Russian MPs 'banned from wearing miniskirts'

Russian MPs and their aides will soon have to follow a new ethics code forbidding miniskirts and indiscreet behaviour that may tarnish the image of parliament, a report said on Friday.

State Duma members like former rhythmic gymnast, Alina Kabaeva, will be accountable to the Code of Ethics Photo: ALAMY

11:45PM GMT 25 Mar 2011

The so-called Code of Ethics impacts everyone working in the State Duma, Russia's lower house of parliament, including deputies and their staff members, the Moskovsky Komsomolets daily said.

The code recommends a "business style marked by formality, restraint, tradition, and neatness", which might spell the end of miniskirts and low-cut blouses for many parliamentary assistants, the paper quipped.

Duma workers will also have to minimise contact with journalists, directing all work-related questions to the press service, though in a "polite" manner, the paper said.

And when speaking to each other, they will have to refrain from all "rudeness" and "arrogance", the guidelines prepared on the orders of the president's anti-corruption committee said.

The Russian Duma was infamous for loud arguments and even fist fights during its raucous sessions in the 1990s, although the chamber has now lost much of its spark, with many deputies failing to show up for regular session.

Teenglish App so that older generation can understand the kidz...

'Teenglish' dictionary on your mobile phone: New app will help older generation translate slang

By PAUL SIMS
Last updated at 2:50 AM on 26th March 2011

Can't understand da kidz? A new mobile phone application may help

For those older peeps in the fam who want to know what da kidz in their endz are thinking, a sick new app may just hold the key, innit.

In an effort to narrow the generation gap, over-50s group Saga is to launch a mobile phone application to translate  teenagers’ slang.

The ‘Woteva’ app, which will be available by the end of summer, will translate 100 words or phrases.

It has been designed to help parents and grandparents stay in touch with youngsters and will be free to download to any smartphone, such as the iPhone, or similar hand-held device.

Among the translations are peeps, or people; fam, or family; endz, or neighbourhood; and sick, or good.

Dr Ros Altmann, director- general of Saga, said: ‘To some  parents and grandparents, it can feel that the next generation has a language of its own.

‘A translator seems like the obvious solution to prevent the generational gap from widening.

‘This app will provide people with the opportunity to stay connected with youngsters, and nurture relationships across generations.’

She added: ‘In our estimation around 5 per cent of all words currently in use in the English language are completely alien and indecipherable to people born before the 1960s.’

 

The app offers the same service as an online dictionary dedicated to ‘teenglish’ – teenage English – which was launched in 2008.

The charity Parentline Plus spent months talking to parents and teenagers about the  latest slang before creating  gotateenager.org.uk

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1370137/Teenglish-dictionary-mobile-phone-New-app-help-older-generation-translate-slang.html#ixzz1Hi8iLkUN

Ear's a bargain!!! £700 is illogical captain...but true

£700 for a plastic ear? That, is illogical captain. Spock prop from Star Trek to go under the hammer

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 7:26 AM on 26th March 2011

Star trick: Actor Leonard Nimoy wore false ears to create the character of Vulcan Mr Spock

It may seem completely illogical, but fans of the smash Sixties television show Star Trek are expected to fork out hundreds of pounds for a single piece of memorabilia from the franchise.  

For a false ear worn by key character Mr Spock in the first Star Trek feature film has come up for sale - and is expected to fetch a staggering £700.

The silicone latex auricle with its famous pointed end has been carefully preserved, and now Trekkies - as fans of the hit show are known - are queuing up to buy it.

Mr Spock was played by actor Leonard Nimoy, who served aboard the USS Enterprise in the sci-fi drama. He reprised the role in a number of feature films, kicking off with 1979's Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

Because the Spock character was half human and half Vulcan, Spock he had an odd appearance, with distinctive ears and eyebrows. 

He was also a perfectly rational creature and his well-worn phrase, 'That, is illogical captain', has become one of the most recognised lines of script in television history.

