For Women, Same-Sex Experimentation In College A Myth

A study (PDF) on sexual behavior, attraction and identity released earlier this month by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that women with at least a bachelor's degree are less likely to have had a same-sex experience than less-educated women.

Between 2006 and 2008, the study's authors asked 13,495 individuals aged 15 to 44 to answer a number of questions about their sexual habits and found that while 9.9 percent of college-educated women said they'd had a sexual experience with a female, 14 to 15 percent of women without a college degree said the same. According to the New York Times, only 1 percent of the 13 percent who reported having had same-sex encounters identified as homosexual, and only 4 percent as bisexual.

The report's findings call into question the popular notion that college campuses are a place for young women to explore their sexuality. Officer of the Council on Contemporary Families and University of Illinois at Chicago professor Barbara Risman says the Lesbian-Until-Graduation (LUG) stereotype has long been exaggerated. "I always thought the LUG phenomenon was overblown, in the context of it being erotically titillating for young men," she told the Times.

The study shows that although educational differences in same sex experience for males were less pronounced than for females, men with some college were nearly 3 percent more likely than men with no college to have had a sexual encounter with another male, and that women are almost twice as likely as men to have had same-sex encounters.

Read the full report here.

What do you think of the study's findings? Are LUGs a myth, or is there some truth to the old stereotype? Share your thoughts in the comments section.

Your Ideal Man is 22 Kisses Away

Your Mr. Right is 22 kisses, 5 heartbreaks away: Study

London : A new study claims that the average woman will kiss 22 men, have four long-term relationships and get her heart broken five times before meeting "the one".

The path to true love will also see her endure six bad dates, have six one-night stands and be cheated on four times before finding her perfect match, reports the Daily Express.

The average man will make slightly more of his single days, kissing 23 girls and having 10 one-night stands before getting round to settling down.

But he will also have his heart broken six times, according to the survey of 2,000 people.

Spokesman Dean Adams said: "We all know how hard it can be to find the right one but seeing it added up like this makes for terrifying reading."
The survey found that the average woman would have her first boyfriend at 15, and date nine men before settling down.

She will be dumped four times and will break up with someone five times.

But when they find their perfect match, women know within the first four weeks.

Small Boobs Are Sexy

Not all 'flat-chested women want big boobs'

New York : Being flat-chested may once have been an embarrassment, but recent trends indicate otherwise.

Ellen Shing, the owner of Lula Lu, a California-based website that caters to AAA- to A-cup sizes, said that while some women do look for padded bras, the majority "don't want to super-size themselves".

"It's a misconception that you want to be bigger if you're smaller," The New York Daily News quoted Shing as saying.

An increasing number of websites and retailers are saying, "The way you are is perfect, and here's how I can help you" and not "Here's how you stuff your bra", said Elisabeth Dale (formerly Squires), author of Boobs: A Guide to Your Girls.

In fact, women with modest busts are proudly flaunting what little they've got with a deep V-neck cut or a halter-top.

Twitter, Facebook and online blogs are witnessing a surge in online users "gushing about the lingerie and clothes that scream, ''Can you handle me?'' not ''Am I enough?'' "

Facebook groups like Flat Chested and Proud of It! and Flat Chested Girls United exist, and their members trade bon mots as profound as "im flat as a tack :)", which garner male support like "You are blessed."

Of course, it doesn't mean that no one is ranting about modest bust lines anymore. Bust magazine, with its feminist streak, has an online support group for those laid low by their tiny breasts.

With its motto "Small is Beautiful," Lula Lu is just one of several retailers and bra makers serving the band of women who make no excuses for their inconspicuous bosoms. Other online brands, like Itty Bitty Bra, require women to have a sense of humour about being "bust-challenged", as the website jokes.

"I'm okay with not having cleavage," said Heidi Brockmyre, a petite size 28A, an acupuncturist, but the new breed of bras for smaller busts just make it "more fun to wear tank tops".

Make Up For Ever: Prints First Unretouched Make Up Ad

Beauty High reports that Make Up For Ever has debuted the first unretouched makeup ad.

We're sure it's not the first first -- there were probably a few non-airbrushed advertisements here and there between the creation of cosmetics and the invention of Photoshop.

And the brand obviously selected a beautiful model and shot her from her Myspace Angle (i.e. far away, lens pointing down).

But look at her arm! It's dimply with bands of shadow and discoloration. Just like ours!

Take a look and tell us what you think.

Cancer Survivor's Crusade

With Mizoram becoming the Capital of Cancer in India. It will be helpful for many to the Item below.

Ritu Biyani Joseph

Being on the move is not just for seeing scenic spots, but to spread awareness about cancer, Ritu Biyani Joseph tells S. Sandeep Kumar

In 177 days, she travelled over 30,000 kilometres, reaching the four geographical tips of the country.

This adventure trip might be a task for many but not for Ritu Biyani Joseph, a cancer survivor.

She completed the trip along with her daughter in 2006.

Though it was adventurous, there was a cause -- to create awareness about cancer and disseminating information about the dreadful disease -- in undertaking the trip.

Apart from being a mountaineer, skydiver, photographer, lady paratrooper from the Indian Army Dental Corps, this avid adventurer is also a dental surgeon.

Though it was shattering for her, when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2000, Ritu Biyani Joseph did not lose her confidence or heart.

“I still remember it. I was diagnosed with breast cancer a month after launching my private clinic at Pune. But I believed in myself,” says Dr. Ritu Biyani Joseph.

