Stories Short and Strange
17 short stories for general audiences ranging from the unusual to the unbelievable to the just plain strange.
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
Belated Thoughts on MLK Day
Has Martin Luther King, Jr. Day become just another holiday? I suppose it depends on one’s perspective. I’ve occasionally been asked about the civil-rights era when I substitute teach, and during the 1960s I was always on the sidelines. I grew up in an area that was almost exclusively white, and had no real exposure
Lottery Fever is Nothing New
Did you buy a Powerball ticket? I didn’t, because the odds were not in my favor, and I hate to wait in line anyway. The last time I bought a lottery ticket, I was bored at Kmart, so I decided to educate my neighbor’s children on the evils of gambling. I bought a dollar ticket