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☆ I've been to 54 countries and have lived in 10. These 5 underrated places are worth the trip.
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-20 | by ( Alcynna Lloyd | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Kate Boardman has visited 54 countries around the world and lived in 10, including the US. She's enjoyed spots like France and Bali but says people should visit underrated places like Oman. I've been to 54 countries and lived in 10, including the US. I also think spots like Cancun are super overrated; there are way cooler places to visit in Mexico. Kate Boardman/@wildkat.wandersI first lived in Guatemala in 2021, where I worked as a teacher at an international school.

Persons: Kate Boardman, She's, —, I've, Boardman, It's, You've, they're, @wildkat.wanders, Kate Boardman There's, There's, you've, Earth Organizations: Service, Antigua —, United Arab Locations: France, Bali, Oman, Ecuador, Guatemala, Massachusetts, Germany, Tblisi , Georgia, Paris, London, Cancun, Mexico, Iran, Maharloo, Georgia, Tbilisi, It's, Soviet Union, Kazbegi , Georgia, Turkish, Central America, Costa Rica, Tikal, Guatemala City, Antigua, Boardman, Livingston , Guatemala, El, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Muscat, Caribbean

☆ Opinion: Precious samples from Mars have been collected. Now it’s up to Congress to get them back
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-12 | by ( Opinion Jonathan I. Lunine | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

He served on the NASA Mars Sample Return Independent Review Board in 2023. Within these tubes are priceless samples of Mars that hold the clues to when and how Mars went from Earth-like habitability to uninhabitable desolation. Mars Sample Return is among the most challenging and complex robotic missions ever attempted, requiring the largest lander ever put on Mars, which would carry a rocket to launch the samples off the surface into Martian orbit. Mars holds secrets about what makes it possible for a planet to support life, locked in the samples that await return to Earth. NASA must provide that plan to Congress as soon as possible so that Congress can move forward with adequate funding.

Persons: Jonathan Lunine, David C, Duncan, Jonathan I, Mars Organizations: Cornell University, NASA, CNN, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, JPL, Apollo, European Space Agency, US National Academy of Sciences, MSR, Planetary Science Locations: Washington, DC, China

In the U.S., lab-grown diamond sales jumped 16% in 2023 from 2022, according to Edahn Golan, an industry analyst. Social media posts show millennials and Generation Zs proudly explaining the purchase of their lab-grown diamonds for sustainability and ethical reasons. Natural diamonds take billions of years to form and are difficult to find, making their price more stable. Globally, lab-grown diamonds are now 5-6% of the market and the traditional industry is not taking it sitting down. It's also still true in more rural areas of the United States, while lab-grown diamonds have taken off more in the cities.

Persons: Bario Neal, Haley Farlow, ”, Golan, Zs, Farlow, that's, Cupid, Martin Roscheisen, Paul Zimnisky, Zimnisky, It's, Mother Earth, ” Zimnisky, Page Neal, it’s Organizations: PHILADELPHIA, Diamond, Diamond Foundry, telltale, Gemological Institute of America, Mother, Associated Press Locations: Philadelphia, U.S, India, China, Henan, Zhuhai, Na Diamond, HeNan, Ningbo Crysdiam, United States, Wenatchee , Washington, Columbia, AP.org

☆ I'm a millennial who's never having kids. I don't take the decision lightly, but there are too many risks.
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-03 | by ( Jules Rogers | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

That's tough to write, even as a 31-year-old who's never wanted kids, without tacking on a "right now" at the end. I don't take the decision of whether to bring a new life into this world lightly. My partner and I have health insurance through our employers, but we've been between coverage before. Plus, there can be up to a three-month delay for health insurance to kick in when you start a new job. Now factor in prenatal care, postnatal care, diapers, and — even worse, I'm told — formula, as well as day care and education.

Persons: —, who's, I've, wasn't, neurodiversity, I'm, we've, That's Organizations: Service, Business Locations: Oregon, Iceland

☆ An Epic Pilgrimage Across Three Great Religions
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-09 | by ( Aatish Taseer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +111 min

Before there was tourism, there was pilgrimage: a trip of endurance, hardship and ecstasy in celebration of one’s faith. On an epic pilgrimage of his own, one writer ventures into the heart of three great religions in Bolivia, Mongolia and Iraq. The Imam Hussein shrine in Karbala the day after Ashura. “They’re poor, but they come thousands of kilometers for the love of Imam Hussein.” PILGRIMAGE WAS A great equalizer. “Labaik ya Hussein,” came the solemn chorus of surrounding voices.

