For the first time, scientists have proven that “beer goggles” are real - other people really do look more attractive to us if we have been drinking.

Surprisingly, the beer goggles effect was not limited to just the opposite sex among the ostensibly straight volunteers recruited for the study - they also rated people from their own sex as more attractive.

Scientists in England gave 84 heterosexual college students chilled lime-flavored drinks that were either non-alcoholic or given a dose of vodka equivalent in alcohol to a large glass of wine or a pint-and-a-half of beer.

After 15 minutes, the volunteers were shown photos of 40 other college students from both sexes. Both men and women who drank booze found these faces more attractive, “a roughly 10 percent increase in ratings of attractiveness,” said researcher Marcus Munafo, an experimental psychologist at the University of Bristol in England. (more…)

ILOILO CITY, Philippines — The provinces of Iloilo, Aklan and Capiz, Antique and Iloilo City were declared under a state of calamity as the death toll and reports of damage brought by typhoon “Frank” (international codename: Fengshen) in Western Visayas continued to rise.

The officials in these areas have sought relief assistance, such as ready-to-eat food, potable water and dry clothes, as evacuees reached hundreds of thousands.

In Iloilo City alone, 198,545 persons stayed at the 58 evacuation centers as 135 out of the 180 villages were flooded, OIC-Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog said.

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Who’s it gonna be? The Balladeer or the Rocker?

David Cook or David Archuleta? If you ask me, I’m with Cook. ^_^

Article taken from USA Today:

LOS ANGELES — When Ryan Seacrest announced the names of American Idol’s two finalists Wednesday, each thought he was going to hear another’s name.

“I couldn’t believe it. I thought he was going to say David Cook,” says David Archuleta, 17, named the first finalist as Cook and Syesha Mercado awaited their verdict.

During an interview shortly after the show, Archuleta said: “I just feel like shock. Am I really in the top two of American Idol?”

Cook, 25, says he thought he would be going home. “I thought my ticket was punched. I honestly did,” he says. “Syesha is an amazing performer, and she really hit her stride in the last two, three, four weeks.”

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I found this interesting article on yahoo news.

The French parliament’s lower house adopted a groundbreaking bill Tuesday that would make it illegal for anyone — including fashion magazines, advertisers and Web sites — to publicly incite extreme thinness.

The National Assembly approved the bill in a series of votes Tuesday, after the legislation won unanimous support from the ruling conservative UMP party. It goes to the Senate in the coming weeks. (more…)

I was about to sleep this afternoon when I heard the news from the television that actor Heath Ledger was found dead in his apartment in Manhattan, New York. Though I was sleepy still, I then managed to went outside and was shocked with what i saw. I never really expected that he passed away so soon. Just week ago, when i watched his movie Brokeback Mountain (via the internet), which I can say, he did a very well acting job.

The cause of his death is still unknown, though there are sleeping pills that were found near his dead naked body on the floor.

According to the news:

The body was found naked and face-down on the floor of his bedroom by a housekeeper about 3.30pm Tuesday (7.30am Melbourne time).

”There were pills within the vicinity of the bed,” Mr Browne said.

But he stressed that pills were not scattered around Ledger’s body, as had been previously reported.

“There were some prescription medications that included sleeping pills,” he said.

The 28-year-old actor, who had reportedly been ill with pneumonia, had an appointment for a massage at the apartment, which is believed to be his home in Soho in Manhattan.

The housekeeper went to tell Ledger the masseuse had arrived and found him naked and unconscious at the foot of his bed.

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May you rest in peace Mr. Ledger, farewell to you…

SUNNYVALE, Calif. - Battered by slow revenue growth and the popularity of social networking Web sites, Yahoo! Inc. is poised to lay off hundreds of workers, according to published reports.

The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal have both reported on the slumping Internet icon’s cost-cutting plans, citing people familiar with the matter.

Precisely how many of Yahoo’s roughly 14,000 employees will lose their jobs hasn’t been determined, the newspapers said. A final decision could be announced Jan. 29 when Yahoo executives are scheduled to review the Sunnyvale-based company’s fourth-quarter results.

If several hundred employees are dumped, it will mark Yahoo’s most extensive layoffs since 2001 when the company was trying to battle back from the dot-com bust.

The payroll purge was first reported over the weekend by Silicon Alley Insider, a blog focused on investments in technology and media. The blog said Yahoo had drawn up a list of 1,500 to 2,500 jobs that could be eliminated, but Monday’s reports indicated management doesn’t expect the cuts to be that deep.

A Yahoo spokeswoman didn’t immediately return calls seeking comment.

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LAS VEGAS - HDTV manufacturers are trying to make the task of buying an HDTV set much more difficult than just choosing between LCD and plasma, 42 inches or 46 inches.

To stand out amid fierce competition, they’re adding exotic features, and even a little bit of color to the plain black bezels that have been de rigeur. They’re also chasing each other to zero — zero thickness, that is. Apparently, you can’t be too thin if you’re a TV.

All the major Asian brands revealed new sets at the International Consumer Electronics Show, which started Monday. Most of the innovation comes from the prestigious names, like Sony, Pioneer, Panasonic and Toshiba, which are trying to keep HDTVs from becoming a commodity product. If one 42-inch LCD is the same as another, the buyer is going to be looking mostly at price, and that kills the manufacturer’s margins.

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