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One of my favorite aspects of travel is observing the day to day life of people all over the world. Seeing a country’s monuments and palaces is a pleasure, but I prefer getting a taste of the culture. As I drove through Jodhpur, Jaipur and Ranthambhore, I was constantly astounded at the scenes outside my window.
As soon as we left the city life of Udaipur behind, the dusty desert roads stretched endlessly before me. Fields full of the seasonal wheat crops were peppered with grazing cows, goats, and a few mischievous

If you have children, and you want to take a cruise, it’s gotta be with Disney. Right?
That conventional wisdom is strongly reinforced when you sail on Uncle Walt’s newest ship, the gleaming, 4,000-passenger Fantasy. It’s the third Disney cruise we’ve taken as a family, and it’s everything Disney promises it will be.
But Disney doesn’t rule the seven seas when it comes to the growing market for family cruises. There is another.
Last summer, we boarded the NCL Epic, a megaship on a special mission in the Western

Andre Morris, president of Varran Media, had a challenging puzzle to solve last December: where to throw a Manhattan party for his VIP client, hip-hop star 50 Cent. Morris knew that in order to please the celebrity rapper, he’d need a venue with the right mix of sophistication and tranquility; that’s why, once his search began, he decided to “go up”–that is, to look at rooftop bars.
High above the bustling din of Midtown Manhattan, Morris found what he was looking for atop the 21st floor of the Strand Hotel. The Top of the Strand had a retractable roof, chestnut wood-box planters, flickering hurricane lanterns, plush banquettes in wooly Ralph Lauren upholsteries and an overall graceful atmosphere designed by Sex and the City set designer Lydia Marks, which added to the rooftop bar’s selling points. But it was the awe-inspiring views of the city’s skyline that sealed the deal.
“The moment you step off the elevator, you feel as if you’re transported to a South Beach, hot spot,” said

Earth Day is on Sunday and if you know Oyster.com, you know that we’re planning a trip to celebrate. (We’ll take any excuse to party.)
And Earth Day calls for some tree-hugging and eco-friendly practices. So we’ve picked out 10 green hotels around the globe where you can celebrate Earth Day by being kind to Mother Nature.
Don’t have a chance to get away this weekend? Pretend by clicking through our slideshow anyway.
– Jane Reynolds, with reporting by Devon Antonetti
Arenas Del Mar Beach And Nature Resort
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Arenas del Mar is proof that staying at an eco-resort doesn’t mean roughing it: Its 38 contemporary rooms are among the nicest in Manuel Antonio, its restaurant is excellent, and its public spaces embody rustic luxury. The hotel went to great lengths not to disrupt the surrounding ecosystem, so wildlife sightings are a daily

Summer comes and you’re dreaming of scaling Yosemite’s Half Dome, whitewater rafting through the Grand Canyon and driving the Blue Ridge Parkway. Guess what? So is everyone else. The US National Parks see over 280 million visitors each year, with the biggest crowds descending upon the parks in summer.
Here’s the good news. You don’t have to plan a trip months in advance to secure a campsite under the stars, have a hiking trail and a summit peak all to yourself, or find out where the wild things are this

Years ago, I was invited to a debate in Los Angeles about relations between Jews and Latinos. At the time, I lashed out at some of the participants who were idealizing the relationship between the two groups. For many, I said, the only time they talk to a Latino is when they’re asking someone to mow their backyards, watch over their children, or clean their dirty clothes.
More than a decade later, the situation has

Last night I joined Rachel Maddow to talk about Mitt Romney’s evolving views on Afghanistan. At various times, Romney has said we needed to get out of the Afghanistan mess, agreeing for the most part at the time of early GOP debates with House Representative and then presidential candidate Michele Bachmann until shifting to a harder-line posture on staying in Afghanistan. Romney, who has endorsed the general time frame of closing down most of the US mission in Afghanistan at the end of 2014 has been critical of Obama’s decision to drawdown the committed surge forces and bringing levels to 68,000. Obama — acting like a Commander-in-Chief should listened to the advice of ‘the generals’ and then made a decision based on larger strategic factors and ordered that the surge troops be drawn

This is part of our series “Gen: Change,” in partnership with Youth Service America, featuring stories from the 25 most influential and powerful young people in the world.
“Don’t waste your food, Dylan! What you are wasting is sometimes all that a family can get for a whole week.” I grew up hearing my mother say this to me at our dinner table, time and time again. Although I remember being served what my mother referred to as small, right-sized portions just for me, dinnertime was a nightmare. My mother would never fall for my negotiations, so bargaining for bites was never an

