Giving birth to three healthy boys was priceless. Having an incurably squishy tummy to show for it is embarrassing. And I admit that after inflating and deflating the balloon that is my belly three times, the idea of getting a tummy tuck does sometimes cross my mind. But I worry that altering my body for vanity is wrong.

Oprah says cosmetic surgery isn’t something women should be ashamed of, but still, the idea of spending thousands of dollars and undergoing surgery simply to look better doesn’t sit right with me. Since I’m a religious person who tends to think in moral terms, I called up bioethicist Arthur Caplan to get some perspective.

“[Cosmetic surgery] can seem like vanity or self-indulgence, or wasteful in terms of spending that money in the face of other needs,” says Caplan, who directs the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania. “But I am not convinced that anything you pursue only to make yourself look or feel better is wrong. If that were true, we’d have to condemn people who dye their hair or wear deodorant.”

But plastic surgery is a riskier endeavor than dying your hair, and that makes it a more complicated choice. The death of Kanye West’s mother last year, for example, may have been related to cosmetic surgeries she’d had, including a tummy tuck, which Steven Hopping, the president of the American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery, has described as “one of the most dangerous” cosmetic procedures.

“It’s one thing to accept risks when you’re trying to save a life or forestall a terrible disability,” Caplan tells me. “But if you are harmed or die for cosmetic reasons, that’s the hardest, most frivolous, and least necessary type of risk.”

If you’re considering cosmetic surgery, Caplan recommends consulting with someone other than the person who stands to make money off the procedure. For the religiously inclined, it makes sense to consult with a religious leader, he says.

As a Muslim, I’ve always thought that cosmetic surgery isn’t allowed, on the basis that it permanently changes the body God created and gave as a “trust” to us. But a quick email exchange with Muslim studies professor Jonathan Brockopp set me straight. In fact, Brockopp says that Muslim religious scholars have generally given the green light to cosmetic procedures that “restore functionality”—for example, after an auto accident or mastectomy.

The Catholic Church seems to have a similarly nuanced take on the issue. Although the Church’s official catechism doesn’t directly address the subject, cosmetic surgery has to be evaluated in terms of “guiding moral principles,” writes Marcel LeJeune, a lay campus minister at Texas A&M, in a blog response to a question from a Catholic considering breast augmentation. If the procedure is not for something considered immoral by the Church (such as gender-reassignment surgery), then “elective plastic surgery is left to the prudent choice of those involved,” explains LeJeune.

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written by Flory

Vaio Z este cea mai nouă linie de notebook-uri ultraportabile a celor de la Sony. Acestea vor beneficia de procesoare Intel Centrino 2 şi vor cântări numai 1.5 Kg.

Ecranul cu diagonală de 13.1 inch are o rezoluţie excelentă, atipică pentru un notebook ultraportabil, ce oferă un spaţiu de lucru mai generos cu 40% faţă de display-urile standard: 1600 x 900 pixeli. Caracterizat de tehnologia XBRITE-Duraview, acest monitor impresionează prin culoriile vii, saturate. Mai mult decât atât, display-urile laptop-urilor Sony Vaio Z sunt rezistente la zgârieturi. De altfel, Sony este recunoscută în întreaga lume pentru calitatea excepţională a panourilor LCD produse.

Citeste mai mult pe go4it.ro

written by Andrew

Oficialii Dacia analizează posibilitatea introducerii unor cutii de viteze automate pe modelele Logan, în cazul în care piaţa o va cere.

„În România, nu există cerere pentru aşa ceva. Niciun client nu a cerut-o. Dacă ar exista doritori, cu siguranţă că am oferi cutia de viteze automată“, a spus directorul de marketing al producătorului auto, Rafael Treguer, citat de Mediafax. Acesta a adăugat că, în statele în care Dacia se vinde cel mai bine, cum ar fi Franţa şi Italia, cererile de automobile dotate cu cutie de viteze automată reprezintă 5% din totalul livrărilor, la fel ca în România.

„Latinilor le place să aibă controlul, să simtă maşina“, a susţinut Treguer. O dovadă a faptului că Dacia s-a gândit deja la folosirea cutiilor de viteze automate este faptul că, în manualul de utilizare al Loganului restilizat, există cinci pagini care fac referire la utilizarea acestui tip de cutie de viteze. Informaţiile sunt însoţite de fotografii cu schimbă torul de viteze al maşinii şi imagini cu indicatoarele de bord care afişează informaţii specifice acestui tip de cutie, cum ar fi treptele de viteză şi rularea în modul de iarnă.

