Whereas recessions tend to wreak havoc on other communities, we, it has been written, don’t notice it very much because, well, we’ve become accustomed. Mom used to tell of the time one of her sisters, in a family of 16 siblings, left the family comb at school overnight. The brouhaha quickly followed, as brothers and sisters needed to comb their hair with their hands, or perhaps with a fork or a whisk broom.
During a pre-Christmas party, a neighbor challenged me to a game of Casino.
    Casino is an innocuous game in which, by pairing and adding cards, we acquire more than our opponent. It’s fairly simple; it has nothing to do with Casino (as in Las Vegas) except for the fact that it uses cards. This isn’t a lesson on card strategy (by the way, I beat the sap out of my challenger), but a discussion of the very word “challenge.”
Las Vegas has close to a dozen mini-marts, places where motorists can make a pit stop, get some gas, a soft drink and a burrito.
    Working at a convenience store involves much more than simply tallying the purchases. A key part of any employee’s job is giving information.
    So we set out to interview clerks and cashiers at convenience stores in the area, and posed the following question: “What do customers ask you about the most?”
What were they thinking?
    Many people have sounded off on the Michael Jackson sexual abuse charges, so why can’t I?
    It’s impossible to turn on the tube or pick up a newspaper or magazine without being assaulted by saturation coverage of the charges against the 45-year-old icon, who 10 years ago paid an out-of-court settlement for several million dollars. The charge? Sexual molestation of a minor.
It seemed certain. There was no way he could lose.
    He had all his “ducks in a row,” and he was destined to leave with much more money.
    The event was a round of roulette at one of the carnivals that used to arrive in town. This one, located in the Independence Street area, brought its share of carnies and more than its share of suckers.
    Let me explain: