News Bag

4 ways how our sex blog has improved our sex lives

2008-06-18T04:38:00.000-07:00

Not a day goes by that we don't think, "How the hell did we get such a cool job?" There are worse ways to make a living than writing and opining and joking about sex on DailyBedpost.com. Now, despite our exposure to the topic, we're not sexual athletes, acrobats or over-achievers. That said, blogging about sex every day does have it's fringe benefits:
1. We're lucky enough to occasionally get free samples, so road-testing new products is a great excuse to get it on. And the novelty of a new toy or accessory automatically keeps things interesting--it's hard to fall into a routine when you've got something like K-Y's new his-and-hers lube "Yours + Mine" or Vibratex's innovative We-Vibe to try. Which is why we're always recommending sex-toy shopping as a date, especially for long-term couples!
2. Along with swag, we get copies of new books on sex. And just when we think there couldn't possibly be anything new said about the topic, something comes along that helps put sex in a whole new light. For example, Sandra Pertot's recent book, "When Your Sex Drives Don't Match," proposes that just like different personality types, we have different sexuality types--some of which are compatible, some of which simply aren't. It's helped inform some of our advice and our own books.
3. Speaking of sex advice, when you dole it out every week, it forces you to think not only about how the situation should ideally be handled, but also about how you yourself would probably handle it. When those two things don't match up, i.e. when you fall short of your own ideal, it becomes clear that you need to do a little work on yourself. That kind of regular self-evaluation helps keep our own sexual relationships on track.
4. Working and writing from home is very conducive to midday quickies, whether alone or with our fellas. (Just so we're clear: we each have our own home office; we're not engaging in midday blogger orgies. The two of us are close, but not THAT close.)

By Em & Lo

http://www.glamour.com/sexmen/articles/2008/06/em_and_lo

Obama on Father's Day

2008-06-18T04:00:00.000-07:00

I was very moved by Barack Obama's Father's Day speech at Chicago's Apostolic Church of God. He praised fathers who are "teachers and coaches ... mentors and role models," but added that "we must admit that what too many fathers also are is missing -- missing from too many lives and too many homes." He deviated from prepared remarks to call such fathers "MIA" and "AWOL" and to note that "any fool can have a child." Too many fathers, he said, "have abandoned their responsibilities, acting like boys instead of men. And the foundations of our families are weaker because of it." He talked about the toll missing fathers take in the African-American community, where more than half of all children are now raised by a single mother, "a number that has doubled -- doubled -- since we were children."

Obama also talked honestly about his own absent father. "I know what it means to have an absent father, although my circumstances weren't as tough as they are for many young people today. Even though my father left us when I was two years old, and I only knew him from the letters he wrote and the stories that my family told, I was luckier than most. I grew up in Hawaii, and had two wonderful grandparents from Kansas who poured everything they had into helping my mother raise my sister and me -- who worked with her to teach us about love and respect and the obligations we have to one another ... Still, I know the toll that being a single parent took on my mother -- how she struggled at times to pay the bills; to give us the things that other kids had; to play all the roles that both parents are supposed to play. And I know the toll it took on me. So I resolved many years ago that it was my obligation to break the cycle -- that if I could be anything in life, I would be a good father to my girls; that if I could give them anything, I would give them that rock -- that foundation -- on which to build their lives. And that would be the greatest gift I could offer."

It was a great speech, combining an appeal for more government support for families with a message of personal responsibility. Here's the whole thing, as distributed by the Obama campaign:

Good morning. It's good to be home on this Father's Day with my girls, and it's an honor to spend some time with all of you today in the house of our Lord.

At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus closes by saying, “Whoever hears these words of mine, and does them, shall be likened to a wise man who built his house upon a rock: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock.” [Matthew 7: 24-25]

Here at Apostolic, you are blessed to worship in a house that has been founded on the rock of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. But it is also built on another rock, another foundation -- and that rock is Bishop Arthur Brazier. In forty-eight years, he has built this congregation from just a few hundred to more than 20,000 strong -- a congregation that, because of his leadership, has braved the fierce winds and heavy rains of violence and poverty; joblessness and hopelessness. Because of his work and his ministry, there are more graduates and fewer gang members in the neighborhoods surrounding this church. There are more homes and fewer homeless. There is more community and less chaos because Bishop Brazier continued the march for justice that he began by Dr. King’s side all those years ago. He is the reason this house has stood tall for half a century. And on this Father’s Day, it must make him proud to know that the man now charged with keeping its foundation strong is his son and your new pastor, Reverend Byron Brazier.

Of all the rocks upon which we build our lives, we are reminded today that family is the most important. And we are called to recognize and honor how critical every father is to that foundation. They are teachers and coaches. They are mentors and role models. They are examples of success and the men who constantly push us toward it.

But if we are honest with ourselves, we’ll admit that what too many fathers also are is missing -- missing from too many lives and too many homes. They have abandoned their responsibilities, acting like boys instead of men. And the foundations of our families are weaker because of it.

You and I know how true this is in the African-American community. We know that more than half of all black children live in single-parent households, a number that has doubled -- doubled -- since we were children. We know the statistics -- that children who grow up without a father are five times more likely to live in poverty and commit crime; nine times more likely to drop out of schools and twenty times more likely to end up in prison. They are more likely to have behavioral problems, or run away from home, or become teenage parents themselves. And the foundations of our community are weaker because of it.

How many times in the last year has this city lost a child at the hands of another child? How many times have our hearts stopped in the middle of the night with the sound of a gunshot or a siren? How many teenagers have we seen hanging around on street corners when they should be sitting in a classroom? How many are sitting in prison when they should be working, or at least looking for a job? How many in this generation are we willing to lose to poverty or violence or addiction? How many?

Yes, we need more cops on the street. Yes, we need fewer guns in the hands of people who shouldn’t have them. Yes, we need more money for our schools, and more outstanding teachers in the classroom, and more after-school programs for our children. Yes, we need more jobs and more job training and more opportunity in our communities.

But we also need families to raise our children. We need fathers to realize that responsibility does not end at conception. We need them to realize that what makes you a man is not the ability to have a child -- it’s the courage to raise one.

We need to help all the mothers out there who are raising these kids by themselves; the mothers who drop them off at school, go to work, pick them up in the afternoon, work another shift, get dinner, make lunches, pay the bills, fix the house, and all the other things it takes both parents to do. So many of these women are doing a heroic job, but they need support. They need another parent. Their children need another parent. That’s what keeps their foundation strong. It’s what keeps the foundation of our country strong.

I know what it means to have an absent father, although my circumstances weren’t as tough as they are for many young people today. Even though my father left us when I was two years old, and I only knew him from the letters he wrote and the stories that my family told, I was luckier than most. I grew up in Hawaii, and had two wonderful grandparents from Kansas who poured everything they had into helping my mother raise my sister and me -- who worked with her to teach us about love and respect and the obligations we have to one another. I screwed up more often than I should’ve, but I got plenty of second chances. And even though we didn’t have a lot of money, scholarships gave me the opportunity to go to some of the best schools in the country. A lot of kids don’t get these chances today. There is no margin for error in their lives. So my own story is different in that way.

Still, I know the toll that being a single parent took on my mother -- how she struggled at times to the pay bills; to give us the things that other kids had; to play all the roles that both parents are supposed to play. And I know the toll it took on me. So I resolved many years ago that it was my obligation to break the cycle -- that if I could be anything in life, I would be a good father to my girls; that if I could give them anything, I would give them that rock -- that foundation -- on which to build their lives. And that would be the greatest gift I could offer.

I say this knowing that I have been an imperfect father -- knowing that I have made mistakes and will continue to make more; wishing that I could be home for my girls and my wife more than I am right now. I say this knowing all of these things because even as we are imperfect, even as we face difficult circumstances, there are still certain lessons we must strive to live and learn as fathers -- whether we are black or white; rich or poor; from the South Side or the wealthiest suburb.

The first is setting an example of excellence for our children -- because if we want to set high expectations for them, we’ve got to set high expectations for ourselves. It’s great if you have a job; it’s even better if you have a college degree. It’s a wonderful thing if you are married and living in a home with your children, but don’t just sit in the house and watch “SportsCenter” all weekend long. That’s why so many children are growing up in front of the television. As fathers and parents, we’ve got to spend more time with them, and help them with their homework, and replace the video game or the remote control with a book once in awhile. That’s how we build that foundation.

We know that education is everything to our children’s future. We know that they will no longer just compete for good jobs with children from Indiana, but children from India and China and all over the world. We know the work and the studying and the level of education that requires.

You know, sometimes I’ll go to an eighth-grade graduation and there’s all that pomp and circumstance and gowns and flowers. And I think to myself, it’s just eighth grade. To really compete, they need to graduate high school, and then they need to graduate college, and they probably need a graduate degree too. An eighth-grade education doesn’t cut it today. Let’s give them a handshake and tell them to get their butts back in the library!
It’s up to us -- as fathers and parents -- to instill this ethic of excellence in our children. It’s up to us to say to our daughters, don’t ever let images on TV tell you what you are worth, because I expect you to dream without limit and reach for those goals. It’s up to us to tell our sons, those songs on the radio may glorify violence, but in my house we live glory to achievement, self respect, and hard work. It’s up to us to set these high expectations. And that means meeting those expectations ourselves. That means setting examples of excellence in our own lives.
The second thing we need to do as fathers is pass along the value of empathy to our children. Not sympathy, but empathy -- the ability to stand in somebody else’s shoes; to look at the world through their eyes. Sometimes it’s so easy to get caught up in “us,” that we forget about our obligations to one another. There’s a culture in our society that says remembering these obligations is somehow soft -- that we can’t show weakness, and so therefore we can’t show kindness.
But our young boys and girls see that. They see when you are ignoring or mistreating your wife. They see when you are inconsiderate at home; or when you are distant; or when you are thinking only of yourself. And so it’s no surprise when we see that behavior in our schools or on our streets. That’s why we pass on the values of empathy and kindness to our children by living them. We need to show our kids that you’re not strong by putting other people down -- you’re strong by lifting them up. That’s our responsibility as fathers.
And by the way -- it’s a responsibility that also extends to Washington. Because if fathers are doing their part; if they’re taking our responsibilities seriously to be there for their children, and set high expectations for them, and instill in them a sense of excellence and empathy, then our government should meet them halfway.
We should be making it easier for fathers who make responsible choices and harder for those who avoid them. We should get rid of the financial penalties we impose on married couples right now, and start making sure that every dime of child support goes directly to helping children instead of some bureaucrat. We should reward fathers who pay that child support with job training and job opportunities and a larger Earned Income Tax Credit that can help them pay the bills. We should expand programs where registered nurses visit expectant and new mothers and help them learn how to care for themselves before the baby is born and what to do after -- programs that have helped increase father involvement, women’s employment, and children’s readiness for school. We should help these new families care for their children by expanding maternity and paternity leave, and we should guarantee every worker more paid sick leave so they can stay home to take care of their child without losing their income.
We should take all of these steps to build a strong foundation for our children. But we should also know that even if we do; even if we meet our obligations as fathers and parents; even if Washington does its part too, we will still face difficult challenges in our lives. There will still be days of struggle and heartache. The rains will still come and the winds will still blow.
And that is why the final lesson we must learn as fathers is also the greatest gift we can pass on to our children -- and that is the gift of hope.
I’m not talking about an idle hope that’s little more than blind optimism or willful ignorance of the problems we face. I’m talking about hope as that spirit inside us that insists, despite all evidence to the contrary, that something better is waiting for us if we’re willing to work for it and fight for it. If we are willing to believe.
I was answering questions at a town hall meeting in Wisconsin the other day and a young man raised his hand, and I figured he’d ask about college tuition or energy or maybe the war in Iraq. But instead he looked at me very seriously and he asked, “What does life mean to you?”
Now, I have to admit that I wasn’t quite prepared for that one. I think I stammered for a little bit, but then I stopped and gave it some thought, and I said this:
When I was a young man, I thought life was all about me -- how do I make my way in the world, and how do I become successful and how do I get the things that I want.
But now, my life revolves around my two little girls. And what I think about is what kind of world I’m leaving them. Are they living in a county where there’s a huge gap between a few who are wealthy and a whole bunch of people who are struggling every day? Are they living in a county that is still divided by race? A country where, because they’re girls, they don’t have as much opportunity as boys do? Are they living in a country where we are hated around the world because we don’t cooperate effectively with other nations? Are they living in a world that is in grave danger because of what we’ve done to its climate?
And what I’ve realized is that life doesn’t count for much unless you’re willing to do your small part to leave our children -- all of our children -- a better world. Even if it’s difficult. Even if the work seems great. Even if we don’t get very far in our lifetime.
That is our ultimate responsibility as fathers and parents. We try. We hope. We do what we can to build our house upon the sturdiest rock. And when the winds come, and the rains fall, and they beat upon that house, we keep faith that our Father will be there to guide us, and watch over us, and protect us, and lead His children through the darkest of storms into light of a better day. That is my prayer for all of us on this Father’s Day, and that is my hope for this country in the years ahead. May God Bless you and your children. Thank you.

By Joan Walshhttp://www.salon.com/opinion/walsh/feature/2008/06/16/obama_fathers_day/index.html?source=newsletter

This is Che Guevara, An Epic

2008-06-18T03:37:00.000-07:00

Billion Hands , Billion Minds , Billion
Emotion ................ Just Calling You,
Che come back..........
We need you...................
We love you........................

Two Guys

2008-06-18T03:10:00.000-07:00

We are always looking for happy

world and smily face ...................

Joke - 20 Years

2008-06-17T22:49:00.000-07:00

A woman awoke during the night to find that her husband was not in bed. She put on her robe and went downstairs. He was sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee in front of him. He appeared to be deep in thought, just staring at the wall. She saw him wipe a tear from his eye and take a sip of his coffee.

"What's the matter dear? Why are you down here at this time of night?" she asked.

"Do you remember 20 years ago when we were dating and you were only 16?" he asked.
"Yes I do." she replied.
"Do you remember when your father caught us in the back seat of my car?"
"Yes I remember."
"Do you remember your father when he shoved that shotgun in my face and said.'Either you marry my daughter or spend twenty years in jail'?"
"Yes I do", she replied.
He wiped another tear from his cheek and said, " You know I would have gotten out today."

http://www.jokesgallery.com/joke.php?joke=1328&id=1

Joke - $350 room

2008-06-17T22:46:00.000-07:00

Nice Hotel

A husband and wife are traveling by car from Atlanta to New York. After almost twenty-four hours on the road, they decide to stop at a nice hotel and take a room. They only plan to sleep for four hours and then get back on the road. When they check out four hours later, the desk clerk hands them a bill for $350. The man explodes and demands to know why the charge is so high. He tells the clerk although it's a nice hotel, the rooms certainly aren't worth $350. When the clerk explains that $350 is the standard rate, the man insists on speaking to the manager.

The manager enters the conversation and explains that the hotel has an Olympic-sized pool and a huge conference center which were available for the husband and wife to use. He also explains that they could have taken in one of the shows which the hotel is famous for. "The best entertainers from New York, Hollywood and Las Vegas perform here," explains the manager.

No matter what facility the manager mentions, the man replies, "But we didn't use it!"

The manager is unmoved. Eventually the man gives up and agrees to pay. He writes a check and hands it to the manager. "But sir," the managers says, "this check is only made out for $100."

"That's right," replies the man. "I charged you $250 for sleeping with my wife."

"What! I didn't sleep with your wife!" exclaims the manager.

"Well," the man replies, "she was here, and you could have."

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Joke - The Miracle

2008-06-17T22:45:00.000-07:00

The policeman signals to an car driver to pull over to the side of the road, due to the fact that he appears to be driving erratically. He says to the driver, "You appear to have been drinking!" The driver answers, "No sir, I am just tired." The policeman looks into the car and notices that the driver is a priest! He also notices that there is an empty bottle on the floor. He says to the driver, "What is, or should I say was in this bottle? The driver answers, "Water!" The policeman says, "It is not, it's wine!" The driver looks up to the heavens and says, "Oh Lord, you have done it again!"

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Joke - Never Been With A Woman

2008-06-17T22:44:00.000-07:00

An American woman of 40 wants to get married, but she is only willing to marry a man if he has never been with a woman. After several unsuccessful years of searching, she decides to take out a personal ad. She ends up corresponding with a man who has lived his entire life in the Australian outback. They end up getting married. On their wedding night, she goes into the bathroom. When she returns to the bedroom, she finds her new husband standing in the middle of the room, naked and all the furniture from the room piled in one corner. "What happened?" she asks. "I've never been with a woman," he says, "but if it's anything like a kangaroo, I'm gonna need all the room I can get."

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Joke - The Cannibal

2008-06-17T22:42:00.000-07:00

A cannibal was walking through the jungle and came upon a restaurant operated by a fellow cannibal. Feeling somewhat hungry, he sat down and looked over the menu... Tourist: $5.00 Broiled Missionary: $10.00 Fried Explorer: $15.00 Baked Democrat or Grilled Republican: $100.00 The cannibal called the waiter over and asked, “Why such a price difference for the Politicians?” The cook replied, “Have you ever tried to clean one? They're so full of crap, it takes all morning.”

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Joke - Little Guy

2008-06-17T22:40:00.000-07:00

There was a little dude and he walked into an elevator. standing next to him was a huge dude. The huge dude turned and said to the little dude .. " before you ask me any quesitons im just gonna tell you the answers to what people usaully ask me .. im 7'2" 375 lbs 2lbs left testicle 2lbs right testical 15" penis and my name is Turner Brown." then little dude looks at the big dude in horror and the big dude says " whats the matter? all i did was tell you that im 7'2" 375 lbs 2lbs left testicle 2lbs right testical 15" penis and my name is turner brown." and the little dude says " oh! thank god! i thought you said turn around!"

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Voodoo Information: The Voodoo FAQ

2008-06-17T02:21:00.000-07:00

Voodoo (or Voudoun, Vodou, Vaudoun, Vadu) is an religion based on the beliefs of Africans brought from West Africa to Haiti as slaves. The religion has mixed or syncretized with western traditions including Catholicism. I use "Voodoo" rather than the other forms because that is the American spelling and I'm most interested how "serving the spirits" has moved from Africa to Haiti to the USA and beyond. I agree with using a more Haitian spelling when discussing the religion as practiced in Haiti. Usually Vodou, Voudoun, or Vaudoun is used.Until I write something more, check out The Vodoun Information Pages--an excellent source for more information about Voodoo. I have started a Baron Samedi page with some very basic information and some cool images. There is also Voodoo-L, a mailing list about Voodoo. This lively discussion list discusses Voodoo from many perspectives. Mambo Racine Sans But is one participant with her own Web page. How is Voodoo different in New Orleans?
Again, I need to get writing, until then, see The New Orleans Voodoo Spiritual Temple According to their FAQ, some differences between New Orleans and Haitian Voodoo include the use of live snakes in rituals and the reverence of Dr. John and Marie Laveau, sometimes as highly as loa. On my last trip to N.O. I spoke with people at Island of Salvation botanica, F & F Candle, and the Spiritual Voodoo Temple. I have photos of F & F and Isle of Salvation. All three were very friendly and helpful. I've had Priestess Miriam at the Spiritual Temple do a reading and was very impressed. The timing didn't work out this last trip—but there's always next time.
Island of Salvation Botanica
835 Piety Street
New Orleans, LA 70117
504/948-9961
Voodoo Spritual Temple
828 N. Rampart Street
New Orleans, LA 70116
514/522-9627
F & F Candle
801 N. Broad Street
New Orleans, LA 70119
504/482-9142 My perception is that current Voodoo practices in New Orleans range from candle, herb, and oil hoodoo, to full-scale Voodoo religious rituals. Many Santeria and European elements have been incorporated and practicioneers come from all races and ethnic groups. For example, F & F Candle effectively combines Latin and African traditions. Ava Kay Jones leads the Voodoo Macumba Dance Ensemble in New Orleans and claims both the Voodoo and the Yoruba traditions. Isle of Salvation calls itself a "botanica," traditionally a term used for a Santeria herb and spritual supply store.This kinds of leads into the question of differences and similarities between the various African-Caribbean religious traditions. There really is no clear A in Voodoo = B in Santeria = C in Africa = D in Catholicism kind of chart. Maya Deren has a good "rough" of different Voodoo loas and their origins. If you also read the Gonzalez-Wippler you'll find a santos/saint comparison. By combining the two, plus using other sources, you can come up with some very general comparisons.
What is Santeria and how is it related to Voodoo?
Voodoo and Santeria are both African-based religions adapted and, to varying degrees, syncretized with Catholicism. Both religions used images Catholic saints to represent the African gods, loas, or santos. Sometimes more than just the images are used and a true meld or syncretism occurs. Depending on your viewpoint, you may see the combining of African tradition with Native Caribbean and Catholic religion as something new, invigorating, and well-adapted to Haiti or Cuba (and even the United States). You may also see it as merely a corruption of the "pure" African Yoruba traditions. I've found this link on African Religious Syncretism, an article comparing Santeria, Voodoo and Macumba--favoring Santeria as more "pure" because of the use of Yoruban names and language in the religion. Interesting read. There is also a Brazilian publisher with an Orixa page in Portugese. What is Hoodoo and how is it related to Voodoo?
Hoodoo is a folk version of Voodoo that focuses on the conjuring and herbal magic. Some wouldn't equate Voodoo with Hoodoo, but I'd have to say that hoodoo is a simplifed version of part of the Voodoo focusing on the magical. New Orleans Voodoo is a bridge between Haitian Voodoo and folk hoodoo. New Orleans Voodoo still has religious and ritual elements like Haitian Voodoo, but also puts strong emphasis on gris-gris and magic. New Orleans Voodoo seems to have been reinvigorated when the slaves in St. Dominique revolted and the slaveholders fled, many to French-speaking New Orleans.For more info about hoodoo, see the Lucky Mojo Curio Website and read Voodoo and Hoodoo by Jim Haskins. Where can I find out more about Voodoo?
There are several books about Voodoo, Santeria, Macumba, and related topics. In association with Amazon.com, we've opened a Voodoo Bookstore allowing you to quickly and easily order those hard-to-find books.
-->Where can I find Voodoo info on the Web?
There aren't as many references to Voodoo on the Web as you might think. Most sites are about VooDoo bikes or Jimi Hendrix, not Voodoo the religion.
The Vodoun Information Pages at:http://www.arcana.com/voodoo/voodoo.html are an excellent source for more information about Voodoo. Note: this site now appears down.The New Orleans Voodoo Spiritual Temple now has a page at http://www.gnofn.org/~voodooThe New Orleans Historical Voodoo Museum has a page at http://www.voodoomuseum.com Note: this site now appears down.

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Anti Gravity Magic Ketchup Trick

2008-06-16T23:23:00.000-07:00

Amazing but incredibly easy trick, where you command a ketchup sachet to rise and fall, inside a bottle at your command with a simple hand motion. Very visual and amusing levitating trick.

You Will Need: A clear plastic bottle such as one that has been used for soft drinks or mineral water. You will also need a condiment sachet, these are usually found in fast food outlets.
Method:
1) Take the label of the bottle so as to make the contents clearly visible.
2) Fill the bottle, near to the top with cold tap water.
3) Insert the sachet into the bottle, it should float at the top of the bottle.
4) Holding the base of the bottle, as if to steady it, apply gentle squeezing pressure to the base. The increase in pressure inside the bottle should cause the sachet to float slowly downwards. Releasing the grip on the bottle will allow the sachet to float upwards.
5) To make the sachet stop in the middle of the bottle, you need to apply just the right amount of pressure, this can be found with practice.
The beauty of this trick is the audience are completely unaware of the technique as their attention is drawn to the motions of your other hand, beckoning the sachet to rise and fall. Add an interesting line of patter and you have a great impromtu levitation trick that is easy to set up and can be used in a wide variety of places or as a pub trick.

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Voodoo Ash Trick

2008-06-16T23:19:00.000-07:00

David Blaine's Street Magic Trick, made famous on T.V.

Effect: A name is written on a piece of paper on a notepad by the spectator, the paper is torn off unseen by the magician, crumpled up and placed in an ashtray. It is then set alight.
The ashes are then rubbed on the magicians arm and the name of the person written on the paper mysteriously appears.
Preparation : You will need a small notepad, pen, ashtray, lighter and a small piece of soap or wax.
Method: The spectator is asked to write the name of a person or favourite anything of theirs on a notepad.
Then to tear of the sheet of notepaper, crumple it up and place it in the ashtray, where the magician then sets the paper alight.
The magician takes the notepad of the spectator and should be able to see the imprint of the name written on the paper above in the next sheet of the notepad.
Looking at the pad should not be made obvious and some misdirection carried out while he carefully takes the small piece of wax or soap and writes the name on the imprint on his arm or hand ( this action should not be visible to anyone ).
The magician can then take some ash from the ashtray and rub it over the wax where it will stick and create an impression of the spectators word to their amazement.
This is a great trick but depends on the magician creating an atmosphere with an entertaining routine and patter about black magic to enhance the effect and create misdirection to allow him time to pull off the trick.

By Mike Cambello

How To Get The First Kiss - Use The 90/10 Rule To Avoid 'Awkward Moments' And Get Her To Kiss You

2008-06-16T04:48:00.000-07:00

How To Tell If She's Into You
There is a tradition in modern day seduction called the 90/10 rule. This rule, with its best intentions is made to create something from "suggestion". If you are an avid reader here at SI then you know full well the power of suggestion.
Even when "asking" a girl out on a date you can use "suggestion" without even asking for the date. For instance, "We should get together and have coffee sometime". That last sentence was a verbal example of the 90/10 rule. Suggesting you should have coffee is as good as asking to have coffee without the rejection. It is hard to reject a suggestion.
Most people know the 90/10 rule from movies like Hitch where the rule is applied when two people are about to kiss. The 90/10 rule in getting the first kiss is when you move in close to your partner - about 90% of the way and your partner must make the last 10% by moving toward you. Whether it is called suggestion or not - there is no doubt that when you move in 90% and stop the other person will know what you are implying: lip lock. Getting The First Kiss
It should come as no surprise that we use terms like 90/10 rule because it is all a numbers game anyway so why not know the ratios that are intimate? If you talk to enough girls then you will eventually have more dates. When you have more dates then you have better chances for romance.
Where there is romance there is SEDUCTION. That is the sequence in which you plant your 90/10 flowers to grow. The odds are always in the favor of EFFORT. Where there is effort there are results - write that down.
Through this maze of numerical ambiance you must be able to recognize when the balance of the scales are in your favor. Sometimes it is YOU that is on the fence because you think you are reading all the signs clearly from your partner. You may think they are "on board" but you are not sure and want to find out in the most subtle way possible.
This is where the 90/10 rule lives. That crazy place between two people in the abyss of unknown emotion - a place where you both want "something" and neither of you know what it is yet that the other one wants. You FEEL the energy between the both of you and something starts to brew and you slowly start to connect the dots. You know it is up to you to make it happen but your brain and some little tiny piece of you is holding you back from going for the goal and crossing the finish line. Reach in your pocket and pull out the 90/10 rule - it is why it is there. SCENARIO
I just painted a scenario of emotions everyone has felt but not everyone has acted on. The 90/10 rule is not just about the kissing. The kissing (best case scenario) is when you follow the aforementioned and when you feel it you don't hesitate - you initiate.
I will now give you the 90/10 rule in STAGES from beginning to end:
Approach:
You are in a grocery store checking out someone hot and instead of speaking first you walk over and stand right next to them to shop (90%) and wait for them to speak to you (10%).
The Line:
The person at the grocery store has now started a conversation with you (90%) and is waiting for you to make a "suggestion" (10%) like "we should have coffee sometime".
The Date:
When the date has gone well - at the end you will lean in (90%) and wait for them (10%) to kiss you.
The ACT:
When you two are alone and being intimate for the first time - instead of trying to take their clothes off you take off your top (90%) and see if they strip themselves of the other 10%.
The best way to approach this rule is with your GUT INSTINCT. There is no doubt if you are nervous then you are probably on the right track. One must go out on the limb if one seeks "the fruit". When you feel that moment of SEDUCTION that overwhelms you and even vexes you then you are THERE. Lean in and be ready to get the gifts that are waiting.
Every joy has some price to be paid. The 90/10 rule comes with one as well: How To Handle Awkward Moments
If you are a female there will be fewer awkward moments with the 90/10 rule because the female instincts are much more reliable than a man's. A big mistake men make is that they think that when a female is having a good time it translates into the female wanting to be with the male -- not true.
Men must know that there will be times that the female is not on the same page and that the 90/10 rule does not even matter. If she is not ready she is not ready so learn to tell JOKES. Be quick with a comment or something that makes her laugh because even if you two are not on the same page LAUGHTER will bring you closer to it.
Of course you should probably lean back before you tell the joke if she did not lean in.
So you must be ready with that "quick comeback" or "funny quip" in case the signs are read wrong between yourself and a female. If you lean in 90% and she does not even give you 1% then I hope your breath is fresh, and you have a great smile… and you kept the car running.

