Top turn-ons and other sexual kinks

Heels are the world's No 1 fetish. So says the largest ever global survey of sexual kinks.

Madonna's preferences might be surprising, but they are clear: "Shoes are better than sex because they last longer."

But, according to the latest research, surprisingly large numbers of men and women see no reason to separate the two.

Results from the largest global study of sexual kinks ever undertaken show that feet and shoes are by far the biggest turn-ons.

Researchers from the University of Bologna found that, among sexual preferences for body parts, feet and toes were the most popular, with 47 per cent of those sampled preferring them. They also found that, when it came to objects associated with the body, shoes, boots and other footwear scored 64 per cent.

"Feet and objects associated with feet were the most common target of preferences," say researchers.

The survey, based on the views of men and women, also revealed some of the more obscure objects of affection. These included 150 people with a penchant for hearing aids, and two whose hearts go into overdrive thinking about pacemakers.

Some 12 per cent were turned on by underwear, 9 per cent by coats, body fluids and body size, 7 per cent by hair, 5 per cent by muscles, and 4 per cent by genitals and body modifications such as tattooing.

Three per cent cent went for navels, ethnicity and breasts, and 2 per cent for legs, buttocks, mouths, lips and teeth.

The lowest scores went to stethoscopes, wristwatches, bracelets, nappies and catheters. Body hair, nails, noses, ears, neck and body odour all scored less than 1 per cent.

The researchers, whose work will appear in The International Journal of Impotence Research, say little is known about fetishes, and that most existing information has been based on clinical cases with psychiatric patients, sex offenders and people in therapy. The aim of their study, they say, was to survey sexual preferences in a more general population.

"In everyday usage, fetish refers to sexually arousing stimuli that would not meet psychiatric criteria for a diagnosis of fetishism. In many cases, they may simply enhance sexual interest or satisfaction rather than being necessary for it," say the researchers.

The scientists monitored activity in discussion groups on the internet that have up to 150,000 members dedicated to fetishes, although the number of people surveyed was probably no more than 5,000.

How and why people develop sexual kinks is not known, and the researchers said that despite many theories having been put forward none is convincing.

Early life events may or may not be involved, and they noted that Freud ascribed an interest in feet "to the notion that feet are a penis symbol".

Other researchers have suggested that the feet and the genitals occupy the same region of the brain and that there might therefore be some overlap.

Whatever the reason, few doubt the sexual power of a well-turned heel in a shapely shoe. Designer Christian Louboutin expressed it in simple terms: "A good shoe is one that doesn't dress you but undresses you. So if a woman is naked, and wearing shoes, she should still look nude."

Shoes
Shoes, boots and other footwear, and also some items that are worn up the leg

Costumes
Costumes and coats - this includes other whole-body wear

Jackets
Jackets and waistcoats, including other garments worn on the trunk

Hats
Hats and necklaces, plus other things worn on the head and neck

Watches
Wristwatches, bracelets, and other ornaments

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Via Independent

From London to New York by hypersonic space rocket

Nasa is to join forces with Virgin Galactic to study the feasibility of building a hypersonic rocket that could carry passengers from London to New York in less than two hours.

The US space agency will lend expertise and research facilities to Sir Richard Branson’s space tourism company in return for help with testing equipment and training astronauts on board SpaceShipTwo, the Virgin suborbital spacecraft, which is to start flight tests next year.

Virgin plans to carry its first customers into suborbital space, 80 miles (130km) above the Earth’s surface, in 2009: 200 people, who will pay £100,000 each for a 2½ hour flight, have paid deposits. The trip will include 90 seconds of climbing at 2,500mph in a rocket and five minutes of weightlessness, when passengers will see the Earth’s curvature and the darkness of space.

Virgin is unlikely to recoup the cost of developing SpaceShipTwo and its mother ship — £100 million — from space tourism alone, and is therefore seeking ways of developing the technology “to allow trips from A to B rather than returning to A”.

Alex Tai, of Virgin Galactic, who will pilot SpaceShipTwo’s maiden flight,said that the joint study would investigate types of craft and fuel. Options include an airbreathing scramjet travelling at 60,000ft and a rocket that reaches 150,000ft and skips along the top of the Earth’s atmosphere to achieve five times the speed of sound. Developing a hypersonic rocket that could carry passengers between continents would take ten years and cost at least £1 billion, he said.

Dan Coughlin, of Nasa, said that Nasa could also use SpaceShipTwo to test spacesuits and other equipment. The two organisations would research hybrid rocket motors, which use both solid and liquid fuel and are safer and more efficient than solid fuel rocket engines.

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Via Times

Stripper for President!

