The Ladies of Istanbul

The St. Eligius Arts & Sciences Competition is coming up, and this year I’m attempting my very first SCA entry ever. My interests, name research and estate inventories, don’t translate into interesting displays unless you’re even nerdier than the average SCAdian Arts & Sciences geek, so I’ve settled for a research paper.

It’s been a fascinating project. Above all, it reminded me why I was a massive ball of prickling stress during grad school: %$#@ing research papers.

If you’re curious, take a look: The Ladies of Istanbul: 16th-Century Muslim Women’s Names

What else have I been doing? Hmm. Watching more CPS videos. Watching more sovereign citizen videos. Going down the rabbit hole of flat earthers, which starts with people who think the earth is flat and moves on to people who deny gravity, try to prove that water isn’t made of hydrogen and oxygen, and believe that the world is half the size we’ve been told, cameras are designed to lie to us, gasoline is a lie, and airplanes run on pressurized air. Think they sound nuts? They’re positively sane next to the people who believe that fat fluffy clouds are angelic but thin, hazy clouds are demonic, and you have to pray at them to unleash angels who will bind the demons and make the demonic clouds go away.

I’m also vastly enjoying my new job as a digital content specialist, which is fulfilling but leaves me too brain-dead to do much apart from watch videos of people praying at clouds.

How’s your autumn going?