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Born Today: Agneta Horn
A professional historian has said “we know less than 1% of what really happened five hundred years ago, and two thirds of that is wrong.” So how do we know anything at all about the past? One source, at least in the European tradition, is writers who recorded events in their lives and their impressions… Continue reading
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August 18
Pierre Janssen, who was an astronomer, discovered helium on August 18, 1868. Wait, you ask, what is an astronomer doing discovering a chemical element? Ah, that’s the right question. Not only did Janssen discover helium, he was the first person in history to discover a new element, but not on Earth. In fact, at the… Continue reading
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Teterrimous
It’s high time to review some words in the “obsolete” pile to see if we should bring them back and start using them again. Here’s a word we should resurrect: teterrimous. Back in the 1700s and 1800s when it was in use it meant “most foul”, as in “beware the teterrimous monster living in… Continue reading
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Born Today: Davy Crockett
In the US, there’s a huge amount of mythology around the “frontier.” It really wasn’t that long ago, mythologically speaking, but it’s a big blob of lore, some of it fictional, in American minds. Since the frontier era lasted until just a little more than a century ago, many of the heroic characters are based… Continue reading
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Again
“Again” is a word that comes up…well, again and again in conversation. It’s been around for a very long time; at least since Old English. But its meaning contains a surprising little twist. What you probably think of when you use “again” is repetition; you did something once, and if you do the same thing… Continue reading
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August 17
Those are the original Seven Commandments of Animalism, as espoused by Squealer and Napoleon, the two leaders of the revolution at Manor Farm. The world found out the whole story on August 17, 1945, when George Orwell’s “Animal Farm” was first. As you might remember, it didn’t turn out well. By coincidence, the two leaders… Continue reading
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Refrain
Word of the day: refrain When an over-played, clichéd song is played yet again, particularly when it cycles around to the tired refrain, unless you’re with a particularly refrained group of people, someone is sure to utter the refrain “how many times do we have to listen to this tune?” “Refrain” is not exactly a… Continue reading
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Born Today: Vincenzo Cornell
You might have a globe in your office, or remember one from a school classroom. If this has reminded you that you’d like to have a globe, they’re easily available and not particular expensive, since they’re mass produced, small enough to easily ship, and relatively popular. You can even get an inflatable one. None of… Continue reading
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Props
Sir Arnold Lunn was a writer who seems to have been better known as a skier. He was knighted for his skiing, but not his authorship. He lived from 1888 to 1974, and there’s a monument to him in Mürren, Switzerland where he organized the first world skiing championship in 1931. His father introduced him… 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
- How much is that doggie in the window?
- Hang on, I’m busy
- Sometimes it’s not an improvement
- Do not call your friend…
- Once more, into the breach
Categories
Artificial Intelligence
Chocolatiana
Essays
History, sort of
Immorality
Incompetence
Quotations
Resistance
Stories
Tales from the Forest
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Tragedy
Unanticipated Consequences
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Contact
peterharbeson@me.com