Best Games of 2007

Looking for that perfect household gift? Games are always a good play. About.com listed their top games for 2007. We'll spill the beans on five:

Cranium Wow - sculpt, draw, act and answer your way to victory. This is an update on the already best-selling game.

Luck of the Draw from Gamewright - In this one you draw something based on a subject card that you pull from a stack. Other players vote on which category, among 100 different categories such as neatest, tallest or prettiest drawing, fits the drawing. Not sure exactly how you win the game though. If you've played this, let us know.

Hot Spot from ThinkFun - The game pieces are built like robots that can only move in a straight line. The goal is to get the red robot to the “hot spot” which is the red spot on one corner of the board. There are other blue and yellow robots that the robot can jump over to get to his goal. You have to figure out the most economical way to get to the Hot Spot.

I Spy Eagle Eye Game from Briarpatch - In this one, match one of the objects from the cards in your hand to the ones on the game board. Whoever finds an object first rings the bell and wins the round.

WonderChess and WonderGo - Like chess? What if the chess pieces had prizes in them. That's basically what this is. You can stuff whatever you want inside the chess pieces (as long as they fit) and the person that captures the piece gets the additional prize.

If you have another game you think we should know about, let us know.

"The 12 Days of Christmas"... Not So Cheap

Think you could afford the cost of the 364 items in the holiday song " The 12 Days of Christmas"? Not unless you have $78,100 dollars to spend. Research conducted by PNC Wealth Management says the prices are up 4 percent from last year. "What's really surprising is that our index follows overall Consumer Price Index trends," Rebekah McCahan, a PNC senior vice president, says in a news release. "To think that the cost of a partridge in a pear tree would mirror what's going on at Target, for example, is pretty interesting." Here is a breakdown of the list:

Partridge, $15
Pear Tree, $150
Two Turtle Doves, $40
Three French Hens, $45
Four Calling Birds (canaries), $600
Five Gold Rings, $395
Six Geese a-Laying, $360
Seven Swans a-Swimming, $4,200
Eight Maids a-Milking, $47
Nine Ladies Dancing (per performance), $4,759
10 Lords a-Leaping (per performance), $4,285
11 Pipers Piping (per performance), $2,213
12 Drummers Drumming (per performance), $2,398

Merry Christmas, Right?

Eco Shopping Festival

Tis the season to be green, right? At the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium (California) between December 15th and 16th visitors can check out the best of what's eco-friendly. General admission is $10 and the exhibitor list is long. The big sponsors of the event are Whole Foods and L.A. Times. Some of the exhibitors include Airborne, Hoopnotica, Lazy Dog Designs and many more. This might be a great event to attend if you're in the Southern California area and you're looking for the perfect gift for a family member or spouse who keeps a constant eye on the environment.

Click here for all the details.

In The Spirit of Thanksgiving: Wine TV

Hey everyone, in the spirit of Thanksgiving, I thought I'd pass along a really fun and informative wine video blog I've been watching for the past several weeks. The host of the show is Gary Vaynerchuk or Vay-ner-chuk, director of operations at the Wine Library. Amazingly, Gary produces a new video blog every day! The videos are always entertaining and his descriptions of the smell and taste are vivid and encompassing. When Gary's done describing a wine, there's no doubt you'll know what you're getting when you pick up that bottle. Gary's never short of NY Jets references in his quest to build his army of Vaniacs to change the wine world. --Steve

One Mom's Quest to Boycott China

With all the China toy recalls that have happened, from products having lead in them to date-raped drugs, one mom decided that she'd had enough and made a quest to boycott products made from China. Eve Tahmincioglu, an MSNBC contributing writer began checking the labeling on all goods she purchased. She was shocked at how few options she had when boycotting China manufactured products. Tahmincioglu retells a story of how proud she was when she found a Yahtzee game that was made in the USA. When she brought it home, her husband looked at the package and read out loud: “Made in USA with dice made in China.” This wasn't the breaking point. She continued her quest and spoke with various efforts about what she was doing to see if they had any tips. In the end, she had to concede that it just wasn't going to happen.

You can read her full tale on MSNBC.com--it's only two pages and well worth it.

