History of the Amazon.com

Amazon was founded in 1995, spurred by what Bezos called "regret minimization framework", which he described as his effort to fend off regret for not staking a claim in the Internet gold rush.

The company began as an online bookstore. While the largest brick-and-mortar bookstores and mail-order catalogs might offer 200,000 titles, an online bookstore could sell far more. Bezos wanted a name for his company that began with "A" so that it would appear early in alphabetic order. He began looking through the dictionary and settled on "Amazon" because it was a place that was "exotic and different" and it was the river he considered the biggest in the world, as he hoped his company would be. Since 2000, Amazon's logotype is an arrow leading from A to Z, representing customer satisfaction (as it forms a smile). A goal was to have every product in the alphabet.

Amazon was incorporated in 1994, in the state of Washington. In July 1995, the company began service and sold its first book on Amazon.com — Douglas Hofstadter's Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies: Computer Models of the Fundamental Mechanisms of Thought. In 1996, it was reincorporated in Delaware. Amazon issued its initial public offering of stock on May 15, 1997, trading under the NASDAQ stock exchange symbol AMZN, at a price of US$18.00 per share ($1.50 after three stock splits in the late 1990s).

Amazon's initial business plan was unusual. The company did not expect a profit for four to five years. Its "slow" growth provoked stockholder complaints that the company was not reaching profitability fast enough. When the dot-com bubble burst, and many e-companies went out of business, Amazon persevered, and finally turned its first profit in the fourth quarter of 2001: $5 million or 1¢ per share, on revenues of more than $1 billion. The profit, although it was modest, served to demonstrate that the business model could be profitable. In 1999, Time magazine named Bezos the Person of the Year, recognizing the company's success in popularizing online shopping.

Barnes and Noble filed a lawsuit on 12 May 1997, alleging that Amazon's claim to be "the world's largest bookstore" was false. Barnes and Noble asserted, "[It] isn't a bookstore at all. It's a book broker." The suit was later settled out of court. Amazon continued to call itself "the world's largest bookstore." Walmart subsequently filed suit on 16 October 1998, alleging that Amazon had stolen trade secrets by hiring former Walmart executives. Although this suit was settled out of court, it caused Amazon to implement internal restrictions and reassignment of the former Walmart executives.

Acquisitions

• 1998: PlanetAll, a reminder service based in Cambridge, Massachusetts; Junglee, an XML-based data mining startup based in Sunnyvale; Bookpages.co.uk, a UK online book retailer, which became Amazon UK on October 15, 1998.
• 1999: Internet Movie Database (IMDb);; Alexa Internet, Accept.com, and Exchange.com
• 2003: Online music retailer CD Now.
• 2004: Joyo.com, a Chinese e-commerce website.
• 2005: BookSurge, a print on demand company, and Mobipocket.com, an eBook software company. CreateSpace.com (formerly CustomFlix), a distributor of on-demand DVDs, based in Scotts Valley, California. CreateSpace has since expanded to include on-demand books, CDs, and video.
• 2006: Shopbop, a retailer of designer clothing and accessories for women, based in Madison, Wisconsin.
• 2007: dpreview.com, a digital photography review website based in London; Brilliance Audio, the largest independent publisher of audiobooks in the United States.
• 2008: Audible.com; Fabric.com; Box Office Mojo; AbeBooks; Shelfari; (including a 40% stake in LibraryThing and whole ownership of BookFinder.com, Gojaba.com, and FillZ); Reflexive Entertainment, a casual video game development company.
• 2009: Zappos, an online shoe and apparel retailer Lexcycle , SnapTell, an image matching startup.
• 2010: Touchco., Woot, Quidsi, BuyVIP, Amie Street.
• 2011: Lovefilm, The Book Depository, Pushbutton

Investment

• 2008: Engine Yard, a Ruby-on-Rails platform-as-a-service (PaaS) company.
• 2010: LivingSocial, a local deal site.

Subsidiaries

• 2004: A9.com, a company focused on researching and building innovative technology.
• 2004: Lab126, developers of integrated consumer electronics such as the Kindle.
• 2007: Endless.com, an e-commerce brand focusing on shoes.
• 2007: Brilliance Audio, the largest independent audio book producer in the U.S.

