geekosystem

There's an old rule of journalism that states, and I'm paraphrasing, "if a dog bites a man it's not a story, but if a man bites a dog, it is." This proverb may have found it's perfect expression (well, short of a man biting a dog, I guess) in a story coming out of Russia this week: While it is not necessarily a story if a man tries to blow up his ex-wife with a bomb, it's pretty newsworthy if he tries to blow her up with a bomb to win her back. Rarely has an idea on how to do a thing been so perfectly, woefully incorrect.

When a Japanese couple decided to tie the knot recently, they wanted everyone who was important in their life to be on hand to share in their joyous day. One catch -- for the groom, those important people included NeNe Anegasaki, his virtual girlfriend in the Nintendo DS dating sim Love Plus. The perfectly charming piece of software even had a place set for her at the wedding, so that everyone on hand could meet her. If that seems like an idea that can pretty much only end badly, congratulations, because you are a person with common sense.

We can add television to the list of things that are destroying marriages across the world. According to a recent study from Albion University, watching television can be a significant cause of marital strife, right up there with "no longer caring what you look like" and "deciding to be the person you actually are in front of your spouse." It's not just because watching TV comes to be the easiest alternative to speaking with someone you once cared for but have slowly, almost glacially, grown to despise after years of crushing familiarity has transformed once adorable quirks into banal tics that set your teeth to grinding. No, it's because seeing happy, devoted couples on television makes us wish that we were happy and devoted to someone, instead of just being married to them.

Most likely some kind of hilarious joke, this ring is not only made of titanium, but hides a dastardly secret: It imprints the word "married" onto your skin. You know, to stop you from cheating in that very small scenario that someone who knows you're a cheater would buy you a ring because of it instead of leave you, and also for when the person you're going to cheat with actually cares that you're married.

This is just one of those perfectly serendipidious stories you love to hear about. In 1995, a Swedish woman named Lena Påhlsson set her custom-made white gold wedding ring aside as she did the traditional Christmas baking. Amidst the hustle and bustle the tiny treasure vanished, and after years of searching she and her husband Ola accepted that the ring was likely lost forever. That is until this year, when Lena found a surprise in her vegetable garden.

As social media continues to change relationships, new data has come out which shows that Facebook now plays a role in 1 of 5 American divorces. From ZDNet:

Facebook is cited in 1 out of every 5 divorces in the United States, according to the Loyola University Health System. Furthermore, 81 percent of the country’s top divorce attorneys say they have seen an increase in the number of cases using social networking evidence during the past five years, according to a recent survey by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML). Last but not least, Facebook is the unrivaled leader for online divorce evidence with 66 percent citing it as the primary source, the AAML said.

Of course, this data isn't all that surprising when you consider that Facebook is the leading social networking site. By virtue of being the biggest, with the largest user base, it's certain to take a lion's share of online evidence used in divorces. Dr. Steven Kimmons, a clinical psychologist with Loyola University Medical Center, describes the role of Facebook in affairs as a natural progression. He describes a scenario where two people meet or reconnect after years of estrangement, and begin sharing friendly messages back and forth. The exchange becomes more personal and emotional, leading to a "deeper sense of intimacy" and possibly an affair. In such terms, his description does make Facebook sound like some kind of infidelity-singularity, that once entered gives no means of escape. However, Kimmons point is that most people don't intend to start affairs on Facebook, but that it can facilitate one. Humans are, after all, a social species, which probably explains our fascination with social networks and how they've integrated thmselves into nearly ever facet of our lives. You can almost see a progression from the early days, where Facebook and other services "brought us together" and "reconnected" us with lost friends. Now the stories on social networking have moved all the way through to the bitter, sad endings. The anger. The reprisals. The inevitable appearance on TLC's The Divorce Horse. With sex workers doing much of their business on Facebook, and now this new data on Facebook's role on the end of relationships, it's probably time that we own up to the fact that all of these services are no longer a pleasant distraction, but as much a part of our social lives as saying hello on the street. The line has blurred, and vanished entirely. (ZDNet via Jezebel)

Earlier this week, professional comic book artist Leigh Gallagher took to his blog to post a marriage proposal to his girlfriend Niki in comic strip form. Here's hoping she says yes! Update: she did!