Mini Skirt History

A History of the Miniskirt

The 1960s was a politically charged decade of revolution and change. Apollo 11 became the first capsule to land on the moon, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 became law, Vietnam was raging, Beatlemania was sweeping the world, birth control pills hit the market, and a new cult of youth, known as “Youthquake,” had radically taken over many areas of life. In the midst of these dramatic political and cultural changes emerged one of the most enduring and controversial icons of the era: the miniskirt (or mini skirt).

Mini skirt

Existing, surprisingly, since ancient times, this small and sexy piece of fabric has embodied some of the most fascinating paradoxes of our times as it suggests both empowerment and vulnerability, independence and a desire to please, an attempt to cover and to reveal, maturity and playfulness, and liberation and exploitation. Simultaneously condemned and loved, the miniskirt exploded into the political landscape and had women (and men) suddenly paying attention to what had been hidden years before—a woman’s legs.

In the Beginning Was . . . the Miniskirt

High in the mountains in some of Europe’s oldest villages, archaeologists have recently unearthed ancient figurines dating between 5400-4700 B.C. What is remarkable about the figurines is not only their age, but also that the female figurines appear to be beautifully dressed in miniskirts not unlike the fashionable miniskirts of the 1960s, prompting some scholars to speculate that miniskirts were common in the earliest of civilizations (Derbyshire 2007). Interestingly, these figurines are not the only evidence of “ancient miniskirts. For example, an ancient Egyptian fresco shows a female acrobatic dancer wearing a “mini skirt” seemingly made out of cotton that shows off both her hips and her legs (Gandolfi 1989).

Early Twentieth-Century Skirts and Sowing the Seeds of Change

While the miniskirt may have existed as long as civilization has, it is probably only recently that it has evoked powerful political and cultural implications. In the mid 1800s, women in Europe and America were generally believed to be the weaker and more vulnerable sex. Politics, business, and physical activity could be dangerous for women, and tight corsets with long, restrictive skirts generally reflected these beliefs (Weaver 2003).

After WWI, however, advances in women's emancipation and post-war escapism led to the “flapper” style, an androgynous style with hemlines up to a woman’s knee. After dropping to a more sober calf length during the early 1930s, hemlines rose to just below the knee during WWII, partly due to mandatory fabric rationing during the war (Lehnert 2000).

After the end of wartime restrictions on cloth, women were ready for elegance and femininity, and the fashion industry promoted the “New Look” epitomized by Christian Dior. The New Look was mature and sophisticated, with an exaggerated hourglass figure and long, lavish hemlines (Steele 1997). While the New Look reflected the “best years of our life” consumerism that followed WWII, the “teddy boys” and beatniks of the Beat generation were already sowing the seeds of discontent in 1950s materialism—a discontent that would find its full voice in the 1960s and dramatically change hemlines forever (Reilly 2003).

The 1960s and the Politics of the Miniskirt

Teenagers Create Their Own Political (and Fashion) Space

Before the 1960s, young women had been expected to dress in the style of their mothers, which was usually loosely based on Parisian couture. For example, as late as 1962, a Sears catalog portrayed mothers and daughters as “patchwork pals” who were overjoyed that they are wearing identical dresses. Looking back on the late 1950s, the English designer Sally Tuffin remarked, “There weren’t any clothes for young people at all. One just looked like their mother” (Steele 1997).

However, by the 1960s, youth protests and demands for individual expression revealed that young adults were gaining a self-conscious awareness of themselves as a distinct and unified group that was able to respond to political events in ways that were different from their parents (Cawthorne 1999). Youngsters felt they no longer needed to follow the rules of bourgeois morality and manners, which they saw as hypocritical and based on double standards. As this young political entity gained a voice, they created a space for a new and distinctive fashion that embodied their own political views—not their parents’.

The Miniskirt as an Expression and Tool of 1960s Feminism

Growing awareness of feminism also paved the way for a different fashion for women. For example, in 1963, American Betty Friedman published The Feminine Mystique which deconstructed the myth of the happy housewife and expressed the desire of women to explore other roles. In addition, the 1960s saw a dramatic increase in women attending universities and entering the workforce, especially with the advent of the “temp agency” which allowed greater flexibility in when and where a woman wanted to work.

This decade also saw laws passed that helped protect and empower both married and divorced women (Diamond and Diamond 2006). Perhaps most important was the advent of the birth control pill, which removed fears of pregnancy and helped usher in the sexual revolution (Cawthorne 1999). The image of a woman was beginning to dramatically shift from being a wife and mother to a young, single, carefree girl proud of her sexuality and confident with her power. The miniskirt would express—and serve as a tool for—this growing woman’s movement.

A New Class of Young Consumerism

The young generation was indeed growing up rebellious and articulate—and with more money than they’ve ever had before. Young people suddenly became a powerful class of consumers who demanded a fashion that matched the spirit of youth. Consequently, the whole structure of the fashion system was challenged from the youth in the streets as the prestige of “couture” came under attack or, worse, seemed irrelevant (Cawthorne 1999). Upstart designers and boutiques began to cater to a new youth market that could now buy what they wanted—and to older women who began to scramble to look like their daughters.

“The Mother of the Miniskirt” : Mary Quant

When a young upstart British designer named Mary Quant opened her boutique Bazaar in 1955 on King’s Road (a mod and rocker hangout), she was poised to spearhead a fashion revolution. Without any real training in fashion, but with a finger on the pulse of everyday fashion of the street, she represented a distinctive breakaway in fashion. She began to sell clothes that reflected the ideas of the day’s youth and that had nothing to do with established Paris fashion houses (Lehnert 2000).

When she raised the hemline of her skirts in 1965 to several inches above the knee, the iconic miniskirt was born. Named after her favorite car, the Mini, the miniskirt was an instant success and epitomized the spirit of London in the mid-60s: free, energetic, youthful, revolutionary, and unconventional (Diamond and Diamond 2006).

