First off, a snooker table is a cue sport similair to billiards or pool.  Snooker is played on a 12 ft by 6 ft table which is 3.6m by 1.8m.  Snooker is played with a cue, a (white) cue ball, 15 red balls and the colored (Coloured since it’s a UK game) snooker balls.  While red balls are worth one point per ball, each of the colored balls has a different value assigned to it. The points scores go as follows;

How to Play Snooker - How to Position Snooker Balls

• Red – 1 Point
• Yellow – 2 Points
• Green – 3 Points
• Brown – 4 Points
• Blue – 5 Points
• Pink – 6 Points
• Black – 7 Points

These balls must be positioned on to the table as shown in the image on teh right.

So how exactly do you play snooker?

Snooker is more than spots and stripes, the basic rules are however very simple.

• You may keep going until you do not pot a ball,each play of this kind is called a ‘break’
• You must pot a red before you can pot a color, if you pot a color after a red, you must pot another red before you can pot another color.
• You can pot the colors in any order, you should aim for the highest points.
• After each color is potted it is replaced on the table, until all the reds have been potted.
• Once all the reds have been potted, then you have to pot teh colors in order, from lowest first!
• If you commit a foul you will lose points.

The points you lose on fouls in snooker can be caused under several circumstances.  The minimum you can lose is 4 points, however you can lose more if you pot a ball of a higher value (You will lose the value of the ball). To summarise

• White Ball Pot = 4 Point Penalty
• 60 second timelimit exceeded = 4 Point Penalty
• If the white hits the wrong ball = Value of the ball
• If the wrong ball is potted first, then the value of this ball.

Unlike snooker, after a foul has been committed, the opposing player can play the ball where it is, or pass the shot and let the offending player take the shot again.  This is to prevent ‘tap shots’ whena  player is snookered

And there you have it, the basics on how to play snooker!

I feel as if I should warn you however, learning how to play snooker is not as easy as learning the rules.  Snooker is an incrediblely difficult sport to become good at, and while many people spend years playing, they fail how to learn snooker!

How to Cool Overheating Laptop

Thousands of people go out and buy the latest high tech laptops only to find that after six months they begin to suffer speed degradation, errors, and even a broken laptop.  It does not take much to notice that laptops with high speed components become incredibly hot within minutes of start up.  This heat can cause huge problems with your laptop, and this is why it is important for you to know how to keep your laptop cool.

When you need to prevent your laptop from overheating there are two simple things you should consider.  Both of these will cool your laptop to some extent, but one is far more effective than the other.  Of course if your laptop is suffering from extreme overheating, take it to a laptop repair shop, or the dealer if still under warranty.

How To Cool a Laptop

Step One

An easy way to gain a temporarily cooler laptop is to use a can of compressed air to clean out the insides of your laptop.  Doing this will dislodge dirt which can clog up fans and heat sinks inside your laptop.

While this is only a temporary solution, it can be highly effective, as laptop overheating is often caused by clogged heat sinks, which can no longer radiate heat in to your laptop airflow as efficiently as expected.

Step Two

Purchasing a laptop cooler can be a great way to keep your laptop cool.  By using a laptop cooler you will massively reduce the amount of heat your laptop produces, preventing component damage and loss of data.  There is a fantastic list of the Top Ten Laptop Coolers Here, all of which can help you keep your laptop cool for less than $60.

Laptop coolers generally range in price according to their effectiveness. You can get a simple laptop cooler for $10.  However if you are suffering from major laptop heat problems you may have to invest between $40 and $70 to get a significant drop in laptop temperature.  Laptop coolers are generally lightweight and portable, they will work on USB power, so there are no problems when you are on the move, and since they are solid metal, they are sturdy.

The problem with using your laptop cooler on the move is that since they are USB powered, you may notice a faster drop in your laptops battery.  Compare this to the inconvenience of losing all your data however, and you should have a clear winner.

How to Keep Your Laptop Cool Conclusion

All in all I hope you found this article on how to keep your laptop cool useful.  Laptop coolers are generally the best way to prevent heat damage to your laptop, though they do reduce the portability.  Using air cleaners can be a good temporary measure, but remember that it will only be temporary, and will not do much good if an internal fan has failed!

