8.2 seconds needed to fall in love

The longer a man's gaze rests on a woman when they meet for the first time, the more interested he is.

If it last just four seconds, he may not be all that impressed. But if it breaks the 8.2 second barrier, he could already be in love they say.

However the same is not true for women. They let their eyes linger on men for the same length of time whether they find them attractive or not.

Hidden cameras were used to secretly track the eye movements of 115 students as they spoke to actors and actresses. They were then asked to rate their conversation partner's attractiveness.

The men looked into the eyes of actresses they considered beautiful for an average of 8.2 seconds, but that dropped to 4.5 seconds when gazing at those they rated less attractive, the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior reported.

The female students, however, looked at the actors for the same length of time. The researchers believe that men use eye contact to seek out fit and fertile mates.

But women are more wary of attracting unwanted attention because of the risks of unwanted pregnancy and single parenthood.

The Dreamin' Dog

Economic crisis effects

A married Chinese businessman who could no longer afford five mistresses held a competition to decide which one to keep.

But the contest took a fatal turn when one of the women, eliminated for her looks, drove the man and the four other competitors off a cliff, Chinese media reported.

The spurned mistress died and the other passengers were injured, the reports said.

Police initially thought the car had plummeted off a mountain road in eastern China on December 6 by accident. Then they learned of the contest through a letter the dead woman had left behind, the Shanghai Daily newspaper said.

The 29-year-old woman, identified only as Yu, was a waitress when she met the businessman at a restaurant in the coastal city of Qingdao in 2000.

At the time, the businessman, identified only by his last name — Fan — was married and had four other mistresses, according to the Peninsula Metropolis Daily newspaper in Qingdao.

The women knew of one another, but none elected to break up with the man and give up their rent-free apartment and a 5,000 yuan ($730) monthly allowance, the reports said.

When the economy soured, the businessman apparently decided to let go of all but one mistress.

He staged a private talent show in May, without telling the women his intentions. An instructor from a local modeling agency judged the women on the way they looked, how they sang and how much alcohol they could hold, the Shanghai Daily said.

The judge knocked out Yu in the first round of the competition based on her looks. Angry, she decided to exact revenge by telling her lover and the four other women to accompany her on a sightseeing trip before she returned to her home province, the media reports said.

It was during the trip that Yu reportedly drove the car off the cliff.

Fan shut down his company after the crash and paid Yu’s parents 580,000 yuan ($84,744) as compensation for her death.

The four other women left him, as did his wife when she learned of the affairs.

Student suspended for passing gas on bus

An eighth-grader was suspended from riding the school bus for three days after being accused of passing gas.

The bus driver wrote on a misbehavior form that a 15-year-old teen passing gas on the bus on March 16 to make the other children laugh, creating a stench so bad that it was difficult to breathe. The bus driver handed the teen the suspension form the next day.

Polk County school officials said there's no rule against flatulence, but there are rules against causing a disturbance on the bus.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

The teen, Jonathan Locke Jr., said he wasn't the culprit.

"It wasn't even me," Locke told The Ledger newspaper. "It was a kid who sits in front of me."

Whether he did it or not, he might have gotten off easy. A 13-year-old student at a Stuart school was arrested in November after authorities said he broke wind in class.

A Houston Man Finds Baby in Dryer

A Houston man found a newborn African-American baby in an abandoned dryer Tuesday as he was throwing out his trash at an apartment complex, a Houston TV station reports.

Police say that the man heard her crying in dryer near the trash dumpster at The Registry Apartments in southwest Houston at about 3 p.m., KPRC Local 2 reported.

The infant was in a black plastic garbage bag with the umbilical cord still attached and tied off with string, Houston Police told the station.

The 6-pound, 12-ounce newborn was spirited away to Texas Children's Hospital, where doctors say she is alive and recovering.

Hospital workers nicknamed the baby "Mia." Police are searching for the newborn's mother.

President Obama On "Tonigh's Show"

Obama Talks to Leno!


President Obama became the first sitting president to appear on a late night talk show. But he handled it well and managed to land a few jokes with host Jay Leno while keeping it real about the current economic crisis facing the nation.

Leno will surely see a ratings boost if the lines that formed outside the Los Angeles studio are any indication of interest in the commander-in-chief’s appearance. Some folks camped outside almost 24 hours to get a shot at being in the audience.

While the president didn’t break any news, he did confirm the progress on the “first pooch,” giving a timeline of early April when the family returns from Europe. “When we get back, the dog will be in place,” Obama said. Admitting to the old adage, he joked, “They say if you want a friend in Washington, get a dog.”

During his appearance on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” Obama’s dress was presidential, wearing a red tie and his American flag pin. He walked out to thunderous applause.

Keeping the interview light and yet serious, Obama addressed the government bailout of AIG. “The immediate bonuses that went to AIG are a problem,” he admitted. “But the larger problem is we’ve got to get back to an attitude where people know enough is enough.”

As for adjusting to the personal side of life in the White House, Obama is having a basketball hoop added, he told Leno.

Obama’s visit to California included a tour of the Edison Electric Vehicle Technical Center in Pomona, Calif., where he spoke to workers. Following the tour he visited the Miguel Contreras Learning Center in Los Angeles where he held a town hall meeting with local residents.

California is faced with a 10 percent unemployment rate and budget short falls. That could be why he was joined by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, and Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis. California was able to keep the state up and running with stimulus dollars allotted in the American Recovery Act.

The White House scheduled the president’s appearance on the late night talk show as part of a targeted outreach to fill folks in on his economic agenda. Leno follows the prez’s appearance on ESPN’s “SportsCenter” where he made his NCAA Final Four picks and previews his appearance on “60 Minutes” Sunday and his prime-time news conference Tuesday.