Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Lingerie

Even though lingerie is no longer an item that most consumers are embarrassed to shop for, there are still some buyers who aren't certain what a baby doll is or just what a garter belt does. This guide will help those who are too shy to ask exactly what an item is.

Baby Doll - This is my personal favorite type of lingerie. There are so many styles, colors, and materials that can be used on a baby doll. Most of them are cute and flouncy for the playful chic. Most baby dolls are two piece sets that consist of a short, empire waist tops that end at your derriere and undies (thongs, g-strings, full seat panties, etc.).

Bikini - Bikini bottoms provide full coverage on the rear and sexy strings on the side. You can get loose or figure hugging bikinis in many types of material.

Boy Shorts - These are one of the newest fads among the lingerie industry. They are like tap pants only they fit snuggly and shape your derriere in a sexy fashion. They offer full coverage on the sides and full or partial coverage in the rear. For those of us with less than perfect bodies, boy shorts are a must!

Bra Set - A short name for a brassiere which covers, supports, and elevates your breasts. Bras are worn for modesty and often present an aura of femininity. Bras are designed to lift the breast for a more youthful look and often give the wearer more cleavage. Bra set simply means that the bra has matching panties.

Bustier - Most bustiers reach only to the ribs or waist. Its main purpose is to push up the bust by tightening the upper midriff and forcing the breasts upward. The bustier doubles as a push-up bra for inner wear and a camisole for outer wear.

Cami Set - Otherwise known as camisoles. A camisole is more or less an undershirt for a woman. It can be worn under thin dressy blouses or as a sexy addition to a pantsuit. Most camisoles are paired with tap pants and can be used as cute pajamas.
 
Chemise - Chemises have a more tailored look and are longer than baby dolls. The top usually has thin straps that give your shoulders a slimming, sexy look. The A-line shape of the chemise flatters most every figure out there so you can't go wrong when buying a chemise. Most chemises are one piece but sometimes you'll find matching undies to go along with them, it depends on the manufacturer and style. Chemises range from solids to florals in mostly silky and lacy materials.

Corset - One of the sexiest lingerie articles out there! A corset generally has boning that cinches in your waist and gives you a gorgeous, curvy silhouette. Some corsets are difficult to wear. If this is your first lingerie buying experience, I'd suggest getting one that doesn't have a lot of boning and hooks in the front rather than the back. A lot of women are now wearing corsets to go clubbing or for a night on the town.

Garter Belt - A garter belt is a piece of fabric that wraps around your hips and usually has four straps - one for the front and back of each leg. These straps help hold up stockings which are used to complete a lingerie outfit. The proper way to put on this ensemble is to attach your stockings first and then put on your undies. The reason for this will be obvious with your first visit to the bathroom.

G-string - There is absolutely no coverage if you choose a g-string. There is barely any material between the legs and buttocks which gives us the term "string". I wouldn't suggest a g-string if you don't want most of your private areas exposed.

Peignoir - A dressing gown of very thin material. Usually comes with matching robe. Perfect for lounging around in. French translation "garment worn while combing hair".

Teddy - A one piece garment that serves as bra and panty. Generally has high cut lets and a thong back. Often adorned with lace or ribbon. Most are designed to slip off from the shoulders, rather than to open at the crotch.

Thong - A thong gives you very little coverage in the front with string sides and a T shape in the rear. There is almost no coverage to your derriere. Thongs are generally worn to combat panty lines. Some women have even taken thongs to the next level by letting the T shape sneak above their low rise jeans. This is definitely sexy if you dare!

Red Wine anybody?

If you're an oenophile -- especially one who prefers a cabernet or merlot over a chardonnay or riesling -- you've got an increasing number of scientists in your corner. Turns out, according to extensive recent research, that red wine appears to deliver some serious health benefits along with the pleasure of its taste. It also could help any would-be mineral prospectors among you (more on that at the end).

So what new scientific findings back regular, moderate consumption of red wine? Consider these:

It might help fight cancer. Researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center this month published a study that found that resveratrol, a natural antioxidant in grape skins and red wine, can help kill cancer cells in the pancreas. The antioxidant apparently works by crippling the workings of the mitochondria that provide cancer cells with energy.

