ON THIS DAY

On this date in 1784, Ben Franklin wrote in a letter to his daughter that the U.S. made a terrible mistake in choosing the bald eagle as it's symbol and that we should have gone with the turkey!

On this date in 1871, income tax in America was repealed by Congress.

In 1875, the very first electric dental drill was patented. Of course, back then they were really loud.

A place called Disneyland. It was the happiest groundbreaking on earth.

On this date in 1984, the 1-minute ice cream eating record was set when a guy downed 3-pounds 6-ounces of ice cream in just 60 seconds.

Ellen Degeneres celebrates her 52nd, Eddie Van Halen turns 55 today.

THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

• The Scorpions have announced that their next world tour and album will be it for them.
• The rumor is insisting that the Brad Pitt/Angelina Jolie thing is over... that papers have drawn up, diving the assets, and signed by both.
• Jon Gosselin and his latest girlfriend, Morgan Christie, popped up in Utah at the Sundance movie festival.
• Another couple hanging out together at the film festival: Bradley Cooper and Renee Zellweger.
• Michael Jackson's dad, Joe, is hitting up his estate for living expenses... saying he needs $15,000 a month to get by. Attorneys for the estate say he's taking money away from Michael's kids.
• Oprah's guest on her show this Thursday: Jay Leno. She flew to L.A. to interview him, to make it happen.
• Gary Coleman was jailed in Utah, after police arrested him at his home on a "domestic assault" charge.
• James Mitchell, who played Palmer Courtland on "All My Children" for three decades, has died at age 89.
• $57 million and still counting for that all-star Haiti telethon last Friday night.
• British researchers say that kids who are ambidextrous actually have more mental health, language and school problems than their piers. Go figure.
• Andy Dick has been arrested in West Virginia for two felony charges of first degree sexual abuse.
• The Pablo Picasso painting "The Actor" will undergo a repair job, after someone visiting the Metropolitan Art Museum in New York lost their balance and fell into it last week, tearing the canvas.

Entertainment Weekly lists what it calls "TV's 50 Biggest Bombs and Blunders." Here are the top 25, in order:

1. NBC putting Jay Leno at 10pm.
2. Fox yanks "Family Guy" off the air, twice in 1999 and 2002.
3. ABC airing "Cavemen" based on the Geico ads in 2007.
4. ABC episode of "Moonlighting" were David and Maddie hook up in 1987.
5. UPN infamous sitcom "The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer" in 1998.
6. Premature exiting: Pernell Roberts from "Bonanza" in 1965 at the end of the 6th season. Shelley Long walked out of "Cheers" in 1987 at the end of the 5th season, and David Caruso leaving "NYPD Blue" during the second season of the show.
7. NBC airing "Coupling" an adaptation of England's sex obsessed version of "Friends" in 2003.
8. ABC overdoes it with "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" between 2002-02.
9. The WB cuts Felicity's hair, producers decided it would be dramatic for star Keri Russell to chop off her signature long, curly mane at the start of the second season.
10. NBC and World Wrestling Federation teamed up to create an alternative football league The XFL in 2001.
11. Terrible late night talk shows including Fox with "The Chevy Chase Show" in 1993 and the syndicated "The Magic Hour starring Magic Johnson" in 1998.
12. ABC letting reality hosts destroy the Emmys by celebrating the Emmys new category Outstanding Reality Host nominees "Survivor"'s Jeff Probst, "Dancing With the Stars"' Tom Bergeron, "Deal or No Deal"'s Howie Mandel, "Project Runway"'s Heidi Klum, and "American Idol"'s Ryan Seacrest host the entire show in 2008.
13. CBS Jackie Gleason apologizes for "You're in the Picture," a game show which featured celebrities sticking their heads into an illustrated backdrop, then guessing what famous scene they were a part of.
14. ABC when "The Brady Bunch" added Cousin Oliver in 1974.
15. CBS for dropping a bunch of kids in a New Mexico ghost town and letting them created their own society, called "Kid Nation" in 2007.
16. Network and stars pass on hit shows including HBO passing on "Mad Men," which won raves and Emmy's for AMC, ABC turning down "CSI" now a CBS winner, Rob Lowe could have been 'McDreamy,' if he'd taken ABC up on its offer to play Derek Shephard on "Grey's Anatomy" the role went to Patrick Dempsey.
17. NBC with "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" which ran from 2006 to 07.
18. ABC follow up to Happy Days disaster "Joanie Loves Chachi" between 1982-83.
19. NBC cancels "Baywatch" in 1990 rates weren't high enough to pick up the show for a second season, however it ran in syndication for 10 more seasons. NBC canceling "JAG" in 1996, which CBS picked up and the show ran for 9 more seasons and spawned the hit spin off "NCIS."
20. CBS replace Bo and Luke Duke with cousins Coy and Vance on "The Dukes of Hazzard" when John Schneider (Bo) and Tom Wopat (Luke) walked out over a contract dispute in the spring of 1982.
21. Fox with the "American Idol" with kids show "American Juniors" in 2003.
22. Fox reality show following aspiring filmmakers On the Lot even exec-producers Steven Spielberg and Mark Burnett couldn't make this a hit in 2007.
23. The "Lost" rip-offs of 2005; NBC "Surface," CBS "Threshold" and ABC "Invasion."
24. NBC president Fred Silverman convincing the network Americans would love a variety show starring Japanese pop duo Pink Lady who spoke little English with the show Pink Lady and Jeff in 1980.
25. Totally absurd musical dramas including CBS running Viva Laughlin in 2007 and ABC running Cop Rock in 1990.

So imagine this: You have an affair for eight years and actually manage to stay married. Then your mistress buys a series of giant billboards in three major U.S. cities to tell the world about your relationship -- complete with your photos in case there was any doubt as to who you are. Yeah, that would be bad. And that's exactly what happened to Charles E. Phillips, 50, the co-president of Oracle Corp. YaVaughnie Wilkins, 42, Phillips' former mistress, posted their photos on billboards in New York, San Francisco and Atlanta with their names "Charles and YaVaughnie" and then the caption, "You are my soulmate forever! - cep." It gets worse. The billboard has the URL of a web site that features personal photo albums of the couple at public and private events with friends and family, as well as copies of love notes.

A Harris Poll asked, "What are your two or three favorite TV shows of all time?" Here's the top 15 according to the poll:

1. "CSI"
2. "M*A*S*H"
3. "House"
4. "NCIS"
5. "24"
6. "Seinfeld"
7. "Friends"
8. "Two and a Half Men"
9. "Lost"
10. "ER"
11. "Family Guy"
12. "Law and Order"
13. "Star Trek"
14. "The Simpsons"
15. "Grey's Anatomy"

All those photos you post on Facebook -- from playing with your kids to having fun at a football game to getting drunk at a party -- actually paint a fairly accurate picture of your personality, according to researchers from Sonoma State University in Rohnert Park, CA. The more candid a shot, the more nuances of your personality show through.

Fans of Avatar aren't just seeing blue: They're feeling it, too. Some are claiming the James Cameron directed fantasy, which has grossed nearly $1.4 billion, made them depressed because they don't live in a utopian world. CNN reports that there have been more than 1,000 posts on the "Ways to cope with the depression of the dream of Pandora being intangible" forum on a fan site. But don't reach for the Prozac just yet. Explains psychology expert Cooper Lawrence: "Movies do not cause depression. If you feel that way, you were unhappy ahead of time." (Us Weekly)