An irregular hodgepodge of links gathered together … Omnium Gatherum for December 13, 2020

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

• “The only total solar eclipse of 2020 is happening this week. Here’s how to watch it from anywhere.” Also “Total solar eclipse 2020: Here’s how to watch it online.”
• “Geminid meteor shower to peak this weekend.”
• Sunrise | Winter Solstice 2020 LIVE from Stonehenge—”Sunrise Time: 08:09 GMT (approx.) Watch the winter solstice live from Stonehenge, wherever you are in the world, with our FREE coverage! ☀️ We can’t welcome you in person this year because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic – but our live coverage of sunset and sunrise means you won’t miss a moment of this special occasion. Our cameras will capture the best views of Stonehenge, allowing you to connect with this spiritual place from the comfort of your own home.”
• Zack Davisson Gift Bundle—”This holiday season, we’ve bundled all four of our Zack Davisson books — Yurei: The Japanese Ghost (out this month in paperback), Kaibyo: The Supernatural Cats of Japan), Yokai Stories, and the limited edition Amabie chapbook — into one discounted bundle affectionately called the Zack Blue Plate Special. All editions are signed by Zack. This is a rare chance that will last through 12/31/20 or when we run out o the limited edition Amabie chapbook. All four publications would retail for a total of $75.85 if bought separately. The gift bundle costs just $65 and includes free shipping to US addresses.”
• Hatha yoga and its links to Tantra, online lecture, Jan 7, 2021, 15pm GMT/UTC, via British Museum—”Professor James Mallinson is considered by many to be the world’s leading scholar in the field of Haṭha yoga studies. His pioneering research has radically altered our knowledge of yoga’s history. In this live virtual discussion, he joins Imma Ramos, British Museum curator of the current exhibition Tantra: enlightenment to revolution, to explore the links between Haṭha yoga and ancient Tantric traditions, in light of the completion of a five-year research project at SOAS that examined the history of Hatha yoga in unprecedented depth.”
• exorcism: poems by fabeku fatunmise—”The book comes with a downloadable aural sigil, and an invitation to take part in a one-off class with ff on ‘writing as exorcism’ in January 2021.”
• “A Buddhist Book of Spells. Scholar Sam van Schaik discusses Buddhist Magic and the disappearing act around the dharma’s supernatural history. (Plus, six Buddhist enchantments for curious practitioners.)” About Buddhist Magic: Divination, Healing, and Enchantment through the Ages [Bookshop, Amazon, Publisher] by Sam van Schaik—”A fascinating exploration of the role that magic has played in the history of Buddhism.”
• A Small Collection of Specialized Spreads, vol. 2, edited by Coleman Stevenson. “It’s time to level up your cartomancy. This second volume of spreads in the Small Collection series is a compilation of unique, useful layouts for reading cards, as well as approaches to studying or using the cards in other deep, creative ways. The content consists of original spreads by unconventional readers from around the world. The spreads and exercises in this book range from simple to complex, so that readers of all experience levels might find something useful for their practices. This book features 38 different spreads by 31 different readers!”
• “‘Lore’ Podcast Revives Legend of Witch’s Wine. The unsavory tale of a mysterious wine bottle from Antiques Roadshow is back in the spotlight, and appraiser Andy McConnell relives his brush with folk magic.”
• “20 Black-Owned Occult Brands Every Witch Should Know.”
• “What a Witch’s Familiar Really Is. And how to find yours.”
