Official Red Fitness

Fashionable young men in early 16th century Germany showed a lot of fine linen in a studied negligee. This unidentified gentleman has a band of "smocking" round the collar of his shift. (Portrait by Ambrosius Holbein, 1518, at the Hermitage Museum)

Corsets are held together by lacing, usually (though not always) at the back. Tightening or loosening the lacing produces corresponding changes in the firmness of the corset. Depending on the desired effect and time period, corsets can be laced from the top down, from the bottom up, or both up from the bottom and down from the top, using two laces that meet in the middle. It is difficult — although not impossible — for a back-laced corset-wearer to do his or her own lacing. In the Victorian heyday of corsets, a well-to-do woman would be laced by her maid, and a gentleman by his valet.

Sexy High Heels

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Once IndyCar star Danica Patrick figured out how to get in and out of the stock car, the rest of her testing session at Daytona International Speedway went without any problems.
Her five laps around NASCAR's most famous track Friday felt "a little slow" — no surprise since those IndyCars go about 50 mph faster — and her test was considerably smoother than the storied superspeedway.
Her main concern?
"I felt most disoriented with how the heck I am supposed to get my stuff on?" she said following a rain-shortened ARCA test. "I can't get in the car with all that stuff and I can't buckle my belts and I can't do it with my helmet on. So I get in the car and I have to tuck my hair down the back of the suit and I can't do it because I am strapped in and I am just awfully confused, so I decided I needed everything on but my helmet and then get in the car.
"It sounds silly, right? It's logistics, but they're logistics I am not used to. I am used to being fully dressed and then getting in the car."
If that turns out to be her biggest problem, then her NASCAR future might be brighter than the fluorescent, green-and-orange paint job on her No. 7 Chevrolet.
Patrick started the day with a van ride around the track, getting a much better feel for the 2 1/2-mile tri-oval than she ever got testing IndyCars on Daytona's road course or racing in the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona in 2006 and 2009.
Rain delayed the start of the session, and Patrick had dozens of photographers and reporters following her every move through the garage.
"It was a bit of a circus out there," she said. "I'm not unfamiliar with having people around, although it does seem a little funny when there is not much else going on. I definitely feel very singled out. I'm lucky for that, so it definitely felt like there is a lot of interest.
Even competitors were taking pictures during the drivers meeting.
"I definitely felt the lenses of cameras all morning," she said.
Patrick took part in a private test session in Orlando last week, driving ARCA and Nationwide cars, so this wasn't her first laps in a stock car.
They were her most anticipated. How would she handle the hefty cars on a bumpy track? How would she communicate with crew members? Would she stall leaving pit road, spin coming out of a turn or scrape the wall? Some of the concerns seemed justified when she admitted afterward that she didn't even know the track was 2 1/2 miles around.
But there were few hiccups.
"The car is different," she said. "It definitely moves around quite a bit. It was getting some action in the rear on the bumps. It was getting a little bit loose, but I kept my foot in it and I tried not to chase it too much with the steering. Didn't want to have an accident, but I felt all right. It was fun. I trusted the car. I trusted the preparation of it. I trusted the guys."
Patrick was one of a record nine women at the first day of the three-day test. Part-time IndyCar driver Milka Duno, twins Amber and Angela Cope, Alli Owens and Leilani Munter were among the others. But none of them received the attention Patrick got.
Even NASCAR president Mike Helton showed up to watch the sport's newest star.
"I don't know I can relate it to anything I can remember," Helton said. "Obviously, there was anticipation when Dale (Earnhardt) Jr. and Matt Kenseth moved from the Nationwide Series to the Cup Series and there was anticipation when Tony Stewart decided to switch from open wheels to our type of racing, but I don't know that I've ever seen anything quite like this."

Patrick will make her stock car debut in the ARCA race at Daytona in February. She plans to drive a partial schedule in the Nationwide Series in 2010 and hasn't ruled out making her NASCAR debut at Daytona.

Her hesitation?

"Just don't know enough right now," she said. "It's quite an arena to run my first Nationwide. With 30 Cup guys out there, it's going to be really, really challenging."

Although crew chief Tony Eury Jr. said Thursday that Patrick is capable of top-15 finishes every week, she stopped short of placing any lofty expectations on herself, especially after just a few laps.

"I would have to say that putting a number on it at all is a bold move," Patrick said. "I don't ever do that, really. I never really say I think I should run third today or 13th. I never say any number whatsoever because you just don't know. I never want to be held accountable or judged by you based on what I say. I never give a number. All I can say is I hope to go out there and win every single race, and we'll see what happens from there."

Helton called Patrick's arrival positive, adding that "it doesn't hurt us to have good story lines, and this is certainly a good story line."

But can she live up to the expectations?

"I don't know," Helton said. "I sure hope so, and I hope everybody's expectations can be reasonable. That's important. She's obviously got her own goals and expectations. ... It's important for the rest of us to be reasonable with ours."

