Features

If modified candid photos of birthday parties or of gentle family pictures are not a problem and will not make you lose sleep over their authenticity, there is a certain number of photo types that can be serious reason for trouble; even legal trouble, if altered or tampered with.

These are, for instance: diplomas, contracts, financial statements and proof of payments, scans of any kind of legal or identity documents, and so forth. Even portrait photography must be verified as originals sometime.

Data theft, identity theft, files corruption and hacking are far from being your only digital woes. Files that are altered and modified without you being aware of that are an even worse curse. So much visual information is exchanged digitally across the web today that checking the authenticity of a document has almost become an obsession — a nightmare for some.

Whereas this applies to a variety of documents, from pdf to text, the most flagrant cases of digital document alteration is beyond any doubt that of photos. The word “photo” is to take in its extended meaning here, which includes scanned documents of all kinds. Indeed, these end up as photos in a certain way, and therefore can be post-processed (i.e. altered or modified) at will.

The wide availability and the extraordinary quality of photo touch up software have made it very easy to modify the original shot or scan, and at the same time very difficult for the untrained eye to tell the altered copy from the original. In most cases it is simply impossible.

The notion of a digital signature to authenticate a document was theoretically introduced circa 1980, and actual digital signatures have been available and used for a little more than ten years now, mainly in e-mails, especially since such digital messages have been accepted as legal ones. The first to use such authentication systems were, understandably those working in the high finance world and those in the intelligence services.

On a wide scale however, and for the layman or the private consumer, digital signatures remain rarely used and often constitute a rather complex, somewhat cryptic process.

French IT startup KeeeX has recently come up with a software application named Photo Proof. It lets you generate “Certified Pictures”. And yes, the system is meant to be used by the masses not by IT experts only. With Photo Proof any tampering with a photo, for whatever reason, justified or not, for better or for worse, is impossible. Or at least you can tell if what you are looking at is the original or an altered copy.

The system uses a set of digital parameters to achieve its goal. Once taken, the photo is “timestamped and anchored on the Blockchain. The proofs are saved inside the file, as an invisible seal, and will be shared with the picture. The recipient of the picture can check its integrity, authenticity, location, date, author online”. So yes, here comes Blockchain technology again! Photo Proof certainly puts it to good use.

KeeeX has already made Photo Proof available on Google Play and Apple Store and the app is highly rated by those users who have downloaded it. The company claims it wants to let the population “trust digital again”.

Those addicted to personal photo touch up software take heart. Because certifying photos and digitally authenticating the original shots remain personal choices and are nothing mandatory, it will still be possible to make yourself (or someone else) look thinner, taller or younger on a photograph. However, you might find it harder from now on to convince the receiving party that the photo is an unaltered original, given the wide and easy availability of photo authentication software applications.

More than half of the US children may not be getting the recommended amount of physical activity and doctors can help by making exercise one of the “vital signs” assessed in routine health checks, researchers say. 

“We need to start asking children and their parents questions about physical activity on a routine basis. Exercise guidelines for families should be specific, and education about what counts as ‘moderate to vigorous physical activity’ should be included,” said the lead author of a study presented November 3 at the American Academy of Paediatrics annual conference in Orlando, Florida. 

Julie Young, an athletic trainer at Nationwide Children’s Hospital Division of Sports Medicine in Dublin, Ohio and her colleagues reviewed electronic medical records of 7,822 children ages five to 18 in their hospital’s paediatric sports medicine clinic, who were asked about their physical activity by their doctors. One of the researchers’ goals was to understand whether kids were meeting physical activity guidelines. 

They found that 5 per cent of the children were completely inactive, registering zero minutes of exercise per week. Nearly 50 per cent were not active enough to meet guidelines, exercising less than the recommended 420 minutes per week. The remaining 45 per cent of patients were sufficiently active, exercising more than 420 minutes per week. 

Further questioning revealed that even the group getting sufficient physical activity still fell short in one sense. Only about 12 per cent of the active kids, or 5.2 per cent of the total study group, got the recommended 60 minutes of activity each day, while the rest were getting longer bouts of activity on fewer days per week. Exercising longer and for fewer days puts these kids at risk for burnout or repetitive injury, the researchers said in a statement. 

Other notable findings include further evidence that boys exercise more than girls. The boys in this study averaged 61 minutes more exercise per week than girls, and as a result were 39 per cent more likely to meet the guidelines. 

