"DON'T SIT IN AWKWARD POSITIONS--and never look bored, even if you are. Be alert, and if you must chew gum (not advised), do it silently, mouth closed."

These '13 Tips for Single Dames' comes from the February 1938 issue of Click Photo-Parade magazine.  Link to gallery.

Previously on BC:
The 1950s Good Wife Guide: Are you a good wife? - Link
Vintage Folgers Coffee Commercials - Link

"Signs" is a sweet short film about communication and finding love when you least expect it. Call me a romantic, but this film will surely warm your hearts. [via MeFi]

Directed by Patrick Hughes
Written by Patrick Hughes, Karl Fleet & Nick Worthington
An @RadicalMedia and Publicis Mojo Production

How do you know when you are truly in love?  Scientists from Stony Brook University in New York claim they have discovered true love.

Previous research suggested that the first stages of romantic love, a rollercoaster ride of mood swings and obsessions that psychologists call limerence, start to fade within 15 months. After 10 years the chemical tide has ebbed away.

The scans of some of the long-term couples, however, revealed that elements of limerence mature, enabling them to enjoy what a new report calls “intensive companionship and sexual liveliness”.

The researchers nicknamed the couples “swans” because they have similar mental “love maps” to animals that mate for life such as swans, voles and grey foxes.

The reactions of the swans to pictures of their beloved were identified on MRI brain scans as a burst of pleasure-producing dopamine more commonly seen in couples who are gripped in the first flush of lust.

“The findings go against the traditional view of romance – that it drops off sharply in the first decade – but we are sure it’s real,” said Arthur Aron, a psychologist at Stony Brook.

Link to full article

If you are old enough to remember the days before CDs then you probably have a few mixed tapes tucked away in a box some where.  Cassette From My Ex is a site where you can share your stories behind those mixed tapes and even share the soundtracks.  Link [via]

Do you have a mixed tape story?

Lovers, Xia Xinfeng and Mao Ansheng, literally had the kiss of death when Xinfeng passed a capsule filled with rat poison from her mouth to Ansheng.  Ansheng died. 

Xinfeng had suspected Ansheng was cheating on her.  Supposedly, the couple had agreed that "if either one of them cheated on the other, he or she would have to die."

Xinfeng has been sentenced to death.

After a night out with friends, David Brown woke up with a phone number running through his head.  Thinking that he got the phone number from a girl the night before, Brown sent a text message which said "Did I meet you last night?"

Random recipient Michelle Kitson was confused and wary at first but decided to reply and the two began exchanging messages. Eventually they met and fell in love.

"It was really weird but I was absolutely hooked," Kitson told the Daily Mail newspaper. "My mum and dad kept saying 'But he could be an axe murderer', but I knew there was something special about it."

After a long courtship, the two married and have recently returned from their honeymoon. 

Brown still has no idea how he ended up with Kitson's number in his head.

If you need to spice up your love life or just want to escape reality, try personalizing your own romance novels at Your Novel.

At Your Novel there is a wide selection of storylines -- I'm sure you'll be able to find one that suits your wildest fantasies.

[via MetaFilter]

This may be the oldest love story not yet told:

Archaeologists have unearthed two skeletons from the Neolithic period locked in a tender embrace and buried outside Mantua, just 25 miles south of Verona, the romantic city where Shakespeare set the star-crossed tale of "Romeo and Juliet."

Buried between 5,000 and 6,000 years ago, the prehistoric pair are believed to have been a man and a woman and are thought to have died young, as their teeth were found intact, said Elena Menotti, the archaeologist who led the dig.

"As far as we know, it's unique," Menotti told The Associated Press by telephone from Milan. "Double burials from the Neolithic are unheard of, and these are even hugging."

Previously:
Lovers of Teruel (Los Amantes de Teruel)

Don't be fooled with the mug shots found on the Calon Wen milk containers.  No, they aren't missing persons -- They are singles ads for five Welsh farmers.

Mr Jones said the countryside could be "a hard place to find a date".

The 30-year-old said he came up with the idea for the rural matchmaking venture after realising a large number of Welsh farmers were single.

"We want to encourage farmers to consider online dating as a fun way of meeting people."

The project is jointly run with online dating agency Pishyn (Welsh slang for gorgeous) where people who log on can find out more details about the farmers involved.

[via Arbroath]

The Lovers of Teruel (Los amantes de Teruel) is a tragic love story that allegedly took place in 1217 in the small Spanish town of Teruel. 

The story goes like this: