Saturday, July 31, 2010

Top 10 America's best-kept secrets - Photographs

Taryn Simon photographs some of the most top-secret, highly restricted areas in the world. Her latest book, An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar, took four years to assemble as the photographer gained access to research facilities and government offices hidden from the public. "I felt like I was discovering a new landscape in America, a new terrain, morally and politically," she said.

The book dives under the surface of society with images of decomposing bodies and radioactive waste, deadly viruses and an outdoor recreation area for death-row inmates. The result is an all-access pass into America's best-kept secrets.

Below is the list of America's best-kept secrets and my top ten is in no particular order. These are facts i collected from wired.com. I don't know how far these are truthful or worthy. Anyway i thought i would be good to present this to my user so that let them decide its value.

1) Avian Quarantine Facility

AvianQuarantineThe New York Animal Import Center in Newburgh, New York, detains all imported birds for a mandatory 30-day quarantine before testing them for bird flu and other diseases.

"I decided to photograph this facility because as a citizen, I was concerned about (avian flu), and what things were being done to protect our country," said Simon. Simon scheduled her visit to the Avian Quarantine Facility between trips to other limited-access research facilities to avoid cross-contamination.


2) Cherenkov Radiation, Nuclear Waste Storage Facility

NuclearRadiationSubmerged in a pool of water, these stainless-steel nuclear-waste capsules contain radioactive material. The water serves as a shield against the radiation emitted. Nearly 2,000 capsules reside at the Hanford Site in southeastern Washington State, which is considered among the most contaminated waste sites in the United States.

"Radiation is a light source I've never worked with, so there was no visual reference to shoot (the images) from -- it was a leap of faith," Simon said. "I found this one section that resembled the U.S. That was a great find." The blue glow comes from an effect called Cherenkov radiation.


3) Forensic Anthropology Research Facility, Decomposing Corpse

Forensic_AnthropologyThe world's primary research center for the study of corpse decomposition in Knoxville, Tennessee, is nicknamed "the body farm" and hosts up to 75 cadavers in various stages of decay. The skeletal analysis of human remains helps solve murder cases.

Simon said she was granted full access to shoot as she pleased, which, given the setting, was a bit disconcerting: "They gave me gloves, let me roam around and do whatever I wanted to do. I had a strange reaction to being there with bodies lying all around," Simon said. "I was thinking a lot about how we handle and interpret and respect our dead."


4) White Tiger (Kenny), Selective Inbreeding

WhiteTigerSimon photographed Kenny, an extremely rare white tiger at the Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge and Foundation in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. Kenny suffers from mental retardation, as well as walking and breathing problems. In the United States, white tigers are the result of inbreeding during captivity that leads to their white fur and blue eyes. The other tigers in Kenny's litter are knock-kneed and cross-eyed, with yellow coats.

"The white tiger is a huge part of American entertainment and commerce and from a distance you look at it as a familiar image," Simon said. "With Kenny, you gaze and begin to realize there's something not quite right. You get the idea that something is off, but not immediately."


5) Playboy, Braille Edition

PlayboyBrailleThe National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, a division of the Library of Congress, maintains a free national library of braille materials. Playboy was selected on the basis of demonstrated reader interest; Congress funds free distribution of the braille edition.

"The approach is informed by the content," Simon said. "I think about the formality, the art and seductive quality and then consider the content to shoot the image."


6) Cryopreservation Unit

CryopreservationThe Cryonics Institute in Clinton Township, Michigan, currently preserves 74 legally dead human patients and 44 dead pets, charging the same price it has charged since its establishment in 1976: $28,000 with advance reservation.


7) Contraband Room, United States Customs and Border Protection

JFKThe foodstuffs in this image were seized over a 48-hour period from passengers arriving at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens, New York, from abroad. Among the pictured items are African yams, uncooked meats, fresh eggs, okra and a South Asian lime infected with citrus canker.

"This room is one of my favorite shots. I spent hours arranging the contraband to get it to look like a still life," Simon said.


8) Live HIV, HIV Research Laboratory

LiveHIVThis flask contains live human immunodeficiency virus, used to study the neutralizing potential of antibodies against the virus at the Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts.

"With all of the photographs, I was trying to get at a white noise that was disorienting, and yet there's a reserve," Simon said. "There's something apocalyptic and yet something optimistic in it."


9) Death-Row Outdoor Recreational Facility, "The Cage"

DeathRowAt the Mansfield Correctional Institution in Ohio, death-row inmates are allowed one hour of outdoor recreation per day. There is only a chin-up bar inside the segregated cages, and inmates are not allowed to bring anything in with them.

"It's a topic I was interested in personally, and it's an area that you come away from with so many vulnerabilities about the content," Simon said. "And the anxieties only grow when you make these discoveries."


10) Transatlantic Submarine Cables Reaching Land

TransAtlanticThese submarine telecommunication cables extend thousands of miles across the Atlantic Ocean before reaching this endpoint in Avon, New Jersey. They transmit as many as 60 million simultaneous conversations. "There's a humor because the cables are so important, yet they look so unguarded and unimportant," Simon said.

And here is an additional information for Top 10 users..... do drop your comments if any...

