The Daily Indian

A study has revealed that 79 per cent of women face sexual harassment at workplace and those in casual and contract jobs are more at risk. 79 per cent of women face sexual harassment at workplace.

Anthony LaMontagne, associate professor at the VicHealth Centre for the Promotion of Mental Health and Community Wellbeing, examined the likelihood of sexual harassment in different types of employment.

“Our study shows that 79 per cent of those who experience unwanted sexual advances at work are women,” LaMontagne said. “The study is an important new evidence because precarious employment has been associated with a variety of adverse working conditions as well as with poorer mental and physical health,” he added. “People who are employed in casual jobs are about five times more likely to be subjected to unwanted sexual advances. The research also shows that people in contract positions are about 10 times more likely to be sexually harassed at work,” LaMontagne added.

Victorian Health Promotion Foundation CEO Todd Harper observed: “Not only are women more likely to experience sexual harassment but females make up bigger proportions of industries which use more casual and contract labour.”

“There is a strong link between sexual harassment and mental health problems. This behaviour is costly and preventable,” Harper said in a release.

One can’t really start with day one of any trip to Las Vegas. After awhile, it just kinda all blends together. Its amazing how a huge desert can provide such beautiful tropical getaways.

Seeing volcanos exploding, pirate ships sinking and rollercoasters zooming it was truly a great trip. One would have to spend a good 10 days to really see all Sin City has to offer.You’d also have to spend at least 24 hours in one hotel just to see everything in it! But if you’re only going to spend 2 or 3 days, try and see the most popular attractions.
I also recommend arriving at night. There’s truly something cool about a black sea below you and then boom! Vegas lights!

No matter how many times I see the Fountains at Bellagio, I am still completely captured by how relaxing and comforting it is. The Bellagio itself has so many things to see and do such as the gardens, the Chihully works throughout, and of course, for you fellow shopaholics, the shops. I’ve never seen so many top designers all on one floor.The Fine Art museum, which displays several different artists throughout the year, is fantastic.

Las Vegas is truly a mirage because not only do you completely forget your troubles but you also create your own.

The Paris hotel was really nice. All the employees spoke french! Going to the top of the Eiffel Tower at Paris is by far the best way to see the Vegas strip. The first 2 days we visited it was too windy so they shut it down, but once we were able to, it was a spectacular view.

Although the Venetian is the most beautiful, the Luxor has to be hands down the coolest. Once indoors, you’re surrounded by pharroahs and water falls and its rather peaceful. I highly recommend checking out the King Tut museum. The rooms are actually in the pyramid! You can even see the slant! Although we couldn’t see one of the rooms, going to the top floor was great!

The excalibur is really cool. Although I do believe its more designed with kids in mind. We were hoping the armored ‘men’ would actually joust or step off the horses for some pictures, but unfortunately, our dreams didn’t come true. There’s a great game room in the ‘dungeon’ too. For the adult women, “Thunder Down Under” is a marvelous show. Men stay away or you just might get jousted.

Ceasers Palace is just simply superb. No matter if it is one of the oldest casinos still left on the strip, it just gets better with age.The Forum shops aren’t only fun because of the stores, but because of the ‘living statues’ that scare ya half to death if you come close the them. Also even if there are several around the country, for some reason this one just happens to be the best Cheesecake Factory ever! Maybe its all that oxygen they pump into the casino! We also had an opportunity to see several of Ceasers guardsmen keeping watch of everything and everyone.No need to really pay the big bucks to see nice fit bodies, just hang out at Ceasers and you’ll see a great show. Rumors has it Ceaser and Cleopatra make frequent visits but we never did get to see them. Pure is a great club. We’d gotten free passes from a timeshare saleman and he wasn’t joking when he said it was one of the best clubs vegas has to offer. We danced off our little booties all night long.

The Venetian was our next stop. Oh how romantic parts of Sin City can actually be.The gondolas are just that. We didn’t ride them, but just listening to the serenades brought a light to our step and a smile to our hearts. If this is truly what Venice looks like, then pack my bags baby, I’m on my way. With the street painters, sidewalk vendors and outdoor cafes, I was totally hooked and ready to travel to Italy to see the real thing. And the ceiling changes from morning, to mid day to dusk etc, etc. Like most of the hotels, theres also several shops to drag the non-shopaholics through too. And remember to always always look up as soon as you step inside. Or do like some of us art buffs, just lay back on the floor and stare. You’ll be amazed at what you see.

