Woodland creatures, jungle beasts and other critters molded my childhood. I learned from the comics that rabbits are smart alecs, mice build Magic Kingdoms and ducks are obnoxious — except for Yakky Doodle, and he had his moments, too. My first superhero was a canine named Underdog, who ...
Most Americans receive news about the war in Ukraine through their local newspaper or occasionally on the television network news. Meeting Ukrainians living amid the now four-year war is another story. I recently returned from a volunteer-in-mission trip to Christian Camp Gideon in Estonia, ...
Human beings are wired for social connection, but millions of people confront isolation every day. Many of those people are seniors who lose contact with loved ones as time goes by. While temporary loneliness can be tolerated, prolonged isolation can be very harmful. Research by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine found roughly one-quarter of American adults age 65 and older live in isolation. Identifying the early warning signs of isolation may help to prevent the physiological and psychological toll isolation can take. Here are some signs of social ...
DEAR DR. ROACH: I’ve been hearing about Legionnaires’ disease. What is it? How’s it spread? Can it really be spread through windshield wipers? — D.G. ANSWER: Legionnaires’ disease is a pneumonia caused by Legionella pneumophilia. Legionella live in soil and water, and water remains the most important source of infections in humans — not from drinking the water but through aerosolized water. Air-conditioning cooling towers and water systems are the usual sources of large outbreaks, such as the one occurring as I write this in New York City. There’s (almost) no ...
DEAR ANNIE: I have a friend, “Rosie,” who kicked me out to the curb (metaphorically speaking) when her sister moved into her mobile home park. Prior to her sister’s moving into the neighborhood, Rosie and I saw a lot of each other. I was always sewing for Rosie, her husband and her mother-in-law at little or no cost. I sent food to her after her surgery. I helped Rosie’s sister with planning Rosie’s 60th birthday party. Meanwhile, when I had health issues and told her, she didn’t contact me afterward to see how I was. When I had a baby shower for my daughter, she did not ...
1. Double. The best way to show the strength of this hand is to start with a double. A simple overcall of two clubs would not adequately address the game possibilities and might lead to missing a good game contract in spades, diamonds, clubs or even notrump. It is true that a takeout double of one major suit tends to imply good support for the other, but this does not mean that such support is absolutely guaranteed. The more important consideration is to show the general strength of a hand, and the double in this case serves that purpose best. You plan to bid two clubs over ...
