Descent3

From New York to Los Angeles, the sun is out and shining. And famous moms including Kelly Rutherford, Sarah Jessica Parker and Alyson Hannigan are making sure their tiny princesses — Helena, Loretta and Satyana respectively — are protected with chic summer hats.

Fame; Doug Meszler/Splash News Online; Mike/Fame

Floppy and super cute, they’re a great way to block out the rays while keeping baby skin safe.

Need one for your tiny tot? Check out our top picks — for any budget — below.

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The COMEX August gold futures contract closed up $9.60 Friday at $1258.30, trading between $1243.10 and $1263.70

June 18, p.m. excerpts:
(from Dow Jones)
Gold futures set record highs for a second consecutive day as investors continued to put faith in the metal’s value amid largely uncertain markets elsewhere. Gold prices are up more than 10% since April, when Greece’s sovereign-debt crisis and a weaker-than-expected recovery in the U.S. jobs market led investors to question the stability of equities markets. “It just seems to be the safest place to put money right now,” said Michael Gross, futures analyst with OptionSellers.com…more
(from Reuters)
Several surprisingly weak U.S. economic readings released a day earlier renewed investors worries, driving them to seek the safety of a tangible asset like gold. “Sovereign debt worries, central banks raising their holdings and record low interest rates keep attracting new buyers to gold,” said Saxo Bank senior manager Ole Hansen. “The Goldilocks scenario continues. Risk-off helps gold through safe haven (buying), risk-on helps it as well through a weaker dollar.”…more
(from Marketwatch)
Gold’s June 8 record was met with some profit-taking, but the latest closing record was met with even more buying. “People are tired of their 0% T-bills, afraid of the stock market and afraid of the double-dip recession,” said James Cordier, portfolio manager at OptionSellers.com. “People are pouring into gold even at this high level.” Adam Klopfenstein, senior market strategist at Lind-Waldock, said that no one feels economic problems across the Atlantic and in the United States are really solved…more
(from Bloomberg)
U.S. lawmakers, debating a $50 billion jobs bill in Congress this week, are struggling to meet demands to spend more to boost the economy while cutting the government’s $1.5 trillion deficit. “The problems over in Europe are just as pernicious over here in the U.S.,” said Michael Pento, chief economist at Delta Global Advisors Inc. “You can’t trust sovereign debt and sovereign currency. Gold is the only real honest money that we have.”

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Recent grads shouldn’t get their hearts set on “having it all.” The practice of law is demanding — exceedingly so. It is next to impossible to balance a full-time legal career with marriage, children and regular trips to the gym. It’s no coincidence that the two women most recently nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court — now-Justice Sonia Sotomayor and nominee/U.S. Solicitor General Elena Kagan — are unmarried and childless.

– Andrews & Kurth partner Kathleen Wu, writing Wednesday in the Texas Lawyer (Hat tip: ABA Journal).

The above comment from Andrews & Kurth’s Wu is ripped from an article in which she give four pieces of advice to all women graduating from law school this spring.

In our opinion, three of the pieces of advice are good and one is very very good. The merely good ones: Be grateful for bad luck (it teaches attributes like pluck and determination); be a voracious learner, even after school ends (after all, recent law graduates barely have the foggiest clue how to actually practice law); and be your own best cheerleader (because women simply don’t do it enough).

The very very good piece of advice, however, relates to the quote at the top of this post, and it involves managing expectations. Wu tells young women lawyers to “Get real about balance.” In other words, understand that while yes, it is possible to have a successful career, a good relationship, kids, and a little time left over, there will be sacrifices. Having “it all” as a lawyer (male or female) takes lots of energy and work, and it might not feel like “balance” much of the time.

So why do we move this to the category of “very very good advice?” Because, in our minds, for too long a notion has been perpetuated that with a law degree comes happiness. That notion rests on two faulty premises, one of which has been discussed much in recent years, the other less so.

The first assumption is that a law degree is a ticket to a well-paying job. As we and countless other blogs have chronicled in recent years, that’s just not true. Even when the job market was humming right along, back in 2005-2007, many students from schools outside the top-tier struggled to get jobs.

The second assumption — which Wu addresses — is that once the good job comes along, happiness will follow. But that’s simply not true. Even the best and the brightest — those who sailed through the top schools — often find themselves crushed by the obligations of the legal profession: the drudgery, the long hours, the tedious travel to uninspiring destinations. It may be true that you can squeeze in a successful legal career, a marriage and kids, and a hyper-efficient daily exercise routine. But chances are, there might not be time to learn Italian, write the Great American Novel, run your local community garden.

If kids contemplating law school were more aware of this — that a life in the law yields great happiness for some and great unhappiness for others — everyone would be better off. (Everyone, that is, outside the legal academy, which is in no hurry to disabuse students that years of joblessness and/or job dissatisfaction await.)

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My little guy, GW (Geroge Washington) received this musical  birthday cake on February 22 from a friend in Texas for his second birthday.  He just absolutely loved it as you can see.

