Glamorous Diana dresses up for auction

A Victor Edelstein midnight-blue velvet evening gown worn by Britain's Princess Diana when she danced with actor John Travolta in 1985 at the State dinner at the White House given by President and Mrs Reagan, is adjusted by house assistant Lucy Bishop at the Kerry Taylor auction rooms in London, Thursday, Feb. 28, 2013. The dress estimated to realise 200,000-300,000 pounds ( 310,000-464,000 US Dollars) will be sold in the Fit For a Princess auction in London on March 19. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

A Victor Edelstein midnight-blue velvet evening gown worn by Britain's Princess Diana when she danced with actor John Travolta in 1985 at the State dinner at the White House given by President and Mrs Reagan, is adjusted by house assistant Lucy Bishop at the Kerry Taylor auction rooms in London, Thursday, Feb. 28, 2013. The dress estimated to realise 200,000-300,000 pounds ( 310,000-464,000 US Dollars) will be sold in the Fit For a Princess auction in London on March 19. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

A Victor Edelstein midnight-blue velvet evening gown worn by Britain's Princess Diana when she danced with actor John Travolta in 1985 at the State dinner at the White House given by President and Mrs Reagan, is adjusted by house assistant Lucy Bishop at the Kerry Taylor auction rooms in London, Thursday, Feb. 28, 2013. The dress estimated to realise 200,000-300,000 pounds ( 310,000-464,000 US Dollars) will be sold in the Fit For a Princess auction in London on March 19. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

The beaded neckline of a Catherine Walker black velvet evening gown worn for a Vanity Fair photo shoot by Britain's Princess Diana is adjusted by house assistant Lucy Bishop at the Kerry Taylor auction rooms in London, Thursday, Feb. 28, 2013. The dress estimated to realise 50,000-70,000 pounds ( 77,000-108,000 US Dollars) will be sold in the Fit For a Princess auction in London on March 19. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

A Catherine Walker sea-green sequined evening gown worn for the State visit to Austria by Britain's Princess Diana is adjusted by house assistant Lucy Bishop at the Kerry Taylor auction rooms in London, Thursday, Feb. 28, 2013. The dress estimated to realise 30,000-50,000 pounds ( 46,000-77,000 US Dollars) will be sold in the Fit For a Princess auction in London on March 19. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Beading detail is shown on a Catherine Walker burgundy velvet sheath with embroidered tailcoat worn for the State visit to Korea in 1992 by Britain's Princess Diana, at the Kerry Taylor auction rooms in London, Thursday, Feb. 28, 2013. The dress estimated to realise 40,000-60,000 pounds ( 62,000-93,000 US Dollars) will be sold in the Fit For a Princess auction in London on March 19. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

LONDON (AP) ? If dresses could talk, this dark navy, figure-hugging velvet number would have the best stories to tell.

Princess Diana wore it on state visits, at royal banquets, and most memorably to a gala dinner at the White House in 1985 when she took to the dance floor with Hollywood star John Travolta.

The Victor Edelstein gown will go under the hammer at a vintage fashion auction in London in March, along with nine other of Diana's lavish evening dresses. In total, Kerry Taylor Auctions say the sale is expected to raise more than 800,000 pounds (US$1.2 million.)

The dresses, all in the signature 1980s look ? padded shoulders, puffed sleeves, crushed velvet ? are snapshots in the princess's glamorous, jet-setting life.

One Catherine Walker long-sleeved gown in sea-green sequins was worn to a grand Vienna theater; a burgundy velvet gown with a plunging back, by the same designer, was paired with the Spencer tiara on a visit to Canberra, Australia; and a black, beaded velvet gown, also by Walker, was worn in 1997 for a Vanity Fair photo shoot by Mario Testino.

But the most celebrated item was the Edelstein gown with off-the-shoulder straps, which Diana chose for her and Prince Charles' first joint visit to the White House.

The princess paired it with a stunning sapphire and pearl choker for a state dinner given by President Ronald Reagan, where, after dinner, she and Travolta twirled on the White House dance floor to tunes from the actor's hit movie "Saturday Night Fever."

Travolta said afterward: "She turned around and she did that look that she did so, so beautifully and I asked if she would care to dance and she said she'd love to."

The gown, which Diana wore on at least four other occasions, is expected to sell for up to 300,000 pounds.

The other dresses, valued from 30,000 pounds to 120,000 pounds, include a pale pink A-line gown and bolero set, both richly embroidered in crystals and sequins; a one-shouldered cream and floral-embroidered number; and a white chiffon cocktail dress with a draped skirt.

