Victoria Silvstedt goes from pretty in pink to toned beach babe in tight black bikini

Having showed the world that she can paddle board with the best of them, Victoria Silvstedt decided to relax on holiday yesterday.
The former Playboy model spent a lazy day on the beach topping up her tan and keeping cool in Porto Cervo, Sardinia.
The 37-year-old arrived at the beach in a pink outfit but was quick to whip it off and head straight for the crystal blue waters.

Picture perfect: Victoria Silvstedt looked superb in her pretty pink beach dress which showed off her legs, yesterday, in Sardinia

Victoria looked lovely in her attention grabbing pink dress as she and a group of friends arrived on the beach in a small white boat.
Once on dry land the sun worshipers looked for the perfect spot to sunbathe and dropped their things on some loungers.
With the midday heat creeping up Victoria had no choice but to remove some clothing in an attempt to keep cool.

Quick change: The model slipped out of her beach dress and revealed a lovely black bikini that showed off her toned body

Attractive view: The former Playboy model kept her face protected by wearing a cream fedora with a pair of sunglasses

Making a splash: Victoria was the star attraction on the beach as she cooled off in the crystal blue water

The former Miss Sweden took off her light frock to reveal her amazing beach body in a two-piece black bikini.
She teamed the tight swimwear with a cream fedora and a large pair of aviator sunglasses with her long curly blonde hair falling over her shoulders.
The beautiful model then decided to splash around in the sea but barely got her hips wet as she stayed firmly in the shallow shore.

Soaking wet: Victoria quickly dried off with her towel in the midday Sardinia sunshine

She works out: The Swedish star even looked in shape just lying down casually on her sun lounger

Well known face: The well toned star has been featured on over 500 magazine covers

Once back on the beach Victoria dried off with her blue towel before lying down on her lounger next to one of her friends.
The well toned star, who has been featured on over 500 magazine covers, cheekily jumped onto a bed with one of her girl friends as they play fought over sun protection cream.
Victoria has been sampling the delights of a whole host of sun-soaked destinations in recent weeks, travelling to the likes of St Tropez, Cannes and Monaco, before turning her attentions to the Italian Riviera.

Fun in the sun: Victoria and one of her girlfriends playfully fought over suncream while sharing a lounger

Back to the hotel: The celebrity changed once again from her bikini into her pink dress before heading home

The reality star has enjoyed a fruitful career as a model ever since she became Miss Sweden, working for fashion houses such as Chanel, Christian Dior, Giorgio Armani and Givenchy.
She soon caught the eye of Playboy boss Hugh Hefner who signed her up for his world-famous magazine, and was subsequently voted Playmate of the Year 1997.

Calm waters: Victoria arrived at the beach with her large group of friends in a small white boat from their hotel

Men and Boys' Swimwear Fashion - A History

The ancient world

The Egyptians, Phoenicians, Persians, Greeks and Romans all had swimming as part of their culture. However, evidence of how men's and boys swimwear looked varies considerably. In southwest Egypt, the 'Cave of Swimmers' wall drawings, thought to be some 10,000 years old, depict nude swimmers; not much fashion there then. However, other pre-Christian art shows men swimming in robes and long billowing trousers, so there was no consistent style of swimwear in the ancient world.

The dark and middle ages

In Europe, the art of swimming was not much practised after the collapse of the Roman Empire. Water was unsafe to drink, and people thought that swimming in the stuff would invite plague. There's even a theory that people did not swim because to show you could float was evidence that you practised witchcraft!
Changing attitudes in the 18th and 19th centuries

It wasn't until the mid-1700s that bathing came back into fashion. Doctors in England started to prescribe sea baths as a cure for all sorts of illnesses. Sea bathing received the Royal seal of approval when George III took to the waters in Weymouth in 1789. The idea of swimming for health reasons quickly spread across the channel. The French aristocracy took to the past time after the Duchesse de Berry, the daughter-in-law of Charles X, took an inaugural dip at Dieppe in 1824. Her first swim even merited a ceremonial volley of cannon fire when she entered the waters in August of that year. In England until the 1830s, the sexes swam separately at different times and places, and so it was common for men to swim nude.
The first swimwear styles

