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Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade 2012

2012-11-27T05:56:00.001-05:00

Balloons at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

It wouldn't be Thanksgiving without the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade! More than three million people gathered to watch as the 86th annual procession hit the streets of New York City on Nov. 22, 2012.

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More women tuning in to porn, says French stud

2012-11-27T05:42:00.001-05:00

According to a French study, one in two women had watched porn on their own.

Who said porn was just a man's thing? A study released on Friday challenges the myth, showing that four fifths of French women have watched a porn movie before -- one in two of them without their partners.

Fully 82 percent of women questioned said they had watched an X-rated film at least once before, compared to 99 percent of men, according to the study of 579 women carried out by the IFOP polling institute in September.

Their number has jumped from 73 percent in 2006, and from as little as 23 percent in 1992 according to a major INSERM study on French sexuality carried out at the time, IFOP's Francois Kraus told AFP.

"In the space of a few years it has become an accepted thing for women to watch pornography, partly thanks to the Internet, and video-on-demand services that made porn more accessible and took away the shame factor," he said.

Sixty two percent of women said they watched porn to spice up their sex life with a partner, but fully one in two had also done so on their own.

"Women are now consuming porn by themselves," Kraus said. "That goes hand in hand with a widening of sexual behaviour, and changing attitudes towards sex toys or fellatio for instance."

"And of course it raises the issue of masturbation, one of the great taboos of female sexuality. There is a real generational break, with women in their forties and younger much more willing to admit the practice."

So what do women make of the films on offer? Women attached most importance to a natural-looking cast, a priority for 40 percent, while "realistic" sex scenes were essential for 35 percent, and for 48 percent of under 35-year-olds.

Most women felt strongly that the industry caters only to male fantasies, a view shared by 71 of women against 61 percent of men.

Likewise 72 percent felt the films on offer were "highly degrading" to women, against 50 percent of men, and 57 percent said they were too violent, compared to 41 percent of men.

Overall, women were still far less assiduous watchers than men, with only five percent of porn consumers watching frequently -- once a month or more -- against 34 percent of men.

Another 13 percent watched a few times a year, compared to 29 percent of men.

Frequent women viewers were younger, making up 17 percent of under-25s against less than five percent of the over-35s. And women with no sex experience were the most eager, making up a third of all regular viewers.

Based on a representative sample of 1,101 people aged 18 and over, the study was commissioned by Marc Dorcel, a provider of pornographic content, to mark the launch of a new porn site targeting the women's market, Dorcelle.com.

State of Florida asking women seriously personal sex questions – in exchange for $10 gift card

2012-11-27T05:39:00.001-05:00

Florida officals say the survey will help them understand women's need for and approach to family-planning services.

The state of Florida is asking thousands of young women some intimate questions their sex lives and is giving them a $10 gift card in return — but some who received the survey are offended.

The South Florida Sun Sentinel reported Sunday that the Department of Health sent surveys to 4,100 women between 18 and 24, giving participants a CVS gift card.

Officials say the survey will help them understand women's need for and approach to family-planning services.

The state spent $45,000 on the 46-question survey, which was sent out in September and October, and 782 have been returned. Participants were asked how many men they had sex with over the last year, whether a man ever poked holes in a condom to get them pregnant and how they felt emotionally the last time they had unprotected sex.

A November batch weren't mailed after it was found that some of the surveys were sent to girls under 18.

"We obviously offered an apology sent back in writing and will work to ensure that moving forward, this never happens again," state Surgeon General Dr. John Armstrong told the paper.

He added that participation is voluntary.

"If somebody sees something they don't like, they can rip it up and throw it in the garbage can," he said.

The state says the names of those surveyed will be kept private, but some who received it questioned whether that would be true and how their answers would be used.

David Brown, a Broward County political consultant, said he was given the survey by a woman who was offended when she received it.

"Some of the questions are incredibly offensive and invasive," Brown told the Sun-Sentinel. "She thought that it was an unconscionable invasion of her privacy. There wasn't enough information to tell her who really did this and where the budget was for it, whether the information was going to be kept private, and really, what are they talking about in terms of how does this information in any way help?"

The paper reported several questions from the survey:

— How did you feel emotionally when you had unprotected sex — were you trying to get pregnant, were you in the "heat of the moment and just went with the flow," or did you find the man attractive and "thought it would be nice to have a baby with him?" Did you feel "powerless"? Or was it that you "felt emotionally connected with your partner during sex"?

— How old were you when you first had sex? The last time you had sex with a man did you do anything to keep from getting pregnant? If not, why not?

— Has a sexual partner ever "told you he would have a baby with someone else if you didn't get pregnant?" "Physically forced you to have sex?" "Hurt you physically because you did not agree to get pregnant?"

— Are you depressed? Have you ever been physically abused? What's your religion? Do you smoke? How much do you weigh?

Armstrong said the survey was created using questions that have appeared in other surveys used nationally and that it was vetted by review boards at the state health department and Florida A&M University.

The state says Florida has one of the lowest rates of contraceptive use among women of child-bearing age. The results will be used to design the state's service offerings, including pamphlets and counseling. Women can receive contraceptives at the health department for a fee that's based on income.

Armstrong said that without a survey it is difficult to understand gaps and disparities in women's use of services.

"It's really important to emphasize," Armstrong said, "that we want people to be informed so that they can manage their health."

Empire State Building puts on high-tech light show

2012-11-27T05:36:00.001-05:00

The first-ever Empire State Building light show.

The Empire State Building put on a glitzy light show on Monday night - with a little help from Alicia Keys.

The 14-time Grammy winner flipped the switch on the iconic Manhattan skyscraper's new LED tower light display, a moment that was also synchronized with the playing of her tunes “Girl on Fire” and “Empire State of Mind.”

BRYAN SMITH/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Alicia Keys 'turns on' the lights.

"The Empire State Building has always been a symbol of what's possible in New York, and all the dreams that can come true in this city that never sleeps," Keys said in a statement. "I'm so excited to unveil the new tower lights that are going to illuminate the city below like never before—shining bright with inspiration. As a proud New Yorker, I'm so honored and humbled to be a little part of its history."

BRYAN SMITH/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

And Keys later tweeted a photo (below): "Watching the Empire State Building light up with GOF and Empire State of mind was BEYOND my wildest dreams!!"

Pregnant model Raffaella Fico struts down Milan Fashion Week runway

2012-09-24T05:28:00.001-04:00

The glowing 24-year-old flaunted her baby bump in a series of skimpy two-pieces for the Pin-Up Stars swimwear line.

Oh, baby!

Italian model Raffaella Fico stunned at Milan Fashion Week Saturday as she strutted down the runway while six month pregnant.

The glowing 24-year-old flaunted her baby bump in a series of skimpy two-pieces for the Pin-Up Stars swimwear line, an Italian brand helmed by designer Jerry Tommolini.

Though the mom-to-be looked at ease on the catwalk, her pregnancy has been marked by controversy.

