Women Life Style

The 87-year- old British Novelist Doris Lessing won the Nobel Prize for literature, proving an official wrong, who had once remarked about her inefficiency to do so. Ironically, she found out about her prestigious award from a reporter who was waiting outside her house. She was delighted at being the chosen one, and revealed that having won literally all the prizes in Europe, this addition gave her the ‘royal flush’.

Doris sat talking to the media persons on her front door step, with the phone ringing behind her continuously. She informed how she had taken her son to the hospital and then was in the Heath, and was unaware of the prize, but was glad that now people would buy her books. She initially mistook the television crew for photographing the street for some television soap, and was quite surprised to know that she was the actual center of attraction. So, finally she would be earning good money, she stated casually!

Bradford & Bingley Bank have come up with their recent survey, which they carried out in Britain, covering more than 1000 women, 35 to 44 years of age. The results concluded that only 58% of women were ‘very happy’ with the choice of hubbies.

Cases of drink driving are not new to all of us. As such cases show a surging trend, the number of women found guilty of the same has been soaring, while there has been a slight fall in the percentage of guilty men.

Since mid-90s the figures show a 58 % increase in convictions of female drivers for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. It is women rather than men who put their license at risk by getting behind the wheel after consuming liquor and among them it is young females.

Men have recorded a 0.25 % fall in the offense during the same period.

1995 figures point towards 6,793 female drivers found guilty of drink driving, whereas male numbers were an astounding 85,693. In 2004, the number of women found guilty had reached 10,765 compared with 85,473 men.

Driving under alcohol influence is socially unacceptable, as it causes hundreds of deaths each year. Government statistics suggest a 6% increase in the number of people killed in drink-drive accidents since the late 1990s.

The growing use of speed cameras to maintain road safety has been proposed as a regulatory measure.

The British Government is considering reducing the drink-drive limit from 80mgs of alcohol in 100mls of blood to 50mgs, which would bring Britain into line with several other EU countries.

Campaigns against drunken driving have traditionally targeted young men, however the current situation that a different strategy is necessary that would focus drink driving campaigns not only on men but also women.

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Via: Telegraph

At last, the much awaited space shuttle, Atlantis, carrying Sunita Williams, the star icon of millions of people across the globe, touched down at the Edwards Air Force Base in California. The successful landing was not less than an event to celebrate, especially to the people in India as well as abroad.

No sooner than images of the successful landing flashed onto the television screens, her relatives in Ahmedabad city (India), ‘broke into cheers and hugged each other’.

Vitthal Pandya, Williams’ uncle was overjoyed, It feels great, absolutely great. It feels like I have won. Even better than if I had done it. We are very happy that Sunita has returned safely, he told NDTV.


Created a new world record

The space shuttle landed 1.19 am (IST) on Saturday, after the cancelation of three earlier owing to bad weather. It was next to impossible to make the shuttle land in rain otherwise thousands of black ceramics, which were shielding its underside from the scorching heat of re-entry through the atmosphere would have been damaged.

Not only she created a new record by staying in space for a time period of 194 days but turned out to be the world’s most experienced woman walker in space on February 4 with four excursions clocking over 29 hours, 17 minutes to top Kathy Thornton’s 21-hour space walking record.

Williams’ space journey began Dec 9 with the launch of Atlantis. The shuttle blasted off June 8 to fetch Williams and install new solar power panels aboard the International Space Station.

Larissa Meek, a former model and actress, is an Art Director at the award winning web design firm known as AgencyNet. She competed in the Miss USA ‘01 and Miss Teen USA ‘97 pageants. The genre of art captivated her while watching cartoons and doing crafts with her mother because she couldn’t afford to go in for physical activities- when she was a little girl- as it could trigger her asthma but now fortunately, she’s free from it. In 1998, after getting scholarship from the arts department in St. Louis, she decided to take a plunge in 3D Animation. And then there was no looking back... scroll down to know how!

1. Who is Larissa Meek in flesh and blood?

Larissa: I love technology but it doesn’t define me. I’m an artist at heart. I may seem shy because I like to observe and take things in. I observe and create.

