Translate this Blog

Traduisez , Übersetzen Sie, Traduca , Traduza , Traduzca , 翻訳しなさい , 번역하다 , 翻译 , يترجم

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Lahore Enchanted


A city of lights, love, and ancient lore.
By Bapsi Sidhwa | From the March 1 & 8, 2013 issue.
  

Ali Arif / AFP
Lahore. If I toss up the word and close my eyes, it conjures up gardens and fragrances. Not only the formal Mughal gardens, with their obedient rows of fountains and cypresses, or the acreage of the club-strewn Lawrence Gardens, but the gardens in thousands of private houses with their riot of spring flowers. There is a carnival of jewel colors embedded in emerald lawns and hedges—a defiant brilliance of kachnar, bougainvillea and gulmohur silhouetted against an azure sky. And the winter and spring air are heady. They make the blood hum.
I have spent most of my life in Lahore, and the city of 11 million provides the geographical location of my novels. Its ambience has molded my sensibility and also my emotional responses. To belong to Lahore is to be steeped in its romance, to inhale with each breath an intensity of feeling that demands expression.
Above all else, Lahore is a city of poets. Not just giants like the Sufi poet Allama Iqbal or Faiz Ahmed Faiz, but a throng of them. Given half a chance, the average Lahori will quote a couplet from an Urdu ghazal or from Bulleh Shah’s mystical Punjabi verse, and readily confess to writing poems. In the West, Lahore is most famously the city that inspired Rudyard Kipling to write his novel Kim. An insomniac, Kipling explored the narrow lanes of the walled city, which forms the core of Lahore, and wrote about his observations and adventures.
The very spelling of this hoary city causes one to indulge in linguistic antics; as I did in my first novel, The Pakistani Bride: “Lahore—the ancient whore, the handmaiden of dimly remembered Hindu kings, the courtesan of Mughal emperors, bedecked and bejeweled, savaged by marauding hordes, healed by the caressing hands of successive lovers. A little shoddy, as Qasim saw her; like an attractive but aging concubine, ready to bestow surprising delights on those who cared to court her, proudly displaying Royal gifts.”
Much of this novel is set in Lahore. We observe the city through Qasim, a Kohistani tribesman from the Afghan frontier, as he wanders through Lahore with his adopted daughter, Zaitoon, perched on his shoulders. With them we stroll down Anarkali, the crowded bazaar named after the beautiful girl who was bricked in alive by the Emperor Akbar because his son Prince Salim was determined to marry her.
I was always uneasy with this story. It was inconsistent with everything I had heard about the judicious character of the gentle monarch. Mughal princes, after all, were almost obliged to fall in love with dancing girls—it was a rite of passage, a means of acquiring carnal sophistication and courtly manners. How then could Emperor Akbar call such a vengeful punishment upon a young girl whose vocation compelled her to seduce princes?
What I subsequently learnt gives Anarkali’s story a more credible twist. Anarkali (which means a pomegranate flower in bud) was neither a dancing girl nor, as some suggest, a handmaiden to one of the queens. She was in fact one of Akbar’s junior wives. This version gives a more serious complexion to the transgression—one that smacks of royal adultery and incest and thus liable to invite the dire punishment meted out.
There is a certain route I follow when I take outstation guests on a tour of my favorite Lahori landmarks. From my house in the cantonment we drive to Mall Road, grandly renamed Shahrah-e-Quaid-e-Azam after the founding father of Pakistan, Mohammad Ali Jinnah. But old names like old habits die hard, and it is still commonly called Mall Road.
Shaded by massive peepal and eucalyptus trees, its wide meridians ablaze with seasonal flowers and rose vine, the avenue provides an impressive route for the dignitaries being wafted in their darkened limos to the Government House. Shahrah-e-Quaid-e-Azam is also a part of the famed Grand Trunk Road that ran the breadth of India from Peshawar to Calcutta. At least I think it is.
