Fashion

Oscar de la Renta :
Spring 2008

Oscar de la Renta has designed a marvelous bridal collection for the upcoming Spring/Summer 2008 season.

Colors used in the Spring 2008 collection are on the white and ivory tone sides of the palette, matched with soft grays. Shiny crystals and sparkling stones which have embellished the top of the gowns are used to strengthen the richness. Elegantly refined, plain yet chic, Oscar de la Renta brides will fulfill their wedding days with their glamorous moments.

Ivory silk faille strapless gowns with detachable over-skirts, ivory silk faille strapless gowns with crystal embroidered belts, white tulle twist-front draped polka dot empire gowns, embroidered gowns with ribbon lattice work and organza florets and white chiffon off-the-shoulder twist front empire gowns are the collection's and also the ad campaign's highlights.

BIOGRAPHY:
Oscar de la Renta left his native Dominican Republic at 18 years of age to study painting at the Academy of San Fernando in Madrid. While living in Spain, he became interested in the world of design and began sketching for leading Spanish fashion houses, which soon led to an apprenticeship with SpainÕs most renowned couturier, Cristobal Balenciaga.
Later, Oscar de la Renta left Spain to join Antonio Castillo as a couture assistant at the house of Lanvin in Paris.

In 1963, Oscar de la Renta came to New York to design the couture collection for Elizabeth Arden.
In 1965, Mr. de la Renta began his signature ready-to-wear label.

The Oscar de la Renta label is comprised of the Signature ready-to-wear collection and Pink Label. To complement these designs, the Fall 2001 runway show marked the debut of Oscar de la Renta Accessories; bags, belts, jewelry, scarves and shoes.

The world of Oscar de la Renta also includes a high end sportswear collection (OSCAR by Oscar de la Renta), cosmetic cases, eyewear, furs, jewelry, lingerie, scarves, sleepwear, and swimwear.
For men, Mr. de la Renta licenses products, including hosiery, sportcoats, suits, and trousers. In South and Central America and Mexico there is a Sportswear line for men and boys and OSCAR JEANS, for men and women.

Mr. de la Renta has also ventured into the home with both furniture and home fragrance collections, jewelry, eyewear, lingerie, luggage, swimwear, fragrance, and furs. Other collections made by the company are sold under the OSCAR by Oscar de la Renta and Pink Label brands (the latter licensed to Kellwood).

2002 marks the debut of Intrusion, the latest Oscar de la Renta fragrance for women. Oscar de la Renta launched his first perfume, Oscar, in 1977. Today, Oscar is a bestseller in over 70 countries and winner of the 1991 Fragrance Foundation Perennial Success Award. In 1980, he created a fragrance for men, Pour Lui.

In 1995, Oscar de la Renta was the recipient of the Living Legend Award from the American Society of Perfumes. In the fall of 1999, Oscar de la Renta introduced Oscar for Men.
Oscar de la RentaÕs talents receive continual international recognition. Among many other honors, Oscar de la Renta received the CFDA (Council of Fashion Designers of America) Womenswear Designer of the Year Award in 2000. In February 1990, he was honored with the CFDA Lifetime Achievement Award.

From 1973 to 1976, and from 1986 to 1988, Oscar de la Renta served as President of the CFDA. He is also a two-time winner of the Coty American Fashion CriticÕs Award and was inducted into the Coty Hall of Fame in 1973.
With his spring 1993 collection for the house of Pierre Balmain, Oscar de la Renta became the first American to design for a French couture house and has been awarded the French Legion dÕHonneur as a Commandeur.

From 1973 to 1976, and from 1986 to 1988, Oscar de la Renta served as President of the CFDA. He is also a two-time winner of the Coty American Fashion CriticÕs Award and was inducted into the Coty Hall of Fame in 1973.
With his spring 1993 collection for the house of Pierre Balmain, Oscar de la Renta became the first American to design for a French couture house and has been awarded the French Legion dÕHonneur as a Commandeur.

WThe Dominican Republic has also honored its best known native son as one of its most distinguished citizens with the order al MŽrito de Juan Pablo Duarte and the order of Crist—bal Col—n. In 1996, Mr. de la Renta received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Hispanic Heritage Society and in 2000 he marched down Fifth Avenue as Grand Marshall of New York CityÕs Hispanic Day Parade.
Also in 2000, Mr. de la Renta received the Gold Medal of Bellas Artes from the King of Spain.

Oscar de la Renta has also helped build a much needed school and day-care center in the Dominican Republic for 1,200 children.
Oscar de la Renta is a tireless patron of the arts. He serves as a board member of The Metropolitan Opera, Carnegie Hall, and Channel Thirteen/WNET. He is also on the boards of important cultural institutions such as New Yorkers for Children, the Americas Society, and the Spanish Institute.

