Winterclaw,

  Let me go back to the two goats (called G1 and G2), a car (C) and three doors, because that's the specific case.  To simplify things, you always pick door 1, and Monte always opens door 3, unless it has the car, in which case, he has to open door 2. (The math works the same whether you simplify things or not.)

The prizes can be distributed 6 ways:

1   2     3
C  G1  G2
C  G2  G1
G1 C   G2
G2 C   G1
G1 G2 C
G2 G1 C

After Monte opens the door (Door 3, unless that's the car), here are the possibilities

1   2     3
C  G1 
C  G2 
G1 C  
G2 C  
G1       C
G2       C

In a third of the cases, Goat 1 is behind Door 1, Goat 2 is behind it in a third, and the car is behind  Door 1 in a third of the cases.

I didn't believe it, either, until I sat down and worked the problem for myself.  It's one of those counter-intuitive things that make some areas of math, like orbital mechanics, fun.

Quote - I have a question to the male population here. Are you  intimidated by women who can be police officers, fly fighter planes, be a mechanic...in a nutshell women in the traditional male rolls?

It doesn't bother me--I used to date a woman who was far better with power tools than I was.  She built her own bed.  I.......still have all my fingers, which is about the most I can hope for.

I'm wondering if you could simulate the food vanishing from the plate by using magnets to shrink the food where the spoon goes in.

Quote - And that has whatever to do with the subject of the thread??? Didn't your mother tell you if you can't say anything nice, don't say ANYTHING?

But then there's the quote attributed to Alice Roosevelt:
"If you can't say anything nice about someone, come sit next to me" 

I've got to agree with Flibbits on the mic choice--I use that one quite a bit in my home studio, as well. Another good choice from MXL is the V63M.  You'll also need a stand and a cable.  Depending on how much recording you plan to do, you might want to look at getting a "pop filter"

Both of those mics are "condenser" microphones, so any interface to the computer will need something called "phantom power"--otherwise, you'll get no sound from the mic

And, as he/she said, record someplace that doesn't have echoes.  If you record "dry", you can always add stuff to the sound later.

Quote - Hello all.

I don't know about all, but many people hate hearing to a recording of their voice.
I dn't hate it, but i think it sounds stupid. Whenever I hear other people, they sound clear, smooth, and they can speak fast with no mistakes.

I"ve always been shy and so my communication skills are worse than that of a 5 year old. I also have a weak voice and I just suck. 

  Hey, if you've identified the problem, you've got a chance to fix it.

  I've done voice overs and radio for 10 years.  I do most of our company's VO stuff, but I'm working with several other people on staff to get them to a point that we can use them more extensively.  One thing that can help a weak voice is to stand up when you record.  If you sit, and lean forward, it keeps you from expanding your lungs properly.

Quote -
Again, it's not just me. I've met tons of people who either hate their voice when they hear it, or think it's stupid and are embarrased when hearing it themselves or other people hear it .

Most people just haven't heard themselves recorded enough to get used to it, so it always sounds "odd".

Just a couple of other things that can effect how you sound--equipment, and processing.  If you're going to be doing a fair amount of VO work, a decent microphone makes a huge difference, compared to the headset mics that a lot of people use.  In fact, the boss signed off on a purchase order for studio equipment when he heard the difference between what we were currently doing, and what I could do from home with a nice mic.

I've seen large diaphram condenser mics (good for vocal work) that are USB compatible for under $100.  Added bonus--most vocal mics are directional (they pick up sound primarily from one direction) and they exhibit a "proximity effect".  The closer you get to the mic, the louder (and fuller) your voice sounds.

Also, most of us who do VO work don't sound like what you end up hearing :-)  The sound usually gets equalized, compressed, and noise gated for exactly the effect we're looking for.

Quote - People who want a job find jobs.  Have you checked getafreelancer or other sites?  Lots of people need help writing simple web articles.  If you know 6th grade English you can do that.

I've been doing that for two months, making about a thousand dollars a month for a lot of hours of work.  For voice work I earn up to $300 for about an hour's work in the studio, and as a consultant I earn $100 per hour, but the work there has been hard to find.

  And in my case, my current boss saw that I had a decade in radio, so even though I was hired to do computer training, I'm doing a lot of voice-over work (at regular pay :-) when we have a content authoring gig.

