An Antic Disposition

See below, a page from a high school textbook in use in New England in 1849, Elijah Burritt’s The Geography of the Heavens.  Ever hear of this planet?
The name for the seventh planet was up in the air (no pun intended) for years after its discovery in 1781. The British were calling it “Georgium Sidus” (George’s Star), after King George III. (Flattery will get you everywhere.  When Gallileo discovered...

As of today, June 27th, I am no longer working for IBM.  Last quarter’s widely-reported “resource actions” (lay-offs) hit my group and this time my number came up.
It was a good run, 27 years with one company, something that is not so common today.
Fresh out of Harvard I started working at Lotus Development Corporation in Cambridge, Massachusetts, initially doing technical support, including for the Lotus 1‑2-3 C-language developer toolkit.  From there I worked in support’s application development...

A Meditation upon Things in which I will briefly speak of the Icelandic Parliament, “creature features” of the 1960’s, Cicero, Duke Ellington, Shakespeare and excessive pedantry.
The Wall Street Journal yesterday had a short piece by James R. Hagerty that raised my ire:  “Use More Expressive Words!” Teachers Bark, Beseech, Implore.   The article describes teachers who have banned certain words from student assignments, like ...

Eldnar Randle was born in Delano, California in 1892 and died in 1973 in Oregon.  For most of his working years he was an auto mechanic. But he shared a distinction shared by only 1 in over 700,000 Americans. Any guesses? A clue:  Look closely at his...