Monday, September 24, 2012

Six careers you didn't know were growing

Six careers you didn't know were growing (Thinkstock)

Half of these booming fields actually come from just one industry.

Wondering which careers are entering their boom phase? Check out these six careers, for which experts see optimistic times ahead.

By Terence Loose
Are you considering starting a new career, but want to make sure it's one whose future will boom, not bust?
Good thinking - changing careers requires focus, dedication, and a good plan.
"It's important for people to dedicate themselves to finding the right career for them, and to make sure they make smart, rewarding choices," says Mary Jeanne Vincent, a career expert and strategist who spent years in the human resources business. She's seen people make every mistake in the book, including not pursuing careers with a good future.
So, we figured we'd jump in and help you avoid that mistake by identifying some careers that are projected to maintain growth in the future.
In fact, we chose six careers that are projected to have at least a 21 percent job growth rate from 2010 to 2020, according to the U.S. Department of Labor - a favorable forecast when compared to the total U.S. employment growth rate of 14 percent.
So read on to learn more about these six careers expected to boom into the future.

Booming Career #1: Human Resources Specialist
Projected Growth Rate 2010 to 2020: 21 percent*

Are you good at assessing people's skills and talents? You could be born to pursue a booming career in human resources.
Human resources specialists generally identify a company's hiring needs and then interview applicants, contact their references, and perform background checks, says the U.S. Department of Labor. Other duties could include keeping employment records and assisting with new employee orientation.
Why This Career is Booming: Susan Heathfield, a management consultant and About.com's guide to human resources, sees a greater need for employees in human resources.
"The war for talent is escalating," says Heathfield. "[Companies] have human talent that they want to manage and make happy. And trying to attract, hire, and retain people... is becoming a huge problem. But it's also an opportunity for the people who have human resources degrees."
The Department of Labor confirms an optimistic forecast for human resources specialists as companies continue to emphasize "the importance of finding and keeping quality employees."
Click to Find the Right Business Administration Program.
Education Options: Intrigued by this field? According to the Department, most human resources specialist positions require a bachelor's degree. But keep in mind that most employers favor candidates with a bachelor's degree in human resources, business, or a related field.

News Source: Yahoo

Big payday for painting found at Goodwill

Painting bought at Goodwill for $9.99 worth a lot more (GMA)

A friend's hunch kept Beth Feeback from making a huge mistake with this thrift-store gem.
Beth Feeback had a really good weekend. The North Carolina woman who bought a painting for $9.99 from a Goodwill store sale saw it sell for more than $27,000 at a Sotheby's auction.
"It's a great return on $9.99," Feeback said Sunday night.
The sale price listed on the Sotheby's website, $34,375.00, reflects the final gavel price plus a premium the buyer must pay, she explained. The painting had been expected to sell for between $15,000 and $20,000.
Feeback of Concord bought the painting, "Vertical Diamond" by Ilya Bolotowsky, in April. She wasn't attracted to the style at all, but she wanted to re-use the canvas to paint cat portraits, which are her specialty.
A friend cautioned her to check out the labels on the painting before she put paintbrush to canvas, and after a few months during which the painting languished on the floor of her art studio, she did.
Now, Feeback has a whole new appreciation for Bolotowsky and his work.
"The first time I Googled that artist's name, I was like, 'This is the most beautiful damned painting I've ever seen in my life,'" she said, tongue in cheek.
The auction took place Friday, and Feeback gathered family and friends from a viewing party online.
She was nervous at first.
"I like to set my expectations low because … Murphy's Law is my religion and I was just afraid that it wouldn't sell at all … ," she said.
As she and the others gathered at her home watched the auction, she added, "we could see that some of the paintings sold for much more [than] the value that the auction house had put on them and some sold for much less and an uncomfortable number of them did not sell at all, so that's how come I was concerned."
Feeback doesn't know who the buyer was, but, she said, "I wish that person very well and I hope they re-sell it for twice as much as they bought it for."
Asked about her plans for her windfall, Feeback said she and her husband plan to perform necessary and long-delayed improvements to their home and pay down debts.
She also plans to do a series of knockoff "Vertical Diamond" paintings with big cat heads in the middle of them, she said.

News Source: Yahoo

Coach cons replacement referees

Jim Harbaugh (AP)

Jim Harbaugh of the 49ers outsmarts the novice officials during a key point in the game.
It was the officiating crew "led" by Ken Roan that proved to be a complete disaster in last Monday night's game between the Atlanta Falcons and Denver Broncos, and it was Roan's crew which made perhaps the most embarrassing series of mistakes in a day of football that was nearly overwhelmed by them.
Roan, who tried to corral a group of refs that seemingly would be under-qualified for junior high games, stood around while a series of meltdowns happened between the Broncos and Falcons, couldn't quite figure out what a spot foul was on two different occasions and frustrated coaches John Fox and Mike Smith to the point where the NFL felt that it had to step in and insist that coaches should stop hurting the feelings of the refs foisted upon us by the lockout of the real officials.
[Wetzel: NFL needs to come down hard on ref intimidation]
San Francisco 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh, another one of the violators who was sternly advised, was incensed by Roan's crew early in Sunday's 24-13 loss to the Minnesota Vikings, when Roan called an illegal block ... on the kicking team. Unsure in retrospect how a kicking team could block in the first place, Roan tried to cover his backside by saying that "By rule, there is no flag on the play."
Technically, there's no blocking in this case, but we quibble.


News source: Yahoo

Olympic star's stunning revelation

Kerri Walsh Jennings was hiding a big secret during the Olympics. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

Kerri Walsh Jennings reveals news that makes her third gold-medal win even more amazing.
What's more impressive than winning a third-straight Olympic gold medal? Winning it while five weeks pregnant. That's what American beach volleyball champ Kerri Walsh Jennings did during the London Olympics.
 
(Getty)vealed on the "Today" show that she and her husband Casey Jennings are expecting their third child. With a due date of April 9, Walsh Jennings was five weeks pregnant when winning another gold medal with longtime partner Misty May-Treanor.

Walsh Jennings said she was "moody and touchy" during the Olympics, which is odd for the normally happy-go-lucky athlete, and her period was late. Those symptoms could be attributed to the stress every athlete encounters when at the Olympics. However, May-Treanor figured it out before Walsh Jennings did, telling her partner, "You're probably pregnant."

News Source: Yahoo

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Sports event that 1.5 billion will watch

An incredible 1.5 billion people will watch a sporting event that most in the U.S. ignore. (Getty Images)

One of the planet's biggest competitions just started, but most Americans have no idea.
It will be the world's most-watched sporting event of 2012 – aside from that little summer shindig in London – yet the chances are you have never heard of it.
The T20 Cricket World Cup began this week and over the course of the next 16 days will be watched by an estimated 1.5 billion people, or around a quarter of the global population.
 
