Archery at the Olympics

Not many of us know much about archery competition, and probably less about archery competition in the Olympics. With the 2008 Olympic Summer Games to be held soon in China, maybe this short article will help to make watching archery more enjoyable.

The Olympic games in 1900 Paris was the first appearance of archery. 7 events in varying distances were contested. The next Olympics in 1904 St. Louis had 5 archery events but no athletes from outside the United States competed. At the 1908 Summer Olympics, there were 3 archery events. Archery was not featured at the 1912 Summer Olympics but reappeared in the 1920 Summer Olympics.

Between 1920 and 1972, archery was not contested at the Olympic games. The archery competition at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich consisted of two events - men's individual and women's individual. This form of competition was held until the 1988 Summer Olympics, when team competition was added. Starting at the 1992 Summer Olympics head-to-head matches were adopted, and has been used ever since.

1972 saw the beginning of the modern archery competition at the Olympic Games. The events began to use standardized forms and many nations competed. Qualification spots in archery are allotted to National Olympic Committees rather than to individual athletes.

There were four ways for NOCs to earn berths in Olympic archery. Each NOC is allowed to enter three archers of each gender. For each gender, the host nation is guaranteed three spots. The most recent World Target Competition's top 8 teams (besides the host nation) each receive three spots, and the 19 highest ranked archers after the team qualifiers are removed also earn spots for their country. 15 of the remaining 18 spots are divided equally among the five Olympic continents for allocation in continental tournaments. The last three spots in each gender are determined by invitation.

Each National Olympic Committee that receives three places for individual archers (i.e., the host nation, the top 8 teams at the World Target Competition, and any other nation that is able to take 3 of the remaining 37 places) is able to have its three archers compete as a team in the team competition.

Olympic archery consists of four medal events: men's individual, women's individual, men's team, and women's team. In all four events, the distance from the archer to the target is 70 meters.

In the individual competitions, 64 archers compete. The competition begins with the ranking round. Each archer shoots 72 arrows. They are then ranked by score to determine their seeding for the single-elimination bracket. After this, final rankings for each archer is determined by the archer's score in the round in which the archer was defeated, with the archers defeated in the first round being ranked 33rd through 64th.

The first elimination round pits the first ranked archer against the sixty-fourth, the second against the sixty-third, and so on. In this match as well as the second and third, the archers shoot simultaneously 18 arrows. The archer with the higher score after 18 arrows moves on to the next round while the loser is eliminated.

After three elimination rounds, there are 8 archers remaining. The remaining three rounds (quarterfinals, semifinals, and medal matches) are referred to as the finals rounds. They consist of each archer firing 12 arrows. The two archers in the match alternate instead of firing their arrows simultaneously as in the first three rounds. The losers of the quarterfinals are eliminated, while the losers of the semifinals play each other to determine the bronze medal and fourth place. The two archers who are undefeated through the semifinals face each other in the gold medal match, with the winner taking the gold medal while the loser receives the silver medal.

Each country that has three archers in the individual competition also gets to compete as a team. The same three archers from the individual competition must compete as the country's team. Their scores in the individual ranking round are added to determine the team's ranking round score.

The first team round is the round of 16, with the highest ranked teams typically getting a bye in the first round. Matches consist of each team firing 27 arrows with each archer on the team firing 3 arrows. Advancement and medals are determined in the same manner as the individual competition.

Ferret Tips - Handling Them When Cutting Their Claws Or Accustoming Them to Harnesses

Ferrets are very active and can be a hassle when we want them to stay still. Most don't always pay attention to their names without us training them, but some come when hearing their favorite squeaky toy. The toughest challenges that some people can face are usually getting ferrets used to being on a leash or cutting their claws. Putting clothes on them, for those who love dressing up the little critters, is an activity that feels like a harness for them. In other words, if you can teach them to wear their harness without it bothering them, then they can wear clothes.

For teaching them how to walk on a leash, it is quite easy when you know your ferret. The first step is to put on the harness, not too loose and not too tight so that the animal can breath. Next, the ferret will want to squirm around to try and get it off, but you should bring it into a new environment where it can explore and get its mind off of what's holding it. Another way is to feed it or try and play with it, though they can sometimes mistake playing with you with trying to take off the harness. If the ferret wears the harness thirty minutes a day, it will be almost unnoticeable to them. If they even get used to going to different places every time, they'll even wait for that precious moment! The next step to take, if you want to put some clothes on them, is simply using the same method you used to get them used to the harness. In most cases, some can mistake the clothes for the harness itself!

