Obama's Schedule June 1

10:00 AM	The President meets with the House Republican Conference East Room Closed Press
11:30 AM	The President receives the annual briefing on the forecast for the 2011 hurricane season Situation Room Closed Press
2:15 PM	The President meets with senior advisors Oval Office Closed Press
4:00 PM	The President meets with Secretary of State Clinton Oval Office Closed Press

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Anne Curtis and Jasmine Curtis-Smith on the cover of Meg Magazine June 2011

Anne Curtis and her Sister Jasmine Curtis-Smith in the cover of MEG Magazine 13th anniversary issue.

Magazine topics included are "150+ shopping picks," "Tips in updating your wardrobes with blazers, cropped tops, shorts and statement necklaces," "How to wear oriental details ,choachella looks, doe eyes," etc. Plus features on famous celebrities like Good Charlotte, The Script, Nigel Baker, J. Alexander and MEG's 25 young achievers rock "Human" hottest pieces.

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Lovi Poe In Sense & Style For June 2011

After the cover in Preview Magazine with the girls of Temptation Island. Now Lovi Poe grab the cover for Sense & Style Magazine June 2011 Issue.

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NATIONAL ENDURO BATTLE RESUMES

Words & Pic by Andy McGechan

Tokoroa’s Sean Clarke (Yamaha)

Nearly three months have passed since the elite of the nation’s off-road motorcycle community last went head-to-head for New Zealand Enduro Championship glory.

The competition resumes this weekend with the fifth round of six in this year’s Yamaha New Zealand Enduro Championships in the Riverhead Forest, near Auckland, and the racing on Sunday is sure to sort the protagonists from the pretenders.

With three outright wins in a row, Taupo’s Rory Mead is edging ever closer to the national motorcycling title that he last held in 2009.

After the fourth round of the series near Whangarei in March, the 24-year-old Mead (Yamaha YZ450F) put himself a comfortable 11 points ahead of his nearest rival, Auckland’s Karl Power (Honda CRF450).

In addition to winning the Whangarei event outright and firming his grip on the title, Mead also moved to within just a few points of taking over the lead in the over-300cc four-stroke class, the advantage there currently held by Tauranga’s Reece Burgess.

Other riders likely to step up this weekend include Hokianga brothers Mitchell and Damon Nield, who finished fourth and fifth overall respectively at the previous round, while Burgess and Auckland trio Sam Greenslade, Michael Skinner and Caleb Van Dragt should also feature.

Tokoroa’s Sean Clarke is top of the veterans’ class and, as a many time former national champion and former International Six Days Enduro medal winner, he can never be counted out.

The sixth and final round of the Yamaha-sponsored series is set for Taupo on July 2.

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White House Press Briefing May 31

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Biden Heads to Italy

From the White House:

Vice President Joe Biden and Dr. Jill Biden have departed en route Rome, Italy, to lead the Presidential Delegation to the Celebration of the 150th Anniversary of the Unification of Italy on Thursday, June 2nd.

While in Rome, Vice President Biden will meet with Italian President Giorgio Napolitano and Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to discuss the full range of bilateral and regional issues, as well as how the United States and Europe can work together to help meet the global challenges we face. Vice President Biden and Prime Minister Berlusconi will also participate in a trilateral lunch meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. In addition, Vice President Biden will meet with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili.

The Bidens will also visit with tri-mission staff from the U.S. Embassy to Italy, U.S. Embassy to the Holy See, and U.S. Mission to the United Nations Agencies in Rome.

On Saturday, the Vice President and Dr. Biden will visit with U.S. service members and their families in Naples, Italy, and deliver remarks at an event with U.S. and NATO forces and their families. Afterwards, the Bidens will return to Washington, DC.

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MCGUINNESS SETS IOM PACE

John McGuinness again set he pace during Tuesday evening's qualifying sesssions at this year's Isle of Man TT meeting.

The riders were out at 6.30pm with Michael Dunlop and Guy Martin first to leave the line, Martin on the Superbike and Dunlop on the Supersport machine. Cameron Donald and Gary Johnson were the next pairing to go, swiftly followed by Ryan Farquhar, Bruce Anstey, Keith Amor and Dan Stewart. All were Superbike mounted as was Adrian Archibald out for the first time on a brand new ZX-10R Kawasaki. Fifteen time race winner John McGuinness was in the 8th pairing away.

