♪ >> reporter: it may be just a cover to you, but to a book publisher it's a vital sales tool. dust jackets can be as memorable as the books they wrap around. in a few cases, more valuable. a first edition of the great gatsby without a dust jacket can go for $10,000. with one? >> even if it's rather tattered you're looking at probably $80,000 and up. >> reporter: the art of the book cover. later on sunday morning. >> osgood: batter-up is a phrase you might not associate with the christmas season but in this hot stove league we're not talking baseball. martha teichner is talking cookies. >> reporter: here's a riddle. when is a cookie a jewel? do you recognize it in there with all the fancy krystals? this sunday morning, not your average cookie cutter cookie story. >> shiny jewel-like appearance. >> osgood: matt damon plays very convincing roles both on screen and off. this morning, he convinces our harry smith. >> reporter: he is one of hollywood's top grossing stars. a first choice for the best directors in the business. just don't tell matt damon. are you uncomfortable being a leading man? >> there are people who are so watchable, you know, that you just can't take your eyes off them when they're on screen. i feel like that's not me. >> reporter: a walk in the park with matt damon later on sunday morning. >> osgood: 'tis the season for all sorts of christmas traditions. not all of which turn out to be quite as planned. our bill geist will be offering a few examples. >> nice smiles. >> reporter: 'tis the season once again to snap that family christmas card photo. which is never easy. and often downright awkward. this year there's a popular website awkward family photos where you can share your discomfort. >> we love the photos where people dress up as presents. >> reporter: we'll show you a really awkward time later on sunday morning. >> osgood: mo rocca will consider a santa claus makeover. peter greenberg will have advice for surviving holiday travel. fast draw finds healing power in the christmas card. and more. but first the headlines for this sunday morning the 19th of december, 2010. the senate yesterday voted to repeal the 17-year-old don't ask don't tell law. gays did serve openly in the military. civil rights advocates applauded the action. opponents fear it could weaken the military. president obama, who supported it, is expected to sign the measure into law later this week. we'll have more on the end of don't ask don't tell in just a few minutes. earlier in the day senate republicans blocked a bill that would have given illegal immigrants brought to the united states when they were children a path to gain legal status if they enroll in college or join the military. a legal victory for amanda knox the american college student convicted of murdering her roommate in italy. yesterday an appeals court agreed to allow an independent review of the case's crucial dna evidence. in parts of europe blizzards and freezing temperatures have stranded drivers and closed airports. many travelers spent the night at london's heath rowe airport where service is limiteded to just a handful of take-offs. a winter storm system is threatening to cause flooding and mud slides in parts of california. southern california could see up to four inches of rape by the end of the weekend. as far our national forecast, today we expect snow-rain and lots of both out west. freezing cold up north and mild temperatures in the south. besides christmas, the week ahead will bring the official start of winter and some christmas card weather to go with it. ahead, can you judge a book by its cover? and later,. >> i love this time of year in,, >> osgood: as we reported a few minutes ago, the senate has voted to repeal don't ask don't tell. clearing the way for gay men and women to serve openly in the military. we have the story behind the headlines. >> house resolution 2965 is adopted. ( cheers and applause ) >> reporter: in san francisco yesterday, they celebrated the end of an era. after nearly two decades, the policy of don't ask don't tell which bans gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military is all but history. an overwhelming moment for retired navy commander zoe dunning who has worked to repeal the law since its beginning. >> very emotional. i just had an active duty service member who has done three tours overseas and served 11 years with tears in his eyes thank me. you can't ask for more than that. >> the principal core value is integrity first. >> reporter: former major mike almay served in the air force until superiors determined that he was gay and he was discharged. he came to capitol hill to watch congress vote. >> soon we can serve in the military without having to sacrifice our honor, our integrity without having to lie every day about who we are. >> the yeahs are 65. the nays 31. >> reporter: the bill passed with 65 votes. eight of them republican. including main senator susan collins. >> we should welcome the service of any qualified individual who is willing to put on the uniform of this country, fight for us in war zones such as afghanistan and iraq and put freedom on the line for us. >> reporter: connecticut independent joe lieberman called it one of the best days of his 22 years in the senate. >> we're going to be true to what america is supposed to be about. we're supposed to be about not who you are but how you do your job. you know, gay and lesbian americans in the military will not be seen as gays and lesbians. they'll be seen as what they are: american soldiers. >> reporter: opponents of repeal, led by arizona senator john mccain, pleaded that such a dramatic change during a time of two wars would put troops in harm's way. >> i hope that when we pass this legislation that we will understand that we are doing great damage. >> reporter: in the weeks leading up to the vote, democrats got a boost from a recent pentagon study in which two-thirds of u.s. troops said changing the controversial law would have little impact, a feeling shared by most of america. a cbs news poll earlier this month found that 69% of americans support allowing gay men and women to serve openly. that's up from 42% in 1993. the year don't ask don't tell was implemented under president clinton. >> the issue is whether men and women who can and have serbed with real distinction should be excluded from military service solely on the basis of their status. >> reporter: until that point, homosexuals were barred from serving in the armed forces. but since then more than 13,000 service members revealed to be gay have been ousted from the military. president obama has made repeal a priority. >> this year i will work with congress and our military to finally repeal the law that denies gay americans the right to serve the country they love because of who they are. >> reporter: later this week, the president is expected to sign the bill into law. after the president's signature, the pentagon will begin an implementation plan followed by a 60-day waiting period, all of which could take up to a year. still, the vote is seen as a major victory for democrats reeling from a painful november election. and an even bigger win for those like lieutenant colonel victor fairback who has been fighting discharge for two-and-a-half years. >> i put my flight suit back on and go back and work as i have for the past 19.5 years proudly. >> osgood: book covers uncovered. next. 