Mom wants attention on troops rather than T-shirts

Tag: Advertising T Shirt
Margy Bons had some "issues" with me and with a guy I wrote about who sells T-shirts reading "Bush Lied, They Died" set into a block of print listing the names of each member of the military killed in Iraq.The thing is, Margy didn't want the guy to get any more free publicity, which would preclude me from mentioning his name or business address in this column.Journalistically, going along with such an arrangement would be completely inappropriate. I agreed immediately. In part because Margy is president of Arizona's Operation Homefront chapter and spends much of her time raising awareness, money and donations for the families of military personnel.And also because she is the mother of Marine Sgt. Michael Marzano, who was killed in Iraq in May 2005. His name is on the shirt."I worked pretty hard to get the law passed in Arizona that said you couldn't put a name on a T-shirt unless it was authorized by the family," Margy said. "That was the important word: Authorized. We weren't trying to prevent free speech, but only to prevent someone from using names without a family's permission."A federal judge has kept that law from going into effect, saying that it would prohibit the T-shirt guy's protected political speech.I told Margy that I didn't particularly agree with the T-shirt guy. What he's doing isn't nice. But I agree with the judge. The thing that sets the United States apart from everyplace else is our willingness to protect an individual's right to say stuff that we find offensive. In other words, we're better than censorship.Of course, that attitude is all well and good for a newspaper writer. But Margy knows her son. She knows what he believed in. And she knows that he wouldn't want to be associated with a T-shirt like that."I have to fight for my son's beliefs," she said.At the same time, the T-shirt guy has admitted that media attention drives up sales. He told me that he has twice considered closing out the "Bush Lied, They Died" line, only to have it revived by publicity. Not long ago, a new class-action lawsuit was filed against him, giving the T-shirt guy even more free advertising and no doubt generating more sales."That's why I haven't pushed this thing," Margy said. "Besides, I have more important battles to fight. Like making sure that the families of our troops have what they need."That isn't an easy job during these days of an all-volunteer army, which allows those without a loved-one in the service to avoid thinking about the war or those who fight it. Or about the families left behind by our soldiers."I'm not going to let that happen," Margy said. "People have told me that when Michael (her son) walked out of his uniform, I walked into it. I may not be able to carry a gun, but can wield a pen and a telephone and whatever else I have to use in order to help the families of soldiers."She can't do it alone, however. The phone number for Operation Homefront's Arizona chapter is 623-465-4618. It might be something to keep in mind as we approach what is a very tough weekend for women like Margy."When my son volunteered I somehow knew it would be a one-way deployment," she said. "I would stand at the mirror and rehearse what I would say when the Marines came knocking on my door. Then they knocked and I tried to convince them that they were wrong, that Michael had promised me that he would come back. But he wasn't coming back, and I had to figure out a reason to get up every morning. And I have. Still, I will never forget that day."

Trendy young guys pull from the past to create posh looks

Tag: Woven Tie
Dress like Dad in golf shirt and khakis? Not likely, if you're a trendy young guy.But borrow a few items from Granddad's closet -- an ascot, vest or pocket square? Now you're talking.For trendy young guys -- TYGs -- everything old is new again, says Scott Apgar, director of merchandising for Tandy Brands, a company that supplies private-label menswear to stores ranging from Wal-Mart to Nordstrom.This spring, TYGs are swapping their T-shirts, sweats and baseball caps for dress shirts, blazers and derbys. They also are discovering ties -- preferably narrow and patterned with stripes, plaids or neat geometrics. They may even add a tie bar, scrounged from Granddad's dresser drawer or the local vintage shop.And if not a tie, then the season's hottest accessory, a "summer scarf" -- a light, loosely-woven scarf, long or square, that is draped casually around the neck or tucked inside a shirt collar, ascot-style.TYGs never knot their ties tightly at the throat, however. Nor do they fasten the top button of their dress shirts. They probably don't iron their shirts either."They're taking the tailored look and making it more comfortable. They're doing a mix of tailored and sportswear," says Apgar.Naturally, the sportswear includes jeans -- either designer bluejeans or this spring's stylin' white jeans. Khaki cargo shorts and Madras-plaid Bermuda shorts are other top choices.But shorts with a dress shirt, tie and suit jacket? Sure thing. If Justin Timberlake can do it, or American Idol's Ryan Seacrest, or the cool dudes on The CW's hot Gossip Girl -- why not all TYGs?As for footwear, a lot of guys are sticking with sneakers or flip-flops. But the truly trendy favor the preppier look of boat shoes, fisherman's sandals or driving mocs.And here's a tip for all of you not-so-trendy guys: If you don't have the fashion savvy to pair your sport coat with Bermuda shorts, or can't quite picture how to team a dress shirt with a casual vest and summer scarf, take a trip to the mall and check out the displays in trendy stores. Notice how elements are combined and how they're styled -- with sleeves rolled, collars popped and jeans hems turned up once.Or pick up a celebrity-focused magazine such as InStyle and study the outfits of trendsetters such as Jeremy Piven, David Beckham, Jake Gyllenhaal, Johnny Depp and Hayden Christensen.Or take a few pointers from the two Orlando TYGs featured here.Jean Patteson can be reached at jpatteson@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5158.- Pocket squares.Tuck one casually into the breast pocket of a blazer, sport coat or suit jacket. Never match the pattern exactly to your tie or ascot. Instead, choose complementary or contrasting colors and designs. Never fold a pocket square into stiff points.- Driving mocs.As comfortable as regular moccasins, but the distinctive ridged or pebbled tread and wraparound heel flap make driving mocs so much cooler. Available in leather, suede or trendy patent leather. Or try boat shoes or leather sandals.- Derby hat.In cloth or straw, a derby with its narrow, rolled brim gives street cred to even a preppy outfit. A driving cap adds the air of a country gent, while a wide-brim Panama hat evokes the dash and romance of the tropics.

