The Indianapolis Colts coaches most directly involved with rookie quarterback Andrew Luck don't like the guy. They love him.

New Colts offensive coordinator Bruce Arians compared him to quarterbacks who he has worked with over the course of his 20 years in the NFL.

"He has such a little bit of Peyton [Manning], a little bit of Timmy Couch and a little bit of Ben [Roethlisberger]," Arians said as the Colts officially reported to training camp.

"It's scary how good he can be. I'm really anxious to see him develop and watch him grow. He's got the best of all three of those guys."

Arians is hardly alone in the preseason praise, however.

"He just has a maturity, a football maturity and a life maturity that we couldn't have anticipated," Colts quarterbacks coach Clyde Christensen said.

Christensen said he expects Luck to take most of the snaps during practices, and probably even more than usual since the team is implementing a new offense with new coaches and players.

Luck said he is eager to get to work in camp and looks forward to the nearly 24-7 training schedule at Anderson University the next three weeks.

Raiders

After spending a decade as an assistant in the NFL, Oakland coach Dennis Allen is excited for his first training camp as the man in charge. "Jacked up about it," Allen said. "We're ready. It's a start of a long journey." The hiring of Allen as coach was part of the major change that went on with the Raiders in the first offseason since the death of longtime owner Al Davis. Reggie McKenzie was hired as general manager and made Allen the team's first defensive head coach since John Madden.

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Luck already impressing Colts' coaching staff

You are here : Bernama News

July 30, 2012 12:07 PM

OLYMPIC: Chef-De-Mission Praises Performances Of Shooting And Fencing Athletes

LONDON, July 30 (Bernama) -- Malaysia's chef-de-mission to the 30th Olympic Games here, Tun Ahmad Sarji Abdul Hamid said although Malaysia are still chasing their first gold medal, the performance of several athletes who had competed in the final events of the Games had shown their personal best achievements.

He said it was still too early to evaluate the actual performance of the contingent as the games officially had only entered its third day today (Monday), and out of the five final events where Malaysian athletes were in action so far, two had shown some improvement.

"The two final events participated by Malaysian athletes, namely shooting and fencing, had shown better personal achievements," he told Bernama, here today.

Ahmad Sarji said the solitary national woman shooter, Nur Suryani Mohd Taibi succeeded in placing herself among 34 of the top 56 world shooters in the Women's 10m Air Rifle.

"This will raise her world ranking and prepare herself for subsequent championships," he said.

-- BERNAMA

We provide (subscription-based) news coverage in our Newswire service.

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OLYMPIC: Chef-De-Mission Praises Performances Of Shooting And Fencing Athletes

Wake Forest University is continuing to explore the rapidly changing world of online higher education, but it's not yet ready to join other prestigious universities in offering free online classes.

Known as massive open online courses, or MOOCs, these free classes are the latest trend in higher education, with seven of the top universities in U.S. News and World Report's annual compilation agreeing to put a host of classes online for anyone to take.

Duke University is the latest to join the MOOC movement, announcing last week that it has joined Coursera, a startup company that has teamed with 17 universities to offer free online classes, ranging in everything from astrobiology to world music.

Other Coursera partners include Stanford, Princeton, Johns Hopkins and the University of Pennsylvania. Another company, edX, features courses from Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Most universities do not offer college credit for the classes. However, the University of Washington, one of the new Coursera members, said it will offer college credit to be used toward a degree, for a fee.

More than 650,000 people from 190 countries have taken classes through Coursera since it debuted last fall.

The staff and faculty at Wake Forest have debated the merits of free online classes for several months, with no decisive stand coming from those talks, said Rogan Kersh, the university's new provost.

"To rush headlong into a new, exciting mode of delivery because it's new and exciting is a mistake," Kersh said. "There's a whole set of providers and ventures and combinations and coalitions of schools, and Wake is in that conversation on a bunch of fronts."

The debate often centers around two opposing viewpoints, Kersh said.

"You could view it as an end of itself, that this is how higher education should be and will be delivered," he said of MOOCs. "On the other hand, there's a perspective that this is a wonderful set of tools that can enhance the pedagogical experience, but it's not an end of itself, that you're not providing the full education experience when you're putting it online."

