Hasta La Gadget!

I was excited to review the new beauty book Toss the Gloss by Andrea Q. Robinson. Andrea’s illustrious career spans more than forty years, with chief roles at Estee Lauder, Tom Ford Beauty, Ralph Lauren Fragrances and editorial at Seventeen, Vogue and Mademoiselle.

Since I’m trying to age gracefully I was eager to read Andrea’s “beauty tips, tricks and truths” for women 50 plus. The guide is overflowing with practical information for boomer girls.

I like Andrea’s friendly attitude about beauty and her book’s conversational tone. At times I felt like I was chatting with an old friend who happened to be a makeup maven. According to Andrea: “The right makeup, used the right way, is the most powerful weapon in your beauty arsenal. Good makeup reclaims you. Not youth.”

♥ Andrea says that “letting go of perfection and embracing your flaws makes you more beautiful, more noticeable, more accessible, more real.” (I agree Andrea. I agree.)
♥ Andrea laments that “fear of change is for old ladies.” She says to “look in the mirror and decide if your makeup routine is still working.” (I did this a year ago when I retired from my full time job. I totally slimmed down and most days use very little eye makeup.)
♥ Andrea advises that “makeup routines for women 50 plus should be effortless — not more than 10 minutes.” (That’s about the time it takes me each morning to finish my face. Well, perhaps 15 minutes. How about you?)
♥ Andrea says that “you don’t need to spend a lot of money to look good. Maybe a few pricey pieces but the rest can be bought at the drugstore.” (I do like my Bobbi Brown eyeshadows, blush and lipstick, and prefer Lancome Hypnose Drama mascara. As for moisturizers, I often purchase these skin care items at places like Ulta, Target or CVS.)

My Favorite Beauty Tips From Mrs. Robinson

Andrea has so many useful tips in her book. Here are a few pointers I plan to practice during my life after 50:

♥ “Beauty comes from within a very small makeup bag.” (I did exactly what Andrea said and last week I dumped every cosmetic product I’ve owned longer than a year into a garbage bag. I went into my cabinets and scooped up old lipsticks, eye pencils, lip liners, foundations and nail polishes. Sweep, sweep, sweep, out the door.)
♥ “To get more longevity, keep your cosmetics in a plastic box with a tight lid and store products in a cool, dry place, removed from moisture and light.” (Oh no, oh no, my cosmetics are in a plastic box with a tight lid right next to my bathroom sink. Note to self: Move makeup as soon as possible — quickly before it all gets damaged.)
♥ “Sharpen lip and eyeliner pencils after each use to remove moisture-causing bacteria which contaminates pencils. Periodically wipe lipstick with alcohol wipes.” (Check, check. Done.)
♥ “Use sunscreen everyday at least SPF 30. Sun damage is the #1 cause of wrinkles.” (I use Skinceuticals Fusion UV Defense Tinted Sunscreen with SPF 50 year-round. I’ve been trying to remember to put sunscreen on my hands too. Lately there are so many more brown spots on my hands.)
♥ “Good skin care includes sleep and exercise.” Andrea notes that “our skin cells regenerate when we sleep and that increased blood flow and circulation nourishes skin cells.” (Well there goes that. My menopausal skin is already drier, thinner and less elastic due to lower estrogen levels. Menopausal moments that awaken me at night or prevent a good night’s sleep don’t help matters. Thankfully I’m getting lots of exercise these days — hope my yoga, bicycling and walking will help improve things. I use Skinceuticals CE Ferulic on my face to counteract all the free radicals that are in the environment — it’s really good — very pricey. Andrea has CE on her list too, as does Martha Stewart and other mature celebrities.)
♥ “Always wash your face before going to sleep.”Andrea says that “retinoids are the only proven anti-aging compound that reduces lines and wrinkles. She says to “only use retionoid products at night.” (I never go to bed without first removing my makeup. I’ve tried ROC Retinol Correxion Deep Wrinkle Serum, which is one of the products mentioned in the book. I find retinoid products to be too drying for my skin.)

Andrea shares more tips about concealers, primers, highlighters, foundation, and a whole lot more in Toss the Gloss.

No matter what makeup you choose to put on your face, remember that beauty is more than skin deep. It comes from inside you. During your life after 50, Andrea says “love your lines, you’ve earned them. Your lines are what make your face interesting.”

Earlier on Huff/Post50:

I am not strongly against the death penalty on principle or on moral grounds — assuming, of course, that it could somehow be narrowly and efficiently restricted to a very few egregiously deserving and certainly guilty criminals.

