Tuesday, December 18, 2007

DECEMBER 18, 2007

ARE YOU SERIOUS?
Every year, the Michigan Lawsuit Abuse Watch group holds a contest where people send in the WORST or STUPIDEST warning labels they can find. Here are this year's winners.

GRAND PRIZE: A label on a small tractor that says, quote, "Danger! Avoid death." (--Which is pretty good advice, actually. But not much of a practical warning.)

SECOND PLACE: An iron-on "Shrek" T-shirt transfer from Honey Nut Cheerios. The warning says, quote, "Do not iron while wearing shirt."

THIRD PLACE: A baby stroller that has a small storage pouch in the back... and the warning on the storage bag says, quote, "Do not put child in bag."

HONORABLE MENTION: A small letter opener from Staples with the warning, quote, "Safety goggles recommended."

HONORABLE MENTION: A vanishing fabric marker that warns you, quote, "The Vanishing Fabric Marker should not be used as a writing instrument for signing checks or any legal documents, as signatures will fade or disappear completely."

THE TOP BABY NAMES OF 2007
The website BabyCenter.com just put out its annual list of the most popular baby names for the year.

Here's what they found:

For girls, there's a new number one name this year: Sophia. It was 7th most popular last year. Last year's number one name, Emma, dropped to 3rd this year.

The entire top 10 for girls in 2007 is: Sophia, Isabella, Emma, Madison, Ava, Addison, Hailey, Emily, Kaitlyn and Olivia.

Addison is the only name in the top 10 that wasn't there last year. It replaced Abigail, which dropped to 11th this year. Last year, Addison was 26th most popular.

The girl's name that gained the most popularity is Layla, which went from 100th last year to 40th this year.

The name "Kaylee" has the most different spellings on the list... BabyCenter found parents who spelled it THIRTY-FOUR different ways, including Caeley, Kaileigh and Kayli.

For boys, Aiden was the most popular name for the third year in a row.

The entire top 10 for boys is: Aiden, Ethan, Jacob, Jayden, Caden, Noah, Jackson, Jack, Logan and Matthew.

Jayden, Caden and Jackson are all new on the top 10. They knocked out Ryan, Nicholas and Joshua.

Jayden has the most different spellings of any boy's name, with 26 different spellings.

The BabyCenter list isn't quite as official as the list the Social Security Administration puts out, since it only includes names from parents who use the site. But... BabyCenter says it reaches 78% of all new and expecting parents... so it's pretty comprehensive.

It also puts out the list six months BEFORE the SSA.

WOULD YOU MARRY FOR MONEY?
A wealth research firm called Prince & Associates asked people if they would ever marry a, quote, "average-looking person they liked" for money.

Then, they asked how MUCH money that person would have to have. They surveyed 1,134 people nationwide, both men and women, of all ages. Everyone in the survey had an income between $30,000- and $60,000-a-year.

SO... overall, the average amount that men and women would need you to have in the bank before they married you for your money is... at least $1.5 MILLION.

67% of women, or two-thirds, say they're "very" or "extremely" willing to marry for money.

Women in their 20s are least likely, at 41%; women in their 30s are most likely, at 74%.

50% of men say they're "very" or "extremely" willing to marry for money. And that percentage goes up as men get older... 61% of men in their 40s say they'd marry for money.

OKAY, SOMEONE LIED...
Here's another one of those polls where you just KNOW that a ton of the people gave the politically correct answer... which is a giant LIE. In a new Harris poll, only 1% of Americans over 18 say the thing they're looking forward to the most this Christmas is getting presents.

66% of people say that they're most looking forward to spending time with their loved ones. 9% are most excited about holiday parties... 6% are most excited about GIVING presents... 4% are most looking forward to TV Christmas specials and hearing Christmas music...

And then just 1% admit that they're most looking forward to getting presents. 9% say they're NOT looking forward to ANYTHING about Christmas.

HOW TO DEAL WITH HOLIDAY STRESS
There's a massive amount of time and money that goes into each holiday season, which can be pretty stressful. Here are some ways to deal with holiday stress...

1) NAME A DATE. Set a specific date that you want to have all of your holiday shopping... decorating... and wrapping done by. That way, you're not rushing to get all this stuff done at the last minute.

2) TAKE A TIME OUT. If you have family visiting, ask them to help you with some of the things you need to get done. Otherwise, take a walk... go running... or do whatever you need to do to take a time out from holiday activities.

3) DRAW THE LINE. You don't need to spend crazy amounts of money to deck out your house. You could start a new family tradition, like driving around and looking at other people's decorations.

4) ENJOY FAMILY TIME. Bake cookies with your kids... play games... or do whatever you think they'd like to have fun and keep the holidays special. It's usually all about your family at the holidays anyway, yes?

VIDEOS TO WATCH
Did Denise the Lunch Lady lie on Survivor's finale? Yep. Watch.

Are you a LOST fan? Youve got to see this! Watch.

SURVIVOR FANS VS. FAVORITES
During Sunday night's "Survivor" finale, JEFF PROBST announced that next season will be called "Survivor: Micronesia - Fans vs. Favorites"... in which so-called "Survivor" "all-stars" from recent seasons will go up against self-proclaimed "Survivor" MEGA FANS.

Probst didn't announce the names of any of the all-stars, but a list started circulating around the Internet yesterday that may or may not be official. Check it out...

AMANDA KIMMEL - China
JAMES CLEMENT - China
JON DALTON - Pearl Islands
JONATHAN PENNER - Cook Islands
OZZY LUSTH - Cook Islands
PARVATI SHALLOW - Cook Islands
AMI CUSACK - Vanuatu
ELIZA ORLINS - Vanuatu
CIRIE FIELDS - Panama
YAU-MAN CHAN - Fiji

The new season will premiere on February 7th.