Merchant partnerships

The website CDNOW is managed by Amazon. Until June 30, 2006, typing ToysRUs.com into a browser would similarly bring up Amazon.com's "Toys & Games" tab; however, this relationship was terminated due to a lawsuit. Amazon also hosted and managed the website for Borders bookstores but this ceased in 2008. From its inception until August 2011, Amazon hosted the retail website for Target. Benefit Cosmetics, another merchant partner of Amazon, has also launched a major E-Commerce platform of their own based on Hybris_(company) and arvato systems NA, in the US, EU and China.

Amazon.com operates retail web sites for Sears Canada, bebe Stores, Timex, Marks & Spencer, Mothercare, and Lacoste. For a growing number of enterprise clients, currently including the UK merchants Marks & Spencer, Benefit Cosmetics' UK entity, edeals.com, and Mothercare, Amazon provides a unified multichannel platform where a customer can seamlessly interact with some people that they call the retail website, standalone in-store terminals, or phone-based customer service agents. Amazon Web Services also powers AOL's Shop@AOL.

On October 18, 2011, Amazon.com announced partnership with DC Comics for the exclusive digital rights to many popular comics, including Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, the Sandman, and Watchmen. The partnership has caused well-known bookstores like Barnes & Noble to remove these titles from their shelves. These titles will be available for purchase exclusively through Amazon's new Kindle Fire tablet.

Locations

Amazon has offices, fulfillment centers, customer service centers and software development centers across North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia.

***

http://en.wikipedia.org/

Pele: I have edge over Messi

Brazil legend Pele has praised Barcelona star Lionel Messi, but noted that the 24-year-old still has a long way to catch the football legend.

Argentina international Messi became the second player in the history of the Ballon d’Or to win the prestigious award three times in a row when he lifted the title earlier this month in Zurich.

Pele acknowledged that he is a fan of Messi, but stressed that the diminutive attacker faces a hard task to equal him.

“Technically speaking, we are practically at the same level,” Pele told Le Monde. “We have both received a gift from God.”

“Records are made to be broken, but it will be hard to break mine. When Messi has scored 1,283 goals and won three World Cups, then we will talk.”

“People ask me all the time when there will be a new Pele. I tell them: ‘Never’. My parents shut down the factory.”

*** 

sources:  soccernews.com

Fables and Fantasy Infuse 40th Hong Kong Arts Festival

Fables, fantasy and spirituality inspire many of the performances in the 40th annual Hong Kong Arts Festival, which runs through March 8. This year’s festival features over 160 productions, staged at 17 venues.

For  “Of Mountains and Seas,” a play by the Nobel laureate Gao Xingjian that draws heavily on ancient myths in a Chinese classical text, the Chinese director Lin Zhaohua infuses elements of Nuo opera, which is rooted in primitive religion. Mythology also takes center stage in Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” with Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo performing the fairy tale comedy.

Another show involves the work of Osamu Tezuka, often called “the god of manga,” who composed fantastical tales in comic form. His stories come to life in “TeZukA,’’ a multimedia show by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, a Belgian choreographer. “TeZukA’’ uses dancers’ movements as one would use a calligraphy brush in this video homage to the pioneering Japanese artist.

“Faith Healer,” by the Irish playwright Brian Friel, takes a deeper look at the nature of art and belief through the monologues of a traveling faith healer, Francis Hardy; his wife, Grace, and his manager, Teddy. Mr. Friel has described the play as “a metaphor for art, the craft of writing, and the great confusion we all have about it, those of us who are involved in it.”

The austere spirituality of the desert infuses the music of Tinariwen, whose members are Tuareg nomads from the Sahara. Tinariwen mixes African, Arabic and Western styles to produce haunting, rhythmic music whose lyrics recall the hardships of life in the desert and of political struggles.

And fantasy and fashion come together in “The World of WearableArt,” a New Zealand production that is making its international debut in Hong Kong. Each year, “The World of WearableArt” showcases more than 150 costumes by New Zealand designers in a two-hour theatrical extravaganza. The 70-minute event at the Hong Kong festival displays the best creations from past shows.

