Moon Bloodgood, full name Korinna Moon Bloodgood, is a wonderful proclamation for racial integration and of course the endless hot possibilities that such mixings throw up. You mix Caucasian with Asian and more often than not you’ll get a sexy dude/gal. I think Moon is a worthy successor to Tia Carerra as far as looking hot in heels and sexy Eastern allure are concerned.

Moon’s father is of Dutch / Irish blood and her mother is a South Korean. She’s a full bodied wench who’s only going to get better as she ages. I say this because I like how she looks now and also because in 2009 she made her 4th appearance in the Maxim Hot 100 list and was placed at #20. The hearty Dutch hutspots and tangy Korean kimchis have done their job well. Moon’s had a hard climb to where she is today. Even before she landed bit pieces in films like “Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!” she was a cheerleader with the Los Angeles Lakers and worked her way up the modeling ladder till she was adorning ads for Revlon and Clairol. And then came “Eight Below” in 2006, which was her major motion picture breakthrough. Terminator Salvation released today could be the defining film of her career.

Umpteen relationships and three marriages have yielded at least seven confirmed progeny. But looks like age is catching up with Rod coz’ he’s been quoted as saying – “Instead of getting married again, I’m going to find a woman I don’t like and just give her a house.”

The guy’s old no doubt as is the other venerable old Brit – Mick Jagger. Rod grew up idolizing Al Jolson…an American singer that we should really read about. Maybe people ask about his age because his music is still young, he received a Grammy in 2005. Soul legend James Brown considers Rod to be the best White soul singer out there and Elton John calls him the best Rock and Roll singer ever.

It’s not unusual for the rich guys to end up spending as much as $10K and more within two days of finding a babe willing to spend “quality time” with them. And believe it or not, many a times the babes that strike it rich are desperate out of work waitresses, actresses, maybe college students even. Do they get lucky or what? One view is that the site is a practical solution for both parties.

Very interestingly, the site has been started by an ex-stripper; a sweet looking mature Canadian babe Simone Dadoun-Cohen. She performed as a stripper and on good nights made around $2K Canadian – this before generous old men tipped her for her skills and looks. A not-so-good night meant around $1K Canadian before tips. Simone feels that old-fashioned dating is dead and this is the future – one which I feel blurs the lines between dating and prostitution.

Bruce Lee died on the 20th of July, 1973 and to this day the facts of his sudden demise are not fully clear. Was it a reaction to medicine taken to control cerebral edema? Was it the Chinese Government / Kung-fu clans that did not want Lee to teach Westerners powerful fighting techniques? Was it a jilted lover? Triads that demanded protection money? Or a death-touch (dim mak) strike by a martial artist?

The most accepted sequence of events is probably the correct one…Bruce had already had a close shave with death when he suffered full-body seizures in the month of May in 1973. This happened on the sets of “Enter the Dragon“; the film which immortalized Lee and made us learn that “boards…don’t hit back!”

Bruce Lee was found dead in actress Betty Ting Pei’s apartment where he went after an afternoon meeting with movie producer Raymond Chow. There were rumors that Bruce Lee was killed elsewhere and then moved to Betty’s place; the complete truth on the issue like that of JFK’s death is probably always going to be a mystery. Anyway, the accepted story, one put forward by a coroner and agreed to by Lee’s wife is that Lee developed swelling in the brain because of hypersensitivity to a chemical found in the tablet Equagesic. After taking the tablet, Lee went into a coma from which he did not wake up. The autopsy also found traces of cannabis in Lee’s stomach but the coroner dismissed the finding as inconsequential; there is a big chance though that the cannabis and the analgesic together reacted and did him in.

Lee was only 32 years when he moved on and was buried in Lakeview Cemetery in Seattle.

Today, we revisit the battle of Marathon in which a meager Athenian army took on the Persian soldiers who were better armed and better clothed as well. They routed the Persians who broke center, got surrounded, and then massacred all the way to the seashore where the Greeks set fire to the numerous Persian ships.

Historians are united in their opinion that the battle of Marathon is easily the most crucial military engagement in the history of Europe; that is saying a lot. Putting the battle above the battle of Hastings and the numerous wars that the Europeans fought amongst themselves, not to mention the two world wars. The reason here is simple. If the Persians had won that engagement, the consequences would have been earth-changing. We wouldn’t be communicating in English but Persian. There probably would not have been civil society in the Western world as we know of today. Most importantly Athens would not have had a chance to experiment with democracy; where would we be without it?

