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Sunday, June 27, 2010

Why Botox jabs could leave you emotionally uptight

 

Amanda Holden

Feeling subdued: Amanda Holden has admitted to using Botox - with recent research saying it can affect the emotions

Botox users have long been mocked for their inability to show emotion on their partially paralysed faces.

But new research suggests the anti-wrinkle jabs could also affect women’s ability to experience feelings in the first place.

In a study, those given the toxin injections experienced significantly less reaction to emotionally charged films than those who had not had the treatment.

The research reinforces the psychological theory that facial expressions can affect your mood, as well as being an indicator of it – so, for example, not being able to smile means you do not feel as happy.

Used by celebrities such as Amanda Holden, Kylie Minogue and Katie Price, Botox is one of the fastest-growing cosmetic treatments, with British women receiving up to 500,000 injections of the botulinum toxin every year.

The £200 jab effectively ‘freezes’ the facial muscles around wrinkles, smoothing the skin but inhibiting facial expressions.

For the research, 68 women were divided into two groups. Half were given Botox injections and half Restylane, a cosmetic filler that does not affect facial muscles. The women did not know which treatment they had received.

Before the injections, all the women were shown three short video clips and asked to rate them depending on how strongly they reacted to them emotionally.

One, a clip of a contestant on a reality show eating live worms, was meant to provoke a strong negative reaction. Funny video clips were used to provoke a strong positive reaction, while a ‘mildly positive’ third film came from a documentary about artist Jackson Pollock.

Two or three weeks after being given the treatment, the women were shown a similar set of videos and their reactions tested again.

The researchers found that those who had been given Botox showed an ‘overall significant decrease in the strength of emotional experience’ compared with those who had been given Restylane.

A report on the research by Madonna’s dermatologist Fredric Brandt and three psychologists from Columbia University in New York is published in the academic journal Emotions.

They conclude that the study’s findings support the idea that facial expressions are part of a ‘feedback’ loop that heightens our emotions.

Researcher Joshua Davis said: ‘With the advent of Botox, it is now possible to work with people who have a temporary, reversible paralysis in muscles that are involved in facial expressions.

‘The muscle paralysis allows us to isolate the effects of facial expression and the subsequent sensory feedback to the brain.

‘With Botox, a person can respond otherwise normally to an emotional event, for example a sad movie, but will have less movement in the facial muscles that have been injected, and therefore less feedback to the brain.

‘It thus allows for a test of whether facial expressions and the sensory feedback from them can influence our emotions.’

The findings are backed up by a similar study by scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, published in the journal Psychological Science.

This found that women who had been injected with Botox were slower at comprehending emotional sentences than those who had not had the treatment.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1289851/Why-Botox-jabs-leave-emotionally-uptight.html#ixzz0s4eyphAc

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Don't mention the mockingbird! The reclusive novelist who wrote the classic novel that mesmerised 40 million readers

In the 50 years since Harper Lee published her classic novel that mesmerised 40million readers, she has barely written another word  – and turned into an almost total recluse.

So when her friends agreed to give our reporter an introduction, it was on one strict condition...Don’t mention the Mockingbird

Despite the thick, black sunglasses, there is something familiar about the frail 84-year-old woman as she is helped falteringly towards the lake shore.

A delighted smile flickers across her face as ducks and Canada geese flock round to feed on the scraps of bread brought from the care home where she lives in a modest apartment.

harper lee

Unhappy: The reclusive Harper Lee with child actress Mary Badham, who played Scout in the film of Mockingbird

Dressed in a clean but faded T-shirt and loosely fitting gingham slacks, she attracts barely a glance from passers-by.

Yet hers is the face which has stared from the cover of a book that has hypnotised more than 40 million readers around the world, one that has frequently been rated as one of the ten most important books published in the past century.

She is Harper Lee, whose only book, To Kill A Mockingbird, won the Pulitzer Prize, is translated into nearly 50 languages and was turned into the Oscar-winning 1962 film starring Gregory Peck. It also made Harper into a multi-millionairess.

To kill a mockingbird has been rated as one of the ten most important books published in the past century

Nervously, I approach the novelist, carrying the best box of chocolates I could find in the small Alabama town of Monroeville, a Hershey’s selection costing a few dollars. I start to apologise that I hadn’t brought more but a beaming Nelle – as her friends and family call her – extends her hand.

‘Thank you so much,’ she told me. ‘You are most kind. We’re just going to feed the ducks but call me the next time you are here. We have a lot of history here. You will enjoy it.’

It was the most fleeting of conversations, but that is hardly surprising. Harper has said precious little in public since the publication of Mockingbird 50 years ago next month. She has written nothing else since, save a few short stories in the early Sixties.

Yet on the July 11 anniversary, thousands of Mockingbird Groupies, as her fans are called, will converge on Monroeville for a three-day festival in celebration of her work.

No one expects Harper to give a welcoming address. Indeed, she has spent the past five decades living in almost total seclusion.

Even when she travelled to the White House to receive an award from President George W. Bush three years ago, she did so under the strict condition that she would answer no questions and make no acceptance speech.

Nobody knows what she does with her wealth. Her friends say material goods are unimportant to her and that if she gives to charity, she does so anonymously.

harper lee

Secretive: Harper Lee in Monroeville, where she refuses to discuss her famous novel

For much of the past 50 years, she has shunned the formality and racism of her native Alabama to make her home in a tiny flat on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.

Only now, towards the end of her days, has Harper returned to live in a sheltered housing complex in her childhood home town of Monroeville.