By Jackson Morris

http://www.seductioninsider.com/men/first_kiss.shtml

Hot Foreplay Tips - Foreplay Is How You Make Her Panties 'Wet' And Heat Her Up For Sex

2008-06-16T04:36:00.000-07:00

"Slow down big boy - you'll get everything on the menu but let's start with a little appetizer..."
She pushed me down on the couch on my back and slowed me down. I needed to slow down; I was trying to get her top off like I was stealing it.
She climbed on top of me and put her forefinger over my mouth as to silence anything I was about to say. She said in a mere whisper, "Slow down big boy - you will get everything on the menu but let's start with a little appetizer".
She was right - I went into overdrive like I was driving a Lamborghini, hard and fast. She was so beautiful and feminine how could I resist?
I did not have to resist because she wanted me to have everything on the menu - she just wanted me to "play with my food" first for a while.
If humans were car engines then the females would have one prerequisite: HEAT IT UP FIRST. Men can go from 0-60 in under 10 seconds but the female engine needs to be warmed up and lubricated before they will run the big race. Granted some females love a good quickie sometimes but when it comes to real sex and real love-making the game any woman wants to play is FOREPLAY.
Foreplay is most definitely the bricks and mortar of a good lover. A good lover is not measured in penis length or bra size. Good lovers do not posses magic powers or have hypnotic potions that create this aura about their sexual prowess. A good lover is about GIVING and SATISFYING their partner thru SEDUCTION and unselfish behavior. Nothing exemplifies this more than foreplay. It is the game before the game. ~imagine you are making a movie where you are the star~
When you PLAY with your partner imagine that you get to live vicariously through the movie industry and you are the big star. If you were "playing" with your partner and the camera was rolling you would not hurry or speed things up. You would play to the camera and make it as sexy as possible. Using every sense you have, your fingers, your mouth and in some cases even your warm whispery breath can be part of the fun.
When two people get together for intense sexual pleasure they both have an agenda and fantasies on their mind. Even partners we have had sex with in the past can create new fantasies and desires. Experimenting is not only fun for you but your partner as well. Surprise the person you have been sleeping with by giving them a full body massage followed by a "snow job".
If you want a great example of foreplay - lay your partner down on their back and you go up and down their body with your mouth, never touching the naughty bits but everything else. Use your warm mouth to suck and bite and tease their erogenous zones and lick them behind the ears or bite the top of their shoulders - literally devour them with your mouth.
The more you treat your partner as something you eat and not something you dominate the more erotic and heightened the pleasure will be for the both of you. Sensual massage is a great place to start. You don't have to be a pro to "touch" someone. We all take great pleasure in being touched, massaged and caressed by another to the point of arousal.
Use your hands, forearms, chest, elbows and even your chin to get into your partner's muscles and deep tissue. This massage and touch will relax and stimulate your partner at the same time - remember the camera is rolling. Foreplay Zones
As mentioned there are certain zones on the body that are more stimulating than others. After the massage, use SOFT strokes and touch to stimulate your partner. Roll your finger tips across their nipples and behind their ears as you kiss them and tease them with your tongue. When your partner gets impatient and aggressive during the foreplay it means you are doing something right.
I know I am turned on when I just can't take it anymore. When you can't physically take it anymore - you must! You must endure the taunting and teasing of your senses because they must also endure you and your warm tongue as you bring them to get chills across their thighs.
Foreplay is as much of an art form as it is a "necessity". Think about this for a second - if you make love and it only lasts 20 minutes then you are having a good time. If you have 25 minutes of foreplay before the 20 minute lovemaking session then everybody is having a GREAT TIME and you look good! Foreplay can include, toys, tools, ties and even food.
There is no limit to foreplay either - so if you want to watch a person spontaneously combust then tease them for an hour straight before you take care of business. Don't be afraid to experiment with sex toys and oils because both can enhance sexual pleasure considerably for both parties. Like a machine everyone needs to stay nice and lubricated to keep things "fun". Take Care Of Her First, Then Take Turns
The rules of foreplay are standard worldwide and there is only one: Take care of your partner first. Good foreplay is when one guy/girl gets great pleasure out of pleasing his/her lover. You might think how two people can accommodate each other if they are both trying to accommodate each other at the same time. The answer is: Take turns.
Taking turns pleasing and teasing each other is part of every session you have together. When it comes to mutual satisfaction where two people are trying to accomplish the same goal then remember that this is the only time when the order is not, "ladies first" - take care of her and she will no doubt take care of you.

By Jackson Morris

http://www.seductioninsider.com/sex_tips/foreplay_tips.shtml

Female Orgasm Techniques - How To Make Your Girlfriend Whimper With Intense Sexual Pleasure, Like Nothing She's Ever Experienced ( Sex Tip )

2008-06-16T04:32:00.000-07:00

Secrets To The Female Orgasm
As a member of the gender that is known as the Hunter-Gatherer, I am certain the only thing more exciting than making a woman whimper is making two women whimper from female orgasm (we'll save that for part two).
A woman who whimpers while love making or having an orgasm or even the dirtiest sexual marathon must be experiencing pleasure at a level where both pleasure and pain live simultaneously in harmony throughout her body and her mind.
The female body, like the female orgasm, and the wicked desires that lie within are no less than that of the common male. All the things we wish to do to them they most certainly wish we would as well. When a female gets to the point where she whimpers small sounds that seem uncomfortable and satisfying at the same time she might very well be close to orgasm and if nothing less you are definitely touching her the right way to induce such resonance from your sweet kitten. Bring Your Female To The Point Of Orgasm
Your sweet princess needs you to be a man and take charge here because most whimpers of joy are at the hands of the man not the other way around. Her body is a temple that you will worship like a goddess, leaving no part of her untouched. Your hands, fingers and lips will explore so much of her that she feels like you are trying to devour her completely and you are. A man is a hunter and gatherer and that creature eats its prey.
The male hands and mouth are tools to taking her to female orgasm and making her yours: a whimpering and seduced nymph. Don't be afraid of her fragility and softness, it is there for you to treat yourself with. The shoulders of a female are ripe and ready to be bitten on and chewed on.
Her neck and shoulder area is a very sensitive area to the touch and she will squirm and at the same time she can not resist you - staying within biting and suckling range. Not so hard you hurt her or she coils away from you but to a degree where she leans into it and can't control the moans and whimpers erupting from her throat. That is your job as the man to take this from her. Female Orgasm Reached Through Her Clitoris And G-Spot
You have only begun to explore her body at the shoulder and neck area and when you lift her sweet arms you will see the soft underside that is most sensitive to your warm mouth suckling on her. Treat every area this way with your mouth and hands… until you need to taste her.
You have already got her moaning and groaning with both desire and anticipation for what could possibly happen next. Slide your finger tip across her clitoris - it will be nice and moist by now. Gently rub it on the service with just your finger tip driving you both crazy for more to be touched. When that happens slide two (2) fingers at once inside of her and push deep the very first time you penetrate her. She will be nice and wet and be able to take you and she will let out a moan that feels as if she wants to cry with joy.
Tease her like this for a while, stroking in and out only infrequently so she is unable to get used to it and it feels new and fresh each time. Go nice and deep and probe with your finger tips to excite her. You have your superhero cape on now and it is time to rejuvenate yourself by putting your mouth on her and licking her.
Simply put your soft tongue tip on her clitoris and push down on it - when she thinks you are about to stroke it with your tongue - suck on her clit hard (no teeth) deep between your lips. She will let out a yelp as if she had just lost her virginity. You're on your way to reaching the female orgasm.
Now you are her hero (and mine) but Rome was not built in a day and you are not finished taking care of her needs. She must know what is before her now - with you manhandling her and licking her she knows you have a hard stiff cock right now and are dying to stab her between the legs with it - she needs you too.
Reach down and spread her lips WIDE and GENTLY put just the tip inside and let go of her lips - this will tease her madly and drive her insane with anticipation. Let her natural wetness get all over you and when you are very slick with her - drive down as deep as possible - "ball's deep". Use Your Fingers And Penis To Penetrate Her
The moan of whimpering grumble will be deep as well with her head kicked back and mouth open wide as the orgasm takes hold of her. Now you must take her for more - pull out and without spreading her lips drive all the way from the tip to balls deep and at the same time grab a wad of hair from the back of her head real tight and give it a good pull when you "hit bottom".
She now knows she is getting royally laid and moaning every bit of the way through the palace.
When it is all said and done - the superhero and the man behind the cape will feel her total joy when she explodes on him. When you make her moan and whimper from the beginning to end of foreplay don't think she won't gasp aloud when she squirts all over you.
Remember, to get to the female orgasm you are the man and you can not be afraid of pleasing her. She is on your lap and grinding her little clitoris on you and making you sopping wet and you can tell from her motions and sounds she is about to come - you reach around at the point of her orgasms inception and slowly slide your finger in her back door and push a little more until she can't take it… take her there because she wants to see how far she can go before the explosion engulfs you both.
Want things to get really HOT? Keep reading! The female orgasm is also reached through her G-spot...

By Jackson Morris
http://www.seductioninsider.com/sex_tips/techniques_female_orgasm.shtml

Making a Woman Cum: The Female Orgasm

2008-06-16T04:25:00.000-07:00

So many readers have written about their girlfriend/lover’s being non-orgasmic that I’ve decided to dedicate the next two weeks articles to the topic. While nature has given females the wonderful ability of multiple orgasms (with hardly a refractory period in between), it has also made the female orgasm often a very illusive beast. The challenge to help coax it out of a woman isn’t for the faint of heart. Female Orgasm And Better Sex (Way Better Sex)
As always, the most important key to creating a better sex life is honest communication between you and your lover. If you can have real, frank conversations about this topic then you’re well on your way to being able to solve the problem. The first thing you need to find out is what are the road blocks standing in the way. Here are some questions you need to ask her:
1) Can she bring herself to an orgasm on her own via masturbation?
2) Does she have beliefs about sex that make her feel shameful or dirty participating in it with you?
3) Is she taking any anti-depressants? Unfortunately they can have an incredibly dampening effect on both a person’s libido and the ability to orgasm. So can a variety of medical problems.
4) Is their any history of sexual abuse in her background that might make her shut down to sex just when you start getting intimate?
5) Does she understand that women need and enjoy orgasms as much as men, and that if she continues to not have them during your lovemaking she may end up feeling very resentful and even begin creating reasons to not have sex? Female Orgasm And Masturbation
1) The Importance of Female Masturbation
If a woman can bring herself to orgasm via masturbation she’s already won half the battle. Understand that men don’t “give” orgasms to women; they can only help them achieve them. In order to orgasm a woman has to both be in the right frame of mind and receive the right stimulation. If she can masturbate to an orgasm by herself she’s figured out both of these actions, and now she just needs to open up and share it all with you.
That, however, can be easier said than done. Many women still feel masturbating, especially for women, is still taboo. If this is an issue for your lover you need to let her know that you can’t figure out how to push all the right “bells & whistles” if she can’t tell you where they are. You are a man, a great man, but you’re not a mind reader. Each woman is unique, the sort of touch, stroke, caress, etc. that drives one woman wild can drive another one crazy – with annoyance!
Ideally she should practice masturbating on her own and then share with you what she’s learned – this isn’t because I want you to be left out, it’s because learning how to orgasm for some women can take a very long time! You, however, can play a key role in helping her get into that right “sexy” frame of mind. Remember, the brain is the biggest sex organ. You can help get your lover ready to let her “fingers do the walking” with a steamy phone conversation just before she begins, or even during. The sexy sound of your voice may be just the thing to get things moving in the right direction. Make sure to lay the compliments on thick! Tell her how beautiful you find her, and how amazingly sexy the idea of what she’s doing is for you. Also let her know how thrilling it would be for you to be able to watch her in person, how much you would love every sight, sound, taste and smell. In this way she’ll start getting use to the idea of “showing” you how it all works for her.
Please note orgasms are like muscles, if you haven’t learned how to use them they take awhile to get condition. Do your best to be patient and supportive of her progress. The rewards will be worth it! 2) Overcoming Shame About Sex
We still live in a world of double standards in regards to men, women and sex. If your lover has been raised to believe sex is a sin then you really have some serious conversations ahead of you. Some women feel that it’s okay to have sex so long as they’re “passive” about it, as long as they just let it be “done” to them.
For some men this is just fine, but as I pointed out, when a woman isn’t truly enjoying sex (and that usually includes orgasms for her as well) she’ll find all kinds of reasons not to participate in it. Ideally you want an active female participant who isn’t going to leave you with all the responsibility for everyone’s pleasure. Passive might seem just fine in the beginning, but sooner or later you’re going to get bored.
If she won’t honestly look at her beliefs and how they’re harming your sex life together, you may want to reconsider the relationship. I don’t mean to sound harsh, but some people just aren’t going to change religious beliefs they’ve had their whole lives. 3) If She’s Taking Anti-Depressants
Anti-Depressants can be a big challenge. They are very serious medicine and often have nasty side effects. If your lover is on an anti-depressant and that seems to be the reason she can’t orgasm (like say, she was able to in the past but can’t now) than she has a few choices – but all involve her doctor.
She needs to be frank with the doctor about what’s happening and ask if a) she can go on a lower dosage or b) perhaps try a type that doesn’t have such serious sexual side effects. Again you’ll both need to be patient because most of these drugs cannot be stopped cold turkey without serious and sometimes harmful side effects. Dealing with anti-depressants should always be in cooperation with a medical doctor. 4) Is There Abuse In Her Past?
Sad but true many of us have been sexually abused as children. If this is the case with your lover she needs to seriously consider getting the appropriate counseling. Of course you can talk with her about it, but you’re not qualified to work through her trauma with her. Understand that this is beyond your powers to heal. She needs to see a professional, but certainly your love and support will be needed as well. 5) Her Belief About the Female Orgasm
There is still the idea out there that female orgasms aren’t, and shouldn’t be, as important to women as to men. That idea has led us to miscommunication for years and years and huge numbers of women claiming to have a headache rather than face sex with a man. No, a woman doesn’t always have to orgasm from sex, but then neither does a man. There are times when you can have a tremendously erotic experience from just pleasing your partner, or perhaps, just from foreplay where neither party “gets off”.
The important point here is that you both recognize that her orgasms are as important as yours. True, hers might take longer to bring about, but that doesn’t mean she should get the short end of the stick as far as receiving them.

http://www.seductioninsider.com/sex_tips/female_orgasm.shtml

G Spot Orgasms - Want To Experience Female Ejaculation? Learn How To Hit The G Spot ( Sex Tip )

2008-06-16T04:23:00.000-07:00

"Female ejaculation is the direct result of an intense orgasm. Also known as: come, cum, climax..."
In 1978 research by Perry & Whipple’s documentation and extensive studies confirmed what Berlin gynecologist Ernst Grafenberg had discovered over 25 years earlier: When the G-Spot is firmly enthused, a fluid with a "silky" texture was ejaculated when the female had a whopper of an orgasm. These are called G Spot orgasmss How Do I Find The G Spot?
Located right behind the pubic bone & on the "front" wall of her vagina, THAT IS WHERE you will find it. Half Way between her cervix and pubic bone and you are there!
Very much like an ad in the paper for a retail or outlet store, the only disclaimer I have is: G Spot Orgams
Time to go to work kids, so now that you have the map let’s talk about the treasure. You will only get to that treasure (her pleasure) if you are three things:
PATIENT, UNSELFISH and you have GOOD GRIP. Weak handed, short fingered no grip having, intolerant selfish pigs need not apply. This "manipulation" of her G-SPOT is to bring her to orgasm and hopefully some silky female ejaculation. The greatest reward here is if you have ever had sex with a woman who just "came" on your mouth or finger. Her pussy gets wet and silky that when you slide your penis in it goes in like an oily knife into its sheath. How Do You Operate This Thing?
Think of her G-SPOT as the "0" on a combination lock. Don’t be concerned where the zero is located – it might be located a little off center as if your left-handed one-eyed brother was playing with the lock before you came to open it. Now imagine that when you find "0" it will send a sweet sensation or light shock wave through her body as if someone has just jimmied the lock on the door to her female ejaculation.
Now when you find "0" don’t keep tugging on the damn thing because it probably won’t open. Finding the G-SPOT is about satisfaction not frustration and every girl has a different combination.
Some gals want you to BREAK the lock and some girls want you to PICK the lock. When you find zero "you will know". She will use signs like moaning, groaning, or even grabbing your hand in that great old fashioned way that says, "Stop/Don’t Stop".
When you get to the G-SPOT don’t be concerned about whether or not she is going to have an orgasm – be concerned with whether or not you are doing it right. If you have a good prehensile grip and are patient in finding the G-SPOT and unselfish about how long you will "work it" then more than likely she will reach climax and hopefully spray you with a sweet silky gusher of Playboy Bunny lube. How Will I Know I'm Making Her Hot?
Duh! You will know…trust me, you will know. To get G Spot orgasms, your job is to literally MASSAGE the G SPOT. While doing so make sure you are manipulating other parts of her body like her "lips" and most especially her "clitoris". That is the tri-fecta baby! Put in the work – this means, massaging, and licking, sucking, biting, and manipulating the hell out of that little hole. She wants you to find the G-SPOT, she told me.
Make sure you are patient in your manipulation – you have to find it first. When you do she will not be like a sports car that goes from zero to sixty in 4.8 seconds flat. She will be like a semi-truck or tractor trailer. It will travel very slow up hill and take a lot of focus to drive it. Once you get it over the hill though – the truck becomes a juggernaut with nothing stopping the full force of its power – not even a runaway ramp!
Most women will not let you get out of the cockpit when you take them over that hump until it is over. They will literally tell you right when it happens or is about to happen because THEY ALSO HAVE BEEN PATIENT. It is important that you focus on every hand movement, moan, groan, and "yes" that comes out of her mouth while you are working down under.
Now, if you are not even close to her g spot then don’t worry you will know that as well because it will be like having sex with a manequin. (Another way to know is if she turns on the TV on while you are searching for her G-SPOT... Don't bore her!) Female Ejaculation from G Spot Orgasms
Female ejaculation is the direct result of a g spot orgasm. Also known as: come, cum, climax – which is weird that all synonyms for orgasm start with a "C".
When she finally reaches climax – in some you will feel the vagina contract or even "spasm". I have experienced female ejaculation personally in two forms. One was watery, clear, silk-like fluid that flowed in abundance. The second was a little less clear (almost milky) and thicker but just as silky in texture.
The G-Spot and female ejaculation are not a secret that only Indiana Jones can produce or find. Your girl has it and wants you to find it and if you are not looking for it then I bet she is doing it herself (or looking for someone who will). It is the lock to her door of pleasure – learn the combination.

http://www.seductioninsider.com/sex_tips/Gspot.shtml

How To Find Her G Spot( Sex Tip)

2008-06-16T04:02:00.000-07:00

That Really Hit the G-spot!
Did you know that women could have more than one kind of orgasm? Yep, not only are the lucky creatures the owner of the only body part dedicated solely to arousal and sexual pleasure (the love button – aka the clitoris), and able to have multiple orgasms with no down time to recharge, women are also able to have several different types of orgasms from genital stimulation.
Let me break away here for a moment and note that both men and women have the capacity to experience full body orgasms (where men learn to orgasm throughout their entire body without ejaculating, meaning they don’t experience the “down” period of tiredness ejaculation brings on) but that will be the subject of a different article (don’t’ worry, I’m hot on the case doing research). G-spot And Orgasms
So back to girls and the different types of genital orgasms they can experience. Just about all-genital arousal for women starts with the clitoris; so ignore this magnificent bundle of nerves at your own peril. However, once a woman is fully aroused via clitoral stimulation, you can either add or switch (depending on the woman’s preference) to different types of genital stimulation for variations on the orgasmic bang.
Which brings us to the much wondered about “G-Spot.” While scientist and sexuality experts still
argue whether the spot actually exists, regular people are quietly (and not so quietly) going about seeking it out and all the pleasurable possibilities it can ignite in their love lives. Getting to the G-Spot
Okay, so let’s get down to the “G-Spot” basics. First off, the name comes from a Dr. Grafenberg who wrote about this special area of a woman’s anatomy back in the 1950’s - it’s not, however, necessarily a spot. On his website doctorg.org Dr. Gary Schubach, a sex educator and writer, quotes from Grafenberg’s originally published study in order to argue for the existence of the sensitive area and gives a very good explanation of what could be going on:
“Grafenberg does not refer to the G-spot as ‘a small but allegedly highly sensitive area on the anterior wall of the human vagina about a third of the way up from the vaginal opening,’ but to the ‘area’ or ‘zone’ on the upper wall of the vagina through which the prostate (aka Skene`s glands and ducts) can be accessed. In women, the prostate gland, while generally smaller than the male prostate, also surrounds the urethra, close to the urethral opening. The great sensitivity comes not from what is on the upper wall of the vagina, but from glands and ducts behind the vaginal wall.”
It’s very important to pay attention to the fact that the sensitive “G-zone” is apparently behind the vaginal wall as well as the fact that this area isn’t sensitive to stimulation unless a woman is already aroused.
So yes, your girl needs to be totally hot and bothered before you let your fingers do the walking to discovery because otherwise you’re going to come up (pardon the pun) dry. In fact, it’s best if she’s already had at least one orgasm before you go on your search just to make sure she’s totally ready. It’s also important to note that the “G-zone” often needs quite strong stimulation in order to trigger any pleasurable response. These two previous reasons, plus the tricky location, explain why the “G-zone” is so challenging for women to both find and trigger on their own.
It’s great to be needed! Triggering the G-Spot
So your gal is all hot and bothered, all wet and ready, and now you’re ready to venture forth and see what you can make happen. It’s a good idea to move forward with the idea of “finding pleasure zones in her vagina” rather than getting yourselves stuck on the idea that you will find the G-Spot and it will trigger such an amazing mind blowing orgasm that your gal will weep with the ecstasy of it all.
Don’t get me wrong, that would be a wonderful thing to make happen, but in my experience in dealing with this tricky area it’s more of a process of discovery rather than an immediate eureka! What I mean by this is that in the women who have learned to have orgasms triggered this way find the G-Spot often becomes more sensitive and able to trigger an orgasm over time and, well, use.
Think of it like a muscle, if it hasn’t been used in a long time, or ever, how effective is it going to be the first time it’s called to action?
And of course, it’s important to note that not all women are going to respond to stimulation in this area – and with some women you’re going to find a totally different area in her vagina that’s super sensitive to stimulation that you never new about before.
So it’s important to spend time discovering her magnificent cave and all that’s going on in there.
With this in mind, and with your woman all turned on, she needs to do two things before you can get down to business:
1) She needs to empty her bladder before you begin as you’re going to be stimulating an area close to her bladder and it often makes her feel like she needs to pee when first stimulated. If she’s nice and empty beforehand she won’t be worried about possible leaks. The G-Spot Needs Easy Access
2) She needs to be in a comfortable position, as do you, and of course one that allows you easy access to the G-Spot. Two good positions are in a big comfortable chair, facing you, with you sitting on the floor in front of her – this way you have access to her clit with your other hand, and your mouth. The second good position is with her lying on her stomach, hips elevated with a pillow, legs wide so you can have easy access to her – and again you might want to be sitting on the ground.
It’s important not to rush forward into fingering her, which might be the thing you’re so use to doing. Instead insert one or two fingers and gently but firmly press against the front wall of her vagina. Starting about an inch or so up start making “come here” motions with your fingers against her vagina, or if that doesn’t feel good to her, press firmly moving your way up. You’re looking for an area that is either swollen or a very different texture (one friend of mine said it felt like the ridges on the roof of your mouth just behind your front teeth). Once you hit this area try the come-hither motion, or pressing and rubbing, while at the same time giving her (or she can take charge of this) clitoral stimulation.
The goal is to try and transfer the pleasure from just clitoral stimulation to a combo of clitoral and G-Spot stimulation. This is why it’s a good reason to have her handle her clitoris herself, as she feels new pleasurable sensations in her G-Spot she can back off her clitoris and enjoy what you’re doing…but it’ll be give and take. Remember this is a learning process – but one that will definitely be worth it!

