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Category: morning computer

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morning computer dem bones again

Published July 27, 2026 by Warren Ellis

Jason Limon.

An Early Bronze Age metalworker and shaman discovered over 200 years ago in a lavish burial near Stonehenge and long assumed to be male was actually female, a new genetic analysis reveals.

The results of the ancient DNA analysis of the “Upton Lovell Shaman,” carried out by researchers at the Francis Crick Institute in London, break the previously held stereotype of Early Bronze Age women, according to a statement from the Wiltshire Museum, where the remains and grave goods are housed.

I was rather hoping to find a scan of Mike Moorcock and Mal Dean’s JERRY CORNELIUS comic, as I seem to have misplaced my old copy of Moorcock’s MY EXPERIENCES IN THE THIRD WORLD WAR, so pretend there’s a picture of Jerry Cornelius saying “dem bones” here.

Lordess Foudre and I talk about THE PRISONER a lot.

PREVIOUSLY:

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morning computer summer

Published July 20, 2026 by Warren Ellis

Paolo Lazzarotti (Italy), “Complete Rainbow”

Good morning sinners.

My problem, apparently, is that I’m interested in too many things. In fact, someone made a point of writing to my office a few weeks ago specifically to tell me that my interests aren’t interesting.

I never had a problem with being a generalist – it’s a big world and it’s been around a long time and I want to learn as much about it as I can. But, these days, to get ahead you have to niche down hard, to become a trusted expert in one particular thing. You want to be the one voice the AI reaches for to answer a question, or the single speaker in your specific pigeonhole.

So this here is where I don’t do any of that and wander all over the place, because my stupid brain is only happy when it roams.

A Midori A6 commonplace book: with, apparently, “instructions” only in Japanese. Worth reading THE NOTEBOOK by Roland Allen for a sense of what a commonplace book can be. I actually first heard of commonplace books when I was young – I read a short autobio piece by Alfred Bester in, I think, HELL’S CARTOGRAPHERS, and he used one. I really have to hunt around for a new copy of that book.

Startup Develops Micro-Drones Capable of Shooting Down Insects in Mid-Air. Drones and insects always makes me think of NORMAL. I guess we’re at drone war with the mosquitoes now. Rich people will use them instead of bug repellent or nets.

morning computer: some useful things first thing in the day.

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morning world computer

Published June 18, 2026 by Warren Ellis

David Muenzer.

Afropresentism and Kinternet:

“Afropresentism says, I am here bearing witness, yes, and it aches. And yes, I am grieving. And most importantly, yes, I celebrate still being alive enough to feel all of that. I see that you are also grieving and I see that you are alive too… Yes, I celebrate the rage I know I’m not alone in. Yes, I see the everyday barrage— the advertisements and the architectures that have grown so elaborate, so unrelenting in their reminders of our compromise. And, yes everything I bear witness to that wounds me and wounds you I will meet with my own technology of refusal.”

Building from this philosophy and from the dialogue with Mutemi, Githere made the case for the kinternet–a conceptual model for a network that weaves together myth and ancestors; theory and practice. Sketched out by hand and distributed on paper to everyone in the audience, the kinternet is a technology of repair, rooted in grief, rage, slowing down, and connecting with one another in the present.

Genevieve Stebbins’ Delsarte System of Dramatic Expression (1886).

morning computer: some useful things first thing in the day.

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morning hot world computer

Published June 17, 2026 by Warren Ellis

Seth Pick.

Songs prep the brains of finches yet to hatch for a hot world

Exposure to parents’ “heat calls” makes finch young more resilient to heat after hatching

Ganzeer’s CAIRO DIARIES.

MIXAM: This seems to be a print on demand service for zines that lets you sell individual copies through their website rather than having to order a bunch and sell them yourself.

morning computer: some useful things first thing in the day.

My free weekly newsletter is at https://orbitaloperations.beehiiv.com/

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morning computer ocean days

Published June 16, 2026 by Warren Ellis

Xie Lei.

Viceroy Los Cabos.

Sea levels are just the start of how climate change will upend the ocean. Rising temperatures are also threatening a critical artery that runs through the ocean known as the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, or AMOC. This current, in short, sends warm water northwards and dumps colder water southwards in a giant loop, massively influencing the world’s weather systems along the way. 

If temperatures keep soaring, scientists fear that AMOC could collapse — and with it, climate patterns across the globe. Temperatures in Europe would plunge without the injection of warm water it brings. Rainfall in the tropics would be disrupted. And sea levels on the US east coast would rise.

