The Gambling Peak

I love what prominent baseball people have to say about the great ballplayers. They seem to eloquently capture what we are thinking.

“It was his solemn duty to catch a ball that wasn’t in the stands.” – Monte Irvin (Newark Eagles OF, May 6, 1981), on Willie Mays

“Maybe they should see if his body is corked.” – Howard ‘Hojo’ Johnson (NY Mets), on Bo Jackson, from Sports Illustrated, October 19, 1986

“When he took BP everybody would kind of stop what they were doing and watch.” – Jim Kaat, former pitcher, on Mickey Mantle

“I played with him for nine years and marveled at how hard he hit and how fast he ran. How can anyone ever forget the catch he made on Gil Hodges’ line drive to save Don Larsen’s perfect game?” – Tony Kubek, former shortstop, on Mickey Mantle

“A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.” –
Jackie Robinson

“Having Willie Stargell on your ball club is like having a diamond ring on your finger.”
Chuck Tanner

“Ted Williams was the greatest hitter I ever saw, but (Joe) DiMaggio was the greatest all around player.”
Bob Feller

“No one hit home runs the way Babe (Ruth) did. They were something special. They were like homing pigeons. The ball would leave the bat, pause briefly, suddenly gain its bearings, then take off for the stands.” Lefty Gomez

“When Neil Armstong first set foot on the moon, he and all the space scientists were puzzled by an unidentifiable white object. I knew immediately what it was. That was a home run ball hit off me in 1933 by Jimmie Foxx.”
Lefty Gomez

“Every time Johnny Bench throws, everybody in baseball drools.” – Harry Dalton

“He (Babe Ruth) hits a ball harder and further than any man I ever saw.” – Bill Dickey
“He (Lou Gehrig) just went out and did his job every day.”
Bill Dickey

“He gets better every year, that’s what’s remarkable about him. Some guys are good and stay good. Some guys are good and get better. He reminds me of Kareem. Hubie Brown said that Kareem worked at the beginning of every season to improve some facet of his game. It’s that way with the best, whatever the profession. That’s the way this kid is.”
Ed Bradley on 60 Minutes – Talking about Derek Jeter

“I think he was one of the greatest third basemen of all time. He had one of the sweetest swings I ever saw.” – Teammate Johnny Logan on Eddie Mathews

“How good was Stan Musial? He was good enough to take your breath away.” – (1989)Vin Scully

“When he (Maury Wills) runs, it’s all downhill.” Vin Scully

Seeing what these writers, ballplayers and managers have to say about these players lights up the page for me. I can visualize these players on the field hitting home runs, running with arms outstretched to catch a ball or throwing out a would be base runner trying to steal a base.

This is my baseball memorabilia.

About the Author

Aron Wallad has been a baseball lover for over 45 years. His passions have included; playing, watching, reading , evaluating, and coaching the game he adores. Check out his baseball ezine. Do you love inspiring quotes, unusual statistics and most of all, heartwarming baseball stories? If you love baseball you will love his baseball ezine.

Go here right now http://www.baseballsprideandjoy.com/index.php?tag=goart

I can’t tell you how many times people have asked me, “How
to do I get my site to come up in the top ten of the search
engines so I can get hits and sell my product?”

What they really want to know is, “How can I get people to
show up to my website without spending any money on
advertising my site!”

People usually don’t like my answer because accomplishing a
“top ten ranking” on any search engine always requires
careful thought along with a significant amount of work.

Three types of “Search engines” abound on the Internet.
They include true search engines, directories, and links
pages.

At last count approximately 10,000 sites referred to
themselves as search engines, though only about a dozen
sites rate your attention since they drive 97% of the
Internet’s search traffic.

These sites include Google, Yahoo!, Overture, MSN,
AltaVista, AllTheWeb, Lycos, DMOZ, and a few others.

When a visitor logs onto a search engine looking for
information, they enter “keywords” about the subject in
hopes of obtaining a list of relevant websites.

Each search engine or directory operates with its own rules
about judging a site’s relevancy to a keyword search.

They look at text on the web page (body text) as well as
words you can’t see which reside in the actual code of the
web pages.

