We’re Nowhere Near Prepared for the Ecological Disaster That Harvey Is Becoming

This also seems to be infocult compliant, Bryan Alexander.

“Item: And this one may be my favorite, which is to say, the one that pushes me under the bed the furthest. On Galveston Island, there is the Galveston National Laboratory, which is part of the University of Texas Medical Branch. This laboratory contains some of the most deadly biological agents found in the known world, many of them of the airborne variety. It contain several Bio-Safety Level 4 labs, which are basically the places where plagues are studied. And here’s the thing, as HuffPost explains—nobody knows what’s going on there at the moment:

There has been almost no news from Galveston as journalists have reported being blocked from reaching the island because of severe flooding. There has been no reporting at all on the condition of the lab. A call to the laboratory on Tuesday immediately went to voicemail.

Here’s a professor with some happy news.

But the generators run on fuel that would have to be replenished. It is not known if the lab is accessible to emergency crews to refuel the generators, which are stored on the roof, according to the 2008 Times piece. “As I see it the existential problem is this: What happens if and when the fuel for the back-up generators runs out?” asked University of Illinois professor Francis Boyle, an expert in biological weapons. “The negative air pressure that keeps (the) bugs in there ends. And (the) bugs can then escape.””

http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a57276/harvey-longterm-effects///cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js

This hotel contradicts the dictum that fanciness is inversely proportional to wifi/internet connectivity.

This hotel contradicts the dictum that fanciness is inversely proportional to wifi/internet connectivity. It’s not fancy and it has crap internet.

2 towns ago I was told the locale had great telluric energy and the internet connection was reliable. Now I’m in a holy site and it’s terrible.

I suspect Tesla is more to blame than Satan.

Notes on Kapuloan Kulon session 2: Voyage to the Keep on the Borderlands (an OSR-driven World of Dungeons game in an…

Originally shared by Tom McGrenery

Notes on Kapuloan Kulon session 2: Voyage to the Keep on the Borderlands (an OSR-driven World of Dungeons game in an archipelagic Yoon-Suin)

I’ll put the GMing notes up top so you don’t have to scroll through a session write-up before deciding if it’s interesting.

– Seafaring: my current procedure is… 1) roll for weather at the start of each day; use the hour-by-hour changes only if a chase or sea combat/action sequence happens; 2) there’s a 2 in 6 chance of an encounter at sea each day in the Kulon archipelago (the ‘near home’ setting); 3) we use the Undertake a Perilous Voyage move once for the whole journey. What if we roll more than one random encounter? Does the scout’s result apply to all of them? I don’t know, we haven’t had more than one yet. I am open to suggestions.

– Labyrinth move + reaction roll = FUN TIME creative constraints. So they were looking for the Caves of Chaos and rolled that a threat emerges. I had some lizard people show up. I rolled on the reaction table. Even if I’d applied a modifier (I didn’t) they were very friendly. what’s a very friendly threat? Well, see below.

– IKEA catalogue as source for proper nouns: tick.

– A “successful” warning shot causes a new reaction roll in the other crew. I no longer think this needs to be rolled for: if you do it, the crew makes the roll. I checked in with someone with expertise after the fact and his explanation was that a warning shot is a specific message: “stay away or we’ll shoot”. So you can’t really use your gunnery skills or some form of long-distance Charisma stat to fire a “better” or “worse” warning shot.

From the other side, if a PC ship receives a warning shot, the PCs would have to deal with the outcome of the new reaction from their own crew.

– We used the “labyrinth move” ((c)+Jason Cordova). This seems to have worked well. I was worried it would come off as too repetitive but according to the players, it isn’t. “It felt like a journey”, was one comment. So that’s good.

As prep I’ve taken the encounter tables and fixed monsters & treasures from the KotB module, and arranged them as possible results for exploring the wilderness, and for the different levels of the Caves of Chaos themselves.

I only had 3 threats for the wilderness, though, and you need more than that! I actually repurposed a treasure as a threat at one point, making it more dangerous compared to the rewards than it originally would have been (the ruined palace).

Session 2 Events

The PCs were joined by a new guy this session, a blind navigator/priest called Hanif who can talk to birds.

