tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-61335625265157412962024-02-20T01:19:49.725+08:00Station ZMRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15428639181329792152noreply@blogger.comBlogger246125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6133562526515741296.post-63929764298998014132013-03-21T00:34:00.000+08:002013-03-21T00:34:37.361+08:00Spy watch doctor filmed himself molesting patients<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nnJnR_ejLV0/UUnksK1c_iI/AAAAAAAADQc/swbs-tydWTg/s1600/spywatch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nnJnR_ejLV0/UUnksK1c_iI/AAAAAAAADQc/swbs-tydWTg/s320/spywatch.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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A doctor pleaded guilty in the UK to using a secret camera hidden in his wristwatch to film himself sexually assaulting female patients.<br />
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Davinderjit Bains, 45, admitted that he assaulted 30 women at his practice in the south of the UK. The Indian-trained doctor filmed the attacks on his high-definition Tieex Spy Watch, which has been compared to a gadget from the James Bond films.<br />
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He admitted a total of 39 charges—13 charges of assault by penetration, 13 charges of voyeurism, 11 charges of sexual assault, and two charges of sexual activity with a child. He asked for a further 65 offences to be taken into account when the judge passes sentence.<br />
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Police branded Bains a "sexual predator" and said he had covertly filmed more than 100 women. The offences were committed against females aged between 14 and 51, from July 2010 until May 2012.<br />
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The doctor came under investigation when one woman told police she thought he had filmed her as she showered and said he had sexually assaulted her. Detectives found the wristwatch when they arrested Bains at his surgery and later recovered 361 video clips from the gadget and his computer.<br />
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Detective inspector Mark Garrett, who led the investigation, said Bains had used his position as a family doctor to abuse women. "They put their trust in their doctor and Dr Bains breached that trust massively—compromising his professional position—and breached that trust to the highest order," he said.<br />
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"Today he stands exposed as someone who has utterly betrayed that trust for his own sexual gratification. He is a sexual predator, simple as that. And he was allowed to abuse his position of trust and offend for two years."<br />
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Bains qualified as a doctor at Mangalore University, on India's western coast, in 1993 and became a family doctor in Britain in 2007. He's currently suspended from practising. His surgery said it was "appalled" by his crimes, stating, "This has been a shocking and distressing case for all concerned."<br />
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Source: AFP<br />
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MRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15428639181329792152noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6133562526515741296.post-83491859345127767672013-03-21T00:28:00.000+08:002013-03-21T00:29:41.010+08:00It's about the money: Jessie J shaves head for RM2.3mil<br />
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Jessie J has shaved her head for charity. She showed off her new bald look at the recent Red Nose Day telethon, as part of Britain's Comic Relief festivities. "It's the weirdest feeling... It feels so liberating," she said, giddily.<br />
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Jessie raised over £500,000 (RM2.36 million) for the cause after offering to shave off her long dark hair, and admitted the drastic haircut—and money fans paid to will her on—had really stunned her family, who were backstage. "Everyone's crying. My mum's back there. My mum's crying with happiness," she said.<br />
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She also took to Twitter to thank her fans who contributed to the charity, writing, "I did it! Thank you to everyone who is donating!"<br />
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The Red Nose Day telethon highlights included a live performance of One Direction's 2013 Comic Relief anthem One Way Or Another (Teenage Kicks). Harry Styles kicked off the song wearing a comedy red nose, while Louis Tomlinson celebrated the big gig by dying his hair red.<br />
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Source: ReutersMRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15428639181329792152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6133562526515741296.post-33314124523151888912012-11-22T22:12:00.000+08:002012-11-22T22:12:26.895+08:00Muscly boys aren't just a hit with the girls - they live longer, too<br />
-Researchers tracked more than one million Swedish male adolescents over 24 years<br />
-They found stronger boys lived longer, even if they became overweight adults<br />
-Physically weaker people might be more mentally vulnerable, it was suggested<br />
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After a summer witnessing crowds of screaming girls jostling to catch a glimpse of Olympic diver Tod Daley's toned torso, there can't have been many young men who didn't feel a twinge of jealousy.<br />
But now it seems there could be more to having the teenager's athletic physique than unfailing female attention - it could help you live longer too.<br />
A team of researchers from Sweden have found muscular boys will live longer than their weaker friends.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A new study has claimed muscular teenage boys could live longer than their weaker school friends. <br />Olympic diver Tom Daley, 18, has achieved his athletic physique through years of training</td></tr>
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And even if they are overweight by the time they get to adulthood, those with stronger muscles tend to live longer.<br />
The team tracked more than one million Swedish male adolescents, all conscripts to the army and aged 16 to 19, over a period of 24 years.<br />
The teenagers were asked to grip and to do leg curls and arm push ups as a test of muscle strength.<br />
The scientists found those with low strength, weak legs and arms and with a limp grip, were more likely to die earlier.<br />
The report also suggests that physically weaker people might be more mentally vulnerable.<br />
But the study, published in the BMJ, stressed that it does not mean building muscle through excessive weight training would make you live longer.<br />
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They have concluded that a basis of muscle strength instead reflects general fitness.<br />
Over the course of the study, 26,145 of the men died.<br />
The leading single cause of death was accidental injury, followed by suicide, cancer, heart disease and stroke.<br />
A third of the deaths were due to other causes and the researchers grouped these together for their calculations.<br />
The teenagers who scored above average on muscular strength at the start of the study had a 20 to 35 per cent lower risk of early death from any cause and also from cardiovascular diseases.<br />
They also had a 20 to 30 per cent lower risk of early death from suicide and were up to 65 per cent less likely to have any psychiatric diagnosis, such as schizophrenia or depression.<br />
But the 16 to 19 year olds with the lowest level of muscular strength had the highest risk of dying before they reached their middle ages.<br />
While the effect of poor muscular fitness in those observed was similar to other risk factors for early death, such as obesity and high blood pressure, researchers still found the link between early death and muscle power remained after the other factors were taken into account.<br />
The study also found thin and fat men alike fared worse in terms of life expectancy if they had weaker than average muscles, while more muscular men had better survival odds even if they were overweight.<br />
But experts stress the findings do not mean muscle building through excessive weight training makes you live longer.<br />
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MRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15428639181329792152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6133562526515741296.post-65116198761993722662012-11-14T15:53:00.000+08:002012-11-14T15:53:02.507+08:00Halo 4 launch blasts past HollywoodThe Xbox shooter brought in $200m within 24 hours of its launch – easily outdoing first-day takings by cinema blockbusters<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; text-align: start;">Halo 4’s Master Chief congratulates Peter Gagnon of Seattle on being the first person to <br />purchase the Xbox 360 game. Photograph: Stephen Brashear/Invision for Xbox</span></td></tr>
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If you want to catch the largest-grossing entertainment launch of the year so far, you can forget about Skyfall – or, indeed, the cinema. Microsoft's Xbox 360 shooter videogame Halo 4 brought in $220m (£138m) within 24 hours of its launch on Tuesday.<br />
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The figure tops the record-breaking first-day cinema takings of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part Two, which made $91m at the box office in its opening day in July 2011. (The new James Bond film Skyfall took $89m in its first weekend, from Friday to Saturday, this month.)<br />
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Developed by 343 Industries, Halo 4 is the latest title in the long-running console series and once again features muscular space marine Master Chief, this time battling an ancient alien force.<br />
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Microsoft expects it will bring in $300m worldwide in its first week on sale, making it the biggest launch in the history of the series, which has already shifted more than 46m units since the original title arrived in 2001. In the past week, fans have spent over 30m hours playing Halo 4.<br />
