Bravo’s Jackie Warner Once Weighed 169, Felt ‘Miserable’ And ‘Out Of Control’

Jackie Warner, star of Bravo’s new weight-loss show ‘Thintervention’ (and previously of ‘Work Out’) is known for her ripped abs, but in college she struggled with her weight, gaining more than 50 pounds. She opens up about her food and body issues and how she overcame them in the new issue of In Touch Weekly.

Fellow tight-bodied television trainer Jillian Michaels was also overweight as a teen.

In Touch’s press release follows:

Looking at that toned physique, it’s hard to believe that former Work Out star Jackie Warner was ever out of shape. But the 42-year-old trainer tells In Touch she had serious weight issues in college, when she ballooned from 118 pounds to 169. “I was alone in LA, and it was a huge culture shock,” recalls the Ohio native. “I was depressed and ate junk food every day.” Now starring on Thintervention (Mondays at 10 p.m. ET on Bravo), which helps people deal with the physical and emotional challenges of food addiction, Jackie opens up about how she took control of her body and life.

How did you feel at your heaviest weight?

I was miserable and felt so out of control. I tried covering up with baggy clothes, but I was insecure from the time I woke up until I went to sleep.

How did you get into shape?

It took four months. I was ambitious, and knew I wouldn’t get anywhere carrying all that insecurity. So I started walking to school every morning, exercising and eating healthy.

How are you feeling about your body these days?

It’s been two years since I’ve been on TV, and you do go through a lot of physical changes, but I think my body looks better than it ever has!

Do you have regrets about doing Work Out?

There’s nothing more honest than seeing yourself reflected back on camera. I didn’t like how I was portrayed, but I did a lot of self-work and changed the things I didn’t like.

Has your new long hair had any effect on your love life?

I get hit on by men, not just women! I just got out of a relationship, but the women I’m dating now are worlds away from the women of three years ago. My standards are higher.

Last Major U.S. Factory Making Incandescent Light Bulbs Closes In Winchester, Virginia

Major companies like General Electric have dedicated the last few years to switching over to eco-friendly compact florescent bulbs, which use 75 percent less energy while giving as much light as incandescent light bulbs. […] But as the Washington Post reports, one unintended consequence is the contribution it makes to the “continuing erosion” of U.S. manufacturing. As companies transition over to making CFLs, local plants close and jobs are moved out of the country.

Read more: Winchester GE Factory, Winchester Light Bulbs, Light Bulbs Winchester, Green Technology, Light Bulb Factory Closes, Last US Lightbulb Factory, GE Light Bulbs, GE Factory Winchester, Green News

UK ‘blind’ to black female acts

The chair of the Mercury Prize claims that black British female artists are being ignored by the British public.

Paley Center Plots Emmys-Killer

LOS ANGELES — The Emmys aren’t the only big TV-honors game anymore.

The Paley Center for Media announced plans Wednesday for an awards telecast that will debut in spring 2012 in New York. It was developed with the help of TV, advertising and new-media executives.

Read more: Emmys, Paley Center TV Awards, Paley Center, Emmy Awards, Media News

Critic’s notebook: Art and modern warfare

Trevor Paglen focuses on the typically unseen aspects of conflict and military action.

On the wall of my mother’s den hang two framed 19th century military rosters. One chronicles the Union troops my great-grandfather, a civilian soldier, led during the Civil War. The other lists the 11 battles he fought in — Malvern Hill, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, Spotsylvania, etc. — from 1862 to 1864. Spotsylvania is where he took a Minié ball to the midsection, a wound that likely would have killed him had it not passed through his leather belt first.


PG&E confirms that one of its gas lines ruptured in area of massive San Bruno fire

The utility company that serves San Bruno confirmed Thursday night that one its gas line ruptured in the neighborhood where a  roaring fire left at least one person dead, destroyed a number homes and injured a couple of dozen victims.

Pacific Gas & Electric said that the broken line one was one theirs but added that the cause of the blast had not been determined.

"If it is ultimately determined that we were responsible for the cause of the accident, we will take accountability," the utility said in a statement.

The explosion tore a huge crater in the neighborhood and quickly disintegrated a couple of homes as flames, whipped by powerful winds, raced down streets and sent many residents fleeing on foot and in their vehicles, according to witnesses.