Johnson was the first man back at 127.71mph just ahead of Martin at 126.325mph, followed by Donald at 125.05 and Anstey at 126.24. Amor and Stewart were slightly slower at 125.9mph and 125.8mph whilst McGuinness moved up to second quickest on 126.975mph.

Meanwhile, Dunlop was the fastest 600 with a lap of 123.59mph followed by James Hillier on 118.415mph and Luis Carreira on 118.402. Conor Cummins was also improving steadily, breaking the 120mph at 120.203mph. McGuinness clocked the quickest time through the Sulby speed trap at 190.6mph

Most of the main contenders were able to complete 5 laps during the session with Donald putting in a late flyer of 128.08mph on his Superbike.

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Herman Cain's Music Video

Maybe you haven't heard of Herman Cain. He is another republican running for president. The chorus goes a little something like this: "Heeerrrmannnnnn Cain. Get on board the Herman Cain train." I kid you not:

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#Radioactive Strontium from Soil Within 10 Kilometers of #Fukushima I Nuke Plant

A slow dribbling of information on the extent of radiation contamination, so that people in Japan don't connect the dots and figure out that their soil, water, ocean have probably been contaminated beyond repair.

It took the Ministry of Education and Science one month to announce the test result, just like when it announced the result for the locations 30 kilometers away from the plant back in mid April.

Asahi Shinbun (6/1/2011):

文部科学省は３１日、福島第一原発から１０キロ圏内の大熊町、双葉町の４カ所の土壌から、半減期が約２９年と長い放射性物質ストロンチウム９０が検出されたと発表した。

The Ministry of Education and Science announced on May 31 that the radioactive strontium-90 was detected from the soil samples at 4 locations in Okuma-machi and Futaba-machi, the towns located inside the 10-kilometer radius from Fukushima I Nuke Plant.

　土壌は４月２９日～５月１日に採取した。原発から西南西約２キロの大熊町夫沢では、１キロあたり最大で６８ベクレルが検出された。他の３カ所では ２．５～１２ベクレルだった。半減期が約５０日と短いストロンチウム８９も４カ所で出ており、過去の核実験によるものではなく、第一原発から放出されたも のとみられる。ストロンチウムの土壌での基準はないが、体内に入ると骨にたまる傾向がある。

The samples were taken from April 29 to May 1. At Ottozawa district of Okuma-machi, located 2 kilometers west by southwest of the plant, 68 becquerels/kilogram strontium-90 was detected. At the other 3 locations, it was 2.5 to 12 becquerels/kilogram. Strontium-89, whose half life is 50 days, was also detected at all 4 locations. They are thought to have come from Fukushima I Nuke Plant, not from the past nuclear tests. There is no standard on the amount of strontium in the soil. Strontium tends to accumulate in the bones once ingested.

　文科省が３月中旬に浪江町と飯舘村の土壌を採取したときは、最大で１キロあたり３２ベクレルが出た。東京電力が４月中旬に第一原発の敷地内で採取した土からは約５７０ベクレルが検出されている。

When the Ministry tested the samples taken at Namie-machi and Iitate-mura in mid March, the maximum amount of strontium detected was 32 becquerels/kilogram. From the sample that TEPCO took in mid April at Fukushima I Nuke Plant, 570 becquerels/kilogram strontium was detected.

The result of this particular test has been uploaded at the Ministry's site (image is below), but it is not just strontium that they found. They also found:

• Cesium-136 (half-life 13 days);
• Tellurium-129m (half-life 33.6 days)
  
• Uranium-234, -235, -238;
• Plutonium-239 and 240 (at three locations)

The Ministry believes uranium there is naturally occurring, and plutonium is from the past nuclear tests.

More about → #Radioactive Strontium from Soil Within 10 Kilometers of #Fukushima I Nuke Plant

RéVive Skin Care - and a Delightful Day at Neiman Marcus

I had a re-introduction to RéVive skin care about a week ago. I planned my Saturday around the treat. It was an enjoyable encounter in every way. Neiman Marcus at Tysons Galleria invited me to meet and consult with John Wesley Gates, the company's regional sales manager and skin-care guru, and, if that weren't enough, have a complimentary facial.

I call the afternoon with RéVive a re-introduction for a couple of reasons, not the least of which is the company's well-known, dedicated following - one I've recognized for years. I have friends who say RéVive changed their lives - all because the products changed their skin so remarkably. One friend, Carol, started using RéVive many years ago. There are a couple of things you need to know about Carol to put this story in perspective. She's extremely smart, but she's also wisely frugal. She manages her money a lot better than I do! When Carol started using samples provided by RéVive, she noticed an instant improvement in her skin. She started buying and using select RéVive products, and she has never looked back.

