Seductive chemicals are hidden in sloppy kisses, scientists say, but even the most chaste caress can spark an intense hormonal response.
Men like sloppier kisses with more open mouth and that suggests to me that they are unconsciously trying to transfer testosterone to trigger the sex drive in women. Kissing can certainly open the door to sex. Men's preference for sloppy kisses with lots of tongue may help them over come their poor sense of smell and taste.
What they might be doing is trying to pick up the estrogen cycle in a woman to figure out the degree of her fertility. Kissing also stimulates an enormous part of the brain, but love can do even more, according to an experiment with MRI brain scans.
But it can also close it: a recent study found that the first kiss was the "kiss of death" for budding relationships.
Should you drool more? You don't want to turn off your partner. Kissing is a natural instinct that likely serves a number of evolutionary purposes.
People who had recently fallen in love had high levels of activity in the reward system in the brain that produces dopamine and is linked to craving, motivation, focused attention and goal-oriented behavior.
Long term lovers showed activity in the same "reward" area as new lovers but also showed activity in a region associated with the feeling of calm that produces the chemical serotonin and in the area that produces oxytocin, which is associated with pair-bonding.
Kissing raises oxytocin levels among men and also lowers stress hormones in both men and women, according to a study that will be presented at the conference Saturday.
Wendy Hill, a neuroscience professor at Lafayette College, tested the saliva and blood of 15 couples who spend 15 minutes either kissing or holding hands and talking.
She found that the women had significantly higher levels of the pair-bonding hormone than the men before the experiment started, but those levels dropped when they were tested after the experiment was completed.
It was a surprising result, which Hill said could be attributed to the fact that the test was run in the college's health center and that a bit of soft music and some flowers were not enough to get the women in the mood.
"We're running the setting again in a more romantic setting," Hill said. "It's a secluded room in an academic building. It has a couch, it has flowers, it has candles - electric because of fire hazard issues - and we have light jazz playing."
Showing posts with label information technology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label information technology. Show all posts
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Monday, February 9, 2009
Getting a Chinese driver's licence
If someone's intestines are protruding from an open abdominal wound, should you: A. Put them back in place; B. Do nothing; or, C. Cover them with some kind of container and fasten it around the body?
The above is not from a first-year medical school exam, but is one of the 100 questions that locals and foreigners alike could find on China's written driver's licence exam. (The answer, by the way, is C.)
Test candidates are given a booklet of 800 test questions, 100 of which appear on the actual exam. While the questions dealing with traffic signs are universally understood, others have singularly Chinese characteristics.
Sometimes two of the three answers could be equally right, or the answer that is considered right is obviously false.
Take the following example.
"What should a driver do when he needs to spit while driving? A. Spit through the window. B. Spit into a piece of waste paper, then put it into a garbage can. C. Spit on the floor of the vehicle."
Answer? B.
On one recent morning, a group of Americans, Russians, South Koreans and French nationals waited for the test at the Beijing Traffic Management Bureau, in a room reserved for foreigners behind the toilets.
A series of gory images flashed across a flat-screen television: a badly injured person lying in a car's back seat, covered in blood; a dazed driver sitting on the ground after an accident; mourning relatives in tears.
Nikita, a Russian who works for an aviation company in the Chinese capital, was the most confident person in the group, after spending four days revising the multiple-choice questionnaire. Nothing could go wrong -- so he thought.
The 20 or so examinees took their seats, each facing a computer screen. The test began.
They had to write their ID numbers, pick a language, and click their way through the computerised test: A, B, or C. True or False. Yes or No.
All 100 questions had be completed in 45 minutes, with a candidate needing 90 or more correct to pass. Results were given immediately.
A group of US embassy staffers left the room, mostly in a jubilant mood -- all had passed except for one man, who only got 82 percent correct.
"We spent the entire weekend cramming," one of them said.
A woman tried to console the candidate who had failed. "It would've been an even bigger pity if you had scored 89," she said.
Nikita, for his part, was utterly devastated. Despite all of his hard work, he only answered 45 questions correctly.
