Welcome & Thank You

Plus Size Models Get Naked for Glamour Magazine

October 4, 10:28 AMNY Plus-Size Fashion ExaminerLisa Cucinotta

Source: Glamour.com

Glamour Magazine never imagined that a little belly roll would cause such a big uproar.  In their

September issue, they ran a relatively small photo of plus size model Lizzie Miller sitting nude,

to accompany a story.  Lizzie, a size 12-14, had a little stomach pooch when she sat, not

uncommon for most women.  But in the world of fashion magazines, it was shocking.  And the

reaction was swift.

Thousands of readers contacted Glamour.  Numerous articles and editorials were written on the

subject.  Lizzie and Glamour Magazine were on The Today Show, CNN and more.  The best part -

all of these people were praising the photo, Lizzie's real, non airbrushed body and the use of plus

size models in a fashion magazine -  and they were asking for more!

Loans to your nearest and dearest usually aren't a good idea. But if you feel compelled, do it formally -- and put it in writing.

By Liz Pulliam Weston

With three words, you can sum up the most common advice about lending money to your relatives: "Don't do it."

Financial planners warn that intrafamily loans can lead to trashed relationships, shattered finances and even trouble with the IRS. People who've lent money to family members often complain about ingratitude, missed payments and strained holiday dinners. Even the borrowers grumble, especially when their benefactors start quizzing them about their spending.

"Suddenly, (the lender) is looking at the vacation they took and saying, 'They owe us money, how can they go on vacation?'" said financial planner Karen Ramsey, author of "Everything You Know About Money is Wrong." "The borrowers pick up on that judgment, and they get resentful."...

     Sometimes, it's what's underneath that counts. One of the most heinous fashion crimes a person can commit is wearing the wrong underclothes.

     I know, they can't be seen; they're supposed to be invisible"""supposed to" being the key term here. Underwear is underwear for a reason, and it's pretty self- explanatory. It belongs under the clothing and out of sight...

     ...Ladies. What are you thinking? Far too many times I have seen the ugly, thick line of granny panties underneath some sick polyester pant. Hello! I can see that. It puts the most unflattering line across your bum....

Sarah Ratchford writes a weekly fashion column. She can be reached by e-mail at editor@thebruns.ca.

IDIOT!!!

Man found himself tied up with penis stuck to his middle with glue after wife and girlfriends' revenge, US court documents say

    * Peter Walker

    * guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 4 August 2009 15.15 BST

    * Article history

A wannabe Don Juan was tempted to a motel in Wisconsin by the prospect of a tryst with one of his numerous lovers. But instead of a night of passion, according to court documents, he found himself confronted by four angry women – among them his wife and another girlfriend – and on the receiving end of a revenge attack grisly enough to make any philanderer think again.

Prosecutors are investigating the convoluted incident that ended with the man tied to a bed with his penis superglued to his stomach, an apparent punishment for his womanising ways. The ambush was said to have been set up by the man's wife after she found out he had cheated on her with a number of other women.

According to documents filed with a court in Calumet County, the roots of the alleged assault were laid when 48-year-old Therese Ziemann met the man through the Craigslist website. They began an affair, and Ziemann became sufficiently smitten to pay for his use of a motel room for two months, as well as giving him about $3,000 (£1,800).

On Wednesday last week, Ziemann met the man's wife and learned that not only was he married but had a series of other girlfriends from whom he had also extracted money. The following day, she tempted the man to the Lakeview Motel in the village of Stockbridge and suggested he let her tie him up and blindfold him for a massage.

As soon as he was secured, Ziemann cut off the man's underwear with scissors and sent text messages to summon the man's wife, another of his lovers and Ziemann's sister to assist her.

According to the court documents, when the other women arrived Ziemann hit the man in the face and attached his penis to his stomach using superglue.

The women fled – allegedly with the man's wallet, phone and car – after he started screaming. He managed to chew through one of the bindings and borrowed a telephone from the motel owner to call police.

Now it's the women who face punishment. Ziemann, her sister, 43-year-old Michelle Belliveau, the other lover, Wendy Sewell, also 43, and the man's wife, who is not being named so as to avoid identifying him, have been charged with false imprisonment. Ziemann is also charged with fourth-degree sexual assault.