The difference in activity levels between boys and girls was mostly a result of the number of days per week kids participated in physical activity, Young noted. 

Another insight from the study is that physical activity appears to increase with age, with younger kids reporting the least exercise. 

“While paediatricians often ask if children are physically active, many don’t ask specifically if children are meeting current exercise guidelines of 60 minutes on daily physical activity,” Young told Reuters Health in an e-mail. 

“There are vast benefits of physical activity,” she added. “Children who are physically active are more likely to be active as adults — lifelong [physical activity] can decrease risks of common diseases.” 

“To me, the important finding is that older kids are more active,” said Dr William Phillips, who was not involved in the study. “This may be due to the greater availability of school related sports programs which may be less costly than many of the ‘private’ sports leagues/programmes that younger children participate in,” said Phillips, a paediatric orthopaedic surgeon at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston. 

 “Defining a child’s activity level as a ‘vital sign’ is a great way to emphasise its importance,” Phillips said. 

The problem with the garment industry is that they charge you for their label. What is a label? It is this rectangular tag that is sewn onto any piece of clothing that you buy, usually at the back of a dress/shirt or the waistband of the pants/shorts — the two most sensitive places in any individual’s body.

Why do they do that? In practical terms, it marks the ownership of the product, like granting copyright to the apparel, so to speak. But in actual fact, it is to irritate the buyer.

It is almost as if all the fashion houses share a private joke at our expense, literally and figuratively. They persuade us to part with humungous sums of our money and then make us wear outfits that constantly keep reminding us of our folly. Through these prickly little stickers that scratch the back of the neck and waist, that is.

It is not easy to get rid of them, let me tell you. If you have not observed it before, turn the collar of your shirt and examine it right now. You will notice that the bit of cloth, with one end stitched in and the other hanging free, is made of a thicker material than the rest of it. It is also sewed up with extra strong thread. There is no point pulling it too because it never comes off. The buttons, bows and the other embellishments in the blouse might, but the label? Never!

Therefore, in order to dispense with them, one has to cut them off, and that is what is tragic. One pays an exorbitant price for a particular ensemble because of the branded name that is marked on its label, but before wearing it, one is compelled to immediately remove the same. If one does not do so, before long, a severe skin rash definitely appears on the skin because of the irritating chafing of the harsh label, I mean. 

So, the first thing one must do after purchasing a dress is to detach its price tag — however strong the urge is to boast about it, it is simply not polite to publicly display the cost of any item. Immediately after that one should start working on removing the label. This is not as easy as it sounds because, like I mentioned earlier, extra strong thread is utilised to stitch it into the fabric. 

I have tried using the pointy end of safety pins and sewing needles to pull out the stitching but it does not budge from its place. My fingertips have got bloodied in the process but more often than not, the sturdy labels have held on.

Subsequently I bought a pair of tiny clippers for this purpose. These are shaped like shears but have extra sharp edges around them. However, they work like a double-edged sword because if one is not careful whilst using them, the material around the label may get nicked too. And for someone who is incompetent with needlework, that is a doomsday-like scenario scenario. 

Recently I borrowed a shirt from my daughter’s wardrobe. Within minutes of wearing it, the label started pricking my neck.

“Why are you frowning?” asked my husband.

I ignored him. 

“Such a pain in the neck!” I muttered. 

“This shirt is biting me,” I growled loudly. 

“Is it barking as well?” my spouse joked.

“At this precise moment, I can do both,” I threatened.

“Let me get the scissors,” he announced, backing off.

WASHINGTON — What is next for the smartphone, which has become the hottest-selling consumer device around the world in just over a decade?

Even as top makers like Apple and Samsung unveil new handsets with new features and improved performance, smartphone sales have flattened with most major markets largely saturated.

The next catalyst for smartphones could be the possibilities offered by the forthcoming 5G, or fifth generation wireless networks, new form factors or advances in virtual and augmented reality.

But some analysts contend that something entirely different may supplant the smartphone.

Future Today Institute founder Amy Webb said in her annual report on technology trends that 2018 “marks the beginning of the end of traditional smartphones” and sees a transition to a new era of computing and connected devices based on voice, gesture and touch.

“The transition from smartphones to smart wearables and invisible interfaces — earbuds that have biometric sensors and speakers; rings and bracelets that sense motion; smart glasses that record and display information — will forever change how we experience the physical world,” Webb writes.

Other analysts say the smartphone is not disappearing anytime soon, even if the market is pausing.

