Why Optimists Prosper

Have you ever wondered why some mesos people are able to weather financial upheaval without breaking a sweat and have confidence to spare when it comes to taking risks such as starting their own business or taking a year off to travel without an enormous safety net? The answer is that they’ve mastered the art of optimistic thinking. The good news is that while some people are simply born more inclined towards optimism anyone can learn to take a more positive, proactive approach towards their money and financial life.
Optimists look for favorable outcomes
This doesn’t mean that optimists always jump in to things willy-nilly and hope for the best, rather that they do not let potential negative outcomes overshadow the potential positive outcomes. By expecting the best to happen and having faith that they can handle any negatives, optimists are in a position to take advantage of opportunities that come their way.
Of course, it would be foolish to ignore all risks but it’s also foolish to refuse to take actions that could increase your happiness and well being because you are only focused on the bad things that could happen and ignore the good.
Optimists believe that their actions can make a difference
Optimists do not see their own efforts as being futile or meaningless. They understand that they do have the power to make things happen and take steps to make their dreams a reality.
In contrast, pessimists have a difficult time believing that what they do will make any difference and find it difficult to make any changes or take any actions towards a goal. They find excuses why something that has worked for others will not work for them and believe that anything that they do is doomed to fail. This makes it difficult for them to have a healthy wow gold relationship with money or get out of situations that make them unhappy, such as a dead end job that makes them miserable.
Optimists do not internalize failure
When things don’t work out for an optimist, they don’t beat themselves up over it or conclude it’s because they are not good enough. They are able to accept failure as a part of life and try again with a positive attitude. They don’t see themselves as doomed to fail and are often better able to learn from their mistakes as they don’t see it as coming from something fixed, such as stupidity or incompetence but rather from something that they can change such as needing more education or practice.
When pessimists do take chances and fail, they have a hard time not blaming themselves and concluding that this is the way that it has to be. One defeat can leave them reluctant to try again for months and years and can buy wow gold leave them with a profound sense of being unworthy or completely at the mercy of others.
How you can become more optimistic
It’s important to realize that optimism is not a result of being too foolish to understand risks or born out of arrogance or a sign of being simple-minded. Optimists are just as intelligent and perceptive as pessimists; the difference is where they place their focus.
By making a conscious effort towards more optimistic thinking, you’ll be better able to take opportunities that have the potential to make you happy and to cope with any financial setbacks that come your way, including those that you have no control over such as a recession or natural disaster.
Here are some tips to help you think more optimistically:
Recognize that doing nothing is often as risky as taking action.
Realize that a positive outcome is just as realistic as a negative one.
Understand that your failures are not because you are flawed as a person.
Look for ways that you can take action to make your situation better.
Embrace the fact that life is an adventure.
Take comfort in knowing that even when you are in a miserable situation that you can take steps to make the future better.
Optimism is not pie in the sky thinking but rather a way of looking at the world with the knowledge that positive outcomes are a reality, that individuals can take actions to increase their own happiness and financial well being and that failing at something cheap wow gold does not make you a failure.

Naomi Campbell's saucy food

Naomi Campbell can't eat a meal mesos without Jamaican hot sauce.The British supermodel stunned onlookers at a restaurant on the Italian island of Capri when she refused to eat her dinner until she was passed her condiments.
A source at the restaurant, where she was dining with boyfriend Vladimir Doronin and actor Leonardo DiCaprio, said: "She couldn't indulge in food until her boyfriend's bodyguard brought over her own salt and pepper shakers."
However, her spokesperson confirmed: "It wasn't salt and pepper, it's her wow gold Jamaican hot sauce.
Naomi is not the only star to amaze diners with her fussy eating habits.
Earlier this year, Bono insisted on specially-prepared food when dining out at New York eatery Butter.
A source said: "He demanded that his salad be chopped. And he made sure it was when it arrived."
The 'One' singer - who was eating with his bandmate The Edge - sent staff into a panic when he asked for a specific type of bottled water not stocked by the eatery.
The source - who was seated at the next table to the rockers - added: "He wanted Perrier, which they didn't have, so a waiter actually buy wow gold ran across the street to a store and bought him a bottle."
Lady Gaga insists on taking her own cup and saucer everywhere with her and refuses to drink from anything else.
Last year, the 'Poker Face' singer was furious when she accidentally left it at the Metropolitan Hotel's restaurant in London and sent a taxi on a ￡35 round trip from her suite at Blakes Hotel to collect the blue flowered cheap wow gold china cup.

"Godfather" director Coppola to get lifetime Oscar

"Godfather" director Francis Ford Coppola is to mesos get a lifetime achievement Oscar to add to his stack of five Academy Awards, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said on Wednesday.
Coppola, 71, who also wrote and directed Vietnam War movie "Apocalypse Now" and the 1974 thriller "The Conversation", will receive the Irving Thalberg Memorial Award. It will be handed out at a dinner in November wow gold in Los Angeles, ahead of the main Oscar ceremony in February 2011.
The lifetime achievement nod is given to "a creative producer whose body of work reflects a consistently high quality of motion picture production."
Coppola won most of his five Oscars for "The Godfather" series of movies about Italian American Corleone crime family in the 1940s and 1950s.
He is also credited for launching the career of "Star Wars" creator George Lucas when he produced Lucas's first two feature buy wow gold films, "THX 1138" and "American Graffiti."
Honorary Oscars will also be handed out to legendary French director Jean-Luc Godard, whose films include "Breathless" and "The Seven Deadly Sins", character actor Eli Wallach, 94, and film historian and documentary maker Kevin Brownlow.
"Each of these honorees has touched movie audiences worldwide and influenced the motion picture industry through their work," Academy president Tom Sherak said in a statement. "It will be an honor to celebrate their extraordinary achievements and cheap wow gold contributions."

Mouse virus link to chronic fatigue is studied

A U.S. government study has uncovered mesos a family of mouse viruses in some people with chronic fatigue syndrome, raising still more questions about whether an infection may play a role in the complicated illness.
Monday's study does not prove that having any of these viruses causes harm, stressed co-author Dr. Harvey Alter of the National Institutes of Health.
But it strengthens suspicions, and the government has additional research under way to determine if the link is real or not.
Meanwhile, a group of French and Canadian scientists said it's time to test whether antiviral medications like those used against HIV might treat at least some people with chronic fatigue.
The virus connection first made headlines last fall when Nevada researchers wow gold reported finding a specific type, named XMRV, in the blood of two-thirds of the 101 chronic fatigue patients they tested. But several other studies, including one from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, failed to find XMRV virus in patients, making researchers wonder if this was a false alarm.
Monday's study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, thickens the plot. This time, NIH and Food and Drug Administration scientists examined the blood of 37 chronic fatigue patients and again didn't find XMRV — but instead they found a group of closely related bugs named MLV-related viruses in 86 percent of the cases.
Testing of 44 healthy blood donors, in contrast, found evidence of those viruses in nearly 7 percent.
Various viruses have been linked to chronic fatigue over the years only to fall by the wayside as potential culprits in the mysterious illness thought to afflict about 1 million Americans. It's characterized by at least six months of buy wow gold severe fatigue, impaired memory and other symptoms, but there's no test for it and no specific treatment.
These MLV, or "murine leukemia-related viruses," are known to cause some cancers in mice, and the XMRV relative has been found in some human prostate tumors, too.
But there's no easy way to test for it, meaning studies of a link at this point must be in research labs, not doctors' offices, FDA and NIH researchers said Monday.
No one knows how people become infected, but Alter said a major study is under way to see if there's any evidence of transmission through blood.
In the meantime, federal regulations require that blood donors be cheap wow gold in good health, said FDA's Dr. Hira Nakhasi.

Could Drinking Water Before Meals Help You Lose Weight?

