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Too bad for you
I’m sorry to sayYour luck is badIf you’re not a dog like me. We are betterThan anything else;A dog is the best you can be. I have the best life can offer.I do what I wantWhen I choose. So it’s too bad you’re not meBut hey,As they say “you snooze, you lose.” -Chocolate Continue reading
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Rhymes with “awful”
When someone “waffles,” they’re not cooking a breakfast pastry. Well, I suppose they could be, but generally that’s called “making waffles” instead. In the US, “waffling” is vacillating or dithering about a decision. Should you buy the blue shirt? It’s a nice color, but the pattern on the red shirt is nicer. So maybe you… Continue reading
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Feeling poorly?
From 1951 to 1960 there was a BBC radio comedy called The Goon Show. It was a half-hour show starring Spike Milligan, Harry Secombe, and a name you’ve heard before, Peter Sellers. Each episode featured comedy skits (like Saturday Night Live), generally with weird plots and goofy sound effects. The Goon Show was vastly popular,… Continue reading
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September 25
It was September 25, or thereabouts, in what everybody said was 1897. Mississippi, of course; you knew that it had to be Mississippi. Or France. The winds were blowing toward bad times in France, but not for a while yet. It would be just in time for a youth born in 1897 in Mississippi to… Continue reading
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This is not a colophon
In many books — the old kind, actually printed in real ink on real paper — there’s a page near the end that tells you some things about the book itself. Sometimes it lists the typefaces used, occasionally the paper, and maybe even some of the people involved in creating the book, such as the… Continue reading
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Walk talk
When I go on a walk,here’s the stuff I don’t like:No cars, no trucks,no squirrels, no bikes. Well, a squirrel or two,that’s not so darn hard;at least on a walkthey’re not in my yard. I love all the sniffsif we walk in the woods,where the sniffing is alwaysespecially good. My humans bring waterif I want… Continue reading
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September 24
Powered, controlled flight (by humans, at least) started on September 24, and you’ll be surprised by the year: it was 1852. The vessel was a rigid airship — a dirigible, if you will, although “dirigible” just means “rigid airship”— designed and built by Henri Giffard. It made a 27 kilometer trip from Paris to Élancourt,… Continue reading
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A Very Good Store
Went out for a walkand we went to a storewhere they had stuff for meand also lots more. I met some dogs there;we agreed it was neat;there are chew bones and toysnot to mention the treats. My humans got stuffthat they kept in a baguntil we got homeand then: wag wag wag. I got a… Continue reading
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Let the wild rumpus start!
The people exploring and populating the North American frontier between about 1780 and about 1840 weren’t just boldly going into the physical wilderness. They were blazing new linguistic trails as well; quite a number of new English words originated around that time and place. Many of them were multisyllabic and somewhat fanciful. A couple of… Continue reading
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September 23
If yesterday was a good commemoration of enduring mysteries, then today, September 23, seems to be a good day to commemorate enduring itself. Quite a few things began today that are still around. For one thing, September 23, 1642 was the first day anyone ever became a Harvard alum — it was their first commencement.… 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