In 2011, one word came up again and again: No. No form-fitting jeans, no baggy jeans, no toys with fast food, no fast food condiments in schools, no homemade lunches either. No cheerleaders in class. No service dogs in class. No dogs on planes. No babies on planes. No babies in restaurants. In fact, no baby photos either.We got up close and personal with this sign in 2011
It's been a busy year for naysayers. Everyone's got an opinion they're prepared to enforce, especially when it comes to kids. While the bans have run the gamut, a majority have to do with child-rearing. Parents have been given an earful by the proverbial "village" as to how their kids should dress, consume, and act in public. Or rather how they shouldn't. Adults haven't escaped the negative reinforcement either. While a few medically-mandated bans may be positive reforms, others are more objectionable, even downright scary. Will this obsessive self-policing continue in 2012 or have we run out things to ban?
The Year in Bans: Baggy Jeans, Burqas, Babies and More
Jim Carrey Romancing NYC Student Anastasia Vitkina
Jim Carrey's new lady has been identified!
According to the New York Post, the blonde woman the 49-year-old actor has been romancing is Anastasia Vitkina.
PHOTOS: 2011's hottest hookups
The paper reports that Russian beauty is a student in New York. A source told Us Weekly the duo enjoyed a cozy dinner date at Perry St. in October. She and Carrey were also spotted together earlier this month at a Guns N' Roses show in L.A.
Missile silo up for sale, ready to become family home
Have you ever wanted a quiet little place in the mountains with a private runway and acres of land? If so, we've got the place for you. Oh yeah, it also comes with an Atlas F missile silo for a basement.Artist's illustration of log cabin and missile silo.
Boing Boing has come across a cozy little place that any future super-villain would be happy to call home on Sotheby's International Realty website. Situated in the scenic Adirondack Mountains of New York, this silo and air park were operational for a short time in 1961. Hundreds of these Atlas F missile silos were built across the U.S. in the 1960's in anticipation of attacks on the country.
Why Men Don't Know How to Read Your Body Language
Eye contact, flirty giggling, charged conversation-you're feeling it, and you think your signals are crystal clear. But according to new research, the guy still might not know what the hell you're thinking.New Research Says Guys Really Suck At This
Yep, a recent study confirmed what we've suspected for a while: dudes are pretty bad at reading sexual cues.Researchers put 200 college students through a "speed-meeting" exercise where each participant spent five minutes talking to a member of the opposite sex. Before the experiment, each rated his or her own attractiveness and desire for a short-term sexual encounter, and then rated the attractiveness and perceived sexual interest of the other participants they met afterward.
Entry-Level Jobs That Pay Up To $60,000
Entry-Level Jobs That Pay Up To $60,000
By Mark Swartz
Senior Monster Contributing WriterYou’ve probably heard your parents say it. Uncles, aunts and older cousins also. “To get anywhere in your career, you have to start at the bottom.”
It’s as true now as it ever was: careers almost always begin with entry-level jobs. Usually the pay’s fairly low, the hours long. It’s like an apprenticeship. You do whatever it takes during your first few years as a full-time employee. Grunt work. Menial tasks that build up gradually to bigger, better projects.
But there are some occupations that, even at entry-level, make paying off your student loans and buying bling much easier. Some need university degrees. Others don’t. They range from finance to IT and skilled trades. Here’s five for you to think about, along with their median starting salaries from an across-Canada sampling.
The Most-Returned Holiday Gifts
Think that your aunt will adore the taupe twin-set you picked out for her? Think again. Clothes and shoes are the gifts that are returned to stores most often after the holiday season.Clothes and shoes are the most-returned gifts after the holidays. (Thinkstock)
According to a recent MarketTools study, apparel accounted for 62 percent of returned gifts last Christmas. Other presents that customers also brought back (but far less frequently) were:
After dining on turducken, what’s for dessert? The cherpumple
This holiday season, make six desserts in one with the “monster pie cake” sure to send everyone into a sugar coma - the cherpumple. It’s the perfect, ridiculous, 21-pound indulgence for people who have to try everything at the dessert table.
It’s been called “the turducken of Thanksgiving desserts.” It’s also been called “the world’s most insane dessert.”Neatorama’s John Farrier believes that “it represents all that remains good and right in this fallen world.”
Its creator, Los Angeles native Charles Phoenix, describes the cherpumple this way:
“Cherpumple is short for CHERry, PUMpkin and apPLE pie. The apple pie is baked in spice cake, the pumpkin in yellow and the cherry in white.”
Diamond Marshall, the little girl who hugged Kate Middleton, gets her ‘Christmas miracle’
Six-year-old Diamond Marshall made headlines all over the world when she ran into the arms of Kate Middleton last summer in Calgary.
The little girl was battling a rare form of adrenal cancer at the time.
A heartfelt letter, expressing her desire to meet the duchess, gave Diamond the opportunity to greet her hero with flowers at the airport on July, 7th, 2011.
"That hug had a lot of meaning, we're very thankful for that meet and greet for her and the whole community rallying behind her," Lyall Marshall, Diamond's father, told CTV Calgary. "From a father's point of view when you can say the whole world is rooting for you to get better, I mean that's a lot."
Family publicly scorns 'loser' snow globe thief
A Windsor, Ont., family has a message for the person who stole a Christmas lawn ornament from their front yard.
"To the loser: You helped yourself to our snow globe. We hope that you have little ones to enjoy it since ours won't! Happy Holidays!" reads a sign on the lawn where the inflatable ornament once stood in the 1300 block of Howard Avenue.