Mandalay Bay is very nice. They have a great buffett. There’s also several tropical birds on display inside the lobby. Don’t worry, though, you’ll find them just as soon as your ears hit the inside. Heck, you may even hear them in the next hotel. I also recommend checking out the Shark reef. You’ll be astonished. We also hit the Rumjungle later that night and believe me when I say, you really can have whatever kind of rum you want because there are hundreds to choose from! And for you men out there, several times at night women on trapeez and in cages with hardly any clothes on will shake their booties for ya. The dance floor is huge and theres a different DJ every weekend. Tip: because it is a restraunt, if you go in before 10pm, you will not have to pay a cover. It pays to know locals!

New York New York was a fantastic place to just hang out. I do think this was meant for the late 20’s and mid 30’s kinda crowd. ImageI recommend the irish pub and the italian cafe inside the casino. But most of all, I recommend the rollercoaster. Though not as thrilling as us fellow Cedar Point fanatics are used to, it is fun. And it gives you a different view of Vegas. Even if you are speeding by like a bat out of hell.

The Mirage and TI were nice. the dolphin exhibit is pure entertainment. I suggest you check it out. What was funny the first day we stopped by was a momma duck and her chicks swimming across the pond. Even with Sin City and all its bright lights and glamour, visitors were more interested in how cute the chicks were crossing from one side to the next. There were so many cameras going off you would’ve thought the papparazzi were there! I don’t recommend the new pirate show to any children. But as stated by several people, Vegas wasn’t meant for kids. The outdoor club Tangerine is great and make some fantastic mixed drinks.

Though we stayed on the ‘new strip’ we did catch a cab to Freemont Street tImageo ‘vintage vegas’ and I have to say, it was surprising. More young people were enjoying the outdoor music, the incredible light show and just generally, each other. We’d decided then and there we were staying on the ‘old strip’ next visit to vegas. I’d read somewhere that the Golden Gate hotel was one of the very first hotels/casinos there and has no plans of ever leaving. Apparently, like most of us, experiancing Vegas the way it used to be is kinda cool. We were waiting for Dean or Frank to stop by.

Either way you look at it, Vegas is just plain funtastic. But please, adults only.

Hollywood actor Gerard Butler, who has been romantically linked to Jennifer Aniston, is by his own admission ‘paranoid’ about sex and doesn’t want to engage in bad behaviour, reports said.

Contactmusic.com reports that referring to golfer Tiger Woods, whose extra-marital affairs have been recently made public, the actor said: ‘I get laid less now than I used to, because I’m way more paranoid now. Look at f***ing Tiger Woods!

‘I mean, I’m nowhere near as naughty as I used to be, partly because I did a lot of that when I was drinking.’

The concept of ‘homeschooling’ has not caught-on with parents in this part of the world. But then, in most of the developed countries the whole idea of homeschooling has gone beyond mere alternative education and has entered the ambit of politics and lobbying.
For the starters, homeschooling is the education of children at home and is seen as an alternative, in developed countries, to formal education. However, the surge in homeschooling is hitting the market of conventional education system in the US. A conservative estimate shows that over 50 million children are enrolled in over 100,000 schools in the US. The average per student expenditure in the US public schools is around $7,000.

In the US, where quality of formal education is quite worrisome, parents are largely opting for homeschooling. Take for instance, the IQ level (and maths skills) of an average American student is far too less than his counterpart in the developing countries. A 2007 survey by the Department of Education reveals that 88 per cent of homeschooling parents felt their local public schools were unsafe, drug-ridden or unwholesome in some way and 73 per cent complained of shoddy academic standards.

However, in developing countries, the practice of homeschooling is not so common. Reason being, that homeschooling is too expensive in metros (even surpasses school’s tuition fees). And in non-metros (or tier-II and tier-III cities) parents are not able to match up with modern education syllabi. Moreover, homeschooling is not encouraged at the time of college admissions. Unlike the West ­- where there is a strong network of activities and legal lobby that has ensured colleges/institutes to have a separate policy – developing countries do not have any body to advocate this concept.

Homeschooling in Africa is highly influenced by many missionaries, who are homeschooling their own children (due to lack of good schools and domestic instability). But there is an ongoing struggle between homeschoolers and the government over control of curriculum. Moving to Asia, there are a limited number of homeschoolers and many governments are against homeschooling.

