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Verbier: Megabucks a possible threat to its and#8216;shabby chicand#8217; charm

Anindita — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 23:13:44 +0000

This is a place for people who have money to burn. People who have made a fortune and shamelessly spend a fortune in partying and enjoying themselves. One of the most expensive places on earth, this ski resort in the Swiss Alps is a popular holiday destination for well-known faces and royalty thanks to its brilliant skiing and vibrant nightlife, and some have even made it their permanent home. To name a few, Hugh Grant, Posh Spice, Jemima Khan, Princes William and Harry are regulars. Coupled with the stars there are those City boys with huge bonuses, millionaires, grand old British families, and of course the Russian oligarchs who ensure the steady huge influx of money and maintain the high level of wealth here. One has to shell out at least £50 for cocktail, champagne ranges from more than £100 to £11,000 a bottle and renting a chalet would mean parting with £15,000 to £20,000 or more. Colin Barber who runs one of the resort’s best known bars says that the place has really developed and doubled in size in 19 years. The debut of three new venues – Coco Club, the first luxury VIP club in the Alps, Richard Branson’s expensive ski lodge named The Lodge and Gul Coksun’s art gallery would probably create an ineradicable change in Verbier.
Surprisingly, many people in Verbier are not exactly in favour of these changes as they feel that these developments would rob Verbier of its simplicity and charm. It has always been a place which has welcomed people who spend money like water as well as the ski bums and is a lot less snobby than its rivals such as St Moritz, Courchevel and Gstaad. Charlie Berman, a millionaire city banker says that it is shabby-chic and has always had a jeans and T-shirt ambience. Casual and friendly are the genius loci of the place where a multi-millionaire gets along with a ski bum but all that is under threat now thanks to the opulence and ostentation. But people are particularly apprehensive of the Russians with all their money as they believe in the dictum- Money talks! People believe that skiing is not their prime concern and they have got a horrible attitude of showing off their wealth and being dominating. Courchevel has already become a victim of these Russians, where they reportedly say to the owner,

I’ll give you 500 Francs to get rid of him.

Now that’s not really being friendly, is it?

Source: Dailymail

Image credit: Magicswitzerland

Basra: Religious extremism targets women

Anindita — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 07:39:29 +0000

In the past five months more than 40 women have been killed in Iraq’s southern city of Basra after being accused of ‘un-Islamic’ behavior. Women have been threatened with dire punishment, should they wear make-up or step out without the Islamic headscarf known as hijab.

Their mutilated bodies are dumped on the streets or in garbage dumps with notes attached to them accusing them of adultery and other ‘honor crimes’, thereby justifying their hideous crime of killing these women. Major-General Abdul-Jalil Khalaf, the Basra police chief said that they found the body of a woman with her six-year-old son, who was believed to have been conceived in an adulterous relationship. He added that the number of murdered women might be higher as many families don’t report these cases due to the fear of scandal or reprisals, or simply because they had doubts concerning the police’s ability to solve the case, as at times the police are too scared themselves, to conduct proper investigations.

It is believed that the violence perpetrated against these women is carried out by Islamic militants. These perpetrators, who believe that they are spreading the message and instructions of Islam, are simply imposing their extremist views upon the community. They are forcing the women to follow a certain code-of-conduct depriving them of their very basic right, freedom.

There have been instances where the religious extremists have intimidated and forced the women to cover their hair and bodies. The female students have also been threatened to not attend the exams without wearing their headscarves.

Khalaf said that although they do not have enough information about the perpetrators, investigations and enquiries were still made to know more about the killings.

source: yahoonews

Step out in style!

Anindita — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 12:45:37 +0000

Elegance and style personified! That’s what I’d call this pair of flat, slouchy boots. Made of faux suede and fabric lined, these are extremely chic and a perfect blend of style, elegance, comfort and warmth. Available in three different colors, it comes with a price tag of $24.99. Boots have always had an important place in a woman’s closet but this modernized version of the classic, sexy, high-heeled knee length boots is a newer trend and here to stay for some time. However you’ve got to be a long legged jeune fille to pull off this style. Just half an inch high and 13.5″ tall with a foldover cuff, you can pair it with skinny jeans and tuck it into the boots. Or you could sport it with print mod dresses or short skirts for that cute and chic look. You can blindly invest in this one as boots never really go out of fashion, be it the high heeled, well tailored ones or the flat, slouchy ones. Not really a boot junkie myself, but I would definitely grab this classy pair. I just love it!

Source: CutesyGirl

A microwave oven home in the offing!