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[ female announcer ] hard to say really. new caltrate soft chews, we put the yum in calcium. new caltrate soft chews, [children screaming] [growl] i met my husband here. i got to know my grandkids here. we've discovered so much here together. but my doctor told me that during that time my high cholesterol was contributing to plaque buildup in my arteries. that's why i'm fighting my cholesterol... with crestor. along with diet, crestor does more than help manage cholesterol, when diet and exercise alone aren't enough. crestor is also proven to slow plaque buildup in arteries. crestor is not right for everyone, like people with liver disease, or women who are nursing, pregnant, or may become pregnant. simple blood tests will check for liver problems. tell your doctor about other medicines you are taking, or if you have muscle pain or weakness. that could be a sign of serious side effects. ask your doctor if crestor is right for you. i love it when we're here together. if you can't afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. >> osgood: the cover story we have for you this morning is literally that. a story about book covers and their future. it's reported by erin moriarty of "48 hours." >> reporter: quick, what does this image bring to mind? ♪ or this? does this shark remind you of a certain book by peter benchly? it's proof that sometimes the cover of a book is as memorable as the book itself. >> book covers are important. you go into a bookstore. what do you see? you see the covers. the bookstore experience is about the design, the color, the shade, the feel. i mean, when you walk in a bookstore, sure, sometimes you're overwhelmed but aren't you stimulated by the art? and it is art. >> we're going to get this show on the road. >> reporter: art in which publishers like jamie raab invest a great deal of time and money. >> i don't know. i'm a little worried. i think it looks too much like a conventional romance rather than this huge classic book. >> reporter: months before a book is released, raab grapples with editors and designers at grand central publishing to come up with just the right cover. >> the color actually changes you. it's really beautiful. this book deserves a fabulous cover. >> reporter: a good cover tells you what kind of book it is without giving too much away which is why a romance novel often has the embrace. books aimed at women may feature some article of clothing, a shoe, a dress. while jackets on crime novels are usually dark with a shadowy character or a weapon as part of the design. tastes differ around the world and so do book covers. take a look at these variations of stephanie meyers' best-selling vampire novel twilight. >> i still think that's the best. >> reporter: ultimately, says raab, it comes down to this. what sort of statement does the book make? >> i have what i call the subway test. i say will a man be comfortable carrying that book? it can go the other way. you know, people are conscious of what they're reading. and what people see them reading. >> reporter: in other words, dare we say it? we do judge a book by its cover. and in a changing industry like publishing, a memorable one just might make the difference. >> it's a billboard. they're like carnival barkers. someone comes into a bookstore. all the books are shouting, you know, read me, read me, read me. >> reporter: peter mendal son once a concert pianist now designs book jackets for the publisher knopf. >> you hope yours shouts the loudest. >> reporter: that explains the convention-breaking high dec oochlt bel covers that he created for the best selling swedish crime novel "the girl with the dragon tattoo" and its too sequels. >> very colorful and uses an illustration which you almost never see on mystery novels. >> reporter: but in an on-line era when more and more readers are downloading their titles, when more and more hard cover publishers are struggling to keep pace with technology, you have to wonder, what does the future hold for the book cover? after all, you remember album covers. >> you're designing covers so that somebody is drawn to it, will pick it up like this, read it afternoon then maybe buy it. >> right. >> reporter: i mean, with the electronic readers, that's going to be gone. >> i think gone is overstating it. >> reporter: but it's going to change. it's going to change everything. >> yes. >> like a wireless internet. >> reporter: and it could change quickly. in just the last year sales of e-books, electronic books, are up 193%. representing 9% of the three billion dollar consumer book market. but even with the next generation of e-readers featuring color screen, it's still a far cry from what book covers were intended to be. >> this is a book that was printed in 1459 actually. >> reporter: 600 years ago, book covers weren't supposed to be pretty. just protective. and there wasn't much that could get past the pig skin over wood covers of the 15th century. when you talk about protection. >> it's nearly bullet proof at this point. >> reporter: michael lidman is curator of rare books at the new york public library. >> this is probably one of the most famous if not the most famous cloth binding of.... >> reporter: it wasn't until the mid 1800s that covers became ornamental. the cover for the collection of poetry "leaves of grass y y happened to be designed by the poet himself, walt whitman. >> he helped in designing all the floral designs. with the leafs and the roots and the tendrils coming down. very ornate. in the 1880s, 18ate0s what you began to see really for the first time are dust jackets. to give you an idea of how important dust jackets have become, a book collector who wanted to buy a first edition of the great gatsby, if he or she bought a copy that did not have the dust jacket, they could buy it for around $10,000. if you buy a copy that has the dust jacket, even if it's rather tattered, you're looking at probably $80,000 and up. >> reporter: eight times as much. >> eight times at least. >> covers are iconic because the books are iconic. i truly believe that's it. the covers go along for the ride. >> reporter: today artists like kip kid one of the best known in the publishing industry work as hard as ever to come up with a distinctive cover like the one he created 20 years ago for a book about dinosaurs. >> our editor in chief kept saying to me like a mantra remember what happened with jaws, remember what happened with jaws. >> reporter: meaning? >> meaning make something that they'd want to use for the movie. so what i tried to do was represent a dinosaur without showing a dinosaur. >> reporter: he doesn't believe electronic books will put him out of work any time soon. an old school purist agrees. >> i open a book, smell it. i just can't imagine these are going to go