***

sources: nytimes.com

RIM hits back at Apple’s ‘reality distortion field’

Jim Balsillie, chief executive of Research in Motion, the Canadian company behind the BlackBerry, believes there is a market for smaller tablet computers, despite Apple’s claims.

During a quarterly earnings call on Monday, Steve Jobs, Apple’s chief executive, provoked the ire of rivals by claiming that 7in tablet computers were so small as to be unusable, and that the category would be “dead on arrival”.

It prompted Jim Balsillie, Research in Motion’s chief executive, to respond with a blog post in which he criticised Apple’s “reality distortion field”. He said that the iPad’s lack of Flash support meant it didn’t fulfil the needs of customers, and that Apple was only telling people “half the story”.

RIM has recently unveiled the PlayBook, it’s answer to the iPad, which uses a 7in display and supports Adobe Flash.

“For those of us who live outside of Apple’s distortion field, we known that 7in tablets will actually be a big portion of the market, and we know that Adobe Flash support actually matters to customers who want a real web experience,” wrote Balsillie.

“We also know that while Apple’s attempt to control the ecosystem and maintain a closed platform may be good for Apple, developers want more options and customers want to fully access the overwhelming majority of websites that use Flash.

*** 

sources: telegraph.co.uk

Morocco to host Club World Cup

Morocco is set to become the first African country to host the Club World Cup.

FIFA has confirmed that the 2013 and 2014 editions of the tournament will be held in the north African country.

The news comes after South Africa, Iran and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) all withdrewtheir bids, leaving the north Africans as the sole bidders for the tournament.

It means Morocco will have two chances to prepare for the 2015 African Cup of Nations as well as whiichever of their clubs are defending league champions in 2013 and 2014 will get to participate in the event.

“I think it’s great. It’s not only great for football in Morocco, but for football in Africa,” Moroccan Olympic team coach Pim Verbeek told the BBC.

“The fact that you can have such a prestigious tournament, if you see the interest from the media about a tournament like this.”

“In Morocco, they love football, and they love watching the best European teams playing against the other best teams in the world.”

“They have the African Cup of Nations in 2015, and now they have the best club teams in the world two years in a row.”

FIFA president Sepp Blatter said he was confident that Morocco would successfully host the event.

“We were given a presentation by the Moroccan Federation and I expect the tournament will be excellent in all aspects – logistical, cultural and financial,” he said.

***

sources: soccernews.com

In Berlin, a Festival Focuses on the Contemporary Arts

This year is the 25th anniversary of Berlin’s alternative media arts festival, Transmediale. This five-day event, which starts on Tuesday at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt contemporary arts center, has a rich international program of artworks, installations, video screenings, workshops, performances and an interdisciplinary symposiums, all organized by various guest curators.

The Festival for Adventurous Music and Related Arts (CTM) will run concurrently in different venues around Berlin, and in collaboration with various Transmediale events. For festivalgoers interested in exploring audio and visual mediums outside of a gallery or screening room, check out the performance program Ghosts in the Machine, curated by Sandra Naumann. 

One of the highlights is the performance on Wednesday by the Joshua Light Show, the visual artists who appeared alongside the likes of Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and The Doors. The founder,  Joshua White, will draw on a cache of slide projections, archival footage, an assortment of light reflective objects and other things to create a performance combining both analog and contemporary digital elements. The group, appearing for the first time in Europe since the 1960s, will feature the band Supersilent and the guitarist Stian Westerhus.

Also, to mark the festival’s quarter-century anniversary, the program will be peppered with the history and evolution of media and art culture over the years in Germany’s capital, and all of the eight video programs will begin with a notable work from the Transmediale archive.

***

sources : http://intransit.blogs.nytimes.com

China Says It Curbed Spill of Toxic Metal in River

Officials in southern China appear to have averted environmental calamity by halting the spread of a toxic metal that had threatened to foul drinking water for tens of millions of people, the state media reported Monday. 