Oscar de la Renta sells its products in upscale department stores and specialty stores worldwide. Apparel is produced in the US. Dominican Republic-born designer and owner Oscar de la Renta and partner Ben Shaw (now deceased) founded the company in 1966.

Gadgets

Swiftpoint SLIDER

When I’m using my laptop for any length of time I grow tired of using the trackpad. I almost always keep a travel mouse with me, which is a good alternative, however, if you don’t have a good mousing surface you may want to look into this Swiftpoint SLIDER.

This tiny gadget is actually a mouse, or at least that’s the closest thing I can compare it to. There are a couple of ways to hold it, either grip it similar to a pen (shown above) or you can lie it down and move it with your thumb sitting on top of it. It will work on most flat surfaces, including on top of your laptop keyboard. I’ll use my travel mouse on the palm rests just below the keyboard, but that’s not always enough room, so this would certainly give you a larger area to work with.

Video Games

Guitar Hero

Guitar Hero is a music video game developed by Harmoniz Music System and published by RedOctance for the Play Station 2 video game console. It is the first entry in the Guitar Hero series. Guitar Hero was released on November 8, 2005 in North America.

The game features a Guitar-shaped peripheral that the player uses to simulate the playing of rock music. The game play is very similar to the Guitar freaks, in that the player uses the guitar controller to hit scrolling musical notes. The game features covers of 30 popular rock songs spanning fives decades of rock, from the 1960s to current music.

Guitar Hero became a surprise hit, earning critical acclaim and winning many awards from major video game publications. The game's success launched the billion-dollar Guitar Hero

franchise, spawning the sequels Guitar Hero II, Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s, and Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock.

News

Obama: Give economy $50 billion boost

With a big jump in the unemployment rate and record oil prices, Barack Obama says he wants to extend benefits for those out of work and send out more rebate checks.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- On the first day of what is to be a two-week economic tour around the country, Barack Obama said Monday that lawmakers should inject another $50 billion immediately into the sluggish U.S. economy.

The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee cited the largest monthly increase in the unemployment rate in over 20 years, and record highs in oil prices, food prices and foreclosures.

"Such relief can't wait until the next president takes office. ... That's why I've called for another round of fiscal stimulus, an immediate $50 billion to help those who've been hit hardest by this economic downturn," Obama told a crowd in Raleigh, N.C.

He said that he supports the expansion and extension of unemployment benefits, as well as a second round of tax rebate checks.

Last week, Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill said that the latest unemployment rate shows that Congress and the Bush administration need to do more to help workers and the unemployed. And they called for a second round of fiscal stimulus.

An economic stimulus package that passed in early February featured tax rebates that are now being sent to more than 130 million Americans. On Friday, the Treasury Department reported that so far it has sent out nearly 67 million stimulus payments worth approximately $57 billion.

Extending unemployment insurance benefits was one measure tossed out of that legislation, but it's considered a leading contender if more stimulus is put in place. One bill, expected to go to the House floor for consideration this week, calls for an additional 13 weeks of benefits to be added to what is typically a 26-week cap on federal payments. In addition, it calls for 13 weeks on top of that for workers in states with very high unemployment rates.

Obama didn't offer details about how much money could go toward rebates and how much would be used to pay for benefits extensions. But the $50 billion in total stimulus that he's calling for represents less than a third of the $170 billion earmarked for the first stimulus package, the bulk of which is being spent on rebates. And the jury is still out on how successful those rebates will be stimulating the economy.

More economic proposals to come

Obama in his speech criticized his Republican rival, John McCain, for proposing to extend all of President Bush's 2001 and 2003 tax cuts.

But Obama himself has taken a page from Bush's playbook on taxes.

Obama has pledged to keep the tax cuts in place for everyone except those making roughly $250,000 and up. He has also made proposals to cut taxes further for the middle class, some of which he reiterated in his speech: exempt seniors making less than $50,000 from having to pay income tax; give a tax credit worth up to $500 per working person ($1,000 per family) to offset the Social Security tax on the first $8,100 of earnings; and expand the earned income tax credit.

To boost retirement savings, he has also proposed a 50% federal match on the first $1,000 of savings for families that earn under $75,000.

Obama said that next week he will lay out his proposals for making the "workforce more competitive by reforming our education system."

