Tag: conspiracy theories

biweekly links 8-14-2019

Bloodstained ice axe used to kill Trotsky emerges after decades in the shadows: it bothers me that the previous custodian of the axe didn’t permit DNA testing for authentication, but it sounds like the current owner found a persuasive paper trail.

Epstein death brings birth of mainstream conspiracy theories: don’t know about your social media, but speculation about what “really” happened started from the word go.  Evidently no one trusts the mainstream media anymore but in this case everyone appears to be overthinking the matter: Epstein was incarcerated in a filthy, dangerous prison and realized no amount of cash or connections would get him off the hook this time. Not sorry to see him go, but disgusted that he avoided justice.

Bernie Sanders Pledges to Release Any Information About Aliens If He’s Elected in 2020: Report: well, not exactly. For those keeping track, Carter and both Clintons hinted at Disclosure™ (plus that weird fixation Reagan had with alien invasion) and nada. Besides, of all the issues for the 2020 election the existence or not of extraterrestrials is so low on my list as to not even rate.

The Aztec Gold, Diamond Dogs, and Political Witchcraft Surrounding Watergate: are conspiracy theories symptoms or causes of fractious times? Arguably both, but forty-five years on this tale connecting Watergate, David Bowie, hidden treasure and (of course) JFK seems more a snapshot of the various mental gymnastics people employed to make sense of the year immediately before Nixon’s impeachment than anything that has (much) basis in fact. Plus cheezy 1970s print ads, including an early incarnation of The Gap.

Play about Elizabeth Bathory at Minnesota Fringe Fest: my Google alerts find me the oddest goodies. Also of relevance to readers of this blog, the article also summarizes shows built around “NaNoWriMo naughty bits” and “spells cast through dance and storytelling.”

More theater: Back to the Tudors as six wives and Queen Liz rock Edinburgh: this time from the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The Tudor period is well-trod territory for drama but these are contemporary musical designed “to challenge the US smash hit Hamilton.” Think they can take on Lin-Manuel Miranda?

Detectorist thought Elizabethan gold ring ‘was ring-pull’: my grandfather used to take his metal detector every year to the beach, but he never found anything like this! The signet ring is expected to sell for £7,500 to £10,000.

weathered brass ring with engraved eagle on the oval face
Brass, not gold, this is Elizabethan poet/playwright William Strachey’s ring, found at Historic Jamestowne. Via, and more source/credit information at the link.

biweekly links 9-13-2017

Sally Quinn’s Next Act: how have I never heard of this woman? Journalist, tv presenter, and fixture of DC “salon society”, she now reveals her belief in the occult in her new memoir. Sounds a bit sensationalistic, but I’m curious how one goes from atheism to casting hexes on enemies (yes, she claims she did that).

Have you got the nerve to take on this spooky tour through creepy cellars and centuries-old cloisters?: The house of William Cecil, Lord Burghley (Elizabeth I’s Lord High Treasurer) is open for “spooky” tours October 18 through 31. Fun fact: Burghley tried to lure Edward Kelley back to England from Prague to share his secret of gold transmutation. Kelley declined because Rudolf II gave him so many lands and titles that it wasn’t worth his time. He wound up in several of Rudolf’s prisons for failing to make gold when requested–though interestingly, he was never accused fraud.

JFK Conspiracy Theorists Are About to Receive the Motherlode: the remaining classified 20% go public on October 26. Though there are as many conspiracy theories about JFK’s assassination as there are conspiracy theorists I’m still curious to know what we’ve been missing for ~50 years.

Tweet from John F. Kennedy:
Too soon? Courtesy Tumblr.

The Museum of Witchcraft & Magic In London Opening: November 2, if you’re in the area. Put together by the Last Tuesday Society, a group that’s been in London since 2006 and is “dedicated to subverting life, the universe and everything bored of the life and world it sees around it seeks to create a new world filled with beauty, wonder and the imagination”. Could be a barrel of fun. Ah, to be in Merrie Olde…