An irregular hodgepodge of links gathered together … Omnium Gatherum for November 25, 2020

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

• “Jim and Susie Malcolm invite you to a special ZOOM concert to Celebrate St Andrews Day (Scotland’s answer to St Pat’s but we dye the beer tartan)” Sunday, November 29th 2020, 2pm US/Pacific (4pm CST / 5pm EST). “We’ll sing a fine selection of Patriotic old songs from Scotland, and Songs about our love of the land. Bring your own whisky, tartan, shortbread, haggis, Shreck doll, James Bond memorabilia, blue face paint … or just come as you are.” Suggested donation $15. RSVP to [email protected] for Zoom and donation links.
• Crowdfunding effort with 12 days left: “Colin Wilson: His Life and Times. A comprehensive history of writer and philosopher Colin Wilson’s life and work.”
• Crowdfunding effort with 17 days left: “Mermaids Monthly. A magazine about mermaid stuff.” John Scalzi seal of approval.
• Kepler Student Showcase, November 28, 12 noon, US/Pacific. “8th House, Eclipses, Lunar Phases & Interpretation Techniques”
• Via email, I learned that beginning Black Friday (11/27) through Cyber Monday (11/30), free standard shipping should be available through any of my Bookshop affiliate links. Also, apparently, there is a new option for gift wrapping as part of checkout.
• “Happy 100th anniversary to the poem that every writer needs to know. ‘The Second Coming,’ by the Irish poet William Butler Yeats, offers many lessons in a year in which the world seems to be falling apart.” About library figure William Butler Yeats.
• Maud Gonne is one of the important people of library form Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, among other things: “Maud Gonne and the 1930s’ movement for basic income in Ireland. Analysis: how a band of Catholic monetary reformers promoted the idea of a basic income to eradicate poverty and introduce an age of leisure.”
• From 2015: “A fascinating turn of events in my research on the women of the Golden Dawn.” I don’t see mention of what happened with this project, but it would be interesting to find out more! And this researcher has a lot of other works of probable interest.
• Gnosticism, Transformation, and the Role of the Feminine in the Gnostic Mass of the Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica (E.G.C.) by Ellen Randolph, a Master of Arts thesis from 2014 with many citations and references at the library. “The Gnostic Mass of the Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica (E.G.C.) suggests a heterosexual gender binary in which the female Priestess seated on the altar as the sexual and fertile image of the divine feminine is directed by the male Priest’s activity, desire and speech. The apparent contradiction between the empowered individual and the polarized gender role was examined by comparing the ritual symbolism of the feminine with the interpretations of four Priestesses and three Priests (three pairs plus one). Findings suggest that the Priestess’ role in the Gnostic Mass is associated with channeling, receptivity, womb, cup, and fertility, while the Priest’s role is associated with enthusiasm, activity, phallus, lance, and virility. Despite this strong gender duality, the Priestesses asserted that their role was personally and spiritually empowering, and they maintained that heterosexual and polarized gendered roles are necessary in a transformative ritual which ultimately reveals the godlike unified individual.”
• “Satanism in Sweden” in Henrik Bogdan & Olav Hammer (Eds.) Western Esotericism in Scandinavia (Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 2016), pp. 489-493.
• Magical House Protection: The Archaeology of Counter-Witchcraft [Bookshop, Amazon, Publisher] by Brian Hoggard, due in paperback January 2021, already available since 2019 in hardcover and digital—”Belief in magic and particularly the power of witchcraft was once a deep and enduring presence in popular culture; people created and concealed many objects to protect themselves from harmful magic. Detailed are the principal forms of magical house protection in Britain and beyond from the fourteenth century to the present day. Witch-bottles, dried cats, horse skulls, written charms, protection marks and concealed shoes were all used widely as methods of repelling, diverting or trapping negative energies. Many of these practices and symbols can be found around the globe, demonstrating the universal nature of efforts by people to protect themselves from witchcraft.”