The homeowners told CBC News they put the five-foot ornament on their lawn a few weeks ago. They noticed it was missing on Nov. 22.
Britney Spears Debuts Engagement Ring At 'Magical' Vegas Bash
Britney Spears and Jason Trawick jetted to Las Vegas on Friday to celebrate their engagement, as well as Jason's 40th birthday.
The couple checked in at Planet Hollywood, where the "I Wanna Go" singer soon emerged from her suite for a congratulatory welcome on the hotel's mezzanine wearing a short, nude Herve Leger dress, with her soon-to-be husband by her side.
via ca.omg.yahoo.com
The 50 Best Places to Work for 2012
Management consulting firms Bain & Company and McKinsey & Company topped Glassdoor's annual list of the 50 Best Places to Work, a ranking created entirely from employee reviews.
"If you go and read the reviews, what employees tell you is the reason they like these management consulting firms, Bain and McKinsey, is that they get to work with some of the best people they'll ever work with in their entire life, incredibly smart people, they get to work on very diverse projects, they get to travel the world, and they get accelerated learning on a scale that they're unlikely to get again in their career," says Robert Hohman, CEO and cofounder of Glassdoor, a website where employees rate their companies.
Russia's failed Mars probe will come crashing down to Earth next month, space agency says
MOSCOW - A Russian spacecraft bound for a moon of Mars and stuck in Earth's orbit will come crashing back next month, but its toxic fuel and radioactive material on board will pose no danger of contamination, the Russian space agency said Friday.
Between 20 and 30 fragments of the probe with a total weight of up to 200 kilograms (440 pounds) will survive the fiery plunge and shower the Earth's surface, Roscosmos warned in a statement.
The agency said the unmanned Phobos-Ground spacecraft will plummet to Earth between Jan. 6 and Jan. 19, and the rough area of where the fragments could fall could only be calculated a few days ahead of its plunge.
XBox 360 Console With Kinect
Xbox 360 Console With Kinect
What is the Xbox 360 console with Kinect? The Xbox Kinect is the newest invention from the Microsoft Xbox team.
Click the picture for details
There was a time when Sony and Microsoft, Nintendo’s two main video game competitors, scoffed at the user interface of the Wii. Particularly, the way the player’s movements control the motion on the screen, but that have changed recently. The Kinect for the Xbox 360 promises to bring these technologies to the next level. The Kinect sensor allows you to play games and engage with your Xbox 360 console in ways we haven’t seen before and it is a lot of fun as well.
15 Lazy Changes that Ramp Up Your Health
Staying healthy can feel like so much, well, work (think: logging hours at the gym and whipping up nutritious meals from scratch). However, there are plenty of small moves that you can make in your everyday life that will have big health benefits. We've rounded up 15 practically zero-effort ways to fight disease, whittle your waist, lower stress, and more. Bonus: Many of these good-for-you moves feel good, too. So say sayonara to the old adage, "no pain, no gain" and try these tips today.You don't have to go on a deprivation diet or spend hours exercising to ward off disease and be your healthiest …
12 Things Not to Buy During the Holidays
Is there a new television, tool or bicycle on your holiday shopping list?(Sean Gallup / Getty Images)
Hold on there. While you can find many great deals during November and December, you're better off making some purchases at other times of the year. Here are 12 items that are even cheaper before or after the holidays.
Microsoft Already Won The Battle For The Living Room When Nobody Was Looking
Two bits of news came out yesterday that illustrate how far ahead Microsoft is in the battle for the living room.
First, Microsoft announced it had sold 1.7 million Xboxes in November. That includes 1 million in the week of Thanksgiving.
More quietly, an analyst firm called Strategy Analytics released a report on "connected TV players," like Apple TV, Boxee, and the Google TV devices from Sony and Logitech.
The firm says that sales of those devices will reach 12 million in 2011, with Apple TV shipping 4 million.
In other words, Microsoft sold more Xboxes in a single week than Apple sells in an average quarter. And Apple is the market leader in that "connected TV players" space. At least when you ignore game consoles.
Apple iPod Touch Review
The Apple iPod Touch 4th Generation is the latest in the line of these top of the range MP3 players. Each generation has introduced new features to expand and improve on this multifunctional device. But just what does the 4th generation have to offer customers, both new and old?
Click the picture for details
Features Of The Apple iPod Touch 4th Generation
Here’s a pick of the main features of Apple’s latest iPod Touch:
* 110 x 59 x 7.2mm,
* Weighs 101g,
* Front facing and rear facing camera,
* PowerVR SGX 535 graphics,
* Wi-Fi, USB 2.0 and Bluetooth connectivity,
* Comes in 8GB, 32GB or 64GB versions,
* 960 x 640px, LED backlit display,
* 40 hours audio battery life,
* 7 hours video battery life,
* Ability to run multiple apps at the same time,
* Opportunity to buy a huge range of apps (and games) for various features.
The Secret to Wearing High Heels Without Pain
That pain that you feel at the end of a long night-no, it's not a hangover and it's not exhaustion. We're talking about something worse-the pain that's caused by a seemingly evil and malicious pair of high heels.wear high heels without the pain
But, believe it or not, not all high heels are created equal. In some cases, they can actually be healthier for your feet than flats. "Excess pronation is a condition that affects 75 percent of the population and has been related to many conditions, such as heel pain (otherwise known as plantar fasciitis), knee pain, and even lower-back pain," says podiatrist Phillip Vasyli.
Get the Best Sleep of Your Life
If there's one thing most of us complain about not having enough of - it's sleep.
