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Will Smith turns 50 on Sept. 25, and he plans to bungee jump from a helicopter over a gorge just outside Grand Canyon National Park to mark the occasion. His birthday activity is the latest in a vast history of outrageous stunts staged in and around one of the world's seven natural wonders. <br>AP

Will Smith’s bungee jump: The latest stunt near Grand Canyon

At the end of the 1991 movie “Thelma & Louise,” the two leading ladies — fugitives cornered by authorities in the Grand Canyon — decide against surrendering and instead drive off a cliff. One of cinema’s most iconic endings wasn’t filmed in the national park in Arizona, but not for lack of trying.

Sony's aibo, an autonomous robotic dog, has multiple sensors that react to touch.<br>Anda Chu, Bay Area News Group/TNS Sony's aibo, an autonomous robotic dog, has multiple sensors that react to touch.<br>Anda Chu, Bay Area News Group/TNS
Sony's aibo robotic dog can sit, fetch and learn what its owner likes
The American Academy of Pediatrics called for a ban on infant walkers Sept. 17.<br>Dreamstime/TNS The American Academy of Pediatrics called for a ban on infant walkers Sept. 17.<br>Dreamstime/TNS
After thousands of injuries, doctors call for ban on infant walkers
A plastic straw is no longer your sole alternative. <br>Tom McCorkle/For The Washington Post; Food styling by Lisa Cherkasky/For The Washington Post
A plastic straw is no longer your sole alternative. <br>Tom McCorkle/For The Washington Post; Food styling by Lisa Cherkasky/For The Washington Post

These disposable straw alternatives all sucked, of course, but which worked the best?

Plastic straws are to 2018 as cigarettes were to the early 2000s in restaurants. And as cities and corporations have banned plastic straws, making it more and more gauche to use a disposable one — what are you, a sea-turtle murderer? — the market for reusable drinking straws has flourished as quickly as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

Stephanie A. Meyer prepares an egg frittata with tomatoes, snap peas, pesto, mozzarella, and garlic chives. When Meyer writes a grocery list, she&apos;s not just planning meals for herself and her boyfriend. She&apos;s coming up with a plan that hundreds of people around the world pay to get by email each week. (Richard Tsong-Taatarii/Minneapolis Star Tribune/TNS) <br>TNS
Stephanie A. Meyer prepares an egg frittata with tomatoes, snap peas, pesto, mozzarella, and garlic chives. When Meyer writes a grocery list, she&apos;s not just planning meals for herself and her boyfriend. She&apos;s coming up with a plan that hundreds of people around the world pay to get by email each week. (Richard Tsong-Taatarii/Minneapolis Star Tribune/TNS) <br>TNS

For Minnesota’s 'batch cooking boss,' food can be medicine that actually tastes good

Hundreds of people pay to get an email from Stephanie A. Meyer each week outlining a menu, grocery list and recipes for a week of meals good for those with food sensitivities.

Corey McCabe, left, reacts as Lisa Geist, right, talks about their 17 year-old daughter, Brieze McCabe, in Kulpmont, Pa., on July 5. Their daughter died of an apparent drug overdose. The parents struggled to help her when they found out last fall that she was using heroin. There's only one rehab facility in the state that takes teenagers on medical assistance, as Brieze was.<br>David Maialetti, Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS
Corey McCabe, left, reacts as Lisa Geist, right, talks about their 17 year-old daughter, Brieze McCabe, in Kulpmont, Pa., on July 5. Their daughter died of an apparent drug overdose. The parents struggled to help her when they found out last fall that she was using heroin. There's only one rehab facility in the state that takes teenagers on medical assistance, as Brieze was.<br>David Maialetti, Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS

For parents of teenagers in addiction, treatment is expensive, daunting -- and increasingly hard to find

Learning that their child is struggling with a substance-use disorder is any parent’s nightmare. But, especially if the child is still a minor, that realization is often coupled with another overwhelming question: Where can you turn for help? It’s a question without an easy answer.

Travelers at the Delta Air Lines ticket counter at LaGuardia Airport in New York on June 29, 2017.<br>David Williams/Bloomberg
Travelers at the Delta Air Lines ticket counter at LaGuardia Airport in New York on June 29, 2017.<br>David Williams/Bloomberg

Want to minimize jet lag? Here's what the doctors order.

An experimental psychologist who researched the military aviation community joins other experts to offer suggestions for fighting jet lag.

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games

Lara must master a deadly jungle and overcome terrifying tombs as she races to save the world from a Mayan apocalypse in “Shadow of the Tomb Raider.”<br>Square Enix
Lara must master a deadly jungle and overcome terrifying tombs as she races to save the world from a Mayan apocalypse in “Shadow of the Tomb Raider.”<br>Square Enix

‘Tomb Raider’ is a familiar thrill ride with new scenery

Lara Croft is one of a handful of characters the video game industry has produced who scarcely needs an introduction. Three Hollywood films and a slew of cultural criticism have served to fix her in the public imagination as a successful Indiana Jones clone and a metric of how the industry has (and hasn’t) shifted in its portrayal of women. As Josephine Livingstone wrote in The New Republic, Lara Croft’s recent incarnation in games and on the silver screen is “more human, less funny, more abs than boobs.” Basically, still incredibly attractive, but in a less juvenile way.

europe after hours

Bun-D offers a healthy alternative to the fast-food fare that occupies most of the Kaiserslautern Military Community Center food court on Ramstein Air Base, Germany.<br>Courtesy Jackie Broome
Bun-D offers a healthy alternative to the fast-food fare that occupies most of the Kaiserslautern Military Community Center food court on Ramstein Air Base, Germany.<br>Courtesy Jackie Broome

Bun-D a healthy option among Kaiserslautern community center’s fast-food eateries

I’m normally among the first to sample any new eateries around Vogelweh and Ramstein. I celebrated the debuts of Dunkin’ Donuts, Popeyes and P.F. Chang’s as I lamented the fiery demise of the parking-lot Burger King and the disappearance of Chili’s Too. I welcomed the expansion of Shawingz and Doener Time into Vogelweh’s Kazabra Club. I’m anxiously awaiting Boston Market’s attempt to succeed where Captain D’s failed and intend to contribute what I can to that success.

pacific after hours

Blue Water offers pineapple smoothies served inside hollowed-out pineapple shells.<br>Wyatt Olson/Stars and Stripes
Blue Water offers pineapple smoothies served inside hollowed-out pineapple shells.<br>Wyatt Olson/Stars and Stripes

Food truck trend hits Waikiki, bringing good eats and a casual atmosphere — but just temporarily

Throngs of diners are drawn in by the hubbub of a popular Honolulu food truck haven — but most stay for the diversity of offerings, which includes everything from Hawaiian, Thai, Japanese, Filipino, Vietnamese and even Laotian food.

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the meat and potatoes of life

Tami Dugger unpacks boxes in her new home at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas on Aug. 29, 2018. <br>Kylee Thomas/U.S. Air Force
Tami Dugger unpacks boxes in her new home at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas on Aug. 29, 2018. <br>Kylee Thomas/U.S. Air Force

The lame duck in the chicken coop

In my 23 years as a military spouse, we lived in base housing four times, for a total of 11 years. Although living among sterile government buildings enclosed by fences sometimes made me feel like an inmate in an asylum, the social culture in military housing more closely parallels the behavior of chickens in a coop.