But what made her to undertake the trip? “I am always game for adventure trips. Perhaps it was the action of an educated lady in leaving my clinic after enquiring about my baldness (due to chemotherapy), that clinched the decision,” she says sporting a smile. “There is no awareness about cancer among people, particularly women. It is high time to disseminate information and make people aware. After undergoing treatment, I decided to do that,” says Ms. Ritu, who was in the city recently to flag off a cancer awareness drive.

Till date, she travelled over 70,000 kilometres covering the length and breadth of the country and conducted nearly 500 workshops, particularly about breast cancer, cervix and oral cancer at different places.

The moment people are diagnosed with cancer, they lose hope. They indulge in self-pity and this should be avoided. People should first accept it and then communicate with family members. There are many support groups and experts are willing to counsel patients, she urges.

Not confining to participating in adventure trips, she launched Highways Infinite, a foundation that works on conducting workshops, counselling sessions etc.

The objective is to reach to the people with emphasis on youth across the country.

Thanks to technology, people from remote places in Assam and Jharkhand seek counselling over phone, informs the 51-year-old cancer survivor.

She can be contacted over phone: +91-9881232744 or email at: missionhighways@gmail.com

Sexonomics: The Harsh Laws Of Supply And Demand That Mean Even Loser Young Men Are Getting More Sex Than Ever

Sex Is Cheap

Why young men have the upper hand in bed, even when they're failing in life.

By Mark Regnerus

We keep hearing that young men are failing to adapt to contemporary life. Their financial prospects are impaired—earnings for 25- to 34-year-old men have fallen by 20 percent since 1971. Their college enrollment numbers trail women's: Only 43 percent of American undergraduates today are men. Last year, women made up the majority of the work force for the first time. And yet there is one area in which men are very much in charge: premarital heterosexual relationships.

When attractive women will still bed you, life for young men, even those who are floundering, just isn't so bad. This isn't to say that all men direct the course of their relationships. Plenty don't. But what many young men wish for—access to sex without too many complications or commitments—carries the day. If women were more fully in charge of how their relationships transpired, we'd be seeing, on average, more impressive wooing efforts, longer relationships, fewer premarital sexual partners, shorter cohabitations, and more marrying going on. Instead, according to the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (which collects data well into adulthood), none of these things is occurring. Not one. The terms of contemporary sexual relationships favor men and what they want in relationships, not just despite the fact that what they have to offer has diminished, but in part because of it. And it's all thanks to supply and demand.

To better understand what's going on, it's worth a crash course in "sexual economics," an approach best articulated by social psychologists Roy Baumeister and Kathleen Vohs. As Baumeister, Vohs, and others have repeatedly shown, on average, men want sex more than women do. Call it sexist, call it whatever you want—the evidence shows it's true. In one frequently cited study, attractive young researchers separately approached opposite-sex strangers on Florida State University's campus and proposed casual sex. Three-quarters of the men were game, but not one woman said yes. I know: Women love sex too. But research like this consistently demonstrates that men have a greater and far less discriminating appetite for it. As Baumeister and Vohs note, sex in consensual relationships therefore commences only when women decide it does.

And yet despite the fact that women are holding the sexual purse strings, they aren't asking for much in return these days—the market "price" of sex is currently very low. There are several likely reasons for this. One is the spread of pornography: Since high-speed digital porn gives men additional sexual options—more supply for his elevated demand—it takes some measure of price control away from women. The Pill lowered the cost as well. There are also, quite simply, fewer social constraints on sexual relationships than there once were. As a result, the sexual decisions of young women look more like those of men than they once did, at least when women are in their twenties. The price of sex is low, in other words, in part because its costs to women are lower than they used to be.

But just as critical is the fact that a significant number of young men are faring rather badly in life, and are thus skewing the dating pool. It's not that the overall gender ratio in this country is out of whack; it's that there's a growing imbalance between the number of successful young women and successful young men. As a result, in many of the places where young people typically meet—on college campuses, in religious congregations, in cities that draw large numbers of twentysomethings—women outnumber men by significant margins. (In one Manhattan ZIP code, for example, women account for 63 percent of 22-year-olds.)

The idea that sex ratios alter sexual behavior is well-established. Analysis of demographic data from 117 countries has shown that when men outnumber women, women have the upper hand: Marriage rates rise and fewer children are born outside marriage. An oversupply of women, however, tends to lead to a more sexually permissive culture. The same holds true on college campuses. In the course of researching our book Premarital Sex in America, my co-author and I assessed the effects of campus sex ratios on women's sexual attitudes and behavior. We found that virginity is more common on those campuses where women comprise a smaller share of the student body, suggesting that they have the upper hand. By contrast, on campuses where women outnumber men, they are more negative about campus men, hold more negative views of their relationships, go on fewer dates, are less likely to have a boyfriend, and receive less commitment in exchange for sex.

The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health data offer other glimpses into just how low the cost of sex is for young men ages 18 through 23. Take the speed with which these men say their romantic relationships become sexual: 36 percent of young men's relationships add sex by the end of the second week of exclusivity; an additional 13 percent do so by the end of the first month. A second indicator of cheap sex is the share of young men's sexual relationships—30 percent—that don't involve romance at all: no wooing, no dates, no nothing. Finally, as my colleagues and I discovered in our interviews, striking numbers of young women are participating in unwanted sex—either particular acts they dislike or more frequent intercourse than they'd prefer or mimicking porn (being in a dating relationship is correlated to greater acceptance of and use of porn among women).

Yes, sex is clearly cheap for men. Women's "erotic capital," as Catherine Hakim of the London School of Economics has dubbed it, can still be traded for attention, a job, perhaps a boyfriend, and certainly all the sex she wants, but it can't assure her love and lifelong commitment. Not in this market. It's no surprise that the percentage of 25- to 34-year-olds who are married has shrunk by an average of 1 percent each year this past decade.

