Barack Obama tops History Makers of 2008 list

U.S. President-elect Barack Obama has topped the list of “History Makers of 2008”.

Obama, who has also been named Person of the Year by TIME magazine, will be remembered as the story of 2008, reports Live Science.

The first African-American president of the United States is followed by U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson, who became one of the most influential people on the planet when he captained the recent 700 billion dollars government bailout of America's banks.

Third on the list is none other than Alaska governor Sarah Palin, who made big waves with her looks in 2008 as the Republican-vice presidential candidate and promises to keep shaking things up all the way through to a possible presidential run in 2012.

Olympic golden boy Michael Phelps landed the fourth spot while T. Boone Pickens rounded off the top five.

The top 5 History Makers of 2008 are:
1. Barack Obama
2. Henry T. Paulson
3. Sarah Palin
4. Michael Phelps
5. T. Boone Pickens

Nutrition during Pregnancy and Lactation

Nutrition during lactation is very necessary for both mother and the child. A nutritious diet is very important after you have a baby for many reasons. Your body needs vitamins and minerals to heal properly after delivery. Although it is important to eat well all the time, your breast milk always maintains a certain nutritional quality even if your diet is less than adequate. No special diet or foods are necessary, but mothers should try to eat a balanced, diet to remain healthy and energetic.

While breastfeeding your baby, you are required to consume approximately 300 to 500 extra calories a day. For most breastfeeding women that means you will need to consume 2000 to 2500 calories per day but this varies depending on your height and weight. Several facts that are to be considered for nutrition during lactation.

It is very important to include calcium in your diet plan. Calcium is very important to everyone but especially when pregnant or breastfeeding because studies have shown that calcium is drawn out of your bones during pregnancy and lactation. The recommended amount of calcium that needs to be consumed daily is 1,600mg ; which is 2-4 servings of milk products. Some good sources of calcium include yogurt, milk, cheese, broccoli, watercress, oranges, almonds, tofu and dark leafy greens like spinach.

Iron is important during pregnancy and after pregnancy. A lack of iron in your blood can cause you to feel weak, light headed, tired, have a loss of appetite. Best way to have enough iron in your blood is to eat foods that are high in iron. Here is a list of foods that are rich in iron content, kidney beans, dried beans and peas, whole grain breads and iron fortified cereals, greens, broccoli, baked potato with skin, raisins, and dry fruits like almonds, walnuts.

High vitamin C foods/beverages along with high iron foods help your body absorb iron easier, so it is always good to drink a glass of 100% fruit juice with your meal.

PM launches PURSE – a scholarship programme

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh launched a scholarship programme on Saturday, which targets a million students and teachers in the next few years. Singh asked the corporate sector to play a constructive role in research and development.

India has allocated of Dollar 433 million to provide strong policy and financial support to the growth of science and technology in its centralized five-year plan period, which began in 2007.

Hong Kong Govt to create 250,000 jobs

Hong Kong's government aims to create 250,000 jobs by launching 10 big infrastructure projects in 2009, its financial secretary said on Saturday, in an effort to slow the growing jobless rate in an economic downturn.

"The Hong Kong SAR government will facilitate the launch of 10 major infrastructure projects next year, hoping to bring in 250,000 jobs," John Tsang said in a radio programme, adding he had urged all government departments to propose ways of creating more jobs. He gave no time frame for the 250,000 job target.

Tsang had said earlier this week that he expected Hong Kong's economy to worsen in coming few months. The government recently cut its 2008 GDP growth forecast to 3 to 3.5 percent from 4 to 5 percent.

The unemployment rate rose to 3.5 percent in August-October, from 3.4 percent in July-September quarter. The government said the jobless rate was a lagging indicator and had yet to truly reflect the impact of the global financial crisis.

Economists see it topping 4 percent within a few months as Hong Kong is now in recession and as a trading and financial hub is being hit by the global economic downturn.

The jobless rate has come down from a record 8.5 percent in the past five years as the economy has rebounded, but it now looks set to rise sharply in the next year as a global economic downturn hurts Hong Kong businesses.

7 ways to live a stress-free sex life

Do you feel that stress is squeezing the fun out of your rocky bedroom life? If yes, then you can bring back the action, courtesy tips provided by sex educator and relationship expert Dr Yvonne Kristin Fulbright.

According to the expert, many couples become frustrated, even panicky, when their sex lives go to the wayside during stressful times.

When it comes to the factor that governs a person's sex life, its personality, reports Fox News.

Fulbright says that how an individual's sex life fares depends on whether he tries to get closer to his partner in tragic times or wants to be totally alone - and if he's the withdrawing sorts, then it can create misunderstandings in the relationship
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In order to avoid any such misunderstandings and still keep sex life full of fun and passion, Fulbright has suggested that couples need to establish a common ground and mutual understanding during stressful times.

Also, they should make an effort to stay connected during life's highs and lows, because if they don't, it could lead to dire consequences.

And in case, sex is not on mind and also the time to be spent in the sack is less, then a person can try the following:

1. Showing appreciation for one another. Giving compliments, for example, is a simple way of expressing affection and letting your partner know that he or she is still being noticed and loved.

2. Talking daily. Chat during dinner or at bedtime. Conversations foster bonding by providing support. It's also important for couples to check in with each other, showing concern and care for one another's well-being with simple statements like, "Tell me about your day."

3. Staying positive. Bite your tongue if you're about to complain. Stressful situations are hard enough to deal with. Don't add to the situation if you can avoid doing so.

4. Believing in your future together. Stressful times can make lovers doubt their ability to stay together for the long haul. Insecurity issues that arise can only make matters more difficult. Making plans is one way to indicate that you're feeling secure about your future.

5. Helping each other with responsibilities. Approaching tasks with a team effort provides a greater sense of being in this together.

6. Balancing 'alone time' and 'together time'. Create a sensual atmosphere, for example, soothing scents, dim lights, delicious food, and relaxing music, to help you unwind.

7. Getting creative in how you'll be intimate. Redefine your definition of sexual intimacy when needed; try a simple body massage.

Not to forget, lovers should make it a point to give in to one another's requests for intimacy whenever possible, as it might just prove to be a big stress-buster.

In fact, sex has many physical and emotional benefits, which may help in boosting your desire for more sex and emotional intimacy. Sex can easily take your mind off of your worries.

Also, patience is the key to get your sex life back on track. One should make sure that your relationship, in general, doesn't get neglected.

Barack Obama creates history, wins US presidential election

Democratic Party nominee Barack Hussain Obama has won a historic victory in the race for the White House with Republican rival John McCain conceding defeat.

Barack Obama has won the 2008 US Presidential Election, to become the 44th President of the United States of America, the first African American to hold the post, and at 47 years old, one of the youngest.

The historic presidential contest, which shares similarities with the 1860 election of Illinois politician Abraham Lincoln, US voters were also at the polls to determine the make-up of Congress, the bi-cameral legislative body much like India's Parliament.

Barack Obama, the man who would be the United States' first African American president, said to a wildly cheering crowd of tens of thousands here, “Americans have sent a message to the world”.

In an emotional speech, Obama began by saying: “If there is anyone out there that still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible... who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.”

He said it was the answer told 'by lines that stretched around schools and churches...' as they waited for hours to vote.

It was the answer, he said, spoken by the young and old, rich and poor, Hispanics and Asians, Democrats and Republicans.

'It's been a long time coming but tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, change has come to America.'

