Category: Miscellaneous

Tennis tech could be a game changer

Andy Murray

The tennis season is upon us, with the French Open already under way and Wimbledon right around the corner. Viewers can expect to see some of the useful decision aiding technology that has been around for years, but behind the scenes there is other new technology emerging that could be about to change the game.

Over the years, tennis has evolved massively in terms of the way it is played. Newer designs of balls, rackets, and courts, along with a higher level of fitness among players have made the game we know now a lot faster paced than the games of the past. For example, Rafael Nadal’s average serve speed in 2014 was 185 kilometres per hour, whereas players in the 80s like John McEnroe served around 20 kilometres per hour slower. McEnroe has stated, though, that using the rackets of today he can hit at much higher speeds than he used to in his playing days.

Technology has also improved decision making in tennis. Hawk-Eye is an accurate slow motion video that pin points exactly where the ball landed, so there can no longer be any disputes over whether the ball was in or out. It could be argued, however, that tennis was more entertaining before this, as it sparked huge rows such as the famous occasion on which McEnroe called the umpire a jerk (see video below) during his outburst.

Along with technology to improve the viewing experience on the court, there is now technology in production that should enhance the players’ performance even further. A lot of sports have already embraced new technology to try to improve fitness levels and strategy, but tennis looks as though it’s about to take things a step further. The PlaySight smart tennis court uses a combination of cameras that cover every inch of the court surface. These cameras are used to track all the player’s movements and racket strokes. This information is linked to computers that are situated next to the court, so players and coaches can look back and analyse the footage instantly. This footage can also be sent to smartphones, so the player can examine it later, or send it to other experts to analyse and gather opinions. The technology has been backed by some of the biggest names in tennis including Novak Djokovic and Pete Sampras.

With Andy Murray being the only British male to win Wimbledon since Fred Perry in 1936, tennis in the UK needs to embrace improvements in tech like this to try to raise the standard of its players. Murray, who is 3/1 to win in the Wimbledon betting odds as of late May, will have a tough time following up his 2013 title against an in-form Djokovic this year, but he will give it a good shot, as he is also playing well. If British tennis academies start using new software to train their players, there could be a crop of young talent set to take Murray’s place in the coming years.

How to access your psychic abilities

Today, getting a psychic reading is more popular than ever, especially as you now can have them done online, over the phone or via an email. It’s getting to be something that is as normal as having a counselling session or going for a massage, whereas it used to be more of niche activity.

Some people are very aware of their psychic sense from a young age, but they may not be sure of how to control and use it to its full potential. Others may like the idea of being more intuitive or being able to communicate with a loved one who has passed away, but believe that psychic skills are only for the gifted few.

This, however, is not true; anyone can develop and deepen their psychic abilities. It may take some people more time and practice than others, but with a little perseverance, anyone can tap into their psychic side. If you want to develop your psychic skills, try the following ideas:

Learn to meditate

“Meditation” (CC BY 2.0) by  Moyan_Brenn 

In order to create some space for our psychic abilities, it’s necessary to be able to switch off from our everyday thoughts and concerns. This leaves room for our intuitive subconscious to expand and this is an essential feature of psychic development. We need a clear pathway for spiritual messages or our intuition to come through to us.

Regular meditation can help create this clear path and can create a window of opportunity for your spiritual guides to ‘speak’ to you. By having a consistent time slot for meditating, you’ll be able to focus on your psychic side then, rather than having it distract you when you have other things to focus on – such as work or getting the kids to school. There are lots of different meditation techniques, some people will need a quiet and darkened room, while others will be able to meditate in an armchair while they listen to some calming music.

Understand your energy and the energies around you

All of us give off and take in different forms of energy. Through the electro-magnetic fields that surround us, we can become the equivalent of a radio transmitter and receive and pass on psychic information. In order to develop a psychic ability, you need to understand how our energies and the energies around us work, how we can use these energies to understand the world around us. In order to improve your psychic abilities, you need to open, close and ground, and protect your energies. Grounding is a key element – and will be very useful when you feel like you can’t focus or concentrate. Try this technique to become more grounded:

“centered” (CC BY-ND 2.0) by  Lucy Maude Ellis 

 

  • Stand with feet hip width distance and arms loosely at your sides. Allow your knees to bend and sink your weight down into your feet. Rock gently to find a balanced position. Bring the focus of awareness to the balls of your feet and imagine your whole weight being there. From this point, visualise roots extending and going deep into the ground. Stay like this for a few minutes, breathing deeply and letting your body relax.

Experiment with remote viewing

Remote viewing is a form of clairvoyance. It’s the skill of being able to view something with the mind’s eye and it has been likened to an out of body experience. If someone can remote view, they can picture and describe a place that is separate from them. Psychics often use remote viewing when reading for a client. For example, if someone asks if they will move house, a psychic could describe the location, look and feel of the house that their client will move to via remote viewing.

