Mike Piazza agreed a $2 million, one-year contract with the San Diego Padres, Mike Piazza had been interested in signing a free-agent; he will stay in the NL and return to the West Coast for the first time since the Los Angeles Dodgers traded him to Florida in 1998.
Mike Piazza holds the major league record for most career home runs by a catcher. Piazza's deal is expected to be announced on Monday, and he will get a $1.25 million salary this year.
Piazza's became a free agent after last season, hoping to catch about 90-100 games this season, along with playing some first base and being the DH in inter-league games. Piazza's got mix into the Padres in December around the time of the winter meetings. Additionally, he also reportedly had considered playing for the Phillies.
Piazza was slowed by injuries the past three years and had trouble throwing. Piazza was acquired by the Mets in a trade with Florida in May 1998, eight days after he was shipped from the Dodgers to the Marlins .The Padres will have to move a player off their 40-man roster before signing Piazza.
Understanding Image Resolution
Good photography remains as elusive and as enticing as ever - knowing how to optimise it in your digital darkroom will only make it better.
Resolution is a term used a lot in photography these days - regardless which type of photography you do, or which type of camera you use, understanding image resolution, pixels and the different properties attributed to them is so important.
Whether you are printing, scanning or sending an image by e-mail, you need to understand and know how to keep your images sharp and preserve as much detail as possible in your final print.
This topic does cause some confusion, so I hope the following will help.
Image resolution explained: Photography resolution is a measurement of image quality, so you may define resolution by how much detail is in your print. If your print has sharp detail you may consider your image to be of good resolution. If detail is blur in your image you may consider your image to have poor resolution. Good resolution is a direct result of having a large number of pixels in an image.
Pixels explained: Digital images are made up of millions of small dots - each dot is called a pixel. Each dot contains a small piece of image information, and when added together with the other pixels you'll get your final image.
Print resolution is measured in pixel per inch (ppi) or in dots per inch (dpi) - both hold the same value. 300ppi means that there are 300 pixels per inch or 90,000 pixels per a square inch.
What size can I print my images?
A digital image that's 1500ppi wide will print a 15-inch wide print if the print resolution is 100ppi.
If you change the same image to a print resolution to 300ppi your final print size will become a
5-inch wide print.
If your image file is 3000ppi wide x 2400ppi high with a print resolution 300ppi, your final print size will be 10 x 8 inch. The same file with a print resolution of 150ppi will give you a final print of 20 x 16 inch.
Divide the print resolution into the pixel width or height of your image.
Higher resolution should not be taken to mean that your images would be of higher quality - your images would only be of high quality if you print to the correct format.
Example - if you print a 3000ppi x 2400ppi size file to a print size of 20 x 16 inch at 300ppi, the pixels may be visible resulting in a blur image. You need to print it at 600ppi to attain good quality.
What size resolution should I use?
At 600ppi (which is an extremely large resolution) your image will be supreme sharp. You will be restricted with print size.
Printing your images at 300ppi is the standard quality. Image sharpness doesn't get much better. The only setback is that the maximum print size will be restricted - you might need to drop the resolution to get a larger image.
If you need a large print from a small file print your file at 150ppi - your print will lack detail and the pixels may be visible. You should not print an image any smaller than 150ppi.
72ppi is standard with your computer screen. Don't print your images at this size - the pixels will be visible.
Resolution tips: Scan your images as large as possible; it's easy to resize them later. If you scan an image to small you may have to re-scan at a later date to get a larger print.
If you need a print that's twice the size of the original - scan it at 600ppi and print it at 300ppi.
Try to print your image at 300ppi.
If you use a tripod when taking an image you may be able to push the print resolution lower than the recommended 300ppi - this will enable you to get a larger print.
Other Tips: Be very careful when cropping an image, if you crop it too much you will reduce the print size.
