Many materials are thought to have protective and healing qualities as well as symbolic meaning. Silver is linked with honesty and purity, and when combined with certain stones it can heal select ailments. Red Mediterranean coral, associated with life-sustaining blood, is prized for its healing properties. It is worn to promote fertility and to prevent harm to children. Yellow amber attracts sunlight and deflects darkness.

The average fragrance product tested contained 14 secret chemicals not listed on the label. Among them are chemicals associated with hormone disruption and allergic reactions, and many substances that have not been assessed for safety in personal care products.

In the worst case, such turmoil could lead to a replay of the freezing up of financial markets that we witnessed in 2008. With unemployment remaining quite high, and with continued need for balance sheet repair by many businesses, financial institutions, and households, it is particularly important that the United States not sustain a significant external shock.

Racing exploits the most fragile of domestic animals, already prone to ravages of physical abuse even by the well-intentioned. They bear pain without the sounds we notice from dogs and cats, or even cage birds. Injuries are common and some easily overlooked until they become laming or worse. An injured racehorse may not be worth the correct and optimal healing if the owner deems it too costly. A racehorse is bred and conditioned to win races. If it doesn't, it stops receiving the expenditure of money and attention it would otherwise enjoy.

"Every article of my dress was most assiduously studied; and while I can now smile with contempt on the singular hat, or odd-shaped pantaloons of some dandy of the present day, I recall to my mind the white coat, lined with blue stain, and trimmed with silver fringe, in which I was supposed to captivate all hearts on one memorable occasion."

“We also request that MMS describe how a regulation that requires offshore operators to maintain certain engineering documents, but does not require that those documents be complete or accurate, is appropriately protective of human health and the environment.”

Finally, our investigation revealed an organizational culture lacking acceptance of government ethical standards, inappropriate personal behaviors, and a program without the necessary internal controls in place to prevent future unethical or unlawful behavior.

Long-term unemployment compounds older workers’ economic uncertainty. Older workers and divorced, widowed, or separated women may face their own set of challenges in their job searches.

A few weeks ago I interviewed Linda Lingle, governor of Hawaii and she told me that she is especially careful about how she presents herself in public because she realizes that with so few women at the highest levels of government, all eyes are on her.

Slap-sole shoes: White leather upper, toe and instep covered with salmon silk embroidered with silver yarns, wires and spangles in conventional motif; narrow lappets with white and salmon silk ties with tassels cross behind and tie through pointed tongue; silver bobbin lace across instep, at top, lappets.

Two years ago, we celebrated fifty years of women at Harvard Law School. That event drew close to 1,300 people, making it the largest alumni gathering in the Law School's history. Such a celebration has special meaning in light of the huge obstacles faced by past generations of women - obstacles that now might seem laughable if they hadn't been so destructive.

Where academics offer long, abstract explanations of manic depression, she cuts to the heart of matter, showing what it is like for a child to live with a manic: “Mania is broiling and freezing thirty dozen chicken wings in Catalina sauce ‘to get a jump of condolence meals’ for friends who aren’t feeling well but aren’t dead yet.” “Who’s gonna notice the freezer burn,” Lola asks.

If you're interested in painting techniques, in 2006 NPR launched "a mini-series on how art is affected by available technology" and began with "the link between collapsible tin tubes and some of the world's best-loved paintings". Monet's well known biographer, Prof. Paul Tucker, imparts some details of the process as well as an amusing bit or two.

I don’t have to do anything but say: “Make-out Mountain,” and the two of us collapse in laughter, remembering the time that Karen and “Causus Belli”* got their braces hooked together during a moment of wild teenage passion.

"Economic insecurity is among the most formidable obstacles for survivors of domestic and sexual violence. Abusers often retain their control through economic dependence, sabotaging a victim's credit history or her ability to work productively.ke it harder for victims to escape a violent situation."

Let’s not even talk about the time I discovered Ishi was playing pinball on my computer. And she doesn’t even have opposable thumbs.Thankfully she hasn’t memorized the phone number of the Home Shopping Network, especially since she has also been known to play with the telephone. I suppose we would be safe even if she did, because she doesn’t own a credit card. Then again … there is always the fear of identity theft. Excuse me; I think maybe I’d better check my wallet.

These early works are quite different from the richly decorated interiors with attractive women you might expect from Vermeer. Instead they depict a mythological subject, a story from the Bible and a brothel scene.

As household managers, women supervise the budget for and purchase of many of the highest-cost items consumed by American families. These items include food, clothing, child care, eldercare, health care, transportation, family communication networks (including cell phone and computer purchases), vacations, and, finally, financial services and products.

Unless you already know all the biographical details of Renoir's life, however, you read on if only to discover which woman, if any of them, will be next in his life and how the money will be found to complete the work within the deadline. You have to know whether Augustine will enable him to keep up his spirits, whether he will make the models all appear on time and frequently enough to finish each section at all, if the weather will hold, if he will be able to persuade his supplier to trust him for more paint…and other problems that arise like plot points in a thriller.

Oh, and one more thing: a true beach read must be one that you can pass along, which is why ours are almost always paperbacks. When you’ve found a satisfying beach read, others will request your copy as soon as you’re through with it, probably because you’ve been recounting your delight at the dinner table (an obnoxious habit, that, but I’ve had some good reads out of it). If you’ve been emphatic enough with your praise, the book will travel from hand to hand, and probably wind up going home with someone else.

But they also face unique barriers and inequalities that stem from the effects of social stigmas and prejudice, their reliance on informal “families of choice” for care and support, and inequitable laws and programs that treat LGBT elders unequally.

Later, when I was in my teens, I went with three girlfriends to my first dance. Remember, it was a different era. Back then, kicking up your heels as a group was unheard of; and girls would rather be seen shopping with their mothers than dancing with each other. And no way was it acceptable to ask a boy to dance. So we stood there like marked-down dresses on a clearance rack waiting to be approached by buyers.

But studies connecting high intakes of sodium to high blood pressure, heart attacks, strokes, kidney disease, and other debilitating and deadly conditions show that salt is safe only up to a certain amount.