11) The CIA, Art

CIARoomIn this unexpected juxtaposition, Simon captures an image of fine art on display at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. Included in the art collection are a bronze bust of George H.W. Bush and these two pieces by post-World War II painter Thomas Downing.

Top 10 Tools Useful for Blogging Done


10. Skip the copy/paste with AutoCopy

auto_copyMany bloggers quote passages from other web pages, and referencing those snippets of language usually requires a Control/Command+C, then Control/Command+V once you're at the exact right place in your markup. Not so with AutoCopy, a free Firefox extension that automatically adds whatever text you've highlighted in your browser to the clipboard, then pastes it when you middle-click anywhere in Firefox. If you're not using a quick-blog tool like Tumblr, it might be the closest equivalent to the kind of speed-of-thought blogging that keeps writing from turning into a chore.

9. Copy links and their titles with CoLT

copy_link_coltWhen it comes time to post a relevant link at the end of your posts, the uninitiated (read: me, a few months ago) have to first copy the URL of the link, paste it in the right spot, then head back, copy the title of the linked page (being careful not to click!), then paste it inside the link tags. Those who have discovered the magic of the Copy Link Text Firefox extension, on the other hand, have magic right-click options that make grabbing the URL, the text, or both parts of a link dead simple. Give your right-click a rest and get back to adding context.

8. Make reusable templates for posts and images

reusable_templateA lot of posts are, at least structurally, very similar, with a certain-size picture up top, a certain formatting for IM pastes or photo dumps, or similar repetitions. To save your time for real editing, try using Wired's guide to automating Photoshop actions. For hand-coding HTML, it pays to create templates out of your common formats (tables, unordered lists, picture posts) and plug them into a text-substitution app. If you're tinkering with your site's design or layout, why re-invent the wheel? Grab a free template for Blogger, WordPress, or one of 40 general CSS templates for use on any site,. Need more? Check out Gina's roundup of seven different free HTML templates.

7. Live-blog from your phone with Jott

phone_blogFree voicemail-to-text service Jott can help you nail down post material while you're on the go with a phone call, but you can also use the service directly with a number of blogging platforms, including Blogger, Typepad, LiveJournal, Tumblr, and WordPress. If you're hosting your own blog, you can still use Jott's voice-to-email service in conjunction with your platform's email-to-post function to indirectly get your thoughts up online, even while you're miles from your keyboard.


6. Automate repetitive code with text replacement

automative_code_replacementIf you've ever manually embedded a Flickr photo, created a custom headline or signature template, or searched out previously-used code to copy and paste for your posts, you need to add a text replacement app to your stable. Any of them—Texter for Windows, TextExpander for Mac OS X, or Snippits for Linux—can quickly paste, while also preventing common typos and misspellings. If you just want to speed up your HTML coding, try Adam's Markdown automation script, a stand-alone, blog-focused precursor to Texter.

5. Get topic-based post ideas sent to your inbox every day with Google Alerts

Google_alertWhether you write about a team, a certain topic, or a broad trend, Google Alerts brings your post material to you. Use the same kind of advanced search operators you use on Google's main search site to laser-focus on a particular kind of web site, blog post, news story, or group post you're looking for. Decide if it gets sent as fast as Google's servers find it, or in a daily or weekly email digest. Using Alerts exposes you to a wider array of information than you'd get from a defined list of RSS feeds, and it's an easy way to keep your eyes on the web without really being at the search box all day.

4. Spend less time resizing images

image_resizerFew blogs can get by with just words alone, but finding the perfect image to illustrate a post—and then making it fit right—can take more time than the post itself. If you're not committed to Photoshop or its open-source alternative, GIMP, free online image editing site Picnik is a good bet, both for its right-click Firefox extension and its integration with Flickr. If you've got a whole set of pictures to post up, you can try the Windows-only ImageResizer, or for an elegant solution, use the export-and-resize functionality of Picasa.

3. Keep post ideas synchronized with Foxmarks

firfox_synchronizeGreat posting fodder can be found at all hours of the day, but you're not always ready to post it at that exact moment. Use the Foxmarks bookmark synchronizer, and your bookmarks toolbar becomes a universal idea space you can drag-and-drop your links onto. Anyone who likes more control over their backed-up bookmarks can synchronize with their own server, and it can be rolled into a portable Firefox to help you get blogging done with just a thumb drive and some spare time.

2. Quick post media (minimum writing required) with Tumblr
quick_post_mediaA tumblelog—that is, a quick-post blog powered by the Tumblr webapp—makes posting your thoughts, IM chats, videos, photos, and other favorite media tidbits a lot less intimidating than the wide-open HTML spaces of Wordpress, Movable Type, and other platforms (which are still great for longer, text-and-links posts). The real time-saver is Tumblr's bookmarklet, which makes capturing and preparing a new post a one-click affair. Here's more on keeping up an instant, no-overhead blog with Tumblr.

1. Bookmark and track email and posts with Gmail

gmail_thisAdam showed us back in the day how you could set up Gmail as a bookmarking service (using the Gmail this
bookmarklet), but with Gmail's 2.0 version, it's even easier to throw the emails that inspire you to get blogging with your other links, as they have short, human-readable permalinks that you can easily drag into a bookmark folder. And, assuming your blog inspires some kind of feedback, you can keep it separated and organized from your day-to-day mail using filters and persistent searches.

