Final Post

Quality Fun Glasses at Zenni Optical

2009-11-01T18:47:00.002+05:30

In the world of glasses and glass frames, zenni optical is a known one. It offers very stylish eyeglasses at an affordable price that can suit every body. Evergreen products from zenni optical include $8 Prescription Zenni Eyeglasses.

Better known for stylish frames, zenni optical has brought some new products. These New Arrivals are more attractive and worth buying.

It has got a special category of products meant for the purpose of holidaying. When you are on holidays, eyeglasses are one thing no one wishes to forget. Holiday Fun Glasses are specially prepared to add spice to enjoy holidays. They have been prepared with materials that doesn’t need much caring. So, while planning a holiday, picking up a fun glass from the stores of zenni optical will be a good purchase. And yes, it will be stylish with some quality.

Barack Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize for 2009

2009-10-09T16:28:00.005+05:30

US President Barack Obama has been surprisingly given the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 for his extraordinary efforts in strengthening international diplomacy and for taking landmark initiatives to create a nuclear-free world.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee said it attached special importance to Obama's vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons.

'Obama has as president created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play,' the committee said on its website.

'Only very rarely has a person, to the same extent as Obama, captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future. His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world's population,' the committee said.

Announcing the award here, an official of the Norwegian Nobel Committee said that Obama was yet to be informed about the award, and would receive the award on December 10 this year.
He also said that Obama had beaten 205 other nominees for the prestigious award, which includes a gold medal, a Nobel diploma and 1.4 million dollars.

The Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded 90 times to 120 Nobel Laureates between 1901 and 2009 - 97 times to individuals and 23 times to organizations.

Since International Committee of the Red Cross was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1917, 1944 and 1963, and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1954 and 1981, that means 97 individuals and 20 organizations have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

The Nobel Peace Prize is one of five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel. According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize should be awarded "to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses."

Alfred Nobel's will stated that a committee of five people elected by the Norwegian Parliament should award the prize. Norway and Sweden were at that time still in union, and with Sweden responsible for all foreign policy. Nobel felt that the prize might be less subject to political corruption if awarded by Norway. The Peace Prize is presented annually in Oslo, in the presence of the king, on December 10 (the anniversary of Nobel's death), and is the only Nobel Prize not presented in Stockholm. "

High Fashion Eyeglasses for $8

2009-08-25T17:22:00.003+05:30

If you are not satisfied with your old eye glasses and thinking as to How You Can Start Spending Smart on your eyeglasses, Zenni Opticals may just be the place for you to be.

It offers some amazing pair of fashionable and comfortable glasses at a very affordable price. I got My favorite high fashion eyeglasses from Zenni Optical. It is the $8 Rx eyeglasses which are very fashionable and yet very affordable.

So, if you want to change your glasses, you may turn to Zenni Optical – A home to fashionable and affordable eyeglasses. Here are some of the stylish eyeglasses from Zenni Optical.

$400 mn from World Bank for small firms in India

2009-05-01T13:55:00.001+05:30

The World Bank has approved $400 million in funding to help small and medium-sized enterprises in India cope with the global credit crisis.

The loan will be made to the Small Industries Development Bank of India, which will make available financing to small and medium-sized companies that are finding it hard to get access to credit. It will also go toward refinancing banks and other institutions that lend to small and medium-sized enterprises, known as SMEs.

"This project is part of a larger program of support in response to the government of India request for funding in light of the financial crisis," said Roberto Zagha, World Bank country director for India.

"It is targeted particularly at SMEs, to help address the credit slowdown that has resulted from the financial crisis," he added.

Waste Management in Australia

2009-03-03T18:11:00.002+05:30

What is the importance of waste management? What sort of roles waste management can play for our life? These could be the top two questions that a self conscious fellow can ask for.

Well, in very short, I will say that waste management maintains our environment for a healthy living. In broader way, it can be said that waste management plays an important role to reduce global warming.

I came to know about an organisation named- Veolia Environmental Services, which is based in Australia. This organisation is a dedicated and foussed one to work in the direction of waste management positively. The organisation specialises in managing daily life general waste to industrial waste. In fact, it works in a wide area of waste management.

Veolia Environmental Services- is spread almost all over Australia. Services of this organisation is available in almost all the cities of Australia. If you find Sydney, neat and clean, with healthy environment to live or travel, this is because of the successful projects like Waste Management Sydney.

Over and all, Veolia Environmental Services in Australia is working towards maintaining a greener life, a healthy life. And in this way, the organisation is doing good not only to the people of Australia but to the whole world indirectly. More related information about Veolia Environmental Services can be found at their site.

Diamond is no-more Hardest Material of World

2009-02-17T18:41:00.001+05:30

A material known as lonsdaleite has displaced diamond as the "world's hardest material".

Though diamond lost its title of the "world's hardest material" some time ago, to man-made nanomaterials of slightly greater toughness, now, a rare natural substance looks likely to leave them all far behind - at 58 percent harder than diamond.

