Blog Posts by Book of Odds

nepotism;Hollywood

Even a partial list of body image problems that a child may run up against can be petrifying-anorexia nervosa, bulimia, body dysmorphic disorder, severe calorie restriction, low self esteem, self harm. High fashion and Hollywood aren't fully to blame for the prevalence of these problems-that would be a tough case to argue-but they certainly haven't helped. Lindsay Lohan's prison-entry information is a good example of a bad example.

According to psychologist Irene Rubaum-Keller of the Huffington Post, Lohan's physique is influential, and her booking sheet proves she is still too thin, at 118 pounds. She's been thinner, too.

Think this sort of thing makes little impression on impressionable youth? Google "thinspiration" or "thinspo," and buckle up. You'll see some familiar figures, no doubt, many of them from the big screen and more on the catwalk. Public figures have been influencing the American figure since Wallis Simpson (or possibly Coco Chanel) said, "You can never be

"Ten fingers and ten toes?"

It's often the first question brand new parents think to ask. Of course, it contains the more serious query, "Is my baby normal and healthy in every way?"

The reality is that 1 in 33 babies will be born with some kind of birth defect or malformation. Being born with one is twice as likely as a person's having a unique last name, or getting engaged in a year. Fortunately, quite a few birth defects are either harmless or easily treated. Best of all, many are preventable.

Congenital defects can be nearly anything: simple (port-wine stain) or complex ( Turner syndrome), obvious (cleft palate) or invisible ( situs inversus), harmless (polydactyly, having more than ten digits) or even life-threatening (congenital cardiovascular defect, spina bifida, and so on).

They are numerous, and-or because-they are caused by a variety of prenatal factors, from the predictable and manageable, to the random, to the just plain unknown.

More column inches

Under "relationship status," a Facebook user whose marriage has recently ended has three options: Widowed (if such is the case), It's Complicated, and Single. Why no Divorced? Maybe users prefer the ambiguity and fresh sound of "single." But the site itself may be hesitant to offer the label, after a widely reported 2009 study found that divorce tends to spread within a social network "like a contagion."

That's right, divorce is an STD: a socially transmitted disease.

Of course, "social network" means more than an electronic arrangement of profiles. It is a person's total group of friends and family, as well as their friends and family. The authors of the study, Rose McDermott, James Fowler, and Nicholas Christakis, found that "divorce can spread between friends, siblings, and coworkers, and there are clusters of divorcees that extend two degrees of separation in the network."

1 in 1.92 people 15 or older is married (also the odds that a woman has a Facebook or MySpace

Every evening we change out of our clothes, kiss each other good night…and head off to sleep in our separate quarters.

That's rarely the expectation most couples have when they say "I do," or even "Let's move in together!" Yet being estranged bedfellows is common to 23% of the population: According to the National Sleep Foundation's 2005 Sleep in America™ poll, the odds a married or cohabiting adult sleeps alone to ensure a good night's sleep are 1 in 4.35.

Couples have a variety of reasons for sleeping separately. For many, sleep disorders are the culprit. Most frequently, loud snoring (sometimes caused by sleep apnea) interferes with the other person's ability to fall or stay asleep. And two disorders that prompt sleepers to kick, punch, or jostle their partners-restless legs syndrome (RLS) and periodic limb movement disorder (PLMD)-are the source of many separate sleeping arrangements.

Such sleep disorders are a common source of friction: The odds a married or

In December 2009, Queen Elizabeth knighted actor Patrick Stewart, in no small part for his commanding roles as Captain Picard on Star Trek: The Next Generation and Professor X of the X-Men series. Totally bald by age 19, gracious and self-abnegating, Sir Patrick has long appreciated that his roles captivated so many fans: "It's always gratifying to me that this bald, middle-aged Englishman seems to connect with them." Perhaps that's his allure. In 1992, TV Guide voted him the Sexiest Man on Television.

What was long out of style, Sir Patrick may have brought back in: baldness.

Balding has been a source of anxiety and dismay for centuries. While some men went bald, à la Benjamin Franklin, many of the Founding Fathers wore periwigs, and before them countless European noblemen balanced exceedingly tall hairpieces on their chrome domes, in imitation of Louis XIII (who balded prematurely). Even Egyptian pharaohs wore wigs over shaved heads.

Today, 1 in 10 men actually shaves

Labor Day is only a month away. Have you taken your vacation yet?

A 2009 study by Expedia found that 49.4 million Americans (34% of working adults) usually do not use all of their vacation time-despite the fact that the average number of paid vacation days in the US is 13, compared to 15 in Japan, 19 in Canada, 21 in New Zealand, 26 in the UK, 31 in Italy, and 38 in France.

The odds an adult has cancelled or postponed vacation plans because of work are 1 in 5.56. Cancellation of vacation has become so commonplace that travel insurance carriers such as Access America have taken notice. Now, in addition to the usual list of covered reasons for trip cancellation, such as "death of a family member," "illness to a family member," and "injury to a family member," Access America policies include "required to work during trip."

Working Americans are more likely to feel guilty about taking time off work than they are to forgo vacation for money. The odds a working adult will not

Like plants, humans instinctively turn toward the sun and follow it through the day. We need sunlight to help our bodies produce vitamin D, which promotes bone growth and strengthens our immune systems. But it's long been known that too much exposure is bad: ancient Greeks prescribed sunbathing for many ailments but also told the story of Icarus, whose wax wings melted when he flew too close to the sun. Today we know that lingering in the sun is a prime risk factor for skin cancer.

An estimated 68,130 Americans will be diagnosed this year with melanoma, the most dangerous form of skin cancer, and 8,700 will die from it. But according to a study published in March, non-melanoma skin cancers (NMSCs) like basal and squamous cell carcinomas have risen sharply since the early 1990s in an "underrecognized epidemic of skin cancer in the United States." Although these types are not usually reported, the study estimated that about 2.1 million Americans were treated for a total of more

A lot of studies have shown that spanking can seriously harm children. A recent one published in Pediatrics looked at children from 20 large US cities and found that those who were spanked by their mothers more than twice a month were 50% more likely to exhibit high levels of aggression by the time they were five and ready to enter school.

The negative effects can go beyond behavioral problems. A Duke University study published in 2009 found that infants and toddlers who were spanked were not only more aggressive than other children a year later, but by age three they scored lower on a test of their thinking skills. An extensive review of research studies by the American Psychological Association also found corporal punishment correlated with depression, anxiety, and impaired cognitive development.

Yet according to Scientific American, at least 1 in 1.11 parents (90%) will at some time inflict corporal punishment on their children.

"Spare the rod, spoil the child" may be