BULS

In ancient times, the Chinese people celebrated the Winter Solstice Festival (Dong Zhi) by visiting relatives and friends, in much the same way as the Chinese Lunar New Year. There is customary feasting, and businesses will close up for the day. Glutinous floor balls known as “tang yuan” are consumed as a symbol of family unity and harmony on this day.

What do we mean when we use the term “winter solstice”?

A solstice is an astronomical term used when describing the day of the year when the sun is furthest from the equator. Two solstices exist, consisting of one solstice during the summer, which lengthens the day to the maximum, and another solstice during the winter, which shortens the day to the minimum during the year. Timing of these vary depending on which particular hemisphere you are focusing on.

The winter solstice is caused by the Earth reaching its furthest point away from the sun. As the Earth circles the sun it simultaneously spins on its axis. When this tilt occurs, one hemisphere is further away from the sun and so it is in winter. At the same time, the other hemisphere is closer to the sun and has summer.

The word solstice is derived from “solstitium”, which is a Latin word. The word solstitium is derived from the Latin word “sol”, or sun, and “stitium”, which translates to stop. When the solstice occurs, the sun looks like it has done exactly that. It reaches nearly the same elevation at noon every day during the several days prior to and following the solstice.

December 21st or 22nd are the choice of days that the winter solstices happen and the sun beams right over the tropic of Capricorn. In the southern hemisphere, winter solstice is celebrated on June 20th or 21st. This is the time when the sun is located just above the tropic of Cancer.

The winter solstice always marks the shortest day of the year and the longest night of the year. Most cultures consider this day to be the middle of winter in their calendars. The date of solstice has surprisingly only moved by one day in the past three thousand years.

Due to the fact that the sun seemed to be reborn as the days grew longer, a lot of ancient cultures naturally celebrated this time of rebirth as the winter solstice.

Today, festivals of light are still celebrated by some cultures.  In addition to the Chinese Dong Zhi festival, the Germanic cultures celebrate Yule and Hindus celebrate Diwali, a festival of light.

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The future of Formula One racing in Great Britian appears to be in danger.

Donington Park, which should host 2010’s British Grand Prix, is faced with financial trouble - the most news-worthy coming in April when the circuit owner began legal proceedings, against promoters, for unpaid rent totalling over £2 million.

The race at Donington will only go ahead if the substantial £100 million redevelopment of the circuit is finished by March 2010, the race’s prospects certainly seem bleak.

F1 boss, Bernie Ecclestone, has said on various occasions that if the Donington track is not concluded, the race will go elsewhere. This means overseas, not a different British course.

That would bring a sad end to the British Grand Prix which, along with its Italian counterpart, is the longest running Grand Prix stage.

Race enthusiasts will still have the British Touring Car Championship, MotoGP and A1GP, race fans may have to look further afield for a big event steeped in history.

The Le Mans endurance race ticks that box, with an with a relaxed mood and over 80 years of history. The race already attracts thousands of British racing fans every year to watch racing throughout the day and night.

Of course the only problem is that Le Mans is in France. However, you can race across the Channel, with numerous Plymouth channel ferries making the trip every day.

Still despite the disappointment of the British Grand Prix apparently disappearing in the dust after 2009, there are many events to keep motor racing fans entertained.

For those looking to the past the UK is famous for classic, veteran and heritage shows across the country in England, Scotland and Wales so there is no shortage or cars to view although not moving as fast as F1

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The Three Sage Kings of ancient China were Suiren, Fuxi and Shennong. They made personal sacrifices to improve the lives of the people. Today they are remembered for the many unique contributions to the Chinese people and mankind in general.

The first sage King was Suiren (approx. 16,000 BC) who reputedly discovered how to make fire by drilling wood. With fire mankind could eat cooked food, keep warm and protect themselves from wild animals.

Many people remember Fuxi for creating the Bagua or Eight Trigram which became the basis of the Yi Qing or the Book of Changes. However not many remember that he taught people to domesticate animals and lay traps to catch fish, birds and other wild animals. Even lesser people know that he invented marriage and the laws that governs it as well a 35 strings musical instrument.

