shellybelly
10-12-06, 08:29 PM
EVEN IF THEY'RE IN SEARING PAIN, MEN WILL WAIT UNTIL THE GAME'S OVER TO GO TO THE E.R.
We American sports fans may not be as CRAZY as soccer fans. . . like, we wouldn't KILL a guy if he blew a game. . . but I'll promise you this: We're still pretty freakin' insane.
Check this out: Dr. David Jerrard, a physician in the University of Maryland hospital's emergency room, tracked about 800 regular season college football, pro football and baseball games in the state over three years. . . and ER visits during and after the games.
What he found: There was ALWAYS an increase in the number of men who checked into the ER AFTER the games were over.
His conclusion: Some men will actually IGNORE their pain and their medical emergencies to see the end of a game.
It happened most often with football. . . after a big college football game, there would be a 75% increase in men in the ER. . . the end of a pro football game led to a 50% increase. . . and the end of a baseball game brought a 30% to 40% increase. (Broadcasting & Cable / Washington Post)
A WOMAN VISITS HER FRIEND IN JAIL. . . AND GETS BUSTED FOR TRYING TO PASS ON A BURRITO FILLED WITH HEROIN
On Tuesday, 42-year-old Rosemary Gonzales of La Madera, New Mexico, went to visit a female friend of hers, who's locked up at the Rio Arriba County jail. And Rosemary brought along a gift: A large BURRITO.
What she didn't know: The guards would search through the burrito, just to make sure there wasn't any contraband inside.
And, when they opened the burrito. . . the cops found a goldmine: Rosemary had PACKED the thing with HEROIN.
They might not've noticed the heroin. . . perhaps mistaking it for carne asada?. . . but when they unwrapped the burrito even more, they found that Rosemary had also put a HYPODERMIC NEEDLE inside.
Rosemary was charged with bringing contraband into a place of imprisonment. . . so they took her out of the visitor's area. . . and locked her up. She's still there; her bond is $5,000, cash only. (Santa Fe New Mexican)
THE AVERAGE U.S. COMPANY IS CURRENTLY FACING 305 LAWSUITS
Look, I'm all about sticking it to The Man. . . but can't we TRY to stick it to him WITHOUT tens of thousands of frivolous lawsuits that clog up our legal system and waste billions of dollars and hours?
This is pretty INCREDIBLE: According to a survey by the international law firm Fulbright and Jaworski, the average U.S. company is currently facing 305 pending lawsuits.
For companies with $1 BILLION or more in gross annual revenue, that goes up to 556 PENDING LAWSUITS. Half of those companies say they're seeing about 50 NEW lawsuits every year.
For companies with less than $100 MILLION in revenue, that drops down to NINE pending lawsuits.
The average company now spends 71% of their legal budget on these lawsuits.
Almost 40% of the companies that responded to the survey say they've had at least one $20 MILLION lawsuit filed against them during the past year. (Business Wire)
A TOOL FOR ELEPHANT VASECTOMIES IS DEVELOPED. . . BY DISNEY?
Want to know what some of the best creative minds at Disney are working on? We have your answer: ELEPHANT VASECTOMIES!
Mark Stetter, the head veterinarian at Walt Disney World's Animal Kingdom, has created a new five-foot tool that can sterilize a male elephant. . . which, it turns out, is an EXTREMELY difficult thing to do.
Before we get into the ins-and-outs of the elephant vasectomy technique. . . and you KNOW we WILL. . . you're probably wondering: Why would we want to sterilize elephants? Since they're endangered. . . wouldn't we WANT them humpin' around?
Turns out, that's what we Americans THINK. . . but in some parts of Africa, they actually have an overpopulation problem with elephants. An elephant eats up to 600 pounds of vegetation a day. . . so, when several elephants live in an area, they DESTROY the environment.
Now. . . back to what it takes to castrate an elephant. It's tough because elephant testes are behind two inches of skin, a foot of muscle and four inches of fat.
And, both testes, according to Stetter, are the size of "respectable cantaloupes."
So, for a vasectomy, "What we want to do is get to the middle of something that's in that semi-truck, and we want to do it without emptying out everything that's in the truck."
Step one is to hit the elephant with a tranq dart. . . and then prop him up with a crane truck so he can sleep standing up.
Then, the doctors guide Stetter's five-foot metal tool past all the fat, muscle and skin obstacles, using a camera and a video monitor. . . and finally, once it's in position, they snip him.
The whole thing takes two hours and, so far, none of the elephants have shown any post-op complications. (CBS News)
GOOD HUMOR IS MAKING ICE CREAM SANDWICHES FOR DOGS
Most dogs are lactose intolerant and can't eat ice cream. . . so, I'd guess, NONE of them crave it like my beloved delicious chubbies do. But that's not stopping the people at Good Humor.
They've teamed with Pedigree dog food to produce lactose-free ice cream sandwiches FOR DOGS. Once they're made, they'll sell in packages of 24, for $3.99. There's no word on when they might hit the market. (Forbes)
IS CURSIVE WRITING BECOMING OBSOLETE?
You remember all those hours of TORTURE in grade school when you were learning to write in cursive? Well. . . turns out. . . they were a COMPLETE WASTE OF TIME.
At this point, cursive is damn near obsolete.
As part of the new SAT's. . . they've added a handwritten essay section. And of the 1.5 MILLION students that took the exam this year. . . only 15% of them wrote their essays in cursive.
The rest printed their answers in block letters.
But it's not necessarily their fault that they don't know cursive. On average, elementary school teachers are only spending 10 minutes a day. . . or less. . . teaching their students handwriting. The reason:
At this point, almost EVERYTHING is typed. . . and by the time today's grade school kids are in college and out in the workplace, then EVERYTHING will be typed. . . so teaching them cursive is really unnecessary. (ABC News)
A WOMAN OFFERS UP HER FOUR-YEAR-OLD SON AS COLLATERAL FOR A WEDDING DRESS
You know how PSYCHOTIC normal women get over finding the perfect wedding dress? Well, now we have proof of what happens when a woman who's ALREADY psychotic gets EVEN MORE PSYCHOTIC over one.
Last month, 31-year-old Marcy Gant of Davenport, Iowa. . . who's been getting treatments at the Vera French Mental Health Center in Davenport. . . bought a wedding dress from a street vendor. And since she couldn't afford it. . . she was paying for it in installments.
It got to the point where all she owed was $200. . . but Marcy didn't have the money. So instead. . . she offered the retailer some collateral: Her FOUR-YEAR-OLD SON.
At the time Marcy offered up her son. . . he wasn't in her custody. Nor was her other son. . . who is 10 years old. Human Services had taken them both away from her "because of her behavior".
Fortunately, the street vendor tipped off Human Services about Marcy offering up her CHILD. . . and they called the cops.
Marcy's been charged with one count of purchase or sale of an individual. . . which is a law dating back to the ABOLITION OF SLAVERY. . . and if she's convicted, she could get up to 10 years in prison. (Quad City Times)
WHO KNEW? 85% OF MEN SAY FAKE BREASTS ARE A MAJOR TURN OFF
Ladies. . . if you're thinking about getting IMPLANTS to attract the guys. . . you might wanna reconsider. According to a poll by British magazine "More", 85% of dudes ages 18 to 34 say they HATE fake breasts, and they think they're a "complete turn-off". Now you know. (Yorkshire Post)
THIS YEAR'S VICTORIA'S SECRET "FANTASY BRA" WAS DESIGNED TO BE. . . COMFORTABLE
Victoria's Secret has just made an EARTH-SHATTERING observation: If someone's gonna pay $6.5 MILLION for a bra. . . they'll PROBABLY want it to be comfortable.
