Rotundus.com

A 14-year-old Israeli girl has got a divorce from her 17-year-old husband, making her what media are describing as the country's youngest divorcee. The divorce came after a rabbinical court ruled that their wedding met the major requirements of Jewish law. The two sweethearts had exchanged vows in front of friends, exchanged a ring, and the union had been consummated.

When her parents found out what had occurred, they insisted on a religious divorce, which she initially refused. Both partners come from traditionally religious Jewish families.

... The girl is said to have initially refused her parents' demand for the divorce, saying she wanted to live with the boy. She said she wanted to marry him officially when she was old enough. The Israeli press says she only changed her mind when the boy's parents offered her money.

Source: BBC News (highlighting mine)

Both sides seem rather crazy to me here, but if I had to choose I'd say that the parents are a touch crazier. I suppose that given that these folks are Jews, they wouldn't accept this as part of God's word. Yet on the other hand, even if she did marry at (what today but not historically is) a crazily young age, what purpose is served by a divorce? ... and even if the Mosaic law did make greater allowance for divorce than Matthew 5, bribery to induce a divorce still seems beyond the line.

The trend started with super-caffeinated energy drinks in the '90s, but more recently scientists and marketers have created caffeinated foods and even personal-hygiene products. In the past five years, according to the market research giant Mintel, firms have launched at least 126 caffeinated food products for sale in the U.S. Twenty-nine such products have been introduced this year alone. The offerings include things like Morning Spark oatmeal, NRG potato chips and — my favorite, if only for the brazen attempt to draw kids into caffeine culture — Jelly Belly's Extreme Sport Beans, which the company calls "Energizing Jelly Beans." You can also now buy caffeinated toiletries like Bath Buzz Caffeinated Lotion.

Source: TIME

Call me crazy, but I wouldn't mind trying some of those caffeinated potato chips.

"Older drivers tell us the day you're told, 'Hand over your licence' is worse than a cancer diagnosis," researcher Nicol Korner-Bitensky said Thursday.

"I heard it so many times I was shocked," she said. "I couldn't figure it out, and when I asked why they'd tell me, 'Cancer is something that comes, a lot of my friends have it, there are good treatments now. But having my licence taken away, day one to day two, my whole life changes overnight.' "

... Canada Safety Council statistics show that drivers over the age of 75 are 3 1/2 times more likely to be involved in a crash than those who are 35 to 40 years old.

Source: Calgary Herald

If the economy isn't grim enough for you, just check out the February issue of the Journal of HortScience, which contains a report on the sorry state of American fruits and veggies. Apparently produce in the U.S. not only tastes worse than it did in your grandparents' days, it also contains fewer nutrients — at least according to Donald R. Davis, a former research associate with the Biochemical Institute at the University of Texas, Austin. Davis claims the average vegetable found in today's supermarket is anywhere from 5% to 40% lower in minerals (including magnesium, iron, calcium and zinc) than those harvested just 50 years ago.

Source: Time Magazine

It's summed up as, on one hand, a combination of selecting for high-carbohydrate specimens of plants due to their sizes, and, on the other hand, a combination of soil depletion and insufficient time for more-rapidly-growing plants to absorb nutrients from the soil.