India takes on Afghanistan in a T20 Cricket World Cup match.The tournament will captivate the top 12 nations in cricket, of which the United States is not one, perhaps the primary reason why the sport and its showpiece competitions float by without registering so much as a blip on the American radar.
It was not always thus; trace back a couple of centuries and the U.S. was a powerhouse of cricket, even taking part in (and losing) the first ever international match against Canada in 1844.
Nowadays, cricket in the U.S. is mainly played by expats, although there is a smart new stadium in Lauderhill, Fla., where 16,000 watched an international game between New Zealand and the West Indies – representing several small Caribbean islands – a few months back.
Given the diverse cultural topography of this country, the market for cricket (immigrants hailing from India, Pakistan, Australia and the United Kingdom) is still solid, strong enough for ESPN to broadcast every match of the T20 World Cup on its digital platform.
And while cricket may come laced with tales of bamboozling rules and customs, there is actually plenty to like about T20 – the most action-packed and exciting version of a game thought to have begun more than 300 years ago.
As times have moved on, so has cricket been forced to evolve. Even if you have never seen a bowler hurl down a googly or a leg-spinner, you have probably heard of one of cricket's most bizarre quirks: the fact that it takes an extraordinary amount of time to play.
Test cricket, the most prestigious version of the game, involves matches lasting up to five days, with often seven hours of play per day. And at the end of it all, there is no guarantee there will be a winner, if the weather or the nature of the match slows proceedings. Yep, that's 35 hours of playing time with the possibility of no result. That's more than a boxer might spend in the ring in his entire career or twice as much as most NFL players will spend on the field in a season.
Such elongated affairs were all very well when the game was played by the genteel classes in Victorian England, but they aren't so conducive to the modern world. Hence, in the late 1960s, a reduced version of cricket that spanned a single day was invented. This also sparked such innovations as colored clothing instead of the traditional all-white uniforms, an easily visible ball (white instead of red) and music instead of polite applause paired with tea and scones.
The 21st century, though, is the era of the ever-dwindling attention span, and it became clear even a full day was too long for the younger generation. As attendances dropped, cricket's organizers responded and a special task force borrowed heavily from Major League Baseball to come up with T20 – short for Twenty20 – a version of cricket that can be completed in around three hours.
The "20" comes from the amount of batting time each team is given. In all forms of cricket, six balls (or pitches) constitute an over. At the end of each over a different bowler (or pitcher) takes "the mound," which in cricket is a playing strip situated in the middle of the field.
T20 gives each team just 20 overs to score as many runs as possible, as opposed to an unlimited amount of time in Test cricket or 50 overs in regular one-day matches. The reduced time frame forces batsmen to take greater risks and attack freely rather than adopt defensive measures aimed at trying not to get out.
At first T20 was a domestic competition, beginning in England, then spreading around the cricket-playing world. Authorities soon realized it was a huge money spinner and quickly packed the schedule with T20 games. In 2008, the Indian Premier League formed as a strictly T20 league. Today, the IPL attracts the best players in the world with two-month contracts worth over $1 million to play for club teams in various Indian cities.
"Whether you like it or not T20 has revolutionized cricket," respected Indian broadcaster Harsha Bhogle told Yahoo! Sports recently. "It means big business, big money and big audiences."
 
A general view of play during a match between West Indies and Australia. (Getty Images)The current World Cup is a collection of the best national teams in the world. England is the defending champion, having won two years ago, while Australia, South Africa, Pakistan and the West Indies are all highly fancied.
Host nation Sri Lanka has little pedigree in other sports, having won just two Olympic medals in its history, but is utterly obsessed with cricket, and bumper crowds are expected to cheer on its world-class team.
The shortened nature of T20 means it can sometimes be a bit of a lottery and it is not to the liking of some of the traditionalists who prefer batters to score with deft placement rather than hefty swipes of brute force.
"T20 has evolved a lot, though," said legendary Australian bowler Shane Warne. "The game has changed over the past few years and there is a lot more intricacy to it now. Before it was just about trying to smash it over the fence, but now there are a lot of different tactics and you can never stop thinking."
Cricket in the U.S. continues to be largely a non-entity, although the national team has shown some signs of promise in recent times, having gained promotion to division three of the World Cricket League – two steps below the top international standard.
So while large sections of the world, especially the Indian sub-continent, will revel in all the World Cup action over the next two weeks, the American market will be largely oblivious as one of the biggest sporting events of the year drifts by making barely a murmur.

News Source:Yahoo

Star's body part is daughter's souvenir

Starting pitcher Chris Carpenter of the St. Louis Cardinals participates in the World Series victory parade with daughter Ava. (Photo by Ed Szczepanski/Getty Images)

After an unusual surgery, the Cardinals' Chris Carpenter gives his little girl what the doctor took out.
Earlier this season, Chris Carpenter had one of his right ribs removed in an unusual surgery designed to alleviate the pressure on the nerves that run to his right arm.
But what the St. Louis Cardinals pitcher claims he did with that rib once it was out was even more unusual: Carpenter brought the bone home and gave it to his 7-year-old daughter Ava after she asked for a souvenir from her daddy's stay in the hospital.
[More: Rangers' Josh Hamilton will have many suitors]
Carpenter told Fox Sports Midwest of his daughter's unusual request as he prepares to make his first start of the 2012 season in a game against the Chicago Cubs on Friday:

News source: yahoo

Lady Gaga wears a meat corset

Lady Gaga (Splash News)

The singer struts on stage in a style that resembles her infamous MTV getup.
Ready to meet Lady Gaga's meat, yet again? The superstar singer is continuing on a seemingly endless quest to offend vegetarians with yet another version of her infamous "meat dress"--this time, in a showy corset version much more form-fitting than the original. (Er, as form-fitting as a garment made of meat can be, that is.)
Gaga's "meat corset" debuted at a concert in Budapest last month and made a repeat appearance at her show in Amsterdam this week. The corset featured a strapless neckline and, reportedly, a thong-style backside...how comfortable that could be, we're not quite certain. Of course, Gaga chose matching "meat booties" to complete the look.
Although certainly revealing, this outfit isn't the most risque in Gaga's meat locker. She wore a bikini made of the stuff for the September 2010 cover of Vogue Japan. The original "meat dress" was worn for the 2010 Video Music Awards, and is now part of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's exhibit "Women Who Rock: Vision, Passion, Power," currently touring in Washington D.C.