http://www.seductioninsider.com/sex_tips/g-spot.shtml

Che Guevara - Capture and execution

2008-06-15T23:44:00.000-07:00

Félix Rodríguez, a CIA operative, claims that he headed the hunt for Guevara in Bolivia.[87] On October 7, an informant apprised the Bolivian Special Forces of the location of Guevara's guerrilla encampment in the Yuro ravine. They encircled the area, and Guevara was wounded and taken prisoner while leading a detachment with Simeón Cuba Sarabia. Che biographer Jon Lee Anderson reports Bolivian Sergeant Bernardino Huanca's account: that a twice wounded Guevara, his gun rendered useless, shouted "Do not shoot! I am Che Guevara and worth more to you alive than dead."[88]
Guevara was tied up and taken to a dilapidated schoolhouse in the nearby village of La Higuera. Early on October 9, the day after his capture, Barrientos ordered that he be killed. The executioner was Mario Terán, a sergeant in the Bolivian army who had drawn a short straw after arguments over who would get the honor of shooting Guevara broke out among the soldiers. To make the bullet wounds appear consistent with the story the government planned to release to the public, Félix Rodríguez ordered Terán to aim carefully to make it appear that Guevara had been killed in action during a clash with the Bolivian army.[89]
Moments before Guevara was executed he was asked if he was thinking about his own immortality. "No," he replied, "I'm thinking about the immortality of the revolution."[90] Che Guevara also allegedly said to his executioner, "I know you've come to kill me. Shoot, coward, you are only going to kill a man."[91] Terán hesitated, then pulled the trigger of his semiautomatic rifle, hitting Guevara in the arms and legs. Guevara writhed on the ground, apparently biting one of his wrists to avoid crying out. Terán shot him again, this time hitting him fatally in the thorax – at 1:10 pm, according to Rodríguez.[92]
His body was then lashed to the landing skids of a helicopter and flown to nearby Vallegrande where photographs were taken, showing a figure described by some as "Christ-like" lying on a concrete slab in the laundry room of the Nuestra Señora de Malta hospital.[93]
A declassified memorandum dated October 11, 1967 to President Lyndon B. Johnson from his senior adviser, Walt Rostow, called the decision to kill Guevara “stupid” but “understandable from a Bolivian standpoint.”[94] After the execution, Rodríguez took several of Guevara's personal items, including a watch which he continued to wear many years later, often showing them to reporters during the ensuing years.[95] Today, some of these belongings, including his flashlight, are on display at the CIA.[96] After a military doctor amputated his hands, Bolivian army officers transferred Guevara's cadaver to an undisclosed location and refused to reveal whether his remains had been buried or cremated. The hands were preserved in formaldehyde to be sent to Buenos Aires for fingerprint identification. (His fingerprints were on file with the Argentine police.) They were later sent to Cuba. On October 15, Castro acknowledged that Guevara was dead and proclaimed three days of public mourning throughout the island.[97] On October 18, Castro addressed a crowd of almost one million people in Havana and spoke about Guevara's character as a revolutionary.[98]

While researching his biography Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life, author Jon Lee Anderson happened to discover the hidden location of Guevara's burial. Thus in 1997, the skeletal remains of a handless body were exhumed from beneath an air strip near Vallegrande, identified as those of Guevara by a Cuban forensic team at the scene, and returned to Cuba. On October 17, 1997, his remains, with those of six of his fellow combatants, were laid to rest with military honours in a specially built mausoleum in the city of Santa Clara, where he had won the decisive battle of the Cuban Revolution.[99][citation needed]
Also removed when Guevara was captured was his diary, which documented events of the guerrilla campaign in Bolivia.[100] The first entry is on November 7, 1966 shortly after his arrival at the farm in Ñancahuazú, and the last is dated October 7, 1967, the day before his capture. The diary tells how the guerrillas were forced to begin operations prematurely due to discovery by the Bolivian Army, explains Guevara's decision to divide the column into two units that were subsequently unable to re-establish contact, and describes their overall unsuccessful venture. It also records the rift between Guevara and the Bolivian Communist Party that resulted in Guevara having significantly fewer soldiers than originally expected and shows that Guevara had a great deal of difficulty recruiting from the local populace, due in part to the fact that the guerrilla group had learned Quechua, unaware that the local language was actually Tupí-Guaraní.[citation needed] As the campaign drew to an unexpected close, Guevara became increasingly ill. He suffered from ever-worsening bouts of asthma, and most of his last offensives were carried out in an attempt to obtain medicine.[citation needed]
The Bolivian Diary was quickly and crudely translated by Ramparts magazine and circulated around the world.[citation needed] There are at least four additional diaries in existence—those of Israel Reyes Zayas (Alias "Braulio"), Harry Villegas Tamayo ("Pombo"), Eliseo Reyes Rodriguez ("Rolando")[101] and Dariel Alarcón Ramírez ("Benigno")[102]—each of which reveals additional aspects of the events

Collection by source

Che Guevara in Bolivia

2008-06-15T23:41:00.000-07:00

Guevara's location was still not public knowledge. Representatives of Mozambique's independence movement, the FRELIMO, reported that they met with Guevara in late 1966 or early 1967 in Dar es Salaam regarding his offer to aid in their revolutionary project, which they ultimately rejected.[81] In a speech at the 1967 May Day rally in Havana, the Acting Minister of the armed forces, Major Juan Almeida, announced that Guevara was "serving the revolution somewhere in Latin America". The persistent reports that he was leading the guerrillas in Bolivia were eventually shown to be true.
At Castro's behest, a parcel of jungle land in the remote Ñancahuazú region had been purchased by native Bolivian Communists for Guevara to use as a training area and base camp.
Training at this camp in the Ñancahuazú valley proved to be more hazardous than combat to Guevara and the Cubans accompanying him. Little was accomplished in the way of building a guerrilla army. Former Stasi operative Haydée Tamara Bunke Bider, better known by her nom de guerre "Tania", who had been installed as his primary agent in La Paz, was reportedly also working for the KGB and is widely inferred to have unwittingly served Soviet interests by leading Bolivian authorities to Guevara's trail.[82][83]

Guevara's guerrilla force, numbering about 50 and operating as the ELN (Ejército de Liberación Nacional de Bolivia; "National Liberation Army of Bolivia"), was well equipped and scored a number of early successes against Bolivian regulars in the difficult terrain of the mountainous Camiri region. In September, however, the Army managed to eliminate two guerrilla groups in a violent battle, reportedly killing one of the leaders.
Guevara's plan for fomenting revolution in Bolivia appears to have been unsuccessful because it was based upon three primary misconceptions:
He had expected to deal only with the Bolivian military, who were poorly trained and equipped. However, Guevara was unaware that the U.S. government had sent the CIA and other operatives into Bolivia to aid the anti-insurrection effort. The Bolivian Army would also be trained, advised, and supplied by U.S. Army Special Forces including a recently organized elite battalion of Rangers trained in jungle warfare that set up camp in La Esperanza, a small settlement close to the location of Guevara's guerrillas.[84]
Guevara had expected assistance and cooperation from the local dissidents which he did not receive, nor did he receive support from Bolivia's Communist Party, under the leadership of Mario Monje, which was oriented toward Moscow rather than Havana.
He had expected to remain in radio contact with Havana. However, the two shortwave transmitters provided to him by Cuba were faulty; thus the guerrillas were unable to communicate with and be resupplied, leaving them isolated and stranded.
In addition, Guevara's known preference for confrontation rather than compromise, which had previously surfaced during his guerrilla warfare campaign in Cuba, contributed to his inability to develop successful working relationships with local leaders in Bolivia, just as it had in the Congo.[85] This tendency had existed in Cuba, but had been kept in check by the timely interventions and guidance of Fidel Castro.[86]

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Che Guevara in Congo

2008-06-15T23:39:00.000-07:00

In 1965 Guevara decided to venture to West Africa and offer his knowledge and experience as a guerrilla to the ongoing conflict in the Congo. According to Algerian President Ahmed Ben Bella, Guevara thought that Africa was imperialism's weak link and therefore had enormous revolutionary potential.[72] Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser who had fraternal relations with Che dating back to his 1959 visit, saw Guevara's plans to fight in the Congo as "unwise" and warned that he would become a "Tarzan" figure, doomed to failure.[73] Despite the warning, Guevara led the Cuban operation in support of the Marxist Simba movement, which had emerged from the ongoing Congo Crisis. Guevara, his second-in-command Victor Dreke, and twelve other Cuban expeditionaries arrived in the Congo on April 24, 1965 with a contingent of approximately 100 Afro-Cubans joining them soon afterward.[74][75] They collaborated for a time with guerrilla leader Laurent-Désiré Kabila, who had previously helped supporters of the slain Patrice Lumumba lead an unsuccessful revolt months earlier. Disillusioned with the discipline of Kabila's troops, Guevara would dismiss him, stating "nothing leads me to believe he is the man of the hour."[76]
South African mercenaries, led by Mike Hoare in concert with Cuban exiles and the CIA, worked with the Congolese army to thwart Guevara. They were able to monitor his communications, and so pre-empted his attacks and interdicted his supply lines. Despite the fact that Guevara sought to conceal his presence in the Congo, the U.S. government was aware of his location and activities: The National Security Agency was intercepting all of his incoming and outgoing transmissions via equipment aboard the USNS Valdez, a floating listening post which continuously cruised the Indian Ocean off Dar es Salaam for that purpose.[77]
Guevara's aim was to export the Cuban Revolution by instructing local Simba fighters in Marxist ideology and foco theory strategies of guerrilla warfare. In his Congo Diary, he cites the incompetence, intransigence and infighting of the local Congolese forces as key reasons for the revolt's failure.[78] Later that year, ill with dysentery, suffering from asthma, and disheartened after seven months of frustrations, Guevara left the Congo with the Cuban survivors. (Six members of his column had died.) At one point Guevara considered sending the wounded back to Cuba, and fighting alone until the end in the Congo, as a revolutionary example; however, after being urged by his comrades and pressed by two emissaries sent by Castro, at the last moment he reluctantly agreed to retreat. A few weeks later, when writing the preface to the diary he kept during the Congo venture, he began: "This is the history of a failure."[79]
Guevara was reluctant to return to Cuba, because Castro had made public Guevara's "farewell letter" —a letter intended to only be revealed in the case of his death—wherein he severed all ties in order to devote himself to revolution throughout the world.[80] As a result, Guevara spent the next six months living clandestinely in Dar es Salaam and Prague. During this time he compiled his memoirs of the Congo experience, and wrote drafts of two more books, one on philosophy and the other on economics. He also visited several Western European countries to test his new new false identity papers, created by Cuban Intelligence for his later travels to South America. Throughout this period Castro continued to importune his return to Cuba, but Guevara only agreed to do so under the basis of preparing a revolutionary effort somewhere in Latin America, and that his presence on the island would be secret.[citation needed]

Che Guevara Leaves Cuba

2008-06-15T23:38:00.000-07:00

“
This epic before us is going to be written by the hungry Indian masses, the peasants without land, the exploited workers. It is going to be written by the progressive masses, the honest and brilliant intellectuals, who so greatly abound in our suffering Latin American lands. Struggles of masses and ideas. An epic that will be carried forward by our peoples, mistreated and scorned by imperialism; our people, unreckoned with until today, who are now beginning to shake off their slumber. Imperialism considered us a weak and submissive flock; and now it begins to be terrified of that flock; a gigantic flock of 200 million Latin Americans in whom Yankee monopoly capitalism now sees its gravediggers.
”

— Che Guevara, to the U.N. General Assembly, December 11 1964. [64]
In December 1964, Che Guevara traveled to New York City as head of the Cuban delegation to speak at the United Nations. He also appeared on the CBS Sunday news program Face the Nation [65] and met with a range of people from U.S. Senator Eugene McCarthy,[66] to associates of Malcolm X. Malcolm X expressed his admiration, by declaring Guevara "one of the most revolutionary men in this country right now", while reading a statement from Guevara to a crowd at the Audubon Ballroom.[67]
On December 17, Guevara left for Paris and embarked on a three-month tour that included the People's Republic of China, the United Arab Republic (Egypt), Algeria, Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Dahomey, Congo-Brazzaville and Tanzania, with stops in Ireland and Prague. In Algiers on February 24, 1965, he made what turned out to be his last public appearance on the international stage when he delivered a speech at an economic seminar on Afro-Asian solidarity.[68] He specified the moral duty of the socialist countries, accusing them of tacit complicity with the exploiting Western countries. He proceeded to outline a number of measures which he said the communist-bloc countries must implement in order to accomplish the defeat of imperialism.[69] Having criticized the Soviet Union (the primary financial backer of Cuba) in such a public manner, he returned to Cuba on March 14 to a solemn reception by Fidel and Raúl Castro, Osvaldo Dorticós and Carlos Rafael Rodríguez at the Havana airport.
Two weeks later, in 1965 Guevara dropped out of public life and then vanished altogether. His whereabouts were a great mystery in Cuba, as he was generally regarded as second in power to Castro himself. His disappearance was variously attributed to the failure of the industrialization scheme he had advocated while minister of industry, to pressure exerted on Castro by Soviet officials disapproving of Guevara's pro-Chinese Communist stance on the Sino-Soviet split, and to serious differences between Guevara and the pragmatic Castro regarding Cuba's economic development and ideological line. Castro had grown increasingly wary of Guevara's popularity and considered him a potential threat. Castro's critics sometimes say his explanations for Guevara's disappearance have always been suspect.

The coincidence of Guevara's views with those expounded by the Chinese Communist leadership was increasingly problematic for Cuba as the nation's economy became more and more dependent on the Soviet Union. Since the early days of the Cuban revolution, Guevara had been considered by many an advocate of Maoist strategy in Latin America and the originator of a plan for the rapid industrialization of Cuba which was frequently compared to China's "Great Leap Forward". According to Western observers of the Cuban situation, the fact that Guevara was opposed to Soviet conditions and recommendations that Castro pragmatically saw as necessary, may have been the reason for his disappearance. However, both Guevara and Castro were supportive publicly on the idea of a united front.
Following the Cuban Missile Crisis and what Guevara perceived as a Soviet betrayal when Khrushchev withdrew the missiles from Cuban territory, Guevara had grown more skeptical of the Soviet Union. As revealed in his last speech in Algiers, he had come to view the Northern Hemisphere, led by the U.S. in the West and the Soviet Union in the East, as the exploiter of the Southern Hemisphere. He strongly supported Communist North Vietnam in the Vietnam War, and urged the peoples of other developing countries to take up arms and create "many Vietnams".[70]
Pressed by international speculation regarding Guevara's fate, Castro stated on June 16, 1965 that the people would be informed when Guevara himself wished to let them know. Still, rumors spread both inside and outside Cuba. On October 3 of that year, Castro revealed an undated letter purportedly written to him by Guevara some months earlier: in it, Guevara reaffirmed his enduring solidarity with the Cuban Revolution, but declared his intention to leave Cuba to fight for the revolutionary cause abroad. Additionally, he resigned from all his positions in the government and party, and renounced his honorary Cuban citizenship.[71] Guevara's movements continued to be a closely guarded secret for the next two years.

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Che Guevara , After the revolution in Cuba

2008-06-15T23:30:00.000-07:00

“
Che was practically the architect of the Soviet-Cuban relationship.
”

— Alexander Alexiev, KGB official [38]
On January 8, 1959, Castro's army rolled victoriously into Havana. In February, the revolutionary government proclaimed Guevara "a Cuban citizen by birth" in recognition of his role in the triumph.[39] When Hilda Gadea arrived in Cuba in late January, Guevara told her that he was involved with another woman, and the two "agreed on a divorce,"[40] which became finalized on May 22.[41] On June 2, 1959, he married Aleida March, a Cuban-born member of the 26th of July movement with whom he had been living since late 1958.[42]
During the rebellion against Batista's dictatorship, the general command of the rebel army, led by Fidel Castro, "introduced into the liberated territories the 19th-century penal law commonly known as the Ley de la Sierra".[43] "This law included the death penalty for extremely serious crimes, whether perpetrated by the dictatorship or by supporters of the revolution. In 1959, the revolutionary government extended its application to the whole of the republic and to war criminals captured and tried after the revolution. This latter extension, supported by the majority of the population, followed the same procedure as that seen in" the Nuremberg Trials held by the Allies after World War II.[44] To implement this plan, Castro named Guevara commander of the La Cabaña Fortress prison, for a five-month tenure (January 2 through June 12, 1959).[45] Guevara was charged with purging the Batista army and consolidating victory by exacting "revolutionary justice" against traitors, chivatos, and Batista's war criminals.[46] Serving in the post as "supreme prosecutor" on the appellate bench, Guevara oversaw the trials and executions of those convicted by revolutionary tribunal. Raúl Gómez Treto, senior legal advisor to the Cuban Ministry of Justice, considered removing restrictions on the death penalty to be justified in order to prevent citizens themselves from taking justice into their own hands.[47]
It is estimated that several hundred people were executed on Guevara's orders during this time.[48]

On June 12, 1959, as soon as Guevara returned to Havana, Castro sent him out on a three-month tour of fourteen countries, most of them Bandung Pact members in Africa and Asia. Sending Guevara from Havana also allowed Castro to appear to be distancing himself from Guevara and his Marxist sympathies, that troubled both the United States and some of Castro's 26th of July Movement members.[50] He spent twelve days in Japan (July 15–27), participating in negotiations aimed at expanding Cuba's trade relations with that nation. During this visit Guevara also secretly visited the city of Hiroshima, where the American military had detonated an atom-bomb fourteen years earlier. Guevara was "really shocked" at what he witnessed and by his visit to a hospital where A-bomb survivors were being treated.[51]
Upon returning to Cuba in September 1959, it was evident that Castro now had more political power. The government had begun land seizures included in the agrarian reform law, but was hedging on compensation offers to landowners, instead offering low interest "bonds", which put the U.S. on alert. At this point the affected wealthy cattlemen of Camagüey mounted a campaign against the land redistributions, and enlisted the newly disaffected rebel leader Huber Matos, who along with the anti-Communist wing of the 26th of July Movement, joined them in denouncing the "Communist encroachment."[52] During this time Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo was offering assistance to the "Anti-Communist Legion of the Caribbean" who was training in the Dominican Republic. This multi-national force comprised mostly of Spaniards and Cubans, but also of Croatians, Germans, Greeks, and right-wing mercenaries, were plotting to topple Fidel Castro.[53]
These developments prompted Castro to further clean house of "counter-revolutionaries", and appoint Guevara chief official at the National Institute of Agrarian Reform INRA and later President of the National Bank of Cuba BNC, while allowing him to retain his military rank.[54] At first glance it seemed a strange choice for the important position, Guevara had been promoting the creation of self-sufficient industries since his days in the Sierra Maestra. Guevara was expecting the U.S. to invade, and the Cuban population to then leave the cities and fight as guerrillas, although Guevara's hopes for armed uprisings elsewhere were failing.[55]

In 1960 Guevara provided first aid to victims when the freighter La Coubre, a French vessel carrying munitions from the port of Antwerp, exploded twice while it was being unloaded in Havana harbor, resulting in well over a hundred dead.[56] It was at the memorial service for the victims of this explosion that Alberto Korda took the famous photograph now known as Guerrillero Heroico.
Guevara desired to see a diversification in Cuba’s economy, as well as an elimination of material incentives, in favor of moral ones. Guevara viewed capitalism as a “contest among wolves” where “one can only win at the cost of others”, and thus desired to see the creation of a “new man and woman”.[57] An integral part of fostering a sense of “unity between the individual and the mass”, Guevara believed, was volunteer work and will. To display this, Guevara "led by example", working "endlessly at his ministry job, in construction, and even cutting sugar cane" on his day off.[58] During this time he also wrote several publications advocating a replication of the Cuban revolutionary model, promoting small rural guerrilla groups (foco theory) as an alternative to massive armed insurrection.
Guevara did not participate in the fighting of the 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion, having been ordered by Castro to a secretly prearranged command post in Cuba's western Pinar del Río province, where he fended off a decoy force.[59] He suffered a bullet grazing to the cheek during this deployment, however, when his pistol fell out of its holster and accidentally discharged.[60] In August 1961, during an economic conference of the Organization of American States in Punta del Este, Uruguay, Che Guevara sent a note of "gratitude" to U.S. President John F. Kennedy through Richard N. Goodwin, a young secretary of the White House. It read "Thanks for Playa Girón (Bay of Pigs). Before the invasion, the revolution was shaky. Now it's stronger than ever."[61]
Guevara played a key role in bringing to Cuba the Soviet nuclear-armed ballistic missiles that precipitated the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962. During an interview with the British Communist newspaper The Daily Worker a few weeks after the crisis, Guevara still fuming, stated that if the missiles had been under Cuban control, they would have fired them off.[62] Sam Russell, the British correspondent who spoke to Guevara at the time came away with "mixed feelings", calling him "a warm character" and "clearly a man of great intelligence", but "crackers from the way he went on about the missiles."[63]

Che Guevara in Cuba

2008-06-15T23:23:00.000-07:00

“
Che convinced Castro with competence, diplomacy and patience. When grenades were needed, Che set up a factory to make them. When bread was wanted, Che set up ovens to bake it. When new recruits needed to learn tactics and discipline, Che taught them. When a school was needed to teach peasants to read and write, Che organized it.
”

— Time Magazine: "Castro's Brain", 1960 [25]
Guevara arrived in Mexico City in early September 1954, and renewed his friendship with the other Cuban exiles whom he had known in Guatemala. In June 1955, López introduced him to Raúl Castro who later introduced him to his older brother, Fidel Castro, the revolutionary leader who had formed the 26th of July Movement and was now plotting to overthrow the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista in what became the Cuban Revolution. Guevara recognized at once that Castro was the cause for which he had been searching.[26]
Although he planned to be the group's medic, Guevara participated in the military training with the members of the Movement, and, at the end of the course, was called "the best guerrilla of them all" by their instructor, Colonel Alberto Bayo.[27] The first step in Castro's revolutionary plan was an assault on Cuba from Mexico via the Granma, an old, leaky cabin cruiser. They set out for Cuba on November 25, 1956. Attacked by Batista's military soon after landing, many of the 82 men were either killed in the attack or executed upon capture; only 22 found each other afterwards.[28] Guevara wrote that it was during this bloody confrontation that he laid down his medical supplies and picked up a box of ammunition dropped by a fleeing comrade, finalizing his symbolic transition from physician to combatant.

Only a small band of revolutionaries survived to re-group as a bedraggled fighting force deep in the Sierra Maestra mountains, where they received support from the urban guerrilla network of Frank País, the 26th of July Movement, and local country folk. With the group withdrawn to the Sierra, the world wondered whether Castro was alive or dead until early 1957 when the interview by Herbert Matthews appeared in The New York Times. The article presented a lasting, almost mythical image for Castro and the guerrillas. Guevara was not present for the interview, but in the coming months he began to realize the importance of the media in their struggle. Meanwhile, as supplies and morale grew low, Guevara considered these "the most painful days of the war."[29]
At this point Castro promoted Guevara to comandante of a second army column. However, Guevara's first idea to hit an enemy garrison at Bueuycito did not go as planned. When his men were late to arrive, he began the attack without them. He told a sentry to halt, but when the sentry moved, Guevara decided to shoot. However, his gun jammed, as did the gun of the young rebel who was with him. Guevara fled under a hail of bullets, which in turn brought a hail of bullets from the rebels in the hills, and the barracks surrendered before Guevara repaired his tommy gun. As Guevara said, "My survival instincts took over.
As Guevara reconsidered his tactics, he imposed even harsher disciplinary treatment. Deserters were punished as traitors, and Guevara was known to send execution squads to hunt down those seeking to escape.[31] As a result, Guevara became feared for his brutality and ruthlessness.[32] During the guerrilla campaign, Guevara was also responsible for the execution of a number of men accused of being informers, deserters or spies.
Guevara was also instrumental in creating the clandestine radio station Radio Rebelde in February 1958, which broadcast news to the Cuban people and statements by the 26th of July movement, and provided radio telephone communication between the growing number of rebel columns across the island. Guevara had apparently been inspired to create the station by observing the effectiveness of CIA supplied radio in Guatemala in ousting the government of Jacobo Arbenz.

In late July of 1958 Guevara would play a critical role in the Battle of Las Mercedes by using his column to halt a force of 1,500 men called up by Batista's General Cantillo in a plan to encircle and destroy Castro's forces. Years later, USMC Major Larry Bockman, would analyze and describe Che's tactical appreciation of this battle as "brilliant".[35] As the war extended, Guevara led a new column of fighters dispatched westward for the final push towards Havana. In the closing days of December 1958, Guevara directed his "suicide squad" in the attack on Santa Clara, that became the final decisive military victory of the revolution.[36][37] Radio Rebelde broadcast the first reports that Guevara's column had taken Santa Clara on New Years Eve 1958. This contradicted reports by the heavily controlled national news media, which had at one stage reported Guevara's death during the fighting. Batista, upon learning that his generals were negotiating a separate peace with the rebel leader, fled to the Dominican Republic the next day on January 1, 1959.

Che Guevara in Guatemala

2008-06-15T23:19:00.000-07:00

“
After graduation, due to special circumstances and perhaps also to my character, I began to travel throughout America, and I became acquainted with all of it. Except for Haiti and Santo Domingo, I have visited, to some extent, all the other Latin American countries. Because of the circumstances in which I traveled, first as a student and later as a doctor, I came into close contact with poverty, hunger and disease; with the inability to treat a child because of lack of money; with the stupefaction provoked by the continual hunger and punishment, to the point that a father can accept the loss of a son as an unimportant accident, as occurs often in the downtrodden classes of our American homeland. And I began to realize at that time that there were things that were almost as important to me as becoming famous for making a significant contribution to medical science: I wanted to help those people.
”
— Che Guevara, 1960

On July 7, 1953, Guevara set out again, this time to Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras and El Salvador. In December 1953 he arrived in Guatemala where President Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán headed a democratically elected government that, through land reform and other initiatives, was attempting to end the latifundia system. Guevara decided to settle down in Guatemala so as to "perfect [him]self and accomplish whatever may be necessary in order to become a true revolutionary".

In Guatemala City, Guevara sought out Hilda Gadea Acosta, a Peruvian economist who was well-connected politically as a member of the left-leaning American Popular Revolutionary Alliance (APRA). She introduced Guevara to a number of high-level officials in the Arbenz government. Guevara also established contact with a group of Cuban exiles linked to Fidel Castro through the July 26, 1953 attack on the Moncada Barracks in Santiago de Cuba.[19] During this period he acquired his famous nickname, due to his frequent use of the Argentine interjection "che", which is used in much the same way as "hey" or "pal".[20]
Guevara's attempts to obtain a medical internship were unsuccessful and his economic situation was often precarious. On May 15, 1954 a shipment of Škoda infantry and light artillery weapons was sent from Communist Czechoslovakia for the Arbenz Government and arrived in Puerto Barrios,[21][22] prompting a CIA-sponsored coup attempt.[21] Guevara was eager to fight on behalf of Arbenz and joined an armed militia organized by the Communist Youth for that purpose, but frustrated with the group's inaction, he soon returned to medical duties. Following the coup, he again volunteered to fight, but soon after, Arbenz took refuge in the Mexican Embassy and told his foreign supporters to leave the country. After Hilda Gadea was arrested, Guevara sought protection inside the Argentine consulate, where he remained until he received a safe-conduct pass some weeks later and made his way to Mexico.[23]
The overthrow of the Arbenz regime cemented Guevara's view of the United States as an imperialist power that would oppose and attempt to destroy any government that sought to redress the socioeconomic inequality endemic to Latin America and other developing countries. This strengthened his conviction that Marxism achieved through armed struggle and defended by an armed populace was the only way to rectify such conditions.

2008-06-15T23:17:00.000-07:00

Ernesto Guevara was born on 14 June 1928 [1] in Rosario, Argentina, the eldest of five children in a family of Basque and Irish descent.[7] Growing up in a family with leftist leanings, Guevara was introduced to an array of political perspectives even as a boy. Though suffering from the crippling bouts of asthma that were to afflict him throughout his life, he excelled as an athlete. He was an avid rugby union player and earned himself the nickname "Fuser"—a contraction of "El Furibundo" (raging) and his mother's surname "de la Serna"—for his aggressive style of play.[8] Ernesto was also nicknamed "Chancho" (pig) by his schoolmates, because he rarely bathed, and proudly wore a "weekly shirt".

