Pylimitics

"Simplicity" rearranged

  • The greedy little hustlers never left

    Donald Trump is not the first crooked salesman to seek and attain the US presidency; not by a long shot. The first one I had any experience with was Richard Nixon, who might even have been worse. One of the best writers of that era was Hunter S. Thompson. In 1972, the Democratic candidate opposing… Continue reading

  • November 9

    November 9, 1801 was an important day in the history of both dairy products and fictional corporate representatives. Gail Borden II was born. He was named after his father, but somewhat unusual names seemed to run in the family; his mother’s given name was Philadelphia. The family moved to Kentucky when young Gail was about… Continue reading

  • Socially awkward

    There are lots of people today who proudly (or at least happily) describe themselves as nerds, geeks, or both. It’s quite a turnaround, because both words used to have somewhat negative connotations. They’ve also tended to converge in meaning, so that it’s not really clear what the difference is, if any (and if you’re about… Continue reading

  • November 8

    It was a mere 402 years ago today, in 1602, that the Bodleian Library at Oxford University was opened to the public. It wasn’t a step the librarians took lightly. The library had been founded nearly as far in its past as 1602 is in our past, in the 1300s, and for its first three… Continue reading

  • Albert Camus

    Today is the eleventy-first anniversary of the birth of Albert Camus, who pointed out in a number of ways that whatever you do, whatever you accomplish, whatever you dream of, whether you achieve it or not…nobody cares. Well, some people might care, but the universe we live in doesn’t give a fig. He laid this… Continue reading

  • Obscuring obscurity

    I found this information in an abditory. If this were written in Latin, that would be abditorium, which is the source of “abditory.” The word has been around since at least 1658, when it was used by somebody known only as J Robinson in a publication called Endoxa:  “In the center of the kernel of… Continue reading

  • November 7

    November seventh turns out to be the anniversary of three of the oldest things around. In 1492, on the outskirts of Ensisheim, France, a meteorite fell — it’s the oldest one with a record of when it arrived. Then in 1665, in London, the London Gazette was first published. It’s the oldest journal in the… Continue reading

  • James Naismith

    If you’re enjoying the US basketball season, you might want to celebrate the inventor’s birthday today — James Naismith was born November 6, 1861 in the Province of Canada. He moved to Springfield, Massachusetts in the US in about 1890 to study at the YMCA International Training School. From there he became a physical education… Continue reading

  • Wowzers

    The phrase “it’s a doozy” is an American expression that means something is remarkable and usually excellent. If “His elder daughter arrives in a doozie of a snowstorm,” you know that snowstorm was particularly intense.  Popular culture contains a story about the word “doozy.” It’s said to be based on the Duesenberg automobiles of the 1920s. They… Continue reading

  • November 6

    Today is November 6, and it’s a holiday! But I bet you didn’t know that. You see, unlike other holidays that have primarily caught on because of catchy names like Mother’s Day and Halloween — that is, holidays with competent public relations teams — today is the International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the… 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

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

Privacy policy
No trackers, no ads, no data collected or saved.