rinvn.org

Fly fishing is an ancient angling method in which artificial flies are tied onto a hook to imitate naturally occurring food. These artificial flies are made out of materials such as fur and feather. Rods are generally light while the lines are heavy in weight, providing the proper weight and momentum for casting. Because of the ease of learning, fly fishing has become an enjoyable past time for many people of all ages.

Fly fishing is most renowned as a method for catching salmon and trout, but is also known for catching pike, panfish, bass and carp as well. Fly fishing can also be used to catch marine species such as: snook, bonefish, striped bass and redfish. There are also reports of fly fisherman expectantly catching species such as bream, rudd and chub while intending to catch trout. For the fisherman who is hoping to catch a variety of tasty species, fly fishing may be the best method.

If you are new to the sport of fly fishing, you may want to study up on the best ways to enjoy this exciting activity. Luckily there are many websites, television shows, and books all geared to help obtain helpful fly fishing tips. Of course one of the easiest ways to gather information is to find a fly fishing partner who has some season fly fishing experience. Many find having a mentor to be helpful as well. It’s extremely helpful to tag along on a fishing trip with an experienced fly fisherman. This way it is easy to notice and absorb some of the methods they employ on a regular basis. Unfortunately this is not an option for everyone so again, check your local video stores or world wide web for more information.

When starting your fly fishing event experts agree you must first determine the environment you will be fishing in. This is important to do even before you begin to gather your equipment. Some people prefer salt water fly fishing over the other options, such as fresh water. There are a plethora of places all over the United States where you can go fly fishing in streams and rivers, which are freshwater flowing environments. There is also the option of fly fishing in ponds and lakes, which still provide flowing water movements and environments.

The next thing to think about before setting out on your fly fishing extravaganza is the proper equipment that will be needed for success. Without the proper equipment you will be unable to properly cast those flies. The proper equipment consists of four parts: a fly fishing pole, line, reel, and of course – the fly. Experts also agree it is important to pack extra supplies because often times a fisherman will break one or more of the components needed to fly fish.

The next hurdle to cross is casting. Casting methods often vary and change depending on the environment in which you are fishing. For instance, saltwater fly fishing often forces the angler to cast further than in freshwater by sheer necessity alone. Another example is fishing in an ocean environment. In order to put your line way beyond the shadow of the space you are occupying you need to cast your line very far away. In a case like this, longer casts will be needed. Saltwater fly fishing rods are generally longer than their freshwater brothers. Shorter casts are in turn made with shorter rods. These rods are useful for fishing in freshwater bodies of water such as: streams, rivers, ponds and lakes.

The type of cast used when fishing varies according to the conditions you are fishing in. The most common cast is the forward cast, where the angler whisks the fly into the air, back over the shoulder until the line is nearly straight, then forward, using primarily the forearm. The objective of this motion is to “load” the rod tip with stored energy, then transmit that energy to the line, resulting in the fly line being cast for an appreciable distance. Casting without landing the fly on the water is known as ‘false casting’, and may be used to pay out line, to dry a soaked fly, or to reposition a cast. Other casts are the roll cast, the single- or double-haul, the tuck cast, and the side- or curve-cast.

Dropping the fly onto the water and its subsequent movement on or beneath the surface is one of fly fishing’s most difficult aspects according to experts. In short, the angler is attempting to cast in such a delicate way that the line lands smoothly on the water and the fly appears as natural as possible – a difficult task for many. At a certain point, if a fish does not strike, depending upon the action of the fly in the wind or current, the angler picks up the line to make another presentation – all the while keeping trying to keep their moves very delicate. When fly fishing it is extremely important to remember patience and fluid line movement.

On the other hand of being patient is getting that so desired catch. If a fish strikes, the angler pulls in their fly fishing line while raising the rod tip. This “sets” the hook in the tasty fishs mouth. The fish is played either by hand, where the angler continues to hold the fly line in one hand to control the tension applied to the fish, or by reeling up the slack in the line and then using the hand to act as a controlling drag on the reel. Some fly reels have an adjustable, mechanical drag system to control line tension during a fish’s run which comes in very handy to inexperienced and seasoned fly fisherman.

