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Into the woods
My favorite walks are in the woodsBut I do get so excited;squirrels, chipmunks, birds, and leaves:just some of what I’ve sighted. Trails feel better to my feetthan stupid sidewalks do.They’re one of humans’ worst ideasin my waggy view. The sniffs and soundsare extra good.I love my walksinto the woods. -Chocolate Continue reading
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A cold case
The Antarctic Mystery with Another Antarctic Mystery In 1897 Jules Verne wrote An Antarctic Mystery. It’s a two-volume novel that is a sort of a sequel to The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket. Sequels are pretty common, of course, but in this case Verne’s novel was a sequel to a book written by… Continue reading
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November 24
Every once in a while there’s a day that seems to be tied to an idea. The thing is, it’s not always easy to discover what the idea is. Take today, for example. November 24 is Evolution Day in celebration of the date in 1859 that Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species. It… Continue reading
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Hit the road, Jack
Old joke: “there are no roads in the City of London”. (The City of London is relatively small, ancient, and not the same as “London” itself). The joke is true; there’s not a single passageway there called a “road” — because by the time “road” entered English, every similar thing in the City of London… Continue reading
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November 23
Have you ever wondered why actors are called “thespians”? It’s because of November 23. Partly, anyway. This is the day in 534 BCE that, according to Aristotle, someone named “Thespis” was the first person to portray a character on stage in a play. We’re talking about well over two thousand years ago, when record keeping… Continue reading
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Stamp out damp
Getting rained on is not my thing;I don’t like getting wet —I don’t enjoy baths much either.I’m told I can swim but I haven’t tried yet. The problem is that once I’m wetI just don’t like my choices.It’s shaking, towels, or those hot air thingswith such annoying voices. On rainy days I mostly stay insideand listen to… Continue reading
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Mary Ann Evans Lewes Cross
Mary Ann Evans was born on November 22, 1819, and you’ve very likely heard of her. That’s the case even if you’re now saying “Mary Ann Evans? Who the heck is Mary Ann Evans?” And you probably are saying that, because you don’t know Mary Ann Evans by her real name; you know her pen… Continue reading
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Simply indescribable. So let’s try.
Some English words exist only as what sound like negative forms, like “incognito.” You never hear about anyone going around “cognito,” after all. But there are also some that were originally positive words, then gained a negative form, then the positive form faded out of use leaving us with only…for example…“ineffable.” Something that’s “ineffable” can’t… Continue reading
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November 22
Have you ever wondered why actors are called “thespians”? It’s because of November 23. Partly, anyway. This is the day in 534 BCE that, according to Aristotle, someone named “Thespis” was the first person to portray a character on stage in a play. We’re talking about well over two thousand years ago, when record keeping… Continue reading
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“New” can be a relative term
In Hampshire, England, there’s a park called the New Forest that’s not very new at all. It goes back to William the Conqueror (who was in charge 1066-1087), and was a “royal forest.” In the Domesday Book in 1086, it was called “Nova Foresta.” It was used for royal hunts — of deer, for example… 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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