Women going online to meet sexual partners

Women aged 40 and above are just as likely as younger women to meet new sexual partners on the internet, according to a new Australian survey.

Nearly 45 per cent of the middle aged women agreed to ensnare at least one new lover in a year.

According to study leader Deborah Bateson, a senior medical coordinator at Family Planning NSW, the internet ''seems to be a very useful place for them ... It''s great that older women are out there meeting new partners."

She conducted the research to see whether 40-pluses were able to negotiate safe sex as effectively as their younger counterparts.

''Three-quarters [of sexually transmitted infections] are detected in people aged under 29, but there''s also an increase in women aged 40 and above ... entering or re-entering the dating market, perhaps after the end of a long-term relationship,'' the Sydney Morning Herald quoted Bateson as saying.

For the survey, an online dating site RSVP, owned by the Herald's publisher, Fairfax Media, sent an email to female participants, directing them to Bateson's survey site.

The findings revealed that older women were more forthright in insisting on knowing a new partner's sexual history.

Nearly 59 per cent of the over-40s would ask about previous partners, versus 43 per cent of the younger women, with a similar discrepancy in willingness to ask about intravenous drug use.

''''The older women seemed to benefit from the maturity of years and asked those potentially tricky questions,'''' said Bateson.

However, 37 per cent of the older women were more likely to agree to sex without a condom, compared to 28 per cent of younger women.

The findings were presented at 2009 Australasian Sexual Health Conference in Brisbane.

Oldest surviving Bible Goes online

The oldest surviving Christian Bible has been launched on the Internet, thanks to a painstaking conservation project involving institutions in the UK, Germany, Egypt, and Russia.

High-resolution digital images of the pages in the fourth-century book, considered to be one of the most important texts in the world, have been created to view online.

Scholars will be able to view about half of the 1,600-year-old Codex Sinaiticus, meaning The Sinai Book, in one place for the first time since the manuscript has its home in four different libraries across the globe.

Dr Scot McKendrick, head of Western manuscripts at the British Library, said that the wide availability of the document would boost many research opportunities.

"The Codex Sinaiticus is one of the world's greatest written treasures. This 1,600-year-old manuscript offers a window into the development of early Christianity and first-hand evidence of how the text of the Bible was transmitted from generation to generation," the Scotsman quoted him as saying.

He added: "The availability of the virtual manuscript for study by scholars around the world creates opportunities for collaborative research that would not have been possible just a few years ago."

Edinburgh University’s Professor Timothy Lim, an expert on biblical manuscripts including the Dead Sea Scrolls, also said: "Gathering all the parts together will allow people to talk about it as a whole and learn more about it and improve speed of access. The actual pages are not that difficult to read so now if you are holding a lecture, you can display a page and examine it there and then."

The British Library has also put an exhibition running until September 7 to mark the online launch of the manuscript that contains the oldest complete New Testament, and one of the oldest Greek translations of the parts of the Old Testament.

ANI

Jackson virus and Spam online

Security researchers warned of the increasing levels of viruses and spam using Jackson's name to snare unsuspecting users.

One e-mail carries the subject line "Remembering Michael Jackson" was circulating with a worm in tow. The e-mail has a zip file attached that infects victims if downloaded.

"The e-mail says that the attached ZIP file contains secret songs and photos of Michael Jackson," Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos, wrote on a blog. "However, the reality is that opening the attachment exposes you to infection - and if your computer is hit you will be spreading the worm onto other Internet users."

Cluley said that the malware also spreads via USB memory sticks. Another e-mail promises an exclusive look at a YouTube video of the "last work of Michael Jackson," but instead installs a malicious program that steals passwords