Persons: Eduardo Quintela Gonzáles, ” Quintela, JAN, “, ”, Quintela, Victor, Edith Turner, Chaucer, ferne, sondry londes, Vaishno Devi, Lyra Skinner, Lyra, Victoria Preston’s, —, Prophet Muhammad, Virgin Mary, Bath, Naipaul, Augustus, Ryan, garret, Virgin, Monica Machicao, Nicholas Casey, ” Monica, Casey, Evo Morales, sloughing, Columbus, Cortés, Francisco Pizarro, Monica, glitzy cholets, Peru —, Viracocha, it’s, Pablo Quisbert, Leandro Chitarroni, Eichmann, Father Chitarroni, Father Chitarroni’s, Conquistadores ”, Fernando Cervantes, Bernabé Cobo, Quisbert, Edgar Quispe, Tatiana Huayhua, Francisco Tito Yupanqui, Mary, Yupanqui’s, su, Yupanqui, Chitarroni, she’s, Friar Abelino Yeguaori, Friar Yeguaori, Friar Yeguaori’s, Irene, Juana, hajji, Waka, Aracely Alcón, Santiago, Alcón, ‘, don’t, ” Alcón, Tito Yupanqui, Uma Marka, Pachamama, haggard, Amaru Fiorilo Barrios, he’d, ” Fiorilo, Fiorilo, who’d, Valeria Alcón, Laureano Jose Quisbert, Elena Ticona Flores, Eduardo Quintela’s, Ensamble, pang, padre, consolations, Sincrético, El, Rodrigo Paz Pereira, Axel, amauta, strode, La, Aatish Taseer, Saint Helena —, Constantine I, La Paz, Orgilbaatar Tsolmon, Orgil, Genghis Khan, Edward Gibbon, ” Orgil, Araniko’s, Kublai Khan, Genghis Khan’s, Kubla Khan, Coleridge, Kublai, Stalin, sybarite, Khamar, Dalai Lama, Lama, Christopher Kaplonski, ger, I’d, banshtai tsai, Prim, Egi, Munkhdul, Gandantegchinlen, Haidav, herder, “ Um sain, boltugai, Danzanravjaa, Zanabazar’s, Erdene, Mandakhtsog Monkhbaatar, Monkhbaatar’s, Dalai Lamas, prostrated, He’d, Zuu, she’d, Santiago de, L.K, Advani, Emperor Babur, Ram, kar sevaks, Ayodhya, Narendra Modi, Munkhbaatar Batchuluun, Henry Wallace, Franklin D, Potemkin, Munkhbaatar, Gerelmaa, Giimaa, She’d, Eduardo Quintela, Aracely, Santiago’s, Joseph Brodsky’s, Muhammad’s, Hussein, William Keo, ” Khuder, pillion, Labaik, Hussein ”, O Hussein, hearkened, Prophet, Ali —, Ali, Yazid, Imam, crackling, chickpeas, Imam Ali, Imam Hussein, Saddam Hussein, Tusi, Qasim, Imam Hussein’s, Khuder, “ Will, Najaf, prestes, — I, Yasir Yaseen, Ashura, Ali Akbar, Abbas, Ali Asghar, “ We’re, Francisco Goya’s, Hussein’s, Groom, Joseph, ” Wissam, Turfi, Saddam —, Arbaeen, Saddam, “ Imam Hussein, WE, Muhammad, Barnaby Rogerson, Prophet Muhammad ”, ” Ali, Muhammad — Muhammad, formlessness, Muqtada al, Abrams, chiding, Abu Musab Al, Zarqawi, Al Qaeda, William, “ They’re, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, flagellants, ruddy, stylishly, Hussein — shahid —, Farman Ahsan, Syed Salman Raza —, Saddam’s, ” Raza, William “, Ali Zayn al, Abidin, Labaik ya Hussein, thrall —, Lloyd, Susanne Rudolph — Organizations: CITY LA, LA, LA PAZ, Virgin, Crusaders, Dolorosa, Sun, The New York Times, Bolivian, Spain, La, Cordillera, Universidad Mayor de, Catholic, Good, La Paz, Dominican, Pakistan, Caesars, Nissan, Coke, Communists, Communism, ardor, Communist, Hyundai, flails, sacra, Apache, Mahdi Army, Al, ISIS, Karachi —, Princeton Locations: Bolivia, Mongolia, Iraq, Aatish Taseer Bolivia Mongolia Iraq, CITY LA PAZ, BOLIVIA, NAJAF, IRAQ, ULAANBAATAR, MONGOLIA, LA PAZ, La Paz, Bolivian, Copacabana, Lake Titicaca, New York, Christian, British, sondry, India, Delhi, Varanasi, Europe, American, Mecca, Arabia, Long, Vino Tinto, Chile, Peru, Monica, Plurinational State, Bolivia —, Americas, Spain, Columbian, Aztec Mexico, Inca Peru, Calvary Hill, Virgen del Cerro, South America, Puerto Rico, Huatajata, ”, Argentine, Universidad Mayor de San Andrés, Mexican, revelry, Spanish, “, morena, La, “ India, multilayered, Potosí, Argentina, Warisata, Scotch, Santiago de Compostela, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Nepal, Nations, El Alto, Buenos Aires, Bombay, Tibet, Bolivia’s, Yamuna Rivers, United States, Buddhist Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolian, Istanbul, Asia, Islam, China, Beijing, Dadu, Erdene Zuu, Soviet, Gobi, Los Angeles, gers, Qing China, Karnataka, Töv Province, Karakorum, Khamar, Erdene, Ukraine, Korea, Golden, Bayankhongor, Lhasa, Dalai, Inner Mongolia, Mongol, Nalaikh, Santiago, Santiago de Compostela and Canterbury, Bulgan Province, Somnath, Gujarat, Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, ger, East German, Uvs Province, Pakistani, Indian, Tennessee, Najaf, Baghdad, Khuder, —, abayas, KARBALA, Kufa, Medina, Saudi Arabia, Karbala, Imam Ali, Bab, Kuwaiti, Bohras, South Asia, Tajikistan, Zaydis, Yemen, Alawites, Anatolia, Syria, Iran, Bahrain, Azerbaijan, Sadr, U.S, Jordanian, Al Qaeda, Mesopotamia, Al, Multan, Pakistan, Punjab, Pakistan’s, Islamabad, Lahore, Kuwait, Karachi, Doha, Qatar

