I would say that I have mixed feelings about Paris Hilton. I think she is "hot" in some ways, more intelligent than, say

Anna Nicole Smith, but full of contradictions. For instance, she often claims to be, as she has done in her latest interview with the Vanity Fair magazine, the girl next door, but I have a hard time getting used to that idea if you see everything else about her.

If Paris Hilton is telling the truth about who she really is, I also now understand that the image one sees of movie stars and models can be so misleading. Yeah, they might sail in yachts and vacation in Tahiti, but it is not always that they dress in Armani and drink Moët & Chandon every day.

X-Factor Judge Sharon Osbourne successfully manages to keep herself in the news.  Now there are reports that she is fighting bulimia.  She admits that she is addicted to food and has no hesitation in saying that she has eating disorders.

"Some people do drink and drugs but for me it's food, food, food. It's about having low self esteem," she confessed in an interview.

To make herself look better she has had several plastic surgery procedures.  And if you were wondering what she eats, it is not caviar or foie gras.  She just eats pasta and icecream.

You would think that a company like Guidant will start to behave by now, but if Merck is not behaving, why should they, some might ask.

Since I know someone who uses a pacemaker I got interested in the story about the recall of pacemakers and defribillators.  Since they were deliberately misleading everyone, of course, Guidant has been sued.  Then apparently the company fixed the problems and relaunched the defribillators pretending as if nothing had happened.

Yesterday Guidant agains said "that it is informing physicians about two separate failure modes, each occurring at a low rate, being monitored within the INSIGNIA and NEXUS families of Guidant implantable pacemakers."  And the company loves to play with words so instead of saying that they are recalling them, it says, "The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has determined this communication action to be a recall."

I just scratch my head in amazement.  Do they really think everyone else outside the company is an idiot?

Verizon may offer cable TV in the future.  I was so excited to hear the news.  I currently get my digital phone, broadband internet access, and cable TV from Comcast - and I hate it.  They are a monopoly and do what they want.  I get angriest when they just send a letter informing me about their latest price raise or cut back in services at the old price.

I have often thought of switching to satellite television but due to the manner in which Comcast has structured its offer to us, switching will be more expensive for us.

While I have not heard great things about Verizon either, but competition is always good.  I sincerely hope that we reach a point that we can buy our phone, internet access, cell phone, and TV from whoever has the best deal.

The topic of silicone implants is controversial.  I have seen women with both silicone and saline implants and let me say that the former definitely is better to look at and touch, but the safety fears about silicone implants are also real, as Pierre points out.

Now FDA has not moved on time to get Plan B to teenagers but for reasons known to only the Agency, it is moving fast with this one.  It has already granted permission to Mentor Corporation to go ahead with launching silicone implants.  And now, despite a FDA panel's recommendation not to approve Inamed's product, the Agency has given another approvable letter to Inamed for its silicone implants.

There is a lot of opposition to these implants and only time will tell if we will ever see them again in the US.

Since I enjoyed watching the show earlier, I watched the dance-off last night.  Surprisingly enough, while it does not matter, Kelly Monaco and Alec Mazo were not the winners at least from the scores from the judges.  But this time we get to decide who wins though I couldn't vote. 

I was so mad at ABC that they kept asking us to vote but the phone lines were jammed.  I mean don't these guys know how to handle all the calls.  It's pretty basic technology. 

In any case, it seems that Kelly Monaco has always been criticized for dressing and dancing sexy (and that is why attracting more fans) and she did the same yesterday, but having said that, I found that Charlotte Jorgensen wore a very sexy sheer dress last night that left nothing to imagination. 

And some advice to John John O'Hurley.  Indeed you have lost weight but not enough to wear anything skin tight.

I recently read a survey conducted by Allure magazine and some things really stood out.

Women over 50 are considered just as beautiful as women under 30.  Is 50 the new 30?  Oprah Winfrey, Sophia Loren and Meryl Streep were chosen by respondents as three of "the most beautiful celebrities alive today. 