The next challenge is cutting their claws. Basically, most people hold them up by their scruff, which makes them hang motionless, but people who aren't used to it might have problems with that technique. If you don't cut its nails too often, you can use one of those creamy treats. As long as it's healthy enough for ferrets (containing almost no fiber, lots of protein and only some sugar), you can put a little bit on an ice cream stick or a tooth brush. While the ferret licks it off, you can cut its claws with ease. Remember that you can't just give it a crunchy snack as it will eat it right away and try to struggle to get it's paw away from you again. Ferret owners can also use another technique, which consists of tiring the ferret by running with it and playing for a long period of time. This means that your pet will relax and show no struggle when being handled.

Fortunately, some ferrets can have a relaxed attitude at almost all times, but there are more hyper-active ones in the world, so these tips should help almost everyone.

Could You Need an Answering Service? Six Questions to Ponder

More businesses are relying upon answering services as a means of always staying in contact with their valued patrons. Of course, a telephonic service may not make sense for every business type. A few businesses that commonly rely upon these services include: legal professionals, medical professionals and other types of professional services providers. Could using such a service benefit your entity? What follows are six questions that can better help you understand if such is the case.

What happens to callers who are not answered? When callers phone into your business and are informed that there are no reps available to answer their call, they generally feel a bit distraught, even if it is already after business hours. So with telephonic services, you can always have staff on hand to take calls, even if that means taking a message that's returned the following day.

Could I be driving more business with an answering service? You certainly could be driving more business. When you have a telephonic service in place, you are retaining more customers because you have an open line of contact for them. For example, a prospective client may leave a message for a deal that's closed the next day as a result.

Do answering services help increase retention rates? Answering services are always going to be helpful with increasing or with improving retention rates. While they are not the only function that serves to heighten retention, they are an important part of retaining customers by increasing service levels.

Could answering services pay for themselves? Consider this notion for a moment. Say you have a telephonic service and you own a legal business. And say that a few customers call every week after hours. And without such services in place, you could be missing out on closing on prospective customers. If you just closed a few of those per month, the telephonic service would actually pay for itself.

Why should I get an answering service? Well it's a consideration if you have a lot of after hour calls coming in that you are missing out on. It's important to keep in mind that every phone call is potentially profitable. But they are only profitable calls if you are able to answer and return them all.

Are answering services affordable? Yes, they certainly are. There are a variety of options that you have to choose from. And if you consider outsourcing your services you can save even more money.

Beginners Guide to Online Day Trading - Which Will Make You Rich?

When most people think about day traders, they think of risk taking, shoot from the hip kind of people. People also think that while a small percentage are absolutely filthy, filthy rich, most end up losing their shirts on the markets. For the most part, these legends hold a certain degree of merit to them.

If you're interested in becoming one of the successful day traders, you need to understand and hold tight to the same disciplines and strategies that these traders use every trading day. Without a doubt, the top reason why so many potential day traders end up in bankruptcy and heartbroken is not due to a lack of the proper strategy or strategies.

The main pitfall of day traders is their lack of discipline. This might not be the first time you heard that statement, but none the less, it's painfully true. Some get angry at people who publish their stock trading systems, saying they're only out to make a buck and their system doesn't work. While this may be true of some stock market "gurus", most successful day traders who have authored and published their techniques have tested these systems in the fires of the markets.

Lately, it seems that a lot of day trading personnel have been interested in the forex markets. While the forex can be made into a nice cash cow, all a potential day trader needs to do is focus on the stock market, implement a strategy and stick to it.

What about stock market software? Software used by day traders is a necessity. However, in most cases your brokerage firm will provide you with some sort of online trading platform absolutely free with your membership. Being the necessary tool in the belt of the day trader that stock charting software is, it is by far, not the only thing needed to be successful.

For example, let's say I have the most advanced, up to date stock charting software on the market. However, even though I can get up to the minute, accurate stock prices (even level 2), if I don't know exactly what to do or how to react to those price falls or jumps, what good is the software? Not much good at all.

