ON THIS DAY
On this date in 1820, Spain sold Florida to the United States for $5 million.
The actor who first brought Dracula to life on the big screen, Bela Lugosi, was born on this date in 1882.
On this date in 1906, the radio tube was demonstrated for the first time.
In 1911, Amundsen and his dog sled set out for the South Pole.
On this date in 1968, Jacqueline Kennedy married Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onasis.
Monster Mash by Bobby "Boris" Pickett hit #1 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart in 1962. It stayed there for 2 weeks.
On this date in 1973, the so-called "Saturday Night Massacre" took place when President Nixon fired special Watergate Prosecutor Archibald Cox.
Snoop Dogg turns 38, and Tom Petty turns 56 today.
National Babbling Day -- Even if no one else is in the room, go ahead and yak away. You're not crazy -- a recent study shows that talking to yourself is great for your mental health. Swedish psychotherapist Per Naroskin says babbling to no one forces you to listen to yourself. As a result, you'll develop talents you never knew existed, sleep better and work more efficiently. The solo chat is even more effective, says the author of "The Benefits Of Talking Loudly To Oneself," if the tongue-wagger uses kooky accents and funny voices. Too shy to vocalize alone? Speak to your pet, a plant, your car or, like Tom Hanks in "Castaway," to a volleyball.
THIS MONTH IS
National Pizza Month -- Even though pizza may be fattening, it's perfect for those days when we're too busy to cook or have too many people to feed. Here are some pizza facts, according to "How Stuff Works," "Franchise Help" and USA Today:
- 94% of Americans eat pizza regularly.
- 93% of Americans have eaten pizza in the last month.
- Pizza is America's fourth most-craved food, behind cheese, chocolate and ice cream.
- Americans consume over 100 acres of pizza a DAY, about 350 slices per second. And that's on a regular day* not Super Bowl Sunday or Halloween!
- Pizza accounts for more than 10% of all food service sales.
- 3 billion pizzas are sold in the United States each year, plus an additional one billion frozen pizzas.
- There are approximately 61,269 pizzerias in the United States. These pizzerias represent 17% of all restaurants.
- Frozen pizzas that could be purchased in grocery stores were first introduced in the United States in 1957 and soon became the most popular of all frozen food.
- Halloween is the third busiest pizza day of the year, behind Super Bowl
- Sunday and New Year's Eve.
THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
- A researcher claims he helped the dad of the "Balloon Boy" plan out the hoax so that the couple would have a better chance of landing on a reality TV show.
- Kristen Bell says she had a great time punching Meg Ryan for a scene in their new movie, "Serious Moonlight."
- Stephanie Pratt from "The Hills" is this week's celebrity DUI award winner.
- Real Housewives of New York City's Bethenny Frankel is officially engaged and off the singles market.
- For hand-washing to be effective in preventing cold and the flu, you need to do it more than 10 times a day, according to a new study by Dr. Tom Jefferson of the Cochrane Acute Respiratory Infections Group in Rome, Italy.
- The cast of "Celebrity Apprentice 3" has leaked out and it includes: Sharon Osbourne, Bret Michaels, singer Cyndi Lauper, former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, baseball's Darryl Strawberry, actress/author Holly Robinson Peete, Sinbad, comic/writer Carol Leifer, wrestlers Bill Goldberg and Maria Kanellis, Australian celebrity chef Curtis Stone and Olympic gold-medal swimmer Summer Sanders.
- Lil Wayne is going to be a dad again... fourth kid, fourth mom.
- Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos are going to return to Pine Valley to help "All My Children" celebrate their 40th anniversary. Watch for them to show up in the January 4 and 5 episodes.
- David Archuleta's dad. who was arrested in January for soliciting a massage parlor prostitute in Utah, has filed for divorce from his wife.
- The last new episode of "Jon and Kate Plus 8" will be filmed later this month. By November, the show will be put on hold until the two figure out the divorce thing.
- The actor who played Horschack in the old "Welcome Back, Kotter" series is now teaching drama at a charter school in Florida.
- A clump of Elvis Presley's hair sold at an auction for $15,000.
- Fox News and the Obama administration are continuing to get in their little swipes at each other.
- The safest seat on an airplane is in an aisle seat within five rows of an emergency exit, according to a study from the United Kingdom's University of Greenwich that examined 105 airline accidents along with firsthand accounts of 2,000 survivors.
- Someone broke into Kourtney Kardashian's home over the weekend and made off with $108,000 in jewelry.
- For the record, Lamar Odom and Khloe Kardashian are going to sign a pre-nupt agreement this week.
- Former Genesis drummer Phil Collins, 58, told a German newspaper that since he had surgery in April to repair a dislocated vertebra in his neck, he doesn't have feeling in his fingers and isn't able to pick up his sticks.
- In Australia, a man was pulled over for using TWO cellphones while driving.
