Thursday, October 30, 2008

Know More About Technical Diving

Author: Max Walker

Within a decade, technical diving has moved from being the preserve of extremists to becoming a main stream, yet specialized, field. The rationale behind technical diving has been reached only after passing through a series of challenges and scrutiny in the past. In the late 1980s the International Association of Nitrox Technical Divers became the first specialized technical training centre, marking a revolution in diving.

For the recreational Scuba diver, the diving depth limit is 40m and the diver should surface directly in up an unrestricted course. However, technical divers enjoy unlimited diving depth and the diver may need to resurface along a more restricted route such as in technical cave diving.

Wreck diving also challenges the diver's ability to cope with unstable conditions and the maze-like corridors in a wreck. After a deep dive, the diver's body has absorbed a large amount of inert gas (mainly nitrogen). There is a life-threatening danger in surfacing without following a proper decompression process during the ascent.

Technical diving is a relatively risky activity; therefore, the training course follows stricter rules when admitting students. The instructor has the right to refuse non-suitable candidates onto courses such as technical cave diving and re-breather diving. Generally, students participating in basic technical diving courses should have at least two to three years of diving experience, perhaps even as certified recreational diving instructors.

The main difference between technical divers and recreational divers is not their experience or courage, but their mind set. Recreational divers are happy to swim over coral and fish, while technical divers are eager to test their limits. At a depth of 300 feet, the diver's personality, clear mind and technique are under massive stress. Even a minor mistake can lead to uncontrolled results in this environment. Therefore, psychological fitness is even more important than physical fitness for a technical diver.

How should you choose a technical diving training agent? There are about five international training centres in Hong Kong, including the founding agent IANTD and PADI. Several points should be considered when selecting a training centre: equipment availability and standard, insistence on reasonable and correct training procedures, the experience of the technical diving instructors, and the opinions of ex-students. Though cost could be another point to consider, the difference of a hundred or a thousand dollars is meaningless compared with the value of your life.

The course structure of a technical diving course is similar to a recreational one in that everyone starts from a basic level, even if you are a qualified instructor or experienced diver. The technical deep dive course comprises three different levels under the IANTD and PADI systems.

The basic course is named Advanced Nitrox Diver (IANTD) or Apprentice Tech Deep Diver (PADI). It teaches the student the benefits, hazards and proper procedures to dive to a 45m depth using high content oxygen for rapid decompression. This is deeper than the recreational diver's limit. It is important to strictly follow the time and safety stops procedures for surfacing, otherwise decompression sickness (the Bends) could result. If a diver spends 30mins at a depth of 45m, they will need an extra 40minutes for decompression.

After finishing the basic course, the student can move on to the Technical Nitrox Diver (IANTD) or Tec-Deep Diver (PADI). In this course, the student dives as deep as 55 meters with two oxygen-rich tanks (one is pure oxygen) for decompression. The 30-minute deep dive practice at 55m will necessitate another 50 mins for decompression. Apart from the deep dive practice, the student thoroughly studies the high pressure impact on the diver and psychological changes and works on improving posture and buoyancy control technique.

The final course is Trimix Diver. The diver uses a combination of low oxygen, low nitrogen and high helium gas mixtures for an 80m dive. This gas mix is essential for such a deep dive as ordinary pressurized air places negative impacts on the diver's body at depths of more than 55m. The 21% in air after 55m depth will cause the diver to conrulse and even lose consciousness - this is oxygen toxcity. Inappropriate usage of the trimix gases, however, will also cause problems; therefore, specialized training is a must.

All the technical diving courses include lectures, pool work and deep water practice. The ratio of instructor to student is much lower than in recreational diving courses in which one instructor handles 3 to 4 students and the ratio is even stricter for certain courses, to account for the more complicated nature of the course.

Technical Diving is still a risky activity, the technique and experience learnt from technical diving can feed back into recreational diving to improve the safety standard for the whole diving industry.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Thundering Horses and half Naked Chicks

By: Mark English
Does the sound of a high airflow, turbo injected V8 send shivers down your spine? Do you appreciate $30,000 paint jobs? What about $50,000 worth of stereo equipment? How do you feel about a semi that has been bushed and chromed? Does the sight of a bike built for speed put a smile on your face? How about hot, hot babes in clinging clothes and bikinis crawling all over these? Do you like to watch hot girls on the racetrack? What about insane crashes at high speeds and hilarious crashes when they are barely moving? Do you prefer Formula 1 to street racing? Or do you like drifting almost as much as off road? Do you like events where the drivers and the vehicle have to be able to handle all kinds of terrain or do you prefer watching them travel at 180+ mph as they travel in loops?

It doesn’t matter which one of these that you prefer, Motorsport Mad has a video for you. You can watch speed vids, driving expertise or lack of it and people watching the action with equal ease. There are videos of the big rig races, showing all six tires spin as they thunder across the track. There are go-kart races on dirt and paved tracks. They have the incredible speeds of Formula 1 and stock car. You can see some of the best footage on idiots trying to outrun the cops as well as footage of beefed up rides that do outrun the cops. They have burnouts from go-karts to motorcycles and crash test dummies trying out the newest cars. You can see the behind the scenes footage of rigged out movie cars as well as behind the scenes footage of shoots, cars, models, models and cars (occasionally, if you look hard enough, naked models and cars). You can see what comes from some guy shooting his hot girlfriend in a bikini bottom and white t-shirt, no bra, washing his hot rod. This can all be found at the unusual video sharing community, and it’s all free.

