Harry’s guide to watching tennis:<\/strong><\/p>\n1. Players refer to an ace as a “free point.” The “easiest” ace is down the center line. The key to watch where your opponent is standing and serve elsewhere.<\/p>\n
2. The classic tennis “play” is to serve wide, wait for the return, then whack your ball to the opposite corner. This strategy relies on a good, hard, well-placed serve.<\/p>\n
3. Most points are won, not because someone hits\u00a0 a winner, but because the other guy screws up. Hence players gingerly hit balls back and forth in the hope that their opponent will screw up. I’ve seen most of the top players practicing. They hit a lot harder and faster in practice than they do in matches.<\/p>\n
4. Keep the ball in play, keep edging it to corners, ultimately your opponent will hit a short ball. Then you can move in and put the ball away for a winner.<\/p>\n
5. Heavy top spin lifts the ball up high when it bounces. Returning a high bouncer is far more difficult than returning a low shot — even if the low shot is hit very hard. Nadal is the expert on high bouncers. He uses a weird grip, special strings and he comes up on the ball as he hits it. You have to be 23 and have extraordinary timing. A thousandth of a second makes a difference. I once fluked a Nadal shot. I fluffed my other tries.<\/p>\n
6. A single-handed backhand is more flexible than a two-handed one. Some people believe a two-handed backhand gives great control, especially returning hard shots. The short backswing is useful. All two-handed backhand players use a one-handed shot when they get into trouble. I’m too untalented (or too old) to learn a two-handed backhand.<\/p>\n
Today, tennis is basically a running game. The faster you run, the faster you get to balls. I can’t run as fast as a 20-year old. Most tennis professionals retire when they hit old age — around 30.<\/p>\n
Understanding Engineers – One<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nTwo engineering students were riding their bikes across a university campus when one said, “Where did you get such a great bike?”<\/p>\n
The second engineer replied, “Well, I was walking along yesterday, minding my own business, when a beautiful woman rode up on this bike, threw it to the ground, took off all her clothes and said, “Take what you want . “<\/p>\n
The first engineer nodded approvingly and said, “Good choice; the clothes probably wouldn’t have fit you anyway . “<\/p>\n
Understanding Engineers – Two<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nTo the optimist, the glass is half-full .<\/p>\n
To the pessimist, the glass is half-empty .<\/p>\n
To the engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be .<\/p>\n
Understanding Engineers – Three<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nA priest, a doctor, and an engineer were waiting one morning for a particularly slow group of golfers . The engineer fumed, “What’s with those guys? We must have been waiting for fifteen minutes!”<\/p>\n
The doctor chimed in, “I don’t know, but I’ve never seen such inept golf!”<\/p>\n
The priest said, “Here comes the green-keeper . Let’s have a word with him . “<\/p>\n
He said, “Hello George, what’s wrong with that group ahead of us? They’re rather slow, aren’t they?”<\/p>\n
The green-keeper replied, “Oh, yes . That’s a group of blind firemen . They lost their sight saving our clubhouse from a fire last year, so we always let them play for free anytime . “<\/p>\n
The group fell silent for a moment .<\/p>\n
The priest said, “That’s so sad . I think I will say a special prayer for them tonight . “<\/p>\n
The doctor said, “Good idea . I’m going to contact my ophthalmologist colleague and see if there’s anything he can do for them . “<\/p>\n
The engineer said, “Why can’t they play at night?”<\/p>\n
Understanding Engineers – Four<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\nWhat is the difference between mechanical engineers and civil engineers?<\/p>\n
Mechanical engineers build weapons<\/p>\n
Civil engineers build targets .<\/p>\n
Understanding Engineers – Five<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nThe graduate with a science degree asks, “Why does it work?”<\/p>\n
The graduate with an engineering degree asks, “How does it work?”<\/p>\n
The graduate with an accounting degree asks, “How much will it cost?”<\/p>\n
The graduate with an arts degree asks, “You want fries with that?”<\/p>\n
Understanding Engineers – Six<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nThree engineering students were gathered together discussing who must have designed the human body .<\/p>\n
One said, “It was a mechanical engineer . Just look at all the joints . “<\/p>\n
Another said, “No, it was an electrical engineer . The nervous system has many thousands of electrical connections . “<\/p>\n
The last one said, “No, actually it had to have been a civil engineer . Who else would run a toxic waste pipeline through a recreational area?”<\/p>\n
Understanding Engineers – Seven<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nNormal people believe that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it .<\/p>\n
Engineers believe that if it ain’t broke, it doesn’t have enough features yet .<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"..\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/HarryNewtonNewShot2.jpg\" "\\"HarryNewtonNewShot\\"")
<\/a>
\n<\/strong><\/div>\nHarry Newton who now understands why Microsoft employs so many “engineers.”<\/p>\n
I added some more useful links on the left — check out the travel links.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Apple\u00a0 blew away the streets numbers on the top line and bottom.\u00a0 Apple will be\u00a0 up significantly this morning, blowing away my argument yesterday for taking a little Apple profit off the table. I hope you didn’t listen to me. I fortunately didn’t. Sometimes my thoughts for the column get reconsidered ten minutes later. This […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5451"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5451\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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