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Come listen to Ilysa's report about the summer 2008 Crafts and Hobbies Association show in Chicago, we talk about covering glass with clay, discussion about the upcoming BOH awards, and other fun stuff.

Let us dig up this old technique devised by Ansel Adams. By pre-visualizing your shots, you can get more consistent and reliable results. » Download the MP3 for this episode Show Links: Leo Laporte - The Tech Guy The TWiT netcast network The 2008 TFTTF Workshops Meeet s Ft. Colins Meet & Greet: August 20th at Rio Grande Portland Meet & Greet: August 27th at Flatbread Pizza » Get the show for free in iTunes » Get the show for free using RSS Godaddy coupon code / promo codes: Use code TIPS1 and save 10%! Use code TIPS2 and save 20% *

Release Pixie here with a quick little update/reminder for the TFTTF Listener Meet re coming up fast, so stop into the forums and let us know if you ll be there. We d love to meet you! PS: Sorry about the sound, I need a new mic stand -Release Pixie » Download the MP3 for this episode Show Links: San Francisco Meet s Ft. Colins Meet & Greet: August 20th Portland Meet & Greet: August 27th » Get the show for free in iTunes » Get the show for free using RSS Godaddy coupon code / promo codes: Use code TIPS1 and save 10%! Use code TIPS2 and save 20% *

This episode sponsored by Audible.com. For a free audio bookplease visit audiblepodcast.com/podictionary People have suffered the whining buzzing and itching biting of mosquitoes for time out of mind.  For this reason Old English had a name for these little blood sucking creatures. But it wasn t mosquito. It was gnat. Somehow the word gnat survived the arrival of mosquito although was displaced in meaning and now refers not specifically to mosquitoes, but to little hovering bugs in general. In 1572 a geography enthusiast named Richard Hakluyt got a letter from one Henry Hawks. Richard Hakluyt was in the midst of writing a whole bunch of books that told the tales of English exploration over the high seas and to foreign lands. Richard himself didn’t do much traveling abroad but he read everything he could get his hands on in as many languages as he could manage, then reproduced the stories in English. Henry Hawks was writing to Richard because Henry Hawks had firsthand experience living in Mexico.  In one passage Henry describes high mortality rates due to illness in the cities in Mexico based in part on the heat, and in part on these insects that bite both men and women in their sleep. These he called muskitos. Now you might at first think this was a Native American word to describe these annoying and evidently fatal flies, but in fact the word had arrived with the Spanish and had an Indo-European root. In Latin musca meant fly so mosquito literally means little fly. But this Latin word root appeared in the Americas in another unexpected guise as well, this time in the hands of early settlers. One of the things Europeans brought with them that Native North Americans didn t have was firearms.  These killed more rapidly than mosquitoes but their name had a familiar ring to it, they were called muskets. A musket got its name from the same root as a mosquito.  Here s how that worked. Back in France before the Norman Conquest bird fanciers had a special name for the male sparrow hawk.  These bird fanciers weren t bird watchers as you might think of today, instead they were hunters who used birds of prey to help them hunt.  It just so happens that the male sparrow hawk is quite small compared to the female. For this reason he was called a fly, or musche. Meanwhile other hunters used bow and arrow. One day someone invented a crossbow. The crossbow shoots a powerful arrow, the arrow itself is usually stocky but shorter than that used with a regular bow. Some smart-aleck nicknamed these diminutive arrows after the diminutive birds since they both flew to their target. Over time the name transferred to the crossbow itself. Then when technology replaced crossbows with guns, the name was applied there as musket.

