Really? Is this what the world's come to? Sources say that TIME Magazine is asking readers whether Kim Kardashian or Caitlyn Jenner should be chosen as the publication's person of the year. Among the other names being floated around are Republican presidential candidates Ben Carson and Donald Trump, technology gurus Tim Cook and Mark Zuckerberg, and actresses Jennifer Lawrence and Viola Davis. That a respected magazine like TIME would even consider Kardashian and Jenner for the coveted issue is beyond comprehension. What have these people done to be deemed worthy of the honor? All Kim is known for is stirring up family drama and getting naked. In Jenner's case, the former Olympic champion revealed to the world her sex change, which garnered extensive media coverage earlier in the year. Why doesn't TIME feature those who are truly deserving, like one of our brave men or women in uniform, someone who devotes his life to helping charities, and so on? Instead, we'...

Shoppers spent $10.4 billion at stores on Friday. While that may seem like a large number in and of itself, it's a rather tepid showing when you compare it to sales generated a year earlier. In 2014, consumers forked over a more impressive $11.6 billion. Moreover, store sales on Thanksgiving this year fell from just over $2 billion to $1.8 billion. So what's to blame for the drops, exactly? As you can probably predict, consumer behaviorists point to online sales, which jumped 14 percent on Black Friday from 2014. All told, consumers who took to the web for their purchases spent $2.72 billion. Not too shabby, right? And we haven't even gotten to Cyber Monday (Nov. 30), which is hands down the busiest e-commerce day of the year. Perhaps this suggests that people are getting tired of braving the crowds (and the elements) to snag a good sale in person. Reports of people camping out in stores and trampling over others to grab everything from TVs to denim jeans has like...

During which months of the year do you think suicides are most prevalent? Contrary to popular belief, suicide attempts actually drop during the holidays. The lower suicide rates are thought to be linked to increased family time and support during this time of year. According to Psychology Today , there were over 38,000 suicides in the U.S. in 2010, making it the 12th leading cause of death. To put this in perspective, more people died from suicide than automobile accidents. While ephemeral thoughts of suicide are common in many people, suicide threats often go ignored. Suicide is often associated with depression, which is, of course, treatable. I've read one too many stories of people whose suicide threats fell on deaf ears. In other cases, people stop short of making actual threats, but they show various signs of depression -- from loss of appetite to incessant crying -- that propel them to do the unthinkable. It's imperative that anyone with thoughts of suicide be tak...

Ironic that I would create a post about this on Thanksgiving of all days, isn't it? But I find it a germane topic in light of the fact that many of us won't be happy when we step on the scale tomorrow morning. In fact, studies show that many people decide to go on diets the day after Thanksgiving as a way of mitigating the damage. Whether they keep the diet when Christmas and New Year's come rolling around is a different story. Here's my trick to losing weight: The best way to exercise self-control is to ask yourself how many calories eating that scrumptious slice of pizza would set you back. The key is to mull this over before you even put the food on your plate. If you do it the other way around, you'll feel as though you've committed to eating it ("it's on my plate already -- might as well eat it) and will feel bad putting the slice back in the box. Now, that doesn't mean you can never "cheat" once in a while. After all, experts...

The Thanksgiving tradition stretches all the way back to the early days of the republic, when George Washington was at the helm of the fledgling nation. Following a resolution of Congress, President Washington proclaimed Thursday the 26th of November 1789 a day of “public thanksgiving and prayer” devoted to “the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be.” Reflecting American religious practice, Presidents and Congresses regularly designated days of fasting and thanksgiving through the the mid-1800s. But the Thanksgiving holiday we celebrate every November was formally established by Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War and made into law by Congress in 1941, when Franklin D. Roosevelt was in office. I think everyone should be thankful for their blessings each day of the year, not just on the fourth Thursday of November. We often get so caught up in work and other responsibilities that we neglect to focus ...

It's no wonder so many people opt to take this day off. More than half the people in my department didn't come in today. And the same thing happens every year. Thankfully, they usually let everyone go home around 3 or 4 in the afternoon. Coming in to work the day before Thanksgiving has its pros and cons. The day tends to be slow, so it's a safe bet you'll be able to get by without doing much. (I know there are always exceptions, like people who work in hospitals.) Whether this is a good thing really depends on the person. While some who work in stressful, fast-paced jobs may find it a welcome change, others might go stir-crazy while eying the clock every 5 minutes. Since the day tends to drag, having the internet, your earbuds, and/or your smartphone handy will certainly help keep you occupied. Since there's not much happening, many people choose to take the day off, figuring they can spend the day with friends and family without falling behind on their...

On this day in 1784, future President Zachary Taylor (1784-1850) is born in Barboursville, Virginia. Surprisingly, despite Taylor's impressive resume, most Americans know little about him. A distant relative of America's fourth president, James Madison, Taylor served valiantly in the War of 1812, the Blackhawk War (1832), second Seminole War (1835-1837), and Mexican-American War (1846-1848), after which he ran for the presidency. The biggest controversy involving Taylor is the cause of his death, which continues to be debated to this day. On a searing Fourth of July in Washington D.C., he downed a large quantity of iced milk and cherries, followed by a few glasses of water. Some historians believe the water or milk may have been tainted with bacteria, causing him to contract cholera. (Outbreaks of cholera were common in Washington D.C. at time.) Others claim that he died of gastroenteritis, typhoid fever, or food poisoning. No evidence of foul play was ever found. Tay...

It's a sobering reality that many people have come to associate Thanksgiving with shopping and Black Friday rather than regarding it as a day to halt the acquisition of more material possessions and give thanks for what they already have. The media, retailers, and consumers themselves are all to blame. I've lost count of the many news reports I've seen in which people begin to form lines outside of stores at the beginning of the week in anticipation of Black Friday. It's unfortunate that Black Friday has to be the day that immediately follows Thanksgiving. Why couldn't it have been, say, the Saturday after the holiday, or even the following weekend? It's utterly shameful that consumerism often overshadows the true meaning of Thanksgiving. Many people are more caught up with getting the best deals on computers and TVs than looking forward to spending time with friends and family. Let's not forget this: Unlike those whom we love, material goods can be ...

...use your superpower to find out which people: - like or dislike you (among those you know, obviously) - find you physically attractive (among those you know as well as people you've never met before I think the first of the two is easier to infer without possessing said superpower. So I want to focus on the second exercise in this post. Imagine how many people you've seen in your life whom you've found physically attractive, but just never worked up the nerve to say anything -- and vice-versa. If men could see into women's minds and know which ones find them good looking, you can rest assured that many more people in the world would be getting dates -- and getting lucky, for that matter. Attraction is largely a guessing game. While some people are fairly proficient at picking up signals, others are flat-out clueless. Men are usually notoriously bad at gauging women's interest in them. Many assume that if a woman makes even brief eye contact, she must b...