-
Born today: Bronson Alcott
Our birthday celebrant today is an odd character; he entered into countless projects without the resources or abilities to see them through, and endured equally countless failures. He was a prolific writer, but his work (even at the time) has been criticized as mostly incoherent. He didn’t have any single accomplishment of particular note, but… Continue reading
-
Born today (Nov 28): Luke Howard
Clouds, technically speaking, are aerosols consisting of a visible mass of liquid droplets, frozen crystals, or other particles suspended in an atmosphere. There is a whole science of clouds, called “nephology.” And in addition to the “stratus,” cumulus,” and other common types of clouds, there’s an extensive nomenclature system identifying types of clouds based on… Continue reading
-
November 29
Today is the anniversary of the day that Enos, the only chimpanzee to orbit the earth, was launched aboard Mercury-Atlas 5 in 1961. It was the final rehearsal of the Mercury program before John Glenn’s orbital flight. Enos completed two orbits, then his capsule reentered the atmosphere and splashed down in the Atlantic. Enos was… Continue reading
-
November 28
It seems like an unusual date to pick — November 28, 1895 — if only because November in Chicago isn’t known for having the most hospitable weather of the year. If you’re going to schedule an event that’s entirely outside, you might be tempted toward, say, July or August. But no, that was the date… Continue reading
-
Who’s in charge of this outfit, anyway?
Everybody knows about democracy. It’s originally a Greek word, formed by “demos” (common people) and “-cracy” (power). You’ll find the suffix “-cracy” in a number of places, from “aristocracy” to “autocracy,” and quite a few more. “Ariso” means “the best” in Greek, and although we now use “aristocracy” in a way that doesn’t imply actual… Continue reading
-
Born today: Cal Worthington
One of the odder details about the automobile business in the US during the 20th Century was that as soon as television arrived, car dealers began using the medium for advertising. Most of their ads were typical “buy your car from our dealership” appeals. But a variant arose sometime in the 1950s that was just… Continue reading
-
Perty good
If somebody is described as “pert,” that’s (sometimes) a good thing. To be “pert” is to be lively or outspoken. On the other hand, to be “pert” can also be a bad thing. To be “pert” is to be impudent or sassy. In both cases it sort of dates the person using the word, too… Continue reading
-
November 27
It all started the morning of November 27, 1809. At five AM sharp, a chimney sweep arrived at 54 Berners Street, the home of Mrs. Tottenham, who was known to be a “lady of fortune” — that is, she was rich. A maid answered his knock, and informed him that there must be some mistake;… Continue reading
-
Sarcophagus
An unusually large sarcophagus was fairly recently discovered in Egypt, and it contains not one but three mummies. Nobody has yet figured out the story behind this find, but there’s a really good story behind the word “sarcophagus.” In fact it’s pretty close to a horror story. The word comes from Greek, and it’s made… Continue reading
-
November 26
In some years (not this one), today is Thanksgiving in the US. This isn’t going to be about Thanksgiving, though. In fact I wouldn’t be surprised if Thanksgiving isn’t mentioned even once. On a later edit, I guess that should say “I wouldn’t be surprised if Thanksgiving isn’t mentioned more than three times. Oh, one… 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
- How much is that doggie in the window?
- Hang on, I’m busy
- Sometimes it’s not an improvement
- Do not call your friend…
- Once more, into the breach
Categories
Artificial Intelligence
Chocolatiana
Essays
History, sort of
Immorality
Incompetence
Quotations
Resistance
Stories
Tales from the Forest
Technicalities
Tragedy
Unanticipated Consequences
Privacy policy
No trackers, no ads, no data collected or saved.
Contact
peterharbeson@me.com