GeoGaming?

April Pennington wrote about GeoCaching a few weeks back as a date idea (http://www.hitchedmag.com/article.php?id=56) and now we've come across this GeoGame. It's called Crossroads (click here) where players play in city streets and try to capture intersections. The website has a gameplay grid set up in NYC, again see the website for the details. The game lasts 30 minutes. If anyone tries this, let us know how it goes.

Wine & Hamburger Helper

Why wait until the weekend for you and your honey to pop the cork on a bottle of vino? Oh, you don't have time to make an appropriate meal? Forget that...the OC Register has an article that offers some helpful parings. They tell you what wine to share with tuna casserole, hamburger helper, meatloaf, a Hungry Man turkey dinner, pot pies and other quick dishes. Click here to check it out.

Marriage Gap of Politics

The battle for control of the House of Representatives may be determined on whether or not the voters in various districts are married or not. According to Census data, compiled in this USA Today article, Republicans control 49 of the 50 districts with the highest rates of married people. Conversely, Democrats represent all 50 districts that have the highest rates of adults who have never married. Pretty staggering figures. As the elections get closer, hitched will take a closer look and see what real couples have to say and find out why marrieds go Republican and Democrats stay single. We'd love to hear your opinions on this.

Rev Run's Tragic Loss

If you happened to read Steve Cooper's article last month on miscarriage www.hitchedmag.com/article.php?id=44, you learned how tough dealing with one could be. For rapper Rev Run (Joseph Simmons) who put the "Run" in Hip Hops legendary old school group Run DMC, the tragedy of loosing a baby became a reality when last Thursday the religious rappers wife's newborn was pronounced dead upon delivery. The couples hit MTV reality show "Run's House" has chronicled the baby's inception when Simmons announced on the show that they would be welcoming a new life into the family. Doctors at Valley Hospital in Ridgewood, New Jersey delivered the baby via C-section, and to their shock, revealed a baby girl who's organs had been growing outside the newborns body. Tragically, the baby girl died shortly after. Our thoughts go out to their family.

Age Gaps - No Problem Here

A quarter century can be a long time. Especially when you're married. But that's nothing when the difference between you and your wife is a quarter century. What could you have in common? Let's see. For one, you're both human. Two, you both breath air and three, you might like the same foods. In 1969 Catherine Zeta-Jones, born in Swansea, West Glamorgan, Wales, UK, was being delivered into the world while her husband, Michael Douglas, was celebrating his 25th birthday. With shared birthday's, a couple Oscar's respectively and a grand total of 99 candles between them-most belonging to Douglas-the couple has been happily married for nearly six years. And if they ever stop finding work in Hollywood, they can always turn to Douglas' federal retirement benefits, in which he is now eligible to receive.

Hair Gel Allowed On Planes!

That's right, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has announced that airplane passengers can now resume taking hair gel, deodorant, toothpaste and other security-risk liquids back on board airplanes. The catch? Liquids must be in containers of 3 ounces or less and all of the containers must fit in a single clear quart-sized bag. Also, items purchased in the "sterile zone"--the area past the security checkpoint--are now allowed on board as carry-ons. That's right you mean terrorists, we can spike our hair and brush our teeth and there's nothing you can do about it! The TSA website has more details (click here). For more information and analysis, click here for an article by USA Today.

Jonesing for Joe?

If you love your Starbucks, sit down we have something to tell you. Okay, your expensive coffee just got more expensive-er. Now breathe. Prices increased by 5 cents on all made-to-order coffees, espressos, cappuccinos and even your favorite venti-soy-cinnamon-dolce-latte with whip. However, those tasty pre-bottled drinks--no change. If you like to brew your joe at home, bags of beans jumped 50 cents. This may seem insignificant, but it could affect the rest of the world. No seriously, this article from USA Today mentions the "tall latte index" is used by The Economist to project consumer spending habits worldwide. Just an expensive coffee? Tell that to Ben Bernanke.

2007 Tax Predictions

I'm sure you probably weren't thinking of your taxes right now, unless you've got a money tree in your backyard so you file your taxes quarterly (if that's the case give us a call). The Pittsburgh Post Gazette, however, has a first look at what married couples can expect from their 2007 federal returns. According to the article, a married couple filing joint with a combined income of $100,000 will pay roughly $267.50 less in 2007 than in '06. That's just the start of the article. If you'd like to read more, click here.

Tiger's Roar

Jim Croce sang, "You don't tug on Superman's cape"--and that's what a Dublin magazine has done. Tiger Woods and the rest of the U.S. Ryder Cup golf team is in Ireland ready to compete when The Dubliner magazine ran a story with a purported nude photo of Tiger's wife Elin, along with text saying many more nude photos can be found online on various porn sites. The magazine didn't stop there, they also attacked the wives of the other players on the team, insulting each one individually for various reasons. Needless to say, Tiger wasn't happy, saying as much during a press conference. The Dubliner has quickly apologized saying it was a "inappropriate" and meant to be "satirical". A little too late for that, I'd say. Read more from ESPN.com

Movie Downloads: Tale of the Tape

A week or so ago we mentioned that Amazon had started offering movies for download and we also speculated that Apple would announce their arrival to the movie download game. Well, we were right. Apple is now offering downloadable movies through it's iTunes store. USA Today has a nice side-by-side comparison of these two services, which reveals some important information...such as Amazon only works with PCs, while Apple's service works for both Macs and PCs. Conversely, Amazon allows users to rent and buy and older movies start cheaper ($7.99) Click here to go to the site to get the full details.

