The Game of The Dead Is Played Without a Spinner

COVID-19 is not in the news as much anymore, as the media narrative shifts to everyone trying (and often unable) to get one of those sweet vaccines, and that we are turning the corner. But the reality is that 5,114 died from COVID-19 on 2/4/21, which is the new single day record for fatalities n 2021. We are closing in on the 500K mark, and though about 65 million people have been vaccinated so far, there are hundreds of millions to go in the US and billions worldwide, and a massive shortage to handle. The message is clear: This is a thoroughly adequate healthcare system that we have.

SENET is the first known board game, found in Egyptian burial tombs and on walls dating back to 3,500 B.C.. It pre-dates Chess, Go, Ball-and-Cup, Blood and Roses, and all the unfinished Kickstarter projects that have swindled you. No one alive today is entirely certain how the game is played, but its depiction in tombs and in the Egyptian Book of the Dead suggests that the player follows the path of the soul after death, when it travels through the many obstacles of the Underworld before judged by Anubis.

In the game of Senet, you win AND you die.

URANUS IS A CURIOUS PLANET that orbits the sun in the opposite direction of all the other planets (except Venus), going clockwise instead of counterclockwise. It is also turned almost entirely to one side, effectively having an East/West axis instead of a north/south one. It’s believed that this positioning, combined with its lack of geographic features, is the result of being struck with an Earth-sized object billions of years ago. The one side is always facing the sun doesn’t make much difference to the heat of its surface, as it is 1.83 billion miles from the sun. Eagle-eyed readers will remember that the Earth, which relies on the warmth of the sun for light, heat, and never solar energy, is a mere 92 million miles from the sun.

Uranus was discovered by William Herschel (1738–1822), who got bored with being a famous oboist/composer at age 19, so he learned English, moved to London, and became the most celebrated observational astronomer of his day. He also discovered infrared radiation and proved the existence of binary stars, frequently collaborating with his younger sister Caroline Herschel (1750–1848), who was herself a talented musician and brilliant astronomer. Contemporary mothers would not stop going on and on about them at Rosh Hashanah, much to the chagrin of their disappointing children.

ZILLOWGONEWILD has become one of my favorite Instagram accounts. It is a catalog of some of the most garish, expensive, and weirdly designed houses currently on the market.

Stay awhile!

Stay forever!
($1.04M asking price. Lafayette, CA)

SELF-RALLY ROCK was a peculiar sub-genre of aggro-enthusiast, hyper-positive pop songs in the 80s where Dudes would pump themselves up to “fight the fight” against vague, overwhelming forces that were stacked against them.

Three sub-genre defining songs:

1) The Touch by Stan Bush
2) You’re The Best by Joe Esposito
3) Eye of the Tiger by Survivor

“You live for the fight when it’s all that you’ve got.”
— Jon Bon Jovi, military theorist

This was psychological fallout from losing the Vietnam War. Guns N’ Roses had same energy at the end of the 80s, but went in the the opposite direction. They relished in the world being dangerous and sleazy, but urged that you give into it and enjoy the ride. Their negativity carried into Grunge music, which held firm in its position that nothing mattered at all.

“You’re in the jungle now. You gonna die.”
— Axl Rose, military realist

2021 is here, folks! The only way out is through!

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