Too Much Chocolate

Is there such a thing as too much chocolate???

Today, one of my i-friends (ie: internet buddy) sent me some pics of their latest journey and I sat down with some chocolate as I was waiting for the images to load. So engrossed was I with viewing the images - superb I might add enviously - that I did not realise just how much chocolate I had eaten until I felt like I was having a Homer Simpson moment (release the belt!).

Does eating too much chocolate give you a headache - or do you get a headache (ie: withdrawal symptoms) from lack of said delicious substance? Are you a secret stasher - hiding chocolate to ensure you get a "hit" when the mood strikes? Me, I have taken to adding just a dash (ie: large teaspoon) of chocolate powder to my coffee - yum - double the pleasure!

So I ask - is there such a thing as too much chocolate?

Maid Abuse Rampant

From CNN News:

A recent spate of suicides by foreign maids in Lebanon is prompting outrage among human rights groups, who say the government is doing too little to protect migrant domestic workers from severe abuse.

Over the past seven weeks at least 10 women have died, either by hanging themselves or by falling from tall buildings. Six of these cases have been reported in local media as suicides and four more have been described as possible work accidents.

In August 2008 HRW reported that more than one domestic worker was dying each week, either from suicide or failed escapes from abusive employers.

There are more than 200,000 migrant domestic workers in Lebanon -- roughly one per every four families. Overwhelmingly they are women in their 20s and 30s who come alone from the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Nepal and Madagascar, to earn money to support families back home.

The abuse faced by migrant domestic workers is a common problem throughout the Arab Middle East, both because of generally poor labor regulation and also cultural prejudice.

For more information visit: Human Rights Watch

Susan Osman

From the Times Online:

A BBC News presenter claims that she has been forced to move to Beijing to escape the corporation’s ingrained “culture of ageism”.

Discarded BBC stars such as Moira Stuart could follow the example of Susan Osman, 51, a BBC News Channel presenter, who announced that she was to take over a leading programme in China.

Osman has worked in broadcasting for 28 years, presenting bulletins on BBC World and reporting for ITN News. She fronted the Bristol-based Points West on BBC One for 14 years.

But she claimed that her age had become an insurmountable barrier in Britain. She has accepted a job hosting a prime-time breakfast show on China Radio International and is moving to Beijing.

Ms Osman said: “There seems to be a culture of ageism in broadcasting in this country, and it particularly affects women.”

The freelance presenter had been for a series of auditions for BBC jobs and been told she was “marvellous”. But she was consistently overlooked, without explanation.

While British women face ageism in broadcasting when they reached their 40s, their longevity is an asset in Asia. “In China they revere experience,” she said. “The older you are the better. I got the impression that my future boss actually wanted me to be older when I finally told him my age during the interview.”

UN: Assist Women in Conflict Zones

From the News International:

On the occasion of South Asian Women’s Day, the civil society urged United Nations to play its role in stopping the war against terrorism and provide aid and technical skills to the affected women in conflict zones.

To express solidarity with the women of the region, activists and civil society organisations celebrate South Asian Women’s Day on November 30.

In this connection, a press statement issued by NGO Rozen observed that women of South Asia are suffering from a wide range of regional and global issues, including globalisation, militarisation, conflict, trafficking of women and children, and gender-based violence.

The statement says that globalisation and militarisation are not only promoting violence against women but also hiding problem areas that exist in stark violation of the UN charter on violence against women (VAW). It also urged the governments of South Asian countries to take affirmative actions for the elimination of all forms of violence against women.

The plight of Pakistani women, in general, and the women of NWFP and Federally Administered Tribal Areas, in particular, in the context of the international war against terrorism, was also highlighted in the statement. It said that the war of global powers for controlling regional resources of South Asia has further deteriorated the condition of women in the region, making them prone to all forms of dangers.

The statement demanded that the UN should initiate special developmental programmes for the affected masses of war and conflict zones, with special focus on women and children. It said that the organisation should allocate developmental funds for capacity development of the affected women of NWFP and tribal areas.

Ampatuan: Mystery of Massacre Deepens

From GMA News:

According to police reports, Ampatuan and about 100 gunmen clad in camouflage fatigues robbed the victims - 21 females and 36 males - that rode on a convoy heading toward Shariff Aguak town.

Most if not all of the women’s pants were unzipped, but this wasn’t the case among the males victimized in the massacre, observes police Chief. Supt. Felicisimo Khu Jr., the head of a group of authorities that investigated the November 23 crime scene in Ampatuan, Maguindanao.

