Morning Brew for 11/30

Thanks to all the readers for putting up with the lengthy delay between posts. With the holidays and some family business to attend to I have not had the time to update, but we should be back in the full swing of things for the next little while. So without further ado, let's get on with today's Morning Brew.

-In what is slowly becoming the most intriguing TMZ story of all time (slightly ahead of Jon and Kate Plus 8), Tiger Woods was involved in a single car accident on Friday morning. There have been numerous reports that Woods and his supermodel wife, Elin Nordegren, were involved in a domestic dispute moments before the crash. These are accusations that Woods vehemently denies. I'm sure there will be a lot more coming out on this story in the coming week.

-$41.2 billion were spent over the long holiday weekend by consumers. Sales were slightly up over 2008 numbers as consumers spent $10.66 billion on Black Friday alone. Early reports on Cyber Monday are giving big numbers to online retailers. There are nearly 4 million people shopping online every minute on the biggest online shopping day of the year.

-The West Virginia Humane Society had their own Black Friday sale this past weekend. The society removed all adoption fees on animals with dark fur, who are normally the least likely to be adopted according to studies. Very cool idea back east.

-The Idaho Supreme Court has thrown out a lawsuit from a couple of idiots claiming that the Fort Hall casino turned them into compulsive gamblers which forced them to lose their jobs, and houses. Stephen Wynn you may have won this battle, but I will get my money back!

-As if further evidence was needed, it appears that The Real Housewives television shows are ruining our country. A couple who is hopeful of being cast on Bravo's upcoming season featured in Washington D.C., crashed a White House state dinner last Tuesday night. Both, President Obama and Vice-President Joe Biden, were in attendance at the dinner. While the couple were not on the invited guest list, they still had to go through the same security measures as the actual invited guests. Good work Secret Service.

-I don't know why I find this so fascinating, but the Atlanta Airport is offering "Sleep Rooms" to travelers who have extra time to kill in the airport. The 7 foot by 8 foot rooms include a day bed with fresh linen, and sound blocking technology to allow the travelers to rest without the noise from the airport. If I ever have a layover in ATL you had better believe I will be giving this a shot.

-Hopefully you are already following 8 Hours To Kill on Twitter, if not make sure to today as I will be re-tweeting the best links I see as usual, as well as any good Cyber Monday deals that I stumble across.

Morning Brew for 11/17

Why are you following Perez Hilton on Twitter, but not 8 Hours To Kill? Go on and do it, I'll wait...

-After spending over 7 weeks in Amazon's Top 100 BEFORE it was released, Sarah Palin's book, Going Rouge: An American Life hits bookstores today. Political nerds enthusiasts from around the country are turning off C-SPAN today to check out the former Alaska Governor, and Vice-Presidential's autobiography. I on the other hand am watching my clock and hoping it magically says 5:00.

-As someone who makes part of his living on tips, I have often wondered what the standard protocol for tipping at a hotel is. USA Today had a very informative article today about how much you should tip to different hotel employees. The story also includes a graph at the bottom that shows different services that I forgot even existed at hotels. Next time I'm traveling, I definitely need to request an extra phone book.

-Wholesale warehouse store, Costco, is no longer carrying Coca-Cola products. The store is in a pricing dispute with the beverage company, and is refusing to sell their product in it's 560 stores nationwide. No word on how long this dispute will last, but this could have a huge effect on vending machine companies, and Jack Mormon's everywhere.

-Co-founder of Microsoft, Paul Allen, has been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. The 56 year old who previously has beaten Hodgskin's disease 25 years ago, was diagnosed at the beginning of the month and has already begun to undergo treatment. Scary stuff, even for a man who is worth over $11 billion. Our thoughts are with the Allen family.

-Not sure if you had a chance to check out this video of 86-year old Tennessee Titans owner, Bud Adams, flipping off the Buffalo Bills on Sunday. The NFL has fined the crazy old dude long-time owner, $250,000. Although I am pretty sure that the entertainment value for this video is close to that total.

-While shoppers all around the country will be looking for deals on electronics, and toys on the day after Thanksgiving, it turns out that Black Friday is also the best day of the year to buy a car. The average discount for a vehicle on November 27th of this year is projected to be nearly 7.5%. The average discount during a regular day of the year is around 4.7%.