Well: Straining to Hear and Fend Off Dementia

At a party the other night, a fund-raiser for a literary magazine, I found myself in conversation with a well-known author whose work I greatly admire. I use the term “conversation” loosely. I couldn’t hear a word he said. But worse, the effort I was making to hear was using up so much brain power that I completely forgot the titles of his books.A senior moment? Maybe. (I’m 65.) But for me, it’s complicated...

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Media Decoder Blog: Time Warner Considers Spinning Off Some of Its Magazines

9:15 p.m. | Updated Time Warner is in talks to shed much of Time Inc., the country’s largest magazine publisher and the foundation on which the $49 billion media conglomerate was built, according to people involved in the negotiations.Time Warner is in early discussions with the Meredith Corporation to put most of Time Inc.’s magazines — including People, InStyle and Real Simple — into a separate,...

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Zhuang Zedong dies at 72; helped get 'ping-pong diplomacy' rolling

It might have been a chance meeting or a cunning act of propaganda, but the encounter more than 40 years ago between two ping-pong...

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Executive Order Aims to Facilitate Sharing of Information on Threats

President Barack Obama signed an executive order on Tuesday designed to make it easier to disseminate classified information on threats against critical infrastructure systems and to lay the groundwork for obtaining information from the private sector that would help the government protect critical infrastructures in the U.S.The order, which runs eight pages (.pdf), directs the Attorney General’s...

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Dave Clark Five bassist Rick Huxley dies aged 72

(Reuters) – Rick Huxley, the bassist for the 1960s British Invasion pop-rock group the Dave Clark Five, has died, the band’s leader said on Tuesday. He was 72.Huxley died unexpectedly at his home in the English countryside on Monday, Dave Clark told Reuters.The band scored No. 1 hits on both sides of the Atlantic during its decade-long run from 1960-1970.“Glad All Over” holds the honor of knocking...

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Well: Straining to Hear and Fend Off Dementia

At a party the other night, a fund-raiser for a literary magazine, I found myself in conversation with a well-known author whose work I greatly admire. I use the term “conversation” loosely. I couldn’t hear a word he said. But worse, the effort I was making to hear was using up so much brain power that I completely forgot the titles of his books.A senior moment? Maybe. (I’m 65.) But for me, it’s complicated...

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Media Decoder Blog: Comcast Buys Rest of NBC In Early Sale

8:53 p.m. | Updated Comcast gave NBCUniversal a $16.7 billion vote of confidence on Tuesday, agreeing to pay that sum to acquire General Electric’s remaining 49 percent stake in the entertainment company. The deal accelerated a sales process that was expected to take several more years.Brian Roberts, chief executive of Comcast, said the acquisition, which will be completed by the end of March, underscored...

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Pentagon expands military benefits for same-sex couples

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon has agreed to expand benefits for gay and lesbian couples serving in the military, but officials continued...

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Why Thousands of Spiders Are Crawling in the Skies Over Brazil

Last week, spiders descended in droves upon a town in southern Brazil — literally.When 20-year-old web designer Erick Reis left a friend’s house on Sunday, he saw what looked like thousands of spiders overhead, reported G1, a Brazilian news site, on Feb. 8. The large, sturdy spiders were hanging from power lines and poles, and crawling around on a vast network of silk strands spun over...

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Trump may have trouble collecting on $5 million orangutan bet

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A comedian, a millionaire and an orangutan. It may sound like the beginning of a screwball joke, but Donald Trump isn’t laughing.The famously outspoken real estate magnate has sued famously outspoken television host Bill Maher, demanding the $ 5 million Maher offered to give to charity if Trump could prove his father is not an orangutan.But legal experts say Trump is unlikely...

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