“The smartphone is not going away, but it might change its shape and form factor,” said David McQueen, an analyst on connected devices for ABI Research. “The smartphone market still has legs for many years to come.”

McQueen said in a recent report that the mobile industry is evolving to devices with more immersive touch-less experiences, fuelled by artificial intelligence, mixed reality and gesture control. New devices may also see improved biometrics such as face recognition and changes such as foldable screens.

Driving innovation

ABI Research says that “Google and Amazon will lead and drive innovation around smartphones and related ecosystems over the next five to six years” because of their strength in these emerging technologies.

Global smartphone sales are expected to decline 0.7 per cent in 2018 to 1.455 billion units, according to research firm IDC. But IDC sees the overall smartphone market to slowly pick up again and reach 1.646 billion units by 2022.

“We still believe the smartphone market has some healthy growth in the years to come, although finding and competing in those markets and segments is increasingly more challenging,” said IDC analyst Ryan Reith.

In the United States, 91 per cent of adults under 50 use a smartphone and 95 per cent of teens have access to one, according to the Pew Research Centre.

Europe had some 465 million mobile subscriptions at the end of 2017, representing 85 per cent of the population, with more than two-thirds of the devices smartphones, according to the mobile operators association GMSA.

Bob O’Donnell, founder of Technalysis Research, said smartphone sales have slowed in the US and some other developed markets as a result of the end of carrier subsidies.

“Because people are paying full price for their phones they are holding on to them longer,” O’Donnell said.

The market may get a boost in 2019 from 5G and a likely appearance of the first devices with foldable or bendable displays, according to O’Donnell.

“People have been talking about [foldable screens] for some time and I think we may finally see the first ones next year,” he said.

“It will be interesting because it opens up the possibility of a larger screen in a smaller device.”

Getting even ‘smarter’

O’Donnell contends that smartphones are still preferred by consumers despite the arrival of new devices like smart speakers from Amazon and Google.

But he said the next innovations are likely to be devices that are even “smarter” than the current generation of handsets, with artificial intelligence that is built in.

“If you have AI chips that are embedded in the device, you will be able to do a lot of things without a network connection,” O’Donnell said.

The analyst said the competition among tech firms is now centring around the smart digital assistants like Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, Apple’s Siri and others.

This is becoming a “battle of power over platforms that could influence the smartphone market,” according to O’Donnell, who noted that some things may change if the dominant player becomes Amazon, which makes a range of devices but not smartphones.

He it remains unclear what kind of device consumers will want, but that “at the end of the day is it going to look a lot like a smartphone”.

LOS ANGELES — “The Grinch” proved it is never too early for some holiday cheer as the animated family flick stole the weekend box office with $67.6 million from 4,141 locations, industry tracker Exhibitor Relations reported on Monday.

Illumination and Universal’s adaptation of the Seuss holiday tale now ranks as the best start for a Christmas film. Fellow new offerings “Overlord” and “The Girl In the Spider’s Web” were not as gleeful, with mediocre debuts of $10 million and $8 million, respectively.

Benedict Cumberbatch voiced the animated green grouch in “The Grinch”, which cost the studio $75 million to make. While it trails the start of Illumination’s latest Dr Seuss story “The Lorax” ($70 million), “The Grinch” should benefit from the holiday corridor.

Though critics gave “Grinch” a mediocre 55 per cent rating on Rotten Tomatoes — with many noting the second big-screen adaptation did not add much to the original 1966 TV special — audiences, for the most part, embraced the movie and gave it an A- CinemaScore. Opening weekend crowds were 53 per cent female and 29 per cent under the age of 12.

Universal’s president of domestic distribution Jim Orr gave a nod to the film’s witty and snarky advertising campaign that played on the Grinch’s cynical humour for buoying opening numbers.

“Our marketing was eye-catching and unique,” Orr said. “It took full advantage of the character. It was purposeful because we knew we had a big property.” Newcomers “The Girl in the Spider’s Web” and “Overlord” were not able to best “Bohemian Rhapsody”. Fox’s Queen biopic showed staying power with a solid $31.2 million in its sophomore frame, representing a drop of just 41 per cent. That brings its 10-day domestic total just shy of $100 million.

Paramount’s “Overlord”, produced by J.J. Abrams, was able to nab third place, opening with opened with $10.2 million from 2,859 theatres.