“The Lord of the Miniskirt” : André Courrèges

Quant probably deserves primary but not exclusive credit for the miniskirt. One French designer also caught the spirit of the era and did for France what Quant did for England (and America)—André Courrèges. Though he began to experiment with hemlines as early as 1961, Courrèges showcased his futuristic, space-age minimalistic dresses which scandalously fell above the knee in late 1964. Like Quant, Courrèges shocked the fashion world. Unlike Quant, he tended to design his skirts with more sophistication and maturity, which, in turn, helped make the miniskirt acceptable to French haute couture (Cawthorne 1999).

While Courrèges would later claim that he invented the miniskirt, Quant dismissed his claim, saying “It wasn’t me or Courrèges who invented the miniskirt anyway—it was the girls in the street who did it.” Though the debates between Quant and Courrèges can be amusing and many scholars tend to “skirt” the issue, both Quant and Courrèges appropriated the trends of earlier fashion houses and both took advantage of the greater social changes that were occurring around them. Regardless of who really “invented” the miniskirt, both Quant and Courrèges deserve credit for revolutionizing and enriching the fashion world with their daring hemlines (Diamond and Diamond 2006).

The Mini Goes International

Quant’s influential position in the heart of “Swinging London,” Courrèges’ influential position in the more sophisticated Parisian fashion world, and the mini’s easily washable fabric that busy teenage girls were apt to buy helped the miniskirt become a major international trend. The miniskirt’s international acceptance was also boosted when Jean Shrimpton, a popular model, unwittingly caused an international stir in late 1965 when she wore a miniskirt with no stockings, hat, or gloves at the Melbourne Cup Carnival in Australia (Steele 1997). The classic photo of that day showed a dramatic contrast: behind the young, carefree, and beautiful Shrimpton was a group of disapproving middle-aged women dressed in their very proper twin sets and pearls. Shrimpton’s apparent disregard for the bland status quo made a trend-setting fashion statement around the world (in non-communistic and non-Muslim countries, at least).

Accessorizing the Miniskirt

It wasn’t just moral outrage that followed the miniskirt, but also fashionable accessories. Accessories included zip-up knee high boots made of stretch vinyl (“kinky” or Courrèges’ “go-go” boots). Tights and pantyhose replaced awkward nylon stockings and became fashion statements in their own right. Actually, tights and pantyhose are what really made the miniskirt possible because they liberated the woman from garter belts and from trying to keep the lines on old-fashioned stockings straight (Olsen 1999).

By the late 1960s, miniskirts were being made of see-through fabrics and other loose crotchet materials—which, in turn, made underwear an important new accessory in fashion as well.

The “Lolita Look”

Ironically, the full sexuality of the miniskirt during the 1960s also played on a “school-girl” image, and London became recognized as catering almost exclusively to young girls between the ages of 15 and 20. The models on all the popular catwalks and fashion magazines were typically skinny and androgynous, with an almost prepubescent figure. Even Mary Quant’s husband and partner, Alexander Plunket-Greene, told Rolling Stone in 1987 that “at the time, there was a slightly sort of pedophile thing about it” (Cawthorne 1999). Indeed, the “Lolita look” was everywhere, and the fashionable woman of the 1950s, “all high-heeled and rock-hard tits,” was replaced by a London girl with a childish shape and a “great deal of long legs” (Cawthorne 1999).

The most famous model of the era was seventeen-year-old Twiggy (Leslie Hornby), who had a short boyish hairstyle, pale lips, and skinny figure (she was 5′ 7″ and weighed 99 pounds). Even though the miniskirt initially was an expression of individuality, women and girls alike copied Twiggy’s Vidal Sassoon geometric bob and her heavily mascaraed eyelashes in an attempt to achieve her “doe-eyed” little girl look. When young girls mimicked Twiggy’s fashionably gawky “broken limb” look, they were said to resemble little shop dolls or mannequins (White and Griffiths 2000). Not surprising, dieting fads and eating disorders skyrocketed during this decade (Lehnert 2000).

Decline of the Mini in the Late 1960s

The miniskirt of the “swinging 60s” lasted until the end of the decade. Throughout, fashion designers created some new and extreme variations in order to keep the excitement alive. For example, Paco Rabanne launched his plastic chain-mail miniskirt in 1966 and then the throw-away minidress. Despite this creativity, the mini eventually fell out of fashion when disillusionment about Vietnam became more widespread and the future looked less positive.

With increasingly political despondency, fashion became a little more nostalgic and hemlines fell back down to the ankle in 1969 in a style called the “maxi,” which was the longest hemline since 1914 (Cawthorne 1999). In addition, while the miniskirt initially was seen as liberating women, the development of terms such as “dolly birds” tended to objectify women, and feminists realized that the miniskirt had great potential to be more exploitive than liberating (Reilly 2003). With the feminist movement in full swing by the early 1970s, minis (whose hemlines had nowhere to go but down, anyway) fell into disfavor.

The Late 1970s Punk Revival of the Mini

While the miniskirt fell out of fashion in the early 1970s, the punk movement at the end of the decade helped revive the miniskirt, thanks in part to female rock stars such as Debbie Harry (Blondie) who were fond of wearing miniskirts on stage. The punks were motivated by anti-fashion and tried to avoid mainstream trends, which were considered bourgeois, bland, and over-indulgent.

Influenced by punk designers such as Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren, whose shop SEX sold the fashion, the mini was reincarnated in black leather and PVC. The mini was also now often worn with ripped fishnet tights and took on a slightly “trashy” overtone that reflected the “whatever” attitude (Cawthorne 1999). In an ironic twist of fashion, once the punk look was picked up by designers, the punk movement’s anti-establishment edge became mainstream itself.