written by Andrew

CE BEM, CE MÃŽNCÄ‚M  ●  Produsul are 11 aditivi alimentari
Pe eticheta pîinii Primăvara scrie că este un produs mereu la fel de proaspăt. Nici nu ne îndoim, din moment ce conţine doi conservanţi.
Pîinea Primăvara are în compoziÅ£ie “făină albă de grîu, apă, premix de panificaÅ£ie (lapte praf 26% U.G., zer pudră, agenÅ£i de tratare a făinii E 327 lactat de calciu, E 578 gluconat de calciu, dextroză, emulgatori: E 471 mono ÅŸi digliceride ale acizilor graÅŸi, E 472e esteri glicerici ai acidului diacetil-tartric cu acizi graÅŸi, agenÅ£i de tratare a făinii E 920 L-cisteină, E 300 acid ascorbic, enzime), gluten, drojdie, ulei vegetal, zahăr, sare iodată, conservant: propionat de calciu E 282, acid sorbic E 200, ameliorator de făină (făină de soia, zahăr, făină pre-gelatinizată, amidon din grîu, emulgator E 471 mono ÅŸi digliceride ale acizilor graÅŸi, corector de aciditate E 263 acetat de calciu, agent de tratare a făinii E 300 acid ascorbic)”. Consumînd 100 de grame din acest produs veÅ£i acumula 9,6 g proteine, 1,0 g lipide, 50,3 g glucide ÅŸi o valoare energetică de 248 kcal.

Produsul analizat este o pîine albă cu profil nutriţional dezechilibrat, cu un exces de glucide cu absorbţie lentă (amidon din făină albă de grîu, făină pregelatinizată, amidon din grîu), dar şi cu absorbţie rapidă şi index glicemic foarte ridicat (zaharoză, dextroză).

Citeste toata stirea pe infoportal.ro

written by Andrew

Un copil din zece a purtat o conversatie cu caracter explicit sexual pe internet, potrivit unui studiu realizat în Marea Britanie. Specialistii fac referire la modalitatea tinerilor de a-si petrece timpul liber, navigând pe internet sau vorbind la telefoanele mobile. Studiul a scos la iveala faptul ca tinerii îsi mint adesea parintii pentru a accesa site-uri neadecvate si pentru a discuta cu persoane straine. Multi dintre cei care îsi mint parintii pentru a putea naviga pe internet pretind ca îsi fac temele.

Doctorul Tanya Byron a contribuit la realizarea raportului, si îi sfatuieste pe parinti sa fie mai atenti cu privire la ceea ce fac copiii lor pe internet. “Cred ca cea mai buna solutie ar fi ca parintii sa trateze problema sigurantei de pe internet la fel cum ar face cu orice alte pericole posibile. Astazi, odata cu dezvoltarea uimitoare a tehnologiei fara fir si cu rolul important pe care aceasta îl joaca în viata copiilor nostri, toti trebuie sa ne învatam pe noi si pe cei din jurul nostru Codul de Siguranta Online”, a declarat aceasta. Parintii ar trebui sa instaleze sisteme de securitate

pe computer, sa le spuna copiilor sa nu ofere detalii strainilor cu care discuta, sa nu dea prea multe informatii personale pe retelele de socializare si sa raporteze orice caz de abuz sau materiale jignitoare, a mai spus Byron.

Sursa: infoportal.ro

written by Andrew

Tunuri laser, similare celor din „Războiul Stelelor“, drone de atac robotizate şi avioane de luptă ultramoderne sunt câteva dintre invenţiile care depăşesc faza simplelor prototipuri şi devin arme funcţionale şi foarte eficiente. După îndelungi tatonări şi o serie de experimente mai degrabă eşuate, armele laser sunt aproape de a pătrunde pe câmpul de luptă, unde vor combate ameninţarea rachetelor şi a proiectilelor de mortiere lansate de insurgenţi asupra soldaţilor americani şi britanici din Afganistan şi Irak. Înainte de a ajunge însă pe câmpul de luptă, ele pot fi admirate deja în cadrul saloanelor internaţionale de profil.

La capătul câtorva decenii de cercetări secrete, implicând cheltuieli de miliarde de dolari, s-a dovedit că vieţile soldaţilor nu vor fi salvate de tehnologiile exorbitant de scumpe dezvoltate sub aripa Departamentului american al Apărării, ci de un simplu laser comercial.
În numai 18 luni, grupul american Raytheon a transformat un laser utilizat în industria constructoare auto într-o armă capabilă a lovi cu viteza luminii proiectilele inamice, cărora le topeşte învelişul, provocând detonarea încărcăturii. Într-un test desfăşurat anul trecut, noul sistem, botezat LADS, a distrus un proiectil de mortier staţionar.
În septembrie anul acesta, Raytheon va încerca să „doboare“ un proiectil în mişcare. În caz de succes, LADS ar putea ajunge în linia întâi în maximum un an.