Close the diet books and skip the mesos pills. The latest weight-loss trick may be as simple as gulping a couple of glasses of water before you eat.
A new study found that middle-aged and older adults who drank two cups of water before each meal consumed fewer calories and lost more weight than those who skipped drinking water.
Researchers divided two groups of overweight and obese men and women aged 55 to 75 into two groups: one group was told to follow a low-fat, low-calorie diet; the other group was told to follow the same diet and to drink two cups of water before breakfast, lunch and dinner.
After 12 weeks, those who drank water before meals had lost 15.5 pounds, compared to 11 pounds for the non-water drinkers, a nearly 30 percent difference.
The researchers got the idea for the weight-loss program from their prior research, which found that when middle-aged and older adults drank water before meals, they ate between 75 and 90 fewer calories at the meal.
What they weren't sure about, however, was if water drinkers would compensate by eating more throughout the rest of the day, said senior study author Brenda Davy, an associate professor in the department of human nutrition, foods and exercise at Virginia Tech. But after 12 weeks of dieting, that didn't happen.
"Drinking more water is a pretty simple strategy that may be helpful to people trying to lose weight," Davy said. "We're not saying, 'Drink more water and the body fat will melt away'. But for people who are trying to lose weight and trying to follow a low-cal diet, it's something they can do as part of that."
The research was to be presented Monday at the annual meeting of the American Chemical Society in Boston.
One of the most vexing issues with dieting is how difficult it is to keep the weight off long-term, Davy said. After the 12 weeks were up, Davy and her colleagues have continued to follow the participants.
After one year, preliminary data shows that those who continued to drink water before meals not only kept those pounds off, but have even continued to lose a bit more -- about 1.5 pounds on average.
Yet pre-meal water chugging comes with one caveat: it may only work if you're wow gold middle-aged or older, Davy said.
Prior research has shown that in those aged 18 to 35, drinking water before the meal did not cause them to eat fewer calories at the meal, Davy said.
In older people, it takes longer for the stomach to empty, which may be why the water helps them feel fuller and less hungry, while in younger people, water begins leaving the stomach almost immediately, Davy said.
Barry Popkin, director of the University of North Carolina Nutrition Obesity Research Center, called the findings "promising." His research has shown people who drinks lots of water drink fewer sugary beverages, eat more fruits and vegetables and overall consume fewer calories throughout the day.
One culprit in the obesity epidemic is that Americans consume some 300 calories more a day in sugary beverages than they did 30 years ago, Popkin added. That includes soda, punch and fruit juices with added sugar, sports drinks and sweetened tea.
"If you drink some more water right before a meal and fill up a little bit right before, there is the potential you may reduce your food intake," Popkin said. "But what we're concerned with is encouraging people to drink water to replace all the caloric beverages we're drinking."
Another challenge to the water-before-meals weight-loss strategy is getting people to do it, said Carla Wolper, an assistant professor in buy wow gold the Eating Disorders Center at Columbia University and a research faculty member at the New York Obesity Research Center at St. Luke's Hospital in New York City.
"The question is, do people continue to drink the water in a non-study situation?" Wolper said. "We know there are a lot of simple things people could do to lose weight. Clinical trials have shown if people write down what they eat, they lost twice as much weight. Yet it's very hard to get people to write down what they eat. Or, if people would reduce portions just a little bit, they would lose weight. But people don't do it."
The same goes for drinking more water. Even seemingly small changes require commitment. "Changing a pattern of behavior is complicated, and requires time and energy," Wolper said.
Still, it could be worth a try, she added. "Unless people overload on water, it's harmless, inexpensive. And if over the course of the entire day, it reduces the amount of food people take in, then of course it's a good idea," Wolper said.
Dieticians often will suggest a non-caloric drink such as club soda with lemon, diet soda or tea to help resist the urge to snack after cheap wow gold dinner, Wolper said.

Lifetime's "Bond of Silence" a missed opportunity

One learns over the years not to expect too much mesos from a Lifetime original movie.Invariably, you have your injured (psychically or physically) women who strike back (bravely, successfully) and convey an uplifting message of endurance, hope and closure. It's not real life -- it's Lifetime.
That said, "Bond of Silence" is pretty good. The female-centric plot centers on a husband (David Cubitt) who tries to calm down a noisy New Year's Eve party thrown by overprivileged teens and ends up dead. Some of the teens know what happened, but they ain't talking.
Cue formula. Wife Katy McIntosh (Kim Raver) gets her hands into the investigation when she feels the police are dragging their feet, and her determination puts her at odds with many in her seaside town of Rees Harbor.
Soon, anyone who has wow gold watched TV can see where this is going, but the acting is solid and even compelling. Raver is steely and empathetic, and Haley Ramm as partygoer Jordan calls to mind the wide-eyed clarity of Evan Rachel Wood. Also welcome is the lack of blanket deification of every woman; here, the most wicked and courageous characters are all female. There are no tricks up "Bond's" sleeve. The story is as straightforward as any based-on-real-events story can be: Murder happens, investigation stalls, Katy to the rescue, end credits.
But then comes an epilogue, and it's hard not to wish that "Bond's" writers had buy wow gold gone further. Tacked-on video footage shows how the real-life Katy and the confessed killer reconciled and now go out on speaking tours, talking to teens about the dangers of excessive alcohol and drug use, an addition that could have been used to give the story a little narrative perspective. Instead, the literalness of the film seems to sap it of its point. If these writers had been journalists, we'd say they buried the lead.
A little more creativity might have made "Bond" not just a watchable Lifetime film but a generally good one. As it stands, it's hard not to look back and sense that "Law & Order's" Detective Lennie Briscoe could have sewn up this one in about cheap wow gold 20 minutes.

Olic, Robben miss start of German football season

Bayern host Wolfsburg at Munich's Allianz Arena mesos without Dutch winger Robben, who is recovering from the leg injury he picked up just before the World Cup, while Croatia's Olic is struggling with a knee injury.
With Olic out, Germany striker Miroslav Klose is expected to start as the lone striker for Bayern, with Mario Gomez on the bench.
Bayern captain Mark van Bommel faces a race against time to be fit to face Wolfsburg as he also has a muscular injury. If he fails to make it, Danijel Pranjic will take over in midfield.
Only defeat in last season's Champions League final by Inter Milan prevented Bayern from winning the treble and van Bommel says the goal for this season is to add Europe's top domestic title to the league and cup double.
"That is the great challenge for this season," said van Bommel.
Wolfsburg will have Germany defender Arne Friedrich in the side after his transfer from relegated Hertha Berlin, while ex-England coach Steve McClaren becomes the Bundesliga's first English manager.
"Bayern have a great squad with many world-class players," admitted wow gold McClaren.
"What could be better in the first game than to take on the champions?
"It will be a great evening."
The Wolves will be without Swiss goalkeeper Diego Benaglio, whose wife is expecting the couple's first child.
McClaren is still trying to strengthen his Wolfsburg squad and is reported to be interested in signing both Liverpool's Ryan Babel and Brazilian playmaker Diego from Juventus.
Two of Bayern's main title rivals clash on Saturday night, when last season's runners-up Schalke are at Hamburg.
There are question marks over Schalke centre-back Christoph Metzelder, who has an upper groin injury, while coach Felix Magath may give veteran Spain striker Raul more time to get match fit.
Hamburg have a few injury worries, namely Germany defender Dennis Aogo, who has a trapped sciatic nerve.
South Korean striker Son Heung-Min is also out with a foot injury for Hamburg.
Fresh from their 3-1 buy wow gold win over Sampdoria on Wednesday night in the Champions League play-off round, Werder Bremen are at Hoffenheim on Saturday but without Germany playmaker Mesut Ozil, who signed for Real Madrid this week.
Nigerian striker Chinedu Obasi misses the game with a stress fracture of the shin for Hoffenheim.
Stuttgart are at Mainz on Sunday looking to open their Bundesliga campaign with a win.
Tunisian striker Sami Allagui is likely to start, having joined Mainz during the off season, while Stuttgart have Christian Traesch in their side after he missed out on a World Cup place with Germany due to an ankle injury.
Germany star Michael Ballack is expected to start for his new club Bayer Leverkusen against Borussia Dortmund on Sunday night as he works his way back to full fitness after the ankle injury that kept him out of the World Cup.
Bayer fell away at the end of last season, having led the table for most of the year, and coach Jupp Heynckes will want no repeat from cheap wow gold his side this term.

HBO eclipses ABC at Creative Arts Emmy Awards

American premium cable television network mesos HBO dominated the Creative Arts Emmy Awards held at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles Saturday evening, taking home 17 awards while ABC trailed with 15.

Actor Seth Green and his wife Clare Grant pose at the Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards in Los Angeles.

Actor Alan Cumming attends the Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards in wow gold Los Angeles .

Ten-part television World War II miniseries "The Pacific" by HBO won seven awards including Outstanding Casting for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special.

"Disney Prep & Landing," ABC's first television special produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios got four and the major production company's "Modern Family," NBC's "Saturday Night Live" and HBO's "The 25th Anniversary Rock And Roll Hall of Fame Concert" each harvested three awards.

AMC's "Mad Men" won for Outstanding Casting for a Drama Series, while "Modern Family" took home the award for buy wow gold Outstanding Casting for a Comedy Series.

The Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series went to John Lithgow for his turn as serial killer Arthur Mitchell on Showtime's "Dexter," while Neil Patrick Harris was named Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for playing Bryan Ryan on Fox's "Glee."