They decided to head for the Keep on the Borderlands, maybe a little bit to do the mission on offer but mainly to find the Midnight Sage and Nolmyra plants they need for the spell to turn Dereika back from a yak into a human. Adjo is convinced she is a wealthy princess who will reward them. (This was a great player suggestion: choosing from the adventure menu but also tying in their own goals.)

A slugperson merchant hired them on as the officers for its ship, to take the vessel as far as Wawatesan, where the Keep is. Despite the value of the cargo, the PCs resisted the temptation to steal it.

After two days of unfavourable winds and little progress, the ship at last winged its way eastward on a broad reach, making good time. Halfway to their destination, another mayang was seen two miles off starboard, and upwind. Its crew made friendly signals as they approached but our heroes sussed very quickly that these people had piracy in mind. A chase ensued, with the pirates gaining

At Wawatesan there was more teahouse time. But of course!

The group fell in with a moonlighting town guard called Girija, who accompanied them into the wilderness (having signed the necessary permits) along with his friend Bishweshwar as a guide, who is reckless but wears a giant’s tooth as a lucky amulet so that should be fine.

Exploring the wilderness used the labyrinth move as mentioned above. Since they’re not 100% focused on the “find the Caves of Chaos” mission, the players also used their hold to find the Midnight Sage they need as one of the treasures of the area. They’ll need one more hold to find the Caves, and one more to find the other plant.

Encounters:

– an undead baital with a freezing touch

– lizardfolk who cordially invited all but one of the group to a soup feast, which they were expected to donate a body part to (maybe they don’t know humans can’t regrow tails or limbs?) — but everyone got away intact, with a little blood loss.

– shaky ruins of an ancient palace (Bennu snaffled an antique samovar to sell later)

– bandits

Undertake a Perilous Voyage

When you set sail for another shore, the captain chooses one member of the party to act as first mate (in charge of the deck crew), one to be second mate (navigator), and one to be quartermaster (in charge of discipline and supplies).

Each character with a job to do rolls +Wis.On a 10+:

– the quartermaster reduces the number of rations required by one

– the second mate reduces the amount of time it takes to reach your destination (the GM will say by how much)

– the first mate will spot any trouble quick enough to let you take the intitiative.

On a 7–9, each role performs their job as expected: the normal number of rations are consumed, the journey takes about as long as expected, nothing catches you by surprise (if it’s another vessel, roll Sailing Initiative as normal).

You can’t assign more than one job to a character.

If you don’t have enough party members, or choose not to assign a job, treat that job as if it had been assigned and the responsible player had rolled a 6.

vaguepost of the day prompted by Michael S ‘s twitterpost:

vaguepost of the day prompted by Michael S ‘s twitterpost:

you can play any gender, sexuality, identity or social station you like in my games AND:

– in Tartary it will lead to grim comedy

– in Counter-colonial Heistcrawl there will be someone trying to exploit you for it.

I suddenly realised that in both games, everyone’s a minority to a greater or lesser degree.

Our D&D group & Steve Bannon have mutually agreed today would be Steve’s last game session, so he can focus on his…

Our D&D group & Steve Bannon have mutually agreed today would be Steve’s last game session, so he can focus on his Indiana Jones LARPing.

https://twitter.com/DungeonsDonald/status/898641589047672832

https://twitter.com/DungeonsDonald/status/898641589047672832//cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js

oh right the #rpgaday thing.

oh right the #rpgaday thing.

Look. I don’t play favourites so “best writing” is just asking for trouble. I do have some recommendations, though.

1. if you don’t have it, go get GURPS Goblins. I don’t care if you don’t GURPS. It doesn’t matter. It is a joy. It is like a pool or sauna or tiki drink you can dip into periodically.

2. If you’ve never read him, read Borges. Start with the Ficciones/Fictions. If you read Lottery of Babylon and are not hooked then make sure to mention that the next time what are you reading? comes up and I’ll have to take 20 minutes to rethink everything about our relationship. It doesn’t matter that his stuff has no stats in it, you can plug that feeling straight into your game (or die trying).

