Wii Love It

If you've ever wanted to get your lady into video games, now's the time. Already having sold over 600,000 units in its first eight days of availability, the Nintendo Wii is showing consumers where the next generation of gaming is going. Using a revolutionary new wireless controller, the Nintendo Wii is converting non-gamers, like your wife, by the thousands. Used as a handheld pointing device the controller can detect motion and rotation in three dimensions allowing the player to be completely involved in the game. The Wii comes bundled with a five game sports pack. Like golf? Well, stand up (talk about a new generation of gaming right there) and swing the controller like you would a golf club. Boxing? Use the controller and an attachment like boxing gloves and knock your spouse, err opponent out. If you've ever wanted to play video games but are afraid the machine might kill you, and your wallet, check out the Wii.

Start Slouching

You know how you were always told to sit up straight and not slouch, but when you corrected your posture your back hurt? Well, Scottish researchers say new imaging technology shows that sitting up straight does hurt your back. I can't wait to e-mail this to mom! The best position, they say, is that of a La-Z-Boy recliner. Wow, this just gets better and better. Soon researchers will tell us that beer and buffalo wings are staples of an Adonis diet. To get all the info on slouching being good for you, click here.

Fight Diabetes with Mangos

A new study that was presented at the Australian Health and Medical Research Congress suggests that mangos can help prevent diabetes and high cholesterol. Extracted from the the story it says...

"Dr Sarah Roberts-Thomson of the university's school of pharmacy, who is supervising the work, says early results suggest some compounds in mangoes work by activating or inhibiting groups of receptors known as peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors, or PPARs.

"We don't know yet how the whole thing's going to play out but we know some of the individual components activate these receptors or even inhibit them," she says.

"That could end up with positive nutritional health benefits for diabetes and high cholesterol."

PPARs are also increasingly being linked to colon and breast cancer, and the study will investigate whether compounds in mangoes can also kill cancerous cells. "

For the full article, click here.

Party Excuse Generator

During this time of year it's common to get together with those you don't normally see. Sometimes, there's a reason you don't normally see some of those people. For the occassions where you wish you had an excuse, visit the Holiday Excuse Generator. The excuse generator asks a few simple questions such as how bad do you want to avoid the get together? Or how do you feel about the host. When it's all said and done, it writes a simple letter, maybe not the most gentle of letters on how you can break the bad news.

The Truth About Turkey Day

This week, we posted an aritcle on the truth about Puritans. The good folks at The Chicago Tribune did a little exposing too, revealing that the original Thanksgiving menu back in 1621 probably didn't even include turkey! That's right, back at the original Thanksgiving day table, it was more likely that they were eating duck, geese and/or shellfish. There was also no pumpkin pie, white potatoes and cranberries. Many of you are probably wondering if they had the cream of mushroom and green bean casserole? Probably not. For the real scoop, check out the article here. Have a great Thanksgiving everyone, we'll be taking the day off.

Flying Turkeys

It turns out that more people plan on flying on Thanksgiving than last year. According to this article from USA Today, 66% of the turkey-day traffic will be flying, compared to 63% last year. One reason it may be up is because it's cheaper to fly on Thanksgiving than the day before. According to travel consultants Sabre Airline Solutions, travelers will save an average of $36 by flying Thursday instead of Wednesday; making the average ticket $141. When all is said and done, experts predict that this will be the busiest air travel day ever on Thanksgiving. Maybe you should consume some tryptophan before you arrive at the airport.

Also, don't miss James Park's article on traveling over holidays.

Thanksgiving Dinner Costs $38.10

The American Farm Bureau Federation has been calculating the price of Thanksgiving for 21 years. This year, they say the comma-inducing feast will run $38.10 for a table of 10. That's a $1.32 price increase from last year. Data is collected from a shopping list that includes: turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, rolls with butter, peas, cranberries, a relish tray of carrots and celery, pumpkin pie with whipped cream and beverages of coffee and milk. This article from the Voice of Agriculture breaks down the price of each item and also gives a chart of meal price over the years.

