KTOM is looking for Phone Bank Operators for our Radio Thon Feb. 21st-22nd! If you are available, like to have fun and are ready to help the kids of St. Judes, call Nicolette to volunteer @ 510-595-2100!
Four Reasons You're Always Running Late
If you're constantly running late for everything, "Reader's Digest" has an article that might help you figure out WHY. Here are four common causes behind chronic lateness.
#1.) You're Bad at Time Management. Duh. But it means you're not realistic about how long things take. For example, you might think a shower only takes five or six minutes. But it's probably more like 10 or 15 when you factor everything in.
--Some experts suggest actually setting a timer for a few days in a row to see how long things ACTUALLY take
you.
--And instead of thinking of it as "I have to be at work by 9 a.m.," you should start setting mini deadlines for yourself. Like, "I have to be out of the shower by 7:35, done with breakfast by 8:05, and in the car by 8:15."
#2.) You Can't Say No. For example, when you're about to leave for work, and someone asks you to help find something. Or you have something planned right AFTER work, and at 4:58, a co-worker pops in and asks you for help.
--Obviously, if you DO have time to help, that's great. But if you're the kind of person who says yes REGARDLESS, you probably need to get better at turning people down.
#3.) You Thrive on Drama. If you procrastinate a lot, this might be you. Procrastinators tend to wait until the last minute because subconsciously they NEED a little adrenaline rush before they can get going.
--Then something unexpected happens, and they end up 10 minutes behind schedule. If that's the case, try doing as
much as possible in advance, like looking up directions the night BEFORE a job interview, not 10 minutes before you leave.
#4.) You Always Try to Do "One More Thing" Before You Leave.
--But if you do five of those things, you're suddenly five minutes late. Which is why it's important to catch yourself doing it, make yourself stop trying to multitask so much, and just
walk out the door.
The Most Romantic Gesture – EVER!!!
This could be an urban legend. But even if it IS . . . it's pretty dang romantic.
--A clip from a magazine has been going around online. It looks like it's from "Redbook". And it's a story from a 68-year-old
woman in Houston, Texas named Sue Johnston.
--She was married to her husband John for 46 years, and every Valentine's Day, he'd send her a bouquet of flowers. After 46 years together, he died.
--But the next Valentine's Day, Sue STILL got a bouquet from John. It made her angry and upset, so she called the florist to tell them about the mistake. But they told her, quote, "Before he passed away, your husband prepaid for many years of deliveries on Valentines Day."
--He asked them to keep sending her bouquets every Valentine's Day. And when Sue looked at the card on the flowers, it said, quote, "My love for you is eternal."
The Top Five Worst First Dates Include Touring a Sewage Treatment Plant
When it comes to a first date, wading through FECES is only slightly worse than introducing someone to your
parents. A new survey asked people to name their WORST first dates. And this is the top five . . .
#1.) A day trip to a sewage treatment plant.
#2.) A tour of a coffin factory.
#3.) Meeting the other person's
#4.) Visiting a prison.
#5.) Going to a wedding.
--The survey also found 2% of people have been to a STRIP CLUB on a first date. But NOTICE how that did NOT make the bottom five.
--Coincidentally, we know for a fact some people WILL have sewage plant dates on Valentine's Day. In Brooklyn, New
York, the Newton Creek sewage treatment plant is offering Valentine's tours. They say it's by popular demand.
(Handbag.com / Fox News)
Grammy Pics!!
CARRIE UNDERWOOD totally brought it at last night's Grammys. And by "it" I'm talking about a $31 million necklace that she wore on the red carpet . . . and during the show. (--Here are a couple of pics.)
(People)
For those of you who care about such things: It's an oval, pear, marquise and white diamond necklace . . . and it's 381 carats. It was designed by some big shot Beverly Hills jeweler named Johnathon Arndt.
Carrie was humbled by it . . . but really, then why wear the damn thing? She told E!, quote, "It's heavy on my soul. I'm afraid someone is going to tackle me and steal it. It's worth more than me."
People are still doing the Angelina Jolie leg thing. Last night, JENNIFER LOPEZ took a turn. (--Here are some pics.)
How To Add Years To Your Life!
A professor of biostatistics wants you to start thinking about your life in 30-minute windows.
Break the numbers down and you'll see just how binge drinking cuts years from your life: After the first one, which increases your lifespan by 30 minutes, every alcoholic drink that you down today brings you 15 minutes closer to death.
(That means the standard advice of "no more than two drinks a day" still stands, since you're still 15 minutes ahead after two drinks.)
Here's how the good and bad habits you have are either adding extra hours to your clock, or stealing them away:
Johnny, Did You Eat The Sprinkles???
There is evidence on your face Johnny. Will he admit to the crime?
Do this, 21 Minutes a Year, and You Won't Get Divorced!
Apparently, in just 21 minutes a year, you can make sure you probably never get divorced. You've GOT to be able to spare the time for that, right?
A new study out of Northwestern University in Illinois found that if married couples each write THREE SHORT ESSAYS during the year, they're more likely to have happy, satisfied marriages.
