Handsome Men Mean Better Sex

 

Women orgasm more quickly and more often with handsome partners, according to research carried out by anthropologists and psychologists. 

 

Women orgasm more quickly and more often with handsome partners, according to research carried out by anthropologists and psychologists. Noting that "supporting evidence indicates that female orgasm promotes conception," the researchers concluded that the female orgasm is linked to the urge to produce "quality" offspring.
The study, which was carried out at Pennsylvania State University, focused on the sex lives of 110 heterosexual couples, who reported who orgasmed and how often.
The male subjects were rated for "objectively-measured facial masculinity, observer-rated facial masculinity, partner-rated masculinity, and partner-rated dominance"; observers, as well as the men themselves, were also asked to rated their own attractiveness.
Women whose partners rated as masculine and dominant reported more frequent and earlier-timed orgasms than those whose partners rated less well. The women whose partners were deemed attractive also orgasmed more often during or after male ejaculation.
Frequency of female orgasm as a result of masturbation was not predicted by the male partner's attractiveness.
"Thus, possible conception-promoting correlates of female orgasm may be especially effective and/or likely when copulation occurs with masculine males," the authors wrote in the study, published in the journal Evolution and Human Behaviour.
"These results appear to support a role for female orgasm in sire choice."
 

Amnesty Int'l Hails US Court's Verdict on Exxon Mobile in Aceh

Amnesty International hailed the decision of the United States court of appeals on US-based Exxon Mobil in facing the demand for the alleged murder outside the law, torture and arrest by Indonesian troops in Aceh province, Indonesia, under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS).
A group of rural people from Aceh had filed civil cases in 2001 and 2007 against Exxon Mobil Corporation, the US company which operates the big natural gas extraction and processing facilities in Aceh province in 2000 and 2001, Campaigner of Indonesia & Timor-Leste, Amnesty International Secretariat, Josef Roy Benedict, said here.
Josef Roy Benedict said they claimed that Exxon Mobil is responsible for the involvement in the alleged violation of human rights by Indonesian troops who were supposed to protect the property and operations of the company. In the first and second verdicts on July 8, 2011, the US court of appeals stated that Exxon Mobil did not have the company’s immunity against the claim made by 15 Indonesians under the ATS.
The decision to send a signal to the Indonesian government to do more to make sure of the truth and justice for the past human rights violations in Aceh. There were no suspects brought before the court for one of the thousands of cases of human rights violations including torture, believed to have taken place between 1989 and 1998 when the province was a Military Operation Area (DOM).
Aceh province faced rebellion for tens of years including human rights violation and lack of development, which ended after the peace agreement of August 2005, while the Indonesian government and the armed pro-freedom movement (Free Aceh Movement/GAM) was signed. Law no 2006 on the Aceh administration on the formation of a human rights court on the formation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (KKR) Aceh branch. The two government institutions have not been set up until today.
Amnesty International called on the Indonesian government to immediately form a human rights court and make sure that a Truth and Reconciliation Commission is set up and functions according to the international law and standards, like contained in the report of Amnesty International, truth, justice, and reparation: forming an effective commission of truth.
The government must also make sure of the responsibility of violators of human rights in the past including torture in Aceh. This includes cooperation in connection with the litigation process on the case filed in the US.
Amnesty International knows only two examples, in Indonesia, on the case involving human rights violations in Aceh between 1998 and May 2003 had been verified and produced a trial. Only several human rights violation cases had been handled during the military emergency period and the following civil administration (May 2003-August 2005).
Amnesty International praised the decision of the US court of appeals that the company was not immune from its obligations under the ATS for the despicable treatment by the perpetrators violating international law.
The victims of the human rights violations in which the multinational company was also involved, must have unlimited access to the court, and the countries need to take measures to eradicate the obstacles to the access of the victims.
Like this case shows, access to the court of the country of origin (place where the company has its domicile or was registered) has often become the only realistic way to claim the victims of human rights violations by the company need to be listened to and reached all kinds of reparations.
The decision of the court of appeals which make possible a claim to be continued in the US, giving an important opportunity for charges made against Exxon Mobil to be examined by the court.

