As aftershocks from the devastating March 11 earthquake continue to rock Japan, doctors say they been treating large numbers of people suffering from “earthquake sickness.” Sufferers sometimes think the ground is shaking even when it isn’t. Other symptoms include dizziness and anxiety. Doctors liken the feeling of “phantom quakes” to…
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For a unique take on the world of fashion, sign up to the Guardian’s fashion email and get all the latest news delivered straight to your inbox Follow us on Twitter or befriend us on Facebook FASHION DILEMMA Is Carine Roitfeld the straightest-talking woman in fashion? Fashion Statement is a little taken aback this week. Yes, there has been plenty of your run-of-the-mill wackiness (Lady Gaga is being controlled by Alexander McQueen’s ghost , Lady Gaga is wearing Star Trek-inspired facial prosthetics and, well, insert your own bizarre royal wedding rumour here, because FS point-blank refuses to read any more stories about it), but in among the eye-rolling came a rather refreshing interview in Spiegel with Carine Roitfeld, late of French Vogue. Not only does Roitfeld reveal that – shockingly! – she wears flat shoes occasionally, but also that she thinks designer clothes can be (gasp!) hideously overpriced and that she DOESN’T CHANGE HER HANDBAG EVERY SEASON. We know! Astonishing, no? FS is also particularly taken with the quality of the interview questions. Sample: Spiegel: Does this world of vanity, in which fortunes are spent on trivial things, corrupt people? Roitfeld: The fashion industry certainly has its obscene sides. The cost of a coat can be obscene … Of course, it’s not like we’re working in a hospital; we don’t save lives every month. We just make decisions about skirt lengths, about an inch more or an inch less. That’s all. Wow. You’d never get that kind of reality check from Karl Lagerfeld, who is more inclined to equate fashion to a hybrid of brain surgery, rocket science and a major world religion. But wait! There’s more: Spiegel: Did that [the inability of fashion to save lives] ever seem pointless to you? Roitfeld: For 10 years, it was a hell of a lot of fun. But, toward the end, it unfortunately got less and less fun … The atmosphere [at shows] isn’t as electric as it once was, and they now have about as much charm as a medical conference. Next time FS goes to a fashion show, we are totally wearing scrubs (shh, pedants in the back, we know you wouldn’t actually wear scrubs to a conference – stop missing the point, spoilsports). If Roitfeld has decreed a similarity, that’s grounds for a whole new trend in our book. Bring out the pale blue pyjamas, STAT! NEWSFLASH! Fashion Statement has taken the plunge and joined Facebook. Come and like us at facebook.com/guardianfashionstatement . Or just come and point out our terrible geography (Brentwood, Brentford … what’s the difference, eh?), factual inaccuracies and spelling mistakes. Go on, you know you love a bit of pedantry. QUOTE OF THE WEEK I believe in making the best of myself … I’ve also had radiotherapy sessions to keep cellulite at bay. A 27-year-old contributor discusses her anti-ageing strategy in this month’s Marie Claire. Perhaps FS is just happily ignorant of the latest trends in cosmetic surgery, but seriously? Radiotherapy? For cellulite? At 27? Is this NORMAL? FASHIONISTA OF THE WEEK FS does love an Alexis Bledel spot. Possibly because we have an unhealthy obsession with Gilmore Girls, want to marry Luke and live in a diner; possibly because we have a little bit of a girl crush on her (does she EVER age?); and possibly because of her amazing blue eyes. Whatever the reason, she is very pretty and looks wonderful in Oscar de la Renta. Then again, she’d probably look wonderful in a bin bag – some girls get all luck. FASHION GRAVEYARD Jennifer Lopez goes to Mexico, fights snake, beats snake, becomes queen of the snakes. OUT AND ABOUT If you’ve noticed Fashion Statement walking with a slight limp (OK, hobbling like a 90-year-old) then we can now reveal all. FS has been on a fitness bootcamp at the Sofitel St James in London, run by a Technogym trainer. The tough bit? An hour in St James Park (hardly an ordeal in the sunshine, to be honest) being thoroughly put through your paces. The reward? Hanging out in the fabulous Sofitel spa afterwards, having a treatment or three. Available to hotel guests and visitors, prices start at £80, or £105 for the Luxury Bootcamp (which includes a 30-minute treatment). Did we mention the spa is gorgeous? FS is considering living there. So SPA by Sofitel, 0207 747 2204. More info on Technogym at technogym.co.uk Like knickers? Live in Norwich? Good news for you, Norwich knickerbockers. Emiliana will be holding knicker-making workshops at Makepiece. The first runs on Tuesday 26 April from 1.30-4pm. Learn to make, take home and – naturally – wear your own pair of smalls using only a domestic sewing machine and simple T-shirt style fabrics. More info at emilianaunderwear.wordpress.com This week’s prize for the sole press release not to contain reference to the royal wedding goes to takethetrain.co.uk . Planning a shopping trip, or visiting terribly fashionable friends? The site allows you to book train tickets without any ads or booking fees – and you can get a free music download while you are at it. And they have a frog mascot called Ferdinand. Please, however, refrain from making any kissing frogs/princes jokes, thank you. We are a royalty-free zone. takethetrain.co.uk SHOPPING NEWS Got rather a lot of spare cash? Can FS have it? Oops no, sorry, we mean here is a purchase for a worthy cause that may interest you. Jane Birkin is auctioning her original Birkin handbag on eBay, with all proceeds going to support relief efforts in Japan. Current bid status? $6,000. Get bidding, cash-rich readers! ebay.co.uk Wondering what to wear for your Sofitel luxury bootcamp? Pay a visit (virtual or real) to Suka Sport. A new boutique specialising in innovative and unknown brands, you’ll find cool high-tech products and kit from around the world. There’s also a yoga studio with daily classes. sukasport.com OFFCUTS Despite an iffy reputation, double-breasted jackets are mounting a comeback, says Simon Chilvers . What should the aspiring author wear? Hadley Freeman has the answer. The best colour-block clothes on the high street for men, chosen by the Observer’s fashion team. For all the latest fashion news, visit guardian.co.uk/fashion . News to tell us? Email kate.carter@guardian.co.uk . Follow us on Twitter Like us on Facebook Fashion Fashion designers Kate Carter guardian.co.uk
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Amateur video released on Wednesday showed a sea of protesters demonstrating against Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh in the city of Taiz. The Associated Press cannot independently verify the authenticity of this video. (Apr. 14)
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It’s amazing what an electric motor and some lithium-ion junk in the trunk can do. For the SWIGZ team, which earlier bested some internally-combused competition on the track, the results are 190MPH from a standing start, completed at the Mojave Mile event. As you can see in the video below the 241HP bike wasted no time in getting up to that speed — also wasting no time getting into an unsettling head shake and speed weave. Thankfully it was all over in less than 30 seconds and the new (unofficial) record was recorded: 190.6MPH. Fastest for an electric bike in a standing mile — and pretty darned quick for any bike. Continue reading Chip Yates goes 190MPH on an electric motorcycle, takes you along (video) Chip Yates goes 190MPH on an electric motorcycle, takes you along (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 14 Apr 2011 08:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Nearly 3,000 documents in Whitman’s handwriting cast light on his experience as a government clerk A “huge trove” of documents written by Walt Whitman while the American poet worked for the government as a clerk has been unearthed by a scholar. Kenneth Price, a professor of American literature at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and co-director of the Whitman archive, uncovered the thousands of documents at the National Archives vault in Washington DC. “I can remember getting glazed as I went over page after page, seeing no handwriting that looked like Whitman’s,” said Price. “And then suddenly I turned a page and there it was: unmistakably Whitman’s handwriting.” The papers – almost 3,000 of them – have now been conclusively identified as Whitman’s for the first time. They were written while the author of Leaves of Grass was employed as a government clerk between 1865 and 1874. He worked mainly as a scribe and copyist, drafting correspondence, copying letters written by others and researching a variety of issues. Topics covered by the documents range from charges of treason to war crimes, the rise of the Ku Klux Clan and whether smallpox was used as a weapon during the civil war. Price believes the discovery of the letters will “shed most light” on Whitman’s work Democratic Vistas, published in 1871, in which the American author discusses the theory of democracy, criticising America for its “mighty, many-threaded wealth and industry”, which he felt hid a “dry and flat Sahara” of the soul. “The documents are in his handwriting so they passed through his mind, they passed through his fingertips,” said Price. “They bear somebody else’s signature but it’s in Whitman’s handwriting. Is Whitman responsible for zero percent of that intellectual content or was he working collaboratively with the person who is the supposed author of the document?” Price believes no serious biographer will be able to tackle the subject of Whitman in the future “without going through these documents and asking himself or herself what was the effect of all this material on Whitman’s thinking and outlook”. “This was an age of high hopes but also big problems, and Walt Whitman was there in the thick of it,” he said. “It was when Whitman came to Washington that he began to look for ways to earn a little bit of money, and eventually he got hired as a clerk in government offices. It’s in the records of the attorney general’s offices that I found this huge trove of Whitman documents – we’re close to 3,000 documents now.” Whitman took the clerking job at the attorney general’s office after he was fired from a similar position at the Indian Bureau of the Department of the Interior by new secretary of the interior James Harlan, who, keen to dismiss employees of questionable “moral character”, saw the working copy of Leaves of Grass which the poet kept in his desk and was “appalled”, according to the Whitman archive . Walt Whitman Poetry Alison Flood guardian.co.uk