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It is unlikely, however, that Halo, which is only available on the Xbox 360 console, will hold on to the title of 2012's biggest entertainment release. Tuesday saw the launch of Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, the latest in Activision's series of military shooters, which is also out on PC and PlayStation 3. Last year's instalment, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, made $400m in its first day and reached $775m by day five.<br />
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The rivalry between Halo 4 and Call of Duty is good news for games retailers. Worldwide, video game sales have fallen this year, with the UK's October figures down almost 30% on the same month last year. A good shoot-out between two of the biggest brands in gaming should help the market recover.<br />
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MRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15428639181329792152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6133562526515741296.post-82382745458949644992012-11-14T15:42:00.003+08:002012-11-14T15:43:58.616+08:00Asian elephant speaks Korean<br />
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An Asian elephant named Koshik can imitate human speech, saying words in Korean that can be understood by speakers of the language, researchers from the University Of Vienna say.<br />
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It's unclear why Koshik started mimicking human speech, but cognitive biologists Angela Stoeger and Tecumseh Fitch suggest in research published in the journal Current Biology that it might be related to his experiences as a juvenile.<br />
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Koshik was the only elephant living at the Everland Zoo in South Korea for about five years in his youth, with only people for company during an important phase for bonding and development.<br />
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"We suggest that Koshik started to adapt his vocalisations to his human companions to strengthen his social affiliation with them, something that is also seen in other vocal-learning species and in very special cases, even across species," said Stoeger.<br />
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There have been reports of elephants imitating the sound of truck engines, and a male elephant living in a zoo in Kazakhstan has been reported to say words in Russian and Kazakh, but that case was never investigated by scientists.<br />
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Koshik made headlines a few years ago by attracting tourists with his unusual ability, but the researchers have now run tests where they asked native Korean speakers to write down what they heard when listening to recordings of the elephant.<br />
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They found that by sticking his trunk in his mouth to help form the sounds, he has a vocabulary of the five Korean words for 'hello', 'sit down', 'no', 'lie down' and 'good'.<br />
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Unfortunately, there's no evidence that Koshik understands the meaning of the words he is using. So we guess he won't be snacking at a Korean restaurant any time soon.MRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15428639181329792152noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6133562526515741296.post-92119035241337987872012-07-11T01:48:00.000+08:002012-07-11T01:56:14.316+08:00How to make McDonald's Big Mac at home<br />
If you still think the recipe for McDonald's Big Mac is a secret, think again.<br />
A video posted last month on McDonald's Canadian YouTube channel shows executive chef Dan Coudreaut dishing out the ingredients for the fast food giant's iconic burger.<br />
So what else do you need to make one (besides the two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions - all on a sesame seed bun)?<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HIn4OLYf2h0/T_xsji3aFQI/AAAAAAAADPA/Jm4VNon1aLw/s1600/296762_bigmac_home121.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HIn4OLYf2h0/T_xsji3aFQI/AAAAAAAADPA/Jm4VNon1aLw/s200/296762_bigmac_home121.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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Click the video player to watch.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/rcu4Bj3xEyI" width="560"></iframe><br />
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Here's the list of ingredients for the sauce:<br />
- Mayo<br />
- Sweet pickle relish<br />
- Yellow mustard<br />
- White wine vinegar<br />
- Garlic powder<br />
- Onion powder<br />
- PaprikaMRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15428639181329792152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6133562526515741296.post-56683188890695152122012-07-09T01:48:00.001+08:002012-07-09T01:48:54.109+08:00Luxury retailers eye more airports as terminal shopping booms<br />
Who would have thought that rich jet-setters are doing their shopping at airports.<br />
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But according to Reuters, sales at airports and other travel venues are increasing faster than those at regular stores for many chains.<br />
Swedish data firm Generation Research found that the worldwide, duty-free and travel sales of perfumes, cosmetics and luxury goods leaped 28.3 percent between 2008 and 2011. These sales are expected to increase 25 percent to $44.5 billion by 2014, based on the firm’s projection for 2012.<br />
This is prompting some brands to take their businesses to more terminals large and small. <br />
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Tiffany & Co. is scheduled to open a second store in Singapore's Changi Airport this year along with a store in the new Berlin Brandenburg Airport next year. Swiss luxury watchmaker Hublot, which is part of LVMH, is reported to be eyeing Frankfurt's airport.<br />
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Estée Lauder Cos Inc, where travel retail sales growth has outpaced its overall growth, is planning to expand to domestic airports in smaller cities in China and Brazil. The company, whose brands include M.A.C and Coach, already has nearly 1,000 airport stores.<br />
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"The Chinese love buying when they travel-- it's a culture," said Hublot chairman Jean-Claude Biver.<br />MRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15428639181329792152noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6133562526515741296.post-85599465658527848822012-07-08T01:22:00.002+08:002012-07-08T01:22:42.309+08:00The Fantastic Voyager<br />
Voyager One left earth in 1977 on a five-year trip to Jupiter. 11 billion miles later, it is set to become the first man-made object to leave our solar system. Jonathan Brown tells its remarkable story<br />
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It is a journey that will never end and it began on August 20 1977, at the Kennedy Space Centre in Cape Canaveral, Florida when a Titan-Centaur rocket blasted into a clear blue sky.<br />
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Back then the excited scientists had what now seem like relatively limited hopes for the payload spiralling above them in a plume of white smoke.<br />
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Voyager One, which was launched two weeks after its sister probe Voyager Two, was meant to exploit a rare geometric arrangement of the outer planets occurring just once every 175 years.<br />
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This unusual alignment meant that a space ship could "swing by" Jupiter and Saturn with the help of gravity. It would give Nasa scientists and those at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory near Los Angeles, or so it was hoped, the first ever close up view of our "neighbourhood" – Saturn's rings and the larger moons of the two planets.<br />
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But Voyager's journey did not stop there. It was a time of renewed interest in space travel – certainly in the public's mind – with cinema audiences queuing up for a glimpse of the newly released Star Wars.<br />
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Yet even the most optimistic of the Nasa engineers who had salvaged the Voyager project out of the budget-cut remnants of the Planetary Grand Tour programme of the 1960s, could have envisaged that the science they were conducting might echo the fantasies of George Lucas's cinematic fiction.<br />
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Today, after nearly 35 years in perpetual motion, armed with a computer boasting just a fraction of the processing power of the average smart phone, Voyager One is poised to open up a new frontier in man's exploration of space.<br />
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The 775kg probe is still sending back data despite the ravages of its fantastic voyage. Now it is on the brink of interstellar space.<br />
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Hurtling at more than 10 miles per second it is currently immersed in the foamy walls of the heliosopheric bubble – an area where charged particles blown off the Sun come up against the stellar winds blowing through the remainder of the galaxy.<br />
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In other words it has reached the edge of our solar system and is set to penetrate into a new and unvisited area of the cosmos previously only observable through powerful telescopes.<br />
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Dr Edward Stone of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena is now in his late 70s but retains a central role in the Voyager project for which he was the original chief scientist. "When the Voyagers launched in 1977, the space age was all of 20 years old," he explained recently. "Many of us on the team dreamed of reaching interstellar space, but we had no way of knowing how long a journey it would be – or if these two vehicles that we invested so much time and energy in would operate long enough to reach it," he added.<br />
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Nasa originally created two vehicles believing one was likely to perish. It also estimated they might work for five years. A veteran of 14 Nasa missions, Dr Stone's enthusiasm remains undimmed. "The laws of physics say that someday Voyager will become the first human-made object to enter interstellar space, but we still do not know exactly when that will be," he adds.<br />