Past the delicate pink sprawl of the British-built High Court and the coppery Zam-zammah, the cannon better known as ‘Kim’s gun’ after Kipling’s young hero, past the deadly little fighter jet displayed on the traffic island a little further along the road, our tiny Suzuki noses through the congestion of trucks, horse-drawn tongas, bullock-carts and scooter-rickshaws to Data Sahib’s shrine on Ravi Road. One of the earliest Muslim saints to set up shop in India, Data Gunj Bakhsh is embraced by all communities—including the Hindus and Sikhs before they fled Lahore at Partition.
Arif Ali / AFP
I was regularly hauled to the shrine as a child. My mother had a committed and confidential relationship with the saint and was forever asking him to either grant her some favor or thanking him for having granted it. On those visits, prompted by her gratitude, she would insert crisp Rs. 10 notes in the collection box just inside the grills of the tomb window, and when I passed—to her and my astonishment—my matriculation exams, she inserted a Rs. 100 note in an extravagant surge of gratefulness.
It is alleged that the saint saved Lahore during the ’65 and ’71 wars with India. Sikh pilots are believed to have seen hands materialize out of the ether to catch the bombs and gentle them to the ground. How else can one explain the quantity of unexploded bombs found in the area? They can’t all be blamed on poor manufacture, surely. (I have woven these miraculous events into A Gentlemanly War, which will appear this spring in my new collection, Their Language of Love,being published by Penguin India and Readings Books in Pakistan.)
Lahore’s role as an administrative, commercial, and educational center brought migrants to the city from the hinterland and beyond. The British community secured its groceries and general merchandise from the Parsi and European traders, and was provided spiritual sustenance at St. James Church in Anarkali, the Anglican cathedral of the Resurrection, and the Catholic Sacred Heart cathedral. The racial superiority the British assumed, and their desire to engage in pastimes that made them feel ‘at home’ in Lahore, limited their interaction to elite native circles.
I like to think that the tiny Parsi community—to which I belong—played a small but significant role in Lahore’s development. Parsi migrants from Bombay, drawn to Lahore because of the commercial opportunities provided by the growing British presence, located their shops on or close to the Mall or in the cantonment, where the Challa family provided groceries and beverages for the British servicemen. A number of Parsis were wine merchants, among them my father, Peshotan Bhandara, whose wine shop  D. P. Edulji & Co. was located on the Mall next to the Tollington Market. The Cooper family founded the Parsi Agyari (Fire Temple), which celebrated its centenary a decade ago.
This, then, is the ancient city, described before Partition as the ‘Paris of the East,’ which insinuates itself in each of my novels and stories. After all, it is the city in which I grew up and inhabited longest. It is where my memories are lodged, and where the people who were dear to me lived—Godmother, Slavesister, Mother, Father, Dr. Bharucha. My books Ice Candy Man, The Crow Eaters, and An American Brat are peopled by them, and the Junglewallas, Toddywallas, Bankwallas, and a host of other -wallas.
The magnificent tombs, mosques, gardens, and the colonial edifices built by the British, all form only the essential background; it is the mixture of people who throng Lahore’s bazaars and streets and inhabit the city’s buildings that occupy central stage. And therein lies the emotional landscape of my writing, the memories I draw upon.  
Sidhwa is an award-winning author, essayist, and playwright. Her books include Cracking India,which was made into a film, Earth, by Deepak Mehta. Junglewalla, the Urdu translation of her best-selling The Crow Eaters, will be launched at the debut Lahore Literary Festival.
To comment on this article, email letters@newsweek.pk