Tobacco Could be GOOD for You

Tobacco plants are being used to create a potentially life-saving HIV treatment

Aspirin, Ginseng and Caffeine are just some of the useful medications produced by plants. Now scientists have adapted the much maligned tobacco plant to create a drug they hope will combat HIV. UK regulators have approved the first clinical trial of specially designed antibodies that stop the virus passing from person to person.
Eleven women will be treated with the topical treatment, which has been created from genetically modified tobacco plants. Should it prove safe at different doses, larger trials will follow to test its effectiveness. It is hoped that the antibodies will reduce the risk of treated women from catching the disease.
The landmark trial marks the culmination of a controversial E.U funded project to develop a drug from an engineered plant and take it through all the manufacturing stages.
Most drugs are currently made at great expense in fermentation vats containing bacteria or mammalian cells, but the mass production of medicines in genetically modified plants could reduce costs by as many as 100 times, making it far cheaper to produce life-saving drugs. Project researcher Professor Julian Ma, at St George’s, University of London, said: 'This is a red letter day for the field.
'The approval from the MHRA (Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency) for us to proceed with human trials is an acknowledgement that monoclonal antibodies can be made in plants to the same quality as those made using existing conventional production systems.
'That is something many people did not believe could be achieved.'
The clinical trial is being carried out at the University of Surrey Clinical Research Centre. HIV is exchanged via bodily fluids and is most commonly spread during sex.
At the end of 2008, an estimated 83,000 adults aged over 15 were living with HIV in the UK. Of these, just over a quarter did not know they were infected.
The last stage of the virus is Aids, when the patient's immune system stops working and they develop life-threatening illnesses. Patients in western countries can live with HIV for many years thanks to antiretroviral drugs, but these are often not available in the developing world.
The active ingredient in the vaginal cream is an antibody called P2G12. If successful, the investigators will try combining it with other HIV-neutralising antibodies. The genetically modified tobacco plants producing P2G12 were grown in containment greenhouses at the Fraunhofer Institute in Aachen, Germany.
The antibody was isolated and purified in a custom-designed processing plant on the same site. It is the first time a license has been granted to manufacture engineered pharmaceutical products from plants in Europe.
Professor Rainer Fischer, Pharma-Planta coordinator and Fraunhofer Director, said: 'We now have a facility in Europe for producing modern medicines in transgenic plants that is unique in the world, although this has taken many years and much investment to establish.
'This approval is a springboard for European plant biotechnology and will enable many important medical products to be realised.'
The researchers claim there is next to no risk of such GM plants spreading or contaminating other crops because they are contained and would not be grown on an agricultural scale.

Nudity Disappears from German Beaches, Parks

Mostly clothed people relax in Munichs English Garten park. The naked sunbathers who once crowded Germanys Baltic beaches and city parks are becoming an endangered species.

If you're visiting a public park or beach in Germany expecting to see plenty of exposed flesh, you may be in for a surprise.