It wasn't until the 1840s when mixed bathing became acceptable in Britain that the first bathing costumes appeared for men. However, because swimming was not yet deemed suitable for children, there was no boys' swimwear fashion at this point. Men's swimwear in the 1840s consisted of colourfully striped short-legged drawers with a drawstring at the waist. This swimwear fashion was imported from France where mixed bathing had existed since the late 18th century. However, a key design flaw - the drawers had a habit of falling off - caused the market to move to a new design: a one-piece with a short-sleeved top and short-legged bottoms. Often the outfit had a broad horizontal striped pattern, which is what many of us imagine, correctly it turns out, was the fashion in Victorian times.
The 20th century

The advent of paid leave for the working man and comprehensive railway networks allowed whole families to take sea-side holidays for the first time. Swimming came to be seen as a recreation and something in which children could participate. This change in attitude created a market for boys' swimwear, which mimicked men's designs. After the first world war, it became fashionable to have a tan, so men's and boys' swimwear lost the sleeves - the tops morphed into a singlet style with narrow shoulder straps - and became shorter in the leg.Knitted wool became common, and in the 1930s, the top half of the outfit disappeared perhaps influenced by the 1932 'Tarzan the Ape Man' film starring a bare-chested Johhny Weissmuller. After the second world war, swimwear fashion started to evolve once more. New man-made fabrics such as latex and lycra made the costumes more like a second skin, and the number of colour combinations exploded.
Modern trends

In continental Europe in the 60s and 70s, the diminutive 'Speedo' style costume took off (figuratively speaking). In Anglo-Saxon countries, fashion went in the other direction from the 1990s. Men's and boys' swimwear covered up more of the leg down to or even below the knee. This Speedos v Boardies clash of styles has even been the source of political strife. In many European countries, local governments have banned board shorts, Bermudas and the like in municipal swimming pools because of hygiene concerns. In 2007, one local authority in Belgium was accused of imposing the rule in order to dissuade Muslims - presumed to want to dress more conservatively - from using its pool. The other big recent innovation is the development of body-covering sun protection swimwear. Through the use of lycra and new finishing techniques, 'rash vests' and one-piece body suits have appeared on the beaches providing 50+ UPF sun-blocking properties.

Watch Satellite TV on Pc & Kiss Satellite Dish Goodbye

Most people, who are unaware of the modern innovations, watch Satellite Dish TV using an elliptical dish antenna. The purpose of this dish is to send and receive electronic signals to and from satellites that are hovering the earth. The installation process is difficult to say the least and involves fixing the satellite dish antenna in an open place for better reception. In addition, LNB (Low Noise Block converter) is attached on the dish antenna which is connected to a device known as decoder. Even then, you might have to spend hours figuring out how to run the entire assembly as a coherent whole.
With technology comes innovation, and innovation in this field has revolutionized the way you used to watch television. Now a personal computer (PC) can take care of the entire process in a simplistic yet effective manner.
You just need to acquire the following to be able to throw your dish antenna away and enjoy the satellite TV on your PC:
1. PCTV Card
PCTV Card makes the PC act as a receiver for satellite signals. It is connected at the PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) slot in your PC. Alternatively, you can use an external PCTV card using the USB port, if that is available in your PC. The purpose is to connect the PCTV card to the mother board of your system.
2. Broadband Internet Connection
It is needless to say that you need to be online to connect to the satellites before you can watch satellite TV on PC. The broadband connection with at least a 512 Kbytes connection is highly recommended. This would enhance the quality and speed of transmission.
3. PC Configuration
Having only a broadband connection does not solve the issue. You also need to have a high speed memory, like a 128Mbytes RAM. In addition, your system's bus must be capable to deal with the faster incoming signals. Hence, a Pentium 3 machine is preferred.
4. Optional System Peripherals
If you prefer to have a top class reception, you can add other peripheral devices that will give you the best picture and quality that you can hope for. A high speed graphics card, a good quality sound card and equipment like sub-woofer system would give you an experience of a life time.
However, PC coupled with hardware devices does not provide the most optimal solution. There are various software systems in market nowadays that can assist you watching your television on your computer systems. For a detailed description of how this could be achieved, go to my blog and read up on how you can watch satellite TV on PC with software.

