Watercooler Sensation

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Ask Google For Directions At The Gas Pump

• This just seems like a smart idea. Especially if you’re a gas station attendant sick of giving directions. [USA]
• Google is teaming up with a gas-pump manufacturer to develop a gas-pump that will “dispense driving directions at thousands of gasoline pumps across the United States beginning early next month.”
• Now, instead of going into the station to scrounge for a map or ask some clueless teenager how to get back on the interstate, you can just type your destination into a screen at the pump, and print out a Google map to your destination.
• The screens will also suggest “local landmarks, hotels, restaurants and hospitals selected by the gas station’s owner.” Yay local businesses!
• Just another way Google is taking over the world...

Google is watching you.

DOYOULIVEINTHEMOSTCAFFEINATEDCITY?!?!?!

• Here in DC, we can’t live without our daily jolts of java, but it turns out we’ve got nothing on our highly caffeinated friends in Chicago! [Reuters] [Health Saver]
• A new survey by Prince Market Research shows people who live in the Windy City drink the most coffee, cola, tea, NoDoz…heck, anything with caffeine in it…in the country.
• Other places to get your jolt on: Tampa, Miami, Phoenix and Atlanta.
• (Seattle isn’t in the top five for caffeine, but ranked Number One in straight coffee consumption, no surprise.)
• Feeling a little more mellow? The cities with the lowest caffeine consumption: San Francisco, Philadelphia, New York, Detroit and Baltimore.
• There’s caffeine consumption, then there’s oh-may-I’ve-got-the-shakes caffeine *addiction*. The number one city for caffeine addicts is…Boston?
• In all, half of Americans in the top cities say they drink coffee every single day; one out of five drinks caffeinated sodas daily.

For some reason, the spokesperson for the caffeine survey is...ice skating legend Peggy Flemming. How weird is that?

Jeepers, Creepers, Where’d You Get Those Peepers?

• They say it’s all in the eyes. And while Pamela Anderson may disagree, a recent study conducted the Face Research Laboratory at Aberdeen University is giving some validity to that age-old statement. [Reuters]
• The study’s key finding: looking directly at someone makes you more attractive to them.
• Why science has put cash and research into a time-honored truth that Burt Bacharach already knew: Previous studies have attributed attractiveness to physical characteristics — such as a preference for symmetrical faces, large lips in women and strong jaw-lines in men.
• Dr Claire Conway, author of the study, which was published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society Wednesday, said that maintaining eye contact and smiling makes you more attractive. Just make sure to brush your teeth.
• Conway and fellow researchers analyzed the effect of gaze direction, facial expressions and gender on attractiveness. Participants were found to be more attracted to happy faces, looking directly at them and of the opposite sex.
• “This shows that people prefer faces that appear to like them and that attraction is not simply about physical beauty,” the researchers said.

From the sounds of it, the researchers were never freshmen girls at a frat party.

Swift Boating Their Own

• Five right-wing authors have decided to sue Eagle Publishing, the parent company to the uber-conservative Regnery Publishing house which published their books. [NY Times]
• The Authors: Jerome Corsi (“Unfit For Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry”); Buzz Patterson (“Dereliction of Duty: The Eyewitness Account of How Bill Clinton Compromised America’s National Security”); Richard Miniter (“Shadow War: The Untold Story of How Bush Is Winning The War On Terror”); Bill Gertz (“Betrayal: How the Clinton Administration Undermined American Security”) and Joel Mowbray (“Dangerous Diplomacy: How the State Department Threatens America’s Security.”)
• (Ed Note: What is it with these guys and colons? Just asking.)
• Their problem? They accuse their publisher of (gasp!) trying to make a profit! And if there’s anything a right-wing conservative hates, it’s someone trying to make a prof…oh, wait. What?
• The Issue: The authors say Regnery sells their books to groups like The Conservative Book Club at a discount and gives other copies away to newsletter subscribers. And this, they counter, comes out of their pockets.
• They also say these practices must be the reason the official total number of their books sold is lower than they thought. (Keeeep tellin’ yourself that, guys.)
• Author Richard Miniter: “Why is Regnery acting like a Marxist cartoon of a capitalist company?”
• He added this practice is “causing a tremendous rift inside the conservative community.”
• Regnery’s response: “These disgruntled authors object to marketing strategies used by all major book publishers that have proved successful time and again as witnessed by dozens of Regnery bestsellers.”

Fight! Fight! (And who knew right-wing authors were so anti-capitalism — wowsa.)