I went to Alabama in an attempt to answer the great mystery of why she – like that other American literary legend J. D. Salinger, who died in January – should have spent almost half a century in silence.

Why did Harper Lee, like J.D.Salinger choose to spend almost half a century in silence?

Her friends agree to introduce me to her on one condition: that I make no mention of ‘The Book’, as people here refer to it.

Based on a few gnomic utterances over the years, many literary commentators have attributed Harper’s solitary life and subsequent failure to publish another book to her alarm at the tidal wave of praise for her Mockingbird, in which the racial bigotry of the South is witnessed through the eyes of a little girl, Scout.

Others have suggested that perhaps she only had one great book in her, and that she knew that every subsequent attempt would be regarded as a disappointment.

But according to confidants, many of whom have known her since childhood, what Harper has really found a burden is her enduring sadness about the book’s underlying themes.

They say that while To Kill A Mockingbird is ostensibly a courtroom thriller – in which Scout’s compassionate and principled lawyer father Atticus Finch defends a black man falsely accused of raping a white woman – Harper drew on deeply painful family secrets to create her protagonists.

peck peters

Oscar-winning: Gregory Peck as Atticus with co-star Brock Peters in the film of 'To kill a mockingbird'

Furthermore, her liberal views on race were extremely unpopular in her native Deep South. Indeed many in her own family were unhappy with the tone of her book.

‘I’m not a psychologist, but there’s a lot of Nelle in that book,’ said 87-year-old George Thomas Jones, a retired businessman who has known Harper and her family since she was a girl.

‘People say the publicity the book got turned her into a recluse but publicity didn’t ruin her life: I don’t think Nelle’s ever been a real happy person.’

Mr Jones said that Harper’s father Amasa Coleman Lee, a former newspaper editor, lawyer and state senator who was clearly the model for Atticus Finch, was ‘a real genteel man, who listened more than he talked . . . but he sure didn’t show much affection.

'I used to caddy for him on the local golf course. He was so formal that he would wear a heavy three-piece suit, shirt, tie and stout shoes to play golf, even in the heat of the summer.’

In an episode that foreshadows the compassionate and fiercely moral hero Atticus, played by Gregory Peck in the movie, Harper’s father had defended two black men charged with murder in a celebrated case in 1919.

After they were convicted and hanged, he never practised again. But unlike the fictional Finch, Mr Lee was a staunch segregationist who supported the harsh ‘Jim Crow’ laws of the American South.

mockingbird

Harper Lee's book has sold more than 40 million copies worldwide

In the novel, Scout lives in fear of a ‘malevolent phantom’, a psychologically disturbed neighbour called Boo Radley, who ultimately saves her life.

While it is clear that the character is in part based on a reclusive neighbour, in reality, it was Harper’s mother Frances who was the source of much terror and unhappiness.

Suffering from depression and violent mood swings, friends in the close-knit Alabama town say that Frances allegedly twice tried to drown her daughter in the bath. As a result, perhaps, the young Harper was regarded as a difficult and aggressive child who would think nothing of punching other children who annoyed her.

‘When you passed by the Lee house, Mrs Lee would be sitting in a swing with just a stone face,’ said Mr Jones, ‘looking dead ahead, emotionless.’

Other neighbours recalled she would sometimes shout nonsensical invective at passers-by.

Mr Jones added: ‘Nelle always seemed to be on the defensive when she was a little girl. The book didn’t make matters any better. People here recognised it was based on her life.

'My late wife was her golfing partner and she knew never to ask her about it. It’s not just something she didn’t want to talk about – it’s a subject you wouldn’t want to touch with a ten-foot pole.

‘I don’t think Nelle is lonely, necessarily. This is just the life she has chosen to lead. She could afford a lot better, but maybe this is what makes her feel safe after a life starved of affection.’

‘She touched the hearts of readers but I don’t think she knew much about her own heart.’

Harper’s biographer, the American academic Charles Shields, said that her mother Frances was descended from slave-owners who had farmed cotton around Monroeville, where they built a stately plantation house.

In her younger days, Frances was considered a brilliant pianist, but by the time Harper was born in 1926, she seemed to have lost all interest in life due to depression.

Harper’s older sister, Alice – who, remarkably at 98, still practises law in an office above a Monroeville bank – said: ‘My mother was a highly nervous person but it was no problem. There was nothing abnormal.’

Alice is still close to Harper and helps handle her financial affairs. I asked whether her sister ever regretted writing the book. ‘I don’t think she has any regrets,’ Alice replied with a frown. ‘But we talk about the book only in relation to business.’

The young Harper once dreamed of becoming a lawyer like both her father and sister. But she was diverted from that path by her lifelong friendship with Truman Capote, the author of Breakfast At Tiffany’s and In Cold Blood, who was a childhood neighbour much like Dill, Scout’s best friend in Mockingbird.

The young Capote had already begun to work on stories. ‘I convinced [Harper] she ought to write too,’ he said later. ‘She didn’t really want to but I held her to it.’

Writing did not come easily to Harper. Sometimes she would labour for a dozen hours before finishing a single page. But it was her only life.

Her mannish haircuts and hatred of make-up led to speculation that she was a lesbian. However, Mr Shields believes she was just shy and, like Charlotte Bronte, had an unrequited crush on a married man, her literary agent Maurice Crain.

She wrote short stories about racial prejudice in college and moved to New York in the mid-Fifties. There she rented a cheap apartment and attempted to earn enough money to write by working as a reservation clerk with the BOAC airline.