Of course, no amount of reading online can really teach you what you need to know for a fly fishing extravaganza. In fact many experts agree that nothing can replace professional, qualified instruction. Since this method is often pricey many feel they benefit from chartered fishing trips geared toward beginners or by learning from example of seasoned fly fisherman. Luckily many agree that if you find an experienced fly fisherman, more than likely they’ll love to take you under their wing – or fishing pole in this case.

Christine Beals is a professional writer who provides fly fishing tips for Fly Fishing Dish – a blog from the Go! Blog Network.

PHP is a general purpose scripting language that is well suited for server-side web development. It was created by Rasmus Lerdorf in 1995 and has been developing ever since. PHP originally stood for “Personal Home Page”. He used the sets of Perl scripts he called PHP to maintain his resume and keep track of how much traffic his page was getting. He wrote these as “C programming language common Gateway Interface” which allowed the ability to work with web forms and databases. It also enabled users to start developing dynamic web application. He revealed and released PHP/FI or “Personal Home Page/Forms Interpreter Version 1.0″ in June 8th 1995 to locate bugs and code improvement faster. This release had the functionality that PHP has today. The syntax was similar to Perl but more limiting and simpler.

PHP 2.0

A development team began to form. They spent months working and beta testing and released PHP/FI 2 in November 1997. Short after, the alphas of PHP 3 were released.

PHP 3.0

PHP 3.0 syntax to closely resemble of today’s PHP, created by Andi Gutmans and Zeev Suraski in 1997. After finding out that PHP 2.0 was way underpowered for eCommerce application. Andi, Rasmus and Zeev decided to work together and announced PHP 3 as the successor of PHP/FI 2.0 and development of it was stopped soon after. The strength of PHP 3 was strong extensibility features. It also provided end users a solid infrastructure for lots of different databases, protocols and API. Another feature was the introduction of object-oriented syntax support. Approximately 10% of web servers on the internet had PHP 3 installed by the end of 1998. PHP 3 was released in June of 1998.

PHP 4.0

By winter of 1998, Andi and Zeev started working on rewriting the PHP’s core. They goals were to improve the performance of complex application and modularity of PHP’s code base. This new engine called “Zend Engine”, met those goals and was announced in middle of 1999. PHP 4 was based on this engine. Additional features were added and were officially released in May 2000. PHP 4.0 included features such as support for many more Web servers, HTTP sessions, output buffering, more secure ways of handling user input and several new language constructs.

PHP 5.0

Today, PHP is being used by developers all over the world and installed on 20% of domains on the internet. The latest release PHP 5 was released in July 2004 and is driven by the Zend Engine 2.0 with new object model and tons of new features.

If your wanting to start learning PHP programming, come check us out at www.phpprogrammingforbeginners.com.

With more and more companies wanting to integrate their products into the lives of

celebrities, now seems like a good time to take a closer look at Celebrity Product

Placement, describe three common approaches, and outline what steps can be taken

to guarantee results.

The term “Celebrity Product Placement” is used to describe several related

techniques, but its definition applies to each: free products are distributed to

celebrities in expectation of a promotional benefit. Unlike the more overt, paid-for

endorsement, it offers a distinct advantage. It can appear like a product choice

made on individual preference.

Most marketers are unaware of their options in this category (one form features

contracts with celebrities, guaranteeing performance and allowing marketers to

actively leverage celebrity patrons in the media) and therefore many overlook a very

powerful influencer-marketing technique.

In this article, I will describe each of the three main approaches and discuss their

relative merits by listing their pros and cons. I also hope to quash any

misconception that Celebrity Product Placement has to be a gamble, and show you

how best to secure a return on investment (R.O.I.).