☆ Stella McCartney shows hot pants and sustainable fabric on Paris street
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-02 | by ( Mimosa Spencer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/6] A model presents a creation by designer Stella McCartney as part of her Spring/Summer 2024 Women's ready-to-wear collection show during Paris Fashion Week in Paris, France, October 2, 2023. REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq Acquire Licensing RightsPARIS, Oct 2 (Reuters) - Stella McCartney took her spring runway show outdoors onto a Paris street with a view of the Eiffel Tower and market stands stacked with sustainable products as she presented a collection of airy, feminine gowns and shimmery hot pants. Asked about the challenges of setting up the outdoor market, McCartney said she did not plan for rain. "We don’t ever do a wet weather option, I’m always like, I trust in you mother earth,” McCartney said. Reporting by Mimosa Spencer; Editing by Alison WilliamsOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Stella McCartney, Stephanie Lecocq, strode, Andrew Logan, McCartney, Paris Hilton, Chris Rock, Tony Parker, gestured, ” McCartney, Mimosa Spencer, Alison Williams Organizations: Paris, REUTERS, Rights, Eiffel, Thomson Locations: Paris, France

☆ Growing fury from Maui residents over the direction of early wildfire recovery efforts
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-13 | by ( Alicia Victoria Lozano | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

US President Joe Biden is embraced by Hawaii Governor Josh Green (C) after delivering remarks as he visits an area devastated by wildfires in Lahaina, Hawaii on August 21, 2023. Rebuilding hasn't even started after a deadly wildfire destroyed the historic town of Lahaina, Hawaii, last month, but residents are already angry and frustrated with recent moves by Gov. Now, they say, that pattern could be repeated with the aid of an emergency proclamation signed by Green that could erode their hard-won rights, despite his reassurances that rebuilding would reflect the needs of Maui residents. "It is a real slap in the face when we still have to deal with the aftermath of this fire." Green reinstated the water rules last week, but residents are wary that future proclamations could jeopardize their efforts to restore Maui's streams and wetlands.