To Kill A Mockingbird began its existence as a series of anecdotes drawn from her childhood. However, Harper was either so naive or so traumatised that she seems to have failed to recognise its semi-autobiographical nature until after it was published.

Writing did not come easily to Harper. Sometimes she would labour for a dozen hours before finishing a single page. But it was her only life.

Mr Shields said: ‘She touched the hearts of readers but I don’t think she knew much about her own heart.’

In Monroeville, there was sharp criticism as the book became a bestseller. ‘People recognised people they knew in the book. She got hate mail,’ said Mr Shields. The critics included her other sister, Louise. ‘She felt it was too much dirty laundry,’ added Mr Shields.

Initially, there was talk of more books. Harper assured her agent in the early Sixties that she had started a new novel with the working title The Long Goodbye. It never appeared. According to Alice, the reason is that the manuscript was stolen by a ‘burglar’.

Others, however, claim that by the mid-Sixties, Harper was drinking, some would say excessively. Mr Shields said: ‘I think she drank to overcome her shyness and because her support group, small to begin with, had eroded. Maurice Crain was dying of cancer.

Truman Capote had drifted off into a sea of alcohol and drugs, while her editor Tay Hohoff, who had spent two-and-a-half years working with her on Mockingbird, had died suddenly.

Early in her career, the military academy West Point, the American equivalent of Sandhurst, dispatched two officers to meet Harper in the hope of persuading her to address cadets.

One of the pair, Brigadier Jack Capps, said last week: ‘It was mid-morning when we arrived at her little apartment and she said, “Would you like a drink?’’ and she mixed a martini and then she said, ‘‘Let’s go to lunch.’’ She had another Martini before lunch and she agreed to speak.’

A friend of Harper’s said: ‘Nelle was not an alcoholic but she enjoyed a drink. She didn’t flaunt it but Monroeville is Bible Belt and her sister, Alice, did not approve.

Nelle finally gave it up when her health began to fail. She decided to move back to Monroeville only after she had suffered a stroke about five years ago.’

She initially moved in with Alice, but now lives in sheltered accommodation after suffering further health problems. Despite her illness, or perhaps because of it, she seems finally at peace with herself. But ‘The Book’ is still taboo.

Harper Lee is credited by many with playing a big part in a sea-change in attitudes in the Deep South – not least in Monroeville.

However, even today the old prejudices refuse to die. ‘We have wonderful coloured help,’ one contemporary of Harper told me as three black maids bustled around his mansion.

I also learned that many white children are still being educated at private ‘segregation academies’ set up after the federal government enforced the integration of state schools.

At next month’s 50th Anniversary Celebration Weekend, however, black and white youngsters will stand side-by-side for a marathon reading of the book.

Harper has been invited to join them, but friends say, even now, hearing the words of Scout and Atticus read out loud will bring back too many painful memories.

Rather than confront the ghosts of her past yet again, Harper plans to spend the anniversary in her apartment.

There, with her desk, her computer and her comfortable armchair, she can muse on the great changes that she has helped to bring to the South, on her timeless novel and on the childhood trauma that shaped it.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1289793/Dont-mention-mockingbird-Meet-Harper-Lee-reclusive-novelist-wrote-classic-novel-mesmerised-40-million-readers.html#ixzz0s4cSdExz

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Anger as new iPhone 4 'loses reception when you hold it in your hand'

 

Users of the new Apple iPhone 4 are reporting serious problems with the new gadget's reception.

Dozens of videos have now been placed on YouTube, with angry users complaining about how the phone’s reception suddenly plunges to almost zero when they wrap their fingers around it

The problem appears to occur when the user holds the iPhone so that their hand covers the metal antenna that surrounds the edge of the new  device.

 iPhone 4

A customer looks at an iPhone 4 at the Apple Store in 5th Avenue in New York. Some have reported problems with its reception

According to gadget website Gizmodo, the new iPhone is frequently  losing calls on the AT&T network with some users complaining that people on the other end of a call can no longer hear them once the signal drops to one bar.

Users have flooded Twitter with rumours about the problem and stop-gap remedies inclduing using tape to cover the bottom of the phone.

Early tests by the first people to get their hands on the must-have device seem to show the phone losing signal when people touch the bottom edge of it with their hands.

Technology website T3 has also reported problems and has run a test using Apple’s ‘bumper’ cover for the phone which appears to solve the issue.

Wired magazine points to a Danish wireless technology expert called Gert Frølund Pedersen who says that the problem is probably because the phone’s new antenna is built into the metal frame which surrounds the device.

‘Human tissue will have an inhibitory effect on the antenna. Touch means that a larger portion of the antenna energy turns into heat and lost.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1289321/Apple-iPhone-4-problems-Phone-loses-reception.html#ixzz0rqOcPl3D

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

'British women fall in love with their doctors and are obsessed with natural birth': The very candid views of a Russian gynaecologist

Sergei Matrosov is a senior NHS gynaecologist, working at a major hospital in the South-East. After qualifying as a doctor in St Petersburg, he faced the choice of earning a pittance in his vocation - or travelling to Britain, where he has worked for the NHS for the past seven years.

His blog about the idiosyncrasies of British life is followed by tens of thousands of Russians.

It does not dwell on NHS shortcomings - because Russian hospitals are, by and large, far worse. instead, it focuses on his patients and fellow doctors. These edited excerpts make for fascinating, if sometimes uncomfortable, reading...

