Classes

"Oh, you mean the guy with the 70-year-old head and the 20-year-old body-builder body? That picture has got to be Photoshopped." Dr. Jeffry Life smiles when I tell him about the general reaction I get about the famous picture of him with his shirt off, the shot that turned a mild-mannered doctor in his mid-60s into a poster boy for super-fit aging and controversial hormone replacement Appearing in medical-clinic ads in airline magazines and...

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - President Obama pushed back against the idea of U.S. influence being in decline - and against Republican criticism of his stewardship - telling the Air Force Academy's graduating class that around the world "there's a new confidence in our leadership. " Republican critiques hold otherwise, suggesting that Obama has "led from behind" in international efforts, cut the military and responded weakly to the rise of contending powers. But as he set off Wednesday on a two-day western tour, Obama used the commencement address to make a forceful argument for a policy that downplays unilateral American action in favor of partnerships with other countries, one that maintains "military superiority" even as it welcomes "the rise of peaceful, responsible emerging powers.

Hollywood High School keeps its doors open 12 months a year to ease overcrowding. The year-round schedule allows the campus to run hundreds more students through its cramped classrooms. It also chips away at their education. Teachers skip pages of material, assign less homework and give fewer tests because their school year has been slashed by 17 days. Hundreds of pupils take the Stanford 9 exam shortly after returning from an eight-week vacation.

WASHINGTON -- A class-action lawsuit was filed Wednesday against Facebook Inc., Morgan Stanley & Co., and the other Wall Street banks that underwrote the Facebook's initial public offering, alleging they misled most shareholders about revenue projections for the social network. The suit, filed in federal court in New York, alleged that the IPO prospectus and registration statement were "false and misleading" and violated the Securities Act.

RESOURCES GUIDE Fall means back to school for kids and young adults. But hundreds of programs in the Southland are open to seniors, too. And relatives who are concerned about keeping their elders healthy ?mentally and physically ? should encourage them to participate. Research indicates that as long as people stimulate their brains by learning and trying new things, intellectual growth continues, even at an advanced age. The easiest courses to drop into are held at senior and community centers, often sponsored by city recreation departments.

It's after-hours at the Huntington Meats in the Farmers Market and the canvas curtains are drawn. A dozen students sit on folding chairs circled around the worktable. On it lies splayed a whole hog, fresh from the farm, shaved naked, an apple stuffed in its mouth. Its nose is still a little bloody. Want to know where your meat really comes from? Take a butchery class. Over the next two hours, butchers Jim Cascone, Bob Ore and John Escobedo will take this whole animal and, using just a couple of knives and a band saw, reduce it to the cuts of meat you might recognize from the supermarket meat counter.

Santa Monica College's plan to offer some high-demand classes at a premium cost received a boost Thursday with the announcement of a $250,000 donation to support scholarships for students who qualify. The donors are businessman Daniel Greenberg and his wife, attorney and civic activist Susan Steinhauser, two longtime supporters whose previous giving has centered on the Broad Stage of the Santa Monica College Performing Arts Center. The two-year college approved a plan last week, believed to be the first of its kind in the nation, that would offer core education classes such as English and math at a cost of about $200 per unit, alongside state-funded courses.

Faced with deep funding cuts and strong student demand, Santa Monica College is pursuing a plan to offer a selection of higher-cost classes to students who need them, provoking protests from some who question the fairness of such a two-tiered education system. Under the plan, approved by the governing board and believed to be the first of its kind in the nation, the two-year college would create a nonprofit foundation to offer such in-demand classes as English and math at a cost of about $200 per unit.

Loews Lake Las Vegas in Henderson, Nev., is teaching kids how to mix fun with the art of sushi in a series of classes dubbed SushiSKool on the first Saturday of each month. The next one is July 2. Chef Osamu Fujita, a third-generation sushi chef, guides grade-schoolers through teens through the basics of ordering, using chopsticks and sushi etiquette. Participants sample items such as as gari (pickled ginger) and wasabi (Japanese horseradish) while making sushi and sipping ocha (green tea)

At the main entrance to a campus in Tucson, a sign greets visitors with "Welcome to Tucson High, Home of the Largest Xicano Studies Program in the Nation." "Xicano," or Chicano, studies is a 14-year-old program in the Tucson Unified School District that offers classes from elementary through high school in topics such as literature, history and social justice that emphasize Latino authors and history. In the wake of Arizona's adoption of a law to crack down on illegal immigration, such classes are the subject of another ethnically tinged fight in the state.

