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Pups in her womb, a large eye visible behind the rib cage, one baby stuck in the birth canal: all fossilized evidence that this ancient marine beast, the Ichthyosaur, died in childbirth.

Jurassic Mom's almost certainly painful death is perfectly preserved in a rare fossil skeleton, one of the many unique items that will go on display in the Houston Museum of Natural Science's $85 million dinosaur hall when it opens to the public Saturday. The Associated Press got a first peek at the exhibit as the finishing touches were put in place.

Paleontologists and scientists at the museum and the Black Hills Institute of Geological Research in Hill City, S.D., have worked tirelessly for three years to collect, clean, and preserve artifacts designed to give visitors a look at how life evolved beginning 25 billion years ago.

"You'll actually be able to touch a fossil that's 3.5 billion years old," Robert Bakker, the museum's curator of paleontology, says in a conspiratorial whisper. "A microbe, simpler than bacteria, which had in its DNA the kernel that would flower later on into dinosaurs, mammals, then us. That's the beginning of the safari."

His long white beard and locks bobbing with all-too-obvious excitement, Bakker raises his brows below his cowboy hat as he continues to describe the journey visitors will experience when they enter "The Prehistoric Safari," expected to be among the top six dinosaur exhibits in the United States.

'Gorgeous'
Jack Horner, curator of the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, Mont., who acted, along with Bakker, as an adviser on the Jurassic Park movie series, agreed there will be some unique and exclusive items on display in Houston, including Triceratops skin. But he said that to him, an object's value is determined by science and should always be peer-reviewed before being displayed.

"Anybody can have stuff," Horner said, adding that he is curious to see the scientific findings on the items displayed in Houston. "Opinions are cheap."

Bakker says the safari is designed to teach about evolution. Visitors, he explains, will experience the Cambrian explosion, when life went from "literally slime" into "beautiful, elegantly sculptured things, the trilobites, which are gorgeous."

These bizarre, insectlike creatures, which are sometimes horned or sporting antennae, roamed Earth's seas in the Paleozoic era before the dinosaurs and were one of the most complex living things that existed to that point. At the Houston museum, visitors will be treated to one of the largest displays of trilobite fossils in the world, and Bakker rubs his hands with enthusiasm at the thought of young children pressing their nose to the glass to get a glimpse or reaching a tiny finger out to touch an impossibly old piece of rock.

'Motion and context'
"Dinosaurs are the jumper cables to the human mind. Kids can't curb their enthusiasm when they're in a hall of dinosaurs and mammoths and mammoth hunters and trilobites and giant fish that could chomp up a shark. These natural objects in motion and context make kids want to read, you can't stop them from reading and thinking," said Bakker, who in the 1970s was one of the first to argue the massive prehistoric beasts were warm-blooded and further challenged scientific thinking in his 1986 book, The Dinosaur Heresies.

For scientists, and the museum community, the exhibit offers unique objects, including the only Triceratops skin found to date, a specimen that showed they had been wrong in believing the horned vegetarians had smooth skin. In fact, they had bristles, Bakker said.

Then there is the museum's skeleton of a T. rex, one of only two with complete hands, two long fingers and one stub, which Bakker believes could be proof this massive, feared predator also had a soft side. The fingers, too small and badly configured, wouldn't have helped in hunting, or even grabbing things, leaving Bakker and other paleontologists to believe they were for tickling, fondling, and even falling in love. The fossil also has a piece of its tail missing, likely because it was bitten off by another Tyrannosaurus.

The hall also will house the world's only complete fossil of a snake-type creature from 50 million years ago, said David Temple, the museum's associate curator of paleontology. The snake is related to the constrictor, and the only other fossil of this type disappeared about 60 years ago.

She may have been criticised in her native India for not losing her baby weight fast enough, but Aishwarya Rai Bachchan looked nothing short of dazzling at the AmfAR Cinema Against Aids gala in Cannes last night.

Baby weight or not, the Bollywood actress, 38, lived up to her title of 'the worlds most beautiful woman' in a gold embroidered sari and co-ordinating tailored jacket with Mandarin collar.

Her hair was piled high on her head and adorned with a slender gold band, while her make-up was understated save the dark eyeliner around her eyes.

She may have been criticised in her native India for not losing her baby weight fast enough, but Aishwarya Rai Bachchan looked nothing short of dazzling at the AmfAR Cinema Against Aids gala in Cannes last night.