Or at least AS COMFORTABLE as an undergarment made from diamonds and metal can be.
In case you didn't know, every year, Victoria's Secret unveils their new FANTASY BRA. . . which is a ridiculously expensive, disgustingly bejeweled bra that I can't imagine anyone ever BUYS, let alone wears.
This year's Fantasy Bra. . . dubbed "Hearts on Fire". . . has more than 2,000 ROUND diamonds embroidered onto it. It'll be available in this year's Victoria's Secret's Christmas catalog which comes out next week.
Model Karolina Kurkova. . . who got to model the bra for the catalog. . . says, "[It's] very sexy and very comfortable, and it doesn't dig in."
FOLLOW-UP: THE WOMAN WHO SWUNG HER NEWBORN AT HER BOYFRIEND CLAIMS IT WAS AN ACCIDENT. . . SHE JUST GRABBED WHATEVER SHE COULD
Yesterday, we told you about 27-year-old Chytoria Graham of Erie, Pennsylvania. . . the woman who was having a fight with her boyfriend. . . and ended up using her FOUR-MONTH-OLD SON as a weapon.
Chytoria swung her newborn, Jarron Troop, at her boyfriend, 20-year-old Deangelo Troop. . . and made contact. That ended up causing SEVERE head injuries to the baby. . . he was airlifted to a hospital in Pittsburgh where he's still in serious but stable condition.
Well. . . now, Chytoria has come out to say it was all an ACCIDENT. She didn't mean to use Jarron as a weapon.
According to Chytoria, she had been drinking. . . her and Deangelo started arguing. . . and she just "snapped." So, she started grabbing whatever she could, and throwing it at Deangelo. And. . . one of the things within reach was Jarron.
She also says that after she hit Deangelo with Jarron, Deangelo punched her in the face.
Deangelo is Jarron's father, and the father of one of Chytoria's other four children. All four of those children were removed from the house. Her parents were granted temporary custody.
Chytoria's still in jail on charges of aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and simple assault. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
FOLLOW-UP: THE RUNAWAY BRIDE SUES HER EX-FIANCÉ FOR THE MONEY HE GOT BY SELLING HER STORY
Last year, we told you all about 33-year-old JENNIFER WILBANKS of Duluth, Georgia. . . she's that RUNAWAY BRIDE woman who skipped out on her fiancé four days before their wedding in April 2005.
After hundreds of volunteers searched for her. . . and she decided to come home. . . she made up a story that a Hispanic guy had kidnapped and sexually assaulted her. The cops proved that wasn't true. . . and she admitted she'd just gotten cold feet.
Anyway, back then, we PLEADED with the dude, 33-year-old John Mason, to GROW A PAIR and DUMP HER. . . instead of standing by her like he did. And he did finally dump her. . . more than ONE YEAR LATER. . . back in May of this year.
At that point, John had already sold the rights to their story to Regan Media for $500,000. He used that to buy a house, where they lived together. . . until he dumped her.
And now. . . Jennifer actually had the cojones to SUE HIM. She's filed a lawsuit seeking $250,000, as her share of the money that John got for selling the story.
She's also seeking another $250,000 in punitive damages because, she says, John abused the power of attorney she granted him for handling their financial affairs.
And, she's also looking to get back some personal property, including a gold-colored sofa, a new vacuum cleaner and some wedding shower gifts. John has until one week from today to respond to the lawsuit. (MSNBC / New York Post / Washington Post)
TWO GUYS ROBBED A MCDONALD'S. . . BUT THEY WERE ONLY AFTER CUPS WITH MONOPOLY GAME PIECES ON THEM
McDonald's is running one of its Monopoly game promotions right now. . . in case you don't know what that is, they put Monopoly game pieces on their cups and fry packs and some sandwich wrappers, and if you get the right pieces, you can win big cash.
Of course, the odds are INSANE. . . your odds of even winning $500 are one in 13,285,989. . . and your odds of winning the top prize, $5 MILLION, are one in 41,497,391,309. The odds of winning tens of millions in the Powerball lottery are one in 146,107,962.
But no one really realizes that. . . so people are going McDonald's Monopoly CRAZY. The two biggest examples: Robert Kern the Third of Long Green, Maryland, and David Bivens of Indiana, Pennsylvania.
Early Sunday morning, the two of them busted into a McDonald's in Indiana, Pennsylvania. . . and announced they were ROBBING the place. But they didn't go for the cash register. . . they went for the STACK OF CUPS with Monopoly game pieces on them!
The employees weren't having that. . . so they TACKLED Robert and David, and waited for the cops to come.
Robert is facing theft and underage drinking charges; David is facing a criminal conspiracy charge. (CBS 2 - Pittsburgh)
THE MASSIVE BULGE IN A MAN'S PANTS LEADS TO HIM GETTING BUSTED FOR CRACK
Here's more proof that CRACK DON'T SMOKE ITSELF! On Sunday, deputies in Decatur, Georgia, saw a 1989 white Oldsmobile Eighty Eight doing 90 on the freeway and changing lanes without a signal. . . so they pulled the car over.
The three people in the car were acting strange. . . one guy said they were going to an AQUARIUM in Chattanooga, Tennessee. . . which was 120 miles away. . . and that made the cops SUSPICIOUS. So, they asked the three people to get out of the car.
And when 36-year-old Willie Davis Junior of Decatur stepped out, all the cops spotted the same thing: A HUGE BULGE in his crotch.
At this point, we'd like to quote the Cartersville, Georgia, "Daily Tribune News", for their description of what happened. "One deputy then poked Willie Davis in the zipper area and was able to feel a hard object in his pants."
They asked Willie to hand over the object and he did: It was a big bag of CRACK.
At that point, Willie got NOBLE. . . he told the cops the crack was all his. . . and he begged them not to arrest the other two people in the car: The driver, 36-year-old Archie Wyatt and the backseat passenger, 37-year-old Khisha Johnson.
The problem was, after the cops got the crack, they searched the car and found marijuana and an open Seagram's Peach Fuzzy Navel wine cooler. All three ended up getting arrested on drug charges. (Cartersville Daily Tribune News)
A MICHIGAN COUNTY MISPRINTS THEIR BALLOTS. . . IN THE MIDDLE OF A VERY SERIOUS RACE INITIATIVE, IT SAYS "PUBIC" INSTEAD OF "PUBLIC"
There's an extremely controversial item on the November 7th ballots in Michigan. . . the people there will be voting on a state constitutional amendment that would BAN affirmative action in the state.
But we're not talking about it because of its social relevance. No, we're talking about it because one county made a FANTASTIC, SEXY misprint on their ballots, right in the middle of the text about this intensely serious issue.
Ottawa County, Michigan, in the west, central part of the state, printed up 170,000 ballots. . . where, in the middle of the text about the anti-affirmative action amendment, instead of writing "public", they wrote "pubic".
Looking at the official wording on the ballot, the word "public" appears six times. . . the county hasn't said WHICH "public" was misspelled.
The Ottawa higher-ups decided to REPRINT all 170,000 ballots, which'll run them around $40,000.
County Clerk Daniel Krueger says he's not sure how the typo happened, "We had about five or six people proofread it. It's just one of those words." (Grand Haven Tribune / MichiganCivilRights.org)
NEXT TIME THERE'S A NATURAL DISASTER, YOUR STATE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR MAKING SURE YOUR PET IS OK
Next time there's a natural disaster, the government MAY leave you stranded on your rooftop for a week. . . but you'll be happy to know that your PET DOG will be safe.