If you liked this post, Dont forget to BOOKMARK it for others as well. Please CLICK your favorite SOCIAL BOOKMARKING ELEMENT:

StumpleUpon Ma.gnolia DiggIt! Del.icio.us Blinklist Yahoo Furl Technorati Simpy Spurl Reddit Google

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

12 Foods of Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be upon Him)



Barley:
Good in fever, while use in a soup form.

Dates:

The Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) said that a house without dates has no food. It should also be eaten at the time of childbirth.

Figs:


It is a fruit from paradise and a cure for piles.

Grapes:

The Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) was very fond of grapes - it purifies the blood, provides vigour and health, strengthens the kidneys and clears the bowels.

Honey:

Considered the best remedy for diarrhoea when mixed in hot water. It is the food of foods, drink of drinks and drug of drugs. It is used for creating appetite, strengthening the stomach, eliminating phlegm; as a meat preservative, hair conditioner, eye soother and mouthwash. It is extremely beneficial in the morning in warm water.

Melon:

The Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) said: 'None of your women who are pregnant and eat of water melon will fail to produce off spring that is good in countenance and good in character.'

Milk:

The Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) said that milk wipes away heat from the heart just as the finger wipes away sweat from the brow. It strengthens the back, improved the brain, renews vision and drives away forgetfulness.

Mushroom:

The Prophet (SAW) said that mushroom is a good cure for the eyes; it also serves as a form of birth control and arrests paralysis.

Olive Oil:

Excellent treatment for skin and hair, delays old age, and treats inflammation of the stomach.

Pomegranate:

The Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him)said it cleanses you of Satan and evil aspirations for 40 days.

Vinegar
:

A food Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him)used to eat with olive oil. [That's now a fashion in elite Italian Restaurants]

Water:


The Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) said the best drink in this world is water, when you are thirsty drink it by sips and not gulps, gulping produces sickness of the liver.

So 'darood' and praise be upon our beloved Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) who related us with marvelous knowledge, which dazzles the wisest minds. May this information be beneficial to all of us. Insha'Allah.

If you liked this post, Dont forget to BOOKMARK it for others as well. Please CLICK your favorite SOCIAL BOOKMARKING ELEMENT:

StumpleUpon Ma.gnolia DiggIt! Del.icio.us Blinklist Yahoo Furl Technorati Simpy Spurl Reddit Google

Sunday, February 17, 2013

How to: Delete/Remove protected folders and files from a previous installation of Windows



Problem: I’ve decided to re-install windows because of some issues. My new install is ok but I can’t delete the directory of my old windows anymore!

Solution: The folder you are trying to delete has it’s administrative privileges locked from your previous windows. You could change the ownership of your folder by right clicking on the folder -> Properties -> Security -> Advanced -> Owner -> Edit -> Select Administrator and put a check on “Replace owner on subcontainers and objects”

An Easier Solution: You can also do a command prompt to remove the ownership which is a more straightforward process. To do this, press your window’s Start button, type “cmd”, right click on the “cmd” program that shows up, right click and select run as administrator (running the command prompt with administrator privileges is important).

In the command prompt, enter the following command:

cacls “c:\WINDOWS.OLD” /t /g administrators:F
Note: Don’t forget to change the drive letter and path above to the locked folder.

That’s it! You can now delete this folder.

If you liked this post, Dont forget to BOOKMARK it for others as well. Please CLICK your favorite SOCIAL BOOKMARKING ELEMENT:

StumpleUpon Ma.gnolia DiggIt! Del.icio.us Blinklist Yahoo Furl Technorati Simpy Spurl Reddit Google

Disable UAC in Windows 8


hi guys,

Here I will introduce the easiest way to disable UAC in Windows 8.

Using Control Panel:

1. Open Control Panel.

2. Under User Account and Family settings click on the "Add or remove user account".

3. Click on one of the user accounts, for example you can use the Guest account.

4. Under the user account click on the "Go to the main User Account page" link.

5. Under "Make changes to your user account" click on the "Change security settings" link.

6. In the "Turn on User Account Control (UAC) to make your computer more secure" click to unselect the "Use User Account Control (UAC) to help protect your computer". Click on the Ok button.

7. You will be prompted to reboot your computer. Do so when ready.

hope this methods works for you.

Disabling User Account Control (UAC) in Windows 8

With the new User Interface of Windows 8, accessing simple panels and doing easy tasks can be a pain. This blog post is for one such simple task, which has changed from the previous versions.

User Account Control (UAC) is a security component that enables users to perform common tasks as non-administrators (called standard users in Windows Vista), and as administrators without having to switch users, log off, or use Run As. But sometimes it becomes a hassle to keep waiting for the prompt at times for an elevation of the user rights to be able to proceed ahead.

Some companies go ahead and manage these by disabling it. Doing this in Windows 7 was simple enough. Go to Run, or the Start Menu and start searching for “Change User Account Settings”. In Windows 8 as well, the idea is the same, which takes just 2 simple steps:

1. Go to the Search Charm and type “Change User Account Settings”:
1

2. In the console, change the settings as per your requirement. If you want to disable it, you can keep it at “Never notify”:
4

Hit OK and you are OK to go.

You can even change the following registry key to disable UAC:
Location: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
Key: EbableLUA
Value data: 0

Hope this helps. Until next time about a new feature of Windows 8.

Happy reading!

