How to Understand People would like to wish each and every one of you a happy, safe, blessed, and healthy new year! I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their contributions to the blog this year  -- from reading posts to providing invaluable opinions on the many topics discussed. My New Year's resolution? To provide you guys with even more content than I did this year. Remember,  if there's anything you'd  like for me to write about, or if you need advice on anything from relationship s to your career, I'm always here to help. Here's to a great 2016 for everyone. Cheers! Jeff

Does it surprise you that many men say their top New Year's resolution is to sleep with as many women as they possibly can? Not only have I heard a few guys say this firsthand, but I've seen many cite this as their primary aim in 2016 in message boards featuring topics on New Year's goals. All I can say is...wow. Of all the things these guys can do to improve themselves in the New Year -- from losing weight and finding a better job to spending more time with loved ones -- they're only thinking about adding to their sex partner tally. Maybe it's time they aspired to something greater, like actually finding someone to settle down with. Sleeping with as many partners as you can hardly seems like a New Year's goal; rather, it's something you can really set out to do, well, whenever. I see the New Year as the opportunity to start with a clean slate. Upping your sex partner count merely seems like an effort to perpetuate an old habit -- one that should h...

On this day in 1852, Rutherford B. Hayes, who would go on to become the 19th President of the United States, married Lucy Webb, a sociable, devout Methodist from his home state of Ohio. She was 24 and he was 33. Lucy met Rutherford when she was only 14, but the two did not start dating until she was in college. In 1850, she graduated with honors from Wesleyan Female College in Cincinnati, Ohio. After an engagement of a year and a half, the two were married in her mother’s home in Chillicothe, Ohio. The couple had eight children, six of which survived into adulthood. During the Civil War, Hayes served in Ohio’s 23rd Infantry regiment; at 40 he was regarded as an “old man” by the younger soldiers. Meanwhile, Lucy volunteered to lend a helping hand in hospitals, where she saw firsthand the atrocities of war. Hayes' fellow soldiers dubbed her the “Mother of the Regiment” for her gentle care and kindness. Not surprisingly, she would later be an activist for reforms in mental health,...

"Glee" star Mark Salling was arrested Tuesday on child pornography charges. Salling, 33, who starred in the hit Fox musical as a regular for four seasons and continued to appear through the series finale this spring, was arrested after the LAPD’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force procured a search warrant for his home in Sunland, Calif. Apparently, police officers found hundreds of images on Salling’s computer. This isn't Salling's first brush with the law. In 2013, he was sued by an ex-girlfriend, Roxanne Gorzela, for sexual battery. He denied the allegations and subsequently filed a cross-complaint, but earlier this year he settled the suit and was ordered by a judge to pay Gorzela $2.7 million. Salling’s bail is set at $20,000. First Jared Fogle, now this guy? What is going on with these Hollywood celebrities? They have the money and fame to be with whichever woman (or women) they desire, but choose to get off on child porn instead? This ill...

Many people insist that New Year's Eve should be spent with family. Those who are single or have no kids, however, say they're just as happy spending the night with only their partner or closest friends. I'm of the belief that New Year's Eve can be spent with anyone you hold near and dear to your heart -- whether it's your best friend or a group of long-time neighbors. I've never thought of New Year's Eve as being strictly a family affair -- unlike Thanksgiving and Christmas, which I do deem family occasions. It's interesting how people get into the habit of compartmentalizing different occasions. This day should be spent with such and such people, and that day should be spent with so and so. But shouldn't every day be considered Thanksgiving? Shouldn't we aim to spend any day of the year with family? Our time on this planet is short. We ought to make every effort to spend as many days of the year --above and beyond birthdays and holidays...

Many people say that men have it made: they're physically stronger than women, don't have to give birth, and enjoy better salaries and promotion opportunities in the business world. The statistics below, however, might cause these people to reassess whether being a man is really all it's cracked up to be: Nine out of 10 prison inmates are men Among the homeless, men outnumber women by at least three to one Men are 10 times more likely to commit murder than women are Men are 10 times more likely to show up at the low end of distributions of IQ scores Men are more likely to be mentally retarded than women Men are more likely to abuse and abandon their kids  Men are less likely than women to take care of aging/ill parents Men outscore women on measures of closed-mindedness, cruelty, narcissism, hostility, and self-indulgence Men pay more than women for car insurance Men die earlier than women (about five years earlier on average) I think the above statistics s...

I just finished reading an article on Univision.com stating that Hispanics continue to have the largest teen pregnancy rate in the U.S. A myriad of factors are to blame, including lack of education about pregnancy, not having the means to procure contraceptives, parents finding the subject too taboo to discuss with their kids at a young age, and so on. However, a high incidence of teen pregnancy isn't exclusive to the Latino community in the U.S. -- it's prevalent across all racial groups. Take all the reality shows on MTV that center on teen pregnancy, like "Teen Mom" and "16 and Pregnant." I firmly believe that parents should begin having an earnest talk with their kids about sex in their last year of elementary school. In fact, I remember taking a human growth and development course in the 5th grade, but talk of birth control and pregnancy was scant at best. We all know what happens once kids hit middle school: they hit puberty. Their hormones begin...

For the past five months, real estate magnate Donald Trump has led all but two national polls of the Republican national primary. On Wednesday, a CNN/ORC poll found him with his largest lead yet: a 21-point advantage over Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who himself has been surging in the polls of late. Trump was up three points from CNN's last survey in November. Many people are still asking themselves how this bombastic businessman could maintain frontrunner status this long. Trump has sold much of the Republican primary electorate on his ability to tackle the issues most concerning to Americans, with the economy and foreign affairs among them. Perceptions of his electability, favorability, and strategy on key areas have all improved considerably over the past six months. In many of these cases, he has seen dramatic shifts with the GOP electorate. Here are some of the findings: In December, 72% of registered Republicans view Trump favorably compared with only 51% who vie...

Well, technology is partly to blame. The daguerreotype, introduced worldwide in 1839, was the first widely used photographic process. The exposure time in those early days was really long, sometimes lasting over 15 minutes. You could imagine how arduous a task it must have been for people to hold a smile that long. Getting your picture taken in the 19th century didn't come cheap. Most people had only one picture taken their whole lives, so the event itself was a big deal. Those with the wherewithal to have several pictures taken probably felt smiling didn't communicate classiness, so they refrained from doing it. Furthermore, at the turn of the century, smiling became more popular with the advent of the camera. Not only did they become more affordable and easier to use over time, but it became customary to use them for casual snapshots -- something those living in the mid-1800s might never have envisaged. Little did those folks know that selfies with cell phone cameras ...