South Korean woman fails driver’s test 775 times

A South Korean woman who has failed the driver’s exam 775 times is not about give up on her hope of buying a truck one day to go into her own business, whether other drivers want her on the road or not.

Cha Sa-soon, 68, has been trying since 2005 to pass the written portion of the test to get a licence, but she has so far failed to get the 60 percent required to clear it.

“I’ve looked up some guidebooks to get a driver’s licence, and they were saying it takes at most five years to get this,” Cha said in North Jeolla province, where farmers on tractors or cows can be just as common on country roads as motor vehicles.

“It’s already been four years, so I might pass the test next time. That’s what I hope for.”

Driving schools in South Korea offer courses to enable applicants to walk away with a licence in a week. Cha has not been fortunate enough to set foot in such a class, which tends to congregate more in busy metropolitan areas, but she remains unfazed, even after having spent more than 10 million won ($6,800) on test applications.

“I believe you can achieve your goal if you persistently pursue it,” she says. “So don’t give up your dream, like me. Be strong and do your best.”

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090221/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_korea_driver;_ylt=AkonElJB5XDg2UiV0GC7BQrZn414

photo from: http://www.daylife.com/photo/05f4efba7WaFu

 

Woman gives birth to octuplets in California

BELLFLOWER, California — A woman has given birth to eight babies in a hospital south of Los Angeles, marking the world’s second live-born set of octuplets.

Dr. Karen Maples told KCAL-TV that the babies were born Monday at Kaiser Permanante hospital and were “doing quite well.”

The hospital says the mother, who asked not to be identified, gave birth to six girls and two boys weighing between 1.8 pounds (0.82 grams) and 3.4 pounds (1.54 kilograms).

Dr. Harold Henry told KCAL that “they were all screaming and kicking around very vigorously.”

The last set of live-born octuplets were born in Texas and turned 10 last month. - AP

http://www.gmanews.tv/story/146062/Woman-gives-birth-to-octuplets-in-California

 

Mummy’s on Parade

MONTERREY, Mexico – First they jet-setted to Monterrey in specially designed glass cases. Crowds lined the streets to watch them pass.

Only in Mexico, where a fascination with death dates back to pre-Hispanic times, could mummified corpses receive the same welcome as a celebrity.

The 15 females, eight males and one head make up a macabre troupe of 100-year-old corpses visiting this industrial city from Guanajuato’s Museum of the Mummy. They are part of a special exhibition in Monterrey that runs through Dec. 28

Government officials discovered the mummies in the late 19th century when they dug up bodies from Guanajuato’s Santa Paola cemetery because the families of the dead couldn’t pay a grave tax.

The mountainous region’s dry climate had created the perfect conditions to inadvertently mummify the corpses, and the bodies were eventually put on display at a local museum.

The collection is believed to be the largest in the Western Hemisphere. And the 23 corpses and head in Monterrey are the largest group from the museum to ever hit the road.

The mummies were supposed to go on display Sunday as part of Monterrey’s Santa Lucia Festival. But high humidity levels worried curators. The show opened Tuesday.

More than 300,000 people are expected to view the bodies. - AP

http://www.gmanews.tv/story/126203/Have-mummy-will-travel-Mexican-corpses-on-tour

 

Chocolate Helps Heart Stay Healthy

A small square of dark chocolate daily protects the heart from inflammation and subsequent heart disease, a new study of Italians suggests. Milk chocolate might not do the job.

However, this guilty pleasure has a limit.

Specifically, only 6.7 grams of chocolate per day (or 0.23 ounces) represents the ideal amount, according to results from the Moli-sani Project, one of the largest health studies ever conducted in Europe. For comparison, a standard-sized Hershey’s kiss is about 4.5 grams (though they are not made of dark chocolate) and one Hershey’s dark chocolate bar is about 41 grams (so a recommendation might be one of those weekly).

Chronic inflammation of tissues in the circulatory system is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, such as myocardial infarction or stroke. So doctors strive to keep patients’ inflammation under control. One marker for inflammation in the blood is called C-reactive protein.

The researchers found a relationship between dark chocolate intake and levels of this protein in the blood of 4,849 subjects in good health and free of risk factors (such as high cholesterol or blood pressure, and other parameters). The findings are detailed in the latest issue of the Journal of Nutrition.

