Trends

Do you know the security code on your credit card? Surprisingly, you probably do. More than four in 10 people have memorized their security codes, those once-overlooked three- or four-digit numbers on credit cards, according to a new survey . If you know yours, it's probably because you're an avid online shopper, according to creditdonkey.com, which did the survey. Many online shopping sites require buyers to enter the codes when making purchases. How much do you know about the stock market?

NEW  YORK -- The hounds-tooth check is turning out to be a trend with some serious legs this season. After first gathering steam at the Milan and Paris men's ready-to-wear shows (at Calvin Klein, Paul Smith  and Versace, among others), we first spotted it running wild  this side of the Atlantic at the Tommy Hilfiger men's runway show in a range of sizes and colors.  (That's where we also learned, thanks to the screens flanking the exits streaming real-time social media reactions, that the Spanish equivalent of hounds-tooth is “la pata de gallo,” which translates as “crow's foot.”)

Remember when small closets were standard and people simply put their off-season wardrobes into storage? Every year, builders look at the emerging preferences of home buyers, hoping to stay ahead of changes in the way we live. These days, clutter equals stress, said Jill Waage, an editorial director for Better Homes and Gardens. “Storage took on another level of importance when the economy started its downturn and people became more conscience of themselves,” Waage said.

'Rose' perfume can smell green, spicy, powdery, sparkly, fruity or more. The ubiquity of roses in early to mid-February can be overwhelming (their prices, shocking), but their association with love and romance - and perfume - is hardly a modern convention. Roses are referenced in Greek and Roman mythology, and humans have distilled fragrant oils from rose petals for millennia. Rosewater colognes were popular with both sexes in the 19th century. But it's only recently that scientists discovered that essential rose oil contains more than 400 individual components.

5:20 p.m.: Anne Hathaway, another eagerly awaited clotheshorse on the SAG Awards red carpet, chose black -- the color of the night -- with sheer accents, another big trend. Her Giambattista Valli gown has a fairy-tale look, with a sleeveless bodice of embroidered sheer tulle, and a full sheer skirt revealing a shorter skirt underneath. PHOTOS: 2013 SAG Awards red carpet It's romantic but with a twist. Well done. 5:05 p.m.: January Jones is a last-minute stunner on the SAG Awards red carpet, wearing a black and white Prabal Gurung gown, her blond hair sculpted into a pompadour-mullet like David Bowie from his Aladdin Sane days.

Big, bigger, biggest is not what cruising is all about in 2013. In fact, most of this year's new ships are designed for river cruising, carrying fewer than 200 passengers. Woodland Hills-based Viking River Cruises leads the way, introducing 10 new longships on its European routes - with eight more coming in 2014. River cruising is so popular, said Carolyn Spencer Brown, editor in chief of CruiseCritic.com, that "they're running out of rivers. " Well, not quite, but it's no longer just the usual suspects.

The trouble began soon after they arrived. The black family - a mother, three teenage children and a 10-year-old boy - moved into a little yellow home in Compton over Christmas vacation. When a friend came to visit, four men in a black SUV pulled up and called him a "nigger," saying black people were barred from the neighborhood, according to Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies. They jumped out, drew a gun on him and beat him with metal pipes. It was just the beginning of what detectives said was a campaign by a Latino street gang to force an African American family to leave.

The latest snapshot of the U.S. working class shows that unions are in trouble, their ranks thinning amid a backlash against organized labor and a still sputtering economy. But California and a few nearby states in the Southwest are showing a vastly different picture - labor's ranks are on an upswing. The Golden State's union organizers signed up more than 100,000 new members last year, while the nation as a whole shed 400,000, according to data released Wednesday. The reason: Latino workers.

The Solidoodle is hardly the only 3-D printer attracting attention from those looking to play with the latest technology. More than a dozen printers are trying to capture slices of the market, though some of the devices require assembly or lack the kind of hand-holding tech support that the typical American consumer has come to expect. But make no mistake: 3-D printing is spreading. Aaron Pratt, vice president of marketing for manufacturer Afinia, said the first buyers of his company's H-Series printer were early-adopter hobbyists, but in the last few months the company has seen a surge in sales from high schools, where teachers have incorporated the machines into the science curriculum, and from colleges, where professors are using the hardware for discussions on everything from design to the future of American manufacturing.

In an alarming bit of synchronicity, or what some might call a lack of cultural imagination, two new series premiering on network television nearly within a month will revolve around serial killings, and serial killings by proxy: "Cult," which begins Feb. 19 on the CW, and the similarly titled "The Following," which starts Monday on Fox. BBC America's period procedural "Ripper Street," meanwhile, began its eight-episode run Saturday not with the Jack...