Stories Short and Strange
17 short stories for general audiences ranging from the unusual to the unbelievable to the just plain strange.
Happy Birthday Fannie Farmer
There is a lot we take for granted in our modern world. Like cookbooks, for example. March 23 is kind of a milestone anniversary in home economics. On that day in 1857, Fannie Merritt Farmer was born in Boston. According The Writers’ Almanac, Fannie is remembered for publishing the first cookbook in American history. Up
The Answer to Fake News?
Talk about change, President Trump certainly has stirred up a debate about the press’s role in our society. As one might predict, members of the Fourth Estate are very much engaged. In the recent past, I’ve seen the following — The Christian Science Monitor’s March 13, 2017 cover story, “Trump vs. The Media: The War
Original Story — A Special Child
I’ve been working on this story a long time. I think it has merit, but no one else seems to like it. Any comments? Every Mother Thinks Her Child is Special (But Mine Really Is) By Bob Welbaum March 6, 1989 Dear Diary, Finally, some good news! I’m pregnant!! After all the
Presidents Who Change Their Minds
I am a history nerd, and politics is a fascinating subject, so an article entitled “The Presidents Who Changed Course in Office” really piqued my curiosity. Certainly a lot can happen over the course of four to eight years — nationally, internationally, and in a president’s personal life. As the article’s author Sean Braswell states,
A Way to End Genetic Diseases?
Science gives us wonderful tools — everything from penicillin to a GPS system to life itself. How we use these tools, however, is up to us. What has caught my eye recently was a report, originally in the Chicago Tribune, that Great Britain’s Newcastle University has been given permission to create babies using the DNA
A Group of Fish is a School…
I wrote this almost three years ago and put it on Facebook, but I don’t think I’ve ever shared it here. A group of fish is a school. A group of birds is a flock. But what do you call a group of teenage girls? For the past twelve years, I have been substitute
Impact of Daylight Savings Time
I hope everyone has adjusted to our switch to Daylight Savings Time by now. Do you notice any impact on your daily routine? Apparently there are some negatives, because on March 8, 2017, the Time magazine Newsbrief listed seven negative impacts on health. According to Dr. Sandhya Kumar, assistant professor of neurology and medical director
Why Are Pandas Distinctively Black and White?
Giant pandas have always captured our imagination. Their distinctive coloration certainly gives a new meaning to the word cute. But why are they colored that way? A new study, published February 28, 2017 in Behavioral Ecology, suggests two reasons — camouflage and communication. Tim Caro, a professor in the Department of Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology
This Is For Anyone Who Loses Stuff
I am constantly misplacing things around my house. I attribute this to owning a lot of black objects, which I tend to lay on black furniture. It also doesn’t help that the spot I remember placing them is about three iterations old. Fortunately, I’m not the only one. I’ve just heard about a clever writer
Babies Who Can’t Touch The Ground
From the truth-is-stranger-than-fiction department — Talk about they way children are treated in different cultures, babies on the Indonesian island of Bali are subjected to an unusual custom — their feet should not touch the ground for their first 105 days of life. This is because belief in reincarnation is widespread and a birth is