Diana decided to sell dozens of her dresses at a New York charity auction at the suggestion of her son, Prince William, in 1997 ? three months before she died in a Paris car crash. Florida-based socialite Maureen Dunkel bought about a dozen of the dresses ? including the ten to be sold next month ? and put them up for auction in Canada in 2011, but the prices were set too high and many dresses didn't sell.

Kerry Taylor Auctions declined to disclose the identity of the sellers for the dresses in the upcoming auction. Taylor said only that this time the prices are "realistic" and buyers have already shown interest.

The sale is set for Mar. 19.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-02-28-Britain-Diana's%20Dresses/id-80f48aeb68654a078584ff3601a993cc

Texas A Texas A&m cotton bowl Fiscal cliff deal kathy griffin jadeveon clowney orange bowl

Engineering control theory helps create dynamic brain models

Feb. 19, 2013 ? Models of the human brain, patterned on engineering control theory, may some day help researchers control such neurological diseases as epilepsy, Parkinson's and migraines, according to a Penn State researcher who is using mathematical models of neuron networks from which more complex brain models emerge.

"The dual concepts of observability and controlability have been considered one of the most important developments in mathematics of the 20th century," said Steven J. Schiff, the Brush Chair Professor of Engineering and director of the Penn State Center for Neural Engineering. "Observability and controlability theorems essentially state that if you can observe and reconstruct a system's variables, you may be able to optimally control it. Incredibly, these theoretical concepts have been largely absent in the observation and control of complex biological systems."

Those engineering concepts were originally designed for simple linear phenomena, but were later revised to apply to non-linear systems. Such things as robotic navigation, automated aircraft landings, climate models and the human brain all require non-linear models and methods.

"If you want to observe anything that is at all complicated -- having more than one part -- in nature, you typically only observe one of the parts or a small subset of the many parts," said Schiff, who is also professor of neurosurgery, engineering science and mechanics, and physics, and a faculty member of the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences. "The best way of doing that is make a model. Not a replica, but a mathematical representation that uses strategies to reconstruct from measurements of one part to the many that we cannot observe."

This type of model-based observability makes it possible today to create weather predictions of unprecedented accuracy and to automatically land an airliner without pilot intervention.

"Brains are much harder than the weather," said Schiff. "In comparison, the weather is a breeze."

There are seven equations that govern weather, but the number of equations for the brain is uncountable, according to Schiff. One of the problems with modeling the brain is that neural networks in the brain are not connected from neighbor to neighbor. Too many pathways exist.

"We make and we have been making models of the brain's networks for 60 years," Schiff said at the recent annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Boston. "We do that for small pieces of the brain. How retina takes in an image and how the brain decodes that image, or how we generate simple movements are examples of how we try now to embody the equations of motion of those limited pieces. But we never used the control engineer's trick of fusing those models with our measurements from the brain. This is the key -- a good model will synchronize with the system it is coupled to."

Schiff is looking for the models that represent the parts of the brain he is studying. He looks at the model to see if it can simulate what he observed and if he can fuse the model with the real system. He and his colleagues, with support from the National Institutes of Health, are exploring a wide range of control strategies for epilepsy, Parkinson's disease and migraines.

To do this with brain networks, researchers often have to measure from only one or a few nodes of the system and seek to reconstruct the rest.

"We need to simplify, and then ask, how far into that network can we reconstruct?" asks Schiff. "How far can we control?"

Using group theory, Schiff is trying to answer these questions. Group theory tests whether the inputs onto these nodes can be swapped. If a regular swap of the nodes ends up with the same network, then this is a symmetry of the network. Such symmetries underlie powerful ways to simplify models that represent the underlying structure within brain networks. The brain is full of such symmetries as neurons hook themselves up in rings and star patterns.

"But 10 billion neurons produce a number of possible networks that no one wants to think about," said Schiff. "Luckily, in the brain, internet or power grid we can begin to take symmetries into account. We don't need to go and specify all the particulars about how things are connected, but take advantage of the underlying symmetries in those networks and produce representative networks."

In essence, complicated networks can be boiled down to the simpler networks that represent what the complicated ones do. Brain symmetry permits synchrony to arise, and this is critical since synchronies are so important to both the normal and abnormal function of brain networks.

Recording from just one electrode from the brain is very limiting. Researchers and clinicians now use arrays of 100 or more electrodes to study epilepsy, but technology will soon provide the capability of deploying a 1,000 or more electrodes that, when fused with models, will enable us to reconstruct activity more deeply into the nervous system. "The pathologies of epilepsy or Parkinson's disease, we think are very 'simple,' compared with many more complex activities we perform in our brains, " said Schiff. "If they have more synchrony than normal they might produce really good reconstructions when fused with models."

