ON THIS DAY

On this date in 1784, the Revolutionary War officially ended with the Treaty of Paris.

On this date in 1960, Elvis Presley was promoted to sergeant in the U.S. Army.

In 1981, the FDA approved contact lenses.

On this date in 1993, David Letterman announced he was leaving NBC for another network. He was the Conan O'Brien of his time.

Hey, we're exactly a month away from Valentine's Day!

Jason Bateman turns 41, LL Cool J turns 42, and Andy Rooney of "60 Minutes" turns 90.

THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

• Former NSYNC member Joey Fatone and his wife Kelly welcomed their second daughter into the world this past Monday.
• Scandal = viewers. Charlie Sheen's little Christmas Day episode seemed to draw interest to "2-1/2 Men" which had it's highest ratings ever this past Monday.
• Those rape charges against David Copperfield brought by a former Miss Washington have been dropped by prosecutors.
• Cybill Shepherd's son Cyrus has been arrested for allegedly stealing items from fellow passengers on a plane en route to Philadelphia early Tuesday morning.
• Miep Gies, who hid Anne Frank from the Nazi's for two years and then made sure her father got her diary when he returned from the camps, has died at age 100.
• Jessica Biel and her climbing team reached the 19,340-foot summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro on the sixth day of their trek and are heading back down.
• First we got word this week that "Spider-Man 4" has been scrapped. Now we hear that the Broadway musical, "Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark," which was supposed to open in February, has been delayed.
• Last November, Heidi Montag underwent 10 plastic surgery procedures in one day. She says she has been thinking about having those things done for three years.
• Simon and Garfunkel have been added to the lineup for this year's New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.
• A deal has been signed that means Sesame Street video games will be coming soon to a store near you.
• It was already a tough enough week, with Simon Cowell announcing he was leaving "American Idol" at the end of this season. Then, on Monday, "Idol" creator Simon Fuller was robbed in Uraguay. Thieves broke into his hotel room and made off with $100,000 worth of valuables.

According to Cosmopolitan, here are four things you should never joke about with your man:

1. His Future Hair Loss -- With the exception of Hollywood types like Vin Diesel, most guys with shiny chrome domes are not deemed the sexiest man alive. That's why many guys stress about potential future loss.
2. His Paltry Payback -- Men consider it their obligation to bring home the bacon. So you can see why kidding around about your sugar-mama status isn't exactly a good idea.
3. His Mom -- Once you start dissing a boy's mother, things are going to get ugly.
4. His Member -- In a nutshell, keep Johnson jokes to yourself, especially if you ever want him to come out to play again.

A whopping percentage of fans think that being skinny would be the best thing about becoming a star, says a recent poll. That's what folks envy most about celebrities like actress Eva Longoria Parker and country queen Dolly Parton not their designer clothes, expensive cars and mansions. All those ritzy perks paled in comparison to recruiting a weight loss dream team for 46% of the respondents to a recent Glamour magazine survey. Hiring a nutritionist, personal trainer and private chef also beat out the chances to rub elbows with the rich and famous at parties and nightspots, which only wowed 16% of participants. About 35% of those polled wanted help to look better without sweating or dieting, including 25% who craved on call hairstylists and makeup artists and 10% who desired professional fashionistas to polish their looks.

Men, whether you have sex or not, sharing your bed all night long can actually make you stupid, sapping your brain power -- at least temporarily. That's the conclusion of scientists at the University of Vienna in Austria. Oddly, men thought they slept better with a partner and women believed they did not. In fact, both men and women had more disturbed sleep, but in men it affected their ability to perform on cognitive tests the next day.

Have runaway salaries and egos, drug abuse allegations and expanding rap sheets spoiled the fun, or do we still admire talented athletes? Men's Health polled 1,077 men and here's what they found:

• 80% consider themselves a fan of pro football
• 69% consider themselves a fan of college football
• 57% consider themselves a fan of major league baseball
• 49% consider themselves a fan of college baseball
• 42% consider themselves a fan of hockey
• 40% consider themselves a fan of golf
• 39% consider themselves a fan of pro basketball
• 31% consider themselves a fan of soccer
• 30% consider themselves a fan of boxing
• 27% consider themselves a fan of tennis
• 21% consider themselves a fan of NASCAR
• 19% consider themselves a fan of minor league baseball
• 76% said pro athletes "half are, half aren't" good role models for kids
• 59% said the scandal which has most harmed its sport most is "alleged steroid use by MLB's Bonds and Clemens
• 62% said steroid use is not an epidemic in professional sports
• 64% said they rarely gamble on professional sports
• 78% said they don't think players and officials regularly fix sports
• 68% said professional athletes are over paid
• 45% said student athletes are shown academic leniency
• 61% said they do not watch professional women's sports
• 50% said "no, they're not influenced" by athletes' product endorsement
• 45% said "they give products extra consider" if endorsed by athletes

Over 65% of women feel that flowers are the most romantic gift to receive, but almost 38% of men have not given them to their significant other in over a year. A Woman's Day/AOL survey found 64% of women would rather be with a man who's poor and attractive than rich and unattractive.

Couples who live in cities with pro baseball teams are up to 28% less likely to divorce than those who don't, a study from the University of Denver shows.

If you're fighting a BlackBerry addiction, your boss may be to blame. Employees who compulsively check their work messages do so partly because their higher ups send e-mail 24/7, research at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge reveals.

If you want to get a woman's attention, just look happy, sad, surprised or disgusted. She'll notice your face if you do. Women are far better than men at discerning these socially relevant human emotions on strangers' faces in a crowd. On the other hand, men are most likely to find the angry face in a crowd, according to a study from MIT in Boston and the University of Melbourne in Australia.