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Royal Caribbean cooks up new venues for world’s largest cruise ship Icon of the Seas

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:35:15 GMT

MIAMI — The Royal Caribbean culinary team has spent more than 500 hours working on its macaroni and cheese, which is getting a starring role among a spate of new dining venues coming to Icon of the Seas when it debuts out of Miami in just over six months.“It’s about consistency,” said Michael Jacobs, lead for culinary operations during a recent tour of Royal’s headquarters where it workshops ideas for everything from attractions to bars to the new dishes set to appear on board its upcoming fleet. “It has to coat the pasta. Each pasta is cut for its own sauce.”A test kitchen full of chefs concur for what turned out to be an unusually long mac-and-cheese-related conversation as visiting media tried samples of a variety of dishes coming to what will be five food hall options within the planned AquaDome Market, itself just a small corner of the massive AquaDome superstructure at the top of the 20-deck, 250,800-gross-ton cruise ship currently under construction in Finland.Icon of the Sea...

Bruins beat: Bruce Cassidy the right man at right time for Vegas, not Boston

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:35:15 GMT

One of the most torturous hockey seasons for Bruins fans came to a fittingly excruciating end Tuesday night when Bruce Cassidy, fired here a year ago, lifted the Stanley Cup with his new team, the Vegas Golden Knights.Would you like a little more salt for that gaping wound, sir?Cassidy confirmed what we already knew: he’s an excellent hockey coach. And you can bet that no one knew that better than Don Sweeney, the man who ultimately decided to cut Cassidy free back in June of 2022 after five-plus seasons, a .672 winning percentage and one painful near-miss at the Cup in 2019.Timing is everything, and Cassidy’s time was on the Strip, not on Causeway Street. Those who now can’t grip the fact that Sweeney was on to something when he decided to fire Cassidy and eventually hire Jim Montgomery are conveniently forgetting the historic 65-win season that not even the most optimistic Bruins’ fans saw coming. That’s understandable. Regular season success doesn...

Paul McCartney says artificial intelligence made upcoming ‘last Beatles record’ possible

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:35:15 GMT

Peter Sblendorio | New York Daily News (TNS)A new Beatles song is coming together with a little help from AI, according to Paul McCartney.Artificial intelligence made it possible to turn a decades-old demo recording by John Lennon into “what will be the last Beatles record,” McCartney told BBC Radio 4′s “Today.”“We were able to take John’s voice and get it pure through this AI, so then we could mix the record as you would normally do,” McCartney said. “It gives you some sort of leeway. There’s a good side to [artificial intelligence], and then a scary side. We just have to see where that leads.”McCartney, 80, said the record was recently finished and will be released later this year. He didn’t share the song’s title, though the BBC suggested its likely a Lennon composition, “Now and Then,” from 1978.Director Peter Jackson also employed AI technology when he made the 2021 documentary series “The Beatles: Get Back,” which uses archival footage of the band recording the 1970 album “Let...

Ravens LT Ronnie Stanley finally enjoying healthy offseason: ‘This is as good as I’ve felt since 2019′

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:35:15 GMT

Lamar Jackson’s injuries the past two years have grabbed the majority of headlines when it has come to Ravens players being sidelined. But he’s not the only significant player who has struggled to stay on the field.Over the last three seasons, left tackle and former All-Pro Ronnie Stanley has played just 18 games, including just six in 2020 and one in 2021.So imagine the 29-year-old’s excitement not having to spend this offseason rehabbing.“The majority of my time the past couple of years has been spent on rehab — 80% of that offseason time, probably, and 20% on training,” Stanley said Wednesday during the second day of the Ravens’ three-day mandatory minicamp. “So, I’ve been able to really put most of my time on training and building and getting stronger, getting more endurance. And just becoming an overall better athlete has been a big difference for me.“This is as good as I’ve felt since 2019, preseason 2020.”...

A louder Lamar Jackson takes greater control of Ravens offense under new coordinator Todd Monken

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:35:15 GMT

Lamar Jackson let Nelson Agholor know he was dissatisfied.The Ravens quarterback expected his new wide receiver to run a different route during the team’s minicamp practice Tuesday, and Jackson spoke out in a way he might not have in past years.In this respect, he seemed to draw inspiration from offensive coordinator Todd Monken, a far louder practice critic than his predecessor, Greg Roman.“Yeah, you could say that. It’s rubbing off a little bit,” Jackson told reporters Wednesday, laughing as he praised Monken’s outspoken style. “Not even talking about [Greg] Roman, when I first signed, when I seen [Monken], I didn’t think he was really that explosive when he was speaking. Even in the meeting room, he’s going to have you laughing and stuff, but he’s dead serious about what he’s saying, and it means a lot, just for him to have that going on with our offense. Everybody’s dialed in and knows what coach is thinking.̶...

