Alpine Skiing Technique: 'Where' Do You Stand?

"Skiing is all about how, when and where you stand... and who you're with" is a self-coined expression that I refer to when skiing with clients and friends. Certainly, there's more to the full experience of alpine skiing, including indelible memories etched by scenery, thrills and mountain air, but this phrase boils it down for me. Skiing technique, "how, when and where you stand", enhances the hill, and like-minded camaraderie, "who you're with", enhances the fun. Overall, skiing is truly out standing...

Alpine skiing is an Act of Dynamic Standing. Skating, side stepping and the Charleston (don't ask!) are intermittent acts at best, whereas standing is what we do 99+ percent of the time when skiing, ignoring the time we spend sitting on chair lifts. Dynamic standing means moving while standing, and comprises balance, posture and timing. To focus the discussion let's zero in on just one aspect, the 'where' of standing. Otherwise, it'll take a whole book (already written!).

Where is 'where'? Is it the middle of the hill, in the trees, in the village, at the bar? These are 'where' in terms of location, but the important 'where' is in terms of sensation, agony of da feet notwithstanding, as sore feet and ill-fitting boots will undo even the most compelled in their efforts to ski with grace and balance. How should my weight feel on the soles of my feet? What should I feel from my boots to know I am balanced? Where do I want to feel the 'center' of my weight, particularly in the fore and aft direction?

There are different schools of thought on this topic. After all, skiing is an individual sport with unique combinations of strength, flexibility and coordination at play. At times, I've been instructed to adjust my 'where' during each turn: to feel the center of my weight towards my forefoot early in the turn and towards my heel late in the turn. I have also had muted discussions with other experts who say they try to avoid any such fore to aft shift in where their weight is centered. While there's no one 'right way', seeking to understand the rewards and risks of a given approach is part of seeking to understand skiing better. How strong and steady should things feel turn to turn? Should skiing be that age-old tongue-in-cheek prescription 'a continuum of controlled falls and recoveries'? Should we teach for strong and steady, or teach a (potentially disruptive) fore to aft balance shift with each turn?

I go with simplicity on this one. I admit to striving throughout turn and transition for a steady and unchanging fore-aft weight distribution along the soles of my feet. Maybe I'm lazy, but I find it easier to both do and teach this approach, provided that my students can actually feel their feet, but that's another whole topic!

My goal is to feel my weight 50:50 on the balls and heels of my feet, and pressure from my boot cuffs steady at 50:50 on my shins and calves. Balancing with an even and steady weight distribution along the soles of my feet tells me that I am centered. Furthermore, having my weight engaged along the full surface area of my feet helps me balance while being rocked by underfoot turbulence as my skis slide over uneven snow. Notably, I try to balance solely on my feet (ahem) and to rely as little as possible on my boots for support.

As I ski turn to turn, the pressure on my feet changes dramatically side-to-side, and my total weight swings between zero and upwards of three times my stationary weight. However, any change in pressure in the fore and aft direction, other than me failing to stay balanced, is due only to bumps and ripples in the snow surface, rather than due to me purposefully pressing into my boot cuffs at some point in the turn cycle. A 'keep-it-centered-and-steady' goal means that any pressure change from my boot cuffs serves as early warning of an impending 'out-of-balance' development. Earlier warning means easier correction. Stiffer boots help in this regard too, plus a centered, athletic stance.

So now you know 'where' I stand.

Scott Ski Goggles - High Quality Goggles for Snow Sports   Alpine Skiing Technique: 'Where' Do You Stand?   Alpine Skiing Technique: 'Where' Do You Stand?   

Travel Spain: Fiesta's, Festivals and Golf

The Fiesta's and Festivals in Spain

At the heart of the Spanish lifestyle lies its fiesta's and festivals. They are often colourful, exciting, soul moving and vibrant... and very noisy! All the hustling and bustling aside, visiting Spain must include a trip to at least one Fiesta. And with the amount that they have, finding one shouldn't be an issue.