So we went straight to the source and asked Dr. Adam Moscovitch (also known as the Sleep Doc) how we can get a better night's sleep.
More stories from sweetspot.ca
- 10 Ways to Spruce Up Your Water
- Spices That Will Keep You Healthy
- 5 Ways to Help Your Hangover
- 5 Foods to Help Beat the 3pm Slump
- 5 Easy Ways to Improve Your Mood
The Ten Commandments of Sleep Hygiene
- Schedule a relaxing period before going to sleep, to separate your body and mind from the day's hassles.
Lindsay Lohan channels Marge Simpson in leaked Playboy cover
What do Marge Simpson and Lindsay Lohan have in common? Besides inspiring much laughter (but for different reasons), they have matching Playboy covers.
Leaked online yesterday, LiLo's much-anticipated pictorial shows the nude starlet straddling a red bunny chair, arms behind her head (all the better to tousle her bottle-blonde mane), with her chest obscured by the chair's strategically placed bunny ears.
But it wasn't exactly a unique photo, as iconic cartoon character Marge Simpson struck a similar pose (albeit in a slightly more demure fashion) for a November 2009 cover story titled "The Devil in Marge Simpson." Seated sideways in a white bunny chair, Homer's blue-haired paramour became the first cartoon character to grace the cover of Hugh Hefner's 56-year-old publication.
via ca.omg.yahoo.com
Indian government backtracks, suspends plan to let in foreign big-box retailers like Wal-Mart
NEW DELHI - India on Wednesday suspended its plan to open its huge retail sector to foreign companies such as Wal-Mart in a reversal seen as a major capitulation to political opponents that further weakens the administration.
The business community had hailed the initial decision to let foreign firms own a majority stake in retailers here just two weeks ago, and the government and some economists said foreign retailers would bring better prices for farmers and lower prices for consumers.
But opposition parties and even some members of the governing coalition protested, saying the local mom-and-pop stores that are the heart of Indian retailing would be crushed. Opposition lawmakers disrupted Parliament for days in protest.
Mother of six trades in $96k house for used minivan
(LaWanda Flake/Detroit News)
A mother living in Detroit has traded in her four-bedroom home for a 2006 minivan.
LaWanda Flake, a 36-year-old, disabled mother of six traded in her four-bedroom, three-bath house, located in one of the city's better neighborhoods and valued at $96,000 for a 2006 Chevrolet Uplander with 85,000 miles, valued at between $5000 and $8,500.
"I had a lot of good offers, some from out of state. It turned out I took one of the first offers I got because I felt like it helped us both," Flake told the Detroit News. "They needed the house more than anyone I spoke with. They kept telling me it was a blessing to them. I really feel like I made a good decision."
PIC: See Katy Perry's Drastic Hair Makeover
Peace out, bright pink hair!
Katy Perry is celebrating the wrap of her eight month-long California Dreams tour with a fresh, new makeover.
PHOTOS: Katy Perry's outrageous style
At the Change Begins Within Benefit Celebration in Los Angeles Saturday, the singer debuted a dramatically short new haircut and a baby pink color that looks much lighter than the bubblegum hue she sported at the 2011 American Music Awards November 21.
PHOTOS: Katy Perry's craziest cleavage moments
With her hubby Russell Brand at her side, the star covered up in a white knee-length Versace sheath with gold embellishments and matching heels at the event benefitting filmmaker David Lynch's foundation for Transcendental Meditation.
via ca.omg.yahoo.com
Massive Sea-floor Shove Triggered Japan's Tsunami
The devastating tsunami that struck Japan last March killed more than 15,000 people, disrupted power and services across the country and crippled the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant. The massive waves were triggered by a 9.0-magnitude earthquake that gave the sea floor a huge shove toward Honshu, Japan's largest island.
But exactly how much the earth moved in the quake has been unclear — until now.
A new look at the sea floor before and after the 2011 Tohoku earthquake reveals massive shifts in the ocean crust. Energy from the uplifted sea floor — which was thrust 164 feet (50 meters) horizontally and 33 feet (10 meters) vertically — triggered the immense tsunami waves that struck the coast of Japan.
Baghdad tops Mercer list as worst city in world to live
While Vienna continues to be the best place in the world to live, Baghdad holds onto its title as the worst.Political turmoil, poor security enforcement and constant terrorist attacks have kept Baghdad at the bottom of Mercer's 2011 Quality of Living rankings for the last six years.
Coming in just ahead of Baghdad on the 221-country list are Bangui, Central African Republic (220), N'Djamena, Chad (219), Port-au-Prince, Haiti (218) and Khartoum, Sudan (217).
"Most of the low-scoring cities are in countries with civil unrest, high crime levels and little law enforcement," says Senior Researcher Slagin Parakatil on a YouTube video description.
Golden Rules at the Golden Arches
No longer just a burger-and-fries haven, McDonald's serves a whole bunch of goodies - from espresso drinks to meal-sized salads. Here's your cheat sheet to enjoy the golden arches guilt-free:
Breakfast:
While the Fruit and Maple Oatmeal falls short on protein (just 5 grams), its 230 calories and 47 grams of carbs isn't bad. If you're watching your carb intake, a toasted English muffin with real butter or peanut butter would be a wiser choice.
French IT Company to ban emails in office
London, Nov 29 (ANI): Former French finance minister Thierry Breton plans to ban his office staff from sending emails to each other, saying they are a waste of time and outdated.