PRESIDENT BUSH has signed a new law that REQUIRES states to help EVACUATE PETS during a natural disaster, like a hurricane or an earthquake. . . or the states could lose federal funding.
Congress passed the bill as a response to the 50,000 or so pets that were stranded during Hurricane Katrina. . . and left to DIE, alone, when the rescue agencies enforced a "no pets" policy as part of their evacuations.
The law also authorizes FEMA to provide extra money to create pet-friendly relief shelters.
Representative TOM LANTOS, a Democrat from California, proposed the law. He says, "People victimized by disasters should not suffer needless additional injury by having to abandon their household pets or service animals to their fate." (San Francisco Chronicle)
WHAT HALLOWEEN CANDY ARE PARENTS MOST LIKELY TO STEAL FROM THEIR KIDS?
Every Halloween, kids around the country come home with huge sacks of candy. . . their parents say "you can eat a few, but not too many, you'll have nightmares". . . then, the parents send the kids to bed. . . and HARVEST the good stuff out of the sacks.
According to a survey by "Hallmark" magazine, the candy that parents are MOST likely to steal from their kids' Halloween bags are, in order: Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. . . Almond Joys. . . Snickers. . . Butterfingers. . . and Kit Kats. Now you know. (Hallmark Magazine)
WOMEN DRESS IN THEIR FINEST SKANK WEAR WHEN THEY'RE MOST FERTILE
We've got an important warning for men today, so LISTEN UP.
Next time you see a woman dressed like straight-up SKANK MEAT. . . I'm talking see-through shirt, short skirt, all that. . . it's not because she wants some casual sex. . . it's 'cause she wants to get KNOCKED UP.
And she doesn't even KNOW IT. When she's at her most fertile point, it's her biological instinct to HO IT UP.
Some researchers from University of California in Los Angeles asked 30 female students to come to their lab for a test. . . but they didn't tell them what the experiment was for.
They used basic urine tests to tell when the women were ovulating. . . that happens around the 15th day of the menstrual cycle, and it's when a woman's most fertile. Then, they had the women come back to repeat the test several times over a month-long period.
What they found: When the women were ovulating. . . and most fertile. . . that's when they dressed the SEXIEST.
Martie Haselton, the psych expert at UCLA who led the study, says, "They tended to put on skirts instead of pants, show more skin and generally dress more fashionably."
And, she says, it's important to remember the women don't dress up ON PURPOSE. . . it's completely their biological instinct to reproduce. . . which tells their brains to dress more attractively when they're most fertile. (Yahoo News)
41% OF WOMEN THINK IF A GUY DANCES CLOSELY WITH ANOTHER WOMAN. . . HE'S CHEATING
We all know that you're cheating on your girlfriend if you have relations with another woman. But is it cheating if you DANCE with another woman??? Get a lap dance? Have cybersex?
The people at AskMen.com just finished up a survey where they asked women what constitutes cheating. Here's what they found. . .
. . . 41% of women think DANCING CLOSELY with another woman constitutes cheating.
. . . 35% say that FLIRTING provocatively with another woman is cheating.
. . . 79% of women think it's cheating if a guy gets a lap dance at a strip club.
. . . 36% of women think that CONFIDING in other women is cheating.
. . . 80% of women think having cyber relations is cheating.
. . . And finally. . . if you have any sort of naughty CONTACT with another woman. . . 100% of women think it's cheating. (Askmen.com)
80% OF DIVORCE LAWYERS SAY THE NUMBER OF COUPLES GETTING PRENUPS IS GOING UP
KANYE WEST told all of us to watch out for gold diggers. . . and told us to holler "WE WANT PRENUP." And, apparently, these days, men all over this country are taking Kanye's advice. . . and hollering back: "WE WANT PRENUP, YEAH."
According to a survey of American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyer (AAML) members. . . 80% of lawyers say they've seen an increase in prenups over the past FIVE years.
65% of lawyers say prenups are most often sought by people ages 40 to 60 years old.
Cheryl Lynn Hepfer, the president of the AAML, says, "A married couple hopes never to have to enforce the terms of a prenup, but they also realize divorce proceedings could be much more unpleasant without such an agreement in place."
One other finding from the survey: 31% of the divorce lawyers say that they've had a couple put a clause into their prenup about who gets to keep the FAMILY PET if they split up. (Yahoo! Business)
A WOMAN IN PENNSYLVANIA ATTACKS HER BOYFRIEND BY HITTING HIM WITH. . . HER FOUR-WEEK-OLD BABY?
There are bad parents. . . there are terrible parents. . . and then there's 27-year-old Chytoria Graham of Erie, Pennsylvania.
Around 3:30 A.M. on Sunday, Ms. Graham was arguing with her boyfriend. . . and the fight got physical. That's when she decided to grab herself a weapon: Her four-week-old baby boy.
She grabbed her son and started SWINGING HIM at her boyfriend. One swing made contact. . . and the baby's head slammed into the man's body.
Tragically, the BABY got the worst of it. He suffered a fracture of the right temporal region and some brain bleeding. He was airlifted to Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh, where he's in serious but stable condition.
Chytoria Graham is in jail, charged with aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and simple assault.
Her FOUR OTHER CHILDREN were removed from her home; Graham's parents were given temporary custody. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
WANT YOUR KID TO BECOME A CEO? SPANK HIM
Over the past few months, "USA Today" has been interviewing CEOs of major companies here in the U.S. And they've found one SHOCKING thing: 100% of the CEOs were SPANKED as kids.
Now, they've only talked to 20 CEOs, so it's not exactly a perfect sample. . . but ALL 20 of them said that while they weren't abused, they didn't go through their childhood spank-free.
54-year-old Dave Haffner, the CEO of Leggett & Pitt, a Fortune 500 manufacturing company, says his father took a BELT to him about six times a year. And he thinks it helped make him "disciplined, detailed and organized."
Murray Straus, a sociology professor from the University of New Hampshire, says that people shouldn't misinterpret this evidence, though. . . and think that spanking is a definite path to business success.
"Even if some spanked children grow up to be successful, even billionaires, it's like saying, go ahead and smoke because two-thirds of smokers don't get lung cancer." (USA Today)
THERE'S BEEN A 50% RISE IN GIRLS PAYING FOR COLLEGE WITH PROSTITUTION
I never thought we'd get NOSTALGIC for the good old days when troubled-but-motivated girls would STRIP to pay their way through college. But. . . here we are.
According to a study by Kingston University in London, in the past six years, they've found a 50% increase in the number of girls who are paying for college through PROSTITUTION.
In a survey of 130 students, they found that more than 6% know a fellow student who works as a prostitute. Another 10% know a student who strips, works at a massage parlor or works at an escort service.
Dr. Ron Roberts, a health psychologist who led the study, says, "Our figures represent a 50% increase in the rates for student prostitution since 2000.
"Given the increasing financial problems experienced by students, this is in line with what we'd predict." (London Times)
20% OF PEOPLE HAVE *MAJOR* LIES ON THEIR RESUMES
It's no secret that people tell the occasional lie on their resumes. In resume speak. . . a "talented sales representative, exemplary at customer relations" ACTUALLY means you were great at writing down orders and selling desserts at Applebee's.
But not all lies on resumes are little twists on the truth like that.
According to The Risk Advisory Group, a company that screens employees. . . 20% of people have MAJOR lies on their resumes.
These major lies include. . .
. . . Overstating their academic qualifications, and sometimes, making up degrees altogether.
. . . Lying about their criminal past.
. . . "Forgetting" to declare their bankruptcies.
. . . And lying about their previous job titles.