Ann-Margret was chosen Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for her appearance as Rita Wells on NBC's "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit." Television Hall Of Famer Betty White, 88, picked up the award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for hosting NBC's "Saturday Night Live."

For three years in a row, "Survivor" host Jeff Probst won as outstanding host for a reality or reality-competition program.

Norman Brokaw, chairman emeritus of William Morris Endeavor Entertainment, and the Ad Council received the Governors Award for making a substantial impact and demonstrating the extraordinary use of television.

The Creative Arts Emmys are a class of Emmy Awards presented in recognition of technical and other similar achievements in American television programming which are commonly awarded to behind-the-scenes personnel such as art directors, costume designers, cinematographers cheap wow gold , casting directors, and sound editors.

Weight-Loss Surgery May Cut Type 2 Diabetes Medication Use

Bariatric weight-loss surgery in obese people with mesos type 2 diabetes can have an unexpected, yet positive side effect -- nearly 3 out of 4 patients in one study were able to stop taking their insulin and other diabetes medications within six months of surgery.
In a study of more than 2,200 U.S. adults, Johns Hopkins University researchers found that two years after the operation, almost 85 percent were off diabetes medications as a result of improved blood glucose levels.
And although the surgery is expensive, the researchers found that because of the reduction in type 2 diabetes medications and related health care costs, the surgery appeared to be a cost-effective option, reducing health care costs by more than $6,000 annually.
"We've got a new epidemic in the world replacing smoking -- it's obesity. And, the number one health consequence of obesity is type 2 diabetes. Now, we have an effective surgical intervention for two major health problems," said the study's lead author, Dr. Martin Makary, a surgeon and associate professor of surgery and of public health at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
But, he cautioned, the surgery isn't a quick fix solution and it isn't for everyone. "This surgery is for the right candidates -- to qualify for bariatric surgery you have to have a body mass index greater than 30. And, it's something that needs to be considered when all other interventions have failed."
Results of the study were published in the August issue of the Archives of Surgery.
Diabetes can be a debilitating and expensive disease. A recent report from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality found that the United States spends $83 billion each year on hospital costs related to diabetes. The same report estimates that nearly 8 percent of the U.S. population has diabetes.
Several years ago, surgeons realized that when they performed weight-loss surgery that reduces the stomach's capacity, some people were able to go off insulin or other diabetes medications within days of surgery. The current study was designed to look at how the surgery correlates with a reduction in diabetes medication use, and the costs of the procedure versus the continued need for diabetes medications and other related health care expenses.
Makary and his colleagues examined 2,235 adults with type 2 diabetes from seven different states who had undergone bariatric weight-loss surgery over a four-year period between January 1, 2002 and December 31, 2005. The risk of death from this surgery is 0.3 percent, according to Makary.
Of the participants, 85.8 percent were taking at least one diabetes medication before surgery, with an average of 4.4 medications per patient. The researchers found that within six months of surgery, 1,669 (74.7 percent) of the surgical wow gold patients were able to stop taking their diabetes medications. After one year, 80.6 percent were off diabetes medications and at two years, 84.5 percent were no longer taking them.
Even many of those who previously needed to take insulin, which indicates more advanced disease, were able to stop taking it.
The average cost of surgery for this type of procedure is nearly $30,000, according to the study. The average annual health care cost for each person with type 2 diabetes was estimated to be about $6,376 in the two years preceding the surgery. Total annual health care costs increased by nearly 10 percent in the year following the surgery, but dropped by 34.2 percent by year two and by 70.5 percent by year three, when health care costs declined by nearly $4,500 annually.
"This is not just a surgery that addresses obesity, but it also eliminates the need for diabetes medications in the vast majority. There are enormous implications for health care utilization and policies. This surgery is not only in the patient's best health interest, but will also result in a significant reduction in resources," said Makary.
Because the surgery causes such a rapid reduction in the need for diabetes medication, Makary said it's not just the weight loss that's causing the change in diabetes, but likely a shift in certain hormones in the body.
Dr. Joel Zonszein, director of the Clinical Diabetes Center at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City, agreed that a hormonal change is likely the cause. "While we don't understand the exact mechanism, it's believed to be changes in the incretin system," he said. The incretin system produces buy wow gold gastrointestinal hormones.
"The effect of bariatric surgery is very dramatic, and leads to a very quick resolution of type 2 diabetes," he said, but added that the current study is only done on a limited population -- those who are very obese.
Makary said that there is ongoing research in performing this surgery in people who aren't obese, but have type 2 diabetes. However, he said that he doesn't recommend the procedure for those who wouldn't currently be recommended for surgery, because the risk-to-benefit ratio wouldn't be as favorable.
Like all surgeries, bariatric surgery carries its own set of possible risks, including such early complications as bleeding, infection and leaks from sites where body tissues are sewn or stapled together, and blood clots in the legs that may travel to the heart, according to the U.S. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. The institute also notes that later complications may include malnutrition (particularly in people who don't take their prescribed vitamins and minerals), hernias, and a tendency in about one in 10 people to cheap wow gold regain much of the weight they lost as a result of the procedure.

Angelina Jolie shines at the London premiere of Salt

Angelina Jolie took to the red carpet and mesos received a rapturous welcome from the crowds at the London premiere of her highly anticipated action film Salt.

Sparkly in sequins: Angelina Jolie dazzles the crowd as she arrives at the London premiere of her new film Salt

Angelina's Amanda Wakely dress stood out as she posed for pictures

Angelina gives the cameras what they wow gold want before heading off into the cinema to watch her film

A black and white carpet was laid for the arrival of Hollywood's biggest female star and nobody shone brighter than the 35 year old in a nude-coloured Amanda Wakely sequinned dress.

As she got out of her car, she waded straight in signing autographs and taking her time to walk the carpet which was specially printed with the name of the film.

But there were concerns over her health as she was looking extremely thin as she stopped and talked to fans that had been waiting outside the Empire cinema in Leicester Square all day.

Her dress, although beautiful on her, swamped her tiny frame and did nothing to flatter her.

She said that she had buy wow gold brought her two-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne with her to London but the others had stayed at home.

And she said actor partner Brad Pitt was unable to attend due to work commitments but added: 'We miss London...we love it here.'

She was joined at the premiere by a not-so-dazzling list of celebrity guests, not one expected for the premiere of a film with a Hollywood A-lister as the star.

Angelina was interviewed outside the cinema by radio and TV presenter Edith Bowman who asked her about her upcoming project about Marilyn Monroe.

The actress is set to play Monroe in an adaptation of Andrew O'Hagan's The Life And Opinions Of Maf The Dog, And Of His Friend Marilyn Monroe, the author revealed at the Edinburgh Book Festival yesterday.

And George Clooney has been lined up to play Monroe's close friend Frank Sinatra, O'Hagan confirmed, adding that production on the film would begin soon.

When asked about the film, she said she didn't know anything about it and 'would have to ask George Clooney' about it.

Edith then asked her about Salt and how it differed from her previous action roles including Lara Croft: Tomb Raider.

Angelina said: 'Other action films I've done were based in fantasy, this was based in reality so had to make her tougher and meaner.'

'I love dressing up morphing into different characters.'

And when Bowman asked: Do blondes have more fun?' Angelina replied: 'Definitely not.'

The film has been received to mixed reviews so far but Angelina has said she hopes there will be a Salt sequel so she can explore her film's character.

According to Contactmusic.com, she said: 'I'd love to do a sequel.

'You never know if you're going to get the chance, if audiences are going to love it. But particularly with this character, I think there is so much yet to explore in her life with her - with her family, with coming to terms with who she is in the end, because of the way it is set up, she could be anybody.

'She could be in any country, she could speak any language, and so we have a lot of opportunities - as an actress, and somebody who loves to travel, it would be nice to be able cheap wow gold to explore the world with her.'

