A lot of people don't know where that is

There was lots of translucent, pale blue water last night. A cage, a tank. Fish. In and out.

Swimming. A bond of sorts. Fear.

A distance. In and out.

The Most is Always Said With Nothing

The rain decided to disfigure my ego yesterday. We stepped off the shuttle like confident misfits; seven of us on our way to Brewers Art. At that moment, the rain mounted its most violent attack. Pedro pulled out his blue and white umbrella, and grinned like the Cheshire cat. Xena immediately produced a bluest canopy as well. Then there was me, in pale pink and avian glory, about to be dragged away by this wet overlord who decided to step out of the sky. Then Mauricio upon noticing my distress handed me a stout blue umbrella, and I began to furiously unlock it. I shook it with all my might -- but nothing.

"It's a bit broken." Says Mauricio........."oh wonderful."

By now my frame was intoxicated by the translucent ale from sky, and realizing that I was essentially as good as three sheets to the wind, I returned the broken umbrella to Mauricio.

"I'm already wet." Said I.

Then came Andres, bearded, tall and unassuming with a barely unoccupied umbrella. Realizing that all was lost for my skin, but there was hope for my organs, I dashed for cover under his canopy.

And thus we trekked along Mount Vernon, over the slick pavement, and across the flooded streets where warm summer rivers washed our feet. With every step the rain became even heavier, and we became resigned to our fates. I wondered if Brewers would let a pack of wet chickens enter their bar.

Thank God for Andres' umbrella or else my nook would've been drenched.

Up ahead was the Subway where Beta was waiting for us. Its long, protruding, green awning gave us some reprieve. Andres went in to find Beta.

Curious thing: there is Subway on every other block in Mt. Vernon.

Pedro appeared out of nowhere, barely wet and still grinning like the Cheshire kitten.

"Were you all waiting for me? You didn't have to." mouthed Pedro.

"What were you doing?" Asked Mauricio.

Pedro shook his head for a bit, in the characteristic Pedro way when thinking and said: "I was buying birthday presents for Beta and Andres."

So we left it at that.

Only 2 miles more to Brewers. Like silent soldiers, Andres and I pushed on through the hopeless battle against that sky. Mauricio, being the aquatic animal he is, triumphantly walked without cover. He was clearly the mole planted by the Rain Overlord.

Brewers came into sight about an hour or so later. My fear of the rain was slowly beginning to be replaced by the fear of the cold air Brewers is surely have blasting in its gut.

I expressed this fear to Andres and being the word-smith he is, he said nothing.

The most is always said with nothing.

I worry too much.

Sainthood

Empathy [n]

1.The intellectual identification with or vicarious experiencing of the feelings, thoughts, or attitudes of another.

After a unexpectedly distressing phone call on Sunday at 8:41 am, which went on for the better part of an hour, and resulted in my loss of appetite and severe emotional trauma; I went for a walk. Phoneless, Zune-HDless and moneyless but nookfull I dragged my hyper-excited self out into the pervasive and bright sun of Charles Village.

"God help me. God help me. God help me." was my mantra as I stumbled down the side lane of redemption on Calvert St. No wise monk or angel greeted me. I passed 31st street, then detoured left on 33rd -- B&N being my target. "God help me. God help me. Gold help me."

I ascended the lazy slope of the B&N steps and pulled on the double doors. Nothing moved. It was closed -- to be opened at 10am. There is nothing gloomier than unilluminated books.

Glancing to my left, I saw a few bodies lounging in the sun, perhaps waiting for B&N to illuminate the books. To right, the sun shone emphatically on the path up St. Paul to University Parkway. Perhaps I will find a shaded bench on which to lounge and read my nook. Perhaps walking in the sun will burn this upsetting experience away.

