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It is the stuff of escapist fantasy. A tall, dark and handsome type sweeps a cream-and-roses Home Counties heroine off her feet. In its 100 years of publishing, the exotic alpha male has been a staple of the Mills and Boon romance. The tale of the passionate desert sheikh who sweeps secretary Janna Smith off her feet in Violet Winspear's 1970 romance Tawny Sands is perhaps the quintessential Mills and Boon story. "His tone of voice was softly mocking, but she knew he didn't really jest. He was Raul Cesar Bey and the further they travelled into the desert the...

Love makes us blind to the charms of others By Nic Fleming, Science Correspondent Last Updated: 6:01pm GMT 18/03/2008 Love really is blind, but not in the accepted meaning of the old adage, scientists say. Psychologists who studied volunteers in stable relationships believe romantic love is a biological "commitment device" to lessen our awareness of the charms of others. Many non-human species are also monogamous The study, highlighted in this week's New Scientist magazine, provides support for the theory that strong emotions that encourage committed relationships have evolved to ensure offspring are well cared for. Monogamy has been observed in...

The editors of Marie Claire advise against bad tips, blow-drying, and cleaning your gun. We'll take their word for it. 19. Reveal how much your car cost. 18. Clean your gun. 17. Polish high school trophies (which you still have displayed). 16. Refer to your mother as your best friend. 15. Rap. 14. Check out our assistant/roommate/the baby-sitter. 13. Question our footwear. 12. Blow-dry your hair. 11. Tip less than 20 percent. 10. Celebrity impressions. 09. Impressions of us. 08. Forget to carry cash. 07. Flip it, flop it, swing it around, tug on it, adjust it, scratch it, or...

2/14/2008 - SHALIMAR, Fla. (AFPN) -- The champagne fountain gurgled and the dress uniform buttons gleamed in the candlelight at a very special Valentine's Day event Feb. 9. Airmen from nearby Eglin Air Force Base and Hurlburt Field were visiting the Air Force Enlisted Village to honor and escort the residents of Hawthorn House, the AFEV's assisted living residence, at their Valentine's Day Ball. The Air Force Enlisted Village, one of the four official charities of the Air Force, provides a home to the surviving spouses of enlisted Airmen. Most of the residents there are widows in their seventies, and...

Sonya Rinker was looking for a guy: someone who was kind, respectful and had a special place in his heart ... for tractors. She wanted a man who could share the thrill of a good tractor-pull show, who could see beauty in a shiny row of green and yellow of John Deere tractors. She didn't know that somewhere along these rolling Pennsylvania hills, there was such a man, a shy guy named Tom with two vintage Deere tractors. He had been looking for a gal, someone who'd put up with his milking cows at 3 a.m. and his six-day work...

Like many campuses, Purdue University has some traditional hot spots for romance -- "The Old Pump," where couples used to meet after dark, and a bell tower known as a lucky place to propose marriage. But engineering major Amy Penner has been so busy volunteering with a women's engineering group and planning her career that she's only dimly aware of them. Her boyfriend has left campus to get a doctorate overseas; asked how much time she spends dating, she says, "That would be zero." Remember the movie "Love Story" and its star-crossed student lovers? Such torrid campus romances may be...

WHO said romance was dead? A New York Romeo went to extraordinary lengths to track down the girl of his dreams after spotting her on the subway only to discover she is from Melbourne. Patrick Moberg, a Brooklyn web designer, experienced love at first sight when he saw 22-year-old Camille Hayton on Manhattan's No.5 train on Sunday night US time. He had been working up the courage to speak to her but lost her in the crush of commuters getting off the subway at the Bowling Greenstop. Mr Moberg knew he had to track down the mysterious brunette, so he...

"Sometimes the names alone provided hints as to the prospects for a lasting relationship. Somehow gunilla_luvs_prozac didn’t seem quite ready, whereas cum2mama was if anything a little too ready. Messages from hysterical_hilda, katsb4men and imeldamarcos were similarly binned. But diligent research eventually brought its rewards as I discovered that beyond the mundane Majas lay clusters of intriguing Tinas, Linas and Sabrinas."

