Clarity matters in business writing. Business documents are not always fascinating, and if your writing is oblique or cumbersome, you risk losing your readers midway through your text. VanWrite Sentence Aerobics is a $159 (free Web demo) add-in for Microsoft Word 2007 and 2010 that tries to analyze your text and offer constructive criticism, so you can revise the wording for clarity and brevity.

"Tries" is the operative word here, really: Before Sentence Aerobics can recommend changes, it must correctly parse the original language--but it didn't succeed at that preliminary task when dealing with the simple paragraph that I fed it. The paragraph read, in part:

"What could possibly go wrong? As it turns out, quite a bit. [...] Spanning Backup ($3 per month for regular Google accounts users) is a cloud backup service [...]"

The advice in Sentence Aerobics stresses sound writing principles such as using strong verbs; unfortunately, 'accounts' isn't a verb in the sample text.Sentence Aerobics circled the word accounts above in green, applauding me for using such a "Strong Verb"--but the word is used as part of a compound noun here. (A clearer formulation of the parenthetical phrase would be "$3 per month for users of regular Google accounts"; unless, of course, the intended meaning is "$3 per month for regular users of Google accounts." Admittedly, expecting a program to figure out that level of nested ambiguity is asking a lot of it.) The program also approved of the word turns in the phrase "As it turns out," failing to parse it as an idiom. Meanwhile, Sentence Aerobics asserted that the word could in "What could possibly go wrong?" was a "Weak Verb" in need of revision, rather than a necessary conditional auxiliary to the verb go in what amounts to a common catch-phrase.

In short, Sentence Aerobics' parsing is limited and error-prone, especially in dealing with idioms. Competing product StyleWriter Professional is less susceptible to such errors: It let the same exact paragraph slide with no recommendations, other than noting that one line has a high "glue word" count.

Once Sentence Aerobics finishes parsing your text, it offers recommendations. For the most part, its advice is sensible: Sentence Aerobics favors short, active sentences, and tries to trim prepositional phrases from the text. But since its parsing is often faulty, you end up with many recommendations that you can't implement. For instance, when I started a line with "It turns out this is not a bug," Sentence Aerobics told me that starting a sentence with the word it is not a good idea, since the reader may have trouble figuring what it refers to. But this generally sound advice again misses the mark due to poor parsing.

Sentence Aerobics integrates well with Microsoft Word 2010. Immediately after installing it, I had some trouble finding it in the interface, so I methodically clicked through the tabs until I found it as a button in the Review tab--a sensible spot. When you click the Sentence Aerobics button, a pane opens on the right side of the window. The upper portion of the pane shows the text that the software is currently analyzed, and the lower portion shows recommendations. You can change the font size if you like.

Color plays an important part in Sentence Aerobics: Strong action verbs are circled in green, subjects and verbs are highlighted in pink, prepositional phrases are written in gray, and some have yellow highlighting. This makes it easier to visually parse revisions, but the colors cannot be customized. Being color blind, I had to use Colorblind Assistant to figure out that the pink highlighting was indeed pink and not gray.

Sentence Aerobics bases its recommendations on writing guide called Target Editing, written by VanWrite founder Linda Vanderwold. An abridged 75-page PDF edition of the book, offered as a free extra with Sentence Aerobics, provides language-editing tips and concepts that you can use apart from a dedicated software application.

Sentence Aerobics is based on solid usage advice, and it integrates with Word 2010 better than StyleWriter does. But despite these bright points, the program's spotty language-parsing capabilities prevent it from being a truly useful language-editing tool for natural business writing.

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Though Sound on Fundamentals, Sentence Aerobics Struggles to Parse Idioms Correctly

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03-06-2012 16:54

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03-06-2012 19:31 Hello how are you I am on here to try to help everyone eat better and exercise If you need any help with that email me please do not forget to eat raw organic fruit focusing on the fruit vegetable especially dark leafy greens nuts and seeds and exercise two hours or two miles a day everyday huge hugs remember you are loved huge hugs dedicating all my videos to my mom who passed on to Heaven April 24, 2012 of COPD and Hardening of the Arteries. She will be enormously missed

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Yoga may be a powerful tool in stroke rehabilitation, according to new research.

