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CarolAnn Bailey-Lloyd asked:




Find Acupuncture Academy Programs in the United States and Canada. If you haven’t yet reviewed all the academic programs offered at an acupuncture academy, you might be pleasantly surprised to discover the diverse educational options that are available to you. Whether you choose to pursue degree or certificate programs, an acupuncture academy often provides both; in addition to continuing education and even community education workshops and seminars.

Before you apply to a Master of Science in acupuncture and Oriental medicine degree program at an acupuncture academy, be certain to review course prerequisites. Frequently, acupuncture and Oriental medicine schools require a fair amount of educational studies prior to entry; usually a four-year degree from an accredited school or university.

Once you’ve met all necessary educational requirements, and have enrolled in the acupuncture academy of your choice, be prepared to dedicate three to four years to a Master’s degree program. In this particular course of study, students learn about anatomy, microbiology, pathology, and physiology; Western medical terminology, as well as Chinese medical terminology; Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) theory, meridians, acupuncture, Chinese herbology, TCM diagnostics, Tai Chi, Qi gong and Chinese herbal formulation, among other subject matter.

An acupuncture academy sometimes offers various certificate and/or diploma programs as well. For example, if you like the idea of practicing Oriental medicine therapies but don’t have the time to complete an extended educational program, then enrolling in a Tuina (Chinese medical massage) certificate program at an acupuncture academy may be ideal for you. Depending on the acupuncture academy in which you enroll, training hours may vary but are commonly comprised of practical training in anatomy and physiology, TCM theories and pathology, meridian points, Tuina and acupressure, among other relevant studies.

An acupuncture academy frequently extends Chinese medicine continuing education programs, as well as open seminars and workshops. For instance, community programs are open to the public and generally include classes in self-healing techniques and methods like Tai Chi and Qigong. Additional introductory classes may entail Shiatsu, home herbal remedies, and more.

Overall, an acupuncture academy offers future Oriental medicine practitioners excellent educational opportunities to effectively help patients with natural and complementary medicine techniques and therapies. Whether one chooses to pursue a career as a licensed acupuncturist or an Oriental medicine body worker, an acupuncture academy can assist you in achieving professional success in your natural healthcare service endeavors.

If you (or someone you know) are interested in finding acupuncture academy programs let professional training within fast-growing industries like massage therapy, cosmetology, acupuncture, oriental medicine, Reiki, and others get you started! Explore career school programs near you.

Acupuncture Academy: Oriental Medicine Training Today
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Zul Wafiy asked:




If you are getting bored with your typical front yard that normally would be patch of grass, a mailbox and garden flag. Just open your mind and with a small creativity, there are numerous front yard landscaping ideas can be applied. Following are three simple ideas for your front yard landscaping which may make your neighbors envy about.

Create visually pleasant displays

The first front yard landscaping ideas will be creating a fun place in your front yard. The idea here is to add stimulating objects that can attract the wildlife such as birds and butterflies visiting your front garden naturally. These can be done by adding a bird house or bird bath and planting shrubs and flowers. Naturally, all those beautiful and attractive insects will fly around of your front yard landscape. A good example is by placing the bird bath in your yard and plants those colorful arrays of flowers around the base.

Create sitting area or space

The appreciation of having a sitting space in your front yard creates a wonderful place to interact with neighbors, watch the daily happenings on your street or better still watching your kids while they play.

You can start creating a little sitting space in your garden by placing a bench under a tree or under small shed. With little creativity, create some sort of isolated space or borders around this small area by surrounding it with different types of flowers and shrubs. Adding a few potted plants also a fantastic way can sine it give you option so that you can change the plants anytime and anyway you like.

Mixing Perennials plants and Annuals plants

The third front yard landscaping ideas is by mixing the perennials plants with the annuals plants. Perennials bloom year after year and can be propagated by division, making them an inexpensive way to add to your front yard landscape, and they are relatively maintenance free. Perennials tend to bloom in succession, so you always have something blooming in your yard.

