Senior Women Web

Author: SeniorWomenWeb

  • The Louvre’s Breguet Exhibition and the Marie Antoinette

    When you glimpse the production ledger’s page recording the stages of manufacture of Breguet no. 160, the grand complication  watch known as the Marie-Antoinette, the prices these watches can command become more understandable. The actual exhibit ended in September 2009, but can be enjoyed online at the exhibition website.

    Breguet and the Louvre; An Apogee of European Watchmaking
    Through this retrospective of the works of Abraham-Louis Breguet (1747-1823), visitors viewed  the art of watchmaking at its apogee, evidenced by these unique precision timepieces, combining genius, virtuoso techniques and avant-garde aesthetics. Assembled in the exhibition are exceptional loans – watches, clocks and measuring instruments – alongside portraits, archival documents and patents that span Abraham-Louis Breguet’s entire career.

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  • The GAO Testifies About Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Tests

    Misleading Test Results Are Further Complicated by Deceptive Marketing and Other Questionable Practices

    Highlights of GAO-10-847T, a testimony before the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, Committee on Energy and Commerce, House of Representatives

    In 2006, GAO investigated companies selling direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic tests and testified that these companies made medically unproven disease predictions. Although new companies have since been touted as being more reputable — Time named one company’s test 2008’s “invention of the year” —  experts remain concerned that the test results mislead consumers. GAO was asked to investigate DTC genetic tests currently on the market and the advertising methods used to sell these tests.

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  • Reprise of Elizabeth Warren, Woman of Note

    (We constructed this Women of Note item when Elizabeth Warren was first named as head of the TARP oversight panel. Now President Obama is considering her as head of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, a new government entity,created by the financial reform law.)

    Named as the head of the Congressional Panel established to oversee the $700 billion fund (Troubled Asset Relief Program, now referred to as TARP), assigned to help distribute monies authorized to aid the economy, Elizabeth Warren is the Leo Gottlieb Professor of Law at Harvard’s Business School.

    Perhaps what strikes the reader first are Ms. Warren’s research interests, especially the last:

    • Empirical and Policy Work in Bankruptcy and Commercial Law
    • Financially Distressed Companies
    • Women, the Elderly, and the Working Poor in Bankruptcy

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  • Pew Reports, How the Great Recession Has Changed Life in America

    By Wendy Wang and Rich Morin,  Pew Research Center

    Interactive Graphic

    Of the 13 recessions that the American public has endured since the Great Depression of 1929-33, none has presented a more punishing combination of length, breadth and depth than this one.

    A new Pew Research survey finds that 30 months after it began, the Great Recession has led to a downsizing of Americans’ expectations about their retirements and their children’s future; a new frugality in their spending and borrowing habits; and a concern that it could take several years, at a minimum, for their house values and family finances to recover.

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  • A Scrim of Memory; A Meditation on Reunions

    by Joan L. Cannon

    There are a host of freighted words in our wonderful language. They include so many connotations in addition to simple denotations that they almost demand dissertations.

    Think about reunion. Nowadays when the fashion is to press children into adult molds earlier and earlier in their lives, I’ve heard of kindergarten reunions. My own children were invited to eighth grade ones, and it goes on from there. I went to my own 40th high school reunion and my 50th college one. It was that one that made me swear off that kind of gathering.

    The first problem is that we know (if we’re honest about it) that we’re in for surprises both pleasant and not so much. It seems these gatherings force an automatic exercise in comparisons. Every attendee has to face unstated competition as intense as that for college acceptance; it’s just based on different criteria. How have I aged in appearance compared with my classmates? Can I match the average for marriage, number of children, implied income, social status, renown? Who will recall my mortifying gaffes and/or minor triumphs? Will old alliances survive? How about old enmities? Above all, what if no one remembers me?

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  • Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke’s Report to the Congress

    Economic and Financial Developments

    The economic expansion that began in the middle of last year is proceeding at a moderate pace, supported by stimulative monetary and fiscal policies. Although fiscal policy and inventory restocking will likely be providing less impetus to the recovery than they have in recent quarters, rising demand from households and businesses should help sustain growth. In particular, real consumer spending appears to have expanded at about a 2-1/2 percent annual rate in the first half of this year, with purchases of durable goods increasing especially rapidly. However, the housing market remains weak, with the overhang of vacant or foreclosed houses weighing on home prices and construction.

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  • Bedside Consultation and Ethical Issues

    It wasn’t that long ago that the spectre of ‘death panels’ was raised by some attempting to discourage supp0rt of the Affordable Care Act, now signed into law.  We thought we would present the explanation of what a bedside consultation from California’s Stanford Hospital could make available to a patient’s family as well as guidelines from the Montefiore Bioethics Consultation staff in New York City.

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  • Tracking Your METs in Exercise — Rethink Golfing

    METs, or metabolic equivalent of task, is a measure of energy. Dr. Bill Haskell from Stanford University conceptualized the Compendium of Physical Activities Guide according to the University of  South Carolina’s Arnold School of Public Health.

    We’ve learned from the Guide that “METS for certain golfing activities were revised downward from 1993 estimates based on measurement of the activity using indirect calorimetry.”  Uh-oh.  Put down the putter and pick up a mop,  ax (if you’re like the late President, Ronald Reagan, and like to chop wood while vacationing) or a jump rope.

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  • Shop for Home at HausInterior

    HausInterior.com: For a shopping experience which relies on the out-of-the-ordinary gift choices, start with a blueprint pad for $11, resin antlers for $38.50 apiece,  and  a blue striped pillow for $58.00. A super-absorbent towel can be used as a beach towel or outdoor throw, measuring  78 x 38 inches (with different color combinations available) for  $74. Classic plaid and striped rugs are perfect for cottages, entries and bedrooms require a phone call to determine size and price. A canoe wire basket holds all those extras in the bathroom ($35.00) and wallpapers are subtle in color and tone but amusing for adults and children, featuring polar bears, cricket bats,  zebras and appropriately hued pink ostriches . For vintage Navy ribbon-award inspired pillows, pick a deserving recipient.

    Nina Freudenberger graduated with a Bachelor’s in Architecture from the Rhode Island School of Design.  Nina opened Haus Interior in 2007 and in June of 2009, Haus Interior opened a flagship retail space and studio in the heart of Nolita, NYC.

  • America On the Move (Including the Obamas)

    This warm, warm summer has prompted vacationers to seek the cool as well as new (and old) attractions. Even the First Family is exploring new vistas. Could they include the *Chelsea Clinton’s wedding on July 31st?

    The Smithsonian National Museum of American History presents an online exhibit, America On the Move. The Transportation Before 1876 section explores “the ways that improved American transportation networks that helped create new links within the country.   See how the nation’s growing numbers of steamships, roads, canals, and railroads — including the first transcontinental railroad in 1869 — created skeins of connection in the nation. Take a look at a map of America in 1876 — the country’s centennial year — and see how the transportation systems had developed into an increasingly national network.”

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