This site might be a problem for me

www.sortingwithstyle.com

Breast-Feeding Benefits Mothers, Study Finds

The New York Times says:

Most doctors agree that breast-feeding is best for babies’ health.

Now a large study suggests that the practice benefits mothers as well: women who have breast-fed, it says, are at lower risk than mothers who have not for developing high blood pressure, diabetes and cardiovascular disease decades later, when they are in menopause.

The benefits increase with duration of past breast-feeding, the study found.

Women who had breast-fed for more than a year in their entire lifetimes were almost 10 percent less likely than those who had never breast-fed to have had a heart attack or a stroke in their postmenopausal years.

They were also less likely to have diabetes, hypertension and high cholesterol.

Breast-feeders “may be healthier women who take better care of themselves,” said Dr. Nieca Goldberg, medical director of the N.Y.U. Women’s Heart Center.

“This is a nice association,” Dr. Goldberg said of the findings, “but we don’t know from the study what the physiological mechanism is.”

Baby Surprise Jacket

Just finished -- with the addition of buttons -- earlier this week. Presentation is tomorrow, hope the mommy likes it! Miss Tasha sure does:

Art Linkletter....amazing

Heydey gone, N.H. granite artisans carve out a new niche

In honor of earth day

Find 84 ways you can help the planet, courtesy of Boston.com.

Some of the ideas ain't bad!

Video of the Day

Name Not on Our List? Change It, China Says

“Ma,” a Chinese character for horse, is the 13th most common family name in China, shared by nearly 17 million people.

That can cause no end of confusion when Mas get together, especially if those Mas also share the same given name, as many Chinese do.

Ma Cheng’s book-loving grandfather came up with an elegant solution to this common problem. Twenty-six years ago, when his granddaughter was born, he combed through his library of Chinese dictionaries and lighted upon a character pronounced “cheng.”

Cheng, which means galloping steeds, looks just like the character for horse, except that it is condensed and written three times in a row.

The character is so rare that once people see it, Miss Ma said, they tend to remember both her and her name. That is one reason she likes it so much.

That is also why the government wants her to change it.

For Ma Cheng and millions of others, Chinese parents’ desire to give their children a spark of individuality is colliding head-on with the Chinese bureaucracy’s desire for order.

Seeking to modernize its vast database on China’s 1.3 billion citizens, the government’s Public Security Bureau has been replacing the handwritten identity card that every Chinese must carry with a computer-readable one, complete with color photos and embedded microchips.

The new cards are harder to forge and can be scanned at places like airports where security is a priority.

The bureau’s computers, however, are programmed to read only 32,252 of the roughly 55,000 Chinese characters, according to a 2006 government report.

The result is that Miss Ma and at least some of the 60 million other Chinese with obscure characters in their names cannot get new cards — unless they change their names to something more common.

The future of horse racing

Even with the approach of Triple Crown season, the sport has problems. Almost too many to count.

In many ways, this year's Kentucky Derby, just 11 days away, will be a horse of a different color.

The actual two minutes of racing should not be a departure from the past. There will be a large field. The start will be a cavalry charge. The best horse may or may not win, depending on jockey pilot success in finding a crack in the usual Great Wall of Churchill that the horses create as they turn for home.

And, within 30 seconds of the winner's crossing the finish line, the horse's connections will be asked about winning a Triple Crown.Indeed, the Derby is the happiest time of the year for racing.

But then, this year's especially needs to be, because much in the sport leading up to it hasn't been a belly laugh.

PMC rider meets goals despite unemployment

If he can do it, then I definitely can:

Watch this at Boston.com

Video of the Day: "Building a throne for his holiness."

Tibetans in Malden and Medford hand-craft a throne for the Dalai Lama's upcoming visit to Boston.

Plugging my husband (the really tall performer in the Red shirt)

And, of course, the new Artistic Director at the a.r.t.....

Marathon 101: Getting from Hopkinton to Copley

So, you're running the Boston Marathon for the first time. You havetrained, studied the course, hopefully sought the counsel of those who haverun before.

But how familiar are you with the grueling, 26.2-mile trek fromHopkinton to Copley Square?

The Boston Globe asked two marathon veterans -- Jack Fultz,winner of the 1976 race, and Michael McGrane, an eight-time competitor,to offer some keys to a successful race.

1) Resist the temptation to start fast. It is easy to do -- your adrenalineis flowing, and the first several miles are downhill. But hold back. If youdon't, you will almost inevitably fail later. "It's the single biggestmistake runners of the Boston Marathon make," Fultz says. "If you don'tfeel like you're going too slow, you're going too fast."

