Interesting
SACRAMENTO — Tila Tequila says she was born to be a star.
And why not?
If you’re not familiar with her, Tequila is the MySpace stalwart who’s already gained pop culture fame with her racy photos, video blog posts and catchy dance music. Now, with a reality show in the works, she’s proof that it helps to have 1.8 million “friends” in high places.
“I’m crossing over into the mainstream,” crows Tequila gleefully, chatting on her cell phone recently from Hollywood. “America is definitely ready for someone like me.”
Modesty may not be one of Tequila’s strong points, but her confidence is, and it raises a tantalizing brain-teaser:
NEW YORK, Feb 8 (Reuters Life!) – Ever locked eyes with a stranger on a train or in a store, become quickly intrigued, and later regretted not even saying “hello.”
In a fast-paced world growing ever faster online, the Web is replacing the newspaper personal ad as a place where people can act belatedly on that moment of magical chemistry — with some fleeting encounters even leading to marriage.
At social networking and advertising site Craigslist.org, a subsection called Missed Connections, is rapidly becoming a destination for second chance encounters, and its ads tell tales of infatuation, hope, frustration and love.
Craigslist’s Chief Executive Jim Buckmaster said he had heard of several marriages forged through Missed Connections which was set up in 2000. Use of the site has surged in the past three years to 75,000 new postings a month from 18,000, with San Francisco the biggest market then New York.
LOS ANGELES, Feb 6 (Reuters Life!) – There’s the flicking kiss, the ice-cream kiss, the vacuum kiss, the Hollywood kiss and another 50 or so smoochy variations.
Who said a kiss was just a kiss?
For everyone who’s ever wanted to pucker up like a movie star, French kiss like Johnny Depp, or simply add variety to their love life, help is at hand.
“In our culture, movies are a major way of transmitting romantic ideas and a lot of people get their romantic notions about kissing from love scenes in movies,” said William Cane, author of “Kiss Like a Star.”
Sarah-Jayne Blakemore, a research fellow at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London, explains.
The answer lies at the back of the brain in an area called the cerebellum, which is involved in monitoring movements. Our studies at University College London have shown that the cerebellum can predict sensations when your own movement causes them but not when someone else does. When you try to tickle yourself, the cerebellum predicts the sensation and this prediction is used to cancel the response of other brain areas to the tickle.
LONDON, Jan 14 (Reuters Life!) – A court in East London is expected to decide this week whether poker is a game of skill, chance or a combination of both.
A jury has been asked to weigh up the role played by Lady Luck in the world’s most popular card game, after police accused a club owner of illegally hosting a poker session and levying winnings and stakes without a license.
Britain’s Gambling Act states that a license is needed for hosting a game of chance but not those of skill, like chess.
Derek Kelly, owner of the Gutshot private club in central London, has been accused of breaking the law on two occasions — December, 2004 and January, 2005. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
LONDON, England (AP) — Chess is a challenging game at the best of times. But try playing it in Trafalgar Square, with huge pieces carved from ice — on a relatively balmy British day that threatened to turn pawns to puddles.
Organizers of London’s Russian Winter Festival knew players in their ice chess match Thursday would be battling not only each other but the weather. But the match was completed and the sculptures survived, despite a drizzly day and temperatures that reached 55 degrees.
Wegg-Prosser said the pieces, which were carved to look like local landmarks — the king was the Gothic tower that houses Big Ben –were still intact at the end of the hour-long match, which began at 8 a.m.
“It takes at least three hours for them to melt,” said Yulia Wegg-Prosser, the chess spokeswoman.
Way to make chess cool again, get it “cool”
LONDON – For sale: The world’s smallest country with its own flag, stamps, currency and passports.
Apply to Prince Michael of Sealand if you want to run your own nation, even if it is just a wartime fort perched on two concrete towers in the North Sea.
Built in World War II as an anti-aircraft base to repel German bombers, the derelict platform was taken over 40 years ago by retired army Maj. Paddy Roy Bates, who went to live there with his family.
HANCOCK, Mich. – Robert Nuranen handed the local librarian a book he’d checked out for a ninth-grade assignment — along with a check for 47 years’ worth of late fees.
Nuranen said his mother misplaced the copy of “Prince of Egypt” while cleaning the house. The family came across it every so often, only to set it aside again. He found it last week while looking through a box in the attic.
“I figured I’d better get it in before we waited another 10 years,” he said after turning it in Friday with the $171.32 check. “Fifty-seven years would be embarrassing.”
I hope it was a good book
ALTA, Utah – Every January when dog licenses come up for renewal, dog lovers at this ski town go wild with anticipation, panting for a shot at the finite number up for grabs.
They start counting the dogs rumored to have died or moved away with their owners. And if the license lottery leaves them empty-handed, they can always try pestering the mayor, who can issue his own licenses for good cause or compassion.
“It’s the worst issue I deal with,” said Mayor Tom Pollard. “The day after I was elected I got my first call — I hadn’t even gotten to the job. They disguised it as a question about garbage service, then finished with, ‘Can I have a dog?’”
And remember to get your pets spayed or neutered
LONDON (Reuters) – Fast food chain KFC was criticized by the advertising watchdog Wednesday for misleading customers over a promotion for cheap chicken drumsticks.
The Advertising Standards Authority said posters offering a piece of “Spicy Zinger” chicken for 50 pence failed to make clear that the deal was open only to people who also bought a complete meal.
