While this is a blow to the golfing legend personally, legions of his supporters and well wishers and the R&A; Seve will still have a major presence at The Championships this year due to the launch of the worlds most comprehensive online golf academy that bears his name at www.SeveAcademy.com.

While crowds of over 120,000 are expected to line the fairways to watch former Champions including Tom Watson and Sir Nick Faldo battle it out over 4 days – Seve and his team will be managing a high profile launch of an Academy that brings interactive coaching to a new technological level; online, with links to social networking, a significant events schedule and for portability – via smart phone.

The Seve Ballesteros Academy is a unique golf coaching platform, developed by Edinburgh-based Optimal Analysis Solutions, which allows golfers to interactively learn the characteristic, instinctive “Natural” play, made famous by the five-time major winner. Seve will participate in the launch via live video link at the Optimal golf simulator in the Tented Village of the 150th Open Championships at St Andrews in July.

The platform is a complete online coaching tool that enables golfers of all abilities the chance to learn the way of the three-times Open Champion’s natural methodology – playing with passion, intuition and in particular, mastering the key skills required to conquer the short game.

The Academy will provide a unique online and mobile phone offering and become a key part of a golfer’s personal tuition. The Seve Academy simulator will also attend a number of tour and retail events to engage golfers and corporate partners who, at core, will benefit from demonstrations and coaching on how Seve made doing it the hard way, look breathtakingly easy!

At www.SeveAcademy.com, golfers will also have access to an extensive library of multimedia lessons, exercises and tips, coupled with unique and exclusive footage of Seve throughout his successful career.

Seve has in recent weeks been spending a lot of time providing up-to-date content for the Academy while also calling upon friends and colleagues to rally together to assist. This will include support from top male and female touring professionals as well as celebrity friends keen to support golf’s hero.

Corporate organisations and the media will also be able to be able to benefit while showing support, using the same unique content to reward staff and promote various aspects of their own corporate or retail business.

Profits from the Seve Ballesteros Academy will fund a number of projects supported through his Foundation.

Seve Ballesteros Foundation

The Seve Ballesteros Foundation was set up with a two-fold mission and in the UK now works closely with Cancer Research UK in helping to provide:

• Funding brain cancer research projects
• Funding underprivileged children in Spain with the skills and drive required to help them achieve their dreams in the golf world, through access to pro golf coaching

In the UK, the Seve Ballesteros Foundation works in partnership with Cancer Research UK to fund vital research into brain tumours.

Optimal

Optimal Analysis is a sports performance analysis solutions company. Since 2004, it has allowed countless sportsmen to achieve a higher level of performance using the latest performance-enhancing technology.

Based in Edinburgh, with a presence across the globe, employing a mix of sports, IT and business professionals, Optimal has the products, skills and experience across sports and marketing environments including: technological solutions, online academies, marketing and advertising experience.

For further information, pictures and videos:

Press: press@seveacademy.com
Partnership opportunities: partners@seveacademy.com

www.seveballesterosfoundation.org – www.optimalanalysis.co.uk – www.seveacademy.com

While this is a blow to the golfing legend personally, legions of his supporters and well wishers and the R&A; Seve will still have a major presence at The Championships this year due to the launch of the worlds most comprehensive online golf academy that bears his name at www.SeveAcademy.com.

While crowds of over 120,000 are expected to line the fairways to watch former Champions including Tom Watson and Sir Nick Faldo battle it out over 4 days – Seve and his team will be managing a high profile launch of an Academy that brings interactive coaching to a new technological level; online, with links to social networking, a significant events schedule and for portability – via smart phone.

The Seve Ballesteros Academy is a unique golf coaching platform, developed by Edinburgh-based Optimal Analysis Solutions, which allows golfers to interactively learn the characteristic, instinctive “Natural” play, made famous by the five-time major winner. Seve will participate in the launch via live video link at the Optimal golf simulator in the Tented Village of the 150th Open Championships at St Andrews in July.

The platform is a complete online coaching tool that enables golfers of all abilities the chance to learn the way of the three-times Open Champion’s natural methodology – playing with passion, intuition and in particular, mastering the key skills required to conquer the short game.

