The First Swings Cause Concern

The first sensation is that the club head is quite heavy. I didn't expect this and it felt funny, but since this is a practice-only club, what's the difference? I was a little afraid to take my first practice swing. I was sure the club would break somewhere during the swing, and since the thing is pretty heavy, I thought I might lose balance and fall over or something. And with that heavy driver head flopping around, I didn't want to accidentally hit myself. Much to my surprise, however, the club did not break when I swung it. With increased confidence I took a few more practice swings and then teed up a real golf ball. As any golfer knows, it is one thing to take a practice swing and another to address a ball and hit it. Again, the club did not break down and become unhinged, and the shot felt surprisingly good. I managed to hit about a dozen balls or so, and feeling pretty good about things, I picked out a few regular demo drivers and gave those a try. After swinging the Medicus driver, these clubs felt light and very easy to swing. The heaviness of the Medicus driver club head proved to be an asset.

The Medicus Driver is Designed to Break Down at Six Different Parts of the Swing

The first place the Medicus driver will break down is on the initial take-away. This may be the best lesson the Medicus driver will teach to a golfer. Instead of yanking the club back or immediately breaking your wrists, the Medicus forces you to take the club back slowly and with a good tempo. As one of the pros said in a Medicus video, "take it back low and slow". This is really excellent advice. If a golfer doesn't start his swing properly, the chances of him hitting a solid drive are pretty slim. The golfer also needs to take the golf club back with his arms and shoulders together in one piece. If this does not occur, the Medicus driver will break down.

Medicus Driver Break Points Two - Six

Break point number two for the Medicus is during the backswing when the club is about waist high. At this point the toe of the club should be pointing upwards, and if it is over too far to the front or to the rear, the club will become unhinged. Break point number three is at the top of the backswing, and here the club needs to be square. If the wrists are rolled over too much to the front or back, the Medicus driver will break. Break point four is at the beginning of the downswing. If the player snaps his wrists as if casting a fishing rod, the Medicus will detect the fault and break. Another common swing flaw here for high handicappers is moving the arms outward instead of keeping them in close to the body. A sudden movement of the arms to the rear will cause the Medicus trainer club to break. Break point five is at impact. The swing fault here is having too much body weight behind the ball. If a golfer is leaning too far back at impact he is unlikely to hit a very solid shot. Most likely he or she will have the driver face too far open or closed at impact resulting in poor shots that are hit weakly and off line. The last break point for the Medicus driver is during the follow-through. If the driver stays on plane, everything is fine. But if the follow-through is made as if the golfer were swinging a baseball bat, the Medicus will break down.

The Medicus Driver Training Club Can Make a Big Difference to Many Golfers

The Medicus driver is the largest selling golf training aid ever. Over one million units have been sold, and that pretty much says it all. Having a training device that gives immediate feedback is necessary if a player wants to improve. Most serious golfers go out and practice hitting balls for hours and never really make any improvement. That is because although they think they know what mistakes they are making, they really don't. And all those hours of practice really accomplish is to ingrain the mistakes they are making into their muscle memory, so the chances of making serious improvement, even with professional instruction, are lower and lower. The Medicus driver is worth a shot for golfers who are looking to hit longer and more consistent drives.

One last word about the Medicus driver training aid: the break sensitivity of the club is adjustable, so you can make it more sensitive and see where your swing might be marginal even if the club does not break down the first times you try it.

Walt Ballenberger is a life long golfer and web master for the site Medicus Driver. For more information about using Medicus golf training aids, visit Medicus Driver.

Here is a list of many commonly available features on different brands of GPS navigation portable systems:

Widescreen- 4.3 inch or larger screen measured diagonally (vs. a standard 3.5 inch screen)

Includes Europe Maps- Comes loaded with both North American as well as maps of Europe.

Speaks street names- Announces names of streets and exits, for example, "Turn right on Main St." instead of "Turn right in 500 ft".

