Does She Drink Coffee?

Is this a good thing? Imagine Martha Stewart leaving the flea markets, the dinner parties, the century-old homes of East Hampton, N.Y., and relocating alongside Puget Sound. We’ve run amok in possibilities at the mere rumor passed along by Seattle Magazine.

Apparently Martha has been sighted in the Emerald City with Microsoft exec Charles Simonyi, and a makeover of his ultra high-tech house is in progress. We’re already imagining “good things” involving slugs and geoducks. (From September Seattle Magazine)

* How America spends: 3.2 million manicure/pedicure appointments are made every week. (From October Worth)

* No means no: There still seems to be some confusion about this feminist-driven mantra regarding when sexual relations are rape, and when they are, well, consensual.

A survey by researchers at the University of Chicago found that 22 percent of American women felt they had been forced to have sex, yet only 3 percent of American men said they had ever forced a woman to have sex.

After discounting the possibility that the men or the women had lied, or that a few men were responsible for forcing themselves on many different women, the researchers concluded that most of the men simply did not realize their sexual partners were unwilling.

“There seems to be not just a gender gap, but a gender chasm in perceptions of when sex was forced,” the researchers concluded. (From October Atlantic Monthly)

* Quote of the week: “Two seemingly conflicting impulses drive experience today: a focus on creating full, flexible, diverse lives; and a quest for simplicity and control in an ever-changing, increasingly complicated world. The first contributes to an a la carte approach to life. We sample thrills by taking adventure vacations; we graze among cheap luxuries, such as storefront massages. At the same time, we crave continuity. Picture frames, video cameras and all manner of keepsakes help us package and relive experiences as memories.” — futurist Marian Salzman, co-author of “Next: The Flow of the Future” to be published by HarperCollins in January. (From October Fast Company)

* Did you consider post-party activities? As you’re planning your Halloween ensemble, keep in mind a couple of Esquire magazine tips: If a Halloween costume is unavoidable, it must preserve your good looks, involve no makeup, and be quickly removed in event of passion. Because even smiling clowns are scary. And the guy in the gorilla suit gets sweaty, not sticky. (From October Esquire)

* How we think: Once again it’s time to applaud those ad copy writers and offer this thought from an ad for the Isuzu Rodeo: “You would not be very human if you did not mostly prefer to be elsewhere.” (From October Worth)

Spokesman-Review. Contact her by mail at 999 W. Riverside, Spokane, WA 99201; by e-mail at susane@spokesman.com; or by phone at 459-5488.