The Academy will provide a unique online and mobile phone offering and become a key part of a golfer’s personal tuition. The Seve Academy simulator will also attend a number of tour and retail events to engage golfers and corporate partners who, at core, will benefit from demonstrations and coaching on how Seve made doing it the hard way, look breathtakingly easy!

At www.SeveAcademy.com, golfers will also have access to an extensive library of multimedia lessons, exercises and tips, coupled with unique and exclusive footage of Seve throughout his successful career.

Seve has in recent weeks been spending a lot of time providing up-to-date content for the Academy while also calling upon friends and colleagues to rally together to assist. This will include support from top male and female touring professionals as well as celebrity friends keen to support golf’s hero.

Corporate organisations and the media will also be able to be able to benefit while showing support, using the same unique content to reward staff and promote various aspects of their own corporate or retail business.

Profits from the Seve Ballesteros Academy will fund a number of projects supported through his Foundation.

Seve Ballesteros Foundation

The Seve Ballesteros Foundation was set up with a two-fold mission and in the UK now works closely with Cancer Research UK in helping to provide:

• Funding brain cancer research projects
• Funding underprivileged children in Spain with the skills and drive required to help them achieve their dreams in the golf world, through access to pro golf coaching

In the UK, the Seve Ballesteros Foundation works in partnership with Cancer Research UK to fund vital research into brain tumours.

Optimal

Optimal Analysis is a sports performance analysis solutions company. Since 2004, it has allowed countless sportsmen to achieve a higher level of performance using the latest performance-enhancing technology.

Based in Edinburgh, with a presence across the globe, employing a mix of sports, IT and business professionals, Optimal has the products, skills and experience across sports and marketing environments including: technological solutions, online academies, marketing and advertising experience.

For further information, pictures and videos:

Press: press@seveacademy.com
Partnership opportunities: partners@seveacademy.com

www.seveballesterosfoundation.org – www.optimalanalysis.co.uk – www.seveacademy.com

UPDATE:  Someone obviously had a change of heart, as all the items have been returned anonymously! Latest report from the Calgary Sun.

Ken Brown, Rodeo Beach, 2009

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Ken Brown, Rodeo Beach Evening, 2009

LINK

HUNDREDS of pounds of taxpayers’ money was literally poured down the drain when cheeky vandals drained a Highland swimming pool.

Furious staff arrived after the midnight prank to discover 45,000 gallons of water had disappeared from Forres Swimming Pool, near Inverness.

Swimmers were left high and dry as it took 48 hours to refill, heat up and chlorinate the three-metre-deep pool.

Police are now hunting two “mindless” suspects, who rampaged with fire extinguishers, covering the walls with foam.

It took just 30 minutes for the pair to pull the plug on £1,000 of water, forcing leisure centre staff to turn away swimmers for the next two days.

Moray Council swimming pools manager Ken Brown said it was “sheer luck” that a pool supervisor showed up to work early and plugged the pool before it had emptied completely.

He said: “It could have been a day when we open at 10am – it would have been a disaster then.

“It was just sheer luck that it was not another day.

“This was not a prank, but a malicious act which could have had disastrous consequences if the culprits had interfered with other valves.

“They managed to get in and turned some of the valves to drain the water, but if they had tampered with other valves, then pipes could have burst, water would have spilled out everywhere.”

CCTV footage has been given to detectives, allegedly showing the culprits breaking into a pump room.

Veronica Tomlinson, who was among those who turned up on Wednesday morning to use the pool as normal, didn’t even get to the changing rooms before being told the pool was out of action due to vandalism.

She said: “We are supposed to be in a recession and economising, yet someone did this and it will cost a fortune to put right.”

Police Inspector Craig Donald said: “We are keen to hear from anyone who saw two males who may have been aged around 20 in the early hours of Tuesday.

“One may have been wearing a beanie hat and dark clothing. The other male had dark hair and is believed to have also been wearing dark clothing.”

