The Philadelphia experiment is a fine yarn indeed - not a terrible movie either. And a fine short story, too, "Green Fire."

http://www.eventhorizon.com/sfzine/collab/green_fire.html

A rousing tale of sci-fi action-adventure set during World War II and starring "Isaac," "Robert" and "Sprague," along with then-Lieutenant Grace Hopper.

Some years ago I was at the Minnesota State Fair with Terry Garey & Denny Lien. Both the horticultural and animal exhibits quickly overwhelmed me with allergic reactions, and Denny was kind enough to wander off to the secondary exhibits. The extremely secondary exhibits.

In particular, Denny and I paid to get in to Malfunction Junction, a dusty, dirty, and fundamentally cheesy model railroad layout scattered with derailed trains, overturned trucks, and heavily damaged automobiles. None of which was powered up, glowing, running, clanging, or zinging. There was just this old guy keeping an eye on it to make sure nobody found a way to wreck the place any more than it was already.

As we left I remarked to Denny, "I hear Sherwin-Williams has a booth where you can pay to come in and watch paint dry. Wanna try that next?"

The best explanation I've heard for the Philadelphia Experiment legend is Jim MacDonald's. Short version: Someone heard about the de-gaussing operations going on there during wartime, and confused "invisible to magnetic mines and torpedoes" with "invisible".

Bob, you should go to the Arizona State Fair -- they've got (or anyway used to have) a Rocks & Minerals display that's as inert as you could wish. One of the high points is the small enclosed display of fluorescent rocks, which are undistinguished-looking under natural light and not a whole lot better when they're glowing in the dark under UV.

After that: The 4-H displays of jars of preserves!

One weekend morning, Geck called to drag me out to a yard sale in a quiet neighborhood not far from where I work. Some rock hound had passed on, and his family was looking to get rid of his life's work. When we asked, they let us into the garage, and there Geck found the box of glow rocks; a lovely homemade cabinet with a slot to peep in and two light switches, one for the visible and one for black light. Took me back to the Denver Museum of Natural History and their room of similarly spectacular minerals.

For about a year, the cabinet lived in our garage, entertaining adults and kids alike, and then Gecko bought a house and eventually decided he could fit the box in somewhere. I miss being able to go see them any time I want.

I wonder if any of these stones are suitable for carving. They'd make some neat artifacts.

Kip