Nike Shoes Air Jordan – From A History Of Ingenuity To World Fame

Nike Shoes Air Jordan – From A History Of Ingenuity To World Fame

Air Technology at Its Fullest in the Nike Air Max Shoes

The Nike Air Max shoes, one of the best-selling line of shoes, is another shoe brand that uses the patented Nike Air technology. It is a later introduction to the “Air” shoes created by the Nike shoe company, the first ones being the Air Force Ones and the Air Jordans.

The Nike Air Max shoes’ most distinct feature is its visibly large air cushioning unit at the sole of most of its models. The air cushioning units differ in styles in several Air Max versions, but it is often evident in most models. It indicates the product line’s distinguishing factor from other Nike Air brands.

Some of the most popular editions of the Nike Air Max shoes are listed below.

Air Max I

The Air Max I is the first in the Nike Air Max product line. It was unveiled in 1987. The Air Max I has been re-released today with different styles, including a hybrid boot version.

Air Max Light

The Air Max Light, originally called the Air Max II, is the second product in the Nike Air Max shoe line. It was released in 1989, two years after the Air Max I. However, it was eclipsed by the Air Max III’s launch the following year. Nike re-launched the Air Max Light in 2007 to cater the next generation Air Max lovers.

Air Max 90

The Air Max III, also called Air Max 90, is the third version of the Nike Air Max shoe. It was called Air Max III until the year 2000 when Nike re-released the product naming it Air Max 90, the year it was launched. Its thick air cushioning unit at the sole is exaggerated further by the white/black/grey coloring.

Air Max BW

The Air Max BW, or the Air Max IV, is the best-selling model in the Nike Air Max shoes of all time. It was launched in 1991 and is the fourth model in the same product line. The Air Max BW is very popular among gabber music fans. It is also an extremely hot item in the hip-hop culture and fashion.

Air Max 95

The seventh in the Nike Air Max shoe line, the Air Max 95 was released in 1995. It is also called the Air Total Max. The Air Max 95’s make is based on human anatomy and high technology. The shoe’s spine resembles the human spine and its materials represent human skin.

Air Max 360

The Air Max 360, launched in 2006, is one of the later editions of the Nike Air Max shoes. It uses the Max Air throughout its midsole. Nike also released hybrid versions of the shoes, fusing Air Max 90, Air Max 95 and the Air Max 97 models into the hybrid Air Max 360, in September 2006.

Among Nike’s various brands, the Air Max shoes lived up to its expectations. It enjoys a large number of followers and its sales records are impressive. Proof of its popularity is that some of its models have been imitated or copied in some parts of the world.

By: Throne96 Throne96

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Last Minute Christmas Gift Ideas

Last Minute Christmas Gift Ideas

There are many people who don't plan their Christmas gift ideas and just buy the gifts a night before the Christmas or even on the Christmas night while going to someone's place. We are presenting some last minute Christmas gift ideas so that you can still get a good gift even without planning anything.

We all are bust these days so no one has time to plan your Christmas gifts long back. No salaried person or student has time to even think of Christmas presents earlier. Every one wants to meet the daily commitments and relax after that and on Christmas Eve everyone realizes they need Christmas gifts for their friends and family members.

There are also some people who don't want to spend much money on Christmas presents. Therefore, some people just take a half day off and bake cakes. This is very famous among students where they bake cakes and cookies for their friends. Everything for baking a cake is available in general stores and a self baked cake makes a great present. You can then wrap it beautifully with colored paper and ribbons.

If you don't have time than you can probably go for online shopping. Online Christmas shopping is also helpful when your relatives or friends live out of town. Online website and stores also gift wrap your gift and then make sure that it is delivered in time. There are many stores which gives you good discounts online. Therefore, you can buy some great gifts cheaply.

Another great Christmas gift idea is giving the gift of images. You can make a collage of pictures which includes the moments spent by you with the person who you are sending the gift. You can also get a family portrait done cheaply. You have to just spend a couple of hours on pictures and you'll make your own Christmas present for everyone. You can also buy photo frames and gift the pictures in frames. If you are good at fine arts you can make some sceneries and wall papers which can be used by anyone for their home walls.

Some people also like to gift Books on Christmas. If you know the type of books a person reads then you can gift those books to the person. You can also buy a latest novel or some classic book which is read by everyone. Further, finding books is easy because there are many online as well as normal stores which offer books at a reasonable price. All stores categorize the books and so they are very easy to find. You can also save money if you buy multiple copies of the same book and gift them to different persons.

You can also gift antique show pieces like statues. These can be placed in person's bedroom and they make a great Christmas gift idea.

