Better Cards from Banks

When you belong to a bank, you usually get insider dibs on the good offers. As competition heats up inside your wallet, more banks are now offering better rates and rewards for non-customers according to this USA Today article. Currently, this article notes that 70% of the credit card industry is controlled by the top five players. I guess all credit card companies want to know, "what's in your wallet?"

Are You Happy?

Piecing together various studies, social psychologist Adrian White has ranked the happiness of citizens in 178 countries and ranked the overall happiest country. Forbes notes that America ranks 23rd, with Denmark having the biggest smile. Wealth, health and education are factors in figuring happiness, but also mentioned in the article is married couples are happier than those unattached. Yey for being hitched!

Married Men are Label Checkers

When U.S. consumers go to the grocery store, 80 percent say they check labels on the food they eat. They look for fat, calories, sugars, you know the bad stuff. Well, calories themselves aren't bad, they're just measurements of heat energy. Anyway, this report from AP-Ipsos says married men are more likely to check food labels than non-married men (76% to 65%). So what do American food lovers do with the knowledge we gain from reading how much fat we're about to consumer, 44% say they eat whatever they want anyway. There was no explanation as to why married men check the label more often than non-marrieds.

New Bar Drink?

You can already go to the grocery store and get yourself a bottle of liquid smoke, now you can add liquid nicotine to that mix. Smokers have another ally on their side and it's called Nic Lite. The inventors, who were interviewed by the Canadian paper The Globe and Mail said this new form of nicotine relief was spurred by the smoking bans cropping up across The States. Unfortunately, the FDA hasn't given their approval yet, so you'll have to wait for that new drink at the bar--one jigger liquid smoke, two jiggers of liquid nicotine and a splash of vodka, I call it the black lung.

20 Percent Have Addicted Relative

USA Today and HBO conducted a nationwide poll and found that roughly 40 million American adults have a spouse, parent, sibling or child battling alcohol or drug addiction. This equates to roughly 20 percent having a direct relative addicted to drugs. The article in USA Today includes the story of former addict Tim Ryan, who credits his wife and family as saving his life. Ryan falls into the majority because the statistics reveal that the husband is most likely to fall off the wagon in comparison to the wife. This article is just one of a series. HBO will air a special covering this top in March 2007.

Weight Loss Surgeries Have Complications

The first in-depth look into weight-loss surgeries (which have sky rocketed in the past few years) reveals that roughly 40 percent have complications, according to Medical Care. Getting a gastric bypass surgery runs about $25,000, but when complications become a factor, that number jumps about 10k. If a person had to be re-admitted into the hospital, prices are said to soar to over 60k. Also, roughly 18 percent of patients form complications within six months and have to be re-admitted. This makes hiring a personal trainer seem like a bargain.

Be Careful What You Shoot

Salon.com has an interesting and cautionary story about a parent who snapped some photos of her kids while on vacation. You know the kind, a naked three-year-old running around kind of stuff. Well, she didn't have her digital camera with her and instead used a disposable one. When she went to pick up her pictures from development, the police were waiting for her instead. The ordeal lasted several weeks and the lady in the article and her family were being investigated for "child pornography" and then "sexual exploitation of a minor." The police investigated neighbors, friends teachers, etc. making the family's life hell. This is a cautionary tale for those who put pictures of your kids on the internet--be careful what you post.

Drug Dealers Make Mistakes

I'm talking about doctors. Probably not the drug dealers that you were thinking of, huh. A new report came out that says drug errors injure more than 1.5 million people every year. Part of the problem is that doctors handwriting is so poor and medicines and dosages get lost in translation. They're not the only ones at fault. This report also found that parents give their kids the wrong over-the-counter fever medicine dosage 47 percent of the time! To help solve some of these problems, many are pushing to have all prescriptions electronically written by 2010. This article also includes consumer tips on how to avoid medicine errors. Click here.

Misyar: Marriage Lite or Just Wrong

So what's marriage like is Saudi Arabia? One form of legal partnership is Misyar. Essentially, it's a legal agreement where often times the husband and wife live separately, but get together for sex, according to this article. Some describe Misyar as legal prostitution because the husband is not financially obligated to his wife in divorce or otherwise. Furthermore, he can legally partake in another Misyar agreement without having to inform his first wife. For some, this is viewed as just a short term agreement, but other (as mentioned in the article) believe this could be the first step to something more meaningful.

Tuning Out

Earlier this month, the four major broadcast television network execs must have been crying. Why? Because they suffered their lowest weekly viewership in recorded history. Mentioned in this article as to why, it's mentions that their haven't been any new shows that entice viewership. Also, this low rating took place over Independence weekend when many are out of town. Are you and your spouse watching less television? With the internet, video games, kids, life as a general it doesn't seem surprising that more people are watching less TV. I know my DVR is getting backed up.

July is BBQ Fire Season

The weather is hot and so are the coals--it's barbecue season. As such, did you know more fires are started from barbecues in the month of July than any other month? This report is a little dated, but it offers some interesting statistics about what catches on fire, how the fires are started and how much monetary damage is caused. Surprisingly, in August and September (typically the hottest months of the year) when football season starts, the number of fires begins to go down. I guess that's when the professional BBQ-ers throw meat on the grill.

How Often Do You Entertain?

A new chart in USA Today from KC Masterpiece Barbecue Sauce reveals that nearly a quarter of women say they rarely or never entertain guests for dinner. The chart doesn't show results for men. The largest response was a few times a year (37%), followed by once a month (21%). Apparently, 6 percent are party animals and host guest once a week. I wonder how these guests can afford the gas to get to the party. Where's the stat showing the number of men who've stuck a can of beer inside a chicken?

Lady Has Litter Of Kids (twice)

Three years after Angela Magdaleno, 40, had triplets, she delivers quadruplets! In total, Magdaleno has nine children. To conceive the triplets, Magdaleno underwent in vitro fertilization. For the quadruplets however, all natural. The chances of her conceiving quadruplets without fertility drugs are about one in 800,000 according this article. That makes her family, including her 45-year-old husband Afredo Anzaldo, 11 strong. The good news is that the babies and mom are all healthy. The bad news is that the parents now have to find a place in their one-bedroom apartment to fit their growing family.

Smoking Kills, Duh

The U.S. Surgeon General says secondhand smoke of any level is hazardous. This means the non-smoking section in restaurants was lame all along. According to the article, nearly 50,000 non-smokers die each year from secondhand smoke. So why should you care? If you're a non-smoker you'll rejoice because there's sure to be more laws for smoke free zones. If you or your spouse smokes, however, acknowledge that you've been warned.

More Tips on Saving Gas

We've just recently been punched in the face with out-of-control gas prices, but those overseas have felt these prices for years. The good people at Scandinavian Oil-Gas Magazine Online who know a thing or two about saving gas offer five tips. Among them, they recommend cleaning your car. Yep, the dirt actually creates an aerodynamic drag messing with your optimum mpgs. Yikes, as dirty as my car is, I could probably get a 15 mpg boost with a little soap and water. Another tip they mention is ditching the snow chains in your trunk. The extra weight means more work for your engine.

Gender Gap In Genes

Have you taken your male aspirin today? New research from a team of scientists out of the University of California Los Angeles revealed that while men and women have the same organs, the genes in these organs behave differently. The significance is that some medications metabolize different according to gender, making them more or less effective. This new finding also holds significance in understanding diabetes, obesity, heart disease and other ailments and disorders. Get ready for the sex-specific drug onslaught.

Blog Will Resume July 10th

Sorry folks, with the launch of the website, the blog has been neglected. However, we will resume regular blogging on the 10th (Monday).