Build-A-Bear Builds on the Basics

By Angela Moore

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Thirty years ago, the toy industry was basically a collection of dolls, plush bears, building sets, Slinkys and electric trains.

Today -- with the state of play radically transformed by ultra-violent video games, high-tech interactive toys that remember your name, and Beyonce and Lindsay Lohan fashion dolls -- nothing seems the same.

But one thing hasn't changed. Don't bet against the bear.

Here's proof: The stock of Build-A-Bear Workshop Inc. (NYSE:BBW - news), described as "a beary special place," has increased 85 percent since it went public last fall by offering a novel concept to a stagnant industry.

"We don't think of ourselves as a toy company," Maxine Clark, founder and chief executive of Build-A-Bear, told Reuters. "We sell an experience."

The consumer's experience -- creating a soft toy and customizing it -- involves selecting an animal skin, stuffing and stitching, and choosing outfits with accessories such as shoes, glasses and cellphones.

Clark's company, whose first store opened in 1997, has 170 locations in 48 markets in the United States and Canada, and 12 stores in Britain, Australia, Japan, Denmark and Korea, went public in October.

Although the shares have jumped, not everyone is convinced.

In the 30 days ended February 15, 2.3 million shares, or 31 percent, of Build-A-Bear's publicly traded stock was sold short, double the amount in December. Rising short positions can be a negative sign for a company, as it shows that a growing number of investors are betting against it.

The company is slated to report fourth-quarter earnings on March 10.

In addition to traditional stores, Build-A-Bear has a mobile store in an 18-wheeler that is driven around the country to public gatherings like state fairs and sporting events.

The workshop is not for bears only. Customers can also build rabbits, frogs and Elmo, the Sesame Street character.

On its Web site, www.buildabear.com, gift items include Lucky O'Teddy Collectibear, Dr. Teddy, Air Service Teddy, Beautician Bear and Baby Bib Bear.

Even so, Clark's ambitions remain relatively modest.

"Our long-term plan is to have 350 stores in the U.S. and Canada and 350 additional stores internationally," Clark said. "For most retail chains that's a drop in the bucket. I don't think that's saturation."

Toys R Us Inc. (NYSE:TOY - news), for example, has more than 1,200 stores worldwide.

"It's amazing they (Build-A-Bear) haven't experienced more successful competition because, on the surface, it looks like a very simple concept," said Sean McGowan, analyst with Harris Nesbitt. "There are people doing similar things but they seem to have found the right formula: service, a great product, and really emphasizing the experience."

NO WAL-MART PROBLEM

The U.S. toy industry has been in a rut. In 2004, sales fell 3 percent after years of weakness. What's more, kids are bypassing traditional toys for items like electronics, clothing and video games.

Retailer Toys R Us has struggled to compete with No. 1 toy seller Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s (NYSE:WMT - news) discounts and has tried to offer better service and selection to lure shoppers.

In fact, as most companies scramble to find a solution to the "Wal-Mart problem," Clark says the focus of Build-A-Bear puts it in a different league.

"We are so opposite from that. We're not about price," Clark, a retail veteran, said. "That is what a discount store is about -- stuffed animals at low prices."

She spent 25 years with May Department Stores and in 1995 was named one of the "30 Most Powerful People in Discount Store Retailing."

To be sure, while Build-A-Bear isn't a discounter, some animals can cost as little as $10, with accessories sold separately. In contrast, customized bears from Vermont Teddy Bear Co. (Nasdaq:BEAR - news) start around $50.

BUILDING A BRAND

The company is expanding its brand through selected licensing -- Build-A-Bear scrapbooks, books, bedding, room decorations, greeting cards, calendars and shoes. There are also miniature bear-building kits by Hasbro Inc. (NYSE:HAS - news) sold exclusively at Target Corp. (NYSE:TGT - news)

"Licensing is a small part of our business, but it's part of enhancing our brand," Clark said. "We're building our business one store at a time and adding partners one at a time. We're not in a hurry. We don't have a movie coming out this fall and need to have certain merchandise on shelves."

In addition, Too Inc. (NYSE:TOO - news), a specialty retailer for young girls, is creating fashions for the bears, and Skechers USA Inc. (NYSE:SKX - news) will be making shoes.