News Source: Yahoo

Mystery man spells out heartbreak on van

Mystery man spells out heartbreak on van (GMA)

A repentant boyfriend gets the world's attention with his very touching plea to "Linda."
(Press Association Via AP Images)In an age of Twitter, Facebook and YouTube videos, one man took an old-fashioned approach to making an appeal for love, spelling out his heart on the side of his van.
"Linda, I'm sorry," the message, written in bright orange capital letters on the side of a silver VW van, begins.
The man, whose identity remains a mystery, must have done something wrong because his love plea turns into an apology, asking Linda to "please come home and put this right."
The forlorn, but creative, plea ends with a bit of hope, in the form of a marriage proposal, with a "Will you marry me?" question right above the van's rear wheels.
The van was parked outside a busy industrial estate outside Shildon, County Durham, in the U.K., the Press Association reports. While there is no word on how this love story ends, the van itself has become a tourist attraction on its own.
British press report that traffic backed up outside the estate as drivers slowed down for a better look or even stopped to take a picture.
The van also caused commotion among the men and women who work at the estate with speculation over who the man and Linda could be and what the man may have done to warrant such a measure.
"When I saw it on my way into work this morning, I thought it was quite good. It's definitely a new way of saying sorry," Harvey Jayne, an estate worker, told the U.K.'s Daily Mail. "He's got to have done something very wrong."



News Source: Yahoo

Sunday, September 16, 2012

New 'American Idol' judges named

Nicki Minaj and Keith Urban (Lester Cohen, WireImage; Ryan Pierse, Getty Images)

Nicki Minaj and Keith Urban join Mariah Carey and Randy Jackson on a potentially firey panel.
 
photo: Ryan Seacrest's InstagramOn Sunday morning it was officially announced, at the first "American Idol" Season 12 callback auditions taping at New York's Lincoln Center, that hip-hop diva Nicki Minaj and country crooner Keith Urban have finally signed on to be the new "American Idol" judges--joining the panel alongside longtime judge Randy Jackson (who is still on board to give the show continuity, despite earlier reports that he was being demoted) and Randy's star managerial client, Mariah Carey. The odd foursome made their first official appearance at Lincoln Center this Sunday morning.

 
Nicki Minaj performs on "Idol" [photo: Fox]Although Nicki once claimed she didn't want to be a full-time TV talent show judge, back when it was rumored that she'd been approached by Simon Cowell to join "The X Factor," the split-personality star has apparently since changed at least one of her minds. This is probably due to the reported $10 million (plus additional allowances for hair and makeup) that Fox will be paying her. Or maybe when she once joked about filling Jennifer Lopez's seat with her own equally famous curvy behind, she wasn't really joking after all.

Keith is coming
  
photo: CJ Hicksin as a relative bargain, since he's reportedly "only" getting paid somewhere around $4 million. But regardless, neither of these two new judges will be getting anything close to the cool $18 million that Mariah is supposedly pocketing.
 
photo: Jordan Strauss / WireImageRandy will actually be pocketing two salaries--his own as a continuing judge, and a cut of Mariah's earnings, of course. All this for a man who only days ago was supposedly stepping down. I have to give the man kudos for his tenacity--clearly he is in it to win it. Either the man has dirt on Simon Fuller and is blackmailing the show, or "Idol" producers have realized that it's not wise to throw the Dawg out with the bathwater and change up this time-honored show too much. I admit I'm glad Randy still in the mix, if only for branding and nostalgia's sake. Hey, even Randy's former "Idol" co-star Simon Cowell tweeted that this was the right decision on Fox's part!
Anyway, this ought to be interesting--especially where Nicki is concerned. Miss Minaj is certainly a colorful and polarizing figure, and she'll certainly make for some fantastic television. But is she really the right fit for "Idol"? There seems to be at least one person who may not be too happy about this news--Mariah, who according to TMZ was furious to learn that she'd have to share the spotlight with someone as flashy and flamboyant as darling Nicki. I have mixed feelings about this hiring myself, which I'll get to in a moment.
As for Keith, when rumors of "Idol" judge replacements first started circulating following the departures of Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler, the names of divas like Katy Perry, Celine Dion, and Aretha Franklin were mentioned, but no one was speculating that some country-boy-next-door type might land (or even want) the job. However, now that Keith has officially joined the "Idol" cast, I don't think it will be a bad thing for the show at all. In fact, Keith might be just what "Idol" needs.
Here are my thoughts on "American Idol's" new recruits:
ON NICKI MINAJ
She'll bring in an urban audience - Hip-hop and R&B are arguably the biggest genres on the charts right now, and have been for some time...but "Idol" has become increasingly white-washed over the years. There hasn't been an R&B-singing champion on "Idol" in eight years, and the few R&B singers who do tend to go far on the show, from Ruben Studdard to Michael Lynche to Joshua Ledet, usually traffic in a more old-school style. Meanwhile, "The X Factor" has become the singing show of choice for urban music fans, with a judging panel that includes former LaFace Records co-founder/Island Def Jam honcho L.A. Reid and an inaugural season that included many hip-hop/R&B-influenced finalists. "The Voice"--which features hip-hop star Cee Lo Green as a coach and crowned an R&B singer with Alicia Keys connections, Jermaine Paul, as its Season 2 winner--has also siphoned off some urban-music-fan viewers from "Idol." So Nicki, especially paired with Mariah, could definitely draw in a different audience aside from the core viewers that have consistently voted for five guitar-strumming rock/country/folk singers in a row--thus making "Idol" diverse and competitive again. This, of course, is a good thing.

News Source: yahoo

Big wallop in lingerie league game

Nikki Johnson of the Regina Rage turns toward the end zone (Y! Sports screengrab)

This league's women don't get much credit for playing hard, but Nikki Johnson might change your view.
You may think that the Lingerie Football League is all about exploitation and silliness, and well ... yes it is. Let's not fool ourselves. But these ladies do love themselves some football, and if you think they don't take it seriously when they're in the arena, I give you this wallop laid by one Nikki Johnson of the Regina Rage.

I'm not sure what the formation is here, but it's a standard quarterback option, and Ms. Johnson would not be denied. Veering around the left side in the direction of the end zone, Johnson took out defender Davine Burton of the Toronto Triumph to score with a hit that Cam Newton would be proud of -- if Cam Newton ran over scantily-clad women on an indoor football field. And we're not suggesting that he would.
Ms. Johnson is quite the passer in her league -- through five games in the 2012 season, she's completed 41 of 73 passes for 384 yards, 12 touchdowns and one interception. Her hero is Peyton Manning (at least that's what her Facebook page said when she played for the Las Vegas Sin), but we doubt that Peyton could put a crusher on Darrelle Revis like Johnson did on Burton.
And for that, Ms. Johnson, we salute you.

