Imagine... I have been given this opportunity to communicate with anyone who clicks onto my blog, anything I want to say concerning my passion for mothers, babies, families, pregnancy, birth, postpartum and breastfeeding, and the politics surrounding all of the above!

It's a huge responsibility and, honestly, I'm feeling a little intimidated. Where shall I begin? There is so much I wish to say to each of you about all of it.

Sitting here tonight, I feel your hearts and it occurs to me that there is no hurry to speak it all at once, for you will be kind and patient readers.

My favorite way to share what I know of these issues is by talking story: true stories of my life, and of the many lives which I have come to know and have become intimately involved in. So I'll start with some of my last 24 hours at the Bumi Sehat community health and childbirth clinic in Bali, Indonesia.

Last night began with a call for help!

I was feeling pretty good about horizontal and the prospect of catching up on some much needed rest. As I lay there, waiting to disappear into the black well of sleep, I was reviewing the day: Our weekly pediatric clinic, with doctors specializing in holistic solutions for children with special needs, had gone well. I made a mental note to find out how the two new patients, children from upcountry, who had no legs, were doing. Two mothers had had lovely births during the day, one a waterbirth. Both new babies were breastfeeding well when I left for my much-needed shower. Clinic Bumi Sehat was relatively quiet and peaceful, and with three skilled midwives on duty, I reassured myself that I would sleep through the night.

11:33 p.m., the phone rings. It's our young midwife Rena, "Ibu (mother) please, come quickly! Some tourists are here with their hurt baby. And they only speak English."

A note: I sleep in my clothes. A history of frequent emergency calls has taught me that the extra minute getting dressed is time I often cannot afford.

Peddling, like crazy, downhill, my trusty red bicycle gets me to the clinic in less than a minute. Wailing, in the arms of very worried parents, I find a distressed, but healthy, strapping toddler. "He fell... but it was just down one step. Is it really possible that it's serious?" probes the concerned British father.

Deal with the trauma first: I reach for the homeopathic Arnica and administer a dose to the not-so-little Oliver. Almost immediately, his wailing ebbs into deep sobs. Gently placing my hands on his right arm is all it takes and I know that we are looking at one, maybe two broken bones. Midwife Agung Mas hands me the Arnica ointment as we try to relieve some of the trauma topically. I used a large elastic bandage to stabilize the arm, strapping it securely to the child's body.

"Our ambulance can take you to a good hospital." I reassure the worried parents and carefully give them information about x-ray, insurance, language support, etc. We calm the parents and make sure they use the WC (toilet) before the 45-minute transport to the hospital. One of the midwives has already called Pagi, our ambulance driver, and he has the ambulance waiting. Midwife Rena, who has the best English skills, accompanies the family to the hospital.

I have been on shift for most of the last 24 hours, but, now that I'm here... I check on the postpartum moms and new babies, joke with our night crew of midwives and watchmen, and then peddle home at almost 2 a.m. The slight incline begins to feel mountainous now and I push my trusty red two-wheeler the last 20 meters home, manage a quick rinse and collapse into bed next to my insensate husband.

The miracle of life starts with its own set of miracles when it comes to a pregnant woman's body. The gorgeous glow, longer and luxurious hair, and curvier curves, as well as a boosted bust size and increased sex drive -- all the changes (flattering and not) make for some of the most memorable nine months of a woman's life.

Come what may, every woman is different, and with that comes a distinct beauty to every body -- not to mention some fantastic photo ops to document the nine-month-memories.

Celebs like Demi Moore, Mariah Carey, and Cindy Crawford have bared their "baby bods," and now it's your turn. Whether you're biking with a baby bump, in a bold black-and-white body shot, a candid capture among friends, or celebrating any other mommy-to-be milestones, share with us your favorite photos taken during your pregnancy and check out those sent by other readers in our slideshow below.CLICK HERE AND SEE PREGNANCY PIC

Brain is a organ that think, learns and grows by interacting with the world through perception and action. Mental stimulation improves brain function and actually protects against cognitive decline, as does physical exercise.

The human brain is able to continually adapt and rewire itself. Even in old age, it can grow new neurons. Severe mental decline is usually caused by disease, whereas most age-related losses in memory or motor skills simply result from inactivity and a lack of mental exercise and stimulation. In other words, use it or lose it.

Journey of the Developing Brain

Only recently have scientists been able to learn how the neural network of the brain forms. Beginning in the womb and throughout life this vast network continues to expand, adapt, and learn. Take a look inside the brain at a cellular level to find out how our three pound universe forms and even how we learn.


Hippocampal Neurons
Evolving Brains Inspired Movement

Step back a half-billion years ago, to when the first nerve cells developed. The original need for a nervous system was to coordinate movement, so an organism could go find food, instead of waiting for the food to come to it. Jellyfish and sea anemone, the first animals to create nerve cells, had a tremendous advantage over the sponges that waited brainlessly for dinner to arrive. .
Elasticity and Plasticity

Elastic comes from the Greek word for “drive” or “propulsion.” It is the tendency of a material to return to its original shape after being stretched.

Elasticity is the basic animal drive that powers your muscles, giving you strength and balance – flexibility, mobility, and grace.
Plastic derives from the Greek word meaning “molded” or “formed.” It is the tendency of the brain to shape itself according to experience.

Plasticity is the basic mental drive that networks your brain, giving you cognition and memory – fluidity, versatility, and adaptability.
The Growth of Your Amazing Neural Network

Before birth you created neurons, the brain cells that communicate with each other, at the rate of 15 million per hour! When you emerged into the world, your 100 billion neurons were primed to organize themselves in response to your new environment – no matter the culture, climate, language, or lifestyle.

During infancy, billions of these extraordinary cells intertwined into the vast networks that integrated your nervous system. By the time you were four or five years old, your fundamental cerebral architecture was complete.
Until your early teens, various windows of opportunity opened when you could most easily learn language and writing, math and music, as well as the coordinated movements used in sports and dance. But, at any age you can – and should – continue to build your brain and expand your mind.
Expanding Your Amazing Neural Network

Throughout life, your neural networks reorganize and reinforce themselves in response to new stimuli and learning experiences. This body-mind interaction is what stimulates brain cells to grow and connect with each other in complex ways. They do so by extending branches of intricate nerve fibers called dendrites (from the Latin word for “tree”). These are the antennas through which neurons receive communication from each other. A healthy, well-functioning neuron can be directly linked to tens of thousands of other neurons, creating a totality of more than a hundred trillion connections – each capable of performing 200 calculations per second! This is the structural basis of your brain’s memory capacity and thinking ability.

As a product of its environment, your “three pound universe” is essentially an internal map that reflects your external world.
Learning at the Cellular Level

Many neuroscientists believe that learning and memory involve changes at neuron-to-neuron synapses. Such changes, called long-term potentiation (LTP), make it easier for connected neurons to communicate with each other, and therefore to form memories. LTP involves patterns of synaptic strengthening and weakening that can last for weeks. Because receptor aggregation may contribute to LTP – and dispersal may contribute to the reverse scenario, long-term depression – the discovery that receptors can scurry in and out of synapses strengthens the synaptic hypothesis of learning
Learning Uses Long-Term Potentiation Study

A study by neuroscientists at Brown University provided further evidence that learning uses long-term potentiation LTP to produce changes in the synaptic connections between brain cells that are necessary to acquire and store new information

When the researchers taught rats a new motor skill, scientists found that the animals’ brains had also changed. The strength of synapses between neurons in the motor cortex of their brains had increased through a process consistent with the use of LTP.
Previously, “the link between LTP, synaptic modification and learning was tentative,” said senior author John Donoghue, professor of neuroscience. “This latest study provides strong evidence that learning itself engages LTP in the cerebral cortex as a way to strengthen synaptic connections.”1
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Where Mind Meets Body – The Neuromuscular Junction