That’s right, all free. Somebody set up a site where anyone could load their footage, as long as it deals with some form of land transportation or hot babes, and where anybody could watch the footage at no cost to anyone. You may wonder how such a wealth of viewing opportunities can be free. After all most of these vids involving women you have to pay for. Not here, at Motorsport Mad, the viewers also provide the videos. Sure, sometimes exciting moments during the races are captured when a professional photographer is in charge of recording the action, but the news coverage doesn't usually spend much time on the hot chicks that frequent the racetracks and the car shows. Those videos come from viewers like yourself.

The site owners appreciate it if you visit their sponsors so that they can continue providing this at no charge, but they don’t demand it. So, go to www.motorsportmad.com and enjoy yourself for a bit. You will probably want some popcorn, candy, coke and either your boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, wife, friend with benefits or best of all, your car, and spend an evening watching the thundering horses.

Motorsport Mad has a video for you. They have the incredible speeds of Formula 1 and stock car.

Article Source: http://www.ArticleBiz.com


Sunday, October 19, 2008

How To Break 80

By: Lane Wright
Golf is one of the most difficult sport in the world to master. It takes a great deal of skill, mental fortitude and perseverance to excel. You need great hand-eye coordination, balance, athletic ability, and creativity. Many golfers have a goal of breaking 80. However, many golfers play poorly and are unable to achieve this goal. Do you play poorly? Answer each of these questions:
  • Do you play golf 2-4 times/month, but have never broken 90 or even 80?
  • Do you work the ball (fade, draw, general trajectory)?
  • Do you have at least 3 or 4 putts per round?
  • Do you rarely hit greens in regulation?
  • Do you make a birdie once in a blue moon?
  • Do you not really know where the ball is going when you swing (hit and hope)?
  • Do you consider yourself an advanced player and typically shoot in the low or mid 80's frequently, but are unable to break 80?
If you can identify with even one of these characteristics of a poor golfer, then it may be time to try to improve your game.

The techniques in How To Break 80 will help you lower your handicap quickly. There are more than 60 million golfers in the world, and fewer than half of them will ever break 100. Only a third will break 90, and only 5% will ever break 80. The information contained in How To Break 80 has helped hundreds of people to Break 80.

How To Break 80 is more than a collection of golf tips, golf lessons, or golf instruction. It is your personal guide to lower scores. This book will teach you the simple steps necessary to create more consistency with your golf swing. These steps take only about 30 minutes. The book provides drills to ensure that you can incorporate these new techniques into your game. This book is not a basic guide that shows you 4 simple steps. It is a complete manual on how to shoot your best scores ever. It covers all aspects of the game enabling you to develop a solid all-around game. All contents of the book are designed to do ONE thing.....lower your scores!

How To Break 80 contains the following:
  • A New Twist on Fundamentals: Think you know the proper way to address the ball, grip the club and set up? Guess again.
  • 4 Proven Techniques to Get You Into the 70's Instantly: Step-by-step instructions on specifically what to do in terms of your swing.
  • Shotmaking Secrets: How to draw and fade the ball so you can attack any pin you see and add distance when you need it.
  • Dealing With Trouble Shots: Learn how to turn adversity into birdie with these proven techniques to save you from even the toughest of bad breaks.
  • How to Develop a Solid Short Game: Learn how to get up and down from nearly everywhere.
  • The Simple Formula for Short Game Shots: Simplify the complex short game shots for handicappers of all levels.
  • Mastering the Chip Shot: Foolproof way to consistently chip the ball so you catch it cleanly every time and put the right amount of roll and loft on your shots.
  • The Putting Secrets of the Pros: Learn specific techniques and drills so you can expect to drain every putt you swing at.
  • Secrets to Reading Greens Properly: Learn how to read greens so that before you even hit the ball you'll have unfair advantage over your competitors!
  • Highly Effective "Putting Results" Practice Game: Learn to approach every putt as if you'll make it, even if you're 35 feet away! Learn step-by-step to improve your putting instantly.
  • A Mental Gameplan: Learn the simple and tested methods to keep your brain on track to play your best golf possible. A good swing alone will not keep you in the 70's for long.
  • Perfect Practice Techniques: Learn step-by-step the techniques to prepare yourself to break 80. Learn how much time to spend on each drill and specifically how and what to practice leading up to your round.
  • Professional Pre-Shot Routine: Learn what the pros do before every shot (mental and physical actions) that you can apply to your own game.
  • How to Handle Bad Shots: Hitting bad shots can emotionally and mentally ruin your round and enjoyment of the game. Learn a bulletproof method to not only handling these tough times, but also turning them into opportunities for lower scores.
  • Sand Play Success: A specific checklist to get up and down from any bunker. How to deal with trouble bunker shots such as a buried lie, hard sand and more!
  • The 10 Essential Components of Breaking 80: Absolute must-haves for your game and how to incorporate them effectively.
Which golf clubs you choose is important, but you need to know how to use them. This book will help show you how to improve your golf score. Here is a link to show you how to obtain your own copy of How To Break 80.

Lane Wright writes about a variety of topics including How To Break 80 by writing articles about golf atPING Golf Clubs and many other topics.

Article Source: http://www.ArticleBiz.com