As Southwest Airlines approaches its 40th birthday next year, it's still playing the rebel although it's hardly the small, nimble challenger flying to a few select markets that it was during its formative years. That's on the say-so of CEO Gary Kelly, who avers, "We still have an underdog mentality. It's not a comfortable country-club environment for us." And "we're just as scrappy as ever." Southwest's people are still at the forefront, Jad Mouawad reports in a leisurely profile. Its pilots, mechanics and flight attendants are the best paid in the industry, and it strives to preserve its ethos …

We didn't see this story until after our deadline yesterday but must say that after copious contemplation we are but a wee bit closer to understanding the phenomenon of Kim Kardashian. Says Robert Passikoff, the president of Brand Keys: "You would have had to be living in a cave in Nepal to have not been exposed in one way or another to the celebrity ilk of Kim Kardashian." Says she: ""I really do believe I am a brand for my fans." Say they, who appear to be mostly young women in their 20s: "She …

Lisa Baertlein reports that U.S. restaurant chains are adding healthier offerings to their menus before regulations force them to disclose calorie counts that may shock their customers. But that doesn't necessarily mean that those customers will choose the better-for-you options, even if they're happy they're there. Darden Restaurant's seven-year-old Seasons 52 chain offers "ample but not huge" entrees "loaded with vegetables and subtly seasoned -- a departure from the U.S. restaurant industry's dependence on the unhealthy but tasty trifecta of sugar, salt and fat," Baertlein writes. But even Darden CEO Clarence Otis doesn't believe that healthier fare is …

Tony Horton is an anomaly, Esmé E. Deprez reports, not only because his 52-year-old body is capable of climbing a 25-foot rope upside down but also because his Beachbody infomercials are the diametric opposite of most pitches of the get-toned ilk, which tend to offer huge rewards for minimal effort. "[Horton] has persuaded 3 million people to pay $140 for his 12-DVD program by promising three months of pain and perspiration in a routine that combines resistance training, yoga, boxing, weight lifting, and a strict diet," Deprez writes. Horton's P90X routine is based on what he calls "muscle …

Ashlee Vance reports that court documents unsealed yesterday reveal the extent to which Dell resisted informing many governments, schools and corporations about the extent of a problem with computers it sold to them from 2003 to 2005 and that it began ranking the value of customers by importance, putting first those who might move their accounts elsewhere. The papers were part of a lawsuit by Advanced Internet Technologies that was settled in September without the terms of the agreement being disclosed. The Times fought for access to the documents that had remained under seal. Internal Dell …

The percentage of retailers who are recognizing Christmas -- as opposed to the generic "holiday" or "season" -- in their advertising has risen from 20% to 80% during the past five years, according to the American Family Association. In fact, there are only eight retailers left on the advocacy group's list of "Companies Against Christmas," Natalie Zmuda reports, and Randy Sharp, director-special projects at the AFA, suggests that its mission may be soon accomplished. An NRF/BigResearch survey finds that 91% of American consumers plan to celebrate Christmas this year, Zmuda reports, compared with 5% for Hanukkah and 2% …