How to Prevent Smelly Feet

   

Put an end to stinky feet

Nothing ruins your entryway, date night, or a good pair of shoes like a stink. And once the smell starts, it's hard to keep it from invading the rest of your footwear. That's because even the most delicate shoes are a dark, sweaty breeding ground for odor-causing bacteria. You can't completely remove it, but you can control the stench. Before you lose another pair of pumps, try these expert tips for nipping smelly feet in the bud before it starts. So the next time a hostess says, "Would you mind taking your shoes off," you can do so in confidence.

Try to stay dry

"The best way to prevent smelly feet is to keep your feet dry," says Dr. Rebecca Baxt, a board certified dermatologist. Towel off your feet--especially in between toes--after the shower, and dab them with anti-fungal powder that keeps you dry while warding off odor-causing fungus.

 Wear socks when you can

Socks and pumps aren't exactly a fashion statement. But when you skip out on socks there's nothing to absorb the sweat your feet naturally produce, trapping it between your toes and inside your shoes, says Baxt. If you know you're going sockless, try dotting antiperspirant on the bottoms of your feet and between toes.

Prep your shoes

Sprinkle baby powder (or a more targeted odor-eating powder) on the insides of your shoes before and after you wear them, suggests Baxt. And get them out of your dark, damp closet! Just like your aching dogs, your shoes need to be aired out, too.

Head to the liquor cabinet

If your feet end up smelling less than swell no matter what, wipe them down with a vodka-soaked washcloth to get rid of the stench. It's the same principle as rubbing alcohol (which works equally well if you'd rather drink your Grey Goose). Vodka contains alcohol, which is antiseptic and drying, so it destroys odor-causing fungus and bacteria and dries out the moisture that lets these organisms grow.

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How to care for an aging car

As the U.S. economy continues to battle tough headwinds, many drivers are keeping their cars longer. The average age of a passenger vehicle in the U.S. has increased to about 11 years, according to researchers R.L. Polk. (It was only nine years back in 2000.)

I'm in that aging-car crowd. I own two 12-year-old vehicles, one with 168,000 miles on its odometer, the other with just under 100,000. My 9-year-old car has suffered through 170,000 miles and two teenagers. My "new" car is a 2007 with 72,000 miles on it. My son drives an 18-year-old vehicle with more than 200,000 on its intermittently operating odometer.

Here are some of the things I do to help keep these vehicles alive:

Love Thy Cooling System

Hoses that carry engine coolant live a hard life. They're forced to transport high-pressure fluids that can exceed a rubber-scorching 240 F. Meanwhile, the water pump gets no respect—no respect at all—even though the engine would die without it in minutes. In retaliation, these components conspire to fail on aging cars at the worst possible times and places—extremely hot or cold days in areas with poor cell coverage are among their favorites.

If you don't know when your old vehicle's coolant hoses were last replaced, now would be a good time to do it. Don't forget heater hoses, which carry hot coolant into the passenger compartment. As for water pumps, they often warn of their impending death by emitting an odor reminiscent of pancake syrup or by piddling green fluid on the garage floor. If you're already undertaking significant work on the engine in an older car, go ahead and replace the water pump while things are disassembled.

Trust me. I learned this one the hard way. We didn't have the water pump in an old car changed, and my daughter took the car to college in North Carolina. She called and said it smelled like breakfast at Waffle House, and she wanted me to drive 7 hours round trip to take it to the dealer because she wasn't confident around service writers and mechanics. I convinced her to share with them that she was the daughter of a Nascar driver. (True: I ran one Nascar Southwest Tour Series race.) At that point, she would become the intimidator and not the intimidated.

Brake Time

Keeping the braking system youthful will help your vehicle live long and prosper. If you inherited or purchased an older car, bleed the brakes. With a helpful friend, the right tools, and a repair manual, brake bleeding is no harder than an oil change.

If the brake fluid flows a clear, amber color, the system likely has been recently rebuilt and well-maintained. If the fluid spurts out dark black and is filled with bits of rubber and rust, a complete brake overhaul is your first priority.

Brake jobs are to DIY mechanics what blue-square runs are to a snow skier: Not too challenging for those with intermediate skills. When I was wrenching my own race car, I bled the brakes after every on-track session. That did two things: removed the overheated fluid from the calipers and made sure nothing was seriously wrong with the brakes.

To keep your brake system young, flush (completely replace) the brake fluid every two years. And, like we said about the cooling system, if you're already dissembling the brakes for major repairs, check on the smaller pieces while you're in there. If your car is more than seven years old, replace the rubber brake lines when major brake work is required. If the rotors or brake drums must be removed, check the wheel bearings.