THE UPPER CLASSES DO IT DIFFERENTLY

Jessica and Jonathan, an elegant, young, aristocratic couple, came to the maternity unit for the birth of their first child, who'd inherit the family name.

Fascinating insight: Russian gynaecologist Sergei Matrosov says British women are constantly falling in love with their doctors

Fascinating insight: Russian gynaecologist Sergei Matrosov says British women are constantly falling in love with their doctors

They had prepared well, bringing a Bose stereo to fill the suite with relaxing music, as well as a blue light to make the atmosphere more intimate, rose petals for the pool and two bottles of Bollinger in a gilded bucket.

They also had a labour plan the size of War And Peace, printed on the best paper inside a luxurious folder. 'When the first contractions start,' the notes read, 'I would like the midwives to bring me a fresh cup of tea to help me feel stronger before the labour.

'In no circumstances do I want to have an epidural, as it contradicts my concept of natural birth.'

The problems started with the first contractions. Instead of sipping an invigorating herbal tea, Jessica announced with a steady voice that if she didn't get an epidural right now, 'this second', she would throw herself out of the window.

 

Even with the epidural, the second stage of labour [when the woman feels the urge to push] is always very interesting. Some women scream so loudly that birds crash to the ground; some push with teeth clenched; some demand a Caesarean; some give up and dive quietly into utter despair.

Well-bred Englishwomen have their own way. The contractions began, and like many woman, Jessica began to yell. Unlike other women, she made a point of saying 'Excuse me' after each exclamation.

I told her when the child's head appeared. She turned to me and said: 'Doctor, please be honest: the baby's hair isn't ginger, is it?'

'No Ma'am, it's not, I can assure you.' 'Very good. And would you be so kind as to sit Jonathan up in the chair? '

Jonathan, his face ashen, was slumped on the floor. He was revived, and the bollinger poured. Note: It is very profitable to bear kids in Britain. You get a decent allowance for each child, and families with many children are provided with free houses by the State.

As far as I can see, a giant number of 'professional mums' have appeared in England in the past ten years. They don't work and their only business, it seems, is to 'enrich' the country's gene pool.

BRITISH WOMEN ARE VERY DEMANDING

In  Labour, Russian women are both more emotional and more patient. They can be screaming, and swearing, and demanding a Caesarean and a full anaesthetic, but if they are asked to bear it, they will.

It is quite typical for an English woman to insist on a spinal anaesthesia after the very first contraction, and then lie with an absent face, reading a fashion magazine, until the business is done.

In addition, English girls come to their doctors armed with the national statistics for their illness, a list of potential difficulties during the operation etc, and they want to know everything before they consent.

They themselves choose what kind of treatment they want: your role is just to go through all the pluses and minuses with them.

THEY'RE ALWAYS FALLING IN LOVE WITH THEIR DOCTORS

In Britain, women patients fall in love with their doctors at every step - especially psychotherapists, gynaecologists and plastic surgeons. Doctors pay for it by having their licence to practice withdrawn for ever.

The charges are often identical: the doctor 'seduced' a patient by abusing her trust. The verdict is harsh and means the end of his medical career.

Three years ago, my colleague, a surgeon, was operating on a strikingly beautiful girl, then looked after her during the recovery period.

They started dating after she left the hospital, then moved in together. After a while, he realised his love had faded but suggested they stay friends.

The girl then sent a letter to the General Medical Council saying this doctor used her illness to win her trust and exploited confidential information about her. ' Please punish him,' she wrote.

Stylish labour: The Russian recounts the story of a couple who brought a stereo, a blue light to make the atmosphere more intimate, rose petals and bottles of Bollinger for the birth of their first child

Stylish labour: He tells the story of a couple who brought a stereo, rose petals and bottles of Bollinger to the maternity unit for the birth of their first child

As a result of that, his career as a surgeon was over. I personally came across such situations only a couple of times. In one instance, I performed surgery on a nice woman, the owner of a bookshop.

After the operation, as she was getting better, we had chats about Dostoyevsky, Gogol and bunin.

Then she started sending me romantic letters. The last thing was a huge package containing Pushkin's collected works and a sad letter about 'a Russian Doctor Zhivago who cured my endometriosis but broke my heart'.

Then there was Miss S. As I started to examine her to check on her post-op recovery, she said: 'Doctor! I put these stockings on specially for you.'

'Miss S, to help your leg veins, you need a very different kind of stockings.'

'I know, Doctor, but these are Wolford - do you like them?' (At our last appointment, she'd presented me with champagne, flowers, chocolates and an invitation to see her work.)

'The surgery is healed very well,' I told her. 'Please get dressed and have a good day.'

I can't, of course, vouch for all, but I can say that most gynaecologists, me included, are very much aesthetes: yes, certainly we see a huge number of naked women  -  stunningly beautiful, just beautiful , and not very beautiful. but I think it's very bad sexually to desire your patient.

Sexual desire has no right to exist when we are talking about doctor-patient relations. [ Mr Matrosov is himself married.] The most- seduced medics are married surgeons aged 40 and older, all very successful in their careers.

I think it's not simply the mid-age crisis. Their consultations take a relaxed and informal tone, and bit by bit the line where medicine ends and romance starts gets erased.

Then the romance is over and suddenly everyone remembers who they are  -  but by then it is mixed up with offence, jealousy, pain and wish to revenge.

