In two days, Games tickets worth Rs 80 lakh sold

New Delhi, June 5 — In just two days since the sale began, tickets worth more than Rs 80 lakh were sold for 19th edition of the Commonwealth Games to be held from October 3 to 14 in the Capital. On day one, 1700 tickets worth Rs 20 lakh were sold.

“The response is overwhelming. We hope to reach our target very fast,” a Commonwealth Games (CWG) organising committee spokesperson said. He, however, could not specify the number of tickets sold so far. The organising committee expect to sell 17 lakh tickets generating Rs 60-70crore.

Tickets can be bought from seven branches of Central Bank of India, five Hero Honda showrooms and from the Commonwealth Games (CWG) website. Ticket are priced from Rs 50 to Rs 1,000, but prices for the opening ceremony have been kept between Rs 1,000 and Rs 50,000 and for the closing, from Rs 750 to Rs 50,000.

An added advantage for those queueing up to purchase tickets is that each ticket holder would be entitled for free travel in the Delhi Metro and DTC buses to reach and return from the venue on the day of the event.

Pammie’s boobs will help her win Dancing With Stars, feels her dance teacher

London, March 20 (ANI): Pamela Anderson”s breasts will help her win the upcoming season of U.S. TV hit Dancing With The Stars, feels her new dance teacher.

Anderson”s partner, Aussie Damian Whitewood, believes the former Baywatch babe has an added advantage being “top heavy” and toils hard to perfect her routine.

“It helps keep your weight over your toes, your weight forward; (it”s) an added bonus. You”re gonna have good body contact, that”s another plus,” the Daily Express quoted him as saying.

Whitewood added: “She”s totally committed to it, which is fantastic.” (ANI)

Waste breweries could help generate power

Washington, Aug 22 (ANI): A new study suggests that after making beer, the waste from breweries can be used to generate power.

It would now mean a huge relief and an added advantage for brewers who face difficulty in getting rid of thousands of tons of grain left over at the end of the brewing process.

Wolfgang Bengel, the technical director of BMP Biomasse Projekt, a German biomass company, came up with the innovative idea to create power from the leftovers.

“We reached a situation in 2000 where breweries even had to pay to dispose of their spent grain,” Live Science quoted him as saying.

The most beneficial part is that the energy could help fuel the breweries themselves.

Bengel explained: “Beer making is energy intensive – you boil stuff, use hot water and steam and then use electric energy for cooling – so if you recover more than 50 percent of your own energy costs from the spent grain, that’s a big saving.”

The process to generate power: wet grain and wastewater is put into a fermenter loaded with bacteria that break down organic compounds to generate methane.

Then, the biogas and dried sludge from the fermenter are burned to boil water and produce high-pressure steam, which in turn drives a turbine to generate power.

Bengel said that, “a modern energy efficient brewery may regain 60 percent of their total energy demand”. (ANI)

Powering a woman’s sex drive

Men have traditionally been touted as the ‘hungry for sex’ species. With a comparatively higher sex drive than their female partner, men are often expected to assume charge while performing in bed and are held responsible for a gratifying act too.

But why are men having all the fun? Women too can act bold when it comes to showing off their sex drive. But how?

Dr. Deepak Arora, a sexologist elucidates, “Men love their wives to have sex and wives have sex to get love from their men, in this way they become a supplement for each other. So if the female partner starts taking an equal interest in the act of intimacy; it can bring them closer to each other and they can enjoy a healthy sexual relationship.”

Relationship and sex counselor Dr. Geetu Bhardwaj supports, “Gone are the days when a ‘high sex drive’ was considered a male prerogative. With various sexual techniques and arousal methods, even women can enhance their sex appeal and thus give their sex drive a much needed boost. Once women empower themselves to take charge in bed, they can overtake men not only in their sex drive, but also in sexual performance.”

Breaking away from the preset notion of ‘men are sexually more active’, we get experts to share ways as to how a woman can overtake her man in sex drive…

Take charge of foreplay : Men, in general, are not overtly interested in prolonged foreplay. So it comes as an added advantage for women to give a push to their sex drive and initiate the primary foreplay. Sex therapist Dr. Devesh Roy advices, “Women must keep in mind that the arousing acts should be intense so that the man feels that you are fully charged up for a steamy session in bed. Do not focus much on unnecessary things like cooking a meal etc that may mar the mood before it actually gets going.”