Sewell said she regretted her part in the plot. "I am disturbed. I am upset. I am having a hard time handling life, an emotional wreck," she said. "I am ashamed."

Lingerie And Sex Toy Sales Flop

During the good times, there were trips and spa weekends with the girls; Prada bags and fashion openings; gala events, and summers often spent separated during the week. It was easier, then, for certain wives to initiate sex and work at the orgasm thing, and a vibrator often came in handy. Intimacy, for many of these relationships, was never part of the package, and hot, easy sex that lasts needs some of that elusive spice.

Still...

Sexy Girls and Sexy Lingerie Go Well Together

Posted by Briony

Filed in Fashion & Style

July 11, 2009

"...Lingerie looks best when hugging the curves of gals with boobs and bums, (too bad so sad skinny-minnies) both of which were on display at the French lingerie showcas..."

Sexy LingerieThe lines represented at the show included all my favourite French brands, including Lejaby, Empreinte, Simone Perele, Passionata, and Chantelle underthings, as well as Elixir and Gerbe.

Sexy Models Chantelle rounded out the showcase with its trademark elaborate designs, which included a navy and seafoam ombre piece embroidered with subtle sequins.

Gorgeous lingerie, gorgeous girls--not a bad way to spend a Wednesday night.

LOOK OUT!!!

A New York City teen suffered minor injuries after falling several feet into a big and open manhole. The 15-year-old girl, named

Alexa Longueira, was texting and walking when the accident happened.

& Guess what SHE's SUING or rather Her parents are SUING. REALLY!?!?!? I mean at what point did SELF accountability go out of style. Since when was stupidity grounds for seeking out a monetary settlement. Where Obama with her dum dum bailout...Nevertheless I digress back to the story.

How the incident occurred

On Wednesday, the Travis resident was walking along Victory Boulevard about to read a text message on her girlfriend's cell

phone when she suddenly tumbled 6 feet underground and landed in 4 inches of raw sewage.

"I fell in a hole," Alexa said. "Like, there was no warning about a big, open hole."

"I just look up and I look around and I thought it was something out of a movie where something was gonna take me under," she

continued. "It was four or five feet, it was very painful. I kind of crawled out and the DEP guys came running and helped me. ...

They were just, like, 'I'm sorry! I'm sorry!'"

Alexa suffered cuts across her arms and down her back, and is expected to recover soon.

"A manhole. My kid falls down a manhole," the teen's mother Kim Longueira, said. "She's all scraped up on her back, under her

arms and her shoulders. She was smelly." & OBLIVIOUS TO THE WORLD AROUND HER TOO, Grrrrrreat job Mama...can you sense the sarcasm?!?!

More reason to despise your SD Chargers

Cromarite has seven kids in five states. Eazy-E and Shawn Kemp be warned, Antonio Cromartie is here to take your places as

Father of the Year.

 ...He's 20 minutes into the first of three workouts he'll complete this day. It hurts already. "For the kids, baby," he yells, a reminder to himself....' You know what you can really do for the kids...WEAR A CONDOM!!!! But, no no, instead the response "...Last year my head wasn't in there," Cromartie said. "I was dealing with my kids and their moms. It had my mind somewhere else." You think. Oh yes it's the kids fault. I sincerely hope the Chargers & their whining, self promoting, drug using, collection of quitters & excuse makers lose every frickin' game this coming season...one can hope.

Since The Czar Obama is not helping us out anytime soon, here are a couple options in lieu of the Govt handout. Here's a quick look at the Personal Loan BLOG's or at the P2P Loan Website

First is Lending Club, a Peer to Peer facilitator. This company has potential of offering the largest personal loan limit, $25,000.  The funds are not from a bank or broker but rather individuals like you & I. Thus eliminating the middle man  & resulting in potential for superior rates / terms for borrower  & lender alike:

Second, OnlineCash911. This company provides the means of obtaining a "payday" loan up to $1,500 online:

Third there is  Safe Online Cash. This like Online Cash 911 is a "payday" loan company, only it is limited to $1,000:

Finally Cash Net USA.  Another "payday" loan company. This company unlike the others offers Instant approval. With that though its maximum loan limit is just $550:

Personal Loan BLOG's

AFTER taxes this year, I found myself in the curious position

of having a decent-sized refund and absolutely no idea what do with it.