"God help me. God help me. God help me. Why me? Why me? This is not for me. This is not for me. This is not worth it. This is too much for me. I can't believe he did this. How inconsiderate. It was weighing. I will not talk to him again. This not for me. God help me. Why me. Not me. This is not for me. He is so selfish. He is so selfish. His mind is contaminated. I can't do this. It ends here. It ends here. It ends today. No more. No more....He was nervous. He meant well. He meant well." The dawn of empathy. "I'm over-reacting. Now he thinks I hate him. Now he must be worried. Now he must be really worried. Poor thing. I'm too cold. I'm too cold. I'm too cold. What is wrong with me. What is wrong with..."

"'Scuse me? Can you tell me where to find the nearest grocery store?" A strange, accented but soft voice inquired. I spun around to face the confident face of a girl at least five inches shorter than me. She must have been around my age, but she had the youthful and carefree quality of a later adolescent girl. Eying her long black pants, slinky red blouse, and long ribbed, woolly, black overcoat. So blasphemous was her attire against the brilliance of the morning sun, that I paused to readjust my moral compass.

In answer to her question, I swiveled like a compass needle trying to find true North. When I found it, I asked: "How far are you willing to walk?" The question seem to confound her and produced only an "...ummm". So I pointed in the direction of the Giant and I instructed her to walk along Univeristy Parkway until sees a Giant to her right. More confusion rippled across her face. She was clueless.

"Are you new here?" I asked and she said yes. Upon her response my mind quickly conjured up a heinous scenario of her being lost in the heat of the day with that long coat. "I'll walk you there then. It's not that far." I said. I needed to walk anyways. Relief, smiles, relief -- and I supposed Americans just gained 100 points in her mind.

"What is your name?"........"Rebecca"

"Where are you from?"......."Sri-Lanka"

"Sri-Lanka?"............"Yes, but I am Kenyan?"

"How did you end up in Sri-Lanka?"................"I work there....."

And so it went on as we walked past Papa Johns, Punjab Halaal Meats, and the empty space left by the Waverly Farmer's market. The sun sucked us like a giant golden leach, and there was no shade to be found along the way. At this point she removed the blasphemous coat and allowed the sun to have its way. More smiles.

"Here is the Farmer's market where you can buy fresh produce in Saturday mornings."............."What's a farmer's market?

"Here is the Giant!"............."Wow! It's so big."....."That's why it's called Giant."

I introduced her to the air conditioned entrance and was about leave, when the picture of her being lost was projected unto the wall behind the security guard. "Do you think you can find your way back?" I asked, sounding like a parent. "....um" she said scrounging up her face like a four year old who was caught with the forbidden cookie in his mouth. "I am 50% certain..." She said. "What!" I thought, "she knows about statistically uncertainty." I was inclined to leave to her own wits if she had said 75%, but 50% is the bane of reality.

"Ok, I'll go in with you and then walk you back."......"Are you sure."

I read my nook manual as she selected apples and whatnots. Having apples in the summertime is ridiculous to me. Some gentlemen said hi and I smiled.

Now unto yogurt, milk, bread and butter. The table staples.

"Aren't you going to buy something to cook. Meat, veggies?"........"The kitchen has no pots and pans."........."oh"

After mishandling two muffins, we headed to self-checkout. For the first time since I met her she exhibited fear - which is always warranted with these darn self-checkout machines.

"You are a blessing from God." She said as I checked out her dreadful apples. "A real blessing from God. I don't know what I would've done."

"Then the phone trauma had its purpose..." was my immediate thought. Did God fancy that being hte only way to set me off wandering in Charles Village early on a Sunday morning? Was that his plan? Or was it pure serendipity.

After signing her up for a bonus card, we headed out with three bags -- me holding one. I elected to show here the thrift shop where she can buy pots and pans (etc) for less than $5. We passed Ace, and just as we turned left at the Rite-Aid, my legs became dense, my eyes widened and my mind hesitated. This wasn't possibly possible. Caleb.

Fancy that, meeting a a Rebeca and a Caleb within the span of 1 hour. I knew him as we used to attend the same church. A hug, a greeting, some explanations.

"You live around here? What are you doing here?"................"I'm headed to my new church. I change buses here."