Her ex-boyfriend, Italian footballer Mario Balotelli, publically demanded in July that she get a paternity test before he assumes "all responsibilities" for the baby.

JACOPO RAULE/GETTY IMAGES

Raffaella Fico is six months pregnant.

Balotelli blasted Fico in a press release for waiting to tell him that she was pregnant until she was four months along, according to Goal.com.

"I am very disappointed. I do not think it's normal not to know anything until the fourth month [of the pregnancy]," the 21-year-old said.

"Also, it annoys me to see that she has already sought to make money from this story by selling photos and interviews."

JACOPO RAULE/GETTY IMAGES

Though the mom-to-be looked at ease on the catwalk, her pregnancy has marked by controversy.

Fico fired back in a letter in Italy's Chi Magazine, saying she was "deeply hurt" by the footballer's accusations.

"This child I desire with all my heart and I want it because it is not a child that arrived by chance but instead it is the fruit of love between two people and you know well what I am talking about," she wrote, according to The Mirror.

The couple ended their one-year relationship in April.

Raffaella Fico and designer Jerry Tommolini smile on the runway after the Pin-Up Star Spring/Summer 2013 fashion show Saturday.

Emails reveal dire worries about Michael Jackson’s health in the days before his death

2012-09-10T01:32:00.001-04:00

AP

In this May 6, 2009 image released courtesy of Michael Jackson, pop star Michael Jackson, center, and director Kenny Ortega, left, are shown in Los Angeles during rehearsals.

Five days before Michael Jackson took his last labored breath in a darkened bedroom, the director of his ill-fated “This Is It” comeback tour was sounding the alarm — even louder than previously revealed.

Kenny Ortega sent a panicked email in the predawn hours of June 20, 2009, telling promoter Randy Phillips, the head of AEG Live, that Jackson appeared too “weak and fatigued” to rehearse the previous night, “trembling, rambling and obsessing” to the point Ortega recommended a psychological exam.

When Phillips didn’t immediately address his fears, Ortega fired off another email 11 hours later, the Daily News has learned.

“I honestly felt if I had encouraged or allowed him on stage last night he could have hurt himself,” Ortega wrote to Phillips in the confidential 1:20 p.m. missive obtained by The News.

Phillips responded within the hour, shooting down Ortega’s concerns with even more force than formerly exposed. “It is critical that neither you, me, or anyone around this show become amateur psychiatrists or physicians,” he wrote, adding that he was in touch with Jackson’s personal doctor, Conrad Murray, and had gained “immense respect” for the cardiologist who would later got to jail for involuntary manslaughter.

“(Murray) said that Michael is not only physically equipped to perform (but) that discouraging him to (perform) will hasten his decline instead of stopping it,” Phillips said.

“You cannot imagine the harm and ramifications of stopping the show now,” he wrote. “It would far outweigh ‘calling this game in the 7th inning.’ I am not just talking about AEG’s interests here, but the myriad of stuff and lawsuits swirling around MJ that I crisis manage every day and also his well-being.”

Signing off as Randy, he added: “Please stay steady. Enough alarms have sounded. It is time to put out the fire, not burn the building down.” Jackson, 50, appeared to improve significantly at followup rehearsals but died that Thursday after Murray provided a lethal dose of the surgery-strength anesthetic propofol to help the King of Pop sleep.

The trove of emails detailing dire concerns over Jackson’s health are expected to play a central role in two lawsuits set for trial next year.

One involves Jackson’s heirs suing AEG for wrongful death. The other is a battle over the $17.5 million insurance policy that Lloyds of London wants rejected due to Jackson’s alleged ailments.

A lawyer for AEG said the leaked emails were “cherry-picked” from more than 40,000 documents in an effort to “misguide” the public.

“Both Michael Jackson and his personal physician, Dr. Murray, repeatedly told all involved in the tour that Michael Jackson was healthy.

PAUL BUCK/POOL

Randy Phillips, Chief Executive of AEG Live and promotor of Michael Jackson's 'This Is It' concert tour, testifies during Dr. Conrad Murray's involuntary manslaughter trial the death of singer Michael Jackson.

And indeed the autopsy showed that was in fact the case,” lawyer Marvin Putnam told The News. “AEG could not, and did not, cancel its agreement with Mr. Jackson, a respected performing artist who insisted he was ready and willing to perform, simply because he’d been ill one night.”

Putnam said Phillips and Ortega met with Jackson after the worrisome rehearsal to express their concerns and check on his welfare.

Jackson was “calm, lucid, and appeared fully healthy and engaged,” he said, and “backed up that convincing interview by performing brilliantly at the next two rehearsals, which Mr. Phillips attended personally.”

AL SEIB/POOL

Defendant Dr. Conrad Murray in court during his involuntary manslaughter trial in downtown Los Angeles on Sept. 29, 2011.

The more than 200 pages of correspondence obtained by The News — and first reported by the Los Angeles Times — also provide a window into the strange behind-the-scenes minutiae surrounding the King of Pop’s final days.

One striking exchange shows Murray micromanaging his proposed London accommodations while Jackson — the man he was hired to attend — lost weight as he begged for dangerous drugs.

“Make sure that the mattresses are in top shape or they will have to be changed,” Murray wrote in a June 15, 2009, email about the posh residence he planned to inhabit with his three daughters and infant son.

Other leaked emails show that even though London’s O2 arena holds some 20,000 people, Jackson was only allowed 10 comp tickets per night for the sold-out run.

MATT SAYLES/AP

Actress Ashley Tisdale and director/producer Kenny Ortega arrive for the premiere of Michael Jackson's 'This Is It' on Oct. 27, 2009, in Los Angeles.

And two months before Ortega complained to Phillips that Jackson appeared “weak” and neglected by his personal staff, an AEG executive personally fired Jackson’s longtime nanny and confidant Grace Rwaramba to help the bottom line.

“AEG has been cutting down on Mr. Jackson’s expenses in anticipation of his upcoming tour. Unfortunately at this time the services you provide do not meet our needs,” AEG exec Paul Gongaware told Rwaramba April 19.

Perhaps most shocking were emails Phillips sent an AEG colleague shortly before Jackson stood at a podium in the O2 arena on March 5, 2009, and blew kisses to his screaming fans as he announced the “This Is It” deal.

AL SEIB/POOL

Paul Gongaware, concert promoter and producer of Michael Jackson’s ill-fated 'This Is It' tour, testifies in the Murray trial in Los Angeles on September 28, 2011.

“MJ is locked in his room drunk and despondent,” Phillips wrote. “Tohme and I are trying to sober him up and get him to the press conference.”

Dr. Tohme Tohme was Jackson’s manager at the time and had negotiated a $100,000 per month salary from AEG.

“Are you kidding me?” the colleague wrote back. Together, Phillips and Tohme dressed Jackson in his glittering black satin neo-military suit and sunglasses.

“I screamed at him so loud the walls are shaking,” Phillips wrote. “This is the scariest thing I have ever seen.

He is an emotionally paralyzed mess riddled with self loathing and doubt now that it is show time. He is scared to death.”

