An irregular hodgepodge of links gathered together … Omnium Gatherum for April 3, 2020

Here’s some things I’ve found that you may be interested in checking out:

• Love and Saucers—”David Huggins lost his virginity to an alien woman—among 100 other extra-terrestrial encounters—and chronicled it all in surreal paintings, few of which have ever been seen. Love & Saucers is his story.”
• “Mars might be made of mashed-up baby planets. An unexpected composition of two meteorites could rewrite our understanding of the Red Planet’s history.”
• “Mice have a range of facial expressions, researchers find. Findings offer researchers new ways to measure intensity of emotional responses.”
• “These newly discovered raptors were like feather-covered cheetahs. The fearsome Dineobellator boasted strength, speed, and a fine coat of feathers.”
• “How To Cope With Loneliness During Social Distancing If You Live Alone. Feeling lonely during the coronavirus pandemic is normal. Therapists share little ways to feel more connected in isolation.”
• Tweet—”hi telecommuters, i made the Shining guide to working from home. some useful tips!!”
• “Wild ‘Goat Gang’ Takes Over Streets Of UK Town On Coronavirus Lockdown. “I, for one, welcome our new goat overlords,” tweeted a journalist in the Welsh town.”
• Tweet—”Coyote on the streets of San Francisco during the coronavirus shelter in place order”
• Tweet—”Hungry rats swarm New Orleans streets as coronavirus closes restaurants, bars”
• Stunning photographs picture Lincoln in lockdown
• “What Everyone’s Getting Wrong About the Toilet Paper Shortage. It isn’t really about hoarding. And there isn’t an easy fix.”
• Plague Poems – The Second Week
• Star Trek: Discovery goes on an old-fashioned away mission…and into The Final Frontier?—”Two hundred years ago, Earth was falling into the nuclear devastation of World War III. A church full of besieged soldiers and civilians was transported across the galaxy by a mysterious angel-butterfly being — the same creature, probably, that Burnham spotted last week. Here on their new planet, the survivors’ descendants have unified all terrestrial religions: “Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Shinto, and Wicca,” plus a dash of Red God mysticism, with a crimson-clad priestess hosting vibe sessions at a fire circle.”
• Pixmit, a Star Trek: Picard prop deck of Romulan Tarot-like cards.
• Romulan walking meditation on a labyrinth-ish: Star Trek: Picard Season 1 Episode 6 ” The Impossible Box” Review—”The Zhal Makh is another Romulan cultural touchstone revealed in this episode. The Zhal Makh is a type of Romulan meditation that helps Romulans figure out hidden truths. They walk through a maze in a private room, which enables them to access their unconscious. Narek has Soji walk through the labyrinth to guide her into realizing that she is a synth. This realization enables her to tell him where her home planet is located. After her dream reveals the truth, Narek tries to poison Soji with gas, but her new self-awareness activates her, and she escapes.”
• If you haven’t checked it out, Star Trek: Picard, in my imagination, could be also called Star Trek: P K Dick. There’s a lot of interesting themes there that might seem fun and familiar, not the least of which is that the final two episodes are titled “In Arcadia Ego”. Also, CBS All Access is offering a free month using the code “ALL” or, from Patrick Stewart’s account “GIFT”.
• Getty Museum challenges quarantined people to recreate famous works of art, with hilarious results
• “Exclusive: ‘Exploiting Fears’ – Camberwell Church Selling £91 Coronavirus ‘Protection Kits’ Made of Just Oil and Red Stringjosh Salisbury (31 March, 2020) Health Business Coronavirus. Bishop Climate Ministries claim the oil and red yarn will protect against the deadly coronavirus.”
• Tom Lehrer – We Will All Go Together When We Go
• Group Behind Central Park Coronavirus Tent Hospital Asks Volunteers To Support Anti-Gay Agenda
• Why You Should Ignore All That Coronavirus-Inspired Productivity Pressure
• Tweet—”OK so
  @noglykon & I got to talking about a theory-fiction common read while we’re all sheltering in place and we decided on Reza Negarestani’s CYCLONOPEDIA … Find an indie shop that’s still shipping books, get a copy by April 1, and join us using the #AnonymousMaterials hashtag”

• Tweet and tweet—”What are the 3 branches of government? Wrong answers only.”
• Tweet—”Pandemic Relief Sigil. Blow it a kiss and add your blessing! Let’s send a little love to all those struggling with the virus right now.”
• Tweet—”In a uniquely Indonesian strategy, one Indonesian village is self-isolating from COVID-19 and preventing people from entering and leaving by posting two guards dressed as mythical “pocong” or shroud ghosts/zombies at its entrance.”
• Tweet—”We see you, Ozzy. But maybe…it’s not too late.”
• Tweet—”Most people are showing their true colors now. It can be disappointing, isolating, and sometimes you will be pleasantly, deeply, humanly surprised.”
• “a href=”https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/28/science/black-hole-rings.html”>Infinite Visions Were Hiding in the First Black Hole Image’s Rings. Scientists proposed a technique that would allow us to see more of the unseeable.” See also: “Last year, we finally photographed a black hole. Now what? In-orbit telescopes could help us image black holes like never before.”
• How Not to Tank Your Relationship in Quarantine. “This time of isolation could be a period of great growth or great struggle in your relationship.”
• “Did an Illuminati Conspiracy Theory Help Elect Thomas Jefferson? The 1800 election shows there is nothing new about conspiracy theories, and that they really take hold when we don’t trust each other.”
• “I Spent a Year in Space, and I Have Tips on Isolation to Share. Take it from someone who couldn’t: Go outside.”
• Rewiring your brain: The unexpected benefits of YouTube yoga
• “Astrophysicist gets magnets stuck up nose while inventing coronavirus device. Australian Dr Daniel Reardon ended up in hospital after inserting magnets in his nostrils while building a necklace that warns you when you touch your face.”
• The epidemics behind urban planning: The foundations
• “Mysterious poster claiming people may not ‘know if they are dreaming’ is a hoax, says Sheffield Council. A mysterious poster that has cropped up around Sheffield claiming to be council advice on how to check ‘if you are dreaming right now’ is a hoax, officials have said.”
• Ritual. In life, and particularly within my novels – does it make sense to you?
• Sound 23—”An evocative collaboration between Vanessa Sinclair and American sound artist Douglas Lucas. This album contains eight tracks that weave Sinclair’s cut-up poems into revealing packages of sonorous delight. Sometimes harsh and aggressive, sometimes soft and alluring; always seductive in their joint efforts at upheaving the rational mind and its many intellectual accomplices. After the cataclysmic clash of rational refusal, we are here left with the purely sensual delight that comes from giving in to what random chance suggests, and what spontaneous creation actually brings.”
• Scandal & Beauty: Mark Gatiss on Aubrey Beardsley—”Mark Gatiss explores the life and career of Aubrey Beardsley, an artist who wielded outrage as adroitly as his pen. A lifelong fan, Mark shows how Beardsley was more than just a genius of self-promotion who scandalised the art world of the 1890s. He was also a technological innovator, whose uncompromising attitude still feels remarkably modern.”
• watch this classic Genesis P-Orridge interview & Psychic TV “Godstar” video
• Tweet—”Experts say we may be as little as two days away from finally leaving the March Age. The next epoch is provisionally being called “April,” and is also expected to last 5-10 million years.”

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