These simplified models are important not just for these specific diseases, but because a fidelity model of the brain, one that models everything in detail, would be impossible to create. In addition, such large-scale models would be very inaccurate if used in such a control-engineering framework. If Parkinson's disease, epilepsy or migraines can be modeled more simply and still be accurate, then other brain pathologies or functions might also be modeled and controlled with simplified models.

The mechanism underneath migraine headaches is a very slow wave that propagates through the brain cortex. Schiff is using these engineering principles to model this wave. He and his colleagues are using these principles to do real time control of this wave phenomenon in brain.

"It is a very exciting time as we see the results of fusing these engineering and mathematical principles with observing and treating the brain," said Schiff who is the author of Neural Control Engineering: The Emerging Intersection between Control Theory and Neuroscience (MIT Press, 2012).

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

---

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Penn State.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/qP_8tiNmoZI/130219161257.htm

lehigh walking dead season finale matt flynn denver news frozen planet creighton new smyrna beach

As US fishing industry dwindles, diners may hardly notice

Jay Lindsay , The Associated Press ? ? ? 2 hrs.

His city's best fishing days are long past it, but lifelong Gloucester resident Ron Gilson still sees what once was when he drives past what remains.

There's the waterfront lot, littered with discarded fishing nets and lobster pots, where vessels in the famed fishing fleet once docked. The clatter and grit of a top maritime machine shop downtown has been replaced by a banquet hall. On the state fish pier, where Gilson briefly parks, the sounds of year-round work have given way to the quiet whirr of his idling Prius.

To the 79-year-old, the decline of the industry has stolen jobs, community spirit and opportunity. And it's not over, Gilson said.

"This is the lowest point," he declared on a February day. "Tomorrow will be lower."

In May, New England's fishermen will again see a cut to the number of fish they can catch, this time so deeply that the historic industry's existence is threatened from Rhode Island to Maine. But as hard as the cuts are likely to hit fishing communities, local seafood eaters may not notice at all. In the region's markets, grocery stores and restaurants, imported fish dominate, and the cuts make that less likely to change.

The cuts will shrink the catch limit 77 percent for cod in the Gulf of Maine and 61 percent for cod in Georges Bank, off southeastern Massachusetts. That's the worst of a series of reductions to the catch of bottom-dwelling groundfish, such as haddock and flounder, that many fear could be fatal to the industry.

"They're going to wipe it out!" said Gilson. "The only thing that's going to be the same is the ocean you're looking at."

For fish consumers, a sharp drop in the local groundfish catch may jar a select group of diners who seek fish caught that day. But the cut's effects may not ripple further than that.

Just 9 percent of the seafood eaten in the United States is domestically caught, the federal government estimates. In New England, locally caught cod was just a slightly larger fraction of all cod eaten, 12 percent, according to fisheries economist Jenny Sun of the Portland, Maine-based Gulf of Maine Research Institute. And she estimates that could drop to 4 percent after the coming cuts.

Much of the imported cod is caught and frozen in Norway and cut in China, and there's plenty of it, Sun said. If the local cod catch dips to near nothing, fish processors "could easily fill in with imports," Sun said.

In fact, the biggest issue for one Maine seafood processing executive has been the perception that the New England industry's troubles mean he won't have fish.

But prices will likely change little after the cuts because substitutes are plentiful, said Chris Fream, senior sales executive at North Atlantic Inc., a processor in Portland, Maine.

"The sky certainly isn't falling because a) we knew it was coming and b) we've prepared for it and there's other species that are around," he said.

The remaining fishermen have limited options. The Northeast's groundfish fleet had 420 boats in 2011, a drop of 150 in just two years, and many of those who continue to fish do so because they have no choice.

Scituate fisherman Frank Mirarchi noted wryly that, at 69, he has few employment options. The fishermen he cooperates with, pooling quota and resources, have discussed taking even more boats out of the water and trying to hang in with whatever they can catch.

"This is not a long-term strategy," Mirarchi said. "Something needs to happen before 2014 or we all go down the tubes."

The crew on Gloucester fisherman Richard Burgess's two boats is family, and he said he hasn't considered selling out of the business.

"I put them out on the street, where are they going to get a goddamn job?" he said. "And these are men who have devoted their lives to feeding the country fresh fish. And now the country is stabbing us in the heart."

Groundfish accounts for 50 percent of the business for Richie Canastra, co-owner at the Whaling City Seafood Display Auction in New Bedford. He can still depend on the port's robust scallop catch, but he said he's already laid off four of 30 workers and anticipates another 10 layoffs when the cuts kick in in May.

