For years scientists have struggled to explain how cravings can defy logic and nutrition, yet cause perfectly sane and healthy people to gorge themselves on junk food.

Now, however, one psychotherapist believes she may have the answer.
After years of working as a counsellor to drink and drug addicts, Dr Dorothy Virtue noticed strong similarities between their cravings for a ‘fix’ and her own out-of-control cravings for ice cream and bread.

YOUR CRAVINGS AND WHAT THEY MEAN

If you’re feeling stressed, resentful, bitter or frustrated, you’re likely to turn to foods that you crunch.

CRUNCHY
Crunching on crisps, popcorn, or crackers — even celery — can help ease tension in the body; they provide a cathartic outlet for all the tension held in the jaw and act like a delicious punching bag as we take out stress and anger in every crispy bite.

CREAMY
We crave creamy, soft foods such as ice cream or cheeses when we feel anxious, insecure, embarrassed and guilty, because they can be relaxing and comforting.

CHEWY
You are probably harbouring long-suppressed feelings of either jealousy, confusion, dread that something awful is going to happen, or self loathing.
Your urge to chew is linked to the innate belief that chewing will release the tension and help you work through your confusion. For example, are you craving toffees? You may be struggling with indecision.

SPICY
Hot cravings means you crave excitement and intensity in your life, and may not be getting enough thrills. You have strong desires for novelty and change. Several researchers have correlated ‘sensation seeking’ with cravings for spicy, crunchy or sour foods, gourmet foods and unusual, exotic foods.

NUTS
The chemicals inherent in nuts, as well as the textures associated with them, tend to soothe fun-deprived individuals, so cravings could indicate an expression of unmet needs for fun and pleasure. Cashews and peanuts contain large amounts of tyrosine, which raises blood pressure. Nuts also contain pyrazine, which triggers the pleasure centre of the brain.

CARBS
The smell, texture, taste and inherent mood-altering properties of bread, rice and pasta make them some of the foods that are most craved by people who are stressed, tense or frightened.

When we get tense, our body assumes we are in danger and may need pain medication. The brain produces the hormone cortisol to anaesthetise any pain. Cortisol, in turn, stimulates production of another brain chemical called Neuropeptide Y, which triggers cravings for carbohydrates.

CAKES AND BISCUITS
Sweet carbohydrate cravings are similar to those from bread, rice and pasta. Both are high in carbohydrates, which produce quite soothing emotions.


A craving for biscuits, cakes and pies reflects a desire for comfort and reassurance, but it can also signal a resistance to doing something (you may take solace in the sweet deliciousness to avoid something you don’t want to do).

CHOCOLATE
Chocolate is one of the most common cravings, particularly amongst women. This is because chocolate contains the same chemical — phenylethylamine — that your brain creates when we’re feeling romantic love.This is why many of us turn to chocolate when we are in need of love or feeling disappointed in a relationship.

What’s more, the high fat content also soothes feelings of emptiness, insecurity or loneliness, while the texture can be creamy if you need comfort, or crunchy if you’re angry.

Chocolate also contains a serotonin-like substance called diphenylamine, which appears to promote feelings of calm — so if serotonin and energy levels are drained by stress-filled days, too-tight schedules, unhealthy eating, and lack of exercise, we turn to chocolate to feel better.

HOW TO BEAT CRAVINGS

i-Wood is a laptop replica designed for kids. It's basically a regular chalkboard inspired by the MacBook Pro, and it's the perfect gift for any kid who's still into playing with actual toys. It's just a matter of time before these little guys want the real deal, but i-Wood should at least keep them entertained.

This bride went a tiny bit over the top with her wedding dress with a train that takes some stopping.

They say it’s a day you should never forget – and that’s certainly the case for Italian bride Elena De Angelis and the village of Casal di Princice.


She has broken the world record for the longest wedding dress by arriving to the church with a mammoth, 3km (1.86 mile) long veil.

Hundreds of schoolgirls and their mothers turned out to help the bride-to-be along the streets of her village.