away. >> reporter: there are still plenty of readers like tony. we found them browsing inside a washington d.c. bookstore. how often do you think you buy a book that you just see on a shelf and it has a great cover? >> oh, gosh. i'd say to say 50% of the time i'm drawn immediately. yeah, 50% of the time i come in looking for something specific, and the other 50% of the time i'm just, you know, hanging out in bookstores and seeing what catches my eye, what title speaks to me. >> reporter: for many of us, buying a book isn't just about reading it. it's about owning it. what's on our shelves can be as telling as what we put on our walls. >> i think real readers will always buy books. books are as important to... as art in a way as decoration, as whatever you want to call it, it speaks about who we are. i don't really believe that will change. >> osgood: believe it or not, our sunday almanac is just ahead. al condition that can take so much out of you. i feel like i have to wind myself up just to get out of bed. then...well, i have to keep winding myself up to deal with the sadness, the loss of interest, the trouble concentrating, the lack of energy. [ male announcer ] if depression is taking so much out of you, ask your doctor about pristiq®. pristiq is a prescription medicine proven to treat depression. pristiq is thought to work by affecting the levels of two chemicals in the brain, serotonin and norepinephrine. tell your doctor right away if your depression worsens or you have unusual changes in mood, behavior, or thoughts of suicide. antidepressants can increase suicidal thoughts and behaviors in children, teens and young adults. pristiq is not approved for children under 18. do not take pristiq with maois. taking pristiq with nsaid pain relievers, aspirin, or blood thinners may increase bleeding risk. tell your doctor about all your medications, including those for migraine, to avoid a potentially life-threatening condition. pristiq may cause or worsen high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or glaucoma. tell your doctor if you have heart disease or before you reduce or stop taking pristiq. side effects may include nausea, dizziness and sweating. for me, pristiq is a key in helping to treat my depression. ask your doctor about pristiq. [ man ] i thought our family business would always be boots. until one day, my daughter showed me a designer handbag. and like that, we had a new side to our business. [ male announcer ] when businesses see an opportunity, the hartford is there. protecting their employees and property and helping them prepare for the future. nice boots. nice bag. [ male announcer ] see how the hartford helps businesses at achievewhatsahead.com. >> osgood: and now a page from our sunday morning almanac. december 19, 1918, 92 years ago today. the day for the willing suspension of disbelief. for that was the date the new york globe first published champs and chumps, a cartoon panel of sports oddities illustrated by a man named robert riply which soon became ribly's believe it or not. by the mid 1930s riply's cartoon was appearing in more than 350 newspapers while riply himself was appearing in every corner of the world. >> announcer: robert riply, creator of believe it or not, led an unbelievable life. he went everywhere, saw everything, and because his critics called him the world's biggest liar, he brought back his museum exhibits to prove his stories. >> osgood: riply opened his first museum at the chicago world's fair in 1933. he also hosted his own radio show. >> believe it or not, bob riply. >> osgood: and he made a point of documenting his travels on film. >> off he goes to the site of the garden of eden. he didn't like it when he got there. no fig leaves. no apples. >> osgood: robert riply died of a heart attack in 1949 at the age of 58. but his "believe it or not" tradition continues to this day in newspapers, online, and at 85 attractions around the world including a believe it or not museum in new york where it all began. among its features, replicas of a two-headed cat. robert riply's own personal collection of beer steins and what is billed as the world's largest collection of shrunken heads. today the riply organization is marking the anniversary of that very first cartoon while looking ahead to another celebration this coming saturday. it turns out robert riply was born in 1890 on christmas day. believe it or not. there's no place like home for the holidays. coming up, we'll get you there. ,,,,,, ♪ i'm gonna get it, i know i'm gonna get it. ♪ ♪ i can't wait ♪ every little step, brings me closer to the gift. can't be late. ♪ ♪ rip it open in a second and it's time to play. ♪ ♪ i was up all night in anticipation feeling electric jewels of jubilation. ♪ ♪ yule tide carols from the local congregation. ♪ ♪ make it tough to hold my patience in check. ♪ ♪ is it time yet, is it time, i can't wait. ♪ ♪ is it time yet, is it time, i can't wait. ♪ >> it's sunday morning on cbs and here again is charles osgood. >> osgood: 'tis the season forgetting home for the holidays or trying to anyway. peter greenberg will be offering some tips on travel throughout the morning. ♪ get your motor running ♪ head out on the highway ♪ looking for adventure ♪ in whatever comes our way (train whistle) >> reporter: as most of us know by now holiday travel is no vacation. crowds. delays. high prices. and don't forget those patdowns. it just never gets any easier. >> sound your alarm bell now. >> everybody, get in crash position. >> reporter: if the movie "airplane" seemed outrageous 30 years ago, just look at air travel today. still with the economy slowly beginning to take off again, many of us are doing the same. and we're paying the price. just about every airplane... air fares are up 59% over last year. what's worst there are some airlines that want to charge $39 to sit closer to first class. what that get you? not much. you can smell the cookies but still can't have one. we all know they're charging for checked luggage but now there's the fee for the pillow. the blanket. and of course the food. historically people didn't eat airline food because they were hungry. they ate it because they were bored. but now more than ever we might need something to munch on while we're waiting. and waiting. and waiting. waiting to take off because of the airline's own version of project runway. and what is that all about? it's basic math. no major airport runway, even in the best weather, can handle more than 22 take-offs in any given hour. but somehow the airlines have been allowed to schedule as many as 34 take-offs an hour. but wait. it gets worse. one airline wants to charge up to $45 for a carry-on bag. what's next? still many of us have to fly. so here are some tips absolutely free. most folks book their holiday travel from home, usually on the weekend. but by wednesday some of those unused discount reservations expire, freeing up unbooked seats and untold bargains. next, get to the airport early and undress for success. no metal. nothing in your pockets. put it all in your carry-on bag and dress after you clear security. remember, there are