Archive for January, 2009

The Toyota Prius, Hybrid Car Phenomenon

by dreach | January 29, 2009 | In Hybrid Cars, Video Comments Off

The Toyota Prius is a hybrid electric mid-size car developed and manufactured by Toyota. The word prius is a Latin word meaning “to go before.” Toyota apparently chose this name because the Prius vehicle is the predecessor of cars to come.

The Prius was first sold in Japan in 1997, making it the first mass-produced hybrid vehicle. It was subsequently introduced worldwide in 2001. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the 2008 Prius is the most fuel efficient car sold in the United States. Toyota debuted the all-new 2010 Prius at the North American International Auto Show. Toyota estimates the EPA rated combined fuel economy cycle of the 2010 model will reach 50 mpg, a 4 mpg bump over the 2008 model.

The Prius has been well received by the automobile industry and other trade associations. It was voted car of the year in Europe in 2005. In 2007, the Swiss government named Toyota Prius the world’s greenest car in a draft study of over 6,000 cars and in 2008, the Prius won the Green Engine of the Year award from the International Engine of the Year Awards.

But while the success of the Toyota Prius is good for Toyota, it isn’t so good for its competitors who are late to manufacture a hybrid car. Now Nissan, GM and other car manufacturers are trying to quickly get their act together and catch up. The auto industry is now realizing that there is significant consumer demand for energy-efficient vehicles.

General Motors, for example, recently introduced a hybrid full-size pickup and a concept hybrid truck at the 2008 Chicago Auto Show. GM says the 2009 GMC Sierra hybrid gets a 25 percent improvement in fuel economy without compromising performance. The Sierra comes equipped with the company’s new two-mode hybrid system, which has also been introduced on the Chevrolet Tahoe and GMC Yukon sport utility vehicles and the Chevrolet Silverado pickup.

The two-mode system was introduced last year at the LA Auto Show, where the hybrid Chevrolet Tahoe was named the 2008 Green Car of the Year by the Green Car Journal.

Similar to single-mode hybrid systems used by Toyota, Ford, and others, the two-mode runs without the gas engine at low speeds. At higher speeds however, the electric motor in the two-mode hybrid contributes more power. The two-mode system also is better for towing.

2010 Toyota Prius Video Review – 2009 Detroit Auto Show

Five Tips to Mastering Guitar Hero 3

by dreach | January 28, 2009 | In Guitar Hero Comments Off

If you are serious about mastering Guitar Hero guitar technique then you have got your work cut out for you. Achieving expert status is not going to be attained by occasionally picking up your Guitar Hero guitar and noodling. You are going to have to work at this and not get frustrated. The average person tends to be impatient and easily gives up. Like anything in life, if you are patient, steadfast and diligent you can accomplish most things.

Tip One – Go Slow

Mastering the Guitar Hero guitar is not that much different than learning how to play a real guitar (of course, learning to play a real guitar is much more complex – but the learning strategies are similar). The most important thing that you can do is slow down. You are training your reflexes and muscles to respond in a very refined and complex manner and you need to make sure that each move that you are learning is perfect.

Most of us learn to play guitar (or Guitar Hero) by playing too fast, making lots of mistakes and hoping the these mistakes will eventually just disappear. Well, they won’t!

If you are making mistakes while you are playing then that is what you are practicing and learning. You are just getting better at playing your mistakes. For most people, the only way to eliminate the mistakes and play as perfectly as possible is to play slow.

Once your muscles begin to memorize the patterns the speed naturally develops. For the most part, you don’t need to work on speed. Work on accuracy and the speed will come effortlessly. Take advantage of the slower tempos in Practice Mode.

Tip Two – Practice Short Sections

One of the worst things you can do is just play the song over and over. Most players will find that there is about seventy-five percent of the song that is not too hard and about twenty-five percent that trips them up.

So, work on the hard parts. Isolate the sections that are giving you problems and work them slowly. If you only have twenty minutes to play then why spend fifteen minutes playing the parts that are easy. That won’t help you improve.

Unfortunately, most of us like to do things that are fun. Working on the hard parts is usually frustrating and feels a bit like work. We’d rather just play the parts that we can do well.

I recommend that you take the middle way. Spend a bit of your time doing some serious work on the difficult sections then forget it and just have fun.

Tip Three – Practice Each Hand Separately

You might find it beneficial to try practicing each hand separately. In other words, work on the strumming hand and then work on the fret keys.

Tip Four – Practice Your Hammer-ons and Pull-offs

You may have noticed that the border around the notes changes color during fast tempos. This means that you can stop strumming and just play the fret keys (this would be the equivalent of hammer-ons and pull-offs on a real guitar). What you would do is hit the strum button on the first note and then play the rest of the notes only with the fret keys. Make sure your rhythm is accurate.

Tip Five – Master the Whammy Bar

Every time you hit a long note you can begin to learn how to work the whammy bar. This will help bolster your Star Power. The faster that you move your whammy bar up and down the more points you will earn.

So get to work and I’ll look out for your Guitar Hero video posted on your favorite video site.

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Yoga Exercises

by dreach | January 24, 2009 | In Yoga Comments Off

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Yoga exercises have become a great way to treat various health conditions related to a stressful life style. To begin with the basics, lots of people get Yoga Positions to practice yoga out of the sheer desire to grow their spiritual side and get distracted from the very material grip of our reality. Yet, there are others for whom yoga exercises become a way to alleviate ailments or body disorders; this is the case of people who suffer from sleep problems and don’t manage to get a good night rest. How can yoga exercises help for the matter? The very essence of yoga is relaxation, if you come to develop mind control and relax, the ability to fall asleep becomes a skill.

Among the yoga exercises that help induce a good night rest we should mention neck stretches, shoulder movements, complete muscle relaxation techniques and breath control. The health benefits of yoga are widely advertised and they usually represent the main attraction and trigger that makes people take up yoga classes in the first place. Some think they’ll get slimmer, others that they’ll grow muscular mass, and there are even some people who expect to increase their sexual performance by the practice of yoga exercises.

Nevertheless, this kind of perception of yoga exercises is very far from the origins of this art of body and spirit harmonious growth. Yoga is more about inner than outer training although the latter is fully reflected and influenced by the former. Thus, according to the original meaning of yoga exercises, a person who manages to discover the richness inside of himself/herself while eliminating negative emotions will enjoy a better life, an incredible health and the peace and harmony of superior spirits. Yoga exercises are just the path to something nobler than the immediate weight loss: spiritual freedom in its purest form.

Yoga Positions

Yoga Positions

Therefore, the yoga exercises we embrace so open-heartedly are just a lower, more accessible variant of the real yoga practice. This doesn’t mean that all yoga practices follow this down-to-earth, immediately functional trend, but rather that it is more accessible for the average person to find a purpose and an understanding in this so-called art before getting to reach superior states of self-awareness. Therefore, the necessity of a good trainer as well as a clear objective in the practice of the yoga exercises keep people on the right track and prevent disillusionment as well as accidents.

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