Book of Days
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July 20
The Ford Model T was famous for being the car the general public could afford, for being pretty reliable for its day, and for being available in “any color you wanted, as long as it was black.” On July 20, 1903, when the very first Ford was offered for sale, things were slightly different. The… Continue reading
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May 10
On May 10, 1967, a very strange flying machine crashed pretty spectacularly in a dry lake in the western US. It was the Northrup M2-F2, and it had just finished a test flight, gliding down from 45,000 feet (14,000 m) at a speed of about 450mph (720 kmh). The pilot was Bruce Peterson. The strangest… Continue reading
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The Ides of March…marching on
The following was discovered by chance, and translated from an archaic form of Latin. I have only one regret, despite this cursed existence visited upon me for reasons and by means that pass my understanding. It has been, for me, five years and eight months thus far. The people now expect, though I see but… Continue reading
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March 13
March 13 When I compile each Book of Days post, I review everything I can find about events of that day. I’ve been doing this for a while now. I’ve noticed that for most dates, there are plenty of battles, wars, massacres, assassinations, sieges, and attacks. If you wanted to write a book of days… Continue reading
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March 12
You’ve heard of the Great Resignation. The Big Quit. As Andrea Hsu wrote, “Many [people] are rethinking what work means to them, how they are valued, and how they spend their time.” Hsu, like most others, attributed the Great Resignation to the COVID-19 pandemic. Maybe the pandemic was the proximate cause; the trigger. But take… Continue reading
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March 10
Generally speaking, people are pretty social. We find ways to join together in all sorts of ways. Family groups often stick together, whether they’re the nuclear families of very recent invention or various forms of clans. Children of similar ages play together. People organize clubs, organizations, bands, orders, associations, crews, teams, and circles. But there… Continue reading
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March 9
In 1776, on March 9, Adam Smith published The Wealth of Nations. It quickly became perhaps the first of a long line of books having one peculiar characteristic: it was highly popular, much talked about, cited in the halls of academia as well as in the chambers of governments, and yet hardly anybody actually read… Continue reading
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March 8, International Women’s Day
Today is March 8, International Women’s Day. It has a longer and more diverse history than you might expect. Let’s have a look. The very first Women’s Day (that we know of) was called National Woman’s Day, and it was February 28, 1909! I bet you didn’t see that year coming. It wasn’t a calm… Continue reading
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March 7
Thomas Kuhn was a philosopher of science whose signature work was The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, published in 1962. One thing that book did was introduce the phrase “paradigm shift,” which became annoyingly overused (but thankfully, I don’t hear it quite as often recently, even in those language-mangling arenas, corporate conference rooms). The other thing… Continue reading
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March 6; more birthdays
March 6 Today is Michelangelo’s birthday. He’d be well over 500. If it were really possible to live to that kind of age, could anyone sustain their creative output over such a long period? Everybody knows him as simply Michelangelo, although his full name was Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni. He’s known as one of… Continue reading
About Me
I’m Pete Harbeson, a writer located near Boston, Massachusetts. In addition to writing my own content, I’ve learned to translate for my loquacious and opinionated puppy Chocolate. I shouldn’t be surprised, but she mostly speaks in doggerel.