84% of women felt that men have no idea how hard they work to look good.  I can understand that.  When I look at a woman, I make an impression of how she looks but never bother to think how hard she works to get there.  In fact I feel that women work too hard to look good.  If men can get away with average looks, so should they. 

80% of women say that when they feel more confident, they take more time to look good.  94% agree that the more beautiful they feel, the more confident they are.  What I have also seen that some women take it too far and become obnoxious if they start to truly believe that they are just too beautiful.

And who is hot today among the celebrities?  The obvious names are there:  Angelina Jolie, Halle Berry and Jennifer Aniston.

So Sprint is coming out with some cool products.  What excites me most is the availability of Rhapsody Radio on Sprint PCS.  Like iPhone (or the new Motorola ROKR phone that has built in iTunes capability), you can now listen to radio on this phone.  Now remember that it is not as cool as the portable satellite radio from Sirius but then that machine does not allow you to make phone calls.  It seems that you need to have a multimedia phone to access this feature.

And that brings me to the other exciting product from Sprint - the PDA/phone combination called the Sprint PCS Vision Smart Device (PPC-6700).  Now again this device does not allow you to listen to music (I wish) but you can have some of the features that a computer has, for example, Outlook, PowerPoint, etc.  But that's not all as they say.  I like the fact that it has wi-fi capability, bluetooth technnology, and a camera, though not a substitute for a real digital camera that is good enough to capture those special moments.

So my final conclusion?  Take a look at your needs and then pick a product.  I like some of the features of these two devices but unlikely to buy any since they don't have everything that I am looking for.

As you all know by now, I have mixed feelings about reality television.  I do not always like the totally fictional programs that you know are totally fake, but as it turns out even the so-called reality programs are not real.  There is a report that Deleese Williams was promised all kinds of plastic surgery for appearing on the "Extreme Makeover" program.  However, as is common for media companies, they dumped this mom from Texas, but her sister Kellie McGee committed suicide after she felt so guilty for saying all the nasty things about Williams.  It also is important to note that another dirty secret of reality TV has come out.  The producers of the show actually coaxed family members to trash the appearance of Williams.  It all ended in a tragedy.

So it was with these mixed emotions that I ended up watching "American Princess."  Since it was a marathon this weekend, I caught up on several episodes as I flipped channels.  Oh what a useless program.  First of all they have picked totally clueless girls and it just shows that if you put lipstic on a pig, it is still a pig.  They were all having so much fun that it was obvious that they would not make good princesses - I have doubts if they would even be fit for a job as a model.

Prior to the 2004 presidential election, John Kerry wanted to rollback some of the tax-cuts (for rich Americans) that were due to take effect in the future.  President Bush and Republicans argued that doing so would amount to raising taxes.

I thought that was a fascinating argument.  To me, the analogy is similar to the value of your stocks.  You may see a gain or a loss on a given day but what matters is what you have the day you sell them.  Till you do not sell them all profits and losses are imaginary and that is why they tend to use the term "paper profits/losses."

That brings me to something else that is being debated in Atlantic City right now in the ongoing Humeston versus Merck trial.  A story that has been told is that when Merck compared Vioxx to Aleve (or naproxen), they found that Vioxx was far more dangerous than Aleve.  The way Merck put a spin on this data was that Aleve prevented heart attacks, not that Vioxx caused them. Hmmm....I love these folks in the PR industry.

We all would love to do that.  There are simple tips on how I got my blog to achieve very high popularity level in my previous post but Wayne Hurlbert has some tips that would seem almost counter-intuitive but I think he is right.

What is important about Hurlbert's theory is that outgoing links are as important as incoming links.  During last six years that I have been publishing online, what I have seen that during the early days of the Internet, people were so eager to put links.  The situation has reversed.  Many shortsighted publishers do not want to link (fearing that they will lose a visitor or help another site become more popular), or some want to get paid for linking by selling them or some wants a link in return.  But what I have found is that if you create a great experience for your visitor by pointing them to great websites, not only will they love you but so will search engines.  And that means higher pagerank, more traffic, and more income.

In the portfolio of websites that I manage, we have not had forums yet for a few reasons.  One, they attract spammers.  Two, it is easy to lose control over the content since too many people write without thinking (and in the process may say something offensive).  And finally, we had some bad experience with those BBS.