Occupy Wall Street turns 1 year old

2012-09-10T01:27:00.001-04:00

JAMES KEIVOM/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

The “99%” during their occupation of Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan last year. Occupy Wall Street will mark its first anniversary next week. The movement, which had a global impact, was extensively covered by the Daily News

The 99% is turning 1.

Manhattan activist William Dobbs remembers exactly where he was that first day, Sept. 17: standing near the Bowling Green subway station with a ragtag band of about 500 people.

Some were riveted by an economics teach-in. Others were practicing yoga. Most were preparing to march up Broadway and settle in an unremarkable plaza known as Zuccotti Park.

Dobbs, a veteran of protest movements, says there was “some buzz” about the action that had been named Occupy Wall Street, the brainchild of the anti-consumerist outfit Adbusters.

But he could not have predicted the extraordinary events to come: the two-month encampment, the massive protests and violent clashes with cops, the slogan “We are the 99%” and the speed with which it rocketed around the globe.

“I could never have predicted that it was possible to have a camp in the shadow of Wall Street,” he said.

What started as a call to action by Adbusters quickly swelled into a full-throated — some say fleeting — condemnation of corporate greed and social injustice.

It might have fizzled faster, but for the decision of one cop, Deputy Inspector Anthony Bologna, who pepper-sprayed a group of female protesters during a largely peaceful Sept. 24 rally.

KEVIN HAGEN FOR NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Activists voiced their concerns and demands on cardboard signs.

It was the first in a series of flash points that pitted demonstrators against cops, generating serious attention from mainstream media and the now-iconic images of women pinned to the ground.

KEVIN HAGEN FOR NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

OWS took to the streets in lower Manhattan.

The number of people willing to take to the streets in support of Occupy Wall Street suddenly swelled.

Just one week later, 700 demonstrators were arrested trying to cross the Brooklyn Bridge. As city officials scrambled to restore order, the heady days of the movement took hold. It dominated headlines, political debate and cocktail party chatter.

“It got the unions’ attention,” said James Jasper, a City University of New York sociology professor who is an expert on protest movements. “That’s pretty unusual in a way, because Occupy, until then, looked like a bunch of scruffy twentysomething countercultural people.”

Hundreds of copycat encampments sprang up from London to Boise, Idaho, as videos of violent clashes with police went viral. “I knew it had incredible potential because it was exactly what was needed, at exactly the right time,” said Max Berger, 26, an Occupy Wall Street organizer. “But I don’t think we knew quite how big it could become.”

Zuccotti Park, a privately owned public space controlled by Brookfield Properties, became Occupy’s home base. A comfort station doled out blankets and clothes, a canteen supplied around-the-clock hot meals, a “people’s library” was stocked with thousands of books — all of it donated from supporters around the world.

Princeton University’s Cornel West gave a rousing speech to the masses one night, and documentary filmmaker Michael Moore wowed the crowd another. “There are plenty of people who now realize they can change the world,” Dobbs said.

Some will say that little has changed since the NYPD forcefully cleared the park in the early hours of Nov. 15: the 1% still has most of the wealth, the banks and corporations OWS targeted still stand, Republicans have a shot at the White House.

Zuccotti has returned to being a place where office workers take in the sun and eat lunch. Most of those who slept and volunteered there have returned to jobs and classrooms.

DAVID HANDSCHUH/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Protesters camped out in Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan for weeks.

Still, many Occupy leaders insist lasting change takes more than 365 days. To mark the one-year anniversary of the first protest, organizers are planning a series of events around New York from Sept. 15 to 17 — dubbed S17.

It’s likely to draw thousands back to Zuccotti Park for a day of resistance, but it is not billed as a relaunch or the start of a new occupation.

Victoria Sobel, 22, who was on the OWS finance and media committees but is now minimally involved, says there’s no need for one.

“I’m personally not disappointed,” the Cooper Union art student said of the occupation’s end. “It was a concept-based movement. . . . To expect that kind of constant amassing of people wasn’t the goal.”

In fact, she says, the internal focus on Zuccotti was one of the downsides.

“There became a preoccupation with the idea of occupying public space,” she said. “People idolized our New York encampment.”

Since the city evicted protesters, many have turned their energy to “smaller, localized problems and initiatives,” Sobel said.

Ex-occupiers also take some credit for pressuring Gov. Cuomo to enact a millionaire’s tax and the prominent mention of student loan debt at the Democratic National Convention.

City Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez (D-Manhattan), who was arrested during the protests, said Occupy’s fingerprints were on the Con Ed labor battle this summer, a huge May 1 march and the Rev. Al Sharpton’s “Occupy the Corners” initiatives.

“This movement will continue having a presence in the city,” he said.

Going forward, he said, he hopes that civil rights lawsuits filed against the city will change how the police respond to future protests.

The NYPD says that 2,446 were arrested at various OWS demonstrations — which cost the city more than $17 million in overtime to police.

Some 389 cases are still pending in court, and a special unit was set up solely to handle Occupy-related issues.

OWS, which collected more than $700,000 in donations, recently put a freeze on spending so what’s left can be used for legal costs.

Deputy Mayor Howard Wolfson, who was Mayor Bloomberg’s pointman for the protests, defended the decision to clear the encampment and the NYPD’s overall handling of conflicts.

“I think we acted when the situation appeared to be heading towards a risky outcome,” he said last week.

“This was the place the whole country was watching. It was Wall Street and it was the first occupation,” he added. “I’m very comfortable in retrospect that we made the right call at the right time.”

Jasper said Occupy may owe much of its legacy to City Hall and the Police Department and the images of police corralling and pepper-spraying protesters.

“Usually, police nastiness attains its goals — it dissipates a movement,” he said. “But sometimes it backfires. That’s usually how revolutions happen.”

OWS, he said, was far from a revolution — but can be seen as a success for “refocusing attention on the huge growth in inequality in the country over the past 30 years.”

“Is that a lasting impact?” he said. “No. These things always fade.”

Another of the original organizers, Yotam Marom, said supporters and sympathizers should not be disheartened that they can’t point to a laundry list of concrete changes because “this is a long-term movement to create systematic change.”

He insists that Occupy Wall Street will have a lasting, if somewhat abstract, legacy.

“People believe that things are possible in a way they didn’t before,” Marom said. “They believe it’s possible to fight back.”

New York - Twin tornadoes touch down in Queens and Brooklyn

2012-09-10T01:21:00.001-04:00

The tornado as seen on Flatbush Ave.

Twin tornadoes tore through the city Saturday, peeling off a roof in Brooklyn like a tomato can and sending beach chairs and barbecue grills soaring in Queens.

The first funnel cloud swept through Breezy Point, Queens, about 10:58 a.m. after blasting into the Rockaway Peninsula with pounding winds of 70 mph.

JOEY MURE/AP

Funnel cloud rises over the water in Breezy Point, Queens, on Saturday.

Seven minutes later, a second, more powerful twister slammed into Canarsie, Brooklyn — shattering windows and ripping off Charlene Khan’s roof.

