cheat sheet

Elizabeth Taylor's Jewelry Sells for $115 Million December 19, 2011 11:32

"These have always brought me luck," Elizabeth Taylor famously boasted of her diamonds, in a fragrance commercial. She wasn't kidding. Yesterday her jewelry collection broke records and toppled expectations when it sold at auction for an estimated $115 million. While Taylor's cache added immense value, the astounding sale had a lot to do with the merchandise: big rare rocks of the sparkling nature. Taylor was a life-long collector of unique gems. Many of the milestones of her life were marked by additions to her collection, now valued at well over $100 million. There was the diamond brooch passed down from the Duchess of Windsor. And the diamond encrusted bracelet, a gift from her best friend in later life, Michael Jackson. On Tuesday that gift sold at Christie's auction house for almost $200,000 -- four times the price it was expected to command. The two biggest sales in Taylor's collection were markers of another famous relationship. During her two (that's right two) marriages to Richard Burton, she amassed some of the rarest, most coveted jewels from around the world. The 33-carat Cartier diamond ring Burton designed for his bride sold on Tuesday for $8.8 million to a private buyer from Asia. That was a steal, compared to the $11.8 million dollar necklace, purchased by Burton for his love in 1969. It was estimated to sell for $2 or $3 million at Tuesday's auction, but bidders skidded right into the double digits for the charm. The ruby and diamond necklace, named La Peregrina, boasts a two-inch pearl that dates back to the 16th century. Burton had paid $37,000 for it at an auction. When Taylor lost it in her suite at a Las Vegas hotel she spent the night crawling around the floor in search of it. Burton found it the next day in her dog's mouth. It's fitting that one of Hollywood's greatest, most volatile and most over-the-top romances would live on in the form of highly-coveted gems. But there's another side to Taylor and her sparkling collection. In addition to being a hopelessly garish romantic, she was also a generous and powerful AIDS activist. A portion of the proceeds of Tuesday's auction go to The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS foundation, a non-profit organization the actress started in 1991 to support people living with the virus. For Taylor, diamonds offered more than just luck, they paved her legacy.

Could Herman Cain overcome the latest allegations? November 30, 2011 10:44

"Here we go again," Republican presidential frontrunner Herman Cain said on CNN Monday, just before Ginger White, an Atlanta-based woman, alleged she had a 13-year-long extramarital affair with Cain. Cain denied the allegation, insisting that he -- and the American people -- would rather talk about more important matters. And with that in mind, his campaign is so far chugging along, hoping to sweep all the controversies surrounding Cain to the side. The candidate is scheduled to give a foreign policy speech this evening. Still, Cain may be coming to grips with the seemingly inevitable fate of his campaign: The National Review reports that Cain told his staffers this morning he is "reassessing" whether to stay in the race. Cain said he needs to decide whether the latest accusation will create "too much of a cloud" around his campaign, the Des Moines Register reports A senior staffer confirmed to CBS News, "We are reassessing our strategy. As we did when the first false allegations came out and as we did when we won the straw poll." The latest allegations may or may not be enough to sink Herman Cain's campaign -- given the flaws of his Republican rivals, he could maintain some base of support. That said, the newest charges only serve to underscore that the collection of sexual harassment charges leveled against him in the past month, combined with a series of other campaign missteps, had already quashed his chances of emerging as a truly viable candidate. In the aftermath of revelations that Herman Cain faced sexual harassment charges in the 1990's, which surfaced in late October, it appeared that conservatives were perhaps willing to rally behind Cain and defend his reputation. But as the number of women charging Cain with sexual harassment climbed to five, his support started to wane. He also suffered after appearing less-than-competent in some instances -- such stumbling over a question regarding the conflict in Libya. Herman Cain "reassessing" candidacy after affair claimFull 2012 campaign coverage Monday night -- right about the time Ginger White was dropping the latest Cain bombshell -- conservative Iowa radio talk show host Steve Deace was conducting a focus group that indicated Cain's goose was already cooked. The focus group of 11 evangelical conservatives who were either undecided or loosely committed dismissed Cain as "shallow" and "incompetent," the Des Moines Register reports. Evangelical conservatives are a key voting bloc in the influential state, which holds the nation's first presidential nominating contest on January 3. Nationally-recognized conservatives this week seem equally tired of Cain. "I would much rather talk about how Barack Obama is screwing the country with disastrous policies, but instead we are yet again forced to talk about who Herman Cain might have had sexual relations with," conservative blogger Erick Erickson lamented at Redstate.com after hearing of White's allegations. A look at the Quinnipiac polls conducted November 2 and November 22 reveal the extent of the damage of Cain's bad month. On November 2, in a theoretical match-up between Cain and Mitt Romney, Republican and Republican-leaning voters preferred Cain by eight points. But by November 22, Romney had a 13-point lead over Cain. Cain's favorability rating also flipped in those three weeks: The earlier poll showed that slightly more people had a positive opinion of Cain (33 percent) than a negative opinion (31percent). But by the later poll, perceptions had clearly turned with 44 percent giving him an unfavorable rating and 26 percent giving him a favorable rating. Polls suggest that questions about Cain's competence may be just as, if not more, critical to his standing than the sexual harassment allegations. As voters have abandoned Cain, they've turned to former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. The Quinnipiac polls show that voters perceive Romney and Gingrich as much stronger than the rest of the field on issues like the economy and foreign policy. Still, Cain may find enough support to keep his campaign alive, since voters have yet to coalesce around anyone else. While Gingrich is currently surging, the former House speaker has plenty problems of his own -- including a history of personal controversies, though those issues are well in the past. Voters may also soon acknowledge that, like Romney, Gingrich has a history of taking moderate positions on typically ideologically divisive issues like health care and climate change. If anyone understands how unpredictable a political campaign can be, it's Newt Gingrich. "I'm not going to say any candidate is done. Every candidate has a chance to go out and make their case," Gingrich said on "The O'Reilly Factor'' on Fox News Monday night, referring to Cain's latest troubles. "Look, people said I was dead in June and July, as you will remember." Source: CBS News

Pizza Face? The Truth About Food and Acne October 01, 2011 09:49

when I left home for college a few years ago, I left with a small savings account for emergencies. I had built the fund up with years of birthday money, graduation presents and extra money from my high school job. However, after six short months in college, I soon realized just how frequent “emergencies” can happen. During that time, my car’s transmission died, a roommate skipped out on an electric bill and I was charged for a doctor’s visit after coming down with pneumonia. Thankfully, I was able to handle those expenses, but afterward, my emergency fund needed a serious boost. If you find yourself in the same position, here are six weird ways you might not have thought of to boost your emergency fund: 1. Audit a Liquor Store Liquor stores are constantly looking for adults, under the age of 30, to go undercover and audit their stores. The job requires that you attempt to buy beer and note whether the cashier asks you for your ID. Liquor stores do not hire directly for this position, but instead go through auditing companies like TrendSource and Corporate Research. You can sign up as independent contractor and then choose the locations that you want to audit. Once you’ve finished, you are required to submit a receipt and a short report on your interaction with the cashier.