Students Of Success

Copyright 2005 Word Count 561

“Desire is a tremendous force, and must be directed in the right
channels (to work). - Florence Scovel Shinn

Take one cup of Desire, Mix well with a heart full of Passion,
Shake in a tumbler of Willpower, Add a full cup of Thought. Stir
in a full cup of Commitment, Slowly add one heaping spoonful of
Planning, Ideas, Capital, and Fun Add to this a pinch of Faith
(about the size of a mustard seed), and stir all until well
blended. With lots of Action, you will soon start to see the
results of your Effort and Hard Work.

If your success doesn’t come true the first time, start the
recipe over again - this time with more feeling. Discovering
what you need to do to make the recipe for success work, places
you at the threshold of where you wish to be. Listen to the
voice inside of you. Trust the source that comes from a Higher
Power. He knows all of your wishes, your dreams, your ideas, and
your plans for fulfilling them. You will be guided by the wisdom
of the ages.

To do this you must start from a new point of action. Get rid of
all doubt, confusion, and fear that prevents you from succeeding
and reaching your goals. Then you will no longer react to the
negative things in your life, and will live with a purpose, and
go forth with a confidence that increases with each successful
event. Then, many of the negative and disappointing events that
happen will have no affect on you or the choices you make.

Pay attention to the guidance you receive. Your “inner ear” will
lead you to the right choice and in the right direction. If it’s
something you desire now, go for it. Fearing to make that
commitment will make you miss the opportunity - and it may just
be the opportunity of your lifetime. For the “Recipe for
Success” to work for you, you must really feel it and practice
it daily. Find something that you are committed to and make it
happen. If it’s to invent the next cure for a stubborn disease;
if it’s to build the next architectural empire; if it’s to
become more wealthy then you can ever imagine, then take that
deep desire and do everything you can to make it happen.

Feel free to change the “Recipe for Success” in any way you
wish. It’s yours to amend so that it fits your desires, your
goals, your dreams, your life. Make it important enough to
change your life. If you’re in business become aware of how you
conduct yourself with your clients, associates, employees, your
vendors and suppliers. Measure their performance based on the
way you interact and/or react to them.

If your performance is negative and critical, change it. If it’s
positive and uplifting, keep doing it. Try not to confuse or
frustrate others. Try not to let them confuse, frustrate or
anger you. Be aware of your feelings moment by moment. Do you
show anger? Doubt? Fear? Are you judgmental? How can you control
your thoughts to be positive and upbeat. Knowing how is the
first step to knowing yourself. This leads to empowerment - and
to success.

Can you do it? Can you actually take this step in faith?

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What is Video Encryption?

Video Encryption is an extremely useful method for the stopping unwanted interception and viewing of any transmitted video or other information, for example from a law enforcement video surveillance being relayed back to a central viewing centre.

The scrambling is the easy part. It is the un-encryption that’s hard, but there are several techniques that are available. However, the human eye is very good at, spotting distortions in pictures due to poor video decoding or poor choice of video scrambling hardware. Therefore, it is very important to choose the right hardware or else your video transmissions may be un-secure or your decoded video may not be watchable.

Some of the more popular techniques are detailed below:

Line Inversion:

Method: Whole or parts of the signal scan lines are inverted.
Advantages: Simple, cheap video encryption.
Disadvantages: Poor video decrypting quality, low obscurity, low security.

Sync Suppression:

Method: Hide/remove the horizontal/vertical line syncs.

Advantages: Provides a low cost solution to Encryption and provides good quality video decoding.

Disadvantages: This method is incompatible with some distribution equipment. Obscurity (i.e. how easy it is to visually decipher the image) is dependant on video content.

Line Shuffle:

Method: Each signal line is re-ordered on the screen.

Advantages: Provides a compatible video signal, a reasonable amount of obscurity, good decode quality.

Disadvantages: Requires a lot of digital storage space. There are potential issues with video stability. Less secure than the cut and rotate encryption method (see below)

Cut & Rotate:

Scrambling Method: Each scan line is cut into pieces and re-assembled in a different order.

Advantages: Provides a compatible video signal, gives an excellent amount of obscurity, as well as good decode quality and stability.

Disadvantages: Can have complex timing control and requires specialized scrambling equipment

The cut and rotate video encryption method is probably the best way of achieving reliable and good quality video encryption, an example of a good implementation of this system is in the Viewlock II

Implementing vice scrambling

The video scrambling hardware, in particular the decoder should function correctly even if there is a noisy (for example having what are commonly known as ’snow’ on the screen. ‘Snow’ is when there are flecks on your TV screen, often seen in poor reception areas) or unstable signal. If the link to the encrypted signal should stop working then this should not be a problem. The link between the video encoder and video decoder should be regained and the decryption quickly continued.

The very nature of security camera systems is that they are often outdoors as so must be able to withstand the rigours of the weather. The video encryption hardware should be stable under or protected from the effects of rain, sunlight, extreme heat and cold. It should not be damaged if there is a power spike in the supply. In these systems the video encoder emits a wireless signal to the video decoder unit before it is viewed, it obviously must be the case that the very act of broadcasting the signal does not effect the video encoding hardware and likewise the video encoding hardware should not effect the radio transmitter.

