Readers Digest: That's Outrageous!

Editor's choice:

Federal dollars safeguard our nation and aid the poor. Congress also granted: $113,227 to the International Center for the History of Electronic Games for video game preservation; $606,000 to Columbia University to study online dating; $492,005 to researchers at Wellesley College to answer the question, Do you trust your Twitter feed? $55,382 to a Virginia Commonwealth University researcher toward a study on hookah smoking by Jordanian students; $198,195 to University of California, Riverside, to study whether happy or unhappy people spend more time on social media and $592,527 to primate researchers to study in part what feces-throwing among chimps reveals about communication skills.

Editor's choice:

When Stefan and Erika Svanstorm of Stockholm, Sweden, packed for their four-month honeymoon in December 2010, they had no idea that they should have left room in their suitcases for a fire extinguisher, snowshoes, and a raft. Follow their route as they encounter six natural disasters. Munich, Germany: Caught in one of Europe’s worst blizzards ever; Cairns, Australia: Weathered a cyclone, were evacuated, and spent 24 hours on a cement floor in a shopping center with 2,500 evacuees; Brisbane, Australia: Stuck in floods; Perth, Australia: Narrowly escaped bushfires; Christchurch, New Zealand: Arrived shortly after a 6.3-magnitude earthquake hit; Tokyo, Japan: Survived the horrific earthquake; Stockholm, Sweden: Returned home, marriage still intact