Spanish fiestas are important because its origins connect too many religious feasts. In most cases they honour a patron saint. Maybe it's the beautiful weather and ocean breeze, or the completely 'laid back' attitude of Spaniards who just love to party it up. No other country on God's green earth knows how to turn a religious celebration into an all out hoe down like Spain! We are talking around the clock, literally from sunset to sunrise - its best to be well rested before hitting the streets.

How often do Fiesta's actually occur?

I'm so glad you asked! There is a fiesta everyday in Spain - no bull! Well, actually there is quite a famous Fiesta that just happens to feature a few bulls, but I will get to that in a moment.

I am not exaggerating in the least; everyday throughout the year there is a fiesta taking place across Spain. These celebrations will usually take place at the local, regional or national levels. The point is every town no matter how big or small holds a fiesta.

The most notable fiestas will revolve around special holidays like Easter, Christmas and All Saints Day (Halloween). The nature or culture of each fiesta will depend greatly on its origin. For example, some will involve serious or mournful religious processions; but will end with a party and a huge fireworks displays lighting up the night sky.

In bigger towns and cities, the towns folk will organize a series of bull fights and even a 'running of the bulls' - perhaps you heard of the most famous 'running of the bulls' festival called the San Fermin festival in Pamplona Spain. Believe it or not this huge dangerous event is a religious festival honouring a patron saint.

Whatever type of fiesta you fancy, Spain has to be your top destination.

Slow it down with Some Golf

If you're looking for something a bit more quite and relaxing, Golf on the Costa del Sol is the answer. Mijas Costa has some of the most beautiful courses in the world. And the best part - it never rains! Because the Costa del Sol is surrounded by mountains it produces a 'micro climate' - this keeps temperatures at above 14 degrees Celsius all year round. In the summer however, you can expect temperatures to soar to 35 and above.

Golf enthusiasts will be happy with the many shops dedicated to the sport, where they can rent clubs, buy balls or anything else they need for the game. You can even make an entire package out of it. Travel companies in the South of Spain offer great package deals, including your stay in a rental flat located beside the course.

There are plenty of Golf courses to choose from and many Golf Shuttles are available to take you around. Golf on the coast is known for being very affordable, unlike other tourist's attractions around the world. Most Golf clubs extend invitations to the general public, whether you feel like 18 holes or just want to drop by for a bite to eat.

The Costa del Sol has something for everyone, with plenty to do. If you choose to travel to the South of Spain, Malaga will be your destination. Accommodations are easy to book online, and you can easily find an airport transfer to take you to your desired location.

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What Is The Best Anti Spam Program? Part Two of Two

POPFile

POPFile is an email classification tool that can be used to identify and isolate spam automatically.

Using Bayesian filtering, POPFile will "learn" what you teach it about sorting and storing desirable versus spam.

POPFile can be used as an SMTP proxy before you mail server to filter all your mail. This means you can use it with almost any email client. If you use an NNTP news reader, POPFile can classify news items as well.

POPFile uses a web interface for configuration and correction of decisions about spam.

Pros

* Works via web interface

* Can be used as a POP proxy as NNTP

* Uses Bayesian filtering

Cons

* Can be a memory and CPU hog

* Not optimized for enterprise use

SpamExperts

First the good news: SpamExperts requires virtually no configuration out of the box.

Now the bad news: the occasional re-configuration sometimes requires a reboot.

Beyond that, SpamExperts is pretty easy to use. It uses a combination of checksum analysis and a Bayesian filter. Not sure why it runs so slowly sometimes. I do know that getting your mail is going to be a two-step process: first SpamExperts has to go get and then examine your mail. It can be configured to do this in the background. Then, you have to actually retrieve the good mail that is left.

SpamExperts will also quarantine any email it is unsure about. That way you can go in and have a look, training the Bayesian filter to recognize it the next time.

Pros

* Works without any configuration

* Supports POP and IMAP accounts

Cons

* Slow to process and filter incoming mail

* Re-classifying mail isn't the easiest thing to do

* Cannot sort by spam score

* Changing some settings requires a reboot

Spamihilator

Spamihilator works as a proxy for POP and IMAP mail systems. This means that it will work with just about any email software and isolate spam before you download it.