The study, presented as two separate analyses at the annual meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine, shows that spending eight weeks in an adapted yoga program helped stroke survivors to have greater balance, be more flexible, be stronger and have more endurance and strength.

The first analysis examined the physical benefits of yoga for people who had suffered a stroke. The researcher of that study -- Arlene Schmid, rehabilitation research scientist at the Roudebush VA Medical Center -- found that yoga likely helped increase strength, endurance and flexibility because it helped neuromuscular control.

And in the second analysis, study researcher Tracy Dierks found that yoga seemed to help the stroke patients to take longer steps and faster initial gait speeds, although they were unable to sustain a fast gait for the entire six minutes of the test. Dierks is an associate professor of physical therapy at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.

"The yoga intervention was designed to improve balance, not gait; we did not focus on improving gait at all. Yet we saw major improvements in most clinical gait measurements," Dierks said in a statement. "But one often overlooked deficit remained: the inability to sustain gait speed for endurance."

The University of Maryland Medical Center noted that while yoga can be helpful for rehabilitation in stroke survivors, it's important for people to consult their doctors before participating because there are some moves that could be dangerous for certain people.

Recently, a study presented at the 12th Annual Spring Meeting on Cardiovascular Nursing showed that appreciating the arts could increase quality of life for stroke survivors, and that stroke patients who find joy in music, theater and painting recover better than those who don't.

"The results suggest that art may make long term changes to the brain which help it recover when things go wrong," study researcher Dr. Ercole Vellone, assistant professor in nursing science at the University Tor Vergata in Rome, Italy, said in a statement.

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Yoga Could Help Stroke Rehabilitation, Study Suggests

Many people suffer from strokes, yet many recover. Sadly, over 140,000 people pass away every year due to a stroke in the U.S. alone. In addition, close to 795,000 others experience a stroke. Strokes are a grave problem, causing lasting disability in many who suffer from them. The fact that less Americans die from stokes than in the past is very promising though, and thankfully there is help for those who do survive this medical emergency. Yoga can offer help and aid in recovery to those who have survived a stroke.

Modified yoga can help stroke patients

New research suggests that yoga can aid in the recovery of stroke patients. This particular study demonstrated the following benefits to stroke patients after eight weeks in an modified yoga class:

Increased balance

Added flexibility

Advanced endurance

New strength

Longer steps with increased speed

While yoga can be beneficial to stoke patients, The University of Maryland Medical Center did point out that it is important for stroke patients to consult their healthcare provider before beginning yoga since some poses can be hazardous to certain individuals.

Wheelchair yoga can help stroke patients to recover more quickly

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Yoga for Stroke Patients

4 June 2012 Last updated at 00:13 ET

Indian yoga guru Baba Ramdev has said he will launch a protest in August unless the government brings back illegal money in foreign banks.

He made the announcement during a hunger strike with campaigner Anna Hazare to protest against corruption.

Reports say $500bn of illegal money was deposited in overseas tax havens.

The government has proposed setting up fast-track courts to deal with the two contentious issues of illegal money and tax evaders.

Baba Ramdev joined leading campaigner Anna Hazare on Sunday to undertake a day-long fast in protest against corruption, illegal money and strong anti-corruption laws.

Mr Hazare, who has been campaigning for a strong anti-corruption bill, has already announced a protest in August if the government did not investigate "allegations of corruption" against 14 ministers.

The Lokpal bill has passed in the lower house of parliament but the upper house adjourned amid chaos in December without passing the controversial legislation.

Baba Ramdev urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to pass a strong anti-corruption bill.

"Your personal honesty is not enough. You have to be politically honest too. You have to keep your cabinet honest," he said.

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Indian yoga guru plans protest

On Friday the College of Charleston announced that head coach Doug Wojcik had completed his coaching staff, hiring former Kent State assistant Jordan Mincy.

Mincy, who spent the last two seasons at his alma mater working for Rob Senderoff, joins Amir Abdur-Rahim and Ryan Freeberg on staff.

