Stories Short and Strange
17 short stories for general audiences ranging from the unusual to the unbelievable to the just plain strange.
Who Was Mona Lisa?
Leonardo da Vinci’s painting “Mona Lisa” is perhaps the most famous work of art in the world. I’ve never quite understood why, perhaps because of the enigmatic smile? (An artist friend once told me Leonardo used that smile in many of his paintings.) In any event, its fame begs the question, who was the model?
The World’s Largest Musical Instrument
Talk about thinking outside the box! In 1954, Leland W. Sprinkle and his son were visiting Luray Caverns in Virginia. His guide’s explanation of how stalactites could make sounds when tapped gave him an idea. (It was either that or the sound made when his son struck his head on a rock.) Over the next
Disturbing News About Smoking
We’ve made a lot of progress in the last several decades with smoking cessation. Since the 1964 surgeon general’s report on this habit’s dangers, smoking rates have fallen nationwide, with only 15 percent of adults still smoking. Smoking among some groups has plunged 62 percent. But there is a problem. The groups with the greatest
Meet the Chinese Internet Police
If you live in China, the Internet is tightly controlled. CNN estimates about two million people monitor what people post ( http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/07/world/asia/china-internet-monitors/index.html); other sources say there are 100,000 censors. How obvious is it? The Internet Surveillance Division of the Public Security Bureau in Shenzhen Province actually has two cartoon mascots to remind Internet users that
This Is An Exciting Time For Astronomy
If you like to watch the heavens, there are some exciting events in the future. First, On August 21, 2017, there will be a total eclipse of the sun. It will pass through 12 states in the U.S. (14 if you count tiny corners of Montana and Iowa), beginning at 9:06 am PDT in Madras,
America’s Most Misspelled Words
In case you missed it, Google Trends recently researched the hardest-to-spell words in the first four months of this year. Their analysis identified what words was searched most often when people typed “how to spell ___” into the Google search engine. The results were tabulated by state, then published in this map. According to a
Canada’s Rosa Parks
When we think of civil rights, we tend to focus on our own (considerable) struggles. But other countries have had periods of turmoil, too. Consider Canada. Viola Desmond was a businesswoman who owned a beauty salon and school. She was traveling across Canada, looking to expand her business, when her car broke down in New
It’s The People You Meet
In preparing for another major trip overseas this summer, I thought back to November 2012, when I was in Athens, Greece. This was a marathon trip, paying homage to where it all started by running on the Olympic course from the Plains of Marathon to the Olympic Stadium in the heart of Athens. Athens was
Reaching Autistic Children
There is a lot we don’t know about autism. I’ve been in classrooms with autistic kids many times and an as clueless as anyone. But every once in a while there’s a breakthrough story that gives us hope. One such story is Life, Animated, a documentary movie about Ron Suskind and his son Owen. At
Remembering Tiananmen Square
The Writer’s Almanac reminded me that what is remembered as the Tiananmen Square Massacre happened on June 4, 1989. On that day, Chinese troops stormed the square to end demonstrations that had actually begun months earlier. Thousands of supporters from three dozen universities staged hunger strikes and sit-ins in the name of democracy. The Chinese