Two-year boost for Downs children

Tag: Top Wear A THIRD of children with Downs syndrome with special glasses to help them focus may only need to wear them for two years.New research by Cardiff School of Optometry and Vision Sciences Downs Syndrome Research Unit has found that children may only need to wear bifocals for two years before returning to ordinary glasses.Children with Downs syndrome are more likely than ordinary children to have eye and vision problems.While only 5% to 8% of primary school-aged children need spectacles, about 60% of children with Downs syndrome need them. Common defects include squints (eye-turn), poor focusing and reduced detail vision.Dr Maggie Woodhouse, who is leading the bifocal study funded by the Health Foundation, said: “Our study provides further evidence in support of more widespread use of bifocal lenses for this group of young people.“We found that before bifocal wear, Downs syndrome children have a focusing problem not because they cannot focus but because they do not focus.“More specifically, the children accommodate much more accurately through their bifocals than do the control children through their ordinary lenses.“Surprisingly, the children with bifocals also accommodate more accurately when looking over the top of their bifocals through the distance part of the lens.“This suggests that the bifocals are teaching the children to use their own focusing ability. Our research gives us important information about what to look for to explain this problem.”She added: “Much of our work has already led to children with Downs syndrome being able to reach their full visual potential. This latest research emphasises the need for bifocals to be a central part of practice protocols within healthcare.”

Exports mark 22pc growth in Feb

The continued strong growth in demand for Bangladeshi garments helped boost the country's exports in February to US$1.199 billion, up 22 percent on the same month a year earlier.However despite February's export boom, the country missed the overall export target of July-February period by 4.21 percent, earning $8.02 billion during these first eight months of FY 2007-08.Knitwear, the largest export earner followed by woven garments, earned $3.47 billion during the time, marking a 16.43 percent growth over the same period of previous fiscal.It, however, missed the target of $ 3.51 billion for the period. woven garmentsearned $3.29 billion, a 5.63 percent growth over the same period of the previous fiscal, but 5.28 per cent below the export target.Frozen food, the country's second largest export earner, showed 5.73 percent growth over the same period of previous fiscal. During the period the sector earned $ 371.93 million.Agricultural products, vegetables, tobacco, ceramic products and footwear also marked considerable growth.On the other hand, handicrafts, computer services and engineering products such as bicycle and iron chain missed the export target.Despite positive growth during the last three months since December 2007, export is still bearing the burnt of the negative growth in the fiscal year's first five months.The government has set the export target for FY 2007-08 at $14.5 billion against the backdrop of over $ 12 billion earning in previous fiscal.“If the garment sector fails to show high growth, it will be hard to meet the target,” said Fazlul Haque, president of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association.

Who says the cricket sweater is dead?

We had an opening batsman that was never out. Well, this was what he thought. He was, of course. He was so out most weeks that we thought his bat might be a portal in the space-time continuum, something Doctor Who might slip through, plus the odd cricket ball.He did not appreciate such theories. To his mind, umpires were myopic sociopaths intent on his ruination and in cahoots with every fast bowler in the county. His name, like the many injustices he believed to have been committed against his sporting person, has long been lost in the memory, but his style remains familiar to all. He would play forward, groping at one that was cutting away, or failing to detect the line of one that had cut back, and there would be the inevitable diversionary click, or dull thud of ball against pad, and the fielding players would rise in confident appeal and the umpire's right index finger would join them and the slow troop to the pavilion would begin.There would then be the clatter of the bat thrown to the corner of the spartan dressing room and the bitter ruminations on the ocular capability and motives of the decision-maker. It had been, without doubt, going down leg side or, if caught by the wicketkeeper, he had not got a touch.During one game in which the unmistakable sound of ball against willow could have been identified by a deaf school camping four fields away during a flypast by the Red Arrows and the Prodigy's set at Glastonbury, the catch was taken at second slip, the ball having set off at a right angle with the velocity of a Gran guided mortar bomb. “Came off my boot,” said our hero, as he sat, quietly fuming in the clubhouse. This may not be cricket as recognised by the likes of Michael Vaughan, the England captain, but it will be instantly known to the many well-intentioned amateurs whose club season is beginning at the weekend, and will continue this summer through rain, shine and days when the two alternate at 15-minute intervals and just waste everybody's time. And there are more of us than there are cricketers like Vaughan.So the idea that the death knell has been sounded for the old-fashioned baggy, woollen jumper is as ridiculous as, well, an English Ashes victory on Australian soil.“Close of play for a fashion icon” was how The Times reported the arrival of the Clima-Cool cable-knit pullover, made from a man-made fibre and designed to push sweat away from the athlete's skin. Don't believe a word of it. Like grumpy openers, overweight spinners and the rain stopping at six o'clock and the sun coming out during the drive home, the old-fashioned cricket jumper will always be with us.“The cricket sweater has been my bugbear for many a year,” said Vaughan, which is a surprise considering his recent leadership calls have included what to do with a drunken vice-captain who has nearly drowned on a pedalo after a nightclub bender in the middle of a World Cup tournament. “I am delighted to see its end.”England's new kit is similar to every item of sports equipment these days, in that its key function is to redistribute perspiration. It is a surprising there is ever a water shortage, really, with the amount of sweat that is being redirected during modern competition. You could siphon off the undershirt of the average all-rounder and irrigate a small village in Ghana, given the technology, although, to the untrained observer, any sport that requires its participants to take two meal breaks - lunch and tea - not to mention several drinks intervals, would appear to require some form of kit with the ability to redistribute Bolognese stains rather than moisture. perhaps adidas, England's supplier, could produce Clima-Cool bibs.For those that have followed an England cricket tour to Australia, the sub-continent or Caribbean, there is a serious side to this. During Ashes Tests in places like Adelaide and Brisbane, temperatures pitch-side have been known to exceed 110F; in Sri Lanka, the humidity can reach 95 per cent, although in either of these situations why anyone would still be wearing a jumper of any description, Clima-Cool or not, is perhaps a bigger question. Those that are still concerned with layers in Karachi are probably already suffering heat-stroke.As for the rest of us, keeping cool is not the problem. Not much in the way of sun block required last Saturday when standing at square leg for the school cricket trials. One of the coaches remembered an April game at Fenners, the home of Cambridge University, when it grew so cold that Ray East, the Essex spin bowler, had borrowed the overcoat of a spectator and took to wearing it while fielding in the deep. The umpire took the hint and called the players in. One would imagine that very few were bemoaning the absence of light, efficient man-made fabrics that day. Soak a woollen sweater in brandy and somebody might have sucked it.The threat to the good old cricket jumper is painted as a serious one, considering that these days the replica shirt is king, and manufacturers of sports apparel believe everybody wishes to parade in the manner of the leanest, fittest, twentysomething footballer, all six packs and perfect BMI. Before flooding the market with figure hugging Clima-Cool cricket jumpers, however, it might be an idea to study the body shape of the average third XI second-change bowler. Not too many Cristiano Ronaldo lookalikes there. Not too many athletes that will be happy about specifically defining the contours of the upper body.I remember walking down the street at a recent World Cup tournament with a senior executive of the footballwear manufacturer Umbro. His company had just supplied the England team with its most state-of-the-art kit yet. It not only took sweat away, it reinvented it as mineral water, then some of it got together and cleaned your car while you were out. And it was tight. John Richmond tight. Saturday night at Turnmills tight. Coming towards us was an England supporter. He was not a thin man. In his newly purchased shirt he looked rather like a busted sofa. My friend, crestfallen, glanced in his direction and fell silent for several seconds. “Yes,” he said, finally, “we definitely had him in mind when we designed that.”So hold fire on the last rites for the baggy cricket jumper. I have a hunch it will be with us for many years yet.