Commission studying new Mass. seal, motto stares down Nov. 15 deadline to finish work

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:35:15 GMT

A state commission tasked with recommending a new Massachusetts seal and motto is turning to UMass Boston to conduct a survey that they hope will help inform work that is scheduled to wrap up this fall.The Seal and Motto Commission has received multiple extensions to turn in final recommendations to the Legislature and now faces a Nov. 15 deadline to turn in to the state Legislature final recommendations for a new seal and motto.At a virtual meeting on Wednesday, commission co-chair Brian Boyles said the group completed an interim report at its last meeting in December 2022 but could not submit it to lawmakers because state law did not specifically call for one.“We now have about five months to follow through on the steps identified in the interim report and provide our final recommendations for the Legislature,”  Boyles said amid many technical issues that made it hard to follow along with the virtual-only public meeting. “I would start today on a hopeful note, but I think also a r...

Midwest small town’s Pride festival attracts thousands who reject far-right local politics

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:35:15 GMT

GRAND HAVEN, Mich. (AP) — Shawn Duncan and her wife, Betty, moved to Grand Haven 14 years ago, but kept their relationship hidden for most of that time fearing a backlash in the small city in a traditionally conservative part of Michigan.“We knew if we wanted our company to thrive, we were going to have to just squash that we were together and married,” said Duncan, who works in respite care. “We both had the same last name, so it was easy to just say we’re sisters.”But last weekend, surrounded by allies and members of the LGBTQ community, the Duncans held hands publicly in their hometown for the first time, at Grand Haven’s inaugural Pride festival.It was time to celebrate, she said, after decades in the closet.Organizers had hoped the festival would attract at least 500 attendees to the city of 11,000 people, but instead the drag show, dance party and vendor-filled streets drew thousands. For many, it was a shocking rebuttal of the increasing hostility toward the LGBTQ community s...

Singh and Poilievre to begin talks on terms for public inquiry on foreign meddling

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:35:15 GMT

OTTAWA — NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre were set to meet Wednesday to discuss terms for a possible public inquiry on foreign interference, as the prime minister praised opposition parties for behaving in a less-toxic manner. A spokesperson for the Conservatives said Poilievre’s office first reached out to Singh on Tuesday, and confirmed the two would speak Wednesday evening by phone.Poilievre sat down with Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet on Tuesday.“We mainly discussed the fact that we were not to discuss publicly what we discussed,” Blanchet said on Wednesday. The New Democrats were more forthcoming, saying they would be recommending that main federal party leaders or their representatives sit at a table to discuss terms of reference for an inquiry — or that the discussion happen at the procedure and House affairs committee, which has been studying foreign interference. Singh said the former option would be similar t...

Stock market today: Wall Street swings as Fed keeps rates steady but signals more hikes may come

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:35:15 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are swinging on Wall Street Wednesday after the Federal Reserve hinted it may raise interest rates two more times this year, even if it’s holding rates steady for now.The S&P 500 was virtually unchanged in afternoon trading after pinballing from a modest gain before the Fed’s announcement to a modest loss just after. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 247 points, or 0.7%, at 33,964, as of 3 p.m. Eastern time, while the Nasdaq composite was 0.2% higher.The Fed closed its latest policy meeting by saying it would hold rates steady, to give more time to see how its fusillade of rate hikes over the last 15 months is affecting the economy. It’s attempting the excruciating balancing act of slowing the economy just enough through rate increases to snuff out high inflation, but not so much as to break the job market and create a recession.Standing pat would give the economy more time to absorb all the past rate hikes, and Fed Chair Jerome Powell said “ideall...

Washington says it’s asking Israel about the death of detained Palestinian-American

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:35:15 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — The United States on Wednesday said it was seeking more information about the closure of an Israeli military investigation into the death of a 78-year-old Palestinian-American who was detained, gagged and left unconscious shortly before being pronounced dead.Israel had announced on Tuesday that it would not bring criminal charges against the soldiers involved in the detention of the Palestinian-American, Omar Assad, from an impromptu checkpoint in the occupied West Bank last year. The military admitted that the actions of the soldiers — who left Assad lying unresponsive on the ground without offering medical help or checking to see if he was alive — showed a lapse of moral judgement. But it said the soldiers would face only internal disciplinary measures because it could not determine that their misconduct directly caused Assad’s death.Assad’s death has sparked outrage, shining a light on the dangers faced by Palestinians in the West Bank. Palestinians say the...