How to Boil an Egg

Boiling an egg may seem like a simple thing, but many people have never actually done it!

Fortunately we are here to tell you how to boil an egg!

First off, you must fill the pan with water till it is around 1 inch higher than an egg.

Put your eggs then bring to the boil. Once the water is boiling, lower the heat to allow the eggs to simmer.

If you like your eggs soft boiled, leave the eggs in for 2 to 3 minutes.

If you like hard boiled eggs then you need to leave the eggs to simmer for 10 to 15 minutes.  This will give the egg a firm inside for those of you who don’t like the soft yolk!

Remove the egg and allow to cool for a minute or two before serving!

And there you have it, you have learnt how to boil an egg with our how to boil an egg guide!

How to Read Body Language

Reading body language is an incredibly useful tool to have at your disposal.  Unfortunately It can be a huge subject to cover.  Despite this there are some very simple basics you can learn how to read body language.

These simple basics on how to read body language can come in incredibly useful. Whether you are in the office, home,closing a business deal, or even playing poker, you can always gain an upper hand!

The pro’s at reading body language will be able to look for hundreds of telltale signs, however on top of this they also learn to control their own emotions! Learning how to read body language to this level can take a lot of time, fortunately there are four basics that anyone can learn!

Reading Body Language from the Eyes

The eyes are one of the key tells of a persons thoughts and emotions.  Everyone learns the pure basics, crying can mean extreme happiness or sadness, drooping eyelids can mean tiredness, and so on.  There ar however a few more intricate things you need to look at to read what someone is thinking from their body language.

If a person looks up then it often signals that they are imagining something, this is a very common phenomena, if it drifts to the side then they are generally thinking of something other than the conversation.  This does not necessarily mean people are bored, or not listening to you, many people will hold a conversation with interest, but still be able to think about another subject entirely.

Looking down is often a sign of sadness, or physical memory, because eyes look up for imagination and down for physical memory you can tell a persons viewpoint on life by their eyes.  Where as looking up is a sign of imagination looking down can often be a look back at the past.  Some people naturally look downwards, it is important not to confuse this with a sadness or drifting thought.

Looking downwards can often be a sign of submission, towards a more dominant person.  It is this sign of submission that is a tell tale sign of someone who is lying.

Drifting sideways can mean several things, from a loss of interest, looking for a way to escape.  A quick glance can mean several things, since direct eye contact can be considered confrontational it is natural to glance away several times a minute.  However a sharp glance can often mean irritation.

An interesting fact of eye movement is that in most cases right handed people eyes look left is when they recall a sound, looking right is when they are imagining a sound.  This is reversed for left handed people. If you know the persons good hand you can often tell if people are making up a story, or telling someone else’s story instead of telling a true story that happened to them.

Regular shifting of eyes left and right can mean three basic things, that they are lying, searching for an escape or feel uncomfortable.  Some people are naturally uncomfortable in social situations so always subconsciously look for an escape. Habitual liars however often look around for on the spot inspiration!

Blinking more often shows an increase in brain activity, and while this does not occur in everyone, it is a tell often used in poker to determine the strength of a players hand.

A person closing their eyes is trying to shut out the world around them, this can signify boredom, fear, hate, or uncomfortableness. However people with active imaginations often close their eyes for short periods as they imagine what is on their mind!

Pupil Size can tell you a lot of things, when you learn how to read body language you can read books full of information on this.  A shrinking pupil can signify amazement of shock.  An enlarged pupil can often mean attraction or interest, remember however that light and darkness will also affect the size of your pupils.

Reading Body Language from the Hands

The hands can tell quite a lot about a persons overall attitude to life.  Constantly moving hands show a heavily active imagination, hands in pockets can show a subdued demeanour.

The hands have a lot to say, however it is hard to categorize them all.  The best part of the body language concerning your hands is how naturally you can read touches.  A strong pat on the back is a friendly gesture, a stroke down the back can be romantic and a slap around the face, well pretty much says it all!

Hands can comfort, care, and hurt, but they can also lie.  A friendly pat on the back could be done by a person who does not care at all.  The body language of the hands is the most often faked, whether consciously or not!