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Wake Forest University not ready to offer free online courses

Aristide Economopoulos/The Star-Ledger The setting sun illuminates Newark resident Deidra Marshall, left, while she is next to classmate classmate Theresa Trakington. Yoga has caught on in Newark and its free. Each week 30 or more people gather in Washington Park for an hour to do yoga. The organizer, Debbi Kaminsky, said people's lives get transformed. She's part of a group called Newark Yoga Movement and it has brought Yoga into Newark schools and other venues. They've taught 9,000 students in 2 yrs and 1,000 teachers. In addition to going to the park each week, they are also working with the Shabazz High School football team. Wednesday July 25, 2012. NEWARK, NJ, USA. Photo by (Aristide Economopoulos/The Star-Ledger) Newark Yoga Movement Class in Washington Park gallery (19 photos)

Jauvon Scales was riding his bike in downtown Newark the other evening when he saw something he had never seen before in this tough old town, and it filled him with a sense of peace.

There were 40 people kneeling on mats in Washington Park practicing yoga. They were an island of calm, oblivious to the traffic, the light rail train gliding along Broad Street, horn blaring.

The oddity of it all made Scales get off his bike and join in. He did what practitioners call the chair pose, then a little downward dog, lifting his head slightly to see if he was doing it right.

The 18-year-old Scales didnt stay long, but merely by stopping he embraced one of the many yoga concepts and principles. Its called Namaste, and it loosely means: I see the good in you and you see the good in me and we see the good in each other.

There was a time when you could live to be 100 in this town and never see a sight like what young Scales saw.

But those days are gone, apparently.

Listen up.

Yoga is sweeping through Newark. There are classes at the YMWCA and at Lotus Yoga Newark on Washington Street, Welcome "Om" Yoga and Wellness House on Bleeker Street and New Ark Yoga & Wellness on Lincoln Park. If you get there today, you can take a free hip-hop yoga class at 10 a.m. at the Lincoln Park Music Festival.

The people in the park are part of the Newark Yoga Movement, a nonprofit group that has been gaining ground here for the past two years. By their own count, they have taught 9,000 students and 1,000 teachers in Newark.

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Carter: Newark stretches its limits with yoga, for free

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The Social View with Christina D Wagner Results Health and Fitness - Video

Over the last twenty years many Czechs have drastically changed their lifestyles, eating healthier foods and taking up new sports. Every weekend, cyclists and rollerblade-users hit local parks in Prague from Vtkov Hill to Stromovka. Fitness clubs which emerged over the same period are also going strong, drawing regular-goers to work-out in the gym, cycle indoors, or attend aerobics classes. Martin Nehasil is the programme director at Solarium Fitness BBC a popular fitness chain in the Czech capital. When I met with him at the clubs flagship gym on Vinohradsk Street, he explained there are constant innovations in the approach to fitness, ideal for anyone looking to improve their health.

Fitness BBC's Martin Nehasil Whether were speaking of new clients or seasoned sportsmen and women, more people are realising they want to be fit. It can be someone new who joins or it can be someone who has been bodybuilding for years but realises, with experience, they need to include other types of exercise as well, such as yoga, Pilates, and stretching. There are more options than ever before, such as zumba classes to help people get fit, and more people now have a better understanding and are taking advantage.

The popular fitness centre recently opened a club within a club at its Vinohradsk address, one specifically tailored to Pilates the widely-popular fitness system developed in the first half of the 20th century, now recognised worldwide. The system focuses on flexibility and endurance and the building of so-called long muscles for a lean, well-balanced and agile physique, as opposed to bunched up muscles common, for example, among hardcore bodybuilders. Trainer Anna Hrachov has taught Pilates for seven years:

In the Czech Republic it has long been common to practice Pilates on mats but less so on machines. There are some studios of course that have them but the new one that we opened recently is the largest so far, with 20 re-firmer machines and other equipment.

According to Ms Hrachov, the emphasis in the 55-minute long lessons is on the body as a whole; in short, the approach is holistic:

Photo: Fitness BBC It belongs among body-and-mind exercises: it is a combination of strength exercises and stretching, done without music and without choreography. And it focuses on the deep stabilisation system that some will know if theyve ever had physical rehab.

In what way do the machines help?

If you are a beginner they help you achieve proper posture and toning of the right muscles and when you are advanced they help create more variation and difficulty in exercises.

By now, by curiosity has been peaked, so I ask the charming trainer if shell allow me to try one of machines. Heres how things went:

Lie down on your back with your head on the headrest and your feet on the foot bar. Because you are holding the mic we will do a leg exercise. There should be a space between your shoulder blocks...

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Popular fitness club opens new Pilates centre

One big change in the last 15 years is hardly a surprise: Americans face more economic uncertainty and financial challenges.

