As gran Sandra Newton sat drinking with her partner Pete, her heart skipped a beat in a way she had never expected – when another woman walked into the bar. Feeling like she was in a modern fairytale, the mum-of-two fell instantly in love. Sandra, 55 – who had an eight-year marriage behind her and had been with Pete for 18 years – said: “I’d never looked at a woman before in my life. But there was an intrigue about her. She completely lit up the room, that’s the only way I can describe it.” The lady who caught Sandra’s eye was Sharon Hughes – who, ever since watching Cinderella as a young girl, had been aching to be somebody’s Prince Charming. And when she met Sandra, she knew she had found her princess. The pair were both on holiday in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, and within days their bond had become unbreakable. Retired Sandra said: “Little things happened which made me realise I felt something more. “I was … [Read more...] about Gran fell in love with a woman while on a romantic break with her boyfriend
Romantic arranged marriage stories
Ask Dr. NerdLove: Should I Choose My Crush Or My Arranged Marriage?
Hello all you concupiscent piranhas of death, and welcome to Ask Dr. NerdLove, the only dating advice column to help you start the New Game+ of your love life. This week, we’re navigating the thorny world of feels vs. reals and making the calls that might change your relationship forever. How do you try to take a friendship to the next level… without losing your friend? What do you do when a sudden, new crush makes you question your engagement and upcoming wedding? And what do you do when someone who ghosted you suddenly comes back into your life like nothing happened? It’s time to load up the save file and start over with your new stats. Let’s do this. Hey Dr NerdLove, About a year ago I lost my most recent job as a quality assurance tester. I didn’t care about it too much at first but a couple months turned into about a year and I started to drift into what I can only describe as depression. Through a lot of trials and tribulations combined with some … [Read more...] about Ask Dr. NerdLove: Should I Choose My Crush Or My Arranged Marriage?
Ask Dr. NerdLove: We Survived A Cult, But Our Marriage Didn’t
Hello all you gentlemen bastards of the Internet, and welcome to Ask Dr. NerdLove, the only dating advice column that helped tame the wild, wild west. This week, we’re tackling the challenges of marriage and long-term relationships. What do you do when you don’t work as a couple but you can’t leave your relationship? What about when one party has unilaterally ended your sex life? Are there compromises to be had, or is it time to leave? It’s time to pay those outstanding bounties or go back to being outlaws of love. Let’s do this. Hey Doc, I’m struggling to not be overwhelmed and depressed with the situation I am in now. I am 26, male, and obese. I’ve been married for over 7 years and while there has been plenty I look back on with fondness it has been full of hardships, growing and learning. Recently, my wife and I have come to the conclusion that, while we overall are great friends we each are not getting something from this relationship … [Read more...] about Ask Dr. NerdLove: We Survived A Cult, But Our Marriage Didn’t
Cardi B, Offset and the Business of Celebrity Marriage
The concept of celebrity romance as publicity tactic has existed since at least the dawn of the entertainment business. A natural extension of the well-oiled Hollywood machine, placing two up-and-coming talents together and suggesting they smooch, as if they were real-life Barbie and Ken dolls handled by a child, not only feeds into the public’s desire for allure on and off-screen, it almost certainly doubles the kind of media attention those individuals would receive on their own. As a lifelong Directioner, the short-lived yet deeply important 2012-2013 partnering of a young Taylor Swift and Harry Styles strikes me as a burning example: take country music’s beloved teen talent, introduce her to the biggest boy-band heartthrob on the planet, and together you’ve got a power couple with immense cultural currency at the top of both worlds. The right pairing of personalities is an almost impenetrable fortress, guaranteed to make money and headlines. Cardi B and Migos … [Read more...] about Cardi B, Offset and the Business of Celebrity Marriage
Here’s Everything That’s Banned on Facebook, All on One Page
Facebook has publicly released its most complete community guidelines to date after many years keeping the specific rules its moderators used to govern the platform secret. The update tacked over 5,000 more words onto the already unwieldy document, which now includes highly specific examples of banned or heavily regulated content. Is any of it at all surprising? Well, yes. Most platforms have rules that outline common-sense genres of content they’d rather not be liable for—harassment, hate speech, gore, child endangerment, etc.—and these are no different. But as a reflection of its size and global reach, Facebook’s guidelines include some of the most granular examples of what not to do online. Cannibalism is off limits. “Sexualized massages” are specifically barred. Staged animal fights won’t fly, and neither will videos of animals being processed for food. Images of buttocks or an anus are a no-go, “unless photoshopped on a public … [Read more...] about Here’s Everything That’s Banned on Facebook, All on One Page