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Pregnant Afghan women face deadly odds
KABUL Ã¢Â€Â” In Badakhshan, Afghanistan, for every 100,000 births, 6,500 young mothers...
2008-11-06 00:28:16
Now, computer software that can tell age just by looking at your face
Washington, Oct 29 ANI: Women who're not comfortable revealing their age should stay miles away from University of Illinois-developed computer software that reveals a person's age just like humans do-by looking at his or her face.The software, developed at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, could analyse an image of your face to verify your identity or run a commercial according to your interest."Age measurement is very difficult. If you use the face to estimate age we can really get the apparent age, or how old a person looks," Discovery News quoted Thomas Huang, the lead developer, as saying.For developing the software, the researchers trained their computer algorithm using 1,600 different people with five pictures of each person, for a total of 8,000 images. The age of the people in the pictures ranged from one year to 93 years old.While the computer was not told what to look for, it still searched the faces and used its own software to determine which features best determined the person's apparent age.One of the features the computer took into account was gray scale- it saw how dark or how light each pixel was compared to other pixels, and then guesses the apparent age of the individual."A woman wearing makeup should get a younger age. A smoother skin texture will register as younger-looking," said Huang. The software also looked at the shape of the face-the relative positions of the eyes, nose, ears, the shape of the mouth, all change over time and can help indicate a person's age."If you use the real age as the ''ground truth'', then the accuracy is quite low. But if we estimate a person's age to within 10 years, then the accuracy is about 80 percent," said Huang. He said that face-recognition software might benefit fast food companies that want to know how many male teenagers buy a particular sandwich or clothing companies that could run a different ad catering to people of all age-groups."If you can estimate the gender or the age of the viewer you can change the display. For a younger viewer you might want to display one type of commercial, and show a different commercial for an older viewer," said Huang. Face-recognition software would also be useful for security. The system could tap into existing security cameras to capture images, which would then be run through the software.Also, Huang is now upgrading his software so that it could read face images at different angles. In his opinion, his software is just as good as humans at age estimation. ANI
2008-10-29 07:00:00
Kids, curries, Kerala: the perfect recipe
It would be dark soon, we could tell, because the sun had dipped behind the far ridge of the absurdly picturesque valley, but there didn't seem to be any urgency to return to our bungalow. The tea country of the Western Ghats in southern India, the knuckle of mountains separating lush Kerala from the plains of Tamil Nadu, is tranquil to the point of caricature and the only danger lay in the eyes of our seven-year-old, Esme, who feared we might encounter more tea pickers. Earlier, walking up from the bungalow which had once belonged to the English manager of the vast Tallayar estate, the last of these to finish work had descended past us. Three women, Tamils wearing saris, had pinched Esme's cheeks so hard her smile had morphed into a grimace. Now the tea pickers had all reached their homes further down the valley, from where later in the dark we would hear Tamil film music drifting up. Instead, we were stopped by the recently installed manager of the estate, having first been alerted to his presence by the growl of his gleaming Enfield motorbike. Elephants, he said, roamed these hillsides; and yes, they could be very dangerous and yes, we'd best hurry back to the bungalow.Packing for this two-week adventure, we had not counted being savaged by wild pachyderms among the possible dangers. Instead, there had been questions about what would Sam and Esme eat and what sort of malaria pills should we take, or would they be simply overwhelmed by the country itself. Before Zoe and I met we had both travelled around India. The three weeks I'd spent in the south with a gang of teenage mates, rucksacks filled with filthy washing on our backs, had left me with the potentially foolhardy idea of wanting to instil the fascination I'd felt with this part of the world in two under-10s whose weltanschauung had hitherto been bound by Ryanair's flight routes.Kerala's history is intertwined with that of travellers seduced by its spectacular beauty. In Cochin, to which we flew via Sri Lanka, there is still - just about - one of the oldest Jewish diaspora communities in the world as well as India's oldest European church, St Francis, where the explorer Vasco da Gama was originally buried. Our own journey had seen Zoe pick up a bug on the flight, and the family's entrance into the country had been heralded by a fellow passenger announcing to the stewardesses, 'she is vomiting', with the sort of hard, percussive 'v' and elongated vowel sound that also announces India. So much for the children's welfare.But this was a holiday at which we were chucking the savings, and whereas last time it had been trains and buses, now we were met by our own car and driver, the heroic Rajesh, with whom we weaved calmly north for an hour-and-a-half to what we could see, in the warm light of morning, were the Athirapally Falls. This is a popular spot for local tourists, and the view from our adjoining bedrooms at our eco-friendly hotel of the Chalakudy River crashing down 80 feet was spectacular. The falls had also attracted a film crew shooting a Malayalam movie in the forest when Sam, Esme and I sweated past later in the heat, with a chorus line of extras and a troop of monkeys waiting in the shade. For