Cotswold Olimpicks: Britain's other games

Cotswold Olimpicks: Britain's other games - Christopher Middleton celebrates 400 years of Britain's alternative games, the Cotswold Olimpicks.

A brisk Saturday morning in Gloucestershire, and stonemasons Graham and Ben Greenall are putting the finishing touches to their castle.

They’ve done the two towers, and are now starting on the front gateway and battlements. The whole structure has got to be ready by the end of May, which would be a problem were it made of the material the Greenalls usually work with.

As it happens, though, this fortress is made of wood, rather than stone, and its role is not to repel invading forces, but to serve as the centrepiece at this year’s Cotswold Olimpicks, an event so ancient that this year, it is celebrating its 400th anniversary.

A hotly contested shin kicking duel at the Cotswald Olimpicks

Spectators come from far and wide to watch the Cotswold Olimpicks in Chipping Campden

Yes, it may have been 1896 when Baron Pierre de Coubertin revived the movement that will culminate in the 30th Olympiad, in London, but it was way back in 1612, that local lawyer Sir Robert Dover organised the first-ever Cotswold Olimpicks.

They consisted then, as they do now, of various rustically-themed trials of strength and agility, which take place not in a man-made, multi-million-pound stadium, but in natural, grassy amphitheatre just outside Chipping Campden.

It’s called Dover’s Hill, and every year the Games here are presided over by a costumed, plumed figure of Sir Robert, riding on horseback, and accompanied by his right-hand man Endymion Porter, envoy and confidant of King James I. To get the proceedings under way, they fire a cannon (well, let off a large firework), and step back to watch the action.

As well as events familiar to modern-day spectators (running, shot-putting, hammer-throwing), there are other contests that won’t be featuring at the London Olympics. Such as the standing jump (a leap without a run-up), spurning the barre (a sort of wooden javelin-throwing) and, most spectacularly, shin-kicking.

This involves competitors dressing up in white coats (to represent the shepherds’ smocks of old), stuffing their trousers from knee to toe with straw (the 17th century version of shinpads), and then grappling with their opponent and attempting to kick his legs from underneath him. With the proceedings being refereed by a beady-eyed umpire, or “stickler”, so called because of the wooden staff he holds in his hand.

Instead of lasting two weeks, these Games last just two hours, and, once the sporting trials of strength are over, everyone – competitors and spectators alike, makes their way back down to the town in a mass, torchlight procession, for a night of dancing, festivities and downing of specially-brewed Whitsun ales.

In short, you simply couldn’t get a more powerful whiff of Britain’s rural past than this extraordinary annual event. Which explains why it’s still going after all this time, surviving various interruptions, such as in 1642, when Cavalier and Puritan tensions were played out not in the form of shin-kicking, but the English Civil War.

“The thing is, people in this country value eccentricity, and always have”, says Graham Greenall, who is vice-chairman of the Dover’s Games Society, and whose first trip to the Cotswold Olimpicks was in the 1950s.

“It’s not just the language, the landscape and the culture that make up Britain, it’s the tradition. And what this event represents is a part of our tradition that has almost disappeared, but still speaks very strongly to us.”

Amplification of the Olimpicks’ past is provided by the various written references to the event. For example, a whole host of 17th century poets penned contributions to the Annalia Dubrensia, a collection of works celebrating both Dover’s Games and the benefits of physical exercise, noting how, when the Ancient Greeks “frequented active sportes and playes, From other men they bore away the prayse.”

In keeping with the importance of the event, Jacobean celebrities are said to have attended Dover’s Games, among them the dashing cavalry chief Prince Rupert, and the local playwright (from neighbouring Stratford-upon-Avon) William Shakespeare.

“There is a reference in The Merry Wives of Windsor to a character whose greyhound has been 'outrun on Cotsall’ (Cotswold),” says Clive Thompson, vice-chairman of the Dover’s Games Society, who will be attending this year’s event, dressed as the bard himself.

“It’s also thought that the wrestling scene in As You Like It is based on the wrestling matches that used to take place here.”

Whether that’s true or not (both of those plays are generally reckoned to have been written by 1601) there is no doubt that Olimpick events were famous throughout the land, and fiercely contested. Victors in the major events won gold rings and silver-studded collars, while first prize for the running-in-sacks event was a pair of good shoes, and the winner of the ladies running race went home with a brand new, handsewn smock.

Even 60 years ago, you won a whole leg of mutton for triumphing in the climbing-the-greasy-pole event, while the winner of the bowling tournament would be awarded a live pig.

“As you get older, you start to appreciate the history of Dover’s Hill”, says 28-year-old Ben Greenall, Graham’s son, who’s been working on the new castle alongside his sister Juliette and his old schoolfriend Josh Thomas.

“I’ve been involved in these games since I was about four or five. In the old days, it just meant setting up the hot dog stall, but now it can mean anything from putting up the scaffolding to putting out traffic cones, from building the castle to remembering to buy the Fairy Liquid for the buckets-with-holes race (teams compete to ferry water across a polythene sheet made slippery with washing-up liquid).

