All About RTF Remote Control Helicopters

Photo: Pixabay

If you are interested in purchasing rtf remote control helicopters, then you’ve come to the right place.  I personally recommend any type of rtf remote control helicopters because I have found them to be uniformly well made and durable.  

When I was recently out with a friend flying our rtf remote control helicopters, she mentioned that she was upset because she had also purchased a non-rtf remote control helicopters, and simply did not get the same type of quality, and it actually crashed and broke into a thousand pieces on the second day she owned it!

I’m happy to say that she was able to return it the next day and get her money back, but it was still an upsetting experience for her, and she’ll always remember from now on that she only should purchase rtf remote control helicopters.

Mine is blue with white stripes, and the propeller is really beautiful—gold and red glitter, so it really sparkles when it’s flying.  I love flashy rtf remote control helicopters, but if you’re more into the utilitarian version, then you will be happy to know that there are many models out there, and you could probably even find one in all black or all white.  Actually, I think it might be fun to get one in black and one in white and fight them until one crashes and breaks.  Of course, you’d have to purchase them wholesale, or at least on a good deal, because you know you’ll be breaking one of them completely, and the other one might never be the same.  But it would certainly be a cool game to play once, and you could even videotape it and upload it to one of the video sites, such as YouTube.

Either way, I’m sure you’ll enjoy your rtf remote control helicopters when you finally decide to purchase them, and I would certainly recommend, as always doing a few hours of comparison shopping before making the purchase.  This is especially important for rtf remote control helicopters, and I cannot stress it enough, because I have talked to people who have purchased the exact same models for wildly different prices.  When I talked to two people, one of which paid twice as much as the other one for the same model, my jaw dropped, and it was then that I was sure of the importance of comparison shopping.  And the funniest thing was, the person who spent twice as much ended up crashing her helicopter after only having it for one year!  I felt so bad for her, but it was really the definition of irony.

Anyway, I hope that you’ll heed this advice before you purchase an rtf remote control helicopters, even though they are universally well made and durable, you can still pay hugely variable prices for the same degree of quality.  No matter how much money you have, you should always try to make the most educated purchases, to retain your hard earned cash.

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A History of Golf

The MacDonald boys playing golf by 18th-century portrait painter Jeremiah Davison
Photo: Wikipedia

What country invented ‘golf?’ Many countries did. If there were sticks and objects that could be hurtled along, then there was ‘golf.’ No one knows for certain who started golf. But everybody knows who plays it now — everyone does.

The origin of the name ‘golf’ is believed to be the Dutch word of 'colf,' which means 'club.' In the medieval ages, golf was also known as “spel metten colve,’ which literally meant 'game with clubs.'

Nearly every area around the world has some claim to the origination of golf. Scotland, of course, has its claim. But so do China, Rome, England, France, Holland, Belgium, even Laos. Every country has a game consisting of sticks and balls, and every country is correct in its assumption that it invented the game. But there is no one country where ‘golf’ actually began.

Still, Scotland is widely considered to be the birthplace of golf. And it began haphazardly, a way of hitting a pebble or other roundish object into a hole by means of a stick or club.

Edinburgh, Scotland, claimed the first golfing society. The Gentlemen Golfers – later known as the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers and today in residence at Muirfield – claim their club was already underway in 1744.

The first inter-Scotland club matches were played in 1857. The world would wait until 1860 for the first British Open to be played.

The British Open was being played 35 years before the U.S. Open. It has been called “The World Open.” Players from around the globe participate, as they have for a century or more. The British Open is all-inclusive. The U.S. Open has been moving in that direction for the last decade. But the British Open has been accepting a cast from around the world since the turn of the century.

It is not known for certain when golf came to America — only that when it got a toehold in the 20th century, America became the world leader in great players. By 1900, the explosion of the game in America was complete. The proof was that, at the turn of the century, there were more golf clubs in the United States than there were in Britain.

Tiger Woods came upon the scene in 1996. He won eight times in 1999, nine times in 2000, and won the four major championships in succession in 2000-2001, starting with the U.S. Open in 2000. Should his career be as successful in his 30s and 40s as it has been in his 20s, he will assume the mantle of “best player ever.”