News Source: Yahoo

Palace fights back over Kate photos

Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge (Samir Hussein, WireImage)

Lawyers for the royal family are going after publishers who ran revealing images of the Duchess.
Britain's Prince William, left, and his wife Kate prepare to sit for a meal at Government House in Honiara, Solomon Islands, Sunday, Sept. 16, 2012. The royal couple is on a nine-day tour of the Far East and South Pacific in celebration of Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee. (AP Photo/William West, Pool)
LONDON (AP) — Lawyers for Britain's royal family will go to court in France on Monday in a bid to stop further publication in that country of topless photos of William's wife Kate, the prince's office said Sunday, as the owners of an Irish newspaper criticized it for running the pictures.
St. James's Palace said lawyers would seek an injunction in a Paris court against Italian media group Mondadori, which publishes France's Closer and Italy's Chi gossip magazines.
The palace also will seek damages from the publisher, which is owned by former Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi.
Last week Closer published paparazzi snaps of Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, sunbathing during a holiday at a relative's chateau in Provence. Chi says it will publish 26 pages of the images — taken with a long lens from hundreds of meters (yards) away — on Monday.
The Irish Daily Star reproduced the Closer photos on Saturday, but no British publication has run them, and Britain's tabloids have lined up to denounce them as an invasion of the duchess' privacy.
The palace condemned publication of the images and said it was considering "all proportionate responses" against Chi, though no decision has been made on legal action against it or the Irish Daily Star.
The strong response stands in contrast to the reception of naked photos of Prince Harry partying in Las Vegas, which appeared online last month and were later published in Britain's Sun tabloid. The palace shrugged off the photos, snapped during a game of strip billiards, and took no action against those who published them.
Some see British papers' reluctance to run the Kate photos as a sign the country's once-rambunctious tabloids have been cowed by a scandal over phone hacking and other wrongdoing, which brought public opprobrium and an ongoing media-ethics inquiry.
The incident also has evoked memories of the paparazzi hounding of William's late mother, Princess Diana. A coroner's inquest found that pursuing photographers were partly responsible for her death in a Paris car crash in August 1997.
In bad news for the Irish Daily Star, both its owners criticized it for publishing the Kate photos.
British company Northern and Shell, which co-owns the tabloid with Ireland's Independent News and Media, or INM, said it was "profoundly dismayed" the Dublin newspaper had run the pictures. Its chief, Richard Desmond, said he planned to pull out of the joint venture that runs the tabloid.
Independent News and Media chief executive Joe Webb offered his "deepest apologies," and said the company would be "launching an internal inquiry to ensure there will never be a repeat of this breach of decency." But Webb said in a statement he hopes to preserve the Irish Daily Star and its 70 employees.
The storm over the photos erupted as William and Kate made an official tour of Singapore, Malaysia and the South Pacific. They arrived in the Solomon Islands on Sunday and will end their trip Tuesday in the island nation of Tuvalu.


News Source: Yahoo

How women want to be kissed

How women want to be kissed (Thinkstock)

Ladies reveal the smooches that sent shivers down their spines, or totally turned them off.
Kisses are more than a meeting of the lips. When done well, they’re a form of communication, a surefire way to tell a woman “I want you” and “I love you.” When done badly, kisses can be... well, the kiss of death for a new relationship. So, forgive us for asking, but how do your kisses rate? You’ve probably been smooching for so many years that you take your skills for granted. Stop for a moment and think about it, though: Are you really good at it? Could your repertoire use some refreshing?

To help any man become an even better kisser, we went on a fact-finding mission. Below, nine women reveal what makes them go weak at the knees. (Is some of this information contradictory? Well, yes; what can I say? One woman’s thrill is another woman’s turn-off. Love is like that sometimes.) Now go ahead and read their stories, and then put these insider insights to work for you.

Put some passion in it
“We want to be kissed slowly, constantly, and passionately, all over... like you really mean it! We want to be kissed long, slow, deep and hard — all at once.”
– Cynthia Garrett, actress/television host and  


News Source: Yahoo

Sunday, September 9, 2012

See the 'hug me' jacket for lonely guys

See the 'hug me' jacket for lonely guys (Si Chan)

"Everybody needs love," says designer Si Chan of his bizarre puffy coat with an odd feature.
photo by Hill & Aubrey 
photo by Hill & AubreyHere is the perfect parka for the long, dark, and lonely days of winter. "Everybody needs love, don't they?" asks emerging menswear designer Si Chan on his blog. Chan says he designed his eccentric kelly green puffer jacket, which features a row of clasped hands running up the front, to make the wearer feel "warm and hugged."
Tips: Kelly Osborne's Fashion Advice for Real Women
While Chan, who recently graduated with top honors from London's College of Fashion, purposely exaggerated the padding to resemble a kid's stuffed toy in order to emphasize the warm and fuzzy vibe of the jacket, there's also something a little creepy about it and some of the other touchy-feely items in his collection of six outfits. The grabbing hands conjure up straight jacket from a future planet or tree branches-turned-arms from a child's nightmare.
Yahoo's Fashion Headlines
Courtesy Si Chan 
Courtesy Si ChanChan explains that hugging hands are a symbol of what makes it possible for humans to "express love" and "depart from loneliness" and he insists his vision is sweet, not sinister. A photo from his blog titled "Inspiration" bears that out. It's a sun-washed snapshot of him as a giggling toddler being given a loving squeeze by his older brother. If only a jacket could make one feel that good.

The "Hug Me Jacket" is a prototype but the designer tells Yahoo! Shine he would like to produce it for sale online this winter. The cost would be about £800 ($1,1200).
Would you wear the "Hug Me Jacket?" Please let us know what you think of Chan's creative designs in the comments below.
Also on Shine:

News source: yahoo

New York quarterback's latest distraction

Mark Sanchez (left) and Tim Tebow in preseason action; Sanchez has been spotted with Eva Longoria. (Getty Images)

