Bad_MaNner$

I went into a liquor shop and got a six pack in less than 2 minutes.

I guess it loses something in the translation ........

Pizza Hut in Australia some years ago had a "Lunchtime Pan Pizza" deal.They would knock out 6 inch pizzas at lunch time and if your pizza didn't arrive in 10 minutes it was free. All you needed to do was pay for your drinks and salads if you ordered them.We used to go there many a busy lunch time and fill a table of 10 or 12 people, all order and they'd drop the timer on the table to countdown the 10 minutes. Most times we would eat for free. One of the guys "borrowed" a timer that the server left for us, so we would take that with us, set the timer going about and then call a waiter to take our order. They would then bring a timer and we would switch timers for the one that already had 3 minutes elapsed.We must have cost them quite a decent chunk of cassh over the 12 months they ran that promotion for.

Quick Chicken Cacciatore 2 tablepoons olive oil 8 (1.3kg) chicken thigh cutlets 2 cloves garlic, crushed 4 medium tomatoes, peeled 2 tablespoons brown sugar 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar 1/4 cup (30g) seeded black olives, sliced thinly (Leave them out if you don't like them) 2 tablespoons freshly shredded basil leaves HEAT oil in a large frying pan COOK chicken inbatches until browned on both sides and cooked through DRAIN on absorbent paper COVER ADD garlic to same pan COOK, stirring until soft ADD tomato, sugar, balsamic and olives SIMMER, uncovered for about 5 minutes or until tomato sauce thickens SERVE chicken topped with tomato sauce SPRINKLE with basil

Skype is definitely the way to go for VOIP if you want to make really cheap overseas phone calls. It costs something like 2c Australian per minute to call England. Sure, you have to buy the credits to make the calls, but if your friends and family install it too - then you can use it just like MSN/WLM It's a far better option for Voice, as it was DESIGNED for voice, unlike MSN/WLM which were for text only and were later adapted for voice.Also - if you buy the credit and don't use it, it does last for 180 days from the LAST CALL YOU MADE. So all you need to do is make one call about every 6 months and your credit remains valid forever.

Skype is definitely the way to go for VOIP if you want to make really cheap overseas phone calls. It costs something like 2c Australian per minute to call England. Sure, you have to buy the credits to make the calls, but if your friends and family install it too - then you can use it just like MSN or Windows Live Messenger.It's a far better option for Voice, as it was DESIGNED for voice, unlike MSN/WLM which were for text only and were later adapted for voice.I do find that Skype-out calls from Australia to land-lines in the UK are far clearer than Skype-out calls from Australia to Australia. No idea why that is, but definitely cheaper and I would recommend Skype to anyone wanting to make overseas calls.Also - if you buy the credit and don't use it, it does last for 180 days from the LAST CALL YOU MADE. So all you need to do is make one call about every 6 months and your credit remains valid forever.

Couple of tips that might help you DONT USE FLASH AT NIGHT A night concert or sporting event or even shooting the lights of the city does NOT require a flash from your camera. Mostly your flash is useless at distances over 2-3 metres and using the flash will make the camera use a faster shuter speed than you need and you will get a severely under exposed photo. Use the flash control button to turn the flash off and switch the camera to night mode - it will then set for low light and give you a slower shutter speed. Problem is that you will get blur from any movement at all, so when you shoot at night without a flash, try to use a tripod or at least brace the camera so it doesn't move. I have a pocket tripod that cost a couple of bucks and it goes everywhere with me. I also use the self-timer - most cameras have a 10 second and 2 or 3 second timer - so I don't get any camera shake. SHOOTING MOVING OBJECTS You have a couple of options here. Set the camera to sports mode, or if it has manual adjustments set the shutter speed at 1/250th of a second or faster. Alternatively (and this give you some great pics) move the camera with the subject. As it moves, follow it's path with your camera, pressing the shutter halfway down to focus, then follow the subject as you press the shutter the full way. Don't stop moving the camera until your image is saved. This will give a picture with the subject in focus and a really good motion blur behind.

