-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
October 27
Dylan Thomas, who was born on October 27 in 1914, would have found it dramatic and moody that the Boston Red Sox won their first world series since 1918 on this day in 2004. “Do not go gentle into that doomed championship series,” he might have said. When the Red Sox committed four errors in… 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
- Pendulums go nowhere
- It would be much more efficient…
- Step back to add perspective
- They’ll just say anything at all
- Educational Trip
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