Brain chemistry reveals an essential unity of mind and body. Neurons not only contact other neurons, they also connect with skeletal muscles, at a specialized structure called the neuromuscular junction. There the brain uses acetylcholine – its primary chemical neurotransmitter for memory and attention – to communicate with muscles. Another of the brain’s key chemical messengers, dopamine, helps regulate fine motor movement.
The role of these neurotransmitters in regulating movement underscores the intimate relation between body and mind, muscle and memory. In fact, many bodyworkers find that deep massage can trigger the release and awareness of powerful, long-held emotional memories.
Muscles Activate Brain Receptors

Concentration means being able to free the mind from all objects of distraction — including one’s own thoughts and emotions — and to direct it toward a single object — whether reposing it in a single state of awareness, or directing it toward a single goal. To many people, such mental control implies effort. And so it does, of course, in a sense. In another sense, however, they are mistaken. For as long as one tries to concentrate he will not be able to concentrate really effectively. Deep concentration is possible only in a state of relaxation. Where tension exists, whether physically or mentally, there is a separate commitment of energy, like the stray strand of thread that refuses to enter the eye of the needle. If, for example, the brow is furrowed in worry, or if the jaw or the hands are clenched, these are signs that this much energy, at least, is not being directed toward one’s true objective. That is why the best way to develop high-powered concentration is to practice meditation regularly. Many people mistakenly believe that meditation amounts to a kind of escape from reality — an avoidance of one’s worldly responsibilities. Actually, meditation is easily the most effective way of enabling one not only to face life’s challenges, but to overcome them. The deep power of concentration that comes through daily meditation enables a person to resolve an issue in minutes perhaps, where, otherwise, he might have fretted over it for weeks. Even more important, where the will is concerned, the concentration that comes due to regular meditation generates with perfect naturalness the strength of will that is necessary for success in any undertaking. The physical seat of the will is located at the point between the eyebrows. That is why, when a person wills something strongly, he often knits his eyebrows. In meditation one is taught to concentrate at that point, since this is also the seat of concentration in the body. The more frequently and deeply one focuses the mind at that point, the more powerful his will becomes. Another important point in developing concentration, and therefore will power, is inner clarity: crystal clarity of reason and feeling. Meditation is a great aid in the development of such clarity. Muddy thoughts and feelings produce chaos, both inwardly and outwardly. Inner confusion is the antithesis of concentration. Inner clarity, on the other hand, is almost the definition of concentration. When the mind is clear, one naturally addresses issues one at a time. It is equally true to say that, by limiting oneself to doing or thinking about one thing at a time, one finds that the mind, in turn, gradually develops clarity. Concentration, I said, involves, on the negative side, the practice of shutting out of the mind all distracting thoughts and impressions. It isn’t easy not to think about a thing. Try telling yourself, for example, completely to avoid thinking about icebergs. How often, in the normal course of a day, does the thought of icebergs even occur to you? Never, probably, unless you live in arctic regions. Yet, if your mind is not practiced at concentration, the mere resolution not to think of icebergs may be sufficient to cause you to think of nothing else! To develop concentration, then, it is more important to focus positively on one thing at a time than to avoid thinking of other things.

Try to become absorbed in one thought at a time. No one can do many things at once and do them effectively. Leave then, for the moment, every other issue except the one on which you’ve decided to focus your attention. Don’t strain: Be relaxed. Be interested in what you are doing. Become absorbed in it. When people go to the movies, they may find themselves becoming effortlessly absorbed in the story, simply because it has awakened their interest. Focus your mind like that on everything that you do.

When TV newscaster Diane Sawyer was asked the secret to her success, she said, “I think the one lesson I’ve learned is there is no substitute for paying attention.”

Are you thinking, “I agree, but HOW do we improve our ability to focus and maintain attention — no matter what?”

These five FOCUS tips can help you concentrate better — whether you’re working in a busy office, studying at school, sitting in a meeting, or trying to finish a project.

F = Five More Rule

There are two kinds of people — those who have learned how to work through frustration, and those who wish they had. From now on, if you’re in the middle of a task and tempted to give up — just do FIVE MORE.

Read FIVE MORE pages. Finish FIVE MORE math problems. Work FIVE MORE minutes.

Just as athletes build physical stamina by pushing past the point of exhaustion, you can build mental stamina by pushing past the point of frustration.

Just as runners get their second wind by not giving up when their body initially protests, you can get your “second mind” by not giving up when your willpower initially protests. Continuing to concentrate when your brain is tired is the key to S-T-R-E-T-C-H-I-N-G your attention span and building mental endurance.

O = One Think At a Time
Samuel Goldwyn said, “If I look confused, it’s because I’m thinking.” Feeling scatter-brained? Overcome perpetual preoccupation with the Godfather Plan — make your mind a deal it can’t refuse. Yes, the mind takes bribes. Instead of telling it NOT to worry about another, lesser priority (which will cause your mind to think about the very thing it’s not supposed to think about!), assign it a single task with start-stop time parameters.

Still can’t get other concerns out of your head? Write them down on your to-do list so you’re free to forget them. Recording worrisome obligations means you don’t have to use your brain as a “reminder” bulletin board, which means you can give your undivided attention to your top priority task.

C = Conquer Procrastination
Don’t feel like concentrating? Are you putting off a task or project you’re supposed to be working on? That’s a form of procrastination. R. D. Clyde said, “It’s amazing how long it takes to complete something we’re not working on.”

Next time you’re about to postpone a responsibility ask yourself, “Do I have to do this? Do I want it done so it’s not on my mind? Will it be any easier later?” Those three questions can give you the incentive to mentally apply yourself because they bring you face to face with the fact this task isn’t going away, and delaying will only add to your guilt and make this onerous task occupy more of your mind and time.

U = Use Your Hands as Blinkers
Picture your mind as a camera and your eyes as its aperture. Most of the time, our eyes are “taking it all in” and our brain is in “wide-angle focus.” We can actually think about many things at once and operate quite efficiently this way (e.g., imagine driving down a crowded highway while talking to a friend, fiddling with the radio, keeping an eye on the cars beside you, and watching for your exit sign.)

What if you want to switch to telephoto focus? What if you have to prepare for a test and

you need 100% concentration? Cup your hands around your eyes so you have “tunnel vision” and are looking solely at your text book. Placing your hands on the side of your face blocks out surroundings so they are literally “out of sight, out of mind.” Think about the importance of those words.

Want even better news? Does the name Pavlov r-r-r-ring a bell? If you cup your hands around your eyes every time you want to switch from wide-angle to telephoto focus, that physical ritual becomes a Pavlovian trigger.

Remember? Pavlov rang the bell, fed the dog, rang the bell and fed the dog, until the dog started salivating as soon as he heard the sound of the bell. Similarly, using your hands as blinkers every time you want to narrow your focus teaches your brain to switch to “one track” mind and concentrate on your command.

S = See As If For the First or Last Time
Want to know how to be “here and now” and fully present instead of mindlessly rushing here, there, and everywhere? Frederick Franck said, “When the eye wakes up to see again, it suddenly stops taking anything for granted.” Evelyn Underhill said, “For lack of attention, a thousand forms of loveliness elude us every day.”

I constantly relearn this lesson. One time I was giving my sons their nightly back rub. Although I was sitting right next to them, I might as well have been in the next country because I was thinking of the early morning flight I needed to take the next day and wondering if I had packed my hand-outs, if my ticket was in my purse, etc.

Suddenly, my unfocused eyes fell upon my sons and I truly SAW Tom and Andrew as if I was looking at them for the first time. I was immediately flooded with a sense of gratitude for these two healthy, thriving boys. I felt so blessed to have been gifted with such wonderful sons. In an instant, I went from being absent-minded to being filled with a sense of awe and appreciation for their presence in my life.