It uses two techniques for catching spam: A Bayesian filter and something called Distributed Checksum Clearinghouse (DCC):

The basic logic in DCC is that most spam mails have several copies floating around. Any server using DCC that finds a spam email creates a checksum (adding up the basic components of the message and then creating a shorthand value). The server then posts this value to a central database. The next server receiving this email would get the DCC results and can more easily identify the email as spam.

The one thing Spamihilator doesn't do is mark spam for further filtering via your email client. More than two categories of mail for automatic classification would be nice, too.

Pros

* Spamihilator can be used with any email client because it works as POP or IMAP proxy.

* Combines multiple techniques for filtering spam which makes it very effective.

Cons

* No remote web-based administration

* Will not classify and/or categorize your good email

SpamPal

SpamPal uses an "a la carte" approach for eliminating spam. This means that you can mix and match various different techniques:

* Blacklists

With SpamPal installed you can choose from a variety of published lists of known spammer domains and servers. If you receive mail from one of these sources, it will be identified as spam and isolated.

* Whitelists (manual and automatic)

This is a list of contacts that you decide are acceptable to receive email from and should not be sent to the trash folder. SpamPal will help you build such a list automatically (faster) or manually (more accurate).

* Bayesian filtering

* Content scoring

SpamPal works with any email program because it acts as a proxy.

Pros

* Uses Bayesian filtering as well as many blacklists

* Works as a POP and IMAP proxy so you can use it with almost any email client

* Includes SpamAssassin (a server-side anti spam program that uses content-matching rules, as well as DNS-based, checksum-based and statistical filtering)

Cons

* SpamPal isn't fully immune to blacklist problems

* DNS blacklists are slow-performing and suck up a lot of bandwidth

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Who's That Lady?

The Saint Gaudens Double Eagle

An ultimate numismatic delight, the Saint Gaudens Double Eagle gold coin is a precious collectible. Now, why would you suddenly consider investing in Gold or even go for collecting Gold coins from a forgotten era (Gold coin currency is rarely used in regular use any more, and only a few have actually heard about the Saint Gaudens Double Eagle) must be the query in the uppermost vault of your mind, while you have started reading this article. Well, to clear the golden confusion by a certain degree, and to get a background check on why Gold is suddenly becoming more important than before, you ought to spend some time pondering about the current economic and social condition of the country, to get a fair idea about securing your future through gold purchase.

The significance of Saint Gaudens Double Eagle Gold coin is in the collectible value of the coin, a symbolic ownership that you are taking on Gold investment with style. On why gold investment is considered the next important thing after the oil based economy collapses, you are recommended to read further. Gold Bullions are sensibly precious place to start on with your Gold investment. If you are wondering about what a Gold Bullion, precisely a bullion is (everyone knows what is Gold), then for your kind information Bullions merely refer to stamped weight of a precious metal, here Gold. In this sense, and contrary to popular belief, not only the cuboidal golden bars that we see in old James Bond movies, but also Gold coins are Gold Bullions. Here, therefore, we are discussing about a specific type of Gold Bullion, The Saint Gaudens Double Eagle, whose present collectible value is more than the actual weight of Gold in it.

Saint Gaudens Double Eagle was an exquisite piece of coin art designed by the most renowned sculptors in the American History -Augustus Saint Gaudens. The creation of this coin was commissioned by the then President Theodore Roosevelt in 1907. The Gold Piece was worth $20 (as the coin of 0.9675 troy oz was worth $20 according to the then Gold Value ) and was the most bizarre among that many art pieces. There was another Double Eagle, called the Liberty Double Eagle which was minted before the Saint Gaudens version. So much so was the intricacy of the design; that this exquisite piece of gold coin was hammered up to eleven times to fetch out the exact details. Some of the earlier versions carried "In God We Trust" adage, which was erased later, because President Roosevelt felt it was reprehensible to relate God with money. In 1908, nonetheless, the adage was re-added. Another distinguishing feature of this remarkable gold coin was that the former Double Eagles (1907) was the sole occurrence of Roman Ciphers being displayed on the American currency. The coin production continued till 1933 when President Roosevelt made it illegal.