I don’t even find it particularly appalling (or cruel and unusual) punishment that a killer may have some few minutes of physical discomfort before expiring during a clumsily administered execution. My experience as a doctor teaches that dying is never that much fun, and I don’t see why a heinous criminal should expect a completely free terminal ride when this is not guaranteed to any of the rest of us.

But I do have a very strong objection to the death penalty based purely on practical economic grounds. Killing criminals, whether they deserve it or not, simply costs much more than our society can afford and provides far too little value in return.

Recently, I have appeared as an expert witness in two death penalty cases. Both trials dragged on for many months, produced thousands of pages of documentation, and engaged hundreds of witnesses — including a a platoon of experts arguing for each side.

There seemed to be a limitless budget with no attention to time or money. The stakes are so high in death penalty cases that every procedural nicety must be given its fullest possible due. Judges are extremely concerned about being reversed on a technicality by the appeals courts. This would be embarrassing to them and require a lengthy and expensive retrial. The safest way for a judge to achieve an appeal proof verdict is always to allow the defense the greatest possible leeway. This encourages defense lawyers to pose every possible objection and to weave every conceivable mitigating theory (however outlandish) hoping that, with enough stuff out there, something may stick with the jury or later with the courts of appeal. The fact that defense lawyers are on the clock (getting hefty hourly fees, usually supported by tax dollars) also provides them with a strong financial incentive to drag things out as long as possible.

Our adversarial legal process encourages an unenlightened and dispiriting dueling of expert witnesses. Their opinions are usually tailored to exaggerate the case for one side or the other — rather than seeking a truth that usually lies somewhere in between. Often enough, the expert seems to be little little more than a pliable hired gun.

And what is society’s reward for all this effort and expense? Precious little. In many states and in federal cases, the death penalty has become purely symbolic. Though offenders are sometimes sentenced to death, they usually wind up never getting executed; instead they live for decades in expensive death row cells. And in the states committed to actually following through on the death penalty, there is no evidence that executions have any more deterrent value than life without parole.

The price tag for the death penalty can reach tens of millions of dollars in any given case. Since budgets are always ultimately a zero-sum game, wouldn’t justice be better served and money better spent doing things that might actually reduce crime?

Increasingly, the death penalty has become an anomaly and an embarrassment. Already, 140 countries have eliminated it and the biggest sponsors are China, Iran and us. We are also in the bad company of an assortment of the more dubious Middle Eastern, African and Asian countries.

Only a few and weak arguments can be raised to support the death penalty — that it provides society with an opportunity to inflict just retribution, has an impact on deterrence, promotes a sense of closure for survivors, and is a bargaining chip to encourage criminals to confess and cop a plea.

Even if you buy into some or all of this, the exorbitant financial cost of the death penalty makes it unsupportable as public policy. And you also have to factor in the haunting possibility that the state may sometimes kill an innocent man.

Allen Frances is a professor emeritus at Duke University and was the chairman of the DSM-IV task force.

The World Cup group stage passes again with it usual splendor, perennial giants seemingly collapsed, new chosen ones in their place, the stereotypical upsets, referee gaffes, miscellaneous action, and repeated history. Each group providing its two champions leaves its stamp on the tournament and its unique tale in the history of the world tournament.

The history of the World Cup provides a beautiful window into the expectations for gameplay each year. The success of European, South American, Latin American nations, etc. can be very easily predicted by their success in previous tournaments. The success of South American nations in these tournaments in South American venues is very easily compared to the success of Uruguay, who won the very first World Cup in 1930 (they were hosting, and they beat Argentina) and then again in 1950 (hosted in Brazil), the first competition held after the intermission in lieu of World War II. History has repeated itself several times throughout FIFA’s governance of the World Cup and continues during this year’s celebration.

In a competitive Group A, Brazil and Mexico advance over defeated Cameroonian and Croatian sides. Mexico’s ability to earn a point in all three matches in the group stage reveals an incredible resiliency to this Mexican squad just months after their 2013 implosion in the CONCACAF qualifiers. Brazil, although drawing Mexico, personified the true class of group A scoring seven goals during the group stage, four contributed by Brazilian chosen one, Neymar Jr. Guillermo Ochoa provided several highlight reel saves to preserve the Mexican campaign at this year’s World Cup.

In a long-winded shocker, Spain, the 2008 and 2012 European Cup winners and 2010 World Cup victors, failed to advance from their difficult group including the Netherlands, Chile and Australia. Netherlands would go onto control the group winning all three group stage matches, including a 5-1 trouncing they delivered to Spain. Strong play by long time Dutch notable, Arjen Robben, has the Netherlands playing undoubtedly their best football since their extra time defeat by Spain in 2010. Chile, impressively handled Spain as well to earn their essential second win in the group, guaranteeing that their journey continue after the group stage. Although, a minor talking point, Australian midfielder Tim Cahill turned many heads with a clear shoe-in for goal of the tournament when he beat Dutch goalkeeper Jasper Cillesseen with a cross-body, weak-foot volley.