Once every four months, both of you should sit down for seven minutes and write an essay from the other person's perspective. Talk about your married life, your arguments, and where you disagree.
The researchers found that afterward, both of you will see a boost in your feelings of love, passion, intimacy, trust, and commitment. You won't stop arguing . . . but your arguments will be shorter. And your chance of divorce goes WAY down.
The researchers found this works, quote, "whether people were married for one month, 50 years, or anywhere in between."
DAD PAYS DAUGHTER $200 IF
SHE CAN STAY OFF FACEBOOK
A dad and his 14-year-old daughter signed a (legal) contract stating dad promises to pay her $200 if she can stay off Facebook for five months.
Scott Baier made his daughter Rachel sign a contact promising she would quit the social networking site from February until the end of the school year (June). He said in a blog post that quitting Facebook was his daughter's idea - and one that he fully supports.
Schools Banning Birthday Candles Due To Germs
The march continues toward the day when everyone puts a helmet on their kids and wrap them in bubble wrap, and keeps them isolated in a sterilized room. The latest in psychotic overprotectiveness comes to us from Australia.
On Tuesday, the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council issued new guidelines that BAN kids from blowing out BIRTHDAY CANDLES on a cake at school. Why? Because it might spread germs.
Kids ARE allowed to blow out one candle on a cupcake, but only if they eat that cupcake themselves and don't share.
Even doctors in Australia think this one goes too far. The president of the Australian Medical Association says, quote, "If someone sneezes on a cake, I probably don't want to eat it either.
"But if you're blowing out candles, how many organisms are transferred to a communal cake?"
(Yahoo)
Did Beyonce Get a Nose Job?
Did you notice BEYONCÉ'S nose job during the Super Bowl Halftime show? Because it definitely looks like she got one.
--The website CityRag.com put together a photo gallery of the evolution of her nose, and it HAS gotten smaller.
You be the judge. (--Check out the pics here.) (City Rag)
If You Go to Work Sick, Your Germs Cover Half the Office By Lunchtime
According to a new study by the University of Arizona, when you go to work sick, your germs infect everyone and everything . . . FAST.
If one person goes to work sick, the risk of their coworkers getting sick increases by between 40% and 90%.
The researchers used artificial viruses to see how fast germs would spread in an office. And just one sick person managed to spread the virus to HALF the commonly-touched surfaces in the office, in just four hours.
That included the coffee pot, desks, and elevator buttons.
Which means if you go to work sick, you'll have spread it to half the office by lunch . . . and by the end of the day, 70% of the office surfaces will be contaminated by the virus.
(KTLA 5)
DODGE'S "GOD MADE A FARMER" WAS NOT AN ORIGINAL.... IT CAME FROM A YEAR-OLD YOUTUBE VIDEO
One Super Bowl ad that made a big splash on Sunday was Dodge's "God Made a Farmer" which layered a famous Paul Harvey speech about farming over photos of farmers.
It turns out that in 2011, a site called Farms.com had already made this video - with slight differences.
Dodge essentially used the idea, with better production value and an ad for their trucks at the end of it.
Is There Any Chance the Monday After the Super Bowl Will Become a National Holiday?
Here's a message to Congress. Every poll shows that the American people, in general, HATE YOU. Want to get us back on your side? It's THIS easy.
--Make the Monday after the Super Bowl a NATIONAL HOLIDAY. Make our companies give us the day off. And then you can go back to your delusional partisan arguing that severely damages the country and WE WON'T CARE.
--There's not necessarily any indication that Congress have any plans of turning the Monday after the Super Bowl into a national holiday. But there IS a petition on the White House's website calling for it.
--Just Google "Declare the Monday following the Super Bowl a national holiday."
--So far, the petition has more than 10,000 signatures. It needs to get to 100,000 by February 23rd to get an official response.
Click here to sign it!
Women Now Prefer a Man Who Can Fix a Computer Over One Who Can Fix a Car
This is definitely a sign that we've finally reached a point, for the first time in 100 years, where we're more reliant on our electronics than our cars.
In a new survey, women say they prefer a guy who has TECH SKILLS over a guy who has CAR REPAIR skills. In other words, they'd rather you be able to figure out why their phone froze up,and just PAY Jiffy Lube to change their oil.
And we've got a separate new survey that shows guys are ALSO going against the old-school dating stereotypes.
It asked men if they'd prefer a woman who's as hot as a supermodel, but really high maintenance . . . or a woman who's not AS hot, but much lower maintenance.
And guys overwhelmingly picked normal looking, LOW MAINTENANCE women over super hot, high-maintenance ones.
(Crucial / FemaleFirst)
PRINCE HARRY tops the World's Most Eligible Bachelors, according to "Town & Country" magazine.
The magazine's list of the 40 most eligible single guys includes a lot of people you've never heard of . . . mostly the offspring of royalty and rich people. Here are the most notable names . . .