Breton, 56, who is now CEO of Atos, one of Europe's largest information technology services wants a "zero email" policy to be in place within as early as 18 months, arguing that only 10 per cent of the 200 electronic messages his employees receive per day on average turn out to be useful.
Instead he wants them to use an instant messaging and a Facebook-style interface.
Breton said that the staff, spend between 5-20 hours handling emails.
Angelina Jolie Wanted to Be a Funeral Director
Real Housewives of Atlanta's Phaedra Parks isn't the biggest celeb interested in the mortuary arts: Angelina Jolie once harbored dreams of opening her own funeral home.
On an interview with 60 Minutes' Bob Simon that aired Sunday, the Oscar-winning actress, 36, looked back on her earlier, famously wilder days, and confided that she once considered becoming a funeral director.
via ca.omg.yahoo.com
Best Buy a winner as holiday weekend sales surge
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. retailers racked up a record $52.4 billion in sales over the Thanksgiving weekend, a 16.4 percent jump from a year ago, as early hours and attractive promotions brought out more shoppers, an industry trade group said on Sunday.
Among the early winners after the traditional start of the holiday shopping season was Best Buy Co Inc, a reversal from 2010 when the electronics retailer's erroneous bet on 3D televisions led to a disappointing season.
Best Buy drew in shoppers by being one of the companies that opened its stores at midnight Thanksgiving night, and unlike in 2010, it focused more on having lower prices for big TVs and other popular items.
5 Tips for Cleaning Pots and Pans
Dirty dishes don't have to monopolize your time.
With holiday feasts come the inevitable dirty pots and pans marred with baked-on remnants of your favorite preparations. While they do ultimately need to come off, you don't have to spend your precious holiday minutes (or hours!) forcing them to do so-if you have the following five tips for easy cleaning.
Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore Tweet Their Thanks
Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore have broken their Twitter silence in the spirit of the holiday season.
The estranged celebrity power-couple -- who announced their split after six years of marriage earlier this month, amid rumors of infidelity on Kutcher's part -- both reignited their social-media presence in recent days, to reflect on the Thanksgiving holiday.
Discounted BlackBerry PlayBook a hit so far
As we inch towards the official onslaught of the holiday shopping season (it is Black Friday tomorrow) it could be a shopper's paradise this year with deals and discounts abound, particularly if you're on the hunt for a tablet computer.
To that end and in case you haven't heard, Research In Motion (RIM) has massively discounted its BlackBerry PlayBook tablet device around the world, reportedly for a limited time (until Dec. 1st in Canada). And while you'd think that would rankle retailers that have stocked up on inventory when a product is first introduced, the Globe And Mail finds electronics retailer Best Buy Canada regrets nothing.
"This week, RIM slashed C$300 from the price of most PlayBook models in North America ahead of U.S. Thanksgiving and the Christmas shopping season. The move should boost sales at the expense of RIM's operating margins."
But will it?
Happiness is yours – for $75,000 a year
Researchers are always studying personal satisfaction. Last week, we looked at how money — spent on others — can contribute to personal happiness.
Today, we're looking at research that studied income levels and happiness. Can money buy us happiness? Apparently yes. And the magic number is $75,000.
Nobel prize-winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman and economist Angus Deaton examined data from the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index and found that household happiness increased as household income increased — up until that income hit $75,000. Beyond $75,000, "emotional well-being flat-lined," Newser reported on the findings.
The $200,000-a-year miner (and his toys) | Insight
The heavily tattooed Mr. Dinnison wears a $5,000 crucifix and proudly calls himself a Cub—"cashed-up bogan." ("Bogan" is Australian slang for a blue-collar worker.)MANDURAH, Australia — One of the fastest-growing costs in the global mining industry are workers like James Dinnison: the 25-year-old high-school dropout from Western Australia makes $200,000 a year running drills in underground mines to extract gold and other minerals.
Founder sells Milwaukee cafe for $100, promise of food
MILWAUKEE (Reuters) - For a mere $100, Nell Benton has found herself not just a job, but sole ownership in a restaurant that would seem to be a perfect fit.
It's not often a viable neighborhood restaurant is sold for $100 and Benton said she feels fortunate to be chosen to run the socially conscious cafe on Milwaukee's near south side.
Founder Michael Diedrick chose Benton, 35, an out-of-work chef, to take over the National Cafe and Takeaway, an eclectic establishment and anchor for a neighborhood in transition.
Diedrick, 40, started the cafe three years ago with the goal of bettering the neighborhood and introducing Milwaukee to sustainable concepts typically found in restaurants in larger cities. It was valued at about $50,000.
Five reasons eggplant is a healthy diet food
The Spanish nicknamed the eggplant "the apple of love" - it does keep the heart healthy, so there may be something to that saying. Eggplant - also called aubergine - contains anthocyanins and phenolic compounds, which protect your body from free radicals that cause aging. As well, the fibre in eggplant lowers cholesterol by preventing its absorption in the intestines.
Another great thing about eggplant is that because it is so fibrous, it works like a sponge, soaking up any flavours it is combined with. Because of its texture, eggplant makes a great substitute for meat in many recipes.
3 Ways to Not Get Ripped Off by Repair Guys
No offense, repair guys, but we don't always trust your fuzzy math. So we asked three Ms. Fix-Its how a sister can avoid getting suckered.
THE #1 CAR-REPAIR RIP-OFF: engine work.