100-year-old Scotch pulled from frozen crate

A crate of Scotch whisky that was trapped in mesos Antarctic ice for a century was finally opened Friday — but the heritage dram won't be tasted by whisky lovers because it's being preserved for its historical significance.
The crate, recovered from the Antarctic hut of renowned explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton after it was found there in 2006, has been thawed very slowly in recent weeks at the Canterbury Museum in Christchurch on New Zealand's South Island.
The crate was painstakingly opened to reveal 11 bottles of Mackinlay's Scotch whisky, wrapped in paper and straw to protect them from the rigors of a rough trip to Antarctica for Shackleton's 1907 Nimrod expedition.
Though the crate was frozen solid when it was retrieved earlier this year, the whisky inside could be heard sloshing around in the bottles. Antarctica's minus 22 Fahrenheit (-30 wow gold Celsius) temperature was not enough to freeze the liquor, dating from 1896 or 1897 and described as being in remarkably good condition.
This Scotch is unlikely ever to be tasted, but master blenders will examine samples of it to see if they can replicate the brew. The original recipe for the Scotch no longer exists.
Once samples have been extracted and sent to Scottish distiller Whyte and Mackay, which took over Mackinlay's distillery many years ago, the 11 bottles will be returned to their home — under the floorboards of Shackleton's hut at Cape Royds on Ross Island, near Antarctica's McMurdo Sound.
Whisky lover Michael Milne, buy wow gold a Scot who runs the Whisky Galore liquor outlet in Christchurch, described the rare event as a great experience.
"I just looked at this (crate) and honestly, my heartbeat went up about three paces. It was amazing," he said. "The box was like a pioneer's box with the wood and nails coming out," he said.
Although Milne said he'd give anything to have a taste of the whisky. "It is not going to happen and I am not going to get excited about it," he said. "But if there was ever an opportunity, it could be a wonderful one to have."
Nigel Watson, executive director of the Antarctic Heritage Trust, which is restoring the explorer's hut, said opening the crate was a delicate process.
The crate will remain in cold storage and each of the 11 bottles will be carefully assessed and conserved over the next few weeks. Some samples will be extracted, possibly cheap wow gold using a syringe through the bottles' cork stoppers.

New research suggests orangutans not so solitary

When British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace mesos arrived in Borneo's jungles 150 years ago, one of his great hopes was to see orangutans. Even he was surprised at his success, spotting the red apes feeding along river banks, swinging between branches, and staring down from trees almost the moment he arrived.
He saw 29 — shooting more than half of them and sending their skins and skeletons back home — in just 100 days, an experience shared by many other adventurers and collectors during the same period.
"Whereas some early explorers would see as many as eight orangutans in one tree or encounter 35 along a river in one day, spotting even one in the wild in the same undisturbed forests is now rare," said Erik Meijaard, one of the authors of a study published Wednesday in PLoS One, a journal of the Public Library of Science.
"This prompted us to ask if these notoriously solitary apes once lived in much higher densities," said Meijaard. "We believe hunting may have caused a change in behavior, causing them to be less social."
The scientists measured the density of orangutan populations now compared with assumed densities in past — based in part on frequency of sightings by 19th century explorers — and found that encounters were three to six times higher back then. They also looked at possible causes, including ecological changes and disease, and determined the continuing tradition of hunting was the most likely reason for the decline.
Today, orangutans are shot for their meat or as agricultural pests.
The findings are still preliminary and likely to be controversial, but if correct, they could affect the way we come to understand the development of orangutans as a species and their conservation needs.
There are only an estimated 50,000 orangutans left in the wild, all living in small, scattered populations on Borneo island and nearby wow gold Sumatra, according to Serge Wich, a scientist with the Great Ape Trust of Iowa and co-author of the new study.
Orangutans are gregarious when they are young. But unlike the other great apes — chimpanzees and gorillas — they spend most of their time alone when they are adults, foraging for fruit or sleeping in the trees. They are rarely seen together in groups larger than two or three.
Their low population densities, typically around four animals per sq. mile (two animals per sq. kilometer) of forest, is generally thought to have characterized their evolutionary development, from their long reproduction cycles to the way they communicate and interact between the sexes.
"Scientists have learned about orangutans by studying them under present-day conditions and densities," said Meijaard. "But it might be a bit like studying bushmen in the Kalahari to understand the behavior of a New Yorker."
The team acknowledged the limitations of comparing historic literature and records to modern field surveys. They also point to harder to identify biases: In places where humans are considered to be a threat, for instance, have orangutans become more elusive?
Even so, nine surveys in different parts of Borneo between 2002 and 2009, which mirrored as closely as possible historic detection methods, resulted in the spotting of 108 orangutans over a period of 724 days — three times lower than in Wallace's days, they wrote.
Ian Singleton of the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program said one explanation could be that even undisturbed forests are not as productive today as they once were, pointing to buy wow gold soil degradation and other factors.
"Now you have to walk further away from the rivers and closer to the hills to find orangutans," he said. "So even though the forests may look similar, and are in the same region, they probably aren't as good as when Wallace was wandering around."
But the authors of the new study note that the general belief is that forests in Borneo — which is divided largely between Indonesia and Malaysia — and Sumatra can not accommodate higher densities of orangutans because of restricted space and food supplies.
That limits the number of 'rehabilitated' animals that can be released in one area, affecting conservation efforts.
Though habitat destruction has long been identified as the biggest threat to orangutan's survival, the new study also says hunting may have played a more devastating role than generally accepted.
It's a theory Colin Groves, of Australian National University' School of Archaeology and Anthropology, says is extremely plausible.
"There were large numbers of orangutans shot by our forebears, not to mention obtained for zoos, and then the extremely slow rate of reproduction it is very likely indeed that they would not have recovered anything like their former population cheap wow gold densities," said Groves.

5 Ways To Travel More With Less

You probably don’t need me to tell you that mesos there’s a global recessionat the moment. People all over the world are feeling the pinch and thetravel industry is suffering because we all have less money to spendthese days on luxuries like travel.
But not being able to afford it doesn’t stop people from wanting totravel. Apart from general happiness, I think dreaming of travel,visiting new places and seeing new things is probably one of the mostuniversal life goals.
Travel is also one of the most popular search engine terms and the morewe see of the world on TV and read about in books, or on the Internet,the more we want to explore planet earth ourselves.
Yet although many of us want to travel more we don’t. There are so manyexcuses for not traveling: the expense, the kids and the job are allcommonly used to explain to ourselves why we can’t travel right now.
But what’s the point in deferring your dreams? To me you should be ableto follow your dreams even if you do have limited funds, a growingfamily and a demanding career. All you need to do is change yourmindset, make travel one of your top priorities and get on with it.These are my ideas on 10 ways you can travel more with less.
1. Start Local. First try changing your mindset. The purpose of travelis to see new things and experience new cultures. Many people thinkthat in order to see things they’ve never seen before they need totravel far afield but that’s not true. Find out more about your localarea. Anywhere within a two or three hour drive should be fair game fora weekend trip. If you’ve got longer you can extend your range further.
First head to your local library or get on the Internet for ideas ofthings to see and do close to wow gold home. There are probably some walks,caves, rivers, lakes, forests or waterfalls that you’ve never visitedbefore but have always wanted to. Pick one and make sure you check itout as soon as possible.
When I lived on the beautiful Waiheke Island in New Zealand I wasamazed by the number of Aucklanders who, on hearing where I lived,would wistfully say:
“What’s it like? I’d love to visit some time.”
But Waiheke is only a 35 minute ferry ride from downtown Auckland so Icouldn’t understand why they didn’t just jump on the ferry and check itour for themselves.
2. Accommodation. Think outside the box. For me, travel isn’t aboutstaying in boutique hotels or luxury spas. Travel is about getting outof your comfort zone and experiencing things you’ve never tried before.
Cheap sleeps include camping and house swapping. If you want to trycamping ask around and see if you can borrow some camping gear. As soonas you do you’ll be amazed at the number of people who have all thecamping equipment but hardly ever use it. For a couple of nights allyou really need is a tent, bedding, an icebox and a small stove so youcan cook pasta or risotto. Or forget the cooking part and just grab atake away.
If you don’t want to camp organize a house swap with friends or throughout of town friends. Find someone in an area you’d like to visit andswap buy wow gold away. The added bonus of this is that it will motivate you toclean out your house.
3. Food. Who needs fancy restaurants? Even eating out at fast foodjoints will eat into your precious travel budget. With a little advanceplanning and some basic equipment you can feed yourself twice a day fora minimal cost. Here’s how.
Take a couple of plastic plates, bowls and beakers with you and buy apicnic knife that comes with a cover so it won’t pierce a hole in yourbag. For breakfast pick up some local seasonal fruit, yogurt and mueslibars. One of the healthiest breakfasts is a thin layer of peanut butteron bread and you can’t get easier than that. Just buy a plastic jar ofpeanut butter to carry round with you and pick up bread, chapati, tacosor rolls fresh.
For lunch fresh bread, tomatoes and cheese or ham are simple,nutritious food. Eating outside is a real pleasure and you’ll have moretime to explore because you won’t be stuck inside or limited to placeswith restaurants. If you’re staying in a hotel ask if they can includebreakfast at no extra charge.
When it comes to the evening meal watch where the locals eat, don’thead straight to the touristy restaurants. Street food can be excellentand extremely cheap too. I ate lots of street food from stalls in Indiaand never got sick once. In fact, I may be the only person in theentire universe who went to India for three months and put on weight.My secret is to pick stalls that are poplar with the locals, watch whatthey order and get the same.
4. Sight-Seeing. There’s a lot of store set by seeing the big sights,like visiting Disneyland, going up the Eiffel Tower or touring theSydney Opera House. But these things tend to be expensive. They’re bigticket items so limit yourself to one at the most per trip.
Some of the best things have no entry charge and there are plenty oflesser known attractions which may be free or low cost like hanging outat Venice Beach in Los Angeles, visiting Notre Dame Cathedral in Parisor browsing the Paddington markets in Sydney. All fun, interesting andeasy on the budget too. You get the idea, no matter where you’re goingdon’t feel you have to spend big on the main tourist attractions.That’s all they are, you can learn more by hanging out with the locals.
5. Relax. This is my top tip. Too often a vacation or travel becomes acheck list of things to do. Promise yourself that you’ll stop trying totick things off just for the sake of it.
For example, f you do make it to Paris then visiting the touristattractions needn’t be your top priority. You won’t see many Frenchpeople paying to climb the Eiffel Tower. They’re all sitting in thecafes having a short black coffee (the cheapest option) and peoplewatching. Or you can join them wandering free of charge around theparks, visiting the local markets and walking along and over thebridges of the River Seine.
You may not be heading to Paris this trip but you get the idea. Justtravel to get to your destination and then be. Stop rushing, relax,enjoy and see what happens. Travel is all about getting rid of youragenda and going with the flow, allowing a little spontaneity into yourlife.
That’s it! Don’t delay. Get your calendar out and write in when you’regoing away for the weekend. My next trip is to the hinterland whichfeatures waterfalls and bush walks and is only about a ninety minutedrive from my house. Definitely not something you’d want to do for aday trip with 3 young kids in the car so I cheap wow gold think we’ll pack the tent,relax and make a weekend of it.