If you don't like the above ideas then you can always stick to traditional pack of chocolates and a gift card. Everyone likes gift cards because you can buy any thing from the gift card. Further, you don't have to search for hours for searching for a good gift cards. Gifts cards are offered by every store, we recommend that you give a gift card of a store like Wal-Mart. They sell everything so this allows the person to buy anything of his/her own choice.

If you are looking a Christmas gift idea for your girl friend then you must buy something romantic. There are many ready made baskets filled with gifts available in market. These baskets also allow you to add a note on the top. This makes a perfect romantic gift for someone you really love. When you are looking for a Christmas gift idea for your boy friend then you can buy some sports equipment which he always wanted.

By: John Pike

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Exercise and Hypertension

Exercise and Hypertension

It seems as though many Americans are living a life that leads to high blood pressure or hypertension. As people age, the situation gets worse. Nearly half of all older Americans have hypertension.

This disease makes people five times more prone to strokes, three times more likely to have a heart attack, and two to three times more likely to experience a heart failure.

The problem with this disease is that nearly one third of the folks who have hypertension do not know it because they never feel any direct pain. But overtime the force of that pressure damages the inside surface of your blood vessels.

However, according to experts, hypertension is not predestined. Reducing salt intake, adopting a desirable dietary pattern losing weight and exercising can all help prevent hypertension.

Obviously, quitting bad habits and eating a low fat diet will help, but the most significant part that you can do is to exercise. And just as exercise strengthens and improves limb muscles, it also enhances the health of the heart muscles.

Heart and Exercise

The exercise stimulates the development of new connections between the impaired and the nearly normal blood vessels, so people who exercise had a better blood supply to all the muscle tissue of the heart.

The human heart basically, supply blood to an area of the heart damaged in a “myocardial infarction.” A heart attack is a condition, in which, the myocardium or the heart muscle does not get enough oxygen and other nutrients and so it begins to die.

For this reason and after a series of careful considerations, some researchers have observed that exercise can stimulate the development of these life saving detours in the heart.

One study further showed that moderate exercise several times a week is more effective in building up these auxiliary pathways than extremely vigorous exercise done twice as often.

Such information has led some people to think of exercise as a panacea for heart disorders, a fail-safe protection against hypertension or death. That is not so. Even marathon runners that have suffered hypertension, and exercise cannot overcome combination of other risk factor.

What Causes Hypertension?

Sometimes abnormalities of the kidney are responsible. There is also a study wherein the researchers identified more common contributing factors such as heredity, obesity, and lack of physical activity.

And so, what can be done to lower blood pressure and avoid the risk of developing hypertension? Again, exercise seems to be just what the doctor might order.

If you think that is what he will do, then, try to contemplate on this list and find some ways how you can incorporate these things into your lifestyle and start to live a life free from the possibilities of developing hypertension. But before you start following the systematic instructions, it would be better to review them first before getting into action.

1. See your doctor
Check with your doctor before beginning an exercise program. If you make any significant changes in your level of physical activity — particularly if those changes could make large and sudden demands on your circulatory system — check with your doctors again.

2. Take it slow

Start at a low, comfortable level of exertion and progress gradually. The program is designed in two stages to allow for a progressive increase in activity.

3. Know your limit

Determine your safety limit for exertion. Use some clues such as sleep problems or fatigue the day after a workout to check on whether you are overdoing it. Once identified, stay within it. Over-exercising is both dangerous and unnecessary.

4. Exercise regularly

You need to work out a minimum of three times a week and a maximum of five times a week to get the most benefit. Once you are in peak condition, a single workout a week can maintain the muscular benefits. However, cardiovascular fitness requires more frequent activity.

5. Exercise at a rate within your capacity

The optimum benefits for older exercisers are produced by exercise at 40% to 60% of capacity.

Indeed, weight loss through exercise is an excellent starting point if you wan tot prevent hypertension. Experts say that being overweight is linked to an increased risk of developing hypertension, and losing weight decreases the risk.

Harmful Effects of Passive Smoking

Harmful Effects of Passive Smoking
By April Kerr

Although many people try their best to stay away from the temptations of smoking in order to stay healthy, they could still suffer from its harmful effects just by inhaling second-hand smoke from other smokers' cigarettes.

This is also called as passive smoking, environmental tobacco smoke or ETS, and secondhand smoking.

Passive smoking means the smoke in the environment that is exhaled from the smoker's lungs, or the smoke coming from the smoker's cigarette, pipe or cigar, is being inhaled by others.

In simple terms, it is known to be the involuntary breathing of smoke from different tobacco products.

