An irregular hodgepodge of links beyond the library curated together from @OmniumGatherum at Hrmtc I∴O∴ and more … Omnium Gatherum for July 13, 2022.

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

• “Celebrate BASTILLE DAY with Jacobin! WHEN: July 14, 7pm ET. WHERE: Mayday Space, 176 St. Nicholas Ave, Brooklyn, NY. FREE admission, with $10 solidarity tickets to support our work and receive a free copy of The ABCs of Socialism!”
• “Play with Pride. Vibrant, colorful, inclusive, awesome games.”—”Celebrate LGBTQ+ Pride all year long with this vibrant collection of games! Find romance in the wickedly funny dating sim Monster Prom and its sequel Monster Camp. Lend an ear to the patrons who stop by your shop in Coffee Talk. Discover a world reclaimed by nature in Lost Ember, explore the colorful future of 2064: Read Only Memories, and more, and help support The Trevor Project with your purchase.” Game bundle includes Monster Prom + DLC, Monster Prom 2: Monster Camp, and Coffee Talk. $10 for the whole bundle. Bundle with 7 days left.
• “A Suicide And Crisis Hotline Is Coming Called 988. Here’s Everything To Know About It. Beginning July 16, you can dial 988 and be connected to mental health support. If you’re having suicidal thoughts, a substance use crisis, or any other kind of emotional distress, dial this number.”
• Perdurabo, Revised and Expanded Edition: The Life of Aleister Crowley by Richard Kaczynski is currently $1.99 for ebook. “A rigorously researched biography of the founder of modern magick, as well as a study of the occult, sexuality, Eastern religion, and more.”
• “‘“I Thought I Was Just Keeping a Journal. I Was Actually Tapping Into My Higher Consciousness.’ When writing and meditation merge, the result can be new insights, inspiration, and sometimes even ‘aha’ moments.”
• “How ‘The Matrix’, ‘Eternals’ & ‘Prometheus’ Connect to Gnosticism. Some of your favorite sci-fi movies ask some big questions about where we come from and why we’re here.” See Gnosticism.
• The Magic Flute (2022)—”17-year-old Tim Walker as he travels from London to the Austrian Alps to attend the legendary Mozart boarding school. There, he discovers a centuries-old forgotten passageway into the fantastic world of Mozart’s ‘The Magic Flute.'” Dir Florian Sigl with F Murray Abraham, Iwan Rheon. Watch a trailer. Haha, F Murray Abraham in a movie based on the Mozart opera!
• “Geometric Realities: Cosmic and Symbolic Shapes in Games. What is conveyed and defined by the presence of certain shapes in video games?”
• The True Grimoire by Jake Stratton-Kent, new and updated paperback—”The second edition appears thirteen years after the True Grimoire was first published, in which time it has become a critical and foundational work of the current magical revival. … The new edition is augmented by two previously published and out of print essays by the author … The book has been redesigned and typeset.”
• “Surrealism and Esotericism. 2. Surrealism and Alchemy. Alchemy acquired an increasingly important role in the works of the Surrealists. It was more than a symbol.” See Baphomet, Éliphas Lévi, and more.
• The English Illuminati by Alistair Lees—”Published for the very first time, the English Illuminati rituals are revealed in full to the reader alongside other original source materials. A unique opportunity to see what really went on behind the scenes, changing perceptions and sharing the true story of the English branch of the world’s most notorious order.”
• The Zinzolin Book of Occult Fiction ed Brendan Connell—”The Zinzolin Book of Occult Fiction, the first in a planned series of books of occult fiction of many colours, brings together twenty-two tales, dating from 1888-1911, from the occult revival of the British Isles. Including both well-known figures, such as Arthur Conan Doyle and Aleister Crowley, and lesser-known talents, such as Helen Fagg and the mysterious Zuresta, this inaugural volume is sure to bring diversion and illumination to both interested acolyte and erudite mahatma alike. Containing a varied and rich array of stories, about dreams and séances, visionaries and madmen, The Zinzolin Book of Occult Fiction, edited by Brendan Connell, is an indispensable addition to any library of the supernatural and occult.”
• “Sci-Fi Author Philip K. Dick Getting Biopic Treatment With ‘Only Apparently Real’ (Exclusive). Jon Shestack is producing a feature that will focus on a break-in that may or may not have occurred at the house of Dick, whose work inspired ‘Blade Runner’ and ‘Total Recall.'” About Only Apparently Real: The World of Philip K. Dick by Paul Williams.