Women have played a very large part in the history of golf, even before the last half of the 20th century when they finally achieved equality with men. Records of ladies playing golf exist all the way back to the time of Mary Queen of Scots.

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Bird Photography

Photo: Pixabay

Birds have been one of the greatest subjects for photographers for centuries now because they have an inspiring beauty and mystify us with their gift of flight and diversity. When it comes to photographing birds and their behavior, catching it on film will add a tremendous visual impact and feeling to any picture. There are different locations where birds gather, but really the best place you may what to start is your backyard. The thing about birds is that they are busy little bodies and a bird feeder in the backyard is a great place to get a picture when they are feeding or even the bird in the air getting ready to pounce one of the birds that are currently feeding.

When you venture out of your backyard to look for birds to photograph your vehicle may just become your newest piece of equipment. Birds see our cars less of a threat than a person carrying a long lens underneath their arm. A vehicle makes for a great blind and along with this patience is a virtue. When you find a location such as a prime feeding ground, park a bit of away from it and stop your engine to cut down on a noise that may scare them.

Standard, wide-angle and short zoom lenses can be used for photographing birds, but for serious bird photography, a quality 500 mm or 600 mm telephoto lens is ideal.

Please keep in mind to avoid any situation that can put stress on the birds and their surroundings. If you notice a bird that is starting to show any kind of stress, this means that there is a nest or chicks nearby. Any further picture taking should be disengaged and you should leave the immediate area. As a photographer of birds or any wildlife, it is a good thing to remember not to put ourselves or the birds around us in any kind of danger.

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How to Make a Honey Extractor

Photo: Wikimedia

In order to get honey from your beehive, you have to be able to extract the honey from the honeycomb. In order to do this, you have to have to have a honey extractor. There are manufactured honey extractors available on the market, they typically cost approximately $200 to $300, the average cost of starting a new hive of honey bees. If there is a group of beekeepers in an area they will sometimes pool their money together to purchase a honey extractor that they share. If you are not in a large beekeeping environment and do not want to spend a few hundred dollars on a manufactured honey extractor you might want to make your own.

The materials you will need to build a honey extractor include; a metal rod that is at least one meter long and is thickly threaded, two bicycle wheel rims, two pieces of wood, one meter of 2-3mm fencing wire, a large metal drum, ten bolts for the metal rod, four 400mm sections of 8mm threaded rod, a self centering bearing, six coach screws, and one pillow block bearing. When choosing a large metal drum for your homemade honey extractor make sure that is was never used to store potentially toxic materials. The tools you will need for constructing your honey extractor include; an electric drill, a welding machine (and preferably some welding experience), a socket set, and a hacksaw.

The first thing you're going to do is remove the end of the drum that does not have two pouring holes, the newly opened end will be the top of your honey extractor. Use the coach screws to attach one of the pieces of wood across the bottom of the drum. Once the wood is in place use coach screws to secure the pillow block. After inserting the threaded rod through the centre of the first bicycle rim, securely bolt the rim to the rod approximately ten centimetres from the end of the rod. At the opposite end of the rod you will want to thread a but for the other wheel, the second wheel will rest on this nut. When both of the wheel rims are in place you will want to drill holes in four spots around each wheel, when this task is complete you use the 8mm rods to lock the wheel rims together. Use two nuts onto the rod. Make sure that two cm of the rod protrudes.

When this is complete you are going to cut a slit that is10mm deep and 3mm wide into the end of the rod. After this thread the lock and the nuts together at the end of the rod. After you think the nuts are in place use the welding machine to permanently lock them into place. Fasten the wire to the spokes of the bottom wheel rim, approximately 5-8cm from the rim. You have now successfully made the basket of your honey extractor.

Take your newly crafted extractor basket and place it into the drum, settling it on the pillow bearing. Now you're going to want to bolt the second piece of wood to the sides of the drum and the self-centring bearing.

After drilling a screwdriver bit into the chuck, place the chuck into the slit into the slot in the top of the threaded rod.