See, I’m one of the hundreds of millions of Americans without a degree in finance. I also live in a state where foreclosures are high

and 14 community banks have closed since the economic crisis began. If you look, you can see the seams tearing — empty houses and vacant stores beginning to rot because their owners have lost their shirts, the cost of using public transportation going up,and Atlanta’s property taxes being raised just to keep from having to close more fire stations.

No doubt we all have heard people saying it’s time to get out, especially after that tax increase was announced, but where are they going to go? California? The GoverNATOR just essentially rendered Cali BANKRUPT. Who is going to buy their houses?

They’re stuck.I know I’m one of the lucky ones: I have a spouse, a child, a dog, a car, a mortgage and, thankfully, I still have a job. And all I want is to grow — or at least, not shrink — my nest egg.

Easy? Not easy. Not when you add the rest of the story:

The country’s soaring deficit is making the dollar less valuable. State budgets are collapsing...

...If I were rich, none of this would matter. If I were poor, none of this would matter. But

this recession is an absurd kind of middle-class-only limbo. So in an attempt to salvage my economic status I spent a couple of

days calling and visiting banks around the state, asking them why I should bank with them. It didn’t help.

“Aren’t most of the same folks who started this mess the ones working on fixing it?” I kept wondering. “Aren’t those bad loans

still out there? Why isn’t anybody talking about the 45 banks that have closed in the United States this year? Is your bank safe?”

Most people I met scoffed or shrugged when I asked my questions. Almost all parroted the line that my money was covered by

the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. It seemed this was the best they could do, but finally a few bankers sat down with me and assured me that they hadn’t made risky loans, hadn’t needed bailout money, that their institutions were stable and drama-

free.

Which is how I ended up using my nest egg to buy a couple of low-interest certificates of deposit. By low, I mean abysmally low.

But in the most stable, most conservative places I could find — Georgia Federal Credit Union and an Atlanta branch of the Royal

Bank of Canada.

However, I still felt a fool to believe anything anybody in the banking industry told me about making, not losing, money; so my

anxiety-fueled mind kept churning. Where does the F.D.I.C. get all that money to do its insuring? Does it have a vault with enough cash in it to cover everybody?According to its Web site, F.D.I.C. funds come from premiums paid by banks (that have no money) and from interest on its own investments in securities at the Treasury.

Can’t I cut out the middleman and deal with the Man myself? Lo and behold! It turns out, I can. No intermediaries, just me and Uncle Sam. All I have to do is open a free account at the Treasury’s Web site. Hey, it’s as good a deal as any to be had at the banks, and it’s safer. I can invest my dollars directly into the busy goings-on of the government. I can buy and sell securities. I can be my own F.D.I.C.

Marc Fitten, the editor of The Chattahoochee Review, is the author of the novel “Valeria’s Last Stand.”

Leave it to the Brits.

Among other topics in a lengthy and comprehensive survey, an online used-car seller asked drivers about their underwear. And the drivers responded in remarkable detail, revealing some interesting (and disturbing) facts about what's under those track suits.

Online used-car vendor Carmony.co.uk studied British drivers' attitudes and habits. The survey covered typical topics--knowledge of cars, driving habits, and the like--and a few you wouldn't find on, say, the JD Power Initial Quality Survey. Like, errrr, underwear.

According to the study, 27 percent of women BMW drivers (as well as 22 percent of women over 45) routinely wear what was described as 'sexy lingerie'.

The study's less titillating topics showed that British women are almost as knowledgeable about cars as the menfolk, with 57 percent of the ladies able to distinguish a coupe from a hatchback, fairly close to the almost two-thirds of men who got it right.

Of those male BMW drivers, by the way, 8 percent go commando--and we're fine with that. We've been known to do that a time or two ourselves.

It was those same men, though, who generated the most disturbing statistic. Is Munich aware of this?

Fully 5 percent of British male BMW drivers wear...a thong. Oh dear.

There's got to be a Brüno joke in there. Somewhere.

BMW with model, by Flickr user BenediktSebastian

Two favorite camis — both made of organic cotton. One’s black — and you can see me in it to the right. The other’s white — or used to be white until I washed it with a red shirt. … now it has a retro pink tie-dye look.

