Ananga-Ranga : Indian Manual About Sex

The indian erotic art must be seen at the light of Hinduism. In the indian mithology Kama designates a God of Love. The same word also refers to te search of pleasure, one of the fundamental aspects that lead to the salvation of the soul. It is not surprising, for that matter, that sex has been invested with so much importance for indians for such a long time. That is what Kama-Sutra is all about, a classical book about eroticism and others forms of human pleasure.

The Kama-Sutra was written nearly 1500 years ago by a holy man, Vatsyayana. What is concluded, is that is a compilation and a classification of ancient texts about sex, a few which are 3000 years old. Its fame is not only due to its context but also to its unique character. It is known, however, that the texts and overall the erotic engravings were pretty comun in India (as well as in the whole eastern hemisphere), now only a few have survived until our days.

In the Occident Kama-Sutra was hardly known in 1883, in England, through a private edition with the title of The Hindoo Art of love. Another work of identical importance, much less known and rare, called Ananga-Ranga contains, besides texts, a considerable number of erotic engravings of good quality. The author is, a poet: Kalyana Mall. Published in England 10 years before as A Boat in the Ocean of Love remains until today as the most important ilustrated indian manual about sexuality and relationships in between sexes.

Childhood Photos of Obama in Indonesia

Here are some childhood photos of President Obama while he was living in Indonesia. He looks cute in the photos. Who could believe during that time that this little boy is the future President of USA?

Obama barrack childhood photo in Indonesia 0 Childhood Photos of Obama in Indonesia

This is another childhood photo of Obama.

Sexy Pregnant Star Photoshoots (Sexy Cover Girl While Pregnant)

There was once a time when a woman’s pregnant belly was shrouded in over-sized fabric, concealed from the world. Nowadays, pregnancy is a good excuse to rock even tighter clothes to emphasize the growing waistline (“I’m not chubby, I’m preggo!”) or, if you’re famous, to chuck the cover-ups entirely to show off swelling abs on the cover of magazines. Here are 13 magazine covers featuring pregnant stars lookin’ super sexy while with child.

1. Britney Spears (Q Magazine, Nov. 2006)

2. Britney Spears (Harper’s Bazaar, Aug. 2006)

3. Monica Bellucci (Vanity Fair [Italy], Mar. 2010)

4. Monica Bellucci (Vanity Fair [Italy], Jul. 2004)

5. Cindy Crawford (W, Jun. 1999)

6. Christina Aguilera (Marie Claire, Jan. 2008)

7. Myleene Klass (Glamour [UK], Aug. 2007)

8. Eva Herzigova (Vanity Fair [Italy], Feb. 2007)

9. Lisa Rinna (Playboy, Sep. 1998)

10. Demi Moore (Vanity Fair, Aug. 1991)

11. Paz Vega (ELLE [Spain], Aug. 2009)

12. Halle Berry  (InStyle, Feb. 2008)

13. Britney Spears (again!) (ELLE, Oct. 2005)

10 Wonders of the World You Don’t Know

While most of these wonders will be known to a few people, they are, on the whole, not as well known as the famous “seven wonders”. Despite that, each has a reason for being considered wonderful and deserves its spot on this list. Enjoy the list and be sure to share other lesser-known wonders in the comments.


10 Banaue Rice Terraces - Philippines

The Banaue Rice Terraces are 2000-year old terraces that were carved into the mountains of Ifugao in the Philippines by ancestors of the indigenous people. The Rice Terraces are commonly referred to by Filipinos as the “Eighth Wonder of the World”. It is commonly thought that the terraces were built with minimal equipment, largely by hand. The terraces are located approximately 1500 meters (5000 ft) above sea level and cover 10,360 square kilometers (about 4000 square miles) of mountainside. They are fed by an ancient irrigation system from the rainforests above the terraces. It is said that if the steps are put end to end it would encircle half the globe. Locals to this day still plant rice and vegetables on the terraces. The result is the gradual erosion of the characteristic “steps”, which need constant reconstruction and care.