"Build-A-Bear is a new type of toy store where there's interactivity. Kids love differentiation. They like to have something that's their own," said Jim Silver, publisher of toy industry trade magazines. "There's always a risk of saturation, but they still have plenty of room to grow."

Students Not Taught Basic Finance

By BEN FELLER, AP Education Writer

WASHINGTON - More states are requiring students to learn about managing money, but personal finance remains a fringe topic in schools and a major source of federal concern.



Seven states mandate that students take a course about basic finances to graduate high school, according to 2004 survey results released Thursday by the private National Council on Economic Education. That's up from 2002, when just four states required such courses.


In the standards they set for schools, most states say they want money matters to be taught — 38 states include the ideas of saving, investing, risk management and other finance themes in their standards or guidelines, an increase from 31 states two years earlier. But the survey found many states don't enforce the standards, let alone require entire courses.


"There is more good economic and financial education being offered in schools than ever," said Robert Duvall, president of the national council, which released its findings during an economic literacy summit. "But as a subject area, it continues to be marginalized as an add-on in an already crowded curriculum. We need to keep pushing to make it part of the core."


Poor understanding of personal finance can cause more than a sloppy checkbook. As young people rack up credit debt or fail to save money, they can later find themselves with bankruptcies, home foreclosures and financial stresses that divide families, experts say.


The problem of bad money management is drawing more national attention as a public education issue. Federal Reserve (news - web sites) Chairman Alan Greenspan (news - web sites) has prodded schools to help teach kids financial literacy so they are not saddled by poor financial decisions as adults.


The Financial Literacy and Education Commission, which represents 20 federal agencies and commissions, is working on ways to help people navigate complex money decisions.


In a national survey last year, only 52 percent of high school seniors answered correctly questions about personal finance and economics. The students struggled, for example, with questions on income tax, stocks and bonds, credit card liability and retirement plans.


The new report says that the seven states requiring students to take a personal finance course are Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Kentucky, New York and Utah.


Relying on colleges to teach students about money is not a good approach, Duvall said, as many kids don't get that far, and college courses are more about theory than daily life.


Duvall's council wants all states to require an economics course, including personal finance. A total of 15 states require an economics course this year, up from 14 two years ago.


States can also reinforce economic themes in other courses, such as a math class on compound interest or a history class on the Boston Tea Party and taxation, Duvall said.


William Walstad, director of the National Center for Research in Economic Education, said states should unite those varied lessons in a well-defined sequence of courses — just as they do with math and science. He said advocates need to lobby with more urgency and unity.


"Time can hurt us if we don't keep pressing the case," Walstad said.


The number of states that included personal finance in their curriculum standards dropped from 40 to 31 between 2000 and 2002 before rebounding in the new survey.


Duvall said that was a reaction by states to No Child Left Behind, the 2001 federal education law that put a greater emphasis on state math and reading progress.


"We've had a couple of years to take that in stride and figure out how to not only put a rightful emphasis on language arts and mathematics, but also financial literacy," he said.

Good Morning it is the weekend FINALLY !!!!!!!!!!!!

I finally got to sleep in today and it felt great. I have been told by many people that I need to be more personal here on my blog. So starting today I will get more personal.

Let start off by telling you about myself !!!!!!!! I am going to college and majoring in Business Administration. I love anything that has to do with business and would really like to start an internet company. As you can tell a majority of my time is spent on the internet. And I love to chat on Yahoo and meet people from around the world.

I have a younger brother and sister and yes my parents are still married. I know that is rare in this day and age. I am very close to my family and talk to them all the time. We grew up in a nice household and were able to travel to many parts of the world. I have been very blessed in my life and hope it continues to be great.

I am not married or have a boyfriend at this time. I am looking for someone special to sweep me off my feet. I had a crazy dream a few weeks ago about love, romance and the internet. I will have to write about the dream later this weekend.

Well I guess I should go take a shower and get dressed.

Love, Christina

Get Into Biz School? Hacker Offers Crystal Ball

Yahoo! News - Get Into Biz School? Hacker Offers Crystal Ball

BOSTON (Reuters) - A computer hacker helped applicants break into records at some of the most prestigious U.S. business schools to see if they were acce`ted weeks before official offers were sent out, officials said on Friday.