The Better Business Bureau (BBB) says that auto shops - one of the 10 most complained-about industries last year - routinely charge customers for replacing engine parts they never even touched!BEAT THE SWINDLE: Tell your mechanic that you want to see any parts they remove and replace. "That way, they have to come clean about exactly what they did under your hood," says Bogi Lateiner, owner of 180 Degrees Automotive in Phoenix. And visit repairpal.com, where you can find the reasonable price range for many common fixes at shops in your city.
Rent Oprah Winfrey's Chicago Apartment
Oprah Winfrey's posh Chicago apartment is yours for $15K a month.
Photo: rubloff.com
Oprah Winfrey’s 4,607-square-foot Chicago co-op apartment in a 1913 Beaux Arts building is now available to rent for $15,000 a month. What exactly does $15,000 in rent fetch these days on Lake Shore Drive? Views of Lake Michigan, from the library and master bedroom, for one thing.
LA sheriff's detectives re-open Natalie Wood death investigation based on new information
LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Homicide detectives have re-opened their investigation of Natalie Wood's death nearly 30 years after the actress drowned in the waters off Southern California in one of Hollywood's most enduring mysteries.
The renewed look at Wood's Nov. 29, 1981, death was prompted by new information detectives received about the case, Los Angeles County sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said Thursday.
No additional details were provided, but a detective planned to hold a news conference Friday, and anyone with information about the case was being asked to contact sheriff's officials.
Wood, a three-time Oscar nominee famous for roles in "West Side Story," ''Rebel Without a Cause" and other Hollywood hits, was 43 when she died. She and Wagner, star of the TV series "Hart to Hart," were twice married, first in 1957 before divorcing six years later. They remarried in 1972.
6 Steps to Winterize Your Home Now
"Winterizing" might sound like a costly and intimidating process, but it's far cheaper and easier than the alternative: undergoing a wintry emergency nightmare because your home was not properly prepared. With a weekend's worth of work, just about anyone can take the steps necessary to keep their home protected from Old Man Winter. The following is a checklist for what homeowners ought to be doing when prepping for the cold season. Stick to it, and you're sure to have a warmer and more relaxed winter experience (scraping and digging out your car notwithstanding).
[See 10 Smart Ways to Improve Your Budget.]
Reverse ceiling fan rotation. One incredibly useful tip for better setting up your home for winter is to reverse the rotation of your fans. During the summer, a counter-clockwise fan motion results in cooler air being pushed down into the home, as a result of the way the blades are angled. During the winter, you can switch this up so that warmer air is channeled downward instead. This puts otherwise stagnant fans to some good use.
Manhattan ‘Origami’ apartment unfolds into four rooms
Small spaces are trendy. In New York, they’re also a necessary reality.Remember this 90-square-foot apartment?
In 2005, Eric Schneider, a third-grade teacher, bought the largest space he could afford in Manhattan: a 450-square-foot studio apartment.
It was twice the size of the apartment he lived in while teaching in Japan.
"It was basically an open rectangular space," Schneider told Fair Companies. "There wasn't much to it, there was just a couple of old closets, an old corner kitchen and that was it.”
Architects Michael Chen and Kari Anderson of Normal Projects reconfigured Schneider’s tiny home into an origami-like space, in which four distinct living spaces — a bedroom, an office and library, a guest bedroom and a living room — and countless other configurations all tuck into an oversized blue cabinet.
Watch Chen’s tour of the inspiring tiny space, dubbed the “Unfolding Apartment,” below.
Fashion Faceoff: Jennifer Lopez vs. Julianne Hough
Jennifer Lopez: June 15, 2011. KCSPresse/Splash News
Julianne Hough: October 12, 2011. Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images North America
Jennifer Lopez, 42, showed off her toned gams in a short, white version of the dress in Paris on June 15. She matched it with movie star-cool sunglasses, a snakeskin clutch, white pumps, and, of course, some of that J.Lo bling in the form of H. Stern jewels.
Julianne Hough, 23, wore the same design in black for a screening of her flick "Footloose" in NYC on October 12. She also donned black heels and a black clutch.
The shape of this creation is chic, no matter the color or styling. However, as far as I'm concerned, Jenny from the Block rocks it better in this case, thanks mostly to the perfectly snug fit. The white hot hue of the garment, which highlights her signature glow, as well as the sparkling accessories are simply icing on the cake. And with that, I say Jennifer's the winner. Do you agree?
via ca.omg.yahoo.com
Steer Clear of Interviewers' Pet Peeves
You sit facing the interviewer, feeling like things are moving along nicely when all of a sudden the interview takes a drastic turn for the worse. What just happened? You may have hit one of the interviewer’s pet peeves, one of those things that automatically triggers a negative response.Here are seven of the most common peeves provided by experienced interviewers, along with some tips on how to avoid them:
1. Smells: Too Much of a Good Smell Can Be Bad
Pat Riley, author of Secrets of Breaking into Pharmaceutical Sales, has a pet peeve story to relate: "Preparing for an interview is not like preparing for a date. I had one interview with a woman who doused herself with perfume (the same perfume my ex-girlfriend used to wear) right before stepping into the small interview booth. The perfume was overpowering and brought back bad memories."
Cute baby talks to telemarketer
Being put on hold can be a frustrating experience, but probably the worst sort of phone rage happens when a telemarketing phone call interrupts a family dinner or other important task.While some people might respond to these calls with anger and frustration, we think there is a much cuter, more laughable way to deal with these annoying interruptions. Give your baby the phone.
This British tot holds down a conversation with a man who’s seemingly unaware at first that the person he’s pitching is still in diapers.