1980s and 1990s: The Corporate Miniskirt

The miniskirt was part of the power suit trend in the 1980s and early 1990s

The 1980s and early 1990s heralded a return to a more womanly figure in contrast to the adolescent androgyny of the 1960s. Rather than disappearing, however, the miniskirt was incorporated into the new, big-shouldered, “power” business suit for women, either in traditional pinstripes or jewel-colored wools (Cawthorne 1999). Popular characters in TV sitcoms such as Carrie in Sex in the City and Heather Locklear in Melrose Place helped the miniskirt appear sexy—and smart (Diamond and Diamond 2006).

Miniskirts were no longer considered appropriate only for teenagers, but they also became a power statement for sophisticated, long-legged, thirty-something career women who were in total control of their single life.

Mini Skirts around the World

For the most part, the miniskirt has been accepted in the Western world; however, not all countries and cultures embraced the short skirt. Inmany African countries, the miniskirt was seen not only as a corrupting influence of the West but alsoof the modern world.

For example, in Tanzania in 1968, at least one barmaid was stoned by a mob that supposedly disapproved of the shortness and tight fit of her miniskirt (Ross 2008), and politicians argued that the spread of AIDS would be halted if women would stop wearing miniskirts (“It’s in Our Hands”). And just this year, a strict Muslim father hired hitmen to kill his 21-year-old daughter because she refused to stop wearing miniskirts. After he paid the gangsters the equivalent of about $3,000, they kidnapped and shot her in the head on the outskirts of St. Petersburg, Russia (“Daughter Killed”).

Twenty-first Century Miniskirts

While the miniskirt has been met with disapproval and even violence, the tiny skirt shows no signs of disappearing. On the contrary, the miniskirt is still heavily featured on Western catwalks and in fashion magazines—and it is often shorter than ever. The phone company Samsung even introduced a new cell phone in 2008 called the “Miniskirt Season 2” which, while looking nothing like a miniskirt, is targeted toward women who like to “Talk, Play, Love” (Evans 2008). The miniskirt—variously known as the “micro-mini,” “pelmet,” or “bondage” skirt—continues to occupy a fascinating and paradoxical space in the fashion world as it teasingly attempts to cover and reveal at the same time. In all of its contradictions and reinventions, the miniskirt still provokes, challenges, and demands attention from both men and women alike.

[www.randomhistory.com]

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Condom Clothes

World AIDS Day, Dec. 1 2006, was celebrated in Bangkok with a festival that included a parade, booths, entertainment, a fashion show, and finally a try at setting the Guinness world record for the longest chain of condoms.

Condom Clothes

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Peter Falk Dead

Peter Falk

Peter Falk, the American actor who died on June 23 aged 83, is best remembered for his portrayal of the shambling, cigar-smoking detective Columbo in the television series of the same name.

Throughout the seven year long series, Falk came to share many of his alter ego's traits. Where Columbo would badger suspects unremittingly for a clue to their crimes and would waste their time with seemingly pointless questions, Falk would badger studio bosses for better quality scripts, and became notorious for his time-wasting wrangles with producers in order to win directors more shooting time.

The Columbo scriptwriters William Link and Richard Lewison admitted that in later episodes they based most of the character of Lieutenant Columbo on Falk himself. "Let's face it," Link recalled, "Peter was scruffy and forgetful, but at the same time he was charming and had a very good brain."

Columbo was a success as soon as the first episode was screened. The programme defied all the conventions of television detective drama. The viewer saw the murderer commit the crime, there were no car chases, no sex or violence, and Falk often did not appear during the first 20 minutes of the programme.

The success of the series rested with Falk's performance in the lead role. He invested the shabby, preoccupied detective with so much credibility that the show became one of the most successful detective series in the United States.

Although Peter Falk tried to revive his film career in the late 1970s when Columbo ended he never enjoyed the same success in films as he had done on television. After ill-fated projects such as California Dolls (1981), which featured a female wrestling team, Falk returned to television in a revival of Columbo.

"I held them off for 11 years," he remembered, "but my wife was sick of having me around the house, she said if I didn't go back to work she was leaving me." Unlike the uxorious Lieutenant Columbo, Falk's relationship with his second wife, the actress Sheralyn Danese, remained unpredictable. So frequent were their numerous break ups and reconciliations that they were known in Hollywood as the "Fighting Falks".

"She makes me laugh," Falk said of his 23-year-old wife, "but if I had to say what we had in common I guess it would be that we both like the colour blue."

Peter Michael Falk was born on September 16 1927 in New York City, but was brought up in Ossining in the shadow of the infamous Sing Sing Prison. His parents owned a general store and assumed that Falk would join the business on leaving school.

"I probably would have done too, except that I lost my eye as a kid," Falk recalled, "I wanted to succeed in everything after that to prove I was as good as everyone else." At school Falk became "a straight A student" and a fervent participant in all sports, particularly baseball and basketball.

In 1946 he attended Hamilton College briefly before trying to enlist in the Marines. "I memorised the sight test," he recalled, "but they wouldn't take me, so I joined the Merchant Marines instead."

Falk trained as a cook and spent three years sailing around Europe and South America. In 1951 he enrolled at Syracuse University to study for a bachelor's degree in Political Science and went on to take a Masters in Public Administration. On graduation he began work as an efficiency expert for the budget director of Connecticut.

In 1953 Falk began to develop an interest in acting. Distinguishing himself from fellow efficiency experts Falk divided his time between working for Governor Lodge and rehearsals with the Mark Twain Maskers. While working on an assignment as business manager of The White Barn Theatre, Falk met Eva LaGalienne who owned the theatre and who persuaded him to try acting.

"I wanted to act professionally," Falk recalled, "but I was scared, actors seemed such geniuses to me. Then when I heard them talking in the canteen I thought 'they're just like me, I could do that'." Falk made his acting debut as Richard III in a White Barn production before leaving for New York to pursue an acting career. He arrived in 1956 and within six months was cast in his first professional role as Sagnarele in Don Juan.

