Blog Posts by The_Stir

Isn't this romantic? You're dating a guy, and he invites you over to his apartment for a home-cooked meal, complete with candlelight, and plans to watch the latest romantic comedy out on DVD. You're a lucky girl. And this guy sounds like a winner.

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But wait. Make sure you stock up on hand sanitizer and anti-bacterial wipes before you head on over to his place. Why? Because a new study has found that bachelors have a higher number of bacteria on certain surfaces in their apartments than bachelorettes do.

Topping the list of highly contaminated places? The coffee table. Seventy percent of the coffee tables tested in bachelor-occupied apartments had the type of bacteria on them found in animal feces. Guess they didn't listen when their mothers told them not to put their shoes on the furniture.

And how about that remote control he's going to use to queue up the movie? It's found to be the surface with the highest

erdinger alkoholfreiYou've just run a breezy six miles, and you're looking for a little recharge. So you open your refrigerator and place your paws on a nice chilled bottle of beer, right?

Well, that's what one company is hoping for, anyway. Erdinger Alkoholfrei, a non-alcoholic brew from Germany, is being advertised as a "sports and fitness drink."

Nutritional information aside, maybe we should be a little realistic here, brew gods. When I think hydration after a long session in the gym, I think water; I think sports drinks. When I think of celebrating -- now that's when I think of beer.

In fact, beer would probably be my last choice after a workout, don't you agree?

First things first: Although the beer is called "alcohol-free," it still contains 0.5 percent alcohol. Honestly, who doesn't want to follow up a good workout with teensy bit of alcohol right? Wrong. Plain and simple, drinking a beer after working out is totally

cokeThe spotlight is on caramel coloring today after a U.S. consumer advocacy group urged the Food and Drug Administration to ban the additive because animal tests suggest it can cause cancer.

Caramel coloring is what typically gives cola drinks (Coke, Pepsi, Dr. Pepper, root beer, etc.) their dark brown color. But the additive is also found in several other foods and drinks.

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Check out this list to see which foods contain the potentially harmful additive:

But first, a primer on caramel coloring -- namely, what is it? It's a chemically derived dark brown coloring used to add visual appeal to foods. (It should not in any way be confused with pure caramel, which is made from melted sugar and is quite delicious. Pure caramel isn't healthy either but it's not cancer-causing as far as has been proven.)

Current federal regulations allow four types of artificial caramel coloring. Two of these -- Caramel III and Caramel IV -- have

Jennifer AnistonMost Hollywood starlets change their hairstyle with the same regularity as they change their underwear ...

Jennifer Aniston, on the other hand, found a look that worked for her about 10 years ago and since then she's stuck to her look with the tenacity of a pitbull clinging to a bail bondsman's leg.

Until now.

Ladies and ... ladies?

JEN HAS CHOPPED IT OFF.

(And lightened it.)

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This is shocking news in the Aniston world and, I'm inclined to believe, another sign of End Times.

The question is ... how do you like her now?

The drastic new 'do occurred smack dab in the middle of her public appearances for Just Go With It, and I'm inclined to believe it was the result of a crisis of confidence on Jen's part. In fact, I think Ms. Aniston may have even been having an All About Eve moment that led to her haircut decision.

You see, Victoria's Secret model Brooklyn Decker is also in the film --

Conversations with my man about our future always produce juicy material that I turn around and exploit for purely editorial - and, OK, sometimes basic entertainment - reasons. A recent chat about hyphenating my last name kicked up dust as we talked about my dreams of finishing (which means I'd actually have to start) my PhD within the next five years.

In the heat of my daydreaming, I took my would-be name for a test drive. "Dr. Janelle Harris-Williams," I swooned like a giddy extra in the "Beauty School Dropout" scene of Grease. Boyfriend 4.0 jutted his bottom jaw, something he does when he's about to serve up a verbal smackdown. "Harris-Williams!" he scoffed. "I think you mean Dr. Janelle Williams."

Seems he takes offense to the idea of me tacking his last name on to the one I already have. The move - according to him - says I'm wishy-washy about my commitment and (gasp) that I'm not ready to leave my family and be a wife. When I introduced the subject for discussion on

Another day, another group of judgmental a-holes trying to make an already maligned group feel badly about themselves. In a surprising (at least to me) poll by the Pew Research Center, seven out of ten American residents say single mothers are bad for society. So go ahead and resign yourselves to visiting the kids in prison, single moms, and plan on being the scapegoat for all of society's ills.

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It's your fault we're in a recession! it's your fault Wall Street gambled with all of our money! It's your fault we're in the middle of two wars right now! It's your fault all of our children are fat! Single moms are the worst, right?

Can we just talk about the dads for one second?

When you say the words "single dad" a collective, "awwwww!" can be heard around coffee klatches everywhere. But single moms are bad for society? Jeez louise. How do you think single moms became moms? There's a dad in this scenario, and he's single

This morning on Live! With Regis and Kelly, co-host Kelly Ripa paired black pantyhose with a chiffon, polka-dot dress and red heels, explaining that she switched up her usual "childlike" tights out of solidarity with StuckInHose, a guy tweeting his adventures in hosiery since promising a female co-worker he'd wear nylons under his pants.

"I'm not sure why," she told Regis. "You know, it's only 140 characters; we can't get into the why. But every day he comments on my leg wear and he's been feeling like my tights have been too dark and too childlike, so StuckInHose, this one's for you."

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But what if Ripa's really on to something and it's time to ditch the kiddie tights and slip into something more mature?

My first job was selling hosiery in a small New Jersey department store, and I knew everything there was to know about hose: sandalfoot vs. reinforced toe, Jet vs. Barely Black, control top or non-control top, etc. I

Yes, we are amid that sad stretch between Valentine weekend and the bloom of spring. This is the time that love finds itself in the most danger, when it has little food to stay alive. That's why Ask Dad is here to help keep stomachs full and hearts beating. Tell me what ails you.

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My husband loves to throw around words like "mama" and "daddy" in bed. It's not totally sick, but it freaks me out, either reminding me of my parents (ew) or of our kids (double ew). How do I get him to change his tone?

I'm sorry ma'am, but when a man's diaper needs changing, if he doesn't say "mama," it kind of kills the illusion, don't you think?

Seriously, I doubt that your man is thinking about his mother, or anyone else's mother (except you, the mother of his children), when he says "mama." This stuff goes way, way back in our culture.

Is everyone who says "baby" a closet pedophile? Hell, without it there would be no pop