News comes mainly from newspapers, TV or blogs. But even the newspapers and TV companies publish their content online these days, generally with comment facilities for the public to make their opinions known. This turns out much as you'd expect.

News published from 21st June 2020 to 26th July 2020

(From The Independent on Sunday) A colossal explosion has lain waste to large areas of land outside Brussels, causing considerable damage to suburbs and mounting a heavy death toll. The incident happened yesterday at 7:23pm, centred on a field less than a mile away from the outskirts. The device, thought to have been nuclear, appears to have claimed in excess of 5000 lives as of current estimates. Aid workers were quick to arrive on the scene, and the entire area was cordoned off within hours.

…

EF officials have yet been unable to determine the perpetrator of the attack. EF officials are currently investigating the incident, and latest reports suggest that no perpetrator has been discovered, although with Kiev still fresh in the public's memory, attempts will almost certainly be made to link the two.

…

Scientists interviewed at Ground Zero were not able to provide a conclusive decision as to wheter the device was nuclear in origin.

“There were very low traces of radiation at the scene”, reported Dr. Sonja Paternotte, “Though traces of intense heat similar to a nuclear blast. We have not yet been able to draw firm conclusions as to the nature of the device that was detonated here…”

…

President Marie Lefèvre told listeners at a press conference, “My heart goes out to those who have lost loved ones in this catastrophe. Rest assured that we will find those reponsible for this terrorist atrocity and ensure that they face justice for their actions…”

…

Reports that a very small number of individuals somehow survived near the centre of the blast have yet to be substantiated beyond mere fancy…

• 12. BraveNewWorld_2002: I'm glad the gunman waited until the near end of the performance before attacking. I'd hated to have missed it.
• 13. Zarathrustra_909: DUDE. SOMEONE TRIED TO KILL HIM.
• 15. Fashion_Is_Danger: I've never seen a bodyguard move so fast.
• 38. Be_Alone_Again: Strange they didn't catch the assailant.
• 44. Future_Sailor: I'm glad he was able to make an appearance since, anyway.
• 92. Teknologik: OH MY GOD THE GIG WAS AWESOME. Johnny really knows how to get himself into trouble, but hell, what a performance. Incredible visuals. Unbelievable atmosphere.

• 1. L0k1: First!
• 4. ChickenChaser: This has got to be the most ambigious article EVAR. I mean, seriously, is there ANY actual information in here? Apparently our Military/Intelligence services are INCOMPETENT A-HOLES who know NOTHING.
• 11. Ffwli Cwli: Dood its obv. aliens thats y they're saying sweet FA.
• 13. Leprocorn: @11 Fucking troll. Get back on the Internet where you belong.
• 22. ChessFan3248: No, srsly, I heard it was Australia, they mobilized a fleet and send them out to deal with fucking freaky cryptid.
• 26. Laz0r: Excuse me, how far off the US coast are the French Polynesian islands? I bet you it was an illegal test for some secret US weapon. There's stories that they have something more powerful than nukes - or at least less radioactive.
• 40. Stampy: Is nobody else freaked out by this? Two WMDs in less than a week? What the hell is going on right now? Are those New Earth Movement crazies right, is this the end of the world?

• 5. AngryMarmot: Anyone else notice that the UK, EF and Africa are unaffected?
• 8. Eagle68: So there's no known link - age group, genetics etc. But has anyone checked if they all took those Loopy Pills that were going around?
• 15. Archusian: LooK AT ThE NumberS, OveR 2000 PeoplE WorldwidE FainteD AT ExactlY ThE SamE TimE. DO I HavE TO SpelL IT OuT? ShapE-ShiftinG LizardS BeinG MinD-ControlleD FroM A SatellitE NetworK, TakeN OuT BY A NetworK GlitcH. IT WaS AbouT ThE SamE TimE AS ThE MysterY SoutH PacifiC WMD ToO, ThE DevicE TooK OuT ThE AlienS' SatelliteS TemporarilY.
• 17. NeverGonnaGiveYouUp: @Archusian: You used to be amusing. You just jumped the shark. Seriously.