“It’s the one night of the year when everyone who’s ever lived in Chipping Campden tries to make it back here, from wherever they are in the world. No one wants to miss it.”

Not that it’s just the locals who congregate at the Cotswold Olimpicks. Spectators now come for all corners of the world, and, this being London Olympic year, there is more attention than ever being directed towards Sir Robert Dover’s Games. Not that the organisers are trying to claim the modern Olympics are based on their Cotswold counterparts.

“It’s clear that when Baron Coubertin came to visit Britain in 1890, he went to the Much Wenlock Games, not ours”, says Graham Greenall, standing on top of Dover’s Hill and pointing out the aforesaid Shropshire town in the distance (you can also see Birmingham and Coventry).

“We don’t claim to have inspired the modern Olympic movement, but what we do take pride from, is being the oldest Olympic Games in Britain. If the Cotswold Olimpicks were a building, it would be Grade I listed, not a shadow of doubt about it.

“We’ve been here for 400 years, and we’ll be here for many more. By September, all the athletes will have packed up from the London Games and gone home. Come back to Chipping Campden in in 50 or 100 years’ time, though, and we’ll still be here.” ( telegraph.co.uk )

READ MORE - Cotswold Olimpicks: Britain's other games

Brazilian bikinis burgeon to fit the fat

Brazilian bikinis burgeon to fit the fat — Tall and tan and young and ... chunky?

The Girl From Ipanema has put on a few pounds, and for many sunbathers on Brazil's beaches the country's iconic itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny bikini just doesn't suffice anymore.

A growing number of bikini manufacturers have woken up to Brazil's thickening waistline and are reaching out to the ever-expanding ranks of heavy women with new plus-size lines.

That's nothing short of a revolution in this most body-conscious of nations, where overweight ladies long had little choice but to hit the beach in comely ensembles of oversized T-shirts and biker shorts.

In this photo taken Jan. 25, 2012, Elisangela Inez Soares rinses off at a shower in Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. A growing number of bikini manufacturers have woken up to Brazil's thickening waistline and are reaching out to the ever-expanding ranks of heavy women with new plus-size lines. According to Soares " not everyone is built like a model." (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

"It used to be bikinis were only in tiny sizes that only skinny girls could fit into. But not everyone is built like a model," said Elisangela Inez Soares as she sunbathed on Copacabana beach, her oiled-up curves packed into a black size 12 bikini.

"Finally, it seems like people are beginning to realize that we're not all Gisele," said the 38-year-old mother of four, referring to willowy Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen.

Clothing designer Clarice Rebelatto said her own swimwear-hunting travails prompted her to found Lehona, an exclusively plus-size beachwear line.

"Honestly, the problem went way beyond just bikinis. In Brazil, it used to be that if you were even a little chunky, finding any kind of clothes in the right size was a real problem," said Rebelatto, herself a size 10. "And I thought, 'I'm actually not even that big compared to a lot of women out there, so if I have problems, what are they doing?'"

Since its launch in 2010, the line has become a hit.

In brash leopard spots and flower prints not meant for wallflowers, the label's 14 bikini styles aren't what you'd normally associate with plus-size swimsuits. The necklines plunge dramatically. Straps are mere strings. And while the bottoms provide too much coverage to qualify for the famed "fio dental" or "dental floss" category of Brazilian string bikinis, they're significantly more audacious than the standard U.S. cut.

"We're working from the principle that bigger women are just like everyone else: They don't want to look like old ladies, wearing these very modest, very covering swimsuits in just black," said Luiz Rebelatto, Clarice's son and director of Lehona.

He said that recent publicity of the brand and several other new swimwear lines catering to plus sizes has triggered an overwhelming number of calls and e-mails from would-be customers.

"They're all excited and they say, 'I've been looking everywhere for a bikini like that. Where can I get one?'" said Rebelatto.

Lehona is currently sold exclusively at big and tall specialty stores throughout Brazil. Its bikinis retail for about 130 reais or $75 — a relatively high price-point here, but Rebelatto said sales have grown at a galloping pace, though he did not provide any figures.

It's the same story at Acqua Rosa, a conventional swimwear label that added a plus-size line in 2008. Now, plus-size purchases account for more than 70 percent of the brand's total sales, said director Joao Macedo.

It makes sense.

For centuries, large swaths of Brazil were beset by malnutrition, and in 1970, nearly 10 percent of the population in the country's poor, rural northeast region was considered underweight, according to Brazil's national statistics institute.

But the phenomenal economic boom that has lifted tens of millions out of poverty and into the burgeoning middle class over the past decade has also changed the nation's once-svelte physique: A 2010 study by the statistics institute showed that 48 percent of adult women and 50 percent of men are now overweight. In 1985 those figures were 29 percent for women and 18 percent for men.

(Still, there's been no rash of plus-size male swimwear lines, as men here wear Speedo-style suits that don't impinge on big guts.)

Analysts attribute Brazil's rapidly widening girth to changes in nutrition, with chips, processed meats and sugary soft drinks replacing staples like rice, beans and vegetables.

