The Puzzle of Bad Living

The puzzle is why so many people live so badly. Not so wickedly but so inanely. Not so cruelly but so stupidly. There's little to admire and less ...

Uncommon Sense

Common sense isn't as common as it used to be.

"Fool Me Twice, Shame on Me"

Learning from experience is a faculty almost never practiced.

Humor: A Real Spectacle

True story:

In Tampa, Florida, Antonio Valdez Jr. was charged with driving without wearing his glasses.

A few weeks later, on his way to court to face ...

Taking Dad's Advice

When I was getting my driver's license, my father tried to give a short lecture on car maintenance. He said one sentence that still bugs me: There's one ...

An April Fools Day Gag

So, where's spaghetti come from, anyway? Would you believe a spaghetti farm?!

Maybe you wouldn't believe it, but many did. Just ask the thousands of Englishmen ...

A Deadly Game at Chernobyl

The Winter 1991 issue of the University of Pacific Review offers a chilling description of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster:

There were two electrical ...

Pay Attention to the Designer

I bought a video camera about a year ago. I'd used it for about ten minutes, then recharged it. I later learned that you should not recharge the battery ...

Figuring Out Providence

I get a little weary of these dear souls who have all the dealing and doing of Providence catalogued and correlated and figured out and can give you glib ...

Good Friday and April Fools

There is a strange irony to the 1994 calendar. This Friday is called Good Friday because it marks the anniversary of Jesus' death. But this Friday is ...