Thursday, January 20, 2011

Megan Fox stops traffic in little more than lingerie and tattoos....

A sizzling Megan Fox turns up the heat in a new traffic stopping underwear advert for Armani

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 10:26 PM on 20th January 2011

She is widely considered to be one of the most beautiful women in the world.

And Megan Fox has just done a little bit more to cement that reputation.

The 24-year-old actress poses provocatively in a brand new advertisement for Giorgio Armani jeans and underwear.

Dare to bare: Megan Fox shows off her tattoos in a pair of Armani jeans in a new advertising campaign

Giorgio's girl: Megan Fox shows off her curvy figure while reclining on a battered leather couch

Reclining on a battered leather couch, the star shows off her curvy figure in a black lacy two piece.

In another sizzling photograph, the star shows off the tattoos on her bare back as she poses in just a pair of Armani jeans.

The script on her shoulder, from Shakespeare's King Lear reads: 'We will all laugh at gilded butterflies.

Dare to bare: Megan Fox shows off her tattoos in a pair of Armani jeans in a new advert

Pretty in pink: Megan glammed up for the Golden Globes ceremony in Beverly Hills on Sunday

And another tattoo on her ribs reads: 'Those who danced were thought to be quite insane by those who could not hear the music.'

The shoot will form part of the spring 2011 campaign and will be appearing on billboards from next month.

Tennis ace Rafal Nadal also features in the campaign for the designer's jeans wear range, with a picture which shows off his toned torso.

He replaces Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo, who was the face of Armani men's underwear.

Megan this week looked stunning in a pale pink shimmering Armani Privé gown as she attended the Golden Globes awards with husband Brian Austin Green.

But her career in modelling seems to be a little more successful than her recent acting efforts.

Her latest film Jonah Hex flopped at the box office, while 2009 indie flick Jennifer's Body didn't do much better.

Meanwhile, Passion Play, a film starring Mickey Rourke and Bill Murray had its release date delayed after it premiered to negative reviews at the Toronto Film Festival last year.

She has two new films lined up - Friends With Kids, alongside Jon Hamm and Kristen Wiig - and crime thriller The Crossing.

Aussies go for plonk over the amber nectar....

Australians turn away from beer as wine threatens to overtake sales.

It would appall the likes of Sir Les Patterson but Australia's status as a beer guzzling nation is at threat as drinkers Down Under choose wine over the traditional "amber nectar".

By Fiona Govan 2:27PM GMT 20 Jan 2011

Comment

The stereotypical image of a rugged Australian cracking open a tinny in the outback could soon be a thing of the past with wine sales Down Under set to overtake beer within a decade.

The consumption of beer has dropped by almost half to its lowest level in 50 years while wine sales have increased three fold during the same period, a report compiled by the Australian Bureau of Statistics has shown.

"Over the past 50 years, the level of apparent consumption of different alcoholic beverages has changed substantially," concluded the report, entitled "No Longer a Nation of Beer Drinkers".

It found beer accounted for just 44 per cent of all alcohol consumed by Australians in the 2008-2009 financial year down from a peak of 76 per cent in 1960-61.

Statistics suggest that in the year ending June 2009 Australians drank 107 litres of beer per adult - an average of 3. 6 pints a week - down from 190 litres or 6,4 pints a week on average, 50 years ago.

Wine consumption has increased threefold over the same time, from 12 to 36 per cent, a fact attributed to the growth of the Australian wine industry, an increasing sophistication in the palates of Australians and a rise in the number of women drinkers, who generally prefer wine to beer.

Savanth Sebastian, an economist with CommSec, said the death knell had sounded for the stereotypical beer-swilling Aussie.

"We are seeing a shift from beer to wine. If the trend continues, in the next decade wine will pass beer," he said.

Cultural exports such as Sir Lesley Patterson, the foul mouthed character portrayed by Barry Humphries have reinforced Australia's reputation as a nation of lager lovers.

Australian cricketer David Boon, who legend has it, once consumed 52 cans of lager on a flight between Sydney and London.

More feminine, less aggressive, higher promotion...