If you liked this post, Dont forget to BOOKMARK it for others as well. Please CLICK your favorite SOCIAL BOOKMARKING ELEMENT:

StumpleUpon Ma.gnolia DiggIt! Del.icio.us Blinklist Yahoo Furl Technorati Simpy Spurl Reddit Google

Windows 8: Office 2010 install hangs


We apologize for the inconvenience.

I will assist you in trying to resolve the issue.
Start the computer in clean boot and then try installing the Office suite and verify the result.
a. Log on to the computer by using an account that has administrator rights.
b. Press the Windows key + R and type msconfig.exe in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER to start the System Configuration utility.
If you are prompted for an administrator password or for confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.
c. On the General tab, click the Selective startup option, and then click to clear the Load startup itemscheck box. (The Use Original Boot.ini check box is unavailable.)
d. On the Services tab, click to select the Hide all Microsoft services check box, and then click Disable all.
Note: This step lets Microsoft services continue to run. These services include Networking, Plug and Play, Event Logging, Error Reporting, and other services. If you disable these services, you may permanently delete all restore points. Do not do this if you want to use the System Restore utility together with existing restore points.
e. Click OK, and then click Restart.

Note: Ensure to restart the computer in normal mode after the troubleshooting process.

Reply with the necessary information for further assistance.

Thank You.

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office_2010-office_install/office-2010-wont-install-on-windows-8-pro-it-just

I have spent nearly 10 hours trying to install Office Home & Business 2010 on a brand-new HP Envy dv4t, including about 2 hours with HP Tech Support (via chat), all to no avail.  The last 6 hours I've been searching the internet for a solution to this, and just 30 minutes ago stumbled upon this thread.

Key issues:
> Disable User Access Control
> Disable Virus Protection
(one or both of these prevented the install from even starting - very informative error message: "There was an error in setup."  No kidding!!)

> Stop print spooler
This fixed the "hang in the middle of install" problem.  VERY NICE!  Who'd have thought of that?!

In my case, once the laptop rebooted, the print spooler and virus protection were back on, and all I had to do was re-enable the User Access Control.

Thanks, guys!  I, too, hope others will benefit from this.  Too bad it is so hard to find!  MS should really put out a KB article or update, or something....

If you liked this post, Dont forget to BOOKMARK it for others as well. Please CLICK your favorite SOCIAL BOOKMARKING ELEMENT:

StumpleUpon Ma.gnolia DiggIt! Del.icio.us Blinklist Yahoo Furl Technorati Simpy Spurl Reddit Google

