-
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
-
Join the conversation
A “dialog” (also spelled “dialogue”, should you be playing Scrabble and need the extra points) is a conversation, generally between two people. It’s from Greek, and made up of “dia” (through) and “logos” (to speak). It was a single word even in Greek though: “dialogos.” It entered Latin “dialogus” and Old French “dialogue,” where it Continue reading
-
Honkytonk
In February, 1900, the Evening Gazette in Reno, Nevada, explained the origin of the term “honkytonk:” “Every child of the range can tell what honkatonk means and where it came from. Away, away back in the very early days, so the story goes, a party of cow punchers rode out from camp at sundown in Continue reading
-
Beatrice Shilling
If you’re going to power an airplane with an internal combustion engine, you’re going to have some obstacles to overcome. This is particularly true when the airplane is designed to do aerobatic moves rather than just fly straight and level. In some maneuvers the airplane will experience “negative-g” — that is, it will be effectively Continue reading
-
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
-
Villain
The Latin word “villa” moved into Italian, and more recently into English, unchanged. In Latin it meant a farmhouse or country house, and still does, even in English. But coming from outside the city isn’t always regarded as a good thing. Just as the middle of the US is sometimes called “flyover country,” good only Continue reading
-
Spriten
English is a constantly changing mess of new words being borrowed and invented and existing words falling into disuse and obsolescence. With that going on for so long, it’s no wonder that some pretty good words have fallen out of use. One word that hasn’t been seen in centuries, and might be a good candidate Continue reading
-
Frances Elizabeth Snyder
Imagine that you managed to qualify for and enroll in a top university despite all sorts of obstacles having been put in your way. You attend your first class, in a specialty you’re very talented in: math. And there, in your first class, on your first day, your professor asks you if you wouldn’t be Continue reading
-
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
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 pup Chocolate Bossypaws. I shouldn’t be surprised, but she mostly speaks in doggerel. You can find her contributions tagged with Chocolatiana.
Check out my other blog, Techlimitics, where I’m grappling with the nature of simplicity.
Privacy policy
No trackers, no ads, no data collected or saved.
Contact
peterharbeson@me.com