Black Gold

When you remove the engine oil-drain plug of an old car, you hope to discover a not-too-dark amber fluid. If the fluid that flows from your crankcase is jet black and contains bits of silvery flakes, you've got problems. A worse sign is if the oil struggles out like curdled milk. Even worse is if the oil contains big chunks of metal, which happened to me once after the confluence of my racing and engine-building skills. Hey, I was sticking my neck out; I made the engine stick its out, too. And it died.

When faced with such a situation, I try this high-colonic procedure: Drain the oil, replace the oil filter, fill the crankcase with synthetic oil (which acts like a solvent for sludge), and drive the car 50 or 100 miles. Repeat until the oil runs almost as clear as new. If you find little progress after three changes or suspect the previous owner was negligent on oil changes, consider having a professional mechanic remove and clean the oil pan.

Don't DIY Everything

Cars are just like people. As they age, they require more attention from specialists, especially in the regions most critical to their ongoing survival.

So periodically have an independent repair shop check critical steering and suspension components. Very experienced DIYers can do this work themselves, but even experts might choose to farm it out to someone who does this work every day just for the added peace of mind. When I repacked the front wheel bearings on my race car, it hurt my lap time—I couldn't concentrate on keeping my right foot to the floor while wondering if I'd done the job correctly.

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Satellite captures stunning images of Earth

The changing face of our planet has been documented in stunning detail over the last 40 years by the longest-running Earth-observing satellite program, called Landsat.

 

 In the style of Van Gogh's painting "Starry Night," massive congregations of greenish phytoplankton swirl in the dark water around Gotland, a Swedish island in the Baltic Sea. Population explosions, or blooms, of phytoplankton, like the one shown here, occur when deep currents bring nutrients up to sunlit surface waters, fueling the growth and reproduction of these tiny plants. (Credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center/USGS)

 

Countless lakes, sloughs, and ponds are scattered throughout this scene of the Yukon Delta in southwest Alaska. One of the largest river deltas in the world, and protected as part of the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge, the river's sinuous waterways seem like blood vessels branching out to enclose an organ. (Credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center/USGS)

 

 Small, blocky shapes of towns, fields, and pastures surround the graceful swirls and whorls of the Mississippi River, the largest river system in North America. Countless oxbow lakes and cutoffs accompany the meandering river south of Memphis, Tennessee, on the border between Arkansas and Mississippi. (Credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center/USGS)

 

What look like pale yellow paint streaks slashing through a mosaic of mottled colors are ridges of wind-blown sand that make up Erg Iguidi, an area of ever-shifting sand dunes extending from Algeria into Mauritania in northwestern Africa. Erg Iguidi is one of several Saharan ergs, or sand seas, where individual dunes often surpass 500 meters (nearly a third of a mile) in both width and height. (Credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center/USGS)

 

 

The scary face in this image is actually inundated patches of shallow Lake Eyre (pronounced "air") in the desert country of northern South Australia. An ephemeral feature of this flat, parched landscape, Lake Eyre is Australia's largest lake when it's full. However in the last 150 years, it has filled completely only three times. (Credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center/USGS)

 

 

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David Beckham photo-bombs stunned fans at London mall booth

LONDON — Picture this: You're inside a photo booth at a local shopping mall, ready to take a series of goofy images with your friends in various awkward poses. And then suddenly David Beckham has his arm around you, smiling at the camera.

 
AdidasThat was the scene for 60 fans are the Adidas UK photo booth, located at the Westfield Stratford City near the Olympic Village on Monday. Beckham popped in on fans and athletes during their photo sessions before engaging in a Twitter Q&A.

Here's what it looked like:



From Metro UK:

It was all too much for one boy, who was reduced to tears of disbelief, while a woman's flamboyant dance routine was stopped in its tracks.
Although many were speechless, some were able to ask him questions about his future at LA Galaxy and whether he likes pie and mash.
'It was a unique experience for me and the people who took part,' the star said afterwards. 'And there were some great reactions when we surprised them.[...]'

[ Related: Athletes' horrible Olympic badge photos ]

Word is that Beckham will have a role in the Opening Ceremony on Friday, even though he was snubbed for the British men's soccer team. After that … well, there are a lot of shopping centers in the U.K., with a lot of photo booths.

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'Modern Family' Cast Sues 20th TV as Contract Renegotiation Turns Ugly (Exclusive)

The cast of "Modern Family" has declared war on producer 20th Century Fox Television.

Sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that cast members Ty Burrell, Julie Bowen, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Eric Stonestreet and Sofia Vergara have filed suit today in Los Angeles Superior Court to void their contracts. The legal theory, according to sources who have seen the lawsuit, is that their deals violate California's "7 Year Rule," which prohibits personal services contracts for longer than 7 years. This tactic is a common one for actors who seek to void contracts during renegotiations for increased compensation.
The move comes amid a salary standoff that has already delayed today's scheduled table read that would have marked the start of the fourth season of Modern Family, one of TV's top-rated comedies. The cast, minus Ed O'Neill, who is paid more than his co-stars and is negotiating separately, has hired litigator Jeff McFarland with LA's Quinn Emanuel firm and are pressing their case in court.
UPDATE: A source close to the negotiations tells THR that O'Neill has decided to join his castmembers as a plaintiff in the lawsuit out of solidarity. O'Neill has his own salary beef with 20th TV but he is paid on a different track and was thus not involved in the original plans to sue.
EXCLUSIVE: 'Modern Family' Cast Still Without New Contracts as Tuesday Table Read Nears
The six adult cast members currently have contracts through the seventh season of the show. But as THR previously reported, renegotiations are common between the third and fourth seasons, when casts of hit shows typically get bigger paychecks in exchange for agreeing to continue with the show beyond the seventh season. Sources tell THR the five cast members are being offered salary increases as follows: $150,000 per episode plus a $50,000 per episode bonus for season 4; $200,000 per episode for season 5; $225,000 for season 6; and up to $325,000 for an anticipated season 9. The cast is asking for much more, including more than double the offered salary if the show goes 8 or 9 seasons, as expected.
A rep for 20th TV declined to comment.
With the exception of O’Neill ("Married… with Children"), the actors were paid in the $65,000-an-episode range for the show’s 22-episode third season, according to sources. O’Neill is believed to have made in the $105,000 range this past year.
The series is a profit center for both the studio and the network, regularly drawing 13.1 million viewers, according to Nielsen. In 2011, Modern Family generated $164 million in advertising revenue for ABC, up 40 percent from a year earlier, reports Kantar Media. What’s more, the multiple Emmy-winning series has proved an American Idol-style launching pad for the network’s other comedies, including Happy Endings, Don’t Trust the B---- in Apartment 23 and the upcoming alien effort The Neighbors.
Coming out of its breakout freshman season in 2010, 20th TV inked a rich syndication deal with USA –the NBCUniversal-owned cable network’s first major comedy acquisition—for a license fee close to $1.5 million an episode, say sources. That’s roughly on par with the deal Turner’s TBS struck with Warner Bros. TV for repeats of The Big Bang Theory. Modern Family is poised to reap many more millions from broadcast stations when the series rolls out in syndication in 2013, and foreign revenue is said to be particularly robust.

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Devices That Suck (Power)

We live for gadgets. But even the smallest ones can consume an enormous amount of power. See some of the worst offenders.

Game Consoles
It's all fun and games -- until you get your energy bill. If you leave your Xbox or PlayStation on when you're not playing, you are wasting as much energy as leaving a desktop computer running.

Plasma TVs consume about two times more power than LCD versions. To save even more energy, go for a smaller screen. A 32-inch set uses about half as much power as a 52-inch LCD.

Digital picture frames
These little items pack a power punch. Consider this: If every home in the U.S. had one of these displaying around the clock, it would take five power plants to keep them on, according to the Electric Power Research Institute.
Laptops
If your laptop has a screensaver with images, it consumes more power than an idle laptop.
Battery chargers
Your mobile devices doesn't take up that much power on their own, but if they are left plugged into electric outlets, even when the charger isn't connected, they continue to draw power. Add up that most households use more than one charger, and across the country, they could consume the energy of several power plants.
Power-saving solutions
One way to stop power use when you're not using your devices: Turn them all the way off. Another way to save -- try an energy-saving power strip. The power-savers are designed to cut power to devices that don't need it.
You can also change your new device's default settings: You can Manually change the brightness settings on your TVs and computer screens to suck up less energy.

The green website Treehugger has helpful tips for getting more eco-friendly gadgets, including: checking with Energy Star and Consumer Reports before you buy; and, take advantage of local recycling programs when you do switch out gadgets, or even consider selling your old one instead of throwing it away.
In the new post-apocalyptic show "Electric City," power is the key to living life off the grid. Follow @ElectricCityAMP for more clues.

