March Pieces Of My Mind #1

Feel at home at the castle! My book is out!

• Are you into sonnets? I like Lovecraft’s.
• They call me the wood-wose / But my name is Ghân-buri-Ghân / Why they call me that I do not know / For my name is Ghân-buri-Ghân
• Indicative of my current feelings about archaeology: I receive the programme for an interesting conference about the Migration Period and feel super left out because nobody asked me to speak. Then I realise that my last major contribution to that period was published nine years ago, and that since then I’ve written one book about the Bronze Age and one about the Late Middle Ages. Oh. OK.
• Good news and a major victory for Swedish evidence-based medicine! The Anthroposophy cult has run the large alt-med Vidar Clinic near Södertälje for 33 years according to the spiritual visions of their founder Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925). Now they’ve lost the support of the public purse and are closing it down.
• Spring’s definitely near. The dour 60ish hijabi lady who runs the pharmacy was positively flirtatious when I bought some deodorant from the MAN section.
• This Stockholm restaurant is full of Chinese people, all ages, speaking Chinese!
• Lovecraft’s protagonists often make horrific genealogical discoveries. I just found a second cousin of my dad’s whose pet name is “Ia”. Not quite ready to go insane or kill myself though.
• I haven’t worn a wrist watch since my wife gave me a cell phone 16 years ago because we were expecting Jrette. But in recent years I’ve discovered a situation where I need one: yacht racing. So today I bought a cheap wrist watch in preparation for the coming season.
• I leave the house to go vote canvassing. Jrette calls, “Good luck now, and don’t gatecrash any podcasts!”
• Yay, the boat where I serve as deck hand during races at the local yacht club placed 10th out of 42 when last year was summed up.
• East Asian alcohol making traditionally relies on Aspergillus mold to turn starch into sugar that the yeast can process. Because these folks grew no barley that could be made into malt for the purpose, as in the West. Malt is necessary for Western grain and potato spirits.
• Antiquity and European Journal of Archaeology are currently both edited at the Dept of Archaeology in Durham.
• Moesgård’s library is getting a free copy of my castles book before most Swedish uni libraries get theirs.