Stories Short and Strange
17 short stories for general audiences ranging from the unusual to the unbelievable to the just plain strange.
Our Forgotten Link With Haiti
You don’t study history for long without developing a certain sense of irony. Recently our president was accused of talking disparagingly about Haiti (among other countries). That’s why I was intrigued when I found an article entitled “How Haitians Helped Win The American Revolution” by Pooja Bhatia. Here’s the situation: In 1779, colonial rebels laid
The Charitable Side of Collecting
My friends know I’m a Disney collector. For almost thirty years, I’ve belonged to the Disneyana Fan Club (DFC, originally the NFFC, http://www.disneyanafanclub.org/), and it’s been a very rewarding experience on many levels. I know most people have their outside interests and passions, but I also realize occasionally these passions can get a bit… extreme.
Benjamin Franklin and Virtue
With all the virtue-challenged public figures these days, perhaps it’s time to go back to basics. Founding fathers basics. One of the most fascinating founding fathers was Ben Franklin. He had a remarkable life as a successful businessman, humorist, scientist, and public servant. Did he have a secret? He may have. I’ve been reading about
Original Poem — My Very Best Friend
This was written with the help of an elementary student whom I’ve since lost track of. My Very Best Friend by Bob Welbaum with Grayson Knight I have a friend who’s the very best. He’s there whenever I need him. He’s always cheerful and kind to me And never needs a reason.
The Right Way To Do Youth Sports?
I’ve been athletic all my life, but sometimes with very little success, so I’ve seen both sides, particularly in youth sports. I was in Little League, where the competition for a team hat (never mind a uniform) was so fierce I rarely got one. People in my hometown were such rabid fans other local communities
The End of Chocolate?
Catches up on the news, I found something very disturbing January 2, 2018 on the Food and Wine website. Scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are predicting the source of chocolate, the cacao plant, is likely to go extinct, perhaps as early as 2050. The culprit is global warming. Most of the
Just When I Was Ready To Give Up On Humanity…
This is an era when I hesitate to see the news. Certainly there is enough negativity to last a lifetime. So it’s nice to have a refuge to escape the disasters, threats, and misery in the everyday headlines. Occasionally I look longingly for an escape, if only for a few moments. One distraction is sports,
Technology Versus Spontaneity — Who Wins?
Recently I visited Walt Disney World for a week. My primary purpose was to participate in the events of Marathon Weekend. Of course I had a pass to go to the theme parks, but my highest priority was conserving my energy for the races. As such, my theme park visits were very spontaneous; I would
Ringing in the New Year With New Life
New years are always a time for renewal, so I thought it appropriate to pass along some scientific news — “In 2017, researchers at the California Academy of Sciences, along with several dozen international collaborators, added 85 new plant and animal species to Earth’s tree of life, including 16 flowering plants, three scorpions, 10 sharks,
Whatever Happened to the Equal Rights Amendment?
One of the hottest political issues of the 1970s was the move to add an Equal Rights Amendment for women to the U.S. Constitution. It looked like a sure thing until a conservative backlash stalled its ratification three states short; 35 states ratified, but 38 were needed. The initiative failed. Yet today nobody talks about