Speech Recognition- Operates the gps device with spoken commands rather than having to enter the information by touching the screen.

Lane assist- Realistically displays road signs and junctions along your route and shows arrows that indicate the proper lane for navigation.

FM Traffic Compatible- Add-on an optional FM receiver and subscription to avoid traffic congestion.

FM Traffic Included- Avoid traffic congestion with and included FM traffic receiver

MSN Direct Compatible- You can add an optional receiver and subscription to MSN Direct to get traffic, weather, gas prices, stock quotes, news, and more.

MSN Direct Included- Receive MSN Direct content including traffic, weather, gas prices, stock quotes, news, and more with the included receiver.

Bluetooth®- Connect to your phone to make and receive hands-free calls

MP3 Player- Built in MP3 Player

Emergency Locator- An emergency locator that shows your coordinates, nearest address, and closest hospitals, police and fuel stations

Slideshow Viewer-

Multi-mode Function- Provides driving, walking, bicycling and boating modes such that the device can be used for any of these modes of travel.

Multiple point routing- Sorts multiple destinations to determine an efficient route for deliveries and sales calls.

If you are a more or less "normal" driver who would only use your GPS portable navigation system occasionally, either from home or while on travel, you certainly don't need all the bells and whistles mentioned above. A couple of things should be noted for this type of driver, however. One should certainly consider purchasing a unit with the "speaks street names" feature. You have much more certainty when you know you are turning onto the correct street than if you are not sure of that, and in addition you don't have to be continually looking at the odometer. Another consideration this author would suggest is to purchase a unit with at least a 4.3 inch screen rather than the current standard 3.5 inch screen. You can see the screen much more easily, and more importantly, the buttons for making address entries, for example, are larger. I found that the smaller buttons on the 3.5 inch screen were too small. I would think I was pressing one button only to find that the wrong letter showed up on the screen. For example, I wanted to push the letter "u", and "v" ,which was next to "u", came up on the screen. So this obviously had to be corrected. I would definitely suggest that these two features are worth the extra money. The speech recognition feature would be nice to have, but this almost immediately puts you into the very high end systems with prices in the $600 and up range. Entering addresses or other destinations by touch screen is really pretty easy and quick once one gets the hang of it.

If you drive long distances often, or if you are a professional delivery person who needs to choose the most efficient routes to make your deliveries, obviously the more advanced features on the list might be useful for you. Certainly if you might be using your gps navigation portable system in Europe, you would want to consider purchasing a unit that has Europe maps loaded as well.

As for updating maps, this is normally necessary only every 3-4 years or so. The major brands usually release official updates approximately once a year, and there is a cost to obtain these new maps. Of course new neighborhoods and new roads are included, and new points of interest, like gas stations or restaurants are also updated. These don't change that much from year to year, so one can afford to wait a while before purchasing updated maps for your gps portable navigation system.

For thousands of years silk has been a highly esteemed fabric. It was invented some 5,000 years ago in China, and for about the first 2,000 of those years the secret of producing silk was guarded and remained in China. Finally silkworm eggs and the knowledge of how to produce this textile were smuggled out of China and spread to many places around the globe. Silkworms are actually domesticated insects, and their scientific name is Bombyx mori, sometimes shortened to B. mori. They no longer live naturally in the wild at all, and they only exist to produce silk. If people did not keep them alive for silk production, they would simply disappear. They eat nothing but the leaves of mulberry trees (or substances made from mulberry leaves). When the worms are in their caterpillar stage they are mulberry leaf eating machines. After an enormous growth spurt they extrude a chemical to make a cocoon, and this hardens quickly when exposed to air and turns into silk fiber. The silk worms work for 2-3 days and produce one long strand of silk fiber normally about 400-600 meters in length which makes a cocoon that protects the pupa while it is in the process of metamorphosis into a moth. Silk production unravels this strand and combines it with many others to form the fabric we know as silk. It is interesting to note that most of the pupa are killed in the production process, and only enough moths are born to lay eggs for the next generation of caterpillars.