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History of Ornithopters and Helicopters

Ornithopter and creator George R. White at Saint Augustine - Photo: Wikimedia

One of the first designed or at least imagined flying machines was the ornithopter.   In essence, when mankind gazed at the skies, he saw that the birds were flying and thus mankind realized if he wanted to have the domain of the skies, he would have to fly like a bird.   Thus since the dawn of the civilization, mankind with, its quest for dominion over nature, has tried to repeat the design and the behavior of the natural flying species.  Besides the mankind’s formal history, the legends go back far describing the mankind’s quest for flying.

The first reference to an ornithopter and a real reference to flying is in the legend of Daedalus and Icarus.  When Icarus was held captive by the Gods on top of a mountain fortress, he used big wings tethered to his body by wax.  However because he flew too close to the sun, according to the legend his wings melted away from his body and he plunged into the deep abyss of death.  Although it is a tragic myth, it symbolizes the quest for the man’s attempt to fly and thus control the forces of nature.

As mankind advanced further and further, throughout history there were lots of trials and designs for flying machines.    In order to establish flying, mankind looked at the only available example of flying: namely the birds.  Thus, everyone was trying to copy the designs of the birds to design a flying machine that paralleled their development: The Ornithopter.  In essence, an ornithopter was a machine that had birdlike wings and a place for the operator to be attached.  The operator would flap his arms and the wings of the ornithopter would be flapped also.  In essence, mankind would fly by simulating the flapping of the bird’s wings.  However, since the principles of aerodynamics were not discovered, no one was aware of the ratio of the wing to muscle power and thus all of these projects and attempts were doomed to fail.

Perhaps the most serious thoughts came from the famous thinker and designer Leonardo Da Vinci.  He drew many representations of the birds to correctly understand the principle.  Thus, as a result, he designed may ornithopters design and a helicopter design which was a vehicle that can take off vertically from a ground y the use of blades that are horizontal to the ground.  In fact, it can be said that an ornithopter is the father of helicopters.

During the history of mankind, there were hundreds of ornithopter and even helicopter designs which never had a chance of flying off the ground.  Especially the 19th century was filled with many inventors competing for the design of the successful ornithopter. In fact, even the great inventor Thomas Edison tinkered with an ornithopter ad even received a patent. (although the design was not feasible and thus it never got off the ground)  When it was realized that the power to flap the wings was just not enough in humans, new designs were introduced that utilized mechanical energy for flying.   In 1870, the French inventor Gustave Trouve designed an ornithopter that received its power to flap wings from an internal combustion engine.  The flight was a partial success as the ornithopter that he designed flew 70 meters off the ground.

The final result was that although people tried to fly ornithopters, it just wasn’t a viable aerodynamic design.  Although in the 20th century some successful ornithopters were built, it was discontinued as an idea.  Then the power to flight was concentrated on a glided flight (not flapped wings flight) and thus the Wright Brothers were able to fly creating a huge industry in the 20th century.  However, the efforts of the Ornithopter were not in vain, as it was in principle the founding stone of the helicopter.

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The Indian Chess Chaturanga

Photo: Wikimedia

Chess, as well all know, is a recreational and competitive sport played between two players.

Nowadays, it is sometimes referred to as international chess or Western chess, which is actually used to distinguish it from its predecessors and other variants. More so, chess is one of the world’s most popular games, played by millions of people in clubs, online, tournaments and informally.

However, where did chess actually began? Who were the first people ever to invent this intellectual sport and what was its original purpose? The chess game was thought to have originated in India or Afghanistan before 600 A.D. However, there are several and unverified claims stating that the game existed as

early as 100 A.D.

The Chaturanga

The chess game has been attributed to the Indians by both the Arabs and the Persian people. However, the main origin of the sport has been lost in antiquity. Chess in Old Persian and Arabic are "chatrang" and "shatranj" respectively. Both of these terms are derived from the Sanskrit word "Chaturanga". Literally, the word Chaturanga means the army of four divisions, constituting the cavalry, infantry, elephant, and chariots, which are now being respectively represented by the knight, pawn, bishop, and rook.

Aside from chess, Chaturanga is also presumed to be the common origin of the Japanese shogi, the Thai makruk, the Chinese xiangqi, and the Korean janggi. The game was played since the early 6th century or probably earlier, hence it is believed to be the most common and oldest version of chess.

