An irregular hodgepodge of links beyond the library curated together from @OmniumGatherum at Hrmtc I∴O∴ and more … Omnium Gatherum for June 8, 2022.

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

• “JOURNEY THROUGH A BODY. Canada Choate on Breyer P-Orridge.” About the “Breyer P-Orridge: We Are But One” exhibit at Pioneer Works, Brooklyn, through July 10.
• “The History of International Tabletop Day. Geek & Sundry’s popular show, Tabletop, starring Wil Wheaton, launched an international holiday board game fans still gather to celebrate every year.” Article from 2021, but first Saturday in June was June 4.
• “Animal Cult. An illustrated horror story about occult animals.”—”Animal Cult is an illustrated story about a descent into darkness, fueled by a fascination with the occult. The surreal narrative is told through a series of interviews paired with full-page illustrations. The strange accounts of these beasts tempt the protagonist into an increasingly desperate investigation.” Crowdfunding effort with 7 days to go …
• “It took leaving my strict religion at age 57 to realize that I deserve happiness. I escaped a dysfunctional family and multiple failed marriages. But escaping the pull of my Mormon faith was even harder.”
• “The Winchesters | Season Trailer | The CW” That’s a whole lotta unicursal hexagrams, but at least they have some kind of actual lore reason to be there unlike *cough* Zweihander *cough*
• “The Beast of Loch Ness. A Film About Boleskine House, Reaching Far Beyond Crowley.”—”The Beast of Loch Ness is a new film featuring a dynamic team of renowned historians, writers, podcasters and filmmakers exploring Boleskine House. Separating historical facts from modern pop-culture and fiction the team will also deep dive the self-proclaimed Beast, Aleister Crowley, revealing what he really got up to in Scotland.”
• “Portraits reflect on face of Britain in 21st century“—”Other sitters represented include … infamous Leamington-born occultist Aleister Crowley.” “They are paired up, with explanations, with the likes [of] Henry VIII (Crowley)” Obviously I’m pretty curious what the specific explanation for that pairing is …
• “Pagan Peak (Der Passe). A pair of detectives investigate pagan-influenced murders on the German-Austrian border.” There’s a detective that seems to look like Oscar Wilde and a villain that seems to look like Aleister Crowley? I’ve only watched s01e01 so far. I guess there’s actually German-Austrian folk-inspired themes later if thumbnails and mention of the “Krampus Killer” are an indication. Two seasons streaming.
• “Under the Banner of Heaven. Starring Andrew Garfield, FX’s Under the Banner of Heaven, the limited series inspired by the bestseller by Jon Krakauer, follows the murder of Brenda Wright Lafferty and her baby daughter in a suburb in the Salt Lake Valley. As Detective Jeb Pyre investigates events that transpired, he uncovers buried truths about the origins of the LDS religion and the violent consequences of unyielding faith.”
• “The Deep End. A look inside the world of one of today’s most controversial spiritual teachers and her dedicated followers.”
• “T. S. Eliot and the Holy Grail. The Nobel Laureate drew on a centuries-old legend when he put the Fisher King in The Waste Land.”
• Cosmic Trigger III: My Life After Death by Robert Anton Wilson, unabridged audio book narrated by Oliver Senton. From Hilaritas Press.
• Wilhelm Reich in Hell [Amazon, Bookshop, Publisher] by Robert Anton Wilson, introductions by Christopher S Hyatt and Eric Wagner, cover by Scott McPherson, interior illo by Bobby Campbell, new edition from Hilaritas Press—”Humanity suffers from an Emotional Plague, declared Dr. Wilhelm Reich. For his controversial ideas, his books were banned and burned, and he died in prison. Robert Anton Wilson explores the trials of Reich in this essay and play script. In his introduction, Dr. Christopher S. Hyatt writes, ‘Wilhelm Reich In Hell is an appropriate title for the horrific experiences that Dr. Reich, our hero, endured. Dr. Wilson’s sensitive and insightful expression, using two literary forms, provides the reader who is interested in the effects of the ‘Whirling’ Inquisition against the Mind with insights both subtle and daring.'”
