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Skywatch: A lion spewing shooting stars

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:16:47 GMT

From this coming Friday night to Saturday morning, Nov. 17-18, there’s going to be a fairly nice show happening in the sky. It’s the annual Leonid meteor shower, considered a moderate shower most years. This year’s conditions for viewing the Leonids should be wonderful because the moon will be out of the sky and won’t visually wash out any of the meteors or “shooting stars.”If you’re not out there already, get out into the dark countryside where you may see 15 to 20 meteors an hour, or more. The Leonids are known to be surprising some years. Without moonlight, the sky will serve as a nice dark backdrop. Watching a meteor shower properly takes some discipline. You might see a few meteors in the early evening, but the bulk of the meteors will streak across the sky from midnight to just before the start of the morning twilight on the 18th. The best thing to do is go to bed early and set your alarm clock for just before midnight.Most meteor show...

Trudy Rubin: In the war between Ukraine and Russia, which side is the GOP on?

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:16:47 GMT

The “party of Putin,” also known as the Republican Party, seems determined to help Vladimir Putin defeat Ukraine.By boosting the Russian president, the GOP is not only undermining U.S. security and supporting a dangerous adversary, but it is also helping Hamas in its effort to destroy the Israeli state.You don’t believe me? Consider the following.The House Republican majority, cowed by its MAGA wing and encouraged by Donald Trump, has rushed to abandon Ukraine. Mike Johnson, the newly installed speaker, ripped up a combined military assistance package for Israel and Ukraine and eliminated aid for Kyiv.And now, even Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who previously pushed back forcefully against GOP isolationists, seems to have been swayed by the extremists. That is dangerous for U.S. security and for Israel, as well.At first, McConnell tried to fight back against MAGA recklessness.“Some say our support for Ukraine comes at the expense of more important p...

Bridge: Nov. 12, 2023

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:16:47 GMT

The Spingold Teams, the main event at the ACBL Summer NABC, underscored the deluge of professionalism in top-level bridge as well as the transition of the League’s “North American” tournaments to international events. Many “sponsored” teams with U.S. pros were ousted early, and in the semifinals, only two of 22 players were from the U.S.The impact of players from overseas may be due to the support of youth bridge in European countries and especially in China. The U.S. is striving to keep up; many excellent programs to attract young players have begun. At the NABC, the ACBL staged a three-day Youth NABC, and scores of kids competed for trophies and scholarships. Moreover, bridge is coming back on campus: At the NABC, Georgia Tech won the Collegiate Bridge Bowl competition.As for the Spingold, the team in the semifinals with U.S. players won it all. Marty Fleisher’s team prevailed in the final against a (mostly) Swedish squad led by newcomer Leif Bremark. The match was close, and bett...

Word Game: Nov. 12, 2023

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:16:47 GMT

TODAY’S WORD — COSTUMED (COSTUMED: kos-TOOMD: Wore an outfit for disguise appropriate for a particular occasion.)Average mark 37 wordsTime limit 45 minutesCan you find 49 or more words in COSTUMED?TODAY’S WORD — COSTUMED code coed come comet cost cote cued custom cute oust outed scout scud scum scute sect sedum smote smug smut some stem stud sued suet sumo toed tome used mode modest most mote moue mouse mucose muse must mute demo does dome dose dote douse duct dues duet dustTo 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 expli...

Ask Amy: Is this a creepy idea for a high school reunion?

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:16:47 GMT

Dear Amy: I am working with some of my high school classmates on our upcoming 50th reunion.Related ArticlesAdvice | Ask Amy: I told the bride she was free to exclude me, but I’m hurt by how she did it Advice | Ask Amy: We ended up with a near-stranger’s dog, and it feels very wrong to me Advice | Ask Amy: I want flower gremlins at my wedding, and my family is furious Advice | Ask Amy: I’m devastated by the wedding snub, and my husband doesn’t have my back Advice | Ask Amy: My sneaky co-workers are stressing me out We want to honor our classmates who have passed with a picture and obituary, and I have been helping to find those documents.One of our classmates died by suicide a few years after graduation, I believe as a result of postpartum depression. I was saddened to hear about this. Although I did not know her personally, she was a person I admired throughout high school.I locat...