Your Dog Knows What You’re Thinking

• Your pooch wants bacon. He also wants to know why you’re so down, and why you’re thinking of twinkies while you watch Titanic. Because, as it turns out, Fido can read your mind. [Brain Mysteries]
• Or, at least that’s what a researcher at Canterbury University in the UK is saying. Michelle Maginnity, from the university, claims to have evidence that the domestic dog has a theory of mind — that is, they can think about the thoughts and feelings of self and others.
• Here’s what went down: 16 dogs, some pure bred and others of mixed breed, were placed in a food-finding task. In four different experiments the dogs had to decide where the food was hidden by following cues from people who either did or didn’t know where the food was.
• A range of scenarios were tested, for example, one person watched food being hidden while the other covered their eyes, and in each test the dogs showed a preference for the person who they believed knew where the food was.
• “What this showed was that the dogs were able to take the perspective of the humans involved in the experiment, and attribute states of knowledge to those people,” Maginnity said.
• In the past, research on the social cognition skills of animals had largely focused on chimpanzees and other primates, with relatively inconclusive results.

Kujo just got a whole lot creepier.

By the Numbers

The parent trap.

If you think kids are the problem in today’s crazy world, think again — because parents are slacking on their responsibilities, as well. A new poll conducted by Parents magazine asked a hodgepodge of questions to today’s moms and dads, ranging from who’s got a will, to which presidential candidate would make the best babysitter. Here’s what they found. [USA Today]

23%

Only 23% of parents have a will.

26%

26% of parents say that Hillary Clinton would make the best babysitter. The next choice? Obama, with 13%.

71%

71% of parents say that recent toy recalls won’t have an impact on their holiday shopping. Helllllllllooooo lead.

51%

51% of parents believe they are more stressed than their parents were.

46%

46% of children are allowed to have a TV in their rooms. A recent study showed that having a television in a child’s room greatly contributes to the likelihood of youth obesity.

Celebrities: Unfiltered

“Actually, I’ve been banned from reading newspapers because the way they’re written angers me so much. If I want an opinion, then I’ll read the opinion part of the newspaper. I do not want it when I’m trying to get the facts. I get incredibly angry. It really f—ks me off. See, I have to calm down about it.”

— British actress Keira Knightly takes on today’s overly opinionated journalism. Maybe she just needs to read more Mic Check. [December’s Elle Magazine]

Speed Round

CELEBRIDIRT

Rocker Paul McCartney, who recently underwent a bitter divorce with Heather Mills, has been spotted shaking a leg with an NYC woman. [AP]

OUR MONEY’S ON CLOONEY

George Clooney and washed-up heartthrob Fabio get into a fist fight at an L.A. eatery after Fabio tells Clooney to “stop being a diva.” Wait. What? [Yeeeah]

EVERYBODY PANIC

Bedbugs are back, and your mattress is a filthy mess. [USA Today]

NO LOVE

Jailed polygamist Warren Jeffs, incarcerated for his role as rape accomplice, tried to kill himself while in prison, claiming he’d never been a true prophet and instead had been “deceived by the powers of evil.” [CNN]

FINLAND’S COLUMBINE

Just hours before massacring 8 others in a school in Findland, the 18-year-old shooter posted a warning on YouTube. [Fox News]

TODAY’S GOSSIP

Gasp! Is Miss Mandy Moore dating Chandler Bing? Could we BE more surprised? [Page Six]

MR. SMALL?

Rumor has it the vertically challenged Mayor Mike Bloomberg will play himself in the upcoming Sex And The City movie. [Reuters]

WAR ON CHRISTMAS!

Shopping malls in Britain order Santas to slim down before the Holiday Season so they’re better role models to chubby kids. [BBC]

HOLIDAY FOLLOW-UP

Good Halloween treat: Full-sized Twixt bars. Bad Halloween Treat: Pennies. Very, Very, Very Bad Halloween treat: Weed. [Democrat & Chronicle] via [Fark]

“THE LAST STALL ON THE LEFT.”

Our Christmas dreams have come true early this year! John Waters wants to make a movie about the Larry Craig story. Thanks, Santa! [Star Tribune]

CELEBRIDIRT

Remember the “Dude! You’re gettin’ a Dell!” kid? He’s now your friendly waiter at the New York Mexican joint Tortilla Flats. [New York]

B-A-N-A-N-A-ANAS

Thousands of bananas wash ashore a beach in the Netherlands. Ms. Chiquita unavailable for comment. [AP]

SUURHUSEN’S THE NEW PISA

A church steeple in a German village has beat out the famed leaning tower in Italy for the title of “worst European engineering ever.” [Reuters]

PSA

Note to the Associated Press: Tommy Lee is not the same person as Tommy Lee Jones. Though, we’re guessing if the former hosted Al Gore’s Nobel Prize celebration concert, things would be a whole lot more interesting. [Mollygood]

THIS WILL NOT END WELL

Hulk Hogan’s son has been arrested in a car crash that was a result of street racing. Punishment will include a hefty fine, a possible jail sentence, and a flying pile-drive followed up with a running clothes-line, courtesy of dad. [AP]