Life & Style news

• Military helping kids follow Santa's fabled flight

  24-12-2016 23:09 via winnipegfreepress.com
  
  COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Children from around the world are calling the North American Aerospace Defence Command to ask where Santa is, and they're getting a cheery answer about the mythical route.The wildly popular NORAD Tracks Santa operation is on its 61st run at Peterson Air Force Base,
  
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• The 12 Whiskeys of Christmas

  24-12-2016 21:00
  
  This year, we’re filling the 12 days before Christmas with the best whiskeys on our wish lists… Richard Carleton Hacker
  
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• World's last wild frankincense forests are under threat

  24-12-2016 19:13 via winnipegfreepress.com
  
  ERIGAVO, Somalia - In a tradition dating to Biblical times, men rise at dawn in the rugged Cal Madow mountains of Somaliland in the Horn of Africa to scale rocky outcrops in search of the prized sap of wild frankincense trees.Bracing against high winds, Musse Ismail Hassan climbs with his feet...
  
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• Robb Report’s Top Travel Stories of 2016

  24-12-2016 17:00
  
  From a new Hawaiian resort to a historic English estate, these were our readers’ favorite travel stories…Rebekah Bell
  
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• Nature Inspired House of Stones in Taiwan

  24-12-2016 15:00
  
  Ospace Architects built this four story building in Changua, Taiwain, in 2014. The site is an irregular triangle shape, and so it was not efficient or realistic to go with a standard floor plan for this 360 square meter building. The architects came up with two design concepts to complement the unusual location.The initial inspiration comes from the rock in Zhangjiajie, and so the architects chose to view the site as a stone full of shapes. All of the openings of the buildings fol
  
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• What happened next: the refugee who came to stay and other stories

  24-12-2016 12:00
  
  What became of Helen Pidd’s Syrian lodger? Which blind date couples are still together? We follow up Weekend magazine stories of 2016After Helen Pidd and Yasser, her Syrian lodger, wrote about their house-share in January, they were inundated with offers of help, dinner invitations and football tickets. Readers asked how they, too, could host a refugee: an 89-year-old retired academic put up a friend of Yasser’s. Continue reading...
  
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• Santa's on his way: Military helps kids follow fabled flight

  24-12-2016 10:12 via winnipegfreepress.com
  
  COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Tens of thousands of children from around the world plan to call the North American Aerospace Defence Command to ask where Santa is, and starting Saturday they will get a cheery answer about the mythical route from a real person, not a recording.The wildly popular...
  
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• Yotam Ottolenghi’s noodle recipes for post-Christmas comfort

  24-12-2016 10:00
  
  Forget turkey sandwiches. The food I’ll be craving after the Christmas feast will feature noodles in a big wayEven people who love new recipe ideas hit saturation point at some time in the year. And that’s usually about now. We spend the weeks leading up to Christmas entertaining all the different possibilities being shared left, right and centre, and then, right at the last minute, remember that the traditional festive meal is nothing more than a big roast dinner with all sorts of t
  
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• Make your own last-minute Christmas presents and decorations

  24-12-2016 10:00
  
  Here’s how to dress the table, decorate the house, make an emergency present and keep kids busy – all without leaving homeIt’s Christmas Eve, and you need to spruce up the house for tomorrow, but the shops are heaving and you don’t want to venture out. What to do? It’s time to get creative with whatever you can find in your house and garden. Continue reading...
  
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• 2016's best bits: wonderful wildlife

  24-12-2016 10:00
  
  From giant pandas to record numbers of blue butterflies, wildlife gave us plenty of reasons to rejoice this yearImagine a world where pandas are no longer endangered and an area of the Pacific twice the size of Texas has been turned into a marine protected area. Picture a Scotland where protected beavers roam, and an England where more large blue butterflies dance than at any time since the 1930s. Or dream of a Wales where the majestic crane breeds for the first time in 400 years.This isn’
  
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• 2016's best bits: why culture was crucial

  24-12-2016 10:00
  
  Beyoncé pushed boundaries, Ken Loach triumphed and British TV reigned supreme - the cultural highs of the year Finding the good news stories in a year in which the grim reaper more than overstayed his welcome in arts circles might seem like an unenviable task: 2016 did, after all, rob us of Victoria Wood, Leonard Cohen, Alan Rickman, Caroline Aherne, Ronnie Corbett, Harper Lee, Gene Wilder, Terry Wogan, Zaha Hadid, George Martin, and many more. There were also various puzzling new cultura
  
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• 2016's best bits: October to December

  24-12-2016 10:00
  
  From Prince Harry speaking out against racism to Ed Balls on Strictly, everything that cheered us up as the year ended With a smile as brilliant as her gold and green headtie, Margaret praised the Lord. “We never imagined we would see this day,” she said. “With the help of God, we were able to come out of bondage.” Around her, another 20 young women and their relatives, many in equally spectacular traditional dress provided by delighted authorities, danced and sang, and s
  
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• 2016's best bits: July to September

