Elizabeth Hand, the talented sf writer (I loved her feminist apocalyptic novel Winterlong), has posted a killer reading from her new book, Generation Loss, in honor of International Pixel-Stained Technopeasant Day. Hand’s reading is totally kick-ass, the kind of thing I’d expect to hear commissioned by the BBC. The story is gritty, noir, dirty, and utterly engrossing.

Beyond™ is a collaborative project between Professor Glenn Hardaker, Huddersfield University Business School, and Rob Chiu, The RoninBlack Day to Freedom” covers issues relating to refugees, displacement and asylum seekers.

Skulls do more than just protect the brain — they also stimulate the mind. Often symbols of mortality and power, they have been employed in human ceremony, ritual, and art for tens of thousands of years. From the ancient animal skulls in Paleolithic burial sites to the curlicued cattle skulls that float like spirits over Georgia O’Keefe’s canvas mountains, cultures around the world have turned to skulls to express ideas about both life and death.

An average of 81 people die by gun every day in the US. The New York Times has a graphic showing the breakdown of those deaths by age, sex, race, and cause.