For two years, Charles Joseph Mooney dug ditches for the Civilian Conservation Corps for $18 a month, and sent all but $2 of his monthly pay home to support his family. ...more

October 8, 2008

As acts of Congress go, the one hacked out in hopes of staving off Great Depression 2008, Return to Misery, appears to be an equal-opportunity offender. Left, right, center or blissfully uninvolved, everyone is bound to identify something about the $700 billion package that stinks like backwoods roadkill on a summer night. ...more

September 26, 2008

Will the U.S. financial system collapse today, or maybe over the next few days? I don't think so - but I'm nowhere near certain. You see, Lehman Brothers, a major investment bank, is going under. And nobody knows what will happen next. ...more

September 16, 2008

Pease tell me about my old Singer sewing machine in a cabinet. It is marked Model 15-91. It still works and has the original accessories. ...more

September 11, 2008

Lake Roberta is a lime-green shade these days, covered with tiny floating duckweed. To many residents, the vegetation is an unexpected outcome of the lake's recent cleanup. ...more

September 3, 2008

The latest in plywood-reinforced walls, tied-down foundations, strengthened concrete and stronger welds - if an earthquake had to hit somewhere in densely populated Southern California, this relatively new suburb of 80,000 people was about the best place possible. ...more

July 31, 2008

We would like information about our antique clock. It was made by F. Kroeber Clock Co. It has a wood case and a porcelain face with a glass door that opens for access to wind the clock. It is about 14 inches tall. ...more

July 17, 2008

Even if New Port Richey's Main Street is no longer the commercial center it once was, even if mom and pop stores have given way to chains, even if that down-home atmosphere has quickened to the fast pace of the exurbs, John Herig and his Cathedral Automotive is still on Main Street. ...more

July 16, 2008

Corn blankets eastern Nebraska in the summer. Straight roads glide over the hills, dividing the fields like measuring tape. In the 19th century the Homestead Act sectioned the land into neat plots for new settlers. ...more

July 14, 2008

Fortune teller Madam Marie, a figure of rock 'n' roll mythology thanks to Bruce Springsteen, has died. She was in her mid-90s. ...more

July 4, 2008