Stories Short and Strange
17 short stories for general audiences ranging from the unusual to the unbelievable to the just plain strange.
See Five Planets at Once
This is an exciting time for anyone interested in astronomy. For the first time since 2005, it is now possible to see five planets — Mercury, Venus, Saturn, Mars, and Jupiter together in the sky. The catch is this is the early morning sky. The window of opportunity is from about January 20 to February
Book Review — Against All Enemies
I’m just finishing Against All Enemies: Inside America’s War on Terror by Richard A. Clarke (Free Press, 2004). Richard Clarke spent almost 30 years in government under seven presidents. He was appointed the first National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection, and Counterterrorism (aka the Terrorism Czar, a term he hated) by President Bill Clinton, and
Why Haven’t We Been Contacted by Aliens?
I know the universe is a big place, but (at least as far as the general public knows) there has never been contact with a civilization from another planet. Distances and the limits of physics notwithstanding, I’ve just run across an interesting theory about why this might be true — all the aliens are
The True Story of the Gender Pay Gap
During this political season, you probably have heard the statistic that women typically earn about 77 cents for every dollar a man makes. The President even mentioned this during his recent State of the Union address. But is it really true? The behavioral-economics authors at Freakanomics have a podcast that explores this subject in depth.
Short Story — Distant Replay
This short story was published in Issue #643 of Bewildering Stories. http://www.bewilderingstories.com/issue643/ Distant Replay by Bob Welbaum Jerome had felt fear before, but this was different. Much different. The man on his right disappeared from his peripheral vision with a scream. There was a deafening explosion to his left. Then another. Then they
Who’s First? (Seriously)
Were the Wright Brothers really the first to fly an airplane? They’re given credit, and they certainly advanced aviation, forming their own company and continuing their research. But there are other claimants. (A good article summarizing those claims is at http://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/who-flew-first-290750/?no-ist. And I still consider the Wright Brothers to be first.) James Watt is associated with
The Many Facets of Racial Prejudice
Last week I ran into a friend at the gym. He went to college in Arizona on a football scholarship and has lots of interesting stories. For future reference, he just happens to be African-American, and on this day he had a cautionary tale of how prejudice works both ways. There was a group of
Unsung Heroes — Mary Edwards Walker
If you are looking for a hero, especially if you’re a girl, you might consider Mary Edwards Walker. Born on November 26, 1832, in Oswego, New York, she was a nurse, doctor, woman’s rights activist, abolitionist, prohibitionist, alleged spy, and prisoner of war during the American Civil War. She became the first, and as
Word Origins — Turquoise
English is full of interesting words. For example, the popular shade of blue known as turquoise comes from a French term that means “Turkish stone.” Some thought incorrectly that these stones all came from Turkey. While turquoise was in fact traded in Turkey, the true origin of these bluish gems was probably Iran or the
Fast Food and the Law of Unintended Consequences
What if you decided to rate all the fast-food restaurants in your city. How would that affect your diet? I recently listened to an interesting podcast about a woman in Louisville, KY who loved cheeseburgers. She decided to rate all the eating establishments in her area that serves cheeseburgers. But she’d also heard all the