Social networking being what it is, it will no doubt give the administration a huge audience and more importantly a personable and approachable image. At the time of writing this post, the White House Facebook page had more than 96,000 fans. The MySpace page has around 12, 000 friends. It had an uncluttered look and links to Obama’s and Biden’s MySpace pages. The White House Twitter page has close to 22,000 followers. I wonder if the numbers are an indication of the success and reach of these individual social networking sites.

The three White House pages are not necessarily sources of unique information; instead visitors get to see snippets from the official White House blog and links to the blog. All the same the pages are attracting comments from enthusiastic visitors.

There is a lot of information that the administration can send out – the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, help tips on swine flu, recession-related news, and in between some cheerful news tidbits as well; like the president playing hoops with the University of Connecticut Huskies.

Jose Canesco is a former baseball player known for his awesome power-hitting during his playing days. Today, he is more remembered for his tell-all book in which he said that up to 85% of baseball players took steroids and specifically named Mark McGwire, Jason Giambi, Rafael Palmeiro, Iván Rodríguez and Juan González. Canesco, if he is to be believed, is a black-belt in multiple marital arts disciplines that also include Kung-fu. I didn’t know they offered black belts in Kung-fu. Anyway, the one time he challenged a guy to a $30K winner-takes-all bout the other guy Vai Sikahema knocked him out in the first round itself. I fear for his life against Choi. Am sure, Choi’s muscles are not enhanced by steroids but lots of pork and kimchi.

The Choi-Canesco fight takes place under the “World Superman Championship” series which is an 8 man open weight tournament.Choi has occasionally dabbled in MMA but does not have a great record there. I guess a great height is a disadvantage against a skillful grappler.

Christina has already made the list twice before, I guess she’s one genuine article. There’s no doubt she’s brave. Her battle with breast cancer is public knowledge and she won it by opting for a double mastectomy. That’s a heavy price to pay for any woman and I guess more so for someone in her line of work.

First lady Michelle Obama and “Twilight” star Robert Pattinson also made the grade. I wish the magazine would make clear their parameters for selecting people. Sure, the issue slated for a May 1st release will carry eloquent write-ups on and quotes from the beautiful people, but it would be great if I knew what goes on in the editor’s mind when he sits to pick the hundred. Frieda Pinto of Slumdog Millionaire fame makes the cut; six months back no-one knew her and today she’s like one of the most beautiful people out there; never mind that she chucked her newly-wed husband the moment she sniffed fame.

Michael “Mike” Mizanin is The Miz and he’s kind of an established star at WWE. He’s in the news today because of the storm that he brewed in the Monday-night-fight teacup. At the end of the day, everyone knows it’s scripted but all the same we enjoy it while it lasts. So, here was this guy calling himself the most valuable draft pick in WWE and not-so-humbly calling himself a television icon and an MTV star. If he was any of these, am sure I would’ve heard. I have heard of John Cena, even seen him wrestle.

I guess in no other occupation are you expected to live up to a created persona and caricatured alter egos as in the world of pro wrestling; not even actors or politicians come close. So, here we have this guy who basically is actually an educated type who was the editor of his high school yearbook and attended Miami University. On WWE he’s forced to come up gems like – Be good. Be bad. Be MIZ.

In the good ol’ days, growing up and watching Star Trek, I thought William Shatner looked smashing, he was handsome in my books. For a serial that ran only for three seasons from ‘66 to ‘69 it has attained a super cult following, I mean even the babies of the baby boomers love Star Trek. The theme tune comes back to me every once in a while. As an aside, does anyone remember Fireball – that show with marionettes. It had a great theme song sung by an Australian guy. It’s there on Youtube.

As far as Shatner not being in this film is concerned, it’s hard truth that franchises are bigger than the actor; actors age but franchises go on. So many Hamlets, so many Bonds, so many Robin Hoods, and now a new Captain Kirk – let’s wish him luck in boldly taking the franchise to where no franchise has ever gone before!

