Newzity

It may sound odd, but scientists think so. Women who opt for low calorie diet and skip breakfasts during conception and pregnancy are more likely to have baby girls. Women who eat high energy meals and have regular breakfasts are more likely to have boys.

No, this does not mean women determine the sex of the baby. It is still the man’s job. So what’s going on? Scientists are not really sure. They think the high level of glucose in mother’s blood helps the development of male embryos while it works against females. As a result, woman with low glucose level tend to have baby girls more often. When a woman skips breakfast, her body reads it a sign of food shortage, and as a natural response the body lowers glucose level. Even a subtle change in glucose level is enough to change the viability of the embryos. The findings may explain why in the developed countries there is a decline in birth rate of boys in the recent years. Young women in wealthy countries tend to prefer low calorie diet. That is ironic, since they adopt low calorie diet as a response to the abundance of food.

This means malnourished woman would give birth to more baby girls. Not sure how many women would use the breakfast as a tool to control the sex of their baby.

No it is not a Disney movie. A mother dumped a newborn baby girl under a pile of mud and left her to die outside a village in Indian state of Bihar. A pack of stray dogs dug the baby out of the mud, and started barking. Villagers came and rescued the baby.

Female infanticide is common in India. According to UN, there are about 2,000 unborn girls killed every day. Indians prefer boys over girls since they have to pay a large sum of money to get their daughters married. Baby girls are in danger if the parents find out the sex before birth. In India testing center would advertise ultrasound scanners with cruel and blatant message like spend $20 now and save $2000 later. But villagers cannot even afford $20, and they mostly abandon their baby girls after birth. This baby girl was lucky. A pack of stray dogs found her in time. They removed the layer of mud off her, and she started crying. The dogs’ barking and the baby’s cry got the attention of the villagers. They came and rescued her. Police is looking for the mother.

The baby girl is doing fine, and was adopted on the spot by a childless couple. It is an unusual story of affection: a newborn is left to die by her mother but stray dogs and strangers come to rescue.

You might have to consider the question if PETA has its way. After trying to fight the meat eating habits for a long time, PETA now wants to give up. Not entirely though, they want you to eat test tube meat. They are offering $1 million prize for anyone who can make commercially viable meat in the lab.

Growing meat in the lab is nothing new. Scientists can grow tissue cultures that can be shaped and textured like the real meat using the same techniques used for soy burgers. The advantage is that it would need much less resource like land and water to produce, and for PETA it won’t involve any real animal. So cruelty against animal is out of the question. With right flavoring and texture the test tube meat can be made to replace chicken, beef, fish, or anything else you want. A separate organization called New Harvest that promotes meat substitute points at other benefits:

“Because meat substitutes are produced under controlled conditions impossible to maintain in traditional animal farms, they can be safer, more nutritious, less polluting and more humane than conventional meat.”

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Please contact the Brazilian authority if you spot a priest in the sky. No kidding. A Roman Catholic priest from southern coast of Brazil has vanished into the sky and was reported missing. He last contacted port authority from more than 11 thousand feet in the air as he was floating away with hundreds of party balloons filled with helium.

This was all for a good cause: to raise money to build a spiritual rest stop for truckers. Forty one year old Carli, an experienced skydiver and a priest, thought that breaking the world record for longest flight with balloons was a good idea. On Sunday afternoon equipped with a GPS device, a satellite phone, and a parachute, Carli put on a flight suit and sat on a buoyant chair. His friends strapped his chair to the tall arrays of green, red, white, and yellow balloons filled with helium. And off he went in the midst of cheers from the crowd. He soared to great height and traveled about 470 miles before wind pushed him off course. He was 31 miles off the coast when he last contacted the port authority.

His friends said he has the experience to deal with the situation and he would turn up without any problem.

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Stephen Hawking thinks so. He says primitive life forms are common through out the universe, though intelligent ones are rare. That may explain why we have not met one.

The question is as old as humanity itself: is there life outside our planet. From religion to science fiction everyone embraced the idea of super beings outside our experience: call it god or alien. Scientists think there are a few possibilities. First one is the rule of non-existent until proven otherwise: since we have not encountered any alien life form, so they do not exist. But that rarely satisfies anyone. Even if life started on this planet by accident, what’s so special about the accident here? Cannot it happen somewhere else? Moreover, we have seen so little of the universe it is hard to say what is not there. The other theory is that there are really smart creatures out there. Then the question remains: why have not they contacted us or why haven’t we found any sign of them. Hawking thinks though primitive life forms are common, intelligent life forms are rare. He jokingly doubts if we even have intelligent life form on earth. He thinks if we can survive long enough we would establish contact with other life forms or find proof of their existence.