Annuals on the other hand give a continuous burst of color in your front yard, but they only last one season. They aren’t that expensive, so it isn’t hard to plant them each spring. Because they only last one season, they are wonderful for people who like to try new things each year. By having a mix of perennials and annuals in your front yard, you get the best of both worlds.

Keith Allen asked:




The Academy at Ivy Ridge has recently started to allow students the privilege to use computerbased learning, on a program known as SWITCHED-ON-SCHOOL (S.O.S.). It had been available for only half of the Facility but now, for the past few months all of the students have access to accelerated progress in academics. I have been benefiting from S.O.S. in such a way that I am already half way through the 10th grade. When I started the S.O.S. program, I was just beginning 10th gradecourse work. I am now working at a pace where I will reach the goal of completing at least 11th grade within the next four months. In addition to a speedy progression I’ve had on the computers, it has also had an impact in my decreased stress level because I donʼt worry about facing my academic track. I wonʼt struggle to barely pass it each week. I know I will reach my goals of tests passed in the very beginning of the week. This is remarkable improvement for me. Having the privilege to use S.O.S computer based learning has allowed me to have the confidence in my ability to complete High School.

If I had not come to the Program and been introduced to such a curriculum, I probably would have dropped out of school. I know while accomplishing school in textbooks here, I did not always have the attention span to stay on task all day. The new computer programs make staying on track not only easy, but also enjoyable. I look forward to doing school now as opposed to my attitude prior to S.O.S. I am very grateful for the opportunity and privilege I have at the Academy at Ivy Ridge.

Tim Bock asked:




For sport enthusiasts and occasional sport lovers out there, there are quite a few chain sporting good stores to choose from in order to get what one needs to engage in their favorite pastime. One such chain store is the Academy Sports and Outdoors store and there are many great reasons to shop at this particular store for all of one’s sporting needs.

One reason to visit Academy Sports and Outdoors in person or online is due to the large array of sporting good items which they sell. No matter what one may be interested in with regard to sports, Academy Sports and Outdoors is sure to carry items relating to that particular sport. From golf to basketball and everything in between, individuals looking for sporting goods and apparel are sure to find exactly what they want at Academy Sports and Outdoors.

Another reason to do all of one’s sport-related shopping at Academy Sports and Outdoors is for the great sales which go on almost on a continual basis. This store advertises sales for many different items throughout the year. No matter if one is looking for clothing, shoes or sporting equipment, they are sure to find a sale item relating to their desired topic.

Lastly, shopping at an Academy Sports and Outdoors store will provide many options for the sport lovers to consider when shopping with a particular sport in mind. This store offers many different brands of clothing, footwear and equipment within each category of sport. For example, one may find a number of basketball shoes available at Academy Sports and Outdoors such as Nike, Addidas and New Balance, to name a few.

If one is looking to purchase sporting goods items for themselves or to purchase as a gift for others, visiting an Academy Sports and Outdoors store either in person or online might just be the best way to go.

Steve Schulman asked:




Ever get stressed out deciding where to go on vacation? Kind of ridiculous, isn’t it? After all, you’re getting away from work.

Vacations are supposed to be fun and stress free. But sometimes the planning can be a bear.

So, for your next vacation consider taking a cruise.

It’s simple. Sort of like one-stop-shopping.You’ll get to go to several locations, and not be stuck in one place.You won’t have to drive or deal with a lot of airports.You can kick back and relax while the captain and the crew are taking care of the transportation.You have a lot fewer choices to make. And most of them will be about what to eat.Your plan every day is to relax and have fun.


Simple.

And your cruise vacation is a lot more than just a trip. It’s something you will fondly remember for the rest of your life.

When you decide to take a cruise you still have a couple of choices to make.

What kind of cruise do you want?

A simple choice to make is the type of cruise you want to take. Among your choices are

Luxury cruisesBargain cruisesFamily cruise vacationsCruises for single people


Where do you want to go?

This is not such a tough decision because when you go on a cruise you are usually choosing more than one location.