Shennong greatest contribution was teaching people to farm and for inventing many farming aids. He taught the people to grow rice, wheat, beans etc and invented barter trading. He also invested a 5 strings musical instrument.

However he was best remembered for tasting hundreds of wild herbs to find remedies to treat illnesses. In the process he suffered continually from poisoning and eventually die from eating one too many.

The emperors after Shennong were Huangdi, Zhuanxu, Diku, Yao and Shun and they are collectively known as the Five Legendary Rulers.

Huangdi was a good leader. He knows how to maximize the ability of those around him to rule the country and come out with innovations that benefit his people.

Huangdi was instrumental to the development of a written language for the Chinese people. He was also very interested in the art of healing and commissioned the compilation of The Yellow Emperor’s Medicine Classic? He also developed the 60 year cycle Farmer’s Calendar.

Huangdi was a man of peace and did not like war. During his rule, there was peace, stablility and prosperity in his kingdom.

Zhuanxu who succeeded Huangdi was not his son. He was chosen over Huangdi’s many sons because of his outstanding ability. Zhuanxu greatest contribution was to bring law and order to the people plus consolidating the power of the central authority.

Huangdi’s great grandson, Diku succeeded Zhuanxu. While his great grandfather developed the calendar, Diku further improved on it. He also created new positions and ministries to cope with the growing population. As a benevolent king who cared for his people, he made frequent person visits to his ministry to ensure that the country was well run.  

Yao was Diku’s son. He was industrious and benevolent like his father. He further developed the calendar and modified the timing of planting that resulting in bumper harvests.

Shun was Yao’s son in law. Although his mother died when he was very young, and his step mother and father ill-treated him, he remained filial to them. His great virtue helped him to gain fame and he was summoned to King Yao’s service at 30. He eventually married King Yao’s daughter.

During Shun reign, he divided the country into 12 independent states each with their own administrator. He made further changes to the department of land, water, works, music, farming and rites. He was credited with drafting many rules and regulations including the five rules of etiquette.   

After Shun comes Yu. Yu founded the Xia Dynasty and he was credited for his ability to control the floods. More on Yu in future articles.

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In this age of digital cameras, you have probably thought that you can just point and shoot and out will appear a great shot.  Not so fast.  The truth is you can have the top of the line digital camera, but if you don’t know what you are doing, you will take lousy shots.

Well, I would like to share with you some great tips on improving your digital photography skills.  These tips are coming from years of experience as a San Diego wedding photographer.  These tips all involve lighting and they are going to be some of the biggest keys to your success in taking your photos.

First tip in lighting.Now if the shots you will take are going to be outdoors during the day, the natural sunlight will be some of the best lighting possible.  Now you are probably thinking, “that’s easy, when you are a San Diego photographer since it is always shiny there”, when in actuality really bright sunlight can cast harsh shadows.Or it will wash out the face details while the sun is overhead.

Overall, you are going to want to take most of the shots with the sun behind you.This stops any harsh shadows in your photo caused by the sun.But there will be those times and instances when you want different angles to get those shadows into the shots.

Now that we have tackled the day shots, what if you are taking shots at night? 

The key to taking photos at night is turning off your flash.Now if it is pictch black, of course you will need it, but if there are some lighting, use it, but make sure the shutter speeds are slower to let the light in.Another thing, make sure you keep a steady hand when you take your shot or you can blur the photos.Applying these couple of techniques will make a dramatic difference for those nights shots you take. 

The final tips to using lighting for great shots is using the golden hour.There is this time that photographers like to call the golden hour or magic hour, and that is sunrise and sunset.

These times of day you wll be able to capture great shots because you will get the more warmer and inviting colors.You’re going to be able to capture the golden lighting you won’t find during any other part of the day.

There you have it.Probably the biggest secret in taking great photographs is taking advantage of the natural lighting.  Knowing what techniques to use for different parts of the day, or just scheduling a photo shoots to capture those times of day will help you become an excellent photographer.