Jill, a 20-year-old college student from Texas, is one of the many young women my colleagues and I interviewed who finds herself confronting the sexual market's realities. Startlingly attractive and an all-star in all ways, she patiently endures her boyfriend's hemming and hawing about their future. If she were operating within a collegiate sexual economy that wasn't oversupplied with women, men would compete for her and she would easily secure the long-term commitment she says she wants. Meanwhile, Julia, a 21-year-old from Arizona who's been in a sexual relationship for two years, is frustrated by her boyfriend's wish to "enjoy the moment and not worry about the future." Michelle, a 20-year-old from Colorado, said she is in the same boat: "I had an ex-boyfriend of mine who said that, um, he didn't know if he was ever going to get married because, he said, there's always going to be someone better." If this is "the end of men," someone really ought to let them know.

And yet while young men's failures in life are not penalizing them in the bedroom, their sexual success may, ironically, be hindering their drive to achieve in life. Don't forget your Freud: Civilization is built on blocked, redirected, and channeled sexual impulse, because men will work for sex. Today's young men, however, seldom have to. As the authors of last year's book Sex at Dawn: The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality put it, "Societies in which women have lots of autonomy and authority tend to be decidedly male-friendly, relaxed, tolerant, and plenty sexy." They're right. But then try getting men to do anything.

source: Slate.com

Why You Should Not Date A Beautiful Girl!

London, Mar 2 : If you are dating a beautiful girl, please take note: Relationships in which the woman is more attractive than the man may be doomed to failure, says a new study.

However, having a handsome husband or boyfriend is no barrier to the couple's success, according to the study.

A team from the Stirling, Chester and Liverpool University in the UK spotted the strange phenomenon while studying whether people tend to pair up with those who are similarly attractive to themselves.

The findings could help explain why Angelina Jolie's marriages to actors Jonny Lee Miller and Billy Bob Thornton ended in just three years, while her relationship with Brad Pitt -- one of the world's most handsome celebrities – has already lasted six years, the Daily Mail reported.

For the study, the researchers took photos of the men and women in more than 100 couples. Some had been together for just a few months, others for several years. The individual men and women were then rated on their looks.

Their analysis revealed that having an attractive husband or boyfriend was no barrier to a relationship succeeding. But, if the woman was extremely beautiful, the relationships tended to last only a matter of months, the researchers found.

Researcher Rob Burriss said: "This would indicate it is the woman who is in control of whether the relationship continues."

"Beautiful women may realise they can afford to pick and choose," he suggested, adding that they may also have the confidence to leave behind relationships that have run their course.

"Attractive women might generally prefer short-term relationships. They're better placed to move on," he said. It is also possible that the relationships end due to jealous behaviour from the woman's less photogenic partner.

Conversely, the less attractive women "may have to make do with what they have, hence the longer relationships", noted Dr Burriss.

The study also found that people tend to pair up with people whose facial features have a similar level of symmetry -- a sign of beauty -- to our own.

"Are all men trying to go out with Anne Hathaway or Angelina Jolie, or do you really wanted to be with someone at the same level of attractiveness as yourself? These findings suggest our ideal partner is one on our own kind of level," Dr Burriss concluded.

The new study was published in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.

Binge Drinking? Blame It On Your Genes

Washington: Two genes that seem to trigger binge drinking have been identified, potentially paving the way to better treatments for excessive alcohol consumption.

Researchers found that manipulating two brain receptors, GABA receptor and toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), "caused profound reduction" of binge drinking for two weeks in rodents that had been engineered to drink excessively.

The study found that treatments that manipulate both the GABA receptor and toll-like receptor 4 have the potential to reduce anxiety and control craving, with little to no risk for addiction, says lead investigator Harry June, the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reports.

"Binge drinking -- defined as achieving a blood-alcohol content of .08 g percent, the legal limit in many states, in a two-hour period -- is a serious form of excessive drinking," says June, a professor of psychiatry and pharmacology and experimental therapeutics at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

About 30 percent of Americans drink excessively, and about 75,000 people die each year from the effects of excessive drinking.

Current treatments for excessive alcohol drinking include prescription drugs Revia and Campral for controlling craving. To ease withdrawal symptoms, doctors often prescribe medications such as Valium and Librium, which reduce the anxiety alcoholics feel when they stop drinking but do not reduce the cravings. Both drugs also carry their own risks of addiction.

It's Official: Men Look At Women's Breasts First

Washington, Feb 24 : Women often say that men tend to ogle at their breasts and their face is the last thing they notice, and now a scientific study has found evidence to prove them right.

Scientists have found that almost half - 47 per cent - of men first glance at a woman's breasts.

A third of the "first fixations" are on the waist and hips, while fewer than 20 per cent look at the woman's face, reports the Daily Mail in UK.

In fact, breasts are not only the first thing men look at, they also glance at them for longer than any other body part, revealed experts.

Many believe that the reason behind such male tendency could be evolutionary, as women with larger chests and slim waists - such as Jennifer Hawkins, Lara Bingle and Rachael Finch - have higher levels of the female hormone oestrogen, indicating greater fertility.

But the researchers conceded that there could be a more prosaic explanation.

"Men may be looking more often at the breasts because they are simply aesthetically pleasing, regardless of the size," the Daily Telegraph quoted them as saying.

Subjects tested by researchers from New Zealand's University of Wellington were presented with six images of the same woman, digitally altered to increase or decrease the size of her bust, waist and hips.

The scientists recorded which areas men looked at first, the number of times they looked, and how long their gaze lasted, using cameras and mirrors to measure tiny eye movements.