Look how adorable these two are!!! We took a trip to Clearwater to take some engagement shots. Clearwater is actually Ken’s home town and where he proposed to Priscilla. It was a good time, I must admit. Pris and I introduced Ken to a one of my favorite punk bands — Lust Control– that day. haha. He was very, uh, impressed. They are getting marred in June at a lake house where I’ll be a bridesmaid. YES! I can’t wait. I going to bust out in dance most the evening. Congratulations, friends! Ken, I’m so excited to be your sister and to sleep over when you’re gone on “business trips.”

And here’s me with them.

For the first time this week I was awake before Doug and Pam.  No, I haven’t been burning the candle at both ends; I’ve simply grown to appreciate the comfort of a good mattress.  Today was my first foray into Santa Barbara wine country.  I had an appointment with Andrew Murray of Andrew Murray Vineyards at 10 o’clock so I had to get moving early.

Escaping LA was uneventful (thanks in no small part to the GPS that Doug and Pam let me borrow); though I’m sure that the poor souls sitting in traffic going the opposite direction would hate to hear me say that.  After I hit the 101, which follows the coast before running for the hills, one scene after another left me shaking my head with an ear-to-ear smile.  Mountains falling into the ocean followed by high-county lakes and hills draped in vineyards.

Andrew was the first person to reply to my requests for a visit and he was also the most empathetic, having gone through periods of wanderlust himself.  The typical winery appointment consists of a tour of the winemaking facilities and a tasting of the produce.  To make the experience more unique, Andrew took me on a tour of the eastern end of the Santa Ynez Valley, where grapes native to the Rhone Valley thrive.   We visited two vineyards, Thompson and Watch Hill, to inspect the early season development of the vines.  Keep an eye out for an upcoming post that will chronicle the tour.

Andrew Murray has a tasting room in the small town of Los Olivos.  After my time with him I went into town to taste his wines and mingle with the tourist set.  In 1998, his tasting room was the third to open in the small town.  After Sideways put the spotlight on the Santa Barbara scene, the number of tasting rooms grew to fourteen.  Now a town with one stop sign is the favorite imbibery of LA’s weekend warriors.  I heard horror stories – people were dumping the spit buckets on their heads on a regular basis.  No lie!

At three o’clock I traveled the short distance to Buellton, another Sideways setting.  Just off the highway is a new multi-million dollar venture for boutique wine production called Terravant.  Ken Brown is an eponymous husband-and-wife operation that uses the facilities for wine-making and storage; their offices are on the property as well.  Ken is one of Santa Barbara’s wine pioneers.  He worked at Zaca Mesa from 1977 until 1984 when he founded the Byron Winery.  He sold Byron to Mondavi in 1990 and stayed on to manage the wines through 2004.  We had an enlightening two-hour conversation and tasting in his office.  We talked about the growing conditions in Santa Barbara, the history of California wine and the advancements that have been made in the vineyards over the course of his career.

As I left Ken Brown in the late afternoon, I came across the Hitching Post restaurant of Sideways fame.  They make their own wines and serve them by the glass.  I had the 2006 St. Rita’s Earth with grilled quail and mashed Wild Turkey sweet potatoes.  The dish was an excellent pair with the Pinot, but it worked even better with the 1985 Chateau Palmer.  How did I end up with Palmer?  I sat at the bar next to an off-duty waitress whose customer had brought it the night before along with a 1978 Leoville-Las Cases.  They didn’t finish the bottles, so I had the leftovers.  Not much of the 78, but at least I got a taste.  Over half the bottle of Palmer remained and I shared it with another wine tourist sitting on the other side of me.  The staff didn’t care for the wine, saying it was too heavy for their tastes.  More for me!

Now I’m off to complete the day with a viewing of Wolverine before finding a rest area to try out my latest theory on comfortable car sleep.  We’ll see what this passenger seat is capable of!

© K e n B r o w n

#mce_temp_url#

Note: the set-up shot for this photo is at the following link:

#mce_temp_url#

I do love Easter, you know. Props to Ken Brown, and some guy who exhibited his work of taxidermy and found items at SCAD-Atlanta. Will post the name/link when I remember it.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Vicky Spring Love, 248-808-5006

No Cost Credit Repair and Debt Busting Strategies

Over 339 major U.S. lenders have imploded since late 2006, according to

ml-implode.com. An imploded lender is one that has filed bankruptcy, ceased operations, had a fire sale acquisition or closed major divisions of the company. The lenders that remain in business have tightened credit approval guidelines significantly, making it more difficult for people to qualify for loans. Because of this, it is now mandatory for people to repair their credit if it needs it.

