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Fitness facilities of the future will use state-of-the-art aspects of design differently from how clubs use them today. Clubs that do not change run the risk of becoming clubs of the past. Some significant design mistakes keep clubs rooted in the past. Knowing what these 10 mistakes are before beginning a new design or renovation will result in a beautiful and inspiring club that gets you the most value for your investment and puts you on track for the future.
1. Thinking club design does not matter that much
The vast majority of people dislike exercise. In fact, only about 5 percent of the U.S. population regularly exercises at health clubs. Therefore, clubs must offer an experience that goes beyond the workout itself. Extraordinary design can provide such an experience.
2. Not working with a plan
A good design takes into account a variety of variables, such as budgets, sales, marketing, growth for the future, facility offerings, space planning and efficiency, plot plan, and existing elements (doors, windows, columns, mechanicals and fire exits). If a renovation is done in phases, all the phases need to be coordinated with regard to space planning and décor so that all phases fit together. Renovating one part of the facility without thinking about how it will work with the other part can result in a disconnected and confusing environment. Planning out budgets also is important, as spending too much of the budget on one area could leave owners without money for future phases.
3. Designing and decorating a club to your taste
Often, owners forget to design for the market's needs and wants, rather than their own, which most often fails to excite members.
4. Trying to fit in too much stuff
In an effort to get everything into a facility, club owners sometimes end up with a wide range of offerings and equipment that are crammed into too little space. This creates a cramped feel and limits traffic flow.
5. Not using a professional with proven health club design experience
Proven professionals get the "Wow!" and "Oh, my God!" responses. Designs done by owners rarely do.
6. Making choices without thinking of aesthetics
Some decisions about seemingly innocuous items negatively affect a club's appearance. For example, a club owner might purchase a bookshelf or bulletin board at Target for the lobby, but the item might clash with the surroundings, making it feel out of place and throwing off the balance of the overall design.
7. Not "wearing the shoes" of your customers
People in the fitness industry think everyone views a club and exercise like they do. Nothing could be further from the truth. Most people hate exercise and see clubs as boring and intimidating. Proper space planning (including social areas) and beautiful non-intimidating interiors ease people into the exercise experience.
8. Failing to focus on every detail of a design
The wrong decisions about details often create costly long-term problems that easily could have been prevented with better initial decisions. For example, if club owners don't know to choose non-slick tile for the locker rooms, they'll end up spending money to add mats to the floors, which look bad and require more cleaning.
9. Thinking that the cheapest way is the best way when it comes to décor
The days of refusing to accept that design and décor are a major influence on club sales and marketing are coming to an end. Budget priorities have to include dynamic interiors because a club's environment is just as important as the equipment itself in attracting new members and creating word-of-mouth advertising.
10. Making a bad first impression
This mistake is so simple to avoid but often occurs anyway. Scientific research has shown that the moment people walk into an environment, they start to "take pictures" mentally of that space and immediately judge whether they like or dislike it. Clubs that focus little attention on first impressions can lose out on potential new members.
Make sure that your new design or renovation does not fall prey to one (or more) of these design mistakes to significantly increase your potential for a more competitive and profitable club. To the majority of your market, a motivating environment can do more to attract new members than exercise itself.
Bruce Carter is the president of Optimal Fitness Design Systems International, a club design firm that has created about $600 million worth of clubs in 45 states and 26 countries.


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Download link: http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/34706
Screenshot 1
Screenshot 2
What it does
Score charts shows a chart with an overview of a player's score over time. The chart is displayed in the player's profile page.
You must be running Firefox with Greasemonkey installed.
Full instructions for Firefox and Greasemonkey from scratch: viewtopic.php?t=41487
ToDo list
Items on this list are under development.
- Versioning and Update alert
- Improve precision and show precise high- and low scores
- Fix the position of the last datapoint
- In case of missing logs, track back from current score in addition to track forward from starting score (1000). Also mark missing data more clearly
- Add support for the &un= (username) parameter, instead of only &u= (userid)
- Fix terminator game score-time

subset: commoncrawl


text:
nu thought media Inc necesitaba un nuevo diseño de logotipo y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 25 diseños de 7 diseñadores freelance.
Catchy logo needed for a website that will provide practical, how-to information for young boys and girls and their parents on what it takes to gain a US college basketball scholarship.
We are a group of Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) basketball coaches who have been coaching our sons in AAU basketball for the last 7 years. Our sons are now playing high school basketball and are gaining interest from Division I Colleges for scholarships. We are living proof that there are systematic things that parents can do with their sons and daughters from elementary school through high school to greatly increase the chances of gaining a college basketball scholarship for their kids.
We are dedicated to helping parents turn their son or daughter's passion for basketball into a college sholarship.
This site will feature a blog and articles on practical tips for preparing young basketball players for improving their basketball skills and marketing themselves with the ultimate goal of gaining a US college basketball scholarship. The site will also contain audio and video interviews of parents, coaches, and student athletes. The site will also feature statewide and national rankings of middle high school and high school teams and players.
- logo that says CollegePrepBasketball.com
- Also features our tag line: "Your online source for what it takes to become a college basketball player"
- Logo should include the following colors: Dark Red (#990000) and Gray (#CCCCCC)
- Item 1...
Descubre cómo funciona un concurso de diseño u obtén más información sobre nuestros servicios de diseño de logo.