One of the great things about cruises is that most stop at several ports along their routes.

A Mediterranean cruise could stop in Italy and in Greece.A Caribbean cruise will probably stop at different islands.A Mexican cruise usually stops at a couple of ports.An Alaska cruise vacation could be through the glacier waters of Glacier Bay, Prince William Sound or the waters of Kenai Fjords. Interior cruises could stop at multiple locations in the Yukon territory.


What should you pack?

The one thing you’ll probably want to spend some time on is packing.

Because you’re going to so many different locations you might need to prepare for different climates.

And there are usually some special events on most cruises.

For example, there’s often a Captain’s Ball, so you might want to pack more formal clothing for it.


You’re going to need some documents.

Once you put these together you’ll be able to take many of them on future cruises.

You might need your:

VisaPassportMedical historyInsuranceEmergency numbersTraveler’s checks


Depending on where you travel, the climate may vary. So be sure to search the internet for projected temperatures and weather conditions for where you’re going so you can be properly prepared.

Also, look into the activities aboard the ship to see if you’ll need anything special.

A lot of cruises have dress codes for dinner where they might require a pair of slacks or a pretty sundress. When you’re prepared you will enjoy your blissful time away even more.

The most memorable of experiences

Aside from being able to visit a lot of incredible destinations and being able to truly relax during your vacation, you should contemplate taking a cruise for one simple reason.

It will be one of the most amazing experiences you can have and it will be one you will cherish for the rest of your life.

Britney Simpson asked:


Animation and CGI in Documentary films

Things have come a long way since “Walking with Dinosaurs”. 3d animation, motion graphics, CGI and visual effects are now a regular part of many documentary films. As well as historical reconstructions and informational motion graphics, computer animation and CGI is now routinely used in almost any situation where shot footage isn’t available.

What’s more, costs have come down and quality of visual effects has gone up in recent years, so even a documentary film with a modest budget can now afford to use compelling and stylish computer graphic animations.

But as a documentary filmmaker, how do you go about adding visual effects and 3d animation to your productions?

Motion graphics and animation tips

Don’t be afraid to approach a video animation design or visual effects artist early on in your production. They’ll be able to let you know immediately what’s possible and how to get your animation done in the most effective way.

Give your animators as much detail as you’ve got -. 3d animation studios are used to doing research, but if you can give them access to your research, experts or helpful interviewees, you’ll get a much more unified view of the subject.

Use animation shots that tell a story: animated sequences and visual effects shots tend to be some of the more expensive shots in your production, so choose them well. Nobody likes re-using shots, but with an impressive 3d animation for example, it often works well. If you have several visual effects shots that work together to tell a story, using them separately earlier on in the documentary can increase their impact.

Types of visual effects and 3d animations in documentary films

Explanation graphics: Motion graphics are a great way to explain a complex idea or present information, if shot video footage can’t do it. These can be 2d or 3d animated graphic representations and often include text, but equally consider presenting them as cartoon animations or sequences with animated characters. Whatever the style of your piece, the animation can fit in with it.

Animation for colour shots: Colour shots are general cut-aways that can be used almost anywhere you need them. They’re purposely generic but relevant. A 20 second 3d animation in which the camera rushes through the bloodstream of a patient as blood cells fly past can be used pretty much anywhere in a medical documentary without looking out of place. A couple of colour animations of this kind can save your skin in the edit when you run end up with more narration than shot footage.

Visual effects reconstructions: animated reconstructions are often the “hero” shots of a documentary. If you don’t have the footage of the most important events or moments in your documentary film, an animated reconstruction is often the way to go.

Title animations: An animated title sequence is a good way to open your documentary, and it will set the tone for your entire documentary film, so it’s worth dedicating a little time to making sure that tone is spot on for the style and content of what comes after.

How to reduce your documentary film’s motion graphics costs

The quickest way to reduce cost is to talk to the 3d animator or visual effects studio about how the production can be simplified without affecting its overall look. For example, to animate a camera flying through a static model takes a lot less time (possibly weeks less) than animating every detail of the model itself.