Case of the Broken UAC Prompt – Extended Attributes are Inconsistent


Windows 8 Upgrade - Extended Attributes are Inconsistent

One day while happily working away on my liquid cooled Windows Developer Preview beast I came across this error when launching regedit:
image
Pretty quickly I found every program that tried to elevate to Administrative privileges had this problem. The UAC prompt to click Yes/No appeared very briefly then was rapidly replaced with this error message. Unfortunately this also applied to my beloved ProcMon.
So what to do?
First to find out to whom the dialog box belonged. Using Process Explorer (http://live.sysinternals.com/ProcExp.exe) and the feature to drag a target over a Windows to identify the process I found out the message box belonged to cmd.exe if run from Command Prompt, or Explorer.exe if launched from Explorer.
As WinDbg doesn’t require admin privilege (for limited user mode debugging of non-elevated processes) it was my debugging tool of choice. WinDbg is included in Windows SDK, which is available for free download herehttp://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=8279
I first opened C:\windows\system32\cmd.exe using File –> Open Executable
image
I wanted to ensure any child processes got debugged as well so ran command
.childdbg 1
I then hit to make the debugger go. Each time a new process starts you will see message like
ntdll!RtlUserThreadStart:
000007fb`a5323c64 4883ec48        sub     rsp,48h
You will need to hit again to continue further. I then launched regedit from my debugged cmd.exe. Now there are a few potential types of message boxes in Windows, so to make it easy to find out which one was being used, when I got the error message dialog box I hit ‘Break’ on the debugger and typed
!analyse –v –hang
In the stack trace I found the function that generated the message box, so I set a breakpoint for it:
bp SHELL32!SHSysErrorMessageBox
(don’t worry about could not resolve error message here)
and typed
.restart on my process
Which showed me the following:
Breakpoint 0 hit
SHELL32!SHSysErrorMessageBox:
000007fb`a342fb60 fff3            push    rbx
0:000> kv <- before="" box="" br="" called="" find="" functions="" got="" message="" stack="" trace="" what="">Child-SP          RetAddr           : Args to Child                                                           : Call Site
00000056`e904dfe8 000007fb`a349fe8d : 00000000`0000104c 00000000`0000007f 00000056`e92b74c0 00000000`000000ff : SHELL32!SHSysErrorMessageBox
00000056`e904dff0 000007fb`a33d216e : 00000056`e927fea0 00000000`00230e74 00000000`000000ff 00000000`00000000 : SHELL32!_ExecErrorMsgBox+0x23d
00000056`e904f0b0 000007fb`a32ee389 : 00000056`e904f1f0 00000056`e904f1f0 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 : SHELL32!CShellExecute::_DoExecute+0x33f
00000056`e904f130 000007fb`a32ee29d : 00000056`e927fea0 00000000`00008140 00000000`00000000 00000056`e904f1f0 : SHELL32!CShellExecute::ExecuteNormal+0×95
00000056`e904f160 000007fb`a32ee214 : 00000056`e904f1f0 000007fb`a37743e0 00000056`e904f1f0 00000056`e904f080 : SHELL32!ShellExecuteNormal+0x4d
00000056`e904f190 000007fb`99322faa : 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 00000056`e904f080 : SHELL32!ShellExecuteExW+0×54
00000056`e904f1c0 000007f6`ca0e5429 : 00000056`e9277b30 00000056`e927a300 00000056`e92755f0 000007f6`ca12d360 : fsutilext!ShellExecuteWorker+0x7e
00000056`e904f270 000007f6`ca0e5a3b : 00000056`e927bd50 00000000`00000000 00000056`e9261820 00000056`e92755f0 : cmd!ExecPgm+0x5b0
00000056`e904f530 000007f6`ca0e8158 : 00000000`00000000 00000056`e9261820 00000000`00000000 00000056`e9261820 : cmd!ECWork+0xd7
00000056`e904f790 000007f6`ca0e1306 : 00000000`0000de5c 00000056`e9261820 00000000`00000000 000007f6`ca0e16a1 : cmd!FindFixAndRun+0x54e
00000056`e904fc30 000007f6`ca10beb0 : 00000056`e9261820 000007f6`ca113890 00000056`e9261820 00000000`000000ff : cmd!Dispatch+0xab
00000056`e904fce0 000007f6`ca0f3a68 : 00000000`00000001 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 : cmd!_chkstk+0x50c6
00000056`e904fd40 000007fb`a2f23cdc : 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 : cmd!Handler+0×291
00000056`e904fd80 000007fb`a5323c85 : 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 : KERNEL32!BaseThreadInitThunk+0×18
00000056`e904fdb0 00000000`00000000 : 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 : ntdll!RtlUserThreadStart+0x1d
0:000> !gle <- error="" get="" last="" strong="">
TRIAGER: Could not open triage file : C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\8.0\Debuggers\x64\triage\oca.ini, error 2
TRIAGER: Could not open triage file : C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\8.0\Debuggers\x64\winxp\triage.ini, error 2
TRIAGER: Could not open triage file : C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\8.0\Debuggers\x64\triage\user.ini, error 2
LastErrorValue: (Win32) 0x7f (127) – The specified procedure could not be found.
LastStatusValue: (NTSTATUS) 0xc0000139 – {Entry Point Not Found}  The procedure entry point %hs could not be located in the dynamic link library %hs.
While this was all well an interesting there was some important information missing: Primarily nothing from consent.exe. Unfortunately no way I was going to be able to debug that as standard user because I was not admin…D’oh!
So I restarted the PC and pressed F8 to enter safe mode. I then logged in with a local administrator account and as safe mode is free of UAC prompts could happily set User Account Control Settings to Never Notify
Warning! Using this setting is not recommended and will increase risk of nasty software doing bad things to your PC.
Restarting back into regular Windows I could now launch programs as admin. I launched a command prompt as Admin and reset UAC back to the previous setting.
image
I then went back to my comfort zone of ProcMon(http://live.sysinternals.com/ProcMon.exe)
I set a filter to include the following processes:
  • cmd.exe
  • consent.exe
  • regedit.exe
I also set a filter on Operation is Load Image as I wanted to look for 3rd party code being loaded.
image
Sure enough we find some perfect suspects. 3rd party codecs were being loaded. These codecs had been installed a few days before from an open source program Audacity and the separate download Lame MP3 Encoder Pack
image
I then brought out the tool that must not be left at home. Ever. AutoRuns (http://live.sysinternals.com/AutoRuns.exe) AutoRuns can disable/enable pretty much any possible location for code to startup within Windows – from drivers, services, codecs, etc, it has it all. You can also analyse offline systems such as a mounted WIM, or an unbootable partition from within Windows PE.
I disabled all codecs at first, then enabled one-by-one to find the culprit. I found two caused the issue:
  • msacm.avis
  • msacm.lameacm
Disabling these and UAC was back in all its glory.
image
But why is Windows loading codecs for the UAC consent dialog?
The codecs are loaded because consent.exe plays a sound effect, which required a codec to decode the audio file.
In fact I found I can also re-enable all my codecs and disable Windows Sounds, and UAC prompt will still work. Peace at last.
image