This happens when tobacco smoke saturates the environment, and people in the immediate vicinity are inhaling it.

Although the person itself is not the one who is smoking, many studies have shown that inhalation of secondhand smoke poses risks to the bystanders, and are even more harmful than firsthand smoke.

This is because the smoke particles in the air are much smaller than the smoke drawn straight from a cigarette, meaning it can go deeper into the lungs of the person inhaling it.

There are scientific evidences that show how frequent exposure to secondhand smoke can cause disability, disease, and ultimately, death.

Because many people realize the harmful effects of secondhand smoke, several public areas such as workplaces, restaurants, night clubs, and bars follow smoking bans.

The short term effects of passive smoking can vary depending on the person's vulnerability to nicotine.

Other people can stay in a room with smokers and not feel any effects at all, while others can only stay in a matter of minutes or hours, and feel ill.

Common short term effects include headache, coughing, nausea, and lethargy to the average person.

These effects could be worse in people who already have health conditions such as asthma, where one could have an asthma attack because of secondhand smoke exposure.

For allergic patients, they could suffer from watery eyes, stuffy or runny nose, sneezing, and more.

There are several harmful long term effects of passive smoking, and this could vary depending on one's exposure to secondhand smoke.

The more frequent one is exposed to environmental smoke, the more chances of getting diseases related to smoking such as lung cancer, heart disease, lung infection, ear infection, asthma, allergies, and many more.

For pregnant women exposed to environmental smoke, they have a higher risk of getting miscarriage and birth defects.

Children who are frequently exposed to secondhand smoke may also face learning difficulties, and they may develop asthma.

As much as possible, if your work or lifestyle entails you to remain in a closed room filled with smokers, don't just sit there and say "Oh, but it's not me who's smoking."

Remember, passive smoking is also dangerous to you, and if you continue to expose yourself to secondhand smoke, then you may experience harmful effects in the long run.

Stay away from smokers as much as possible, and when visiting public places, choose one that has a smoking ban, or at least proceed to the non smoking area.

source : http://ezinearticles.com/?Harmful-Effects-of-Passive-Smoking&id=1702398

Resident Evil 5 Review

Resident Evil 5 Review
By Nikhil Mahajan

Resident Evil 5, the sequel to Resident Evil 4, is the fifth game in the series. It is currently under development but people have started talking of it. What did they heard about it?

Not much about the Resident Evil 5 has been yet revealed by its developer Capcom. Few details have been released about the game.

The concept is believed to be similar to Black Hawk Down. The gameplay as announced by the producer, Jun Takeuchi, will be similar to Resident Evil 4. Then what else will be included in the Resident Evil 5.

It is the most anticipated game of the year and it is not going to be released in 2008 too. Resident Evil 5 was announced in 2005 but its release date is pushed forward sometime in 2009.

Developers had also stated that the darkness concept of Resident Games will diminish. Players can hunt zombies in the sparkling light instead of the dark.

This will be a totally new concept in the series to be introduced through Resident Evil 5. Besides zombies, two new enemies will also be introduced in the game.

They will be different from zombies and ganados in the sense that they will posses more intelligence and weapons than their predecessors.

The plot of the Resident Evil 5 will be set in an Africa. First human being was originated in Africa. But in game, Africa will be shown as the land where viruses were originated. Resident Evil 5 will also feature improved graphics and lightening effects.

Players can go outside at different moments of the day as well as in different weather conditions. Player's ability to work in light and darkness will be based on the real human ability to work under such conditions. In Resident Evil 5, player will take sometime to adjust accordingly as the humans do.

Resident Evil 5 gameplay and controls are highly based on the Biohazard 4. Capcom will announce latest news about the game at E3 conference that is going to be held in July, 2008. There have been issues associated with the Resident Evil 5.

Controversies became part of it before it is released. Resident Evil 5 came under the controversy of racial discrimination. Criticizers concerns about how white man is shown as the hero while black zombies in the African village.

They believe that it is not zombie shown as black but the black Africans shown as zombies which really looks to be.

I think Resident Evil 5 like previous Resident Evil games will be a major hit for the Capcom. The game will surely demonstrate itself.

Resident Evil 5, after being released, will be acclaimed by many reviewers and criticizers despite of few controversies that will become its forgotten past.

I also believe that the issues of racial discrimination shown in Resident Evil 5 will just let the world know what's all happening in Africa and how the people are being treated there.

We all know how dodgy AIDS or HIV could be, and through Resident Evil 5 developers have made the efforts to show the same thing.