Baby weight or not, the Bollywood actress, 38, lived up to her title of 'the worlds most beautiful woman' in a gold embroidered sari and co-ordinating tailored jacket with Mandarin collar.

Her hair was piled high on her head and adorned with a slender gold band, while her make-up was understated save the dark eyeliner around her eyes.

But an unfortunate recent photograph that captured her with a double chin, sparked a flurry of cruel criticism, with some suggesting that she has a 'duty' to her fans to regain her pre-pregnancy figure.

One website posted a video of the star looking less than her usual svelte self, flicking between photographs of her pre-birth, and photos now.

Called 'Aishwarya Rai's shocking weight gain', the clip, which came accompanied by elephant sound effects, has been seen more than 500,000 times.

Dozens more videos in a similar vein have been posted, each with viewing figures in the tens or hundreds of thousands.

Comments left after the video prove that many of those watching have little sympathy for the star.

'She is a Bollywood actress and it is her duty to look good and fit,' one said. Another added: 'She needs to learn from people like Victoria Beckham who are back to size zero weeks after their delivery.'

I recently saw a Sunsilk advertisement where a girl with perfectly lovely hair complains to a Sunsilk hair expert about hair fall and dry hair. He casts a discerning eye over her hair and proceeds to offer suggestions while viewers with proper hair problems like me are left to seethe in fury. That’s the problem with television. Even the befores in all the before/after segments look better than your best attempts. Naturally, I felt like throwing a shoe at the television screen.

I’m blessed with hair that falls in that no-man’s land that’s neither straight, wavy nor curly. On good days, it’s tolerably mousy. On bad ones, I look like something that stepped out of a Tim Burton film. The only ones with worse hairstyles than me are Lady Gaga and Indian politicians.

A Guardian columnist once said that every situation that can possibly happen is depicted in Friends, Frasier or Sex and the City. Everyone in these sitcoms seems to have descended on earth with perfectly coiffered hair (Where is the justice in a world where some are perpetually waging mortal combat with their hairbrushes while Jennifer Aniston wakes up from bed combed, gelled and styled to perfection?) but not once do they properly address the imperative issue of hair care.

It makes one believe that hair care, no matter what Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan says about there being one solution to five problems, is a well-kept secret second only to the location of the secret cache of Mamata Banerjee cartoons.
I’ve tried everything from side-flicks to front-fringes to middle-partings but nothing has worked. Finally, I decided to defer to the experts.

I went to a hair salon in Mumbai – the type with revolving doors, mini-skirted beauticians and bills resembling the GDP of a Balkan nation. A man named Antoine, in pants so tight they seemed designed to torture the authorities at the Security Check of a US airport, tended to my locks.

The end result was slightly too bourgeoisie for my taste but there was no doubt that Antoine had the achieved the hitherto unachievable – he had tamed my tresses. They now lay docile and defeated at the nape of my neck. I walked out with my newly washed hair and washed-out wallet and imagined eyes everywhere fixed on my new hair-do.

My euphoria lasted two days and until my first hair wash. I woke up in the morning with a frizzy ball of monstrosity. I looked like an electrocuted scarecrow. My life was a fairytale happening in reverse.

After that disastrous attempt I kept my hair trimmed to what I imagined to be a becoming boy cut. It’s only recently that I dared to grow it again, mostly due to that marvellous invention that’s democratised the previously oligarchic empire of hairstyles – permanent hair straightening. I feel like Frodo after he tossed the ring into the flames of Mount Doom.

We have witnessed much madness and asininity displayed in the aftermath of the Bersih 3.0 rally of April 28, especially exemplified in the laughable antics of anti-Bersih groups, such as hawkers’ group Ikhlas, the army veterans who shook their buttocks in front of Bersih chairperson Ambiga Sreenevasen’s home, and the Kuala Lumpur Petty Traders Action Council.

Some of it can also be seen in the comments on the rally made by government leaders, including Information, Communications and Culture Minister Rais Yatim’s incredulous declaration that only 22,270 people took part in it. But most risible of all is the Government’s appointment of ex-Inspector General of Police Hanif Omar as chairperson of the so-called independent panel to investigate the violence that occurred on April 28.

So it is with considerable relief that we now welcome the decision of the Malaysian Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) to conduct its own public inquiry into the violence when earlier it had said it would wait for the Government’s panel. Suhakam decided to go ahead because the panel has yet to come out with its terms of reference, and also because it has received numerous complaints from the public about the police brutality committed during the rally.

This is a show of good sense amidst the show of puerile emotionalism by the anti-Bersih groups and anti-Bersih ministers. It restores faith in the belief that rationality still rules okay in our current tragicomic state.