This code includes such things as alt tags, title tags, and
others.

Depending on the search engine, what you can’t see may
represent a far more important part of ranking well than
the words appearing on the page.

Search engines look at how many times a keyword shows up in
the various parts of your website as well as actual
location on the page.

Assuming that an important subject for your pages would
appear at the beginning of a page, those web pages starting
with the keyword should rank better than those that don’t.

Also, in many cases, the more websites linking to your site
will drastically impact your rankings.

Entire books and websites exist to teach eager website
owners how to pump up their rankings on all the various
search engines, however these promotion tips will serve you
well in your quest for the “Top Ten!”

** See what others have done for maximum exposure!

Go to the various search engines and perform a search under
which you would like to appear.

Dissect those pages to find
the common elements that make them show up.

~ How often and where do the keywords appear on the page?
~ How many words on the page in total?
~ Do they put keywords in their hypertext links?
~ How many other sites link to them and could you easily get
a link from those sites too?

** Beware of registration vs. promotion

Plenty of companies will “register” your website with
thousands of search engines for about $50-$100.

But simply submitting to the search engines won’t do much
for you. Without the proper structure in your website, only
sheer luck will cause your site to pop up in the top ten!

About the Author

– Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist and the
co-author of an amazing new ebook that will teach you how
to use fr-e articles to quickly drive thousands of targeted
visitors to your website or affiliate links… http://www.turnwordsintotraffic.com

It makes no difference if you live in Mount Vernon New York or in Manchester New Hampshire a honest online analysis will relieve you often a lot of ail. At this moment you can check into rates quickly online and fancy if there are possible traps you should know about. A lot of the moneylenders wil show you a rate of interest that looks safe but feels bad or so after a while. That’s why now you really need to suss out and assure if you can have a money loan at a respectable percent rate. A bank in Miramar Florida or so can have a total different actual loan rate for a 5000 dollar loan then a merchant bank in MountaView California and that makes a immense clear difference in your weekly pay backs. Be fresh today to investigate if you have a great offer or if you don’t with the moneylender that offers you a loan. 9.1 percent rate may seem so mediocre but will that be perpetual after you have to reinforce your money loan. Check out to see if the merchant bank who you a bank loan is untrustworthy.

Translated it means: Woon je in Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht of Montferland en hebt u BKR notering. Lenen met een BKR notering is nergens zo eenvoudig. Koop een andere caravan met geldleningen met negatieve bkr registratie, 170007 euro is geen enkel probleem om te financieren. Van Asten tot Beemster, financieren met een BKR registratie is hier geen enkel probleem.

Once you’ve got your CCNA, you’re ready to move on to the next level, the Professional certifications. For years, Cisco had one Professional certification, the Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP) certification. Over time, Cisco has expanded this level of certifications to include the Cisco Certified Security Professional (CCSP) and Cisco Certified Voice Professional (CCVP).

With security and voice being the two most rapidly expanding areas of today’s networks, some new CCNAs consider going after the CCSP or CCVP without first adding the CCNP to their resume.

While it’s temping to hurry up and get a Cisco security or voice certification, the best thing you can do for your networking career is achieve your CCNP certification first, then decide on the CCVP or CCSP.

Why? Because the CCNA is just the tip of a very large iceberg when it comes to routing and switching. It’s a very important accomplishment, and the CCNA is indeed the foundation of your networking career, but you need to add on to that level of understanding routing and switching before moving on to more specialized areas.

Two examples are OSPF and BGP. You learn about the theory of OSPF and some basic and intermediate configurations of that protocol in your CCNA studies, but the knowledge you acquire of OSPF in your CCNP studies is invaluable. As for BGP, there is no BGP in the CCNA curriculum, but it is a great idea to have some BGP knowledge in today’s networks. It’s also good for your career.

I know it is a huge temptation to go after the security and voice certifications while not paying attention to the CCNP. Do yourself a huge favor and add the tremendous amount of routing and switching knowledge needed for the CCNP to your knowledgebase, and you can then move on to the CCSP or CCVP. Even better, you’ll be better prepared to climb the biggest certification mountain around – the CCIE!

Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933, is the owner of The Bryant Advantage, home of free CCNA and CCNP tutorials, The Ultimate CCNA Study Package, and Ultimate CCNP Study Packages.
For a FREE copy of his latest e-books, “How To Pass The CCNA” and “How To Pass The CCNP”, visit the website and download your free copies. You can also get FREE CCNA and CCNP exam questions every day! Pass the CCNA exam with The Bryant Advantage!

DefensePro 3020 Offers Carriers and Large Enterprises Unmatched Port Density and Expanded Multi-Gigabit Application Security for Radware’s Flagship IPS and DoS/DDoS Security Switch

Radware, (NASDAQ: RDWR) the leading provider of integrated application delivery solutions ensuring the availability, performance and security of networked applications, today announced DefensePro 3020, designed to meet the high-performance, high availability and unique connectivity demands of application layer security for carriers and large enterprises DefensePro 3020 offers unparalleled application and network security against worms, viruses, malicious intrusions and Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks to protect critical applications and infrastructure.

DefensePro 3020 is the first product in Radware’s family of intelligent application switches to be released on the company’s new 3020 multi-tiered ASIC and Network Processor switching platform.

“DefensePro 3020’s integrated DoS protection, IPS and application bandwidth management ensure Service Level Agreements to carrier customers worldwide -cleaning peering points, ensuring DNS protection and securing customers against abnormal traffic and server downtime,” said Amir Peles, CTO at Radware. “Our new multi-segment protection for IPS service virtualization offers significant CAPEX and OPEX savings for carriers.”

DefensePro 3020 is the only security device on the market to meet carriers’ unique tunneling protocol needs including: MPLS, L2TP, GRE and GTP, thus enabling IPS and DoS protection for enterprise customer IP-VPNs, and transparent integration with wireline and mobile carrier environments. DefensePro 3020 also includes internal bypass and dual AC and DC power supply with built-in overflow capabilities that address stringent carrier redundancy requirements for high availability.

To meet carrier high performance needs, DefensePro 3020 was designed to isolate, block and prevent application level attacks at multi-Gigabit throughput. Built on Radware’s powerful new application switching platform, DefensePro 3020’s high-port density-with 20 gigabit ports -offers the highest possible scanning capacity across multiple network segments with a single device. Coupling unmatched security performance with advanced security intelligence, DefensePro immediately thwarts viruses, intrusions, Trojans, worms and DoS attacks.

DefensePro 3020 At-A-Glance

Multi-Gigabit inline security switching safeguarding all internal and external traffic against attack

Attack isolation preventing attack spread across servers, applications and users

Multi-segment protection, up to 10 gigabit segments in a single box

Intrusion Prevention , blocking over 1,500 viruses, worms and malicious intrusions with ongoing security update service

DDoS and SYN protection, securing customers against abnormal traffic patterns and server downtime

Traffic shaping ensuring service levels even when under attack

Inspecting all traffic including encrypted SSL traffic

Embedded tunneling protocols

Dual AC or DC power supply

Availability and Pricing DefensePro 3020 is available immediately for customers. Standard pricing begins at $75,000. For more information on DefensePro, please click here.

Radware (NASDAQ:RDWR) is the global leader in integrated application delivery solutions, assuring the full availability, maximum performance and complete security of all business critical networked applications while dramatically cutting operating and scaling costs. Over 3,000 enterprises and carriers worldwide use Radware application-smart switches to drive business productivity and improve profitability by adding critical application intelligence their IP infrastructure, making networks more responsive to specific business processes. Radware’s best of breed product family provides the most complete set of application front-end, remote access and security capabilities for intelligent application-specific tuning of global networks to ensure faster, more reliable and secure business transactions.

Would you agree that coming over the top (in your golf swing) is one of the most frustrating problems to have in the game of golf?

Yes?

Well, consider this:

If you manage to fix that OTT problem, you’ll start hitting better golf shots. You’re going to begin feeling a whole lot better about your game…about yourself too.

And just like that misery…that won’t let go after a bad round of golf…there’s a good feeling you get…as a result of playing a good golf game because you fixed that OTT problem. It tends to linger too.