The Birthday Cake as a Milepost

SAMUEL, my 10-year-old, told me recently that one of his earliest memories was the birthday cake I made when he was 3. It was a snowman cake, for his snow-theme party. Three single layers cut into proportionate circles and frosted in stiff, white fondant icing; black gumdrop eyes and mouth; a striped scarf made by twisting together red and black shoestring licorice and a traditional carrot nose. It was quite a cake — especially for me, an advanced-beginner baker at best. So when Samuel told me he remembered it, I was proud — for the three seconds before he explained, "I remember it was scary."Well, at least he remembers it. Clearly, so do I. And I’ve found that most of the women I know, whether infrequent bakers or those who bake at the drop of a hat, mix-users or only-from-scratch types, remember the cakes they’ve baked, vividly. You know the way clothing can function in memory, outfitting important events? Well, I think cakes we’ve baked make for equally rich, if not richer, recollection. Tastes, decorations, adventures or ordeals come flooding back, coalescing around the cakes’ reasons for being — the people they were baked for and their landmark celebrations. Especially children.Not that we don’t bake cakes for adults, too. And isn’t it a lovely thing to see your father beaming like a child as his lighted cake is borne to him? But it’s a different experience setting out not merely to please but to delight a child with a cake that only you can make, one that can find you rolling up your sleeves and becoming a cake wrangler, determined to make that firehouse, caterpillar or Pokémon concoction. Why? Or, as I’ve asked myself when half the cake sticks to the pan, What could I have been thinking?There is an irresistible charm to these flight-of-fancy cakes, and fueling children’s imaginative rides in the early years is part of a parent’s job. But I think the real reason we bake far-fetched cakes is because we hear in our children’s birthday-cake requests, whether spoken or not, this: "You can do it. You’re Mom."So we bake and risk the burning, the falling and the crumbling, trying to meet our kids’ cake expectations. I’ve seen a mother struggling over caterpillar cake segments baked in bundt pans. And another fretting terribly as the gel lettering melted off the cake, making it look like one of Dalí’s surreal desert clocks.Then there’s the weird tale my friend Stina told me about a cake that is apparently a contemporary rite of passage for mothers of pre-tween girls. It’s a Barbie cake, more specifically, a Barbie-upright-in-her-bouffant-skirt cake. Using a trademarked pan, you bake the skirt, frost it (prom-pink is good) and then decorate it with edible beading, sequins or tulle. Then you’ve got to get the damsel in the dress, lowering her into the waist of the skirt-cake. But Barbie is liable to slide down past her waist, to where the cake hits her just below the bust — Maternity Barbie! Or, she might slide further, descending into the crumbling pastel volcano that is your cake, until finally, horribly, Barbie is entombed.At least now, thanks to the blogosphere, mothers have a place to commiserate and virtually share their cake triumphs and disasters. One of my favorite online sightings is a photo of a pirate treasure chest cake, spilling over with jewels, taken seconds before the birthday boy pilfered it, sending it, plundered, to the floor. The baker couldn’t bear to post the “after” shot, but she did have one of herself, cringing.I see how this royal cake-baking treatment might be perceived as another symptom of our superindulgent, competitive parenting. It shows how the ante has been upped for birthday cakes — just as for toys, camps, tutors, clothes and college. But cake baking as event or proving ground is nothing new. It’s been going on in this country since the second half of the 19th century, at least, when superior baking powders became more widely available. Cake baking reached its lofty heights with the popularization of the cake mix after World War II. Cake mixes were, and continue to be, a godsend for anyone who doesn’t want to sift flour, measure cocoa and fold in egg whites. And boxed-cake memories for birthday boys and girls are, in the end, just as sweet. Just ask my friend Alice.Alice’s mother wasn’t much of a cook, let alone a baker. She had given up her career as a chemist in the 1950s to have a family. So for Alice’s birthday, she would take her on a ceremonious trip to the supermarket where Alice would get to pick the Duncan Hines mix of her choice. Back home, they’d prepare it together. The best part was when Alice’s mother would pour some of the batter into a doll-sized pan.Those cake-baking times are at the heart of why Alice is the passionate, expert and generous baker she is today and why she bakes with Annie, her 12-year-old, every chance she gets.Ideas of mothering are an essential part of birthday cake ingredients. (More dads are baking cakes these days, but for now, birthday-cake culture still mostly revolves around mothers.) My own mother made a lot of spice cakes when I was growing up, simple rectangles with brown cinnamon frosting and raisins spelling “Happy Birthday” and our names. These were the first kind of cakes I baked for my own children. Then I set the bar higher. Maybe it was leaving New York City, moving to the suburbs and searching for the Martha within. But when my boys started toddling, their cakes also reached developmental milestones. Henry’s Pokémon cake was one of these.As with Sam’s snowman cake, here, too, I thought I’d achieved something nifty. Henry, my oldest, turning 6, was a Pokémon fanatic having a July swim party. So I came up with a swimming pool cake surrounded by Pokémon characters. I scavenged for the hard-to-find miniature critters, even soliciting other mothers for some of their kids’ stash. I made chlorine-water-colored Jell-O and a cookie diving board, then frosted and arranged the scene. Henry was appreciative. But he let me know at the time — and has ever since — that I’d put the "earth" Pokémon in the pool and the "water" Pokémon on dry land.Nowadays, my boys don’t ask a lot from me in the birthday cake department. Pretty much anything chocolate and frosted will do. Which is a little bittersweet for me, but just a little. Because the cakes I have baked live on, preserved in family lore, and in the lingering, ever-delicious memories of my children, round-faced, candlelit and filled with wishing.