2. Who are some of your biggest influences?

Larissa: In life: My Mom and Dad, my grade school art teacher and God.

In Art: Picasso, Jody Hewgill and Walt Disney.

On the web: Veerle Pieters, Moxie Design Studios and Dooce

3. How was your experience with 3D Animation?

Larissa: When I was a child, I always dreamt of becoming an animator. After seeing ‘Toy Story’ I decided to study 3D in college but the timing was weird. I found that very few schools offered decent 3D animation programs. Software was costly and computers even more so. If only I had been a few years younger (*sigh*) - but 3D animation is what led me to the web. I created my first web site to showcase my 3D work and my modeling portfolio. I ended up purchasing a computer which was worth more than my car so that I could continue my studies. It is now obsolete but I still have it as a trophy.

4. After becoming the 4th runner up at Miss USA in 2001, you landed up at no man’s land hence, you launched your first website, as a way to promote your 3D skills, selling artwork and showcasing your modeling portfolio. How far did you reach in this attempt?

Larissa: It’s funny, because I was at a point in life where I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I could have continued modeling but I wanted to do something more satisfying- something with my mind. I didn’t have any experience in the web when I created my first site. I just wanted to make something witty and I didn’t care about loading times or compression... And um, the bandwidth charges were a bummer. Too bad YouTube wasn’t around back then to host my 3D animation reels.

5. Would you like to share your experience, which you encountered during the television show ‘Average Joe: Hawaii’?

Larissa: Wow, where do I start? It was the best and worst experience of my life. I feel weird talking about it because it wasn’t ‘reality’. I lived in a vacuum during filming. Everyone on the show became hyper- sensitive because their sense of reality was distorted. I had a blast, but it was difficult to watch the edited version - to see how the rest of the world perceived the experience.

6. Larissa, what are your other interests besides your work? How are you able to snatch out time for so many things? I would appreciate if you can share your working and lifestyle with us.

Larissa: I can’t sit still... I don’t watch much TV or if I do I’m on my laptop. This is my life. I love to learn and I love to create.

7. Where do you see yourself, let’s say, five years from now?

Larissa: I’d like to see AgencyNet change the face of advertising and for me to be a huge contributor to that movement... Mostly, I just feel really thankful that I get to do something I love. I look forward to going to work every day. I hope to continue being a creative professional.

8. Any parting words of wisdom, you’d like to give to our readers?

Larissa: You don’t have to know everything. Just be passionate and work hard. I think one of the biggest challenges of our medium is keeping up with changes in technology and knowing various aspects from programming to design - not to mention the various intricacies of Flash and Standards based sites... It’s a daunting task.
As long as you are passionate and have dreams under your belt - you can do anything.

9. Finally, we would like to have your thoughts on the Instablogs News Network and all its related sites. Which one is your favorite?

Larissa: My favorite part is the web 2.0 channel because of the variety of content and broad representation of the ambiguous term ‘Web 2.0′.

Some relaxing question to follow:

1. Describe yourself in one word?

Larissa: Observant.

2. What kind of music do you prefer?

Larissa: A variety - I like to mix it up.

3. What is the best moment of a day?

Larissa: Bedtime - I love that half asleep half dreaming state.

4. If given a chance, what would you change about the world?

Larissa: Our hearts - to be more ‘others’ focused.

5. If given a week’s holidays, how would you like to spend them?

Larissa: I’ve always wanted to visit Italy and see all that art and history has to offer.

Before signing off, I’d like to thank Larissa for sparing out time for this wonderful interview and would like to wish luck for all her future endeavors.

Women in the US constitute 10 and a half million business digging up to $2.4 trillion annual revenue. For every business started by a man in America, two are started by women and interestingly, majority of these entrepreneurs are moms!

For most of the moms, their new venture was not at all difficult rather it’s just a mere deviation from the former goal. In the first case, their aim was housekeeping but then it shifted to business but in the whole scenario, their method of approaching things remain the same, that is both require persistence, dedication, organization, and creativity. As the following moms did:

Julie Dix

The idea of creating taggies blanket for children’s crossed Julie Dix’s mind when she realized that ‘her li’le boy was often more interested in the satin tags on toys and clothing than the object itself’. Hence, she started making soft security blanket with assorted tags adorning all four sides. The idea became an instant hit and no sooner, she along with one of her friend scored a utility patent for the unique blanket, and in 2003 the company paired up with powerhouse Scholastic Books™ for a Taggies™ book line.

