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Which bottle to buy? Just ask your phone

Our smartphones keep getting smarter. Not only do they help us talk to each other, they also help us avoid talking to each other. They alert us to breaking news and notify us when it’s time to leave for appointments. They know how long it will take to drive to work and which routes will […]

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Face Time: Emily Flynn — a Belle again

A decade ago, Emily Flynn took to the stage at Community Little Theatre in Auburn and transformed into Belle, the smart, independent heroine who falls in love with a prince-turned-beast in Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast.” It was a dream role for the then-26-year-old, who had fallen in love with the animated movie and its […]

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The rose of Sharon rises again

In the world of garden shrubs, the rose of Sharon has a lot going against it. The leaves are drab with no fall color; the bush is twiggy, stiff and ungainly; and the light-gray bark is simply dull. But the rose of Sharon has one redeeming quality: In mid- to late summer, it has something […]

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Another challenge for transgender people: choosing a name

Some pore over baby-name books. Or think back to favorite movie stars or characters from fiction. Many turn to a family tree, hunting for inspiration among beloved relatives and long-lost ancestors. For a transgender person in transition, the act of choosing a new name often isn’t that different from naming a new baby. Except, of […]

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Frequent Tinder swiper remains matchless

There are roughly 3.4 million women in the San Francisco Bay area, and Sebastian Stadil has swiped right on 203,000 of them. Mathematically speaking, that means Stadil — or, more accurately, a piece of software he built to swipe and message for him — has approached roughly 6 percent of San Francisco’s total female population. And […]

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The art of advertising things people find gross

A few years back, the founders of Squatty Potty had a problem. Their product is a plastic footstool that wraps around the base of a toilet to elevate the feet and make going to the bathroom easier. Its founders say that changing the sitting angle unkinks the colon, making for a more natural and satisfying […]

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Mystery Photo for July 31, 2016

Mystery Photo for July 31, 2016 There were several dozen correct entries for last week’s mystery photo. In a random drawing, Julie DeMont of Paris was chosen as the winner. She was quite familiar with where the photo is located. In her entry she wrote, “I know where the photo was taken. It’s the view […]

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Study: It takes 1 hour of exercise to counter 8 hours of sitting

If you fear you’re doing irreparable damage to your body because your white-collar job keeps you sitting at your desk from 9 to 5, or you regularly spend entire weekends sprawled out on your couch binge-watching Netflix, there’s some good news just out from sports medicine researchers.According to a study published in The Lancet, all […]

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NYC’s big stinker

An Amorphophallus titanum begins to bloom at the New York Botanical Garden on Thursday,  in New York. The rare plant releases scent during its brief 24–36-hour peak, like the smell of rotting flesh, the reason the plant is popularly known as the corpse flower. It is the first time since 1939 that the NYBG has […]

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Heidi Sawyer rocks the vote in Lewiston

The way Heidi Sawyer sees it, if both sides are mad at you, you must be doing something right.  Sawyer is the founder of Lewiston Rocks, a social media group that just keeps growing. The group has nearly 700 members at present and they take on everything from local political movements to matters of more […]