Remote viewing is something we can all do, if we tap into our psychic abilities. You can practise and develop your remote viewing skills by pairing up with a friend.

  • One of you (the ‘sender’) thinks of a place and writes it down. To begin developing your skills, choosing a local place will help. The sender then focuses on what the place would look, smell and feel like. At the same time, in another room, the other person (the ‘viewer’) should sit quietly in another room and try to empty their mind. Then the sender should pass information telepathically to the viewer, but only in a non-verbal way. The viewer should write down or draw the images they receive and when ready, close off their mind and relax. The viewer can then share with the sender what they saw and see if they have identified the correct location.

Remote viewing is not something you’ll be able to do immediately, but just practising the skill can be quite a lot of fun, and you’ll gradually become more accustomed to interpreting the psychic messages you’re receiving.

Of course, remote viewing is just one type of psychic skill, but it’s a great one to make a start with if you want to develop the psychic within you.

A new generation for casino movies?

With the news of the remake of The Gambler set to hit our screens this Christmas, the genre of casino movies is a trend that’s not going to go out of fashion any time soon. But what exactly is it that makes these movies so popular? Whether it’s the glamour of the Hollywood sirens or the excitement of the casino heist, there is a reason that the movie industry continues to churn out blockbusters of this genre.

 

Perhaps one of the most definitive movies of this genre was Ocean’s Eleven, the 1960 classic which was so popular that it became a hit remake once again in 2001. The film had every kind of ingredient for a hit: the glamorous Hollywood siren in Julia Roberts, the heart throb in George Clooney (and Brad Pitt) and the thrill-a-minute mission that any other clan would fail: to simultaneously rob three Las Vegas casinos.

 

Of course, the 2001 hit very much brought the heist up-to-date, using modern day bomb devices to blow up casinos, along with faster guns, better guns and bigger prizes. With Ocean’s Eleven spawning two more equally successful sequels, the proof is in the pudding when it comes to modern casino movies making huge amounts of money.

 

But with technology ever advancing, could we be in for a new generation for casino movies? Away from the big screen, the casino industry has evolved considerably over the years – whereas 10 years ago people would make the trip to a land-based casino, today, people would much rather play online. This has in part been thanks to the advances of technology making online casinos far more desirable – affiliate sites like Fortune Palace are showing customers how to play with live dealers, another advance in technology that has proven how far things have come.

 

With these technological advances, it begs the question as to whether movies could be moving in the same direction. Whereas at the turn of the century, directors were having their cast members stealing cash from land-based casinos, could we soon see scripts which have online casinos being robbed?

 

Indeed, it makes for a very engaging subject and has been touched upon before, with 2011’s Moneyball telling the true story of a man who tried to assemble a baseball team based on algorithms. The film was a Hollywood hit, scoring a 7.6 rating on IMDB and starring casino veteran Brad Pitt.

 

 

Computer hacking is nothing new in the movie stakes either – with films like The Matrix or 2013’s Her showing the true potential of computers, a new genre of online casino heists could be in the pipeline. With so much potential for today’s technology, there’s no telling what we could be seeing in the next 10 years.

Dog Society Spreads Its Welcome Shade

Bruce (guitar & back-up vocals), Rich (bass & back-up vocals), Brian (lead vocals) and Joe (drums) make up Dog Society, a long-standing band from New York City. After their debut album, Test Your Own Eyes from 1993, it was a long time until the next one, with Emerge coming out in 2013. And just like buses, along comes another one in hot pursuit, with the third full-length album, In The Shade, scheduled for release on July 22nd, 2014.

They come from NYC but sound more like a West Coast band on this 12-track release. With jangly guitars and pleasing harmonies that strongly echo The Beatles and other 1960s sounds, that magical decade is never very far away.

Behind the cover art of a lonely-looking tree against a blue-rinsed, storm-promising sky, joy and melancholy reside together on In The Shade. As for their band name, it refers to the traditional dance of the Hidatsa Plains Indian tribe. You knew that, didn’t you.

Of the 12 tracks, the following stand out for me. First one up is Heal Me Friend. Short and sweet, it’s a catchy tune, as if grunge had gone back in time to the 1960s with Rickenbackers and cute fringes. Emerge and The Laughing Song (my favourite) both build layers of soothing psychedelic rock. In the Shade,the title track, takes us for a walk,starting with a Latin percussive beat, leading us to a path strewn with Stone Roses and ending with the psychedelic scent of incense wafting on an Indian breeze. Losing Her Again blasts us with Sgt Pepper-era, Beatle-like harmonising and heavy drum beat.

