Deepika asks Katrina to stop spreading rumours

The war between Deepika Padukone and Katrina Kaifseems to be becoming the hottest issue in tinsel town so much so that now the Shahrukh-Salman brawl is looking small in comparison to their cat fight. The two have been fighting over Ranbir Kapoor's closeness to Katrina during the shooting of Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahini. Deepika accepted that she felt insecure about her relationship especially after the rumour of Ranbir’s intimacy with Katrina.

Buzz up!

Deepika also rubbished the rumours of her closeness with Farhan Akhtar with whom she is shooting for themovie Kartik Calling Kartik. She was shooting an intimate scene for the movie with Farhan when an uninvited Katrina landed on the sets. Deepika zeroed in on Katrina to have spread the rumours. Taking a dig at her she said it was very easy to figure out who had spread the rumours. Deepika and Ranbir had a fight Shabina Khan's party and Katrina was thought to be the reason behind it.

Shilpa's engagement day is out

Shetty and Kundra to be engaged tomorrow in a hush-hush ceremony

Shilpa Shetty is finally getting engaged tomorrow to the man of her dreams - industrialist Raj Kundra.
A source informs, "The engagement ceremony will be a simple and private one held at Raj's 7th floor flat in Juhu.



It's very hush-hush and only close family and friends will attend. Shilpa and her family have decided to go ahead with engagement date after much deliberation and consultation with family astrologers, including her mother Sunanda."

Understandably, Shilpa was reluctant to have the ceremony in the absence of her sister Shamita who is currently holed up at the Bigg Boss house. "Shilpa was keen that Shamita too be a part of such a special event in her life but the time is extremely auspicious. Finally, she gave in to the pressure."

Shilpa's engagement outfit is a Manish Malhotra designed saree and choli in soft onion pink chiffon reflecting Shilpa's personality. Says a source, "The saree is simple with no embellishments like crystals or zari work, but a thin gold border.

The choli is vintage and in different shades of gold with gold tassels. The saree has been deliberately kept simple as Shilpa will be wearing heavy rubies, diamonds and emeralds in ornaments  designed by Anmol Jewellers."

Dravid dropped, Sehwag comes back for Australia series

Chennai: Former India captain Rahul Dravid was dropped while opening batsman Virender Sehwag made a comeback to the 15-member squad for the first two One-Day Internationals (ODI) of the seven-match series against Australia.

The opening match of the series will be played at Vadodara October 25 and Nagpur will host the second game October 28.

'Senior Indian player accused young teammates of losing focus'

The national selection committee that met here Thursday at the MA Chidambaram Stadium decided to call back medium pacers Munaf Patel and Sudip Tyagi in place of fast bowler Rudra Pratap Singh and spin all-rounder Yousuf Pathan. Out-of form fast bowler Ishant Sharma retained his place.

Yuvraj Singh, who is still suffering from a knee injury, has been selected and is expected to play in the first match.

'The selectors were advised that Yuvraj Singh will be fit to play on October 28.

It is possible that he may be able to play the first match also. The decision on the playing eleven for the first match will based on Yuvraj's fitness test on October 25,' said N. Srinivasan, secretary of the Indian cricket board.

The squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain-wicketkeeper), Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh, Ashish Nehra, Praveen Kumar, Ishant Shrama, Amit Mishra, Munaf Patel and Sudip Tyagi.

'Other problems' behind Younus Khan's offer to resign captaincy

The Pakistan captain Younus Khan has suggested he offered to resign for reasons beyond recent match-fixing allegations. Photograph: Akhtar Soomro/Reuters

Younus Khan has hinted that his offer to resign as Pakistan captain was prompted by "other problems" and not just the recent match-fixing allegations.

The 31-year-old offered to resign at a hearing before the National Assembly's standing committee on sports in Islamabad yesterday. The Pakistan Cricket Board has not yet decided whether to accept Younus's resignation, with the chairman Ijaz Butt saying he hopes to convince the batsman to change his mind.

The National Assembly hearing was convened by the committee's chairman Jamshed Ahmed Dasti, who had sought an explanation for Pakistan's defeats – in a group match to Australia and the semi-final to New Zealand – in the Champions Trophy in South Africa.

