A Doll Comes To Visit

You are a fifth-grade girl who comes home from school to find a doll on your front porch. The doll looks like you, is dressed like you, and there is something about the eyes. Who left it? Why is it here? And what makes this doll so special?

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With a Little Help From My Friend

Jim Jenkins is an ace detective who solves the most difficult crimes. Yet he always works alone. Or does he?

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The Boy Who Could Wiggle His Ears

Learning how to wiggle your ears is really hard. But you can do it if you keep trying. And if you learn to keep trying, no problem is too big. So if you can wiggle your ears, you can do anything!

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The Best Fast Food

I generally try to ignore fast food (unless of course it’s given to me).  I do like a good burger, but I usually shy away from the genre because of its unhealthy reputation. But I couldn’t resist telling you about this.  Recently Money magazine published a rating of 25 fast-food restaurants.  Their methodology was simple

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Predicting the Future

What can we expect in 2018?  It’s tough predicting the future, especially regarding new technology, but some can’t resist trying.  The latest I’ve seen is a Wall Street Journal article entitled “Tech That Will Change Your Life in 2018” by Joanna Stern and Christopher Mims  (https://www.wsj.com/articles/tech-that-will-change-your-life-in-2018-1514394043? ). Some of what they’re predicting shouldn’t come as

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The Prevalence of Fake News

President Trump has a point — there’s a lot of fake stuff out there. Of course, manipulative tools have been available for some time.  I assume you’ve heard of the computer program Adobe Photoshop?  The publishing business where I worked for 15 years displayed a photo of an older couple with the man’s head replaced

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How The Turtle Got His Shell

No, this is not a children’s story (although it’s a tempting subject).  I ran across a post on the EarthSky website that discusses this.  Actually, it’s a link to a nine-minute YouTube video from PBS Digital Studios that explains turtle evolution in great detail.  It’s probably more than you ever wanted to know, but if

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What Is Your Science Interest?

I’ve always had an interest in outer space, and last year I began subscribing to Astronomy magazine.  It’s full of fascinating scientific articles and tidbits, but what caught my eye in the May 2018 issue (yes, it’s out already; you have to plan ahead to watch the sky) was the “Strange Universe” column by Bob

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Predicting the Future

Who can predict the future?  (Not theme parks, which is why Disneyland’s “Tomorrowland” always seems outdated.) But the Wall Street Journal is trying.  The website of this venerable publication has been posting a series of podcasts entitled “The Future of Everything.”  As of this date, 23 have been posted.  Most are a bit long, going

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Why We Procrastinate

You really have to love a piece that begins “This article would have been much better if I hadn’t waited until the last minute to write it.” Why do we procrastinate?  The most logical reason is because we’re so afraid of success that we find ways to intentionally sabotage our work.  This is so common

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What is a Work Spouse?

In my lifetime, I’ve heard a lot of ideas about management and productivity.  But one that is new to me is the idea of a “work spouse.” We need to make one thing clear right away — this has nothing to do with sex.  A work spouse is simply a friend you can trust, respect,

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