And of the 3,700 resumes the company screened. . . more than HALF of 'em had at least one minor inaccuracy. (BBC News)
A NEW TYPE OF CREMATION FREEZES YOUR BODY. . . SO YOU CAN BE SHATTERED INTO A POWDER
I'm not sure I'd want MY corpse to be treated like this. . . but if you're into crazy futuristic stuff, maybe this'll sound good to you.
In Sweden, there's a new cremation process called "promession", where they take your corpse. . . and instead of burning it into ashes, like in regular cremation. . . they do the opposite. . . and FREEZE it.
This is how it works: Your corpse is dipped in liquid nitrogen at NEGATIVE 320-degrees. . . which makes it extremely brittle. Then, they put it on a vibrating pad. . . which SHATTERS your brittle corpse. . . and turns it into powder.
The powder is put into a biodegradable box and buried. . . or given to family and friends.
Apparently, this is becoming a popular way to cremate people because it's cheaper than regular cremation. . . and it's also more environmentally friendly. (London Sun)
A WOMAN GETS STRUCK BY LIGHTNING. . . AND IT GOES IN HER MOUTH. . . AND OUT HER BUTTOCKS
OK, this story sounds too good to be true. But. . . man, do we want to believe it.
Last week, 27-year-old Natasha Timarovic from Zadar, Croatia, was in her bathroom, brushing her teeth.
She went to rinse her mouth out. . . and instead of using her hand or a cup. . . she put her mouth right up to the metal faucet. And just as she did. . . lightning struck her building.
Get THIS: The lightning traveled down the water pipe. . . into Natasha's MOUTH. . . and traveled all the way through her body.
Now, normally it would have come out through Natasha's feet. . . but since she was wearing RUBBER shoes at the time. . . and rubber doesn't conduct electricity. . . the lightning exited her body through her BACK-DOOR!
Natasha was treated at a hospital for severe burns on her mouth and backside. The doctors say if she hadn't been wearing rubber shoes. . . she could have DIED from the blast. She's been released from the hospital and is expected to make a full recovery. (Ananova)
AND THE MOST IMPATIENT CITY IS. . . AUSTIN, TEXAS
Ebay just finished a study to determine what American cities are the most impatient. To figure that out, they looked at things like how many fast-food restaurants, speed dating services, quick copy centers and quick oil change services there are in 20 of the biggest U.S. cities.
And the number one MOST impatient city, according to eBay, is. . . AUSTIN, TEXAS.
Here are the top eight most impatient cities. . .
#1.) Austin, Texas
#2.) Indianapolis
#3.) Houston
#4.) San Francisco
#5.) Dallas (TIE)
#5.) Baltimore (TIE)
#5.) Jacksonville, Florida (TIE)
#8.) Fort Worth, Texas
And interestingly enough, some of the bigger cities ranked surprisingly low: Los Angeles came in 17th place. . . Detroit ranked 20th. . . and New York City came in 19th. (Business Wire)
IS PUNISHING YOUR KIDS WITH A LIGHT SMACK ACTUALLY GOOD FOR THEM?
Most of today's parents don't smack their kids like they used to do back in the day. It's considered taboo to give your kid even a light smack on the rump as a way of disciplining them.
But is a light smack REALLY that detrimental to your kid's upbringing? Could it actually be helpful?
New Zealand psychologist Dr. Jane Millichamp has completed a study on the subject. Here's what she found:
Dr. Millichamp surveyed 1,000 people who were born in 1972 or 1973. So they range in age from 32 to 34 today. 29% of these people said that, as children, they were regularly punished with a light smack to their backside, hand, or leg.
Then she looked at how these 1,000 adults had turned out. She looked into their criminal records, how well they had done in school, whether they had drug or alcohol problems, and whether they had any issues with violence or aggression.
She found that the adults who were punished with a light smack as kids had "similar or slightly better" outcomes in the areas I just mentioned. . . crime, school, drugs, and aggression.
So the conclusion would seem to be that giving your kid a smack on the hand when he gets out of line will not effect him negatively. . . or make him a violent person. . . when he gets older. In fact, it might even help him to turn out better than kids who lack this discipline.
Keep in mind though. . . we're talking about NOTHING MORE THAN A LIGHT SMACK. Dr. Millichamp points out that anything more than this will indeed have long-lasting, negative consequences. (New Zealand Herald)
NEW ORLEANS IS EXPERIENCING "THE SUPER BOWL FOR SEX WORKERS"
New Orleans' population is down about 60% since Hurricane Katrina. . . before the storm, there were about 450,000 residents, now, there are only 187,000.
But, you'll be happy. . . or really disappointed. . . to hear this: The prostitutes are back in FULL FORCE.
According to deputy chief James Scott from the New Orleans police, the post-Katrina era has been HUGE for prostitutes. . . mostly because there are 40,000 to 50,000 out-of-town workers there, away from their families, with cash to blow.
And, because some jails were destroyed and the ones that weren't are overcrowded, many prostitutes who get arrested just get a quick ticket, rather than getting locked up. . . so they're back on the streets within an hour.
Scott says it's like, "the Super Bowl for sex workers. Many out-of-town prostitutes have come to New Orleans like they follow the Super Bowls, the big games, conventions, things like that." (New Orleans Times-Picayune)
IT ONLY COSTS $410 TO GET YOURSELF MADE INTO A BOBBLEHEAD!
Think it would be AMAZING to have a BOBBLEHEAD DOLL made up of you? It's cheaper than you think. Actually, it's so cheap, you'd be stupid NOT to get one.
The company Bobblehead LLC in Little Blue, Missouri, will make your very-own custom-made bobblehead. . . for only $410. You just send them photos. . . and they turn you into a seven-and-a-half-inch bobblehead. (Bobblehead LLC)
THE MCDONALD'S MONOPOLY "RARE PIECE" LIST
McDonald's is running one of their Monopoly games again. . . where if you collect game pieces of all of the properties from one color group, you can win massive cash prizes. The way they do it: For each color group, there's always ONE property that's really rare.
We've got the list of which properties those are. . . so if you're on one of your trips to McDonald's today and you get one of these rare game pieces, in your lust to eat as many double cheeseburgers as you can during your lunch break, you won't just throw it out.
PURPLE: Mediterranean Avenue is the rare one. Together with Baltic Avenue, which is easy to get, you'll win $50. There are 5,000 Mediterraneans out there.
LIGHT BLUE: Vermont Avenue. With Oriental Avenue and Connecticut Avenue, you'll win $500. There are 500 Vermonts out there.
MAROON: Virginia Avenue. With St. Charles Place and States Avenue, you'll win $1,000. There are 250 Virginias out there.
ORANGE: Tennessee Avenue. With St. James Place and New York Avenue, you'll win $1,500. There are 100 Tennessees out there.
RED: Kentucky Avenue. With Indiana Avenue and Illinois Avenue, you'll win $5,000. There are 50 Kentuckys out there.
YELLOW: Ventnor Avenue. With Atlantic Avenue and Marvin Gardens, you'll win $10,000. There are 10 Ventnors out there.
GREEN: Pennsylvania Avenue. With Pacific Avenue and North Carolina Avenue, you'll win $50,000. There are only TWO Pennsylvanias out there.
BLUE: Boardwalk. With Park Place, you'll win $1,000,000. There's only ONE Boardwalk out there.
RAILROADS: Short Line. Together with Reading, Pennsylvania, and B&O railroads, you'll win $5,000,000. There's only ONE Short Line out there.
According to the McDonald's website, your odds of finding Short Line are one in. . . 41,497,391,308. Seriously.