"Eighty per cent of first fixations were on the breasts and midriff. Men spent consistently more time looking at the breasts and also made significantly more fixations upon them than other regions," the study concluded.

It also found that men began to gaze at the "components of the hourglass figure" within 0.2 seconds.

The research also discovered that few glances were directed at the arms, lower legs and feet.

Meet The Flexisexuals - Girls Who Kiss Girls, But Like Boys

Washington, Feb 24 : It all started when Madonna kissed Britney Spears on stage, followed by Katy Perry who sang a song about a girl she kissed -- and now it seems the 'flexisexuality' trend is fast catching up.

The new word has been coined for the growing number of straight women who flirt with bisexuality. It refers to people who have a sexual preference but refuse to be bound by it.

Pop culture, itself, seems to celebrate that flexibility in songs like Katie Perry's, 'I Kissed a Girl (and I Liked It),' a song that 19-year-old Alisha Garrison said "made girls be more free to do whatever they want," reports ABC News.

Flexisexual is also known as heteroflexible, pansexual or queer, all subtle variations that mean they are not closing any doors.

Other examples from the entertainment industry include Lindsay Lohan who was dating DJ Samantha Ronson, insisting she wasn't a lesbian but bisexual, Drew Barrymore, who said, "Being with a woman is like exploring your own body, but through someone else."

A recent ABC report from San Antonio, Texas, said flexisexuality is also part of the high school culture.

A 2003 study from Northwestern University found that compared with men, women's sexual arousal patterns may be less tightly connected to their sexual orientation and more 'flexible'.

Some like to do it to attract boys' attention and simply like to live up to the manage-a-trois fantasy of the men they seek to please.

And some think it even 'indirectly mocks' the gay community, according to Caleb Fox, a 20-year-old from the University of Texas.

"Straight men really like the idea of two 'hot' girls making out," he said.

"And because I don't think these 'flexisexuals' are really lesbians, it doesn't seem that they're actually seeking a romantic relationship with another woman -- it's more about a show. And from a feminist standpoint it continues the objectification of women."

Lisa Diamond, associate professor of gender studies at University of Utah, has been studying the topic for years, and confirms women are, indeed, more flexible in their sexuality and for a variety of cultural, and perhaps biological, reasons.

"I think there is a growing awareness of the fact that you don't have to be 100 per cent gay to have the capacity to enjoy same-sex contact," said Diamond, who is author of the 2008 book, 'Sexual Fluidity: Understanding Women's Love and Desire.'

"In the old days, any instance of same-sex attraction was automatically put in the category of bisexual or lesbian and now we realise women are more complicated than that," she said.

"There are more examples floating around in popular culture, and the term reflects that."

She added that women's capacity for fluidity has always existed, but only now has society had a cultural understanding after collecting data from around the world.

Men appear to be more 'rigid' in their sexuality but that may be because society is more judgmental, according to Diamond.

"Although we find it titillating when girls kiss girls and see images of same-sex sexuality being marketed to a heterosexual male audience, it's not viewed as threatening and alarming," she said. "We don't see the same cultural permission for men."

The Superb Rs 5.99-lakh Mahindra Thar

People crossing the road eating ice cream simply lost control of all locomotive ability and stood fixated right in front of the car till I had to yell and make way.

At a traffic-signal policemen came darting, I quickly reached for my license but all they had to say was, "gaadi kaisa hai? (What is the car like?)."

Attention is one thing but when you get it in form of catcalls and a whistle on the road you should know you've been doing, sorry driving, something right.

A few hours ago, a certain Mahindra Thar CRDe 4X4 had been driven out of the factory and in 10 minutes flat the hysteria around an 'open-top jeep' began to make sense.

The few that are out on the road are dictators of their road-space and only automobiles five times their price manage to gather half as much interest.

"So you have the Thar that hates tar?" a friend said.

Quickly I did a recce on what the car had to offer. 4x4. Tick. Open top. Tick. Large, torque-producing diesel engine. Tick. Rugged build. Tick.

So this Thar in question promised some serious off-roading ability, plus it looked the part but I didn't have a first-hand story to tell. So I simply said, "I'll let you know," and drove on.

An open-topped jeep, a convertible off-roader, a 4x4 with a 2.5litre engine and 48 hours. With the Thar, the possibilities were endless.

Exterior

After all is debated and discussed, the most appealing feature of this car is the way it looks.

The Thar is based on the classic MM540/550 design which was derived from the CJ-5 series and exudes the same confidence as the jeep of the yesteryears.

The A-line and silhouette remain true to the original, so does the side profile and front fascia.

The MM540 had an overall length of 4868mm and overall width of 1854mm while the Thar has an overall length of 3920mm and an overall width of 1710mm, thus making it more compact and streamlined.

The extended front grille adds to the gait and the high rear wheel archs add to the structure of the car.

The strakes on the hood add to the rugged look while keeping the shape of the car compact.

There is no brightwork on the body and no glossy paint you'll be afraid to scratch in the woods.

The car is available in four practical colours: black, mist silver, toreador red and arctic white.

Our car came with Bridgestone Dueler HT, 16-inch tubeless tyres, however the high wheel archs let you upgrade to terrain suitable tyres at the cost of limiting suspension travel.

There are a few issues which can be evened out. The roll bar (add-on accessory) is lower than the B-pillar, in case of a rollover the B-pillar would take a hit as opposed to the roll bar.

The engine sump is bereft of a guard and the catalytic converter is placed at a very vulnerable position (see picture) so it has a good chance of getting hit.

However, the Thar's tough steel body promises durability and follows the quintessential jeep's traits.

If you think the structure looks cool on road, off-road the design makes a lot more sense.