Have festivals gone middle-aged?

Tag: Pig Suede There’s a problem here, what the Americans call a category error. I was going to write a piece about what music festivals this year are, uh, cool. But the thing is, if I think they’re cool, then almost by definition they are not.I’m 47 years old. The trouble with rock festivals these days is people like me, middle-aged adolescents with guts that stretch from the botulo-burger tent to the mobile lavatories. And, of course, our partners - our babes, our chicks - who dig festivals for the vibe, but would rather stay in a nice B&B than slum it in a noisome tent. Middle-aged, middle-class couples with hampers and the kids in tow, anxious to see some band we’ve all heard on that latest building-society ad. But also that section of our younger population, with gelled hair and 52 cans of lager, who will, during the set by Kaiser Chiefs, hurl cartons of piss towards the stage.Those two groups never used to go to rock festivals. The kidults would have felt it outré or beneath them, and in any case hated the music; the younger brethren (who hated the music too) would have waited around near the festival gates to kick in the heads of the unwashed, druggy hippies in their tie-dye and tassels. Now, though, everyone is on drugs, everyone likes rock music - or, at least, is unable to avoid its relentless, bland, monotonous fugue.Last year, Charles Moore, the tweed-jacketed Tory former editor of The Spectator and The Daily Telegraph attended his first rock festival, that one put on by the young princes to honour their dead mum. Charles Moore at a rock festival: this isn’t merely the crossing of the Rubicon, it’s the paving-over of the Rubicon and turning it into a nice piazza. That good old leftie word “alternative” has long since become its antonym.Back in 1970, the first Glastonbury festival kicked off with a band called Stackridge - English psychedelia infused with a rather wearing wackiness. If, back in that era, you listened to John Peel in the small hours of the morning, or tuned into late-night television, you might just catch a brief burst of Stackridge, maybe three minutes across the whole of a year. Quintessence were on the bill, too, and you wouldn’t hear their idiosyncratic blend of jazz-raga-prog fusion broadcast ever, anywhere. Liking rock music took a certain amount of vigorous effort and dedication and tended to incur the suspicion of both one’s elders and a majority of peers.It is truly remarkable how rock has moved from this covert, minority pursuit into its present state of utter ubiquity. In 1970, a rock festival would be your only chance of hearing the likes of Quintessence, unless you bought their record on spec or via the recommendation of a review in the NME.Today, even Charles Moore probably has the latest Bloc Party release, while the prime minister pretends to like Arctic Monkeys. Rock music has become a sort of tyranny; once, if you liked it, you were considered a weirdo. Now you’re considered a weirdo if you don’t.As rock has become the incessant backdrop to our daily lives, so the music festivals no longer stress the “music” part, but try to sell you an “experience” instead.Check out the websites for some of the summer festivals and you will be surprised to find no mention of the bands playing, unless you click on a different link. The Sunrise festival, near Yeovil, for example, bills itself proudly as a celebration of “ancient wisdom, contemporary innovation, creativity and community”, and announces that it has had bestowed upon it the “Shelter Award for Social Responsibility”.I had already decided, on reading this, that I would rather boil my own penis than go anywhere near Sunrise this year - even before I discovered, via a link, that the Orb were topping the bill. Or there’s the most middle-class of all middle-class festivals, Latitude, in Britain’s most middle-class and middle-aged seaside town, Southwold, with its legions of poet sand writers and bloody jugglers and well-behaved family fun - and, sort of coincidentally, Sigur Ros and Franz Ferdinand.The average age of the main performers at most of the summer’s big festivals seems to be pushing 60. A year or so back, Michael Eavis, the boss of Glastonbury, bemoaned the fact that the festivals seemed to have been taken over by the older generation - perhaps remembering that youthful first Glasto he organised, with Stackridge and Quintessence and the then unheralded Marc Bolan topping the bill.While he was musing on this unwelcome development, his daughter, Emily, picked up the phone and booked Neil Diamond as the headline act for this year’s bash. Well, that should sort it out. The kids will come flocking. Diamond was irredeemably naff even in 1970, with his lumpen, middle-of-the-road shout-along hits Sweet Caroline and the inexplicable Cracklin’ Rosie (what does he mean, exactly, by “cracklin’” - that she’s like a roast pig?)Maybe Eavis remembered something else from that first sweet and innocent Glastonbury Fayre - that he lost £1,500 on the ticket sales, no small sum in those days. So, this year, come on down those cutting-edge musicians Neil Diamond, Jay-Z and the ever-youthful, laugh-a-minute, rock’n’rollin’ Leonard Cohen.To be fair, most of the other festivals have done similarly. The headline act at this year’s Isle of Wight festival is the Police; the equivalent booking for this famous festival, back in 1968, would have been Joe Loss and His Orchestra, or maybe Ray Conniff. Actually, I would rather listen to Joe Loss than the Police. Truth be told, I’d rather listen to the police than the Police.I suppose popular music, having lost its youthful exclusivity and aura of rebellious-ness, is no longer quite so compelling for young people. Fair enough.There are still one or two festivals around this year with bills that you could consider adventurous - for example, the Hop Farm festival, in Paddock Wood, near Tonbridge, Kent, where they want to get back to the early spirit of rock gatherings and have booked as headline act the 62-year-old Neil Young.That’s why I’m going, in my tasselled suede jacket and cuban heels and 33-year-old Tonight’s the Night tour T-shirt. But then, as I said, I’m 47; what do you expect?

iLogic Sound Hat Keeps The Tunes Thumping Through The Chill

Tag: Polyester Hat
Do I realize that the cold seasons have passed and that the heat of summer is just around the corner? Do I ever, and frankly I can’t wait! It’s understood that some of you out there are fall and winter lovers. That’s cool, I’m just not down with it. The cold seasons have that unforgiving side effect of shivering which is enough to warrant disdain from this chilly blogger.Now that the steamy seasons of summer are quickly approaching, it’s time to start planning for the chill that will start moving in around September. One of the reasons I despise winter so much is the way that winter apparel is always in the way of me fulfilling my gadget duties. Wearing clunky gloves means I can’t text message properly. Wearing a hat to cover my ears means I can’t listen to my iPod without looking awkward or feeling uncomfortable. The iLogic Sound Hat allows for an ear warming and music listening synergy.The iLogic Sound Hat allows you to plug your iPod or other portable media device directly into integrated speakers inside of the hat’s surface with a standard 3.5mm headphone port connected to a 98cm wire which is easily tucked away into the hat’s inner lining. The beanie itself has a fleecy feel on its interior, despite the hat’s composition of 100% polyester.If you’re interested in grabbing the iLogic Sound Hat a few seasons early in preparation for the inevitable winter of 2008-2009, you can snatch up your own Sound Hat from I Want One Of Those for £14.99, which is about $27. A fair price for keeping your ears cozy and frostbite-free.