Snooki has class.  You heard me right. News came out Wednesday morning that the now-very-round "Jersey Shore" star would be having a boy.  Amid the congrats, one re-tweeter filled in the blank on "#JerseyShore's @Snooki is having a ..." with "Demon? Spawn? Giraffe? Iguana? Rhino?"  Snooki replied, " Iguana!"  Fetus humor is not easy for a pregnant woman.  It's just not.

Four carwash workers filed suit Monday claiming that a family of carwash owners routinely withheld pay for overtime and denied them breaks during the summer. The lawsuit is one of a series filed on behalf of carwash workers since 2008 in an attempt by unions and immigrant advocates to improve conditions in an industry in which competition is fierce, profit margins are low and workers are often undocumented immigrants from Mexico and Central America. A Times report on the industry found it rife with nonpayment of overtime, false pay records and other abuses.

EUROPE Presentation Experts will help first-time visitors to Europe plan a realistic budget and devise a workable itinerary as well as discuss security and safety issues. When, where: 7:30 p.m. Monday at Distant Lands, 20 S. Raymond Ave., Pasadena. Admission, info: Free. RSVP to (626) 449-3220. BICYCLING Presentation Want to tour the California coast or another destination by bike? Experts will offer tips on gear and clothing as well as tours.

So, against all odds, you managed to get your hands on a few shares of Facebook stock via one of the most hyped initial public offerings of all time and managed to survive its messy first day of trading. Congratulations. You're now married to Mark Zuckerberg. The 28-year-old company founder is today one of the most deeply-entrenched chief executives in American business. Thanks to a two-class stock structure, Zuckerberg will own about 28% of Facebook but control 57% of all shareholder votes.

SAN DIEGO - The $1.3-billion ship is billed as the most technologically advanced of any in its class in the U.S. Navy, with stealth capability and a state-of-the-art communications system. But the commissioning ceremony Saturday that made the San Diego an official ship of the fleet was drawn from rituals more than two centuries old - from the days of John Paul Jones, when the Navy's first commissioned ship was a captured British schooner. And so with the classic order, "Man our ship and bring her to life," sailors and Marines sprinted aboard the 684-foot amphibious transport dock ship.

As if on cue, all faces turn alertly toward the front of the classroom where Bridget Brownell has set up a slide show at Taft High School in Woodland Hills. They are about to view diseased sex organs. "First," she said, "let me take attendance, and then I will shock you. " Brownell belongs to a declining breed: She's a certified health instructor leading a one-semester health class in a California public high school. The Los Angeles Unified School District nearly killed health as a required course, to focus more on its new mandate that all students complete college-prep classes.

My sympathy goes out to those young people from Avalon who are going to classes in tents ("Avalon Students Roughing It as Contamination Closes School," Sept. 26). We had the same situation. I graduated from Roosevelt High School in 1940. This was in Boyle Heights. There had been a large earthquake in the early 1930s. There simply wasn't enough money to repair all of the buildings. So, we had some of our classes in tents. The tent classes were just as good as the regular classes. No big deal!

Aaron Glimme's Advanced Placement chemistry students straggle in, sleepy. It is 7:30 a.m. at Berkeley High School. The day doesn't officially begin for another hour. They pull on safety goggles, measure out t-butyl alcohol and try to determine the molar mass of an unknown substance by measuring how much its freezing point decreases. In the last school year, 82% of Berkeley's AP chemistry students passed the rigorous exam, which gives college credit for high school work. The national passing rate is 55.2%.

ATHENS - Eva, a well-groomed pensioner, grasps her creamy white purse, glancing impatiently at her gold Cartier watch as she waits for the manager of an Athens bank. She is offered tea, cookies and orange juice, none of which the state bank usually provides, and none of which Eva accepts. "I'm concerned," says the 82-year-old, who declined to give her last name because she was involved in a private transaction. "I'm thinking of withdrawing all my savings. " Greek banks have been bleeding money since inconclusive elections this month, and the rise of a Marxist-Leninist leader bent on bustingBerlin'sausterity crusade, plunged the country into the biggest political crisis in decades and raised the specter of a devastating default.

British Airways thinks 1952 was a very good year -- and a very good price for an airfare sale. Queen Elizabeth II ascended to the throne that year and celebrates her Diamond Jubilee this year. The airline has a special offer for those who want in on the celebrations: Fly in style in business class round-trip from L.A. to London or Manchester for $1,952. The deal: Last-minute partiers may carve out time to fly across the pond and cash in on this deal. The big Diamond Jubilee celebrations in London are slated June 2-5, though there are on-going events on other dates around the country.