The naked sunbathers who once crowded Germany's Baltic beaches and city parks are becoming an endangered species due to shifting demographics, the fall of the Berlin Wall, growing prosperity and widening girths.
Much to the chagrin of Free Body Culture (FKK) enthusiasts who have been stripping off their clothing on beaches and parks since the early 1900s, a cold wind has been blowing across Germany for nudists and their numbers are steadily dwindling.
"German society is changing and it's not easy to be a naturist anymore," said Kurt Fischer, president of the German FKK association (DFK). There are some 500,000 registered nudists and a total of seven million Germans sunbathe naked regularly.
"But the numbers are unfortunately falling by about two percent each year," Fischer told a group of reporters in the Foreign Press Association (VAP) while sitting, fully clothed, at a beach bar in Berlin's government quarter. "Times are tough."
The main problem is the shrinking population, Fischer said.
The number of Germans fell by more than 3.2 million over the last three decades even though the country's total population has managed to remain more or less steady at about 82 million thanks to immigration -- often from countries in Eastern Europe and the Balkans as well as Turkey and Arabic countries.
"Our problems are demographic changes and the fact that immigrants aren't interested in social nudity," said Fischer, 70, whose association has such honoured standing in Germany that it is even part of the Olympic Sport Federation (DOSB).
"Germany is relying more and more on immigrants to keep the population steady. But many come from countries with strong religious beliefs. They just aren't into FKK."
Immigrants who arrive from cultures where headscarves are common will not usually be interested in becoming naturists in Germany, he said. Virtues of social nudity
With one of the lowest birth rates in the world, Germany's native population is projected to fall from about 75 million to 50 million by 2050, population researchers say.
The dwindling number of Germans has caused myriad problems -- affecting everything from beer and schnitzel sales to the numbers of schoolchildren. The country's proud nudity traditions are not immune. Fischer said the trend is inexorable.
"It's better that we shrink in a controlled fashion and keep a diverse age-group structure with all age-groups than to try to stay bloated with mostly seniors and few young people," he said.
Fischer added they were using "special trial offers", direct recruitment and other gimmicks to attract young people.
Nude sunbathing has a long tradition in Germany. The Free Body Culture (FKK) movement was founded in the early 20th century and succeeded in taking much of the smut and embarrassment out of nudity.
Even Germany's top model Heidi Klum was quoted in the German media recently extolling the virtues of topless sunbathing and describing difficulties she has pursuing it in places such as the United States and Italy where it's frowned upon or illegal.
"I love to get a sun tan and I don't like white stripes," said Klum. "I don't worry about what other people think." Her parents often ran around in the nude and still do, she said.
In Germany, public nudity on beaches and lakes is by and large tolerated and practitioners face no legal consequences, although some courts have fined some caught hiking nude on public trails or riding bikes or horses while naked.
For decades nudity was a popular way for those living in Communist East Germany to express themselves -- and was a small piece of freedom for those behind the Iron Curtain. East German beaches on the Baltic were always filled with nude bathers.
But that began to gradually fall out of fashion in many areas in the east after the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, and then tensions sometimes flared when some western German tourists unaccustomed to the widespread nudity complained.
"When we moved from western Germany to a town in the east, we noticed there was less of a taboo about nudity," said one American surprised by the ubiquitous nudity in the east. "It really struck me at a nearby lake when people were just naked in the water or getting a tan in the sun and nobody was bothered."
That, however, has also begun to change. "We've got a lot chubbier"
Increasing wealth and fashion-consciousness in Germany and especially the east has hurt the movement as well. "We're all equal in the nude," said Fischer, a westerner who admitted it felt like "torture" for him to sit in his clothes on a bright sunny summer afternoon while talking to journalists.
"When people are naked you can't tell the difference between the man with the doctorate and the man who collects trash. There used to be more of an egalitarian attitude. People now want to distinguish themselves and one way to show off is with fancy swimsuits. It's not easy for the nudist in a society like this."
There are other reasons contributing to decline of the unique German cultural tradition. As a 70-year-old eastern woman named Brigitte pointed out, growing prosperity has led to growing waist sizes.
"In East Germany, there were a lot more people with attractive physiques," said Brigitte, a retired dental assistant and avid naturist who asked that her full name not be used.
"But with the rise in prosperity a lot of people have come apart at the seams and they can't show their bodies in public anymore. We've become a lot chubbier with all this prosperity. It's not really very aesthetic anymore."
Brigitte said she misses the East German era when entire beaches and camping areas were packed with nudists even though parts of West Germany, such as Munich's English Garten park and West Berlin's Tiergarten, have proud FKK traditions.
"I miss those places more and more," she said, admitting that she often feels inhibited about being nude and now wraps a towel around herself until she gets to the water. "You definitely see fewer people in then nude. But I don't think the movement will die out. It's too much fun."

Facebook Could Become Adults Only

Alarming ... according to cyber security expert Susan McLean, Facebook gossip sites have "exploded in the last two or three months".

