A person who applied to Harvard Business School posted instructions on how to check the application status at several business schools, including Stanford, Duke and Dartmouth, on Business Week's online technology forum this week.


Roughly 100 people who applied to Harvard followed the directions, but many did not learn their fate sijce decisions had not been entered into the computer yet. Harvard's next batch of acceptances will be sent out later this month.


"The school views this as electronic breaking and entering, and regards this as a very serious breach," Harvard Business School spokesman Jim Aisner said. The school has identified all people who tried to check their stat5s, Aisner said. He did not say whether those applicants were accepted or rejected.


The schools all use ApplyYourself, a Fairfax, Virginia-based company that manages Web pages used by students to apply to roughly 300 universities. The schools also use the company to tell applicants if they got in.


ApplyYourself Chief Executive Len Metheny said the company made immediate modifications to its systems and applicants did not obtain information about anyone but themselves.


"The person who did this reverse engineered a way to access the decision page for his own record and then told others how to do it," Metheny said.


The Harvard Crimson, which first reported the story, said the hacker wrote: "I know everyone is getting more and more anxious to check (the) status of their apps to (Harvard Business School). So I looked around on their site and found a way."

You're a Pain, But Let's Get Married Anyway

Yahoo! News - You're a Pain, But Let's Get Married Anyway

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singaporean couples may not be happy with their partners but they will still marry them anyway, a global survey on relationships shows.

The poll of 716 couples who planned to wed showed that 39 percent were unhappy in their relationships, the highest proportion of nine societies surveyed by a U.S.-based marriage and family therapy organization.

The poll is the latest unflattering survey of ardor in a wealthy population that chases what is known in local parlance as the Five C's: career, condominium, club, credit cards and cars.

Birth rates hit a record low in 2004 and an annual survey by condom-maker Durex has ranked Singapore for three straight years near the bottom of its list of sexually active nations.

In the latest survey, only 14 percent of Singaporeans described themselves as "very happy" with their partners, the lowest of the regions surveyed and compared with 48 percent in the United States.

The polls were conducted as part of a U.S.-based program known as PREPARE (Premarital Personal and Relationship Evaluation) led by David Olson, a retired University of Minnesota professor and author of several books on family therapy.

Other regions surveyed were Japan, Hong Kong, Australia, Britain, Canada, Germany and New Zealand. But Singapore's results stood out sharply, said Olson.

"I'm surprised so many premarital Singaporean couples are not as happy with their relationships but are still planning to get married," Olson told Reuters after releasing the findings at a conference in Singapore.

Among those in the survey who consider themselves unhappy, most cited disagreements with their partners on a number of issues, or said they disliked their partners' personality or that there were problems communicating effectively.

In contrast, U.S. couples ready to tie the knot painted a far more blissful picture with nearly half of 1,000 surveyed indicating they were very happy in their relationships.

Olson said couples in Singapore -- an island of 4.2 million people -- may be suffering because of a reluctance to speak their minds about problems to avoid confrontation.

"They are afraid to say what they think and are afraid to disagree," he said.

Tonight

Tonight I am going to play all night on yahoo chat. I think I am going to keep track of all the funny things people say. Especially in the pm's I can't believe how crazy it can get. I am not sure how long I will be on. It all depends on how many messages I have to respond to.

It is really cold tonight so I will have to wear my pj's. Once I change and brush my teeth I wil be ready to chat.

Love Christina

Good Morning

This week has been so rough and I am very tired. It is one thing after another. Today I will be heading off to class and then to get my hair done. Please god let the weekend come quick so I can relax a little. I am sorry about being slow to answer my IM's and email. I promise I will try harder to be faster.

Love Christina

Topless Dancers Greet Prince Charles

Yahoo! News - Topless Dancers Greet Prince Charles

ALICE SPRINGS, Australia (Reuters) - Topless Aboriginal dancers welcomed Britain's Prince Charles in Australia's outback on Wednesday, where locals were preparing to throw a bachelor party for the newly engaged royal.

Charles, who is due to wed divorcee Camilla Parker-Bowles on April 8, was greeted in Alice Springs with a traditional indigenous dance to wish him a safe journey in Australia.

Locals at the outback town's Bojangles bar were preparing to party as the future king of Australia arrived. Australia is a former British colony which retains the British monarch as its head of state.

Although Charles was spending less than five hours in Alice Springs, 1,200 miles northwest of Sydney, locals were planning to throw the heir to the British throne an outback-style "bucks night" to celebrate his impending wedding.

"We won't be shaving any eyebrows, no balls and chains, no gaffer-taping VB (beer) cans to anyone and putting them out in the park. It's a bit of wholesome fun with a bit of cheeky Australian humor," publican Chris Vaughan said.

Bojangles has borrowed a red carpet from the Alice Springs council, which is normally reserved for the mayor.

"It's a distinct possibility that he will come. Even if it's for five minutes to drop in and say 'g'day', let your hair down for five minutes, and have a quick glass of sherry or a cold beer," Alice Springs Councilor Ernie Nicholls said.

"If protocol won't allow that, they can just do a drive past. Think what that would do for Charlie's image in the UK, because at the moment he's on a rollercoaster ride downhill at a million miles an hour," he said.

Royal-watchers are aghast at the increasingly farcical preparations for his wedding, with the venue for the civil ceremony switched to a local town hall and Charles's mother Queen Elizabeth saying she will not attend.

Nicholls said the bachelor party organizers had received plenty of offers of entertainment for the event, including naked women jumping out of cakes.

"Women want to do all sorts of things for Charlie," he said.

While in Alice Springs, where temperatures topped 38 degrees Celsius (100 Fahrenheit), Charles was due to visit the Royal Flying Doctors Service, an indigenous science and technology center, a desert park and an Aboriginal art exhibition.

Charles's five-day visit to Australia, his first in a decade, will include stops in the cities of Melbourne, Sydney and the capital Canberra before he heads to New Zealand and Fiji.

After arriving in the western city of Perth, Charles visited the burns unit of a Perth hospital on Tuesday where he met victims of the October 2002 Bali nightclub bombings.

"The way all of you cared for the grievously injured from all over the world and supported, so generously, their families is humbling. All I can do on this occasion is salute you," he said.

Earlier on Wednesday, Patrick Harrison, a spokesman for the prince, rejected a British newspaper report that Charles was planning a speech in which he would say he might not become king of Australia. "He's not going to say that at all," Harrison told Australian radio.

Stripper Selling Infamous Breast Implant on EBay

Yahoo! News - Stripper Selling Infamous Breast Implant on EBay

MIAMI (Reuters) - A former topless dancer who was famously cleared of battering a Florida nightclub patron with her "crazy big" breasts has shed her oversized silicone implants and put one of them up for auction on eBay.

The woman known professionally as Tawny Peaks said on Wednesday she recently came across the implants in a box in her closet after watching a television discussion about crazy things sold on eBay and decided, "Why not ... I don't need it any more."

"Somebody might bid on it. It's like the first boob to be sued over in a lawsuit," she said.

Peaks said she would autograph the auctioned implant for the winner but would keep its mate "for good measure."

She explained that she had her size 69-HH implants removed and underwent breast reduction surgery in 1999 after retiring from the business to start a new life.

"They were like really big, crazy big," said Peaks, who described herself as a happily married homemaker and mother of three now living in the Detroit area.

Peaks won notoriety in 1998 when a man sued her and her employer, the Diamond Dolls nightclub in Clearwater, Florida, saying he suffered a whiplash injury when she swung her breasts into his face at a bachelor party. He said they were "like two cement blocks."

The parties accepted binding arbitration on "The People's Court" television show and the judge, former New York City Mayor Ed Koch, ordered a female bailiff to examine Peaks in private.

The bailiff found the breasts to be "soft" and to weigh about 2 pounds (0.9 kg) each. Koch ruled they were not dangerous and refused to award damages.

The implant auction ends on Saturday. So far Peaks has received 10 bids, topping out at $71, according to the eBay Web site.

Law Firms Mull the 'Gen Y' Equation

Law Firms Mull the 'Gen Y' Equation

Law Firms Mull the 'Gen Y' Equation
Wednesday March 2, 3:01 am ET
Leigh Jones, The National Law Journal


Some call them slackers. Others are more diplomatic. But whatever the moniker, "Generation Y" associates are getting a bad rap for what some say is a flabby work ethic and an off-putting sense of entitlement.

