Drinking donkey’s milk help you to stay in shape and fit

Role of Media in the moulding of youth

Can drinking donkey’s milk help you to stay in shape? ‘Yes’, says a new study. Researchers have found that donkey’s or ass’s milk works wonders on waistlines. And, with high quantities of omega-3 oils and calcium, it may be better for the heart and help keep energy levels up throughout the day, says the study.

In the study, Italian scientists gave rats either cows’ milk or ass’s milk to drink on top of their usual food. While those given cow’s milk became heavier than normal rats, those drinking asses’ milk put on less weight.

They also had lower levels of blood fats and other fats that can damage the arteries and the heart. And their mitochondria — the tiny batteries that power cells — were super-charged, turning food into energy at a fast pace.

Taken together, this suggests that the consumption of asses’ milk should be encouraged, the researchers told the International Congress on Obesity in Istanbul.

Previous Italian research has suggested that asses’ milk is a good alternative to cows’ milk for children with allergies. However, those who are keen to give ass’s milk a try may have to be patient. Although popular in Victorian times, it fell out of fashion and is not believed to currently be on sale anywhere in Britain, according to the Donkey Breed Society.

Read some more articles below...
Facebook and Google plan to tie up with Skype
Social Networking Sites have become advertising shops
Superman, Spiderman, Batman - Are these our real superhero

Laziness should be treated as a 'Disease'

Leadership Style: Feminine traits are best for becoming a leader

Social Networking Sites have become advertising shops

Male bosses are usually associated with being dominating and taskoriented while women leaders have known to be participative and nurturing. But, a study by the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A) says that irrespective of the gender, it is the sex identity that makes a leader use harsher or softer tactics to get team support.

The study - 'Impact of feminine identity and soft influence tactics on leadership style' - has been done by IIM-A faculty Asha Kaul and doctoral scholar Jithesh Kumar and has used data from sectors like hospitality, IT, FMCG and nationalised banks. It says that feminine trait is psychological and can be present in both men and women. It suggests that HR should focus more on the sex identity or traits of a person, rather than the gender when assigning a role.

Both men and women can use their feminine traits for a softer approach towards a situation. It is a myth that men are always aggressive, says the study. The paper is based on a study of 379 male and female leaders having 10 years of work experience with the organisation. Women leaders are perceived favourably for a democratic and participative style and negatively when they are task-oriented.

Logically, the reverse holds true for men. The study indicates that men and women, high on feminine identity, will adopt both participative and task-oriented leadership styles. In a male-dominated organisation, women tend to adopt masculine traits to influence male members, the study says.

"Our results suggest that men and women with a feminine identity are neither soft nor all-acquiescing. They demonstrate leadership traits which fall on the two extreme corners of the continuum - taskoriented and participative. HR should focus on people with feminine identity, who can create a collaborative environment in an office and in times of stress or tension, their leadership can change to a task-oriented style," says the study. The study aims to remove stereotypical biases and prejudices in organisations and help HR align suitable roles to women.

Read some more articles below...
Facebook and Google plan to tie up with Skype
Role of Media in the moulding of youth

Superman, Spiderman, Batman - Are these our real superhero

Laziness should be treated as a 'Disease'

Want to get fit: Start jogging backwards

Want to get fitter? Start jogging backwards. It may sound awkward, but experts claim it protects the joints and burns more calories.

According to them, running backwards reduces impact on the joints and helps cope with knee and back problems. Overall it is a more efficient way of moving — in fact, a fastforward route to fitness.

A study at the University of Oregon has suggested that reverse runners need to move at only 80% of the speed of forward runners to gain the same physiological and fitness benefits. Another study at Stellenbosch University in South Africa has shown that the technique can improve cardiovascular fitness, the Daily Mail reported.

For this study, researchers looked at the effects of a six-week, thriceweekly backward-running programme on female students compared with a group who stuck to their regular activity schedule.