On 2009, the US mint issued "Ultra High Relief Double Eagles" using the original design envisioned by the sculptor. In 2002, a 1933 double eagle was auctioned off for $7,590,020, thus creating a new record in antique coin auction.

CoinManHerb

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Importance of Setting Stop Losses: The Key to Being a Successful Trader

Stop losses are the key to becoming a successful trader who makes money. They're also the key to being a successful trader when you don't make money. Confused? Let me explain.

Every trader knows that successful trading requires more than a "fly by the seat of your pants" strategy. It requires patience and even more important, limits. Like in any good card game, you've got to know when to hold em and know when to fold em. So successful trading means that you have to know when to say when... even if it means you're going to lose some money. It's about limiting your risks, rather than increasing them.

A stop loss is a bottom line establishing the price you're willing to let a stock fall to before you take your loss and get out. It's a strategy that limits losses, while also establishing parameters for successful trading.

Successful trading requires more than winging it. Those who make money in the long run know that it requires a disciplined approach, one that establishes your exit plan at the time of entry. When you purchase your stock, you need to know how much you are willing and able to lose, should the stock fall. In other words, knowing when to say when can actually help you to minimize your losses-a component of successful trading.

On the other hand, successful trading also means that you must know when to exit even when you're making money. Are you satisfied with a 10 percent profit, or do you need to aim higher? Finding the magic numbers on both ends of the spectrum will ensure that you get out while a stock is still profitable, and before it falls, and it will minimize your risk (losses) in the event it does fall.

Why sell when your stock is on the upswing? Ask that question to the thousands of traders who watched their stock climb, only to wake up one day and find that it took a huge hit. Smacking themselves upside the head, they could kick themselves, as well, for not selling the day before! The same holds true for traders who hang onto a falling stock too long-hoping that it would eventually rise again, they wait it out and instead of losing 10 or 15%, they suffer losses in the range of 50 percent or more. If these traders had had an exit strategy, they'd be making more money.

In essence, you're following the same investment principles that successful traders already know. There will be times when you make a profit. There will be times when you don't. Successful trading isn't how much money you make, as much as it's about staying true to the guidelines you've set to buy and sell when it's time. If you stick to your exit strategy, whether you profit or don't, you're more likely to make money in the long run. Enjoying many smaller profits, and limiting your losses, is a winning strategy. In other words, a disciplined exit strategy stops your losses from wiping your profits out.

For more tips on trading penny stocks, visit thestocktool.com and sign up for our free penny stock picks!

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Know Who You Are Dealing With Before You Contract A Bail Bondsman

If you find yourself in need of a bail bondsman, time might not be on your side as you may want to get out of jail really quick. However it is very important that you try to find a way in which you can quickly assess the genuineness of a bail bondsman before you can entrust them with your jail release needs. This is very important because, if you are to hire a phony bail bondman there are high chances you could lose your money and you could even be in trouble with the law and still fail to get yourself out of jail.

If you are not sure where you can get a company that provides bail bonds, you could ask your lawyer or people at the courts. This way there are high chances you will be directed to bail bondsmen that are respected in your community and are known to deliver great results.

Another simple thing you can do is to check if the bail bondsman you are dealing with is registered with the local authorities. You can ask for the bail bondsman's license number just to assure yourself that you are dealing with a company that is legally registered. Dealing with a company that is legally registered has lots of advantages. One advantage is that such a company is known and it would have built a reputation with the courts such that they always manage to get their clients out of jail all the time. Another advantage is that they will charge you according to stipulated rates by the government, so you won't be overcharged at all for their services.

When contracting a bail bondsman, you can also check where they are located. A local bail bondsman can be helpful because they would have built a relationship with the local authority which means they have a higher chance of bailing you out of jail. However there are also some national bail bondsmen who can still help you out even if they are not located in your area.

One final thing you need to consider is how much you are going to pay the bail bondsman and how you are going to do so. Normally a bail bondsman charges you a percentage of the bail that is required by the courts. You can pay back in cash and if you don't have cash some bail bondsmen accept payment in assets. It is therefore important to check how much you bail bondman is going to charge you and see if you are going to manage to meet their requirements.

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