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Pinterest for n00bs
I'm an avid Pinterest user, anyone who follows me on Twitter or Facebook is aware. I make a point of making mine 100% non-political, however there are many uses of the site besides collecting pictures of yummy recipes, great products and fabulous fashion. Today a former blogger emailed around a great primer for Pinterest for "n00bs" (newbies) and it was so valuable I couldn't resist sharing her advice with you.
This is Allie Winegar Duzett's advice (and check out her fiction blog here: allieisawriter.blogspot.com and follow her on Pinterest here: http://pinterest.com/randommusician/):
Hey all! In the past month I've gotten several Pinterest follows from conservative groups like FreedomWorks and The Heritage Foundation. A lot of us are new to Pinterest and are still figuring it out, and I thought I would offer my pinning skillz to you all in case you find them helpful.
Spending inordinate amounts of time on Pinterest is my only qualification. But I really do spend an inordinate amount of time on there.
Here's what you need to know:
Breitbart was all about taking conservatism and making it mainstream by inserting conservatism into our culture. Using Pinterest is a way to do that. Do it for Breitbart, people!! Pinterest sees over 1000 NEW visitors every sixty seconds.
Here's an infographic that breaks down the demographics of Pinterest users in the US and UK. It's from December, so it's outdated. In recent weeks, I've been followed by more and more guys, and I've been seeing more and more political things on the pinboards I follow. Now is a good time to get into Pinterest. I think in the next year we'll see Pinterest become something akin to Twitter and Facebook, in terms of popularity as a social connector. Just think: if you jump in now, you'll be on the cutting edge. Not even Media Matters has fully embraced Pinterest yet (HA! I just became MM's second follower. Go me!). This is our chance to beat the Left to an effective way of reaching out to everyday people.
Pin (noun) = an image you've pinned to a board
Pin (verb) = the action of putting images on your board
Board = Place where you store related images on Pinterest
Pinner = someone who pins things
Follower = same as in Twitter–you follow people and their pins come up on your feed
When you get your Pinterest account, you get a button on your toolbar that lets you pin images from the internet to your boards. You can pin whatever you like–except apparently anything on Ace of Spades HQ, which is very sad for me because I would pin stuff from them all the time.
The images you pin show up on your board, as well as in the feeds of everyone who follows you. Clicking on these images sends you to the site where the image was pinned in the first place. For example, if you write a blog entry about Obama, you could make an image of him with an obnoxious quote from him superimposed on the picture, pin it, and then when people repinned the image, they could click through and be directed to your article.
Basically–when you make clever, unique, useful images that resound with users, they will pin your image to their board, and thereby drive traffic to your site. Winning!
Right now you need an invitation to join–if you want one, email me with the email address you want the invite sent to and I'll send you one.
See here.
This article explains how the WSJ is using Pinterest. Tips:
– Only pin images you own the rights to, if you're pinning on behalf of a conservative organization. That's my personal thought. This is important, I think, because it removes the worry of having some crazed leftist use your pins as a way to attack you. If you can create your own pins, you should. It's easy to do in PowerPoint. Design everything on PPT slides and save them as jpgs, and stick them in your blog. Then pin. Done.
– Pin things that are funny. Funny things will get repinned. If you have a funny quote on your blog, copy and paste it into a PowerPoint slide. Format it to look cool, add your url to the bottom of the slide, and save it as a jpg. A lot of people have humor boards.
– Pin things that are insightful. For example, quotes that are inspiring or make you think. A lot of people have quote boards or inspiration boards.
– Pin infographics. The example I linked has to do with the health effects of caffeine, which I had pinned on a fitness board. This would be really effective for policy groups and blogs, using visuals to show things like the effect of Obama's tax policy on the taxpayer, or gas prices on the economy, etc.
– Pin pull-out quotes from your articles.
– Pin well-staged images that illustrate a point. For example, you could have a picture of stick figures, ones that are brightly-colored for the people who have work, and blacked-out ones for people who are out of jobs. You could have two figures side by side to compare Obama's job numbers v. Bush's.
As an example, for this article, from Heritage, you could do something fun with an inverted pyramid–since the old Food Pyramid was a bottom-up approach to food, and Rachel wrote in that article about "This top-down, one-size-fits-all approach to education." Top-down food pyramid? Maybe it's a stretch, but maybe it could be a cool graphic. It would be easily pinnable. If you added words to the graphic, people would know what they were pinning.
I make pins from time to time to go with articles I write, and the pins I create generally take me no more than 5 minutes per pin. I know our time is precious–which is why I say to go ahead and invest that extra 5 minutes in a unique pin. If you're already writing a great article, why not add a unique image that can help drive traffic to it?
Anyway. You all probably already know all this stuff. But in case you didn't.
Happy Pinning!
A Personal Look at Social Security Reform
When I was younger, I was liberal. A large part of my "conversion" involved directly encountering liberal policies. A previous post discussed my experience on Medicaid, and explains how it evolved into my opposition to state-run healthcare.
My experience with the bureaucracy of the Social Security Administration showed me how the government needs to get out of another business: retirement.
When I was sixteen, my mother died. She was my primary caretaker, and I was entitled to survivors benefits. The first year after she died there was no-one to write the checks to (I had no legal guardian). When my aunt, my mother's sister, took guardianship over me when I was 17, all of the back-checks were written to her, despite the fact that she was not responsible for me during that first year. When I moved into her apartment, she assured me that she would deposit the checks in a separate bank account and only withdraw $200 a month to cover increased food costs.
When the checks stopped the day I graduated high school, my aunt kicked me out of her apartment literally onto the streets of New York City, with everything I owned in black garbage bags. She informed me that she had decided to keep all of the money that she had received both for the year I was not living with her and the year that I was. This amounted to about $15,000. As far as I was concerned, it had just vanished.
What was my recourse? I went to the offices of the Social Security Administration to get my money back. That was my first mistake, thinking that this money was mine. I waited for three hours to speak to a representative. I do not mock and I do not kid: He was mentally handicapped. He would be my "case worker".
He took my story down in chicken scratch, as he could not use a computer. He asked me to call him back so that he could update me after he spoke to his superiors. I called half a dozen times over the next month, but never received a call back. I decided to go down to their offices again. And I waited another three hours. After I finally was able to see my case worker, he informed me that his superiors had decided that my aunt had committed fraud and an investigation would be launched.
Three times agents visited her apartment. All three times she did not answer the door. After every planned visit, I went to the Social Security offices and waited for two-three hours to hear what had transpired. I was informed after the third failed visit that the investigation would then be closed. After I demanded to speak to the agents in charge, I was told they would give it one last attempt. On the forth attempt they were informed by the building owner that my aunt and her husband had moved to Maryland. She was "out of their reach" now. This time the case was officially closed.
The money that my mother had been forced to pay into this "plan" her entire life disappeared into the bank account of a selfish and vindictive sister. And her only child, and only survivor, was left with no legal recourse. If these were private funds, they would have been deposited with my trust fund, which still sits safely in a bank account in upstate New York. If these were private funds I would have been entitled to the total amount that my mother paid into the system over the course of her life, as opposed to the arbitrary number that the Social Security Administration chose after she died. If she died after my high school graduation, I never would've seen a dime of what she paid into the system at all.
Even as a liberal teenager, a sense of outrage permeated my perception of Social Security after this experience. The government forced my mother to give them money over the course of her entire career, immediately deducted from her paycheck. It was deducted during months where we had nothing to eat but macaroni and cheese and we were sleeping in the same bed because my mother couldn't afford to buy me my own. The government knew better than my mother about how to take care of her financial matters. The government would take care of her when she retired or after she died.
They did a great job, right?
Why did you start keeping halacha?
At Shabbat dinner this week I was talking with someone and mentioned how I used to do something before I was shomer Shabbat. He asked me a loaded and complicated question "Why did you start keeping Halacha?"
Yelling over the table in the crowded Chabad dining room, I had to keep my answer brief. I was sitting between people who were also not always religious and observant, and as well as I knew them, it was fascinating hearing their answers.
Normally this blog is political, but this simple innocent question and the answers that came with it got me wondering about the other ba'al teshuva in my life.
What made YOU start keeping Halacha? Leave your answers in the comments. I'll do the same.
A rant from a right-wing crazy
On our way back to my apartment today, Seth and I were, admittedly, dressed like hipsters. Behind us, two women were talking about the upcoming election, about the tea party phenomenon gripping the country. They said "Those tea partiers… I don't support them. They're all shameless idiots."
I turned around and simply said "no, not really." They immediately shut up, awkwardly. They didn't expect 20-somethings dressed in Converse and Toms Shoes to be so idiotic.
The thing that infuriates me about the left-wing of this country is how self-righteous they are in their fury. They are open minded, they are accepting and they are tolerant. Unless you don't agree with them. We see it a million times over, most recently in the firing of Juan Williams.
They believe that they are the most intelligent and capable people in the country, and the rest of "fly-over" country should shut up and vote with them in harmony. Because that's bipartisanship, voting with them.
To them I have this to say: Look at the economies of California and New York verses that of Texas. New York and California have been ruled in every way by Democrat majorities for my entire lifetime. Need I say more? In Texas, in contrast, they have been ruled by the principles that guide the tea party: low taxes, low spending, minimal governmental interference. And guess what? That one state has created more than half the jobs in the United States between August 2009 and 2010, and has seen a net growth of jobs, while California and New York have seen their jobs escape at a clip.
So, if I had to chose, I choose the right. Ignorance is bliss, especially when you have a job.
I can see November from here.
Adventures on Medicaid
For my four years of college, I was enrolled on NYS Medicaid. I had no other insurance options, and found that I was eligible to go onto Medicaid while at a booth that they had set up in the lobby of my school, CUNY City College. At first, it seemed great – free healthcare by the state. I had been on Child Health Plus while I was in middle school and high school, eligible because my mother was permanently disabled. To my knowledge at the time, that program worked out well while I was on it. It wasn't until later that I found out that she paid for most of my doctors and dentists out of pocket, because the doctors and dentists that accepted my insurance seemed as though they graduated last in their class.
Why am I writing this blog entry now? Under Obamacare, 16 million Americans are going to get forced onto their state's Medicaid rolls, straining the already broken systems to their limits. My experience on Medicaid convinced me early on that socialized medicine is one of the worst things you can do to a society. I don't want to make this a long entry, so I'll give bullet points of my experiences on Medicaid.
- When I first applied to Medicaid I had to prove my income was low enough to make me eligible for the program. I had an off the books job, and told them that. I was told to write a letter stating how much I made, and that was taken as proof that I was eligible; my word alone. There was no investigation of how I paid my rent, how I paid for school, how I paid to live.
- When my family moved, I had to change my address. I took the subway down to the worst neighborhood in Brooklyn and waited for three hours. This is the bureaucratic tangle that people on Medicaid encounter anytime they want to do anything. In the waiting room I sat and read a book while children ran around screaming, women plopped their babies on my lap so that they could take smoke breaks, and people played rap music on their phones. When my number was finally called, I showed the woman at the counter my change of address form and a letter addressed to me at the new apartment. I asked the woman why it took so long (I had seen her filing her nails for an hour), and she responded "Why should I move faster? Do you see anyone watching me?" And she was right, there's no accountability in the public sector, no reason to do one's job better.
- At a Medicaid dentist I was told that I had 14 cavities, a year after I had gotten a clean bill of health from another dentist. When the dentist left the room I asked his assistant how it was possible that 14 cavities developed in one year without my having experienced any pain. His assistant's response was: "This place is a factory, and you have Medicaid. That's a dollar sign on the top of your forehead." This assistant had looked at my x-rays and done my cleaning minutes before, and assured his nervous patient that she didn't appear to have a single cavity.
- Stupidly, I returned to this dentist. It was the only one I could get an appointment with the next year when I was having tooth pain. Doctors and dentists that take Medicaid insurance have scheduling waiting lists sometimes for months, and it is next to impossible to get appointments even for emergencies. The dentist filled the cavity, and I had to return twice to have the filling filed down, because chewing was giving me a migraine. A year later, I paid out of pocket for another dentist. I was told that this was the worst filling she had ever seen, and had actually made my cavity worse. I was a month or two away from having to get a root canal, and paid for the new filling out of pocket. It was the best $300 I have ever spent.
- My junior year of college (2007) I worked 50 hours in four days. I'm not sure if that has anything to do with the case of vertigo I came down with at the end of one of my last waitressing shifts of that year. The emergency room was located in New Jersey, where I was attending Rutgers. The bill came to well over $1000 for a four hour stay with no tests and two IVs, one of which was just filled with saline to counteract dehydration. Three years later, I'm still fighting with Medicaid to pay the bill. While out of state emergency room visits are covered, everytime the hospital faxes the bill over to the Medicaid offices, it gets lost. I've spoken with half a dozen people over at the Medicaid offices, and one told me that the hospital would probably just give up sending bills after a while. They haven't, nor should they. The Medicaid offices have so much paperwork coming in, and such incompetent employees that the hospital I went to isn't getting reimbursed. It's no wonder so few doctors and dentists accept this insurance.
My experiences on Medicaid have convinced me beyond a shadow of a doubt that government has no business running healthcare decisions for any American, let alone most of them. Horror stories from people at Veterans hospitals, from people on Medicaid and Medicare are rampant, and my story is far from unique. I was horrified to see the health care law signed into law, and I support any House or Senate candidate willing to openly state their #1 priority is repeal, and nothing less. Most of America agrees with me, and I hope Washington is listening. If not, November is going to be quite the wakeup call.
Growing Anti-Semitism of the American Left
In the 2008 election year the Left was abuzz with everything Obama. What he wore to the beach in Hawaii with his family was featured prominently in People magazine, everything he said and did was chronicled in newspaper magazines, interviews were splashed on every MSM outlet. In November the majority of Americans decided he would become our next President. American Jews and the general public ignored his connections to anti-Semitic figures such as Jeremiah Wright, and believed that the selection of a Jewish Chief of Staff was proof positive that Obama's beliefs did not follow with that of his spiritual leader of two decades.
It's become increasingly apparent, however, that these anti-Semitic and anti-Israel tendencies on the Left are becoming much more mainstream. What came first, the chicken or the egg? Perhaps the tendencies were there all along, and just surfacing now that the Progressive cause is led by someone whose pro-Israel stance is weak at best. Perhaps Obama is turning the tides of Leftist thought in this nation against the Jewish State.
Obama's anti-Israel stance cannot be refuted by any realistic watcher of American politics. Some of the highlights include:
- Proclaiming that Israel could not build in its own suburbs
- While this row was happening, Palestinians were busy naming a square after a suicide bomber. Silence from the State Department and White House.
- The nomination of Chas Freedman to chair the National Intelligence Council; which was later withdrawn after intense pressure when pro-Saudi sentiments became apparent
- Mary Robinson's Presidential Medal of Freedom despite a long history of silence in the face of Antisemitism in multiple international posts
- Obama's treatment of Palestinian leadership and Israeli leadership as equal partners in peace negotiations in his famous Cairo speech
- The administration's attempts to negotiate with terrorist Hezbollah regime
Only 9% of Israeli Jews trust Obama, and only 42% of American Jews would vote for Obama again tomorrow, even though 78% voted for him initially. The latest bout of silence in the flotilla fiasco is the latest affront to America's longest standing and most reliable ally in the Middle East. Now that Turkey is seemingly devolving into a terror-sympathizing state, America needs to hold onto its relationship with Israel more than ever. The reaction of the Left to Israel exercising its legal right to self-defence is speaking volumes to how Israel is viewed by those Left of the aisle.
The Left leaning media has characterized the Israeli action aboard the flotilla as a massacre by Israeli troops. Those who tweet about the #flotilla are largely spewing Antisemitism, which falls in line with those who were actually aboard the boat itself. The response of the American media to these facts has been at best silence, and world citizens are turning to You-Tube to see the Israeli side of the conflict, which is largely ignored in the world media. Some American media personalities, however, have not remained silent. Helen Thomas, the longest standing White House reporter, has made some interesting comments about Israel's latest skirmish, stating that Jews need to "get the hell out of Palestine" and go back to Poland and Germany. The mainstream media outside of Fox News, the New York Daily News, and the Drudge Report, have not aired this information as of late, however, extensive coverage was lent to the death of Ted Koppel's 40-year old son of a drinking binge last week.
Does all of the anti-Israel bias of the Left establishment equate to Antisemitism? In this humble blogger's opinion, yes, it does. Giving voice to virulently anti-Israel activists gives their position credibility. Calling the IHH "peace activists" while ignoring their terrorist ties allows them to continue their campaign to legitimize Hamas, whose sole purpose is the destruction of the Jewish State. Demanding an end to a blockade which keeps arms out of a sworn violent enemy of Israel is akin to asking Israel to commit national suicide. With the Left's support of the latest flotilla activities, and with the Obama administration's silence and neutrality, it is clear that Israel's longest standing ally is falling to the wayside, allowing the lions at the gate to storm through. And as evidenced above, maybe they don't view that as such a bad thing.
I'm too old for this…. stuff…
A few months ago I was watching one of my favourite shows, How I Met Your Mother, and a scene between a husband and wife came on, and I realised it was a great way to explain how we're raising a generation of wimps:
Marshall: I'm not picking on the kids. I'm picking on the culture of losing around here. I gotta get 'em in shape if they're going to win that game tomorrow.
Lily: Win? We don't keep score.
Marshall: What? (incredulous)
Lily: We don't keep score.
Marshall: You don't keep sco- What's the point of playing if you don't keep score? How do – Lily, what were you doing with this team before I got here?
Lily: I was coaching them. (cut to an image of Lily playing her guitar while the kids ran wild around her, all the while she's encouraging them to 'just have fun!') Because that's the point of playing, to have fun.
Marshall: No! The point of playing is to win the trophy! And if you don't know who's winning who gets the trophy?
Lily: Everyone. Everyone gets a trophy. It's a participation trophy.
Marshall: It's like you're speaking Chinese to me right now.
Cut to the game, after Lily has convinced Marshall to coach her way –
Marshall: Great job guys! At least we're not keeping score, right? We have no idea what the score is. It could be 53-0, it could be some other score… It's 53-0!
Kid: What are we doing wrong coach?
Marshall: You know, you're not doing anything wrong. It's great that you guys are losing! Because, in life, it doesn't matter how much effort you put in, or how hard you try, people are just going to give you things! Like diplomas, and jobs and promotions… So it doesn't matter what you do out there, as long as you have fuuun…
It reminded me a lot of Glenn Beck's CPAC speech this year:
We need an understanding that life is not fair. It is not fair. The bad guy sometimes wins. Sometimes, O.J. Simpson gets away with it. Sometimes, the big banks fail. Sometimes the good banks fail. Not everybody gets a trophy. What is the point of competing for a trophy if everyone gets a trophy? Please stop teaching my children that everyone will get a trophy just for participating. What is this, the Nobel Prize?
No, that was – that was even beneath me, that was –
Not everybody gets a trophy. We should start correcting our children's work in red ink again. I mean, I'm tired of – what are we, what are we spin the color wheel now? You corrected my child's work in red ink. Yes I did. Well that's a little traumatic. You know what's even more traumatic? If little Johnny keeps getting these answers wrong, when he goes out into the big, bad world and he's eaten. That's worse.
There is some sort of element of competition to life. Oh that's not natural. Really? Go watch the lions eat the weakest.
And that's what America is missing right now. The ability and willingness to compete. To even admit that there's a competition. We say now, oh well, the whole world is going to get together and we're going to go around the campfire and sing songs – no we're not. The rest of the world is about to kick our butt. Why? Because we're not doing the things that make us competitive.
Let's stop raising wimps, and start raising winners.