Next week’s matchups pit the teams advancing from groups A and B against each other, as Mexico faces the Netherlands at 12 p.m. on Sunday, and Brazil faces Chile in Belo Horizonte on Saturday at 12 p.m.

In Group C, we witnessed history repeat itself in a few ways. We saw a South American nation advance, Columbia doing so extremely convincingly, but we also saw Greece advance again in the most difficult fashion. Yet again, we saw the Greeks earning tough points playing their defensive catenaccio football style. Columbia, also, becomes a feel-good story, as the nation, whose heartbeat ties inherently to its national team, returns strongly to the world scene. The Ivory Coast was unable to advance, ending Didier Drogba’s international career just short of the Knockout Round. Japan’s run ended quite briefly as the team’s evident lack of a target front man left their side with great difficulty going forward.

Group D illustrates the phenomenon of history repeating itself most evidently. In a group set for the success of two established European powerhouses, both are exited from the tournament quickly and rather unceremoniously. Both England and Italy took back seats to Costa Rica and Uruguay, as England failed to win a single match, and Italy lost a player to a quick red card, in spite of Suarez’ on field antics. Costa Rica, in particular, was able to perform incredibly well on defense, surrendering only one goal in three games throughout the group stage, meanwhile they scored four goals securing first place in the group. In England’s defense, they were able to play a much better brand of football that was free-flowing and played through the middle, but they were unable to preserve results for the full run time. In the next round, Costa Rica will play Greece, and Columbia plays Uruguay.

In Group E, France displayed a form that many did not expect, as they dominated their group with two wins and their third match drawn against Ecuador. Switzerland’s defeat of Ecuador became essential in their quest for the Knockout Round. Karim Benzema’s play was particularly high as he not only scored three goals for France, but also assisted two goals. Xherdan Shaqiri, the Swiss midfielder playing for Bayern Munich, has started a strong World Cup campaign with three goals through the group stage.

Argentina handled business as usual, calmly and assuredly capturing first in their easier group. The battle for second in Group F, easily could have fallen to either team left in the group. Bosnia-Herzegovina can certainly feel claim to second following review of an Edin Dzeko goal wrongfully disallowed for an offside position against Nigeria. The play occurred early enough that you cannot say the call determined the game, but it certainly changes the complexion of the game and group as Nigeria went on to win the match by a single goal, and eventually, second place in the group over Bosnia by one point. Next round, France will play Nigeria, while Argentina plays Switzerland in the next round.

In Group G, the officially designated “Group of Death,” Germany and the United States advance. Germany, as many expected and predicted, cruised to a first-place finish in the group with two wins and a surprise draw 2-2 against the Ghanaians. The victory in the third match against the USA did not eliminate the USA, actually — as Ronaldo’s simultaneous, late-game athletics against Ghana become heroics for the USA’s efforts in the group table. The USA’s advancement from this group becomes a pivotal event in the growth of the sport in the country, thus the next match itself becomes even more important. The Germans will look forward to conducting business as usual in their next match.

Belgium, as expected, dominated their group with three wins in a row, handling the defensive challenge of Algeria’s Feghouli and Russia’s Kokorin and surrendering only one goal throughout the stage. The Belgians did win close matches, leading by a single goal each game. The Algerians managed to capture second place in the group by holding a 1-1 draw against Russia in their final group stage match. In the next round, Belgium will kick off against the United States, a reminder of the closely, cancelled pre-World Cup friendly, and Germany will play Algeria.

As the World Cup goes forward look for the continued success of the South American Nations at Brazil, the winning streaks of the Netherlands and Belgium, definitely, the continued success of the USMNT and as many goals as we have seen so far in Brazil, a happy departure from the precious commodity they were in South Africa. The games resume Saturday at noon.

Verizon Wireless acknowledged today that it’s billing system is having issues for customers across much of the US. According to subscribers tweeting on the #VerizonOutage hashtag, issues have extended over the last two days, preventing them from…

By Louis Charbonneau

UNITED NATIONS, June 27 (Reuters) – A U.N. expert panel has concluded that a shipment of rockets and other weapons that was seized by Israel came from Iran and represents a violation of the U.N. arms embargo on Tehran, according to a confidential report obtained by Reuters on Friday.