"I couldn't understand a word of the Russian used on the test," he said.
Once the written test is over, foreigners who have a driver's license in their home country are not required to take a practical test, unlike the Chinese.
But they do have to have their eyesight checked, and this seemingly simple exercise also holds its fair share of surprises.
At a nearby hospital, a nurse asked the latest candidates to read letters from a lighted panel, covering the left and the right eye in turn.
But they have to read the panel in a mirror. And the letters listed do not exist in any known alphabet.
A backwards E? One that is upside down? How do you pronounce that?
Somehow, the candidates passed the sight test, and most left the traffic management office a short time later with licences in hand.
But reality will soon set in.
At the entrance to the parking lot were two cars crumpled like accordions, and on the streets of Beijing, no one seems to pay attention to the rules of the road.
Drivers routinely overtake on the right, taxis breeze through red lights, cyclists ride against the traffic and pedestrians jaywalk.
Last year alone, 73,500 people were killed and 304,000 injured in traffic accidents in China.
Welcome to China's roads, among the most dangerous in the world.
The above is not from a first-year medical school exam, but is one of the 100 questions that locals and foreigners alike could find on China's written driver's licence exam. (The answer, by the way, is C.)
Test candidates are given a booklet of 800 test questions, 100 of which appear on the actual exam. While the questions dealing with traffic signs are universally understood, others have singularly Chinese characteristics.
Sometimes two of the three answers could be equally right, or the answer that is considered right is obviously false.
Take the following example.
"What should a driver do when he needs to spit while driving? A. Spit through the window. B. Spit into a piece of waste paper, then put it into a garbage can. C. Spit on the floor of the vehicle."
Answer? B.
On one recent morning, a group of Americans, Russians, South Koreans and French nationals waited for the test at the Beijing Traffic Management Bureau, in a room reserved for foreigners behind the toilets.
A series of gory images flashed across a flat-screen television: a badly injured person lying in a car's back seat, covered in blood; a dazed driver sitting on the ground after an accident; mourning relatives in tears.
Nikita, a Russian who works for an aviation company in the Chinese capital, was the most confident person in the group, after spending four days revising the multiple-choice questionnaire. Nothing could go wrong -- so he thought.
The 20 or so examinees took their seats, each facing a computer screen. The test began.
They had to write their ID numbers, pick a language, and click their way through the computerised test: A, B, or C. True or False. Yes or No.
All 100 questions had be completed in 45 minutes, with a candidate needing 90 or more correct to pass. Results were given immediately.
A group of US embassy staffers left the room, mostly in a jubilant mood -- all had passed except for one man, who only got 82 percent correct.
"We spent the entire weekend cramming," one of them said.
A woman tried to console the candidate who had failed. "It would've been an even bigger pity if you had scored 89," she said.
Nikita, for his part, was utterly devastated. Despite all of his hard work, he only answered 45 questions correctly.
"I couldn't understand a word of the Russian used on the test," he said.
Once the written test is over, foreigners who have a driver's license in their home country are not required to take a practical test, unlike the Chinese.
But they do have to have their eyesight checked, and this seemingly simple exercise also holds its fair share of surprises.
At a nearby hospital, a nurse asked the latest candidates to read letters from a lighted panel, covering the left and the right eye in turn.
But they have to read the panel in a mirror. And the letters listed do not exist in any known alphabet.
A backwards E? One that is upside down? How do you pronounce that?
Somehow, the candidates passed the sight test, and most left the traffic management office a short time later with licences in hand.
But reality will soon set in.
At the entrance to the parking lot were two cars crumpled like accordions, and on the streets of Beijing, no one seems to pay attention to the rules of the road.
Drivers routinely overtake on the right, taxis breeze through red lights, cyclists ride against the traffic and pedestrians jaywalk.
Last year alone, 73,500 people were killed and 304,000 injured in traffic accidents in China.
Welcome to China's roads, among the most dangerous in the world.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
24,000 refinery workers Strike
A strike by some 24,000 refinery workers was averted, at least for now, as both sides agreed to extend negotiations for at least 24 hours. Refiners already cutting back production and industry experts are divided over whether a strike would hit the pocketbooks of motorists.