Dasti himself had accused the Pakistan team of throwing matches, but later back-tracked on those allegations. Yesterday's hearing ended in uproar, but the committee exonerated the Pakistan team of match-fixing and said it was satisfied with Younus's explanation.

Younus, however, was not happy. He told Geo Television: "It is sad and painful for me and, in fact, I am hiding from my family members after these nasty allegations of match-fixing.

"I have never fixed a match and never will. By resigning, I did what I thought was the right thing to do. I have worked hard to keep this team united for the last eight months despite problems.

"I don't want to elaborate on them but the last eight months have been tough for me and I have still tried to do my best as a player and as a captain to unite the team. I have always tried to lead from the front and I may have made some mistakes, but my actions have been in the best interests of the team.

"So when anyone accuses me or the team of deliberately throwing matches then I have no option but to resign."

Younus has twice before rejected the captaincy, suggesting he wanted the leadership role on his own terms. He said he was not averse to leading Pakistan again, but wanted a clear path.

"I will have a very frank discussion with the PCB chairman whenever he invites me to discuss my resignation," Younus said. "There are some issues need to be sorted out like the term of my captaincy."

Younus also indicated he would not render explanations before the National Assembly in future.

"My job is to perform as a player," he said. "The board and team officials are the ones who are the right authority to give answers if anyone wants to know anything about the team."

Source:www.guardian.co.uk

Jail

---

Review

Review - Jail

[User Rating : 5/5]

Madhur Bhandarkar's Fashion had a top-notch soundtrack. But given that Jail is not as glamourous as the former, Madhur has gone in for a more conventional sound.
Jail opens with the guitar heavy Saiyan Ve. It's a true blue Sufi Rock number by the Raaz-The Mystery Continues composers Toshi/Sharib. In its lyrics, playback and sound design, Sainyan Ve follows the style of a Pakistani band. Even though there is nothing really new in this song, Toshi's voice gives it the extra edge. Coupled with a catchy hook, Saiyan Ve is a good listen while it lasts.
The same flavour spills over to Milke Yun Laga. Composed once again on the lines of Sufi Rock, Milke Yun Laga has a melodious tune. Which is why you don't mind pressing the rewind button. Toshi/Sharib give a sound start to Jail.
For the next two tracks, Madhur Bhandarkar ropes in his Page 3 discovery, Shamir Tandon.Bareily Ke Bazaar comes across as an item number. It is a complete departure from the two opening tracks. But despite all attempts to dish out a spirited composition it ends up like a poor cousin of Shilpa Shetty's Up Bihar Lootne... Maybe some sizzling picturisation could enhance the appeal of this song.
Next comes a big surprise. In the wake of her 80th birthday, Shamir Tandon unveils a Lata Mangeshkar number. Extremely situational track, this semi-devotional number works simply because of Lata Mangeshkar's divine voice. She truly stirs up an emotion in a way only she can. The impact of Daata Sun Lo will depend a lot on its placement in the film. It's nowhere close to the classic, Ae Maalik Tere Bande Hum, but still a cut above the mediocre.
The album closes with four remixes, which are more or less similar to the originals.
Verdict: Jail is not an album that'll make it your catalogue. But given the grim theme of the film, its soundtrack has some melodious moments.

Source:Mtv India

Review - Acid Factory

Review

Review - Acid Factory

[User Rating : 4/5]