Top selling Wines in a Grocery Store

See the below list to know the list of Top selling Wines in the shop.

This top 10 wines are selected based on their sale in the grocery store.

Here are our top picks:

1. Gunderloch, Riesling 2006
Opting for a German or Austrian Riesling can be a safe bet, says Vaynerchuk, the host of Wine Library TV. “They tend to be excellent wines to serve with food or for simply quaffing,” explains Vaynerchuk and adds that bottles are widely available at prices that aren’t over the top.

2. Guigal Cotes du Rhone 2004
A bottle of Cotes du Rhone is a safe bet and usually available wherever you go, but it can get tough when it comes to differentiating between labels, writes Oz Clarke author of the Essential Wine Book. “Mostly red, the wines can be tremendously fresh and fruity,” Clarke explains and recommends that shoppers ask a merchant before making the final decision.

3. Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc 2007
While the Kim Crawford Winery started in 1996, the Marlborough region in New Zealand has long been known for quality. “It’s a white wine that the Kiwis have perfected,” Wark says. The wine is also easy to find in supermarkets across the U.S.

4. Clos du Bois Pinot Noir 2005
Many California wines are becoming a big hit at the grocery store as well, and experts agree there’s plenty to taste. “Most Sonoma wines have a freshness and a soft edge which makes them very suitable for drinking on their own,” explains Clarke.

5. Andretti Zinfandel-Primitivo 2005
Various grape varieties in California’s Napa Valley can also yield great results when blended, says Wark. “Blended reds represent excellent values and often find their way into grocery stores,” explains Wark.

6. Espiral Vinho Verde 2006
A Trader Joe’s favorite, this Portuguese wine costs four bucks and a good summer option. “It's really crisp, slightly fizzy and tastes a little like limes,” says Maridel Reyes, a magazine writer.

7. Vesevo Greco di Tufo 2006
Lesser known wines like the Greco di Tufo can also be a good bet, says Vaynerchuk who recommends shoppers opt for a type of wine they have never had before, other types he likes are Petit Verdot Chinon.

8. Falesco Vitiano 2005
Blended wines from Italy are always good deal says Dr. Debs, who writes about easy-to-find wines at the blog and explains that the Vitiano is a blend of Sangiovese, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. “It's a perfect pizza and burger wine, but is special enough to go on your Sunday dinner table, too,” she says.

9. Montsarra NV Brut Cava
Debs calls this non-vintage Spanish sparkling wine a steal. “We tend to only have sparklers for special occasions, but this wine is a wonderful reminder that for well under $20 you can have sparkling wine more regularly,” she explains.

10. Gruet Brut, New Mexico, $14
Excellent sparkling wine from a Champagne family that saw the potential — and proved it — in the mountains of New Mexico.

But when it comes to finding a suitable wine at the supermarket, Wark says it’s important to experiment and seek suggestions, “Your best bet is to ask for the manager of the Wine Department.” Now sip slowly.

Top 10 Worst Interview Mistake of they Year - 2008

Below is the list of Top 10 Worst Interview Mistake according to CareerBuilder.com survey

These are 10 real-life examples from this year's survey

• Candidate answered cell phone and asked the interviewer to leave her own office because it was a "private" conversation.

• Applicant told the interviewer he wouldn't be able to stay with the job long because he thought he might get an inheritance if his uncle died - and his uncle wasn't "looking too good."

• The job seeker asked the interviewer for a ride home after the interview.

• The applicant smelled his armpits on the way to the interview room.

• Candidate said she could not provide a writing sample because all of her writing had been for the CIA and it was "classified."

• Candidate told the interviewer he was fired for beating up his last boss.

• When the applicant was offered food before the interview, he declined saying he didn't want to line his stomach with grease before going out drinking.

• An applicant said she was a "people person" not a "numbers person" -- in her interview for an accounting position.

• During a phone interview the candidate flushed the toilet while talking to hiring manager.

• The applicant took out a hair brush and brushed her hair.

Top 10 Worst Interview Mistake of they Year - 2008

Below is the list of Top 10 Worst Interview Mistake according to CareerBuilder.com survey

These are 10 real-life examples from this year's survey

• Candidate answered cell phone and asked the interviewer to leave her own office because it was a "private" conversation.

• Applicant told the interviewer he wouldn't be able to stay with the job long because he thought he might get an inheritance if his uncle died - and his uncle wasn't "looking too good."

• The job seeker asked the interviewer for a ride home after the interview.

• The applicant smelled his armpits on the way to the interview room.

• Candidate said she could not provide a writing sample because all of her writing had been for the CIA and it was "classified."

• Candidate told the interviewer he was fired for beating up his last boss.

• When the applicant was offered food before the interview, he declined saying he didn't want to line his stomach with grease before going out drinking.

• An applicant said she was a "people person" not a "numbers person" -- in her interview for an accounting position.

• During a phone interview the candidate flushed the toilet while talking to hiring manager.

• The applicant took out a hair brush and brushed her hair.