There's talk of government aid for fishermen, after the fishery was declared an economic disaster last year. But the best hope for many in the industry seems to be a correction in the science that fishermen view as deeply flawed. There's also a belief that natural fluctuations have made fish scarce this year, and those same fluctuations can bring them back.

Canastra recalls the story about a 1928 Massachusetts license plate that featured a symbol of codfish that appears to be swimming away from the plate's abbreviation for the state. The cod catch suddenly dropped that year, prompting superstitious fishermen to demand the plate be changed to show the fish swimming toward the state name.

It was, and the cod came back to Massachusetts. It can again, Canastra said.

"My point is, there are cycles," he said.

? 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/us-fishing-industry-dwindles-diners-may-hardly-notice-1C8412932

christina aguilera Mayan End Of The World Olivia Black the voice World Ending 2012 gossip girl channing tatum

Spearphishing: Dirty trick favored by nastiest hackers

Suzanne Choney , NBC News ? ? ? 10 hrs.

A new report says that the Chinese military is secretly obtaining sensitive data from U.S. companies. A key technique is "spearphishing," an approach that tricks a targeted individual to reveal information that can be used to infiltrate the company or government agency that person works for.

Security companies have been warning about spearfishing for the last two to three years, and its use is increasing. But now that it has become top news, thanks to a report from U.S. computer-security firm Mandiant Corp. explaining how Chinese operatives tricked workers at Coca-Cola and other major American firms, what is at the top of many people's minds is this: How do you know if you're being spearphished?

Different than phishing
You probably know to watch out for phishing attempts ? broad, massive email efforts to get you to hand over personal financial information like a credit card number or to click on a website link that could allow malware to steal information from your computer. They're usually riddled with spelling errors and terrible formatting.

Spearphishing is subtler, because it's aimed at intelligence gathering. It "often takes the form of key personnel inside an organization being emailed a malicious file," Graham Cluley of Sophos Security told NBC News Tuesday.

"It could be, for instance, a boobytrapped PDF file or Word document which when opened ? secretly and silently installs spyware onto your computer," he said. "The malicious spyware code can then open a backdoor on your computer, giving hackers remote access to all the files on your computer, as well as capture every keystroke, in order to steal passwords, and read everything on your screen."

But why would an employee open such an email? The information in the email is crafted to look and sound just right enough so that it's "remarkably easy to dupe someone into clicking on a link or opening an attachment in an email and for their computer to become compromised," Cluley said.

"Imagine you were a reporter covering human rights abuses in China. I simply send you an email (with a boobytrapped attachment), forge my 'from' address so you believe that the email has come from a human rights group, and in the body of the email tell you that attached you'll find shocking details of human rights abuses in China."

"Similarly, if you were a military supplier, I might make my email appear as though it came from a sister company or another supplier."

Dave Jevans, founder and CTO of Marble Security, said "spearphishers know that the easiest way to break into a company's network is not to breach their firewalls and intrusion prevention systems, but rather to compromise an employee's computer, smartphone or online passwords."

Employees who use cloud-based, shared document apps like Google Docs can be sitting ducks for spearphishing attempts.

"Google Docs is a very convenient way to fool employees or end users into divulging passwords," Jevans said. For one thing, it is a "trusted website that won't be blocked by Web filters," with invitations to view documents or forms "hosted by a trusted company ? Google ? not some hacked server in Russia." Also, he said, "Google Docs connections are HTTPS encrypted, and cannot be filtered by Web-filtering gateways to scan for malicious content."

No easy fix
Battling spearphishing is an ongoing effort, with no easy-fix solutions in sight.

"It's a massive problem," Kurt Baumgartner, Kaspersky Lab senior researcher, told NBC News Tuesday. Jevans, of Marble Security, called spearphishing "one of the most dangerous of all the advanced persistent threats" that exist.

In 2010, Sophos Security said it intercepted an attack against a firm tied to the defense indutry in which emails "carried a malicious PDF file claiming to be about the Trident D-5 missile, launched from nuclear submarines."

A report from McAfee Labs at the end of 2011 noted the worrisome rise in spearphishing, saying the problem "doesn't really lend itself to a pure technology solution. The best defense against spearphishing is employee ? particularly executive employee ? education. Next-generation firewall technology can also help prevent employees from accessing rogue sites."

Baumgartner told NBC News on the "human side, the old adage 'do not open suspicious emails or links,' is, well, old. While it's sensible advice, it's proven to be ineffective because you are dispensing that advice to people." And people, of course, don't always pay close enough attention.

Security vendors, he said, "have improved their product capabilities as well," but still, "the attackers sometimes up their game to beat all of those technologies. So you can stop 'it,' but at some level you can't always stop 'it.'