only two types of airline bags: carry-on and lost. do what i do. ship your bags ahead. for just a little more money, you can save on the cost of lost luggage, and you'll also save about two hours of your life every time you fly. and your bags will be waiting for you at your destination. it's estimated that some 43 million of us will be flying this holiday season. up 3% from last year. so wherever you're headed, have a great flight. you say your travel plans are still up in the air? the train is pulling out of the station. ahead on sunday morning. >> osgood: but ahead right now, the st. nick... does st. nick need a makeover? and the gold standard for cookies. i needed a coach. our doctor was great, but with so many tough decisions i felt lost. unitedhealthcare offered us a specially trained rn who helped us weigh and understand all our options. for me cancer was as scary as a fastball is to some of these kids. but my coach had hit that pitch before. turning data into useful answers. we're 78,000 people looking out for 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. if you live for performance, upgrade to castrol edge advanced synthetic oil. with eight times better wear protection than mobil 1. castrol edge. it's more than just oil. it's liquid engineering. expand our toolboxes... and fill our sleighs to capacity. with all kinds of buzzing, roaring, and humming. with guaranteed low prices on all the tools you want, there will be more than tinsel glinting around our trees. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. we're lowering the cost of christmas morning. buy any ryobi super combo or lithium-ion combo kit and get a free ryobi power tool worth up to 99 bucks. buy any ryobi super combo or lithium-ion combo kit in a more delicious world, there would be more smoothness, more creaminess, more rich just-for-me-ness, more hershey's bliss-fulness. hershey's bliss. it's not just chocolate. it's bliss. >> osgood: 'twas the night before christmas. you might think that poem would be the final word on the man we more commonly note today as santa claus. but according to our mo rocca santa is overdue for a makeover. ♪ all i want for christmas is my two front teeth ♪ ♪ so why... so i can wish you merry christmas ♪ > what do you want for christmas? >> a small bike. >> a lot of football stuff. >> a new skirt. >> a bear. >> a train. >> probably lots of money. >> reporter: that's a lot of wishes to get down a lot of chimneys, and all by one man in a sleigh circling the planet in a single night. so how could santa do it all better? >> get more reindeer. animals pull his sleigh energy drinks so they can go faster. >> reporter: should santa change his delivery system? >> we love to have santa's account for fed-ex. santa would be one of those premiere accounts. >> reporter: paul is managing director of global operations for fed-ex. do you guys have a hub in the north pole? >> we don't have a hub in the north pole. >> reporter: he thinks santa should use, well, fed-ex. >> what we would recommend to santa is that he move the elves' workshops to areas near our distribution center s so the elves would have maximum time to make the toys prior to the christmas delivery. what we're in business for is to satisfy our customer. if santa was one of our customers we'd work very hard to develop a system that would satisfy santa. >> reporter: would you be willing to dress up as an elf? >> i think we would probably leave the elf-dressing to those real elves. >> reporter: it's a big account. >> understood. >> reporter: about those elves, santa's labor practices have recently come under fire. >> they're not allowed to marry or socialize. >> reporter: popular science contributor gregory moen has written extensively about santa. is there any risk of injury to santa? >> absolutely. i think we haven't heard much about santa falling off a roof or anything like that. i think the greatest risk to him is inside the home. now if you think santa is inside 100 million living rooms in a single night, someone at some point is going to come into that living room and wonder who is poking around and perhaps walk in there with a shotgun and that could get pretty tough for santa. >> reporter: and what about mr. claus's apparel? is he really dressed for success? >> he could probably like have like a short sleeve shirt and shorts under that. >> reporter: a transitional outfit. >> yes. >> reporter: what's the biggest problem with the current outfit? >> well, i believe it's most appropriate for colder weather. and once you hit the equator, i mean, santa would have to be stiflingly hot. >> reporter: tim gunn wants to give santa an outfit suitable for all the world's climates. the zipper allows these to convert into shorts. >> yes, so you take the bottom of the pant off. you store it somewhere and santa is in a pair of short. >> reporter: is it a sleeveless tee? >> also if we consider santa's size, i mean he's a generously proportioned man. sleeveless would not be very flattering on santa. >> reporter: let's face it. the jolly old guy could afford to lose a few inches. >> he can just put on some running shoes and run really really really really far. and not get so fat. >> reporter: doctor, thank you so much for taking my call. this doctor agrees that santa's weight is a weighty issue. >> you know what? i don't know if it's as much santa's fault as our fault because we leave cookie after cookie for santa. we need to change our habits. every now and then leave veggies with hummus. >> reporter: if santa came to you as a patient, what would you tell him? >> santa needs to do walking followed by stretching. anyone who has been on a long plane ride knows this if you sit for too long in one spot you can be at risk for a lot of things including blood clots in your legs. i worry about that with santa. that's why he has to get up out of that sleigh, stretch and go ahead and get some of his own exercise, maybe take the reindeer for a walk. >> reporter: if you've got any advice for santa, write it down and leave it next to the milk. and hummus. >> osgood: or if you prefer the milk and cookies. cookies come in so many different shapes and sizes there's no way anybody could possibly keep track of all the recipes. still martha teichner knows some people who have tried. >> reporter:. >> we have here for 2007 these are trios. this is special because there's three different jams. we attach them together so you can have three different tastes in one cookie. >> reporter: there's a cookie from each of the 68 years gourmet magazine existed. >> these are lemon glitter cookies. these were on the cover of 2008. >> reporter: out just in time for the holiday baking season, the cookie book is like our history in cookies. >> you can really see how recipe writing evolved over the years. >> reporter: sarah moulton was executive chef. >> you look at the first one. >> reporter: the united states was about to enter world war ii when the cajun mack roons appeared in 1941. recipes were written out in paragraph form then. no easy to fom lists of ingredients. >> world war ii meant rationing. sugar rationing. we have a honey