At io9, Lauren Davis writes about how science fiction helped her to deal with her grief at the sudden death of her younger brother. The podcasts were meant to be a distraction, like the wine or the VCDs of movies my mom had brought home from a trip to Asia that Colin had never gotten [...]
An Oklahoma court has cleared the way for Methodist clergyman Keith Cressman to sue the state over his objection to imagery on that state’s license plate. The new license plates carry a photo of a statue called “Prayer for Rain,” of an Apache man shooting an arrow into the sky. His 2011 lawsuit in U.S. [...]
Items that deserve more commentary, but are not getting it today: • From MIT Technology Review: When we read books on paper, do we retain more than when we read on a screen? • Re-creating the sound of ancient musical instruments, sometimes with synthesizers. • A review of Apocalyptic Witchcraft, from Scarlet Imprint. • At [...]
Build Paganistan. A floating Paganistan. “Bulletproof Coffee”? I might try that once. In addition to seeing government as just another problem that technology can overcome, Seasteaders try to “hack” every aspect of their existence down to their self-care regimens. Many participate in health and fitness regimes like the Paleo Diet and Crossfit—lifestyles that dovetail nicely [...]
Trying to get a good handle on what the Jungians mean by “active imagination,” I have been reading Robert A. Johnson’s Inner Work: Using Dreams and Active Imagination for Personal Growth this past month. And I am learning some things. One is that active imagination, while a good technique, is definitely a product of the [...]
I watched Iron Sky last night — and then this: Must be a meme here somewhere. You can crowd-fund the sequel to Iron Sky. This is all part of my appreciation of homegrown Finnish films — they are rare exports.
I knew that “St. Jehoshaphat” (or “Josaphat” of “Baarlam and Josaphat”) came from bodhisattva, but here is more about the Norse tale of the Buddha. The comments are interesting too.
A link to a site about an exhibit and conference in German devoted to the “California ideology,” symbolized by a cover from Stewart Brand’s Whole Earth Catalog from 1968. The image of the “blue planet,” a new perspective of the earth as seen from the outside, is one of the most popular images in history. [...]
From Alexander Barclay, trader, to his brother George in St. Louis, June 11, 1845: Our wants are few, and as we witness no instance of ostentation and luxury in our neighbors, we have nothing to create envy. Thus, we have only to repress occasional recollections of the superfluities of civilized life to be contented with [...]