• “Prague Shakespeare Company Macbeth Adapted Into Graphic Novel.” Adapted by Stewart Kenneth Moore, due in October, from Clover Press, for a 2 issue run. No direct links found yet.
• “‘They are preparing for war’: An expert on civil wars discusses where political extremists are taking this country.” “There’s this nonprofit based in Virginia called the Center for Systemic Peace … measures … How autocratic or how democratic a country is. And it has this scale that goes from negative 10 to positive 10.” “And what scholars found was that this anocracy variable was really predictive of a risk for civil war. That full democracies almost never have civil wars. Full autocracies rarely have civil wars. All of the instability and violence is happening in this middle zone.” “the Republican Party really was the bigger surprise — that, wow, they’re doubling down on this almost white supremacist strategy. That’s a losing strategy in a democracy. So why would they do that? Okay, it’s worked for them since the ’60s and ’70s, but you can’t turn back demographics. And then I was like, Oh my gosh. The only way this is a winning strategy is if you begin to weaken the institutions” “We know the warning signs. And we know that if we strengthen our democracy, and if the Republican Party decides it’s no longer going to be an ethnic faction that’s trying to exclude everybody else, then our risk of civil war will disappear. We know that. And we have time to do it. But you have to know those warning signs in order to feel an impetus to change them.” About How Civil Wars Start: And How to Stop Them by Barbara F Walter.
• “These Communist Women Are the Feminist Icons You’ve Never Heard Of. A new book profiles five extraordinary women of the Communist world — dedicated socialists and champions of women’s equality whose lives exemplified the contradictions of a system defined by pervasive oppression as well as genuine social achievements.” About Red Valkyries: Feminist Lessons From Five Revolutionary Women by Kristen Ghodsee.
• “The Ocean is a Lesbian: Notes on Queer Women and Water. ‘What is it with these lesbians and why are they all so wet?'” About Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield.
• “White Patriarchy Won’t Solve the Climate Crisis: Antiracist, Feminist Leadership Is What We Need Right Now. Research shows that countries that have women in leadership positions adopt stronger policies addressing the climate crisis than nations that don’t have women in leadership roles.” Excerpt from Diversifying Power: Why We Need Antiracist, Feminist Leadership on Climate and Energy by Jennie C Stephens.
• Escape into Meaning: Essays on Superman, Public Benches, and Other Obsessions by Evan Puschak—”Producer, editor, and writer behind the highly addictive, informative, and popular YouTube channel The Nerdwriter, Evan Puschak presents an unconventional and whip-smart essay collection about topics as varied as Superman, politics, and public benches.”
• “Inside Traitor King and the Case That Edward VIII Was a Nazi Sympathizer. In his new book, historian Andrew Lownie marshals evidence from German documents to argue that Wallis Simpson and her husband who abdicated the throne were a big threat to Britain during World War II.” About Traitor King: The Scandalous Exile of the Duke & Duchess of Windsor by Andrew Lownie.
• Sonorous Desert: What Deep Listening Taught Early Christian Monks—and What It Can Teach Us by Kim Haines-Eitzen. “Enduring lessons from the desert soundscapes that shaped the Christian monastic tradition” “Kim Haines-Eitzen draws on ancient monastic texts from Egypt, Sinai, and Palestine to explore how noise offered desert monks an opportunity to cultivate inner quietude, and shows how the desert quests of ancient monastics offer profound lessons for us about what it means to search for silence.” “Drawing on her own experiences making field recordings in the deserts of North America and Israel, she reveals how mountains, canyons, caves, rocky escarpments, and lush oases are deeply resonant places. Haines-Eitzen discusses how the desert is a place of paradoxes, both silent and noisy, pulling us toward contemplative isolation yet giving rise to vibrant collectives of fellow seekers.” “Accompanied by Haines-Eitzen’s evocative audio recordings of desert environments, Sonorous Desert reveals how desert sounds taught ancient monks about solitude, silence, and the life of community, and how they can help us understand ourselves if we slow down and listen.” Also listen Sonorous Desert soundscapes.
• “Dune & Frank Herbert Immortalized By Centipede Press“—”Dune & Frank Herbert immortalized by Centipede Press in a limited edition that creates a uniquely bold, intricate, imaginative, and sharp book, a true work of art – illustrated by Mark Molnar – befitting a masterpiece that is one of the greatest science-fiction novels of all time.” About Dune. Sold out, apparently, but some libraries have it.
