Madonna 1985 Playboy cover girl

Madonna 1985 Playboy cover girl
In 1985, Jim might have been desperately seeking Susan, but Hef was
definitely seeking Madonna. Madge stripped down for Playboy, like a
virgin, posing for Hugh for the very first time. Madonna's cover got
plenty of attention and turned lots of heads.
Brooke Burke 2004 Playboy cover girl
Brooke Burke may have been a Valerie Bertinelli look-alike back in the
day, but this "Dancing with the Stars" alum and co-host is proof that
you can still be a mom and be sexy (even without Jenny Craig). In
2004, she graced the cover of Playboy. Va-va-voom, Brooke!

Carmen Electra 2009 Playboy cover girl
"Baywatch" gal Carmen Electra posed for Playboy in the 90s and gained
attention for her sexy figure and seductive eyes. In 2009, she graced
the cover of Hugh Hefner's mag for the special 55th anniversary issue.
Just take one look at her picture and it's obvious why Hef chose her
for the coveted role.


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Fed suggests it's closer to slowing bond purchases

Fed suggests it's closer to slowing bond purchases

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a move that could send interest rates higher, Fed
Chairman Ben Bernanke ended weeks of speculation Wednesday by saying
the Federal Reserve will likely slow its bond-buying program this year
and end it next year because the economy is strengthening.
The Fed's purchases of Treasury and mortgage bonds have helped keep
long-term interest rates at record lows. A pullback in its
extraordinary $85 billion-a-month program would likely mean higher
rates on mortgages and other consumer and business loans.
Anticipating higher rates, investors reacted Wednesday by selling both
stocks and bonds. The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 206
points. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.35 percent.
In early May, it was 1.63 percent.
Investors have been selling bonds and driving up yields since last
month after vague signals from the Fed that higher long-term rates
might be coming.
After a two-day policy meeting, the Fed upgraded its outlook for
unemployment and economic growth. In a statement, the Fed said the
"downside risks to the outlook" had diminished since fall. Fed members
voted to continue the pace of the bond-buying program for now.
At a news conference afterward, Bernanke said the Fed would slow its
bond buying later this year as long as the economy sustained its
improvement.
He said the pullback in purchases would occur in "measured steps" and
could end by the middle of 2014. By then, he thinks unemployment will
be around 7 percent.
Asked why the Fed's statement made no mention of scaling back the bond
purchases, Bernanke said he had been "deputized" to clarify the Fed's
policy and how it might vary depending on the economy's health.
He likened any reduction in the Fed's bond purchases to a driver
letting up on a gas pedal rather than applying the brakes. He stressed
that even after the Fed ends its bond purchases, it will continue to
maintain its vast investment portfolio, which will help keep long-term
rates down.
The ultra-low borrowing rates the Fed has engineered have been
credited with helping fuel a housing comeback, support economic
growth, drive stocks to record highs and restore the wealth America
lost to the recession. Investors now think the days of record-low
rates are over.
"There's fear you'll see an expanding economy, which has a tendency to
push up interest rates," said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer of
BMO Private Bank.
Some investors worry that higher rates will cause investors to shift
money out of stocks and into higher-yielding bonds. Others fear the
economy might not be ready to absorb higher rates and that consumers
and businesses could pull back on borrowing.
Talley Leger, a strategist at Macro Vision Research, said investors
had become hooked on the Fed's efforts to keep rates at record lows.
"Markets are asking for expansion of already stimulative policies, and
they're not getting it," Leger said. "It's like drug supplier and an
addict."
Bernanke suggested that increased home prices and household wealth, a
stronger construction industry and steady consumer spending would help
support economic growth and offset higher mortgage rates.
"Generally speaking, financial conditions are improving," he said.
The Fed's more upbeat forecast helps explain why it thinks record-low
rates may soon no longer be necessary. Low rates help fuel economic
growth. But they also raise the risk of high inflation and dangerous
bubbles in assets like stocks or real estate.
Timothy Duy, a University of Oregon economist who tracks the Fed,
called its statement "an open door for scaling back asset purchases as
early as September."
The fact that the Fed foresees less downside risk to the job market
"gives them a reason to pull back" on its bond purchases, Duy said.
In its statement, the Fed also said it would maintain its plan to keep
short-term rates at record lows at least until unemployment reaches
6.5 percent.
In its updated economic forecast, Fed officials predicted that
unemployment will fall to 7.2 percent or 7.3 percent at the end of
this year from 7.6 percent now. They think the rate will be between
6.5 percent and 6.8 percent by the end of 2014, better than its
previous projection in March of 6.7 percent to 7 percent.
The Fed also said inflation was running below its 2 percent long-run
objective, but noted that temporary factors were partly the reason. It
said inflation could run as low as 0.8 percent this year. But it
predicts it will pick up next year to between 1.4 percent and 2
percent.
David Robin, co-head of the futures and options desk at the brokerage
Newedge, said he didn't think Bernanke's upbeat assessment matches an
economy that's just "muddling along."
Investors may suspect the Fed is looking for a reason to scale back
the bond purchases, Robin said. "It's a big mess," he said.
The statement was approved on a 10-2 vote. James Bullard, the
president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, objected for the
first time this year, saying he wanted a stronger commitment from the
Fed to keep inflation from falling too low.
Esther George objected for the fourth time this year, again voicing
concerns about inflation rising too quickly.
At his news conference, Bernanke declined to address speculation that
he will step down as Fed chairman when his term ends in January.
He was asked to respond to comments Monday by President Barack Obama,
who said Bernanke had already stayed longer than planned. The
president's remarks added to expectations that Bernanke intends to
step down.
Bernanke avoided the question.
"I would like to keep the discussion on monetary policy," he said. "I
don't have anything for you on my personal plans."
David Jones, chief economist at DMJ Advisors, suggested that Bernanke
had achieved a key goal Wednesday: Clearing up the confusion he'd
created when he sent a mixed message to Congress last month about when
the Fed might start to slow its bond buying program.
"What Bernanke did was clarify" when it will taper its bond purchases,
Jones said.
___
AP Business Writers Paul Wiseman and Christopher S. Rugaber in
Washington and Bernard Condon in New York contributed to this report.