Once he hit the noisemaker that played the birthday song (and it plays through TWICE),  he got spooked and left the toy alone for a while. He then went back to it and had a ball playing with the candles, but he stayed away from the cake part. He is a Pembroke Welsh Corgi. He does not usually play very long with any toy, but the candles kept him busy for quite a while.

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A recent Arizona law allows Arizona police to question and to even arrest people about whom they have a “reasonable suspicion” regarding their immigration status. According to the New York Times:

It requires police officers, “when practicable,” to detain people they reasonably suspect are in the country without authorization and to verify their status with federal officials, unless doing so would hinder an investigation or emergency medical treatment.

The law also makes not carrying immigration papers a state crime —- a misdemeanor. In addition, it allows people to sue local government or agencies if they believe federal or state immigration law is not being enforced.

The San Francisco Chronicle explains that:

Arizona’s law is portrayed by its backers as a collective act of self-defense from the federal government’s failure to control its borders. Polls indicate the measure is strongly supported by voters in a state whose border with Mexico is the site of more illegal crossings than any other in the nation.

The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund said that AZ Governor Brewer had “caved to the radical fringe” and added, “… Arizona should brace for the inevitable response to its leadership’s folly – decreased cooperation with police that yields higher rates of crime, decreased international commerce that has ripple effects throughout the state economy, and a significant waste of taxpayer resources on defending and vainly attempting to implement a deeply flawed law.”

The National Council of State Legislatures reports that many states are active in creating legislation regarding immigration.

As of November 20, 2009, state legislatures enacted 222 laws and adopted 131 resolutions in 48 states, for a total of 353 laws and resolutions nationwide. Of these, 20 were vetoed by governors. In 2009, approximately 1,500 bills were considered by all 50 state legislatures…The top areas of interest in 2009 are identification/driver’s license with 46 laws enacted, followed by health (28) and education (27). Human trafficking laws tripled, and health and education laws doubled in 2009 compared to 2008.

Protests and rallies have been peaceful since the law was signed, but one protest getting attention was a swastika smeared in refried beans on windows on state Senate and Congress buildings.

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Mary Eleanor Fortescue-Brickdale was an Edwardian period English artist who achieved some success as and illustrator, gallery artist and stained glass designer.

She studied at the Crystal Palace School of Art and then at Royal Academy, and was elected to the Royal Watercolour Society.

She illustrated children’s books, Authurian ledgends and poetry by well known authors including Tennyson and Browning, initially in pen and ink and later in color.

Her gallery paintings were in the spirit of the Pre-Raphaelites, rich with jewel-like color, literary themes and the luxurious detail characteristic of the style.

At a time when women artists were restricted in their access to art instruction and often compartmentalized as lesser than their mail counterparts, Fortescue-Brickdale earned the respect of both the fine art and illustration establishments with her outstanding work.

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This analysis is brought to you by the experts at the ShortSalesASAP group, who specialize in short sale negotiations, marketing and sales here in Brea . This article will report the statistics for Active for Sale and Sold standard listing properties, as compared to short sales. Currently, there are 195 detached homes listed for sale in Brea , California. The median price of these homes for sale is $540,000 and the average price per square foot is $278 . 22 of these active listings are short sales, which represent 26% of the total inventory of detached homes for sale. The median price of these short sale properties is $400,000 and the average price per square foot is $246 .

There are now 8 condominiums listed for sale in Brea . The median price for these listed condominiums is $374,900 and the average price per square foot is $230 . Of this total, 2 are short sale listings. The median price of these short sale units is $309,950 , and the average price per square foot is $232 . The ratio of short sale condo listings to the total listings is 25% .

For homes under contract, there are 55 detached homes in escrow on this date, and the median price is $515,000 . Of this total, 23 are short sales in escrow, which is 42% of the total detached properties in escrow in Brea , and the short sale median price in escrow is $500,000 .

For condominiums in escrow, there are now 4 attached units under contract, with a median price of $385,000 . Of this number, 1 are short sales, which calculates to be 25% of the total pending units, and the median price is $335,000 .

In the past 3 months, there have been a total of 56 detached homes that have sold and closed escrow in Fullerton . The median price was $556,000 and the average price per square foot was $261 . Of this total were 13 were short sale properties in the city of Brea in the past 3 months. This number of sold short sales is 23% of the total. The median price was $531,000 , and the average price per square foot was $247 .

In the past 90 days, there have been a total of 4 condo sales with a median price of $250,000 , and an average price per square foot of $244 in Brea . Also, there were no short sale condos sold in this period of time .

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Motorcycle LED lights have been a popular topic on webBikeWorld since we first started investigating them way back in… could it have been 7 years ago?  Wow!  Time sure flies…

Seven years ago I thought for sure that, seven years hence, LED lights would have completely replaced incandescent bulbs for motorcycle lighting, except maybe for the headlight, which I figured would be probably be powered by something like a cold fusion LED.

