Costco

Infiniti is hoping to make diaper runs to Costco less of a chore with its JX, unveiled Wednesday. Targeting family-oriented buyers who appreciate a different type of pampering, the three-row, seven-seat is the latest entry into the fast-growing luxury crossover segment. The JX "can carry both children and adults without putting them in a rear seat penalty box" that forces adults to climb over a second-row child seat, said Infiniti Executive Vice President Andy Palmer. Infiniti says its JX offers the most passenger and cargo volume in its segment, with more second- and third-row legroom than a Cadillac Escalade.

William Rees spent much of his childhood on his grandfather's farm in the province of Ontario. What struck him once, after a day of working in the fields, was the sudden realization that everything on the dinner table -- the chicken, the milk, the carrots -- he had helped produce. "I was only about 10 years old, and I have no explanation to this day, but I felt as if the ground had fallen beneath me. I was sinking, sinking, deep into the earth," Rees said. When he moved to Vancouver, he took that sense of "connectedness" with him, and never forgot it. With 75% of the globe's 10 billion people in 2050 expected to live in urban areas, they had better -- if they are to survive -- find a similar sense of connection, Rees figured.

Tom Leykis, the shock jock sidelined for more than three years after his radio station dropped talk for pop music, is infamous for persuading women to lift their tops and for coaching men to spend as little money as possible on dates. Critics dubbed him a Neanderthal. Now he's being called a revolutionary. Silenced by the changeover at KLSX-FM (97.1) in February 2009, Leykis has resurrected his show online with a shoestring operation that he believes can take on the radio conglomerates - the latest in a cadre of stars staking out new territory for themselves.

To the uninitiated, the boysenberry may look like a big, blowzy, underripe blackberry, but it is in fact a noble fruit, as distinct from a common blackberry as a thoroughbred is from a mule. Large, dark purple, juicy and intense, it derives its unique flavor from its complex ancestry: sweetness and floral aroma from its raspberry grandmother, and a winy, feral tang from three native blackberry species. It's a California classic, emblematic of the joys of growing up in the Southland before it succumbed completely to sprawl.

Anyone who has ever walked past an Abercrombie & Fitch store at the local mall knows that it's a place for queen bees and cool jocks. Hot, buff store employees greet customers at the front door. They don't say, "Fatties keep out. " They don't have to. Abercrombie does not stock sizes for the average American young woman, who is roughly 5 feet 4 and weighs about 162 pounds. Abercrombie does not want that person in its clothes. And that is not news. But thanks to the power of social media, the company's obnoxious marketing philosophy is making waves again.

EDMONTON, Canada - With a daughter to feed, no job and $200 in the bank, Detroit pipe fitter Scott Zarembski boarded a plane on a one-way ticket to this industrial capital city. He'd heard there was work in western Canada. Turns out he'd heard right. Within days he was wearing a hard hat at a Shell oil refinery 15 miles away in Fort Saskatchewan. Within six months he had earned almost $50,000. That was 2009. And he's still there. "If you want to work, you can work," said Zarembski, 45. "And it's just getting started.

First of four parts Reporting from Calexico, Calif. -- N ever lose track of the load. It was drilled into everybody who worked for Carlos “Charlie” Cuevas. His drivers, lookouts, stash house operators, dispatchers -- they all knew. When a shipment was on the move, a pair of eyes had to move with it. Cuevas had just sent a crew of seven men to the border crossing at Calexico, Calif. The load they were tracking was cocaine, concealed in a custom-made compartment inside a blue 2003 Honda Accord.

As a former Londoner, I've owned my fair share of knits. As a youngster, I couldn't understand why I hated my woolly school sweater but loved the way my sister's green scarf felt around my neck. Unlike the itchy sweater, the scarf was impossibly light, almost magically enveloping me against the icy English winds I faced on the way to school each morning. What was this Golden Fleece? The clues on the label read "100% Cashmere" and "Made in Scotland." Cashmere. Just the sound of it conjures images of sophistication.

Office Depot and OfficeMax have agreed to share the supply cabinet. Office Depot Inc. is buying smaller rival OfficeMax Inc. in what it's calling a "merger of equals," creating a heftier office-supply company to challenge industry leader Staples Inc. In the $1.2-billion all-stock deal, OfficeMax shareholders will receive 2.69 Office Depot shares for each OfficeMax share, valued at $13.50 each. Together, the two companies said they expect to better "meet the growing challenges of a rapidly changing industry," anticipating annual revenue of about $18 billion.

Remember when gas stations were cool? In the decades after World War II, gas was cheap and operators competed on service. Every time a car rolled in, a bell would ring and uniformed pump jockeys dashed out to fill the tank, wash the windshield and check the oil level. Sagging tires got a whoosh of air. Station owners made profits from car repairs performed in their garages and especially from selling oil, which vehicles burned quickly by today's standards. Some owners tried to catch customers' eyes with futuristic-looking designs for their buildings like the Googie-style Unocal station in Beverly Hills from 1965 with a swooping white roof.