Some years ago, several men sat around a table together, united for a common purpose. They met in the dark of night, but were not there for devious purposes. They came from many places, far and wide, leaving behind their family and friends. They traveled from store fronts down by the ocean, from virgin fields that stretched as far as the eye could see, from cities just beginning to thrive to determine the fate of more than just themselves. They didn’t gather because of money. They didn’t get paid a cent to sit at that table. No, their motivation came from much deeper, from within. From a sense of what was right not only for them but for their neighbors as well. They came because they saw a future their children could have, not necessarily one which they would live.They had a sense of honor and integrity and a love for God that bound them together.

Great news! OG’s Speculative Fiction, Issue 25 has been released! In Lawrence R. Dagstine’s “The Girl Who Dreamt Portals” a young girl is far more than the other girls at her orphanage think. In Desmond Warzel’s “Assumption” an interstellar rescue team has more adventure in store for them than they had planned. Also included is poetry by Robert S. King. Let us know what you think of the issue! Don’t miss our other issues of OG’s Speculative Fiction if you haven’t read them.

by Ryan J. Johnson

Here are ten reasons you should laugh, every single day. I love making people laugh and sharing laughs with others, so hopefully this article inspires you to do the same. With that said, I’ll start with the obvious ones and work my way down the list. Read below:

1) Have fun!: Whenever we think of laughter, good times, good memories, and good feelings come right to mind. Everyone could always use some more fun in their lives. I personally think you cannot laugh too much, so look for things to laugh at every day and your day will be enjoyable in that moment.

If you needed more evidence that baseball is part of America’s heartbeat, then these past few weeks gave you that.

Armando Galarraga, a pitcher with the Detroit Tigers, was one out from what has only been done twenty times in the past hundred years or so. A perfect game. He had one batter to go, light hitting Jason Donald. Galarraga stared in for his catcher’s sign, got it, wound up and threw. Donald hit a slower grounder to first and Galarraga took off to cover the bag. The ball landed in his glove steps before Donald got there.

Here are a few tips to help you out in these uncertain financial times.

Check Your Lines – Some years ago I was fishing for bass and had tossed out my line shortly after arriving at the shore. I waited for hours for a bass to bite. By the end of the night the line hadn’t even jerked once. Yet, when I reeled in my line to go home, I had a giant sunfish on the end of it. I had sat all night not knowing what was on the end of my line. Well most of us have fish on our lines, we just don’t know it. Our closets are full of things we have forgotten, things we spent a considerable amount of money on a long time ago. Sell those things you don’t want or need anymore.

by AW Thomas Jr.

Next to the King of Spices, Black Pepper, Ginger is perhaps the most frequently used, widest spread and overall most successful of all the spices.

Interestingly, for such a common food, we have no idea where it actually originated.

Black pepper was first discovered, and is still grown, in the mountains of Southern India. Cloves are claimed by the Spice Islands and Zanzibar. But no one know where exactly ginger first appeared.

In some respects, being an athlete is one of the hardest things a person can do. Sure there are those days when you hit a winning a shot or when you hit a walk off homer or when you throw a pass into the end zone that they will play on Sports Center for the rest of time. On those days, the game comes easy and the fans love you. You enjoy waking up every morning and playing five games in a row because you are in a groove.

The money is certainly good too for even the guys that sit the bench. For instance, in baseball, the minimum salary for a player is $400,000. That is a lot of cash for most people. It is life changing kind of cash. And these players make it in one year.

Great news! OG’s Speculative Fiction, Issue 24 has been released! It is a special double issue full of great speculative fiction stories from authors such as Darien Cox, D. Thomas Minton, David Tallerman, Jeremiah Hawkins, S. Hutson Blount and Travis Heermann as well as poetry from Bruce Golden and G.O. Clark. It is one of our finest issues with over 100 pages of great reading. Let us know what you think of the issue! Don’t miss our other issues of OG’s Speculative Fiction if you haven’t read them.

I am just about to own my own home and it has made me realize a few things.

As a boy I did all sorts of things to earn money. I collected soda cans along the side of the road. I did odd chores. I mowed lawns. When I did earn money, I was something of a saver and a spender. I liked the idea of having a bin full of coins. It made me feel good. I would throw all the coins and dollars into that bin and every so often take it out and count up all the money, feeling a bit like Scrooge in Duck Tales or a bit like a Monopoly Boss, slowly building an empire. But inevitably, my saving mentality would dissipate and I would spend those hoarded coins and dollars on a pack of baseball cards or a new video game. Then I would have to start all over saving up coins.

Every year the baseball season starts with a homerun from someone. It doesn’t always come in the first at bat, nor is it always the first hit. But in some stadium across the United States (and a few times in Puerto Rico or Japan) there is that inevitable moment when someone hits the first homerun of the new season.

That’s the thing in sports, there is always a new season. The New York Yankees won the World Series last year, and while that was a lot of fun when it happened and there were parades and lots of media attention and a World Series’ ring to show for it, a new season came. A new season always comes. Players have to lace up their cleats and pick up their bats and run out on the diamond all over again. It’s a fact of life; champions can never rest comfortably.