Free Republic

The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you. If you have specific question about a plant/problem you are having, please remember to state the Growing Zone where you are located. This thread is a non-political respite. No matter what, you won’t be flamed, and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked. It is impossible to hijack...

A good friend has problems with his back and his mobility. I've signed him up for a few mail order catalogs which he has enjoyed. Anyone know of good catalogs I could send him? He is not on the internet and needs mail order sources for items not readily available in his small town, as well as new mail for him to read.

On Thursday, the company behind the nearly ubiquitous in-flight catalog SkyMall filed for bankruptcy. As the Wall Street Journal put it, the institution was simply a “victim of evolving rules and technology that now lets airline passengers keep their smartphones and tablets powered up during flight.” For those who spent the majority of their early ’90s flights thumbing through the quarterly magazine, this is a tragedy. Like the mall staple Sharper Image, the catalog pushed the boundaries of absurdity in almost every category of domestic existence. Rather than attempt to fill the space of a practical retailer, the SkyMall catalog enticed you...

half-decade after killing off its hefty catalog to focus on the Web, J.C. Penney Co. is bringing it back, armed with data showing that many of its online sales came from shoppers inspired by what they saw in print. The new, 120-page book will feature items from Penney's home department and will be sent to select customers in March, the first time the struggling department store chain has sent out a catalog since 2010. The move highlights an oddity of the digital age. While shoppers are increasingly buying everything from shoes to sofas to cars over the Internet, they still...

Found this site online, thought I'd share it with anyone interested - it has full, viewable scans of just about every Radio Shack catalog since 1939. Enjoy!

January is not the most hospitable month of the year to be sure. If you're like me those cold dreary days are best spent curled up in a chair (for the guys that don't *do* curl -- sit there very manly) with a cup of tea (insert the manly beverage of your choice) and a stack of garden catalogs that you need a front-end loader to move (got you with the front-end loader, didn't I?).I've got to hand it to the catalog people, the covers are exceptional this year and, by golly, with all of the $25 to $100 coupons...

A free service that lets you easily remove yourself from junk mail lists and stop getting unwanted catalogs.

The American Civil Liberties Union released a compilation of covert government surveillance of political activists in northern and central California on Thursday, decrying a "greater expansion of government power and the abuse of power" since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The group's Northern California branch blamed weak oversight of law-enforcement and intelligence agencies, and called for a new state government watchdog over their activities. "With inadequate regulation and an insufficient understanding of the protections afforded to protest and dissent, law enforcement has overstepped its bounds in monitoring political activity," the group said. The ACLU of Northern California cataloged instances of...