• Abraham Abulafia’s Esotericism: Secrets and Doubts [Bookshop, Amazon, Publisher] by Moshe Idel—”This book focuses on Abraham Abulafia’s esoteric thought in relation to Maimonides, Maimonideans, and Islamic thought in the line of Leo Strauss’ theory of the history of philosophy. A survey of Abulafia’s sources leads into an analysis of the esoteric meaning on the famous parable of the three rings, considering also the possible connection between this parable, which Abdulafia inserted into a book dedicated to his student, the 13th century rabbi Nathan the wise, and the Lessing’s Play ‘Nathan the Wise.’ The book also examines Abulafia’s universalistic understanding of the nature of the Bible, the Hebrew language, and the people of Israel (or the Sinaic revelation). The universal aspects of Abulafia’s thought have been put in relief against the more widespread Kabbalistic views which are predominantly particularistic. A number of texts have also been identified here for the first time as authored by Abulafia.”
• “The Universe Is a Haunted House: Coil Through Their Art & Archives, a new 400 page full colour hardback book compiled from the personal archives of John Balance and Peter Christopherson. Conceived not only as a showcase of Coil’s much-admired album artwork, but also to offer a rare glimpse into their world – and spanning some three decades of Coil’s distinguished career – the book offers the reader an abundance of artwork, photos, writings and other curiosities, much of which will never have been seen before.” Watch.
• Tweet—”Sneak Preview of Cover Reveal for Sword Girl Book II: La Maupin. The true story of a teenaged pansexual cross-dressing sword-fighting grave-robbing arsonist nun who becomes the superstar of the Paris Opera. She’s a sugar-frosted hand grenade.”
• “Get your spyglass out! Educational detective game launches worldwide for curious kids to play at home“—”Best-selling children’s book series The Wollstonecraft Detective Agency is now available as a seriously fun, mystery-solving game for ages 9 and up.” Get for iOS or Android. Watch the trailer.
• Angel’s Inferno [Amazon US, Amazon UK, Publisher] by William Hjortsberg—”‘When the Devil laughs the whole damn world laughs with Him.’ A mind-bending thriller blending hard-boiled detective fiction, supernatural horror, and metaphysical noir that takes readers on a macabre journey into the occult, from mid-fifties New York to Paris to the Vatican, as private investigator Harry Angel, seeking both answers about his true identity and revenge, hunts down Satan himself. Here is the stunning sequel to the Edgar-nominated novel Falling Angel, the basis for the classic cult film Angel Heart, which also stands alone as a masterwork of noir suspense fiction.” HT Richard Kaczynski—”I adore both ‘Fallen Angel’ and its film adaptation ‘Angel Heart,’ yet I had no idea that William Hjortsberg wrote a sequel, ‘Angel’s Inferno,’ just before his 2017 death. It appeared in hc a few months ago, and has just been released in pb.” Also.
• “It’s a Christmas Miracle! An Archaeologist May Have Just Found Jesus’s Childhood Home in Nazareth. A group of nuns stumbled upon the site in the 1880s without knowing what they may have found.” Pretty sure I’d heard this claim reported a while ago, but this is about a recent release The Sisters of Nazareth Convent: A Roman-period, Byzantine, and Crusader site in central Nazareth [Bookshop, Amazon, Publisher] by Ken Dark—”This book transforms archaeological knowledge of Nazareth by publishing over 80 years of archaeological work at the Sisters of Nazareth convent, including a detailed re-investigation in the early twenty-first century under the author’s direction. Although one of the world’s most famous places and of key importance to understanding early Christianity, Nazareth has attracted little archaeological attention. Following a chance discovery in the 1880s, the site was initially explored by the nuns of the convent themselves – one of the earliest examples of a major programme of excavations initiated and directed by women – and then for decades by Henri Senès, whose excavations (like those of the nuns) have remained almost entirely unpublished. Their work revealed a complex sequence, elucidated and dated by twenty-first century study, beginning with a partly rock-cut Early Roman-period domestic building, followed by Roman-period quarrying and burial, a well-preserved cave-church, and major surface-level Byzantine and Crusader churches. The interpretation and broader implications of each phase of activity are discussed in the context of recent studies of Roman-period, Byzantine, and later archaeology and contemporary archaeological theory, and their relationship to written accounts of Nazareth is also assessed. The Sisters of Nazareth Convent provides a crucial archaeological study for those wishing to understand the archaeology of Nazareth and its place in early Christianity and beyond.”