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SAN ANTONIO — Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili all scored at least 20 points to help the San Antonio Spurs beat the Los Angeles Lakers 121-97 on Friday night and spoil Kobe Bryant’s return.Bryant had missed the previous seven games with a bruised left shin, and the Lakers went 5-2 without the NBA’s scoring leader. But with only two games left in the regular season for Los Angeles (40-24), Bryant returned as he aims to get into a rhythm before the playoffs begin.
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For more news and notes on the Lakers, check out the Land O’ Lakers blog from the Kamenetzky brothers. Blog
Bryant wore a black sock over his lower left leg, with what appeared to be a shin guard protecting the injured area. He scored 18 points on 7-of-12 shooting.The Spurs (46-16) stayed atop the Western Conference with their sixth straight victory while the Lakers missed a chance to clinch home court in the first round of the playoffs.These teams could meet in the opening round, and judging by their latest meeting, it would be a mismatch.San Antonio has given Los Angeles its two worst losses of the season the worst Friday night and 112-91 on Tuesday. Duncan had 21 points and eight rebounds, Parker had 20 points and 10 assists, and Ginobili added 20 points and seven assists.San Antonio hit 47 of 77 shots from the field and broke the game open in the third quarter, when Bryant played his best. The Lakers’ star hit 5 of 6 shots in the quarter, directing his teammates on offense and yelling at them to “D-up” on defense.It hardly mattered, though, as he was repeatedly on his heels on defense as the Spurs pushed the ball. San Antonio scored 18 points in the paint in the quarter to only two for Los Angeles.While Bryant was sidelined, several Lakers increased their scoring, none more than Metta World Peace. World Peace more than doubled his scoring average with Bryant out of the lineup, but he had only 10 points on 3-of-9 shooting against the Spurs.”We counted on all our guys (when Bryant was out),” Lakers coach Mike Brown said before the game. “I thought Metta stepped up . all our guys stepped up. Hopefully they just stay aggressive. I think we’ll be fine, but we’ll see how we blend or gel.”Andrew Bynum scored 17 points for the Lakers, while Matt Barnes had 14 and Pau Gasol 11.”I think Kobe knew that if he came back too early from this injury, it would set him back,” Brown said. “We didn’t want to have any setbacks this time of year. He’s been great the whole time.”He certainly got off to a strong start, going down low on Kawhi Leonard for a short jumper and a foul on the Lakers’ first possession. Bryant hit the ensuing free throw, but he didn’t score again until he hit a 15-foot jumper with 34 seconds left in the quarter.Game notes Seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong sat courtside for the game. . The Spurs hit 10 of 15 3-pointers for a season-high 66.7 percent. . Lakers G Devin Ebanks, who started with Bryant out, played only 8 minutes and didn’t score. . Spurs C Tiago Splitter started and DeJuan Blair came off the bench against the tall Lakers’ frontline. Splitter is 6-foot-11, and Blair is 6-7. . With Magic C Dwight Howard possibly out for the Summer Olympics after electing to have back surgery, Bynum looks like a possible replacement. “It’s the same thing for any coach who has a player playing,” Brown said. “Rest, rest, rest.’ You worry about the injuries, but at the end of the day, it’s a significant honor.”
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I’m a plastic surgeon based in the Chicago area, certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery, and an active member of several medical societies, including the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, the American College of Surgeons, and the American Society for Reconstructive Microsurgery. I earned my medical degree from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine and completed my residency in general surgery and plastic and reconstructive surgery at the University of Chicago Hospitals. I also completed a fellowship in reconstructive microsurgery at the University of Chicago, where I currently hold an associate teaching position.
For more than 11 years, I have performed gender confirmation surgery as part of my surgical practice. I call it “gender confirmation surgery” because I believe that out of the myriad labels I’ve heard for the procedure — “sex reassignment surgery,” “gender reassignment surgery,” and “sex change operation,” to name but a few — none is as accurate when it comes to describing what is actually taking place as “gender confirmation surgery.”
For me, most if not all the other names used for the procedure — or, more accurately, the family of procedures — suggest that a person is making a choice to switch

Science and technology are not just for scientists. Without them, we wouldn’t be able to treat cancer or diabetes; enjoy instantaneous communication; drive, fly, or ride across the country; read this piece on an iPad; and so much more that we take for granted today.
That’s why it can be disastrous when political opposition and special interests are a barrier to the advancement of science.
The scientific community has been sounding warnings about the dangers of global warming and climate change for

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My three children (twin girls of seven and a boy of nearly six) were born and brought up in Rio de Janeiro. But from Rio to our recent move to Rome, they’ve remained rabid Mets fans. Keeping pace with the rites of spring (training), they’ve taken their Mets t-shirts, mini bat and ball to the nearby Villa Pamphili park every day. “This year,” I tell them, “will be the best year for the Mets since you were born.”
Of course if they read the New York sports pages, they’d take that for cruel

I work in words. I write music, too, but the words almost always come first for me. Sometimes they come in the shape of phrases or titles, and sometimes I find myself possessed by a general idea, the expression of which requires me to find the words through a painful, drawn-out process that feels a lot like mining a whole mountain for a nugget of gold. Finding the right word is especially important in a song, where you have only three to five minutes to send your emotional arrow to its

