The consensus from the large conglomerates that training is key to success has filtered throughout the transport training industry, with many SMEs and owner drivers signing up to all forms of training.

Many operators have felt the pinch but with the help of up-skilling and compliance assistance, transport training candidates are thriving. The recent Managers CPC success is testament to the expansion of the number of companies taking training seriously. Couple this with the rapid expansion of driver CPC take up, and it points to an industry fighting back.

The worst may or may not be behind us but this is not time for complacency. Take the initiative to put yourself at the front of competition, training and up-skilling is key to the survival of any company and with the new CPC laws in full effect, now is the appropriate time.

Courses available to transport sectors are many and varied. The popular ADR Training course is still as successful as ever, and Fuel Efficient Driving is growing day by day. Participation on these practical courses is easier than expected,

Most drivers are aware of NVQ training previously popular is this sector. However, with funding restrictions enforced in all areas only the largest training providers have any funding allocation left. This funded training is worth every penny of tax payer’s money; however mere pounds and pence must not be the overruling factor when choosing your training path.

The PCV sector is into their second year of CPC training and the Logistic Operators can learn many lessons from their experiences. Whist certain CPC courses may appear cheap as the saying goes ‘you get what you pay for’. You are going to have to do this training so why waste good money to be stuck in a dark room with ‘death by PowerPoint’ when you can get high quality, hands on training.

The key is forward planning. Those who plan now and schedule their training now will reap the rewards in the future. With five years before CPC effects those drivers with grandfather rights why not do one module a year rather than wait till the last minute and hope a training provider can squeeze you in? The positive reaction so far is an encouraging sign for the future.

In September 2014 we don’t want drivers sitting outside their cabs unable to drive.
The vision of LGV driving is changing; the professional industry we all know is at the forefront of innovative development. Imperative to this change is skill and knowledge of transport training providers to facilitate the changes required to accomplish this.

Candlesticks have a structure that demonstrates the open, high, low and closing price of a currency, stock or commodity over a duration. This period can be picked by the trader.

5 minutes is universal for day traders but you may opt for 15 minutes in some circumstances. Usually, longer periods are applied for longer term trading.

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The body of the candle points the difference between the open and close points. If it’s green/blue (for colored charts) or white then the lower borders of the rectangular body is the open and price went upwards during the consideration period. If it is black (or red on a colored chart then the opening price is the top boundary and the price plummeted.

The wick is the tag given to the vertical lines that customarily stick up from the top and down from the bottom of the candle body. he highest stage the price ever hit is the top of the upper wick area. The low is the bottom of the lower wick.

The boon of this kind of analysis is that the trader can straight off see whether prices rose or fell over the period. Bearish tendencies or rise in price are evidenced by green or white candles while bullish temperament or fall in price would be illustrated by red or black candles.

The relationship of open and close values to high and low values can be noted spontaneously. Then there is a solid candle devoid of a wick.

This is referred to as the Marubozu pattern. Prices never went greater or less than the opening and closing prices in this case.

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he high value as opening price and low value as closing price is designated by the red or black candle. If it is white or green, the opening value was the low and the closing market price was the high.

A long body means a relatively constant movement either up or down. A lengthened wick either top or bottom signifies a reversal.

A candlestick has to be read along with the previous ones in order to ensure accurate trending. You then can go ahead to make more intricate candlestick patterns that will signify probable future trends.

Note: Forex investing can be dangerous, may result in considerable losses, and is not right for every person.

Cooking seafood is so easy and convenient, you don’t even have to know how to cook in order to enjoy this healthy food from the oceans. Due to the current popularity of seafood, many companies are offering frozen seafood fillets in convenient single serving, microwaveable packets (usually four servings to a bag), with a number of gourmet sauces already in the bag! Nuke and serve! It couldn’t be easier.

Alternatively, when cooking seafood fillets, you don’t need to be an expert sauce maker should you buy a plain fillet. There are a number of excellent bottled sauces, salsas and easily made sauces in packets – like hollandaise – with which you can adorn your fillets. The simplest of garnishes is a thinly sliced piece of fresh lemon, topped with a sprig of fresh dill or tarragon for an elegant meal presentation.

