A familiar story, and expected commentary from the howling masses. I was listening to Tony Kornheiser ranting about sportswriting and never receiving a Pulitzer, and he mentioned how his former editor Gene Weingarten received one for his story about parents who in a moment of terrible forgetfulness, left their children to die in hot, parked cars. It is should be REQUIRED reading for anybody who thinks about commenting on such stories.


What is remarkable is the self-delusion, not from the parents who left their kids in the car - but from the people commenting. It's related to something that I often think about - had I grown up in Nazi Germany, would I have protested and resisted? Or would I have participated fully in National Socialism? I don't serious know. In the last days of the Third Reich, when the Soviet army closed in on Berlin, the most fanatical defenders of the city were the teenaged child-soldiers of the Hitler Youth. What chance did they have? What were they really thinking? Could we call it brainwashing or something more complicated?

We all think we can control our lives. We don't want to think about the randomness of life. Whole religions have been constructed to make sense of the randomness of life. How can evil people succeed and rewarded? How can bad things happen to good people? No problem - judgement will come after death. But what if there is no judgement? How do we make sense of this?

We can't. There is no sense or order to it.


Suicidal Tendencies

Posted by Mr. Kang


Andrew Sullivan had a series of blog posts on the possibility of animal suicide. This led to an interesting digression about parasites that change the behavior of its insect and rodent hosts. These organisms lead the hosts to certain death situations for the benefit of the parasites. The speculation is that there may be parasitic explanations for strange mammalian (including human) behaviors like the case of the penguin above. Of course it doesn't make sense for the penguin, as it was heading inland and away from other possible hosts.

What particularly was poignant about the video was how the penguin stood in place for a while - like it was contemplating something profound. Once it makes up its mind, the bird becomes relentless in its pace, only sliding on its belly for a bit. I don't know whether to be sad or impressed.


The above machine is an anal probe found at a proctologist's clinic. This and much more about rectums, anuses, stool, and farts can be read here.

About this blog

Sometimes the heart becomes so full, you can't speak. You can only write simple sentences so you don't explode. You can't speak to anyone else about it because they will think you as a mad man. This is the space for me to write simple sentences. This is the space for me to be a mad man.

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