The theft of computer data at an Arizona company that put as many as 40 million credit card accounts at risk for fraud may have been the largest case of stolen consumer information yet. But the incident surely will not be the 2 . In fact, the theft was only the latest in a series of incidents, not all of which involved criminal activity. Like seismologists who can look at smaller tremors and know that a major quake is 3 , consultants and others who study data security and identity theft can confidently predict that more trouble is ahead. The question is whether there will be the electronic equivalent of the “Big One,” an incident so widespread, 4 so much personal information, that it devastates the system of financial transactions that underpins the consumer economy.

  A married couple may decide to split up for any number of reasons. 5 “Love,” in the name of which a lot ofpeople think they are marrying, may turn out to be nothing more than lust, and lust tends to have a short lifespan. Forsome, sex exclusively with the same person for a lifetime soon becomes a daunting prospect, somewhat like eating asteady diet of steak three times a day. 6     

  It is easier to think of divorce as a solution since the coming of no-fault divorce law. Curiously, many coupleswho divorce, one or both, soon find themselves in another committed relationship that ends in marriage. 7 At aguess, the rate of remarriage is even higher for men. What the radical change in divorce law has made much easier isthe phenomenon of serial monogamy. The phrase “starter marriage” has crept into the language, as if in recognition ofthe fact that the first marriage is apt not to be the last.      Many people still want to be married, but they want their marriage to be the one of their dreams. 8 Couplescan still believe in the until-death-do-us-part ethic, but it is easier to take these solemn vows in good faith if they knowin the back of their minds that there is a handy, socially acceptable escape hatch at hand if things do not work out.