Jordan came highly-recommended and is a young superstar in the coaching profession, Wojcik said in a statement released by the school. He is a high-energy and positive young coach who has a lot of experience being as young as he is.

Jordan was a successful player at the Division I level and comes from a great basketball family from Memphis, Tennessee. His positive outlook, approach and philosophy in life will really lend well to what we are trying to achieve here at the College of Charleston.

While Mincys recruiting capabilities are mentioned in the release its important to also take note of what he was able to do in working with the Kent State guards.

On that 2010-11 team three guards earned postseason recognition from the Mid-American Conference.

Michael Porrini was named MAC Defensive Player of the Year, Carlton Guyton won MAC Sixth Man of the Year and Rodriquez Sherman was a second team All-MAC selection.

That could bode well for returnees Andrew Lawrence and Anthony Stitt, who were two of Charlestons top four scorers last season.

With Antwaine Wiggins graduating the Cougars will need more production from their guards (as well as forward Adjehi Baru), and while young it looks as if Mincy has the resume of a coach able to push them to new heights.

Photo credit: CofCSports.com

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Doug Wojcik completes coaching staff at Charleston by hiring Jordan Mincy

A series of misfortunes that have befallen James Bonesteel havent dampened his enthusiasm for life or the optimism that guides his path in believing things will always get better if you try.

To the young girls of ABCD girls softball team Precision Vision, Bonesteel is affectionately known as Coach Jimbo.

Bonesteels story is one of courage and inspiration that shows any obstacle placed in your path is never too big to get around if you believe in yourself.

A New York native, Bonesteel has lived in Nebraska for 18 years. Currently, he is a resident of the Crossroad Center shelter in Hastings, but he operates his own handyman business that provides him the beginning of self-sufficiency.

I am hard of hearing and grew up that way, Bonesteel said. But I also grew up challenging people who said I couldnt be a police officer and anything else I wanted to be because of that.

He worked as a police officer for 20 years in various jobs, including chief of police in Clarks, until he decided to pursue a different career path.

With the situation I am going through, as I am homeless right now, people look at me and say, Wow, how can you stay so positive and be motivated in coaching these girls with the situation you are in right now? Bonesteel said.

While some may say they would have walked away from life and hid in their depression if they found themselves in Bonesteels shoes, his response is simple and direct: You cant do that. You have to have a heart.

You have to be strong, and you have to be positive, he said.

After leaving a career in law enforcement, Bonesteel was involved in a work-related accident that resulted in a spinal injury from his neck to his tailbone, causing him to lose mobility and putting him in a wheelchair. That accident occurred six years ago when he was working as a trailer mechanic.

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Hastings man a role model despite life’s adversities

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03-06-2012 12:16 Hello how are you I am on here to try to help everyone eat better and exercise If you need any help with that email me please do not forget to eat raw organic fruit focusing on the fruit vegetable especially dark leafy greens nuts and seeds and exercise two hours or two miles a day everyday huge hugs remember you are loved huge hugs dedicating all my videos to my mom who passed on to Heaven April 24, 2012 of COPD and Hardening of the Arteries. She will be enormously missed

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June-Marie Raw Food and Fitness Health gardening a natural form of exercise 003 - Video

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03-06-2012 15:36 - Hesh Goldstein describes the numerous ethical, health, and environmental advantages of a vegan diet. He explains how the US "Health Care Crisis," so hotly debated in Washington recently, is in actuality the result of the government's own USDA agricultural subsidies, which give financial aid only to the unhealthiest products of US agriculture. When combined with the advertising tax deductions given by the IRS and exploited by the unhealthiest offerings of the US food industry, we have an explanation for the blackout of real health news by the ad driven American media. Hesh Goldstein has been hosting a radio show called "Health Talk" since 1981 when he used to run Down To Earth. He pays for his air time and has no sponsors, so his honesty is not compromised. It airs on Saturdays from 8 am to 9 am on K108, 1080 on the AM dial. At 71 Hesh still plays two to three hours of basketball a week and teaches women's self defense classes - based on 20+ years of Wing Chun training. He has been a vegetarian since 1975 and a vegan since 1990. He has no illnesses and takes no medications. Hesh feels if he can do it anyone can.

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