The watchdog upheld complaints from three people, saying small print explaining the promotion was not clear enough.
“We considered that referring to the significant condition only in smallprint was likely to mislead consumers about the nature of the offer,” the ASA said.
TOKYO (Reuters) – A troupe of dancers in skin-coloured body suits had Japanese national broadcaster NHK apologising to viewers of its New Year’s Eve music special for what seemed to be a full-scale Janet Jackson-style wardrobe malfunction.
The dancers, who all appeared to be topless and wore skimpy bikini-style bottoms and feathered head-dresses, covered the stage during a performance by singer DJ OZMA, prompting about 250 viewers to phone in and complain.
“The dancers were wearing body suits, but we apologise for any misunderstanding,” a presenter announced towards the end of the 57th annual “Red and White Song Contest”.
NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) – If you’re in a New York City park and tell your dog Max to fetch, you might find a strange pooch retrieving your ball.
That’s because Max was the top dog name in New York in 2005, according to the city Health Department.
The name Max was engraved on 1,228 dog licenses of the 101,274 issued last year, the department said.
All top five names remained the same as in 2004 — Max, followed by Lucky, Princess, Rocky and Buddy.
NEW YORK, Dec 26 (Reuters Life!) – The only sure way of avoiding a hangover is abstinence. For the rest of us, time is the answer.
There are almost as many folk cures to treat the unpleasant, painful condition that some have dubbed the wrath of grapes as there are beers, wines and whiskies that cause it.
In Finland, saunas are a preferred antidote, in the belief that they increase the circulation and therefore sweat out alcohol’s toxins faster. Russians are said to prefer cabbage soup to replenish lost water and nutrients.
GAINESVILLE, Georgia (AP) — Do not bother making jokes. This family has heard them all.
No, they do not communicate directly with Santa Claus. And they do not celebrate the holidays all year.
The comments are part of life when your last name is Christmas, especially when two of your family members are named — yes — Mary.
“People ask me all the time, ‘What were your parents thinking?’ ” said the younger Mary Christmas, 30. “I never minded. It’s a conversation piece.”
Father Christmas has been hailed a hero after helping to arrest a streaker in the US.
He helped police catch a 35-year-old man who was running naked outside a police station in Damascus, Virginia.
Santa told News Channel 11: “He sees you when you’re sleeping, he sees when you’re awake, and he sees when you’re naked coming down the street.
“I’ve seen a lot of things in my life, but that has to be one of the strangest I have ever witnessed.”
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Hoping Santa will send you an iPod, a Nintendo Wii or the latest mobile phone this Christmas?
Be careful what you wish for: it could come “painfully” true.
Sore thumbs, inflamed elbows and stiff shoulders are among the musco-skeletal injuries linked to excessive use of the popular high-tech games and gadgets that could be under the tree.
“This is a pretty big issue, especially as more and more people are using gadgets a lot more,” said William Lenihan from Singapore’s Osteopathic Pain Relief Center.
LONDON – Santa Claus was forced to swap his traditional red and white hat for protective headgear after children pelted him with mince pies in Scotland.
Santa was hit on the head by pastries thrown from a balcony as he handed out gold chocolate coins at a shopping center in the town of Paisley, near Glasgow, at the weekend.
“Health and safety is paramount,†center manager Andrew MacKinnon said on Wednesday. “We issued him with a yellow hardhat equipped with a pair of reindeer antlers to make it look more festive.â€
LONDON – Great Scot! A shortage of ceremonial kilts could leave thousands of soldiers without a stitch of plaid to wear as they parade to the skirl of the bagpipes.
Military officials said Monday that more than 5,000 Scottish soldiers are having to share their kilts because defense chiefs have not finalized a contract to buy enough of the garments to go around.
The men, who face regular tours of duty in south Iraq and Afghanistan, have just 320 kilts, or one for every 15 soldiers.
BEIJING, China (AP) — A Chinese budget airline that sold tickets for as little as 13 U.S. cents has been fined for violating government price controls, a news report said Monday.
A Spring Airlines subsidiary was fined 150,000 yuan ($20,000; €15,000) for violating rules that limit discounts on government-set ticket prices, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
Spring’s Jinan Spring Holiday Travel Agency sold 400 tickets on flights between Shanghai and the eastern city of Jinan for 1 yuan (13 cents; 10 euro cents), the report said. They accounted for 10 percent of seats on Spring’s flights from November 30 to December 10.
Farmers in Cheshire are dressing their geese in woolly hats and scarves.
They hope keeping the birds warm will help them to be happier, fatter and tastier for their Christmas customers.
Karol Bailey, of Holly Tree Fram in Knutsford, told the BBC: “Pleased poultry makes tasty poultry.
“It is important that animal welfare is of the highest standard to enable the animals to grow and produce tasty, flavoursome meat.”
NEW YORK (Reuters) – An animal rights group on Friday accused Macy’s of selling a coat with a real animal fur collar even though it was advertised as fake fur.
The Humane Society of the United States said a $237.99 Sean John Hooded Snorkel Jacket for sale on Macy’s Web site was described as having an “imitation rabbit fur collar.”
But the group said when it purchased the coat, the label read “Made in China” and “genuine raccoon fur.” The group said it is testing the fur to see if it is from a raccoon dog, a type of dog raised in China whose fur resembles that of a raccoon.