GREENBELT, Md. – Work on a West Virginia wind power project has been halted by a federal judge who sided with environmentalists' claim that the project would harm an endangered bat.
U.S. District Judge Roger Titus issued the order Tuesday, citing potential harm to the federally endangered Indiana bat.
John Stroud, co-chairman of one of the environmental groups that filed the lawsuit, Mountain Communities for Responsible Energy, said group members were "really delighted with the ruling."
"We've been working on this for a while and the judge saw things our way, and we're really pleased," said Stroud, a rare book dealer who owns a farm a mile and a half from the wind power site.
The Washington-based Animal Welfare Institute and the Williamsburg, W.Va.-based Mountain Communities for Responsible Energy sued Rockville-based Beech Ridge Energy and its parent, Invenergy LLC. The plaintiffs claimed the 119-turbine Beech Ridge project in Greenbrier County, W.Va., violated the federal Endangered Species Act because the wind farm was likely to kill and injure endangered Indiana bats and the developers had not obtained an incidental take permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Such permits are required when landowners, companies, state or local governments build projects that might harm wildlife that is listed as endangered or threatened.
An attorney for the developers, Clifford Zatz, said in his opening arguments that the lawsuit had put the $300 million, environmentally responsible, renewable energy project in "limbo" because of an untested hypothesis "over a rare bat that no one has ever seen at the site."
Titus ordered Beech Ridge and its Chicago-based parent to stop building turbines until it gets a permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The judge also barred the company from operating any of the 40 existing turbines between April 1 and Nov. 15, when the bats are migrating.
Invenergy attorney Joe Condo said the company "continues to be committed to the Beech Ridge project and bringing clean renewable energy to West Virginia."
"As ordered by the judge, we will approach the Fish and Wildlife Service and begin the Incidental Take Permit process so that we can complete the project," Condo said in a statement. "We are very optimistic that the permit will be granted and the project can reach its full potential."
Plaintiffs' attorney Eric Glitzenstein said the ruling sends the important message "that while renewable energy is important, compliance with the Endangered Species Act is equally important and that there is a right way to develop these projects and a wrong way. The wrong way is to commit yourself to a project and go full steam ahead without making sure you know what the adverse impacts are, particularly when an endangered species is concerned."

In short, it is an in-house self-insurance vehicle. Captives may take the form of a "pure" entity (which is a 100 percent subsidiary of the self-insured parent company); of a "mutual" captive (which insures the collective risks of members of an industry); and of an "association" captive (which self-insures individual risks of the members of a professional, commercial or industrial association). Captives represent commercial, economic and tax advantages to their sponsors because of the reductions in costs they help create and for the ease of insurance risk management and the flexibility for cash flows they generate. Additionally, they may provide coverage of risks which is neither available nor offered in the traditional insurance market at reasonable prices.

In many countries, such as the U.S. and the UK, the tax law provides that the interest on this cash value is not taxable under certain circumstances. This leads to widespread use of life insurance as a tax-efficient method of saving as well as protection in the event of early death.

Health Insurance Quote

KABUL (AFP) –
US Defence Secretary Robert Gates on Wednesday toured the nerve centre of NATO command in Afghanistan, telling officers an imminent troop surge will turn around the eight-year war against the Taliban.

Gates visited the NATO-run International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) joint operation centre of 170 staff from 42 nations, saying improved allied cooperation and the sweeping new strategy put success within reach.

"We have all the pieces coming together to be successful here," Gates told staff in the imposing command room with banks of telephones and computers where commanders coordinate operations throughout Afghanistan.

Gates is the most senior US official to visit the country since President Barack Obama ordered an extra 30,000 troops into battle against the Taliban as part of a sweeping new strategy to start withdrawing forces in July 2011.

Thousands of extra forces will head to southern Afghanistan but Gates' plan to visit Kandahar province, one of the key battlegrounds and the spiritual capital of the Taliban, to meet US troops was cancelled due to harsh weather.

Instead he visited a base where Afghanistan's nascent air force is being trained and commanders briefed him on the challenges of recruiting Afghan forces, on which Washington's withdrawal strategy depends. Related article: US general confident on surge

The number two NATO commander on the ground, Lieutenant General David Rodriguez, said problems of recruiting and retaining were particularly acute in the south, where the fighting is heaviest.

"They are getting in tough fights all the time down there," he said. "Where it's hard we can't recruit and we can't retain (Afghan forces), he added.

In a vast, rural country with an estimated population of between 26 and 30 million, Gates says the goal is to increase the Afghan army to 134,000 soldiers at the end of 2010, with an ultimate size of 240,000.

Obama's timeline for a US drawdown has sparked criticism from political opponents, and within Afghanistan and neighbouring Pakistan where many fear the Taliban will sit out the surge, regroup and step up attacks in 18 months' time.

Soaring violence has made this year the deadliest since the Taliban fell from power, with record numbers of civilians, Afghan and foreign troops killed. Related article: Rebuilding efforts under fire

But the overall commander in Afghanistan predicted that the surge -- which raises the number of US troops to 100,000 and the overall foreign troop numbers to 150,000 -- will reverse the momentum of Taliban insurgents within a year.