THEIR FEET SMELL

In Russia, hospitals expect women to bring their own clean socks. Sadly the same is not true in Britain. Sometimes, the stench is so bad we have to stop work and open all the windows.

You can't tell a woman: 'Wash your feet, darling.' It might cause a court case and the English would see it as a rude intrusion into their privacy.

EVEN IN GYNAECOLOGY THERE'S A DEFINITE CLASS SYSTEM

Britain is a socially divided country, and each class has its own gynaecological problem.

High society girls quite often seek cosmetic surgery on their vagina, while those from the working class complain about painful periods and ask to 'get rid of them ever'.

We also get girls from the Middle East who came to study in Britain, and before going home need virginity-restoring operations. course, sexually transmitted infections hit everyone.

Belonging to high society doesn't guarantee a husband's fidelity and monogamy, especially given an inflow of extremely beautiful and very friendly East European girls.

A real problem we have in Britain is with chlamydia, which causes sterility. And there are a great many unwanted pregnancies - despite the fact that in England you can get contraceptives for free.

DANGEROUS OBSESSION WITH 'NATURAL' BIRTH

Do you want to know what this obstetrician goes through when working? 'Mr Matrosov,' says a nurse.

'The foetal heart rate is still at 60 per minute.' The monitors beep in the operating theatre; an emergency team is on standby.

Finally, that stupid patient gave her agreement for an emergency Caesarean. She deigned to concede.

Never mind that we actually should have performed it an hour ago when her poor baby had the best chances of being rescued.

'Mrs W, please sign the consent form. After you do it, the baby will be born within several minutes. Thank you.'

Just why do I feel so angry with her? It is her baby: she is responsible for him, not me. It's her baby who could die, not mine. I'm simply a doctor.

But in her determination to give birth naturally, this woman completely lost logic and common sense.

I told her: 'Go, go, go for the emergency Caesarean.' I gave her five minutes to think, then five more minutes, then half an hour. 'Up to you, Mrs W. While you ponder, your baby could be dying.'

I don't shout at you because I do not have the right . . .

We were lucky this time [the baby was delivered safely]  -  which is great. But I am going to ask Judith (another doctor) to talk to the patient's family  -  I can't face them.
[In Russia, senior doctors would have greater autonomy over such decisions.]

CLASS SYSTEM, PART 2

Rebecca came to our emergency ward straight from Ascot. I've never been to Ascot myself, but I gather this is the place to see the creme de la creme of society, particularly the charming English ladies with their extraordinary hats.

Rebecca, six weeks pregnant, felt ill after the first race, and her caring husband James brought her straight to the hospital where I was working.

She looked so out of place in her cream dress in the emergency gynaecology ward.

'I'm going to be sick right now,' she announced. I picked up a beige sick bag and placed it in front of Rebecca. The bag was almost full when I glanced at it again and felt my stomach sink. I saw an ostrich feather sticking out of the sick bag.

Accidentally, I'd passed Rebecca her own hat  -  undoubtedly worth a quarter of my monthly salary.

Feeling like an idiot, I apologised. She reacted like a true lady: 'Thank you, Mr Matrosov. I feel much better now. Please do keep the hat.'

  • While the Mail knows Mr Matrosov's real identity, we have given him a pseudonym to protect patient confidentiality.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1288496/British-women-fall-love-doctors-bear-pain--candid-views-Russian-gynaecologist.html#ixzz0rZV4MmvM
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Saturday, June 19, 2010

Utah firing squad executes man convicted of fatal 1985 courthouse shooting

 

 

Image: Ronnie Lee Gardner

Trent Nelson / AP

Ronnie Lee Gardner raises his restrained hand as he is sworn in before speaking at his commutation hearing at the Utah State Prison in Draper, Utah. Next to him is his attorney Andrew Parnes. Ronnie Lee Gardner was executed by firing squad after midnight Thursday.


Utah killer executed by firing squad

SALT LAKE CITY - Death row inmate Ronnie Lee Gardner died in a barrage of bullets early Friday as Utah carried out its first firing squad execution in 14 years.
Shortly before the shooting, Gardner was strapped into a chair and a team of five marksmen aimed their guns at a white target pinned to his chest.
He was pronounced dead at 12:20 a.m.
Utah adopted lethal injection as the default execution method in 2004, but Gardner was one still allowed to choose the controversial firing squad option because he was sentenced before the law changed. He told his lawyer he did it because he preferred it — not because he wanted the controversy surrounding the execution to draw attention to his case or embarrass the state.
Some decried the execution as barbaric, and about two dozen members of Gardner's family held a vigil outside the prison as he was shot. There were no protests at the prison.
The executioners were all certified police officers who volunteered for the task and remain anonymous. They stood about 25 feet from Gardner, behind a wall cut with a gunport, and were armed with a matched set of .30-caliber Winchester rifles. One was loaded with a blank so no one knows who fired the fatal shot. Sandbags stacked behind Gardner's chair kept the bullets from ricocheting around the cinderblock room.

Gardner was sentenced to death for a 1985 capital murder conviction stemming from the fatal courthouse shooting of attorney Michael Burdell during a failed escape attempt. He was at the Salt Lake City court facing a 1984 murder charge in the shooting death of a bartender.

Last-minute appeals fail
A flurry of last-minute appeals and requests for stays were rejected Thursday by the U.S. Supreme Court, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and Gov. Gary Herbert.

Maria Sharapova

Statuesque tennis star Maria Sharapova adds extra inches in a pair of killer heels at pre-Wimbledon party

It is six years since she first stunned the tennis world by winning Wimbledon as a teenager.

