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Mathews: Which is more dangerous, ‘Oppenheimer’ or ‘Barbie’?

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 10:05:51 GMT

Which region is the greater threat to humanity: Northern California or Southern California?That’s the most urgent question raised by 2023’s great cinematic contest between “Oppenheimer” and “Barbie”.Sure, these are entertaining films about a physicist and a doll. But both movies are also, in no small part, California-based stories about global nightmares, about the earth-altering threat of bombs and bombshells alike.Embedded in those nightmares are warnings about the damage that Northern and Southern California can do when we send our ideas out into the world.Oppenheimer is the Northern California nightmare. While much of Christopher Nolan’s film takes place in New Mexico, where the first atomic bombs were built, the most important moments occur at Berkeley, where J. Robert Oppenheimer was a a professor from 1929 to 1943.It’s there that he meets the Manhattan Project’s military chief, Leslie Groves, and befriends the physicist Ernest Lawrence (the Lawrence of...

Opinion: Why grocery stores are no longer her happy place

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 10:05:51 GMT

Some people seek a bar or nature hike when they feel low. I go to the supermarket.My spirits lift as I stroll the aisles. I bop along to easy listening music. Exchanging pleasantries with cashiers lessens my loneliness. I celebrate the small wins — I procured broccoli (OK, and ice cream) — and leave with renewed purpose.As someone with depression, I find that brick-and-mortar businesses help me avoid isolation by providing a space to be alone with others. But my happy places — supermarkets and pharmacies — say they have seen increasing theft and violence.Locked glass cabinets safeguarding merchandise are now ubiquitous in chains like Target, Walmart and Walgreens. Asking clerks to retrieve detergent and baby formula is demoralizing enough, but businesses are implementing more severe security measures that erode customers’ spirits and our social fabric, even though it’s unclear whether shoplifting has become the national crisis that some retailers claim.A grocery run shouldn’t feel l...

One of the hardest roles of a lifetime? Being a successor trustee

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 10:05:51 GMT

Question: Last month, my eldest brother’s wife began her role as successor trustee on behalf of a deceased out-of-town aunt. The aunt owned a large home. The disposition of the aunt’s belongings is underway. Next is the home sale. Yesterday I heard my brother praising the relinquishing of his designation as the successor trustee for our parents’ trust. Fascinating, considering this brother’s insistence 20 years ago to be named the successor trustee. It’s interesting timing. What does my brother now know that my parents, siblings and I do not?Answer: Your brother has been experiencing a real-time, first-hand education of the duties and challenges of a successor trustee. He’s unpleasantly surprised. Perhaps your brother thought a successor trustee operates like a CEO. The successor trustee acts in many roles — especially as the investigator. Full stop. The immense loss of time a successor trustee spends pursuing paperwork and information is avoidable. Many successor trustees search a ...

Review: ‘Heart of Stone’ is an impressively generic spy film

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 10:05:51 GMT

By Jake Coyle | Associated PressIt’s turning out to be quite a summer for superspies and supercomputers.A month after the action feast of “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part I,” in which Tom Cruise faced off with an AI supervillain called “the Entity,” comes a very “MI”-like international espionage thriller with an equally fancy and powerful machine.“Heart of Stone” stars Gal Gadot as Rachel Stone, an agent for an elite and clandestine intelligence agency called the Charter. Like “Mission: Impossible,” “Heart of Stone” hits glamorous global destinations (the Italian Alps, Lisbon, Senegal, Iceland) and features lengthy actions sequence including a wingsuit skydive.Whereas “Dead Reckoning” pushed old-school filmmaking to extremes for a gripping theatrical experience, “Heart of Stone” revels in its digital wizardry, feels vaguely algorithm-y in its conception and was made for Ne...

Belarus’s Lukashenko says he wants to improve relations with Poland

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 10:05:51 GMT

Belarusian President Aleksander Lukashenko said he is seeking to improve relations with Poland, amid heightened tensions over border issues between the two countries. The Belarusian dictator said Minsk should avoid souring relations with Western countries, adding that Belarus “should not discard contacts with the high-tech West,” according to a report by Belarusian news agency Belta.“Now we make money mainly in the East: in Russia, in China. But we should not discard contacts with the high-tech West. They are close, the European Union is our neighbor. And we should maintain contact with them. We are ready to do that, but we have to give due consideration to our own interests,” he said on Friday, according to Belta.“We need to talk to the Poles. I told the prime minister to contact them. If they want, we can talk, mend our relations. We are neighbors, and this cannot be chosen, neighbors are given by God,” Lukashenko said.The Polish government is i...

Sale faces Cabrera for last time, jokes, ‘I helped you get to Hall of Fame.’

