Julie Culley knew she'd probably have to deliver a personal-best performance to take first place in the U.S. Olympic Trials back in late June.

She also knows she'll have to do at least that well merely to remain a blip on the radar during tomorrow's first 5000-meter preliminary heat at the Summer Olympic Games in London, England.

The 1999 North Hunterdon High graduate and Annandale resident will be in a field featuring the world's ultimate and elite distance runners, exceptional athletes who long ago surpassed a milestone like 15:13.77, which is what Culley attained while winning the 5000 during the U.S. Trials in Eugene, Ore., on June 28.

"There will be incredible competition from all over the world," said the 30-year-old Culley.

To put the situation in some perspective, the world record in the 5000 is more than a minute faster than Culley's PB. Ethiopia's Tirunesh Dibaba, 27, holds the standard for her 14:11.15 effort in Norway four years ago, although she probably won't be among those at the starting line in Olympic Stadium 10:55 a.m. (British Summer Time) for Tuesday's prelims.

Dibaba, who was sidelined almost all of 2011 because of severe shin splints, is the defending Olympic champion in the 5000 and 10,000 but only qualified as a reserve in the former this time around. She will be back in the 10,000 again.

The world's top showing so far this year is the 14:35.62 posted by Kenya's Vivian Cheruiyot in May. One of Culley's teammates, Molly Huddle (who was second at the trials), is the U.S. record-holder at 14:44. The Olympic record is 14:40.79, set by Romania's Gabriela Szabo eight years ago.

All that being stated, it's going to take a superb performance by Culley just to advance to the finals, scheduled for Friday, Aug. 10. The field for the championship race could have between a dozen and 14 runners.

"It will be a tremendous accomplishment for her to make the finals," said Frank Gagliano, her coach with the Asics/New York Track Club. "But the way she's been running, there's no doubt she can do it, if she has the day she can have.

"She knows she can't beat the best in the world but her ultimate goal is to make the finals and run a personal best. She may have to run a personal best to make the finals and come back and run another personal best to medal."

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2012 Olympics: Julie Culley competes in 5000m preliminary tomorrow in London

In an old hangar at the Santa Monica Airport, Louise Anne Marler, a graphic designer who specializes in pop art-style imagery of vintage manual typewriters, is showing off her next subject - a Bing No. 2 compact portable.

This relic of 1920s German ingenuity was a gift from her father.

"He has a cellar and a barn full of these things," says Marler, recalling how her dad's collection would spill over into different rooms of the house and become part of the d cor as she was growing up. But that was before the word processor and personal computer brought an end to the typewriter.

In fact, of all the machines destined for the history books the manual typewriter should probably top the list. But like vinyl records

Call it a push back against technology.

"The typewriter does one thing and it does it well: It types," says filmmaker Gary Nicholson, who documents the trend in "The Typewriter (in the 21st Century)." It opens in select theaters and film festivals starting in September, including a screening at 4 p.m. Sept. 1 at Beyond Baroque Literary/Arts Center, 681 Venice Blvd., Venice - beyondbaroque.org.

The film, directed by Christopher Lockett, explores the trend from the viewpoint of typewriter repairmen, high-end collectors, teachers, journalists and students.

"A lot of people think it's just the hipsters using typewriters but what I found is it's a lot of tech people," Nicholson says. "We feature one programmer who talks about how the power went off one day while he was in the middle of writing code, trying to figure out a function, so he just started typing up code on his typewriter."

The film also showcases bloggers who type their posts the old-fashioned way, scan the page into the computer and upload it to their blog, authors who

Santa Monica-based graphic artist Louise Marier with her German Bing No. 2 typewriter. Marier turns old mechanical typewriters into art. (David Crane/Staff Photographer)

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Keys to Success: Fascination with typewriters becomes the write stuff for creative venture

GENEVA, August 7, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Mekong Development Bank triples current account base with launch of Vietnam's first biometric debit card, through TEMENOS T24 Biometrics, at NCR ATMs across Vietnam

Temenos (SIX:TEMN), the market leading provider of banking software, today announces the launch of Vietnam's first fingerprint-enabled debit card, at Mekong Development Bank. The bank has implemented Temenos T24 Biometric fingerprint authentication to provide the 'unbanked' population of Vietnam with access to banking services. Mekong Development Bank is already running the bank on T24, this was a simple modular upgrade to incorporate biometrics into the system seamlessly.