the children, it immediately felt very different from the school playground on a Friday afternoon, and later, on a drive deeper into the forest, we saw deer and a giant red squirrel, but no elephants here either, despite the promised chance of a sighting.The deal had been that we would split the trip between wildlife, beach and culture and next morning, with Zoe recovered, we drove back to Cochin. The route was initially through lush countryside, with Rajesh pointing out the banana trees, tapioca, rubber trees and much more, as if this were a botany lesson. This is a fertile land for religion, too, and beside the temples and mosques, there were huge churches with gaudy paint jobs to enable them compete with their Hindu counterparts. Imposing mansions also studded the roadside, evidence of Kerala's growing prosperity.Long the most literate state in India, it is benefiting from workers at every level, from construction workers to medics, sending money home from newfound jobs in the Gulf. Tourism plays its part, too, and in Cochin the sort of boutique hotel that simply didn't exist in India twenty years ago - backpacker's budget or not -was awaiting us. Before dinner in the courtyard of the chic Malabar House, there was the inevitable visit to the city's famous Chinese fishing nets and then to a kathakali show. Genuine performances of this ancient form of dance-drama apparently last through the night, but even though this show was thankfully truncated and the protagonists looked spectacular in their lurid make-up, there was still the question of why the children should be subjected to it when I had suffered a similar show that had bored me close to tears 20 years ago. But it proved a surprise hit thanks to the woman who explained the action to the audience and could have passed for Les Dawson in drag; coincidentally, she also shared his comic timing.The cultural trail was leading us to Madurai across the Western Ghats in Tamil Nadu, but to break the nine-hour drive we stopped for the night in tea country, 45 minutes on from the town of Munnar. En route, the children were entertained by the scenery but also by a CD of the Just William stories we'd brought with us to play on the car stereo; it turned out that the sound of Martin Jarvis recounting the adventures of William, Ginger, Douglas et al proved the most apposite soundtrack to our arrival at the Tallayar Estate bungalow - a perfect throwback to the Raj. Delphiniums and forget-me-nots prettified the garden and the strawberries were just coming into season; later, the cook asked the children to identify the veg patch cauliflower they fancied for dinner. We were the only guests, treated to vast bedrooms and chipped ceramic baths, and the cook and housekeeper were there at 4am to see us off.The early start wasn't in the itinerary however relentless it seemed, but the stoic Rajesh had been alarmed by news of a hartal - a strike - called to protest against rising fuel prices in Kerala. So we wound through the mountains as dawn crept up - privilege to the most spectacular views - in order to make the state border before angry picket lines could stop us; Rajesh was genuinely relieved when we made it down into the plains without incident. The ancient city of Madurai with its rubbish-strewn streets served as a sharp contrast to the more genteel charms of Cochin. But to visit its stellar attraction, the Meenakshi temple, we took rickshaws from the hotel and the children loved the mayhem of our race there. If ever any journey made a mockery of the demand that they put their seat belts on when in the car back home, this was it. The vast temple complex, with its 12 gopurams, beats an Anglican church hands down when it comes to child-friendliness, too: we could pad around barefoot, play hide and seek among the sculptures, visit the temple shops - and gain a keen sense of a religion practised in near-unbroken form for millennia. Sam said later that the temple was - and here he adopted the sort of formulation that would see Rajev tell us that from Madurai to our next destination it was 'near ... and also far' - both 'boring and ... interesting'. Serious praise.In Madurai we also visited a tailor, who kitted out both children in Indian clothes, which seemed like a further measure of their acclimatisation. The food, too, was proving a breeze - the idea of a curry provoked few fears, with biscuits and bananas coming to the rescue if there really wasn't anything they fancied. Only a ritual of our own cast a pall; advice on whether it was really necessary to take precautions against malaria in southern India was mixed, which meant that the children were bullied into wolfing down their bitter pills every evening before dinner. This, Esme maintains, was, cheek-pinchers included, 'the absolute worst thing about India'.From Madurai it was a scramble back to the coast, but the journey was broken by two nights at the Periyar Wildlife park, the biggest in south India. The first time I had visited here, if memory serves, there were few buildings and little in the way of hotels and it was in the adjacent town of Thekkady that my friends and I had been approached by a wiry fellow asking, 'sirs, would you be interested in seeing marijuana growing', followed by his sales pitch. Now it was shop owners inviting us in to look at artefacts from around the country - pashminas from Kashmir and such like. The advantage of Periyar remains that it is easy to visit - a vast artificial lake dominates the park and every hour three or four boats with Indian honeymooners and Western tourists sputter off across the water.But first we hired a guide to take us walking into the jungle, which meant more monkeys and a raccoon, as well as tiger scratch marks but no tigers and no elephants. Easy to imagine they were scared off by the occasional moan from a child still sweltering in the becalming, relative coolness of the thick interior. But it was still fantastically like The Jungle Book. Later, the boat ride proved restive, apart from the sudden frenzied gesticulation