Top 10 Useful Mobile Computing Gadgets

If you’re a web worker, mobile computing is either a necessity of the job or something you choose to do to get away from the monotonous confines of your office work station. Here’s a round-up of 10 cool gadgets that can supplement your remote workspace. (source: sixrevisions)

1. LapStrap


LapStrap
If you’d like to keep things minimal and leave your big, bulky, heavy laptop case behind, LapStrap is an excellent solution. It’s a simple shoulder strap that attaches to your laptop. The LapStrap also solves the awkward moments in airport lines where you struggle to juggle between your other carry-on luggage and taking out your laptop from its conventional case.

2.WiFi Finder PlusWiFi Finder PlusSearching for a WiFi connection can sometimes be a pain in the behind, but Kensington’s WiFi Finder Plus is an ultra-small (key chain size) solution for all your hotspot-seeking woes. It saves you the hassle of turning on your laptop or PDA just to check if there’s a connection nearby that you can access. They throw in a built-in flashlight… just for the heck of it.

3. USB Port Blocker

USB Port Blocker
Data theft and introduction of viruses is a prime concern for mobile workers. The USB Port Blocker prevents data thieves from plugging in USB devices to grab your precious data or injecting malware when you’re not looking. So, if you must leave your computer unattended for a brief period of time (or if you’re the type that gets so absorbed with work that you don’t notice your surroundings), this is a nifty device to help you physically block points of entry into your laptop.

4. Solio Solar Charger

Solio Solar Charger
Charge up your gear and help the environment at the same time, who can say "no" to that? The Solio Solar Charger is a multi-compatible device charger that uses stored solar energy to charge up your other gizmos. It works with the iPhone, iPod, and most other portable handhelds. A fully charged Solio can charge two standard cell phones, and can charge as fast as any wall chargers (according to the maker).

5. LinkStation Mini™

LinkStation MiniThe LinkStation Mini - made by Buffalo Technology - is the world’s smallest network-attached server. It allows you to store music, video, photos, documents, and any type of file in a centralized location. It’s easy connect to using the Web Access feature which doesn’t require any desktop application to use (just a web browser).

6. IronKey

IronKey
The IronKey is a super secure USB flash drive that will keep your data safe should it get stolen. It has an onboard Cryptochip that encrypts data within the IronKey. It has a ton of other features such as giving the user the ability to surf the web privately with its Secure Session Service (and it has Firefox pre-installed so you can run it off the IronKey). It’s also waterproof and very durable to wear-and-tear.

7. DiskGO™ USB Watch Drive

USB Watch DriveWear your geek-ness proudly on your wrist with the DiskGO USB watch drive developed by by Edge Tech Corp. It comes in two capacities: 256MB and 1GB. The design’s water resistant and also comes with password protection software. You can choose between the classic style and the steel dress style to suit the occasion, and the threads you’re wearing. It’s also an excellent conversation piece!

8. Samsung Ultra Slim Mouse

Samsung Ultra Slim Mouse
Some people don’t like the built-in touch pad that’s found on most laptops. If you’d like a scroll wheel instead, but don’t want to carry a bulky mouse, check out the Samsung UM10 Ultra Slim Mouse. It’s only 8 millimeters thick so it’s built for ultimate portability. It has left click, right click, back, forward, and scrolling controlled by one button, allowing the mouse to maintain a very simple but elegant design.

9. Canon Compact iP100 Mobile Printer

Canon Compact iP100 Mobile Printer
Does your work rely on printing documents? Maybe you just want to print out a full-color photo of yourself to give to the person you met in the coffee shop as reminder of you. Regardless of the situation, the iP100 Mobile Printer is not only extremely portable with its small size, but can also print in hi-res, being the first mobile printer to offer 9600×2400 dpi resolution. It can also print speedily; a full-color 4′x6′ photo takes 50 seconds.

10. RFID Security Mobile Disk

 RFID Security Mobile Disk

Carrying a portable mass storage device is a potential security risk. If it gets stolen or accidentally left somewhere, it can be accessed if it has no sort of encryption or locking device. Adding an extra layer of protection to your data is made easy with the STYSEN E08 RFID Security Mobile Disk. It works by locking your hard drive which you can then unlock using an RFID key.

Top 10 Facts About Firefox 3 Beta Version

On the heels of Microsoft releasing its first Internet Explorer 8 Beta, Mozilla has released very late beta code of its next major browser release, Firefox 3.0.l Currently in its fourth beta cycle (one more is expected), And it shows that there is certainly a lot to be excited about in Firefox 3.0. Below are the Top 10 Facts about Firefox 3.0.

1) Navigation Made Easy:

Firefox-3-BetaFirefox 3 now has a big fat back button in the upper left hand corner. The forward button and history pull-down round out the primary navigation zone, with the reload and stop buttons nearby. This improved layout is comfortable to use, and noticeably different from Internet Explorer, which splits navigation controls between the left and right sides of the browser.


2) Address Has Handy Features

Firefox-3-BetaThe address bar for Firefox 3 now supports a much richer type-ahead drop-down than has been seen in previous browsers. To help you pick your destination of choice, the drop-down narrows your recent locations as you type, and shows URL, title, icon, and even whether the address is bookmarked. The address bar also allows for one-click bookmarking and direct subscription to RSS feeds, which are also quite handy features.