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Volunteer Applications - Nogales Application
Volunteer Application Help
The Community Food Bank depends on hundreds of volunteers to bring food to Southern Arizona. Volunteering is rewarding, productive and easy. There are opportunities to help with special events, or to volunteer on a regular basis. There are opportunities for groups and for individuals, both short term and longer term.
If you want to volunteer on a recurring basis, follow these steps:
1. Complete and submit a volunteer application. The Volunteer Department will respond to your online application via email.
2. The Volunteer Department will give you available dates to tour the main facility at 3003 S. Country Club Road, where you will hear about volunteer opportunities and decide what you'd like to do.If you prefer, you can print out an application and bring it with you to your scheduled tour, or get one at the tour while you are there.
3. Set up a date to begin. Then go to work!
If you want to volunteer as a one time or short-term volunteer, follow these steps:
1. Complete and submit an application online. Please note that there are unique applications for all our locations.
2. Set up a date to work. There is no need for an orientation tour.
If you want to volunteer as a group, follow these steps:
1. Complete a group application, and submit it online, or send it via fax to (520) 670-9484. Please be sure to identify the contact person for your group and his/her contact information.
2. The Volunteer Department will respond to your online application via email. We will work with you to identify upcoming opportunities for your group to work.
If you want additional information, feel free to contact the Volunteer Department by sending an email to firstname.lastname@example.com. You may also call the Volunteer Department at (520) 882-3292.
- Applications
- Individual Application
- Group Application
- Court Ordered Community Service Application
- Solicitud de Servicio Comunitario
- Amado Application
- Caridad Community Kitchen Application
- Green Valley/ Sahuarita Application
- Marana Branch Application
- Nogales Application
- USDA Rural TEFAP Volunteer Application
- Printable Volunteer Applications
Community Food Bank © 2012 .:. 3003 S Country Club Rd, Tucson, AZ 85713 .:. (520) 622-0525


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From Pamela Wile, the Programme Convener for GANS (Genealogical Association of Nova Scotia), comes this press release -
"Our society encourages those interested in their family history to participate in the social aspect of genealogy. This is our 2nd event of this type. The Show and Tell last year was fabulous and brought together people with many different research interests. As well, we heard some great stories and saw some interesting family heirlooms.
Please join us on February 25, 2012 at 1:00 p.m. for our 2nd Annual Genealogy Show and Tell.
Come and meet other folks who may share your genealogy interests.
Members have been invited to take ten minutes to tell us about their research, show us an heirloom or talk about a book they've written. Attendees will have an opportunity to ask questions or make suggestions on how they can further their research. As well, members that aren't in the area have been invited to email in their research interests so you'll have an opportunity to look through those and possibly "meet" a cousin or two!
Are you new to genealogy? Browse our publications, pick up some handouts and research tips and get to know some fellow genealogists.
Don't forget to wear your family t-shirts, hats or buttons!
There will be a door prize and light refreshments will be served.
All lectures are open to the public and will be held unless otherwise noted in the Akins A/V Room, Nova Scotia Archives, Public Archives Site, 6016 University Avenue, Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Many of our publications are normally on display and available for purchase at our regular monthly meetings.
Hope to see you there.
Pamela Wile
Programme Convener
nsroots mailing list


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What's up friends, today we will be posting everything related to City grid: Abbr crossword clue answers and solutions. This is a type of trivia app game that will keep your brain working and consistently sharp. The idea is very simple behind it. We recommend to get all the answers of Crossword Clues Solver and our site also have solutions of Mediaflex Games.
Already solved this crossword clue? Click here and see the other clues for New York Times Crossword August 26 2018 Answers.
This Crossword Clues Solver is an amazing game that you never want to leave it for a second. You can certainly get more solutions and relevant answers for your daily use. To get more solutions you need to use City in Iraq's Sunni Triangle crossword clue, Clear the air? crossword clue, The Mirror Classic Crossword September 13 2017 Answers and LA Times Crossword March 21 2018 Answers. We appreciate your visit to our website and stay up to date to know more answers.
The game represents many levels currently and has plenty of puzzles to solve. You can bookmark the page to get more levels to play in future we are releasing new one at some point. But still if you miss anything or require something to play this game then you can see on Crossword Clues Solver for more solutions for your regular use. Thanks again we hope to see you soon on our website.