It is the Chinese Lantern Festival and we Celebrate with flying Lanterns

The Chinese Flying Lanterns Festival is full of fun and celebrations that are observed in China in the third lunar month of each new year. The celebration takes place on the first full moon with Chinese lanterns being lit and lighting up the evening sky for everyone to enjoy. The day of the Chinese Lantern Festival is celebrated with plenty of games, eating glutinous rice balls and preparing and hanging lanterns.

Lanterns are made using paper or paper mache. Paper lanterns can be purchased in any variety of bright colors and sizes or you can design and cut out your own made with construction paper. Paper lanterns are then decorated with sequins, glitter, decorative stickers, ribbons and paint. These are hung for celebrations with or without lights. Some have battery-operated tea lights or use regular bulbs. Kids enjoy making paper mache flying lanterns by blowing up balloons and covering them with homemade paper mache. Each unique form is allowed to dry and the balloon is popped and then decorated.

Throughout the day children and adults enjoy playing riddle games with lanterns. Riddles are thought up and created around Chinese folk lore and culture. The riddle is written on paper and placed inside each lantern by the owner. Individuals partaking in the celebrations try and solve the riddle and take the answer to lantern owners who then reciprocate with a small gift in honor of the achievement.

Delicious rice balls called Yuanxiao are filled with savory or sweet fillings and served during the holiday celebrations. The fun may include using other Chinese lanterns such as sky lanterns and flying lanterns .

Choose from to Priceless Landscape Oil Paintings

Landscape oil paintings have been one of the most popular and loved art media, since the classic era. There is something unique and serene when it comes to nature, almost magical. When buying paintings, most people choose some type of landscape theme just because this can be a metaphorical and yet real way to feel secluded in this natural scenery; these themes can help people feel some kind of spiritual and aesthetic connection with nature in general or the particular landscape featured in the painting.
 
Landscape oil paintings depict various natural themes and sceneries, such as forests, valleys, rivers and lakes, mountains; they have been the master artistic creations all over the world since the 16-17th century, when oil painting reached the peak of spiritual and artistic creation.
These paintings can play a very important and dual role: not only they help people appreciate natural beauty but also, they give them the chance to enhance their living or working spaces with some sort of natural beauty that cannot be otherwise included in them.
Choosing a landscape oil painting can be a quite hard task; however it is a very personal issue, since you can set the tone and the atmosphere in your room or space just by adding a painting like this: the placidity or dramatic change of the sea can give a very powerful and yet imaginary accent to a lounge, while a peaceful depiction of a valley or a clear blue sky can create a very calming ambient and have a soothing effect on you and your family.

Especially when it comes to oil paintings, their vivacity and warmth are truly incomparable.
There is an endless variety of oil landscape paintings that you can choose from, made by famous - or not - artists, who impressed their highly accurate or fantastic perception and observation of nature on canvas. You can go through priceless pieces of art online and choose the one that you want to decorate and embellish your home or working place.
At the sound of the phrase landscape painting many notorious names come to our minds: from the paintings of Raphael and Rembrandt to the beautiful Monet's landscapes, there is an extremely wide range of art pieces of exquisite beauty that you can find and fall in love with.
Since most of these pieces are not affordable, their reproduction is a very effective way to make those unique art pieces far more popular and accessible: although the original character cannot be conveyed in a complete and thorough way, nowadays the quality of oil paintings' reproduction is impressive, to the extent that you cannot distinguish the original work from the reproduced.
Whatever you choose to buy, from the original landscape oil paintings to their reproductions, make sure you go through the online collection; you will find the pieces of art that reflect your taste and that invite you to spend your life with them. Think of the oil paintings as an investment, as most collectors do.

Oolong tea protects the heart

The Oolong tea protects the heart by helping to lower blood pressure. Hypertension, or high blood pressure, is the most common form of heart disease, and is a major risk factor for heart-related death. A study of Chinese tea drinkers published in 2004 showed that drinking as little as a half-cup of green or oolong tea per day may lower the risk of high blood pressure by nearly 50 percent.
 