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Break Time Courtney Stodden follows Farrah Abraham, films breast englarment

Break Time Courtney Stodden follows Farrah Abraham, films breast englarment


Teen bride Courtney Stodden is tired of being told she is a leach on
society, so the former reality TV star created an educational film
documenting her breast implant procedure! She let the cameras go where
only vapid fame chasers like Farrah Abraham have gone before...Showing
what it takes to go from a C-cup to a...wait for it...Double D! Thank
you Courtney for letting us share your completely useless journey.
Next! I hate to be the bearer of bad news but it looks dear ole overly
involved in your dating life mom has gone viral. A slew of new
websites cater to parents desperate to match-make their marriage-age
children. The sites are not cheap starting at $78 per month and up. A
personal note to marriage minded parents, stop pushing! Us singles are
trying our best to find the right partner and your meddling will
likely just lead to a love connection with a dude named melvin who
lives in his parent's basement. So mom take down that dating profile
asap or I'm not coming home for uncle Ted's birthday this week.
Finally! Ladies you can thank me later for the eye candy aka former
marine turned underwear model Alex Minsky. Although his finely
chiseled looks are indeed distracting, Alex is more than a handsome
face. While serving in Afghanistan three years ago, he lost his leg in
a roadside bomb explosion. Times were tough for Alex until a
photographer discovered him at the gym and a star was born. Alex says:
"I just want people to look at me and not give up." (Hey mom, if you
want to hook me up with Alex, I'm good with it!)
Diana Falzone is a FoxNews.com contributor and the advice columnist
for My Wingman Diana on Military.com. Her work has been published in
the textbook "Sexuality Education," distributed in universities across
North America. You can follow her on Twitter @dianafalzone.

