Molly Crabapple on the Jewish Heretics podcast speaking about her research on the Jewish Labor Bund, “the brass-knuckle socialists of Eastern Europe who rejected Zionism from the start, foreseeing the tidal wave of blood it would entail, and instead insisted on their right to stay in their European homes.”
Skull Whistles: “In digging up ancient Aztec graves dating from the years 1250 to 1521 AD, archaeologists have found many examples of small whistles made of clay and formed into the shape of a skull. These whistles still work today as they did when they were buried next to a person in a grave. They produce sounds most often described as a scream of sorts.”
Inbox zero, now for the RSS.
Do I know anyone between Venice and Pordenone?
Sending this out into the ether because it looks like I'll be attending a comix-exhibition opening at the Palazzo del Fumetto in Pordenone (featuring work from THE SOLAR GRID) around mid-December and it would be delightful to connect with anyone I know who might be out there.
The Great American Nuclear Weapons Upgrade – Undark: “In the plains of western South Dakota, about 25 miles northeast of Mount Rushmore, the Ellsworth Air Force Base is preparing to receive the first fleet of B-21 nuclear bombers, replacing Cold War-era planes. Two other bases, Dyess in Texas and Whiteman in Missouri, will soon follow. By the 2030s, a total of five bases throughout the United States will host nuke-carrying bombers for the first time since the 1990s.”
The Outer Limits of Optimism – Heather Parry: “In 2009, an 81-year-old man named Orville Richardson died, having been a member of Alcor with a view to preserving his head after his death; he had paid a lump sum lifetime membership fee. His brother and sister, who were his co-conservators, evidently did not agree with his plan for cryopreservation... they had him buried. Two months after his death, the relatives demanded a refund of the lifetime membership fee, which seems to have annoyed the company; Alcor subsequently sued to be allowed to exhume Richardson’s body, and though they lost initially they won on appeal. The Iowa Court of Appeals then ordered the Richardson family to dig up their late sibling, cut off his head and give it to Alcor, so they could freeze it.”
Bluesky raises $15M series A – Tech Crunch: “The Series A round is led by Blockchain Capital with participation from Alumni Ventures, True Ventures, SevenX, Darkmode’s Amir Shevat, and Kubernetes co-creator Joe Beda. The presence of a crypto-focused firm might alarm skeptics, especially since CEO Jay Graber used to be a software engineer for a crypto company, Zcash...”
Now that the newsletter is out of the way, finally catching up on email (inbox: 165) and RSS (653). I loathe that it has gotten so out of hand.
A new edition of RESTRICTED FREQUENCY is finally upon us, and this is how it starts: “James Baldwin was accused by Richard Wright of being a tool of the CIA. This accusation did not emerge from a vacuum; 'I'm going to destroy you,' Baldwin once told him to his face at a Parisian cafe. He then proceeded to do just that by writing a series of not-so-veiled character assassinations in a variety of magazines.”
Extensive reading and quite a bit of research went into this one and writing it consumed me. Hence the lateness and off-schedule release. I didn't think it would be right to wait until next Saturday to release it, but then again I'm not entirely sure anyone cares. In any case, it's out now. This is where it lives online, and this is where signing up for future newsletters is possible.
“This'll be our fourth move in ten years,” says Carrie Coon's character with disdain to Jude Law's in the film THE NEST, to which I found myself responding out loud: Honey, in the same timespan I moved seven times.
Thought maybe the film might've been from an era where people really didn't move around a whole lot, but double-checked and saw it came out in 2020.
No wonder I'm so damn traumatized (well, one of many reasons anyway).