Uncle Thor's Lessons, Anecdotes and Humor

Beowulf’s dragon and the dragon Fafnir have a similar trait. Both jealously guard hoards of treasure. They are the inspiration for Smaug, the dragon of J.R.R. Tolkien’s book The Hobbit. Like his predecessors, Smaug also had a treasure trove. All these dragons were so protective of their respective hoards that they knew if one single [...]

Every child on the block knew Joe, the roly-poly fellow who was eternally four years old. Joe was the boy who never grew up. He was our parents’ age, so they said, but Joe was pretty much an oversized neighborhood kid. Joe played street football with the kids. He was there to dig in the [...]

Look at the reasons behind violent crimes. The overwhelming majority of them are incredibly stupid. Today, there was the case of a politician who was sent to jail for corruption. He was arrested in jail for plotting to kill his wife. In jail! The fallen politician was working on his wife’s demise from behind bars! [...]

One of the misnomers of our age is that fear is bad. Granted, paralyzing fear is a terrible thing that makes a person vulnerable. Fear that leads to paranoia is also bad. On the other hand, a little fear can be the difference between safety and folly. The actual place of fear is to keep [...]

Our word “decimate” comes from a practice of the ancient Roman Army. If a Roman military unit was defeated in battle, there would be an inquiry. The leadership wanted to know if the unit succumbed to superior strength, superior tactics, or some other advantage enjoyed by the enemy. If the enemy was equal or inferior, [...]

Some years ago, a dentist was involved in drug trafficking. The police were on to him. In fact, he was far enough into the dealing that the Federal agents were after him. Through a series of misadventures, his criminality had escalated. It was enough to force him to go into hiding. The fugitive dentist disappeared [...]

The Fool is a well-known image. He is the Court Jester, the Harlequin, the Clown and the Buffoon. You can see him as the Zero card in the Tarot deck. In some Medieval-style chess sets, the Fool takes the place of the Bishop. Among Heathens, he is connected to Loki. Loki is the Jester. Loki [...]