Plan for a sensuous night : You’d have often seen in Bollywood flicks that the hero is decorating the room for a night of passion and is going all out to woo his lady love with surprise gifts. But why do men make way for these sexual fantasies? It’s time for women to let their wild imagination spread its magic. Relationship and sex counselor Dr. Geetu Bhardwaj opines, “Keeping their sexual desires on a high, women can plan for opulent bedroom settings whereby they can have everything that hints towards their sexual desire. Right from dim lights and aroma oils to fragrant rose petals and orchids strands; create an atmosphere that is conducive for a lovemaking night.”

Dress attractively : Quite often, women feel low on sex drive because they feel less sexy and attractive from inside. Hence, they wait for men to pamper them and make them feel wanted. Dr. Amita Mishra, a relationship expert however states, “Looking attractive in sexy attires like a bikini or see-through lingerie ignites the female sexual desire to get intimate with their partner and vice-versa. Even if your man is not interested in sex on a particular night, there are chances that your dressing provocatively will arouse them for a sexual session.”

Exchange naughty gestures : While men always boast of their sex drive through gestures like tickling, caressing, kissing, whispering and at times publicly displaying their affection, women too should try shedding their inhibitions and acting a bit naughty. While having dinner, women can try holding their mate’s hands or giving them a surprise hug when he’s shirtless right after a shower. “These sexual gestures act as clear indications that a woman is much more aroused as compared to the man. This high sex drive gets translated into a wonderful chemistry in the bedroom while having sex,” feels Dr. Roy.

Make kissing a memorable experience : Passionate kissing works wonders in your sexual paradise, but again don’t let your man make the first move. Make him feel that you know much more than him when it comes to kissing. Try different kinds of kisses and drive him crazy. “Kissing is a quintessential part of foreplay, the actual act and after-sex moments. Women can use kissing as a weapon to stimulate their partners and at the same time also experiment with newer ways of kissing to leave their partner utterly surprised,” suggests Dr. Geetu.

Don’t insist too much on contraception : A short cut to let your man know that you’re equally, or more, ravenous for sex is to let the things happen without much of interruption. While performing in bed, women must not insist too much on using protection and just try to enjoy the act. “Continuous reminders about using contraception make a man feel that the woman is not keen on sex and is rather overtly worried about the aftermath. So it’s suggested that the pleasurable moments should be performed sans any hindrance to show a woman’s craving for sex,” says Dr. Amita.

Triple drug therapy shows promise in treating breast cancer

Washington, May 16 (ANI): Mayo researchers have suggested a triple drug therapy that may offer a promising new option for breast cancer.

They said that combining two chemotherapy drugs with trastuzumab (Herceptin) to treat women who have metastatic HER2+ breast cancer might offer physicians another choice in their treatment options.

“This is a very well tolerated regimen. The combination is a good example of an excellent therapeutic ratio: good activity and low toxicity,” said study’s senior investigator, Dr Edith Perez, director of Mayo Clinic’s Breast Center in Jacksonville.
Dr Winston Tan, a medical oncologist at Mayo Clinic said that the chemotherapy regimen was previously tested in Europe and demonstrated good anti-tumour activity and low toxicity, so Mayo researchers combined it with Herceptin.

They found that 67pct of the 45 patients responded to treatment, with their tumours decreasing in size by at least 30 percent.

“The results are encouraging, and would support a larger, randomized Phase III study,” he said.

“This is a Phase II study of this triple combination, so we would need to study this treatment against the standard best two-drug treatment in a randomized Phase III study to know if this triplet is more effective.

“This regimen seems to be a very reasonable choice, and it offers the added advantage that women who use it do not lose their hair,” he says. The drug combination used most commonly for patients with HER2+ breast cancer that has spread – paclitaxel or docetaxel with trastuzumab – always causes hair loss,” he added.

The study was presented at the 45th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). (ANI)

International airport to boost flower export business in Kashmir

Srinagar, Mar 27 (ANI): The opening of an international airport has buoyed the hopes of flower growers in Kashmir as avenues for selling their produce in international markets open up.

Flower growers and exporters are anticipating a huge boost in flower business, as they are hopeful to tap the international markets especially the Gulf countries where the demand for flowers is quite high.

Kashmir’s floriculture department is quite upbeat about taking the state’s flowers on international arena and will soon be imparting technical know how and providing other help to the growers for expanding their business.

“Very soon we will try and impart technical support and provide other know how like finance to our flower growers and encourage them in every possible way so that the flower business will get a good chance to grow and boom with the opening of this international airport,” said G.S Naqash, Director, Floriculture Department, Kashmir.

The flower growers are also happy as they can now sell their produce in the international market at no extra cost.

The freight charge paid by the flower growers to ship their flowers to Delhi is around 25 to 30 rupees freight per kilogram but for sending the same produce to Dubai, the freight will cost them only 10 rupees per kilogram because of the subsidy provided by the Agriculture Product Export Development Agency (APEDA).