Dating Swedish men: bring your own beers Dating in Sweden: When Isabel March arrived in Sweden from America, she set out to find her own blond bombshell. But dating US-style left her ill-prepared for dealing with the strong, silent types she found in Scandinavia. Many people who move to Sweden – especially those relocating to small villages in Lappland – are beguiled by a strong, silent Nordic type or one of the members of the Swedish Bikini Team. But despite the hordes of love immigrants who have been caught in the net of a blond bombshell, it often seems easier...

Source: Springer Date: August 28, 2007 Men Choose Romance Over Success Science Daily — Men may be more willing than women to sacrifice achievement goals for a romantic relationship, according to a new study by Catherine Mosher of Duke Medical Center and Sharon Danoff-Burg from the University of Albany. Their findings challenge our preconceptions that women are more likely to prioritize people and relationships while men are more focused on themselves and their achievements. The authors looked at whether personality traits influence students’ life goals, and focused on the relative importance of romantic relationships and achievement goals in particular. A...

The pair played Senator Padme Amidala and Anakin Skywalker Star Wars couple Natalie Portman and Hayden Christensen have been voted as having the least plausible on-screen chemistry by film fans.The pair beat Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez for their performance in Gigli into second place, which was made when they were a real life couple. Former duo Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman also made the list with Eyes Wide Shut. British pairing Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom were thought "too stiff upper lip" in Pirates of the Caribbean. The 3,000 movie-goers who were surveyed for Pearl and Dean said...

LOS ANGELES – On June 8, TV stations around the city reported that Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was separating from his wife of 20 years. “The rumors were true,” is how one newscaster, 35-year-old Mirthala Salinas, broke the news to her Spanish-speaking audience on Telemundo's local affiliate, KVEA, Channel 52. What Salinas didn't tell viewers was that she had been in an extramarital affair with Villaraigosa for many months. That apparent ethical slip puzzles many observers, who say Telemundo's credibility has been damaged, even more so because the station didn't remove Salinas from the air until this week, after the mayor...

An American couple going out for two years have enjoyed their first kiss - at their wedding. Katie and Tim McAfee agreed to a sex ban and no kissing before they wed. The couple from Bismarck, North Dakota, are devout Christians. They prayed with their parents for God's strength before going out on dates. Tim, 25, touched his 24-year-old wife's lips for the first time at Bismarck's Evangel Temple. Tim said his kiss with Katie was great but added: "I don't have anything to compare it with." Katie's sister, Margie, 21, and her new husband Nadir Torres, 22 also took...

You can bet the people taking part in today’s wedding ceremony for Bill Paisley and Lesa Zwicker are keeping an eye on the groom. You see, more than 22 years ago, on a Saturday in late December, he was supposed to be standing at the altar to watch Lesa, his fiancee, walk up the aisle of a Mahone Bay church. All the details had been attended to. The bride was to wear the same dress the groom’s mother had worn for her wedding. The food was being prepared, the 75 guests were starting to arrive in town, and the people...

Reflections On The Nature Of Love"Love is the most important thing in the world, but baseball is pretty good too." -- Greg, age 8 What Is The Proper Age To Get Married?"Once I'm done with kindergarten, I'm going to find me a wife!"-- Tom, age 5 What Do Most People Do On A Date?"On the first date, they just tell each other lies, and that usuallygets them interested enough to go for a second date." -- Mike, age 10 When Is It Okay To Kiss Someone?"Never kiss in front of other people. It's a big embarrassing thing if anybody sees...

Cocaine — the new party drink By Jean Porrazzo, Enterprise staff writer There is a new “cocaine” out there and it's not an illegal white powder. It's a drink that contains nearly three times the caffeine as a cup of coffee, is supposed to have a “throat-numbing” ingredient and is billed by its maker as a “legal alternative” to the unlawful drug that carries the same name. Called “Cocaine,” the beverage is the latest party drink among young adults in California, New York City and Australia. So far, the drink is not sold at local stores but it could soon...