If you liked this post, Dont forget to BOOKMARK it for others as well. Please CLICK your favorite SOCIAL BOOKMARKING ELEMENT:

StumpleUpon Ma.gnolia DiggIt! Del.icio.us Blinklist Yahoo Furl Technorati Simpy Spurl Reddit Google

Monday, February 4, 2013

Pool vs. Snooker



What is the difference between a pool table and a snooker table?

We receive this question quite often and know there are many people who would like to know the difference.  These tables are compared side by side below.  For game rules of either just do an Internet search.
Pool and Snooker are similar in appearance, yet quite different.  The games played on each are also different.
More skill is required to play snooker than pool since the table is larger, the pockets narrower, the pocket lead-in curved and the balls smaller.
Pool is more common in the United States than snooker.  Certain states have a concentration of snooker popularity including Colorado, deep South and the mid-West in the United States.  Once a person plays snooker, they become better at pool since the accuracy is critical to snooker.  Snooker is the game of choice in Canada, Great Britain, Europe, Middle East, Australia and India.  For the most part snooker has become popular in countries where Great Britain has had Colonial interests.

We are proud to offer our interchangeable rail designs for our pool and snooker table plans!  So, if you only have room for one table, you can make two sets of rails for the same table.  In about 2 hours, you can expertly replace your table rails with snooker or pool rails once you have built the rails.  Click on the button at the right to learn more about your options.
Pool 
Our 9 foot Mission Pool Table is shown with Snooker Rails.  It requires about 2 hours to change the rails to switch between Pool and Snooker.
Snooker
Table Size
 Officially sanctioned pool tables are 8 (regulation) and 9 feet (tournament).  Bar and coin op tables come in 6 and 7 feet.
We offer 7, 8, 8 plus, and 9 foot pool table sizes in our pool table plans for your flexibility.
Playfield Size & Room Size Charts for Pool and Snooker
 The official sizes are 10' (American) and 12' (British) foot tables.
Snooker tables are sometimes referred to as English Pool tables.
We offer 7, 8, 8 plus, 9 and 10 foot in our snooker table plans.  American Snooker tables use the same size slate as pool tables.  British pool tables use 11/2"- 2" slate.
Pockets
 Corner pockets are smaller than side pockets.
Cushions change direction into the pocket at an angle.  The end of the rails at the pocket opening are covered with a pocket facing which is not seen when covered with the rail cloth.
 Corner Pockets and side pockets are the same size and are significantly smaller than pool pockets.
The ball enters the pocket after passing through a curved gateway which is a continuation of the cushions.  Unlike pool rails, pocket facings are not needed.
Cushion changes direction into
pool pocket at an angle.
Notice the curved lead into the snooker pocket.
Cushions & Rails
 Pool cushions come in various sizes.  They use good quality K-55 or K-66 profiles which are "V" (or pyramidal) shaped.