What if I really can’t afford animation and visual effects?

Go graphical: Reconstructing the siege of Troy with every soldier animated in authentic detail is going to be a big job. But animating the strategic turning points of the siege replacing battalions with chess piece style graphics on a stylised representation of the battlefield is within the budget of most productions. Thinking of a stylised motion graphics look rather than a realistic 3d animated one will you’re your documentary film tonnes of cash. Going for still illustrations rather than motion graphics will save still more.

Rashel Dan asked:




So you got fascinated with hovercrafts and how it works. Next thing you knew you’re into designing a plan of your own. The only thing is that you don’t know how or where to begin. Building a hovercraft is a neat project to do. Not only is it fun, it’s a learning process too. Especially if you plan to do this at home, you must start with a nicely prepared homemade hovercraft plan.

Any design plan tells you that there are principles applied to it. A homemade hovercraft plan must also follow this general rule of thumb. How a hovercraft works is simply by air cushion pressurized below a platform. That’s how simple the concept is. Assuming that it’s already floating, you need to put some additional power to thrust it forward. And of course, an improvised way to steer your homemade vessel should complete the design concept.

Ready to go hovercrafts can be expensive. So, many prefers to build their own at home. Also, some hovercraft stores would sell a design kit instead. It’s cheaper and it’s fun. Your homemade hovercraft plan should be something like this - a design kit.

Your homemade hovercraft plan should have the following items:

1. Specifications for your fanning system. A vacuum cleaner or any gadget that can create air pressure such as a leaf blower can be an example to use. You will use this little machine to allow air flow. You may use improvised conduit type materials to control the direction of air. The objective is to send the flow of air below the platform.

2. So next thing you need to include in your homemade hovercraft plan is the platform. This is because of two reasons. You need it to ride in to and you need a surface area to distribute the air coming from the fanning system. An improvised version can be made out of plywood or hard foam or fiberglass. As long as it can carry your weight and is not too heavy for the pressurized air you will create for cushion.

3. Include the flexible skirt. All hovercrafts have this. This is used to hold and limit the air beneath the platform. The effect will create the air cushion and therefore provides the lift for your vessel. In your homemade hovercraft plan, you may use heavy and thick plastic sheets. This is skirted around the platform. Specifically sized holes will be bored into the platform for air flow passage. A hovercraft cannot be a hovercraft without a skirt.

4. The last part of your design should be the propeller system. If you have available equipment that can generate air pressure strong enough to exert air cushion and thrust for your hovercraft, use it. Label the specifications in your homemade hovercraft plan as to how this should be installed. Include the steering system as well. A simple steering for your homebuilt vessel is that of two handle bars that you can maneuver by pulling each. This should be connected to a rudder system behind the propeller.

When all of these items are in your design, you should be ready to go. Just don’t forget to put them all in your homemade hovercraft plan. Make sure it’s easy to understand. Then you’re done, start building the plan. If your plan works and works really well, you can even earn extra by selling your plan yourself.

Michael Baker asked:




Does your double chin bug you? Is your self esteem affected by your double chin? Are you always thinking about double chin removal? Are you getting impatient and cant find the right solution to your problem? I am about to tell you of some great chin exercises that will help you in your double chin removal efforts.

First of all, we need to know the reason why you have a double chin. It usually happens when the skin in our necks becomes loose and starts sagging forming an extra, or even worse, two additional chins. The more the skin sags in the jawline the more prominent the double chin will become.

Getting rid of double chin is easy. Obviously we all know that plastic surgery can take care of the problem, but before going to a doctor, we can do some exercises to get rid out of our double chin. These are double chin exercises:

Keep in mind that reducing a double chin, may not be the only problem. There may be a weight problem and you may need to lose some weight to really benefit from these work outs. You need to watch what you eat and follow other weight reduction techniques too.

