How interesting, that you would mention Ross's weight loss/return to healthy weight and find out that it was also a Macrobiotic diet! I think this is a great read on the topic, by Michio Kushi:

http://journal.manygrains.com/wp-content/images/michio_kushi-vision_for_humanity.html

Also some good resources:

http://www.manygrains.com/resources.php

A Macrobiotic Master: Michio Kushi -

http://www.michiokushi.org/books.php

Enjoy!!!

On Martial Arts, you are right...belts mean nothing. However if used properly they give a carrot to help people get to higher levels while training. I was a Chinese Kenpo instructor for two years when I lived in New York. I've been training since I was 9 years old and have studied many different styles, adapting them to my own fighting style.

I am 5'7" and 130-132 pounds (same as Bruce Lee!!!) so I've studied Bruce's fighting style (his "styleless" way) and his training methods for years.

I found Qi Gong (Chi Kung) training (actually my wife turned me on to that while I was studying White Crane and Long Fist Gong Fu (Kung Fu)) and the Qi Gong is incredible! The Qi Gong matches very well with Macrobiotic way of life...the key is balance.

The more I learn in life, the more I realize that I do not know. Retaining this humility allows one to continually learn, always the student, always striving for more.

I hope you will look into Macrobiotics! I think that you'll be very surprized by how much sense it really makes. One thought: if an anthropologist from another planet was to review the human form to figure out what we ate, they'd look at our teeth (four meat cutting teeth and 30 grinding teeth) and very long intestinal track and come to the conclusion that we eat a high majority (90+%) of grains, fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts, and less that 10% meats. Our bodies are the specs if we read them... Are you giving your body what it was designed for?

Health and happiness to you!

Cheers,

 - CraigD

Hi there - I've been a Martial Artist for most of my life and have trained VERY hard for numorous years. One of the coolest changes to my eating has been when my wife signed us up for a MacroBiotic cooking class. It was absolutely mind opening!

We use this as guidelines now and not a totally strict diet, but the ideas have been easy to follow and very good.

It is amazing how the American "diet" guidelines are totally wrong for the human animal.

I will return here and list my sources, and over the weekend can post more info. Do a Google search or Wikipedia search for more background.

Cheers,

• CraigD

Congratulations Tina!! I can't wait to see Mikenna's first SketchUp model!

May she have a wonderful, exciting and fulfilling life, surrounded by loved ones and supported in the things she desires to do!

Much happiness!

 - CraigD

I've got the inside track on this one.

Tom, did you have your trees on 3D Warehouse?

 - CraigD

Tom, I have also made people aware of this. Not sure what happens next, but we'll see...

Cheers,

• CraigD

Hope you guys don't mind if I crash the party!

I'll try to continue to help and learn. If this is where you all end up, then I'll be here too...as long as you'll have me.

Cheers,

 - CraigD

Gotta drive one of those!!!!!! ...except I think I'd wear my helmet just so my face doesn't get sucked off like that guy's did!

 - CraigD

LOL! My GP race bike weighs 156 lbs (70.76 kg)...I think that armor suit might actually weigh more than the bike itself!!

...although, once I'm sliding down the track (looking back to see who'll hit me, and forward to see what I'll hit) I'd like to be in something like that!

@daniel bouchard said:

Craig,

What do you think about this, under your leather one-piece suit?

Hi Mike, interesting jackets. I hadn't heard about them. I am a licensed motorcycle road-racer (and thus have crashed a LOT!). I use a leather one-piece suit with armor in the shoulders, elbows, hips, knees and shins. Additionally I wear a Dainese spine protector, a hip/thigh armor underpants, armored vented gloves, armored vented boots, and an Arai RX-77 helmet.

For the road I wear the same except it's a two-piece suit and I don't wear the hip/thigh under-armor.

I can give you a more comprehensive list of my gear including all of my different full suits or gear setups (I have six different full armored suit/setups which I use to mix and match depending on the weather and the riding.)

There is a new type of armor (T-Pro); it was developed in Europe and it is very nice. The armor is flexible and thin...much different than the hard "turtle-back" style of protection. Here's a link: http://www.motostrano.com/tpfoboar.html

And yes, get as much training as you can afford. The more you know, the better off you are. There are really two skills; machine control and traffic strategy. Mastering both is the key to stacking the odds in your favor.

Good luck and keep us apprised of your progress!

Cheers,

- CraigD

I'm more of an Avid and Adobe After Affects guy...but that's probably because I've worked at both companies on digital video!

Thanks for the headsup Eric, if I have extra time this weekend I'll check it out!

Cheers,

- CraigD

Very cool technology! My wife and I also invest in green companies....it's cool to know that my ultimate bosses do the same!

On a side note, the Google campus in California has one of the largest solar arrays in North America! Check it out in Google Earth...tons of solar panels power the campus.

Thanks for sharing, Mike!

Cheers,

 - CraigD

Congratulations Marne!! The Google SketchUp team is extremely happy for you and are very excited about your future!

Thank you for choosing SketchUp to do your work! We'll do our best to continue to support our great community and make SketchUp the best it can be!

Cheers,

- CraigD

@unknownuser said:

Now just make a wicker bowling ball and you are set :ewink:

LOL! I was thinking the same thing!

Urgen, incredible material and rendering for sure!! Great work!

Cheers,

 - CraigD

By Grapthar's hammer, you shall be avenged!!! Great movie! So many funny lines and great characters! It's one of my faves!

Great model by the way!

Cheers,

 - CraigD

Sweet! That thing's totally cool! I wonder if its winglets fan out when it's mad, like Mathazar's did in Galaxy Quest!

Makes me anxious for the new Transformers movie!

 - CraigD

P.S. Eric, how can you forget about space?! These types of creatures are the whole reason I don't go to space!

So these are all Podium renders? Are they SketchUp models rendered to Podium?

Pretty cool by the way, thanks for sharing!

• CraigD

Nice work and a great idea Jerry! If a picture can say 1,000 words, I think a 3D Model can say at least 3,000!

Cheers,

- CraigD

Nice job Johnny!! You are a great help, as always!!

Cheers,

- CraigD

Hi Tim,

Collada is a 3D interchange format that can be opened in Google Earth (.dae file format): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collada

You should see your model as downloadable in .skp, .kmz, and .dae (Collada) formats. I don't think the upload went through completely. Please try again.

The SketchUp version is correct at 6.4.120.

I'm not sure why you're seeing any hesitations....do you have Fast Feedback and Hardware Acceleration on? Check your Open GL preferences in SketchUp: SketchUp > Preferences > Open GL

Let me know if this helps!

Thanks,

 - CraigD

Hi Mr S, if you'd like to have your new template and the default templates show up together in the preferences > Templates list, then you should save your custom template into the default SketchUp templates folder.

As you indicated, the default location for Templates is here: C:\Program Files\Google\Google SketchUp 6\Resources\en-US\Templates

Cheers,

 - CraigD