cookie that's in the book in that decade because of the whole sugar rationing. >> reporter: you use honey instead. >> you do. >> reporter: the magazine was closed in the fall of 2009. but gourmet lives on in everything from the cookie book to i phone apps. chocolate cookies didn't make an appearance until 1950. >> then by the '80s and '90s, wow, there is so much chocolate and not just old- fashioned chocolate. designer chocolate, you know. it was amazing how it revved up. >> reporter: did i ever! from maybe one cookie recipe a year in gourmet. by the 1980s it was a dozen or more. >> that's a very first cookie cover. >> reporter: in 1993, december's magazine became the cookie issue. >> the readers liked their cookies in december. >> reporter: by that time, the recipes had become a lot more elaborate. >> what's happened in this country for a whole buchblg of reasons including celebrity chefs and tv is that people no more about food. they have access to more ingredients and they want more excitement. >> reporter: these are named after a holiday spiced bread from france. they're glazed with grand marnier and dusted with edible gold. they have a telling back story. >> on our trip to paris, i got the inspiration for this. >> reporter: it began in february, 2009. >> it would be nicely seasoned with the spicing. >> reporter: when food stylist paul grimes presented his ideas for what would have been that year's cookie issue. >> what i was envisioning was dotting it with candyed orange peel. that would be the gem-like quality. >> reporter: gem-like for a reason. with the economy in terrible shape, gourmet wanted to offer readers a little edible opulence. >> cherries, cranberries. >> reporter: the theme of the issue was to have been jewels. it made it past the concept stage to the test kitchen. editor in chief and her senior staff liked them. >> classy. >> reporter: creative director richard feretti oversaw the transformation of the cookies from the test kitchen into what, for all the world, looked like lavish, priceless jewelry. like magic, they were cookies no more. camouflaged in razzle-dazzle. here they are. >> for me looking at this, it's like the cookies are all playing dress-up. >> they are. yeah, they're being dressed up. the cookies have gone to another place. they're like at a party. >> reporter: delicious make believe created out of practically nothing. >> you're dealing with butter, sugar, flour. it's not expensive. so you can have some fun. we all need some fun. >> reporter: i want to eat this end first. go ahead because after all 'tis the season. mmm. >> osgood: ahead.... >>,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, earlier we talked about books, books are just a way of packaging woods words. google offered the final word on words, billions and billions of them. >> reporter: for centuries people have been searching for knowledge in books but never before in a way that google has now made possible. the search giant has digitally copied 5.2 million books published since 1500. from those they built a database of 500 billion words and made it available for all to search. link quist justify nunberg was immediately captivated. >> i can watch words like information overload or information explosion, information anxiety as they grow over the course of the '60s, '70s, '80s. >> reporter: a search on this new google feature can provide instant insight into language, culture and trends. here's how it works. put in a word like "teenager" and discover that the term was almost unused until the 1950s. put in two words "men" and "women" and discover while "men" dominated for centuries they've been in sharp decline since the 1940s while women have come on strong. put in saving and spending and discover that in literature as in life, spending shot up from the 1980s while savings went nowhere. when did people start talking about arugula. that goes back to the '60s too. you see the curve goes straight up. at the same time you can see things like pork and beans going down. >> reporter: pork and beans may be down but concerns about weight are up. overweight and weight loss were barely mentioned until 1900 and have been rising steadily since. >> weight, fraud and corruption. now that sounds like something we've been hearing a lot of in the last year or two. actually you can find it going back to 1880. >> reporter: another technology can eat up plenty of time, discovering, for example, that dogs have been way ahead of cats since the 1740s. it may not be news that groovey piqued in 1972. guess what. it's been making a steady comeback for more than a decade. history is reflected in war and peace. war has always been on top. getting understandably big bumps during the two world wars. mentions of nuclear war hit a high in the mid 1980s. what concerns us now is terrorism. rising sharply since the mid '90s. but for all the information that google is processing, link quist nunberg reminds us that it all begins on the printed page. >> this is a really great technology. it's lasted about 1500 years. it will be around for another 1500 years. >> reporter: if you doubt the staying power of books, try this. put the words "read books" and "use computers" into google's new database. you'll find that books come out far ahead. >> riding the rail. nothing captures the romance of travel more than a train journey. think hitchcock's north by northwest with cary grant and eva marie saint. >> think how lucky i am to have been seated here. >> luck had nothing to do with it. >> fate? >> i tipped the steward $5 to seat you here if i should you should come in. >> reporter: and it's looking like trains are back on track. particularly if you're frustrated by air travel. and planning a trip under 400 miles. and when it comes to train travel these days, it's one stop shopping. which is to say amtrak. every day 300 amtrak trains criss-cross america. the price is right and they can get you just about anywhere you want to go. that is, as long as you're patient. you see, trains aren't always the fastest way to get from point-a to point-b. and there's a reason. amtrak doesn't own much of the track. big freight companies do which is why amtrak trains are forced to pull over all the time. to let a 100-car freight train lumber on by. now, to be fair there is the acela running between boston and new york and washington d.c.. it's amtrak's version of high speed rail. but the acela can only reach a peek speed of 150 miles an hour for 30 minutes on each run. the real average speed of the nation's fastest train line is a paltry 62 miles an hour between new york and boston and 86 miles per hour between new york and d.c.. a far cry from china's new high speed train which boasts an average speed of almost 220 miles an hour. still, amtrak ridership is on the rise. nearly 29 million people road by rail this year. that's an increase of almost 6% over 2009. but if amtrak holds no attraction for you, fasten your seat belts. buses. later on sunday morning. >> osgood: but next, who is that with santa? ,,,,,, ♪ [ female announcer ] keurig has over 200 varieties of gourmet coffee and tea to choose from. ♪ keurig is the way to brew fresh, delicious coffee in under a minute. way to brew. [ female announcer ] so with keurig, every cup tastes like it's brewed just for you. ♪ because it is. choose. brew. enjoy. keurig. ♪ you'd better watch out ♪ you'd better not cry ♪ you'd better not pout >> osgood: yes, that's me dancing with santa claus. thanks to the folks at gym jab. what is that? >> it is a website where people can come to find things that will make themselves laugh. >> reporter: greg and his brother evan launched it back in 1999. >> jib jab. >> reporter: their on-line animation site first hit the big-time in 2004 with this spoof of the george bush-john kerry race ♪ this land is your land ♪ this land is my land ♪ i'm a texas tiger ♪ you're a liberal weaner >> typically we did 40,000 views back then when we released something in a day. on the first day we did 100,000. the next day we did 500,000. our servers just blew it. >> osgood: the server has long since restored, jib jab offers viewers the chance to create starring you videos. for ours we've chosen familiar faces. jib jab also produces an annual year in review animation. >> this is our health care puppet. >> osgood: it is getting its worldwide premiere right here right now. ♪ we arrived in '09 on a rainbow of hope ♪ but 200 blew it all up in smoke ♪ ♪ so long to 2010 ♪ we have no jobs despite all my spending ♪ ♪ we've had health care ♪ on national tv and said it's a real big (beep) deal ♪ ♪ the earthquake vol kahn owes, bailouts ♪ ♪ that well from b.p. got (beep) ground zero... ♪ ♪ so long to you, 2010 ♪ my ratings they plunged through the floor ♪ ♪ i got rangel, mcchrystal and karzai ♪ ♪ and no credit for ending the war ♪ ♪ don't ask don't tell, michelle taking (beep) because she... ♪ ♪ 2010 we can't wait for you to be like that guy from jet blue ♪ ♪ real good in the mid-term ♪ we are so when ron said good-bye ♪ ♪ immigration california just wants to get high ♪ ♪ wars and mountains of debt ♪ ♪ politicians and nuclear threat ♪ ♪ that seems to be what you get ♪ ♪ that's why i want one, only want one, just give me a damned cigarette ♪ ♪ so long to you, 2010 >> that's definitely going to need stitches. >> osgood: next? >> i have the best shot at a normal life here. >> osgood: harry smith with matt damon. and later, are these pictures worth a thousand words? hey, guys. printer's out of ink. just shake it. [ rattling ] [ male announcer ] need ink? staples has a low price guarantee on all the ink you need. find a lower price at another store, and we'll match it. that was easy. >> do you like apples? >> yeah. >> well, i've got a number. how do you like them apples? >> it's sunday morning on cbs and here again is charles osgood. >> osgood: good will hunting is just one of the dozens of films that have made matt damon one of the biggest movie stars of our time. harry smith has paid him a visit for this sunday profile. >> i don't know who i am. i don't know where i'm going. none of it. >> reporter: when it comes to identity few movie fans the world over don't know who matt damon is. jason bourne has made him a mega star. >> i have the best shot at a normal life here. >> reporter: guy's guy, father to four, he lives in new york now where anonimity is an even better fit than amnesia. can you be basically be not invisible but incognito. >> i'm rarely outside without a hat. it's great. people, you know, particularly in the neighborhood i live in, you know, are i think they're very used to me and my family. they kind of absorbed us into the community there. i don't want my kids to see a kind of weird reaction to fame. brad and angie, i mean, they can't walk around new york without just having it be an international incident and having, you know, photographers everywhere and traffic being stopped. i feel lucky that i'm... that i'm able to have a relatively normal life and still be able to do the kind of work that i want to do. >> tom riply. >> reporter: a celebrity who is less self-interested than interesting, he has said he thinks of himself more as a character actor than a leading man. >> james frances ryan. >> yes, sir. how did you guess that? >> there are people who are so watchable that you just can't take your eyes off them when they're on screen. i feel like that's not me. but if i have a good character to play, then that takes care of everything. >> hi, dad. >> yes? >> yeah, something big came up at work. i'm not going to be home for supper. >> reporter: damon is a star who doesn't need the world to revolve around him. it's part of the reason a-list directors martin scorsese, frances ford cope laand steven sowedberg and clint eastwood want him in their films. if you had to write a short list of the best people who have directed movies in the last 20 years in america, you've worked with just about everybody. >> a lot of 'em, yeah. a lot of 'em. well, it's one of the ways... it's really the main way that i choose what job i'm going to take. i really look at the director. i've always viewed it as that. that's the horse you're betting on. your big bet, your only bet is really at the very beginning of the process when you say, yes. once you say yes, everything you do is in service of that director. >> action! >> reporter: it would only be a matter of time until the coen brothers came calling. the film, a remake of the john wayne classic "true grit." >> you're no bigger than a corn nubbin. what are you doing with all this pistol. >> reporter: did you see the original? >> i'm the one guy in america who did not. when i found out about this one i asked the coen brothers if i should see the original. they said the book is where usual go. we're not looking at it as a remake of that as a strict adaptation of this book. >> you seem kind of lost. >> that's right. i'm a texas ranger. >> reporter: the movie damon stars opposite 13-year-old newcomer haley steinfeld who with no prior big screen experience was pulled from a pool of 15,000 for the role. >> i hold out little hope for you. >> why is that? >> she's astonishing. this character is nothing like haley steinfeld actually is in real life. for somebody her age, you know, this isn't anywhere near the way she talks off screen. so to be able too connect to the character is not something that you expect a 13-year-old to be able to do. >> reporter: damon himself was just a few years older than her when he got his first hollywood role. the year was 1988. he was 18. the movie, mystic pizza. >> mom, do you want my green stuff? >> that's called a tamle. it's the best part. >> reporter: since then damon now 40 has starred in almost 50 films. hard to believe. there was a time when damon's name didn't necessarily conjure images of box office dynamite. wasn't there a point in your career where your phone basically stopped ringing? >> yeah, yeah. >> reporter: when was that? >> it was after i had shot the bourne movie but it isn't come out. all the pretty horses come out. it hadn't done well. i had done this bourne identity film with all the signals that it would be a turkey. i had never done a movie like that. people said that figures. this isn't going to work. when the