But we thought it would be great to share stories of plastic surgery.  So on BeautyNova, we launched a plastic surgery forum today.  We are hoping that since the number is going to be small, we can make sure that people can have quality discussion and we can keep the spammers out.  So if you are interested in plastic surgery, please do sign up.

So what do you do when your boyfriend/girlfriend (not spouse) is depressed?  Do you leave her/him alone to deal with the problem or do you try to help in the process of recovery.  In a marriage the decision is somewhat easy - most people choose to stay and help their partner, but while you are simply dating, things are a little different.

Take Cindy for instance.  Her boyfriend is depressed since his sister is dying and he is also having some problems at work.  "We hardly talk and rarely have any fun.  He does not even make love to me any more and I am so frustrated.  But he is not the type to share his feelings with anyone.  How do I talk to him about things he holds inside? I know I have made mistakes, yelled at him and fought with him some times because I want him to show me that he cares for me.  That may have made our relationship only worse.  I just don't know how to control my own actions, I guess since it is so sad that I have to deal with so many problems while all my friends are in normal relationships.  What should I do?" she asks

Well it seems that there is an explanation for some of his behavior though it would have been nice if he tried to face the problems with you rather than without you but men can sometimes consider it as a weekness to cry or share their sorrow with another person.  I think it is not that he does not want to talk to you but men find it hard to share with a woman when they feel grief inside.

In order for him to share with you, depending on his personality, you will have to earn his trust that he can share anything with you.  And if you fight with him and yell at him, you are doing the opposite.  I know you are going through a lot too - imagine being ignored by the most important person in your life.  But if you see it all in a new perspective now....he is depressed, he is having a tough time, and if I am not there for him, what good a girlfriend am I?  So if you then try to be nice with those thoughts in mind, it will all be very natural and authentic.  And he will see the love coming from you.  And once he shares his sorrow with you, the love will follow.

It is going to be a lot of work but in the end it will strengthen your relationship and make you a better couple.

Choosing a web hosting service is #1 issue for a webmaster.  Not only to make sure that the website works well and all visitors are able to surf without any problem, but also that email works, stats are generated, and I can publish it easily.  Plus, on our portfolio of websites, we have a whole group of bloggers.  They just know how to publish and if they have a problem they need help.  That is why, it is important for me to have good customer service.

So when I checked the top ten list at Technorati recently, I saw that Dreamhost is a hot term.  Now let me confess that we host all (except one) of our websites with HostForWeb and we are extremely pleased.  They are quite cheap (most of our websites are on the five bucks a month plan) and have been pretty good with email (though not telephone) customer service.  But Dreamhost beats them big time.  There is simply no comparison.  So I might give them a try with our new domains that we launch.

I was reading this survey by the Family Circle magazine that interviewed married women.  And the finding is shocking.  Two out of three women want to change how men behave in the bedroom (or I guess while making love, wherever it happens to be).  Here is what women want:

1. More foreplay


2. More cuddling


3. More focus on her needs

I know most men have a very hard time with cuddling - they just don't believe in the "soft" stuff.  But let me tell you - if you try, you will enjoy it after a while.  I do it now.

Wow, I am humbled.  Thank you all for your support, for visiting, for linking, and for commenting.  Without you I could not have achieved this milestone. 

I reached 10,000 visitors in 49 days, but to reach 20,000 it took me just 31 days.  I had shared my secrets in my previous post so take a look.

And if I can help anyone with growing traffic, please just ask.

If you recall I have talked about my hobby of watching some reality television - particularly plastic surgery.  Last week I watched the case of this artist - Deborah Lowgren - and she has had some 100 plastic surgery procedures.  I mean in my whole life, I don't think I have even gone to the doctor that many times; forget about getting under the knife.

Now at least I expected that she would be like Pamela Anderson.  And let me say that while I believe everyone is beautiful in some ways and so was she but it was clear that those procedures did no good to her.