Biometric authentication lowers the risk of fraudulent transactions, whilst providing a more convenient banking service for both the rural and urban populations of Vietnam - of a population of 86 million people, only 20% of Vietnam has a bank account. Since the initial launch in June, Mekong Development Bank's current account base has tripled, and the deposit balance per debit card account is two times higher than a regular account without a debit card. Customer fingerprints will be captured by Mekong Development Bank at the point of opening an account - and then used at any one of 33 NCR SelfServ ATMs across Vietnam. This will be extended to other touch points in the near future in line with Mekong Development Bank's proposition to make things simple for the customer.

Nicholas Chee,deputyCEO and head of consumer business,Mekong Development Bank says: "Being the first bank in Vietnam to bring biometric fingerprint authentication to its customers confirms Mekong Development Bank's commitment to providing the only truly convenient and personal banking experience available in the region. Temenos delivered us a state of the art capability in less than six months, which simply plugs into Temenos T24 - our existing core banking system. Incorporating the technology at NCR SelfServ ATMs across Vietnam ensures that customers experience consistent biometric fingerprint capabilities throughout the country. Preliminary research shows that an overwhelming 91 percent of customers surveyed after activating their debit card would recommend that their family and friends sign up for the product."

Lee Volante, director business solution group for APAC,Temenos says: "For decades, banks worldwide have used biometrics for security and access control - to access vaults, etc. But this technology is only starting to permeate the consumer experience on a mass scale in developing countries, where it has commercial value as a means to customer acquisition. Mekong Development Bank is a true pioneer in its adoption of this technology, which will help the bank to continue to build market share with its easy-to-use and convenient consumer technology. We're delighted that T24 Biometrics is enabling this new banking paradigm in Vietnam."

Mike van der Wal, managing director of NCR in Southeast Asia, comments: "More than half the world's population - concentrated in developing markets such as Vietnam - does not access formal banking services. Mekong Development Bank's biometric NCR ATMs, which identify consumers by their fingerprint in place of a personal identification number, represent a major step forward in bringing banking services to the entire population of Vietnam. Mekong Development Bank's customers can now enjoy convenient access with increased security."

Founded in 1992, Mekong Development Bank re-launched in 2009 under a new dynamic, modern, professional and convenient brand. Pivotal to this ethos is biometric authentication, which will revolutionise the way banking is undertaken in the country and grow Mekong Development Bank's market share.

Volante, Temenos continues: "Mekong Development Bank's experimental nature in the field of biometrics is something for other banks to sit up and pay attention to. With such innovative technology available, the opportunities for banks to capture market share are enormous, and the future of biometrics across multiple channels such as mobile and online banking is now a possibility."

Temenos is one of the only core banking systems with integrated biometric capability. It is a component of the T24 system, which has a larger installed base than any other banking software provider. T24 Biometrics is in use at financial institutions across Africa, with Mekong Development Bank being its first Asian customer to adopt biometric authentication.

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Vietnam's First Fingerprint-Enabled Debit Card Launches With TEMENOS Biometrics

Home business Soul-searching journey led to exec-coaching career

PICHAYA CHANGSORN THE NATION August 7, 2012 1:00 am

Pelzer was formerly the site manager of the Chon Buri factory of Cognis, a German additive maker that was later taken over by global chemical firm BASF. Now 44, he said the unfortunate loss more than two years ago of one of his valued colleagues launched him on his "soul-searching" journey. Pelzer got into a coaching session with Jean-Francois Cousin, a leading executive coach in Thailand, who helped him realise that coaching might be the new career he had always looked for. He eventually quit Cognis in August 2010 and took on an International Coach Academy course to become a certified coach and set up his Vivo Consulting.

