Pylimitics

"Simplicity" rearranged

  • October 3

    It’s October third; Happy Thanksgiving! No, really — this is the day George Washington proclaimed it was Thanksgiving in 1789. But (you knew there was a “but” coming) Washington’s proclamation was only for that one year. Thanksgiving as a national holiday showed up only occasionally after that, when whoever was President at the time thought… Continue reading

  • Marvel Whiteside (Jack) Parsons

    Jack Parsons is one of the most important figures in the US space and rocketry systems. He was a real space cadet, too. This is quite lengthy, but also quite a story, and all true. Parsons was born October 2, 1914, in Los Angeles, California. His actual name, and I’m not making this up, was… Continue reading

  • October 2

    What’s on (October) second. Who’s on first, of course, and Tomorrow, the pitcher, will be the third, where you can find I Don’t Know, manning the infield catching Today…I mean, Today catching, and the last one, well, I Don’t Give a Darn. But the right fielder? We never find out his name.  As you’ve probably… Continue reading

  • Yes, I’m a friend, but

    They think I lick ’em’cause I like ’em. Like them I do,But I like salt, too. And I’m not tellin’Which is more true. -Chocolate Continue reading

  • Joshua Wurman

    Extreme weather events are getting more frequent and more extreme, and atmospheric scientists are studying what’s going on in the air around us, especially in regard to storms. One of the leaders in that effort is Joshua Wurman, who celebrates his 64th birthday today. Wurman was born in Pennsylvania, in the US, to Gloria Nagy,… Continue reading

  • Lucinda Hinsdale Stone

    Lucinda Hinsdale Stone was an American feminist long before the word “feminism” existed. She founded at least fifty women’s literary and study clubs in the midwestern US in the mid-1800s, was the first US woman to lead classes of young female students on international study trips, and after a career as a professor at the… Continue reading

  • Shhh, Don’t Tell Them

    I’m an excellent matchWith my humans;I picked them carefully. I tell them what  They should think and should doAnd they go along cheerfully. They often believeThat they have ideas Which really they get from me,But that part’s a secretWhich we won’t tell.I’m glad that you agree.  -Chocolate Continue reading

  • As you like it

    It’s all the same to us now, but more than a thousand years ago, Old English imported the Old Norse word “same.” It’s a word you probably use every day, but I’ll bet you wouldn’t have predicted that its actual definition is pretty long. It starts out “the ordinary adjectival and pronominal designation of identity…”… Continue reading

  • October 1

    In 1861, in spite of the part of the US Constitution requiring separation of government and religion, some religious leaders — including the Reverend Mark Watkinson of Pennsylvania — tried to convince the government that the nation’s official currency ought to include a religious statement. The US Civil War had begun and this was in… Continue reading

  • 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

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.

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