• There's a rise in so-called "caffeine moms" who need a high amount of caffeine (4 energy drinks, 3 cups of coffee, and a six-pack of soda, according to one woman) to get through the day. • A former real estate agent has been jailed for 10 years in England after she kidnapped and tortured a former boss that had fired her. • A school in Thailand has created a gender-neutral bathroom for transgendered and gay students which make up 10% of the large school's population. • The Volkswagen Tiguan is the number one car for women because it is efficient and practical (and maybe sort of cute!). • A 3-year-old girl called 911 after her mom fainted by memorizing the simply lyrics "9-1-1 green" that her mom taught her. • A new study in Australia has found that men get stressed while in traffic which leads to them being less careful while driving than women. • Although anorexia has been found by many studies to be a biological disease, most states will not recognize it as a mental disease required for coverage by insurance companies. • Constant flip flop wear can be very damaging for your feet. Good, because flip flops are gross! • A rare copy of Jane Austen's novel, Emma sold for $353,500 at a recent auction, setting a new auction record for a printed book by a British author. • Brooklyn teens, many of whom are refugees from foreign countries, have their first prom at the International High School at Prospect Park.

1.) Electric Toothbrush The first time I ever turned on my electric toothbrush I had an almost Pavlovian response to that familiar buzzing sound, and my vagina began to drool, but I'd never bothered to try it out... until the other day. I removed the bristle head, and placed the vibrating metal stem onto my outer lips (I was too scared to put it right on my clit, since it looked like it could be a little sharp). The problem with this is that without the head on the toothbrush, the stem is way too thin to really do anything substantial. Of course, some sex toy shops sell attachments designed specifically for such an occasion, but not all of us have the foresight to do something like that. Necessity is the mother of invention, so I grabbed some toilet paper and rapped it around the stem to form sufficient padding, and that did the trick. Sure it didn't hold a candle to my Magic Wand, but it lit me up anyway.

2.) Cell Phone Okay, so I've actually tried using my phone on vibrate to get off many a (drunken) time before, but it was always an exercise in futility. However, for those of you who have an iPhone, you may have heard about iBrate, an application you can download that can actually turn your iPhone into a vibrator. It's still sort of a lame substitute, since the vibe is a little to soft and steady for my liking (i can haz pulsing, pleeeze?), but at least it can get you to a certain level of excitement and then your hands and arms can come in and finish you off.

3.) Neutrogena Wave When I first saw the commercial for the Neutrogena Wave — a "power cleanser" for your face — I was like, "That's a straight-up vibrator." Unfortunately, I didn't have one of these bad boys while on vacation, but I obtained one since, and have been testing it out today, and dude, it's a straight-up vibrator. It's just as good as any silver bullet vibe, but it's quieter. Also, on the box, it says "penetrates deeper." Heh heh.

4.) Bath Tub Faucet Everyone is always going on about detatchable shower heads, and they're great and all, but they're the sort of luxury item for people who frequent Brookstone or Restoration Hardware. I'm all about the bathtub faucet, because it has a powerful gush of water, and the crappier your apartment, the more unsteady (thus exciting!), the flow can be. I actually picked this up at a really young age because I heard it being talked about on Married With Children.

5.) Washing Machine It's a little clichéd, but honestly, an unbalanced washing machine on the spin cycle is just about the best ride you can take on a hunk of metal that doesn't have wheels. If you really want it to be fun, throw some sneakers in there, or place a large load of heavy towels or maybe some pillows in, but only on one side.

• Jennifer Lopez is expected to file suit against former Sweetface design partner Andy Hilfiger, ostensibly because, uh, the line really sucks. Hilfiger, meanwhile, is expected to countersue because Lopez' hubby Marc Anthony is a psychotic asshole. [NY Daily News]
  
• In a strange twist of fate, PETA's new phone number was previously "owned" by designer Zac Posen's mother, Susan Posen. Now, when people call the number looking for Susan, PETA officials kindly inform them that her son is murdering animals for his designs. [NY Daily News]
  
• Kim Cattrall: Future PETA target? It appears her wardrobe is awfully croc-skin heavy in the upcoming Sex and the City movie. [WWD, 6th item]
  
• Karl Lagerfeld won a raffle? That seems wrong, somehow. [WWD, 3rd item]