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We all love “So You Think You Can Dance” and the contestants. Not to mention, we especially adore the lucky dancers we voted to win the show. Despite our interest in the dancers though, no one seems to really know what the former winners are doing today. For some it has been as long as four years, and for others, not even one year. Here is a look at what they are doing now since winning SYTYCD.

In the premier season of SYTYCD, Nick Lazzarini was the lucky winner and voted “America’s favorite dancer”. Not only was he an amazing dancer, but was also a great person and quite good looking :). “America’s favorite dancer”, Nick, was awarded $100,000, and a year lease in a New York City Penthouse. Nick, living in California, decided to take the cash value of the penthouse instead. Since the show, Nick was on the cover of Dance Spirit twice, being the first person to do so ever for the magazine. Nick also co-founded a Cali based dance studio, Evolution Dance Company. As of most recent, Nick works with Jump Tours, a convention full of classes and performances of amazing dancers.

The season 2 winner of SYTYCD is arguably the most entertaining and charismatic of all the SYTYCD contestants throughout the shows airing, Benji Schwimmer. Not only did Benji claim the title of “America’s favorite dancer”, but he also received a car, $100,000 cash and a highly coveted year contract to be in Celine Dion’s Vegas show. Benji gratefully took the car and cash, however, he did respectfully turn down the offer to work in Celine Dion’s show stating that he did not wish to live in Vegas and that he wants to pursue television and travel freely. One thing is for sure, he is definitely traveling. After the tour was completed, Benji, along with his dance partner and cousin Heidi, have been traveling the world teaching dance and selling their instructional dance DVD’s. Benji is also co-producing a movie about dancers called Love N’ Dancing. Love N’ Dancing was originally filmed to be a TV movie, however has since turned into a theatre released movie. Benji is also rumored to be casted in two other films in the near future. Additionally, Benji was in Christina Aguilera’s music video “Candyman”. More recently, Benji was featured in Dancer Magazine in a ten page spread in addition to his photography, CLK’d by BNJI.

Sabra Johnson was the first female winner on the show, taking home the grand prize of $250,000. What is even more amazing is that she had only been dancing four years before she came on the show. Not only is she a brilliant dancer but she is also a master at showmanship and deserved the win. Since the show she has been on the cover of “Movmnt Magazine”, February 2008 edition. She has also been traveling the world teaching dance including Australia and South Africa. As far as more prominent future goals? Sabra does have the desire to bring her Talents to Broadway and dance professionally. I personally hope she goes into Broadway, I think she would be amazing and an absolute joy to watch.

The most recent winner of SYTYCD is season 4s’ Joshua Allen, who took home the title along with $250,000 There isn’t too much to report on him since his win didn’t take place as long as even a year ago, but he has been around. Unlike the previous winners, Joshua had the least amount of professional training. Also, like Benji, he was never found among the bottom three dancers. Since the show he has been teaching workshops around the country. I am curious to know what the next several years hold for him, one thing is for sure though. What ever he does, he will be living his dream.

Technorati Tags: benji schwimmer, Joshua Allen, lacey schwimmer, Nick Lazzarini, Sabra Johnson, so you think you can dance, so you think you can dance routines, so you think you can dance video, sytycd, sytycd routines

Europe was stunned on Friday when the Euromillions results were drawn and it was announced that there was one jackpot winner. A Spaniard bought the winning ticket and will collect a hugh £113,229,891 (126.23 millions in Euros). This jackpot shatters the prior Euro record jackpot set by an Irish lady almost 4 year ago

The lucky Spaniard picked the 7 numbers - but no-one else in the World did - meaning they were the one and only winner. There has been larger jackpots in Euro millions history but these have always been shared between several ticket holders. This huge single win is mathematical stand intact for along time, with the ticket holder beating odds of 76 million to one to cliam the jackpot

The previous record holder for the biggest Euro millions was Dolores McNamara of Ireland, who won a jackpot of GBP 77 million in July 2005.