Next time your mind is a million miles away, simply look around you and really SEE your surroundings. Study that exquisite flower in the vase. Get up close to the picture on the wall and marvel at the artist’s craftmanship.

Lean in and really look at a loved one you tend to take for granted. This will “Velveteen Rabbit” your world and make it come alive in your mind’s eye.

What people have said about concentration

* “I used to think the human brain was the most fascinating part of the body, and then I realized, ‘What is telling me that?’” – Emo Phillips
* “I’m getting so absent-minded and forgetful. Sometimes in the middle of a sentence, I . . . ” – Milton Berle
* “Iron rusts from disuse, stagnant water loses its purity and in cold weather becomes frozen, even so does inaction sap the vigors of the mind.” Leonardo da Vinci
* “Tell me to what you pay attention, and I will tell you who you are.” – Jose Ortega y Gasset
* I would go without shirt or shoe sooner than lose for a minute the two separate sides of my head.” – Rudyard Kipling
* “It’s not that I don’t want to listen to people. I very much want to listen to people. I jut can’t hear them over my talking.” – Paula Poundstone

Hailey Clauson, the teenage model who sued Urban Outfitters for $28 million, may finally be heading to court.

Women's Wear Daily confirmed today that the retailer's efforts to get the lawsuit, filed back in August 2011, dismissed have been rejected by New York federal judge George Daniels.

Clauson and her parents sued Urban Outfitters upon discovering that Clauson's image was being used on t-shirts and other merchandise sold at the store. The problem? The family contends that the pictures were inappropriate, showing the then 15-year-old model "in a blatantly salacious manner with her legs spread, without a bra, revealing portions of her breasts," according to the lawsuit.

Clauson's parents knew that the photographs existed, having been present when photographer Jason Lee Perry snapped their daughter in 2010.

But Urban Outfitters and co-defendants Blood Is the New Black and Brandy & Melville used the images without Clauson's consent, meaning the pics were used "to create false endorsement or false designation of origin, as well as claims for false representation of the characteristics or qualities of plaintiff’s modeling services,” said Judge Daniels. Thus the case will be moving forward in court.

It's not the first time Clauson has been caught in the eye of a model controversy storm. As the CFDA and its president Diane von Furstenberg debated the issue of too-young models on the runway last year, von Furstenberg herself was exposed for having accidentally cast Clauson, then 15, in her Fall 2011 show.

Clauson also recently attracted media buzz with a questionable photo shoot for Pop magazine, which shows her being "strangled." Jezebel called the image "disturbing" while Fashionista suggested its potential for "glamorizing violence against women."

A genius is a person of great intelligence, who shows an exceptional natural capacity of intellect, especially as shown in creative and original work. The term may also applies to someone who is a polymath or a prodigy. Although “genius” is sometimes used to denote the possession of a superior talent in any field (For example, Pele could be called a soccer genius or Mozart a musical genius), in many instances the term is used specifically to denote an exceptional natural capacity of intellect in areas of art, music, science andmathematics.
A genius is a person with distinguished mental powers. “genius” does specifically apply to mental rather than athletic skills, although it is also used to denote the possession of a superior talent in any field. For example, someone may be called a golf genius, or a genius of diplomacy.The first thing to learn is that a person can become more intelligent.
In an issue entitled “Genius” from L. Ron Hubbard he is quoting Dr. Alfred Barrios who declared the following:“Most people have the mistaken idea that geniuses are born, not made.”
Here are some tips to help you improve your brain power and kick-start the genius within…
1. Supplement your diet with Omega-3 oils. Your brain laps this stuff up! Get good quality fish-oil capsules.
2. Develop your concentration abilities. Learn a meditation technique and build your ability to remain focused like a laser. Smart people can concentrate for longer periods of time than dummies!
3. Practice flick-gazing for 2 minutes a day. Another great technique . Only moving your eyes, flick your gaze from point to point, once every second, throughout the range of your vision. Go left, right, up, down, on the diagonals and so on.
4. Learn to mind-map. Mind-mapping is a great technique invented by Tony Buzan. It helps you think and remember better. You will find it an incredibly valuable and easy skill to learn.
5. Think positively. This sounds like a right old chestnut, doesn’t it? But thinking positively enables you to access your higher thinking abilities. When you are positive and feeling good your mind functions smoothly. Askyourself emotion-leading questions like, “What am I grateful for right now?” and “Who do I love and who loves me.
6. Affirm your brain power. You act according to your identity. Identity is based on your self image. If you change the image you have of yourself, you can change your life. Start thinking of yourself as someone who is clever, intelligent and supremely creative. Use affirmations to declare the truth of this and over-ride old limiting beliefs about yourself. Repeating affirmations like, I am really creative, and, I am a genius, is a great way to improve your brain power. Try it and you’ll see!
7. Play computer brain games. What’s the key to a healthy body and mind? Doing exercise! Right. You go to a gym to keep your body fit., how about your brain? Especially, when you have to sit before the computer for a long time, try to exercise your brain. Left or Right Ambidextrous Challenge, Mindstorm Train Your Brain and other new brain programs being released all the time. It’s a great way to exercise your brain and improve your brain power.
8. Do puzzles, brain teasers and strategy games. Break out the newspaper crossword puzzle for a quick 5 minute brain workout. Look out for riddles and brain teaser games . Engage your strategic thinking by playing chess, checkers.
9. Keep journals and notebooks..All the smart people write down their ideas, thoughts and observations. Writing things down lets your brain know that you value “it’s” ideas. How does it reward you? By providing more ideas and better ideas. Writing things down creates a feedback loop that makes you smarter. You objectify your thoughts onto paper (or computer screen) and that helps you think about them in a more powerful way. This is a great way to improve your brain power..)
10. Practice image streaming. Another super technique courtesy of mind maestro Win Wenger. This technique was created by Dr. Win Wenger and his Project Renaissance. He has also written a book titled “How To Increase Your Intelligence.” Dr. Wenger is considered one of the foremost authorities on genius and intelligence. He has pioneered this unique mental application. Doing this exercise will open up the higher cortical brain areas and allow you to become aware of your.
. It doesn’t take a genius to realize that sitting in front of the TV for 2-4 hours every night ‘rots’ your brain. If you must watch TV… take notes, discuss what you’ve watched with someone else, think about how the program was made, the filming and camera work, the acting, how you could have made it better.
For the most part, a genius is born into a life of high brain activity and functionality. Many definitions of the word “genius” use the word “natural” to describe the state, which implies that one can not force themselves into becoming a genius. However, you can not be certain that you are using your brain to its fullest potential. In fact, there is a large chance that you use only a fraction of your brain’s potential, which means that a large amount of your brain’s capacity remains untapped. Do not fear the untapped portion of your brain. Here is top five steps to help you become Genius.
Step 1
Perform a detailed self-analysis. So much talk floats around about which side of the brain people use most often. Figure out if you are a right-brain thinker or a left-brain thinker. Maybe your passion lay in math and science. Peruse your transcripts from high school and college. Maybe you received high marks in English and historical-related courses. Find out which part of the brain you use to its maximum potential and then expand on that.
Step 2
Read, reread, and read some more. Those who use their brains most productively often use the written words of others as a starting point. An active brain needs inspiration. Reading also facilitates creativity, and many geniuses–past and present alike–were also considered to be at the upper-echelon of creativity. Whether it is math and science or English and philosophy, creativity and brain activity go hand-in-hand.

Step 3

Use your time wisely. Whether you were born a genius or are trying to make better use of your current brain activity, wasting time is a worthless notion. Think about how many hours of television you watch throughout the course of an average week. Think about how many hours you spend on the Internet. For the most part, your brain is on “sleep mode” when you participate in those activities. Find a creativity activity to engage in, such as writing or studying your favorite subject.