ANTHONY LANZILOTE FOR NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

The storm blew the roof off this building in Canarsie, Brooklyn, and scattered broken bits of of homes across the neighborhood.

“It’s the craziest thing — my whole roof is just gone,” said Khan, 43, who owns a two-story rowhouse on Avenue N. “It’s sitting in my neighbor’s driveway. . . . I just can’t believe this. It floods out here a lot, but a tornado, that’s a first for me.”

No serious injuries were reported after the back-to-back twisters.

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

The Queens funnel cloud, stretching 150 feet wide, touched down for 15 terrifying seconds.

“It sounded like a freight train,” said Matt Schafer, 18, a maintenance worker at the Breezy Point Surf Club. “We didn’t know what it was.”

It didn’t take long to figure it out. People started sprinting for cover as the tornado took shape and bore down on the shorefront enclave.

DEBBIE EGAN-CHIN/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

In Breezy Point, Queens, a witness said the tornado hurled this silver car up onto the other car and then shoved it off again.

Retiree Alice Marie, sitting in her Breezy Point living room, watched as a surfboard sailed past her window. Lifeguard Joe Kimmeth saw pool furniture bouncing like beach balls.

“All of a sudden, the wind got really, really strong,” said Joe, 16, who works at the surf club. “We saw stuff starting to blow away — like chairs and tables.”

Hail began falling and furniture started flying as the tornado came into view. “The shack started shaking and stuff, and the lights started flickering,” the teen said. “I was in shock. . . . Fifteen seconds later, it was over.”

DEBBIE EGAN-CHIN/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Tornado hits Utica Walk in Breezy Point.

KATHY WILLENS/AP

A pile of debris, including a gas barbecue and propane tank, lie in the sand in front of cabanas at the Breezy Point Surf Club.

The wind whipped the teen’s bicycle into the deep end of the pool, where it joined many of the surrounding beach chairs and tables. A metal barbecue, complete with propane tank, was hurtled into the middle of a nearby baseball field.

Patti LaBelle reaches $100,000 deal with couple who accused Grammy-winning singer of terrorizing their infant with profanity-laced tantrum

2012-09-08T02:22:00.001-04:00

Manhattan couple accused Patti LaBelle of throwing a 10-minute, profanity-laced tantrum in front of their baby in 2010. The singer reached a $100,000 settlement with the couple.

Grammy Award winner Patti LaBelle reached an out-of-court $100,000 settlement this week with a Manhattan couple who had accused her of terrorizing their 17-month-old daughter in the lobby of their tony upper West Side condo.

But now, the soul singer is considering reneging on the deal because her neighbors went public about the payment, the couple’s lawyer says. The settlement stemmed from a 10-minute, profanity-laced tantrum LaBelle, 68 threw in front of the baby in 2010 .

The child’s mother, Roseanna Monk, spilled the beans on the deal on local television, saying she planned to give the money to the Hope and Heroes Children's Cancer Fund.

Sam Davis, the lawyer for the Monks, said Friday that LaBelle’s lawyer insists the revelation breaches a confidentiality agreement.

But Davis says there was no promise of her silence.

LaBelle’s lawyer, Dorothy Weber, could not be reached for comment.

Google celebrates the 46th birthday of ‘Star Trek’ with interactive doodle

2012-09-08T02:17:00.001-04:00

The Google doodle celebrating the 46th “Star Trek” features the letters of the site’s name as characters in the iconic show.

Fascinating… Google boldly goes where no search engine has gone before.

Google is celebrating the 46th anniversary of "Star Trek" with a new doodle that's so fun it might even make a Vulcan smile.

The first episode of the landmark television series, "The Man Trap," aired on Sept. 8, 1966. The doodle appeared a day ahead of schedule to give Trekkies, or Trekkers — depending on your perspective — some extra time to obsess.

Although our neural pathways have become accustomed to Google's doodle patterns, nothing has prepared us for this.

The interactive animation tells a multi-scene storyline with the letters from the Google logo playing the crew of the starship Enterprise. Captain James T. Kirk, for instance, appears as the central "o" in Google. The animation features references to classic episodes that hardcore fans will enjoy.

Ryan Germick, a self-professed fan himself, created the doodle with a team of artists. He was "really psyched" when he got the opportunity but also a little intimidated.

"You might have heard Trekkies are pretty hardcore," he said on the official "Star Trek" site.

Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock and William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk appear in “The Man Trap,” the premiere episode of “Star Trek,” which has been turned into a Google doodle to honor the show’s 46th anniversary. The show broke new ground and remains “light years” ahead in its vision of the future.

Google, though, is a technological service that is well-suited to honor the franchise. For years the search engine has helped people navigate the internet: the true final frontier.

The influential science-fiction program still inspires Germick and fellow Google employees to innovate and think of new possibilities.

"We often talk at Google about how awesome it would be to talk to a computer and get exactly what you want and have that kind of engagement, where the computer just knows all [like in "Star Trek"], and that's what we're moving toward," Germick told Entertainment Weekly.

"Star Trek" did more than entertain future technologists. The show was light-years ahead of its time, featuring a multi-ethnic cast working together with female doctors and scientists. The show's creator, Gene Roddenberry, also introduced a Russian crewmember during the cold war — depicting a positive future of humanity at a time of international tensions.

Fans have adored "Star Trek" for 46 years for being progressive and fun.

So head over the Google.com and, as Captain Jean-Luc Picard — from "Star Trek: The Next Generation" — says, “Engage!”

Restaurant owner found guilty of setting up phony sex-site profile for diner who slammed eatery

2012-09-08T02:12:00.001-04:00

The website of Mambo, a Central and South American restaurant in Ottawa.

A Canadian restaurant owner set up a phony profile on a sex website and sent X-rated emails to get revenge on a diner who posted negative reviews, a court ruled.

Marisol Simoes, 42, who co-owns two trendy eateries in Ottawa, Ontario, used Elayna Katz's name and photos when she created the adult profile, which boasted that Katz was "a tiger in the bedroom," who liked transgender mates and group sex, Canada's QMI News reported.

Simoes used Katz's wedding photos for the profile, and also sent emails to Katz's bosses at Federation of Canadian Municipalities professing the same kinky tastes, QMI reported.

The restaurateur was found guilty of criminal libel on Thursday. She's scheduled to be sentenced on Nov 8.

Katz said she was targeted because she wrote a bad review of one of Simoes' eateries, Mambo Nuevo Latino, on the website restaurantthing.com in 2009.

Katz complained that the service at Mambo was rude and slow, and that her server brought her a pasta dish with olives when she'd asked for it without olives.

Staff at the ByWard Market neighborhood spot also tried to charge her for two dishes even though she sent the first one back, Katz said, the Ottawa Citizen reported.

Investigators noted the similarities between the language in the emails, profile, and some of Simoes’ online postings, and also tracked her using her IP address.

The profile was set up using a log-in with Simoes’ information.

At the trial, the restaurant owner argued that her husband or one of her employees may have used her computer to create the profile and send the emails.