A little bit earlier in the evening, Obama said, he got an 'extraordinarily gracious call' from his Republican rival Senator John McCain. Paying a tribute to McCain who conceded defeat, Obama said he had 'fought long and hard for this campaign, for this country'.

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, one time rival of Barack Obama, congratulated her fellow Democrat on his election as the 44th President of the United States.

Women in red drive the men crazy

If a woman wants to drive the men wild, she might want to dress in red.

Men rated a woman shown in photographs as more sexually attractive if she was wearing red clothing or if she was shown in an image framed by a red border rather than some other colour, US researchers have said.

The study led by psychology professor Andrew Elliot of the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York, seemed to confirm red as the colour of romance - as so many Valentine's Day card makers and lipstick sellers have believed for years.
Although this 'red alert' may be a product of human society associating red with love for eons, it also may arise from more primitive biological roots, Elliot said.

Noting the genetic similarity of humans to higher primates, he said scientists have shown that certain male primates are especially attracted to females of their species displaying red. For example, female baboons and chimpanzees show red colouring when nearing ovulation, sending a sexual signal that the males apparently find irresistible.

"It could be this very deep, biologically based automatic tendency to respond to red as an attraction cue given our evolutionary heritage," Elliot, whose findings appear in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, said in a telephone interview.

The study involved more than 100 men, mostly college undergraduates, who were shown pictures of women and asked to rate how pretty they were, how much the men would like to kiss them and how much the men would like to have sex with them.

Men were shown a woman, with some of the pictures bordered in red and some bordered in white, gray or green. Even though it was the same picture of the same woman, when she was framed in red the men rated her as more attractive than when she was bordered by another colour.

Men were then shown photographs of a woman that were identical except that the researchers digitally made her shirt red in some versions or blue in others. And once again, the men strongly favoured the woman in red.

The men also were asked, "Imagine that you are going on a date with this person and have $100 in your wallet. How much money would you be willing to spend on your date?" When she was clad in red, the men said they would spend more money on her.

The researchers noted that the colour red did not alter how men rated the women in the photographs in terms of likability, intelligence or kindness - only attractiveness.

The researchers then had a group of young women rate whether the pictured woman was pretty. Red had no impact on whether women rated other women as pretty, they found.

Chandrayaan-1 launched successfully, PM congratulates scientists

PSLV-C11 carrying India's first unmanned moon spacecraft Chandrayaan-1 lifted off successfully from ISRO's Satish Dhawan Space Centre today.

At the end of the 49-hour countdown, the 44.4 meter tall four-stage PSLV-C11 blasted off from the second launch pad with the ignition of the core first stage.

Scientists cheered as the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle weighing 316 tonnes at the time of launch, soared majestically into partially cloudy sky at 6.22 am from the space port, 100 km north of Chennai.

This is the 14th flight of ISRO's workhorse PSLV, which had launched 29 satellites into a variety of orbits since 1993. This launch vehicle uses larger strap-on motors to achieve higher payload capability.

The Chandrayaan-1 is carrying 11 payloads, five entirely designed and developed in India, three from European Space Agency, one from Bulgaria and two from US, which would explore the Moon.

At the end of the 49-hour countdown, the 44.4 meter tall four-stage PSLV-C11 blasted off from the second launch pad with the ignition of the core first stage at 6.22 am.

"The successful launch of the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, India's first unmanned scientific mission to the moon, marks the first step in what we hope will be a historic milestone in India's space programme,” Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said.

In a message to the scientists of the Indian Space Research Organisation congratulating them on the successful launch, the prime minister said: 'I congratulate all the scientists associated with this mission for the successful completion of the first step. When completed, the mission will put India in the very small group of six countries which have thus far sent space missions to the moon. Our scientific community has once again done the country proud and the entire nation salutes them."

ISRO chief jubilant over successful launch of Chandrayaan-1

“My heartiest congratulations to you all for the remarkable job. A remarkable journey to the moon has begun,” a jubilant G. Madhavan Nair, chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), said on the successful launch of India's first mission to the moon on Wednesday morning.

“We have fought against many odds, including the weather in the last few days, to achieve this success.”
“We will be completing the second part of the journey in about two weeks time,” Nair said, referring to placing India's lunar spacecraft Chandrayaan-1 on an orbit just 100 km above the surface of the moon.

As soon as the 1.38-tonne Chandrayaan-1 carrying eleven payloads separated from ISRO's launch workhorse, PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) to orbit on its own, Nair and his colleagues shook hands and hugged one another to mark the successful launch.

The launch was described by scientists at the Sriharikota (SHAR) spaceport, 80 km from Tamil Nadu capital Chennai, as a “beautiful, textbook launch”.

Within seconds of blast-off in a sky that was only lightly speckled by clouds, the PSLV achieved a speed of one seven km per second and soared aloft, leaving behind a plume of fire and smoke, before it completed its mission.

As the various ground tracking stations of ISRO started receiving signals from the orbiting Chandrayaan-1 that all was well, the organisation also started receiving congratulatory messages from space agencies and scientists around the world.

World's Second Highest Airport at Kangding to open this month

The world's second highest airport, in an ethnically Tibetan part of China's southwestern province of Sichuan, will open this month, a Chinese newspaper said.

The airport, in the mainly Tibetan area of Kangding, is 4,280 metres (14,040 ft) above sea level, second only to Qamdo airport in Tibet at 4,334 metres.

The Chengdu Daily said China Eastern Airlines would start regular flights to Kangding before the end of October, flying from Yunnan's provincial capital Kunming to Kangding via Sichuan's capital, Chengdu.

The airport had originally been scheduled to open in May. The newspaper did not explain the delay, but Tibet and other Tibetan parts of China experienced violent unrest this spring.

The 960 million yuan ($140.6 million) airport is in a poor area near the scenic Gongga Mountains.

It is in an area so remote that Tang Dynasty poet Li Bai, writing more than 1,000 years ago, said it was easier to get to heaven.

The government hopes the airport will bring in much needed tourist dollars and investment.
The airport is designed to handle 330,000 passengers a year and can accommodate 120-seat Boeing 737s and Airbus A319s.

China has embarked upon a multi-billion-dollar programme in recent years to revamp old airports and build new ones, especially in the country's remote west, as a way of boosting the economy.

In 2006, China opened Tibet's third airport, in Nyingchi, which is nearly 3,000 metres above sea level.

Man Booker Prize 2008 goes to Aravind Adiga

First-time Indian novelist Aravind Adiga has won the Man Booker Prize, one of the world's most prestigious literary awards, with his debut novel The White Tiger.

The 33-year-old is only the third debut novelist to claim the award in the Booker's 40-year history and one of its youngest winners.

He receives a cheque for 50,000 pounds ($86,000) and can expect not only overnight literary fame but also a significant spike in book sales in the runup to Christmas.

Booker organisers say last year's winner, Anne Enright, has sold around 500,000 copies of The Gathering, largely due to the prize. The White Tiger is published by Atlantic Books.

Michael Portillo, chairman of the five-member judging panel, praised The White Tiger for tackling important social and political issues in modern-day India.

"What sets this one apart was it's originality," Portillo told reporters at a gala dinner in London announcing the winner. "For many of us this was entirely new territory – the dark side of India.

"It's a book that gains from dealing with very important social issues – the divisions between rich and poor and the impossibilty of the poor escaping from their lot in India.