• Fiddler’s Green 8: Idyl Hearts (*Unicorn White Cover*)—”The covers for a small portion of our print run for Fiddler’s Green 8 were produced using white linen stock instead of our classic green stock.”
• “Kirk Cameron is trending so you know something really stupid must have happened.” Mentions Kirk Cameron & the Crocoduck of Chaos Magick by Mandy DeSandra—”Kirk Cameron has set up his Pray The Gay Away Camp. He is hoping for it to be a hit Reality TV Show. While most boys are open to letting go of their homosexual ways, JJ a young gay man who practices Chaos Magick has other plans. When JJ finishes his spell and unleashes hot Cheese Jesus, a crockoduck, and Boner Stabone, Kirk Cameron will feel passion and some sexy Growing Pains. A 7,500 word novellete of hot gay orgy action, involving crockoducks, sexy holy cheese, Chaos Magick, oral sex, anal, clone 69ing, and Stigmata hand sex. Including stories: Gay Zombie Sluts in Key West, Duck Me in The Bass: An AutoCorrect Anal Text Sex Adventure, City On Fire, The Haunting of the Paranormal Romance Conference, and The Infinite Jest of Picking Porn Titles”
• “Hitting the Books: Newton’s alchemical dalliances make him no less of a scientist. The father of physics may have investigated pseudoscience but he never published on it.” About There Are Places in the World Where Rules Are Less Important than Kindness: And Other Thoughts on Physics, Philosophy and the World [Amazon, Bookshop, Publisher, Local Library] by Carlo Rovelli—”A delightful intellectual feast from the bestselling author of Seven Brief Lessons on Physics and The Order of Time. One of the world’s most prominent physicists and fearless free spirit, Carlo Rovelli is also a masterful storyteller. His bestselling books have introduced millions of readers to the wonders of modern physics and his singular perspective on the cosmos. This new collection of essays reveals a curious intellect always on the move. Rovelli invites us on an accessible and enlightening voyage through science, literature, philosophy, and politics. Written with his usual clarity and wit, this journey ranges widely across time and space: from Newton’s alchemy to Einstein’s mistakes, from Nabokov’s lepidopterology to Dante’s cosmology, from mind-altering psychedelic substances to the meaning of atheism, from the future of physics to the power of uncertainty. Charming, pithy, and elegant, this book is the perfect gateway to the universe of one of the most influential minds of our age.”
• “The Strange and Secret Ways That Animals Perceive the World. Nonhuman creatures have senses that we’re just beginning to fathom. What would they tell us if we could only understand them?” About An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us [Amazon, Bookshop, Publisher, Local Library] by Ed Yong—”The Earth teems with sights and textures, sounds and vibrations, smells and tastes, electric and magnetic fields. But every kind of animal, including humans, is enclosed within its own unique sensory bubble, perceiving but a tiny sliver of our immense world. In An Immense World, author and Pulitzer Prize–winning science journalist Ed Yong coaxes us beyond the confines of our own senses, allowing us to perceive the skeins of scent, waves of electromagnetism, and pulses of pressure that surround us. We encounter beetles that are drawn to fires, turtles that can track the Earth’s magnetic fields, fish that fill rivers with electrical messages, and even humans who wield sonar like bats. We discover that a crocodile’s scaly face is as sensitive as a lover’s fingertips, that the eyes of a giant squid evolved to see sparkling whales, that plants thrum with the inaudible songs of courting bugs, and that even simple scallops have complex vision. We learn what bees see in flowers, what songbirds hear in their tunes, and what dogs smell on the street. We listen to stories of pivotal discoveries in the field, while looking ahead at the many mysteries that remain unsolved. Funny, rigorous, and suffused with the joy of discovery, An Immense World takes us on what Marcel Proust called ‘the only true voyage . . . not to visit strange lands, but to possess other eyes.'” And about How to Speak Whale: A Voyage into the Future of Animal Communication [Amazon, Bookshop, Publisher, Local Library] by Tom Mustill, due Sept 2022—”What if animals and humans could speak to one another? Tom Mustill—the nature documentarian who went viral when a thirty‑ton humpback whale breached onto his kayak—asks this question in his thrilling investigation into whale science and animal communication. ‘When a whale is in the water, it is like an iceberg: you only see a fraction of it and have no conception of its size.’ On September 12, 2015, Tom Mustill was paddling in a two-person kayak with a friend just off the coast of California. It was cold, but idyllic—until a humpback whale breached, landing on top of them, releasing the energy equivalent of forty hand grenades. He was certain he was about to die, but they both survived, miraculously unscathed. In the interviews that followed the incident, Mustill was left with one question: What could this astonishing encounter teach us? Drawing from his experience as a naturalist and wildlife filmmaker, Mustill started investigating human–whale interactions around the world when he met two tech entrepreneurs who wanted to use artificial intelligence (AI)—originally designed to translate human languages—to discover patterns in the conversations of animals and decode them. As he embarked on a journey into animal eavesdropping technologies, where big data meets big beasts, Mustill discovered that there is a revolution taking place in biology, as the technologies developed to explore our own languages are turned to nature. From seventeenth-century Dutch inventors, to the whaling industry of the nineteenth century, to the cutting edge of Silicon Valley, How to Speak Whale examines how scientists and start-ups around the world are decoding animal communications. Whales, with their giant mammalian brains, virtuoso voices, and long, highly social lives, offer one of the most realistic opportunities for this to happen. But what would the consequences of such human animal interaction be? We’re about to find out.”
• “About 200 years ago, the world started getting rich. Why? Two economic historians explain what made the Industrial Revolution, and modern life, possible.” About How the World Became Rich: The Historical Origins of Economic Growth [Amazon, Bookshop, Publisher, Local Library] by Mark Koyama and Jared Rubin—”Most humans are significantly richer than their ancestors. Humanity gained nearly all of its wealth in the last two centuries. How did this come to pass? How did the world become rich? Mark Koyama and Jared Rubin dive into the many theories of why modern economic growth happened when and where it did. They discuss recently advanced theories rooted in geography, politics, culture, demography, and colonialism. Pieces of each of these theories help explain key events on the path to modern riches. Why did the Industrial Revolution begin in 18th-century Britain? Why did some European countries, the US, and Japan catch up in the 19th century? Why did it take until the late 20th and 21st centuries for other countries? Why have some still not caught up? Koyama and Rubin show that the past can provide a guide for how countries can escape poverty. There are certain prerequisites that all successful economies seem to have. But there is also no panacea. A society’s past and its institutions and culture play a key role in shaping how it may – or may not – develop.”
• More about this: “Meet the YouTubers exposing the dark side of making video games“—”But recently, People Make Games has fried significantly bigger fish: outsourcing scandals, exploitation of child labor in “Roblox” and emotionally abusive indie game developers — including one whose studio collapsed immediately following PMG’s reporting. The choice to tackle tougher material with rigor rarely seen on YouTube was a conscious one.”
• “Our Country Moves Closer to a Federal Privacy Law, and I Move Closer to Losing My Mind“—”After years of fizzled talks and stalled negotiations on a federal data privacy bill, House and Senate committee leaders finally set aside enough of their differences to release a draft of a new bipartisan tech privacy bill this past Friday.”
• “Axon Announces TASER Drone Development to Address Mass Shootings.” Also STATEMENT OF RESIGNING AXON AI ETHICS BOARD MEMBERS—”It is with deep regret that we, the undersigned nine members of Axon’s AI Ethics Board, announce our immediate resignation from the Board. We do so in response to Axon’s recent announcement that it intends to develop Taser-equipped drones, pre-position them in potential targets for mass and school shootings, and encircle those targets in surveillance cameras with real-time streaming capabilities.”
• “How CEOs cashed in on 2021“—”a new report from the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) reveals that corporations could have increased wages more substantially. Instead, many corporations chose to spend resources on large increases in CEO pay. Corporations also spent billions on stock buybacks, benefiting CEOs and other executives whose compensation is tied to stock prices.”
