Stories Short and Strange
17 short stories for general audiences ranging from the unusual to the unbelievable to the just plain strange.
Still Available: Stories Short and Strange
How strange am I? Now you can see for yourself. I’ve written 19 short stories over the past several years, eight of which have been published on the Bewildering Stories website (http://bewilderingstories.com/). To keep busy during the quarantine, I put them all together into a book that’s now available on Amazon.com. The book comes in two flavors —
Why We Kiss
This is a bit late for Valentine’s Day, sorry, but it’s still news worth sharing. Have you ever wondered why we kiss? Logically, it doesn’t make sense; mouth-to-mouth contact is a great way to spread germs, which would seem more of a danger to the species than the pleasure of the contact. So there must
How Far Away Is Farfarout?
What object in our solar system is farthest away from the sun? At one time, this honor went to a trans-Neptunian object officially designated 2018 VG18 (but nicknamed Farout) that was estimated to be 124 AU from the sun. To explain, a trans-Neptunian object is any minor or dwarf planet that orbits the sun at a greater average distance than the planet Neptune. And AU stands for astronomical unit,
The Origin of “God Bless You”
February 16 is a major cultural milestone in the Western world. On this day in 600 AD, Pope Gregory decreed “God bless you” to be the right response to a sneeze. At one time a sneeze was thought to be a sign of impending death, since many dying people had sneezing fits. Consequently, the usual
Happy Chinese New Year!
For about 1.5 billion people, the Chinese New Year came on February 12, 2021. Also known as the Lunar New Year and the Spring Festival, this holiday really is a festival that celebrates the beginning of another year on the traditional lunisolar Chinese calendar. This celebration has a special significance for me because our family has a
What is a “Shultz Hour”?
George Pratt Shultz was a dedicated public servant. Trained as an economist, he was a Marine artillery officer in World War II and a businessman. But he is best known for serving three Republican presidents and is one of only two people in history to have held four cabinet positions. He was Secretary of Labor,
How Congress Can Learn From History
“Fools say that they learn by experience. I prefer to profit by others experience.” — Otto von Bismarck We study history to learn about the past, to learn about the mistakes others have made so we can avoid them. For example, our Congress today is about as dysfunctional as it has ever been. Relations have
How Many Stars Does It Take to Make a System?
Do you remember seeing the original Star Wars (now officially Episode IV: A New Hope), which was first released in 1977? Do you recall two suns in the sky over the planet Tatooine? How weird was that? Actually, not weird at all. Our mono-star solar system seems to be more the exception than the rule.
What We Can Learn From Lobsters
One of our more ubiquitous building materials is concrete. It is strong and durable, and has been used since ancient times. Yet it does have limits. Concrete is strong against pushing (compression) forces, but weaker against pulling (tension) forces. To increase strength, it can be reinforced, usually with steel bars or fibers. Now, researchers in
Cleaning as a Spectator Sport?
I’ll freely admit I’m not a good housekeeper, and I don’t think I’m alone in that regard. That’s why I was surprised to read a New York Times article entitled “The Joy of Watching Other People Clean” by Ronda Kaysen (https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/29/realestate/cleaning-videos-youtube.html?). It seems there is a YouTube channel, “Jessica Tull: Cleaning Organization and Motherhood,” where