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Bridge: Nov. 18, 2023

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:36 GMT

Simple Saturday columns focus on basic technique and logical thinking.Some players view partners as a necessary evil and aren’t mindful of their partner’s problems. Their approach seems to be, “Let partner guess. That’s what partners are for.” That is a poor basis for an effective partnership.In today’s deal, West led a low club against 3NT. (South’s jump to 3NT would typically be based on long, strong diamonds and no interest in a heart contract.) East took the king and returned the deuce: ten, jack.FOURTH CLUBMentally patting himself on the back for finding a good lead, West cashed the ace, dropping declarer’s queen, and led a fourth club. Unfortunately, after East won with the eight, he led a spade … and South claimed the rest, scoring game.West was numb to the fact that his partner might have a problem when he won the fourth club. West would lose nothing by taking the ace of hearts before leading the fourth club. East, I susp...

Ask Amy: I’m hurt that my friends didn’t realize I needed their help

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:36 GMT

Dear Amy: My mother died recently, after a brief illness.Related ArticlesAdvice | Ask Amy: We rushed home from our trip, and then we learned what our friend’s ’emergency’ was Advice | Ask Amy: Am I wrong to think my son should put aside his trauma for our family’s sake? Advice | Ask Amy: I found out why I was behaving badly, but my wife won’t come back Advice | Ask Amy: The bride and I aren’t speaking because of her non-negotiable demand Advice | Ask Amy: I misled my host about why I wanted to stay in a hotel It was heartbreaking for me. My father died 10 years ago, and now they’re both gone.I sent a text to my close friends letting them know about her death and telling them that there would not be a service. My mom had requested to be cremated and to have a gathering for family only.My friends all responded with sympathy to my text telling them that my mother had died...

Harriette Cole: I felt like a loser so I quit my job after a week. Now things are even worse.

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:36 GMT

DEAR HARRIETTE: I’m a perfectionist, and it’s causing me a lot of stress.Related ArticlesAdvice | Harriette Cole: My mom is putting up a huge fight about my college decision, but it’s my life Advice | Harriette Cole: I’m a college student now, so I can’t relate to my family Advice | Harriette Cole: I’m arguing more and more, and I need a strategy Advice | Harriette Cole: How can I break the hold of wine and binge-watching? Advice | Harriette Cole: I don’t have rich parents, and I’m scared about graduating I recently accepted a job that proved to be overwhelming to me. I thought I would be good at it, but I had to stretch a lot, and it just seemed like I was not doing anything right. I ended up quitting after one week. I felt like such a failure.My boss didn’t say that I was doing a bad job, but she kept pointing out things that I needed to work on. I ...

Meet the Secret Donors Who Fund AIPAC’s Israel Trips for Congress

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:36 GMT

For the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, one of Washington’s most influential lobby groups, trips to Israel for members of Congress play an important role in lining up support on Capitol Hill. Millions are spent every year ferrying dozens upon dozens of members to Israel for eight-day junkets.Who pays for these trips has, until now, remained largely a mystery. According to an unredacted tax filing for 2019 obtained by The Intercept, the financiers are a clutch of large foundations and nonprofits, some of which are family-run, that also give to a wide range of other political and cultural groups.The trips are organized through a cutout called the American Israel Education Fund, a charitable organization founded by AIPAC, from which it borrows its offices, board members, and even part of its logo. Like other tax-exempt nonprofits, AIEF must file a Form 990 every year with the IRS, but donors are redacted from the version that is made accessible to the public.According to the ...

Nice Weekend Ahead Overall

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:36 GMT

We have finally reached the weekend and the weather will be much better than it was earlier this week.Saturday will still be a transition day with leftover moisture in place. Expect patches of fog and mostly cloudy skies through much of the morning. Then that will give way to a blend of sun and clouds for the afternoon along with a nice, warm breeze.A weak front will cross through overnight, clearing much of the clouds out and leaving us with a very nice Sunday, featuring mostly sunny skies and comfortable humidity levels. Highs will be a touch warmer than average in the low to mid 80s.Through the weekend, winds will generally stream out from the north, preventing temperatures from turning too warm. It will also drive lows down to the mid to upper 60s across much of South Florida for Sunday morning.That will change by early next week, however, as winds veer more off the water along with a beach breeze in place. A spotty shower could move onshore, otherwise the dry pattern will persi...

