Metadata helped reveal Gen. Petraeus' affair with Charlotte woman | CharlotteObserver.com

Metadata helped reveal Gen. Petraeus' affair with Charlotte woman | CharlotteObserver.com

Friends - NYTimes.com

In the era of facebook 'friends' - some interesting points about real friendship as people get older.
Why Is It Hard to Make Friends Over 30? - NYTimes.com

• As external conditions change, it becomes tougher to meet the three conditions that sociologists since the 1950s have considered crucial to making close friends: proximity; repeated, unplanned interactions; and a setting that encourages people to let their guard down and confide in each other, said Rebecca G. Adams, a professor of sociology and gerontology at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. This is why so many people meet their lifelong friends in college, she added.
• External factors are not the only hurdle. After 30, people often experience internal shifts in how they approach friendship. Self-discovery gives way to self-knowledge, so you become pickier about whom you surround yourself with, said Marla Paul, the author of the 2004 book ?The Friendship Crisis: Finding, Making, and Keeping Friends When You?re Not a Kid Anymore.? ?The bar is higher than when we were younger and were willing to meet almost anyone for a margarita,? she said.

I will always pretend to love you – the merits of faking it | Jean Hannah Edelstein | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

I will always pretend to love you – the merits of faking it | Jean Hannah Edelstein | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

Is 35 really the best age to be?

What's the best age to be? Carefree 16 or a young-enough-to-have-fun but old-enough-to-leave-home 21? Or maybe a wise and stately 65? No – it's 35, according to research by insurer Aviva.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/blog/2012/apr/18/is-35-best-age

However,in 2010, research by relationship counselling group Relate suggested 35 was the beginning of the misery years for some, with work and relationship pressures taking their toll on many.

The fickle heart of the modern consumer society

Illouz, a sociologist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, attempts to explain the specific modern form of "romantic misery and happiness". She says our consumerist, capitalist culture has changed the face of our relationships beyond all recognition.
Love hurts more than ever before (blame the internet and capitalism) | Life and style | The Observer
"Men and women are definitely needing each other less as their roles converge," said Glenn Wilson, a fellow of the British Psychology Association and visiting professor at Gresham College, London. "I think the main change over the years is the Hollywood-driven belief that love and marriage should be contiguous – go together like horse and carriage. Because passion is short-lived, this results in our pattern of serial monogamy – repeated divorce and remarriage, leaving a trail of destruction.