Persons: Joe Biden, Josh Green, hasn't, Green, Kekai Keahi, Makana McClellan, we've, McClellan, We're, Hōkūao Pellegrino, Nani Medeiros, I've, Medeiros, Marti Townsend, Townsend, Glenn Tremble, Manuel, Ed Wendt, David Henkin, Pellegrino Organizations: Hawaii, Gov, Maui Land Co, West Maui Land Co, American Civil Liberties Union, Sierra Club, Earthjustice Locations: Lahaina , Hawaii, Maui, Lahaina, Hawaii, Honolulu

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Indigenous tribes in Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin have asked federal officials to deny a utility's request for a loan to help build a natural gas-fired power plant on the shores of Lake Superior, calling the project unthinkable in the face of climate change. Chippewa tribes located across the northern third of the three states sent a letter to U.S. Department of Agriculture officials on Sunday asking them to deny Dairyland Power Cooperative's request for a $350 million public loan. The request is intended to cover the utility's share of the cost of building the Nemadji Trail Energy Center power plant. Dairyland Power Cooperative, Minnesota Power and Basin Electric Cooperative have been working to gain permission to build the $700 million power plant for more than three years. The tribes also noted that the new plant would be situated near a cemetery where about 180 Fond du Lac tribal members are buried in a mass grave.

Persons: Red Cliff, Wisconsin —, didn't, Dairyland, Katie Thomson Organizations: U.S . Department of Agriculture, Sunday, Energy, Power Cooperative, Cooperative, Minnesota Power, Basin Electric, Bands of Michigan, USDA, Associated Press Locations: MADISON, Wis, Michigan , Minnesota, Wisconsin, Lake Superior, Chippewa, Superior , Wisconsin, Lac, Minnesota

☆ The Wide World of Puppetry Converges on New York
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-07 | by ( Laurel Graeber | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

On Saturday, the festival will host a round-table discussion with Lee’s troupe, the Mettawee River Theater Company. “What I want people to experience while they’re here is that the world is whatever you decide to make it for yourself,” said Matthew Sorensen, who curated the shows of Lee’s work. And everywhere, Lee gave castoffs new life: Piano keys serve as puppet teeth, and can lids as eyes. An open mailbox becomes the head and jaws of a dragon; the ribs of a baby carriage form its body. Many, she added, illustrate Lee’s method of taking “what’s just right there” and “exploring what it can do.”

Persons: Lee, Henry Hudson, Brendan Schweda’s “ Barnacle Bill, ”, “, Ralph Lee’s, Ralph Lee, Matthew Sorensen, Kitamura ”, Casey Compton, Lee’s, “ what’s Organizations: Theater Company

☆ Robert Mondavi Changed Wine. His Grandson Aims to Change Farming.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-15 | by ( Eric Asimov | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The primary objections, he said, were that organic farming cost more and required far more tractor use, which caused a different set of environmental problems. He wondered whether an electric tractor could overcome the objections. Mr. Mondavi’s role in the development was to offer the farmer’s point of view, assessing each design idea for its practical appeal. “This is the hardest work I’ve ever done — seven days a week, day and night,” he said. He described the frequent air travel as both “one of my greatest pleasures and greatest guilts.”

Persons: ”, “, Foxconn, Robert Mondavi, Monarch, Mondavi, Giovanna Bagnasco Organizations: Constellation Brands, Monarch, Sorì Locations: Livermore , Calif, Lordstown , Ohio, RAEN, Italy

☆ New Mexico rivers rage, fields dry after slow federal fire aid
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Andrew Hay | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

REUTERS/Andrew HayACEQUIA DE LA SIERRA, New Mexico, May 2 (Reuters) - Rivers are roaring in northern New Mexico after a big snowpack. The problem is blocking water flowing from a 12,000-foot (3,660-meter) Sangre de Cristo mountain peak into the Mora Valley through earthen channels known as acequias. Sanchez, a mayordomo or water caretaker, had hoped to have Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funding to clear the ditches after the agency was given $3.95 billion to compensate communities for the 40-mile-long blaze. FEMA and other federal support has reached only a handful of the dozens of acequias that requested aid in November, said local irrigation leader Paula Garcia. "I don't think they're up to the job," said Roybal-Mack, a Mora Valley native.