It has not been all Yuletide joy at the box office. In fourth, Disney’s “The Nutcracker and the Four Realms” slipped over 50 per cent in its second weekend with $10.1 million to bring its domestic total to a disappointing $35 million. The studio is banking on its overseas run to justify the family film’s pricey $125 million budget. Globally, “Nutcracker” has made $96.7 million, including $61.4 million from international.

Another seasonal film, Disney’s “The Nutcracker and the Four Realms”, placed fourth, at $10.1 million. It stars Mackenzie Foy as a young girl who travels to a magic land in search of a key to unlock a gift from her late mother. Keira Knightley, Helen Mirren and Morgan Freeman also star.

Fifth spot went to Warner Bros’s “A Star Is Born,” which earned $8.1 million in its sixth week out. Bradley Cooper, in his directorial debut, plays a hard-drinking musician who has a star-crossed love affair with a talented young singer played by Lady Gaga.

While “Spider’s Web’s” $7.8 million debut was in line with the studio’s projection and not too far behind the start of “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo’s” ($12.7 million), the second film in the Millennium series does not look like it will have the same legs as David Fincher’s original film. Fede Alvarez directed “Spider’s Web,” which was budgeted at $43 million. Co-produced by Columbia, MGM, and New Regency, it cost significantly less to make than “Dragon Tattoo”, however, that film played strong throughout the holiday season and went on to earn a huge $102 million stateside and $230 million worldwide.

“Nobody’s Fool” ($6.6 million), “Venom” ($4.9 million), “Halloween” ($4 million) and “The Hate U Give” ($2.1 million) rounded out the top 10.

Among arthouse releases, Sony’s “The Front Runner” with Hugh Jackman launched in four locations on Tuesday to coincide with the midterm elections and picked up just $76,000 through Sunday.

People who have slightly elevated blood sugar and other early signs of risk for type 2 diabetes may avoid developing the full-blown disease if they start taking medications or make lifestyle changes that are usually used to treat diabetes, researchers say. 

The study team examined data on 422 adults in southern California with slightly elevated blood sugar and an intermediate or high risk for developing diabetes based on how well they make and use insulin. All of the patients were told to make lifestyle changes like modifying their diet and exercise habits; 141 people were also asked to take two types of diabetes drugs, and 81 patients were asked to take three types of diabetes drugs. 

After an average follow-up period of almost three years, the annual rate of transitioning to full diabetes was 4.1 per cent among people who received only lifestyle therapy, and 1.7 per cent in patients on two diabetes drugs, the study found. None of the patients on three diabetes drugs developed diabetes. 

“Our study demonstrates that a personalised preventive strategy based upon physiology combining lifestyle modification and targeted medications can be extremely effective in preventing progression to diabetes,” said lead study author Dr John Armato of the Providence Little Company of Mary Cardiometabolic Centre in Torrance, California. 

“It is always recommended that patients embrace regular exercise, targeted weight loss, limitation of alcohol intake and getting adequate sleep because, if implemented consistently and maintained, this may be all that is needed to restore ideal health,” Armato said by e-mail. 

The study findings also suggest that some patients may want to consider the targeted use of medications in addition to lifestyle changes, Armato added. 

About one in three US adults have slightly elevated blood sugar that is sometimes called “prediabetes” even though it is not high enough to warrant a diabetes diagnosis, researchers note in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology. Roughly one in three of these people will progress to full-blown diabetes within five to seven years, they write. 

In addition to looking at current blood sugar, or glucose, levels, and a signature of long-term glucose levels known as HbA1C, the researchers added measures of risk for progressing to full diabetes based on how well insulin is working to help cells use glucose for energy, and how well insulin-producing cells in the pancreas are functioning. 

All of the patients in the study who were prescribed two medications were given metformin, an older generic diabetes drug that has long been a mainstay of treatment for this disease and another diabetes pill, pioglitazone. 

People taking three medications were given metformin and pioglitazone, as well as a newer injected diabetes drug in a family of medicines that includes exenatide and liraglutide. 

Compared to people who only received lifestyle therapy, patients who took metformin and pioglitazone were 71 per cent less likely to develop diabetes, the study found. 

Patients who took both of those drugs as well as medicines like exenatide or liraglutide were 92 per cent less likely to develop diabetes than those who only received lifestyle therapy. 

One limitation of the study is that people who were given only lifestyle therapy received this treatment because they refused to take medications, so the treatment groups were not random, which might influence the results, the authors note. 