Your odds of getting Boardwalk are one in 468,485,000. Even your odds of getting $1,000 by finding Virginia are bad: One in 26,571,839. (Amazing-Bargains.com / McDonalds.com)
We American sports fans may not be as CRAZY as soccer fans. . . like, we wouldn't KILL a guy if he blew a game. . . but I'll promise you this: We're still pretty freakin' insane.
Check this out: Dr. David Jerrard, a physician in the University of Maryland hospital's emergency room, tracked about 800 regular season college football, pro football and baseball games in the state over three years. . . and ER visits during and after the games.
What he found: There was ALWAYS an increase in the number of men who checked into the ER AFTER the games were over.
His conclusion: Some men will actually IGNORE their pain and their medical emergencies to see the end of a game.
It happened most often with football. . . after a big college football game, there would be a 75% increase in men in the ER. . . the end of a pro football game led to a 50% increase. . . and the end of a baseball game brought a 30% to 40% increase. (Broadcasting & Cable / Washington Post)
A WOMAN VISITS HER FRIEND IN JAIL. . . AND GETS BUSTED FOR TRYING TO PASS ON A BURRITO FILLED WITH HEROIN
On Tuesday, 42-year-old Rosemary Gonzales of La Madera, New Mexico, went to visit a female friend of hers, who's locked up at the Rio Arriba County jail. And Rosemary brought along a gift: A large BURRITO.
What she didn't know: The guards would search through the burrito, just to make sure there wasn't any contraband inside.
And, when they opened the burrito. . . the cops found a goldmine: Rosemary had PACKED the thing with HEROIN.
They might not've noticed the heroin. . . perhaps mistaking it for carne asada?. . . but when they unwrapped the burrito even more, they found that Rosemary had also put a HYPODERMIC NEEDLE inside.
Rosemary was charged with bringing contraband into a place of imprisonment. . . so they took her out of the visitor's area. . . and locked her up. She's still there; her bond is $5,000, cash only. (Santa Fe New Mexican)
THE AVERAGE U.S. COMPANY IS CURRENTLY FACING 305 LAWSUITS
Look, I'm all about sticking it to The Man. . . but can't we TRY to stick it to him WITHOUT tens of thousands of frivolous lawsuits that clog up our legal system and waste billions of dollars and hours?
This is pretty INCREDIBLE: According to a survey by the international law firm Fulbright and Jaworski, the average U.S. company is currently facing 305 pending lawsuits.
For companies with $1 BILLION or more in gross annual revenue, that goes up to 556 PENDING LAWSUITS. Half of those companies say they're seeing about 50 NEW lawsuits every year.
For companies with less than $100 MILLION in revenue, that drops down to NINE pending lawsuits.
The average company now spends 71% of their legal budget on these lawsuits.
Almost 40% of the companies that responded to the survey say they've had at least one $20 MILLION lawsuit filed against them during the past year. (Business Wire)
A TOOL FOR ELEPHANT VASECTOMIES IS DEVELOPED. . . BY DISNEY?
Want to know what some of the best creative minds at Disney are working on? We have your answer: ELEPHANT VASECTOMIES!
Mark Stetter, the head veterinarian at Walt Disney World's Animal Kingdom, has created a new five-foot tool that can sterilize a male elephant. . . which, it turns out, is an EXTREMELY difficult thing to do.
Before we get into the ins-and-outs of the elephant vasectomy technique. . . and you KNOW we WILL. . . you're probably wondering: Why would we want to sterilize elephants? Since they're endangered. . . wouldn't we WANT them humpin' around?
Turns out, that's what we Americans THINK. . . but in some parts of Africa, they actually have an overpopulation problem with elephants. An elephant eats up to 600 pounds of vegetation a day. . . so, when several elephants live in an area, they DESTROY the environment.
Now. . . back to what it takes to castrate an elephant. It's tough because elephant testes are behind two inches of skin, a foot of muscle and four inches of fat.
And, both testes, according to Stetter, are the size of "respectable cantaloupes."
So, for a vasectomy, "What we want to do is get to the middle of something that's in that semi-truck, and we want to do it without emptying out everything that's in the truck."
Step one is to hit the elephant with a tranq dart. . . and then prop him up with a crane truck so he can sleep standing up.
Then, the doctors guide Stetter's five-foot metal tool past all the fat, muscle and skin obstacles, using a camera and a video monitor. . . and finally, once it's in position, they snip him.
The whole thing takes two hours and, so far, none of the elephants have shown any post-op complications. (CBS News)
GOOD HUMOR IS MAKING ICE CREAM SANDWICHES FOR DOGS
Most dogs are lactose intolerant and can't eat ice cream. . . so, I'd guess, NONE of them crave it like my beloved delicious chubbies do. But that's not stopping the people at Good Humor.
They've teamed with Pedigree dog food to produce lactose-free ice cream sandwiches FOR DOGS. Once they're made, they'll sell in packages of 24, for $3.99. There's no word on when they might hit the market. (Forbes)
IS CURSIVE WRITING BECOMING OBSOLETE?
You remember all those hours of TORTURE in grade school when you were learning to write in cursive? Well. . . turns out. . . they were a COMPLETE WASTE OF TIME.
At this point, cursive is damn near obsolete.
As part of the new SAT's. . . they've added a handwritten essay section. And of the 1.5 MILLION students that took the exam this year. . . only 15% of them wrote their essays in cursive.
The rest printed their answers in block letters.
But it's not necessarily their fault that they don't know cursive. On average, elementary school teachers are only spending 10 minutes a day. . . or less. . . teaching their students handwriting. The reason:
At this point, almost EVERYTHING is typed. . . and by the time today's grade school kids are in college and out in the workplace, then EVERYTHING will be typed. . . so teaching them cursive is really unnecessary. (ABC News)
A WOMAN OFFERS UP HER FOUR-YEAR-OLD SON AS COLLATERAL FOR A WEDDING DRESS
You know how PSYCHOTIC normal women get over finding the perfect wedding dress? Well, now we have proof of what happens when a woman who's ALREADY psychotic gets EVEN MORE PSYCHOTIC over one.
Last month, 31-year-old Marcy Gant of Davenport, Iowa. . . who's been getting treatments at the Vera French Mental Health Center in Davenport. . . bought a wedding dress from a street vendor. And since she couldn't afford it. . . she was paying for it in installments.
It got to the point where all she owed was $200. . . but Marcy didn't have the money. So instead. . . she offered the retailer some collateral: Her FOUR-YEAR-OLD SON.
At the time Marcy offered up her son. . . he wasn't in her custody. Nor was her other son. . . who is 10 years old. Human Services had taken them both away from her "because of her behavior".
Fortunately, the street vendor tipped off Human Services about Marcy offering up her CHILD. . . and they called the cops.
Marcy's been charged with one count of purchase or sale of an individual. . . which is a law dating back to the ABOLITION OF SLAVERY. . . and if she's convicted, she could get up to 10 years in prison. (Quad City Times)
WHO KNEW? 85% OF MEN SAY FAKE BREASTS ARE A MAJOR TURN OFF
Ladies. . . if you're thinking about getting IMPLANTS to attract the guys. . . you might wanna reconsider. According to a poll by British magazine "More", 85% of dudes ages 18 to 34 say they HATE fake breasts, and they think they're a "complete turn-off". Now you know. (Yorkshire Post)
THIS YEAR'S VICTORIA'S SECRET "FANTASY BRA" WAS DESIGNED TO BE. . . COMFORTABLE
Victoria's Secret has just made an EARTH-SHATTERING observation: If someone's gonna pay $6.5 MILLION for a bra. . . they'll PROBABLY want it to be comfortable.
