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Earliest Shoe-Wearers Revealed by Toe Bones Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News Shod? Look at the Toes Jan. 25, 2008 -- People started wearing shoes around 40,000 years ago, according to a study on recently excavated small toe bones that belonged to an individual from China who apparently loved shoes. Most footwear erodes over time. The earliest known shoes, rope sandals that attached to the feet with string, date to only around 10,000 B.C. For the new study, the clues were in middle toe bones that change during an individual's lifetime if the person wears shoes a lot. "When you walk barefoot,...

BEAVERTON, Ore. - Nike on Tuesday unveiled what it said is the first shoe designed specifically for American Indians, an effort aiming at promoting physical fitness in a population with high obesity rates. The Beaverton-based company says the Air Native N7 is designed with a larger fit for the distinct foot shape of American Indians, and has a culturally specific look. It will be distributed solely to American Indians; tribal wellness programs and tribal schools nationwide will be able to purchase the shoe at wholesale price and then pass it along to individuals, often at no cost. "Nike is aware...

WASHINGTON - The government sought to assure airline travelers Tuesday that X-raying shoes at security checkpoints was a reliable way of detecting improvised bombs, a claim contradicted by a Department of Homeland Security study. "Screening shoes by X-ray is an effective way of identifying any anomaly, including explosives," said Kip Hawley, Transportation Security Administration chief, at a news conference at Reagan National Airport just outside Washington. A study by the Homeland Security Department, obtained by The Associated Press, states that X-ray images "do not provide the information necessary to effect detection of explosives." Under new orders this week, all airline...

The European Commission's plans to regulate imports of leather shoes from China and Vietnam are in disarray, after EU member states rejected its latest proposals. The Commission wants to introduce a formal system of import duties, to replace emergency measures introduced in March. The temporary system was introduced following allegations that shoes were being "dumped" - or sold for less than it cost to make them - by manufacturers eager to gain a share of the EU's markets. The Commission said at the time it had clear evidence that both China and Vietnam were unfairly subsidising their shoe industries. Trade...

The six-legged shoes protect the wearer by lifting up a leg if it is over a mine so that the device is not triggered Device promises to save thousands of lives every year Scientists have developed a robotic shoe that will allow people to walk through minefields unharmed. Landmine clearance agencies are showing interest in the device, the inventors say. Landmines kill or wound tens of thousands every year, the majority of them non-combatants, according to mine research organisations. "We presented and exhibited a fully functional prototype at the Asian Defence Technology 2006 Exhibition in February with good responses,"...

Liberally-biased press ignores Democratic blunders October 12th, 2005 Dan Hemp, regular columnist Over the past weeks, the media’s judgment of what stories deserve front page news coverage has been controversial to say the least. One such story takes place in Austin, Texas. The district attorney for that area, a hopelessly partisan Democrat named Ronnie Earle, indicted House Majority Leader Tom Delay for conspiring to break Texas election laws with little or no evidence to make his case. Once he realized that he had no chance in court, he re-indicted Delay with the new and more serious charge of money laundering....

Sturdy shoes first came into widespread use between 40,000 and 26,000 years ago, according to a US scientist.Humans' small toes became weaker during this time, says physical anthropologist Erik Trinkaus, who has studied scores of early human foot bones. He attributes this anatomical change to the invention of rugged shoes, that reduced our need for strong, flexible toes to grip and balance. The research is presented in the Journal of Archaeological Science. The development of footwear appears to have affected the four so-called "lesser" toes - excepting the big toe. Ancient footwearWhile early humans living in cold northern climates may...

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German sporting goods maker Adidas-Salomon is buying U.S. rival Reebok (RBK) in a 3.1 billion euro ($3.8 billion) deal to expand its reach in Nike's (NKE) home market. Shares in Reebok surged 32 percent to $58.17 in Germany, while Adidas was up 6 percent at 156.40 euros at 1005 GMT, after it painted a bright outlook for the merged group. Adidas shares had initially dropped 4 percent on the news, as it said it would help fund the takeover with equity and as some analysts questioned the deal's benefits. Adidas, the number two in the sporting goods...

Archaeologists find 'Britain's oldest shoe' James Sturcke and agencies Tuesday May 10, 2005 A 2,000-year-old shoe uncovered at a Somerset quarry. Photograph: Exeter Archaeology/PA Archaeologists excavating a quarry in Somerset claim to have found Britain's oldest shoe, believed to be 2,000 years old. They said the shoe, which was found at Whitehall Quarry, near Wellington, was the equivalent to a modern size 9 or 10, and was so well preserved that the stitching and lace holes were visible in the leather. It was taken to a specialist conservation centre in Salisbury, Wiltshire, and was expected to go on display at...

LONDON, March 3 (UPI) : A survey of British women has found more than four in 10 have shoes they have never worn, with an estimated value of $1.2 billion, The Scotsman reports. The value was based on the average cost of $115 per pair in the study on wasteful consumption commissioned by the power company Npower. In the past, fine footwear indicated a woman was under the care of a wealthy man, although today, most women purchase their own shoes, and have helped drive the annual footwear market in Britain to $9.5 billion. Helen Bateman, an Edinburgh shoe designer,...