While going to sleep, tilt your head over the pillow to such an extent that it stretches your neck and throat muscles. The muscles which we are working are the ‘Platysma’ muscle group. You need to feel those muscles tighten. At first, you might have some trouble sleeping in this posture, but gradually you will get accustomed with sleeping your neck a bit.

Sit on an armless chair, hold both sides. Now lean forward as far as you can. Open your mouth wide, stick your tongue out as far as possible. Hold this for 5-10 seconds. Now relax for a minute. Repeat this exercise 5 times in a row. You can do this two to three times a day.

Press the palms of your hands on your forehead. Gently press. Apply some resistance with your head and neck muscles. Hold this posture for 10-15 seconds. Sense that your face and neck muscles go tight. Gradually release the pressure. Relax for a minute. Once more do the same exercise after placing your palms over the back of your scalp, then both the sides cupping your ears with your palms. Repeat the procedure for 5 times in a row. Do the whole sequence two to three times a day.

Double chin removal is not something that can be done in a crash course. You need to be patient and wait for the chin exercises to work.

RivkyShimon asked:


A discussion recently about conducting successful workshops led me to believe that very few people have the answers. It is ironic that the very people who are supposed to have all the answers, people conducting workshops, don’t really know how to capture and captivate an audience. It’s a shame that most people are being attracted to the more alluring and energetic voice, one that may not necessarily have the correct answer.

We’ve seen them on television and businesses hire them as motivational speakers, because that’s really all they do. They transfer their high energy to you and make you want to jump out of your seat and go get something done. But what it is that you want to do, you don’t even know yet. You don’t have the answer to that one. You’re just a ball of energy ready to explode and make things happen, but you don’t have a cause.

We’ve seen the other too. We’ve seen the guy who knows what you need to do and how to do it. He’s the hired training officer for your company who reads through all of the directives and puts them into a language that you and your fellow workers can understand. He’s the guy who can help you get further ahead in life and really succeed at what you do, but you fall asleep in his training sessions because he never learned how to deliver his information with as much as enthusiasm as the expert public speaker who comes at a high price.

Workshops don’t need to be dog and pony shows where you literally have to do a somersault to keep your audience interested in what you are saying. But, you do need to lighten up a bit and care about your delivery. It’s not difficult at all and you don’t need a few years in college or even a college course to improve your public speaking skills. All you need are a few tips to remember. I’ve written several other articles about conducting successful workshops. And I’ll continue into the future because I feel there is a real need here.

Let’s begin with the fact that most people don’t feel comfortable speaking to a group no matter how small it might be. This leads to a level of anxiety. It’s understandable so acknowledge that you are going to be nervous and then, work toward getting over it. Tip #1 then is to take as much thinking as you can out of conducting your workshop.

The more that is in place beforehand, the more you have rehearsed and prepared, the less you have to think while conducting your workshop. Have a list of key points that you want to deliver. Have them readily available while you are conducting your workshop, so that you can refer to them any time you need them. For each key point, know what you want to say about it. Go over those explanations several times until you almost know them like the back of your hand. Now, as you move through your workshop point by point, you only need to refer to your notes for the key points. But, you’ll be able to talk in an informal language that is more inviting to the listener.

Eliminate repetitious wording. Important concepts should be repeated purposefully. The rule of thumb is that anything important enough for an audience member to remember should be repeated three times. Three times and three times only. Make it a consistent practice throughout your workshop so that your audience can get into a rhythm with it. But, saying a certain word over and over out of nervousness can be eliminated easily by knowing exactly what you mean to say before you say it. Successful public speaking is the transfer of important information in deliberate terms. Deliberately say and deliberately mean what you say. It builds the audience’s confidence in you that you know what you’re talking about. You are the voice of authority!

Allow questions to drive your workshop. If any question asked by a member of your audience is covered later in your workshop, simply say so and let your audience know that you will cover that in a few short moments. But if it is time that you hit on that point being questioned, it is a good gauge for your audience’s interest. Keeping the workshop interactive keeps it alive and helps you stay on cue. Answer a question, explain it in deliberate terms, take your time and think through everything you mean to say. Learn the art of beginning, explaining and wrapping up a point patiently, but efficiently.