As if the Jets' rough preseason weren't enough, Mark Sanchez has another reason to take heat.
"Wait ... Eli's better than BOTH of us? Combined?!?!?" (AP)
As it turns out, Mark Sanchez did score during the preseason -- he just didn't do it with the New York Jets.
The ostensible starting quarterback of everybody's favorite preseason offensive disaster has been spotted with the lovely Eva Longoria, and apparently, it's far more serious than Tony Sparano's offensive game plans.
From the New York Post:
Wearing a lace top that offered even less resistance than the Jets' offensive line, the actress strutted her way to an evening of entertainment that included a viewing of the Broadway hit "Rock of Ages" followed by a romantic dinner at the Japanese hot spot Nobu.
Longoria appears to have fully recovered from her marital airball with San Antonio Spurs star point guard Tony Parker and has become smitten with the Jets' starting quarterback.
Longoria also had a go-round with Spanish singer Eduardo Cruz, but that didn't last. By all accounts, the actress is head-over-heels for the Sanchize, and good for them. It's nice to know that even a big-market quarterback and former GQ model can outkick his coverage.
[Related: Greg McElroy leads Jets to TD in 28-10 loss to Eagles]
 
Well, you might be "distracted," too. (AP)Of course, this news will cause every Jets observer looking for more reasons for the team's woeful offensive performance -- they didn't cross the red zone in the preseason until third-string quarterback Greg McElroy led them there against the Philadelphia Eagles' seventh-string defense in the exhibition finale -- to wonder if Sanchez doesn't have his head in the game enough, and that's why the Jets are unable to bust a grapefruit near the goal line.
That's one thought, and we're quite sure that the Skip Baylesses of the world (hopefully, there's just the one Skip Bayless, we thought as we typed that) will squeal that Sanchez's time with Longoria is the real problem behind the quarterback's inability to move to the "next level." He went to the Caribbean with a hot actress? ZOMG!!! That's why he threw those red zone picks!!!
Here's another possibility: Maybe Mark Sanchez is just an average quarterback in a below-average offense, and if he plied his trade in Jacksonville or Tennessee, we would have heard very little about him after he left USC for the NFL in 2009. Sanchez has never finished higher than 28th in the league in Football Outsiders' per-play opponent-adjusted metrics (DVOA), and never higher than 20th in FO's season-cumulative DYAR stats. Forget the idea that his next level is the top: Sanchez still has to look up to see league average. Sanchez's potential "greatness" is trumped up by those who believe that quarterback wins are meaningful, and those who believe that New York needs a marquee quarterback at all times.
[Related: Tim Tebow fans are not necessarily fans of the Jets]
(Hint: New York actually DOES have a legitimate marquee quarterback based on performance, but he plays for the Giants. You know -- that Super Bowl champion team you backpagers keep ignoring).
Maybe Mark Sanchez will never become "elite," because it just isn't in him to do so, and shouldn't he take advantage of the good life while he can? After all, not every woman is monumentally impressed with Sanchez, and it seems that the more they understand the game, the less overwhelmed they are. As Stacey Greenberg, wife of ESPN radio jock and long-suffering Jets fan Mike Greenberg, recently put it on Twitter:


News source: yahoo

Murdered youths shake Salvador gang truce

The leader of the Guatemala branch of the M-18 gang, Aldo Dupie Ochoa Mejia, alias "El Lobo" or "The Wolf," inside the Frajines 1 prison in Guatemala City. (Associated Press/Rodrigo Abd)

Skeptics say a recent agreement struck between rival groups is just a cover for further savagery.

Kristen opens up about working with Rob

Kristen Stewart says she's 'fine' with seeing Robert Pattinson again (George Pimentel/WireImage)

Stewart says she's not worried about promoting "Breaking Dawn" this fall with Pattinson.
Kristen Stewart isn't stressing about having to work alongside Robert Pattinson this fall.
The Twilight star, 22, spoke to the Associated Press at the Toronto International Film Festival Saturday -- where she's currently promoting On the Road -- about having to walk red carpets and navigate press conferences with Pattinson by her side for The Twilight Saga's final installment, Breaking Dawn -- Part 2.
"We're going to be fine," she said of her now-estranged love of three years. "We're totally fine."
PHOTOS: Kristen and Rupert's road to scandal
Her appearance at the On the Road premiere in Toronto Thursday night marked Stewart's first public appearance since news that she had cheated on Pattinson with her Snow White and the Huntsman director, Rupert Sanders, broke in late July.
Still, the exceptionally private star -- who has confessed to feeling awkward and out of place as it is during industry events -- says she wouldn't have missed the Toronto Film Fest for the world.
PHOTOS: Rob and Kristen's romance
"We have been waiting for this thing to be unleashed for so long. It was sort of one of those situations where you just have to put yourself in your body and go appreciate the moment," the actress explained. At On the Road's world premiere in May at Cannes, "I would have been happy standing . . . with the entire theater booing it as long as I was in that row with my cast and with [director] Walter [Salles]. We would have been fine. I feel so strong with these people, and it's so appropriate. I belonged there." Still, she copped to feeling "nervous" before the screening. "To be honest, I was kind of just telling myself, like, don't black out . . . Be there, appreciate it."
PHOTOS: Kristen's fling with Rupert
The support she saw from fans on the red carpet helped her do just that.
"You expect a lot of people at a Twilight premiere, but showing up at an On the Road Toronto film festival screening and seeing that amount of people is absolutely, disarmingly amazing," Stewart said. "It felt pretty cool."
This article originally appeared on Usmagazine.com: Kristen Stewart: Robert Pattinson and I Are "Going To Be Fine" During Breaking Dawn Promotions

News source: yahoo

Football play no one should try again

Kansas State quarterback Collin Klein heads toward the goal line against Miami (Y! Sports screengrab)

This play may have worked great in practice but it never had a chance in a game, a writer says.
I'm sure in practice, when quarterback Collin Klein did that ridiculous hop and threw the ball behind his back like a bad Magic Johnson impersonation, it looked great. Chris Harper probably walked into the end zone every time.
In an actual game against Miami, well, it wasn't so good. The Wildcats went from the 1-yard line back to the 20 on this play. Might want to tear up that page of the playbook and stick to handoffs, K-State. Then again, the Wildcats are up 24-6 at halftime on Miami even with this debacle of a play. Maybe we should be making cracks about the Hurricanes instead.

News source: yahoo

The scary world of 3D-printed guns

3D-printed guns may be possible. (CNET)

New tech could soon let anyone create a working firearm right at home.
Welcome to the dark side of 3D printing.

The hobby is best known for creating colorful toys and trinkets, but some enthusiasts are working on design files that would allow anyone to print a working gun. These don't exist yet, but some believe it's only a matter of time.

Why would a 3D-printed gun be appealing? For one, it could potentially be cheap. You can buy a preassembled 3D printer for about $500. A spool of ABS plastic to print with goes for $50. Depending on where you shop, you can buy .38 Special ammunition for 30 cents a round. The plans will undoubted be distributed free like so many MP3s.

In fact, plans for working gun parts already exist. They can be found on a site called Thingiverse and on similar sites, alongside thousands of free plans for toys, jewelry, tools, and design equipment.