At the end of the study, the reverse runners were found to have significant decreases in oxygen consumption, meaning they had become aerobically fitter, and had lost an average 2.5% body fat.

James Bamber, organiser of the UK’s backward races, says there are other subtle advantages. “Because you land and push off from the forefoot, your big toes are strengthened, which aids good posture.

“It improves co-ordination and has been proven to help cognitive functioning and reaction speed as a result,” he was quoted as saying.

Bamber says running one lap of an athletics track backwards provides fitness equivalent of running six laps forwards and that 100 steps in reverse produces same benefits as 1,000 steps straight ahead.

Despite its fashionable status, reverse running is not new. It emerged as an activity in its own right in the 1970s, when sports doctors began recommending it to injured athletes.

22 percent massage parlours in the city are a hotbeds for HIV transmission

Social Networking Sites have become advertising shops

After a fake friendship club and masseurtraining racket was busted on Saturday, the police are preparing to crack down on more dubious clubs. Police claim there at least 400 more ‘sex parlours’ operating in the city and their licenses can be cancelled once these are tracked down.

Besides duping people, these parlours can trigger the spread of HIV, said a police officer officer.

Delhi AIDS Control Society officials said approximately 22 per cent massage parlours in the city are potential hotbeds for HIV transmission. “We were getting frequent complaints from NGOs about such parlours and decided to investigate. We will now request National AIDS Control Organisation, Delhi police and the government to take swift action and sift fake parlours from genuine ones,’’ said a senior official.

“Most victims do not lodge complaints as they fear social ostracization. Parlour owners too change their phone numbers frequently and they keep shifting shop from one rented premise to another. We will now take a more holistic approach to the problem,’’ said a police officer.

The crime branch is now scanning bank details of the accused, Rajesh Singh, in the fake friendship club racket. Police are also trying to establish if similar fake clubs are being run in other parts of the country.

Singh is on the run and police suspect he could be operating more such clubs and masseur centres from other areas of west Delhi like Vikaspuri.

“If we find the gang was operating across the city and the country, we could charge them under MCOCA,” said a police officer.

Police said this particular gang had been operating the racket for the past one year and was making over Rs 1.5 lakh every day by duping callers. The crime branch had on Saturday busted this gang in Janakpuri and arrested 25 people, including 20 women.

Police said Singh was paying about Rs 75,000 rent every month for three offices in Janakpuri and had cheated people in several states, including, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.

In the case of friendship clubs, the caller would be asked to get himself registered by depositing Rs 1,000 in a bank account.

Once the caller registers himself, he would be offered three categories of women contacts for being friends — models for Rs 7,000, college girls for Rs 5,000 and housewives for Rs 3,000. Once the amount was transferred by the caller, Singh would withdraw it using ATM cards and the women would stop taking the calls.

For masseur training centres, they only entertained male callers.

“They would be told that they would not only teach them how to become a masseur, but also provide a list of clients. The callers would be asked to pay Rs 1,000 as registration fee, Rs 3,750 for the massage kit and Rs 7,000 for the lady trainer,” said Chand. 

Read some more articles below...
Facebook and Google plan to tie up with Skype

Role of Media in the moulding of youth

Superman, Spiderman, Batman - Are these our real superhero

Laziness should be treated as a 'Disease'

Facebook and Google plan to tie up with Skype

Role of Media in the moulding of youth
 
Facebook and Google are separately considering a tie-up with Skype after the web video conferencing service delayed its initial public offering, two sources with direct knowledge of the discussions told Reuters.

Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has taken part in internal discussions about buying Skype, according to one of the sources. Another source said Facebook had reached out to the Luxembourg-based company about forming a joint venture. Google has also held early talks for a joint venture with Skype, the second source said. A Skype deal could be valued at $3 billion to $4 billion, the first source said. Skype’s IPO is expected to raise about $1 billion, several other sources said.