But I learned that she is suffering from what is technically known as "body dysmorphic disorder" or BDD.  A funky way of saying that you have such serious body image issues that you want them to fix with whatever you can and get addicted to plastic surgery.

The good news is that most other disorders, if you work with the right expert, you can get over them.  Lowgren did too.

Jada sent an email saying, "There's this guy who notices all the things I do and say (things I don't even realize I've done).  He looks into my eyes intensly- a lot, he cracks jokes, makes fun of the things I say and goes on about my "attitude."  He smiles at me a lot too. There is this unbelievable chemistry between us but he has not asked me out. What's going on? Do you have any ideas?"

It is very obvious that he is seriously interested in you but there are two things that might be holding him back.  One, you have not responded to his signals and he is not sure that you feel the same way as he does.  That is why you have to send him positive signals too through your body language and words.  Simply put, if you do what he is doing, he would know that the attraction is mutual.

Two, he is afraid of being rejected, so if you do what I said above and then also give him a hint about hanging out together, he will get it.

It does not appear that he is shy, but watch out for that too.  In that case, just suggest a date on your own.

According to a poll by AP and TV Guide, 80% of Americans are saying that there are too many reality television shows and they don't look like reality.  Last month in a post even I had complained that reality TV was unreal.

Now I do enjoy watching some programs (particularly plastic surgery) and they are interesting but when TV producers want to come up with all kinds of ridiculous ideas for reality TV, you know that they have run out of ideas.  I hear though that they make them because reality programs are so much cheaper to make and advertisers can place their products everywhere.

What do you think?

Remember Kim, my online friend?  Well, she has a problem that we all seem to have once in a while.  Loving someone who doesn't love you back.  "Sometimes I just can't understand my own feelings. Have you ever lost someone that you like and admire? Well, that's what is happening to me now.  I have to let him go for my own sake. It's so hard but I must do it because he's not in to me. Although I've tried so hard but he's just not in to me.  I thought he is but then again it's just my on perception.  It's so hard to like someone when he doesn't feel the same."

Love is a two-way street and you can not force anyone to love you.  And similarly, neither can you force yourself to love someone.  What that means is that if someone does not like you, it is just not meant to be.  It is not a reflection of who you are, though.  The other person may actually think very highly of you and even have strong feelings for you as a wonderful person, but romance is a altogether different feeling.  We still do not know why we like someone.

It is simply that this person may not have romantic feelings for you and that is OK.  Remember how Prince Charles forced himself to marry Lady Diana but he could never love her.  What a sad story that was!

So forget that if your love is strong he will come to you.  That way you will simply be prolonging your pain.  The best thing is to move on.  There are lots of wonderful men out there and you will run into your Prince Charming some day.  Till then just have fun.  Life is too short to cry over men.

What do you think?

When we heard of recall of drugs like Vioxx and Bextra, you would start to think that the drug industry will back off to some extent.  Are you kidding?  In fact as I wrote about how GlaxoSmithKline is pushing Paxil in a sneaky manner to depressed Americans, the drug companies are still pumping money into aggressive advertising, even though there are reports that Viagra can turn some men blind instantly.

But now there is a movie "Side Effects" that exposes all the dirty tricks that drug companies use.  It is not a usual release so do not expect it to be heavily advertised but if you keep an eye, you can catch it.  It's pretty good.

I have a 1,500 gallon septic tank in my home and we have just two people in the house.  I did a quick check on the web to see how often should I get my tank pumped.  This guide says that I should do it each 9.1 years.  But I had a doubt in my mind so I got it pumped yesterday after 3 years.

The guys from Wind River are saying that I should get it cleaned every year.  To me that sounds very fishy.  I think they just want $200 from me each year.  They seem to mislead you the way the oil chang people say that every 3,000 miles you get an oil change.  I have spoken to automotive engineers and they say that it is good to maintain good oil level and definitely change oil about twice a year but there is no rule that you should do it 3,000 miles.

I hope an independing septic tank expert would read this post and comment on what we should do.

Let me confess.  Yogurt is my weakness.  I can eat it any time of the day.  And it doesn't have to be fancy.  No sugar, no fruits - just plain, flavorless is the best for me.  My favorite is the Stonyfield Full Cream Plain Yogurt that I often eat for dessert.

