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It takes a patient, unfortunate, brave writer to let a reader in and then reveal the dark depths of clinical depression. It takes multimedia genius to make that reader howl along in laughter at what feel like very special inside jokes directed just at them. Via Balloon Juice, here's a post that stands by itself in that elusive genre, from a blogger I only know as Hyperbole and a Half:
If someone ever asks me "what was the exact moment where things started to feel slightly less shitty?" instead of telling a nice, heartwarming story about the support of the people who loved and believed in me, I'm going to have to tell them about the piece of corn. And then I'm going to have to try to explain that no, really, it was funny. Because, see, the way the corn was sitting on the floor... it was so alone... and it was just sitting there! And no matter how I explain it, I'll get the same, confused look.
If you have depression or have ever dealt with it in a loved one, give that a whirl. It may not help, you may not get it, but some of you will feel the proverbial diamond bullet through the forehead.
- This is indeed a mystery. In my line of work, I know for a fact there are conservatives doing great science, they do it quietly and without much fanfare or encouragement like any other scientist. But in visible case after visible case, they seem to struggle with the most basic concepts.
- I once got in a heated argument with a stranger at a 7-11 over the price of gas. I was trying to point out that that gallon of gas probably started out as Carboniferous sludge 300 million years ago in present day Ghawar, had to be pumped out and floated halfway around the world, precariously refined and delivered by truck, and it still cost way less per unit volume than the purported domestic spring water she had in hand. Of course like so many items we buy, including gasoline, that purported spring water comes at a steep hidden price foisted off on other consumers.
- There are plenty of inconsistencies between modern natural science and religious texts. But listen up fundies, the Big Bang is not one of them. They should be embracing that bit of cosmology, because a steady-state universe, one without a beginning, does not need to be created.
- Tesla Motors posts a profit, stock surges! Whichever electric car makers succeed, in a decade the usual suspects will be bragging about how they believed in the company's genius and vision from day one. The Motley Fool has more (reg'n required).
- How could whiskey, prescription drugs, Russians, wingnut propaganda, and space travel all converge in about one thousand words? You'll have to wait until Sunday Kos to find out if I can tie that all together with a neat little bow. But in the words of the Little Engine that Could, I think I can ...