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Shadow Puppet Makes You the Narrator of Your Life
Oct 7, 2013 5:00 AM PT
Shadow Puppet is available for free in the iTunes App Store.
Despite the nonperfect and confusing name, Shadow Puppet is the best new app I've seen in weeks.
Basically, Shadow Puppet lets you select photos from your iPhone or iPad and then record audio as you talk over them in a slideshow that Shadow Puppet turns into a shareable video. Along the way, you can tap to highlight certain areas of a photo and, better still, you can zoom in and move the photo around.
It's so freaking simple and cool, I'm just blown away.
The Cake, the Presents, the Games
More to the point, the idea behind Shadow Puppet has got some serious legs.
You can use it for all sorts of things, starting with kids and family and simply sharing experiences. Take, for instance, a birthday party for a child that grandma could not travel to. With Shadow Puppet, you can select some photos from the party and then let your son or daughter talk about the party, telling grandma about the cake, the presents, the games -- and show her the photos while she's doing it.
The result is an astoundingly intimate little video.
This is possible because photos from experiences invite narration: They are prompts that get you to share funny anecdotes, to talk about what happened in a way that a photo -- with all of its 1,000 words -- just can't share on its own. It works with kids, too, obviously.
Students, for example, could do a science experiment, document it with photos, then easily create a explanatory tutorial.
Not Just for Kids
While the app is insanely simple to use, it's not an app created specifically for children. I can easily imagine this being used to share a special event, to tease your friends, to show someone how to navigate to a particular place, or even as a teaching tool -- for instance, to show your family the right and wrong way to load a dishwasher, once and for all.
Let's step through process of how Shadow Puppet works.
First, you tap to select photos from your photo album on your iPhone or iPad. After you select the photos, you can reorder them if you want as well as zoom and position them in the viewing area of the app. For example, you can start zoomed-in on one element, such as a particular face.
Next, you start recording your audio over the photo you are looking at. If you need to pause, you can. While you're recording, you can use your finger to move the photo around inside of your frame... as well as pinch to zoom in (or reverse-pinch to zoom out).
You can tap a right arrow button to move to the next photo or simply swipe from right to left.
When you're done recording, you go to a share screen where you can enter an email address or phone number to share your "Puppet" video with. You can add a title as well as a short message. At the same time, you can choose to enable a post to Facebook, Twitter or Shadow Puppet.
If you share the "Puppet" video, which is what Shadow Puppet seems to call the videos, they'll launch a Web page that hosts your video from Shadow Puppet's site. This is all free. On this page, they'll see your profile name and photo, the title of your puppet and the short message you typed in when you originally started to share the puppet. It's all simple and streamlined and seems to work quickly and easily.
Once on this Web page with your video (which anyone with a Web browser and an Internet connection should be able to view), you can also get the code to embed the video on another Web site, if you so desire.
Privacy and Security?
To me, Shadow Puppet falls into a category of apps that are really cool but aren't exactly secure, which makes their use something you might want to pay attention to.
Shadow Puppet says that only the people you share with explicitly can access your puppet content, but I'm not sure how secure this really is. After all, you still end up with a Web page with a URL that appears to be live to the world. How live? How exposed? How searchable or accidentally possible to stumble upon or actively find?
I'm not sure, but once you give a URL to anyone via email, the NSA has it for sure, and what your friends or family do with it later could take it public in a way you never intended.
For parents, I can see where this might be a little troublesome. As near as I can see, there's no password feature available, either. It gets just a bit more unsettling when you read the Terms of Use document, which notes, "You can remove your content by deleting it. However, in certain instances, some of your content (such as puppets you have already shared with others) may not be completely removed and copies of your content may continue to exist on Shadow Puppet. We're not responsible or liable for the removal or deletion of (or the failure to remove or delete) any of your content."
Obviously, storage is a bit of mess, and with backup servers and such, not to mention social networks, real deletion can get a little complicated. So, user beware. Fortunately, Shadow Puppet doesn't automatically force you to post and/or share a puppet.
Where's the Export Feature?
To me, Shadow Puppet is ripe for purchase by some larger company to fold into a broader social media program. You can pick which -- I'm just saying.
Unfortunately, what we've got is sort of a standalone app and sort of not: In order to share your video puppet, you have to have it hosted somehow through Shadow Puppet, and to embed it on your blog or website, well, it's still hosted by Shadow Puppet. That's cool in a way because you don't have to deal with the file, but I would prefer to deal with a file.
Personally, I would rather have a file, especially for anything relating to family and friends. Sure, files aren't inherently more secure, but you do get different sorts of control over how and when they are shared.
So, I'd very much like to see an export feature -- in fact, I'd pay for an export feature, and I hope Shadow Puppet adds one in.
Other than that, wow -- try it out. Shadow Puppet might inspire you to become the narrator of your life.


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Knoxville, Tenn. – The Southeastern Conference office announced Monday that Tennessee power forward Jarnell Stokes has been named SEC Basketball Player of the Week for the week of Feb. 4-10.
Stokes averaged a double-double for the Volunteers last week, and his active streak of five straight double-doubles is tied as the longest such streak by an SEC player this season.
In dominant performances vs. Georgia and South Carolina, the Memphis, Tenn., native averaged 18.0 points and 10.5 rebounds. He also totaled four assists and four blocks.
In 22 games this season, Stokes has nine double-doubles. In SEC play, Stokes averages 13.7 points per game while ranking second in the conference with 9.8 rebounds per game. His 4.0 offensive rebounds per game in league play lead all conference players.
This is the second SEC weekly honor received by a Vol this season, as junior guard Trae Golden was named SEC Player of the Week on Dec. 17.
As a newcomer last season, Stokes earned one SEC Freshman of the Week award as well as one SEC Player of the Week honor.
Monday's most recent honor for Stokes marks the fifth SEC weekly award received by a Vol during the tenure of second-year head coach Cuonzo Martin.
Stokes and the Vols are back in action Wednesday at 7:00 PM when they face Vanderbilt at Memorial Gymnasium in Nashville.
Courtesy UT Media Relations


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GeneaWebinars.com recently? I visited today and was pleasantly surprised to see that there are genealogy webinars scheduled three or four days a week for the next month! I love listening to these lectures from home. There are many topics to choose from, but here are just a few that you may want to add to your calendar:
Top 20 Lessons Genealogists Need to Know
Presented by Barry J. Ewell
Wed, March 21, 9pm – 10pm Eastern
Sponsored by Southern California Genealogical Society's Jamboree Extension Series
Juggling Complex Projects While Staying on Track
Presented by J. Mark Lowe, CG
Tuesday, March 27, 2012 — 8:30p.m. Eastern
Sponsored by the Association of Professional Genealogists
1940 Census Images and Indexing UPDATE
Hosted by DearMYRTLE
Mon, April 2 through Friday, April6, 9:00pm – 10:30pm Eastern
The Pursuit from Genealogy Hobbyist to Professional
Presented by John Kitzmiller and Claire Brison-Banks
Wed, April 4, 2:00pm – 3:30pm Eastern
Sponsored by the The International Commission for the Accreditation of Professional Genealogists (ICAPGen)
Researching Your Scottish Ancestors
Presented by Marie Dougan
Wed, April 18, 11:00am – 12:30pm Pacific
Sponsored by Legacy Family Tree
Reverse Genealogy: Finding the Living
Presented by Megan Smolenyak
Wed, April 25, 11:00am – 12:30pm Pacific
Sponsored by Legacy Family Tree
And this is just a sampling! To see the all the webinars coming up with full details and registration information click the "calendar" tab at GeneaWebinars.com


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While you are at it can you explain the differences between the H1 and H2 and why you chose the latter?[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=65562\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
H2 powers the back thru' the rechargable battery in the handgrip and it communicates better with Hasselblad digiBacks. But if you are going to use anyother digital back than it is not recommended to use H2 (one can but why spend $500 for the conversion of H1 to H2). All the other important elements are identical.[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=65612\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
My prognostic for Photokina: Hasselblad launches H3D, cheap, integrated and locked down. At an irresistible price point for the entry-level model (eg. $12-14K).[{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
I expect Hasselblad to come out with a MFDB using one of these smaller chips and they are usually a little bit below the price of Leaf and PhaseOne. So 13-14k for one of these backs is probable in the near future. I would be surprised if Hasselblad would leave this spot open. It would be a costly mistake on their part.[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=65711\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
don't laugh, it's not unrealistic at all!PhaseOne has the p30 and p21 on the market with slightly smaller Kodak chips for about 15.000 EURO. Leaf has the Aptus 65 with about the same size Dalsa chip for about the same price.I expect Hasselblad to come out with a MFDB using one of these smaller chips and they are usually a little bit below the price of Leaf and PhaseOne. So 13-14k for one of these backs is probable in the near future. I would be surprised if Hasselblad would leave this spot open. It would be a costly mistake on their part.And once they are at it they will probaby come out with an integrated solution as well like the H2D-39. However they will call it. H2D-31 if they use the Kodak chip of the p30 or H2D-18 if they use the Kodak chip of the p21. Whatever they will call it I expect them to come out with it and Photokina would be a good place to do it. And pricing will be competitive to steel customers from PhaseOne and Leaf and also convince people to choose an MF DSLR instead of the Canon 1DsMKIII which will probably be introduced during Photokina as well. I wouln't be surprised to see an entry level integrated Hasselblad H2D-whatever the name will be at around 14-15k.Time will tell as usual.And how about some wild speculation:PhaseOne and Leaf very well knows of the danger that Hasselblad is posing so who are they going to team up with? will CONTAX be resurected by one of them? Will Rollei get their act together and come up with something? They have been quite but probably working on something very hard. Their only chance is to come up with some surprise. How about a new 645 auto focus camera using their existing schneider AF lenses + the zeiss and schneider manuals of course and how about an alliance with PhaseOne or Leaf? Too good to be true? Who knows. Interesting times and I am sure some surprises still ahead.Any other wild guesses, wishes?[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=65711\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
but I have already decided to go for the H2D39
Overall handling was a bit tedious, you had to go into the menu to delete a file, same as switching from manual to auto focus. Maybe it's just another thing to get used to, but at first it is a bit strange.So overall I am not bowled over yet, and want to see the 39mp files especially some long exposures. Maybe later this weektill thenMarc[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=66271\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
I tried to do some test for the suposedly 12 stop dynamic range, but could not detect an incredible difference from the D2X