Attorneys from Generation Y -- those born in 1978 or later -- are plenty smart and generally well educated, say firm leaders and industry experts. But these young attorneys also are lacking in loyalty, initiative and energy, so the criticism goes.

And though some associates sharply dispute the assessment, the perception is forcing managing partners to rethink their motivation strategies and their expectations for their firms' future.

Big money at large firms may be intoxicating for young lawyers with mounds of school debt, but new associates often are not willing to make the sacrifice that those salaries demand, said Bruce McLean, chairman of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld.

"It entices people to come to big firms who really don't want to do what we do," said McLean, adding that Akin Gump has a "significant number" of hardworking associates.

Generation Y associates often come from the nation's top schools and have other impressive credentials, McLean said, but what many do not have is unbridled ambition. "Just being successful and a partner in a firm is not enough of a motivating tool," he said.

But third-year associate Moe Keshavarzi at Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton in Los Angeles said that firms with unhappy Generation Y associates are not tapping into their potential.

"I have friends who are fourth-year associates at other firms who are sitting in the library researching," he said.

Studies indicate that young workers are less willing to put in long hours and instead are more focused on pursuing interests outside work than were their predecessors. A report issued by the Families and Work Institute in October, Generation and Gender in the Workplace, found that younger employees are less likely to be "work-centric." The study also found that young men and women are more interested in staying at the same rung on the career ladder in order to preserve their quality of life.

With regard to law firms specifically, a study conducted by Edge International, a professional services consulting firm, found that the 25- to 30-year-old group ranked the following factors as motivators at their jobs: time for personal life; opportunities for advancement; professional growth; achievement; intrinsic nature of work; security; leadership; and being a member of a team.

"This group wants to grow professionally and advance to partnership, but not while compromising their personal lives," said Karen MacKay, a partner with Edge International. The survey, "Motivating the Next Generation," was sent to about 4,000 members of the law firm network Multilaw. About 800 attorneys responded.

It may be that new associates simply are more vocal about what they perceive as meaningless work, even if they are handsomely paid, said Reed Smith fifth-year associate Alicia Powell.

"After you make so much money, it's enough," Powell said.

Part of what is fueling management's perception relates to the dot-com bust, said Morrison & Foerster chairman Keith Wetmore. Older partners may view any grousing by associates who receive assignments from them as a sign of being ungrateful for work that three years ago was scarce, he said.

"It may be more in the eyes of the observer than in the associate," he said.

THE 'PACK MENTALITY'

But other firm leaders are less forgiving. One managing partner at a New York firm cited a "failure to take charge of their career" as a common problem with young associates. "They are more willing to sit back and wait for things to happen to them instead of making them happen for themselves," the attorney said, adding that new associates today are more brazen than those in previous years. "They are willing to turn down work they don't want to do. They don't volunteer for committee or other firm work."

Another managing partner at a national firm said that many new associates, unlike associates before them, no longer "feel lucky" to have their jobs. The attorney also said that associates now operate under a pack mentality.

"[Newer associates] have a very strong connection with each other as opposed to the institution. If someone is treated badly, they all react to it," the attorney said.

"Vigorously" rejecting the Generation Y characterization, however, is Jonathan Cole, immediate past chairman of the American Bar Association's Young Lawyers Division. Associates today work harder, if not more effectively, than in previous generations, said Cole, who made partner in 2003 at the Nashville, Tenn., office of Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz.

He acknowledged, however, that associates, who in the past may have blindly met a firm's demands, now more closely consider the tradeoff to their personal life. "People are looking more 'big picture,'" he said. "It's a good trend."

Generation Y workers may be too smart for their own good, which contributes to management's perceptions, said Carolyn Martin, co-author of "Managing Generation Y" (HRD Press, 2001).

Employees in that generation, especially those in professional positions, place a high value on education, something their parents drilled into them, she said. Consequently, young associates have a low tolerance for less-than-challenging tasks that management often relegates to them, she said.

In addition, the group has a greater degree of cynicism than in generations past, she said, stemming from the dot-com failure and 9/11 terrorist attacks. The result is diminished long-term loyalty to their employers.

