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5 travel ideas to make adults & kids happy

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 22:22:08 GMT

Will you be traveling solo with kids or grandchildren soon?If so, here are five ideas to consider:1. Opt for a guest ranch.With an authentic and scenic setting as backdrop, you and your junior adventurers can enjoy beautiful places and learn horsemanship from experienced hands who will tailor the instruction to your skill and interest level. Opt to ride in open meadows, on mountain trails or in the desert Southwest. Will your family members choose to participate in a real cattle drive? Are you up for a horse pack trip into the backcountry? Will your youngsters be eager to learn the skills required for team penning and other arena games? Or will you be happy to relax during daily trail rides. The options are yours at working dude ranches and guest ranches across the country. Furthermore, you’ll easily meet other families and share stories on the trail, around a campfire or across the breakfast and dinner tables.For more: www.duderanch.org2. Choose an all-inclusive resort.With so much...

’60s pop stars so Happy Together on summer tour

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 22:22:08 GMT

If you had a hit single in 1967, you didn’t walk around thinking you’d still be performing it in 2023. That was back when rock was young, and long before anyone heard of the Happy Together Tour.“Back when we were 17, nobody was thinking that the songs would be serving us our whole life,” says Paul Cowsill of the Newport-raised family band. “I would have just said, ‘Yeah, if we’re doing this after 50, just get us off the stage fast.”Adds Vogues frontman Troy Elich , “Believe me, nobody back then thought they’d be doing these songs 60 years later. If they had, they never would have sung in those keys.”Now the biggest ‘60s pop tour, Happy Together has lasted far longer than the ‘60s themselves. The package tour was launched in 1984 with the Turtles as headliners, and named after their greatest hit. Faces have changed over the years: The Turtles will still close the show Sunday night at the Lynn Memorial Auditorium but their lead singer Howard Kaylan has retired; his place is being take...

Gaster & Atkinson: Clean energy solutions can’t be forced

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 22:22:08 GMT

With temperatures worldwide breaking records, there is an escalating sense of urgency that countries must make bigger, bolder and more enforceable commitments to cut greenhouse gas emissions.But it would be a terrible mistake to double down on the current “kitchen sink” approach of trying to do everything, everywhere, all at once because we can’t force a green transition with regulatory mandates, subsidies and generalized moral pressure. That impulse isn’t wrong; it just won’t work.The harsh reality is that until clean energy is as cheap and performs as well as dirty energy, the world will not adopt it at anything like the needed scale. So, governments must focus on developing clean energy sources at price and performance parity with dirty fuels — “P3.” Only then will governments, organizations and individuals rapidly switch to a new energy system.Why won’t forcing approaches work? There are two primary reasons.First, climate change is a global issue, so solutions must be global. In...

Watch to watch: ‘Futurama’ returns after 10-year break

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 22:22:08 GMT

Comedy and comics fans are in luck this week. Here are top picks to watch.‘Futurama’After nearly a decade break, Matt Groening’s space odyssey returns with new episodes. The writers make up for lost time with bits aimed at Alexa, Bitcoin, Impossible Burgers and “Black Mirror.” The animated series works best when it takes a break from spoofing everything under numerous suns and zooms in on the characters’ emotions. Hulu‘Command Z’Chloe Radcliffe has been a writer for “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” and been named a TBS Comic to Watch. Now, the Minnesota native has snagged a juicy role in this Steven Soderbergh side project, which dropped on the Oscar-winning director’s own website with little fanfare. Radcliffe plays a reluctant time traveler who could change the fate of the world, if she can manage to leave her cynicism at the wormhole door. In addition to stealing scenes from co-stars such as Roy Wood Jr. an...

Aaron Judge homers in second game back as Yankees rebound vs. Orioles

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 22:22:08 GMT

BALTIMORE — It didn’t take long for Aaron Judge to make his presence felt.After drawing three walks in his Friday return, the reigning MVP got his bat going in the Yankees’ 8-3 win over the Orioles on Saturday. Judge, playing the field for the first time since tearing a ligament in his right big toe on June 3, recorded three hits, including a two-run, 442-foot blast to centerfield.The home run, Judge’s 20th of the year, came in the third inning off Tyler Wells. The Orioles starter, a frequent victim of Judge’s power, exited shortly after that.Judge wasn’t the only Yankees slugger to homer off Wells, as Giancarlo Stanton hit a 427-foot missile with nobody on in the first inning. Kyle Higashioka then crushed a Cole Irvin pitch 428 feet for another solo shot in the sixth inning.However, it was Isiah Kiner-Falefa who broke the game open, as he ended a 10-pitch at-bat with a three-run double off Bryan Baker in the sixth. The two-bagger gave the Yankees...