Silk Properties

Silk has many remarkable properties. It is light in weight and when used in clothing can keep one cool in summer and surprisingly warm in winter. Silk is sometimes used as a liner in winter garments. Silk is very flexible and will return to its original shape without a lot of wrinkling. It can be stretched by as much as 20-25% and return to its original condition. In particular silk takes well to both natural and synthetic dyes, and that is why it is used in colorful parts of the wardrobe such as silk scarves for women and neck ties for men. Taking silk scarves along when traveling is a good way for women to stretch their wardrobes and carry less clothing. That is, a different colored silk scarf can make the same outfit look different.

Wild Silk

There is a certain amount of production of silk made from caterpillars other than B. mori, and India is the leader in this area. This production is small and uneven, however, because the caterpillars cannot be domesticated like B. mori, and the cocoons need to be found in the wild. Also, with B. mori numerous generations can be produced in a year using heating, lighting and other techniques, whereas with the wild silkworms there can only be one generation each year. The silk made from wild silkworms is said to be a bit more rough than the silk made from B. mori.

Conclusion

Silk has a fascinating history, and in the heyday of silk production hundreds of thousands of people around the world earned at least part of their incomes from some facet of the silk industry. Since synthetic fibers like nylon and especially rayon were invented, the demand for silk has dropped a good deal, but there will always be some demand for the real thing.

Walt Ballenberger is webmaster for Silk Scarf a blog with tons of information about silk in general and silk scarves in particular. Visit that site and our companion site, Hand Painted Silk Scarf.

Golf Driver Evolution

Golf drivers have changed enormously over the past 10-15 years. If you have been away from golf for some time and suddenly decide to pick up the game again, you'll be in for a slight shock when you try one of today's modern drivers. First of all the price will be a slap in the face. It is not the least bit unusual for today's top brands to cost $500 or even more for a driver. The next thing that will catch your attention is the enormous size of the club head. Today's top driver models typically have the number 460 in them, because the club head is 460 cubic centimeters (cc). This is now the maximum allowable size for the head of a driver. Shaft technology has changed a great deal, and the combination of today's flexible graphite shafts, along with the club head technology and that of today's modern golf balls are what produces the prodigious drives that are typically seen each week on the PGA tour. The ladies have benefited a great deal as well. The top woman golfer, Lorena Ochoa from Mexico, weighs only about 115 pounds, but her drives often fly 270 yards or more. When this author was a boy, the longest hitter of that time was a player named George Bayer. Bayer was a large man, probably 6'4" or more, and he had a powerful swing. He would hit the ball about 275 yards off the tee at that time, and of course that was considered very long. A good drive for male PGA tour players was 250-260 yards in those days, and drivers and other woods actually were made of out wood, typically a hard wood such as persimmon. Today it is not unusual to watch a PGA tour tournament on TV and see drives by the longest hitters in the 320-340 yard range using titanium club heads. Distances like that would have been unthinkable in Bayer's day.

Driver Club Head Evolution

A 460 cc club head is rather enormous. Why have driver club heads evolved to this state, and what advantages do they provide to the golfer? First of all, the reason that driver heads can be so large is because they are made of light weight titanium material. Titanium is strong and flexible, and today's top lines of clubs offer a spring or trampoline effect. That is, when the club hits the ball, the face of the drive actually bends inward similar to what happens when a person jumps on a trampoline. When the club face recoils it thrusts the ball out faster than it would otherwise travel, and thus greater distance is obtained. The rules of golf now limit the amount of spring that can be provided by a driver's club head. If this were not the case then each year new models made of different materials would come out and drives would get ever and ever longer. Before long all the golf courses would be out dated. That has already been the case for many courses, and oftentimes golf holes have needed to be lengthened to keep up with the greater distances provided by today's drivers and golf balls. Another major benefit of today's large driver clubs heads is a larger MOI, which stands for moment of inertia. To make a long story short, a larger MOI means that the club head will not twist as much on off-center hits. The result is a better shot even on swings that miss the sweet spot by a certain amount. A miss-hit with one of today's 460 titanium drivers will mean losing a bit of distance, but the same amount of miss-hit with an old wooden persimmon driver would result in a shot that would be comparatively much worse.