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CLEVELAND — Amare Stoudemire’s return from a back injury didn’t help the playoff-bound New York Knicks, who were stunned 98-90 by the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday night.Stoudemire had missed New York’s previous 13 games with a bulging disk. But even with him in the lineup, the Knicks couldn’t handle the Cavs, who snapped a three-game losing streak and won for just the fourth time in 19 games.Stoudemire finished with 15 points and Carmelo Anthony had 12 before sitting out the fourth quarter.Manny Harris had 19 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Cavs, and rookie Kyrie Irving scored 21 in his second game back from a shoulder injury.Harris banked in a desperation 3-pointer from 42 feet as the 24-second shot clock expired in the fourth to keep Cleveland comfortably ahead.
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Question: Over the years I’ve gotten a number of tattoos, and they’ve really become a part of my identity. Most of them are not visible when I’m in work garb, but some of them are, especially when I roll up my sleeves. My boyfriend says I should cover them up when I start job interviews next month. I say an employer shouldn’t care about my body

AfterEllen.com is Logo’s site for lesbians and bisexual women in entertainment and media, which means we pride ourselves on knowing all kinds of Sapphic pop-culture facts. Each week we’ll share some of the best tidbits on The Huffington Post in our new series, “Best Lesbian Week Ever.”
Here’s who and what was on our raging gay radar this week.
Rosie takes on a street preacher: A video of Rosie O’Donnell went viral this week when the former talk show host told off a homophobic man with a megaphone who called her a lesbian pig. Her retort: “I’m going to go home and f–k my wife.” Keeping it sassy, Ro.
Photo from Getty
Jessie J is not a secret lesbian: With celebrities becoming more out and proud these days, unauthorized biographers are having to get more creative with making s–t up. Chloe Govan writes that J is not bisexual, as she has said, but instead a closeted lesbian who said she was bisexual to be more “trendy.” Jessie refuted the idea on

“She’s a therapist, he’s a comic, and they’re a couple.”
Hi Pamela and Todd,
I need help. My husband of two years recently moved out. We’ve been together seven years and have been through quite a lot in those years. We’ve been through everything from high school graduations, college graduations and the death of beloved family

I’m thrilled to see that Somebody That I Used to Know has hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100. It’s been more than a decade since any Australian act has hit the top in the U.S.A., so Aussie newspapers are all excited again about Gotye’s duet with the Kiwi Kimbra.
It’s no surprise, really, that they topped the Hot 100. It’s a great song that has peaked in 17 countries over the last year or so. But a cover version on Glee — now the standard vehicle for chart success — finally pushed Somebody over the top in America.
What thrilled me is that since I heard that song, I’ve felt it embodied a rare quality often sought but seldom truly achieved in art, a quality with roots that are embedded firmly in our evolutionary soil.
Forget everything you’ve heard about “survival of the fittest.” In the game of evolution it’s reproduction that really

Tonight at 9:50 p.m. central time marks the anniversary of the exact time that BP’s deepwater well named Macondo blew out, killing 11 workers, destroying Transocean’s Deepwater Horizon, and putting five million barrels of oil into the water 5,000 feet below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico. Most of the world has moved on since then, thinking that everything in the Gulf is okey-dokey, and anxious to hear the latest news on Janet Jackson and Dancing with the Stars. In the meantime, the industry is back to drilling the deepwater, oil continues to come ashore and deformed seafood has begun to occur in alarming

There is not one single gay bar in Nepal. Yet this small country, which ranks near the bottom of the Human Development Index, emerges as a world leader in progressive laws supporting LGBT individuals.
The man behind all of this is Sunil Pant, Founder and Director of the Blue Diamond Society, Nepal’s LGBT organization.
Under Pant’s leadership, the Blue Diamond Society convinced the Nepali Supreme Court in 2007 to legalize same-sex marriage and create a legal third gender for transgender people. The following year Pant was elected to Nepal’s parliament as a member of the Communist Party of Nepal.
Pant continues to push the envelope. This fall Nepal will be hosting Asia’s first Gay

We live at a time when almost everything can be bought and sold. Over the past three decades, markets — and market values — have come to govern our lives as never before. We did not arrive at this condition through any deliberate choice. It is almost as if it came upon us.
As the cold war ended, markets and market thinking enjoyed unrivaled prestige, understandably

Today is a day two incredibly different groups celebrate. Marijuana enthusiasts, who nationwide adopted a bit of 1970s high school slang from Northern California, are holding various events around the country today, because it is “4/20.” Not as well-publicized (by design, for the most part), white supremacists and other hate groups celebrate today as the birthday of Adolph Hitler. The two celebrations and the two groups have nothing in common, I should point out. I’d even bet the overlap between the two groups is almost non-existent.
April 20th is also the day the Columbine shooting happened in Colorado in 1999, but the two shooters may not have picked this day for anything to do with Hitler, they may have been one day late in their plans (April 19th is the anniversary of the fiery end to the Waco siege in 1993, and also of the Oklahoma City bombing in