Katz said she felt vindicated by the judge's decision.

"It's slightly ironic that the (bad press) she was trying to avoid was the one thing that came out of all of this," Katz told the Citizen.

ZOMBIE ALERT issued by Homeland Security

2012-09-08T02:07:00.001-04:00

Homeland Security issues ZOMBIE warning! Actually, it's part of a preparedness campaign for disasters.
If zombies take over, the government wants you to be prepared.

The Homeland Security Department warned citizens on Thursday that the “zombies are coming,” and urged them to be ready for a walking-dead apocalypse, The Associated Press reported.

The zombie “warning” is part of a public health campaign calling for citizens to be ready for disaster — to know to stock up on food, batteries and water, and to keep extra changes of clothes and medication on hand.

Of course, those same preparations will also come in handy in case of a hurricane, earthquake, pandemic or terrorist attack, and that’s the idea behind the campaign.

In an online seminar, emergency planners were told to use zombies to get their point across that emergency preparation — for anything — is important.

The Centers for Disease Control used the same tactic last year with its zombie apocalypse social media campaign. The agency posted a blog post with detailed recommendations of how to survive a zombie attack.

A CDC spokesperson explained at the time that the campaign was introduced to get Americans interested in its annual campaign for hurricane preparedness.

“I worry we try the same thing every year and I didn’t know how many people we were actually engaging,” Dave Daigle of the CDC told The Los Angeles Times. “Let’s face it — preparedness and public health are not exactly sexy topics.”

In a statement, the CDC later confirmed it does not know of any zombie-like virus or condition.

The initial idea came from a campaign for the “Zombie Apocalypse” created by the CDC.

New Spa pod offers water massage but without getting wet

2012-04-19T12:48:00.001-04:00

Feeling stressed? Climb into the latest spa pod, close the lid and, according to its manufacturers, enjoy 28 water jets pounding away your aches and pains, all without getting wet and remaining fully dressed.

While not for claustrophobics, Spa Shuttle, which is launching at this week’s FIBO fitness and health trade show in Germany, aims to provide the pleasures of “hydrotherapy," but while staying dry. Users can vary the degree of hardness, pulse frequency, and velocity, all while soaking in calming music and visuals from the integrated audio-video, as well as enjoying a built-in aromatherapy treatment. Spa Shuttle claims its device can not only help with body aches, but also with cellulite and weight loss.

Another space age-styled device designed for the home is the Concoon, created by German design company Wasserbetten. The Concoon's sleek design features a water bed to achieve a “floating feeling,” complete with surround sound audio and various light cycles that aim to provide therapeutic relief.

According to SpaFinder, an online spa industry news and information website, global spas are embracing these types of experiential pods that weave light, color, sound, and music together for the ultimate sensory experience. Look for the new Wolke 7 Cloud 9, a multisensory recliner created by Vienna artist sha, to show up in top spas soon.

The Slimline Pod is another personal sauna that claims to offer “the deepest organ cleanse.” A 30-45 minute session in the pod touts a host of benefits, including sweating out “toxins,” ramping up metabolism, reducing a range of ailments from depression to cellulite, and even tightening skin due to the LED lights within the pod.

Lisa Edelstein poses nude for PETA

2012-04-19T12:12:00.001-04:00

Lisa Edelstein sure does love her vegetables!

The "House" actress poses in her birthday suit atop a bed of fresh green-leaf vegetables in PETA's new pro-vegetarian print ad, below the slogan: "Eat Green to Go Green."

Shot by celebrity photographer Jack Guy, the 44-year-old beauty attributes her fit figure to a meat-free diet that spans three decades.

"Vegetarianism is a really important part of what we need to do to help the environment," Edelstein says in an interview with the animal rights organization. "The meat industry is really toxic to the environment. The cattle industry-besides the fact that there's a lot of cruel things happening-the manure is extremely toxic."

The actress also said she decided to pose in the buff to help raise awareness of the negative environmental impacts of meat production, such as water pollution and land degradation.

"I like to encourage people to be a vegetarian once a week and then maybe twice a week," Edelstein continues, "because that makes such an enormous impact for the whole world that it's really valuable for everyone. So I'm just trying to push that campaign forward-with my body, apparently."

Women Are the More Sensitive Sex

2012-02-05T12:07:00.001-05:00

It has long been known that certain pain-related conditions, likefibromyalgia, migraine and irritable bowel syndrome, are more common in women than in men. And chronic pain after childbirth is surprisingly common; the Institute of Medicine recently found that 18 percent of women who have Caesarean deliveries and 10 percent who have vaginal deliveries report still being in pain a year later.

But new research from Stanford University suggests that even when men and women have the same condition — whether it’s a back problem, arthritis or asinus infection — women appear to suffer more from the pain.

There is an epidemic of chronic pain: Last year, the Institute of Medicineestimated that it afflicts 116 million Americans, far more than previously believed. But these latest findings, believed to be the largest study ever to compare pain levels in men and women, raise new questions about whether women are shouldering a disproportionate burden of chronic pain and suggest a need for more gender-specific pain research.

The study, published Monday in The Journal of Pain, analyzes data from the electronic medical records of 11,000 patients whose pain scores were recorded as a routine part of their care. (To obtain pain scores, doctors ask patients to describe their pain on a scale from 0, for no pain, to 10, “worst pain imaginable.”)

For 21 of 22 ailments with sample sizes large enough to make a meaningful comparison, the researchers found that women reported higher levels of pain than men. For back pain, women reported a score of 6.03, men 5.53. For joint and inflammatory pain, it was women 6.00, men 4.93. Women reported significantly higher pain levels with diabetes, hypertension, ankle injuries and even sinus infections.

For several diagnoses, women’s average pain score was at least one point higher than men’s, which is considered a clinically meaningful difference. Over all, their pain levels were about 20 percent higher than men’s.

Unfortunately, the data don’t offer any clues as to why women report higher pain levels. One possibility is that men have been socialized to be more stoic, so they underreport pain. But the study’s senior author, Dr. Atul Butte, an associate professor at Stanford’s medical school, said that explanation probably did not account for the gender gap.

“While you can imagine such a bias,” he said, “across studies, across thousands of patients, it’s hard to believe men are like this. You have to think about biological causes for the difference.”

An extensive 2007 report by the International Association for the Study of Pain cited studies showing that sex hormones may play a role in pain response. In fact, some of the gender differences, particularly regardingheadache and abdominal pain, begin to diminish after women reachmenopause.

Research also suggests that men and women have different responses toanesthesia and pain drugs, reporting different levels of efficacy and side effects. That bolsters the idea that men and women experience pain differently.

One reason for the lack of information about sex differences is that many pain studies, in both animals and humans, are done only in males. One analysis found that 79 percent of the animal studies published in a pain journal over a decade included only male subjects, compared with 8 percent that used only female animals.

In addition, experiments testing pain in men and women have shown that they typically have different thresholds for various types of pain. In general, women report higher levels of pain from pressure and electrical stimulation, and less pain when the source is from heat.

