During the dinner rush hours in her brewery, Lee brought food to the tables, suggested beers at the bar, and even briefly donned the chef's dress to help out in the kitchen.

CNN: Americans fall for rising Shanghai

Collecting became such an addiction, Mr. Nulty once ducked out of a country-club dinner party to rush home for the final minutes of an eBay auction.

WSJ: Airline Collectibles Take Flight

The Angry White Males joined Promise Keepers, and mellowed. (Even Rush Limbaugh is beginning to sound like Georgetown dinner-party material.) Outside Texas and Florida, most Family-Values Latinos forgave the Democrats their weakness for abortion and homosexuality.

ECONOMIST: The duck-hunting season begins

His interview answers often started confidently, with a rush of distant memories his report on the first integrated high-school dinner in Virginia, the name of his editor, the exact time he handed in his copy but foundered in tears when the words failed.

ECONOMIST: Tom DeBaggio