Office Romance

These days, it seems happy hour takes place between 9 and 5. Many singles spend more waking time at work than at home, so the likelihood of office attraction is high. You know what I'm talking about -- conveniently making copies at the same time, emailing back and forth, and playing eye-tag all day long.

If you're imagining the boardroom as a bedroom, take a second to notice the red flags -- and I don't mean on your minesweeper game. While pining away at your desk, I have some helpful ways to crush with caution on the clock!

Hold your horses! Before scooping up your co-worker and riding into the sunset, you'd better make sure the coast is clear. Check to see if your company has any policies on inter-office dating you should be aware of. This way, you can preview the consequences -- if any -- and avoid that little pink slip.

If romance is in the air, someone is bound to smell it... Hiding your relationship at work might be kind of fun -- even playfully scandalous! -- but take a moment to question the real reason behind the secrecy. If you're not comfortable going public, consider whether or not you should be involved in the first place.

Between a desk and a hard place... Sneaking kisses by the snack machine seems harmless enough, but I doubt people will have much of an appetite when they catch you there. Be considerate of your co-workers by saving affection for the sidewalk. A personal attraction can dent your professionalism, and also pose a distraction for those around you. Keep interactions clean until the suit comes off -- and I mean that literally.

You can't always be a "yes" man... Be especially careful if you are a superior crushing on a subordinate. Things can get tricky, because your employee may feel too pressured not to say "no" -- and then a "yes" just doesn't seem genuine! Plus, both your reputations are suddenly at stake. Before taking the risk, you'd better have another job interview lined up -- just in case things work out well!

If dating doesn't work, keep in mind that you're still in a professional relationship -- and 8 hours a day can feel a lot longer when it's spent avoiding each other. So while an office affair might succeed, it's often more trouble than it's worth. But as you and I know, sometimes we just can't help ourselves.

Yahoo!

Bundchen is world richest model

Forbes.com:

NEW YORK - Gisele Bundchen tops Forbes.com's list of the world's richest models, earning $33 million in the last 12 months.

The Brazilian supermodel strutted past the likes of Kate Moss, who came in at No.2, and Heidi Klum, who placed third on the list.

Bundchen, 26, parted ways with Victoria's Secret in May and will see her lucrative contract with the lingerie brand expire at the end of the year.

Still, she boasts "more contracts than any other model on the planet," Forbes.com said, and has appeared in campaigns for high-end brands including Apple, Dolce & Gabbana and Roberto Cavalli.

Moss, who recently launched a clothing line at British fashion retailer Topshop, ranks second with $9 million. The 33-year-old fashion icon is the new face of fashion label Stella McCartney and Italian sportswear company Belstaff.

Klum, 34, placed third with $8 million. She is a Victoria's Secret spokesmodel and host of Bravo's "Project Runway."

Two more Victoria's Secret beauties — Adriana Lima and Alessandra Ambrosio — rounded out the top five with $6 million each.

They were followed by Carolyn Murphy ($5 million); Natalia Vodianova ($4.5 million); Karolina Kurkova and Daria Werbowy (both $3.5 million); Gemma Ward ($3 million); Liya Kebede ($2.5 million); Hilary Rhoda and Shalom Harlow (both $2 million); and Doutzen Kroes and Jessica Stam (both $1.5 million).

In ranking these catwalkers, Forbes.com said editors also factored in a model's "relevancy" — determined by recent campaigns, fashion magazine covers and opinions of those in the fashion industry — where necessary. The list was posted Monday on the Web site.

11 Things Women Don't Know About Men

By Evan Marc Katz

1. Getting angry at us for not reading your mind is like getting angry at yourself for not being able to fly. It's not just futile, it's physically impossible.

2. Yes, we do think Jessica Alba is hot. Sometimes we're even dumb enough to admit it.

3. Don't ask us to understand your shoe fetish. Asking us to respect it is even sort of pushing it.

4. You do look good without makeup, just not as good as you look with it.

5. Ever notice how we don't fight with our male friends? That's why we get so frustrated when we fight with you.

6. You care what you're wearing infinitely more than we do. In fact, if you're naked when you open the front door, you won't hear an argument from us.

7. You don't like to get hit on in public, you don't want to date online and you don't want to be set up on blind dates. Tell us if sending messenger pigeons is an appropriate way of courting. Because if it is, we're all over it.