Showing off their rock guitar feedback, Dear Brother shows that the band can be heavier when it feels like it. The Killer You Can’t See drips languid guitar, taking us somewhere where Richard Hawley’s grandeur has been transplanted from the streets of Sheffield to distant golden sands. Our Own Parade has great harmonies and percussion, but is also a departure. Its wonderfully soaring trumpet solo doesn’t really belong, but I’m glad it’s there, and the 6-piece brass band adds a madcap free for all, elevating the track to something unique.

In The Shade is music to blow bubbles to, to walk in the park to or to seek the shade of a lonely tree and listen to it whisper between the songs.

 http://dogsociety.tv/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The King of Synth-Pop Has a New Release

Feeling stressed? Put your feet up and have a listen to Non Sequitur (released 29th May, 2014), 44 minutes and 13 seconds of one continuous piece of music.

Described as “progressive instrumental synth-pop”, it’s the work of Italian composer, Andrea Remondini. This is his debut full-length CD and is self-produced.

Taking the listener through different and sometimes recurring melodies and variations of melodies, sounds capture various moods using a variety of synth effects and tempos. It’s like a stream of consciousness but, of course, must have been very carefully constructed.

Given Non Sequitur’s retro feel, it’s not surprising that Andrea Remondini is an admirer of early Mike Oldfield and Jean-Michel Jarre, without copying them.

Non Sequitur’s cover art manages to be both playful and a bit sinister; you don’t know what to expect. Sometimes dramatic, sometimes quiet and delicate, the music ranges from a single synth piano to two or three instruments or more, with background vocals on occasion. It’s a tour through the orchestra and a fun challenge to try to pick out different instruments. I thought I heard keyboards, percussion, woodwind, xylophone, tubular bells, crashing cymbals, electric guitar and kettle drums.

Remondini is a master of atmosphere and knows how to present melodramatic, melancholic and upbeat tunes. Melody is the priority here, and it never gets overly complicated. For me, it’s gentle Sunday morning music to mentally limber up to. As for public performance, I think it would work better as a film score or as contemporary dance music rather than a concert piece.

From his early foray into electronic music when a young boy in the mid-1980s, Remondini progressed to enjoy a long successful career as a musician, songwriter and sound engineer. Working in the world of dance music, he has collaborated with DJs from Italy and elsewhere in Europe, gaining chart entries in various European countries. However, he wanted to produce his own sounds outside of dance music, so he established his own recording studio and Non Sequitur was born.

Other musical projects and collaborations in Remondini’s back catalogue include Greece 2000 by 3 Drives on a Vinyl, I Feel Love by CRW, Komodo by DJ Picotto and Home Again by Jimmy Somerville.

If you like an ever-changing soundscape that you can mostly chill to, with some drama here and there, you will enjoy Non Sequitur.

https://andrearemondini.bandcamp.com/track/non-sequitur-extract

 

 

Joel Has Gotta Lot of Soul

For late night music when you’re feeling mellow and the moon is up, Joel Havea is the fella you need. His five-track EP, titled Strings & Wood (released 24th May, 2014), is an acoustic set which perfectly demonstrates the singer-songwriter’s expressive vocal delivery, soulful voice and guitarist skills. Joel is an Australian, hailing from Melbourne, but lives in Hamburg, Germany. From his family background and his travelling, he has absorbed many cultures over the years.  After playing with his younger brother in the aptly named duo, The Havea Brothers, it was time for a solo career to blossom. His debut album, You Make Me Believe from 2012 was well received, and he has embarked on extensive touring throughout several countries.

Strings & Wood is designed to capture the style of Joel’s live acoustic shows. Acoustic soul is a refreshing take in the never-ending swirl of genres, and Joel’s long experience as a performer bears fruit on this casino online smooth and tight production. Contributions from other musicians on the EP put a cherry on top, whilst still allowing Joel to shine.

Going Gone is the first track, a radio-friendly song on acoustic guitar, perfect for the car system. Despite the very catchy upbeat tune, the song is about him getting away from a toxic relationship and getting on with his life. Simple Things has a slower tempo, with acoustic guitar and melancholic cello.  Going Through The Motions has a funky, R&B feel with guitar and fat keyboards. My Wings is a slow tempo song with beautifully melancholic cello again, but hopeful lyrics, plus acoustic guitar and swelling keyboards. Fading Away is another funky acoustic track, with some nice punchy double bass.

The plan is for Joel to promote the new EP on the road, including dates in America in the autumn of 2014. As well as possessing a quality voice and being an accomplished guitarist, Joel is a good-looking guy with lots of stage presence – his fan base is sure to keep on growing.

https://soundcloud.com/joelhavea/sets/strings-and-wood-ep