• Also, just because this is showing up again recently, from November: “Byzantine Church Built Over Temple to Pan Found in Israel. ‘Like Pilgrims Left Graffiti’. The church was built on top of a Roman temple in the Banias, a cultic center cited in the Gospels, that is today a popular Israeli nature reserve.” Examples of new recent articles.
• The Promise of Access: Technology, Inequality, and the Political Economy of Hope [Bookshop, Amazon, Publisher] by Daniel Greene, due April 2021—”Why simple technological solutions to complex social issues continue to appeal to politicians and professionals who should (and often do) know better.” “Why do we keep trying to solve poverty with technology? What makes us feel that we need to learn to code–or else? In The Promise of Access, Daniel Greene argues that the problem of poverty became a problem of technology in order to manage the contradictions of a changing economy. Greene shows how the digital divide emerged as a policy problem and why simple technological solutions to complex social issues continue to appeal to politicians and professionals who should (and often do) know better.”
• “Speaking with the Dead.” About Stories I Forgot to Tell You [Bookshop, Amazon, Publisher] by Dorothy Gallagher—”A delicate and darkly witty reflection on loss, marriage, writing, and life in New York from an acclaimed biographer and memoirist.” And about Here We Are: My Friendship with Philip Roth [Bookshop, Amazon, Publisher] by Benjamin Taylor—”A deeply felt, beautifully crafted meditation on friendship and loss in the vein of A Year of Magical Thinking, and a touching portrait of Philip Roth from his closest friend.”
• “The Challenges of Translating Jean Daive’s Memoir on Paul Celan. Robert Kaufman and Philip Gerard Consider the Texture of Language, Poetics, and Linguistic Dispossession.” From the introduction to From Under the Dome: Walks with Paul Celan [Bookshop, Amazon, Publisher] by Jean Daive, translated by Rosmarie Waldrop, introduction by Robert Kaufman and Philip Gerard.—”An arresting memoir of the final years and tragic suicide of one of twentieth-century Europe’s greatest poets, published on the centenary of his birth.”
• “A Poet Who Wrote the Way Abstract Expressionists Painted. Barbara Guest stands apart as a radical traditionalist, committed to poetry’s clairvoyant, mythical potentials.” About The Collected Poems of Barbara Guest [Bookshop, Amazon, Publisher], &c.
• “Novel cures. How reading about self-help can change your life.” About The Self-Help Compulsion: Searching for Advice in Modern Literature [Bookshop, Amazon, Publisher] by Beth Blum—”Samuel Beckett as a guru for business executives? James Joyce as a guide to living a good life? The notion of notoriously experimental authors sharing a shelf with self-help books might seem far-fetched, yet a hidden history of rivalry, influence, and imitation links these two worlds. In The Self-Help Compulsion, Beth Blum reveals the profound entanglement of modern literature and commercial advice from the late nineteenth century to the present day.” Also about Reading for Life [Bookshop, Amazon, Publisher] by Philip Davis—”Reading for Life is an anthology of poems and of extracts from prose fiction, related to a series of case-histories of individuals carefully reading, discussing their reading lives, and thinking about the relation of literature to their existence. It enables readers to gain increased imaginative access to the works in question through seeing how they have intensely affected equivalent readers—a novelist, a poet, a doctor, a teacher, an anthologist, but also non-specialists, ordinary people within shared reading groups in many different settings, finding help from literary texts in times of often painful personal need.”
• “By Their Epithets Shall Ye Know Them.”—”Where concision is essential, the adjective comes into its own.”
• “‘Breaking Bread With the Dead’ Review: Old Books in a New Class. A professor argues that we should engage with the classics, not only in spite of, but even because of, our moral differences with them.” About Breaking Bread With the Dead [Bookshop, Amazon, Publisher] by Alan Jacobs—”From the author of How to Think and the Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction, a literary guide to engaging with the voices of the past to stay sane in the present.”