On the one hand, schools in the West are lobbying with top officials to regulate homeschooling and discourage parents (of course, for obvious reasons!). Whereas on other hand, this concept can, to a large extent, compensate for lack of schools. This can also help those who are sole bread earners of the family and thus are not able to attend conventional schools. It will also help children in those parts of the states who can’t attend school because of domestic instability. What government needs to do is to recognise homeschooling (and standardise the syllabi) and make it acceptable during admission in college admission procedure. Moreover, with intervention of ICT (Information & Communication Technology) this medium can reach a larger audience.

However, this form of education is not an answer to lack of good schools and quality education, but for the time being can solve the problem of education (and schooling) in rural hinterlands of developing countries across the world.

Monojit Lahiri wonders whether the ‘New Woman’ is appropriately reflected in adland or…

Once, not very long ago, women portrayed in advertising reflected all the pristine virtues of Nirupa Roy — aka, Mother Earth! Eternally sacrificing, unconditionally loving, caring and forgiving, she was the definitive 24×7 giver, wanting (or expecting) nothing in return except the well-being of her family. Excuse me, but what about her life, needs, wants, dreams, desires and aspirations? “What dreams, drives, desires are you babbling about, dummy? What crap are you letting fly, you regressive moron? She is a mother, okay and this is her life, okay?!” hisses a seven-star chauvinist pig!

Today, as we bogey towards the end of ‘07, has this Stone Age projection of women in adville moved on? Is it keeping pace with times? Is it more real, contemporary, authentic? Is the new Indian woman — cool, confident, aspirational, successful, multi-tasking — coming through or is Adville hemming and hawing, paying lip-service, indulging in tokenism, playing safe by re-enforcing the stereotypes?

Voices and opinions differ. Young ad person Dolly Jha believes that too little is done towards it. For every Frankfinn ad, there are a whole clutch of stuff depicting women as bimbos and sex objects. “The male-specific product category are the worst offenders — gutkas, shaving creams, deos, Maruti SX4 – pushing the pseudo-sophisticated button to up the ante. Disgusting!”

Journo Roma Kapadia disagrees. “Firstly, change doesn’t happen overnight; it takes time. Secondly, advertising is neither about morality nor approximating reality in a manner that makes everyone happy. It is a seductive marketing tool with a one-point programme — to sell! The guys behind these ads are not dumb. They are professionals who have a very tough job to do in a competitive market place. Surely they know what they are doing” Overall, she believes that Adville is on the right path.

Roma could be right. Smart n’ sassy gals in tees; Young, bright and attractive women scoring brownie points in the boardrooms; Independent young lasses choosing their life-partners or colour of Scooties, in style; Girlie gangs whooping it up — or being wooed by romantic hubbies play-acting as “chefs”… all these images are flashing across present day ad content on TV.

Grey worldwide’s NCD Priti Nair agrees. She believes there has been a dramatic shift from woman-as-doormat to woman-as-achiever. “There is more life, positivity, energy and drive in the way she is projected. The young modern mother is bright, active and peppy. She is pro-active, not re-active!” Swapan Seth of Equs Red Cell begs to differ. “I really don’t know from where all this is coming from! Today’s woman is most certainly being stifled and gagged in a world of stereotypes. At best the stuff mentioned are surface shifts providing glamorous distractions. Marketers seem to be continents away from confronting real — edgy, uneasy, controversial, troubled — social shifts. Where is the single, successful, strong, opinionated, unmarried 35-year old woman? Where is the positive, cheerful, smart, successful single mother whipping up a tasty meal for her excited small kids? That calls for a courageous client and braveheart agency!” Young and attractive executive of a high profile fashion house, Tania Haldar brings her own perspective to the table. “It’s a given that a pretty face with the right — ahem — equipment can sell almost anything! Savvy ad film-makers cash in on this regularly, using air brush techniques to wash away in essentials like a thick waistline or skin blemishes and before you know it, voila! You have the perfect babe selling you a host of products — perfumes, cosmetics, fairness creams, detergents, mobiles, shoes, home appliances, inner wear, washing machines, electronic goods, cars, holiday resorts — that works.” However, Haldar laments the fact that if and when serious, decision making and meaningful issues need to be forcefully publicised (Insurance, education, social issues like woman empowerment, girl child, adult literacy, HIV Aids) today’s woman, sadly, is nowhere to be found! Does that mean that she is perceived as someone incapable of influencing popular imagination when something solid needs to be ‘pushed’ (where are you, YAWN Shabana Azmi and Nandita Das) used only for frivolous consumer items? If that is so, how much justice is today’s Adville really doing to representation of today’s woman, which reaches consumers?