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James Gandolfini, ‘Sopranos’ Star, Dies at 51

James Gandolfini, 'Sopranos' Star, Dies at 51

James Gandolfini, the Emmy Award-winning actor who shot to fame on the
HBO drama "The Sopranos" as Tony Soprano, a tough-talking, hard-living
crime boss with a stolid exterior but a rich interior life, died on
Wednesday. He was 51 years old.
Mr. Gandolfini's death was confirmed by HBO. He was traveling in Rome,
where he was on vacation and was scheduled to attend the Taormina Film
Festival. A cause of death was not immediately announced; a press
representative for HBO said that Mr. Gandolfini may have died from a
heart attack, though other news reports said he died from a stroke.

Mr. Gandolfini, who grew up in Park Ridge, in Bergen County, N.J.,
came to embody the resilience of the Garden State on "The Sopranos," a
television drama that made its debut in 1999 and ran for six seasons
on HBO.

In its pilot episode, viewers were introduced to the richly
complicated life of Tony Soprano, a New Jersey mob kingpin who is
suffering from panic attacks and begins seeing a therapist. Over 86
episodes, audiences followed Mr. Gandolfini in the role as he was
tormented by his mother (played by Nancy Marchand), his wife (Edie
Falco), rival mobsters, the occasional surreal dream sequence and, in
2007, a famously ambiguous series finale which left millions of
viewers wondering whether or not Tony Soprano had met his fate at the
table of a diner.

The success of "The Sopranos" helped make HBO a dominant player in the
competitive field of scripted television programming, and transformed
Mr. Gandolfini from a character actor into a star. The series, created
by David Chase, won two Emmy Awards for outstanding drama series, and
Mr. Gandolfini won three Emmys for outstanding lead actor in a drama,
having been nominated six times for the award.

HBO said of Mr. Gandolfini in a statement on Wednesday, "He was
special man, a great talent, but more importantly a gentle and loving
person who treated everyone no matter their title or position with
equal respect."

James Joseph Gandolfini Jr. was born in Westwood, N.J., on Sept. 18,
1961. His father was an Italian immigrant who held a number of jobs,
including janitor, bricklayer and cement mason. His mother, Santa, was
a high school lunch lady.

He attended Park Ridge High School in New Jersey and Rutgers
University, graduating in 1983 with a degree in communications. He
drove a delivery truck, managed nightclubs and tended bar in Manhattan
before becoming interested in acting at age 25 when a friend brought
him to an acting class.

He began his movie career in 1987 with a small role in the low-budget
horror comedy "Shock! Shock! Shock!" In 1992 he had a small part in
the Broadway revival of "A Streetcar Named Desire" starring Alec
Baldwin and Jessica Lange.

By the mid-1990s Mr. Gandolfini had made gangster roles a specialty,
playing burly but strangely charming tough guys in films like "True
Romance" (1993) and "The Juror" (1996). He had an impressive list of
character-acting credits but he was largely unknown to the general
public when David Chase cast him in "The Sopranos" in 1999.

"I thought it was a wonderful script," Mr. Gandolfini told Newsweek in
2001, recalling his audition. "I thought, 'I can do this.' But I
thought they would hire someone a little more debonair, shall we say.
A little more appealing to the eye."

Survivors include his wife, Deborah Lin; a daughter, Liliana, born
last year; and a teenage son, Michael, from his marriage to Marcella
Wudarski, which ended in divorce.

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Baby-size burritos lead to unusual photos

Baby-size burritos lead to unusual photos

America's problem with portion size has sparked a strange new photo
trend, one in which parents set their newborn babies alongside massive
burritos on restaurant tabletops.
According to the U.K.'s Daily Mail, a Mexican restaurant in Seattle,
Wash., is saying that any diners who take photos of their babies next
to one of the restaurant's staggering Burrito Grande plates can eat
for free. The only catch: The child must be less than one month old.
Gorditos has built its reputation around this $9 burrito that is,
quite literally, the size of a newborn. Weighing in at a full four
pounds of tortilla, meat, black beans, and rice, the Burrito Grande
just might be the most popular item on the menu, one waiter told the
Daily Mail.
Taking advantage of the publicity, the eatery has covered its walls
with the unusual baby photos and posted many of them on its Facebook
page.
Gorditos first opened in 1994 and has since expanded to two other
locations in Seattle. According to the Daily Mail, some of the
restaurant's more dedicated diners are worried about all the attention
the Burrito Grande is getting on Reddit.