Many more households are struggling to make ends meet than in 1997, when consumer confidence was high and unemployment was low, says a survey released Monday by the Consumer Federation of America and Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards. Today the economy is in a far different place, and Americans are worried about their financial future, says Kevin Keller, CEO of the CFP's Board.

And now they have to decide how to use their limited resources to save for retirement and fund their children's college education, while maintaining an emergency fund and keeping out of debt.

Although attitudes have changed and concerns have risen over time, there is one constant. People who have a financial plan feel more confident about their financial future and report more success managing money, saving and investing, Keller says.

And when low-income families have a financial plan, they are more likely to pay their credit card bills in full and avoid debt, the survey found.

Yet only 31 percent of Americans have put together a financial plan, whether on their own or with a financial adviser, the survey says. And that was the same percentage as in 1997, when a similar survey was conducted. Among other findings:

38 percent of Americans live paycheck to paycheck, vs. 31 percent in 1997.

48 percent of families with college-bound children are saving for their education, down from 56 percent in 1997.

55 percent are worried about losing money if they invest it, compared with 45 percent in 1997.

About half of Americans are behind in retirement savings, compared with 38 percent in 1997.

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Retirement readiness continues to plummet

If you've always had a bank account, it's hard to imagine life without writing a check, hitting the ATM or swiping a debit card at the grocery store.

But for more than a million Californians, life without a bank account is the norm. They're known as the "unbanked": those who don't own a traditional bank account, either checking or savings.

Instead, they typically stash their cash at home and often rely on high-cost services that provide payday loans or check-cashing.

For the past several years, the state's "Bank on California" program has been working to change that, offering free or low-cost checking accounts at banks and credit unions to those who normally wouldn't qualify. Recently, Golden 1, the state's largest credit union, launched a similar program to aid the unbanked.

"Without a bank account, everything is more difficult: paying rent, your utilities " said Alana Golden, spokeswoman for the state Department of Financial Institutions, which oversees the Bank on California program.

Since December 2008, more than 214,000 free or low-cost "Bank On" accounts have been opened in California. In addition, the program conducted more than 2,000 financial education workshops for low- and moderate-income families.

"The hope is they'll open a checking account to pay their bills, but also to start saving," Golden added. "It's an important step in becoming financially independent."

Estimates vary, but in a 2009 study, the FDIC said more than 1 million California households are unbanked. Nationally, it pegged about 9 million households with 17.1 million adults as unbanked. Statistically, they are younger, less educated and lower-income families.

Since first launched as a pilot project in San Francisco in 2006, the Bank on California program has grown to eight communities statewide. More than 30 banks participate, including Bank of America, Bank of the West, Wells Fargo, and SAFE and Schools Financial credit unions.

Golden said the Department of Financial Institutions is actively looking for more financial partners in rural areas, as well as major metropolitan regions like San Diego. Each of the eight programs has a coalition of financial partners, nonprofits and local government agencies that offer the starter bank accounts, as well as financial education workshops.

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Personal Finance: New help for the 'unbanked'

Preview of a corporate sales training seminar about sales mentality, presented by Dave Hibbard, the Founder & CEO of Dialexis, inc. The SOAR (Surge of Accelerating Revenue) program not only teaches sales people proven tactics for cold calling success, but also about the necessary mindset. With the avalanche of bad news about the economy coming down on everyone's heads, it's easy for sales people to succumb to negativity and defeatist thinking. But contrary to the prevalent outlook, the sky isn't falling. Even with the economic downturn, sales people can still drive revenue, given the right mechanics and mindset. The SOAR program leads sales people into a motivated mindset, then demonstrates to them tested techniques that yield 90% entry rates with decision makers on first time calls. With sales training from Dialexis, the sky's the limit. To learn more, please visit http://www.dialexis.com

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Corporate Sales Training Seminar Preview from Dialexis on Sales Mentality

Want to know how to sell more? It's no business secret that sales demands skill and motivation. But when the pressure is on, it's only natural that mistakes will get made. Unfortunately some of the mistakes that are made time and again are not minor slip ups, they can actually prove fatal to future sales. In this business TV show, the first of a four part series, we hear from sales experts Bill Caskey, Founder of Caskey Training, Nigel Edelshain, CEO of Sales 2.0, and Clayton Shold, Co-founder of Salesopedia. See this show now to find out what these fatal mistakes are -- and how you can ensure you don't make them!Watch this show right now, or see hundreds more shows packed with expert advice at http://www.yourbusinesschannel.com Hear about the very latest show releases, as well as other yourBusinessChannel news by visiting our blog at http

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Sales Training tips on how to sell more - Fatal mistakes that kill