"It was not an easy decision," Pelzer said during an exclusive interview with The Nation. "As an expat, I had nice salaries, car, drivers. Leaving this to start my own business from nothing is not easy. You need to overcome your fear. "But so far, I don't regret [it]. I love coaching. It's rewarding - even though now I don't make as much money as I had been." Although language is a barrier here, Pelzer said he foresaw a huge opportunity in the executive-coaching industry in Thailand, where there are currently fewer than 100 executive coaches, or roughly one to 1 million population, compared with 1:30,000 in Singapore. He also finds his executive coach career most rewarding for giving him the ability to help people transform their lives and contribute to changes and improvements of their organisations. "One big advantage I have as a coach [is that] in the corporate world, people wear masks. They pretend to be somebody they are not. As a coach, once you have developed trust with your client, they feel they can open up and be [their] true selves. "It's amazing. I feel very privileged because people share with me concerns they have at work ... their personal lives. They share very intimate details," he said. Recently elected vice president of the newly formed Bangkok chapter of the International Coach Federation, Pelzer is currently one of the only six ICF-certified coaches in Thailand. There are three levels of ICF credentials: associated certified coach ("practised coach" with at least 100 hours of client coaching experience), professional certified coach ("proven coach" with at least 750 hours of client coaching experience), and master certified coach ("expert coach" with at least 2,500 hours). According to the ICF website, there are five coaches who have the ACC credential in Thailand: Pelzer, Ruth Grace Corlett, Matthias Holighaus, Anne-Marie Machet, and Chinrinee Weerawutiwong. There is only one PCC-level coach, Jean-Francois Cousin. There is currently no ICF master coach in Thailand. The ICF's Bangkok chapter, which has a mission to educate the general public to gain a better understanding about the coaching profession, plans to hold its official launch on September 19. Dr Terdtoon Thaisriwichai is president of the Bangkok chapter. Pelzer said the most effective way to explain about coaching is to allow people to experience it. Therefore, he has offered a one-month money-back guarantee for his clients, who don't have to pay if they are not satisfied with the results within the first month. "It's easier for clients to make their decision. And so far there is nobody asking for a refund," he said. In making his career shift, Pelzer was inspired by the book "The Four Agreements" by Don Miguel Ruiz, who wrote: "To be alive is the biggest fear humans have. Death is not the biggest fear we have; our biggest fear is taking the risk to be alive - the risk to be alive and express who we really are." Many people are just too scared to make their ideas come true, Pelzer said. "If in the future I'm diagnosed with cancer, I will look back on my life, what I would need to do to avoid regrets. I'm not too scared to try this idea [of being an executive coach] ... at least I try," he said.

pichaya@nationgroup.com

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Soul-searching journey led to exec-coaching career

Arthritis Foundation Program Introduction to Tai Chi: 10:30-11:30 a.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays (Aug. 7-30) at St. John's Episcopal Church (Parish Life Center), 3245 Central. $35/month or $5/class. Call 901-230-9427.

The Wolfpack Triathlon: 20th annual multisport 400-meter swim, 7-mile mountain bike, 2-mile trail run. 6 p.m. Friday at Herb Parsons Lake in Fayette County near Eads. Registration fees: $45 in advance, $55 by Thursday, $70 race day. Relay $75 in advance, $95 by Thursday, and $110 race day. Online registration closes at midnight Aug. 9. Call 901-274-2202.

Annie Oakley Super Sprint Triathlon: 7 a.m. Saturday at Herb Parsons Lake in Fayette County near Eads. Registration fees: $75 in advance, $80 by Thursday, $105 race day. Relay $145 in advance, $150 by Thursday, and $175 race day. Online registration closes at midnight Thursday. Call 901-274-2202.

Elvis Presley 5K Run: 8 a.m. Saturday on Elvis Presley Blvd. (near Graceland) Pre-registration, $30. Register online until 8 p.m. Thursday. In-person at Packet Pick up locations, $35. Race day, $40. Registration between 6:30 and 8 a.m. at Elvis Presley Park (corner of Craft Road and Elvis Presley Blvd.). Registration will be accepted after 7:30 a.m. but must be registered by 7:30 a.m. to receive an official time. 30th annual 5K Run benefits LivItUp, Inc. 901-316-0377.