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"The latest data indicates we are clearly in a new region where things are changing more quickly. It is very exciting. We are approaching the solar system's frontier."<br />
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Voyager One completed its key landmarks more than three decades ago. Despite being launched later, it was on a faster, shorter trajectory than its sister probe. It reached Jupiter on 5 March 1979 and Saturn on 12 November 1980. The twin probes gave the world its first close up view of Saturn's rings revealing not just a few, as seen from earth, but many thousands.<br />
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It also brought an initial glimpse of the planet's mysterious satellite Titan and while Voyager One headed off in the direction of interstellar space, Voyager Two was directed towards Uranus and then blue Neptune where it captured the first and only photographs of our distant neighbours.<br />
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In 1990 the probe's ability to charge the human imagination through powerful imagery was again demonstrated. Legendary cosmologist Dr Carl Sagan, who had been present at the launch of 23 years previously, and had pressed Nasa to create what has now become one of the most famous pictures ever taken.<br />
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On Valentine's Day the cameras on Voyager One were pointed back towards the sun creating the family portrait of our solar system. Earth appeared as a small "pale blue dot" taking up just a single pixel. Dr Sagan later said: "That's home. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot."<br />
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But perhaps Dr Sagan's other most famous contribution to the $865million (£551m) mission was the inclusion of the Golden Phonograph Record. This extraordinary time capsule was meant to show alien life forms, should they ever come across it, a little of what our planet and human civilisation is all about. The gold-plated copper disc should remain playable for a billion years – 5,000 times longer than modern humans have existed. It includes recordings of the wind, whale noises and greetings in 55 languages.<br />
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There is also message from then US President Jimmy Carter. While some have criticised the inclusion of a pulsar map giving Earth's position, which, it has been suggested might lead hostile life forms to seek and destroy us, others have compared the disc's inclusion to Iron Age scratchings – primitive but revealing of a lost civilisation.<br />
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And what of the future? Voyager's plutonium power sources will last until 2025, perhaps less, when we will lose touch with this increasingly distant outpost of human endeavour. In the meantime it will continue to feed back data – information which now takes nearly 17 hours to reach Earth.<br />
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But the story does not stop there. As it breaks through the heliosphere and into interstellar space, it will speed up from its current velocity relative to the sun of up to 40,000mph to about 500,000mph. Yet even at that rate it will not encounter another star for 40,000 years when it will pass within 1.7 light years of red dwarf star Ross 248.<br />
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And because distances in space are so immense the chances of it colliding with a piece of matter are virtually zero. Which means it will never stop travelling. Ever.<br />MRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15428639181329792152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6133562526515741296.post-50163771948775500182012-07-06T01:03:00.000+08:002012-07-06T01:03:13.454+08:00James Bond's style celebrated in Barbican exhibition<br />
Barbican showcases costumes and props from the films' 50-year history, from suits and swimwear to gadgets and diamonds<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-s8JCkJoo8Rk/T_XIbFSyWdI/AAAAAAAADOQ/ydMBruz_u0w/s1600/James-Bond-exhibition-008.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="192" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-s8JCkJoo8Rk/T_XIbFSyWdI/AAAAAAAADOQ/ydMBruz_u0w/s320/James-Bond-exhibition-008.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Designing 007 at the Barbican: A James Bond suit displayed <br />on a Sean Connery waxwork next to an Aston Martin DB5.</span>
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The Chesterfield coat and hat Sean Connery wears in Dr No for his first meeting with M; Roger Moore's yellow ski suit and red backpack seen on the slopes in The Spy Who Loved Me; George Lazenby's kilt donned in On Her Majesty's Secret Service; the Brioni suit Pierce Brosnan wore to drive a tank in Goldeneye; and Daniel Craig's infamously snug baby-blue swim trunks of Casino Royale fame. All are featured in the Barbican's blockbuster summer show Designing 007: 50 Years of Bond Style, which opens on Friday<br />
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Every aspect of this extensive retrospective of the Bond films has been carefully thought through. It is as camp and fun as it is nerdishly packed with facts, production sketches, storyboards and costume drawings. Film screens playing classic clips are dotted throughout, with scenes relating to the paraphernalia, from clothing to props, gadgets to 25-carat diamonds.<br />
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The opening scene of Dr No, the first Bond film, featured a close-up of a turned-back silk cuff on a tuxedo jacket designed by Anthony Sinclair for Sean Connery. The tailor's involvement in shaping the look of Bond is integral to the character's image. A three-piece grey-check suit by Sinclair is worn by a Connery-lookalike mannequin leaning on a DB5 Aston Martin in this show.<br />
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Bronwyn Cosgrave, fashion historian and co-curator of the exhibition, says Sinclair's designs are the male equivalent of a Chanel suit. Its athletic cut, she says, inspired designers such as Hedi Slimane, Tom Ford and Thom Browne.<br />
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Ford's mohair and cashmere tuxedo, worn by Craig in 2008's Quantum of Solace, also puts in an appearance in a section of the exhibition dedicated to Bond casino moments.<br />
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As well as Craig's trunks, there is a recreation of Connery's Thunderball shorts, which Bond costume designer and Oscar-winner Lindy Hemming – the exhibition's other key curator – asked British brand Sunspel to recreate. Such is the power of Bond – Cosgrave says many fashion trends have been inspired by the fashions of this franchise – that Sunspel, who also created clothes for Craig's Casino Royale wardrobe, has launched a new swimwear line.<br />
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Designed to take visitors on a Bond-style narrative journey – there are rooms dedicated to M, ski slopes and foreign locations. Cosgrave says the show aims to reflect all 23 films. Visitors walk through a bullet-shaped entrance covered with stills from the films, before arriving in the Gold Room, which features a revolving circular bed complete with white sheets and a gold-painted female body – a nod to the classic scene from Goldfinger.<br />
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Pussy Galore's gold waistcoat and Scaramanga's golden gun are displayed in glass cases alongside black-and-white footage of Connery arriving at the premiere of Goldfinger and being mobbed by fans. "The film Goldfinger made Bond a pop-culture phenomenon rivalled only by the Beatles," says Cosgrave.<br />
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Other costume highlights in the exhibition include Ursula Andress's Dr No bikini, which was created from the actor's bra and some bottoms found locally during filming, alongside designs by Prada, Gucci and Versace.<br />
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In 2002's Die Another Day, Halle Berry's Jinx Johnson paid homage to Andress by emerging from the sea in a similar bikini. But it is Berry's Versace evening dress that is one of the exhibition's standouts. It is a typically flesh-revealing gown in a pinkish purple and featuring glittering jewels across the top section. Alongside the dress are the original sketches by the designer Donatella Versace.<br />
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Similarly eye catching is a canary yellow Roberto Cavalli affair which is slashed in the front and splattered with Swarovski crystals around the bust. This was worn by Ivana Milicevic to play Valenka, the girlfriend of Casino Royale's villian Le Chiffre. There is also the red silk georgette, one-shouldered dress worn by Eunice Gayson to play Bond's girlfriend Sylvia Trench in Dr No. This dress was apparently bought by the actor herself from an inexpensive shop near Pinewood studios following the film director Terence Young vetoing costume designer Julie Harris's original choice.<br />
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In a section dedicated to Bond villains and enigmas, Madonna's fencing ensemble from Die Another Day and Jaws' metal teeth also feature.<br />
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"It's the longest running and most successful film franchise of all time – and the most glamorously made," says Cosgrove. "Nothing can touch it. That is why Bond and his sidekicks are inspirational to people all over the world and to all ages."<br />
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by - Simon Chilvers<br />MRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15428639181329792152noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6133562526515741296.post-36877447156022551102012-07-05T02:01:00.001+08:002012-07-05T02:01:57.474+08:00Van Persie will not extend Arsenal deal<br />
Arsenal captain Robin van Persie has announced he will not be extending his contract at the Emirates Stadium.<br />
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Speculation has been rife over the future of the forward, who is entering the final year of his contract.<br />
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger stated the importance of keeping Van Persie at the club earlier this month but the 28-year-old Dutchman has decided against prolonging his deal.<br />
Van Persie told his official website: "I've thought long and hard about it, but I have decided not to extend my contract.<br />