But while her world ranking may have dropped since then, the blonde Russian made sure she still towered over rivals - including defending champion Serena Williams - on Thursday night.

Maria Sharapova is a leggy six feet two inches high.

Maria Sharapova

Maria Sharapova

Walking tall: Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova got an extra boost from a pair of killer peep-toe heels at the pre-Wimbledon party held in London on Thursday night

However, the extra inches provided by her high heels at the pre-Wimbledon party at Kensington Roof Gardens in central London made her statuesque.

Miss Sharapova – who has been voted the sexiest woman on the tennis circuit – has failed to win Wimbledon again since her 2004 triumph.

And, after a series of injuries, she will start this year’s tournament on Monday as the lowly No16 seed.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1287784/Statuesque-tennis-star-Maria-Sharapova-adds-extra-inches-pair-killer-heels-pre-Wimbledon-party.html#ixzz0rJCBdzKX

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Geri Halliwell

 

At 37 years old, Geri Halliwell shows she still looks good in a bikini.

The former Spice Girl was pictured relaxing in the south of France with boyfriend Henry Beckwith and her four-year-old daughter Bluebell.

Geri, who was recently a guest judge for the X Factor auditions in Glasgow, was wearing a white two-piece, teamed with a sheer asymmetrical top which gave a tantalising glimpse of her toned torso.

Geri Halliwell

Spicing up the south of France: Geri Halliwell tops up her tan, seen here looking great in a white bikini and asymmetrical sheer top

She was pictured earlier today topping up her tan on the beach in Saint Jean Cap Ferrat, before enjoying a speedboat ride with her daughter, Henry and another friend.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1287770/Geri-Halliwell-definitely-X-Factor-slips-white-bikini-south-France-holiday.html#ixzz0rICSZG25

Anjali Mendes passes away

 

anjali-pg1B.jpg

Modelling world stunned by death of first Indian supermodel and Pierre Cardin muse
The modelling world in Mumbai woke up to depressing news yesterday even as the skies turned dark grey and weepy. Anjali Phyllis Mendes, the first dark-skinned model to grace the Parisian ramp and become Pierre Cardin’s muse, had passed away. She was 64, and India’s first supermodel on the international stage, a tall and dark Goan girl with long legs who opened fashion shows and walked the ramp with models including Shobha Rajadhyaksha — now Shobhaa De, and Zeenat Aman.
On a whim, in June 1971, taking the money she had made on an assignment with Shobhaa, Anjali flew to Paris on a one-way ticket. “She had an extreme sense of adventure,” said Shobhaa yesterday, “and she went at a time when black models didn’t exist and she was considered black. There was no question of her coming back. Dressed in a saree, she staged a dharna at Pierre Cardon’s salon and demanded to see him, sitting eight hours without food and water until the great designer condescended to giving her an audience... and instantly a role as his house model! She had made it. Cardin cut his couture collection on Anjali for 20 years. She was the toast of not just Paris, but all of Europe, but she had her own desiness... she remained a Goan girl who served Goan meals with French champagne at home.”
Anjali, who returned to her roots periodically, was in India (especially Mumbai, where she had friends, and Goa, where she had family), only last month. She had come to recuperate after moving home from Paris to Provence... where she had what she described as a chateau. It was at this chateau that Anjali passed away after falling suddenly ill and being rushed to hospital with a low white blood cell count on Thursday. In an interview to The Times of India in 2004, she had said, “I am an ugly duckling who transformed into a swan on her own. I have proved all that I had to prove to myself and there are no regrets. Focussing on yesterday and tomorrow serves no purpose. I always live for the present.”

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Highly Difficult: How millions have bought a high definition TV... but don't have a clue how to make it work

 

Millions of Britons mistakenly think they are watching high definition television even though they aren't using the right equipment

Millions of Britons mistakenly think they are watching high definition television even though they aren't using the right equipment

Millions of Britons mistakenly think they are watching high definition television even though they aren't using the right equipment, a study has found.

Despite spending an average of £500 on flat-screen 'HD-ready' TVs, many viewers do not realise they also need a special set-top box or a Blu-ray DVD player to unlock the ultra-sharp pictures.

More than 6million are unwittingly missing out on the high definition revolution, the figures from the British Video Association (BVA) suggest.

The research, based on a poll of 9,500 viewers, showed that 30 per cent thought they could watch high definition programmes or Blu-ray discs at home.

It then revealed, however, that almost half of those who believed they were watching in HD had not actually connected the necessary player or set-top box.

It is thought that more than 55 per cent of UK households have invested in an HD-ready television. Prices start at around £300 for a 32in screen, but can rise to more than £1,000.

In order to watch high definition programmes, viewers need to sign up with a provider such as Sky or Virgin or buy a Freeview or Freesat set-top box.

BVA spokesman Simon Heller said: 'In the run-up to the World Cup even more people will be looking to invest in HD, but they need to be aware that a high-definition television alone does not mean that they are watching content in high definition.'

There are currently three HD channels available to Freesat viewers, three for Freeview viewers, 41 for Sky Digital customers and 12 available via Virgin Media.

graphic

Football fans will be able to watch almost every World Cup match in the format this summer after ITV launched ITV1 HD. The BBC already has its own BBC HD channel and uses its 'red button' technology to show sports in HD.

Many TV shows, such as the BBC's Robin Hood, paved the way for dramas to be filmed in HD.