"They're saying, 'I've looked at the world and there's no such thing as job security,'" she said.

I Don't Care What It Cures, I'm Not Taking It...

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Alongside life-size posters of Hindu nationalist leaders, Indian political activists can now buy lotions, potions and pills to cure anything from cancer to hysteria to piles -- all made from cow urine or dung.

A new goratna (cow products) stall at the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) souvenir shop is rapidly outselling dry political tracts, badges, flags and saffron-and-green plastic wall clocks with the face of former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.

"You won't believe how quickly some of the products sold out," says Manoj Kumar, who runs the souvenir shop along with his brother, Sanjeev, at the BJP headquarters in a plush central New Delhi neighborhood. "The constipation medicine is a hot seller."

But the biggest seller is a "multi-utility pill" that claims to cure anything from diabetes to piles to "ladies' diseases."

"It's a miraculous cure" the container declares. A month's supply costs a little over $1.

Another cure-all is Sanjivani Ark, a liquid medicine that battles cancer, hysteria, and irregular periods, among other things.

In addition to medicines, the goratna products range from cow dung toothpaste, to detergents, a skin-whitening cream, baldness and obesity cures, soap and a cow urine "antiseptic aftershave."

Siddarth Singh, a spokesman for the Hindu nationalist BJP, which has long campaigned on the sanctity of the cow, said the stall aimed to promote village industry, one of the biggest employers in India.

"If you go back in the history of India, this belongs to our culture. There's no commercial value to us. Village industry in this country needs to be promoted."

The use of cow products in India is centuries old. The five key products -- butter, milk, curd, urine and dung -- are collectively known as panchgavya and are an important part of ayurvedic medicine.

The cow is worshipped by Hindus, who make up some 82 percent of India's over 1 billion people. Cow slaughter is banned in most parts of the country.

The goratna products, made by a cooperative in the northern "cow-belt" state of Uttar Pradesh, are rapidly gaining in popularity.

"Once they use it, they are coming back and they are bringing their friends and their family and their neighbors back with them," says Kumar.

Singh already uses the detergent and is thinking of experimenting further.

"I'm tempted to try something for the hair -- let's hope," he grins, running his fingers through his thinning crop.

Teacher Has Sex with Pupil While Baby in Car

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) - A California high school teacher was arraigned on Monday at a Sacramento court accused of having sex with a student in a car as her two-year child was strapped into the back seat.

Margaret De Barraicua, 30, a teacher trainee, was charged with four counts of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, a 16-year-old student. The married woman was caught having sex in the late afternoon last week in what was apparently a consensual agreement, officials said.

"We received a call about a suspicious parked vehicle at a school here in Sacramento," said local police spokesman Justin Risley. "They got there and observed two people, windows-steamed-up type of thing."

"They found them to be partially clothed and engaging in what appeared to be sexual intercourse."
Her two-year old son was strapped by a seat belt in the back of the car during the time, he said.

Presidents, Prime Ministers, and Now: a Porn Star

LONDON (Reuters) - In its 183-year history, the august Oxford Union debating society has heard the wisdom of Winston Churchill, Ronald Reagan (news - web sites) and Mother Teresa.



Now its members are to hear from Ron Jeremy, star of 1,700 adult films, including "Bang Along With Ron."


"Ron is the biggest and apparently the best in the business, so I'm sure he'll have some fascinating stories to tell," said Oxford Union librarian Vladimir Bermant, who organized the event.


Jeremy, who claims to have slept with more than 4,000 women, will address the union on Wednesday, joining many British prime ministers, three U.S. presidents and prominent figures from the Dalai Lama to Malcolm X in its archival guest list.


Peter Cardwell, spokesman for one of the English-speaking world's most respected debating societies, said U.S. porn star Jenna Jameson also addressed the union a few years ago.

Hello Everyone

Sorry I have been kind of slow writing in my blog. I had a big test that I really had to study for. The test is over and now I have a couple days of relaxation. I didn't do much over the weekend, just stayed around the house and studied. My computer is still acting up and that of course is nothing new. I will have to save my money up for a new one. Off to the chat rooms.