"It tackles these global issues and social issues with tremendous humour, and it is a book which is extremely readable. It is his first novel, and I imagine (this prize) will come as rather good news to Aravind Adiga."

The White Tiger follows Balram Halwai, the son of a rickshaw puller whose dream of escaping poverty of his village takes him on a journey to the bright lights of Delhi and Bangalore, where he will do almost anything to get to the top.

Portillo said the central character was sympathetic while also being "absolutely vile and absolutely unrepenant", and likened him to Shakespeare's tragic hero Macbeth.

He added: "The overarching evil is poverty, the chicken coop from which the poor not only can't escape but have no wish or ambition to escape."

Adiga said his aim in writing The White Tiger was to represent the poor.

"Balram Halwai is a member of the invisible Indian underclass – one of the millions of poor Indians who have been bypassed by the economic boom," he said before the Booker Prize winner was announced.

"The novel attempts to give literary voice to those who are being written out of the narratives of our time – the poor."

Adiga was one of six novels on the shortlist for the prize, which rewards the best novel of the year by a citizen of the Commonwealth of former British colonies or Ireland.

He beat the bookmakers' favourite Sebastian Barry of Ireland The Secret Scripture.

Also nominated were India's Amitav Ghosh Sea of Poppies, Britons Linda Grant The Clothes on Their Backs and Philip Hensher The Northern Clemency and Australian-born Steve Toltz's A Fraction of the Whole.

Adiga is the third debut novelist to claim the prize, after Arundhati Roy in 1997 and DBC Pierre in 2003. He is the second youngest winner after Ben Okri, who won in 1991 at the age of 32.

Women prefer intelligent men

When it comes to picking up a bed-mate, women prefer intelligent men to dumb jocks, according to a new study of hundreds of university students.

The research led by Mark Prokosch, an evolutionary psychologist at Elon University in North Carolina suggests that women looking for both one-night stands and long-term relationships go for good looking and intelligent men.

"Women want the best of both worlds. Not only a physically attractive man, but somebody in the long term who can provide for them," New Scientist quoted Prokosch, as saying.

For the study, the research team asked 15 college men to perform a series of tasks on camera.
The volunteers read news reports, explained why they would be a good date, and what would be the ramifications of the discovery of life on Mars.

They were also made to play Frisbee show off their physical appeal. Each potential suitor also took a quantitative test of verbal intelligence.

Later, more than 200 women were made to watch the series of these videos before rating each man's intelligence, attractiveness, creativity and appeal for a short-term or long-term relationship.
The study showed that, in potential husbands, women look for signs that a man might be a good provider and father.

However in one-night stands, women are on the prowl for little more than good genes, not to mention a good time.

Women proved to be decent judges of intelligence, with their scores generally matching each man's intelligence test results.

But Martie Haselton, an evolutionary psychologist at the University of California in Los Angeles had a different view. He revealed that although women were good judges of intelligence, they weren't perfect.

In many cases, women rated good hook-ups as dunces, when their intelligence scores indicated otherwise.

"There could be aspects of intelligence that we pick up on when we interact with a person and that affect our assessment of them, even if we wouldn't label it as intelligence," she said.
Prokosch said that looks were still a much more powerful predictor of sex appeal than brains.
"Women are still going for the hunk," Prokosch said.

"If you had an option to pick from five different people, you would pick the most attractive one," he added.

The study appears in journal Evolution and Human Behavior.

Mother's fat diet make her kids obese

Female mice fed high fat diets were more likely to have oversized offspring, because fat causes the placenta to go into 'overdrive' by providing too many nutrients to the foetus.

The reverse may be equally true. High fat diets may help prevent undersized babies, according to a study by researchers from University of Cincinnati and Medical College of Georgia, said a joint press release from both.

'Our model may one day lead to dietary recommendations for mothers who are entering pregnancy overweight or obese,' said Helen N. Jones, co-author of the study.

'We hope this research will ultimately help reduce the number of babies suffering from birth injuries, decrease C-section rates, and lower the risk of babies becoming overweight or obese later in life.'

Researchers fed one group of mice a normal diet and another group a higher fat diet for eight weeks. Then the mice were mated. At the end of each mouse's pregnancy the offspring were delivered by C-section and weighed along with their placentas.

The scientists then took blood from the mothers and measured the ability of the placenta to transport nutrients to the babies.

'It's no secret that big women tend to have big babies,' said Gerald Weissmann, editor-in-chief of The FASEB Journal, 'but now we know that there's more at play than genetics. Cutting back on fatty foods during pregnancy might decrease the chance of having a baby that becomes overweight in the future.'

According to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, about a third of adult men and women, and 16.3 percent of children and youth in the US are obese.

High heels leave women low on health and wealth

High heels eventually leave women down at the heel, a new study says.

Spindly stilettos and towering wedges walk you ultimately to the podiatrist's parade of bunions, corns, bent toes, trapped nerves and disfigured feet.

Those who foot the bill annually in Britain alone add up to a few thousands, but the bills they foot are a bit high. Around 29 million pounds.

And mind you, free treatment through the National Health Service (NHS) means a lengthy waiting period. Private clinics are the only alternative for the impatient.

A study by shoe brand MBT claims nearly one in three foot operations on women are to straighten toes disfigured by ill-fitting shoes, mostly high heels.

The cost of each such non-NHS procedure is about 1,200 pounds. If all patients opted for private treatment, these operations would cost a total of 10.4 million pounds a year.

One in five feet operations are to remove bunions, which is a structural deformity of the bones and the joint between the foot and big toe. Based on the average cost of private treatment of about 4,000 pounds, this equates to 10.5 million pounds a year.

A further 3.3 million pounds a year would be spent on big toe joint replacement, 2.9 million pounds on operations for corns, 2 million pounds to remove trapped nerves, and 200,000 pounds to correct in-growing toe-nails, the study says.

Cosmetic surgery is also increasing in popularity with treatments including 'plumping' in which a dermal filler is injected into the ball of the foot to make walking more comfortable.

The survey of 1,000 women aged 15 and above found those in Liverpool and Manchester were most likely to end up with foot injuries. Nearly half of all women in the North-West of Britain said they wore high heels five days or more a week.

Forty-three percent of those in the South-East also chose heels five days a week.
Four in ten reported having an accident in their heels, with twisted ankles and tripping over the most common mishaps.

The Society of Chiropodists and Podiatrists explains that because stilettos force the wearer to raise their heel, the lower back bends to compensate. This puts pressure on nerves in the back and can cause sciatica. Another common problem is damage to the Achilles tendon. Sticking to heels no higher than one and a half inches can help, the study advises.

3D Techniques can help to diagnose Early Breast Cancer

Breast Cancer is the raging illness prevailing the recent times. This is the most widespread form of cancer after the lung cancer, its late diagnosis making it a complicated issue

An international team of researchers have developed a new X-ray technique that would allow 3D visualizations of the breast and detect tumours at early stages. Researchers revealed that the new technique known as Analyser-Based X-ray Imaging (ABI), with high spatial resolution, would help in detecting breast tumours with greater precision.

Currently, X-ray mammography is the most widely used tool in diagnostic radiology, but it fails to identify about 10 to 20 pct of palpable breast cancers, as some breasts, especially in young women, are very dense. Therefore, on mammograms, glandular tissues can mask cancer lesions. X-ray computed tomography (CT) could produce accurate 3D images of the entire breast, improving the detection of early diseases in dense breasts. However, its use in breast imaging is limited by the radiation dose delivered to a radiosensitive organ such as the breast.