Traffic to be limited in central Moscow due to May 9 parade rehearsal

Tag: Military Dress
MOSCOW, May 3 (Itar-Tass) -- Traffic will be limited in central Moscow on sty on Saturday due to a rehearsal of the military parade Moscow’s Red Square on the occasion of VE-Day that is traditionally celebrated in Russia on May 9.Traffic police have asked car owners to be careful, use alternative routes and follow road signs and traffic policemen’s instructions.Over 8,000 soldiers and officers from the Moscow military garrison will be involved in the rehearsal, the press service of the Moscow Military District said.The rehearsal will include infantry and motorised units. Young drummers from military schools will be the first to enter the square. They will set the rhyme for servicemen from military academies and other higher educational institutions, and several battalions of paratroopers, mariners and Interior Troops.Army and Navy school cadets and a combined military orchestra will bring up the rear.They will be followed by about 200 pieces of military hardware, including 90 wheeled vehicles. Caterpillar vehicles will be provided with special caterpillars that do not damage the roads.The Army will provide T-90 tanks, BMP-3 personnel carriers, BTR-80 armoured fighting vehicles, self-propelled Iskander missile systems, Smerch multiple launchers, Msta self-propelled systems, and truck-mounted Buk air defence systems.The Strategic Rocket Forces will be represented by four Topol mobile ground-based launch systems.The Airborne Troops will contribute BMD-4 landing vehicles and Sprut self-propelled systems. Fighting vehicles will drive in two columns from the building of the History Museum through the square and onto Vasileyvsky Spusk Street, then turn right and go back to their base.Preparations for the parade started on March 11. The dress rehearsal is scheduled for May 5.The Air Force has one more rehearsal to hold too. The previous rehearsal on April 29 was successful. Air Force Commander Colonel-General Alexander Zelin, who supervised the rehearsal, said he was satisfied with the piloting and expected further rehearsals to be equally successful.“Air Force pilots last took part in the parade on May 9, 1995,” long-range aviation chief of staff, Major-General Anatoly Zhikharev said.“This year’s air force parade will involve all types of planes used by long-range aviation, including Tu-160 and Tu-95MS … They will demonstrate refuelling from an Il-76 tanker plane in midair,” Zhikharev said.In his words, long-range aviation planes will fly over the city escorted by fighter planes. “There will be no aerobatics over Red Square because they are is prohibited,” he said.The world’s largest military transport plane An124 Ruslan will also take part in the parade.“The An-124 Ruslan plane from the 566th Air Transport Regiment will represent transport aviation at the May 9 parade,” Air Force Assistant Commander, Cololenl Alexander Drobyshevsky said.“An-124 is the heaviest strategic military transport plane in the world that can perform complex missions and carry bulky combat hardware for big distances. In the future it will also be involved in a number of space programmes as an aerial launching pad for carrier rockets,” Drobyshevsky said.An-124 Ruslan has a takeoff mass of 405 tonnes. Its range is 4,500 kilometres, maximum speed 865 kilometres per hour, operating ceiling 9,500 metres, payload up to 150 tonnes.Drobyshevsky also said earlier that the Air Force would be represented on the ground, by mechanised units, and in the air.“On the ground, there will be two formations consisting of officers from the Gagarin Air Force Academy and the Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy,” Drobyshevsky said.Mechanised units will include four S-300 air defence systems.Besides, over 30 planes and helicopters will fly over Red Square, including Russian Knights and Swifts aerobatics groups.“Due to objective reasons, new pilots have joined the groups. Three left and three new were taken on to replace them. Two more have changed their place in the formation,” the commander of the 316th Air Force Army, Major-General Alexander Belevich said.In his words, the pilots are 70-80 percent prepared for the parade.Air Force Deputy Commander-in-Chief, Colonel-General Anatoly Nogovitsin said a Su-25 attack plane would take part in the parade as well.“Thirty-two aircraft belonging to the Air Force, including a Su-25 attack plane, will fly over Red Square during the parade,” he said.

