Stories

Six Words: Radiation, Determine, Dribble, Unlawful, Clinic, Governor

Radiation was never supposed to escape from the reactor. But as people started showing up at the clinic with their eyes glowing and an aura of light around their heads, the medical staff became suspicious that radiation probably was escaping, and not just a dribble of radiation. The head of the clinic contacted the head of the reactor and was surprised at her reaction. She said that they knew about the leak, that it had been going on for months, and they were working to determine the site of the leak and to fix the problem. She also said the governor was aware of the problem but didn’t want the public to know because it would cause panic and because the finances of the entire state would be impacted. She even said it would be considered unlawful to tell the press. What would you do if you were the clinic manager?

Six Words: Cooperation, Product, Ancestor, Cottage, Variety, Landowner

We’ve all seen cottage cheese. It’s sometimes served on the salad bar during brunch, so even if you’ve never bought it yourself, you’ve at least seen it. Most of us have eaten it. But have you ever wondered where it comes from?

The product looks a bit like cotton balls. One legend is that some clever landowner, living in a small cottage in a remote area, discovered a plant growing in his field, cultivated it, selected the variety that produced the whitest, roundest, largest balls of the stuff, and with refinement they became the ancestor of today’s cottage cheese. Then, with cooperation among landowners in neighboring cottages, the volume of cheese balls they were harvesting and storing in their cottages grew and grew and they realized there was a marketing opportunity for the stuff, even a way to get rich.

Speaking of ways to get rich, it turns out that the sap of the cottage cheese plants is also marketable. The first name they thought of for this sap was cotton juice, but people would probably think that is what you make cotton candy from. Many other names were considered as well, as they tried to settle on a way to become rich. As they brainstormed, they began writing down their ideas on a white board. At the top of the white board, they wrote a title line that said: “Way to get rich”.

Suddenly, one of them yelled: “That’s it, right there in front of our eyes.”

“What is?” asked the others.

We should call the sap “way”, but we need a catchy way to spell “way”. And that is how the whey, “w-h-e-y” sap from the plant and the ball part of the plant came to be products in our grocery stores today.

They even created a catchy jingle to help sell their product. You all know it:

Little Miss Muffet sat on her tuffet, eating her cheese balls and whey.

Six Words: Intervention, Category, Combine, Voyage, Identity, Realism

The pictures I took on the voyage combine several categories of living things and inanimate objects. In trying to capture nature, I hoped to show both realism and places where people had intervened. When a photograph is of a bird, it is a personal challenge to try to determine its identity. The software on my phone makes that much easier than it used to be, but is that cheating?

Six Words: Explain, Aware, Eavesdrop, Colleague, Venus, Picture

The Florida Congressman was not aware that people were eavesdropping when the Congressman was telling one of his colleagues that he had a picture of the Mount of Venus of one of the interns and explaining how he got it. It led to the resignation of the disgraced Congressman.

Six Words: Environmental, Poem, Animal, Dramatic, Reluctance, Serious

What kind of poem would an animal write
If an animal could write poems?
What kind of animal would write a poem about the environment?
Is there any animal that would not write about the environment?
Perhaps a fish in the ocean would be reluctant to write about the environment,
After all, the ocean is growing and warming.
For some fish warmer waters and more of it would be a blessing.
But for others, warmer waters mean they have to migrate to find the cold waters they require.
Forced migration is always dramatic.
Whether it is whales – yes, I know that whales are not fish, they just pretend to be,
Whether it is whales migrating hoping to find cold water,
Or people migrating to survive,
Migration is a serious endeavor,
And migrants never know when they’ll encounter ICE.

Six Words: Dinner, Parameter, Decrease, Composer, Deficit, Category

The Director of Dining is in the same category as a composer, creating a unique dinner menu for each evening. Given his budget parameters, he increases or decreases the cost per meal, insuring that he never runs at a deficit. We could have more steak if some people drank less wine, not naming names though.

Six Words: Other, Experience, Predator, Calendar, Orientation, Outfit

We’d been marking off the days for weeks. Our outfits had been carefully selected and packed. Finally the calendar had told us that it was time to get to the airport and fly off to our safari adventure. This was going to be an experience like no other we’d ever had.

After 36 hours of travel time, and settled in to our rondavel, we were ready for our first game drive. It began with our driver giving us an orientation. We were told to stay seated and not to wave our arms beyond the sides of the vehicle – especially if we saw predators. He explained that the animals seemed to view the vehicles as another animal, with four feet on the ground, eyes in front, and that could move very fast. But arms flapping around could indicate an animal in distress and we could become fair game ourselves.

Six Words: Compete, Marble, Realize, Judicial, Product, Issue

When I was in elementary school, one of my after school activities was occasionally playing marbles. There were a couple of ways to compete, but you were usually trying win marbles that belonged to your opponents. Some of those products were more colorful than others. Cats-eyes were especially nice to look at. There were over-sized marbles, known as boulders, and it could be an issue as to whether they were allowed. Usually the competitors could easily decide who won, but in one form of the game, sometimes an observer was called upon to judge whether a marble was over a line or not.

Writing this, I realize that I have no idea what happened to my marble collection.

Six Words: Area, Ready, Asset, Coincide, Practice, Mastermind

A lot of people are thinking of Artificial Intelligence systems as “masterminds”. The development of those AI systems is possible with tremendous advances in the speed of computers coinciding with tremendous reductions in the cost of computers and storage. A lot of people are talking and writing about AI, even though it is outside the area of their professional practice. Often they advise us to get ready for humans to become obsolete. They overlook the wonderful asset that these AI systems are today and how they’re going to get better and better.

And think of all the wonderful things that people can do that AI systems will never be able to do. Things like enjoy a hot fudge sundae, appreciate bluebonnets growing by the roadside, or make a baby. Can AI systems experience jealousy?

Six Words: Scenario, Immune, Surface, Thesis, Result, Outside

Imagine this scenario. You’re standing outside a glass cube that contains a boxing ring. You are so close to it that your hands are pressed up against the surface of the cube as you watch the action inside. You can see a crowd inside, watching the battle going on in the ring, but you’re somewhat immune to the excitement because the glass mutes the sounds of the crowd.

Each time a boxer throws a punch, instead of hearing the results of the punch, a word bubble pops-up saying things like oof, thump, wham, bam or ouch. Even though you know this is absurd, and your thesis is that you must be dreaming, it seems so real. Then the bell sounds to end the round. You realize that it is the alarm in your cellphone telling you to get real.