• “She Says Our Family Trees Throw Shade on the Sanitized Past. In ‘Ancestor Trouble,’ Maud Newton probes her family’s past, which includes racists, fundamentalists, and a man who married 12 women. She talks to The Daily Beast about her search.” About Ancestor Trouble: A Reckoning and a Reconciliation by Maud Newton.
• “How 19th-century literature spread the archetype of the ‘evil abortionist’” About Female Physicians in American Literature: Abortion in 19th-Century Literature and Culture by Margaret Jay Jessee.
• “The everyday miracle of writing. Give thanks to the people who resolved to make pictures stand for sounds.”—”Writing seems so fundamental that it is hard to believe just how recent, and contingent, it really is.”
• “Plural Like the Universe. Brilliant, restive, alternately depressed and exhilarated, Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa had second thoughts about everything.”—”Nearly 90 years after his death, the best of this inveterate pretender’s poetry and prose has not crumbled.” About Fernando Pessoa.
• “Physicists May Have Stumbled Upon an Entirely New Elementary Particle. The sterile neutrino, if it truly exists, only answers to gravity.”
• “NASA’s Webb Produces the Most Detailed Image of the Early Universe to Date“—”The image shows the galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 as it appeared 4.6 billion years ago. The combined mass of this galaxy cluster acts as a gravitational lens, magnifying much more distant galaxies behind it.” “Webb’s NIRCam has brought those distant galaxies into sharp focus – they have tiny, faint structures that have never been seen before, including star clusters and diffuse features. Researchers will soon begin to learn more about the galaxies’ masses, ages, histories, and compositions, as Webb seeks the earliest galaxies in the universe.” Tweet—”This is what the universe looked like when the Earth was formed 4.6 Billion Years Ago from the James Webb Telescope. Each point of light is a galaxy where life has lived for billions of years. The warping effect is GRAVITY!! You can SEE GRAVITY!! Science is so cool!!” Tweet—”Thank you scientists. Thank you US & Canadian tax payers. Witness the first #Webbtelescope’s orange to infrared image of a single galaxy cluster in our universe, whose light left when Earth was forming. Look how the bright galaxy bends light.” Tweet—”This is a AI generated zoom based off the RAW NASA James Webb image.” Also “NASA scientists say images from the Webb telescope nearly brought them to tears. Deep field images of the universe, exoplanet atmospheres, and more to be unveiled.”—”What I have seen moved me, as a scientist, as an engineer, and as a human being” Exoplanet atmospheres!
• “NASA Reveals Webb Telescope’s First Images of Unseen Universe“—”The dawn of a new era in astronomy is here as the world gets its first look at the full capabilities of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, a partnership with ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency).” “The full set of the telescope’s first full-color images and spectroscopic data, which uncover a collection of cosmic features elusive until now, released Tuesday, are available at:” “First Images from the James Webb Space Telescope“. Thread—”The public are excited by the images, but astronomers are as excited by the spectra, like this one. I want to talk about why.”
• “Octopuses may be so terrifyingly smart because they share humans’ genes for intelligence. Genetic sequences called transposons help regulate learning.”
• “Bacteria species found in glacial ice could pose disease risk as glaciers melt from global warming.”
• “NASA says its plan to bring Mars samples back to Earth is safe, but some people are worried. ‘We also believe this to be the next logical step in our quest to eventually land humans on the surface of Mars,’ said Thomas Zurbuchen, an astrophysicist and head of science at NASA.” *staring in H G Wells*
• “UChicago scientists invent ‘quantum flute’ that can make particles of light move together. Breakthrough could point the way towards new quantum technology.” I know how this ends. “the boundless daemon sultan Azathoth, whose name no lips dare speak aloud, and who gnaws hungrily in inconceivable, unlighted chambers beyond time and space amidst the muffled, maddening beating of vile drums and the thin monotonous whine of accursed flutes.”—The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath. *staring in cosmic horror*
• “Decades-old mystery solved after satellite shows ‘Bluetooth Viking king’ IS buried in Polish village.” I’m surprised they were still able to pair with it after so long without charging first.
  
• Google allowed sanctioned Russian ad company to harvest user data for months. Info included unique mobile phone IDs, IP addresses, location information, and more.”
• “Chinese AI ‘can check loyalty of party members’“—”Chinese researchers claim to have developed artificial intelligence they say can read the minds of Communist Party members and make them more receptive to ‘thought education’.”