It is also not clear from the study whether medications may have prevented diabetes from developing or helped to manage symptoms in people who did develop diabetes, they add. 

Still, the results add to evidence suggesting that some people without full-blown diabetes may benefit from efforts to lower their blood sugar, Dr Robert Rhyder of Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust City Hospital in the UK writes in an accompanying editorial. 

But not all patients with slightly elevated blood sugar need medication, or three different drugs, to achieve optimal blood sugar levels, Rhyder cautions. 

“Many would consider intervention with three pharmaceutical agents, one of which is an injectable, to be excessive in this population,” Rhyder writes. “However, the complications of type 2 diabetes can be devastating and anything that can be done to avoid diabetes and therefore its complications is worthy of consideration.” 

People who get hugs are less likely to experience a bad mood after a disagreement than those who do not receive this kind of affection, a small study suggests. 

While close personal touch and meaningful social interactions with other people have long been linked to better physical and mental health, much of this research has focused on romantic or family relationships, researchers note in the online journal PLOS ONE. 

The current study focused on adults who were typically not married or in long-term committed relationships and still found a link between simple touch — hugs — and better moods after people experienced conflict. 

For the study, researchers interviewed 404 men and women every night for two weeks about a wide range of activities and interactions they had experienced during the day as well as any positive or negative moods. Just 98 of the participants were married or in what they described as “marriage-like” relationships. 

When people experienced conflicts, they noted a smaller decrease in positive emotions and a smaller increase in negative feelings when they had also received one or more hugs that day, the study found. 

“We were not surprised to find that people who reported receiving a hug appeared to be protected against poorer moods related to experiencing conflict,” said lead study author Michael Murphy of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 

“This finding is consistent with multiple emerging lines of evidence demonstrating the ability of touch-behaviours within close relationships to reduce perceptions of threat and increase feelings of security and well-being,” Murphy said by e-mail. “We were, however, at least somewhat surprised to find that there were no detectable differences between women and men in our study in the extent to which hugs protected against conflict-related negative mood.” 

Overall, participants reported experiencing conflicts on an average of two days during the study; they reported receiving hugs, on average, on almost nine days. 

On any given day, about 10 per cent of participants experienced conflict and also received a hug, the study found. About 4 per cent of participants on any given day experienced conflict but did not get a hug.

Marital status did not appear to influence the connection between hugs and mood. Neither did the amount of social support people perceived in relationships with others.

Although the connection between hugs and mood also looked similar for men and women, women did report more days of conflict and more days of hugs than men.

The study was not a controlled experiment designed to prove whether or how hugs might directly impact mood.

However, social interaction and touch have long been linked to changes in the brain that can have a positive impact on physical and mental health, noted Dr. Guohua Li, director of the Centre for Injury Epidemiology and Prevention at Columbia University in New York City.

“There are multiple plausible mechanisms that may help explain the observed benefits of hugs in reducing conflict-related negative moods, including perceptual, psychological and neurobiological pathways,” Li, who was not involved in the study, said by e-mail.

“It is well known that social interaction and engagement is essential to the long-term survival of all social animals from ants to chimpanzees and is beneficial to mental and physical health for children and older adults,” Li said.

“For infants, gentle and kind personal touch, dubbed as ‘kangaroo care’ is found to have strong therapeutic effects and facilitate positive neurodevelopmental and behavioural outcomes,” Li added. “This study indicates that the health benefits of social interaction and engagement, in the form of hugs, also apply to young and middle-aged adults.”

Depending on how one looks at it, modern car makers are either diversifying or diluting their model ranges. Offering more choice than ever, modern cars also share more parts than ever and try to cover as much ground as possible rather than offering a core line-up to define a brand.

Among such manufacturers, Mercedes-Benz now catering to just about any and every car niche one can think of. And among the most niche of these is the Mercedes-AMG GLE43 Coupe.

New niches

In a veritable alphanumeric soup of numbers and letters, the Mercedes-AMG GLE43 Coupe is a derivative of the SUV formerly known as the ML-Class. A sporty, entry-level high performance road-oriented SUV, the GLE Coupe sports a fashionably low so-called “four-door coupe” cabin that is more practical than a two-door but less than the regular GLE-Class’ traditional SUV body style. Powered by a new engine, the GLE43 less extreme V6 engine bridges the performance gap between regular Mercedes GLE models and the full fat AMG GLE63.