Throughout the late 1950s Falk appeared in numerous off-Broadway productions including The Changeling (1956), The Lady's Not For Burning and Purple Dust (both 1957). He made his Broadway debut as the young Joseph Stalin in The Passion of Joseph D (1964).

His film debut came in 1958 in Wind Across The Everglades and followed it with a small role in The Bloody Brood (1959). In his first two years in Hollywood, Falk won considerable acclaim for both his film and television work. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his portrayal of Abe Reles in Murder Inc., a documentary-like treatment of the Mafia in the 1930s.

The following year Falk was nominated for another Academy Award for his role in A Pocketful of Miracles. He won neither of them. Later that year he did win a less prestigious Emmy Award for the role of Aristedes Fresco in The Price of Tomatoes.

During the remainder of the 1960s Falk worked consistently in numerous film and television productions.

He was interchangeable as either a thug or a policeman in television series such as The Untouchables, Naked City and The Twilight Zone, and played similar roles in films such as The Balcony, It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (both 1963) and Robin and the Seven Hoods (1964).

Between 1965 and 1966 Falk won considerable popularity in the role of the barrister Daniel O'Brian in The Trials of O'Brian. Falk's performance as the dishevelled but brilliant lawyer brought him to the attention of Link and Lewison, who were looking for an actor to play Lieutenant Columbo.

At first Falk turned the series down. He felt that he was doing too much television and that he was becoming typecast as either a lawyer or a policeman. After much wrangling with the producers Falk finally agreed to do a pilot for the show and Prescription; Murder was made in 1968.

The film was a success and Falk began rehearsing the first series of Columbo in 1970. Columbo differed from every other police series on television in that the hero was an ordinary man who was unfit, worried about his wife, had a pet dog and wore ill-fitting suits. The producers of the series worried that viewers would tire of a show with complex plots and little action, and repeatedly tried to introduce elements of sex and violence. Falk made himself extremely unpopular by fighting these decisions and insisting on maintaining the quality of the original scripts.

Falk differed from other television actors because he demanded time to rehearse a scene. He became notorious for his regular arguments with both scriptwriters and producers. "Peter was a pest," recalled William Link, "he had strong opinions about our scripts, he wouldn't accept any change in the standards at all. In the end we let him write a script of his own to prove to him how hard it was."

Richard Lewison recalled that shooting, which should have lasted 12 days per episode, easily stretched to 13 or 14 days. "We knowingly used Peter's intransigence to gain more shooting time," Lewison remembered, "through his endless arguing he bought us much better quality shows."

Falk eventually left the series in 1977 after complaining that the quality of the scripts had deteriorated. He returned to his film career with a series of comedy roles in The Brink's Job, The Cheap Detective (both 1978) and The In-Laws (1979) playing both criminals and detectives.

In the early 1980s Falk's film career faltered when he made the unwise choice of accepting the lead in The California Dolls (1981) as the manager of two female wrestlers. But in 1989 Falk returned to the role of Lieutenant Columbo for one last series of films. He remained as eager to discuss production quality as he had been in the 1970s and refused to do the series unless he received the substantial fee of $600,000 per episode.

"It's not the money, it's the principle," he insisted. "I want them to know that I'm serious about the project and that I won't accept anything substandard."

Falk retained the battered raincoat and cigar which had been his trademark. He remained as shambling and preoccupied as in the earlier programmes, but critics began to complain that Falk's mannerisms had become formularised. Accusations that Columbo had become predictable confirmed Falk's fears, and he declined another series.

Peter Falk married Alyce Mayo in 1960. They adopted two daughters, and divorced in 1976. In 1977 Falk married the actress Shera Danese, who guest-starred on the Columbo series on numerous occasions. She and his adopted daughters survive him. [telegraph.co.uk]

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This Hoverbike Flying Motorcycle Looks Pretty Darn Real

What would you get if you took a two-wheel-drive motorcycle, rotated the wheels so they were horizontal, and replaced those wheels with fan blades? Why, you'd get a flying motorcycle, of course.

Add caption

At least that's the hope. Australian mechanical engineer Chris Malloy has been working on his Hoverbike for two and a half years with the hopes of eventually selling them. Malloy estimates the Hoverbike will have a 10,000-foot ceiling, a top speed of 150 knots (around 170 mph) and a flying time of 45 minutes. The key safety feature is a parachute on your back and another two explosive parachutes attached to the frame, if you don't feel like ditching.

Sure it's a little suspicious that the tethered flying tests have only been documented with still photographs and no video, despite one (unsatisfying) video showing an engine airflow test, but like all boys and men I desperately want to believe the Hoverbike is real. Malloy is currently soliciting donations on his website to fund the project. (Glen, next time you see Malloy, tell him about Kickstarter for chrissakes. He puts this thing up there and his funding will shoot up faster than the bike.)

I'm sure you've got lots of questions about how the bike actually flies, what the controls are like, and what the other safety features are. Malloy's prepared with an FAQ you can check out here.

  
How do you control the Hoverbike?

• To lift off into a hover, one needs to increase the thrust via a throttle grip with the right hand – exactly the same as the throttle on a motorbike
• To fly forward a combination involving an increase in thrust and the deflection of air from the front control vanes (twisting the left handle grip) will tilt the total thrust vector forward resulting in an acceleration forwards (twist back to go backwards)
• To to make the bike roll (turn) left and right, all one needs to do is push the handle bars down on the side you wish to turn (handle bars work just like a bicycle, but with an extra axis so that they rotate up and down a little) – you could lean in the appropriate direction just like a motorbike, but this is proving to be not as sensitive as one would expect or like.
• Yaw (nose left or right) is via control vanes front and rear and actuated by turning the handle bars – just like a bike.

[[core77.com/blog.seattlepi.com]]

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Test Your IQ With This One Problem!