To save AMOC from demise, two researchers have proposed a daring Hail Mary: building a giant dam across the Bering Strait, the channel that separates Alaska from Siberia, to stop the proverbial bleeding. As outrageous as it sounds, the megaproject could in theory stabilize the ocean current, according to the findings of a new study they published in the journal Science Advances. 

20th Century Studios has released the first trailer for Whalefall, the adaptation of Daniel Kraus’ novel coming to theaters in October.

The film — which stars Austin Abrams, Josh Brolin, Elisabeth Shue, John Ortiz and more — is described as The Martian meets 127 Hours, centering on a scuba diver in search of his deceased father’s remains. The diver gets swallowed by an 80-foot, 60-ton sperm whale and has only one hour to escape before his oxygen runs out.

https://deadline.com/2026/06/whalefall-trailer-austin-abrams-josh-brolin-daniel-kraus-1236950810

wtf

morning computer: some useful things first thing in the day.

My free weekly newsletter is at https://orbitaloperations.beehiiv.com/

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morning computer sunup

Published June 15, 2026 by Warren Ellis

Alexis Mata.

Noah Barker.

The complex puzzle known as little red dots has become more complete since their initial discovery by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope in 2022. Now a particular little red dot’s spectrum is helping connect many of the pieces.

A team of astronomers led by Vasily Kokorev at the University of Texas at Austin identified the lucky dot in question: GLIMPSE-17775. By carefully analyzing the dot’s spectrum captured by Webb—the deepest spectrum to date of a little red dot—the research team has identified multiple lines of evidence, all of which support the interpretation that GLIMPSE-17775 is a supermassive black hole enveloped in a dense cocoon of partially ionized gas, a model referred to as the BH* (black hole star) scenario.

Among his many mythopoeic pronouncements, the great Sun Ra maintained that he was making music for the future. So, we shouldn’t be surprised that, a quarter of the way through the 21st century, and more than 30 years after he left the planet for the last time, his music is gaining more recognition than ever before. A recent slew of reissues, new compilations and previously unheard live recordings continues unabated. His Arkestra – under the direction of long-time member, alto saxophonist Marshall Allen since 1995 – continues to delight audiences worldwide. Just last year saw the release of two new feature-length documentaries about him. The Magic City examined his early life in Birmingham, Alabama; and the more comprehensive Sun Ra: Do The Impossible did the festival circuit before being shown on the PBS TV network this February as part of its American Masters series of artist biographies – bringing Ra’s improbable story to its widest audience yet.

Cecilia Reeve.

morning computer: some useful things first thing in the day.

My free weekly newsletter is at https://orbitaloperations.beehiiv.com/

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morning computer greenland

Published January 12, 2026 by Warren Ellis

Dennis Lehtohen’s villages of Greenland.

From April 2025:

American tech entrepreneurs have opened up talks with officials about placing research-oriented freedom cities on the island of Greenland, according to a report in Reuters.

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Last week, news website Reuters reported that at least three anonymized sources had claimed investors in America’s tech industry have been eyeing the island, owned by Denmark, as a site for new cities.

According to the reports, the communities would be freedom cities, established with minimal regulations to promote business.

Reuters reported that the “discussions are in early stages” but suggested that the plans are being “taken seriously” by the prospective US ambassador to Denmark, Ken Howery.

“The vision for Greenland, one of the people said, could include a hub for artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles, space launches, micro nuclear reactors and high-speed rail,” reported Reuters.

February 2-8, 2025: 2 °C warming locked in, Greenland melt worsens, geoengineering hopes, Indian coal rates, wet bulb heat thresholds, global debt hits $323T, heavy metal pollution in China, UK Food Security report, 1M American kids with Long COVID, Swedish mass shooting, Philippines death threats against president, USAID closure, thousands killed in eastern DRC, hypernormalization…

morning computer: some useful things first thing in the day.

My free weekly newsletter is at https://orbitaloperations.beehiiv.com/

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morning computer mutant tetrad

Published January 5, 2026 by Warren Ellis

One of the most interesting parts of the tetrad is the quadrant regarding obsolescence because this is where you can find luxury as well. An easy example of this is how books are now obsolete as popular entertainment which makes them into valid luxury items for Miu Miu’s book club. The other most delicious part of of the tetrad (in our opinion) is the quandrant describing what the media object reverses into when pushed to its limit – which is also the trickiest part.

Here is an excellent tetrad from our workshop participant Paris Parker-Loan.

An Egregore (also spelled egregor; from French égrégore, from Ancient Greek ἐγρήγορος, egrēgoros ‘wakeful’) is a concept in Western esotericism of a non-physical entity or thoughtform that arises from the collective thoughts and emotions of a distinct group of individuals.

See also:

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