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The cheesiest pick-up lines of all time

Devastatingly beautiful dates, sumptuous excursions and scintillating conversations are all benefits of the single life but contrary to popular belief, there is a downside to being relationship-free: the torture of being subjected to stale, decades-old come-ons is penance for all that fun. In a survey taken across a range of age groups, geographical borders and lifestyles, we have compiled the top 10 worst pick-up lines that have sullied the ears of singles everywhere:

1. “What’s your sign?”
The epitome of cheese, this line — which has been around at least since the Beatles came to America, though some researchers say it could be almost 2,000 years old — ranks as the very worst line in dating history. The fact that it’s still in use says a lot about the decay of our society’s standards and the glaring desperation of some singles.

2. “Pardon me, I seem to have lost my phone number, can I borrow yours?”
Maybe this was funny around 1910 or 1915 — back when the telephone was a novel appliance. It does not inspire smiles now, only scared and doomed looks.

3. “You must be a broom because you’re sweeping me off my feet.”
Maybe your dad used this one on your mom and for nostalgia’s sake, you’re bringing it out again. Nostalgia does not get you dates, though, only pity. “I actually had a guy say this to me during happy hour,” says Kim, a vivacious flight attendant who hears more than her share of clichéd pick-up lines. “I didn’t hold it against him because I don’t know how much he’d had to drink and he was cute. But if he hadn’t been cute, I would have dodged him.”

4. “Do you have a license? Because you’re driving me crazy.”
Caution! Watching too many stupid teen movies impairs your judgment. This probably sounded clever to the person who swiped it from a 1960s beach-party flick.

5. “I gotta thirst, and baby, you look like my Gatorade.”
Generally, comparing potential dates to food or drinks is not a winning move. “I had a guy use this one on me and I rolled my eyes and walked way,” says Susan, a marketing representative who doesn’t usually go for lines. “But a couple of weeks later, I saw this hot guy at the gym and I used that same line... and it worked! I guess there are gender preferences when it comes to lines. He was really flattered, where I was insulted when it was used on me.” And Susan's right; research published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences has borne out that women approaching men directly using any opening line are more likely to get a positive response than using nonverbal flirting cues alone.

6. “Are you lost? Because heaven’s a long way from here.”
Maybe angels like this one, but real women don’t.

7. “Are you religious? Because you’re the answer to all my prayers.”
Prayer is something that anyone who uses this tacky line desperately needs.

8. “Can I take your picture? I want Santa to know exactly what I want for Christmas this year.”
This line is popular with both men and women who think references to Santa are cute and charming, which are qualities that they never possess personally. After all, what if the person in question happens to be Jewish?

9. “Do you believe in love at first sight, or should I walk by again?”
“A stunning woman I had been staring at used this on me,” says Mark, a tawny-haired, gregarious copywriter. “I know it’s an old one but it took guts to say it. I’m afraid I happily fell for it.”

10. “Well, here I am. What are your other two wishes?”
A personal favorite, this one takes a certain amount of arrogance — as well as delusion — to pull off. Who wouldn’t wish for a more honest come-on?

Rosalind Cummings-Yeates is a freelance writer who frequently contributes to Happen magazine.

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Article courtesy of Happen magazine, www.happenmag.com.

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Kristen Stewart cheats on Robert Pattinson with married ‘Snow White’ director: Reports

Robsten over? (Dave M. Benett/Getty Images)“Twilight” fans everywhere will be devastated. Kristen Stewart cheated on co-star/boyfriend Robert Pattinson with her “Snow White and the Huntsman” director Rupert Sanders, who is married with two children, reports both Us Weekly and People. According to a photographer who snapped the actress and her 41-year-old director during a “marathon makeout session” on July 17 (Us Weekly has the pics in its new issue, on newsstands Friday), the two “couldn’t get enough” of each other.

Almost immediately after the indiscretion, Stewart, 22, had a change of heart and now feels terrible. “Kristen is absolutely devastated," a source tells People, which was the first to break the story. "It was a mistake and a complete lapse in judgment." And won’t happen again, adds the source. “She wasn't having an affair with Rupert. It was just a fleeting moment that shouldn't have happened. She never meant to hurt anyone. She's a good person who just made a bad choice."

Stewart and Pattinson, 26, have been dating since they first met while playing lovers in the first film in the “Twilight” series in 2008. At the time, the actress was in a long-term relationship with fellow actor Michael Angarano, who was reportedly crushed when she left him for Pattinson. Although both heartthrobs try to play coy about their relationship, she did admit in the June issue of Elle that Pattinson was her "f--king boyfriend."

