Holding hands with a fetus – PART 2

ARIZONA, OCTOBER 2012

This remarkable photo was taken by Arizona’s Randy Atkins, who is a professional photographer. His wife Alicia gave birth to their daughter Neveah last October.

“The doctor called me over and said, ‘Hey, she’s grabbing my finger,'” Mr Atkins told Arizona’s 3TV News. “So I ran over there and just grabbed the shot and I was just in awe looking at it. It was such an amazing picture.”

The Atkins posted the photo on facebook and thanked obstetrician Dr Allen Sawyer.

By the way, doctors say that it is not unusual for babies in this position to reach out to the world. The story reminds us to an even more impressive story about a 22 week old fetus who made a likewise gesture in the year 1999 (see picture below):
Holding hands with a 21-week old fetus: the story of Samuel Armas

TWEETING FINGERS – How to do the ‘hashtag’ with your fingers?

The Guardian, Aug 1 – People have started speaking with hashtags. Not often, and not, in most cases, people anyone really likes, but people nonetheless. And the problem – beyond the fact that this is happening at all – is that no one seems to be quite sure how to say, for example, #spokenhashtag.

Abruptly inserting the word “hashtag” mid-sentence just won’t do. It’s far too clunky, like having to shout out “inverted commas!” before and after a suspect sentence, instead of forming a pair of air-quote bunny rabbits.

An “air hashtag” also looks tricky: attempting to draw out the # symbol with a finger takes four time-consuming strokes, and makes you look as if you’ve paused mid-thought to bust out a hand-jive to the imaginary music in your head.

Trying it with two fingers and two quick strokes – one horizontal and one vertical – just looks like an effete mimed raptor attack, while going all-out with two slashes of both hands risks being mistaken for a bizarre attempt at semaphore without flags.

They would all also require you to say “hashtag” while doing them anyway. At least at first, until people caught on.

No, we need standardisation. We need – drumroll please – a hashtag tone of voice. Sarcasm, after all, has one. Why not the humble hashtag? It’s the new gesture-language, and it appears a matter of time before you’ll tweeting fingers everywhere!

A WOMAN’S BODY LANGUAGE: ‘Hands off, he’s mine!’

When U.S supercop Bill Bratton and wife Rikki were pictured in The Mail on Sunday last week, her elegantly manicured fingers were lightly – but oh so firmly – resting upon her handsome husband’s torso.

And a little research reveals that in almost every photograph taken of the couple, TV personality Rikki has adopted a similar pose.

Bill is the charismatic policeman credited with reversing America’s crime epidemic – and the fact that Rikki is his fourth wife is perhaps a clue to the significance of her sub-conscious hand signals.

Because body-language expert Judi James says the pose is classically adopted by women everywhere to send a hands-off gesture to any rivals who may be interested in their man.

‘This is a possessive barrier gesture,’ explains James. ‘Although it is a sign of affection, principally it is a signal to other females, who may be potential rivals.

‘Basically, what the woman is communicating to others is, “I’ve got him – hands off.” ’

It’s a tactic that doesn’t work with all men, warns James. So The Mail on Sunday set about finding the stars who use the hands-off hand signal to most effect .  .  . with surprising results.

Via: Emily Hill

A few more ‘hands off, he’s mine’ celebrity-pair examples, including: Angelina Jolie & Brad Pitt, Victoria & David Beckham, J-Lo & Marc Anthony, Katie Holmes & Tom Cruise, Katy Perry & Russell Brand, Emma Thompson & Greg Wise, and Megan Fox & Brian Austin:

 

– ANGELINA JOLIE & BRAD PITT –

– VICTORIA & DAVID BECKHAM –

– J-LO & MARC ANTHONY –

– KATIE HOLMES & TOM CRUISE –

– KATY PERRY & RUSSELL BRAND –

– EMMA THOMPSON & GREG WISE –

– MEGAN FOX & BRIAN AUSTIN –

DON’T GET ME WRONG! – The Global Gestures Guide

When you’re far from home, even what you’d assume to be the most universal gesture might mean something completely different than you’d expect. It’s a concept explored in the book Don’t Get Me Wrong! – The Global Gestures Guide with helpful pictures by photographer Florian Bong-Kil Grosse. The book is published by Julia Grosse and Judith Reker and Bierke Publishing, and will also be introduced to beleaguered travellers as a handy iPhone app ($1.99). For example, in Turkey this gesture is a positive, upbeat physical expression that means “beautiful” or “good.”

This entertaining publication takes all those by the hand who are curious about the diversity of communication. Two foreign correspondents have gathered everyday hand gestures from around 50 countries, from Australia to Zimbabwe. The results, beautifully captured in nearly 80 colour photographs, are often amusing and always instructive. With its original design, stunning finish and handy format, ‘Don’t Get Me Wrong!’ makes for a cool and compact travel companion. Beautifully designed by a team of award-winning art book designers, the gestures from around 50 countries were researched and collected by two well-travelled journalists.