The Gianni Molaro designed cream dress, which is made from 6,000 metres of silk chord, is expected to be confirmed as the world’s longest by the Guinness book of Records.

It’s apparently 28 times the length of Manchester United's Old Trafford pitch and would take Usain Bolt running at blistering world recording pace almost five minutes to run its full length.

Driven to the church in a vintage car Elena was applauded by the entire village.


The veil literally stretched for miles and had to be carefully collected by designers after Elena arrived in the church.

Perched on a pink children's chair, Bridgette Jordan's legs are left to dangle in mid-air as she stretches out her arms to go online.

Looking intently at her laptop screen, it takes her some considerable effort to manoeuvre the mouse across the matching pink table.



But it's just the way of life for the 22-year-old dwarf - who is also an all-singing, all-dancing cheerleader with her friends at Kaskaskia College.

And she now has even more to shout about - after she was crowned the world's shortest woman, as chronicled in the new Guinness World Records' Book that appears to overshadow her as it sits by her side.

Ms Jordan, from Sandoval, Illinois, stands at 2ft 3in - and also holds the record for being part of the shortest living siblings, alongside her 20-year-old brother Brad.



Combined, the pair only reach 5ft 5in.

Asked how she felt about her title, which she scooped from Turkey's Elif Kocaman, who stands at 2ft 4.58in, she said: 'It feels awesome.

'It's great to be small. I believe that everyone should be confident in themselves.'

Mr Jordan, who stands at a comparatively giant 3ft 2in and enjoys playing basketball and learning karate, added: 'Hopefully this will go a little way to helping people realise it's OK to be different.'

Osaka Station City, Japan, has a computerized fountain that spells out the time, announcements, and pictures in falling water. If you spend too much time waiting for the clock to display, you’ll realize what time it really is …time to find a restroom!

Principles of Organic and Biochemistry? Yawn! English Literature 101? An outdated snooze-fest! Differential Equations? That one is just begging to be skipped! Now that college students have the option to take classes on everything from zombies to garbage, gone are the days of choosing between Art History 1 and Art History 2 to round out a schedule.

Underwater Basket Weaving
Once the fictional name given to college classes that required minimal participation in exchange for credits, Underwater Basket Weaving is now an actual class offered at University of California, San Diego, as well as at Rutgers. It stands to reason that this recreational class, in which students submerge grasses or wicker in water and then braid it together into baskets, is meant to get students to relax after they’ve spent a long week actually going to college.

Philosophy and Star Trek
“Star Trek is very philosophical.” This is the matter-of-fact statement that leads the course description of PHIL-180, Philosophy and Star Trek, at Georgetown University. The undergraduate course is advertised as an introduction to basic philosophical tenets surrounding metaphysics and epistemology, and Star Trek is the context for grappling with the existential imponderables that arise. In other words, without Star Trek, you’re never going to get a bunch of hungover freshmen to show up and care about Kierkegaard.

The Joy of Garbage
It might serve our society well if this course, offered at Santa Clara University, was required around the country rather than simply being a whimsically named elective at one California school. Instructor Virginia Matzek does not let her students shy away from what she calls “the yuck factor,” taking them to sewage treatment centers and landfills and any other place that deals with the business end of what we throw away. In this age of countless environmental controversies and problems, the more people who know about the way our waste is processed, the better off we all might be.

Daytime Serials: Family & Social Roles
This course is offered in the Women’s Studies program at the University of Wisconsin. It compares daytime programming with prime-time dramas in order to examine the way themes of gender are portrayed and how those portrayals affect women and men in our culture. It’s fair to suspect that despite the subject, this class has more than Soap Opera Digest on the syllabus. If you think soap operas are just about amnesia, twisted love affairs between long-lost fraternal twins, and made-up medical procedures that frequently resurrect “dead” characters, think again. Daytime television actually serves as insight into gender roles.

Zombies in Popular Media
Zombies are the new vampires, you know. Columbia College in Chicago is capitalizing on the zombie’s rising star power with this course that examines the undead’s history and importance in fantasy and horror texts. But don’t think you’re getting off easy with this one. The course description advertises an “intense schedule” of critical theory and source media. For the record, “source media” includes movies and comic books.