What you need to couple with your online brokerage service and stock charting software is an excellent trading strategy. Once you have a trading strategy that you understand, you can start to implement it with paper trades. When you are starting to make profits on a consistent basis, you can switch to real investing and watch your bank account get really, really fat.

Bowling Tips for Beginners - Setting Up Your Bowling Shots

Do do that voodoo that you do so well...

As a beginning bowler, one of the first things you'll notice is how the experienced players seem to perform a ritual of sorts before they approach the lane to bowl. Bowling alleys are incredibly noisy places, so taking a moment to turn inward and gain your focus will help set you up for higher scores. Whether you wipe down your ball, take a few deep breaths or rub your lucky rabbit's foot and then spin three times clockwise, a pre-bowling ritual will calm you down, help you focus and give you better control over the ball.

Now that you're focused...

Once you're relaxed and centered, you can mentally prepare to bowl. Don't hit pins by sheer luck. Form a checklist in your mind, considering what you need to accomplish with this throw. A little preparation will get BIG results.

- Is this the first throw this frame or do you need to pick up a spare?

- What's the best strategy to knock down that combination?

- Where is the best place to stand? Get there.

- Where do you need to aim? Visualize the path the ball must take to knock the pins down.

- Check your stance. Is your lead foot facing straight ahead? Are your shoulders square to the foul line?

- Take a few deep, relaxing breaths and visualize your throw one more time.

- Line up your shot.

- Bowl!

By performing your pre-bowling ritual before each an every throw, you'll gain technical expertise and hone your technique. Whatever you choose to do as your routine, however many or few items you have on your mental checklist, taking a minute to prepare yourself will help you clear more frames and perform at a higher level. As your pre-bowling ritual becomes a habit, your focus will automatically shift to your game.

Bowling alleys can be busy places, filled with flashing lights, loud music, and even louder people. To get the most out of every shot, you need to find a way to tap into the quiet inside and block all the noise and distraction. Some bowlers accomplish this through deep breathing, while others have a mantra of sorts that they repeat to themselves over and over.

Trial and error will help you find what works best for you. It may feel a little strange at first to go through these steps before bowling every round, but when you get the hang of it, it will all become second nature.

But the kids next to me are so OBNOXIOUS!

Sometimes, a normally loud bowling alley gets downright obnoxious. It's during these particularly trying days that your ritual will serve you the best. Conquer the mental aspects of your game and the technical aspects will naturally follow. Even when there's a birthday party of six-year-olds bowling next to you!

Be confident! Realize that occasionally, you'll have a bad day, and bring yourself back to your routine. Use your ritual to pull your focus back to where it should be and follow your mental checklist...and watch those pins fall!

Think About It

I was very fortunate as a young man growing up. I not only had the opportunity to be around an extra ordinary father but my grandfather also went quite a bit past average. As a male child, the positive encouraging guidance of an adult male is certainly among the most important of all of his life's influence's. Of course as a kid I didn't have any appreciation for the abundant character of those doing the influencing. It's only been since I've been in the position of parent that I realize the incredible, if not sometimes overwhelming responsibility and care one must take in the shaping of the minds of our children.

One of the things I came out of my fathers house with the knowledge of is the importance of questions. Again, at the time I was COMPLETELY unable to appreciate his intentions but my dad always asked questions. Hard questions. Son, What are you going to do with the rest of you life? (Well um... dad, since I'm only 2 right now can I think about it a little bit and get back to you?) And he always insisted on getting answers. I learned very early that "I don't know" and the shoulder thing were not answers. It was made clear that if my dad asked me a question that I didn't know the answer to I had to... hold on, here it comes, ...THINK up, and present my best answer. Did you catch that?

The process of answering questions requires one to THINK. Think about it. When you go into your vast resources of knowledge to pull out an answer to a question, especially one that is truly challenging you find yourself thinking about all sorts of things. That's why asking questions is so important to the learning process.

I think it's a good idea to be asking yourself questions pretty much constantly. And answering them. It keeps you sharp.

On the way out here, first a question- If you knew you were going to die tomorrow, what would and would not matter to you today?

Then a statement -

Live 'as if' you were going to die tomorrow.

Questions are the answer kids.

Live some. Love some. Learn some. Everyday.

C...