Tampa, Florida has a huge annual festival called "Gasparilla Days." It takes its name from a pirate named Jose` Gaspar. The problem is, Jose` Gaspar never existed at all. Many local residents claim he was invented just for the purpose of finding an...

Have you ever run across this piece of advice on communication from the late Steve Allen: "In promulgating your esoteric cogitations or articulating your superficial sentimentalities, and amicable philosophical or psychological observations, beware of...

It is important to remember that Jesus did not quit meeting with His disciples because Judas was a traitor and a thief, because Peter was fickle, or because Thomas had his doubts. His disciples were at times rude, thoughtless, unkind, and...

The Waldensians suffered much persecution in Europe. When they feared their Bibles would all be destroyed, they began to memorize them. Different family members would take different sections of scripture so that a family member would memorize...

Kierkegaard once told a story about the time a fire broke out in a great theater. Hoping to avoid a panic, they send out a famous actor to make the evacuation announcement. He explains what is happening and what they need to do and the crowd thinks...

The Golden Rule is not what one of the characters in the Wizard of Id said. He said, "The Golden Rule is, 'He who has the gold makes the rules.'" It is precisely this concept of justice that protects those who don't have the gold.

The Alamo is under attack again. This time it is by termites. The news told the story of attempts to protect the ancient mission and fort. Monitoring systems have been installed underground. Traps filled with pieces of wood are to be monitored monthly. After the termites are detected poisoned bait will be placed in the traps. How ...

The book, Significa, tells of Sir Henry Morgan, the famous pirate, who once won a libel suit against a man who called him-of all things--a pirate. The man was John Esquemeling, one of Morgan's former crewmembers. In a book entitled, Buccaneers in America, he told of Morgan and his men killing, burning, raping and pillaging. ...

According to Paul Boller, people were fond of telling this anecdote about Woodrow Wilson. At the end of World War I, Wilson presented his "Fourteen Points" to make sure nothing like the Great War would happen again. Politicians did not like the point as much as Wilson did. They refused to support Wilson's vision. According to...

According to the Reuters news service, a Kenyan villager was scrubbed clean by his neighbors because he had not bathed in 10 years His neighbors resorted to the action because his odor sicken those around him. They first tied the man with a rope, bathed him and scoured him with sand for over four hours. The man has now...