Going online via power line

In a pilot program, thousands of households in Fuzhou, Fujian Province, are using power lines to access to internet, China National Radio reported Monday. The new technology, called Broadband over Power Line, or BPL, allows users to use a new kind of modem powered by power lines that can transmit analog or digital signals. There is no longer a need to dial and lay out complicated wires for Internet access: all users have to do is just plug the modem into a socket and connect to the computer.

Internet first choice for sex education

Youngsters' first choice for sex education is the Internet, according to a poll of 3,032 people on minyi.net.cn last week. When asked about where they learn about sex, 79.2% chose the Internet, followed by books with 72.5 percent. Peers took third place with 56 percent. Media, such as newspaper and TV, ranked fourth with 47 percent. School and parents came last, with 31.9 percent and 30.5 percent, respectively. An expert on sex education from Capital Normal University in Beijing said sex education should not be absent from cultivation of children.

Idle parcels blacklisted

The Ministry of Land and Resources has listed 1,457 plots of land as "idle," or undeveloped, Guangzhou Daily reported. The China Banking Regulatory Commission will review the list and complete a risk inspection on credit that developers took to buy the land. The government may take back 80 percent. Beijing, Guangzhou, Hainan and Jiangsu together have a quarter of the total idle plots. More than 70 percent of the land is residential land.

Hair products mislabelled, HK warns

Hong Kong authorities urged local residents Monday not to buy or use two hair care products registered as proprietary Chinese medicines since they were found to contain a Western medicine, minoxidil, Xinhua reported. The two products are Zhang Guang Gold 101 Super Effective Hair Growth Agent and Zhang Guang 101D Fabao. Minoxidil is a Western drug used for treating hair loss. Its side effects include skin irritation, rash and itchiness. A company senior official said these two products are not sold in the mainland.

11 in family killed on way to funeral

A heavy tractor truck crashed into a bus Sunday in Guangning County, Guangdong Province, killing 11 of the 13 people on the bus, Chinanews reported. According to investigators, 12 people on the bus were family members who had rented the bus to hasten back to their hometown for a relative's funeral. Of them, only a little girl survived. She and the bus driver were seriously injured. Charity organizations in Guangning County have raised 120,000 yuan to help them.

Fired man killed 8 coworkers, self

People are seen being evacuated from Hartford Distributors, Inc., in Manchester, Conn., Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2010. A shooting rampage in this brewery Tuesday claimed at least nine lives, including the shooter himself, AP reported. [Xinhua/AP Photo]

A shooting rampage in a Manchester, Conn., brewery Tuesday claimed at least nine lives, including the shooter himself, AP reported. Omar Thornton, a driver at the company, had agreed to resign after being caught stealing beer but then began firing at co-workers after being shown video evidence. The 34-year-old blasted his handgun, killing eight and injuring another two before committing suicide.

Bullock earns top paychecks in Hollywood

Nobody would argue that 2010 has been an up-and-down year for Sandra Bullock, given her best actress Oscar for The Blind Side followed by her divorce from scandal-plagued husband Jesse James. But on Tuesday, Bullock landed atop Hollywood's heap when financial website Forbes.com named her the highest paid actress of the past 12 months, having earned US$56 million from two box office hits, The Proposal and The Blind Side, Reuters reported. Bullock not only received a fee for acting, but also participated in the profits, and for both films, the box office numbers were hefty, according to Forbes.com.

Artist paints with her breasts

A busty artist in Connecticut is making good use of her 38DD breasts – by painting pictures with them, The Sun reported. Kira Ayn Varszegi, 34, presses her paint-covered breasts against canvases, applying different colors and "brush" positions to create images. She then sells her pieces on her online shop, Turtle Kiss Designs, with some fetching more than ￡600.

Women prefer a man in red

A new report of the Journal of Experimental Psychology claims that wearing red makes men more attractive and sexy to women, the Daily Mail reported. The finding shows that women in a follow-up study perceived men wearing red T-shirts to be significantly more likely to be high in status, earn more money, get promotion, in addition to the men in red seeming more generally and sexually attractive. Researchers say red is associated with power, passion and fertility in different world cultures.

(China.org.cn August 4, 2010)