Don't Eat Spinach

In case you've missed it, there's an E. coli outbreak going on right now that has the FDA has warned consumers and wannabe Popeye's to stop eating spinach...at least for the time being. E. coli are common, normally benign intestinal bacteria found in humans and animals, but the O157:H7 strain produces a powerful toxin that can cause bloody diarrhea, abdominal cramps and in some cases death. The O157 bacteria is virulent and tough and only a few are needed to cause illness. Their is an antibiotic to help treat it, but time usually heals the illness. Go to this USA Today article for more information.

Wear A Helmet, Get Hit

If you're a person who rides their bike to work and back on Friday, you may want to know about a new finding coming from the UK. Their research suggests that byciclists who wear helmets are more likely to get hit! Why, you wonder? Well, it's because drivers tend to get closer to byciclists wearing helmets than those who do not. Also, their research found that drivers gave female bike riders more room on the road than male riders. The study was conducted by the University of Bath and more details can be found here.

Dr. Calls Women "Unpaid Whores"

It's the pot calling the kettle black once again as people who tell us how to live life haven't quiet lived their own; according to their rules and morals. This time it's Mrs. I-tell-others-what-to-do-but-don't-actually-follow-it-myself Dr. Laura Schlessinger. In her new book The Proper Care and Feeding of Marriage," to be published in January, Dr. Laura says, "it is difficult to find the male who values virginity, purity, and innocence when females dress like babes and perform oral sex and intercourse without even having to be fed dinner... men see women as sex objects when women act like unpaid whores."

Does this mean you're a paid "whore" if you get that dinner? Let's remember the Mrs. Purity, in her 20s, let her then-boyfriend take nude photos of her. Still looking to moralize us into angelic Americans remember this doctor went out and had a relationship with a California doctor who, yes, was married with three kids.

Beer Me, Robot

Does your husband like sports? Yes. Does your husband like beer? Ah, yes. Does he ask you all too often to "grab him a cold one?" Yes and yes. Well your days of grabbing him that beer may be over. Japanese brewing beer maker Asahi has invented the end-all reason to get up off of the couch. Introducing the Asahi beer robot: a technical man marvel that cools up to six beers in its refrigerator belly and, when your ready, pours the beer into one of two glass mugs with a perfect head every time. Asahi's beer-bot is part of a promotional venture in which potential owners will have to collect 36 seals found on specially marked Asahi beers. Hopefully the beer-bot will catch on and husbands around the world will never ask their for a beer again--now if only they could find the remote.

Marriage: It's Good for You

We've posted it before that marriage has positive effect on individuals. In "Systematic Review of the Impact of Marriage and Relationship Programs" by the Urban Institute, further studied results are revealed:

Recent research also suggests a relationship between marriage and positive outcomes for adults. Married couples build more wealth on average than singles or cohabiting couples, while divorce and unmarried childbearing increase the risk of poverty for children and mothers (Lupton and Smith, 2002). Individuals who are married are found to have better health and longer life expectancies than similar singles (Lillard and Waite, 1995). Married mothers have lower rates of depression than cohabiting or single mothers (Brown, 2000). Research also shows that unhappily married adults who divorce or separate, on average, are no happier than unhappily married adults who stay together (Waite et al., 2002).

The full 43-page report is available here for download.

'Til Death

The new Fox sitcom, 'Til Death, about marriage debuted last week on Thursday night. It strikes laughs through cynicism and the "realities" of married life. Have you seen the show? Do you have any thoughts on whether this show hurts marriages or is it telling the truth? Here's a review from EarthTimes.org. Marriage actually seems to be the hot topic for TV shows recently, remember Desperate Housewives or Wife Swap? Marriage on TV isn't new either. You can go back to I Love Lucy, Married With Children and probably hundreds of other TV shows centering around married life. Do you have a favorite? Please contact us and weight in.

The New Movie Jungle

Amazon.com has just launched a new service that allows consumers to purchase and download movies from the internet. They're not the first to do this, but they're definitely the biggest. They also beat Apple to the punch, who has been rumored to launch a similar service in the next week or so. So what does this mean? It means our content is going digital, from our music to our movies, whether we like it or not. It means a lot of other things too, but maybe we'll do an article on that down the road. The new service is called AmazonUnbox and can be visited at www.amazon.com/video. So the next time you want to stay at home and watch a movie, think about going online and downloading it.

Crash Data

Are you in the market to purchase a new car? By September of 2007, all window stickers you find in new cars at dealerships, which usually list MPGs and the cars features will also include crash data. The new regulations were proposed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and are required on all vehicles except pickups. That doesn't mean some car manufacturers won't include it before then. This USA Today article includes more information.

Love You, Mean It

With the five year anniversary of September 11th just around the corner, four widows who lost their husbands during the attack pour their grief into a new book Love You, Mean It. The book is said to stay away from the politics that have surrounded the event, focusing more on the emotions of what these four women went through and the friendships they founded. To read more about the book and these women, go to USA Today.

Happy Labor Day Weekend

We just wanted to give you all a heads-up before you head out to enjoy this long weekend. We will still be posting new stories on Monday just as we always do. So please check in on your day off, print out the new stuff and enjoy while you're kicking back poolside with your cold beverage soaking up the end-of-summer rays.