More NEWS about ZAHIA DEHAR!

I am always incredibly happy to find more news about Zahia Dehar, the Bardot-esque French call girl who entertained a couple of noteworthy French soccer players when she was noteworthily only 16 (a legal non-non for the boys), and who has transformed her sex trade business into a fashion business with a large emphasis on the sex aspect of said business.   She's designing and selling some really on-the-edge lingerie, both in terms of design and the limited amount of actual fabric she employs

But why does this make me so happy?  Because usually anytime the Daily Mail reports on Zahia Dehar's latest entrepreneurial progress, the article is usually accompanied with several images of Zahia wearing something that shows off her non-financial assets.  

The next two articles, about her lingerie getting it's own French boutique and another about the lingerie getting sold in the USA, do not disappoint.  Especially the first one, in which Zahia appears to be wearing a translucent sheath decorated with strategically placed sequins.  I grabbed a shot to show what this means.  She also has an incredible mane of hair to go along with her somewhat extraordinary physique.

Zia Dehar attends launch of her Paris boutique wearing a see-through mesh dress

Zia Dehar set to sell risque 'couture' lingerie line in the U.S.

Just plain oo-la-wow

Think sequestration isn't hurting? Ask researchers

The Washington Post had a recent strange article in which they noted that many of the horror stories that were suggested could happen with sequestration haven't happened.  It was weird because one of the main reasons that they haven't happened is that Republicans have let slip the noose when it got tight on some of the issues, most notably with air traffic controllers.  And the article does note that military readiness is likely being impacted, but it isn't clearly obvious yet.

But one somewhat invisible (to the general public) sequestration impact is on science research.  This article from the Minnesota's Star Tribune describes what is happening at the University of Minnesota in terms of medical and biomedical research (and research in general in the U.S.).

There's a lot in this one:

The U [of Minnesota], for example, could lose $50 million of its $750 million federal research budget in the next couple of years.

and

The NIH, with an annual budget of about $30 billion, is the largest biomedical research organization in the world. Dr. Francis Collins, known for his leadership of the Human Genome Project, heads the NIH and recently warned a Senate subcommittee that countries such as China and India have been ramping up their investments in biomedical research while the NIH budget — essentially flatlined since 2003 — has seen inflation erode its purchasing power by about 22 percent.

The United States now spends less on R&D, as a percentage of its GDP, than Israel, Japan, Korea, Sweden and Switzerland, he said.

Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., said China increased its basic research budget by 26 percent last year and plans to spend $300 billion on biotechnology research over the next five years. In the United States, he said, “We risk losing a generation of scientists.”

and

Dr. Brian Herman, the U’s vice president of research, said other federal agencies also are slashing research budgets. He said NASA, for instance, is on pace to drop to its lowest level since 1988. The NSF’s budget declined 24 percent between 2009 and 2012.   [And in the mid-oughts Congress and the Prez made noise about doubling NSF's budget.]

 and

An assistant professor at the U’s medical school, who asked not to be identified, said she advises students to think hard before pursuing a career in academic research. The lab where she works with genetically engineered mice used to have 30 people, including grad students, post-docs and research associates, she said. Now it’s down to just two — and they are working for three-quarters’ salary because their latest grant request wasn’t funded and the U chose not to support the lab any longer.

This situation is pretty bad.  And in a few years a lot more people will realize it and wonder what happened.  I'll be able to say "I told you so", not that it will make me feel much better.

2:26 of Nina Agdal

Wow, just a few minutes after I posted about Nina Agdal in an article that doesn't have a video, I found this article that does.   And since it's YouTubed, I provide it below.


Music by Maroon 5.  Lead singer is the incredibly lucky Adam Levine, who is dating Nina after previously dating, consecutively, two other Victoria's Secret models.  There are some perks to being a rock star.

Run, Wendy, Run? She should stay a symbol

After her courageous filibuster, Texas state senator Wendy Davis has been suggested as a Democratic candidate to run against dangerous Governor Rick Perry.   She's thinking about it, according to this article.  She has name recognition now, and she stands for the right Democratic issues.

But according to this article, it would be a tough run against Perry.   He's got a big numbers advantage, he's been in the game for a long time, and  he has no qualms about saying bad things about other people, and then claiming that's not what he meant.  Texas is still predominantly a rural, Bible Belt, southern bastion of whitedom.   There are some eclectic and integrated urban pockets that have some Democrats, but over the whole state Republicans still have considerable advantages in numbers, and Perry is proving he knows what buttons to push to keep his base in line and on point.  Passing the abortion restriction bill will just keep his minions following him dutifully.