Silicone Is Back

It's been 14 years since the FDA had banned silicone breast implants and today they've officially lifted that ban. One interesting thing, however is that silicone breast implants are okayed for women 22 years old and up, but they say they most likely won't last a lifetime and women will need a second surgery later in life. This article from The Mercury News in San Jose says, "Last year, 291,000 women had their breasts surgically enlarged in the United States, a 37 percent increase since 2000, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons." It also states that 39,000 women has their implants removed.

Merry X-Mas Uncle Sam

The IRS is sitting on $92 million in tax refund checks that they couldn't deliver last year. The average refund waiting to be claimed is $963. Not a bad chunk of change, eh. The checks went unclaimed because the IRS doesn't know where to send them. Residents had moved without notifying the IRS or the Postal Service. The IRS says:

"Taxpayers can use the "Where's My Refund?" feature on the home page of the IRS.gov Web site to learn the status of their refunds. To use it, a taxpayer must enter a Social Security number, filing status (such as single or married filing jointly) and the refund amount shown on the taxpayer's 2005 tax return. When the information is submitted, "Where's My Refund?" will display the status of a refund and, in some cases, provide instructions on how to resolve potential account issues.

Taxpayers can access a telephone version of "Where's My Refund?" by calling 1-800-829-1954."

We've supplied the link here.

Shocker! Work Stress Affects Marriage

It's not really a surprise that work stress can affect your marriage and that's why we were happy to find this article. It offers a few tips and advice to take into consideration. Among them: "What is more important? Married life or work life? New work /job can be found, but getting another person to marry will be difficult. What about after retirement? Who will be with us- our spouse or our company? We never think about these issues. For us the stress at that moment is the center of our life. Our mind is occupied with that stress. Therefore when we reach home, we are ready to speak harshly, blame family members, showing irritation and express our frustration in many other ways."

To check out the full article click here.

Mile High Control

Remember that Mile High article we wrote a few weeks back? Well, when we said you know the terrorists have won when you can't do the ditty in thin air, we didn't mean that people should threaten the flight attendant so they can get a little nook nook. A California couple got busted while they were waiting on a plane in Phoenix during a layover. The flight attendant requested that they keep their passion on the DL, but the male partner replied, "I'm going to give you one warning to get out of my face." Not a smart move. The couple is now facing federal charges. Remember, bathroom, discreetness and obey the flight attendant, otherwise you may have a new "partner" behind bars! The full article from CNN is here

Read Books By E-mail

Okay, so we may be literature junkies, but other people like to read books too--honest. This will be the last book-related blog for at least another, um, 48 hours. DailyLit is a website that will e-mail sections of books to your e-mail at a frequency you set, making it nice and easy for you to keep up your reading while not having to lug those tomes around. Since it's sent to your e-mail, that means you can read it on your Crackberry, Treo or other portable e-mail device. Pretty neat. Currently, all the books offered are public domain, sorry Potter fans. But at least you can catch up on your classics! A link to their website is here.

The Secret to Marriage--3,000 Miles?

Learning a little somethin' from the old timers. Maldwyn Hughes, 86, from Bangor, in north Wales, has been married to Shirley Luck-Hughes, 79, for nine years. Their secret? Shirley lives in America, 3,000 miles from Maldwyn. They speak twice a week on the phone and they visit for only a few weeks during the year. It's not what you expect from traditional happy ending. This couple's has rewritten the story and their's ends like this, "and they lived apart happily ever after." Would you consider living apart from your spouse? Here's a link to the full story.

It's Back

Ladies and Gentlemen get your ovens ready. Yes, it's here and Hitchedmag.com has your holiday survival guide to make this season one that you can deal with. Our resident experts have you covered-from the inevitable stress of the holiday season, to dealing with the relatives, to making the holidays a little hotter under the sheets. Make sure to stay tuned as hitchedmag.com covers you with some holiday help.

Still Time For Flu Vaccine

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has sent us a reminder that it's still not too late to get your flu vaccine. The release says:

CDC recommends that beginning at 6 months of age and up to their fifth birthday children get a flu vaccine each year.

