daily mail

We already know a bit about the life and times of Bill Gates, but during a recent interview with the UK's Daily Mail, we get an even closer look at the billionaire Microsoft mogul. Bill Gates still resides at the top of Forbes's richest list but here are a few facts you may not have known:

1. He's an honorary knight — The Queen of England gave Bill Gates an honorary knighthood back in 2005.
2. He knows pop music — Bill's kids tease him by singing the Travie McCoy and Bruno Mars tune "Billionaire," and he knows "some Lady Gaga songs," (but only the ones without swear words).
3. He's a workaholic — Bill says he didn't take a single day off when he was in his 20s, but now he plays tennis and bridge.
4. He's got famous friends — Bill Gates is close friends with Oprah (who he's recruiting to donate a lion's share of her wealth to his 'Giving Pledge’ program), and hosted Bono and his wife at his home overnight after a recent U2 concert in Seattle.

See the rest of the list (including the first things he'd save in a fire) after the break.

Want to get ahead at work? According to a British study, having feminine qualities will do the trick, the Daily Mail reports. The results are definitely surprising, because it kind of goes against the grain of what I've always thought — the assertive and confident approach is the pathway to success for women. A friend and I were talking about this the other day, and it seemed to us that women in power in male-dominated industries or careers tend to have more forceful personalities. However, the scientists of this study disagree. The Daily Mail says:

The findings, which will dismay feminists, suggest the best way for a woman to succeed in a man’s world is to act like a lady. They tally with past research that showed women oozing with self-confidence, assertiveness and other characteristics linked with successful management can be side-lined at work in favour of meeker types. It is thought that while such traits are highly-prized in men, go-getting women are penalised for not being feminine enough and are seen as less likeable.

When I look at power women like Oprah Winfrey, Arianna Huffington, and Hillary Clinton, it's hard to believe those findings. What do you think — do women need to put on some lipstick and heels to get promoted?

Photo courtesy of NBC

While Dutch moms say the key to a happy life is a part-time or no-time job, German moms find the same life stressful because they want to work. But there is a whole other type of stay-at-home moms in every developed country: those who stay, because they can afford to.

They've been called jet-set moms, spending days shopping in high-end boutiques, at life-coaching classes, and traveling with husbands on business trips. Despite college educations and former careers, they don't miss working one bit. In fact, when the Daily Mail interviewed three couples who've divided marriage into two clear-cut roles — breadwinner and caretaker — all couples said their divide-and-conquer approach was key to a happy marriage.

If a woman wants to stop working to raise kids or focus on turning an hobby into a job because she can afford to, I say go for it. It's what the men say that's so disturbing. They croon over how their wives (with the help of a nanny) arrange their sock drawers, cook their dinners, wash their clothes, and plan vacations that they just "turn up for."

"Sam is the perfect housewife. She doesn’t expect me to do anything domestic. She buys all my clothes, and makes sure that when I am at home, I can totally relax," said 38-year-old Scott Mullins. She "never calls me with problems at work — she knows not to disturb me."

That doesn't sound like a marriage — if a marriage is a partnership — but nostalgia for good, old-fashioned sexism.

Today Arizona shooter Jared Loughner's ex-girlfriend, Kelsey Hawkes, spoke out, but now two very different stories are spreading. A Daily Mail interview quotes her saying their breakup, six years ago, was the start of his mental spiral downward.

"Something changed in him, he was not the same person when I told him it was over . . . I remember his face clearly — he just looked like he had nothing to live for . . . Jared was a normal person. It all stopped when we broke up."

This article is quoted on MSNBC, the New York Post, and numerous other outlets, yet nothing about it seems accurate if you watch the above interview from CBS's Early Show today. She sounds as surprised, shocked, and horrified as everyone else. "Back then he was completely different of a person," she says, "very caring, very gentle, very sweet, kind, a little quiet, but altogether pretty great guy." While she admits she's heard no good news about him in the last five years, she never once indicates, even infers, their breakup was a catalyst for his personality change.

"You shouldn’t be pressured into trying to be thin by the fashion industry, because they only want models that are like human mannequins. They know that if we see an outfit on a mannequin in a shop window we will love it and want to buy it whatever size we are. That’s why they have size zero models — they want to sell clothes. But you have to remember that it’s not practical or possible for an everyday woman to look like that. Being size zero is a career in itself so we shouldn’t try and be like them. It’s not realistic and it’s not healthy."

— Rihanna talks to the the UK publication Daily Mail about the fashion industry's "size zero obsession." The singer, 22, also said that she doesn't diet unless she gets "out of control." So far, so good — the 5'8" star weighs a healthy 133 pounds.