Telling Body Language from the Hips and Legs

The hips control the direction of the body, if the hips move forward then it straightens your body, when the hips sink in it it lets the body slouch.  Hips forward gives a huge image of personal power and importance.

The position of the legs can show a persons interest in a conversation or item.  If a foot is pointing sideways it is a sure indicator that the person is subconsciously positioning themselves to move away.  This does not always mean the person is waiting to escape, some people naturally stand in this position, and indicates more a fear of social situations than boredom of a subject.

The skin gives off several signals, and if you want to learn how to read body language, it can be a great tell.  For starters sweating can help you realise if a lie is being told, and raised body hair often signifies fear (or just being cold). Te real tells of body language of the skin however come from scratches.

A scratch behind the ear generally means people don’t like what they are hearing, a scratch on the nose or mouth shows they don’t like what they are saying.  If a person scratches their arms it shows they are disliking their emotions or feelings. This is an often overlooked part of body language, but anyone who has had to listen to an awkward conversation will more than likely have seen all of these!

All of these tells can form an image of a persons inner monologue clearer than what the person speaks!  If you learn how to read body language you can gain a huge advantage in a number of ways over any conversation, debate, and dealing! psychology

How to get rid of wine stains

Whether you are at a party or dining at home, a wine stain can leave an unsightly mark. Worst of all, if you do not get rid of wine stains immediately they can permenantly stain! Fortunately we can show you how to get rid of wine stains to leave your fabric looking as new!

First off though, if your clothes are dry clean only, the best option is to take tehm straight to the dry cleaners.  There tehy have a huge array of chemicals to deal with this, without ruining your clothes!

If you wan’t to know how to get rid of wine stains on clothes that can be cleaned normally however then read on!

To get rid of wine stains then you really need to treat the clothes straight away.  Take the affected area and dab it with a paper towelto get rid of the excess wine.

Once you have dabbed off the excess your next move depends on where you are.  If you are away form home then run cold water over the stain from the back of the cloth.  This should remove most of the wine stain.  If you are at home then you may be able to do a little better with the following mixture.

Take 1 teaspoon of laundry detergent and mix it in with one cup of Hydrogen Peroxide.  Place a clean sponge in to your cleaning solution and squeeze.

Take a washcloth or several paper towels and place them between the front and back of the garment if it is in danger of spreading the stain, and lay it on a table.

Refresh the sponge with the solution and squeeze it so it is not dripping again, then dab over the stain.

Rinse the material in cold water from behind, and repeat this process if you think it is necessary!

Wash the garment as per normal, and you should be wine stain free!

I hope you enjoyed this quick guide on how to get rid of wine stains!

How to Paint a Door

After you have had a house or apartment for a while you will undoubtedly notice the door becoming scuffed and scratched.  After this gets to a certain point it is time to paint your door with a fresh coat of paint!

Painting a door is a pretty simple process, this how to paint a door guide will make things even easier though!

When you are looking at how to paint a door you have to consider the amount of damage the door has sustained.  If the door just needs refreshing with a new coat of the same colored paint, you may just be able to paint over it while it is on the hinges.  If there is more damage, you will need to unhinge the door and lay it flat.

If the door has any small gaps in you may be able to fill these with paint.  However, if you have large gaps you may need to fill these with a filler.

When you are painting the door while it is still attached the first thing you need to do is prepare.  To prepare your door for painting you must do a few basic things.

First, cover the carpet with sheets or newspaper around the door.

Secondly, tape over all the hinges and door handles with masking tape.  You do not really want to paint over these.

Finally you need to place some kind of wedge, to stop the door closing while still wet! (You can paint over this bit later)

Once you have prepared to paint your door while still hinged, you can begin! Whether you are using a roller or a paint brush, you must paint in downwards strokes.  If your door has details, do these first with a brush!  The door should be held open so you can paint the part inwards to the hinge if required, this must be a light coat of paint however!

Once this has dried you can remove your wedge and paint any spots you may have missed, then remove the masking tape and newspaper, and you are done!

If you want to know how to paint the door by taking it off the hinges then read on!