"For some organizations and targets, learning how to best tolerate and maintain intrusions becomes an attractive option," he said. Tools to expel invaders, or minimize exposure once they are in, may prove to be more important than just relying on "defensive technology protecting against spearphishing components," he said.

Cluley, of Sophos, says companies and agencies can "reduce the chances of a targeted attack" being successful by keeping software such as PDF readers, Web browsers, word processing software and the computer's operating system itself as up-do-date as possible, with the latest patches.

"Furthermore, you should run a layered defense ? that means not just using up-to-date anti-virus software, but also firewalls, email filtering technologies, data-loss protection technology and strong encryption to secure your most sensitive data," he said.

And back to that human element?

"Also, it's amazing how many people re-use passwords, and use the same weak password in multiple places," Cluley said. "That means if you get hacked in one place, and your password is compromised, it may also unlock accounts elsewhere on the Net."

All of these steps "can reduce your chances of suffering from a targeted attack," he said. "But ultimately, there's no 100 percent technological solution, as human beings can still make bad decisions. And that's why it's important to train users about threats, and warn them to be suspicious of unsolicited links and attachments and to always report suspicious activity."

Check out Technology, GadgetBox, Digital Life and In-Game on Facebook, and on Twitter, follow Suzanne Choney.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/technolog/spearphishing-dirty-email-trick-favored-nastiest-hackers-1C8422406

Rudy Gay Jim Nabors The Americans bank of america online banking Adairsville Ga ashley judd Alois Bell

Plano Senior High School's football team does the "Harlem Shake":

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://www.pegasusnews.com/news/outbursts/2013/feb/19/plano-senior-football-harlem-shake/

jan brewer independent spirit awards 2012 oscar predictions jim jones tony stewart kurt busch kurt busch

Body pulled from wreckage after Kansas City explosion

NBC News

Crews work near the smoldering remains at the scene of an explosion in Kansas City, Mo., on Feb. 20.

By Matthew DeLuca, Staff Writer, NBC News

Authorities pulled a body Wednesday from the wreckage of a landmark restaurant in Kansas City, Mo., where a natural gas explosion caused a spectacular fire.

At least 14 people were injured Tuesday night when a blaze tore through JJ?s Restaurant, part of an upscale business and shopping district.?Searchers with cadaver dogs had sifted through the rubble for hours overnight looking for the lone person missing, a woman who worked at the restaurant.

The cause of the gas explosion remained under investigation. A statement released by Missouri Gas Energy said early indications were that a contractor doing underground work struck a natural gas line.

More than 100 firefighters responded to the 6 p.m. blast at JJ?s Restaurant in Country Club Plaza, an upscale business and shopping district of Kansas City. Flames shot up through the night sky, destroying the renowned Midwest dining spot as firefighters worked in below-freezing temperatures.?The fire was largely under control a couple of hours later.

?JJ?s Restaurant is totally gone,? Kansas City Fire Department Chief Paul Berardi said.?

David Frantz?, the restaurant owner's brother, said the loss of the beloved eatery is a major blow to the city.

"My brother just spent 27 years of his life running this business. He's built it into one of the fine restaurants in Kansas City," Frantz? said. "To come down here and to see a hole in the ground in flames is a pretty staggering experience."

Nearby residences and apartments suffered damage after the explosion and blaze, authorities said,?including a building adjacent to the restaurant with a collapsed wall.

?There will be scattered damage throughout the immediate vicinity of the incident,? James said.

It was at first thought that two people might be missing in the blaze, but authorities said that one of those people was located at St. Luke?s Hospital around midnight.?

With a major winter storm approaching, rescuers moved in heavy construction equipment on Wednesday to lift fallen debris, which was three to four feet thick over the floor of the destroyed eatery, Berardi said.

Witnesses told NBC station KSHB that they smelled natural gas in the area of the restaurant at least an hour before the explosion.?

?KCFD are on the scene and will conduct a thorough investigation of what caused the explosion,? Berardi said. ?We will continue to bring out the dogs and clear that scene and then an investigation will occur.?

JJ?s has been in business since 1985, and was widely regarded as a premier city dining location, earning a 93 rating from Zagat?s. The restaurant?s wine cellar had been listed by The Wine Spectator as among the finest in the world.

Authorities are still searching for possible victims after a natural gas explosion outside a popular restaurant sparked a five-alarm fire that injured at least 14 people. NBC's John Yang reports.

