Back on Jan 1, 2018 I put my little three page World War 4 story (Dawn of a New World on the White House Lawn) on this site as a free PDF, and I see that it has had almost no takers. Hmmm ...... can it really be that no one wants to know the outcome … Continue reading World War 4 | Don’t you want to know what happened?
The Lost 11 year-old Loner |Was he really Lost?
Last week I went for a walk below the Scarborough Bluffs, the 12,000 year old cliff along the north shore of Lake Ontario created by a giant glacial river during the last ice age. After a long winter, I walked in the spring sunshine there, and explored the woods that grow in the deep gullies … Continue reading The Lost 11 year-old Loner |Was he really Lost?
Autism and Toronto’s Van Rampage
When a van drove down Yonge Street April 23, 2018, our first real spring day in this city, deliberately attacking pedestrians, killing 10 and injuring at least 14, it was with added dismay that I learned that the alleged driver, Alek Minassian, age 25, has been diagnosed with Asperger's. It wasn't a surprise though. Young … Continue reading Autism and Toronto’s Van Rampage
Rescuing Lee Harvey Oswald | Finding ‘The People v. Lee Harvey Oswald’
One day I did a search for novels in which Lee Harvey Oswald is a character, and, among others, I turned up, The People v. Lee Harvey Oswald, by Walt Brown. Walt Brown is interesting. A one-time FBI agent who went back to school to become a history professor, he says his life-long ambition, since … Continue reading Rescuing Lee Harvey Oswald | Finding ‘The People v. Lee Harvey Oswald’
Rescuing Nature, then trashing her again
When Toronto was renovating its waterfront a few years ago, someone got the idea that a small wetland might be created at the foot of Spadina Avenue. Apparently large pike from Lake Ontario were known to be congregating there every spring, looking for a place where they used to spawn. To the city's credit, this … Continue reading Rescuing Nature, then trashing her again
Dreaming a Novel
When I sometimes threaten to write my own book about dreams, it's only because during my life I've had dreams that I've never seen described in any book. Prominent among these are what I call my 'novel' dreams. These are dreams in which a story continues all night long, despite routinely waking 3-4 times during … Continue reading Dreaming a Novel
Paranormal World |Hypnotism
Most people will tell you that hypnotism is not part of the paranormal. It is a real phenomenon, accepted by science. But it has been very neglected by science. Most people don't know that in the great age of hypnotism, the 19th century, it was known to be intimately connected with paranormal phenomena. Are you … Continue reading Paranormal World |Hypnotism
The Ugly Duckling and The Birdcatcher
Someone has said The Birdcatcher is just the story of the Ugly Duckling retold. Well, yes, that's what it is. That fairy tale was written especially for shy solitary people. Human 'ugly ducklings' have been told for a long time, maybe thousands of years, that they should stop being different, that they should behave like everyone … Continue reading The Ugly Duckling and The Birdcatcher
Autism|One Problem, Many Paths
This week I discovered the July 29, 2011 Science News article by Laura Sanders, "One Problem, Many Paths", which described some interesting research on the DNA and associated “neural proteins” in autistic families. The families were studied in groups of approximately 1000 families, including many families where the parents were not autistic. As with … Continue reading Autism|One Problem, Many Paths
Alan Conrad 