ON THIS DAY
On this date in 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected our country's 16th president.
In 1861, Jefferson Davis was elected president of the Confederacy.
On this date in 1862, the first telegraph was sent from San Francisco to New York.
In 1869, the first college football game was played in New Jersey.
Maria Shriver celebrates her 54th birthday,Glen Frey hits #61, and Sally Field turns 63 today.
I Love Nachos Day -- Did you know that the food most craved by pregnant women is nachos?
THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
- While "New Moon" star Robert Pattinson denies there's anything going on, US magazine reports that he and co-star Kristen Stewart spent the night together at the Chateau Marmont, where they were seen smooching and enjoying bagels for breakfast. One tabloid claims Kristen is claiming she's a lesbian in order to combat the rumor mill.
- Sarah Palin is sitting down with Barbara Walters for a five-part interview series.
- Kirstie Alley is going to star in a new A&E reality "docu-series" about her life as a single mom and her efforts to lose weight. The show will follow the actress at home with her teenage children, at work and as she launches a new weight-loss program.
- Russell Brand says he's cutting his hair, with the hope it'll help him get more movie roles.
- That not-so-secret sex tape featuring Colin Farrell and Playboy model Nicole Narain has been sent anonymously to the family of Colin's girlfriend.
- Sears held some "Black Friday" sales last weekend, to try and boost sales. This weekend, Wal-Mart is having a go at it.
- Rihanna has told Diane Sawyer that she's embarrassed that she was ever in love with Chris Brown.
- Mariah Carey says she suffered "mental" and "emotional" abuse during her marriage to music mogul Tommy Mottola in an TV interview with Larry King.
- Sandra Bullock and husband Jesse James are in a court battle with Jesse's ex, a porn star. They'd like full custody of Jesse's daughter. The mom smells money.
- Fresh out of rehab, a tabloid is reporting that David Hasselhoff was seen drunk at a British Columbia casino last weekend.
(Men's Health) Happiness is caught, not bought. In a 20-year study of 4,739 people, researchers found that happiness spreads among spouses, siblings, friends, and even neighbors. "It's a chain reaction, says study author James Fowler, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Center for Wireless and Population Health Systems at the University of California at San Diego. Here's how you can link up:
- 63% chance by living within a mile of a friend who becomes happy increases your odds of being happy.
- 34% chance by next door neighbors who become happy increases your happiness.
- 15.3% chance more likely to be happy if you're connected to a happy friend.
- 14% chance by a nearby siblings who become happy increase your happiness.
- 14% chance by being the center of a network increases the chances you'll be happy.
- 9.8% chance more likely to be happy if you're connected to a happy friend of a friend.
- 8% chance if a spouse who becomes happy raises the odds of his or her mate being happy.
- 7% chance being connected to an unhappy friend will decrease your happiness.
Men who marry a well-educated women boost their chances of living a long life. The higher a woman's education, the better the chance both she and her partner will have a long life, according to research from the Swedish Institute for Social Research in Stockholm. Oddly, the level of a wife's education was a stronger factor in lowering her husband's risk of dying over the next 10 years than the man's own level of education. Both men and women with less education and who made less money had a higher rate of death than those with more education and higher earnings.
Mind your manners and you can lose weight. Dutch researchers recently found that big bites and fast chewing can lead to overeating. In the study, people who chewed large bites of food for 3 seconds consumed 52% more food before feeling full than those who chewed small bites for 9 seconds. The reason: Tasting food for a longer period of time, no matter how much of it you bite off, signals your brain to make you feel full sooner, say the scientists. (Men's Health)
Researchers at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, have determined that grumpy people are not only better at decision-making, but also less gullible. Lead study author and psychology professor Joe Forgas says cheerfulness fosters creativity, while gloominess breeds attentiveness and careful thinking, reports the BBC News. Why? Grumpy people are better able than happy people to cope with demanding situations because of the way the brain promotes information processing strategies. "Whereas positive mood seems to promote creativity, flexibility, co-operation and reliance on mental shortcuts, negative moods trigger more attentive, careful thinking, paying greater attention to the external world," Forgas wrote in Australian Science Magazine.
