A few years ago my father arranged to send me a mail-order fruitcake at Christmastime. Although I had a good job and owned an apartment in Manhattan, he feared my cupboards and refrigerator might be bare. I had recently moved from California, where my parents still lived in their suburban bungalow of 50 years, the…
The tobacco giant Altria, maker of Marlboro and other top-selling brands of cigarettes, has agreed to pay nearly $13 billion for a 35 percent stake in Juul Labs, the wildly popular vaping company that burst on the scene in 2015 with a mission to render cigarettes obsolete. To sweeten the deal, part of Altria’s investment…
Twelve patients became seriously ill after receiving injections that supposedly contained stem cells from umbilical cord blood, according to the Food and Drug Administration, which issued a warning to the California company, Genetech, that made the blood product they were given. (The company has no connection with Genentech, the biotechnology corporation.) The F.D.A. said on…
Having a pill stuck in the throat can be irritating or even dangerous, but it is important to stay calm and find a solution. The following is what to do when a pill becomes stuck in the throat. The United States National Safety Council note that 5,051 people passed away from choking in 2015. For…
While many townhouses in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, are tricked out with glowing Santas and elaborate Nativity scenes, one homeowner has put forth a different decorative concept. Gennaro Brooks-Church, 47, a “green” builder, has covered his house with a patterned wall of plants. He maintains that it is one of the first living facades in New…
MARLOW, England — Even though Henry Laithwaite was born into a prominent family of English wine merchants, he never imagined he would be selling English wine. His ambition was to make wine, which in the 1990s meant leaving England. By age 17, he was apprenticing in France, and soon was working two harvests a year,…
Lice are easy to confuse with dandruff, which is a very common problem. While lice are a temporary infestation, dandruff is a chronic skin condition. Every year, 6 to 12 million people in the United States get head lice. Most are children ages 3 to 12 years old. Both lice and dandruff are usually treatable…
Can you ask a question that isn’t obvious as heck? Try us at workfriend@nytimes.com. The “Please” Police My co-workers never say “please.” In an effort to be the change I want to see in the world, I say it all the time, but it is never reciprocated. They ask nicely, they favor “could you” over…
My cousin and I grew up together. She was constantly praised for her good looks; I was not. My parents were more interested in my education. After graduating, I went on to build a solid career, but she still drifts professionally. Over Thanksgiving, I noticed that she got weirdly defensive about Stormy Daniels when the…
Ariel Winter knew her lines: “Sit. Sit. Sit. Sit. Sit.” But her co-star, a brindled hound mix named Tigger, didn’t budge. It was the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, and Ms. Winter, a dog lover, had come to Animal Haven, a shelter on Centre Street in Lower Manhattan that finds home for abandoned dogs and cats. In…