Strategic Financial Partners 5K: 8:30 a.m. Aug. 25 outside the Strategic Financial Partners building at 795 Ridge Lake Blvd. $20 in advance, $25 after Aug. 18. $12 in advance and $15 after Aug. 28 for ages 5 to 18 ($2 discount for Memphis Runners Track Club members). The 4th annual event benefits Le Bonheur Children's Hospital Neuroscience Institute. Race-day registration and packet pickup 7:30-8:20 a.m. Race-day fee $25 ($15 children). 901-767-5951. sfp5k.racesonline.com

Health Events

American Cancer Society's Look Good ... Feel Better Program: Free service teaching female cancer patients beauty techniques to help restore self-image. Call 800-227-2345.

Monday: 2-4 p.m. at The West Clinic, 1588 Union.

Aug. 13: 10 a.m.-noon at Baptist Centers for Cancer Care, 55 Humphreys Center Drive, Suite 100.

Aug. 20: 2-4 p.m. at Baptist Memorial Hospital, 7601 Southcrest Pkwy., Southaven.

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Health and fitness calendar: Aug. 6, 2012

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Courtesy Photo

You dont have to be a gym buff to get your daily dose of exercise; take advantage of the great summer weather and head outside! The countless benefits of physical activity transcend the treadmill and surpass the stair climber. Engaging in exercise beyond our houses four walls will free your mind and expand your horizons. Consider visiting Mother Nature the next time you put your sneakers on and go for fit!

Breathing in fresh air and surrounding yourself with natures garden can increase your strength and boost your health. Scientists in the Finnish Forest Research Institute reported that stress, anger, and aggression decrease when individuals are exposed to natures green environment. Spending more time outdoors can instantly improve your mood and help strengthen your immune system as well.

Save Money

Todays economy makes joining a gym a challenge for your wallet. Taking your workout to the trees will save you from expensive membership and studio fees. In addition to cashing in, you have the leisure of exercising at any time. Mother Nature is open 24/7 and she wont kick you out because you forgot to pay your dues! Other benefits include:

Boost in energy from increased oxygen intake and more fresh air

Reduced distractions from computers, phones, and televisions

Escape from crowds of people waiting to use gym machines

Improved sleep

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Dr. Mao's Wellness Central: Head Outside For Better Health And Fitness

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

UnitedHealthcare today announced the winners of the third annual Hair Fitness competition, which seeks to promote styles that facilitate healthy and fit African American women.

The company hosted the competition in partnership with the Bronner Bros. at the International Hair Show on Sunday, Aug. 5, a trade show that draws 60,000 hair stylists from across the nation.

Linette Battle of Palm Beach, Fla., won first place. Battle received the grand-prize of $5,000 and a trophy for outstanding design and execution. Runners-up included Camilla Brown, who won the second-place prize of $2,000; and Elisha Heard, who received a $500 prize. Tiffany Thames and Keysha Quinn rounded out the top-five finishers.

Im thrilled to have been recognized at this years Hair Fitness contest. Ive been leading a healthy lifestyle and talking to my clients about it for years, so its wonderful to see a company like UnitedHealthcare helping to bring attention to this issue. I cant wait to share what I learned with my clients and community, said Battle.

Battle was among more than 50 stylists competing before a crowd of 1,500 to showcase innovative, stylish and exercise-friendly hairstyles. The goal of the Hair Fitness competition is to encourage professional hair stylists to create hairstyles that are easy to maintain and empower their clients to make exercise a part of their daily routine.

The Hair Fitness competition, now in its third year, was inspired by studies that showed many African-American women avoid certain fitness activities in order to maintain their hairstyles, as well as the alarming rates of obesity among African Americans. According to the 2011 edition of Americas Health Rankings, the prevalence of obesity among African Americans exceeds 30 percent in 36 states and the District of Columbia, which dramatically outpaces obesity rates for whites and poses serious health consequences for those affected including diabetes and heart disease.