Officials said they had successfully diluted the concentration of cadmium, a poisonous component of batteries, that has been coursing down the Longjiang River in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

The spill, which first occurred two weeks ago, prompted a rush on bottled water in several downstream cities and prompted worries that the contamination could reach as far as Hong Kong and Macao.

The cadmium, a substance used in the production of paint, solder and solar cells as well as batteries, has been traced to discharges from a mining company in Guangxi that has since halted production, said Xinhua, the state-run news agency.

Cadmium poisoning can cause kidney and liver damage and weaken bones.

Officials in the city of Liuzhou said workers neutralized the cadmium contamination over the weekend by dumping tons of other chemicals into the river. The chemicals, polyaluminum chloride and sodium hydroxide, are supposed to bind with the cadmium and settle to the river bottom. City officials said they would later dredge the river sediment.

Despite what appears to have been a disaster avoided, the episode highlighted China’s continuing struggle against contamination of its waterways. The Ministry of Environmental Protection has acknowledged that half the nation’s rivers and lakes are unfit for human contact, and news reports of chemical and oil spills are commonplace here.

Although the central government has invested more than $3 billion to improve water quality in recent years, officials estimate that more than 300 million people still do not have access to clean drinking water.

Cadmium poisoning has been a persistent problem, especially among those working at battery plants or living near them. Last year, a study by Nanjing Agricultural University found that 10 percent of the nation’s rice crop contained excessive cadmium levels. In several southern provinces, 60 percent of rice samples were found to exceed the national standard for the heavy metal, researchers found.

Beyond stricter enforcement of existing antipollution regulations, environmental advocates say Chinese officials must embrace greater transparency when it comes to accidents like the one that fouled the waterways in Guangxi. Ma Jun, director of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs in Beijing, said that by concealing news of the spill for nearly two weeks, officials had allowed the damage to spread.

“Only when fish started dying did they publicly acknowledge there was a problem,” Mr. Ma said. He also criticized the initial cleanup efforts, saying that officials upstream had hastened the cadmium’s reach by releasing water from a dam while officials downstream were struggling to contain those same waters in a reservoir.

On Monday, officials in Liuzhou proclaimed that water from the Longjiang was safe to drink, but residents of Liuzhou, a city of three million, were unconvinced, or at least confused.

“We get a text message on our phones every few hours from the city government telling us the cadmium level at three places on the river, but I don’t know what the numbers mean,” said Zhang Ying, who works at a supermarket in the city.

Liao Ming, the owner of a local cafe, said that he would stick to bottled water for now but that he would probably continue using tap water to bathe. “You can’t be too picky when you are Chinese,” he said in a telephone interview, noting that his neighborhood’s air was regularly tainted by discharges from a local paper factory. “If you go down that road and get serious about this kind of stuff, you won’t have time to live.” 

***

sources: nytimes.com

Selecting an El Clasico dream team

Most of you probably already know that FC Barcelona defeated Real Madrid last night.

Last night’s clash was the fourth El Clasico of the 2011-12 season, with the Catalans winning three and drawing one.

At this point, it’s clearly safe to say that Barcelona still have the upper hand on Los Galacticos.

That being said, Real Madrid are probably the second best football club in the world.

In honor of the El Clasico rivalry, I will be selecting an El Clasico dream  team, consisting of stars from Real Madrid and FC Barcelona.

Without further ado, here is the El Clasico dream team.

Goalkeeper: Iker Casillas

Casillas, who is captain of Real Madrid and the Spanish national team, is arguably the best goalkeeper on the planet.

For that reason, Casillas was the obvious selection over Barcelona’s Victor Valdes.

Right-back: Dani Alves

Brazilian international Dani Alves beat out Sergio Ramos for the right-back spot on the dream team.

Alves’ marauding runs make him an extremely potent attacker, while his pace allows him to recover at the back if need be.

Center-back: Gerard Pique

The former Manchester United center-back has established himself as one of Europe’s top defenders since leaving Old Trafford.

He wasn’t great last night, but as usual, he did the job in a winning effort.

Center-back: Carles Puyol

Pique’s partner in crime, Carles Puyol, also cracked the dream XI.

It was Puyol’s brilliant diving header that drew Barcelona level early in the second half.