  Seriously, if you haven't done it already, sit down and figure out what you're good at, and target your searches to that.  When I was between jobs a couple of years ago, I spent some time working on the computer systems at the local Habitat for Humanity office.  It didn't pay anything at first, but later on they paid me for a couple of larger jobs, and it was something I could put on the resume to fill the gap

You might also want to take a look at http://pediatrics.about.com/cs/growthcharts2/l/bl_growthcharts.htm

it shows the growth charts that I've seen in doctor's offices here in the US.

Edit:  Ockham beat me to it!  His charts are probably better--nice PDF's that you can print.

Quote - There's a scene in "the meaning of life" by monty python which is very suited as a reference ...

  And, of course, there's always Baywatch...

  take care,
  Scott
  "Honest, honey, it's research!"

Quote - Jumpstartme2,  I agree.  That's why it breaks my heart when I see them go over to other CG sites and get disrespected for using Poser.  

Pakled  what's a Blunther?

  I'm not Pakled, but a Bluthner is a German piano brand.

  I know that Apple Studios had one in the late 60's--both "Let It Be" and "The Long and Winding Road" were recorded on a Bluthner, as was the the music for the movie "The Sting".

  I've never played one, but I used to have fairly regular access to a 1906 vintage Steinway.

  (edited to correct the studio where the orignal LIB recording was done).

Quote - Oh gosh..blurry as heck. I want behind the face and partial of her hair blurry. What am I doing wrong? This happens when I even have the fStop at 3.2. I had to stop the render, just enough. Was taking along time to finish. Shouldn't the blur (Depth of field) be behind the guide and not in front?

  Robo210,

  Just a couple of "depth of field" thoughts....

    1) Think of the "depth of field" as being where things are perfectly in focus.  Stuff both in front of and in back of that distance will be blurry.  How much depends on how far in front or in back of the perfect focus the item is, and,

  2) The smaller the f-stop number, the closer things have to be to the DoF distance to appear sharp (If something is two feet closer or farther away than the DoF distance, it might appear sharp at f/11, and blurry at f/2.8)

  If I'm following what you're looking for, you want her face fairly sharp, some blurring of the hair (just enough to "soften" the look), and the background blurry.  If that's the case, try moving the DoF to where it's about where her cheekbones are, and do an area render (top of her head, part of her face, and a section of background) and see if that's a little closer to what you're looking for.  If it is, maybe play with the f-stop setting to see if that gets you the right amount of "blur" where you want it.

  Also, DoF is a real "time thief" when it comes to rendering.  The more stuff is blurry, the longer it will take

  take care,
  Scott

Quote -
Far as I know, Islam and Judaism have similar diet restrictions. And it's not legitimate in American law to discriminate on the basis of religion, even though it happens all the time...

  They're similar, but different.  Just as an example: Mixing milk and meat in the same meal isn't kosher, but AFAIK, it's not a violation of Muslim dietary law.  Kosher wine is obviously, kosher, but isn't halal.

  I don't think ordering a Muslim meal on a flight bars you from entry, so it's not like it's being used to discriminate.

  take care,

 Scott

That's a cool site, 4blueyes--thanks!

I can't really  help you on shutter settings (I think it has to do with how blurred things are if you're using motion blur)..

The f-stop settings on a real camera are tied to the shutter speed to get a correct exposure.  A lower (numeric) f-stop lets more light in in a given amount of time, so if you want to "freeze" motion, you can use a faster shutter speed and a lower f-stop, and still get a properly exposed picture.

A side effect of the f-stop setting had to do with "depth of field", and that's really what it affects in Poser.  A lower f-stop has a narrower range where things are sharply focused.

Suppose you're doing the standard NVIATWAS render.  You can set the focus distance to be the exact distance from the camera to Vicky, and use a low f-stop (say, 2.8).  Vicky and her sword will be in focus, while the temple will be blurry.  If you use a high f-stop (say, 32), the focus on the pieces in the temple might be a little "soft", but things will be much sharper than in the first example.

The price you pay for the artsy "low f-stop" look is, as you've discovered, processor time.

Lake Louise in Alberta is beautiful

http://www.1000pictures.com/view.htm?cscenic/lake-louise+fll159.jpg+x1024+y768

If you prefer ocean views, there's always Big Sur in California 

http://www.terragalleria.com/california/california.big-sur.html

If you want something a little more "pastoral", I enjoy the Lake District in England.