Job numbers are in free fall, which has led to unprecedented declines in miles driven by Americans.
New Orleans, Houston refinery workers at strike, will show up for scheduled shift monday, negotiators will be back at the table for talks on Sunday. They made progress that there no strike at midnight, spokeswoman for the United Steelworkers said, which members more than 30,000 nationwide. But there are still issues that need to be worked out and strike notice could be given any time if talks stalls.
union negotiators turned down the most recent offer of a 2.5 percent wage increase for each of the next three years, in addition to changes in medical coverage.
Refiner cutbacks and the threat of a strike pushed gasoline futures up throughout the week on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The union agreed to a rolling 24-hour extension, which allows the union to give the required one-day notice to strike. The strike would affect 60 producers.
Shell Oil Co., the lead negotiator for the industry, along with Exxon Mobil Corp., said its refineries would continue to make gasoline, diesel and other fuels using nonunion or replacement workers.
Chemical refiners would also be affected. LyondellBassell Industries said it was bringing in managers from locations not involved in contract negotiations to keep refineries going.
The nation's biggest refiner, Valero Energy Corp., said it would shut down some facilities if workers walk out. So did European oil company BP PLC.
With refiners turning away oil shipments, crude storage levels have risen by about 20 million barrels in the past month, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
Antoine Halff, an analyst with Newedge Group, said workers may actually be doing the industry a favor by going on strike with demand for gasoline so low.
Many of the refineries are on the Gulf Coast, near Houston and New Orleans. There are about 4,000 refinery workers in Houston alone. But the strike would reach into states like California and Tennessee, which also have refineries with labor contracts expiring.
Valero told employees Friday that it would close its facilities in Delaware City, Del., and Memphis, Tenn., if there is a strike.
The company said it would keep its Port Arthur, Texas, plant open with a contingency work force that is being trained.
"We would rather reach an agreement without a work stoppage at all," said spokesman Bill Day.
Exxon Mobil said plants would remain operational until a collective bargaining agreement was reached.
Job numbers are in free fall, which has led to unprecedented declines in miles driven by Americans.
New Orleans, Houston refinery workers at strike, will show up for scheduled shift monday, negotiators will be back at the table for talks on Sunday. They made progress that there no strike at midnight, spokeswoman for the United Steelworkers said, which members more than 30,000 nationwide. But there are still issues that need to be worked out and strike notice could be given any time if talks stalls.
union negotiators turned down the most recent offer of a 2.5 percent wage increase for each of the next three years, in addition to changes in medical coverage.
Refiner cutbacks and the threat of a strike pushed gasoline futures up throughout the week on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The union agreed to a rolling 24-hour extension, which allows the union to give the required one-day notice to strike. The strike would affect 60 producers.
Shell Oil Co., the lead negotiator for the industry, along with Exxon Mobil Corp., said its refineries would continue to make gasoline, diesel and other fuels using nonunion or replacement workers.
Chemical refiners would also be affected. LyondellBassell Industries said it was bringing in managers from locations not involved in contract negotiations to keep refineries going.
The nation's biggest refiner, Valero Energy Corp., said it would shut down some facilities if workers walk out. So did European oil company BP PLC.
With refiners turning away oil shipments, crude storage levels have risen by about 20 million barrels in the past month, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
Antoine Halff, an analyst with Newedge Group, said workers may actually be doing the industry a favor by going on strike with demand for gasoline so low.
Many of the refineries are on the Gulf Coast, near Houston and New Orleans. There are about 4,000 refinery workers in Houston alone. But the strike would reach into states like California and Tennessee, which also have refineries with labor contracts expiring.
Valero told employees Friday that it would close its facilities in Delaware City, Del., and Memphis, Tenn., if there is a strike.
The company said it would keep its Port Arthur, Texas, plant open with a contingency work force that is being trained.
"We would rather reach an agreement without a work stoppage at all," said spokesman Bill Day.
Exxon Mobil said plants would remain operational until a collective bargaining agreement was reached.
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