The new ABI-CT technique has allowed scientists to overcome this problem. They have managed to visualize breast cancer with an unprecedented contrast resolution and with clinically compatible doses. During the study, the researchers used the new procedure on an in vitro specimen using a radiation dose similar to that of a mammography examination.

The dose corresponded to a quarter of that required for imaging the same sample with conventional CT scanner. They found that spatial resolution of the ABI images was seven times better. The research team chose a particularly challenging specimen: a breast invaded by a lobular carcinoma (a diffusely growing cancer), the second most common form of breast cancer, which is also very difficult to visualize in clinical mammography.

In this kind of sample, the determination of the extension of the cancer frequently fails in X-ray mammograms and ultrasonographs of the breast. However, the study showed that high-spatial-resolution ABI-CT makes visible small-size and low-contrast anatomic details that could otherwise only be seen by the microscopic study of an extracted sample of the breast tissue (histopathology).

"We can clearly distinguish more microcalcifications -small deposits of minerals which can indicate the presence of a cancer- than with radiography methods and improve the definition of their shapes and margins", said Jani Keyrilainen, main author of the paper. "If we compare the images with X-ray mammograms and conventional CT images, we can confirm that this technique performs extremely well", he adds," Jani Keyrilainen added. The results of this research appear today in the journal ¨Radiology¨.

This new breakthrough in the Breast cancer treatment and diagnosis is surely going to solve the various complications associated with the illness.

Credit Card Shaving: Scammers Go Low-Tech With Trick

Forget high-tech hacking. One new credit card scam relies more on X-Acto knives and glue sticks than wi-fi and laptops, but helps criminals steal your money just the same.

Shaving is a low-tech form of card theft where thieves sort through sets of 16-digit numbers to find one that matches an existing card, and then verifying that number either by trying to make a purchase online or by phone. The scammers can also buy a list of valid credit card numbers from black market sites online. Once they have their hands on a valid account number, they then create a new card with those numbers by shaving the numbers off of gift cards or expired credit cards and gluing them onto a defunct or stolen card. The magnetic strip is gouged with a knife or pen so that a store clerk has to manually enter the account number on a keypad, and the charge goes through.

If they're successful, months can pass before a cardholder discovers the fraud. After all, if your wallet hasn't been stolen and you haven't misplaced a card, you may be puzzled to discover that your card has been compromised even though it's safely tucked away the entire time.

While it might not be the simplest way to commit an identity theft, card shaving is on the rise. "Desperate times mean desperate measures," said Robert Siciliano, CEO of IDTheftSecurity.com and author of "The Safety Minute: Living on High Alert." "In this economy, we are seeing scams of all kinds resurfacing, including credit card shaving."

Both Merchants and Consumers Are Gatekeepers
Card shaving's growth comes partly as a reaction to increased high-tech credit card security steps, experts say. "As regulati¬ons and security tightened on electronic credit card processing networks, it became increasingly difficult for hackers to penetrate them," says Shyam Krishnan, an industry analyst with the Smart Cards group at Frost & Sullivan, a high-tech research and consulting firm. And so they turned to other low-tech scams, such as card shaving.

Because the scam requires clerks to enter the card number manually, merchants are the first line of defense in catching the perpetrators. These fraudulent cards usually look suspicious to begin with -- the numbers and letters often haphazardly glued on -- and that alone should raise red flags with store clerks and cashiers. However, many shaving scammers primarily use the cards in busy bargain stores where clerks are too harried to pay much attention and verification systems are so outdated that they don't require a matching ZIP code or other personal data.

"If merchants physically inspect all cards, they'll minimize the incidents of counterfeit cards being used," says Tom Harkins, chief strategy officer at Secure Identity Systems.

It's in the merchant's best financial interest to keep a watchful eye. After all, any charges made with the number would likely be disputed by the card's rightful owner, leaving the merchant with little option but to absorb the loss through a chargeback. That's why Siciliano recommends that merchants refuse service if the card doesn't scan. "Manually typing the card number in when there is even a hint of suspicion is risky," he says.

Merchants should also turn the card over and ensure the back of the card has the proper marks. For sales conducted without a card for online or phone transactions, Harkins advises merchants to protect themselves by requesting the three-number security code on the back of the card (four digits and on the front of American Express cards). "If it doesn't match, ask additional questions or investigate the customer before completing the transaction," he says.

Inevitably, some of the scammers will succeed, and unless the cardholder has a firm handle on his or her account, the crime can go entirely unnoticed. Experts say this further reinforces the need for cardholder diligence on a regular basis. "It's vital to check your balances and accounts on a regular basis and report any suspicious purchases to help identify the theft quickly," says Krishnan.

Disposable Card Numbers Are One Solution
Another way consumers can fight shaving is with a credit card account that generates a new number for every new transaction. Citibank offers Virtual Account Numbers to cardholders for online purchases while PayPal provides the Secure Card in the form of a MasterCard debit card. While these can only be used online, Qsecure is rolling out a SmartStripe credit and debit card that looks like any other card. However, a chip embedded in the card's magnetic stripe automatically generates a different number for each purchase.

5 steps to avoid ID theft

Merchants and their customers are more likely to be victimized by payment card fraud committed by an employee than a criminal or scamster outside the business. Here are some steps you can take to make sure that you aren't victimized by credit card fraud when using your card in person at a retailer rather than online:

1. Pay at the register. If you have a choice between paying at the register and handing your card to a waiter, pay at the register. That way, you're less likely to be subject to skimming, a scam whereby an employee takes an unauthorized scan of your card. If you must hand your card over to a waiter or salesperson, keep the card in your sight at all times.

2. Get your card back quickly. The shorter the time that your card is away from you, the less chance there is of a fraud. So, if you open a tab at a bar, make sure you get your card back. Don't let the bartender hold it at the cash register. If your card sits on the bar or at the register, it might get skimmed, or an employee or other person could take a quick picture of it with a cell phone camera, says Suzanne Miller, senior partner of the compliance and audit group at Turbo PCI.

3. Look for security cameras. PCI data security standards require merchants who process credit cards in person to have security cameras trained on card processing areas, notes Miller. Unfortunately, many don't, which means the retailer, restaurant or other merchant is more likely to be subject to internal credit card fraud by employees. If employees know that security cameras are monitoring them, they are less likely to try to commit fraud.

4. Beware of tip fraud. When you add a servicer tip onto your credit or debit card charge, you risk tip fraud, a scam whereby a service employee alters the tip amount when entering the final bill at the cash register or point-of-sale system. Most consumers, even those who actually go over their credit card or debit card charges with a fine tooth comb, won't notice an extra 75 cents or dollar tip. You can avoid this scam by leaving a tip in cash.

5. Check for skimming at ATM and PIN entry terminals. If an ATM or PIN entry device looks odd or different, don't use it. Skimmers frequently attach devices to ATMs or PIN entry devices - especially those that aren't monitored by merchants - to steal card data encoded on magnetic strips.

A stud is no longer the male ideal

A global survey of 28,000 men has debunked many stereotypes about the male ideal of a “man's man”, according to a Canadian-led study.

Masculinity is certainly not the male ideal of a “man's man” or maleness, says the study.

Nor is being a womanizer or a career seeker.

On the contrary, the male ideal of a “man's man” is someone who is honourable, responsible and committed to his partner, says the study.