"By the summer of 2011, it will be clear to the Afghan people that the insurgency will not win, giving them the chance to side with their government," General Stanley McChrystal told US lawmakers in Washington.

McChrystal said he was confident of success because the Taliban, who were expelled from power by the 2001 US-led invasion, were unpopular and Afghans see foreign troops as a "necessary bridge to future security and stability."

But he warned the insurgency was "complex and resilient" and that the most difficult task would be improving the credibility of the government, and that killing or capturing Osama bin Laden was key to defeating Al-Qaeda. Related article: Killing bin Laden key: McChrystal

"I believe he is an iconic figure at this point whose survival emboldens Al-Qaeda as a franchising organisation across the world," said McChrystal.

US officials believe that bin Laden -- considered the mastermind of the attacks of September 11, 2001 on New York and Washington -- is hiding in the mountains on the Afghan-Pakistan border.

President Hamid Karzai, under huge pressure to form a transparent government after an August election steeped in fraud, is still trying to stitch together a credible cabinet in a bid to end months of political paralysis.

The mayor of Kabul, who was sentenced to four years in prison this week in a landmark corruption case, has gone back to work and proclaimed his innocence, raising serious questions Wednesday about the power of the courts.

Karzai has said Afghanistan will need foreign aid to fund its security forces for up to two more decades, calling for a long-term US commitment.

PARIS (AFP) –
A collection of dresses and other wardrobe treasures worn by film star and style icon Audrey Hepburn is on show in Paris this week ahead of a charity auction at Sotheby's in London.

A black silk Givenchy dress she wore in the 1962 hit "Paris When it Sizzles" is among the 36 gowns up for sale at the December 8 auction that is expected to raise more than 110,000 euros (164,000 dollars), Sotheby's said.

Hats, belts and plenty of Chanel handbags will be auctioned off, as will letters written by the late British star during the filming of "Roman Holiday" with Gregory Peck in 1953.

The famous wardrobe items worn by the chic and svelte actress is on show in Paris on Tuesday and Wednesday ahead of the auction. Half of the proceeds from the sale will go to the Audrey Hepburn Children's Fund.

Hepburn's dresses have fetched high prices at previous auctions.

A pink cocktail dress she wore in the 1961 classic "Breakfast at Tiffany's" sold for 192,000 dollars in New York in 2007.

GENEVA – The United Nations called Switzerland's ban on new minarets "clearly discriminatory" and deeply divisive, and the Swiss foreign minister acknowledged Tuesday the government was very concerned about how the vote would affect the country's image.
U.N. human rights chief Navi Pillay said Sunday's referendum to outlaw the construction of minarets in Switzerland was the product of "anti-foreigner scare-mongering."
The criticism from Pillay, whose office is based in the Swiss city of Geneva, comes after an outcry from Muslim countries, Switzerland's European neighbors and human rights watchdogs since 57.5 percent of the Swiss population ratified the ban.
The Swiss government opposed the initiative but has sought to defend it as an action not against Islam or Muslims, but one aimed at improving integration and fighting extremism.
"These are extraordinary claims when the symbol of one religion is targeted," Pillay said in a statement. She said she was saddened to see xenophobic arguments gain such traction with Swiss voters despite their "long-standing support of fundamental human rights."
The referendum doesn't affect Switzerland's four existing minarets, or the ability of Muslims to practice their religion. It only bans the towers used to put out the Islamic call to prayer.
But wealthy Arab tourists might think twice now about spending their money in Geneva and other Swiss cities, and the neutral country's efforts to mediate in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict could also suffer.
In Athens on Tuesday, Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey said the government was worried about the ban.
"We are very concerned with this referendum. The reality of our societies in Europe and throughout the world is that each limitation on the coexistence of different cultures and religions also endangers our security," Calmy-Rey said during a meeting of foreign ministers of the 56-nation Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
"Provocation risks triggering other provocation and risks inflaming extremism," she added.
Sunday's referendum, which was backed by nationalist parties, forced the government to declare illegal the building of any new minarets.
Calmy-Rey stressed that Muslims were accepted in Swiss society, and the decision would not change the foreign policy of the country, which would continue to maintain close relations with Muslim nations.
"Swiss Muslims are well integrated and will continue to attend the 200 mosques in the country," she said.
The minister said if an appeal against the referendum is lodged at the European Court of Human Rights, it would be up to the court to decide on its legality.
___
Associated Press writer Frank Jordans in Geneva and Elena Becatoros in Athens contributed to this report.

TEHRAN (AFP) –
A top aide to Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday that five British sailors detained in southern Gulf waters would be dealt with firmly if found guilty of "ill intentions."

The five British men on a 60-foot (18-metre) racing yacht were detained last week by the Revolutionary Guards, the elite force said.

Ahmadinejad's chief of staff, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie, said the way to deal with the Britons "arrested in the Persian Gulf by Iranian forces will be decided by the judiciary," Fars news agency reported.

"If these people's ill-intention is proven, they will be dealt with seriously and firmly," he said, adding Tehran had in the past dealt firmly with people who "entered Iran illegally."