You can learn credit repair and get out of debt strategies at the upcoming free workshop, “How to Survive the Financial Crisis” presented by Vicky Spring Love, entrepreneur and author of Stop Robbing Peter to Pay Paul, and Ken Brown, McDonald’s Franchisee and Award Winning Author of A Leap of Faith.  The workshop will be held Saturday, March 28, 2009 from 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm at the Wayne County Community College, Laboratory Science Building Room LSB 133 on lower level, 8200 W Outer Drive, Detroit, MI 48219.

This workshop is co-sponsored by Wayne County Community College District and Ken Brown International. Although this is a free event, seating is limited so registration is required. To register online, please go to http://kenbrowninternational.eventbrite.com.

At this life changing workshop, attendees will learn guerilla budget-stretching strategies designed to maximize money now, profit-making ideas for a down economy, how to get and keep an excellent credit score, how to work on your business not in your business, Bible-based financial success principles, and how to keep your faith strong in a down economy.

In the past, people with low credit scores and marginal credit could still qualify for a mortgage loan using a sub-prime mortgage product. Now that sub-prime mortgages have largely disappeared and even the conventional loans are requiring higher credit scores, it is imperative that everyone seeks to get and maintain the highest possible credit score.

Oftentimes in the past, people have accepted bad credit as simply “the way that it is.” This is no longer an acceptable attitude as it may prevent you from being able to participate in the American Dream of homeownership, may cause you to pay higher interest rates on loans and credit cards that you do secure and may affect your employability.

Credit scores are so important because they are used by so many different organizations that affect your financial well-being. Mortgage companies, auto loan companies, auto and home insurance companies and many employers use credit scores.

To register for this free Workshop, please go to http://kenbrowninternational.eventbrite.com.

Ken Brown does Valentine’s Day best.

But unlike their British Amateur final at Formby in 1984, which Olazabal comfortably won 5&4, the Scot is the one widely expected to be named Ryder Cup captain for next year’s match in Wales.

Nobody was even guessing such a scenario just a couple of weeks ago.

Both men had expressed their desire to play next time and, if they had stuck to their guns on that, it was almost a given that Olazabal would be in charge in Chicago in 2012, Montgomerie would lead Europe on home soil at Gleneagles in 2014 and 2010 might have gone to either Sandy Lyle or Ian Woosnam.

But they have not stuck to their guns. When the players’ committee got down to the business of deciding who takes over from Nick Faldo they were the two who emerged as the favourites.

Montgomerie’s age is what has brought him to this point. He would be 51 in five years’ time and the mood appears to be to go for a younger man at the helm.

Why? Because Faldo was 51 and with him having spent so much time commentating in America in the build up to the match there were accusations that he was not sufficiently in touch with his team.

Montgomerie thought about it and, by all accounts, agreed to stand, even though he must still believe a ninth cap – and the chance to break Faldo’s points record – remains within his capabilities.

At 42 Olazabal is the younger by three years, but his battle with rheumatism has limited him to just three tournaments in the last eight months.

After much soul-searching he last week finally put his name forward to committee chairman Thomas Bjorn, pretty much accepting that, after falling outside the world’s top 400, his chance of playing against the Americans again is a real long shot.

If that is the case why not pick Olazabal for next year and give Montgomerie the opportunity to play once more and then take over for 2012?

A simple answer. The heckling Montgomerie received from American fans, most notably at the 1999 Ryder Cup in Boston and the US Open in Washington in 1997 and San Francisco in 1998, always made it a near-certainty he would do the job on this side of the Atlantic.

Gleneagles was his dream, but Celtic Manor, where one of the courses now bears his name, looks like where it will be for the eight-time European number one.

So Woosnam, who led Europe to victory in Ireland in 2006, and Lyle, a vice-captain then, both offered their services, but look set to miss out.