8. There should a statute of limitations on stupid things that we said that can come back to haunt us

There should a statute of limitations on stupid things that we said that can come back to haunt us. I propose 24 hours.

9. Cooking dinner for a man is like buying flowers for a woman, except it takes a lot more time, effort and thought for you to do it. Thanks. We appreciate it.

10. We actually like your girly pet-names for us, but please, not in front of the guys!

11. Just because we like looking at the women in Maxim doesn't mean we want to actually converse with the women in Maxim. Not for long, anyway.

Additional:

Your nice guy friends are the most reliable source for telling you if your new boyfriend's a jerk. And he probably is. (By the way, you might want to consider marrying that nice guy who's giving you advice about the jerk.)

American named hot dog eating champion

NEW YORK - In a gut-busting showdown that combined drama, daring and indigestion, Joey Chestnut emerged Wednesday as the world's hot dog eating champion, knocking off six-time winner Takeru Kobayashi in a record-setting yet repulsive triumph.

Chestnut, the great red, white and blue hope in the annual Fourth of July competition, broke his own world record by inhaling 66 hot dogs in 12 minutes — a staggering one every 10.9 seconds before a screaming crowd in Coney Island.

"If I needed to eat another one right now, I could," the 23-year-old Californian said after receiving the mustard yellow belt emblematic of hot dog eating supremacy.

Kobayashi, the Japanese eating machine, recently had a wisdom tooth extracted and received chiropractic treatment due to a sore jaw. But the winner of every Nathan's hot dog competition from 2001 to 2006 showed no ill effects as he stayed with Chestnut frank-for-frank until the very end of the 12-minute competition.

Once the contest ended, the runner-up suffered a reversal — competitive eating-speak for barfing — leading to a deduction from his final total. Kobayashi finished with 63 HDBs (hot dogs and buns eaten) in his best performance ever.

Competitors receive credit for anything in their mouths at the 12-minute mark, provided they can swallow it.

"Obviously, the last bit exited his mouth quite dramatically," said Rich Shea of the International Federation of Competitive Eating. Kobayashi's gastric distress was the only sour note in the tube-steak tussle, which aired nationally on ESPN.

Kobayashi's previous best was 53 1/2 in the competition that dates back to 1916. The all-time record before Wednesday's remarkable contest was Chestnut's 59 1/2, set just last month in the Phoenix suburb of Tempe.

The two gastric gladiators quickly distanced themselves from the rest of the 17 competitors, processing more beef than a slaughterhouse within the first few minutes. The two had each downed 60 hot dogs with 60 seconds to go when Chestnut — the veins on his forehead extended — put away the final franks to end Kobayashi's reign.

Kobayashi, through a translator, promised to return for the 2008 event.

The victory by the San Jose, Calif., resident ended Japan's long dominance of the contest. The only previous non-Japanese winner since 1996 was New Jersey's Steve Keiner in 1999. Third place this year went to another American, Patrick Bertoletti of Chicago, with 49.

"This title's been held by Kobayashi for six years, so it's about time it came home," said Chestnut, holding an American flag in his arms. "I knew going into this contest that Kobayashi was going to give 100 percent."

By LARRY McSHANE, Associated Press Writer

Chinese villagers eat dinosaur bones

BEIJING - Villagers in central China dug up a ton of dinosaur bones and boiled them in soup or ground them into powder for traditional medicine, believing they were from flying dragons and had healing powers.

Until last year, the fossils were being sold in Henan province as "dragon bones" at about 4 yuan (50 cents) per kilogram (2.2 pounds), scientist Dong Zhiming told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

Dong, a professor with the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said when the villagers found out the bones were from dinosaurs they donated 200 kilograms (440 pounds) to him and his colleagues for research.

"They had believed that the 'dragon bones' were from the dragons flying in the sky," he said.

The calcium-rich bones were sometimes boiled with other ingredients and fed to children as a treatment for dizziness and leg cramps. Other times they were ground up and made into a paste that was applied directly to fractures and other injuries, he said.

The practice had been going on for at least two decades, he said.

Dong was among a team of scientists who recently excavated in Henan's Ruyang County an 60-foot-long plant-eating dinosaur, which lived 85 million to 100 million years ago. Local officials held a news conference Tuesday, showing off the find to the public for the first time.

Another two dinosaur fossils were being excavated in the area, which is rich in fossilized dinosaur eggs, Dong said.