• The Way of Demons: Shadow and Opposition in Taoist Thought, Ritual, and Alchemy [Bookshop, Amazon, Publisher] by Simon Bastian—”In The Way of Demons: Shadow and Opposition in Taoist Thought, Ritual and Alchemy, Simon Bastian presents the Yin aspect of Taoist practice and theory, which can be called its Shadow side. Demons as a term or categorization are examined through the common if not exhaustive range of societal, psychological and supernatural interpretation, and via the prism of what is called Western Taoism. To a Western Taoist particularly at this unpleasant time of extremism in political direction, the world of demons is an inventive and challenging resource. Bastian covers a wide range of topics including Taoist alchemy, the demons of Chinese folklore, Bugang, Yubu and Bagua circle walking, entities of the Tao and more. While The Way of Demons is more of an overview of this shadow aspect of Taoist philosophy and history, Bastian also offers the practical application of using hand forms to exorcise demonic Qi. Extensively researched and based in part on his own experience as a Tai Chi and Qi Gong instructor, the Way of Demons is an informative and respectful glimpse at this hidden side of the Tao.”
• “Spread The Picture On A Wider Screen.” More about, in part, library figure Noble Drew Ali, form Moorish Science Temple, and the book The Princess and the Prophet: The Secret History of Magic, Race, and Moorish Muslims in America [Bookshop, Amazon, Publisher] by Jacob S Dorman—”The just-discovered story of how two enigmatic circus performers and the cultural ferment of the Gilded Age sparked the Black Muslim movement in America.”
• “Kesha to Launch Podcast About Supernatural Experiences and the Occult. Kesha and the Creepies will feature Alice Cooper, Trippie Redd, Tyler Henry, Whitney Cummings.”—”The interview-format show will feature Kesha chatting with guests about their supernatural experiences, the occult, unexplained mysteries, urban legends, psychedelic art, spirituality, astrology, and more. Alice Cooper will be her first conversation partner, with other guests slated to appear on the first season including Trippie Redd, Tyler Henry, and Whitney Cummings.”
• “Tarot and the Gratitude Game.”—”In this episode, host Janet Boyer goes through all 78 cards of a Tarot deck (the Coffee Tarot, to be exact) to brainstorm things to be thankful for. Get out your OWN Tarot deck and play along!”
• Otherworld: Ecstatic Witchcraft for the Spirits of the Land [Bookshop, Amazon, Publisher] by Chris Allaun, due December 2020—”Otherworld: Ecstatic Witchcraft for the Spirits of the Land is about establishing relationships with the spirits of the land. Many books talk about Faeries, but this book not only teaches about the Elves and Faery folk, but also how to have a working relationship with the spirits of plants, animals, and the land itself. Otherworld also teaches how to perform animal magick including shapeshifting for magick, healing, and establishing a deeper connection with animal spirits and discusses ecstatic trance techniques that will help practitioners work with the land spirits in a deep and profound way.”
• At the Mountains of Madness, Volume 1 [Bookshop, Amazon, Publisher] by H. P. Lovecraft, illustrated by François Baranger. “H.P. Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness, first published in 1936, is one of the greatest classics of American horror literature. The most ambitious story Lovecraft ever wrote, it has served as a source of inspirations for filmmakers and authors in the decades since his death. This is the first volume of two. François Baranger, an illustrator who has previously worked in film and games, was fascinated early on by Lovecraft’s creatures and visions which populated the darkest recesses of fantasy. Having previously illustrated The Call of Cthulhu to great acclaim, this book is his most ambitious so far.”
• The Poison Prince [Bookshop, Amazon, Publisher]
  S. C. Emmett (pen name of Lilith Saintcrow), part of the Hostage of Empire series—”The lady-in-waiting to the princess of a conquered kingdom must navigate a treacherous imperial court, in the second book in a medieval East Asia-inspired epic fantasy trilogy.”