And while the country's elite are widely known to be fitness freaks — and also among the world's top consumers of cosmetic surgery — those recently lifted out of poverty and manual labor are becoming increasingly sedentary. A 2008 study showed that barely 10 percent of Brazilian teens and adults exercise regularly.

Still, despite their growing numbers, not everyone is eager to embrace "gordinhas" — or "little fatties," as chunky women are affectionately known here.

Many high-end bikini-makers have turned a seemingly deliberately blind eye to the burgeoning plus-size market. Rio-based upmarket brand Salinas, for example, offers five sizes, from extra-small through extra-large. But their sizing runs notoriously small and it's hard to imagine anyone over a size 6 actually managing to fit into any of the brand's minuscule two-pieces.

Luis Rebelatto of Lehona chalked it partially up to snobbery.

"Some brands, they don't want their image to be associated with chunky women," he said. "Only the thin, the rich and the chic."

While Brazilians' increasing heft is a public policy preoccupation for the government, growth in the ranks of the overweight population has given them increased visibility in Brazilian society. Extra-wide bucket seats for the obese have been installed in Sao Paulo's metro system, and on Sunday the city will host Brazil's first ever Miss Plus Size beauty contest.

"It used to be that people would stare at me," said Soares, the voluptuous sun-worshiper on Copacabana beach. "Now when I come to the beach I see women who are much bigger than me — and lots of them are wearing bikinis — so I'm not self conscious any more.

"God makes some people thin but he made me like this," she said, rubbing down the well-oiled bulge of her stomach and thighs. "So who am I to think that he was wrong?" (Associated Press )

READ MORE - Brazilian bikinis burgeon to fit the fat

Twigged who it is yet? The trees that look just like children's TV characters

Twigged who it is yet? The trees that look just like children's TV characters - Passers-by must have thought they had gone barking mad when they spotted these trees whose twisted trunks bear an uncanny resemblance to children's TV characters.

The arboreal doppelgangers are the spitting images of George from Rainbow, Bert from Sesame Street, the pesky Road Runner and a gremlin from the 1980s hit movie.

Ken Laverty spotted Bert when he was looking out of his front window in Lyminge, Kent, and saw the narrow trunk with its distinctive face.

Barking mad: The bulging trunk of this tree looks uncannily like George the hippo from children's show Rainbow. It was spotted at Bedgebury Pinetum in Goudhurst, Kent

Still stumped? This copycat of Wile E Coyote's bugbear Road Runner was pictured by Tony Doust in a lake at Scotney Castle, near Tubridge Wells in Kent

Meanwhile, Eagle-eyed Tony Doust spotted Road Runner in a lake at Scotney Castle near Tunbridge Wells and George at Bedgebury Pinetum, Goudhurst, in the same county.

Ken, 62, said: 'The tree is in front of some managed flats and over the years two branches must have been cut off because they have grown out over the footpath.

'My wife and I only noticed it when we were waiting for a taxi and it reminded us of a character from the telly. I think it was Bert from Sesame Street.

'So now every day we are aware of this grumpy face looking at us from across the road.'

Sesame Tree: This natural spitting image of Bert from Sesame Street was found in a garden, also in Kent, by eagle-eyed Ken Laverty

The devil is in the details: With its menacing 'eyes' and grin, this trunk bears a spooky likeness to one of the gremlins from the 80s movie

Tony, 63, from Kingswood, Kent, who snapped George and Road Runner, said: 'My wife and I were out walking on both occasions and these things just hit us.

'One looked just like a hippo and the other was a wading bird in the lake - it was so good it looked as if it had been put there on purpose.' ( dailymail.co.uk )

READ MORE - Twigged who it is yet? The trees that look just like children's TV characters

The Fashion of Occupy Wall Street

The Fashion of Occupy Wall Street - Things in Zuccotti Park are getting very Fellini-esque - Those who have been overwhelmed by the incomprehensible political agenda of the Occupy Wall Street movement may take comfort from the following: The fashion trends championed by the denizens of Zuccotti Park are even more deliriously diverse than the disparate causes they espouse.

My shrink of 25 years is located a block from Wall Street. Not content with subjecting him to two terrorist attacks, Fate has now seen fit test his sangfroid with Occupy Wall Street. Or rather, our sangfroid. Since his practice overlooks Zuccotti Park, our recent psychotherapy sessions have been enlivened with shrieking, tribal drumming, cop sirens and general alarums.

Trippy footwear is among the fashion at Occupy Wall Street in downtown Manhattan

Honesty compels me to admit that I have enjoyed every minute of it. The mardi gras media madness, the exhibitionistic activists, the visiting celebs—Hello Kanye! Good morning Al Sharpton!—call to mind the scene in La Dolce Vita where the male lead, a newspaper hack played by Marcello Mastroianni, reports on the mayhem that ensues after the Madonna—the original one, not the Ciccone one—is spotted lurking in a tree by two small children. Zuccotti, with its paparazzi, its restless wild-eyed devotees, its mangia! mangia! of donated food, is molto, molto Fellini.