So the other day someone mentioned about making your own yogurt at home and I decided to give it a try.  The recipe is all over the Internet but essentially you add a spoonful of culture to lukewarm milk and leave it alone for a few hours.

For those of us who live in the northeast US, the main problem is temperature control.  Ideally, you need around 100-110 degrees fahrenheit.  So you can either use a yogurt-maker or what I did was to warm up the oven just a bit and put in inside.

For the first time, I had my own yogurt today and it was delicious.  Now I know that I am eating additive-free yogurt.

A lot of webmasters in particular, but almost all publishers (bloggers included), are worried about their content being copied by crooks who want to make money from someone else's hard work.  The most dangerous are the bots that take content from several different pages and try to create an article, then they ping the search engines and directories, giving an impression of a website that is frequently updated to fool the search engines.

So I heard about this new service called Copyscapes.  I tested over a dozen websites that I manage and all I got was absolutely useless information.  I am sorry I even went there.  Simply ended up wasting my time. 

So if you want to monitor if someone is copying your content, trust Google for now.

Having photography as a hobby, I do monitor cameras (particularly digital cameras) very closely.  That does not mean that I get to buy them all.  So if you have some extra money, send it my way (Thanks!).

So I recently got as a gift the HP PhotoSmart M305 which I like a lot for simple picture taking that you want to put on the web.  But what I really wanted to buy was a Kodak Wi-fi digital camera that would allow me to publish images on the web right from my camera if I were in a hotspot.

But think about this.  Now Sony, the mother of all innovators, has a digital camera (Cyber-shot DSC-R1) that is over 10 megapixels.  Now that is 3X of what I currently have.  I think to take great pictures of someone/something that you want to capture all the minor details of, this is it.  The camera has a lot of other cool features.  And I say this because last weekend I did a photo shoot of a model and after working for several hours, my back hurt since I had to bend at all sorts of angles.  a two-inch, LCD screen that folds flat and swivels so you can shoot from nearly any position. This camera has flexibility that allows you to get the shots without moving your body. For example, you can hold the camera low - down to the ground - for eye-level view shots of kids and pets without having to bend yourself or crawling on the ground.

Another thing to note is that it is sort of an old-fashioned camera with digital techology - so it marries the best of both worlds.  And you don't need to worry about running out of battery.  You can take as many as 500 shots.  Love it.

Like a lot of technologically savvy people, I live in two worlds:  high-tech and traditional.  For instance, I spend a major part of my life dealing with technology but then I also pick up the newspaper or magazine and read it with a cup of coffee or beer.

So there is an ongoing debate about digital versus print that is interesting to watch.  For instance, Men's Vogue has now been launched in print, but Harry Potter books are now going to be available as digital audio downloads on the Apple iTunes website.  I mean if you could listen to a book why would you read it?  Well, not that you will never read anything, but I love audio books.  It is a great way to catch up on a book while you are sitting in traffic.

The move was made primarily to deal with piracy but I think it is also telling us about the future - podcasting.

The number of wome who think that they are beautiful is generally very small - no matter where you go.  The percentage does vary somewhat based on how you ask the question but the number is generally in single digits.

In that context the research that is being conducted by Dove as part of their "Real Beauty" campaign is very interesting.  For instance in their recent survey "The Real Truth About Asian Beauty," they found that  women of Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan appeared least happy about their own bodies.  These three countries also happen to be the richest in Asia.

Does it mean that rich women are more unhappy with their bodies?

So if you are an iPod fantatic, you now have two more choices.  First came the cell phone Motorola ROKR that comes with iTunes.  Now I like this toy but I don't know what to do with my current cell phone that I just bought.  Maybe I will ask a rich friend to gift it to me.

But it is clearly the right time to check out the new iPod Nano.  It holds 1,000 songs or 25,000 photos; yet is thinner than a standard #2 pencil.