In the land of Spain in the Iberian Peninsula, there are groups of people who speak a language similar to Portguese called the Galicians. Galicians live in northwestern part of Spain, known as the "land of the 1000 rivers". It is one of Spain's official language besides Spanish and are refered as Gallegos. Galcians have migrated to other parts of Spain and Latin America. Galicians have their own autonomous region in Spain, like the Basque people. Galicians originally were Celtic people who migrated from the Pyrenees Mountain. The tribe called Galleci was established in northwestern part of Spain. Then around...

U.S. Army Sgt. Liam Vernon and his wife, Spc. Naomi Rodela, were reunited in Baghdad after Rodela volunteered to stay an extra year in Iraq to be with her spouse. Both soldiers work in Company B, Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division. U.S. Army photo by 1st Lt. Talon Anderson U.S. Army Spc. Naomi Rodela Soldier extends service in Iraq to reunite with husband By U.S. Army 1st Lt. Talon Anderson Brigade Special Troops Battalion 1st Brigade Combat Team 10th Mountain Division CAMP LIBERTY, Iraq, May 16, 2006 — How far would you go...

Welcome Singles and Friends! You put away your snow shovels and ice scraper weeks ago. Your heating bills are finally on the way down. I guess it's safe to say that winter is definitely behind us, and soon spring will be just a memory as well, so it's not too early to start planning your summer. What are your plans for the Summer of '06? (C'mon--you can't spend all your time FReeping!) 1. Have you already booked your vacation? Where will you go? (the beach? a cruise? somewhere cool?) 2. What are your favorite summer activities? (Swimming? Cycling? Barbecues?)...

Having developed Anti-Scam program we intend to warn you about phenomenon of International dating scam and will do our best try to help you to avoid scamming. We launch our anti-scam campaign and appeal to all people who are in the sphere of Internet dating and international marriage - Foreign men, Russian women and International marriage agencies - as we ALL suffer from scam. MEN scammed by dishonest women stop to believe that it is possible to find a good, loving Russian wife and quit. Less interested men - less opportunities for honest WOMEN to find the right guy for...

Falling in love has never had a reputation for making much sense. Dante glimpsed Beatrice a few times and wouldn't shut up about her for decades. Why should not-falling-in-love be any more rational? It comes down to the deterrent power of a Phil Collins CD in a woman's car. Or, a guy who habitually sticks his tongue out while eating, like a lapping dog. His girlfriend returns him to his cage, permanently. Centuries from now, scientists may point to this as the moment in time when the pickiness gene became dominant. In the end, it will come down to one...

Who needs eHarmony.com or a singles bar when you have pizza? A new survey by the Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation and Domino's Pizza suggested the pizza toppings people prefer signal the types of people who they are most compatible with romantically. For example, those who prefer more non-traditional topping combinations, such as pineapple and onion, are most romantically compatible with people who prefer similar non-traditional toppings. If you prefer traditional single-meat toppings like pepperoni, your ideal match is a person who likes a pizza loaded with meat toppings -- someone who is extroverted.The survey said those who...

Today it is Valentine's Day Men are in a hurry to say "I love you" to her with Diamonds or Fur ...and hope to get paid back "some way". Note: the thread in the hypertext link is a parody, so your mileage may vary... Off-topic, but couldn't resist: Dick Cheney hunted last weekend and accident'ly shot his friend But what makes it worse (no room in this verse) It means this gambit's at an end!

Pope Benedict XVI may try to "save eros," in the first encyclical of his papacy, Chicago's Cardinal Francis George told the Chicago Sun-Times. George expects the new pope will try to explain that erotic love, eros, and unconditional love, agape, are both inherently good in God's eyes in his encyclical titled "Deus, Caritas Est," Latin for "God is Love." An encyclical is a pope's most authoritative document, a pastoral letter circulated to the universal church. Letter talks about Christ The cardinal has not yet seen Benedict XVI's encyclical, which is expected to be released by the Vatican within days, but...

thedesertsun.com material cannot be posted [on FR] due to copyright complaint However, here's a link to the article.