In addition to increasing my appreciation for Italian cinema, Occupy Wall Street has also expanded my understanding of street style. Before and after each therapy session I make a point of touring the park in search of fashion trends, of which there is definitely no shortage. From bohemian to faux-hemian, from trippy to tragic, the cavalcade of activist style and provocateur panache is riveting.

The garnish du jour: a cardboard sign

On Monday evening I entered the fray and began to interview people about what they were wearing. Did anyone take umbrage at my audaciously superficial questions? Au contraire! The demonstrators were only too happy to talk about their sad rags and their glad rags.

First I encountered two perkily attired gals from New Jersey, fresh off the Path train: Nathalie was wearing a Batman hoodie from Hot Topic accessorized with a fake Le Sportsac bag. Janelle was rocking a fetchingly luscious flesh-colored angora scarf from H & M. There is, the Chinese will be glad to hear, no restrictive prohibition against aggressively sourced garment manufacture among the Zuccottees.

As appealingly jaunty as they appeared, my Garden State girls were lacking the garnish du jour: a cardboard sign. This season, ladies and gents, do not even think about leaving the house without one of these declamatory accessories. No need to obsess too much about the actual slogan. During my recent visit I noticed everything from “Kill A Banker” to “My Arms Are Tired.” I encountered one young man—his name was Scotty and he was wearing a faux-fur Kmart hat and homemade Jesus sandals—sporting a sign which simply said, “I LOVE YOU.”

Janelle rocking a fetchingly luscious flesh-colored angora scarf from H & M

Many of the activists do, in fact, love me. Literally. Several commented adoringly on my cheeky lowbrow TV appearances. One young man—he was offering passersby the chance to inscribe a message of hope on his torso with an indelible marker—asked me if I could help him “get on VH1.” I assured him that I would do what I could, and then scrawled my name right below his pancreas.

Juxtaposed against these media-savvy skater-boys, there are a number of hard-core old hippies. Sporting peace signs and granny glasses, these vintage Lefties are often to be found “teaching” barely audible lessons to small groups of pale-but-riveted young activist-ettes. While the hippie sages favor traditional Woodstockian attire, their acolytes are wearing nouveau grunge—checked shirts and skinny jeans—from Urban Outfitters and the like.

Executive realness

Contrasting wildly with all of the above are a number of dudes in hyperconventional banking attire. Executive realness. Are they CIA infiltrators? Have they lost their jobs? Have they lost their minds? It was impossible to tell. Either way, they look extremely spiffy in their custom suits.

Who gets my Zuccotti style award of the week? The orthodox Jews, hands down. On Monday evening, Broadway was overrun with elegant, black-clad Chabad-niks waving their etrogs (weird fruit) and lulavs (long frond thingys) at passersby in celebration of Sukkot. When I stopped to chat with two dapper young lads, they insisted that I pray along with them. As I jiggled my etrog/lulav combo, a profound thought occurred to me: Occupy Wall Street could learn an important lesson from these mysterious-but-charming zealots in their identical black hats:

Yo! Activists! Y’all need to get yourselves a signature flourish. How about a colored beret? Or a supercool pair of Black Panther-esque Ray-Bans? ( slate.com )

READ MORE - The Fashion of Occupy Wall Street

Is this the skull of the Mona Lisa? Bones found at site of alleged model's burial

Is this the skull of the Mona Lisa? Bones found at site of alleged model's burial - The secret behind the famously enigmatic smile of the Mona Lisa, the world's most famous painting, could soon be solved.

Archaeologists on a dig in Italy claim to have discovered the skull of the woman who posed for Leonardo's da Vinci's masterpiece.

The excavation team revealed over the weekend that it had found a crypt after a two-week search at an abandoned convent in Florence.

But the grave beneath St. Ursula convent, believed to be the final resting place of Lisa Gherardini Del Giocondo, has now yielded a female-sized skull.

Key discovery: An Italian archaeology team has uncovered a skull it believes to be that of the woman who posed for Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa

Enigmatic find: The human bones found at the excavation site in the Saint Ursula convent in Florence are thought to be those of Lisa Gherardini Del Giocondo

The merchant's wife is widely believed to have been the life model for da Vinci's best-known work.

Officials say the skull was found five feet under the convent's original floor along with other fragments of human ribs and vertebrae.

Now scientists will compare the DNA in the bones with the remains of the model's two children who were buried nearby in an attempt to authenticate the find.

If scientists can confirm the skull belongs to the model, forensic artists will then attempt to reconstruct her face to see how it compares to the 500-year-old version painted by da Vinci - and perhaps solve the riddle of the Mona Lisa's enigmatic smile in the process.

Archeologist Silvano Vinceti, who is in charge of the dig, explained: 'We don't know yet if the bones belong to one single skeleton or more than one.

'But this confirms our hypothesis that in St.Ursula convent there are still human bones and we cannot exclude that among them there are bones belonging to Lisa Gherardini.'