necessary when anyone thought they had spotted a big beast on the shore. Sadly, they were only deer.Never mind, because next day, finally there were elephants, tame ones that we rode around a patch of jungle in Thekkady. The Madurai rickshaw race was recreated at ambling pace - the danger now in the possibility of Zoe panicking and falling off. This was, Esme later said, 'the best thing we did in India'.From there, we bumped down towards the sea, entering the part of Kerala famous for its luscious backwaters, where the distinction between land and water threatens to disappear. First we stopped for two nights at an absurdly luxurious hotel called Privacy on the shores of the vast Lake Vembanad and then hit a beach resort.This stretch of the frenzied journey served as a reward for everyone - lazing by the swimming pool, cycling through country lanes, being buffeted by the warm waves of the Arabian Sea, drifting through backwaters in a modified canoe. By this stage, for the adults, there was little of the sense of adventure that had characterised our earlier trips to India, though we continued to marvel at recent developments in the country that made our lives easier now - such as functioning cash points. But every day brought something new to Sam and Esme.The only shame was that we had to part company with Rajesh who, like everyone we met, could not have been nicer to the children. Sam gashed his foot in the pool at Privacy but by then Zoe and I were beyond worrying. The junior contingent started moaning, but only that we absolutely had to return to Kerala at the earliest possible opportunity.EssentialsCaspar Llewellyn Smith travelled with Transindus 020 8566 2729; transindus.com. A 16-day family trip staying at the Rainforests, Malabar House, Tallayar Estate, Taj Garden Retreat, Spice Village, Privacy and Marari Beach, costs from &amppound;2,298 per adult, and &amppound;2,048 per child under 12, including flights, sightseeing tours, all transport, and breakfasts. A shorter, nine-day escorted group tour 'Kerala in Style' costs from &amppound;1,629 per adult, &amppound;1,498 per child. Caspar and family flew with Sri Lankan Airlines 020 8538 2000; srilankan.lk.IndiaSri LankaFamily holidaysguardian.co.uk &ampcopy; Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
2008-10-26 20:43:19
Allergy-Free Grocery May Make Mothers' Lives Easier
Virginia woman learned about food allergies the hard way.
2008-10-26 02:48:48
Madge's 'control freak' behaviour made her marriage a 'nightmare'
London, Oct 17 ANI: Madonna's tyrannical behaviour made her relationship with Guy Ritchie a 'nightmare', pals have revealed.Sources claim that an enjoyable meal or a night in front of the TV with the kids were banned by Ritchie's control-freak missus.And he was forced out of her bedroom as she became obsessed with rituals to keep her looking young - sometimes smearing herself with creams worth 500 pounds a pot.Being married to the most career-centric woman in pop was never going to be easy. But bewildered Guy had no idea just how tough being "Mr Madonna" would become over the years.From the moment he woke in the morning to the second he fell asleep at night, Guy was forced to live by her rules.Ritchie was banned from having his favourite fry-ups for breakfast in favour of super-healthy, zero-fat smoothies and shakes."Guy likes to look after himself but doesn't see the harm in having the odd treat. He also worries that Madonna's paranoid attitude about food will be passed on to the children. He doesn't want to see them have an unhealthy relationship with food," the Mirror quoted a source, as saying.After breakfast and an early morning yoga session, Madonna would take off to the gym a few doors down from their west London home to pump iron until late into the afternoon.Guy, meanwhile, would be left holding the babies while his wife endlessly honed and toned her fat-free body.An insider said: "The evening meal, eaten in stony silence, would consist of - at Madonna's insistence - steamed fish and seasonal vegetables. If Guy fancied a pie and a pint he would have to nip down to the pub. That sort of stodge was banned from the family home."Another insider added: "Guy was fed up to the back teeth with having such a regimented life. He simply couldn't take it anymore."The relationship became less about passion and more about control." ANI
2008-10-17 05:00:00
Yatra organised in Gujarat to save girl child
NAT36National/Human Interest/SocietyYatra organised in Gujarat to save girl childSurat, Oct 14 IANS At a time when girl child sex ratio in the country is getting skewed, non-government organisation Akhil Bhartiya Jeenmata Seva Sangh here recently organised a novel yatra "Save the Girl Child".Also, a 5,000 metre long garland, prepared by 5,000 women from 73 kg cardamoms, was used in the yatra. Each woman contributed 51 cardamoms to the mala. "At each metre, a small card opposing the killing of girl child has been placed. This is done to make people aware about the danger of female foeticide," president of Akhil Bhartiya Jeenmata Seva Sangh Sharad Khandelwal said. He added 1,100 flags and 2,100 chunris were used and more than 10,000 people participated in the yatra, which moved from Parvat Patia to Ambica Niketan temple. This is the fourth such programme of the Sangh. Sangh had organised a programme for the same cause in Rajasthan last year. Sangh members presented a special bhog of 5,653 food items prepared by its members living in Australia, America, New York, Florida and all the states of India. Rekha Khandelwal, who was involved in the programme, said: "Such things are necessary for protecting girl child and maintaining balance in society. If something is not done right now, it would be too late. During this programme members took an oath to help prevent killing of girl child".--Indo-Asian News Servicevnb/pb/dg250 Words14101542
2008-10-14 07:00:00
Know The Content Of Your Pet's Food
It might surprise you. One woman says it was sickening. Dr. Debbye Turner Bell took a close look, on The Early Show.
