Lemondrop

No matter what you may think, you do NOT have a giant schnoz. Science says so.
A new study from psychologists at WashU shows that we aren't, in fact, the best judge of our own character -- especially when it comes to traits that weigh heavily on our self-worth, like intelligence, attractiveness and creativity. And in a world with sites like Failin.gs -- where you invite people to anonymously criticize every aspect of your life -- it's nice to hear that you're much prettier, smarter and artsier than you know. (WashU)

Here at Lemondrop, we're lucky to sit near the AOL Food chicks, and they always have delicious snacks just sitting on the edge of their desks, tempting passersby like me to grab up. And I always do. Then I want to go back for more, but I'm embarrassed. It's for the same reason that I now keep my cereal on Julieanne's desk: In order to eat it, I have divulge to her that I'm having a third bowl. And, according to the NYT, I'm not the only one. Are there any other Constant Nibblers who keep their food at a co-worker's desk? Please confess in the comments, you can remain anonymous.

Usually, we find beer commercials funny -- like the Miller Lite online dating spoof, or those Coors spots with the coaches. And that's good, because this Sunday we're going to be bombarded with them. I'm just hoping that none of the Super Bowl debuts will paint women in a shallow, needy light like this Miller Lite commercial:


This commercial has been airing all football season, and every time it comes on, it makes my blood boil. Watching this whiny, needy chick ask her boyfriend to choose her over his dog and his mom? Well, as fellow Lemondrop editor Julieanne says, this "makes us sound like shrill a-holes." And that little storm-away-from-the-table hissy fit that follows? Drives us up a wall. Pretty much all the girls I know -- and most guys, too -- drink light beer when we're watching the game or with friends. I don't know why they feel like they have to alienate half their audience.

Seeing Miller cast us as childish, attention-seeking brats makes me want to slam down my Miller Lite and become a Bud girl. Amirite, ladies?

See that middle photo there? That "MySpace shot"? According to an OKCupid.com study of the most successful online dating profile pictures (with "success" being measured by how many messages you receive), the "MySpace Pose" is the best way to make yourself attractive to guys.

Just one problem with that one: How do you not feel like a complete tool while trying to peer into the camera like a barely-legal sex kitten?

The runners up are, in order of popularity: "In Bed" (again, seriously?), "Outdoors," "Travel Photo," "Having Fun with Friends," "Doing Something Interesting," "Drinking Alcohol" and -- dead last -- "Posing with an Animal."

You'd think common sense would dictate that in a profile picture you'd 1) smile; 2) take pictures with a real camera instead of a phone; 3) keep your clothes on; and 4) make sure you show your face. Turns out the opposite's true -- on all counts -- if you're looking to the maximize the number (if not necessarily the quality) of messages you receive.

We decided to have some fun with this study, so we swapped photos with Ryan McKee, one of the strapping young contributors over at the men's site Asylum. Below, you'll find the photos which Ryan used to judge whether he'd date me, and the Action Shots of him he sent over for me to objectify. Check it.

At Sunday night's Golden Globe awards, Mo'nique's hottest accessory was, depending on where you stand, her very hairy legs.

This wasn't the first time she's gone public about her leg stubble -- back in 2006, the actress-comedian told the ladies of "The View" that she doesn't shave because it takes too much time in the morning. And she wasn't kidding. She even hiked up her maxi-dress, joking that she was showing America what "a real leg looks like." What she didn't say is that only an unshaven leg is a "real leg," the argument offered by the ladies over at Jezebel.

I'm glad Mo'nique didn't go out on that limb, because in my opinion, it doesn't make you any less of a real woman, or a true feminist, if you take a razor to what God gave you.

Maybe shaving did begin as a social convention popularized by some real-life Don Draper type over at Gillette, who decided women needed to weed-whack to sell more disposable razors back in the early 20th century. Guess what? As far back as 4000 B.C., women were mixing up homemade depilatory creams from stuff like arsenic and starch, and I doubt it was to look good in a mini-pelt -- or to live up to some bloke's notion of beauty.

I'd personally like to shake Mr. Ad Man's (likely well-manicured) hand and thank him for giving me one of the most exquisite pleasures a 21st-century woman can have on her own: the feel of freshly shaved legs under freshly cleaned sheets.*

The world was introduced to the SarcMark yesterday, a new piece of punctuation designed to help us convey sarcasm in writing.

The @-like swirl with a period in the middle is intended to be used in place of standard end-of-sentence punctuation, because, as the SarcMark site states: "With the spoken word, we use our tone, inflection and volume to question, exclaim and convey our feelings. The written word has question marks and exclamation points to document those thoughts, but sarcasm has nothing!"

At first I thought, Well, that's stupid.

Probably because I have yet to meet an emoticon I like. Simply put, I think if the person you're IMing, texting or emailing can't pick up your tone from contextual clues, you don't know this person well enough to be sarcastic with them in the first place. Or maybe they're just too dumb -- SarcMark or not.

But I found, after a phone call with Paul Sak, the older half of the Michigan-based father-son duo who created the SarcMark, my opinion had changed.

Slate, the Washington Post's online news and culture magazine, recently announced a new research project dedicated to trying to answer the age-old question anew: Can men and women truly be just friends?

Reporter Juliet Lapidos plans to survey a sample of platonic buddies to see whether they stand up in real life better than they do in Hollywood (where all the "Best Friend's Wedding"s, "Reality Bites"es and "When Harry Met Sally"s insist that "the sex part always gets in the way.")

As a girl who has a male roommate (it's just the two of us) and plenty of totally platonic male friends (none of whom I'm interested in boning), I'm a life-long member of the It's Possible camp. But as I've gotten older and moved away from my close-knit group of high school and college friends, I'm beginning to wonder if having a male BFF is about to become a thing of the past. Keep reading ...

Can you imagine standing face-to-face with Michael Jordan and being able to see the top of the 6-foot-6-inch basketball star's bald head? Or what about having to merely stand on your tip-tops to look 7-foot-1 Shaq in the eye? For 6-foot-11 Marvadene Anderson, that's a reality.

At only 16 -- yes, 16 -- years old, Anderson is the tallest teenager in the world and the newest member of the Rutgers Prep high school basketball team. The sophomore moved here from her native Jamaica after being scouted by the team's assistant coach right around her 15th birthday. After discussing the opportunity with her family -- who are still in Jamaica -- she decided to accept a scholarship at Rutgers Prep to play basketball and get a better education.

Thing is, Anderson's new to basketball entirely. In Jamaica, the game of choice is "netball," which has similar rules to basketball and is played on a similar-size court, but there's no dribbling and teams are made up of seven players instead of five. Netball also goes the field-hockey route and has players wear skirts as part of the uniform.

Anderson was the top-scoring netball player in her age group in Jamaica, and her coaches say she's having no problem picking up the American sport. Her Rutgers Prep teammates (some of whom are barely as tall as her elbows) are doing the best to help her out. College recruiters are already scouting "Bubbles," which is her nickname from back home, earned because of her bubbly personality.

As we ladies know, at 16 you still have a few more years of growing to do, so there's still a chance she can take over the world record for tallest woman (which was held by the late 7-foot-7.25" Sandy Allen, of Shelbyville, Ind.).