3) History and Bookmarks Meet

Firefox-3-BetaThe improved bookmark manager of Firefox 3 is going to make many similar add-on tools obsolete. Simply dubbed "Places," the new system brings history and bookmarks together into one interface. A SQLite database built in to the browser powers both the type-ahead facility previously mentioned and this powerful bookmark-and-history system. This allows users to move from a simple hierarchy of bookmarks to a fully searchable collection of URLs visited and saved. The keyword tagging feature in particular will be welcome to those who find that a single category doesn't describe a saved site.


4) Provide Improved Security Features

Firefox-3-BetaTo improve security, Firefox 3 adds a number of features to help users glean information about the site they are visiting. Dialogs that show who owns a site, what cookies are set, and even the various media elements delivered in a page are easily accessed with a single click.

Firefox-3-Beta Another dialog box that allows users to get more information about the site they are visiting


5) No Phishing Allowed?

Firefox-3-BetaThe purpose of the previous features that show location is to help users avoid phishing and malware-oriented sites. Firefox 3 also supports a feature to alert users to the fact they are visiting a site that may be a source of trouble. In principle, this should inform users that sites are dangerous via a blacklist approach, but in our testing it appeared that this feature is still in beta -- obvious phishing sites clearly were not addressed. Hopefully this will be fixed soon; for now it is a security blanket at best.


6) Site by Site Preferences

Firefox-3-BetaA welcome improvement for Firefox 3 is a better ability to handle permissions on a site-by-site basis. Users can now easily decide if they want to accept cookies, pop-ups, images, and more for each site they visit. Even password memorization on a site-by-site basis is much more likely to be used because of the way it is implemented in this release. Improved usability was clearly a major goal of this Firefox release.


7) Web Service Helpers

Firefox-3-BetaInternet Explorer 8 pushes a number of features, such as activities, that suggest that Web sites should be more tightly integrated. Firefox 3 addresses this concept as well with its Web Service Helpers feature. In this version of Firefox, various content types no longer have to be handled by local helper applications, but instead can be passed to Web based services for handling. Using Web services as helpers clearly shows that the line between desktop software and Web software continues to blur.


8) JavaScript Inching Towards 2.0

Firefox-3-BetaInheriting the mantle of JavaScript ownership from Netscape, Mozilla moves it forward to version 1.8, adding even more functional-language-like features, in case you really want to relive your college years and get into Lambda calculus again. On the upside, this release also includes useful DOM features like document.getElementByClassName going native, as well as porting some Internet Explorer DOM extensions, notably for screen measurement to improve cross-browser support. The most useful thing particularly for Ajax fans is that native JSON decode/encode support is soon on the way.


9) Ajax: Even More Powerful But May Sting

Firefox-3-BetaAlso on the JavaScript front, Ajax continues its march forward with proprietary features in Firefox 3 to monitor progress of requests, handle errors, send binary requests and, like IE8, issue cross-domain requests. Also, like IE8, it is possible to issue cross-window calls. Some of this power does come with a price, and it is a very safe bet that cross-domain and -window requests are going to be abused as soon as this browser becomes popular -- you've been warned.


10) Raw Speed

Firefox-3-BetaMuch has already been said about the raw improvement of JavaScript speed in Firefox 3 Beta 4 -- and that talk is true. Benchmarks such as Sunspider verifiably show Firefox 3 twice as fast as previous betas (and the current IE8 beta) in executing JavaScript. Improved JavaScript execution is welcome, given its importance in Ajax, but while this browser is clearly faster when it comes to JavaScript, HTML and CSS performance benchmarks, we can't deny the fact that it's quite easy to find test cases and page renders to favor one browser or the other

Additional Fact: Web Standards Come Standard
Firefox has long had good showings in Web standards compliance and this release is no different. Like Internet Explorer 8, Firefox 3 handles the Acid2 test properly but it also scores fairly well on the new Acid 3 test. For now, no browser aces Acid 3. The WebKit engine that powers Safari is the current leader, but given the changes in browsers as of late, it's not yet prudent to crown the 2008 standards king of the Web world.

So what do you say?
What do you think of what you've seen of Firefox 3 beta so far? Are there elements of the new version of the browser you are excited about or wish they had included? Do you think it's a better browser than what IE8 has to offer?

If you are a developer, check out the beta version of Firefox 3 and let us know what YOU think.

Top 10 Health Benefits of Sex

The health benefits of sex extend well beyond the bedroom.

Sex does a body good in a number of ways, according to Davidson and other experts. The benefits aren't just anecdotal or hearsay -- each of these 10 health benefits of sex is backed by scientific scrutiny.

Among the benefits of healthy loving in a relationship:

1. Sex Relieves Stress

A big health benefit of sex is lower blood pressure and overall stress reduction, according to researchers from Scotland who reported their findings in the journal Biological Psychology. They studied 24 women and 22 men who kept records of their sexual activity. Then the researchers subjected them to stressful situations -- such as speaking in public and doing verbal arithmetic -- and noted their blood pressure response to stress.

Those who had intercourse had better responses to stress than those who engaged in other sexual behaviors or abstained.

2. Sex Boosts Immunity

Good sexual health may mean better physical health. Having sex once or twice a week has been linked with higher levels of an antibody called immunoglobulin A or IgA, which can protect you from getting colds and other infections. Scientists at Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., took samples of saliva, which contain IgA, from 112 college students who reported the frequency of sex they had.