 

You can order the book at:

Don’t Get Me Wrong: The Global Gestures Guide

 

A Life.com photo gallery from the book is available at:

http://www.life.com/gallery/58041/dont-get-me-wrong-global-gestures#index/0

 

More reports about hand gestures are available at:

http://www.handresearch.com/news/hand-gestures.htm

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An overview of some international ‘angry’ hand gestures:

DUBAI: A British expatriate in Dubai is facing jail after being accused of ‘flipping the finger’!

Would these guys get ‘life sentence’ in Dubai?

DUBAI, 2010 – A British expatriate in Dubai is facing jail and deportation after being accused of making a single-finger gesture in an argument. Simon Andrews, 56, has had his passport confiscated for almost eight months while waiting for his case to be heard.

He told Dubai Court of Misdemeanours he denies “flipping the finger” at Mahmoud Rasheed, an Iraqi aviation student, during an argument. He will appear in court on Sunday for a full hearing of the case.

Mr Andrews has said Mr Rasheed, who has not yet appeared in court to give evidence, is mistaken and no finger was raised. At a court hearing on Sunday, he asked for the passport put up as bail surety for him by a friend to be returned as the friend had to go abroad for work.

He was told to provide another passport in its place. His own passport has also been confiscated, preventing him leaving Dubai before the case is heard. Making insulting gestures is regarded as unacceptable, and carries with it the possibility of a jail sentence of up to six months and deportation.

• MORE HAND GESTURES NEWS!

Be aware… in other places ‘the finger’ may just be given for fun – featured with a big smile!

V-SIGN RESEARCH: Middle-finger length is involved in the effect of the ‘V gesture’!

The V-sign: gesture for ‘victory’… or ‘insult’!

Since Winston Churchill’s use of the ‘V-sign’ in 1941,  this gesture is generally recognized as a sign for ‘victory’. But outside the UK, Ireland, New Zealand and Australia few people are aware of the insulting version of almost the same gesture: a ‘v-sign with the palm inwards’, which is often recognized as an alternative for ‘the finger’. Earlier this month British scientists found that finger length is involved in the severity of the insulting version of the V-gesture.

DECEMBER 2010 REPORT:

Scientists at the recent FIFA meeting that awarded the 2018 World Cup to Russia have discovered that people with long middle fingers are capable of increasing the severity of the traditional two-fingered ‘V gesture – with the palm inwards’.

‘Prince William’s gesture was noticeably more aggressive than that of David Cameron, who has a relatively short middle finger,’ said Professor Thomas Boycott from Cambridge. ’The Prince’s gesture was a clear ‘Fuck you, you lying twat with knobs on’, whilst Cameron’s was more ‘Up yours, you stupid tosser’.’

V-signs have been given throughout history, with long-fingered people performing best. Short-fingered Winston Churchill’s gesture when telling journalists to  stop taking photographs was incorrectly taken as a ’V for Victory’.

‘Then again,’ added Boycott, ‘what about that short-fingered man who swerved to avoid me this morning and merely gestured to indicate I should eat a hot dog with plenty of ketchup on it? Most peculiar, in the circumstances.’

• MORE HAND GESTURES NEWS!
• MORE FAMOUS HAND GESTURES!

How to stop the swine flu? No handshaking, try Barack Obama’s fist bump!

Last year you could have seen president Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle doing the fist bump on many occasion during the election campaign. Now Obama’s lovely greeting gesture might help to stop the swine flu epedimic! Why? Swine flu prevention has become for a large part become a matter of “hand hygiene”, so the handshake is now no longer recommended to greet other people in daily life. Instead the fist bump is much more harmless in terms of hand hygiene! Philip M. Tierno Jr., PhD, director of clinical microbiology and immunology at New York University Medical Centre says: “Eighty percent of all infectious diseases are transmitted by contact both direct and indirect – direct such as kissing, indirect such as shaking someone’s hand. Frequent hand washing is the single most important weapon we have against the swine flu disease.” With the all the focus on H1NI or swine flu, the alternative of the fist bump might become very helpfull in the battle with the ‘influenza A’ virus. For, over the past weeks various reports from around the world indicate that despite the danger, people find it very hard not to use the handshake merely because in many countries handshaking has become so normal – especially in the business and workplace etiquette! So, don’t hesitate … no handshaking anymore, try the obama’s fistbump! SUGGESTION FOR FURTHER READING: • The history of the fist bump! • Shake it up Barack Obama: let’s do the fist bump! • The swine flu etiquette: use good hand hygiene, no handshaking, no mask, to prevent a pandemic! • What the swine flu could do to a young girl in Uganda!