Despite the influence of the west on Iran's popular culture, Hafez, a poet who died over 600 years ago, still gets the crowds flocking, writes Robert Tait The pilgrims could have been on day out at Graceland. Representing the full range of the age and socio-economic spectrums, they came to pay homage to an icon of modern popular culture. But the hero being saluted was not Elvis Presley or any comparable figure from the age of mass communication, but a poet who died centuries ago, and whose messages remain disputed and obscure among even the most literary of his fellow...

KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. (AFPN) -- Five days after Hurricane Katrina dramatically changed many lives in the Gulf Coast region, a couple here began a new chapter in their own lives. Tech. Sgt. Daniel McMullen of the 335th Training Squadron and his girlfriend of three years, LaVerne, exchanged wedding vows Sept. 3 outside one of the base's seven shelters used to house people here since the hurricane struck. Guests of the bride and groom, all who shared a shelter with the couple, dressed for the occasion in the most fashionable way. The groomsmen wore reflective safety belts while the...

LONDON (Reuters) - Forget expensive presents or costly jewelry. Wining and dining is the best way for men to woo women, scientists said Tuesday. Researchers at Imperial College London developed a mathematical formula and modeled courtship as a sequential game to find the best way to impress the ladies. Their results show that offering an expensive present signals the man's serious intentions but he must be wary of being exploited by gold-diggers who will dump him after receiving the gift. "Guys are less likely to offer expensive gifts to females they don't have a long-term interest in. And girls won't...

Sex, Love, and Marriage by Reginald Firehammer These notes are distilled and reworked from a number of posts to a thread dealing with marriage. It occurred to me that the principles described in those posts are largely unknown or misunderstood, and that a single source for them is needed. This is an attempt to provide that source. In short, this is a defense of marriage, not as it is practiced nor as it is usually understood, but as it ought to be practiced and understood. I regard romantic love as the highest good achievable by man, the ultimate value that...

Judaism’s Sexual Revolution: Why Judaism (and then Christianity) Rejected Homosexuality    DENNIS PRAGER When Judaism demanded that all sexual activity be channeled into marriage, it changed the world. The Torah's prohibition of non-marital sex quite simply made the creation of Western civilization possible. Societies that did not place boundaries around sexuality were stymied in their development. The subsequent dominance of the Western world can largely be attributed to the sexual revolution initiated by Judaism and later carried forward by Christianity.This revolution consisted of forcing the sexual genie into the marital bottle. It ensured that sex no longer dominated society, heightened...

New love can look for all the world like mental illness, a blend of mania, dementia and obsession that cuts people off from friends and family and prompts out-of-character behavior - compulsive phone calling, serenades, yelling from rooftops - that could almost be mistaken for psychosis. Now for the first time, neuroscientists have produced brain scan images of this fevered activity, before it settles into the wine and roses phase of romance or the joint holiday card routines of long-term commitment. In an analysis of the images appearing today in The Journal of Neurophysiology, researchers in New York and New...

Is matrimonial bliss tainted by a sneaking suspicion of raunchy infidelity? Have you been in fits since boys started paying attention to your daughter? If you find that heavy chastity belts are difficult to pick up and more difficult lock to around the women in your life, then Japan-based Panchira Corp., has a product for you-GPS enabled Forget-Me-Not Panties. Never wonder where she is and whom she's with again. The new underwear by Panchira has a small flower on every pair that is really a global positioning tracking device complete with heart rate and temperature monitor. The company says the...

AN 83-year-old Polish widow who knew Pope John Paul II as a teenager before he took holy orders has described him as the “love of my life”.Halina Kwiatkowska’s friendship with the pontiff has been known for several years but she had always denied any degree of intimacy between them. Shortly before John Paul’s death last weekend, however, she fell ill and was taken to hospital, where she revealed that there was more to their relationship in the early days. “He was the love of my life,” Kwiatkowska said in an interview with BZ, a Berlin newspaper, published last week. “You...