The fake ear now up for sale was worn by Mr Nimoy in the first Star Trek film and is being auctioned in Los Angeles by Premiere Props.

What's the point? Auctioneers hope their star lot will appeal to Star Trek fans

Already, bids are flying in to the saleroom from across the world as Trekkies attempt to purchase one of the most iconic parts of the franchise.

Originally TV company NBC was concerned about Spock's satanic appearance and asked for the character to be dropped.

According to one source, NBC was worried that 'the guy with the ears' would scare impressionable American teenagers.

Dan Levin, from the auction house, said: 'This ear was kept by the prop master from the film.

'It was carefully wrapped up which is important because silicone latex can deteriorate.

'Spock's ears are an iconic part of Star Trek and fans across the world would love to own it - we've already had lots of bids.'  

The sale takes place on April 2.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1370033/700-plastic-ear-That-illogical-captain-Star-Trek-prop-expected-pull-bidders-goes-hammer.html#ixzz1Hi7EHGr6

200,000 cross 'lucky bridge' for health & happiness-China

Chinese wall of humanity: Incredible sight as 200,000 file over 'lucky bridge' to wish for health and happiness

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 2:20 PM on 25th March 2011

This is the moment hundreds of thousands of festival goers took to the Taiping Bridge in South-Western China as part of a traditional ‘bridge-treading’ event.

The event in Jushui Township, Sichuan Province, saw local residents walk along the bridge to pray for their families on the day of the Spring Sacrificial Rites.

Every year the treading over the bridge marks ‘Chunshe’, otherwise known as the Spring Folk Fair, during which locals seek happiness and health.

Around 200,000 participants gathered at the ancient Taiping Bridge to throw old clothes and coins into the water to bring them luck.

Health and happiness: Local residents in China's Sichuan Province gather at the Taiping Bridge for the Spring Sacrificial Rites festival to pray for good luck

Tradition: Around 200,000 people showed up to throw clothing and coins over the bridge in a bid for health and happiness for them and their families

Re-opened: After three years of renovation following China's earthquake, the bridge opened for people to pray during the Bridge-Treading

Chunshe has been suspended for the past two years though as the bridge needed to be strengthened following the 8.0 magnitude earthquake in Wenchuan County in 2008.

But after three years of renovation, the bridge re-opened for people to pray during the 'Bridge-Treading'.

 

Residents braved the cold weather to pile onto the bridge for their chance to throw coins over the bridge, some taking their very young children and babies with them for the family occasion.

Some dressed in traditional Chinese costumes for the parade and others decorated the bridge and neighbouring trees with colourful streamers. 

But as they threw their clothing over the bridge to seek health and happiness, the shallow river became filled with litter.

 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1369900/200-000-Chinese-locals-throw-coins-clothing-Taiping-Bridge-bid-heath-happiness.html#ixzz1HeJv7A3y

Photographer lays herself naked in NYC..

Naked ambition: Photographer lays herself bare in nude poses on the streets of NYC

By RACHEL QUIGLEY
Last updated at 5:17 PM on 25th March 2011

Photographers are often said to bare their souls through their pictures.

But Parisian Erica Simone has taken this to the next level by literally laying herself bare - she has photographed herself in nothing but her birthday suit on the streets of New York.

The 25-year-old has turned doing daily routines in the city to works of art simply by removing her clothes.

Parisian born photographer Erica Simone performs a number of everyday tasks in the buff for her new exhibition Nue York: Self-portraits of a Bare Urban Citizen

Erica goes to her local convenience store for a packet of cigarettes in the nude as part of the project which she got the idea for at Fashion Week two years ago

And Miss Simone made the daring decision to step out from behind the camera and go au naturel in a series of self-portraits taken in and around the Big Apple.

Speaking to MailOnline she said: 'At first it was like, "Can I really do this?" I was into the idea, but I didn't totally have the [nerve] to do it - I'm not totally an exhibitionist.

'But I managed to do it on my first day of shooting in the West Village and I didn't even get arrested.

