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A Magic Ring
Dog, Bear, and Hare were having a secret meeting. Not that it was secret from everyone, although didn’t really need to mention it to anyone else. It was only a secret from Magpie. It had turned out to be surprisingly hard to have a meeting that Magpie didn’t know about. She flew over the forest Continue reading
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Writative
There are people who like to write, there are people who need to write because of their work, and then there are people who are “writative.” The difference is probably something like this: someone who likes to write might keep a journal, but having forgotten to pack their diary for a weekend trip, would simply Continue reading
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User Interface Design Considered Harmful
Computers and their cousins — smartphones, tablets, and so on — are supposedly easier to use nowadays, right? In the early days, you had to know a set of “commands” and enter them into the computer by typing them. Often there wasn’t much, if any, on-screen help. Now we’ve got little pictures (icons) and ways Continue reading
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Zenzizenzizenzic
If you raise a number to its second power, you have the square of the number. If you raise it to the third power, you have the cube. I’m pretty sure most people know that. But here’s an obscure bit of trivia: if you raise a number to its eighth power, what you have is Continue reading
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Back in the Day: July 26
July 26 In 1921, the “Laugh-O-Gram Studio” opened in Kansas City, Missouri. It produced animated films from the second floor of a nondescript brick building on East 31st Street — the building is still standing, and you’d never give it a second look, unless you knew about its history. The studio had a contract for Continue reading
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Ferreting
Hare was sitting in Raccoon’s parlor. “Somebody’s trying to ferret out what happened at the party in the barn,” he said. “Who?” asked Raccoon carelessly. “Ferret,” said Hare. “I heard you the first time,” said Raccoon, “I meant who’s doing the ferreting.” “Ferret,” said Hare again. “You can’t miss him. He looks like a smaller Continue reading
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Noggin
The word “noggin” has a longer history than you might expect for a slang term for your head. When the word is used today, it’s used the way it appeared in “Landfall” in 1951: “Thanks, chum,’ said Vic, ‘You used your noggin.’” Roald Dahl used it, too, in “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar:” “Of Continue reading
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A July 26 Birthday
Close your eyes for a moment and imagine that today is your 80th birthday. You were born in 1945, in England, and one of your favorite things to do was sing. when you were a boy, about 7 years old, you had a good friend who liked singing too, and you were both in the Continue reading
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John B. Goodenough
July 25 If you have an electric or hybrid car, use a smartphone, take your laptop to a cafe to work, or just generally enjoy not worrying that much about dying batteries any more, you have John Goodenough to think. He was born July 25, 1922, and he invented the lithium-ion battery that’s used in Continue reading
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Chock-Full
When you’re reading a series of texts chock-full of obscure words and other barely interesting trivia (don’t look at me; I don’t know where you’d find anything like that), you might reasonably ask yourself: “chock-full? What’s a chock, and how can it be full?” The phrase “chock-full” has been around for a very long time. 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