Acid Factory is about a bunch of bad guys locked up in one, (you guessed it!) acid factory. One of them however is an undercover cop. Sounds Kaante? Well, it is. The look, set up, soundtrack and characterisations, bear an overbearing influence of Sanjay Gupta's super stylised 2000 flick. The only difference being that, in Acid Factory the characters suffer from temporary amnesia. However few minutes into the film you realise that the memory loss bit is just a forced gimmick. And has little impact on the story.
Acid Factory has some breathtaking action. But it's the basic flaws in the script that rob it off the desired thrills.
First and foremost, the identity of the undercover cop is revealed in the opening scene. So there is no mystery element to the premise.
Secondly, instead of constructing it as a thrilling joy ride, Acid Factory is a bunch of haphazardly put together action sequences that lead to a clumsy climax. Even the back and forth edit pattern becomes predictable in a while.
The so-called suspense around their presence in the factory, can be guessed almost half-an-hour before the credits roll. From there on, the film just drags on as you wait haplessly for the characters to unravel the mystery.
Now a lot of people knew the suspense of Kaante before it released. But what worked for that one was Dutt and Bachchan's magnetic screen presence. Acid Factory's acting ensemble can be divided into two parts – bad actors and gifted actors. Unfortunately both sets get inane dialogues and scenes to perform. However Irrfan Khan and Manoj Bajpayee manage to add some meet to the film with their natural spontaneity. In fact Khan and Bajpayee's argument in the climax, is a high point of the film.
Dia Mirza's much-hyped negative role is a damp squib. Someone seems to have mercilessly edited her out of most scenes. But she's the visual relief in a film full of shouting men. A special mention for Gulshan Grover, who has to be cinema's dumbest cop in a long long time. He is never on time; gets outsmarted at every occasion and insists on blabbering one-liners, straight out of American cop dramas. Acid Factory tries too hard to be like a Sanjay Gupta film. But director Suparn Varma can't recreate the stylish, edginess of his producer.
Verdict: For its action and some of Irrfan's well-improvised scenes, Acid Factory makes it to the watchable category. It's a wannabe action packed Hollywood B-movie. It gets the stupidity right, but falls short in attitude.
Source: Buzz18

New Backstreet Boys album "This Is Us,"

Backstreet Boys announced Tuesday that it will release its ninth album, "This Is Us," October 6.



The lead single, "Straight Through My Heart," has just been released to radio and can be heard on the group's MySpace page 


The 11-track Jive Records set follows the Backstreet Boys' platinum-certified 2005 reunion album, "Never Gone," and 2007's "Unbreakable," which sold 1.7 million copies worldwide but less than 150,000 in the U.S.


Group members Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, Brian Littrell and AJ McLean contributed to the writing and producing of "This Is Us," joined by original Backstreet Boys hitmaker Max Martin, T-Pain, RedOne, Soulshock & Karlin, Jim Jonsin and Claude Kelly.


"We always try to set the bar as high as possible," Dorough told Billboard.com. "We've always been a pop/R&B group. We focus our songs around good melodies and group harmonies, and hopefully that will have a lot of staying power."


Backstreet Boys has sold more than 76 million albums worldwide in the 12-plus years since the group debuted. And while the pop quartet is no longer the multiplatinum concern it was in the late '90s and early 2000s, Dorough said he and his groupmates remain confident about their place in the pop landscape.
This is us,

1. "Straight Through My Heart"
2. "Bigger"
3. "Bye Bye Love"
4. "All of Your Life (You Need Love)"
5. "If I Knew Then"
6. "This Is Us"
7. "PDA"
8. "Masquerade"
9. "She's a Dream"
10. "Shattered"
11. "Undone"

Saif continues to kiss Kareena, breaks all records!

A nod of approval from papa Randhir Kapoor has made Bebo and Saif a happy B-town couple and their joy is being reflected on reel as well.

We hear that Saif and Kareena have created a record for the longest kiss on camera for their upcoming movie Kurbaan.

According to unit sources, Saif continued to kiss Kareena and the kiss seemed to be never ending. It is one of the special attractions of the film.

Director Rensil D'Silva wants to present the chemistry between the real life lovers in the movie.

He is banking on the kissing scene so much so that Rensil believes that a certain section of the sex-starved audience will come to the theatres just to see Saif and Kareena in bed.

"A section of the audience might have decided to see this movie only to see the real-life couple making hot shot on the silver screen. It would be tragic," says Rensil

Does your social class determine your online social network?

 Like a lot of people, Anna Owens began using MySpace more than four years ago to keep in touch with friends who weren't in college.

Our real-world friendships are often a reflection of who we connect with online, experts say.

But soon she felt too old for the social-networking site, and the customizable pages with music that were fun at first began to annoy her. By the time she graduated from the University of Puget Sound, Owens' classmates weren't on MySpace -- they were on Facebook.

Throughout graduate school and beyond, as her network began to expand, Owens ceased using MySpace altogether. Facebook had come to represent the whole of her social and professional universe.

"MySpace has one population, Facebook has another," said the 26-year-old, who works for an affordable-housing nonprofit in San Francisco, California. "Blue-collar, part-time workers might like the appeal of MySpace more -- it definitely depends on who you meet and what they use; that's what motivates people to join and stay interested."