movie came out, the next monday i had, you know, 20 or 30 offers. >> reporter: long before jason bourne, there was a very different character, math genius will hunting. >> a job or what? >> sit in a room and do long division for the next 50 years. >> reporter: good will hunting the 1997 film that damon co-wrote with his close friend and fellow unknown ben affleck launched both their careers. with nine academy award nominations and an oscar for best screen play. legendary producer harvey wine steen played a key role in making the movie. damon was grateful but not afraid to fight for what he believed in. >> that movie was everything to us. we wanted to get the right director. harvey had gone to a director that... he hadn't checked with us. we went in to talk to him about it and say, hey, you know, there's a process here that we agreed on. he said, well, you're a nobody. yeah, that's true. >> reporter: what did you say back then? >> i'm a nobody with director approval. >> reporter: playing hard ball with harvey winesteen was not damon's first big gamble. even bigger was his decision to drop out of harvard to pursue a film career. did you always know? did you always know you would do this? >> yeah, yeah. i always wanted to. from the time i was pretty young. i mean, i started really seriously doing it in high school. you know, i had great parents who really encouraged me not to do it professionally necessarily but to do what i enjoyed and were very supportive. >> reporter: damon grew up near harvard on the streets of cambridge where he got his taste for activism. he now travels to places like africa for his organization water dot-org by brings clean water to poor villages. >> the next vice president of the united states.... >> reporter: he's also outspoken about politics and caused a stir in 2008 when he likened sarah palin's vice presidential run to a bad disney movie. >> i was alarmed at the time. i remember we were getting very close to the election. she still hadn't submitted to an interview. i thought that was really dangerous. and reckless of them to put her in that so close to the presidency without anybody knowing who the heck she was. and so that was why i said something. >> reporter: politics may be no laughing matter for damon. but he does have plenty of reasons to be smiling. including two blockbuster franchises. the oceans 11 series and, of course, the bourne trilogy. matt damon is living the life he dreamed of. >> making movies is the greatest job. i spent my teenage years, you know, my formative years kind of hoping that one day i could be in a place where i could make movies. >> i thought you were going to say the sun was in your eyes. that is to say, your eye. >> that doesn't get any better than that. >> osgood: next, seasons greetings. 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[ female announcer ] keurig has over 200 varieties of gourmet coffee and tea to choose from. ♪ keurig is the way to brew fresh, delicious coffee in under a minute. way to brew. [ female announcer ] so with keurig, every cup tastes like it's brewed just for you. ♪ because it is. choose. brew. enjoy. keurig. >> osgood: the christmas card is a time-honored holiday tradition. even though high tech alternatives have come along. here are josh landis and mitch butler of the fast draw. >> it's the season for greetings, and who doesn't like a mailbox full of holiday cards? >> a woman named faith loves greeting cards. she's had a lot of experience opening them. when she was just 14, faith almost died from meningitis. while she was in the hospital an email started circulating saying that it was her dream to make the guiness book of world records for receiving the most cards. and guess what. they poured in. >> they actually just brought the mail up to us. it filled up the center part of our garage. there were a lot of cards to deal with. >> reporter: that year faith was home in time for christmas. she saw just how many people were trying to make this dream come true. like santa claus circling the globe, mail came from asia, australia, europe and beyond. >> there were a lot of cards. i would say it was probably over a million. i mean like we were opening mail for a very long time. >> reporter: a campaign like that would be a small miracle for the greeting card industry today. a survey finds that americans plan to spend only $26 on cards and postage this holiday season. that's down from previous years. email and on-line cards are helping to steal the thunder from traditional christmas cards. >> in fact mail volume overall is down so much the post office is closing branches and considering cutting back deliveries to five days a week. the truth is faith wouldn't have minded a little less mail. >> reporter: that dream to get into the guiness book of world records with all those cards wasn't even her idea. >> no, oh, no. that's not something that i would ever set out to do. i think it was just somebody's trying to do something very nice that just sort of, you know, escalated. >> reporter: to this day she has no idea who started that email chain in the first place. but when you think about it, maybe all those unsolicited cards have some affect after all. in the end she survived her deadly illness. this year 24-year-old faith will be spending christmas happily at home with her family. >> time was when it came to travel there were the plane or the train. but the bus? i know what you're thinking. dingy, noisy, crowded, uncomfortable, long. did i mention uncomfortable? but times have changed. really. buses have shifted into the fast lane. the motor coach industry now logs over 750 million trips a year. that's almost two billion miles. greyhound now offers a new fleet of buses with internet access, power out lets and video entertainment. other smaller low cost carriers like mig a bus and bolt bus offer some of the same amenities with fares as low as $1 that can be booked online. on the high end, companies like limo liner which operates between new york and boston have leather reclining seats, food service, even wine. no, taking the bus won't get you out of holiday traffic but at least it will be a more comfortable wait. so planes are just awful. trains are delayed. buses are... well, buses. no wonder you're dismayed. what in the world can a savvy traveler do? you can always take one of these. cruises are increasingly becoming the biggest travel bargain around. in fact, with prices as low as $299 for a seven-night trip, you might want to consider shoving off and moving aboard. it doesn't really matter where you're going. you're comfort able, well rested, well fed and no packing or unpacking. and at these prices, no doubt about it, you've arrived. >> osgood: ahead, say cheese. ever wish vegetables didn't taste so vegetably? well, v8 v-fusion juice gives you a full serving of vegetables, plus a full serving of fruit. but it just tastes like fruit. v8. what's your number? 