Pay Attention to the Instrument Panel

An airplane pilot is not to trust his own instincts in a storm, but to trust the instrument panel. Instincts can be wrong if he experiences vertigo. Just ...

Forgetting the Point of It All

Max De Pree tells a wonderful story, and he swears that it's true, about those wonderful tomato growers in central California. More successful at ...

Bad First Assessment

From the things-we-wish-we'd-never-said category:

"We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out."

Who said it? A bigwig at the Decca Recording ...

Computer Ignorance

OK, I'll admit it: I'm no computer whiz. I hardly know a gigabyte from a mosquito bite.

And it looks like I'm not alone. Just ask any technical support ...

Bad Facts

These responses actually appeared on real science tests:

"The pistol of a flower is its only protection against insects."

"Mushrooms always grow in damp ...

Absence Excuses

Ever stay home from school because of a hurting fish?

Ralph did.

Yep, some guy named Ralph missed school one day, and came in the next morning with this ...

A Really Stupid Stick-Up

True story from our dim-witted criminals department:

A man walked into a convenience store, put a $20 bill on the counter and asked for change. When the ...

A Negative Result

Seen on a bumper sticker: I took an IQ test and the results were negative.

Six Slits Sink Ship

Scientists now say that a series of slits, not a giant gash, sank the Titanic.

The opulent, 900-foot cruise ship sank in 1912 on its first voyage, from ...

Don't Be Too Foolish

There's an overweening confidence in the young, a kind of invincible optimism that tells them the future is theirs and it will come in their generation. ...