Is there a class divide online? Research suggests yes. A recent study by market research firm Nielsen Claritas found that people in more affluent demographics are 25 percent more likely to be found friending on Facebook, while the less affluent are 37 percent more likely to connect on MySpace.

More specifically, almost 23 percent of Facebook users earn more than $100,000 a year, compared to slightly more than 16 percent of MySpace users. On the other end of the spectrum, 37 percent of MySpace members earn less than $50,000 annually, compared with about 28 percent of Facebook users.

Social networking by the numbers

Users with household income above $75,000
Facebook -- 41.74 percent
MySpace -- 32.38 percent
LinkedIn -- 58.35 percent
Twitter -- 43.34 percent

Users with household income under $50,000
Facebook -- 28.42 percent
MySpace -- 37.13 percent
LinkedIn -- 17.34 percent
Twitter -- 28.36 percent

Female users
Facebook -- 56.33 percent
MySpace -- 56.69 percent
LinkedIn -- 48.11percent
Twitter -- 53.59 percent

Users aged 18 to 24
Facebook -- 10.27 percent
MySpace -- 15.46 percent
LinkedIn -- 3.99 percent
Twitter -- 9.51percent

Users aged 35 to 49
Facebook -- 31.54 percent
MySpace -- 29.09 percent
LinkedIn -- 43.64 percent
Twitter -- 34.02 percent

Source: The Nielsen Co.

MySpace users tend to be "in middle-class, blue-collar neighborhoods," said Mike Mancini, vice president of data product management for Nielsen, which used an online panel of more than 200,000 social media users in the United States in August. "They're on their way up, or perhaps not college educated."

By contrast, Mancini said, "Facebook [use] goes off the charts in the upscale suburbs," driven by a demographic that for Nielsen is represented by white or Asian married couples between the ages of 45-64 with kids and high levels of education.

Even more affluent are users of Twitter, the microblogging site, and LinkedIn, a networking site geared to white-collar professionals. Almost 38 percent of LinkedIn users earn more than $100,000 a year.

Nielsen also found a strong overlap between those who use Facebook and those who use LinkedIn, Mancini said.

Nielsen isn't the first to find this trend. Ethnographer danah boyd, who does not capitalize her name, said she watched the class divide emerge while conducting research of American teens' use of social networks in 2006.

When she began, she noticed the high school students all used MySpace, but by the end of the school year, they were switching to Facebook.

When boyd asked why, the students replied with reasons similar to Owens: "the features were better; MySpace is dangerous and Facebook is safe; my friends are here," boyd recalled.

And then, boyd said, "a young woman, living in a small historical town in Massachussetts said to me, 'I don't mean to be a racist or anything, but MySpace is like, ghetto.'" For boyd, that's when it clicked.

"It's not a matter of choice between Facebook and MySpace, it was a movement to Facebook from MySpace," she said, a movement that largely included the educated and the upper-class.

So why do our online worlds, unencumbered by what separates us in daily life, reflect humans' tendency to stick with what -- and who -- they know?

A lot of it has to do with the disparate beginnings of MySpace and Facebook, said Adam Ostrow, editor-in-chief of Mashable, a blog about social media. Facebook originated at Harvard University and was limited at first to students at approved colleges before opening itself to the public in September 2006.

MySpace, on the other hand, had a "come one, come all" policy and made a mad dash towards monetization, Ostrow said. "They used a lot of banner ads without regard to the quality, and it really diminished the value [of the site] for the more tech-savvy demographic."

And while the Internet can build bridges between people on opposite sides of the globe, we still tend to connect with the same people through online social networks who we connect with offline, said technology writer and blogger Sarah Perez.

"It's effectively a mirror to our real world," she told CNN. "Social networks are the online version of what kids do after school."

These social-networking divides are worrisome to boyd, who wrote "Taken Out of Context: American Teen Sociality in Networked Publics." Instead of allowing us to cross the boundaries that exist in our everyday lives, these online class differences threaten to carry those boundaries into the future.

