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November 5
It’s November 5, which in England means it’s the anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot. In 1605, Guy Fawkes was arrested in the basement of the Parliament building with a bit of incriminating evidence: 36 barrels of gunpowder. The plot was to destroy the House of Lords while the Lords — including, in particular, King James… Continue reading
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Frozen off
This morning it was super coldwhen I went out on my patrol.The air was icy; made me coughHumans’ tails? They froze them off! -Chocolate Continue reading
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November 4
Will Rogers, who was born November 4, 1879, didn’t let elections get to him. He did point out that “I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat.” “Do the best you can,” he also said, “and don’t take life too serious.” Rogers was an enormously popular star in the… Continue reading
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Word by Word
We pretty much take dictionaries for granted these days. But it hasn’t always been that way, and the process of creating dictionaries and dictionary entries is interesting enough that it’s been the subject of several books. The book that may have started the whole thing is The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester; it’s… Continue reading
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November 3
About a thousand years ago, give or take a few centuries, on what’s now called Temwen Island in the Pacific, some people — nobody is quite sure who they were — started building a pretty extraordinary structure. It’s a city, but it’s not built on land. They built it in a lagoon. It’s about a… Continue reading
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Sleeping in
Most mornings I happento be awake firstand I like a massagewhere I lie. A nose in the earalways wakes up my folks;they will grumblebut then they’ll comply. Some days (like today)I like to sleep lateand my humans could snooze in the clear, But they’re ruled by routine;automatic-al-ly,they are up with nonose in the ear! -Chocolate Continue reading
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The best spot
When I enter a room I do a quick scan.Not by eye or by nose or by ear.I use a sixth sense that humans don’t haveto detect what soft cushions are here. I check each, compare,I tweak and I fettleto see which is softest and best.Then I know that I’ve foundThe most comfy aroundAnd that… Continue reading
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Popinjay
Calling someone a “popinjay” is slightly archaic, but still in use; the guy who was White House Communications Director for about a week a few years back, Anthony Scaramucci, was called a “popinjay” by several commentators. It appears to have been Felix Salmon’s idea, who started it all the way back in 2011, when he… Continue reading
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November 2
The second of November is a big day in computer security; it’s the anniversary of the first significant computer worm distributed over the Internet in 1988. It was the Morris Worm, created by Robert Morris, a graduate student at Cornell. His intentions weren’t malicious, and the worm wasn’t intended to cause any harm. During his… Continue reading
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Who was that?
In 1624, William Bedell published a book with the riveting title Copies Certaine Letters. In it he posed a question, which has echoed down the centuries ever since: “Who were these quidams that laid hands on Scory?” A couple of hundred years later, in 1832, the London Times pointed out that “If the doctrine of our English quidams be… 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. I shouldn’t be surprised, but she mostly speaks in doggerel. You can find her contributions tagged with Chocolatiana.
Recent Posts
- Dis- or Ab-?
- Thoughtfulness about fake thought
- Drink plenty of liquids
- “Hawkweed?”
- Walked to school in the snow uphill both ways
Visitation
Research Results
i.webthings.hub
Full Moon Fiber Art
Scripting News
Balloon Juice
Empty Wheel
Kansas Reflector
Bedlam Farm Journal
Krugman Wonks Out
Daring Fireball
[citation needed]
Pluralistic
Cornerstone of Democracy
Whatever
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