According to TMZ, Michaele Salahi fled from Tareq because he was scary and threatened her safety. She is now filing for a legal separation.

"The final straw came on September 11th. Michaele claims she returned from an errand a few hours late, and Tareq turned out all the lights and waited for her in the basement...telling her she needed a lesson in fear. Two days later, Michaele fled to Neal...fearing for her safety." More»

"Take away love and our earth is a tomb."
- Robert Browning

The world is no longer a familiar place.  In what can only be described as an earth-shattering turn of events, Kim Kardashian has filed for divorce from that guy who plays on the Nets and sort of looks like Taylor Lautner, but 8 feet tall. And yeah, we get that she paid $2k on Mason's wing-tipped alligator pimp shoes alone- but 300 million doesn't quite roll off the tongue... More»

• Now you can "divorce with dignity." High fives for everyone. [NYDN]
• In case you missed it, Mel Gibson is not a horrible person. Instead, he is a super-horrible person. [Radar]
• Accused spy's sister dated diplomat's son. Convoluted! [Post]
• New York is disgusting. There's no escape. [WSJ]
• Also, NYC wants you to come here and get old. The WHO agrees. [NYT]
• Lindsay Lohan's birthday might be way sad, because "there's nothing you can do with a monitoring bracelet and no money." Troof. [TMZ]

• Wanna be Lindsay Lohan's personal assistant? She's hiring. [TMZ]
• . . . And Donald Trump may be hiring Lindsay Lohan herself. Or so says Dina.  [NYDN]
• Colombo underboss John "Sonny" Franzese got into a screaming match with his ex in a courthouse men's room. Classy. [Post]
• Obama's pushing a tanning tax, and Snooki thinks he's targeting the Jersey Shore kids specifically. [WSJ]
• Bloomberg's cracking down on truancy and the possibility of an end to free MTA student rides looms ever larger. However, students still have their youth, while we withered adults also can't play hooky and always have to pay for transpo. So shut up, kids, and go get us another wine cooler. [NYT]
• Lady Gaga freaked out at Citifield yesterday. Whether it was an actual freak-out or performance art remains to be seen. [Post]

• Cameron Douglas, Michael Douglas's son, will be sentenced today. [Post]
• Brooklyn Bartender posse rescues adorable puppy thrown out of car! [Pawesome]
• Second cloud of volcanic ash now bearing down on Europe. [NYDN]
• Related: Being trapped at JFK sucks. [NYDN]
• Larry King's legal strategies determined entirely by where he gets his bagel and schmear [TMZ]

• Larry King's soon-to-be 8th ex-wife dropped him because he was buying pricey gifts for her sister. [TMZ]
• Orthodox Jewish boxer Yuri Foreman has a hot boxer wife. Mazel tov on that, Yuri. [NYDN]
• Jeremy Piven's ex, Ashley Chontos, is suing restaurant manager Daniel Koch of Jour et Nuit for sexual harassment. [Post]
• There's now a meatball wagon outside of Mia Dona! [Grub Street]
• Michael Bay is teaming up with Top Chef producers to make a terrifying-sounding reality show. We hope there are robot chefs. [NYMag]
• Woah. The entire staff of beloved Park Slope coffee joint Gorilla Coffee walked out over the "hostile" and "demeaning" work environment. So if you'd like to be demeaned, they're hiring. [Gothamist]

• Kate Winslet and Sam Mendes are in NYC, both love their kids and are civil. Boring. [TMZ]
• Plus, Jim Carrey and Jenny McCartney are tweeting all civil-like about their split. Will no one post a naked photo and an angry screed? [NYDN]
• 52nd street spewed flames! Yet another reason to hate midtown. [NYDN]
• Catherine Zeta-Jones pleads for leniency for Michael Douglas's son Cameron, swears he usually doesn't suck so much. [Post]
• NJ chiropractor is like Speed Racer, but slower, and because of greed rather than love of racing. [NJ]
• The worst Hamptons summer omen ever: baby whale beached! [Post]

"Bristol Palin’s unwed pregnancy is not so unusual these days, but her solution --marriage-- is."

So starts Rebecca Teti in her Faith & Family article posted yesterday "In Defense Of Marrying Young." The average age for marriage today is 25 for women and 27 for men, a far bit younger than the standards set forth on our fair island.  But Teti argues that marrying young is far better and her points seem reasonable:

"The standard advice we give young people is to finish their education, get a good job and find themselves before taking the plunge of getting married. It sounds right, but here’s the catch. Psychologists tell us that character solidifies at about age 30. After that it becomes not impossible but vastly more difficult for the couple truly to knit themselves into unity.

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