Welcome to Linda Ikeji's Blog: Music Meets Runway '12 model casting gets a big, s...

Welcome to Linda Ikeji's Blog: Music Meets Runway '12 model casting gets a big, s...: The Music Meets Runway (MMR) 2012 model casting which held last Saturday the 13th of October was a tremendous success with a huge turnout ...

REPORTS: SMALLER IPAD TO BE REVEALED OCT. 23

Picture taken on August 25, 2012 shows the logo of US group Apple on the back of its market-leading iPad tablet. (Credit: AFP/Getty Images)
(TheBlaze/AP) — Apple Inc. is set to reveal a smaller, cheaper version of the iPad at an event on Oct. 23, according to several reports published Friday.
The reports from Bloomberg News, Reuters and the AllThingsD blog are based on unnamed sources “familiar with the plans.”
Apple Inc. hasn’t said anything about a smaller tablet, a concept company founder Steve Jobs derided two years ago. But company-watchers have assumed for months that an “iPad mini” will appear just in time for the holiday season.
The screen is reportedly about half the size of the iPad’s, which measures 9.7 inches diagonally. Analysts speculate the starting price of the device could be about $299.
With the device, Apple could close an opening in the tablet market for rivals like Amazon.com Inc., whose Kindle Fire is half the size of the iPad and starts at $199. Google Inc. and Barnes and Noble Inc. also sell tablets in the same size and price range.
Apple’s event would occur three days before Microsoft Corp. releases Windows 8, the new version of its operating system. Microsoft will be releasing its “Surface” tablets with the software.
Apple’s stock rose $1.61 on Friday to close at $629.71.

Front page photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images.

Welcome to Lumme's World: 25 Weird Phobias You Probably Didn't Know Existed...

Welcome to Lumme's World: 25 Weird Phobias You Probably Didn't Know Existed...: Arachnophobia — fear of spiders — became a well-known term after the 1990 film. (Photo: Shutterstock.com) We’ve all heard of arachnophobia,...

STUDENTS SET UP STING WITH FAKE FACEBOOK PAGE THAT GETS ‘CREEPY’ IT EMPLOYEE FIRED

Two students at a Bronx high school getting a “creepy” vibe from one of the school’s IT technicians decided to create a phony Facebook page to gain proof for some of their feelings. The sting worked and the tech has since been fired for taking the bait.
The New York Post reports a male and female student attending Cinema School established a profile using the name Sarah Archer. Kevin Eckstein, 38, became friends with Archer and eventually ended up asking her out on several dates, the Post found in a report by the Special Commissioner of Investigation.
Eckstein was fired from his post at the school for these actions before the start of this school year. The Post reports formal authorities becoming involved in the investigation after a teacher heard the two teen detectives talking about their plan.
Eckstein told the Post though that he didn’t realize her age:
“When I discovered in the conversation after two days that she was 16, I ended contact with her. I blocked her,” he said.
“Two kids out of the whole school who didn’t like me attempted to talk to me on Facebook and it created a buzz within the school and it led to an investigation,” he added. “It ended and I left the school.”
The Post points out that the report says the fake Facebook user informed Eckstein that she was 16 though.
The Post then anonymously quotes one of the students involved in the Facebook sting who said they never intended for Eckstein, a father of two, to get fired. The student said they had only wanted to see if the comments made about Eckstein by other students were true.
CBS Local from New York reports a parent saying she believes the situation should not have gotten to this point.
“That’s disgusting,” parent Missy Vaughn said, according to CBS 2. “How could I send my child to school thinking that my child was safe? They should have told someone. If anything, they should have told the principal, somebody.”
UPI reports that Eckstein did not face criminal charges for his actions, which he has continued to deny.