Guevara learned chess from his father and began participating in local tournaments by the age of 12. During his adolescence and throughout his life he was passionate about poetry, especially that of Neruda, Keats, Machado, Lorca, Mistral, Vallejo, and Whitman.[9] He could also recite Kipling's "If" and Hernández's "Martín Fierro" from memory.[10] The Guevara home contained more than 3,000 books, which allowed Guevara to be an enthusiastic and eclectic reader, with interests including Marx, Faulkner, Gide, and Verne.[11] He also enjoyed reading Nehru, Kafka, Camus, Lenin, and Sartre; as well as France, Engels, Wells, and Frost.

As he got older he developed an interest in the Latin American writers Quiroga, Alegria, Icaza, Dario, and Asturias.[13] Many of these author's ideas he would catalog in his own handwritten notebooks of concepts, definitions, and philosophies of influential intellectuals. These included composing analytical sketches of Buddha and Aristotle, along with examining Bertrand Russell on love and patriotism, Jack London on society, and Nietzsche on the idea of death. Sigmund Freud's ideas also fascinated him as he quoted him on a variety of topics from dreams and libido, to narcissism and the oedipus complex.[14]
In 1948, Guevara entered the University of Buenos Aires to study medicine. While still a student in 1951, Guevara took a year off from his medical studies to embark on a trip traversing South America by motorcycle with his friend Alberto Granado, with the final goal of spending a few weeks volunteering at the San Pablo Leper colony in Peru, on the banks of the Amazon River. Guevara used notes taken during this trip to write an account entitled The Motorcycle Diaries, which later became a New York Times best-seller[15] and was adapted into a 2004 award-winning film of the same name.
Witnessing the widespread poverty, oppression and disenfranchisement throughout Latin America, and influenced by his readings of Marxist literature, Guevara began to view armed revolution as the solution to social inequality. By trip's end, he also viewed Latin America not as separate nations, but as a single entity requiring a continent-wide liberation strategy. His conception of a borderless, united Hispanic America sharing a common 'mestizo' Hispanic America was a theme that prominently recurred during his later revolutionary activities. Upon returning to Argentina, he completed his studies and received his medical diploma in June of 1953.

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Introduction Of Che Guevara

2008-06-15T23:11:00.000-07:00

Ernesto "Che" Guevara (June 14,[1] 1928 – October 9, 1967), commonly known as Che Guevara, El Che, or simply Che, was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, politician, author, physician, military theorist, and guerrilla leader. After his death, his stylized image became an ubiquitous countercultural symbol worldwide.
As a young medical student, Guevara travelled throughout Latin America and was transformed by the endemic poverty he witnessed. His experiences and observations during these trips led him to conclude that the region's ingrained economic inequalities were an intrinsic result of monopoly capitalism, neo-colonialism, and imperialism, with the only remedy being world revolution. This belief prompted his involvement in Guatemala's social reforms under President Jacobo Arbenz, whose eventual CIA-assisted overthrow solidified Guevara’s radical ideology.
Later, in Mexico, he joined and was promoted to commander in Fidel Castro’s 26th of July Movement, playing a pivotal role in the successful guerrilla campaign to overthrow the U.S.-backed Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista.[2] After the Cuban revolution, Guevara served in many prominent governmental positions, including president of the national bank, minister of industry, and “supreme prosecutor” over the revolutionary tribunals and executions of suspected war criminals from the previous regime. Along with traversing the globe to meet an array of world leaders on behalf of Cuban socialism, he was a prolific writer and diarist. One of his most prominent published works includes a manual on the theory and practice of guerrilla warfare. Guevara left Cuba in 1965 to incite revolutions first in an unsuccessful attempt in Congo-Kinshasa and then in Bolivia, where he was captured with help of the CIA and executed.
Both notorious for his harsh discipline and revered for his unwavering dedication to his revolutionary doctrines, Guevara remains an admired, controversial, and significant historical figure. As a result of his death and romantic visage, along with his invocation to armed class struggle and desire to create the consciousness of a "new man" driven by "moral" rather than "material" incentives [3]; Guevara evolved into a quintessential icon of leftist inspired movements, as well as a global merchandising sensation. He has been venerated and reviled in a multitude of biographies, memoirs, books, essays, documentaries, songs, and films. Time Magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century,[4] while an Alberto Korda photograph of him entitled Guerrillero Heroico (shown), was declared "the most famous photograph in the world."

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Che Guevara , The Patriot

2008-06-15T22:35:00.000-07:00

Che Guevara was born Ernesto Guevara on June 14, 1928 in Rosario, Argentina. His family owned a ranch and was relatively wealthy. He developed asthma at an early age and, although his family moved to a drier area, it did not improve his condition. He grew up as a sickly child and was unable to play in rough sports like his friends. As a result, he read a lot of books and became something of an intellectual.
He attended college classes at the Buenos Aires University, but didn't participate in the revolutionary students movement. He focused on his studies of medicine, with a specialization in leprosy. During his college years, Che also spent a lot of time playing rugby, his favorite sport.
Late in his college years, Che left with his friend Alberto Granado, a biochemist, for a massive tour of South America on an old motorcycle. They traveled to Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, and Argentina before returning to Argentina, where Che finished medical school. During his travels, he had developed Marxist views and met Fidel Castro during a residency in Mexico City.
He spoke frequently with Castro, learning more about Marxism and pledging his help to the revolution in Cuba, which was controlled by dictator Fulgencio Batista. Guevara, Castro, and other revolutionaries were trained in the art of guerrilla warfare on a farm in Mexico by a captain in the Spanish Republican Army. They gave Guevara his nickname "Che", which is a word often used in Argentina to say "hey" or "wow". The Mexican police arrested Castro and

Guevara during their training, but they were released shortly after.
Che was a doctor to the soldiers under him in the Cuban Revolution, but also served as a commander. Che and Castro began to develop differences in opinion, most notably on economic policy, eventually resulting in Che's resignation. Che left for the African Congo with 120 Cuban revolutionaries to initiate a communist revolution there, but it ultimately failed.
Che moved back to South America and took an intense interest in Bolivia, believing that it was weak enough to allow a revolution due to the large poverty rate. He found it very difficult to recruit people and was arrested by the Bolivian Special Forces on October 8, 1967. His arrest was reportedly backed by the CIA, who feared the spread of communism in South America. The next day, he was taken to an abandoned schoolhouse in the town of La Higuera and executed that afternoon. His last words before the execution were reportedly "You are only killing one man". Following his death, his body was dumped in an unknown and has not been found since.
In 2005, the movie "The Motorcycle Diaries" was released, featuring an account of Che's travels throughout South America.

Dracula - Adaptations

2008-06-12T05:02:00.000-07:00

Dracula

Dracula has been the basis for countless films and plays. Three of the most famous are Nosferatu (1922), Dracula (1931), and Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992). Nosferatu, a film directed by the German director F.W. Murnau, was produced while Stoker's widow was alive, and the filmmakers were forced to change the setting and the characters' names for copyright reasons. The vampire in Nosferatu is called Count Orlok rather than Count Dracula.
The character of Count Dracula has remained popular over the years, and many films have used the character as a villain, while others have named him in their titles, such as Dracula's Daughter, Brides of Dracula, and Zoltan, Hound of Dracula. An estimated 160 films (as of 2004) feature Dracula in a major role, a number second only to Sherlock Holmes. The number of films that include a reference to Dracula may reach as high as 649, according to the Internet Movie Database.
Most tellings of the Dracula story include the Count along with the rest of the "cast": Jonathan and Mina Harker, Van Helsing, and Renfield. (Notably, the novel roles of characters Jonathan Harker and Renfield are more than occasionally reversed or combined, as are the roles of Mina and Lucy. Quincey Morris is usually omitted entirely, as is Arthur Holmwood.)

Dracula - Themes

2008-06-12T04:59:00.000-07:00

Dracula

Dracula is an epistolary novel, written as a collection of diary entries, telegrams, and letters from the characters, as well as fictional clippings from the Whitby and London newspapers and phonograph cylinders. This literary style, made most famous by one of the most popular novels of the 19th century, The Woman in White (1860), was considered rather old-fashioned by the time of the publication of Dracula, but it adds a sense of realism and provides the reader with the perspective of most of the major characters. By use of the epistolary structure, Stoker, without employing either an omniscient narrator or any awkward framing device, maximizes suspense by avoiding any implicit promise to the reader that any first-person narrator must survive all the story's perils.
Although some critics find the novel somewhat crude and sensational, it nevertheless retains its psychological power, and the sexual longings underlying the vampire attacks are manifest. As one critic wrote:
What has become clearer and clearer, particularly in the fin de siècle years of the twentieth century, is that the novel's power has its source in the sexual implications of the blood exchange between the vampire and his victims...Dracula has embedded in it a very disturbing psychosexual allegory whose meaning I am not sure Stoker entirely understood: that there is a demonic force at work in the world whose intent is to eroticize women. In Dracula we see how that force transforms Lucy Westenra, a beautiful nineteen-year-old virgin, into a shameless slut.[12]
Dracula may be viewed as a novel about the struggle between tradition and modernity at the fin de siècle. Throughout, there are various references to changing gender roles; Mina Harker can be seen as a thoroughly modern woman, using such modern technologies as the typewriter. She also displays some characteristics of the New Woman through her rejection of deference to male superiority and her economic independence. However, Mina still embodies a traditional gender role, as seen in her feminine and maternal nature and her occupation as as an assistant schoolmistress.
Stoker's novel deals in general with the conflict between the world of the past — full of folklore, legend, and religious piety — and the emerging modern world of technology, positivism, and secularism.
Van Helsing epitomizes this struggle because he uses, at the time, extremely modern technologies like blood transfusions; but he is not so modern as to eschew the idea that a demonic being could be causing Lucy's illness: he spreads garlic around the sashes and doors of her room and makes her wear a garlic flower necklace. After Lucy's death, he receives an indulgence from a Catholic cleric to use the Eucharist (held by the Church to be trans-substantiated into the body and blood of Jesus) in his fight against Dracula. In trying to bridge the rational/superstitious conflict within the story, he cites new sciences, such as hypnotism, that were only recently considered magical. He also quotes (without attribution) the American psychologist William James, whose writings on the power of belief become the only way to deal with this conflict.
No character in the novel advocates a rejection of science in favour of either religion or superstition. Van Helsing receives the admiration of the other characters and succeeds in defeating Dracula by dint of a combination of encyclopedic knowledge and "open-mindedness." Late in the novel, as Dr. Seward comes to embrace Van Helsing's open-mindedness, he writes, "In an age when the existence of ptomaines is a mystery we should not wonder at anything!" For the characters, and presumably for the author, science opens the possibility of shockingly unfamiliar phenomena. If the novel sounds a cautionary note, it merely warns against the presumption that established science as yet offers a complete world-view. Within Stoker's fictional universe, (correct) superstitious beliefs have an empirical basis and promise to yield to scientific inquiry.
Jonathan Harker's character displays the problems of dwelling in a strictly rational modern world. Visiting Count Dracula in Eastern Europe, Jonathan scoffs at the peasants who tell him to delay his visit until after Saint George's feast day. As a solicitor, Jonathan is concerned “with facts — bare meagre facts, verified by books and figures, and of which there can be no doubt”. All of Jonathan’s rationality weakens him to what he witnesses at Castle Dracula. For example, the first time Jonathan witnesses Dracula crawling down the face of the castle headfirst, he is in complete disbelief. Not believing what he sees, he attempts to explain what he saw as a trick of the moonlight.
The characters of Dracula use modern technology and rationalism to defeat the Count. For example, during their pursuit of the vampire, they use railroads and steamships, not to mention the telegraph (and a telephone is even used on their behalf at one point), to keep a step ahead of him (in contrast, Dracula escapes in a sailing ship). Van Helsing uses hypnotism to pinpoint Dracula's location. Mina even employs criminology to anticipate Dracula's actions and cites both Cesare Lombroso and Max Nordau, who at that time were considered experts in this field.
A number of scholars have noted the theme of a 'barbarian' prince attempting to usurp British society as being an example of the invasion literature which was popular at the time. Author Kim Newman characterized Dracula as being the story of "a one-man invasion" and drew attention to Van Helsing's claim that Dracula's goal was to become "the father or furthurer of a new order of beings, whose road must lead through Death, not Life"

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Dracula - Historical and geographical references

2008-06-12T04:58:00.000-07:00

Dracula

Although Dracula is a work of fiction, it does contain some historical references. The historical connections with the novel and how much Stoker knew about the history are a matter of conjecture and debate.
Following the publication of In Search of Dracula by Radu Florescu and Raymond McNally in 1972, the supposed connections between the historical Transylvanian-born Vlad III Dracula of Wallachia and Bram Stoker's fictional Dracula attracted popular attention. During his main reign (1456–1462), "Vlad the Impaler" is said to have killed from 20,000 to 40,000 European civilians (political rivals, criminals, and anyone else he considered "useless to humanity"), mainly by using his favourite method of impaling them on a sharp pole. The main sources dealing with these events are records by Saxon settlers in neighboring Transylvania, who had frequent clashes with Vlad III and may have been biased. Vlad III is revered as a folk hero by Romanians for driving off the invading Turks. His impaled victims are said to have included as many as 100,000 Turkish Muslims.
Historically, the name "Dracul" is derived from a secret fraternal order of knights called the Order of the Dragon, founded by Sigismund of Luxembourg (king of Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia, and Holy Roman Emperor) to uphold Christianity and defend the Empire against the Ottoman Turks. Vlad II Dracul, father of Vlad III, was admitted to the order around 1431 because of his bravery in fighting the Turks. From 1431 onward, Vlad II wore the emblem of the order and later, as ruler of Wallachia, his coinage bore the dragon symbol. The name Dracula means "Son of Dracul".
Stoker came across the name Dracula in his reading on Romanian history, and chose this to replace the name (Count Wampyr) that he had originally intended to use for his villain. However, some Dracula scholars, led by Elizabeth Miller, have questioned the depth of this connection. They argue that Stoker in fact knew little of the historic Vlad III except for his nickname. There are sections in the novel where Dracula refers to his own background, and these speeches show that Stoker had some knowledge of Romanian history. Yet Stoker includes no details about Vlad III's reign and does not mention his use of impalement. Given Stoker's use of historical background to make his novel more horrific, it seems unlikely he would have failed to mention that his villain had impaled thousands of people. It seems that Stoker either did not know much about the historic Vlad III, or did not intend his character Dracula to be the same person as Vlad III.
Vlad III was an ethnic Vlach. In the novel, Dracula claims to be a Székely: "We Szekelys have a right to be proud..."
The Dracula legend as he created it and as it has been portrayed in films and television shows may be a compound of various influences. Many of Stoker's biographers and literary critics have found strong similarities to the earlier Irish writer Sheridan le Fanu's classic of the vampire genre, Carmilla. In writing Dracula, Stoker may also have drawn on stories about the sídhe — some of which feature blood-drinking women.
It has been suggested that Stoker was influenced by the history of Countess Elizabeth Bathory, who was born in the Kingdom of Hungary. Bathory is known to have tortured and killed anywhere between 36 and 700 young women over a period of many years, and it was commonly believed that she committed these crimes in order to bathe in or drink their blood, believing that this preserved her youth. No credible evidence of blood-drinking or other blood crimes in the Bathory case has ever been found, however the stories and influence may explain why Dracula appeared younger after feeding.[10]
Some have claimed the castle of Count Dracula was inspired by Slains Castle, at which Bram Stoker was a guest of the 19th Earl of Erroll. However, since as Stoker visited the castle in 1895—five years after work on Dracula had begun—there is unlikely to be much connection. Many of the scenes in Whitby and London are based on real places that Stoker frequently visited, although in some cases he distorts the geography for the sake of the story.
It has been suggested that Stoker received much historical information from Ármin Vámbéry, a Hungarian professor he met at least twice. Miller argues that "there is nothing to indicate that the conversation included Vlad, vampires, or even Transylvania" and that, "furthermore, there is no record of any other correspondence between Stoker and Vámbéry, nor is Vámbéry mentioned in Stoker's notes for Dracula.

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Dracula - Reaction

2008-06-12T04:54:00.000-07:00

Dracula

When it was first published, in 1897, Dracula was not an immediate bestseller, although reviewers were unstinting in their praise. The contemporary Daily Mail ranked Stoker's powers above those of Mary Shelley and Edgar Allan Poe as well as Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights. [5]
According to writers Nina Auerbach and David Skal, the novel is more important for modern readers than contemporary Victorian readers, who, they assert, enjoyed it as a good adventure story; and allege that it reached its iconic legend status only later in the 20th century.[6]This assertion is contradicted, however, by the actual statements of Victorian readers and reviewers themselves who described Dracula as "the sensation of the season" and "the most blood-curdling novel of the paralysed century".[7] The Daily Mail review of June 1, 1897 proclaimed it a classic of Gothic horror:
"In seeking a parallel to this weird, powerful, and horrorful story our mind reverts to such tales as The Mysteries of Udolpho, Frankenstein, The Fall of the House of Usher ... but Dracula is even more appalling in its gloomy fascination than any one of these."[8]
Other reviewers compared it favorably to the novels of Wilkie Collins and similar good reviews appeared when the book was published in the USA in 1899

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Dracula - Background

2008-06-12T04:52:00.000-07:00

Dracula

Between 1879 and 1889 Stoker was business manager for the world-famous Lyceum Theatre in London, where he supplemented his income by writing a large number of sensational novels, his most famous being the vampire tale Dracula published on May 18, 1897. Parts of it are set around the town of Whitby, where he was living at the time.

Before writing Dracula, Stoker spent seven years researching European folklore and stories of vampires, being most influenced by Emily Gerard's 1885 essay "Transylvania Superstitions", and an evening spent talking about Balkan superstitions with Arminius Vambery.
The Dead Un-Dead was one of Stoker's original titles for Dracula, and up until a few weeks before publication, the manuscript was titled simply The Un-Dead. The name of Stoker's count was originally going to be Count Vampyre, but while doing research, Stoker became intrigued by the word dracul. Dracul is derived from the word draco in the Megleno-Romanian language, meaning devil (originally dragon). There was also a historic figure known as Vlad III Dracula, but whether Stoker based his character on him remains debated and is now considered unlikely.
The novel has been in the public domain in the United States since its original publication because Stoker failed to follow proper copyright procedure. In England and other countries following the Berne Convention on copyrights, however, the novel was under copyright until April 1962, fifty years after Stoker's death.[3] When the unauthorized film adaptation was released in 1922, the popularity of the novel increased considerably, owing to the controversy caused when Stoker's widow tried to have the film banned.

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Dracula - Plot summary

2008-06-12T04:50:00.000-07:00

Darcula

The novel is mainly composed of journal entries and letters written by several narrators who are also the novel's main protagonists; Stoker supplemented the story with occasional newspaper clippings to relate events not directly witnessed by the story's characters. The tale begins with Jonathan Harker, a newly qualified English solicitor, journeying by train and carriage from England to Count Dracula's crumbling, remote castle (situated in the Carpathian Mountains on the border of Transylvania and Moldavia). The purpose of his mission is to provide legal support to Dracula for a real estate transaction overseen by Harker's employer, Peter Hawkins, of Exeter in England. At first seduced by Dracula's gracious manner, Harker soon discovers that he has become a prisoner in the castle. He also begins to see disquieting facets of Dracula's nocturnal life. One night while searching for a way out of the castle, and against Dracula's strict admonition not to venture outside his room at night, Harker falls under the spell of three wanton female vampires, the Brides of Dracula. He is saved at the last second by the Count, however, who ostensibly wants to keep Harker alive just long enough because his legal advice and teachings about England and London (Dracula's planned travel destination was to be among the "teeming millions") are needed by Dracula. Harker barely escapes from the castle with his life.
Not long afterward, a Russian ship, the Demeter, having weighed anchor at Varna, runs aground on the shores of Whitby, England, during a fierce tempest. All of the crew are missing and presumed dead, and only one body is found, that of the captain tied to the ship's helm. The captain's log is recovered and tells of strange events that had taken place during the ship's journey. These events led to the gradual disappearance of the entire crew apparently owing to a malevolent presence on board the ill-fated ship. An animal described as a large dog is seen on the ship leaping ashore. The ship's cargo is described as silver sand and boxes of "mould" or earth from Transylvania.
Soon Dracula is menacing Harker's devoted fiancée, Wilhelmina "Mina" Murray, and her vivacious friend, Lucy Westenra. Lucy receives three marriage proposals in one day, from an asylum psychiatrist, Dr. John Seward; an American, Quincey Morris; and the Hon. Arthur Holmwood (later Lord Godalming). Lucy accepts Holmwood's proposal while turning down Seward and Morris, but all remain friends. There is a notable encounter between Dracula and Seward's patient Renfield, an insane man who means to consume insects, spiders, birds, and other creatures — in ascending order of size — in order to absorb their "life force". Renfield acts as a kind of motion sensor, detecting Dracula's proximity and supplying clues accordingly.
Lucy begins to waste away suspiciously. All her suitors fret, and Seward calls in his old teacher, Professor Abraham Van Helsing from Amsterdam. Van Helsing immediately determines the cause of Lucy's condition but refuses to disclose it, knowing that Seward's faith in him will be shaken if he starts to speak of vampires. Van Helsing tries multiple blood transfusions, but they are clearly losing ground. On a night when Van Helsing must return to Amsterdam (and his message to Seward asking him to watch the Westenra household is accidentally sent to the wrong address), Lucy and her mother are attacked by a wolf. Mrs Westenra, who has a heart condition, dies of fright, and Lucy apparently dies soon after.
Lucy is buried, but soon afterward the newspapers report children being stalked in the night by a "bloofer lady" (as they describe it), i.e. "beautiful lady"[1]. Van Helsing, knowing that this means Lucy has become a vampire, confides in Seward, Lord Godalming, and Morris. The suitors and Van Helsing track her down, and after a disturbing confrontation between her vampiric self and Arthur, they stake her heart, behead her, and fill the mouth with garlic.
Around the same time, Jonathan Harker arrives home from recuperation in Budapest (where Mina joined and married him after his escape from the castle); he and Mina also join the coalition, who turn their attentions to dealing with Dracula.
After Dracula learns of Van Helsing and the others' plot against him, he takes revenge by visiting — and biting — Mina at least three times. Dracula also feeds Mina his blood, creating a spiritual bond between them to control her. The only way to forestall this is to kill Dracula first. Mina slowly succumbs to the blood of the vampire that flows through her veins, switching back and forth from a state of consciousness to a state of semi-trance during which she is telepathically connected with Dracula. It is this connection that they start to use to deduce Dracula's movements. It is only possible to detect Dracula's surroundings when Mina is put under hypnosis by Van Helsing. This ability gradually gets weaker as the group makes their way to Dracula's castle.
Dracula flees back to his castle in Transylvania, followed by Van Helsing's group, who manage to track him down just before sundown and destroy[2] him by shearing "through the throat" and stabbing him in the heart with a Bowie knife. Dracula crumbles to dust, his spell is lifted and Mina is freed from the marks. Quincey Morris is killed in the final battle, stabbed by Gypsies who had been charged with returning Dracula to his castle; the survivors return to England.
The book closes with a note about Mina's and Jonathan's married life and the birth of their first-born son, whom they name Quincey in remembrance of their American friend

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Dracula - Introduction

2008-06-12T04:48:00.000-07:00

Dracula

Dracula is an 1897 novel by Irish author Bram Stoker, featuring as its primary antagonist the vampire Count Dracula.
Dracula has been attributed to many literary genres including vampire literature, horror fiction, the gothic novel and invasion literature. Structurally it is an epistolary novel, that is, told as a series of diary entries and letters. Literary critics have examined many themes in the novel, such as the role of women in Victorian culture, conventional and repressed sexuality, immigration, colonialism, postcolonialism and folklore. Although Stoker did not invent the vampire, the novel's influence on the popularity of vampires has been singularly responsible for many theatrical and film interpretations throughout the 20th and 21st centuries.