Bare-covered mushroom poisoning prevention and treatment knowledge

Tag: Three Foldable Umbrella
Bare-mushroom-is a kind of a hallucinogenic effect neurotoxin, containing ciguatoxin nude cover mushroom in Mexico and other related species known as a “sacred mushrooms” or “hallucination mushrooms” in some of Mexico’s indigenous people used in religious ceremonies for hundreds of years. Since the 1970s the 20th century, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany and other European countries, with many young people generally eat toxic mushrooms for such entertainment. But long-term or excessive use of such substances will cause nerve poisoning, these mushrooms in the United States were classified as controlled substances. There have also been in China Eating folding umbrella with flowers and poisoning incidents.Naked covered with a mushroom-type mushroomsNaked covered with a mushroom-mushroom nude covered include an umbrella, folding umbrella is a plaque, an umbrella cone covered an umbrella and bare four genera, which is an umbrella covered bare spots and the folding umbrella of some species. Many places in China have also seen a nude cover with the mushroom-mushroom distribution, there are more than 10 types of categories, such as fecal Health spent fold umbrella, bell-shaped flower folding umbrellas, coprophilous nude covered chute.2 poisoning symptoms and MechanismClinical 2.1 poisoning symptomsBare-mushroom poisoning is covered by stimulating the autonomic nervous system and inhibit movement caused by the nervous system. Poisoning symptoms can be divided into three stages. In the first stage of oral 20 to 30 minutes, lasted 10 to 15 minutes, began to plant nerve disorder second stage is the stage of peak symptoms of neuropathy, feeling relatively strong during this period, the disintegration of a personality, a sense of reality loss of time and space sense changes, such as body weight loss. Changes include visual sensory disturbances such as bright and warm colors, especially red and green, somatosensory such as vertigo mind, and spirit of frustration with anxiety, uneasiness. There is also the slow reaction time, concentration, spontaneous without order from the more-distant memories of the experience. In the final stages of a psychotic symptoms gradually disappear, and botanical nerve interference will continue for some time. This period will be accompanied by lethargy, extreme exhaustion and spiritual decadence state. In addition, the peak period will emerge feeling migraine, hyperreflexia, convulsion, tinnitus and feel abnormal. Effect of sympathetic include tachycardia, hypertension, dilated pupils, can cause nausea, abdominal pain. The bare-mushroom-stimulate the sympathetic role, it can cause increased body temperature, blood glucose increased heartbeat accelerated, extending the time symptoms such as hallucinations return, a serious paranoia syndrome.Mechanism 2.2 poisoningBare-mushroom-toxicological mechanisms have not yet been completely clarified that it is usually the first to enter the blood circulation, to arriving at the nervous system, and activate 5 - serotonin receptor, and caused nerve exciting role.3-nude cover mushroom poisoning treatmentBare-mushroom-a major role in the autonomic nervous system, cause nerve stimulation, hallucinogens, and the emergence of serious ventricular tachycardia, dilated pupils, dysuria, but generally not life-threatening.3.1 detoxificationEating in the nude cover with the mushroom-mushroom within one hour Cuitu method can be used ipecac syrup may be the large number of mushrooms vomiting Eating out. As a gastric lavage to stir unpleasant feeling, and the integrity of the mushroom may be plugged stomach, gastric lavage is not generally used. A study showed that, it seems that we do not accelerate Cuitu resume.3.2 drug therapyFor some extreme anxiety, increased disease patients may consider taking nitrogen Zhuo benzophenone 2 (adult 0.2 to 0.5 mg / kg body weight, children 0.1 to 0.5 mg / kg body weight), and sometimes can take chlorpromazine. If the children in provocative acts out of control, they may consider intravenous injection of nitrogen Zhuo benzophenone 2 (0.25 to 0.4 mg / kg body weight), the severe, can be phenobarbital or phenytoin, but in the use of these anticholinergic Drugs, it is necessary to take note of respiratory failure and, if necessary, to use intubation or lung ventilation device.3.3 psychotherapyFor most patients, to provide them quiet and safe environment, calm conversation with the patient, persuasion, the somewhat fear. Many doctors feel that “talk” therapy is a key factor in the success of one.4 PreventionDo not feed wild mushroom,Ensure that health and safety; Mushroom restaurant business enterprises must heighten our vigilance and strict procurement so as to ensure the safety of food.Tags: abdominal, disease, ear, experience, G, Hypertension, lung, migraine, paranoia, poisoning, Pu, TinnitusRelated posts

Alex Prager The Big Valley

Cinematic and darkly playful The Big Valley is a series of highly saturated staged portraits by Los Angeles based artist, Alex Prager. For her first solo UK exhibition this entirely new work will be shown alongside photographs from her high-successful Polyester series.Prager photographs her female subjects in a style reminiscent of the great mid 20th Century film directors such as Alfred Hitchcock and Douglas Sirk. Amongst the naivety of her compositions and colour palate there is the suggestion of impending narrative. Similar to old style movie stills displayed outside cinemas, Prager's photographs offer us stories that encourage us to imagine what happens before and after, beyond the edge of the frame. Often shot from an unexpected angle and unusually lit the audience are positioned as voyeurs. Synthetic wigs, fake birds and retro costumes are meticulously planned and her models cast as players frozen in the narrative. On the surface these models appear polished and eerily near perfection, an artificial perfection racked with tension. Like Guy Bourdin, the king of photographic mise-en-scène, Prager demands more than simply a 'pretty picture'.Born in Los Angeles, Prager has received no formal education since 8th grade, spending time between Los Angeles, Florida and Lucerne, Switzerland. A self-taught photographer, Prager was originally inspired by stumbling upon a William Eggleston exhibition at the Getty Museum. Eggleston's early influence is still evident in Prager's prominent use of colour. Since taking up photography at the age of 20 her photographs have been included in 13 exhibitions including a recent solo show at Robert Berman Gallery and she has shot for numerous publications include i-D, Flaunt, Complex, Elle Japan, MOJO and Rolling Stone.

Gokak prepares to sweep domestic garment sectorGokak Textiles Limited (GTL), a l

Tag: knitted garment Gokak Textiles Limited (GTL), a leading enterprise engaged in exporting textile goods has plans to venture for launching its own readymade garments under its brand, ‘Fac it’. The company has plans of starting with innerwear for men and children and will introduce its collection by September this year.An investment of Rs160 crore has been disbursed for use in its factories at Gokak, and Marihal in Belgaum district of Karnataka. The sum was mainly assigned in parts over a period of three years to install additional capacity for meeting the requirements of its new product line.In an exclusive interview with Fibre2fashion, Mr H S Bhaskar, Managing Director and CEO of GTL stated, “For years we have been supplying fabric to European and American brands. Now, with the increase in our manufacturing capacity, we have plans to launch our own branded garments for the Indian markets. We will initially start by launching undergarments for men, which will be followed by launch of innerwear for women and also readymade trousers and shirts for men.”When asked about the anticipated response and its current undertakings, Mr Bhaskar confided saying, “During the first year, the company is aiming at a sales of Rs10 crore and Rs100 crore by 2010 and an expected growth of 10-12 percent in 2008-09. Presently, GTL manufactures knitted garments and has set up a fully integrated garment factory at Belgaum and supplies garments to most of the major brands in India like Peter England, John Players, Globus, Pantaloons and international brands like Charles Vougle, Berton, Marks and Spencer, Andrew Sports, Debanhams among others. Besides, Gokak Textiles also launched sweaters under the Campbell brand for both domestic and export markets. It is setting up a new unit at Ludhiana at an investment of Rs 18 crore. It also aims to launch polo shirts and trousers by April 2009.”One of the most recent business propositions of the company involves talks with Indian armed forces for providing special infra-red camouflage fabric for covering aircraft as well as uniform fabric for the defence personnel. France, Belgium and Spain are few of the immediate beneficiaries of these supplies made by Gokak.Mr Bhaskar also gave a nod to the information that as a part of its corporate social responsibility, Gokak Textiles would recruit personnel with impaired hearing and speech, providing them with work in its Campbell Knitwear Division.Plans are still underway to cater training to these physically challenged people for a period of one year. Infact, Gokak gave training to a few personnel last year who are presently working successfully for the company.

Texworld Worldwide Textile Rendez-vous fair from Sept 22

Tag: Infants Garment

Texworld Worldwide Textile "Rendez-vous" exhibition is scheduled to be held on 22 – 25 September 2008 at Paris Le Bourget.

Visitor target group:
Manufacturers of clothing, Fabric Manufacturers, Private Label, Textile Retailers and Wholesalers, Garment Retailers and Wholesalers, Mail-order, Large scale retailing, Chain store, Department Store, Trading Companies, Agents, Designers, Buying Offices, Sales Representatives.

Product groups:
Texworld Fabrics: Silk, Silky aspects, Wool, Cotton, Shirting, Knitted, Prints, Denim, Linen, Functional Fabrics, Embroidery / Lace, Accessories, Yarns, Fibers, Full Package. Texworld Clothing: Ladieswear, Menswear, Children and Infants’ wear, Sport and Casual Wear, Swimwear and Lingerie, Textile Fashion Accessories, Garment made from functional and eco fabrics. Design – Style – Trends, Trade Publisher, Textile Machinery, Logistics and supply chain management.

Texworld Clothing reflects the most dynamic Ready-to-Wear in the world, complementing Texworld Fabrics, the world meeting-place for Fabrics: 1 show, almost 950 exhibitors, 2 complementary themes, 4 days.

Occupational therapists help get patients back on track

Tag: Infant Socks

HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONALS ACROSS THE NATION use April to spotlight occupational therapy. Many people are unaware of what occupational therapy, as a profession, actually does, and most are misinformed on the profession because of the broad scope of practice and many contributions occupational therapist make in health care.

Occupational therapists often find themselves struggling in pursuit of increasing awareness - not only in educating family and friends but also other health care professionals, who are often misguided by the profession's title. Occupational therapists work in a variety of settings: hospitals, home health, skilled nursing facilities, schools, outpatient clinics, community settings and inpatient rehabs.

Contrary to popular belief, OT is not a therapy aiming to assist persons in finding jobs or solely focused on getting people back to work. The focus is much broader in treating plans pertaining to identifying, analyzing, interpreting and implementing a plan of recovery through compensation or adaptation in activities of daily living, which pertains to everything that makes a person independent.

An OT's job is to assess a person's routines and patterns in their individualized daily routines to address deficits affecting their normal function and independence. This often affects a person at work and play or in education and leisure activities upon facing conditions, injuries and illnesses that force people to face challenges that affect how one performs a daily task that once seemed second-nature.

To see the importance, see the job in these potential patient scenarios:

# A car wreck victim has experienced a spinal cord injury and can no longer feed herself or care for her infant child independently.

# A kindergarten student has difficulty performing his handwriting and scissor-cutting tasks because of poor fine motor control.

# A man receives a hand injury while using a skill saw on the job. The injury has caused damage to his nerves and requires splinting and hand exercises to improve hand functions to return to work and continue playing his guitar with his weekend band.

# An elderly woman recovers from hip replacement and can no longer perform the task of putting on her socks and shoes.

These are all common types of disorders that occupational therapists treat in order to assist people in regaining a more confident and independent self so they can return to a functionally independent lifestyle.

Occupational therapy was named in the U.S. News and World Report 2008 Top 31 Best Careers in addition to being named in the 2007 U.S. News and World Report Top 25 Best Careers. For more information regarding the field, visit the American Occupational Therapy Association at www.aota.org.

From Sneakers to High Heels

Tag: Heeles Shoes

It's quite common for women who spend most of their time in sneakers to have difficulty transitioning into new shoe styles, especially those with high heels.

Sneakers and high heels are totally different things. Different shoes distribute our body weight differently, and if we are so accustomed to one shoe, making a switch takes a lot of getting used to.

The good news is, sneakers are actually much better for your feet than high heels are - but there are some occasions when many of us feel that sneakers or casual shoes just won't do.

I am particularly sympathetic to this problem, as I spent my entire school career in sneakers, and still prefer them to most shoes. But I love high heels as well. I wanted to move beyond just admiring them, and actually start wearing them. Here are a few things I tried when transitioning from years of sneaker-wearing into more dressy shoes.
Finding the Right Style of Shoes
Avoid shoes with pointy toes. All high heels can be hard on your feet, but cramming your toes into shoes that are too pointy can be extremely painful. Many of the women who do this repeatedly for years end up with foot deformities. A round, open toe or square toe is a much better choice, and much easier to get used to.
How High for High Heels?
As far as heels to, start off with something lower, and definitely under 2.5 inches. Also, choose a chunky or a wedge heel - a stiletto or really pointy heel can be a killer, even for women who are used to them. Fortunately, there's plenty to choose from these days in the chunky and wedge heel styles, so you can still have a really sexy looking shoe without the increased discomfort and danger of a stiletto.
Shoe Widths are as Important as Shoe Sizes
For women who have never worn dressier shoes very often, it might feel as if they don't fit properly, and perhaps they don't. Many styles of dress shoes tend to be more narrow than athletic shoes. And, even if you've measured to find your shoe size and width, it will vary from shoe to shoe.

Next time a dress shoe speaks to you, try this: in your bare feet, or in the socks or hose you want to wear with the shoe, hold the bottom of the left shoe against the bottom of your right foot (and vice-versa) - you should be able to see the outline of the shoe around your entire foot. If you can't, it's either the wrong size or not wide enough - try a different style, width or size.

While it's always best to find a shoe that is the exact length and width we need, it's not always possible. Some people find they have to go up a half or full size to get the width they need, but then they have a shoe that is too long. If this happens to be the case for you, opt for a sling-back style with an adjustable strap to help keep your heel in place. Heel pads can also help to keep your foot from sliding in your shoes.
Additional Shoe Shopping Tips
Always, always, always try on shoes late in the day (our feet swell over the course of the day), and always stand up when trying shoes on - take a stroll around the aisles to see if they cause any pain or discomfort when walking. Shoes should feel good when you first put them on, so don't make the mistake of thinking you'll break them in - this is especially true with high heels that probably won't be worn every day.

Marlee Matlin Hangs Up Her Dancing With the Stars Shoes

Tag: Heated Shoes

LOS ANGELES -- The good news: this "Dancing with the Stars" results show had less taped filler segments. The bad news: it seemed to have more Samantha Harris interviews. Mute button, thou art my friend.