"You guys, the fans, have of course the right to disagree with my view and decision and I will always respect your opinions."The striker had previously kept quiet over his future and refused to commit to a decision until Wednesday.<br />
Van Persie says he has chosen not to extend his deal following talks with Wenger and chief executive Ivan Gazidis over the club's plans for the future.<br />
He added: "I have kept quiet all this time out of respect and loyalty for the club and as agreed with Mr Gazidis and Mr Wenger, but since there is so much speculation in the media, I think it is fair for you guys to know what's really going on at the moment.<br />
"As announced earlier this year I had a meeting with the boss and Mr Gazidis after the season. This was a meeting about the club's future.strategy and their policy. Financial terms or a contract have not been discussed, since that is not my priority at all.<br />
"I personally have had a great season but my goal has been to win trophies with the team and to bring the club back to its glory days.<br />
"Out of my huge respect for Mr Wenger, the players and the fans I don't want to go into any details, but unfortunately in this meeting it has again become clear to me that we in many aspects disagree on the way Arsenal FC should move forward."<br />
Van Persie, who joined Arsenal from Feyenoord in 2004, added: "I love the club and the fans, no matter what happens. I have grown up and became a man during my time with Arsenal FC.<br />
"Everybody at the club and the fans have always supported me over the years and I have always given my all (and more) on and off the pitch. I am very proud of being part of this fantastic club for the last eight years.<br />
"As soon as Mr Gazidis is back from his two-week holiday in America further meetings will follow and I will update you if and when there are more developments."<br />
Van Persie ended last season as the Premier League's top scorer with 30 goals, helping the Gunners to a third-placed finish.<br />
Reigning Premier League champions Manchester City have been linked with a move for the prolific forward, while European heavyweights Barcelona, Real Madrid and Juventus are all thought to be interested.<br />
The Gunners won't want to lose their star striker but could sell to avoid losing him on a free transfer when his contract expires next summer.<br />MRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15428639181329792152noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6133562526515741296.post-91044983405055708012012-07-05T01:01:00.000+08:002012-07-05T01:01:48.459+08:00BMW, Toyota Come Together for New EV/Hybrid Tech, Sports Cars<br />
Not much is known about the latest partnership, but it aims to focus on lightweighting technology, powertrain electrification and a fuel cell system<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: verdana; font-size: 11px;">The Scion FR-S is the result of a collaboration between <br />Toyota and Subaru</span> </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: verdana; font-size: 11px;">BMW i8 Hybrid Sports Car Concept</span>
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BMW and Toyota are teaming up for an upcoming sports car as well as electric vehicle (EV) technology development.<br />
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Back in March, both automakers entered an agreement to develop next-generation lithium-ion batteries. They also agreed that BMW would supply 1.6 litre and 2.0 litre engines to Toyota Motor Europe in 2014. Now, the two have decided to join forces once again for other EV technology and a new sports vehicle.<br />
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"We aim to further strengthen our competitive position in sustainable future technologies," said Norbert Reithofer, chairman of the Board of Management for BMW. "We signed an MoU to this effect today. Toyota and the BMW Group share the same strategic vision of sustainable individual future mobility. Together we have a great opportunity to continue leading our industry through this transformation."<br />
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Not much is known about the latest partnership, but it aims to focus on lightweight technology, powertrain electrification, and a fuel cell system.<br />
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"BMW and Toyota both want to make ever-better cars," said Akio Toyoda, President of Toyota Motor Corporation. "We respect each other. And I think this is shown by our taking the next step only six months since the signing of our initial agreement. Toyota is strong in environment-friendly hybrids and fuel cells. On the other hand, I believe BMW's strength is in developing sports cars. I am excited to think of the cars that will result from this relationship."<br />
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Source: AutoblogMRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15428639181329792152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6133562526515741296.post-69914544602323932932012-07-03T15:53:00.000+08:002012-07-03T15:53:02.657+08:00Stolen Tyrannosaurus bones fetches US$1mThe President of Mongolia is demanding America returns a 70-million year old Tyrannosaurus Bataar—an eight-foot-tall, 24-foot-long cousin of the T-Rex—that he believes was smuggled out from the Gobi desert.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MJVgbVGw_UA/T_KkldpWl2I/AAAAAAAADNM/i5QNAFFD03U/s1600/dino-main.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MJVgbVGw_UA/T_KkldpWl2I/AAAAAAAADNM/i5QNAFFD03U/s320/dino-main.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-style: italic; text-align: left;">-Bataar is the Asian cousin of the North American T-Rex.</span> </td></tr>
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President Elbegdorj Tsakhia wants the skeleton back after it was auctioned off for US$1.05 million by Dallas-based Heritage Auctions. The buyer was never disclosed, but the man who acquired the fossil and offered it to Heritage said he's been unfairly labelled as a smuggler.<br />
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"I'm just a guy in Gainesville, Florida trying to support my family, not some international bone smuggler," commercial palaeontologist Eric Prokopi said in a statement. "It's been claimed that I misrepresented what was being imported and didn’t properly declare its value. I can wholeheartedly say the import documents are not fraudulent."<br />
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A US government lawsuit filed on behalf of Mongolia said the customs forms filed when the skeleton was imported incorrectly stated the country of origin was Great Britain, its value was only US$15,000, and mentioned reptiles not dinosaurs. Prokopi didn't say in his statement where or from whom he acquired the skeleton.<br />
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He said that when he received the T-Bataar, it was a collection of loose, mostly broken bones and rocks with embedded bones. He said he and his wife spent thousands of hours preparing and mounting the skeleton, which increased its value, before it was sold.<br />
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US Attorney Preet Bharara has filed a lawsuit seeking the forfeiture of the skeleton to the Mongolian government, and an order to seize the fossil has been issued. Robert Painter, the lawyer representing Mongolia, said that the dinosaur will be held by the US government while legal proceedings continue.<br />
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Anyone who comes forward to claim ownership of the skeleton will have to prove they are the rightful owner or the US will repatriate the skeleton to Mongolia.<br />
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"Today we send a message to looters all over the world: We will not turn a blind eye to the marketplace of looted fossils," President Tsakhia said in a statement.<br />
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The skeleton was discovered in 1946 during a joint Soviet-Mongolian expedition to the Gobi Desert, Bharara said. Heritage Auctions and the Mongolian government agreed in May to jointly investigate the ownership of the skeleton. Several palaeontologists examined the bones and determined they were removed from the western Gobi Desert between 1995 and 2005.<br />
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Source: ReutersMRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15428639181329792152noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6133562526515741296.post-78888353073008140722012-07-03T15:41:00.001+08:002012-07-03T15:42:38.374+08:00Nokia claims Nexus 7 tablet infringes on its patentsFinnish handset maker says neither Asus nor Google has approached it to license wireless-standard patents.<br />
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Only announced last week, the Nexus 7 is already attracting patent-infringement claims.<br />
Google unveiled the Asus-built 7-inch tablet running Android's new mobile OS, Jelly Bean, at Google I/O in San Francisco. However, Nokia alleges that the Nexus takes advantage of Wi-Fi technology covered by Nokia patents that neither Google nor Asus approached the Finnish handset maker about licensing.<br />
"Nokia has more than 40 licensees, mainly for its standards essential patent portfolio, including most of the mobile device manufacturers," a Nokia spokesperson told The Inquirer. "Neither Google nor Asus is licensed under our patent portfolio."<br />
"Companies who are not yet licensed under our standard essential patents should simply approach us and sign up for a license," the spokesperson said.<br />
CNET has contacted Asus and Google for comment and will update this report when we learn more.<br />
It's unknown if Nokia has filed or plans to file a patent-infringement claim against Asus. CNET has contacted Nokia to comment on that option and will update this report when we learn more<br />
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by - Steven MusilMRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15428639181329792152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6133562526515741296.post-36735219603717450202012-03-26T11:12:00.000+08:002012-03-26T11:12:16.451+08:00Cancer's not pinkWomen are rebelling against the fluffy imagery surrounding breast cancer<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tutu has her head shaved before chemo treatment for her breast cancer. </td></tr>
