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Olga Werby's books on Goodreads
Becoming Animals Becoming Animals
reviews: 13
ratings: 15 (avg rating 4.60)

The FATOFF Conspiracy The FATOFF Conspiracy
reviews: 6
ratings: 18 (avg rating 3.50)

Harvest Harvest
reviews: 11
ratings: 18 (avg rating 4.50)

Suddenly, Paris Suddenly, Paris (Many Worlds, One Life #1)
reviews: 6
ratings: 8 (avg rating 4.00)

Twin Time Twin Time
reviews: 4
ratings: 5 (avg rating 4.40)

SciFi Bites: A collection of short stories.

Pipsqueak Articles, sci-fi bites, short story

Time travel, Hitler, and killing babies–a short audio story

by Olga Werby February 27, 2020

Kill Hitler

What if you could go back in time and kill Hitler? This is a premise of many science fiction stories. Here’s my version:

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Cultural Differences, My Books, sci-fi bites, short story

Time Travel Suicide Therapy

by Olga Werby July 14, 2019

Cleopatra's Death

“Can I help you?” Dax stood up and quickly covered the screen with his body. It was five minutes to closing time and he wasn’t interested in helping on yet another bored teenager, or house partner, or grandpa, or history student, or whatever to fulfill their sick time travel dream.…

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sci-fi bites, short story

Shifting Sands

by Olga Werby June 11, 2019

Shifting Sands

The wind howled northward, as normal for this time of the year. The angle of planetary spin resulted in a decreased amount of sunlight in the Northern Hemisphere during this portion of the orbit cycle. The atmosphere precipitated onto the surface as ammonia and water snow, lowering the air pressure,…

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sci-fi bites, short story

Word Magic, narrated by Mariah Avix of 600 Second Saga

by Olga Werby August 2, 2018

cool word

Word Magic is a short story prequel to a larger piece of fiction I’m working on about language and its power to shape the world. I love Mariah’s work. She brings magic to my stories and to those of other writers. Please visit her site and subscribe to her work.…

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Cultural Bias, Group Decision Errors, My Books, sci-fi bites, short story

600 Second Saga: The Perfect Gene

by Olga Werby January 3, 2018

The Perfect Gene

“The Perfect Gene” — a short story about cultural biases narrated by Mariah Avix, 600 Second Saga Tales of Science Fiction and Fantasy, found at http://insani-x.com/ Read along with the audio story.

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My Books, sci-fi bites, short story

600 Second Saga: The Test

by Olga Werby October 4, 2017

The Test

It was beside me on the bed when I woke up — the little bag to pack my most cherished belongings before leaving to take the test. Our dorm has eight living in one great room and none of us heard anything in the night. No one ever does. This…

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Cultural Differences, My Books, Pipsqueak Articles, sci-fi bites, short story

Another Wave of Refugees

by Olga Werby October 3, 2017

Refugees

“Another wave of refugees is arriving,” the TV news announcer said in a grave voice. George Tiggleson, the news anchor for XWTZ Christian Voice of Americas, has been practicing this voice — deep, resonant, with a slight lamenting quality — for almost twenty years. This voice got him this job.…

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facial_recognition

by Olga Werby May 17, 2010

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← Cognitive Blindness: Super-recognizers

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Book, Conceptual Design, Interaction Design, Interface Design, Newsletter, Pipsqueak Articles, Product Design Strategy, Reference

Developing a Story

by Olga Werby April 10, 2023

Vars signs books

How does one choose a story? Or does a story choose its teller? For me, random triggers in my subconscious coalesce and spark inspiration that is not yet a story but rather the embryo of one. That seed, with time, might ripen enough to be worth planting. But the seed…

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Background Knowledge, Background Knowledge Errors, Misapplication of Problem Solving Strategies, Newsletter, Pipsqueak Articles, Scaffolding

Playing with ChatGPT

by Olga Werby March 7, 2023

Julia set fractal gif

I am a bit late to the ChatGPT bandwagon — people all over the internet are pointing out badly written prose. But I did want to give it a try. I have hundreds of story ideas that I have jotted down over the years. Most won’t ever be written into…

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Anchoring Errors, Errors, Long Term Memory, Newsletter, Perception, Pipsqueak Articles, Working Memory

The Fragility of Normal

by Olga Werby February 12, 2023

Fortune: May you live in interesting times

We all want to go back to normal. We cry about it and complain: “Enough is enough. We want our lives back.” This need to “go back to normal” is always with us, although maybe on a different scale post-pandemic. But even before Covid, there were always things that disturbed…

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Attention, Newsletter, Pipsqueak Articles