Reaper, în linia întâi

Armatele SUA şi Marii Britanii au creat în premieră absolută o escadrilă de atac robotizată, alcătuită dintr-o nouă generaţie de drone, MQ-9 Reaper, mult mai letală decât precedentele Predator, care aveau capacităţi de atac limitate. Reaper poate purta în zone inamice, funcţie de configuraţie, fie 14 rachete Hellfire, fie doar patru proiectile aer-sol Hellfire şi două bombe ghidate laser Paveway, de câte 225 de kilograme. Drona are astfel o putere de foc echivalentă cu un avion de atac F-16.

Citeste toata stirea pe infoportal.ro

written by Andrew

NEW YORK - The price of oil recorded its biggest weekly drop ever, and a gallon of gas finally pulled back from its record high. So is it time to declare the energy bubble popped?

Experts won’t go that far just yet.

“It’s too early to say we’ve seen the worst of it,” said Tom Kloza, publisher and chief oil analyst of the Oil Price Information Service in Wall, N.J. “We would be Pollyannish if we believe one week represents a trend.”

Still, with oil recording yet another drop on Friday, some industry experts who just days ago thought there was more juice left in oil’s meteoric run are reconsidering.

“If this is not the bubble’s implosion, than it’s a reasonable facsimile,” analyst and trader Stephen Schork said in his daily market commentary. “Time will tell. Nevertheless, for the time being we no longer care to hold a bullish view.”

Light, sweet crude for August delivery fell 41 cents Friday to settle at $128.88 on the New York Mercantile Exchange — well below its trading record of more than $147 a week earlier.

The average price of a gallon of regular gas fell about a penny for the day, to $4.105, according to auto club AAA, the Oil Price Information Service and Wright Express. Diesel prices dipped three-tenths of a cent to $4.842 a gallon.

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written by Andrew

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - Hundreds of baby penguins swept from the icy shores of Antarctica and Patagonia are washing up dead on Rio de Janeiro’s tropical beaches, rescuers and penguin experts said Friday.

More than 400 penguins, most of them young, have been found dead on the beaches of Rio de Janeiro state over the past two months, according to Eduardo Pimenta, superintendent for the state coastal protection and environment agency in the resort city of Cabo Frio.

While it is common here to find some penguins — both dead and alive — swept by strong ocean currents from the Strait of Magellan, Pimenta said there have been more this year than at any time in recent memory.

Rescuers and those who treat penguins are divided over the possible causes.

Thiago Muniz, a veterinarian at the Niteroi Zoo, said he believed overfishing has forced the penguins to swim further from shore to find fish to eat “and that leaves them more vulnerable to getting caught up in the strong ocean currents.”

Niteroi, the state’s biggest zoo, already has already received about 100 penguins for treatment this year and many are drenched in petroleum, Muniz said. The Campos oil field that supplies most of Brazil’s oil lies offshore.

Read more on yahoo.com

written by Andrew

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Two weeks after Joshua Lipton was charged in a drunken driving crash that seriously injured a woman, the 20-year-old college junior attended a Halloween party dressed as a prisoner. Pictures from the party showed him in a black-and-white striped shirt and an orange jumpsuit labeled “Jail Bird.”

In the age of the Internet, it might not be hard to guess what happened to those pictures: Someone posted them on the social networking site Facebook. And that offered remarkable evidence for Jay Sullivan, the prosecutor handling Lipton’s drunken-driving case.

Sullivan used the pictures to paint Lipton as an unrepentant partier who lived it up while his victim recovered in the hospital. A judge agreed, calling the pictures depraved when sentencing Lipton to two years in prison.

Online hangouts like Facebook and MySpace have offered crime-solving help to detectives and become a resource for employers vetting job applicants. Now the sites are proving fruitful for prosecutors, who have used damaging Internet photos of defendants to cast doubt on their character during sentencing hearings and argue for harsher punishment.

“Social networking sites are just another way that people say things or do things that come back and haunt them,” said Phil Malone, director of the cyberlaw clinic at Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society. “The things that people say online or leave online are pretty permanent.”

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written by Andrew

K.J. Choi rolled in a 25-foot birdie on the final hole for a 3-under 67 in more gloom and wind along the Irish Sea, giving him his first lead in a major championship. It will be the second straight year he plays in the final group at the British Open going into the weekend.

But the biggest surprises were right behind him, starting with a pair of British Open champions who once were No. 1 in the world.

Norman barely touched a club in the month leading up to his 26th appearance in golf’s oldest championship. The 53-year-old married tennis great Chris Evert three weeks ago, and a trip to England counts as the tail end of his honeymoon.

He wound up renewing his love affair with links golf, delivering great escapes over his final three holes for an even-par 70 that put his name atop the leaderboard for most of the afternoon until Choi birdied the final two holes.

Choi was at 1-under 139, one shot ahead of Norman.

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written by Andrew