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Kristen Tedder, or Tutu as she is known to friends, was never going to react to breast cancer in a conventional way. This is the performance artist whose Doris Day meets Courtney Love routine had the Gallagher brothers whooping for more at a London club in the late 1990s.<br />
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Her latest project is Punk Cancer: a visceral, disrespectful and decidedly un-pink approach to fighting breast cancer. "All the pink, fluffy breast cancer imagery didn't do it for me, so I went down a different road," Tutu explains. "I learned to love breast cancer because it's part of my body and it taught me a lot about my life. But I also wanted to kick its ass."<br />
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When we meet, Tutu, 45, is wearing a T-shirt, created with London label Earl of Bedlam. It features a stencil of herself, boldly one-breasted, and, in Never Mind the Bollocks lettering, the phrase: "Cancer Sucks: Fight it, Love it, Live it, Survive it."<br />
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The image is taken from an exhibition Tutu collaborated on with photographer Ashley Savage. Tutu was diagnosed in 2009 and the pictures, which date from that time, range from a beaming Tutu posing Bettie Page-style on a radiation table, to an anarchic hair-shaving session pre-chemo. In between, are some starker images taken when she was not feeling quite so strong.<br />
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Pink Ribbons, Inc, a Canadian documentary that is released this week in the UK, makes a similar point by taking a look at the industry that has grown around breast cancer. It features interviews with critics of the disease's "pinkification", including veteran activist Barbara Ehrenreich who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer herself. "I wish they could talk to all the women who have been through breast cancer," she says in the film. "And [I] resent the effort to make it pretty and feminine and normal. It's not normal, it's horrible."<br />
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Ironically, says the film's producer Ravida Din, breast cancer has become glamorous. "You can attach more cliches about femininity to breast cancer," Din tells me. "Moreover, it can be 'dressed up' by corporations."<br />
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In fact, the pink ribbon was originally orange. Conceived in 1990 by Charlotte Haley, a 68-year-old American, it was a grassroots protest against the fact that only 5% of the US National Cancer Institute's budget was going towards cancer prevention.<br />
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When Estée Lauder asked to use the logo for a breast-cancer awareness campaign, Haley wanted nothing to do with it, saying she had no wish for them to use the ribbon as she felt it was too commercial. So the company changed the colour to pink, because research identified it as the most non-threatening, soothing colour – everything a cancer diagnosis isn't.<br />
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Din believes that anger, used in the right way, is the way forward. "We want to provoke a new conversation around the breast cancer culture we've created," she says. "Don't just raise money and hand it over. Think about where you want to invest it. Are you OK that almost all research money is going to pharmacological research and almost none (still less than 5%) on why we get it in the first place?"<br />
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Annie Middleton, 42, believes that breast cancer awareness has reached a crossroads. She was diagnosed with it at the age of 30, when she had two young daughters. Her journey lasted a decade and included a double mastectomy then reconstruction, which was completed last year.<br />
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"When I was diagnosed I felt as if I'd already joined the pink club because someone had chosen the colour a long time ago. But it does keep some people out. I think of pink as a flesh colour, which isn't great for black women."<br />
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In 2004, Middleton organised a breast cancer awareness exhibition, Modern Amazons, that was shown at Selfridges in London. Notably, it didn't involve celebrities and instead consisted of 30 real women photographed showing their mastectomies and sharing personal stories.The billions spent on research have not been able to help Tutu. The disease has spread to her bones and she doesn't have long to live. (We learn from Pink Ribbons, Inc that metastatic breast cancer is still lamentably under-researched). But Tutu wants to change things before she goes. She thinks other women would benefit from recording the process as she did.<br />
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"They don't have to be as out there as me," she says with a chuckle. "But it really helps to let out your emotions about how you feel about it."MRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15428639181329792152noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6133562526515741296.post-91142040050957622692012-02-13T00:57:00.000+08:002012-02-13T00:58:00.001+08:00Sounding out Logitech's Mini BoomboxPlay up the sound on your mobile entertainment devices with the Logitech Mini Boombox<br />
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Here's a handy tip: To boost the sound on your smartphone, place the phone - speaker side - into a bowl. The bowl will act as a natural amplifier.<br />
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But if you want better bass and better clarity, you might want to check out Logitech's Mini Boombox. This compact sound system pairs with smartphones, tablets and other Bluetooth-enabled entertainment devices for entertainment on-the-go.<br />
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The Logitech Mini Boombox boasts a specially-designed acoustic chamber that enhances the sound quality of your movies, music and phone calls with greater bass, and pristine clarity. With the Mini Boombox, portable gaming consoles and mobile entertainment devices can be heard the way its meant to be - loud.<br />
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Measuring 115.6mm by 71.2mm by 58mm, and weighing only 229 grams, the Logitech Mini Boombox, as its name suggests, is very portable. Its internal battery, charged via USB, lasts up to ten hours (depending on how you use and set it) so you can rest assured it will last a day at the beach. The gadget also acts as a speakerphone, so when you have your smartphone paired you won't miss out on any important calls whether you're at the park or in the car.<br />
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The Logitech Mini Boombox is expected to launch sometime soon For more information on where to get it, visit www.logitech.com.<br />
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</script>MRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15428639181329792152noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6133562526515741296.post-25856777944437768792012-01-31T12:11:00.001+08:002012-01-31T12:14:25.355+08:00How valuable is Facebook?Social networking site's IPO may be announced this week; its worth could match McDonald's<br />
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SAN FRANCISCO - When Facebook makes its long-expected debut as a public company this spring, the social-networking giant will likely vault into the ranks of the largest public companies in the world, alongside McDonald's, Amazon.com and Bank of America.<br />
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The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reports that Facebook is preparing to file initial paperwork for an offering that could raise as much as US$10 billion (S$12.5 billion) and value the company at between US$75 billion and US$100 billion.<br />
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The filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission could come as early as tomorrow, with an initial public offering (IPO) in three or four months.<br />
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The targeted amount would slot it among the world's 25 largest IPOs.<br />
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The IPOs of 14 companies would rank higher than Facebook's, according to investment adviser Renaissance Capital. Among them were Visa's US$17.9 billion IPO in March 2008, the largest for a US company, and world-topper Agricultural Bank of China, which raised US$19.3 billion in July 2010, not including extra shares issued to meet demand.<br />
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A Facebook spokesman said the company would not comment on IPO-related speculation. The WSJ had cited unnamed sources, who said that Facebook was close to picking Morgan Stanley as the lead underwriter.<br />
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The buzz surrounding an outsized haul for Facebook's founders, employees and early investors remains a hopeful sign for capital markets after a deep recession. At the reported price, Facebook's IPO would be the biggest for an Internet company in the US - topping the debut of one of its main rivals, Google.<br />
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"We are expecting 2012 to be a year of recovery for the IPO market, led by the Facebook IPO," said Ms Kathy Smith, Renaissance Capital's principal.<br />
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The event will follow a string of tepid debuts by technology start-ups, including social game maker Zynga and discount advertiser Groupon.<br />
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Facebook's will be the most anticipated tech IPO since Google went public in August 2004. Not including shares sold by early investors, the Internet search giant raised US$1.2 billion and grabbed a market value of US$23 billion, the biggest so far for a US Internet company.<br />
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The IPO raised US$1.9 billion, including shares sold by early investors and extra stock issued to meet the heavy demand. It is not known whether Facebook's US$10 billion target includes shares owned by early investors.<br />
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Facebook's reported valuation of US$75 billion to US$100 billion compares with about US$100 billion for McDonald's, US$90 billion for Citigroup and Amazon.com and US$75 billion for Bank of America. It would exceed the market cap of US$55 billion for Hewlett-Packard, one of the world's largest technology companies by revenue.<br />