PORTLAND, Ore. - Howard Dean, the newly minted leader of the Democratic Party, and top Pentagon adviser Richard Perle made clear their opposing views on the war in Iraq during a debate marred by a protester who tossed a shoe at Perle. Perle had just started his comments Thursday when a protester threw a shoe at him before being dragged away, screaming, "Liar! Liar!" Perle, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's top policy adviser, was a key architect of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, and Dean is among the war's most prominent opponents.

A hundred old ladies could live in this shoe. Built with 80 cowhides, 1,200 feet of rope and 300 pounds of adhesives, this supersize "638-D" beauty is the latest addition to Minnesota's oversize landmarks. Scraping the factory rafters, the creation of Red Wing Shoes was crowned the world's largest shoe by the Guinness Book of Records at a special measuring session Saturday at a Las Vegas trade show. Using ladders, cranes and special rigging equipment, 60 employees and retirees built the boot in Red Wing over 13 months and finished it in time to mark the company's 100th anniversary Feb....

A Briton went on trial in Newark, N.J., Tuesday accused of trying to sell missiles to Islamic terrorists so they could shoot down a U.S. airliner. In the case, Indian-born Hemant Lakhani, 69, faces 25 years in jail if convicted for allegedly offering to sell Russian shoulder-launched anti-aircraft weapons to a federal informant posing as an Islamic terrorist. (excerpted) But the people Lakhani believed were selling the weapons system to him in Russia were also working for the feds -- the Russian Federal Security Bureau, successor to the KGB. And the missile had been rendered inert before it even left...

"This is evidence of why we recommend passengers to remove their shoes, because we need to X-ray (them)." Sidney Hayakawa Honolulu federal security director of the Transportation Security Administration Man with blade held He allegedly tried to board a flight with a box-cutter blade in his shoe sole By Rosemarie Bernardo rbernardo@starbulletin.com The Stafford-brand, size 10 1/2, black dress shoes looked common enough. But it was the box-cutter blade glued inside one of the shoes that caught the attention of security personnel at Honolulu Airport's Interisland Terminal yesterday. The 33-year-old man who put his shoes through the screening process now...

Excellent Shoe comic today (Jeff MacNelly's strip).Cassatt & Brookins skewer the bloated, bloviating Senatorial class. Unlike Boob Kerrey or The Swimmer, Senator Belfry is left speechless by the actual facts.

HELLAM, Pa. (AP) -- Along a two-lane country road, the scenery offers up the architecturally impossible, or so it would seem - a 25-foot-tall beige stucco replica of a man's work boot worthy of Paul Bunyan. Until recently, an elderly woman even owned the place. She didn't actually live in the shoe, although its three bedrooms, two bathrooms, kitchen and living room make it livable enough. For the past eight years, 77-year-old Ruth Miller was the tour guide for curious motorists who stop by the Haines Shoe House on Shoe House Road, just a few miles east of the city...

What can you learn from a shoe? As I stood in the Maidanek death camp recently, I tried to understand, tried to envision, tried to learn about a woman who died more than sixty years ago. I know almost nothing about her, other than the fact that she came to Maidanek and probably never left. There are hundreds of thousands of shoes at the Maidanek death camp in Poland, all stored behind wire mesh. The shoes are dusty and mangled, most crushed almost beyond recognition. Our guide quoted the number 800,000, but I don’t really believe it matters exactly how...

NEW YORK -- A woman whose ex-boyfriend died after she beat him with her size-12 high-heel shoe was charged with manslaughter Sunday, police said. Roosevelt Bonds, 51, died early Saturday after the brawl outside a Brooklyn nightclub, police said. Anna Rhinehart, 40, apparently knocked him down and beat him repeatedly with the shoe, police said. The two had a child together but their relationship had recently become strained, police said. A spokeswoman for the city medical examiner said Bonds died of chest compression and blunt trauma to the head, neck and torso. Rhinehart was awaiting arraignment.

Ruling by Judge William Young U.S. District Court Judge William Young made the following statement in sentencing "shoe bomber" Richard Reid to prison. It is noteworthy, and deserves to be remembered far longer than he predicts. I commend it to you and to anyone you might wish to forward it to. January 30, 2003 United States vs. Reid. Judge Young: "Mr. Richard C. Reid, hearken now to the sentence the Court imposes upon you. On counts 1, 5 and 6 the Court sentences you to life in prison in the custody of the United States Attorney General. On counts 2,...

I saw a video a few days ago that was used in the shoe bomber terrorist case that showed what the shoe bomb could of done to the jet. It was a big explosion and I wanted to show people the video. I can't find it anuywhere on the internet. Can anyone help me find this video. Many many thanks in advance.

Canadian teen arrested for trying to light shoe. PITTSburgh - A 17 year old Canadian passenger on a US Airways flight from Toronto was arrested for using a lighter on his shoe, authorities said. The teenager, who is of Iranian descent, told police he was burningloose material off his tennis shoes as the plane taxied into Pittsburgh International Airport Saturday. The youth was cited for disorderly conduct and released into custody of his father (AP).

Published MondayJune 3, 2002Restrictions Eased on Accused Bomber   By DENISE LAVOIE Associated Press Writer BOSTON (AP) - A federal judge on Monday eased communications restrictions placed on a man accused of trying to blow up a plane with explosives hidden in his shoes. Over the objections of prosecutors, U.S. District Judge William Young ruled that Richard Reid's attorneys could share their conversations with Reid with others involved in his defense. ''He has _ emphatically _ the right to the most vigorous, skilled defense that our society can afford, and I mean to see he gets it,'' Young said. Prosecutors...