Bookbabble Episode 13: Jason vs Dracula! Recorded 16 July 2008 Babblers: Gem, Bjorn, Donny Synopsis: To commemorate Episode 13, the babblers made horror and superstition as a theme for today's show.  Didn't eventually talk about superstition, but plenty of horror movie talk, horror-related reads and some recommendations.  Also, terrifying developments on Nicole Ritchie's new book, Bjorn's thoughts on the terrifying Southern Vampire series by Charlaine Harris, and is there such a thing as a soul? Show Length:  58:38 mins Special Note: Look up the reference to The Big Lebowski yourself!   Links: Wikipedia entry on 13 (because you won't know how to find it, of course!) Tech Nation with Michio Kaku - the teleportation is a reality! Southern Vampire series

QuickTime Share by: vPIP Embed (copy .we have one free day before we start helping James set up his booth for the San Diego Comic Con .that would be the worlds largest pop culture, comic, etc, etc event in the whole world ..anyway we did all kinds of stuff on our free day but for me, what I filmed at Coronado made the day. As most of you know I was in the Army, it s how Glenna and I met, and I still have the upmost respect for the armed forces. Especialy groups like the Seals, Rangers, SF, etc. It takes a certain kind of person to want to and be able to make it through the training. For every 10 that volunter to be a Seal, 7-8 will not make it . I ve the privlage of meeting some Seals, some Rangers, even some MI6 fellows ..and I am glad there are those who are still willing to join the military. It s not an easy life, I know .I still think about my time and some things I will never forget I hope you enjoy this brief glimpse, these fellows are in week 2, they were training mid day, in the hot sun, running to the ocean, paddling out to sea, coming back in over the rocks and waves, in full uniform (when those things get wet, they weigh a ton) , carring the boat which weighs .what must feel like a ton, over their heads, it can t touch their heads, btw, any infranction, any deviation and you are corrected .all this while people are watching .tough is too mild a word for how that must feel ..but still they did it, over and over again for hours ..it makes me look at my fat gut and feel guilty

Show #150-Good Vibrations Tonight - our Pack s Road Cleanup, July Roundtable part 1, Fast Tracks, giving awards to leaders, some calendar suggestions, and what to do during the rest of your Summer. Links: Scouts to have their own piece of old Florida BSA Legal Article about school access Tonight’s show sponsored by Badge Magic

Today s episode brought to you by Grammar Girl s new book. Look for the link at grammar.quickanddirtytips.com Honey is a very old word but it is a bit of an unusual word in that most words that represent something very common to our human experience have a pretty wide usage across many languages. This is only partly true of honey. In most Indo-European languages the word for honey is not related to our word honey, but instead to an actual Indo-European root meaning honey. This root does make its way into English in words like mellifluous and molasses.  But only Germanic based languages use the word honey or its relatives. As logic would have it that means that honey shows up as an English word back in Old English. As a basic word that so many people would have experience with it turned up early too; the Oxford English Dictionary first citation is from the year 875. But Germanic languages are Indo-European languages too, so why did we end up with a different word for honey? It seems that like many words the parent of honey spread in meaning and got applied to numerous things. Etymologists think that perhaps the word root behind honey might originally not have meant this sweet sticky substance, but a yellow honey-like color instead. So honey was an important enough article that in Germanic it overtook other meanings of the word, which in Sanskrit and Greek were retained as color words. Honey from bees is certainly the oldest meaning of the word honey, but the word gets applied to lots of other things we like, especially our loved-ones. The first citation someone calling their sweetheart honey is found in 1350 in a translation of a French story known as William of Palerne or Guillaume de Palerme. This story has an unexpected etymological circularity. I m sure the honey as sweetheart reference was merely incidental in the translation but the main love interest in the story is daughter to the Roman Emperor, a girl named Melior. Clearly Melior is a name chosen for its sweetness and etymological connection to mel the Latin word for honey.

For the first time ever, I am using mail-ordered wood. This material came from Bell Forest Products and I was very impressed with the quality. The shipment came in two packs and contained some really nice wide bubinga boards, as well as a piece ebony for the trim and some spalted maple for the doors. I sticker and stack the wood and talk about acclimation, and how it pertains to this particular situation. I talk a little bit about moisture meters as well and finish up by showing my strategy for cutting the cabinet parts out of the rough lumber so that the grain flows nicely.