Resting place: The courtyard of the Saint Ursula convent in Florence, where archaeologists have been digging for the last two weeks

Cameras ready: Researchers dig into the underground tombs inside the convent while a crowd of media watches for discoveries

The initial discovery - made using ground penetrating radar and ancient maps and documents - came after a foot of modern concrete was removed and unearthed a layer of ancient, 90-centimeter wide bricks.

Professor Vinceti said of the first discovery: 'This is a very exciting development and the find is consistent with our records and our preliminary research.

'The crypt we have found is the one that was mentioned in church records from 1495 and was reached via a grate and then a staircase.

Muse: The enigmatic Mona Lisa has intrigued millions

'We also know from those records that in 1625 there was a second crypt and these are the ones we have found.'

Present on the dig is Natalia Gucciardini Strozzi, who is related to Lisa Gherardini and who is also a close friend of Prince Charles and former Prime Minister Tony Blair.

She said: 'It was so emotional being here - I didn't think I would get so emotional. I am certain that this is the final resting place of Lisa Gherardini.

Lisa Gheradini, who died in 1542, was the wife of a rich silk merchant named Francesco del Giocondo. In Italy the Mona Lisa is known as La Gioconda.

Most modern historians agree that the lady depicted in the Mona Lisa was Lisa del Giocondo, who became a nun after her husband's death. She died in the convent on July 15, 1542, aged 63.

The couple were married in 1495 when the bride was 16 and the groom 35 and it has been suggested that the da Vinci was commissioned the portrait to mark her pregnancy.

It is not the first time that Professor Vinceti has used such techniques in his work - last year similar methods were used to locate and identify the remains of Caravaggio, another Renaissance master.

Last year in a Dan Brown-style mystery professor Vincenti also claimed that a hidden message could be seen in the eyes of the Mona Lisa after examining them with a high powered magnifying glass.

The Mona Lisa is an oil on panel painting owned by the French government and the image is so widely recognised and caricatured that it is considered the most famous painting in the world.

Da Vinci started to paint it in 1503 or 1504 and finished it in 1519, shortly before his death, and after he had moved to France. ( dailymail.co.uk )

READ MORE - Is this the skull of the Mona Lisa? Bones found at site of alleged model's burial

Believe it or Not, Atlanta Needs the Thrashers

Believe it or Not, Atlanta Needs the Thrashers - Atlanta claims to be a big time sports town. The Braves, Falcons and Hawks are perennial playoff contenders. It's a city that hosts major sports events and does it real well.

The Atlanta Thrashers played their 902nd game in franchise history and possibly their last in Atlanta on Sunday as they were defeated by the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-2 at Philips Arena.

The owners of the Thrashers, The Atlanta Spirit Group LLC have said they are looking for investors to keep the Thrashers in Atlanta, but deciphering the code that means they are trying to sell the team.

Atlanta already lost one NHL team, the Flames back in the 1980s and should they lose the Thrashers, that would mean the end of hockey in Atlanta. How can a city that has played host to the Olympics, is in the rotation for Final Fours and has hosted two Super Bowls lose a professional sport that is both exciting and popular?

The answer is three-fold and unfortunately, it may be too late to keep the team in Atlanta.

The Atlanta Spirit Group

The owners of the Thrashers, The Atlanta Spirit Group have made no bones about the fact that they don't want to be in the hockey business. How does that make Atlanta hockey fans feel? It makes me feel like I don't want to buy a ticket. Would you want to eat in a restaurant where the chef doesn't want to prepare your food properly? The Atlanta Spirit Group claims that they have lost more than $150 million since 2005. Maybe it's because of the lousy product they've put out on the ice.

Don Waddell as GM

The Thrashers have missed the playoffs 10 times in their 11-year history, the one constant is Don Waddell, the Thrashers' general manager since 1999 and now executive. Not only is he responsible for making bad draft picks; anyone want to remember Patrik Stefan, and horrible trades, he now is the mouthpiece for the ownership group that we all want to see go away. Waddell claims there is no deal imminent, but Atlanta media members including John Kincade, who also is on ESPN Radio, says a buyer is there and he wants the Thrashers, Atlanta Hawks and Philips Arena. Why won't Waddell acknowledge the existence of a buyer? Probably because it would mean the end of his reign in Atlanta.

The fans are disgusted

Annually the Thrashers are one of the most poorly supported teams in professional sports. Ranking 28th in attendance for the 2010-11 season and having Philips Arena filled to just 71.7 percent of capacity this season means something is seriously wrong. Hockey is my favorite sport to watch in person and many others feel that way as well. In short, the Atlanta hockey fan-base has had it.

I don't want be a cheerleader and start a campaign to save hockey in Atlanta, but it's a shame it has got to this point. Believe it or not Atlanta needs the Thrashers and the NHL needs this team in the South. NHL teams in Atlanta, Nashville, Carolina and Tampa need to tough it out, find a way for it to work, grow their fan-bases and play hockey!

READ MORE - Believe it or Not, Atlanta Needs the Thrashers

Hot Women Don't Want to Pay for Dinner

Hot Women Don't Want to Pay for Dinner - It's a down economy. Men would rather go dutch on a date. Guys, I have bad news. The more attractive your date is (yes!), the less likely she's going to help cover the dinner bill (d'oh!).