Ways to force Facebook to give parents access to their kids' profiles will be discussed today by state and federal attorneys-general in a meeting that will also examine an 18+ Facebook age limit.
The idea was first proposed by a South Australian Family First MP, Dennis Hood, and is being championed by South Australian Attorney-General John Rau. Rau argued that giving parents assistance to supervise their children on Facebook would help protect against online predators and limit access to unsuitable material.
But Susan McLean, who was Victoria Police's first cyber safety officer and is now an online safety consultant, said the proposal was “ill informed and it shows a total lack of understanding of what the internet is”.
“It's not Facebook's fault that there are problems on Facebook. You can't legislate against stupidity or poor parenting or anything like that,” said McLean.
“It would be nice but it can't be done and it breaks down any level of trust that you should be trying to develop with your kids.”
Facebook's terms of use currently requires users to be aged at least 13 but there is no proof of age requirement and kids regularly lie to gain access.
At their meeting today, the country's top lawmakers will consider requiring proof of age checks and even raising the age limit to 18, federal Attorney-General Robert McClelland confirmed.
This would be at stark odds with recent comments from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who floated the idea of removing the 13 minimum sign-up age policy.
“Age verification is something that various platforms deal with and I can't see why it should be beyond the wit of Facebook to do the same thing, if that was the solution people wanted,” said Rau.
“I think people need to understand that just because they are operating in the virtual world, that is on the internet, it does not mean that there should not be boundaries or rules or standards of behaviour.
“Exactly how these boundaries and rules should be applied and enforced is a matter that we need to discuss.”
It is unclear how the attorneys-general could apply such regulations to Facebook given it is a US-based company. Rau said changing the rules on access to Facebook would require cooperation from operators and the federal government would need to use its communications powers.
McClelland said yesterday it would be Rau's task to come up with methods of implementing the restrictions.
He said Rau made a fair point as “there has been concern expressed by some parents that the images being put up by their own children are prejudicial to their future career prospects”.
“I think that all Attorneys recognise it as a legitimate issue to raise and … John having raised it, will be tasked … to come back with a few suggested solutions,” said McClelland.
“Having Australian jurisdiction extend off shore is the challenge. That's not to say a bit of discussion can't get some goodwill. Hopefully we will be able to look at a few options.”
Asked whether the issue could be solved simply by parents sitting down with their children, rather than with new regulations, McClelland agreed that this would be a preferable approach.
“Having said that, I have four kids, not in every situation can we reach an accommodation so I can understand some parents have raised the issue,” he said.
But McLean said implementing the proposals would be impossible.
“Say we get this law that says parents are allowed to access their kids facebook accounts, how am I going to prove that I'm your mother?,” she said.
“It's totally unworkable because there is nothing on the internet that allows anyone to age and identity verify anyone, so that's where it's going to fall down in the first place.
“Secondly, American companies aren't necessarily obliged to obey Australian law. Thirdly, tech savvy kids will set up two accounts – here's the one mum can see and here's the one where I do whatever it is I wanna do on it.”
Stephen Collins, spokesman for the online users' lobby group Electronic Frontiers Australia, agreed with McLean that any restrictions would be difficult to enforce.
"We'd very much prefer a social and educational approach - teach people good privacy practice, make it easy for them, educate about acceptable behaviors (e.g. why should online behaviors be different in terms of what we accept from those in the physical world?)," he said.
"So too, a parental right to access that is any greater than exists in law now (such as access to medical details for 16-18 year olds) seems heavy-handed."
Comment is being sought from Facebook. The site counts about 10 million Australian users, or almost half the population.
At the meeting today the attorneys-general will also discuss whether to allow an R18+ rating for video games. The federal government is a vocal supporter of the change but has had difficulty convincing some states that it won't result in a stream of ultra-violent and sexualised games flooding the market.
Privacy is also on the agenda after the government raised the idea of a statutory right to privacy following the hacking scandal that has engulfed News Corporation.
Ways to deal with the online publication of suppressed legal material will also be discussed. Rau said it was clear that suppression orders – which prevent media from reporting details of court cases - were being undermined by social networking sites.