As Wales’ most famous golfer Woosnam can still expect to be involved, though, and successful 2002 captain Sam Torrance has already let it be known he is ready to be an assistant as well. But what if Montgomerie does put himself in contention for the team?

In 1999 Mark James did just that and only after he had narrowly failed did he reveal that he would have played and assistant Ken Brown would have been captain in Boston.

Montgomerie might be thinking of putting such a contingency plan in place, but he has not had a top-10 finish since he was second in the French Open last June and at 135th in the world there are now 42 Europeans ahead of him.

Seventeen of them are in the top 50. Europe has never had strength in depth like it and for Montgomerie, like Olazabal, it is only going to get harder.

Remember, six-time major winner Faldo played his last cup match at 40, Woosnam at 39, Seve Ballesteros at 38 and Lyle, amazingly, at 29.

In a case which gives the lie to the saying about ‘fighting like cats and dogs’, the terrier cross named Leo had to be revived with oxygen and heart massage after his ordeal.

Fire broke out overnight at the house in Australia’s southern city of Melbourne, where he was guarding the kittens.

Fire fighters who revived Leo said he refused to leave the building and was found by them alongside the litter of kittens, despite thick smoke.

“Leo wouldn’t leave the kittens and it nearly cost him his life,” fire service Commander Ken Brown told reporters.

The four kittens also survived the fire and on Sunday Leo, who fire fighters nicknamed ‘Smoky’, was again back at the house.

The topics and speakers were as follows:

• Ken Brown
  Church Planter (Flat Rock, Michigan)
  Making Disciples on Purpose
• Mike Knight
  Church Planter (Clayton, North Carolina)
  Developing the Heart for Evangelism in Your Church Plant
• Tim Lovegrove
  Church Planter (Menifee, California)
  Developing Men for Ministry in Your Church Plant
• Eric Sipe
  Church Planting Pastor (Greer, South Carolina)
  Mentoring and Coaching Prospective Church Planters Through Internships
• Chris Anderson
  Church Planter (Madison, Ohio)
  Discipleship Through the Development of Children’s Ministry

Thanks to the leaders and body of Grace Church of Mentor for an excellent conference. It’s a joy to fellowship with those who are burdened for the ministry of church planting and to see what God is doing in raising up men and resources for this great work! Amen!

Note: The General Sessions (Dr. Dave Doran, Dr. Will Senn, and Dr. Stephen Jones) are not yet available. I’ll post links when they are.

- El vinilo reproduce en un surco la forma original de la onda de sonido, es un formato analógico, por lo tanto, el sonido no sufre distorsión en este aspecto, se guarda tal y como se grabó en el estudio.
- Reproduce todo el espectro musical, desde las frecuencias más bajas hasta las más altas que el oído no puede captar directamente, pero permite que el sonido se mantenga repleto de armónicos (aquello que a grosso modo nos permite diferenciar el maullido de un gato del sonido de un violín).

Pero mas allá de esta importantisíma razón técnica mi motivo es otro, y básicamente se trata de la nostalgia, así de simple.
Es el deseo de volver a valorar el arte de tapa de un disco, sus secretos, su diseño. El concepto de lado A y B. Los discos antes se pensaban de otra manera y la importancia del track que ocupaba la canción era fundamental. The Wall de Pink Floyd se disfruta mucho mas en 4 caras que en 2 cd.
Entrando en el plano domestico mi chica me quiere regalar un plato (bandeja) para nuestro aniversario de bodas, yo le vengo dando vueltas,pero no porque no lo desee, sino porque se que voy a volver a obsesionarme, y que en cada ciudad que vayamos me voy a pasar horas en las tiendas de vinilos y en los rastrillos buscando aquella perla perdida que jamás llego al cd o simplemente comprando de nuevo algún clásico solo por el placer de llegar al hogar y poder escuchar esa bella y sutil lluvia que precede al encuentro con la música en los vinilos. Y de esta manera sentir que me encuentro mas cerca del artista y de la inocencia de aquellos tiempos pasados que no fueron mejores, simplemente fueron encantadores.