More Greek men had penis extension surgery in 2010 than 25 countries in the developed world -

More Greek men had penis extension surgery in 2010 than 25 countries in the developed world - 




More Greek men had penis extension surgery in 2010, in proportion to the population, than their counterparts in 25 countries in the developed world examined in a survey by the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery.


The report, which compared data from other European Union countries including Italy, France, Spain and Germany, as well as the USA, Britain, Russia, China and Japan, found that South Koreans underwent the most aesthetic surgery, proportional to the country’s population, than any other of the 25 countries, with most opting for eyelid surgery to acquire a more “western look.”


Greece was second in the chart overall and first as regards to penis extensions.


Read more -
http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite1_1_24/04/2012_439161

Big Brother Riding Along With 'Pay-as-You-Drive'? - monitoring device to predict how likely a driver is to have an accident -

Big Brother Riding Along With 'Pay-as-You-Drive'? - monitoring device to predict how likely a driver is to have an accident - 


While there is a relatively slim chance that you’ll be sideswiped by a Buick on your way to work in the morning, it happens and can be expensive when it does.
But, as with any investment, you’re playing the odds when you pick an insurance plan and pay your premium. And so are the insurance companies. They spin the dice every time you start your car.
Now, a new survey suggests good drivers might be willing to stack the odds in their favor, even if it means having Big Brother on board every time they go for a spin.
UK-based insurance aggregator GoCompare.com found that 92 percent of drivers surveyed said insurance premiums should be based on how they drive; and 97 percent said good drivers should get better insurance.
This “pay-as-you-drive” model is already available in the United States through the Progressive Insurance SnapShot device and helps the insurance company hedge its bets, while rewarding good drivers for actually being good drivers, not just lucky ones.
The question is whether insurance companies will eventually require the devices for all policyholders, and if drivers will be ready to give up their privacy for a break on insurance. Several auto experts weighed in on the issue, and all agreed on one thing: vehicle tracking is here to stay.
Formally known as telematics-based insurance, the plans use a vehicle monitoring device that snaps into the OBD-II diagnostic port on your vehicle. Richard Hutchinson, the usage-based insurance manager at Progressive, says the SnapShot works on algorithms that use your driving style to predict how likely you are to have an accident, and how expensive it will be if it happens. Normal insurance plans use dozens of set variables like age and gender to calculate rates, but the SnapShot taps into literally thousands of dynamic inputs including how fast and what time of day you drive.
The device captures data in one-second intervals. One of the most revealing stats: how much you brake and how often. Over-braking is a key indicator of an accident-prone driver. Hutchinson says SnapShot is a voluntary program, customers can opt-out at any time, and it does not track the car’s location or whether or not you break the prevailing speed limit.
“Drivers who choose to drive less than average may be pre-disposed to a program like this,” says Hutchinson. “This program is still in its infancy, so we’re a long way from this being standard.”
Drivers on the Progressive plan can save up to 30 percent over traditional policies.
Ed Kim, an analyst with research consulting firm AutoPacific, says pay-as-you-drive is part of a growing tech trend, where many online can already track a customer’s habits and tailor their experience accordingly. He says US drivers, too, are becoming more accustomed to giving up their privacy if they can see the benefits.
“American consumers can be antsy about privacy, but in some ways are beginning to slowly accept companies tracking their whereabouts and habits,” says Kim.
While having the government track your driving might be too Orwellian, Kim says we’re more likely to let a private company access our driving data. He says one possible scenario is that the only way to get a much lower insurance rate in the future will be to agree to the tracking.




Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2012/04/24/are-drivers-ready-for-big-brother-car-insurance-plans/

Mystery Objects Spotted Piercing Saturn’s Ring - leaving a glittering trail of mini-jets behind -

Mystery Objects Spotted Piercing Saturn’s Ring - leaving a glittering trail of mini-jets behind - 


A NASA space probe studying Saturn recently treated scientists to a bit of a surprise – rather odd little objects piercing in and out the planet’s F Ring, leaving a glittering trail of mini-jets behind.
The objects appear to travel in packs, producing multiple mini-jets which look like the barb of a harpoon.
Scientists already knew somewhat large objects can create channels, ripples and snowballs, or clumps of icy material, within the F ring.  What they didn’t know was what happened to these objects after they were created.  Scientists thought some of these “snowballs” were broken up into smaller pieces by collisions or tidal forces as they orbited in the F ring around Saturn.