☆ Activists gather for Earth Day, urge action to avoid 'dystopian' future
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

"Climate impacts are here," Areeba Hamid, co-executive director of Greenpeace UK, said on Friday as climate change activists walked down the street outside parliament, some dressed in green costumes and green paint. Activists led by the Extinction Rebellion group have gathered in London to kick off a four-day action, billed "The Big One", to coincide with Earth Day. [1/5] Peru's shamans perform a traditional ritual and make an offer to "Pachamama" (Mother Earth) on the eve of "Earth Day", in Lima, Peru April 21, 2023. In Peru, shamans on Friday made an offering to the "Pachamama", or Mother Earth. Holding yellow flowers and rattles, the shamans walked around a papier-mache globe as they performed a cleansing ritual.

☆ Wind and solar power generators wait in yearslong lines to put clean electricity on the grid, then face huge interconnection fees they can't afford
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Catherine Clifford | In Catclifford | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +18 min

The local utility in charge of overseeing the interconnection process told Pine Gate it would be more than $30 million. Pine Gate had to terminate the project because it couldn't afford the new fees, its vice president of regulatory affairs, Brett White, told CNBC. "Those projects ended up withdrawing from the queue or terminating, because they don't pencil anymore," White told CNBC. "There is Texas, and then there's the rest of the country with respects to interconnection," White of Pine Gate told CNBC. And that means getting those engineers out of some of the rote manual data entry and into the actual analysis," White told CNBC.

Entrepreneur Luke Iseman said the sulfur dioxide in the balloons would deflect sunlight and cool the atmosphere, a controversial climate strategy known as solar geoengineering. The Mexican government told Reuters it is now actively drafting “new regulations and standards” to prohibit solar geoengineering inside the country. While the Mexican government announced its intention to ban solar geoengineering in January, its current actions and plans to discuss geoengineering bans with other countries have not been previously reported. GLOBAL GEOENGINEERING BANClimate policy experts said Mexico is in a position to help set the rules for future geoengineering research. David Keith, a professor of applied physics and public policy at Harvard University who has dedicated much of his research to solar geoengineering, called Iseman's launch a "stunt."

☆ Woody Harrelson Can Play Anyone. It’s Being Himself That’s Hard.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( David Marchese | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +17 min

“I’m an A personality and a B facade,” says Woody Harrelson, and that’s as good an explanation for his charm and success as you’re likely to find. I don’t know. I could go hang off one of those big mountaintop-remover coal things, but that’s not going to stop it. I meet with the director, and I’m going to do it — they’re making it for like $500,000 — then the guy just goes with someone else! I have a gluttonous side, and I know that’s not going to help me be a spiritually better person.

☆ How to have a low-waste, climate friendly Thanksgiving feast
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-19 | by ( Susan Puckett | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

Less is moreA classic Thanksgiving plate, featuring turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans and gravy. His Thanksgiving preparations start with a trip to a local farmers market, where he can thank the growers personally for his bounty. Leftover idea: Here’s how Acheson turns leftovers into a turkey avocado sandwich as memorable as the feast. Divide and conquerMeal prep is essential to make sure your Thanksgiving dinner tastes great and minimizes waste, says Lisa Bryan. Bryan understands that executing a chaos-free Thanksgiving dinner takes practice.

☆ William Shatner describes space travel in new book "Boldly Go"
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-10 | by ( Jackie Wattles | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

CNN interviewed him in June about the book, his trip to space with the Jeff Bezos-backed space tourism company Blue Origin, and what’s next for the 91-year-old. William Shatner: Fifty-five or 60 years ago I read a book called “Silent Spring” by Rachel Carson. Shatner: The whole idea here is to get people accustomed to going to space, as if it’s like going to the Riviera. The song “So Fragile, So Blue,” is very much about my experience in space. And then I have my book, called “Boldly Go,” coming out in the fall.

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