Critics may aver that a Suhakam inquiry will not amount to much and that it will not result in action. Suhakam’s findings on Bersih 2.0, in which it concluded that the police used excessive force during that rally of July 9, 2011, has apparently not been taken much notice of by the authorities.

After releasing the findings three weeks ago, all Suhakam could say was: “It is now up to the police to act according to the recommendations as Suhakam does not have enforcement power.” It has, however, not elicited a positive response from the police or the Home Ministry. They know Suhakam is a toothless tiger.

Even so, an inquiry into Bersih 3.0 conducted by Suhakam would still not be a futile exercise. First, it will give those who allegedly received brutal treatment by the police the opportunity to be heard. This is important because it gives them hope. It also provides a healing balm.

Second, it will galvanize the voiceless and instill in the Malaysian psyche that in a democracy, the downtrodden can speak up.

Third, as evidence is presented during the inquiry, it will be made known to the public how the police conducted themselves during the rally. The truth, in as far as it can be ascertained, will be made known. People who have been skeptical of Bersih and people who don’t read online news media will get a side of the story different from that spun by the mainstream media. If they are ignorant of what the police did during the rally, the inquiry will help enlighten them.

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With reports of yoghurt being hurled at authorities on the streets, Greece was on my radar but certainly not in my travel calendar.

However, when a Greek-Canadian friend proposed a fortnight around several lesser-known islands in the Aegean Sea, she painted a more serene picture awash in white and blue. Nicky told me about her Athenian friend, Adonis, who had built a house on a hill in Paros with a handsome garden of grape vines, fig trees and a million-dollar view. We were welcome to stay.

It was exactly as I imagined, only better.

Before embarking on the route less travelled, I insisted on a weekend in postcard Mykonos. With its suicidal scooter drivers, mouthy drunk divas and dinnertime power outages, the cosmopolitan island lived up to its reputation and I left ready to find peace. To be completely fair, there are some spectacular beaches around Mykonos and certainly a few quiet spots, but none worth four times the price.

Adonis met us at the port in Parikiá on Paros and we drove directly to Léfkes, a small village in the hills with the charm of a simpler world, where we would pick up fresh bread from the bakery and take in a long, lazy lunch.

Tucked into a corner of town is a company where the cutting edge is part of everyday life.

SOG Specialty Knives and Tools Inc. grew from a niche business in 1986 in the apartment of owner Spencer Frazer in Santa Monica, Calif., to one that ships knives and other tools to thousands of customers across the world from its headquarters in Lynnwood. The company employs 70 people in Snohomish County.

"A knife is man's oldest tool," Frazer said. "It is still essential for modern life, and it is part of the fabric of society. They play a part in survival, preparedness and convenience. Knives won't be outdated by technology; they will be better with it and will continue to evolve."

Frazer, 56, has had a hand in designing every knife and tool produced by the company. And he continues to do so even though he sold the company in 2009 to a private equity firm, which in turn sold the business to venture capitalists last year. His role now is designer and chief technology officer.

His first knife was based on one used by a Vietnam War-era covert special warfare unit called the Studies and Observation Group. The unit served as inspiration for the company's name – SOG.

Since then, he's strived to incorporate technology in making his knives and tools more useful and stylish. The business also has embraced technology in selling its knives. It's grown from advertising on the back pages of Soldier of Fortune and Survival Guide magazines to connecting with customers on the Internet.

Customers who buy SOG knives are hunters, outdoor enthusiasts, law enforcement, collectors and gadget hounds – and mostly men.

"Our business is about offering personal things," Frazer said. "Women have more items available to them for self-expression. There is fashion, scent, jewelry. Men have very few personal items of self-expression available to them outside of watches. Knives offer distinction."

Despite the predominance of modern garments on the streets of Tunis, traditional dress still remains popular among some Tunisians.

In the capital city of Tunis traditional clothes are part of the national heritage and identity. Traditional Tunisian dress, once common in Tunis, today is mostly limited to religious events, concerts, weddings, and circumcision ceremonies.

When you take a look around the old quarters in Tunis, or if you are invited to attend a Tunisian wedding or circumcision ceremony, you will notice that many Tunisians - both men and women - still wear traditional clothes.

