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October 30
Angelo Siciliano was born on October 30, 1892 in Acri, Italy. When he was 11, his family emigrated to the US and settled in Brooklyn, where, not to be too blunt about it, Angelo got beat up a lot. He was a scrawny little kid and easy for the bullies to pick on. In his Continue reading
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Thelemic
François Rabelias was a Renaissance man in fifteenth-century France. That is, not only did he actually live during the French Renaissance, but he also pursued the multiple careers expected of somebody we would today label a “Renaissance man.” He was a writer, a doctor, a monk, and, although they didn’t really have the label at Continue reading
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October 29
It’s only two days until Halloween, which primes our psyches for tales of witchcraft and ghosts. But nowadays most of us (at least around here) see these things in a lighthearted way. It hasn’t always been that way. Witchcraft — even though people weren’t all that sure what it was — was something you could Continue reading
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Stories
It was cold in the forest. Everyone had grown their winter fur, except for the birds, who were always explaining how feathers were so much better than fur. Even so, the birds admitted it was cold. Beaver’s pond was frozen over, and he had to come out three times every day to break enough ice Continue reading
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Bissextile (not)
The ancient Romans were pretty good at some things, like roads, aqueducts, and long-lasting political systems, but their calendar (or calendars) were nothing we’d want to emulate. They divided the year into months, like we do, but possibly because of that unwieldy numbering system they had (out of all the systems that have been developed, Continue reading
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Forsoothery
Methinks ye belike have encountered some of these words of yore; the ilke of which whilom were found in common service, Verily today we find them nigh vanished and nowise spoken any more. Natheless these obsolete terms mayhap find a meet abode in fiction, if you hark to it. I’d be fain indeed to see Continue reading
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October 28
The best response to discovering you’ve awakened on October 28 is to shout “Yahoo!” Since you just woke up, of course, you might first need to clear your throat by going “houyhnhnm” a couple of times. When you settle down with some coffee and check the morning business news, take note of that startup company Continue reading
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A tinge of hue
It’s autumn, the leaves in New England are spectacular, and it’s probably time to brush up on your color vocabulary. After all, anybody can say “look, a purple cow” — but why do that when you can call it “aubergine”? Or if the cow is blue, how about “azuline”? There are loads of available English Continue reading
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Catoptromancy
A pretty familiar rhyme is “mirror, mirror, on the wall / who’s the fairest of them all.” This comes from the Evil Queen in Snow White (the animated Disney movie version). The original story is a German fairy tale, and didn’t include seven dwarfs (not even Bashful or Doc). But it did include the magic Continue reading
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Born today: Fran Lebowitz
I think it was Hunter S. Thompson who said “there’s no credential a writer needs,” and Fran Lebowitz, whose 73rd birthday is today, is a good example. She’s a New York City-based writer and commentator who’s known for her sardonic observations about American life, and if you’d followed her progress as a girl and young 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.
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