  24-12-2016 10:00
  
  From Andy Murray winning Wimbledon to Michelle Obama’s Carpool Karaoke, reasons we were happy this summer In the moments after beating Milos Raonic in straight sets to win the Wimbledon singles title for the second time in July, Andy Murray glanced up at the royal box and saw David Cameron beaming down. Murray, whose politics lean towards Scottish independence, observed for the benefit of Sue Barker, an enthralled Centre Court and those watching worldwide, “A huge thank you to everyo
  
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• 2016's best bits: January to March

  24-12-2016 10:00
  
  From Barbie’s makeover to dancing with the Obamas, everything that made us smile at the start of the yearBarbara Millicent Roberts has a distinctive look. The doll, better known as Barbie, was in 1959 either blond or brunette, before ditching her dark locks for a long, impossibly sleek golden mane. But even in the early days, Barbie was notable for her lithe limbs, large-yet-pert breasts and, of course, teeny-tiny waist. Continue reading...
  
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• 2016's best bits: breakthroughs in science

  24-12-2016 10:00
  
  From the discovery of gravitational waves to a promising male contraceptive, it was a groundbreaking year for scienceIt came from beyond the Large Magellanic Cloud. The signal, a mere 20 milliseconds long, captured the moment when two black holes slammed together – a cataclysm that sent ripples through spacetime and onwards to Earth, where they made instruments chirp and scientists cheer. “We have detected gravitational waves,” said David Reitze of the Laser Interferometer Grav
  
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• What does your router name say about you?

  24-12-2016 09:00
  
  What you call your wireless network might seem a trifling decision, but it’s a window into the way a person wants to present themselves in a connected worldWhat you choose to call your wireless network can say a lot about you. If you’re the attendee of an “alt-right” event at Texas A&M University who decided to promote genocide in the form of a network ID, it can say you are violently racist. While it is perhaps not surprising to see the USA’s new far-right whit
  
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• Clive James: ‘Trump’s boasts spring from an aching wish’

  24-12-2016 09:00
  
  Any man who drivels about women when he is alone with a man has no clue what to say when alone with a womanSince my family will be having a vast Christmas dinner with a raft of Australian fly-in guests spreading through several rooms, I have made it known, in my position as patriarch, that I favour a simple solution to the question of which big bird to feature, goose or turkey. Magisterially, I suggested that there should be both.Thus I dodged the question that stumped Theresa May, who
  
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• For girls, Michelle Obama is an empowering example

  24-12-2016 08:33 via winnipegfreepress.com
  
  NEW YORK - Healthy food and plenty of exercise. The challenges military families face. Education for girls around the globe.The feel-good initiatives of first lady Michelle Obama have served as both inspiration and eight years of teaching moments for many families. So what, exactly, do they
  
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• Which composer managed an orange plantation in Florida? The Weekend quiz

  24-12-2016 08:00
  
  From art to fast food to Angela Carter, test your knowledge with the Weekend quiz1 Whose birth date was crucially miscalculated by Dionysius Exiguus?
  2 What art label was coined by Roger Fry for a 1910 exhibition?
  3 Who thought, “Maybe Christmas… doesn’t come from a store”?
  4 What is the longest nerve in the human body?
  5 Which composer managed an orange plantation in Florida?
  6 Hamnet Sadler was a beneficiary of whose will?
  7 Jonathan’s Coffee-House in Change Alle
  
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• 'My best travel discovery of 2016'

  24-12-2016 08:00
  
  Inspired by the surprises thrown up in our weekly A great little place I know series, we asked writers and adventurers to share their best discovery of the yearPeter Frankopan, historian and author
  The world of 2016 is not all doom and gloom. In Asia, things are changing fast as the Silk Roads rise again. In September, I was in north-west China, in Dunhuang, between the Gobi and the Taklamakan deserts, on the southern Silk Road. The city is an oasis, the last stop, going west, before nearly 1,00
  
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• How Victorian festivities began to go with a bang

  24-12-2016 08:00
  
  Pioneering confectioner Tom Smith perfected the Christmas cracker as entertainment in the parlour game traditionWhat is the Queen going to find in her cracker tomorrow? Whatever it might be, it is certain the cracker itself arrived in a box labelled “Tom Smith”.The original Tom Smith has good claim to be the inventor of the modern Christmas cracker. This week the V&A museum revealed what is inside an un-cracked 1927 Tom Smith with a design celebrating a musical called A Romance o
  
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• My wife seems closer amid the noise of Christmas

  24-12-2016 07:45
  
  If you half close your eyes, you might think Helen is still here, spreading her festive warmth, love and laughter“Dad, why’s the Ooh Ah bird called the Ooh Ah bird?” asks Millie, her beautiful face glowing with Christmassy enthusiasm. “I don’t know,” I lie. “Because it lays square eggs,” she squeals.She, Matt and I laugh uproariously at the well-worn joke from the 1977 Good Life Christmas Special. We love watching Jerry, Margo, Tom and oh-so-s
  
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• A letter to … my little adopted brother, who has autism

  24-12-2016 07:45
  
  The letter you always wanted to writeYou were nine months old when you came into our lives, doe-eyed and cooing. The five years between us meant that I accepted your addition to our family as if you were my very own. It took us a while to find you. My parents in their eager search delved through the brochures, the interviews and assessments, the continuous churning of paperwork. But, oh, was it worth it.You lived many miles from our country home, unaware that you were to join us as we forme
  
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• Family life: My aunt Gloria, Merry Christmas You Suckers, Hilda’s Christmas pudding

  24-12-2016 07:44
  
  Readers’ favourite photographs, songs and recipesI wish I could remember what had made us smile. This photograph, which sums up my relationship with my aunt Gloria, is a window on to family Christmases past – to which she always brought generosity and energy, and a festive jumper. Continue reading...
  