Or at least AS COMFORTABLE as an undergarment made from diamonds and metal can be.
In case you didn't know, every year, Victoria's Secret unveils their new FANTASY BRA. . . which is a ridiculously expensive, disgustingly bejeweled bra that I can't imagine anyone ever BUYS, let alone wears.
This year's Fantasy Bra. . . dubbed "Hearts on Fire". . . has more than 2,000 ROUND diamonds embroidered onto it. It'll be available in this year's Victoria's Secret's Christmas catalog which comes out next week.
Model Karolina Kurkova. . . who got to model the bra for the catalog. . . says, "[It's] very sexy and very comfortable, and it doesn't dig in."
FOLLOW-UP: THE WOMAN WHO SWUNG HER NEWBORN AT HER BOYFRIEND CLAIMS IT WAS AN ACCIDENT. . . SHE JUST GRABBED WHATEVER SHE COULD
Yesterday, we told you about 27-year-old Chytoria Graham of Erie, Pennsylvania. . . the woman who was having a fight with her boyfriend. . . and ended up using her FOUR-MONTH-OLD SON as a weapon.
Chytoria swung her newborn, Jarron Troop, at her boyfriend, 20-year-old Deangelo Troop. . . and made contact. That ended up causing SEVERE head injuries to the baby. . . he was airlifted to a hospital in Pittsburgh where he's still in serious but stable condition.
Well. . . now, Chytoria has come out to say it was all an ACCIDENT. She didn't mean to use Jarron as a weapon.
According to Chytoria, she had been drinking. . . her and Deangelo started arguing. . . and she just "snapped." So, she started grabbing whatever she could, and throwing it at Deangelo. And. . . one of the things within reach was Jarron.
She also says that after she hit Deangelo with Jarron, Deangelo punched her in the face.
Deangelo is Jarron's father, and the father of one of Chytoria's other four children. All four of those children were removed from the house. Her parents were granted temporary custody.
Chytoria's still in jail on charges of aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and simple assault. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
FOLLOW-UP: THE RUNAWAY BRIDE SUES HER EX-FIANCÉ FOR THE MONEY HE GOT BY SELLING HER STORY
Last year, we told you all about 33-year-old JENNIFER WILBANKS of Duluth, Georgia. . . she's that RUNAWAY BRIDE woman who skipped out on her fiancé four days before their wedding in April 2005.
After hundreds of volunteers searched for her. . . and she decided to come home. . . she made up a story that a Hispanic guy had kidnapped and sexually assaulted her. The cops proved that wasn't true. . . and she admitted she'd just gotten cold feet.
Anyway, back then, we PLEADED with the dude, 33-year-old John Mason, to GROW A PAIR and DUMP HER. . . instead of standing by her like he did. And he did finally dump her. . . more than ONE YEAR LATER. . . back in May of this year.
At that point, John had already sold the rights to their story to Regan Media for $500,000. He used that to buy a house, where they lived together. . . until he dumped her.
And now. . . Jennifer actually had the cojones to SUE HIM. She's filed a lawsuit seeking $250,000, as her share of the money that John got for selling the story.
She's also seeking another $250,000 in punitive damages because, she says, John abused the power of attorney she granted him for handling their financial affairs.
And, she's also looking to get back some personal property, including a gold-colored sofa, a new vacuum cleaner and some wedding shower gifts. John has until one week from today to respond to the lawsuit. (MSNBC / New York Post / Washington Post)
TWO GUYS ROBBED A MCDONALD'S. . . BUT THEY WERE ONLY AFTER CUPS WITH MONOPOLY GAME PIECES ON THEM
McDonald's is running one of its Monopoly game promotions right now. . . in case you don't know what that is, they put Monopoly game pieces on their cups and fry packs and some sandwich wrappers, and if you get the right pieces, you can win big cash.
Of course, the odds are INSANE. . . your odds of even winning $500 are one in 13,285,989. . . and your odds of winning the top prize, $5 MILLION, are one in 41,497,391,309. The odds of winning tens of millions in the Powerball lottery are one in 146,107,962.
But no one really realizes that. . . so people are going McDonald's Monopoly CRAZY. The two biggest examples: Robert Kern the Third of Long Green, Maryland, and David Bivens of Indiana, Pennsylvania.
Early Sunday morning, the two of them busted into a McDonald's in Indiana, Pennsylvania. . . and announced they were ROBBING the place. But they didn't go for the cash register. . . they went for the STACK OF CUPS with Monopoly game pieces on them!
The employees weren't having that. . . so they TACKLED Robert and David, and waited for the cops to come.
Robert is facing theft and underage drinking charges; David is facing a criminal conspiracy charge. (CBS 2 - Pittsburgh)
THE MASSIVE BULGE IN A MAN'S PANTS LEADS TO HIM GETTING BUSTED FOR CRACK
Here's more proof that CRACK DON'T SMOKE ITSELF! On Sunday, deputies in Decatur, Georgia, saw a 1989 white Oldsmobile Eighty Eight doing 90 on the freeway and changing lanes without a signal. . . so they pulled the car over.
The three people in the car were acting strange. . . one guy said they were going to an AQUARIUM in Chattanooga, Tennessee. . . which was 120 miles away. . . and that made the cops SUSPICIOUS. So, they asked the three people to get out of the car.
And when 36-year-old Willie Davis Junior of Decatur stepped out, all the cops spotted the same thing: A HUGE BULGE in his crotch.
At this point, we'd like to quote the Cartersville, Georgia, "Daily Tribune News", for their description of what happened. "One deputy then poked Willie Davis in the zipper area and was able to feel a hard object in his pants."
They asked Willie to hand over the object and he did: It was a big bag of CRACK.
At that point, Willie got NOBLE. . . he told the cops the crack was all his. . . and he begged them not to arrest the other two people in the car: The driver, 36-year-old Archie Wyatt and the backseat passenger, 37-year-old Khisha Johnson.
The problem was, after the cops got the crack, they searched the car and found marijuana and an open Seagram's Peach Fuzzy Navel wine cooler. All three ended up getting arrested on drug charges. (Cartersville Daily Tribune News)
A MICHIGAN COUNTY MISPRINTS THEIR BALLOTS. . . IN THE MIDDLE OF A VERY SERIOUS RACE INITIATIVE, IT SAYS "PUBIC" INSTEAD OF "PUBLIC"
There's an extremely controversial item on the November 7th ballots in Michigan. . . the people there will be voting on a state constitutional amendment that would BAN affirmative action in the state.
But we're not talking about it because of its social relevance. No, we're talking about it because one county made a FANTASTIC, SEXY misprint on their ballots, right in the middle of the text about this intensely serious issue.
Ottawa County, Michigan, in the west, central part of the state, printed up 170,000 ballots. . . where, in the middle of the text about the anti-affirmative action amendment, instead of writing "public", they wrote "pubic".
Looking at the official wording on the ballot, the word "public" appears six times. . . the county hasn't said WHICH "public" was misspelled.
The Ottawa higher-ups decided to REPRINT all 170,000 ballots, which'll run them around $40,000.
County Clerk Daniel Krueger says he's not sure how the typo happened, "We had about five or six people proofread it. It's just one of those words." (Grand Haven Tribune / MichiganCivilRights.org)
NEXT TIME THERE'S A NATURAL DISASTER, YOUR STATE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR MAKING SURE YOUR PET IS OK
Next time there's a natural disaster, the government MAY leave you stranded on your rooftop for a week. . . but you'll be happy to know that your PET DOG will be safe.
PRESIDENT BUSH has signed a new law that REQUIRES states to help EVACUATE PETS during a natural disaster, like a hurricane or an earthquake. . . or the states could lose federal funding.
