Boy, did I heart Chicago when I moved here on a dazzling afternoon last July. What a great town! Why hadn’t we settled here years before? Just you wait, naysayers warned: You won’t survive a single winter in that climate. Even those unaware of my warm-weather proclivities spoke balefully of the cutting winds that whipped off the lake, the endless days without sunlight, the bruising spills on icy cement …
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Two years ago, on a reporting assignment, a small TV crew and I were shacked up in a houseboat near the Rio Negro in Brazil, when it rained. I have never in my life been so thankful to be near a portable DVD player. There are only so many games of spades in a deck of cards, and even a bunch of Arkansas boys run out of Aggie jokes eventually. When a cameraman plugged his player into the TV, we were able to leave the Amazon basin for the dustscapes of Blazing Saddles and The Outlaw Josey Wales. And—notably, after 10 days of sharing cramped rooms and tiny boats—no one murdered anyone. Well, except Clint Eastwood.
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I recently traveled many thousands of miles to attend a college roommate’s wedding in Hawaii. For several reasons—the over-the-top destination, the formal toast I was slated to give, my all-but-unprecedented approval of a friend’s choice of groom—I decided to splurge on a new dress for the occasion. The simple silk sheath that I bought was perfect: For once, I would look just right.
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Popcorn is the snack to beat all snacks. It’s tasty, high in fiber, and you can season it with everything from butter and salt to wasabi. (There’s even Simon and Garfunkel popcorn—made, of course, with parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme.) The advent of the microwave meant more for popcorn than perhaps any other food, and these days most of us satisfy our popcorn cravings by just nuking a bag of Pop Secret. But microwave popcorn has its downsides: It’s high in calories and . Plus, until recently, microwave popcorn was manufactured with a chemical called diacetyl, which caused some popcorn-factory workers—and even one consumer—to develop a serious disease called popcorn lung.
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With Christmas less than two weeks away, millions are beginning to rue their procrastinatory ways. With nary a gift purchased, panicked shoppers are often tempted to take the easy way out with gift cards, neckties, and bottles of cheap perfume. Such presents might technically fulfill your holiday obligations, but they’re unlikely to score you much love: Don’t expect any impromptu lingerie shows, for example, if you plan on giving your girlfriend an oven mitt.
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