The History of Pilates
In order to understand the basics of pilates and why it can work for you, you first need to understand where pilates came from. pilates was originally formed in Germany by a man of the same name.
pilates was designed by a man that had many health afflictions as a child. The boy wanted to overcome the hardships he faced. He hoped exercise would not only boost his morale, but also his bodys defense against his illnesses.
The year was 1880 when Joseph pilates was born. During his youthful years, he tried a number of things to try to strengthen his body. After several failed attempts to create the perfect program for his frail form he came up with the series of movements we now know as pilates. However, it wasnt until the 1920s that the movements pilates created were truly perfected.
One of the things that make pilates so great is that the movements and exercises you do seek to give you strength and flexibility, but not to build any serious amount of bulk to your frame. pilates is not about building muscle, it is about working with your body and not against it. You need to be able to take what you have been given and make that work for you before attempting anything else and that is the philosophy that pilates was founded on.
As you learn more about Pilates you will find that it is designed for each persons body. Pilates will align your bones through a series of movements and this will allow your body to work with less strain thanks to the activity of exercise you are achieving.
pilates appeals to a number of people. It doesnt matter what type of person you are or what level of training your body is at. Pilates can help you improve your bodys natural functioning as well as help boost confidence and your mental well being.
The most wonderful thing you will discover about pilates is that you dont have to suffer through the movements to feel better. You are training your body with intelligent design and therefore you will not need to work twice as hard, as you may have to do with other work out programs.
pilates was set up to create balance within your body. This will help you to realign your bones and can also help to improve your posture. Another positive feature is the lean muscles that you will form thanks to your work outs.
pilates is excellent exercise for everyone no matter their shape or size. In fact, many videos and exercise clubs have created classes for people with disabilities, arthritis, general strength or weight loss issues, different strength issues, and even for pregnant or birthing mothers.
In the following articles we will explain how pilates can each help these people and what the different levels mean for people taking the classes and working on gaining strength. As you will come to see pilates is an easy and secure exercise for everyone and once you try it you will be thankful you did.
PilatesPowerSystem.com with Shannon Beaty. All rights reserved. You may freely distribute this article. The copyright and this resource box must be included. http://www.PilatesPowerSystem.com
International Yoga Fellowship
How to Test Your DSL and Cable Internet Connection Speed
There are two measured elements that determine your internet connection speed. They are: The download rate, and the upload rate of data measured in bits per seconds. Usually, it is expressed in Kilobits per second.
A bit is the smallest piece of data that can be stored in a computer. The bit can be either "0" or "1". The byte is eight bits. Example of a byte and bits are the following:
bit= 0 or 1
byte=8 bits
1 byte=10011101 (eight bits)
A single charcter needs one byte or eight bits to be stored in a computer. So, when the data rate is 1 byte/sec, that means one character per second is the rate at which data is transferred through your connection.
This is very slow, and only intended for an example. In order to browse the internet, you must have at least a dial up access with a 56kb/s modem, in order to get a meaningful and practical result.
There are different types of internet connection. First they introduced the dialup connection using your phone line, then the broadband was introduced.
The broadband internet connections are DSL, Cable, or satellite internet services. They are widely used and expanding due to the high bandwith.
When you get an internet service, your provider states that your speed will be a certain numbers. They usually give you a good idea, but not an exact one. The common asked questions among internet users is:
How do I know what is my connection speed, and if I am getting what I was promised?.
If there anyway I can test my connection, and do I need to buy expensive software to test it?.
The answer is simple. There are two ways to test your internet connection speed:
1- The manual simple calculation test that you can do yourself without any software or third party services.
2- You can find a service that lets you run a test through their servers, and get your numbers displayed at their webpage.
1-The manual method:
Since I mentioned that the connection speed consist of two numbers, the download and upload speed. So, what you do is download from the internet any free software, and watch the result box with the result that show the size of the file and how many seconds it tool to download.
When you are done recording the download speed, upload a file of a specific size (1 Mb, 2 Mb), and time your watch when you start. When the file is uploaded, check your watch and record the time it took for the task. Then divide your file size by the seconds it took.
If you file was 2 Mb. that took 5 minutes to upload, then your upload speed is 2 Mb./300 sec. or 6.826 Kbits/sec.You can run the above test couple times, and then take the average for a better result.
2-The automated test at a third party service:
This is my preferred one, where you get to a website where the test is done for you. It is done using a script installed on their server, and letting you download and upload to their server a test file (invisible to you). Then, the result is displayed on their webpage. You just have to register for free using your email. It is free. This is a website address where they offer you a free internet connection test:
http://www.visualware.com.
In summary, don't settle for numbers given to you by your services, do the tests whenever you can. You enjoy it, and feel that you are getting your money worth. This is because some servcies charges you 35 dollars or more for a high speed internet service.
Thanks,
George Chamoun
I have created an Ebook about troubleshooting procedures for DSL, or Cable connection problems. You can get it for free by right clicking the link and saving to your computer:
http://www.ebookfreestore.com/software/ComputerEbook.pdf
Luminair Yoga Bags
Africa To Invest Heavily In Broadband
africa is set to invest heavily in broadband, with the cumulative investment in ADSL and wireless broadband infrastructure expected to reach US$1.1 billion by 2011. This investment excludes customer equipment costs, says African ICT research house a BMI-TechKnowledge.
"These investment figures exclude investments that GSM and fixed line operators are expected to make in their core networks for the provision of voice and other data services, which will also be leveraged to provide broadband data services," says Richard Hurst, a BMI-T analyst and co-author of the report.
Stephane Tchies, who co-authored the report with Hurst says in general, wireless technologies will dominate broadband connections in africa, resulting in increased uptake of wireless broadband services.
This is because many African countries traditionally have low penetration of fixed line infrastructure and wireless networks are more cost effective and faster to roll out.
"We expect telecoms operators to prefer investing in wireless technologies because they are significantly cheaper, she says.
Crystal-balling 2011
The report says the number of broadband connections, both fixed and wireless will reach over 7 million by 2011, with DSL subscribers accounting for close to 3.7 million.
By 2011, dial-up connections will dramatically drop from the current base of 76% to 17%, while DSL grows from 26% to 43% of the broadband market share, he says.
fixed wireless broadband connections (using technologies such as iBurst) will also see a big leap, going from 2% to 18%. Cellular connections will grow from 2% to 21% she says.
basic Internet access and the ability to deliver voice services will be the driving force of the uptake of broadband services in africa, Tchies says.
Tchiees adds that North africa is expected to benefit considerably from the increased uptake of broadband, while the sub-Saharan markets are expected to remain the same due to the current lack of international capacity, Tchies says.
In North africa we are seeing a healthy uptake of services with Morocco reporting 350,000 ADSL subscribers and Egypt 150,000 while the rest of the continent broadband is starting to gain traction," she says.
South Africa also expects to see quantum leap in broadband adoption by 2010, when the country will host the 2010 FIFA world Cup Soccer.
Currently, there are five undersea cable projects in various stages of development in the African continent. The cable projects are to provide addo provide additional bandwidth to African countries, ensuring cheaper access to bandwidth.
For more telecommunications and Internet business news and trends in Africa and South Africa, go to ITWeb online. Also read Damaria Senne's blog, called mobile life, on how mobile phones have affected the way Africans live, work, play and communicate.
Extra Mat Thick Yoga