• "I have a soft spot for Galliano; Alexander McQueen, however, that's a different story for another day." —Manolo Blahnik [Fashion Week Daily]
• The entire Elle fashion department (including Joe Zee, Anne Slowey, and Project Runway star Nina Garcia) were eating dinner at NYC restaurant Indochine at the very same time that French Vogue's Carine Roitfeld was at the restaurant for her son's birthday. [Fashion Week Daily]
• LOL of course Madonna is co-hosting Gucci's upcoming February fundraising event "A Night to Benefit Raising Malawi and UNICEF." [WWD, 1st item]
• Louis Vuitton and the Burlington Coat Factory have reached a settlement over that whole manufacturing and selling of fake bags things. [Sassybella]
• Boutique perfume label Bond No. 9's top nose Laurice Rahme has launched the first-ever known perfume bottle recycling initiative. Under Rahme's direction, all Bond No. 9 stores and counters will accept empty perfume bottles of any brand and ensure the glass is recycled. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Natalia Vodianova is the face of the upcoming Diane von Furstenberg spring 2008 advertising campaign, the first ad campaign DVF has had in decades. We never realized that Diane didn't advertise, which gives us weird, newfound respect for the wrap dress. [Vogue UK]
• For Vogue's Lauren Davis' upcoming nuptials, each of her socialite bridesmaids has been paired with a different designer who will create a different gown for each woman. (Participating designers are Derek Lam, Proenza Schouler, Vera Wang, Giambattista Valli, and Alberta Ferretti.) This is why we hate socialites. [Fashion Week Daily]
• For the gay geek in your life: A Chloe iPhone! [Portfolio]

Case History [Style.com]
Apple 2.o: The iPhone Nano Saga [Business 2.0]

I went to the Apple store on the corner of Prince and Greene Streets in New York City expecting the types of guys who wear T-shirts with slogans like "Oxymoron: Microsoft Works." This was naive. Most of the people in line were in their early twenties and trying to score a quick buck on eBay while basking in the media attention they were getting for being bored and broke-yet-well-capitalized enough to spend a few days buying into a fad.

Although the line (at the time I went to it) was already starting to circle around the corner of Houston and Mercer, I couldn't find that many women to interview. The few that I did approach were mostly young (between 16 and 20), pretty, and considering the circumstances, nicely put together. They were all, of course, looking to sell their iPhones on eBay.

In fact most people seemed to be selling their future iPhone on eBay either for personal profit or for charity (on one roughly-made cardboard fort: "Profits Go To The Wetlands"). These people will make more money sitting in line with their friends for twenty hours than I do working retail in a month. I was almost tempted to give up my story and grab a place in line with the stoned NYU student and his girlfriend I stopped to talk to. They were pleasant and open; so open, in fact, that the NYU student nonchalantly copped a feel on his girlfriend as she spoke to me.

A shorter-term profit could be turned selling one's place in line, which is what these two men were doing, albeit with wildly different asking prices. The man at left was asking $100; the man at right — closer to the hallowed Apple Store — $500.

Lines, while inherently laid-back and democratic, bring out anxiety, competition and rage in some people, particularly those at the end.

This woman was close to the end. Of the line, and her wits. She was, in fact, the first female I came upon who actually wanted an iPhone, and she was not happy to be waiting among the profiteers. She was apparently buying these phones for her sons and appeared a little bit shocked that she should wait in line for the most anticipated product of the year.

All in all, the line was more like the line for a Jack Johnson concert than any sort of nerd-a-polooza. A lot of people were reading complimentary issues of Heeb magazine. (The magazine's clever marketers were stingy, though; when I asked for one, a woman hissed that they were for line-waiters only. Touchy!) Some people sunbathed but (I know, I know, skin cancer!) seriously, some of these people needed sun badly. I met a group claiming to represent the company Rough Guides who said they were authoring a Rough Guide to the iPhone, as if it were not a mere gadget but some sort of sovereign nation with ruins and nature preserves and dirty public transportation systems to be roughed. I thought about this, and decided it made perfect sense.

[Credit Suisse analyst Richard Semple] cited a "precedent" or trend in the market where consumers continue to show a willingness to "trade up" to premium products, such as the Apple iPod, Under Armour, Coach handbags and Tiffany jewelry.