–Robert J. Lopez

Steve Ressler: The War of Online Vs. Offline

People love controversy. And people love conflict. It’s often X vs Y. David vs Goliath. Cowboys vs Redskins.

I see this often in the new media space as well. Print is dead. Online is king. Traditional in-person meetings are out. Online communities are the future.

Well, guess what? The truth is: you need both.

As the founder of the largest social network for government, people are often surprised when I mention the importance of offline activities to spur increased online activities.

Last month, we launched our nationwide GovUps (think Meetups for Government Innovators). We are traveling across the country from California to NYC to DC to Alabama, bringing together government innovators to meet in person and learn from each other.

These in-person meetings are important as online friends are meeting face-to-face (often for the first time), shaking hands, breaking bread, and furthering the relationship. I believe these in-person meetings only strengthen online activities as people want to engage more with the people they meet.

You can see this trend as well in the broader social media space. That’s why there are in-person TweetUps (for Twitter users) and Foursquare day (for lovers of checking-in).

Government agencies looking to build both online community and offline community can look to NASA as a shining light. NASA has built a robust online community via Twitter with their NASA Buzzroom as a home base for the astronauts engaged online. In addition, they have hosted multiple Tweetups during shuttle launches where they give their top Twitter followers the opportunity to tour the center, view the shuttle launch and speak with NASA managers, astronauts, shuttle technicians and engineers.

By using both online and offline activities, NASA is building a broad, highly engaged community that identifies with the NASA mission and activities. This is hugely important for an agency that relies on the interest and imagination of the American public to remind their representatives to appropriate significant dollars to the space mission.

In the end, it’s really about building community, whether you are a government agency, non-profit, or private company. And you have to use all the mechanisms available (both online and offline) to build true engagement.

Read more: Nasa, Tweetup, Offline, Buzzroom, Govups, Online, Government, Foursquare, Gov 2.0, Social Innovation, Twitter, Tweetups, Civic Engagement, Community, Technology News

Michael D. Eisner: ‘Working Together’: Michael Eisner Highlights 11 Great Partnerships (PHOTOS)

Over the past two years, I’ve been at work on a project about a concept that’s fascinated me for decades: partnership. From my marriage (43 years and counting) to my business life (where I spent 16 years working alongside Barry Diller at ABC and Paramount, and then, at Disney, partnered with the late Frank Wells as well as my successor, Bob Iger), I’ve been fortunate to find success with partners. Along the way, I’ve met a handful of others who had similarly positive experiences in partnerships. And as I thought more about the idea, I decided to explore it in a book. Start with a look back at my own experiences with partners, and talk to some other people who succeeded in partnerships.

The list was easier to create than I first thought. The group of people profiled in the book have shaped the worlds of finance, technology, entertainment, retail, fashion, sports, and more for years — and they’ve done it by working together.

Read more: Business, Michael D Eisner, Working Together, Michael Eisner, Slidepollajax, Studio 54, Apple, Bill Gates, Joe Torre, Microsoft, Ceo, Chef, Gill and Melinda Gates, Gates Foundation, Books News

iTunes Costs Apple $1 Billion To Run

Between movies and TV episodes, books and music, and apps of all prices, Apple is swimming in profits from iTunes. But how much does it take for Apple to maintain that store?

Read more: Itunes Apple Download, Itunes Apple, Itunes, Apple, Itunes Cost, Technology News

Charles Karel Bouley: Enough About the Nut Bag In Florida; the Noise Is Dangerous

OK, now this has gone too far.

Enough of all this fake protest over the nut-bag in Florida with less followers than I had guests at my last dinner party; the one that wants to burn the Muslim holy book. All this global outrage, including a comment from the United States President, at this media created hysteria has now got to end before it hurts someone.

Because no matter what anyone will ever tell me, burning a few books does not endanger our troops, outrage any more or cause any worse ripple effect then launching two illegal occupations of Muslim homelands, sustaining those occupations for seven and nine years (and counting), respectively, and a refusal to acknowledge the Islamaphobia created by George W. Bush as he terrorized a nation and world for eight years — unstopped by Congress (including the Democratic led Congress since 2006) — with his NeoCon Right Wing Evangelical propaganda. That President told people he was preparing the Middle East for the return of Biblical angels; a statement by a Christian President with occupying forces in Muslim land, a statement backed up with things like “shock and awe.”

