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Tag: med

11nov26

Published November 11, 2026 by Warren Ellis

We’re into the grey days of autumn/winter transition, now. I’m still too sick with this cold/ throat/ chest thing to get out into the garden, which is annoying, as I need to level the site and get bulbs in the ground. Right now, I am just watching the rain recharge the garden, and looking at taking a few days next week to attack it with implements of destruction. The weather forecast seems to be against me, but it’s so changeable right now that I may get lucky.

I like this part of life. Matched to the seasons.

TODAY:

OPERATIONS: I have been buying domain names, which is never a good idea.
STATUS: Still sick, skipped an afternoon gig so I don’t infect a room full of people.
READING: THE ROUSE, China Mieville (UK) (US+)

Don’t try your schoolmarm shit on me I’ve been intimidated by more arch than you, what do you think, you’re some Jean Brodie of the returned? All my ghouls are the crème de la crème ha ha.

Jack Self talking to James Bridle in issue 18 of the Real Review:

JS: You said that many people feel they lack agency; and that this subconscious disenfranchisement, or helpless-ness, is driving many contemporary pathologies. I used to teach at the Architectural Association, a masters studio called Deep Adaptation – after the Jem Bendell paper. The first year we asked students to collate the best existing data on the climate crisis: demographics, migration, geopolitics, ecology, extreme weather, and so on. They became so profoundly depressed we couldn’t get them to design, and had to get a grief counsellor. We were all grieving for futures we had assumed were possible, and then suddenly realised were not. Eventually, I came out the other side as a positive nihilist. All is lost but that is an opportunity. There’s nobility in the struggle.

Same issue, Guy Mackinnon-Little:

Each of the roughly eight billion upright spines on Earth invents scenarios at a rate exceeding their ability to make sense of them. We are condemned by a surplus of reality. An unceasing lie we dig ourselves deeper into.


Most of us are familiar with the crises of neuroticism, delusion or derealisation this oversupply of reality causes for the meat silo storing and sorting it.

Let’s hear it for taking photos with our phones, being able to swipe the print and paste it as plain text. Now that is an innovation I enjoy.


LISTENING: MURMURATIONS, Ruby Colley


MISSION CONTROL: I can be contacted via the Cheng Caplan Company or Inkwell Management. Find me at Orbital Operations every Sunday.

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7oct26

Published October 7, 2026 by Warren Ellis

This is the face of a mancub who blames me specifically for the drop in temperature and the loss of the sun.

I have sympathy: it’s dark and rainy, and so is my mood.

THE RUMOURS that emerged sounded like the opening of a thriller. A young woman working in a Siberian research lab supposedly breaks a test tube containing a lethal plague pathogen. She is dead within 48 hours. Authorities race to contain the situation. The questions outnumber the answers, breeding suggestions of conspiracy. The fears may prove unfounded: there may not have been a leak at Russia’s Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute. But the world can be forgiven for its panicked interest.

Not least because that is pretty much how Annie Jacobsen’s BIOLOGICAL WAR: A SCENARIO begins.

This is my porn now.

STATUS: it’s an offline day – work and housework during day, out tonight
READING: RED SHEET, James Ellroy (UK) (US+).

I said, “Have you ever had a hotfoot, Reggie?” Reggie laughed. His sidemen laughed. They went say what? in sync. I poured the bottle of scotch on his shoes. I flicked my lighter and dropped it on his feet. His shoes and socks immolated. His trouser cuffs torched. He screeched. I smelled scorched flesh. He flailed for a water glass. I tossed it out of reach. His trumpet man snatched at a belt piece. I caught his hand and pinned it flat to the table. I grabbed a steak knife and stabbed through flesh and tabletop. The blade severed bones and went in half hilt deep.


LISTENING: KINETIC VOID, various artists (“maximalist ambient”)

MISSION CONTROL: I can be contacted via the Cheng Caplan Company or Inkwell Management. Link in masthead to join my free newsletter.

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off position

Published June 8, 2026 by Warren Ellis

Shawn Huckins.

Amazon Web Services are having issues. Which means half the internet is off. I’m okay with that. If I wasn’t buried in finishing a delayed job and it wasn’t forecast to monsoon out there, I’d say fuckit and walk to the deli for a glass of wine and a charcuterie board. But I AM in fact buried in putting an end to this job. Therefore I am indoors. But a music PR just added me to their press list, so later on I have some new music to listen to, for which I am grateful. So this is just a “hello Monday” note.

TELEMETRY:

…a condition called maladaptive daydreaming (sometimes known simply as MD). They spend often more than half of their waking hours creating elaborate and intricately detailed fantasies with narratives and characters in their mind. Ross says that in extreme cases, people can daydream for up to 12 hours a day. Their stories’ plotlines can go on for decades at a time. It may sound wonderful and inspiring, but these people are so immersed in their inner world that it can cause huge disruptions to daily life and result in severe distress. 