Be careful not to confuse print resolution with printer resolution; printer resolution is measured in dots per inch (dpi), but these values are a great deal higher- common printer resolutions are 2400dpi and 5760dpi - this is a measure of the amount of ink dropped onto your paper per inch.
Women like it on top…..of the scoreboard that is.
Since this fantasy season has begun I have been noticing things that have never caught my attention before. Well, maybe they did…subconsciously. But, now I have decided to bring them to the surface for all to know. There appears to be certain things that occur when men know that a woman is in their fantasy league. (I should not have to go into detail with examples. You men know what you do.) Why is that? Are the men intimidated? Afraid to get beat by a girl? Or is having a sports-loving, beer-drinking, good-looking woman in the league a turn-on? Hmmm…… Maybe all the above?
Ok – first of all, no one is that great of a fantasy football player. We all have strokes of luck and strokes of flub. That is just the way the game works. Some of the best players can get injured at any given time and a player that went undrafted in most leagues can end up being a top-tier player at the end of the season. The key to winning fantasy football is to keep current with all the news, injuries, updates, etc. and to use the damn waiver wire!…oh yeah, and having a whole lot of luck doesn't hurt either.
Now that I have that out of the way, I guess it is safe to say at this point it is quite certain that men and women both have an equal chance of winning their respective leagues as long as they know what they are doing. But, who knows how to do it better and why? That's the key question.
We all know that there are significant differences between men and women, right? Of course! So, I began to think: maybe it is these key differences that give women the edge when it comes to fantasy football.
Maybe I should explain myself….
1. Details, details, details! Any women can tell you just about anything about their children. I mean come on, she knows the date and times of doctors appointments that are six weeks away, last years romances, best friends, favorite foods, secret fears and hopes and dreams. This is what we are good at fellas! Now, on the other hand, a man is vaguely aware of some short people living in their house. Because of this astute attention to detail, we remember such minute things as this being the same day three years ago Joe Blow's mother passed away and we should take that fact into consideration when picking our starting line-up as he will probably be in a sullen mood.
Still with me? Here's another example.
2. Shop 'til we drop! There probably isn't a woman in the world that doesn't like to shop. To shop (and shop well) requires patience, time-management and a whole lot of stamina. Women can go an entire day forgoing food and water when shopping is involved. This attribute can help us in everything from preparing our cheat sheets for the draft to waking up at dawn on Sunday mornings to check the injury reports.
3. Outlook on Marriage. We have all read the popular saying: "A woman marries a man expecting he will change, but he doesn't. A man marries a woman expecting that she won't change and she does." Guys! Wake up! This is how you view your fantasy players as well. You hope and pray that they won't change but, inevitably, they do. All I hear from men is "Never bench a stud!" I'm calling the BS flag on that one. Has Peyton Manning really been that much of a stud this year? I can think of a couple times that I would have benched him for his brother. But, maybe that's just my womanly instinct talking.
4. Strive for a bargain! I have memories of sitting with my mom cutting out measly little thirty cent coupons from the Sunday paper. Anything to save a few bucks, right? Well, in fantasy football trading the same concept applies. Trading can be one of the most lucrative opportunities that a fantasy football owner has. One trade can make or break your team. No one can argue with that. Because of this innate need to conserve, women will take the stamina we learned from shopping and our immeasurable attention to detail to work out the best trade possible.
And the most undisputed reason that gives women an edge at fantasy football:
5. Sex is a weapon. Like it or not, boys, the mere fact that I am a sexy woman who loves football drives you crazy. I have received countless Instant Messages and emails from men that have NOTHING to do with football. And all these men have been members of the same forums as I. It must be in your jeans, err, I mean genes. I am not telling you this because I do not like it. I mean, come on, what woman doesn't like attention? What I am saying though is - BEWARE - I will use this against you to work out trades, to find out your next strategy and anything else I might deem useful. Sorry to break it to you like that but, I am a woman and we are all conniving to some degree.
There are countless other attributes that we women have that I could include in this list. But, I think you all have suffered enough.
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