From then on, you surely fancied the Catalans to emerge victorious.

Left-back: Fabio Coentrao

Newly acquired left-back Fabio Coentrao has been very solid for Jose Mourinho this season.

Coentrao, a former winger, has proven to be more than capable in defence, while simultaneously adding attacking prowess.

Defensive Midfielder: Xabi Alonso

Alonso is one of the premier midfielder’s in Europe. The former Liverpool star is a formidable tackler, a pass master and packs a fantastic long-range shot.

Central Midfielder: Xavi

In my opinion, Xavi is the best midfielder in Europe at the moment.

His passing, vision and combination play make him nearly impossible stop.

Oh by the way, he turned in another great shift last night.

Central Midfielder: Cesc Fabregas

Not many people are talking about Fabregas at the moment.

Nonetheless, he has been in superb form since leaving the Emirates in favor of the Camp Nou.

The former Gunners captain has bagged 12 goals and five assists for the Catalans in all competitions this season.

Winger: Andres Iniesta

Despite not scoring in La Liga this season, Spain’s World Cup hero has netted four goals and four assists for Barca in all competitions.

I knew there was a reason why I chose Iniesta.

Winger: Cristiano Ronaldo

Ronaldo is the most complete footballer on the planet. That is all.

Striker: Lionel Messi

He’s the best in the game, and that means everything.

***

sources: soccernews.com

Bracing for $40,000 at New York City Private Schools

THERE are certain mathematical realities associated with New York City private schools: There are more students than seats at the top-tier schools, at least three sets of twins will be vying head to head for spots in any class, and already-expensive tuition can only go up. 

Way up. 

Over the past 10 years, the median price of first grade in the city has gone up by 48 percent, adjusted for inflation, compared with a 35 percent increase at private schools nationally — and just 24 percent at an Ivy League college — according to tuition data provided by 41 New York City K-12 private schools to the National Association of Independent Schools.

Indeed, this year’s tuition at Columbia Grammar and Preparatory ($38,340 for 12th grade) and Horace Mann ($37,275 for the upper school) is higher than Harvard’s ($36,305). Those 41 schools (out of 61 New York City private schools in the national association) provided enough data to enable a 10-year analysis. (Over all, inflation caused prices in general to rise 27 percent over the past decade.)

The median 12th-grade tuition for the current school year was $36,970, up from $21,100 in 2001-2, according to the national association’s survey. Nationally, that figure rose to $24,240 from $14,583 a decade ago.

With schools already setting tuition rates for the 2012-13 school year — Brearley’s is $38,200 — parents at Horace Mann, Columbia Grammar and Trinity are braced to find out whether they will join families at Riverdale Country School in the $40,000-a-year club. (Riverdale actually charges $40,450 for 12th grade.) In fact, it appears to be a question not of “if,” but “when.”

“Within one to two years, every independent school will cost more than $40,000,” said one board member at a top school who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the school had not yet set tuition.

And that is before requests for the annual fund, tickets to the yearly auction gala and capital campaigns to build a(nother) gym.

Parents are reluctant to complain, at least with their names attached, for fear of hurting students’ standing (or siblings’ admissions chances). But privately, many questioned paying more for the same. “The school’s always had an amazing teacher-to-student ratio, learning specialists and art programs with great music and theater,” said one mother whose children attend the Dalton School ($36,970 a year). “It was great a decade ago and great now.”

“They are outrageous,” said Dana Haddad, a private admissions consultant, referring to tuitions. “People don’t want to put a price tag on their children’s future, so they are willing to pay more than many of them can afford.”

Administrators at several of New York’s top schools attributed the tuition inflation to rising teacher salaries, ever-expanding programs and renovations to aging buildings. They noted that tuition still covered only about 80 percent of the cost of educating each child (that is what all the fund-raising is about). As at most companies, a majority of the costs — and the fastest-growing increases — come from salaries and benefits, especially as notoriously low-paying private schools try to compete with public school compensation.

“Some New York schools have had a 5, 10 or as high as 30 percent increase in the cost of their medical plans,” said Mark Lauria, the executive director of the New York State Association of Independent Schools.