Britain said on Tuesday it has "no argument" with Tehran over the sailors detained after straying into Iranian waters, stressing that the seizure was a purely consular matter.

Seeking to head off a diplomatic row over Iran's seizure of the five on November 25, Foreign Secretary David Miliband stressed that they were being treated well.

"There is certainly no confrontation or argument," he told BBC radio, a day after London went public about the seizure. "This is a purely consular matter, and we look forward to it being treated as such.

"As far as we are aware these people are being well-treated, which is right and what we'd expect from a country like Iran," he added.

The seizure, which recalls the detention of 15 British navy personnel in 2007, comes amid already heightened tensions between Tehran and the West over Iran's nuclear plans.

The five Britons were sailing from Bahrain to the start of a race in the emirate of Dubai when their yacht, "The Kingdom of Bahrain," was stopped last Wednesday in the Gulf, the Foreign Office said.

The yacht is believed to have been intercepted near the Iranian-controlled island of Abu Musa, whose ownership is disputed by Iran and the United Arab Emirates, a Bahraini interior ministry source told AFP.

Miliband stressed the latest incident was different from the one in 2007, which involved military personnel.

"It is important to say that these are civilians, not Royal Naval personnel," he said. "They are yachtsmen, they were going about their sport and it seems they may have strayed inadvertently into Iranian waters."

The Revolutionary Guards navy chief, Ali Reza Tangsiri, said the Britons had been arrested by his forces.

"The British intruders have been arrested by the Guards' navy," he told Fars, adding that "the movements in the Persian Gulf are under the supervision of Sepah (Guards)."

The yacht may have been drifted into Iranian waters after breaking its propeller en route to the Dubai-Muscat Offshore Sailing Race, which started last Thursday, British media reports said.

The crew have been named as Oliver Smith, Oliver Young, Sam Usher, Luke Porter and David Bloomer, according to informed sources in London.

On a visit to Seoul, Iran's Nobel peace laureate Shirin Ebadi called for their release. "I believe the Iranian government has arrested them without warnings. They must be released as soon as possible," she told reporters.

Ebadi, a lawyer, said the Britons might have entered Iranian waters by mistake. "In this case, (Iranian) maritime police should have escorted them out into international waters," she said through an interpreter.

Charles Porter said he had spoken to his 21-year-old son Luke on a mobile phone since the incident and he appeared to be in good spirits.

"From what we understand there was an oil field on their charts -- which is a restricted area -- so they chose to go one side of it," Porter said, adding the yacht may therefore have strayed too close to an Iranian island.

The Foreign Office said it could not say where the Britons were being held or if they were in prison.

In the 2007 incident, eight sailors and seven marines were captured on March 23. Britain insisted they were in Iraqi territorial waters, while Tehran said they were in Iranian waters.

During the 13 days they were held, the 14 men and one woman were not mistreated but were paraded on Iranian television, sparking anger from Britain and other Western governments.

PRETORIA (AFP) –
South Africa will provide treatment to all babies who test positive for HIV, President Jacob Zuma said Tuesday, announcing an expansion of AIDS care for mothers and children.

"All children under one year of age will get treatment if they test positive," Zuma said in a nationally televised speech to mark World AIDS Day.

Currently infants receive treatment based on how far their illness has progressed.

"This decision will contribute significantly towards the reduction of infant mortality over time," he said.

He also announced expanded treatment for pregnant women, in a bid to prevent the transmission of HIV to their children.

WASHINGTON – A week after they crashed the Obama administration's first state dinner, Michaele and Tareq Salahi are telling their side of the story on national television.
The Salahis were scheduled to be interviewed Tuesday morning by Matt Lauer on NBC's "Today." Despite reports that the couple was seeking payment to be interviewed, an NBC spokeswoman insisted, "No money changed hands."
NBC's parent company, NBC Universal, also owns the cable network Bravo. Michaele Salahi had hoped to land a part on an upcoming Bravo reality show, "The Real Housewives of D.C."
On Monday there were more twists in the unfolding mystery of how the Virginia couple managed to get into the highly White House dinner Nov. 24 and shake hands with President Barack Obama.
It was revealed that they communicated with a senior Pentagon official about going to the event, but the official denied that she helped the couple get in.
Michele Jones, a special assistant to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, said in a written statement issued through the White House that she never said or implied she would get the Salahis into the event.
"I specifically stated that they did not have tickets and in fact that I did not have the authority to authorize attendance, admittance or access to any part of the evening's activities," Jones said. "Even though I informed them of this, they still decided to come."
WTTG-TV, the Fox affiliate in Washington, reported on a similar incident a month before, in which the Salahis sneaked in through a back entrance to a Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Awards dinner at which Obama spoke. A guest complained that the couple didn't belong at his table.
"I double-checked my (guest) list and when they weren't on that list we escorted them out," a foundation representative, Lance Jones, said in an interview early Tuesday.
Also on Monday, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee asked the couple, Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan and White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers to testify at a hearing Thursday on the incident.
Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said he wants answers about the Secret Service's security deficiencies that allowed the Salahis to attend the White House dinner. A White House photo showed the Salahis in the receiving line in the Blue Room with Obama and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in whose honor the dinner was held.
"This is a time for answers," Thompson said in a statement Monday. "This is not the time for political games or scapegoating to distract our attention from the careful oversight we must apply to the Secret Service and its mission."
Some lawmakers have called for criminal charges to be brought against the couple, but the Secret Service has not yet decided whether to refer the case for criminal prosecution.
The Secret Service declined to comment on whether Sullivan would testify Thursday.
The couple's publicist, Mahogany Jones, could not immediately be reached for comment about whether the Salahis would testify Thursday. But earlier Monday, she said allegations that the Salahis were shopping interviews and demanding money from television networks to tell their story are false.
A TV executive who spoke on condition of anonymity to publicly discuss bookings told The Associated Press that the couple's representatives had urged networks to "get their bids in" for an interview.
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Associated Press writers Julie Pace and Lolita C. Baldor contributed to this report.

