Neptune Landing

Historians say the main takeaway from the world's last deadly pandemic is the scant evidence that it actually occurred. Journal and diary entries from 1918/1919 have few mentions of it. One reason is that the celebrated news of Armistice Day eclipsed the horrible reality of the outbreak's second wave. There was a collective minimizing of any bad news. People were exhausted. Public Domain Camp Funston, at Fort Riley, Kansas, during the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic The scourge this time around has not been as deadly nor as infectious as the one in 1918 but the idiosyncrasies of the novel coronavirus are still baffling doctors. People are hurting and looking for answers. I've always found writing to be therapeutic so I am adding my voice to the annals of pandemic literature. Here are my observations and adventures of the  first 100 days since the WHO labelled Covid-19 a pandemic: Lots of Moving - I left the UK on March 24th, a month after the WHO classified Covid

When you think of New York, what comes to mind? Perhaps the ubiquitous logo adorning the world's t-shirts:  The graphic designer,  Milton Glaser , came up with the logo idea while riding in the back of a taxi in 1976. How about Texas? Do you know they had a PR and PSA coup with their intimidating warning: "Don't Mess with Texas." That slogan, created by the Texas Department of Transportation, not only gave Texas a bit of chutzpah on the national stage but it urged the state's litterbugs to rethink their habits. Studies found that  the campaign helped reduce litter by 72%  on Texas highways over a three-year-period. The warning soon took on a life of its own; it's basically become the state's unofficial motto. It soon became a rallying cry for the Texan people's grit and bravado. "Don't Mess with Texas T-Shirt"   by  J. Stephen Conn  is licensed under  CC BY-NC 2.0  While there is usually some type of strategic intent behind bra

I've always been drawn to the northwestern islands off the coast of Europe. In fact, I'm sure I've had a past life here; perhaps as a newsboy in Victorian England. One of the purposes of shamanism is not only to connect with your life totems and power animals but also to commune with your ancestors and guardian angels. And there are some places in the "Middle World" (or what we call Non-Ordinary Reality) that are more conducive with one's individual psychography, past, or spiritual composition. English people, out of all the island peoples, would be the first to call me mad or batty were I to broach this subject. The English are known to be champions of logic and linear thinking, a no-nonsense people. In the other member countries of the United Kingdom, there seems to be more magic. It could be that the others are nowhere near as densely populated. There is something remarkably twee about Ireland, Wales, and Scotland and their attendant native peoples,

Gosh, where do we start with this one?                                                                                                                                      Photograph: Alamy                  Our class had taken a field trip to the British Library Digital Labs Symposium which ended up being like an awards show for the most cutting-edge projects associated with local research groups. There was free food, an explicit call to "network" (a term that gives me the willies when spoken aloud), and a number of creative projects. The keynote speaker who kicked things off at the ripe hour of 10 a.m. was problematic in several different ways. Armand Leroi's talk entitled "The Science of Culture" basically used a number of infometric ways of tracking what lyrics and chords and instruments had been used in American Top 40 charts since 1960. While initially quite intriguing and entertaining, one ended up asking after all his graphs and boasts: &quo