• “Ron DeSantis’ handpicked “radical far-right” secretary of state will oversee his race. DeSantis picked Cord Byrd, a Florida legislator who won’t acknowledge Biden’s 2020 win, to run Florida elections.”
• Tweet—”Madame Tussaud’s Blackpool lugging their waxwork Boris to outside the job centre is an absolutely sensational bit of stick”
• “The Hell of Being Pregnant in Prison Is About to Get So Much Worse. ‘Forcing people to carry pregnancies to term when they are in facilities that historically cannot address their medical needs is very disturbing.'”
• El Salvador woman gets 50 year sentence for pregnancy loss. Laws like El Salvador’s are ‘now being replicated in states across the U.S.,’ noted one observer.”
• “Fox News Pundit Suggests ‘Exorcists’ to Stop Mass Shootings. Bill Bennett said he didn’t intend to suggest ‘anything farcical.'” I mean, if you’re going to roll back the clock, why stop at mere decades?
• “The Supreme Court’s Entire Term Was an Exercise in Reactionary Rollback of Basic Rights. It wasn’t just the end of Roe v. Wade. So many rights were stripped by the Supreme Court over the course of its recently ended term that it’s hard to keep them all straight. We have no choice but to curb the court’s power.”
• “These Anarchists Wanted Paradise. They Ended Up in Hell. The new HBO docuseries “The Anarchists” examines Anarchapulco—an annual crypto-fueled anarchist festival that turned into a murder-filled nightmare.” They sound more like purely Libertarians than actual Anarchists on the tin, to me, tbh. If the docu is as off as that at first blush, idek. But, amusingly the series page, even linked from their homepage, The Anarchists was 404 for a while. Um. That’s just about right, smdh.
  
• “‘I Don’t Know How My Show Is Doing’ Streamers run on data, but that doesn’t mean they’re sharing it with showrunners. As told to Kathryn VanArendonk and Josef Adalian.”—”In a series of anonymous interviews, showrunners opened up about how it feels when your show’s fate is a black box. (The platforms themselves declined to comment on their data-sharing practices.)” “One of my biggest fears about this world of secrecy is that it literally comes down to “You ask for what you feel you are worth.” And then who wins? White men. It just re-creates the system.”
• Art Detective Says Clueless Thief Who Stole ‘Jesus’ Blood’ Freaked When He Found Out. A leading Dutch art detective was able to retrieve two lead vials containing ‘the blood of Jesus’ after the thief dumped it into the ocean.” Merovingian gonna mediterranean.
• “Oklahoma Man Says Bigfoot Made Him Kill His Fishing Partner, Police Say
  Larry Sanders was arrested for the murder of his fishing partner, who he says had “summoned Bigfoot” to off him, according to police.”—”A day out hand fishing for catfish on the South Canadian River in Pontotoc County, Oklahoma, has turned into a murder investigation after a man claims Bigfoot forced him to kill his friend.” Um, that’s … not how Bigfoot works.

• Watch “Ghost – Call Me Little Sunshine“—”Ghost performs the song Call Me Little Sunshine on Jimmy Kimmel Live.” Also read: “The title of the song is a reference to the British occultist, Aleister Crowley. … “You can call me Little Sunshine,” he told the judge.”—
• “Spider-Man: The Animated Series Writers Share Standards & Practices Notes. In an interview with CBR, Spider-Man: The Animated Series showrunner John Semper reflects on the changes made making the classic show.”—”The funny thing is every show gets S&P notes, and they’re always foolish. They’re always exactly like that.”
• Watch “TRON | Original Trailer | Disney+“—”Step inside the original trailer for #TRON and start streaming the film now on #DisneyPlus.” Also watch “Tron | Unofficial Official Trailer | Disney+“—”A brilliant video game maker hacks the mainframe of his former employer. But, when the program fights back, he’s beamed into the game and must win if he wants to make it out alive. Celebrate the 40th anniversary of #Tron streaming on #DisneyPlus.” Also “40 Years Ago, Disney’s Weirdest Failure Changed Sci-Fi Movies Forever. In 1982, Tron changed everything. But, at the time, almost nobody noticed.”
• Watch “Harley Quinn Season 3 | Official Trailer | HBO Max“—”The mayhem and madness continue in season three of this biting and uproarious adult animated comedy series.” “Season 3 of #HarleyQuinn premieres July 28 on HBO Max.”
• “HOW VIKING RAIDS SHAPED IRELAND’S CULTURAL LANDSCAPE. An original comic by Aodh Ó Riagáin (Oreganillo).”