It could reduce complications from diabetes. Red wine's resveratrol appears to help fight such diabetes-related complications as heart disease and certain kidney and eye problems, according to a study from the Peninsula Medical School in the South West of England. The antioxidant seems to protect against blood vessel cell damage caused by a diabetic's high levels of blood glucose. "Resveratrol's antioxidant effects in the test tube are well documented but our research shows the link between high levels of glucose, its damaging effect on cell structure, and the ability of resveratrol of protect against and mend that damage," said principal researcher Matt Whiteman.

It might delay the onset of Alzheimer's disease. The polyphenols in grape juice and red wine show some ability to fight the accumulation of the brain plaques associated with Alzheimer's, according to research from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. The polyphenols appear to work by reducing the accumulation of the beta-amyloid peptides that form the plaques.
It could help prevent heart disease. The polyphenols found in grapes, red wine and green tea seem to encourage blood vessel growth that can benefit the circulatory system and heart, a team of French researchers reported in a recent issue of the Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology. Even low doses equivalent to one glass of red wine per day appeared to provide health benefits, the team found.

It might fight food poisoning. Red wines -- especially cabernets, merlots and zinfandels -- appear to have anti-microbial powers that kill the bugs that cause food-borne illnesses, according to research from the University of Missouri-Columbia. Red wine showed the ability to fight pathogens that included E. coli, salmonella, listeria and Helicobacter pylori, the study found.
 
It could also increase Libido and put everybody in the mood. Enough said here.

Finally, if you're hunting for metals and have any wine to spare, you could have a leg up on finding natural mineral deposits. An exploration and mining scientist at Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation recently found that wine or soft drinks, when mixed with soil, can dissolve
natural metals into solution, making it easy to test for local mineral deposits. The beverages seem to work best at hunting down minerals like silver, zinc, copper and nickel. "In many cases, the comparison of metals extracted using wine and soft drink were superior than those extracted using conventional, and much more expensive, commercial solvents," said one researcher.

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Google Chrome

Google Chrome, a new web browser released today to compete with Microsoft Explorer, Mozilla, Firefox, Safari and others. I've beta tested with IE 8 and I was not particularly happy with the bug I found. Let's see if Google's first ever browser will be better or worse.

I immediately tried to load my Project Mobius web site up to see if something funny would happy. I assumed it was because Flash plug-in wasn't installed for this browser. While downloading, I went to this blog page for a quick test. The page loaded fine it seemed, but there was a popup that disappeared way before I was able to read the sentence which was really annoying. If the message was meant to be displayed for a mere half a second, why even bother? After refreshing the page and trying to read the error message word by word. I managed to figure out that it was complaining about addition plug-in (again related to the Flash plug-in) was required to display some elements on the page and those elements were shown at the bottom left of the page. The problem was fixed right away after installing the Flash plug-in.

Overall in terms of user interface, its almost like using any other browsers out there. Even the buttons look similar although the placements are slightly different but you will never be in a situation where you cannot find a particular function, well most of the time. I actually prefer the button placements for Chrome over IE8 Beta because in IE8 Beta, the Favorites button is located right next to the Refresh button with little space in between. Where as in Chrome, there is at least some space between the two buttons. It has the Favorites or the bookmarks bar just below the location bar much like in IE8 Beta which I dislike (I hid it right away). Chrome can also have the option to hide the entire bar along with the double arrows. I would rather have the double arrows remain there like IE8 Beta, instead of pressing Ctrl+B to toggle the entire bookmarks bar section on and off. But overall I think Chrome is very clean, a little bit too plain I should say. They should work on the top frame because I am not feeling the plain blue bar at all.
 
I opened a new tab by clicking the little plus sign and it displayed pages I've visited. I could also see a full history and delete a certain day's history similar to IE. Would be nice if there's a button somewhere on the page to go back to the previous page instead of always clicking the Back button on the top left. Sorry just being a little picky here.

One minor problem I encountered was when I mouse overed the title, it would not be displayed as a clickable link because somehow I'm guessing its still referencing the top layer when the two div tags were too close to each other, as with my blog's navigation links and the newest entry's title link. , which was the navigation links. I couldn't even select the text from that title.

I only use the basic functions during web surfing such as finding a particular text on a page, going back to previous pages, bookmarking interesting places and etc. I don't see why I would switch from one of the existing browsers over to Chrome as I'm a very casual web browsing user. But one thing for certain is that, Chrome's stability is much higher than that of IE which I had problems with while testing IE8 Beta. I definitely will look forward to future releases of Google Chrome.

For more information, please visit the learn more page on Google.