Of course most golfers love the extra distance that the new high-tech drivers provide. There is a downside to all this, however. That is, the longer the drive, the more difficult it is to keep the ball in the fairway.

Walt Ballenberger is founder of Golf Drivers Blog. To learn about the latest equipment and the best deals available visit Golf Drivers Blog.

Electricity

The process for creating electricity from sun light is rather complex, but all you need to know is that photons collide with electrons in the semiconductor material and essentially free them up to flow when hooked up to a battery. This flow of electrons is what makes an electrical current.

The average household uses 30kwh of electricity per day. Electrical utility companies are required by law to accommodate "net metering". This means that you can sell your excess power back to the power company. Thus, if you are out at work on a sunny day, or go on a two-week skiing vacation and aren't using any electricity, the power being created by the solar panels is going back into the grid to the utility company. In other words every kilowatt-hour of electricity produced by a solar energy system ends up being used to the advantage of the homeowner, either as power to run appliances when the homeowner is there or as a dollar-for-dollar credit provided by the utility company for power that is not being used.

Cost

The most important component of the PV solar panel system will probably be the amount of subsidy you are eligible for. Since some utility companies need to meet goals for the amount of renewable energy they furnish, there are some very attractive rebates offered at times. These can be large rebates indeed, up to 50 rebate as described above. Another offers a 66 rebate, final system costs will amount to about $6.50- $7.00 per watt installed.

Batteries

Batteries are required in stand-alone systems to provide energy during night hours. These can be very expensive, but if you have an isolated cabin, an RV, or some other need for power and don't have access to the public power grid, a solar system with batteries is certainly a solution.

Conclusion

When you consider the costs of a full blown PV solar system which will cut your electric bill down to zero or close to it, you get one other benefit. The value of your property increases with such a system, and your property taxes will not increase because of this added value. In addition to the satisfaction of cutting down your carbon footprint significantly, your system will eventually pay for itself, and your property will be worth more as well. Keep these factors in mind when you calculate your pay-back period.

Walt Ballenberger is web master for Solar Panels Blog which has tons of information about solar panels of all sorts. Visit also a companion site Solar Lights Blog to learn about solar lighting and associated products.

Basic Equipment

The basic materials needed to make any candles include such things as a double boiler to melt wax, a metal pouring pot, candle molds and a mold sealer, primed wicks, wax, candle dyes, other basic household items like scissors, a tape measure, and measuring spoons. If you are just getting started, a book such as "Candle Making for the First Time" is a big help. Once you have the above equipment ready, it is not difficult to get started.

After making a few batches of candles and learning the various processes, you'll soon want to start making some fragrant smelling candles as well. What types of aromas should you try, and how will you find them? Extensive lines of flavors made from both synthetic chemicals and also essential oils, which are derived by distilling natural plant material, are readily available. Check out the CandleChem Company. A quick glance at their web site reveals that they have everything one needs to make candles, including a extensive array of fragrances. Just to give an idea, here is a listing of the aromas they offer, and this is only a list of those starting with the letter "A": African Violet, Allspice, Almond Cherry, Almond Coconut, Almond Cookie, Aloe Vera, Amaretto, Amaretto Chocolate, Amaretto Coffee, Amaretto Spice, Amaretto Vanilla, Amber Romance, Angel Food Cake, Angel Wings, Anise, Apple & Rose, Apple Blossom, Apple Cider, Apple Cinnamon, Apple, Apple Jack, Apple Peel, Apple Pie, Apple Spice, Apple Spice Cake, Apple Strudel, Apples & Berries, Apples & Oak, Apples & Oranges, Apricot, Apricot Brandy, and Apricot Azalea.