• Thread—”Disney owns our stories. For some people– both those who have another “traditional” religion and those who don’t– the promise of magic at Disney and the feelings they get there are powerful. I’ve seen people cry at the fireworks. Many times.” Tweet—””Yes, they do own our stories. They literally own almost all of the stories and that’s a bad thing. If Disney is a religion then it’s in the business of kidnapping gods, slapping a copyright on them, then charging their communities of origin to gaze at them.””
• “ANGELO MORIONDO: HOW THE FATHER OF THE ESPRESSO MACHINE USED SCIENCE TO MAKE COFFEE. The smooth science of brewing espresso, explained.”
• “Introducing Orba 2 by Artiphon – Play any sound in the world“—”Hold out your hands and meet Orba 2, the follow-up to our award-winning synth, looper, and controller. Play any sound in the world, create your own instruments, and take your creativity to new heights.” Using this as a soundboard for streaming, podcasts, and soever also comes to mind.
• Sci-Fi Character Portraits PHASE 2 by Ashen Victor. Fully itchfunded and 4 stretch goals achieved. “A collection of +120 character portraits for your TTRPG online or on person game sessions. Usable with any sci-fi game like Mothership, … or whatever your favourite setting or game is! Curated to have a diverse cast of portraits of different age, constitution, ethnic background, hairstyles, attitudes and levels of accessorizing! And also androids?”
• “Starforged: Savior’s Cairn 1. Actual play fiction comic created for the Starforged 2022 Jam.”
• BOOK OF HOURS by Weather Factory—”BOOK OF HOURS is an elegant, melancholy, combat-free RPG set in an occult library” “ACQUIRE occult books … and STUDY them to solve the setting’s mysteries. RESTORE books … or PURIFY them to remove their curses and shadowy taints. Enjoy the sweet peace of indexing and cataloguing books” “a rich, non-linear story about the terror and majesty of books, and about alphabetical order.”
• “Wednesday’s first trailer is here to get you through yet another Monday. Wednesday Addams is heading to high school.” Watch “Wednesday Addams Revealed | Netflix“—”From the imagination of Tim Burton comes WEDNESDAY — a twisted new series coming soon to Netflix. WEDNESDAY — starring Jenna Ortega in the title role, alongside Catherine Zeta-Jones, Luis Guzman, Gwendoline Christie, Christina Ricci and more — is a sleuthing, supernaturally infused mystery charting Wednesday Addams’ years as a student at Nevermore Academy. Snap snap.”
• “‘Twisted Metal’: AEW’s Joe Seanoa To Play Dual Role Of ‘Sweet Tooth’ Voiced By Will Arnett; 3 More To Recur.” So strange. I played this on PS1 in the 90s. Now it’s becoming a TV show? Has there even been a game in the series in the last 10 years?!
• “Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader. The First Classic cRPG in the Warhammer 40,000 Universe.” Watch “Announcement Teaser Trailer | Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader.”—”Owlcat is proud to announce the first classic cRPG in the Warhammer 40,000 Universe!” “Take the mantle of a Rogue Trader and explore the vast and dangerous Koronus Expanse with a crew of your loyal companions.” From Owlcat, who made the Pathfinder cRPGs …
• Xenobiology Codex by Screwy Lightbulb—”An AI-generated compendium of 96 pages of alien flora and fauna with fantastical sketches, illustrations, and scribbled notes and annotations, resembling the Voynich Manuscript. Created using Midjourney. Warning: contains some images that look humanoid in nature, with faces and body parts rendered as if appearing in anatomical textbooks.”
• Saint Maud dir Rose Glass, with Morfydd Clark, Jennifer Ehle—”Maud, a newly devout hospice nurse, becomes obsessed with saving her dying patient’s soul—but sinister forces, and her own sinful past, threaten to put an end to her holy calling.”
• You Won’t Be Alone dir Goran Stolevski, with Sara Klimoska, Anamaria Marinca, Alice Englert, and Noomi Rapace—”Transformed into a witch by an ancient spirit, a young girl takes the shape of various villagers as she undergoes a haunting journey to understand what it means to be human.”

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