And by 2005, their 25-employee company happened to spill out revenue between $2 million to $5 million.

Laine Caspi

Caspi made her way into headlines with her Ultimate Baby Wrap, which she experienced while she was traveling to Israel. As she was suffering from back pain, so she carried her baby on a sling, which incidentally was a custom in the region. Later when she returned to Los Angeles, she find herself selling the slings as other moms too became fascinated with the idea. Her sales became such a major hit that she had to hire a Public Relations person. Thus, she realized the need of parents and laid the foundation of Parents of Invention in 2002, which now is a soaring business of $1.5 million.

Bette Fetter

Bette Fetter started Young Rembrandts that aims to focus on the drawing skills while developing learning skills of children so that they may have academic advantage in the classroom. But this didn’t come all of a sudden rather it was a gradual process.

Fetter started giving private art lessons to a few children in her ‘kitchen table’ in 1988, then she expanded into local school and by 1992, her created Young Rembrandts amounted to $250,000 annually and finally, she entered into the international market. In 2006, fifty-seven Young Rembrandts ™ franchises earned $4.3 million.

So what must you do to become an entrepreneurial mom?

It is not all difficult to initiate a private enterprise, just believe in yourself and develop perseverance that’ll take you out victorious in all situations. Along with that, keep the following things in mind:

1. When you are planning to start off some business, you might hit more than one idea, so need of the hour would be to pen down all the ideas that are coming to your way and rank them according to the most promising ideas.

2. You may take your family and friends into confidence; they may guide you and may tell you your flaws if any, in your idea.

3. After you have laid bare your ideas, watch out for the trend, or the competition. Then look out to your competitors’ website and give an in-depth research to their products and try to find out how your product is different from their manufactured goods or how your product is in a position to outdo the others.

4. Next step would be to develop your brand, which also includes creating the company or product logo. Make your logo in such a manner that may give a positive impact to the people and also easily reflect the company’s aim (regarding the product).

5. Do not waste time in protecting your company name and logo once you have created them, as they will be your prized possession. You may do so by filing a federally registered trademark.

These are the simple ways to initiate a business setup, whether building an at-home business or a large global brand, you can do it. All it requires is a positive approach and determination and of course ‘the wining idea’.

Image: [1], [2], [3]

Via: Legal Zoom

I don’t know much about art because I don’t possess any artistic bent of mind but after having a look at this fabulous form of morphing, well I too can’t resist. Very skillfully it has depicted the evolution of feminine beauty over the years. The creator of the video did a good work of encapsulating different styles which make the presentation more interesting.

Kudos to the artist who was able to grab the very essence of exquisiteness.

Dame Anita Roddick, one of Britain’s prominent entrepreneur and founder of beauty retailer The Body Shop passed away around 6:30 p.m on September 10, she was 64 years of age. She suffered from a major brain hemorrhage.

Anita Roddick was admitted to St Richard’s Hospital in Chichester, close to her home, yesterday evening when she collapsed after complaining of a sudden headache, her family said in a statement.

US chat show host Oprah Winfrey is adding fashion store entrepreneur to her list of talents - she is opening a boutique shop.

After a talk show, two magazines, she’s all set to open up a store. According to the Harpo Productions, the store would be located across the corner from Chicago’s Harpo Studios, where Winfrey’s talk show is taped.

The project is under construction hence, they haven’t come up with any specific details regarding the expected opening date.

However, the site do offer certain products like a beach tote with ‘O’ logo trim for $US26, a $US10 coffee mug with ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show’ written on the side, or a $US24 basket made in South Africa.

It seems sky is the limit for Oprah Winfrey!

Suvi Andrea Helminen was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1976 to Finish and American parents. She started making films and television in 1997 and since then directed several documentaries and TV-programs. She did her education from The National Film School of Denmark, department of documentary and television, graduated in 2003. Along with that, she also works as teacher, lecturer, editor and photographer.