Victorian Dining And Dining Etiquette

Meal times were special occasions in the Victorian homes and eating started with making sure that you were properly Dressed for the event. While you could Dress down slightly for meals at home, any outside dining event that took place after 6:0 pm was automatically a formal occasion. Ladies were expected to wear low necked gowns with short sleeves and gloves. Married woman opted for satin or silk while the unattached arrived in muslins or chiffon. Men always wore dark broadCloth and "fine linen".

Victorian Dining And Dining Etiquette

Victorian Dining And Dining Etiquette

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Victorian Dining And Dining Etiquette

Victorian Dining And Dining Etiquette

Male guests were each assigned a female guest to escort into the dining room. The host always escorted the highest ranking lady, a newcomer to the area, a new bride, or the wife of a distinguished guest. The hostess was escorted by her husband's business partner or bestfriend.

The formal Victorian dinning room might be called a banquet hall today. It was usually quite large and lavishly over furnished as was the custom of that time.

There were extensive decorations including massive decorative furniture pieces, stuffed birds in cages, ceramic and china figurines, potted plants and a huge mirror among other items. The centre of attention was always the finely set table of abundance in the middle of the room.

Perhaps the term "finely set" is an understateMent. The goal of the hostess was to display every piece of fine china, stemware and silver she owned, so it wasn't uncommon to find 24 piece place settings including up to eight different forks, each with their own special purpose. Add to that an additional 8 knives, shears, game 7pieces of stemware for water, wine, sherry and more, dinner plate, and a bread plate containing a single piece of bread, and you'd think that there couldn't possibly be room for the Food; but they found a place anyway!

Most formal Victorian banquets were like an all-you-can-eat buffet except you sat down and the endless stream of up to nine courses were brought to you instead. Ample time was allowed between courses for conversation and digestive processes.

Once the meal was over, the servants brought water-filled finger bowls each containing a slice of lemon. The hostess signalled that it was time for the woman to leave the table by making strong eye contact with the woman seated to the host's right and then standing up. A servant or nearby gentleman openedthe door to let the woman reTire to the drawing room while the men either remained at the table for more conversation or withdrew its to the library to enjoy a fine cigar and a glass of port.

Victorian society dictated that each invited guest, whether they actually attended or not, should call upon the hostess in person within a week after the event to pay their respects. Custom allowed that men who were too busy with business affAirs could send their card via their wife or another female relative.

Yes, it all sounds like a bit too much work just to enjoy a good meal, but these were different times when pomp and circumstance still held a special meaning. Who knows? Perhaps we could use a little of that back in our lives today.

Victorian Dining And Dining Etiquette

Base Station CB Antenna-Antennas

Continuing with our research into the CB craze of the mid 70s we'll take a look at what were considered the elite antennas when it came to having a CB setup. While the truckers may have ruled the roads and channel 19, it was the everyday hobbyist who ruled the Airwaves from his home, and rule they did.

Base Station CB Antenna-Antennas

Base Station CB Antenna-Antennas

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Base Station CB Antenna-Antennas

Base Station CB Antenna-Antennas

If you were on CB and really wanted to impress people with your voice booming over the Airwaves "you had no choice but to set up a base unit. Not only were the units themselves powerful but the antennas that people put up on their roof tops could have given some rival TV stations a run for their money.

Choosing a CB antenna for your base station was not easy. There were plenty to choose from and they all had their pluses and minuses.

Oneof the most powerful, yet most frustrating was the ever popular Moon Raker. This was a beam antenna that looked very similar to TV antennas, most having 3 eleMents mounted on an 11 Meter base. These were called regular Moon Rakers. However, there were beam antennas that had up to six eleMents on them. They were referred to as a Moon Raker 6. These things were huge. The problem with them was that they were directional antennas. What this means is that depending on what direction your antenna was pointing that was where you got your best reception and transmission. So if you were speaking to somebody who was south of you and your antenna was pointing north you had to turn the antenna 180 degrees in order to get a decentreception. This got to be a pain after a while. The plus side was that these antennas were so powerful they could cut through anything once you had your target zeroed in.

Another popular base antenna was what was called the "Big Stick". This was really just a very long fiberglass antenna. They were usually about 10 to 15 feet long. They weren't as powerful as the Moon Raker but they transmitted and received equally well in all directions and therefore were great all purpose base antennas especially if you were in a centrally located area where you had a number of people you could speak to in all directions. Also, Big Sticks were relatively cheap next to a Moon Raker that sold for a couple of hundred Dollars. A Big Stick was about $ 70.

Forpeople who didn't have a very large budget, there were base station antennas made that quite honestly were not much more powerful than their mobile counterparts. When you take the lack of power of these antennas into account against their price TAG of about $ 50, it made much more sense to go with a Big Stick.

The biggest problem with all of these antennas, especially in the old days, was that they were constantly interfering with TV receptions. Today with cable, things are not quite as bad.

Even though CB isn't as popular with homeowners as it was 30 years ago, you can still see these bad boys on roof tops if you look close enough. Just make sure you stop the car first before taking a look.

Base Station CB Antenna-Antennas

Best Wireless Router

There are a lot of people who are looking for the best wireless router, but the best wireless router is very different, depending on the person and their needs. What is best for one person may be completely different than what is best for another.

Best Wireless Router

Best Wireless Router

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Best Wireless Router

Best Wireless Router

Computer games, for instance, require a certain kind of wireless router for the gamer to get the best experience. For one, the router should provide a good signal and plenty of bandwidth. Packet loss is extremely "detriMental to the gaming experience, and a router that can be depended on is best. The best gaming wireless router will also have good quality of service software, so that the bandwidth devoted to certain uses, like browsing the web or downloading, can be limited, and the bandwidth can be devoted to gamingincreased.

This is in contrast to the best wireless router for a large home, where range will be important. In this situation, the person shopping for a router should be looking at routers that have a long range. More specifically, routers that have external antennas, and more than one external antenna. The less material there is between the antenna and the Computer, the better the signal will be, and that includes the case of the wireless router.

And someone that is looking to set up a whole wireless home entertainMent system, complete with Wi-Fi enabled TV and gaming consoles, would be best served by a router that came with dual band, so that the TV and the console games could use one band, while the laptops and other, similar devices could use theother band. That way, both sets of devices are not competing with each other for bandwidth, and someone playing computer games will not have to contend with someone streaming a movie to the Wi-Fi enabled TV.

Of course there are many other scenarios that a router might be used for, these are just a few that might be more common. The point is that a person looking to purchase a router should go beyond just asking for the best wireless router, because what is best is highly dependent on the scenario.

Once you have identified what your needs are from a router, you can then begin looking for the best router for you. And since you have a better idea of exactly what you need, you will be better able to make a decision on what router to purchase.

Best Wireless Router