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Ask Amy: Atheist worries about “thoughts and prayers”

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:16:56 GMT

Dear Amy: I am an atheist and am keeping my spiritual beliefs close to my heart as they would offend most family members and friends who all, to various degrees, identify as believers (Christians or otherwise).When a friend or a family member goes through seriously rough times or health issues (divorce, cancer etc.), and also in case of a friends’ or family member’s loved one’s passing, I still offer up the expected “thoughts and prayers,” as they don’t know that I’m an atheist.I think it is the right sentiment to express support and comfort.Yet every time I write or verbally express “thoughts and prayers,” I feel like a fraud. It feels completely empty to me.In cards, I have expressed “My heart goes out to you,” “You are in my heart and in my thoughts,” “I feel your pain and wished I could lift it,” etc., and these were heartfelt sentiments.Unfortunately, for me these sentiments just do not seem to have t...

Bridge: Aug. 6, 2023

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:16:56 GMT

“If you don’t like the way I drive, get off the sidewalk.” — bumper stickerA club player brought me today’s deal from a duplicate game. He had been South and was unhappy with his partner’s bidding.“When West preempted with four hearts,” he told me, “my partner bid four spades. My hand was huge, and not to bid a slam never crossed my mind. West led the king of hearts, and when partner tabled a balanced hand with 10 high-card points, I was appalled.“I ruffed the second heart — East threw a club — and saw a chance for 12 tricks with a dummy reversal. I led a trump to dummy, ruffed a heart — East threw another club — and led a second trump. West discarded, and I was doomed. I took my three high diamonds, ruffed my last diamond in dummy and cashed two club tricks and my last trump, but East won the 13th trick with a trump. Down one.“I think partner’s bid of four spades was reckless. He let the...

Horoscopes Aug. 6, 2023: Vera Farmiga, make your life meaningful

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:16:56 GMT

CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: Vera Farmiga, 50; Geri Halliwell-Horner, 51; M. Night Shyamalan, 53; Michelle Yeoh, 61.Happy Birthday: Study what’s available, then create the scenario you feel most comfortable with this year. Increasing your awareness, checking out what’s trending and adding skills that will qualify you to do something of interest will make your life meaningful and your future bright. Evaluate your situation and prepare to make the changes necessary to reach your objective. Personal and physical improvements are favored. Your numbers are 5, 13, 20, 24, 32, 38, 45.ARIES (March 21-April 19): Give yourself a once-over and update your image. Keeping up with the times will help you remain current in all aspects of life. Attending social events or a reunion will boost your ego. Romance is favored and will enhance your life. 3 starsTAURUS (April 20-May 20): Refuse to let what others dangle in front of you get in your way. Take the road that allows you to control ...

Word Game: Aug. 6, 2023

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:16:56 GMT

TODAY’S WORD — HARBINGER (HARBINGER: HAHR-bin-jer: One that foreshadows what is to come.)Average mark 58 wordsTime limit 60 minutesCan you find 73 or more words in HARBINGER?TODAY’S WORD — HARBINGER hair hang hanger hare hear hegira heir herb hernia herring hinge hire ager anger angrier rage rain rang range ranger rani rare raring rear rearing regain rehab reign rein reran ring ringer bane bang bare barer barge barn barre barren barring bean bear bearing began begin being berg bier binge brag brain bran briar brig brine bring near neigh nigh gain gainer garb garner gear gibe gnar grab grain grin earn earring erringTo 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...

Bajo turbulencia: así se cumple el primer año de Gustavo Petro en la presidencia de Colombia

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:16:56 GMT

(CNN Español) — El jueves 3 de agosto fue, quizá, uno de los días más duros para el presidente de Colombia, Gustavo Petro. En un documento, firmado bajo juramento, su hijo mayor Nicolás Petro sostuvo ante el fiscal Mario Andrés Burgos que acepta los cargos en su contra por los delitos de enriquecimiento ilícito y lavado de activos. Además, el hijo del presidente se comprometió a entregar información a las autoridades en las que demostraría que parte del dinero que recibió de exnarcotraficantes y políticos corruptos habrían ingresado a la campaña presidencial de su padre en 2022.“Recibo con dolor, a nivel personal, las informaciones sobre presuntas irregularidades en el desarrollo de la campaña presidencial en la costa. En cuanto a la institución, sin vacilación alguna, afirmo y reitero que nadie puede estar por encima de la ley y que la justicia debe aplicarse de manera imparcial, con el debido proceso y todas las garantías del debido proceso y las garantías constitucion...