Tall riding and with a high waistline, the GLE43 Coupe has a distinctly bottom-heavy and wide stance that is accentuated by its huge 275/45R21 front and 315/40R21 rear tyres, and smoothly and arcing roofline and short glasshouse cabin. Arrogant yet with elegant lines, the GLE43 Coupe is not as classically handsome as its traditional SUV body sister model, and uses huge front side intakes, ridged side character lines and more details at the rear to add feature to its tall flanks and front and rear fascia.

Junior brute 

Under its muscular bonnet and behind its snouty single-slat grille with big tri-star emblem, the GLE43 Coupe is powered by Mercedes’ twin-turbocharged 3-litre direct injection V6-engine, as reworked for high performance service by the brand’s in-house AMG skunkworks division. Different in character and delivery to AMG’s brutishly bellowing, brawnier and bigger V8 engine, the GLE43’s V6 seems more eager to rev and delivers its best efforts higher up in the rev range in an urgently progressive manner. Smaller in displacement, fuel efficiency is also more restrained at 9.8l/100km, combined.

Responsive from idling owing to quick boosting turbos, the GLE43 Coupe produces 362BHP at a 5,500-6,000rpm plateau and 383lb/ft torque throughout a broad, versatile and accessible 1,200-4,000rpm range. Not one wanting for more power or torque, the GLE43 is plenty quick with a responsive mid-range and is able to accelerate from standstill to 100km/h in 5.7-seconds and onto 250km/h. However, the GLE43’s 2.2-tonne weight seems to slightly blunt the edge off its engine’s zesty delivery when driven back to back with a lighter, lower and zippier Mercedes-AMG C43.

Settled and stable 

Driving all four wheels through a smooth and slick-shifting 9-speed automatic gearbox, the GLE43 Coupe has tenacious grip traction off the line. With staggered tyre sizes to improve steering accuracy in front and to generate high levels of grip at the rear, the GLE43 Coupe is confident, reassuring and committed through corners. Direct and with good meaty weighting at speed, the GLE43 Coupe’s steering is precise but lacks the intimate, nuanced feel and feedback of a lighter and sportier car. Brakes meanwhile were faithfully reassuring.

Committed through corners and tidy on turn-in and through for a high riding and heavy SUV, the GLE43 Coupe’s weight and height become more apparent when driven on track after driving the Mercedes-AMG C43, and while agile next to most competitors, the GLE43 lacks the Audi Q8’s sublime optional four-wheel-steering and the agility enabled by it. Manoeuvrable and balanced nonetheless, the GL443’s body lean through corners is minimised and kept well in check by its taut yet forgiving adaptive dampers.

Fast fastback 

Driven on a smooth surfaced track, the GLE43 Coupe felt comfortable and with refinement, but one expects that its low profile tyres and 21-inch alloy wheels might feel firm over jagged bumps and cracks at medium speeds, but that its adaptive dampers would take the edge off more common road imperfections. Well-insulated, refined and quiet inside, the GLE43 Coupe feels like the up-market sports SUV it is, while at high speed it remained as stable, settled and reassuring as one expects from the Stuttgart tri-star brand.

With a good, supportive and well-adjustable driving position one feels well-ensconed behind the GLE43 Coupe’s thick sporty steering wheel and within its high waistline. And while front visibility is good, the GLE’s small glasshouse reduces rear and rear-side visibility compared to the regular GLE SUV, but driver assistance systems and a reversing camera help mitigate this. Stylish, well-laid out and equipped and finished with quality materials inside, the GLE43 Coupe’s rakish roofline reduces rear headroom compared to the non-coupe GLE, and while it looks similar to a saloon from outside, its lift-back tailgate provides good access to its generous boot.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

• Engine: 3-litre, twin-turbocharged, in-line V6-cylinders
• Valve-train: 24-valve, DOHC, direct injection
• Gearbox: 9-speed automatic, four-wheel-drive
• Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 362 (367) [270] @5,500-6,000rpm
• Specific power: 120.8BHP/litre
• Power-to-weight: 161.6BHP/tonne
• Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 383.5 (520) @1,200-4,000rpm
• Specific torque: 173.5Nm/litre
• Torque-to-weight: 232Nm/tonne
• 0-100km/h: 5.7-seconds
• Maximum speed: 250km/h
• Fuel consumption, urban/ extra-urban/ combined: 12.3-/8.4-/9.8-litres/100km
• CO2 emissions, combined: 225g/km
• Fuel tank: 93-litres
• Length: 4,900mm
• Width: 2,003mm
• Height: 1,731mm
• Wheelbase: 2,915mm
• Track, F/R: 1,658/1,725mm
• Overhang, F/R: 897/1,088mm
• Headroom, F/R: 1,020/959mm
• Shoulder room, F/R: 1,485/1,482mm
• Loading height: 931mm
• Boot capacity, min/max: 650-/1,720-litres
• Cargo capacity: 660kg
• Unladen weight: 2240kg
• Steering: Electric-assisted, rack and pinion
• Turning circle: 11.8-metres
• Suspension: MacPherson struts/Multi-link, 
• adjustable damping
• Brakes: Ventilated discs
• Tyres, F/R: 275/45R21/315/40R21