The largest UK jackpot winner was from Scotland (Glasgow), the lucky winner that time being Angela Kelly, who won her £35.4 million EuroMillions jackpot just less than 2 years ago back in August 2007. Angela still holds the status of being the biggest lottery winner in history of the United Kingdom. .

To win the lottery you need to be extremely lucky - the exact odds of winning the top prize is 1 in 76,275,360 - the lucky euro millions jackpot winner needing to match the 5 main numbers from 1 to 50 and then choose the “lucky star” numbers from 1 to 9.

“These Euro millions jackpots have generated unprecedented world wide interest” said Ken McLeod a lottery syndicate organiser “people have been clamouring to grab a piece of the action and now they can buy their Euro Lottery tickets online from almost any where in the world”.

Ken demonstrated further how the syndicate system not only drastically cut the odds of winning but also guaranteed the “lucky star” numbers in every draw, thereby meaning you only had to get 5 numbers correct to win not the full seven.

Euromillions players who want to take advantage of this unique syndicate system are advised to review the Euro Lottery website and join prior to the next Fridays draw.

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Sushi is a wonderful Japanese dish that most everybody has heard of, and more than likely have tasted as well.  And if you are lucky, you have tasted at wonderful Sushi restaurant Temecula.

It is a wonderful traditional dish usually made with rice, sea weed, and raw fish.

Now if you don’t like fish in the first place, of course you will not like sushi.But if the taste of seafood is something you love, then of course you will enjoy sushi.

Of course, most sushi is enjoyed in fine restaurants such as the one you can find at Sushi restaurant Lake Elsinore.  You can enjoy them in small fast food type of Japanese restaurants.

Or you can enjoy them in more formal dining environments, like the one found at Sushi Restaurant Hemet.

Or best of all, you can enjoy them in an all you can eat style.

But if you are in an adventorous mood, you might even want to give it a go and make some at home.

Now here is a quick rundown of sushi and it’s 3 types that you can make.

First kind you will find is the Maki sushi.  It is the usual that you are used to that consists of fish/seafood with rice that is then wrapped in nori or seaweed.Most well known is the California roll of course

Now within the Maki sushi there are two types.There is the Futomaki also known as the “fat maki” because you make it with 2 or more fillings of fish or seafood

Second type is the Hosomaki or the “thin maki” called that because it has only one filling of fish or seafood.  But it could also be a single vegetable as well.

Then there is the Nigiri sushi which is our second type of Sushi.  This is a popular sushi that has a thin slice of raw fish, seafood, or other types of toppings that is placed on top of a rectangular chunk of rice.  There is nothing
that wraps it up such as seaweed, like the Maki sushi.

Finally you have the Uramaki, which is also known by the name of inside out sushi.It is known as the inside out because it is exactly that, a backwards version of the Maki because the rice is on the outside of the nori rather than the inside.Also what you will find inside will be fish or a seafood.

There you go.  3 wonderful types of sushi you can try your hand at making at home.

Naturally, the greatest way to make it the best is to first try some at a good sushi restaurant, so you can try all 3 styles and see what ingredients there are.

So enjoy eating.

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According to estimation and analysis, there are more than 100 new legitimate Wii games that are released everyday. The speed of the release is so fast that sometimes not even the game distributor can keep up to the pace and get the games to their customers in respective countries. So the key is, how can a crazy gamer like you able to find the game you have been desired for long once the game is released?

How should you find trustworthy Wii games provider?As a professional gamer who has been in the gaming industry for more than 20 years, my experience tells me that there are at least 3 ways to get the latest Wii games:

Get the information of sellers who update their game shops fast- Ask from friends around who share deep interest with you. No any candidate other than a crazy Wii fan will know better regarding shops that can get the latest games in the shortest time and can provide a fair price to you.

Get from the original distributors directly- Usually, if you can get the list of distributors around your location, you would be able to get the Wii games with the best price. However, most of the time, distributors will only sell to customers who buy a big amount of games. Unless you are saying you’re going to buy at least 20-30 games a go, you may not be able to get the games from the distributors.