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The latest trending topics on Twitter include Jon Gosselin, "Family Guy" and Typhoon Ondoy.
But the subjects apparently on most people's minds most of the time are much more basic: working, eating and sleeping.
A study released this month by the Helsinki Institute for Information Technology found that the most common words used in social media posts are: "working," "home," "work," "lunch" and "sleeping."
The rather pedestrian list is a reflection of the masters and mistresses of the mundane who post their every move on Facebook status updates or to Twitter. But the study also shows how ingrained social media has become in daily life – and that no matter the delivery method, small talk remains a big deal to many folks.
Some will argue we've become a society of narcissists convinced there's an eager audience for the minutiae of our lives. But there is something almost reassuring in expressions of the routine, especially a time when working and having basic needs met aren't to be taken for granted.
The study isn't perfect, as Mashable notes: the researchers looked at Jaiku, a microblogging site that doesn't have the base of Twitter or Facebook.
But search for those five words on Twitter, and you'll get hits rolling in by the second – everything from "Working on laptop at client's office" to "Grabbing some lunch before I have to take the test I've been dreading all day" to "sleeping in my desk.... Zzzzzzzzzzz."
Eating, sleeping, shelter and working are human needs – and so is communication. Even if suffering through banal posts could inspire more "sleeping in my desk."
Hester is founding director of the award-winning, multi-media NYCity News Service at the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism. He is the former City Editor of the New York Daily News, where he started as a reporter in 1992. Follow him on Twitter.


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Here's the follow-up to yesterday's post by Mattio on the current status of the Luxembourg Cycling Project's title sponsors.
Let me begin my counterpoint with a concession: ultimately, Mattio's right—sponsors are the means to an end in which riders earn contracts, gain entry into the sport's greatest events, and with a little support and direction, hopefully become legends. We will always remember cycling's greatest champions for the races they won, not the jersey's they wore at the time.
However, in the matter of the world's news-starved cycling fans versus the management of the still-to-be-named Luxembourg Pro Cycling Project, we have a right to be making such a big deal about the fact that a team ranked #1 by the UCI heading into 2011 has still not named any of its main sponsors—aside from its bike and car suppliers, that is.
What me worry? I'll tell you why.
Logistically speaking, any team worth its salt right now is knee deep in preparations for 2011. Mechanics are taking measurements, ordering frames, inventorying parts, and building bikes in preparation for the first of the 2011 training camps. Now, Team Lux has its bikes covered—but here's a question: what color will they be? In the era of "our kit matches our bikes and vice versa" the identify of a team's main sponsor and it's branding makes a big difference. It might seem like a minor detail to some, but when you're ordering over 100 road and time trial framesets, it's a minor detail that can quickly become a major hiccup. Stickers don't cut-it anymore—the first race of the year is about 2 months away.
As for the soigneurs, they're busy with clothing. Getting sizes, dividing numbers between programs, and figuring out just how many extras of each item they'll need to make it through the season. And while the numbers be affected by the identity of a team's sponsors, the design of the kit certainly will. A friend of mine at Vermarc told me that Quick Step is on Proof #100 of it's kit design process; Omega Pharma-Lotto just sent back Proof #70. And these two teams have no questions as to the identities of their main backers in 2011. For a Team looking to make such a splash in 2011, it will look pretty bad if the team's biggest riders lack new kit to wear come January 1st. Granted, they could be working behind the scenes, but as I learned with Mercury-Viatel in 2001, there's nothing that causes more headaches—or saps more money—than a last minute clothing re-order.
Let's not forget the director sportifs, the men responsible for building the team's race program. A lot of these decisions are self-explanatory, but what happens when Title Sponsor X from Belgium wants the team racing in Belgium while it's doing both the Giro and the Tour of California? It's hard to say no to the company giving you millions of dollars to run your program. A little headache, yes—but little headaches become massive migraines quickly.
Perhaps most importantly, a shaky sponsorship situation risk a team's ability to compete and risks riders' ability to earn a living – and to race. I watched as Viatel and LeMond withdrew their sponsorship from Mercury-Viatel midseason; the team was on thin ice and ultimately collapsed. When Linda McCartney Foods withdrew its sponsorship commitment to an all-vegetarian team in 2001, the team folded, just two days before the team's official launch. And in 2007, a team sponsored by Unibet, an online gambling company, was excluded from Paris-Nice due to UCI, ASO, and ProTour squabbling (with the ASO citing national bans on gambling advertising), the riders were left unable to race. While bike racing is ultimately about the racing, teams rely on solid sponsorship in order to give riders the opportunity to race – to entertain us or capture our hearts and minds.
To make a long story short, while the identity of a team's sponsor might not matter in the long run, it certainly matters now—to the staff, to the team's management, and to the riders. The peace of mind that comes from knowing your benefactor goes a long way to getting the season started right—time that can be spent preparing, training, or getting to one another is now spent tying up loose ends that are now way over due. Is it any wonder why Fabian Cancellara hasn't officially made his decision yet?