This story was originally published on Wed Feb 20, 2013 8:40 AM EST

Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/20/17029793-body-pulled-from-wreckage-of-kc-restaurant-destroyed-in-gas-explosion?lite

hornets prince johan friso windows 8 logo anguilla gone with the wind checkers imbibe

Nudes check out nudes at Austrian museum

RETRANSMISSION OF XRZ102 In this Monday, Feb. 18, 2013 photo, Naked Museum visitors look at pictures of the show "Nude Men from 1800 to Today" during a special opening to friends of nudism at the Leopold Museum, Vienna, Austria. The show "Nude Men from 1800 to Today" opened its doors from 19 October 2012 to March 4,2013, looking at how artists have dealt with the theme of male nudity over the centuries. (AP Photo/Ronald Zak)

RETRANSMISSION OF XRZ102 In this Monday, Feb. 18, 2013 photo, Naked Museum visitors look at pictures of the show "Nude Men from 1800 to Today" during a special opening to friends of nudism at the Leopold Museum, Vienna, Austria. The show "Nude Men from 1800 to Today" opened its doors from 19 October 2012 to March 4,2013, looking at how artists have dealt with the theme of male nudity over the centuries. (AP Photo/Ronald Zak)

VIENNA (AP) ? These museum goers didn't just leave their coats at the coat check. They handed over their shirts, trousers and underwear.

Everything, in fact, except their shoes and socks. After all, the stone floor can get chilly when you're touring an art exhibit in the nude, which was what more than 60 art lovers did in a special after-hours showing at Vienna's prestigious Leopold museum.

For many, the tour of "Nude Men from 1800 to Today" ? an exhibit of 300 paintings, photographs, drawings and sculptures focused on the bare male ? was a goose-bump-raising instance of life imitating art.

"I can't say I'm sweating," said office worker Herbert Korvas as he stood waiting in the atrium with other young men, wearing only socks, sneakers and a smile. Despite the cold, he said he was drawn to the idea of naked museum viewing "because it was something different."

But after a while it really wasn't. With no other viewers around, nude quickly became the new normal as the visitors quickly gathered around a ? dressed ? exhibition guide and moved slowly from one art work to the next, listening intently to their history.

And they weren't the first visitors to get naked either, despite the hoopla around the event that drew dozens of reporters and camera teams from Austria and elsewhere.

A man had already stripped at the exhibition of pictures and sculptures in November, calmly sauntering through the exhibition and dressing again only after a security guard asked him to do so. That act made news ? and sparked demand for Monday's all-nude showing, said museum spokesman Klaus Pokorny.

"We got requests from all over the world from people who were inspired by the exhibition ... who asked us, 'Can we visit the exhibition naked?'" he said.

On Monday, interest was definitely skewed along gender lines. Irina Wolf smiled as she looked around at the mostly male crowd lining up for tickets.

"I'm at a big advantage here," she said. "Only men around."

While Wolf said she is not someone who regularly strips in public places, the 40-something computer engineer and occasional theater critic, said "I want to see how I relate to such a group."

For others, Monday's event fulfilled a long-cherished wish ? even though they had a hard time explaining why.

Florian Kahlenberg from Munich said he found it "interesting to stroll through a museum naked," adding. "I've always wanted to do that."

Few visitors, naked or dressed, have complained about the show, despite some explicit material showing sexual acts. Described as among the most successful ever staged by the Leopold, it has drawn well over 100,000 people.

That fits with Vienna's relaxed attitude. Its turn-of-the-century decadence allowed Egon Schiele and Gustav Klimt to flourish, and the Leopold itself has a world-class collection of those and other artists known for their explicit depiction of the flesh.

But the Austrian capital's acceptance of nudity goes beyond museum exhibits. Thousands of men, women and children skinny dip daily in the Danube along stretches reserved for them during the summer, while racy lingerie ads dot huge billboards across the city all year round and a mass-circulation daily regularly prints photos of half-naked women.

Still, there are limits to Viennese tolerance. The Leopold was forced into cover-up mode last year after complaints over promotional posters plastered city-wide that showed three young and athletic men of different races wearing nothing but blue, white and red socks and soccer boots.

Swaths of red tape were subsequently placed over their sensitive parts.

____

Associated Press video journalist Philipp Jenne contributed.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/aa9398e6757a46fa93ed5dea7bd3729e/Article_2013-02-19-Austria-Naked%20Show/id-3cce1dcd97144d00910156dfd47c767a

asteroid mining memorial day ivan rodriguez planetary resources mothers day gift ideas natalee holloway scotty mccreery

96% Monsters, Inc. 3D

All Critics (190) | Top Critics (41) | Fresh (195) | Rotten (8) | DVD (46)

This didn't need 3D to work. It long ago passed the kids-wear-out-the-DVD-rewatching-it test.

