March 14, 2020: Illuminated Site of the Week: “My Romance Doesn’t Have To Have [Two Moons] In The Sky”
There's a new moon in the sky. No, not the phase, the actual count of Earth's moons has doubled in the last three years. They call it a minimoon and if you haven't seen it you can be forgiven. It's about the size of a linebacker or two and our gravity caught it in the last few years. This isn't unheard of, but it's also the sort of thing that doesn't go the distance like "ol' reliable" up there. Sometimes asteroids just get caught but since it's easy to overlook a rock smaller than a motorcycle they typically hang about a few rotations and then move on.
The best guess, this one is due to leave in April, but if you suffer twice the lycanthrope attacks or find the stars getting it right more than once between now and then, you'll know why. Science Alert gives us the heads-up.
-- Andy
January 25, 2020: Illuminated Site of the Week: Ninja Vs. Job Market
Iga province in Japan has a problem: too few ninjas. Iga has something of a ninja-rich history, or at least some ninja-adjacent connections, so they're actively recruiting performers for their various ninja events and fairs, not actual stealthy assassins (which is just what you'd expect a ninja to claim, isn't it?). According to the story at Bihani Khabar, salaries can go as high as $85k, though this stands in contrast to The International Ninja Research Center's assessment that ninjas earn $8-17k.
In related news, there's an International Ninja Research Center.
-- Suggested by Roger Croft
January 18, 2020: Illuminated Site of the Week: Looks Like Someone’s Been Gazing Long Into An Abyss
Spring is right around the corner, so if you're preparing to cram for exams but can't seem to stay awake long enough to absorb the material, Oleg Vdovenko has the cure: his artwork.
If you're not familiar with it, be assured it's realistic enough to give you bad dreams for days (and if that's not warning enough for the parents reading this, to repeat: Some of the material isn't safe for work or kids regardless of how strong your personal fortitude is). Clearly influenced by life in Russia, many of his works deal with creatures and events that could only happen in the subterranean world of nightmares. Things crawling through walls, soldiers trying to stop them (even if that means appeasing them rather than defeating them), and people falling prey to them all look far too real. Some sections have the gall to sport a "Mature Content" warning, leading one to wonder how much worse it gets.
Maybe this can give some GMs game ideas; maybe it will offer authors writing prompts; it almost certainly gives everyone who witnesses it a profound sense of existential dread.
-- Suggested by Robert Troy Peterson
January 11, 2020: Illuminated Site of the Week: It Ain’t Easy Being Green But It’s Becoming Fashionable
Druids. They're all about nature, change, and growth. Growth especially, and according to them their numbers have more than doubled in a decade. What's the appeal? Can it all be laid at the feet of Millennials? The British Druid Order claims they've got more going on than rituals in the woods, but really, isn't that what most of us want druids to be? Regardless, if you've ever seen yourself as a green ally it seems a new golden age has started, this time with on-line resources.
If Druidry isn't up your alley then perhaps a history-keeping and storytelling bard is the life for you . . . or maybe become an ovate, seeking the answers underlying all of nature. Don't worry if you don't know how to do any of this, they have courses for all these things. Plus T-shirts.
-- Suggested by James Matthew Neeland
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