Melanie Thernstrom, a patient representative on the Institute of Medicine pain committee from Vancouver, Wash., said the newest research “really highlights the need for more treatment and better treatment that is gender-specific, and the need for far more research to really understand why women’s brains process pain differently than men.”

Some researchers believe the pain experience for women may be even more complicated. Women who have given birth, for instance, may have a different threshold for “worst pain ever,” causing them to underreport certain types of pain. The bottom line, Dr. Butte said, is that far too little is known about how men and women experience pain and that more study is needed so that, ultimately, pain treatment can be customized to each patient’s needs.

“If doctors have a threshold for when they give a dose or start a medication,” he said, “you could imagine that the number they are using is too high or too low because a person may be in more pain than they are saying.

“In the end, it comes down to what the brain perceives as pain.”

Parenting Apps for ipad and iphone

2012-02-05T11:59:00.001-05:00

WebMD Baby (free on Apple) and Baby Connect ($5 on Apple and Android). Given WebMD Baby’s pedigree, it’s little surprise that the app offers a deep well of medically related information.

For Apple owners who want medical information that will see their baby through adolescence, though, a very good option awaits. The Portable Pediatrician ($10 on iTunes) is based on the popular book by the medical specialists William Sears, Martha Sears, Robert Sears, James Sears and Peter Sears.

The app is generally well designed. You can enter keywords and phrases like “canker sores” or “asthma symptoms,” and the app returns the relevant information. You can also scroll through a long list of topics that are presented alphabetically.

A Power Outlet With USB Ports Built In

2012-02-05T11:53:00.001-05:00

There are a lot of approaches to getting rid of wall-warts, those blocky power transformers that let you plug your low-voltage, battery-powered USB products into the wall to charge.

But this one is a little more elegant than most.

Newer Technology has designed a two receptacle in-wall outlet called “Power2U” that also has two USB receptacles arranged so you can use all four simultaneously.

It’s an easy do-it-yourself installation for anyone who knows how to turn off a circuit and use a screwdriver. Just remove the existing outlet from the wall, switch out the two leads, and screw it back into place.

Mobile scanner for xerox -wireless

2012-02-05T11:47:00.001-05:00

Several companies sell compact portable scanners that could almost fit inside the cardboard tube from a paper-towel roll: foot-long skinny gadgets with a slot that pulls in photos and papers and spits them out the back. The scan quality is surprisingly good, and the speed is decent (about two seconds a page). The huge drawback is that you can’t scan books, magazines or anything else that won’t slide through that slot.

If you can live with that limitation, you might consider the new, straightforwardly named Xerox Mobile Scanner ($250). It’s battery-powered, so you can scan anywhere (up to 300 scans on a charge). The scans can go directly to a flash drive you’ve plugged into the back, or onto a camera memory card, or over a USB cable to your computer.

But the Mobile Scanner’s truly useful twist is that it can be completely wireless. Not just no power cord, but no cable to your computer, either. It can fling your scanned photos or documents through the ether to almost anywhere: your iPhone or Android phone, for example. Your iPad or Android tablet. A laptop. Or even a Web site, where other people can immediately see and download the results.

I’ll wait here while you let that sink in. This means you: students, researchers, lawyers, real estate types, inspectors, genealogists, artists and business card collectors of all stripes. Now you can whip this foot-long scanner out of your bag, feed in a photo or page (from 2 by 2 inches up to 8.5 by 11.7 inches), and then marvel as it shows up on your phone, ready to forward to anyone in the world. Or onto your iPad, safely copied from the original, ready for instant retrieval. Score one for portability.

If you’re a true-blue technoholic, you might recognize certain themes of this story. You might have heard of the Eye-Fi card: a traditional SD memory card for cameras that, somehow, also contains Wi-Fi wireless circuitry. Pop this thing into any camera model, and it suddenly becomes a Wi-Fi camera, capable of transmitting your photos to your computer, phone or a photo gallery Web site like Flickr.

In creating its Mobile Scanner, Xerox didn’t bother reinventing the wireless wheel. Instead, it worked with the Eye-Fi people to develop a customized version of their magic little card. The chief enhancement: The Xerox version of the Eye-Fi card is capable of transmitting PDF documents wirelessly, not just photos. (It’s worth noting that it’s otherwise a standard Eye-Fi card. When you’re not scanning, you can pop it into your camera and transmit photos wirelessly from it.)

When you unpack the silver plastic Mobile Scanner (it comes with an attractive black carrying case), the only setup is inserting the Eye-Fi card — a 4-gigabyte model — into a slot on the back and charging up the scanner’s built-in battery, either from a wall outlet or from your computer’s USB jack.

There are only two buttons: Power and Mode, which lets you choose which kind of scan you want: a color photo, a black-and-white PDF document or a color PDF document.

Once you’ve made your selection, you feed your photo or paper into the front slot. The scanner gives you a couple of seconds to get the thing straight, and then slurps the sheet in with satisfying speed, grip and confidence.

If you’re in one of the PDF modes, the scanner gives you 10 seconds to feed it the next sheet of a multipage document. The result is a single PDF document with multiple pages. Nice.

The scans are clean, straight and sharp. You’d have a hard time telling them apart from the work of a big-footprint desktop flatbed home scanner.

Except that this time, they’re appearing on the screen of your phone, tablet or laptop — wirelessly.

In other words, Xerox has done a beautiful job of making its machine solid, simple and competent.

Putting Action Cameras Onto Wi-Fi

2012-02-05T11:38:00.001-05:00

LAS VEGAS — At the International Consumer Electronics Show, the helmet camera makers GoPro and Contour have both demonstrated products that can put all of your plummeting, hurtling and rocketing adventures on the air live through a Wi-Fi connection.

GoPro demonstrated the Wi-Fi BacPack, which snaps on the back of a $300 GoPro HD Hero2 camera to connect it to a Wi-Fi network. Once on the network, a wrist-worn remote control can toggle between and turn on and off up to 50 cameras, making it possible to watch, record or photograph different views of a live event on a remote computer. Or the Wi-Fi can connect to a phone to stream the video live to the Internet. The Wi-Fi BacPack and Wi-Fi Remote should be in stores in March. The BacPack and Remote are sold in a combo kit for $100.

Contour has joined with a Japanese company, Cerevo, which makes LiveShell, a device that connects to a $500 Contour Plus or $300 ContourGPS camera with a cable to give it live Wi-Fi streaming. As with the GoPro, when you are hang-gliding out of range of your office router, you can connect to a phone to post live video. When close to a router, LiveShell, which will list for $300 and becomes available Feb. 1, connects directly to the Web site Ustream to simplify live broadcasting. LiveShell can also link to a router by wire for a more reliable connection, although that is not a great option for extreme sports.

World's shortest man at 1 foot, 10 inches

2012-02-03T10:55:00.001-05:00

Chandra Bahadur Dangi says he is 1 foot, 10 inches tall, which would make him the shortest adult human ever recorded.