And here we are, back to the future — but what happened?  Yep, there are a few bikes here and there with a LED brake lights as original equipment, but surely by now an incandescent bulb would be more of a curiosity than current best practice?

LED lights have very interesting theoretical potential for motorcycle use; they are nearly unaffected by vibration, they don’t get hot, they draw very little current, they last virtually forever and they’re theoretically more resistant to moisture incursion.  And when viewed well within their “cone of visibility” they’re very bright.  Perfect for motorcycles!

But, as we discovered during our many motorcycle LED lighting reviews (see the right column for links), there are two basic problems.  First, LED lights are, by their nature, very directional.  For example, a typical 1157 replacement LED light might have a beam pattern (what we call the “cone of visibility”) of around 18 degrees in the running light mode and 100 degrees for the brake light, compared to an incandescent that has, oh, 300 degrees of total visibility?

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A chin that is well defined will help give balance to a person’s face and will also create a major part of a person’s profile. When a person looks in the mirror, they will usually focus on the shape and size of their nose, sagging jowls, ears, or even the wrinkles in their skin. But even if few people examine their chins, having what people would think of as a “weak chin” is definitely not an asset. Plastic surgeons who specialize in surgeries such as rhinoplasty are often the first person to suggest a change to your chin shape or size with chin implants that will enhance a profile as much as a nose job.

It’s actually fairly common for the facial cosmetic surgeon to recommend a chin augmentation in addition to a rhinoplasty when he or she sees that chin implants are necessary to achieve a balance in your face. Fortunately, this is a very straightforward procedure that is able of creating a major difference.

Many people wonder how a chin implant would be able to help their appearance. Anyone wondering needs to know how the surgery is performed and what improvement they can expect after the procedure. A cosmetic surgeon is able to help you with this. Your doctor will provide you with all the information that you need.

As it is with any elective procedure, realistic expectations and good health are prerequisites. Also, it is key that you understand all of the many aspects of the surgery. A balanced, pleasing profile is able to be achieved by inserting an implant or by moving the bone forward to build up a receding chin. It is even able to reduce a jutting or too prominent chin. The results are capable of being creating a greater harmony to a person’s face and is also able to increase self-esteem.

Another possible way to improve a chin through surgery is with sub mental liposuction. In this procedure, excess fatty tissue will be removed to redefine the neckline or chin. When there is a problem contributed by birth defects or dental malocclusions in the structure to the jaw itself, surgery of the jaw is able to improve the function and form of the lower face and is also able to greatly enhance appearance.

The consultation with your plastic surgeon is able to help you decide on which type of procedure will address your concerns. Your surgeon will also be able to provide you with information about new medical techniques for chin augmentation and can offer recommendations for any supplementary surgery that is able to ensure the greatest facial improvement.

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Last week Sen. David Vitter sent a letter to HHS head Kathleen Sebelius, asking her to remove from the agency’s website the controversial breast cancer screening recommendations issued last fall by the United States Preventive Services Task Force.

Vitter cites an amendment he offered to the health-care overhaul bill banning those recommendations from being used by insurers to restrict or deny coverage of mammography. The USPSTF recs say mammography in women under 50 should not be a blanket policy and should instead be on a case-by-case basis. They also say women between 50 and 74 can get a mammogram every other year rather than annually.

We were a bit confused by the letter – does the health-care overhaul bill require HHS to take down the recs?

Well, no, explains Vitter’s communications director, Joel DiGrado, in an email to the Health Blog, but Vitter wants them taken down anyway. “The senator believes that we should at the least keep the former guidelines that encourage more breast cancer screening to catch the disease early,” he writes. He continues: “The USPSTF recommendations imply that routine breast cancer screening is not necessary and benefits are unclear. Senator Vitter would argue that catching breast cancer early to treat it and saving a life is a pretty big benefit of a breast exam.”

The American College of Radiology, which represents the docs who read mammograms, said in a press release that it “applauds” Vitter for his letter. The WSJ reported in January about the lobbying efforts behind the mammography requirement in the health-overhaul bill by the ACR and other nonprofit groups that receive money from companies that make mammography equipment.

We asked the HHS for comment on Vitter’s request, but haven’t gotten a response.

The USPSTF said women in their 40s should balance the benefit of a mammogram with the potential harms. Those harms: false positives, radiation exposure and subsequent follow-up tests, but also the possibility of diagnosing and treating a cancer in a woman that never would have threatened her life. A special communication published last year in JAMA noted that increased screening for both breast and prostate cancer “may be increasing the burden of low-risk cancers without significantly reducing the burden of more aggressively growing cancers and therefore not resulting in the anticipated reduction in cancer mortality.”

We asked Vitter’s rep and the ACR what they’d have the USPSTF do. DiGrado writes that the USPSTF should accept public comment and input, and that deliberations should be open or made public. Shawn Farley, a spokesman for the ACR, says via email that the task force should “include in the decision making process at least some members who are expert in the subject matter,” and that “other stakeholders should be able to review and comment on [recommendations].”

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