EVER WONDER WHAT IT TAKES TO BE A BASE JUMPER? WE TALKED TO ONE AND HERE’S HIS ADVICE

TheBlaze has brought its readers a wealth of videos showing BASE jumpers leaping from an ungodly high precipice and gliding safely (sometimes) to the ground with stunning views in a wingsuit. But you don’t just wake up one day, don a wingsuit that makes you look like a sugar glider squirrel and jump off a mountain.
As our interview with Erik Roner revealed, being a BASE (Buildings, Antennas, Spans, Earth) jumper takes some serious training.Image: Erik Roner/InstagramRoner told us in an email that it’s best to start with skydiving before getting into BASE jumping. He says this helps jumpers to “gain awareness and canopy control.” He also suggests having a mentor to guide you on BASE jumping ins and outs.
“There is a lot you can learn from history and others experience. Going at it on your own increases your chance for injury or death for sure. When you’re BASE jumping there’s just not much time and you really rely and your skill and muscle memory.”
As for jumping in a wingsuit, this adds another element. Roner suggests starting to jump from planes while wearing the suit before taking on a BASE. This allows you to get to know your suit and how to control it if something goes wrong.
Roner showed us, in a rather satirical way, what “getting to know” your suit can mean.In a new video, Roner tries to spend as much time as possible in his wingsuit. Image: Erik Roner/InstagramIn this video, he goes about his daily life in his wingsuit, and, of course, it still includes stunning footage over the Swiss valley (Note: Some strong language):

Through his Web series — Roner Vision — he says he’s trying to show the lighter side of the extreme stunts he takes on.
“There’s a lot of humor in everything and we try to focus on that over the intense activities I’m involved in,” Roner said.
Roner, who is also a professional skier, started BASE jumping in 2001 and jumping in a custom-fit wingsuit in 2006. He said he was scared at first — “I didn’t want to die!” — but within a short time he was hooked and has now completed more than 1,000 jumps.
“When you put that small parachute on your back, you step into this irrational world where you can run off buildings, antennas, bridges, cliffs, and fly through air. It’s probably the most surreal and most fun thing I’ve ever done.
“Before you jump you’re only focused on your gear and what you need to do,” Roner said. “During the jump you are only caught up in that moment of falling through the air. Landing successfully is the true reward and brings on amazing feelings, which is usually ‘let’s go do that again!’”Image: Erik Roner/InstagramThere is a very real danger with such an extreme sport though. TheBlaze brought you the harrowing footage from a BASE jumper’s headcam showing him crashing on the mountain. Roner said he has lost friends and had some close calls himself.
“For me it goes in waves where I feel the right energy, confidence and desire to jump. In those times I will jump lots,” he said. “Other times I’ll feel uneasy or a different type of fear and I tend to not jump very much. These periods can be weeks or months and I try to listen to my gut and ride that wave.”
Roner shattered my heal bone during a jump in France in 2005.
“Injury is part of it for sure,” he said. “If you jump long enough accidents are going to happen.”
For more information on Roner, check out his Facebook page or website.

25 Weird Phobias You Probably Didn't Know Existed

Arachnophobia — fear of spiders — became a well-known term after the 1990 film. (Photo: Shutterstock.com)We’ve all heard of arachnophobia, claustrophobia and other well-known phobias, but there are hundreds fear of somethings out there that you probably haven’t heard of. Fear not (get it), we’re hear to bring you the wildest, whackiest, and most interesting phobias around.
According to the National Institute of Health, the medical definition of a phobia is a “a strong, irrational fear of something that poses little or no actual danger.”
A list curated over the last couple decades by Fredd Culbertson, a man with an interest in the origins of words, shows more than 530 phobias. Culbertson claims no medical experience and writes etymology is merely a hobby of his.
Although the majority of them could be dubbed as unusual phobias, we’ve pulled out this small sampling — one from each alphabetical category — of ones we thought you may never have heard of before. According to Culbertson, there is a referenced fear of:

• Air swallowing- Aerophobia

• Bullets- Ballistophobia

• Chins- Geniophobia

• Dining or dinner conversations- Deipnophobia

• Englishness- Anglophobia

• Freedom- Eleutherophobia

• Good news, hearing good news- Euphobia

• Handwriting- Graphophobia

• Insects that eat wood- Isopterophobia

• Joint immobility- Ankylophobia

• Knees- Genuphobia

• Left-handed; objects at the left side of the body- Sinistrophobia

• Mother-in-law- Pentheraphobia

• Number 8- Octophobia

• Otters- Lutraphobia

• Phobias- Phobophobia

• Rain- Ombrophobia

• Sun or sunlight- Heliophobia

• Trees- Dendrophobia

• Ugliness- Cacophobia

• Vegetables- Lachanophobia

• Words, long- Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia

• X-rays or radiation- Radiophobia.