Those in the "frequent" group -- once or twice a week -- had higher levels of IgA than those in the other three groups -- who reported being abstinent, having sex less than once a week, or having it very often, three or more times weekly.

3. Sex Burns Calories

Thirty minutes of sex burns 85 calories or more. It may not sound like much, but it adds up: 42 half-hour sessions will burn 3,570 calories, more than enough to lose a pound. Doubling up, you could drop that pound in 21 hour-long sessions.

"Sex is a great mode of exercise," says Patti Britton, PhD, a Los Angeles sexologist and president of the American Association of Sexuality Educators and Therapists. It takes work, from both a physical and psychological perspective, to do it well, she says.

4. Sex Improves Cardiovascular Health

While some older folks may worry that the efforts expended during sex could cause a stroke, that's not so, according to researchers from England. In a study published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, scientists found frequency of sex was not associated with stroke in the 914 men they followed for 20 years.

And the heart health benefits of sex don't end there. The researchers also found that having sex twice or more a week reduced the risk of fatal heart attack by half for the men, compared with those who had sex less than once a month.

5. Sex Boosts Self-Esteem

Boosting self-esteem was one of 237 reasons people have sex, collected by University of Texas researchers and published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior.

That finding makes sense to Gina Ogden, PhD, a sex therapist and marriage and family therapist in Cambridge, Mass., although she finds that those who already have self-esteem say they sometimes have sex to feel even better. "One of the reasons people say they have sex is to feel good about themselves," she tells WebMD. "Great sex begins with self-esteem, and it raises it. If the sex is loving, connected, and what you want, it raises it."

6. Sex Improves Intimacy

Having sex and orgasms increases levels of the hormone oxytocin, the so-called love hormone, which helps us bond and build trust. Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh and the University of North Carolina evaluated 59 premenopausal women before and after warm contact with their husbands and partners ending with hugs. They found that the more contact, the higher the oxytocin levels.

"Oxytocin allows us to feel the urge to nurture and to bond," Britton says.

Higher oxytocin has also been linked with a feeling of generosity. So if you're feeling suddenly more generous toward your partner than usual, credit the love hormone.

7. Sex Reduces Pain

As the hormone oxytocin surges, endorphins increase, and pain declines. So if your headache, arthritis pain, or PMS symptoms seem to improve after sex, you can thank those higher oxytocin levels.

In a study published in the Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine, 48 volunteers who inhaled oxytocin vapor and then had their fingers pricked lowered their pain threshold by more than half.

8. Sex Reduces Prostate Cancer Risk

Frequent ejaculations, especially in 20-something men, may reduce the risk of prostate cancer later in life, Australian researchers reported in the British Journal of Urology International. When they followed men diagnosed with prostate cancer and those without, they found no association of prostate cancer with the number of sexual partners as the men reached their 30s, 40s, and 50s.

But they found men who had five or more ejaculations weekly while in their 20s reduced their risk of getting prostate cancer later by a third.

Another study, reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that frequent ejaculations, 21 or more a month, were linked to lower prostate cancer risk in older men, as well, compared with less frequent ejaculations of four to seven monthly.

9. Sex Strengthens Pelvic Floor Muscles

For women, doing a few pelvic floor muscle exercises known as Kegels during sex offers a couple of benefits. You will enjoy more pleasure, and you'll also strengthen the area and help to minimize the risk of incontinence later in life.

To do a basic Kegel exercise, tighten the muscles of your pelvic floor, as if you're trying to stop the flow of urine. Count to three, then release.

10. Sex Helps You Sleep Better

The oxytocin released during orgasm also promotes sleep, according to research.

And getting enough sleep has been linked with a host of other good things, such as maintaining a healthy weight and blood pressure. Something to think about, especially if you've been wondering why your guy can be active one minute and snoring the next.

Top 10 Ways to Search Wikipedia

Wikipedia is a knowledge source and everybody often use this site for your day to day doubts and clarification. In order to make use of this site in an effective way you can follow the below suggested sites (source: readwriteweb)

wikipedia


1. Powerset

Powerset is a much-hyped semantic search engine that uses natural language processing to "understand" concepts in web content and match pages to queries. Right now it only searches Wikipedia (and Freebase). We put it through some early paces last week.


2. Wikiwix

Wikiwix calls itself the "ultimate Wikipedia articles search engine." It searches all of the Wikipedia sites at once (i.e., Wikiquote, Wikiionary, Wikinews, etc.) and has a very handy Wikipedia image search.


3. AskMeNow

AskMeNow is a mobile-targeted Wikipedia search engine that does some natural language processing similar to Powerset and then attempts to cull your answer directly from Wikipedia. Like any NLP search, it's not perfect, but often enough it is right on the nose.


4. Similpedia

Similpedia lets you find related content on Wikipedia. Paste a URL or a paragraph of text and it will dig up articles on Wikipedia that are in some way related.


5. Gollum

Gollum is a Wikipedia browser that supposedly "[reduces] the complexity of information" and makes it easier to browse the online enclyclopedia. To be honest, though, we can't really see any benefit over just browsing Wikipedia in Firefox.


6. Qwika

Qwika doesn't just search Wikipedia -- it searches wikis. 1,158 of them. Wikipedia is included in those it searches, however, and the site makes it easier to search across multiple languages.


