Posts Tagged ‘leisure’
Boating Accessories to Get Us Started
I purchased a new boat this year and am blown away with all the boating accessories that are available. I knew I needed a trailer and an anchor, but I really hadn’t considered all the other stuff I might want to have. Wow!
First, of course, I am required to have life jackets. Everyone on board needs to have a personal floatation device readily at hand in case of emergency. I also understand that having a fire extinguisher on board is really important. I can’t imagine needing a fire extinguisher out on all that water, but I’ll just believe those with more knowledge than me.
Another necessary boating accessory is a foghorn or a bell or something to make a lot of noise to alert others to our presence. I guess this would be good in an emergency at night or if a really thick fog comes up.
Then there are lights. We need some sort of lighting for boating after dark. I don’t know the requirements for this yet, so I’ll have to do some research fast. So besides the trailer and anchor, those are the most important.
Then there are all sorts of boating accessories depending on what kind of activities we’re planning to do! Are we going fishing? How about water skiing? Then there’s tow tubes, wakeboards, and all sorts of other toys.
Okay, then we’ll want music while we’re spending time out on the water. I have to decide on that too. Do I want to bring it on board everytime we go out, or do I want to have some sort of system installed on board?
A lot to think about and a lot to buy, but at least its fun to shop for boating accessories!
Tags: boat, boating, fishing, leisure, plan, purchase, recreation
Blu-ray
Blu-ray, also known as Blu-ray Disc (BD), is the name of a next-generation optical disc format jointly developed by the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA), a group of the world’s leading consumer electronics, personal computer and media manufacturers (including Apple, Dell, Hitachi, HP, JVC, LG, Mitsubishi, Panasonic, Pioneer, Philips, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, TDK and Thomson). The format was developed to enable recording, rewriting and playback of high-definition video (HD), as well as storing large amounts of data. The format offers more than five times the storage capacity of traditional DVDs and can hold up to 25GB on a single-layer disc and 50GB on a dual-layer disc. This extra capacity combined with the use of advanced video and audio codecs will offer consumers an unprecedented HD experience. Recent development by Pioneer has pushed the storage capacity to 500GB on a single disc by using 20 layers.
While current optical disc technologies such as DVD, DVDR, DVDRW, and DVDRAM rely on a red laser to read and write data, the new format uses a blue-violet laser instead, hence the name Blu-ray. Despite the different type of lasers used, Blu-ray products can easily be made backwards compatible with CDs and DVDs through the use of a BD/DVD/CD compatible optical pickup unit. The benefit of using a blue-violet laser (405nm) is that it has a shorter wavelength than a red laser (650nm), which makes it possible to focus the laser spot with even greater precision. This allows data to be packed more tightly and stored in less space, so it’s possible to fit more data on the disc even though it’s the same size as a CD/DVD. This together with the change of numerical aperture to 0.85 is what enables Blu-ray Discs to hold 25GB/50GB.
Blu-ray is currently supported by about 200 of the world’s leading consumer electronics, personal computer, recording media, video game and music companies. The format also has support from all Hollywood studios and countless smaller studios as a successor to today’s DVD format. Many studios have also announced that they will begin releasing new feature films on Blu-ray Disc day-and-date with DVD, as well as a continuous slate of catalog titles every month. For more information about Blu-ray movies, check out our Blu-ray movies and Blu-ray reviews section which offers information about new and upcoming Blu-ray releases, as well as what movies are currently available in the Blu-ray format.
For more information about Blu-ray, please see Blu-ray FAQ.
Tags: electronics, entertainment, leisure, movie
Outdoor Cooking with a New Weber Grill
I recently purchased a new Weber grill and I absolutely love it! Now, I prefer charcoal over gas for outdoor cooking. It just seems more “outdoorsy” and natural to me. So charcoal was my choice in my new grill too.
My image of Weber grills has always been their black sort of kettle shaped grills that everybody had many many years ago (before they bought their big gas grills). Actually, that is the model I was still using and I absolutely needed something new. As I did some research, I quickly learned that Weber has quite an assortment now.
The grill I choose does have the typical Weber style kettle, but so much more as well. Outdoor cooking has become an absolute pleasure. My model includes a good sized counter top or work area attached to the grill with hooks to hang utensils, a bin for the charcoal, and a wire shelf across the bottom.
The best part is the automatic charcoal starter. All I have to do is push a button and some gas ignites the charcoal. I relax for about 15 minutes and the coals are ready. The process is so easy and so clean.
The outdoor cooking part is much easier with this design too. The coals are held within some metal containers, so I have the choice of cooking the meat directly over the heat or off to the sides. I have so much more control over the cooking process.
No more burnt on the outside, raw on the inside barbeque for me!