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Both Facebook and Google earn most of their money from advertising and are now competing to gain as much information as possible about their users to help advertisers target niche audiences.<br />
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According to eMarketer, Facebook is expected to increase its share of the US display ad market to about 20 per cent this year from 16 per cent last year, above second-ranked Yahoo!'s expected share of about 13 per cent. AP<br />
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</script>MRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15428639181329792152noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6133562526515741296.post-43981024261901281312012-01-30T01:52:00.000+08:002012-01-30T01:52:49.091+08:00ABBA To Relaunch Final Album With New Track<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HnmJxhQZ1ks/TyWHaCleYHI/AAAAAAAADMQ/wDrUPgMadPo/s1600/abba.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="283" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HnmJxhQZ1ks/TyWHaCleYHI/AAAAAAAADMQ/wDrUPgMadPo/s400/abba.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
STOCKHOLM - Swedish pop group ABBA are to release a new version of their last album, featuring a previously unreleased track for the first time since 1994, the group's website said on Wednesday.<br />
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ABBA remain one of the world's most popular bands and their music got a new lease of life with the Mamma Mia stage show and film. The band's website said a deluxe edition of their final album, The Visitors, would be released in April.<br />
<br />
"For ABBA fans, the most sensational inclusion in the package will be the previously unreleased track, From A Twinkling Star To A Passing Angel (demos)," a statement said.<br />
<br />
"This is the first time since the Thank You For The Music box set in 1994 that ABBA have opened the doors to the tape vaults to release previously unheard music from the group's heyday," it added.<br />
<br />
The release will also feature bonus selections along with a DVD of rare and previously unreleased material from the archives.<br />
<br />
The Visitors album was originally released in 1981.<br />
<br />
ABBA, made up of Agnetha Faltskog, Anna-Frid Lyngstad, Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus, racked up a string of hits in the 1970s and '80s, and their cult following has transformed them into some of Sweden's most recognisable figures. REUTERS<br />
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</script>MRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15428639181329792152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6133562526515741296.post-37363439417797530532012-01-30T01:48:00.000+08:002012-01-30T01:48:42.976+08:00Nintendo Chief Promises To Do Wii U Launch Right<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wbJd21OT2UY/TyWGXR1VfTI/AAAAAAAADMI/5C5ALWPLUcU/s1600/nin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="210" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wbJd21OT2UY/TyWGXR1VfTI/AAAAAAAADMI/5C5ALWPLUcU/s400/nin.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
TOKYO- Nintendo's chief is determined to get right the launch of its next game machine, Wii U, set for this year's holiday shopping season, and acknowledged today some mistakes with selling its 3DS handheld.<br />
<br />
But Nintendo President Satoru Iwata warned earnings for the fiscal year set to begin April will be the toughest ever for the Japanese manufacturer behind the Super Mario and Pokemon games.<br />
<br />
Iwata's remarks come a day after it lowered its annual earnings forecast to a ¥65 billion (S$1.06 billion) loss, much larger than the ¥20 billion loss projected earlier. It posted a ¥77.62 billion profit the previous fiscal year.<br />
<br />
Iwata blamed the strong yen, which erases overseas earnings, as well as the arrival of smartphones and other devices that offer gaming.<br />
<br />
The higher yen slashed nearly ¥54 billion yen from the company's operating profit for the April-December period.<br />
<br />
"I can see how the red ink may be perceived as abnormal," Iwata told analysts and reporters at a Tokyo hotel. "The environment has changed."<br />
<br />
The failure of the 3DS handheld, which offers three-dimensional imagery, to take off with enough momentum during the last quarter of last year was one of the main reasons for the dismal results, according to Iwata.<br />
<br />
The 3DS has gradually started to sell better, but it took a price cut in August. It still lacks a strong lineup of attractive software games, a key factor for a machine to succeed in a big way.<br />
<br />
Iwata vowed the company will be better prepared when it introduces the Wii U home console during this year's year-end shopping season for a strong comeback.<br />
<br />
He declined to give details such as pricing or what the software games available at that time might be.<br />
<br />
But he said the Wii U will come with a strong game lineup at the launch as well as secure and safe Internet services that will offer players individual accounts.<br />
<br />
The Wii U will come with new ways of playing that will almost make the term "home console" obsolete, Iwata said. It will also offer mobile gaming. The machine has a touch-panel controller.<br />
<br />
Nintendo has long competed against rival game makers, such as Sony and Microsoft. These days, all face the threat from hit devices like the iPad and iPhone from Apple that also offer games.<br />
<br />
Iwata's comments also showed Nintendo is growing less cautious about the Internet, which in the past it had brushed off as mainly for hard-core gamers.<br />
<br />
Kyoto-based Nintendo has built its reputation on making games fun to play for casual and newcomer players.<br />
<br />
"We are going to put to use our bitter experience with the 3DS," said Iwata. AP<br />
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</script>MRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15428639181329792152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6133562526515741296.post-16655402188942463312012-01-28T17:05:00.000+08:002012-01-28T17:05:15.460+08:00Beauty is Skin DeepWhen it comes to the VW CC four-door coupe, anyway - which marries practicality with beauty<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yJgpfF7Rhwk/TyO6D5P7HfI/AAAAAAAADMA/lgOxYTt0Lc0/s1600/cc+w.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="268" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yJgpfF7Rhwk/TyO6D5P7HfI/AAAAAAAADMA/lgOxYTt0Lc0/s400/cc+w.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
THE original recipe was simple - take a very worthy car fraught with a frumpy image, give it major cosmetic surgery and see if punters would take to the equivalent of clothing a utilitarian sedan in a slinky black dress.<br />
<br />
Four years later, the Passat CC is a success story that has surprised even Volkswagen itself. Now in its second generation and set for a local launch in April, it's pretty much the same story, although VW is claiming this is a new model (it's really more of a heavy facelift). It's changed cosmetically within and without, but mechanically, it's virtually identical to its predecessor. So basically, the CC is nearly identical to the regular Passat sedan - but without that frumpy "Passat" moniker.<br />
<br />
However, that's not to say it doesn't pass muster. The CC will hustle more than convincingly, and for the most part, available tarmac and/or driver talent will run out long before it does. Likewise, with its 160bhp 1.8-litre turbocharged engine mated to a seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox, it has more than enough grunt for either the daily commute or recreational cruising.<br />
<br />
What's lacking is that crucial spark - it's hard to imagine the CC having as much of a blast as you.<br />
<br />
But just to prove our earlier point, the CC feels a more special object right off the bat, despite lacking in ultimate liveliness. It's not all sleight of hand (or eye), however. Wider tyres and a marked decrease in overall height over the regular Passat give the CC far more poise when driven hard.<br />
<br />
The CC's other tricks are a little more subtle - a low-slung driving position, semi-bucket seats and a lower roofline all contribute to a feeling of being snugly enclosed in its cabin, like all the best sports cars do. Crucially, it represents very little trade-off when it comes to practicality - there's 532 litres' worth of boot space, ample rear bench legroom and an additional heaping of sound-deadening material, so it's even quieter than before.<br />
<br />
Drive it thinking it's a sports car and you'll be wildly disappointed, but think of it as a Passat given a charm school makeover and it makes a great deal of sense.<br />
<br />
In the CC's case, beauty may only be skin deep, but given it's already got a (Passat) heart of gold underneath it, perhaps that's all the boost it really needs.<br />
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Volkswagen CC 1.8<br />
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Engine: 1,798cc, 16V turbocharged i4<br />
<br />
Power: 160bhp at 4,500rpm<br />
<br />
Torque: 250Nm at 1,500rpm<br />
<br />
Gearbox: 7-speed dual-clutch<br />
<br />
Performance: 223kmh, 0-100kmh in 8.5 seconds, 7.2L/100km<br />
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</script>MRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15428639181329792152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6133562526515741296.post-74934102339170515222012-01-27T16:31:00.000+08:002012-01-27T16:31:28.520+08:00Kristen Bell happy to build House Of Lies<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-t-xnGwIDZrw/TyJgvGFGseI/AAAAAAAADLg/X6pOdeAcGCQ/s1600/kb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="298" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-t-xnGwIDZrw/TyJgvGFGseI/AAAAAAAADLg/X6pOdeAcGCQ/s400/kb.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
NEW YORK - Kristen Bell is such a fan of Homeland that she just had to tell the cast of the hit Showtime drama at a recent party.<br />
<br />
"I felt at one point one of them kind of take a step back like, 'She's a little intense,' and then I got insecure like, 'Oh, no, you're THAT person,'" she relates.<br />
<br />
Now Bell is sharing a network with her favorite show with her new series, House Of Lies, about a management consulting firm that specialises in damage control.<br />
