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A Wild, Uproarious Comedy
Up until about the 1970s, a movie that was a goofy, possibly slapstick comedy would be advertised as “zany” and “madcap.” Both of those words are less common in recent decades, but still around. By coincidence, both words appeared in English around the 1500s, even though that century isn’t generally remembered as a golden era… Continue reading
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Thomas Wolfe
Thomas Wolfe was a famous 20th-Century American novelist who often gets confused with Tom Wolfe, a famous 20th-Century American novelist. Thomas Wolfe came first, and was born October 3, 1900. He only lived to be 37 years old, but managed to become regarded as one of the most important writers in the Southern Renaissance in… Continue reading
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October 3
It’s October third; Happy Thanksgiving! No, really — this is the day George Washington proclaimed it was Thanksgiving in 1789. But (you knew there was a “but” coming) Washington’s proclamation was only for that one year. Thanksgiving as a national holiday showed up only occasionally after that, when whoever was President at the time thought… Continue reading
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Marvel Whiteside (Jack) Parsons
Jack Parsons is one of the most important figures in the US space and rocketry systems. He was a real space cadet, too. This is quite lengthy, but also quite a story, and all true. Parsons was born October 2, 1914, in Los Angeles, California. His actual name, and I’m not making this up, was… Continue reading
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October 2
What’s on (October) second. Who’s on first, of course, and Tomorrow, the pitcher, will be the third, where you can find I Don’t Know, manning the infield catching Today…I mean, Today catching, and the last one, well, I Don’t Give a Darn. But the right fielder? We never find out his name. As you’ve probably… Continue reading
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Yes, I’m a friend, but
They think I lick ’em’cause I like ’em. Like them I do,But I like salt, too. And I’m not tellin’Which is more true. -Chocolate Continue reading
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Joshua Wurman
Extreme weather events are getting more frequent and more extreme, and atmospheric scientists are studying what’s going on in the air around us, especially in regard to storms. One of the leaders in that effort is Joshua Wurman, who celebrates his 64th birthday today. Wurman was born in Pennsylvania, in the US, to Gloria Nagy,… Continue reading
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Lucinda Hinsdale Stone
Lucinda Hinsdale Stone was an American feminist long before the word “feminism” existed. She founded at least fifty women’s literary and study clubs in the midwestern US in the mid-1800s, was the first US woman to lead classes of young female students on international study trips, and after a career as a professor at the… Continue reading
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Shhh, Don’t Tell Them
I’m an excellent matchWith my humans;I picked them carefully. I tell them what They should think and should doAnd they go along cheerfully. They often believeThat they have ideas Which really they get from me,But that part’s a secretWhich we won’t tell.I’m glad that you agree. -Chocolate Continue reading
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As you like it
It’s all the same to us now, but more than a thousand years ago, Old English imported the Old Norse word “same.” It’s a word you probably use every day, but I’ll bet you wouldn’t have predicted that its actual definition is pretty long. It starts out “the ordinary adjectival and pronominal designation of identity…”… 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 newsletter, Artisanal Scribbles, where I’m grappling with writing, authentic human authorship, integrity, and the craft of beauty in the AI age. You can also find some of my old software projects at GitHub. Nothing very impressive. I mostly wrote tiny utilities in Python and shell scripts. I’m mostly retired from coding nowadays.
I find myself suddenly de-corporatized (their choice, not mine). To help keep the lights on, buy me a coffee!
Recent Posts
- The Cycles within the Arc
- I’d rather have a taco
- 20-something Hubris
- You can’t be a leader without followers
- Candy Trees and Handkerchiefs
Categories
Artificial Intelligence
Chocolatiana
Essays
History, sort of
Immorality
Incompetence
Quotations
Resistance
Stories
Tales from the Forest
Technicalities
Tragedy
Unanticipated Consequences
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Contact
peterharbeson@me.com