A 72-year-old man in Nepal claims to be the world's shortest man, and he may prove to be the shortest adult human in Guinness World Records' history.

Chandra Bahadur Dangi says he is 1 foot, 10 inches tall, which would make him 1.6 inches shorter than the current official record holder, Junrey Balawing of the Philippines, and one centimeter shorter than any adult human ever documented.

Guinness officials will travel to Dangi's village to verify his claim. Guinness posted video of Dangi on its YouTube channel.

The shortest adult human ever, according to Guinness, was Gul Mohammed, who was 1 foot, 10.4 inches tall. He died in 1997 at the age of 40.

"We intend to travel to Mr. Dangi's village in Nepal to officially measure him and are currently making provisions for medical professionals to assist us in the verification," a statement on the Guinness World Records website says.

Dangi has reportedly already become somewhat of a celebrity in southern Nepal, and the Guinness honor would almost certainly add to his notoriety. A previous record-holder, He Pingping of Mongolia, made a celebrated trip to New York City in 2008.

Top 10 Health Benefits of Love and Sex

2012-01-31T10:19:00.001-05:00

Love and its frequent companion, sex. People spend countless hours pursuing these two heights of human experience. But is the rush of positive emotions and the physical pleasure worth all the drama? Or are romantic pursuits, like Valentine’s Day, over-hyped?

When it comes to your health, that swooning in your stomach and aching in your loins offer an undeniable boon of benefits that are supported by reams of research. Whether you’re a hopeless romantic or a hardened cynic, whether you’re growing weary of the search to find love or are wondering where the heat in your relationship has gone, here are the top 10 health reasons to keep seeking that emotional and physical connection with another person.

#1 Less stress

You know a good roll in the hay can take your mind off your worries. Researchers have documented this link and theorize that it is due in part to the release of oxytocin, the hormone that helps us feel bonded to others and triggers feelings of comfort and relaxation. A 2007 study found that middle-aged women who reported having sex one day enjoyed a better mood and less stress on the following day. Even better, this improved mental state predicted more affectionate touching and sexual activity with a partner on the day after that — creating a self-perpetuating upward spiral of satisfaction.

And it’s not just sex that has a calming effect: A 2009 Japanese study found that subjects who were shown romantic films experienced a change in heart rate variability (which measures how quickly the heart rate recovers from a stressful event) that only comes when the parasympathetic nervous system is activated — the portion of the central nervous system that triggers the relaxation response. And in a University of Zurich study of women about to undergo a stressful event, such as a speaking engagement, those who received a neck and shoulder rub from their partner had significantly lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol and less intense stress-related spikes in heart rate.

#2 Longer life

Contrary to the messages we get that high levels of sexual activity are somehow dangerous — either through exposure to potentially life-threatening STDs or by fostering an appetite for risky behavior — there is plenty of research to promote the opposite view: More sex leads to longer life. A Welsh study that followed 918 men aged 45 to 59 for 10 years found that those who had two or more orgasms per week had 50 percent fewer instances of mortality than those who had low or no incidence of sexual activity. A similar study followed 252 people in North Carolina for 25 years; at follow-up, men who reported having frequent intercourse lived significantly longer than those who didn’t. Sorry, ladies, the researchers didn’t find the same correlation in women. However, they did find that women who reported enjoying their sexual encounters over the years lived longer than women who didn’t.

#3 More youthful appearance

Forget painful Botox appointments and expensive skin creams. If you want to look younger than your years, have more sex. In a fascinating study, a panel of judges observed 3,500 participants — a group of men and women from Europe and America — through a one-way mirror with the directive to guess the age of each subject. The people who were perceived to be seven to 12 years younger than their actual age were found to have sex an average of three times per week (as opposed to the control group, which had sex an average of twice per week).

#4 Stronger muscles for men and women
French researchers may have figured out why King Kong was so unstoppable when in pursuit of his beloved. An even mix of male and female participants in a 2009 study were shown a series of pictures that were chosen for their ability to elicit either a negative, neutral or positive state of arousal. After looking at each picture, they performed a feat of physical strength in hopes of winning a monetary reward. The subjects produced more force — and reported feeling the least amount of physical effort — after being shown photographs that were rated the most arousing.

#5 Clearer thinking

You may think that being in love overrides logic, but a 2006 Swiss study begs to differ. Women in love performed much better on a cognitive task when they were subliminally exposed to a beloved’s name. And a 2006 Columbia University study found that experiencing powerful emotions enhanced memory: Both men and women performed better on tests of long-term (in this instance, one week) memory recall after being shown emotionally arousing images.

#6 Improved heart health

Although sex may not qualify as an intense cardio workout, it does offer a demonstrable benefit to the old ticker: A study that followed Welsh men for 10 years found that those who had sex at least twice a week had half the incidences of fatal coronaries than men who had sex only once a month. A 2009 study of American men found a similar result: Those who had sex at least twice a week had a significantly lower risk of developing cardiovascular disease than men who had sex once a month or less.

Sex can also be beneficial for your blood pressure. In a 2006 Scottish study, people who had engaged in vaginal intercourse in the previous two weeks had lower blood pressure after giving a speech to an unfriendly audience than those who had not engaged in any sexual behavior, or had masturbated, or who had sexual activity that did not include intercourse.

#7 Stronger relationships

Relationship satisfaction is strengthened when both partners are sexually satisfied: In a 2008 Finnish study, researchers found that in couples aged 33 to 43, relationship satisfaction was highest in those couples who had sexual intercourse and sessions of kissing and petting as often as they hoped. In fact, a mutually satisfying sex life can even compensate for less than ideal communication in a relationship, according to 2005 study by researchers at the University of Tennessee.

#8 Pain relief

Sufferers of chronic pain, take note: Orgasm has been shown to raise the pain threshold. “We know that orgasm releases neurotransmitters into the spinal fluid that have a very strong pain-blocking effect,” says Beverly Whipple, PhD, a prominent researcher on women’s sexuality, professor emerita at Rutgers University, and the author of The G Spot and Other Discoveries About Human Sexuality. “We’ve shown in the lab that these neurotransmitters elevate pain thresholds by 80 percent. For women with chronic pain from conditions such as arthritis and whiplash, orgasm can help the pain disappear. Others have reported that it can help headaches go away.” Indeed, research has found that having an orgasm resolves migraines in nearly half of study participants. (There is also a reported phenomenon of orgasm-induced migraines, and 5 percent of study participants reported those happening.)

#9 Stronger immunity

A 2004 study interviewed students at Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and found that those who had sexual activity one to two times per week had higher levels of immunoglobulin A — a vital component of the immune system — in their saliva than students who reported having infrequent (less than once a week) sexual encounters. Interestingly, those students who claimed to be having sex more than three times a week had IgA levels similar to those who had infrequent sex, suggesting that perhaps there is such a thing as too much of a good thing.