Copenhagen fashion week kicks off with "tiny pleasures"

Copenhagen Fashion Week kicked off here mesos Wednesday, with a fabulous opening show featuring "tiny pleasures" by Scandinavian designers for the 2011 spring and summer.

Models present creations during the media conference of Copenhagen International Fashion Fair at the Bella Center in Copenhagen.

Backstage before the Spon Diogo fashion show Spring / Summer 2011 during Copenhagen Fashion Week in Copenhagen, Denmark.

A model presents a design from the Spon Diogo wow gold fashion show Spring / Summer 2011 during Copenhagen Fashion Week in Copenhagen.

The fashion and color trends of the 2011 spring and summer collections, unveiled at the Fashion Week by designers from Danish and other Scandinavian countries, are all about "sharing" and "tiny pleasures," the fair's organizers said.
The show conveys the message that young adults in modern society seek to "construct a tender refuge to escape from the vagaries of the world," the organizers said.
This time, green, blue and buy wow gold verdigris are the favorite colors as trend setters view them as representing freshness, natural flair, and subtle harmony as well as a means to downplay the effects of the global financial crisis.
The 2011 fashion trends also place emphasis on classical elegance. Navy, black and anthracite as well as cross-cultural colors influenced by traditions of Asian countries like Japan, India, Jordan, Yemen and Turkey, reinterpret dressy essentials in a sophisticated yet carefree style.
The climax of the five-day fashion week will feature "The World's Greatest Catwalk" on Saturday on Copenhagen's downtown pedestrian street, Stroeget.
The street will be transformed into a long runway on which 220 models will walk about 1 mile (1.609 km) to beat the world record for the longest catwalk ever.
Helena Christensen, Denmark's very own supermodel, will be opening the catwalk in front of an expected crowd of 100,000 spectators.
Copenhagen Fashion Week, which was launched in 1964, now has become the largest fashion event in northern Europe, and takes place twice a year in February and August.
The organizers expect that 50,000 buyers, designers and global press representatives will cheap wow gold attend the fashion week this year.

10 Ways Blogging Can Improve Your Life

Have you ever read a blog and thought about mesos starting one yourself because you could do as good a job? Most of us could benefit from keeping one. Especially those with small business aspirations! I’ve got over 10 blogs but only one of them is public. The rest are kept private and used as a way for me to organise information, access it from anywhere and search my data fast.
You don’t have to share your blog with the world or anyone at all for that matter. You can keep it private, share it only with a few trusted people or just keep everything as a draft so no one can see your work.
10 Ways Blogging Can Improve Your Life
1. Boost your confidence
Blogging’s easy and anyone can do it. With Wordpress or one of the other free blogging platforms and you can have your blog up and running in a few minutes. Anyone who thinks they don’t have the technical or writing skills will gain confidence once they set up a blog and see how easy it is to get started.
2. Have fun
People make jokes about bloggers like this one but I’m not ashamed to say I actually enjoy planning, researching, writing and maintaining my blog. It’s my baby and I can do anything with it I like. It’s not just me who enjoys it either, Chris Brogan wrote a post called I Love My Blog. Blogging really is fun and that’s probably why so many people are getting into it.
3. Be creative
We all need a creative outlet and blogging will allow you to explore, expand and experiment with your creative side. Keeping a blog isn’t just for writers either. You can use it to showcase wow gold your home improvement projects, paintings or herb garden and record and publish information via podcasts or video if those mediums hold more appeal for you.
4. Make friends
I didn’t start a blog to make friends and never expected to meet people through blogging but it just happens. Some blog visitors naturally relate to your blog content, they identify with you because of it and contact you. Thanks to my blog I’m in touch with people who I’d never have been in contact with otherwise. It still surprises me and the network of people you can engage with through blogging is a global one.
5. Improve your search engine ranking
If you have your own website adding a blog and updating it regularly could give you the edge over your competitors because the search engines prefer sites with new content. Of course you need to be writing about the topics your target audience will look for with the search engines to experience this benefit and you the more you write and the longer you keep updating your blog the greater the benefits.
6. Gain expert status
If you’re trying to establish a career or launch a new one maintaining a blog can position you as an expert. Having a website and blog is part of the package these days. Even if you want to get featured in the print press the first thing any journalist who wants to find out about you does is use the Internet. You want people who Google you to find your blog and not another website with information you have no control over.
7. Earn money
If you build up a sizeable readership buy wow gold you might be able to create a second income stream from your blog. Don’t give up your day job but if you’re passionate about your topic and believe it’s possible you may well be able to make it happen.
8. Plan better
A blog is a brilliant way to plan anything from a business to a book, a wedding to a wake. You could even use one a blog to plan a blog. Here’s how. Most Wordpress blogs have a categories section so if you’re collating information you can easily divide it into sections which make it easy for you to browse and locate information. You can then access that information any time from any place as long as you have access to a computer and the Internet. For example, a keen cook could use a blog to organise all her favourite recipes or a teacher could use it to keep ideas for lessons, organise lesson plans and keep notes on students. As a simple system for content management, blogs are invaluable.
9. Keep your mind active
Although you can easily start blogging right now by setting up a simple blog and telling people to visit it, most bloggers take a while to get good at blogging. There’s lots to learn and because the Internet is constantly evolving even professional bloggers who’ve been blogging for five years or longer are still learning new things about it. The good thing is that the learning curve isn’t too steep so you can set up a blog and learn as you go. The skills blogging will teach you such as writing, marketing, networking and computer literacy will come in useful in other areas of your life and constantly learning new things keeps your mind active and engaged.
10. Share your story
We all have a story to tell. At the very least blogging is a fabulous way of keeping a journal of your life, art, family, travels, hobbies or studies. It creates a permanent record you can look back on any time. Your kids might even find it interesting to look back on one day. Who knows, maybe the whole world will?
Blogging hasn’t just changed my life it’s enriched it. It’s changed the lives of well known bloggers like Chris Brogan, Leo Babauta, Brian Clark and Darren Rowse for the better too as well as countless other bloggers both professional and amateur. Are you ready to cheap wow gold find out if it can improve your life?

Women find men in red more appealing?

