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Bridge: Oct. 26, 2023

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:27:10 GMT

This week’s deals have treated deceptive play. I came across today’s deal in the archives of my colleague Alfred Sheinwold, the product of his six decades as a columnist. It appeared in “Sheinwold on Bridge” on July 25, 1986, about when our collaboration began.At six spades, South leads a diamond to his hand at Trick Two and returns a low trump to dummy’s queen. If East takes the king, South wins any return and cashes the ace of trumps. When West discards, South picks up the trumps and claims.FIRST TRUMPBut say East follows to the first trump with the eight. If South thinks that card may be a singleton (or from 10-8 doubleton), he may unwisely come back to his hand and lead the jack, and East will have created a second trump trick from thin air.Sheinwold’s index card mentions that I was East! After 37 years, I have not the slightest recollection of this deal, but the falsecarding position is well known. I hope I actually got it right at the table,...

Word Game: Oct. 26, 2023

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:27:10 GMT

TODAY’S WORD — FLOWERS (FLOWERS: FLAU-ers: Blossoms.)Average mark 22 wordsTime limit 25 minutesCan you find 26 or more words in FLOWERS? The list will be published tomorrow.YESTERDAY’S WORD — KIELBASA kale isle lake lase leak bail bake bale balk balsa basal base basil bask beak bias bike bile bilk blase bleak abase able aisle alas alias alike sable sail sake saki sale seal silk skiable slab slakeTo 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 Saxe at kzsaxe@gmai...

East Bay woman arrested in connection to Capitola bank holdup

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:27:10 GMT

CAPITOLA — Police apprehended a San Pablo woman this week who allegedly held up a 41st Avenue bank and then fled some 50 miles up the coast.Bank officials reported at around 4 p.m. Monday that a thief had demanded money with a note passed to a teller at the business on the 1900 block of 41st Avenue. The thief reportedly wore a medical-grade mask and a light-colored hooded sweatshirt and had fled on foot with an undisclosed amount of money.According to the Capitola Police Department, a Santa Cruz County District Attorney’s Office inspector in the area reported observing a person matching the thief’s description get into and drive off in an older model Porsche SUV parked near the bank. With the help of the vehicle description and a still photo of the thief captured via security video footage, neighboring law agencies were looped into the search. Related ArticlesCrime and Public Safety | Arrest made in deadly weekend East Bay house party shooting Crime and Public Safety...

UC Santa Cruz students march for end to Israel-Hamas war

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:27:10 GMT

SANTA CRUZ — Hundreds of UC Santa Cruz students gathered Wednesday at the Quarry Plaza on the UCSC campus to demand the university divestment from weapons manufacturers and an end to U.S. support for Israel in the latest war between Israel and Hamas.“Historically, students are a powerful sector of the broader movement for collective freedom,” said the organizers, known as Dissenters, in a statement. “Young people from Palestinian communities, historically Black colleges and universities, Filipino youth, chapters of Democratic Socialists, and multi-racial student organizers from Dissenters chapters nationwide are coalescing around the demand to divest from Israel’s siege on Gaza, marking a historic turning point in this country.”According to the Associated Press, the war is the deadliest of five Gaza wars for both sides. The Hamas-run Health Ministry said Wednesday that at least 6,546 Palestinians have been killed and 17,439 others wounded. In the occupied West Bank, more than 100 Pa...

Will Ozempic temper consumer hunger for Olive Garden breadsticks, groceries?

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:27:10 GMT

Darden Restaurants CEO Rick Cardenas got a question on a recent earnings call that even the industry analyst asking it thought was odd.The analyst wanted to know about what effect diabetes and appetite suppressant drugs such as Ozempic would have on restaurant demand. Cardenas heads the company that owns Olive Garden, home to “never-ending” soup, salad and breadsticks.“Full-service dining occasions are driven by a desire to connect with family and friends,” Cardenas answered on the earnings call last month, noting he did not expect a “meaningful impact” for his Orlando-based company.Despite all those breadsticks at Olive Garden, Cardenas said Darden has spent a lot of time over the years developing menus to give guests a wide range of choices.“If it suppresses appetite a little bit, they’re still going to eat,” Cardenas said. “So we’re going to be there for them when they do.”Darden has 1,998 restaurants including Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen and Ruth...

