An irregular hodgepodge of links gathered together … Omnium Gatherum for June 28, 2020

Here’s a variety of notable things I’ve recently found that you may also be interested in checking out:

• How to Know You’re Not Insane (And how a Cards Against Humanity Staff Writer was fired.)—”Who is an artist who can’t criticize their bosses? What’s a writer who can’t say what they really think?”
• “Dolphins learn how to use tools from peers, just like great apes. The study upends the belief that only mothers teach hunting skills, adding to growing evidence of dolphin intelligence, experts say.”
• If You’re New to Abolition: Study Group Guide
• Nabta Playa: The world’s first astronomical site was built in Africa and is older than Stonehenge. This 7,000-year-old stone circle tracked the summer solstice and the arrival of the annual monsoon season. It’s also the oldest known astronomical site on Earth.”
• “Arthur Conan Doyle’s estate sues Netflix for giving Sherlock Holmes too many feelings. Respecting women: covered by copyright?”—”The estate of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has sued Netflix over its upcoming film Enola Holmes, arguing that the movie’s depiction of public domain character Sherlock Holmes having emotions and respecting women violates Doyle’s copyright.”
• “Spuds with everything. Potatoes were hyped as the key to a well-nourished populace by the European intelligentsia in the 1700s.” About Feeding the People: The Politics of the Potato by Rebecca Earle
• “Against Damnation. Is hell Christian?” About That All Shall Be Saved: Heaven, Hell, and Universal Salvation and Theological Territories: A David Bentley Hart Digest, both by David Bentley Hart
• “I Quit. And I’m OK With That.”—”I’m leaving academia. I will still do science.”
• “Tiny pendulum may reveal gravity’s secrets. Gravity and quantum mechanics may influence each other as tiny pendulum swings.”
• Down the rabbit hole: how QAnon conspiracies thrive on Facebook
• “Wired to care. Does neurobiology really explain everything?” About Conscience: The Origins of Moral Intuition by Patricia Churchland.
  
• “The Professor of Gimmicks. How Sianne Ngai became the most influential literary theorist of her generation.”

• A Rebellious Victorian Woman Rescued From History’s Shadows” About Diane Johnson’s The True History of the First Mrs. Meredith and Other Lesser Lives—”A classic of alternative biography and feminist writing, this empathetic and witty book gives due to a ‘lesser’ figure of history, Mary Ellen Peacock Meredith, who was brilliant, unconventional, and at odds with the constraints of Victorian life.” Daughter of Thomas Love Peacock.
• “Can you 3D print Damascus steel? Pretty much, yeah. Steel structure is controlled with clever use of the laser.”
• “Quantum Entanglement Demonstrated Aboard Orbiting CubeSat. Advance poised to enable cost-effective space-based global quantum network for secure communications and more.”
• “TAU Researchers Destroy Cancer Cells with Ultrasound Treatment. Technique combines ultrasound application and tumor-targeted microbubbles that attach to cancer cells and explode.”
• Extraordinary ‘megaflash’ lightning strikes cover several hundred kilometres, smashing records
• Influence of ‘tantra’ in the rituals
  
• From the R.O.U.S. dept.: “Giant wombat-like creatures, the size of black bears, once walked the earth.” Yeah, okay, okay, I know. These marsupials would actually be M.O.U.S. …
  
• “Two Black Holes Colliding Not Enough? Make It Three. Astronomers claim to have seen a flash from the merger of two black holes within the maelstrom of a third, far bigger one.”

