Having grown up on Looney Tunes, Tom & Jerry and similar cartoons, I can’t tell you how many I’ve watched involving a baby left on a doorstep. Was there a […]

Some time ago, I heard an African-American author talk on NPR about what inspired him to write his book: During the 1800s, some slave owners in the U.S. were black. […]

At a forum last August at his megachurch, preacher Rick Warren asked John McCain and Barack Obama when human life begins. McCain replied, “At conception,” a response that went over […]

Never mind the current demand for the stuff—what becomes of the void oil drilling creates? If we pump out millions of barrels per day, we can’t very well leave giant […]

Samurai swords are reputed to be among the best ever produced, a fact attested to by the practice of testing the swords on cadavers, usually those of condemned criminals. Just […]

Here’s a quick way to lose a new friend: ask them if they think that tattoo that seemed like such a good idea at age 22 will appeal at age […]

In her book Seabiscuit Laura Hillenbrand says 1930s jockeys trying to lose weight would swallow a capsule containing a tapeworm egg. The worms would then mature in the jockeys’ stomachs […]

Over the years I’ve noticed a variety of siren sounds for emergency vehicles. Is it true siren sounds have to be changed periodically, particularly in urban areas, to prevent drivers […]

A mechanic friend claims to have a gizmo that makes his vehicles run at least partially on water. It will work best on vehicles with carburetors—fuel-injected vehicles need tweaking of […]

One often hears references to rampant buggery among sailors in the glory days of the Royal Navy. Sometimes, its said, young boys called peg boys were on board solely for […]

I’m reading World War Z by Max Brooks, a fictional account of the world’s response to a zombie outbreak. In the book the U.S. military fails miserably in its first […]