Clinical Dietician

Some of our poor food choices have the ability to reduce testosterone, diminish sex drive, reduce sensitivity, alter sperm production and increase the risk of prostate cancer. Luckily, healthier food choices can achieve the opposite.

Healthy weight

I know many men who eat as though they have a stomach of steal. But the truth is, overweight and obese men, especially those with waist circumference larger than 101 centimetres are more likely to have erectile dysfunction and reduced sperm count.

The unhealthy fat in the belly (medically known as visceral fat) is the major reason for blocking blood vessels and even the tiny vessels in the penis. Without blood circulation, you might suffer from erectile dysfunction. Excess abdominal fat not only reduces testosterone production, but is also associated with a rise in the female hormone estradiol in men.

Recommendations: Try to cut out fast food, greasy food and pre-prepared meals as they are usually rich in transfats, refined simple sugars and low in essential vitamins and minerals. These types of food are a major cause of visceral fat and an abnormal sperm production. I do appreciate that you are working long hours and have full schedules, but remember to invest in your own health as it will be your source of happiness and your peace of mind. 

I know many men are busy at work and depend mostly on their spouses or mothers to prepare their meals and snacks, but I think it is time for you to start getting involved in preparing your own meals and snacks.

Preparing healthy dishes is easy and usually does not take time. Here are some tips: 

Best animal sources

Eating less red meat and more seafood is the general recommendation these days. Seafood, especially oily fish (salmon, tuna, mackerel and even sardines), is rich in zinc, Omega-3, L-carnitine and L-arginine (L-arginine is an amino acid important for building up proteins and improve blood flow). Zinc is important for sperm production and enhancing the count. Omega-3 can prevent plaque build-up, especially in your arteries, thus improving blood flow throughout your body. Oysters, lobster and mussels are known to be an aphrodisiac, are rich in selenium and other essential elements for sperm production and speed. If you are not a seafood fan, another great source for zinc is grilled non-smoked turkey.

Best plant choices

Fruits and vegetables have amazing benefits for most health problems because they are rich in vitamins and minerals, especially the dark green leafy varieties (folic acid, magnesium and zinc in addition to beta-Carotene, a precursor for vitamin A).

Deficiencies in vitamin A are a common cause of low fertility because a lack of vitamin A plays a role in the speed of sperms. Broccoli is a very rich source of vitamin A and C as are red peppers, spinach, apricots, sweet potatoes and carrots. Asparagus is another weapon against those nasty free radicals. It is also packed with vitamin C, which protects sperm from damage and increases its motility and volume so you will have more active sperms and they will move faster.

Bananas and pineapples have been found to increase both male and female libido and regulate sex hormones because of an enzyme called bromelain. They are also full of vitamins C, A and B1 which will boost sperm production.

Tomatoes contain a powerful antioxidant called lycopene that may help prevent prostate cancer as well as reduce tumour growth among men with prostate cancer. Some research showed that men who ate more tomatoes and tomato based products (raw or cooked) may be less likely to develop prostate cancer and that is because of Lycopene which may decrease cell damage and slow cancer cell production. But because lycopene is tightly bound to the plant cell walls, our bodies have a difficult time extracting it from raw tomatoes so the more cooked the better. Cooked tomatoes can be found in tomato paste, sauce, soup and even ketchup.

Best choices of nuts and seeds

Seeds and nuts, such as walnuts, peanuts, pecan, hazelnut, pumpkin, sunflower and black seeds are all very rich in zinc, and L-arginine (an amino acid that helps the body to build proteins). Although they help improve blood flow, you have to be careful not to go overboard with eating nuts to avoid weight gain! Note that taking L-arginine supplements can cause an allergic reaction or worsen asthma in some people and can also lower blood pressure.

