Connections hints, clues and answers on Sunday, August 17 2025
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OK!
Have you been playing Connections, the super fun word game from the New York Times that has people sharing those multi-colored squares on social media like they did with Wordle? It's pretty fun and sometimes very challenging, so we're here to help you out with some clues and the answer for the four categories that you need to know:
1. In your neighborhood, say.
2. Think sign at a shop.
3. Mail.
4. Constitution.
The answers are below this photo:
1. Conveniently located
2. Words on a door
3. Needs for sending a letter
4. First Amendment freedoms
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San Francisco Chronicle
11 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
How this Bay Area city is battling a goose invasion — and 300 pounds of poop a day
Welcome to Foster City, home to 24 parks and more than 160 acres of open space that collects some 300 pounds of goose poop a day. Foster City has received national attention for its troubles with Canada geese. Each goose — the city estimates it has between 300 and 400 of them — can produce one or two pounds of droppings a day, turning a park into a minefield. The goose poop requires regular power washings and has contributed to high E. coli levels in parts of the local lagoon. During nesting season the birds can become aggressive, even chasing off small dogs and children. 'We are at the front lines of dealing with this issue,' said Derek Schweigart, Foster City's parks and recreation director. Earlier this month, Foster City took its most comprehensive action yet, with the city council approving a roughly $400,000 contract with a wildlife company to deter the geese at seven 'high impact' parks. Starting sometime in the next month, the company will begin using drones, lasers, balloons and — eventually — dogs to scare or 'haze' the birds. The contract, which is active through June 2026, approved nonlethal measures only. Canada geese have long been a fixture of Foster City's grassy parks, residents say. But as the goose population has swelled, doubling between 2020 and 2022, so have the complaints. Susan Lessin, a 30-year resident of Foster City and member of the San Mateo County Bird Alliance, said she suspects the issue was also exacerbated during the pandemic as residents started spending more time outdoors — and quickly realized they have to be careful where they step. While research has indicated geese aren't a significant transmitter of disease to humans, parents have told the city council that they feel unsafe allowing their children to play in local parks. One man, according to a 2022 New York Times article, said his 2-year-old daughter became sick after putting goose feces in her mouth. And Foster City is far from alone. Wildlife experts say Canada geese are very good at adapting to humans, drawn by the green spaces humans create for themselves. Santa Clara, Redwood City, Oakland and other Bay Area communities have all reported issues with their goose populations. And unless cities want to keep spending the time and money to clean up after the birds, they may have to change, too. 'Frankly, they were here before we were,' Lessin said. 'And to a certain extent, the public has to adapt to the geese.' Once hunted to near-extinction in parts of the United States, Canada geese populations have exploded over the past several decades, thanks in large part to federal protections. In California, breeding geese have generally congregated in the northeast corner of the state. But over the past two or three decades, they've become more distributed throughout the state, said Melanie Weaver, an environmental scientist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife's waterfowl unit. In 1994, according to a partial count of California's waterfowl, nearly 99% of surveyed breeding Canada geese were in the northeast part of the state. By 2024, that had dropped to about 50%, while the share in the Sacramento Valley and other surveyed regions grew substantially. Like crows, gulls and other 'urban' birds, geese flock to cities because they offer easy food sources and few natural predators. Canada geese are also one of the few bird species that can digest grass, making Golden Gate Park in San Francisco and Lake Merritt in Oakland ideal resting spots for them. And because geese tend to return to the place they were born to build their own nests, they become much harder to scare away once they become established in a city. (It also doesn't help that, despite park officials' pleas, some visitors continue to feed the geese). Geese that stay roughly in the same place year-round, known as 'resident' geese, tend to reproduce more than their migratory peers, contributing to their rapid population growth. And because they prefer man-made environments, there's generally little competition with other waterfowl over resources, though you might see the occasional squabble with a gull. 'When humans decide, 'Let's have a park with grass surrounding it,' you've created the most perfect environment for those geese,' Weaver said. 'It's unfortunate, because they are really cool animals,' she added. 'But when they get in that environment, it's not so cool.' Foster City residents and officials alike are waiting to see whether their latest efforts will make the geese think twice about nesting at a local park. Previous attempts have been mixed. When the city tried strobe lights, residents seemed more bothered than were the geese. Adding fencing around the lagoon kept geese out for a while, but the geese eventually found ways around it. Egg addling — shaking or otherwise damaging newly laid eggs to prevent the embryo from developing — keeps the population from growing too rapidly, but that doesn't affect the living geese, which can survive for more than 20 years. Still, Schweigart, the parks and recreation director, said that the city hopes that by combining approaches, the geese will decide it's not worth sticking around. Some research has shown that these multi-pronged efforts can get groups of geese to change locations, but that they often simply move to nearby parks. Even if Foster City succeeds, hundreds of geese may show up in a neighboring community. Aside from the egg addling project, which is conducted between a few San Mateo County cities, each city is tackling its goose issue independently. A longer-term solution to the problem, some officials have suggested, would take a region-wide effort. Lessin, the longtime Foster City resident, said that while she has concerns about the cost of her city's new program, she supports the plan and hopes it will lead to more long-term solutions — as long as they're nonlethal, she emphasized. Plans to euthanize some of the geese in 2022 were dropped after opposition from activists and some residents. 'Everyone is very optimistic, but I think we're cautiously optimistic,' she said. Foster City's 24 parks may look different in the future, as part of a more permanent solution. The city is building a new recreation center at Leo J. Ryan Park and replacing much of the grass with native trees and shrubs. That change, which Schweigart said the city hopes to replicate in its other parks, leaves little food for the geese to eat, forcing them to go elsewhere. In other words, the best way to moderate the goose population may be to change what attracted them in the first place. 'We created this environment for' the geese, Schweigart said. 'And now, unfortunately, we're facing the consequences.'