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Guy Maddin's Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary.(the making of a dance film)

2008-06-12T04:35:00.000-07:00

Guy Maddin was a horror-movie buff as a kid. But Dracula was his least favourite of all the classics. In fact, he still finds most film versions of Dracula "boring." And as for filmed dance, well, he was clearly of the opinion that once dancers were reduced to eight centimetres in height on a television screen, this was just plain dull.
So what possessed the acclaimed Manitoba filmmaker to take the Royal Winnipeg Ballet's (RWB) version of Bram Stoker's Dracula and shoot it for broadcast on the CBC? Well, no doubt the director of such experimental and surreal films as Tales from the Gimli Hospital, Archangel and Twilight of the Ice Nymphs would never turn down a challenge. And as Maddin relates the journey to bring Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary to the screen, it becomes clear that what the director relished most was the experimentation the project afforded him. Mark Godden's Dracula is a complex, three-act ballet, exploring the range of emotions of Dracula's victims and the dichotomy of good and evil through dance. Faced with the challenge of bringing ballet to the small screen, Madden tested out different shooting techniques and styles to accentuate the plot elements for television audiences, and learned to incorporate movement into his filmmaking in ways he had never done before.
Directing a dance film was never in Maddin's plans. It all began with a phone call from Winnipeg producer Vonnie Von Helmolt, asking him to see RWB's version of Brain Stoker's famous tale of the undead. She was convinced that the vibrant colours of Twilight of the Ice Nymphs and the gothic sensibility found in Maddin's previous work made him the perfect choice for the project. "On first viewing, I found the narrative slipping away from my rapt attention at times and I remember thinking even then that if I ever made a dance movie I would have to approach it differently than a choreographer would" recalls Maddin "Choreographers have a captive audience in theatre seats while on television you are dealing with itchy trigger fingers on the remote control
This concerned Maddin despite the fact that in his own work he has never tried to court a general audience with mainstream fare. I am an old war veteran of alienating audiences with opaque plots. I have spring many out of their seats in the past and I don't really want to do that anymore," he says. "I kept telling myself I better not do this film because I don't know anything about dance -- I wouldn't even know how to jazz this up for television viewers." To legitimize his concerns Maddin spoke to several dancers and choreographers about filmed dance, and they all echoed the same response: they did not like it at all. "So many people agreed that on television, something is lost, it's arid," he says. Convinced that dance did not translate to television, Maddin turned the project down.
Von Helmolt, persisted. She set up a meeting between Maddin and Godden the ballet's choreographer. The dancers then performed the ballet in its entirety for Maddin and fellow filmmaker and collaborator deco dawson, who partnered with Maddin on the award--winning short The Heart of the World They recorded the performance, with dawson on Super 8 and Maddin with a video camera. "Suddenly, I understood the motivation behind their performance because I had to move with them," recalls Maddin. "I recognized that deeply buried and at times right there as plain as the nose on my face - were plot elements of Bram Stoker's story that I had been unaware of. Suddenly the narrative came to life for me
Maddin was hooked. But in true Maddinesque form, it would not be a mere televised replication of a ballet danced on the stage. It would bear the artistic stamp of its director, with distinctive, beautifully bold cinematography, strong visuals, a signature "primitive," hallucinogenic style, fragmented cutting and dark thematic tone.
While he did watch all the classic film adaptations Maddin claims they were of no significant influence, beyond re-introducing the character of Renfield to the ballet after watching Todd Browning's 1931 version with Bela Lugosi and Dwight Fry as Renfield. "I love the way the character was played -- it was the most over the top performance," says Maddin. "So I stuck Renfield back in the story, gave a VHS of the Draclula to the dancer playing Renfield, and got him to watch it."
"My biggest influence was the work I did with deco on The Heart of the World," he says. Chosen in 2000 as the U.S. Society of Film Critics' top experimental film, The Heart of the World harkens back to the early black-and--white Russian style, telling the story of two brothers in love with a female scientist who predicts the world is about to suffer a fatal heart attack. The story is compressed in a lightening--paced six minutes, and brimming with bold imagery. "It was the first movie I made with a lot of energy in it and I wanted to capture the same kind of kinetic omph' factor on this one," explains Maddin. The style and tone of The Heart of the World makes an indelible print on Dracula, also shot on black and white to achieve a rich, dark feel; with stark, primal imagery and a fast-paced intensity set against the strains of the music of Gustav Mahler. The style of Dracula is reminiscent of a 1920s silent movie, with an eery modern touch achieved by computer enhanced graphics tinting certain elements such a s Dracula's eyes, the inside of his cape and a vampiress during her death throes in vivid red
There are many psychological intrepretations of Stoker's famous 1897 novel about the blood-sucking Transylvanian count. "I had a rigid single interpretation of Dracula," Madding says. "I am most comfortable looking at Dracula as a male possessiveness story." In Maddin's film, Dracula is not a literal figure. Rather, he is an external objectification of heterosexual male jealousy." As soon as women acknowledge lust, the men who care for, admire and desire them can't deal with this, and have to track down and expunge the source of this lust somehow, meanwhile hurting the women who have created the jealousy in them," he says. In Maddin's retelling, Dracula is an archertype of the sexual rival. He points out that movie version of Dracula all stylize the destruction of the undead women with a stake driven through the heart. In Stoker's novel the women were not only stabbed, but also had their hearts removed and heads cut off. "So she can no longer think about the other person, and her heart can no longer feel for him."
Maddin was also influenced by the xenophobia that he saw in Stoker's novel. "Dracula comes from Eastern Europe, where mysterious Slavic, capitalistic people come from; and the men that set out to capture him are concerned he might have stolen English money, as well as their women's hymens. It sure sounds to me like good old-fashioned Victorian England anti-Semitism," he says. Dracula, in effect, then, in Maddin's version is "the other," which our human nature both draws us to and repels us at the same time.
To capture the dance from different angles and perspectives and ensure more set-up shots, Maddin used three camera operators -- cinematographer Paul Suderman (Hey, Happy!) shooting on Super 16, with himself and dawson switching between Super 16 and Super 8. Maddin also bent some union rules and created the position of associate director for dawson. Envisioning a film that was "quick and primitive and fragmented in style," the cinematography team managed 100 set-up a day throughout the shoot. Instead of cumbersome dollies and tracks to move the cameras around the dancers, they reworked a high chair with a food tray, pushing dawson around the dancers to shoot among them, capturing their movement from various angles and perspectives. While the Super 16 was setting up, they would shoot close-ups of the dancers using the Super 8 camera, lit only by a 60-watt blub illuminated against a corkboard, creating dark pools of light against a shadowy background.
To clarify the narrative. Maddin added pantomime scenes not in the original ballet, most notably in the opening, to set up the story. Intertitles, as well as pantomimed preludes and interludes, reminiscent of silent films, provide plot details and dialogue. To keep viewers on their toes, he switches between intertitles, subtitles and surtitles. "It's not quite Pop-up Video, but they are packaged to be interesting." he laughs.
To ensure that viewers were held captive by the emotions of the characters and drawn to the momentum of the narrative. Maddin looked for opportunities to focus the camera on the dancers' faces, rather than their feet. When the music swelled and the choreography peaked. Maddin moved the camera in tightly on they faces as opposed to the intricate dance moves. "The dancers were great melodramatic facial performers, and by closing in I was trying in keep viewers in touch with their personalities," he says. Maddin admits that the did not always do honour to the choreography of the ballet, particularly in the editing room. "When it came down to what was best for the movie, that sometimes meant removing dance sections or showing them from the least flattering angle," he explains.
Despite a dubious beginning. Maddin remains enthusiastic about Dracula. "I loved the experience," he says. "I knew from the beginning that at worst I would learn a lot from doing this picture, which I did." Most importantly, working with dancers taught him about the importance of movement, and this will inform his future projects, he says. "I was always scared of movement in my films. I wasn't that experienced with blocking and I landed to get uncomfortable performances from actors when they had to mill about." He would also consider working with a choreographer on his next film - which won't be a dance film, by the way - to work with the actors in the blocking of the film to add a grace of movement for scenes. "When talkies frist came about, there were movie and dialogue directors, so I might be a director with a blocking director -- I'm not ashamed to hire people." he says. Maddin also plans to return to the three camera shoot in future projects, not only for additional coverage but to offer up different perspectives on a scene, as if various eyes are viewing the same event.
Would ever direct a dance film again? Maddin hasn't ruled it out." But next time I would like to choreograph from scratch, directly for film, as opposed to taking a dance from the stage and then hacking at it with a razor-sharp camera."

Collection: from source

iPhone 2.0 or No iPhone 2.0, Device Management Still the Mobile Key

2008-06-10T22:10:00.000-07:00

Apple, which certainly knows a good thing when it sees it, is trying to squeeze into the enterprise space with the release of the iPhone 2.0.
This PCWorld.com story says the device supports Microsoft Exchange and offers GPS, faster downloads and other features that will attract business users. The story concludes, however, that the initiative has some enterprise problems. For instance, corporate users may not want to install iTunes, which is necessary to get access to the software developers kit (SDK). Other problems mentioned also seem pretty significant: inadequate tools and lack of a support organization.
I wasn’t thinking of the iPhone 2.0 introduction when I wrote a post last week on mobile device management, but it seems like an even more important topic now that Apple has apparently come only part way into the enterprise mobility tent. Employees are people, and they are attracted by iPhones — and almost certainly will be more tempted to take the leap and use the iPhone for work if it’s marginally more business-friendly. Whether they do or not is an important question. Perhaps even more important is whether companies execute this — or any other — mobile initiative within a mobile device management framework.
Forrester says that somebody should be in charge of managing mobile devices. This person, according to this account in The Wall Street Journal, should be in charge of both the devices and creating the policies to optimize their use. Though the story doesn’t say so, creating policies almost certainly will be a group effort and the subject of much debate in the organization.
Regardless, the lines between business and consumer mobility are blurred. The story quotes a Visage study that says 80 percent of employees with company-supplied devices use them for personal use, and 89 percent of respondents use personal devices for work. The study says corporate policies simply aren’t keeping up with this transition. It doesn’t phrase it this way, but the bottom line finding is that there is a management free-for-all that could come back to haunt the organization.
Cisco is taking a crack at helping organizations better manage assets. Late last month, the company introduced the Cisco 3300 Series Mobility Services Engine (MSE), which is part of Cisco Motion. The MSE features application programming interfaces (APIs) to software applications that will provide enterprises with the ability to manage wired and wireless networks. Cisco also released applications for the MSE focusing on awareness, wireless intrusion prevention, client management and intelligent roaming. The company says that many third-party applications, from companies such as Nokia, Oracle, AreoScout, Agito and others will be available.
The key to any mobile device management initiative is a good set of policies. This post at Absolute Software refers to an IT Pro piece on creating such policies. Policies should begin with an audit to find out what the organization’s holdings are. The final policy statement should be easily understood by all.
Issues to be addressed include what employees should do if they lose their device and incentives for quick reporting of lost devices. The policy should say where devices can and can’t connect, what applications can be used, and what type of data can be accessed. The company should support virtual private networks (VPNs) and strong encryption and passwords. There should be procedures for wiping data off lost devices and for discarding those that are no longer used. Finally, procedures should be included for processing devices that belong to employees who are leaving the company.
Glitzy devices are great — from Apple or others — but organizations must be prepared to do the hard and unglamorous work of adequately managing them.

http://www.itbusinessedge.com/blogs/cip/

Finger Yoga

2008-06-10T04:57:00.000-07:00

Yoga is an ancient art - known in India for thousands of years.It's basic aims are "spiritual" in nature. However, as a basic component exercises were developed designed to gain and maintain good health - and to purify the body so it would serve as a suitable vehicle.
These exercises form one of the "limbs" of yoga - known as "Hatha Yoga" - which translates roughly as bodily yoga.
Hatha YogaHatha yoga is one of the most fundamental, and remedial forms exercise.It is universal in scope - and can be practiced by anyone. Hatha yoga should be the foundation of any exercise program. In other words, regardless of whether you dance, play sports, practice martial arts, do resistance training - or whatever - you should learn and practice yoga first - for the sake of safety and in order to best attain and maintain good health.
Hatha yoga is centred around static stretching exercises. It includes passive and active stretches.
Finger YogaFinger yoga is hatha yoga for the fingers.Extremities need yoga like every other part of the body. However hands are rarely given much attention in yoga classes - where focus naturally is concentrated on very important areas - such as the spine.
To a certain extent, hands represent a microcosm of the organs of action. They need a slightly different emphasis, perhaps from the other limbs. In particular, they are easier to apply excess force to, and potentially expose more connective tissue to stretching forces.
Mudras"Mudra" is the traditional term for yoga poses involving the hands.Mudras have a range of traditional uses - from meditation aids to symbolic gestures; from healing poses to dance moves; from invocations to prayers.
However relatively few of them correspond closely to the asanas of hatha yoga.
Much of the literature associated with healing and therapy using mudras deals with effects of mudras on distant parts of the body - in a manner rather reminiscent of reflexology. It seems unlikely that much of this material is very well founded.
While the yoga asanas map fairly closely to effective stretching and strengthing exercises, mudras covered by the existing literature do not appear to cover this ground very effectively.

http://www.herbalhealing.co.uk/yoga_finger.htm

Types of Yoga

2008-06-10T04:53:00.000-07:00

The Sanskrit word yoga stems from the verbal root yuj meaning "to yoke" or "to unite." Thus, in a spiritual context, yoga stands for "training" or "unitive discipline." The Sanskrit literature contains numerous compound terms ending in -yoga. These stand for various yogic approaches or features of the path. The following is a descriptive list of forty such terms. Not all of these form full-fledged branches or types of Yoga, but they represent at least emphases in diverse contexts. All of them are instructive insofar as they demonstrate the vast scope of Hindu Yoga.
Abhâva-Yoga: The unitive discipline of nonbeing, meaning the higher yogic practice of immersion into the Self without objective support such as mantras; a concept found in the Purânas; cf. Bhâva-Yoga
Adhyâtma-Yoga: The unitive discipline of the inner self; sometimes said to be the Yoga characteristic of the Upanishads
Agni-Yoga: The unitive discipline of fire, causing the awakening of the serpent power (kundalinî-shakti) through the joint action of mind (manas) and life force (prâna)
Ashtânga-Yoga: The unitive discipline of the eight limbs, i.e., Râja-Yoga or Pâtanjala-Yoga
Asparsha-Yoga: The unitive discipline of "noncontact," which is the nondualist Yoga propounded by Gaudapâda in his Mândûkya-Kârikâ; cf. Sparsha-Yoga
Bhakti-Yoga: The unitive discipline of love/devotion, as expounded, for instance, in the Bhagavad-Gîtâ, the Bhâgavata-Purâna, and numerous other scriptures of Shaivism and Vaishnavism
Buddhi-Yoga: The unitive discipline of the higher mind, first mentioned in the Bhagavad-Gîtâ
Dhyâna-Yoga: The unitive discipline of meditation
Ghatastha-Yoga: The unitive discipline of the "pot" (ghata), meaning the body; a synonym for Hatha-Yoga mentioned in the Gheranda-Samhitâ
Guru-Yoga: The unitive discipline relative to one's teacher
Hatha-Yoga: The unitive discipline of the force (meaning the serpent power or kundalinî-shakti); or forceful unitive discipline
Hiranyagarbha-Yoga: The unitive discipline of Hiranyagarbha ("Golden Germ"), who is considered the original founder of the Yoga tradition
Japa-Yoga: The unitive discipline of mantra recitation
Jnâna-Yoga: The unitive discipline of discriminating wisdom, which is the approach of the Upanishads
Karma-Yoga: The unitive discipline of self-transcending action, as first explicitly taught in the Bhagavad-Gîtâ
Kaula-Yoga: The unitive discipline of the Kaula school, a Tantric Yoga
Kriyâ-Yoga: The unitive discipline of ritual; also the combined practice of asceticism (tapas), study (svâdhyâya), and worship of the Lord (îshvara-pranidhâna) mentioned in the Yoga-Sûtra of Patanjali
Kundalinî-Yoga: The unitive discipline of the serpent power (kundalinî-shakti), which is fundamental to the Tantric tradition, including Hatha-Yoga
Lambikâ-Yoga: The unitive discipline of the "hanger," meaning the uvula, which is deliberately stimulated in this yogic approach to increase the flow of "nectar" (amrita) whose external aspect is saliva
Laya-Yoga: The unitive discipline of absorption or dissolution of the elements prior to their natural dissolution at death
Mahâ-Yoga: The great unitive discipline, a concept found in the Yoga-Shikhâ-Upanishad where it refers to the combined practice of Mantra-Yoga, Laya-Yoga, Hatha-Yoga, and Râja-Yoga
Mantra-Yoga: The unitive discipline of numinous sounds that help protect the mind, which has been a part of the Yoga tradition ever since Vedic times
Nâda-Yoga: The unitive discipline of the inner sound, a practice closely associated with original Hatha-Yoga
Pancadashânga-Yoga: The unitive discipline of the fifteen limbs (pancadasha-anga): (1) moral discipline (yama), (2) restraint (niyama), (3) renunciation (tyâga), (4) silence (mauna), (5) right place (desha), (6) right time (kâla), (7) posture (âsana), (8) root lock (mûla-bandha), (9) bodily equilibrium (deha-samya), (10) stability of vision (dhrik-sthiti), (11) control of the life force (prâna-samrodha), (12) sensory inhibition (pratyâhâra), (13) concentration (dhâranâ), (14) meditation upon the Self (âtma-dhyâna), and (15) ecstasy (samâdhi)
Pâshupata-Yoga: The unitive discipline of the Pâshupata sect, as expounded in some of the Purânas
Pâtanjala-Yoga: The unitive discipline of Patanjali, better known as Râja-Yoga or Yoga-Darshana
Pûrna-Yoga: The unitive discipline of wholeness or integration, which is the name of Sri Aurobindo's Yoga
Râja-Yoga: The royal unitive discipline, also called Pâtanjala-Yoga, Ashtânga-Yoga, or Râja-Yoga
Samâdhi-Yoga: The unitive discipline of ecstasy
Sâmkhya-Yoga: The unitive discipline of insight, which is the name of certain liberation teachings and schools referred to in the Mahâbhârata
Samnyâsa-Yoga: The unitive discipline of renunciation, which is contrasted against Karma-Yoga in the Bhagavad-Gîtâ
Samputa-Yoga: The unitive discipline of sexual congress (maithunâ) in Tantra-Yoga
Samrambha-Yoga: The unitive discipline of hatred, as mentioned in the Vishnu-Purâna, which illustrates the profound yogic principle that one becomes what one constantly contemplates (even if charged with negative emotions)
Saptânga-Yoga: The unitive discipline of the seven limbs (sapta-anga), also known as Sapta-Sâdhana in the Gheranda-Samhitâ: (1) six purificatory practices (shat-karma), (2) posture (âsana), (3) seal (mudrâ), (4) sensory inhibition (pratyâhâra), (5) breath control (prânâyâma), (6) meditation (dhyâna), and (7) ecstasy (samâdhi)
Shadanga-Yoga: The unitive discipline of the six limbs (shad-anga), as expounded in the Maitrâyanîya-Upanishad: (1) breath control (prânâyâma), (2) sensory inhibition (pratyâhâra), (3) meditation (dhyâna), (4) concentration (dhâranâ), (5) examination (tarka), and (6) ecstasy (samâdhi)
Siddha-Yoga: The unitive discipline of the adepts, a concept found in some of the Tantras
Sparsha-Yoga: The unitive discipline of contact; a Vedantic Yoga mentioned in the Shiva-Purâna, which combines mantra recitation with breath control; cf. Asparsha-Yoga
Tantra-Yoga: The unitive discipline of the Tantras, a kundalinî-based Yoga
Târaka-Yoga: The unitive discipline of the "deliverer" (târaka); a medieval Yoga based on light phenomena
Yantra-Yoga: The unitive discipline of focusing the mind upon geometric representations (yantra) of the cosmos.

http://www.herbalhealing.co.uk/yoga_types.htm

Yoga Positions

2008-06-10T04:50:00.000-07:00

Yoga has simple and effective body movements that strengthen one's back, firm the stomach, and redistribute body weight. Yoga exercises stretch and tone the body muscles. They increase endurance and improve flexibility.
Yoga positions (asanas) are the best among all exercises for toning muscles, lubricating joints and massaging the body. Yoga postures bring physical as well as mental stability, health and vigor. These asanas were developed thousands of years ago and have evolved over centuries. They work wonders in keeping the body healthy and the mind peaceful. Asanas exercise the nerves, glands, ligaments, and muscles. In other words, yoga exercises are the most comprehensive method of self care. Although asanas are very powerful, the effect becomes dramatic when they are done the right way. The mind must be in harmony with the body movements. For this it is essential to equip yourself with the other tools of Integral Yoga. Be kind to yourself when you practice yoga. Go slowly, especially in the beginning, and listen to your body. It knows what it can do. If it says "stop," stop. Don't push it. Yoga is not a competitive sport. You don't win points for matching a picture in a book (or on a website). If you push too hard, you probably won't enjoy it, and you may hurt yourself. Whenever possible, work with a teacher, and use books, videos and websites to supplement your classroom instruction. Most of all, stick with it. If you practice, you will improve. And you will feel better.
3 easy to learn postures
Sit/Easy Position - Sukhasana
A starting position that helps focus awareness on breathing and the body; helps strengthen lower back and open the groin and hips. Sit cross-legged with hands on knees. Focus on your breath. Keep your spine straight and push the sit bones down into the floor. Allow the knees to gently lower. If the knees rise above your hips, sit on a cushion or block. This will help support your back and hips. Take 5-10 slow, deep breaths. On the next inhale, raise your arms over your head. Exhale and bring your arms down slowly. Repeat 5-7 times.
Mountain - Tadasana
Improves posture, balance and self-awareness.A deceptive pose in that it appears so simple that some students may ask - "why bother?" But just as there's more to breathing than meets the eye, there is more to standing, too.Stand with feet together, hands at your sides, eyes looking forward. Raise your toes, fan them open, then place them back down on the floor. Feel your heel, outside of your foot, toes and ball of your foot all in contact with the floor. Tilt your pubic bone slightly forward. Raise your chest up and out, but within reason - this isn't the army and you're not standing at attention. Raise your head up and lengthen the neck by lifting the base of your skull toward the ceiling. Stretch the pinky on each hand downward, then balance that movement by stretching your index fingers. Push into the floor with your feet and raise your legs, first the calves and then the thighs.Breathe. Hold the posture, but try not to tense up. Breathe. As you inhale, imagine the breath coming up through the floor, rising through your legs and torso and up into your head. Reverse the process on the exhale and watch your breath as it passes down from your head, through your chest and stomach, legs and feet.Hold for 5 to 10 breaths, relax and repeat.On your next inhale, raise your arms over head (Urdhava Hastasana) and hold for several breaths. Lower your arms on an exhale.As a warm up, try synchronizing the raising and lowering of your arms with your breath - raise, inhale; lower, exhale. Repeat 5 times.
Forward Bend or Extension - Uttanasana II
Stretches the legs and spine, rests the heart and neck, relaxes mind and bodyBegin standing straight in Mountain pose or Tadasana. Inhale and raise the arms overhead. Exhale, bend at the hips, bring the arms forward and down until you touch the floor. It's okay to bend your knees, especially if you're feeling stiff. Either grasp your ankles or just leave your hands on the floor and breathe several times. Repeat 3-5 times. On your last bend, hold the position for 5 or 10 breaths. To come out of the pose, curl upward as if pulling yourself up one vertebrae at a time, stacking one on top of another, and leaving the head hanging down until last.
Variations
1. Follow the instructions for the basic pose described above, but instead of holding the pose for several breaths, come up on the inhale. Extend your arms forward as your rise until you are standing straight and your arms are overhead. Exhale and bend forward. Repeat the process 5 times.2. Go into the pose and take 3 deep breaths. Inhale and raise your head, but keep your hands on the floor. Hook each index finger around each big toe, exhale and come down. Hold for several breaths3. Inhale and raise your head, again keeping your hands on the floor. This time, slide your hands under your feet so that the tips of your toes are touching heel of your hands. Hold for several breaths.4. After bending forward, fold your arms and hang for as long as is comfortable. A very relaxing pose.5. To come out of the pose, curl upward as if pulling yourself up one vertebrae at a time, stacking one on top of another, and leaving the head hanging down until last.

http://www.herbalhealing.co.uk/yoga_positions.htm

Introduction to Yoga

2008-06-10T04:38:00.000-07:00

The word YOGA is derived from the Sanskrit root Yog meaning to bind, to connect, to join, attach and yoke. It thus means a union or communion of the soul to God. Yoga is a complete science of the human being. It takes into account the physical, spiritual and metaphysical aspects of man.Practiced for more than 5000 years, yoga is one of the oldest forms of healing therapy, yoga provides one of the best means of self-improvement and attaining one's full potential. In the advanced stages of yoga, superconscious states are attained which result in a feeling of bliss, deep peace and the emergence of psychic powers.
Yoga was developed and perfected over the centuries by philosophers and mystics in India. It is basically a method by which we increase the body's supply of energy and remove any interference to the transmission of energy throughout the body. Yoga has specialized in this subject for thousands of years, and streamlined the methods to attain this aim.
These days, yoga classes are being held at most health and wellness centers around the World. Along with meditation, it is probably one of the most popular alternative therapy. Many physicians, who are skeptical about the efficacy of alternative medicine, support yoga with a passion. There are many clinical studies that show the effectiveness of yoga. And the best part of it is that it is something that can be done in the comfort of your home. A few breathing exercises recommended by yoga will go a long way towards better health and relaxation.

Yoga Positions Finger Yoga Yoga Types

Biography - David Blaine: the Man, the Magician

2008-06-10T03:39:00.000-07:00

David Blaine was born April 4, 1973 in Brooklyn New York. In his life he has gone by several last names; Blaine is his middle name. Patrie White, his single mother, raised him while taking on as many as three jobs. He never met his real father. At age four he saw a magician perform in a subway; he then decided to purchase his first trick, The Pencil Through the Card. Magic struck him because of its relationship with math and science. David's grandmother was a gypsy, and passed down some tarot cards to him. Since he did not have the money to go to a magic shop, he spent countless hours in libraries researching magic. There he would read every book he could get his hands on and continued fiddling with his tarot cards. At age five, he learned what his dream was; after showing a neighbor an effect with the tarot cards, he saw for the first time the impact magic can have emotionally on people. He immediately told his mom he wanted to be a showman. She encouraged him in everyway.
At ten his mother got remarried to John Bukalo, a banker, and moved to Jerseyville. His half-brother Michael was born. He began to develop an interest in acting. He traveled to Manhattan everyday to attend an acting school. He did a few commercials and small appearances on soap operas. At sixteen, David Blaine levitated for his doctor who immediately took him in for examination. A year later he moved back to New York and lived in Hell's Kitchen. When David was 21, his mother died of ovarian cancer. She was 48 and they were very close. It was then that he devoted his life to magic.
Magic got into David. He was your regular street magician who got gigs at rich parties. Because of his talent and uncanny character, he was able to draw up connections to ABC. After seeing a tape of his magic, they requested an interview and began planning a special. David Blaine: Street Magic, his first special, was the beginning of a new era. The special was not about disappearing tigers and thick stage lights; it was the streets, real people, and David. This had never been done before. The show was an instant success. People still talk about David Blaine's levitation. At only 24 years old, David Blaine became famous.
David has dated Madonna, Fiona Apple, and model Josie Moran. He was last heard dating the German former model Manon von Gerkan. He told Howard Stern he still seems to be close to all of his ex's. He has also had a close friendship with Leonardo DiCaprio. He has performed magic before and after he became famous to such people as Al Pacino, Jack Nicholson, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mike Tyson, and President Clinton. He has also made guest appearances on nearly every major talk show of the decade including Oprah, Conan O'Brien, Rosie, Carson Daily, and Howard Stern. Even Comedy Central's SouthPark has an episode featuring him.
David Blaine became a stuntman after his idol, Houdini. His first stunt, getting buried alive for seven days, had the approval of Houdini's granddaughter. He did the stunt to promote his second special, David Blaine: Magic Man. According to a letter Magic Directory received, David Blaine: Magic Man was named after an old website. Since then, David has been frozen alive, trapped standing on a poll over a hundred feet from the ground, and viewed hanging from a crane over the River Thames bridge in London. He likes to get trapped in secluded areas with no food. Each stunt seems to be more dangerous. David Blaine will probably continue performing magic and stunts to his 'audience' for the rest of his life.
http://www.magicdirectory.com/blaine/biography.shtml

David Blaine, the early years of the Magic Man

2008-06-10T03:19:00.000-07:00

"You don't get into magic. Magic gets into you." -David Blaine, 1998
On April 04, 1973, Patrice White gave birth to her first son, David Blaine. As a supportive single mother, she would raise him to the best of her ability, encouraging him to pursue his childhood dreams. Living on the streets of Brooklyn, New York, the two shared a close bond. The young boy would never meet his true biological father, only learning about him through stories and rumors. David's mother would be the most influential role model in his life
Four-year-old David Blaine experienced magic for the first time while waiting for a subway to arrive. Standing with his mother, he witnessed a stranger perform miracles for random passerby at the station. Eventually, the street magician let the curious little boy assist in an astonishing effect.
Threading a shoelace through a borrowed ring, the performer made young David Blaine close his little hand around them. There was no conceivable way the ring could escape the lace while he held everything tightly. The magician made a gesture over David's fist, and the boy's eyes widened with shock. Inside his own hand, he felt the ring melt through the shoelace, penetrating straight through its middle. He slowly opened his hand, one finger at a time, to discover the wedding band. off the string.
Inspired by this encounter, Blaine would strive to amaze people from that moment on. Given an old deck of Tarot Cards as a gift, he would study and practice basic sleight of hand at local libraries to become a riveting center of attention at family get-togethers and gatherings. His eccentricity and talent developed at an early age.
Old Man on the Street
"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious." -Albert Einstein
Appearing rather lonely at times, Old Man Marlow would sit on his apartment stoop during the late hours of the day, and stare off into space. His blank stare never expressed a hint of emotion or kindness. He sat on the same step, always holding a lit cigarette, but he never appeared to smoke. Naturally, this strangeness would make children avoid his presence and adults ignore him. The sight of Old Man Marlow, however, sparked a curiosity in young David Blaine that he wanted to explore.
While walking home from school one day, David Blaine met the senile man upon his stoop, holding his cigarette and looking intently at the building across the street. Intrigued by Old Man Marlow's lack of emotion, David took out 52 "personal friends" in attempt to put a little magic into his mundane life. Eventually, the man's fixed stare directed itself toward a naïve boy playing with a deck of cards.
"Would you like to see a some magic?" asked David with a quiet smile on his face. Before Marlow could answer, he found himself choosing a card from the deck, the seven of spades. David took the old man's cigarette, and in plain view, pushed it straight through the card, burning a hole in the middle. The image was unforgettable; Old Man Marlow began to smile.
When the young boy pulled the cigarette out of the seven of spades however, the card visually healed itself - completely. Impossibly, the card was as good as new, and David gave it to the Old Man as a gift. When he couldn't find any flaws with the card, Marlow screamed and laughed in awe as he ran into his home with pure excitement. The imaginative Brooklyn boy succeeded in revealing a side of Old Man Marlow no one ever knew existed. This is what magic does.http://www.1streetmagic.com/david_blaine/david-blaine-early-history.htm

Jokes - What's So Funny?