Step 4

Transform your diet and your lifestyle. Some experts suggest that upping your intake of fish can significantly impact your mental capacity. However, taking a more broad and sweeping approach to your nutritional intake might be a better idea. Assess your current diet. Maybe much of your fluid intake is comprised of coffee and cola. Substitute unnatural fluids with water. Increasing your water intake will flush some of the unnatural toxins from your body and keep your body out of “survival mode,” during which your body actually bloats due to a lack of natural water.

Step 5

Expand your horizons. Keep your head in the books, but not only in the books you know best. If your strongest area of knowledge is English literature, head to the library and pick up some books about various sciences. Remember, most geniuses have been extraordinarily well-rounded and versed in multiple disciplines of study.
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We love us a good Photoshop fail, but sometimes we feel a bit bad for the victim (not you, Victoria's Secret models -- you looked too perfect to begin with).

We almost didn't notice, but Jezebel so kindly pointed out that Kate Moss' intimate mother-daughter portrait in the September issue of Vogue received a little too much airbrushing.

Lila Grace, Moss' daughter, seems to have lost the tips of her fingers.

It's not only a dumb mistake, but also sort of silly: how many rolls of fat or excessive wrinkles did 8-year-old Lila Grace have on her hands? Just how unkempt were her fingernails to warrant such a clumsy Photoshop fail?

Oh well, at least they didn't cut off her arm entirely.

Check it out below in the bottom righthand corner of the pic and click here to see more Kate Moss wedding day portraits from Vogue's September issue.

Supermodel Gisele Bundchen stepped out the The Brazil Foundation's 8th Annual Gala Benefit in NYC on Thursday night where she stunned in a shiny, burgundy, floor-length gown made for her by Francisco Costa, creative director for Calvin Klein and a fellow Brazilian. Gisele seemed to have had a great time mingling with guests -- including her twin sister, Patricia -- and she even delivered a speech. Check out some pictures and click on "Caption" to find out more about the image. SEE PHOTOS

Reality TV star and now "Skinnygirl" entrepreneur Bethenny Frankel has already deluged the market with her Skinnygirl brand books, makeup, ponytail (yes, really) and those (controversial) Skinnygirl margaritas.

But now, you can get Skinnygirl even closer to your body with Frankel's new line of Skinnygirl Smoothers 'n' Shapers.

Launching in May 2012, the shapewear will be available at select Macy's stores, and for the line's "Real Woman" campaign, Frankel put a bunch of her real life besties -- i.e. her hair stylist, makeup artists and personal assistants -- in Skinnygirl shapewear and towering heels.

Frankel told People that she wants real women to experience the "confidence" shapewear brings:

“I created [my shapewear] for real women, so having the actual women in my life model my collection was the only truthful choice ... Everyone has a body part they’re not thrilled about, and the campaign gives women a firsthand look at how a little shapewear can give you the confidence to show it off and feel great while you’re doing it.”

The Justice Department could sue Apple Inc as early as Wednesday over alleged electronic book price-fixing, while settling with several publishers as early as this week, two people familiar with the matter said.

The Justice Department is investigating alleged price-fixing by Apple and five major publishers: CBS Corp's Simon & Schuster Inc; HarperCollins Publishers Inc; Lagardere SCA's Hachette Book Group; Pearson and Macmillan, a unit of Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck GmbH.

A lawsuit against Apple, one of the parties not in negotiations over a potential settlement, could come as early as Wednesday but no final decision had been made, the people said.

Apple declined to comment. The Justice Department and the five publishers could not be reached for comment.

The Justice Department is investigating whether deals Apple cut two years ago with the quintet of major publishers - when the consumer electronics maker launched its iPad tablet computer - were done with the intent of propping up prices for digital books, sources have said.

As part of those agreements, publishers shifted to a model that allowed them to set the price of e-books and give Apple a 30 percent cut of sales, the sources have said.

Talks between the Justice Department and some publishers had been proceeding, with settlements expected as soon as this week, one of the two sources familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity, because the discussions were not public.

A negotiated settlement is expected to eliminate Apple's so-called "most favored nation" status, which had prevented the publishers from selling lower-priced e-books through rival retailers such as Amazon.com Inc or Barnes & Noble Inc , sources had told Reuters last month.

But the situation was fluid, those sources said at the time.

President Barack Obama's campaign formally welcomed Republican Mitt Romney to the White House duel Tuesday, with a caustic warning: the more Americans see of him, the less they like him.

Romney effectively clinched the Republican presidential nomination when his last remaining rival Rick Santorum bowed out, setting up a nasty, battle with Obama, who will ask voters for a second four-year term in November.

The president and the former Massachusetts governor have actually been squaring off for several weeks, but Obama's team could not pass up another chance to try to negatively define Romney in the eyes of voters.

"The more the American people see of Mitt Romney, the less they like him and the less they trust him," Obama campaign manager Jim Messina said in a statement issued shortly after Santorum suspended his campaign.

Messina accused Romney of alienating key voting blocs including women, the middle class, and Hispanics and framed the election as a fight for a fair economy, a theme Obama spent the day hitting in swing state Florida.

The president touted his millionaires tax in Florida, a battleground state which could play a decisive role in the November 6 election.

The initiative, calling for a minimum tax of 30 percent on those earning more than $1 million a year has no chance of quickly becoming law, but it anchors Obama's vow to forge an economy where everyone has "a fair shot."

"What drags our entire economy down is when the benefits of economic growth and productivity go only to the few," Obama said.

"The gap between those at the very, very top and everybody else keeps growing wider and wider and wider and wider," Obama said.

The president argued that government-led investments in the future economy were not a "socialist dream" as some of his conservative opponents would have it, but were essential to future prosperity.

"Let me you ask you: what's the better way to make our economy stronger? Do we give another $150,000 tax break to every millionaire and billionaire in the country?" the president said.

"Or should we make investments in education and research and health care and our veterans?"

Obama calls his plan the Buffett rule, after billionaire financier Warren Buffett who complained that his massive investment income was taxed at a lower rate than the taxes his secretary pays on her wages.

Congress was expected to vote on the millionaires tax next week and the plan has almost no chance of passing.

But Democrats want to force Republicans to cast a vote to oppose the tax, which Obama and party allies can then use to castigate their foes on the campaign trail ahead of November's election.

Madonna's MDNA may be the first album to both top the Billboard charts and be a massive commercial failure.

The record debuted at No. 1 on the charts, prompting her longtime manager Guy Oseary to herald the singer's comeback as a great success. And though it was quite a triumphant return, it turned out to be a short-lived one buoyed by what some are calling a cheap trick.

MDNA sales have fallen a record 88 percent week-over-week, from 379,000 copies to a mere 46,000, Forbes reports.

So why the dramatic drop? In a somewhat savvy move, Madonna packaged the album with ticket sales on Ticketmaster. Though Lionel Richie's Tuskegee was outpacing her in projected sales, Madge was able to surpass his release by essentially giving her album away to anyone who bought a ticket to see her tour. These "sales" were then counted in Billboard's tally.

The only problem? With her shows either sold out or nearly sold out, no one's going to be buying tickets any time soon.

Page Six notes that Madge didn't invent the trick. Both Bon Jovi and Tom Petty used the loophole to finagle their way to the top of the charts.

In his email newsletter, Bob Lefsetz slammed the singer and her team for failing to understand that Super Bowl shows don't translate to album sales, especially for "an ancient superstar dashing for cash."

"Oldsters just want to hear the hits, and youngsters ... just don't care," he wrote of her halftime show. As for her tour? "Charging a fortune and playing huge venues. It's like a going out of business sale. What do you do next?"

Richie, on the other hand, sold 20,000 albums in just one hour by swallowing his pride and appearing on the Home Shopping Network. That's almost half the number of albums Madonna moved all week.

