Law enforcement agencies have obtained the prescription records of thousands of Americans from the country’s largest pharmacy chains without a warrant, a congressional inquiry found, raising concerns about how the companies handle patient privacy. Three of the largest pharmacy groups — CVS Health, Kroger and Rite Aid — do not require their staff members to…
My husband and I moved to New York 10 years ago. His parents lived 100 miles away. It seemed like a good move: closer to family, but not too close. Then my in-laws bought a second home three minutes from ours. It’s awkward! They will have appointments scheduled months in advance, but wait to ask…
The rising interest in cocktails and spirits over the past quarter-century has led to an explosion of conventions and festivals all over the world where drinks are poured and discussed in depth. Africa, however, has been largely absent from this global party. That situation will change next year with the arrival of Ajabu, in South…
A few years after the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests started a Christmas tree farm, Nigel Manley, who oversaw the operations, began noticing some interesting developments among the rows of fragrant balsam and Fraser firs lining the land. In the spring, areas around the younger trees drew ground nesters like bobolinks —…
Every year, Michelle Miller-McNair asks her three children to make lists of what they want for Christmas. “They usually write it down on a piece of paper or send me a link to a website,” she said. But this holiday season, Ms. Miller-McNair, a comedian in Mooresville, N.C., received something else: An 18-slide PowerPoint presentation…
It’s not just Karl, though. Who else “invented” Christmas? Could we say Charles Dickens, maybe, whose book “A Christmas Carol” is credited with creating an image that lives on with the “traditional” holiday of today. Of course, the December date was marked for a long time before the Victorians. Constantine, the first Christian Roman emperor,…
Since my first trip to Waikiki Beach in 1977, I have traveled all around the Hawaiian Islands. And I’ve loved each one. But I love Waikiki, too. Not the hordes of tourists, of course, or the high-end shopping malls that have taken over Kalākaua Avenue and earned it the nickname, Vegas on the Beach. What…
Zeph Sanders was 20 when his hair began to fall out. As it thinned from the density of AstroTurf to spare wisps, he hid his head under a beanie before logging on to play video games on the livestreaming platform Twitch. “I started getting people in the comments like, ‘Bro, where’s your hair?’” Mr. Sanders,…
As winter sets in, cruise lines are offering a variety of warm weather escapes to the Caribbean, Mexico and far-flung destinations in the South Pacific and the Persian Gulf. This winter will see the launches of new ships and itineraries aimed at attracting a broad demographic of cruisers, particularly young first-timers. Here are some of…
The theme of this year’s list of my favorite new restaurants in New York City is: bigger. Some of the places I reviewed most enthusiastically this year were bigger versions of existing restaurants. I Sodi, where fans of Rita Sodi’s Tuscan cooking used to be packed in tighter than anchovies, moved around the corner and…