From 2005 This conversation with Dark Horse Editor Diana Schutz, illustrates the kind of big deals announced and sometimes made in the wee hours of the san diego comicon. Schutz tells the behind the... WORDBALLOON features one on one interviews with the writers and artists behind today's pop culture favorites. The creative minds behind today's hottest comics, films, and Television , tell behind the scene stories providing a DVD like commentary on their works, without spoiling the stories. Hosted by Chicago Radio Host John Siuntres, Wordballoon covers the cult entertainment scene , like no other podcast.

Today s podictionary word brought to you by GoToMeeting. Try it free for 30 days by following the link www.gotomeeting.com/podcast [audio clip] I m Christopher Moore and the word I m interested in is itinerary because I m sometimes not sure if it should be itinery or itinerary. Well, Christopher you ve come up with a quandary for me. I always maintain that if people use a word and recognize it, it s a real word. I plugged itinery into Google and more than 100,000 hits came up.  So people certainly use it.  I recognized it when you said it, and I d have recognized it even if you hadn t said it in the context of itinerary. But none of the dictionaries recognize itinery and at first I d have said it was a mistake people were making, spelling it in the abbreviated way that some people pronounce it. But since I ve given the benefit of the doubt to so many other words I guess I ll concede that perhaps this is a word in transition. Except that Google reports more than 24 million hits for itinerary so if less than half a percent of users use the new pronunciation and spelling, the word certainly hasn t come very far in its transition and maybe never will catch on in wider usage. That makes it a mistake again. I think of an itinerary as a sort of plan.  I ve even heard people referring to those little calendars sometimes kept in a pocket as an itinerary.  One web citation refers to a reading itinerary. But the roots of itinerary relate more specifically to travel.  So when you hear about the itinerary of the pope s visit or something, it s called an itinerary not because it s a plan, but because it s a plan of his travels. The American Heritage Dictionary tells me that there is an Indo-European root ei that means to go.   This made its way into Latin iter which is what the Romans called the routes they took, particularly when extending the reach of their empire into new and hostile territories. Thus an itinerarium was a list of the places that the route passed through, and often included information such as how long it took to march the army there. Roman itineraries were more than just travel plans though. In some cases they were commemorative pillars and public monuments that actually reinforced the political control the Romans exerted over foreign lands by making visible and enduring proclamations of that control. Since maps were pretty crude in those days itineraries were also a really important means of understanding geography. The first time itinerary showed up in English was back in the middle 1400s and it was drawn directly from Latin. The sense of travel embodied in itinerary shows up also in itinerant.  An itinerant salesman is a traveling salesman. While the devout might pray to St. Christopher as the patron saint of travelers, the actual prayer has itself also been called an itinerary.

Yey! Here s the 300th episode of Tips from the Top Floor, almost entirely made by YOU, the listeners! Meet Chris and hang out for a drink at one of the Meet n'Greets: - Jul/30 San Francisco, CA - Aug/6 Nashville, TN - Aug/20 Ft. Collins, CO - Aug/27 Portland, ME Make sure to get the Chris Live calendar (see links to the right) » Download the MP3 for this episode Show Links: Follow Chris on Twitter Meet Chris at the New Media Expo in Las Vegas, Aug/14-16 - and pick up some schwag! The Tech Guy with Leo Laporte Trucker Tom Everest Trek 2009 Martin Bailey Photography Thoughts on Photography with Paul Giguere The Photocast Network The Culinary Media Network with Chef Mark CC Chapman - Managing the Gray s song Ones and O s for $0.99 tfttf28 - Thunderstorm Soundseeing tfttf40 - MOOOving Landscapes tfttf54 - Vacation Special 3 of 4 tfttf191 - Interview with John Knack » Get the show for free in iTunes » Get the show for free using RSS Godaddy coupon code / promo codes: Use code TIPS1 and save 10%! Use code TIPS2 and save 20% *

This is the link to the video version of CBC 88 with Guy Tuneh for our subscribers.