3. Encounter Critical is way too much fun. Let’s imagine you just don’t get the OSR. Go read it and we’ll have fun ignoring the OSR that happens when we play it. Also it’s free and it will make you happy.

http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/encounter-critical.htm

4. obviously you read Goblin Punch so I don’t even really know why I mention it.

http://goblinpunch.blogspot.fr/2017/04/elephantine-ooze.html?m=1

http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/encounter-critical.htm//cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js

Carcosa Wacky Races inspiration from Karen Russell’s St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves:

Carcosa Wacky Races inspiration from Karen Russell’s St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves:

You climb into the upended exoskeleton of a giant crab, then you go yeehaw slaloming down the powdery dunes. The faster you go, the more sand whizzes around you, a fine spray on either side of your crab sled. By the time you hit the water, you’re covered in it, grit in your teeth and your eyelids, along the line of your scalp. Herb makes the crab sleds—he guts the crabs and blowtorches off the eyestalks and paints little racer stripes along the sides.

No smoking and no smoking sheesha. You there with your foreign pipe we mean you.

No smoking and no smoking sheesha. You there with your foreign pipe we mean you.

The burkini one

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burkini

is complicated by the ongoing ban on swimming trunks shaped like long shorts.

Both are considered foreign, the latter are American-identified. Proper men’s swimwear in France is a Speedo (which will get you excluded to this day in some US resorts).

I’m not here to defend any particular sartorial position, but it’s easy to see how some people might feel singled out. If you ask why, the usual explanation is pure Mary Douglass:

“it’s dirty.”

I was waiting for something like this. Hey hey lookit me! Stop looking somewhere else, I’m the bigger threat!

I was waiting for something like this. Hey hey lookit me! Stop looking somewhere else, I’m the bigger threat!

And really the nazi thing had caused the FUD it was supposed to. The news attention cycle is short these days.

https://www.google.fr/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/world/2017/aug/17/nature-of-attack-in-las-ramblas-provides-harsh-lessons-in-fight-against-terror//cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js

Alternate fast travel procedure

Originally shared by Eric Nieudan

Alternate fast travel procedure

Start by estimating the number of days the journey will take.

Roll the die type closest to that number, rounding up. (For example an 11-day trip would be a d12, while a 13-day one would be a d20.)

You roll once on the Events Table, plus once for each condition below (maximum one roll per day of expected travel).

– Not enough rations*. The party will have to hunt, forage, or scavenge

– No guide or detailed, current map

– Forced march (the party will cover more than the normal distance every day)

– Night travel

– Difficult terrain

– Heavy equipment or slow animals

– No wilderness expertise in the party

* Rations and food are assumed to last a number of days equal to the maximum result of their dR.

Good ideas, equipment, special abilities and the like can sometimes cancel one roll.

On the maximum result, add that number to the next roll. This is cumulative (after getting 4 twice on a d4, you roll d4+8).

Events Table

1. Ambush

2. Waylaid d3 days

3. Encounter: close

4. Encounter: far

5. Lost resource (preferably a common one, otherwise from a randomly chosen character)

6. Discovery: safe (inn, resource, clue…)

7. Discovery: dangerous (dungeon, lair, threat…)

8. Excellent campsite

9. Shortcut: saved one day

10. Waylaid d6 days*

11-12. Accident: something is lost or breaks

13-15. Injury: a random party member takes d10 damage

16-18. Catastrophe: everyone loses d4 random items.

19-22. Waylaid d10 days*

23-25. Disease: d4 random party members are sick

26-28. Death: a random NPC or animal is killed. If there are none, a character gets maimed.

29. Weird: freak weather, mythical creature or godling, teleportation, etc.

30+. Encounter: beneficial

*Random waylays

1-2. Lost

3-4. Obstacle

5-6. Ran from a threat

7. Stopped to help travelers

8. Got captured but escaped

Arrange the events in the order you like best, then narrate them, going into details as needed.

Another unholy confluence of American Tartary meets Pop Tartary

Another unholy confluence of American Tartary meets Pop Tartary

Originally shared by Emily “Syreene” Vitori

Oh my…. Trump supporters are going to march in D.C. the same day as the Insane Clown Posse Juggalos. This…. could be interesting in the most chaotic sense of the word.