More recently, my friend Kathy Shoreman, an aesthetician, went to work at Neiman Marcus. She started using RéVive - and raving about it. Kathy is a skin-care expert, so I took notice - for the second time. I could see the difference in her beautiful skin. I purchased a few products to try and became intensely curious about the whole line. I did a little research - available to everyone online - to find out more about the miracle potions that earn such loyalty.

Who is the genius behind RéVive? Skin care pioneer and noted plastic surgeon Dr. Gregory Bays Brown established a research laboratory to conduct a $2 million study on wound healing. In his research, he discovered a bioengineered molecule called Epidermal Growth Factor (EGF) that dramatically accelerated burn and wound healing in test subjects. The defining moment came when Dr. Brown discovered that the EGF molecule was the same molecule that regenerated aging skin. He was convinced that the only way women could get what they really wanted (the healthy skin of their youth) was at the molecular level with EGF. Dr. Brown was immediately inspired to set up a clinical laboratory within the research unit to validate his findings and to pioneer a face cream with this "youth molecule," EGF. Dr. Brown was the first doctor to apply the bioengineered version of EGF into skin care. He wanted to give women an alternative to the knife, today's overused face lift. He launched RéVive to the public in 1997.

Dr. Brown's first cosmeceutical product, the one that started the RéVive revolution and roped in my friend Carol, was RéVive Moisturizing Renewal Cream (shown above). This powerful perfecting cream, which contains EGF, gives all faces the legendary RéVive Glow - quickly. It's a remarkable moisturizer. In addition to his powerful EGF, Dr. Brown has started to incorporate peptides into his products, as they also gain a reputation as effective skin renewal ingredients.

Back to my afternoon at Neiman Marcus... I arrived to a consultation with John Gates, who was welcoming, charming, and impressively knowledgeable. He asked me what I thought about my skin's condition. I told him I was concerned about the "expression lines" around my eyes and my nasolabial folds (those so-called smile lines). After I had my knee replacement, I lost weight (and I was thin before the surgery!). When I lost weight, I lost volume in my face, exacerbating or magnifying to my eye any signs of age I had before the new knee was installed. After I told John what I thought, I turned the tables and asked him to tell me what he saw. He saw the nasolabial folds around my mouth and told me that RéVive had a miracle product for me, Intensité Volumizing Serum. John told me it has a loyal following - it's one of RéVive's cult products. I was ready to try it! First, though, I had to have my fabulous facial.

Nahid Ellini took me to a private room with soothing music, where I was treated to champagne (as if I needed an excuse to relax) before and during my facial. Give me champagne, and I'm putty. Nahid was an expert, telling me about the products she was using - at my prompting. I think she may have used half the line on me, but she knew I was curious about everything. When our time was up, I looked in a mirror and saw a younger, fresher, happier me.

I went back upstairs to chat with John again and work with Anna Befanis, the RéVive Product Specialist, to decide what I would purchase that day. I selected a couple of things. I had already purchased the new Moisturizing Renewal Eye Cream ($130), so I decided to try the Eye Renewal Cream ($110) too. Anna will tell you that you can use the Eye Renewal Cream over, under, and around the eyes, while you should limit the Moisturizing Renewal Eye Cream to your under-eye area. That's what I've been doing.

I also decided to try a few other products that day - all of which I will feature over the next few weeks. I like to use a skin-care product for at least three weeks before I write about it. While our skin cells take longer to completely refresh, I can usually tell if a product is working after three weeks. Stay tuned for many more RéVive features.

I left with samples of Intensité Volumizing Serum ($315) to use as a spot treatment on my nasolabial folds. I've used it morning and night for 10 days. I saw an improvement - my lines are not as deep and noticeable - in only one week! This product is a keeper. It's worth every cent of the $315.

How does it work? According to RéVive, it offers two major types of treatment.

• KGF (Keratinocyte Growth Factor): A potent molecule that improves the skin's appearance after loss of facial volume. Its dynamic activity allows for a "dialogue with the skin" that contributes to the appearance of increased volume after several weeks.
• Antioxidants: A powerful anti-radical defense system that shields against pollution and skin stressors. An added Brightening Complex helps even out skin tone.

Would I recommend Intensité Volumizing Serum? Absolutely! If you want to learn more about the ingredients in RéVive skin care, check out their cleverly titled page Meet the Molecules.

