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Bridge: Jan. 4, 2024

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 14:42:50 GMT

Unlucky Louie blames his bad results on bad luck despite all the evidence. But luck tends to favor the man who doesn’t factor it into his plans.In a penny game, Louie was declarer at 3NT, and West led the deuce of hearts. Louie won with his nine and saw a second heart trick, plus four diamonds and two clubs. He led a diamond to dummy and tried a club finesse with his jack.West won and led the ace and another heart. Louie won and cashed the A-K of clubs, but when East discarded, the defense was sure of five tricks: two hearts, a club and the A-K of spades.SECOND TRICK“Return a heart at the second trick,” North observed.“I’m supposed to lead back the suit the defenders led at me?” Louie snorted.West’s deuce of hearts suggested a four-card holding, so the defense was sure of only two hearts and two spades. If Louie leads a heart at Trick Two, West will score his fourth heart, but Louie will have time to attack the spades. He sets up a ninth tri...

Horoscopes Jan. 4, 2024: Michael Stipe, discover the truth

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 14:42:50 GMT

CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: Dot-Marie Jones, 60; Dave Foley, 61; Michael Stipe, 64; Patty Loveless, 67.Happy Birthday: Rely on your intelligence, not your emotions. Learn from experience, and you’ll find a path that leads to victory. Embrace change and look for opportunities that help stabilize prospects and encourage better relationships with loved ones. Research and discover the truth before you voice your opinion or get involved in something that can restrict you from reaching your target. Study and learn, and navigate your way to success. Your numbers are 6, 17, 22, 29, 34, 36, 42.ARIES (March 21-April 19): Pay attention to how you feel physically, and streamline how you handle your finances. Staying on top of stressful matters will be a game changer when you want to make a move. Listen to your inner voice and follow your heart. Romance is on the rise. 3 starsTAURUS (April 20-May 20): Change is inevitable. Make a move that positions you for success. If you vacillate, som...

Word Game: Jan. 4, 2024

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 14:42:50 GMT

TODAY’S WORD — ATRIUMS (ATRIUMS: AY-tree-ums: Rectangular open patios around which houses are built.)Average mark 19 wordsTime limit 30 minutesCan you find 24 or more words in ATRIUMS? The list will be published tomorrow.YESTERDAY’S WORD — CHERISHES cerise cheer cherish chess cress cries crises heir heiress here hers hire hiss hisser recess rice rich riches rise scree seer sere series sheer shier shies shire sireTo purchase the Word Game book, visit WordGameBooks.com. Order it now for just $5 while supplies last!RULES OF THE GAME:1. Words must be of four or more letters.2. Words that acquire four letters by the addition of “s,” such as “bats” or “dies,” are not allowed.3. Additional words made by adding a “d” or an “s” may not be used. For example, if “bake” is used, “baked” or “bakes” are not allowed, but “bake” and “baking” are admissible.4. Proper nouns, slang words, or vulgar or sexually explicit words are not allowed.Contact Word Game creator Kathleen Sa...

Ask Amy: I couldn’t bring myself to do my boyfriend’s ‘favorite thing’

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 14:42:50 GMT

Dear Readers: Periodically, I ask for updates regarding questions that have been published in this space. I am naturally curious about how things might have turned out for people who have received my advice.Related ArticlesAdvice | Ask Amy: My boyfriend says it’s over because of the surprise visitor Advice | Ask Amy: This is when I realized I had waited too long to leave my girlfriend Advice | Ask Amy: I worry about affording vacations if I move out of my parents’ house Advice | Ask Amy: My in-laws stopped speaking to me, and I don’t know what to do Advice | Ask Amy: I think I might have to cancel my birthday party because of our neighbors Below is a question that was originally published in 2021, followed by my answer and the update.Dear Amy: My boyfriend of almost three years is very childish. If I do something he does not like, he will try to get me back or even the score in some way...

Sale closed in Fremont: $2 million for a three-bedroom home

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 14:42:50 GMT

41102 Saint Anthony Drive – Google Street ViewA 1,749-square-foot house built in 1957 has changed hands. The property located in the 41100 block of Saint Anthony Drive in Fremont was sold on Oct. 24, 2023. The $1,950,000 purchase price works out to $1,115 per square foot. The layout of this single-story house includes three bedrooms and two bathrooms. Additionally, the home features a garage.Additional houses have recently changed hands nearby:In August 2023, a 5,667-square-foot home on Saint Anthony Drive in Fremont sold for $4,175,000, a price per square foot of $737. The home has 4 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms.On Saint Anthony Drive, Fremont, in August 2022, a 2,022-square-foot home was sold for $2,468,000, a price per square foot of $1,221. The home has 5 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms.A 4,313-square-foot home on the 300 block of Harvard cmn. in Fremont sold in May 2022, for $3,668,000, a price per square foot of $850. The home has 4 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms. 