Don't Miss

• Obesity, politics, STDs flow in social networks

"The social-network infrastructure is going to be a part of everything going forward, just like [Web] search is," boyd said. "The Internet is not this great equalizer that rids us of the problems of the physical world -- the Internet mirrors and magnifies them. The divisions that we have in everyday life are going to manifest themselves online."

Jason Kaufman, a research science fellow with the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University, examined the Facebook profiles of Harvard students over four years and found that even within Facebook, there's evidence of self-segregation.

Multiracial students tended to have more Facebook friends than students of other backgrounds and were often the sole connection between white and black circles, Kaufman said.

Nonetheless, Kaufman feels that social networks may one day help us overcome our instinct to associate with those who share our income level, education, or racial background.

"I think it's fair to say that the Web has great potential to at least mitigate everyday tendencies towards self-segregation and social exclusion," Kaufman said. "In some ways, [Facebook] levels the playing field of friendship stratification. In the real world, you have very close friends and then there are those you just say "Hi" to when you pass them on the street.

"The playing field is a lot more level in that you can find yourself having a wall-to-wall exchange with just an acquaintance. If you pick up the unlikely friend, not of your race or income bracket, the network may [help you] establish a more active friendship than if you met them in real life."

But MySpace's users still find something appealing about MySpace that they don't about Facebook, and it may have nothing to do with class or race, blogger Perez said.

"It's not just the demographics that have people picking one over the other," Perez said. "It also comes down to what activities you like. If you like music, you'll still be on MySpace. If you're more into applications, then you might go to Facebook because you're addicted to Mafia Wars or whatever."

In the end, boyd isn't as concerned about the reasons behind these divisions online as she is about the consequences of people only networking within their chosen social-media groups.

"Friendships and family relationships are socially divided; people self-segregate to deal with racism sometimes," she said. "Okay, fine: We've made a decision to self-segregate, but what happens when politicians go on Facebook and think they're reaching the whole public? What happens when colleges only go on Facebook to promote?"

When and if that does happen, Mashable's Ostrow said, we'll know perhaps we've given social networks more credit than they're worth. "When it comes to information, I don't think social networks are the best source for that. The Internet is so open," said Ostrow, who believes users would go beyond their networks to search out information online.

If you're looking to branch out of your social network box, your best option may be Twitter. Nielsen's survey didn't find a dominant social class on Twitter as much as they found a geographical one: Those who use Twitter are more likely to live in an urban area where there's greater access to wireless network coverage, Mancini said.

"The simplicity of Twitter definitely creates less of a divide, because it's not a relationship like it is on MySpace or Facebook," Ostrow said. "If you live in the middle of nowhere or you live in a city, you can follow anyone about anything'

Microsoft Launches New Phone Software

Microsoft Corp introduced new software for mobile phones on Tuesday, promising a range of devices to compete with Apple Inc's iPhone andResearch in Motion Ltd's BlackBerry.

The world's largest software company, in partnership with phone makers and phone companies such as Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, AT&T Inc and Vodafone Group Plc, said more than 30 new devices with the new Windows Mobile 6.5 software would be on the market in more than 20 countries by the end of the year. The new phones can play music, open Word and Excel documents, and be synchronized over the Internet. Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer played down recent industry talk that the company was developing its own smartphone. "We are not here to announce today that we are making phones," he said at an event in Paris. The market for phones is set to treble or quadruple in the next few years, Ballmer said, and Microsoft is ready to challenge other phone makers for market share. He added thatWindows Mobile's share of the mobile phone market is equal to Apple's. "We and Apple are neck and neck and we're chasing the two other players," said Ballmer, referring to Nokia, the world's No. 1 smartphone maker, and Research in Motion. Microsoft also announced a new online application store, where users can buy 246 applications for their phones

Oram retires from Test cricket

	Jacob Oram has played his last Test match
Players/Officials: Jacob Oram Teams: New Zealand

Jacob Oram has announced his retirement from Test cricket but will continue to play one-day and Twenty20 matches for New Zealand. Oram cited his ongoing injury problems as the reason behind his decision and he hoped that by cutting back his workload he would be able to extend his international career.

Oram, 31, recently returned home from the Champions Trophy in South Africa with a hamstring problem, the latest in a long and wide-ranging list of injuries. His troubles have included back and foot worries and have limited him to 33 Test appearances over a seven-year career.