Researchers found that men and women who drank tea on a daily basis for at least a year were much less likely to develop hypertension than those who didn’t, and the more tea they drank, the bigger the benefits. Those who drank at least a half-cup of moderate strength green or oolong tea per day for a year had a 46-percent lower risk of developing hypertension than those who didn’t drink tea. Among those who drank more than two and a half cups of tea per day, the risk of high blood pressure was reduced by 65 percent.The evidence that tea helps prevent cancer is overwhelming.

Since the 1990s, hundreds of studies have been performed showing that Oolong tea can inhibit the formation of tumors, and slow the growth of those already formed. In 1997, researchers at the University of Kansas discovered that the antioxidant power of EGCG is about 100 times greater than vitamin C and twenty-five times greater than vitamin E in protecting DNA from the kind of free radical damage that is thought to increase the risk of cancer. Researchers also found that EGCG is able to signal cancer cells to stop reproducing by promoting apoptosis, a normal cellular process leading to the death of a cell—without harming any healthy cells. One study out of Purdue University in 1998 found that an enzyme called quinol oxidase, or NOX, is necessary for the growth of both normal and cancerous cells. The overactive form of NOX is known as tNOX, for tumor-associated NOX. In test tubes, using purified NOX protein solutions, researchers found that low doses of EGCG—such as those that could be consumed by drinking several cups of tea a day—were capable of inhibiting the activity of the tNOX cells but did not inhibit the NOX activity of healthy cells.

Woods wears Buddhist bracelet

The two thin bands encircling Woods' wrist came up on Sunday, near the end of his interview with Golf Channel reporter Kelly Tilghman. Woods also spoke to ESPN. The interviews were his first since Woods' serial infidelity became known late last year and he began undergoing therapy.

Tilghman said she noticed the bracelet and asked what it meant.

"It's Buddhist," Woods said, referring to his childhood faith. "It's for protection and strength. And I certainly need that,"

Woods explained he had been wearing the bracelet since before he went into treatment and he would wear it during the Masters. Beyond that, he didn't discuss its significance or origin.

However, it is common for Buddhists to wear such items as a reminder of their faith, said Jimmy Yu, professor of Buddhist and Chinese Studies at Florida State University in Tallahassee.

"Sometimes Buddhists, when they receive some kind of initiation into a certain practice, especially in the Tibetan Mala Beads tradition, they would be given a red thread, (to) go around the wrist," said Yu. "It sounds like this is what he was wearing."
 
Wearing bracelets, necklaces or other reminders of their faith are fairly common for practitioners of Buddhism, Yu said.

Hundreds, if not thousands, of Websites sell Buddhist jewelry, from 24-karat gold Buddha necklaces to simple wooden malas, or prayer beads, that practitioners can use while meditating.

Slightly elongated head profile produces a driver with a higher moment of inertia resulting in straighter drives on off-center hits. The increased "footprint" also inspires more confidence over every drive.

Titanium Head with External Tungsten weight Pads

Ping engineers have utilized a titanium body and tungsten perimeter weighting to optimize the center of gravity location to create a high launch and low spin rate as well as increase the moment of inertia resulting in longer and straighter drives.

Thin Crown Design Technology

Low stress areas are "thinned" resulting in additional discretionary weight that is redistributed into the tungsten perimeter weighting helping to optimize launch and spin along with increasing the moment of inertia.

Head Designed for Powerful Sound

The multi-material head design is fine tuned using finite element analysis (FEA). FEA is a tool that helps PING engineers optimize the head design in a virtual environment for performance, durability, feel and sound. The finished result is a driver with powerful performance and sound.

Thin Machined Variable Face with Robotic Plasma weld

Precisely machined, thin variable-thickness face leads to exceptional performance including higher ball speed. The Robotic Plasma Weld improves durability and saves weight, which is redistributed in the external tungsten weight pads.

New Dual Rapture Graphic Alignment Aid

New, visually appealing alignment aid will inspire additional confidence in your game by making sure you are aligned squarely to your target every time.