The exterior of the car maybe bare and basic but it is bold enough to mean serious business.

Interior

On the inside the car follows the bare and basic theme. In the name of an instrument panel you get an AC blower and heater, a few slots for a music system but there is no charger port.

But the 'wind in the hair experience' as the Mahindra brochure calls it, leaves you with no time to fiddle with the barely there instrument panel.

Who wants an electronically operated panel when you can look at the birds or stars in the sky anytime.

Power steering comes as standard on the Thar and that is of some comfort to the driver.

The steering wheel too is tilted but that is only to add to a comfortable off roading experience. The front cab gets two rexine covered bucket seats.

The dash incorporates a large glove-box because you obviously can't keep anything on the dashboard.

For a car without a hardtop, the glove-box lacks an essential - a lock.

The hazard light indicator seems inconveniently positioned and we could swap those wipers for something better.

The center console came in the way of the lever operation and you must pay attention while shifting from 2WD to 4WD high or low.

You get a tachometer, odometer, speedometer but a 4WD high - low range indicator on the dash would have added more value to the unit.

The plastic quality and overall fit and finish are crude but they do not undermine the driving experience in any a way.

You don't really think of the Thar as a seven-seater but it really is.

Four people can seat themselves comfortably at the back while the fifth person will have to wedge in.

The rear benches are pushed further to accommodate the roll bar which sadly reduce the already less legroom even more.

Luggage, in terms of flexible cloth bags, can be stored under the seats at the back. The interiors are need based but sufficient, though a soft top is absolutely essential for an Indian summer.

You can go on complain that the car doesn't have a hardtop, an air-conditioner or such other comfort inducing things, but if that is what you want you'd just buy one of two six letter SUVs.

Powertrain

The Thar displays an excellent combination of an engine and gearbox.

The diesel engine takes off-roading a step ahead and helps haul the vehicle with lesser effort.

The Thar has two engine variants - the BS-IV 2.5 CRDe(4x4) and the Di(2WD).

The 2.5CRDe produces 103bhp and generates about 247 Nm torque @ 1800-2000 rpm which provides the low end grunt needed for tackling tough sections off-road.

Compared to it predecessors the engine is also much quieter.

It houses a five-speed Borg Warner - Manual Shift with twospeed gear reduction; high ratio being 1.0:1 and low ratio being 2.48:1.

The manual 4WD shift mechanism minimises complexities when compared to an electronic 4WD shifter found in Scorpio and Safari.

We didn't notice a body roll even at speeds above 90kph and the engine impressed us with a mileage 14kpl on road and 10kpl off road.

On and off road handling

To see how it fared on its USP, we took the Thar on an off-roading trail to Rajmachi (in Pune) and we have to say that the Thar is definitely not meant to court roads, a tryst with a mountain here and an edgy terrain there is more like it.

Over stones, ditches and mangled mountain-sides the car glided and we weren't disappointed.

The power steering added to the overall comfort level. The high approach angle (46 degrees) and departure angle (30 degrees) made climbing obstacles easier with a long travel suspension for traction.

The ride was comfortable and there was limited articulation at the front due to Independent Front Suspension (IFS).

This makes the Thar leapfrog from the older leaf spring suspensions found on the Jeep and Gypsy.

However, fixing the IFS could prove to be an expensive affair if it breaks down while off-roading.

Off-road purists might be disappointed by IFS as it limits the axle articulation (though we never faced a patch which maxed out the suspension travel).

The 9-inch booster with disc brakes in front and drum at the rear were precise and forceful.

The LSPV brakes aid in preventing wheel lock up and loss of control.

The Thar has a body weight of 1.75 tonne and a short wheelbase of 2430 mm which add to the off roading experience.

The 4WD low is strong, but the crawl ratio could have been lower, as it enables precise crawling through a tough terrain.

We didn't expect the car to be an easy drive on road, an avid off-roader amongst us said, "Even if I put my Jeep in the top gear on the steepest descent, it will not go beyond 60kph."

But Thar has a different story to tell, the engine actually lets you cruise at a speed in excess of 100kph.

A short turning radius(5.25m) is a boon for city driving.

So, you needn't reserve the car for the once in a blue moon off-the-tarmac trip, you can comfortably take it out for a spin in the city. A macho air off-road it and an uber-cool attitude on road is what the Thar is about.

Verdict

There is something absolutely exhilarating about an open-topped jeep that a 90 lakh SUV can't touch with a 10 feet beanpole.

We'd like those SUV like safety features to show up. But With a price tag of Rs 599,000 (ex-showroom Delhi), the car does pack in a real deal.

It has those looks and the latest in technology. It is 'the' second car to buy.

In India the only real competitors are the Maruti Gypsy and Force Gurkha.

The Thar can easily do 95 per cent of what a Jeep can do off-road; the difference lies in the on-road behavior and that is a game-changer for Mahindra.

It may not be as hard hearted an off roader as the MM550 but the Thar is contemporary, younger and versatile. It is meant to do more and be more.

The Thar, you don't buy to drop the kids to school (though you can, and you'll have some really popular kids in school) nor go groceries shopping.

You buy the Thar hoping for a little of the car's oomph and machismo rubs on to you.

Inside the Thar you are a somebody. It gives you enough confidence to take on 10 villians Rajnikanth style. And there is no reason for you to not deprive yourself of the pleasure.

source : CarWale.com

Is Talking On Mobile While Driving Safe?

In a complete reversal of what motorists have been advised, a new study suggests that those who talk on phone or switch on the radio stations while behind the steering wheel may actually be driving safely.

Researchers from Kansas University found that drivers who engage in a "secondary task" pay more attention to the road because some types of distraction can help bored drivers stay focused.

