Lifestyles

In an age of long commutes, late sports practices, endless workdays and 24/7 television programming, the image of Mom hanging up her dish towel at 7 p.m. and declaring "the kitchen is closed" seems a quaint relic of an earlier era. It also harks back to a thinner America. And that may be no coincidence. A new study, conducted on mice, hints at an unexpected contributor to the nation's epidemic of obesity - and, if later human studies bear it out, a possible way to have our cake and eat it too, with less risk of weight gain and the diseases that come with it. Just eat your cake - or better yet, an apple - earlier.

Randy Jackson is known for providing measured critiques to aspiring singers on Fox's "American Idol," but in his private life, he's had to analyze something entirely different: After a diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes nine years ago, the music industry veteran needed to reevaluate his diet and lifestyle. Jackson went from piling his plates high with fried food and counting riding in a golf cart as exercise to eating veggies with every meal and working out every day. He talked to us about how his diagnosis changed his life and how he hopes to help others.

Leading a double life would seem to be the exclusive domain of professional spies, fictional secret agents and undercover operatives with foreign accents. But seemingly ordinary men and women sometimes hide extraordinary secrets from those closest to them: their families, friends and co-workers. Consider the well-respected chief executive who embezzles funds from his company. The man with two wives and two sets of children who know nothing of one another's existence.

Pope Benedict XVI traveled to Mexico on Friday, urging this nation's Catholics to resist the temptations of violent drug traffickers and calling for change in Cuba. This is Benedict's first voyage to the Spanish-speaking Americas; after three days in Mexico, he continues to Cuba, the first papal visit to the island nation since John Paul II's historic trip to Havana in 1998. Landing on a sun-drenched afternoon in Mexico's conservative and traditionally Catholic midsection, Benedict was greeted by President Felipe Calderon.

Myth No. 1: Real men don't take showers. Myth No. 2: Real women are small enough to submerge all their parts in a standard-size bathtub. Bathtub manufacturers have finally figured it out: People want bathtubs big enough for at least one adult--preferably two. Including men. And they want their baths to be as soothing as a massage or an afternoon nap. So manufacturers are building bigger and better bathtubs that include whirlpool systems and come in a wide variety of colors, shapes and sizes.

As a girl, Paloma Picasso once showed her father pictures she'd made of "things in the house," including copies of original paintings by Matisse and Pablo himself. Instead of praising her efforts, however, Picasso chastised his daughter for imitating other people's work. "He said, 'Don't worry about copying other people. Do your own thing and you'll be fine,' " she recalls. She has done just that. Picasso, 42, has made her own name as a designer of everything from belts to bedsheets.

THERE is no single block that neatly sums up the way downtown Los Angeles is being transformed, condo by condo and loft by loft, into a place with real residential character. Just as there are many downtowns -- South Park, Little Tokyo, the historic core, skid row -- there are many architectural responses to the idea of downtown living in this city. But three residential developments on a stretch of Industrial Street, just off 7th Street near the L.A. River, come pretty close.

Poor, poor little rich boy Gordon Clune. Poor little starving Gordon Clune. --excerpt from a PBS Net forum about "Frontier House" The widely seen PBS reality series "Frontier House" captured the many sides of Gordon Clune and his Malibu family. It caught their whining side, complaining side, feuding side and cheating side.

There are few issues in a marina more likely to rock the boats than the topic of live-aboards -- people or families who live full time on board. For some, it's the fulfillment of a fantasy lifestyle -- the freedom to pick up anchor on a whim, living unburdened by possessions beyond one's true needs. But the reality is that people choose to live on the water for a number of practical reasons as well.

Ashley Bryan lies down on the dirty carpet of her dad's bedroom where she usually sleeps. The 10-year-old girl closes her eyes, clasps her hands and raises them to her lips. Firmly, fervently, she prays. She wishes not for a bike or Barbie like most kids her age, or to become a doctor or firefighter some day. Every night, Ashley asks for something she believes only God can deliver. She prays for a new father.

Reporting from New Orleans — Derek Fisher couldn't help but laugh. The ink had barely dried on Mike D'Antoni's resignation papers, but the Lakers guard was being asked about Phil Jackson . Could he see the former Lakers coach taking over the New York Knicks next season? "Recognizing how competitive he is, and how much he still loves the game itself and from his great memories of New York, from that standpoint I wouldn't be surprised," Fisher said. "But I would be surprised from a quality-of-life standpoint.