"No! Don't let the secret out!" one woman complained. "We don't need
any longer lines!"

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Smartphone Tools Have Their Place in the Wild

Smartphone Tools Have Their Place in the Wild


I have some vacation time coming up shortly and I'm planning to make
the most of the summery weather by camping and walking in the wild.
Unlike the makeshift camping trips of my youth, this outing will be
planned carefully, and I'm taking my smartphone, loaded with apps that
I think will be useful in the field.


Planning a camping trip can be complex because there are so many
different things you may need to take with you. The Camping List Pro,
$2 for iOS, can help. It's a list-making and organizing app specially
set up for camping, with categories from shelter to personal hygiene.
You can add your own things to the list as well. It's easy to use and
attractively designed, and its preloaded lists may help you remember
to pack some useful items you may have overlooked, like air pumps and
Ziploc bags.

¶ Camping Trip Planner, $1 for Android, is similar. Simpler than
Camping List Pro and graphically more spartan, it may suit your
tastes. A list-based interface is straightforward, though I wish for a
button on the main display to add entries rather than having to tap
through the menu first. The app doesn't suggest items for you, but it
does have a model list with over 200 useful camping items to jog your
memory.

¶ After you've planned your trip, the next step is finding a campsite.
On iOS and Android, the popular Camp and RV app is packed with
comprehensive information for campsites across the United States and
Canada — nearly 25,000 of them, from private sites to military
campgrounds.

¶ The app is based on a map interface. You search for a campsite or
simply navigate to the region you're interested in exploring, and see
what icons pop up on the map. Tapping one of the icons brings up a
message with more information on that site.

¶ From there, you can bring up an information page that includes data
like a Web site URL, contact details and even photographs. The $10
price tag is high, but it is kept current by its developers and will
work offline, which may be really useful if you're on the road. You
can also opt for just the Camp and Tent version or the RV version,
depending on your needs, and they're just $5 each.

¶ If you're planning some sightseeing walks on your trip, then
Columbia's GPS Pal, from the Columbia Sportswear Company, may become
your best outdoor digital friend. Using the GPS technology in your
phone, it automatically logs your trek, including elevation data, so
you can see later where you went. You can also add notes, photos and
video to specific GPS location tags to record something memorable.
It's on iOS and Android and is free, which is impressive. But there's
one important issue common to all GPS apps: using them will eat up
your battery life. That's something to remember if you're planning to
use them to find your way back to where you started.

¶ Knots are always handy to know, whether or not you're camping — I
even put my old Scouts knot training to use the other day while
putting up a hammock. Many apps can help you learn knots, but a great
one on iOS is What Knot to Do, also from Columbia Sportswear. It's
free and no-nonsense, listing 70 knots sorted by category, including
knots like hitches or "stoppers." The app includes a short description
of each knot category and what individual knots are useful for, and
you can save your favorites for easy reference later.

¶ It walks you step by step, with images, through tying each knot. But
if you're a complete novice, you may get a bit lost among all the
options and knotty jargon, with phrases like "a loop on the bight" and
"fair the knot."

¶ The Android app Knots Guide is a great alternative, with a simple
interface that divides knots into categories like "fishing" or
"decorative." It's not the best-looking app ever, and the knot-tying
diagrams sometimes need close examination. But it is free.

¶ Compass apps are useful for trekking, or even pitching your tent
relative to prevailing wind directions. Commander Compass on iOS is a
graphically attractive compass that also packs in an inclinometer, GPS
tracker and speedometer. If its $4 price is too much for you, you
might try Apple's simpler built-in compass app instead. On Android,
the Compass app from Catch.com is a rough equivalent to Commander
Compass and it's free.

¶ When you are out in the countryside, remember to use these and other
apps only when you need them. The view of the real world around you is
probably far better than the one on your touch screen.