“We started from the hypothesis that high amounts of antioxidants contained in the cocoa seeds, in particular flavonoids and other kinds of polyphenols, might have beneficial effects on the inflammatory state,” said Romina di Giuseppe, lead author of the study. “Our results have been absolutely encouraging: People having moderate amounts of dark chocolate regularly have significantly lower levels of C-reactive protein in their blood. In other words, their inflammatory state is considerably reduced.”
The inflammation reduction that the researchers observed controlled for other confounding variables such as wine or produce intake.

Previous studies have found that chocolate might be good for you, though doctors usually warn that it is more important to focus on one’s overall diet when it comes to health. One health study found that blood platelets among chocolate-lovers were less likely to clot together in dangerous clumps.

Other studies have found a host of diet and exercise changes that can help a person beat the odds of death. Clearly, no single change is a guarantee of long life.

With chocolate, moderation is key, the new study found.

“The best effect is obtained by consuming an average amount of 6.7 grams of chocolate per day, corresponding to a small square of chocolate twice or three times a week. Beyond these amounts the beneficial effect tends to disappear,” di Giuseppe said.

The milk in milk chocolate interferes with polyphenols, so the team kept that out of the study.

“We consider this outcome as the beginning of a large series of data which will give us an innovative view on how [to achieve] prevention in everyday life, both against cardiovascular disease and tumors,” said Licia Iacoviello, head of the Laboratory of Genetic and Environmental Epidemiology at the Catholic University of Campobasso and responsible for the Moli-sani Project.

The Moli-sani Project is funded by the Pfizer Foundation.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20080923/sc_livescience/chocolatehelpsheartstayhealthy;_ylt=AvrHupBVyQwSF8Mi660P7ekPLBIF

 

Diamond found in Lesotho among the largest ever

LONDON (AFP) – Gem Diamonds, a London-listed mining firm, said on Sunday it had recovered a 478 carat diamond from its mine in Lesotho: the 20th-largest rough diamond ever found.

The discovery of the gem, which the company said had the potential to become one of the largest round-cut diamonds in the world, was made on September 8 at the Letseng mine in Lesotho.

“Preliminary examination of this remarkable diamond indicates that it will yield a record-breaking polished stone of the very best colour and clarity,” the company’s Chief Executive Clifford Elphick said in a statement.

The diamond, which has not yet been named, has the potential to yield a 150 carat polished stone, a company spokesman said.

That would be far bigger than the 105 carat round-cut Koh-i-Noor diamond seized by Britain from India in the 19th century and now part of the Crown Jewels.

It would still only be a fraction of the size, however, of the Cullinan diamond discovered in 1905, which was 3,106 carats when recovered and yielded a teardrop shaped diamond of 530 carats: the Great Star of Africa.

The Letseng mine is owned by a mining company that is 70 percent owned by Gem Diamonds, with the remaining 30 percent held by the Lesotho government.

Gem Diamonds’s share price on the London Stock Exchange was 741.50 pence at the close of trading on Friday.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080921/wl_africa_afp/britainlesothominingdiamond_080921145205

 

Condom lubricant an acne cure for women

PHNOM PENH – A condom lubricant designed for sex workers and gay men has become a popular acne cure among female Cambodians, women in the capital and local media said Thursday.

Number One Plus, a water-based lubricant produced by health organisation Population Services International (PSI), is an excellent cure for acne, 29-year-old vendor Tep Kemyoeurn told AFP.

“After I used it for three days, all of my acne dried up and went away,” she said. “Many people believe in it,” she added.

Khen Vanny, 29, from Phnom Penh, told AFP that women of all ages have taken to using the lubricant to get rid of spots.

“It is very effective. Some people don’t believe in it but people who do really get a good result,” she said, adding: “My youngest sister and my aunt use it too.”

nother woman told Khmer-language Kampuchea Thmey newspaper that she had used many kinds of medicine to treat acne but none had worked.

“After that my friends, who work at garment factories in Phnom Penh, advised me to apply the lubricant from Number One Plus condoms on my face every night,” she told the paper.

“And just within three to four nights, the acne on my face gradually and then totally disappeared,” she added.

A vendor near a factory in the coastal city of Sihanoukville told the newspaper that she sold packets of Number One Plus lubricant for 500 riels (12 cents) to many women every day.

The paper urged experts to conduct research about the phenomenon.

PSI were not immediately available for comment on the apparent cosmetic benefits of their product.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2008-08/29/content_6982007.htm

 

Hello world!

Welcome to WordPress.com. This is your first post. Edit or delete it and start blogging!