According to it, most men want to be seen as good fathers and good husbands, not as studs chasing women for sex.

The study which covered eight countries, including the US, Brazil, Germany and Italy, found that for 33 per cent of men viewed being seen as “honourable” as their highest ideal of maleness.

Another 28 percent said being in control of one's life was their ideal of maleness.

A vast majority of them said the topmost male quality was putting love ahead of sex.

Just one percent rated a great sex life as their ideal.

Three percent plumped for career and financial success.

According to Canadian Michael Sand, who led the survey of 27, 839 men across many cultures and age groups in the eight countries, the new study has shattered may stereotypes about maleness.

“Men routinely said that being in good health, having a good family life, having a harmonious relationship with my wife or my partner, is way more important than a successful career, having a nice home, having a satisfying sex life,” he was quoted as saying by a Canadian news agency.

Sand said, “Being seen as honourable - I think men are telling us that how my community views my integrity and my values system is important to me. They're also saying ‘I want to be seen as a good father, a successful partner, far more than I want to be seen as a stud’.”

According to him, all these things “point to the importance- not in keeping with stereotypes- of interpersonal relationships to men, as well as to women of course.”

Sand said the study debunks what beer commercials and Hollywood gossip sheets project men to - chasing babes, fleeing commitment, abandoning their kids, and having trouble staying sober.

“Just as we know all women are not Playboy bunnies, we know all men are not ravening sex fiends interested in the next conquest. These stereotypes- I think we all know they're not real.”

“This is why it's so important to do research- to challenge our assumptions,” said the Canadian researcher.

Lady killer or sexually active tag no longer macho

Most males want to project themselves as honourable, self-reliant and respected, rather than being perceived as attractive, sexually active or as lady killers.

These findings, based on a large international study, busted prevailing myths about male stereotypes, stemming from alleged virility or a macho outlook.

'Many meanings, positive and negative, are attached to the term, 'masculinity',' said Julia Heiman, director of The Kinsey Institute at Indiana University and co-author of this study.

'To ask a large sample of men what comprises their own sense of masculinity is very useful for both the media and for research. These results suggest we should pay attention and ask rather than presume we know.'

The study interviewed more than 27,000 randomly selected males from Germany, US, UK, Spain, Brazil, Mexico, Italy and France, with about 16 percent of them admitting erectile problems.

Regardless of age or nationality, the men more frequently ranked good health, harmonious family life and good relationships with their wife or partner as more important to their quality of life than material, self-fulfilling or purely sexual concerns.

There was no significant difference in rankings of masculinity and quality of life characteristics between men who experienced erectile dysfunction and those who did not.

The study, part of the Men's Attitudes to Life Events and Sexuality (MALES) project, aimed to determine characteristics of masculinity and quality of life in men with and without erectile dysfunction, and how those ideas of masculinity might affect seeking help and treatment.

The study was published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine.

Women and property- leading cause of male aggression

It's often said that most women prefer the scrappy male over the nice guy. But have you ever wondered what makes some men more aggressive? Well, it is the fair sex, along with property.

A new study of the mathematics of warfare has revealed that the lust for women and the hunger to acquire property are the two primary reasons for the evolution of belligerence and bravery in men.

In fact, an international team has based its findings on an analysis of the evolutionary forces that shaped the need for males to be belligerent, which raises their probability of trying to conquer neighbours, and of bravery, which increases the probability of succeeding in conquest.

The mathematical analysis of the evolution war by the team, led by Laurent Lehmann and Prof Marc Feldman of Stanford University, focused on small-scale, pre-state societies, for instance hunter-gatherers societies, British newspaper The Daily Telegraph reported.

The study has shown that the "selective pressure" on genes linked with belligerence and bravery can be substantial even in groups of large size, so that evolution has smiled on the most aggressive and audacious group.

Selective pressure is the extent to which a population of individuals may acquire either a beneficial genetic or cultural trait that gave them advantage and therefore made that group more likely to survive or lost a trait that drives that group to extinction.

According to the researchers, this pressure is driven by the benefits of conquest that also accrue on the relatives of the belligerent and/or brave males within their group, that shows how spoils of war are shared by those who're related.

To study how blood ties shape warfare, the research team came up with an idealised mathematical model consisting of an infinite number of groups, each with a finite number of adult males and of adult females. The researchers have pointed out that "hunter-gatherer societies are well-known to have often raided neighbouring groups from whom they appropriated territory, and women".

They assumed random movements, and warfare, between the groups, and worked out how each group would have children as a result of the influence of genes linked with belligerence and bravery.

10 tips to lure a woman

So, you are finding it hard to land a date? Well, Sydney writer Sam de Brito's new book, 'Building a Better Bloke' might just help.

Brito has admitted that he has had his share of dud dates - partly because his past approach to dating involved getting drunk.

But now, he has made a few adjustments when it comes to luring the opposite sex. And he has urged other Aussie men to do the same in his new book.

"I'm not trying to teach men how to be a pick-up artist or a stud, I want to show men how to build self-esteem, build a life for themselves - which in turn will attract women," the Courier Mail quoted Brito, as saying.

According to the 39-year-old, his generation has lost the art of communicating with women.
"Aussie guys have fallen through the cracks. We like to think of Australian men as bold and confident and a lot of them aren't," he says.

He said that for some, the biggest fear in life is approaching and striking up a conversation with a woman.

In this case, he has suggested practice and a sense of humour is the key.

The catchphrase of his book is: "Find a life and you'll find love".

"The biggest thing is not to look cool, but to have a life with lots of interests. Become involved in your life, look after yourself, and you're primed to meet someone," he says.

He said that good manners and keeping clean are also important.

"Be a gentleman. Respect yourself. Even if you're funny and charming, you're not going to get far with a woman if you smell," he says.

Besides clean sheets and clean fingernails, 'Building a Better Bloke' also reminds men of the simple things, like holding a door open for women.

De Brito's 10 tips to lure a woman:
1. Stay healthy
2. Don't abuse alcohol or drugs
3. Have a job that means something to you
4. Be busy with your own activities
5. Be well groomed and clean
6. Have a sense of humour
7. Talk to women as individuals, not as a gender
8. Be a gentleman
9. Don't mix with loser friends
10. Have a clean bedroom, clean sheets - and a lamp to create romantic lighting.

Computers to become zillion times faster

The fastest quantum computer bit or the qubit has been shown to be zillions of times faster than the conventional bit, potentially making computers that much faster.

Scientists used lasers to create an initialised quantum state of this solid-state qubit at rates of about a gigahertz, or a billion times per second.

A conventional bit can be a 0 or a 1 but a qubit can be both at the same time. Until now, scientists couldn't stabilise that duality.

Because of their ability to represent multiple states simultaneously, quantum computers could theoretically make calculations dramatically faster and with much smaller computers.

Consequently, they could vastly improve computer security.

Duncan Steel, a physics professor, doctoral student Xiaodong Xu and their colleagues used lasers to trap the spin of one electron confined in a single semiconductor quantum dot. A quantum dot is like a transistor in a conventional computer.

'We are the first to show that you can do this to a single electron in a self-assembled quantum dot,' Steel said. 'If you're going to do quantum computing, you have to be able to work with one electron at a time.'

The scientists trapped the spin in a dark state where they can arbitrarily adjust the amount of 0 and 1 the qubit represents. They call this state 'dark' because it does not absorb light. In other words, the light does not destabilise the qubit.