Best choices of herbs

Turmeric and saffron are a natural antioxidant that can improve your immune system and reduce inflammation, especially in the genitals. Chilli pepper enhances blood flow while the aphrodisiac root of ginkgo biloba has been used to treat infertility for hundreds of years. It boosts levels of testosterone and increases blood flow, with some claiming that it can also treat erectile dysfunction. Drink tea with ginseng, mix it in your honey or even add some to your thyme.

Be and feel your best with the help of good nutrition. Another perk? You can now make a happy wife for a happy life! 

Reprinted with permission from Family Flavours magazine

Abu Samra Is Angry: Short Stories

Janset Berkok Shami

Istanbul: Cinius Yayinlari, 2018

Pp. 268

Peopled with unusual, often idiosyncratic, characters and vibrantly described scenes, Janset Shami’s short stories are a delight to read but not because they necessarily give a rosy outlook on life. On the contrary, Shami often delves into the dark side of things, exploring people’s obsessions and unspoken motives. But whether written in an optimistic or pessimistic tone, all her stories are told from an unexpected angle which captures the reader’s imagination.

This book is the second collection of Shami’s short stories to be published in English. It contains eighteen of her tales written at different times in the course of her almost six-decades-long writing career. The volume is especially attractive as the cover displays a painting by Jordanian artist Riham Ghassib, depicting the traditional foods and popular activities of a large, open-air, Ramadan iftar. The painting is referred to in a story titled “Abu Samra Is Angry” which gives the collection its name. Ironically, in contrast to the painting’s subject matter, this story is about a man who has worked so hard to be “a thoroughly modern man” that he has lost all connection to his Arab heritage and to happiness as well. 

“Abu Samra Is Angry” is told in the first person, as are over half of the stories. This narrative style gives the reader access to the character’s mind, and many of them are quite introspective, questioning not only others’ actions but their own. Such introspection is not always productive however. The young man in one story thinks carefully over everything he does, big and small, but is ill-prepared to make the most important decision in his life.

The stories are set in a variety of places: Two are in Turkey where the author grew up. Three “have no country” as she says in the preface. The rest are set in the Middle East, mainly Jordan, moving from refugee camps and modest neighbourhoods to middle class and wealthy homes in Amman and Irbid. About half the stories involve Palestine, mainly via displaced Palestinians living in Jordan and their offspring. One story is set in Nablus and considers the psychological effects of living in a place where death is ever-present, and where one’s killer, if Israeli, would never be held accountable.

The stories are short but not simple. The themes are varied, and most of the stories touch on more than one theme. Conflicted family dynamics are at the heart of several stories. In one, a young girl discovers the depth of her parents’ incompatibility in the run-up to her younger brother’s circumcision, making her question the whole idea of marriage and parenthood. Friction in other stories is caused by a man in the family having married a foreigner who does not adapt to life in Jordan, but most often marriage problems are seen as caused by the husband’s lack of consideration or real interest in his wife. 

There are, however, happy families, such as the mother who creates marionettes with her children and the full support of her husband, perhaps reflecting Shami’s own experience with the marionette show she presented on Jordan Television for many years. There are also shining examples of families who love and care for each other, such as the story where a blind girl suggests to the blind man she loves that he marry her sighted sister instead, since they would better manage one of them could see, and her sister would be better off because he is from a wealthy family. 

Several stories address how people deal with tragedy, how they fare when trying to cross class boundaries, or the masks they wear for various purposes. Many stories convey local customs, or recreate the scenery of old neighbourhoods of Amman, which are no longer the same, giving these stories a kind of nostalgia which they may not have had when written. The conflicts in the stories are not always black-and-white; some characters’ motives remain murky; and many stories end in an ambiguous way, leaving readers to draw their own conclusions.

Shami’s style is distinctive, and her imagery is original and sometimes jolting. At a fateful wedding, the bride compares the cake to a rocket: “It might take off and carry away our wedding vows.” (p. 229)

There is lots of personification as objects come alive in Shami’s charming descriptions. Emotions are described in visceral terms, as when one character describes facing a potentially humiliating situation: “Some organs inside me switched positions. They went sideways, then turned upside down. That upheaval made the decision for me.” (p. 243-4)

Taking her inspiration from real life and ordinary people — if such a species exists, Shami digs below the surface to unearth the psychology behind human behaviour. By slightly heightening or exaggerating reality and describing it in vivid language, she creates stories that are both fantastic and credible, which is no small feat.