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Monday, July 14, 2008
Miss Venezuela crowned Miss Universe
Miss Universe, Dayana Mendoza of Venezuela, reacts after being announced the winner of the pageant.
Miss Venezuela took the crown and Miss South Africa Tansey coetzee came out in the top fifteen at the Miss Universe pageant held in Vietnam on Monday.
Venezuela’s Dayana Mendoza, 22, burst into tears when the presenter, US talk show host Jerry Springer, announced she had beaten finalists from Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Russia.
The 1, 78m beauty, the favourite of pageant bloggers and online bookmakers, clinched the diamond-studded gold crown after answering a question on the difference between men and women.
"Men think that the fastest way to go to a point is to go straight," explained the trilingual aspiring interior designer. "Women know that the faster way to go to a point is to go to the curves."
Mendoza, who was once kidnapped in her home country, later issued a call for an end to violence in the world.
"The kidnapping happened a year and a half ago," she said at a post-pageant press conference, answering questions in both English and Spanish.
"It’s something that happens in my country. You don’t even have to have money to be kidnapped ... That’s why I wanted to raise my voice and tell the world that violence is not the answer."
Asked how she felt during the pageant and what she would do next, the green-eyed brunette said she had said a series of prayers seconds before her victory, and quipped that she would now "go home and take off my shoes."
Her prize package includes money, a year-long contract promoting Miss Universe, world travel, a rent-free New York City luxury apartment and a giftbag stuffed with free designer shoes, dresses and beauty products.
In the world of beauty contests, Venezuela — where such contests are held in schools, villages and even prisons — is considered a "pageant superpower" with four previous Miss Universe and five Miss World winners.
Kicking off the extravaganza, ex-"Spice Girl" Mel B shouted "Good Morning, Vietnam!" — an apt greeting since the final was held at 8:00 am local time to coincide with prime-time Sunday evening TV slots in the Americas.
The 80 contestants were introduced in their national costumes, with Miss New Zealand sporting a Maori-style pretend-facial tattoo, Miss Korea twirling a martial arts sword and Miss Albania dazzling in a vampire theme.
Heartbreak came quickly for 65 of the beauties when the 15 semi-finalists were announced, a list chosen last week but kept highly classified by the event group, co-owned by US millionaire Donald Trump.
On the shortlist were the contestants from South Africa, Australia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Spain, USA and Vietnam.
A jury, including high-profile fashionistas and Donald Trump Junior, quickly thinned out their ranks to 10, based on how they negotiated the runway in skimpy bikinis, and what Mel B called the "wow factor".
Vietnam home girl Nguyen Thuy Lam was eliminated at this stage, to the dismay of local fans who had paid up to $1 800 () for tickets to the event held at the 7 500-seat Crown Convention Centre in Nha Trang.
Next came the evening gown section, a pageant minefield in which women must avoid tripping — which is exactly what happened to 26-year-old Crystle Stewart, the second Miss USA in consecutive years to take a fall.
Vietnam, the first communist nation to host the pageant, was promoted heavily as a tourist destination during the two-hour show seen in 170 countries — and Mendoza said a month-long stay here had worked its magic on her.
"When we were young we studied and we saw Vietnam as a country with wars and troubles," she said.
"But once I got here, I realised that it’s just like being in Venezuela. It doesn’t matter what happens, you always have a reason for smiling. We share the same will to be great countries. I like it, I love it."
Friday, July 11, 2008
Dirty Driving: Top 10 Worst Polluters
By Jim Gorzelany, ForbesAuto.com
provided by:
2008 Volkswagen Touareg V10 TDI
The Hummer H2 might be an obvious target for environmentalists, but unless it’s caked in mud, the hulking sport utility vehicle isn’t the filthiest ride on the road. That distinction goes to another SUV: the Volkswagen Touareg V10 TDI.
The Hummer H2 does make the fifth spot on our list of top 10 worst polluters, thanks to its overall heft and gas-guzzling V8 engine, but what pushes Volkswagen’s Touareg V10 TDI to the very top of the ranking is its large turbo-diesel engine. It dumps so much exhaust into the atmosphere that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency gives this midsize SUV its lowest air pollution score of 1.
MORE AT FORBESAUTO.COM
The EPA ranks vehicles on an air pollution scale of 1 to 10, giving a 1 to those that pollute the most and a 10 to those that pollute the least. Most vehicles get an air pollution score of 6. Highly efficient models like the Ford Escape Hybrid, Honda Civic Hybrid and Toyota Prius earn a 9.5, which is currently the highest rating any vehicle gets.
The EPA’s air pollution score is the main criterion for our ranking. It represents the amount of health-damaging, smog-forming airborne pollutants a vehicle emits. These primarily include nitrogen oxide, which combines with hydrocarbons to create smog; carbon monoxide, a colorless, odorless, poisonous gas; particulate matter that creates the black soot that lodges in lungs and deposits on buildings; and formaldehyde, a lung irritant and carcinogen.
Some heavy-duty pickup trucks and vans pollute more than the Touareg TDI, but they’re intended primarily for commercial use and weren’t included in our consumer-focused list. We also excluded exotic Bentleys, Ferraris and Lamborghinis because they're produced in such limited quantities and so few consumers would consider buying one.