By taking the door off it’s hinges you can do a much more professional job. When you remove the door you should take off the hinges, and tape over the gaps these have left.  You should also tape over the door handle and any locks. To hold the door you should lay it down flat over a table, or sawhorse.

If the door is damaged fill in the gaps with a filler (Putty for small gaps, epoxy for large), and smooth down with sand paper.

Apply one to do coats of paint and allow to dry, if it looks close to ready you can apply the final coat.  If the door is fresh wood, then you may need to apply up to four coats of base paint to cover the scuffs and marks.

When you paint the door with a brush use long even strokes.  You can use a roller, however you may need to use a smaller brush to fill in any patterns.  You can find more details on painting in our how to paint section.

Once you have done the first side of the door you can start on the second side.  To do the second side of the door you will need to lay it down on the fresh coat of paint.  To protect the fresh paint then you should lay down a layer of newspaper and cover this with soft tissue paper.  This should stop any dents in the paint, or unsightly marks!

Hopefully these handy hints will help you learn how to paint a door!

How to Write the Perfect Invitation

It is not really something you ever think about, but writing an invitation can be a daunting task.  You have to consider a huge range of aspects to get the feel, the formality and the content of your invitation across.

In this guide on how to write the perfect invitation we won’t be going over the technical creative details, instead we will be going over the actual content that you will write in to your invitation, and how it will convey the theme of your event to the readers.

So without further ado, lets start on how to write the perfect invitation!

First things first, when you are writing the perfect invitation you have to focus both the design and the style around the event. Likewise, the content you write should vary form a dinner party and a wedding.

If you are having a formal dinner party, keep the writing fairly formal, but relax it a little in parts, to convey this will be a party.  If you are younger and having a less formal dinner party then your language should be levelled at exactly the amount of drinking you intend to happen, and whether it will be wine tasting or beer guzzling!  If you are writing a Wedding invitation then there are a whole set of rules, which will be included in our how to write a wedding invitation guide, coming soon!.

But lets consider the first thing on the invitation, how do you address an invitation to a recipient?

For a formal party you would usually use the persons prefix followed by last name, for instance

Dear Dr Anderson % Mrs Anderson

This is however not required if you are inviting a few friends over, in which case it would simply be the first names.  You can decide whether to prefix this with the word ‘dear’ at your own discrestion.

The content of your invitation is crucial. You need to look at how to write your invitation so that it conveys not only the information about the party, but gives conotations as to the feel of the event.

For example, an invitation to a casual wine tasting evening may go as follows

Dear John and Sarah,

I would like to invite you to an evenings wine tasting on the evening of the 15th of February.  We will be providing some staple wines, but would be grateful if you could bring a bottle which you have discovered since the last event.  To begin the evening we will be tasting the different wines, before settling down to a small meal, with the remaining tipple.

Note how I maintained the formal tone, but gave it a casual finish to show that this would not be a snobby event, and teh wine would be more than tasted!

After the first paragraph I could include further information on the event, and in the last paragraph I would say where it is being held.

The final section nearly always includes to things.  The first is an RSVP, especially useful if you are stocking up on food and drink beforehand. The second is the farewell.

When writing an RSVP on an invitation it is important not to come across as rude.  You can ensure this by requesting a response, and being careful not to demand one.

ie. ‘We would be grateful if you could inform us if you will be able to attend the Wine Tasting on the evening of…’

Not ‘Please RSVP’ or ‘Please inform us if you can attend the….’

This may seem obvious, but you would be surprised how many disputes have arisen because of a snobby sounding RSVP request!

When signing off your invitation you can use several methods, from ‘Yours Sincerely’ and ‘Kindest Regards’, down to ‘See You Soon!’ or ‘See you There!’

If your invitation is formal you should keep your send off as such, Yours sincerely can often seem inappropriate for an invitation, in which case Kindest/Warmest Regards makes an ideal substitute.

Follow these steps and you should have written the perfect invitation with this how to guide!

How to Make Lemonade Guide

Now the hot summer months are coming through a cold refreshing drink is pretty much essential. Lemonade is often overlooked, since it is so common, and yet I think lemonade is the perfect summer drink!

