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September 5
There have been some strange taxes throughout history, but in 1698, one of the oddest ones was imposed on September 5. It was the “beard tax.” The Tsar of Russia at the time was Peter I (“Peter the Great”), who wanted to reform Russia to make it more like the modern European powers. He started Continue reading
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Off the Grid
The Mouse family had moved back to the forest, and into their old house. “I’m so glad to be living near all our friends again,” said Ma Mouse, as they raked their front lawn. It had started to look unkempt while the house had been vacant, and Ma liked everything neat and tidy. “Even though Continue reading
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Born today: al-Biruni
In the western world we learn a lot about ancient geniuses like Socrates, Plato, and I’m sure you can add more names to that list. But have you heard of al-Biruni? He was the equal of any of them, but lived in a different part of the world, so he’s not included in our educational Continue reading
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Fossils, Places, Reactions, oh my
You may recall that “nitrogen”, “hydrogen”, and “oxygen” have something in common: the suffix “-gen” means “begetter of” in Greek, and these three elements were named after what they “produce.” Hydrogen produces water (hydro) when burned, oxygen reacts with metal to form acidic oxides that have a distinctly sour taste (“oxy-“ in Greek means sharp Continue reading
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September 4
If you’d been around on September 4, 1923 and had one of those cameras everybody seemed to be buying, you could have taken a photo of the USS Shenandoah on its first-ever flight. It was the first airship in the US (they’d been in use in Europe for quite some time). It was a rigid Continue reading
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Born Today: John Humphrey Noyes
The 19th Century wasn’t just a stodgy, old-fashioned century eagerly awaiting the technological hellscape of the 20th Century. Among other things it was a time of social and cultural experimentation when a lot of new and different ideas were tried. John Humphrey Noyes, who was born September 3, 1811, was one of the pioneers. Noyes Continue reading
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(Re)Hearse
If you’re an actor in a play, you probably do a lot of rehearsing. There might even be a funeral scene in the play you’re rehearsing, and one of the sets might include a hearse. If you’re rehearsing with a hearse, you’re working with two words that seem like they’d be completely different, but are Continue reading
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September 3
Welcome to September 3, National Welsh Rarebit Day! It was originally called “Welsh rabbit”, even though it doesn’t contain any rabbit, and the ingredients probably wouldn’t even appeal to rabbits. It’s a pretty simple dish; basically just cheese on toast. The name has morphed into “rarebit” instead of “rabbit” because too many people were confused. Continue reading
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The club, and Jimmy
“I did something right outta your bag of tricks,” Joe announced. “I got a bag of tricks?” “Yeah, ya do.” “So what did ya do?” “You know that Model A guy Warren?” “Sure, is he looking for help with bodywork and you said you’d do it as a favor?” “You’re the favors guy; if I 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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