Blondie Cindy Lee (a professional stripper) has considerable political ambitions.
Another candidate for french presidency may be the one with the following political and diplomatic skills. The breast - 95 centimetres, hips - 88, waist - as little as 61 cm. Weight - 47 kg.
She became a Pleasure Party leader in 2001. An election leaflet is very weird too: "Order an indoors strip session by Africa-hot Blondie, and you will understand for whom you should vote in the presidential election at the end of April" - promises an advertising agencies "Demons paradise". "The pleasure of each is a pleasure for all" - that is a slogan of a political party led by Frenchwoman. Every Frenchman has a right for a pleasure, regardless of age, sex and sexual orientation, colour or political affiliation.
Presidential candidate's services include striptease, dance and discussion of the main provisions of the election manifesto at the customer's house, cost as little as 220 euros (in Paris). Travel expenses are on the party.
Lee's election motto reads as follows : "Sex for everyone, and let no one leave unserviced".
Adults needs sexual education (if they are to better understand their children) and children (to avoid becoming adults with sexual complexes). Lessons of seduction should be introduced in primary and secondary schools with practical tips useful for those who have to face the lonely future.
The prisons should hold special rooms for private meetings, and visits should be a much more frequent and prolonged.
Public houses should be legalized, and the pimps banned from existence. With the same fervour everyone should combat religious fanaticism, Homophobia and barbaric tradition in the sexual sphere, such as the removal of the clitoris, practiced in the Arab world.

Linux's Tux Penguin Listening to iPod

This one sculpture was spotted in Elgava, Latvia. It depicts Tux the Penguin - the mascot of Linux open source operating system enjoying the music on his iPod. I wonder, whether his tunes are DRM-free...

12 Most Beautiful Indonesian Orchids

This orchid is called the tiger orchid for its brown and purple spots against a bright yellow background. The gigantic orchid has from 60 to 100 flowers on each of its flower heads, with a height of up to three meters, and is called the queen of orchids.





Bonus: the world’s largest orchid, Grammatophyllum speciousum, blossom in several places at a time. It's a central attraction of the Bogor Botanical Garden, which was founded by Dutch colonizers near Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, and it's full of visitors again.
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Via rian

New Russian Space Shuttle is in the Works!

Russian spaceship-building company Energia proposes to build launch facilities of a reusable manned systems Cliper at Plesetsk site as well as at older Baikonur launch pad. This was declared by the head of the corporation Nikolai Sevastyanov.
RSC Energia, RSC Progress, Sukhoy offer to stage a new project of a new generation space shuttles code named Cliper. Meanwhile, USA is currently working on a project Orion. They plan to create a carrier by the year 2011, a manned spacecraft to 2014.
"If we do not start the program to get the new generation transport system, States would leave us behind by the year 2015," warned Sevastyanov. In his view, Cliper has a number of advantages over its American counterpart. Specifically, the Russian ship will be 20 cubic metres worth, Orion - 14, nominal g-force while landing in a Russian spacecraft is 2.5g, Orion - 4.5g (a current version of Souz get by a 4g mark). A cost of getting one man into space is $9M for a Cliper and $45M for Orion.
"Transition to Cliper system will allow Russia to keep its dominance over the space market and break out of the red in the manned space program," - said the head of RSC. He estimates that the new transport system will meet the challenges of delivering and returning a cargo to the ISS, maintaining automated industrial facilities and giving some capabilities of autonomous manned flights with classified objectives.
"RSC anticipates that the first flight apparatus tests will be held in 2013, " - said Sevastyanov. "Then, in the first stage a fleet of five ships will be set up. We are going to make Cliper a Russian-only project, and to involve in its implementation facilities of more than 41 Russian regions".
In response to a question whether a Cliper appearance is finalized, Sevastyanov said: "Efforts are made to refine the aerodynamics of the ship. We are at the stage of completion of the technical proposals, so there could be some changes. The form is not ideal, but it could be done".
Referring to the problem of overheating problems, Sevastyanov recalled that the Soviet ship Buran was tiled with 36 thousand hydrocarbon tiles. Cliper will use 1,200 tiles sized of 15 x 15 cm.

Little Known Way to Avoid Flu

To avoid catching a flu, especially during periods of intense cold, it is very useful to wash your nostrils down with soapy water daily.
"I advise that everyone without exception should cleanse their nasal cavities with soapy water every morning and evening. When you're home and just've got your hands clean, apply some soapy foam to little fingers and gently clean your nostrils with it," - says one of the well-known therapists.
He believes that the procedure is harmless and when used regularly there's almost 100% guarantee that one would not catch a flu and acute respiratory viral infections (ARI). The therapist also suggested to rinse one's throat and mouth with a warm tap water every morning and evening as a preventive colds and viral infections measure.
"This cold be boiled water, and even tap water from a faucet, if it's of good quality in your region," he noted.

Power out of Poo - Russians did it again!

Physics scientists of Novosibirsk are developing ways to use the power of human faeces.
A study in the application of supercritical water for the creation of new energy sources and useful substances from sewage is underway in the Novosibirsk Institute of Thermophysics.
It turns out that water which is brought to critical condition with a temperature of more than 374 C₀ under a pressure of 22 MPa, is able to burn any organic compounds, converting them into energy and water. According to the Institute, the full molecular disintegration of the sewage is possible. The final products of the process are carbon dioxide, water and some pasty substance suitable for the manufacture of cement.