But first, a little history…

Celebrity Product Placement (sometimes called “Celebrity Seeding”) has been with us

since the dawn of marketing. Centuries before Arnold Schwarzenegger stepped into

his first Hummer, an 18th century potter named Josiah Wedgwood began supplying

his wares to England’s Queen Charlotte. Being given the title “Potter to Her Majesty”

led to a huge amount of publicity for Wedgwood which he took advantage of using

the term “Queen’s Ware” wherever he could.

It wasn’t until the 20th century that marketers keyed-in on America’s “royalty”:

Hollywood. But more often than not they met with disappointing results. Some

companies responded only to occasional requests for products (“gifting”), while

others made half-hearted attempts to distribute them without first devising a means

to guarantee results (“seeding”). In the end, most companies seeded product “to the

wind” and failed to grow anything of value.

Those efforts that did succeed, however, were so successful that independent

specialists emerged to help companies achieve better results. But the services they

offer vary and so do the results.

What’s It All About?

Marketers have long known the power of celebrity to influence consumer-

purchasing decisions. The term “borrowed equity” has been used to describe how a

celebrity endorsement can bestow upon a product special attributes and cache it

might not otherwise have.

The same concept applies to Celebrity Product Placement. But unlike celebrity

endorsements, where a highly compensated personality appears in commercial

advertising, Celebrity Product Placement offers marketers a more subtle and highly

effective means of reaching the public – via the media they consume by choice.

Indeed, Celebrity Product Placement is as much about placing products with

celebrities as it is about getting stories about those relationships into the press.

Regardless of the approach, Celebrity Product Placement strategies have a common

aim: to tie celebrities (thought-leaders, influencers) with consumer products in the

public consciousness.

Three different techniques offer three different levels of control over that placement:

gifting-the-talent (this usually involves supplying products for gift bags at live

events); product seeding (products are distributed more widely in hopes of securing

a promotional benefit and kicking off a trend); and, barter relationships (individual

celebrities agree to participate in custom programs in exchange for valuable

products).

Let’s take a look at each one in greater detail.

GIFTING-THE-TALENT

“Everybody” knows that celebrities own all the coolest stuff, and well before

everybody else. Celebrities travel the world and every minute detail of their daily

lives pervades the media. As style-leaders, they are perhaps our most powerful

influencers. It’s no wonder then that companies are lining up to give them the latest

gifts and gadgets for free.

One method to do this is called “Gifting-The-Talent.” This generally involves

supplying free product for insertion into “goody bags” which are handed out as

‘thank you’ gifts to celebrity presenters and award nominees at the now-countless

awards shows and charity benefits that dot the entertainment landscape.

At last year’s Academy Awards, for example, one of two Best Actress gift-bags

featured Gucci sunglasses, a Sprint PCS phone, Christian Tse 18-carat gold Iris

earrings, and more. The Best Actor bag featured Gucci eyewear, a Maurice Lacroix

Swiss watch and assorted other goodies. According to news reports, the retail value

of one such group of bags at the Oscars exceeded $110,000 each!

But how effective is this practice? If the goal of Celebrity Product Placement is to get

press coverage, can we measure the value of gift-bag placements? What types of

products are suitable and which are not? And what level of control does this strategy

offer marketers both in terms of demographics and reach?

There is no denying the value of being associated with these glitzy events, and by

extension, the celebrities who populate them. On the plus side, they offer a rare

opportunity to get close to the biggest stars in the world. On the minus side, the

marketer has no control in matching up celebrities who hold sway over their

particular demographic. They have to play the cards they are dealt.

Gifting-the-talent at award shows virtually guarantees mentions in the celebrity

press at the time of the event; but without permission to associate the celebrity’s

name and likeness with the product, marketers don’t have the leeway to truly

leverage those relationships in their own press activities.

Gifting-the-talent in this way has other limitations: first-movers snap-up desirable

categories and, of course, not all products are deemed appropriate. You won’t find

an energy drink in these bags.

PRODUCT SEEDING

Product Seeding offers marketers more control over whom to place products with

but, conversely, less control over how (or if) those products get used. And, while

virtually any product – from bottled water to consumer electronics – can be seeded

with celebrities, marketers are playing the odds here. But the payoff can be huge if

the seeding is supported by a creative strategy.