Anindita — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 10:54:20 +0000

Ever thought about your home as a giant microwave oven? Well, now is a good time to start thinking about it as it could be one of the features of your prospective house. What started out initially as a way to drive off intruders and serve as a security system was found out later to have the potential of becoming a central heating system for a house. The Active Denial System which emits millimeter waves, otherwise known as the pain ray, was primarily designed to drive off intruders but due to its ability in monitoring the intensity of the beam. It can be set at a lower level which can act as central heating. The emitters are integrated into the walls or ceiling and the power of the beam can be adjusted from a lower, meant for detection and tracking, to a higher level when the beams turn hot and painful.

The parent idea, which sprouted some ten years back, had researchers walk into a microwave test room which had an 800-watt transmitter incorporated in a wall which emitted microwaves into the room. The walls were enveloped in metal in order to enable the reflection of microwaves around the room and the room was also equipped with large metal blades for stirring to avoid the formation of hot spots.
But this feasible home heating-cum-security system is not without its drawbacks. If it uses microwaves, then that would warm up your insides leaving your skin comparatively cool. Whereas if it uses Active Denial System’s millimeter waves, its vice-versa, meaning it would warm up your skin rather than insides. And the most important thing, it’s not exactly appealing to the masses mainly due to electrophobia. Frankly, imagining living inside a huge oven sort of a house gives me the creeps!

Source: Wired

Image Credit: Knaufdrywall

Effects of surging oil prices on environment

Anindita — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 08:31:39 +0000

The skyrocketing price of oil is a curse as well as a blessing for the environment. Lets first look at the disadvantages, and save the best for last. What is now 100-dollar-a-barrel oil, used to be available for 50 dollars back in 2001. The increase in prices is the main driving force towards the utilization of other fossil fuels, which gives rise to rather unwholesome results.

It has induced a greater investment in tar sands, which contributes in polluting the environment to a major extent. Quite a few major oil companies like Shell and British Petroleum have put their money into it and are minting it as it costs just 40 dollars per barrel to produce oil and they sell it keeping a huge margin of profit.

Coal, even more hazardous for the environment, is considered as an option — thanks to high price of crude oil. Accounting for 40 percent of electricity all over the world, several countries like China, USA and India depend on coal to a vast extent as it’s affordable and doesn’t involve any geopolitical risks.

As far the advantages go, to begin with, the consumers will think twice before shelling out that kind of money and switch over to alternative energies such as wind, solar power, etc which was once considered unusual. Steven Sawyer, executive director of GWEC (Global Wind Energy Council) said that due to this mode of energy becoming more expensive, wind would come across as a better economic option and that there are places where affordable wind farms could be set up.

Rise in oil prices is making the recycling industry happy too, especially in plastics. Made from oil and gas, surging oil prices has prompted to consider recycling as a means of production for plastic. Now that’s good news, at last a way to get rid of all those plastic bottles and shopping bags!

Due to rising price of oil and concerns about climate change, capitalizing on nuclear power, responsible for 15 percent of world’s electricity, has emerged as another option. But then, there are a few apprehensions regarding nuclear proliferation, plant safety and disposal of those radioactive wastes.

Image: Msnbc

Source: Yahoonews

A peek into Katherine Heigl's Christmas Wedding!

Anindita — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 08:08:52 +0000

A wedding is the most special and important thing in a person’s life. And, if you club it with Christmas, you can’t ask for anything more. It’s a dream wedding! Well, Roswell and Grey’s Anatomy star Katherine Heigl got her dream wedding, when she married her longtime boyfriend, singer Josh Kelly, in Park City, Utah on December 23, 2007.

The gorgeous couple exchanged vows in front of friends and family, which included her co-stars from Grey’s Anatomy. The Emmy winning actress said that it was more out of necessity that they had to club their wedding with Christmas, as she gets off just two weeks a year for Christmas. She told the OK! magazine that she wanted the entire winter wonderland look for her nuptials.

And therefore, it was included with lots of big evergreens with twinkle lights and Christmas decorations at the reception to bring out the essence of Christmas guests got a basket of Christmas cookies each and the menu included traditional Noel goose and butternut squash soup. Voted as the 19th sexiest woman in the world by FHM and one of the Ten Most Fascinating People of 2007 by Barbara Walters, Heigl met Kelley on the set of his video for Only You.

She confesses that they have never lived together and thus realizes that they would have to make a lot of adjustments and compromises to work it out and is eager to start their lives and a family together.

