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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
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John
John’s favorite meal was thanksgiving dinner — or, really, a turkey dinner with all the trimmings; it didn’t have to be just for thanksgiving. The young family usually attended one or the other sets of parents’ holiday gatherings; John really wanted to host a holiday gathering at his own home. He was surprised how much… 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
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Immorality
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Contact
peterharbeson@me.com