When it comes to raw shellfish, cooking seafood is almost foolproof. You get a better price on raw shellfish than an already cooked product, either fresh or frozen. It’s a matter of labor costs. While you do have to do the cooking and shelling, the savings is significant enough to make some pricey shellfish affordable and worth the extra labor. In the case of cooking seafood of the shellfish family is so easy, even a child can do it, with proper adult supervision. How can you tell when shellfish are done? With shrimp, crab or lobster, it’s done when it turns a bright pink. With hard-shelled seafood, such as clams, mussels and oysters, you simply boil them in a quantity of water. When the shells open, they’re done. Those that do not open, should be discarded.

Fresh or frozen, cooking seafood fillets in the microwave is both the quickest method and produces a juicy result. Just follow the instructions on the packet, or ask your seafood counter staff for microwave times. It’s far easier to over cook in the frying pan, under the broiler or on the grill.

When cooking seafood on a shishkebab, such as shrimp skewered with veggies such as pineapple, mushrooms, bell peppers and onions, it’s better to go with the already cooked product. The veggies will cook so quickly, under the broiler or on the grill, that you’re essentially just warming the shrimp as the veggies caramelize a bit. Again, quick and easy.

Cooking seafood is so easy, with a versatility not found in most meats, not to mention the healthy and delicious results, it’s an economical menu choice, you really don’t need to be a cook to enjoy your two servings a week!

Keep a weight loss journal.

The purpose of this guide is to give you some top tips for getting great pictures. Big cats have a personality all of their own and each breed is quite different. This will affect how you photograph each species of cat. For instance some are quick and move rapidly, others will sit and take a more leisurely approach. This guide is set out into sections so you can dip into the bits most relevant to you.

So what do we mean by Big Cats, lets start with the rarest cats in the world, The Russian Amur Leopard, around 150 in captivity and only 30 in the wild, then we have the Snow Leopard, now only found in the inaccessible hills in Pakistan. On the Tiger front you have the Sumatran Tiger, then the Amur Tiger as it now know but better known as the Siberian Tiger. Then there are Lynx, Lion, Cheetah, Serval and Puma also known as the Mountain Lion or Cougar – they are all the same cat.

First of all don’t be fooled into thinking that you need a top of the range film or digital SLR camera and lenses to get great pictures. You don’t. Both compact and the intermediate bridge cameras are more than adequate of capturing great images. Many people that have come on Big Cat Photo Experience Day have started with a compact camera and found that they can get amazing images. They have returned and some have even found that they got so much more from photography than they ever thought they could. Others just come and enjoy the close contact with such magical animals.

This guide is based upon many years as a professional photographer capturing some of the rarest cats in the world , all kept within a private collection for breeding purposes with the aim that they are returned to the wild, so long as the human race hasn’t ruined the original habitat. For the Sumatran Tiger, that I fear is a rare hope, but with new cubs born late 2008 there is a glimmer of hope.

Compacts and Bridge Cameras

The real benefit of these cameras is their size. Being small and compact they fit through the wire of the cage so that’s one less thing to worry about. All you do need to do is watch what the cats are doing so they don’t take your camera off you! And trust me if they get hold of it they will win – no negotiation!

Captive animals are quite nosey so you will find they get too close. Key settings would be either close up / macro or a sports mode if you are using pre-set shooting modes. More advanced cameras have Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority and Full Manual. If you are more comfortable with these settings then please read the sections below Film and Digital SLRs as the same rules apply.

One main problem of these cameras is what is called “shutter lag”. This is the time the camera takes to fire the shutter and capture the image after you press the shutter release . On static subjects this won’t be so much of a problem, but on fast moving or erratic moving subjects this is where this will be noticed. You aim at the head and the camera takes a picture of the tail!