If you follow these points and others that I already have and will continue to write about, you will be able to conduct a great workshop. My art workshop students learning to become art workshop teachers of their own practice these and several other skills. I’m literally proud of my students when I see them using the skills I have taught them. But the more important thing is watching the attendants react. When you see them interested and you see them captivated throughout the entire workshop, that’s when your workshop gives life back to you!

Isaac Cheung asked:


Remember the transporter of the StarTrek? Captain Kirk and his team could beam themselves to any place without the need of driving a spaceship. Although this process of dematerialization and rematerialization was a fictional concept, we find it very useful in transporting a disc; be the disc a CD or DVD.

Similar to the transporter of the StarTrek, our goal is to make an exact replica of the disc from point A to point B without the need of physically sending it. Disc image makes this possible. At point A one puts the disc into a disc drive, with the help of software the disc drive reads the content of the disc and the software packages the content with the instructions on how to re-construct the disc. The result of this process is a computer file called disc image which can be sent to point B via the Internet. At point B when the disc image is received and with the help of the same or compatible software, a disc can be created by the software following the instruction stored in the disc image.

In StarTrek they used the term “transporter accident” to describe the case when a person or object was not rematerialized correctly. In the case of disc imaging, let’s define transporter accident as the case when the reconstructed disc is not exactly the same as the source disc. It is the purpose of this article to explain how to use disc image correctly to avoid transporter accidents.

Disc image transporter accidents occur in three ways, i.e. during construction, during transmission and during reconstruction. There are ways to minimize the possibility of these accidents from happening.

Transporter accidents during construction

Although the process of making a disc image is simple, i.e. read the disc and then package the data in a standard format that can be understood by the re-construction software. In most case, though not necessary, the construction software will be the same as the re-construction software. For example, you can create a NERO image file using NERO, upload the file to an FTP site, and the file is then downloaded to create a physical disc using NERO again.

The chance of reading error can be minimized by using a good CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive. If the source disc is not physically damaged, error correction from the operating system or CD burning software can make the reading pretty reliable. When you get the message saying “Image successfully created” you probably think nothing can go wrong. But wait! There is still one big problem. What if the CD/DVD drive cannot read certain information on the disc? For example, CD+Text and CD+G.

Without going into the detail data structure of a specific format, we just want to warn you that there is hidden information on many discs that will not be read either because the software ignores it or the disc drive cannot read it. To avoid the software ignore such information, make sure to select the necessary options so that whole disc is read. For example when you use NERO to copy an audio CD, make sure to check

1, Read sectors in raw mode -> Read all sub-channel data

2. Read indexes of audio data -> Read all sub-channel data

3. Read Media Catalog Number and ISRC (slow)

Fail to do so will result in a disc image that might not represent the original disc. But even this is done you have only solved half of the problem. If your disc drive is incapable of reading sub-channel data then all these efforts are useless. To assure your disc drive can read sub-channel data, use drive probing tool such as NERO InfoTool. The picture here shows the capability of a Pioneer DVR-112D.

From the picture you can see the drive is capable of reading –Text sub-channel data. If you use this drive to create a disc image, say a NERO image, the –Text sub-channel data will be embedded into the disc image file. But from the picture you can also see the drive is incapable of writing sub-channel data. It is obvious that sub-channel data will be lost if you use the just created image to reconstruct the disc.

Transporter accidents during transmission

Once you have created a disc image, let say 650MB for a fully-loaded audio CD or 4.7GB for a fully-loaded DVD-5, your first instinct is to send this disc image file to your recipient through the Internet. But how? Sending by email as an attachment? FTP to a server?