Editorial: Hunter Biden plea deal takes a bizarre twist

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 22:22:08 GMT

Hunter Biden’s plea deal on tax and weapons charges is on life support. Even if it makes a comeback in the coming days, this fiasco remains a stain on the president and the White House.On Wednesday, a federal judge refused to accept the agreement reached in June, under which President Joe Biden’s son would plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges while escaping prosecution on a gun charge. At issue is the scope of the immunity Hunter Biden would receive.According to news reports, Hunter Biden’s attorneys believed the deal would give their client protection from other charges that might arise in the government’s investigation. Prosecutors, on the other hand, insisted the agreement was confined to the tax and gun charges.It’s odd that the defendant and the government would be at odds over such a basic element of any plea bargain. Perhaps the events of the past few weeks — when more damaging information about Hunter Biden has emerged — led prosecutors to back off the broader immunit...

Provincetown takes Pride in 45th anniversary of Carnival Week

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 22:22:08 GMT

Provincetown has a long and rich history, as the first landing spot for the Mayflower, a robust tradition of fishing, an artists’ colony and as an LGBTQ haven.That last one took some effort, starting in the 1970s.“This was at a time when Provincetown’s leadership didn’t necessarily understand why it was important to promote the town as a destination for queer travelers, and there were many in town trying to downplay the town’s creative community in an effort to promote it as one of the more well-known ‘straight’ destinations on the Cape,” Provincetown Business Guild Executive Director Stephan Hengst said.This was born Carnival Week, a way to show town leadership that diversity and inclusion are fun, vibrant and just plain good for business.“Carnival was the result of the community showing its love and appreciation for the community that called the tip of Cape Cod home,” said Hengst.This year Ptown is celebrating the 45th anniversary of Carnival We...

Vaccinated dog still got viral cough

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 22:22:08 GMT

Dear Dr. John,About two weeks ago, my 14-year-old Retriever X developed a persistent hacking cough. I took him in to see my local vet and they ran bloodwork and took chest x-rays. They determined he had a type of kennel cough and gave me some antibiotics and a cough medication. With things not improving that much, I then took him to a specialty hospital.. The diagnosis was pretty much the same and no additional medications were given. His energy level seems a little off. Can kennel cough last this long and do I need to keep him away from my sister’s dog or other dogs since my dog and my sister’s dog have been together this entire time. Why did my dog get kennel cough if he is vaccinated for it and why has her dog not developed the same cough? V.H.Dear V.H.,Kennel cough is a broadly used term that describes a contagious viral cough in dogs caused by Bordetella bronchiseptica as well as other strains of various coughs. It seems as if your veterinarian did the proper workup. If they fe...

How to navigate a remote job interview

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 22:22:08 GMT

Not so long ago, job interviews were conducted almost exclusively in person. Hiring managers were able to assess candidates during these interviews, getting an idea about everything from the applicant’s skill set to how he or she affected the energy in the room to body language and the confidence of a handshake.Today a growing number of interviews are virtual. Many are conducted via popular video conferencing apps like Zoom. In a recent survey of talent leaders and recruiters conducted by the tech firm Talview, 80% of respondents said their hiring process is now fully remote. There are many advantages to remote/virtual interviews. They tend to be more convenient for screening applicants for remote positions because the applicant pool may be coming from anywhere around the world. Remote interviews also can be less time-consuming.As useful as they can be, remote interviews are not foolproof. Technical snarls or uncooperative conditions at home can affect remote interviews. Virtu...

He’s paying for his kids and ex’s boyfriend

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 22:22:08 GMT

Q. My soon-to-be ex has been dragging out our divorce for over a year.  She has it made right now because I am paying child support and all of the house expenses – mortgage, utilities, insurance, etc.  I have been living in my mom’s finished attic for a year because I don’t make enough to rent a place for myself.Our pre-trial conference just got continued again – this time because her lawyer is going on vacation.  Our next date is November.  They still won’t answer my discovery requests (I’ve responded to all of their requests and supplemented my responses).  And they keep scheduling and then canceling our settlement meetings.I still have access to our Ring doorbell camera.  Yesterday I saw her boyfriend moving into our home.  My lawyer says he can’t ask the judge to order the house sold at this stage because where will our kids live. Why does her boyfriend get to move into our home where our kids live and why do I have to pay his housing expenses?  Is there anything I can do?A. You...