And paying teachers is only a piece of the puzzle. Léman Manhattan Preparatory School has a gym whose floor is cleaned twice a day. The Trinity School has three theaters, six art studios, two tennis courts, a pool and a diving pool. Poly Prep Country Day School raised $2 million to open a learning center this year that has six full-time employees offering one-on-one help with subjects as varied as note-taking and test-taking.

“Parents are just expecting more and more of independent schools,” said David B. Harman, the headmaster at Poly Prep. “Trying to meet that demand, that expectation, is expensive.”

But some parents and school consultants note that many of the schools have long had lush facilities and expansive academic and extracurricular offerings. What keeps the prices rising, they say, is the seemingly endless stream of people more than willing to pay them.

The median number of applications to New York schools has increased 32 percent over the past decade, according to the association, and in some schools the acceptance rate is staggeringly low. At Trinity, only 2.4 percent of children from families with no previous connection to the school were admitted to kindergarten last year. Far from being deterred by the sticker prices, more families seem to be hiring consultants — at an additional cost — in hopes of getting a leg up.

One consulting firm, Manhattan Private School Advisors, said it worked with 1,431 families this school year, up from 605 three years ago. The company’s fee has gone up, too: It was $21,500 this year and $18,500 three years ago.

 ***

sources:  nytimes.com

Food Crisis as Drought and Cold Hit Mexico

A drought that a government official called the most severe Mexico had ever faced has left two million people without access to water and, coupled with a cold snap, has devastated cropland in nearly half of the country. 

The government in the past week has authorized $2.63 billion in aid, including potable water, food and temporary jobs for the most affected areas, rural communities in 19 of Mexico’s 31 states. But officials warned that no serious relief was expected for at least another five months, when the rainy season typically begins in earnest.

While the authorities say they expect the situation to worsen, one of the five worst-affected states, Zacatecas, got a reprieve on Sunday. Heriberto Félix Guerra, head of the Ministry of Social Development,  saw the rain, the first in 17 months, as a guardedly reassuring sign.

Among the more seriously affected communities are tribal areas of the Tarahumara indigenous community in the Sierra Madre, in the north. Known for endurance running and self-reliance, the Tarahumara are among Mexico’s poorest citizens. When false reports of a mass suicide brought on by hunger surfaced recently, journalists and aid organizations poured in to shed light on the situation.

“I think it has really become extreme poverty,” says Isaac Oxenhaut, national aid coordinator for the Mexican Red Cross. Mr. Oxenhaut recently visited the Indian communities where, he said, the land was too dry to grow any crops the Tarahumara usually depend on for their livelihood. “They don’t have anywhere to harvest absolutely anything,” he added.

Nearly 7 percent of the country’s agricultural land, mostly in the north and center, has suffered total loss, according to Victor Celaya del Toro, director of development studies at the Agriculture Ministry.

The drought, which has been compounded by freezing temperatures, has already pushed up the cost of some produce, including corn and beans. The governor of the Central Bank, Agustín Carstens, speaking last week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, cautioned that it might cause inflation to rise later this year.

But government officials have said they do not expect the price of exports to be affected.

Some of the most devastated areas are hard to reach, slowing the flow of aid to a trickle. The Red Cross is sending 70-pound sacks of rice, beans and sugar, as well as winter clothing.

“A cargo bus will not fit,” Mr. Oxenhaut said. “You have to do it with four-wheel drives or donkeys, or the people who take it on their backs.”

Even illicit crops have suffered in the drought. Pedro Gurrola, army commander in the state of Sinaloa, told reporters on Monday that many marijuana crops had dried up but that the harvest of what remains has continued.

***

sources: nytimes.com

FC Koln sign ‘Asian Rooney’

FC Koln have completed the signing of striker Jong Tae-Se from Bochum, the German club revealed on their official website.

The Bundesliga side decided to act after star striker Lukas Podolski picked up a serious injury and they have now signed the North Korean striker for an undisclosed fee.

The 27-year-old, who is also known as ‘Asian Rooney’, has thus been given a chance to prove his worth at the highest level.

