October 28, 2021
The sick moon
A couple of creepy/scary/uncanny classical pieces that don't tend to make it to the mainstream classical music halloween lists.
The finale from Salome where Salome kisses and and sings to the the head of John the Baptist. From the Richard Strauss opera based on the Oscar Wilde play. Some stagings get grosser than others - this one's a bit bloody but not too gory. (YT, 14:38. Text on screen) (CW: nudity) [more inside]
American torpedoes during WWII
"I still can't believe the U.S. entered a naval war in 1941-42 without working torpedoes, and didn't even realize that they didn't work until 1943." U. S. Torpedo Troubles During World War II, a 1998 article by Douglas Shireman. Via Noah Smith.
He also offered a friend $1 million to serve as his personal alarm clock
“Tony’s true friends, not interested in profiting from Tony’s condition, became increasingly concerned about Tony’s health and many were looking for ways to get Tony professional help,” court documents said. “Unfortunately, in the months since Tony had left the rehabilitation facility, several less scrupulous people prominently occupied Tony’s attention and were living large, all at Tony’s expense.” The last months of Tony Hsieh, former Zappos CEO, who died in November 2020. (TW: self-harm, drug abuse) Previously.
Uh oh
there’s no mistaking it—we’ve got a glory hole on our hands
Those currently enthralled with Netflix’s hit competitive glass blowing show Blown Away may be justifiably curious about the presence on the program of “glory holes.” For most of the culture, this terms refers very specifically to a public, quasi-anonymous sex act involving gay men, bathroom stalls, and a handily placed hole. For glass blowers, the glory hole is a high-powered furnace burning at over 1000 degrees Fahrenheit—hardly suitable for sex acts of any kind. So why do they call it that? Which glory hole came first? Which group owns the term “glory hole”? Would a glory hole by any other name smell as sweet? How did we get to me asking these questions?
Let’s start at the beginning.
True Philippine Ghost Stories
Romano Santos (Vice, 10/27/2021), "Remembering the Thrill of Reading 'True Philippine Ghost Stories'": "'Very chilling stories, indeed. I can't imagine ever seeing someone's doppelgänger. But for sure, I am not looking forward to seeing mine,' Mendoza said. As gripping as these stories are, she believes the books offer something much deeper than an easy scare." True Philippine Ghost Stories #1 [Internet Archive].
"They left the sukkah standing when they fled."
Two speculative stories in which girls and women disagree about how to cope with change, both published this year. "A Stone’s Throw from You" by Jenn Reese in Mermaids Monthly: "And then I told you I was leaving. That I’d been called to the sea." "For Future Generations" by Rachel Gutin in khōréō ("a quarterly magazine of speculative fiction and migration"): "Of all the Jewish holidays, Sukkot was the hardest to celebrate in space."
Aspirational rhetorical loquaciousness
"Like any good dumpster behind a GameStop, Cyberpunk 2077 features and glorifies molecules of the entire history of videogames. It contains at least a little bit of everything good and bad about the best, big modern games. Reviewing it allows me to review every modern videogame of the past three console generations and predict most future videogames of the current generation, all at the same time." Action Button [Tim Rogers] presents a Cyberpunk 2077 review with branching paths. (playlist)
France is a monarchy that undergoes a succession crisis every five years
La Campagne is a newsletter about the upcoming French presidential election by French economist Manu Saadia (best known for his book Trekonomics). He was fed up with the inaccuracies of English language coverage of French politics, and decided to remedy that. He started with the basics, explaining voting procedures and why it is that French politics are so dominated by the office of the presidency. He's also written about the legacy of French defeat in Algeria, Covid's effect on the campaign and the rise of far-right candidate Éric Zemmour. The newsletter will continue until the election and its immediate aftermath.
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