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Thyroid Causes, Symptoms And Support Supplements
What is the Thyroid Gland?
The thyroid gland is a butterfly-shaped endocrine gland that is normally located in the lower front of the neck. The thyroid's job is to make thyroid hormones, which are secreted into the blood and then carried to every tissue in the body. Thyroid hormone helps the body use energy, stay warm and keep the brain, heart, muscles, and other organs working as they should.
Through the hormones it produces, the thyroid gland influences almost all of the metabolic processes in your body. Thyroid disorders can range from a small, harmless goiter (enlarged gland) that needs no treatment to life-threatening cancer. The most common thyroid problems involve abnormal production of thyroid hormones. If your thyroid is too active, it makes more thyroid hormones than your body needs. That condition is called hyperthyroidism. Too much thyroid hormone can make you lose weight, speed up your heart rate, and make you very sensitive to heat.
What Causes Thyroid Problems?
All types of hyperthyroidism are due to an overproduction of thyroid hormones, but the condition can occur in several ways:
• Graves' disease : The production of too much thyroid hormone
• Toxic adenomas: Nodules develop in the thyroid gland and begin to secrete thyroid hormones, upsetting the body's chemical balance; some goiters may contain several of these nodules.
• Subacute thyroiditis: Inflammation of the thyroid that causes the gland to "leak" excess hormones, resulting in temporary hyperthyroidism that generally lasts a few weeks but may persist for months.
• Pituitary gland malfunctions or cancerous growths in the thyroid gland: Although rare, hyperthyroidism can also develop from these causes.
Hypothyroidism, by contrast, stems from an underproduction of thyroid hormones. Since your body's energy production requires certain amounts of thyroid hormones, a drop in hormone production leads to lower energy levels. Causes of hypothyroidism include:
• Hashimoto's thyroiditis: In this autoimmune disorder, the body attacks thyroid tissue. The tissue eventually dies and stops producing hormones.
• Removal of the thyroid gland: The thyroid may have been surgically removed or chemically destroyed.
• Exposure to excessive amounts of iodide: Cold and sinus medicines, the heart medicine amiodarone, or certain contrast dyes given before some X-rays may expose you to too much iodine.You may be at greater risk for developing hypothyroidism if you have had thyroid problems in the past.
• Lithium: This drug has also been implicated as a cause of hypothyroidism.
Symptoms Of Thyroid
1. Fatigue
Feeling exhausted when you wake up, feeling as if 8 or 10 hours of sleep a night is insufficient or being unable to function all day without a nap can all be signs of thyroid problems. (With hyperthyroidism, you may also have nighttime insomnia that leaves you exhausted during the day.)
2. Weight Changes
You may be on a low-fat, low-calorie diet with a rigorous exercise program, but are failing to lose or gain any weight. Or you may have joined a diet program or support group, such as Weight Watchers, and you are the only one who isn't losing any weight. Difficulty losing weight can be a sign of hypothyroidism. You may be losing weight while eating the same amount of food as usual - or even losing while eating more than normal. Unexplained weight changes and issues can be signs of both hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism.
3. Depression and Anxiety
Depression or anxiety - including sudden onset of panic disorder - can be symptoms of thyroid disease. Hypothyroidism is most typically associated with depression, while hyperthyroidism is more commonly associated with anxiety or panic attacks. Depression that does not respond to antidepressants may also be a sign of an undiagnosed thyroid disorder.
4. Cholesterol Issues
High cholesterol, especially when it is not responsive to diet, exercise or cholesterol-lowering medication, can be a sign of undiagnosed hypothyroidism. Unusually low cholesterol levels may be a sign of hyperthyroidism.
5. Family History
If you have a family history of thyroid problems, you are at a higher risk of having a thyroid condition yourself. You may not always be aware of thyroid problems in your family, though, because among older people, it is often referred to as "gland trouble" or "goiter." So pay attention to any discussions of glandular conditions or goiter or weight gain due to "a glandular problem," as these may be indirect ways of referring to thyroid conditions.
6. Menstrual Irregularities and Fertility Problems
Heavier, more frequent and more painful periods are frequently associated with hypothyroidism, and shorter, lighter or infrequent menstruation can be associated with hyperthyroidism. Infertility can also be associated with undiagnosed thyroid conditions.
7. Bowel Problems.
Severe or long-term constipation is frequently associated with hypothyroidism, while diarrhea or irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is associated with hyperthyroidism.
8. Hair/Skin Changes
Hair and skin are particularly vulnerable to thyroid conditions, and in particular, hair loss is frequently associated with thyroid problems. With hypothyroidism, hair frequently becomes brittle, coarse and dry, while breaking off and falling out easily. Skin can become coarse, thick, dry,and scaly. In hypothyroidism, there is often an unusual loss of hair in the outer edge of the eyebrow. With hyperthyroidism, severe hair loss can also occur, and skin can become fragile and thin.
9. Neck Discomfort/Enlargement
A feeling of swelling in the neck, discomfort with turtlenecks or neckties, a hoarse voice or a visibly enlarged thyroid can all be signs of a "goiter" an enlarged thyroid gland that is a symptom of thyroid disease.
10. Muscle and Joint Pains, Carpal Tunnel/Tendonitis Problems
Aches and pains in your muscles and joints, weakness in the arms and a tendency to develop carpal tunnel in the arms/hands, tarsal tunnel in the legs, and plantars fasciitis in the feet can all be symptoms of undiagnosed thyroid problems.
Treatments for hyperthyroidism
Thyroid hormone production can be suppressed or halted completely in these ways:
• Radio-iodine treatment (a form of radiotherapy)
• Anti-thyroid medication
• Surgery
If your doctor decides that radio-iodine treatment is best, you will be asked to swallow a tablet or liquid containing radioactive iodine in amounts large enough to damage the cells of your thyroid gland and to limit or destroy their ability to produce hormones.
Occasionally more than one treatment is needed to restore normal hormone production. It is not advisable for breastfeeding or pregnant women to use this method of treatment, and women should be advised not to conceive for at least six months after treatment. Men, meanwhile, should not father a child for at least four months after this treatment. Many patients eventually become hypothyroid with this form of treatment, and you will need to have routine thyroid tests for an indefinite period afterwards.
If you start using anti-thyroid medications such as propylthiouracil or carbimazole, your hyperthyroid symptoms should begin to disappear in about three to four weeks, as the hormones already in your system run out and the medication starts to impair hormone production by the thyroid gland.
There are two ways of using these medications. One is to give very high doses to stop the thyroid gland producing any hormone, and then supplementing with thyroid tablets. The other is to give a very carefully titrated dose and monitor regularly until the thyroid hormone level eventually comes down to a normal range. Both methods work equally well.
Many medications also slow down the thyroid and also cause iodine deficiency. Lithium and corticosteroids are thyroid-slowing and should be used sparingly if at all. Pain medications, antihistamines and anti-depressants may also slow the thyroid down. Medications that make you feel sleepy or slow may also slow your thyroid and your metabolism down even more. Ask your doctor about alternatives. Once normal thyroid function is restored the dosage of medication may gradually be reduced. Unfortunately some people relapse on this treatment, and you will need regular blood tests while taking the medicines to monitor your thyroid levels.
Side effects are usually quite mild but there is one serious rare complication called agranulocytosis, involving reduced bone marrow production of white blood cells. One sign of this is a sore throat. You should seek medical advice if you develop a sore throat while on anti-thyroid medications so the doctor can do a blood test to check that your white blood cells are fine.
Surgery is often recommended for people under 45 years old when their hyperthyroidism is due to toxic adenomas (hot nodules), since these nodules tend to be resistant to radioactive iodide. Surgery is also recommended where medication has failed to control thyroid production or is contraindicated. Once the tissue has been removed surgically, hormone levels typically return to normal within a few weeks. Again, thyroid monitoring is important as some patients become hypothyroid over time.
Here are three things you can do to boost your thyroid function:
1. Eat more of these great sources of iodine to enhance thyroid function:
• Low fat cheese
• Cow's milk
• Eggs
• Low fat ice cream
• Low fat yogurt
• Saltwater fish
• Seaweed (including kelp, dulce, nori)
• Shellfish
• Soy sauce
2. Eat less of these foods; they slow your thyroid because they block your thyroid and your medication from producing thyroid hormone properly, especially when eaten raw. Cooking these foods inactivates their anti-thyroid properties. These foods are called goitrogens, which are chemicals that lower thyroid function. Eat these foods sparingly or only once every four days:
• Cauliflower (Any vegetable that falls into the broccoli family is a goitrogen and shouldn't be eaten more than twice a week if you have hypothyroidism.)
• Millet
• Pears
• Turnips
• Brussels sprouts
• Corn
• Mustard
• Pine nuts
• Cabbage
• Kale
• Peaches
• Soy (Isoflavones block iodine)
• Canola oil
• Peanuts
• Spinach
3. Workout every day. All you need is a pair of sneakers and a watch, and you're ready to go. For optimal thyroid function, you must exercise at least three days a week for 40 minutes per workout. I strongly suggest working out/walking every day so your thyroid gets a boost daily to correct the condition until your thyroid is running at an optimal rate. Circuit training is also great way to lower insulin levels and increase thyroid function. This is easy to do in the comfort of your own home by doing pushups, lunges and sit-ups back to back without rest, pushing yourself a bit to get out of breath.
Enhance your thyroid with supplements. Take thyroid-enhancing supplements daily to gently and safely keep your thyroid working optimally for life. The best way to treat anything is to prevent it! Supplementing is the best way to keep your thyroid running at an optimal rate and to keep your weight under control. Start your supplement regime first by using a very strong, high quality multivitamin. Most store-bought vitamins are not suitable or strong enough to help hypothyroidism, so look for a very potent high quality multi with high levels of iodine, selenium, zinc, vitamin B, D, E and at least 2 grams of vitamin C. Other nutrients such as omega-3 as well as amino acids also help regulate the thyroid and need to also be considered. Hypothyroid clients use gugglesterones. Guggulsterone or guggulipid's have been used for centuries in ayurvedic medicine to naturally regulate the thyroid and keep it running at an optimal rate without the side effects of medications. Look for supplement multitaskers from a very reputable source so you don't have to take 29 different pills every day.
Myotcstore Related ProductsTriMedica Thyadine With Rich Bio-Available Colloidal Iodine - 0.5 oz
Natures Way Kelp Natural Iodine Source 660 mg Capsules - 180 ea
Windmill Natural Source Of Iodine Kelp 100mg Tablets - 200 ea
World Organic Liquid Potassium Iodine Supplement - 2 oz
Bioforce A.Vogel thyroid support dietary supplement tablets, 120 ea
Dr. Christopher Kelp plant, 600 mg vegetarian capsules, 100 ea
FoodScience Of Vermont thyroid basics vegetarian capsules - 120 ea


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Brazilian president reacts to racial abuse
BRASILIA, Brazil -- Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has given her support to a black Brazilian player who was racially abused by Peruvian fans during a Copa Libertadores match.
Brazilian player Tinga, playing for Cruzeiro, was taunted with monkey chants when he entered the match in the second half on Wednesday and each time he touched the ball. The match was played in Huancayo, Peru, against Peruvian club Real Garcilaso.
Rousseff, commenting on her Twitter feed, called it "sad"...


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http://www.nigerianbestforum.com/blog/?attachment_id=121811 Cristiano Ronaldo has every chance of winning the Ballon d'Or, according to Portugal legend Luis Figo. The 40-year-old believes his compatriot is a worthy candidate following his exceptional form in 2012, but feels it is very difficult to predict who will claim the prize.
The former Real Madrid and Barcelona player believes the current Seleccao skipper fully deserves to receive the award after a storming year for club and country, but insisted that there are other worthy candidates as well.
'There's nothing to stop him [Ronaldo] from winning it,' Figo was quoted as saying by Mundo Deportivo. 'He is one of the favorites to win all the individual trophies there are, even more so this year, because I think he had a good season in the league and did well at the Euros.
'There are a lot of people involved in the choice, so it is always difficult to know who will win.'
Figo went on to reveal his pride at having won the award back in 2000, but added that he feels it was more difficult to claim the prize during his career.
'It was one of the most special moments in my career on the individual side of things, because there are few players who have the opportunity to win this trophy.
'At the time, there were lots of players who were in with a shout, whilst now there are four or five big candidates. It was a privilege and a proud moment for me.'