• “She-Hulk Is ‘The Antithesis Of Most Superhero Narratives’, Says Tatiana Maslany – Exclusive Image“—”I always come back to Sophie, who’s this amazing trans artist who unfortunately died last year … What I love about Sophie’s music is this combo of organic and electrical, industrial-type sounds that felt connected to She-Hulk.” See “Sophie (musician)”. Also “Sophie, innovative producer and musician and trans icon, dies at 34.”
• “A Woman Bought a Pile of Cheap Costume Jewelry Online. Turns Out It Contained a Rare Viking-Era Gold Ring. The ring will go on view at the University Museum in Bergen, Norway, later this fall.”
• Listen to Deus Arrakis by Klaus Schulze—”German composer, musician and producer Klaus Schulze was known all over the world as THE pioneer of Electronic Music and master of the Moog synthesizer. He shaped the ‘Berlin School‘ and was most influential for various music styles that came of Electronic Music. His beginnings took off in bands like ‘Tangerine Dream‘ and ‘Ash Ra Tempel‘, continued with over 50 solo albums.”
• Watch “PLASTIC – Pussy Riot ft iLoveMakonnen (Official Music Video).”
• Watch “The Most Metal Church in the World“—”Arizona Preacher goes Metal!”
• Watch “Cassetteboy – Bye Bye Boris“—”Short but oh so sweet”.
• Tweet—”Hugh Grant tweeted a request at activists protesting outside Westminster to play the Benny Hill theme on their loudspeakers; when they did it became the soundtrack for street interviews with leading Tories trying explain the situation to the British people.”
• Watch “Clerks 3 Official Trailer“—”Today’s job duties include clocking in and watching this trailer for Clerks III.”
• Watch “Amsterdam | Official Trailer | 20th Century Studios“—”A lot of this actually happened. Amsterdam, a new film from David O. Russell, arrives in theaters November 2022.”
• Watch “Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primal | Season 2 OFFICIAL TRAILER | adult swim“—”Emmy Award-winning Primal returns for a new season that leads Spear and Fang on bigger, more brutal adventures than ever before. Season 2 of Primal premieres July 21 at Midnight on [adult swim]. Next day on HBO Max”
• Watch “Emily The Criminal | Official Trailer | In Theaters August 12“—”Emily (Aubrey Plaza) is saddled with student debt and locked out of the job market due to a minor criminal record. Desperate for income, she takes a shady gig as a “dummy shopper,” buying goods with stolen credit cards supplied by a handsome and charismatic middleman named Youcef (Theo Rossi). …”
• Watch “Paper Girls – Official Trailer | Prime Video“—”It’s the day after Halloween in 1988 when four young friends accidentally stumble into an intense time war and find themselves inexplicably transported to the year 2019. When they come face-to-face with their adult selves, each girl discovers her own strengths as together they try to find a way back to the past while saving the world of the future.”
• “My Biggest Complaint About the Upside Down in ‘Stranger Things’. There’s something very, very, very off with the show’s evil alternate dimension. And it’s not what you think it is.”—”I definitely heard something moist happening.”
• “San Marcos man taps into his Nordic roots one plank at time. ‘This is his definition of retirement. The retired sailor is busy building his own Viking ship.'”
• “Taika Waititi’s Thor Edits Remove ‘Entire Planets’ from Love and Thunder’s Story. Thor: Love and Thunder star Natalie Portman says director Taika Waititi edited entire planets out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe film’s story.” Toot—”Release the 4 hour Thor 4 cut, you cowards.”
• Mörk Borg, bare bones edition, plain text, free version—”In short: This is the full MÖRK BORG book—without most of the art and with a minimalist graphic design—for free download. The introductory adventure Rotblack Sludge is included as well, unchanged from the original version.”
• The Last Starship by Introversion, planned for early access late 2022—”Introversion Software, the indie legends behind Prison Architect, Darwinia, DEFCON and Uplink, present to you the broken, unfinished and bug filled Alpha of The Last Starship. Pick a ship hull, kit her out with engines, life-support, sensors and rail guns and start your galactic adventure!”
• Watch Super Hot—”A pizza delivery girl discovers her neighbor is moving into a sorority house of vampires. It’s a race against the clock to stop her crush from being sacrificed at midnight!”
• Watch Spontaneous—”Mara Carlye’s life is forever changed when students in her senior class literally explode for no reason. Mara and her friends stay close together as they await possible combustion – wondering what part of life is worth living if it might end suddenly.”

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