He’s not too impressed once he catches on, however, and baby and parent can’t stop giggling at the fun they’ve had with the telemarketer. See the cuteness for yourself in the video below.
Rhein II becomes most expensive photograph, selling for $4.3M
It may not look like much, just some grass on two sides of a river, but this Andreas Gursky photo has just set a record for the most expensive photograph ever sold.The photo, captured in 1999 titled "Rhein II", recently sold at a Christie's auction in New York City for more than $4.3 million.
"It spans over three metres in width and two metres in height, enwrapping the viewer in the sheer beauty of its scene," says the narrator of a Christie's video about the work. "He (Gursky) creates a dramatic and profound reflection on human existence and our relationship to nature on the cusp of the 21st century."
Jennifer Aniston: I’m madly in love with Chelsea Handler
(Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images)
Justin Theroux who? While introducing BFF Chelsea Handler at Glamour's Women of the Year Awards in New York, Jennifer Aniston confessed her feelings for the smack-talking, vodka-swilling comedian.
"I rarely comment on my personal life but I am here to tell you that I'm madly in love. And I'm madly in love with the one and only Chelsea Handler," Aniston told the crowd at the Carnegie Hall, flaunting cleavage and leg in a black va-va-voom Versace dress.
"It's really hard not to admire a dynamic, brash and ridiculously hilarious woman who has assembled such a large and rabid fan base -- and she's drunk half the time!" declared Aniston, getting huge laughs from the audience.
She continued, gushingly: "Chelsea Handler is not only one of the funniest and the brightest and the sexiest women on the planet. She is inspiring a generation of women to be bold and daring and express exactly what is on their minds, whatever that may be."
via ca.omg.yahoo.com
When couples hover between tax brackets: How to stay in the lower one
Our Canadian tax system has 4 steps; each time you jump to a new level, the taxes on each additional dollar earned increase. This tax rate on your last dollar earned is called your 'marginal tax rate' but your 'effective tax rate' is the average of them all. (For you trivia folks, the average tax rate paid by Canadians is 25%.) If you can reduce your taxable income to keep from moving up into that next bracket, then you can save on your overall tax bill.
How can you lower your taxable income?
- RRSP Contributions
Meet Mary Claire Orenic, America’s happiest woman
Now Mary Claire Orenic, a 50-year-old woman from California, has been named America's happiest woman.
USA Today and well-being improvement firm Healthways teamed up to find the woman who best embodied the characteristics that contribute to high well-being in the Baby Boom generation.
Mary Claire Orenic fit the happiness description, scoring a very high rating on the Healthways Well-Being Index for midlife women. Living in Manhattan Beach, California, she has a well-paying full-time job with plenty of flexibility, a healthy marriage, one child, a healthy, athletic lifestyle and group of 10 friends she can rely on.
Tiny, but what a view! Sausalito’s floating homes make northern California living affordable
Fiver Brown loves living in Sausalito, California. But with the average price of a home costing an intimidating $2.2 million, Brown just couldn’t afford to buy in the San Francisco Bay-area city — on land.Instead, the musician bought himself a floating home. His converted WWII lifeboat, complete with galley kitchen, loft bed and walk-in closet, is docked in one of Sausalito’s historic houseboat communities.
The views are spectacular, even if the square footage is minimal. Brown’s floating home boasts just 481 square feet, and provides him an affordable lifestyle.
It’s so lovely that Brown even wrote a song about it.
Watch the video by Fair Companies below.
Video: Canadian sports anchor wins $2.5 million lottery on live TV
Watch as Barnes and co-anchor Sophie Lui realize that their co-worker was the winner of the drawing, call him on live television and then try to act like they're not a little jealous that the guy delivering daily reports on the Canucks just won his choice of a $2.5 million country estate or $2 million in cash.
Colgate-Palmolive recalls electric toothbrushes after reports some 'exploded'
ORONTO - Colgate-Palmolive is recalling a battery-operated electric toothbrush after receiving reports the devices exploded in the hands of some users.
In a blog post dated last March, one Montreal man reported that while he was using his Motion Electric Toothbrush, the batteries blew out of the base of the toothbrush handle, flying across the room.
Health Canada says there have been nine reports of explosions with the toothbrush in Canada, though none has resulted in long-term injuries.
The department is advising consumers who have this brand of electric toothbrush to stop using the device, which is no longer licensed for sale in Canada.
The company isn't making the Motion Electric model anymore, but there may still be some Motion Electric Toothbrushes in stores until the recall is completed.
World stock markets regain ground lost after Greek proposal for bailout referendum
BANGKOK - World stock markets began to claw back some lost ground Wednesday, following a wave of selling sparked by fears that Greece might reject an austerity plan and default on its massive debts.
Oil bounced to near $93 a barrel, while the dollar fell against the euro and the yen.
Stocks have struggled since Monday, when Greece's prime minister unexpectedly announced he would call a national vote on an unpopular European plan that entails painful tax increases and drastic welfare cuts for his debt-ridden nation.
Massive Mansion Markdowns
The following nine enormous homes started out with price tags that were even more enormous than they are now. All told, these properties have been reduced in price by more than $85 million.Why do these upscale properties linger on the market? When the lowest asking price out of these mansions is about $10 million, you’re already talking about a limited pool of potential buyers. Perhaps some of the properties are too specialized, as a few residences in this collection cater to pretty specific interests, reducing the number of potential buyers even further. Not every billionaire shopping for a home needs storage for several thousand wine bottles, say, or 56 acres of working ranch land and a 7,000-square-foot equestrian facility. Or perhaps, in the case of one Aspen-area mega-lodge, 16-and-a-half bathrooms is seen as excessive enough to be a turnoff.