As previously mentioned, Chaturanga consists of the cavalry, chariots, elephants, and infantry, which reflects the four divisions of the army in ancient India. These are additional units besides the king and his general or counselor in the center. The Infantry is represented by the line of advancing pawns. Located near the center of the army are war elephants. The horse, with a flanking horse move, is represented by the mounted cavalry and the chariots or ships, which move hastily and in a linear fashion.

Chaturanga was originally played in an eight-by-eight un-checkered board, also known as the Ashtapada. Additionally, the board has markers that have meanings

still unknown today. However, it is known that these special markers are not related to Chaturanga and were rather drawn only by tradition. Murray, a renowned chess historian, speculated that the board was also used for other dice-type games, in which the markers it contains had meanings.

The Rules of Chaturanga

The exact rules of Chaturanga are yet to be known. However, several chess historians believe that the game has the similar rules to Shatranj, which is its direct descendant. By using the rules of Shatranj, the movements of the Chaturanga pieces can be mapped out.

The Raja or King moves like the King in modern chess. The Senapati or General, also known as the Mantri or Counselor, moves diagonally, occupying only a single square. Like the Rook in modern chess, the Ratha or Chariot moves on straight lines either horizontally or vertically.

As for the Gaja or Elephant, there are three possible moves that the piece makes, such as two squares diagonally, one square diagonally or forward, two squares orthogonally. 

The Horse of Ashva moves like the Knight. Foot soldiers or the Pedati or Bhata are similar to the pawns of modern chess.

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Can a Hobby of Collecting Turn Profitable?

Photo: Flickr

Each year in the United States, hundreds of thousands of Americans take steps to collect items that they have an interest in.  It is also important to mention that collecting is a hobby that is not only enjoyed by those in the United States but those all around the world!  Popular items collected include anime characters, sci-fi collectibles, stamps, and coins.  Although collecting is a hobby that many wish to enjoy, many are curious as to what the rearwards are for doing so.

What is nice about collecting, whether it be sci-fi or anime collectibles, is the options that you have.  For starters, it is important to focus on exactly why collectors collect.  Many collectors are considered pure hobbyists.  These are individuals who collect for the sole purpose of personal fulfillment.  For example, a hobbyist who collects movies, books, figures, and other items surrounding sci-fi, is likely a sci-fi buff.  This means that they have an interest in science fiction in general, whether it be films, movies, or a combination of both.

Despite the fact that a large number of collectors do so simply for the sake of enjoyment, there are many other collectors who choose to do so for the sole purpose of making a profit.  For example, a sci-fi collector who collects for a profit often spends a great deal of time researching hard to find sci-fi collectibles, as well as those that are valuable.  This is because these types of collectors are investors.  They are investing their money to purchase sci-fi collectibles, with the hopes of one day selling their collection for a profit.

As nice as it is to hear that there are collectors who collect for the sole purpose of making money, many beginners wonder if they really can make a profit.  Of course, it possible to make a profit with anime or sci-fi collectibles, or really anything for that matter.  With that in mind, it is often easier said than done.  As previously stated, many collectors, who are also known as investors, spend a great deal of time researching and examining collectibles in their particular field of interest.  This is the best approach to make money with collectibles, whether those collectibles be sci-fi, anime, coins, or stamps.

In addition to researching values and needs, collectors are also urged to familiarize themselves with proper care.  To make money on collectibles, including sci-fi collectibles and anime collectibles, all items should be in new or like-new conditions.  Anything else will decrease in value and possibly significantly.  For that reason, many professional collectors, especially those who collect anime or sci-fi, are encouraged to leave all items as is.  This means leaving all figurines or plush characters in the box.  The same can be said for movies, puzzles, and books.  If they must be taken out, a display case is often advised.

As touched on above, there are thousands of collectors in the United States and many of those collectors choose to collect different items.  Sci-fi and anime collectibles were given as examples multiple times above.  With that in mind, it is important to remember that you do have other options.  One of the best ways to develop a collection of valuable collectibles, which can later be sold for a profit, is to choose a topic, issue, or hobby that you enjoy.  For example, if you regularly find yourself tuning into the Sci-Fi channel to watch their science fiction movies or television shows, sci-fi collectibles may be best for you.

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