7. WikiMindMap

WikiMindMap is one of the coolest Wikipedia search mashups out there. Enter a search term, and the site will generate a mindmap based on related Wikipedia entries allowing you to easily explore a topic and its related articles in full.


8. Wikiwax

Wikiwax gives Wikipedia search the AJAX suggestion treatment. Get search suggestions while you type and find that Wikipedia article a fraction of a second faster.


9. Lexisum

Lexisum takes Wikipedia articles and summarizes them to a smaller, more digestible format that are better set up for printing. You can choose from a number of standard print sizes to display your article summary (A4, A6, etc.).


10. Ask.com & SearchMash

Ask.com and SearchMash (a test sandbox for Google) each augment their search results with information from Wikipedia. Not a pure Wikipedia search, but interesting stuff from a couple of major search players.

Top 10 Ways to Search Wikipedia

Wikipedia is a knowledge source and everybody often use this site for your day to day doubts and clarification. In order to make use of this site in an effective way you can follow the below suggested sites (source: readwriteweb)

wikipedia


1. Powerset

Powerset is a much-hyped semantic search engine that uses natural language processing to "understand" concepts in web content and match pages to queries. Right now it only searches Wikipedia (and Freebase). We put it through some early paces last week.


2. Wikiwix

Wikiwix calls itself the "ultimate Wikipedia articles search engine." It searches all of the Wikipedia sites at once (i.e., Wikiquote, Wikiionary, Wikinews, etc.) and has a very handy Wikipedia image search.


3. AskMeNow

AskMeNow is a mobile-targeted Wikipedia search engine that does some natural language processing similar to Powerset and then attempts to cull your answer directly from Wikipedia. Like any NLP search, it's not perfect, but often enough it is right on the nose.


4. Similpedia

Similpedia lets you find related content on Wikipedia. Paste a URL or a paragraph of text and it will dig up articles on Wikipedia that are in some way related.


5. Gollum

Gollum is a Wikipedia browser that supposedly "[reduces] the complexity of information" and makes it easier to browse the online enclyclopedia. To be honest, though, we can't really see any benefit over just browsing Wikipedia in Firefox.


6. Qwika

Qwika doesn't just search Wikipedia -- it searches wikis. 1,158 of them. Wikipedia is included in those it searches, however, and the site makes it easier to search across multiple languages.


7. WikiMindMap

WikiMindMap is one of the coolest Wikipedia search mashups out there. Enter a search term, and the site will generate a mindmap based on related Wikipedia entries allowing you to easily explore a topic and its related articles in full.


8. Wikiwax

Wikiwax gives Wikipedia search the AJAX suggestion treatment. Get search suggestions while you type and find that Wikipedia article a fraction of a second faster.


9. Lexisum

Lexisum takes Wikipedia articles and summarizes them to a smaller, more digestible format that are better set up for printing. You can choose from a number of standard print sizes to display your article summary (A4, A6, etc.).


10. Ask.com & SearchMash

Ask.com and SearchMash (a test sandbox for Google) each augment their search results with information from Wikipedia. Not a pure Wikipedia search, but interesting stuff from a couple of major search players.

Top 10 deepest lakes in the world

1. Lake Baikal:

Lake Baikal

Also known as the “blue eye of Siberia”, lake Baikal is located in Southern Siberia near R near the Russo-Mongolian border. Famous for being the deepest lake in the world with a maximum depth of 5,369 feet it holds a volume of water larger than that of all the great lakes combined.
Lake Baikal is a great eco-system where more than 1,700 species of flora and fauna live; two thirds of them only to be found here. Completely surrounded by steep mountains and dense forests, the lake has an estimated age of 25-30 million years, making it one of the most ancient lakes in geological history.

2. Tanganyika Lake:

Tanganyika LakeDivided between Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (45%), Tanzania (41%) and Zambia, Tanganyika is the deepest fresh water lake in Africa and the second in the world with a maximum depth of 4,823 feet. The lake was “mistakenly” discovered in 1858 by two British explorers, Richard Burton and John Speke, in their quest to find the Nile’s source.
A recent story on National Georgraphic talks about a cold-blooded serial killer on the shores of Lake Tanganyika. Called Gustave, it was a 20 feet long crocodile that weighted 2,000 pounds and was responsible for killing hundreds of people.

3. O’Higgins/San Martín Lake:

O’Higgins/San Martín Lake Located in Patagonia, between the Aysén Region and the Santa Cruz Province, the lake is called O’Higgins in Chile and San Martin in Argentina. It is the deepest lake in the Americas with a maximum depth of 2,742 feet (measured near the O’Higgins Glacier). The lake is very irregular consisting of eight well-defined arms with milky light-blue water coming from the suspended rock flour.
The lake is named after South American heroes José de San Martín of Argentina and Bernardo O’Higgins of Chile, who fought together for the liberation of Chile.

4. Lake Malawi:

Lake Malawi

Also known as Lake Nyasa, Lake Malawi is the most southern lake in the East African Rift valley system, located between Malawi, Mozambique, and Tanzania. At 2,316 feet deep, it’s the second deepest lake in Africa and thanks to the tropical waters it has more fish species than any other lake on Earth.
Researchers have studied sediments from core samples of Lake Malawi, which revealed that 100,000 years ago, water levels dropped to about 2,000 feet, turning the land around the lake into semi-desert and arid scrubland habitat. According to some, this may be why early man fled from Africa to colonize other parts of the world.