Secret of successful women is femininity: Those with aggressive approach less likely to win promotion

By FIONA MACRAE
Last updated at 8:31 AM on 20th January 2011

Women who want to succeed at work should resist the temptation to act like men, scientists said yesterday.

Their studies show that women who take an aggressive approach are often less likely to get ahead than those who exhibit more feminine traits.

If however, they try to conform, promotion comes their way.

Stepping stone: Studies show that assertive women are often less likely to get ahead at work than those who exhibit more feminine traits

The findings, which will dismay feminists, suggest the best way for a woman to succeed in a man’s world is to act like a lady.

They tally with past research that showed women oozing with self-confidence, assertiveness and other characteristics linked with successful management can be side-lined at work in favour of meeker types.

It is thought that while such traits are highly-prized in men, go-getting women are penalised for not being feminine enough and are seen as less likeable.

The study asked 80 young men and women about their personality while they studied for a master’s degree in business administration.

Eight years later, the researchers got back in touch to find out how their careers were progressing and found that ‘macho’ women who took an aggressive approach had been promoted less than more feminine sorts.

The bossy women who made a conscious effort not to appear too threatening by ‘self-monitoring’ their behaviour had done better than those who had carried on regardless.

Some had been promoted five times, others just once or twice, a journal published by the British Psychological Society reports. Self-awareness – or the lack of it – did not affect the fledgling careers of men, the research from George Mason University in Virginia found.

A previous U.S. study found that pushy women job applicants were the least likely candidates to be employed.

Dr Olivia O’Neill, who carried out the latest piece of research, advises assertive women to pick and choose when to be forceful.

She said: ‘If they are seen to behave in a stereotypically male way, they may damage their chances of promotion, even if these traits are synonymous with successful managers.’

Thincrust pizza not always the healthiest...

How the thinnest pizzas are sometimes the unhealthiest

By SEAN POULTER
Last updated at 12:03 PM on 20th January 2011

Thin crusts are not necessarily a healthier option when it comes to pizzas.

Seemingly indulgent deep pan alternatives offered by supermarkets and takeaway firms can in fact contain less fat or salt, a survey of cheese and pepperoni pizzas shows.

So, for example, Tesco’s Italian Romana Margherita – with an ‘ultra thin’ base – contains twice as much fat per 100g as the store’s Trattoria Verdi Deep Pan Cheese pizza.

Thin end of the wedge: Although thin crust pizzas may appear healthier than their deep crust cousins, their toppings can be saturated in fat and salt

Perhaps surprisingly, frozen pizzas also tend to be healthier than supermarkets’ fresh ones, the researchers found.

The most calories in a store’s cheese and tomato pizza are found in a Tesco fresh Cheese Feast deep crust pizza – at 310 per 100g.

This is 57 per cent more than the 197 in a Waitrose frozen Organic Thin and Crispy Italian Stonebake Margherita.

The findings come from consumer experts at Which?, who want clear labelling on supermarkets’ packaging and takeaway firms’ websites to help pizza-lovers choose healthy options.

They also found that a Dr Oetker’s Chicago Town Edge to Edge Thin & Crispy California Cheese pizza contains more fat than any similar product, including those from Domino’s and Pizza Hut. It delivers an artery-clogging 15.9g of fat per 100g.

But the unhealthiest overall is a takeaway meat pizza from Domino’s. Its Pepperoni Passion Thin Crust has 356 calories and 19.1g of fat per 100g.

A Which? spokesman said: ‘We found an enormous and often unrealistic range of portion sizes and different front-of-pack nutrition labelling schemes – even by the same manufacturer – making it very difficult to compare products.’

Million-to-one moment 3 greyhounds all win by a nose....

Everyone's a winner: The 'millions-to-one moment three greyhounds all won by a nose

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 2:00 PM on 20th January 2011

Neck and neck - and neck! Three dogs race over the line at exactly the same moment to finish in a triple dead heat, beating odds of 'millions to one'.

Killishan Masai, Ayamzagirl and Droopys Djokovic were declared joint winners last night when even the photo finish technology at the Romford track in Essex couldn't split them.