2008-06-10T02:08:00.000-07:00

A blonde had just gotten a new sports car and was out for a drive when she accidentally cut off a truck driver. He motioned for her to pull over. When she did, he got out of his truck and pulled a piece of chalk from his pocket. He drew a circle on the side of the road and gruffly commanded to the blonde, "Stand in that circle and DON'T MOVE!" He then went to her car and cut up her leather seats. When he turned around she had a slight grin on her face, so he said, "Oh you think that's funny? Watch this!" He gets a baseball bat out of his truck and breaks every window in her car. When he turns and looks at her she has a smile on her face. He is getting really mad. He gets his knife back out and slices all her tires. Now she's laughing. The truck driver is really starting to lose it. He goes back to his truck and gets a can of gas, pours it on her car and sets it on fire. He turns around and she is laughing so hard she is about to fall down. "What's so funny?" the truck driver asked the blonde. She replied, "Every time you weren't looking, I stepped outside the circle."

http://www.jokesgallery.com/joke.php?joke=961&id=1

Jokes - Bank Robbery

2008-06-10T02:07:00.000-07:00

A blonde and a brunette decided to rob a bank. They quickly devised a good plan and they put their plan to action. The brunette drove up to the front of the bank that they had decided to rob. She turned to the blonde and asked her, "Now, do you remember what the plan is?" The blonde sighed and replied, "Yeah, yeah, I remember..." The brunette went over the plan once more and let the blonde out to do her stuff. Before the blonde could shut the door, the brunette yelled out, "Be sure to be in and out in no more than 5 minutes!" The blonde ran inside and the brunette waited in the car... and waited... and waited... and waited... and waited. After waiting for so long in the car, the blonde bursts out of the bank's doors, the alarm blaring loud enough to wake everyone up. The blonde was lugging a bank safe behind her by a rope tied around it. A security guard ran out of the bank, his pants down around his ankles and attempting to reach his gun. The blonde breathed heavily as she tried to put the safe in the car but finally just gave up and dropped the safe behind. She ran into the passenger seat and pulled the door shut, the car already moving. The security guard yelled, "Stop! Stop!" while the pair drove off, leaving the safe with rope tied tightly around it behind. The brunette frantically asked the blonde, "What the hell happened in there?!?" The blonde was panting and turned to the brunette and choked out, "What do you mean? I followed the plan exactly!" The brunette paused and yelled, "YOU IDIOT! YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO TIE UP THE GUARD AND BLOW THE SAFE!"

http://www.jokesgallery.com/joke.php?joke=2415&id=1

JOkes - A Night In Mexico

2008-06-10T02:04:00.000-07:00

Three women go down to Mexico one night, get drunk, and wake up in jail, only to find that they are to be executed in the morning, though none of them can remember what they did the night before. The first one, a redhead, is strapped in the electric chair, and is asked if she has any last words. She says, "I am from Grace University, and believe in the almighty power of God to intervene on the behalf of the innocent," They throw the switch and nothing happens. They all immediately prostrate themselves; beg for her forgiveness, and release her. The second one, a brunette, is strapped in and gives her last words, "I am from the Creighton School of Law and I believe in the power of justice to intervene on the part of the innocent." They throw the switch and again, nothing happens. Again, they all immediately prostrate themselves; beg for her forgiveness, and release her. The last one, a blonde, is strapped in and says, "Well, I'm from the University of Alabama, Huntsville and just graduated with a degree in Electrical Engineering, and I'll tell you right now, you ain't gonna electrocute nobody if you don't plug this thing in."
http://www.jokesgallery.com/joke.php?joke=4667&id=1

Jokes - Head and Shoulders

2008-06-10T02:00:00.000-07:00

A blonde and a burnett are catching up ofter having not seen each other for a while, the burnett says to the blonde, "I'm married to Kenny now." The blonde replies, "Really, I used to date him. Isn't he the one with the really bad dandruf?" "Yeah," answered the burnett, "but I fixed that, I gave him head and shoulders." The blonde looked really confused and after a few moments asked, "How do you give Shoulders?"

http://www.jokesgallery.com/joke.php?joke=5080&id=1

Jokes - Sleeping Pills

2008-06-10T01:58:00.001-07:00

An exhausted looking blonde dragged himself in to the doctor's office. "Doctor, there are dogs all over my neighborhood. They bark all day and all night, and I can't get a wink of sleep." "I have good news for you," the doctor answered, rummaging through a drawer full of sample medications. "Here are some new sleeping pills that work like a dream. A few of these and your trouble will be over." "Great," the blonde answered, "I'll try anything. Let's give it a shot." A few weeks later the blonde returned, looking worse than ever. "Doc, your plan is no good. I'm more tired than before!" "I don't understand how that could be", said the doctor, shaking his head. "Those are the strongest pills on the market!" "That may be true," answered the blonde wearily, "but I'm still up all night chasing those dogs and when I finally catch one it's hard getting him to swallow the pill!"

Jokes - Maths And Logic

2008-06-10T01:52:00.000-07:00

There are two nuns. One of them is known as Sister Mathematical (SM) and the other one is known as Sister Logical (SL). It is getting dark and they are still far away from the convent. SM: Have you noticed that a man has been following us for the past thirty-eight and a half minutes? I wonder what he wants. SL: It's logical. He wants to rape us. SM: Oh, no! At this rate he will reach us in 15 minutes at the most.What can we do? SL: The only logical thing to do of course is to walk faster. SM: It's not working SL: Of course it's not working. The man did the only logical thing. He started to walk faster too. SM: So, what shall we do? At this rate he will reach us in one minute. SL: The only logical thing we can do is split. You go that way and I'll go this way. He cannot follow us both. So the man decided to follow Sister Logical. Sister Mathematical arrives at the convent and is worried what has happened to Sister Logical. Then Sister Logical arrives... SM: Sister Logical! Thank God you are here! Tell me what happened! SL: The only logical thing happened. The man couldn't follow us both, so he followed me. SM: Yes, yes! But what happened then? SL: The only logical thing happened. I started to run as fast as I could and he started to run as fast as he could. SM: And? SL: The only logical thing happened. He reached me. SM: What did you do? SL: The only logical thing to do. I lifted my dress up. SM: Oh, Sister! What did the man do? SL: The only logical thing to do. He pulled down his pants. SM: Oh, no! What happened then? SL: Isn't it logical, Sister? A nun with her dress up can run faster than a man with his pants down........ (And those of you who thought it would be a dirty ending, Pray for forgiveness you heathens!)

Detroit seal Stanley Cup victory

2008-06-09T23:28:00.000-07:00

Sports Related - ICE HOCKEY

Detroit Red Wings held off Pittsburgh Penguins to clinch a 3-2 win in game six and lift the Stanley Cup.
The Red Wings went 2-0 up after a powerplay goal from Brian Rafalski in the first period and a second-period strike from Valtteri Filppula.
Evgeni Malkin hit back for the Penguins before Henrik Zetterberg made it 3-1 early in the third period.
Marian Hossa scored on a powerplay with 87 seconds left in regulation but Detroit held on to win the series 4-2.
The Red Wings had been 35 seconds from securing the Cup in game five on Monday, but were pegged by a late equaliser and then stunned by a triple overtime winner.

But this time, the Red Wings refused to buckle under an all-out Penguins assault and Detroit netminder Osgood made a last-second stop to seal the win.
Detroit's Swedish captain Nicklas Lidstrom became the first European to lead his team to an NHL championship.
He said: "It felt great being the first guy on our team to touch the Cup. Experience has a lot to do with it (winning).
"I think that gives the whole team some calmness. We're not going to panic. Losing (game five) in triple overtime, I think we did a good job of putting that behind us.
"The main thing is we didn't get rattled."

Celtics win to extend finals lead

2008-06-09T23:18:00.000-07:00

Sports Related - Basketball

A furious fightback from the LA Lakers was not enough to stop the Boston Celtics taking a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven NBA finals series.
The Celtics had led by 24 points but a late rally saw the Lakers trail 104-102 with just 22 seconds remaining.
However, Paul Pierce scored two free throws to give Boston the cushion they needed to seal a 108-102 victory.
The teams now head to the West Coast with the Lakers needing to win at least two of their three home games.
"I wasn't happy about the way we ended the game," said Celtics coach Doc Rivers.
"But we're up 2-0 and now we have to go on the road.
"We've got to play through 48 minutes and I didn't think we did that.

"I think we got cute when we got the lead. We started trying to make sensational plays instead of keeping it simple."
Pierce, who left the court during the first game in a wheelchair due to a knee injury only to make a dramatic return, showed no ill effects from that injury to lead the Celtics with 28 points.
The Lakers ended the first quarter 22-20 in front, but a 10-0 run from the Eastern Conference champions at the start of the second saw them take a 54-42 advantage into half-time.
It was a lead they were never to relinquish and they increased the pressure after the interval to open up a 16-point cushion, before the Lakers hit back to reduce the deficit to nine.
A 13-0 run saw Boston take control again with a 81-59 lead at the end of the third quarter.
But they were made to dig deep for the win as the Lakers found their range from deep, hitting an NBA finals record equalling seven three-pointers in the final quarter.
Lakers guard Kobe Bryant top-scored with 30 points, but it wasn't enough as Boston held on to take a 2-0 lead.

Netherlands 3-0 Italy

2008-06-09T23:12:00.000-07:00

Sports Related : EURO-2008

Netherlands took a firm grip on Euro 2008's so-called "Group of Death" by winning a classic encounter with Italy.
Ruud van Nistelrooy put the Dutch ahead in controversial circumstances after 26 minutes when he scored from close range - but looked suspiciously offside.
Wesley Sneijder swept in a second from Dirk Kuyt's header five minutes later.
Edwin van der Sar then denied Italy with stunning saves from Fabio Grosso and Andrea Pirlo before Giovanni van Bronckhorst headed in after 80 minutes.
Euro 2008 has made a low-key start, but this was a game to set any tournament alight as the Dutch played in a stunning counter-attacking style and Italy also showed flashes of brilliance, despite ending up well beaten.
Holland are in pole position to qualify after France's dismal goalless draw with Romania, but World Cup holders Italy - even in defeat - suggested they can still go through from this tough group.

Marco van Basten's side started the game accompanied by the usual question marks about fractured spirit with the Dutch camp, but answered in style with their first win over Italy in 30 years.
After the dreadful fare on offer in the earlier game between France and Romania, the opening 45 minutes produced by two of the tournament favourites provided a glorious contrast.
Italy created the first moments of danger, with Antonio di Natale's cross just failing to find Luca Toni as he closed in six yards out.
The giant Bayern Munich striker then headed Gennaro Gattuso's cross wide from a good position as all the early signs pointed to a fast, flowing and positive contest.
Van Nistelrooy posted the warning signals for Italy as early as the 17th minute when he collected Kuyt's pass and attempted to round keeper Gianluigi Buffon.
Buffon made contact with Van Nistelrooy but the striker - who had a reputation for going to ground too easily when he was with Manchester United - chose to stay on his feet and the chance was gone.

Van Nistelrooy had better luck when he gave the Dutch the lead in hugely questionable circumstances after 26 minutes, standing in what looked like an offside position when he steered Sneijder's shot past Buffon.
Italy were furious, but the chairman of Austria's refereeing commission Gerhard Kapl later insisted that Van Nistelrooy had been played onside by Italy defender Christian Panucci, who had been injured seconds earlier and was lying off the pitch.
And Italy's agony increased when the Netherlands doubled their advantage five minutes later via a wonderful flowing move that swept the length of the field.
Van Bronckhorst had just made a vital clearance, but was then ambitious and energetic enough to attack and send a long crossfield pass to find the head of Kuyt.
The Liverpool forward was back-pedalling, but was still able to steer the ball into the path of Sneijder, who turned a neat close-range finish beyond Buffon.
Van Nistelrooy had the opportunity to kill the game off three minutes before the interval when he was picked out by a magical pass from Real Madrid team-mate Sneijder, but Buffon made a crucial stop.

Italy had not played badly, and it was no surprise that they stepped the pace after the break in a bid to put the pressure back on the Netherlands.
Veteran Alessandro del Piero was introduced for Di Natale, and he forced Van der Sar into a smart save after 65 minutes.
He then had another clear chance when he was picked out by Pirlo, but this time he was wastefully off target.
Toni had not been at his best in front of goal, and he wasted another clear opportunity with 15 minutes left, lofting substitute Antonio Cassano's pass over Van der Sar but also over the bar.
Van der Sar then came to the Netherlands' rescue twice in the space of seconds in a passage of play that eventually led to his side's third goal after 78 minutes.
The Manchester United keeper blocked crucially from Grosso and then saved acrobatically from Pirlo's free-kick before Holland once again demonstrated their ruthlessness on the counter attack.
Pirlo was still wondering how Van der Sar had stopped his effort when Van Bronckhorst surged forward once more to set up Kuyt.
Kuyt saw his original effort saved by Buffon, but he tirelessly retrieved the ball and crossed for Van Bronckhorst to head home, despite the best efforts of Italy defender Gianluca Zabrotta.
Italy could barely believe they were three goals down, but it could have been worse as Dutch substitutes Ibrahim Afellay and Robin van Persie were just off target with spectacular efforts.
The Dutch were worthy winners of a magnificent game - and made it clear they have the quality to have a major impact on Euro 2008.

Borg tips Nadal to win Wimbledon

2008-06-09T23:11:00.000-07:00

Sports Related

Five-time Wimbledon champion Bjorn Borg has tipped Rafael Nadal to triumph over Roger Federer at this year's championships at the All England Club.
Nadal cruised to a straight sets win over Federer in Sunday's French Open final - his third straight victory over the world number one at Roland Garros.
And the Swede believes Nadal has the edge at this year's Wimbledon.
"If he survives the first couple of rounds this year, I pick him to win Wimbledon," he said.
The 22-year-old Spaniard's French Open win, which secured a fourth consecutive French Open triumph to move within two of Borg's tally, means Federer has won just one of their nine clay court meetings.
In contrast, Nadal has lost to Federer in each of the last two Wimbledon finals and the 26-year-old Swiss will be most people's favourite heading into the Championships that begin on 23 June, but his lack of form will be a concern.

As well as losing to Nadal in the French Open, Federer failed to shine at this year's Australian Open, losing his semi-final with the eventual champion Novak Djokovic in straight sets.
Clay court specialist Nadal pushed his rival all the way in last year's Wimbledon final, eventually losing in five sets, and Bjorg is sure the world number two will do all he can to go one better this time around.
"The way he played last year (at Wimbledon), it was an unbelievable final. He was very unfortunate not to win that particular match. He had chances," Borg said.
"And I'm sure after losing a match like that he wants to come back and try to win that championship."

Mobile phones expose human habits

2008-06-09T23:04:00.000-07:00

Technology Related

The whereabouts of more than 100,000 mobile phone users have been tracked in an attempt to build a comprehensive picture of human movements.
The study concludes that humans are creatures of habit, mostly visiting the same few spots time and time again.
Most people also move less than 10km on a regular basis, according to the study published in the journal Nature.
The results could be used to help prevent outbreaks of disease or forecast traffic, the scientists said.
"It would be wonderful if every [mobile] carrier could give universities access to their data because it's so rich," said Dr Marta Gonzalez of Northeastern University, Boston, US, and one of the authors of the paper.
Dr William Webb, head of research and development at the UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, agreed that mobile phone data was still underexploited.
"This is just the tip of the iceberg," he told BBC News.
Money search
Researchers have previously attempted to map human activity using GPS or surveys, but it is expensive.
One innovative approach tracked the movement of dollar bills in an attempt to reconstruct human movements.
The study used data from the website wheresgeorge.com, which allows anyone to track a dollar bill as it circulates through the economy. The site has so far tracked nearly 130 million notes.

Studies such as this suggested that humans wander in an apparently random fashion, similar to a so-called "Levy flight" pattern displayed by many foraging animals.
However, Dr Gonzalez and her team do not believe this approach gives a complete picture of people's movements.
"The bills pass from one person to another so they can't measure individual behaviour," she explained.
The new work tracked 100,000 individuals selected randomly from a sample of more than six million phone users in a European country.
Each time a participant made or received a call or text message, the location of the mobile base station relaying the data was recorded.
The researchers said they were "not at liberty" to disclose where the information had been collected and said steps had been taken to guarantee the participants' anonymity.
For example, individual phone numbers were disguised as 26 digit security codes.
"Furthermore, we only know the coordinates of the tower routing the communication, hence a user's location is not known within a tower's service area," they wrote.
Each tower serves an area of approximately 3 sq km.
Information was collected for six months. But, according to the researchers, a person's pattern of movement could be seen in just three.
Model behaviour
"The vast majority of people move around over a very short distance - around five to 10km," explained Professor Albert-Laszlo Barabasi, another member of the team.
"Then there were a few that moved a couple of hundred kilometres on a regular basis."
The results showed that most people's movements follow a precise mathematical relationship - known as a power law.

"That was the first surprise," he told BBC News.
The second surprise, he said, was that the patterns of people's movements, over short and long distances, were very similar: people tend to return to the same few places over and over again.
"Why is this good news?" he asked. "If I were to build a model of how everyone moves in society and they were not similar then it would require six billion different models - each person would require a different description."
Now, modellers had a basic rule book to follow, he said.
"This intrinsic similarity between individuals is very exciting and it has practical applications," said Professor Barabasi.
For example, Professor John Cleland of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Disease (LSHTM) said the study could be of use to people monitoring the spread of contagious diseases.
"Avian flu is the obvious one," he told BBC News. "When an outbreak of mammalian infectious airborne disease hits us, the movement of people is of critical concern."
Dr Gonzalez said that traffic planners had also expressed an interest in the study.
Sensor overload
Although the scale of the latest study is unprecedented, it is not the first time that mobile phone technology has been used to track people's movements.
Scientists at MIT have used mobile phones to help construct a real-time model of traffic in Rome, whilst Microsoft researchers working on Project Lachesis are examining the possibility of mining mobile data to help commuters pick the optimum route to work, for example.
Location data is increasingly used by forensic scientists to identify the movements of criminal suspects.
For example, the technique was used by Italian police to capture Hussain Osman, one of four men jailed for the failed suicide bombings in London on 21 July.
Commercial products also exist, allowing parents to track children or for friends to receive alerts when they are in a similar location.
These types of services and projects will continue to grow, Dr Webb believes, as researchers and businesses find new ways to use the mobile phone networks.
"There are so many sensors that you could conceivably attach to a phone that you could do all kinds of monitoring activities with," he said.
For example, Nokia have put forward an idea to attach sensors to phones that could report back on air quality. The project would allow a large location-specific database to be built very quickly.
Ofcom is also planning to use mobiles to collect data about the quality of wi-fi connections around the UK.
"I am sure there will be tens if not hundreds of these ideas emerging over the next few years," said Dr Webb.

Virgin territory for ISPs

2008-06-09T23:01:00.000-07:00

Technology Related

Bill Thompson believes Virgin Media has decided it likes record companies more than its customers.
The chances are that I'll be getting a letter from my internet service provider (ISP) in the next few weeks telling me that they've been watching my network activity closely and think I've been breaking the law.
Virgin Media, who used to be called NTL before they acquired Virgin Mobile and turned themselves into a "four-play" media company, has announced that it is working with record industry lobby group, the British Phonographic Industry, to write to customers whose network connection seems to have been used to download unlicensed content.
Like almost every technically-competent internet user of my acquaintance I've used BitTorrent to get my hands on a copy of a TV show that I missed, taking advantage of the kindness of strangers who bothered to record and upload the shows for fans because the companies that make and broadcast them choose not to.
However I also go out and buy the DVD box sets as soon as I can.
And I don't feel like a criminal, because I don't see why downloading a copy of a show that someone else has recorded should be seen as a breach of copyright while recording it myself onto a DVD is not.
According to the BPI's press release the letters are part of a "new education campaign to help Virgin Media's broadband customers safely download music from the internet and avoid the risk of legal action".

But from the outside it seems more like a softening up move to get Virgin customers used to the fact that they are being observed by their ISP. And I predict Virgin will be happy to help the BPI identify individual account holders so that they can be threatened with prosecution over their downloading activities later on.
The move follows a campaign by the BPI to persuade UK ISPs to adopt a "three strikes and you're out" approach to downloaders, where they would have their network connection terminated if they were found to be downloading unlicensed material after two warnings.
This hasn't happened, not least because the two sides can't agree who would pay the costs of monitoring or sending letters, or who would be liable for the inevitable lawsuits when innocent users decided that arbitrary disconnection without due process was likely to prove unpopular in the courts.
They should be careful who they sue. Researchers at the University of Washington recently announced that they had managed to fool US film industry body the MPAA into sending formal legal notices to three laser printers, claiming that they had been downloading copies of Iron Man and Indiana Jones.
Fake IP addresses
They had set up their network to fake the relevant internet addresses and the software used by the MPAA was unable to spot this.
Virgin will be on slightly firmer ground because it's their network, and although some users may claim that they have open wireless networks that could have been used by anyone the buck will stop with the account holder.
There continues to be concerted pressure from established content providers in film, television and music, hoping that aggressive enforcement of copyright law will ensure that their 20th Century business models survive against the onslaught of the network society.
I believe it's a doomed enterprise, as the growth of a fast internet coupled with the ability to make perfect copies of digital content means that all of the assumptions that underpin film studios, TV broadcasters and record companies have been stripped away, leaving them flailing around, threatening and suing the people who should be their best customers and hoping to persuade politicians to pass new laws to give them special privileges online.
As more licensed download services become available, many offering songs without usage restrictions enforced by digital rights management technologies, the wholesale copying of unlicensed copies becomes a lot less defensible.
But the habits that grew up when the music industry was simply unwilling to accept that downloading was the way forward - and the technologies that support those habits - will be hard to break.
Heavy downloaders
Evidence that heavy downloaders are also heavy music purchasers doesn't seem to have made any difference to the BPI's approach either, and instead of finding new business models they hold on to the old ways of working.
It gets more complicated because the larger ISPs in the UK, Virgin, Sky and BT, are also content providers with their own interests in shoring up the current copyright regime.
Virgin don't want programmes they have paid to distribute ending up on the internet for people like me to download, but by acting in concert with trade bodies they can appear socially responsible rather than simply serving their own broader interests.
The spaces within which we can live unobserved are constantly diminishing, as both public and private sector agencies link their databases together or co-operate to ensure that nothing we do goes unremarked.
We need a space for experimentation, where we can test the limits of old laws and explore how they might be altered in future, but once ISPs decide that they are no longer neutral carriers of bits and choose to ally themselves with the content industry then we lose another sliver of freedom.
At the moment it's hard to use BitTorrent anonymously, although since the service itself is entirely legal and legitimate there should be no need to do so.
The moves by Virgin and other ISPs will simply spur the development of new ways of sharing files, just as the clampdown on Napster lead directly to the development of the current generation of peer to peer networks.
Virgin has just given its thousands of users an incentive to explore these new tools in order to confuse their administrators. After all, we pay them to move my bits around, not to go running to the record company if they suspect us of downloading unlicensed music.
Bill Thompson is an independent journalist and regular commentator on the BBC World Service programme Digital Planet.

Supercomputer sets petaflop pace

2008-06-09T22:57:00.000-07:00

Technology Related

A supercomputer built with components designed for the Sony PlayStation 3 has set a new computing milestone.
The IBM machine, codenamed Roadrunner, has been shown to run at "petaflop speeds", the equivalent of one thousand trillion calculations per second.
The benchmark means the computer is twice as nimble as the current world's fastest machine, also built by IBM.
It will be installed at a US government laboratory later this year where it will monitor the US nuclear stockpile.
It will also be used for research into astronomy, genomics and climate change.
"We are getting closer to simulating the real world," Bijan Davari, vice president of next generation computing systems at IBM, told BBC News.
It would be of particular use for calculating risk in financial markets, he said.
"The latency of the calculations is so small that for all practical purposes it is real time."
Chip stacks
The current fastest supercomputer is IBM's Blue Gene/L, at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California.
It is used in the US Department of Energy's Stockpile Stewardship Program, which oversees the country's nuclear weapons.

It was recently upgraded and now runs at a speed of 478.2 teraflops (trillions of calculations per second), using 212,992 processors.
By comparison, Roadrunner will use fewer than 20,000 chips.
This is because the new computer is a so-called "hybrid" design, using both conventional supercomputer processors and the powerful "cell" chip designed for the PS3.
The eight-core chip runs at speeds greater than 4 GHz and was designed by a consortium of companies including IBM, Sony and Toshiba.
It has been modified for Roadrunner to allow it to handle a greater bandwidth of data and to carry out more specialist calculations.
Roadrunner packs more than 12,000 of the processors - known as "accelerators" - on top of nearly 7,000 standard processors.
The standard processors are used to handle the general computation needed to keep the machine running, whilst the cells are left to crunch vast swathes of unstructured data.
"For these kinds of simulations of very complex natural phenomena the cell chip is extremely powerful," said Dr Davari.
"It is a lot more effective than combing many, many, many more smaller, general purpose computational engines."
The machine was the first to pass through the petaflop barrier, said Dr Davari.
"The exciting part for me as a technical person is that we can now see the recipe for high performance computing for the next 10 to 15 years," he said.
It will now be disassembled and moved to New Mexico where it will be housed in 288 refrigerator-sized cases connected by 57 miles (92km) of fibre optic cable.
Although Roadrunner will run at extraordinary speeds, other computers could soon challenge its record.
IBM currently has another petaflop machine in the pipeline based on its Blue Gene/P technology.
When finished, it will be the world's fastest commercial supercomputer.
"Blue Gene/P continues the path of Blue/Gene L," said Dr Davari.
The machines share much of the same software and hardware.
Blue Gene/P will be installed at the Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois later this year.
Both Sun and Cray supercomputers have also unveiled plans for petaflop machines in the near future.