And while Perry is very far right, he's not been as audacious about it as Virginia governor candidate Ken "The Cooch" Cuccinelli, and that would probably mean that the big money supporters in Texas will be reliable supporters of Perry, which right now is not the case for Cuccinelli.

I'm thinking that Wendy Davis should try to stay where she is and act as a powerful symbol of what the Republicans are doing to oppress women's rights.   As has just been done in Ohio, where the Republicans have shown that they have no clothes, when they restricted access to contraception AND passed abortion clinic restrictions.  That's just plain scummy awful.

This is an example of how far the new laws in Ohio go:

Rape crisis clinics are also in jeopardy, thanks to passage of the new budget. If these clinics are caught counseling sexual assault victims about abortion, they could lose their public funding, Reuters reported.

The mind boggles.  But this is an excellent example of hard conservative Republicanism in action.

Helping the Red Knot by rescuing horseshoe crabs

The Red Knot, a shorebird, has been featured several times in nature documentaries both textual and video in which the marvels of migration are described.  The bird makes a very long migration every spring, and one of its most noted stops is on the shores of the Delaware Bay beaches.  After a long flight from South America, the hungry birds need food -- and so they time their arrival to coincide with the mating period of the horseshoe crab.   The crabs mate en masse right on the beach, so there are masses of horseshoe crab eggs in the sand, which the red knots gorge on during the stopover, then they finish their migration up to the Arctic.  A wonder of nature, to be sure.

But the red knot numbers have been going down, partly because horseshoe crab populations have been going done.  Though totally inedible from a human standpoint, they were being used as bait.  This got cut back by legislation, and now there's a program called "Re-Turn the Favor" in which the general population is being encouraged to flip over hapless horseshoe crabs whom waves or other actions have flipped onto their carapace back, and assist them in a return to the ocean.  In this manner losses due to accidental attrition in the horsheshoe crab population can be reduced.  

This is such a noble thing to do I may have to go do it myself one weekend.  And in the meantime I'll also do some boob, er, bird-watching at the same time.

Save me!  Save me!

A couple of things about Nina Agdal

I'll be following the career arc of Nina Agdal for awhile.    So here's a couple of very recent appearances. 

First, she's a bombshell in Galore magazine.  This picture-heavy publication features a lot of models.  And videos.   Nina doesn't have a video, but she does have a picture in a fabulous USA flag one-piece swimsuit (made more fabulous by her display of curves) and another picture in which it appears that the bottle of mustard got over-excited to be in her presence and got smeared all over the wiener.  Can't say that I blame it.  

The issue also has a feature with up-and-getting-noticed, much due to the "Blurred Lines" video, Emily Ratjakowski.    This has a video, complete with nipple flash and naked butt shot.  Probably NSFW, if I have to state the obvious, and the music is loud if you don't turn it down.   If you want more of her in toto, just find the "Blurred Lines" video on Vimeo -- the one with the mostly naked girls.

Back to Nina.  In a very recent post, I wondered if Nina would be the next Miranda Kerr for Victoria's Secret.  The Huffington Post wonders if Nina will be the next Kate Upton.  (It's actually a Splash video). Considering that Kate is definitely still at the top of her game, I don't think Nina will be a 'next' Kate Upton.  I think they'll be side by side for awhile.  Miranda is moving on from VS, so that's why I think in short order Nina will be one of the top five VS models.  I'm pretty sure that Nina will still be in the SI swimsuit issue a few more times.   That would put her in the Tyra Banks & Heidi Klum neighborhood.

Where did I know THAT guy from?

"The Dark Knight Rises" is playing in rotation on HBO now, and it allowed me to see it again, after seeing it  once in the theaters.  I kept wondering who the judge that "iced" all of the upper class was. Turns out that I remembered him from "Inception";  he was the target that the dream team (ha) was trying to influence.  Christopher Nolan does like to keep his acting friends close.

Actor's name is Cillian Murphy.  He also had a role in "Batman Begins", and he is actually reprising that role in "The Dark Knight Rises", but I've only seen glimpses of "Batman Begins".    Also had a significant role in "In Time".

He's got some seriously intense eyes.   And he's married with two kids.