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March 5
It’s a mysterious thing, how people can so easily understand maps. You can unfold a map, show it to a very small child, and it won’t take them long to “get it.” They’ll even understand the limitations of maps (or possibly the limitations of paper); if you try to tell them they can peer very… Continue reading
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How about ANTEpropreantepenultimate?
In English we already know that the initial three items in a sequence: first, second, and “third, are identified in a different way than then next however-many (fourth, fifth, and so on). But what about the other end of a sequence? Other than last, next to last, second from last, and the rest, can English… Continue reading
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Not a culverin
“Slang” is nonstandard language. In some circles slang is considered worse than just nonstandard; the Oxford English Dictionary defines it as “A species of cannon; a serpentine or culverin.” Oops, no, that’s what “slang” meant in the 1500s. I should have used this: “A long narrow strip of land.” Oh, drat; not that one either.… Continue reading
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Maria Branyas
If you’re anywhere near Catalonia, in Spain, you might think about stopping by today to wish Maria Branyas a happy birthday. She’s 117 today. Really. She’s the oldest person in the world. Although she’s Spanish, she was born in San Francisco, California in — get this — 1907! Her family had moved there from Catalonia… Continue reading
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March 4
March is Women’s History Month, so I think it’s a good time to have a brief look at some of the women in the history of March 4, specifically. It was March 4, 1917 that Jeannette Rankin became the first female member of the US House of Representatives. She was actually the first woman to… Continue reading
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The Argues
The next time Dog met Flash the Barn Cat was in Hare’s meadow. Flash was sitting on a stump talking to Magpie. “I’ve heard about something like that,” Magpie was saying. “The last time Coriolus passed this way he mentioned something about it. He said he and his vee…that’s Lucky, Spruce, and Bruce…they saw some… Continue reading
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Sagittiferous AND sagittipotent!
If you found yourself composing, say, a morning’s Harkening of the Day back in the late 1600s, you might want to mention Robin Hood. After all, the legend was alive in those days too, and (hard as it is to believe) it was a popular story even before the man himself was played by a… Continue reading
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March 3
Miss Annabelle Winslow was born in Boston, Massachusetts on the eve of the Civil War. Living in Massachusetts, as she did with her family, she was not much affected by the events of the war, and as she was merely an infant and toddler throughout most of it, it’s not clear that she was even… Continue reading
About Me
I’m Pete Harbeson, a writer (among other things) located near Boston, Massachusetts. In addition to writing my own content, I’ve learned to translate for my loquacious and opinionated pup Chocolate Bossypaws. No surprise, she mostly speaks in doggerel. You can find her contributions tagged with Chocolatiana.
Check out my newsletter, Artisanal Scribbles, where I’m grappling with writing, authentic human authorship, integrity, and the craft of beauty in the AI age. You can also find some of my old software projects at GitHub. Nothing very impressive. I mostly wrote tiny utilities in Python and shell scripts. I’m mostly retired from coding nowadays.
I find myself suddenly de-corporatized (their choice, not mine). To help keep the lights on, buy me a coffee!
Recent Posts
- The True Chew
- The Cycles within the Arc
- I’d rather have a taco
- 20-something Hubris
- You can’t be a leader without followers
Categories
Artificial Intelligence
Chocolatiana
Essays
History, sort of
Immorality
Incompetence
Quotations
Resistance
Stories
Tales from the Forest
Technicalities
Tragedy
Unanticipated Consequences
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Contact
peterharbeson@me.com