Show Starters Thursday
cuttin' cake
- Kevin Smith, director-actor, is 42
- Mary Louise Parker from Weeds is 48
- From SNL back in the 80's, Victoria Jackson, is 53
- Creepy director Wes Craven from Scream and Cursed is 73
- National Ice Cream Sandwich Day
primetime thursday
abc: Wipeout is new at 9pm
cbs: Big Brother is LIVE at 9
nbc: Olympics with gymnastics, swimming, beach volleyball, and rowing
fox: all reruns
cw: reruns
pop quiz: music history
(play) On this day in 1992, we found out that Jeff Porcaro of the band Toto died of cardiac arrest... he was only 38 years old. What triggered the heart attack:
- Hot weather during a safari in Africa
- An allergic reaction to an insecticide he was spraying in his yard
- Strength tests at his doctor's office during a physical
Answer: He had a severe allergic reaction to the insecticide in his yard which caused heart failure
joke of the day
The world's most incredibly lazy man found a magic lamp. He rubbed it and a genie appeared and granted him three wishes. He wished for a horse, a sumo wrestler and a squirrel. "They're yours, but what are they for?" the genie asked.
"I'm tired of walking everywhere--I want to just ride the horse. The sumo wrestler is so that I won't have to work to get on the horse."
"But the squirrel?" asked the genie.
"I need something to go 'click-click' to start the horse!!!"
Men, Women, and Shiny Objects
When a woman speaks to a man, what part of her face does he focus on? How about the other way around? Well thank goodness somebody studied this issue because we now have an answer. It turns out that when a man speaks to a woman, she will focus on his body language and eyebrow cleavage. On the other hand, a guy will listen to a woman while staring at her mouth. This, say experts, is a misguided attempt to visualize her words.
What outside forces distract us during a conversation? Women tend be distracted by people wandering into sight, while guys were more likely to be distracted by random movement like bikes, bright objects, flying dragons, etc.
Drop Out!
The most challenging part of any weight loss program is actually staying in the program. Close to half of us drop out of weight loss programs before achieving the desired results. The main reason is the feeling we've gone as far as we can go with the program. If we feel we won't lose more weight, we'll give up. But maybe Dr. Jim Early, a professor at the University of Kansas, has a better explanation: "People don't want to give up their comfort foods."
Stranger Danger
What's your best technique for avoiding interaction with the public? That's what a Yale researcher wanted to find out, so she hopped a bus and traveled across the country. After observing and interviewing dozens of travelers, she discovered that people will go to great lengths to avoid interacting with strangers, including covering the open seat next to them with a jacket, staring out the window, pretending to be asleep, or flashing the "don't bother me face," otherwise known as the 'hate stare.'
The researcher found that plopping down right next to someone while there are rows of open seats makes you look like a 'weirdo.'
And what about if passengers know a bus is going to be full and they're forced to sit next to someone? Well, instead of avoiding people, we switch strategies and now try and find someone "normal" to share the ride with.
What is defined as "normal" trumps race, class, or gender when it comes to finding a bus buddy.
Facebook/Phones: What behavior bugs you most when it comes to sitting next to someone you don't know?
Is 30 the new 21 (and is that something to be proud of?)
Interesting survey of adult men and women, all born in 1990, about how they view their place in life at 22 years old...
- Only 38% feel like they're grown up adults. The kind of person that pay mortgages, have retirement accounts, and no longer eats Captain Crunch for breakfast
- 21% insist they are not adults.
- 49% are not quite sure where they fit in
- 72% still lived at home
Now, to be fair, only 140 people were involved in the study, so the sample may not be entirely accurate.
Phones/Facebook: When are you an adult? How do you measure it -- age, financial independence, college graduate, member of the military?
Can your office beat this: Nine members of a maternity ward at a hospital in England are either pregnant, or brand new mommies. Amanda, Suzanne, and Sarah have already given birth, while Jenny, Laura, Louise, Paula, Elaine, and their secretary, Johanne, are due this summer.
How do teens in America rate compared to their peers around the world? They're #1!!! They're #1 when it comes to binge drinking, drugs, and violent deaths. But, strangely, are also #1 when it comes to exercise. Strange because U.S. teens are more likely to be overweight, too.
Pink is for girls, eh? Not in 1918! A 1918 editorial from Earnshaw's Infants' Department declared that pink was "a more decided and stronger color...more suitable for the boy; while blue, which is more delicate and dainty, is prettier for the girl." That didn't change until the 40's. Also, dresses weren't just for little girls, but for little boys, too.
Mother's Day is creeping closer and closer and if you believe this latest Buy.com survey, gadgets will rule the day. 
Shocking new statistics have discovered that close to 50% of people in committed relationships have cheated... with MONEY! Maybe that's not so shocking. We've all fibbed a little when it comes to spending, right? The most common financial fib involves shopping.
Could the social media craze of 2012 be losing steam? Pinterest had crazy growth in January and February but is unexpectedly losing users this month. It seems monthly active users are down from 11.15 million on April 1st to 8.3 million today. Time to hit the panic button? Hardly. It's speculated that the meteoric rise in growth were from people just curious to try it out for a couple days. The core audience, women, are still passionate about the site.
A group of parents are suing Apple because their children spent real money playing games on their parent's iPhones and iPads. The suit claims youngsters can purchase "game currencies" without their parents knowing. Games like Smurf Village are free, but the 1,000 credits involved in using the game costs $59.
Men are always taking heat for checking out other women on the beach while with their wives or girlfriends. That's why men where mirrored sunglasses, right? So they won't get caught?