I wonder if Eris is licking her lips in anticipation…

http://rare.us/rare-news/across-the-u-s-a/trump-supporters-are-planning-the-mother-of-all-rallies-in-d-c-theres-just-one-problem/?utm_medium=rare-media&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=organic-social//cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js

The Costa Concordia sank in 2012. in 2014, while salvage operations were under way, a photographer snuck onboard.

The Costa Concordia sank in 2012. in 2014, while salvage operations were under way, a photographer snuck onboard.

Here are his pics.

You know, in case you ever wanted reference pics for a modern nautical-themed horror setting.

https://petapixel.com/2017/06/28/photographer-snuck-wrecked-cruise-ship-costa-concordia///cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js

Posting will be infrequent and responses delayed for the next few weeks – I’m on the road with the kids.

Posting will be infrequent and responses delayed for the next few weeks – I’m on the road with the kids.

So if you have questions from playtests or you’re waiting for me to comment gnomically about something, I’ll get there but it might just be in September.

Here’s how Counter-colonial Heistcrawl left off:

– the PCs totally screwed the Chinese cultists by stealing their captured spirit medium, shooting their sorcerers and canceling their ritual. But they didn’t rescue the sacrifices or make any significant dents on the warriors. The Chinese boss is gonna be pissed.

– they now have an unconscious/delirious medium who so far has only revealed that they were unwilling in the ritual. The Croc King is watchful but quiet, the croc liaison officers are investigating the island, there are (I believe) 6 penis pearls left. They’ve withdrawn to their beach – the one covered in dead bodies – as a safe haven for the rest of the night, to watch what the Chinese do next. The islands are quiet, smoke rises from the ashes of the slaver camp and the ritual ground.

my son’s starting an AP World History class next month in high school.

my son’s starting an AP World History class next month in high school. The teachers have set a summer holiday homework in preparation, where he has to define various terms like “capitalism” and “cultural diffusion” and also research and list the “achievements” of various “civilisations” like the Greeks, Romans, Mauryans and Guptas.

It’s a familiar urge – a proper world history. An inclusive one. Not blindly, colonially Eurocentric. It’s a good thing, overall.

But. If you go hunting on the internet for the achievements of the Mauryan and Gupta empires you may or may not escape Eurocentrism… but you’ll likely fall straight into New Agey Indian nationalism.

now I’m tempted to add the legendary Biscione Barchetta to my ship rules as a Borgesian hoax – a special kind of…

now I’m tempted to add the legendary Biscione Barchetta to my ship rules as a Borgesian hoax – a special kind of Genoese boat with a prow that opens to kidnap children to sell to Maltese slavers.

Or, better, a stern done up as a puppet show booth. Children are enticed in to see how the show is done, some never come back out. The booth collapses into the stern locker and the gondolier stands on it to pole away from the dock.

Is there a term for when your memory plays tricks on you?

Is there a term for when your memory plays tricks on you?

I went to see Sant’Ambrogio 25+ years ago and I still distinctly remember his skeleton being bright red. Like lacquered red. Ferrari or oxygenated blood red. And I remember two smaller skeletons with him – I didn’t know why they were smaller, whether they were children or just smaller people.

I found it profoundly disturbing at the time, this elemental, inhuman, meticulously prepared redness. It struck me what a simple, small change it was, but how it changed everything. I made some pictures about it.

Hunting for that arresting image ever since, there’s no sign anywhere of Red Ambrosius. I suspect I visited an alternative shrine, or maybe someone else snuck in there just for me to see. I can still see it in my mind’s eye, even though I no longer believe it.

I have no interest in any of the other RPGaDay questions, so I’m going to answer this one instead: “what…

I have no interest in any of the other RPGaDay questions, so I’m going to answer this one instead: “what investigative study would you like to see about RPG concepts?”

I have a whole series, but my first is a discussion of common/famous character classes that really digs into D&D’s druid, ranger and paladin, Traveller’s mercenaries and scouts and so on. And which doesn’t just come back with a single canonical image but actually discusses the idea(s).

There’s no way I could write this. At minimum I think it’d take a team including trey causey’s knowledge of pulp history and storylines, Scott Martin’s meanders down spiritualist byways, James Maliszewski’s close reading of the rulebooks and wargames at the roots of the hobbies, Kenneth Hite’s historical breadth and curiosity.

