“All of a sudden this ham… hit me full long in the face and ’bout knocked me cuckoo.”

–Celebrity cook and Food Network star Paula Deen, who was hit in the face by a ham today while volunteering at an Atlanta food drive. Deen, who was helping to unload 25,000 pounds of meat donated to a local food bank, was the honored guest at a recent “Fortune Most Powerful Women Evening With…” dinner in Atlanta, where she told the guests, “Ladies, I have got a revelation: Eat the cookies. And chase them with bacon.” (Click here for Pattie’s post about Deen and the career wisdom she served up at the event.) –Jessica Shambora

“If I lost control of the business, I’d lose myself–or at least the ability to be myself. Owning myself is a way to be myself.”

–Oprah Winfrey, in “The Business of Being Oprah,” a 2002 cover story that I wrote about the billionaire media titan. Back then, Oprah was figuring out who she wanted to be, beyond a daytime talk-show host. She had recently (and warily) formed a partnership with Hearst–from which O magazine was born. But she’d rejected every and all offers to license her name for big money. Having been abused as a child, control meant everything to her, she told me.

And it still does. But now she’s taking a giant step, announcing on the air today that she’ll leave broadcast TV after the next season, her 25th on air, to move to cable. Her start-up, OWN, is a 50-50 venture with Discovery Communications (DISCA). “Twenty five years feels right in my bones, and it feels right in my spirit,” she said, fighting tears, at the end of her program this afternoon.

For more on Oprah’s new network, read “Behind Oprah’s next big move,” posted earlier today. And catch me with Anderson Cooper tonight at 10 p.m. Eastern on CNN’s AC 360.

“Young is better than old,
Pretty is better than ugly,
Rich is better than poor,
T.V. is better than music,
Music is better than movies,
Movies are better than sports,
Anything is better than politics,
And nothing is better than the celebrity dead.”

–Stolley’s Law of Covers, created by Dick Stolley, senior editorial advisor to Time Inc., and founding editor, People. A legend of the magazine world, he made history when he secured the rights the Zapruder footage immediately following JFK’s assassination.

In a Q&A emailed to Time Inc. employees today, Stolley included an addendum to his law: “Obama has changed the “anything is better than politics” rule, but that won’t last forever.” Unfortunately 2009 offered too much proof of his rule about celebrity deaths. For more from Stolley, check out this photo gallery at Life.com where he shares some favorite photos from his years working at LIFE. –Jessica Shambora

“‘Unfriend’ has real lex-appeal.”

– Christine Lindberg, senior lexicographer for the Oxford University Press’s U.S. dictionary program. Today The New Oxford American Dictionary revealed that ‘unfriend’ is the 2009 word of the year. If you’ve got a Facebook profile, you’ve likely unfriended some annoying person in your network. Someone may have even (gasp) unfriended you!

There were lots of tech-isms in the running this year–paywall, netbook, sexting. One tech trend actually spawned its own mini-lexicon, but no news about the official acceptance of those terms outside the Tweetaholics and Twitterati! –Jessica Shambora

“As every Iditarod musher knows, if you’re not the lead dog, the view never changes.”

– Sarah Palin, in Going Rogue. Yep, she’s ambitious–and No. 1 on Amazon.com.

“The hair is 75 percent of my performance.”

– Actor Robert Pattinson, who stars as vampire heartthrob Edward Cullen in the screen version of the literary sensation, Twilight. In a Q&A in the current issue of Entertainment Weekly, Pattinson says that for New Moon, the franchise’s second installment, he told the filmmakers, “Listen, I need to tone down the hair. Let’s make it a little more real, a little bit more…Method.”

Pattison’s not the only one who understands the power of hair. Pattie has also written about the speculation over how business leaders part their tresses. You can check out Pattinson’s “do” when New Moon hits theaters next Friday. –Jessica Shambora

“If previous crises provide any indication of what lies ahead, FY2011 may be even more challenging than 2010.”

– Meredith Whitney, or Meredith Whitney Advisory Group, in a report on mounting fiscal troubles for state governments. After riding the boom and bust in real estate, 48 states are underfunded for fiscal 2010, she notes. State and local government spending accounts for 12% of U.S. GDP. Whitney’s conclusion: When state governments lower costs to balance their budgets, they’ll be cutting spending programs and jobs that will weigh on overall GDP.

Meanwhile, the Pew Center released its own dire analysis of the states’ fiscal conditions. With the Dow hitting another 13-month high today, it might be prudent to swallow a dose of caution by reading “10 states face financial peril.”

“A key Jobs business tool is his mastery of the message. He rehearses over and over every line he and others utter in public about Apple, which authorizes only a small number of executives to speak publicly on a given topic. Key to the Jobs approach is careful consideration of what he and Apple say — and don’t say. “

–Fortune’s Adam Lashinsky on Apple (AAPL) CEO Steve Jobs. Lashinsky’s cover story, “Steve Jobs: CEO of the Decade,” in the current issue of Fortune, explains how the “showman…salesman…magician…tyrannical perfectionist” redefined not just one industry, but four: movies, music, mobile phones and computing. Check out the video below for more on how Jobs did it. –Jessica Shambora

“There hasn’t been a day in Steve’s life that he doesn’t get up, think about the company he works for, or what he’s going to do next. These are things that drive him.”

–Bill Campbell, Intuit (INTU) chairman and former CEO, about Steve Jobs–Apple’s (AAPL) CEO and Fortune’s “CEO of the Decade,” on the cover of the current issue. Once Apple’s VP of marketing and now on the board, Campbell  claims he’s never seen Jobs be anything but intense. In fact, Campbell says, Jobs is so focused on creating the next groundbreaking product, he doesn’t even stop to think about what it all means. “He wants to create something that has value, that has a legacy. ‘Legacy’ is my word. I’m not sure he ever thinks about legacy. He’s just driven like that.”

More big names in business offer their reflections on Jobs here. –Jessica Shambora

“He’s involved in details you wouldn’t think a CEO would be involved in.”

–Ken Segall, a former Chiat/Day creative director who has worked with Apple (AAPL) on and off for years, talking about Steve Jobs, Fortune’s “CEO of the Decade.” Jobs commissioned the 1997 “Think different” campaign, says Segall, long before any of Apple’s new products were introduced — or even described to the ad team. “He’d say, ‘The third word in the fourth paragraph isn’t right. You might want to think about that one.’”

The new issue of Fortune, featuring a in-depth retrospective on Jobs, hits newsstands today. –Jessica Shambora