Also appearing at the event were Regina M. Benjamin, M.D., M.B.A., Surgeon General of the United States; celebrity hair stylist Elgin Charles, known as the Emperor of Hair and star of VH1s Beverly Hills Fabulous; and Reed Tuckson, M.D., former Washington, D.C. Public Health Commissioner and executive vice president and chief of medical affairs at UnitedHealth Group. WNBA Washington Mystics player Ashley Robinson also spoke at the event.

We applaud everyone who participated in this years Hair Fitness competition for the important work they do and the trust they have earned in their communities, said Dr. Tuckson. We look forward to continuing our work with Bronner Bros. and stylists across the country to help African-American women enjoy great style and great health at the same time.

The stylists were judged on the technical execution of the styles, originality, suitability and head contour, and new ideas. Contest categories included: low-impact workout, which involves little to no sweat and requires only one shampoo/condition per week; moderate-impact workout, which involves modest sweat and requires 1-2 shampoo and conditions per week; and high-impact, which involves profuse sweating and requires 2-3 shampoo/conditions per week.

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UnitedHealthcare Announces Hair Fitness Contest Winners at Bronner Brothers International Hair Show

GAITHERSBURG, Md., Aug. 6, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --Dietitians and health experts everywhere regard daily tracking of physical activity and food intake as the single biggest tool for success in any health, diet or fitness program and that process just got easier for millions of Americans thanks to a strategic partnership between Sodexo and MyFitnessPal. Now, tracking good nutrition in the workplace is simple as Sodexo, Quality of Daily Life Solutions provider to more than 1,800 corporate workplaces in the United States, directly connects its database of thousands of chef-developed menu items directly with MyFitnessPal's mobile applications and website.

"Millions of people have downloaded health and fitness related mobile applications for their phones; in fact research predicts there will be more than 1 billion annual health-related app downloads by the year 2016," said Bill Mitchell, national director of consumer technology solutions for Sodexo. "People want help managing their day-to-day progress and keeping track away from home can sometimes present a challenge. MyFitnessPal fits perfectly with Sodexo's commitment to the communities we serve by taking an approach to health and wellness that's integrated into all aspects of lifeat work, home and playgiving real-time nutrition information to guide dining decisions."

The MyFitnessPal application, widely praised and rated Editor's Choice by PC Magazine and Editor's Pick in Wired Magazine, is available as a free download on iPhone, Android, Blackberry and Windows smart phones. The technology utilizes a bar code scanner allowing consumers to instantly download nutrition information for a product as an alternative to searching for it in the database or entering it manually. MyFitnessPal's nutrition database of over 1.8 million products is also available on the MyFitnessPal.com website.

As part of Sodexo's focus on technology and an enterprise-wide point-of-sale system it has introduced unique codes for all products and recipes. Those unique codes, which Sodexo incorporates on signs, labels, and receipts, are integrated into MyFitnessPal, making access to nutrition information even faster. In addition, the program allows for integration of the consumer's information with FitBit, an innovative tool used to track activity, fitness, diet, and sleep patterns, helping people lead healthier, more active lives.

"We're extremely pleased to partner with Sodexo," said Albert Lee, co-founder of MyFitnessPal. "This partnership supports our goal of making it easy for consumers to be able to find accurate nutrition information wherever they may be dining as they use our application to simplify keeping track of their nutrition and fitness goals."

The partnership with MyFitnessPal is aligned with the priorities for Sodexo's Better Tomorrow Plan, the company's sustainability roadmap, which includes actively promoting nutrition, health and wellness; committing to local communities and protecting the environment.