This is not nearly as rare as it might sound. “It’s probably in the ballpark of 2-4% of the adult population,” Ross says.  

https://www.bbc.co.uk/future/article/20260528-the-people-who-are-addicted-to-daydreaming

OPERATIONS: finishing a job today. Tomorrow I am turning my alarm off. Wiped down the boards, commencing batching of material for the newsletter and rebuilding the STATUS and TO-DO boards.
STATUS: I have a patch test for a topical copper peptide serum behind my right ear. So in six hours we get to see if my right ear falls off
READING: CUTS BOTH WAYS, Ed James (UK) (US+)

Marshall winced. ‘I watched her die.’

‘You saw her die?’

Marshall nodded. ‘Didn’t save her in time.’

‘You do know that self-pity is a symptom of a terminal brain injury.’


LISTENING: LIVE AT CAFE OTO, Laura Cannell
DRINK: O’Donnell Very Cherry Moonshine

MISSION CONTROL: I can be contacted via the Cheng Caplan Company or Inkwell Management. Link in masthead to join my free newsletter.

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fig: 4may26

Published May 4, 2026 by Warren Ellis

This is going to be a fig.

  • I am very much sick of people sticking -maxxing on the end of words, just like I’m sick of -punk as a suffix, but the looksmaxxer pentastack is worthy of note, the “enhancement” cocktail consisting of Adderall, dextromethorphan, pregabalin, ketamine… and an industrial solvent called BDO.
  • Cellular rejuvenation for life extension may actually have some possibilities
  • 4000 year old magical texts from Syria preserved on clay tablets! There’s an anti-witchcraft ritual in there, and get this:
  • “The purpose extended beyond personal protection. These rites aimed to stabilize political authority, ward off misfortune, and neutralize perceived supernatural dangers that could undermine a king’s rule. This reflects a broader Mesopotamian worldview in which cosmic order and political stability were inseparable. A threat from witches or malevolent forces was not merely spiritual—it was a potential crisis of governance.”
  • “A new study explores the role of sound in medieval English imagery. Employing a combined approach that integrates neurobiology and the framework of the “sound milieu,” the researcher argues that early medieval images were never “silent.” Instead, they could evoke imagined acoustic environments, allowing immersive, multisensory interaction with the scene.”

Accessions:

HOLLYWOOD HAUNTS THE WORLD was gifted me to the author, for which I am very grateful because it looks very much My Shit. BLANK SPACE had conflicting reviews, but when it showed up on Kindle for 99p, I figured I may as well find out for myself.

HOLLYWOOD HAUNTS THE WORLD, Robert Guffey (UK) (US+)

BLANK SPACE, W David Marx (UK) (US+)

OPERATIONS: Crash week. By Friday night I want to have moved at least eighty pages of material out of the office.
STATUS: Major reset. I’ve booked two gigs to go and see on the 16th and currently wondering where I can fit some small amounts of travel in. Inbox at 100, but a ton of those are delivery notifications
READING: THE REVOLUTIONISTS, Jason Burke (UK) (US+)

But despite the defeat of the Arab armies in 1948 they, like most of the approximately 750,000 Palestinian refugees scattered across the region, still believed they would one day regain their villages, land, businesses and property. The nakba, meaning simply ‘catastrophe’, as it became known, prompted feverish debate among the refugees and throughout the Middle East.


LISTENING: SONGDREAMING, Saadet Turkoz & Nils Wogram (UK) (US+)

MISSION CONTROL: I can be contacted via the Cheng Caplan Company or Inkwell Management. Link in masthead to join my free newsletter.

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Spring Arise: 7mar26

Published March 7, 2026 by Warren Ellis

Julia Dault

Things are sprouting in the garden, WAY ahead of schedule and WAY before I’m ready. The garden’s going to be a bombsite again this year.

I am (momentarily) back in gear and doing All The Things. It will, of course, not last.

TODAY:

OPERATIONS: I have to get seven pages out of the house by 5pm and finish tomorrow’s newsletter
READING: THE BOOK OF COMMENTARY / UNQUIET GARDEN OF THE SOUL, Alexander Kluge (UK) (US+)
LISTENING:

(I saw Julia Brussel play, last week)


LAST WATCHED: RICHARD II, 1971 tv production, Ian McKellen, Timothy West, and I swear that was Stephen Greif. And David Calder!

MISSION CONTROL: I can be contacted via the Cheng Caplan Company or Inkwell Management. Link in masthead to join my free newsletter.

