ON THIS DAY

The Boston Tea Party took place in 1773. A group of men calling themselves the "Sons of Liberty" and dressed as Mohawk Indians went to the Boston Harbor. They boarded three British ships, the Beaver, the Eleanor and the Dartmouth, and dumped 45 tons of tea into the Boston Harbor.

Trivia: A study by researchers in Taiwan found that people who drank tea once a week for 10 years or more had 20 percent less body fat than those who didn't. The tea drinkers had 2 percent less abdominal fat, a special type of fat that is a known risk factor for heart disease and other illnesses. Researchers believe that tea works by boosting metabolism and reducing the body's ability to absorb fat-producing calories.

On this date in 1811, Missouri suffered an earthquake that was equivalent to 12.0 on the Richter scale.

William "the Refrigerator" Perry turns 47.

Steven Bochco turns 66 today. He gave us "Hill Street Blues," "L.A. Law" and other 3-syllable shows.

"60 Minutes" star Leslie Stahl has eight more years than minutes. (She turns 68 today.)

National Chocolate Covered Anything Day -- Chocolate is good for the heart. A recent study reveals that dark chocolate increases the flexibility of the lining of the blood vessels, helping to open them, thereby promoting blood flow. The overall effect helps prevent hardening of the arteries and heart attacks. However, the study at Greece's Athens Medical School found that only dark chocolate containing 74 percent cocoa had the effect. Dark chocolate also contains antioxidants that protect blood vessels from other kinds of danger.

THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

• Making the rounds on the Internet: a photo of Tiger's wife, Elin, pumping gas Saturday near her Florida home and not wearing a wedding ring.
• A friend reports that Kate Hudson and Alex Rodriguez are no longer a couple.
• Rihanna posed topless on the cover of the new GQ.
• New Kid on the Block's Joey McIntyre and his wife, Barrett, welcomed their second son on Sunday... while former 98 Degrees singer Drew Lachey and his wife have baby #2 on the way.
• Both J-Lo and Adam Lambert will perform on the two-hour finale of "So You Think You Can Dance" tonight.
• Sean Combs says in the January Playboy magazine that he tried to lose his virginity when he was just 7.
• If you still care, the season finale of "Heroes" will be February 8th to get it out of the way of a month of Olympics coverage.
• The red carpet arrival for the Hollywood premiere of "Avatar" will be streamed on the movies MySpace page on December 16, beginning at 9pm ET.
• Kourtney Kardashian has given birth to a healthy baby boy. Mason Dash Disick clocked in at 7 lbs, 6 oz., and measured 19.5 inches.
• 17-year-old Francis Bean Cobain has been taken away from her mother, Courtney Love, and custody has been awarded to Kurt Cobain's mom.
• Garth Brooks has officially ended his 9-year retirement and is off and performing again in Las Vegas at the Wynn.
• Lindsay Lohan's dad has been thrown in jail after contacting an ex-girlfriend who had a restraining order against him.
• "30 Rock" actor Grizz Chapman says he's on the waiting list for a kidney transplant. 

How many times can you hear "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" or Madonna trying -- but not even coming close-- to best Eartha Kitt with "Santa Baby" before you just scream? The Washington Post has called these two songs, along with Barbra Streisand's "Jingle Bells" and the Jackson 5's "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" the "sonic equivalent of a chorus of screeching cats." They are among the most hated Christmas songs of all time -- but they aren't the most hated. The honor of the most hated Christmas song of all time goes to "Jingle Bells," as "performed" by the Singing Dogs, a 1955 Danish record that was reedited and released in 1970.

According to Edison Media Research and Pinnacle Media Worldwide, the three songs we love the most are:

1. Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" (1942)
2. Nat King Cole's "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)" (1946)
3. Burl Ives's "A Holly Jolly Christmas" (1965)

Also high on the list of songs we adore this time of year are:

• "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" (Brenda Lee, 1958)
• "Jingle Bell Rock" (Bobby Helms, 1957)
• "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" (John Lennon and Yoko Ono, 1971)

The most recent song to make Pinnacle's top 10 list was Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas Is You," which was released in 1994, while Lennon/Ono's "Happy Xmas" is the most recent for Edison.

Forget the sexy hourglass figure, you know large breasts, tiny waist and curvy hips. The ideal female figure is one with a tubby waistline that is more of a cylinder shape. Women who have an imperfect body with a bigger waist than they may like could actually find this excess body fat is the key to their economic success, reports LiveScience.com. Anthropologist Elizabeth Cashdan of the University of Utah says the same hormones that tend to redistribute fat from the hips to the waist also make women physically stronger, more competitive and better able to deal with stress. When women are under pressure to provide monetary resources for their families, they are less likely to have that classic hourglass figure that has long been held up as a feminine ideal.

A South Korean woman has finally passed her driver's license written exam after the 950th try! Cha Sa-soon spent more than $4,200 in application fees before she got the minimum score of 60 out of 100 questions right. Now, she needs to pass a driving test before getting her license which she says she needs for her vegetable business. (Sun)

80% of the average person's daily conversation is pure gossip, research reveals. Incredibly, only about 5% of tittle-tattle is mean spirited or malicious, and get this, girls while women have a reputation for being bigger busybodies than men, it's the guys who are twice as likely to instigate catty chats about other people's appearances. But you don't have to feel guilty for kibitzing about the people you know personally, or celebrities you don't know, because it was once essential for human survival and is what helped us form more complex societies than the animals have, say experts. "The one thing that sets us apart is that we can talk to each other," says Dr. Nicholas Emier, whose study showed folks gossip 80% of the time. "We can exchange social information. It is fundamental to being human." (National Examiner)