This is one of the IQ Test for admission universtitas most famous in the world. Harvard University.
Reportedly, if you can answer that is knee uh ... your brain still works and rational. Although not also guarantee you pass Harvard

1 = 5
2 = 25
3 = 325
4 = 4325
5 = .....?

So, What is the answer to Number. 5?

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7 Easy Step to Increase Alexa Rank

Alexa site

Webmaster and advertisers prefer alexa as a tool to evaluate website traffic and the overall performance of the website.

People are crazy about increasing alexa traffic rank but the question arises how to increase alexa ranking today I am going to answer the same question here in this post.

There are many methods which webmaster opt to increase alexa ranking of their website check out the tips below which shows the proven tips to increase alexa ranking of your website.

1. Use alexa toolbar which available for major popular browser which include mozilla firefox, internet explorer, google chrome you can download the tool from official alexa site as well as extension gallery of your browser.
2. Put alexa widget on your website this is not possible for sites in every niche but sites of technology niche can surely use the widget on their site.
3. Ask other to put a positive review about your website on alexa this also helps to increase alexa ranking.
4. Encourage persons to use alexa toolbar on their browser and set your website as home page.
5. Spread your website URL in webmaster forums and use the same URL as your signature in webmaster forums.
6. Use alexa redirects of your website URL try this http://redirect.alexa.co /redirect?www.uniquenews.blogspot.com and use same URL while commenting.Redirect is counted as unique IP so clicking same redirect multiple times won’t help so use this with caution.
7.  Grab digg and stumble this helps you bring decent traffic which surely helps you increase alexa ranking.

There are many other innovative ways you can find and do research which suites you best and try using the same.Hope these tips will help you increase alexa ranking.

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How to Detect a Two Way Mirror

Two Way Mirror

Don't believe any emailed rumors you may have received about secret two-way mirrors placed in dressing rooms and restrooms. Find out for yourself whether these secret mirrors exist. If you are close to it, a two-way mirror is actually easy to detect through sight alone.

Instructions

• Realize that a popular email about two-way mirrors you may have received is a hoax. It is simply an urban legend that has gained credibility as it has gone from one recipient to the next. You can check suspect stories you hear against the urban legends database at Snopes.com.

• Understand that a two-way mirror is specially treated glass that allows light to pass through in both directions, but which also reflects light back into the room. If lights are off on one side of the mirror and on in the other, those on the bright side will see a reflection and those on the dark side will see through the glass.

• Know that because they function as windows, two-way mirrors are generally set into the wall; they are not hung on a wall. If the mirror is not flush with the wall, it is most likely not a two-way mirror.

• Test the mirror. Cup your hands around your eyes and place your face next to the mirror. If it is a two-way mirror, you will be able to see something on the other side-unless there is absolutely no light on that side.

• Turn out the lights. The two-way mirror only works if light is more intense on one side. With the lights off, you will see through a two-way mirror. It may take a few moments to detect the mirror as your eyes adjust.

• Tap the mirror. A two-way mirror will produce a hollow sound like a window because there is no backing on the other side. A regular mirror will sound dull.

Tips & Warnings

• The "fingernail test," recommended by hoax emails and passed around online, does not work. In fact, it simply reveals where the reflective surface is on the mirror; some mirrors have the reflective surface placed on the surface, and some have glass laid over it.

• Be ready to get strange looks if you try to detect a two-way mirror in public!

• Though breaking a mirror will show you exactly what you have been looking at, it is not recommended.

[ehow.com]

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5 Easy Steps How To Make A Girl Squirt Orgasm

Learning how to make a girl squirt can be one of the most rewarding and powerful skills you will ever learn being a man. It can make women fall deeply and madly in love with you and give you unbelievable confidence. But why then are so many men utterly clueless when it comes to giving a such a high level of orgasm?

Probably the biggest reason why most men don't know how to please a woman is because they've never been taught. Modern society is not very open to increasing the pleasure a man and woman can experience together from sex. Simply put this kind of information is just not readily available.

Ilustration

What a lot of men don't realize is a woman's vagina is actually quite complex and it takes much more then just sticking something in and out to get her to squirt. We're going to focus on using our fingers to stimulate the g spot to get her off. As a bonus once you can give her an orgasm with your fingers she will be able to have multiple orgasms when you actually start having sex.

1. Don't go for the goods right away. You want to build up massive amounts of anticipation. Feel around her vagina but don't enter her right way rub all around it.

2. Once she's warmed up enter her with one finger and feel all the way around the walls of her vagina watching her body as an indicator to how it feels to her.

3. Let her know how much it gets you off being able to please her, tell her how good she feels, tell her how you love how turned on she gets. You want her to know that you thoroughly enjoy giving her pleasure this will more easily allow her to "let go" and have a squirting orgasm.

4. Begin To Stimulate her g spot using a come here motion. Vary it up between long and short strokes. The G Spot will begin to swell and balloon out as she gets closer and closer to climax.

5. She will begin to feel a sensation similar to her needing to pee but rest assured it is not pee it is her ejaculate. Tell her to push it out! Some women can squirt a lot and some women a little it just depends. Reassure her you want her to squirt all over!

As she orgasms and squirts her vagina will contract and pulse on your finger, never ask her if she had an orgasm YOU will know.

Want to know exactly how to do this g spot orgasm technique? Head over to my site OrgasmArts.com where I demonstrate on video exactly how to do it and go more in depth about squirting orgasms aka female ejaculation. [articlesbase.com]

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Sexy Pic Miss USA 2010 Rima Fakih with Dad

Photo of Miss USA 2010 Rima Fakih is circulating on the internet. Rima Fakih wearing a sexy bikini look at the lap of an old man who reportedly was the father.

Rima Fakih lap

Well, maybe you are slightly shook his head. Lap-lap of the same period a grown daughter, and wearing a bikini?

Rima Fakih bikini

Rima Fakih, who was born on 22 September 22, 1985, the American beauty pageant winner, and winner of Miss USA 2010.