Congress passed the bill as a response to the 50,000 or so pets that were stranded during Hurricane Katrina. . . and left to DIE, alone, when the rescue agencies enforced a "no pets" policy as part of their evacuations.
The law also authorizes FEMA to provide extra money to create pet-friendly relief shelters.
Representative TOM LANTOS, a Democrat from California, proposed the law. He says, "People victimized by disasters should not suffer needless additional injury by having to abandon their household pets or service animals to their fate." (San Francisco Chronicle)
WHAT HALLOWEEN CANDY ARE PARENTS MOST LIKELY TO STEAL FROM THEIR KIDS?
Every Halloween, kids around the country come home with huge sacks of candy. . . their parents say "you can eat a few, but not too many, you'll have nightmares". . . then, the parents send the kids to bed. . . and HARVEST the good stuff out of the sacks.
According to a survey by "Hallmark" magazine, the candy that parents are MOST likely to steal from their kids' Halloween bags are, in order: Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. . . Almond Joys. . . Snickers. . . Butterfingers. . . and Kit Kats. Now you know. (Hallmark Magazine)
WOMEN DRESS IN THEIR FINEST SKANK WEAR WHEN THEY'RE MOST FERTILE
We've got an important warning for men today, so LISTEN UP.
Next time you see a woman dressed like straight-up SKANK MEAT. . . I'm talking see-through shirt, short skirt, all that. . . it's not because she wants some casual sex. . . it's 'cause she wants to get KNOCKED UP.
And she doesn't even KNOW IT. When she's at her most fertile point, it's her biological instinct to HO IT UP.
Some researchers from University of California in Los Angeles asked 30 female students to come to their lab for a test. . . but they didn't tell them what the experiment was for.
They used basic urine tests to tell when the women were ovulating. . . that happens around the 15th day of the menstrual cycle, and it's when a woman's most fertile. Then, they had the women come back to repeat the test several times over a month-long period.
What they found: When the women were ovulating. . . and most fertile. . . that's when they dressed the SEXIEST.
Martie Haselton, the psych expert at UCLA who led the study, says, "They tended to put on skirts instead of pants, show more skin and generally dress more fashionably."
And, she says, it's important to remember the women don't dress up ON PURPOSE. . . it's completely their biological instinct to reproduce. . . which tells their brains to dress more attractively when they're most fertile. (Yahoo News)
41% OF WOMEN THINK IF A GUY DANCES CLOSELY WITH ANOTHER WOMAN. . . HE'S CHEATING
We all know that you're cheating on your girlfriend if you have relations with another woman. But is it cheating if you DANCE with another woman??? Get a lap dance? Have cybersex?
The people at AskMen.com just finished up a survey where they asked women what constitutes cheating. Here's what they found. . .
. . . 41% of women think DANCING CLOSELY with another woman constitutes cheating.
. . . 35% say that FLIRTING provocatively with another woman is cheating.
. . . 79% of women think it's cheating if a guy gets a lap dance at a strip club.
. . . 36% of women think that CONFIDING in other women is cheating.
. . . 80% of women think having cyber relations is cheating.
. . . And finally. . . if you have any sort of naughty CONTACT with another woman. . . 100% of women think it's cheating. (Askmen.com)
80% OF DIVORCE LAWYERS SAY THE NUMBER OF COUPLES GETTING PRENUPS IS GOING UP
KANYE WEST told all of us to watch out for gold diggers. . . and told us to holler "WE WANT PRENUP." And, apparently, these days, men all over this country are taking Kanye's advice. . . and hollering back: "WE WANT PRENUP, YEAH."
According to a survey of American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyer (AAML) members. . . 80% of lawyers say they've seen an increase in prenups over the past FIVE years.
65% of lawyers say prenups are most often sought by people ages 40 to 60 years old.
Cheryl Lynn Hepfer, the president of the AAML, says, "A married couple hopes never to have to enforce the terms of a prenup, but they also realize divorce proceedings could be much more unpleasant without such an agreement in place."
One other finding from the survey: 31% of the divorce lawyers say that they've had a couple put a clause into their prenup about who gets to keep the FAMILY PET if they split up. (Yahoo! Business)
A WOMAN IN PENNSYLVANIA ATTACKS HER BOYFRIEND BY HITTING HIM WITH. . . HER FOUR-WEEK-OLD BABY?
There are bad parents. . . there are terrible parents. . . and then there's 27-year-old Chytoria Graham of Erie, Pennsylvania.
Around 3:30 A.M. on Sunday, Ms. Graham was arguing with her boyfriend. . . and the fight got physical. That's when she decided to grab herself a weapon: Her four-week-old baby boy.
She grabbed her son and started SWINGING HIM at her boyfriend. One swing made contact. . . and the baby's head slammed into the man's body.
Tragically, the BABY got the worst of it. He suffered a fracture of the right temporal region and some brain bleeding. He was airlifted to Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh, where he's in serious but stable condition.
Chytoria Graham is in jail, charged with aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and simple assault.
Her FOUR OTHER CHILDREN were removed from her home; Graham's parents were given temporary custody. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
WANT YOUR KID TO BECOME A CEO? SPANK HIM
Over the past few months, "USA Today" has been interviewing CEOs of major companies here in the U.S. And they've found one SHOCKING thing: 100% of the CEOs were SPANKED as kids.
Now, they've only talked to 20 CEOs, so it's not exactly a perfect sample. . . but ALL 20 of them said that while they weren't abused, they didn't go through their childhood spank-free.
54-year-old Dave Haffner, the CEO of Leggett & Pitt, a Fortune 500 manufacturing company, says his father took a BELT to him about six times a year. And he thinks it helped make him "disciplined, detailed and organized."
Murray Straus, a sociology professor from the University of New Hampshire, says that people shouldn't misinterpret this evidence, though. . . and think that spanking is a definite path to business success.
"Even if some spanked children grow up to be successful, even billionaires, it's like saying, go ahead and smoke because two-thirds of smokers don't get lung cancer." (USA Today)
THERE'S BEEN A 50% RISE IN GIRLS PAYING FOR COLLEGE WITH PROSTITUTION
I never thought we'd get NOSTALGIC for the good old days when troubled-but-motivated girls would STRIP to pay their way through college. But. . . here we are.
According to a study by Kingston University in London, in the past six years, they've found a 50% increase in the number of girls who are paying for college through PROSTITUTION.
In a survey of 130 students, they found that more than 6% know a fellow student who works as a prostitute. Another 10% know a student who strips, works at a massage parlor or works at an escort service.
Dr. Ron Roberts, a health psychologist who led the study, says, "Our figures represent a 50% increase in the rates for student prostitution since 2000.
"Given the increasing financial problems experienced by students, this is in line with what we'd predict." (London Times)
20% OF PEOPLE HAVE *MAJOR* LIES ON THEIR RESUMES
It's no secret that people tell the occasional lie on their resumes. In resume speak. . . a "talented sales representative, exemplary at customer relations" ACTUALLY means you were great at writing down orders and selling desserts at Applebee's.
But not all lies on resumes are little twists on the truth like that.
According to The Risk Advisory Group, a company that screens employees. . . 20% of people have MAJOR lies on their resumes.
These major lies include. . .
. . . Overstating their academic qualifications, and sometimes, making up degrees altogether.
. . . Lying about their criminal past.
. . . "Forgetting" to declare their bankruptcies.
. . . And lying about their previous job titles.