2) Yes, it will be immensely frustrating to watch scores of runners passyou early in the course, especially the ones who look drunk, obese, asleep,or otherwise ill-suited for rigorous cardiovascular activity. But let thempass you, veteran runners say. If you conserve your energy, you will be theone cruising later on while your compatriots are passed out by the Gatoradestation. "You should run your own race," McGrane says. "You should not getcaught up with anyone around you, especially if you think you should bebeating them based on the way they look."

3) Do not let any person or any map tell you that Wellesley is the half-waypoint. Forget the mileage -- it is nowhere near the mid-point physically ormentally, veterans say. This can be especially hard to remember as you baskin the screams from the Wellesley College students. Enjoy the livelyatmosphere and maybe even high-five a few spectators, veterans say, but donot pick up your pace. Do not run like you are almost there. "Energy-wise,it's only about a third of the way to the finish line," Fultz says.

4) Everyone knows that Heartbreak Hill in Newton is a killer, but fixatingon it alone misses the larger picture. First of all, Heartbreak is one ofseveral hills in Newton; some runners say the hills preceding it are whereyou will know how well you have trained. Second, you may find that thehardest thing about Heartbreak isn't the uphill portion but the downhillafterwards. Just when you think you're home free, don't be surprised ifyour quad muscles feel like they're being stabbed with sharp pencils. "Onceyou make it on top of Heartbreak Hill, a lot of people think, 'OK, I'vemade it. I've really made it,'" Fultz says. "That's not necessarily so."

5) Just as you are dying for any indication of the finish line, the Citgosign in Kenmore Square -- the one-mile-to-go marker -- appears like abeacon. But veteran runners say not to pray to this false god too soon,because it is visible for several miles as you run toward downtown onBeacon Street. "You can see it for a little too long," McGrane says. Fultzadds, "It's like running on a treadmill. You're running, but it feels likeyou're not getting anywhere."

Good luck to everyone running Monday!

AIDS patients in the South find little support

As the region tries to catch up in HIV/AIDS care and awareness, many with the disease struggle with limited medical services and the stigma.

"Some states have significantly less money to engage in disease prevention in their communities, and either the state will have to make up the difference, which is hard to do in these economic times, or there will be harsh outcomes," said Jeff Levi, executive director of Trust for America's Health, a nonprofit advocating disease prevention.

A new study by the trust found that during the economic downturn, Midwestern and Southern states are receiving the least federal funding from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to spend on public health, including AIDS.

Reasons for the funding disparities include lack of money available to the CDC and states failing to aggressively apply for all available funds.

"Without equitable spending across the country, where you live will determine how well you live," Levi said.

The CDC said urban areas, particularly in the Northeast, continue to experience the greatest fallout from AIDS.
The Northeast had the highest AIDS case rate per 100,000 in 2007 at 16.4, followed by the South at 15.1.

The South, however, accounted for 46.4% of new AIDS cases in 2007 and has the greatest number of people estimated to be living with AIDS, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation analysis of CDC data.

Will Boston have a Stanley Cup this year?

Part of us is not prepared.

The Bruins begin the playoffs Thursday, against the Canadiens no less, and they are the favorites, the heavies, the Eastern Conference regular-season champs with scoring punch and goaltending, with creds and cachet.




It's good to be a Bruin again, and it's even OK to be a fan of the Bruins again. No longer is it necessary to seek out that one Black-and-Gold confidant at the office party, steal into a corner, and discuss, sotto voce, the merits of the Shawn Thornton-Stephane Yelle-Byron Bitz checking line or the hybrid netminding style of Tim Thomas.

Takes a while to adjust to not being the butt end of everyone's jokes, doesn't it?

(Just try being the only girl you know that likes the Bruins. Trust me, dudes don't want to talk hockey with ya. Unless you're my brother, who humors me.)

Different takes on the Green Line project

Happy Easter Week

The Raised Garden Box Kit is designed to simplify the process of assembling a raised bed garden, making food production feasible for green thumbs and the garden challenged alike.

The Kit allows for gardens of variable sizes and lengths, making it ideal for urban settings with soil and space constraints.

The kit makes sustainable food production possible for just about anyone. In order to be as ecofriendly as possible, it requires securing your own timber (ideally regionally harvested lumber, salvaged wood, composite decking, or other reclaimed material).

Then simply follow the instructions using the enclosed brackets and screws to make a box in whatever size you like.

Score some soil, plant some seeds, fill out the garden ID tags, and watch your garden grow.

