Two 6th-grade boys play a game of basketball. The game is a terrible mismatch. The victor is unable to come to terms with the outcome for 40 years.

An elderly widower finds a dog on his walk in the woods. The two become companions as the man cares for the dog and the dog watches the man.

Someone left the gate open and Tommy ran out from a small Louisiana town into the world of the professional gunman. I witnessed his life from a distance until he came home one Thanksgiving.

This is a lesson in consulting. It is for talking with a person who knows what is good for them, but can't seem to do it. In the example given, the topic is going to a retreat. Almost any topic could be substituted for it.

The government has abandoned the dangerous zones. The Interstate routes pass through those dangerous zones. The only entrance is through one of the islands on the interstate.

A young man stumbles in between college and having an semblance of knowing what he is doing as an "adult."

They didn't seek it; it feel to them. The introverts ruled the world. They didn't see it that way. They saw themselves as the ones to rebuild civilization. As all reigns, it too came to an end one day.

What is real? What is a dream? Life is complicated when you can't tell the difference.

On January 8, 1935, Vernon and Gladys Presley became the parents of twin boys. They named the first Jesse and the second Elvis. That isn't true, but here is one version of what might have happened.

Each day Nicholas Furr goes to the library. He reads, but that is not why he spends his day in the library. Instead, he uses the little pencils next to the card catalog computer; he uses paper from the trash can, and he uses the Internet computers to write one hour each day.

A fundamental task of ours is to test or experiment with our equipment...so began a report I wrote. We were struggling to build systems. Analysis showed that our basic problem was how we tested systems and reported the results. This booklet records time-honored fundamentals of testing and reporting on tests.

Sports, created after the American Civil War as an outlet for young men, was honorable. One day, a "winner" shouted at "losers." The sports race was on. So was the downward path.