Collection: from source

Apple announces cheaper 3G iPhone

2008-06-09T22:55:00.000-07:00

Technology Related

Apple has unveiled a second generation of its iPhone, with support for faster 3G wireless networks.
The company is hoping to boost its share of the smartphone market, which is dominated by Nokia and Blackberry.
The new devices were launched by Apple boss Steve Jobs who said the phone would be "more affordable" for consumers, starting at $199 (£100).
The new iPhone also comes with GPS satellite navigation built in for location-based services.
The iPhone was first launched last year and was criticised for its support for slower 2G networks only.
Mr Jobs said the 3G iPhone was "three times faster" downloading content over a mobile network compared to the original device.
Analyst John Delaney, research director for consumer mobile at IDC, said the iPhone 3G was disappointing.

"To me it's more about what they didn't say, than what they did. Everyone knew it would be 3G and have GPS."
Apple has a 20% share of the US smart phone market, but only 5% worldwide.
Rival manufacturers
Rival handset manufacturers have also been designing devices which assume the iPhone's mantle as the "most desirable phone on the market", including Nokia's N96 and the Blackberry Thunder.
Google's Android platform will also hit mobile phones later this year, adding yet more competition to the high-end consumer smartphone market.
Apple has sold more than six million iPhones since the device debuted in the US in June last year and the firm says it is on course to sell 10m iPhones by the end of 2008.
Mr Jobs said the cost of the original iPhone was the "number one reason" that people had not bought one of the devices.
Mr Jobs said "The iPhone started at $599. It now sells at $399; We want to make it even more affordable."
The cheapest 8GB iPhone 3G will sell for $199, while a second model with 16GB of storage will sell for $299.
Mr Jobs pledged that the $199 price would be the same across many countries.

The new iPhones will be launched on 11 July in 22 countries, including the UK.
Reaction to the new 3G iPhone from developers and media at the conference in San Francisco was broadly positive, said BBC technology reporter Maggie Shiels.
Henry Kannapek told BBC News that the $199 price tag would be hard to resist when the phone hit the shops.
"It's tremendous. It's an incredible price. It's the best mobile device I have ever seen. I've got some cheap cell phones and I want to buy one of these."
Developer Chris Cooksey of Wimba said Apple would score big with such a low price point.
"It's a great price. They have made huge improvements to the phone and the fact that you can do 3rd party applications rules."
Mobile developer Robert F. Farnum, of Boingo .com, told BBC News he was all set to splash out on the new device for his family.
'Pretty excited'
"I've got six people in my family that need to get one so I just sent them all e-mails saying they have to buy it. The price just blew me away and the software is amazing. It is the best phone on the market."
Michael Arrington, of the influential blog TechCrunch, said: "I was pretty excited by what I saw but I was hoping for a thinner model and a front-facing camera. But I think with the 3G speed and the price point it looks like a winner."
Analyst John Delaney said: "The fact it's cheaper is interesting. But how is it going to be cheaper?
"If Apple is doing it by cutting the retail price, it will drastically hit their margins; if they sell volume.
"If the lower price is through operator subsidy, they are becoming a bit more humble. But that's not clear at this stage.
"Either way, they are going for volume. But they have got a big mountain to climb outside of the US."

Pregnancy timeline

2008-06-09T22:45:00.000-07:00

Health Related

Weeks 1-4
Fertilisation occurs and a ball of quickly multiplying cells embeds itself in the lining of the uterus.In the UK pregnancy is calculated from the first day of the woman's last period so for as much as three weeks of this first month she might not be actually pregnant. When fertilisation does occur the tiny mass of cells called a blastocyst at this stage embeds itself in the lining of the womb which is already thickening to support it.

Week 5
The mass of cells is developing fast and becomes an embryo. For many women the first sign of pregnancy is a missed period.Shopbought tests are considered largely reliable so the mother-to-be does not have to have her pregnancy confirmed by her GP. If a first test is negative a second one a few days later may prove positive as hormone levels in the urine rise.

Week 6
The embryo officially becomes a foetus. It is about the size of a baked bean and its spine and nervous system begin to form.The foetus already has its own blood system and may be a different blood group from its mother. Blood vessels are forming in what will become the umbilical cord and tiny buds which will become limbs appear.

Week 7
The baby´s heart is beginning to develop. Morning sickness and other side effects of early pregnancy may take hold.Around this time many women find they experience the side-effects of early pregnancy including needing to urinate more often nausea and vomiting and feeling a bit weepy and irritable. All medication including supplements need to be carefully checked as the foetus is undergoing vital development in the first 12 weeks. If the woman has not told her GP or community midwife she is pregnant yet now is a good time to do so.

Week 8
It is quite common to have a first scan at this stage if the woman has had a previous miscarriage or bleeding.An early scan is often done through the vagina and is used to check the pregnancy is not ectopic. It should show up the baby´s heartbeat. The nervous system is also developing rapidly especially the brain. The head gets bigger and eyes form under the skin of the face. The foetus' limbs are growing and look more like arms and legs. All internal organs are developing and becoming more complex.
Week 9
Women who may be at higher risk of passing on sickle cell anaemia and thalassaemia should be offered a blood test before 10 weeks.These conditions are rare but serious inherited blood disorders. They are more common in people of certain ethnic backgrounds including African, Caribbean and some Asian and Mediterranean communities. If the mother is found to carry the gene for either condition, the father is offered a test. If both parents are found to be carriers then they are offered the option of testing the foetus in the womb.
Week 10
A scan at 10-13 weeks is recommended to pin down the date of the pregnancy.
Week 11
The umbilical cord is fully formed providing nourishment and removing waste products. The foetus looks fully human now.
Week 12
By this week the threat of miscarriage is much reduced. Many women announce their pregnancy to friends and colleagues.The foetus is growing in length much more quickly by now it is about eight cm long and weighs about 60 grams. The placenta is now wellformed though it's not yet doing its full job it takes over fully in week 14. The mother is likely to have her first scan this week.
Week 13
The womans uterus is becoming larger and is starting to rise out of the pelvis. The foetus can move its head quite easily.
Week 14
Third of the way through. The average pregnancy lasts 266 days or 280 days from the first day of last period.
Week 15
Screening for Downs syndrome is offered about now. A simple blood test is carried out first then further tests may be offered. On the basis of the blood test results the woman may opt for a Chorionic Villus sample or an amniocentesis which would diagnose Down's syndrome or other chromosomal abnormalities. However these diagnostic tests have a small risk of subsequent miscarriage. An alternative to blood tests is a nuchal translucency scan a new scan offered by some larger hospitals. But again an amniocentisis would be required for firm diagnosis.
Week 16
The foetus now has toe and finger nails eyebrows and eyelashes. It is also covered with downy hair.The hair that will cover the baby until the last week or so of pregnancy - called lanugo - starts to form. This hair is very fine more like down and it probably serves as some form of insulation and protection for the skin.
Week 17
The foetus can hear noises from the outside world. By this stage the mother is visibly pregnant and the uterus is rising.
Week 18
By this stage the foetus is moving around a lot - probably enough to be felt.
Week 19
The foetus is now about 15-20cm long and weighs about 300g. Milk teeth have formed in the gums.
week 20
Half way through pregnancy now. Almost all mothers are offered a routine scan. The foetus develops a waxy coating called vernix.The scan can show the foetus in fine detail and often reveal if the baby is a boy or a girl. However not all hospitals offer to tell parents the sex of the child - and not all parents want to know.
Week 21
The mother may feel short of breath as her uterus pushes against her diaphragm leaving less space for the lungs.The mother may be offered another ultrasound scan around this time. The scan can check the baby´s spine internal organs and growth are normal.
Week 22
Senses develop: taste buds have started to form on the tongue and the foetus starts to feel touch.
Week 23
The skeleton continues to develop and bones that form the skull begin to harden - but not fully.
Week 24
Antenatal checkup and scan to check the baby´s position. A baby born this early does sometimes survive. A baby born at 24 weeks may possibly survive but it would have severe breathing difficulties as its lungs would not be strong enough to cope. It would also be very thin lightweight and susceptible to infections.
week 25
All organs are now in place and the rest of the pregnancy is for growth. Preeclampsia is a risk from here onwards.This potentially fatal condition causes high blood pressure protein in the urine and swelling caused by fluid retention. The causes are unclear but research suggests it may be linked to an immune reaction to the foetus or the placenta. If the condition is serious women may be advised to take drugs to lower their blood pressure and in some cases an early caesarean or induction may be performed. Serious complications of pregnancy
Week 26
The foetus skin is gradually becoming more opaque than transparent.
Week 27
The foetus measures about 34cm and weighs about 800g.
Week 28
Routine checkup to test for preeclampsia. Women with Rhesus negative blood will also be tested for antibodies.If the mother has Rh negative blood but the baby is Rh positive she can develop antibodies to her baby´s blood during labour. This is not a problem in the first birth but can affect subsequent pregnancies and result in stillbirth. Fortunately treatment is simple and effective. BBC Health: Ask the doctor - Rhesus disease
Week 29
Some women develop restless leg syndrome in their third trimester.This is sensations such as crawling tingling or even cramps and burning inside the foot or leg - often in the evening and at night disturbing sleep and making the mother feel she needs to get up and walk around. No-one knows what causes this harmless but irritating condition.
Week 30
Braxton Hicks contractions may begin around now. They are practice contractions which dont usually hurt. These are irregular, painless contractions which feel like a squeezing sensation near the top of the uterus. If contractions become painful or occur four times an hour or more, the woman should call a doctor as she may be in early labour.
Week 31
The foetus can see now and tell light from dark. The mother´s breasts start to produce colostrum about nowThis high calorie milk is produced by the mother to feed the baby for the first few days after birth before normal milk starts.
Week 32
Another antenatal appointment. The foetus is about 42cm and weighs 2.2kg. A baby born now has a good chance of survival.
Week 33
From now the baby should become settled in a head downwards position. A midwife can help to move it if necessary.
Week 34
The mother may find it more difficult to eat full meals as the expanded uterus presses on her stomach.
Week 35
If the mother has been told she may need a planned caesarean, now is a good time to discuss it further.
Week 36
The baby´s head may engage in the pelvis any time now.
Week 37
The baby´s lungs are practically mature now and it can survive unaided. The final weeks in the womb are to put on weight.
Week 38
Babies born from this week onward are not considered early.
Week 39
Another ante-natal appointment. The mother has reached her full size and weight by now.
Week 40
In theory the baby should be born this week. The mother´s cervix prepares for the birth by softening.
Week 41
First babies are often up to a week late but if there are signs of distress to mother or child the birth will be induced.

Source : from collection

High times for medicinal marijuana

2008-06-09T22:39:00.000-07:00

Health Related

In California, marijuana is supposed to be prescribed only to people suffering from life-threatening conditions but David Willis finds the reality is quite different.

A Google search revealed plenty of options.
I had typed in medicinal marijuana + Los Angeles and within seconds there was practically smoke coming out of the back of my computer.
Among the seemingly endless stream of entries was the 420 Evaluation Center (420 is a local nickname for marijuana).
It's a "medicinal clinic" where "qualified patients" could obtain a doctor's recommendation allowing them the legal use of marijuana. They offered a $25 discount for new patients. I called and made an appointment for the next day.
The 420 Evaluation Center was in a stucco-fronted brick building opposite a roast beef sandwich shop in a sweaty suburb of Los Angeles known as the San Fernando Valley.
Panic attacks
One of the walls was taken up with a Salvador Dali poster showing swans merged with elephants: perfect for those who needed a hallucinogenic fix before they got their prescription.
A man behind the counter took my money ($100 for a consultation) and handed me a questionnaire. One section dealt with my medical condition.
According to the rules you have to be virtually at death's door, suffering from cancer, Aids or multiple sclerosis or in chronic pain in order to qualify. The best I could come up with was anxiety. I am the anxious type after all.

Soon, the doctor appeared - a softly-spoken Vietnamese man who introduced himself as Dr Do.
He wore a white lab coat and scrubs and led me into a spartan room where he proceeded to take my pulse and blood pressure before asking precisely how long I had been anxious.
"Several years," I told him.
"Do you suffer panic attacks?" "Not really."
Dr Do wrote panic attacks in his notebook. We spent a few minutes shooting the breeze about Asian cuisine and he signed a prescription for medicinal marijuana, valid for a year.
And that was it. Done and dusted in less than 10 minutes.
Aladdin's Cave
My friend Will was waiting for me when I got outside.
A concert oboist who once performed with Pavarotti, he had developed a deep affection for the herb during his time on the road, yet managed to conceal it from his fellow musicians even after once losing concentration in the middle of the Messiah and playing all the notes in the wrong order.
There was another episode - during a performance of Stravinsky - in which he became convinced he was Petrushka but that incident he blames on rogue hash brownies.
"You see, I told you," Will beamed. "This place is like Amsterdam."
Will was keen to show me where he goes to buy his cannabis. It was a short drive from Dr Do's and recently voted dispensary of the year by one of the pot smokers' magazines (the most famous of which is, incidentally, called High Times).

It was a nondescript building next to a Thai restaurant which contained cosy couches and a big picture of the Mona Lisa on the wall with that inscrutable grin and a fat joint in her right hand. Who said pot smokers do not have a sense of humour?
Will and I were buzzed through a metal gate by an attendant, who himself looked slightly buzzed, and ushered into a small room which could pass as an Aladdin's Cave of narcotics.
Beneath a glass-topped counter were dozens of different varieties of weed laid out in plastic pots, and alongside them an arsenal of drug-taking paraphernalia including pipes and infusion implements, all in iridescent colours.
The different varieties of dope were listed on a white board. They bore exotic names such as Maui Mist, Blue Dream and my personal favourite, Super Train Wreck.
Vending machines
My prescription did not place a limit on the amount of marijuana I could buy a day and I asked the man with the trippy smile behind the counter what he recommended for anxiety. He pointed me in the direction of one called Purple Kush.
"How much should I take?" The naivety of the question seemed to catch my moon-faced pot sommelier off guard. "I guess start with two or three puffs and see how you go..."

The benefits of medicinal marijuana to the seriously ill have been widely chronicled. People with conditions such as cancer, arthritis and Aids say the drug helps make their symptoms bearable.
With more than 200 dispensaries now operating legitimately, the street dealers are all but obsolete and the state is happy because it collects the taxes.
Yet with some dispensaries installing vending machines in order to deal with out-of-hours customers you have to wonder if the situation is in danger of becoming a farce.
Getting on for 250,000 Californians are said to carry prescriptions for medicinal marijuana, and who knows how many of them - like me - suffer from little more than the occasional bout of self-doubt.
I did not buy any weed and I am thinking that one day I will frame my prescription and put it on the wall. In the meantime - to paraphrase Bill Clinton - if I smoke, I certainly won't inhale.

Oily fish 'cuts eye disease risk'

2008-06-09T22:36:00.000-07:00

Health Related

Eating food rich in omega-3, such as oily fish, could help some people avoid one of the most common causes of vision loss, a research review suggests.
The Annals of Ophthalmology review suggests omega-3 may cut the risk of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) by a third.
However, the Australian researchers stop short of encouraging everyone to eat more omega-3 for this reason alone.
An estimated 500,000 people in the UK suffer from AMD in some form.

It is a progressive and irreversible condition caused by thinning and bleeding around the macula - the central portion of the retina.
People with AMD, mostly over the age of 60, lose the ability to see fine detail, and, in severe cases, can choose to become registered blind, even though they still have some peripheral vision left.
Studies have already linked omega-3 fatty acids with a variety of health benefits, the most significant being suggestions that it can help people with heart disease.
The University of Melbourne study added up the results of nine previous studies on omega-3 and AMD, a total of 88,974 participants, including more than 3,000 with AMD.
Doing this gives the results more statistical strength - making it more likely than in the original nine studies that the findings are simply due to chance or some other confounding factor.
Eating fish twice a week was linked to a reduced risk of AMD, and a 38% reduction in risk was found when those eating the most omega-3 were compared with those eating the least.
'Raise awareness'
Dr Elaine Chong, who led the research, said that omega-3 fatty acids were a vital component of the retina, and it was possible that a shortage of the chemical could "initiate" the disease as retinal cells were constantly shed and renewed.
However, she was cautious about recommending a change in diet, as little of the research analysed was set up to provide solid evidence.
"Although this meta-analysis suggests that consumption of fish and foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids may be associated with a lower risk of AMD, there is insufficient evidence from the current literature, with few prospective studies and no randomised clinical trials, to support their routine consumption for AMD prevention."
A spokesman for the vision charity RNIB said that, given the high cost of treatment for one type of AMD, and the lack of treatment for the other, prevention was a "major public health concern".
"The analysis of the existing evidence confirms that smoking is the only proven avoidable risk factor for AMD.
"We would welcome randomised controlled trials on the role that omega-3 fatty acids and fish consumption may be able to play in preventing AMD.
"In the interim we would encourage the government to do more to raise awareness of the link between smoking and blindness."

Smoking link to hearing loss risk

2008-06-09T22:27:00.000-07:00

Health Related

Smoking and obesity could both cause permanent hearing damage, say scientists.
Either could threaten blood flow to the ear, they say, with damage levels clearly linked to the level of obesity or the length of a smoking habit.
However, the Antwerp University-led study found that high levels of work noise remained the biggest risk.
In a separate study, smoking in middle age was linked to worse memory, which could hasten the arrival of dementia.

A link between smoking and hearing problems has been suggested by others, but the conclusions of the latest research, involving more than 4,000 men and women aged between 53 and 67, offer the most convincing evidence to date.
All the study participants were given a hearing test, then asked about their lifestyle and where they worked.
Dr Erik Fransen, of the University of Antwerp in Belgium, one of the lead researchers, said that the ability to pick out high frequency sounds was damaged in smokers and the obese, although to not as great an extent as those exposed to very loud noise in the workplace.
He said: "The hearing loss is proportional to how much you smoke and your body mass index (BMI).
"It starts getting worse once you have smoked regularly for more than one year."
He said that, unlike some parts of the body, once damage had occurred, there was no prospect of recovery.
"Once the damage is done, it's done. It does not repair."
Blood flow
The theory behind the hearing damage is similar to the reason smoking and obesity can harm other organs.
Both can disrupt the flow of blood around the body, and Dr Fransen suggested that the resulting lack of oxygen, coupled with the failure to remove toxic waste from the ear, can be damaging.
Amanda Sandford, from the pressure group Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), said that the results, published in the Journal of the Association for Research into Otolaryngology, should serve as a warning particularly to younger smokers.
She said: "There are so many young people who think that they can give up in middle age and escape some of the other diseases associated with smoking.
"In this case, some of the damage may already have been done."
The study was part-funded by the Royal National Institute for the Deaf (RNID), and Dr Mark Downs, from the charity, said that, with an ageing population, age-related hearing loss could be a major problem.
"Losing your hearing in later life can make it harder to maintain contact with friends and families and lead to isolation and depression, so making small concessions now could have an enormous effect in the long term."
A separate research project involved more than 5,000 civil servants, who completed memory and reasoning tests and then repeated them five years later.
It found that smoking in middle age was linked to a decline in memory and verbal reasoning ability.
Memory problems at this age have been linked to a swifter onset of the symptoms of dementia.
This study was conducted jointly between the University of Paris and University College London.

US and EU 'to issue Iran warning'

2008-06-09T22:18:00.000-07:00

US President George W Bush is to hold talks with European Union leaders later on Tuesday as they meet in Slovenia for their twice-yearly summit.
The BBC's Oana Lungescu in Ljubljana says they are expected to issue a joint warning to Tehran that more sanctions against Iran's banks are being readied.
They are pressuring Iran to abandon its nuclear programme, rejecting claims it is solely for peaceful purposes.
Mr Bush's trip is expected to be his last Europe tour while in office.
Mr Bush's week-long trip also takes him to Germany, Italy, France, the Vatican and the UK.
The summit will also focus on Zimbabwe, calling for an end to state-sponsored violence and urging the UN secretary general to immediately send a team to monitor human rights, our correspondent says.
'Carrot and stick' policy
There will be a tough joint message to Tehran about further sanctions against Iranian banks linked to nuclear proliferation and terrorism, our correspondent says.

Mr Bush is also expected to apply pressure on individual European businesses to take a harder line.
Barclays Bank, based in Britain, has already responded to US pressure, and ended all dealings with Iran's Saderat Bank and Bank Melli.
The warning of sanctions is a stick that Washington is keen to wield, but it is ready to give the carrot one more try, our correspondent says.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana will go to Iran at the weekend with an upgraded offer of economic and political incentives.
The UN Security Council has approved three rounds of sanctions against Iran.
These include asset restrictions and travel bans on Iranian individuals and companies said to be involved in nuclear work.
The sanctions also ban the sale to Iran of so-called dual-use items - items which can have either a military or civilian purpose.
'No illusions'
As EU leaders prepare to bid goodbye to Mr Bush in Slovenia, they want to focus on what unites Europe and America, our correspondent says.
But on some key challenges like global warming, no-one is expecting a breakthrough, she says.
The US envoy to the EU has warned Europeans not to have any illusions that Washington's position will change "magically" with a new president.
Ahead of the summit, Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel made reference to the possible tensions, telling reporters: "As in all relationships, the EU and US sometimes have different views."

Bank lending rate faces scrutiny

2008-06-09T22:16:00.000-07:00

The interest rate at which banks lend money to each other faces greater scrutiny, according to the British Bankers' Association (BBA).
The BBA is due to announce a range of changes to the governance of the rate known as the London Interbank Offered Rate or Libor at its annual conference.
The rate is crucial because it reflects how banks perceive borrowing risks, the association explained.
The changes will "strengthen" Libor and the confidence of its users, it said.
The BBA is planning on a number of changes including "tighter scrutiny of the rates contributed by banks into the setting mechanism, so that any discrepancies in the rates must be justified by individual contributing banks."
Another change is to expand the membership of the independent body which overseas the process.
While central banks set official rates, Libor is seen to show the real rate of interest being used by the largest global firms to borrow from one another.

Brown in tribute to Afghan dead

2008-06-09T22:09:00.000-07:00

The prime minister has paid tribute to the courage of British troops in Afghanistan, as the number to have died there since 2001 reached 100.
Gordon Brown said: "They have paid the ultimate price, but they have achieved something of lasting value."
His comments came after three soldiers on foot patrol were killed in a suicide attack in Helmand on Sunday.
The men, who have not yet been named by defence officials, were from 2nd Battalion the Parachute Regiment.
Mr Brown added in a statement on the 100 deaths: "The risks they bear and the sacrifices they make should be in our thoughts, not just today but every day."
They were helping turn a "lawless region sheltering terrorists into an emerging democracy", he said.

Defence Secretary Des Browne acknowledged that nothing could compensate for any individual loss, but said he remained convinced the campaign was "the noble cause of the 21st Century".
"We are making significant progress in Afghanistan. It's slow, sometimes it's frustratingly slow," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
"The reason we are making that progress is because those very brave and professional young men and women have gone about their job in such a way that they have created, in the most difficult of circumstances, a degree of security that many people a couple of years ago thought was impossible."
Brig Mark Carleton-Smith, commander of British forces in Helmand Province, said Sunday's foot patrol had been returning to base through some villages when it was attacked by a single suicide bomber.
One other soldier was injured and was expected to make a good recovery, the Ministry of Defence said.
FROM THE TODAY PROGRAMME

Brig Carleton-Smith said by resorting to suicide tactics, the Taleban were demonstrating that they no longer enjoyed support amongst ordinary Afghans.
Major Aidan Coogan, from the Parachute Regiment, said the deaths would be a "blow" to the dead men's colleagues but "would not affect their mission or their morale".
"Indeed, it will make them more determined to continue with the good progress that has been made in Afghanistan," he said.
The Chief of the Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, said he reflected on the most recent deaths with "both a sense of deep sadness and pride" as the military effort was starting to achieve real change.

Mr Browne told Today that he broadly agreed with the assessment of the director of the Royal United Services Institute Professor Michael Clarke about the current situation in the country.
The professor told the programme the military had done the best they could do under the circumstances, which was to establish a "stalemate" with the Taleban.
He added: "The soldiers are paying with their lives and their wounds to buy time for the political and the developmental process to take place. The problem is it hasn't taken place nearly fast enough."
Prof Clarke added the point at which Nato troops could "declare victory and leave" would be when they could genuinely say that whatever happened next was in the hands of the Afghan people .

"That point is probably quite some years away," he added.
Mr Browne said the insurgency could not be won by military means alone, and that governance, economic development and a "battle for the people" were equally important.
Conservative party leader David Cameron said the country owed "so much" to the servicemen and women fighting in Afghanistan, with the death toll serving as a "tragic reminder of how brave and courageous they are".
Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said that the cause for which the soldiers died was "a just one."
He added: "The consequences of failure in Afghanistan would be unimaginable - a boost to terrorists who seek to harm our way of life, an increase in hard drugs on our streets and terrible instability in an already unstable region."
Of the those killed in the country since 2001, 74 have died as a result of hostile action.
The remaining deaths were caused by illness, accidents and non-combat injuries, or else their causes have yet to be formally classified.

Iraq troops decision 'this year'

2008-06-09T22:00:00.000-07:00

The final withdrawal of British troops from Iraq could be announced by the end of the year, the BBC has learned.
Discussions have begun about forces pulling out of the country - if the security situation continues to improve as it has in recent months.
Ministers are under pressure from the military to release the 4,000 troops who are currently serving in Iraq while pressures are mounting in Afghanistan.
Previous plans to reduce troop numbers to 2,500 were put on hold in March.
This followed a bout of violence dubbed the "battle of Basra".
'Transformed city'
At the peak of UK military activity in Iraq, in 2003, there were 26,000 soldiers posted in the country.
The UK handed over security responsibility in Basra province to the Iraqis in December last year.

On a recent visit to Basra, Defence Secretary Des Browne was able to walk the streets of what he described as a "transformed city".
BBC political editor Nick Robinson said he understood that the government's next announcement on troop numbers would be made in July. This is unlikely to be the moment when full withdrawal will be announced.
Any withdrawal of troops could take many months after a political announcement is made.
The discussions are said to have included Whitehall advisers.
The Ministry of Defence insisted "no decisions" had been taken about withdrawing troops from Iraq and said the suggestion that a final announcement could be made by the end of the year was "speculation".

