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Monday, March 9, 2009

Awesome photo from Smithsonian Photo Contest


Smithsonian has posted the 50 finalists from their annual photo contest. Awesome photos - I love this one.

Click here to see all 50 Finalists.. | digg story

Still Think Polar Bears Are Cute?

Male girdle? 'Mirdle' tucks tummy flab

Equmen
The Equmen Core Precision Undershirts undershirts promise "to do for guy's chests what Spanx have done for flabby female thighs."

It's for the man who has a little too much of everything — the man girdle, or "mirdle."

In a land where metrosexuals reign, a London department store is hoping to cash in on the lucrative men's underwear market Thursday by launching a throwback to the Victorian era, a gut-cinching garment that designers say will help men make it through these belt-tightening times.

The stretchy contraptions resemble normal sleeveless tank tops or long-sleeved T-shirts — only shrunk down two or three sizes in a special blend of Spandex, nylon and polyester. Control underwear will be launched later this year."It makes waists look trimmer, improves posture and helps men get into the latest slimmer fitting suits," said Gavin Jones, head of the Australian company Equmen, which launched its male shapewear line in Selfridges on Thursday. "Men are under a lot of pressure right now to perform financially, socially and romantically. Why shouldn't we have the same products that women have had for years to make us feel better?"

Europe has been at the forefront of the metrosexual revolution, illustrated by images of a svelte Daniel Craig in tight bathing trunks or a fitted tuxedo as 007, and a near hairless David Beckham in white Armani bikini briefs — larger-than-life ads that stretch out across London's double-decker buses. Even Clive Owen, the British actor known for his rugged good looks and reticent characters, is the face of Lancome's new anti-aging skin-care line.

A booming business
As male vanity has increased in the past decade, so have retail sales.

In the United Kingdom, sales of men's grooming products — moisturizers, home waxing kits, manicure kits — totaled some 840 million pounds ($1.18 billion dollars) last year, according to a report from market research firm Mintel.

Similarly, men's underwear sales are growing faster than women's. In Selfridges, sales of men's underwear were up 21 percent whereas women's underwear grew by some 10 percent last year. The UK alone totaled roughly 679 million pounds ($957 million) in men's underwear sales in 2007 — the latest statistics available — whereas the U.S. tallied about $4.9 billion in 2008, according to Mintel.

Equmen's undershirts promise "to do for guy's chests what Spanx have done for flabby female thighs."

"Brands like Spanx have been huge for women, so we thought pretty soon the same thing would happen for men," said Mithun Ramanandi, a Selfridges underwear buyer. "We saw the brand last year and it was something that didn't look like a corset — something that men could wear to look slimmer without looking silly."

Spanx, one of the leading brands of shapewear for women which exceeded $350 million in retail sales last year, is also considering a new line for men.

"We have something in the works," said Misty Elliott, a spokeswoman for the Atlanta-based company. "Men have been asking us for it and let's face it — they want to take advantage of the style tricks women have been using for years."

Department stores in the United States, such as Saks Fifth Avenue, are also offering lines of male control wear. Saks started carrying a line last year from 2(X)ist, which features briefs and slimming undershirts.

Men's control wear has been around since Victorian times in Britain, where dandies such as Lord Byron and Oscar Wilde were known for their fanciful and slightly feminine outfits. Advertisements for male girdles became popular in the 1930s but many of the products struggled to look different than women's undergarments.

Today's man girdle looks like something Marlon Brando might have worn in "A Streetcar Named Desire" — a slimmer and more coifed Brando, that is.

"An old relative of mine said there used to be men and women, now there's this gray," said Pete Bainbridge, 31, a consultant in financial services. "I suppose some people want to look good. It's not my taste."

Male options
Retailers say it's not about making men more feminine, it's about giving them more options.

Some agree, in theory.

"I suppose I would buy products I wouldn't have 10 years ago," said Adam Lazarus, 51, a business consultant.

Jones, who founded Equmen in 2007, said he got the idea by looking at specialty clothes that athletes wear.