Spin is an intrinsic property of the electron which Steel compares with magnetic poles. Electrons are said to have spin up or down. In quantum computing, the up and down directions represent the 0s and 1s of conventional computing.

Steel's approach to developing a quantum computer is to use ultrafast lasers to manipulate arrays of semiconductor quantum dots, each containing one electron. Quantum logic gates are formed by quantum mechanical interactions between the dots.

Previously in Steel's lab, researchers have used a laser to produce an electron in a state representative of a 1 or a 0 and a small amount of the other state. Now, using two laser frequencies, they have trapped it as a 0 and a 1 at the same time, and they can adjust the amount of each.

'The National Security Agency has said that based on our present technology, we have about a 20-year window of security,' Steel said.

'That means if we sent up a satellite today, it would take somebody about 20 years to crack the code. Quantum computers will let you develop a code that would be impossible to crack with a conventional computer.'

These findings are scheduled for publication in Nature Physics and are available in the online edition.

Women have higher Emotional Intelligence than men

Women have higher emotional intelligence than men Women have higher emotional intelligence than men. That is why they perform better in several areas of social interaction and have a higher sense of well-being and satisfaction. These facts have been revealed by a study.

The study, conducted by Kuwait University psychology professor Othman Al-Khudher and colleague Huda Al-Fadhli, found that women perform better in many related areas than their male counterparts.

Rather than prove a cause and effect relationship between emotional intelligence and overall performance, the study managed to prove a relation between the two, the Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) reports.

According to the study, the brain's limbic system is bigger in women than in men, which suggests an explanation of higher evolvement to do with management of and acting upon emotionally charged intelligence and data.

The limbic system is a set of brain structures that support a variety of functions, including emotion, behaviour and long-term memory. The term limbic comes from the word Latin word limbus, which means border or belt.

Other parameters affected by this relationship include type and strength of character, strength and scope of an individual's social relationships and interaction within and beyond the family setting, physical and psychological health, academic and professional success, and the balance between the demands of home and office.

A similar study had shown that women have significantly higher degrees of emotional perception and sensitivity than men. The new study examined 109 male and 108 female students at the university.

Top Colleges That Make You Rich

According to a recent study compiled by PayScale.com reveals that Big Green grads are in the money. Graduates of Dartmouth College finished on top of the list with a median compensation of $134,000, edging out alumni of Princeton University who finished second with a median comp of $131,000. While many rankings look at what newly minted college graduates are making, we ranked the schools based on the pay of alumni with 10 to 20 years of work experience. After all, it is not how you start but how you finish. "Starting salaries do not tell you a whole lot, but there is a real divergence in dollar terms as you go over the course of a career," says Al Lee, director of quantitative analysis at PayScale.com. Looking at the pay of alumni with less than five years of work experience, Dartmouth trails 18 other colleges with an average paycheck of $58,000, although most top schools are bunched closely together. The two outliers are Stanford University with median pay of $70,400 and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where recent grads earn $72,200 thanks to lucrative engineering jobs secured straight out of school.

Top employers for Dartmouth's 2008 graduating class include Bain, Goldman Sachs and McKinsey, which are almost all high-paying posts. Yet two other big employers of recent grads fall on the other end of the pay scale: Teach for America and the Peace Corps. Both organizations are focused on helping the less fortunate and require two-year commitments. So how do Dartmouth grads, many starting at nonprofits, leapfrog their peers when it comes to compensation as they gain more experience? "Dartmouth produces well-rounded people who can move into senior-level positions easily," says Monica Wilson, associate director of career services at the school. Another important factor in the success of Dartmouth grads is an extremely tight and loyal alumni network. Dartmouth is located in tiny Hanover, N.H., and is the smallest of the Ivy League schools with 4,100 undergrad students enrolled. Yet the alumni network is extremely impressive and stretches from Daniel Webster to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson during its 239 year history. Other prominent grads include General Electric head Jeffrey Immelt, eBay chief John Donahoe and former IBM boss Louis Gerstner. In order to compile the ranking of colleges, we turned to PayScale.com, an online compensation comparison tool. PayScale's database includes real-time salary data culled from 13 million unique compensation profiles. PayScale allows users to compare their salary online to other people with similar individual and job characteristics.

Here only those schools were included which have more than 1,000 people enrolled. The median salary figures are only for full-time employees and exclude anyone that went on to receive a graduate degree. Salary numbers include bonuses, commissions and profit sharing but not equity compensation.

University of California at Berkeley, happened to be the only public college to appear on the list of top 20 schools and it was ranked 12th with a median salary of $112,000. A separate ranking of public schools shows eight California schools in the top 20. The University of California system is one of the best in the country and has 220,000 students spread across 10 campuses. However, the California schools and those schools on the East Coast get a significant boost in our rankings because they are largely placing people in careers in big coastal cities like New York and San Francisco where salaries tend to be higher.

Overall, Dartmouth students at mid-career (10 to 20 years experience) finished above any other school. Yet when it comes to the top earners from each school, Yale University grads just nipped out those from Dartmouth. The highest-paid 10% of Yale alums earn more than $326,000 compared to $321,000 for Dartmouth's best paid. The third and fourth ranked schools by this measure were fellow Ivy members Harvard University and University of Pennsylvania. The fifth- ranked and first non-Ivy school among the top earners was Colgate University located in Hamilton, N.Y., where the highest-paid graduates earn $265,000.

Wilson says that recruiters visiting Dartmouth tell her that Dartmouth doesn't have as strong a business background as some of its competitors but that students can always learn the business. What they do like, she adds: "The ability to think outside the box and adapt as easily as Dartmouth students do is what puts them ahead."

US woman flies off to Australia to have sex with a 15 year old web pal

An American woman who flew to Australia to have sex with a 15-year-old boy she met on the Internet has pleaded guilty to child sex offences.

On August 6, Barbara Case pleaded guilty to performing oral sex and having sexual intercourse with a child under 16 after police caught her with the Bendigo teen who had been reported missing by his parents.

The 36-year-old flew from her Virginian home to Australia where she performed sex acts with the teenager between May 16 and 27 after befriending him on the web, the Herald Sun reported.

Case was arrested in May, three days after the boy was reported missing. He was with her when she was arrested, reports News.Com.Au

Her lawyer told court Bendigo Bendigo Magistrates Court that the relationship was still going on. She was remanded in custody to appear at the County Court on August 18.

Forget Dieting - here is a magical pill to maintain your sexy figure

Have you been starving yourself in a bid to fight that extra flab? Well, you can now forget the painful exertion, for a group of researchers have invented a pill that allows dieters to return to normal eating without putting on weight.

The inventors also claim that the pill, a dietary supplement called alpha lipoic acid and widely sold in health food shops, also slows ageing, which is a known effect of low-calorie diets.

However, the finding has triggered a dispute between two of the scientists who carried out the research, conducted in rats, over whether it can be applied to humans.

Malcolm Goyns, director of Immorgene Concepts, a scientific research company in Stockton-on-Tees, who led the research, said he was sufficiently convinced to follow the approach himself.

Evidence from the tropical Okinawan islands in Japan's extreme southwest, which has the highest proportion of centenarians in the world, demonstrated the life-prolonging effects of calorie restriction, he said.

Their traditional diet is high in vegetables and fish and low in fat, but they also have a cultural habit known as hara hachi bu - or "eat until you are 80 per cent full".