Gay & Lesbian Churches Promote Courtship Several leaders of the Metropolitan Community Church, have announced a courtship mentoring program to replace the random, sometimes destructive "dating" which has hitherto been the norm for romance among the gay and lesbian community. Courtship introduces supervision (sometimes, 100% chaperoning), and careful spiritual counselling, into the pair-bonding process, with romantic activities and emotions only allowed full sway after the success of the relationship is reasonably assured. The courtship movement had its genesis among the fundamentalist homeschoolers in the 1970's, but lately it has been spreading through other segments of Christendom. Its adoption by gay...

March 28, 2005 How safe is online romance?Lawmakers want dating sites to disclose background check informationBy DAVID EGGERTAssociated Press Writer State Sen. Alan Cropsey, R-DeWitt, shown during a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting March 15 in Lansing, is sponsoring a bill that would require an Internet dating service to disclose prominently on the Web site whether it had conducted criminal background checks on users. AP File Photo Online dating safetySome tips when meeting people through Internet dating: Start slowly. Communicate by e-mail at first, looking for signs of the other user's behavior. Trust your instincts. Guard your anonymity. Sites often allow...

PETALING JAYA: Next year when revellers throw mandarin oranges into the lake at Taman Jaya here to celebrate Chap Goh Meh, bachelor Chin Choon Keat will be among those there, hoping to find a soul mate. He's been doing this for the last four years, hoping that the Chinese version of Valentine's Day would bring him true love. It has been nearly three weeks since the 26-year-old contractor picked up an orange with a phone number on it, but his attempt to build a relationship with the girl has not been fruitful. They had exchanged a few SMS messages and...

Office Affairs Can be Detrimental to Your Career “Proceed with caution if you’re tempted to have an office affair” says infidelity expert Ruth Houston, who was recently quoted in a Christian Science Monitor article on office affairs and workplace romance. (PRWEB) March 8, 2005 -- “Proceed with caution if you’re contemplating having an office affair or workplace romance” says infidelity expert Ruth Houston, who was recently quoted in a Christian Science Monitor article on office romance. Experts say that over 70% of single employees will become romantically involved with someone on the job at some point in their career. Research...

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Next month's Malaysian Formula One Grand Prix will be the last time cigarette companies will be able to use the romance of racing to sell their tobacco products in Malaysia. Health activists here can at least in part thank the World Health Organization's treaty on tobacco control, which goes into effect Sunday in 40 countries, for prompting the new limits on advertising. Malaysia is joining a growing list of nations that severely restrict tobacco sponsorship of sporting events - long a favorite publicity playground of cigarette sellers - for public health reasons. The new anti-tobacco rules...

Top 10 Cars to Drive If You Don't Have a Date on Valentine's Day By editors at Edmunds.com Date Posted 02-08-2005 Valentine's Day is just around the corner, and you realize that you don't have a special someone to take out for cocktails and dinner. Wallowing in self-pity, you wonder how you'll ever get through the evening alone. Fortunately, you might not have to. That is, if you like to drive. We asked our staff of driving enthusiasts which cars they'd most want to drive if they were facing a dateless Valentine's Day. We're talking about cars that are so...

Workplace romance 'under threat' Passion in the workplace can take its toll on colleagues Romantic liaisons between employees at work could soon be brought under tight control, according to the TUC. The trades union group has said firms in the UK are planning to introduce "love contracts" to tackle problems when workplace relationships turn sour. Firms want to copy their counterparts in the US, where staff pledge to behave professionally if they become emotionally entangled, it said. But such contracts could be in breach of the Human Rights Act, the TUC said. Heavy handed The contracts are designed to protect...

