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Friday, 20 November 2009
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Nepal's 'laptop astrologer' takes to the airwaves
Nepal's 'laptop astrologer' takes to the airwaves
Deepashree Joshi, a Nepalese housewife, says she used to queue for hours to have her fortune told. Now she only has to call her favourite television astrologer to discover what the future has in store.
By Subel Bhandari
3 Nov 2009
Vedic Astrology
Nepalese astrologer Basudev Krishna Shastri, known as the 'laptop astrologer', has become a national celebrity as a result of his live television phone-in show Photo: AFP
Since Basudev Krishna Shastri, known as the "laptop astrologer", began his live television phone-in show in January 2008 he has become a national celebrity, winning an army of loyal fans and spawning several imitators.
"It's so convenient and comforting to be able to find out what the future holds for you with just one phone call to a television show," says Joshi, 39.
"I believe in them because they are almost always right. And it helps me decide what my priorities should be."
Shastri, 34, uses specially designed software to read callers' stars, tapping the date, place and time of their birth into a computer with the aid of his female co-host.
His show started out as a weekly broadcast, but quickly became so popular that Nepalese TV channel Kantipur Television decided to air it every day, and he now receives around 500 calls a week.
"Changes in the position of the planets affect every one of us in this world, just as the sea becomes violent on the night of a full moon," he said in an interview with AFP.
"In this day and age, you have to use the technology available to you. The knowledge is old, but you can incorporate newer ideas. It's a fusion," added Shastri, who is now working on a website to provide his service online.
Shastri says callers vary from schoolchildren asking about their examinations to elderly men wanting to know who their grandchildren will marry.
But as with fortune-telling the world over, he says the top three things people ask is who they will marry, how much they will earn, and whether foreign travel features in their future.
"Young people especially want to know what are the best choices to make. They want someone to tell them," he added. "And many ask whether they will succeed in love."
Suraj Kafle, a sociologist, believes the popularity of Shastri's show and others like it can be partly attributed to people's disillusionment with the political situation in Nepal, which has witnessed massive upheaval in recent years.
A bloody 10-year civil conflict between the state and Maoist rebels ended in 2006, and the country's unpopular monarchy was abolished two years later.
But political instability persists, and experts say many ordinary people in the desperately poor country have yet to experience the benefits of peace.
"People want inspiration. They want hope. Nothing has changed and it's very frustrating for them," said Kafle, a lecturer in sociology at Kathmandu's Tribhuvan University.
"It's about solace, it provides hope for a better future."
Astrology has deep roots in majority-Hindu Nepal, where marriage and even election dates are decided according to the auspicious positioning of the stars, and Shastri says the reasons for the show's popularity are simple.
"People are by nature very inquisitive. They want to know about themselves and their future," said Shastri, who claims to count some of Nepal's political leaders among his clients.
"They want to know whether they are going to be in power, whether they will be in government in future."
"I have many Communist leaders coming to ask about their future, including senior Maoist leaders. I think they are the most confused of all."
When it comes to the political situation in Nepal, Shastri does not provide much hope - the future, he says, holds "grave danger" for the country.
But he also believes that the future can be changed - a message, perhaps, for Nepal's warring political leaders.
"If you do good, it will affect your future," Shastri said. "You can change your kismet."
Wednesday, 04 November 2009
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Obesity can kill your sex life
Obesity can kill your sex life
Weight Loss Resources
Viagra
Here's another reason why you should shed the flab - excess weight can hamper your bedroom life, for a study has found that obese people have less sex.
An international team, led by Professor Frances Quirk of James Cook University, has carried out the study and found that in addition to increasing health risks, obesity can kill overweight people's sex lives.
According to researchers, there are several biological and physical factors which could lead to a decrease in sexual functionality.
"Sexual dysfunction is very personal and even within a relationship lots of couples find it very difficult to talk about changes. One partner may say, 'I think something has changed and I don't know what it is, while the other is thinking 'they've gone off me'. Excessive weight gain may lead one partner to find the other less physically attractive, a change in hormone production and lower energy levels and all these things can have a negative impact on your sex life," Prof Quirk said. According to the researchers, people are likely to be attracted to certain body shapes in the opposite sex.
"When men see women with a small waistline and broad hips the are just primed to respond to those shapes, while women are attracted to the triangular shape of a man. These body types are indicative of hormonal and physiological characteristics that are naturally attractive.
"With a round body shape all of those cues are hidden so what you're relying on in terms of your own sexual response to someone is subjective feelings," Prof Quirk said. -
Coffee can boost your sexual performance
Coffee can boost your sexual performance
Move over Viagra, for something simpler has arrived in town to give a boost to men’s sex lives – coffee!
The new brands of the drink like Tongkat Ali, Kopi Jantan, Ali Cafe, Superbest and Radex, are now available in Malaysia, which promises superior sexual performance.
