen drew on walls, families commissioned paintings, and we take digital photos. It’s all about capturing a special moment so that you can share it with others later. That’s why we love taking and looking at photos. People enjoy seeing that hairstyle you had when you were 16 or the huge camel that spat at you when you visited Egypt.
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Personalised gifts are a wonderful way to make any occasion more special. It can be difficult to choose exactly the right gift to give to a family member, friend, colleague or acquaintance. There are so many gifts to choose from, and you run the risk of completely misreading the person’s taste. However, there is a way to give personalised gifts that everyone will love, and that’s to give photo gifts. Including a photo makes any gift more personal.

Everyone loves a good photo. Colleagues are always quick to gather around to see the pictures you took on holiday. Family friends love to browse through your photo albums and see what you looked like in the past. These days, many of our photos are stored on cards in digital cameras, and we look at them on a two inch square screen. Wouldn’t it be fun to use them in a more exciting way?

That’s where personalised gifts come in. Personalised photo gifts are the latest way to put your discarded digital photos to good use. Instead of leaving your memories locked in a storage card, you can bring them out for the world to see with a range of unique presents. Here are some examples.

Sometimes we take some beautiful photos of the places that we have visited. They are full of colour and life and would make great works of art. Modern printing technology means that your digital photos can be imprinted onto woven canvas and stretched across a frame – just like an Old Master. The canvas is treated to resist damage by sunlight and dust. These photo canvases are available in many sizes, so you can easily find one that’s right for your wall.
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There are two ways to make stained glass, leaded or copper foiled. The major difference between the two is in the construction. With leaded stained glass, the glass is fitted into channels of lead came. In contrast, copper foiled stained glass is constructed by wrapping each piece of glass with copper foil.

Leaded stained glass historically is found in churches. It was during the Victoria Era where leaded stained glass was introduced into homes and has remained a popular method of constructing stained glass ever since.

Foiled stained glass was mastered by Tiffany in the early 1900’s and soon after became a popular method for creating stained glass.

Common Questions:

Is one method better than the other?

The simple answer is no. A better answer is that it depends on the artist and the design.

What is the difference in leaded and foiled construction?
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When you’re done with your woodworking project, of course you want to protect it. A top coat protects the finish of your project, as well as the wood itself. If you leave the wood (and any stain or paint you’ve used) as it is, it’s likely to get scratched or dirty, and will also get damaged by watermarks if it comes into contact with moisture. By using a good wood finish, you’ll keep your wood and its finish clean and protected, and prevent it from damage, wear and tear. You can apply a clear finish so as to accentuate the grain, or even give it a “wet look” if you like. In general, unfinished wood will develop a dull matte texture that will not show off the grain.

No matter the woodworking project you’re working on, there are two basic finishes you can apply. The first is called an “evaporated finish.” With this type of finish, it “cures” and becomes hard simply by drying. These types of finishes include lacquers and water-based finishes. You can soften these finishes with heat; therefore, they are given the name “thermoplastic.”

The second type of wood finish is called a “reactive finish.” This is cured by allowing it to react with another component, such as air, or with another chemical added just prior to the finish’s application. Some examples of these include oils in oil-based varnishes or catalyzed lacquers. These types of finishes are called “thermosetting finishes.” Unlike the thermoplastic finishes, these finishes are not softened with heat or with the original solvent used.

Within the reactive finishes are two different types of oil finishes. These are oils that dry when exposed to air or oils that do not dry when exposed to air. In example of an oil that does not dry when exposed to air is mineral oil, or baby oil. Those that do dry protect would better than those that don’t dry. Therefore, usually, the ones that do dry should be used to finish your wood project.
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