Five other diesel-powered SUVs are right behind the Touareg TDI in our ranking of worst polluters. These include the Jeep Grand Cherokee CRD, the second worst polluter; the Mercedes-Benz GL320 CDI, which is third; and the Mercedes ML320 CDI and R320 CDI, tied for fourth. All of them get an air pollution score of 1.
2008 Mercedes-Benz CL-Class
Not all of the ties on our list were avoidable, but to help break some of them we looked at each vehicle’s carbon footprint, which is the EPA’s way of quantifying other automotive emissions called greenhouse gases. These include carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and methane. Scientists believe greenhouse gases contribute to global warming.
The primary greenhouse gas is carbon dioxide, but nitrous oxide and methane are also part of the mix.
The Volkswagen Touareg V10 TDI has a carbon footprint of 12.4, which means it emits 12.4 tons of greenhouse gases annually, according to the EPA’s standard calculations based on 15,000 miles of driving per year. Burning one gallon of gasoline emits 20 pounds of carbon dioxide, the EPA says.
The second-place Jeep Grand Cherokee CRD has a carbon footprint of 11.1 annual tons of greenhouse gases and the third-ranked Mercedes GL320 CDI puts out 10.6 tons annually.
Getting Cleaner
Auto emissions are 75 percent to 90 percent cleaner than they were before more stringent federal emissions standards were enacted in 1970, says EPA spokesperson Catherine Milbourn. “Even the worst polluters on the road today are far cleaner than most vehicles were a few decades ago,” she says.
The worst polluter on our list, the Volkswagen Touareg V10 TDI, emits 83 percent less nitrogen oxide and 89 percent less carbon monoxide than the average vehicle built in 1970, according to EPA historical data.
Widespread use of catalytic converters, exhaust gas recirculation, particulate filters and reformulated fuel are the main reasons today’s vehicles pollute far less than their predecessors.
And things will only get better: Some of the biggest polluters on our top 10 list will be cleaning up their acts for the 2009 model year, thanks to the advent of new diesel engine technology.
A new version of Volkswagen's Touareg is among a group of next-generation diesel vehicles from Audi (owned by Volkswagen), BMW, Mercedes-Benz and others. These new and improved diesels will include special catalytic converters and a system that injects urea into the exhaust stream to neutralize pollutants and drastically reduce emissions.
They will start hitting the market late this year and are expected to receive an EPA air pollution score of 6. That’s enough to pass California’s stricter emissions standards, which so far have kept diesel vehicles from being sold there and in other so-called “green" states that have adopted California’s emissions laws: Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.
Tips for Polluting Less
The easiest way to minimize your carbon footprint with your next car purchase is to choose a model with the best fuel economy possible. But you don’t necessarily have to choose the most frugal car on the lot to do your part for the environment.
Experts say that realizing even minor improvements in fuel economy among the worst polluters on the road is the most efficient way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions overall. For example, choosing a base GMC Yukon with a 5.3-liter V8, which gets 16 mpg overall, instead of the high-end Denali version and its 14-mpg 6.2-liter V8 would save more than 130 gallons of gasoline per year for the typical driver, and eliminate 1.7 tons of carbon dioxide emissions, says Therese Langer, transportation program director for the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy.
The EPA currently provides consumers with air pollution scores, fuel-economy estimates and greenhouse-gas-emission ratings for all passenger cars and light-duty trucks at www.fueleconomy.gov and www.epa.gov/greenvehicles.
A few states have enacted regulations that will require automakers to post labels on vehicles detailing the amount of greenhouse gases each one emits, along with how that model compares to the average of all cars and trucks from its model year. California and Connecticut will begin requiring such labels beginning with 2009 models, and New York will follow suit for 2010 vehicles.
Europe is ahead of the U.S. in requiring that such information be readily accessible to consumers. “In Europe, vehicle specifications now regularly list a model’s CO2 emissions,” says Francois Gravigny, an advisor for market research firm R.L. Polk and Company in Southfield, Mich. “Everybody in Europe knows what their vehicles’ CO2 emissions are.”
Although American consumers are becoming more aware of environmental issues, they’re a long way from choosing vehicles for purely altruistic ecological reasons. “By and large most people believe that they have a right, a God-given American right, to drive whatever car they want and can afford,” says Dr. Charles Kenny, a psychologist and president of The Right Brain People, a psychology research firm based in Cordova, Tenn. “Americans still have a love affair with their vehicles, which are associated in their minds with freedom and independence.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Andrea Rincon
Andrea Rincon Selene Sprice
| Name: | Andrea Rincón Espada | |
| Location: | Cali / Colombia | |
| Age: | 21 | |
| Birthday: | August 15, 1986 | |
| Zodiacal: | Leo | |
| Height: | 1.65 mts. | |
| Measures: | 90 - 60 - Outbreak | |
| Aspirations: | Being a successful entrepreneur and finish my studies international marketing. But the most important thing to be mom. | |
| Hobbies: | View Movies, Read |
| Color(s): | Pink, Black & White |
| Movie(s): | Shreck |
| Music: | Salsa, Electronic Music |
| Food(s): | Colombian Food (Bandeja Paisa, Sancocho Valluno) |
| Sport(s): | Skating |
| Actor(s): | Collin Farrell |
| Actress(es): | Nicole Kidman |
| Kind of man: | Senior, Color Tan |
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