The discussions are in early stages, and it is not clear which option the companies favour, the first two sources said. Although an IPO is still in the cards for the second half of 2011, Skype remains in discussions with other companies, two of the sources said. If it goes through, a Skype IPO would be one of the most hotly anticipated debuts by a US technology company this year.

Securing Skype as a partner would expand Facebook’s user base, help it grow in international markets where Skype is popular, and give its halfbillion users another reason to remain active and connected to its online community. Analysts say a tie-up between Facebook and Skype would make more sense than one with Google, which already has a similar service-—Google Voice.

Skype and Google declined to comment. Facebook was not immediately available to comment. The information is not public and the sources declined to be named. With a partnership, Facebook can tack another service onto its everexpanding menu—a crucial feature given that many mobile devices, including tablets, now come equipped with front-facing cameras.

“This is very synergistic,” said Trip Chowdhry, an analyst with Global Equities Research. “It puts Facebook two steps ahead of Google because of the number of Skype users.”

“In your social network, you will now have another very compelling service—Skype,” he added. Last year, Skype had about 124 million connected users every month by the end of June. But 8.1 million were paying customers, using Skype to make calls to traditional phones at discounted rates. Analysts have said that while Skype’s growth has been impressive, investors would be cautious about its prospects for revenue growth due to the size of its base of nonpaying customers. The company was founded in 2003. eBay Inc bought it in 2005 for $3.1 billion.

In 2009, eBay sold a majority stake in Skype to an investor group that included Silver Lake, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Andreessen Horowitz for $1.9 billion in cash and a $125 million note. EBay retained about a third of the company. Last August, Skype filed a registration statement to go public.

The October appointment of a new chief executive, Tony Bates, a former senior vice president of Cisco Systems, put the eagerly anticipated initial public offer on hold until the second half of 2011.

Calling Card

Possible deal value | A Skype deal could be valued at $4 bn. Skype’s IPO is expected to raise about $1 bn

User count | Last year, Skype had about 124 m connected users every month by the end of June

Paying users | 8.1 m were paying customers 2003 | Skype is founded

2005 | eBay buys it for $3.1 bn 2009 | eBay sells a majority stake for $1.9 bn in cash and a $125 m note 

Read some more articles below...

Social Networking Sites have become advertising shops

Superman, Spiderman, Batman - Are these our real superhero

Laziness should be treated as a 'Disease'

Ekta Kapoor: I HATE PEOPLE WHO ARE THIN

...says Ekta Kapoor, adding that she’s not bothered about what the world expects from her and there’s much beyond the tantrum throwing, cellphone hurling person to her than is portrayed

Why the decision to move from television serials to mainstream movies?

I’m always ready to do things based on my gut. When you make things for TV, it has to be en masse because television prohibits you as far as niche programming goes. Even if there’s niche programming, the numbers are so small that you can never get any creative expression. For TV your product needs to be en masse. With films, you can experiment more.

Shifting from soaps to movies, how much audience analysis do you do for new projects?

Research is not the only way to know the pulse of your audience. Research is available to everyone today but does it work for everyone? No. Asking a viewer on the road what they want would be more useful. When you make something for television or a movie, research can never overpower your own gut. When I made saas bahu serials, there was no research on the subject. Clearly, if my gut has supported it, why should I not follow it? It might let me down at times and I might make mistakes, but I will pay for it. I may hear a research; I am not saying I don’t keep my ears open. My ears are open, but my nose can smell a good concept right away.

You’re labelled as an overdramatic creative professional. Added to that, there are many images attached to you...

I used to be a human being earlier and now I am folklore because people think they know me even before they know me. You are going to throw a stone at us, or a mobile, your temper… and I am like, “Guys, there are no mandates! I’m a human being. Try to get to know me.”

So, what don’t people know about you?

I am as moody as the other person, just that I am seen more than the other person. What’s different is that I am over-passionate about my work. I am just like anyone else. I am a fat girl with fat girl fantasies of eating the whole day and not putting on weight. That’s my biggest dream. I hate people who are thin and are thin after eating what they want. I am just like anyone else. I did things without thinking so I shocked and I achieved.

