As I get older, more and more of my associates are getting married, and if you know me by now, I am not all that crazy about traditional culture. I think marriage damages more relationships than extramarital affairs, but that is a whole other story. What I want to address at the moment is what symbolizes this so-called eternal love for each other — the diamond ring. Ahh, you can just see the sparkling goodness right now, can’t you?

How much do they run now? One, two, three thousand dollars? Even more if you REALLY love your wife, right? Well my loving friend, you are forgetting about one small part of that diamond’s history. The possibility that it has a bloody past.

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BOOK REVIEW: MERE ANARCHY by Woody Allen

Check with your doctor if you have a heart condition before you read this book. If you don’t burst an artery, you’re sure to bust a gut while you laugh your head off. This is the first collection of humor pieces by Woody Allen in 25 years. Timeless. A riot. The one piece called “The Rejection” made me fall off my chair. (That has only happened once before this while I read something humorous “The way the Cookie Crumbles’ which I wrote myself.)

“The Rejection” is about education and social status, gained and lost, when Boris Ivanoviich had problems trying to enroll his three year-old son in the ”very best nursery school in Manhattan.” Make a note to read this one. It is a must read. If you don’t buy a copy of the book, go borrow a copy of MERE ANARCHY from your public library. Read “The Rejection” segment, please.

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[Note from the Editor: Although this article was originally written on Nov. 24th, 2008 by Alex Trusca, our new contributing author, I thought it had a strong relevance with today's global happenings. I can't help but think of how Iranians have used something as simple as Twitter, a seemingly superficial microblogging service, to effectively disseminate information that was critical to this recent Iranian uprising.

This article is reprinted here from The Social Verdict.]

The high-speed transfer of information in today’s world is a determining factor for technological improvements, business undertakings, and day-to-day communications. Many a time, this rapid yet necessary transfer of information can have broad consequences ranging from making or breaking business deals to the saving of lives in the farthest corners of the world. The “knowledge is power” truism is more relevant than ever in today’s cohesive social structure as more and more people are starved for varying sorts of information. People realize its substantial potential and appreciate the advantages of knowing as opposed to the downsides of being left in the dark.

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