Download your games from the internet- Downloading the Wii games from the internet is the best choice of all because you can find the latest games you need online. Nevertheless, downloading from internet would always have some risk of getting viruses. Your computer may be attacked by the trojan horse virus without notice. Moreover, there are too many scam sites out there which provide no real games other than a few number of outdated wii games! One important thing you need to do now is to read more reviews about legitimate sites which can provide original and high quality games before purchasing these wii membership sites.

Get your best download in Legitimate download For Nintendo Wii Games today!

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Chinese New Year food is a big part of any new year celebration. In fact, the food is nothing less than central to the festivities. The Chinese New Year is similar to the Western one, but the differences are key. It is considered to be one of the most important holidays in the Chinese culture. Alternative names for it include the Spring Festival and the Lunar New Year. According to the Chinese calendar, the New Year takes place not on the first day of the first month of the year, as in the Western culture, but of the first lunar month. It lasts for about two weeks.

There is a wealth of opportunity to eat delicious and symbolic food during this celebration. It is served for a two week period. From the first day of the first lunar month, the celebration lasts until the fifteenth day of the month. Some people have the food catered, some people make it themselves, but the food served is always strongly symbolic.

There are a few foods that actually have a symbolic nature to them. For instance, the whole chicken can mean family togetherness, and this type of food given during the Chinese New Year can mean that the family will be together and happy throughout the entire year.

Noodles are another food traditionally found during Chinese New Year’s celebrations. In fact, they are practically required. In the Chinese culture, noodles symbolize a long, long life. For that reason, certain superstitions say they should not be cut. To do so would bring bad luck or worse. The inclusion of clams and Spring rolls are used to bring luck in matters of wealth. Clams are said to look a lot like bouillon. Spring rolls represent wealth because they look a bit like bars of gold.

In certain cases, some foods are served simply because the word for them sounds like a word for something else. If the name of a food sounds anything like the words for luck, fortune, ambition, abundance, et cetera, they will most likely be served during the celebration. For instance, many citrus fruits are included for this reason.

Fish is symbolic in several ways, and thus is frequently served. One reason is because the word for it is “yu.” This word resembles the terms for “wish” and “abundance.” Both of those are good things to have on your side in the new year. Symbolically, serving the fish whole is good luck as well. When the head and tail are still attached, then the fish is a symbol for a good beginning and a good ending in the year ahead.

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Have you comtemplated learning to play piano? Currently you don’t even need to purchase a traditional piano. Instead you can pay for a reasonable second-hand digital piano for a very reasonable cost. Once you have bought it, the next plan of action is sorting out lessons. If you have a lot of cash, personal one on one lessons are a reasonable way to learn. You would need to ring up a local teacher and then organise lessons with them once a week. The main downside with this is that it can be pricey.

The best solution is to learn to play via online piano lessons or piano lesson DVDs. As an example one of the best DVD based piano courses out there is  http://piano-lessons-reviews.info, which offers a staggering14 DVDs of interesting course material. There are numerous other courses on the interweb that provide excellent teaching and are very inexpensive. They have numerous advantages over a traditional human tutor. These include: learning at your own speed, lower cost, ability to play along to a backing track and less travel time. Think of not having to play the same piece over and over again with a tutor. Instead it’s much more fun to learn by yourself with the help of an online program or DVD player. The computer will not judge you or make you feel silly. It certainly is an excellent method of learning. The lessons usually include video clips, sound clips, support groups, electronic books. They also include a large variety of piano music and music styles including jazz, classical and modern music.  

Another major advantage with online piano lessons is that they are extremely flexible and can adapt to your learning speed. You can have a lesson when you have the time available, you are not fixed on a rigid schedule every week. If you are staying at home for a week you can spend the extra time having extra lessons! If you are really busy throughout the day you can fit in a lesson in later on in the evening.
If you are seriously thinking about learning to play the piano and are unsure of the best way to approach the problem then click on the link above to navigate to one of the best online piano lesson review sites. 

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