This is based on the notion that it takes the stomach's stretch receptors 20 minutes to tell the brain how full it really is, preventing overeating - and Okinawans are among the leanest and fittest people in Japan as a result.

"While calorie restriction diets are followed as a matter of course in communities like Okinawa, the diet can be difficult to follow for most people. Our discovery indicates that by following a calorie restriction diet for six months and then taking alpha-lipoic acid while eating normally, the same life extension effects will be experienced," the Independent quoted Dr Goyns, as saying.

He added: "Simply adding the supplement to the diet has no effect. It seems that alpha-lipoic acid fools the body into behaving as if it was still on whatever diet it was following before the supplement was added. We found there was an anti-obesity effect as well.

"Although weight does rise when you come off the restricted diet, if you take alpha-lipoic acid, even though you are eating normally again you still have a reduced weight."

The study, published in Mechanisms of Ageing and Development, was carried out by Dr Goyns with colleagues from the University of Liverpool.

The researchers investigated the effect of alpha-lipoic acid when given to rats on normal and low calorie diets.

Experiments have shown that curbing the amount of food rats eat can extend their lives by 25 to 40 per cent.

However, anti-ageing benefits are lost when the rats return to a normal diet. In the study, researchers found the benefits of the low calorie diet were extended by giving the rats the supplement when they returned to normal eating.

Brian Merry of the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Liverpool, who carried out the study, said: "If you put the animals on to a restricted diet they would normally go on to an extended survival trajectory. When they were switched to a normal diet, this compound seemed to lock them into the benefits of their pre-existing diet.

6 Fastest Motorbikes on Earth

Are you a fan on blockbuster Mad Max? If your answer is yes, then obviously the following few pages will be a treat for you.

And if you have not been initiated to the Mad Max movies, even then you would love to feast your eyes on some of the fastest mobikes on earth.

Here are the Six Fastest Motorbikes on this Planet called Earth. (click on the bike name for more details about it)

1. Dodge Tomahawk

2. Suzuki Hayabusa

3. Honda CBR1100XX Blackbird

4. Kawasaki Ninja ZX-11/ZZ-R1100

5. BMW K 1200 S, 174 mph

6. BUB Enterprises Streamliner

Fastest Motorbikes- Dodge Tomahawk

Dodge Tomahawk, 350 mph (560 km/h)

The Dodge Tomahawk is a Viper V-10 based motorcycle-- a 500 horsepower engine with four wheels.

The two front wheels and two rear wheels, make it look like a motorised quadricycle rather than a typical motorcycle.

According to official specifications 0-60 mph times have been estimated at 1.75 seconds, with a top speed of 350 mph. But there are also reports that the top speed is 676 km/h (about 420 mph).

Chrysler sold nine replicas through Neiman Marcus, for up to $555,000 each. The motorcycles cannot be legally driven on public roads.

The unusual vehicle was launched at the 2003 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan.

More details about this fastest motorbike are as following:
• Manufacturer - Dodge
• Production (concept vehicle)
• Engine 10-cylinder 90-degree V-type
• Top speed 350 miles per hour (560 km/h)
• Power 500 bhp (373 kW) @ 5600 rpm (45 kW/L)
• Seat height 29 inches
• Weight 1,500 pounds
• Fuel capacity 3.25 gallons

Fastest Motorbikes- Suzuki Hayabusa

Suzuki Hayabusa, 248 mph (397 km/h)

The name Hayabusa translates directly from the Japanese as Pergerine Falcon, the bird commonly attributed of achieving speeds of over 200 mph (322 km/h) and predator of the common blackbird.

The name is a subtle reference to Honda's competing Hawk models.

When introduced in 1999, it overtook the Honda CBR1100XX Super Blackbird as the fastest production motorcycle.

The first generation of the Hayabusa was called the GSX1300R and was powered by a 1299 cc (79.2 cu in) inline-4 liquid-cooled engine.

The bike made famous in India by the bollywood movie Dhoom will officially be launched in the country in September.

Although boasting of a top speed of 397 km per hour as per recorded figures, the bike that will come to India will have a speed limit of 299 km per hour and will sport a price tag of Rs 11 lakh (1.1 million).

In the US, the 2008 model will boast a price tag of $11,999.

Few more details are as following:
• Manufacturer - Suzuki
• Also called - GSX1300R, 'Busa', 'Bus'
• Production - 1999 - present
• Class - Hyper sport

Fastest Motorbikes- Honda CBR1100XX Blackbird

Honda CBR1100XX Blackbird, 190mph (310km/h)

Honda CBR1100XX Blackbird was the world's fastest production motorcycle, after ripping the title away from the legendary Kawasaki ZX-11.

Production of the Blackbird began in 1996 and halted in late 2007. The Blackbird was last imported to North America in 2003.

Few more details are as following:
• Manufacturer - Honda
• Predecessor CBR1000F Hurricane
• Class - Hyper sport
• Engine Type: 1137cc liquid-cooled inline four-cylinder
• Ignition: Computer-controlled digital with three-dimensional mapping
• Power 114 kW (153 hp) @ 10,000 rpm
• Seat height 810 mm
• Weight 227 kg (500 lbs)
• Fuel capacity 23 liter (including the 4 liter reserve)

Fastest Motorbikes- Kawasaki Ninja ZX-11/ZZ-R1100

Kawasaki Ninja ZX-11/ZZ-R1100, 176 mph (283km/h)

The Kawasaki Ninja ZX-11/ZZ-R1100 was produced from 1990-2001. It was marketed as the ZX-11 Ninja in North America and the ZZ-R1100 in the rest of the world.

This bike held the crown of The World's Fastest Production Bike for close to a decade with a record top speed of 283 km/h (176 mph).

When the bike was introduced in 1990, the nearest production bike top speed was 16 km/h (10 mph) slower and it belonged to the ZX-10, the bike that Kawasaki was replacing with the ZX-11.

More details are as following:
• Manufacturer - Kawasaki
• Predecessor - Kawasaki ZX-10
• Successor - ZZ-R1200/ZX-12R
• Class - Sport Tourer
• Engine - 1052 cc 4-stroke, 4-cylinder, DOHC, liquid-cooled
• Power - 108 kW (147 PS) @ 10,500 rpm
• Transmission - 6 speed

Fastest Motorbikes- BMW K 1200 S

BMW K 1200 S, 174 mph (280 km/h)

With enough raw power to shock even the most seasoned adrenaline junky, the K 1200 S hurls you from a dead stop to sixty mph in just 2.8 seconds.

On 25 September 2004, BMW globally launched a radically redesigned K Series motorcycle, the K 1200 S, containing an all new in-line four-cylinder, liquid-cooled engine featuring 123 kW (165 hp).

After the launch of K 1200 S, BMW unveiled the K 1200 R naked roadster, and the K 1200 GT sport tourer.

Fastest Motorbikes- BUB Enterprises Streamliner

Wondering what this craft that resembles a rocket doing over here? Well this weird looking vehicle held the title of 'the world's fastest motorbike' in 2006.

Chris Carr, 7-time AMA Grand National Champion, piloted the BUB Enterprises Streamliner to a record 350.884 MPH at the 2006 International Motorcycle Speed Trials held at Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah September 7.

Christened 'Seven' by owner Dennis Manning (it being the seventh streamliner Manning has designed in 40 odd years), the fastest motorcycle in the world features a purpose-designed and engineered V-Four cylinder turbo charged 16 valve liquid cooled double overhead cam motor.