A British study — naturally — reveals that hot women don't think they should have to pay on a date.

Less attractive women are more willing to chip in. Why?

Pretty girls put all that time and effort into looking good and figure they bring more to the table at dinner.

"The intriguing finding comes from a study of 416 men and women who were asked to rate themselves for attractiveness, ahead of going on a series of hypothetical dates." Ah, they rated themselves on their looks. So a woman whom you and I might consider so-so, but who thinks of herself as the next Heidi Klum, will have the confidence to say, "You are one lucky dude to be with me," and order another lemon drop. On your dime. Meantime, a drop-dead gorgeous gal who can't stand the sight of herself in the mirror will just be glad you're talking to her.

Robert Kohlhuber

Men in the study agreed that they would be more willing to pay the total bill for a good-looking date, though men who considered themselves handsome were less inclined to do so. Perfect. Barbie and Ken deserve each other.

Who should really pay on a date? The article consulted etiquette experts who say the person who requested the date must cover the cost.

I have a different question. If an attractive woman expects a man to pay for dinner, what does the man expect in return? Ah, my friends, they didn't cover that in the survey, but I think we know the answer.

Which leads me to another shocking headline: Sex Can Kill You. Or at least give you a coronary. Tufts researchers found that sudden bursts of activity — like sex — make it 2.7 times more likely someone will have a heart attack. Exactly how did they monitor and measure that?? Still, frazzled housewives now have a better excuse for bowing out for the night than coming down with a headache.

However, take heart. Your chances of avoiding a heart attack during sex improve if you get regular exercise. Here's one unusual way to do that. I don't mean to cast the first stone, but... pole dancing for Jesus? ( cnbc.com )

READ MORE - Hot Women Don't Want to Pay for Dinner

Single-sex lunches benefit school children

Single-sex lunches benefit school children - Single-sex lunches introduced in three schools in America's heartland have helped to reduce misbehavior among students and improve eating habits, authorities said.

The Wichita, Kansas middle schools, for students aged 11 to 14 years old, started the separate lunches for boys and girls to reduce teasing, rough-housing and flirting.

"The girls really seem to like it because they get their girl time without having to worry about boys," said Michael Archibeque, principal at Pleasant Valley Middle School. "And the boys don't show off for the girls. I think it's the perfect age for this."

But what Achibeque likes most is that more students are finishing their food, which means less waste and fewer students having to study while hungry in the afternoon.

"I could not believe how many kids are actually eating," Archibeque said.

At Truesdell Middle School in Wichita, which has had single-sex lunches for two years, the positive impact lasts even after lunch is over, according to Principal Jennifer Sinclair.

The students seem to have adapted to the single-sex lunches, Sinclair said. When a mixed-gender lunch was offered recently as incentive to encourage school fundraising, the kids were not interested.

"They said, 'Yuck, why would we want that?'" Sinclair said.

It is not clear how many schools in the United State have single-sex lunches. A spokesman for the Kansas Department of Education said Wichita is the only school district she has heard of in the state with that policy.

Single-sex education is growing rapidly in the United States following evidence that boys and girls may do better academically and socially by being in separate classrooms.

In January, at least 524 public schools had classrooms that were single sex, up from about a dozen in 2002, according to the National Association for Single-Sex Public Education.

The association did not have figures on how many schools with co-educational classrooms have single-sex lunchrooms. School principals generally do not require approval of the school board or state departments of education to have single-sex lunches. ( yahoo.com )

READ MORE - Single-sex lunches benefit school children

Treasure trove of amazing pictures that were kept hidden from the world

Treasure trove of amazing pictures that were kept hidden from the world - She scoured the streets day and night, venturing into strange and sometimes dicey neighbourhoods. She wore a hat, sturdy shoes and a camera, always a camera, around her neck and at the ready.

A woman in a white fur stole and evening dress drifting in the darkness toward a '56 two-tone Chevy. Click. A curious little boy, undaunted by his size, using an empty window frame as a ladder so he can peek into a giant box. Click. A huddled coil of a man defeated by life, his clothes soiled and tattered, his head hanging in despair. Click.

Fractions of seconds, captured by Vivian Maier a half century ago or more - fleeting moments of life on the streets at a time when men wore fedoras and dragged on Lucky Strikes, when women favored babushkas, when families piled in Studebakers and DeSotos for Sunday drives.

'Mary Poppins': An undated and untitled self portrait of Vivian Maier, who worked as a nanny when she wasn't taking amazing street photos

Maier observed it all without judgment. This was her hobby, not her job. But over the decades, it also was her life. She shot tens of thousands of photos. Most were never printed. Many weren't even developed. And few were seen by anyone but her.

Vivian Maier wanted it that way. She guarded her privacy so zealously that she didn't even want people to know her full name.

She and her photos seemed destined for obscurity until a young man with an eye for bargains stopped by an auction house one day. He paid about $400 for a huge grocery box stuffed with tens of thousands of negatives.

