A Salon Health Hazard Alert: Hair Straightening Products and Formaldehyde
The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration has issued a health hazard alert to salons nationwide about the risks that popular hair straightening products, including well-known Brazilian Blowout, pose to salon workers and customers.
Thomas Lawrence, Regency Painter: A Remarkable Blend of of Self-assurance, Artistic Excitement and Ambition
If the "zone of intimacy" Lawrence fostered in his studio apparently caused anxiety among critics and potential clients alike, "it also piqued interest in his portraits of women and gave them a sense of spontaneity, liveliness and sensuality that his competitors could not match," one of the curators writes.
The Tax Man Cometh
I enjoy making out my tax returns. It’s the only time I can be grateful for all my medical problems. That trip to the emergency room, for example, when I cut my hand in a kitchen accident (I was in the kitchen by accident — I seldom go there intentionally)...
When It comes to Speed Dating, Too Much Choice Is a Bad Thing
"Results showed that choosers made fewer proposals (positive dating decisions) at events in which the available dates showed greater variety across such attributes as age, height, occupation and education, and this effect was particularly strong when choosers were confronted with a larger number of opposite-sex speed daters"
Civil War at 150: Still Relevant, Still Divisive, Pew Reports
As the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War approaches, most Americans say the war between the North and South is still relevant to American politics and public life today. In a nation that has long endured deep racial divisions, the history of that era still elicits some strong reactions.
Hospital Compare Website Offers Data about Hospital Acquired Conditions
For the first time, Medicare patients can see how often hospitals report serious conditions that develop during an inpatient hospital stay that could possibly harm patients. This data about the safety of care available in America’s hospitals has been added to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Hospital Compare website
Justice Elena Kagan's First Dissent: Discriminating on the Basis of a Child’s Religion When Awarding Scholarships
From now on, the government need follow just one simple rule — subsidize through the tax system — to preclude taxpayer challenges to state funding of religion ... Today’s holding therefore will prevent federal courts from determining whether some subsidies to sectarian organizations comport with our Constitution’s guarantee of religious neutrality.
FactCheck Examines a Politician's Statements About Abortion and Birthrates
Santorum appeared on a New Hampshire radio talk show, blaming abortions for "causing Social Security and Medicare to be underfunded." But he not only misstated the abortion statistic, he also got it wrong when he said that "our birthrate is now below replacement rate for the first time in our history."
A Celebratory Lunch High in The Pyrenees
From an enchanting and inviting, vibrantly decorated, converted barn high up in the hills, so high that the Pyrenees are practically in the garden, an extraordinary woman invited me to celebrate Women’s Day. Lunch was quite simply stunning with seven nationalities at the table
Who's That Girl? Georges Dambier: Fashioning the Fifties
For we women who remember the fashion of the fifties with fondness and nostalgia, George Dambier's photographs on exhibit at the Bonni Benrubi Gallery in New York City recall not only the style but the beauty of the models of that time.
As the Light Grows Stronger and Spring Is Upon Us
"The great bulk of song birds prefer open or partly brushed fields edged by tall trees, with water close at hand, and not too far from human habitations, for in spite of everything, they seem instinctively to trust to man rather than to their wild enemies"
Lifelong Pursuits: An Affair With A Creative Passion
The creative energy was absolutely electric. The passion of what these people had endured poured out in multi-media far beyond words. Here they could express themselves in ways they had never before discovered possible. I was lifted out of years of stagnation just by being with them and began to find the talent I had denied
Life, Legend, Landscape: Victorian Drawings and Watercolours
The Courtauld's exhibition features works by most of the major artists of the Victorian age, from the redoubtable Royal Academicians of the early years of Victoria’s reign, such as J.M.W. Turner, William Etty and Edwin Landseer, to Pre-Raphaelites such as Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and works of the 1890s by Whistler and Aubrey Beardsley.
"The News Industry In the Digital Realm Is No Longer In Control of Its Own Future"
Nearly half of all Americans (47%) now get some form of local news on a mobile device; Fully 46% of people now say they get news online at least three times a week, surpassing newspapers (40%) for the first time. Only local TV news is a more popular platform in America now (50%).
Raising Medicare's Eligibility Age to 67? Government Saves But Individuals, Employers & Medicaid Don't
"Raising Medicare’s age of eligibility would obviously reduce Medicare spending, but would also shift costs onto seniors and employers, and increase costs elsewhere on the federal ledger."
States Advance Abortion Legislation and An Analysis of the Politics At Work
"A second Kansas bill to require consent of both parents for minors to get an abortion and to require doctors to provide the state with more detailed records for abortions also is headed to the governor"
A Connoisseur Reviews and Critiques White House Protests
Expressing yourself is all well and good, but it’s secondary. Far too many demonstrators let "expression" obscure "message." The message is conveyed with signs, flyers, and photogenic props. Chants can reach a listening audience, but speeches are rarely heard by anyone not part of the demonstration
Lemme Just Say, "Thanks, Geraldine Ferraro!"
When I heard of Geraldine Ferraro’s death, I remembered her generosity when I asked her if she would write the foreword for a book I wrote that chronicles the lives and communication styles of five women who ran for president. She always said that politics is not a spectator sport.
Engineering and Couture: Fashioning Apollo
When Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stepped onto the moon July, 1969, they wore spacesuits made by Playtex: twenty-one layers of fabric, each with a distinct yet interrelated function, custom-sewn for them by seamstresses, whose usual work was fashioning bras and girdles
Age Differences In Job Displacement, Job Search, and Reemployment
• Older displaced women who become reemployed also suffer sizeable wage losses, but the differences between older and younger workers are not as dramatic as for men.
Notting Hill Decorative Hardware
Even though we didn't build a Storybook cottage, we do find Notting Hill Decorative Hardware very appealing. Their bronze and pewter line of highly-decorative classic motifs is quite jewelry-like
DeYoung Style: Balenciaga and Spain
Declared "Fashion’s Picasso," Balenciaga drew inspiration from the color palette of Goya, Velázquez’s courtiers and royalty, the draped fabric in El Greco’s and Zurbarán’s images of saints, as well as the vestments of Spanish nuns and priests
The Successor to Sweetie Pie: Meet 'Gorgeous'
Why have I held onto Sweetie Pie so long? A valid question if you are the sort who does not believe automobiles have feelings. Cue the violins. Sweetie Pie was purchased one month after separating from my first husband.
Gone Grey and The Seven Senior Dwarves
When I was a very little girl, my mother took me to see Snow White. I was so traumatized by the wicked witch that I had nightmares for weeks. But oh, how I loved those dwarves. So, with apologies to the memory of Mr. Disney, here are our nominations for the Seven Senior Dwarves
Health For Sale: Ars Medica and Cheret's Lithographs Explore Medical Posters From 1846 to Present
Bright colors and punchy slogans captured the public’s attention, using humor, satire and caricature to sell products, promote pharmacies, or to warn against social evils including alcoholism, marijuana and venereal disease.