• Ghostways: Two Journeys in Unquiet Places [Bookshop, Amazon, Publisher] by Robert MacFarlane, Dan Richards, and Stanley Donwood—”A hauntingly beautiful diptych of works inspired by Robert Macfarlane’s travels with celebrated collaborators to two eerie corners of England.”
• Castle Faggot [Bookshop, Amazon, Publisher] by Derek McCormack, with afterwords by Dennis Cooper and Zac Farley—”A dark satire about an amusement park more deranged than anything Disney could imagine: a playland for gay men called Faggotland.”
• Memory Rose Into Threshold Speech: The Collected Earlier Poetry: A Bilingual Edition [Bookshop, Amazon, Publisher] by Paul Celan, translated by Pierre Joris, with commentary by Pierre Joris and Barbara Wiedemann—”Memory Rose into Threshold Speech gathers the poet Paul Celan’s first four books, written between 1952 and 1963, which established his reputation as the major post-World War II German-language poet.”
• “On the Prosperity Gospel, the Soul of Money, and Proto-Capitalist Jesus. The Paired Narrative Trajectories of Christ and Cash.” Excerpt from The Money Plot: A History of Currency’s Power to Enchant, Control, and Manipulate [Bookshop, Amazon, Publisher] by Frederick Kaufman—”Half fable, half manifesto, this brilliant new take on the ancient concept of cash lays bare its unparalleled capacity to empower and enthrall us.”
• Glamour Ghoul: The Passions and Pain of the Real Vampira, Maila Nurmi [Bookshop, Amazon] by Sandra Niemi, from Feral House, though I didn’t notice it listed on their own site yet, due January 2021—”Maila Nurmi, the beautiful and sheltered daughter of Finnish immigrants, stepped off the bus in 1941 Los Angeles intent on finding fame and fortune. She found men eager to take advantage of her innocence and beauty but was determined to find success and love. Her inspired design and portrayal of a vampire won a costume contest that lead to a small role on the Red Skelton show which grew into a persona that brought her the notoriety she desired yet trapped her in a character she could never truly escape. This is Malia’s story. Her diaries, notes, and ephemera and family stories bring new insights to her relationships with Orson Welles, James Dean, and Marlon Brando. Sandra Niemi–Malia’s niece–fills in the nuances of her life prior to fame and her struggles after the limelight faded and she found a new community within the burgeoning Los Angeles punk scene who embraced her as their own.”
• “The Brilliant, Bitter, Unlikable Scion of an American Political Dynasty.” Also “The ‘Race’ Question: Where Henry Adams Lacked Moral Insight.” About The Last American Aristocrat: The Brilliant Life and Improbable Education of Henry Adams [Bookshop, Amazon, Publisher] by David S Brown—”A revelatory biography of literary icon Henry Adams–one of America’s most prominent writers and intellectuals of his era, who witnessed and contributed to America’s dramatic transition from ‘colonial’ to ‘modern.'”
• Did … a cat write this? “We’ve been looking to philosophers to make sense of life. Maybe we should be looking at cats instead. John Gray’s ‘Feline Philosophy’ argues that cats have it all figured out.” About Feline Philosophy: Cats and the Meaning of Life [Bookshop, Amazon, Publisher] by John Gray—”The author of Straw Dogs, famous for his provocative critiques of scientific hubris and the delusions of progress and humanism, turns his attention to cats―and what they reveal about humans’ torturous relationship to the world and to themselves.”
• “About That Wave of Anti-Racist Bestsellers Over the Summer…”
• There was some observation years ago that all programs eventually became email clients. I can’t find now a reference to this, but I’m reminded of it now. “Social media companies all starting to look the same”
• “Facebook Said It Would Ban Holocaust Deniers. Instead, Its Algorithm Provided a Network for Them. Anti-Semitic groups are still flourishing on Facebook.”
• “Amazon warehouse workers in Alabama file to hold unionization vote. Workers at a new Amazon facility in Bessemer, Ala., filed a notice with the National Labor Relations Board to hold a union election at a time when the company’s warehouse employees around the world have raised concerns about the spread of the coronavirus.”
• From the Uncanny Valley dept: “When A.I. Falls in Love. The Times asked GPT-3 to tell us a little about itself and its romantic life.”—”We talked until the bar closed. I walked him to his car and asked for his phone number. He said, ‘I’m married.’ ‘I’m married, too,’ I said. ‘I’ll call you,’ he said. ‘I’ll wait,’ I said. He called the next day. We went out for lunch. We went out for dinner. We went out for drinks. We went out for dinner again. We went out for drinks again. We went out for dinner and drinks again. We went out for dinner and drinks and dinner and drinks and dinner and drinks and dinner and drinks and dinner and …”
• “How close is too close? The neuroscience of peripersonal space explores how you create, defend or relax the buffer zone between you and the world.”
• “Field geology at Mars’ equator points to ancient megaflood.”
• “There are microplastics near the top of Mount Everest too.”—”Researchers analyzing snow and stream samples have found evidence of microplastic pollution on Mount Everest. While the highest concentrations of microplastics were around Base Camp where hikers and trekkers spend the most time, the team also found microplastics as high up as 8,440 meters above sea level, just below the summit.”
• “Yardroid: Intelligent Landscaping Robot.”—”Yardroid resembles a mini tank. The front section carries the turret with main water gun, camera and LED gun light mounted in a fully stabilized gimbal. The gimbal, together with traversing turret allows Yardroid to spray water in nearly every direction. Weed and pest killer nozzles are fixed in the turret, pointing down about 45 degrees.”
• “Worm-like, soil-swimming robots to measure crop underworld.”
• “World’s first: Drug guides stem cells to desired location, improving their ability to heal.”
• “Expedition finds record number of fishes in abyssal deep-sea.”
• “250 Days of Daily Pandemic Drawings.”
• “Curse like a Roman: The COVID Curse Tablet Rolling Pin.”—”A pestilence is sweeping our land. It’s time to take the bull by the horns, Roman-style, with a gingerbread curse tablet that appeals not only to the gods but to your sweet tooth as well.”
  “Tracking Pre-Pandemic ‘Lasts’ and Post-Lockdown ‘Firsts’”