Sometimes for days.

Now, imagine playing again, and your OTT problem is nowhere to be seen. Your golf shots are becoming more consistent. Your scores are getting better. They’re dropping bit by bit…and all the while, your confidence is growing.

And what does the opposite sex usually find among the most atrractive characteristics in a person?

That’s right…CONFIDENCE.

(Not to be confused with arrogance).

And now that you’ve got their attention, you’re starting to realize that you’re not a loser like you thought you were on the golf course all that time. In fact, you’re beginning to feel like you’ve got a lot to offer. – All because of your newfound confidence.

You don’t need me to spell out where things can go from here. But I would like to point out what is at the root of this new self-assured person you’ve become.

You went out and bought Two Simple Adjustments That Will Stop You From Coming Over The Top, In 5 Swings Or Less.

Note: While I cannot guarantee that your love life will will certainly improve. I CAN guarantee you will stop coming over the top in your golf swing.

Throughout the years, the swing plane has always been one of the most difficult things to understand. Hopefully, I can simplify this difficult subject so you can achieve the proper swing plane in your golf swing.

I like to use the image of a weight swinging on a piece of string to illustrate the swing plane. What would happen if you picked up a weight on a piece of string and started to twirl it? Assuming your hand was on a 45 degree angle in front of you and not tilted left or right, the weight would make a circular arc around your hand causing the weight to swing down the line. If the weight was allowed to swing freely, it would do the same thing on one side as it does on the other. That means it would be swinging on a perfect plane around your hand.

Now that you have an understanding of what the swing plane is, you have to also understand that there are 3 different planes you could have. To imagine the different planes, think again about the weight swinging on the string. We already discussed the down the line plane (hand not tilted) but what would happen if you tilted your hand to the left? If you tilted your hand to the left the weight would swing to the left. Now what if you tilted your hand to the right? If you tilted your hand to the right the weight would swing to the right. So here are the 3 different planes you can have:

1. Swinging straight down the target line.

2. Swinging down to the left (over the top).

3. Swinging out to the right (inside out).

It’s important that we keep these things in mind when we think about our swing plane with a golf club. Like the weight swinging on a piece of string, we also have a weight (your golf club) swinging around our body (axis). Your swing plane may also swing left or right depending on the tilt of your body as you hit the shot. So what would cause the club to swing to the left or right of the target line (assuming you were in a stance that was square)? There are a couple of things that will stop the clubhead from swinging down the line:

1. Hitting with your upper body causing it to tilt to left on the way down.

2. The lower body sliding too much laterally on the way down.

Starting Down with Your Arms

If you start you downswing by trying to hit the golf ball you will get ahead of the ball which means that your body will be tilted to the left. This means that the ball will start to the left of the target causing pulls, pull hooks, skyed shots and slices.

Poorer golfers tend to try to hit at the ball with their arms because they have not yet learned how to hit the ball with their legs and body. To eliminate this problem of hitting with your arms, I want you to concentrate on the moment you are about to swing the golf club down. At this precise moment, you must start down by turning your hips not by pulling your arms down. This means you have to go against human nature. At the moment you are about to start down, human nature is telling you to try to hit the ball and hit it hard. This activates your arms which gets your shoulder rotation ahead of your hips and making the club swing down and to the left.

DRILL

A great way to feel the lower body swinging the club is to hold your club off the ground at knee high and do some practice swings. If you hold the club in the air, you take the ball and any hitting sensation with your arms out of the picture. If you no longer have the feeling of hitting with your arms, you can clearly feel your body making the club swing around your body thus creating the perfect plane (like the weight on the piece of string). Remember this feeling of not using your arms to hit your shots then apply it to your shots.

The Lower Body Slide

If you slide your lower body laterally through your shot you will cause the upper body to tilt to the right too much which, in turn, will make you ball start out to the right causing pushes, push fades and duck hooks.