ISO – Film Speed or Sensor Sensitivity

The speed of your film or sensor sensitivity as it’s really called on a DSLR will affect the camera settings in a given light. A typical sunny day will let you shoot on ISO 100 or 200, being the base setting of your camera depending upon the make of camera or film you’re using. With a DSLR you have the ability to change your ISO or sensor sensitivity as the light changes, so you can go up and down from 100 to 200 or 400 (or more) as the light changes. With film you are fixed per roll. OK you can “bump it” up or down but only if your film developer knows what they are doing, automated developing just won’t hack it and will leave you with a messed up roll of film. As a commercial photographer I shoot digital and enjoy it – when all the technology works of course!

Using an additional body is an option if you can afford it as it gives you another lens to shoot from or another roll of film different from the first body. Lenses or course are interchangeable.

With speed or sensitivity comes a compromise – grain. The higher the ISO the more noise or grain there will be. But, and a big but, under exposure will create more noise than high ISO – so make sure the shot is exposed correctly. Being a commercial photographer amongst other things, I shoot using Nikon cameras and with these I have to shoot slightly over exposed to get the shot right – Nikon metering seems to be slightly on the safe side in my experience.

White Balance

This is not an easy setting to explain but it comes down to the colour of light. What I hear you say, but all light looks the same to me, yes it will, the human eye and brain is very clever, it shows you a white subject as white in any light so you can’t actually see what your camera sees.

Until that is you take a picture indoors, ever had a picture on a digital or film camera come out green ? Light is measured as a temperature similar to that of heating a metal rod in a flame. The colour moves from orange to white and finally blue. Now this isn’t measured in degrees C or F but in the wider scientific range called Kelvin. Digital cameras use this Kelvin number to determine the colour of light.

For example Orange is at the warmer end or 3400K the same as a household bulb with a tungsten filament, also known as incandescent- day light and studio flash is around 5200K to 5600K and fluorescent light is a real nightmare depending upon the type of tube and colour temperatures vary from 2700K up to 7200K – so pretty much the whole spectrum.
Tip – on a dull grey day use the pre set white balance of Flash – it gives a slightly warmer shot.

Tip – don’t use Auto white balance for two reasons. While it might be fairly accurate light is not a fixed entity it changes all the time and so too will your cameras setting for White Balance when on Auto. Secondly if you then go on and edit your images you have the potential for having to manually correct each image if you’re not happy with the setting. And on a Big Cat Day guests regularly shoot 400 to 600 images – now that’s a lot of time chained to your computer.

Tip – pick a pre-set value, even if its wrong, some cameras allow fine tuning warmer or cooler. If then you want to edit the images at least you can batch process all the images in one go as the White Balance value will be the same – so too will be the adjustment. Just shoot RAW, then you can correct it, Jpeg gives you less control.

Tip – try taking a custom white balance measurement if your camera has this function.

Tip – remember a Snow leopard is Grey and White – it should not be cream.

Film and Digital SLRs

Camera bodies vary in design and my view is that megapixels aren’t the be all and end all of quality images. As an example a 6 mega pixel camera will get a great image, in fact many press photographers still use a high quality, robust 4 mega pixel digital camera body. Why, because other functions are more important .

Whereas the norm for many companies is now, at the time of writing this Big Cats guide, is to offer 10 – 12 mega pixel camera bodies, other key features come into play.

Autofocus – General

AF-S , AF-C or Manual, Single point, Multipoint Dynamic or Closest Subject? AF-S will give you a function that shoots only when the subject is in focus. AF-C gives you a continuous mode where by the AF systems tracks the subject adjusting focus all the time you have the shutter release pressed half way down and the focus point on the moving subject. This is good for fast / moving subjects, the shutter will however fire even if the shot is not in focus. 3D tracking found on Nikon cameras is good for some subjects as it tries to work out where the subject will be if it leaves the focus area or frame – try it and see how you get on, you may find you come back to a dynamic – movable – focus point chosen by the photographer – you!

Manual focus gives you total control but chasing a moving subject is harder and takes time to practice.

Metering

Spot, centre weighted or matrix or average? The main problem with Matrix is that it takes an average setting across the whole frame so you can end up with a poorly exposed image especially if you catch some sky in the frame. This being brighter, normally, makes the camera close down the settings, leading to an under exposed subject.