Zicheng Pan at Shanghai Jiao Tong University and colleagues simulated how atoms in two substances believed to have promise as very hard materials would respond to the stress of a finely tipped probe pushing down on them.

The first, wurtzite boron nitride has a similar structure to diamond, but is made up of different atoms.

The second, the mineral lonsdaleite, or hexagonal diamond is made from carbon atoms just like diamond, but they are arranged in a different shape.

Only small amounts of wurtzite boron nitride and lonsdaleite exist naturally or have been made in the lab so until now no one had realised their superior strength.

The simulation showed that wurtzide boron nitride would withstand 18 percent more stress than diamond, and lonsdaleite 58 percent more.

If the results are confirmed with physical experiments, both materials would be far harder than any substance ever measured.

Rare mineral lonsdaleite is sometimes formed when meteorites containing graphite hit Earth, while wurtzite boron nitride is formed during volcanic eruptions that produce very high temperatures and pressures.

However, wurtzite boron nitride may turn out most useful of the two, because it is stable in oxygen at higher temperatures than diamond.

This makes it ideal to place on the tips of cutting and drilling tools operating at high temperatures, or as corrosion resistant films - on the surface of a space vehicle, for example.

Paradoxically, wurtzite boron nitride's hardness appears to come from the flexibility of the bonds between the atoms that make it up. When the material is stressed some bonds re-orientate themselves by about 90 degrees to relieve the tension.

Biggest SCANDALS of INDIA

2009-01-08T18:55:00.002+05:30

Here is a list of Indian scandals, which are either real or alleged.

In 1900s

Telecom scam (Sukh Ram)
HDW Submarine
Bitumen scam
Tansi land deal
JMM Bribery Scandal
St Kitts case
Urea scam
Anantnag transport subsidy scam
1971 Nagarwala scandal
Fodder scam
1975: Declaration of Emergency
Churhat lottery scam

In 1990s
• Bofors Scandal
• Animal Husbandry Case (1990)
• Bombay Stock Exchange Manipulation & Fraud by Harshad Mehta (1992)
• Hawala scandal (1993)
• Sukh Ram (1996)
• Fodder Scam in Bihar (1996)
• Kerala SNC Lavalin power scandal (1997)

In 2000s
• Ketan Parekh Scandal (2001)
• Barak Missile Deal Scandal (2001)
• Tehelka Scandal (2001)
• Taj corridor case (2002-2003)
• Telgi scandal (2003)
• Nitish Katara Murder Case (2004)
• Oil for food programme scam (Natwar Singh) (2005)
• Jessica Lal case (2006)
• Human Trafficking Scam involving Babubhai Katara
• Gujarat Fake Encounter Controversy (2007)
• Cash-for-vote scandal in the federal parliament (2008)
• Satyam Scandal (2009)- This scandal is said to be the biggest in India till date.

True love and passion last a lifetime

2009-01-06T16:19:00.002+05:30

According to a new study based on brain scans, it has been revealed that true love and passion is hardly ever dented by ravages of age.

Brain scans of couples who have been together for 20 years prove that they are really capable of loving each other with the same intensity and passion as they felt in their initial relationship, until their last breath.

These scans showed that a tenth of them showed a burst of pleasure-boosting dopamine while looking at the photos of their loved ones, the same chemical reaction that young couples exhibit in the first flush of lust.

It contradicts a previous study suggesting that passionate love peters out in 15 months, after going through a roller coaster ride, called "limerence" in psychological parlance.

Stony Brook University (SBU) researchers who conducted the latest study said that when limerence matures, it permits couples to enjoy "intensive companionship and sexual liveliness".

Simply stated, they are able to sustain the same level of romance and passion decades later.

Researchers concentrated on factors like passion, romantic love and lust. They nicknamed such couples 'swans' because swans, voles and grey foxes stay paired for a lifetime.

'The findings go against the traditional view of romance - that it drops off sharply in the first decade - but we are sure it's real,' said Arthur Aron, SBU psychologist.

Barack Obama tops History Makers of 2008 list

2008-12-26T19:30:00.002+05:30

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

2008-12-18T19:27:00.001+05:30

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

2008-12-14T19:24:00.000+05:30

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

2008-12-07T14:02:00.002+05:30

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

2008-11-09T14:03:00.003+05:30

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
.
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

2008-11-05T12:50:00.003+05:30

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

2008-10-29T13:26:00.004+05:30

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

2008-10-22T12:37:00.003+05:30

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

2008-10-22T12:21:00.001+05:30

“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

2008-10-21T17:26:00.003+05:30

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

2008-10-15T17:48:00.004+05:30

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

2008-10-06T11:08:00.001+05:30

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

2008-10-02T17:19:00.002+05:30

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

2008-10-01T15:09:00.003+05:30

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

2008-09-21T13:53:00.001+05:30

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

2008-09-11T18:41:00.004+05:30

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

2008-09-11T18:36:00.002+05:30

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.