2008-10-13 13:37:28
Oklahoma forces women undergoing abortion to view their fetuses - Food Consumer
Oklahoma forces women undergoing abortion to view their fetusesFood Consumer&ampnbsp;- 4 hours agoBy Sue Mueller Saturday October 11, 2008 foodconsumer.org -- An advocate group sued the state of Oklahoma over legislation that prohibits a woman from getting an abortion unless she undergoes an ultrasound first.Pro-Abortion Advocacy Group Challenges Oklahoma Law Requiring AHNOkla. abortion ultrasound requirement challenged The Associated PresseFluxMedia&ampnbsp;- Tulsa World&ampnbsp;- KTEN&ampnbsp;- KXII-TVall 87 news articles
2008-10-11 20:00:00
JAGATSINGHPUR
NAT39National/SocietyA bull's story: stray while alive, worshipped when deadJagatsinghpur, Oct 10 IANS While alive, a bull coudn't find a home, but in death there might be a statue erected in its memory in a village in Orissa. The bull died of old age Sep 25 at Chandpur village in Jagatsinghpur district.The villagers have decided to erect a statue of the bull, which they say is a symbol of Lord Shiva.To mourn the demise of the stray bull, at least 10 men shaved their heads On the 11th day of its death, one of the villagers Gopal Beura told IANS."The bull, according to Hindu religion, is considered as the steed of Lord Shiva and that is why we worshiped the bull," a village woman said.The residents carried the dead bull in a procession and cremated it on the outskirts of the village.Many Hindus of the village performed rituals usually performed when one loses a member of the family. The women of the village went without non-vegetarian food for 11 days after its death.The villagers also preformed puja prayers and yagna fire rituals, and prayed for the departed soul. A community feast was also held.--Indo-Asian News Servicejd/ak/dg216 Words10101658
2008-10-10 08:00:08
Don't forget multivitamins after weight loss surgery
INT29International/Health/ScienceDon't forget multivitamins after weight loss surgeryLondon, Oct 9 IANS Latest research suggests that you should not forget to take your multivitamins after gastric bypass surgery for obesity.The case of a woman who developed a vitamin deficiency disease because she did not take multivitamins after weight-loss surgery was taken up for study by Rachel Batterham and Alberic Fiennes, of University College London.The 27-year-old woman attended hospital with a three-week history of dizziness, low-appetite, and vomiting, having had uncomplicated gastric bypass surgery two months earlier at University College Hospital UCH London.Upon discharge after her weight-loss surgery, she was prescribed the standard treatments of multivitamins and lansoprazole - a drug which prevents the stomach producing acid, according to a release of UCH. The report was published in this week's edition of The Lancet.Upon examination, she had rapid heartbeat and dehydration, and was provisionally diagnosed with gastric outflow obstruction; but an endoscopy revealed nothing of note. Since the surgery the woman had lost nearly 20 kg, and blood tests gave results consistent with dehydration. She was given intravenous fluids, including glucose, and also drank high-sugar energy drinks. The next day, she felt light headed and collapsed in the shower, and had extremely low blood pressure. Further tests revealed abnormal eye movements, hyper-reflexia in her arms, weakness of the thighs, and reduced touch sensation - all of which led to the diagnosis of thiamine vitamin B1 deficiency. Intravenous administration of thiamine began, and the patient made a full recovery. She admitted that she had not been taking her multivitamins. Following gastric bypass surgery, vitamin supplements are necessary to make up the shortage of vitamins entering the body through food intake. Total body thiamine stores last 18-60 days, and deficiency can cause wet beriberi cardiovascular problems, dry beriberi nervous system problems or Wernicke's encephalopathy an acute neurological disorder characterised by eye movement problems. The woman had symptoms of all these three conditions. --Indo-Asian News ServiceSt/jg350 Words09101059
2008-10-09 01:00:00