Myth & Science Fiction: Star Wars, The Matrix, and Lord of the Rings
Almost everyone knows that these wildly popular epic trilogies are all based on mythologies that have been around since the dawn of time. At Centre College in Danville, Kentucky, instructor Lee Patterson leads a workshop that explores classic epic storytelling using these contemporary examples instead of restricting himself to Virgil or Homer like some professors might. This is all a long way of saying, “Dorks of the world, come on out of your mom’s basement—it’s the college class you’ve been waiting for!”

Maple Syrup: The Real Thing
This educational gem is offered as part of the honors program at Alfred University in New York, the same institution that brought you such courses as Purity and Porn in America, Hannibal Lecter’s Book Club, and Tightwaddery: Living the Good Life on a Dollar a Day, among other highly entertaining class options. The course description is pithily introduced as a job listing: “Wanted: Someone with a background in meteorology, chemistry, botany, forestry, art, and cookery who is also a nature lover with lots of patience. Must enjoy long hours of hard work in the snow, cold, and mud.” It then goes on to invite students to experience the joys of learning the process of syrup-making and its storied history. Interesting? Perhaps. Honors program worthy? That’s debatable.

1.
An Arizona man went to the grocery store packing heat and left without a package when he accidentally shot himself in the d**k. Menfolk of the world seem to agree: this dude had no idea how to handle his weapon, which incidentally happened to belong to his girlfriend. It was pink pistol. This story is emasculating on so many levels. Poor guy. Many men have had accidents wielding their, um, machinery. After the jump, more unlucky fellows involved in very unfortunate penis accidents.

2.
Instead of sawing off a cabinet leg, a carpenter sawed off his own, um, appendage. Adding insult to injury, he was building the furniture piece at his mom’s place. Fifty-four-year-old Stuart Keen and his detached penis were immediately rushed to the hospital in Wantage, England, where skilled docs were able to stick it back on. His mom was quick to rush to his defense, telling the press, “Stuart is a carpenter and uses sharp and sometimes dangerous tools.

3.
A German footballer almost lost the footage from that job title when a tackle left him needing six stitches on his stick. In 2005, Chavdar Yankow, then 21, recovered from the three inch slice rather quickly, thanks to the team’s doctors. And he actually rejoined the game to score the winning kick! So, the good news is ladies, he’s still quite the player.

4.
Many embarrassing things can happen to you when you’re 14 years old, but this Indian boy raised the bar. The kid claims that while cleaning his fish tank he had to pee. Rather than put the tiny fish down, he took it to the potty with him and it swam upstream into his peen. ER doctors could catch the slippery fish with forceps (pinch!), but they had to hook it like a kidney stone and pull it out. Good thing he’s too young to be a licensed scuba diver.

5.
In 2007, a 30-year-old Australian man wasn’t paying attention on the job, and now he may not be able to get the hand or blow kind. The sawmill worker got his own woody caught in the “log moving mechanism.” There was a lot of blood loss, but the man survived. Lucky him. Hope there’s worker’s comp down under!

6.
Speaking of… next time you’re in Australia, keep an eye on your prized penis because we have yet another machine-meets-peen sob story. A 23-year-old factory worker got it caught in the wrong kind of grinding situation. Luckily, paramedics were able to stop the bleeding caused by the grinder, but the fate of his humper is still unknown.

7.
Blowing your boss has it’s perks, but doing it in the company parking lot puts you at risk for more than just getting caught. While a secretary (Why is it always the secretary having sex? When’s a VP lady gonna get dirty at the office?) was giving him head in his car, a delivery truck accidentally hit the vehicle. As she was thrown off him, she bit down and took the penis flying with her.

8.
A poor victim of a street gang assault went into the ER with a bad abdominal ache three days later. He had avoided seeking medical care because he was an illegal worker in India. Doctors couldn’t figure out what the problem was until they X-rayed his schlong. Turns out, the guy had gotten nailed, but not in the sexy way. Apparently the thugs shoved a two-inch nail up his urethra. Luckily, were able to remove it and he and his penis are OK.

