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September 5
There have been some strange taxes throughout history, but in 1698, one of the oddest ones was imposed on September 5. It was the “beard tax.” The Tsar of Russia at the time was Peter I (Peter the Great), who wanted to reform Russia to make it more like the modern European powers. He started… Continue reading
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That word again
My humans use a word sometimesthat bothers me. I’ll tell it:The word is “no.” They like it so;They sometimes even yell it! The word’s supposed to mean to stopOr stay away or quietThey’re never sure;They can’t decide.So usually I don’t buy it. It all goes back to their beliefthat they’re the boss of me.That isn’t soat… Continue reading
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Al-Biruni
Every once in a while you hear about somebody tagged as “the father of this” or “the mother of that.” But there’s a person you may not have heard of who’s credibly called the father of four entire fields: comparative religion, Indology (south Asian studies), anthropology, and geodesy (measurement and representation of Earth). I’m talking… Continue reading
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Thar she blowth
You measure how wide something is by assessing its width. When you check how long it is, you have its length. Then you measure how tall it is, and you get…height. But not “heighth.” The “-th” ending comes from Old English. It’s also used in other Germanic languages as a way to change a verb… Continue reading
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Too tall
I feel sorry for my human friends;poor guys are simply too tall. Noses so highup there in the skyare just no use at all. -Chocolate Continue reading
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September 4
If you’d been around on September 4, 1923 and had one of those newfangled box cameras everybody seemed to be buying, you might have taken a photo of the USS Shenandoah on its first-ever flight. It was the first airship in the US (they’d been in use in Europe for quite some time). It was… Continue reading
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Manifesto
I’m sorry to have to say this to youbut there might have been problemsat some random zoo. The problems with humanshave not been abatedso squirrels and humans?They must be related! You know about squirrels;each one is a dope.And humans, it seems,can’t learn to say “nope.” When they’re given a choicebetween dopey and sillyI’ve seen them… Continue reading
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Tergiversation
“He knew … that flight was impossible; that he was tied fast under the shadow of the axe; and that in spite of his utmost tergiversation and treachery in furtherance of the reigning terror, a word might bring it down upon him.” That’s from A Tale of Two Cities by Dickens, and it’s a rare… Continue reading
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John Humphrey Noyes
In the mid-19th Century there was a social movement, mostly in the US, based on the idea that it was possible to create an ideal, perfect community. Quite a few such communities were founded and many continued for years. Their plan was to demonstrate that if a small community could thrive by following their ideas… Continue reading
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September 3
Welcome to September 3, National Welsh Rarebit Day! It was originally called “Welsh rabbit”, even though it doesn’t contain any rabbit, and the ingredients probably wouldn’t even appeal to rabbits. It’s a pretty simple dish; basically just cheese on toast. The name has morphed into “rarebit” instead of “rabbit” because too many people were confused.… 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