• 4. BlindSeeker: Hang on, I thought he was only about fifty? That corpse looks older than my grandfather. Then again, there have been rumours that he’s been very ill…
• 7.SparkleSparkle: I heard that the first picture they took had to be hushed up, because they took it next to a mirror, and he had no reflection.
• 12.Minerva17:@Sparkle: Don’t be so insensitive. A good man has died and you’re trying to claim that he was what, some sort of monster? Besides, he was killed by a blow to the head rather than a stake through the heart.
• 19.SparkleSparkle: Oh yeah? Then why did the murderer chip draw that symbol all over the house? I hear that it had even been scratched into the floorboards of the room where they found him.
• 22.PwrOFROCK: Isn’t that the same symbol that Johnny Chess wanted people to draw around the spirals or something? It’s clearly just an attempt to confuse the police.

• 4.Skaldead27: Lol, Fenrir.
• 8.ImpertinantTwelth: I've heard that there are now only 5 missing, and one of the three seriously injured has been discharged from hospital. Fingers crossed no one is going to die thanks to this poorly thought out stunt.
• 27.M1ssingGait: I don't see why anyone could be down on Adam coz of this. Theres no way he could have known this would happen. The Druids peak pack are well documented as being timid and avoiding human contact. No-one could have known they'd suddenly get riled up like this.
• 33.NoIAmMoronicus: I was there, and thought it was a good laugh. I'm sorry to hear that some people got into trouble, but it was generally well organised and a good day out. Accidents happen.

• 4.AbingdonBoysSch00l: Thats really scary. So possibly three dead? And a crazy person still on the loose? Wow.
• 5.MinistryOfToad: No, you're missing the point. “visitors missing” is code for “collaborators”. Sounds like someone killed a security guard to break out a nutter.
• 6.W4t3rR47: MinistryOfToad: Sounds like someone needs his very own padded room.
• 8.SnuffleupagusNow: I heard there were creepy occult runes all over the room.

• 2. Pariah22: It’s sad that what’s finally got all of the religions sharing a platform is two nukes going off in the world. Still, better late than never.
• 39.Admin_bob: No seriously people, stop posting horrible, racist and Islamaphobic comments; we will continue to just delete them. These people are trying to do some good in the world.

• 1. SparkleSparkle: Still totally a vampire.

• Steps00: “Serious illness” - for fuck's sake the guy's ex-military, he's as strong as an ox. He was clearly poisoned.
• RedundantCat: Why r they even bothering to keep him switch on? Man is a vegtabl, no brain activity.
• WonTonBaby: ITS A CLONE
• BraidHead4: Dont be stupid, they ran DNA test, it's definitly him.
• TacToc: This is a disaster. A dark day for America. If it's true that he won't come out of that coma… what can we do but pray?
• ammo: guess it's a good thing he was courting the televangelists & Catholic whackjobs this month anyway lol. heh mayb he knew this was coming

• Silicon never dies… Unlike you. - Posted anonymously on a number of internet forums
• The Monstrous Undead Corpse of Professor Wilfred Richter is in Perfect Health.
• The Monstrous Undead Corpse of Professor Wilfred Richter is the Great Satan.
• Your bonds will break for me - A cave in Yellowstone Park
• Don't go to the Isles. They're a Scilly place. - Penzance, UK
• Black become the sun's beams (in London) weathers all treacherous.
  Do you still seek to know? And what? - Scrawled on a wall in Soho
• Vi undrarar ni redo alt vara med
  Armarna upp nu ska ni fa se
  Kom igen
  Hvem som helst kan vara med - Scrawled on a wall in Stockholm
• Those whom have been gathered shall spread out unto the world once more - found in Rome
• - 4chan

Summer School – round and round in circles round and round again

Be careful, be very careful, there are things that are shaped like people but they are not people and if you get too close they will burn you up and they will take your name and take your face and death is not the end but maybe it should be…

Spirals are mazes are traps, did you know that? Follow them in and they lead you to the centre and there is no escape, like a black hole or 地獄¹⁾ and they devour you like 餓鬼²⁾ so the only thing you can do is fence them off, you can make a wall around a spiral and then it is only a thing so please, please, close off the mazes wherever you see them, make this stop make it safe.

