Watercooler Sensation

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Child Abuse, Pain, And Other Terrible News

• Feeling down? Read something else. [ABC]
• Here’s a sad fact: “One in 50 infants in the United States experience abuse or neglect in the first year of life,” according to new researh from the Center for Disease Control’s Center for Injury Prevention and Control.
• Beyond the psychological scars, this abuse ” can begin a trajectory of a number of negative outcomes, including health outcomes.” That’s dry language for serious problems.
• A new psychological study from UCLA and the University of North Carolina found a “physiological connection between child abuse and feelings of intense pain [as an adult].”
• It’s something that’s been known to pain specialists and psychologists for a long time.
• “It’s something that we’ve seen for some time in victims of [abuse],” said Thomas Miller, emeritus professor of psychology at the University of Connecticut. “Individuals who complain of pain-related symptoms may have experienced other forms of pain.”
• Pain: “people with a history of abuse frequently seek out treatment for physical ailments as adults. It is much easier to go to a doctor and get treated for a headache than to face the stigma of having been abused.”
• Gina Scaramella, executive director of the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center, “said she once knew a young woman who was in so much emotional pain that she put a false cast on her arm so that people would ask her what was wrong.”
• But it’s not all in their heads. MRIs of women in the UCLA/UNC study found that, when slight amounts of pain was applied, women who had been abused “had heightened activity in the sensation and emotion regions of the brain. In addition, the brain areas that normally help to dampen negative sensations and emotions were inhibited.”

Ouch. Double ouch.

Good-bye, Charlton Heston

• Farewell, Charlton Heston
• Actor Charleton Heston died Saturday night. He was 84. [E! OnLine] [Hollywood Reporter]
• His wife declined to give reporters a cause of death, however, the actor has been battling Alzheimers for the past few years.
• Here are some of the highlights from his life:
• Born: October 4, 1923. Or October 4, 1924. (There’s some controversy.)
• Film Debut: A silent, 16-mm production of Peer Gynt.
• You Know Him From: His BestActorAcademy Award for Ben Hur.
• You Also Know Him From: Planet Of The Apes, baby. All together now: “Take your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty ape!”
• In 1962, the Hollywood Foreign Press named him one of the top two movie stars in the world. (The other one? Marilyn Monroe.)
• The Political Years: Heston started off as a Kennedy Democrat. He campaigned for Adlai Stevenson in ’56, then JFK in 1960. He also was very active in the civil rights movement and marched with Dr. King in 1963.
• The Other Political Years: In the 1980s, Heston took a turn to the right, becoming a Reagan supporter. He also, rather famously, became a strong supporter for the gun lobby. He was even head of the NRA from 1998 to 2002.

Heston and his widow Lydia were together for 64 years. Wow.

The Economy Is Ruining Your Trip To Atlantic City

• Gas prices are soaring. The housing market is a mess. But the worst part of the economy? The fact that we won’t get that prime rib buffet comped the next time we score big at the slots in Atlantic City. [AP]
• The Associated Press reports that 11 gambling halls in Atlantic City are split on how desirable it is to continue to hand out free meals, hotel rooms or show tickets to gamblers.
• For the first time, Atlantic City casino revenues declined last year, and out-of-state slots parlors continue to steal the resort’s most reliable customers. Some casinos feel that the slowdown justifies cutting back on giveaways to help the bottom line; others feel that a slow period is when freebies are needed most.
• The amount of comps handed out in Atlantic City declined last year by 2.4%. Six casinos actually spent more on giveaways last year, while five spent less. Two of those, Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino, and the Tropicana Casino and Resort, were significantly down.
• The city’s 11 casinos collectively spent $1.63 billion on it last year. In an environment when casinos are being forced to tighten their belts to deal with an economic slowdown and intense competition from out-of-state gambling halls, comps can be the first place companies look to cut.

It’s all fun and games till someone ruins are drunk weekend getaway.

By the Numbers

Out, proud and influential: Out Magazine just put out their list of the most “Influential Gay Men & Women in America.” Perez Hilton, blogger extraordinaire, has the list first, natch. We stole it from him (but you can see it on his site.) Congrats, all! [Perez Hilton]

#1

Ellen DeGeneres, talk show titan

#13

Jodie Foster, closeted lesbian and actress

#16

Perez, your Queen of All Media

#24

Suze Orman, recently out financial guru and TV personality

#31

Rosie O’Donnell, blogger

Celebrities: Unfiltered

“I wonder where he falls on the whole Heidi/LC feud that’s been brewing for the past couple of years.”

— Willie Geist, pondering on where John McCain draws the line on the Hills war. [Jossip]

Speed Round

PLEASE NOTE

Your samurai swords are no longer welcome in England. [BBC]

DON’T SAY WE DIDN’T WARN YOU

A man in Salt Lake City warns the city council of a possible zombie attack. For serious. [Salt Lake City Tribune]

YOUR HEALTH

Add this to your list: A new report shows that gravel might cause cancer. Along with everything else. [Fox]

WHOO HOOOOOOOOOOO!

They’re re-releasing original recipe Schlitz! They’re re-releasing original recipe Schlitz! [Sun Times]

LEO’S GONE GREEN

Actor/environmentalist Leonardo DiCaprio just bought a fancy new green bachelor pad in a building “built with only non-pollutant materials and solar-powered energy.” [US Magazine]

$2.6 MILLION

The amount the web address “pizza.com” went for at auction. The owner, who paid $20 for it 14 years ago, was reportedly in shock. [News Blog]

THIS IS YOUR BRAIN ON SEX

Wanna know what’s going through the head of that financial big-shot when he takes that giant monetary risk? S-E-X. “When young men were shown erotic pictures, they were more likely to make a larger financial gamble than if they were shown a picture of something scary, such a snake, or something neutral, such as a stapler, university researchers reported.” [AP]

HERE COMES SOMETHING BIG

Starbucks says it’s announcing something “venti” (that’s “big”) Tuesday, April 8, but it’s a “venti” surprise. Let the rumors begin. [Starbucks]

UNEQUAL PARTNERS

When men and women get hitched, “women spend about an extra seven hours a week in the company of mops and feather dusters, while men do about an hour less.” [ABC]

SAD SNORER

If you’re feeling depressed, it may be that your snoring is keeping you from getting a good night’s sleep. [ABC]

GO DOWN, MOSES

Charlton Heston, the flinty gun-totin’ classic movie star is dead at 84. [Washington Post]

SUPER-DUPER INTERNET

Get excited, net-surfers: The scientists who helped invent the internet “have now built a lightning-fast replacement capable of downloading entire feature films within seconds...at speeds about 10,000 times faster than a typical broadband connection.” [Times]

BLOGGING CAN BE DEADLY

“A growing work force of home-office laborers and entrepreneurs, armed with computers and smartphones and wired to the hilt, are toiling under great physical and emotional stress created by the around-the-clock Internet economy that demands a constant stream of news and comment.” [NY Times]