'I think that was just a combination of good timing and luck, and it is not as if I just spent the whole day walking around naked. I was fully clothed until I was ready to take the shot.'

'It's not about sex. It's crazy that it's illegal to be naked. The whole process was really liberating and it made me feel freer and more comfortable in my own skin and not be ashamed of my body.'

Erica wasn't sure if she could go through with getting naked herself but managed to get five usable shots in her first day at the West Village

Once Erica got the idea for the exhibit, she decided to step out from behind the camera and do a number of self portraits in the nude, sometimes wearing only a variety of accessories, performing mundane activities

The 20 shots are part of Simone's new exhibit which opens next month at the Dash Gallery in Tribeca. She said she wanted to shoot people naked in the street doing regular things, 'not especially posing, or being naked, but doing whatever'

In the pictures, she rides the subway, checks out library books and shovels the snow on the sidewalk outside her apartment - all in the nude.

The 20 shots are part of Simone's new exhibit Nue York: Self-Portraits of a Bare Urban Citizen, which opens next month at the Dash Gallery in Tribeca.

Miss Simone said the inspiration for the exhibition came to her during Fashion Week two years ago.

She said: 'I was sitting around thinking about fashion and what would we be if we were naked and what if we didn't have fashion to show who we were, our status, how much money we had, all these things.

'Then I got the photographic idea of shooting people naked in the street, but just doing regular things, not especially posing, or being naked, but doing whatever.'

The pretty 25-year-old said she was not sure if she herself could go through with it but  was intrigued by the challenge of staging the shots - which she took using a remote sensor - and stripping down to her birthday suit.

She said the general public were very accepting of her nudity and she did not have any bad experiences while doing it.

'Most people were laughing, smiling or applauding and cheering. They seemed OK with it,' she said. 'The most challenging one was on the subway. I had to ride the whole way from West 14th Street to the end of the line to get the right shot.

'The only person I told was the guy next to me as he had to hold my coat. But by the time some people even found out about it, I was clothed again.'

Erica said the general public were very accepting of her nudity and most were applauding and cheering while she was doing it, though admitted the subway shot was the most challenging one

Miss Simone also said she has come a long way from the first shot to where she is now.

'The first few times I was so nervous and I guess innocent about everything, and yeah it was scary a bit as well,' she said.

'But now I don't care about being naked. I am more concerned about getting the shot right rather than worrying about being naked or what people in the streets are thinking.'

 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1369962/Naked-ambition-Photographer-lays-bare-nude-poses-streets-NYC.html#ixzz1HdvNEfSW

Tortoise starts New York fire

A pet tortoise sparked a fire in a New York City flat after crawling out of its tank and knocking over the terrarium's heat lamp.

Giovani the tortoise was found by a firefighter in the kitchen and rescued Photo: ALAMY

8:28PM GMT 22 Mar 2011

Giovani, a six-year-old African tortoise about the size of a football was unharmed, but one firefighter and three police officers suffered smoke inhalation during the fire in Bay Ridge Brooklyn.

Another turtle that lived in a water tank was also killed, according to the New York Post.

Fire officials said the heat lamp crashed to the floor, igniting a pile of art supplies, including thinner and paint. Within minutes, it had spread through the third floor flat. Giovani was found by one firefighter in the kitchen and was rescued.

Both the pets resided in their owner's bedroom – Mohamed Salem, 18, and his family, were not home at the time.

Naked rock climber gets stuck and rescued by emergency crews...

Naked woman, 27, rescued from cliffs after getting stuck trying to reach nudist beach

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 10:15 PM on 23rd March 2011

A naked woman had to be rescued by lifeguards yesterday after she got stuck trying to climb down cliffs to a secluded nudist beach.

She had taken off her clothes before trying to clamber 450ft down to Black's Beach, which lies in Torrey Pines State Park in San Diego, California.

But the 27-year-old  got into difficulties and found herself stranded on a ledge unable to climb back up or head down to the shoreline.