He knew only that they came from a repossessed storage locker that had been rented by an elderly woman.

He carted the negatives home, not expecting much - maybe just some illustrations for a history book he was co-authoring about his Northwest Side neighborhood. He didn't find any. But he did unearth a far bigger treasure.

John Maloof had stumbled upon an undiscovered artist whose photography is now being compared to the giants, a reclusive woman who, in death, is attracting the kind of attention and acclaim she would have shunned in life.

Rough and tumble: Two unidentified boys are pictured in an undated shot by Vivian Maier, who often frequented poor neighbourhoods to take pictures

Maloof knew nothing about photography - he was a real estate agent - but when he started scanning some of the negatives in his computer, even a novice could see they were special.

He decided to collect as much of her work as he could find. He contacted folks who'd bought Maier's other possessions at the auction that day in late 2007. Soon, he owned 1,000 rolls of her film.

Maloof set out to learn more about Vivian Maier. He discovered through an obituary in the Chicago Tribune that she had died just days earlier.

'Vivian Maier, proud native of France and Chicago resident for the last 50 years died peacefully. ... A free and kindred spirit who magically touched the lives of all who knew her. Always ready to give her advice, opinion or a helping hand. Movie critic and photographer extraordinaire ...'

Wealth of material: From 1955, this Maier shot of a woman in a veil and fur coat was titled Uptown West, New York, N.Y.

Her 83 years on earth, summed up in 96 words.

Maloof, 29, tracked down two of the brothers who posted the the obituary - Lane and Matt Gensburg.

Vivian Maier, it turned out, had two distinct identities: A nanny for the Gensburgs and several other families in a 40-year career on the affluent North Shore. And before, during and after work, a photographer who chronicled the gritty drama and tender moments of street life in and around Chicago. She was fiercely independent. Eccentric. Opinionated. Private, yet confrontational.

'She came on strong,' Maren Baylaender says of Maier, who was hired by her husband to care for his disabled daughter during the late 1980s and early '90s. 'Whatever she had to say was more like a statement than a discussion.'

She had opinions about everything: Native Americans? They'd gotten a raw deal. Women? Just as capable as men. Marriage? No thanks.

Artistic: A 1954 photograph of a man on a horse titled August 11, 1954, New York, N.Y.

'I called her Mrs. once and she said, "It's MISS Maier and I'm proud of it,"' recalls former talk show host Phil Donahue, who hired her as a housekeeper for his four teenage sons when he lived on the North Shore in the '70s.

The Gensburg sons, now in their 50s, helped Maloof by opening a giant storage locker packed with Maier's trunks, clothes, negatives, 8-mm films, audio tapes - and a birth certificate showing she'd been born in 1926 in New York (not in France, as the obituary said) to a French mother and Austrian father.

'The best way I could describe her was she was like Mary Poppins,' says Lane Gensburg.

All dolled up: This 1957 photograph showing a woman in a white fur stole and evening dress was titled January 9, 1957, Florida."

'I think she could actually communicate with children much better than she did with adults,' he says. 'She did amazing things with us, things out of the ordinary.

'She was a free spirit - that's the only way you can really describe her. She had no real interest in material possessions.'

Maier's photos range from 1949 to the mid-1990s. Mostly, her black-and-white images depict the poor, women (especially well-dressed dowagers) and children. After switching to color in the mid- to late '70s, she turned to graffiti, as well as inanimate objects such as soda cans, headlines - and garbage.

Uptown: A shot from September 1959 depicting life on the streets of New York and titled September 28, 1959, 108th St. East, New York, N.Y.

Shortly after Maloof started buying Maier's film, he tried to interest galleries and museums, to no avail. Then he posted a blog he'd created featuring her work on Flickr, the online photo-sharing site and asked: 'What do I do with this stuff? ... Is this type of work worthy of exhibitions, a book? ... Any direction would be great.' Ideas and encouragement poured in.

This winter, Maloof finally succeeded in getting a one-woman show for Maier at the Chicago Cultural Center - her U.S. debut.

Curious glance: An image of a woman standing next to a bus was titled Sept., 1956, New York, N.Y.

On a snowy opening night, Maier's work was honored in the city that had been her photographic canvas; Maloof beamed as more than 1,000 people filed through the exhibit - including the Gensburgs.

Now he's assembling a book of her photos.

After Vivian Maier died in April 2009, the Gensburg boys - joined by their mother - returned to the North Shore woods where their adventurous nanny had taken them to pick strawberries.

This time, though, they read psalms and scattered her ashes in the spring air.

Old school: An undated photo of a man wearing a hat and carrying a newspaper, titled Chicago, Ill.

Memory lane: Lane Gensburg, whose family hired Vivian Maier as their nanny when he was a boy, at the exhibition of her work in Chicago

Amazing find: Collector John Maloof looks through bins of hundreds of unprocessed film and negatives that belonged to Vivian Maier ( dailymail.co.uk )

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Our love and hate relationship with online shopping

Our love and hate relationship with online shopping - Online shopping may sound like a dream come true, offering people a convenient way to purchase all the goods they could possibly want from the comfort of their own home, with just a few clicks of the mouse.

