Mind Hacks recently featured a highly amusing husband and wife rating chart from the 1930s, invented by marriage counselor George W. Crane, MD, Ph.D. How it works: your spouse earns merit or demerit points based on his or her behaviors and characteristics. Some (“Snores”) are things we can still relate to, while the rest offer a curious peek into the norms and expectations of that era (demerits for a husband who “talks of efficiency of his stenographer or other women” or a wife who “fails to sew on buttons or darn socks regularly”).

Crane aimed to be “scientific” in the development of this test; true to form, according to the American Psychological Association, he started the Scientific Marriage Foundation, which took a “scientific” approach to marriage and claimed to have set up more than 5,000 marriages.

I wonder what a modern version of this questionnaire would look like. Demerits for “brings laptop to bed”?

No, you aren’t the only ones! Lots of couples try to spice up or revive their relationships, specifically the s.e.x. part, by sharing some porn. If you get lucky and find a tip-top specimen, it can be a very inspiring experience. Unfortunately, the market is glutted by low production quality and generally sub-standard fare. But if you’re looking for something unique, something artistic, perhaps even avant garde — or if your partner happens to be an environmentalist, an entomologist, or either Bjork or Matthew Barney — then the Sundance Channel has just the thing for you.

It’s called Green Porno and it stars no less than certified fox Isabella Rossellini. Tagline: “LIVE NUDE BUGS!”
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