Woman Sues Husband for Share of Lottery Winnings

In my most recent Editor's Note (only found in the newsletter, by the way) I mentioned the results of our recent polls. One revealed that 83 percent of our readers have thought their spouse was cheating on them at one time. I find this statistic startling. In Florida, one woman was right--kind of. Donna Campbell is suing her husband Arnim because he won a cut of $10 million dollars in Florida's Lottery and never told her about it. Now, Donna cant find him to deliver the suit papers. Donna became suspicious when Arnim disconnected the phone and kept turning off the TV. She got more curious when she found out that he had purchased another home. She went online and that's when she found out that he had won.

What's the biggest secret you've kept from your spouse? Read the whole story here.

Love and Marriage

Have a happy Friday everyone!

A Lotta Love Letters

Patricia, 60, and Alton Hassell, 62, have been married for nearly 40 years. For the last 28 years, they've been writing each other love letters--every day! They met at Baylor and married before their senior year in 1968, according to the Waco Tribune-Herald. They would write love letters off and on to each other until 1980, when Alton decided they should up the ante and commit to a daily practice of it. Patricia was eight months pregnant and already looking after their 2-year-old thought that kind of commitment was perhaps a bit too much. The notebooks that they've written their letters in now weight more than 100 pounds. That's a lotta love. Every night before bed, they write their letters, exchange them, then discuss them. They say it's helped them keep the lines of communication open, through the good times and not so good.

When was the last time you wrote your spouse a love letter?

The World Believes In Marriage

A survey by ACNielsen, which got responses from over 25,000 consumers who were polled online in 46 countries last December revealed their views on love, romance and marriage. "Seventy percent of people surveyed say that marriage is for life (with American consumers topping the list at 78 percent) and three out of five (60 percent) saying that marriage is one of their lifetime goals," said Patrick Dodd, President, ACNielsen, Europe. Another surprising result is that in the U.S., more men than women believed that marriage is for life and relevant in today's society.

The study goes on to give highlighted results from various countries, some surprising, some not. To view all the highlights, click here.

The Orgasmic Diet

I know, I thought it was a daily dose of In-N-Out Double Doubles, animal style (it's a west coast thing), but it's not. Marrena Lindberg is a diet & fitness coach on AOL and also the author of "The Orgasmic Diet," a nutrition and exercise program designed to regulate a woman's brain chemistry and body functioning and bring her to mind-blowing orgasm. Here's a little taste of what her book has to offer:

Women on a typical high-carb, high-fat diet are literally starving for dopamine, the "feel good" neurotransmitter, hormone and key to all things sensual. Now you're thinking, How do I get my hands on that stuff? Fish oil supplements. Take 500 mg or more with the omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA daily.

...Researchers have shown that women who eat a small amount of high-quality dark chocolate every day have better sex lives. Dark chocolate contains chemical compounds that mimic the chemistry produced by that I'm-in-love feeling.

That was a nice little tidbit. So what do you think? If your body only performs as well as the fuel you put into it, it makes sense that it would affect your sex drive. Do you have a "sexual" diet you adhere when trying to get in the mood or improve performance?

Movies That Make Men Cry

What movies make men cry? Are neighbors up north at CTV.ca have put together a list of 25 movie moments that are likely to get the waterworks going on the toughest of chaps. Did they leave any movies or moments off this list? Guys, do you cry during movies (wives, you can tell us if they're not being honest). Click here to go to the message board and talk about it in the entertainment thread. CTV.ca (click here) goes into greater depth of each moment, we're just going to list the movies below. Without further adieu....

- Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
- Rudy
- Godfather II
- Dead Poet's Society
- Top Gun
- Braveheart
- The Deerhunter
- E.T.
- The Elephant Man
- Saving Private Ryan
- Field of Dreams
- Rocky IV
- Good Will Hunting
- Mr Smith goes to Washington
- Platoon
- Rain Man
- Star Wars
- The Shawshank Redemption
- On the Waterfront
- One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest
- Midnight Cowboy
- 'Little Caesar
- Gangs of New York
- Boyz 'N the Hood
- Major League

Whatever Happened to Commitment?

Okay, I realize this is a car commercial, but it touches on a painful truth in today's society. Obviously not everyone, but many people out there have forgotten that commitment isn't just a thing of convenience, but a vow through good times and bad. This commercial puts it in your face. Kudos.