The finding comes just days ahead of the next round of negotiations in Vienna between Iran and six world powers aimed at securing a deal that would gradually lift international sanctions on Tehran — including the arms embargo — in exchange for curbs on the controversial Iranian nuclear program.

Despite Israel’s public statements that the seized arms were destined for Gaza — an allegation that Gaza’s governing Islamist militant group Hamas dismissed as a fabrication — the experts said the weapons were being sent to Sudan.

The experts do not speculate in the report about why the arms were being sent to Sudan, a country which Western diplomatic and intelligence sources have told Reuters has in the past been a conduit for Iranian arms shipments to other locations in Africa, as well as the Gaza Strip.

The experts said the Israeli U.N. mission wrote to the U.N. Iran Sanctions Committee on March 13 about “the transfer of rockets, mortars and related materiel from Iran to Sudan.”

The 14-page report on the incident by the U.N. Security Council’s Panel of Experts on Iran makes no mention of the Gaza Strip as a possible destination for the arms, which were concealed in 20 containers on the Panamanian-flagged vessel Klos C. The weaponry was seized by Israeli authorities in March.

The U.N. experts reached their conclusion after investigating the case and inspecting the seized cargo and documentation related to the shipment, which traveled from the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas to the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr, and from there in the direction of Port Sudan.

The vessel was intercepted by the Israeli navy in the Red Sea before it reached Sudan.

“The Panel finds that the manner of concealment in this case is consistent with several other cases reported to the (Security Council’s Iran Sanctions) Committee and investigated by the Panel,” the experts said.

“The Panel concludes that the shipment of arms and related materiel found aboard the Klos C is a violation of Iran’s obligations under paragraph 5 of resolution 1747,” they added, referring to the U.N. arms embargo on Tehran.

Despite Iranian denials, the experts said official seals from Iranian customs authorities on containers that held some of the arms “substantiates the Iranian origin of those containers.” Further evidence on the Iranian origin came from the Iranian bill of lading, cargo manifest and the container stowage plan.

Iran’s U.N. mission did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

NO PROOF OF SYRIAN ORIGIN

The report includes details on the arms, which were concealed in a shipment of cement: 40 M302 rockets and fuses, including four different variations of the rockets; 181 120 mm mortar shells; roughly 400,000 pieces of 7.62 caliber ammunition.

The experts could not confirm the Israeli allegation that some of the weapons were made in Syria.

“According to Israeli officials, the rockets were produced in Syria by the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Center (SSRC),” they said. “No markings were identified on the rockets during the Panel’s inspection that would have allowed confirmation of the Syrian origin of the rockets.”

“One expert notes that the Syrian origin of the rockets cannot be independently established and neither can the movement of the rockets from Syria to Iran,” the report added.

It was not clear from the report what, if any, role Iraq could have played in the smuggling of weaponry. The 20 containers that held the illicit arms were part of the 100-container shipment loaded onto the Klos C at Bandar Abbas, Iran.

The 50 containers of cement loaded onto the ship at Umm Qasr in Iraq did not contain weapons, the report said, citing information the experts had received from Israeli authorities.

The experts said the concealment techniques were similar to other cases of alleged sanctions violations by Iran they have investigated — in Nigeria, arms were shipped amid crates of marble; in other cases reported by Israel arms were hidden in containers with polyethylene pellets, lentils and cotton.

In another case of reported by Italy, Iran allegedly shipped dried explosives among bags of powdered milk, the report said.

At the time that the arms were seized, Israel said the case showed Iran was not negotiating in good faith with the six powers – the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China.

“At the same time that it is talking to world powers, at the same time that Iran is smiling and saying all kinds of honeyed words, that same Iran is sending lethal weaponry to terrorist organizations and it is doing so in a complex web of covert, worldwide operations,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

The circulation of the Panel of Experts’ report to the Iran Sanctions Committee just ahead of a deadline for Iran and the six powers to reach an agreement in the Vienna nuclear talks clearly irritated Russia.

Earlier this week Russia’s U.N. ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, complained that “any information not backed up by concrete facts … could have a negative impact on the conduct of negotiations of the group of six and Iran.”

But Russia was in the minority in its complaints. Other Security Council members, including the chair of the Iran sanctions committee, Australian Ambassador Gary Quinlan, praised the investigative work of the Panel of Experts.

France’s deputy U.N. envoy Alexis Lamek said the experts annual report submitted to the sanctions committee last month was a “precise source of information on Iran’s illicit programs and its methods of circumventing sanctions.”

The panel’s annual report said that Tehran’s illicit procurement appeared to have slowed during its negotiations with the six powers, though Iranians continued to attempt to bypass sanctions on a regular basis. (Reporting by Louis Charbonneau; Editing by Leslie Adler)