Price Harry
--NBA star Jeremy Lin
--NFL Quarterback Tim Tebow
--Patrick Schwarzenegger . . . son of
--The Winklevoss Twins . . . (--They're the ones who supposedly got squeezed out of Facebook. But they ended up with MILLIONS from it anyway.)
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Are You Blowing Your Nose Wrong? You Might Be Making Yourself Sicker:
Here's a theory on why you seem to be stuck with a PERMENANT COLD this winter. You're making yourself sicker because you're blowing your nose wrong.
--Yes, you can blow your nose wrong. A doctor in
--The RIGHT way to blow your nose is to gently blow each nostril individually.
--He also says that neti pots don't really work . . . but using a decongestant spray actually will make you feel better. Decongestant sprays work about four to five times more effectively than decongestant tablets.
5 Mind Tricks To Fool Yourself Into Eating Less
1. Use small plates and bowls. A study published in January 2012 in the Journal of Consumer Research discovered that people tend to serve themselves considerably less in small bowls than large bowls. Researchers theorized this was because of the Delboeuf illusion in which two circles of the same size are placed close to each other. One is surrounded by a large ring (think a large plate), and the other is surrounded by a smaller ring (think a small plate). This illusion makes the circle (i.e., our food) surrounded by the large ring appear smaller, so we end up serving ourselves too much.
2. Make sure your plate or bowl is a different color than your food. The 2012 Journal of Consumer Research study previously mentioned also found that the color of your dishware matters. The bigger the difference between the food color and the plate color, the less likely participants were to over-serve themselves. In other words, you’re better off serving tomato soup in a white bowl, since you’re more likely to serve yourself too much if you serve it in a red bowl.
3. Match your tablecloth to your dishware. The Consumer Research study reported a third factor influencing our portion control: tablecloth color. When the tablecloth color matched the dishware color, participants dished themselves less food. Researchers hypothesized that this was because matching the tablecloth and the dishware helps eliminate the Delboeuf illusion’s effect by making the dishware (i.e., the outer circle of the Delboeuf illusion) less noticeable.
4. For snack attacks, choose 100-calorie packs. It turns out those individually packaged 100-calorie packs actually do the trick. A 2011 study published in Obesity found that participants ate 25.2% fewer calories when eating from 100-calorie snack packs than from larger bags of snacks. This strategy was particularly effective with overweight participants, who actually ate 54.1% less when given the 100-calorie packs.
5. Don’t eat in front of the computer or TV. The more distracted we are, the more we eat, according to a 2007 study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Researchers reported that participants who ate while playing Solitaire felt less full after eating than participants who ate without any distractions. The Solitaire participants also ate twice as many snacks as the non-distracted patients and had a harder time remembering what they ate. Conclusion: Get away from your desk and take that lunch break somewhere else — you deserve the break anyway.
The 10 Bad Habits Men and Women Despise
Most in Their Partner
According to a survey by a British website called MagazineSubscription.co.uk, these are the 10 bad habits that women hate most in their boyfriends or husbands:
#1.) They're immature.
#2.) They dress like a bum.
#3.) They're thoughtless.
#4.) They hate to go shopping.
#5.) They don't do any housework.
#6.) They leave the toilet seat up.
#7.) They won't obey their simple house rules.
#8.) They don't show any interest in the things that THEY like.
#9.) They buy lame Christmas or birthday presents.
#10.) They watch too much sports.
--And here are the 10 habits that men hate most about the women in their lives:
#1.) They take too long to get ready.
#2.) They shop too much.
#3.) They spend too much on haircuts.
#4.) They nag about housework.
#5.) They watch girly shows like soap operas.
#6.) They're bad at parking.
#7.) They get upset when you criticize their cooking.
#8.) They don't notice when you finally DO do some housework.
#9.) They start conversations with the phrase, "You never listen to me."
#10.) They have long phone conversations with their mothers or friends.
Three Strange Things That Can Help You Lose Weight:
According to research, playing video games where you move around a lot . . . like "Dance Dance Revolution" or Wii Fit . . . ISN'T as good as doing an actual workout.
--But if you're currently getting ZERO exercise, it's better than nothing. And it can help motivate you to START a real workout routine. Here are three more things you might not think about that can help you get in shape.
#1.) Keep Your Hands Cold While You're Exercising. According to one study, it helps with endurance and makes you more comfortable while you're working out.
--You don't have to duct tape cold packs to your palms or anything. Just picking up a bottle of cold water every few minutes can help.
#2.) Work Out with Someone Who's in Better Shape Than You Are. In a study from last year, researchers had people ride stationary bikes for as long as they could stand it.
--Then they had them do it again later on. But while they were doing it the second time, they could see video of someone who was in BETTER shape also riding a bike.
--And with the extra motivation, the people in the study biked almost twice as long as they had the first time. So in other words, working out with someone who's in better shape than you are makes you competitive about your workout.
#3.) Bring Your Dog to Work with You. Obviously most people aren't ALLOWED to. But a recent study found that people who do it tend to get more exercise, because they always go on walks during their lunch breaks.
(Buzzfeed)