9 Sigiriya - Sri Lanka

Sigiriya (Lion’s rock) is an ancient rock fortress and palace ruin situated in the central Matale District of Sri Lanka, surrounded by the remains of an extensive network of gardens, reservoirs, and other structures. A popular tourist destination, Sigiriya is also renowned for its ancient paintings (frescos), which are reminiscent of the Ajanta Caves of India. The Sigiriya was built during the reign of King Kassapa I (AD 477 – 495), and it is one of the seven World Heritage Sites of Sri Lanka. Sigiriya may have been inhabited through prehistoric times. It was used as a rock-shelter mountain monastery from about the 5th century BC, with caves prepared and donated by devotees to the Buddhist Sangha.


8 Tower of Hercules - Spain

The Tower of Hercules is an ancient Roman lighthouse on a peninsula about 2.4 kilometers (1.5 miles) from the centre of A Coruña, Galicia, in north-western Spain. The name Corunna is said to be derived from the ancient column. The structure is 55 meters (180 ft) tall and overlooks the North Atlantic coast of Spain. It is almost 1900 years old, was rehabilitated in 1791, and is the oldest Roman lighthouse still used as a lighthouse.


7 Toruń - Poland

Toruń is a city in northern Poland, on the Vistula River. The medieval old town of Toruń is the birthplace of Nicolaus Copernicus. The first settlement in the vicinity is dated by archaeologists to 1100 BC. During medieval times, in the 7th-13th centuries, it was the location of an old Polish settlement, at a ford in the river. The Teutonic Knights built a castle in the vicinity of the Polish settlement in the years 1230-31. In 1263 Franciscan monks settled in the city, followed in 1239 by Dominicans. In 1264 the nearby New Town was founded. In 1280, the city (or as it was then, both cities) joined the mercantile Hanseatic League and was soon turned into an important medieval trade centre. As you can see from the photograph above, it is a beautiful medieval city and well worth visiting.


6 Ajanta Caves - India

The Ajanta Caves in Maharashtra, India are rock-cut cave monuments dating from the second century BC, containing paintings and sculpture considered to be masterpieces of both Buddhist religious art and universal pictorial art. By AD 480 the caves at Ajanta were abandoned. During the next 1300 years the jungle grew back and the caves were hidden, unvisited and undisturbed until the Spring of 1819 when a British officer in the Madras army entered the steep gorge on the trail of a tiger. Somehow, deep within the tangled undergrowth, he came across the almost hidden entrance to one of the caves. Exploring that first cave, long since a home to nothing more than birds and bats and a lair for other, larger, animals, Captain Smith wrote his name in pencil on one of the walls. Still faintly visible, it records his name and the date, April 1819.


5 Valley of Flowers - India

The Valley of Flowers is an outstandingly beautiful high-altitude Himalayan valley that has been acknowledged as such by renowned mountaineers and botanists in literature for over a century and in Hindu mythology for much longer. Its ‘gentle’ landscape, breathtakingly beautiful meadows of alpine flowers and ease of access complement the rugged, mountain wilderness for which the inner basin of Nanda Devi National Park is renowned. Valley of flower is splashed with colour as it bloomed with hundreds different beautiful flowers, taking on various shades of colours as time progressed. Valley was declared a national park in 1982, and now it is a World Heritage Site. The locals, of course, always knew of the existence of the valley, and believed that it was inhabited by fairies.

4 Metéora

The Metéora (“suspended rocks”) is one of the largest and most important complexes of Eastern Orthodox monasteries in Greece, second only to Mount Athos. The six monasteries are built on natural sandstone rock pillars, at the northwestern edge of the Plain of Thessaly near the Pineios river and Pindus Mountains, in central Greece. Access to the monasteries was originally (and deliberately) difficult, requiring either long ladders lashed together or large nets used to haul up both goods and people. This required quite a leap of faith – the ropes were replaced, so the story goes, only “when the Lord let them break”.


3 Bagan - Myanmar

Bagan is an ancient city in the Mandalay Division of Burma. Formally titled Arimaddanapura or Arimaddana (the City of the Enemy Crusher) and also known as Tambadipa (the Land of Copper) or Tassadessa (the Parched Land), it was the ancient capital of several ancient kingdoms in Burma. Bagan was submitted to become a UNESCO heritage site[1] but many speculate of politics as partly the reason for the exclusion. UNESCO does not designate Bagan as a World Heritage Site. The main reason given is that the military junta (SPDC) has haphazardly restored ancient stupas, temples and buildings, ignoring original architectural styles and using modern materials which bear little or no resemblance to the original designs. Nevertheless, this is still a must-see wonder of the world.