DNA test outperforms pap smear

A new DNA test for the virus that causes cervical cancer does so much better than current methods that some gynecologists hope it will eventually replace the Pap smear in wealthy countries and cruder tests in poor ones.

Not only could the new test for human papillomavirus, or HPV, save lives; scientists say that women over 30 could drop annual Pap smears and instead have the DNA test just once every 3, 5 or even 10 years, depending on which expert is asked.

Their optimism is based on an eight-year study of 130,000 women in India financed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and published last week in The New England Journal of Medicine.

It is the first to show that a single screening with the DNA test beats all other methods at preventing advanced cancer and death.

When all you have left is your pride

Look around you. On the train platform, at the bus stop, in the car pool lane: these days someone there is probably faking it, maintaining a job routine without having a job to go to.

The Wall Street type in suspenders, with his bulging briefcase; the woman in pearls, thumbing her BlackBerry; the builder in his work boots and tool belt — they could all be headed for the same coffee shop, or bar, for the day.

“I have a new client, a laid-off lawyer, who’s commuting in every day — to his Starbucks,” said Robert C. Chope, a professor of counseling at San Francisco State University and president of the employment division of the American Counseling Association. “He gets dressed up, meets with colleagues, networks; he calls it his Western White House. I have encouraged him to keep his routine.”

The fine art of keeping up appearances may seem shallow and deceitful, the very embodiment of denial.

But manypsychologists beg to differ.

Honestly, you ONLY get fined $100 for parking in a bus stop??

Boston Globe says:

Tempted to park in that MBTA bus space? Better think twice. A new law that goes into effect today will sharpen the bite of the ticket you might get.

The law raises tickets to $100 for parking at bus stops. Under the previous policy, each city set its own fine. Boston’s was $55.

(For real??? No wonder you see all those Mercedes SUVs chillin' there. That's a drop in the bucket for those peeps.)

US weapons cuts could put N.E. jobs in jeopardy

Defense contractors, high-tech firms, and manufacturing plants are bracing for thousands of potential layoffs across New England resulting from the Obama administration's plans to cancel or delay key weapons programs, according to company officials, union representatives, and members of Congress.

A metal works plant in North Grafton, Mass., that shapes titanium for use in the Air Force's F-22 fighter jet stands to lose as much as one-fifth of its workforce if production is halted, while more than 2,000 jobs could be lost at divisions of United Technologies in Connecticut that build the jet's engine and electrical power systems, officials say.

More than 2,000 employees at Raytheon Co. facilities in Tewksbury, Andover, and Portsmouth, R.I., are working on the combat and radar systems for the Navy's Zumwalt class destroyer, another program widely expected to be cut. Many workers could lose their jobs or be transferred out of the area if construction of the warship is halted, according to the officials.

And firms large and small - including General Dynamics in Taunton and iRobot in Bedford - are keeping a close eye on the fate of the Army's set of next-generation ground combat vehicles, which rely on a host of computer systems and communications developed in the Bay State, but are also on the chopping block.

WHDH-TV snubs Leno as 10 p.m. program

WHDH-TV Channel 7, Boston's NBC affiliate, is refusing to air Jay Leno's new talk show in the lucrative 10 p.m. hour in favor of its own hourlong local news show, and NBC doesn't like it one bit.

"WHDH's move is a flagrant violation of the terms of their contract with NBC," said John Eck, president of NBC Television Network.

"If they persist, we will strip WHDH of its NBC affiliation. We have a number of other strong options in the Boston market, including using our existing broadcast license to launch an NBC-owned and operated station."



Strike ten against WHDH in my book.

Gabriel García Márquez, literary giant, lays down his pen

He is the 82-year old giant of Latin American literature who pioneered the school of magical realism and inspired a generation of novelists.

But Gabriel Garcia Marquez has barely written a word since his last novel, Memoirs of My Melancholy Whores, came out to distinctly mixed reviews five years ago.

Now fans of the Colombian author are facing the prospect that, after a career spanning half a century, Garcia Marquez has finally laid down his pen for good.

His agent, Carmen Balcells, told the Chilean newspaper La Tercera : "I don't think that García Márquez will write anything else."

Boston City Councilor John Tobin is calling on the new owner of the John Hancock Tower to reopen the skytop public observation deck, which has been closed since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Tobin yesterday made the request of Normandy Real Estate Partners, which along with its investment partner assumed ownership of Boston's tallest building at an auction earlier this week.

The city councilor argued that security concerns no longer justify keeping the space on the tower's 60th floor closed, especially since similar public spaces have been reopened at the Empire State Building in New York and at other skyscrapers nationwide.