But Mr Heller added: 'Many people don't realise that until you sign up to a provider you won't actually be watching HD.'

Even if you do buy an HD-ready TV and manage to connect it successfully, however, the next big thing in TV technology is set to be 3D.

Manufacturers are expected to release 3D models later this year.

Three elements will be required to watch: a 3D-ready TV, 3D glasses, and 3D content.

Sky is preparing to launch the UK's first 3D channel.

In order to watch high definition programmes, viewers need to sign up with a provider such as Sky or Virgin or buy a Freeview or Freesat set-top box

In order to watch high definition programmes, viewers need to sign up with a provider such as Sky or Virgin or buy a Freeview or Freesat set-top box

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1264671/HD-TV-How-millions-dont-clue-make-work-properly.html#ixzz0qiiNUDmh

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Saturday, June 12, 2010

Katy Perry shows why she's got the X Factor in her thigh-grazing mini dress

 

With a wedding to plan, a new album to promote and a judging role on the X Factor, Katy Perry is one busy lady.

But Russell Brand's fiancée still found time to make several costume changes in Paris yesterday during her busy day promoting her new single California Gurls.

After starting off the day in a feminine pink dress for a shopping excursion, the 25-year-old then changed into a thigh-grazing black and white mini-dress.

Thigh's the limit: Katy Perry leaves her hotel in Paris in a thigh-grazing black and white mini dress yesterday

Thigh's the limit: Katy Perry leaves her hotel in Paris in a thigh-grazing black and white mini dress yesterday

Thigh's the limit: Katy Perry leaves her hotel in Paris in a thigh-grazing black and white mini dress yesterday

Perry slipped into the tight-fitting dress for her appearance on French TV show Le Grand Journal, before heading back to London later that evening to prepare for her X Factor role.

Talent show bosses confirmed on Friday that Perry would be one of the four celebrity judges standing in for Dannii Minogue, who is in Australia preparing for the birth of her first child next month.

Geri Halliwell has already presided over the Glasgow auditions, Natalie Imbruglia will step in at Birmingham this weekend, with Pixie Lott and Perry expected at either the Dublin, Cardiff or Manchester auditions later this month or in early July.

Bringing sexy back: Perry's tight dress left little to the imagination

Bringing sexy back: Perry's tight dress left little to the imagination

Earlier on Friday, Perry looked unusually girlie in her pink dress and purple Christian Louboutin heels as she did a spot of shopping and was interviewed on the NRJ radio station,

After flying to the city after performing on Germany's Next Top Model on Thursday night in Cologne, Perry could have been forgiven for being too tired to go shopping

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1285971/Katy-Perry-shows-shes-got-X-Factor-thigh-grazing-mini-dress.html#ixzz0qeek2ORk

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Teenage son of former Tory MP dies after 'opium binge' on the Indian hippy trail in Manali

 

The teenage son of a former Tory MP has died from a suspected drugs overdose in India.

Adam Coombs was found dead in Manali, a remote Himalayan hill town on the hippy trail and notorious for its parties and drugs scene. Indian police said the 19-year-old had 'consumed a heavy dose of opium'.

He was found dead in his bed by his travelling companion Ross Taylor, also 19. They had been pupils together at £27,000-a-year Bryanston school in Dorset.

Adam Coombs

Derek Coombs

Drug death: Adam's father, Derek Coombs (right), was a Tory MP and successful businessman

In a statement, Ross told police: 'Me and Adam went for a late-night stroll in the valley where we took opium.

'Although I took a little bit, Adam smoked heavily. Later in the night we went back toward the guest house and went to sleep immediately.

'At around 3pm the next day I woke up and found Adam sleeping. I tried to wake him up and found that his body was cold.'

Indian investigators said Ross took his friend to the town's mission hospital where doctors declared him dead.

The two teenagers had left Bryanston last year. It is one of the country's leading private schools and former pupils include Sir Terence Conran, Lucian Freud and Ben Fogle.

Adam's parents – Derek, 78, and his second wife Jennifer, 56 – are said to be distraught. A successful businessman, Mr Coombs was MP for Birmingham Yardley in the 1970s.

Orchard guest house

Hippy trail: Adam was staying at the Orchard guest house when he died on May 28

He helped launch Prospect magazine in 1995, pumping £350,000 into the venture, and once tried to buy the New Statesman. In the 2004 Sunday Times Rich List, his fortune was put at £52million.

The family home is a spectacular 17th century manor house near Bryanston.

Adam had met up with Ross, a talented cricket and rugby player, in Manali on their gap year travels.

The pair were staying at the Orchard guest house there when Adam died on May 28.

K.K. Indori, the district police chief, said: 'We didn't find any injury marks on his body.

'He died due to an overdose of opium.'

A post-mortem examination has been carried out but the Indian inquest proceedings may take several months.

Adam's body was flown back to the UK earlier this month.

Mr and Mrs Coombs and Adam's 22-year-old brother Jack released a statement last night, saying: 'Adam had just finished several weeks teaching in a local school and was due to travel south to Delhi to join friends.

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'He was staying in a hostel in Manali on May 27, and was found dead in the morning. He effectively went to sleep and never woke up.

'He will be dreadfully missed by his family and friends.'

David Goodhart, a friend speaking on behalf of the family, said last night that various medicines Adam had obtained from an Indian hospital may have led to his death.

Asked about reports that Adam took opium, Mr Goodhart said: 'The family have heard that rumour. As far as they are concerned that's all it is – a rumour.

