Dust Bowl: The folk music of the Great Depression inspired a lot of people. There’d be no Bob Dylan without Woody Guthrie, and heck, the Coen Brothers made a movie about that era that prompted the biggest selling country album in decades. Through the effort of song collectors in the pre-war years and recent advances in technology, the American Library of Congress has made available thousands of field recordings of American folk music - that’s country, gospel, blues, Spanish music and more - made in the 1930s and ’40s. It’s all free and in MP3. Tune in at http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/finder.html.

Kaboom! A New Zealand man is building a homebrew cruise missile that delivers a 10-kilogram warhead. It’s totally autonomous and can hit a target without any help. His budget is $5,000 (U.S.). Most of his parts come from eBay. So far, it’s going well. He’s not a terrorist - he’s an airplane geek. It’s still scary. Track his progress at www.interestingprojects.com/cruisemissile/.

Comments? Michael Citrome