Both camis from the same company: Bgreen Apparel. This eco-friendly clothing company says it “started with the simple idea of offering quality organic cotton garments that look good, fit comfortably and leave the world a better place.” And indeed, their clothes really are high quality, functional, comfy organic basics that feel good and fit perfectly!

In addition to the camis, I also have a pair of Bgreen’s bikini panties — which are also very comfy and cute. Plus, Bgreen also offers organic cotton hoodies, yogawear, T-shirts, shorts and more. All of Bgreen’s clothes are made in the U.S.

Bgreen organic cotton cami. Some may find the $16 per pair of panties or $28 per cami price high — though I’d say considering how much I wear these pieces, I’m definitely getting my money’s worth. But frugal fashionistas can get a 20 percent savings by using the coupon code June 2009 until the end of this month.

Need to touch and feel before buying? Bgreen will be at Venice Eco Fest this weekend, selling their organic clothes at an discounted prices. Already a fan of Bgreen? Win a $75 gift certificate for more Bgreen stuff by sending in a photo of yourself wearing Bgreen fashions. I may try winning this myself!

If you are under water on your mortgage - in negative equity with a loan-to-value (LTV) ratio of more than 100 per cent - it is likely that you will only be able to move once you can clear your mortgage, otherwise the bank is likely to prevent a sale.If you are under water on your mortgage - in negative equity with a loan-to-value (LTV) ratio of more than 100 per cent - it is likely that you will only be able to move once you can clear your mortgage, otherwise the bank is likely to prevent a sale.

In this section »

    * Team Obama's jesters dance to the tune of Wall Street princes

    * Hitching your investment to a green agenda

    * Freezing pensions

Latest estimates suggest that as many as 340,000 home-owners, or one in five homes, are stuck in negative equity, writes FIONA REDDAN.

HINDSIGHT IS a wonderful thing. Looking back at the prices people paid for Irish property during the boom, it?s easy to see how unsustainable they were.

However at the time, despite warnings from everyone from the Central Bank to the Economist magazine that Ireland?s property market was a bubble which had to burst, banks and consumers ignored the advice and ploughed money into property, propping up prices until the inevitable collapse during 2008.

If this is the case, then people who purchased property as far back as 2003 with loan-to-values (LTVs) of more than 80 per cent, will discover that they owe more to the bank than what their house is worth.

Key to a recovery will be easy access to credit, but given how badly banks have had their fingers burnt in the crisis, it is likely that they will continue to use very strict criteria when it comes to lending for some time yet.

Whereas during the boom, banks were regularly lending six and seven times people?s salaries and offering a multiple on discretionary income such as bonuses and commission, they are now taking a much harder look at what people can afford.

Moreover, people?s income has been slashed due to pay cuts, higher taxes (more of which are on the way) and less discretionary income, while banks are also looking for much higher deposits to keep LTVs at about 80 per cent.

So if negative equity is here to stay, who is it a problem for and is there anything you can do about it?

YOU ARE HAPPY WHERE YOU ARE

If you are happy where you are living, at least for the foreseeable future, and can afford your monthly repayments, then being in negative equity should have no material impact on your life. If you consider your house as your home ? and not an investment ? then being in negative equity won?t be a problem as you will always need a roof over your head.

The last time negative equity made the headlines was in the UK in the early 1990s.

However, the market eventually turned around and people actually made profits on their properties when they sold them. So sit tight, be patient and things may improve again.

YOU WOULD LIKE TO MOVE HOUSE

If you are in negative equity, with a LTV of more than 100 per cent, it is likely that you will only be able to move once you can clear your mortgage, otherwise the bank is likely to prevent a sale. But there still are some options.

YOU WANT TO GET A LOAN

As long as you keep up with repayments on your mortgage, being in negative equity should have no impact on either your credit rating or your ability to borrow more money to finance a car purchase, for example.

WHAT CAN YOU DO TO GET OUT OF NEGATIVE EQUITY?

Instead of bemoaning your situation, you can take a pro-active approach to getting yourself out of negative equity. While in an ideal world property prices will simply rise again thus lifting people back into the black, this is unlikely to happen for quite some time.

