Wishlist

I saw Taylor Troesh’s wishlist page and waitaminute you can just ask for what you want publicly? Like, I have permission to do this now? OK!

Looking for: Knowledge

1] USSR Prison crafts: some prisoners made crafts with metal (knives and lighters) and epoxy (pens, mirrors, cigarette holders). Which prisons had this kind of workshops? Who was allowed to make crafts? Why were the prisoners allowed to make metal knives and gun-replica lighters? How did these items get out of the prison and into the hands of the public?

2] In the Egyptian Eastern desert, one of the few valuable resources is gold. At “A” is the Sukari Gold Mine – a big-boy operation:

At “B” is this hodgepodge dirt moving operation pictured below. There are hundreds of these shallow sites all around. What is happening here? Is this artisanal DIY mining? Can you tell me about the people doing this / economics of what they’re doing?

3] In Egypt’s various deserts, esp. in the Sinai peninsula, you see these dirt mounds built across the wadis. What are they for? Some sort of water retention for farming? Flood control? Water retention for the underground aquifer? Something else?

4] I am obsessed with the French songs on the album safe4work by iacon , esp. “suchatease”. Where are the original samples / tunes from? Mystery solved – thanks to a live stream shared by Ben M. : Iacon uses AI music generation and then chops up the tracks. He’s very good at it. And it doesn’t hurt to have Jesus by your side.

5] Tell me – how do you (you the Reader) maintain friendships and professional relationships? Do you have scheduled hangouts/Zoom calls? Something else? I’m terrible at this and I’d like to learn more.

6] I am looking for a short science fiction story I read in print. It is about a human who is battling an alien in an isolated environment. They are able to freely move about the terrain. The alien’s main advantage is that their species have analyzed the human brain and are able to create visual patterns that cause death / paralysis in humans. The human has to make sure not to look at the “glowing” scrawls that the alien leaves as booby traps on rocks. He does see a part of one and becomes temporarily paralyzed, but the alien does not find him before the paralysis wears off. (It is not “BLIT” or “Arena”)

Looking for: Assistance

• If you are in the Czechia, I’d like to get my hands on a digital copy of this article through the EDD service. I will pay for it, just need assistance from someone with a library card in the country.

Looking for: Services

• I’d like to pay someone to act as an editor for one of my blog posts / creative writing projects – just to see what it’s like to work with an editor. Must be someone who understands what I’m doing on this site 🧜‍♂️

Physical Stuff Wishlist

• A LaserDisc acquired!
• Pentel Mattehop gel pen acquired! but turned out that I prefer a white Posca Uni PC-1MR for opaque coverage.
• A movie on 8mm casette aka “video 8” (like Indiana Jones in this video)
• Volume 3 of the Printer’s International Specimen Exchange
• A Tachikawa/Nikko G-Nib
• Japanese raw denim pants
• A Cone Shell
• A very cheap Groovebox for my kids
• A Japanese ancestor spirit tablet, the kind that would usually be inside a butsudan. With an engraving. (Thanks to Matt, now I know it is called 位牌)
• Nonchelee – Life Goes On comic from Japan
• The big hardcover version of “Tokyo Style” by Kyoichi Tsuzuki (or a link to the digital version, when it comes out!) Here it is on the Web Archive thanks to Matt and Taylor!
• Zines:
  • Download this zine – Sammy Orlowski, Lucky Acid, Riyam Niaimi
  • Tales from Behind the Counter – Kiran and Becca