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 10:05:51 GMT

BOSTON (AP) — Chris Sale retired Miguel Cabrera on a groundout for the second out in the fifth inning, the 14th straight Tigers batter to go down quietly.Then the Red Sox starter said something to the 2012 AL Triple Crown winner and two-time MVP as Cabrera jogged back to the dugout.“Well, it wasn’t fun learning how to pitch in the big leagues as a starter during his Triple Crown and MVP years. I can tell you that,” Sale told reporters afterward. “But I knew that this was going to be the last time I faced him, and I just wanted to know that I have a lot of respect for him, and I obviously appreciated the competition throughout the years.”Cabrera came to the plate 70 times against Sale, batting .288 with four homers and 19 strikeouts.“You’re welcome, Miggie. I helped you get to the Hall of Fame,” Sale told reporters with a laugh. “You look at his career and what he’s done, I just wanted to say a little something to him and let them know that I appreciate what we’ve been through ...

Haverhill sinkhole displaces 20 people from multi-family home

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 10:05:51 GMT

A few neighbors in a Haverhill neighborhood have a sinking feeling after a massive sinkhole opened up near a multi-family home Tuesday. More than 20 people were forced to evacuate the home because of the sinkhole, which is 20 feet wide and 20 feet deep.The Haverhill mayor declared a state of emergency, and the city posted signs barring people from entering the home.Marcos Cruz lives next door but has been told his home is not in danger.“I’m not worried about it,” he said. “They say we’re ok. We’re safe but as soon as we see something strange I’ll get my family out of here! But we’re ok for now.”The hole opened up on Tuesday night and is big enough to swallow multiple cars. Officials said a sewer pipe was damaged in this week’s torrential rain.  “The pipe’s buried pretty deep and the  pipe I don’t know if it’s collapsed or blew out but when the pipe goes all the soil goes and kind of goes right down the pipe,” Haverhill Public Works Director Robert Ward said.Old ...

Students in Hull build 18-foot boat to honor late veteran

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 10:05:51 GMT

The SSG Emily M. Carroll took to the seas in Hull to honor the memory of a local veteran.“Because of your hard work and dedication today, Emily certainly shines on,” said Meaghan Carroll Rateau, Emily’s sister.The boat was built by students at Hull High School while partnering with the Hull Life Saving Museum. The students built the 18-foot power skiff in their woodshop class. “I was still very glad to be part of such an experience, and I was very honored to be part of something that was meant for a memorial,” a student said. “It’s something I won’t forget for the rest of my life.”The boat is named in honor of Staff Sergeant Emily Carroll, who lost her battle with PTSD and service-related injuries in January 2022. “My sole purpose throughout my educational career was to strengthen communities,” Hull High School Principal Michael Knybel said. “It’s awesome to see our students play a major role in that process.”The ...

Playoff push ‘refreshing’ for Chicago Cubs, who get a career-high 7 innings from Javier Assad in 6-2 road win

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 10:05:51 GMT

Right-hander Javier Assad has done it all for the Chicago Cubs this year.He’s served a multi-inning relief role, come into the game for leverage moments to give the offense a comeback opportunity, and now he’s back in the rotation getting a look as the Cubs push for the postseason. Assad threw a career-high seven innings in Friday night’s 6-2 win against the Toronto Blue Jays. The 26-year-old retired the last 10 batters he faced as he held Toronto to just one run and four hits.The offense spotted Assad a three-run lead before he threw a pitch behind home runs from Nico Hoerner (solo) and Cody Bellinger (two-run) off Blue Jays starter José Berríos. The Cubs (60-56) tacked on three more runs in the fourth. Seiya Suzuki connected for a two-run double and Mike Tauchman delivered an RBI single.“This isn’t just a guy filling in,” Hoerner said after the win. “This is a guy throwing 94 mph with command of five pitches and it’s a legi...

Patriots extra points: Rookie Keion White brings “pain” in preseason debut

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 10:05:51 GMT

FOXBORO — Patriots defensive end Keion White delivered in his NFL preseason debut Thursday night.When asked after the 2023 NFL Draft what White would bring to the Patriots as a second-round pick, one source told the Herald, “pain.” The rookie was inflicting plenty of it on Texans offensive players Thursday night with a QB hit, three tackles and a pseudo-forced fumble. White wasn’t credited with forcing a fumble, but he did prevent running back Dare Ogunbowale from recovering a muffed pitch midway through the second quarter by spearing the Texans ball carrier. He also drilled Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud in the ribs on his first-quarter QB hit.Related ArticlesNew England Patriots | How Patriots rookies Keion White, Malik Cunningham starred in the preseason opener and 39 more film takeaways New England Patriots | Demario Douglas nearly joined notable list of Patriots in preseason debut New England Patriots | Photo ga...