"Why is this the only observation deck in North America that did not reopen after 9/11?" he said.

Sarah Rodman: Why I stuck with ER

She might be the only one who understands. I don't think anyone I'm related to actually knows I still watch the show. I fought with my Mom to let me stay up to 10 p.m. when the show first came on, and I was 12, and I'll be on my couch tonight, probably folding laundry and tuning in to the last episode just like Sarah.
She says:

Over the course of its 15-year run and umpteen cast changes, the show may have fallen out of favor with many viewers, Emmy voters, and TV critics, but I've never been able to kick the habit. I may have been unfaithful, but I never abandoned "ER" completely. I would just slink back to it on VHS or in my DVR, admittedly on a night when I had nothing better to do than listen distractedly to the same old stories while I paid the bills or folded the laundry.
After 15 seasons I can't stop watching until the show flatlines forever.

Fighting frizz with science in Kendall Square

Robert Langer is a powerhouse in medical research. Last year, this MIT professor won the prestigious Millennium Technology Prize, which recognizes tech innovation. He's created a bandage to be used inside the body inspired by the webbed feet of geckos. He's exploring nanotechnology to battle cancer.

But one Langer invention is creating a stir in the beauty world. It's called polyfluoroester, and the molecule is the basis of a new line of products that Langer and his scientific team have created for Cambridge company Living Proof.

So, what does said molecule do? It tames frizzy hair.




The $24 product, called NoFrizz, won Allure magazine's Beauty Breakthrough award last fall, and was unveiled on QVC in January and at Sephora cosmetics stores in February.

"It gets a lot of buzz and then you have to have it," says Stephanie Kostas, a 30-year-old New Haven resident who learned about NoFrizz on the popular beauty products review website, MakeupAlley (http://www.makeupalley.com/). Kostas says Living Proof's six NoFrizz formulations are some of the most talked about items on MUA's boards at the moment.

Since the 1980s, the hair industry has relied heavily on silicone-based products to combat the frizz that occurs when hair encounters water or humidity. But silicone has drawbacks: It can weigh down hair and make it look greasy.

In polyfluoroester, Langer found an alternative that avoids those problems

Autism Rates Are Higher for U.S.-Born Somali Children in Minneapolis

New York Times:
Confirming the fears of Somali immigrants in Minneapolis, the Minnesota Health Department agreed Tuesday that young Somali children there appeared to have higher-than-usual rates of autism.

Though health officials emphasized that their report was based on very limited data, they concluded that young Somali children appeared to be two to seven times as likely as other children to be in classes for autistic pupils.

Dr. Sanne Magnan, the state health commissioner, said the finding was “consistent with the observations by parents,” who have been saying for more than a year that alarming numbers of Somali children born in this country have severe autism.
Somalis began immigrating into the area in the 1990s, fleeing civil war in their homeland.

Great tips, from my mom

DID YOU KNOW?