Ok To Look?

An article by Men's Health, asks the question if a wandering eye means infidelity is around the corner? Their answer was no. But they did offer rules of catching a peek. Their first rule is to admit when they're taking a look. They do mention, however, that men shouldn't overdo any compliment about another woman. Their second rule takes a look at the glancers history. Is this how he picked you up? If so, then maybe it's something you should worry about. Their final blurb says that sometimes, men just take a glance at the action in their environment and are not necessarily checking out a particular woman. Unfortunately this advice goes sour in the closing paragraph when the author says, "And a woman who tries to squelch that right with paranoid accusations might actually provoke her man to follow up one of those glances with action."

Okay, a little slack since the audience of Men's Health isn't directly targeting married couples. But if you're on a date whether single or married and the man you're with does what this author suggests, that guy has serious character issues. These stereotypes are tired and guys should be given more credit.

Click here to read the full article.

Diamond In The Rough

What would you say to your wife if you accidentally threw away a 4.38 carat diamond? Probably nothing, considering it's probably twice the size as the one on her finger.

In 1972 Crater of Diamonds State Park opened to the public-the only public mining site in the world. Chad Johnson, 36, was digging and sifting on a Saturday when he unearthed the tea-colored gem. Unaware and thinking it was a rock, he put his equipment away in a locker. When he returned a few days later he took a closer look and saw that the rock was, in fact, a diamond. Johnson's find is the second-largest diamond uncovered at the park this year. In June, a Louisiana man found a 4.8-carat stone. More than 700 diamonds have been found there this year. Sounds like a great date spot nonetheless.

Breast Milk Boosts IQ

Two new studies reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that say babies who are breast fed and carry a particular gene get an IQ boost. The two studies of breast-fed infants involved more than 3,000 children in Britain and New Zealand. The average increase was nearly 7 IQ points if the children had a particular version of a gene called FADS2.

"Our findings support the idea that the nutritional content of breast milk accounts for the differences seen in human IQ," said Terrie Moffitt, a professor of psychological and brain sciences in Duke University's Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy. "But it's not a simple all-or-none connection: it depends to some extent on the genetic makeup of each infant."

In the end, the study says that the argument of nature versus nurture has a result that both benefit the growth of children.

TasteBook

During the holiday season it's very common to stumble upon a great recipe and immediately want to print it out and share with all your friends. Another scenario is friends and relatives asking you to make that same great dish you make every year. Have we come across a great gift option for you. TasteBook is a new site that launched with the help of CondeNet and Epicurious. This site allows you to take saved recipes, bundle them together and print out your very own cookbook. You can pick from over 20,000 recipes from Epicurious, which also includes recipes from Bon Appetit magazine and Gourmet magazine. Each book comes with 100 recipes, but because this hardcover book is constructed with a spiral-like notebook inside, you can start with say 30 recipes and add the other 70 to your book as you find them later. You can also share and e-mail your recipes to friends. A book with 100 recipes is $34.95.

Living Separately

According to 2006 data from the U.S. Census Bureau, there are 3.8 million married couples who don’t reside under the same roof. This article from Self and featured on MSNBC, profiles a couple who have been married for 14 years, but not in the same home--ever. We interviewed a couple a while back where the wife Julie Harrington lives in California and her husband Ahmed Mohammed lives in the United Arab Emirates. You can read their article here. What do you think? Would you ever live separately from your spouse?

Processed Meat Boosts Cancer Risk

A five year report by the American Institute for Cancer Research and the World Cancer Research Fund conducted by an international panel of experts reviewing more than 7,000 subjects found that excess body fat increases the risk of cancer of the colon, kidney, pancreas, esophagus and uterus as well as postmenopausal breast cancer. Moreover, the report linked processed meat to cancer. Particularly, every 1.7 ounces of processed meat consumed a day increases the risk of colorectal cancer by 21%. The article from USA Today suggests there could be several reasons why processed meats may increase cancer risk. Carcinogens have been linked to smoked meat and the nitrates and excess salt in processed meats. Basically they recommend that you don't eat hot dogs or pepperoni pizza every day, but that the occasional steak won't kill you. The full report can be found at www.dietandcancerreport.org