"What happened to your car?"........"I gave it up to keep my house."........."Oh"

"Why did you leave the old church?"............"I felt like God wanted me to be at this new church. Also I'm trying to be an ordained minister -- I'm working on that...(blah blah blah blah)"

"Why aren't you at church?" He asked.

"I have to take Rebecca home." Was my response. He took my number, then Rebecca and I were off.

"There is the thrift store."............"ok"

In 20 minutes or so we were back at here heavily secured apartment building on Charles Street.

"If you need anything else..." I heard myself going through American formalities. My brain was rolling its eyes at my adherence mainstream norms.

"Thank you she said." Then took my email, name and number.

A Sinister Bias for Calling Fouls in Soccer

Abstract

Distinguishing between a fair and unfair tackle in soccer can be difficult. For referees, choosing to call a foul often requires a decision despite some level of ambiguity. We were interested in whether a well documented perceptual-motor bias associated with reading direction influenced foul judgments. Prior studies have shown that readers of left-to-right languages tend to think of prototypical events as unfolding concordantly, from left-to-right in space. It follows that events moving from right-to-left should be perceived as atypical and relatively debased. In an experiment using a go/no-go task and photographs taken from real games, participants made more foul calls for pictures depicting left-moving events compared to pictures depicting right-moving events. These data suggest that two referees watching the same play from distinct vantage points may be differentially predisposed to call a foul.

Full article:

Heatwave

What's worst than a heatwave in Charm City? Well, having no A/C during said heatwave. Is this really possible during the 21st century? Well, **points thumb to self**. And even though I drink more than 2 L of H2O a day on average, I've been hemorrhaging water like nobody's business. As a result I am suffering from heat exhaustion. Enter this delightful article: I will be trying #12 when I get home.

1. 1
   Just add water. The relief is almost immediate, and will last for up to one hour or more.
   
   
   • Ball up and soak a t-shirt in the sink, wring it out, put it on and sit in a lawn chair (or other chair that lets air through to you) in front of a fan. Re-wet as it dries. Make sure not to soak it with cold water. It can be colder than you think. Instead use lukewarm water so you get cool without freezing. Using a synthetic shirt will ensure no "wet T-shirt" look.
   • Wear a short sleeved shirt and put water on the sleeves. If there is a breeze or fan blowing on you, you can actually get cold. Use a squirt bottle, the sink or hose if outside to keep your sleeves wet. If you are outside and wearing long pants and you put water on your legs, the water will cool your legs.
   • Fill your bathtub with cool water and get in. Once you are used to the temperature, let some water out and refill with cold water. Keep doing this until you are sufficiently cold. Your body will stay cool for a long time after you get out.
   • Or just soak your feet in a bucket of cold water. You can do it almost anywhere and don't have to stay in the tub. The body radiates heat from the hands, feet, face and ears, so cooling any of these will efficiently cool the body.
2. 2
   
   Sweat it out. Water vapor produced by sweating actually takes heat away from your body if it is exposed to air and allowed to evaporate. The best thing to do is to put your sweaty self in the path of a cool breeze or fan. Also try using a Water Misting Fan. These portable devices are battery operated so you can take them with you wherever you go. As you mist and fan yourself, the water is evaporated on you skin giving you an instant cooling sensation!
3. 3
   Dress (or undress) for the heat. There are several strategies to dress, depending on your situation:
   
   
   • Nothing: If you're in a situation where you can go without clothes, this can be the most comfortable, natural way to stay cool.
   • Next-to-Nothing: Put on a swimsuit, or wear your underwear at home.
   • Summer Clothing: Wear natural fabrics (cotton, silk, linen) rather than polyester, rayon, or other artificial fibers (with the possible exception of performance fabrics).
   • Wear Light Colors: Darker colors will absorb the sun's rays and be warmer than light or white clothing, which reflects light and heat. Wear natural summer clothing.
   • Cover Up: Covering up may actually keep your cooler, especially if the heat is low in humidity. In the scorching temperatures of the Middle Eastern deserts, traditional cultures wear clothing covering from head to toe. By protecting your skin from the sun beating down, you'll also shade your skin. Be sure your clothing is natural fabrics, and loose.
4. 4
   Go downstairs. Warm air is less dense than cooler air so it ends up layered on top of the downward moving cooler air. If you're in a house, for example, get lower than the roof. Make your way to the basement or lower level. It will be cooler there. Position a fan in an upstairs window to draw off heat collected in upper rooms--set it up so that it sucks air from indoors and pushes it outdoors.
5. 5
   
