Views by the Bay

Like its owner, the car's undercarriage is not very attractive . The 1997 Dodge Grand Caravan, like its owner, is on a slow glidepath...

There was no waiting to buy a ticket this morning at the local Lucky supermarket . The estimated $640 million Mega Millions jackpot has dra...

Economist Tyler Cowen makes an excellent observation (concerning the e-Book market), which I would make more excellent and more generalized...

The most open-minded Westerner might draw the line at eating this Chinese dish . No, just because its preparation involves recycling doesn...

Now that no one has won the $363 million jackpot, the Mega Millions payoff is expected to escalate to $500 million on Friday . We will proba...

Boxes of fresh vegetables await distribution For our congregation it has become an anticipated Easter ritual. There were 12 names on the ...

Apple has nearly tripled in two years. The Merc recites happy tales of small investors who have profited by many thousands of dollars o...

If knowledge is power, he is the most powerful man in the world. 34-year-old multimillionaire mathematician Gilad Elbaz is trying to identi...

The Internet revolution has given rise to yet another new financial term: crowdfunding , "the practice of securing small amounts of mon...

Children of clients and volunteers play together. The San Mateo church has sleeping facilities but not enough volunteers. The Foster City...

Bay Area residents whose politics are right-of-center (the center being quite to the left of the rest of the country) have learned to stay i...

It's a paradox of investing that the enthusiasm to buy stocks, real estate, artwork, gold, etc. increases as the asset price rises. The ...

Joe Lacob and Chris Mullin (Mercury News photo) If a class-less society is what we should be striving toward, then nirvana was achieved l...

It's a staple of romantic tragedy. Boy and girl plan a life filled with happiness. Boy is entranced by a famous beauty. Boy leaves girl ...

My business associates sniff at my plebeian tastes. They decant their wine while I push a button on a box. Their German cars sneer at my Bui...