Talk to everyone soon,

Chris

Thais Promote Breast-Enhancement Exercise

Yahoo! News - Thais Promote Breast-Enhancement Exercise

BANGKOK, Thailand - Concern over "miracle" creams, and a recent bare-breast promotion of one product, has prompted the Health Ministry to campaign for breast-enhancement through exercise, the national news agency said Sunday.



The products were spotlighted last week after police charged three models and the makers of a "15-minute breast-enhancement cream" with indecent exposure after a bare-all demonstration.


The company said it staged the event to prove the effectiveness of the cream, critics said it offended traditional Thai sensibilities and the Ministry of Public Health ordered it off the shelves pending a scientific investigation of its claims.


"I'd like to warn women that before purchasing such products they should check that they have been licensed by the Food and Drug Administration (news - web sites). If they haven't passed inspection, they could be dangerous," Health Minister Sudarat Keyuraphan was quoted by the Thai News Agency as saying Saturday.


She said that the "best way to enhance one's breasts is to engage in suitable forms of exercise," adding that her ministry would campaign for women to engage in such exercise to counter the popularity of the breast-enhancement roducts.


In a promotional event on Thursday, the models exposed their bosoms, with only their nipples covered, for a massage with the cream, which is supposed to shape and firm female breasts.


Television news devoted extensive coverage to the event, while many newspapers plastered pictures of a bare-breasted model on their front pages.


Thai youth have adopted liberal Western lifestyles, but a backlash has developed in defense of traditional conservative values — despite the country's well-entrenched image as a raunchy paradise for sex tourists.


Last year, the government criticized Thai models for appearing on the catwalk with too much skin exposed, and the press and authorities have slammed young women for wearing revealing clothing such as spaghetti-strap tank tops.

Man's sperm got ex-lover pregnant, but U.S. appeals court nixes theft charge

Yahoo! News - Man's sperm got ex-lover pregnant, but U.S. appeals court nixes theft charge

CHICAGO (AP) - An appeals court said a man can press a claim for emotional distress after learning a former lover had used his sperm to have a baby. But he can't claim theft, the ruling said, because the sperm were hers to keep.

The ruling Wednesday by the Illinois Appellate Court sends Dr. Richard Phillips' distress case back to trial court.

Phillips accuses Dr. Sharon Irons of a "calculated, profound personal betrayal" after their affair six years ago, saying she secretly kept semen after they had oral sex, then used it to get pregnant.

He said he didn't find out about the child for nearly two years, when Irons filed a paternity lawsuit. DNA tests confirmed Phillips was the father, the court papers state.

Phillips was ordered to pay about $800 US a month in child support, said Irons' lawyer, Enrico Mirabelli.

Phillips sued Irons, claiming he has had trouble sleeping and eating and has been haunted by "feelings of being trapped in a nightmare," court papers state.

Irons responded that her alleged actions weren't "truly extreme and outrageous" and that Phillips' pain wasn't bad enough to merit a lawsuit. The circuit court agreed and dismissed Phillips' lawsuit in 2003.

But the higher court ruled that, if Phillips' story is true, Irons "deceitfully engaged in sexual acts, which no reasonable person would expect could result in pregnancy, to use plaintiff's sperm in an unorthodox, unanticipated manner yielding extreme consequences."

The judges backed the lower court decision to dismiss the fraud and theft claims, agreeing with Irons that she didn't steal the sperm.

"She asserts that when plaintiff 'delivered' his sperm, it was a gift - an absolute and irrevocable transfer of title to property from a donor to a donee," the decision said. "There was no agreement that the original deposit would be returned upon request."

Phillips is representing himself in the case. He could not be reached for comment Thursday.

"There's a five-year-old child here," Mirabelli said. "Imagine how a child feels when your father says he feels emotionally damaged by your birth."

Hazzard pay

seattlepi.com Buzzworthy: Hazzard payLet the record show that you can earn $100,000 as the official blogger for a cable network's weeknight reruns of a cult TV series. That's the annual salary CMT will pay its resident fan-expert on "The Dukes of Hazzard," aka vice president of the CMT Dukes of Hazzard Institute, a position it's currently trying to fill.