The most important item is that the video scrambling system should be secure, else why bother? It is amazing how some encryption methods can easily be cracked. For example certain cable television stations ‘encrypt’ their channel broadcasts via a relatively un complex method, which can easily be decoded using a number of cheap bits of electronics from radio shack. That would obviously be illegal! The cable TV’s method of encryption is very crude, they usually just dynamically alter the vertical sync signal so that your TV cannot get a proper lock on it and so it scrolls randomly.

The other extreme is to scramble the transmitted video signal too much so that it is costly both in equipment and time to the video at the receiver. Remember that this is a ‘live’ video scrambling broadcast followed by a ‘live’ video decryption display. ANY electronics can be copied, given enough money and time, but making this process as hard as possible is of benefit as it at least delays the time when illegal copies will be available.

Finally and most obviously each user must have a unique encryption key so that other users of the system cannot view the transmitted video by accident or purpose without the key owners knowledge. The total number of possible user keys must be such that it is highly unlikely for someone to guess the correct key.

Ovation Systems are specialists in the design and manufacture of high quality covert video surveillance equipment. Products include the Viewlock II video encryption system.

Have you decided that you are ready to finally go a head and get
married, settle down and perhaps have a family in the future? If
so you are probably very happy right now and feel like nothing
can come in the way of your happiness, right? Despite all of
this someone around you may feel like you are rushing into this
marriage a little too fast.

You should not let this cloud your joy but if you look at the
average marriage today you will see that they do not last
forever like a marriage is supposed to do. This is not to scare
you but if your family or friends have some concerns they may
have good reasons for it. If you have just gotten engaged and
already have some worries and doubts about the whole thing then
you are probably not ready for marriage yet.

The day you walk up the isle there should be no doubt in your
mind that this is forever. Of course, nothing is ever written in
stone but you need to realize that after the honeymoon is over
you will encounter some miserable and hard times in your
marriage and at times it will seem like the grass is greener on
the other side of the fence. You may not believe it now but
those times will come.

These are the times when you will find out how strong your love
is and how devoted you are to each other. Each time you manage
to get thru one of these times you will find that your love and
marriage has grown stronger. It is also during episodes like
this that a lot of marriages end and people go their separate
ways. You do not want that to happen to you, do you?

A lot of couples, when they get engaged, decide to have
pre-marriage counseling in order to learn what they can expect
being married. This can be a very good idea for many couples
before they head to the altar and some people do decide that
they are not compatable enough to enter into marriage with each
other. If nothing else at least they found out before saying, I
do.

Marriage counseling can also be good when you are going thru
hard times in your marriage, it can help both of you work out
your problems and resentments you may have built up against your
spouse. These are just a few words of advice and something to
consider before getting married. Make sure this is the one you
are willing to take both the good times and the bad.

Too many Christmas decorations and too little space?

Even the most gaily decorated cozy spaces can leave you feeling cluttered and tense during the holidays. But you can fill any room, no matter how small, with relaxing Christmas cheer if you follow three key common-sense design principles: height, light and compact size.

** Let there be height!

In your small room, tuck away the large lamps and any furniture you won’t be using until after the holidays. Opt for diminutive lamps that you can place on a mantle, a high wall shelf or atop a china cabinet. This banishes the dark corners and ceiling shadows, and makes your room look taller and wider.

Plan a ceiling-high ornamentation to draw your visitors’ eyes upward. String a lighted garland, swag-style, all around the room. Fill your top shelves with glittery collectibles, or drape them with tinsel to capture and reflect the room’s natural light.

Feeling really adventurous? Hang a small tree upside-down from the ceiling and decorate it from the top down! It’s an eye-catcher that frees up floor space and is sure to break the ice at any holiday gathering!

** Downsize and double up

In smaller rooms and homes, choose smaller-sized holiday decorations, and use them in threes, grouped by color or theme or design. Miniatures of all kinds — lightly beaded ornamental fruit, gilded globes, snow-splashed icicles — are a time-honored Christmas tradition!

Instead of pillar candles and tapers, opt for tea lights and votives, grouped in interesting displays — such as on an elegant little gilded mirror sprinkled with “snow” — for dramatic lighting effect.

Forego the wide, room-dominating Christmas tree and instead, choose a wispy, antique feather tree, made vibrant with an overall silver, cobalt and glass theme, from ornaments to tinsel!

And if one tree is good, why not three tabletop trees and miniature ornaments instead? Set off their tiny lights and reflective ornaments with a number of tiny gaily wrapped packages under each tree!

** Lighten up!

Light in any small place is good … reflective light to maximize the benefit is even better!

Banish the heavy, dark lampshades to storage for the season and use clear flame-shaped bulbs wherever you can to emit the maximum amount of light. Then enhance that light by decorating around it with reflective light:
* shimmering glass dishes filled with glass ornaments and tiny silver bells
* a silver three-tiered cake tray filled with a dozen glowing tea lights
* crystal wine glasses or punch cups glistening with silver and gold tinsel

* a set of three white taper candles on a plain vanity mirror, surrounded by half a dozen glittered pine cones

* a crystal punch bowl trimmed with tiny twinkle lights
* a brightly burnished copper teapot set amidst a set of three golden votives.

Buy a big box of inexpensive plain glass or plastic globe ornaments and be creative with glitter, sequins and iridescent beads!

Compact doesn’t have to mean crowded. With a little imagination, you can stretch your decorating dollar to make your small space look luminously larger!

Enjoy!

Kate Sheridan is a Michigan freelance writer, photographer and homesteader whose writings on the fun and foibles of country living may be found at http://www.gardenandhearth.com/RuralLiving.htm.