Marilyn Chambers, the Ivory Snow Porn Star, Dead at 56

People in the ’70s knew two things about Marilyn Chambers: that she had appeared as a model on an Ivory Snow box, fondly holding an infant under the corporate slogan “99 and 44/100% Pure”; and that she starred in Behind the Green Door, one of the first, weirdest and most popular hard-core movies in that brief period of the ’70s known as Porno Chic. These two factettes, with their colliding irony, made the blond, willowy Chambers the pin-up princess of XXX cinema, a notoriety she parlayed into a career in soft- and hard-core sex films that lasted from 1972 until..

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Protests wipe smile from Thai tourism sector

The "Land of Smiles" is growing grim as the political maelstrom in Thailand threatens to further erode the southeast Asian nation’s battered tourism industry. Thailand has been a popular destination since its spectacular beaches were discovered four decades ago by backpacking travelers and U.S. troops on leave from Vietnam

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Laid-off banker finds work as Obama

Regular programming has just been interrupted by a news conference. A slender black man in a suit steps up to a podium, flanked by American flags and a White House logo. “I wish I could announce such an economic package,” he says, “but there is a bank in Turkey that did it

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North Korea’s frontier a bamboo curtain

North Korea, formally called the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, is also known as the Hermit Kingdom for a good reason. For decades, it has been shrouded by a veil of secrecy that has prevented us from better understanding this important nation. As journalists we seek out the realities of life there, beyond the myths and hype, but that is difficult because the DPRK is generally inaccessible to journalists

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Is Twitter’s breakneck growth causing a backlash?

David Bill isn’t annoyed when Twitter gets so bogged down with traffic that he can’t post a message. That’s because in the moment when frustration would hit, he’s greeted on the popular Web site by a cartoonish image he loves: a giant whale being lifted out of an ocean by a small flock of tweeting birds. The icon — which Twitter users call it the “fail whale” because the creature appears only when the site has failed to load — has gained a cult following as the social media site grows at breakneck pace.

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Eerie figure haunts Scottish castle

The figure peers down silently from an upper floor of the ruins of a Scottish castle, wearing what looks like an outfit from the Middle Ages. Could this be a long-dead Scottish earl, or just a random, modern-day visitor? The eerie image is captured in a photograph taken by tourist Christopher Aitchison in May 2008 at Tantallon Castle, which sits on a rocky outcrop along the Scottish coast, east of Edinburgh.

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Comment: Beckham deal ‘wake-up call’ for U.S. soccer league

David Beckham is a man who knows his own mind and has the courage of his convictions. And that’s why, instead of heading back to LA to help revive the struggling Galaxy, he’s fought tooth and nail to stay in Italy to pursue la dolce vita with AC Milan

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