NEW YORK – Turns out those discredited rumors of a possible Chelsea Clinton wedding last summer were mostly just premature: The 29-year old daughter of former President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has become engaged to her longtime boyfriend, 31-year old investment banker Marc Mezvinsky.
The couple sent an e-mail to friends Friday announcing the news, saying they were looking at a possible wedding next summer. Matt McKenna, a spokesman for the former president, confirmed the engagement Monday.
Mezvinsky is a son of former Pennsylvania Rep. Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky and former Iowa Rep. Ed Mezvinsky, longtime friends of the Clintons. Ed Mezvinsky was released from federal prison last year after serving a nearly five-year sentence for wire and bank fraud.
Margolies-Mezvinsky served just one term in Congress before losing her seat in 1994 after voting in favor of President Clinton's 1993 budget, which was controversial at the time.
At the State Department Monday, Hillary Clinton had one brief encounter with reporters but took no questions. Later, her spokesman, Ian C. Kelly, was asked about the reported engagement but said it would be inappropriate for him to comment.
"I have a daughter who's around, she's 22 years old. And the last thing I would want would be for the State Department spokesman to talk about the personal plans of my daughter, so I am going to decline any comment on that," Kelly said.
The former first daughter and her fiance became friends as teenagers in Washington and both attended Stanford University. They now live in New York, where Mezvinsky works at G3 Capital, a Manhattan hedge fund, and Clinton is pursuing a graduate degree at Columbia University's School of Public Health.
Before returning to graduate school, Clinton worked at Avenue Capital, a hedge fund run by prominent Democratic donor Marc Lasry. She also worked at McKinsey and Company, a management consulting firm.
Since her debut on the public stage as a curly haired 12-year-old during her father's 1992 presidential campaign, Clinton has maintained a fairly low public profile. That changed in 2008, when the press-shy Clinton stepped out on the campaign trail to help her mother's bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Before beginning a relationship with Mezvinsky, Clinton dated Ian Klaus, a Rhodes Scholar she met while studying international relations at Oxford in 2002. Klaus dedicated his first book, "Elvis is Titanic," about his experience teaching in the Kurdistan province of Iraq, to Clinton.
Earlier this year, Hillary Clinton was forced to tamp down speculation that her daughter and Mezvinsky were already engaged and would marry in August on Martha's Vineyard. President Barack Obama, who was vacationing on the island at the time, was rumored to be on the guest list.
Aides to Hillary Clinton, citing Chelsea's privacy, declined to disclose whether she has received an engagement ring or any other details about wedding plans. It will be an interfaith marriage; Mezvinsky is Jewish, while Clinton grew up attending Methodist Church with her mother. Bill Clinton is Southern Baptist.
Word of the engagement was first reported by ABC News.
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Associated Press writer Robert Burns at the State Department contributed to this report.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Bobby Bowden says he has not made a decision about his coaching future at Florida State and plans to meet with university officials again Tuesday.
Bowden told The Associated Press at his home Monday evening that he is still sifting through "options" presented to him when he met with Florida State President T.K. Wetherell and athletic director Randy Spetman for an hour earlier in the day.
"Yes, there are options," said a relaxed Bowden, who was eating a light dinner while seated in an easy chair in his home office surrounded by memorabilia from his long career. "One of them is to be the head coach."
The Tallahassee Democrat and ESPN.com reported Bowden, the second-winningest coach in major college football history, is expected to announce his retirement Tuesday morning.
When asked about reports Bowden was stepping down, his wife, Ann, told AP that nothing had been finalized — "that's why they're meeting tomorrow."
Bowden said that no time had been set for the meeting on Tuesday and Browning Brooks, director of communications for the university, said no press conference has been scheduled.
The coach, who turned 80 on Nov. 8 and is in his 34th season at FSU, said earlier Monday that an announcement about his coaching future would come Tuesday.
Bowden ended the 10-minute interview at his home saying only, "I'll see you tomorrow."
After Florida State lost to its regular-season finale to Florida on Saturday, Bowden said he had to do some soul searching before deciding whether he would return in 2010.
There are questions about how responsibilities will be divided next season between Bowden and coach-in-waiting Jimbo Fisher — especially when it comes to hiring assistant coaches. Fisher, the offensive coordinator, receives $5 million from Florida State if he's not the head coach by January 2011.
Earlier this year, Bowden had strongly suggested he wanted 2010 to be his last season. But Bowden, whose 388 career wins are second only to Penn State's Joe Paterno among major college coaches, has also said he could not return as a head coach with no authority.
Spetman described Monday's meeting in Bowden's office as congenial.
"It's always cordial with coach Bowden," Spetman said. "He's a good man."
The coach was in good humor when he told a couple hundred boosters Monday at his weekly luncheon that he had the discussion about his future. The coach drew laughs from fans several times with quips and one-liners.
Bowden was not as upbeat after FSU's embarrassing 37-10 loss to the Gators on Saturday. The Seminoles have lost their last three games to Florida by scores of 45-12, 45-15 and 37-10.
But by Sunday, Bowden said he wanted to return in 2010 for his 35th season at Florida State, but that decision couldn't be finalized before he met with Florida State administrators.
Bowden has been on a one-year rollover agreement with the university for several years, but that ends after the 2010 season.
The winningest coach in Atlantic Coast Conference history, Bowden teams put together the one of most dominant runs in college football history between 1987 and 2000 with 14 consecutive finishes in the nation's top five and a pair of national titles.