For best results with cats I find centre weighted works best as the camera metres from the centre of the frame and this is normally where the subject matter will be.

Spot metering would be best used for a close head shot where the cat is stationary being sat or lying down, as you’d find with the Lions in the afternoon after they are fed.

Part two continues with more settings and equipment discussions as well as common mistakes.

Balloon printing is quite simply the procedure of applying some kind of image onto the exterior of a balloon. Balloon printing businesses have been around for a long while, but modern printing techniques and new equipment are helping to improve the scope of what type of balloons can be printed on, and what logos may be applied. Many companies and individuals are starting to realise the possibilities of balloon printing.

Balloons may have multi-coloured designs printed onto their surfaces, and this can be enhanced by using clever designs and utilising the colour of the balloon itself. It is also possible to print onto both sides of any balloon, so no matter where folks are standing in relation to the balloon they should be able to see the printed images.

This post hopes to highlight just a few of the possible uses of personalised, printed balloons. I hope you find it useful.

Advantages

Balloons are fantastic because they are not an overly pricey thing to get hold of. Even the more elaborate balloons do not have to cost the Earth, and when you compare and contrast prices with many of the alternate options you can quickly see the monetary benefits of branded balloons.

One of the most exciting things about using printed balloons at any kind of event is the great flexibility they offer. Modern balloon technology allows such a wide range of shapes, sizes and shades that you can really let your imaginationrun wild and let your creative side to take over.

This flexibility gets even greater when you start using balloons together to create balloon strings or sculptures. You can mix different coloured balloons to good effect and create bold designs, or use different shapes and sizes of balloons to create eye-catching exhibits. The possibilities are not quite endless, but they are very numerous nonetheless.

Another great benefit of using balloons is that they are incredibly light. This makes them very easy to move around and to sculpt into various sculptures. You won’t need to hire moving men or forklift trucks to get them to where you would like them to be! Another great advantage is that if you are going to fill them on site, many hundreds of balloons will fit into a handbag.

As the popularity of printed balloons increases there are more balloon wholesalers that offer custom printing as one of their services.

For social events

Having a set of your own, customised, printed balloons for a social event always adds an extra factor of fun and interest to whatever you are doing. Whether the event you are attending is a reasonably formal affair, such as a grand dinner party, or a quite informal celebration, such as a stag or hen party, you will find that printed balloons can really make the night stand out.

Wedding parties

Wedding parties are the perfect occasion for utilizingprinted balloons to add charm to your location. They are both formal and informal events at the same moment, with a serious intent but also a focus on having fun and enjoying the day.

For the wedding meal, photo-taking or any other official announcements, you can use some smart balloons printed to complement your surroundings. Then when the partyreally starts you can have a selection of fun balloons with a personalised wedding message. Or how about balloons personalised with either the bride or grooms photo to show which side of the family you are on?

Stag & hen nights

Stag and hen parties are usually fun occasions, and more often than not they will involve some form of dressing up or adornment. So why not use printed balloons as a way of “jazzing up” your evening and truly making your party stand out from the crowd.

L-plate balloons. One of the most recognisable components of a hen party is the bride to be wearing driving L-plates on their clothing. It is a time honored touch that usually makes the lucky lady stand out from her party of hens. But there is no reason to limit yourself to decorating outfits. Why not print an L-plate on a good sized balloon and affix it to the bride to be.

Nickname balloons. Groups of men out on stag nights will frequently have their pictures and nicknames used by their friends printed onto a t-shirt or top. But again, why stop at the outfits? You can print faces, nicknames, or just about any other funny facts onto personalised balloons and hand them out to members of your stag group. You can even create a competition out of who manages to get their balloon safely through the night!

Decorating functions

Printed balloons at events don’t have to be highly conspicuous or gaudy. Actually, you will find that there are many ways that you can arrange printed balloons to create very stylish effects. At many formal functions, such as award ceremonies or grand birthday parties, balloons can become an interesting piece of furniture rather than an outlandish statement. You can probably think of more than one occasion that you have witnessed this.