He had spoken in the past of the options available to him to prolong his career and he said his preference was to give up Tests rather than abandon bowling. Oram has now done just that, following the lead of another injury-prone allrounder Andrew Flintoff.

"The last few years have shown that my body cannot handle the strains and stresses that come with being an allrounder, playing all three formats for up to ten months a year," Oram said. "For the sake of longevity I have had to make a decision that will decrease my workload, so I can concentrate all my efforts on the shorter forms of the game.

"The decision to choose limited-overs cricket over Test cricket has a lot to do with playing opportunities. The Black Caps play a lot more limited-overs cricket than Tests, and there's also the opportunity to continue playing in world events such as the World Cup, World T20 and Champions Trophy, as well as the IPL."

Another factor was the impending arrival of Oram's first child, due next month, which will give him extra incentive to spend plenty of time at home. Oram will remain on a New Zealand Cricket central contract and has his sights set firmly on the 2011 World Cup, although he said that ideally he would like to play for a couple of seasons beyond that.

On the Test scene, Oram scored 1780 runs at 36.32 and collected 60 wickets at 33.05. A powerful and clean striker of the ball, Oram struck five Test centuries, remarkably each time in the first Test of a series, and his highest score of 133 came in a crushing loss to South Africa in Centurion in April 2006.

It was an innings that Oram described as both his best and his worst. "You know you're not looking as good as you would like," he said at the time, "and your feet aren't moving as well as you would like, and you're not hitting the ball where you would like. But 133 is damn satisfying."

Oram struggled to have as much impact with the ball and his peak came early in his career when he collected 4 for 41 against India in Hamilton in his second Test. It was as close as he ever got to a five-wicket haul and in his last five Tests he managed only one wicket.

Oram did enjoy spending some time in the top five of the ICC's allrounder ranking list last year and he considered his bowling such a key part of his game that he was unwilling to give it up. He said he had attempted to delay as long as possible a decision about his future career.

"However in light of my latest injury at the Champions Trophy it has became clear to me that now is the time to sacrifice something to try and stay in the game longer," Oram said. "I have really enjoyed my Test career and I leave that format with many fond memories. I would be lying if I said I had no regrets, however these feelings were not powerful enough to make me reconsider this decision."

Justin Vaughan, the chief executive of New Zealand Cricket, said he understood Oram's decision. "Jacob has made a tremendous contribution to our Test team over the past seven seasons, and his experience will be missed," Vaughan said. "But we fully understand the difficulties he's faced with injuries and we hope this decision will help him prolong his playing career with the Black Caps."

Salman prefers fresher actresses The urge to be a star-maker has now hit Salman big-time. He realises he doesn't need a weighty leading lady to sho

Salman prefers fresher actresses

The urge to be a star-maker has now hit Salman big-time. He realises he doesn't need a weighty leading lady to shoulder a film. Most of his forthcoming films, including the ones on the floors, have new leading ladies instead of established actresses.

Boney Kapoor's sequel of Wanted - Most Wanted - is just one of the few. Prabhudeva will direct again. The film will have two fresh faces as leading ladies. Even his next film with Sajid Nadiadwala titled Sanki will have a newbie.

According to Boney, "Once you have Salman on board, it doesn't matter who comes on afterwards."
Strangely most of Salman's films with established heroines like Salaam-E-Ishq and God Tussi Great Ho (both with Priyanka Chopra), Jann-E-Man, Heroes (with Preity Zinta), Kareena Kapoor (Kyun Ki) and Katrina Kaif (Hello, Yuvraaj) have flopped, whereas films with new or less mainstream heroines like Tera Naam (Bhumika Chawla), Lucky (Sneha Ullal) and Wanted (Ayesha Takia) have clicked.

Facts u shud know about ur body

Our body is capable of producing aspirin

Eating fruits and vegetables may help the human body make its own aspirin. Findings from the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry indicate that study participants who received benzoic acid, a natural substance in fruits and vegetables, could make their own salicylic acid, the key component that gives aspirin its anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving properties.

Taking a nap at work is good for your boss

A 20-minute nap can improve your overall alertness, boost your mood, and increase productivity. William Anthony, co-author of The Art of Napping at Work (Larson Publications, 1999), says the post-nap boost can last for several hours. In addition, your heart may reap benefits from napping. In a six-year study of Greek adults, researchers found that that men who took naps at least three times a week had a 37 percent lower risk of heart-related death.