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only hover briefly: 8feb26

Published February 8, 2026 by Warren Ellis

Yasmine Anlan Huang

Today I feel like I might have hit the midpoint of The Mange, as I feel a little stronger and clearer. Currently deleting some distraction apps and putting the AI devices in a drawer – the Bee can no longer access current information, it tells me, and the Rabbit can’t perform scheduled tasks without a reminder to perform them, which kind of defeats the purpose of scheduling tasks. Currently shopping for new notebook covers – I have a passport-sized Wanderings notebook cover and a newestor leather cover sized for Field Notes notebooks, of which I still have a ton from years of being on the Field Notes subscription service, and I have a feeling I need at least one more of the latter. Although this might also be the year I crack and get myself a Roterfaden. Scriptorium-monk mode!

Today’s newsletter went out at 10am UK time.

TODAY:

STATUS: it is time to blitz out my inbox, my RSS feed and my podcast queue. Having to clean-slate everything barely six weeks into the year is not where I thought I’d be.
READING: finished THE ART OF WAR, Sun Tzu (UK) (US+) last night. As previously noted, I tend to use winter to read the books I should have read/re-read years ago.
LISTENING: Oh my god, this. I discovered Barn Hoppit last night and this is extraordinary:


LAST WATCHED: FIRST BLOOD. There are, as far as I’m concerned, only two Rambo films: FIRST BLOOD and RAMBO.

MISSION CONTROL: I can be contacted via the Cheng Caplan Company or Inkwell Management. Link in masthead to join my free newsletter.

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4dec25

Published December 4, 2025 by Warren Ellis

He jumped into bed for some attention when he heard my alarm go off. When I stopped making with the head strokes so I could get up, he reached over and smacked me around the face to let me know who the boss is.

TODAY:

OPERATIONS: right now? god knows
STATUS: up a little late today, under 8hrs sleep, it’s dark, I just did a high-cacao protein shake to try and kickstart myself
READING: CODEX 1962, Sjon (UK) (US+). 
LISTENING:


MISSION CONTROL: I can be contacted via the Cheng Caplan Company or Inkwell Management. Link in masthead to join my free newsletter.

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morning computer loops

Published November 25, 2025 by Warren Ellis

Shusei Nagaoka / Androla in Labyrinth | 1984 |

Scientists in Switzerland have created a robot the size of a grain of sand that is controlled by magnets and can deliver drugs to a precise location in the human body, a breakthrough aimed at reducing the severe side effects that stop many medicines from advancing in clinical trials…

Fucking finally. I remember talking about this at the Architectural Association probably fifteen years ago.

Work has begun on a looped Christian landmark named the Eternal Wall of Answered Prayer, which was designed by UK studio Snug Architects to rise over 50 metres in Warwickshire.

I wasn’t sure what made this Christian art, as it’s obviously a Mobius loop:

Set to be built near Coleshill, the monument will be made up of 188 differently shaped precast concrete elements clad in one million white bricks.

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-1538138464089-0’); });

Each brick on the looping wall will represent the story of an answered prayer, which visitors will be able to read via a mobile app.

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

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

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telemetry 1nov25

Published November 1, 2025 by Warren Ellis

On All Hallow’s Eve, Jennifer Lucy Allan turns the cards and listens for what they reveal, tracing sonic lines across the tarot deck. From the ghostly atmospherics of William Basinski’s Wheel of Fortune, to the arcane explorations of early electronic pioneer Ruth White and Swiss krautrock mystic Walter Wegmüller, the spread unfolds in unexpected ways, its order uncertain, its juxtapositions surprising. Expect new sounds from Argentinian artist aylu, whose spiritually-charged album journeys from personal struggle to collective resistance, as well as slow-motion noise conjured by New Zealand’s drone trio Surface of the Earth.

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morning computer space brains

Published September 29, 2025 by Warren Ellis

Millo and Seth Globepainter.

“The key is to understand how my body works and work with it, not against,” she explains. “I know I’m crap in the mornings, whether I had enough sleep or not. I wake up at 8, but I generally tackle admin, emails, and social media for work, rather than scrolling endlessly. Then, past 1pm, I go into full work mode.”

This self-awareness pays dividends. Sandrine says she can achieve four to five hours of uninterrupted deep work, excepting toilet breaks, by aligning demanding creative tasks with her peak energy periods.

Expert tips on getting into creative flow (and staying there)

Scientists studied the cognitive behavior of astronauts who have spent six months on board the International Space Station — and made some fascinating yet ominous discoveries.

…a series of tests revealed that their cognitive abilities slowed down while in space, “suggesting that processing speed, visual working memory, sustained attention, and risk-taking propensity may be the cognitive domains most susceptible to change in Low Earth Orbit for high-performing, professional astronauts,” the researchers wrote.

So astronauts’ brains malfunction. Great news.

Bonus round: microgravity activates “hidden, ancient sections of DNA called the “dark genome.” We didn’t have enough to worry about. There’s a Dark Genome now.

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

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

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