So I give full marks to the Resident Evil 5 for the efforts that it will be making to raise the personal standards of the people of Africa directly or indirectly. I hope Resident Evil 5 proves to be super hit.

source : http://ezinearticles.com/?Resident-Evil-5-Review&id=1107706

Jim Valvano Biography

Jim Valvano Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

James Thomas Anthony Valvano, (March 10, 1946–April 28, 1993), nicknamed Jimmy V, was an American college basketball coach.

While the head coach at North Carolina State University, he won the 1983 NCAA Basketball Tournament against high odds. Valvano is remembered for running up and down the court after winning the 1983 NCAA championship, seemingly in disbelief and looking for someone to hug. He is also remembered for his 1993 ESPY Awards speech, given shortly before he died of cancer.
Personal

Valvano was the middle child of Rocco and Angelina Valvano, and was married for 25 years to his high school sweetheart, Pamela Levine. They have three daughters: Nicole, Jamie, and Lee Ann. Valvano attended Seaford High School on Long Island, New York.

Vince Lombardi was Valvano’s role model. Valvano told an ESPY audience, on March 4, 1993, that he took some of Lombardi’s inspirational spe

eches out of his book Commitment to Excellence and used them with his team. Valvano discussed how he planned to use Lombardi's speech to the Green Bay Packers in front of his Rutgers freshman basketball team prior to his first game as a coach.

College playing career

Valvano was a point guard at Rutgers University in 1967, where he partnered with first-team All American Bob Lloyd in the backcourt. Under the leadership of Valvano and Lloyd, Rutgers finished third in the 1967 NIT Tournament, which was the last basketball tournament held at the old Madison Square Garden. Jim was named Senior Athlete of the Year at Rutgers in 1967. He graduated with a degree in English in 1967.

Coaching career

Valvano's 19-year career as a head basketball coach included stops at Johns Hopkins, Bucknell, Iona, and NC State. His career record was 346-212. During his 10 year NC State career, Valvano's teams were the ACC Tournament Champions in 1983 and 1987 and the ACC regular season champions in 1985 and 1989. The Wolfpack won the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship in 1983, in addition to advancing to the NCAA Elite 8 in 1985 and 1986. He was twice voted ACC coach of the year. Valvano became NC State's athletic director in 1986.

Valvano's famous reaction after the Wolfpack victory came after the game-winning shot in the 1983 NCAA finals. Dereck Whittenburg heaved a last-second airball that was caught and dunked by Lorenzo Charles as time expired. By a score of 54-52, NC State beat a top seeded University of Houston team that was on a 26-game winning streak and was lead by future Basketball Hall of Famers Clyde Drexler and Hakeem Olajuwon. Previously, NC State won the college basketball championship in 1974.

Controversy

In 1990, accusations of rules violations surfaced in the book Personal Fouls by Peter Golenbock. Two local newspapers and the NC State student paper called for his ouster. A 1989 NCAA investigation cleared Valvano, but found that players sold shoes and game tickets. As a result, NC State placed its basketball program on probation for two years (the maximum) and was banned from participating in the 1990 NCAA tournament.

The state-appointed Poole Commission issued a 32-page report that concluded that there were no major violations of NCAA regulations, and that Valvano and his staff's inadequate oversight of players' academic progress violated "the spirit, not the letter of the law." After this report, Valvano was forced to resign as the school's athletic director in October 1989.

He remained as basketball coach through the 1989-1990 season. Under subsequent pressure from the school's faculty and new Chancellor, Valvano negotiated a settlement with NC State and resigned as basketball coach on April 7, 1990. Six separate entities investigated Valvano and the NC State basketball program including the NC State Faculty Senate, the North Carolina Attorney General, the University of North Carolina Board of Governors, the NC State Board of Trustees, and the NCAA. None of them found any academic, recruiting, or financial improprieties.

Valvano's version of these events can be found in his 1991 autobiography, Valvano: They Gave Me a Lifetime Contract, and Then They Declared Me Dead.