These images, from NASA's Cassini spacecraft, show trails which were dragged out from Saturn's F ring by objects that are about one kilometer in diameter. (Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI/QMUL ) (Click image for larger view)
Finding the mystery objects suggests scientists now have proof some of the smaller chunks of those collisions survived and, because they were set into varying orbits, these little objects went on to break through the F ring on their own.
To make their findings, scientists carefully went through about 20,000 images produced during the seven years the Cassini space probe has been at Saturn.  So far, about 500 of these weird little objects have been found.
“I think the F ring is Saturn’s weirdest ring, and these latest Cassini results go to show how the F ring is even more dynamic than we ever thought,” said Carl Murray, a Cassini imaging team member.
The F ring, Saturn’s outermost main ring, has a circumference of 881,000 kilometers and is considered the most active ring in the Solar System, since its features tend to change over a period of hours.
Saturn’s rings are mostly made of ice with an average thickness of  about 10 meters.  The pieces of ice that make up the main rings spread out some 140,000 kilometers from the center of the planet.
The Cassini space probe’s next notable encounter will be  a flyby past Saturn’s moon, Enceladus, on May 2.

Read more -
http://blogs.voanews.com/science-world/2012/04/24/mystery-objects-spotted-piercing-saturns-ring/

Teenagers drinking hand sanitizer to get drunk, doctors say - "It's essentially a shot of hard liquor" -

Teenagers drinking hand sanitizer to get drunk, doctors say - "It's essentially a shot of hard liquor" - 


Six teens were taken to emergency rooms in California after guzzling hand sanitizer to get drunk, prompting doctors to issue a warning to parents about a dangerous new trend, KTLA reported.
Dr. Bill Mallon, who works in the emergency room at Los Angeles County USC Medical Center, told KTLA he had seen too many young people come into the hospital with alcohol poisoning after drinking hand sanitizer.
“It doesn't sound appealing, but you have to remember that kids don't have access to alcohol so they're very creative," Mallon told KTLA.
Liquid hand sanitizer is inexpensive and  accessible to teenagers, and there are instructions for distillation online.  Sanitizer is 62 percent ethyl alcohol and 120-proof after distillation.
"It's essentially a shot of hard liquor," Cyrus Rangan, director of the toxicology bureau for the L.A. County Public Health Department and a medical toxicology consultant for Children's Hospital Los Angeles, told KTLA. "All it takes is just a few swallows and you have a drunk teenager."
According to doctors, this is only the latest over-the-counter product teenagers have used to get a quick high.  In the past, teenagers have been known to use mouthwash, cough syrup and vanilla extract.
Doctors recommended parents monitor their liquid hand sanitizer or buy the foam version instead because it is harder to extract alcohol.




Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2012/04/24/teenagers-drinking-hand-sanitizer-to-get-drunk-doctors-say/

For First Time Since Depression, More Mexicans Leave U.S. Than Enter -

For First Time Since Depression, More Mexicans Leave U.S. Than Enter - 


A four-decade tidal wave of Mexican immigration to the United States has receded, causing a historic shift in migration patterns as more Mexicans now leave the United States for Mexico than the other way around, according to a report from the Pew Hispanic Center.


It is the first reversal in the trend since the Depression, and experts say that a declining Mexican birthrate and other factors may make it permanent.


“I think the massive boom in Mexican immigration is over and I don’t think it will ever return to the numbers we saw in the 1990s and 2000s,” said Douglas Massey, a professor of sociology and public affairs at Princeton University and co-director of the Mexican Migration Project, which has been gathering data on the subject for 30 years.