In Oseary's defense, he claims that Madge has foregone traditional album promos, instead focusing on prepping what he's touting as an epic tour. "The focus is getting the show together so MDNA can come to life," he tweeted.

Though Lefsetz and other critics are making it seem as though Madonna's career has seen its last sunset, it's important to remember she still has some pretty fierce fans, including this lady who tattooed MDNA's artwork on her ribcage:

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, saying he hopes Lamar Odom's departure is "addition by subtraction," confirmed that a heated halftime confrontation between the owner and 13-year veteran was the breaking point that prompted the team and player to part ways.

During halftime of his final game with the Mavs, Odom and Cuban had the exchange in the visitors locker room Saturday night in Memphis.

Sources told ESPNDallas.com the heated words were "the culmination" of an exasperating weekend, when Odom was tardy to the team's Friday home game against the Portland Trail Blazers and the Saturday morning meeting in Memphis. That convinced team officials to initiate discussions on Easter Sunday that led to the parties agreeing to split for the rest of the season.

Cuban confirmed Tuesday evening the crux of the heated halftime confrontation was Cuban questioning Odom's commitment. Odom, who had played only four minutes in the first half, reacted angrily to the question, shouting "stop playing games" several times. Odom did not take his seat on the bench until after the third quarter began.

"Well, yeah," Cuban said when asked whether that exchange was the final straw. "Just his response to it. Everybody goes through ups and downs. Every player does. We tried to put him in a position to succeed. You guys saw it, saw what we did. It didn't work.

"And I just asked him, does he want to go for it or not? Is he in or is he out? I think he thought we were playing poker. I just didn't get a commitment. And that was the end."

This was not the first time that Cuban had confronted Odom during a game. During a March 6 win over the New York Knicks, Cuban shouted at Odom from the owner's seat near the Mavs bench after the forward's failure to hustle back on defense resulted in an uncontested layup for New York's Landry Fields. Cuban and Odom both downplayed that incident at the time, with Cuban pointing out that he's a passionate fan who frequently yells at players.

Cuban admitted Tuesday that Odom's lack of commitment, which manifested itself in a lack of effort on the floor and habitual tardiness to team meetings, practices and shootarounds despite living across the street from the American Airlines Center, had been an issue all season.

Perhaps the best advice you can give someone about having a relationship with a married man is telling her not to even start. However, that may not be practical for all women. As my friend Jenna* told me, "You can't help who you fall in love with. The love of your life just might be a married man."

Being part of any couple can be challenging and unpredictable, as we all know. But when the man with whom you're involved is part of another couple, someone else's husband, then the challenge and unpredictability can make your life a messy, unhappy waiting game that you will rarely win.

The woman who is in love with a married man lives a life that, for the most part, is shrouded in secrecy. Her close circle of friends might know about her affair, but she really cannot let anyone else, such as colleagues or her family, know. She is alone most of the time and spends it waiting: waiting for her married lover to call, to come meet her, to share some precious time together. She is not his wife, she is not mother to his children, she is not his parents' daughter-in-law. Her chance for happiness hinges on a future that is highly uncertain, to say the least.

Your own survival is crucial, and if you do happen to fall in love with a married man, there are several hard truths you need to know.

1. The needs of the many (namely, his family) will always outweigh your needs.
His family will always come first, and that includes his wife. Simply because he talks in a negative way about his marriage doesn't mean that his obligations to his wife are any less important to him. Whether or not they have children is a moot point; he will always feel as if he has to be a husband to her and take care of the marriage, whether he truly loves her or not. Their life together includes friendships and a social network that is shared and comfortable for him. He won't risk losing that.

2. His life with you is secret and always will be.
No matter how much you may want to walk in the sunshine with him and have him openly acknowledge his love for you, it won't happen. While he is more than willing to be your lover and to bring you gifts, he is not about to have you meet his friends and risk having his family find out about you.

3. No matter how nice a guy he is, you are a temporary diversion for him.
This is not an easy statement to comprehend. It's emotionally painful. Unfortunately it is true. The beginning of an affair is romantic and naughty at the same time. Planning to be together becomes a fascinating game and is thrilling to say the least. Stealing hours from work or home to have sex is exciting, and you may mistake his libido-driven passion for undying love. Don't. The game soon becomes a chore for him, and romantic interludes are just one more thing he "has to do."

resident Obama’s landmark health-care initiative, long touted as a means to control costs, will actually add more than $340 billion to the nation’s budget woes over the next decade, according to a new study by a Republican member of the board that oversees Medicare financing.

The study is set to be released Tuesday by Charles Blahous, a conservative policy analyst whom Obama approved in 2010 as the GOP trustee for Medicare and Social Security. His analysis challenges the conventional wisdom that the health-care law, which calls for an expensive expansion of coverage for the uninsured beginning in 2014, will nonetheless reduce deficits by raising taxes and cutting payments to Medicare providers.

The 2010 law does generate both savings and revenue. But much of that money will flow into the Medicare hospitalization trust fund — and, under law, the money must be used to pay years of additional benefits to those who are already insured. That means those savings would not be available to pay for expanding coverage for the uninsured.

“Does the health-care act worsen the deficit? The answer, I think, is clearly that it does,” Blahous, a senior research fellow at George Mason University’s Mercatus Center, said in an interview. “If one asserts that this law extends the solvency of Medicare, then one is affirming that this law adds to the deficit. Because the expansion of the Medicare trust fund and the creation of the new subsidies together create more spending than existed under prior law.”

Administration officials dismissed the study, arguing that it departs from bipartisan budget rules used to measure every major deficit-reduction effort for the past four decades — including the blueprint offered last month by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.).

“Opponents of reform are using ‘new math’ while they attempt to refight the political battles of the past,” a White House budget official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the report was not publicly available. “The fact of the matter is, the Congressional Budget Office and independent experts concluded that the health-reform law will reduce the deficit. That was true the day the bill was signed into law, and it’s true today.”

Blahous acknowledged that his analysis departs from budget conventions, which, he said, make sense for the most part. He said that in this case, however, those rules do not fully illuminate the financial impact of the health-care law, since they permit what conservative critics have dubbed a “double counting” of proposed Medicare savings.

Medicare is financed in part through a trust fund that receives revenue from payroll taxes. Before Obama’s health-care act passed, the trust fund was projected to be drained by 2017 (later updated to 2016). Absent the health-care law, Blahous writes, Medicare would have been forced to enact a sharp reduction in benefit payments in the middle of this decade, or “other Medicare savings would have had to be found.”

Robyn is turning photographer, for a day.

The Swedish pop singer is joining an anti-apartheid icon, a former Irish president and thousands of people around the world in an attempt to capture a day in the life of the planet.

The project – aday.org – is inspired by the "Family of Man," a 1955 exhibition of international photography that became a multi-million-selling book.

Since then, digital technology and the Internet have made millions of people published photographers, and the project's organizers hope to harness many of the estimated 1 billion digital cameras now in the hands of people around the world.

Amateur and professional photographers are being encouraged to capture image of their home, family, travel or work on May 15. The uploaded images will be published on the Internet and compiled into a touring exhibition and a book.

Organizer Jeppe Wikstrom hopes it will provide a record of our common humanity – and of the details of everyday life that photojournalism doesn't always capture.

"Sensationalism has become more common in media, with celebrities and catastrophes and reality TV," said Wikstrom, a Swedish publisher and photographer who helped organize a similar 2003 project in his homeland, "A Day in the Life of Sweden."

"A few months ago we were looking for everyday pictures of Paris from a major photo agency, the first thing we got was thousands and thousands of pictures of Paris Hilton," he said. "It's an indication of our time."

Celebrity participants in the project, run by a Swedish charity, include Virgin boss Richard Branson, former Irish President Mary Robinson and South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who said the photos would help people connect with one another and "transcend the barriers of language, age, gender and culture."