• “The Harvard Supremacy.” About The Tyranny of Merit: What’s Become of the Common Good? [Bookshop, Amazon, Publisher] by Michael J Sandel —”World-renowned philosopher Michael J. Sandel argues that to overcome the crises that are upending our world, we must rethink the attitudes toward success and failure that have accompanied globalization and rising inequality. Sandel shows the hubris a meritocracy generates among the winners and the harsh judgement it imposes on those left behind, and traces the dire consequences across a wide swath of American life. He offers an alternative way of thinking about success–more attentive to the role of luck in human affairs, more conducive to an ethic of humility and solidarity, and more affirming of the dignity of work. The Tyranny of Merit points us toward a hopeful vision of a new politics of the common good.”
• “We Deserve Better From Our Public Intellectuals. On Kate Manne’s new book, incels, and the perils of public philosophy.” About Entitled: How Male Privilege Hurts Women [Bookshop, Amazon, Publisher] by Kate Manne—”An urgent exploration of men’s entitlement and how it serves to police and punish women, from the acclaimed author of Down Girl.”
• “Satirist to the Galaxy. The war behind a writer’s words.” About Love, Kurt: The Vonnegut Love Letters, 1941–1945 [Bookshop, Amazon, Publisher] edited by Edith Vonnegut—”A never-before-seen collection of deeply personal love letters from Kurt Vonnegut to his first wife, Jane, compiled and edited by their daughter”
• “Why Is Publishing So White?”
• What is White Ignorance?—”In this paper, I identify a theoretical and political role for ‘white ignorance’, present three alternative accounts of white ignorance, and assess how well each fulfils this role. On the Willful Ignorance View, white ignorance refers to white individuals’ willful ignorance about racial injustice. On the Cognitivist View, white ignorance refers to ignorance resulting from social practices that distribute faulty cognitive resources. On the Structuralist View, white ignorance refers to ignorance that (1) results as part of a social process that systematically gives rise to racial injustice, and (2) is an active player in the process. I argue that, because of its greater power and flexibility, the Structuralist View better explains the patterns of ignorance that we observe, better illuminates the connection to white racial domination, and is overall better suited to the project of ameliorating racial injustice. As such, the Structuralist View should be preferred.”
• “The solar discs that could power Earth.”
• “Hubble captures a black hole’s ‘shadow beams,’ yawning across space.”
• I mean … it’s a plastic bag blowing in the wind. “Leaked Government Photo Shows ‘Motionless, Cube-Shaped’ UFO. The U.S. Intelligence Community has known about the mysterious object for two years. What could it be?
• “Physicists Nail Down the ‘Magic Number’ That Shapes the Universe. A team in Paris has made the most precise measurement yet of the fine-structure constant, killing hopes for a new force of nature.”
• “The doctor who challenged the unicorn myth. Surgeon and royal doctor Ambroise Paré was one of the leading medical figures of the 16th century. In his final decade he was drawn into a protracted debate about the use of unicorn horn in medicine, where his clear voice of reason spoke out against unproven quack remedies of the time.”
• “After a million-year journey, a meteor explodes above Syracuse in 2020.”
• “Teeth reveal tantalizing details about a Neanderthal who fell down a well.”
• “Researchers find evidence of ‘lost planet’ in the solar system.”
• “Here’s what we know about Earth’s new minimoon.”
• “Intelligent Life Really Can’t Exist Anywhere Else.”
• “Physicists solve 150-year-old mystery of equation governing sandcastle physics. ‘This came as a big surprise. I expected a complete breakdown of conventional physics.'”
• “Sun launches explosion of electromagnetic energy towards Earth: Geomagnetic Storm Watch issued. ‘A spectacular display of the northern lights is possible Wednesday night as far south as Pennsylvania and Oregon. Communication disruptions could come, as well.'”—”After several months of hiatus, the sun has awoken into a new period of solar activity. An impressive solar flare and Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) December 7 hurled plasma and magnetic field toward earth.”