"I thought if there is apparel that can help shave off a second of the time for swimmers or cyclists there must be something that could improve the performance of hardworking men who have kids and a mortgage to pay — a man who doesn't necessarily have time to get off the merry-go-round and make himself look and feel better."

Selfridges, which opened up a spa last year for men, has increased their underwear department by more than a third in its flagship London store. In its other UK locations, the underwear department has tripled in space to make room for specialty garments like Equmen's.

"If it's going to be called a bloody girdle or 'mirdle' then I'll take it on the cheek if it gets men to try it," says Jones. "But I think there needs to be line drawn between a man wacking on a bit of mascara and buying a product that's going to give him more confidence and keep his belly from hanging over his belt."

Equmen's precision undershirts, start at 49 pounds ($69 dollars). Other lines for warmer climates will be released soon.

Surfing: The Bliss of Shore-Pounding Waves (PHOTOSET)


Clark Little goes to great lengths to get capture these breaks from right inside the wave.

Click here for these gnarly waves | digg story


Cute hamburger cupcakes!

Cute hamburger cupcakes! by smileys sweets.
I love how these cute little hamburger cupcakes came out! Doesn't it make you want summer to come? They look like little sliders :)

Cupcakes are so wonderful and versatile, aren't they? These are vanilla cuppies with a chocolate cuppie in between, green coconut for the lettuce and frosting for the mustard and ketchup! I used a bit of fresh orange juice to brush the tops so the sesame seeds would stick!

Japanese gadget controls iPod in blink of an eye

by Miwa Suzuki The new gizmo -- called the "Mimi Switch" or "Ear Switch"

Enlarge

A wink, a smile or a raised eyebrow could soon change the music on your iPod or start up the washing machine, thanks to a new Japanese gadget. The device looks like a normal set of headphones but is fitted with a set of infrared sensors that measure tiny movements inside the ear that result from different facial expressions.

A wink, a smile or a raised eyebrow could soon change the music on your iPod or start up the washing machine, thanks to a new Japanese gadget.

The device looks like a normal set of headphones but is fitted with a set of infrared sensors that measure tiny movements inside the ear that result from different facial expressions.

The gizmo -- called the "Mimi Switch" or "Ear Switch" -- is connected to a micro-computer that can control electronic devices, essentially making it a hands-free remote control for anything.

"You will be able to turn on room lights or swing your washing machine into action with a quick twitch of your mouth," said its inventor, Kazuhiro Taniguchi of Osaka University.

"An iPod can start or stop music when the wearer sticks his tongue out, like in the famous Einstein picture. If he opens his eyes wide, the machine skips to the next tune. A wink with the right eye makes it go back.

"The machine can be programmed to run with various other facial expressions, such as a wriggle of the nose or a smile."

The Mimi Switch could also store and interpret data and get to know its user, said Taniguchi, chief researcher at Osaka University's Graduate School of Engineering Science in western Japan.

"It monitors natural movements of the face in everyday life and accumulates data," Taniguchi told AFP in an interview. "If it judges that you aren't smiling enough, it may play a cheerful song."

Some may use the device for relaxation -- perhaps by changing music hands-free while reading a book -- but Taniguchi said it could also have more serious applications to make people's lives safer and easier.

"If the system is mounted on a hearing aid for elderly people, it could tell how often they sneeze or whether they are eating regularly," he said.

"If it believes they are not well, it could send a warning message to relatives."

The device could also serve as a remote control for appliances for physically disabled people, from cameras and computers to air conditioners, or alert medical services if a person has a fit, he said.

The Ear Switch follows on from an earlier device called the Temple Switch that was small enough to fit inside a pair of eyeglasses and also read the flick of an eyelid.

"As the ear switch is put in the ears, its optical sensors are unaffected by sunlight," Taniguchi said.

He said he was planning to patent his new device in Japan and abroad, work on a wireless version, and seek corporate funding to market it for practical uses -- something he expected might take two or three years.

(c) 2009 AFP

The 75 Albums Every Man Should Own (w/PICS)

Here is an unranked, incomplete, yet highly tasteful and informative list of the records your music collection requires. How many have you listened to?

read more | digg story