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August 22
Today is the 159th anniversary of the first time a yacht owned by some really rich guy beat a yacht owned by another really rich guy in a race to win the America’s Cup. Except they didn’t really win the America’s Cup, because at the time it was called the “R.Y.S. One Hundred Sovereign Cup.” Continue reading
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Barnstorming
Sometimes you’ll see a story about some person or group “barnstorming”, which means touring around an area — possibly the whole US — making brief stops for whatever their specialty happens to be. A band could hold a barnstorming concert tour; a political candidate could barnstorm around giving speeches, and so forth. If you look Continue reading
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Cahoots
“She was in cahoots with a doctor.” That’s a line from “Murder Must Wait,” a 1953 detective novel. It’s a pretty typical line; I don’t know how many novels in the crime fiction genre include “…in cahoots with…” but I bet it’s in the hundreds, at least. Being “in cahoots” with somebody means partnering with them, with Continue reading
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Born Today: William Murdoch
If you lived two or three centuries ago, you mostly lived in the dark. I don’t mean metaphorically; candles don’t produce much illumination, and in those days they were pretty expensive. There weren’t very many alternatives, either. Luckily for people who liked to stay up late or read at night, William Murdoch was born on Continue reading
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August 21
When you fill out an online form with your postal location information, one of the choices in the “country” dropdown menu is “United States Outlying Islands.” Ever wonder about those? One of them was discovered today, August 21, in 1821. Jarvis Island is a tiny coral island that’s really, totally, I’m not kidding, in the Continue reading
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Born Today: Henry Every, King of the Pirates
It might be a bit unusual for someone to be remembered for centuries for events in just a brief period of their life. In the case of Henry Every, who was (probably) born August 20, 1656, (probably) in an English village a bit north of Devon. He may have been related to the Every family Continue reading
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Facinorous, etc.
If you’re anything like Shakespeare, (and come on, you know you are!) you occasionally have the need to fling an epithet at someone. And here’s a good one. Shakespeare used it in “As You Like It.” When you use it, you’re calling someone immoral, vile, heinous, highly criminal, very wicked. The word is somewhat obscure, Continue reading
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August 20
You’ve probably heard the term “going postal.” When it’s used as dark humor, it means being driven nuts by events and people around you. When it’s used seriously, it means shooting your coworkers. “Going postal” comes from this very day in 1986. Patrick Sherrill, a “relief carrier” in the Edmond, Oklahoma post office, brought a 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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