So what gives? Being cautious, maintaining the status-quo, playing safe… willing to wound but afraid to strike… is that the real situation? It’s a tough call. At one level, there has certainly been a conscious effort to keep pace with the new woman. However (as Swapan perceptively points out) to go the road less travelled, be bold, audacious and break new ground by embracing uncomfortable (and unspoken) real life issues in terms of contemporary realities is — alas —something that is, almost, zilch.

Our guess is that it has to do with comfort levels, not wanting to rock the boat, being happy by making all the right noises at the right forums – and most importantly, yelling the famous lines is complacent self-defence: Why mend it if it ain’t broke, babe… right?

Model Katie Price, also known as Jordan, has reportedly inked a one million pound deal for her new series on ITV2.

The 31-year-old model will get 100,000 pounds per episode, along with a bonus 200,000 pounds ‘golden handcuffs’ deal to keep her at ITV2, reports dailystar.co.uk.

Jordan’s ex-husband Peter Andre has also inked a 105,000 pounds per episode deal for his new series, ‘Peter Andre-The Next Chapter’, which starts in May on ITV2.

But sources says they were more worried about losing ‘What Katie Did Next’ than 37-year-old Pete’s show as she has got more ‘pulling power’.

Her new series, which is already on air, covers her time in the celeb jungle, her split and reunion with Alex Reid, 34, and Christmas without Andre.

Cameras also followed the couple as they got hitched in Las Vegas just days after Alex won ‘Celebrity Big Brother’ in January.

‘Love her or hate her, Jordan is a huge hit for ITV2. Her series pulls in over 1.5 million people an episode, which is a massive audience,’ said a source from the channel.

Singer Ke$ha has revealed she wears her placenta round her neck to get a “second sight”.

The placenta helps a foetus in nutrient uptake and is expelled from the body after birth. And Ke$ha believes it enhances her chances of having a spiritual experience.

“I’m into energy. I recently went to see a past-life regressionist, who is also a psychic. I wear my placenta around my neck every day, because it’s supposed to give you second sight. I feel like I’ve had many lifetimes before,” the Age quoted her, as telling the Sunday Times.

The 23-year-old star also hit back at critics for labelling her as a party girl.

She said: “So many people say, ‘So, what, are you a party girl?’ And I say, ‘I’m a walking good time.’ Do I sometimes go out and drink? Hell, yes. But could I have a number one song if I wasn’t also working hard? Maybe that needs a little more respect.

“Also, the phrase ‘party girl’ implies someone who is out at a club, maybe doing some guy in the back who you’ve just met. Then you get in your car and you flash your vagina at the paparazzi. And I’m none of the above.

“I have been working on realising this dream, my path, my mission, for years. I’ve really invested a lot of thought, time and effort into it. I think it’s a bummer when people don’t epresent that properly, when they portray me as purely one-dimensional.”

According to the study, which will be published in The Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM), hormonal changes and poor sex life among obese men are related to the degree of obesity and both are improved after gastric bypass surgery.

“Previous studies have found that obesity is correlated to lower sperm count and can be associated with infertility, but we wanted to know if obesity was biologically associated with an unsatisfying sex life, and if so, could it be reversible,” said Dr. Ahmad Hammoud, MD, of the University of Utah and lead author of the study. “Our results show that the answer to both questions may be yes,” he added.

To reach the conclusion, researchers followed 64 men over two years who participated in the Utah Obesity Study, which investigated the two-year morbidity of severely obese men undergoing Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery compared to controls.

Researchers measured weight, BMI (body mass index) and reproductive hormone levels of participants at the beginning of the study and once more two years later. Similarly subjects completed a questionnaire designed to assess the impact of weight on quality of life in obese individuals at the onset of the study and again two years later.

“In our study population, we found that lower testosterone levels and diminished ratings for sexual quality of life were correlated with increased BMI,” said Dr. Hammoud. “Subjects who lost weight through bariatric surgery experienced a reduction in estradiol levels, an increase in testosterone levels and an increase in ratings of sexual quality of life,” the expert added.

Iraq war movie “The Hurt Locker,” took the Oscars by storm on Sunday winning six of the major film honours, including best movie and director for Kathryn Bigelow who became the first woman to win that honour.

The drama about a squad of bomb defusing specialists and the emotional toll war takes on them also secured writer Mark Boal the Academy Award for best original screenplay, and claimed honours for film editing, sound editing and mixing.