9.
There’s another side to the penis operation coin. In 2006, a Chinese man, who was left with an inoperable penis after a traumatic accident, had the good fortune of becoming the first penis transplant recipient. The 44-year-old married man was blessed with a new penis from a guy half his age. But although the transplant was a success, his surgeon reported he had the new package removed, “because of the wife’s psychological rejection as well as the swollen shape of the transplanted penis.”

10.
While a woman was making breakfast one morning, her cop husband wanted to butter her bread. So he decided to stick his dick in a loaf—literally. Whether it was the thrill of surprise or all that yeast, he got quite a rise. Upon seeing the sausage sandwich, his dog lept up and took a big bite. Ouch! Luckily doctors were able to reattach it with plastic surgery.

11.
A man decided to surprise his love with a flower…stuck in his penis. He plucked a Geranium from the garden and inserted the stem up his urethra. Unfortunately, the hairy fibers on the stem tore his urethra to shreds and he needed to have surgery.

12.
New York is known for being the city that never sleeps and in the hopes of lasting all night long, a 34-year old man injected a cocaine solution into the skyscraper in his pants. Unfortunately, he developed blood clots and gangrene that resulted in nine fingers, both legs, and his penis being amputated.

13.
A dude in Tijuana probably had too much tequila because he wanted to get a circumcision—as an adult. Aye carumba! Anyway, the unlicensed doctor accidentally cut his whole worm off. Oops!

It has been ten years since 19 al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four US passenger planes and ploughed them into the Twin Towers and the Pentagon. A fourth plane allegedly heading straight for Capitol Hill or the White House crashed in a field in rural Pennsylvania, killing all onboard. An estimated 3,000 were killed and thousands injured in the co-ordinated attacks.

The day marked one of the biggest news events in modern history and almost everyone will remember where they were when the story broke. Amid all the tragedy and the horror that took place in the days, weeks and months after, here are nine surprising things you may not have known about 9/11.

1. 20 people were pulled from the rubble alive

According to 9/11 research on World Trade Center survivors, 20 people were pulled from the rubble alive. Among the survivors were John McLoughlin and William Jimeno, two Port Authority policemen, who were rescued after being buried in debris around a freight elevator for about 13 and 21 hours. They were the subject of the 2006 Oliver Stone film ‘World Trade Center.’

Pasquale Buzzelli, a structural engineer for the Port Authority, and Genelle Guzman, a secretary, were in offices on the 64th floor of the North Tower when the building was hit. Buzzelli was knocked unconscious for three hours, and awoke on a hill of rubble, looking at the sky. Suffering from a broken foot, cuts and a concussion, he was removed by rescue workers and evacuated on a stretcher. Guzman, who was just below the surface, was rescued more than 27 hours after the Tower fell. Her leg was crushed but she fully recovered within four months.

2. Second biggest loss of life were of British nationality

It wasn’t just Americans who fell victim to the attacks at both the World Trade Center and The Pentagon. More than 80 nationalities suffered at least one loss from the day’s horrific events, including Japanese, Irish, British, Australian, New Zealanders, Swiss, Indian, Mexican, Brazilian, South African and Canadian. Out of 372 foreign fatalities, 67 people of British nationality died.

3. Ron DiFrancesco managed to escape from collapsing South Tower

37-year-old Canadian DiFrancesco was escaping the World Trade Center South Tower as the second plane hit between the 77th and 85th floors, immediately throwing him against the wall on impact. After making a difficult descent to the ground floor, DiFrancesco managed to exit the building – which then collapsed behind him.

Engulfed in a fireball, DiFrancesco woke in hospital days later with lacerations on his head, burns all over his body and a broken bone in his back. After his miraculous escape he was one of only four people to escape from above the South Tower 81st floor.

4. Fires raged for 99 days

It took 99 days for the fires at Ground Zero to be extinguished completely. At 8.46am on 11 September the fires started as the first plane hit the North Tower. The remaining fires were eventually put out on 19 December.