   Keep the air flowing. Turn on the ceiling fan, box fan or battery operated fan in the room. In the evening, open windows and use fans to create a cross-breeze, circulating cooler evening/night air through the rooms. As soon as the sun hits the building the next morning, close all windows and keep doors and windows closed throughout the day until it is cooler outside than it is inside. Then you can open everything up again and cool off to be prepared for the next day. Leaving kitchen cabinets open all night helps too; if you leave them closed, they store the heat and your house won't cool off as much.
6. 6
   Close your blinds. Close your blinds and curtains during the day to block the sun. For even better protection, get aluminized blinds (or use removable sheets of cardboard cut to size and covered in foil.) At night, open selective windows that cooler night air is blowing in. If possible, purchase a fan (such as from SMC) that are meant to install in a window. There should be an in, our,and exchange switch which controls the direction the air blows. These aren't over expensive and work really well.
7. 7
   Turn off electrical heat sources.Turn off the stove or other sources of heat. Don't use the stove or oven to eat--eat out, eat cold food, or use the microwave. Incandescent light bulbs also create heat - switch to compact fluorescents. Turn off your lamps, as well as your computer when you're not using it.
8. 8
   Adjust your pilot light. If you have a gas stove with pilot lights, make sure they are set correctly. Too high and they'll produce excess heat. We stop using the oven in the summer and just turn the gas off.
9. 9
   Use a hint of mint.Try a few minty or menthol products to cool your skin: slather on lotion with peppermint (avoid your face and eyes), shower with peppermint soap, use a minty foot soak, and powders with mint. Mint refreshes the skin and leaves a nice cooling sensation.
10. 10
    Try a heat snorkeling system. Take a glass and fill it almost to the brim with ice cubes. Then hold it up to your mouth and blow gently into the cup. The ice causes the air you are blowing into the cup to cool down drastically, and since the air only has one way out of the cup (the hole which should now be aiming right at your face) the cold air is forced out over your skin. This is a great alternative to air conditioning and is very simple. Note that this is not any more efficient that A/C, as energy goes into freezing the ice. To put the "snorkeling system to more efficient use, point a fan into a square of four cups filled with ice water and ice cubes. The cooler air in the cups have no where to go but out! This can help work as a temporary AC system. Each night, refreeze the cubes, and open the windows instead!
11. 11
    Eat spicy food. It's not a coincidence that many people in hotter regions of the world eat spicy food. Spicy (hot to the taste) food increases perspiration which cools the body as it evaporates. It also can cause an endorphin rush that is quite pleasant and might make you forget about the heat.
12. 12
    Put a freeze on things. Get a 1 or more 3 liter bottles, fill them mostly full of water, freeze them, then place them in a large bowl (to catch dripping water). Position a fan to blow on them. As the ice in the bottles melts, the air cools around them. The fan will blow that air at you. The water in the bottles can be frozen overnight and used again, repeatedly. This will supplement your AC if you have it, and will serve as a ad hoc AC until you can get a decent AC system. Note that this is not any more efficient that A/C, as energy goes into freezing the ice.
13. 13
    Think cool. Read books about climbing Mount Everest, visiting Norway, or watch "March of the Penguins", "Ice Age", or "The Day After Tomorrow". You might not be physically cooler, but if your mind envisions a cold environment, you might feel a bit cooler.
14. 14
    Sit in the Shade. Find a shaded area and set up water misting system that connects to an ordinary garden hose that can be found at home improvement stores. Then, just sit there and let the mist cool you off.
15. 15
    Sit Still. Do not try to fan yourself because it can make you hotter. Trying to move while feeling hot can make you feel hotter.
16. 16
    Cool as a cucumber! Slice a thin piece of cold cucumber (from the fridge or a cooler) and stick it in the middle of your forehead! This feels fantastic on a hot day or when stuck in a hot car, and works almost immediately!
17. 17
    Do a walk through. A walk through is where you walk outside then back inside, chances are, your house is hotter than the outside air, especially in the shade. If your house happens to be cooler, then you will feel the temperature difference after being outside, and feel cooler.