It may also turn into a disaster, as customers battle with complicated transaction procedures or fall victim to scams.

But amazing as it may sound, customers disappointed with their online experience will invariably get back onto their computers and start browsing for new offers on the net.

Shop ‘til you drop: Most people like the convenience of shopping online but still enjoy walking around malls, like Senayan City, especially during sales. JP/Wendra Ajistyatama

Take 25-year-old Astrid Anastasia for example. Two disappointing experiences purchasing goods online have not deterred her from browsing through online stores just minutes later to find other goods she might like.

“I am still often tempted to buy [things online],” said the woman who works as a reporter for a health magazine.

“Their postings make me go wild. I still want to buy everything,” said Astrid.

“But the items they send are not the quality I want,” Astrid went on, adding that she had once received shoes that had already been worn when ordering them online.

After that, she swore she would never buy anything from the Internet but now she’s realized she just can’t get away from that computer screen.

The widespread use of online technology in people’s everyday life has encouraged the growth of e-commerce in Indonesia.

The popularity of social networking sites, the omnipresence of cheap electronic devices as well as the faster internet connection speed here are believed to be strong drivers of this growth.

Data from International Data Corporation (IDC) states that online transactions in Indonesia rose to
Rp 35 trillion (US$3.85 billion) in 2009, and are expected to have increased further in 2010 as the number of Internet users grew from 30 million people to 45 million.

An expert in consumer behavior from the University of Indonesia, Tengku Ezni Balqiah, has predicted a boom in online shopping in the years to come as Indonesians increasingly trust online payment systems.

“Many people used to hesitate when they had to pay for goods online but with the improvements in banking services, I don’t think this will be a problem anymore,” she said.

Ezni added that people’s increasing busy lifestyles had provided more room for online shopping to grow in the future.

“You need a lot of resources when you want to shop, not only time but also energy. That’s when online stores can solve problems,” Ezni said.

Online stores have gained popularity in the past three years and definitely become an inseparable part of people’s lives.

You may find ads for online goods everywhere, in your email inbox, your Facebook wall and messages.

More and more online businesses are popping up as they are cheaper to establish and easier to manage compared to conventional businesses.

Setting up an online business only requires a start up capital of Rp 2 million. If the business is well run, its owner can make a turnover of more than Rp 10 million a month. Given these huge prospects, it comes as no surprise that many entrepreneurs have tried their luck setting up an online business.

But apart from online shopping’s promising opportunities for entrepreneurs and the convenience
it offers buyers, people are complaining about receiving increasingly disturbing online shopping offers every day.

“Photo tagging is the new spam,” web designer Dewa Widyakumara said, referring to a bunch of Facebook photos of new products from online stores crowding his wall page.

“I remove [from my Facebook] anyone who tags me [in such photos],” said the 35-year old.

Dita Indah Nurma Sari, 27, said she also felt irritated by shops tagging her in pictures of the goods they are trying to sell online, as she did not feel comfortable messages from online stores appearing on her Facebook wall.

“They refer to people as ‘Sis’ or ‘Bun’ [the short version of Bunda or mother]. It feels so awkward. It’s as if they knew us really well. I don’t like it,” said the mother of one.

No one really knows why online businesses have started sending messages to complete strangers using familiar language, but many people have been complaining about such a phenomena on their statuses or blogs.

“I don’t know where these names come from. I just follow the others [online stores],” said
Hanida Syafriani, the owner of Jingga Boutique.

Given the increasing number of complaints about online shopping services, it appears there is a growing need to set up some kind of business etiquette on e-commerce that places the emphasis on customers’ convenience as a priority.

Even though Indonesia has its own law regulating Electronic Transactions and Information to protect the interest of people involved in e-commerce, no policy has outlined the need for certain business standards.

Some online stores believe their managements must implement a set of standards to maintain their customers’ trust.

“I only tag people once a day and if people complain, I will apologize and remove the tag immediately,” said Bayu Sulistyo Subyantoro, the director of online store himandher couple stuff.

A click of the mouse: An online shopper is about to pay for a purchase online using a credit card.JP/J. AdigunaDespite people complaining about and criticizing online shopping, there is no denying it provides an important service in people’s modern lifestyles.

Take Dita and Dewa, for example. Despite their resentment of online stores and the services they provide, they still love shopping online.

“I am very conscious of the quality of products, so I prefer to go directly to the stores to buy the things I want. But if I don’t have time, then I don’t mind buying goods on the internet,” said Dita.

Dewa, on the other hand, values and trusts online shopping when it comes to buying electronic or computer-related stuffs.

“You can avoid falling into certain traps by checking the websites to see if they are reliable enough.

You can also opt for COD [cash on delivery] so when you don’t get the thing you ordered, you can cancel the purchase and not lose any money,” the man said.

So, what are you waiting for, people? Time to browse and buy! ( thejakartapost.com )

READ MORE - Our love and hate relationship with online shopping