Beauty has an ugly side, at least for women mesos in terms of looking for certain kinds of jobs, suggests a new study.
Attractive women were discriminated against when applying for jobs considered "masculine" and for which appearance was not seen as important to the job, according to the study conducted by researchers at University of Colorado's Denver Business School.
Such positions included job titles like manager of research and development, director of finance, mechanical engineer and construction supervisor.
In the study, the researchers gave job recruiters a list of jobs and photos of applicants and told them to sort them according to their suitability for the job. They had a stack of 55 male and wow gold 55 female photos.
In job categories like director of security, hardware salesperson, prison guard and tow truck driver, attractive women were overlooked. In each of these jobs appearance was perceived to be unimportant. Attractive women tended to be sorted into positions like receptionist or secretary.
"One could argue that, under certain conditions, physical appearance may be a legitimate basis for hiring," said lead researcher buy wow gold Stefanie Johnson, assistant professor of management at the school. "In jobs involving face-to-face client contact, such as sales, more physically attractive applicants could conceivably perform better than those who are less attractive. However it is important that physical attractiveness is weighed equally for men and women to avoid discrimination against women."
"In these professions being attractive was highly detrimental to women," said Johnson. "In every other kind of job, attractive women were preferred. This wasn't the case with men, which shows that there is still a double standard when it comes to gender."
Attractive men suffered no similar discrimination and were always at an advantage, according to the study.
The study chided those who let stereotypes influence hiring decisions. Given the importance of hiring and the consequences of making a wrong choice, managers need to rely more on information from the individual rather than on stereotypes about physical appearance.
However, the study noted that beautiful people still enjoy a significant edge. They tend to get higher salaries, better performance evaluations, higher levels of cheap wow gold admission to colle.

Let Yourself Be Beautiful

“We ask ourselves, Who am I to mesos be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be?”– Marianne Williamson
For the past week, I have been conducting an experiment. Every morning when I wake up, I close my eyes, breathe deeply, and ask myself this question: “If I were not afraid, I would ...”
The answers have been fascinating, and far reaching. One that keeps appearing over and over again is, “If I were not afraid, I would let myself be beautiful.”
I find this startling: What is so fearful about being beautiful? In our appearance focused culture, why would I shrink from being as ravishing as possible?
Here’s why I’m afraid. I’m afraid of attracting envy. I’m afraid that I’ll get too attached to my appearance, only to grasp when it fades. I’m afraid because if I feel beautiful and confident I won’t have an excuse for not wow gold pursuing my passions and dreams. I’m afraid because I won’t have a reason to hide myself from the world.
I’m afraid because I’ll have to change my perception of myself, and accept my divine worth, abiding in the image of God Wow.
I am afraid of my goodness. I am afraid of being my physical best.
My revelations remind me of all the drop dead gorgeous women I know, who if you ask them if they think they’re beautiful will say, “I’m beautiful on the inside,” as if their fabulous outer package is the equivalent of scrap metal. By contrast, I remember an interview between Oprah and Selma Hayek, where Selma unselfconsciously owned her beauty. I found that so inspiring.
My friend Sabrina and I were buy wow gold talking about how if weren’t afraid we would get out of our sweats and Eddie Bauer pants. Yet the last few times we’ve run into each other we’ve been wearing ... sweats and Eddie Bauer pants.
As Marianne Williamson so eloquently reminds us, we serve no one when we hide our beauty. Enjoy it; it’s a gift, no different from your intelligence, your empathy, or your compassion. Each is to be celebrated, enjoyed, and used. Yes, your beauty will change, and it isn’t permanent, but just as a bright, sunny day will eventually turn to darkness or rain, that doesn’t mean you can’t dance in the sun while it shines.
Use your beauty. Embrace it. Share it with the world. Let yourself cheap wow gold be beautiful.

Quake film triggers calls for shake-up of film approval system

As long as movies are officially approved for release in mesos cinemas, they are supposed to be suitable for people of all ages to watch.
Or are they?
The latest domestic blockbuster, "Aftershock," set during the 1976 Tangshan earthquake that left more than 240,000 people dead, has stirred up a debate among parents whose children were scared -- not moved -- to tears during the movie.
They have complained in online forums and blogs, saying the film's releaser should have warned parents of close-up scenes of people being crushed by collapsing houses, limbs littering the ruins, and trucks laden with corpses.
"Sobbing could be heard throughout the cinema. My 5-year-old daughter cried too, but only out of fright," a woman named Zhang Li wrote on Kaixin001.com, a popular Chinese social networking site.
The complaints have renewed calls for reform of China's film approval system, in which all movies to be released must be approved by the State Administration of Radio Film and Television (SARFT).
Many critics want a system like the one in Hong Kong, where movies are classified into three major categories in terms of suitability for children.
In Hong Kong, "Aftershock" was rated II-A, similar to a PG-rating in the United States, which means some material may not be suitable for wow gold minors and parents should make inquiries before allowing their children to view it.
"No movie is suitable for everyone to watch, but that doesn't mean we can therefore block the release of some movies," He Weiping, an official with the culture department of Zhejiang provincial government, told Xinhua,
Blocking release amounted to surrendering revenues from cinema screenings to on-line distributors, who were mostly illegal, said Li Hongliang, head of the administrative office of the Hengdian World Studios, China's largest film and television production base with 360 private studios, in Zhejiang Province.
"The film and television industries in China are on a fast track of development. China produces 400 to 500 films a year. The movie approval system needs to be reformed or the increasing number of local movies will push the approval system to its limit," he said.
In China, the SARFT is the only agency that can approve the release and screening of films, whereas provincial agencies handle the approval of TV dramas.
To be approved, films must be screened by the SARFT to ensure their content conforms to rules that explicitly forbid 10 categories of content, including advocacy of obscenity and violence.
Professor Chen Shan, of China's leading filming school Beijing Film Academy, said the adoption of a rating system would still need a process of deliberation because of "the reality in China."
"Ratings may be difficult to enforce in cinemas and some production firms buy wow gold might exploit the rating system to release vulgar movies. Besides, the Chinese law forbids erotic content," he said.
Calls to the SARFT headquarters in Beijing have gone unanswered.
The most recent public comment from the SARFT came from film department head Tong Gang in February 2009 in Hong Kong, where he reportedly said the authorities had been actively discussing the adoption of a rating system and the ratings would be different with what some people had in mind.
He denied that a rating system would greenlight erotic movies in China.
Professor Chen said China could take a transitional measure between approval and rating systems.
"We could advise parents of movies that might not be suitable for children," he said.
A film's suitability for children should be cheap wow gold mainly determined by its degree of erotic and violent content.

Lady Gaga to Green Day, Lollapalooza boasts motley cast

More than 250,000 music fans mesos will gather on the shores of Lake Michigan this weekend for an expanded three-day Lollapalooza music festival, which hopes to buck a dismal summer concert season of cuts and cancellations.
The iconic music carnival, born as a traveling road show nearly 20 years ago and reborn in 2005 as a multi-day destination festival, boasts a bill this year of nearly 200 musical acts ranging from glam diva Lady Gaga to reggae legend Jimmy Cliff and punk band Green Day.
Lollapalooza's daily capacity has been expanded to 90,000 people per day, up from last year's sold-out festival which saw 75,000 fans pass through the gates on each of the show's three days.
Ticket sales for the biggest concert tours in North America fell 17 percent during the wow gold first six months of 2010 from the year-ago period, with artists like the Jonas Brothers and the "American Idol" Top 10 cutting dates.
But Lollapalooza organizers said ticket sales were "tracking with" last year's festival, suggesting that crowds may yet reach capacity in the expanded 2010 edition.
Festival founder and Jane's Addiction frontman, Perry Farrell, last year called Lollapalooza "recession-proof," and has often touted the three-day admission starting price of $190 as a dollar a band.
Flanked by Chicago's picturesque skyline, Lady Gaga will headline the first night of the festival on Friday with a show whose production buy wow gold costs are reported to be running into six-figures.
New York garage rock quintet The Strokes will play opposite the pop queen on the festival's north stage following openers The Black Keys and Jimmy Cliff.
Day two acts feature English indie rockers The xx, the Gypsy punk stylings of Gogol Bordello as well as headliners Green Day and French alternative rockers Phoenix.
Sunday's diverse palate includes Japanese glam rock superstars X Japan, hip hop veterans Cypress Hill, and electro-rock act MGMT.
Reunited grunge rockers Soundgarden will close the festival on Sunday opposite Canadian alternative troubadours Arcade Fire.
The festival's boundaries have also been expanded from about 90 acres last year to 115 this year, including a far-larger locale for the popular DJ arena, where Farrell cheap wow gold will grace the stage on Saturday.