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'tis the season for families to celebrate their picture perfect christmas except in too many cases you can say it's picture imperfect. bill geist reviews the sorry record. >> let me see a nice smile. >> reporter: 'tis the season to take that family christmas card photo. never easy. and always a little awkward. now there's an awkward family photos website where you can share your pain and discomfort. this one looks interesting to me. a site created by mike bender and doug cheerknack. >> we love the photos where people dress up as presents. or the family are all dressed up as christmas trees. or, you know, they're in matching sweaters. >> that's gold. >> there's an amazing holiday photo that combines all those things. the daughter's own matching outfit s with the mother. and then the father is not wearing a shirt and looks like he's sort of just wandered into the room. he looks confused. >> this is my favorite. probably of my favorite photos. the photo is called there's plenty of room on the couch. why aren't they sitting on the couch? >> reporter: the website was inspired by what mike sees as an awkward photo of him, his dad jewels, and his brother. >> here it is. >> reporter: rebecca is mike's mother. >> needless to say, i thought it was a great picture myself. and the more he told me how awkward it was, i kept saying but it's so cute. >> reporter: awkwardness seems to lie in the eye of the beholder. >> when you're a kid and you're told to get into some sort of pose. in this case it was a rockettes pose you don't want to do it. that's what becomes uncomfortable. >> reporter: should there be an awkwardness generation gap? >> he came to me and told me he wanted to use one of our family ski photos as the starting point for a website. i know he didn't think he had, you know, all my enthusiasm, energy behind it. >> i think i thought it was a terrible idea. >> reporter: but mike and doug went ahead and launched the website. and it took off. >> in that span of a week we went from five or six hits that first day to a million hits by the end of the week. >> reporter: they've received more than 80,000 submissions from self-depp racketing people worldwide. >> i just won't get it. it was as simple as that. >> that first week when all the traffic started coming in we heard from publishers about a week-and-a-half after we launched it. >> reporter: and the book became a best seller. so how do they define awkward? well, they know it when they see it. >> we feel like any photo that gives you even a little bit of discomfort by looking at it or relating to it in any way is awkward. there's a few staples of awkwardness. there are the poses. you know, people piled on top of each other. people lined up in height. we have the photos where something is happening that the family dynamic is sort of coming through. the brother and sister are fighting with each other. >> reporter: and now an awkward tv show. >> a show at abc that we are developing for next season. it's going to be basically the themes of the site. >> to me absolutely astonishing. as a matter of fact, i said how do you make a sitcom that's awkward family photos? >> reporter: of course, awkward photos are snapped at family gatherings year round. wedding. vacation. birthdays. and graduations. but this is the true season of awkwardness. >> there is no better time of the year for awkwardness than the holidays. it's when people are really forced to be together. so i think that this beautiful glorious awkwardness comes out of the holidays. >> reporter: even mom is getting into the awkward holiday spirit. >> my gosh, he's really hit upon something simple but brilliant. you know, kind of like, if a mother must say so, like the pet rock. >> osgood: from bill geist we go to bob schieffer in washington for a look at what's ahead on face the nation. good morning, bob. >> schieffer: good morning, charles. we're going to talk to four key senators, carl levin, lindsey graham, amy klobuchar and jeff sessions about where we go from here on afghanistan and the new start treaty. >> osgood: thank you, bob schieffer. we'll be watching. next week here on sunday morning, hail and farewell. ah, it's stinging a little bit more than usual! yeah, you'll get used to it. the longer you keep your high mileage car, the more it pays you back. get castrol gtx high mileage. it helps engines last longer by fighting the main causes of engine failure. i think a dime went up my nose. yeah, it happens. don't change your car. change your oil to castrol gtx high mileage. its more than just oil. it's liquid engineering. >> osgood: in 1944 mel torme the singer and his friend wrote a song on a blistering hot summer day in hopes of thinking cool. turned out to be very cool indeed. it has become the most performed christmas song. ♪ chestnuts roasting on an open fire ♪ ♪ jack frost nipping at your nose ♪ ♪ yule tide carols being sung by a choir ♪ ♪ and folks dressed up like eskimos ♪ ♪ everybody knows a turkey and some mistletoe ♪ ♪ help to make the season bright ♪ tiny tots with their eyes all aglow ♪ ♪ will find it hard to sleep tonight ♪ ♪ they know that santa's on his way ♪ ♪ he's loaded lots of fois and goodies on his sleigh ♪ ♪ and every mother's child is going to spy ♪ ♪ to see if reindeer really know how to fly ♪ ♪ and so i'm offering this simple phrase ♪ ♪ from to kids from one to 92 ♪ ♪ though it's been said many times many ways ♪ ♪ merry christmas to you everyone has someone to go heart healthy for. who's your someone? campbell's healthy request can help. low cholesterol, zero grams trans fat, and a healthy level of sodium. it's amazing what soup can do. >> sunday morning's moment of nature is sponsored by... >> osgood: we leave you this sunday morning' partridges not in a pear tree but in a desert in nevada. >> osgood: i'm charles osgood. we wish all of you the merryiest of christmases and hope you'll join us again next sunday morning. until then, i'll see you on the radio. when my doctor told me that my chronic bronchitis was copd... i started managing it every day. i like to volunteer... hit the courts... and explore new places. i'm breathing better with spiriva. spiriva is the only once-daily inhaled maintenance treatment for both forms of copd... which includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema. i take it every day... it keeps my airways open to help me breathe better all day long. spiriva does not replace fast acting inhalers for sudden symptoms. stop taking spiriva and call your doctor right away if your breathing suddenly worsens, your throat or tongue swells, you get hives, have vision changes or eye pain... or have problems passing urine. tell your doctor if you have glaucoma, problems passing urine or an enlarged prostate... as these may worsen with spiriva. also discuss the medicines you take... even eye drops. side effects include dry mouth, constipation and trouble passing urine. now, i'm managing my chronic bronchitis every day. ask your doctor if once-daily spiriva is right for you. captioning made possible by johnson & johnson, where quality products for the american family have been a tradition for generations [ male announcer ] enjoy an amazing usda choice steak and succulent lobster dinner at sizzler for just $15.99. sizzler. thinking fresh. everyday.