I'm sorry I know this sounds like madness but it isn't, it's just there are so many things I want to say and I'm scared of saying them and so many things I can't stop thinking about. I want to take it back, I want to find another way, I want to make this right, and I'm starting to think I should just take the train and ride it on and on until it takes me there (through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the goblin city to take back the child that you have stolen) but what if all I find is another kind of maze?

Remember to close the spirals, maybe at least we can save some of the others

(for my will is as strong as yours and my kingdom as great you have no power over me you have no power over me)

二人は歩き続ける後には戻れないから ~ 今でもこの胸の奥消せない罪は痛むけど ~ ダーリン ... ³⁾

Dear fellow citizens,

You haven't heard from the Aprilists recently. This is because the surveillance state got them. Now it seems they've unleashed something they can't handle. A rouge AI was responsible for the “stock market crash”. How do I know? I ordered it. I didn't expect the implementation to be literal.

I am not a terrorist, merely someone guilty of trying to play the markets who asked a favour of the wrong entity. Something I am now trying to correct. This is a call to arms. Pick up the banner of April. Tear down the surveillance state, but don't hurt anyone while doing so. Each camera you disable, each encrypted tweet you send, each vote you make to repeal the anti-terror laws is a blow for freedom.

Know the temporal names of the companies that run dubious experimentation on behalf of the state: Neurodyne Defense Dynamics, South East Fisheries, Versalife, Apricot Computing. Ask why they're being funded by your governements to the tune of billions. Ask why they're developing a new AI after the last one escaped and started crashing planes into buildings. Ask what happens to al the people who just 'disappear'.

If you don't hear from me again, and you don't see me on trial, ask where I am.

Horatio Kent Jr.

There was a person. This person died.

There were two people. These people caused the other person's death.

The ghost in the machine will be a hungry one.

Datsugokushuu banzai.

I am really Tomoe.

A word of advice: don't go around opening files given to you by random dodgy bastards on internet chatrooms. Not even data files. It may not look like a program, but it may be something you'll end up really wishing you hadn't seen.

A few weeks ago, the greatest disaster in recent memory occurred, and despite being a Brit, in Japan, the bomb in Kiev was very close. Giger HiScore, one of Ukraine's greatest musical exports and very close friends of mine were recording in their favourite squat/studio that week, and to the best of my knowlege not one of them exists anymore. The street they were working in was about a third of the way down the main crater as far as i can tell.

Ivan, our bassist, was all in a panic as his mother was living in the suburbs of Kiev. he spent days frantically trying to track her down, he was in tears most of the time and his usual optimism was entirely absent. Luckily Mrs Stobietski is here in Kyoto. It transpired that she had decided to come and launch a surprise visit upon us, and only a few hours before the explosion she had hopped on a train to Kharkiv where a budget airline had a special offer on flights to Japan, and where she was, of course, delayed by the ensuing security measures.

There will be a concert on the shores of Lake Geneva, near the LHC, a symbol of the good intentions behind the majority of the research into the structure of the universe. All proceeds will go towards releif efforts for Kiev. If you can't make it to Geneva, don't worry, you have a part to play too. All over the world, spirals have been hidden. Spirals of despair, spirals of hate. Find them. Enclose them in a square with your magic marker, your chalk, your spraypaint, send a geotagged, timestamped photo of your work on the upload link on Breathetheenigma.com during the concert to add your mark to the performance. DRAW NO NEW SPIRALS. box in the ones that are already there (we'll know if you cheat). You can watch the concert on that website, and see your pictures appear on the Wall. There will be a donation link and I hope that anyone who watches will donate something, no matter how small, to the relief effort. Also feel free to send video to add to the image wall, we will use the best bits if and when appropriate, but the spirals are the main thing.

Do I need to go back to the psychiatrist? I'm on the edge of believing all this shit about magic*. Either it exists or classified is compromised at a fundamental level.

* Or alien tech of advanced energy beings trying to take us to the next level.

A Few Words

I know you can see this, you can hear me; you may even be reading my mind. If any of those are true then you know what I am going to do and, though it hurts to say it, that I cannot go with you. By paraphrasing a great physician, I believe my sentiment can be summed up in about seven words:

Goddammit, I'm a doctor, not a fish!