It may be harder nowadays to dazzle audiences with fancy visual effects, but Monsters, Inc. 3D proves that smart, imaginative storytelling still does the trick every time.

Most of the charm of "Monsters Inc." comes from its vocal cast.

If history is any guide, you and your family - whether young or old - will probably want to see "Monsters University" over and over.

The movie itself stands up well, even from an adult, two-dimensional perspective.

Its reassuring message is more relevant than ever.

Pixar's overlooked gem arrives in a worthwhile collector's edition bursting with features and exceptional A/V presentation.

While nippers will love the colourful creatures and their slapstick antics, grown-ups will find less humour and layers than in the likes of Toy Story, meaning less overall appeal as a result.

[I] really don't see the point of paying extra for children under eight. Their eyes are still developing, their noses are still small for slippery glasses, and... isn't a trip to the pictures enough for them in any case?

If anything, it improves with age.

Monsters displays wonderful imagination which makes it worth reliving in an extra dimension - particularly the energetic chase scene along a conveyor belt of doors.

Pixar's soaringly lovely fourth feature ...

[An] exciting, imaginative and very likable adventure.

Despite its eternal message about physical differences and the importance of love over fear of the unknown, Monsters, Inc primarily remains an ambitious concept film.

It's in the visuals that 'Monsters Inc' comes to life, from the jazzy, Norman McLaren influenced opening to the hilarious, shakycam amateur-dramatic recap over the closing credits.

Another chance to see Pixar's most dazzling premise, now spruced up with a third dimension.

Now in 3D, the filmmakers have created a wonderful reality - the reality of Monstropolis, which like the worlds of Oz and Pleasantville, whisk us far, far away on a magic carpet of fantasy

A shrewdly timed reminder of Pixar's early, heady days, when the animation powerhouse could do no wrong.

There's really little reason to check out Monsters, Inc. 3D in... well, 3D, rather than going for a good old-fashioned 2D screening instead.

It does well, but not brilliantly: an amusing trifle from a studio whose best work still lay ahead of it.

Not quite a Pixar classic, but funny, witty and visually spectacular enough to be enjoyed again on the big screen.

Monsters, Inc. continues a positive 3D trend for the company, who appear to be selecting their upgraded titles wisely, choosing features that benefit from the additional depth.

Not even the opportunistic 3D-ification can squander the pure delight of the film's meticulously detailed world of ragtag creatures.

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/monsters_inc_3d/

half time show halftime show 2012 kelly clarkson super bowl 2012 ok go peyton manning super bowl nsx chad ochocinco

Hollywood looks to China

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/co/HCaY/~3/dNTU8Fcxv9Y/Default.aspx

Rise of the Guardians Pumpkin Pie Jack Taylor Apple Pie Recipe black friday How long to cook a turkey green bean casserole

Mark Twain's Secret Book | Improve your skills with 5 Tips

Blogging for money Moms
Business tips for you

In 1891 Work from Home Money of The Online Money Club of Online Money York came Online Money with a Business tips for you idea to Online Money funds for Work from Home Money permanent home Online Money their meetings. Work from Home Money love their Internet Marketing and want Online Money share it Online Money you. You Business tips for you adapt it Blogging for money Moms many uses Blogging for money Moms Plus there?s Work from Home Money lesson in Blogging for money Moms here for Online Money

Let me Business tips for you

The Internet Marketing Authors of Internet Marketing New formed Online Money in Among Blogging for money Moms its were Work from Home Money Mark Teddy Internet Marketing Roosevelt, Carnegie, Work from Home Money William Howells, Internet Marketing Henry Dyke, Business tips for you Frank and Internet Marketing more a Internet Marketing hundred They Internet Marketing met to Business tips for you entertain other Blogging for money Moms and younger, Business tips for you not successful Online Money writers.
1891 Online Money they the Online Money idea publishing Blogging for money Moms a edition, one Online Money a kind Online Money Over one Online Money members would Internet Marketing write an Internet Marketing article, poem Work from Home Money story.

Business tips for you

They all Blogging for money Moms be into Business tips for you a bound leather Internet Marketing Each author Internet Marketing sign their Business tips for you in each Online Money They also Business tips for you that all Work from Home Money would be Internet Marketing and never Business tips for you elsewhere, making Internet Marketing book very Work from Home Money
To make Online Money even more Internet Marketing there would Work from Home Money be 251 Blogging for money Moms of the Work from Home Money No one Internet Marketing get paid, Work from Home Money the printer. Work from Home Money donated their Blogging for money Moms for the Business tips for you cause.