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Source: ok-magazine

Your personalized picture frame-cum-wall clock

Anindita — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 11:22:52 +0000

Now here’s a clock that lets you use your creativity than just tell the time. Priced at $48, it serves as a sort of picture frame-cum-wall clock as you get to insert your favorite pictures in the 12 mirror-finished stainless steel hour markers. So, get your favorite pictures and slide it into those 2″ x 1.5″ openings that each hour marker has and have your very own personalized wall clock.

A superb combination of style, innovation and functionality, this unique timepiece lets you do away with those innumerable small photo frames that crowd on your wall, mantelpiece, showcases, tables, and so on. So, wrack your brains, get those pictures out and come up with creative ideas.

You could slip in your family photos, your favorite destinations or maybe even the 12 sun signs. To make it more practical and useful, insert those small cardboard calendars, each month per hour marker, and voila! - You have your calendar-cum-wall clock. And to make it crazier, you can have your very own Ocean’s Twelve theme clock!

Source: Chiasso

Nicole Richie, Joel Madden caught in a Christmas spirit

Anindita — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 08:03:36 +0000

Voted as one of the 50 Dumbest People in Hollywood, Nicole Richie seems to be on a charity spree. To begin with, Richie and Joel Madden have set up ‘The Richie Madden Children’s Foundation’ in order to help would-be mothers. Next, they hosted a baby shower for 100 expectant mothers at the Los Angeles Free Clinic and donated over $200,000 worth of gifts comprising of baby products.

And now, in keeping with the Christmas spirit, they have hosted a holiday bash for the children from the L.A. homeless program Beyond Shelter. The party which took place on Saturday at the Paramount Studios was enjoyed by over 200 children and their families. It involved the usual do’s such as face-painting, clowns, Santa Claus and his elves, music, cookies, and the like.

The special feature, however, was the mountain of 500 Cuddle Cub stuffed bears amongst which the children could choose. Mother-to-be Richie said that there are lots of things that they would love to do for the homeless kids, but right at this moment the least they could do is help them have a merry Christmas. Guess maternal instinct and Christmas Spirit at work!

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Source: Usmagazine

When Everett turned bitter!

Anindita — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 08:52:11 +0000

Prince Charming of Shrek films, not so charming after all! Hey! I am talking about Rupert Everett who has turned quite acrimonious as he lashed some of Hollywood’s legends.

Everett is disappointed with the current state of film making and the world of entertainment, in general and hence the remarks, marked by strong resentment and cynicism, against legends like Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Robert Redford, Diane Keaton and Woody Allen.

He labeled these legends as tragic parodies of themselves, and went so far as to say that Al Pacino resembles a mad old freak and that its high time he stopped fooling around and did some serious stuff.

He claims that the standards of good acting are continuously depreciating. Thanks to the entire nonsensical celebrity hoopla and hype. Being at his acrid best when it came to George Clooney, he not only criticized Clooney by tagging him as not the brightest spark on the boulevard, but also commented on his Ocean’s series rather harshly and described it as a cancer to world culture. A bitter Everett said,

People in America can’t think about Iraq now - all they care about is Jennifer Lopez’s bottom. We are responsible for the blob-i-sation of the world by entertainment.

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Source: Starpulse

Study of ancient fish bones asserts global warming

Anindita — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 09:29:20 +0000

Yet another proof to assert the phenomena of global warming! A group of fisheries ecologists and historians have sketched out the history of marine life in the northern European seas from the study of archaeological material, tax accounts, church registers and account books of monasteries. In order to understand the impact of global warming on the marine life in Danish waters, scientists have studied the fish fauna, which includes 108,000 fish bones, pertaining to that area during one of the warmest prehistoric periods known as the warm Atlantic period (7000-3900 BC). It was discovered that there were bones belonging to warm water species, such as anchovy and black sea bream, which usually thrives in the waters of Bay of Biscay and the Mediterranean Sea. But with the onset of cooler temperatures, these species disappeared from that particular area.
However these same warm-water species have resurfaced in waters around Denmark in the last 10-15 years thanks to the rise in temperatures since the late 1980s to the early 1990s. This is a very important indicator determining the predominance of a certain species as a result of climatic changes. What seems rather contradictory is the decline of cod when thousands of cod bones were also found stating their abundance during that period. Researchers believe that the decline is due to the increase in fishing now-a-days, and to maintain the cod populations the fish mortality has to be lowered. That means, no Codfish Balls, Poached Cod Platter, Boiled Cod with Mustard Sauce, etc.

Source: Biologynews
Image Credit: High-pasture-cave