Stranger Than Fiction

News

Show Your Love With Earrings That Literally Say "I Love You"

It's easy to forget a person loves you.


It's easy to forget a person loves you. Especially when he stays friends with exes, spends too much time with guy friends, or buys jewelry that doesn't literally say "I love you." Now Speaker, a new technology invented by a student at Carnegie Mellon, allows sweet nothings to be recorded onto jewelry so that his heart will never be farther than her ear. Also? May come in handy when earrings get lost!

News

Wear an Emergency Bra For Your Next Disaster

Honestly, I'd ridicule this bra if it didn't have one (actually, two) giant cup-size merit: it doubles as a gas mask.

Honestly, I'd ridicule this bra if it didn't have one (actually, two) giant cup-size merit: it doubles as a gas mask. Dr. Elena Bodar, who won an award for designing it last year, began her career studying the Chernobyl nuclear disaster and knows if masks were readily available it would have been less of a disaster. Now she's bringing her invention to the buying public for $29.95. The only problem I see? Unless you own all eBras, you'll have to decide which days you're most likely to face disaster. It's like wearing clean underwear in case you get hit by a car times 100.

Marriage

Divorce Insurance For the Unhappily Wed

Between divorce parties and a whole new genre of chick lit dedicated to life after marriage, permanent separation seems like a new life phase.

Between divorce parties and a whole new genre of chick lit dedicated to life after marriage, permanent separation seems like a new life phase. But divorce is expensive, so there's now divorce insurance for those who think negatively.

Divorce insurance is a hard idea to swallow, but no less cynical than a prenup; however, the return on investment at the premiere — and only — carrier WedLock hardly seems worth it. Certainly not worth staging a divorce for!

It costs about $16 for every $1,250 of coverage. So if you were to buy 10 units for 10 years ($19,188), you'd get $27,500 upon divorcing. That's $8,312, not much of gain. I'd rather save the amount in a high-interest savings. You'd make less (though not terribly much), but would have the money whether you divorce or not.

News

Real or Fake: Headlines of the Week

From a woman dying while trying to break into her sort-of boyfriend's house through the chimney to Japanese men bringing virtual girlfriends on vacation, news can get weird.

From a woman dying while trying to break into her sort-of boyfriend's house through the chimney to Japanese men bringing virtual girlfriends on vacation, news can get weird. Very real headlines can sound completely fake, but are they?

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relationships

What's Your Craziest Postbreakup Behavior?

There's this amazingly weird and sad story about a woman who died while trying to enter her on-again-off-again boyfriend's house through the chimney.

There's this amazingly weird and sad story about a woman who died while trying to enter her on-again-off-again boyfriend's house through the chimney. Yes, it's about 10 times more insane than anything most of us have ever tried, but poor judgment plagues the brokenhearted.

I've sent a regrettable number of emails, and I have a friend who secretly blogged about her after-relationship only to have it haunt her. As long as we don't delude ourselves into thinking we're Santa, we're probably safe, if not entirely sane, and we'll probably learn something from the whole ordeal. What questionable postbreakup behavior do you regret?

Politics

Mama Grizzlies Sarah Palin and Kate Gosselin Go Camping

Kate Gosselin and her eight cubs have traveled to Alaska to go camping with fellow mama grizzly Sarah Palin.

Kate Gosselin and her eight cubs have traveled to Alaska to go camping with fellow mama grizzly Sarah Palin. In Touch reports that Kate headed to the former governor's home state, where Sarah will teach Kate how to avoid bears. Considering Palin is about to have a reality show on TLC, Kate might have something to teach Sarah, too. I imagine the pair also conspiring about how to stay relevant long enough for people to dress up like them for Halloween again, as well as how to get Sarah (or maybe Bristol?) on Dancing With the Stars. Let's just hope they bring the camera crews. This is a meeting I don't want to miss.

News

3 Signs You Married a Russian Spy

Alex Chapman, the ex-husband of accused Russian spy Anna Chapman, never imagined his wife of four years was the femme fatale of a Russian spy ring.

Alex Chapman, the ex-husband of accused Russian spy Anna Chapman, never imagined his wife of four years was the femme fatale of a Russian spy ring. Looking back? There were some red flags.

Her obsession with James Bond movies may be innocent enough, but these three signs are more telling. In hindsight anyway!

  • Dressed up as KGB interrogator during sex: When experimenting with S&M, Anna liked to be the dominatrix dressed up as a Russian interrogator.
  • Followed by men in sports cars: After being denied entry at a Moscow nightclub, a man climbed out of a Lamborghini, had a word with the bouncer, and the two were then whisked right in. Sounds more like the mob, but an omen either way.
  • Produced Russian visas in a jiffy: Anna's father, who Alex now believes to be a former KGB agent, secured him a Russian visa by "bending the rules."

Ultimately, though, the marriage ended after a fight over a joint bank account. And, really, if the suggestion of joint checking sends one person fleeing, it wasn't meant to be.

News

5 Stranger Than Fiction Facts About the Russian Spies

Earlier this week, the US government brought charges against a band of 11 Russian spies.

Earlier this week, the US government brought charges against a band of 11 Russian spies. As more details emerge, the whole story seems stranger than fiction — which means it will probably be made into a movie. Here are five details screenwriters may want to include.

  1. The FBI alleges that one of the men assumed the identity of a Canadian infant who died in 1963.
  2. Twenty-something spy Mikhail Semenko was snapped partying while wearing a Bill Clinton mask and a "USSR" shirt. He might want to work on his disguise.
  3. There's a femme fatale — Anna Chapman, 28, has posted sexy pictures of herself on Facebook.
  4. The duo "Cyndi and Rick" lived in an all-American neighborhood in New Jersey with their two daughters. One neighbor told the New York Times that Cyndi had great gardening skills: "They couldn't have been spies. Look what she did with the hydrangeas."
  5. Many have posted their resumes on LinkedIn, presumably not including their espionage experience.