But the Seminoles' fortunes haven't been nearly as good in recent years, finishing this year with a 6-6 record after starting the year with high expectations and a preseason No. 18 ranking.

In 1993, despite a late-season slip at Notre Dame, Florida State won its first national title after near misses in 1987, 1988, 1991 and 1992 — several seasons because of losses to nemesis Miami, which won three national titles during that span.

Bowden had his lone perfect season in 1999 as the Seminoles became the first team to go wire-to-wire in The Associated Press poll ranked No. 1 from the preseason to finish.

Since winning their 12th ACC championship in 2005, the Seminoles have been 16-16 over the past four seasons against league opponents.

"There's no doubt in my mind Florida State will come back," Bowden said Monday.

Based on DNA evidence, the wolf ancestors of modern dogs diverged from other wolves about 100,000 years ago, and dogs were domesticated from those wolf ancestors about 15,000 years ago. This date would make dogs the first species to be domesticated by humans.

This set up a selective breeding situation that resulted in a strain of wolves having shorter and shorter flight distances, until they were eventually comfortable near humans, having domesticated themselves, so to speak. At that point, they were tolerated by humans, so long as they were also useful, in such ways as catching rats or driving away other predators. In time, other uses, such as hunting, were found for them. The Farm Fox Experiment Evolution of Dogs

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When multiple drivers are used in a system, a "filter network", called a crossover, is used to separate the incoming signal into different frequency bands appropriate for each driver. A loudspeaker system with n separate frequency bands is described as "n-way speakers": a 2-way system will have woofer and tweeter speakers; a 3-way system is either a combination of woofer, mid-range and tweeter or subwoofer, woofer and tweeter.

To accurately reproduce very low bass notes without unwanted resonances (i.e., from cabinet panels), subwoofer systems must be solidly constructed and properly braced; good ones are typically heavy. Many subwoofer systems include power amplifiers and electronic filters, with additional controls relevant to low frequency reproduction. These variants are known as "active subwoofers". Passive subwoofers require external amplification.

IPOD Speakers

Early pacifiers were manufactured with a choice of black, maroon or white rubber, though the white rubber of the day contained a certain amount of lead. One of the best-known brands was the Binki, which became a general name for pacifier in the US. Binky (with a y) was first used as a brand name for pacifiers and other baby products in about 1935.

This epidemiological indicator is recognized as a very important measure of the level of health care in a country because it is directly linked with the health status of infants, children, and pregnant women as well as access to medical care, socioeconomic conditions, and public health practices.

Natural Baby Products

Teething is the process during which an infant's teeth start to sequentially grow in. Teething can start as early as three months or as late, in some cases, as twelve months. Occasionally a baby may even present with one or more teeth at birth. The typical time frame for new teeth to appear is somewhere between six and nine months. It can take up to several years for all 20 deciduous (aka "baby" or "milk") teeth to emerge. The process of teething is sometimes referred to as "cutting teeth".

Some newborns have a fine, downy body hair called lanugo. It may be particularly noticeable on the back, shoulders, forehead, ears and face of premature infants. Lanugo disappears within a few weeks. Likewise, not all infants are born with lush heads of hair. Some may be nearly bald while others may have very fine, almost invisible hair. Some babies are even born with a full head of hair. Amongst fair-skinned parents, this fine hair may be blond, even if the parents are not. The scalp may also be temporarily bruised or swollen, especially in hairless newborns, and the area around the eyes may be puffy.