Diamonds might have led to life

According to German scientists, “Diamonds could have played an important role in the origin of life on Earth”.

Scientists have long theorised that life on Earth started in a primordial soup of precursor chemicals. But it is unclear how these simple amino acids - the building blocks of life - were assembled into complex polymers needed for the beginning of life.

Diamond is the crystallised form of carbon and predates the oldest known life on the planet. In experiments, researchers found that when treated with hydrogen, natural diamonds formed crystalline layers of water, which is an essential requirement for life, on the surface.
The tests also found electrical conductivity that could have been key in starting chemical reactions needed for the birth of life.

When primitive molecules landed on the surface of these hydrogenated diamonds in the atmosphere of early Earth, a few billion years ago, the resulting reaction may have been sufficient to generate more complex organic molecules that eventually gave rise to life, the researchers said.

'Hydrogenated diamond advances to the best of all possible origin-of-life platforms,' the researchers said.

The new research does not conclusively determine how life began, but lends support one of the possible ways.

The research, by German scientists Andrei Sommer, Dan Zhu, and Hans-Joerg Fecht at the University of Ulm, has been published in the Aug 6 issue of the American Chemical Society's journal Crystal Growth & Design.

More and more girls to engineering studies

More and more girls are taking to engineering studies these days. The enrolment of girls in technical institutes in the country has gone up from 22 percent in 2002 to 125 percent this year, with most preferring system engineering and information and communication, says a survey conducted by ASSOCHAM.

The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry in India (ASSOCHAM), says the emergence of the knowledge economy has motivated more girls to acquire engineering skills.

The survey was carried out under the Social Development Foundation on “Rising Trend of Women towards the Technical Education” and covered over 20 engineering schools, including the National Institutes of Technology (NITs).

Their views were sought and it was discovered that females’ participation in acquiring engineering skills since 2002 onwards was more towards system engineering followed by information and communication, environmental and electrical engineering.

However, aerospace and material engineering are not preferred by women in India. According to Assocham president Sajjan Jindal, women have been bettering their male counterparts in system engineering.

The survey says 90 percent of women engineers are motivated by their academic performance and 71 percent for career as well as good salary prospects that influence them to opt for engineering.

However, in case of men, 79 percent of them opt for engineering by their academic performance as well as challenges that the work brings in.

The survey points out that 71 percent of male engineers take active part in corporate management but hardly 29 percent of women get involved in management activities.

The survey says 55 percent of men and 26 percent of female engineers feel they are equally treated in their organization.

The survey also says that most of the women engineers consult their parents, especially father, in order to pursue a career in engineering. The impact of parents on women (86 percent) is stronger than on men (24 percent).

Honda plans to launch Rs 10 lakh bike to counter Nano

Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India, the wholly owned subsidiary of Japan's Honda Motor Co, plans to launch bikes priced at Rs 10 lakh and above at around the time the Tata Motors will be launching its small car Nano.

The company is looking at two big bikes and one small one in the current financial year, with a volume target of 10 lakh units against 9 lakh sold last year. The big bikes will have engines of 1,000cc and above, while smaller versions will be a 100cc one.

A top company official said Honda's aim is to create a niche segment for bikes and make up for any loss at its entry-level if bike buyers move up to Tata's Rs 1 lakh car. Shinji Aoyama, president and chief executive officer of HMSI, said after the Nano's launch the market for entry segment bikes "will shift to some extent to the inexpensive cars".

"All the three bikes will be launched by March 2009, taking the number of launches to four this fiscal," Aoyama said. He was here to launch the 125cc CBF Stunner, priced at around Rs 48,000-Rs 53,000. Honda has set a sales target of 80,000 units aiming 8% of the total turnover from the model. The other three bikes would account for 2% of turnover.

HSMI, which has an 11% market share at present, is trying to maintain a steady share in India's overall sales of eight million units a year by introducing more models, mostly in the 100cc-plus segment. Ayoma said that while sales of 100cc bikes fell by 15%, sales of 125 cc bikes grew 9% in 2007-08. Suzuki also plans to launch 1,300cc Hayabusa and 1,000cc GSXR this year.

Hey Ladies- Beware of Gastrosexuals

It is often said that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, but now, it seems tables have turned, for a new trend has hit male society called Gastrosexual - which implies that increasing numbers of men are taking up cooking in order to seduce their ladies.

The boom has been fuelled by the popularity of superstar chefs Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver, who have helped make cooking a macho pursuit.

Chef John Meredith, who runs James St Cooking School, in Brisbane's Fortitude Valley, said half of the people booking his classes were men.

"It's very much about men wanting to attract the ladies by serving up a special dinner," he quotes.

"They range from the 18-year-old student trying to be a cut-above, to the 59-year-old man who is newly divorced and maybe on the lookout for love again.

"Guys tend to come to the classes in small groups, which makes it less daunting for them, but often they have no need to worry because they turn out to be better cooks than the girls," he added.

According to UK research, men having the ability to cook is now a key factor in attracting women, along with salary, status, personality and appearance.

The increase in the number of women working full time has also contributed to the rise of the Gastrosexual male.

AustraliaScan social analyst David Chalke said men had been forced to learn how to feed themselves because they were marrying at a later age.

Beware of your fat pals- they can make you obese

Do you have a big belly? If your answer is yes, then have you ever wondered what could be the reasons for this? Well, one of the key reasons behind the extra flab could be your friends, says a new research, which found that spending time with fat people can increase a person's chances of becoming obese.

According to a study conducted by University of Warwick, people are influenced by the weight of those around them without being aware of it, leading to a “spiral of obesity”.

The study suggests that people are powerfully but subconsciously influenced by the weight of those around them. Without being aware of it, the researchers believe, human beings keep up with the weight of the people in their company.

The study has been presented at a National Bureau of Economic Research conference in Cambridge Massachusetts in a paper entitled Imitative Obesity and Relative Utility at the NBER Summer Institute on Health Economics.

Using data on 27,000 Europeans from 29 countries, the researchers find that nearly half of European women feel overweight. Less than a third of males feel overweight.

The authors suggest that whether for reasons of job promotions or finding a mate it is someone's weight relative to others that matters. They show that overweight perceptions and dieting decisions are influenced by people's comparisons with others of the same age and gender.

Highly educated Europeans hold themselves to a particularly tough standard, the research shows. For any given level of Body Mass Index (BMI), somebody with a university degree feels much fatter than someone with low educational qualifications.

Overall, the researchers believe that a person's "utility" depends on their own weight relative to the weight of those around them. They suggest that it is easier to be fat in a society that is fat.
However, the authors also found a significant gender split.

Females were much more prone, for any given BMI value, to feel overweight. For European women, weight dissatisfaction and overweight perceptions depended crucially upon not just their own absolute BMI, but also upon their BMI relative to other women of exactly the same age in their country. Conversely, being overweight tended not to be a significant issue for men if many of those around them were as overweight as they were.

Professor Andrew Oswald at the University of Warwick, one of the researchers, said "Consumption of calories has gone up but that does not tell us why people are eating more. Some have argued that obesity has been produced by cheaper food, but if fatness is a response to greater purchasing power, why do we routinely observe that rich people are thinner than poor people?"

He says: "A lot of research into obesity, which has emphasized sedentary lifestyles or human biology or fast-food, has missed the key point. Rising obesity needs to be thought of as a sociological phenomenon not a physiological one. People are influenced by relative comparisons, and norms have changed and are still changing."