Rima Fakih was born in Srifa, a small town in the area of ​​Jabal Amel in southern Lebanon, the Shiite Muslim family. When small, Rima lived in the village of Souk El Gharb in Mount Lebanon, near Beirut.

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Download Mozilla Firefox 5.0 Latest Version 2011 and Indonesian Version

Mozilla Firefox now comes with latest version

Mozilla Firefox 5 latest version of the Firefox browser is officially released. This latest version certainly has advantages over the previous version. When I posted this article, I've been using Mozilla Firefox 5.0

Some of the advantages Mozilla Firefox 5.0 is:

• Lighter so it takes up less memory

• Supports css animation so that the developers more easily create simple animation effects

• Simpler interface

At least according to my tables. Maybe you want tested the ability of Firefox 5 this latest version, please download the lin below! As usual Mozilla Firefox 5.0 is also available in Indonesian version.

Download Mozilla Firefox 5.0 version 2011

Download Mozilla Firefox 5.0 Indonesian version

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Did Mars have an ancient ocean? Remarkable images show teardrop-shaped islands which could have once been deep underwater

Mounds of earth that have been found on the surface of Mars may once have been covered by sprawling lakes, scientist have claimed.

The incredible photographs showing valleys and channels were taken from the Mars Odyssey spacecraft which arrived at Mars in 2001.

Experts believe that the teardrop-shaped islands on the red planet could have formed deep underwater millions of years ago.

 

Seabed? Pictures taken by the Mars Odyssey spacecraft which arrived at the planet in 2001 show landforms which scientists believe were created under vast expanses of water

Seabed? Pictures taken by the Mars Odyssey spacecraft which arrived at the planet in 2001 show landforms which scientists believe were created under vast expanses of water

The breakthrough could add to evidence that cast oceans that supported life were once present on the planet.

'Based on this analogy, I am humbly suggesting that teardrop-shaped islands on Mars formed underwater in a relatively deep ocean,' said geologist Lorena Moscardelli of the University of Texas, Austin, lead author of a paper in the July Geology.



The study highlights similarities between the Mars land-forms and streaky sea-floor mounds off the coast of Trinidad, bolstering evidence for an ancient ocean in Mars’ northern plains.

Planetary scientists began suspecting Mars might have had a standing ocean in the late 1980s and 1990s.

Images from the Viking Orbiter showed what looked like shorelines and river channels flowing into Mars’ Chryse Planitia region.
Comet shape: Researchers found similarities between the Mars landforms, pictured, and streaky seafloor mounds off the coast of Trinidad suggesting there was once water on Mars

Comet shape: Researchers found similarities between the Mars landforms, pictured, and streaky seafloor mounds off the coast of Trinidad suggesting there was once water on Mars

Moscardelli and geologist Lesli Wood from the University of Texas looked at the shape of the seabed off the coast of Trinidad.

These features, called erosional shadow remnants, are comet-shaped streaks up to several miles long anchored by a mud volcano on one end.
Red: Planetary scientists began suspecting in the late 1980s and 1990s that Mars might have had an ocean

Red: Planetary scientists began suspecting in the late 1980s and 1990s that Mars might have had an ocean

They form when mixtures of sediment and water flows around the mud volcano and gathers on the opposite side. Detailed 3D sea-floor maps, which were taken as part of oil and gas prospecting, gave the researchers a much closer look at the remnants.

Moscardelli believes that a similar process could have formed the teardrop-shaped islands on Mars. They suggest that craters from impacts rather than mud volcanoes guided fast-flowing sediment into a comet-like shape.

Moscardelli  added: 'Most analogies between Earth and Mars are made using continental (on land) data sets or environments. I am providing for the first time, as far as I know, a deep-water terrestrial analogue.'

The streaky islands on Mars are between 3 and 30 miles long and cover 1.5 to 150 square miles. The size means that they resemble the erosion from deep water as opposed to land-based features carved by air. Lab experiments found that their triangular shapes only happen underwater, providing more support for the idea of an ancient standing ocean on Mars.

But planetary Scientist Devon Burr from the University of Tennessee said that Mars' lower gravity levels mean that the islands could actually have been formed by air. They would then appear to have been created by the strong pressure of being underwater.

Moscardelli  said: 'That is an option We will be sure when we put a geologist there with an old fashioned hammer to take samples and make direct observations.' [dailymail]

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How to Remove Pubic Hair

Remove Pubic Hairy

These days most people prefer a hairless bikini area. Before going for this look, make sure you carefully consider the different ways to remove pubic hair. What follows are suggestions for getting that smooth look.

• Consider a close trim rather than complete hair removal. You can easily pick up a beard trimmer at any drugstore. These are wonderful for the removal of pubic hair, and maintaining the close trim is easier than maintaining hairlessness.

• Opt for a razor. The cheapest and perhaps least invasive way of removing pubic hair is to shave it off. Invest in a top-notch shaving cream and a really good razor. Follow with a soothing aloe gel.

• Take the plunge and get a Brazilian wax. If you really want to achieve the maximum result, take the extra time to book an appointment for a Brazilian wax. It lasts for about 4 to 6 weeks and looks fantastic. However, there is some pain involved, and you must let go of your modesty.

• Use depilatories, but do so with caution. It is fine to use these at the bikini line, but using them on the entire pubic region can lead to allergic reactions. Some people conduct a test on a portion of the hair-covered region first. If no allergic reaction occurs, go for it.

• Invest in a pubic hair shaver. It gives you the effect of a Brazilian wax without the pain.

[ehow.com]

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Photos: Porn Star Vicky Vette Wearing National Teams Indonesian Soccer

Porn star Vicky Vette Wearing Shirt Indonesian national team, Want in Naturalization? Porn star Vicky Vette back react to issues in Indonesia. After some time ago when Ariel porn video boom, he said he wants to play with Ariel porn scene and changed the name of the band Peterpan to Peterporn.