Signs of Impending Divorce

1. If you're a woman who got married before the age of eighteen, your marriage faces a 48 percent likelihood of divorce within ten years.

Age matters. Study after study shows that the younger the married couple, the riskier the bond. The risk drops to 40 percent for women who married at age eighteen or nineteen, drops further to 29 percent for women who married at age 20 to 24, and drops even further to 24 percent for women who married at age 25 or older.

(Source: Matthew Bramlett and Mosher, William (2000): First marriage dissolution, divorce, and remarriage: United States, Department of Health and Human Services/National Center for Health Statistics, Advance Data, 23, 7-8.)

2. If you're a woman who wants a child—either a first child or an additional child—much more strongly than your spouse does, your marriage is more than twice as likely to end in divorce as the marriages of couples who agree on how much they do or don't want a child.

"One of the patterns we consistently see is that women tend to be more discontented in relationships than men are," says Stephanie Coontz, Director of Research and Public Education for the Council on Contemporary Families, "and women are the ones who tend to initiate separations and divorces." Here's one reason why.

(Source: Rebecca Kippen et al. (2009): What's love got to do with it? Homogamy and dyadic approaches to understanding marital instability. Paper delivered at the Household, Income, and Labour Dynamics Survey Research Conference.)

3. If you have two sons, you face a 36.9 percent likelihood of divorce, but if you have two daughters, the likelihood rises to 43.1 percent.

These findings by Columbia University economist Kristin Mammen echo other studies linking the births of girls with elevated divorce rates. A bright spot in Mammen's research, however wan, is that after parents divorce, child-support payments show no gender disparity—girls receive no less child support than boys.

(Source: Kristin Mammen (2008): The effects of children's gender on divorce and child support. Paper presented at the American Economic Association's annual meeting.)

4. If you're a man with high basal testosterone, you're 43 percent more likely to get divorced than men with low testosterone levels.

"This is something that evolutionary psychologists and everyday people should take account of," says Coontz. "Hypermasculinity is neither an evolutionary benefit nor an adaptive trait, especially nowadays, when the best predictor of a successful marriage is not the specialization into two separate roles"—stereotypically male and stereotypically female—"but rather a convergence and a sharing of roles."

(Source: Mazur, Allan. Lanham, MD: Biosociology of Dominance and Deference, Rowman & Littlefield, 2005, p. 125.)

5. If your child has been diagnosed with ADHD, you are 22.7 percent more likely to divorce before that child turns eight years old than parents of a child without ADHD.

"ADHD is a very challenging diagnosis," says The Complete Divorce Handbook author Brette Sember, "and raising a child with this disorder is expensive, stressful, and emotionally consuming. It's definitely going to put a huge stress on a marriage."

(Source: Brian Wymbs and Pelham, William (2008). Rate and predictors of divorce among parents of youth with ADHD. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 76 (5), 735-744.)

6. If you are currently married but have cohabited with a lover other than your current spouse, you are slightly more than twice as likely to divorce than someone who has never cohabited.

The same study by Ohio State University sociologists that produced this result also found that even those who cohabit only with their future spouses "are still 83 percent more likely to experience a marital disruption relative to those that did not cohabit prior to marriage." Cohabitation statistics are hot buttons, used by some pundits to decry premarital sex and "shacking up." A widely quoted 2003 study by Western Washington University sociologist Jay Teachman found that women who cohabit with anyone besides their future husbands face a raised divorce risk ranging from 55 to 166 percent, but that those who cohabit only with their future husbands face no elevated risk at all.