So it is clear that there are literally hundreds of possibilities. It only takes a few drops of an essential oil to add the necessary amount of fragrance when making a candle, so purchasing a few of your favorite aromas won't cost too much and will last a long time.

If this company does not have exactly what you are looking for in terms of equipment or candle making fragrances, another possibility is Natures Garden which has a similar lengthy list of candle making scents.

Whether you are looking to make candles for your own living space, looking for a way to make creative gifts for your friends and family members, or even thinking about starting a small business, making fragrant candles is an excellent hobby that is easy to get into. And once you master the basics and get creative, you'll be able to make all sorts of different candles that you and others will enjoy.

Walt Ballenberger is founder of Highly Scented Candles. For hand-crafted scented candles that are clean and long burning visit Highly Scented Candles

These are called the Hibore and the Halo hybrid golf club lines.

Hibore Hybrids by Cleveland Golf

The most evident feature of Cleveland hybrids is what is called an "inverted crown" design. This means that weight is taken from the top and back of the club and redistributed around the perimeter to lower the center of gravity (CG) and move it back away from the clubface. This makes it easier to get the ball into the air. Such weight redistribution also increases the moment of inertia (MOI), and a higher MOI provides greater resistance to club head twisting on off-center hits, translating into higher ball speed on off-center hits.

The Hibore hybrids are newer than the Halo line. Certain design features were added as a result of inputs from the Cleveland Golf pro tour staff of players. These include a club face that is 10% larger, and a leading edge that has been slightly flattened and rounded off a bit to give a larger hitting area and less tendency for the club to dig into the ground.

6 Hibore Hybrid clubs are offered as 1-6 hybrids, and of course these would replace 1-6 irons in the bag. Lofts range from 16- 31 degrees, and the clubs are available with both steel and graphite shafts. Standard shafts are Dynamic Gold Superlite for steel and Cleveland branded graphite shafts. A number of other shaft options are available on the company web site. Left handed clubs are available in every case. The Cleveland Hybrid Golf Clubs web site states that both the Hibore and Halo versions can be used by golfers of all abilities. 3-6 hybrid clubs are offered for women.

Halo Hybrid Utility Golf Clubs

The predecessor of the Hibore hybrid is the Halo line of clubs which are still on the market and still popular. Once again the "inverted Crown" is evident and weight is redistributed to the perimeter of the club, lowering the CG and increasing MOI, as discussed above. It is claimed that the Halo line produces shots that are 5-10 yards longer than the irons they replace. It is not clear from reading the Cleveland web site exactly how that longer distance is attained. In any case one should be aware that he might find a gap of 5 to 10 yards between his lowest numbered iron and highest numbered hybrid club when using Cleveland hybrid golf clubs. In fact I quizzed an acquaintance who is an excellent golfer and who uses a Cleveland 2H. He says he thinks he hits the hybrid farther, so that is one anecdotal data point supporting the claim.

There are 7 clubs in the Halo line. These include a 1H strong with a 14 degree loft and then 1-6 hybrids with the same lofts as in the Hibore line. As for shafts, once again the choices available are the same as in the Hibore line discussed above. Left handed versions are not available for the 1H and 1H strong but can be ordered in any of the 2-6 hybrids in the Halo line. Once again, 3-6H versions are available for women players.

Walt Ballenberger is a life-long golfer and founder of Hybrid Golf Clubs, a resource site for golfers. For a Free Report entitled "How to Find the "Sweet Spot" on Your Golf Clubs in 10 Minutes" visit Hybrid Golf Clubs

The Choice of Fragrance to Use in Your Candles

You may simply have a favorite aroma that you want to try, or you can experiment with different ideas to see how you like the aroma created by burning your scented candles. You might want to do a little research about aromatherapy and see what plant materials have been used in the past for particular purposes. Essential oils are derived from certain plant materials by the process of distillation which produces very concentrated liquids that have the strong essence of the plant. For example, eucalyptus oil is often used to help clear out congested nasal passages and make breathing easier. Essential oil of lemon is considered uplifting and it lowers stress and even acts as an anti-depressant. Citronella oil is used as a repellant for insects and is also used in the making of some perfumes. Essential oil of lavender is considered calming and relaxing and is thought to soothe headaches and even sometimes migraines.