Wikstrom says those signed up to take part range from Andre Kuipers, an astronaut aboard the International Space Station, to scientists in Antarctica and climbers on Mount Everest.

Robyn, who admitted being an infrequent photographer, said she plans to take pictures of her life in Stockholm on May 15.

She said she was backing the project because, "I thought there was something very democratic about it, and modern."

"It's about looking into the future and letting all kinds of people have their say," she said.

Swine flu, also known as 2009 H1N1 type A influenza, is a human disease. People get the disease from other people, not from pigs.

The disease originally was nicknamed swine flu because the virus that causes the disease originally jumped to humans from the live pigs in which it evolved. The virus is a "reassortant" -- a mix of genes from swine, bird, and human flu viruses. Scientists are still arguing about what the virus should be called, but most people know it as the H1N1 swine flu virus.

The swine flu viruses that usually spread among pigs aren't the same as human flu viruses. Swine flu doesn't often infect people, and the rare human cases that have occurred in the past have mainly affected people who had direct contact with pigs. But the current "swine flu" outbreak is different. It's caused by a new swine flu virus that has changed in ways that allow it to spread from person to person -- among people who haven't had any contact with pigs.

That makes it a human flu virus. To distinguish it from flu viruses that infect mainly pigs and from the seasonal influenza A H1N1 viruses that have been in circulation for many years, the CDC calls the virus "2009 H1N1 virus." Other names include "novel H1N1" or nH1N1, "quadruple assortant H1N1," and "2009 pandemic H1N1."

Many people have at least partial immunity to seasonal H1N1 viruses because they've been infected with or vaccinated against this flu bug. These viruses "drift" genetically, which is why the flu vaccine has to be tweaked from time to time.

H1N1 (swine) flu is a contagious respiratory disease caused by type A strains of the virus. The virus enters the body through inhalation of contaminated droplets or is transferred from a contaminated surface to the eyes, nose or mouth of a person.

It takes 3 to 5 days for swine flu symptoms to develop and continues for nearly a week. One can pass the infection to others for nearly 8 days after getting infected. H1N1 flu is sensitive to oseltamivir ( Tamiflu) and zanamivir (Relenza). But these medicines should be taken under medical supervision.
Some of the symptoms of swine flu are sore throat, cough and fever. One should also consult a doctor incase of bodyache, vomiting, and acute gastrointestinal symptoms like diarrhoea and nausea.

Mark Lenzi, the 1992 gold medalist in men's springboard, died Monday at age 43.

The American diver was hospitalized in Greenville, N.C. two weeks ago after suffering a series of fainting spells.

Lenzi earned gold at the Barcelona Olympics and followed it up with a bronze medal performance in Atlanta. He was an All-American diver at the Indiana University, winning championships in the one-meter springboard, three-meter springboard and platform events in 1989.

No American man has won a diving medal since Lenzi.

The Fredricksburg, Va. native had spent the past two seasons coaching diving at East Carolina University.

Lenzi started diving at age 16, after seeing Greg Louganis win gold at the 1984 Olympics. He briefly left his parents' house later that year when he told his father he was quitting wrestling to take up the sport. After two weeks of living with a neighbor, Mark moved back home.

His father sat in the stands in Barcelona wearing a handmade shirt and later admitted that he had been wrong about his son's pursuit. ""Sometimes," Bill Lenzi said at the time, "maybe parents don't know what's best for their kids.

Mark Lenzi continued American dominance in the springboard, following up Louganis' two gold medals by pulling ahead late in the competition to earn his spot on the podium. Since then, Chinese men have ruled the diving well.

In 1991, Lenzi became the first diver to score 100 points on a single dive. His reverse three-and-one-half tuck scored him 101.85 points at the US Indoor Championships.

"As an Olympic gold and bronze medalist, Mark was one of our country's greatest divers, and he will be missed tremendously," USA Diving chairman Bob Rydze said in a statement posted on USAdiving.org.

Jennifer Love Hewitt plays a single mom turned prostitute in the new Lifetime series "The Client List," but her curves proved too much for some.

Fishbowl L.A. first reported that the actress received a digital breast reduction in an advertisement for the show found in Entertainment Weekly, while her natural curves remained untouched in an ad in The Hollywood Reporter.

The 33-year-old is known for her ample curves and even she admitted she was surprised to see them nearly vanish in the Photoshopped ad.

"Somebody sent me a copy of the photograph, and I was like, 'Um, what happened?" she told KROQ's "Kevin & Bean Show" on Friday. "I'm not quite sure what's going on, but apparently somebody wanted me to have a boob reduction."

Hewitt likely isn't too happy that someone at Lifetime or Entertainment Weekly thought her boobs needed to be reduced, as she recently told Maxim magazine, "It's horrible to say, but I like my boobs. They've always served me well. They're good."

Photoshopped ads are the norm, but typically actresses end up getting a boost in the bust, rather than having their assets downplayed. Actress Keira Knightley's chest grew significantly in a poster for the 2004 movie "King Arthur," while actress Emma Watson's bust appeared to be digitally enhanced for the IMAX 3D poster for "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix."

In my experience, you can have the best diet in the world, have the best exercise program and be free from emotional stress, but if you aren't sleeping well, for whatever reason, it is virtually impossible to be healthy.

But how much sleep do you need for optimal health?

In this interview, Dr. Rubin Naimani -- a clinical psychologist, author, teacher, and the leader in integrative medicine approaches to sleep and dreams—sheds light on this question.

Dr. Naiman earned his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at Alliant University in San Diego.

During the 1990's, he served as the sleep and dream specialist at Canyon Ranch Health Resort in Tucson for 10 years, where he created the first formal sleep laboratory outside of a hospital setting.

Dr. Andrew Weil was also on the staff at that time. Later, he served as director of sleep programs for Miraval Resort. In previous interview, we discussed what sleep actually is, the spiritual dimensions of sleep, the primary causes of insomnia, and why sleeping pills are not the answer. Here, Dr. Naiman delves into several of the most frequently asked questions about sleep, starting with:

How Much Sleep Do You Need?

Over the years, I've come to a conclusion that there is no perfect answer to this question because like everything else, the answer depends on a large number of highly individual factors. The general consensus seems to be that most people need somewhere between six and eight hours of sleep each night.

There's compelling research indicating that sleeping less than six hours may increase your insulin resistance and risk of diabetes. And recent studies show that less than five hours of sleep at night can double your risk of being diagnosed with angina, coronary heart disease, heart attack or stroke. Interestingly enough, the same appears to be true when you sleep more than nine hours per night.

The question of the ideal amount of sleep is a topic Dr. Naiman has addressed on numerous occasions throughout his career as a sleep expert, and he agrees; people want a number, but this 'number' must be as individual as the person asking for it.

"I think asking 'how many of hours of sleep should I get?' is like asking, 'Doctor, how many calories should I eat?'" he says. "Of course the answer to that depends on who that person is. It's so individual. It also depends on the quality of those calories. Again, a lot of people are knocking themselves out night after night after night with sleeping pills. They may be getting seven to eight hours, but is it sleep? It looks like sleep. It might feel like sleep, but you know what, it's not really sleep. That's part of the question too—the quality of it."

Insufficient Sleep Puts Your Health at Risk

Dr. Naiman is familiar with the studies showing increased health risks when you sleep more or less than a certain amount, but is still cautious about taking these findings as the final word on the matter.

"There is really interesting data," he says. "I think the data is very strong showing that if you don't sleep enough, you're in trouble."

Google had initially planned to launch an iPad competitor in May, but the release of that device has been delayed till at least July to give it a competitive price. Said to be priced at around $200 (down from the original $250), this device is almost a steal

when compare
There were always strong rumors about Google releasing its tablet in the first half of this year. Currently, Google plans to seek approval from Chinese authorities to go ahead and use Motorola facilities to manufacture hardware products that it will release in future.d to the reduced-price iPad versions. As Google already offers phones co-
stared by Samsung, moving into the tablet market will not be a random move as it partners with Asus.

