I'm back with a few facts and more than a few daydreams to share, so grab your donuts and take a gander. Carnivorous Plants Have the Best Personalities Time for a new and exciting chapter in my life: I bought some pitcher plants for the yard. That curving hook structure, that gaping maw of insect death, the lullabies they sing by moonlight to lure in the unsuspecting…it’s pure magic. In all seriousness, I doubt these pitcher plants will transform into the insect-hoovering alien monstrosities I dream about, but it’s still pretty cool to have a plant with a unique personality. I’ve grown … [Read more...]
An Urgent Report on Terribly Important Things
As the days and weeks go by, certain news stories, trivia bombs, and random developments in the Weird catch my attention. When these items reach a critical mass in my brain (i.e., I’m about to forget a bunch of them), I rush here to share. My mind can hold about as much information as a single fortune cookie strip at any one time (excluding the lottery numbers), and not a byte more. So… Important Cold War Dental History Update It turns out the secret agent cyanide tooth is a myth. I always suspected this—you’d kill yourself biting into an almond--but it still hurt when Mental Floss … [Read more...]
Play Date with an Adorable Blob
Last month, I fulfilled a long-held wish to see the West Indian Manatee in its natural habitat, the various rivers and lakes and hot springs of central and southern Florida. It was a wild success. A friend and I drove two kayaks to the Crystal River and got on the water at a public park put-in about a mile from Three Sisters Springs. It was both early and quite cold—the best conditions for seeing the manatees. The water from the springs stays a constant temperature all year round (still fairly cold to us, just not to them), and they congregate during the winter months to keep their body … [Read more...]
Home Sweet Doomsday Home
Where will you sleep during the end of the world? Your bed? In your unprotected, above-ground house? Nonsense. Let me tell you of a much better—and vastly more stylish—way to keep on keepin' on when the bottom drops out of human civilization. Here's a fun fact about me: I’m obsessed with the doomsday luxury shelter. Everything about the concept fascinates me. The engineering, the operating logistics, the market, the advertising, the class and culture issues, the psychology of those who buy them, and—most of all—what happens inside if you ever actually have to use one. The luxury … [Read more...]
New Short Story Up at Apex Magazine
Quick post today to let you know I've had a new short story published in the February issue of the lovely Apex Magazine. The story is "Work, and Ye Shall Eat," and it's one of the more bizarre things I've written, but also one of my favorites. Check it out! There is plenty of other great stuff there, including stories by Alix Harrow and P. Djeli Clark, as well as columns by other magazine contributors. The story is free to read online, but consider supporting the magazine with a subscription or through their Patreon; they deserve it. … [Read more...]
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