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OKLAHOMA CITY – The Oklahoma City Thunder says guard Kevin Ollie underwent successful "minor" surgery Monday to relieve pain in the patellar tendon in his right knee.
Ollie has missed three games with the injury and is expected to be out up to four more weeks.
Another Thunder guard, Kyle Weaver, also had successful surgery Monday on his separated shoulder, an injury he suffered last week during practice. The team says his rehabilitation will last at least four months.
Oklahoma City center Nenad Krstic missed his first game of the season Sunday with soreness in his left Achilles tendon and forward Nick Collison missed his fourth consecutive game with a sprained knee.
Guard Shaun Livingston has been sidelined following arthroscopic knee surgery two weeks ago, but practiced Saturday and participated in the team's practice Sunday.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – If global investors were looking for reassurances from Dubai that it would stand behind its massive, debt-swamped investment conglomerate, they got none Monday. Instead, the Gulf city-state seemed to wash its hands of the financial woes that have rattled world markets.
The muddled message from Dubai has fueled worries over a possible default by the conglomerate, which is involved in projects around the world — from Gulf banks and ports in 50 countries to luxury retailer Barneys New York and a grandiose six-tower hotel-entertainment complex in Las Vegas.
Many investors are hoping that the conglomerate, Dubai World, will either openly discuss restructuring of some $60 billion in debt with its creditors, or that Dubai's larger, oil-rich neighbor, Abu Dhabi, will step in to restore confidence by promising to foot any bills.
Dubai and Abu Dhabi are the most powerful of the seven highly autonomous statelets that make up the United Arab Emirates, but their sharply different styles have long made them rivals. For any help, Abu Dhabi will likely demand a price, possibly including increased say over Dubai's affairs.
Abu Dhabi, the seat of the UAE's federal government, has been the more conservative, religiously and financially, relying on its oil wealth to fuel growth. Meanwhile, smaller Dubai — without any oil resources — has for the past decade been the freewheeling boomtown, racking up debt as it built extravagant skyscrapers, artificial residential islands and malls complete with indoor ski slopes.
Government-owned Dubai World has been the engine for much of that growth at home and abroad. So it was a bombshell last week when Dubai announced that the conglomerate wanted to defer debt payments until at least May.
The United Arab Emirates' two main stock exchanges registered record declines Monday as they opened for the first time since the announcement, after a long Islamic holiday.
The Dubai Financial Market was down 7.3 percent, while Abu Dhabi's bourse was off over 8 percent. Brokers said they hadn't seen such declines in at least a year.
Mohammed al-Ghussein, managing partner of Atlas Financial Services in Dubai, summed up the day's trading, saying, "The whole screen is red, regardless of the industry."
Global markets leveled after heavy drops last week. Investors appeared to have a better sense of the size of potential losses from Dubai and were reassured for the moment that its woes don't signal a new crunch for credit markets, still recovering from last year's near-shutdown.
But the impact from Dubai's comments Monday could rekindle the same concerns. Investors with strong exposure to Dubai had the sinking feeling that not only is Dubai sticking to the opaque ways that many feel helped cause the mess, it was continuing to deny the city-state even has a problem.
Dubai officials have largely been silent since last week and, when its top financial official made his first comments Monday, it was hardly reassuring.
Abdulrahman al-Saleh distanced the emirate from Dubai World's debt, saying that while the conglomerate was government-owned, it was "established as an independent company."
"Given that the company has various activities and is exposed to various types of risks, the decision, since its establishment, has been that the company is not guaranteed by the (Dubai) government," he said on Dubai TV.
Moreover, lenders should take some of the responsibility for the problems, he said, arguing that they lent money to the company on the basis of the feasibility of its projects, not on assurances provided by Dubai's government.
Further fueling the confusion from Dubai authorities, the only other official to speak out about the debt mess was the emirate's police chief, Lt. Gen. Dhahi Khalfan Tamim.
Tamim said Dubai faces "unfair competition" aimed at "the defiling of the emirate so that it will not be a hub for finance, work or foreign investment." He said the Dubai government's debts "are not worth mentioning" and shouldn't be confused with those of local companies.
Dubai World broke its silence in a pre-dawn announcement Tuesday.

The company said in an e-mailed statement from the Dubai ruler's media office early Tuesday that "constructive" discussions have begun with banks. It said the restructuring would include about $6 billion covered by Islamic bonds issued by its Nakheel subsidiary. Nakheel, which is the real estate developer famous for building Dubai's palm tree-shaped islands, has a roughly $3.5 billion Islamic bond coming due in two weeks and it was considered the litmus test of Dubai World's debt woes.

The conglomerate emphasized that the proposed restructuring would not include a number of its other portfolio companies, including Infinity World Holding, Istithmar World and Ports & Free Zone World.

While the statement offered the first taste of clarity for a financial world eager for some transparency, it did not deal with the broader issue of how the company and Dubai itself would deal with the overall debt.

One possibility is that Abu Dhabi will step in, more to salvage the UAE's creditworthiness and economy than out of any filial or legal obligation to Dubai. Abu Dhabi's rulers appear to be furious over Dubai's handling of last week's debt announcement, showing it by remaining silent amid the crisis.