5. Caspian Sea:

Caspian Sea

Between the southern areas of the Russian Federation and northern Iran, lies the largest enclosed body of water on Earth. It’s an endorheic lake with salty water (salinity of approximately 1.2%) that was landlocked due to continental drift 5.5 million years ago. An ancient remnant of the Tethys Ocean, (just like the Black Sea or the Mediterranean Sea) it is the third deepest lake in the world going down to 3,363 feet.
Fauna in the Caspian basin is very rich: great numbers of sturgeon (that’s where you get the great caviar), the Caspian seal and some fish endemic to the Caspian Sea like the Kkturn (Caspian white fish), Caspian roach, Caspian bream and an array of rare species of salmon only to be found in that area.
The Caspian Sea is very rich in energy resources like oil and gas deposits, which have been tapped since the 10th century. These days, the oil in the Caspian basin is supposed to be worth $12 trillion.

6. Issyk Kul Lake:

Issyk Kul Lake

Between the southern areas of the Russian Federation and northern Iran, lies the largest enclosed body of water on Earth. It’s an endorheic lake with salty water (salinity of approximately 1.2%) that was landlocked due to continental drift 5.5 million years ago. An ancient remnant of the Tethys Ocean, (just like the Black Sea or the Mediterranean Sea) it is the third deepest lake in the world going down to 3,363 feet.
Fauna in the Caspian basin is very rich: great numbers of sturgeon (that’s where you get the great caviar), the Caspian seal and some fish endemic to the Caspian Sea like the Kkturn (Caspian white fish), Caspian roach, Caspian bream and an array of rare species of salmon only to be found in that area.
The Caspian Sea is very rich in energy resources like oil and gas deposits, which have been tapped since the 10th century. These days, the oil in the Caspian basin is supposed to be worth $12 trillion.

7. Great Slave Lake:

Great Slave Lake

Also known as the Grand lac des Esclaves after the Slavey North American Indians, it covers 11,000 sq miles in the Northwest Territories of Canada and goes down to 2,015 feet which makes it the deepest lake in North America. Because of the low temperatures in the area, for about eight months of the year, the lake is at least partially frozen, while during winter, the ice is so thick that trailer trucks can pass through.
There is currently no physical evidence to suggest that an unidentified large creature is living in the Great Slave Lake, but many people traveling to the lake have said otherwise. Some talk about a large hump in the water, usually mistaken for a rock until it submerges, or an alligator-like body, with a head like that of a pike.
From his house, a Roman Catholic priest even saw a large dragon-headed creature that rose six to eight feet above the water and moved rapidly on the shores of the lake. The creature was subsequently named Ol’Slavey.

8. Lake Vostok:

Lake Vostok

Out of the 140 sub-glacial lakes on earth, Vostok is the largest and the deepest, with a maximum depth of 2,950 feet. Beneath Russia’s Vostok Station, 13,000 feet under the surface of the central Antarctic ice sheet, may be the most unspoiled lake on Earth. British and Russian scientists only discovered it in 1996.
The average water temperature is -3 °C and the reason why it is still liquid below freezing is the high pressure from the weight of the ice above it.
Scientists also discovered that the ice core may be 420,000 years old, meaning that the lake could have been sealed for over 500,000 years and the water beneath could be doubly as old.
So far there isn’t any proof of life in LakeVostok. Notwithstanding this, in case there are species living beneath the murky depths, they are most likely to have evolved special features in order to survive the lake’s oxygen-rich environment.

9. Crater Lake:

Crater LakeWith a violent volcanic past, the caldera lake in the Crater Lake National Park, Oregon, is a place of immeasurable beauty. Surrounding cliffs of up to two thousand feet high, two small islands and spectacular blue water, make this “outdoor laboratory” the perfect place for photographers.
Crater lake is the deepest lake in the United States with a maximum depth of 1949 feet. It may also have one of the purest water, in North America, (in terms of absence of pollutants) thanks to the generous amounts of winter snow that supplies it with water.
It was created when Mount Mazama (12,000 feet high) collapsed 7,700 years ago following a large eruption, but the legend has more details. The Klamath Indian tribe talks about a raging war between Llao, the spirit of the Below-World who lived in Mount Mazama, and Skell the spirit of the Above-World.
Llao felt in love with Loha, daughter of the Klamath Indian chief, but got rejected and decided to punish humans with the curse of fire. Skell came in to help and after a long battle he managed to defeat Llao, whom he imprisoned deep down into the Under-World, collapsing the top of the Mount Mazama over. At last he wanted peace and decided to cover the pit with magnificent blue water.

10. Lake Matano:

Lake MatanoWith a tectonic origin and located in South Sulawesi in Indonesia, Lake Matano is an important freshwater resource in the area and the country’s deepest lake, with a maximum depth of 1936 feet. It drains from Patea River and later flows through a waterfall into Lake Mahalona (the Malili Lakes).
Lake Matana is famous for its extremely clear waters and the many endemic fish species which have arisen from a single ancestor diversified over time.