I came home with terrycloth RéVive slippers to continue my pampering, a gift with purchase, and a few extra goodies Anna wanted me to try. Meanwhile, I'm looking younger and younger.

If you want to try RéVive's products, the company is generous with samples. Samples sell the products. You can purchase RéVive skin care at the company's Web site, Neiman Marcus, and Saks. You can find all retail locations at this link. Do your homework. After all, RéVive's motto is Research, Renewal, and Results!

Photos courtesy of RéVive

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IAEA Experts Investigated #Fukushima I Accident for 10 Days, Ready to Report and Praise the Japanese Government

So the IAEA's team of nuclear experts arrived on May 23 on a 10-day mission to figure out what happened at Fukushima I Nuke Plant, and they're now done and ready to report.

As reported in Mainichi Shinbun Japanese, the IAEA report will state the obvious, nothing new, nothing to contradict what TEPCO and the Japanese government have been insisting. And a generous praise for the Japanese government.

The IAEA findings to be included in their report, from Mainishi Shinbun Japanese (2:50AM JST 6/1/2011):

• Danger of tsunami was underestimated. People who build nuclear power plants and people who operate the plants should factor in the impact of "natural disasters" more;

• Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (regulatory agency for the nuclear industry) should be more independent;

• Initial response should be better thought out;

• Hydrogen is dangerous;

• Dedicated and determined skilled workers at the plant;

• TEPCO's "roadmap" needs to be revised as the situation develops, and some form of international cooperation may be possible;

• The international community should learn from the Fukushima I accident as a lesson on nuclear safety.

And

• The Japanese government's response to the accident has been "wonderful and well-organized".

No kidding. The IAEA had better inform the residents of Japan about that very quickly; they may already have gotten some funny ideas about the effectiveness of their government in dealing with the on-going nuclear crisis.

The IAEA team is scheduled to visit the Prime Minister's Residence on June 1, and hand the report to the Prime Minister.

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TEPCO Now Has #Fukushima I Live Camera

It's "live" with 30 seconds delay.

The "live" camera replaced the good old "Fukuichi" camera that was a still shot every hour.

The camera is set at about 250 meters northwest of the Reactor 1. The image is black and white, and you see mostly the Reactors 1 and 2. You do see what's left of the Reactor 3 and the Reactor 4, but for those reactors TBS/JNN's live camera is much better.

Here's the link to TEPCO's live camera (or click on the image):

http://www.tepco.co.jp/nu/f1-np/camera/

Here's the link to TBS/JNN live camera, again (I have a tiny embed of the video on this blog, to the right): http://youtu.be/FptmoVcgpqg

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Ambrose Evans-Pritchard: "Chinese Are Going for the Safe, Thorium Reactors, and They Are Doing Mankind a Favour"

The Telegraph's commentator also thinks, along with many nuke proponents that inhabit the world, that "there has never been a verifiable death" in the West from the nuclear power. (I suppose he doesn't include Russia as part of the West.)

Right.

In his own words, from The Telegraph 3/20/2011 right before he headed off to the Mayan Highlands:

Safe nuclear does exist, and China is leading the way with thorium

A few weeks before the tsunami struck Fukushima’s uranium reactors and shattered public faith in nuclear power, China revealed that it was launching a rival technology to build a safer, cleaner, and ultimately cheaper network of reactors based on thorium.

This passed unnoticed –except by a small of band of thorium enthusiasts – but it may mark the passage of strategic leadership in energy policy from an inert and status-quo West to a rising technological power willing to break the mould.

If China’s dash for thorium power succeeds, it will vastly alter the global energy landscape and may avert a calamitous conflict over resources as Asia’s industrial revolutions clash head-on with the West’s entrenched consumption.

China’s Academy of Sciences said it had chosen a “thorium-based molten salt reactor system”. The liquid fuel idea was pioneered by US physicists at Oak Ridge National Lab in the 1960s, but the US has long since dropped the ball. Further evidence of Barack `Obama’s “Sputnik moment”, you could say.

Chinese scientists claim that hazardous waste will be a thousand times less than with uranium. The system is inherently less prone to disaster.

Ah. China is known for its safety records for sure.

“The reactor has an amazing safety feature,” said Kirk Sorensen, a former NASA engineer at Teledyne Brown and a thorium expert.

“If it begins to overheat, a little plug melts and the salts drain into a pan. There is no need for computers, or the sort of electrical pumps that were crippled by the tsunami. The reactor saves itself,” he said.

