Earlier today, President Obama named Sonia Sotomayor as his Supreme Court nominee. This makes judge Sotomayor the first Hispanic nominee for the high court and, if confirmed, she would become the third women to serve. This historic nomination warrants a rather serious question: Who is Sonia Sotomayor?
Background
Sonia Sotomayor is currently a federal judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for he Second Circuit. Prior to this, she served as a judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. She was nominated to her district court position by President George H.W. Bush and to her current one by President Bill Clinton. In all, she has 16 years of court experience, providing her with more experience as a judge than any current member of the high court had when nominated.
Sotomayor’s parents traveled from Puerto Rico to New York during World War II and settled in a public housing project in the Bronx. Her father, a factory worker who spoke no english, died when she was only 9 years old. Her mother worked two jobs as a nurse so that she could send her two children to Catholic school.
Education
Sotomayor attended Princeton University, graduating summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. While there, she was the co-recipient of the M. Taylor Pyne Prize, the highest honor Princeton awards to an undergraduate. She subsequently attended Yale Law School, where she served as the editor of the Yale Law Journal and the managing editor of the Yale Studies in World Public Order.
Legal Career
After law school, Sotomayor spent 5 years as a prosecutor with the Manhattan District Attorney. She then entered private practice and gained substantial experience as a commercial litigator. In her 1992 Senate confirmation hearings, her substantial pro bono activities during her time in private practice were much touted:
For 12 years she was a top policy maker on the board of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund. She was also on the board of the State of New York Mortgage Agency, where she helped provide mortgage insurance coverage to low-income housing and AIDS hospices. In her leisure time she became a founding member of the New York City Campaign Finance Board, which distributes public money for city campaigns.
What Happens Now?
The Senate Judiciary Committee will likely conduct hearings in the third week of July, allowing written committee questions the following week and a floor vote before Congress leaves for its summer recess on August 7. This could potentially have the new Justice taking her seat by the time the Court opens its 2009 Term on October 5.
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Apparently eating Cheerios for breakfast every morning doesn’t warrant the “pat on the back” I’ve been giving myself for the past few years. The FDA recently sent General Mills, the makers of Cheerios, a sternly worded letter warning them about the health claims on Cheerios boxes. In the letter, the FDA notes Cheerios is “misbranded” in a way that makes the cereal sound like a drug to prevent, mitigate, and treat high cholesterol and heart disease.
The Fitness Insider blog, over at Men’s Health, did a good job of breaking down the health claims made by Cheerios and separating the fact from the fiction. Here’s what they had to say:
The sell: ”You can lower your cholesterol 4 percent in 6 weeks.”
The science: This claim is based on a 1998 study in which people who ate 3 cups of Cheerios a day lowered their LDL (bad) cholesterol by 7 points. The box says this makes Cheerios “the only leading cold cereal proven to lower cholesterol.”
The fine print: The University of Minnesota researchers who conducted this study credit this LDL reduction to the cereal’s content of soluble fiber (1 g per cup). So any cereal that provides the same amount of soluble fiber should have the same effect. But here’s a more important point: Is lowering your LDL by 7 points really that signficant? I’m a bit of a cholesterol skeptic, so I don’t believe so. Beyond that, though, if you eat the cereal, but don’t control your overall calorie intake—thinking simply that Cheerio’s has the magical power to lower your cholesterol—what happens to your triglycerides? How about your good HDL cholesterol? In the study, the Cheerio eaters, 65% of whom were men, consumed about 1900 calories a day, so they weren’t overeating. And remember, to experience this reduction, you have to eat 3 cups of Cheerio’s every day—and that means you’ll be going through boxes pretty fast.
Does this mean you should stop eating Cheerios for breakfast? Not exactly. The truth is, you could be doing much worse with regard to your cereal choices. The real issue here seems to be that the claims on Cheerios boxes may go a little to far (possibly so far as to bring it into the realm of a “drug” under FDA regulations). So, if it’s between Cheerios and Lucky Charms in the morning – I’d go with the Cheerios.
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If you’re anything like me, you spend a decent amount of your couch-time with a laptop sitting in your lap. I fully admit that I’m one of those people who is no longer entertained by just sitting around watching TV. However, this seating arrangement creates on rather large problem: hot laptop + lap = burning lap. My laptop gets uncomfortably warm while I’m using it so I’ve discovered the ultimate weapon to combat this little lap bonfire – laptop stands. These lap-saving devices provide a lap desk for you to keep your computer on and keep it from getting too hot in your lap. Below are some of the laptop stands that I’ve personally used and my recommendations.
Allsop 29591 Cool Channel Notebook Platform
This is my top choice and the one that I currently use. It’s lightweight and doesn’t add too much bulk. It’s small size also makes it easy to take with you while traveling.
Belkin F8N044-BRN CushTop Notebook Stand
This laptop stand it a little bigger and bulkier. I only used it briefly because I found it to be a little too heavy. Also, my laptop slid around a lot while on it.
