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Gnathonic
The original meaning of “parasite” in English was someone who weasels their way into the retinue of a wealthy and/or powerful person and stays there by constant, shameless flattery. That is, somebody who’s unrelentingly gnathonic. At this point you might not entirely appreciate that clarification, since “gnathonic” is so obscure that it’s practically unknown. At… Continue reading
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February 5 (more Burroughs)
Theres a picture of William S. Burroughs, the writer, from his time in Paris. In the photo, there’s a car in the background, over his right shoulder. The car is a Citroen DS, the entirely revolutionary design introduced by the Citroen car company in 1955. Practically every system in it was hydraulically controlled, and it… Continue reading
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William S. Burroughs
On February 5, 1914, William Seward Burroughs II was born in Missouri in the US. He was born into a wealthy family, thanks to his grandfather (William Seward Burroughs I) having invented an early adding machine and founded the Burroughs Corporation. He attended Harvard, and enrolled in medical school in Vienna. World War II intervened,… Continue reading
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The magic ring
Dog, Bear, and Hare were having a secret meeting. Not that it was secret from everyone. It was only a secret from Magpie. It had turned out to be surprisingly hard to have a meeting that Magpie didn’t know about. She flew over the forest every day, and she seemed to notice everything. That’s why… Continue reading
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Groundhog/marmot/woodchuck/et cetera
A marmot is a small to medium-sized rodent, and in addition to there being an actual animal called a marmot, it’s also sometimes used as a name for a whole family of animals first described in the 1700s by Carl Linnaeus. The formal name of the family is “sciuridae,” which is simply the Latin word… Continue reading
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February 4
Maybe you’ve noticed, if you live in the Northern Hemisphere, that lately it’s feeling like the middle of winter. If so, good for you for being sensitive to the world around you, because today, February 4, really is the middle of winter. That is, as long as you use the December solstice to mark the… Continue reading
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Ignivomous
You might think that physical aspects of the Earth’s geography would have names as old as anything in English. But there are some geographic features with names that aren’t as old as you might think. “Volcano,” for example, is a word that dates back only to the 1600s. Its first eruption into English was in… Continue reading
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February 3
Do you always breathe just a little bit easier when you wake up on February 3, so you know you’re not caught living Groundhog Day over and over and over? That’s certainly the way it is for me. Groundhog Day seems to be forever associated with Groundhog Day the movie — even though making BIll… Continue reading
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The Secret Ingredient
“The thing is,” said Hare, “we’re just going to have to find some, and that’s all there is to it.” “But there are plenty of other things you could use instead,” said Raccoon. “No,” said Hare, “I’m making my special salad, and every single ingredient is carefully selected. Substituting one thing would change the whole… 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 other blog, Techlimitics, where I’m grappling with the nature of simplicity. You can also find some of my minor software projects at GitHub. Nothing very impressive. I mostly write tiny utilities in Python.
I find myself suddenly de-corporatized (their choice, not mine). To help keep the lights on, buy me a coffee!
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Contact
peterharbeson@me.com