“Hurt Locker” and Bigelow won Oscars over stiff competition from her ex-husband James Cameron, whose sci-fi adventure “Avatar” is the top-grossing movie ever with $2.5 billion at box offices and was seen as a favourite for best movie.

“This really is, there’s no other way to describe it, it’s the moment of a lifetime,” Bigelow said.

“Avatar” earned 3 Oscars, but in technical categories — visual effects, cinematography and art direction.

Veteran Jeff Bridges claimed best actor playing a drunken country singer in drama “Crazy Heart.” The son of Hollywood star Lloyd Bridges held his trophy high over his head, looking to the heavens and thanking his deceased parents.

“Mom and Dad, yeah,” he shouted. “Thank you Mom and Dad for turning me on to such a groovy profession.”

Sandra Bullock was named best actress for “The Blind Side” in a first for the actress once dubbed “America’s Sweetheart” because she won so many early fans in her romantic comedies.

But for “The Blind Side,” she took the part of a real-life, strong-willed mother who helps take a homeless youth off the street and makes him into a football success.

“Did I really earn this, or did I just wear you all down?” she joked on Oscar’s stage.

Dark drama “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” earned two Oscars including supporting actress for Mo’Nique and adapted screenplay for writer Geoffrey Fletcher, who became the first African American to claim that honour.

Christoph Waltz won best supporting actor for his turn as a menacing Nazi officer in revenge fantasy “Inglourious Basterds,” which follows a band of American Jews killing their enemies behind lines during World War Two.

“Up” was named best animated movie, and Argentina’s “The Secret in Their Eyes” won best foreign language film.

Post-Ottoman Turkey’s dealings with the Arabs was summarised by a famous adage coined in the mid-20s-Ne Sam’in sekeri, ne Arabin yüzü. It meant “neither sweets from Damascus nor an Arab’s face.” And as it happened, in the next 90 years, neither any sweet made its way from Damascus, nor did Turkey have to join ranks with Arabs in the west Asian conflict. But things are changing. And ironically, the sweets that had left a bitter taste in mouth of the Western world indeed arrived from Damascus.

This transformation is momentous as it implies the commencement of a fresh politics, particularly in West Asia. Turkey’s foreign policy community has decided for fresh terms of engagement with both its western and eastern neighbours. While much of its new policy has alleviated conflicts and expanded economic and political collaboration, it has also shaped new fields of apprehension for the West, predominantly in the weakening association with Israel, the new-fangled tactical partnership with Syria, and the friendly dealings with Iran and Sudan. This has led to an increasing number of Western analysts asking whether Turkey will break its word on its conventional Western orientation, opting as a substitute, regional leadership and associations in the Muslim world. “The strategy is shifting at breakneck pace. If the Turks, only a decade ago, were in conflicts of varied intensity – particularly with Greece, Syria, Iraq and Armenia – today, merely the Cypriot hitch remains unsettled,” says Kerem Oktem, an expert on Turkish foreign policies at the European Studies Centre in the University of Oxford, while talking to TSI. The West is particularly rattled by its dealings with Israel. For years, Turkey has kept itself aloof from the Palestine issue partly because it did not want to get into the “bog” and partly because it never really pardoned Arabs for their “treachery” against the Ottoman empire, in collusion with Freemasons. After all, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has pressed some incredibly susceptible Western buttons: He has dismissed apprehensions over Iran’s civil nuclear programme, for instance, and called off a war game with Israel, holding one with Syria in its place. Turkey, Erdogan said, was merely acting, “in accordance with his people’s conscience.” His people, Erdogan assured viewers, “were rejecting Israel’s participation.” Additionally, Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu maintained that Turkey cannot afford to be perceived as Israel’s martial associate at a point when there are literally no efforts being made for peace.

Still, the Turkish-Israeli association is shoddier now than it had been many years ago. Ankara remains annoyed that IDF invaded Gaza-just as Turkey was trying to arbitrate indirect peace negotiations between Israel and Syria. Apparently, a few days before the attack, the then Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told Erdogan that no offensive was intended. Following that, in his visit to Tehran last September, Erdogan positioned himself overtly on Iran’s part, defending its nuclear programme and maintaining his view on Israel being the key source of conflict in the area.

Turks themselves were seldom excited about their country’s liaison with Israel. The military was, unfortunately for Turks, the final word on the nation’s foreign policy in the last few decades. Now, in a progressively more democratic Turkey, there are more than one power centre and the dynamics of the game has changed. It is also merely an illusion that the army will remain consistently pro-American. Older, higher-ranking officers do have a soft corner for the West.