We re featuring a video episode of double bassist Guy Tuneh on this week s episode of Contrabass Conversations. Guy has been featured many times on the podcast in the past, and it s a real pleasure to hear his fine playing again on the show. This episode is being released in both audio and video versions. You can check out our previous episodes featuring Guy Tuneh in our archives. We re also featuring listener feedback, bass news, a link of the week, and much more. Enjoy! Video not working? Click here to view it or download it. Guy Tuneh bio: Guy Tuneh has been studying in Germany and performing internationally. He is noted for his intense musical involvement and phenomenal performances, combining virtuosity and musicality. Mr. Tuneh has been active as a solo performer, chamber musician, orchestra and opera bassist. Having begun as a violin student at the age of 6, he was drawn to the tone color of the double bass, joining Prof. Michael Klinghoffer’s bass studio at the S. Rubin Academy of Music at Tel Aviv University. Later, he continued his bass studies under Prof. Barbara Sanderling at the Hochschule Für Musik “Hanns Eisler” in Berlin, he is now working towards a Solo Artist Diploma with Prof. Wolfgang Güttler at the Hochschule für Musik in Basel. Additionally, he took master classes with Yoan Goilav, Gary Karr and Miloslav Gajdos. His orchestra performances included engagements as a principle bassist with the Berliner Kammeroper, Ensemble “Echo” in the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin, Theater Erfurt, and most recently with the Solistes Européens Luxembourg. As an orchestra bassist Mr. Tuneh performed under such distinguished conductors as Kurt Sanderling, Zubin Mehta, Sir Simon Rattle, Nicolas Harnoncourt and Christian Thielemann. Winner of a Villa Musica Scholarship, Guy Tuneh has performed all over Germany as a chamber musician and a soloist to great acclaim, and participated in chamber music and solo performances recorded by the SWR (Southwest German Radio). These performances included collaborations with Ulf Rodenhäuser, Guy Braunstein, Christian Altenburger, Wen-Sinn Yang, Martin Ostertag, Hermann Bäumer, and other distinguished musicians.The “Allgemeine Zeitung” described his performance as youthful and exuberant. Link of the Week: www.guytuneh.com Music Provided by: Eric Hochberg -www.erichochberg.com Guy Tuneh - www.guytuneh.com Special thanks to Daniel Chmielinski for technical assistance - www.carsleuth.net Show Notes: Release Date: 7/19/08 Length:13:27 listen by phone: +1 (360) 227-5632 call our comment line (24 hour voice mail): +1 (206) 666-6509 Website: www.contrabassconversations.com E-mail: feedback@contrabassconversations.com Blog: www.doublebassblog.org Podcast T-shirts, hats, and more: www.cafepress.com/doublebass MySpace: www.myspace.com/cbcpodcast Facebook: www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=17621298264 Theme song by Eric Hochberg:www.erichochberg.com This show is brought to you by TalkBass.com, the largest community of bassists on the Internet. Join in the conversation at talkbass.com/cbc. Check out our jazz forums at JazzDoubleBass.com. Join our Facebook group and share videos, chat on discussion boards, leave ideas for the show, and interact with other bassists! To get Contrabass Conversations downloaded automatically to your computer (for free!), you can subscribe in iTunes: Click here to subscribe through e-mail or through another program besides iTunes

Peter Payoff after payoff for two straight hours with mind blowing set pieces. Sean Incredible performances. I ve never seen a character like The Joker. How eager were we to see this movie? We caught a midnight screening in L.A. and wrapped up this review at six o clock in the morning. As always, it s unscripted and improvised. Stay tuned for next week s review! [See post to watch Flash video] Download the video!

