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Yule
This is the time of year we find ourselves in the “yule” or “yuletide” season. It’s twelve days long — except when it’s about two months long — which it isn’t when it lasts just three days. But we’re only “probably” in it because it hasn’t always taken place at this time of year, or… Continue reading
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December 11
In the US, December 11 is “Indiana Day”, but really it’s only celebrated in Indiana itself. It commemorates Indiana becoming a state in 1816, but the date became an official observance only in 1925. Indiana was the 19th state, admitted a year before Mississippi, when it was transformed from the “Indiana Territory” to Indiana. As… Continue reading
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Listen to me; I’m rich
From my privileged positionas a dog of ease and wealth,I shall add my observationson the world’s state of health. You humans seem to ideatethat wealth means one is smart.I’m better off than anyoneAnd have this to impart: You guys are often kindlybut you’re just as often nuts.You tie up those big minds of yoursin silly,… Continue reading
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Wait, I thought “sticks and stones…”
Some people think that a text — a book of fiction, for example, or the script for a play — is one complete thing, and that each constituent part, whether it’s a passage or just a single word, must be left as-is or the message and nature of the whole is changed. Others think of… Continue reading
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December 10
Today is December 10, although if you write it “Dec 10” you might mean the PDP-10 computer from Digital Equipment Corp (“DEC”) back in the 70s. Like most of the computers back then, the DEC 10 was a mainframe that lived in its own (large) room that probably had its own air conditioning system. As… Continue reading
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On second thought…
The weather’s getting colder.I go out; it’s snow I find.Now I feel, to my surprise,that I have changed my mind. Snow changes the smellsin gentle little waysand you can poke it with your noseif you’d like to play. At first I thought it was more like rainand that stuff I despise.But snow is a better… Continue reading
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December 9
One of the shortcomings of growing up entirely in one culture is that you might never really understand some of the holidays celebrated in other cultures. December 9 might highlight something like that for those of us brought up outside of Sweden, where it’s Anna’s Day today. What that means in Sweden is a celebration… Continue reading
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James Thurber
When you were a child, if your mom pretended to have a disability, went to a faith healer show, and jumped up yelling about being healed — and she she staged the whole thing as a practical joke — what do you think you might grow up to become? In the case of James Thurber,… Continue reading
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December 8
December 8 makes us pine for what we’ve lost to history. Back in the good old days, this whole modern practice of surnames wasn’t nearly as established, so people were able to identify their leaders the ways they wanted. That’s why we know that in the year 877, when the new king of Aquitaine was… Continue reading
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Decisions, decisions
This is a question that’s been on my mind:I have two sorts of treats, but my choice is which kind?There are some that are crunchy,and they’re really neat,but the others are chewy,and still good to eat. I have both kinds at homeand it’s kind of a gameto guess which I will get;’cause they’re just not… Continue reading
About Me
I’m Pete Harbeson, a writer (among other things) located near Boston, Massachusetts. In addition to writing my own content, I’ve learned to translate for my loquacious and opinionated pup Chocolate Bossypaws. No surprise, 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. You can also find some of my minor software projects at GitHub. Nothing very impressive. I mostly write tiny utilities in Python.
I find myself suddenly de-corporatized (their choice, not mine). To help keep the lights on, buy me a coffee!
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Contact
peterharbeson@me.com