Stock market today: World shares are mixed after Wall Street extends its weak start to 2024

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 14:42:50 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Shares opened higher in Europe on Thursday after a lackluster trading session in Asia that tracked Wall Street’s weak start to 2024. The mood was somber in Tokyo as the market reopened from the New Year holidays with a moment of silence instead of a celebratory New Year’s ring of the bell after a major earthquake Monday left at least 77 people dead and dozens missing. Dark-suited officials bowed their heads in a ceremony that usually features women clad in colorful kimonos. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 fell 0.5% to 33,288.29.Germany’s DAX gained 0.4% to 16,596.09 and the CAC 40 in Paris also was up 0.4%, at 7,440.92. Britain’s FTSE 100 edged 0.2% higher, to 7,694.11. The futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were 0.1% higher. In other Asian markets, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng ended unchanged, at 16,645.98 and the Shanghai Composite index sank 0.4% to 2,954.35. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.4% to 7,494.10...

Starbucks will now let customers use personal cups for nearly all orders

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 14:42:50 GMT

New York (CNN) — Starbucks is expanding the ways its staff can fill customers’ personal cups as part of its ongoing efforts to reduce the massive amount of waste the coffee chain produces from its iconic cups constantly thrown in the trash.Beginning Wednesday, Starbucks is adding the reusable cup option to drive-thru and Starbucks app orders, marking a “milestone” move the company said was previously only available for orders made in-person at its cafes since 1985.For drive-thru orders, customers tell the barista during the ordering process that they’ve brought their own clean mug that staff will collect at the pickup window “using a contactless vessel to ensure hygiene and safety.”For orders made in the Starbucks app, a new “personal cup” option is now added to the “customization” button during the ordering process. The customer places a order, then brings it to the store where they give the mug to a barista in the pickup area where the drink is made and given back in a “contactles...

Sleep disruptions in 30s and 40s linked to cognitive decline a decade later, study finds

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 14:42:50 GMT

(CNN) — People who have more interrupted sleep in their 30s and 40s are more than twice as likely to have memory and thinking problems a decade later, according to a new study.In the early 2000s, the researchers tracked the quality of sleep for hundreds of people during two overnight visits about a year apart, capturing a total of six nights of sleep per person. Sleep quality was assessed using a wrist activity monitor that tracked the amount of sleep people got along with periods of movement to gauge sleep fragmentation, or short, repetitive interruptions of sleep. The participants were about 40 years old, on average, at this point in the study.More than a decade later, between 2015 and 2016, the researchers analyzed the cognitive ability of 526 of the same participants using standardized interviews and tests of cognitive ability, including processing speed, executive function, memory and fluency.On average, the study participants were found to sleep about six hours each ...

Oklahoma teenager finally defeats the unbeatable game: Tetris

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 14:42:50 GMT

(CNN) — A 13-year-old from Oklahoma appears to have finally done the nearly impossible: He beat Tetris.Willis Gibson is believed to be the first human gamer to reach level 157 of the classic video game nearly 40 years after its release.“I’m going to pass out, I can’t feel my fingers,” Gibson said after his feat caused the game to crash in a video posted to YouTube Tuesday.“When I started playing this game I never expected to ever crash the game, or beat it,” Gibson wrote in the video’s description.The viral video of Gibson’s 38-minute game, posted under his “Blue Scuti” screen name, is the latest spike in nostalgia for the addictive and enduring game created by a Soviet engineer in 1984 and popularized on the Nintendo Entertainment System.To date, over 200 official variants of Tetris has been released on at least 70 systems, a world record according to Guinness World Records. The Electronic Arts developed mobile version released in 2006 has been sold 100 million times, mak...

Colder Air Enroute, Snow Follows

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 14:42:50 GMT

A few patchy light snow and rain showers move through today, out ahead of a cold front that sweeps in. While temps manage to climb into the lower 40s early this afternoon, the numbers fade fast this evening as strong northwesterly winds kick in. Temps tonight drop back into the teens and lower 20s, and with the wind, wind chills drop into the single digits. Wind gusts 20-30mph this afternoon and tonight, with a few gusts to 40mph across the Cape and Islands. A much chillier air mass is in place tomorrow, and despite the sunshine, temps won’t make it out of the low to mid 30s. That colder air will set the stage for the first significant snow of the season for a large portion of southern New England Saturday night into Sunday. As an area of low pressure traverses the country over the next couple of days, it’ll pick up moisture from the Gulf of Mexico as well as the Atlantic and push it into the cold air across the Northeast. As it does so, snow will break out across the ...