This and That

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Wisdom from Saul Turteltaub

Old is when you can't remember your wife's married name. Really old is when you can't remember where you parked your car and you're still in it.

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"Agreement on politics" is least important on a list of 9 items associated with successful marriages. Only 12% think it is important.

Topping the list is "faithfulness," which 93% say is important.  Moving up on the list, with the largest jump since 1990, is "sharing household chores," which now ranks 3rd, with 62% listing it.  It has jumped 15 points since 1990.  [Pew Research Center]

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A large majority of Americans think that people spend too much money on their weddings.  And most of them don't know the half of it.  When asked how much the average American wedding costs, the mean answer was $13,609.  In fact, the average wedding costs $27,490.

And how much should you be spending on a wedding gift for a friend or relative?  The average of the responses was $110, with men tending to be about 1.6 times more generous than women.  [Gallup 5/07; "Wedding Report," an industry publication]

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One Hundred Years Ago

Most women washed their hair only once a month, and used borax or egg yolks for shampoo.

The five leading causes of death in the U.S. were:

• Pneumonia and influenza
• Tuberculosis
• Diarrhea
• Heart disease
• Stroke

The average U.S. worker made between $200 and $400 per year.  A competent accountant could expect to earn $2,000 per year; a dentist $2,500 per year; a veterinarian between $1,500 and $4,000 per year; and a mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year.

Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available, over the counter, at the local corner drugstore!

Crossword puzzles, canned beer, and iced tea hadn't been invented yet.

Only 6% of all Americans had graduated from high school.

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