When I opened up the New York Times on my iPad this morning, I was greeted with the following online challenge that tests your knowledge of some of the destinations that make-up their annual “Top Places to Go” list. The challenge was harder than I thought it would be — I scored a six out of ten.

The New York Times Travel section publishes this list in January and it’s something that I always look forward to because it’s the not the usual suspects of travel destinations. …

It’s that time of year again — today, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (full disclosure, I’m a member) released it’s primetime Emmy nominations and it was a good news/bad news kinda announcement for the big five U.S. broadcast networks.

First the good news, after five years a network series has finally received a nominated in the drama category — yes you heard that right, it’s been five years since ANY network dramas have been nominated for televisions greatest prize. The nomination went to NBC’s ensemble family drama This is Us, which bagged 11 nominations in total. …

Tuesday, Donald Trump Jr. decided to release the full text of his email communications with a British publicist, who ultimately helped to set-up a meeting with a Russian operative. It was a pretty shocking read, but I guess “Don” had his reasons for releasing what some are saying is incriminating evidence. His lawyer, Alan Futerfas, gave the following explanation for the release — “Basically what they were doing, it was kind of like a drip, drip, drip, a death by a thousand cuts. We were like, you know what, it’s silly. We’re going to be totally transparent. We’ll get it…

Following up on my article from yesterday:

Turns out the American consumer does want their gallons of glue and bamboo pillows — and a hell of a lot more. While Amazon didn’t provide hard sales numbers, they did say that overall year-over-year sales were up 60%, the number of Prime members who made purchased was up 50% — and maybe most importantly, they gained more Prime members in this single day than any other day in the company’s history. Their best selling item was the Echo Dot and the Fire tablets and Kindles also saw record sales. …

First, let me preface this rant by saying I LOVE AMAZON and I’ve come to rely on it now that we’re living in New York full-time. Go to most local grocery stores (except Trader Joe’s) and you’ll understand why — Tropicana OJ $4.99, New England Coffee $8.99, Halo Top Ice Cream $5.99 and these are sales prices from one unnamed store’s weekly circular! …

Yesterday, The Washington Post published a heart-wrenching article by @JwanahQ about returning to her home town of Aleppo, Syria for the first time since war broke out in 2011. While there have been countless stories written about the senseless loss of life (an estimated 400,000 people) and destruction caused by the now six-year long civil war, her personal story has stuck with me like no other has.

In particular, she describes returning to the Old City, which is considered to be one of the oldest continually inhabited urban areas in the world. She went with her father to check on…