Masonry was the prototype for such movements. Historians have it emerging from stonemasons’ guilds accepting (and becoming fashionable to) aristocratic/bourgeois patrons in the 17th century, and then riding a number of historical waves (enlightenment-era coffee-house culture, the rise of nationalism in the romantic era in Europe, Napoleon, the British Empire, and so on). Others drew on it. The Bavarian Illuminati were probably the best known, but by no means only, esoteric secret society modelled on Masonry. In the other direction, Rotary was essentially Masonry without the woo. Various nationalist, royalist and sectarian secret societies (like the Carbonari in Italy and unionists in Northern Ireland) modelled themselves on Masonry, and Cuba is the only Communist country to not ban Freemasonry because a lot of the revolutionaries there were Masons. So yes, Freemasonry was more of a moment than a coherent thing.

Lon Milo Duquette the Thelemist occultist? I imagine he’d have incentives for taking maximalist interpretations, even if it involves taking leaps of faith. And doesn’t most of the “evidence” of the Illuminati existing beyond Weishaupt’s group come from hysterical anti-Masonic conspiracy theorists like Abbé Barruel (who blamed the horrors of the French Revolution on Masonry and Illuminism, which he conflated into a Satanic plot), and from other anti-Masonic conspiracy theorists who drew on his work?

Not that there weren’t groups claiming descent from the Illuminati, but along the same lines, for a long time you could join the Rosicrucians by sending a check to a PO box advertised in a magazine.

Their ranks for the 8 or so years they officially existed, or from claims that the Illuminati went underground and were involved in key moments in history? Are you conflating the Bavarian Illuminati with Freemasonry by any chance?

If it’s the actual Bavarian Illuminati, then they probably picked you as a credulous, deep-pocketed nobleman who can be pumped for membership dues in return for initiation to an endless ladder of degrees, each revealing profoundly esoteric secrets which don’t actually mean anything. If you’re one of a handful who show themselves to be sceptical and open-minded, perhaps Adam Weishaupt will take you aside and reveal that all that woo was just bullshit to part the rubes from their money, and the true mission of the Illuminati is to spread Enlightenment ideals, such as secularism and anti-monarchism, which the authorities take a very dim view of.

That’s my emotional support floating skull of doom.

The writers need to get some new material. They’re starting to repeat themselves.

My initial reaction to seeing his photo was “that’s a convicted sex offender, isn’t it?”

That’s a cyrillic number plate from somewhere in the former USSR, right?

Is she sadistic enough to hold her own against the big beasts of the party, though? She may be a toxic narcissist, but this is the big league and the performative puppy-killers and AR15 family photo people couldn’t eat her for lunch if she doesn’t bring her game.

You can tell by the power sockets. India uses the old British round-pin standard (like South Africa), while the UAE (like Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and other countries that gained independence from Britain after the late 1940s) use the current square-pinned one.

It’s an odd sensation to be passing through an airport somewhere exotic and then, oh hello, there’s a British power socket.

Sometimes, discretion is the greater part of valour. This is one of those times.

Namibia also punches well above its weight in heavy metal bands, which is probably not a coincidence

“Transported to a surreal landscape, a teenage girl kills a bystander and teams up with three strangers to kill again” – apparently a TV guide review

It’s the Weekend At Bernie’s Presidency.

The informational placards put out when the ship is open to visitors identify Wessel as being of “the German Socialist party”, so I’m not sure how well the crew are informed.

On one hand, it sucks that in the Trump era, maintaining shareholder value involves not offending Nazis. OTOH, though, given how tedious the American Revolution one was, essentially running on rails with your character inserted into key episodes, the Civil War episode would have sucked. Presumably you’d have been riding shotgun with Harriett Tubman and/or General Sherman in a succession of semi-interactive cut scenes, repeating until you shot/stabbed enough confederate NPCs to be rewarded with possibly a short break of open-world exploring as a treat.

The US Coast Guard has a handsome sailing ship named the Eagle, which often makes diplomatic visits to ports and is sometimes open the public. It was built in Germany in the 1930s and seized by the US at the end of the war (the Soviets got another one). Due to nautical superstition, its wheel still bears its original name, inscribed in fraktur lettering on brass: the Horst Wessel.

“Democracy: two wolves and a sheep voting on what’s for lunch”

Tomorrow: the Supreme Court rules 6-3 that they can, and that it is allowed to blackbag people on the basis of vibes, because orangutan train driver or something.

One example: the early-80s arcade game Elevator Action, in which you play a secret agent who abseils to the top floor of an enemy building and has to grab secret files and make his way down to a getaway car on the ground floor. Well, that’s how it’s described. In reality, you’re a spree shooter rampaging through an office.