The following letter from Bob Valvano offers his point of view on the firing of Valvano:

I appreciate the kind words about your wishes for the book, and very much appreciate your candor about my brother and his reputation. Your summation is in fact one of the main reasons I want to write the book. I agree that he has been 'sanctified' and it is for the wrong reasons. He got sick and died very young, and handled it with great dignity and courage. I am proud of that. But he really was no different in his illness than he was in health. It was simply the perception, publicly, that changed, and your comments are a reflection of that. Let me ask you a question. You say Jim ran one of the dirtiest programs in America. Did you know that after three investigations, the only thing he was ever accused of was that his players sold complimentary athletic shoes and tickets? Period. Did you know that? Did you know that the guy who ran the NCAA investigation, Dave Dideon, a hardened veteran of dealing with slick, underhanded coaches, said that he never investigated a more misunderstood coach than Jim, and that following the investigation, he wrote a letter to Jim saying that if he had a son, he would be proud to have him play for Jim? Probably not, and my guess is that if you did, you would rather not have it cloud your preconceived judgment that Jim was a bad guy. He made mistakes. He tried to do too many things at once. He assumed details were being tended to that weren't, that he should have seen to. But dirty program? Astoundingly inaccurate, but perpetuated, as is the misconception that he became a 'good guy' when he got sick. He was always a 'good guy,' an inspiring guy, and he made his share of mistakes. Both have been blown out of proportion, and it makes Jim a cartoon character. Please don't take my remarks personally . . . I am probably tilting at windmills to think I will change anyone's mind, but it is a noble fight. To fight it, I can't, and won't, make Jim out to be a saint, but the criticisms are as inaccurate as the accolades are simplistic. It is worth trying. -Bob Valvano

After coaching

After his coaching career, Valvano was a broadcaster for ESPN and ABC, including a stint as a sideline reporter for the inaugural season of the World League of American Football. In 1992, Mr. Valvano won a Cable ACE Award for Commentator/Analyst for NCAA basketball broadcasts. From time to time he was paired with basketball analyst Dick Vitale. The two even made a cameo appearance, playing the role of professional movers, on an episode of The Cosby Show.

Valvano created JTV enterprises to guide many of his entrepreneurial endeavors. He gave hundreds of motivational speeches across the country and was a featured guest on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and Late Night with David Letterman.

One of Valvano's most memorable motivational speeches was delivered February 21, 1993 at Reynolds Coliseum on NCSU's basketball court during the ten year commemoration of the University's 1983 NCAA championship. It was during this speech that Valvano stressed the importance of hope, love, and persistence and included his famous "Don't give up, don't ever give up" quotation.

ESPY speech and death

Valvano was diagnosed with metastatic bone cancer in June 1992. In July, he found out that it had spread.

Shortly before his death, he spoke at the inaugural ESPY Awards, presented by ESPN, on March 4, 1993. While accepting the inaugural Arthur Ashe Courage and Humanitarian Award, he announced the creation of the "V Foundation", an organization dedicated to finding a cure for cancer. He announced that the foundation's motto would be "Don't give up. Don't ever give up." During his speech the teleprompter stated that he had 30 seconds left, to which Valvano responded, "They got that screen up there flashing 30 seconds, like I care about that screen. I got tumors all over my body and I'm worried about some guy in the back going 30 seconds." His speech has become legendary, and he closed the speech by saying, "Cancer can take away all of my physical abilities. It cannot touch my mind, it cannot touch my heart, and it cannot touch my soul. And those three things are going to carry on forever. I thank you and God bless you all." One particularly poignant section of Valvano's speech is as follows:

To me, there are three things we all should do every day. We should do this every day of our lives. Number one is laugh. You should laugh every day. Number two is think. You should spend some time in thought. And Number three is, you should have your emotions moved to tears, could be happiness or joy. But think about it. If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that's a full day. That's a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you're going to have something special.

Valvano received a lengthy standing ovation. He died less than two months later after a year-long battle with cancer. He is interred in the Cedar Hill Section of Oakwood Cemetery in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Legacy

A 1996 TV-movie titled Never Give Up: The Jimmy V Story, starred Anthony LaPaglia as Valvano. In 1993, Valvano was inducted into the Rutgers' Basketball Hall of Fame. In 1999, Valvano was inducted into both the Hall of Distinguished Alumni at Rutgers University and the New York City Basketball Hall of Fame. In 2004, Valvano was inducted into the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame.

V Foundation

The V Foundation is a charitable organization dedicated to saving lives by helping to find a cure for cancer. The foundation seeks to make a difference by generating broad-based support for cancer research and by creating an urgent awareness among all Americans of the importance of the war against cancer. The V Foundation performs these dual roles through advocacy, education, fundraising, and philanthropy. Its motto is “Don’t give up. Don’t ever give up.”

The Jimmy V Celebrity Golf Classic has traditionally been held in August at Prestonwood Country Club in Cary, North Carolina, however in 2006 the Jimmy V Celebrity Golf Classic was moved to Pinehurst, NC so that it could attract higher profile players to the fundraiser. Each year, four men's college basketball teams compete in the "Jimmy V Basketball Classic". Recently, a women's game was added to the lineup. To date, the V Foundation has raised over $70 million for cancer research.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Valvano