Have you seen a copy of your free Credit Report Report lately? If not did you know that you can get a free copy of it online?

Many companies prepare this information for you, so you don't have to hassle writing to each agency and putting in a

request.

Now that you know that you can get your free Credit Reportreport online. Accounts, loans, mortgages free Credit

Reportcards. can also be transacted online too! free Credit Reportbureaus also collect information regarding your borrowings,

repayments, and whether you have been arrested by the police for any criminal or petty offense, whether you have been

legally sued or whether you have filed for bankruptcy.

The three government agencies individually maintain your history, and collect each and every, personal information about

you, like complete name, date of birth, residence, employment, bank accounts, loans, mortgages free Credit Reportcards etc...

TOP Guns have amassed a treasure trove of knickers - paid by RAF girls as "fares" for a ride in a jet.

A whole wall of the Tornado pilots' bar is covered with the framed panties - with more hanging from the ceiling

RAF The tradition was started at Mount Pleasant airfield in the Falklands by fast jet crews.

But pilots of helicopters and rescue planes charge a BRA for a joyride.

One woman RAF officer said: "If you went flying with all the different aircraft in the Falklands, you wouldn't have any

underwear left."

The fast jet pilots' private bar - a converted bedroom - is also decorated with an ejector seat.

Another female officer said: "Any woman who wants a flight in a jet has to offer her underwear in return.

Squeal ...

M&S Money is offering consumers a tempting 10% cashback reward on its personal loans, it has been reported.

Customers who take out a personal loan spanning 36 months or more with the firm between June 24th and August 11th will

be able to take advantage of the deal.

Upon their final repayment, those taking out the loan will be granted a refund of ten per cent on the total sum of interest they

have paid during the loan's full term.

It points out that, taking the cashback deal into consideration, the average rate of 8.7 per cent APR on a loan

over 36 months would have the equivalent interest rate of 7.9 per cent per annum.

M&S money was founded in 1985 and has grown to become the second-largest distributor of travel currency in the UK. It was

sold to the HSBC banking group in 2004.

Click here for more loans news

IGIGI, This wonderful site is out of San Francisco, California.

'I have had a wonderful time viewing her designs. I do believe that there is not one piece that I would not enjoy wearing. They are vibrant, carefree, sexy and feel ?good? type of clothing.

Yuliya?s design to cater to size 12-32.

What is IGIGI? This is a direct quote from their website, ?IGIGI is the premiere brand of contemporary collections designed to

fulfill the lifestyle of the beautiful, voluptuous, and confident woman. Named after an ancient goddess embodying vitality,

charm, and intelligence, IGIGI strives to provide women of curves with smart, stylish and sophisticated collections that

accentuate and celebrate their bodies.

IGIGI wants to make women look and feel sensational. Our goal is to inspire the full-figured woman to love, respect and

treasure herself by accepting her body and learning to dress it for a fabulous look and an incredible inner feeling. We employ

innovative techniques that create a great fit for the individual shape leading to a visually appeasing appearance. We provide

the tools through myshape section to educate our customers about their individual body shape and tricks of the trade to dress

it for the ultimate flattery.

Combating Women's  Worst Fashion Fear; The Camel Toe! (Oh So Dangerous)

by Fashion Finds

Celebrities inspire many things in fashion, but this is one product that came to be not because of the positive fashion trends demonstrated by people in the limelight, but by the rising number of celebs appearing on magazines with an unfortunate fashion mishap; the camel toe! (Insert Scream here)

In order to fight frontal wedgies and one of the top fashion faux-pas, two women came together to create Camel Ammo, a liner that fits into the lining of women's panties so that they can wear the skinniest jeans without baring it all for the world to see.

The fashion saver is a simple, eco-friendly piece of fabric. Panties gone "green" so to speak...uhhumm. I digress. Funny concept, maybe still it would appear to be a smashing success.

On their website, many fashion lovers purchased the Camel Ammo on a whim as a joke, but have since written Testimonials to claim that funny or not, the Camel Ammo is a crucial item for women who love fashion.

Camel Ammo is "waging war on the front lines

" and helping women across the world to remain discreet while showing off the rest of their goods!

Top Rated PANTY...Drum roll please

Granny Pantyish to me pero to each there own & I digress.