Thingiverse is a creation of Brooklyn, N.Y.-based MakerBot and its CEO, Bre Pettis. Pettis and his company have become the de facto faces of 3D printing thanks to regular appearances in mainstream and tech media talking about how 3D printers democratize manufacturing. Pettis usually demonstrates this idea with brightly colored remote-control cars, robots, and other toys made with MakerBot printers. MakerBot and Pettis don't really talk about files related to gun parts.

That doesn't mean the issue has gone unnoticed, with the intersection of 3D printing and firearms having made the news a few times this year. In June, Michael "HaveBlue" Guslick reported on his blog about successfully test-firing a homemade gun whose key component, the lower receiver, he made from ABS plastic on a '90s-era Stratasys FDM 1600 3D printer.

And in August, Forbes' Andy Greenberg wrote about a group called Defense Distributed, which has some lofty goals as mapped out in the video below. In practical terms, their immediate aim is to create a design file for what they call a Wiki Weapon, a functional, 3D-printed firearm. The increased attention on printable guns comes as Defense Distributed is approaching a firing test, said Cody Wilson, a University of Texas graduate student and the chief spokesman for the group. Depending on the outcome of that testing, 3D-printing companies, file-hosting sites, and law enforcement and legislative groups may have to tackle a challenging set of questions regarding the manufacture and regulation of firearms, both in this country and abroad.

News source: yahoo

Selena Gomez's Toronto Film Festival Date: Justin Bieber's Little Sister!

Selena Gomez (Eric Charbonneau/WireImage)

Selena Gomez hits the red carpet with beau Justin Bieber's 4-year-old sibling.
Justin Bieber has been noticeably absent from girlfriend Selena Gomez's side at the Toronto Film Festival this week, but never fear -- another Bieber stepped in as the big screen beauty's date for the evening on Saturday.
The actress, 20, brought another member of the Bieber family as her date to the Toronto premiere of her new animated film, "Hotel Transylvania," on Saturday - Justin's 4-year-old sister, Jazmyn.
PLAY IT NOW: Hollywood Relationship News Roundup (August 2, 2012)
Selena has been pulling double-duty at the famed film fest this week as she's starring in two films premiering in Toronto - "Hotel Transylvania" with Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Andy Samberg and Steve Buscemi; and the raucous adventure comedy "Spring Breakers," alongside James Franco, Ashley Benson and Vanessa Hudgens.
"Hotel Transylvania" hits theaters on September 28. "Spring Breakers" is slated for theatrical release next spring.
VIEW THE PHOTOS: Young Love! Justin Bieber & Selena Gomez
Copyright 2012 by NBC Universal, Inc. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

News source: yahoo

Saturday, September 1, 2012

What to expect from the iPhone 5

IPhone 5: What to expect (Michael Nagle/Getty Images)

All signs point to a new device from Apple debuting sometime this month.

While no one outside of Apple's inner circles know what it will be called — iPhone 5, new iPhone or something else altogether — all signs point to a new device on the market by the third week of September.
Between leaked photos out of Asia, patent filings, Foxconn CEO comments (the Chinese manufacturer responsible for building Apple's products), cellular carriers clearing stock of the iPhone 4S (and telling employees not to take a vacation between Sept. 21 through 30), it's pretty certain the iPhone 5 — let's just call it that for the time being — will be available in a month's time.
The new phone is expected to be officially announced on September 12, when preorders would also start, and available about a week later.
And let's face it: there's a lot riding on this release for Apple — now the most valuable company in history at more than $619 billion — to keep its momentum going in the right direction. By some analysts' predictions, Apple could be the world's first "trillion-dollar baby" if the new iPhone, a possible iPad mini and an iTV product all succeed.
OK, so what's the iPhone 5 going to have, you ask? A lot, by all accounts -- and we're not even referring to what's confirmed to be in the upcoming iOS 6 operating system. Let's take a look at what we know and what we think we know.
Bigger screen
It's not likely to be as big as the Samsung Galaxy S III's 4.8-inch display, but iPhone 5 will likely have a bigger screen than the 3.5-incher we've been staring at on the iPhone since it launched in 2007. According to photos leaked to MacRumors.com a few days ago, the new iPhone might be about 14 percent bigger, up to 4 inches in diameter. That's not a significant bump up in size, mind you, but certainly better for web browsing, messaging, ebooks, GPS navigation, games and video (in fact, the increase will likely change the aspect ratio from 3:2 to a widescreen 16:9). Apple will also pack more pixels on the taller screen, to ensure it's still a "Retina" display -- meaning its pixel density is so high the human eye is unable to distinguish individual dots.
Thinner body, bigger battery & new connector
The new screen — likely to be one of the biggest features in the iPhone 5 — will also be thinner, contributing to an even svelter smartphone. Apple was recently awarded a patent related to integrating touch sensors with the actual display circuits, opposed to placing the touch sensors on top of the LCD screen (currently, the way it's done). This will result in a thinner display, expected to trim the entire iPhone's depth by about 1.2mm.
On a related note, rumor has it the iPhone will have an all-new housing with a full metal back, replacing the breakable glass on the iPhone 4S.
As for the connectors, it seems the headphone jack has been moved from the top left of the phone to the bottom left, beside a small connector — 8- to 19-pin, allegedly — compared to the wide-mouth 30-pin connector in the current suite of iOS devices (iPhone, iPod touch, iPad) and the Apple nano, too. Unless there's an adaptor in the box to support the many thousands of accessories on the market, such as speaker docks, this change might frustrate current Apple customers. Apple is changing to this smaller dock connector on all future iOS products, various sources say.
On the subject of hardware, it's no secret the iPhone 4S battery is less than ideal for all of the phone's power-draining abilities. A leaked photo acquired by 9to5Mac points to a bigger battery in the iPhone 5 — but not by much. The current iPhone 4S sports a 1,430mAh battery (up from 1,420 mAh on the iPhone 4), and this photo shows a slightly better 1,440mAh battery, and upping to 3.8 volts from 3.7.
Let's just hope the new battery doesn't get as hot as the new iPad -- or take as long to charge it up.
New wireless tech
Speaking of smaller, there's talk (and photos) of a new nano SIM under the hood of iPhone 5 to give the iPhone cellular connectivity. Apple has been pushing for this as a standard for some time, so we'll soon see if iPhone 5 is the first to house this new SIM card.
Other changes to its wireless capabilities include 4G/LTE data speeds which take full advantage of the faster wireless networks available in select markets. For the uninitiated, "Long Term Evolution" cellular speeds rival if not exceed broadband Internet connections at home thanks to download speeds that top 72 Megabits per second -- though this number is "theoretical" opposed to slower "real world" performance. In areas without LTE support, the iPhone 5 would revert to HSPA+ (up to 21 Megabits per second downloads) or depending on the carrier, dual-carrier HSDPA for download speeds of up to 42 Megabits per second.
Already in the new iPad, LTE support in the iPhone 5 is extremely likely. That, and the Korea Times says Apple has been in discussions with two Korean mobile carriers (SK Telecom and KT) to include iPhone 5 on their LTE networks.
While not as likely as LTE, the iPhone 5 might also include near-field communication (NFC), a small wireless radio that essentially turns the smartphone into a digital wallet. This would allow iPhone users to tap-and-pay at supporting retailers and vending machines. Similar to Google Wallet, an iWallet app would be linked to your credit card or bank account. There are other applications for NFC-based smartphones, too, such as easily exchanging information with another smartphone, swiping to access information or media (such as poster of a movie to download a trailer) and to get on a bus or in your condo.
Apple recently acquired AuthenTec, a digital security company that makes, among other things, fingerprint sensors used in laptops. MacDailyNews suggests the fingerprint reader could be embedded in the Home button. Cool.
With all of these unknowns, here's one think you can bank on: whatever the new iPhone will be called, whenever it'll be available and regardless of what it can do, this will be the biggest tech event of the year -- and perhaps propel Apple towards being the first thirteen digit company. iOutstanding.