DRILL

If you are someone who starts the ball out to the right of your target, you have to learn to turn your hips and body more as opposed to moving laterally. At the moment you are about to start your downswing, don’t think about shifting your weight to the left. If you shift too much, you will move too much laterally which will cause your body to tilt to the right too much on the way down. Instead, start your downswing by turning. To get the proper feeling of turning, simply place and object such as a broken shaft, golf bag, chair waist high approx. 3 inches off of your left hip. When you do your swing, try to turn and miss the object. If you hit it, you are moving too much laterally. Once you do a few practice swings training your body to miss the object off of your left hip, add the ball and hit a few shots.

Hopefully you have a new and better understanding of the swing plane and how if can greatly effect the direction of your shots. The next time you go to the practice range you may want to try an experiement to see how your upper body tilt affects the direction of your shots. All you have to do is simply tilt your upper body to the left and see where the ball goes. Then, tilt your upper body to the right so you can see the opposite result. Once you see this relationship between the direction and your body work on the proper uncoiling of your lower body until your shots start straight down the target line.

Until next time,

Paul Wilson

Paul Wilson teaches how to copy the perfect swing of the Iron Byron swing machine. For more information please visit: www.paulwilsongolf.com .

When you’re preparing to pass the BSCI exam and earn your CCNP certification, one of the biggest challenges is learning BGP. BGP is totally different from any protocol you learned to earn your CCNA certification, and one of the differences is that BGP uses path attributes to favor one path over another when multiple paths to or from a destination exist.

Notice I said “to or from”. In earlier free BGP tutorials, I discussed the BGP attributes “weight” and “local preference”. These attributes are used to favor one path to a destination over another; for example, if BGP AS 100 has two paths to a destination in AS 200, these two attributes can be set in AS 100 to favor one path over another. But what if AS 100 wants to inform the routers in AS 200 as to which path it should use to reach a given destination in AS 100?

That’s where the BGP attribute “Multi-Exit Discriminator”, or MED, comes in. The MED value can be set in AS 100 to tell AS 200 which path it should use to reach a given network in AS 100.

As with many BGP attributes, the MED can be set with a route-map. What you need to watch is that there is no “set med” value in route maps. To change the MED of a path, you need to change the metric of that path. Let’s say that there are two entry paths for AS 200 to use to reach destinations in AS 100. You want AS 200 to use the 100.1.1.0/24 path over the 100.2.2.0/24 path. First, identify the two paths with two separate ACLs.

R1(config)#access-list 22 permit 100.1.1.0 0.0.0.255

R1(config)#access-list 23 permit 100.2.2.0 0.0.0.255

Next, write a route-map that assigns a lower metric to the more-desirable path.

R1(config)#route-map PREFER_PATH permit 10

R1(config-route-map)#match ip address 22

R1(config-route-map)#set metric 100

R1(config-route-map)#route-map PREFER_PATH permit 20

R1(config-route-map)#match ip address 23

R1(config-route-map)#set metric 250

Finally, apply the route-map to the neighbor or neighbors.

R1(config-route-map)#router bgp 100

R1(config-router)#neighbor 22.2.2.2 route-map PREFER_PATH out

The key points to keep in mind is that while many BGP attributes prefer a higher value, the MED is basically an external metric – and a lower metric is preferred, just as with the protocols you’ve already studied to earn your CCNA certification.

Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933, is the owner of The Bryant Advantage (www.thebryantadvantage.com), home of free CCNA and CCNP tutorials, The Ultimate CCNA Study Package, and Ultimate CCNP Study Packages. Video courses and training, binary and subnetting help, and corporate training are also available. Pass the CCNA exam and BSCI exam with Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933!

For a copy of his FREE ebooks, “How To Pass The CCNA” and “How To Pass The CCNP”, visit the website and download your copies! Get your CCNP certification with The Bryant Advantage!

If you’ve been thinking about taking up golf, or if you’re a golfer in search of a better game, you may have considered golf lessons. But are golf lessons really beneficial? And how do you find a pro who will offer good advice?

There are some who swear that lessons are vital and others who say that practice is the only thing that will improve your golf game. The truth seems to lie somewhere in the middle. But before you drop your coach or sign up for lessons, consider what it is that you hope golf lessons will accomplish. Outlining your goals may help you decide whether you truly need lessons or simply more time on the course.

