Simply Maya User Community - just finshed a book, i have many questions....

hello all, i brought "maya at a glance" a book which tells you everything may a can do. sadly that all it does do most of the time.....you can do this....you can do this......and ofcourse you can also do this.....etc.

sadly more then half the time it doesnt tell you exactly how, nor are the few tutorials any good.

the book is called maya at a glance, and thats all it is, "a glance" i am left wanting ALOT more.

what im asking is for maya users to breifly scan the below list and perhaps anwsers some questions or point m to a tutorial give me some advice or whatever you like as long as there are no "your mother is so fat" jokes.
i dont expect all the anwsers i will be looking for help via google.

if you feel like giving someone a hand today, please let that person be me.

heres the list (the way i describe them may be confussing to you, im basing my descriptions on the titles within the book) :

i wish to test myself and expand my learning with these, through tutorials and what not.
-nurb curves(loft,revolve, planar,extrude)
-projecting curves on a surface
-creating trims
-joining vertices, faces
-subdivisions
-layered shaders
-texturing
-(placing textures)make a small texture on a object (like a tattoo on a person, or a magnet on a fridge)
-bump maps
-photoshop intergration.
-lighting/rendering tutorials
-camera follow (set path, and aim)
-blur
-caustics
- deformers(bend, flare...etc.) they dont work for me
-soft modification
-wire tool
-jiggle deformers
-blaned shapes (eg- make a face with a number of emotitions whcih i can control)
-rigging tutorials.
- inverse kinematics tutorials
-particles
- change particle colors and opacity easier, then creating new attributes and editiing them
- particle collision.
-particle gravity and froce (gravity, vortex, air field, turbulence)
- in the book theres a tutorial on making collision of a bowling bowl and some pins....sadly its a rubbish tutorial.
-dynamic constraints(nail,pin,hinge,spring,barrier)
-soft body dynamics ( theres a screen shot representing a belly wobble as a man walks along, seems intresting and useful)
- another exaple in the book is a flag waving using soft bodies, and goals. what are goals?
-finally in the particle section it creates a rocket exhaust, but i cant do it, any other similar tutorials out there.
-MEL tutorials.

i dont understand these atall or these are general questions, please explain the uses and perhaps provide tutorials on them.
-paint skin weights?? what the hell do they do
- how to change the default setttings of the animation lenght. its currently set at 24 frames for its default.
-when i did some global illulation, jagged lines appeared on the render, whcih was highly odd, and it wasnt because the obejects werent smooth it was a issue with a render. did i change some seetings?
-make a back ground in various ways (i know you can create a large sphere and texture, but what are all the ways to do it?)
-lets say i got this picture http://www.racingmix.com/men/white.jpg . but i wanted to get rid of the surrounding white, so it would be a 3d plane the shape of this person.....how would i do that?
-MEL script.....apart from perhaps generating many objects for a scene....is there any point in a beginner like me learning it right now?

finally, i would like to thank you for at least taking a look, and i hope you can select a few things you know, or can be bothered to anwser and help me out. i would agian like to point out that i will persoanlly be searching or these questions, i am not expection forum memebers to do all the leg work for me.
i would be happy to anwser any questions if you are confussed by some of the questions and requests i am proposing.

thank you for your time.