Gift of Time

by Olga Werby January 10, 2023

time illustration

Nothing is more precious than time. It’s not an accident that we celebrate birthdays — full orbit trips around our star — in addition to milestones of physical, mental, or social accomplishment. It’s also of interest to note that when we pledge ourself in marriage, we swear to be together…

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Cultural Bias, Cultural Differences, Diagnostic Errors, Ethnographic & User Data, Mental Model Traps, My Books, Newsletter, Pipsqueak Articles

Expanding Definitions

by Olga Werby December 14, 2022

Signal

I have taught children, teens, and adults for many years. And I am noticing a trend — as a people, in the name of a more just society, we try to make our definitions ever more expansive. Sounds like great thing, right? But consider this. Decades ago, children diagnosed as…

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Background Knowledge, book promotion, Newsletter, Pipsqueak Articles

My Writing is My Phrontistery

by Olga Werby November 10, 2022

Martin Harvey

Phrontistery is an ancient Greek word meaning “a place for thinking.” I love cool words and phrontistery not only feels good on the tongue, but its meaning really appeals to me — it describes a space specifically dedicated to thinking! For many people, bathrooms are a perfect phrontistery. They are…

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Newsletter, Pipsqueak Articles

Witchy Readings

by Olga Werby October 8, 2022

Time flies and it’s October — witchy season is upon us! Fall has always been one of my favorite seasons — the need for a nice sweater and thick blanket, the ability to enjoy a nice fire, the smell of rain in the air, the bright colors of changing leaves.…

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Cultural Bias, Cultural Differences, Newsletter, Pipsqueak Articles

Love of Reading

by Olga Werby September 11, 2022

Monument to Jules Verne

I assume that people who read my newsletters love to read as much as I do. Reading is the best form of escapism. It’s a way of stepping into another life, another world. It can be completely immersive and totally consuming. You can read to match your internal moods or…

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Newsletter, Perception, Pipsqueak Articles

Stress Response

by Olga Werby August 11, 2022

Terri the relentless tortoise

Stress is an actor in all our lives. As we grow up, our stress grows too. We perceive that stress as a sign that we are coping with more than our historical share. Every generation believes that their stress surpasses that of the generation before. So it is probably just…

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book promotion, Cultural Differences, Newsletter, Pipsqueak Articles

Coming-of-age in the Modern World

by Olga Werby June 6, 2022

How we see ourselves

There is a whole genre of coming-of-age stories — stories that describe a transition from childhood to adulthood. The transition could be fast, forced by some external events, or painfully slow. And sometimes, it might not happen at all — we all know people who we charitably describe as having…

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book promotion, My Books, Newsletter, Pipsqueak Articles

Emotion Field

by Olga Werby May 13, 2022

American Mythology: superhero underdogs

I saw a question on Twitter: Can readers become emotionally invested in a story if the main character is interesting but not sympathetic? My answer was that I need characters that I can care about. A superhero that has all kinds of cool and interesting superpowers is ultimately boring unless…

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Errors, Language, Newsletter, Perception, Pipsqueak Articles

The Music of Language

by Olga Werby April 6, 2022

Old World Language Families

The illustration above is created by Minna Sundberg. Unlike pictorial art, music is perceived and processed in time. Complex music — consisting of more than one melody woven together — is even more difficult to process than a single stream. It requires focused attention. It’s more akin to listening to…

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Ethnographic & User Data, Newsletter, Pipsqueak Articles

Epigenetic Consequences of War

by Olga Werby March 10, 2022

Mitosis

World War Z is upon us, and it behooves us to consider its consequences carefully. We all understand that deprivations and stresses of war leave scars on the survivors, physical and psychological. Bullet wounds, starvation and malnutrition, exposure and lack of sleep, physical exhaustion and lack of hygiene are but…

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Personal Sites

  • D.R.I.P.S. Project
  • Educational Evaluation
  • Pipsqueak Productions LLC
  • The Company Therapist
  • The Cost of Chicken

ICC Forum: Legal Debate

UCLA Human Rights and International Criminal Law Forum Logo

The International Criminal Court's Office of the Prosecutor and UCLA School of Law partnered together to create ICC Forum—a place to discuss international criminal law issues. My company, Pipsqueak Productions, designed and developed the site. Please join the debate! ICCforum.com.

DRIPS Project

Tim and Nick Werby with DRIPS Prototypes

DRIPS project — stands for Deep Root Irrigation and Precipitation System — is a simple device that collects atmospheric water and delivers it to the roots of plants below the evaporation layer. My sons, Tim and Nick Werby, designed and developed the idea and the site. DRIPSproject.

Cost of Chicken

Cost of Chicken Project is a crowdmapping project that tracks the true costs of food around the world. Most data points are contributed by kids. My sons, Tim and Nick Werby, designed and developed the idea and the site. Please visit their site and contribute the data points from your area. Cost of Chicken.

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