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September 14
September 14, 1914, marked the birth of Clayton Moore — The Lone Ranger. His real name was Jack — not short for anything; just Jack Moore. He started using the stage name Clayton around 1940 when he was working as a stuntman and extra in movies as well as doing modeling work. Moore enlisted in Continue reading
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September 13
It’s September 13, and as everybody in Great Missenden knows, September 13 has Rules. There are 8 of them. JUST ADD CHOCOLATE is the first rule. This is something that Milton Hershey took to heart in 1900 when he started manufacturing chocolate bars. He had already sold his first company — which made caramel — Continue reading
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For your trouble, here’s a gowpen
At various times and places throughout history, it’s been difficult to get your hands on whatever passed for “official” money. It could have been because there just wasn’t any such thing at the time, or because there just wasn’t a means for manufacturing whatever it was supposed to be — often, but not always, metal Continue reading
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Some of my favorite things
Scratching of earsis a very good practiceby humans who learn it —and also the fact isthat me and my dog palslove things that are smelly,and crunchies, and playtime, andrubs on our bellies.And another good thingthat we all think is funnyIs chasing a fluff-headedtrespassing bunny. -Chocolate Continue reading
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Walter B. Gibson
Not many people are aware of the link between magic — I mean, the kind of illusions a stage magician performs — and writing, particularly fiction. The link is made explicit by the writers who find Henning Nelms’ book Magic and Showmanship: A Handbook for Conjurers to be full of good advice for storytelling as Continue reading
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September 12
On September 12, 1910, in the Neue Musik-Festhalle (a newly-built hall in Munich with 3,200 seats) an orchestra of 171 instruments and a choir of 852 singers performed Gustav Mahler’s Symphony Number 8 for the first time. The organizers — including Mahler himself — had started at the beginning of the year recruiting choirs and Continue reading
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Yeah, that’s the thing
One of Shakespeare’s famous passages is Hamlet’s concluding speech, which includes the phrase “aye, there’s the rub.” You can tell from the context that what Hamlet means by “the rub” is an obstacle or difficulty of some sort. But without the context — and in fact, without that particular famous passage — how would anybody Continue reading
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Theodor Adorno
September 11 is the anniversary of the birth of Theodor Adorno, who was born in Frankfurt in 1903. As an example of how much the world has changed, just in the past century, Frankfurt was at the time part of Prussia and in the German Empire. Adorno was born Theodor Wiesengrund, and as a child Continue reading
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September 11
It’s hard to write about September 11. The remembrance of that day hangs over and darkens our time, at least in the US. It doesn’t help to realize that whenever you look up the notable events of any day of the year, most of what’s been remembered has to do with inhumanity. September 11 certainly Continue reading
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September 10
Elias Howe received a patent on September 10, 1846. It was for a sewing machine. It wasn’t the first sewing machine, and not even the first sewing machine patent (although it was the first in the US), but it did have an important innovation. Sewing needles have a hole (or an “eye”) on the end 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 Bossypaws. I shouldn’t be surprised, but 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.
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peterharbeson@me.com