USA Today
11 hours ago
- USA Today
Connections hints, clues and answers on Sunday, August 17 2025
WARNING: THERE ARE CONNECTIONS SPOILERS AHEAD! DO NOT READ FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT THE AUGUST 17, 2025 NYT CONNECTIONS ANSWER SPOILED FOR YOU. Ready? OK! Have you been playing Connections, the super fun word game from the New York Times that has people sharing those multi-colored squares on social media like they did with Wordle? It's pretty fun and sometimes very challenging, so we're here to help you out with some clues and the answer for the four categories that you need to know: 1. In your neighborhood, say. 2. Think sign at a shop. 3. Mail. 4. Constitution. The answers are below this photo: 1. Conveniently located 2. Words on a door 3. Needs for sending a letter 4. First Amendment freedoms Play more word games Looking for more word games?
Epoch Times
3 days ago
- Epoch Times
The ‘Trad Wife' Debate Misses the Point
As many people who follow my journey know, I had children later in life. By the time I became a mother, my life was already shaped in certain ways. I was more the breadwinner in our family—or at least the public face of the enterprise my husband and I have worked hard to build together. Now, with a return to 'traditional values' sweeping parts of the country, I see criticism coming from both directions. On the left, the message is often: 'Don't just have children—do something more with your life!' Motherhood is portrayed as too small, too limiting, even oppressive. On the right, it's 'Stay home, don't work, and let your husband provide.' The recent New York Times piece on Ballerina Farm's founder, Hannah Neeleman, written by Megan Agnew, tried to cast her as an oppressed woman whose life couldn't possibly be as wonderful as it appears. Yet more traditional or conservative voices also criticize her—for working too much, for not being 'at home' enough. The irony is that none of this is truly traditional. The image of the man leaving for ten hours a day while the woman stays home with the children really emerged in factory culture in the early 1900s. Before that, industry was in the home. Husbands and wives worked together as blacksmiths, shoemakers, tailors, bakers—running family enterprises where the children were underfoot, learning the trade as they grew. For only a short fraction of American history—mainly the post–World War II decades into the early 1970s—was it considered 'normal' for a man to go off to work while his wife stayed home with the children full-time. That model was largely a product of economic prosperity, suburban expansion, and postwar advertising—not a timeless tradition. Before and after that brief window, families across America worked together in agriculture, trades, and small businesses. We shouldn't mistake nostalgia for accuracy, or imagine that the 1950s image of 'traditional' is the only—or even the best—path forward. In reality, when men and women both contribute to a home enterprise, they bring unique strengths that serve not just the family's income but its entire way of life. Children in these environments learn enterprise, problem-solving, negotiation, decision-making, and how to navigate complex situations long before they ever fill out a résumé. In that way, Hannah's work is actually closer to tradition than many critics realize. At Ballerina Farm, she and her husband run multiple enterprises—some in the home, some outside—but all connected, with the family working together. That's also my reality. If you visit The Barn restaurant at Sovereignty Ranch, my kids might burst through the door, hair windblown, sticks and dirt clinging to them. They'll run to give me a hug or ask for pancakes, maybe beg for a popsicle from the farm store, and then run back into the wild of the farm. We've also built a small homeschool on the ranch, where a teacher comes for three hours each morning to focus on reading, writing, and math. The rest of their education comes from the farm, the restaurant, and our other enterprises. They do everything from helping with newborn calves to brainstorming Instagram video ideas. They often ask how much something costs, how much we'll sell it for, whether that's a lot of money, how much the mortgage is, or how many products we need to sell to make a car payment. In many ways, these questions—and the real-world math, economics, and decision-making they lead to—are more valuable than much of what children learn in conventional classrooms. This model may not be perfect, but it is far better than my life in California—driving an hour and twenty minutes each way, working more than eight hours, then commuting another three, and leaving them with others or dragging them along just to spend time together. We need to remember what 'traditional' really was—and what it still can be. We need more small, home-based enterprises where kids are involved and learn by doing. My children set up tables for big party reservations, wipe down tables, bus dishes, put stickers on hot sauce bottles, help bottle vinegar—and as they get older, their responsibilities will grow, and they'll be intimately connected to the work that sustains our family. I won't pretend I never feel guilt about working so much or wishing life was different. But I am grateful that God, in His grace, blessed us with children later in life and allowed us to weave them into our daily work, rather than relegating them to schools, babysitters, or screens. Maybe my home doesn't fit a perfect 'traditional' mold. But in the truest sense—family working together, children learning responsibility, life lived with purpose—it's as traditional as it gets.