• Peel a banana from the bottom and you won't have to pick the little 'stringy things' off of it. That's how the primates do it.
• Take your bananas apart when you get home from the store. If you leave them connected at the stem, they ripen faster.
  Store your opened chunks of cheese in aluminum foil. It will stay fresh much longer and not mold!
• Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating. Peppers with 4 bumps on the bottom are firmer and better for cooking.
• Add a teaspoon of water when frying ground beef. It will help pull the grease away from the meat while cooking.
• To really make scrambled eggs or omelets rich add a couple of spoonfuls of sour cream, cream cheese, or heavy cream in and then beat them up.
• For a cool brownie treat, make brownies as directed. Melt Andes mints in double broiler and pour over warm brownies. Let set for a wonderful minty frosting.
• Add garlic immediately to a recipe if you want a light taste of garlic and at the end of the recipe if your want a stronger taste of garlic.
• Leftover snickers bars from Halloween make a delicious dessert. Simply chop them up with the food chopper. Peel, core and slice a few apples. Place them in a baking dish and sprinkle the chopped candy bars over the apples. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes! Serve alone or with vanilla ice cream. Yummm!
• Reheat Pizza Heat up leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove, set heat to med-low and heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro pizza. I saw this on the cooking channel and it really works.
• Easy Deviled Eggs: Put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag. Seal, mash till they are all broken up. Add remainder of ingredients, reseal, keep mashing it up mixing thoroughly, cut the tip of the baggy, squeeze mixture into egg. Just throw bag away when done easy clean up.
• Expanding Frosting: When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with your mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size. You get to frost more cake/cupcakes with the same amount. You also eat less sugar and calories per serving.
• Reheating refrigerated bread: To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, place them in a microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will keep the food moist and help it reheat faster.
• Newspaper weeds away: Start putting in your plants, work the nutrients in your soil. Wet newspapers, put layers around the plants overlapping as you go cover with mulch and for- get about weeds. Weeds will get through some gardening plastic they will not get through wet newspapers.
• Broken Glass: Use a wet cotton ball or Q-tip to pick up the small shards of glass you can't see easily.
• No More Mosquitoes: Place a dryer sheet in your pocket. It will keep the mosquitoes away.
• Squirrel Away! To keep squirrels from eating your plants, sprinkle your plants with cayenne pepper. The cayenne pepper doesn't hurt the plant and the squirrels won't come near it.
• Flexible vacuum: To get something out of a heat register or under the fridge add an empty paper towel roll or empty gift wrap roll to your vacuum. It can be bent or flattened to get in narrow openings.
• Reducing Static Cling: Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not have a clingy skirt or dress. Same thing works with slacks that cling when wearing panty hose. Place pin in seam of slacks and ... ta da! ... static is gone.
• Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill with hot water. Dump out the hot water, but don't dry cup. Next, add your ingredient, such as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes right out.
• Foggy Windshield? Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glove box of your car When the window s fog, rub with the eraser! Works better than a cloth!
• Reopening envelope If you seal an envelope and then realize you forgot to include something inside, just place your sealed envelope in the freezer for an hour or two. Viola! It unseals easily.
• Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It's cheaper than shaving cream and leaves your legs really smooth. It's also a great way to use up the conditioner you bought but didn't like when you tried it in your hair.
• Goodbye Fruit Flies: To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass, fill it 1/2' with Apple Cider Vinegar and 2 drops of dish washing liquid; mix well. You will find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever!
• Get Rid of Ants: Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants. They eat it, take it 'home,' can't digest it so it kills them. It may take a week or so, especially if it rains, but it works and you don't have the worry about pets or small children being harmed!

INFO ABOUT CLOTHES DRYERS

The heating unit went out on my dryer! The gentleman that fixes things around the house for us told us that he wanted to show us something and he went over to the dryer and pulled out the lint filter. It was clean. (I always clean the lint from the fil- ter after every load clothes.) He told us that he wanted to show us something; he took the filter over to the sink and ran hot water over it. The lint filter is made of a mesh material ... I'm sure you know what your dryer's lint filter looks like. Well ... the hot water just sat on top of the mesh! It didn't go through it at all! He told us that dryer sheets cause a film over that mesh that's what burns out the heating unit. You can't SEE the film, but it's there. It's what is in the dryer sheets to make your clothes soft and static free ... that nice fragrance too. You know how they can feel waxy when you take them out of the box ... well this stuff builds up on your clothes and on your lint screen. This is also what causes dryer units to potentially burn your house down with it! He said the best way to keep your dryer working for a very long time (and to keep your electric bill lower) is to take that filter out and wash it with hot soapy water and an old toothbrush (or other brush) at least every six months. He said that makes the life of the dryer at least twice as long! How about that!?! Learn something new everyday! I certainly didn't know dryer sheets would do that.

'New look, new Hair'

I love Hair. I'm not sure *now* is the best time for it to come back, if ever, but it's here anyway.

The New York Times says in its review:

This emotionally rich revival of “The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical” from
1967 delivers what Broadway otherwise hasn’t felt this season: the intense,
unadulterated joy and anguish of that bi-polar state called youth.

If you want to get really annoyed, really quickly, listen to this audio slideshow about moving the show from Central Park to the Al Hirschfeld Theatre. You've never heard the word "tribe" so many times in your life -- unless, of course, you've been in Hair and know that's what they call the cult cast.

Cape native Andy Hallett, actor, dies at 33

Andy Hallett, a singer who gained fame portraying a green-skinned demon on the dark vampire series "Angel," died Sunday night at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County coroner's office said Tuesday.
He was 33.

Hallett had called 911 Sunday evening complaining of shortness of breath, said Ed Winter, a coroner's spokesman.
The actor was rushed to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 8:35 p.m.
An autopsy is pending.

Hallett was born in 1975 in the village of Osterville, Mass., part of the town of Barnstable, on Cape Cod. He attended Assumption College in Worcester and studied business.

Man tries out 50 jobs in 50 states

His last stop? California, to make a movie about his journey. He should really write a book.

For the first time in 30 years, Fenway Franks will be made locally!

See how: