Issue of April 24, 2006
20 articles in this issue.
Aarrr ... can't ye tell it be Monday? (Originally appeared 2005-09-19)
Harold decided to do what his wife told him and take out the trash. (Originally appeared 2006-01-09)
Dance of the jellyfish.(Originally appeared 2005-08-22)
Happy Fourth Anniversary to the <i>Piker Press</i>!
Fog drapes the manzanita bushes and wisps across the pavement in front of my car. The road is dark with damp and at its edge sits a golden animal. I brake because I think it's a stray dog, maybe injured and in need of rescue. The animal turns its head to look at me for a second, then bunches its muscles and springs. Its front feet hit the center line of the road, then the back haunches roll forward. The hind feet strike the pavement, while the front legs stretch for the opposite side of the road. The tip of the creature's long tail flicks, as if waving good bye, before it disappears into the thick brush.<br><br> My heart thrills and a tingle launches itself up my spine. I have just seen one of the most elusive animals in North America: a mountain lion.... (Originally appeared 2005-02-13)
Who were the tall caucasians who lived near China's Taklamakan Desert for two millenia before the Chinese arrived? (Originally appeared 2005-05-23)
For the last sixty years, there has been one question repeatedly asked by novice historians. What does the "d" in D-day stand for? Ironically enough, the answer is in the very word itself. (Originally appeared 2005-06-06)
Sun Tzu, the Art of War, corporate America and drinking coffee. They're all more closely entertwined than most sane people realize. (Originally appeared 2005-01-23)
A flashback from Basil's schooldays. The boy was Clay Plank. The bet was to drink 14 boxes of chocolate milk in seven minutes. Legends are born in strange ways sometimes, and the legend of Clayton Plank was born that day. (Originally appeared 2005-08-01)
For everybody who's ever had to sit through a planetarium show or an astronomy class on the seventh planet and try not to snigger, here is an enlightening little summary just for you, complete with talking cow cartoons. (Originally appeared 2003-04-28)
<b>Grocery Shopping, It's Not Just a Chore, It's an Adventure. </b>Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the grocery store, our intrepid girl reporter tells you all the reasons why it is better to fast than shop. (Originally appeared 2004-05-29)
Poem.(Originally appeared 2004-06-26)
Sometimes, staffers write poems to appear in the Press. Sometimes, they write poems just because they can.
A not-quite-traditional folk ballad of love, death, and mystery. An entry from the 2005 Piker Press Poetry Open. (Originally published 2005-04-24)
A poet watches and waits for spring. (Originally appeared 2005-04-17)
Life may be all games for virtual reality play tester Tod Ruckle, but the fun drained out of it a long time ago, somewhere between the ex-wife, the downsized job, the mortgage payment he can't meet and the compulsive gambling problem. But a phone call out of the blue may just change all that. Part 1 of 5. (Originally appeared 2004-08-14)
A slightly alcohol-soaked narrative outlines a tale of mercantile sin and meteoroligcal salvation as a graying barfly describes the night he piloted the Davemobile through the Storm of the Century. (Originally appeared 2005-03-27)
For some sleep is a precious activity during the day. When Helena's sleep cycle gets interrupted, she'll go through anything to get back into her cozy bed and enjoy the dreamlife--even if it means battling a strange creature. (Originally appeared 2005-08-08)
Laws can be useful guidelines for establishing order. But a set of laws that works well in one circumstance doesn't necessarily work well in another. Occasionally, it's better just to scrap the whole thing... (Originally appeared 2005-07-04)