Scroll down to see a video of the rescue

Nowhere to go: A 27-year-old climber was caught on the bluffs in the buff and had to be rescued by lifeguards on Tuesday

Her blushes were saved around 15 minutes later when a mystery wellwisher spotted the woman perched precariously on the cliff face and called 911.

Officials believe a paraglider could have spotted the woman, as she could not be seen from the top of the cliff face.

When emergency crews arrived they sent down a female lifeguard with some borrowed clothes.

Catching some rays: The unnamed woman basks in the sunshine as she waits to be rescued from the cliff face

Elegant: The lifeguard kits the woman out in a safety helmet and harness before providing her with a much-needed pair of trousers

A series of photos from a video taken by Fox show the lifeguard standing over the naked woman and strapping her into a harness first, before helping her into a pair of trousers.

The woman and her rescuer were then gently lowered down to the beach - where she had thrown her clothes before starting the naked climb - using a rope pulley system.

After she got dressed she made her way gingerly back up a safe path to the top of the cliff where she had left her car. She suffered only  minor injuries, scraping both knees.

Safe at last: The woman finally gets all her clothes back on just before she gets ticketed by officers for ignoring signs and entering a restricted area

Lieutenant Greg Buchanan told NBC the woman would not be charged, but had been ticketed for disregarding signs warning about the sheer and unstable cliffs, using a path that is not a marked trail and entering a restricted area.

Officials said climbers often get stuck in Torrey Pines, but they rarely choose the path the woman tried to follow.

Lt Buchanan said: '[She got into] a spot where she really couldn’t go up, down or sideways. So that’s a little bit unusual. Beyond that, everything else was just a classic cliff rescue.

Destination: Black's Beach, in Torrey Pines State Park, is a well-known nudist beach. Laws against public nudity are not enforced along a section of the beach

But he did admit yesterday's events were rather more unusual than the 'classic' rescue.

He told NBC: 'That’s true. She is naked. But she had clothes on the cliff and so she has since retrieved her clothes and she now has her clothes back on.'

Black's Beach is popular with nudists and has been considered a 'clothing optional' spot for years, as laws against public nudity are rarely enforced.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1369065/Naked-woman-rescured-cliffs-Blacks-Beach.html#ixzz1HTvLpy6G

Naked shower protest causes car crash...

Peta holds naked shower protest in Hollywood... and causes car crash

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 2:17 AM on 24th March 2011

To be fair, it's not something you'd expect to see while driving - even in LA.

Cameras were rolling yesterday when animal rights group Peta caused a car crash during a naked shower protest.

The driver had been distracted by the beautiful, naked models soaping themselves in a makeshift shower on the side of the road. 

A tad distracting: Two nude Peta girls shower on a sidewalk in Holllywood, California in celebration of World Water Day yesterday

Bang! As a girl is interviewed in the foreground, a driver distracted by the scene crashes into the back of a white pick-up truck in the background

He ploughed his grey sedan straight into the back of a white pick-up truck at a stoplight in front of him. 

CBS cameras captured the entire incident. Fortunately the damage appeared to be minimal, and the only thing wounded seemed to be the driver's pride. 

Peta's models were baring all and showering in public to promote a vegan lifestyle.

Attention grabbing: The girls were apparently exposing meat's alleged devastating impact on the planet

Waste not want not: The models were promoting a vegan lifestyle

A similar protest was also held in London's Trafalgar Square - with Playboy models

The group claims that by giving up just one pound of meat, Americans could save up to 2,463 gallons of water.

That's six months of shower water, Peta claimed.

But the American Meat Association hit back in comments to CBS, claiming that the industry is constantly trying to find ways to economise on water.

'Sometimes, when people do these sorts of carbon-footprint analysis, the obvious answer is the opposite of what they thought it was,' spokesman Jeremy Russell told the network. 

'Water use is actually quite expensive for meat companies. There is a constant pressure, an economic pressure on them, to become more and more efficient in how they use water.'

 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1369302/Peta-holds-naked-shower-protest-Hollywood-causes-car-crash.html#ixzz1HTukqZW3