The great flexibility that comes with using balloons at events means that they can be both promotional and decorative. You might use a printed pattern on the balloons and then gather lots of them together to give the impression of dynamic wallpaper! Alternatively you could use the surface area of the balloons to print your corporate branding or information you want to get across to your guests.

Balloon drops can finish an evening in spectacular fashion and Latex balloons wholsale will supply balloons in the numbers that are needed for something special.

For corporate events

Although many of us relate memories of balloons with birthday parties when we were youngsters, printed balloons can also be used in a more adult environment. The use of printed balloons can actually be very beneficial in the commercial world. While they are not an obvious option, there are innovative ways to use balloons for corporate purposes.

Exhibitions

Anybody who has had a space at a corporate exhibition will know just how much competition there is for space and quite how hard everybody tries to bring potential customers in their direction. If you use the standard methods of marketing to your exhibition display you will discover that you need to spend plenty of time, and normally lots of money, to really stand out. But rather than just competing on the same playing field as your rivals, how about taking to the skies to get one over on them?

Advertising potential

If you are using helium filled balloons to help advertise your companythen you will be immediately at an advantage. As we all know, helium filled balloons are lighter than the air around them and will float upwards. With the appropriate amount of string attached to the balloon you will be positioning your corporate identity in a space beyond the reach of regular advertising. If your rivals are not doing the same, you will have that space to yourself.

Just like printing your logo or corporate message onto carrier bags or other packaging, printing onto balloons offers a mobile marketing space that you don’t have to transport around yourself. Every single time you hand out a printed balloon to a visitor at the exhibition, you are effectively giving out a promotional piece for your organisation that will be movingaround. Wherever that person goes, your company branding will go too.

Yet another great advantage of using printed balloons as a corporate advertising tool is the price. No matter what condition the overall economy may be in, companies are continually looking for the most cost-effective ways to promote themselves, and printed balloons are certainly one of these methods. For a relativelylow price you can get hold of a good range of balloons, all printed with your bespoke message.

It is very important to note that employing a 100 percent balloon-based treatment as your marketing plan will not always bring the results you are seeking. It is a great deal better to use printed balloons as a single part of your advertising plan.

I have been told that B-Loony is No.1 for Balloon Advertising, Printing, Accessories, Wholesale Balloons & Events and viewing the web page has given me useful information about balloon printing.

Balloon printing options

There are two main types of balloon that can be printed on; latex balloons and foil balloons.

Latex balloons are the most common type of balloon. They are the teardrop shaped balloons that are somewhat rubbery in texture. They nowadays come in a broad range of colour possibilities, and you can actually get balloons that are semi-transparent or have a metallic surface finish.

Foil balloons are in fact made from mylar, and instead of being formed of one single piece of material they are more commonly made by sealing two independent pieces together. This hemming process allows for a wide range of different shapes, including stars and hearts.

The environmental impact

Balloons are a consumable product, and as such people are often concerned about the effect they have upon the environment. The good news is that balloons are in fact quite an eco friendly product and using them will not have a detrimental effect on the planet. Many studies have been carried out that support this view.

Latex balloons are made of a substance called natural rubber latex (NRL) which is gathered from trees in tropical areas. The trees are merely tapped for their rubber rather than chopped down, and the cultivation of rubber tree plantations actually helps to prevent rainforest deforestation.
They are also biodegradable and can actually be used on the compost heap! Latex balloons will decay at different speeds according to the circumstances they are left in, though testing has demonstrated that they will usually decompose completely within 6 months.

Get your own printed balloons

Hopefully this article will have highlighted a few of the situations that printed balloons are well suited to, and perhaps you are already thinking about an upcoming occasion where balloons would make a great party piece. Whether it is a personal or work-based function, they are certainly worth thinking about.

If you would like to find out more about getting your own customised printed balloons, there are many companies that are now providing balloon printing as a service. By searching on-line you will be able to locate a balloon printing company that can help you out.

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