My loves and I are fond of the occasional game of Scrabble. We recently acquired the version called Super Scrabble and played it for the first time tonight. The thing about Super Scrabble is the board is bigger and there are more letters – and more bonus squares (including the wonderful Quadruple word and letter [...]
Today’s word is… ‘interrobang‘. I found it in this fine article about nelogisms and the silliness of overly-rigid definitions of what is and is not a ‘real’ word, written by lexiconographer Erin McKean. It was described over at Boing Boing as being about ‘English as a user-modifiable technology’, which is a lovely concept… though not [...]
” …hoodoo’s no different than regular praying. The prayers are always answered, just that sometimes the answer’s no.” Bill Fitzhugh, Highway 61 Resurfaced (Disclaimer: this is not a how-to guide for spell-casting. It’s a quick look at some of the background and theory. I take no responsibility for the results of anyone mistaking the below [...]
A very good three-part look at the core of Zen – the playful, anarchic, dogma-shattering side. This is what all the great teachers show: Zen is the practice of anarchy (an-archy) in the strictest and most super-orthodox sense. It rejects all “archys” or principles—supposedly transcendent sources of truth and reality, which are really no more [...]
I like a good heresy, me. It’s always seemed to me that heresies (that aren’t extinguished) usually end up as the new orthodoxies – but before they do, they’re interesting to watch and often instructive… at least, of the current orthodoxy. So it was with some interest I read this bit in (of all places) [...]
There’s a Guttershaman piece coming soon on the small problem of ‘authenticity’ in magical systems and belief systems in general. I’m still chewing that one over, as I don’t want to insult or belittle too many people at once… but at the same time I have a need to point out a few holes in [...]
Two pieces of note: Gary Lachman appears to have suddenly discovered Dominionist Xtianity… actually, it’s a good and thoughtful piece, not only about the influence of mysticism on politics but also how he tries to synthesize past and future in modern times. Worth sticking through the comments thread for GL and Daniel Pinchbeck arguing about [...]
Fascinating article about the work of neuroscientist Read Montague and his work on dopamine and social phenomena; “Montague realized that if he was going to solve the ciphers of the mind, he would need a cryptographic key, a “cheat sheet” that showed him a small part of the overall solution. Only then would he be [...]
Before I get started, many thanks to those who commented on the series so far. Special thanks to my old mate Gyrus, for pointing out the work of Ramsey Dukes to me. Dukes is one of those writers I never quite got around to reading until recently… and as one of the direct influences on [...]
By special request from my beloved Kirsty… the classic Gymnastics scene from Big Train. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaWo6xxCKdo] If you like this, please share it: Bookmark on Delicious Recommend on Facebook share via Reddit Share with Stumblers Tumblr it Tweet about it Subscribe to the comments on this post Tell a friend