2 Leptis Magna - Libya

Leptis Magna was a prominent city of the Roman Empire. Its ruins are located in Al Khums, Libya, 130 km east of Tripoli, on the coast where the Wadi Lebda meets the sea. The site is one of the most spectacular and unspoiled Roman ruins in the Mediterranean. The city appears to have been founded by Phoenician colonists sometime around 1100 BC, although it did not achieve prominence until Carthage became a major power in the Mediterranean Sea in the 4th century BC. It nominally remained part of Carthage’s dominions until the end of the Third Punic War in 146 BC and then became part of the Roman Republic, although from about 200 BC onward, it was for all intents and purposes an independent city.


1 Library of Celsus - Turkey

This is number one for strictly personal reasons. I love books, I love libraries, and this site is dedicated to knowledge (as are libraries). The library of Celsus (in Turkey) was built to store 12,000 scrolls and to serve as a monumental tomb for Celsus (who had been consul in 92 AD, governor of Asia in 115 AD, and a wealthy and popular local citizen). The building is important as one of few remaining examples of an ancient Roman-influenced library. It also shows that public libraries were built not only in Rome itself but throughout the Roman Empire. In a massive restoration which is considered to be very true to the historic building, the front façade was rebuilt and now serves as a prime example of Roman public architecture.

Kim Joon - Body Art

Let's forget the black tattoos on arms, shoulder or chest. The Korean artist Kim Joon uses the whole body and the most varied colors. And goes further on: he groups masculine or feminine bodies intertwined in sensual positions over which he designs continuous patterns which are fused in a unique corporal mass, subdued by the design and color!

Despite his style declared a pronounced oriental stamp, Joon does not limit himself to the customary dragons and serpents. Instead, any material serves him as a pictorial pattern, whether they are floral motives, commercial brand logos or Superman comics, whose graphic potential es enormous and is smartly explored by the artist.

Original work and, we dare to say, deeply human...

What Really Scares People ??

Whether you jump at the sight of a spider or work up a sweat at the mere mention of getting on an airplane, fears and phobias abound. About 19.2 million American adults ages 18 and over, or some 8.7 percent of people in this age group in a given year, have some type of specific phobia, or extreme fear. Here are some of the worst.

10. The Dentist

Not many people jump for joy at the thought of an intense session of plaque removal. And between 9 percent and 20 percent of Americans say they avoid going to the dentist because of anxiety or fear, according to WebMD.

Full-blown dental phobia is a more serious condition in which a person avoids the dentist at all costs. People suffering from the phobia usually only show up at the dentist when forced by excruciating pain.

Various factors can keep someone from the dental chair, including a bad experience in the past, fear of injections, and feelings of helplessness (think dental chair and drill in mouth). How to get to the dentist before you have a mouth full of rotting teeth? Realize a dentist can work with you to make you more comfortable during cleaning and other procedures. For instance, you can set up a hand wave that signals the dentist to stop a procedure immediately.

9. Dogs

From tiny, purse-size pups to buff German shepherds, any flavor of man's best friend can scare the pants off some who suffer from cynophobia, or extreme fear of dogs. Typically, people tend to develop fear of dogs as a result of being bitten themselves or seeing somebody get bitten, according to psychology professor Brad Schmidt of Ohio State University. Some dog phobics, however, became fearful of pooches because they know dogs do sometimes bite. Treatment generally involves coming maw-to-maw with the barkers.

8. Frightful Flight

There's no such thing as "the friendly skies" for the 25 million or so people in the United States who suffer from some form of flying fear. Such fears range from just a bit of anxiety to an extreme flying phobia called aviophobia that can keep a person off airplanes at any cost.

These frightful fliers fall into two evenly split groups: those who are afraid of plane crashes and those who are claustrophobic and risk a panic attack inside a plane's tight cabin quarters, according to Barbara Rothbaum, professor in psychiatry and director of the Trauma and Anxiety Recovery Program at Emory University School of Medicine.

Like other phobias, reason plays little role in calming such crash fears. For instance, the lifetime odds of dying in an air travel accident are 1-in-20,000 compared with 1-in-100 for an auto accident and 1-in-5 from heart disease (based on 2001 statistics). However, treatment for flight fears -- sans a drunken stupor -- which includes virtual reality therapy and other forms of cognitive-behavioral therapy has shown much success, Rothbaum notes.