Ejaculation may cause men to sneeze

Some men experience pain, headaches, or sneezing as a result of ejaculation. The increased activity in the nervous system during orgasm may be the culprit in triggering headaches. A possible explanation for the sneezing is that in the brain, the center for orgasms is close to the centers for yawning and sneezing.

Every person has a unique tongue print

Just like fingerprints. The tongue is a unique organ in that it can be stuck out of mouth for inspection, and yet it is otherwise well protected in the mouth and is difficult to forge. The tongue also presents both geometric shape information and physiological texture information which are potentially useful in identity verification applications.

White skin has evolved over time

It seems we were all black ones (consistent with evolutionary fact of first humans in Africa). White skin was a result of humans moving away from the equator. Also all skin, without coloring, would appear creamy white. Near-surface blood vessels add a blush of red. A yellow pigment also tints the canvas. Lastly, sepia-toned melanin, created in response to ultraviolet rays, appears black in large amounts. These four hues mix in different proportions to create the skin colors of all the peoples of Earth.

The foot is home to the body's thickest area of skin

The skin on the palms and the soles of the feet is 4 mm thick and the thickest skin in the body, the heel portions of the feet being the thickest portions. It's also got the most sweat glands than in any other area.

The body is taller in the morning than in the evening

The body is taller in the morning than in the evening. You might want to schedule that basketball game for first thing in the morning. That's because our bodies are on average about half an inch taller in the morning, thanks to excess fluid between our discs, which is replenished while we sleep. As the day goes on, and our bodies undergo the strain of standing, the discs get compressed and the fluid seeps out, so the body loses that small bit of extra height.

Humans glow in the dark

It was revealed by ultra-sensitive cameras that our bodies emit tiny amounts of light that are too weak for the human eye to detect. Amazing pictures of "glittering" human bodies were released by Japanese scientists who have captured the first ever images of human "bioluminescence". Although it has been known for many years that all living creatures produce a small amount of light as a result of chemical reactions within their cells, this is the first time light produced by humans has been captured on camera. Strangely, the areas that produced the brightest light did not correspond with the brightest areas on thermal images of the volunteers' bodies.

Body position affects your memory

Can't remember your anniversary, hubby? Try getting down on one knee. Memories are highly embodied in our senses. A scent or sound may evoke a distant episode from one's childhood. The connections can be obvious (a bicycle bell makes you remember your old paper route) or inscrutable. A recent study helps decipher some of this embodiment. An article in the January 2007 issue of Cognition reports that episodes from your past are remembered faster and better while in a body position similar to the pose struck during the event.

The average person expels flatulence 14 times each day

Even if you'd like to think you're too dignified to pass gas, the reality is that almost everyone will at least a few times a day. Digestion causes the body to release gases which can be painful if trapped in the abdomen and not released.

American football juke moves and a challenging soccer game: iPhone apps of the week

Apple released an update today for iPhone which addresses some issues and fixes some crashes in specific situations. According to Apple, iPhone 3.1.2 resolves a sporadic issue that may cause the iPhone to not wake from sleep; an intermittent issue that may interrupt cellular network services until restart; and fixes a bug that could cause an occasional crash during video streaming. If you've experienced any of these issues (or even if you haven't), make sure to plug your iPhone into iTunes to get the latest update. Be aware that the update is over 200MB so will probably take some time to get through the process. When you're done, come back and check out my latest apps!

This week's apps are both games, with an American football skills challenge type of game, and a long-awaited soccer (football) game with unique onscreen controls to pull off advanced moves.

The spin move is extremely effective (and high scoring) if you hit it at the right moment

(Credit: Screenshot by Jason Parker/CNET

Backbreaker Football (99 cents for a limited time) is not a "complete" football game like Madden 2010 or NFL 2010, but instead focuses on the challenge of running around defenders to make touchdowns. Control your runner by tilting your phone--forward to run and left and right to turn. Onscreen buttons give you a variety of moves to make defenders miss including right and left juke moves, spin moves, and a turbo button to break free for the touchdown. There's also a showboat button so you can high-step into the end zone. Each move has a certain point value and when you string moves together (or showboat for more yards before the endzone) you get more points to add to your score.