Even better, lemonade is easy to put together, and is pretty cheap as well! So check out my how to make lemonade guide!

1) First off you need to make some sugar syrup.  You can buy this in shops, but it is so easy to make yourself! All you have to do is mix equal measurements of sugar and water in to a pan then boil.  Once it has boiled simply take it off the heat and stir until all the sugar has dissolved. The sugar syrup can be stored for up to two weeks if kept in the refridgerator covered, so make enough of this to keep you going!

2) Allow the sugar syrup to cool, this may take a while, but you can speed this up by putting it in the refridgerator.

3) For each serving take half a lemon and squeeze it in to a tall glass, add around 2 tbsp of the sugar syrup and stir vigourously.

4) Add 8 to 10 oz of cold water to the glass and continue to stir.

5)  Add ice to keep your refreshing lemonade cool an serve!

6) If you are feeling inventive you can add a whole range of ggarnishes to your lemonade, a sprig of mint, a slice of lemon or even a cherry on a stick!

I hope this recipe for lemonade comes in useful.  Now that you know how to make lemonade you should always feel refreshed, even in teh middle of summer!

How to Make Iced Coffee

On a hot day nothing is more refreshing than a cold drink, but plenty of us love that caffeine kick as well.  Iced coffee is the perfect solution, and in this easy guide we will show you how to make iced coffee!

First off there are two ways to make the drink in this how to make iced coffee guide, I will show you the quickest way first!

The Quick Way to Make Iced Coffee!

1) Brew a fresh pot of strong coffee, add sugar if desired.

2) Fill a large PLASTIC  glass or tumbler to about 2/3 full with ice.  The plastic glass is important here, glass will shatter!

3) Pour the coffee over the ice about 90% of the way and leave for about 5 minutes.  After the 5 minutes is over,  top up the plastic glass or tumbler to the top with ice!

The Proper, Long, Way to Make Iced Coffee

1)  Brew a fresh pot of strong coffee, add sugar if desired.

2) Leave the coffee to cool for around an hour then refrigerate for a further hour and a half.

3) Fill a glass with ice about 80% of the way, then fill with coffee and stir!

And there you have it, how to make iced coffee of your own, to get you through the blazing summer months!

Become a Freelance Writer

Thousands of people set out to make money on the Internet every week, and yet thousands fail.  In this simple guide I plan to show you how to become a freelance writer on the Internet, and earn enough of an income doing it.

The first thing you need to consider is how to spread your work over several different areas to give you a constant income, even if one source of work dries up.  Below I will show you how to write freelance on the Internet and still make a good income while doing so!

Create your own websites.  They can be about anything you want, but update each one at least once a day. Place adverts all over the site, I suggest using Google Adsense, who are a safe and reliable advertising choice.

Once you have your own websites up and running keep checking out forums such as Digital Point of Digital Sale Forum.  Sites like these can have a huge variety of work available, and they often pay more than the sites which I will go in to next!  You can also advertise your services on these websites, so people can find you, and offer you freelance writing jobs!

You can also join sites such as E-Lance, these let you bid on jobs, don’t be discouraged by huge numbers of low bids. The buyers will undoubtedly be looking at quality as well as price.  If you are going to sell your services on these sites, remember to spend a lot of time writing up your sales copy for your bids.

The final area you should look in to is the set fee freelance writing job websites.  Textbroker is probably one of the easiest sites to use in this catagory, the pay is very low, but there is a lot of work available.

Now that you have signed up to these services and set up your own websites I will show you how to make money freelance writing.  First off you have to remember two key aspects of being a freelance writer that will ensure your success.  These are Quality and Quantity.  You have to get to the stage where you can produce both of these on a daily basis.

Quality is key.  The only way you can make money as a freelance writer is to provide a higher quality service than the thousands of Indian freelance writers.

Quantity is also important.  In your own websites you need to keep the content up to keep visitors coming in.  On other websites you need to keep up the quantity to get your name well known, and your income coming in!

My final tip on how to become a freelance writer is, DON’T GIVE UP HOPE!

Thousands of people trying to take up the freelance career path fail each day, not because of their skill, but because they give in.  It takes time to become noticed, but if you can write well, you will succeed!