#10 Reduced risk of some cancersA 2003 Australian study interviewed 2,000 men in their fifties and sixties. Those who claimed to have had four or more ejaculations per week (from intercourse and masturbation) during their twenties, thirties and forties had one-third the risk of developing prostate cancer of those men who had three or fewer ejaculations during the same decades. Similarly, a 2004 U.S. study that interviewed 50,000 middle-aged men found that the more ejaculations the men had each week during the course of their lives, the less likely they were to develop prostate cancer.

Leonardo DiCaprio, model Erin Heatherton fly to Mexico for romantic vacation

2012-01-30T10:58:00.001-05:00

Erin Heatherton is the latest beauty to catch Leonardo DiCaprio's eye since he dated 'Gossip Girl' star Blake Lively.

Leonardo DiCaprio didn’t appear upset by his Academy Award snub this week when he was spotted on vacation with his latest model fling.

The “J. Edgar” star is currently soaking up the sun in Mexico with Victoria’s Secret bombshell Erin Heatherton, who he’s been dating for the past month.

By the looks of it, the new couple may be taking a lengthy stay south of the border. They were pictured grabbing their bags from the back of an SUV filled to the brim with designer luggage.

Although DiCaprio, 37, appears to be going strong with his latest leggy gal pal, Heatherton may have some competition.

DiCaprio, who has dated actress Blake Lively and models Gisele Bundchen and Bar Refaeli, recently said any girlfriend of his will have a lot to live up to because he compares them to his mother, Irmelin.

"My mother is the centre of my life," the actor told the Daily Express. "To have a woman like that in your life, who is strong, who'll be honest with you about who you are … that's something I treasure. And it's something I look for in a woman."

David Tutera of 'My Fair Wedding' sued by couple for flaking on duties, running up the bill

2012-01-30T10:31:00.001-05:00

Wendylee Perez and Hector Santana are suing celebrity wedding planner David Tutera for, among other things, neglecting to provide invitations, flowers and a wedding cake.

A New York couple sued its celebrity wedding planner for saying, “I don’t” to his duties on their big day.

Reality show star David Tutera, after breaking his vows to Hector Santana and Wendylee Perez, also tripled the cost of their reception, the pair charged in a Manhattan lawsuit.

The star of “My Fair Wedding” was more party pooper than planner in November 2010 when Brooklyn-born Perez and her beloved tied the knot in the Dominican Republic, the suit charged.

“Due to the defendant’s arrogant and heartless actions, plaintiffs have been harmed personally and financially,” the now happily-married couple said in their lawsuit.

After bumping the Punta Cana wedding bill from $10,000 to more than $30,000, the toothy Tutera — whose client roster includes Elton John and Jennifer Lopez — didn’t even provide the invitations, the flowers or a DJ.

His biggest whiff on their prenuptial agreement: Tutera never delivered the wedding cake, leaving the jilted couple waiting at the altar with no dessert, the lawsuit charged.

The egotistical planner even two-timed the bride, jetting cross-country for a taping of his reality show when he was supposed to be working on the wedding, the couple claimed.

It was hardly the affair promised on Tutera’s website: “Turning every bride’s fantasy into a reality. . . . We believe every bride deserves to be treated like a celebrity.”

Tutera claimed he had to tend to a sick relative when he blew off the nervous couple shortly before their Nov. 6, 2010, wedding.

Tutera’s publicist Eda Kalkay, in an email, said the planner was “not interested in commenting at this time” on the marital discord.

But the newlyweds’ relatives expressed distress: “The wedding was not what we expected,” said the bride’s mom, Ercilla Perez. “He didn’t appear. We trusted him so much.”

“He noted the day before he was not coming,” she said. “He said someone was in the hospital but we don’t know.”

Earlier this year, a bitter legal brawl between Tutera and a Boston “Bridezilla” over her $300,000 Singapore wedding was quietly resolved.

Man, wife, son guilty in Canadian ‘honor killing’ trial

2012-01-30T10:22:00.001-05:00

Mohammad Shafia, right, Tooba Yahya, center, and their son Hamed Mohammed Shafia, left, are escorted into the Frontenac County courthouse in Kingston, Ontario, Canada on Thursday, Jan. 26.

Three members of an immigrant Afghan family were found guilty of first-degree murder on Sunday in what is thought to be Canada's first "honor killing" trial.

Mohammad Shafia, 58, and his wife Tooba Mohammad Yahya were convicted, along with their 21-year-old son Hamed, of drowning their three daughters and Shafia's first wife, according to The Associated Press.

They reportedly stashed the dead bodies in the family car, which they pushed into a canal near Kingston, Ontario to make the deaths look like an accident, jurors at the Ontario court ruled.

The bodies of sisters Zainab, 19, Sahar 17, and Geeti, 13, as well as Shafia's first wife Rona Amir Mohammad, 52, were found in the submerged car on June 30, 2009.

Wiretaps played during the trial caught Shafia on tape calling his daughters "filthy" and "whores" for "betraying" his family by dating boys and wearing revealing clothing.

Prosecutors argued that Shafia believed Mohammad backed the girls' westernized lifestyle and wanted to divorce him.

During one recording, Shafia called for the devil to defecate on his daughters' graves, the AP reported.

"It is difficult to conceive of a more despicable, more heinous crime," Ontario Superior Judge Robert Maranger said while handing down the ruling.

"The apparent reason behind these cold-blooded, shameful murders was that the four completely innocent victims offended your completely twisted concept of honor."

Shafia and his family had been living in Canada since 2007.

He married Yahya, 42, because Mohammad could not have children, but kept them both as his wives, according to the AP.

School officials, teachers and other witnesses testified during the trial that the girls were terrified of their father and feared for their lives.

The oldest, Zainab, fled to a shelter in desperation at one point, witnesses said.

Defense lawyers argued the deaths were an accident after Zainab took her sisters and Mohammad for a late-night joyride while the family was staying at a hotel during a trip to Niagara Falls.

After the trial, Mohammad Shafia, called the ruling "unjust."

"We are not criminal, we are not murderer, we didn't commit the murder," he said through a translator.

His sobbing wife Tooba, said, "I am not a murderer, and I am a mother, a mother."

Lara Stone poses topless to model brightly for ad campaign

2012-01-22T11:39:00.001-05:00

Lara Stone poses alongside male model Matthew Terry in the new Calvin Klein ad campaign.

Jeans have never looked so sexy than when Lara Stone wears them for Calvin Klein's spring/summer campaign.

The Dutch model, who is married to British comedian David Williams, shows off her sun-soaked body as she poses topless and wears nothing but the fashion brand’s brightly-colored jeans in the new risqué photo shoot.

Shot by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott on St. Barth’s Guanahani Beach, Stone seductively stretches across the rocks alongside male model Matthew Terry. The experience was something to remember for Terry, who told WWD that it was his first time in the Caribbean and only his second time outside the U.S.

In other shots, Stone covers up – but looks equally sexy – and wears a tailored white blazer and strappy high heels.

Admirers can expect to see much more of the leggy stunner – the 28-year-old recently renewed her contract with Calvin Klein and will continue to be the face of Calvin Klein Collection, ck Calvin Klein and Calvin Klein Jeans.