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October 13
If you’re not reading this on your mobile phone, stop right now and switch. Today is the anniversary of the first cellular service in the US being switched on. It was available only in Chicago, and the first service provider was Ameritech Mobile Communications. There were only a couple of kinds of phones available, and Continue reading
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I think that I shall never see…
Rhymatism “Last night in the dark,” said Raccoon, “I went to the park. And I know there were trees, ‘cause they bothered my knees.” “Raccoon,” said Squirrel, “what are you talking about?” “I’m trying to say, that I’m trying to play. When I look for my stuff, it gets really tough,” said Raccoon. Squirrel looked Continue reading
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Diplomatic
Sheets of paper were invented a long, long time before anybody thought of envelopes. In the early days — and by “early days” I mean a couple of millennia ago — when some important official wrote a document that might, for example, grant its holder a special privilege of some sort, they would keep it Continue reading
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Chatoyant
When you look at certain kinds of birds in the right light, their feathers can seem to change color in the light. In much the same way, silk and some other fabrics don’t always look quite the same as changing light hits them; you can see different colors and even patterns appear. This is caused Continue reading
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Born today: Velvalee Dickinson
In the 1930s and 1940s, in New York City, there was a doll shop on Madison Avenue. It was pretty well known, for a doll shop, and customers from around the US would both visit and send their damaged dolls there to be repaired in the “doll hospital.” The customers were generally wealthy women, since Continue reading
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October 12 — details, details.
October 12 is Freethought Day, at least in California. Freethought Day commemorates October 12, 1692, the day the Salem Witch Trials were ended by the governor of Massachusetts Colony (the US didn’t exist yet). The trials had gotten completely out of hand, particularly in the kinds of evidence that were being allowed. The tipping point, Continue reading
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Born today: Pylyp Orlyk
The idea of a Constitution governing the structure and functioning of a national government didn’t originate with the US Constitution. One of the earliest ones was written nearly a century earlier, by Pylyp Orlyk, who was born in what is today Belarus. His Constitution, which he wrote in 1710, was written in Ukrainian. Orlyk himself Continue reading
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Flaunt your finagling
Word of the day: finagle To “finagle” is to “use dishonest or devious means to bring something about.” The word is still in use, and although many people believe it’s a regional expression common only to the northeast US, the Dictionary of American Regional English points out that the word is used throughout the US. Continue reading
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October 11 (technically)
An odd thing happened on October 11, 1976. A promotion was awarded to an officer in the US Army. On the face of it, that seems like something that happens all the time, but this time the promotion was posthumous. Which is not something that happens all the time, but it’s certainly not unprecedented or Continue reading
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Antanaclasis
“Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.” (Groucho Marx) “We must, indeed, all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.” (Benjamin Franklin) Those are examples of “antanaclasis,” which is repeating a word (or a phrase), and using it in a different sense the second time. The word comes from Latin, 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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peterharbeson@me.com