Read more - 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/for-first-time-since-depression-more-mexicans-leave-us-than-enter/2012/04/23/gIQApyiDdT_story.html

New Zealand is considering raising the price of a pack of cigarettes to as much as $100 -

New Zealand is considering raising the price of a pack of cigarettes to as much as $100 - 




In an attempt to discourage smokers from lighting up, New Zealand is considering raising the price of a pack of cigarettes to as much as $100 by 2020, Sky News reported.
The suggested measure is one of many ideas from New Zealand’s Ministry of Health to make the country smoke-free by 2025, according to a document released to 3 News in New Zealand.
Another option being considered would be to increase the price of a pack of 20 cigarettes 10 percent each year from 2013 to 2025 – eventually costing $40 a pack. The more extreme $100 a pack version would be achieved by an immediate price increase of 30 to 60 percent, with an annual increase of 30 percent.
The briefing paper said: "Tobacco taxation is the single most effective intervention available to drive down smoking prevalence figures."
The Ministry is also considering regulating tobacco as a highly toxic substance, banning smoking in cars with children and increasing the number of anti-smoking campaigns.




Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2012/04/23/100-for-pack-cigarettes/?test=latestnews

Company Names Sunglasses Line for Helen Keller -

Company Names Sunglasses Line for Helen Keller - 


A Chinese company is creating some buzz online for naming its sunglasses line for Helen Keller, the deaf and blind American woman who became an advocate for people with disabilities.
In a commercial for the eyewear, a stylish woman steps off a plane and walks past a long line of waiting photographers. They initially do nothing, but when she puts on the Helen Keller glasses they feverishly begin to take her picture.
The line's slogan? "You see the world, the world sees you."
The Wall Street Journal reports that Keller's story is widely taught in Chinese schools.
A spokesman for Xiamen Jinzhi, the company that developed the line, told the Journal that it was well aware of Keller's blindness, but said it valued the woman's philanthropic spirit, which spread optimism throughout the world.


Read more - 
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/company-names-sunglasses-line-helen-keller-011855083--abc-news-topstories.html

If You Have a Smart Phone, Anyone Can Now Track Your Every Move -

If You Have a Smart Phone, Anyone Can Now Track Your Every Move - 




Location services company Navizon has a new system, called Navizon I.T.S., that could allow tracking of visitors in malls, museums, offices, factories, secured areas and just about any other indoor space. It could be used to examine patterns of foot traffic in retail spaces, assure that a museum is empty of visitors at closing time, or even to pinpoint the location of any individual registered with the system. But let’s set all that aside for a minute while we freak out about the privacy implications.


Most of us leave Wi-Fi on by default, in part because our phones chastise us when we don’t. (Triangulation by Wi-Fi hotspots is important for making location services more accurate.) But you probably didn’t realize that, using proprietary new “nodes” from Navizon, any device with an active Wi-Fi radio can be seen by a system like Navizon’s.


To demonstrate the technology, here’s Navizon CEO and founder Cyril Houri hunting for one of his colleagues at a trade show using a kind of first person shooter-esque radar.

Watching - Money As Debt II: Promises Unleashed -

Watching - Money As Debt II: Promises Unleashed -

Boy, 10, taken to the hospital after being served rum at Indianapolis Olive Garden -

Boy, 10, taken to the hospital after being served rum at Indianapolis Olive Garden - 




A waitress at an Indianapolis Olive Garden mistakenly served rum to a 10-year-old boy Thursday, police said.


According to police, the boy had ordered a non-alcoholic wildberry frullato daiquiri for children but the waitress mistakenly brought back a drink that had rum in it. The child drank about 2 ounces of the 4 ounce drink before the waitress realized her mistake.


The waitress told management about the error and the restaurant's manager then told the parents. The manager reportedly said the child would be fine but the parents took the boy to the hospital just to be sure.


Tests revealed the boy did have alcohol in his system, but that it equaled less than 1 percent. Officers said the child appeared to be fine, though he was a little shaken up.


Police determined the waitress acted without any malice. Police also determined the family's tab didn't show that any alcohol had been ordered.


Olive Garden released the following statement Friday:


"We find this situation completely unacceptable and we are extremely upset that this occurred.


"We have a zero tolerance policy for any violation of our responsible alcohol service policy, and the employee who served the wrong drink has been terminated. We are thankful that the child is OK and we will continue to work with the family to resolve this issue."


The mix-up came roughly a year after a mom said her toddler got a little tipsy after being served sangria at an Olive Garden southeast of Orlando, Fla.


Read more -
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/04/21/boy-10-taken-to-hospital-after-being-served-rum-at-indianapolis-olive-garden/?test=latestnews