About MyFitnessPalFounded in 2005, MyFitnessPal is a leading health and fitness service with easy-to-use web and mobile apps for tracking nutrition and exercise activity. Over 20 million people have already selected MyFitnessPal's top rated nutrition tracking tools to empower them to achieve their health and fitness goals. MyFitnessPal's free application is available on any iOS, Android, Blackberry, Windows Phone 7 device or the web and is supported by an enormous food database of over 1.7million food items and a fully featured social network to enable a steady stream of community engagement and support. Follow MyFitnessPal on Twitter athttp://twitter.com/MyFitnessPal, or join MyFitnessPal's 350,000+Facebook Fans athttp://www.facebook.com/MyFitnessPal.

About Sodexo

Sodexo in North America

Sodexo, Inc. (www.sodexoUSA.com), leading Quality of Daily Life Solutions company in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, delivers On-site Service Solutions in Corporate, Education, Health Care, Government, and Remote Site segments, and Motivation Solutions such as Esteem Pass. Sodexo, Inc., headquartered in Gaithersburg, Md., funds all administrative costs for the Sodexo Foundation (www.SodexoFoundation.org), an independent charitable organization that, since its founding in 1999, has made more than $17 million in grants to end childhood hunger in America. Visit the corporate blog at http://www.sodexoUSA.com/blog.

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Sodexo and MyFitnessPal Partner to Make Good Nutrition Easy

SAN DIEGO, CA--(Marketwire -08/06/12)- LifeApps Digital Media, an emerging designer of health, fitness and sports publications and next-generation social networks, today announced that US beach volleyball stars Jennifer Kessy and April Ross were featured in the YouWorkout Magazine as they advance to semifinals. Kessy and Ross beat the Czech Republic's Kristyna Kolocova and Marketa Slukova Sunday in a 25-23, 21-18 victory, advancing to play top-seeded Larissa and Juliana of Brazil on Tuesday.

Earlier Sunday, Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh-Jennings also advanced to the semifinals, setting up a potential all-American beach volleyball final if both teams win their matches on Tuesday.

As the Southern California natives Kessy and Ross continue their success in London they have provided YouWorkout readers with an in-depth interview about their exciting journey to the Olympics, including how their partnership first began.

"I had to call her to see if she would play with me. It was totally like calling a guy to talk to him," recalled Ross in the YouWorkout article. "I was sitting outside on the curb so nervous thinking 'she is going to shut me down. She is totally going to shut me down.'"

Kessy didn't. The match of 5-foot-11 Kessy, who plays the right side of the court, and 6-foot-1 Ross, who plays the left, was seemingly meant to be. The two USC graduates have been partners since 2007, and have proved to be a formidable team, with a fifth-place ranking on the Federation Internationale De Volleyball Swatch World Tour.

The team is known for their flexibility on the court, with Kessy and Ross being able to trade off between offence and defense. This unique flexibility means the pair's workouts range from cardio to strength to stretching. In the YouWorkout article, both Kessy and Ross described their favorite workouts outside of volleyball.

"My favorite is hot yoga," said Kessy in the YouWorkout article. "We play in a lot of really hot places and so it gets you Zen-like but your heart is beating really fast and you have to control yourself. It's a big mind game, which is kind of like beach volleyball."

The interviews with Kessy and Ross are part of an interactive viewing experience, as YouWorkout delivers a wide variety of sports, health and fitness content straight to tablets on iTunes and GooglePlay. YouWorkout is a quarterly publication catering to athletic lifestyles, sports enthusiasts and fitness professionals alike.

"Kessy and Ross are rising stars for the US beach volleyball squad, which has been propelled by May-Treanor and Walsh-Jennings' amazing winning record over the past two Olympics," stated Robert Gayman, CEO of LifeApps. "Through this premiere issue of YouWorkout Magazine, we want to help her share the amazing up-and-coming story Kessy and Ross, especially with the possibility of an all-American beach volleyball final if both US teams defeat their competition on Tuesday."

LifeApps Digital Media's quarterly YouWorkout Magazine is a digital interactive sports, health and fitness magazine. It is the first of its kind to be designed from the beginning specifically for tablets and smart devices.

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US Beach Volleyball Stars Jennifer Kessy & April Ross Featured in YouWorkout Magazine as They Advance to Semifinals

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How to Calculate Your Retirement Needs - Video