WINTER DREAMS

Roger Federer's wife Mirka has given birth to twin girls, the world number one announced on his website.

The 15-times Grand Slam winner said Charlene Riva and Myla Rose had been born on Thursday in Switzerland.

"This is the greatest day of our lives," Federer said on the website. "Mirka, Myla and Charlene are all healthy and doing very well."

The last time a mother won a singles Grand Slam crown was in 1980 when Australian Evonne Goolagong triumphed at Wimbledon.

Since then, only eight men have captured a major after embracing the joys of fatherhood.

While four -- Pat Cash, Andres Gomez, Petr Korda and Albert Costa -- were one-slam wonders, multiple champions Boris Becker, Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Andre Agassi managed to add just one further slam to their haul after becoming parents.

Jimmy Connors was the only singles player to successfully combine family life with playing on the tour in that time, winning three of his eight Majors after the birth of his son Brett in August 1979.

For the likes of John McEnroe, Ivan Lendl and Stefan Edberg, the titles dried up as soon as they gingerly cradled the new additions to their families.

Tennis fathers have won only 10 of the last 115 Grand Slam titles.

"(Fatherhood) changes (your) life dramatically," explained Becker, who won the 1996 Australian Open after the birth of his first son Noah.

"It would be more difficult to focus on one thing alone because your main focus is for your child and your wife, and tennis becomes secondary. That's a fact."
Reuters

How did they get their Car there...?
A Series of Funny Houses.

A bikini or two piece is a women's swimsuit with two parts, one covering the breasts (optionally in the case of the monokini), the other the groin (and optionally the buttocks), leaving an uncovered area between the two (optionally in the case of the Tankini). It is often worn in hot weather or while swimming. The shapes of both parts of a bikini resemble women's underwear, and the lower part can range from revealing thong or g-string to briefs and modest square-cut shorts. Merriam–Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (11th edition) describes the bikini as "a woman's scanty two-piece bathing suit", "a man's brief swimsuit" and "a man's or woman's low-cut briefs".

The bikini, which shocked when it appeared on French beaches in 1947, dates back to antiquity, in Çatalhöyük^[1] and the Greco-Roman world.^[2] The modern bikini was invented by French engineer Louis Réard in 1946. He named it after Bikini Atoll in the Pacific, the site of the Operation Crossroads nuclear weapon test on July 1, 1946. The reasoning was that the burst of excitement created by it would be like a nuclear device. The monokini, a bikini variant, is a back formation from bikini, interpreting the first syllable as the Latin prefix bi- meaning "two" or "doubled", and substituting for it mono- meaning "one".^[3] Jacques Heim called his bikini precursor the Atome, named for its size, and Louis Réard claimed to have "split the Atome" to make it smaller.

From a 1949 Los Angeles Times report: "The bathing beauty queen—blond Bebe Shopp, 18, of Hopkins, Minn.—got an enthusiastic welcome in Paris, but she said she hasn't changed her mind about French swim suits. ... 'I don't approve of Bikini suits for American girls,' Bebe told her French interviewers. 'The French girls can wear them if they want to, but I still don't approve of them on American girls."^[4]

The bikini is perhaps the most popular female beachwear around the globe, according to French fashion historian Olivier Saillard due to "the power of women, and not the power of fashion". As he explains, "The emancipation of swimwear has always been linked to the emancipation of women."^[5] By the mid 2000s bikinis had become a US$811 million business annually, according to the NPD Group, a consumer and retail information company.^[6] The bikini has boosted spin-off services like bikini waxing and the sun tanning industries.

Marshall Street Bath's heritage is notable; most impressive are its ancient baths. The first public baths were built on the site by the Vestry of St. James in 1850. The present building, then known as The Westminster Public Baths, was started in 1928 and completed in 1931. Public funds financed the construction for the health and well being of local people.

The main pool is lined with white Sicilian marble and this marble and Swedish green marble are used on the walls at either end. The bronze fountain in a niche at the shallow end, depicting a merchild with two dolphins, is by Walter Gilbert.

Behind the pool is a smaller pool, the 'second class bath' which measures 70ft x 30ft'. It has a barrel vaulted roof. Initially, the complex also included a child's welfare centre, a public laundry and public bathing facilities, among other things.

Marshall Street baths are owned by Westminster City Council and were closed by the Council in 1997. There are currently plans to refurbish the site and re-open the pool as part of a public leisure centre in early 2009.

Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009), often dubbed the "King of Pop," was an American recording artist, widely regarded as one of the greatest entertainers who ever lived. With his trademark black fedora and single, sequinned glove, his unique contributions to music and dance, along with a highly publicized personal life, made him a central part of popular culture around the world for four decades.

One of the few artists to have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice, his achievements included multiple Guinness World Records—including the "Most Successful Entertainer of All Time"—13 Grammy Awards, 13 number one singles, and the sale of over 750 million records. He was also a notable philanthropist, donating millions of dollars to the 39 charities he supported, and raising more through his own Heal the World Foundation.

The seventh child of the Jackson family, he made his debut in 1968 as a member of The Jackson 5, beginning a solo career in 1971. His 1982 album Thriller remains the best-selling album of all time, with four others—Off the Wall (1979), Bad (1987), Dangerous (1991), and HIStory (1995)—among the best selling. He popularized several physically complicated dance moves, such as the robot and the moonwalk, now iconic. He is widely credited with having transformed the music video from a promotional tool into an art form, with videos such as Thriller, "Beat It" and "Billie Jean" making him the first African American to amass a strong crossover following on MTV, and others, such as "Black or White" and "Scream", ensuring his popularity well into the 1990s.

Jackson's personal life generated significant controversy. His changing appearance was noticed from the early 1980s, his skin appearing paler and his facial features becoming almost androgynous. He was accused in 1993 of child sexual abuse, and though no charges were brought, his health suffered when he started using painkillers to cope with the stress. He married twice and fathered three children, one of them with a surrogate mother, actions that triggered more speculation about his life. In 2005, he was tried and acquitted of different child molestation allegations, which provoked a further decline in his health. He died in Los Angeles on June 25, 2009, aged 50, after suffering a cardiac arrest. His memorial service was broadcast live around the world and attracted an audience of up to one billion people.^[3]