[book] Censoring Imagination: Why Prisons Ban Fantasy and Science Fiction … A look at why prisons in America routinely ban books about magic. ‘Looking through the lists of titles prison authorities have gone to the trouble of prohibiting people from reading you find Invisibility: Mastering the Art of Vanishing and Magic: An Occult Primer in Louisiana, Practical Mental Magic in Connecticut, all intriguingly for “safety and security reasons.” The Clavis or Key to the Magic of Solomon in Arizona, Maskim Hul Babylonian Magick in California. Nearly every state that has a list of banned titles contains books on magic.’

[space] With Space Junk on the Rise, Is a Catastrophic Event Inevitable? … ‘Several pieces of a SpaceX Dragon trunk (the portion of the rocket just below the capsule) had landed on the property and on nearby farms. “The longest piece was probably eight feet long, and it weighed 80 pounds,” says Lawler, who teaches at the University of Regina. “If that hit your house, it would go right through; it wouldn’t even slow down.” Lawler returned to the farm several weeks later, when two SpaceX employees arrived in a small truck to cart away the debris. “They silently picked up the pieces and loaded them into the U-Haul,” she says. For Lawler, the incident drove home the growing problem of space junk—and left her with a sense of dread that’s never quite gone away. “Actually standing next to the pieces and thinking about them falling at terminal velocity [about 165 feet per second]—that is terrifying.”’

[comics] Alan Moore’s Greyshirt “How things work out” with art by Rick Veitch … ‘We’re able to tell, by some quite complicated story gymnastics, quite an interesting little story that is told over nearly sixty years of this building’s life, with characters getting older depending upon which panel and which time period they’re in. There’s something that you couldn’t do in any medium other than comics.’

[words] The Bluesky Dictionary … Can Bluesky use every word in the English language? ‘Words We Haven’t Seen: fonticuli’

[podcasts] Time’s 100 Best Podcasts of All Time … ‘The Drop Out – You’re probably familiar with Elizabeth Holmes, the Theranos founder who lied to doctors, patients, and investors about her nonfunctioning blood-testing startup. But Holmes’ eccentricities—her decision to style herself like Steve Jobs, her insistence that her un-housebroken dog was actually a wolf, her sheer confidence in the face of some of the most powerful investors in the world—deserve a longform investigation. ABC News’ Rebecca Jarvis hosted a riveting 2019 audio documentary that includes deposition tapes that had never before been heard publicly and dispatches from Holmes’ eventual trial. Holmes’ story lends itself well to the audio format, in part because the quixotic entrepreneur had a jarringly low voice. And the crazy yarn of Holmes’ rise and fall is so gripping, you cannot help but press play on the next episode even if you already know the major beats of the story.’

[mac] MacPaint Art From The Mid-80s Still Looks Great Today … Great collection of early pixilated Mac art.

[banksy] Banksy’s Endangered Animals … One year on, Diamond Geezer surveys Banksy’s Concrete Jungle Safari. ‘Pelicans (Walthamstow) – I first saw this when it was fresh, two pelicans necking fish from Bonners chippy just north of Walthamstow High Street. It took a while to be shielded by plastic because the family were on their six week summer break when Banksy came and painted it. They’re abroad again at present, returning Thursday 4th September, but the artwork’s still safely in place and possibly the greatest of the bunch. If you come for a gander in the autumn be aware that a small bag of chips now costs £4.20 because art doesn’t come cheap.’

[comics] The most important British character in US comics … John Constantine is 40. ‘What would Delano, the writer most closely associated with Constantine’s rise, think if he met the character? “My relationship with Constantine is one of both love and hate. I’m grateful for the changes to the course of my life our association enabled, but, undeniably, that debt also engenders some resentment,” he admits. “Constantine is a cranky old bastard, and so am I. We’d probably clash. I imagine any meeting would be affectionate, but we’d soon start to irritate one another.”

[disgust] This article will make you want to wash your hands … I came across this long read on disgust and public health and found it fascinating. It was published a few years ago but definitely worth a read. ‘Because of the way meat is produced, the world, McLagan notes, is “awash” with this excellent source of protein and iron, but most of it gets wasted. Some is dumped into rivers and lakes, which causes pollution, increasing the nitrogen in the water. The key to avoiding this pollution – and getting some cheap nutrients into the bargain – would be eliminating our disgust for cooking with blood. McLagan finds pig’s blood a marvellous substitute for eggs, with half the calories. In her Toronto kitchen, she whips fresh blood into a stable pink foam, which she uses for anything from rich brownies to dark brown blood meringues. I tried some of both. They tasted good, with a slight metallic tang. But most western consumers find the very idea of handling blood too horrifying even to contemplate.’

[comics] The (Lost) Frank Miller ‘Elektra’ Screenplay? … A review of an Elektra: Assassin screenplay from the late 1980s written by Frank Miller. ‘Some familiar names from Elektra Assassin that show up here are Presidente Huevos, Ambassador Reich, Perry and Garrett, Beaker, and of course the Kennedy-style politician Ken Wind. Unfortunately, there is no Chastity or Nick Fury. Garret, a comedic foil who makes the comics very entertaining, is written in a very serious and earnest way into the screenplay and his character is much more standard and ‘cookie cutter.’ The main villain is Kirigi, an unstoppable brute and member of the ninja group The Hand whom Elektra faced more than once in Miller and Klaus Janson‘s original Daredevil run…’

[tech] If OpenSSL were a GUI … I spent some time recently struggling with OpenSSL which led to this page. :)