It had showed a thin line of ink all along the shore for miles and miles except for my community, which looked like a splotchy thumbprint of danger.

NPR: Tsunami Warning Rattles Nerves Along Calif. Coast

The Aura HD has other best-in-class features, like remarkably even lighting (the illumination of the lighted Kindle and Nook models is splotchy, by comparison) and, thanks to a zippy 1-GHz processor, faster page-turns and a more responsive touch-screen.

WSJ: The Best E-Reader: Kobo's Aura HD

College basketball's recent outbreak of splotchy eyes and drippy noses is a "new high mark of a changing culture, " says Tom Lutz, the author of "Crying: The Natural and Cultural History of Tears, " even if some prefer other forms of catharsis.

WSJ: Handling the Bawl: March Madness Turns Into the Crying Game