I wouldn’t expect it to tell me what a dwarf or an assassin really was, but I’d expect to learn interesting, different ways of thinking about those things from it.

I can only assume the reference to gaslight is a meta-commentary on the article.

I can only assume the reference to gaslight is a meta-commentary on the article.

Cuz for a True Columbusier it’d be whale oil or tallow.

Originally shared by Chris Kim A

http://www.clickhole.com/article/its-called-columbusing-and-its-latest-teen-craze-h-6347?utm_content=Main&utm_campaign=SF&utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=SocialMarketing//cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js

by the time I got to your deconstruct you like a French poststructuralist line the conversation had moved on, and I…

by the time I got to your deconstruct you like a French poststructuralist line the conversation had moved on, and I was left wondering if you were inviting me to a rap battle.

So ever since I’ve had this linefloating around in my brain with nothing to attach to:

I got a lock on my Lacan so son you know I’m up for this

Magic manual!

Magic manual!

there are two kinds of living water. Hydrobioactive water is inside all the Holy Four foods. It holds life-giving nutrients and hydrates better than any drink of plain water can. Then there’s the undiscovered cofactor water that contains information to help restore your soul and spirit and to support your emotions.

….who wants to stat this up?

Originally shared by Charles Younger

“I expected it would be bad, but I was positively gobsmacked by how phenomenally bad it was. I was outraged that he could get away with spreading such egregious nonsense, that a publisher would agree to publish it, and that many readers apparently accept his fairy tales as legitimate health advice (89% 5-star customer reviews on Amazon). It’s a sad demonstration of the fact that common sense is not common, and that critical thinking skills are sorely lacking in our society.”

https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/the-antithesis-of-science-based-medicine-the-medical-mediums-fantasy-based-health-advice///cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js

ohhhh so that’s what this whole “Russia sanctions” thing is about. Freezing Russian mafia assets held by Putin.

ohhhh so that’s what this whole “Russia sanctions” thing is about. Freezing Russian mafia assets held by Putin.

Browder’s testimony is remarkably damning of Russian officials and the lawyer D Trump Jr. met. Still, it’s yet again not clear what DTJr planned to get out of it all…..

Boris Nemtsov… testified in front of the U.S. Congress, the European Parliament, the Canadian Parliament, and others to make the point that the Magnitsky Act was a “pro-Russian” piece of legislation because it narrowly targeted corrupt officials and not the Russian people. In 2015, Boris Nemtsov was murdered on the bridge in front of the Kremlin. Boris Nemtsov’s protégé, Vladimir Kara-Murza, also traveled to law-making bodies around the world to make a similar case. After Alexander Bastrykin, the head of the Russian Investigative Committee, was added to the Magnitsky List in December of 2016, Vladimir was poisoned. He suffered multiple organ failure, went into a coma and barely survived.The lawyer who represented Sergei Magnitsky’s mother, Nikolai Gorokhov, has spent the last six years fighting for justice. This spring, the night before he was due in court to testify about the state cover up of Sergei Magnitsky’s murder, he was thrown off the fourth floor of his apartment building. Thankfully he survived and has carried on in the fight for justice.

I had been wondering why the White House crew were doing their very best 3 stooges mugging. Here’s the other hand.

Originally shared by J.R. Bowles

(Little boys with penis envy should NOT be allowed access to missiles.)

http://bit.ly/2vl5QEq//cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js

From the bottom of that delightful languages of the world by number of speakers chart that keeps going around.

From the bottom of that delightful languages of the world by number of speakers chart that keeps going around.

I don’t disagree with anything written here but I think it’s worth noting that Chinese, Arabic, Russian, Portuguese, Turkish etc. also have imperialist pasts to thank for their wide spreads.

….and while we tend not to think of Japanese, Persian, Hindi etc as languages of imperialism these days, that’s only because nationalist myths make them seem like the natural expressions of coherent peoples.

This might also be CCH. Uh actually yes this is CCH 2.1K.

This might also be CCH. Uh actually yes this is CCH 2.1K.