"Abu Dhabi's leaders have long viewed Dubai's economic growth model as excessively risky, and they now feel vindicated," Hani Sabra, a Middle East expert with the New York-based Eurasia Group, wrote in a recent report.

But it also can't allow Dubai or Dubai World to fail. "Some of Dubai's largest creditors are domestic Emirati banks in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, and Abu Dhabi does not want Dubai's troubles to spook international investors away from the UAE as a whole," he said.

In a move to partly allay liquidity concerns, the UAE's Abu Dhabi-based central bank on Sunday reaffirmed it was standing behind local and foreign banks in the country by offering additional funds at a low cost.

The move was ostensibly to ward of a run on the banks. The conglomerate, alone, is responsible for about 75 percent of Dubai's at least $80 billion in liabilities.

Abu Dhabi could earn additional political leverage by stepping up.

Intervening "gives Abu Dhabi the leverage it needs to extend its influence more broadly across the UAE federation," wrote Sabra.

"Abu Dhabi wants to get the message across that it will not simply write blank checks," he said. "In the medium and long term, Dubai's financial model will change to look more like Abu Dhabi's as Dubai's rulers lose political clout."

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El-Tablawy reported from Cairo and AP Business Writer Adam Schreck contributed from Georgetown, Malaysia.

MIAMI (Reuters) –
Tiger Woods pulled out of a golf tournament this week, the latest fall-out from a minor car accident that has left a swirl of mystery and a hint of scandal around the world's top golfer and pushed him into full damage control.

The Florida Highway Patrol said in a terse statement on Monday that it was pursuing the crash investigation but had still not been able to interview Woods, who declined to meet with investigators during the weekend.

Woods pulled out on Monday of the Chevron World Challenge in Thousand Oaks, California, a tournament he has hosted for nine years. He said he could not attend the event that starts on Thursday because of injuries suffered in the accident.

The greatest golfer of his generation and an unparalleled product pitchman whose personal fortune is estimated at $1 billion, Woods was hospitalized briefly on Friday after his Cadillac Escalade hit a fire hydrant and a tree as he left the driveway of his Windermere, Florida, home after 2 a.m.

Woods met Florida's legal requirement by providing police with his driver's license, car registration and proof of insurance, and is not obliged to volunteer medical records, video from home security cameras or anything else investigators might want, prominent Florida lawyer Roy Black said.

"Any lawyer with a brain in their head is not going to allow him to talk to the police because nothing good can come of talking to the police," said Black, who defended William Kennedy Smith, a member of America's Kennedy clan, against a rape charge, and radio host Rush Limbaugh in a drug fraud case.

Woods said in a written statement on Sunday that the accident was his fault and was "obviously embarrassing to my family and me." He called irresponsible the "many false, unfounded and malicious rumors that are currently circulating about my family and me."

TABLOIDS AWASH WITH SPECULATION

Tabloid media and celebrity websites are awash with speculation that Woods and his wife, Elin, had been arguing before the crash. The National Enquirer has reported that Woods had an extra-marital relationship with a "New York City party girl." The woman named in that report has denied a relationship.

The Florida Highway Patrol said it had not made any comments on Woods' medical information, an apparent reference to a published report that investigators were seeking a search warrant for the hospital where the golfer was treated to obtain his medical records.

Under Florida law, Woods has a right to keep medical information private, but Black said under certain circumstances police have been able to seize hospital records.

"Unfortunately, yes. That was the issue in Rush Limbaugh's case and the court upheld the use of a search warrant to seize medical records," he said. "But they (police) would have to convince a judge that there was probable cause to believe a crime had been committed."

One of the world's most recognizable figures, Woods has lucrative endorsement deals with companies such as Nike and AT&T. So far, signs are that companies are standing by the popular golfer.

The chatter about the greatest golfer of his generation and, according to Forbes magazine the world's first billionaire athlete, was fueled in part by the circumstances -- why was he leaving home at 2:25 a.m.? -- and in part by a hint of trouble in the Woods household.

The Enquirer report said that a New York nightclub hostess Rachel Uchitel, had been "telling friends about a jet-set liaison" with the golfer. Uchitel has issued a denial.

"I did not have any involvement with him," E! News quoted Uchitel as saying.

Woods' handlers have done the right thing by keeping their client away from the police, Black said, citing the recent case of U.S. television talk show host David Letterman, who two months ago revealed he was the target of a $2 million blackmail plot, then admitted having affairs with women on his staff.

"By reporting that blackmail attempt to the police, all he did was guarantee that all his dirty laundry would be played out in the news media," Black said. "Tiger Woods is a lot smarter, so far at least."

But William Moran, an attorney whose practice with the New York office of McCarter and English includes crisis management, said Woods would have been wiser to meet with the police.

"His problem that he's now facing is that he's possibly running the risk of turning himself from a victim into an offender here, if the police determine that he is obstructing justice or tampering with evidence," Moran said.

(Additional reporting by Mark Lamport-Stokes and Steve Gorman in Los Angeles and Ben Klayman in New York; Editing by Frances Kerry)