Today s podictionary word brought to you by GoToMeeting. Try it free for 30 days by following the link www.gotomeeting.com/podcast Allow me to read you a little of the Wikipedia entry for trampoline: According to circus folklore, the trampoline was supposedly first developed by an artiste called Du Trampolin who saw the possibility of using the trapeze safety net as a form of propulsion and landing device and experimented with different systems of suspension, eventually reducing the net to a practical size for separate performance. It goes on …the story of Du Trampolin is probably a myth and no documentary evidence has been found to support it. I m here to tell you that not only has no documentary evidence been found to support it, there is good evidence to refute it.  Every dictionary I checked gives an etymology for trampoline that does not derive from a personal name. The Oxford English Dictionary says it s from an Italian word trampoli but the American Heritage Dictionary says the Italian word came from Spanish. On the other hand Merriam-Webster says Spanish got it from Italian, but at least they both agree that before either Spanish or Italian the word root was likely Germanic. In Italian trampoli meant stilts and although none of the dictionaries go this far, it seems to me logical that the up-in-the-air function of a trampoline might well have adopted the high walking name from stilts. The Germanic connection brings us back to a more familiar English word with a connection to walking; tramp. Much is made in various internet articles of the invention of the modern trampoline in 1934 but the OED has as its first citation 1798 from the Times of London in what appears to have been an advertisement for a circus.  It reads Equestrian Performances with Oranges, Forks, Skipping Rope, Hat, Handkerchief, and a curious Equilibrium with a Hoop and Glass. Wonderful Trampolin Tricks, by Messrs. Smith [etc.]. Though this is the first citation, people obviously must have known what a trampoline was, since there is no explanation contained in the advertising copy. Forks, skipping ropes and hats as inducements to come to the circus may seem quaint but I note that oranges would have been an expensive and relatively rare food item in England in 1789, though perhaps not worth the price of admission if you only got to see it and not eat it.

A slightly different video format, Kira has gone it alone this week but we think it works! Let us know, we would love some feedback. Amazing mold putty molds almost anything in about 15 minutes. Check out the video to see us mold a brass filigree! And check out polymer clay classroom for a full length video project using brass and molds to create gorgeous pendants.

Bookbabble Episode 12: Collective Human Knowledge Gone Wilde! Recorded 5 July 2008 Babblers: Lars, Gem, Katherine, Donny, with special guest Renee Wallace Synopsis: The babblers are joined by a special guest, Renee Wallace, more popularly known as Irene Wilde, in a discussion about the collective knowledge that is captured in books, and how we are accessing this store of information and knowledge and whether it is being accessed at all.  Also, the wonderful story of the Christmas Truce, serialized story by Benjamin Black (aka John Banville), and Internet book catalog sites. Show Length:  72:02 mins Links: Carl Sagan's CosmosThe Christmas TruceGoodreadsListalLibraryThingShelfariBenjamin Black - Serially Thrilling

A quick DIY video of how to remove the barrel and hopup unit from a M14 airsoft electric gun (AEG). We used the AGM M14 in this video, but the Tokyo Marui model is just the same. Includes a very quick overview of how to swap the bucking and barrel.

Not all wounds happen on the battlefield. Some are not even physical. But all wounds need attention. Our brave military men and women overseas and their families report, time and time again, that the stress incurred during deployment is indescribable.

Barry is the highly acclaimed director of such classic American films as DINER, AVALON, WAG THE DOG, and RAINMAN, for which he won a 1988 Academy Award for Best Director.

Today s episode brought to you by my audio-book Global Wording - The Fascinating Story of the Evolution of English. Available in downloadable form from iTunes or Audible.com or as a CD from bookstores. For more information and a few samples, go to www.globalwording.com Here s a word with a lot of meanings and an unusual history. You can canvass for votes—which means you want people to vote for your candidate; or you can canvass public opinion—meaning you re taking a survey; or canvassing can mean examining or discussing something thoroughly. But canvas also means the fabric used for the sails of a boat.  It seems that the voting and surveying canvass grew out of the sailing canvas, although exactly how isn t completely clear. There are a few theories. It was once a form of punishment to get someone onto a sheet of canvas so that a bunch of other people could hoist it up and bounce the victim around a bit.  Sort of like a trampoline that you have no control over.  Back in 1508 this lead to canvass as a verb meaning to inflict this treatment. Over the next few centuries to canvass seemed to split in at least two directions, one with a meaning of shaking things out to examine them carefully; the other to criticize destructively. One theory is that people canvass for votes by criticizing their opponent and so that s how the word gained its new meaning. A less likely theory is that a piece of canvas can be used sort of like a sieve through which the facts and arguments can be strained. Although I don t see it in any of the dictionaries it would seem logical to me that you d use canvas to sort things out just as a broad clean surface upon which to work; you see it every day in markets where people spread their wares out on a tarpaulin. The sense of punishing someone as relates to canvas does not come from the use of canvas as the flooring in a boxing ring since the sense of punishment is 500 years old while the first citation we have for canvas in boxing is from 1910. So now we know that to canvass for votes is etymologically related to the canvas in a ship s sail.  But the word goes quite a bit further back than that, and takes another unexpected turn. The fabric that is called canvas got its English name back in 1260 from French and the word had originally been a Latin word referring to the plant from which this fabric was made. That plant was hemp and it s Latin name is cannabis. So canvas is actually just a morphed pronunciation of cannabis.

