Yes, you read that right: Scientific research has found a connection between cervical and testicular cancers and divorce, particularly among young people. The research subjects were all Norwiegan couples, but experts say the results may apply elsewhere, as Norway has similar divorce statistics to other developed countries.

On the bright side, the study found that for couples facing other types of cancer, the divorce rate isn't higher, and for breast cancer — sometimes suggested as likely to cause a divorce — the divorce rate is actually lower than for couples not facing cancer.

The researchers admit that they didn't ask why the couples divorced, so they can't lay the blame on the cancer. Some suggested that the interruption to a young couple's sex life caused by the two cancers might be to blame.

It's obvious there is something significant here — it's not like they just made the results up — but I've got to question the connection between cancer and divorce.

The first thing I thought of when I read the reports was what a sociology professor once told me about ice cream sales causing a rise in rapes. The point she was making was about spurious relationships — false causality. Though the statistics seem to show one, there is no causal relationship — the real cause of both is warm weather. (As it was explained to me, in warm weather people tend to do things like stay outdoors after dark and sleep with the windows open, which makes things easier for an attacker.)

According to tech-gossip blog Valleywag, investors in internet search powerhouse Google should start paying closer attention to their profit and loss statements. That's because Eric Schmidt, Google's CEO, has reportedly been diddling the company's former New York press consultant, Marcy Simon, and is now heading for a nasty divorce from wife Wendy.

Since Schmidt owns several billion dollars worth of Google stock, a divorce could throw the stockholder balance out of whack, provided there isn't a prenup. However, that seems to be the least of Google's worries. Apparently, there is a connection between the CEOs buying a big new house and stock prices plummeting — and according to reports, Schmidt is picking up an apartment in Manhattan for he and Simon to make their love nest, at the bargain-basement price of $25 million.

Valleywag thinks Schmidt ought to have to report to Google shareholders on any potential stock losses due to his divorce, as well as his home-buying plans. There's even a suggestion he should add his extramarital proclivities to Google's SEC filings — that's just what we want, more sex in government documents. Does anybody remember the Starr Report?

If there's anything to the rumors, though, shareholders might want to tread with caution. I don't know about others, but I'm thinking it may be time to invest in pork bellies instead.

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A coalition made up of the Jefferson Circuit Court Clerk's Office, Louisville's Legal Aid Society, Jefferson Family Court, and the Louisville Bar Association is offering the $10 packets, designed for couples separating amicably.

The packet includes all the paperwork and instructions necessary to obtain a divorce decree, provided there are no issues that require litigation.

If the parties are unable to agree on the terms of the separation - such as child custody and division of property - they will have to take the traditional path, complete with court hearings and attorneys fees.

Kentucky has long provided for so-called "uncontested divorces," where one party hires an attorney, generally at a cost a few hundred dollars, who then prepares the paperwork for both parties. The other spouse is then asked to sign a response to the petition, waiving his or her rights, and a separation agreement.

Though the attorney in theory represents the interests of both parties, the responding party is generally loosely advised to seek his or her own counsel, though few do so. Such cases often involve the opposing party being unable to afford counsel, or unaware of his or her rights and the benefits of retaining their own attorney.

The new practice, by eliminating the attorneys and court appearances outright, represents a move towards a more efficient and cost effective end for troubled marriages. If the project is a success, we may well see overburdened courts in other cities try their own low-cost divorce process, sans lawyers.

What do you think? If you were heading into a divorce, would you be willing to bypass the attorneys and take the $10 quickie?