LOL! Nicole Richie Dresses as Jennifer Lopez for Halloween
She's still Nicky from the block!
Nicole Richie stuck to her guns this Halloween and avoided wearing a "slutty" costume at Kate Hudson's bash in the Pacific Palisades Saturday night. Still, Richie managed to impersonate one of Hollywood's sexiest icons: Jennifer Lopez!
PHOTOS: Nicole's wild-to-mild transformation
For her funny but prim J Lo getup, Richie, 30, donned the 42-year-old diva's iconic pink sweatsuit, oversized gold aviators, huge hoop earrings, accessorized with a Louis Vuitton bag; she wore her hair up in a bun and even made sure her skin matched Lopez's gorgeous golden glow.
PHOTOS: J Lo's most iconic looks -- and how she changed things up for her men
via ca.omg.yahoo.com
Love is in the air: Delta passenger says “yes” to mile-high proposal
He proposed where they first met — 32,000 feet in the air.Arvin Shandiz popped the question to his unsuspecting girlfriend, Alexandra Williams, on a Chicago-bound Delta Airlines flight last weekend.
“Good evening everyone, my name is Arvin, and I’m on this flight with a beautiful young lady I met almost two years ago flying Delta Air Lines," Shandiz said over the plane’s loudspeaker. "From the moment that I met her that night, I knew I never wanted to spend a second without her. Alex, you’re the most beautiful girl in the world, and you make me so incredibly happy. So would you marry me?”
They first met on a similar New York-to-Chicago flight in January of 2010.
“It was love at first sight,” Shandiz told ABC News. “I knew from the very beginning that that she was who I would spend my life with.”
Royal Wedding Halloween Costume Ideas
With the Royal Wedding of April 2011, and the huge success of the King’s Speech movie, it’s pretty much guaranteed that you’re going to see quite a few Royal Family themed costumes around this Halloween. Thankfully, under this umbrella there are a wide range of Halloween costume ideas for you to choose from.
Click the picture for details
Will And Kate Halloween Costumes
If you’re a fan of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, and want a costume idea for both you and your partner, then why not go as Will and Kate? The most instantly recognizable outfit idea will be to go as them on their wedding day – Kate in her beautiful lace wedding dress, and Will in his red uniform.
Up to 20M tons of Japan tsunami debris could reach B.C. coast by 2014
HONOLULU, Hawaii - Up to 20 million tons of tsunami debris floating from Japan could arrive on British Columbia's shores by 2014, according to estimates by University of Hawaii scientists.
A Russian training ship spotted the junk — including a refrigerator, a television set and other appliances — in an area of the Pacific Ocean where the scientists from the university's International Pacific Research Center predicted it would be.
The biggest proof that the debris is from the Japanese tsunami is a fishing boat that's been traced to the Fukushima Prefecture, the area hardest hit by the March 11 disaster.
Jan Hafner, a scientific programmer, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that researchers' projections show the debris would reach Hawaii's shores by early 2013, before reaching the West Coast.
They estimate the debris field is spread out across an area that's roughly 3,200 kilometres long and 1,600 kilometres wide located between Japan and Midway Atoll, where pieces could wash up in January.
Cheese: the world’s most stolen food
Cheese has been labeled a “high-risk” food. Not because it’s addictive, high in fat, or dangerous to waistlines everywhere, but because it’s the most stolen food item in the world.(Thinkstock)
According to the --> --> --> Centre for Retail Research, cheese ranks as the third-most stolen item in supermarkets after razorblades and alcohol.
Almost four percent of Europe’s cheeses end up stolen. Globally, the rate is a bit more than three percent.
Even in hard economic times, the rate of cheese thefts surpasses that of candy bars and gum — often assumed as shoplifters’ go-to items — of which only 2.78 percent are stolen.
Restaurant foods that are ripping you off
If you thought you bagged a bargain by skipping the $29 burgundy-braised short ribs and opting for the $18 baked ziti with mushrooms, marinara sauce and chicken, you'd be wrong. With food costs only accounting for about 18 per cent of the menu price, the pasta dish is where the restaurant is making the most profit. Believe it or not, the beef is actually the better deal, since it costs nearly half the menu price to source and prepare it.
If price alone isn't the best indicator of value on a menu, what criteria should we use to ensure the most bang for our buck? "Choose labour-intensive, time-consuming, complex dishes, that call for hard-to-find ingredients," suggests New York-based restaurant consultant, Clark Wolf. "If you can whip it up yourself in 20 minutes with stuff from your kitchen cupboard—do that," he says.
The world's best affordable new hotels
We scoured the globe to find the best new hotels out there. Making our list is harder than you think! Each of these independent properties has to meet strict criteria to even be considered: they must have a unique story; their design sense must speak to the local culture instead of being generic and corporate; and they must (no exceptions!) be available for under $150 per night.
You'll hear the owners' stories. You'll find urban retreats in some of the planet's most expensive cities. You'll take in unobstructed ocean views from your private balcony. You'll commune with nature. Bottom line-you'll never want to leave.
Hicksville Trailer Palace
Joshua Tree, California
Hicksville Trailer Palace owner Morgan Higby Night isn't the first creative type to find inspiration in the rugged, lunar landscape of Joshua Tree National Park (see also: Gram Parsons, U2). But the Los Angeles-based writer and producer (Shortbus, Talking About Sex) has certainly taken his artists' retreat there to an audaciously kitschy level. "I was already going out to Joshua Tree two to three days a week to write my latest screenplay," Higby Night says. "It made me think that maybe other artists in L.A. also needed a place to get away to work."