Top Rated THONG...Drum roll please

Now we're talking, revealing yet leave something to the imagination huh?!?!

Top Rated G-STRING...Drum roll please

Ahh the ol' booty floss, really

by Dr. Robyn

Photo Retouching: Take another little piece of my…

Dr. Robyn Silverman

Retouching by J. Pimentel

As we continue to discuss, photo retouching is the norm in a society that values flawlessness.  Even though they’re muttering “be yourself” out of one side of their mouths, they are ready with digital diet pills in the other.  Who wants “normal” when you can have perfect or so called perfection in the form of rail thin stick figure with itty bitty...?

I asked one of my good friends, who is a graphic designer as well as a beautiful vivacious plus size woman, to take us through the process of what professionals are asked to do when pairing down models to the “perfect size.”

(1) What specific areas of the picture did you concentrate on– can you talk us through it a bit?

    Let me first point out that the original picture was taken and produced by a professional photographer. In all likeliness it already had been significantly modified before I even touched it. Notice that there are no blemishes, cellulite or folds in here skin whatsoever. As a result, there was virtually nothing done to her bust and face at all. I contoured her jaw line a little but this was a relatively minor adjustment.

    Most of the edits were done on her body, in particular the waist, arms and hips. These parts were edited to look much slimmer than they actually are. It would be the real-life equivalent of taking 8? off her waist and 2-3? off each arm. The hips were contoured as well, smoothing out the line between where her skin ends and the bathing suit begins. Shadows and highlights were added to imitate how light would cast off and on her body if it were to have appeared that way naturally.

(2) Would the retouched version still be considered “plus size?”

    Plus sized models, also referred to as Woman models, run generally from sizes 12-18. Depending on the agency a size 10 may also marketed as plus size. Crazy right? Ironically, the modified version of this picture would likely edit her right out of both categories; too small to be a woman model, too big to be a misses model.

(3) Would the un-retouched picture ever make it to print without being downsized to the revised version?

    In this case yes but only because this person is being marketed as a plus size/ woman model and the picture had already been modified. A regular misses layout would use a models size 0-4. In fashion and retail, very infrequently is there ever a picture that is taken and put into print without modification of some sort. This is most evident on the cover shots of magazines and other publications. The changes I made to this picture are dramatic. She essentially went from a size 16 to a size 6/8. If a designer had to make this many changes to a photograph they would just hire another model.

(4) What are some insider bits you can tell us about what you do?

    As a designer we are trained to look for even the slightest flaw and correct it. The digitalization of the industry (move from photographs to digital images) has afforded us the ability to modify EVERY ASPECT of a picture. The most insidious edits are the subtle ones, the ones that imply flawlessness. They are the most believable and therefore the most unrealistic and damaging in my opinion. The better people like me get at our jobs, the more desensitized the observer becomes to how unrealistic the images really are.

So much for positive body image…Give me a BBW Empress any day

Fav 5'ers Beware

T-Mobile USA probes claim its network was hacked

Tue Jun 9, 2009 12:34pm EDT

By Jim Finkle

BOSTON (Reuters) - T-Mobile USA, the No. 4 U.S. mobile carrier, said it was investigating a claim that somebody

hacked into its computers, stealing reams of confidential data.

A T-Mobile document, which contained information that appeared to identify servers from T-Mobile USA's

network, surfaced last Saturday on the website Insecure.org, a website devoted to computer security issues.

It was accompanied by a note from an unknown person offering to sell large quantities of confidential data from

T-Mobile to the highest bidder.

T-Mobile USA, the U.S. mobile arm of Germany's Deutsche Telekom (DTEGn.DE), issued a statement late Monday,

saying the information appeared to have been copied from its computer systems.

"We've identified the document from which information was copied, and believe possession of this alone is not

enough to cause harm to our customers," T-Mobile said.

The company did not say whether it believed the person possesses additional T-Mobile data.

The apparent attack against T-Mobile underscores the damage that data breaches can cause businesses. U.S.

President Barack Obama, who is searching for a White House czar to fight cyber crime, recently said such attacks

are so widespread that they have cost more than $8 billion in damages over the past two years in the United States.

The posting offered to sell databases, financial documents, other confidential information and computer programs

from T-Mobile's servers.