Married People Are Happier

With all the numbers being thrown around about how more women are living without a spouse (51%), et cetera, et cetera. We thought you married people should know that studies say that you are happier. That's right, according to Pew Research Center, 43% of married people say they are "very happy", while only 24% of unmarried people agree. We're not advocating that there's anything wrong with being single, we're just pointing out that there's something to be said for sharing your life with someone. Here's a link to the stat.

Don't Forget Your Passport

Are you and your spouse traveling to one of our neighboring countries? As of January 23, anybody, including U.S. citizens, traveling by air between the United States and Canada, Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean, and Bermuda will be required to present a valid passport. Gone are the days of flashing your driver's license and moving through the line. Another ripple from the World Trade Center attacks. Moving forward, starting January 1, 2008, passports will be required if you're traveling to those above mentioned countries by air, land or sea. It's the official paper lockdown of our borders. So if you're planning a trip and you don't have a passport, better work on getting one soon. Here's more information from the official government website.

Oscar Nominations

Yesterday we covered the Razzies, today we cover the Oscars. Leading in Oscar nominations was Snakes On A Plane with 10. Just kidding, Dreamgirls led the Oscar nods with eight. Surpising to some, it was not nominated for best picture. Instead Babel, The Departed, Letters From Iwo Jima, Little Miss Sunshine, and The Queen are up for the grand prize. Dreamgirls was up for three original song Oscars, a couple for acting and a few in other technical categories. The year's biggest blockbuster, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest nabbed four nominations--all in technical categories. Snakes On A Plane was snubbed...or not. Who do you think got snubbed? Here's a full list of nominations.

Razzie Nominations

If you aren't familiar with the Razzies, they're the anti-Oscars. So rather than honoring the best, they highlight the worst of the year. The leader in Razzie nominations this year is Basic Instinct 2, with seven nominations including a nod for worst picture. Also included in the worst picture category were BloodRayne, Lady in the Water, and The Wicker Man. So who was snubbed this year? Razzie founder John Wilson said he was surprised that Sylvester Stallone, who's been nominated for 30 Razzies in the past and won 10 did not get a single nomination according to this USA Today article. About Rocky Balboa, Wilson said, "I would like to publicly say that Stallone has made a good movie." It's really nice that Wilson was willing to admit that, but does M. Night Shyamalan's "Lady in the Water" really deserve a Razzie nomination. Sure, it didn't get a lot of viewers in theaters, but that doesn't make it a worst of the year. What do you think?

Happy Marriages Don't Nitpick

WebMD has posted a new feature that suggests if you want a happy marriage--don't nitpick! Is that really surprising? Perhaps not, but it's usually a lot easier said than done. How's the temperature in your place? Have one of you been fiddling with the thermostat? Are the dishes done? Where did you leave your keys? On the table? See, these things add up.

The article says, "You must be nice to your partner, research shows. Make small gestures, but make them often. 'The little things matter,' says Susan Boon, PhD, a social psychologist at the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada, teaches classes in interpersonal relationships. 'What a happy marriage is based on is deep friendship, knowing each other well, having mutual respect, knowing when it makes sense to try to work out an issue, when it is not solvable. Many kinds of issues simply aren't solvable.'"

The article continues on with tips and techniques and is recommended reading with some great thoughts and ideas. Click here for the article.

It's All Nuclear Now

Al Gore was on to something when he released "An Inconvenient Truth" a while back, but he did miss one little thing. Scientists believe we are at the 11:55 hour of what they refer to as a symbolic "Doomsday Clock," moving the hands two minutes closer to midnight from its previous position at 11:53. The clock was moved forward amid fears over what they describe as "a second nuclear age" prompted largely by newly nuclear nations like Iran and North Korea. They fear these countries, one day, could ultimately have the rest of the world in an atomic standoff situation prompting a nuclear apocalypse. But with all the worry and tension in the world, maybe it's time we took the time to tell our husband, wife and/or kids how much they mean. It couldn't hurt.

Be A Celebrity For Your Cause

You know that Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon game? So does Kevin Bacon. But rather than run and hide from it, he's decided to embrace it and turn the game into a charitable venture. Bacon has just launched www.sixdegrees.org, a new website that lets visitors create only one degree of seperation by donating to a variety of charitable causes, many already endorsed by varying celebrities. It's social networking for a social cause. Aside from Bacon, other celebrities already in the network are Kanye West, Cheryl Hines, Ashley Judd, Seth Green, Jessica Simpson, Ricky Gervais and many more. Go to www.sixdegrees.org to learn more.

Toyota's Answer To Driving Drunk

It could save you or your family's life one day. Toyota is in development of a fail-safe system that will be able to detect if a driver is too drunk to drive. From sweat sensors in the steering wheel that detect abnormal amounts of alcohol in the blood to sensors that detect abnormal steering and even a built-in camera that tells if a driver's pupils are not focusing. If a driver has had excessive alcohol consumption, the vehicle will automatically shut down and will not allow the driver to start the vehicle. Seems the people at Toyota have found a way to take safety in a whole new direction.

Depression Increases Stroke Chances

When you think stroke, you probably think of old people under too much stress. Well, new research has come out that says if you're under the age of 65 and are "depressed" then your chances of a stroke quadruple. Dr. Margaret Kelly-Hayes and her associates at Boston University followed 4120 subjects in the Framingham Heart Study for up to 8 years. During the study, a total of 144 strokes and 84 mini-strokes occurred. It found that among subjects younger than 65 years who showed signs of depression were more than 4 times more likely to have a stroke than those who had lower depression signs. That's kind of a double-whamy isn't it. Fortunately, other studies have suggested that marriage makes individuals healthier. Here's a link to the article (click here).

Sour Apple

That's it. You've done it now. Apparently, Apple could handle all of you online iTunes shoppers. Armed with new iPods and iTunes gift cards, Apples iTunes music store had shoppers waiting up to 20 minutes or more for a single song download. The error message customers received had the technical forms on Apples website overloaded with customer complaints ranging from "I'm not allowed in the store" to being told the system couldn"t process their request with downloading songs or videos. Analysts say the likely result was too many people trying to access the site all at once. If you're experiencing problems, head on over to hitchedmag.com and see what cool things you can spend your money on in our "Budget" and "Splurge" section located inside the "Money" tab.