oil

Can swishing oil in your mouth for 20 minutes a day really whiten your teeth, sweeten your breath, improve your skin and get rid of your migraines? More to the point, is it even possible to swish oil in your mouth for that long without gagging?

In many parts of the country, it's time to stoke up the fireplace or woodstove for a little extra heat. Here are some hearth-warming tips to keep in mind:

First the bad news: Gasoline prices are at a summertime high.

In the 1970s, author and social commentator Tom Wolfe joked that the first letter in PBS stood for petroleum, because oil money underwrote so much public broadcast programming. Wolfe had a point. One of the network's most acclaimed shows, Masterpiece (originally Masterpiece Theatre), got its start…