Stories Short and Strange
17 short stories for general audiences ranging from the unusual to the unbelievable to the just plain strange.
Your Friendly Neighborhood Nazi
Today Nazism is poison. But one of history’s little secrets is Adolf Hitler and his political movement had a significant following in this country. The truth is in the days before Pearl Harbor, the country was deeply divided, torn by the trauma of the Great Depression and the beginning of another major war in Europe.
The Sordid History of Restaurant Tipping
Today we take tipping at restaurants for granted. But it wasn’t always this way. Where did the practice come from? You may have heard the word “tip” is an acronym for “To Insure Promptness,” but that is a myth. Some think it either came from Europeans visiting this country, or U.S. travelers returning from Europe,
Gulliver’s Travels
Continuing with my investigation of classic stories I’ve heard about all of my life and have become curious about the originals, I’ve recently finished reading Gulliver’s Travels. Every pop-culture version of this work I have ever seen describes Gulliver among the Lulliputians. But this adventure is only one part of four. Gulliver also travels to
The Educational Equivalent of the Lottery
There is a teaching job that appears periodically called an “Extra Certified Position.” The job can have several purposes, like giving teachers time to write educational plans for special-needs students or helping out with testing. But since I don’t know for sure what the job is until I arrive at school, it feels like playing
Would You Like a Third Arm?
Have you ever wished for a third arm? How much easier would that make your life? Believe it or not, technology is advancing to give you that wish. Researchers in Japan recently announced they have built a device that will allow people to perform a second task with a robot arm. The wearer of the
Coming To America
We hear a lot of talk about immigration, but it’s almost always from our viewpoint. Have you ever wondered how immigrating looks from the other side? Say, you want to come here from Somalia? Then you should listen to “Abdi and the Golden Ticket” about a young Somali who wanted to escape the turmoil of
Who Was Nike?
I was teaching yesterday, helping another teacher in a high school English class discussing mythological literature. Then one of the girls asked a question that made me curious — who was Nike? The brand name we all know as the shoe and apparel company really did exist, at least in mythology. Nike was the Greek
Making a Better World, One Brain At a Time
There is a shortage of brains. No, this has nothing to do with politics. It’s about medical research. Neuroscientists require all kinds of brain tissue to study diseases that affect at least 15 percent of people around the world. I’m sure you’re well-versed with the concept of organ donation. Unfortunately, simply filling out an organ-donor
So What Do You Think Of Facebook?
Facebook and its related privacy concerns have been in the news a lot lately. I thought this would be a good time to ask — how is Facebook doing? Are they meeting your privacy concerns? Or is this entire subject being overblown by the media? If you’d like to know what really goes on in
What Is A Smog Free Ring?
An amazing story jumped out of the newspaper at me recently. A young man gave his fiancee a smog free engagement ring ( https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/19/fashion/weddings/a-wedding-ring-with-a-dirty-little-secret.html ). A what? Four years ago, Daan Roosegaarde, a Dutch artist and technologist, was visiting Beijing, China, a city notorious for its air pollution. When he returned home, Roosegaarde decided to design