Product Seeding is the oldest form of Celebrity Product Placement. Products are

distributed more widely. They can be aimed at celebrities who are most compelling

to your demographic. And they can be delivered directly to the celebrity without the

filters imposed by events. Of course, working with a specialist who can get your

product directly to celebrities becomes paramount here. Film and television product

placement agencies are NOT set up for this practice.

Taken by itself, Product Seeding is a gamble. If you send enough freebies to

Hollywood but you don’t have a creative strategy, a celebrity might be photographed

using your product or evangelizing it on a talk show. But if one looks at Product

Seeding as one tactic in a larger Celebrity Product Placement effort, it can pay big

dividends – particularly in identifying celebrities who have a true affinity for your

product.

Energy Brands, makers of the Glaceau Vitamin Water line, discovered this in 2004.

As a result of its long-time strategy to “home deliver” the vitamin-enhanced drink

to celebrities (including Sean “Puffy” Combs and Tom Cruise), the company gained a

fan in 50 Cent. Having mentioned his preference for the product in a series of

interviews, the Hip Hop star – who is well known for his fitness-centered lifestyle –

became an obvious choice for brand spokesperson.

Speaking to Ad Age magazine, Energy Brands’ VP of marketing, Rohan Oza, said

“We’ve seen that when 50 Cent incorporates [Vitamin Water] into his daily routine …

the brand gets on the airwaves and we create a lot of trial.” Making vitamin water a

visible part of the rapper’s healthy lifestyle worked so well the company launched a

new “Formula 50″ variety named for the artist.

Such “organic” relationships can grow from Product Seeding. Not only can marketers

benefit from press mentions, but the process can be used to uncover promotional

opportunities and, in some cases, identify the most ideal product endorsers.

Product Seeding remains a gamble but, if executed properly, one well worth taking.

Relatively speaking, it is a very low-cost marketing program. And the return on

investment – though difficult to forecast compared to barter relationships discussed

below – can be big. But what if your goal is limited to getting press mentions? Can a

publicist hedge his or her bets in this category?

One of the great things about Product Seeding is how creative you can get. For

Trident White chewing gum, the company commissioned a Harris poll asking the

public to vote on the best “celebrity smiles.” My company, which specializes in

celebrity product placement, delivered gift baskets of the product to the Top 6

winners, allowing Trident to plug the celebrities in their press materials.

On another occasion, Electrolux – maker of a new high-end, super-quiet vacuum

cleaner – wanted to align their product with celebrities. We identified 6 celebrity

moms who had recently given birth and – touting the fact that these vacuums would

not wake a sleeping baby – made gifts of the product to each. Here again, the

company was able to use celebrities to draw press coverage for its product. And

they were able to reference these celebrities because they were stating facts (a gift

was made to…).

But what if you want tighter integration with celebrities? Suppose you need to

forecast a return on investment in order to get approval for a Celebrity Product

Placement campaign? And what if you want celebrities to provide feedback about

your product and authorize use of their names and likenesses as part of your press

campaign?

BARTER RELATIONSHIPS

Barter is, perhaps, the only way to guarantee performance on the part of the

celebrity. Unlike other forms of gifting, this is a quid pro quo relationship whereby

the celebrity agrees in advance to participate in the marketer’s promotional activities

- in exchange for valuable product.

Celebrity Product Placement campaigns of this type work best for big-ticket items

such as consumer electronics and (the loan of) cars. But with creative approaches,

special product questionnaires and generous “Right of Publicity” agreements,

marketers can use the celebrity’s name, likeness and opinion as part of their public

relations campaigns.

Celebrity Product Placement – via barter agreements – is also among the most

affordable ways to use celebrities. For the price of a few products, and sometimes a

token honorarium, companies can integrate testimonials into their PR materials and

create customized celebrity content for their websites.

They can involve numerous stars in a press campaign for less than the cost of a

single paid celebrity spokesperson. It is one of the most under-exploited tactics

available to marketers today.