American snooker tables have "V" (or pyramidal) shaped cushions.  Stepped rubber or "L" shaped, is used more commonly on British tables.  Both style cushions play about the same.
Our Snooker Table plans use K-66 profile since it is easier to build to achieve the proper curved lead-ins using a commercially available part called "snooker bends".
 Alternate sets of rails (pool or snooker) can easily be displayed and stored as a design element of your billiard room.
 Our snooker rails are simply mounted to the wall with removable eye bolts screwed into the sub rail.  Two wall anchors with protruding screws for each make quick work removing snooker rails for change over to snooker.  Notice how level the top rail can be to display our antique snooker ball set!
Table Height
 Height specifications are measured from an unshimmed corner.  This definition is based on common sense and no one, to our knowledge, has ever addressed this as a specification. 
 American height specifications are the same as pool table height.
British height specifications are approximately 2" higher than American specifications.
Our snooker table plans include both height ranges so you can choose which governing body's specifications you wish to use.
Cloth
 Green is the traditional standard for pool tables.  However you may now enjoy choices of color offered by most cloth manufacturers.  Cheaper cloth need to be replaced more often and usually "pill" like wool sweaters.  The better worsted (yes, more expensive) cloths last longer and without quickly degrading such as Simonis 860.

Shown at right are Simonis Colors from their 2005 European Collection.
 Snooker requires a "faster" or shorter nap (the fuzzy stuff) cloth, such as Simonis 760.  These are the more expensive wool/nylon blend or 100% wool weaves.  The good news is that these cloths last a very long time and should not have to be replaced for at least 5 years with everyday play.
The traditional color is green.  Due to the high demand for decorator colors, a few manufacturers have added a wide choice.
Balls
 21/4" are the standard size balls.

On coin op tables when a mechanical system is used, the cue ball is larger in order it be returned when scratched.
In pool most games, 15 balls plus the cue ball are used, except for 7 and 9 ball.
 
Left:  21/4" #1 Pool ball
Right:  21/8" #2 Snooker ball

Ball sizes are most commonly 21/16" (English) and or 21/8" (American).

In most snooker games, 15 red balls PLUS numbered balls 2 through 8 and a cue ball are used.
English snooker balls do not have numbers on the "colored" balls.  American balls are numbered as well as colored.  Both sizes are available in both styles.
Table Markings
 Tables are marked with a head and foot spot.  The rack's apex ball is placed on the foot spot.  The break is from behind an imaginary line across the table at the head spot.
 The table is marked with a "D" at the bottom (which is called the head end in pool).  The rack of 15 red balls is placed at the top (foot end in pool).    The numbered balls are placed on their particular spots and are returned to these spots after being pocketed or "potted".  
Our snooker table plans accommodate both size snooker balls.
Cues
 Pool cues are between 57" - 58" long and are 1 or 2 piece.  Tips range from 11mm to 14 mm.  Shafts are almost always maple.
Butts are often wrapped with linen string (or a blend) or leather strips that makes the cue less slippery by absorbing hand sweat and oils.  Some manufacturers coat the linen with polyurethane which defeats its purpose, but keeps the cue nice looking.
The diversity of cue designs is staggering.  All cues over $250 are of excellent quality.
Left:  14mm Pool Cue with ivorine ferrule
Right:  10mm Snooker Cue with brass ferrule
Snooker cues can be 1, 2, 3, or 4 piece.  1 and 2 piece cues are very similar to pool cues and some snooker players use pool cues.  A 3 or 4 piece cue has an extender which can be attached for longer shots due to the larger table sizes and avoiding use of the spider (bridge).  Lengths are between 57" & 63" without the extensions.  Shafts are usually made of ash.
Snooker cues have smaller tips between 9.0 and 11mm.  The accuracy of a smaller tip on a smaller (than pool) ball is necessary.  The shafts are thinner.
Snooker cues do not have the linen wrap pool cues have.  They also have one flat face on butt to help the player orientate the stick for play.
Games
 Most popular today is 8 ball and 9 ball.  These two games are more quickly played in tournaments.  They are more suitable for television coverage.  7 Ball was added to the short games, but has not been as popular.

Straight pool, or 14.1 was the more popular game for tournaments in the past.  
Other games include One Pocket, Rotation, Chicago, and dozens of other games.  Special balls have been made for other games including Poker and Baseball.
  The basic Snooker game take longer to play than most pool games and the scoring is sometimes a little tricky, so a score board is used to keep track of the points.