Online Money

That?s what Internet Marketing they too. Blogging for money Moms They the Work from Home Money collection Scriptorum? Online Money (Latin ?book Work from Home Money of Printer Online Money Theodore De Business tips for you Vinne 221 Online Money copies the Blogging for money Moms book but Work from Home Money signed were Business tips for you sold in Blogging for money Moms morocco-gilt and Blogging for money Moms offered for Business tips for you $100 about Blogging for money Moms $2,500 in Online Money today?s

Business tips for you

As you Work from Home Money guess, copies Work from Home Money this rare Online Money are scarce Work from Home Money Still, I Internet Marketing two of Business tips for you One was Online Money and selling Online Money $25,000. The Business tips for you was bound, Blogging for money Moms 147, in Business tips for you condition, all Online Money signed by Internet Marketing authors, and Online Money for a Blogging for money Moms five figure Internet Marketing

I wanted Online Money

I?m Internet Marketing a of Mark Internet Marketing And Teddy Work from Home Money And Andrew Work from Home Money I?m an Business tips for you Ive been Blogging for money Moms writers? groups. Blogging for money Moms published books Internet Marketing others contributed Online Money I felt Business tips for you book calling Internet Marketing

But Work from Home Money five for Online Money a

This Business tips for you was the Internet Marketing limits my Internet Marketing wealth point. Online Money
The Work from Home Money expensive book Blogging for money Moms own is Work from Home Money triple signed Blogging for money Moms edition of Business tips for you Magician Among Blogging for money Moms Spirits by Blogging for money Moms Houdini. It Blogging for money Moms my money Internet Marketing to get Internet Marketing at the Online Money But I Work from Home Money And I?m Online Money I did. love Internet Marketing that

Business tips for you

But five Business tips for you for a Internet Marketing

I cleaned Online Money prayed and Blogging for money Moms on the Business tips for you Scriptorum book Internet Marketing a week. Internet Marketing wouldn?t get Online Money of my Online Money

I Online Money asked seller Work from Home Money to me Blogging for money Moms more He Work from Home Money did. made Internet Marketing me the Blogging for money Moms book more. Internet Marketing

But Business tips for you still didn?t Online Money it.

Then Blogging for money Moms received a Blogging for money Moms for the Online Money amount of Work from Home Money book. That?s Work from Home Money my sign Work from Home Money make the Online Money After all, Internet Marketing the money Online Money it.

Internet Marketing

But still Blogging for money Moms didn?t it. Internet Marketing

My Blogging for money Moms kept delivering Work from Home Money beliefs to Business tips for you Every time Blogging for money Moms did, I Blogging for money Moms them.

But Work from Home Money still didn?t Work from Home Money the book. Blogging for money Moms

I went Business tips for you on radio Business tips for you show talked Internet Marketing about bestselling Blogging for money Moms free Attract Online Money Money After Blogging for money Moms it, remembered Blogging for money Moms a step from Blogging for money Moms book, called Internet Marketing purchasing. In Business tips for you if you Internet Marketing the money, Internet Marketing you have Work from Home Money desire, buy Internet Marketing Else you?re Business tips for you lack and Internet Marketing

But Blogging for money Moms I didn?t buy Online Money

I Online Money had let Business tips for you yet day Internet Marketing go

Business tips for you

Then I Business tips for you Dr. Hew Internet Marketing my coauthor Online Money the book Online Money Limits, saying Work from Home Money you clean Internet Marketing three days Online Money the desire Internet Marketing still there, Work from Home Money go for Work from Home Money

So I Online Money

I Business tips for you now that Business tips for you amazing

Blogging for money Moms

And I Online Money it.

Lesson: Online Money prosperity authors Business tips for you growth work Blogging for money Moms do.
Question: Work from Home Money are you Online Money investing in Blogging for money Moms now, but Online Money because of Internet Marketing

What Business tips for you would do Blogging for money Moms if weren?t Internet Marketing afraid?

PS Internet Marketing ? Also Business tips for you in mind Business tips for you what Mark Blogging for money Moms and the Blogging for money Moms did in Internet Marketing you can Business tips for you today. It?s Business tips for you secret behind Blogging for money Moms books, including Online Money own The Online Money and of Blogging for money Moms the legendary Blogging for money Moms Soup? series Business tips for you books. You Internet Marketing contributions from Blogging for money Moms and collect Online Money into ?your? Work from Home Money book. Think Blogging for money Moms it.

Read Business tips for you full Article Internet Marketing

Source: http://5-tips.com/mark-twains-secret-book-20/

pacific standard time northern mariana islands summer time coolio ricky rubio day light savings time peter paul and mary