This one definitely gets the award for the coolest looking laptop stand. The brushed metal and cushioned leg and arm rests makes it pretty comfortable. The only problem I ran into was that my computer sat a little lower than the cushioned arm rest and caused me to have to reach down to type. I have a MacBook so I think readers with PC computers that are thicker would not have this problem.
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Here’s some interesting links I’ve come across the past few days that are worth a look:
- 7 Topics To Avoid If You Don’t Want To Be a Bore [Shine]
- Make Homemade Yogurt With 20 Minutes of Effort [Lifehacker]
- Water Effectively by Calibrating Your Sprinklers [Lifehacker]
- GlassDoor Searches and Tags Job Interview Questions [Lifehacker]
Here’s some interesting links I’ve come across the past few days that are worth a look:
- Ways to Cure a Hangover [Dumb Little Man]
- Free 50-Page PDF Book on Best Personal Finance Advice [The Simple Dollar]
- How to be Happy and Married: 24 Tips From a 24-Year-Old Marriage [Wise Bread]
- Don’t Let Your Marriage Fail When Your Spouse Goes to Grad School [Brazen Careerist]
Here’s some interesting links I’ve come across the past few days that are worth a look:
- Dating 2.0: DOs and DON’Ts [Brazen Careerist]
- 66 Ways to Save Money [Get Rich Slowly]
- 5 Quick and Simple Scams That Could Happen to You Today [Wise Bread]
- How to Survive at Work With a Hangover [Dumb Little Man]
Here’s some interesting links I’ve come across the past few days that are worth a look:
- 8 Simple Free Photoshop Alternatives That Are Under 2 MB [Make Use Of]
- How To: Organize More Efficiently [Apartment Therapy]
- 5 Best Journaling Tools [Lifehacker]
- How To: Hang 30′ of Curtain for $40 [Apartment Therapy]
While recent graduates should be looking for ways to pinch pennies, the current economic climate has sparked interest in simple money-saving tips for many not-so-recent graduates. The truth is, saving money is not as painful as you think. In fact, there are dozens of ways that you can save yourself a sizable amount of money without even noticing it. Below are a few examples.
Bring Your Lunch to Work Once a Week
Let’s face it, no one likes to brown bag it. Once 11:30 rolls around and your co-workers are starting to get together a plan for lunch, it can be very hard to resist. However, the price difference between the $10 you would spend eating out versus the $3 bringing your own lunch would cost you should provide some incentive.
Monthly amount saved = $7.
Get a Subscription to Your Favorite Magazine
Getting a subscription to your favorite magazine rather than buying the new issue each month can save you some big bucks. For example, buying the newest issue of Vanity Fair will set you back $4.95, whereas a year subscription costs you $15 ($1.25 per monthly issue).
Monthly amount saved = $3.70.
Start Paying Your Bills Online
By paying your bills online you can save the cost of postage and late fees. For example, if you pay 5 bills each month it costs you around $2.10.
Monthly amount saved = $2.10.
Take-Away Lesson
These may seem like small amounts of money but they can add up to some pretty substantial savings without even breaking a sweat. Also, these are just a few examples off the top of my head that are intended to get you thinking about tiny little corners you can cut to start saving money.
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Have you lost the user manual to that DVD player you bought two years ago? Ever searched in vain for your iPod Nano (2nd Gen.) manual? Have you ever purchased a new electronic gadget, only to realize you have no idea how to use it? Well, you may be in luck. Below, I’ll fill you in on some of my favorite tools for finding lost user manuals and getting tech support.
By using The Manuals, you may be able to find a free copy online. The Manuals is a search engine that scours the web to find pdf and html copies of common user manuals. It currently boasts 5,770,000 free manuals.
Another option is OwnerIQ, a community-based directory of user manuals and tips. OwnerIQ combines self-help and product information, offering a more comprehensive site that allows you to find and post tips about using various products. Once you create a user account, you can begin inventorying your products and electronics. Once you’ve done this, you will being receiving personalized updates on the products in your inventory. Overall, a pretty useful site.
Another option is FixYa, which combines a user manuals database with a tech support community. FixYa works to provide the post-purchase customer support that most manufacturers seems to lack. This DIY community has over 1 million products in its database. Another great feature of this site is its new ‘Ratings & Recommendations‘ section. This section allows users to rate various products based on their reliability, ease of use, and value for money, as well as offering their recommendations for the best products in that category. For example, the HP DeskJet F380 is ranked as the #1 printer, receiving 544 recommendations. Of all of the sites described here, this is my personal favorite for any sort of tech support.
Last, you may want to try SafeManuals, a site that allows you to upload your own user manuals and search its database of user-submitted manuals. It currently offers user manuals for 5,600 different brands of products and 1,400,000 user’s guides.
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Here’s some interesting links I’ve come across the past few days that are worth a look:
- Use Your Freezer Efficiently to Save Money (and Food) [Lifehacker]
- George Foreman Grill: Kitchen Cheat Sheet [TipNut]
- Personal Branding Tip: Get a Google Profile [Web Worker Daily]
- Microwaving Beats Boiling for Cooking Most Vegetables [Quality Health]