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• Horsemen’s Group boycott behind runner exodus • First instance of a walkover for four years Leicester will host a one-horse race on Saturday as the result of a protest over prize money. The Bet Totepool at totesport.com Handidcap, switched to the last ‘race’ on the card, is British racing’s first walkover in more than four years. The Horsemen’s Group, which represents racehorse owners, trainers, jockeys, stable staff and thoroughbred breeders, started its prize money boycotts at the beginning of the new Flat turf season last month with members being urged to boycott any race which fell below the prize money tariff set by the group. Harry Dunlop, Andrew Balding and Ralph Beckett were the only rainers to make entries for the race, but Balding and Beckett pulled their horses out at the final declaration stage this morning. Earlier this week, Dunlop had described the prize money for the race as “terrible and wrong”. This morning, his mood had not changed. “It’s a very difficult situation as there are actually five races on the card that are under tariff, but there were just three entries in our race and that changed the situation,” he said. “I discussed it with some of the other trainers and we thought the best way to do it would be to run one horse so Leicester would have to put up some prize money. Obviously it doesn’t look very good for Leicester that they’ve got one runner in a race but I’m afraid prize money needs to come up. I’ve never seen a walkover in Flat racing before and I think Leicester need to wake up and smell the coffee. They will not want it to happen again in the future.” The total prize fund of £6,000 falls some way below the recommended prize money levels set out in the Horsemen’s Group tariff. George Primarolo, spokesman for Totesport, who sponsor the entire seven-race card at Leicester, said: “It’s obviously disappointing that a walkover has come in a race that we are sponsoring, but whilst the Tote’s contribution to racing is secure, other commercial race sponsors might not be impressed if it happened in a race they were backing.” Leicester’s clerk of the course Jimmy Stevenson was left saddened by the situation. “It’s disappointing, but it was sort of inevitable after we got the entries,” said Stevenson. “The horse just have to go down to the furlong marker and come back in front of the judge. It’s unfortunate, but there’s not a lot we can do.” The last walkover to take place under Rules in Britain was over jumps at Exeter in 2007, when Ballyfoy claimed victory after the two other runners were declared non-runners. Horse racing Will Hayler guardian.co.uk
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A defense attorney for accused Nazi war criminal John Demjanjuk has asked a German court to suspend his trial after documents surfaced showing that the FBI believed a key piece of evidence was fake. (April 13)
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The stars of “Everybody Loves Raymond,” were in LA to support series’ creator Phil Rosenthal at the premiere of his documentary “Exporting Raymond.” A film about his misadventures as he attempts to assist in the making of a Russian version. (April 14)
Continue reading …Halperin: MSM Would Savage GOP President Calling Opponents’ Budget Un-American Like Obama Did
April 14, 2011 No Comment
Mark Halperin . . . on a roll! Yesterday, we noted that the MSNBC analyst was surprisingly respectful to Donald Trump.
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Ju Ju versus the bull Video Email Combined with Mobile Marketing 6.2 versus 6.2 BOTH TUNED!! Shiloh Musings: Blogger versus Huffington Post Blogger versus Huffington Post. Some people are getting rich writing on the internet. No, I’m not one of them. Arianna Huffington of her Huffington Post is getting rich, but many of her writers aren’t getting their share. … Zandar Versus The Stupid: Last Call Zandar Versus The Stupid. If all printers were determined not to print anything till they were sure it would offend nobody, there would be very little printed. — Benjamin Franklin … versus | Daily Tweet News Recent Twitter Tweets About versus . RT @NancyStall: What A Pro Captures versus What An Amateur Shoots http://ow.ly/4zh1l > > Why hire a pro for #wedding photography. #togs #photobiz. @Jeremy_Roenick Your one of my all time favorite … beerbrewsecrets says: Office 2010 versus Google Apps: Which Fits Your Business?: The productivity suite most likely to reside on your … http://bit.ly/f180FP
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