• Yellow color- Xanthophobia.

• Zemmiphobia- Fear of the great mole rat.

Culbertson has a had to specially explain hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia — fear of long words — on his website. Culbertson writes he’s received some questions regarding this one, but states that it can be found in The Word Lover’s Dictionary by Josefa Heifetz and it is also in a medical paper. He explains that the ironically long word, given its phobia, sees its origins in the Greek word for horse – hippo. He writes that hippos, like a hippopotamus, are generally large. Monstro comes from the world monstrous also meaning big. He continues analyzing the word writing “sesquipedalian means given to using long words…comes from Latin meaning measuring a foot and a half.” The letter without a formal phobia that Culbertson has verified in medical writings and reference books is Q. He does not claim this list to be inclusive of all phobias and it doesn’t include ones that aren’t necessarily verified with a formal name. Some phobias received popularized names that aren’t really technical terms. The Cooking Channel recently featured strange food phobias (viaGawker), like mayophobia (fear of mayonaise), which is one of these popularized phobias.
The NIH states that people with a serious phobia should avoid the trigger so as not to experience panic and other symptoms. It does state that treatment, which can include medicine and/or therapy “helps most people with phobias.”
Check out Culbertson’s list for more phobias here.
If you know of any other strange phobias, feel free to share in the comments section.

What Could Your Favourite Sleep Position Reveal About You?

Your body language can often reveal what you’re thinking and even personality traits. This too applies to your body language when you’re sleeping.
The U.K.’s Daily Telegraph recently reported that Robert Phillips, a body language expert, studied four of the most popular positions and revealed what they could say about a person. The four positions he studied were fetal, log, yearner and freefall.
Phillips says fetal, the most popular position, involves sleeping on one’s side with the knees curled upward and neck bent slightly downward. This position, the Telegraph reports, brings a person back to their comfort zone. From Phillips’ observations, those who sleep this way are considerate and orderly, but also have the potentially to be over-thinkers and worriers.The fetal position. (Photo: Shutterstock.com)Log sleepers, those who lie in a straight position with their arms down, could indicate a more strict, stubborn personality. Whereas those favoring the yearner’s position, sleeping on one’s side with arms stretch outward sideways, are said to be go-getters who can also be critical of themselves.Arms reaching outward in this way indicate what’s called the “yearners” position. (Photo: Shutterstock.com)Those in a freefall position, lying on one’s stomach with arms stretched out, might indicate a personality that feels a lack of control over their life. It is also said to be one of the more unfavorable and uncomfortable positions for adults.The freefall position looks similar to skydiving. (Photo: Shutterstock.com)The Telegraph reports Phillips conducting this research for Premier Inn, a U.K. hotel chain. A spokesperson for the chain is reported as saying that while some people read horoscopes, the hotel wanted to show guests how their night sleep might indicate how they could face the day.
“We have worked with Robert to develop ‘sleep-o-scopes’ and were shocked that the research revealed just how stressed we are as a nation,” spokeswoman Claire Haigh said.
Watch this recent CBS video with another body language expert discussing the different positions:

This report adds two categories to the list in addition to what Phillips spoke of: soldier and starfish. Soldier is lying on one’s back with arms to one’s side. Starfish is similar except the arms bend upward toward the head. Those sleeping in starfish were reported to be good friends.Arms above the head like this indicate the starfish position. (Photo: Shutterstock.com.)
CBS’ report shows some differences in the definitions of what constitutes the sleep positions, compared to Phillips observations, but the sentiments of what each mean are relatively similar.