Through twitter account as well, pornstar is also 'tease' Menkominfo Tifatul Sembiring because Tiffatul handshake with the president's wife Michelle Obama is Barack Obama.

When the Indonesian national team struggled in the AFF Cup championship last year, Vette also heavily supported. Even when Indonesia defeated Malaysia 0-3 in AFF Cup final first leg, he remained steadfast in our support team. It is shown via Twitter that he wanted to find red and white costume. He also responded immediately after House members, Arifinto, caught on camera reporters were watching pornographic videos while attending a plenary meeting last April 2011. Vette admitted, he was sending pornographic pictures to Arifinto, who eventually resigned due Arifinto case.

Now when the soccer world mourned because congress PSSI Indonesia that has been 'successful' chaotic, Vicky Vette back 'in action'.
This time, Vicky Vette posing wearing a football shirt (costume) national team complete with a picture of Garuda Indonesia chest.

"Retweet if you nominate me for # PSSI # GarudaDidaDaku," Vicky wrote in his Twitter account.

Then, he added, "Like my Jersey? # Garudadidadaku Retweet it if you like it!".

This photo porn star Vicky Vette wearing Indonesian national team

Vicky Vette Soccer shirt

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"Tantric Orgasm:" Mystery, Myth, Misnomer?

Tantra has always known that the acme of sexual experience brings about a state of bliss that is a far cry from simply climaxing and produces a split from ordinary, waking consciousness associated with the ego. Changing planes of consciousness is therefore a well-tried means of transcending the ego and gaining access to a unitary cosmic experience. Going beyond the ego thus involves no mortification, no tedious asceticism which often creates more problems than it solves.

You may have noticed that in referring to this peak experience I deliberately avoided the word orgasm, both too specific and too vague, and chose acme, instead. I also discarded climax and paroxysm which both imply extreme tension that is totally alien to the Tantric experience. Without rejecting ordinary orgasm, Tantra considers that it is too dependent on mechanical, genital reflexes and prevent any conscious control. The female orgasm is a sort of spasm that is almost as irrepressible as the male's ejaculation. In this mysterious Tantric alchemy, the Shakti need not forfeit her genital orgasm on condition that the Shiva not lose his sexual control because of it: she must gradually transcend ordinary orgasm so that the energy thus awakened may activate the "heavenly" part of her brain. In the same way, the Shiva must go beyond his ejaculation, which implies that he has already mastered it. In both cases, the psychic, mental, orgasm is acme.

Both our sexualities, the genital one with its orgasm, and the cerebral one with its acme, unite in the Tantric experience, although the heavenly one is given top priority, it being the only one capable of opening the doors to cosmic experience.

Even without any Tantric initiation, some women may experience something very close indeed to the "real thing." A woman describes her experience as follows: "First, my feelings are concentrated at the genital region, then they flow over by great waves in my whole body. I become my feelings. I am all sensitivity. At times, I feel like singing, as if the sensations were reaching my vocal chords and made them vibrate on a still to be discovered tone.

"I have wonderful feelings of wholeness. It is difficult to describe this. I feel electricity running through my whole body and live intensely the bodily and spiritual union with my partner. At times, I pray God tto become united to him, and feel the bliss of ecstasy!

"this kind of orgasm is to me a dive into the metaphysical, in another world, a religious world. I have the feeling of climbing a mountain. This all happens within my head which flows over with emotion, and compels me to stay emotionally close to the man with whom I am.

"Orgasm is a compulsive sensation of light; this light comes from his head and flows into my own, and I too start emitting light. Within my body everything becomes light. I am blinded by a dazzling light, which shines from behind my eyes, I hear nothing more, I do not feel anything precise, but each part of my blood starts dancing, evey pore irradiates, and the spiders in the closet, the ants on the floor should feel it and be joyous to receive such love" (translation from Le rapport Hite, Paris, 1977, p. 178).

This excerpt is easy to decipher once you've realized there are two types of sexuality and two types of experiences. Obviously (and unknowingly), this Shakti awakened her Kundalini; her genital orgasm was the first stage of the rocket that propelled her toward another state of being, toward the heavenly experience which she herself explicitly locates in her brain (in the above quote the italics are mine) rather than in her yoni. Moreover her experience is spiritual, cosmic, and maybe even mystical, but it is unlikely that she will be able to reach this state each and every time. The same is true in Tantra. The Shiva must realize that if and when his Shakti reaches such a state -- and the ecstatic expression on her face will tell him -- she has become "disconnnected" from the species pole: the "best behavior" for the Shiva, in this case, is to stop moving, be still and psychically share the Shakti's experience.

In a way, Tantra has democratized the experience ith its rituals and processes which se the appropriate mental and corporeal conditions. True, this type of experience is not within the immediate reach of each and every women, be she a Tantrist or not. But it is also true that each and every woman is potentially capable of attaining it. Moreover, such an acme is not the only door to the state of cosmic fusion (cf. the chapter on the Path of the Valley). Furthermore, exercising her anti-frigidity muscles and sharing maithuna with a Shiva capable of ejaculatory control will gradually release the Shakti's dual sexuality and she will eventually be able to have such an experience and share it with her Tantric or non-Tantric Partner.

As a follow-up to the above, you may proceed directly to the section starting on page 316."

-- End Excerpt of Andre Van Lysebeth's Tantra: Cult of the Feminine

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17-year-old Chinese girl beaten and raped; Video on Chinese web

The Chinese web is astir with the news of a video showing a 17-year-old girl being repeatedly beaten by a group of girls and raped by four boys. A year after the actual events, a daily Chinese newspaper relates the story.