(Source: Anna M. Cunningham (2007): Premarital cohabitation and marital disruption across time: new results from the NSFH 3, paper delivered at the Population Association of America 2007 annual meeting.)

7. If you didn't smile for photographs early in life, your marriage is five times more likely to end in divorce than if you smiled intensely in early photographs.

Two tests, the first involving college yearbook photos and the second involving miscellaneous photos taken during participants' youths, yielded this finding. "People who are optimistic— and that's what smiles tend to show in childhood—find it easier to get along with people," including the people they're married to, asserts Coontz, who is also the author of Marriage: A History. Optimistic types "also find it easier to put up with periods in life that might be difficult." Nonetheless, she warns: "Optimism is certainly not going to protect you from everything, so it's no guarantee."

(Source: Hertenstein, Matthew et al. (2009): Smile intensity in photographs predicts divorce later in life)

8. If your child has died after the twentieth week of pregnancy, during labor, or soon after labor, you are 40 percent more likely to divorce than if you had not lost a child.

Few catastrophes throw relationships into chaos like the death of a child. Distraught parents blame each other, says Susan Pease Gadoua, author of Stronger Day by Day: Reflections for Healing and Rebuilding After Divorce. When a child dies right before or after being born, "the woman who was carrying the child often gets told that she should have 'taken better care' of the child. What's really happening is that these couples haven't dealt adequately with their grief and they can't form a bond anymore because this huge ball of grief is standing in the way like a barricade."

(Source: Katherine Gold et al. (2010). Marriage and cohabitation outcomes after pregnancy loss. Pediatrics, 125 (5).

9. If you're a woman who has recently been diagnosed with cancer or multiple sclerosis, your marriage is six times more likely to end in divorce than if your husband had been diagnosed with those diseases instead.

A study of "partner abandonment" revealed that husbands are six times more likely to leave sick wives than wives are to leave sick husbands. "Men have a much harder time being caretakers than women do," Sember observes. "Men find it hard to juggle that kind of responsibility, particularly if the wife has always been the one to fill that role." Moreover, "often women are more able to take time off from work to care for an ill spouse than men are."

(Source: MJ Glantz et al. (2009). Gender disparity in the rate of partner abandonment in patients with serious medical illness. Cancer, 115 (22).

10. If you're a Caucasian woman and you're separated from your spouse, there's a 98 percent chance that you'll be divorced within six years of that separation; if you're a Hispanic woman, the likelihood is 80 percent; if you're an African-American woman, the likelihood is 72 percent.

This doesn't surprise Coontz. "Unfortunately, women tend to let their anger and disappointment build up for too long before expressing it. They hint at what's bothering them rather than being direct. By the time they're mad enough to separate, something has died." This gloomy news about separations, Coontz says, "tells women to be very direct about what they want and need to change, and tells men to listen to them."

(Source: Matthew Bramlett and Mosher, William (2000): First marriage dissolution, divorce, and remarriage: United States, Department of Health and Human Services/National Center for Health Statistics, Advance Data, 23, 7-8.)

11. If you're a dancer or choreographer, you face a 43.05 percent likelihood of divorce, compared with mathematicians, who face a 19.15 percent likelihood, and animal trainers, who face a 22.5 percent likelihood.

Radford University industrial psychologist Michael Aamodt devised a formula for calculating the probabilities of marital success and failure based on the career of one of the spouses. "The Internet is rife with statements regarding occupations with high divorce and suicide rates," says Aamodt, "but most of these statements are not based on research." The study also found that massage therapists face a 38.22 percent likelihood of divorce, dentists face a slim 7.75 percent likelihood, and bellhops face a 28.43 percent likelihood.

(Source: Shawn McCoy and Aamodt, Michael (2010): A comparison of law-enforcement divorce rates with those of other occupations. Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology, 25 (1), 1-16.)