Also the reduction in freight time is an added advantage.

“Earlier we used to worry about the flowers that we used to send from here as it used to rot in the transport time only. But now with the international airport, we can send across our flowers within few hours and this could benefit the flower growers a lot,” said Nazir Ahmed, a flower grower.

Floriculture has evolved as lucrative employment option in Kashmir in the recent years. Gerbera, Lilium, Carnation, Marigold, Tulips are some of the flowers grown and exported from the valley. The state has a rich market of flowers worth over 100 million rupees. By Parvez Butt(ANI)

Obamas promote “homegrown” with White House veggie garden

Washington – With an eye to the nation’s expanding waistlines and dwindling incomes, Michelle Obama is organizing a vegetable garden at the White House.

The spade was to be turned later Friday for the first such garden at the White House since the victory garden planted by Eleanor Roosevelt during World War II, media reports said.

Fifth graders from a local elementary school in Washington are to help plant, harvest and cook the vegetables, berries and herbs.

“My hope is that through children, they will begin to educate their families and that will, in turn, begin to educate our communities,” Obama was quoted as saying in the New York Times.

The message “eat local” has become a mantra of the environmental movement, which wants people to give up their habit of eating food from far away in the interest of cutting carbon emissions.

Health experts say that diets improve when people plant and eat fresh grown vegetables and fruit, which keep more of their nutritional value when eaten immediately after harvest and displace many of the processed, fattening and high sugar foods bought at the grocery store.

The added advantage is one of cost, a specially important factor as people tighten their financial belts to survive the recession. (dpa)

Men value education more than chastity in women, women Mr. Family Guy

Washington, Feb 8 (ANI): This Valentine’s Day researchers at University of Iowa have taken the opportunity to a question that has haunted people for eternity – what men and women want in a partner.

In their study, University of Iowa sociologists Christine Whelan and Christie Boxer, found that men are increasingly interested in an educated woman who is a good financial prospect and less interested in chastity.

On the other hand, women prefer a man who wants a family and less picky about whether he’s always Mr. Nice Guy.

For the study, the researchers analysed results of a 2008 survey of more than 1,100 undergraduates at the UI, the University of Washington, the University of Virginia and Penn State University, comparing the results to past mate-preference studies.

Since the 1930s, researchers have been asking college students to rank a list of 18 characteristics they’d prefer in a mate from “irrelevant” (0) to “essential” (3), allowing for a comparison of mate preferences dating back three generations.

And it was found that today’s young adults rank love and attraction as most important, which didn’t even make the top three a few generations ago.

“Marriage used to be a practical arrangement. Getting married for love or attraction was considered foolish and perhaps even dangerous,” said Whelan, author of “Marry Smart: The Intelligent Woman’s Guide to True Love” and a visiting assistant professor of sociology in the UI College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

In the 1930s male respondents were seeking a dependable, kind lady who had skills in the kitchen. Chastity was more important than intelligence.

But, the recent results indicate that guys look for love, brains and beauty, and if the lady has a sizable salary to her credit, it’s an added advantage.

Men ranked “good financial prospect” No. 12 in 2008, a significant climb from No. 17 in 1939 and No. 18 in 1967.

“These results are consistent with the rise in educational and career opportunities for women, and men’s increasing desire to share the financial burdens with a future spouse,” said Whelan.

However, chastity, which men ranked at No. 10 in 1939, fell to dead last in 2008.

“When we administered the survey, several female students snickered at the idea that we even included the chastity item. This is consistent with the widespread hook-up culture on college campuses,” said Whelan.

Women of the 1930s ranked emotional stability, dependable character and ambition as the top three characteristics they wanted in a man. Attraction and love didn’t come in until No. 5.

But today, women, like men, put love at the top of the list, with dependability and emotional stability rounding out the top three characteristics in their Mr. Right.

The ladies rated desire for home and children much higher in importance than men do.

In 2008, women rated desire for home and children fourth men ranked it ninth.

The researchers compiled a list of what the sexes look for in their prospective mates.

What Men Want

Essential characteristics:

Mutual attraction and love.

Dependable character.

Emotional stability.

Important characteristics:

Education and intelligence.

Good looks.

Ambition.

Desirable characteristics:

Good financial prospect.

Good cook and housekeeper.

Unimportant characteristics:

Similar political background.

Chastity.

What Women Want

Essential characteristics:

Mutual attraction and love.

Dependable character.

Emotional stability.mportant characteristics:

Education and intelligence.

Desire for home and children.

Ambition.

Desirable characteristics:

Good looks.

Refinement.

Unimportant characteristics:

Similar political background.

Chastity. (ANI)