Some Wedding Picture

2008-06-09T04:52:00.001-07:00

My Heart Will Go On - Lyrics

2008-06-09T01:23:00.000-07:00

Artist - Celine Dion

My Heart Will Go On lyricsEvery night in my dreamsI see you, I feel you,That is how I know you go onFar across the distanceAnd spaces between usYou have come to show you go onNear, far, wherever you areI believe that the heart does go onOnce more you open the doorAnd you're here in my heartAnd my heart will go on and onLove can touch us one timeAnd last for a lifetimeAnd never let go till we're oneLove was when I loved youOne true time I hold toIn my life we'll always go onNear, far, wherever you areI believe that the heart does go onOnce more you open the doorAnd you're here in my heartAnd my heart will go on and onThere is some love that will not go awayYou're here, there's nothing I fear,And I know that my heart will go onWe'll stay forever this wayYou are safe in my heartAnd my heart will go on and on

Deadline for school 'rescue plan'

2008-06-09T00:01:00.000-07:00

About Education

The poorest-performing secondary schools could be closed or turned into academies if they do not present a viable rescue plan in the next 50 days.
The government is targeting 638 schools in England currently failing to reach minimum standards for GCSEs.
The target is for 30% of pupils to get at least five grade C GCSEs, including maths and English.
Children's Secretary Ed Balls said he wants an action plan for each low-performing school by July.
Some 134 out of the 150 local authorities in England have been told to produce the detailed plans for specific schools located in their areas by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF).
Authorities will be offered extra resources but schools will face "formal intervention" if they do not progress.

Under the government's "National Challenge" programme, all schools must reach the 30% target by 2011.
As part of the DCSF's attempt to improve standards the schools will get an expert individual adviser, and more "superheads" with past experience of turning schools around will be named as National Leaders of Education to work alongside existing heads.
Schools in the most deprived local authorities will also receive £10,000 in extra funding to pay for trips to cultural events and the recruiting of people from local communities to act as mentors.
Ed Balls said: "Each of these schools faces different challenges in getting up to and over 30%.
"That is why I am asking local authorities for a specific plan of action for each National Challenge school by the end of July, so that we can be confident that all of them will succeed.
"Every National Challenge school will get its own package of extra support and extra funding to help them improve pupils' results.
"But I will not hesitate to challenge local authorities to do more for their local schools where bigger changes or faster improvements are needed."
New academies
The creation of independent academies is one of the central ideas of the government's drive to improve struggling schools, particularly in challenging inner city areas.
Ministers plan to have 200 academies open or in the pipeline by 2010, seeing them as a key way of improving schools. They aim ultimately

to open 400 in England.
A high proportion of [these schools] work in the most challenging communities in the country
John DunfordAssociation of School and College Leaders
The Conservatives have said they would expand the number of academies in England in an attempt to tackle under achievement in deprived areas.
Michael Gove, the shadow children, schools and families secretary, said: "It is not just 600 schools at the bottom which give cause for concern.
Responding to Mr Balls' comments, he said: "There are hundreds more where fewer than half the children get five good GCSEs and as a nation we are falling behind.
"The government has no answer other then more bureaucracy and targets and they have no plans either to restore rigour to exams or freedom to professionals."
John Dunford, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said it was "entirely wrong" for the 638 schools highlighted to be described as failing, as many were on "a rising tide of achievement".
He said: "A high proportion of them work in the most challenging communities in the country and, even though they have not reached 30% with five high-grade GCSE passes, many already add enormous value to children's achievement."
Mr Dunford said he welcomed the idea of one school helping another, but said more work would be needed to ensure the support given was effective.

Source: From Collection

IBM aims to cool chips with water

2008-06-08T23:55:00.000-07:00

A network of tiny pipes of water could be used to cool next-generation PC chips, researchers at IBM have said.
Scientists at the firm have shown off a prototype device layered with thousands of "hair-width" cooling arteries.
They believe it could be a solution to the increasing amount of heat pumped out by chips as they become smaller and more densely packed with components.
The technology was demonstrated in IBM's 3D chips, where circuits are stacked one on top of the other.
Laying chips vertically, instead of side by side, reduces the distance data has to travel , enhancing performance and saving critical space.
"As we package chips on top of each other....we have found that conventional coolers attached to the back of a chip don't scale," explained Thomas Brunschwiler at IBM's Zurich Research Laboratory.
"In order to exploit the potential of high-performance 3D chip stacking, we need interlayer cooling."
Cool running
Heat is seen as one of the major hurdles of producing ever smaller and quicker chips.

It took IBM a decade to work out how to build 3D chips
It is the by-product of the movement of electrons through the tiny wires connecting the millions of components on a modern processor.
As more and more components are packed on to chips - Intel recently launched a processor with two billion transistors, for example - the problems become worse.
As a result, researchers around the world are engaged in a search for the most efficient way to take the heat off the chip industry.
For example, in 2007, US researchers built tiny wind engines that created a "breeze" made up of charged particles, or ions, to cool computer chips.
But the problems are exacerbated in the multi-storey chips which IBM, as well as others, believe offer "one of the most promising approaches" for building future processors.
Each 4 sq cm sandwich is just 1mm thick but pumps out close to 1kilowatt - 10 times that generated by a hotplate.
Conventional cooling techniques such as fans and heat sinks do not work as well with the 3D technology, particularly as heat has to be drawn away from between the individual chips.
To get around this, researchers piped water through sealed tubes just 50 microns (millionths of a metre) in diameter, between individual layers.
Water is much more efficient than air at absorbing heat and so even with tiny amounts of liquid flowing through the system the researchers saw a significant effect.
The idea of pumping liquids around computers is not entirely new. Early mainframe computers had water pumped around them.
High end computers have been "modded" for a number of years with water coolers and various researchers and companies have put forward proposals for directly cooling chips with fluids.
In 2003, Stanford University spin-out company Cooligy showed off its Active Micro-Channel Cooling (AMC) technology which allowed fluids to circulate through hundreds of tiny channels on the upper surface of a chip.
The technology was used in some versions of Apple's Power Mac G5 desktop computer, released in 2004.
IBM has said its water-cooling technology could be in products within five years.

Collection:From Source

IBM aims to cool chips with water

2008-06-08T23:32:00.000-07:00

LS Lowry paintings sell for £1.2m

2008-06-08T23:26:00.000-07:00

Art News

A sale of some "superb" works by LS Lowry raised more than £1.2m at auction house Christie's.
A Cricket Match, which had not been seen in public for more than a decade, sold for £769,250 at the auction which was part of a sale of 20th Century art.
Seascape, which was also fresh to the market, sold for £313,250.
The painting Manchester City vs Sheffield United, from 1938, was estimated to fetch up to £1m but was sold after the sale.
An Old Church, from 1943, was estimated to reach up to £1 million, but there was no buyer.
Other works by the Salford painter, who died in 1976, also went under the hammer.
They included Teenagers, estimated at up to £35,000, which sold for £99,650.
Father and Son, estimated at up to £50,000 went for £82,250.
A Christie's spokeswoman said the total amount of money raised from the 20th Century art sale, including work by other artists, was £11,592,163.

About Flower

2008-06-08T22:50:00.000-07:00

flower name for the specialized part of a plant containing the reproductive organs, applied to angiosperms only. A flower may be thought of as a modified, short, compact branch bearing lateral appendages. Like twigs, flowers develop from buds, and the basic floral parts (sepal, petal, stamen, and carpel) are in actual fact greatly modified leaves. A typical flower is a concentric arrangement of these parts attached at their base to the receptacle, the tip of the stem. Outermost is a whorl of leaflike green sepals (the calyx) encircling a whorl of usually showy, colored petals (the corolla). Within the corolla the stamens, bearing anther sacs full of pollen , surround the central carpels (ovary). Inside the ovary at the base of the pistil are the ovules, containing the female sex cells; after fertilization of the egg, the ovule becomes the seed and the ovary becomes the fruit . The ovary and stamens are termed essential flower parts, the petals and sepals accessory parts. The number and arrangement of the floral organs vary considerably among the many families and orders of plants and are used in the classification of plants; they also indicate the degree of evolution of the plant. In general, the higher a plant is on the evolutionary scale, the greater is the flower's complexity. The basic number of parts differs from class to class and from family to family; in monocotyledonous plants the parts generally occur in groups of three or in multiples of three, and in dicotyledons more often in groups of two, four, and five. Flowers may be staminate (lack carpels), carpellate, or both; staminate and carpellate flowers may appear on the same plant, on separate plants, or in the same inflorescence. One type of inflorescence, characteristic of the parsley family, is the umbel, in which the tiny florets are borne on separate stalks radiating out from the stem tip. Sometimes the parts serve unusual purposes: the true flowers of the dogwood and the poinsettia are inconspicuous, and the showy "petals" are really modified leaves called bracts. In the jack-in-the-pulpit the florets are clustered on a spike canopied by a large bract, the spathe; the hood of the lady's-slipper, on the other hand, is a modified sterile stamen. Grass inflorescences are tiny spikelets sheathed by protective scales called glumes (the chaff or grain). Flowers have been cultivated and bred for their beauty and their perfume from earliest times and have accumulated a vast and intricate treasury of symbolic associations derived from legend and folklore. Individual flowers have been celebrated in heraldry ( rose ), in religion (lotus), and in politics ( violet ) and have become emblems for many countries, including Switzerland (edelweiss), France (fleur-de-lis), Scotland (thistle), Holland (tulip) .

Collecton: from source

Kung Fu Panda tops box office

2008-06-08T22:27:00.000-07:00

Movie News

Kung Fu Panda has fought its way to the top of the American box office chart after earning an impressive $60 million in its opening weekend.
The animated hit toppled Sex and the City: The Movie from the top spot. The film version of the hit U.S. TV show tumbled to fourth place, taking $21.3 million.
New Adam Sandler comedy You Don't Mess with the Zohan entered the chart in second place, earning $40 million over the weekend. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull dropped to third with $22.8 million.
Horror film The Strangers came fifth with $9.8 million.

Collection: from source

They Parted In 1954, Found Each Other At Age 70

2008-06-08T22:01:00.000-07:00

This Is True Love Story

JOYCE RITCHIE AND BOB COLLINS were wed at age 70 -- 52 years after the friends since childhood broke up when he joined the Air Force in 1954. (HANDOUT / June 3, 2008)

On today's date two years ago, Joyce Ritchie pulled into a driveway in Atlanta to see a childhood playmate."She stood there looking at me," Bob Collins said. "First I walked toward her. Then I ran. We threw our arms around each other. I kissed her. She kissed me. It was the first time we'd laid eyes on each other in 52 years. We found each other finally. This is the person I've always been in love with. I never realized how much I missed her.""I met Joyce in fourth grade. I was new to the school," in Hanover, Mass., Bob said. "I said to one of my classmates, 'Hey, she's pretty.' I would go and visit her at her house. I would cut through the woods. When I was older, I rode my bike.""He'd have one or two of his buddies with him," Joyce said. "I remember him being cute. My heart would pound a little bit" when he was around. "I was not allowed to go anywhere. I had no brothers or sisters. He taught me how to whistle through my teeth."
In seventh grade, Bob, also an only child, simply disappeared, Joyce said.He was sent to military school in Pennsylvania. In Bob's senior year of high school, he was invited to a Christmas party in Hanover. "I stepped out into the kitchen, and there she was.""Joyce!""Bob!"They were thrilled to see each other and corresponded by mail when he returned to school. Bob graduated and returned to Hanover for Joyce's prom and graduation. "My father allowed him to stay at our house," a huge concession, Joyce said."Her Dad was tough," Bob said. "He was from Nova Scotia. But my great-grandparents were from Nova Scotia, too." Bob and Joyce dated a few months until he went into the Air Force in 1954.Bob broke up with Joyce just before he went into the service."I was going to be gone. I didn't know how things were going to turn out," Bob said. He was sent to Air Police School, where he became an instructor before being sent to Korea.Bob was assigned to be a dog handler. "I was scared to death of dogs because I was bitten by a dog as a kid," he said. Bob survived his year patrolling his air base at night with his dog."When he broke us up, I went to Burdette College in Boston," Joyce said. She earned her associate degree in accounting and worked in the city. In 1957, she married and later had two daughters.Bob returned to Whitman, Mass., where his mother was living, in late fall 1955. He spent his six-week leave working in a factory part time, married a woman he met during that interim and left the service. They had a daughter and son, but the marriage didn't last."I missed the service and re-enlisted at Otis Air Force Base in 1957," Bob said. He had two more sons through a marriage that lasted 35 years until his wife died. Two years later, he married and moved to Connecticut, but his wife also died within four years.In 2004, Joyce's high school had a 50th reunion, but "I couldn't go," Joyce said. She was divorced and had moved to a small farm in Tennessee with a man she had met after her daughters were grown. She picked up the phone one day in 2005 and heard a man say, "Hello, this is Bob.""Bob who?" Joyce said."Bob Collins.""I didn't know if he was dead or alive" until that moment, Joyce said. Joyce's classmate and Bob's fourth-grade buddy Karl Jokinen had contacted Bob after the reunion and sent him Joyce's address from the alumni directory. Bob called Joyce again in April 2006. Her partner had died, and she was living alone on the farm. Bob was flying to Atlanta to visit his daughter and said he'd like to see Joyce. Joyce said she'd drive over to meet him on June 8."I was bowled over," Joyce said, when she saw him. "He was still the same sweet guy. He's always been very compassionate. He has always been special to me. … He was my first love.""As soon as I saw her, I knew that day I didn't ever want to be apart from her again," Bob said.He drove back to Tennessee with Joyce and within a week said, "Would you marry me?""In a heartbeat," Joyce said.When Joyce told her daughters she was getting married, they said, "What? After four days?" Good friends in Tennessee warned Joyce that people change over the years.But at age 70, Joyce and Bob had no doubts. They were married on July 15, 2006, in Tennessee. Joyce sold the farm and moved to Coventry with Bob. They do cardio-aerobics at a fitness center several times a week, travel and exude the bliss they always found in each other's presence."I think our hearts met a long time ago," Joyce said."We're as close as two people can possibly be," Bob says. "She's the light of my life."

Collection: from source

How Magician David Blaine Held His Breath For 17 Minutes

2008-06-08T21:56:00.000-07:00

This Topic For Magic

David Blaine is a magician and performer best known for highly public stunts. For example, he has been frozen in ice. He has lived in a transparent box for 44 days without food. And so on.But recently Blaine set what might be his most surprising record. He held his breath underwater for more than 17 minutes. And, as usual, he did it in a very public way, on the "Oprah Winfrey Show."So how did Blaine do it? What could he possibly do to make it possible to hold his breath for so long? It turns out he combined a variety of techniques.The reason most people can't hold their breath for more than two minutes is because there are sensors in our lungs that detect the rising carbon dioxide level. Those sensors send signals to the diaphragm telling it to breathe. The signals get so loud eventually, they cause pain. You feel you are about to explode.
To hold your breath for more than two minutes, you must first train your body to get past that pain and suppress the diaphragm's complaints. You can do this with relaxation exercises, and many people can learn to hold their breath for four minutes after an hour or so of instruction.Blaine clearly has mastered this discipline, and then he kept adding techniques. For example, instead of breathing normal air, he breathed pure oxygen before his attempt. That meant his lungs held five times more oxygen than normal (normal air is four-fifths nitrogen).For more than a month, Blaine slept in a special hypoxic tent that reduces the amount of oxygen in the air. He was breathing air that you would find at 15,000 feet — about 10 percent oxygen. By sleeping in the tent for weeks, his blood had more capacity for carrying oxygen and carbon dioxide.Right before holding his breath, Blaine also used a technique for gulping extra air into his lungs. Blaine also fasted before his attempt. That did two things. First, fasting shrinks the size of the stomach and intestines, giving more room for the lungs to expand. Second, it reduces oxygen demand. The stomach and intestines contain a lot of muscle for grinding and moving the food along. With no food in the system, those muscles can relax.— Collection: from source

Heart disease genetic link found

2008-06-08T04:47:00.000-07:00

Two teams of scientists have identified a genetic flaw which increases the risk of heart disease and heart attacks.
US and Canadian researchers found that up to one in four white people carries the section of DNA which increases the risk of heart disease by around 40%.
A separate study in Iceland found the same genetic variant was linked to a fifth of heart attacks.
Experts said the findings, published in Science, were important but lifestyle factors had a big impact on risk.
Both teams of researchers scanned the genomes of patients who had coronary heart disease or who had suffered a heart attack to see if there were any differences between them and healthy people.
The US/Canadian team found a section of DNA - called an allele - on a specific chromosome that was associated with heart disease.

Their study of 23,000 people, showed that those who carried one copy of this allele have a moderately increased risk of heart disease.
But people who have two copies, which accounts for about 20-25 % of white people, have a 30 to 40% higher risk of heart disease than individuals who carry no copies.
Professor Ruth McPherson, of the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, who worked on the study, said: "The effect is less than that of smoking or having a high cholesterol level.
"Nonetheless, screening healthy people for this genetic marker could provide information on future risk of heart disease and help identify those individuals who would benefit most from early applications of strategies to reduce heart disease risk."
The researchers will now check if the findings also apply to people from black and Asian ethnic minorities.
Lifestyle
The Iceland study looked at the same stretch of DNA in 17,000 people.
They also found that more than 20% of people had two copies of the faulty allele.
People with both copies had a 60% increased risk of heart attack, compared with those who with no copies.
There have been other gene faults linked to heart attack risk. But having this genetic variant appears to confer a higher risk, and to be linked to around a third of cases in men under 50 and women under 60.
Dr Kari Stefansson, who led the research for the Decode genetics company, said if those at risk were identified, they could be given medications such as statins, or cardiac procedures - as well as healthy living advice - to reduce their risk.
It is still unclear why this particular area of the genome is linked to heart disease.

However, researchers believe it may be associated with hardening and narrowing of the arteries.
Professor Peter Weissberg, medical director of the British Heart Foundation, said: "Trying to find genes that put some families at an increased risk of heart attacks is like trying to find a collection of needles scattered amongst a field full of hay-stacks.
"The significance of these two studies is that two independent research teams have homed in on the same hay-stack.
"This makes it very likely that they are close to identifying a needle - an important gene in that region."
He added: "This will take a lot more research and - once found - the gene will be only one of several that are important. This research represents an important step along a very long journey, but a step in the right direction."

Big hearts 'have genetic problem'

2008-06-08T04:41:00.000-07:00

Scientists claim to have found a new genetic basis for why some people develop an enlarged heart, a condition which can result in a heart attack.
Irregular heart growth can be brought on by strenuous exercise, high blood pressure and obesity, but the role played by genes is largely unknown.
Now an international team say they have for the first time linked enlarged hearts with a gene, osteoglycin (Ogn).
Writing in Nature Genetics, they say the findings could mean new treatments.
Work carried out on rodents and some 30 humans indicated that Ogn - which has never before been linked with heart function - regulated the growth of the heart's main pumping chamber, its left ventricle.
When this gene behaves abnormally the heart can become enlarged, putting the person at an increased risk of common heart diseases and heart attacks.
Enlarged hearts are found often, but not exclusively, in those who are obese, have diabetes or high blood pressure. People with none of these underlying problems can be affected, as can elite athletes.
A post-mortem diagnosed the problem in Cameroon football midfielder Marc-Vivien Foe, who died in 2003 after collapsing during an international match in France.
Controlling factors
The team, which included researchers from the Medical Research Council's Clinical Sciences Centre and the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial College, London, noted that at present lowering blood pressure was the only treatment option available.

"But, now that we are unravelling how genes control heart growth, we can gain a better understanding of common forms of heart disease," said Dr Stuart Cook, one of the study authors.
"This could lead to new and more effective ways of treating people."
It is not the first time that genetics have been linked to enlarged hearts: work carried out at University College, London has suggested that genes involved in metabolism may also be linked to the condition.
The British Heart Foundation, which part-funded the research, said it was vital to understand the processes which led to such abnormal growth.
"When a person's heart is continually struggling to meet demand - for example following damage by a heart attack - it may enlarge, lose its elasticity and not pump efficiently," said associate medical director Professor Jeremy Pearson.
"These researchers have used highly advanced technology to discover a new gene - osteoglycin - that is important in controlling heart growth in these conditions. Osteoglycin is now a potential target to aim for with future therapies."

UN plan to increase food supplies

2008-06-08T04:14:00.000-07:00

Global food production must be doubled by 2030 and farmers in poor countries better supported, a UN summit on the current food crisis has concluded.
Leaders from 181 countries made the commitment in Rome at the close of a three-day summit on food shortages.
They also agreed to bolster humanitarian interventions to help deal with shortages and soaring prices.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon warned up to $20bn (£10.2bn) a year was needed to alleviate the crisis.
Government representatives and aid agencies welcomed the concluding statement as a signal that agriculture - particularly the support of small farmers in the developing world - was now firmly back on the agenda.
"For the first time agriculture has been put at the centre of the world stage. For years it has been on the periphery," South Africa's Agriculture Minister Lulu Xingwana told the BBC.
The summit participants stated that the reality of 862 million people worldwide continuing to be malnourished was wholly unacceptable given the resources available.

The UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Olivier De Schutter, said the adoption of a final declaration was "a sign that the international community is speaking with one voice".
But the summit, which was threatened to be overshadowed by the controversial presence of invited heads of state including Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, was not without its critics, says the BBC's Stephanie Holmes in Rome.
Representatives from non-governmental organisations complained they were excluded from discussions.
ActionAid's food and hunger policy adviser, Magda Kropiwnicka, said the concluding statement lacked concrete proposals.
"There are no quantifiable financial commitments. Apart from the existing UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) funds, no money has been given to address the key problem of boosting capacity," she said.
But Oxfam's Alexander Woolcombe told the BBC News wesite that the very recognition of agriculture's role is a vital step.
"There needs to be more focus on agriculture, not less, and we finally seem to be getting recognition of that."
Biofuel debate
The FAO, which has underlined that the summit did not seek to secure financial pledges, has said it needs a tenfold increase in its budget - to some $30bn a year - to help farmers grow food for their communities and countries.

The issue of biofuels was divisive during the summit.
Some UN officials have said the rapid growth of the sector may have triggered as much as 30% of global price inflation, by diverting food crops to fuel use and tightening supply.
However, the US - the world's biggest producer of ethanol - insists it is responsible for just 3% of price rises.
Countries finally agreed, somewhat tepidly, that the industry provided both "challenges and opportunities" which needed to be investigated further.
During his address, Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva passionately defended the potential of ethanol from sugarcane.
He highlighted the fact that a large portion of the country's transport is powered by sugarcane grown on just 1% of the country's arable land.
Analysts agree that sugarcane ethanol is a greener and more efficient way of producing fuel than the heavily subsidised US corn industry.
Mr De Schutter said the decision by both the US and EU to increase biofuels targets sent a "dangerous signal" to the market which would only fuel speculation on commodities.

Obama praises 'valiant' Clinton

2008-06-08T03:55:00.000-07:00

Democratic hopeful Barack Obama has paid tribute to Hillary Clinton for her "valiant campaign" to become the party nominee for US president.
He said his former rival had "shattered barriers on behalf of my daughters and women everywhere".
The praise came after Mrs Clinton formally abandoned her bid for the nomination at a rally in Washington.
She said Mr Obama had proved his "grace and grit", and she urged her supporters to put their energy into electing him.
Mr Obama is expected to face the Republican presumptive nominee, John McCain, in November's presidential election.
In a statement, Mr Obama said he was "thrilled" to have Mrs Clinton's endorsement.

Senator Clinton gives Barack Obama her backing
He credited her with reaching out to many American voters and making him a stronger candidate.
"She inspired millions with her strength, courage and unyielding commitment to the cause of working Americans."
Mr Obama also said Mrs Clinton's presence on the American political scene would continue.
"No one knows better than Senator Clinton how desperately America and the American people need change, and I know she will continue to be in the forefront of that battle this fall and for years to come."
His campaign website asked supporters to send a message of thank you to the Clinton campaign.
Angry supporters
Earlier, Mrs Clinton formally suspended her 16-month-long campaign with a speech at the National Building Museum in Washington.
She opened by saying: "This isn't exactly the party I planned but I sure like the company."
Aim high, work hard and care deeply about what you believe in
Hillary Clinton
Clinton's emotional ending
In quotes: Clinton concedes
Q&A: What happens next?
Mrs Clinton thanked the "18 million of you from all walks of life" who voted for her and threw her support behind Mr Obama.
Although she had not succeeded, she said there were now "18 million cracks in the glass ceiling" preventing a woman from winning the White House.
Referring to her formal rival, she said: "I've had a front-row seat to his candidacy and I have seen his strength and determination, his grace and his grit."
The BBC's Kevin Connolly at the venue says there was an angry feeling among many of her supporters that Mr Obama only won because the complex rules of the Democratic Party process suited his campaign.

Gas price record reaches $4 a gallon

2008-06-08T03:43:00.000-07:00

Gasoline rose to a milestone mark Sunday as the national average compiled by motorist group AAA reached $4 a gallon for the first time.
The national average for regular unleaded rose 1.7 cents to $4.005, according the daily measure on the group's Web site. That surpassed the previous record of $3.989 set Thursday.
The milestone was expected after a surge in crude oil prices added more than $16 to a barrel of oil over the last 2 trading days. Crude settled at a record $138.54 a barrel Friday, up by $10.75, after setting an all-time intraday high of $139.12.
The $10.75 gain was the biggest one-day advance in dollar value ever, nearly doubling the previous mark of $5.49 set Thursday. Weakness in the dollar, geopolitical concerns and an analyst's prediction of $150-a-barrel oil by July 4 helped spur Friday's advance.
In a statement Friday, AAA urged gasoline station owners not to overreact to the single-day oil spike.
"Consumers should not be overcharged for gasoline simply because the oil markets reacted so strongly to today's news," AAA said.
So far this year, crude prices have increased more than 40%.
The average price is $4 a gallon or more in 14 states and the District of Columbia, according to the survey. California pays the most for gasoline, averaging $4.436, with Alaska and Connecticut both at $4.296. Other states above $4 are Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maine, Michigan, Nevada, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington and West Virginia.
Missouri has the lowest average price at $3.802, followed by South Carolina at $3.809.
Gas prices have risen more than 10% from $3.671 a month ago and are nearly 29% higher than the $3.105 average a year ago, according to the AAA figures.
Gasoline prices in the survey have risen for 31 of the past 33 days, setting records on 29 of those days.
The price of diesel fuel, used by truckers hauling goods across the country, rose 0.8 cent to $4.762 a gallon. That's 3 cents below the all-time high set May 30.
On its Web site, AAA says the information is gathered by Oil Price Information Service based on credit card swipes at 85,000 gasoline stations across the nation.
Higher gas prices have prompted a growing number of Americans to modify their driving habits. A recent study by the Department of Transportation showed that the number of drivers on the road in March fell 4.3% versus the previous year. That was the first time March travel on public roads fell in nearly 30 years.
In addition to driving less, many consumers are shifting away from large, low mileage vehicles toward smaller vehicles that consume less gas.
Falling demand for gas-guzzlers has hit some of the nation's largest automakers hard. General Motors announced plans last week to shut four truck and SUV plants and said it would ramp up producing more fuel-efficient cars. Ford also recently said it would trim production of large trucks and roll out more small cars and crossovers.
But carmakers aren't the only ones hurt by soaring gas prices. The airline industry, which was ailing even before gas prices spiked, has been fraught with near-bankruptcies, drastic cost cutting efforts and mass groundings of aircraft.
Last week, Continental Airlines said it is eliminating about 3,000 jobs and grounding 67 mainline aircraft to cope with the rising cost of fuel. Other airlines have hiked fuel surcharges to fares and added fees to once-free benefits, such as food and checked baggage.
First Published: June 8, 2008: 5:56 AM EDT