Techie-buzz has already broken the news that the tablet will be available through the Google online tablet stores. Google has recently rebranded their market place as Google Play, which collates its app stores, ebook stores, and so on. As its ecosystem is setting up, hopefully, this product will not be a fiasco like the Google phone (though there are claims that it was a pilot test for Google anyway). It remains to be seen if that product was just a dry run for mass deployment of future Google hardware products.

Some features that are rumored to be part of the Google tablet are:

7-inch display
Wifi
Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich
Nvidia Tegra 3 quad-core processor (or dual-core processor)

The question on my mind is on which features Google will compromise on save costs; the hardware quality, the processor?

This device would also be a strong competitor for the Kindle Fire. It seems to target the market segment where volume sales are a higher priority than quality features (as is the iPad’s focus). It is already hard enough for other devices like the Kindle Fire to even come close to matching the iPads popularity primarily because of its lack of hardware features like the camera, in addition to the relatively smaller repository of Apps. It remains to be seen what the “Google Pad” will bring to the market.

Are women starting to "marry down?" A new study says brides-to-be are less concerned with the economic status of their mate than they used to be. The Institute for Public Policy Research found that women born in 1958, 1970 and between 1976 and 1981 posted small increases in the number who married men who earn less than they do and vice versa, partly driven by women's advances in the professional world. In other words, the fairy tale "Royal Wedding," epitomizing the old school, could soon be a thing of the past, while Princess Anne's daughter Zara Phillipps' marriage to rugby union star Mike Tindall could be the new trend.

I read an article in the New York Times last week about a convoy of people in the States who are eschewing Smartphones. It was written by journalist Teddy Wayne. And yes, instead of iPhones or Blackberries or watchamacallits, Wayne reports that many folks he's talked to recently have bought old-fashioned cell phones that do two simple things: make calls and receive them. And boy, are these people happy about it.

For a long time the idea of an old-fashioned cell phone has been sounding like a big relief to me. Because for an even longer time I've been feeling way too tied to an endless stream of pretty unimportant emails that appear on my Smartphone. I read these emails while I'm walking the dog. I read them while the pasta is boiling. I read them while my kids do their homework.

Why do I read them? I can't really answer that. Because none of these emails is ever that urgent. I mean sure, there are work-related book emails that come in and teaching emails that need answering, but I can get to those in due time when I'm at a desk and I've put aside the time to actually answer emails.

The sneaky thing that my Smartphones does is make me feel like every hour of every day is the absolutely most perfect time in the world to get my email. Except it's not. It's really time to make the red sauce. Or time to read Aidan a chapter from the Percy Jackson Series. Or time to throw a stick to the puppy.

So for months I've been feeling stuck -- I've got this snazzy Smartphone, and I should probably use it. And I've also been feeling a little worried -- what is this phone doing to my brain anyway? Why do I have this email compulsion?

Then I landed on the part in Wayne's piece about how Smartphones create a false need to constantly check our online life. Wayne cites a writer named Nicholas Carr, who wrote a book called "The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains." Carr says Smartphones are making us better at multi-tasking but hurting our ability to sustain focus. Yikes.

And I'd been feeling scattered. I'd been feeling like all my thoughts were light. This could just be me. I can sadly be very light. So maybe it's not the Smartphone's fault, but Carr says that because of these phones, all of us "stop having opportunities to be alone with our thoughts, something that used to come naturally." Double yikes.

Nicki's at it again with a hot new video for "Beez in the Trap" and a performance in Times Square.

The video is not complicated: 2 Chainz and Nicki dance and stand around rapping their verses while scenes from a club are spliced in to add some visual texture to the song. Though the lyrics of the track contain plenty of boasting on Minaj's part, she seems to be moving more and more away from the tough girl vibe she cultivated on tracks like Kanye West's "Monster" and instead playing up her curvy sex appeal to great effect.

In that vein, the video is not unlike the visuals for Big Sean's "Dance A$$" remix. Minaj's provocative dancing in that video set the hip hop blog world ablaze, as many were surprised that as high profile an artist as Minaj would take the role normally relegated to models in hip hop videos.

The lyrics for "Beez in the Trap" made it into HuffPost's list of the 19 most laughable lines on the album, as "N----s move weight but still live in Hoboken" is one of the most unexpected insults of all time. "Trap" is a slang term for a crackhouse, and by saying that she "beez" (is in) the drug den, Minaj means to say that her music is so addicted that it's like crack cocaine to those who listen to it. Serious stuff!

Perhaps the most interesting part of the video is that rapper Birdman makes an appearance and doesn't rub his hands together.

Putting out a racy video wasn't the only way Nicki turned heads this week. She also performed in Times Square as the secret performer for Nokia's Lumia 900 launch event. A video of the performance -- during which she premiered a new downtempo remix of "Starships" -- was posted on the phone company's Facebook page.

"Beez in the Trap" is a single off Minaj's album, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded which is out now in stores.

Sofia Vergara made her SNL debut this week with a hilarious open monologue and a cleavage-friendly outfit.

The 'Modern Family' star talked immigrating to America from Colombia and how "everyone was so nice ... this country welcomed me with open arms and pulled-down pants."

She also discussed her trademark accent.

"This accent can make anything sound sexy," she said.

We can't argue with that.

When Pakistan’s leaders visit India to try to bolster fragile relations between the two countries, both sides can always count on cricket and the famous shrine of Ajmer Sharif to provide the perfect cover for informal talks.

President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan visited the Ajmer Sharif shrine on Sunday afternoon, after having a conversation and a delegation-level lunch with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India in New Delhi.

Ajmer Sharif is a famous shrine to the Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti, situated in the middle of Ajmer, Rajasthan, 420 kilometers, or 260 miles, southwest of New Delhi. The saint established an order of Sufism known for its generosity and tolerance, and the shrine is considered one of the world’s most revered places for Muslims. At least 10,000 people visit the shrine every day. Visitors include Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs who come to get their wishes fulfilled.

Several leaders of Pakistan have visited Ajmer Sharif in the past. In 1987, General Zia-ul-Haq, then the president of Pakistan, visited Jaipur to watch a cricket match, followed by a visit to Ajmer Sharif. At the time relations between India and Pakistan were passing through a particularly rough phase. He wrote in the visitor’s book, “O Allah, Please accept the services of this servant.”

Benazir Bhutto, the assassinated former prime minister of Pakistan and wife of Mr. Zardari, visited Ajmer Sharif four times but never as a prime minister. During her first visit in 1991 she wrote in the visitor’s book, “I pray for peace, for well being of humanity, for tolerance and understanding.” A decade later she visited again and wrote, “I feel the spirituality of Darbar. I feel a sense of happiness and joy and an uplifting experience.”

On her third visit, in 2003, she wrote, “I feel great support coming to Ajmer Sharif and offering prayers.” She again visited in 2005 and wrote, “I come for thanks giving as relations between India and Pakistan improve and my husband Asif Ali Zardari is freed from the captivity of tyrants.”

In 2005. the then-president of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf, visited Ajmer Sharif and wrote in the visitor’s book, “I consider it my honor as also of my entire delegation to have prayed of the Shrine of Sufi Saint Hazrat Moinuddin Chishty. Our prayers for peace, harmony and amity between Pakistan and India and prosperity of both the countries be answered.”

In 2007, Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali of Pakistan visited the shrine and wrote in visitor’s book, “Allah has been very kind to bring me here. Insha Allah will pray to come back here.”