Do you think of yourself as something of an enigma for the rest of the world?

I am an enigma for myself. I figure myself out for a while and then something happens, and then everything changes and I’m like – I changed the plot again, damn! And I thought I knew myself. I trick myself, forget others. You see, I don’t want research done on me. I’d rather live my life than analyse it.

But people do analyse you – from your rings to your pujas...

I used to have a couch in my cabin. Everyone tells me it’s a very suggestive couch, but I say this is for my creative work. Creative offices should let your creativity flow. They cannot be management offices. The fifth floor even had bunk beds in the office and it was very spoken about at one time. We had people working till 4 in the morning and they had to come back at 8 in the morning to edit. Let them sleep for four hours and then come back to work. If you don’t rest, you will not give me any creativity. So, from my rings to my sleeping in the cabin and hearing scripts, my ideologies have been followed by a lot of people. Most of my associates who’ve left Balaji, suddenly ordered for a couch like that. It may not work for them – it’s for my creativity.

What do you credit your success to?

I like to be on the ground. When I was doing serials, I used to watch every TV serial – mine and everyone else’s too. I was obsessed with television. I was making serials for the audience and for myself. And I was in touch with what was happening. Most of us keep our social circle and our tastes very elite, and yet we want to make serials for the masses. How is that possible? When I decided to go into movies, I started going to the cinemas… I got a lot of lessons from watching people at the ground level. People just want to be entertained. Sometimes, I would want to be intellectually provoked or placated. I want to get scared in a scary movie.

Also, I never go for trials of movies – mine or someone else’s. Half the time people come out, they have to say good things about your film and then you have to say good things about their films. So, I would rather not get into that rigmarole. I’d rather go to a film with my friends and I have friends from various walks of life and various strata – bankers, people from the television world, younger friends, etc. When they spend 200 bucks to go watch a movie, I see the anger if they don’t enjoy the film. So, I’d do everything in my power to ensure that when you spend your 200 bucks, you enjoy your movie.

How obsessed are you with your work?

I am a psycho, I am a work junkie. I don’t get sleep, so I need to get creatively motivated. On a serious note, any kind of creative expression excites me. One of my friends told me, ‘People think you don’t have a life, but unfortunately, it’ll take them a long time to realise that this is your life. It’s not that you are depriving yourself of a party sitting in office; you enjoy sitting in office’. Of course, parents only analyse these and preach!

Who do you draw your influence from?

My mother – I love her. I am flaky, flying, crying, over dramatic, overdoing it, but she’s rock solid. This company survives because of her; she’s great at people management. She’s great in calming nerves, great in pushing people, great businesswoman. I am the one who is financially weak – always spending more than I should. Always overdependent on creativity and very little understanding of finances. We foil each other.

Apprehensions for your next “Ragini MMS”?

I have apprehensions but not fears. Like people slot you, they slot films. They think this is like “LSD” because of captured footage, but what they don’t realise is that that was one camera footage for a shaky feel but this is 25 cameras for a totally new imaging. It’s more like “Big Boss” and not “LSD”. Also, since there’s the word MMS in the title, they think it’s sexual in nature. That’s stupid because we can download sex today and no one is going to pay 400 bucks to watch a sex film. On the net you get free porn, so why will they go to a theatre to watch? The MMS was to get a grab footage film feel – this is voyeuristic horror. The couple is comfortable with each other sexually, but they are not jumping at it each other; there’s no dramatic heaving of chests. It’s the story of a haunted house (so many people book houses to go away for a weekend). You never know if the house has a story and imagine if you bug the house. During static, spirits are captured. What if you are aware there’s a spirit in the house and the fourth person – the viewer – knows that. It is actually a young horror. My third apprehension is when people doubt your intention. I do not want to intellectualise the film, and at the same time, I don’t want to trivialise it. I want to make a great scary movie.