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The 31-year-old Bell first wowed critics playing a teen private investigator on the smart series Veronica Mars, which debuted in 2004 and aired for three seasons. The film industry took notice and began casting her in such movies as Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Couples Retreat. She also narrates Gossip Girl as the show's title characte.<br />
<br />
Bell realised she missed TV but wanted to do something edgier than anything she had done before. She also liked the idea of being part of an ensemble cast. She found what she was looking in House Of Lies.<br />
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The blistering comedy stars Don Cheadle as a slick, ruthless management consultant. Bell plays the ambitious Jeannie, who loves the high life but can flirt with the low life.<br />
<br />
"If he's a great actor he's an even cooler person and I don't think there's a ton of people you can say that about," Bell says about Cheadle. "But he's a really genuine, grounded, nice, funny guy."<br />
<br />
Bell, who grew up in suburban Detroit, trained in opera and performed in community theater. She went on to study at New York University where she won a role her senior year in the 2001 Broadway musical The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer, which ran less than a month.<br />
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Bell says she misses musical theater but doesn't feel comfortable leaving her family and friends in California for a long stretch of time in New York. She is engaged to Dax Shepard, who co-stars on the drama Parenthood on NBC. The two recently produced and starred in a film together called Outrun which is expected to hit theaters next summer. Shepard also directed.<br />
<br />
"We actually grew closer by spending every single minute together for about nine weeks," she says. "We drove to work together and we came home together. It's very organic for us to spend every moment together. We're severely co-dependent. It's a disease!" AP<br />
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LONDON - Researchers found that the odds of a major depressive episode are more than double for those<br />
working 11 or more hours a day compared to those working seven to eight hours a day.<br />
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The authors, led by Dr Marianna Virtanen of the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health and University College London, followed about 2,000 middle-aged British civil servants and found a "robust" association between overtime work and depression.<br />
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The correlation was not affected when the analysis was adjusted for various possible confounders, including socio-demographics, lifestyle, and work-related factors.<br />
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There have been a number of previous studies on the subject, with varying results, but the researchers emphasise that it is hard to compare results across these studies because the cut-off for "overtime" work has not been standardised.<br />
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Dr Virtanen said: "Although occasionally working overtime may have benefits for the individual and society, it is important to recognise that working excessive hours is also associated with an increased risk of major depression."<br />
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</script>MRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15428639181329792152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6133562526515741296.post-65706813240828544122012-01-26T03:14:00.000+08:002012-01-26T03:14:46.272+08:00Ducks replace paddy-field pesticidesJapanese farmers rediscover ancient rice-growing technique that boosts production without the need for chemicals<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">A farmer sprays pesticide over rice paddy at a farm in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. </span> </td></tr>
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On his six-hectare farm in the village of Keisen, on Japan's Kyushu island, Takao Furuno, 61, grows rice and wheat without chemicals.<br />
<br />
He rediscovered an ancient rice-growing practice involving the use of ducks. Dozens of these birds, raised on the farm, patrol the paddy fields. They feed on insects and weeds, without touching the plants. Their wading oxygenates the water and stirs up the soil. Their droppings are a natural fertiliser.<br />
<br />
Furuno has cut production costs and boosted output by about a third compared with his neighbours, who use chemical fertilisers. He sells the ducks too.<br />
<br />
Some 10,000 Japanese farmers have purchased The Power of Duck [sic], the book he published in 2000. In 2011 the technique was successfully tried out in Camargue, southern France.<br />
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The trend in rice cultivation in Japan, which provides a livelihood for 1.4 million families, is, however, towards larger farms and more intensive production.<br />
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</script>MRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15428639181329792152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6133562526515741296.post-27445558740833874832012-01-25T18:09:00.000+08:002012-01-25T18:09:37.294+08:00Bye bye, Balotelli?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NqA9-CYH9K8/Tx_Uy8K4s8I/AAAAAAAADKo/kyKu4XaaJOU/s1600/bolla.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NqA9-CYH9K8/Tx_Uy8K4s8I/AAAAAAAADKo/kyKu4XaaJOU/s1600/bolla.jpg" /></a></div><br />
MANCHESTER - Mario Balotelli's agent insists he has a duty of care to the Manchester City striker that would involve him forcing a move away from the club were he to feel his client had been unfairly treated in the game.<br />
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Balotelli's Italian agent Mino Raiola suggested in an interview with a radio station that he feels there could be a conspiracy against him in the wake of his four-match ban for stamping on Tottenham midfielder Scott Parker.<br />
<br />
"Mario can't be banned for four games," said Raiola. "He wasn't balanced and there was also a push from Modric.<br />
<br />
"It is not an intentional foul because Mario doesn't want to hurt anyone. He didn't see Parker, that's all.<br />
<br />
"I want to be balanced but I'm worried because when English players are involved in more serious things, nothing happens.<br />
<br />
"When foreigners are involved, such as Balotelli or City captain Vincent Kompany, they are handed tough punishments.<br />
<br />
"If I find that there is something strange against Balotelli, my duty is to protect and then take him away.<br />
<br />
"In this case I would speak with City, I'd ask them Balotelli's price and would look for the best team for him, as there are only six or seven teams he can play for.<br />
<br />
"I talked to Mario who said he is happy to stay in England, but he does not understand certain things and they sadden him."<br />
<br />
Raiola also suggested referee Howard Webb was lying to cover his own back when he reported that he did not see the incident during the game.<br />
<br />
"The referee saw everything, because he spoke to Mario after the incident," Raiola said.<br />
<br />
"So in my opinion, this referee must be banned for life because he didn't tell the truth.<br />
<br />
"The TV images show that he is really close to the action. How can he say he didn't see it?"<br />
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</script>MRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15428639181329792152noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6133562526515741296.post-57058362596154124802012-01-25T17:55:00.000+08:002012-01-25T17:55:32.976+08:00Internet dating at 40 and a baby at 43Cathy Comerford was single and staring down the barrel of 40. So she decided to take a strategic - and pragmatic - approach to internet dating. And it paid off<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Internet dater Cathy Comerford and her husband and son.</td></tr>
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As this century dawned and half the world was waking up to the first day of the Noughties, I was walking down the Strand ending my seven year relationship. I was 35 and it felt like hell. Most of my friends and all of my siblings had children. I came from a family of six and in my twenties had never questioned that I would be a mother. But in fact I did not have that compelling need, as some women do, to have a baby. As my best childbearing years were already behind me, I accepted that I had probably missed that boat.<br />
<br />
At first I quite liked being single again anyway. I liked running on the Common in the early mornings before work. I liked having the papers to myself on a Sunday. And I quite liked the open book my life had become. I went on some great holidays learning to sail with a crew of French and Irishmen off the coast of Cork; doing Tai Chi with a bunch of girls on a Greek Island and learning Thai massage from someone of dubious gender on a beach in Koh Phangan.<br />
<br />
But going to parties alone, spending Christmas Day literally alone in my flat, twice, and worst of all, going to bed alone at night were not easy.<br />
<br />
Over the next five years in between singles holidays and solitary Christmases I went from one cliche - the Office Christmas Party Romance With The Boss which lasted a year - to another, a three year dalliance with a man so afraid of commitment he would not buy cinema tickets in case he turned out not to like the film.<br />
<br />
As I approached 40 instead of feeling panicked I began to feel a new confidence. No, I was not quite ready for spinsterhood yet. I clearly had a dodgy relationship radar, so maybe I needed to look in a different way. Perhaps technology could help. I knew the prejudices about online dating: it was all married men looking for an extra-marital fling, no one looked like their picture and everyone lied about their age. But I had a friend, who had met his partner on line. He was genuine, he was kind, he was solvent, he was even handsome. My logic said that if he was out there, there might be more like him. I just had to look.<br />
<br />
Over the next year I went on dates with about 10 different men, most of them one-offs. None, contrary to the myth, were married. They varied between chronic shyness and laughable arrogance. One walked off leaving me at a restaurant table because I would not drink. One sent me a nasty email after I abandoned the date because he was running so late.<br />