10 Disgusting “Foods” You Loved As A Kid

All y’all who grew up in the 70s and mesos 80s: Remember all that crap you ate as a kid? How did we escape our childhoods without going retarded?
Before I proceed, let me just say: Sorry young'ins. I didn’t eat Gogurt or whatever it was you threw up throughout the 90s. I was growed up enough to know better.
I’m not talking candy or soda or frozen dinners -- which were the bomb, and which make me wonder how I ingested that stuff without losing a stomach, considering how much of it I ate.
I’m talking about:
Fish Sticks
Probably the least offensive of these foods, fish sticks still need to be called out because they’re called “fish sticks.” Say it out loud:
FISH.
STICKS.
I think I liked to eat this stuff because, for being fish, they didn’t have much fishy flavor -- indeed, they didn’t have any flavor beyond whatever white sauce my mom would serve out of a jar with them. But they were never my favorite! Not like...
Oscar Mayer Cheesedogs
Hotdogs are amazing, when they’re proper hotdogs.
Oscar Mayer hotdogs are tragic meat tubes constructed from demon seed and hate glue.
But even the manufacturers of these industrial sodium bombs must have shaken their heads at the prospect of serving up hotdogs filled with a yellow, salty paste which they hesitantly labeled “cheese.” Imagine their surprise and wonder when the numbers showed that children across the nation adored these travesties that mock the Natural Order.
Tasty!
McDonald’s Chicken McNuggets
You might not remember this, but before McDonald’s rolled out Chicken McNuggets, chicken was too hard for the tender little mouths of middle-class kids to eat.
I’ll always remember the glorious day when I first sunk my teeth through a chunk of gray and spongy McProtein Mass -- and I'll always remember my pride in being American, citizen wow gold of a country in which I possessed the freedom to choose dipping my jellified glob of chicken into honey mustard, barbeque or sweet-and-sour sauce.
Later, I threw up.
Spaghetti-Os
Writing the name of That Thing Which Is The Epitome Of All That Is Wrong With Canned Prepared Meals just made me vomit in my mouth a little.
The brain-like texture of the Os.
The sugary “tomato” sauce.
The tiny, tasteless sausage buttons swimming in said sauce.
What the hell was Chef Boyardee thinking? More importantly, how did I ever eat 10 cans of this stuff a week from ages 3 through 13?Yes, I did repeat first grade -- why do you ask?
Fruit Roll Ups
The first time I ate a fruit roll up, I realized there was nothing mankind couldn’t accomplish. We’d see flying cars and cities on the Moon by the time I was a teenager.
Mom didn’t like me eating candy, which is why she fed these things to me by the hour, not understanding that corn syrup (or dried corn syrup, for that matter) and sugar ain’t exactly “100% fruit.”
Hey mom, you know what’s 100% fruit? Fruit. Not that I would have eaten it...
Kraft Macaroni & Cheese
Remember that one kid in the commercials who kept asking why Kraft didn’t name it Cheese & Macaroni? BECAUSE THE CHEESE WAS A COLORED SALT PRODUCT.
I always knew, in the back of my mind, that something was wrong with Kraft Mac & Cheese. Perhaps it started the first time I saw it transformed from food into a congealed waxy mass after sitting in a dish on the counter for an hour.
But I ate the hell out of the stuff anyway -- this was truly my favorite dish.
I think the experience must have destroyed something precious in my head, because the first time I actually tried real macaroni and cheese buy wow gold -- you know, something with actual cheese in it -- I was all, yuck, gimme my Kraft!
Capri Sun
Ah, the halcyon days of drinking watered down juice-flavored drink (made from a concentrate of juices that aren’t actually the juices advertised) from a foil bag that included its own straws.
"Made with real fruit juice!" Yeah, all 10 percent of it. Where's the "Made with real high-fructose corn syrup!" warning?
Of course, I really didn't care. It was juice in a shiny bag, after all. Never mind that it didn't taste any good -- I was looking good in the lunch hall.
Cheese 'n CrackersThere’s nothing more American than topping soda crackers with a chunk of cheese.
But when that cheese is actually a bastard concoction of oil, acids and several different ways of saying "salt" smeared across a dry, tasteless cracker by way of a red plastic rectangle stored in the same package as the snack, well... you can see why people who liked these things loved Chicken McNuggets.
Like me.
Cap’n Crunch
The fact that I ate this stuff makes me so sad now.
Never mind the instant sogginess of the cereal, and the resulting (and revolting) candified syrup that was created from what once was milk...
...what I can’t wrap my head around is why I continued to eat this “food” that continually ripped up my gums and inside cheeks, resulting in gobs and gobs of mouth beef hanging from the roof of my mouth. And then ask for more.
WTF wa I thinking?
School Supplies
White paper. Brown paper. Cardboard paper. Elmer’s Glue. Eraser tips. Probably fruit-scented markers.
Somehow, all these things ended up in my mouth. I didn't exactly "love" eating them... but apparently I liked these items enough to pop them in my mouth throughout elementary.
And sure, I never intended to eat them... but yeah, probably 50 percent of the time, they went down my gullet and into my digestive tract. I wonder how many pounds of yellow paint from my chewed-up No. 2 lead pencils ended up on the walls of my tummy?
Man, I was a cheap wow gold screwed-up kid...

Low-carb diet trumps low-fat on 'good' cholesterol

Over the long term, a low-carb diet works mesos just as well as a low-fat diet at taking off the pounds — and it might be better for your heart, new research suggests.
Both diets improved cholesterol in a two-year study that included intensive group counseling. But those on the low-carbohydrate diet got a bigger boost in their so-called good cholesterol, nearly twice as much as those on low-fat.
In previous studies, low-carb diets have done better at weight loss at six months, but longer-term results have been mixed. And there's been a suggestion of better cholesterol from low-carb eating.
The latest test is one of the longest to compare the approaches. At the end of two years, average weight loss was the same for both — about 15 pounds or 7 percent.
The key difference was in HDL, or good cholesterol: a 23 percent increase from low-carb dieting compared to a 12 percent improvement from low-fat, said Gary Foster, director of Temple University's Center for wow gold Obesity Research and Education, who led the federally funded study.
He said the low-carb boost is the kind one might get from medicines that improve HDL.
"For a diet, that's pretty impressive," Foster said.
The findings, published in Tuesday's Annals of Internal Medicine, are based on a study of 307 adults, two-thirds of them women. Participants were obese but didn't have cholesterol problems or diabetes.
Half followed a low-carb diet modeled after the Atkins' plan and half went on a low-calorie, low-fat diet. All attended group sessions to help them change bad eating habits, get more active and stick to their diets.
The volunteers had periodic checks of their weight, blood, bone density and body composition. After two years, there was no major differences between diet groups, except in good cholesterol. Why the low-carb diet had a bigger effect on good cholesterol isn't known, the researchers said.
As low-carb plans became popular, experts feared the diet would drive up the risk of heart disease because it allows more fat. The latest results suggest those concerns are unfounded, Foster said. In the low-carb group, there was an early rise in "bad" cholesterol, the kind that builds up in arteries. But after two years, both groups ended up with similar improvements to bad cholesterol.
The study's strengths include its size, length and its multiple locations — Denver, Philadelphia and St. Louis, said Dr. William Yancy, of buy wow gold the Durham VA Medical Center in North Carolina.
"These are results we should have a lot of confidence in," said Yancy, who has done similar diet research but was not involved in the study.
Foster, the study leader, said dieters should be less concerned about which diet to use, and focus on finding the support or technique — like writing down what they eat — that keeps them on track.
"It doesn't make a difference for weight loss how you get there," he said.
With the current obesity epidemic, more than one way is needed to attack the problem, Yancy said.
"Both of these are options. These cheap wow gold diets work," he said.

Can Surfing the Internet Help You Lose Weight?