So your choice of essential oils used when making candles can have a practical goal beyond just creating a nice scent in a room. There are hundreds of essential oils to choose from when making candles. An excellent source is the web site of the CandleChem company. Here is a list of the essential oils they offer for candle making, and these are only those that start with the letter B: Baby Lotion, Baby Powder, Baked Apple Crisp, Baked Bread, Baked Cake, Baked Pie Crust, Balsam & Amber, Banana, Banana Creme Pie, Banana Nut Bread, Banana Rum Banana Spice, Basil, Basil Nectarine, Bayberry, Bayberry Spice, Beachin, Beautiful Type, Beer, Begonia, Bergamot, Bergamot Herbal Mint, Birthday Cake, Black Cherry, Black Currant, Black Love, Black Pepper, Black Raspberry Vanilla, Black Rose, Black Tea, Black Walnut, Blackberry, Blackberry Brandy, Blackberry Mist, Blackberry Pie, Blueberry, Blueberry Cheesecake, Blueberry Cobbler, Blueberry Muffin, Bourbon, Boysenberry, Boysenberry & Moss, Brown Sugar, Brown Sugar & Fig, Brown Sugar & Spice, Bubble Gum, Buck Lure, Burgundy Wine, Butter Crème, Butter Mint, Butter Pecan, Butterscotch, Butterscotch Brulee.

So you can see there truly are hundreds to choose from. Also, you'll only be using 1-3 drops of essential oil for each candle, so you'll be able to make a lot of candles for each scent that you purchase. Remember to put the drops into your hot wax mixture just before it is poured into a mold. In that way the essential oils won't evaporate as quickly as they would have had they been in the hot wax mixture for some time. If you are using a dye to color your candles, that should be done prior to adding the essential oils for fragrance.

Walt Ballenberger is founder of Highly Scented Candles. For hand-crafted scented candles that are clean and long burning visit Highly Scented Candles

Other Candle Making Tips- Keep Kids and Pets Away

With the possibility looming of a wax fire as described above, it should be obvious that children and pets should be kept away from any hot wax. Even when the wax has been poured into a mold caution should be exercised. If the mold happens to be aluminum it can get very hot and burn the skin. Don't ever heat wax or start to heat wax by putting it in a microwave oven. Heat can quickly build up inside the wax and cause it to explode. In any case melting wax should never be left unattended and you will need to have a wax thermometer to monitor the temperature of your wax at all times. Be careful not to let your wax get onto your heating element as it could very possibly ignite and cause a fire.

Other Precautions

You will need to have a good metal pouring pot to pour your wax into molds. Be sure to use one that can withstand high temperatures and has a handle and spout. Be sure to store your wax away from heat in a cool and dry place. If somehow melted wax does come in contact with the skin, run cold water over the area. This will cool the wax and make it solidify such that it can be pulled off the skin. You will most likely need to treat the affected skin area as you would treat a burn. Don't allow water to drip into hot wax as it can explode and fly onto your skin and cause burns. If the exploding hot wax were to get into your eyes, it is obvious that very serious problems could result, so this tip is extremely important. Also, be sure to use only dyes and fragrances that have been designed specifically for candle making. Lastly, don't ever pour melted wax down a drain.

Although candle making has its dangers due to the need to handle hot melted wax, most of the problems mentioned above can be easily avoided if you are aware of the dangers of hot wax and use common sense when making candles. If you have the right equipment and are prepared and consider the above candle making tips, your projects will be executed smoothly and serious problems will be avoided.

Walt Ballenberger is founder of Highly Scented Candles. For hand-crafted scented candles that are clean and long burning visit Highly Scented Candles