TMCnet News
UPI NewsTrack Quirks in the News(UPI Newswraps Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)Chinese giving nose jobs for Valentine'sSHANGHAI, China, Feb. 13 (UPI) -- Young Chinese couples are giving one another identical nose jobs and other body enhancements for Valentine's Day this year, the China Daily reports. At the Shanghai Art Plastic Cosmetic & Esthetic Surgery, a spokesman said business from 20-somethings had risen 30 percent since Feb. 4. Three couples have asked for matching features -- two want similar noses and the third wants identical eyes, the newspaper said. Eyes and noses are the most popular for surgery, with prices ranging from around $370 for a double-eyelid procedure to about $2,500 for a nose job. Breast augmentation sets patients in Shanghai back about $4,400. Plastic surgery was illegal in China until the early 1980s, but is now a multi-billion dollar industry, helped in part by TV shows such as Lovely Cinderella, which offer surgery as prizes. Valentine's Day good for spotting cheatersFORT WORTH, Texas, Feb. 13 (UPI) -- A self-proclaimed expert on infidelity says Valentine's Day is a prime occasion for philanderers to slip up and get caught, and she has 829 tell-tale signs. Author Ruth Houston, who made the study of infidelity her life's work after she discovered her now ex-husband cheating 11 years ago, says having a spouse and a lover is a dangerous juggling match on such days as Valentine's Day. She said most cheaters use cover stories, with men's most frequent excuse being work-related, either staying late or going in early. A woman, meanwhile, is more likely to say she must visit a sick or distressed friend, Houston told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. If a person -- particularly a man -- is cheating, he is going to buy gifts. There's no way around it if he wants to stay in a woman's good graces and in her bed, she said. Houston is the founder of the Web site InfidelityAdvice.com, and author of Is He Cheating on You? -- 829 Telltale Signs. Americans not seeking romanceWASHINGTON, Feb. 13 (UPI) -- Americans aren't looking for love in all the wrong places; in fact, a large percentage isn't looking for love at all, a new survey indicates. The Pew Internet & American Life Project finds people aren't even dating very much with nearly half (49 percent) saying they had had only one date in the previous three months. Some 87 million Americans are single, but only 16 percent are actively seeking a mate. Some 23 million singles said they were in committed relationships, the study found. A large percentage of those sitting on the sidelines were married at one time and currently are widowed or divorced. More surprisingly, only 51 percent of those ages 18 to 29 say they are looking for a romantic partner. The survey queried 3,215 people at least 18 years of age Sept. 14-Dec. 8. The margin of error was 2 percentage points. Celebs market toothbrushes as romanticBOSTON, Feb. 13 (UPI) -- The Oral-B brand of toothbrushes is banking Tia Carrere, A Martinez and Fabio to make their new line as personally passionate as the Internet will allow. The marketing campaign for the Sensitive Advantage line centers around the brushwithromance.com Web site, which allows online visitors to get in on the action by typing their names into the narrative and then picking one of the three celebrities to read it. Her thoughts drifted back to where she first saw Fabio in the Western Woods, standing astride the waterfall, its curtain of roiling mist playing about his naked torso, a narrator says. Then Fabio's distinctive Italian voice pipes in: I will shower you with diamonds, before he extols the virtues of the new brush. Jill Lewis, business director for Oral-B, told the Boston Herald the purpose of the campaign is to combine the product's two qualities, sensitivity and strength, in one entertaining package that appeals to the brand's target demographic of women 35-years old and over. Lewis didn't explain Carrere's inclusion in the otherwise macho package, however. |