We can pretty much rule out the email as attachment option unless the image file is within a manageable order of magnitude. Sending a 10MB file through email might be filtered by a mail server, not to mention a 650MB file. So sending through email is a feasible but impractical option. FTP seems to be a good option but it is error prone. Why? Most FTP server might time you out when you try to upload a big file. It is very normal after uploading 600MB with 10MB more to go and you get the notorious “Connection closed by client” error. Unfortunately unlike downloading the broken transfers can be resumed, a failed uploading is dead, period. Even if the whole image file is successfully uploaded, there is still a pitfall. If the image file is uploaded using ASCII mode then the reconstruction will fail for sure. By default most FTP programs use ASCII mode for file extensions that are unknown to them. Common file extension such as .exe, .zip, .rar, and .dll are known to be binary and will be uploaded in binary mode. But file extensions such as .iso, .nrg, .dmg, and .toast maybe unknown to some FTP program and will be transmitted in ASCII mode while the data itself is binary. This unintended data translation contributes to most transporter accidents.

Transporter accidents during reconstruction

Assume the recipient gets the same disc image as the sender has sent, reconstruction should be a snap right? Unfortunately that’s far from the case. The problem is more complicated then the accidents during transmission which can be easily corrected with the suggestions given later.

The causes of not being able to re-construct the same original disc can be many. The problem is complicated by the matrix of the physical disc formats and the disc image formats. For the physical disc formats we have Audio CD, CD Extra, Mixed Mode, ISO 9660, Apple HFS, Apple HFS+, DVD-ROM, DVD-Video, HD-DVD, Blu-ray, etc. For the disc image formats we have ISO, NERO, UDF, DMG, TOAST, BIN/CUE, DDP, etc.

Possible problems are:

1. The disc image file does not include all the information.

This can be hardware problem as mentioned above in the “Transporter accident during construction,” or software problem because such information is ignored.

2. The re-construction software is incapable of deciphering all the information

3. The writer is incapable of writing all the information, as shown in the previous picture that sub-channel data cannot be written for Pioneer DVR-112D.

Suggested Solutions

The only way to avoid transporter accidents during construction and re-construction is to get the right combination of hardware and software. Your disc drive has to be able to read and write sub-channcl data. Otherwise there is very high chance the disc created from the disc image will not be same as the master. Not all software is capable of reading and writing sub-channel data either. Make sure to check the datasheet when you purchase your disc burning software.

A tested and verified combination is to use Plextor 712SA as the disc drive, Gear Mastering Pro as the construction and re-construction software, and DDP file format as the disc image. In this combination, you should have the peace of mind that the destination disc will be the same as the original disc.

Solutions to Transporter accidents during transmission

We have derived a practical solution for sending a disc image. The steps are very simple but they eliminate the transporter accidents gracefully. In one statement: “Zip and Split .”

By zipping the file we assure the FTP program will upload the disc image in binary mode. By splitting the file we assure a more reliable upload. For example you might have a disc image of 600MB. By zipping it the final file size might be shrunk to 400MB. If you split the file into 10 x 40MB files and when there is an uploading error, you just need to re-upload the one or two failed file. Uploading a 40MB file is much more reliable then uploading a 400MB file.

Programs such as Winzip and WinRar allow the compressing and splitting of files. By putting all the split files into a single directory, the recipient can re-build the original image file by double-clicking on anyone of the .zip or .rar file.

Conclusions

Please don’t be deterred from using disc image as disc master for replication.

Although transporter accidents in StarTrek could be fatal and a person could die from it, transporter accident for disc imaging is normally more tolerant. You don’t even know it’s there in most cases because the accident usually would not affect the main function of the disc, except in the case of CD+G. NERO image for DVD-Video is known for its alternation of the VOB file data structure. But this seldom affects the quality and functionality of the disc created. If you are sending a disc image for CD-ROM or DVD-ROM you can pretty much forget about transporter accident because the chance for discrepancy is statistically small to be neglected. You should care about transporter accident for Audio CD only when you have ISRC codes and CD-Text.

Since “zip and split” eliminates transportation accident during transmission, it is very safe to use disc image as master for your disc replication project.