'Adam was a very, very popular lad. He was going to go to Manchester University to study philosophy. The whole thing is a terrible tragedy.'

Another family friend said: 'Jennifer has been completely broken by this.'

A spokesman for Bryanston School said: 'Staff and students were very saddened to hear news of the untimely death of Adam Coombs, a former student of the school.

'Although he left the school last summer to spend a gap year in India before going to university, Adam is fondly remembered as a popular and talented student who had a very promising future.

'It is a tragedy he should lose his life at such a young age and, naturally, our thoughts and prayers are with all members of his family and his friends.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1285982/Teenage-son-Tory-MP-dies-opium-binge-Indian-hippy-trail.html#ixzz0qed7jubb

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Pamela Anderson tries the natural look... but it doesn't suit her

 

Age catches up with us all - even Pamela Anderson, who was showing the full effects of her years of tanning, and the ravages of time, last night in Los Angeles.

Anderson looked much older than her 42-years as she posed for the cameras at the Bravada Woman's Athletica Grand Opening.

Pamela Anderson

Au natural: Pamela Anderson looked more haggard than hot last night in Los Angeles

With her leathery looking skin and deep furrowed brow Pam was a far cry from her prime days as a Baywatch babe and Playboy pin up.

Anderson has revealed in the past that she has no skincare regime and that amazingly she never uses sunscreen, despite living in California, one of the most sun drenched places in the world.

Pam Anderson

Pam Anderson

Toned and Trim: Despite being the mother of two teenage boys Pam has managed to keep her figure

In an interview with Elle magazine last year Anderson said: 'What does it take to look like me? Not much.' Going on to confess: 'I don't wear sunscreen. I don't have a skincare programme.'

As well as the inevitable sun damage taking it's toll it could be that Anderson's hard partying lifestyle is finally catching up with her and erasing her once fresh faced good looks. The actress is often spotted at Hollywood parties in various states of disarray, clutching a glass of champagne.

Pam Anderson

Barefaced and brave: Pam was also seen padding around Malibu barefaced earlier this week

Anderson is also dealing with the stress of severe financial problems. She lives in a trailer park, albeit an upscale one in Malibu, and is battling a slew of lawsuits for unpaid bills, as well as substantial tax debt.

Despite being a mother  of two Anderson has managed to keep her enviable figure though - she still looked toned and trim, even if a little surgically enhanced, in her clingy silver playsuit.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1285793/Pamela-Anderson-tries-natural-look--doesnt-suit-her.html#ixzz0qecYSP4K

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Big B back to hosting KBC season four

 


/photo.cms?msid=6040722 The big news in Indian television is that Amitabh Bachchan is back as the host of Kaun Banega Crorepati . This will be the fourth season of this very popular show which is based on the UK game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
The fourth season will go on air by the end of this year. However, the broadcaster will not remain the same. “The show will now be aired on a different channel,” says a top source from the TV industry.
Kaun Banega Crorepati was Bachchan’s first appearance on Indian television in 2001. In 2005, the show’s second season was called Kaun Banega Crorepati Dwitiya in which the final prize amount was doubled to Rs 2 crore. However, the second season was abruptly stopped when Bachchan fell ill in 2006. Bachchan announced he would return as soon as he recovered, but it was Shah Rukh Khan who finally hosted the show in 2007.
Anil Kapoor was also being considered to play the host in the forthcoming season. However, most well-wishers of the channel insisted that Bachchan should be brought back.
Elaborating on why Bachchan is being brought back to the show, our source says, “Both, Bachchan and Shah Rukh, respectively brought their distinct individuality on the table, but frankly speaking, Shah Rukh’s histrionics did not do go down well with the audience. There was a vast difference in the TRPs between the two seasons hosted by Bachchan and the third season hosted by Shah Rukh.”
It may be recalled that the hysteria, which prevailed during Amitabh’s stint in Kaun Banega Crorepati, remains unparalleled on Indian television. Dinner time at most homes was changed to either before or after Kaun Banega Crorepati went on air. Mondays to Thursdays, cinema halls reported a slump in night show bookings because everybody was busy watching Kaun Banega Crorepati in their homes. Reportedly, a theatre owner in Delhi, who knew Bachchan, had even written to him to change the timing of the show.
We sent a text message to Bachchan but he did not revert. The channel too chose to remain quiet. “An official announcement will be made very soon,” adds the source.

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Thursday, June 10, 2010

Irretrievable breakdown of marriage made ground for divorce

Indian Parliament Building Delhi India

Image via Wikipedia

 

Union Cabinet on Thursday approved an amendment in the Hindu Marriage Act 1955 and Special Marriage Act 1954.

Talking to reporters after meeting, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni said that this amendment provides for divorce of a couple in case of irretrievable differences.

"This will have to be carried out with mutual consent and will help reduce the harassment," she added.

The Bill would provide safeguards to parties to marriage who file petition for grant of divorce by consent from the harassment in court if any of the party does not come to the court or wilfully avoids the court to keep the divorce proceedings inconclusive.

At present, various grounds for dissolution of marriage by a decree of divorce are laid down in section 13 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955.

The grounds inter alia include adultery, cruelty, desertion, conversion to another religion, unsoundness of mind, renouncement of the world and not heard as being alive for a period of seven years or more.

Section 27 of the Special Marriage Act, 1954 also lays down similar grounds. (ANI)

http://sify.com/news/cabinet-approves-amendment-to-hindu-marriage-act-on-divorce-news-national-kgkqkefghcc.html

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