Monthly Archives: December 2022

I am thinking now of grief, and of getting past it;

Posted on December 21, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

Starlings in Winter by Mary Oliver Chunky and noisy, but with stars in their black feathers, they spring from the telephone wire and instantly they are acrobats in the freezing wind. And now, in the theater of air, they swing … Continue reading →

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“It was a dark and stormy night.”

Posted on December 20, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

Since 1982 the Bulwer Lytton Fiction Contest has challenged participants to write a truly awful opening sentence to the worst novel never written. The whimsical literary competition honors Sir Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, whose 1830 novel Paul Clifford begins with “It … Continue reading →

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Your very own globe ornament

Posted on December 19, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

Every year John Nelson comes up with a papercraft globe ornament for printing out, cutting and pasting together; this year’s uses Living Atlas world imagery in an orthographic projection. If that’s not enough, Nelson also has links for previous years’ ornaments, … Continue reading →

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Happy Hanukkah

Posted on December 18, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

 

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A Ghost Story of Christmas

Posted on December 18, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

I HAVE endeavoured in this Ghostly little book, to raise the Ghost of an Idea, which shall not put my readers out of humour with themselves, with each other, with the season, or with me. May it haunt their houses pleasantly, and … Continue reading →

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Art of the Christmas Tree

Posted on December 17, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

 

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On a quiet day…

Posted on December 16, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

“The system will collapse if we refuse to buy what they are selling…their ideas, their version of history, their wars…their notion of inevitability. Remember this: We may be many and they be few… Another world is not only possible, she … Continue reading →

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Psychedelic Santa

Posted on December 15, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

I have long held suspicions that all of this Santa stuff was somehow rooted in mindaltering substance use. This short animated video below explores how the Psychedelic Amanita Muscaria Mushroom may have inspired the Santa Legend of Lapland. NB: if … Continue reading →

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Not another Book of the Year List

Posted on December 14, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

It’s that time of the year when the “Best Books of the Year” lists come out. While I mine the lists for reading recommendations, I hesitate to generate my own list. Reading tastes are so subjective. In fact, I frequently … Continue reading →

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Library of Mistakes

Posted on December 13, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

The new Library of Mistakes opened in Edinburgh, Scotland in April of this year, moving to larger and more felicitous premises from its previous location. Like many barely financially literate folks, I would value access to a library that could potentially … Continue reading →

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