It’s a bit of a relief to know that eating pork won’t expose you to the flu but coming in contact with an infected person can and across the borders in Mexico, the situation is already pretty grim. Reason being that this strain of the flu is a deadlier mutation, it has already killed 81 people in Mexico and infected more than a thousand. These are the official numbers; the real figures could be greater. If this is a new strain, it will take time before researchers find a way to tackle it, as of now the medics are relying on Tamiflu. I think we could also be in for some wholesale swine slaughter – like it happened when the Mad Cow disease hit England or the SARS virus hit South-East Asia. Bad news for livestock owners if it happens, what with the recession and all.

In America, 11 cases have been confirmed till now. Two in Kansas, three in California and a few more in New York city.

The Black Mamba bite has a near 100% fatality rate, and one bite injects enough venom to kill anywhere between 10 – 25 adults. I don’t know if the Black Mamba is super-aggressive or has a sadistic streak because it rarely stops at one bite. It bites again and again and when it’s done, its neurotoxin ensures that you’re done too.

The Black Mamba is not black in color. So if in Africa, don’t go fooling around with a snake that’s not black thinking that it’s not a mamba and you can handle it. It’s called Black Mamba because of the pitch black insides of it’s mouth. It’s a scary scenario and a very real one at that, it happens quite often, it’s something like this – you’re loitering in the bush, you run into a 12-foot long snake. It rears up 4-feet (you have read mambas can do that) and then it opens it’s mouth to reveal the inky blackness. That’s when you realize your worst nightmare has just occurred. It’s just at the right height to strike below your heart but thankfully some distance away. Now’s the actual life and death crunch part. The mamba can gallop at around 20 km / hr; now if you’re fat or you’ve got dodgy knees; be assured the irritated and highly aggressive mamba could make a slither for you. However, more often than not, the snake uses it’s speed to move away from danger. But there are stories of the snake catching up with people to strike them.

It’s kind of understood that safe politically correct answers are the best way to go in such competitions; Carrie however chose honesty. And if you consider that her answer was extempore, spur of the moment – she constructed it quite well actually. This is what Carrie had to say afterward – “I was ready for my question, and when I heard it from (Perez), I knew at that moment after I’d answered the question, I knew that I was not going to win because of my answer,” she said. “Because I had spoken from my heart, for my beliefs and for my God. … It’s not about being politically correct, for me, it’s about being biblically correct.”

I personally don’t have anything against same-sex marriage. For me, Adam and Steve are as fine as Adam and Eve and sexual preferences so long as they are not for kids, animals, and inanimate objects, should not be ground for judging an individual.

Greater Memphis, Tenn., and Miami, Fla., metropolitan areas are second and third, respectively behind Detroit. Las Vegas, Nevada; Stockton, California; Orlando, Florida; Little Rock, Arkansas; Charleston, S.C; Nashville, Tennessee; and Baltimore, Maryland round up the top ten.

Researchers compiling the list found that all top ten cities in the list were important transit points for the Mexican drug cartels. The turf wars of drug-running gangs are one of the root causes for an uptick in crime in these cities. The list does not throw up any new names from previous years’ lists, just a shuffling of order. What this means is that crime-busting in these cities is not being carried out on a scale and with an intensity that is the need of the hour. The situation gets further compounded because of the recession when meager government funds are being diverted to other issues perceived to be more crucial.

What happened was that six-months pregnant Ashley Swendsen from Colorado Springs decided to take a walk during lunch-hour. She ran into a bear on a hiking trail between the Vincent Drive Bridge and Interstate 25. According to Swendsen the bear was just two feet away when she saw it (and the bear didn’t make a grab for her). The bear started to chase her only when she started to run away from it after walking away for a few steps. In the process, she got knocked down by an oncoming vehicle and the driver, a woman incidentally, did not bother to stop and check.

An acquaintance called the police, the police called the wildlife department and the wildlife department euthanized the bear. Come to think of it, the lady was in greater danger from speeding vehicles than she was from the bear. As things have turned out, Swendsen and the child she’s carrying are fine. To honor the bear, she has decided to keep the baby’s middle name “Bear” irrespective of whether it is a boy or a girl.

And yet, Yasmine’s beauty makes me think about the temporariness of the whole thing. I mean the world saw her mugshot when the Michigan police arrested her for an auto accident and found cocaine in her purse. I know, no-one’s supposed to look good in police mugshots. Mel Gibson didn’t, Nick Nolte didn’t. But Bleeth’s pic broke my heart. I almost gave up fantasizing about women.