Books and Authors

When the Spirits Dance Mambo
by Marta Moreno Vega

When rock and roll was transforming American culture in the 1950s and ’60s, East Harlem pulsed with the sounds of mambo and merengue. Instead of Elvis and the Beatles, Marta Moreno Vega grew up worshipping Celia Cruz, Mario Bauza, and Arsenio Rodriguez. Their music could be heard on every radio in El Barrio and from the main stage at the legendary Palladium, where every weekend working-class kids dressed in their sharpest suits and highest heels and became mambo kings and queens. Spanish Harlem was a vibrant and dynamic world, but it was also a place of constant change, where the traditions of Puerto Rican parents clashed with their children’s American ideals.

A precocious little girl with wildly curly hair, Marta was the baby of the family and the favorite of her elderly abuela, who lived in the apartment down the hall. Abuela Luisa was the spiritual center of the family, an espiritista who smoked cigars and honored the Afro-Caribbean deities who had always protected their family. But it was Marta’s brother, Chachito, who taught her the latest dance steps and called her from the pay phone at the Palladium at night so she could listen, huddled beneath the bedcovers, to the seductive rhythms of Tito Puente and his orchestra.

In this luminous and lively memoir, Marta Moreno Vega calls forth the spirit of Puerto Rican New York and the music, mysticism, and traditions of a remarkable and quintessentially American childhood.

Health

ACNE

What is acne vulgaris?

Acne vulgaris, or acne, is a skin problem that starts when oil and dead skin cells clog up your pores. Some people call it blackheads, blemishes, whiteheads, pimples, or zits. When you have just a few red spots, or pimples, you have a mild form of acne. Severe acne can mean hundreds of pimples that can cover the face, neck, chest, and back. Or, it can be bigger, solid, red lumps that are painful (cysts).

Most young people get at least mild acne. It usually gets better after the teen years. But many adult women do have acne in the days before their menstrual periods.

How you feel about your acne may not be related to how bad it is. Some people with severe acne are not bothered by it. Others are embarrassed or upset even though they have only a few pimples.

The good news is that there are many good treatments that can help you get acne under control.

What causes acne?

Acne starts when oil and dead skin cells clog the skin's pores. If germs get into the pores, the result can be swelling, redness, and pus.

For most people, acne starts during the teen years. This is because hormone changes make the skin more oily after puberty starts.

You do not get acne from eating chocolate or greasy foods. But you can make it worse by using oily skin products that clog your pores.

Acne can run in families. If one of your parents had severe acne, you are more likely to have it.

What are the symptoms?

Symptoms of acne include whiteheads, blackheads, and pimples. These can occur on the face, neck, shoulders, back, or chest. Pimples that are large and deep are called cystic lesions. These can be painful if they get infected. They also can scar the skin.

How is acne treated?

To help control acne, keep your skin clean. Avoid skin products that clog your pores. Look for products that say "noncomedogenic" on the label. Wash your skin once or twice a day with a gentle soap or acne wash. Try not to scrub or pick at your pimples. This can make them worse and can cause scars.

If you have just a few pimples to treat, you can get an acne cream without a prescription. Look for one that has benzoyl peroxide or salicylic acid. These work best when used just the way the label says.

It can take time to get acne under control. Keep using the same treatment for 6 to 8 weeks. You may even notice that it gets worse before it gets better. If your skin is not better after 8 weeks, try another product.

If your pimples are really bothering you or are scarring your skin, see your doctor. A prescription gel or cream for your skin may be all you need. Your doctor may also order antibiotic pills. A mix of treatments may work best. If you are female, taking certain birth control pills may help.

If you have acne cysts, talk to your doctor about stronger medicine. Isotretinoin (such as Accutane) works very well, but it can cause birth defects. And using Accutane may be associated with depression. Let your doctor know if you have had depression before taking this medicine. And if you are female, you must protect against pregnancy by using two forms of birth control. Even one dose of this medicine can cause birth defects if a woman takes it while she is pregnant. You cannot take isotretinoin if you are breast-feeding.

What can be done about acne scars?

There are skin treatments that can help acne scars look better and feel smoother. Ask your doctor about them. The best treatment for you depends on how severe the scarring is. You can have scar tissue removed or have a shot of collagen. Collagen smoothes a pitted scar by plumping up the skin underneath. You may get the best results with a combination of treatments.

Animals

DOLPHINS

Dolphins are marine mammals that are closely related to whales and porpoises. There are almost forty species of dolphin in seventeen genera. They vary in size from 1.2 metres (4 ft) and 40 kilograms (88 lb), up to 9.5 m (30 ft) and ten tonnes. They are found worldwide, mostly in the shallower seas of the continental shelves, and are carnivores, mostly eating fish and squid. The family Delphinidae is the largest in the Cetacea, and relatively recent: dolphins evolved about ten million years ago, during the Miocene. Dolphins are considered to be amongst the most intelligent of animals and their often friendly appearance and seemingly playful attitude have made them popular in human culture.