Past studies have showed that drivers who talk on the phone may be more prone to meeting with an accident, but the new study found that the monotony of driving may itself be an accident risk.

According to the researchers, drivers who lose focus on the road because of boredom may actually increase their attention by engaging in a secondary task, particularly during the last leg of their journey, the Daily Mail reported.

For their study, the researchers led by Paul Atchley and Mark Chan, asked 45 participants to drive for 30 minutes in a driving simulator.

Their attentiveness and short-term memory were tested by introducing various obstacles, such as a car suddenly pulling in front of them or a popular fast food restaurant billboard flashing by.

Some drivers were given a secondary task throughout the drive, some performed an additional task at the end of the trip, and some had no concurrent task.

Drivers' level of attention was gauged by their ability to stay in their lane, react in time to avoid an intruder car, avoid radical steering manoeuvres to maintain a steady course and accurately remember the signs that they passed.

It was found that drivers who had to perform a concurrent task in the latter portion of the trip were more likely to stay in their lane and were less likely to make mistakes, compared with drivers who had either a continuous or no additional task.

These findings showed that as driving becomes monotonous and drivers' minds drift from the road, strategically introducing an additional task, such as a talking on the phone or listening to the radio, might improve driver attention and stability, the researchers said.

However, the authors warned that "although these results suggest improvements in driving performance, there is still a degree of risk involved" when drivers perform a secondary task.

The study was published in the science journal Human Factors.

Source: Agencies

Want To Have Your Baby on 11.11.11?

Conceive Today, Say Doctors

Family planning? Perfect timing

That is, if you want to have your baby on 11.11.11


Just do it: Experts  predict that conceiving today will give the unborn child a good chance of being born on the day -- a date that will only fall upon us again in 2111. Represention Pic

Young parents taken in by the trend of having babies on fancy dates have an option to conceive today, if they want to ensure that the stork delivers on 11.11.11. Experts in the city predict that conceiving today will give the unborn child a good chance of being born on that day -- a date that will only fall upon us again in 2111.


However, doctors also concede that while there is a conception date, not many mothers-to-be plan ahead to have their babies in time, thus posing a risk when it comes to planned pregnancies.

Padmini Prasad, head of gynaecology, Institute of Sexual Medicine, said, "Women hoping to have their babies on that fancy date will have to conceive by this month end. That way, the due date will be in November."

She added, "On the other hand, these women should know there is no guarantee that the child will even be born in time. We cannot predict the entire pregnancy. They should stop worrying so much about having their children on auspicious dates. Parents these days have a lot of fancy ideas about birthing and pregnancies these days."

Shobha M Guddi, head of gynaecology, Philomena's hospital, said, "It is almost accurate-yes. And there's no harm in planning but it really depends on having a good life to ensure that there is no complication. Timing may not be the most appropriate thing sometimes."

Y M Chandrashekar, head of gynaecology at BGS Global, said, "So far no one has come forward saying they want to deliver on such a date. It's very possible that they have not realised it yet. Mothers usually demand planned deliveries much later during their pregnancy."

Not planned
Sheema Taseem (30) delivered her son Isa at the Cradle back in January at exactly 11minutes past 11 am on 1.11.11. She said, "It was not planned at all, but when we were told that what my due date would be, we decided to have the baby on the auspicious date." She added, "It wasn't until my second trimester that we decided."

Abdul Kareem (27) whose daughter was also born on 1.11.11 at Fortis Hospital, said, "The doctors recommended that we have our daughter that day because they were afraid of complications."

Dialling 5683 On Your Mobile 'Can Arouse Love in Your Mind'

Washington, Feb 17 : Cell phones and specifically texting has drilled so deep into our minds that when we simply type numbers that correspond to the letters in a word like 'love', we can activate the meaning of that word in our minds, so says a psychological scientist in Germany.

Sascha Topolinski at the University of Wurzburg in Germany tested this theory along with his students.

For one experiment, Topolinski used a set of number sequences that correspond to positive words, like 54323 ('liebe' -- love) , 143 (I Love You) and a set for negative words, like 7245346 ('schleim' -- slime).

Volunteers were handed a cell phone with stickers over the buttons so they could only see the numbers, not the corresponding letters, and were told to type the number sequences.

Results revealed that most volunteers preferred dialling numbers that related to positive words over those related to negative words.

Merely dialling the numbers that corresponded to those letters was enough to activate the concepts in their minds.

In another study, participants were also able to dial phone numbers and then identify words on a computer screen immediately afterwards.

Topolinski relates these findings to a psychology concept called 'embodiment' -- the idea that certain body movements can make you think about related ideas.

The work has practical implications, too.

For example, "if you are a lawyer, try to get a phone number which implies the word 'justice,' or if you have a donation hotline, include the sequence 4483 for 'give'," he said.

The results are published in Psychological Science.

I'm Loving it! McWeddings in Hong Kong

Burger and fries, anyone?

In the buzzing financial hub known for its fast living, young Hong Kong couples can now grab love on the run at the city's McDonald's outlets, which are offering a burgeoning new sideline: "McWeddings."

On Valentine's Day at a downtown McDonald's close to the financial district, the fast food joint was decked out with pink balloons, a "cake" stacked from apple pies, as well as a pair of tiny souvenir crystal M rings, for a surprise engagement bash thrown by Kelvin, a young model, for his girlfriend, Ashley.

Model Kelvin Kwong and nurse Ashley Tse share French fries during a surprise engagement bash thrown by Kelvin during Valentine's Day inside a McDonald's restaurant in Hong Kong February 14, 2011.

