Lifestyles

Commissioner canned; drug commercials continue

The head of the Food and Drug Administration is out. It doesn’t matter very much if Dr. Marty Makary resigned or was fired. Pressure had been mounting for weeks to get rid of the commissioner of the FDA. Dr. Makary was not popular with the food industry for banning artificial food dyes found in thousands of products, from sports drinks and cereals to candy and frozen desserts. Media companies may have feared him because he threatened to make drug commercials disappear from TV and cable channels. Big Pharma was almost assuredly annoyed with the head of the FDA over this stance. Months ...

Dear Annie: Stepmom left out of family picture at wedding

DEAR ANNIE: My stepson of 15 years, “Toby,” is getting married. I’ve always had a great relationship with him and his bride-to-be, and I’ve treated her like she was already family. Here’s my dilemma: Toby got angry with me because my sister, who worked at his and my husband’s company, decided to quit and move on. He blamed the whole ordeal on me, even though I had nothing to do with her decision. My husband — his father — even told him that directly. Recently, the bride sent out the wedding and rehearsal itineraries. She excluded me from everything and also wrote ...

Hints from Heloise: Getting out all of the toothpaste

DEAR HELOISE: To solve the problem of getting all the toothpaste out of the tube easily, you can purchase a small plastic device that is available in most drug stores. This device slides over the rear of the tube after you have used about 30% of the toothpaste, and you can easily advance it up the tube as you dispense the paste so that the tube is “always full.” The paste comes out easily until there’s no more paste to dispense. It’s not expensive — maybe $2 to $4 usually for a pack of two. I’ve been using this simple device for years. — Tony S., via email DEAR ...

To Your Good Health: Heart attacks no longer ‘rare’ at 57

DEAR DR. ROACH: I’m always saddened when a young person dies of an old person’s calling. I read about an actor dying of a heart attack at age 57. Apparently, he was athletic and in otherwise good health. Why do healthy young people suffer from unexpected heart attacks? — A.C.G. ANSWER: A heart attack is very rare under the age of 30 — in the order of about 2 men per 100,000 per year. But this number continues to increase throughout lifetime. (Women also get heart disease but at a lower rate than men do at any given age. Roughly speaking, a woman’s risk for a heart attack is ...

Friday evening TV

Bridge by Steve Becker

1. Two spades. Generally speaking, the double of one diamond shows at least an opening bid and implies support for the unbid suits. If the double is based on minimum values, the doubler should not bid again after his partner responds at the lowest level in his chosen suit. Thus, if the ...