What is the price of success for China’s athletes (Olympic Success) ?

Chinese athletes are undoubtedly performing well at their home Games in Beijing, but at what cost? Their success stems from a tightly regimented, some say at times brutal, athletic training system designed with one thing in mind: to win whatever the price, says the Epoch Times.
While Chinese athletes are pushed to the limits of mental and physical endurance, key regime spokespeople reveal the importance of Olympic gold for the continued legitimacy of one-party rule.

As an autocracy, the regime is able to impose fierce control on its athletes and their training. One gold medal is worth one thousand silvers, according to Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Olympic officials.

In the quest for gold, many Chinese athletes have had their education, personal finances, and even their family life taken over by the state. Children are recruited from a very young age, nation-wide, according to body type.

British Olympic rower Matthew Pinsent told the BBC in 2005 that he saw children in a Beijing gymnasium being pushed to breaking point, yelled at, and said one young boy was clearly beaten.

Foreign media recently accused China of using underage gymnasts, which the regime denied. But children as young as four are among those recruited into the intensive gymnastic training squads.

The intensive training programmes are not designed to benefit the athletes as professionals, but to test them to extermes, meaning only the strongest will survive. It is very much a case of perform or perish: the outlook for a former athlete in today’s China is bleak.

The China Sports Daily, an official Party mouthpiece, estimated that of the 300,000 retired athletes 80 per cent are unemployed, injured, or living in poverty. The regime promised them US$ 4 million in annual welfare which was supposed to start in 2007.

Lu Yuanzhen, a professor of sports sociology at the Academy of Sports Sciences at South China Normal University told The New York Times that if China’s athletes do poorly, “the entire nation and its people will lose face.”

(http://insidechinatoday.net/2008/08/14/what-is-the-price-of-success-for-chinas-athletes/)

Now that’s good eating!, Amazing Food Habits (Rare Images)

Eating sushi off a beautiful naked body, now that’s what I call a meal.

Hadaka Sushi is a restaurant set on the Sunset Strip, Los Angeles, where rich people can serve delicious sushi right off human platters. The art of arranging pieces raw fish on naked human bodies is known as Nyotaimori (which translates as “female body arrangement”) and it is a very old Japanese tradition, so old its origins are unknown.

Not anybody can afford such an extravagant meal, the model alone costs $1100 and the food is extra. But it appears there are plenty of people out there willing to pay such a price, some of them even asked for male model as platters and the restaurant obliged. Although not the first “naked sushi” restaurant in America, it is the first, and so far only, one in LA. And I think it’s going to be a hit, because, as the owner says, “sex sells, especially on the Strip”.

(http://www.odditycentral.com/pics/now-thats-good-eating.html)

Top ways to spice up your sex life now!

You know when you haven’t been to the gym for a while and to get there is SUCH a huge effort, then at the end of the workout you realise how good it makes you feel.

Well, sex can sometimes be like that. You get stuck in a rut and don’t feel too much need to get out of it. But sex is great, it is an all over body work out, it feels good and brings you and your partner closer together.

So if you can’t remember the last time you had good sex, why not try one (or all) of these things...

1. Tell your partner your top 10 fantasies. Can't say them out loud? Write them down, suggests Tracey Cox author of Hot Relationships. She suggests that you each make a list of 10 fantasies, then trade lists with your partner. Toss out what you can't agree on. Rip the list into separate slips, and put them in jars for him and her. Take one out when the mood strikes.

2. Go shopping. Browse the sexuality section of a bookstore together. "There's a sense of adventure in discovering what's out there and making a commitment to trying it," says Jan Brown, a marriage counselor and believer in hot monogamy.

3. Ask for something new, nicely. "There is a big difference between an invitation to try something new and a lecture," says Kevin Gogin, a marriage, family and child counselor. Gogin urges couples to use positive words and expressions like, "I thought it would be fun if we..." or "What would you think of...?" Avoid loaded words like "dissatisfied" and "frustrated."

4. Take a break from sex. "For long-term partners, sex becomes convenient like going to the refrigerator and grabbing something to eat," says marriage and family counselor Carol Kaplan. For these folks, taking a breather from all sex, or from just intercourse, can rev up desire and promote greater intimacy (if you spend the time doing other things).

5. Women, think like a guy. French beauty expert Laura Mercier believes American women sabotage their sex appeal with too many hang-ups and too little self-esteem. It's different in Europe, she says. Confidence, sensuality, character and personality play a bigger role in beauty. "A woman accepts that at 50 she is a gorgeous woman who still has sex."

6. Men, think like a chick. So advises Bernie Zilbergeld, author of The New Male Sexuality. He urges men to relate more non-sexually and to explore various expressions of affection, including holding hands, cuddling, hugging and kissing.

7. Have sex in the morning. Get it while the getting is good. The end of a trying workday is probably the worst time to initiate intimacy, says sex and couples counselor Eleanor Hamilton.

8. Slow down. Experts say leaving behind the mad rush to orgasm is the secret to great sex.

9. Schedule it. While many of us believe that sex should be spontaneous, who has time for spur of the moment romps? Busy people need to put intimacy on their agenda, but that doesn't mean the sex has to be sedate.

(http://www.successtelevision.com/index.php/Relationship/Relationships/Sex-and-love-advice-and-romance.html)

Beautiful Dancers on the Town -So beautiful

Richard Calmes went back to New York City to photograph some of the talented professional dancers that call the big apple home.This time Richard Calmes wanted to place dancers in unexpected locations….like Times Square on Saturday morning! Kent (Shatterbug) Atwell played a vital part of this shoot.

Weeks before the shoot,Kent was scouting the city and sending me pictures that gave Richard Calmes more and more ideas. Kent was his right hand during the 3 days helping him andthe dancers with anything that needed doing at the time.

(http://www.getwonder.com/2008/07/beautiful-dancers-on-the-town-so-beautiful/)