• “Fragments of energy – not waves or particles – may be the fundamental building blocks of the universe.” Also “Fragments of Energy – Not Waves or Particles – May Be the Fundamental Building Blocks of the Universe.” Also “New Theory Casually Upends Space and Time. Forget what you thought you knew about the universe.”
• “In a Mind-Bending New Paper, Physicists Give Schrodinger’s Cat a Cheshire Grin”
• Astronomers map a neutron star’s surface for the first time. NASA’s NICER instrument reveals that neutron stars are not as simple as we thought.”—”It’s an experience eminent physicist Yakir Aharonov can relate to. Together with fellow Israeli physicist Daniel Rohrlich, he’s shown theoretically how a particle might show its face in a corner of an experiment without needing its body anywhere in sight.”
• “Researchers Discover That Global Mass Extinctions of Land-Dwelling Animals Follow a 27-Million-Year Cycle.”
• “Arches of Chaos: New Superhighway Network Discovered to Travel Through the Solar System Much Faster.”—”Researchers have discovered a new superhighway network to travel through the Solar System much faster than was previously possible. Such routes can drive comets and asteroids near Jupiter to Neptune’s distance in under a decade and to 100 astronomical units in less than a century. They could be used to send spacecraft to the far reaches of our planetary system relatively fast, and to monitor and understand near-Earth objects that might collide with our planet.”
• “One of The Blackest Planets in The Galaxy Is Headed For a Fiery Death.”
• “The Voyagers Found a Small Surprise in Interstellar Space.”
• “Solar telescope releases first image of a sunspot.”
• More about this: “Jupiter and Saturn will come within 0.1 degrees of each other, forming the first visible “double planet” in 800 years.”
• “For The First Time, Physicists Have Recorded The Flowing Sound of a ‘Perfect’ Fluid.”
• “Three Signs a ‘New Arctic’ Is Emerging. Record wildfires, dwindling sea ice and ecosystem disruptions all point to the rapid change besetting the region”
• “Stunning Mosaic Found in England Shows Some Lived in Luxury During ‘Dark Ages’. The fifth-century artwork suggests that the British Isles experienced a gradual, not sudden, decline following the Romans’ departure.”
• “Ancient Egyptian hoard of counterfeit ‘dirty money’ unearthed.”
• From the Uplift War dept: “Honeybees found using tools, in a first—to repel giant hornet attacks. In Vietnam, Asian honeybees use feces to ward off the cousins of “murder hornets.” The finding could help protect bees in other countries with invasive wasps.”
• “31 species now extinct, according to ICUN’s Red List of endangered species.”
• “Magic Mushrooms Are Expanding Minds and Advancing an Emerging Field of Science.”
• “This Is How Psychedelics Hack the Brain, According to Scientists. The ‘pivotal mental state’ is described in a mind-blowing new scientific paper that looks at how drugs can reroute people out of psychological dead ends.”
• “Mistletoe: A Natural and Human History.”
• Also “Burnt ‘Great Pyramid’ Notes Reveal Isaac Newton’s Research Into The Apocalypse.”
• “Stunning images of Saturn’s rings caught on camera.”
• “Gold coins, medieval treasures discovered in British backyards during lockdown.”
• “Tower of human skulls reveals grisly scale to archaeologists in Mexico City.”
• “Human-made materials may now outweigh all living things on Earth, report finds.”
• “The Wings of Insects Might Have Evolved From The Legs of Crustaceans.”
• “An Astronomer Checked to see if There’s a Secret Message in the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation.”
• “Earth Is on the Cusp of the Sixth Mass Extinction. Here’s What Paleontologists Want You to Know.”
• “Pacific killer whales are dying—new research shows why.”