5. A third skyscraper fell down

A third skyscraper World Trade Center (WTC) Building 7 – a 47-story building and one of the largest in downtown Manhattan fell during the attacks. It went largely unnoticed in the media because it hadn’t been hit by a plane. It is commonly believed that ‘ancillary damage’ from the collapses of the Twin Towers led to the collapse of WTC Building 7.

The 9/11 Commission Report states: “The total collapse of the third huge skyscraper late in the afternoon September 11th was reported as if it were an insignificant footnote... most people never saw video of Building 7’s collapse… Incredibly, it is virtually impossible to find any mention of Building 7 in newspapers, magazines, or broadcast media reports after September 11th.”

6. Code messages were sent out online by 9/11 conspirators
It is claimed that one of the 9/11 conspirators - Abu Abdul Rahman - sent a coded love post on an Internet chat room to his “German girlfriend” weeks before the attack, who turned out to be fellow 9/11 conspirator Ramzi Binalshibh.

The message allegedly read: “The first semester commences in three weeks. Two high schools [Twin Towers] and two universities [Washington DC targets] ... This summer will surely be hot ...19 [the eventual number of hijackers] certificates for private education and four exams [the number of planes used]. Regards to the professor. Goodbye.”

CNN reports that about three weeks before 9/11, targets were assigned to four teams, with three of them bearing a code name. The US Capitol building was called ‘The Faculty of Law;’ the Pentagon became ‘The Faculty of Fine Arts;’ and the North Tower of the World Trade Center was code-named as ‘The Faculty of Town Planning.’

7. One company lost two thirds of its workforce

Global financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald was the worst business affected by the 9/11 attacks. Unfortunately, its New York headquarters based on the 101st and 105th floors at One World Trade Center lost 658 out its 960-strong workforce – which amounted to two third of its total NYC staff.

After the tragedy hit, CEO Howard Lutnick called a colleague and said: “We could shut the firm and attend our friends' funerals, or we're going to work harder than we've ever worked before to help their families.” And that’s exactly what they did. Ten years later, Cantor Fitzgerald has handed out more than $180 million (£109 million) to the families of the deceased staff and has fulfilled its promise to pay their health care.

8. World Trade Center steel was sold on

What did the US authorities do with the 185,101 tons of steel left at Ground Zero? They recycled it. The American public was outraged because authorities removed the steel before it was properly tested for evidence. Mayor Bloomberg responded by saying: “If you want to take a look at the construction methods and the design, that's in this day and age what computers do. Just looking at a piece of metal generally doesn't tell you anything.”

According to the ‘9/11 Research’ Website, the bulk of the steel was shipped to China and India. The Chinese firm Baosteel purchased 50,000 tons at a rate of $120 (£73) per ton. The rest of the steel was used for memorial material across all 50 states.

9. Plane engine survives crash
In the wake of the attacks, engineers volunteered to investigate the structural responses of the WTC buildings. According to Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), a single engine from one of the planes that struck the Twin Towers miraculously survived the plane crash and the explosion and collapse of the Towers.

Chinese police say they are powerless to act against the parents of a four-year-old girl who filmed her driving their car.

The little girl appeared to be driving at speed, even overtaking several vehicles, during her two minutes behind the wheel.

In the clip, which has been uploaded online, the parents, from Jinan, Shandong Province, kept reminding their daughter to concentrate.

The mother was sitting in the passenger seat, while the father sat behind the girl, who didn't even wear a safety belt.

At one stage, the girl queued for traffic lights in the wrong lane but managed to manoeuvre the vehicle into the neighbouring lane.

Eventually the father says: "Jia Zheng, stop the car. Let Daddy drive." He then jumps out of the back and into the driver's seat, while the girl crawls over to sit on her mother's knee.

The video shows the parents had fit extensions to the brake and accelerator pedals to allow their daughter to control the car.

Local police spokesman Li Xiaobin revealed that there was very little they could do, under Chinese law.

"Kids absolutely are not allowed to drive," he said. "However, as for drivers under 14 years old, we can't give them tickets.

"If we caught them, we could only educate the parents. In the worse scenario, if an accident happened, we could only ask the parents as guardians to compensate the other parties."