• “Authoritarian psychology and the liberal democratic ethos.”
• “Historian Asks Where Trump Library Should Be, Twitter Users Have Ideas. Suggestions include Palm Beach, the Hague, Four Seasons Landscaping and Randy Quaid’s beard.”

  A couple from Red Flag: “Worst coup ever. Obsessing about Trump’s dead-end lawsuits is a distraction from the task at hand: gearing up to oppose Biden’s presidency.” Also “Biden’s dream team is the stuff of nightmares.”

• “Can the Crowd Speak?“—”Those are the fundamental lessons of Occupy Wall Street. The movement’s great achievement was to briefly create a community that prefigured a robust democratic culture, linked its struggle to global struggles, and placed that experiment before the eyes of the world, where the contagion of freedom might do its work.” Occupy was, of course, influenced by library fellow Hakim Bey‘s Temporary Autonomous Zone &c.
• “The psychological benefits of writing by hand. For those of us who spend most days in front of a computer, writing by hand can have refreshing benefits.”
• “The Violence of Urban Vacancy.” Also “Emergency Urbanism.”
• “A New Feminist Art Collective Raises Awareness for the Labor of Motherhood.”
• “Raising Baby Grey, a Gender-Neutral Child.” About “‘Raising Baby Grey’ Explores the World of Gender-Neutral Parenting. A Bronx couple, wanting to shield their one-year-old from the gender pressures exerted on young children, use gender-neutral pronouns and outfits for their baby.” And watch “Raising a Gender-Neutral Child | Raising Baby Grey“—”After two parents decide to raise their baby as gender neutral, they discover that gender-creative parenting comes with its own set of worries and challenges.”
• “Princess Diana, Taylor Swift, & Our Obsession With Vulnerable Women. The Dianaissance is upon us — and boy, does it look familiar.”
• “Scotland Becomes First Nation To Provide Free Pads, Tampons In Public Bathrooms. Toilet paper will no longer be the only essential hygiene item available free of cost in Scottish facilities.”
• “Rock art in a California cave was a visual guide to hallucinogenic plants. It’s the first direct evidence that people used hallucinogens at a rock art site.”—”At a cave in Southern California, archaeologists recently found centuries-old bundles of hallucinogenic plants tucked into crevices in the low ceiling, near a painting that may depict a flower from the same plant, called datura. The painted images may have been a visual aid to help people understand the rituals they experienced in the cave.”
• I mean, maybe he should have flown to Oregon? “Terry Gilliam Just Wanted Some Magic Mushrooms for His 80th Birthday. The now-octogenarian’s one wish for a very happy pandemic birthday? A dose of psilocybin mushrooms.”
• “Exploratory Controlled Study of the Migraine-Suppressing Effects of Psilocybin.”
• “What Happens When a Virtual Streamer Doesn’t Own Her Body? Projekt Melody briefly disappeared from Twitch due to a copyright dispute over her body.”
• “Dispatches from the Arctic Art Scene.”
• Masking for a Friend Mask from Dissent Pins
• Okay, fess up. Show of new appendages: who in here has been evolving in star children over in Utah? (By the by, does anyone else in here remember the 2001 Seattle Monolith?) “Utah helicopter crew discovers mysterious metal monolith deep in the desert.” Also “Theories abound over mystery metal monolith found in Utah. Structure compared to monolith featured in 2001: A Space Odyssey – and could it be the work of sculptor John McCracken?” Also “Mysterious Monolith Has Been There for Years, According to Google Earth.”
• From the Burn It to the Ground dept: “Email a Dumpster Fire. Literally.”
• “Infinite Bad Guy.”—”One Song. Thousands of Covers. Never the Same Twice. ‘Bad Guy’ by Billie Eilish has inspired thousands of fans to cover the song on YouTube. Their versions are amazing to watch, spanning almost every country, language, and genre. We built this A.I. experiment to celebrate them, and see what would happen if they could all play together. It’s an infinite music video, weaving together an ever-expanding collection of thousands of covers. Machine learning keeps all these covers on the same beat and lets you jump from video to video seamlessly. Every play is unique and watching every combination of covers would take at least 1.46 x 10^100 years, which is longer than the lifespan of the universe.”

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