12. If you're a farmer or rancher, you face only a 7.63 percent likelihood of divorce, joined by other low-risk occupations such as nuclear engineers, who face a 7.29 percent likelihood, and optometrists, who face a mere 4.01 percent likelihood.

In the Radford University study calculating divorce probabilities associated with occupations, the absolute safest marriages are those of agricultural engineers, who face a minuscule 1.78 percent chance of divorce. "Though occupational differences in divorce rates can result in some interesting discussions and theories," says Aamodt, "the differences are most likely due to such non-occupational factors as age, race, income, and personality rather than the occupation itself."

(Source: Shawn McCoy and Aamodt, Michael (2010): A comparison of law-enforcement divorce rates with those of other occupations. Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology, 25 (1), 1-16.)

13. If either you or your spouse have suffered a brain injury, your marriage faces a 17 percent chance of ending in divorce.

This is encouraging news, considering the high divorce rates associated with illness and other traumatic events. It's not an eventuality that anyone wants to contemplate, but the researchers conclude, "The rate of divorce after brain injury may, in fact, be much lower than divorce rates for the general population."

(Source: Jeff Kreutzer et al. (2010). The truth about divorce after brain injury. The Challenge, Winter 2010.)

14. If you're an African-American woman, your first marriage has a 47 percent likelihood of ending in divorce within ten years; for Hispanic women, the likelihood is 34 percent; for Caucasian women, it's 32 percent; for Asian women, it's 20 percent.

According to the US Department of Health and Human Services study that produced these findings, one-fifth of first marriages end within five years and one-third end within ten years, across the board.

(Source: Matthew Bramlett and Mosher, William (2000): First marriage dissolution, divorce, and remarriage: United States, Department of Health and Human Services/National Center for Health Statistics, Advance Data, 23, 7-8.)

15. If you're a woman serving actively in the military, your marriage is 250 percent more likely to end in divorce than that of a man serving actively in the military.

A Rand Corporation study found that while 6.6 percent of military women's marriages dissolved, only 2.6 percent of military men's did. In every branch of the service and consistently over time, "rates of marital dissolution are substantially higher for women than for men," write the study's authors, who speculate that perhaps "the military selects for women whose marriages would be at increased risk regardless of their service."

(Source: Benjamin Karney and Crown, John (2007). Families under stress: an assessment of data, theory, and research on marriage and divorce in the military, Rand Corporation monograph prepared for the Office of the Secretary of Defense/National Defense Research Institute.)

http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-general/20100707/070710.signs.divorce.

Holding off on Buying an E-reader: an exercise in patience

I am desperately in need of an e-reader since I'm an avid reader. I read everything from newspapers, magazines, textbooks, peer-reviewed scholarly articles, blogs and both fiction and non-fiction books! Since BN dropped the price on the Nook I decided to buy one. However, at the precipice I decided to check out what else is out there or about to be released. It turns out that e-readers are very imperfect beasts and the companies haven't got the propriety kinks ironed out. Why else would BN and Amazon lower the prices on Nook and Kindle if better devices weren't about to be released? Enter the Skiff and Que. Also, apparently Samsung is about to drop something cool as well. So I've decided to hold off until the fall when many of the newer and spiffier devices ae supposed to be released. Meanwhile, here is a list of features I would love an e-reader to have:

1. Priced < $500

2. A non-LED screen paper-like display screen: I would gladly get the iPad if it had this feature.

3. Supports PDF and Word Docs or at least Notepad ++

4. Can access scholarly journals

5. Can support e-books bought from most store

6. Allows me to borrow/rent an unlimited number of books for a flat rate per month (say $5). As in the spirit of Netflix.

7. Waterproof: my Zune HD is waterproof so it's not too much to ask.

8. Weighs less than 1 lb

9. Height and width of a paperback novel.

10. Touchscreen

11.Wifi capability

12.Web browser

13. Replaceable battery would be nice.

So I'm sitting tight for now.