“Jong Tae-Se is precisely the kind of player we were looking for,” said Koln’s sporting director Volker Finke on his club’s website. “He is extremely strong in the air and has a good goalscoring instinct.

“We are pleased that we have been able to agree a transfer of Jong Tae-se from Bochum and that we have been able to gain additional quality for our attack.

“We have been watching the player for a long time and we are convinced of his qualities as a striker.”

The North Korean made a name for himself in the Japanese league, playing for Kawasaki Frontale, and he signed for Bochum after the impressive showing for North Korea at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Tae-Se scored the total of 14 goals in 39 Bundesliga 2 appearances, but he never quite managed to show his full potential at Bochum.

 

The 27-year-old is considered one of the best players in North Korea national team and has 15 goals in 28 caps for his country.

 

***

sources: soccernews.com

The Best Sex Positions for Every Situation

Got pain? Pregnancy wishes? Confidence issues in the sack? We have a position for all that! We spoke to top female sexual health experts to hear their recommendations about the best positions for the most common sexual health concerns. Get ready to meet your new favorite moves.

 

The Best Position for Baby-Making
While it’s true that you can get pregnant from all kinds of sexual positions, there is one that health experts frequently recommend as the way to increase your odds of becoming pregnant, and that’s the “missionary” position (male on top) with a “pelvic tilt,” says Amy Levine, a New York City–based sex coach, certified sexuality educator and founder of SexEdSolutions.com. “Putting a pillow under the tush can help elevate your pelvis, and create a slide effect—providing an easy path for his swimmers to make their way through your cervix on their journey to your ovum,” she says. “Typically, women who try this tend to maximize the ejaculation, since it stays in their body a little longer compared to positions in which you're upright, allowing the semen to drip out of the vagina.” And, don’t forget to orgasm, says Ava Cadell, a sex educator and founder of Loveology University in Los Angeles. “She is more likely to get pregnant if she climaxes,” she says.

 

The Best Position to Help Women Build Confidence in Bed
Maybe you feel insecure in the sack and could use a move that can help you feel more confident and in control? If so, Debby Herbenick, PhD, author of Because It Feels Good: A Woman's Guide to Sexual Pleasure and Satisfaction, has a suggestion for you. Memorize these three words, she says: you on top. “It can be confidence-building because it physically helps women to be in control,” she says. “Make sure to do it your way, though. Woman on top can be done kneeling, squatting, facing forward or facing backward, so show off whatever you or he loves most about your body.”

 

The Best Position for Most Female Pleasure
Gals, are you ready for this? Dr. Herbenick says the position that provides the most female pleasure may be a move you’ve never even tried! It’s called the coital alignment technique. “This is a wonderful variation on missionary and one of the few sex positions that has ever been researched and found to be helpful for women who would like to orgasm during sex,” she says. “It involves the guy sliding himself forward, with his shoulders past yours, and your pelvic areas grinding and not thrusting so much. This targets more stimulation on a woman’s clitoris, making it easier for some women to feel pleasure and possibly orgasm.”

 

The Best Position for Long-Lasting Sex
While premature ejaculation is a medical condition that your guy may need to seek treatment for, there are positional tricks you can try to help him increase his staying power. According to Levine, the missionary position (again, guy on top) may be the key to helping your partner last longer. “It can work for him if he has trouble going the distance,” she says. “The key is that he's in an easy position to stop and start when his arousal is increasing at a fast rate, and can take it down a notch so he can last longer.” Want to vary the missionary position a bit? Try this idea from Cadell. “The ‘fox’ position is a variation of missionary, in which the woman’s legs go all the way up and over her lover’s shoulders,” she says. “Penetration of the vagina is very deep in this position. She is contained in the boundaries of his body and he can dive totally inside her, maintaining his arousal and lasting longer.”

 

The Best Position for Women Who Experience Pain with Intercourse
There are often few quick fixes for intercourse-related pain; however, consider these two ideas that can help improve your intimate experiences. First, be sure to use lots of water-based lubricant, says Dr. Herbenick. Second, if pain is an issue, it’s important that you keep the reins, so to speak, in your hands. It’s why Dr. Herbenick, and other experts, recommend the woman-on-top position. “It gives the woman more control over taking sex at a pace that is comfortable for her.”

