In this week's Pagan Community Notes, Pagan Spirit Gathering has been canceled, indigenous shaman and actor Antonio Bolivar joins the Ancestors, Sacred Well announces changes in leadership, and more!

Continue reading Pagan Community Notes: PSG 2020 canceled, leadership change within Sacred Well, indigenous shaman and actor Antonio Bolivar crosses Veil, and more! at The Wild Hunt.

Good morning and apologies in advance, as I’m again one of those loathsome (that if, if you were shivering somewhere) people who just returned from the beach, where we went on vacation last week because our kids were off from school and we didn’t see why they should have all the fun. Around me were turquoise waves, glittering with sunlight, lapping gently at the silky white-sanded shore and there were no children having tantrums or whining because this was a magical place — and at some of those things are true. However, as will always happen on vacation, while we had some enviable tacos and aguachiles, I was only a few days in when I started to fiercely miss home-cooked food, most especially this salad I’d made the week before.

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I didn’t know I needed a new roast chicken in my life when Helen Rosner, the New Yorker’s roving food correspondent and all-around fascinating person, posted on her Instagram a few weekends ago that she didn’t have her usual vegetables to put under her roast chicken so she was using cabbage instead. Yet the very next evening, so was I, plus twice since then, and likely one more time before this week is out and I have a hunch I will not be alone. Rosner won a James Beard award for an essay I still routinely quote from to my kids (“but chicken tenders have no terroir!” because we live in opposite land where they don’t like them but I do — but that’s a whole other blog entry) because it delights me so much. A year ago she nearly broke the internet when she said she likes to use a hairdryer to get the crispiest chicken skin. All I’m saying is that when Rosner talks about chicken, I find good reason to tune in.

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Nadarajah Nithiyakumar held in custody after being discharged from hospital

A father has been charged with murdering his two young children at the family home.

Pavinya Nithiyakumar, aged 19 months, and Nigash Nithiyakumar, who was three years old, suffered fatal knife wounds at their house in Ilford, east London, on 26 April.

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David Egan accused over death of Danny Pearce, who was allegedly targeted for his Rolex

A man has been charged with the murder of a 31 year-old in London almost three years ago.

David Egan, 23, of Deptford, south-east London, was expected to appear in custody at Bromley magistrates court on Saturday charged with the murder of Danny Pearce on 15 July 2017.

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It is among the most international of sports, but countries have had to look inwardly in order to restart the action

On Thursday afternoon in Minsk, elite international athletes returned to competition. Two Belarusians kicked tennis off as the world No 11, Aryna Sabalenka, and the No 50, Aliaksandra Sasnovich, took to the court. Even in Belarus, where the country has relentlessly carried on as much of the world around it has come to a halt, the scene underlined the new normal.

The pair humbled themselves to picking up their own balls and their stage was a small indoor hard court lined with one linesman per side and a handful of spectators. After Sabalenka sealed the victory, the two friends were not allowed to embrace. They tapped the other’s racquet and Sabalenka blew a kiss. They laughed.

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She is the oldest person to grace the fashion bible’s cover – and she’s a hit on social media. Who says that getting older signals an end to vitality?

You can’t call Judi Dench lazy when it comes to contributing to society, but she’s been particularly dedicated to boosting morale of late. Who knows, perhaps she felt pressured to make up for her turn in the unhinged Cats film, where her feline character horrified viewers by appearing to wear a coat made of its own fur. Dench has provided vital comic relief during this time of crisis, predominantly with silly social media clips – a Twitter video of her wearing a novelty dog hat with pop-up ears in which she instructs us to “keep laughing” racked up 5.4 million views. Now she has supplied a far meatier pick-me-up by becoming, at 85, British Vogue’s oldest cover star.

Related: Judi Dench becomes British Vogue's oldest cover star

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Teenagers affirm evidence that suggests they are particularly struggling with coronavirus crisis

• Coronavirus – latest updates
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When, in late February, Betsy Sheil turned 16, she thought she was staring down the end of secondary school, not the beginning of global pandemic.

“I was going to finish year 11 and do my GCSEs, then I was going to have a really long summer with my friends, hopefully go abroad – have that summer that everyone has.”

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Mike Pence’s press secretary tests positive to coronavirus; China reports one new case; Russia reports 10,000 new cases for sixth day in a row

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Donald Trump has said coronavirus will “go away without a vaccine” and is expecting 95,000 or more deaths in the US, as Mike Pence’s press secretary tested positive for coronavirus.

The president’s comments, at an event with Republican lawmakers, capped a horror week in the US, in which it was revealed unemployment had risen to 14.7%, up from 3.5% in February, with 20 million people losing their jobs in April.

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According this is video, there are 7 stages in which a Maine Coon slowly falls in love with a newborn. Or at least in this case.

What are the stages?

Stage 1: "Ewww, what is it?"

Stage 7: "I'll take it from here, thanks."

Just kidding, but not really. Watch the see the delevoping love between the two! 

Deep breath in, deep breath out. 

Can't help but smile when you come across a pure doggo snap collection! 

We've got it all -- the silliness, the funnies, the cuteness! Forty-four fetchin' doggo snaps all waiting for you! 

You may dig in. 

Our pets are our children, and they deserve to be spoiled as such.

That's why we had to share with you these tiny crochet cat couches created by the crafty people on the subreddit r/crochet.

Sure, you could go and just buy a cat bed without exerting much effort, but they're not as fun or cute as this too cute to handle cat couch.

So, if you're looking for a new crochet project to tackle, this has got to be it! 

The couches are shaped with thick foam and polyester filling to really give it that comfy sofa look.

There are a few craft stores online who are offering the crochet patterns if you like. 