On July, 3rd, a Mr Xiong contacts the Chinese daily newssite nndaily.com and tells them about the video: "I hope you will look into that." A journalist watches the video, showing a girl being held down by a group of girls. Attached to the pics, a message: "Today I watched 7-minute video clip, apparently put together by students from Kaiping school. The sequence shows a girl undergoing sexual violence..." Among the students, the journalist counts 6 girls and 4 boys, and two of them are naked. They use the Kaiping dialect (Guangdong province). The journalist also spots the school uniform. One may wonder why it took so long for the police to get hold of such a video: apparently, it had been online since January, after being exchanged via cell phones. (Note: Graphic picture after the jump)

The following facts have been reported: the young girl had made some unkind remark to the girls, who found her in an internet bar, dragged her outside, took her clothes off, beat her up, then brought her to a hotel and called up 4 boys. While the boys were raping the victim, the girls held her down. They then proceeded to beat her again, forcing the victim to beat herself and to walk straight.

The 4 boys have since been arrested, as well as some of the girls from the video. As it turned out, some of them have had prior records with the police. [shanghaiist.com]

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Flight Attendant War Stories….Stewardess

I work in a pressurized alluminum tube and the environment outside my “office” cannot sustain human life. that being said, the human life inside is not worth sustaining sometimes…in fact, the passengers can be jerks, and idiots. I am often treated with no respect, nobody listens to me ..until i threaten to kick them off the plane…and have to literally scare and threaten people to conform to FAA requirements.

That being said, as a Flight Attendant, I have to baby-sit sick kids, serve fat people food that will only make them fatter, pretend im subjugated to trailer trash in first class who really only paid $160.00 each way to sit there (upgrade) and deal with various ailments and issues. Once I had a man run into the bathroom on final approach with urine flying out of his pants. 

I’ve cleaned up puke, I’ve had to clean up people who soil themselves, and listen to my share of abuse why “I” am the reason their life has gone to hell in a hand basket when “I” wanst even 500 miles near them when the event occurred. My blood pressure has shot up since 9/11, Im constantly exhausted from flying 12-15 hour days, 4 leg turns , and endruing 8-9 hour layovers between 12-14 hour days. its inhumane.

I’ll never in my life forgive the mgmt at my airline for subjecting me to the hell on earth as a flight attendant I’ve endured while they hardly took any concessions worth speaking of and their work-day didnt change. bah. you can have this job. In fact, I seriously doubt you’d even make it through the first week of the constant belittlement, being told “smile” and starting to think you’re name is Miss Celephane. 

The events I speak of happen ever day im at work…when was the last time someone came into your office or cubicle and called you a bitch because you told them to fasten the seatbelt around their sleeping child (lets assume here your office can drop 100 ft in 1/2 second) or to put their seat upright so the people behind them can exit in an emergency during landing should one occur.

People change when they get on board an airliner and I can certainly reinforce to you its not for the better.

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Mother and Son

My mom only had one eye. I hated her, she was such an embarrassment. My mom ran a small shop at a flea market.She collected little weeds and such to sell, anything for the money we needed she was such an embarrassment.There was this one day during elementary school. I remember that it was field day, and my mom came. I was so embarrassed. How could she do this to me? I threw her a hateful look and ran out. The next day at school..."Your mom only has one eye?!" and they taunted me.

I wished that my mom would just disappear from this world so I said to my mom, "Mom, why don't you have the other eye?! You're only going to make me a laughingstock. Why don't you just die?" My mom did not respond. I guess I felt a little bad, but at the same time, it felt good to think that I had said what I'd wanted to say all this time.

Maybe it was because my mom hadn't punished me, but I didn't think that I had hurt her feelings very badly.
That night...I woke up, and went to the kitchen to get a glass of water. My mom was crying there, so quietly, as if she was afraid that she might wake me. I took a look at her, and then turned away. Because of the thing I had said to her earlier, there was something pinching at me in the corner of my heart. Even so, I hated my mother who was crying out of her one eye. So I told myself that I would grow up and become successful, because I hated my one-eyed mom and our desperate poverty.

Then I studied really hard. I left my mother and came to Seoul and studied, and got accepted in the Seoul University with all the confidence I had. Then, I got married. I bought a house of my own. Then I had kids, too. Now I'm living happily as a successful man. I like it here because it's a place that doesn't remind me of my mom.

This happiness was getting bigger and bigger, when someone unexpected came to see me "What?! Who's this?!"... It was my mother...Still with her one eye. It felt as if the whole sky was falling apart on me. My little girl ran away, scared of my mom's eye.

And I asked her, "Who are you? I don't know you!!!" as if I tried to make that real. I screamed at her "How dare you come to my house and scare my daughter! Get out here now!" And to this, my mother quietly answered, "oh, I'm so sorry. I may have gotten the wrong address," and she disappeared. Thank good ness... she doesn't recognize me. I was quite relieved. I told myself that I wasn't going to care, or think about this for the rest of my life.

Then a wave of relief came upon me... one day, a letter regarding a school reunion came to my house. I lied to my wife saying that I was going on a business trip. After the reunion, I went down to the old shack, that I used to call a house...just out of curiosity there, I found my mother fallen on the cold ground. But I did not shed a single tear. She had a piece of paper in her hand.... it was a letter to me.
My Son,

I think my life has been long enough now. And... I won't visit Seoul anymore... but would it be too much to ask if I wanted you to come visit me once in a while? I miss you so much. And I was so glad when I heard you were coming for the reunion. But I decided not to go to the school.... For you... I'm sorry that I only have one eye, and I was an embarrassment for you.

You see, when you were very little, you got into an accident, and lost your eye. As a mother, I couldn't stand watching you having to grow up with only one eye... so I gave you mine... I was so proud of my son that was seeing a whole new world for me, in my place, with that eye. I was never upset at you for anything you did. The couple times that you were angry with me. I thought to myself, 'it's because he loves me.' I miss the times when you were still young around me.

I miss you so much. I love you. You mean the world to me. My world shattered! Then I cried for the person who lived for me. My Mother.[touching-inspiringstory.blogspot.com]

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