@ross macintosh said: Lee Valley Tools sell some nice models: http://www.leevalley.com/garden/page.aspx?c=2&cat=2,2160&p=51170 They also have a sharpening kit for Jeff. I tried the sharpening kits, but the edges did not cut it, pun intended.

That is funny. Just don't get it near the fit club

How cool is that

Oh yeah, I am all about the OCD How does the song go? "I'm down with OCD" "Yeah you know me" "You down with OCD" "Yeah you know me"

ha - Jeff- that's a reference I don't quite get - Haven't seen the movie, but I have a couple of friends who have talked about how funny it was? I just think it would be cool to ride a big cat Skeletor-style..

Bruce, there is a free video tutorial at go-2-school.com called "The Sketchup Show #17: Sandbox Part Duex" it shows how to use the imported image from GE (the color one) as terrain texture.

%(#80BF40)[Thanks to all, once I turned on "resample image" in Photoshop, it then allowed me to edit the pixel size of the image. Now I can play "fun with avatar's". trs]

@kdjanz said: What is the CAD replacement Lewis? Kelly I've yet to try it on a real project of any size (certainly nothing like the giant projects my employers take on), but the Pro version of QCAD http://www.ribbonsoft.com/qcad.html seems quite adequate enough. (It cost me all of $30...well worth it, as the Open Source version is somewhat crippled.) There's now an autosnap feature that reminds me a little of SketchUp's approach, which is nice. If I need something more robust, there are a few IntelliCAD variants available on Linux for about $500 or so...bricsCAD at http://www.bricscad.nl/ seems most like AutoCAD. I haven't bought it yet, but I may. Of course, one of the issues is that I don't want to use AutoCAD, or anything much like it, even on Linux. I also have a Debian package for BRL-CAD, which is said to be a wonderful CAD program if you can get past the absolutely brutal interface (or rather, lack of interface, which is probably what you should expect of a program used originally to design tanks and military hardware): http://brlcad.org/. There is quite a set of tutorials available. Most of the other inexpensive or OS CAD programs seem too immature (alpha, beta, etc.) for real use, These people are testing them: http://international.cad4linux.nl/cms/page.php?2 There are some high end commercial packages available, like GraphiteOne-CAD http://www.graphiteone-cad.com/en/product_2ddrafting.htm , but I don't feel like spending that kind of money yet. Especially if SketchUp is not going to be available on Linux. (Are you reading this, Craig?) --Lewis poster-Lewis Wadsworth

Glad to see you are on-board Bert also looking forward to seeing your avatar. I do appreciate you spending time typing your posts and I'm sure others are also. I take it that English is not your native language ? The more I think about it the more I see a need for a variety of language forums. I really don't think it would distract from the main forum, if anything it would give non english speaker that have some difficulty with english a chance to express their thoughts and ideas in their native tongue. It would be up to the english speakers to communicate using web translators if we do not speak the actual language in question ....... could be some fun AND we might even learn a few new words along the way Mike

I actually use a Mac as well as a Pee-see. When I first bought my Mac the photo booth gave me many moments of fun, now i use it for chat with family only. I did a quick one...lol. [image: photo531yd7.jpg] As far as websites go, I am NOT your guy, even with easy templates I can mess things up. I would love to have fancy stuff cool interface's and shiny blingy stuff but I have no Idea how to do it. The last time I messed with it was to install a 'shoutbox' well that trashed everything and i pretty much had to redo everything.

Just a nice balmy 28c here in Queensland, AU. For the first time in a long time we are having a nice typical subtropical humid summer. For many summers its been to hot and to dry, maybe climate chance is going to work in our favor. I am just loving it at the moment. He Ross, I see you have switched to a Mac, congratulations in order, but what happened to your beloved Xara. I haven't looked at their site for ages. Do they have an Apple version now at last. Filip K.

Ditto Ron, so did I.... All the Best with the 'wee little angel' Shaun... my baby girl is now nearly 5 now; don't miss a day of her, they go vertical real quick!!!

well I suppose I'm almost twice your age - I just turned 62 happy birthday cheers john

@unknownuser said: The Baobab is indigenous to the semi-arid part of Africa. Any distribution to the dry parts of Africa is thought to be the work of humans. well it's also indigenous to Australia - I saw various trees that could have been used in those photos here in our northern parts. Cheers john

Hey, Nick W, aren't you going to have desert? poster-Invader ZIM

Eric -- Each time I make a cup (or pot) of Rooibos tea I put the spent teabag in a cup of water and put it into the fridge to chill. Then later I'll toss the bag and enjoy the chilled tea. For me it isn't as good tasting an ice tea as the fruity Celestial Seasonings ones but it is refreshing & I know I'm getting as many antioxidants from the tea bag as possible. I'm making a pot of Rooibos right now for my father --- I want to see if I can hook him so he can forget his regular tea for this healthy one. Regards, Ross

Jackson, Most of these newbie questions used to be (and still are) in the Groups Forums - though as I mentioned above, the amount (and unfortunately the quality) of posts have decreased there as well during the past months. I'd also assume that since SU was made free (about a year ago?) all the crowds who were already after a nice 3D application, have already mastered themselves to a certain level and questions are more rare. I don't think that so many people will come here automatically (even instead of the Groups Forums) for obviously Google won't link these forums on the SU website (like it did with the Old Forums) saying "Hey folks; here are the Pros to answer you questions". Yet I also think that after the settling (merging) of the two Google forums, traffic will grow again here.

OT announcement: Please, continue here. Thanks...

Peter, Yep, Iv'e done just that but I would love to come across a source of really good, detailed designs. I'm guessing they are out there somewhere....Chinese? Islamic?...there is a rich tradition of this kind of art running from Istanbul to Beijing

The rugs are only scratching the surface on that site. Check out the section of pictures! A fantastic collection and quality images.