These brands, some of which are imported, apparently have herbs with aphrodisiac elements mixed with the coffee powder and are available in sachets at mamak stalls or restaurants. The drinks are advertised through cardboard displays next to cash counters of the outlets, reports the Star Online.
Diauddin Abdul Putus, manager of food joint Kelana Food in Section 16, Shah Alam, which offers such variety of coffee, said the restaurant sells almost 70 to 80 cups of the drinks each day.
He said: "The customers claim that they get some kind of sexual satisfaction but personally, I’m not so sure about it".
Sunday, 01 November 2009
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Viagra not harmful to vision: study
Viagra not harmful to vision: study
Sat, Oct 31, 2009
AFP
WASHINGTON, US - Treatments for erectile dysfunction such as the hugely popular drug Viagra do not appear to pose long-term damage to men's sight, a new study has shown.Doctors had been concerned that Viagra, and its competitor drug sold in the United States as Cialis, might prove harmful after some men reported blurred and blue-tinged vision. The two drugs accounted for a billion dollars in sales in 2008.
But the six-month study published Monday and funded by pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly, the makers of Cialis, showed no side effects on sight, according to the results published in the April issue of Archives of Ophthalmology.
The drugs treat erectile dysfunction by blocking an enzyme in the blood flowing to the penis, and there had been fears they could also act on similar compounds in the retina in the eye that receives and transmits images.
A total of 244 healthy men, some with mild erectile dysfunction, aged 30 to 65 took part in the study. Some 85 took five milligrams of Cialis daily, 77 took 50 milligrams of Viagra manufactured by Pfizer and 82 were given a placebo.
Among the 194 men who completed the study and eye examinations no significant differences were found in vision between those taking the drugs and the placebo groups.
"Our results indicate that there is no cumulative damage or effect of clinical significance for either 5 milligrams of tadalafil (Cialis) or 50 milligrams of sildenafil (Viagra) taken daily for six months," the report noted.
Monday, 24 August 2009
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Italian village looks for its mystery lottery winner
Italian village looks for its mystery lottery winner
(AFP) – 8/23
LotteryShop
ROME — Residents of the small Italian village of Bagnone were on Sunday trying to find out the identity of the weekend winner of a record lottery prize of almost 148 million euros.
Soon after the announcement that the winning ticket had been bought in a bar in the centre of the village, the name of one 47-year-old resident in particular kept cropping up.
The ANSA news agency quoted several villagers as saying they believed that he was the lucky recipient of the European record prize -- 147,807,299.08 euros (about 212 million dollars). He had spent just two euros on his ticket.
But the man concerned denied it was him. He went on to explain: "Yesterday evening I was showing off my ticket and saying for a joke that it was the winning one. That's how this whole story took off."
The owner of the bar also denied it was him.
"It's not the name that is going around. But I cannot say the name of the winner," said Vanni Simonetti. "I know it because the winner had entered just before me," he said, pointing out that his pre-filled ticket was number 431 while the winning ticket was numbered 430.
Sara Orti, who also works at the family-run bar, told AFP that at 10:00 pm on Saturday "someone who was very emotional had telephoned to say thank you".
It was a man who lives in the village, she said, adding that he had not yet come to the cafe.
The Tuscan village, whose population of 2,000 residents grows to around 3,000 in summer, partied late into the night on Saturday. Residents opened bottles of sparkling wine on the main square and were still in a festive mood Sunday.
At 8:00 am the square was much busier than usual as residents, visitors from neighbouring villages and journalists came together. The identity of the mystery winner was the only topic of conversation.
"We are all happy here. It is a great moment for the village and there are lots of sightseers who have come to see the village and the bar. It's great for business," said Orti.
"There is a special atmosphere," said Simonetti. "People are calling from all over the place. Last night at 2:00 am a Canadian friend called me and she also wanted to know the name of the winner."
The record sum has fired the imagination of this village, whose residents clearly earn less than the national average.
"We're hoping the lucky winner will give us a helping hand to finish building work and will do something to put some life back into the village because we need a bit of work here," said one man in his 40s.
The centre-left mayor Gianfranco Lazzeroni also hoped that the village, which has an annual budget of around 2.3 million euros, would benefit from the SuperEnalotto jackpot.
"You don't expect to get such luck," he said, thinking about the projects he would like to build.
The lottery was also brought up by the priest at Sunday's Mass who called on the congregation to pray for the winner.
"I hope he will be able to look after this fortune well, and do good with it and use it to help others through generous acts," said Father Marco Giuntini.
The last time the thrice-weekly SuperEnalotto was paid out was on January 31, meaning the jackpot kept rolling over to the point where it became the world's second-largest after MegaMillions in the United States in March 2007.
The world record MegaMillions payout was the equivalent of 157.7 million euros, according to Agicos, another Italian gaming service.
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