Strict parents have fat kids

Parents listen up. Don't want your kids to grow fat? Try not to be too strict on them. From Reuters:

Parents who are strict disciplinarians are far more likely to wind up with children who are fat by age six, perhaps because the youngsters over-eat as a reaction to stress, a study said on Monday.

The report from Boston University School of Medicine also found that the fewest weight problems occur among children whose parents are "authoritative" -- having high expectations for self control but respectful of a child's opinions and who set clear boundaries.

The study also found that children of parents who are permissive, defined as indulgent and without discipline, also have weight problems but not to the degree of the offspring of strict disciplinarians with low levels of sensitivity, the study said.

Researchers also found that children of neglectful mothers and fathers, those who are emotionally uninvolved with no set rules, fared about the same as kids raised by permissive parents.

Genghis Khan is father of globalisation

According to researchers, Genghis Khan started globalisation when he build his Mongol Empire. The ruler played a major role in history by contributing to the integration of ethnicities, nationalities and civilizations in ancient times. From China Daily:

It was under Genghis Khan's empire that the Eurasian landmass began to demonstrate the characteristics of global exchanges, according to Hao Shiyuan, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS).

Thanks to the expansion of the empire, "economic and cultural exchanges became possible to the maximum extent and previously isolated civilizations became linked," said Hao, director of the academy's Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, at an international symposium on the founding of the Mongol Empire held by the CASS in Beijing yesterday.

"This is what globalization features: shrinking space, shrinking time, and disappearing borders," said Hao.

SillyCelly, me and our babies

A half drunk SillyCelly and a very sleepy me with our new HP iPAQ rw6828 Multimedia Messenger. Aren't they cool?!

How to do a pop art portrait

Pop art portraits are quite popular nowadays. Over at Family Portrait Artists, you can learn how to convert your photo into a pop art portrait like this one on the left. You can also check out other pop art portraits on Flickr.

Glossary of blog terms

Ever wondered what is an Anonoblog or a Blogroach? This glossary of blog terms will equip you with all the words and slang that are used in the blogging world. From Whatis?com:

Anonoblog
A blog maintained by an anonymous author, often under a pseudonym or pen name. Synonyms include anonyblog, faux blog and ghostblog.

Atom
Atom is a machine-readable XML-based web syndication format which allows users to subscribe to blogs and other web content subject to frequent change. This XML file may be called an Atom feed, webfeed, Atom stream or Atom channel.

Autocasting
Automated form of podcasting that allows bloggers and blog readers to generate audio versions of text-only blogs from RSS feeds.

Audioblog
A blog where the blogger posts recordings of voice, music or other audio content, often with textual annotation to identify the content for indexing.

(Thanks hammamike)

The Teddy Bear Remote Control

This has got to be the cutest remote control I have ever seen - the Teddy Bear Remote Control. Now you can control your PC or iPod with a remote that is also very huggable.

Live at The PC Show 2006

I'm LIVE at The PC Show held in the Suntec Singapore International Convention & Exhibition Centre. It sure is crowded here and I've been told it will only get worse tomorrow and Sunday. I reckon one of the hottest products at this year's show are the memory cards. They are selling like hotcakes now. I just bought a 1GB Kingston Mini SD Card for my HP iPAQ rw6828 Multimedia Messenger at only S$37.40! Now that's a good buy.

Husband 1.0

Last week, I posted a link to a site which explains what happens when you upgrade from Girlfriend 6.0 to Wife 1.0. Today, here's one for the ladies - Husband 1.0 Tech Support. From the site:

Dear Tech Support:

Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and noticed that the new program began making unexpected changes to the accounting modules, limiting access to flower and jewelry applications that had operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0.

In addition, Husband 1.0 uninstalled many other valuable programs, such as Romance 9.9 but installed undesirable programs such as NFL 5.0 and NBA 3.0. Conversation 8.0 no longer runs and House Cleaning 2.6 simply crashes the system. I've tried running Nagging 5.3 to fix these problems, but to no avail...

(Thanks Lord Kimbo)

Previously: Girlfriend 6.0 vs Wife 1.0

The Foot Kamasutra

All you people with foot fetish will enjoy this video showing the different forms of errrr... foot sex?? I like the crocodile position. Video is safe for viewing at work.

(Thanks Randall)

The Astronomical Toilet Paper

The Astronomical Toilet Paper made in Japan takes the popularization of astronomy to a new level - in the toilet! That's right. Now, you can learn more about astronomy before you wipe your ass clean. There are two versions of the Astronomical Toilet Paper. One with pics and info on the life of a star and the other is about the constellations. The makers even posted the printing plate of the Astronomical Toilet Paper in pdf format on their website so that everyone can print their own Astronomical Toilet Paper.

Listen to Mona Lisa and Leonardo Da Vinci

Dr Matsumi Suzuki, a Japanese acoustics expert has created the voices of Mona Lisa and Leonardo Da Vinci as part of a promotion for the Da Vinci Code movie. From Reuters:

Dr Matsumi Suzuki, who generally uses his skills to help with criminal investigations, measured the face and hands of Leonardo da Vinci's famous 16th century portrait to estimate her height at 168 cm and create a model of her skull.

"Once we have that, we can create a voice very similar to that of the person concerned," Suzuki told Reuters in an interview at his Tokyo office last week. "We have recreated the voices of a lot of famous people that were very close to the real thing and have been used in film dubbing."

The chart of any individual's voice, known as a voice print, is unique to that person and Suzuki says he believes he has achieved 90 percent accuracy in recreating the quality of the enigmatic woman's speaking tone.

The voices of both Leornardo Da Vinci and Mona Lisa in Italian can be heard at this website by MSN Japan. Oh, I need to add that only Internet Explorer users can listen to the voices. Bloody hell MSN!

(Thanks Sato)