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• Simplicity makes for appetizing table display

  24-12-2016 07:40 via winnipegfreepress.com
  
  Each era has had its excesses and, during the Victorian days, horticultural decoration topped the list. Jennifer Davies, in her book The Victorian Kitchen Garden, describes the art of “dressing” a formal dining table as practiced by an estate’s head gardener.No effort was...
  
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• How we embraced Christmas

  24-12-2016 07:30
  
  What does Christmas mean if it was not part of your family tradition? Three writers share their memoriesMy first Christmas in Britain was in 1979. I was nine. London was more monochrome then than it is now but, suddenly, unexpectedly, in December, it decked itself out in lights and sparkled with the magic of Christmas. People sang in the streets and smiled at strangers, a different place from the reserved city in which we had arrived only six months before, having fled the revolution in Iran. Co
  
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• 8 social media no-nos on Christmas Day | Stuart Heritage

  24-12-2016 07:30
  
  Tips to steer you through the minefield of etiquette: curb your photos and tweets – or maybe just put your phone away1. Don’t take pictures of your presents. Christmas is a minefield of potentially botched etiquette, and social media only makes it worse. And, clearly, the crime one can commit is making a fuss online about all the stuff you have been given. Look, we get it. You got a lot of presents this year. What are you, six? Ask yourself why you are doing this. Is it for likes? Is
  
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• The 12 tips of Christmas | Christmas food and drink

  24-12-2016 07:00
  
  Panicking about the Christmas mega-banquet? Here’s how Guardian readers and Cook contributors cut it down to size1 Start the day with a good bacon sandwich. You’ll be knocking back the champagne, so it’s sensible to get something in your stomach to get you through.
  Rosie Birkett Continue reading...
  
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• Lemn Sissay: ‘Everything in life is connected, and everything is connected to family’

  24-12-2016 07:00
  
  The poet grew up in children’s homes and never knew a real Christmas. Now, he makes sure hundreds of care leavers feast in style each year. How – and why – does he do it?Christmas, says the poet Lemn Sissay, divides the world into two sorts of people. One group gathers around the domestic hearth: all jocularity and teasing, memories and traditions. The other group is, as in the Victorian cliche, outside the window looking in. They have never felt the warmth of th
  
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• 10 Brunches That Ring In the New

  24-12-2016 03:00
  
  The best places to brunch across the land this holiday season…Michalene Busico
  
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• Whiskey of the Week: Jameson Cooper’s Croze

  24-12-2016 02:00
  
  Jameson Cooper’s Croze Irish Whiskey ($70)
  This Irish whiskey is enriched by the oak and char of its casks…Richard Carleton Hacker
  
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• Sudoku killer 533

  24-12-2016 01:01
  
  Normal sudoku rules apply, except the numbers in the cells contained within dotted lines add up to the figures in the corner. No number can be repeated within each shape formed by dotted lines.
  For a helping hand call our solutions line on 0906 200 83 83. Calls will cost £1.03 per minute, plus your phone company’s access charge. Calls from other networks may vary and mobiles will be considerably higher. Service supplied by ATS. Call 0330 333 6946 for customer service (charged at stan
  
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• Sudoku 3627 hard

  24-12-2016 01:01
  
  Fill the grid so that every row, every column and every 3x3 box contains the numbers 1 to 9.For a helping hand call our solutions line on 0906 200 83 83. Calls cost £1.03 per minute from a BT landline. Calls from other networks may vary and mobiles will be considerably higher. Service supplied by ATS. Call 0330 333 6946 for customer service (charged at standard rate). Continue reading...
  
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• Prize Crossword No 27,076

  24-12-2016 01:01
  
  We are unable to display Maskarade’s Christmas Prize puzzle online in the normal interactive format. Please click here use the PDF version to complete the crossword.Special instructions: We are unable to display Maskarade’s Christmas Prize puzzle online in the normal interactive format. Please click here use the PDF version to complete the crossword.Clues are listed in alphabetical order of their solutions, which should be fitted jigsaw-like in the grid. With all 26 pairs of solution
  
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• Quick crossword No 14,549

  24-12-2016 01:00
  
  Continue reading...
  
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• EXCLUSIVE: Kohanaiki Debuts $65 Million Hawaiian Clubhouse

  24-12-2016 00:00
  
  Kohanaiki Clubhouse and Spa, Hawaii
  The 67,000-square-foot club offers a cigar and poker lounge, a brewery, a spa, and even a bowling alley… Rebekah Bell
  
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