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Women only really hear properly when they are gossiping or eavesdropping on other people's conversations, according to new research. More than two thirds of women admitted that a gossip with friends is the only time they are properly listening to what is being said. The same percentage think they hear most intently when they are trying to eavesdrop on an argument taking place nearby. Only half of men said they only hear properly when gossiping, while four in 10 admitted to listening closely to other people's conversations. The poll of 2,000 people also found that more than one in five...

She knew? You betcha, says the baby daddy of Sarah Palin's grandson. The Alaska governor most likely was aware before her daughter, Bristol, became pregnant that the teenager and her hockey hunk boyfriend were having sex, Levi Johnston said in a bombshell new interview. "I'm pretty sure she probably knew. Moms are pretty smart," said Johnston, 18, the father of the governor's first grandchild, in an interview that will air Monday on "The Tyra Banks Show." Johnston said he and Bristol Palin practiced safe sex "most of the time."

New Swayze Heartache The Globe _______________________________________________________

The pair, parents to 2-month-old son Tripp, broke up 'a few weeks ago' Bristol Palin and her fiancé Levi Johnston have broken up, two sources tell PEOPLE. The split happened "a few weeks ago," according to a source close to the couple, but it's unclear what precipitated it. "It was a mutual thing," adds the source. "It kind of just happened," says the source, referring to the split. "I thought they would stick it out. But I think they can work together to raise Tripp." Despite the breakup, Levi still sees the couple's son. Levi's dad, Keith Johnston, told PEOPLE...

Sarah Palin's 18-year-old daughter Bristol has reportedly broken off her engagement with Levi Johnston, the father of her 2-month-old son Tripp. It's surprising because in an interview just last month with FOX's Gretta Van Susteren, Bristol said the 19-year-old Levi is a hands-on dad and that they planned on marrying after finishing their education. But in a new interview with Star Magazine, Levi's sister Mercede Johnston says Bristol actually broke up with Levi more than a month ago, is not attending school and rarely lets her baby daddy see their young son. Mercede also says Bristol even told him that...

NEW YORK Manhattan gossip columnist Liz Smith, who knew her way around a blind item long before today’s celebrity bloggers were born, is no longer a New York Post columnist, due to financial considerations. Her last Post column will appear this Thursday. Starting next week Smith will move her column to women-celebrating Web site wowowow.com -- of which she is a founder -- marking the first time in 33 years that Liz Smith’s column will not be in a New York newspaper, according to the site.

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/citydesk/2009/02/04/breaking-juicycampus-comes-to-an-end/

Mrs. Obama Comes Bearing Gifts January 20, 2009 10:18 AM One reason Michelle Obama might be so popular at the White House coffee this morning is that she brought gifts. From ABC's Sunlen Miller: "Upon arriving at the White House, this morning Michelle Obama presented Mrs. Bush with a gift. It was a pen and journal for her memoirs." The thing is, we all know what the gift is now, but Mrs. Bush might not! The eagle-eyed Ann Compton reports: "Laura took the box inside but didnt open it ... she could be seen as she handed it to an...

Michael Phelps, the golden boy of swimming, may be up to his neck in a dating scandal. Click HERE to see images of Michael Phelps's new gal http://www.knx1070.com/Michael-Phelps--New-Gal/3401146 The celebrity Web site TMZ.com ran photographs on Friday in which Phelps' girlfriend, Palms cocktail server Caroline "Caz" Pal, appeared to be posing topless in a series of photos. Phelps, who had become the most sought-after celebrity endorser after delivering a record eight gold medals in the Beijing Olympics, reportedly took Pal home to meet his mother over Thanksgiving. The Web site purportedly shows Pal, 26, in provocative photos both alone and...

After putting it on Thursday's front page, the New York Times was still harping on Gov. Palin's wardrobe and who picked it out in three I.Q. melting stories in Friday's edition: "Wardrobe Mysteries Linger..." by Michael Luo and Eric Wilson, "...And a Whiff of Clarity" by Luo alone, plus a Metro section story. In "Clarity," Luo tried to nail down the role in this grand conspiracy of one "Lisa A. Kine." The F.E.C. records showed a "Lisa L. Kine" was reimbursed for more than $2,000 in charges, including those made at Pacifier, as well as others at Macy's, the Gap,...

Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin has hushed up a series of scandals including her own brother-in-law's shocking criminal past! After the Alaska governor was named John McCain's running mate, she disclosed her husband Todd had been arrested for drunk driving in 1986 - but not that his brother James Palin was involved in a devastating hit-and-run that inflicted multiple injuries on a female pedestrian. Court papers obtained by The ENQUIRER show that James Palin, Sarah's brother-in-law, was busted as a 20-year-old on Feb. 15, 1989, in his Dillingham, Alaska, hometown - after a major drinking binge. According to official records:...

Gossip twit Cindy Adams was just giving her report on the Dem and Repub conventions on local New York TV. Of course her main concern was which celebrities were there, but she did say that, far from being nervous prior to her big speech, Sarah Palin was backstage diapering Trig just before she walked on stage. Quote Cindy: "She's cool as ice."

Britney Spears' parenting skills have come under fire yet again after photographs emerged showing the star smoking in front of her son as he plays with a packet of cigarettes. The singer, branded 'Puff Mommy' by the American press, eventually takes the Marlboro Lights and a lighter from the two-year-old's hands, but continues to subject him to second-hand smoke.

Hughs: Rumor mill fueled by Internet stories By Ina Hughs (Contact) Friday, July 11, 2008 Think about the Swift Boat campaign and what it did to John Kerry in 2004 and what rumors of a secret love child did to John McCain's bid for the White House in 2000. As a kid, we used to play a game called "gossip." We'd sit in a circle, and someone would whisper a sentence into the ear of the person next to her; that person would then whisper what she heard to the person next to her - and so on. By the...

In 30 years, I have provided this hotel and our guests with over a million orders. One million, two hundred. I have seen a lot of people that I have seen on television. Some use alias names, but I can look on the sheet and know exactly who they are. It's kind of cute because they don't realize you really know who they are. You go along with it. You'd be amazed. You get the guests that really admire their pets. One wanted caviar, and she wanted my waiter to actually hand-feed it to the feline when we were upstairs....

Back at the height of her surreal U.S. Senate campaign, we were thrilled at Katherine Harris' talk about writing a juicy tell-all book. Just think of all the wonderfully unpleasant things she might have to say about the Bushes, the Democrats, the reporters and the campaign professionals she was sure to cast as her persecutors. Alas, the former Republican congresswoman's book never appeared (kinda like the $10-million of her own money she promised to spend on her campaign against Bill Nelson). But fans of political gossip may get a consolation prize: a juicy tell-all book by her former campaign manager,...

That Little Bit of Juicy News You Spread at Work Might Get You Fired Just a year ago, the atmosphere in Sam Chapman's small public relations firm was often tense. "We had information leaks, we had disgruntledness, we had competitors finding things out, and we had sniping about senior management policies," says Mr. Chapman, CEO of Empower Public Relations in Chicago. "People would stop talking when you walked by." A life coach identified the problem: gossip. Determined to elevate the tone, Chapman took dramatic steps. He fired three employees for gossiping. He also established a strict policy, turning the whole...

o the question Is Jessica Simpson ready to be Mrs. Tony Romo? Well according to a close friend of Jessica she said that “she already calls him ‘my future husband’. She’s dropping hints, like, ‘Well, as soon as I get that ring on my finger.’ She is gunning for marriage big-time.” Adds another, “She definitely wants kids. Marriage is a part of that.” Jessica and Tony have only been together since November last year but with the recent engagement and pregnancy news of her sister, Ashlee she now seems to have an of urgency to settle down.

There was a momentary groundswell at the San Francisco International Film Festival gala Thursday evening when somebody - OK, it was me - asked Warren Beatty if he'd run for president and pry his beloved Democratic Party out of its stalemate. "That would be a barrel of laughs," said Beatty, who flirted with a run for the White House in 2000. He had come to the party at the Westin St. Francis to present the Kanbar Award for screenwriting to Robert Towne who, in turn, proclaimed that he would vote for Beatty. A couple of people in the crush surrounding...

Today's New York Post Page Six gossip column offers readers the following prima facie risible item: Not So Secret HUMA Abedin, the traveling aide who is rarely out of Hillary Rodham Clinton's sight, has been seen with bachelor Rep. Anthony Weiner on the campaign trail. Shortly before Clinton arrived for a fund-raiser Thursday night at the Hiro club in the Meatpacking District, Abedin was spotted going into the Maritime Hotel around the corner with Weiner. If they were trying to keep their affair a secret, you'd think they'd find someplace where political reporters wouldn't be walking by. "If they were...