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The first time I heard Andy Paley’s name was when my New York friends Richard and Lisa Robinson gave me a copy of the first album by a group called the Sidewinders in 1972. It had been produced by their friend — soon to be mine, too — Lenny Kaye. It was on RCA, where Richard had taken a job as an A&R man. “Listen to the song called ‘Rendezvous’,” …

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon. ***I think we all dig looking into our ancestry but, this week in 1974, we were literally digging up our ancestry when a female skeleton from the hominid species Australopithecus Afarensis was uncovered in the Awash Valley, Ethiopia and subsequently named Lucy.How old was she?Only 3.2 million years.And, you know what? That's …

The 'Burds of the Brush' (see BLAG 03) movement was back for its third edition last month, and host with the most Tozer Signs is here to share what went down in Bristol town.The Burds in action in Bristol. Burds of the Brush in BristolLast month I hosted the third annual Burds of the Brush; a two-day event welcoming female, trans and non-binary signwriters from the world to my little …

This morning, I awakened realizing that Follow Me Here is a quarter-century old. I misremembered and thought it was actually twenty-five years to the day since my first post, but looking back I actually opened the blog on November 15, 1999. Too bad, it would have been fitting if the anniversary were Thanksgiving Day! It has been a tumultuous quarter-century and also a third of my life. My career has …

The University of Sydney (alma mater of such awkward squad stalwarts as Germaine Greer, Robert Hughes and Clive James) has been grappling with the issue of how to reconcile people’s right to speak about stuff that annoys them, with the right of people not to be annoyed by that speaking. To this end, they have commissioned an external review that makes a number of recommendations, most of them eminently coherent …

While global conditions and humanity’s prospects for the future are disastrous, my own life has become a lot more stable and emotionally tolerable over the course of this past year of employment. The PhD did immense psychological damage to me. After a lifetime in a competitive education system in which I had done exceptionally well, the PhD tended to reinforce the conclusion that everything I did was bad and wrong, …

Ten years ago, physicists discovered an anomaly that was dubbed the “ATOMKI anomaly”. The decays of certain atomic nuclei disagreed with our current understanding of physics. Particle physicists assigned the anomaly to a new particle, X17, often described as a fifth force. The anomaly was now tested by a follow-up experiment, but this is only the latest twist in a rather confusing story.

Outside the Coolidge Corner's marquee prior to 'Thief of Bagdad.'Happy Thanksgiving!This year, among the many things I have to be thankful for is making it through 'The Thief of Bagdad' last Tuesday night. I accompanied the film just hours after having a stent removed following last week's kidney stone surgery.'Bagdad' had been scheduled for the Coolidge Corner's 'Sounds of Silents' series long before the kidney stone decided to make an …

My top tipple of the last ten days, in case you were wondering, has been Buckley’s Original Mixture. AKA Buck Bucks. It features no actual medicine but does contain pine needle extract, Balsam sap, camphor and smelling salts. A double Makers Mark just about cuts the stuff. So I’ll be the gent in the corner reeking of coniferous forest as you read these notes this week which might not take …

Johann Peter Eckermann, Conversations with Goethe, February 11, 1831 (tr. Ritchie Robertson): He then spoke with admiration of a young literary scholar in Leipzig, Karl Schöne, who had written a study of the costumes in the plays of Euripides, and wore his great learning lightly, not parading it beyond what was necessary for his purposes. 'I like the way he goes straight to the heart of the matter,' said Goethe, …

Ernie says "Christmas season begins shortly after the end of the big meal on Thanksgiving. Be there or be square" - so I'll follow his lead. Although over here Thanksgiving was actually two months ago. I didn't even notice - or know. All "we" do is to decorate the altar with ribbons of corn and other crops from the fields, so I gladly discard our local traditions in favour of …

Hello, my name is Squirrel and I suffer from a Certain Medical Condition. But I’m not going to tell you exactly what condition, because that’s not the point of this post. (Also I’m hoping that an air of mystery will make it seem more exotic than it actually is.) Let’s just say I have a mystery condition, it’s lifelong, and it gets in the way of work quite a lot, …

A Pagan News Anthology Edited by Phil Hine & Rodney Orpheus £25 / £45 Available as an unlimited paperback with flaps & a special hardback edition of 300, featuring a bookplate signed by the editors. ISBN: 9781907222931 656 pp. | 165 x 221mm Containing 50+ original archive images and new illustrations by Krent Able The first 100 copies bought from SAP will include an exclusive postcard. Available late January 2025 …

Here at Frock Flicks HQ, we’re taking a four-day weekend on this American holiday, so

Today is Thanksgiving Day in the United States. I constantly remind myself that I am thankful and grateful everyday for all the blessings that have come my way throughout, not only this past year, but my entire lifetime. Typically, today is the day families gather, share the occasion and enjoy the day together. Our family always expressed our thankfulness for what we had and reminded ourselves to not worry about …