Pressure grows on Niger coup leaders as deadline looms

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:16:56 GMT

Pressure is mounting on Niger’s putschists hours ahead of a deadline later Sunday set by a group of West African countries for the military to step down or face a possible military intervention. ECOWAS, a bloc of 15 Western African countries, issued its ultimatum after Niger’s top military officers announced on July 27 that they had overthrown the country’s President Mohamed Bazoum, who was democratically elected in 2021. According to France 24, the deadline expires on Sunday evening; Reuters reported ECOWAS did not communicate the exact timing. Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune said late Saturday that his country opposes any military intervention in Niger.“A military intervention could ignite the whole Sahel region and Algeria will not use force with its neighbors,” Tabboune was quoted as saying in an interview with local media.Several Western leaders have also pressed for dialogue, with Germany advocating for continued “mediation effort...

Hours-long standoff involving barricaded suspect in Charlestown ends peacefully

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:16:56 GMT

An hours-long standoff between police and a barricaded suspect around Caldwell Street in Charlestown Saturday night ended after over eight hours.Boston police then responded to the area where police said a man barricaded himself inside his home shortly around 4:30 p.m. The standoff lasted until about 1 a.m. Police said no one was injured, and the barricaded person was sent to the hospital for evaluation.Neighbors speaking with 7NEWS said they called police because they were concerned for another neighbor. “He was, if anything, he was inside his own apartment where he’s allowed to have it,” a neighbor said. “I think he was just dry firing it, like it wasn’t loaded just clicking. From what I hear, the neighbors probably heard that through the walls.”With police responding, some neighbors said they came home to realize they could not park on their street. Some were still unable to get home around 11 p.m. No further information was immediately available.

Veterans see historic expansion of benefits for toxic exposure as new law nears anniversary

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:16:56 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Nicole Leger always thought of the burn pits at military bases in Afghanistan as more like campfires than health hazards. Ordered to dispose of sensitive documents, she would toss the paperwork into the flames while catching up with fellow soldiers, moments of quiet bonding that provided a respite from her riskier work as a hastily trained medic for the U.S. Army. “We really didn’t see that it was dangerous at the time,” she said. “It was just part of the mission. So we had to get it done.”But then her sinus problems began, only worsening after she returned home, where she sometimes found herself gasping for breath at night. She remembered thinking, “This wasn’t who I was before I got in.”Although Leger already received disability benefits for post-traumatic stress, migraines and a hip fracture, it wasn’t until President Joe Biden signed legislation known as the PACT Act last year that her monthly payments expanded to take into account the impact of the burn ...

Skywatch: A great summer shower

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:16:56 GMT

The annual Perseid meteor shower is a late summer stargazing classic in our Minnesota-Wisconsin skies. The Perseids, which peak this week, and the Geminids in mid-December, are the two best annual meteor showers in our skies. Many other moderate to minor meteor showers get too overhyped by the media and the internet. I’m afraid folks get disappointed and discouraged when they lose sleep over not much of a show. The Perseids, though, will not let you down. Especially this year since moonlight won’t get in the way during the peak next weekend.The Perseids have been going on for about a week and will continue this week, peaking next weekend, Aug. 12-13. The best time to see the Perseids, or any meteor shower, is from around midnight to just before morning twilight gets going. Get your afternoon nap! The Perseids are extra special this year because there’s no moonlight interference in the early morning hours, leaving us with dark skies. If you can get out into the coun...

Mary Stanik: Coping with more smoke from not so-distant-fires

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:16:56 GMT

When smoke from the most recent Western Canadian wildfires cloaked Minnesota and temporarily gave Minneapolis-St. Paul the worst air quality numbers in the country, I figured I’d hear from friends and acquaintances seeking alleged western “Fire Country” advice on coping with skies more darkly sickening than dusky pretty. And I did.One of them expressed genuine shock that so much putrid smoke from so far away could affect the supposed Land of Sky Blue Waters in such an awful way. This person said, “I know Arizona and a lot of the West can be on fire all the time but we’re pretty used to fairly clean air here. How on earth do you people manage?”Now this acquaintance is not an unknowing person, a climate change denier or a believer in a fantasy world. But after talking for a few minutes, I realized that three years after moving from St. Paul to Tucson solely to get my brother’s help with my aged mother (and not to play golf in December or pay fewer taxes), issues such as fire, drought,...