Stories Short and Strange
17 short stories for general audiences ranging from the unusual to the unbelievable to the just plain strange.
Investigating Intelligence
As a (substitute) school teacher, this topic is of special interest to me. What is intelligence? How is IQ calculated? The National Public Radio program Radiolab recently aired a series of six programs entitled “G” that addresses general intelligence. The first program, broadcast on June 7, 2019, is “G: The Miseducation of Larry P” and
The Slave Who Won Reparations
The subject of paying reparations for slavery has been raised periodically ever since the end of the Civil War. This was in the back of my mind when I recently read about a very unusual court case, Wood v. Ward, in which a former slave sued for reparations… and won. The details are pretty complicated.
What We Lose When We Lose A Language
How many languages are there? According to the website Infoplease, there are about 6500 spoken languages in the world (https://www.infoplease.com/askeds/how-many-spoken-languages); other estimates are even higher. The most common is Mandarin Chinese. English comes in third, behind Chinese and Spanish, although it is far and away the most popular second language. The flip side to this
Save Your Life in Three Words
It’s been a long time since I’ve been in wilderness on my own. In the Amazing Maasai Marathon in Kenya, I did find myself alone — no one in sight in the middle of Africa — but that was simply a matter of following the painted rocks. But I’ve recently learned of a phone app
The Best Children’s Books for Adults
What children’s books do you remember? These books are some of our first memories of life, and a great way to prepare for the challenges ahead. I’ve always admired Dr. Seuss. I still enjoy reading his work, and sharing them with kids. In fact, I’m writing children’s books now myself, as you can see elsewhere
Copyright Law and Free Books
Copyright law is serious business. When I was in publishing, it was not unusual for someone somewhere to take an article out of one of our magazines or a segment out of a book we had published and reprint it or post it on the Internet without attribution. Most people are honest and respect copyrights.
Memory Tricks, or Who’s Simulation Is This, Anyway?
When I was in the publishing business, editing collectible price guides, one of our specialties was radio premiums — those nick-knacks people sent away for to promote their favorite programs during the Golden Age of Radio. Every collector I met remembered the Captain Midnight Decoder Ring. Except it didn’t exist. There was a Captain Midnight
How To Be Unstoppable
I’ve run across a lot of self-help books and articles in my time, and this one couldn’t help but catch my eye — “30 Behaviors of Unstoppable People” by Benjamin P. Hardy. I’m not inclined to list all thirty, but here are some I thought were most interesting. 4. Never be satisfied.“The drive to close
Shopping For A New Car When You Don’t Need A New Car
I’ve been driving for 55 years, and I’ve owned just six cars. I’ve always liked to buy new, then run them into the ground. The vehicle I have now is five and a half years old and has only 37,000 miles. In fact, it’s aging better than I am. So why am I looking for
Benefits of Playing Music
I can still remember my first try at playing music. It was in grade school with an instrument called a flutophone. (They still exist, as shown at right.) I eventually graduated to a saxophone and was in the band throughout high school. So what are the benefits of playing music? At one point I decided