The other day, as my car juddered over constellations of potholes, past tenuously-maintained schools and bus stops done up in graffiti, I ...

Which do you prefer, shiny finishes or matte ones?  New-looking finishes, or old? Granite, glass, and chrome, or brick, wood, and iron?   ...

Traveling the United States has, among other things, gently tutored me that the residents of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania pronounce their to...

A while back, in the midst of a remodel that left lots of holes in our kitchen walls, we had an uninvited guest--a dark-brown Norway rat w...

“Let every house be placed...in the middle of its plat,” said one of America’s best-known city planners, “...so there may be ground on eac...

In the early 1930s, the Pennsylvania Railroad hired the famed industrial designer Raymond Loewy to restyle its exceedingly ugly electric loc...

Nowadays, it’s routine to pay bills, transfer funds, or buy stock solely by electronic media.  Both faxed and electronic signatures are wi...