Unless you’re particularly fond of looking at the back of 88 individual WS2812B LEDs, these “RGB Goggles” from [Mukesh Sankhla] won’t offer you much of a view. But from an outsider’s perspective, the smartphone-controlled glasses certainly make a statement. Just don’t try to operate any heavy machinery while wearing them. …read more

Also debuts for PSVR, Oculus Rift, SteamVR in early 2021

Animal Crossing: New Horizons sells 11.77 million units in 1st 11 days for "best start ever"

HBO Max streams Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Re:ZERO, In/Spectre, more on May 27

Remake of Monolith Software's Wii game launches on May 29

Anime will later air on TV in Japan starting on July 8

Reader participation determines protagonist's direction in story

The post Plot is what characters do with the setting. appeared first on Indexed.

Hugh Weber shared a Twitter thread about his 11-year-old's wild ride with the USPS, and it seems to convey a deeper message. Maybe it's a message that the beauty of humanity itself escapes through human beings' vulnerability. Brace yourself, cause this thread has been known to get the feels train rolling. 

Man, we love the Scottish Twitter. It's clearly the best Twitter. One can really get a taste for the Scottish culture through their tweets. It's particularly fun to read the tweets out loud. If you really commit to it, you might actually sound Scottish for a hot second. While, of course, you have no idea what you're saying. 

Man, you can just feel the energy of the awk being channeled in this quick Twitter thread. Real or not, just picturing this girl trying to live tweet, and then live tweeting herself into an awkward situation, is gold in and of itself. 

Everyone should just play nice with each other. But instead, we have dudes like this guy "Evan", who run around and spill negative, toxic chaos everywhere. Evan thought he'd play a "game" with his friends by bullying a Tinder match for the way she looked, from afar. 

Well, that whole operation definitely went on to catch up with him. I would've loved to have seen that date going down, as it experienced all the (intentional) customer service disasters. I wonder if there was ever a point where it occurred to the dude, "man I wonder if all my negativity is catching up with me?" Maybe, so. 

While we don't always have the intended answers, we can at least be smart asses about things. Technically correct jokes have the benefit of making the teller feel smart while there's not really any new information needed. These silly puns and clever jokes are technically accurate, so you can't say they're completely wrong.

Oh man, "Chad the Alpha" is on one. This conversation just stinks of delusions. Alpha bro reaches out to another dude and literally asks him to break up with his girlfriend, because he suspects that she'll be happier with him. Yeah, okay, Chad. 

Man, just imagine walking around and seeing one of these mannequins in one of these bizarre positions, and the reality trip that that'd throw you for? A definite double take would be in order. Can imagine the cops being called on some of these. Mannequins are already eerie enough as it is. 

This guy got challenged to make music with bricks, so he went ahead and played The Weeknd's "Blinding Lights" with bricks. Um, that's amazing. Had no idea that was possible. 

Graham doesn't play by the rules. Clearly, Graham is busy enjoying life to the fullest. We just need to make sure that Graham doesn't get behind the wheel after knocking back all that Coors. 

NOTE: In our traditional April Fool’s posts, we endeavor to make them credible at the beginning, then crank up the nonsense until the joke becomes obvious. But these days, the idea of knowingly spreading misinformation (even when comically false) sounds exhausting. So here’s our notice ahead of time: This is 100% silliness! Hope it lightens [...]

This week, you can download desktops featuring the new cover art and stills from the trailer, then get a discount on the Steam edition of the Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game in anticipation of its launch on the Switch! Ready? LET’S DO THIS THING. Living Social We’re expanding out social media presence! You should already [...]

The big draw this week is our fourth Microfiction, but there’s plenty more to get excited about! We’ve got the Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game’s debut on switch, an upcoming Trailer Rewatch event, a $1.99 ebook deal on Death Masks, and more. It’s also the last week to submit your costumes for our contest. Read [...]

Thousands of babies were born with severe brain damage after the 2015 Zika outbreak. New findings could tell us which therapies could help them most

Artificial intelligence can tell whether a human or a bot is posting on Twitter based on how regularly they post and how much they reply to others, which could help identify fake accounts

We know that there is at least one planet orbiting Proxima Centauri, the nearest star to our solar system, and now astronomers may have taken the first picture of a second world

A brain-computer interface has helped a man with a severe spinal cord injury move and feel using a hand again, letting him carefully lift light objects such as a paper cup

Many people are turning to virtual therapy and mental health apps to cope with the stress of the coronavirus pandemic, but they may not be as helpful as talking face to face

Lessons learned from natural disasters and the military can help guide our responses to help people's mental health during the covid-19 pandemic

Robots made of 3D-printed muscle and rat spines could help us understand conditions like motor neurone disease and the technique may eventually be used to build prosthetic devices

It can be difficult for doctors to assess the level of consciousness in people who have had serious brain injuries, but observing their reaction to strong odours may help

A robot that uses artificial intelligence to find and remove weeds could eventually be used as an alternative to chemical insecticides

A fresh look at the world’s oldest religious texts suggests ancient Egyptians saw the sky as a water-filled iron container from which chunks fell to Earth as meteorites

Astronomers found a star that appeared to be orbiting nothing at all – but it’s actually the closest black hole ever at just 1000 light years away

Many ancient monuments are claimed to be aligned to celestial phenomena, but we now have the first statistical evidence this is the case for the Egyptian pyramids

The latest coronavirus news updated every day including coronavirus cases, the latest news, features and interviews from New Scientist and essential information about the covid-19 pandemic

You have to give a lot of credit to Tim Bray, an Amazon vice-president who quit over the company’s treatment of workers. He was making a big sacrifice to expose Amazon’s corruption. May 1st was my last day as a VP and Distinguished Engineer at Amazon Web Services, after five years and five months of […]