This meant that bookies had to pay out to anyone who put a bet on one of the individual dogs. The odds for which were: in Trap 1, Killishan Masai at 4-1; in Trap 5, Ayamzagirl at 4-1; and Trap 2, Droopys Djokovic, at 12-1.

Bookmakers Coral estimated that 100,000 people placed a bet on the 8.50pm race at Romford Greyhound Stadium with about half of them getting a payout.

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even stevens: doggy trio hit the finish line together

Neck, neck and .. neck: From top, Killishin Masai, Droopys Djokovic and Ayamzagirl hit the finish line together

Made it! Crossing the finishing line, Left to right: Ayamzagirl, Droopys Djokovic and Killishin Masai cross the winning line in unison as they complete the gruelling 3,000ft race in Romford

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not a hare between them: the three snouts line up

Now, where's the hare? The three snouts line up as they cross the line

Although around £500,000 was paid out in total, bookies did not end up paying out any more than usual because the system pays out smaller amounts when there are more winners.

The £500 winner's prize was shared equally between the three dog-owners.

The greyhounds were competing on Coronation Cup Finals Night in the Coralcasino.com stakes over 3,000ft, the maximum length for a greyhound race.

When the remarkable result was announced, a huge cheer went up from the crowd.

A spokesman for bookmaker's Coral said the odds of it happening were 'many millions to one'.

'Nobody at Romford can remember a triple dead heat ever happening in a greyhound race before,' said spokesman Simon Clare.

'The odds on it happening are many millions to one. It would be like winning the national lottery and then getting struck by lightning minutes later.'

Head of racing at William Hill, Kate Miller, said that the odds against a triple tie at this level of dog racing were more than a million to one.

'It does happen at the lower level of greyhound racing about once every five years but that's where the dogs are graded and therefore racing against similar abilities; in the higher levels like this televised race, there are more variables between the dogs and so dead-heats are much more rare.'

Bookmaker Dougie Tyler Junior, who has been watching greyhound racing for 45 years, said: 'I've never been witness to a triple dead heat before, it's amazing.'

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Crocodile found in luggage... - Poland

Excuse me sir - is that a crocodile in your luggage?

Stumped customs officials in Poland have confiscated a three-foot-long stuffed crocodile - after discovering it in a passenger's luggage.

Related Tags:: Poland; crocodile; Vietnam; luggage; customs

Customs officials in Poland have confiscated a three-foot-long (stuffed) crocodile (Picture: CEN)

Under EU law it's illegal to transport the remains of protected species without official paperwork.

But the 19-year-old passenger - travelling from Vietnam to the Ukraine - claimed the beast was in transit and from and to countries outside EU jurisdiction.

'Prosecutors are deciding if any laws were breached and if they weren't he can have his crocodile back. It seems a lot of trouble for something that is very nearly luggage itself,' said one customs official in Warsaw.

Police officer busted wearing bra, G-string and high heels-Australia

Cross-dressing policeman Peter Karras caught out by officers

From:The Daily Telegraph
January 19, 2011 12:00AM

Constable Peter Karras was caught wearing a black bra, G-string and high heels

Off-duty officer busted wearing lingerie
Policeman committed indecent act in car
Gun, uniform sat on backseat of car

A CROSS-dressing police officer was caught alone in his car in a black ladies G-string, bra and six-inch high heels while committing an "offensive act", a court heard yesterday.

With his uniform on the back seat, off-duty constable Peter Karras, 51, of Green Valley, thought a dark and secluded Punchbowl street, in western Sydney, was the perfect place to put on women's clothing and touch himself.

But two officers patrolling the area spotted Karras about 10.40pm.

Documents tendered to Burwood Local Court yesterday revealed Karras was wearing a black ladies G-string that exposed his penis, as well as a black bra, several gold necklaces and matching bracelets and six-inch high heels.

The officers also found his police uniform and police-issued gun belt on the back seat of his car, the court heard.

Karras was charged with behaving in an offensive manner in a public place and pleaded guilty in Burwood Local Court yesterday.

The Quirky Globe

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