• More about this: “Puerto Rican scientists, shattered by collapse of Arecibo Observatory, push to rebuild.” Also “NSF releases footage from the moment Arecibo’s cables failed.”
• “Archaeologists Could Help Bring Otters Back From the Dead.”
• “Madagascan fossil ‘turns bird evolutionary anatomy on its head’.”
• “Ancient Greece had market economy, 3,000 years earlier than thought.”
• “China turns on nuclear-powered ‘artificial sun’.”
• “The Venus of Willendorf and Other Voluptuous Ancient Figures May Have Been ‘Ideological Tools’ to Shape Body-Image Norms.” Also “Upper Paleolithic Figurines Showing Women with Obesity May Be Linked to Climate Change.”
• “Norway excavates a Viking longship fit for a king.”
• “Roger Penrose: Beauty above all. On the life and work of the Nobel Prize-winner, who has revolutionized our understanding of black holes.”
• From the Science Not Scientism dept: “What Attacks on Science Get Wrong. Science is an institutionalized set of knowledge practices, not a philosophical system.”
• “The magnifying glass: how Covid revealed the truth about our world.”
• “Stealing to survive: More Americans are shoplifting food as aid runs out during the pandemic. Retailers, police departments and loss prevention researchers are reporting an uptick in theft of necessities like food and hygiene products.”
• “New CRISPR-Based Test for COVID-19 Uses a Smartphone Camera.”—”Imagine swabbing your nostrils, putting the swab in a device, and getting a read-out on your phone in 15 to 30 minutes that tells you if you are infected with the COVID-19 virus.” Also.
• “How to make this winter not totally suck, according to psychologists. This one idea may help you conquer the dread of pandemic winter.”–”This easy-to-remember principle is like an emotional Swiss Army knife: Open it up and you’ll find a bunch of different practices that research shows can cut through mental distress. […] A sense of social connectedness […] A sense of purpose […] A sense of inspiration […] So, bottom line: When the world between your two ears is as bleak as the howling winter outside, shifting your attention outward can be powerfully beneficial for your mental health. And hey, even in the dead of winter, a 15-minute awe walk outdoors is probably something you can do.
• “The Jet-Setters Scheming to Break All the COVID Rules. The founder of the Facebook group Covid Travellers says it’s a ‘safe place’ for globe-trotters—who seem willfully blind to the danger of the coronavirus.”
• “Mellissa Carone Ain’t Quarantining And You Can’t Make Her … Now, Where’s Her Goddamn Fireball?”
• “Here’s what connects Covid denial and election denial.”
• “‘An Indelible Stain’: How the G.O.P. Tried to Topple a Pillar of Democracy. The Supreme Court repudiation of President Trump was also a blunt rebuke to Republican leaders who had put their interests ahead of the country’s.” Also “The GOP Abandons Democracy. One hundred and six Republican members of Congress, and 18 state attorneys general, are asking the Supreme Court to overturn the election.” Also “Texas GOP decries Supreme Court election decision, hints at secession.”
• “Bad News for Evangelicals—God Doesn’t Need Donald Trump in the White House. Some are clearly saying that to be on the side of Trump is to be on the side of God. Sorry, He doesn’t work that way.”
• “What Really Saved the Republic From Trump? It wasn’t our constitutional system of checks and balances.”
• I … regret ever spending at or recommending Uline. “Who Funds the Federalist? Finally, We Know.”
• “Scientists Identified a Green, Poisonous Gas Used by Federal Agents on Portland Protesters. The toxic chemical is more than an alternative type of tear gas.”
• “The First Modern Victim of Fake News Was a Socialist. A new film about ’30s Hollywood reminds us of the first truly modern campaign—whose target was California gubernatorial candidate Upton Sinclair.—”The new David Fincher film, Mank, now on Netflix, features a surprising plot point: muckraking author and longtime socialist Upton Sinclair’s race for governor of California in 1934. Sinclair, leading an unprecedented mass movement, won the Democratic primary in a landslide and appeared headed for victory in November. Then, a new alliance of Republicans, conservative Democrats, big business titans and Hollywood moguls rallied to destroy his candidacy.”
