Stories Short and Strange
17 short stories for general audiences ranging from the unusual to the unbelievable to the just plain strange.
“How to Travel While Black”
Yesterday I mentioned some obsolete words associated with slavery. Today I have another one. It didn’t used to be easy to travel through a segregated country when you were a minority. So in 1936 an enterprising postal worker named Victor Hugo Green began publishing a guide for black travelers. Originally called the Negro Motorist Green Book,
Echoes of Slavery Through Language
What is a coffle? It’s an obsolete (I hope) word that means a group of enslaved people chained together in a line. It was commonly used by slavers in the 18th and 19th centuries when they moved slaves long distances. Coffle, like slavepen and overseer (person on a plantation paid a wage to organize the work
Thirty Million Words
When do we start learning? Recent research suggests it’s as soon as we’re born. Which also suggests another advantage affluent families have over poor families — their children are exposed to more learning opportunities as preschoolers, thus giving them a head start when they get to school. One study estimated that this translates to
Happy Birthday, Mickey Mouse!
I don’t know what I was thinking. I forgot my favorite animated character’s birthday! Mickey Mouse’s birthday is November 18, because that was the day in 1928 when he made his first appearance, in a cartoon short entitled Steamboat Willie at the Colony Theater in New York. Steamboat Willie was actually the third film made, but it was
The Rapper and the Supreme Court Justice
You may have heard of the rapper Notorious B.I.G. Biggie or Biggie Smalls. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Notorious_B.I.G.) Despite having died in 1997 at the age of 24, a victim of a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles, he’s still considered one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all time. This was quite an accomplishment for someone with
Happy Birthday, Ellis Island
I’ve been catching up on my reading, and I realized we’ve just passed another interesting anniversary. Ellis Island formally closed on November 12, 1954. I visited the island while chaperoning a middle-school educational trip to New York City about 15 years ago and got to see the museum. More than 12 million immigrants passed through its gates in
Revisiting Terrorism and the Potential of Tomorrow
This is a piece I first posted on July 10, 2015. It was originally published in the Dayton Daily News at a time when a wave of terrorism was sweeping Europe. Sadly, it seems even more appropriate today, so I’m reposting it. My brother came home safely. I think about this every time there is another
Could Your Computer Ever Be Hijacked?
I’ll get right to the point on this one. I’ve just listened to a podcast about a woman whose computer files (over 5000 of them) were locked and she had to pay $500 to ransom them. Yes, there are cybercriminals who can remotely take over your computer, lock your files, and demand payment before you
“Distant Replay”
The nice folks at Bewildering Stories have published another story of mine in issue #643. It’s entitled “Distant Replay” and is based on my wargaming hobby. This issue’s link is — http://www.bewilderingstories.com/
Some Thoughts on Reunions
I haven’t posted anything recently because I’ve just returned from my 45th college reunion. I don’t publicly announce my travel, so I hope everyone understands the lapse. If you’ve ever looked on my Facebook page, you know I graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1970 and retired in 1990. I haven’t returned to the