(unfortunately the video on YouTube has been removed because its content violated YouTube's Terms of Service)

If you’ve always dreamed of having a dentist for a child, then make sure you give birth in December. But if you are hoping for a debt collector, then January is definitely your month.

That is the conclusion of researchers who have analysed the birth months of people in 19 separate occupations using information from the last census.

The results appear to indicate that a person’s month of birth could make them statistically more likely to end up as a footballer – or a bricklayer.

In January, GPs and debt collectors were found to be the professions with the greatest percentage above the monthly average. At the opposite end of the scale, it is a bad month for sheet-metal workers.

A February birth appears to increase the chances of being an artist, and March is good for pilots, according to the study by the Office for National Statistics. April and May are said to have a fairly even spread of professions.

Meanwhile, births in the summer months mean a much lower chance of becoming a high-earning football player, doctor or dentist.

For those born in September the two occupations with the greatest percentage above average were sports players and physicists.

The two jobs least likely to be taken up by September babies were found to be bricklayers and hairdressers, while December is said to be rich with dentists.


Although these trends may be difficult to explain, correlations between birth months and specific health problems have a scientific basis. Researchers believe the month in which babies are born could affect everything from intelligence to length of life.

Spring babies are at greater risk of a host of ills, including asthma, autism, schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s disease. They may also be less clever than classmates born in other seasons.

Full story at DailyMail

60 things that feel, taste, or are almost -- at least sometimes -- better than sex.

Please, add to the list!

1. Cleaning your ears with Q-tips.

2. Peeing on a full bladder.

3. Watching your kid score (a goal).

4. Skydiving, especially in the free fall.

5. This video of a purring kitten making biscuits. (And no, this is not the least bit sexual.)

6. A long foot massage.

7. A good spin class, but only after it's done.

8. The steam room.

9. The Chocolate Chip Philly Fluff Cake from The Bakery. Yes, it's called "The Bakery" and, as far as I'm concerned, it's the best bakery ever.

10. When the stylist gives you a shampoo and deep condition.

11. Air conditioning in Florida in August.

12. Driving on the back of a motorcycle on the Pacific Coast Highway.

13. The Princess Bride.

14. A New York bagel.

15. Fulfilling a dream.

16. A good hand job, the kind where someone massages your actual hands.

17. Taking your shoes and socks off after a long day on your feet.

18. Crawling into bed with fresh sheets.

19. The scrub-down at a Korean spa.

20. A hug -- the caring, not creepy, kind.

21. A card that comes for no other occasion than "just because."

22. A good burp, fart, or cry (not necessarily in that order).

23. Hot breath on the neck.

24. Comfort food.

25. The smell of baking cinnamon buns.

26. Finishing The New York Times Crossword Puzzle on a Friday.

27. A big terrycloth robe for right after you get out of the shower.

28. Slipping into fuzzy slippers.

29. Sleeping in.

30. A thrift store score.

31. Gaming.

32. Kissing.

33. A Zombie Drill.

34. The birth of your child.

35. A slice of pizza from Ray's on 11th Street and 6th Avenue.

36. Finding out you're going to be a parent.

37. Sunrise, sunset.

38. Swimming in the nude.

39. Black Rock City.

40. Losing weight, especially a noticeable amount of it.

41. Finishing a marathon.

42. A full body massage.

43. Wet dog licks after a bad day.

44. Reconnecting with old friends.

45. Winning the lottery.

46. Hula hooping.

47. Love.

48. Acting like, or actually being, a superhero.

49. Dancing your ass off.

50. Being heard.

51. Chocolate.

52. Shopping at a secret sample sale (what can we say, we're New Yawkers).

53. Holding hands.

54. Winning the lottery. The Stir on this one). Win $550 Worth Of Luxury Goods From Henri Bendel!

55. A good Martini.

56. Getting that sought-after promotion.

57. Guys with British accents.

58. Girls' nights!

59. Losing yourself in a book you can truly relate to.

60. Jersey Shore (watching other people smoosh > smooshing?)