Set in the Hollywood Hills West community of Doheny Estates, this redesigned home captures Southern California's proverbial indoor-outdoor lifestyle. Walls and hand railings of glass, as well as outdoor living spaces, take advantage of expansive city views. Location: 1734 N. Doheny Drive, Los Angeles 90069 Asking price: $10.9 million Designer: Luca Colombo Previously sold: In 2008 for $2.8 million Year built: 1961 House size: Five bedrooms, six bathrooms, 5,600 square feet Lot size: 17,071 square feet Features: Two-story living room with wood ceiling, 10 skylights, three fireplaces, two temperature-controlled wine closets, media room, Miele kitchen appliances, custom aluminum doors, Philippe Starck fixtures, oak and terrazzo flooring, infinity pool, spa, two fire pits About the area: Last year, 135 single-family homes sold in the 90069 ZIP Code at a median price of $1,550,000, according to DataQuick.

The bullet trains that would someday streak through California at 220 mph are, in the vision of their most ardent supporters, more than just a transportation system. They are also a means to alter the state's social, residential and economic fabric. But those broader ambitions are triggering an increasingly strident ideological backlash to the massive project. The fast trains connecting Los Angeles and San Francisco would create new communities of high-density apartments and small homes around stations, reducing the suburbanization of California, rail advocates say. That new lifestyle would mean fewer cars and less gasoline consumption, lowering California's contribution to global warming.

Randy Underwood cringed at the mention of Mitt Romney's name. Underwood, who lives in this small town in rural Blount County, a religious-right stronghold in the rolling hills of northern Alabama, would prefer Romney over President Obama. But Romney's life in the rarefied world of the super wealthy is a long way from anything familiar to Underwood — or to anyone else shopping the other day at Oneonta's Hometown Market. "I'm just not sure he can understand what the common person needs," said Underwood, 52, a retired Birmingham police crime-scene investigator who was heading home with groceries in the back of his pickup.

Among new Internet-based real estate ventures to pop up in recent months is one that enables house hunters to simultaneously search for just about every lifestyle criteria imaginable. Another protects would-be tenants from unwittingly renting from a struggling owner in the midst of a foreclosure. SpatialMatch.com, an overlay technology that can be embedded on an agent's website or perhaps on an entire multiple listing service, enables buyers to pursue properties using any number of lifestyle criteria.

David Solie thought he was being a good son and a competent manager. But his strong-willed mother was having none of it. Carol Solie, 72, had been caring for herself, her 28-year-old son, Roger, who has Down syndrome, and the family home in Portland, Ore., since her husband died in 1989. From David Solie's vantage point in Calabasas, it was too much. So once a month, he would travel nearly 1,000 miles north to set things right. This son decreed that his mother should move someplace easier to navigate -- an assisted living complex, perhaps.

On the map, the Newport Terrace condominium complex is a postage-stamp-size patch of orange surrounded by a sea of purple. Geographically, it is within Costa Mesa's boundaries. Officially, it belongs to Newport Beach. To residents, it's an island unto itself. "We really have our own kind of unique identity," said John Sexton, president of the Newport Terrace homeowners' association. "We're really in a world of our own."

Max and Maureen Derseweh pull into a parking lot near a tall office building in Orange towing their long, silver trailer. They're not there to camp, they're there to cut hair. The Dersewehs operate a hair salon on wheels called Rendezvous Images. They've equipped a 30-foot RV with two styling stations, a long lighted mirror, mauve-color counters and gray curtains with matching wallpaper and a sink in the corner where they wash clients' hair.

Peyton Manning would be missed all over Indianapolis were he to wind up with another NFL team. But no place would miss him more than the St. Elmo Steak House. For years Manning has been a regular at the restaurant, an institution in downtown Indianapolis for more than a century. He's also part-owner of Harry & Izzy's, the sister restaurant next door. It was at the St. Elmo, however, that Manning reviewed his rookie contract in 1998, polishing off a 24-ounce steak in the process.

Barbara Unsworth, Chino Hills My first small change was to participate in Jazzercise classes two or three times per week, purely for fun. The movement felt good, as did the positive social ambience. After six months or so, I noticed a slight change in the way my clothes fit. The next step was to purchase a scale to see what this change in my clothes was about. With pounds slowly but surely coming off, at the rate of about a pound per month, I became motivated to watch my food intake.