Bleeth started out real young, her first foray in front of the camera was in 1968 for a Johnson and Johnson commercial when she was all of ten months old. For some reason though she hasn’t really set the silver screen on fire with her histrionics. Today she is happily married to Paul Cerrito, a strip club owner whom she met while she was undergoing rehab for her drug problem.

Those who saw the episode dealing with the Katmai would know what I am talking about. The 93-foot fishing boat lost steering, took in water and rolled over as the captain of the ship Henry Blake III tried to steer the ship through the middle of a storm even as other fishing boats took shelter in the lee of the islands in the seas west of Adak. The ship carrying cod worth $200,000 went down stern first. Six from the 11-man crew managed to swim to a life-raft. And then began the desperate struggle in which the crew clung to a life-raft. By the time rescue arrived, monster waves had upturned the craft around forty times and claimed the lives of three crew members who were swept away.

Only four of the crew survived the ordeal; five were killed and two reported missing.

Soliel, pronounced without the “l” is French for the Sun. So, what wee have in effect is Sun Moon Frye; doesn’t sound half as exotic in English. Soliel on her part is carrying forward the tradition of sweet first names and has named her daughter Poet. Soliel’s truly come a long way from the Punky Brewster days; she’s got a beautiful body and going by her Twitter page, she’s got a beautiful mind as well. Last time I checked she had 258,242 followers on Twitter.

Soliel has an impressive resume, she’s appeared in films like The Liars’ Club and Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings. Sonny Boy, a film directed by her in 2004, was about a trip she took in 2004 with her father. It won the Best Documentary Award at the San Diego Film Festival. Soliel is also the co-owner of an environmentally conscious childrens’ boutique – Littleseed.com.

Soliel has had her share of travails growing up and most definitely she’s come out stronger for them, as a sixteen year old she had to undergo breast reduction for a condition known as gigantomastia.

Miss USA 2009 is Kristen Dalton of Wilmington, North Carolina. In a glittering Sunday evening gala competition at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Miss Dalton edged out competition from fifty competitors for the crown. Miss California and Miss Arizona were first and second runners-up, respectively.

Apparently winning high-stake beauty pageants runs in the Dalton family. Mama Dalton was Miss North Carolina USA in 1982. Her younger sister was Miss North Carolina Teen USA, 2008. Kristen is a student of psychology and Spanish. She wants to become a motivational speaker. I don’t know if duties on Elle, Cosmopolitan, and maybe Playboy will allow her to hit the motivational speaker circuit anytime soon. Kristen Dalton is the second North Carolina resident after Chelsea Cooley to win the Miss USA title.

Miss USA, BTW, is different from Miss America which prefers to dub itself a “scholarship pageant”; though seeing those babes in bikinis and svelte evening gowns you could be forgiven if you thought this was just another beauty contest.

Kristen now has a shot at becoming Miss Universe 2009. The competition will be held in sunny Bahamas. Though the title has been somewhat of a sole preserve of Venezuela with intermittent winners from India, Kristen the blue-eyed blond has as good a chance as anyone to land the title.

(Photos Courtesy of: Miss America)

Back to the deleterious effects of weightlessness; in space leg muscles are most severely affected by atrophy as they get almost no exercise. Even a 300-pound weight for exercising does not provide sufficient loading and the astronauts lose more muscle and lose it faster than they should. A far cry from the situation on earth; if I could squat 300 pounds I’d never wear trousers. The Interim Resistance Exercise Device, or iRED is a device cobbled up for the astronauts to help them save muscle mass.

She’s 5′9″, statuesque, with a beautiful smile, intelligent, independent, and she’s aging really well. She’s Padma Lakshmi. She’s 38 years now and is one of those rare types that radiate more beauty as they age. In my books she’s in the Sophia Loren, Angelina Jolie category. Even the large 7″ scar on her right arm only seems to add to her appeal. As does the fact that she’s a cerebral babe and her very first cookbook Easy Exotic won the Best First Book at the 1999 World Cookbook Awards at Versailles.

Padma was born in India, in Southern India to be exact and raised in the U.S. She’s lost none of her spicy smoldering Indian sensuality. Her chiseled features inspired photographer Helmut Newton to new creative heights and to be sure we all loved her nude photographs.

