Body language: what McCain and Obama reveal
ody movement analysts say that McCain represents stability in how he stands firmly and hold onto the sides of a podium. By contrast, Obama has a forward-looking gaze and strolls about in a relaxed fashion during public appearances. Yet both men share an introspective quality that could make them strong leaders, each in his way.
“They represent very different ways of relating,” said Karen Bradley, a professor at the University of Maryland. Bradley and similar body movement experts often study dance, acting or physical therapy, but a system called Laban Movement Analysis can also explain what many American voters register only sub-consciously when watching presidential candidates talk and move.
Bradley and stud can analyze a person's movements by going down a list of categories that include body, effort, space and shape, or they can start with the overall impression that anyone might have of a candidate.
One example comes from how McCain and Obama take different approaches to gesturing. McCain uses directional gestures that suggest bridging a gap, while Obama's shaping gestures that suggest accommodation, the analysts say. McCain also sometimes adopts a right-left style of walking where he shifts his weight - not unlike a cowboy swagger if taken to extremes, Studd noted. That contrasts with Obama's more centered movement where he swings the opposite arm with the opposite leg. Obama's free flow approach may have its advantages, especially when it comes to public appearances where the candidates face hard questions.
More recent attention has focused on the relationship between the candidates and their wives. “John McCain is a solitary guy,” Bradley pointed out. “Cindy's making her own appearances, so we don't get to see what their marriage is like.” That differs from Barack and Michelle Obama, who have often shared the stage together and demonstrated a team mentality. “You'll see Michelle flow into the foreground at times,” Studd said. She and Bradley agreed that “you get the sense of how a couple works together” in the Obamas.
Differences aside, both candidates Share a surprising similarity that sets them apart from previous presidents.
“Both are very private, which is interesting because people wouldn't think that of them,”
Bradley observed. “There's a lot going on inside that we don't quite see.” The body movement analysts do not want to tell voters who to support - that's what issues and personal preferences are for.
Saddam's Rolls Royce on eBay
A convertible Rolls Royce said to have been owned by Saddam Hussein has gone up for sale on eBay. The maroon Corniche sports car has a price tag of £185,000 and comes with papers confirming its ownership by the former Iraqi leader. Steven Brown, the owner of a car dealership in Surrey, says the car will be shipped from Baghdad to its new home within the next 28 days. The top-of-the-range car boasts heated, brown leather seats with red piping, a CD multi changer and a climate control system.
Before the buyer takes possession, it will be refitted with a new stereo to replace the one US soldiers allegedly removed when they found the car in the basement of Saddam's capital city palace. Mr Brown said he is already fielding calls from interested buyers, including an American Colonel who wants to affix 'SADDAM' number plates to the car.
“The car was bought at an Iraqi government auction over there by an Iraqi friend of mine who lives in the UK,” he told the Daily Telegraph. The Iraqi friend also invested in a blue version of the same car, and Mr Brown is hoping to get his hands on a top-of-the-range Maybach Mercedes that Saddam had fitted with 23-carat gold but never got the chance to drive.
“We deal in Rolls Royce's so I thought it might be an opportunity to put us on the map,” Mr Brown said.
Man creates world's biggest family tree
pensioner is claiming a world record for the biggest family tree after tracing nearly 10,000 relatives and ancestors.
Roy Blackmore says he had discovered that his ancestors include farmers, monks, a Wild West cowboy, Civil War soldiers, a king of France - and even William the Conqueror and Alfred the Great. The 76-year-old from Taunton, Somerset, has spent 28 years and around £20,000 piecing together his family history.
Roy Blackmore has traced 10,000 ancestors in his family tree. Most of his research was carried out before the arrival of the internet, meaning he had to travel the country to study archives, cemetery records and census registers.
His tree stretches back to the Cerdick family in AD 500 and includes William the Conqueror in the 11th century and Alfred the Great in AD 880.
He has listed 9,390 ancestors and relatives and has applied to the Guinness Book of Records to claim the title for the world's largest documented family tree. Roy, of Taunton, Somerset, said: “It's been a very interesting journey which has taken some surprising twists and turns. One of the most shocking discoveries was that I'm a descendant of Alfred the Great.
“My interest started after I was orphaned as a child and became curious about my family background. Since then, I have been searching high and low for information on my family.
World's largest
painting sliced up
The world's largest painting has been cut up and is being sold off - in pieces. The Wave, which is more than four miles long, seven foot high and weighs almost six tonnes, is being sold off for children's charities. It has been recognised as the world's largest painting by Guinness - but Croatian artist Djuro Siroglavic didn't know what to do with it.
He said: “It was hard to find a gallery that could display it, and I didn't want it to sit somewhere gathering dust. This way everyone can own part of the world's largest painting - and can do a good deed at the same time.” An Austrian collector snapped up the first section and since then the artist has been working overtime dealing with callers who want to buy up a section. The painter and two assistants responsible for the painting worked on it from February until July last year at Zagreb's Borongaj army barracks.
They used more than 2.5 tonnes of paint to cover the 13,000 square metres of canvas.
Potion helps wives detect cheating husbands
uspicious wives from Persian Gulf states are eyeing cosmetic stores in Kuwait that sell a magic potion to catch cheating husbands. Several women, including some from Bahrain, are on the waiting list to purchase Ka-Fashto, which translates to 'key to truth,' a herbal medicine that claims to detect cheating husbands by their odor. According to reports, the medicine is illegally sold in Kuwait and is not authorised for sale or marketing by the ministry of Health. Priced at $45 per pack, the medicine has reportedly increased the divorce rates in the countries in which it is sold.
The idea for the medicine was devised by Indian wife Shankita Blawal, who filed for divorce after she discovered her husband was cheating on her. So how does the magic formula work?
The medicine is added to the husband's food or drink and the wife has to wait until she sniffs a smell called the 'cheating odor.' If the smell does not show up, the husband is innocent.
According to reports, an American-Indian company, has bought the produce and is working with research centers in the US to develop a feminine version. Arabic media say some Bahraini women have placed their orders or are planning to purchase Ka-Fashto from cosmetic stores that are selling the illegal product.
The latest figures released by the Ministry of Justice and Islamic Affairs here state that 464 couples filed papers of divorce in the first four months of this year.
Couple born to be together
A couple are tying the knot this weekend - 20 years after they were born next to each other in the same hospital ward.
Kelly Robinson and Dale Wilson were born just three days apart at the same hospital, with their mothers recovering in adjacent beds. They lived separate lives until a mutual friend introduced them in 2006 - exactly 20 years and one day since they first 'met'. But the pair only realised their connection when their mums got together and started about their births.n
