Stories Short and Strange
17 short stories for general audiences ranging from the unusual to the unbelievable to the just plain strange.
Why Hot Weather Is So Hard On Us
Are you getting tired of the hot weather? It’s been pretty relentless; On July 6 The New York Times reported about 70 million people in the U.S. were under heat advisories or warnings. I’m sure you’ve seen the cautions about dehydration, heat exhaustion, and so forth. But you can be sitting in the shade with your glass of
How Often Do Our Bodies Replace Themselves?
We know that our bodies contain trillions of cells, and are constantly replacing old cells with new. Does that mean that all of our cells are replaced periodically? In other words, do we end up with a new body every few years? According to the article “Does the Human Body Replace Itself Every 7 Years?”
What Can We See From Space?
Some of you reading this are young enough to get a realistic chance to travel into space sometime in the future. When you look down on Earth, what do you expect to see? Yes, there will be oceans and continents, and even large lakes, but will there be any signs of human handiwork? This question
The Underground Railroad’s Southern Branch
Every student learns about how escaping slaves received assistance while fleeing north, to the point where this informal system became known as the “Underground Railroad”; anywhere from 30,000 to 100,000 fugitives ran to the north this way. But what is recently coming to light is how approximately 3,000 to 10,000 also escaped south to Mexico
There Was a Real Ferdinand the Bull
In 1938, Walt Disney released a cartoon entitled Ferdinand the Bull, about a passive bovine who only wanted to sit and smell flowers. When he is mistaken for a feisty animal after being stung by a bee and taken to the bullring, he refuses to fight and is ultimately returned to the countryside. This film
Can 99% of Earth’s Population Be In Sunlight at the Same Time?
We know that summer produces the longest days. But for one day, can 99% of the Earth’s population be in sunlight, at least for a moment? That was the premise of an article published on TimeandDate.com — “Fact Check: 99% of the World’s Population Gets Sunlight at the Same Moment on July 8” by Konstantin
The Cost of Change
People simply don’t like change. When I was in the publishing business, the company I had just joined had the opportunity to expand. There was a casket-supply company close by whose business was (if you’ll pardon the expression) dying, so we had a chance to move into their location. Yet some neighbors were very vocally
Addition by Subtraction
When you are asked to improve something, how often do you think about additions? For home renovation, isn’t it always what you can add? Or for business brainstorming sessions, which new projects to take on? But there is a case to be made for taking away. Sometimes we can do better by removing, streamlining and
The Town That Lego Built
Denmark is not a nation that resists youth participation — think of Greta Thunberg. But Billund, a town of 27,000 in the middle of the country, has taken this concept much further. Here it’s the kids who frequently initiate and have a say about projects that impact their community. In 2020, Billund became the first Danish city
Fun Facts About Fireworks
I hope you had a happy Fourth of July (or as I like to say, Disloyalty to Royalty Day). Did you watch any fireworks displays? I’ve been hearing news reports about communities having to cancel their programs due to a shortage of trained explosives technicians. But assuming you were able to see some fireworks somewhere,