Today s podictionary word brought to you by GoToMeeting. Try it free for 30 days by following the link www.gotomeeting.com/podcast When I peer into the dictionaries they tell me that the word nefarious means wicked and unlawful. This may be true but it seems to me that nefarious is sometimes used in a lighter tone. I said to someone the other day that Google could use all the data that they are constantly gathering for nefarious purposes. By that I didn t mean I expected Google to become some master criminal corporation, but rather that they could use it in sneaky ways that were to their advantage. The word nefarious appeared in English in writing 12 years before William Shakespeare died.  The work that nefarious appeared in is reputed to be the first monolingually English dictionary, written by a guy named Robert Cawdrey. The word came from Latin and back in Latin had been one of those words that got squished together from two other words.  Both of those words trace back to Indo-European roots. Ne is simple enough and it means not.   The Latin fas meant according to divine law so that nefas meant against divine law. The Indo-European parent of fas meant to set so that the divine law would have been seen as set and fixed. That Robert Cawdrey guy was an appropriate fellow to bring nefarious to English since he seemed to go against divine law himself to some extent. First let me tell you about his dictionary.  The title alone is quite something: A table alphabeticall, conteyning and teaching the true writing, and understanding of hard usuall English wordes, borrowed from the Hebrew, Greek, Latine, or French etc with the interpretation thereof by plaine English words, gathered for the benefit s not why he was nefarious though. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography tells me that this Table Alphabetical was largely copied from other people s work, though that wasn t nefarious either since it was totally legal in those days.  Today we d call it repurposing because the earlier works were intended to be used translating between languages such as Latin and English. The Table Alphabetical was the first dictionary of words in English, defined in English. What was nefarious about Robert Cawdrey is that he stood up to the church. He d been a deacon and a priest but his thinking ran counter to his peers and he was charged, tried and booted out of the church before ever his dictionary came to print. His crime? He wouldn t read certain official church missives from the pulpit. He felt that a Christian was a Christian and the church fathers were acting as if they were more Christian than other people. I guess they did feel that he was less Christian.

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On this edition of Word Balloon, we take a moment to reflect on the art and life of Michael Turner with his friend and collaborator Jeph Loeb . Turner was the co-creator of Witchblade for Top Cow,... WORDBALLOON features one on one interviews with the writers and artists behind today's pop culture favorites. The creative minds behind today's hottest comics, films, and Television , tell behind the scene stories providing a DVD like commentary on their works, without spoiling the stories. Hosted by Chicago Radio Host John Siuntres, Wordballoon covers the cult entertainment scene , like no other podcast.

At the E3 Media and Business Summit in Los Angeles, Microsoft announced a new Xbox experience that will allow access to more content from one remote than can be found from any device that connects to the television. As the convergence of entertainment and gaming continues to attract new people and more families to the category, Microsoft is positioning the Xbox 360 to be the heart of the living room.

At the E3 Media and Business Summit in Los Angeles, Microsoft announced a new Xbox experience that will allow access to more content from one remote than can be found from any device that connects to the television. As the convergence of entertainment and gaming continues to attract new people and more families to the category, Microsoft is positioning the Xbox 360 to be the heart of the living room.