Indonesia Seeks Meet between North and South Korea

North Korean Foreign Minister Pak Ui Chun, left, talks with his Indonesian counterpart Marty Natalegawa during their bilateral meeting on the sidelines of an ASEAN foreign ministers meeting in Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia, Friday, July 22, 2011.

Indonesia's foreign minister says he will ask top diplomats from the two Koreas to hold informal talks on the sidelines of Asia's largest security forum.

Marty Natalegawa made the comments ahead of a closed-door meeting Friday with North Korean Foreign Minister Pak Ui-Chun. He said he hoped he could help facilitate an "informal" meeting between Pak and South Korea's Kim Sung-hwan, helping ease testy relations.
Negotiations to end North Korean's nuclear weapons program have been stalled for more than two years. But top diplomats from all six countries involved in the talks — the United States, China, Russia, Japan and North and South Korea — are attending the ASEAN Regional Forum. That's raised hopes for talks between North and South Korea.

Groundwork for Obama's Visit to Indonesia

U.S Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrives at the Indonesias Airforce base in Ngurah Rai , Bali July 21, 2011. Clinton is in Bali to attend the 18th ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) in Nusa Dua. Indonesian hosts the 44th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM), Post Ministerial Conference (PMC) and the 18th ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) in Bali.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Friday kicks off two days of talks with her Asian counterparts focusing on security issues, amid rising tension in the South China Sea.
Clinton arrived on the Indonesian resort island of Bali on Thursday after a trip to India where she urged New Delhi to be more assertive in Asia, a message likely to be read with deep suspicion by the government in Beijing.
She will meet her counterparts from the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the wider East Asia Summit on Friday, followed a day later by the ASEAN Regional Forum.
The forum is Asia's premier security dialogue and includes senior ministers and officials from across Southeast Asia as well as China, Japan, the Koreas, Russia and Australia.
Issues such as territorial disputes in the South China Sea, North Korea's nuclear program, the Thai-Cambodia border dispute and human rights in Myanmar are expected to be discussed in the course of the meetings.
Clinton will also be laying the groundwork for President Barack Obama's visit to Indonesia in November for the East Asia Summit leadership meeting, which will be the first time a U.S. president has attended the forum.
“Clinton has decided that Southeast Asia, specifically ASEAN, will serve as the fulcrum for a long-term Asia strategy,“ Centre for Strategic and International Studies analyst Ernest Bower wrote in a briefing paper.
He said ASEAN was not more strategically important than India, China, or Japan, but “it is the focal point where the most important geostrategic chess games of the 21st century will be played“.
“At times like this, it appears that the secretary of state is the only U.S. cabinet member, except perhaps Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who understands this fact,“ Bower added.
Clinton's visit comes after China and Southeast Asian nations announced a “breakthrough“ in drawn-out talks on their overlapping territorial claims in the South China Sea.
The countries endorsed a set of guidelines designed to reduce tensions in the strategic waterway and create an atmosphere conducive to the eventual adoption of a binding code of conduct.
China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan all have overlapping claims to parts of the South China Sea, believed to be rich in oil and gas deposits and home to shipping lanes vital to global trade. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell told reporters in Bali on Thursday that tensions in the South China Sea were “nothing new.“
“Everyone realises the complexity of the issues we are dealing with and the important thing is to develop a degree of communication and goodwill among all the players going forward,“ he said.
Clinton riled the Chinese delegation at the last ARF in Hanoi a year ago when she stated that it was in the United States' “national interest“ to keep those shipping routes open for business. Tensions have escalated in recent months, with the Philippines and Vietnam expressing alarm at what they say are increasingly aggressive Chinese actions.
These include accusations of Chinese forces opening fire on Filipino fishermen, shadowing an oil exploration vessel employed by a Philippine firm, and putting up structures in areas claimed by the Philippines.
Vietnam voiced anger after a Chinese vessel cut the exploration cables of a Vietnamese survey ship in May, and Beijing condemned U.S.-Vietnam naval exercises that began last week off Vietnam's coast.