News source: yahoo

'Eastwooding' turns into Internet sensation

Clint Eastwood's Republican National Convention speech in Tampa, Fla., sparks several comments on Twitter. (Mike Segar/Reuters)

The actor's bizarre RNC address to "the chair" touches off a social-media frenzy.
Clint Eastwood was the surprise speaker at the Republican convention. And the "Dirty Harry" actor's rambling speech didn't make everybody's day. The 82-year-old gave an ad-libbed talk to an empty chair on stage that was supposed to be President Obamaor where he was sittingor something.
It didn't take long for Obama's furniture stand-in to take on a life of its own. Cue the "Eastwooding" Web meme.
Game of Thrones "Eastwooding" from @Column55 on twitter.Immediately, Clint Eastwood became a trending topic on Twitter as commenters poured out their thoughtsand let their imaginations run wild.
From Brent Spiner ‏@BrentSpiner, "After watching Clint Eastwood's speech last night at the RNC, I'm voting for the chair. "
Chris Rock (yes, that Chris Rock) ‏@chrisrockoz posted, "Clint Eastwood on the phone with Obama now: 'It all went according to plan,sir.'"
@BorowitzReport wrote, "A new poll reveals that Romney trails Clint Eastwood's empty chair after convention."
 
Mr Eastwood addresses chair, at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, August 30, 2012. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty …
Ken Jennings ‏@KenJennings added,
"An LA cop friend tells me Clint Eastwood has been driving alone in the HOV lane 'with the President' for YEARS. "
Funny Or Die jumped in with a gallery of some of the best images, noting that Eastwood gave "a stern lecture to a chair," and picking up on some of the best chair memes, many of which involved the Eastwood/Chair ticket for 2012.
A fake Simpsons cartoon image shows Grandpa Simpson in a newspaper clipping with the headline, "Old man yells at chair."
And a Shepard Fairey version of the 2008 "Hope" poster was circulating with an image of a chair instead of Obama.
Suzanne Munshower ‏@expatina asked,
"I have one question: Was the mystery guest Clint Eastwood or the Invisible Obama?"
Simon Pegg ‏@simonpegg posted,
"Woken up to excited chatter in the US. Apparently Clint Eastwood had an argument with an empty chair regarding its political standpoint. "
FastLaugh ‏@FastLaugh tweeted,
"Give Clint Eastwood a break... The RNC asked him to speak about ObamaCare and he thought they said ObamaChair..."
Obama's Twitter feed, @BarackObama responded with the post:
"This seat's taken " and a photo of the commander-in-chief  in a chair with the plaque "The President." It's been retweeted more than 40,000 times.


News source: yahoo

Another football fan falls to his death

This Feb. 28, 2001 file photo shows an aerial view of the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. Authorities say a 20-year-old man who plunged about 35 feet from the Georgia Dome's upper level and struck another fan during the Tennessee-North Carolina State college football game has died. (AP Photo/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Rich Addicks)

A 20-year-old is the second to die in a stadium this week after plunging 35 feet at the Georgia Dome.
ATLANTA (AP) -- A 20-year-old man from Tennessee who plunged about 35 feet from the upper level of the Georgia Dome and struck another fan during the Tennessee-North Carolina State game has died, authorities said Saturday.
The man fell on another fan seated in the mezzanine area during the game Friday evening, The Georgia World Congress Center Authority, which operates the downtown football stadium, said in a statement.
Investigator Leon Harrison at the Fulton County Medical Examiner's Office told The Associated Press early Saturday that Isaac Grubb of Lenoir City, Tenn., was pronounced dead Friday night, minutes before midnight, at an Atlanta hospital.
He said the man had fallen about 35 feet and appeared to have suffered injuries from blunt force trauma.
''He passed away at the hospital,'' Harrison told AP by telephone, adding an autopsy was planned Saturday morning.
Harrison said the other fan was a man who was subsequently treated at another Atlanta hospital and released. He had no further details on the man's identity or his condition.
Jennifer LeMaster, a spokeswoman for the Georgia World Congress Center Authority, told AP before the death was confirmed by Harrison that she had no information beyond the authority's initial statement. She said, however, the authority was expected to release more information Saturday afternoon.
The authority had said the fall occurred about 8:30 p.m. Friday night during the game in which Tennessee beat North Carolina 35-21in the season opener for both teams.
The fall occurred a day after a 25-year-old fan tumbled about 60 feet from a fifth-floor escalator at Reliant Stadium in Houston during a preseason Houston Texans game. Jonathon Kelly died from the fall during the Thursday night game against the Minnesota Vikings, and frantic witnesses called police to report where his body had landed, police spokesman John Cannon said. Police said the fall appeared to be an accident.
Last year, a firefighter attending a Texas Rangers game in Arlington died when he fell from the left field stands while reaching for a baseball tossed his way by All-Star outfielder Josh Hamilton. The man's 9-year-old son witnessed the fall. A statue was later dedicated at Rangers Ballpark to the man and his son, and railings were raised throughout the park before this season.

news source: yahoo

Old Spice guy's really annoying habit

Terry Crews's Old Spice ad (Old Spice)
  Viewers may be fascinated, but Terry Crews's wife has seen enough of one of his shirtless moves.