Ask Amy: I want the money my husband lent our friend. How do I get it?

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:27:10 GMT

Dear Amy: My husband “George” lent our friend “Steve” $60,000. George died several months after the loan was made. Steve then ran into some hard times.Related ArticlesAdvice | Ask Amy: I’m insulted that he ‘fixed’ my photo with Photoshop Advice | Ask Amy: She wants to be the cool grandma, and I’m not OK with her plan Advice | Ask Amy: Am I wrong to promise him a baby if he agrees not to go to war? Advice | Ask Amy: If I’d known about this upheaval, I would have declined the wedding invitation Advice | Ask Amy: The fight over laundry has undermined our marriage He has repaid $30,000, with a commitment to repay the remaining amount. It’s been two years now, with no mention of making a payment.Steve is back on his feet and has been able to take several nice vacations. Any suggestions on how to nicely bring up the debt owed?We have many mutual friends, so I haven’t/can’t discuss...

Big California corporations will have to say how much they pollute

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:27:10 GMT

Airborne emissions linked to climate change and health problems aren’t always easy to see.A new California law seeks to make those pollutants — and the companies emitting them — more visible to the public.SB 253, which Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Oct. 7, is billed as a first-in-the-nation requirement for large corporations to publicly disclose their airborne pollutants on an annual basis.“We need the full picture to make the deep emissions cuts that scientists tell us are necessary to avert the worst impacts of climate change,” the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, said in a news release about SB 253, also known as the Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act.The bill, which previously faltered in the Assembly, passed the Senate 27-8 and the Assembly 49-20 in September despite staunch opposition from business groups, including the California Chamber of Commerce.“To be clear: This bill will not reduce emissions,” The chamber argued in a document posted on its website....

Four-bedroom home sells in Fremont for $2.6 million

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:27:10 GMT

41658 Marigold Drive – Google Street ViewThe spacious property located in the 41600 block of Marigold Drive in Fremont was sold on Sept. 6, 2023. The $2,610,000 purchase price works out to $1,214 per square foot. The house, built in 1974, has an interior space of 2,150 square feet. This single-story house provides a generous living space with its four bedrooms and three bathrooms. Inside, there is a fireplace. Additionally, the home provides a garage. The property’s backyard additionally features a pool.Additional houses have recently been purchased nearby:A 3,650-square-foot home on the 41700 block of Murphy Place in Fremont sold in August 2022, for $3,650,000, a price per square foot of $1,000. The home has 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms.On Wisteria Drive, Fremont, in May 2023, a 1,922-square-foot home was sold for $2,300,000, a price per square foot of $1,197. The home has 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.In July 2022, a 3,686-square-foot home on Wisteria Drive in Fremont sold for $3,145,0...

It’s Feminist to Demand a Ceasefire in Israel–Palestine

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:27:10 GMT

Activists gather around the Tolerance Monument in Jerusalem on Oct. 4, 2023, in an event organized by the Israeli Women Wage Peace and Palestinian Women of the Sun movements.Photo by Menahem Kahana/AFP via Getty ImagesThree days before Hamas committed the bloodiest attack on Israeli civilians in that country’s history, four days before the Israel Defense Forces responded with the most devastating collective punishment of Palestinian civilians in a long history of collective punishment, Palestinian and Israeli feminists gathered to demand peace.On October 4, hundreds of them, dressed in white and turquoise, in hijabs and sun hats, met at the wall between West Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank (many Palestinian women missed the event because they could not get authorization to cross). Under a canopy of white umbrellas, they walked to the Tolerance Monument in Jerusalem for a rally, then rode to the Dead Sea. On the beach around a symbolic negotiating table, alongside diplomats and...

Correction: Hungary-Military Divers story

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:27:10 GMT