Bob Welbaum, Author at Bob Welbaum - Author

Original Story — A Second Chance At History

By Bob WelbaumDecember 26, 2020Original Writing

This original story appears in my book Stories: Short and Strange, available on this website and at Amazon.com in both paperback (https://www.amazon.com/Stories-Short-Strange-Bob-Welbaum/dp/B0874PCH2G/ref=sr_1_1?) and download editions (https://www.amazon.com/Stories-Short-Strange-Bob-Welbaum-ebook/dp/B0876GGCMG/ref=sr_1_14?). A Second Chance at History Jerome had felt fear before, but this was different. Much different. The man on his right disappeared from his peripheral vision with a scream.

Is Hypnosis Real?

By Bob WelbaumDecember 24, 2020Fun Facts

I have never understood hypnosis. Its use in numerous TV shows and movies over the years hasn’t really explained to me what actually happens. So a recent article entitled “Is Hypnosis Real? Here’s What Science Says” by Markham Heid caught my eye (https://time.com/5380312/is-hypnosis-real-science/?). “There are many myths about hypnosis, mostly coming from media presentations,” says

The Epidemic You Haven’t Heard About

By Bob WelbaumDecember 22, 2020Historical

As bad as this pandemic is, and as bad as the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic was, there was an epidemic you probably have never heard of that almost brought the economy to its knees. You wouldn’t be aware because it didn’t affect people. Its victims were horses. So why was this so serious? It came

The Milky Way’s Family Tree

By Bob WelbaumDecember 20, 2020Scientific

In this holiday season, our thoughts invariably turn to our families. But astronomers have a much broader definition of family. While the rest of us are researching ancestral histories back through terrestrial years, astronomers are building a family tree on a much broader scale: the origin of our home galaxy, the Milky Way. We are

How Word Meanings Can Embarrass You

By Bob WelbaumDecember 19, 2020The English Language

English is a very complicated language with hundreds of thousands of words, so it’s not surprising that many people get confused about word meanings. How many ways are there to embarrass yourself? At least 43, according to the article “43 Embarrassing Grammar Mistakes Even Smart People Make” by Christina DesMarais (https://getpocket.com/explore/item/43-embarrassing-grammar-mistakes-even-smart-people-make). I’m not going to

Joe Biden Polishes His Cabinet

By Bob WelbaumDecember 17, 2020Political

Now that the presidential election has been 99 percent settled, the next contest on the political sports schedule is the lineup of President-Elect Biden’s Cabinet. So far, he is keeping his promise to emphasize diversity, which is good because there are a lot of constituencies that expect to be represented. Of course, it wasn’t always

How To Cope When You’ve Been Scooped

By Bob WelbaumDecember 15, 2020Fun Facts

Have you ever read about someone’s accomplishments and think “I wish I’d done that!”? This can be doubly true if you’re a professional and you see how others in your field are surpassing you. One of the worst professions for envy is journalism. The stories your competitors found — and you missed — are on

One Way to Fight Drought

By Bob WelbaumDecember 13, 2020Fun Facts

First, the bad news — Ladakh, a plateau on the northern tip of India, has a major problem. With only four inches of rain a year, this area depends upon winter snow and mountain glaciers for most of its water. But due to climate change, the snow is melting earlier and the glaciers are receding.

What Has Been The Loudest Sound?

By Bob WelbaumDecember 12, 2020Fun Facts

What is the loudest noise you can imagine? The human ear’s pain threshold is near 130 decibels. For comparison, a jackhammer puts out about 100 decibels, and a jet engine comes in at about 150 decibels. Yet there was a sound that was measured at least 172 decibels 100 miles from the source. This source

Announcing the Color of the Year

By Bob WelbaumDecember 10, 2020Fun Facts

The Pantone Color Institute has just announced the color of the year for 2021, and as befitting leaving the chaos of 2020, it has chosen two colors. This is only the second time in 22 years that two colors have been selected. As explained on the Pantone website (https://www.pantone.com/color-of-the-year-2021), their selections for next year are —

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