Month: May 2024

Related media - Associated media The box went to an anonymous buyer in Canada, Mr. Simonds said, breaking the record for the most money spent on unopened sports cards and the most anyone has spent on a hockey collectible. Baseball Card Exchange, an authenticator that specializes in unopened vintage sports cards, confirmed that 16 wax boxes were inside the case. Each box contains 48 packs of cards, with 14 cards per pack, for a total of more than 10,000 cards. The set contains 396 different player cards, which means that if the assortment were perfectly random, it would contain 27…

Linked media - Linked media As he lay on his deathbed, his publisher gave him a gift of 12 bottles of wine. By then Beethoven knew he could never drink them. He whispered his last recorded words: “Pity, pity — too late!” For a composer, deafness had been perhaps the worst affliction. At age 30, 26 years before his death, Beethoven wrote: “For almost 2 years I have ceased to attend any social functions, just because I find it impossible to say to people: I am deaf. If I had any other profession, I might be able to cope with…

Related media - Related media Bomb disposal experts and human rights groups have said those bomblets, which are mass-produced and inexpensively made, generally have a 20 percent failure rate, often leaving behind hazardous duds that can explode later if mishandled. Because they are small, those duds can lay unnoticed among debris or vegetation and weigh so little that children can pick them up without realizing their danger. If confirmed, their use in Monday’s attack could mark an escalation in Russia’s tactics that are intended to make life miserable for Ukrainian civilians, including bombing power plants to cut off electricity to…

Linked media - Associated media Ken Holtzman, a left-hander who pitched two no-hitters for the Chicago Cubs and won three World Series with the Oakland A’s in a 15-season career, died on Monday in St. Louis. He was 78. He had been hospitalized for the last three weeks with heart and respiratory illnesses, his brother, Bob, said in confirming the death. Holtzman won 174 games, the most for a Jewish pitcher in Major League Baseball — nine more than the Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax, who is considered one of the best pitchers ever and who had a shorter career.…

Connected media - Linked media Edens isn’t daunted. Over dinner one night, he told me about a hotel that he recently built in Jackson Hole, Wyo. The project included a club where members could store skis and have their cars parked by valets. Everyone, including partners, told him it wouldn’t work. “A lot of the locals said, ‘That’s not Jackson Hole, that’s not true to our heritage,’” Edens said. “ ‘We’re not Vail. We carry our own stuff.’” He disagreed. “Who thinks carrying your three young kids’ ski stuff through a parking lot is a good idea?” Edens proceeded with the…

Related media - Related media Mr. Bouton said that he had not been aware of the full extent of Dr. Oxnam’s alcoholism and that he had had inklings about his behavioral problems. He said that it was remarkable that Dr. Oxnam had been able to work through them. But in 1992, Dr. Oxnam told the society’s board that he was going to resign. “The Bob part of me was touched that they pressured me to reconsider,” he wrote in his book. But he left. In addition to his wife, whom he married in 1993 and who was president of the…

Linked media - Linked media Cease-fire talks in Cairo faltered Negotiations between Israel and Hamas stalled again, meaning more uncertainty for the families of Israeli hostages and no quick reprieve for Palestinians in Gaza. Mediators struggled to bridge the remaining gaps, and a Hamas delegation left the talks, officials said. The main dispute was over the duration of a cease-fire, with Hamas demanding a permanent one and Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, expressing openness to only a temporary halt in fighting. Hamas blamed the lack of progress on Netanyahu, who has vowed to stage a ground offensive in Rafah, where…

Related media - Linked media ST. PAUL, Minn. — For years, Luke Kunin watched as his girlfriend, then fiancée, then wife, Sophia, supported his career. She was a shoulder to lean on when things got tough in Minnesota. Moved to Nashville when he was traded there. Was a constant during the toughest season of his pro career — last year with the San Jose Sharks, when he tore his ACL. So Kunin can’t wait to walk into Xcel Energy Center — the arena where he began his NHL career as a Minnesota Wild rookie seven years ago — on Saturday…

Connected media - Associated media Edward Dwight is going to space, finally. In the coming weeks, as conditions allow, Mr. Dwight is expected to be part of a six-person crew heading into space on the latest mission of Blue Origin, the space company founded by Jeff Bezos. Blue Origin’s seventh human flight will carry an array of adventurers including a venture capitalist, a craft-beer entrepreneur from France, a retired accountant who has been told by doctors that she is going blind, and Mr. Dwight, a retired Air Force captain who 60 years ago was chosen, and then passed over, to…

Associated media - Linked media The loss of biodiversity played an especially large role in driving up disease risk, the researchers found. Many scientists have posited that biodiversity can protect against disease through a phenomenon known as the dilution effect. The theory holds that parasites and pathogens, which rely on having abundant hosts in order to survive, will evolve to favor species that are common, rather than those that are rare, Dr. Rohr said. And as biodiversity declines, rare species tend to disappear first. “That means that the species that remain are the competent ones, the ones that are really…