In the News

A man suffered severe burns after apparently bursting into flames outside a Swedish railway station. (That's how I felt standing outside the Taco Bell yesterday)

44% of us plan to shop on Black Friday --- that's down from 47% last year, and 52% in 2009. (Two things are being blamed for the decrease: #1 The economy, and #2 Still haven't recovered from being trampled last year)

The Smoking Gun discovered Jennifer Lopez never left Los Angeles to film that commercial for Fiat -- ya know, the one showing Jenny driving around the Bronx? That was a body double, with Jennifer's cuts artfully merged to make it appear as if she was driving around the 'hood. (oh man... now I feel I need to confess something. That wasn't me in the Christmas parade -- it was J-Lo's body double)

Health

How much weight will you REALLY gain over the holidays?

I'll give you the bad news first: We do gain weight from November to January.

Now the good news: It's only a pound!

Now the bad news: We keep that pound throughout the rest of the year. Dang! This study also found that if you're trying to diet -- forget it. Dieters still gain about a half-pound.

source

The Healthiest Cities For Women

This is from Self Magazine

1. Greenest: Des Moines, IA
2. Healthiest overall: Cambridge, Mass.
3. Healthiest eaters: Santa Barbara, Calif.
4. Safest: San Jose, Calif.
5. Happiest: Raleigh, N.C.
6. Longest lives: Honolulu, Hawaii
7. Most active: Denver, Colo.
8. Healthiest love lives: Seattle, Wash.
9. Best breasts: Bethesda, Md. (4 in 5 over 40 have had a recent mammogram, and residents are 12% less likely to die of breast cancer than the average)
10. Best skin: Miami, Fla.

Life

6 Tips to Avoid a Thanksgiving Dinner Meltdown

These are great tips taken directly from Zester Daily

1. Go over your recipes the night before.
Know your plan of action. If there's time and you're not too tired, chop onions, celery, and carrots and hold them in the refrigerator in zip bags. Get out the turkey's roasting pan and any baking dishes you haven't used all year. Check them because they might need washing.

2. Start with a fully defrosted turkey.
If you've bought a frozen one the night before, you are in trouble. Yes, you can try sticking a blow dryer up the turkey's cavity, but you will not only create a heated incubator for bacteria in the cavity, you will end up with a gross blow dryer you'll never want to touch again.

3. Tackle the clamp.
Fresh or frozen, the turkey's drumsticks are constrained for shipping by the meanest thing in cooking -- the clamp. Whether metal or plastic, the bird comes with no directions on how to free the drumsticks. You've got to open the cavity to remove the giblets. In my struggles to remove the clamp, I've drawn blood. That's because, at least with the metal ones, the maneuver is counter-intuitive.

Metal clamp: With a towel, pull the upside-down "U" toward you. With your other hand, find the strength to lift the loosest drumstick up, over and out of the clamp. Once the first drumstick is free, the second one will come over and out easily. But the clamp is still in the bird! Squeeze its sides in, and push it away from you. It will slide out.

Plastic clamp: Snip it with scissors, free the drumsticks, reach in and remove the bag of giblets.

4. Always use a meat thermometer.
Turkeys are tricky. The breast meat cooks first, but it's still attached to the bird while it waits for the dark meat to finish. White meat is ready at 170 F, dark meat at 175 to 180 F. To take a reading, insert it in the dark meat, which takes the longest to cook. Newer digital thermometers stay in the turkey for the entire roasting time and beep when the set temperature is reached.

A 10- to 14-pound turkey should be cooked at 350 F for 2 to 2½ hours. A 14- to 18-pound bird should cook at 325 F for 2½ to 3½ hours.

If you don't have a meat thermometer, here's the old-fashioned method. Gently pull a drumstick (use a towel to hold on) away from the body. Where the skin has stretched, use a small knife to make a cut to expose the meat. Take a look. If you see red juices or pink meat, keep roasting. Check for doneness at 15-minute intervals until juices run clear. I like this method because no one will see the cut.

5. After the turkey has roasted an hour, add about 2 cups of water to the bottom of the pan.
This is the beginning of your gravy or natural pan juices.

6. If, after carving, parts are undercooked, microwave them for a minute or two.
No one will know.

Gotta See This

Bride bangs out a drum solo --

Mario Cart fans, your dreams have come true --

PICTURE THIS: Look who's offering layway --

Primetime, Baby!

CW: America's Next Top Model, America's Next Top Model (NEW)
CBS: Survivor: South Pacific (NEW), Criminal Minds, CSI
NBC: Up All Night (NEW), Up All Night, The Biggest Loser (NEW)
ABC: The Middle (NEW), Suburgatory (NEW), Modern Family (NEW), Happy Endings (NEW), Revenge (NEW)
FOX: The X Factor (NEW), Mobbed (NEW)

Joke of the Day

An industrious turkey farmer was always experimenting with breeding to perfect a better turkey.

His family was fond of the leg portion for dinner and there were never enough legs for everyone. After many frustrating attempts, the farmer was relating the results of his efforts to his friends at the general store get together. "Well I finally did it! I bred a turkey that has 6 legs!"

They all asked the farmer how it tasted.

"I don’t know" said the farmer. "I never could catch the darn thing!"

Joke of the Day 2

The pro football team had just finished their daily practice session when a large turkey came strutting onto the field. While the players gazed in amazement, the turkey walked up to the head coach and demanded a tryout.

Everyone stared in silence as the turkey caught pass after pass and ran right through the defensive line. When the turkey returned to the sidelines, the coach shouted, "You're terrific!!! Sign up for the season, and I'll see to it that you get a huge bonus."

"Forget the bonus," the turkey said, "All I want to know is, does the season go past Thanksgiving Day?"

Surf This!

3 Thanksgiving apps:

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade - Gives you a complete list of participants in the parade, their order, and traffic cameras that show them marching down the street. IOS, Android

Thanksgiving Coloring Book -- To keep the kids busy while you're preparing dinner...or napping. IOS, iPad, and Android

T.G.I. Black Friday - Helps you find more than 10-thousand advertised Black Friday deals from major retailers. It also helps you create a shopping list and receive notifications when new deals you may like appear. iPhone, iPad, and Android

Trivia

Jessica Simpson has signed on with Weight Watchers to help slim her waist after she has the baby. If she loses "a significant amount of weight," she'll be paid $4-million.

Which singer is the current Weight Watchers spokeswoman?

Adele
Mariah Carey
Jennifer Hudson

Answer: Jennifer Hudson!