Children under the age of 5, even if they are healthy, are among those at highest risk for flu-related complications such as seizures and ear infections. The flu, which can cause symptoms including high fever, headache, cough, nausea, weakness, and muscle aches, is contagious and often transmitted through sneezing and coughing. While some people suffer mild symptoms, others are too ill to work or attend school.

Individuals who received the vaccine last year likely won't be protected from this year's influenza because the flu viruses change from year to year which is why the flu vaccine is updated annually.

To find out when or where to get a vaccine, contact your doctor or local health department. To find a clinic near you, visit the Web site, www.flucliniclocator.org and enter your zip code.

Warning Signs of Emotional Affairs

The OC Register has 10 warning signs of emotional affairs. According to this article, some of the signs include purchasing inappropriate gifts, sharing intimate emotions, thinking and daydreaming about the person and looking forward to the next time that you see that person. Each item goes into a little more depth in the article. So have you ever had an emotional affair problem in your relationship? What did you do about it? And what's worse, a physical or emotional affair? Let us know what you think.

Paperback Swap

Here's a neat website for you book readers. It's called PaperBackSwap and can be found at www.paperbackswap.com. Essentially, book lovers list the books that they would like to swap and receive credit to swap books every time they send one out. When sending out a book, you're responsible for the postage, but it comes around when others send books your way. The site says postage typically runs $1.59 per book. The website boasts over 800,000 books in circulation. Members also rate books, so it adds a little web 2.0 panache.

Chris Calls It Quits

Funny man Chris Rock is filling for divorce from his wife of nearly 10 years, Malaak Compton-Rock. Married in November of 1996 Rock once told NBC's Stone Phillips that marriage was "beautiful" but added, "If you're a guy, [your individual self] is dead. Get rid of you. Take yourself to the door and wave. Hey, see you later. It sounds horrible. I'm happier than I've ever been now that I've shot myself in the head." Ironically, Rock is currently in post-production for the film "I Think I Love My Wife." Maybe they could have gotten some pointers from the best resource on marriage... that's right, hitchedmag.com

Marriage Deal Breakers

According to this article Nicole Kidman has told her husband of four months, Keith Urban, that he better check-in to rehab or she's gone. This got us thinking. What are some other deal breakers in marriage? Obviously infidelity or any kind of abuse. But when someone has a problem like this, do you think it's the role of the significant other to try and help them or drop an ultimatum? Let us know what your deal breakers are and we may turn it into an article. E-mail us at feedback@hitchedmag.com

Spec Your Hood

Do you know the makeup of your neighborhood? Neighboroo does. It's a pretty neat website that uses U.S. Census data to give maps and information about everywhere in the U.S. For example, you can see how many Republicans or Democrats are in your hood. Or find out how many married households or crime rates or household incomes, or just about anything else you want to know. Okay, so their are limitations, but it may open your eyes to where you live.

Mobile E-mail Made Easier

Are you serious about getting your e-mail on your phone? Then get a Treo or Blackberry. But if you're not ready to fork over the big buck's your friends at Google, Thursday, released a new version of its mobile Gmail application that makes it much easier to access e-mail on your phone. Google's new mobile Gmail software, once it has been downloaded, is relatively easy to use-archiving a message takes 11 clicks on the old version but only two clicks on the new version. People who own one of 300 different phone models will now be able to view PDFs, Microsoft Word documents and attached photos, Google says. Although getting e-mail on your phone isn't the easiest thing to do, at least it's a step in the right direction for non-PDA users.

14,888 Years of Marriage Knowledge

In Toledo, OH over the weekend, 344 couples met at a church to renew their vows. Among the couples attending some were celebrating 60 and 50-plus years of marriage. Among some of the knowledge they shared included: "It's all about family," John Grosswiler of Norwalk said. "That's been our life, the two of us and our children." That, he said, "and my wife putting up with me all these years."

Diane and Jerry Podgorski of Toledo, who have been married 50 years, have differing opinions on the secret to long marriages.
"You bite your tongue a lot. You walk out the door and take a walk," she said. He said: "You get hearing aids and you can shut them off."

Alice Bauer, said, "Never hold a grudge. If you have an argument, never go to sleep without kissing each other good night. You may not be talking, but at least you're still kissing."

For more words of wisdom, check out the article here.