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August 4
August 4 is the birthday of John Fitch. He was a fighter pilot in WWII, based in north Africa. He and his squadron slept in tents, but being fighter pilots themselves, they felt pretty vulnerable to enemy fighter planes that could strafe the camp with machine gun fire. They didn’t have many resources to protect Continue reading
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At a loss
“Ferret, you really should stop taking Sally’s doll clothes,” said Dog. “Sooner or later you’re going to lose something and then you’ll be in trouble.” “Will not,” said Ferret, who was trying on a space suit. “I’ve never lost any part of a costume. Not even a hat.” “I’m just warning you,” said Dog. “One Continue reading
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A Raging Torrent
You feel intense rage. There isn’t anything you can do with it. It’s not directed at a particular person, although people are part of it. It’s not about any given company or organization or institution, although all of those contribute to it. You want—need—to express something. You imagine if you could just find the right Continue reading
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Gaudiloquent flosculation
Here’s a sentence you’d be unlikely to encounter nowadays. “It was noscible in the village that the oporopolist’s stall was often closed because of his fondness for riviation.” You’d be unlikely to encounter it because “noscible”, “oporopolist”, and “riviation” are all words that were once in general use in English, but haven’t been heard from Continue reading
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Born Today: Creme Puff
There are some odd things happening in the history of August 3 birthdays. First of all, yesterday the featured birthday was an inventor from the 1800s named Elisha. And guess what, another inventor from the 1800s named Elisha was born today; Elisha Otis. You’ve seen his name — he invented the Otis Elevator. But we’ve Continue reading
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By and Large
If you stop and think about a common, everyday expression, sometimes what you think is that it makes no sense. For example, “by and large” means “generally” or “for the most part.” The phrase has been around at least since the early 1700s (“Tho’ he trys every way, both by and large, to keep up with Continue reading
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August 3
Back in 1941, Louis Koch, a retired businessman was from Evansville, Indiana, visited Santa Claus, another Indiana town. It’s not clear whether it had taken him until his retirement to first visit a town with an interesting name just 40 miles away, but maybe he’d been busy. He evidently brought some kids with him, or Continue reading
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Averse to a verse
Hare was hosting a big pot luck dinner for everyone in the forest. He’d come back from helping with the carrot, onion, and potato harvest at the farm with a big sack of vegetables, and he’d been busy all day cooking different things with them. Otter had donated some fish, and Dog had brought a Continue reading
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August 2
Subway trains are older than you might think. It was August 2, 1870 that the first one opened. It was in London, and would take you on a 1300 foot journey under the Thames, near the Tower of London. In 1870, of course, there weren’t any electric trains yet (although they were very, very close Continue reading
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August 1
Today, August 1, would be a good day to have shredded wheat for breakfast. Why? Because August 1, 1893, is the day Henry Perky opened up an exhibit at the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago to show off his “little whole wheat mattresses.” His original idea was that he’d sell the machines he’d come up 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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peterharbeson@me.com