Musk threatens ‘thermonuclear lawsuit’ as X ad boycott gathers pace

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:36 GMT

Elon Musk said on Saturday that he will file a “thermonuclear lawsuit” against non-profit watchdog Media Matters and others, as companies including Disney, Apple and IBM reportedly have paused advertising on X amid an antisemitism storm around the social media platform.Media Matters, a U.S. group that describes itself as “a progressive research and information center” that monitors “media outlets for conservative misinformation,” published earlier this week research showing that X has posted ads appearing next to pro-Nazi posts.X CEO Linda Yaccarino previously said that brands are now “protected from the risk of being next to” potentially toxic content on the platform.“The split second court opens on Monday,” Musk said in a post on X on Saturday. “X Corp will be filing a thermonuclear lawsuit against Media Matters and ALL those who colluded in this fraudulent attack on our company,” he said.Musk also posted a statement with...

Firefighter hospitalized after battling fire in vacant home under construction in Dorchester

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:36 GMT

One firefighter was taken to the hospital after crews extinguished a fire in a vacant building in Dorchester early Saturday morning, officials said.Crews responding to a reported fire in a building under construction on Sawyer Avenue were able to quickly extinguish the fire, according to a post on the Boston Fire Department’s X account. The firefighter was transported by Boston EMS with minor injuries.The cause of the fire remains under investigation.https://twitter.com/BostonFire/status/1725840478061388033This is a developing news story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest details.

SpaceX is preparing its mega rocket for a second test flight

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:36 GMT

SpaceX aimed for a second test flight of its mega rocket Starship on Saturday, counting down to a morning liftoff from South Texas.The first test flight in April ended in an explosion shortly after liftoff. The goal is to send the rocketship around the world before ditching it in the ocean near Hawaii.SpaceX spent the past several months making improvements to both the rocket and launch pad, located at the southern tip of Texas near the Mexico border. The Federal Aviation Administration gave the all-clear to fly earlier this week.The nearly 400-foot (121-meter) Starship is the world’s biggest and most powerful rocket. SpaceX’s Elon Musk intends to use a fleet of them to get people to the moon and Mars.If all goes well, the booster will drop into the Gulf of Mexico and the bullet-shaped spacecraft will continue out over the Atlantic and Pacific, before falling into the ocean near Hawaii. SpaceX is targeting an altitude of 150 miles (240 kilometers).___The Associated Press Health and ...

Ukrainians fleeing war say there are barriers to starting new life in Canada

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:36 GMT

OTTAWA — The lunchtime chatter among a small group of employees in the crowded breakroom of a large corporate office in Markham, Ont., is increasingly edged with anxiety.After fleeing the war in Ukraine last year, Stella Vitiuk and Nataliia Vabiak got a jobs as accountants at a business that hired a handful of Ukrainian newcomers.As their colleagues talk about weekend plans, Vitiuk and Vabiak swap notes on their efforts to stay in Canada. Each day brings their emergency visas closer to expiry, with no end in sight to the war that brought them here.“I am a strong person, but I feel stressed,” said Vitiuk. “It’s painful for everybody.”She made the difficult decision to leave her husband and parents and bring her two daughters to Canada in the summer of 2022 and said she wants to stay for her kids’ sake.“I want to give them something new, something good.”As of Oct. 14, more than 198,600 Ukrainians have come to Canada on a three-year emerg...

Ask Amy: A reader mourns the death of a Friend

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:36 GMT

Dear Amy: I’ve been in a bad place, and I’m a little surprised at the reason: I am grieving over the death of Matthew Perry.I couldn’t identify why I was feeling so low, until I finally realized that what I was feeling was grief.How can you grieve someone that you never knew personally?I think maybe it has to do with what I felt this person gave to me.I just wish I could say, “Thank you for all the laughs!”What is your perspective on this type of thing?I’d love to know what you think.— Hurting in CaliforniaDear Hurting: As of this writing, the death of this beloved actor is still very new, and I can well understand why you (and many others) feel very real grief over this loss.Actors, musicians, writers, and other cultural figures can make an indelible mark on our own real and lived experience. And when the loss involves an actor who created a memorable character who came into our living rooms over such a long period of time, you feel as if you have lost a ver...