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Registration Opening Dates:
January 21, 2013 -- Forensic Genealogy Institute
January 22, 2013 -- Institute for Genealogy and Historical Research (IGHR)
February 7, 2013 -- Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh (GRIP)
February 2013 -- National Institute on Genealogical Research (NIGR)
Here are announcements and details on registration for each of these institutes:
Forensic Genealogy InstituteCouncil for the Advancement of Forensic Genealogy is proud to announce that Forensic Genealogy Institute II will be held April 11 - April 13, 2013 at the Wyndham Love Field in Dallas, Texas. Registration opens Monday, January 21, 2013 at 12:01 am Pacific time. Registration fee is $450 for non-CAFG members and $400 for members. Registration includes all courses and breakfast, lunch, and break snacks for all three days. The Wyndham is offering non-smoking king and double queen rooms to attendees for $10 plus applicable taxes. More information is available at http://www.
The Forensic Genealogy Institute offers twenty-plus hours of significant hands-on instruction with real-world work examples, resources, sample forms and work materials. The embedded practicum offers an actual forensic case study that will be covered from start to finish. Those who satisfactorily complete the course will receive a Forensic Genealogy Institute Certificate of Completion.
With over fifty years of combined forensic genealogical experience, instructors for the Forensic Genealogy Institute are practicing professional genealogists with real life experience in the field:
Michael Ramage, J.D., Certified Genealogist (sm); Kelvin L. Meyers, Forensic Genealogist; Leslie Brinkley Lawson, Forensic Genealogist; Dee Dee King, Certified Genealogist Forensic Genealogist; Catherine W. Desmarais, M.Ed., Certified Genealogist; and guest speaker Debbie Parker Wayne, Certified Genealogist, CGL.
Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research (IGHR)
Registration for IGHR 2013 will open Tuesday, January 22, 2013 at 11:00 a.m. Eastern time (10:00 a.m. Central). A link will be provided on the IGHR Registration page to the online registration at that time. The course openings will once again be staggered to prevent server overload - more on this below.
There is a downloadable online registration guide that ALL prospective attendees will want to review before registration begins. The IGHR 101 page has a new addition titled "What is IGHR?" This downloadable PDF provides a brief overview of what IGHR is, what it includes, and what you can expect when you attend.
Registration for course openings will be staggered as follows:
Opening at 10:00 a.m. Central:
o Course 1: Techniques and Technology
o Course 4: Advanced Methodology and Evidence Analysis
Opening at 10:30 a.m. Central:
o Course 3: Research in the South, Part II
o Course 6: Genealogy as a Profession
o Course 9: The Five Civilized Tribes: The Records & Where to Find Them
Opening at 11:00 a.m. Central:
o Course 2: Intermediate Genealogy and Historical Studies
o Course 8: Understanding Land Records
Opening at 11:30 a.m. Central:
o Course 5: Writing and Publishing for Genealogists
o Course 7: Reading German Records
o Course 10: Scottish Genealogical Research
Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh (GRIP)Registration will open at NOON on Thursday, February 7, 2013 for the 2013 Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh (GRIP). This institute will held at LaRoche College in Pittsburgh from Sunday, July 21, 2013 through Friday, July 26, 2013. The six courses to choose from include:
Intermediate Genealogy: Tools for Digging Deeper with Paula Stuart-Warren, CG, FMGS, FUGA.
Determining Kinship Reliably with the Genealogical Proof Standard with Thomas W. Jones, Ph.D., CG, CGL, FASG, FUGA, FNGS.
Bridging the 1780-1840 Gap: From New England to the Midwest with D. Joshua Taylor, MA, MLS.
Your Immigrant Ancestors' Stories: Writing a Quality Narrative with John Philip Colletta, Ph.D., FUGA.
Advanced Land Research: Locating, Analyzing, Mapping with Rick Sayre, CG, CGL and Pam Sayre, CG, CGL.
Military Records: From Cradle to Grave with Craig R. Scott, CG.
Evening lectures are scheduled for Monday, July 22, with Michael Hait, CG; Tuesday, July 23, with Angela McGhie; and Thursday, July 25, with Pamela Stone Eagleson, CG. These lectures are open to the public.
The National Institute for Genealogical Research
The National Institute for Genealogical Research (NIGR) is held at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. in July. This institute provides an on-site exploration of federal records. Presenters include professional genealogists and NARA archivists and cover records such as military, land, immigration, census, as well as many other types of federal records that can be used for genealogical research. You can sign up online to receive a copy of the registration brochure to be sent out in February by either filling out the Mailing List Form; e-mailing; or writing to NIGR, P.O. Box 118, Greenbelt, MD 20768-0118. Registration forms should be mailed in quickly after you receive them as the institute may fill quickly.


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A small herd of European bison will soon be released in Germany's most densely populated state, the first time in nearly three centuries that these bison — known as wisents — will roam freely in Western Europe.
The project is the brainchild of Prince Richard of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg. He owns more than 30,000 acres, much of it covered in Norwegian spruce and beech trees in North Rhine-Westphalia.
For the 78-year-old logging magnate, the planned April release of the bull, five cows and two calves will fulfill a decade-old dream.
But the aristocrat's neighbors aren't all thrilled about his plan to release wisents, which have been living in an enclosure on his property for three years. They are slightly taller than their American cousins and weigh up to a ton. Questions remain about who will foot the bill if the European bison damage property or injure someone.
"We were skeptical because we weren't given enough information," says Helmut Dreisbach, a cattle farmer and vice chairman of the Farmers' Association of Siegen-Wittgenstein. "How will the animals react? Will they stay in a particular area or will they move onto working farmland?"
The prince's estate manager, Johannes Roehl, says it's unlikely the small herd will move far beyond the 220-acre enclosure they currently live in. He adds that even if the animals do stray, they have vast swaths of uninhabited forestland to roam in.
Winning Over The Neighbors
Prince Richard blames much of the criticism on centuries-old rivalries between his Protestant family and Catholic neighbors.
Nevertheless, he and his son, Prince Gustav, say they realized the importance of winning over local residents. The younger prince says it was tough in the beginning.
"They made such trouble. I mean, there were public hearings with hundreds of people," the 44-year-old explains, adding, that the proponents "were nearly beaten up."
But the princes say most people have come around after extensive efforts to educate residents about their plans and their getting necessary government approvals.
The project receives the equivalent of $1.6 million in government subsidies, and local officials have put up street signs pointing tourists to a second wisent herd that Prince Richard has on display.
Bernd Fuhrmann, the mayor of Bad Berleburg, says he hopes the wisents will jump-start the village's flailing tourist industry.
"We know them from the old Western movies," he says. "My enthusiasm for these animals has grown. ... To experience them in the wild will be fascinating."
European bison are not the first animals Prince Richard has brought back to the region. His estate is rife with gray geese and ravens, which he says he reintroduced at the request of the German government. Herds of red and roe deer, as well as wild sheep and boar, also abound on his property.
Many of the animals on his land can be hunted, but others, like the bison, are off limits. Rows of antlers and horns hang on the prince's office wall.
Prince Richard says his passion for animals is one he's cultivated since his youth. It wasn't an easy childhood. He says American forces during World War II bombed his family home, adding a sarcastic, "Thank you very much."
After the war ended, Prince Richard says he and other youth would steal American soldiers' cigarettes for trade. He was shipped off to relatives in Sweden, where he developed his love for nature. He later studied forestry in college.
Prince Gustav says his father was determined to create animal-friendly habitats on their estate and enlisted his son's help.
"For 20 years we've been shoveling ponds," the younger prince says. "Now we both have bad backs. I think we shoveled tons of earth for fish and for the big black stork and for the kingfisher."
Hopes For Bigger Herd
In the U.S., efforts to reintroduce American bison have met with varying degrees of success. Clayton B. Marlow, a professor of rangeland science and management at Montana State University, warns that just as with American bison, keeping the German wisent herd moving will be paramount to ensuring it doesn't destroy habitat or become a nuisance to the community.
"We can't release either population onto a landscape and rub our hands with satisfaction and walk away," he says.
Ensuring they don't transmit diseases to local cattle or vice versa is also important, he adds.
The princes have been working closely with Polish scientists at the Warsaw University of Life Sciences to ensure the wisents are healthy and genetically sound.
That's where the official European bison registry is kept, showing that there are currently about 4,500 European bison in captivity.
Prince Gustav says the outcome they are hoping for is a herd or two of 15 to 25 animals. They and their project's managers will closely monitor the wisents and cull their numbers as needed.
"If it doesn't work we will have to take them away, but it will work," he says. "If we leave them alone it will work."
This month, a herd of European bison will be released into the wild in Germany's most populated state. It will be the first time in nearly three centuries that these animals are able to roam freely in Western Europe. The reintroduction of bison, which are taller but weigh less than their American cousins, is the work of an elderly German prince. It's one of several animal-related projects that have rattled his neighbors. NPR's Berlin correspondent Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson visited the prince and his bison on his vast estate in North Rhine-Westphalia and filed this report.
SORAYA SARHADDI NELSON, BYLINE: European bison, or wisents as they are known here, weigh up to a ton and look a bit menacing. But in reality, they are shy creatures. The arrival of visitors sends this small herd into hiding inside their snow-covered, 220-acre enclosure here outside Bad Berleburg. The eight wisents blend in with the many Norwegian spruce trees here. Then they spot Jochen Born.
NELSON: They gallop toward the 38-year-old bison ranger, then head for the oat mixture he pours into nearby troughs and eat with gusto.
NELSON: Born smiles at the animals like a proud father. The estate manager, Johannes Roehl, says that the bison ranger bottle-fed some of the creatures when they were younger.
JOHANNES ROEHL: (Foreign language spoken)
NELSON: Roehl jokes that he sometimes checks to see whether the bison ranger has grown horns.
ROEHL: (Foreign language spoken)
NELSON: Born says the bison are thriving. He's the only one who has regular contact with these animals. Even those encounters have tapered off to encourage the wisents to stay away from humans. Born and others in the project believe the bull, five cows and two calves, won't be any trouble. They predict that even after the wisents are freed, they will stick close to their enclosure in this 30,000-acre, dense forest belonging to Prince Richard of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg.
The 78-year-old aristocrat runs one of the more lucrative logging operations in Germany. It was his idea to release the wisents into the forest around Bad Berleburg. His estate is full of wild herds, including red and roe deer, wild sheep and boar. His staff feeds them in the winter to keep them from seeking food in nearby towns. Many of the animals are hunted on Prince Richard's estate, although some species are off limits, as the free-roaming bison will be. His son, Prince Gustav, says they've also lured animals back to their area by creating natural habitats for them.
PRINCE GUSTAV: For 20 years, we've been shoveling ponds. Now, we both have a bad back. I think we shoveled tons of earth for fish and for the big black stork and for the king fisher. And that's fun to see when you have all that, what you can do with it.
NELSON: Father and son say the wisents, while small in number, are by far their most ambitious project. Prince Richard says he decided to reintroduce the creatures to Germany a decade ago.
PRINCE RICHARD: It was my idea to have wisents because they are very mild animals, because the minister of agriculture at that time said we were going to have wolves and lynx. And, I mean, in a country like Germany, 82 million people and a small country, sharing the nature with wolves? It's an absolutely impossible idea.
NELSON: The prince claims the rewilding of predators has done a lot of damage in Europe, but his neighbors were not crazy about having a herd of large bison roaming around, either. Cattle farmer Helmut Dreisbach is vice chairman of the local farmers' association.
HELMUT DREISBACH: (Foreign language spoken)
NELSON: He asks: How are these animals going to act? Will they travel to our farms? Will farm workers be in danger? Who will pay if the bison damage property? Prince Richard attributes much of the criticism over his wisent project to age-old rivalries between his Protestant family and nearby Catholic communities. He adds that many of his neighbors also wrongly assume that the European bison will thunder across the countryside here like they do in American Western movies.
RICHARD: They compare them with your bisons. And people remember that you had hundreds of thousands of them, so they were scared stiff that there would be as many here.
NELSON: Prince Gustav says their herd will eventually have between 15 and 25 animals.
GUSTAV: This is going to be a little herd. Maybe the herd will split, and we will have two herds. We don't know.
NELSON: Father and son say they nevertheless realized the importance of winning over the locals and German government to their side and spent the better part of the last decade doing just that. Prince Gustav recalls the first meetings were tense and almost ended up in fistfights.
GUSTAV: There were politicians. And it was people from the tourism or people from the hotel business and restaurant business, they were all against it.
NELSON: Prince Gustav adds that these days, most people are on board. The German government has given its approval to the project, which has received the equivalent of $1.6 million in subsidies. Signs on area streets point drivers to an enclosure where Prince Richard keeps a herd of 14 wisents on public display. The princes have also worked closely with Polish scientists in charge of the European bison breeding registry to ensure the animals they are releasing are healthy and genetically sound. They say they also want to make sure they don't end up with too many bison as happened with their raven and grey goose projects.
JOCHEN BORN: (Foreign language spoken)
NELSON: Bison ranger Born says the calves that have been born here since then are now part of that registry. Their names begin with the letter combination Q-U, as will all future calves to identify them as part of Prince Richard's wisent line. Born adds the herd will be closely monitored and culled as needed after it is set free. Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.