If you fancy a bit of romance this Valentine's Day, get yourself a pottery wheel and a bit of moist clay. Alternatively you could just settle down with a bottle of vino and watch Ghost after the scene when Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze get filthy (hands) in the pottery scene is voted the most romantic film moment of all time. In a survey by Blockbusters, the second most heart-warming (or vomit-worthy - depending on your cynicism level) movie moment is the scene from Titanic when Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio are perched precariously on the ship's prow in that...

This is strictly vanity. All in good fun. Nicholas Sparks is a guy who ventured into a field traditionally dominated by women. He writes about love and romance with incredible feeling. All of his novels and movies so far have a Southern small town charm/Flyover Country setting to them. To you, do they celebrate romantic love or focus on teary schmaltz. It seems the theme is about doomed lovers finding a lasting love. Maybe that's why people cry on finishing the book or leaving the theater after having seen a movie.

German men want partners to be more adventurous in the bedroom Tue Sep 28, 2:39 PM ET BERLIN (AFP) - Seventy percent of German men want their partner to be more adventurous sexually, according to a survey entitled "What do men expect from an ideal partner?" carried out for a local magazine. According to the survey published in "Journal Fur Die Frau," (Journal For The Woman) more than half of the 1,000 men questioned would also like their partner to be able to distinguish between important and unimportant purchases. The survey also revealed that 51 percent of men would like...

Electronic mail, voicemail and text messages have broken boundaries in the office and made it easier for people to flirt, a survey has found.Researchers questioned 221 workers and found that 31 per cent had experienced "physical and emotional" intimacy with someone in the office. A further eight per cent said they had conducted a purely physical relationship with a colleague, while 21 per cent said they had enjoyed only an emotional one. Many said their relationship started via e-mail, a device that enabled them to conduct their affair in private. The findings, based on interviews with workers aged between 21...

My Dragon Fly and Me If I could be a Dragon Fly and wing my way through the sky I would never be shy just me and my Dragon Fly! By moonlight we ride the wind chase the comets tail for fun by day we would hide from the sun our fragile wings would come undone On darkest nights we would use fireflies as our guide we would dip and we would glide through the heavens open wide and scatter diamonds in the night sky my Dragon Fly and me... And we would wing past our lovers silent in...

This is funny stuff worth a 30 sec laugh.

Sixty years ago next week — on May 15, 1944 — the front page of the New York Times carried a brief dispatch from the front in Europe. It told the story of an American B-17, on a bombing run over Laon, France, that was struck by a bomb accidentally released by another American plane flying in formation above it. The bomb wedged in the tail of the Flying Fortress, killing the tail-gunner, but didn't explode. "Although the plane was almost unmanageable," the dispatch read, "the crew stayed with the ship." Terrified the bomb would detonate during what promised to...

      Hormones converge for couples in love   19:00 05 May 04   Exclusive from New Scientist Print Edition. Subscribe and get 4 free issues.   Men are from Mars and women from Venus - except when they are in love. During this intense period, men and women become more like each other than at any other time.We already know that falling in love is a bit like going crazy. Donatella Marazziti of the University of Pisa in Italy showed in 1999 that levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin, which has a calming effect, dip below normal in those who say they...

Futurism was an international art movement founded in Italy in 1909. It was (and is) a refreshing contrast to the weepy sentimentalism of Romanticism. The Futurists loved speed, noise, machines, pollution, and cities; they embraced the exciting new world that was then upon them rather than hypocritically enjoying the modern world?s comforts while loudly denouncing the forces that made them possible. Fearing and attacking technology has become almost second nature to many people today; the Futurist manifestos show us an alternative philosophy. Too bad they were all Fascists. TO THE YOUNG ARTISTS OF ITALY! The cry of rebellion which...

World War II romance stories sought Sunday, May 25, 2003 Daily News staff An Oklahoma production company is developing a television program series highlighting the romantic relationships between World War II military personnel and their loved ones back at home. Although many films and documentaries have shown heroes, battles and the brutality of war — few, if any, have focused on the relationships that suffered, endured, even thrived after wartime years of aloneness, hardship and hoping against the unknown. Hero Productions is collecting stories of the everyday heroes during World War II — the many men and women who kept...