Model Kelvin Kwong and nurse Ashley Tse kiss in front of their friends and relatives during a surprise engagement bash thrown by Kelvin during Valentine's Day inside a McDonald's restaurant in Hong Kong, February 14, 2011.

Model Kelvin Kwong and nurse Ashley Tse stand in front of a "cake" stacked from apple pies during a surprise engagement bash thrown by Kelvin on Valentine's Day inside a McDonald's restaurant in Hong Kong, February 14, 2011.

Friends and relatives of model Kelvin Kwong and nurse Ashley Tse offer a toast during a surprise engagement bash thrown by Kelvin during Valentine's Day inside a McDonald's restaurant in Hong Kong February 14, 2011.

Model Kelvin Kwong and nurse Ashley Tse react during a surprise engagement bash thrown by Kelvin on Valentine's Day inside a McDonald's restaurant in Hong Kong February 14, 2011.

Model Kelvin Kwong and nurse Ashley Tse attend a party during a surprise engagement bash thrown by Kelvin on Valentine's Day inside a McDonald's restaurant in Hong Kong February 14, 2011.

A flower worn by model Kelvin Kwong is seen during a surprise engagement bash thrown by Kelvin to his nurse girlfriend Ashley Tse during Valentine's Day inside a McDonald's restaurant in Hong Kong February 14, 2011.

Model Kelvin Kwong and nurse Ashley Tse wear a pair of tiny souvenir crystal M rings during a surprise engagement bash thrown by Kelvin during Valentine's Day inside a McDonald's restaurant in Hong Kong February 14, 2011.

Coca Cola Recipe 'Discovered'

A website claims to have uncovered Coca-Cola's top secret recipe.

Coca-Cola's top secret recipe has allegedly been revealed Photo: REUTERS

The ingredients of the drink, founded by John Pemberton, a medicinal pharmacist in 1886, have always been a mystery.

However, Thisamericanlife.org claims to have discovered a list in a photograph in a newspaper article giving the ingredients and exact quantities to make the drink.

The Feb 8 1979 edition of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has a photo of someone holding open a book with a recipe claimed to be an exact replica of Pemberton's.

The recipe reportedly contains the exact measures of all the different oils needed for Coca Cola's secret ingredient, Merchandise 7X.

Despite making up only one per cent of the drink's total formula, Merchandise 7X is though to give the popular soft drink its unique taste.

The official recipe is said to be guarded 24-hours a day in a vault in Atlanta, Georgia.

The 'secret recipe'

Fluid extract of Coca 3 drams USP

Citric acid 3 oz

Caffeine 1oz

Sugar 30 (it is unclear from the markings what quantity is required)

Water 2.5 gal

Lime juice 2 pints 1 qrt

Vanilla 1oz

Caramel 1.5oz or more to colour

7X flavour (use 2oz of flavour to 5 gals syrup):

Alcohol 8oz

Orange oil 20 drops

Lemon oil 30 drops

Nutmeg oil 10 drops

Coriander 5 drops

Neroli 10 drops

Cinnamon 10 drops

The Sexy Yogini

By Neha Bhayana

Stiles plans to set up more studios in small towns of Middle America where no yoga gurus have ventured before

She does not sit cross-legged, enveloped by fumes of incense. She does not quote from ancient Hindu scriptures or instruct students to chant Om and execute headstands for attainment of moksha. Tara Stiles, dubbed the 'coolest yoga instructor ever' by Vanity Fair magazine, usually walks around or stands at the back of the room. She refers to 'asanas' as 'poses' and her students do 'Triangles' (not Trikasanas) and 'Downward Dogs' (not Svanasanas) to the tune of Blues pianist Terry Butters. If a student can't touch his or her toes, Stiles just shrugs and says, "It's no big deal, just bend your knees". She reminds them that the pose is "good for quads and hamstrings. "

Stiles, a model-turned-yoga instructor, has become the new face of yoga in the United States. Unlike her rivals, she has not branded her type of yoga. Her version is not rigorous and rule-bound like the traditional system taught at ashrams here, and is also unlike the countless spin offs - hip hop yoga, hot yoga and ganja yoga - that have become a rage in the US. "Mine is just authentic yoga, true to itself, and not pretentious, " she told TOI-Crest in a telephone interview from New York.

The 29-year-old has subtracted the spiritual quotient and Sanskrit terms from yoga, picked simple asanas and blended them together to make interesting, fun routines. In short, she has tailored yoga to make it more palatable for the average American and packaged it as "healthy exercise".

A native of rural Illinois, Stiles set up her yoga studio, Strala, in Manhattan in 2008 and has since earned fame and flak in equal measure. A section of traditionalists, who consider yoga a way of life and a spiritual quest, have criticised Stiles for reducing the practice to a 'gym routine'. But Stiles's popularity is rising steadily. Her latest book Slim Calm Sexy was No. 1 on the Amazon list for months;her YouTube videos have got six lakh 'hits';she has collaborated with Deepak Chopra and Jane Fonda for DVDs and IPod applications and proudly counts them as her "students".

The queue for membership at her 3, 500-squarefoot studio is also getting longer. An average of 45 people turn up for each of the 40 classes conducted each week. Stiles plans to set up more yoga studios in "small towns and suburbs of Middle America where no yoga gurus have ventured before".

Why would she want to tap smaller markets? "I want to take yoga to the masses, " says Stiles. Her desire reminds one of Baba Ramdev. Having made pranayam (a yogic breathing technique) a part of life in chawls and sky-scrapers, the saffron-clad man has already accomplished what she has set out to do.