Some men still wear the Jebba - the most popular male costume. The Jebba is made with both wool and silk and covers almost the whole body except for the forearms and calves. The Jebba can be worn with a vest called the Farmla (less commonly the Sadria or Badia), a jacket called the Montane and baggy trousers, or Sirouel, cinched at the waist with a silk sash. The Jebba comes in many colours and is considered a ceremonial garment that evolved from Andalusian Arab and Turkish influences. Before any circumcision ceremony, the mother and her son buy the Jebba, and the Chechia, the traditional round felt hat, which is now confined to religious occasions and worn by few elderly men.

The Jebba can be covered with a Barnous. Seen in the Star Wars movie that was shot in Tunisia, the Barnous is a well-known Tunisian garment. Since his election in December 2011, the Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki has become famous for wearing a light brown Barnous in public life. Many elderly men in rural regions also wear this garment - especially in the winter season. The Barnous is a long hooded woolen poncho-like coat with no sleeves. The Barnous is also widely used in Morocco, Algeria, and Libya. It is a piece to crown traditional costumes like the Jebba and give them a special prestige.

The Fouta and Blouza, two pieces of the same ensemble, are traditionally made in the capital city of Tunis. The Fouta is a dress made of silk or cotton, which women wrap from their waists to their ankles. The Blouza forms the bustier part of the outfit. If one attends any marriage ceremony in Tunis, one will see the bride wearing the Kesswa Tounsia. Lined with crystal beads and rhinestone, the Kesswa Tounsia is two-piece ensemble made of a bustier and baggy trousers, and was inspired by bridal dresses worn in the past.

The Balgha and the Kontra are traditional shoes appreciated by both Tunisians and foreign tourists. The leather shoes are closed, and often pointed or rounded at the end. Both the Balgha and the Kontra are worn by both sexes, but in practice are more frequently seen on men. The Kontra is a beautiful and light shoe made of leather, sometimes totally organic, and is an essential accessory for the Jebba or the Gulf-syle Siroual, especially in the summer.

Evocative of the past, the Sefsari is large scarf made of natural white or yellow silk that covers the entire body of Tunisian women. The Sefsari is still worn in rural areas by older women, but has mostly been abandoned by young women. In Tunis' Medina and souks, too, there are still many women wearing the Sefsari. They are frequently of an older generation. Often, they do not cover their faces, but simply wrap the Sefsari around their body and over their head, leaving the front open so that their face remains visible, and so they can use both hands comfortably.

Khadija Ben Mrad, a 71-year old woman living in Tunis is one of the few Tunisian women who did not abandon the Sefsari. Ben Mrad said that she grew up in an era when this "decent garment" was worn by all women, regardless of their age. Ben Mrad expressed regret that most women abandoned the Sefsari in Bourguiba's era after the independence of Tunisia, when he tried to encourage women to adopt western-style clothing.

On the surface it may not look like The Return of The Dapper Men, Hawkeye and Mockingbird, and Mind the Gap have much in common, beyond the fact that they are all written by Jim McCann. One’s a fairy tale, one’s a straight up superhero comic and the third McCann describes as a “thriller mystery” with some “preternatural” elements.

But McCann says they have more in common than you might think, or at least that I thought. Last week when I interviewed him about his new Image series, McCann drew parallels between Mind the Gap and those two previous projects, noting that he had plans for a big central mystery for his run on Hawkeye and Mockingbird that never came to pass.

“With Hawkeye and Mockingbird, unfortunately that series was cancelled, but I had a two-year plan for that, and it started to lay a couple of seeds early on,” McCann told me. “Brian Bendis picked up on one of them that occurred in the last issue of Hawkeye and Mockingbird, issue #6. There was a brief moment between Clint Barton and Jessica Drew that was supposed to set up a fling between the two of them. We had talked about that before, and when the series ended he was able to take it and run with it. So there are still some ideas out there that were able to live on. I like to plan things out no matter what the story is. I think it’s important to know your ending, and I think it’s fun to plant Easter eggs and seeds.”

In Mind the Gap, which Mccann is doing with with Morning Glories cover artist Rodin Esquejo and colorist Sonia Oback, the writer has developed a big central mystery around the main character. Elle Peterson is in a coma when the series begins after being attacked by an unknown assailant on a subway platform. “Within 30 minutes of the attack happening, you meet the majority of the characters and what they’re doing around the time of the attack,” McCann said. “But play close attention–there are clocks, or watches, or timepieces in every single panel with every single person, so you can see that time has passed. Some of these people may not really have alibis for the attack.”

McCann said he has developed relationship charts to keep track of how everyone is connected to Elle, to the attack and to each other, forming a puzzle the reader can start to put together.