Padma Lakshmi has been around for a while notching up impressive modeling assignments on the international circuit. She has featured in campaigns for Emanuel Ungaro, Ralph Lauren, and Alberta Ferretti. She’s been hosting Top Chef from its second season onwards and the program is into its fifth season now.

Padma Lakshmi was till 2007 the better half of celebrated British writer Salman Rushdie.

We leave you with a Padma Lakshmi quote, remember the lady’s turned to meat only recently, she was a staunch vegetarian all this time – “In southern Spain, they made me eat a bull’s testicles. They were really garlicky, which I don’t like. I prefer to take a bull by the horns, not by, um…”

(Photo By: Gray Scott)

The catch here is that you cannot use any old piece of paper to write on. There’s this highly specialized dotted paper capable of spatial recognition that you need to use. Tap on the record button on the page to record and on the playback button to hear audio.

The pen offers an amalgamation of written, audio, and video content so that you can mesh the three to come up with really creative matter.

You can transfer all data from the pen to your PC or Mac. The LiveScribe desktop lets you store and organize data and even search for words.

The pen has tremendous scope for further refinement and many more apps like translation perhaps, Bluetooth or wireless data transfer to share your “pencasts”. At present connectivity is through USB. A visual reading device on the pen with special lenses for the user to magnify words would be cool. No more learning stuff for exams, the pen will learn for you and regurgitate it all on your command. That would be awesome!

Anyway, on to pykrete; it is a mix of 14% sawdust or even newspaper pulp and 86% ice. The resulting composite is almost as strong as concrete. The British actually experimented with aircraft carriers made from pykrete. All they needed was sawdust, the sea provided the ice. The wood pulp and sawdust formed an excellent insulating material that covered the ice and prevented it from melting even in warm waters. In fact so chuffed were the Brits with pykrete that they launched an ultra-secret Project Habbakuk to build a veritable floating island from which the country’s navy and airforce could launch attacks on German U-boats.

Apparently, the project was dumped after the Americans did not appear too keen on it. But this is food for thought for those with an adventurous streak, a floating barge or raft made from ice and carrying a rubber dinghy for security, in case the ice melts.

Brass Knuckles or knuckle dusters are weapons of jaw destruction and if you’re not careful you can just as easily break your fingers trying to throw a punch wearing these; more so if its a straight hard jab that you are trying. Brass knuckles are in news because E.A, the video game company, has shipped some to a number of its reviewers as a promotional stunt to launch its new game, The Godfather II.

In the good old days knuckle dusters helped settle many an argument quickly without either party having to rant themselves into breathlessness. But these handy devices aren’t popular in the US, they are illegal in many US states and in the whole of Canada. France takes a kinder view of these and you’re actually allowed to own knuckle dusters if you are 16 years old, albeit with the permission of your parents.

Street thugs have always had a special affinity for knuckle dusters as these can easily be hidden; use them as belt buckles, fancy comb, collapsible knuckle dusters, etc. Now with the advent of very hard synthetic materials, airport authorities are having a hard time trying to prevent the illegal spread of knuckle dusters. Sold online, these knuckle dusters are marketed as bullet proof, razor sharp, and invisible to metal detectors as well as security screeners because of their see-through design. Things can get bad if someone actually manages to wrap his fingers round one inside an airplane.

(Photo from Wikipedia)

Olga has risen to fame from humble beginnings. I guess the fashion industry and films are two environments where if you make it on looks you really have to thank your parents. As in Olga’s case, her healthy genes took her from Ukraine, where she shared accommodation with her aunt and uncle, grandparents and cousin, to France and then to Cuba for her very first modeling shoot. I don’t think I’ll ever manage a Cuban vacation in my entire life. Kurylenko has an impressive resume, she was already on the covers of Vogue and Elle. She’s modeled for top-name brands like Lejaby lingerie, Bebe clothing, Clarins and Helena Rubinstein and in between all she found time to do a nude scene in the Timothy Olyphant starrer Hitman.

Till date her most remarkable Hollywood appearance has been in Quantum of Solace where she plays the uber-sexy Bond girl Camille Montes. Olga has begun her climb to Hollywood stardom is probably one of the few genuine aspirants out there in the crowd free from the bothers of a pushy family and fake body parts.