Their methods are also similar: Ramdev sticks to simple asanas and preaches no religion. Stiles has not heard of her Indian counterpart. And, their personalities could not be more different. While Ramdev sports a long, black beard and is a sanyasi, Stiles likes to sport tank tops and shorts, got married last year and stresses the importance of a good sex life. Her new book features 'partner poses' designed to turn up the heat in the bedroom. Yoga's usage as an aphrodisiac may be debatable. But even her critics do not contest that her brand of yoga is connecting with Americans like never before.

At Strala, across rectangular mats spread on the floor, a fireman and a FedEx truck driver stretch beside young actresses, bankers, socialites and university students. One of the secrets to her popularity could be the affordable price tag for her yoga. Strala classes cost $10 each - around three times cheaper than other yoga studios in New York. "I didn't want people to have to budget for yoga. "

Stiles has been practising yoga since she was five. At 18, Stiles, a five-feet-nine inch tall beauty with a lean frame and long tresses, was noticed by the Ford Modelling Agency and assignments followed. She pouted for many print advertisements but "did not get wrapped up in it", in her own words. She felt more alive during the yoga classes she was attending in her free time.

In 2006, Ford asked her to make yoga videos for YouTube. This led to two DVDs that turned her into a yoga diva. She has not looked back since.

Her own experiences as a yoga student made Stiles vow to be different from the India-returned, incenselighting, self-styled gurus who had been teaching yoga in the West since the 1970s. "I discovered that many yoga studios in New York make people feel terrible. The instructors are maniacs who talk down to students and behave like they have some kind of power. Some pretend to be enlightened priests from India and even feign an Indian accent. "
That is why you find Stiles peppering her conversations with local slang and even calling a few complicated asanas "crappy poses" during interviews. "If I recite the names of the poses in Sanskrit, it immediately becomes a barrier and intimidates those who don't know the language, " she said.

Her no-frills yoga may have worked commercially, but it has attracted sneers from purists. Jennilyn Carson, an American blogger known as Yogadork, rued "the way yoga is whittled down to a disposable diet fad to tackle the epidemic of bra fat" in her 2010 book, Slim Calm Sexy. The book's advertisements had claimed that one can get a "yoga-slim body in just 15 minutes a day". Carson mockingly calling it the "Incredible, Edible, Yoga: bite sized munchkins of a practice formed from the whole of the yoga donut. "

Stiles is not amused. "I am not saying people should do yoga for only 15 minutes. But life is a string of 15 minutes. I hope that if people enjoy those 15 minutes they will do more. " Can one also become sexy with yoga? "When you are connected to yourself, you become more aware of your feelings. It does not have to be about lingerie and champagne. Yoga is a great way to connect to yourself and feel sexy, " she said.

One would expect Stiles to cash in on her fame like Bikram Choudhary who owns a string of Bentleys and Rolls Royces. But she surprises again. " Yoga is my way of contributing to society. So many people are on prescription drugs and the health of 20-somethings is deteriorating. I want to give people the tool to lead a healthy life, " she says, leaving one wondering whether her altruism is genuine or another marketing gimmick.

Couples Hope To Break Kissing Record

World record kissing marathon

Plenty of men and women will be out to prove their love and devotion to their Valentine today.

Why White Cars Never Go Out Of Vogue!

Washington: A new survey has indicated that amidst so many colour options, the most popular shade among American car buyers is plain old white.

Since 2007, when white ended silver's long run as the most popular color, Americans consistently bought more white cars than anything else, according to the yearly DuPont Color Popularity Survey, reports Boston.com.

Nonetheless, some experts do have a few theories to explain the current blizzard of white on our streets.

1. It's the economy, stupid!

More than any other reason, experts called for this story cited the current economic downturn as a reason for preferring white.

Car buyers "think more practically in a crisis," says Leatrice Eiseman, director of the Pantone Color Institute and author of seven books on color.

" In a crisis, people plan on keeping their cars for a longer time, so they choose a more classic color that allows them to resell their car at a later point in time."

2. White cars are cooler

White reflects the whole spectrum of sunlight, keeping out heat; black absorbs most of the spectrum, and acts like a heat sponge.

"I think people just buy a white car because it doesn't heat up as much in the summer," says Dr. Gajdos.

3. It's that religious thing

White is a very important colour for Christians -- liturgically speaking, it's the color of joy and celebration; in the Catholic Church, it's the color worn by the pope.

4. Safety first

White really is the safest colour. Scientists from Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, analyzed more than 850,000 car accidents in their country and showed that of all cars, white ones were least likely to be involved in an accident.

5. Don't look at me!

White is a color for people who don't want to stand out -- who feel, for whatever reason, insecure.

Source: Indian Express

Top 10 Valentine's Day SMS

Tearing your hair out looking for classy Valentine's Day mobile text messages to send to the hot girl next door without sounding needy?

Here are some of the most romantic lines from classic authors that will get her weak in the knees.

A list of historical love quotes:

1. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same - Emily Bronte

2. If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day so

I never have to live without you - A A Milne

3. But soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the east and Juliet is the sun – Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

4. He was my North, my South, my East and West, My working week and my Sunday rest, My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song; I thought that love would last for ever: I was wrong - W.H. Auden

5. You know you're in love when you don't want to fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams - Dr. Seuss

6. When you fall in love, it is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake, and then it subsides. And when it subsides, you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots are become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part - Captain Corelli's Mandolin

7. Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be - Robert Browning

8. For you see, each day I love you more. Today more than yesterday and less than tomorrow - Rosemonde Gerard

9. But to see her was to love her, love but her, and love her forever - Robert Burns

10. I hope before long to press you in my arms and shall shower on you a million burning kisses as under the Equator - Napoleon Bonaparte's 1796 dispatch to wife Josephine.