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My buddy Ryan Wallace texted me during the first quarter last night and he hit the nail on the head. "This is just a bad match up," he said. "It happens."
I totally agreed and it's one that had several reasons, but let's take a look at the first one.
@11758rw dribble drive. Keep your man in front if you and force jumpers. Then run. Tough match up for a slow paced team.— Tommy Dee (@TommyDeeTKB) December 18, 2012
@tommydeetkb 16fts and 34 pts in paint. I didn't watch game but I bet raptors played them zone.— Ryan Wallace(@11758rw) December 18, 2012
The Rockets essentially run a college offense centered around attacking the "block" or "slots" with pick and roll mixed in. They are coached by Kelvin Sampson, who produced many pros in college. Their goal is to beat their man to the open block forcing help and if no help comes it's a layup.
Kentucky has made the dribble drive famous, and it's the perfect offense for players like James Harden and Jeremy Lin, both who need the bounce to create optimal scoring opportunities. I'm surprised it's not more utilized in the NBA. Lin's numbers are down because he plays most of the game off the ball, watching and reacting to Harden's attacking and slashing to the block. When the Rockets have Harden attacking the left "slot" and Lin attacking the right "slot" they are very hard to defend.
As we know, the Knicks struggle guarding the dribble, especially Jason Kidd these days, so it makes sense that the Rockets backcourt has been dominant against the Knicks in their two meetings. Add to the fact that Tyson Chandler had to be especially careful in help because of a lack of depth and the fact that Kurt Thomas would struggle at the pace the Rockets play at, and you have the makings of another blow out.
The solution to the dribble drive? Iman Shumpert would most certainly have helped as would some sprinkling of a 2-3, 3-2 or match up zone, something Mike Woodson isn't a fan of.
The NBA is a copycat league, so expect to see more of this as the NBA tries to figure the Knicks out defensively.


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By December of 1905 the University had purchased a telescope for $1,000 but there were no accommodations for its mounting. It was recommended to the Board of Trustees that to build a suitable observatory building and to cover the cost for proper care of the telescope would cost around $2,000. A request was made to the Board of Trustees that an appropriation in that amount be named. This first campus observatory was located on the northeast corner of what is now McVey Hall.
By 1928 the University campus had grown. The Board of Trustees minutes reflect the need to move the observatory because it was in the way of the new recitation building that was then being built. It was stated that although it was convenient to have the observatory building close to the university center so that students could reach it during the intervals between classes that it was almost useless because there was now insufficient elevation all the way around, and the reflected lights from the city interfered with viewing.
In 1929 President McVey presented to the Board the matter of the observatory which had by then been removed from central campus. He recommended that the observatory be reconstructed at the head of Woodland Avenue on the University farm, indicating that this location was quiet, out of reach of the city, and would be fairly suitable for observation purposes at that point. The motion was made, seconded, and carried. In 1930, bids were put out for construction and it was completed in 1931.
The observatory contained two refractor telescopes, one equatorially mounted 8-inch and one, 2/12-inch. A 20-inch reflector telescope was purchased soon after. Through the telescopes, one could see craters and mountains on the moon, various planets, comets, and stars. A photographic attachment was added to the telescope for making pictures of astronomical observations. The observatory was ultimately constructed on the experiment station farm at the intersection of Woodland and Hilltop Avenues.
By 1959, Cooperstown had been constructed and lights were once again interfering with viewing so a new observatory location was once again under consideration. At this point, the observatory was open to the public every Thursday evening from 7:30-8:30. However by 1963, the observatory was considered surplus to the needs of the University and dismantled in 1965. The telescope and dome were given to Eastern Kentucky University.
In 2008, the third campus observatory officially began operations. The MacAdam Observatory was built after a $250,000 gift from Keith and Phyllis MacAdam initiated the project and was matched by the Research Challenge Trust fund.
The MacAdam Student Observatory is a University of Kentucky building located on top of parking garage structure #2 that is used by faculty and students for research and learning. The MacAdam Student Observatory staff are pleased to welcome the public to the facility and present a program of public outreach on every second Thursday of the month.


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Top Design Trends | Leadership in Energy Efficient Design (LEED)
Interior design trends may be less fluid than fashion trends, which change with each season, but that doesn't mean club owners can stick with a 20-year-old design in their facilities.
ACE Predicts 2007 Fitness Trends
Trends related to the young and the old will take center stage in 2007. ThatÂ's just two of the fitness trends that the American Council on Exercise (ACE) is predicting for next year based on research and input from its network of certified fitness professionals. Here are the top 10 trends as predicted by the organization.
10 Trends to Watch in the Shift to Preventive Care
Can you hear it? That loud noise is the sound of the Baby Boomers blasting into their sixth decade of life, and oh what a decade it will be. But what effect will this group of aging Baby Boomers have on the fitness industry and on the nation's health and well being?
Spa Trends
FORT COLLINS, CO Looking for the latest consumer trends when it comes to spas? Check out a few of the results of the latest annual Spa Association Industry Study, conducted by Opinion Site Research.
Spa Trends, Part 1
Spas are more popular than ever, but are spas just a trend or are they here to stay? First known for her early 1990's prediction that Americans would soon be cocooning, Faith Popcorn has since become the guru of our age on being a consumer, being a human and living in this era. Many of her trending concepts directly coincide with where the spa industry is headed.
Spa Trends, Part 2
With today's fast-paced lifestyles, visiting the spa needs to be quick, convenient and effective. All of the regular cosmetic services such as Botox, collagen enhancement, skin rejuvenation and others need to go off without a hitch and within an hour. Many of these treatments are for socialites or working women and men on the go.
Seasonal Trends
The fitness industry is predictably seasonal; an exodus occurs in the summer and New Year's provides a flooding of wanna-be-fit converts. There are also ebbs and flows in the spa business. A bit less dramatic, though still easily measurable, trends like weddings...
Hot Trends in America's Health Clubs
hot group exercise trends for health clubs and fitness facilities.
Top Design Trends
Club owners can take their business to the next level by leveraging some of the latest design trends.
A Look Back
Before the industry moves into the new year, we take a moment to reflect on the past year in which the worries about the economy, a big bankruptcy and growth in franchised clubs took center stage.
The State of '08
The state of the industry in 2008 resembles not only a maze filled with barriers such as economic uncertainty and growing competition but also with openings, such as continued growth in personal training and expansion of some of the largest brands in the industry.
Survey Finds Personal Training on Top; Aerobics on Decline
SAN DIEGO—Personal training still is the most successful program for retaining newcomers, according to a survey by IDEA Health & Fitness Association.
A Look Back
Before the industry moves into the new year, we take a moment to reflect on the past year in which the worries about the economy, a big bankruptcy and growth in franchised clubs took center stage.
The Forecast Looks Gray But Not Cloudy
Many who forecast future trends tend to step back, take a hard look at what is happening in their industries and then give their best assumption of what will take place based on the direction the industry, programs and manufacturers are going. This is called crystal balling it.
Women's Participation in Sports Growing
WASHINGTON, DC — More females play team sports now than 10 years ago, and far more females will play team sports in the next decade, according to the U.S. Trends in Team Sports, 2006 Edition.
Personal Training Stays on Top
SAN DIEGO – Personal training, mind-body fusion and outdoor activities continue to be popular offerings at health clubs while stability balls, resistance bands and balance boards are the most frequently offered equipment, according to the 12th annual IDEA Fitness Programs and Equipment Survey.
Personal Training Stays on Top, Study Shows
SAN DIEGO — Personal training, mind-body fusion and outdoor activities continue to be popular offerings at health clubs while stability balls, resistance bands and balance boards are the most frequently offered equipment, according to the 12th annual IDEA Fitness Programs and Equipment Survey.
What's Hot, What's Not?
Record numbers of lycra-clad women and men joined health clubs in the early '80s to grapevine and pony in sweaty unison to the latest top 10. Aerobics was born...
Taking the industry's pulse for 2003-2004.
Sometimes, a look back at a year reveals new and exciting information and innovations; other times it is like looking at a picture in a photo album — it looks the same every time you glance at it.
Singing in the Rain
Break out the umbrellas in 2006 as the industry welcomes a steady rain of investors, new members and new competition.
State of the Industry: Go Fish
Clubs look for the right bait to lure in and retain members at a time of increased competition, stagnant membership numbers and uncertainty about 2007 revenue forecasts.
The Changing Face of Fitness
The halcyon days of muscle beach are over. Where once only suntanned bodybuilders dared to tread, or some diehard spandexed aerobics disciples, is now the haven of retired grandmothers, middle-aged businessmen and working moms.