Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check

I'm a Poll Man:

His poll numbers still aren't all that good, but a new Gallup survey actually gives former PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH a higher approval rating than PRESIDENT OBAMA. Dubya's approval rating is at 47-percent, one-point higher that President Obama's in a poll taken the same week.
   However, Bush's 51-percent disapproval rating still means he's just one of two presidents in the last 50 years whose disapproval number exceeds his approval. RICHARD NIXON's approval rating still stands at just 29-percent. (Pacelli)

The 411:

Warning: Watch for sponsor conflicts!
   Consumer Reports has released its annual readers' survey of the nation's major cell-phone carriers and names U-S Cellular --a regional carrier serving 26 states-- as their top-ranked provider. They received good marks for overall value, service quality and customer service.
   Previous winner Verizon Wireless slipped into a second-place tie with Sprint, while T-Mobile finished fourth, slightly behind Sprint and Verizon. Consumer Reports' lowest-rated cell phone carrier is A-T-and-T, whose scores for overall satisfaction in the new survey dropped big-time since last year. (Pacelli)

Reality Round-Up:

Warning: note graphic content.
   The most dangerous show on the tube isn't "Jackass" or "When Animals Attack," but "Skating With the Stars!" As any ice queen will tell 'ya, it's not a sport for the weak and contestants have been injured left and right since production kicked off. The latest victim is BROOKE CASTILE --TMZ.com reports she slipped on the rink, stumbled and fell against her partner, JONNY MOSELEY, and his skate sliced her "finger down to the bone." (Lee)

On, off and way-off Broadway:

Remember the CHRISTIAN BALE film, "American Psycho"? It's hard to imagine, but the Hollywood Reporter says the movie is being made into a Broadway musical, and producer tell the show biz daily, "There are murders, and they are on stage in full view of the audience... I think there's going to be a lot of blood."
   The script is still being written, with the music for the show being done by DUNCAN SHIEK, who says, "Obviously, it's not for the people who want to see Elf." Sheik is the guy who did the music for the show, "Spring Awakening," which ran on Broadway from 2006-2009.

Survivor: real life:

Senior citizens in England who can't afford to pay their heating bills this winter are resorting to desperate measures.
   The Daily Express says seniors in that country get free unlimited bus passes. And, many of them have been riding around on buses all day just to stay warm.
   Temperatures in the U-K have been dipping below freezing for the past week. And, already seven people have died from the cold.
   Officials say, the number of deaths related to freezing temperatures in England last winter was around 28-thousand. (Still)

Human Nature:

Being born in winter may affect your biological clock in the long term.
   Vanderbilt University researchers followed groups of mouse pups from birth, weaning some in artificial winter light, others in summer light cycles. The mice raised in the winter cycle showed a slowing of daily activity and "an exaggerated response to a change in season that is strikingly similar to that of human patients suffering from seasonal affective disorder." Essentially, a seasonal imprinting of biological clocks.
   Scientists say that might explain why people born in winter are more prone to mental health disorders like depression and bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.
   Details in the journal Nature Neuroscience.
   FYI: This video by the Cleveland Clinic describes the role of light in seasonal affective disorder. (Maiman)