During the recap of last night, Shannon was in tears after being called out for her lack of hip action and Derek went off on the fact that other couples are hitting "horrific, demented lines" and getting 9s and 1's. The audience "oooo"ed at that because thems fighting words. Speaking of fighting, the group Country number gets the encore.

Back from the commercial break, we get a number from musical guest Ashlee Simpson performing her new single with two pairs of professional dancers. If any of you are wondering, I'm fairly certain she's singing live this time. Strangely enough, I kind of like her. I saw a YouTube clip of Ashlee playing Roxie Heart in Chicago in London and she did well plus I found that jig she did on Saturday Night Live oddly endearing.

Anyway, after that we get the Leaderboard reminder complete with more Upset Shannon who took umbrage to Carrie Ann telling her that she can't dance but is trying really hard, which isn't exactly what she said but okay. Well, after all that bawling she gets rewarded by being saved first. Marlee & Fabian, however, are not as lucky - they're in the Bottom Two.

We get our first painful reaction interview after the commercial break. Derek has big old lipstick marks on his cheeks and forehead. Uh-huh. Anyway, Shannon (mostly) & Derek apologized for being so "heated" in their post dance interview. Uh-huh. That's what the kids call "good PR." I really do like Marlee and would like to see her get another chance but I think the point deficit may be too much to overcome.

The Stars of Dance segment is back this week and featuring Riverdance, sans Michael Flatley. It was enjoyable. There's not much else I can say about it as it is what it is.

After yet another commercial break, Tom Bergeron and Samantha Harris introduce the DWTS Kids segment, only Samantha's mic isn't on initially. Somehow I doubt that was a mistake. Brandon & Brittany are 13 and have been dancing together for 3.5 years. They're dancing the Cha Cha to "Magic Carpet Ride" by Steppenwolf. They're very good, they both have great lines and Brittany deftly recovered from getting her skirt caught on her heel. Brittany is deaf in one ear so naturally Tom made a brief Marlee connection to that. It was mentioned in the taped segment and they explained that he mouths counts or gives hand cues to make sure they're on the same page.

The other couple is Austin & Liza and they're both 12. Austin chose ballroom dancing to be a rebel since everyone else at the school is a jock, but he says he gets more girls. Austin is barely 5-feet tall and Liza is about 5'2. They're dancing a Samba and when they do this double-sit maneuver at the end, they both fall over thanks to the height difference but they were very good too. This one will be hard to decide.

Ugh! After yet another uncomfortable Samantha interview, we find out the Brandon & Brittany move on in a split decision. A random aside: I think I've figured out one of the major things wrong with the house band. It's that the singers try to sound like the artists they're covering instead of just singing the song as their own but using the same structure (runs and such). Example: the standards come out great...except when they're trying to sound like Frank Sinatra.

We're now treated with a filler piece about how hard it is to judge/critique the couples. Carrie Ann says it's like they're married - she has two husbands and they're both crazy. Also, they all say there are times they feel they've over or under score someone after the show.

The next couples that are safe are Marissa & Tony and Cristian & Cheryl. I'm not surprised about either. I figure they're saving the Kristi & Mark reveal to try and breed tension. Unfortunately, instead of getting on with the results, we get another painful interview with Samantha in which she tries to get Marissa to say who she thinks is going home. Boo! She also tries to toss it back to Tom but actually, it's back to the commercials.

With 3 minutes left, let's see if we get reveals in a timely enough fashion for the booted celeb to give a proper goodbye. Kristi & Mark are safe as are Jason & Edyta. Mario & Karina are in the Bottom Two.

As I feared, Marlee & Fabian are out. Since Shannon was the closest to her points-wise and wasn't in the bottom, it was mathematically inevitable. She gave a lovely interpreter-assisted farewell and Fabian thanked her for making his first season so memorable and probably the best season he'll ever have. Tom took a moment and stepped out of his host bubble to tell her, as a friend, that he was very proud of her as a majority of the remaining contestants were teary-eyed.

And they're dancing their goodbye to "Dust in the Wind." What the hell? Awful, just awful.

Citywide Spring Cleanup Set for April 26

Tag: Gloves Set

Annual Report for LDEQ's Small MS4 LPDES General Permit No. LAR041015 (AI 94338) is the dry mouthful of a title of the most recent report the City of Slidell submitted to the state Department of Environmental Quality as one of the requirements for the city's permit to discharge treated sewage into local waterways.

Really interesting reading, right? Well, actually, much of it is if you're interested in the aggressive efforts of the city and Keep Slidell Beautiful (KSB) to crack down on litterbugs and to pick up as much as possible of what's left after the crackdown.

"The most significant achievements for this reporting year are the activities of the Keep Slidell Beautiful organization," the report says. "Their focus is on litter prevention, beautification, community improvement and waste reduction ... Partnerships with the business community, civic organizations, homeowner groups, schools and faith-based organizations are being developed through education, participation in programs, and activities to improve the physical environment and quality of life in Slidell."

Page after page of the report details the year-round activities of the quasi-public agency, its various programs, the organization's governing board created by the Slidell City Council, council passage of hide-the-dumpster and hide-the-garbage can ordinances, the hiring of inspectors to enforce the anti-littering and anti-dumping laws, and the like.

Ready to do your part? How about starting by spending a few hours Saturday, April 26, with Slidell's 2008 citywide spring cleanup from 9 a.m. to noon. A free lunch sponsored by the Krewe of Dionysus will be provided for volunteers, the number of which thus far has exceeded 250.

Volunteers will start out at 9 a.m. and fan out to their designated routes across the city in areas where litter tends to accumulate more quickly than others. Group leaders should show up at the park between 8:30 and 9 a.m. In the event of rain, the cleanup will be held Sunday, April 27, from 1 to 4 p.m.

"Come on out and show your civic pride by volunteering at this great event," KSB Executive Director Bill Mauser urged the public. "We'll provide trash bags, safety vests and gloves."

KSB still needs the help of businesses and organization(s) who would like to donate prizes for the workers. For donations, call Mauser at (985) 265-5029. The city can always use more volunteer litter-busters, too. So, if you're just now learning about the cleanup and want to pitch in, just show up at the park before the kickoff.

For more information about Keep Slidell Beautiful and its programs and projects, call Bill Mauser at (985) 265-5029 or Wanda Beelman at (985) 646-4307.