If you play with others who play exceptionally well, you may want to find someone to give you some help with your game. Whether that’s a paid coach or merely a friend who plays well is strictly a personal choice. Getting some pointers and tips may be a good way to ensure that you don’t totally embarrass yourself in front of other players.

If you’re serious about the game, you’ve probably been involved long enough that you don’t need advice on whether to get a coach. But if you’ve only recently discovered the joy of golfing, you may find yourself looking for a way to improve your game. Golf lessons could very well be the answer.

Some people say that lessons give them a set time to practice and an opportunity to completely focus on the game. You’ll typically be less interrupted than if you were playing on your own, stopping to chat with friends along the way. But others say the simple fact of having someone scrutinizing every move and offering constant advice is more distracting than helpful. Decide whether you’re one of those who accept direction and works well in that situation. That’s a major clue as to whether golf lessons are a good idea.

Remember that a golf coach’s job is to teach you to golf correctly. That means that there are some habits that he (or she) will be trying to ingrain and others they’ll be trying to break. While golfing correctly is a terrific goal, many golfers have some bad habits that they tout as benefiting their game. Changing your grip, adjusting your stance or even using different equipment may be among the “must do” list from your coach. You may resist those changes. You have two options. You can do your best to follow the instructions, or you can explain that you aren’t planning to change that particular habit. If you don’t plan to change, you may need to reexamine your decision to take lessons. Without following directions, lessons may become a waste of time and effort on both parts, and money on yours.

Golf lessons are great for some people. It’s a personal decision whether you are one of those who will benefit from a coach – formal or informal. But remember that the most important thing to improve your golf game is simply practice.

J. Brian Keith is a
Golf Instruction author and contributor at golfclubsgolfcourse.com, where innovative
ideas and information about
Golf Clubs is openly shared. See
Golf Club, Golf Ball and Golf Bag related articles.
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A core golf workout that produces a power golf swing is one that focuses on rotation. The primary movement in the golf swing is rotating your upper body back, then rotating it through to the finish. That is why it is critical you implement exercises that involve rotational strength and flexibility

There is a lot of confusion with golfers on what to focus on when trying to improve power in the golf swing. Your power comes from your core. Just like in any other sport, your core is the engine to the swing.

Participating in a core golf workout for more power in your golf swing does not take fancy equipment or for that matter a lot of time. Getting creative with what you have laying around your house or even your office will do just fine.

A good example is at your office. Your sitting in your chair in front of your computer and your back gets stiff. Don’t just let it get stiffer, do a rotational stretch right there on the spot in your chair. Reach around the back of your chair with one hand, and leverage the other hand against your thighs to rotate as far as you can. Hold it for 10 seconds and go to the other side.

How simple was that? Try it right now as you’re reading this article!

That would be considered one exercise for your core golf workout that will improve your power golf swing.

Do this several times a day, and try to rotate farther each time you do it. You’ll notice you can go much farther the more you do it.

How about a strength exercise for your core?

Get creative. Grab anything you have in your home or office that you can hold in your hands. While sitting or standing, extend your arms straight out in front of you and while looking straight ahead, rotate with your arms as far as you can to the right holding this object. Now rotate to the left. Do this a total of 20 times.

You’ll notice you will be able to rotate farther and farther after each rotation!

How hard was that? No gym. No fancy equipment. Just a can of soup, or even a half gallon of milk. If you’ve got some hand weights gathering dust, that’s even better. Try to increase your weight as time goes on.

Hopefully you’re getting the idea of what a core golf workout is that will improve your power golf swing quickly.

As a golfer, always pay attention to the physical requirements of the golf swing. What position your body is in. What movement your body goes through. And at what rate of speed.

When you approach your golf exercise and golf stretching program with this mindset you’re on your way to a power golf swing that will be the envy of your foursome.

About The Author: Mike Pedersen is the featured expert for Golf Magazine’s GolfOnline.com site, one of the top golf performance experts in the country, author and founder of several cutting-edge online golf performance sites. Take a look at his just released golf performance dvds and manual at his improve golf swing site – Perform Better Golf.