“They operate at atmospheric pressure so you don’t have the sort of hydrogen explosions we’ve seen in Japan. One of these reactors would have come through the tsunami just fine. There would have been no radiation release.”

Then why aren't the nuke reactors in the world thorium-based, by now? Evans-Pritchard says it's because thorium cannot be made into weapons:

US physicists in the late 1940s explored thorium fuel for power. It has a higher neutron yield than uranium, a better fission rating, longer fuel cycles, and does not require the extra cost of isotope separation.

The plans were shelved because thorium does not produce plutonium for bombs.

Evans-Pritchard further says western-lifestyle needs nuclear power, and no one has died from nuclear power:

I write before knowing the outcome of the Fukushima drama, but as yet none of 15,000 deaths are linked to nuclear failure. Indeed, there has never been a verified death from nuclear power in the West in half a century. Perspective is in order.

We cannot avoid the fact that two to three billion extra people now expect – and will obtain – a western lifestyle. China alone plans to produce 100m cars and buses every year by 2020.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said the world currently has 442 nuclear reactors. They generate 372 gigawatts of power, providing 14pc of global electricity. Nuclear output must double over twenty years just to keep pace with the rise of the China and India.

And his parting shot:

So the Chinese will soon lead on this thorium technology as well as molten-salts. Good luck to them. They are doing Mankind a favour. We may get through the century without tearing each other apart over scarce energy and wrecking the planet.

This is my last column for a while. I am withdrawing to the Mayan uplands.

As the Fukushima I Nuke Plant accident has made abundantly clear to many people (clearly Evans-Pritchard is not one of them), it is the human errors that make up the accident - from the design of the reactor and the plant, fitting the pipes that don't fit, hiding the condition of the degrading parts and equipments and structures and the regulatory agency who helps the operator to hide them, to name only a few.

It doesn't quite matter how safe thorium is, when the most dangerous and unpredictable component of all is the humans.

More about → Ambrose Evans-Pritchard: "Chinese Are Going for the Safe, Thorium Reactors, and They Are Doing Mankind a Favour"

Obama to Name John Bryson to Head Commerce

Obama is expected to make the announcement at 1:15 pm ET, according to CBS's Mark Knoller. Bryson will replace Gary Locke, who's replacing Jon Huntsman as the ambassador to China. Bryson's bio:

John E. Bryson, 67, serves as Senior Advisor to Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR) and is Retired Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, Edison International. Mr. Bryson was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Edison International (an electric power generator and distributor), the parent company of Southern California Edison and Edison Mission Group from 1990 to 2008. He has been a director of The Boeing Company since 1995, is a non-executive chairman of the board of BrightSource Energy, Inc. and of the board of overseers of Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, and is a trustee of the California Institute of Technology, a director of the W.M. Keck Foundation and the California Endowment, and was a director of Western Asset Income Fund from 1986 to 2006. Mr. Bryson has been a Director of the Company since 2000.

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Yasmin Brunet

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No.97, AskMen's Top 99 Women 2010 Edition

Why She's No.97

Sasha Grey

votesBuzz up!Shortly after her 18th birthday in 2006, Sasha Grey moved to L.A., determined to enter the porn industry. Grey found her agent Mark Spiegler through the internet and was soon filming her first scene for Fashionistas Safado: The Challenge for director John Stagliano.


Grey finished her first year in the adult film industry $200,000 richer with an award from the X-Rated Critics' Organization for Best New Starlet. In three years, Grey made over 100 adult movies, posed as a Penthouse Pet of the Month, opened her own L.A. Factory Girls agency, and was named 2008's Female Performer of the Year, according to both XRCO and the Adult Video News. Why so successful? Some of it was her willingness to look at the camera and "connect" with viewers, and a big part of it was her flat-out fearlessness about what she would do on camera. While some (like Tyra Banks) cried degradation, Sasha Grey cried feminism and argued that it was her idea.

In 2008, Oscar-winning director Steven Soderbergh was in the early stages of a new film called The Girlfriend Experience, about a high-class call girl in New York City. Impressed with her stated desire to try "regular" acting, Soderbergh cast her and the film was screened at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. While additional roles followed in the horror-comedy Smash Cut and the drama Quit, Grey hopes to restrict her non-adult acting to independent films -- in keeping with her tastes.








source: askmen

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Two sets of Bang Eun Young

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Cosplay

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Korean Pretty Girl Han Ga Eun Cute Photos-Enjoyed Meeting You.

More about → Korean Pretty Girl Han Ga Eun Cute Photos-Enjoyed Meeting You.