[Related: Jodie Foster: Former co-star Kristen Stewart is like 'my daughter']

The proof! (UsWeekly)It's unclear if Pattinson is aware of what allegedly happened between Stewart and Sanders. The couple appeared happy together at the Teen Choice Awards this past Sunday, and even wore coordinating blue-and-black outfits when they stepped onstage to accept the "Ultimate Choice" honor. (They did not walk the red carpet either together or separately.) A few days before the July 17 incident, Stewart and Pattinson giggled as they dished on Bella and Edward's sex scene in the upcoming "Breaking Dawn – Part 2" at Comic-Con.

The final installment in the “Twilight” series will hit theaters November 16 … but will Robsten still be together?

[Related: Kristen Stewart's $680 sneakers]

Reps for both Stewart and Sanders, who is married to model-actress Liberty Ross, had no comment.

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'Goat man' in Utah mountains identified as hunter

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A man spotted dressed in a goat suit among a herd of wild goats in the mountains of northern Utah has been identified as a hunter preparing for a Canadian archery season.

After a hiker spotted the so-called goat man on July 15 in the mountains above Ogden, about 40 miles north of Salt Lake City, wildlife officials said they wanted to talk to the person to be certain he was aware of the dangers as hunting season approaches.

They speculated he might have been an extreme wildlife enthusiast who just wanted to get as close as possible to the goats. A few days after the spotting, state wildlife authorities received an anonymous call from an "agitated man" who simply said, "Leave goat man alone. He's done nothing wrong."

This week, however, the mystery was solved.
Phil Douglass of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources said he received a call Monday from a 57-year-old Southern California hunter who explained he was merely trying out his goat suit in preparation for a mountain goat hunt in Canada next year.
"He gave me enough details about the area and the situation that it made me feel confident this was him," Douglass said Tuesday.
"In talking to him, I felt he was very knowledgeable, a very experienced hunter. He's hunted internationally," Douglass added. "My concern all along was that this person needed to understand the risks, and certainly after talking to him, I felt he was doing the best he could to understand and mitigate those risks ... He was simply preparing for a hunt."

The man did not identify himself, Douglass said, noting the hunter was concerned for his safety after widespread media coverage of the sighting, first reported by the Standard-Examiner of Ogden.
Coty Creighton, 33, spotted the goat man July 15 during his hike. He said he came across a herd, but noticed something odd about one goat that was trailing behind the rest.
"I thought maybe it was injured," Creighton said last week. "It just looked odd."
He said he pulled out binoculars to get a closer look at the goats about 200 yards away and was shocked. The man appeared to be acting like a goat while wearing a crudely made costume, which had fake horns and a cloth mask with cut-out eye holes, Creighton said.
"We were the only ones around for miles," he said. "It was real creepy."
Douglass said 60 permits will be issued for goat hunting season in that area, which begins in September, and he had worried the man in the goat suit might be accidentally shot or could be attacked by a real goat.
He said the hunter described the goat costume as merely a hooded painter's uniform and a fleece.
Douglass said wildlife officials encourage archery hunters to practice their skills and to "get themselves in a position where they make a clean and humane shot."
"That's exactly what he was doing," Douglass said. "There are laws that require people to wear hunter orange during rifle hunts, but people do wear camo during archery hunts."

And while it's not illegal to dress up like the animal you're trying to kill, Douglass said it's still dangerous.

"It's unwise," he said. "It's just a bad idea all the way around to do that kind of thing."

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See’s Candies creates 7,000-pound lollipop; world’s largest

 

The world-record lollipop (Facebook)See's Candies marked National Lollipop Day by crafted the world's largest lollipop, standing nearly six feet tall, 3 feet six inches wide, and weighing 7,003 pounds.

The chocolate-flavored lollipop was constructed at the company's factory in Burlingame, California, before being displayed in San Francisco on July 20. The lollipop also includes an 11-foot 10-inch stick, though the Guinness Book of World Records did not include it in the final calculations.

On See's Facebook page, you can see several photos of the lollipop's construction along with some interesting statistics. For example, the lollipop weighs about three times as much as the average car and is six inches taller than the average height of an American woman.

The Tootsie Roll brand ran a famous advertisement claiming it took three licks to get to the center of its pops. How long do you think it would take to finish this 7,000-pound monstrosity? And if you need something to wash down all that chocolate, you can sip on the six-foot five-inch, 71-gallon daiquiri, which was recently created in Cuba to honor the birthday of Ernest Hemingway.

 

The world-record See's lollipop on display (Facebook)

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