¶ Quick Call

¶ Crayon Physics Deluxe has long been a big hit on iOS, thanks to its
clever physics-based game and cute graphics that make your on-screen
crayon drawings come to life to solve puzzles. It has finally been
released as an Android app on Google Play, costing $3.
(By KIT EATON posted on www.nytimes.com)

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F.C.C. Nominee Favors Competition Over Regulation

F.C.C. Nominee Favors Competition Over Regulation

WASHINGTON — President Obama's nominee to head the Federal
Communications Commission told a Senate committee on Tuesday that his
top priorities, if he is confirmed, would be consumer protection,
increasing competition and providing sufficient predictability so
companies know what rulings to expect.

The nominee, Tom Wheeler, told the Senate Commerce Committee that the
F.C.C.'s support of competition was especially important given
Americans' heavy dependence on communications networks in education,
public safety and consumer services.

He said that his experience as a telecommunications executive and as
the leader of lobbying groups for the cable television and cellphone
industries had convinced him that the agency needs to promote
competition over regulation.

"Competition is a power unto itself that must be encouraged," he said.
"Competitive markets produce better outcomes than regulated or
uncompetitive markets."

Mr. Wheeler backed away, however, from his comments in 2011 on his
blog. In the post, he said the F.C.C. might have expanded its
authority over wireless companies if it had approved the merger of
AT&T and T-Mobile by imposing conditions that could later be applied
to all wireless companies.

In response to questions, Mr. Wheeler said that any merger review must
consider the facts before the commission and not deal with theoretical
questions of the sort he raised in the blog post.

"In a hypothetical musing, it is possible to do that," Mr. Wheeler
said. But in a merger review, he added, "I am guided by precedent, the
statute and the facts before me."

Most of the other questions posed to Mr. Wheeler were friendly, and
several Republican senators expressed confidence that he would be
confirmed by inviting him to visit their states once he took office.

Mr. Wheeler also said that his experience as a lobbyist would not
prejudice him in regulating the industries he formerly championed. "I
was an advocate for specific points of view, and I hope I was a pretty
good advocate," Mr. Wheeler said. "If I am fortunate enough to be
confirmed, my client will be the American public, and I hope I can be
as effective an advocate for them as humanly possible."

Nevertheless, Mr. Wheeler also said it was his experience in the
wireless and cable industries — which, he acknowledged, are much
changed today from when he worked for them — rather than as a
regulator that provides his primary strengths.

As chief executive of what is now the National Cable and
Telecommunications Association in the 1980s, "I fought against the
F.C.C.'s rules limiting cable's ability to compete with new video
services," Mr. Wheeler said. "I worked for the ability of competitors
to bring services into the home."

Similarly, Mr. Wheeler said that his tenure in the 1990s as head of
the cellular phone trade group now known as CTIA-The Wireless
Association, was one in which start-up and rapidly growing cellphone
competitors were at the forefront of wholesale changes in
communications.

"During my tenure, that competition was expanded by the auctions of
1994, wireless was increasingly used in place of wire line, and
wireless data turned the phone into a pocket computer," Mr. Wheeler
said.

"All of these developments brought with them new policy challenges,"
he added, challenges that are no smaller now as wireless becomes the
primary method of broadband and voice communication for millions of
Americans.

Mr. Wheeler also promised to look into the favorite topics of most of
the lawmakers on the committee. Those topics include continuing the
E-Rate program, which provides subsidies for broadband connections at
schools and libraries; raising revenue from the spectrum incentive
auctions to help finance a public service communications network; and
figuring out how to address consumer frustration over disputes between
broadcasters and cable providers that often leave cable subscribers
with blackouts of certain channels.

Mr. Wheeler also addressed television decency standards, something
that the F.C.C. has wrestled with for decades. He said the bully
pulpit might have more influence than any regulations the agency could
write.

"I do believe it is possible to call upon our better angels with some
leadership," Mr. Wheeler said. He recalled that the "vast wasteland"
speech of Newton N. Minow, the former F.C.C. chairman, "caught
people's attention." He added: "Maybe it's time to do the same type of
thing today."

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