 

The Best Position If Your Guy Is Well-Endowed
Looking for more “oh”s than “ouch”s? Here’s your move: “The guy lies on his side; she lies perpendicular to him with legs spread as they rest over his body,” Dr. Herbenick explains. “This allows her to hold the base of his shaft if she wants to limit his range of motion, and allows her to use pelvic rocks to create an in-and-out sensation.” Levine says that women whose partners have “lengthy penises” love this position because “they can control how much of him will penetrate her, and can create pleasurable sensations for both without the cramping and discomfort that can happen when he hits her cervix during intense thrusting.”

 

The Best Position for Small Penises
Experts are quick to point out that penis size is a very minor part of a satisfying sex life, yet there are certain positions sex therapists recommend more often when a man has a smaller penis. The best? Woman on top, says Levine. But here’s the key: “You need to gyrate on him rather than move up and down, or else he's likely to slip out,” she says. “Missionary can also help, with your legs up on his shoulders. This allows him to penetrate you deeper, making the most of his size.”

***

sources : womansday.com

Throw a Super Bowl Party

 I'd rather spend my Sunday doing just about anything other than watching a football game — unless it's the Super Bowl. That annual event is all the justification I need to indulge. 

This Chili-Cheese Dip makes me turn into my gluttonous twin (seriously, I need to step away from the tortilla chips). The Buffalo-Chicken Quesadillas are a mouthwatering spin on traditional wings. And for my insatiable sweet tooth: the Peanut-Butter-Cup Brownies. If I were the betting type, I'd wager that these treats pull a disappearing act before halftime.

Buffalo-Chicken Quesadillas

1 store-bought rotisserie chicken, shredded
¾ c. buffalo sauce (available in a jar at the grocery store)
1½ c. shredded Monterey Jack cheese
12 soft flour tortillas (taco size)
Nonstick cooking spray
Blue-cheese dressing
Celery sticks

In a large bowl, combine chicken with sauce, and stir until evenly coated. Add cheese, and toss to combine. Divide mixture on six tortillas, and top each with one of the remaining tortillas. Coat a large skillet over medium heat with cooking spray. Cook quesadillas, one at a time, about 3 to 4 minutes per side, using a spatula to turn. Cut into quarters, and serve with blue-cheese dressing and celery sticks.

Antique car show bumper-to-bumper with 1,800 classics

It would probably take more than a quarter-million dollars to convince Ken Pilat to part with his 1968 Plymouth Roadrunner, complete with its stock 426 hemi and dual-quad carbs.

Then again, he probably would not make the sale.

The car originally sold for $4,029, according to the sticker. The hemi added an additional $713 to the bill. He recently turned down an offer of $275,000.

Pilat's show-stopping Roadrunner was one of 1,800 classic cars on display at the 43rd Annual Devereaux-Kaiser Antique Car Show, held Sunday at the Westfield Sarasota Square mall. There were acres of classic cars at what has become Florida's largest car show.

Some were notable for their provenance, such as a 1922 Oldsmobile 43A that was once owned by Gen. Theodore Roosevelt Jr., the 26th president's son.

Others commanded attention for other reasons, such as the 1941 Willy's "slot grill" Jeep, owned and restored by Dominick DeRosa, which was equipped with a dummy machine-gun mounted in the bed and a Thompson submachine-gun mounted to the dash.

"I wait all year for this show," DeRosa said. "We're lucky to have it here."

Ron Chilton's 1922 Ford Model-T was converted to a pickup long ago by a farmer outside of Allentown, Pa.

Its four cylinders produce 20 horsepower.

It takes some re-learning to drive, Chilton said, since the gas is on the left and it has only two forward gears. Downshifting and a hand brake are the only way to slow or stop.

It takes a few good turns on the cranking handle to start the motor.

"There's no neutral, so if you don't have the brake on when you crank it, it's going down the road," Chilton said.

The truck's top speed of 25 mph is more than sufficient.

"How fast do you want to go on wooden wheels, with no brakes?" he asked.