Eight words that most liars use

Words that liars use (Thinkstock)

Beware if somebody slips these phases into conversation, warns a lie detection expert.
Liar, liar. Pants on fire.Odds are, you and your guy have a great relationship, and the only lies he tells are little fibs. But it's good to know how to spot the signs he could be telling a whopper. Lie detection expert Janine Driver, author of the new book, You Can't Lie to Me, fills us in on the words that give away a liar.
Liar, liar. Pants on fire. 
Liar, liar. Pants on fire.

By Korin Miller

"Left"
Sure, sometimes 'left' is the only word you can use in a situation, but there's some kind of drama involved when he uses it in place of another word that will do (think: "I left the bar at six" vs. "I went home at six"). It could be due to his desire to "leave" the lie behind.

"Never"
The big thing to look out for is when he says "never" when "no" will do. It's a sign he's overcompensating. For example, if you ask, "Did you just look at that girl's butt?" and he says, "Never!"

"That"
Like never, it depends on how he uses it. If he puts "that" in front of a noun, like "that woman" or "that money," it's a subconscious attempt for him to distance himself from the word. This is a common trick of manipulators.

Related: 10 Signs He Wants to Marry You

"Would"
If he skips "no" and goes straight to "I would never do something like that!" when talking about a past event, be wary. For example, "Are you still talking to your ex?" "I would never do that to you!" "Would never" suggests that he plans to do it in the future.

"Yes, ma'am"
If your guy is a Southern gentleman, then this doesn't apply. But if he suddenly says "ma'am" to you out of nowhere, be cautious. It's a sign that he feels like he's feeling stressed and knows he's in trouble.

"By the way…"
Liars use phrases like this to try to minimize what they say next-but usually it's what's most important to the story. Pay extra attention to what he says afterward.

Related: 6 Ways to Win Over His Friends

"But"
Liars usually try to downplay what they say with this word, so pay attention when he says something like, "I know this is going to sound strange, but…" or "I know you think I'm lying, but…"

"Why would I do that?"
It's a favorite stalling line of liars, so they can buy a little time to work out what to say next. These phrases also fit the bill: "What kind of person do you think I am?", "Are you calling me a liar?", and "I knew this was going to happen to me!"
 
News source: yahoo

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

How Ann Romney learned to love politics

Anne Romney prepares for her speak at the GOP convention in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

The potential first lady and mother of five didn't always love campaigning.
 
Ann and Mitt Romney in a visit to Poland, Warsaw in July. (Carsten Koall/Getty Images)
TAMPA--When the three major news networks announced last week that they would not air Ann Romney's Republican National Convention Monday night speech in Tampa, Republicans started scrambling. Romney's likeable wife of 43 years needed a primetime spot, they decided, and party leaders were reportedly ready to bump the popular Florida Sen. Marco Rubio to make that happen. Eventually, they moved New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez's appearance to another night so that Ann could steal the spotlight on Tuesday. Meanwhile, party officials denied they had ever considered dumping Rubio.
This last minute jockeying is a testament to just how vital the campaign considers Ann to her husband's election efforts, something that wasn't always the case over the course of Romney's political career. Back in 1994, during Romney's failed U.S. Senate bid (and first run for office), the new political spouse on the block was a gaffe-prone potential liability without the polish or PR skills to handle the press. But over the years, Ann has learned how to spin family tales into political catnip--wooing voters by offering a dimension to her husband that no one else has seen before—and becoming a smooth and competent politician in her own right.
The 63-year-old mother of five and grandmother to 18 has emerged as an important humanizing force for Romney on the campaign trail. While the presumptive Republican nominee can come across as stiff and awkward on the stump, Ann charms the crowd with personal stories, casting her husband in a softer light. At a rally in Michigan on Friday she choked up while expressing gratitude that so many supporters in her home state had shown up. "Mitt and I grew up here, we fell in love here, and this is a special place for us," she said.

News source: yahoo

Isaac now a hurricane, aims for Gulf Coast

A sign reinforces concerns as locals prepare for Tropical Storm Issac in Metairie, Louisiana, August 27, 2012. (REUTERS/Sean Gardner)

Isaac now a hurricane, aims for Gulf Coast

The storm could make landfall tonight, one day before the seventh anniversary of Katrina

Why is Christina Aguilera dressed like this?

Christina Aguilera (Christopher Polk/Getty Images for NBCUniversal)

The "Voice" star flaunts her curves in a mesh dress that leaves very little to the imagination.
 
Christina Aguilera shoots her new music video. (Splash News)It's unclear exactly what the plotline of Christina Aguilera's upcoming video for her tune "Your Body" is at this point, but here's a guess: A stripper is at home trying on rainbow-colored wigs when she gets a call to participate in a last-minute softball game. She quickly grabs her bat, throws on some neon-pink stiletto pumps and heads for the ball field, making sure to not to get distracted by the beer sale going on at a local liquor store on her way.
Enter to win a trip and tickets to the iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas!
We'll find out what the actual scenario is when the video debuts, but in the meantime, just studying the photo of the 31-year-old pop singer in this outrageous getup is entertaining enough. And the longer you look, the more wild things you notice, like her multiple metal rings, her bright pink lipstick, that stark white manicure, lengthy false eyelashes, and, well, plenty of skin in a mesh-laden dress that looks like it's literally bursting at the seams.
While this photo was taken by a paparazzo who happened to be wandering by during the shoot in Los Angeles last week, Aguilera tweeted a more mysterious pic that only revealed her fishnet-covered leg atop a suitcase. "Its finally here- MUSIC VIDEO shoot day!!!!!!!!! Get ready guys!!!!!!!!!!" she wrote alongside the photo.
 
Aguilera in a recent promo shot for the new season of The Voice. (Mark Seliger/NBC)
Billie Joe Armstrong to mentor on 'The Voice'
The look is quite different from the recent ad campaign she participated in for the upcoming season of the reality singing competition series "The Voice," where she serves as a mentor along with fellow musicians Adam Levine, Blake Shelton, and Cee Lo Green. In that promo photo, the songstress showed off her signature blond tresses and red lips, along with a trim figure … which had some wondering if she was perhaps a little too trim. Several media outlets (including Yahoo!) posted the photo next to other recent ones of Aguilera, asking readers if they thought "The Voice" shot had been retouched. While many across the Web did believe the pic had been digitally altered, others just thought more old-fashioned smoke and mirrors were at play. "A good bit of it has to do with the way she is posed, the dress pattern, and how she has her hair," one Yahoo! TV commenter wrote. Others simply chalked it all up to show business as usual. "She's beautiful," another commenter added. "So what, all promo pics are messed with."

News source: yahoo