“The company that has operated a private prison in Estancia for nearly three decades has announced it will close the Torrance County Detention Facility and lay off more than 200 employees unless it can find 300 state or federal inmates to fill empty beds within the next 60 days, according to a statement issued Tuesday by county officials.”

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/company-plans-to-close-private-estancia-prison-lay-off/article_1ecd4d0e-caa1-5a05-bab2-1a7270729271.html//cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js

Overheard my wife saying “rabbits that eat concrete would be a real problem.”

Overheard my wife saying “rabbits that eat concrete would be a real problem.”

I guess they have that in Pokemon world.

…briefly considers writing an enormous post about domestic and public property hazards of all 1200 pokemon.

“Your house has Sandshrew(s), catch them all or it collapses in 1d4 days”

https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Sandshrew_(Pok%C3%A9mon)//cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js

“The conquest of the central countries of the Arab world by the Fatimids was an astounding feat.

“The conquest of the central countries of the Arab world by the Fatimids was an astounding feat. The fact that they were able to hold them for 200 years is almost a mystery…. They ruled by playing one corps of mercenaries against the other, with the result that internecine wars between the various factions were rampant. The history of the court itself was marked by foul intrigues, cruel executions, and treacherous assassinations. …the chief ministers either followed each other with maddening rapidity or usurped absolute rule for themselves.”

Goitein channeling Vance and not caring about over-use of adjectives.

From A Mediterranean Society I, 33.

Corporate alignment = evil in Tartary?

Corporate alignment = evil in Tartary?

https://news.fastcompany.com/heres-a-map-of-the-most-popular-business-jargon-in-every-state-all-of-it-is-terrible-4045721

(In other news, some of these things might make for fun module names. “Fire in the Belly”, “Eye of the Tiger”, etc.

https://news.fastcompany.com/heres-a-map-of-the-most-popular-business-jargon-in-every-state-all-of-it-is-terrible-4045721//cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js

This has been bubbling since 2014 – documents have been found from the time of the military dictatorship in Brazil…

This has been bubbling since 2014 – documents have been found from the time of the military dictatorship in Brazil stating that Volkswagen collaborated with the dictatorship in identifying dissenters and helping them disappear.

Volkswagen. Propping up torture states.

Out of all car manufacturers everywhere, which one would you imagine would be kinda sensitive about this sort of thing? Maybe the one most identified with the Nazis?

http://www.dw.com/en/brazils-national-truth-commission-alleges-torture-at-volkswagen-do-brasil/a-18126692//cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js

as you may know, I’m writing (and playtesting) some ship rules for a retroclone.

as you may know, I’m writing (and playtesting) some ship rules for a retroclone.

1. Does anyone want to playtest on Monday or Tuesday? say 3 hours, starting either 9am EDT/3pm BST or noon EDT/6pm BST?

2. These rules are for wooden sailing ships and basic dnd.

I have had a stupid idea.

To make rules for steamers and ironclads and dreadnoughts based off Traveller.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/sep/27/receding-icecap-top-secret-us-nuclear-project-greenland-camp-century-pr…

Originally shared by Dunkey Halton

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/sep/27/receding-icecap-top-secret-us-nuclear-project-greenland-camp-century-project-iceworm

nuclear-powered subterranean city built under greenland icecap by the US military in the 1950s to house atomic missiles trained on moscow. may be revealed by climate change in the next few decades

what do we think is down there? why did they really build it, and why did they abandon it so quickly? i am going to say tsathoggua

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/sep/27/receding-icecap-top-secret-us-nuclear-project-greenland-camp-century-project-iceworm//cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js

before I write any more of this, does anybody want this sort of detail in their roleplaying books?

before I write any more of this, does anybody want this sort of detail in their roleplaying books?

Almost any ship can be destroyed in less than a year by teredo worms, which make Swiss cheese of the hull. Only teak and some African and South American dense hardwoods resist, and prices for those woods are concomitantly high (+100% cost, only available at source).

Happily for northerners, the worms only live in warm water – the south edge of the Mediterranean and the tropics.

The only defense is to cover the hull with pitch (twice a year), with a sandwich of glue and goat hair (every other year), or with copper plates (permanent but wildly expensive). If you want to sabotage a tropical navy, sending divers to scrape the protection off the bottoms of their boats is a slow but sure strategy.