And of the 3,700 resumes the company screened. . . more than HALF of 'em had at least one minor inaccuracy. (BBC News)
A NEW TYPE OF CREMATION FREEZES YOUR BODY. . . SO YOU CAN BE SHATTERED INTO A POWDER
I'm not sure I'd want MY corpse to be treated like this. . . but if you're into crazy futuristic stuff, maybe this'll sound good to you.
In Sweden, there's a new cremation process called "promession", where they take your corpse. . . and instead of burning it into ashes, like in regular cremation. . . they do the opposite. . . and FREEZE it.
This is how it works: Your corpse is dipped in liquid nitrogen at NEGATIVE 320-degrees. . . which makes it extremely brittle. Then, they put it on a vibrating pad. . . which SHATTERS your brittle corpse. . . and turns it into powder.
The powder is put into a biodegradable box and buried. . . or given to family and friends.
Apparently, this is becoming a popular way to cremate people because it's cheaper than regular cremation. . . and it's also more environmentally friendly. (London Sun)
A WOMAN GETS STRUCK BY LIGHTNING. . . AND IT GOES IN HER MOUTH. . . AND OUT HER BUTTOCKS
OK, this story sounds too good to be true. But. . . man, do we want to believe it.
Last week, 27-year-old Natasha Timarovic from Zadar, Croatia, was in her bathroom, brushing her teeth.
She went to rinse her mouth out. . . and instead of using her hand or a cup. . . she put her mouth right up to the metal faucet. And just as she did. . . lightning struck her building.
Get THIS: The lightning traveled down the water pipe. . . into Natasha's MOUTH. . . and traveled all the way through her body.
Now, normally it would have come out through Natasha's feet. . . but since she was wearing RUBBER shoes at the time. . . and rubber doesn't conduct electricity. . . the lightning exited her body through her BACK-DOOR!
Natasha was treated at a hospital for severe burns on her mouth and backside. The doctors say if she hadn't been wearing rubber shoes. . . she could have DIED from the blast. She's been released from the hospital and is expected to make a full recovery. (Ananova)
AND THE MOST IMPATIENT CITY IS. . . AUSTIN, TEXAS
Ebay just finished a study to determine what American cities are the most impatient. To figure that out, they looked at things like how many fast-food restaurants, speed dating services, quick copy centers and quick oil change services there are in 20 of the biggest U.S. cities.
And the number one MOST impatient city, according to eBay, is. . . AUSTIN, TEXAS.
Here are the top eight most impatient cities. . .
#1.) Austin, Texas
#2.) Indianapolis
#3.) Houston
#4.) San Francisco
#5.) Dallas (TIE)
#5.) Baltimore (TIE)
#5.) Jacksonville, Florida (TIE)
#8.) Fort Worth, Texas
And interestingly enough, some of the bigger cities ranked surprisingly low: Los Angeles came in 17th place. . . Detroit ranked 20th. . . and New York City came in 19th. (Business Wire)
IS PUNISHING YOUR KIDS WITH A LIGHT SMACK ACTUALLY GOOD FOR THEM?
Most of today's parents don't smack their kids like they used to do back in the day. It's considered taboo to give your kid even a light smack on the rump as a way of disciplining them.
But is a light smack REALLY that detrimental to your kid's upbringing? Could it actually be helpful?
New Zealand psychologist Dr. Jane Millichamp has completed a study on the subject. Here's what she found:
Dr. Millichamp surveyed 1,000 people who were born in 1972 or 1973. So they range in age from 32 to 34 today. 29% of these people said that, as children, they were regularly punished with a light smack to their backside, hand, or leg.
Then she looked at how these 1,000 adults had turned out. She looked into their criminal records, how well they had done in school, whether they had drug or alcohol problems, and whether they had any issues with violence or aggression.
She found that the adults who were punished with a light smack as kids had "similar or slightly better" outcomes in the areas I just mentioned. . . crime, school, drugs, and aggression.
So the conclusion would seem to be that giving your kid a smack on the hand when he gets out of line will not effect him negatively. . . or make him a violent person. . . when he gets older. In fact, it might even help him to turn out better than kids who lack this discipline.
Keep in mind though. . . we're talking about NOTHING MORE THAN A LIGHT SMACK. Dr. Millichamp points out that anything more than this will indeed have long-lasting, negative consequences. (New Zealand Herald)
NEW ORLEANS IS EXPERIENCING "THE SUPER BOWL FOR SEX WORKERS"
New Orleans' population is down about 60% since Hurricane Katrina. . . before the storm, there were about 450,000 residents, now, there are only 187,000.
But, you'll be happy. . . or really disappointed. . . to hear this: The prostitutes are back in FULL FORCE.
According to deputy chief James Scott from the New Orleans police, the post-Katrina era has been HUGE for prostitutes. . . mostly because there are 40,000 to 50,000 out-of-town workers there, away from their families, with cash to blow.
And, because some jails were destroyed and the ones that weren't are overcrowded, many prostitutes who get arrested just get a quick ticket, rather than getting locked up. . . so they're back on the streets within an hour.
Scott says it's like, "the Super Bowl for sex workers. Many out-of-town prostitutes have come to New Orleans like they follow the Super Bowls, the big games, conventions, things like that." (New Orleans Times-Picayune)
IT ONLY COSTS $410 TO GET YOURSELF MADE INTO A BOBBLEHEAD!
Think it would be AMAZING to have a BOBBLEHEAD DOLL made up of you? It's cheaper than you think. Actually, it's so cheap, you'd be stupid NOT to get one.
The company Bobblehead LLC in Little Blue, Missouri, will make your very-own custom-made bobblehead. . . for only $410. You just send them photos. . . and they turn you into a seven-and-a-half-inch bobblehead. (Bobblehead LLC)
THE MCDONALD'S MONOPOLY "RARE PIECE" LIST
McDonald's is running one of their Monopoly games again. . . where if you collect game pieces of all of the properties from one color group, you can win massive cash prizes. The way they do it: For each color group, there's always ONE property that's really rare.
We've got the list of which properties those are. . . so if you're on one of your trips to McDonald's today and you get one of these rare game pieces, in your lust to eat as many double cheeseburgers as you can during your lunch break, you won't just throw it out.
PURPLE: Mediterranean Avenue is the rare one. Together with Baltic Avenue, which is easy to get, you'll win $50. There are 5,000 Mediterraneans out there.
LIGHT BLUE: Vermont Avenue. With Oriental Avenue and Connecticut Avenue, you'll win $500. There are 500 Vermonts out there.
MAROON: Virginia Avenue. With St. Charles Place and States Avenue, you'll win $1,000. There are 250 Virginias out there.
ORANGE: Tennessee Avenue. With St. James Place and New York Avenue, you'll win $1,500. There are 100 Tennessees out there.
RED: Kentucky Avenue. With Indiana Avenue and Illinois Avenue, you'll win $5,000. There are 50 Kentuckys out there.
YELLOW: Ventnor Avenue. With Atlantic Avenue and Marvin Gardens, you'll win $10,000. There are 10 Ventnors out there.
GREEN: Pennsylvania Avenue. With Pacific Avenue and North Carolina Avenue, you'll win $50,000. There are only TWO Pennsylvanias out there.
BLUE: Boardwalk. With Park Place, you'll win $1,000,000. There's only ONE Boardwalk out there.
RAILROADS: Short Line. Together with Reading, Pennsylvania, and B&O railroads, you'll win $5,000,000. There's only ONE Short Line out there.
According to the McDonald's website, your odds of finding Short Line are one in. . . 41,497,391,308. Seriously.
Your odds of getting Boardwalk are one in 468,485,000. Even your odds of getting $1,000 by finding Virginia are bad: One in 26,571,839. (Amazing-Bargains.com / McDonalds.com)