7. Thunder and Lightning

The crackling of thunder and lightning can lead to a heart-pounding, sweaty-palm meltdown for individuals with severe weather phobia. In fact, some even pack up and move to regions known for calm weather, according to John Westefeld of the University of Iowa.

Westefeld reported on a survey of mostly college-age students in 2006 in which 73 percent of participants had "a little bit" or "moderate" fear of weather. "I think there are more people out there who have [severe weather phobia] than most people might assume," Westefeld told LiveScience. "A lot of the folks I interviewed indicated they were very embarrassed about this so that they hadn't told anybody about it. In some cases they indicated their spouses didn't even know about it."

In terms of treatment, Westefeld recommends "a combination of social support and accurate information, and training in ways of coping with anxiety and panic." That way, those with intense storm frights can reach a middle ground, where they have enough fear to keep them safe without debilitating them.

6. The Dark

For many kids, lights out can mean immediate distress that the boogey man, or some variation, will pop out from beneath the bed or behind a closet door. In fact, being afraid of the dark is one of kids' most common fears. "What always amazes us are the thoughts or beliefs that kids have," said Thomas Ollendick, professor of psychology and director of the Child Study Center at Virginia Tech. "Kids believe everything imaginable, that in the dark robbers might come or they could get kidnapped, or someone might come and take their toys away." Essentially, their fears stem from "the unexpected," he said. While kids grow out of such fears, if the anxiety reaches extreme levels and is considered a phobia, called nyctophobia, Ollendick says that can last through adulthood if left untreated.

5. Harrowing Heights

If you get the heebie-jeebies when standing on a rooftop or looking up at a tall building, you're not alone. Fear of heights is one of the most common phobias (followed by public speaking) with an estimated 3 percent to 5 percent of the population suffering so-called acrophobia.

While scientists had thought such phobia was the result of an irrational fear to normal stimuli, new research is suggesting otherwise.

In the study, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, participants had to judge the height of a building when standing at ground level and when atop the building. Compared with participants who scored lowest on an acrophobia test, those most afraid of heights judged the building to be about 10 feet (3 meters) higher at ground level and 40 feet (12 meters) taller from the top of the building. So the building actually seems taller to acrophobics, it seems.

4. Other People

Does the thought of speaking in front of an audience color your face a bright red, send sweat pouring from your pores and bring a sick feeling to your gut? Those are just a few of the signs of social phobia, which affects about 15 million American adults, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. And it's not limited to public speaking: Those affected can get the sweats over eating or drinking in front of others, or a general anxiety when around almost anyone other than family members. The fear begins in childhood or adolescence, usually around the age of 13.

3. Scary Spaces

About 1.8 million American adults over 18 years of age suffer agoraphobia, which involves intense fear and anxiety of any place or situation where escape might be difficult, according to a 2008 report by the National Institute of Mental Health. Commonly feared spots and activities include: elevators, sporting events, bridges, public transportation, driving, shopping malls and airplanes, according to the Mayo Clinic. The fear can lead a person to avoid leaving their home, traveling in a car or being in a crowded area.

2. Creepy Crawlies

While most would at least flinch at the sight of Aragog, the human-eating spider depicted in "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets," the everyday spider can cause the same fear in some people. And it turns out, women are four times more likely to fear such arachnids than men.

In a study being published in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior, David Rakison of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh found that 11-month-old girls quickly learned to associate images of spiders and snakes with a fearful facial expression, while baby boys did not.

From an evolutionary perspective, this makes sense, as women would have encountered such creepy crawlies regularly while gathering food, Rakison speculates. And, he says, the cringe factor could keep both moms and their infants safe. Macho men, on the other hand, would have needed to take frequent risks when hunting and so evolutionary pressure to jump at the sight of a spider would be less than beneficial.

1. Slithering Snakes

Considered one of the most common phobias, an extreme fear of snakes could be evolutionarily imprinted in people, studies suggest. Long ago, spotting a snake (or even a spider) would have been an advantage to a person's survival, according to one study in which adults and children could pick out images of snakes among various non-threatening objects more quickly than they could pinpoint frogs and flowers. The ability to spot a snake in the blink of an eye, the researchers say, likely helped our ancestors survive in the wild.