There may be another possibility: the aliens are really smart and that is why they are purposefully ignoring their uncool cousins from the little blue green planet.

Think about it. No more wrestling with the difficult decision of going to a bar to watch the game or attending the church. The Country Rock Church in Ohio has brought its Sunday sermon to the Pub Lounge in Sidney. So you can enjoy beer and bible at the same time.

The attendance in the Country Rock Church has been dwindling for a while and its head pastor Rev. Chris Heckaman is trying to find out ways to attract new members. He has come up with some creative ideas to reach the unwilling. The bar is the latest pick for his new branch for Sunday sermon. According to the Church website the new place features top regional bands of beer, pizza, chicken wings, rowdy fun, and most importantly a short message. So far Heckaman is happy with the response: about 100 people joined the inaugural service on Sunday. He expects more people to join as the words get out.

If you are wondering what was the topic of sermon here is a hint: the pastor talked about how life is like a ride on the bar’s mechanical bull.

Absolutely, according to Paul McCartney. He thinks vegetarianism is the cure for global warming. He is not happy that most people trying to curb greenhouse gas emission do not promote vegetarianism.

Paul, the former Beatle, had converted to vegetarianism in his youth and has always been a vocal advocate. This time he is pushing it not for your health but for the heath of the planet. He says it is not only good for us it is also good for the planet. He has his reasons. Pound for pound meat takes more resources like water and land than vegetables, and the meat industry is a major contributor to the harmful greenhouse gases. Even a UN report published in 2006 said that cattle industry produces more gases than cars. He is urging everyone to give up meat or reduce their meat consumption. He said that in a meeting with PETA, which has its own reasons to support vegetarian diet.

Whatever it may be, it is not a bad idea to eat more vegetables for your own health. If that helps the environment, it is even better.

First of all, if anyone out there is hoping for a conclusion, you better brace yourself. One thing for sure it won’t end with PA primary.

Why? Well, Clinton is going to win with a margin wide enough for her to stick around, but not wide enough for anything else. After the debacle, I mean, debate on Wednesday everyone was wondering about its effect on the poll numbers. The numbers in different polls range from 5 to 10 percent in favor of Clinton. That is better than most polls before the debate where Clinton was leading by 3 to 6 percentage points. That means Clinton will win, but not by a landslide she needs to catch up in delegate counts. Nationally, Obama is losing his lead for a while and Gallup Poll daily tracking on Sunday showed his lead reduced to 2 percent: 47 in favor against Clinton’s 45. This is a change from Saturday, when for the first time Clinton led Obama in the national poll since mid March: 46 in favor of Clinton versus 45 for Obama.

Obama on the other hand leads Clinton when it comes to money. Obama raised about $41 million in March and had $42.5 million available to spend at the start of April. In contrast, Clinton raised about $20 million in March, and had $8 million on hand.

Come Wednesday, Clinton would point to her narrow win and continue to bash Obama. A few Democrats will call her to quit without any success. The only way the Democratic primary would come to an end in PA if she loses big time. Even then she may not quit, but others will have the courage to talk some sense to her. But do not hold your breath.

Yes. Starting on Monday Skype will offer unlimited international calling plan for just $10 per month. You can call any landline phone in 34 countries.

The unlimited international calling plan is nothing new. Everyone from Vonage to cable companies offer them but for a lot more money. Skype’s plan offers the lowest price to call international numbers without per minute charge. This is an expansion of Skype’s North America plan with unlimited calls to anywhere in US and Canada for $3 a month. Skye will also offer that would include part of Mexico for $6 a month. Most of European counties are included in the international plan, as well as, Australia, Canada, Chile, China, Japan, Korea and Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, and Taiwan. Normally, people calling from US would use their computer to call. But they can also use their phone to call a local number to get international connection - the local calls are not part of the deal.

In the first quarter of this year Skype users made calls to phones for 1.7 billion minutes. Skype was acquired by eBay in 2005, but eBay is now looking to sell it off.

That is what happened during a hunting accident. Anthony Klaseus mistook his nine year old son for a turkey and shoot him in a hunting range near Belle Plaine, Minnesota. The boy died on the spot.

Anthony took his young son for hunting turkey to a place 3 miles west of Belle Plaine. It was late afternoon about 6:30 p.m. when they spotted a group of turkeys across a field. Anthony told his son to stay put and tried to get closer to the turkeys. The little boy wandered along the edge of the filed. Anthony spotted him, mistook him for a turkey, and shot him with a 12 gauge shotgun. The bullet hit the boy in his chest. The father called 911 for help using his cell phone, but by the time help arrived the boy was dead. Police think it was an accident but would carry out an investigation to make sure.

Ironically, the boy was named Hunter. I guess some people won’t ever understand why it is not a good idea to mix kids and hunting.