And as horrible as the nut-bag’s actions in Florida are, due simply to the disrespect of it all, I still believe blowing up neighborhoods with collateral damage called children, women, innocents whose only crime was living in a region deemed a danger by Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and all the other unprosecuted war criminals is far worse. Killing people at a birthday party on camera and enjoying it is far worse. Asking our troops to go door to door in foreign lands with no clear goal is far worse.

We have destroyed the country of Iraq, period, end of story. It does not exist. There is a shell where a country once was with no real working government, inadequate defenses, infrastructure and the vast resources benefiting a small few and not the nation (please don’t say it sounds like here, or was that the plan?). It will be three countries one day, perhaps, or the starting place of a bigger conflict with Iran. Whatever it will be, it’s broken now, and is no way a unified, democratic peaceful ally or nation.

Afghanistan has been exploited by regimes that come in, and then realize, usually after bankrupting the nation, that the commitment is far beyond what any nation can actually commit to and afford, because the nation needs a complete and total revamp, rebuild, and needs a revolution (internal) to solve its problems. But the fact is, it’s broken, too, and our presence isn’t helping because our mission is still unclear. So, another broken country, broken before we found it, and it will be worse after we leave it.

These actions, and our foreign policy endangers our troops. Deeply ingrained hatred and misconceptions endangers our troops (on both sides). Allowing your President to deploy troops where there should be none, and attack strangers who are not our enemy endangers our troops and our security. Running a black ops torture chamber known an Guantanamo endangers our troops. Waterboarding with impunity endangers our troops. Not impeaching that President endangered our troops. Not forcing this one to completely withdraw (out means out) endangers our troops. And yes, Bashing Muslims in this country, be it stabbing a cabbie or protesting a Mosque, say it with me, endangers our troops (oh ya, and burning their Holy book).

But stop all the denouncing. Every major Christian leader should fly to Florida, form a human chain between this nut and the burn pile, and tell him No! We Christians know this is wrong and hateful and we stop you in the name of our Lord! Let them police their own crazies. But stop condemning and get up and do something. Go there, stop him. Put yourself in between. Show the Muslim world good Christians will stand up for them even to one of their own. But No. They’ll condemn and moan and groan but say “we have to let him, it’s his right in America…” Yup, it’s his right, but nope, you don’t have to let him. It’s your right to go there, and stop him. Show up, join arms, block the burn pile.

Or, in a show of solidarity, burn the Bible on Saturday as well to show that any God can withstand a good bonfire. Make s’mores, because only God can make a S’more, from the heat and be joyous that your God is more powerful than a small bonfire and that His Word has withstood much worse than a crazy guy in Florida. Burn your bibles to show the Muslims that it’s all just books being burned, not Gods or faiths (or religious leaders as the Catholics once did) but just pulp returning to ash. Show them your book and theirs are equal and that you both mourn the stupidity that day.

Or shut the hell up; Because the NOISE about it all is what is dangerous, not the act itself. I talk to thousands a day, my columns are read by more than 50 people. If I burned a Bible on Saturday would it start worldwide condemnation and protest? Would Obama comment about Karel. I doubt it. It would be seen as a radio stunt, like Beck’s rally, an entertainer doing a PR move.

So why isn’t this? This guy wanted press, that’s all, and he’s clearly crazy. With Snooki and Lindsay and others we have enough Crazy in the news. We don’t need Christian Crazy, any more than we have it already.

There are insane people like this guy in Florida all over America with agendas as bigoted, as phobic, as ridiculous as him. Media does not cover them because it leads to no productive end, and bigotry and racism isn’t new or newsworthy.

He’s a miscreant. Don’t focus on him.

Our actions as a nation have been far more offensive to the Muslim world than this. Bush’s illegal occupation of Iraq and our failed mission in Afghanistan (wasn’t it to get Osama Bin Laden, then, we failed) have only harmed us more. Guys like the one in Florida and things like the Mosque in NYC will end as soon as we get our troops out of harms way all together when it is not necessary.

The Muslim world, and most Americans agree, neither Iraq or Afghanistan are necessary. Start with that, and forget the preacher. Wars endangers troops more than bonfires.

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