Secret Pentagon Investigation Found No One at Fault in Drone Strike That Killed Woman and 4-Year-Old

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:16:47 GMT

This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center.Mogadishu, SOMALIA — Mariam Shilow Muse was born in the springtime. When relatives dropped by, the bright-eyed 4-year-old bolted through the yard and beyond the fence to greet them. When her father came home, she smothered him with hugs.In late March 2018, Mariam’s mother, 22-year-old Luul Dahir Mohamed, planned to visit her brother to see his children for the first time, and Mariam insisted on coming along to meet her young cousins. Luul’s brother had planned to pick them up, but Luul couldn’t reach him by phone, so on the morning of April 1, she and Mariam caught a ride with some men in a maroon Toyota Hilux pickup.That same afternoon, as Luul’s brother Qasim Dahir Mohamed was on his way to pick up his sister and niece, he passed the maroon Toyota pickup. He noticed mattresses and pillows in the bed and, at the last second, caught sight of Luul, with Mariam on her lap, in the passenger seat. He waved and honked, but ...

For a Century, the American Way of War Has Meant Killing Civilians

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:16:47 GMT

This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center.Nearly a century ago in Nicaragua, American Marines in an armed propeller plane spotted a group of civilian men chopping weeds and trimming trees far below. Convinced that something nefarious was underway, they opened fire. The U.S. never bothered to count the wounded and dead.Four decades later in Vietnam, American troops hovering above a group of woodcutters grew unnerved when the men, women, and children failed to look up. Without provocation, the Americans unleashed rockets and machine-gun fire. Eight of the nine civilians below were killed.For hours in 2021, Americans peered down at a man driving through the Afghan capital of Kabul and convinced themselves that he was a terrorist. They launched a missile that killed him and nine other civilians, including seven children.In each instance, Americans displayed clear signs of confirmation bias, in which people seek information that reinforces their preexisting beliefs. The same failin...

Las Táuridas del Norte podrían producir pronto meteoros extrabrillantes. ¿Cómo puedes verlos?

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:16:47 GMT

(CNN) — La lluvia de meteoros de las Táuridas aún no ha terminado, y una de sus dos corrientes alcanzará su punto máximo este fin de semana.Cuando las Táuridas del Norte, una lluvia anual menor, están en su momento de mayor actividad, los observadores del cielo pueden ver uno o dos meteoros brillantes surcando el cielo nocturno.Las Táuridas del Sur alcanzaron su máximo el 5 de noviembre, y el dúo dinámico se ha visto superpuesto en el cielo nocturno desde mediados de octubre. Según EarthSky, se espera que las Táuridas del Norte alcancen su máximo alrededor de las 07:21 p.m. hora de Miami del domingo.Ambas lluvias de táuridas, que proceden de un cometa llamado Encke, suelen producir unos cinco meteoros por hora. Pero debido a que los restos del cometa tienden a ser grandes, de hasta 1 metro de diámetro, los meteoros de las Táuridas parecen más brillantes a medida que atraviesan la atmósfera, dijo a CNN Bill Cooke, jefe de la Oficina de Medio Ambiente de Meteoroides de la NASA.A...

Montgomery Co. offers a special lens to view fall for colorblind visitors

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:16:47 GMT

Ashlyn Thompson’s father recently received an invitation to view the vibrant red, yellow and orange colors of fall. As a colorblind person, it’s something he’s never seen before.Montgomery Parks recently acquired special color-correcting glasses for color deficient visitors, and the agency did a test run last month that included Thompson’s dad.“We invited six volunteers to try these glasses for the first time,” said Thompson, who’s also an Inclusion and Community Outreach specialist at the agency. “It was a lot of ‘Oh my gosh, this is what you guys see every day?’ It was incredibly heartwarming.”Colorblindness is a difficulty seeing the difference between certain colors, especially red and green. Some color deficient people also struggle making out blue, green and yellow objects. The condition is often inherited and has no cure.The glasses were developed by EnChroma, a California-based company. Thompson said she was i...

Wetter Times Ahead by Midweek

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:16:47 GMT

A warm — if not hot — Saturday was endured across South Florida with a record high tied in Miami at 89F, and more warm weather is ahead this Sunday.High pressure continues to hold on to control across the area this Sunday, allowing for mostly dry conditions and above average temperatures. The only difference is that there should be a few more clouds around compared to the sunny skies seen on Saturday.Now by Monday, a front is going to begin to approach from the north. It’s a very weak front but what it will do it start to increase our winds out of the northeast and introduce more clouds into the picture.Monday will feature partly sunny skies and temperatures that are still warm, but also with the chance for showers, especially across northern areas late in the day.That shower and isolated storm chance will linger into our Tuesday, so some areas will be dry while others could be wet depending on where the highest moisture sets up as the weak front stalls across the ...