Who does a child need more, mother or father? The unanimous answer would be “both,” since the mother and the father have different influences on the child and both are essential to the overall emotional growth.

However, there are single women who do not wish to have a husband but wish to have children and are confident they can raise a child all by themselves. One of the popular methods of achieving this is the IVF or in vitro fertilization; wherein the ova (egg cells) are removed from the woman’s ovary and then fertilized with sperm, in a fluid. Once they are fertilized, the zygote (fertilized egg) is transferred to the woman’s uterus, and this establishes a pregnancy.

There are several sperm banks, where the sperm from volunteers is frozen and stored. There is no length of time that the sperm can be stored and people have even conceived from sperm frozen for more than 20 years.

This sperm supplied by the sperm banks is being increasingly used by women without a male partner and even by single or coupled lesbians. Until now, sperm banks had to abide by supportive parenting, before giving out the sperm, which means the sperm was not made available to most single women or lesbians.

The law makers were of the opinion that children without fathers are more likely to have behavioral problems, problems at school with drugs and drink. (more…)

The bewildered look on the shop keeper’s face when a customer hands him his mobile phone instead of a credit card, shows that the shop owner is not keeping up with the latest technology.

The new technology takes advantage of the fact that mobile phones are every person’s constant companion and people may forget their wallets at home but not their phones.

When shopping in malls, instead of trudging along several credit or debit cards, shoppers can just swipe their mobile phones. It is now also possible to pay bills through mobiles, including credit card bills, phone bills, electricity bills and other utility bills.

Mobiles phones are doubling up as wallets or credit cards, apart from doing their regular job of being a communication medium. Such phones will either have an embedded number or a bar code to ensure security of transactions. Since mobile phones are given the capability to do a lot of banking transactions, such as checking the bank balance and viewing mini statements or even ordering check books and transferring funds, the security aspect becomes crucial.

Researchers are currently in the process of conducting a trial in London, where hundreds of people are given special handsets that are fitted with built-in credit card and Oyster card, the device used to pay for bus and train tickets. When the phone is passed over a scanner in shops or stations, money is deducted from their bank accounts towards payments. People can also buy things from select cafes and shops using their handsets. (more…)

This book with a juicy title, “1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die,” creates a sense curiosity in the reader.

It almost sounds like a challenge or even edging on insult to the reader’s intellect. If you look deeply, it suggests that you as a reader may not have read even half the list of books and dares you to find out whether your reading powers have been up to the mark created by the writer.

This book is British and as it is well-known, the British love literary lists. Peter Boxall, who teaches English at Sussex, supposedly asked 105 critics, academics and editors to submit lists of all-time great novels and from this list, he is said to have derived the list of 1001, and the British publishers felt that “books” sounded better than “novels” in the title.

The list excludes Shakespeare and Milton; however Professor Boxall could come up with a lot of books.

Even assuming that a reasonably educated person would have read 300 books, there still remain 701 books. If a good reader can complete one book a month, it still takes 701 months, at the end of which, upon reaching title No. 1001, which is “Never Let Me Go” by Kazuo Ishiguro, death may almost be a relief. (more…)

Beauty has always been considered a woman’s domain. However, it is not just women who are beauty-conscious; men are toeing the line and visiting parlors more than they ever did. Men of today are as eager to slap on a beauty mask as a woman. Facials, manicures, pedicures and even Botox are just some of the treatments that men subject themselves to, in their quest for eternal youth.

Men’s skin is also exposed to pollution and smoking, which is harmful to the epidermis and they need all these beauty treatments to look and feel good. A man needs to care about his clothes and grooming because it says a lot about him personally as well as making a huge difference in business. Men with pronounced lines between the brows are usually perceived as stressed or angry and nobody wants to look that way. Botox is fast becoming a man’s favorite treatment, which has been favored mostly by women until now.

Statistics show that about 250000 Botox procedures were performed on men alone in the United States last year, making it the leading cosmetic treatment for men; so much so that it has gained the nickname “Boytox.”

This growing interest for Botox in men has been said to be fuelled by the growing competition, among other things. Men want to look younger because once they reach a certain age; they begin to feel the pressure of the younger generation waiting to take their place.

Botox is a natural and purified protein that temporarily reduces contractions of the facial muscles that cause lines, by blocking nerve transmissions, leaving the skin unwrinkled. This creates a smooth and a more youthful appearance. (more…)

“The hour is coming, in fact has come, when the vocation of women is being acknowledged in its fullness, the hour in which women acquire in the world an influence, an effect and a power never hitherto achieved. That is why, at his moment when the human race is undergoing so deep a transformation, women imbued with a spirit of the Gospel can do so much to aid humanity in not falling.”

This message was from the Second Vatican Council many years ago.

However, this regard for women does not extend to allowing them to serve God as priests. Priesthood is considered to be the domain of men and women are not given entry, and women who force entry are not forgiven either.

The Vatican City made an announcement that women who try to ordain themselves or bishops who ordain women as priests will be automatically excommunicated from the church. People who are excommunicated from the Catholic Church cannot share in acts of public worship.

This decree, which was published in the Vatican daily, is said to absolute, universal and effective immediately. According to a Vatican spokesman, this decree reiterates in no uncertain terms, the ban that already exists in the form of Canon law of 1378, preventing women from being ordained as priests.

The Canon law states, “Both he who has attempted to confer holy orders on a woman, and the woman who has attempted to receive the said sacrament incurs in latae sententiae excommunication, reserved to the Apostolic See.”

This decree has been passed because of the many women trying to be ordained as Catholic priests. The most recent ordination attempt was by a woman named Kathy Redig from Winona, Minnesota, who participated in an ordination ceremony. The Bishop of Winona expressed his sadness that she has excommunicated herself by her actions. Vatican stands by the rule that only men can be priests. (more…)