“Males who have attained knowledge of assikalaibineng sexual ways are referred to as orowané mapata (skilled man)…

“Males who have attained knowledge of assikalaibineng sexual ways are referred to as orowané mapata (skilled man) as they are regarded as being able to provide a wife with quality sexual enjoyment and affection. On the other hand, a man who is married but does not have sufficient sexual knowledge is referred to as orowané bongngo (stupid man).”

From Hadrawi: “Narratives of Sexuality in Bugis and Makasar Manuscripts.” The text continues with detailed instructions on proper Bugis-Muslim sexual practices, which read rather like an Islamized Kama Sutra, with formal stages of stimulation of various parts.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/310348811_Narratives_of_Sexuality_in_Bugis_and_Makasar_Manuscripts//cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js

So this is big news anyway (even though germline editing has already been done several times in China) but it gets a…

So this is big news anyway (even though germline editing has already been done several times in China) but it gets a special Tartary mention because:

1. Shoukhrat Mitalipov is the sort of Indo-Irano-Russian name you’d only get in central Asia or in some remote colonial scientific enclave in a place like Oregon, the Great White Land;

2. the writer tips his hand first by mentioning a brave new world of “designer babies” and then noting The advisory committee drew a red line at genetic enhancements—like higher intelligence.

…no “pure line human” underclass!

This is where the offworld colonies begin, people.

Originally shared by Bryan Alexander

“First Human Embryos Edited in U.S.”

That’s the language of the future.

As it becomes the present.

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/608350/first-human-embryos-edited-in-us/

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/608350/first-human-embryos-edited-in-us///cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js

Still trying to wrap my head around Trump’s Transgender Ban for the military.

Still trying to wrap my head around Trump’s Transgender Ban for the military.

How could this have happened?

I suspect Zardoz involvement.

Zardoz: “Zardoz your God gave you the gift of the Gun. The Gun is good!”

Exterminators: “The Gun is good!”

Zardoz: “The Penis is evil! The Penis shoots Seeds, and makes new Life to poison the Earth with a plague of men, as once it was. But the Gun shoots Death and purifies the Earth of the filth of Brutals. Go forth, and kill!”

Mattis (tripping balls): “OK OK so errr… What about them other things, not-pensiess? Good or evil? What do them transylvanians have anyway, what is that? Is it compatible with guns? Does anyone know?”

Adam Thornton Joseph H.

Adam Thornton Joseph H. Vilas I admit it looks terrible but it tastes pretty good – infusion of Thai basil (24 hours) and lemongrass (48) in Tito’s vodka proofed up to about 110• with Everclear. The nose is pure Thai basil – herby with a touch of anise – but the lemongrass gives it a slight sweetness. Not hot at all.

I haven’t really known where I was going with this infusing business – I spent a while just capturing scents like a perfumier and trying to recreate something like a gin (with results that were interesting but that won’t pull me away from actual gin any time soon). This feels like a point of arrival – not super complex but actually nice to drink. It’s a funny business, though – I wonder, if I had invented Campari this way, whether I would think it was any good. Whether I’d have any confidence in it.

you know that particular kind of nostalgia for Cyberpunk that’s a subspecies of 80s nostalgia – a disproved and…

you know that particular kind of nostalgia for Cyberpunk that’s a subspecies of 80s nostalgia – a disproved and deliberately dated alt-futurism, of which The Matrix was an early example, where expensive sunglasses take the place of Steampunk’s riveted brass?

I’m calling it Ninjapunk.

Because it seems to me that Cyberpunk might still have some applications outside this strictly nostalgic mode, but not if it contains ninja.

What about a Cyberpunk that wants to be about the present/future?

I know Scrap Princess is already working on it. Non-ninjapunk.

Saturday night, and I’m on Wikipedia reading about containers around the world said to hold the blood of Jesus.

Originally shared by Jensan Thuresson

Saturday night, and I’m on Wikipedia reading about containers around the world said to hold the blood of Jesus.

I’m not religious, but the thought of these things being preserved for this long – and what it is – is very interesting.

(Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_of_Christ#Relics_of_the_Blood_around_the_world)