MORE FREE PHOTO MANIPULATING SOFTWARE Want to print WALL SIZE POSTERS? Try BLOCKPOSTERS or RASTERBATOR You can load up any image up to about 1Mb in size and then the programme resizes your photo to anything from regular poster size to 25 metres!! If you download Rasterbator it will let you use files bigger than 1MB Each of these programmes will print your photo on A4 sheets and the you can assemble them together as one huge photo. WARHOLIZER Upload an image and the site creates a series of 9 mini Andy Warhol images - just like he did with Marilyn Monroe. I found that increasing the contrast of the oriinal photo works best and gives a better result. Also, try to crop your photo to a square with some border space around the subject before uploading. RESIZING RZIZR This one lets you resize by remove unnecessary content from photo's or by stretching natural parts o fthe photo to enlarge the picture. Upload JPEG, PNG or GIF files less than 2880 pixels high and wide. By far one of the best freebies I have used.

Pro's will usually do everything to get the right shot, checking light, angles, background and even take time to compose the photo. Most of us won't even give it a second thought and snap away happily, until we get home and realise a couple of little things could have helped. Try using this 4 step process: POINT LOOK COMPOSE SHOOT Take a couple of seconds to look at what you are shooting. look at light and shadow on the subject, look for distracting details that may be in the shot around and behind them. If you see something that is an issuem move to your left or right or get the subject to move until the shot you want is composed without a distracting background or where the light falls just how you want it.

I have a really eclectic taste in music. Mostly I listen to UK ska bands like Madness and Bad Manners I also like most Australian Pub Rock Bands like Cold Chisel, Australian Crawl, The Angels Kaiser Chiefs, The Kooks, The Killers also rate quite high on my list, but there are also things like 60's British Rock, 70's Disco and even Vivaldi's Four Seasons

I find that http://www.mobango.com/ isn't too bad - if you ignore the occasional spam Personal Message within the site from some Russian Mail order bride wanting you to marry her - you can actually get most of the latest ringtones that many of the companies who charge a squillion dollars have.

As far as headphones go - Sony make really good Playstations.......I tried a Sony gamers style headset with microphone - it died within about a month and I didn't have the receipt to exchange them. I currently use 2 different sets.1. My Sennheiser noise cancelling earbuds for when I just need sound on my laptop or to listen to my MP3 player. and2. A great set of Logitech USB stereo heaphones with microphone for MSN or skype chat.My son has the same set for the desktop PC and uses them for playing Counterstrike and he swears by them.

For a free e-mail system Gmail tops the lot. It links in with the Google toolbar and with iGoogle.I have tried all the hotmail and yahoo ones and yeah I still have them, but they have filled up with so much spam I only use them to sign up for things I rarely use. If I do use one of them for something I actually like - I can always change to my regular Gmail account.Gmail is also configurable into Outlook, Outlook Express and Windows Live Mail - unlike so many other so called free mailers.

I use igoogle - its quite good and loads fairly quickly.It also allows portability and is the same wherever you logon.It also allows you to import your google toolbar bookmarks as well as a swag of different gadgets such as world weather - world times - news etc - or you can just set it to go to google classic which has nothing special and loads instantly.I make use of their "To Do" list because I can access it at work and at home. Makes it easy for those little things you want to remember later.

LEMONADE SCONES Even I can make these. Why not have a go and let me know how you went. Makes 12 to 15 scones INGREDIENTS 3 cups self-raising flour ? tsp salt 300ml pouring cream 3/4 cup lemonade (NOT home-made) STEP 1Sift the flour and salt into mixing bowl. Make a well in the centre. Pour the cream and lemonade into the well. Mix with a knife drawing the flour from the sides of the bowl to combine with the liquid. STEP 2 It's ready when the mixture forms a soft dough. Do not over mix. STEP 3 Remove the dough from the bowl and put it on a floured surface (baking paper, board and/or kitchen bench) Knead the dough lightly. STEP 4 Roll out the dough, using a lightly floured rolling pin, to about 2cm thickness. STEP 5 Using a 5cm scone cutter, cut out the scones. Dip the cutter in flour beforehand and don't twist it in the dough, just press straight down and remove. Leftover dough can be kneaded and re-rolled to use all the dough, but these later scones won't be as light as the first cut ones. STEP 6 Place scones on a lightly floured or buttered baking tray. Arrange so scones are slightly touching - it helps them keep their shape. STEP 7 Bake in a pre-heated oven at 230C for 10 - 15 minutes or until golden. Serve with jam and fresh whipped cream