Stories Short and Strange
17 short stories for general audiences ranging from the unusual to the unbelievable to the just plain strange.
What’s More Important — Patriotism or Free Speech?
Today the test-of-patriotism spotlight is on professional football players, but in 1942 it was on Jehovah’s Witnesses. Specifically, two elementary school girls from Charleston, West Virginia. At that time, West Virginia required all students and teachers to salute the flag. Jehovah’s Witnesses objected because they believed this violated the Bible commandment against worshiping images. Gathie
Something Just For Fun
This is original writing, just not by me. It was sent to me by a friend, and was attributed to the New York Times’s annual lexophile competition. “Lexophile” describes those that have a love for words, such as “you can tune a piano, but you can’t tuna fish”, or “To write with a broken pencil
If You Think I’m Strange…
We have never completely understood the human brain. In some ways, we’re actually frightened by the strange behaviors we’ve seen around us. Yet out of strange behavior can come remarkable gifts, like extraordinary insight and creativity. Science journalist Helen Thomson has written a book to explore the brain’s unusual characteristics. Entitled Unthinkable: An Extraordinary Journey
Watch Out For Charity Fraud
I try to support as many charities as I can, particularly with regard to veterans. But unfortunately, one always has to do some “due diligence” before donating. One of the best sources I’ve found for checking a charity is the Better Business Bureau (BBB) Wise Giving Alliance ( https://www.give.org/ ). Recently I’ve received an email from
So How Many Love Languages Are There?
I’m definitely not a love expert, but when I heard about the book The 5 Love languages: The Secret to Love That Lasts by Gary Chapman, I was intrigued. What happens to love after marriage? Why do so many marriages fail so quickly after the knot is tied? Mr. Chapman, who does marriage counseling and
The Trend Toward Unique Children’s Names
For my generation, “Bob” was a very popular name. Almost every organization I worked in had another Bob or Robert or Bobbi. But now, when I take a substitute teaching job, it’s unusual to have a Robert or Bob in the class. Or John or James for that matter. I’m not imagining this. A Goldman
How to Remember Names
One of my great social frustrations is an inability to remember names. So I was intrigued when I saw an article entitled “Why You Forget Names Immediately — And How To Remember Them” by Jamie Ducharme. Why is remembering names so difficult? According to the article, there could be several reasons. The first might be
What Will We Eat in the Future?
The world’s population continues to grow. We have an estimated 7.4 billion people now, and could reach as high as 11.2 billion by the year 2100 ( https://ourworldindata.org/world-population-growth ). Which leads to a number of questions, especially “What will we eat?” Don’t worry, someone is working on that. An article entitled “5 High-Tech Foods You’ll Be
I Wish I’d Written That
This is the kind of clever writing I’d like to do, but I’ve never been able to. These were sent to me by a friend; the original author is unknown. This Should Keep You Busy For A While — – Do twins ever realize that one of them is unplanned? – What if my
How To Get People To Tell The Truth
You may have heard of the legend of Diogenes of Sinope, who supposedly wandered around ancient Greece, carrying a lantern and searching for an honest man ( https://www.ancient.eu/Diogenes_of_Sinope/). And the search continues today. So how do you make sure people are telling you the truth? Science says it simply depends on how you ask the question.