<br />
Only two fell into the category of 'A Bit Scary' – the first telling me how he nursed his mother to her death as we walked along a very dark street and the second who was furious that my long hair had been cut into a bob since my profile photo had been taken. He accused me of being two different people.<br />
<br />
There was one Possible - a media lawyer, who was funny and clever. We went on a few dates, which I really enjoyed, but it became clear that he was still recovering from a very painful divorce.<br />
<br />
Then there was Porsche Man, who I only spoke to on the phone. On his profile he sounded OK and his picture looked nice, but as we tried to arrange a time to meet up, he mentioned, at least twice, that he owned a Porsche and seemed upset that I was not more impressed. It became clear that he was about to tell me I should count myself lucky, before I made my excuses…<br />
<br />
However, that same November evening I received a call from another man whose profile I had picked out one night as I sat in bed with tonsillitis, feeling feverish, seriously unattractive and impatient. I could not be bothered chatting by email and simply sent my phone number saying, "If you are interested, call me."<br />
<br />
By then I had learned what to look for when checking a prospect's profile – not the photo. It tells you very little. I had also changed mine from one where I thought I looked my best - makeup, earrings and a black cocktail dress - to one taken by my cousin, in which I looked relaxed, friendly: my approachable self.<br />
<br />
His profile said he liked films. I love films and we had both listed On Golden Pond as one of our favourites. He was an engineer – a scientist to my arts background. I was attracted to someone who could actually do stuff. He was a Kiwi but had lived in London for over 20 years. I had worked with loads of New Zealanders and loved their reluctance to take anyone or anything very seriously. We both liked sailing and walking. He described himself through his friends' eyes - a humility I warmed to straight away. His photo showed a kind, strong face and loads of hair. He was divorced with two children in their late teens, who lived with their mother. The clarity and tact with which he covered this on his profile said a lot about him. I was not put off by his having been married before. It meant he was able to commit, and must have some idea about relationships with women. He was 12 years my senior but so was my father to my mother.<br />
<br />
It wasn't all plain sailing. My first impression when I walked up to shake his hand on that bright November day, was that he had only one eye and had doctored his profile photo to disguise it. As we stood discussing where to have coffee I wondered if I could love a one-eyed man. It was not until we were sitting down having lunch that I realised he had been squinting into the low winter sun.<br />
<br />
Oh did I say lunch? Yes. My strict rule on coffee-only for first dates was brushed aside in favour of a 'nice little Thai place', just around the corner. But I let it go. At the end of the afternoon I offered him a lift to the station, breaking my second rule of dating.<br />
<br />
I wouldn't say it was love at first sight, but something was definitely different. On our third date we agreed to take down our profiles from the website.<br />
<br />
We bumped around for a bit through all the usual stuff of any new relationship. He had not chatted anyone up for a long time and it showed. I had not trusted anyone for a long time, and it showed. One of our first dates was a Christmas riverboat party thrown by the company where he worked. I dressed up – long velvet gown, new hair-do. When he arrived to pick me up I commented on how nice he looked. The compliment was not returned and I was furious (I have since coached him in how and when to compliment).<br />
<br />
But when trouble struck we just could not be apart, no matter how annoying the other one could be. By February we were properly going out. On Valentine's Day we ran off to Brighton and stayed at The Grand - a tradition we continue to this day.<br />
<br />
The moment came when I knew he was The One after a row in which I had panicked and called it all off. As I put the phone down, I thought about how happy he had made me. I simply could not countenance my life without him. I had never felt that way about anybody. I slept on it to see if it felt any different the next day. It didn't. After two days I called him back and told him that I loved him. I just had not known it.<br />
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We were about five months into the relationship when one afternoon, over a chat in a tea shop, our worlds changed for ever. The dating site had asked whether you wanted children. We had both ticked 'no', he because he already had two, me because I was over 40 and was being realistic.<br />
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"You know, I would like a baby with you," he said, just like that, as I poured the tea.<br />
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By the time the scones turned up we were engaged. Well not officially. I made him propose properly much later, with a ring, on bended knee, on top of a mountain, with snow and everything. But really there was no going back from that moment. I realised, right then, that I would like a baby with him too.<br />
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We got married that summer and our son was born two years later, healthy and bright. Both conception and birth were achieved without the aid of modern medicine, though I was in hospital for the latter. I was 43.<br />
<div><br />
</div><div>by - Cathy Comerford</div><br />
<br />
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</script>MRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15428639181329792152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6133562526515741296.post-2825783817399183932012-01-24T23:31:00.000+08:002012-01-24T23:31:13.556+08:00Man jailed over police chase in stolen ambulanceDaniel Glover handed nine-month sentence after admitting taking emergency vehicle, drink-driving and obstructing police<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7258UDHdbW8/Tx7OfMe719I/AAAAAAAADKA/waGGiM4j894/s1600/ambulance-vehicle--007.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7258UDHdbW8/Tx7OfMe719I/AAAAAAAADKA/waGGiM4j894/s400/ambulance-vehicle--007.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Daniel Glover told the court he didn't know he had taken an ambulance vehicle, despite there being blue lights on top of the car.</span> </td></tr>
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Daniel Glover told the court he didn't know he had taken an ambulance vehicle, despite there being blue lights on top of the car. Photograph: Murdo Macleod<br />
A man who led police on a high-speed chase after stealing an ambulance response car to get home after a New Year's Eve party has been jailed for nine months.<br />
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Daniel Glover, 26, from Mile End, east London, admitted aggravated vehicle taking, drink-driving, driving without insurance and obstructing a police officer, when he appeared at Chelmsford crown court on Tuesday.<br />
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Prosecutor Michael Fraser told the court Glover had driven at up to 120mph with flashing blue lights on after stealing the car from Clacton in Essex.<br />
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Glover claimed he did not realise it was an ambulance vehicle when he took it, despite it being marked up and having blue lights on top.<br />
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He was only stopped when police deployed a stinger device to puncture the tyres. He then threatened to break an officer's nose.<br />
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Fraser told the court a police officer on patrol spotted the vehicle pulling on to the A12 at the Witham turning heading towards London.<br />
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A message had been sent alerting officers after the Honda Accord was reported stolen.<br />
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He said: "He took up the chase just after 4am and a helicopter was scrambled. He drove at speeds of up to 120mph and consistently over 100mph. At intervals the blue lights were flashing and he straddled the lanes in a careless manner.<br />
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"A police stinger was deployed, puncturing the tyres, and he came to a gradual halt."<br />
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When he was stopped, Glover smelt of alcohol and told an officer "I'm going to break your nose", Fraser said. He was found to be twice the legal drink-drive limit.<br />
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In a statement read to the court, Steven Keating, deputy operations manager for the east of England ambulance service, said the theft came at the same time as a fatal incident in Clacton.<br />
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While paramedics attended that incident in good time, it meant a less well-equipped vehicle had to be deployed to other emergencies.<br />
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In an interview, Glover told police he had drunk two pints of lager and had fallen out with the people he was with.<br />
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In his statement, he said: "I didn't know it was an ambulance. I was just playing with the equipment and couldn't work out how to turn it off so just kept pressing buttons."<br />
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Peter Barlex, mitigating, said Glover had a job delivering taxis.<br />
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"It was very dark and he wasn't sure it was an ambulance. He had fallen out with his friend and was in an unfamiliar town without any money, no credit on his phone and no idea where he was."<br />
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Jailing Glover, Judge Anthony Goldstaub said: "You stole this vehicle on a night of the year when the need for it to preserve life and help the ill and injured was at its greatest."<br />
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Glover was also disqualified from driving for 18 months.MRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15428639181329792152noreply@blogger.com0