The great thing about Backbreaker Football is that it doesn't take an enormous amount of time to play a few waves (running the distance of the field), so it's easy to get some quick playing time in. You get two game modes including Challenge and Endurance. Each challenge round lasts 10 waves as you try to get past defenders to score touchdowns. As you progress, red lines will block out parts of the field forcing you to dodge defenders within a smaller space. The Endurance mode has you run through wave after wave (50 waves) with an ever increasing number of defenders and difficulty. Get high scores to unlock extra items like different uniforms and new touchdown celebrations. Overall, if you're looking for an American football game minus the need to play an entire game or sift through giant playbooks, Backbreaker Football offers enough football action to be a lot of fun.

Use the radar at the bottom of the screen to make sure you have someone to pass to before hitting the button

(Credit: Screenshot by Jason Parker/CNET

FIFA 10 ($9.99) is mostly a great soccer game, letting you play full games in exhibition and tournament modes and offers a control scheme that's fairly effective once you get the hang of it. You can play as the whole team (with the player switch occuring once a player receives the ball or with a button on defense) or you can play the "Be a Pro" mode to control and advance a single player on the team. The biggest strength of FIFA 10 certainly is that you can play any of 570 teams across 30 leagues with a total of 12,620 players, each with their own skill set. This amazing amount of team choice will appeal to hardcore soccer fans because you'll likely be able to play your favorite team, no matter how obscure.

FIFA 10 for iPhone obviously follows a long line of console soccer games (of which I've played many) and while it does a fairly good job, the control system can be difficult to master. You get buttons for passing and shooting, but to pull off more advanced moves like through passes or slide tackles, you need to hit multiple buttons in succession (A to B to A, for example). It takes some getting used to and you won't be able to pull off some moves every time simply because of the lack of physical buttons, but I found it to be effective with some practice. Overall, FIFA 10 satisfies the need to get in a game of soccer, and even without all the extras of console versions, offers enough to be worth the money for soccer fans.

What are your favorite iPhone apps? Does Backbreaker Football have enough features to be your favorite football game? Is FIFA 10 the soccer game you've been waiting for? Do you know how hard it was to decide how to differentiate between the two sports without offending fans here at home or abroad? Let me know in the comments!

Coulthard faces 14 lakh fine for speeding on Bandra Worli Sea Link

The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) will consider action against organisers of the exhibition event, where former British F1 racer David Coulthard [ Images ] drove a Formula One car on the Bandra-Worli Sea Link [ Images ] allegedly beyond permissible speed limits.

"I have asked my officers to submit a report on the event. Action will be considered only after it is established that the vehicle went beyond permissible speed limits on the sea link," MSRDC Managing Director Satish Gavai said.

On reports that the organiser 'Raging Bull' stands to forfeit Rs 14 lakh deposit for the event for violation of speed norms, Gavai said, "We will come to that after we receive the report."

Asked if it was true that the organisers were asked to move the event date after the Assembly elections, to avoid it being seen as a showcase for the government, Gavai said, "We had asked them to defer the event but they had received necessary permissions for that date already."

Coulthard, who started from the Bandra end, reached a top speed of around 265 kmph despite MSRDC warning him not to cross the 100 kmph limit, MSRDC sources said.

The race team 'Red Bull' paid Rs 35 lakh to MSRDC, of which Rs 21 lakh was to compensate for the day's toll collection on the sea link and Rs 14 lakh as deposit in case of an eventuality like an accident or damage to the structure.

Speeding beyond 100 kmph on the link's curve could result in a vehicle losing its balance due to the centrifugal force, the sources said.

The sea link is designed to allow speeds of only up to 100 kmph. Presently, motorists are not even allowed to go beyond 50 kmph, but, gradually, the permissible speed would be increased to 80 kmph, they said.

After his high-speed drive across the sea link Coulthard said, "I have been driving over 200 kmph all my life. It is difficult to keep my speed below 100 kmph."

The sea link was inaugurated by Congress president Sonia Gandhi [ Images ] on June 30 and has been highlighted as a major achievement of the Congress-NCP government, ahead of the Assembly elections