Reader's Digest May 2013

In honor of our big story (page 132), let’s go over the things that indicate you’re in a marriage that, like mine, is perfectly normal. 1) You text your husband, “Let’s talk tonight,” and he responds, “Talk? About what? What do we need to talk about? Did I do something? What?!” 2) You like to throw things away. Your husband knows this about you, so he regularly peeks into the family garbage to rescue things like the half-finished drawing of a cat that he knows your daughter will ask about the next morning (and she does). 3) These words have come out of your mouth: “What did the bath mat ever do to you that you refuse to hang it up?” 4) The last time the two of you were…

Thanks for these stories! I’ve met one or two of these “genius” managers in my travels through life (“50 Dumb Boss Stories”). And guest editor Rainn Wilson’s interspersed comments were a delightful illustration of just how much funnier real people can be versus characters on TV. Garrett Michael Hayes, Smyrna, Georgia I bought a year’s subscription to Reader’s Digest for my iPad mini, and I love it! How fun it is to hear Rainn Wilson introduce the issue when I tap on the cover! Keep the interactive content and fun stuff coming! Tina Russell, Pawtucket, Rhode Island I was shocked at how mean and inconsiderate most of the bosses included in this piece were to their employees. I didn’t laugh once; in fact, it was difficult to read through the…

GREATEST HITS FROM OUR SITE *In case you missed it, go to readersdigest.com/dailydigest. Of Immediate Interest HOW TO REMEMBER EVERYTHING Can’t stay on top of it all? Try downloading these eight helpful apps for instant reminders about passwords, dates, and schedules. BLOOD TYPES HOLD HEALTH CLUES Several recent studies connect the different blood groups (A, B, AB, and O) with their relative risks of heart disease, blood clots, stomach cancer, and infertility. Learn about yours. LIQUID GOLD Extra-virgin olive oil yields incredible health benefits—pain relief, acne cure, and more—and has been linked to longer life in Greeks, who seemingly live forever. CHEESY PICK-UP LINES GUARANTEED TO GET A LAUGH We found a bunch of howlers: “Are you a parking ticket? Because FINE is written all over you.” HIRE THESE GUYS!…

On a sunny, breezy day last August, Nick Tumilowicz heard a commotion as he grilled bratwurst at a friend’s birthday party in San Francisco’s Candlestick Point Park. A group of party guests had gathered at the edge of the picnic area, yelling and pointing at something floating in San Francisco Bay. As he ran to investigate, he soon saw what was wrong: A couple of kids in a rowboat were caught in the current and being pulled out to sea. Two 12-year-old boys, Christian Pryfogle and Jack Olinger, who had been at the party earlier, had climbed into an eight-foot dinghy moored nearby and had begun rowing out to retrieve a football. Once they’d paddled beyond the calm waters of the cove, a beach umbrella rigged to the small craft…

When Shawn Rux’s friends and family heard that he was taking the top position at struggling Middle School 53 in Far Rockaway, New York, they asked him the same question: Are you crazy? Rux wasn’t sure how to answer: He was given just three days to prepare for the job of principal in August 2011. During the previous school year, average student attendance at M.S. 53 was among the lowest in the city, 280 of 450 students were suspended, and 22 teachers quit. Rux knew he’d made the right move, though, when 14 months later, Hurricane Sandy forced the students to relocate and they still scored an 88 percent attendance record for the year. To boost attendance at M.S. 53, he’d created an incentive program: Each morning, a raffle ticket…

Every day, a woman stood on her porch and shouted, “Praise the Lord!” And every day the atheist next door yelled, “There is no Lord!” One day she prayed, “Lord, I’m hungry. Please send me groceries.” The next morning she found a big bag of food on the stairs. “Praise the Lord,” she shouted. “Ha! I told you there was no Lord,” her neighbor said, jumping from behind a bush. “I bought those groceries.” “Praise the Lord!” the woman said. “He not only sent me groceries, but he made the devil pay for them.” Bad Driver! Bad! The SPCA in New Zealand taught some dogs how to drive. David Letterman isn’t sure it’s such a good idea for these reasons: • Instead of “10 and 2,” steering wheel positions are…