• “Millennials Can’t Afford Homes or Babies, But They Own All the Pets. With few other luxuries within reach, my peers and I are finding comfort in our fur children.”
• More about this: “Photographer Gets Death Threats Over Utah Monolith Photo in NYTimes.”
• “An Interview with Alphonso Lingis. ‘What can writers do? Celebrate abundance.'”
• “Acheiropoieta. On art not made with hands.”
• “The Age of Cant. These days, you must hold the right opinions and express none of the wrong ones—or else.”
• “Inside the NY Times Probes Threatening a Star Reporter’s Career. Sources told The Daily Beast that the two internal investigations into Callimachi’s work have turned up potentially damaging emails and further complaints about her conduct.”
• “Deb Price, a First as a Columnist on Gay Life, Dies at 62. If she wrote for mainstream Americans about same-sex couples in everyday situations, she thought, society would have a harder time denying them equal rights.”
• “In Kentucky, Student Journalists Uncover Nazi Imagery In Police Training.”
• “Zodiac: cipher from California serial killer solved after 51 years.” Also “Zodiac ‘340 Cipher’ cracked by code experts 51 years after it was sent to the S.F. Chronicle.”
• “The Stubborn Classism of Classical Music. What critics get wrong about the genre’s long-standing diversity problems.”
• Tweet—”Disgusted to see members of ‘Proud Boys’ a fascist terrorist org wearing our products. We’re LGBTQIA+ owned, operated, designed and lived. We’re against everything they stand for. I see $750 of our gear in the picture – I just gave $1000 to the NAACP to redirect hate to love.” Check out Verillas.
• “America’s Hidden World of Handmade Pornography. For centuries, people have been drawing, painting, sewing, and baking their own porn.”
• “The Sabrina, the Teenage Witch aunts got a Netflix show crossover. My queens, Aunt Zelda and Aunt Hilda.” Watch.
• “Tone Is Hard to Grasp Online. Can Tone Indicators Help? We all struggle to communicate on the internet. Now, young people are leading a sincere effort to clear things up.”
• “Measuring Your Happiness Can Help Improve It.”
• HOOPS AND MAGIC—”HI THERE, WELCOME TO HOOPS AND MAGIC (NOT A REFERENCE TO JIM JONES OR THE PEOPLE’S TEMPLE). ON THIS WEBSITE, I WOULD LIKE TO COMBINE MY TWO INTERESTS, BASKETBALL AND MAGIC. I PROVIDE LESSONS ON BOTH – BUT YOU LEARN BOTH AT THE SAME TIME. SOUNDS WACKY? SURF YOUR MOUSE OVER TO THE LESSONS LINK (MOVE YOUR HAND UP) AND TAKE A LOOK.”
• Tweet—”Viewed a flat today and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to stop thinking about the back door…”
• Instragram—”Happy Holidays from the household that makes biblically accurate cherubim cookies.”
• “Wake Word: An Algorithmic Nightmare, A game about the ridiculous future of bad AI”—”It’s your first day of work at Cadabra: the #1 retailer of books, clothing, home goods, healthcare, real estate, defense technology, and mortuary services in Unified America, and the only company left standing after the Disruption War. But before you can start, you have to get out of your apartment — no thanks to your personal AI assistant, who controls everything from your shower temperature to your social credit score. There is one way to be a productive citizen in Cadabra’s domed civilization. There are twelve ways to fail.”
• Watch “Pink Floyd Ensemble – Dark Side Of The Moon.”—”The UMass Lowell Pink Floyd Ensemble, directed by Alan Williams, performs Dark Side of the Moon in its entirety. Recorded Nov. 13-15, 2020 at The Aviary, North Chelmsford, MA.”

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