Blogging isn't the only job responsibility, of course. It's actually the fourth item on the list after watching the show every night, knowing the lyrics to the theme song and serving as a "media expert" who will do interviews "to share passion" for the network's reruns. (Curiously, "being passionate" about them is fifth on the list.) Still, barring a really intense schedule of public appearances and interviews in other media, I suspect writing the blog will become the biggest part of the job.

Applicants must be at least 18 years old, have a valid driver's license, be eligible to work legally in the United States, and available to travel occasionally. Go here if you're interested.

What Do Women Really Want?

Young King Arthur was ambushed and imprisoned by the monarch of a neighboring kingdom. The monarch could have killed him, but was moved by Arthur's youthful happiness. So he offered him freedom, as long as he could answer a very difficult question. Arthur would have a year to figure out the answer; if, after a year, he still had no answer, he would be killed.

The question was: What do women really want?

Such a question would perplex even the most knowledgeable man, and, to young Arthur, it seemed an impossible query. Well, since it was better than death, he accepted the monarch's proposition to have an answer by year's end. He returned to his kingdom and began to poll everybody: the princess, the prostitutes, the priests, the wise men, the court jester. In all, he spoke with everyone but no one could give him a satisfactory answer.

What most people did tell him was to consult the old witch, as only she would know the answer. The price would be high, since the witch was famous throughout the kingdom for the exorbitant prices she charged.

The last day of the year arrived and Arthur had no alternative but to talk to the witch. She agreed to answer his question, but he'd have to accept her price first: The old witch wanted to marry Gawain, the most noble of the Knights of the Round Table and Arthur's closest friend!

Young Arthur was horrified: she was hunchbacked and awfully hideous, had only one tooth, smelled like sewage water, often made obscene noises. He had never run across such a repugnant creature. He refused to force his friend to marry her and have to endure such a burden.

Gawain, upon learning of the proposal, spoke with Arthur. He told him that nothing was too big of a sacrifice compared to Arthur's life and the preservation of the Round Table.

Hence, their wedding was proclaimed, and the witch answered Arthur's question: What a woman really wants is to be able to be in charge of her own life.

Everyone instantly knew that the witch had uttered a great truth and that Arthur's life would be spared. And so it went. The neighboring monarch spared Arthur's life and granted him total freedom.

What a wedding Gawain and the witch had! Arthur was torn between relief and anguish. Gawain was proper as always, gentle and courteous. The old witch put her worst manners on display. She ate with her hands, belched and farted, and made everyone uncomfortable.

The wedding night approached: Gawain, steeling himself for a horrific night, entered the bedroom. What a sight awaited! The most beautiful woman he'd ever seen lay before him! Gawain was astounded and asked what had happened. The beauty replied that since he had been so kind to her (when she'd been a witch), half the time she would be her horrible, deformed self, and the other half, she would be her beautiful maiden self.

She asked him which would he want her to be during the day and which during the night?

What a cruel question? Gawain began to think of his predicament: During the day a beautiful woman to show off to his friends, but at night, in the privacy of his home, an old spooky witch? Or would he prefer having by day a hideous witch, but by night a beautiful woman to enjoy many intimate moments?

What would you do? What Gawain chose follows below, but don't read until you've made your own choice.

Noble Gawain replied that he would let her choose for herself. Upon hearing this, she announced that she would be beautiful all the time, because he had respected her and had let her be in charge of her own life.

The Moral of the Story: It doesn't matter if your woman is pretty or ugly, underneath it all, she's still a witch

Turkish prisoners made hole in cell wall to produce third inmate

Yahoo! News - Turkish prisoners made hole in cell wall to produce third inmate

ISTANBUL (AFP) - Two Turkish prison inmates who drilled a nine-centimetre (3.6-inch) aperture between their cells enabling them to have sexual relations in prison that produced a child, received four-month sentences for damaging public property.

Convicted murderer Seylan Corduk, 40, and Kadriye Fikret Oget, 27, serving time for planting a bomb in a market, managed to drive the hole through their concrete communal cell wall, according to court records quoted by the newspapers Vatan et Hurriyet.

The guilty pair each originally received one-year sentences plus a 218-million-Turkish-lira fine (128 euros, 169 dollars).

But the court reduced the penalty to four months and 72 million lira "in view of the neglible nature of the damage caused."