Higby Night installed 10 vintage trailers, a solar-heated saltwater pool, and an archery and BB gun range on his two-acre desert plot last April. Each unit has a distinct design scheme and amenities: a jukebox filled with punk tunes, a TV stocked with horror (and only horror) movies, and bunk beds that, for an extra $50 a day, can be tucked away to make room for a film editing suite. And guests don't have to worry about curious day-trippers traipsing the grounds: Directions are only given out to folks with confirmed reservations. hicksville.com, from $75.
Chocolate, gold, champagne and caviar: The world’s most expensive dessert has them all
If you’ve got a sweet tooth and a bottomless bank account, this dessert might be for you. I hope you like $35,000 pudding.
The English Lake District's Lindeth Howe Country House Hotel head chef Marc Guibert recently created a yet-unnamed pudding that knocked New York's Serendipity 3's $25,000 Frrozen Haute Chocolate off the most-expensive-dessert throne — by an impressive $10,000.
The Kindle Vs. Nook
In the world of eBook readers, two major brands come to mind: the Kindle and the Nook. These have both sold in huge numbers in recent years, and have both become more and more affordable with each new model. If you’re in the market for a new eBook reader, and are trying to make a decision on the Kindle vs. Nook, keep reading to find out more.
Models Available
Before we get going with the comparison, it’s useful to note the models available. Both the Kindle and the Nook come with touchscreen editions and color editions. Amazon has a couple of extra models in the form of the more basic, non-touchscreen, Kindle, and the older Kindle Keyboard.
via kindledeals.org
3 Dermatologist Tips You've Probably Never Heard Before
By Dawn DavisWe recently caught up with Avon Consulting Dermatologist Dr. Cheryl Karcher. Here's what she said about everything from zits to sunscreen:
1. You really do need SPF in the winter. "In the wintertime, particularly with a clear blue sky, there are more UVA rays—the kind that cause aging. I recommend an SPF of at least 30."
RELATED: The Best New Sunscreens
2. When you're going to the dermatologist, bring your products with you. "Bring in what you're using. This way you can say, 'You see my skin—am I using the right regime or should I change it?' So often, women use the wrong products—and way too many."
Last Chance to See Doomed German Satellite in Night Sky
This week will likely provide you with your very last opportunities to get a glimpse of a big German satellite, first put into orbit back in June 1990 and which has been dormant since February 1999.
The decommissioned German X-ray space observatory, called the Roentgen Satellite or ROSAT, will likely re-enter Earth’s atmosphere sometime between Oct. 22 and 24. ROSAT is currently moving around the Earth in a nearly circular orbit at an altitude of about 145 miles (236 kilometers) at an inclination of 53 degrees, which means that it is visible from virtually all inhabited regions on Earth.
Satellites become visible only when they are in sunlight and the observer is in deep twilight or darkness. This usually means shortly after dusk or before dawn. On any clear evening within a couple of hours of local sunset and with no optical aid, you can usually spot several orbiting Earth satellites moving with a steady speed across the sky like moving stars. [Photos: Germany's ROSAT Satellite Falling to Earth]
Halloween Costumes For Pregnant Women
Halloween Costumes For Pregnant Women
Some Themes To Work With Your Growing BumpJust because you're expecting a child this Halloween doesn't mean you have to cover up or limit yourself to plus size costume ideas! Halloween costumes for pregnant women can be just as fun and creative as anything else. Here are a few ideas to get you going.
Paint Your Bump
One of the most popular ideas for Halloween costumes for pregnant women is to use your bump as a prop. Many women paint it orange to look like a pumpkin and "carry" it around with them. This is a good idea as it works with a number of different costumes. For example you could dress as a farmer with the belly/ pumpkin coming out of a hole, or even more traditional Halloween characters such as a witch carrying the pumpkin.
The Pregnant Nun
Greek Yogurt Vs. Regular Yogurt: Which Is More Healthful?
Move over, regular yogurt. Going Greek is in, and this exotic option has elbowed its way onto refrigerator shelves everywhere. Most give a big thumbs up to its taste—tangier and less sweet, as well as creamier—but is it healthier than its conventional counterpart?First, to be clear: Both Greek and regular yogurt, in their plain, nonfat or low-fat forms, can be part of a healthful diet. They're low in calories and packed with calcium and live bacterial cultures. But our Mediterranean friend—which is strained extensively to remove much of the liquid whey, lactose, and sugar, giving it its thick consistency—does have an undeniable edge. In roughly the same amount of calories, it can pack up to double the protein, while cutting sugar content by half. Those are "two things dietitians love," says Dawn Jackson Blatner, a registered dietitian and author of The Flexitarian Diet.
Latest Contender Gets The Boot On 'Dancing'
One week shy of Broadway week, "Dancing with the Stars" lost one of its most colorful contenders.
(SPOILER: This story contains the results of Tuesday's elimination show)
PLAY IT NOW: J.R. Martinez Tops The ‘Dancing’ Leaderboard In Week 5
He may have jumped for joy, performing a "Wham" of an '80s-themed cheerleader styled jive to "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" on Monday night with professional partner Anna Trebunskaya, but another low score for Carson Kressley meant the end of his stay in the "DWTS" ballroom.
On Tuesday, the former "Queer Eye For The Straight Guy" guru became the fifth celebrity eliminated from the show.
via ca.omg.yahoo.com
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