“It therefore gives you the impression that the women were raped," says Khu, deputy director general for administration of the Philippine National Police in Region 12.

But vaginal smear tests conducted by the National Bureau of Investigation yielded negative results. Not one of the 15 women examined had traces of human sperm, Floresto Arizala, chief of the NBI’s Medico-Legal Division said on Monday.

Bloating could be the cause, according to Arizala. “Bloating and decomposition will actually force (down) the zipper…Yung huli kong nakita 23 lang waistline na reported, nang mare-examine almost 40," Arizala says.

However, Khu’s observation differs from that of Arizala. The police officer said that the authorities who first went to the crime scene - about three hours after the grisly killings took place - saw that the pants of the women were already unzipped.

If it takes eight to nine hours before a dead body bloats as pointed out by Molino, it indicates that the pants had already been unzipped even before the bodies got bloated.

Exhibition: Of Love And War

From ABC News:

The excitement of wartime romance, tales of enduring love and the pain of separation are captured in a new exhibition at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.

Of Love And War tells of passionate affairs and whirlwind weddings, of lovers separated by war and the loneliness and trauma that tore some apart.

But it is not all about lost love.

There are also stories of survival, of joyful reunions and new beginnings during peace time.

Curator Rebecca Britt says it captures the highs and lows of romance.

Of Love and War will be on show at the Australian War Memorial until May 5, 2010.

Antarctica & Women

From USA News:

Colin Bull began fighting in 1959 to get the U.S. Navy to allow women scientists to go to Antarctica, and kept it up until he won, a decade later. He couldn't understand the Navy's reluctance.

Eventually the Navy relented, and allowed women scientists onto the continent in 1969. Bull, then director of Ohio State University's Institute of Polar Studies, assembled an all-women scientific research team that arrived in Antarctica in October 1969, for a four-month research expedition. The following month, they also became the first women to step onto the South Pole.

Today about a third of the Antarctic scientists are women. Hundreds of women have worked in the program, some of them leading research stations and heading major expeditions. More than 50 are working at the South Pole during the 2009-2010 summer season.

The Navy, which had established McMurdo Station, the main American base in Antarctica, as a military outpost in 1956, had been adamant at the time. They would not transport women onto the continent. The National Science Foundation, which funded the program, did not challenge Navy policy.

From the Jerusalem Post:

Rising numbers of Iraqi women are being sold into sexual slavery every year because of the waning economy and security situation. Human rights organizations are highlighting the plight of Iraqi women and young girls, sometimes as young as twelve, exploited by criminal gangs for profit.

"The women trafficking trade is at its height," Houzan Mahmoud, representative abroad of the Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq said. "There has never been a situation as extreme, and it's frightening. Many of them have been trafficked to neighboring countries like Syria or the Gulf states or trafficked internally inside Iraq from one city to another."

The Baghdad Women's Organization estimates that at least 200 Iraqi women are sold into slavery every year, although the US-basedHuman Rights Watch estimates that the numbers are in the thousands. The organization warns that the figures may be higher if Iraqi refugee women in neighboring countries such as Syria and Lebanon are also counted.

With relatively few rights, the ability of Iraqi women to reintegrate into society after prostitution is limited. The women are often ostracized, attacked by their community and harassed by the authorities with charges of immorality.

Korean: Ancient Girl Reconstructed

From JoonAng Daily:
At the National Palace Museum of Korea yesterday officials from the Gaya National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage in Korea unveiled the restored model of the girl from the Gaya confederacy era (42-562).

The restoration is the result of two years of interdisciplinary work that brought together experts in archaeology, forensic medicine, anatomy, genetics, chemistry and other fields - a notable step forward in Korean archaeology.

In December 2007, archaeologists discovered the complete remains of the girl and partial remains of three others in a tomb in Changnyeong County, South Gyeongsang. By the time of the discovery, there had already been a grave robbery.

Archaeologists concluded that the four were attendants of the tomb’s owner because they were positioned horizontally. The remains of the owner, however, were missing.

The work revealed that the four people - two women and two men - died in the early sixth century, either due to suffocation or poisoning. Their main diet had been rice, barley and beans as well as meat.

The girl’s age was estimated through an examination of her teeth. She apparently spent much time kneeled down and engaged in the repetitious task of cutting something with her teeth, according to the medical evaluation. She was wearing a golden earring and is believed to have been a maid, not a slave.