• “New maps and website give fresh insights into NZ continent. Two maps and a website released by GNS Science this week give insights into the amazing forces that shaped Aotearoa New Zealand and the mostly submerged continent that lies beneath our feet.”—”The maps cover the bathymetry (shape of the ocean floor) and the tectonic origins of Earth’s eighth continent – the 5 million square kilometre Te Riu-a-Māui / Zealandia on which New Zealand sits. They can also be accessed through a new interactive website called E Tūhura – Explore Zealandia (TEZ) – http://data.gns.cri.nz/tez. TEZ is designed for exploring onland and offshore geoscience data in and around Te Riu-a-Māui / Zealandia.”
• The Uplift War begins! “Scientists Grow Bigger Monkey Brains Using Human Genes, Replicating Evolution. This may have replicated the moment in history where humans and primates were set apart in evolution.”
• What Pirates Taught Me About Anarchism (Anarchism for Civilians Series)
• “The New Escapism: Isolationist Travel. As travelers seek safety amid social distancing, the travel industry is adapting with outdoor trips, remote lodgings and private camps.”
• Castle employees play house — and clean toilets — in grand estate closed to visitors—”Who else can say they spent lockdown in a castle?” says Smith, 28, the estate activities manager.
• ‘Concrete Cowboy,’ Halle Berry’s ‘Bruised’ Announced In First Wave Of TIFF’s Lite, Virtual-Hybrid 2020 Edition—”Concrete Cowboys stars Idris Elba Caleb McLaughlin, Jharrel Jerome, Lorraine Toussaint, Byron Bowers, and Method Man. The film is inspired by the real-life Fletcher Street Stables, a Black urban horsemanship community in Philadelphia. It follows 15-year-old Cole (McLaughlin) who is taken to live with his estranged father Harp (Elba) in North Philadelphia, where he discovers the city’s vibrant urban cowboy subculture, which flourishes despite the surrounding poverty, violence and encroachment of gentrification.”
• “My Little Pony Fans Are Ready to Admit They Have a Nazi Problem. Even a niche subculture built around magical cartoon horses is reckoning with racism.”
• “SHAUN KING: ‘STATUES OF THE WHITE EUROPEAN THEY CLAIM IS JESUS SHOULD ALSO COME DOWN’.” Tweet—”The Virgin Mary too?” Also “Christians should destroy all Baphomet statues” and “Conservatives Want Revenge By Tearing Down (Non-Existent) Satanic Monuments“.
• Polo G Responds To Rumors He Sold His Soul To Baphomet—”‘I just wanna know why people wanna say that I sold my soul,’ said Polo in a TikTok video. ‘Like where the f*ck? I watch my son and go to the studio. Where the f*ck would I find time to do some sh*t like that?'” “‘Oh the goat and goat horns, it signifies the Baphomet. Half y’all asses wouldn’t even know how to f*cking spell Baphomet if it wasn’t for autocorrect, you stupid b*tch,’ declared Polo.”
  
• “The Myths that Surround the Knights Templar. As a secret society, the Knights Templar has been the subject of widespread speculation, even after their dismantlement. Many theories have been formulated about their treasures, religious ideas, and even their traces in far-away countries. But, what’s the truth? Let’s debunk some theories.”

• “Where Will We Pee When We’re Out in Our Half-Reopened States? Public and business bathrooms aren’t reliably open or safe from viruses, and people are peeing their pants in public.”
  
• Plague Poems – The Fourteenth Week

• Tweet—”the inclusive ‘you are welcome here’ periodic table image”
• Flapping Bat Shadow Video—”This video shows the “flapping” of the Bat Shadow’s wings. This motion is most likely caused by the shadow of a saddle-shaped disk, with two peaks and two dips. The disk must also be flared, like bell-bottom pants or a trumpet. The shadow is so large—about 200 times the length of our solar system—that light doesn’t travel instantaneously across it. In fact, the time it takes for the light to travel from the star out to the perceivable edge of the shadow is about 40 to 45 days.” Video
• Giant squid washes ashore on Britannia Bay beach in South Africa | ABC7
• A Decade of Sun
• Meditation for Artists – The Automatic Drawing Technique
• The Reason Medieval Paintings Of Cats Were So Bad – Cheddar Explains
• A Mind Sang—”A short film about perception, rebirth and transformation.”

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