Then there are the accessories - lanyard headphones, which integrate the headphone cables into the lanyard, so I can wear the iPod nano around my neck without dangling headphone cables. If you want you can personalize the iPod nano with colors, an optional set of iPod nano Tubes in pink, purple, blue, green and clear is available. To complete the package you can also buy armbands in gray, pink, blue, red and green.

I just need to figure how to pay for this puppy apart from the new Logitech smart mouse I came across this morning.

Let me confess this:  While I use a (laptop) computer all the time, I still hate the small keyboard and clumsy touchpad.   So I have an extra keyboard and a mouse.

But my life might have been made easier by a smart mouse from Logitech.  This puppy not only talks to the PC, the PC talks back to it.  So here is how it works.  One it is wireless with a huge range; so you could watch TV in the other room while leaving your PC on.  And then set it up to tell you (it lights up) when you get that very important email from your buddy or even an IM from that special online friend.  That way you never miss chatting with your buddies.

Plus it has other benefits like shutting itself off automatically if you are gone for too long (thus conserving battery) and being able to customize all the buttons the way you like.

Now this is going to be my new toy for a while.

"Success is the new sex," that is what "Sex and the City" author Candace Bushnell recently said, adding that the women she knows spend more time talking about their careers than their love lives, and a new book that she is writing reflects that.

I am all for women who value their careers as much as men do but somehow this attitude is not right for women as it is not right for men.  I think we should not be so materialistic that we define ourselves with our professional success.  Don't we realize that we can lose it all within a matter of hours?  Look what happened to our friends who got caught in the Katrina mess.

What do you think?

So while I am still waiting for the Kodak wi-fi digital camera to arrive in stores next month, look what I got as a suprise gift from a close family member:  another digital camera; HP Photosmart M305.  Now this is not as funky as what I want to buy but it is much better than what I have.

First of all, because it is also made by HP, I had no problem learning the tricks since I have an older HP model right now.  Secondly, while the resolution is just 3.2 megapixels (which in the world of 6, 7, 8 or even more megapixels) is peanuts, but what I have learned is that if all you want to do is to take pictures on the web, you do not want to go beyond 4.  Otherwise your visitors will hit the back button in a second.  And I will also post a few photos that I took with it soon.

Have you heard about this new feature on Technorati?  It is called the Technorati Blog Finder.  I spent the whole morning completing the information necessary for our company.  So check out the eCreativa Media blogs.

If you want your blog to be found more often during a search, you must be part of Technorati - that is the #1 search engine for serious bloggers.

Have you checked out wifi technology yet?  Well, one of the simplest applications is to build a wireless home network so that you can connect to the internet anywhere within your home using a laptop.  Now I can surf the net literally anywhere - even on the deck or backyard, which is great to do on nice hot days.

If you are wondering that it is rocket science to install it, don't you worry.  Even for a non-technical person like me it was a breeze.  If you follow the directions you will be able to do it.  The other thing to note is the price.  When I first installed it a little less than two years ago it was over $100 but now it is half that and the speeds are much higher.  And if you have a wifi enabled laptop you can connect to the Net in airports, coffee shops, hotels - anywhere they have a wifi hotspot.

So when I heard another great news about Kodak launching a wifi digital camera, I knew I got to buy this one.  With this camera you can email and share your photos right from the camera wireless since you are connected to the Internet.

So I am adding this to my growing wish list of electronics that includes  Nintedogs and Game Boy Micro.

As you might have seen on television and everywhere else, there are suddenly a lot of teeth whitening options that do not require help from a dentist. 

So I was at this trade show and ran into this company that was selling this professional tooth whitening system.  It does not have a brand name - says "WHITE."  I guess they want to simply sell it in a way that anyone can sell it and they do not have to spend a lot of money.  I spent about $50 and was skeptical before trying but when I did it, the results were good (though not great, if that is what you might believe from TV ads).  It was a little clumsy to wear those dental trays and you salivate like a dog when it is inside but to save money and to look good, I went through the ordeal.  It did make a significant and noticeable improvement in my teeth.

Now I hear that Listerine is promoting a mouthwash that you use prior to brushing your teeth and it is also supposed to whiten your teeth.

What have you tried?