The Web, it sometimes mesos seems,is a siren specter that lures us into sitting around like some speciesof houseplant while our trunk grows abnormally wide. Its abundantenticements keep us from doing what we know we should, like, say,making any movement whatsoever or consuming foods that do not comepackaged in styrofoam.
But according to new research, the Internet can also be something else: a place for helping people keep weight off.
The new study, conducted over a two-and-a-half-year period, found thatthe more often people logged on to a website, the more likely they wereto maintain weight loss. Of course, it wasn't just any old website, butone that investigators at the Kaiser Permanente Center for HealthResearch (KPCHR) had designed specifically to help people keep thepounds off.
What made the website work, the authors of the study believe, was itsmixture of accountability and sociability. Users were asked log in oncea week to enter their weight and the amount of exercise they'd done. Ifthey didn't log in regularly, they got a little nudge by e-mail, thenan automated phone call. Once on the site, users could chat with otherparticipants of the study in a kind of mini-Facebook setting.
The site was designed to mimic as much as possible what it's like to be in a weight-loss wow goldprogram that offers personal counseling and group meetings. It wasn'tquite as effective as human-to-human interaction, but it was betterthan nothing at all. "While personal counseling may be the Cadillacversion, it's not practical for everyone," says Kristine Funk, leadauthor of the study, published in the Journal of Medical InternetResearch.
The study began with 1,600 overweight or obese participants, about 350of whom lost enough weight — an average 19 lb. — during the first sixmonths to stay in the trial for the Web-based maintenance phase. By theend of that two-and-a-half-year portion of the study, the users who hadlogged on the most regularly — at least once a month for 28 months —had kept off the most weight, an average of 9 lbs. People who used thewebsite the least kept off only 3 lb. on average. "The consistencypiece is definitely very important for keeping weight gain at bay,"says Funk.
None of this is particularly surprising to Nancy Makin, who lost morethan a quarter of ton after her sister bought her a computer for herbirthday in 2003. Afraid to go out, because of the stares her 703 lb.frame attracted, she went online buy wow gold and found she could easily make friends with people who couldn't see her.
"The people on the Internet didn't know they were supposed to rejectme," says Makin, who now weighs about 170 lbs. "And that fed me and Iwas allowed to let my spirit come out. I replaced a very poor tool forjudging myself with a very fulfilling activity."
Once she found a community online, Makin says began to lose weight, notbecause she was less hungry, but because she had an activity besideseating that made her feel good. And because she felt better aboutherself. "I had 20 emails in my inbox each morning," she says.
The original KPCHR site is no longer live, but Funk notes there areplenty of others that do almost the same thing. "What you want to lookfor is a site that has a few key components: a recording feature tokeep track of weight, a feedback mechanism and support resources fromeither experts or other high quality information," she advises.
Makin, whose memoir, 703, came out earlier this year, says that whileaccountability is important for those who are merely overweight,community may be more important for people who are morbidly obese likeshe was. "The key is to find contentment and value in yourself byreaching out and doing something not for you, and the weight will comeoff as a side effect," she says.
And if you have a website where you can talk about it, so much cheap wow gold the better.

DiCaprio leads worldwide box office

Leonardo DiCaprio's dreams thriller "Inception" ruled the mesos North American box office for a third weekend on Sunday, and also overtook "Toy Story 3" to claim top honors internationally.
"Inception" fended off three middling newcomers, led by the Steve Carell comedy "Dinner for Schmucks," to sell $27.5 million worth of tickets across the United States and Canada during the three days beginning on Friday.
Its domestic total rose to $193.3 million, said its distributor Warner Bros., which remained confident that it would finish up around the $300 million mark.
Internationally, "Inception" pulled in $53.7 million from 51 markets, taking its foreign total to $170 million. It opened at No. 1 in Germany ($7.1 million), and retained its crown in France and Australia.
"Dinner for Schmucks" opened to $23.3 million in North America, in line with expectations but down from the $25 million start for Carell's previous live-action movie "Date Night" in April.
The opening was "solid," said Don Harris, executive VP for distribution at Viacom Inc-owned distributor Paramount Pictures, which partnered wow gold on the $63 million project with closely held producers DreamWorks and Spyglass Entertainment.
"Schmucks," which garnered mixed reviews, stars Carell as a buffoon invited to a party for oddballs hosted by wealthy businessmen who lampoon their idiocy. Paul Rudd co-stars, and Jay Roach of "Austin Powers" fame directs.
The film was marketed at men but women liked it better, Harris said. He hoped the film would follow a similar trajectory as the Adam Sandler hit "Grown Ups," which has earned $150.7 million to date.
"CATS & DOGS" ROADKILL
Honors for the biggest bomb went to the costly Warner Bros. 3D family sequel "Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore," which opened at No. 5 with just $12.5 million. The Time Warner Inc unit had hoped it would earn more than $20 million.
"We probably failed to create the same level of interest that we had in the original," said Dan Fellman, the studio's president of domestic distribution.
The 2001 original, "Cats & Dogs," opened to $22 million in 2001. The sequel had the benefit of premium pricing for 3D engagements as well as higher ticket prices overall.
The project, carrying a reported $85 million budget, was a joint-venture with Australian buy wow gold media firm Village Roadshow Ltd.
Also new was Universal Pictures' Zac Efron psychological melodrama "Charlie St. Cloud," which opened at No. 6 with $12.1 million, at the lower end of expectations. The "High School Musical" heartthrob was last in theaters with "17 Again," which opened to $23 million in April 2009.
The film, which cost a relatively cheap $44 million to make, played almost exclusively to Efron's core audience of young women. The General Electric Co unit said it expected strong midweek grosses. Efron's bereaved title character sees his dead younger brother.
Columbia Pictures' Angelina Jolie thriller "Salt," which opened at No. 2 last weekend, slipped one place with $19.3 million, taking its total to $70.8 million.
The film is tracking far behind her previous action films "Wanted" and "Mr. & Mrs. Smith," but the Sony Corp unit expects to make most of its money internationally. Its early foreign total rose to $32.8 million, bolstered by No. 1 openings this past weekend in South Korea ($6.5 million) and Russia ($5.5 million).
Universal's hit cartoon "Despicable Me," also featuring Carell, was off one to No. 4 with $15.4 million; its total rose to $190.3 million after four weekends. The early foreign total stands at $29.2 million.
Internationally, Walt Disney Co's "Toy Story 3" slipped to No. 2 with $39.1 million from 48 countries, for a total of $434.6 million. The Pixar cartoon led Britain for a second weekend, and Japan for a fourth, tallying about $61 million in each market. In North America, it fell two cheap wow gold places to No. 7, with earnings to date of $390 million.

6 Ways to Get Soft Skin and Shiny Hair

If your workout routine has you showering more than once a day, wow gold protect against dry skin and hair with these moisture-boosting tricks.
Happy, Healthy Hair
In the morning: Use a sulfate-free shampoo to avoid drying your locks,says James Corbett, a salon owner in New York City. (One we like:Burt's Bees Super Shiny Grapefruit & Sugar Beet Shampoo, $8,burtsbees.com.) Once a week, wash with a shampoo made with sodiumlaureth, which should be listed among the first ingredients on thebottle. "It will remove product buildup without stripping moisture,"Corbett says.
Post-workout: Put on a shower cap and wash from the neck down only."Every time you shampoo, the lathering action of your fingersstimulates your scalp's oil glands into overdrive, leading to slickstrands later on," Corbett says. In two or three weeks, your scalp willnaturally adjust to fewer washes. After your shower, sprinkle a dryshampoo onto your scalp and brush it through your hair to sop up greaseand sweat from roots to ends.
A Glowing Complexion
In the morning: Adjust the water temperature to lukewarm before washingyour face. The reason for this is season-specific: "Your face mesos ismore sensitive than your body during winter because it's constantlyexposed to cold air and wind," says David Leffell, MD, chief ofdermatologic surgery at Yale School of Medicine. Use a nonsoap cleanserand focus on the T-zone, the oiliest part of your face.
Post-workout: To keep skin hydrated and acne-free, tote a soap made foryour complexion to the gym. "Many women lather their face withlocker-room body soap, which is usually too harsh," says Elissa Lunder,MD, a dermatologist in Wellesley, Massachusetts, and a FITNESS advisoryboard member. She suggests a noncomedogenic oil-based cleanser, whichgently removes sweat without clogging pores.
Soft Skin
In the morning: It takes eight hours for skin to naturally replenishthe moisture it loses from a shower, according to new research by Dove.And your arms, chest, back, and torso can be left drier than your lowerhalf because hot water hits the skin there first, Dr. Lunder explains.Use warm water instead (plus a body scrub to lift dead skin) and callit quits after 10 minutes, she says.
Post-workout: After buy wow gold yoursecond shower of the day, gently pat -- don't rub -- your skin with atowel. Then reach for a hydrating mist of essential oils, such asorange and geranium. "The dampness of the mist allows skin to betterabsorb a moisturizer," says Jessica Clark, head aesthetician at EquinoxSpas in New York City. (Try Aveda Chakra Balancing Body Mist, $30,aveda.com.) Apply all over, then lotion up.
Silky Legs
In the morning: Many women shave their legs with regular bar soap. Butsoap plus the calcium in hard water, found in 89 percent of U.S. homes,forms a gummy coating and makes skin drier than soap alone, accordingto Dove research. Use a body wash made with sodium lauroyl isethionate,a soap alternative. (A good one: Dove Deep Moisture Body Wash withNutriumMoisture, $5.84, drugstores.)
Post-workout: Shave every day, but not after every shower. "A razorremoves the protective top layers of your skin, along with hair," saysHoward Sobel, MD, a dermatologist at Beth Israel Medical Center in NewYork City. When you do de-fuzz, choose a four-blade razor -- it offersthe closest shave, allowing you to use a gentle hand, which preservesnatural moisture -- and opt for a cheap wow gold hydrating shaving cream, not gel.