What’s New
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Rose Madeline Mula: If You Can’t Stand the Heat
Rose Madeline Mula Writes: “It was with considerable trepidation, therefore, that I entered the kitchen of my hostess, the legendary actress, Joan Fontaine, one long-ago Thanksgiving morning, to offer my assistance. Acting was not Miss Fontaine’s only talent. Not by a long shot. She was also a hole-in-one golfer, a prize-winning fisherwoman, a hot air…
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An Undocumented Childhood by Rose Madeline Mula
Rose Mula Writes: Some people never leave home without their American Express card; I never leave home without a camera. Digitized pictures of the twenty-five countries and forty-plus states of America that I’ve visited since my first tour of exotic New Hampshire constantly flash on my computer monitors and digital frames throughout my home, helping…
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Julia Sneden Wrote: Love Your Library
Julia Sneden Wrote: My mind’s eye can still see the face of the Children’s Librarian, although I have long since forgotten her name. We will be wise to continue to back up our knowledge of history and literature and art and science with hard copy. She kept up with my reading level, suggesting writers and…
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Julia Sneden Wrote: If The Shoe Fits … You Can Bet It’s Not Fashionable
Julia Sneden Wrote: My mother was a mini Imelda Marcos. She kept upwards of 40 pairs of shoes well into her 80’s, and was crushed when she had to give up high heels following a heart attack at the age of 89. Her sole criterion in buying shoes was style, not comfort, and she was…
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Joan L.Cannon Wrote: A Family Inheritance: More Than ‘Things’ … Emblems of Our Lives
Joan Cannon wrote: As one advances in years, one accumulates possessions the way a caddis fly larva accumulates grit. The glue that makes us carry it all along with us is in a way self-secreted as well. However, it’s psychic rather than physical — emotional rather than material. Perhaps the most obvious example is a…
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Julia Sneden Wrote: Old Dogs, New Tricks
Julia Sneden wrote: At the age of 37, I started a new career as a kindergarten teacher. My first day on the job, the lead teacher, who was in her 70’s and scared me every bit as much as she scared the children, watched me writing a note. “You’ll have to change the way you…
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Joan Cannon Writes: Finding the Right Excuse; Committing Words to Paper Because …
Joan Cannon Writes: Think of the poets and novelists and playwrights whose words sink into the consciousness of thousands and even millions and remain there, as emblems, guides, beacons of hope or warnings of disasters, and the excuse (as if one is needed) presents itself. Maybe there’s information or a revelation for some unknown viewer…
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Joan Cannon Asked: What is a Book Club? An Old-Fashioned Book Report? A Program Given By an Author? What Is the Accepted Practice?
Joan L. Cannnon wrote: A year or so ago, I was invited to attend a tea given by the combined membership of all the book clubs in the town where I now live. A presentation was scheduled for the proprietor of the much-loved local independent book store cum gift shop. She is a legend in…
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Over-The-Counter Pills Left Out of FDA Acetaminophen Limits
Jeff Gerth and T. Christian Miller: As documented in a ProPublica series last year, the FDA has delayed for decades enacting tougher rules on acetaminophen. While generally considered safe when taken as recommended, relatively small overdoses have been shown to cause liver damage and even death. Ninfa Redmond, a toxicologist who helped carry out the…
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Last Vermeer to Remain in Private Hands: A Young Woman Seated at a Virginal
Aside from a picture owned by Queen Elizabeth II of England, this is the only other Vermeer known to be owned privately. It is also the most recent to be firmly attributed to the master. In addition to myriad investigations in the 1990s and after, recent analysis has found that it was painted on canvas…
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Which States Will Generate Jobs in 2014? “A Breakout Year”
Pamela Prah writes: After four years of a fragile and uneven recovery, the US job machine is likely to kick into high gear in 2014. Even recession-battered states such as Arizona and Florida are expected to generate jobs at a healthier clip. Overall, the economy is projected to generate 2.6 million jobs in 2014 year,…
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A New Woman In the House, Women’s Health and Proposed HR 7’s Effect on It
Dr. Susan Wood, director, Jacobs Institute of Women’s Health, School of Public Health and Health Services, George Washington University, testified about the impact of [H.R. 7] on the private insurance market. “It is the nature of health insurance that insurers may no longer provide plans that include coverage which would come with burdensome regulatory requirements…
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Beauty Balms and Color Correctors: Reducing Toxic Exposures Found in Moisturizers, Foundation and Sunscreens
The Environmental Working Group’s report reveals that a consumer using a Beauty Balm or Color Correcting cream would typically be exposed to an average of 40 chemical ingredients, while someone using three separate products — foundation, moisturizer and sunscreen — would be exposed to an average of 70 chemical ingredients.
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A Polar Hurricane or Cyclone; The Vortex Explained By A Climate Thinker
What’s a Polar Vortex? Want to know more about the frigid blast of air that’s been sweeping the country this week? Dr. John Holdren, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology and Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology offers a two minute explanation well illustrated.
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Questions You Always Wanted to Ask: Reverse Mortgages
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released additional resources for consumers as part of its campaign to educate the public about the new protections provided by the Bureau’s mortgage rules. These new materials include sample letters that consumers can send to their mortgage servicers.
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Are There Enough Doctors for the Newly Insured; A Far Less Attractive Career Choice
According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, unless something changes rapidly, there will be a shortage of 45,000 primary care doctors in the US (as well as a shortfall of 46,000 specialists) by 2020. Today nearly 20% live in areas with an insufficient number of primary care doctors; 16% live in areas with too…