A Case Study: Sony Electronics

The Sony CD Mavica – at the time, the only digital camera offering a built-in CD-

Rom – had failed to penetrate the increasingly crowded market for digital imaging

products. This was troubling for Sony because the CD Mavica offered clear

advantages over its competitors; namely, freedom from wires. But that message had

failed to reach the public.

Sony wanted to involve celebrities with their products and for that involvement to

influence the public in a meaningful way. They wanted a high-profile event –

preferably benefiting charity – upon which to launch a yearlong press campaign in

time for the Christmas shopping season. The focus: to promote the simplicity of

CD-based photography.

The budget was limited. But, having learned that the latest Sony products could be

made available to gift the talent, The Hollywood-Madison Group proposed a

Celebrity Product Placement campaign. Each celebrity would be asked to take a

picture of what “Freedom” means to them, and those photos would be auctioned off

for charity.

Such an artistic challenge, coupled with the prospect of receiving free Sony product,

not only served to induce celebrities to participate, but offered us an extraordinary

opportunity: to frame these pictures and mount an exhibition which raised money

for charity. Indeed, the charity component attracted higher-caliber celebrities and

provided the “hook” to draw media attention.

We successfully placed the Sony CD Mavica digital camera with fifteen top stars

including Eric McCormack, Alyssa Milano and Dennis Hopper. The photographs were

then offered for sale on eBay as part of Wired magazine’s annual charity auction,

and put on display at a star-studded event in Los Angeles.

Fifteen top celebrities demonstrated the practical use of Sony’s product and

authorized the use of their names, likenesses and opinions about the product for

press and marketing purposes (for one year). Sony received free advertising for its

product in print and online for three months (worth an estimated $100,000), as well

as 3.6 million webpage impressions (auction as a whole) and national press

coverage including Entertainment Tonight.

You can read more about this project on our website>celebrity_projects>influencer

campaigns.

Conclusion

Celebrity Product Placement offers marketers an exciting way to influence

consumer-purchasing decisions. Properly executed, it can be a low-cost, high-

return proposition. As such, it should be part of every consumer-marketing

program.

Three different approaches offer three different results: gifting-the-talent (narrow

focus); product seeding (broad focus) and, barter relationships (one-on-one focus).

But, as we have seen, a tightly integrated celebrity product placement campaign,

combining elements of each, can improve results and deliver an impressive return

on investment.

Jonathan Holiff is president and CEO of The Hollywood-Madison Group – the leading recruiter of celebrities for endorsements, appearances and press campaigns. Visit the website at http://www.Hollywood-Madison.com

When preparing food for the grill, the greatest challenge for home cooks is that grilling is an intense form of direct heat cooking, and controlling the heat can be tricky. Although most people see it as easy, grilling is actually one of the most challenging of the basic cooking methods. If cooking is like driving a car, grilling is like being strapped to a rocket ship! Now more than ever, creative home cooks are looking for the best cooking tips for gas grills. As the weather starts to get nicer and the great outdoors beckons, attention starts to turn to outdoor cooking – and gas barbeque grills can’t be beat for simplicity and convenience. But grilling only becomes EASY when you know these important cooking tips for gas grills that are guaranteed to improve your results. Grilling, like any basic cooking method, can be mastered. These cooking tips for gas grills will get you started on the road to expert grilling any time of year.

Preparing Recipes for the Grill

Cooking all recipes for the grill starts with understanding how the grilling method acts differently on different types of foods. Because grilling is an intense heat form of cooking, careful product selection is extremely important. The grill will not tenderize meats so you must start with a tender product if you want to end with a tender product. Marinating meats when making recipes for the grill is the best way to apply some tenderizing properties before cooking. The product itself is also an important consideration because you want to make sure it will be able to withstand this form of direct high-heat cooking. Different products will handle this differently and some are just not the best choice for standard grilling. A very delicate fish, such as tilapia, will not perform very well on the grill because the high heat may burn the outside of the fish before the inside cooks at all. Another consideration is when grilling combinations of different foods, as in skewering vegetables. A mushroom will cook faster than a carrot or potato, for example. You will achieve far better results by par-cooking the “harder” items prior to skewering so that all vegetables are the correct done-ness at the same time. Once you have considered the differences in the types of foods you will be grilling and preparing them accordingly, the basic procedure for creating recipes for the grill is:

1. Heat the grill on HIGH with the lid closed to heat up the coals and grates to as hot a temperature as possible.
2. Brush the food item with the oil of your choice and place it on the hot grates – presentation side (“pretty side”) down.
3. For GRILLING, leave the grill cover OPEN.
4. After a few minutes inspect the item. You are looking for the item to start to brown around the edges and to see pink (almost clear) moisture bubbling up to the top. This will be your signal that the item is 75% cooked on one side and that is the time to flip it.
5. Do not use a fork to flip the item and do not puncture it in any way – because that will allow precious juices to escape.
6. Using an instant-read thermometer – because this is the only real way to know when something is done – remove the item 5-10 degrees BEFORE the desired final internal temperature.

A Gas Grill Cooking Twist

Although GRILLING is always done with the lid cover open, gas grill cooking can incorporate additional cooking methods that make it preferable to cook with the grill cover closed. With the grill lid closed, the grill changes from a CONDUCTIVE cooking vehicle to a CONVECTIVE cooking one – more like your oven. Of course you could just use your oven for using these cooking methods, but outdoor cooking does have some advantages over indoor cooking – particularly in warmer weather. So how do you turn your dry heat, direct source cooking vehicle (the grill) into one that can utilize a moist convective cooking process? It’s actually a pretty cool technique for gas grill cooking. This is a trick I use most often with delicate fish, such as tilapia. First, I turn the heat OFF on the side of the grill that my tilapia will cook. Then, I add a pan of water to the bottom of the other side of the grill – right on top of the heat elements. Keep in mind that this “water” can be any kind of liquid you like. I use shrimp stock sometimes with fish, but you can season it with chicken broth, wine – anything that is liquid and imparts nice, complimentary flavors to the product you are cooking. Then, the fish is placed either directly on the grill (if you have a flat grate option) or you can put it in a cast iron pan and put it on the grill grates. The rest of the procedure for this type of gas grill cooking follows the normal grilling process – cook with your eyes and observations, flip after 75% done, use a thermometer to determine final temperature and remove a bit “early” to allow for the carry-over cooking that occurs. And that’s it, now you can consider gas grill COOKING in addition to standard GRILLING for great outdoor cooking results.

Gas Barbeque Grills vs Charcoal Grills

You will hear from many self-proclaimed GRILLMASTERS that the traditional charcoal grill is far superior to the gas barbeque grill, but the gas grill has many advantages that make it a great choice for any outdoor cooking situation. I will admit that the charcoal grill provides opportunity for a deep, smoky flavor that is not fully achievable with the gas barbeque grill, but after that all of the “pros” go into the gas grill’s column. For starters, the gas grill is much easier and safer to start because it uses propane as fuel and starts at the press of a button. Charcoal grills can be easily started with lighter fluid, but this can be dangerous, and can impart an undesirable taste into the food. Plus, the gas grill turns OFF as easily as it turned on! No waiting for coals to cool so that you can empty and clean the grill and no messy coals to dispose of. The other nice thing about gas barbeque grills is that they allow for consistent heat throughout the cooking process. With the charcoal variety, the cook has to really control the heat by actually moving products closer and further and this takes some practice and experience.

These cooking tips for gas grills seem simple but they truly are the difference between great grilling results and disappointing meals. The next time you get ready to grill, remember that careful product selection and a basic understanding of cooking methods is all you need to master the barbeque grill, creating outdoor meals and memories for life.

Chef Todd Mohr is a classically trained chef, entrepreneur, cooking educator and founder of WebCookingClasses. You CAN learn to cook without written recipes by taking his FREE cooking class that will change the way you think about cooking forever!