Snooker is the most common game, but is not the only game played on snooker tables.  Life Pool, Golf, Chase the Green, Cricket, Crash and Russian Pool.  Some snooker games use only the colored balls.  Up to 6 players may participate in several of the games.
Mary Southall & Brian Swift.
Copyright Ó 2003 - 2011 PoolTablePlans.com.  All rights reserved

If you liked this post, Dont forget to BOOKMARK it for others as well. Please CLICK your favorite SOCIAL BOOKMARKING ELEMENT:

StumpleUpon Ma.gnolia DiggIt! Del.icio.us Blinklist Yahoo Furl Technorati Simpy Spurl Reddit Google

Saturday, February 2, 2013

5 Must-Know Facebook Timeline Tips/Tricks


By Mustaza Mustafa.


Have you embraced the changes? The new Facebook Timeline lets you change the way your entire life is showcased over the Internet – in the form of colorful scrapbook, with highlights to enhance excitement and emotional feelings. There are those of you who have embraced the changes and loved it and then there are also those who haven’t really gotten into the full experience yet.
In this article, we’ll share with you some tips and tricks to help you configure your Facebook Timeline and exercise your full control over your personal information. Maybe then, some of you will be convinced that the Timeline isn’t all that bad after all.

1. Feature Photos/Links/Status

There are 2 sides of your timeline on Facebook, your life stories, and updates; this makes your featured photos cramped in half. To feature your favorite photos or any stories and updates page-wide, hover over the top of the story section and click on the ‘star’ button that says ‘Highlight’.
Timeline Highlights
Once the ‘Star’ button is clicked, you will see that your photo is now featured page-wide like this one.
highlighted
To remove highlight, simply click on the ‘Star’ button again.

2. Backdate

We have plenty of stories of our past. With Facebook Timeline, you can update not only your ongoing life events, but also stories and updates from any past date on your timeline.
To do this, mouse hover on any part of the long line that represents your timeline and you will see a ‘Plus’ button appear. Click on that button.
Backdate
You will be given options to update status, photos, places as well as other life events. Pick any one from the list and fill up the details.
Backdate status
When updating the status, it will stay on the date where you place them on your timeline, but your friends will still be able to see the updates on Facebook Wall, unless you share them only to yourself;
Timeline backdate status update

3. Hide From Timeline

In case there are stories you want to hide from your Timeline, you can click on the ‘Edit or Remove’ button on the top right corner of your status box, and select ‘Hide from Timeline’.
Hide status
Once hidden, you will get a notification, with an ‘Undo’ button, should you decide to unhide.
Hide status

4. View As Public Or Specific Friend

Facebook has made it possible for you to show different stories to different people, and to check ‘who’ can see ‘what’ on your timeline. Click on the dropdown menu at the top right just below your cover image, and then click ‘View As’.
View As
By default, you will now see your timeline viewable by the public. Now enter your facebook friend’s name in the box, to preview what they can see in your timeline.
View As Someone

5. View Hidden Posts

If you do a lot of scrolling down to your timeline’s end, you will notice that not all of your stories will be showcased, not that it is hidden either. When you see a blue dot along the horizontal timeline, click on it to see option, and then click on the notes to showcase all stories that are kept in the blue dot.
Hidden Stories

Bonus – Activity Log

Now that you know you can add stories to your timeline, from any date and time, you may start to wonder how to check when a story was added to your timeline. Simple enough, you can click on the ‘Activity Log’ button that’s available at the top right corner of your timeline, again, just below your cover photo.
Activity Log
Now you will be presented with a timeline of your every activity on facebook e.g. what did you do or change or add on what date.
Activity Log

Conclusion

With these extra tips, you will be able to fully customize your Facebook Timeline following your preference, set who can see what, review your activity log, add and remove contents as well as set a featured stories or life events.

If you liked this post, Dont forget to BOOKMARK it for others as well. Please CLICK your favorite SOCIAL BOOKMARKING ELEMENT:

StumpleUpon Ma.gnolia DiggIt! Del.icio.us Blinklist Yahoo Furl Technorati Simpy Spurl Reddit Google

Contact Me or Subscribe to my posts

Click to Join my FaceBook Blog Group Page

If you want to send a quick message to me, please click

To Subscribe to my posts, please choose:

Search my Blog for posts that are of interest to you...results will be displayed below

Custom Search

Here are the Results, if you seached for a post

Blog Archive

About Me

My photo
Dubai, DXB, United Arab Emirates

Washington, USA

Western Europe Time (GMT)

Dubai

Pakistan

Australia