After the Mumbai attacks in 2008, in which at least 163 people were killed by Pakistani terrorists, official talks between India and Pakistan were suspended. Cricket diplomacy came in handy here. Prime Minister Yosuf Raza Gilani of Pakistan visited India in 2011 to watch the India-Pakistan World Cup cricket semifinal match in Mohali. Bilateral relations were resumed again soon after.

A city-federal task force has been set up to find the attacker or attackers who shot three people dead and wounded two in a string of early-morning attacks in north Tulsa, police in Oklahoma said Saturday.

Three men and one woman were shot within a mile of each other in north Tulsa at around 1 a.m. on Friday morning, police said. The body of a fifth victim, a man, was discovered outside a nearby funeral home in the predominantly black part of the city after 8 a.m. on Friday. Police said he was likely shot at about the same time as the others.

All the victims were black, prompting the Rev. Warren Blakney Sr., NAACP Tulsa president, to say that someone appeared to be "targeting black people to shoot.”
"I’m on edge for my people," Blakney said, according to the Tulsa World.


At a Saturday afternoon press conference, Tulsa Police Chief Chuck Jordan said it was too early to know whether the shootings were racially motivated.

"The whole race issue, the hate crime issue, there's a very logical theory that would say that's what it could be, but I'm a police officer, I've got to go by the evidence," Jordan said, adding that no racial slurs had been used by the gunman, Reuters reported.

Jordan had a message for the shooter: "We're coming after you."

Officer Jason Willingham said police were searching for a white man driving a white pickup, which was spotted in the area of three of the shootings. At least two dozen officers are investigating the case, along with the FBI and U.S. Marshals Service, Willingham said.

"We don't have one definitive way where this investigation is headed," Willingham said. "Right now, that's the only thing we have to go on."

The local chapter of the NAACP and other black leaders held an emergency meeting Friday evening at a church to appeal for calm and discuss safety.

When asked if people in the community felt that the shooter was targeting black people, Tulsa City Councilor Jack Henderson replied, "Yes, absolutely," krmg.com reported.

Henderson said people should not let "some crazy, deranged person mess up their weekend," but he added that the community "needs to watch their backs" until the shooter is caught, according to the Tulsa World.

"We have to handle this because there are a number of African-American males who are not going to allow this to happen in their neighborhood," said Blakney, according to The Associated Press. "We're trying to quell the feeling of `let's get someone' and we will make as certain as we can that this isn't pushed under the rug."

The New York Times is reporting that "the person was fired on Thursday, according to two people with direct knowledge of the disciplinary action who declined to be identified discussing internal company matters."

The dismissal of the Miami-based producer, whose name has not been publicized, followed an internal investigation by NBC, which led to the network apologizing earlier this week for having aired the deceptive audio.

This photo combo shows George Zimmerman. At left is a 2005 booking photo provided by …

The recording aired on NBC's "Today" show on March 27, when the audio viewers heard suggested that Zimmerman volunteered to police, without provocation, that Martin was black: "This guy looks like he's up to no good. He looks black."

But the tape had been edited, and the portion where the 911 dispatcher specifically asks Zimmerman if the person in question was "black, white or Hispanic," was deleted.

The conversation that actually occurred between the dispatcher and Zimmerman is as follows:

"This guy looks like he's up to no good. Or he's on drugs or something. It's raining and he's just walking around, looking about." Then the dispatcher asked, "O.K., and this guy — is he white, black or Hispanic?" To which Zimmerman replied, "He looks black."

After that phone call on the night of Feb. 26, Zimmerman fatally shot Martin. The 17-year-old Martin was unarmed, and Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer in Sanford, Fla., told police he fired in self-defense after Martin attacked him.

[Related: Did Zimmerman say 'punks' or racial slur in 911 recording? ]

Since then, it has been debated if Zimmerman was racially profiling the teenager, a notion the edited version of the tape reinforces.

The Times reports that NewsBusters, a conservative media monitoring group, first reported NBC's discrepancy on March 30. The following day, NBC told The Washington Post that it would investigate. On Tuesday, NBC said in a statement that its investigation turned up "an error made in the production process that we deeply regret." The network promised that "necessary steps" would be taken "to prevent this from happening in the future" and NBC apologized to viewers.

No steps were specified, but the New York Times reports that the next day "a Miami-based producer who had worked at NBC for several years" was fired, and "people with direct knowledge of the firing characterized the misleading edit as a mistake, not a purposeful act."

Although dog training has become more of a science than a craft in recent years, some persistent myths still mislead us when reading canine behavior. Don't let a myth harm your relationship with your pooch. Here, we dispel 14 common myths and look at the facts.
1. An old dog can't learn new tricks.

False. Old dogs not only learn new tricks but they thrive when trained. My late Pomeranian, Mr. Teddy, who was adopted at an estimated 10 to 13 years of age, was a training superstar in Vetstreet videos, which were filmed two weeks before he passed away. By the same token, older dogs without housetraining experience as puppies can successfully be housetrained. As long as a dog is mentally and physically capable of learning to perform a behavior and is properly motivated, it's entirely possible to train her. While intense agility training for Teddy was not realistic, teaching basic commands was.
2. A dog shouldn't sleep with you or be allowed on furniture, or she'll think she's the boss and will misbehave.

False. Just like humans, dogs simply want a comfortable place to lie down. If comfort can be combined with being next to their beloved human, whether it's right next to you on the couch, or even on top of your lap, then they're all for it. In rare cases, dogs will guard their sleeping and resting areas, and will show aggression when humans approach these sacred areas. This type of behavior will require remedial training. But for the average Rover, sleeping in bed or resting on the couch has no adverse behavioral effects.

See Also: People Who Let Their Pets Take Over Their Beds
3. When your dog has a potty accident, it's important to rub her nose in it to let her know what she did.

False. When you rub a dog's nose in her own mess, she often sees no association between that and her having had a potty accident. Nor does rubbing her nose in her accident teach her not to potty on the floor again. Instead, rubbing her nose in her accident teaches her that humans are dangerous and unpredictable, and she will likely begin to hide in safety by sneaking into another room to go to the bathroom, making housebreaking even more difficult.
4. A dog who cowers from people was likely abused in the past.

False. There are various reasons for dogs cowering, and not all of them are because a dog was abused. Commonly, the dog was not properly socialized or had negative experiences during her prime socialization period as a puppy. Genetics also play a role in the fearful dog. Other reasons for a dog to duck away might be that she has learned to dodge people who try to grab her collar, or she is uncomfortable with petting, such as having her ears handled. Unfortunately, well-meaning strangers often approach dogs by bending over the top of their heads and reaching down to pet, which will send timid dogs into a cowering position. A better way to approach is by getting into a kneeling position, with your body turned toward the side, and then inviting the dog to approach you. If you practice this method, it will be less likely to cause a canine to cower. read more

Looks like Amanda Bynes is the latest former child star to fall from grace. The 26-year-old actress who once headlined Nickelodeon's "The Amanda Show" and co-starred with Jennie Garth on sitcom "What I Like About You" has been arrested for suspicion of driving under the influence in West Hollywood, California. The sheriff's department there says it was about 3 a.m. Friday when an L.A. County Sheriff's deputy "was stopped at the intersection of Robertson Boulevard and Santa Monica Boulevard preparing to turn right onto Santa Monica Boulevard when a black BMW driven by actress Amanda Bynes attempted to pass the right of the radio car, colliding with the right rear quarter panel of the radio car." Although officials report there was only "minor paint transfer to both vehicles," the damage was done: Bynes was taken to jail and released on $5,000 bail mid-morning.

This isn't the first time Bynes has had a brush with the law. Gossip Cop, which first reported the arrest, noted that just last month Bynes was pulled over by talking on her cell phone without using a hands-free device while driving, then sped away from the police officer. TMZ is reporting that its cameras caught Bynes as she "appeared to be extremely intoxicated" while getting behind the wheel as she left Hollywood hot spot Greystone Manor on St. Patrick's Day.