Was the civil war about slavery?

Yes.

Placebo explained?

I've long secretly feared the effects of my own SSRI medication was nothing but placebo magic; and like magic, might mysteriously disappear one day in a puff disbelief. I didn't think about it too much, but it appears I'm safe for now, in the land of objective reality.

The bidirectional abilities of the body mind connection will continue astound and confound.

All acts of public violence (violence broadly on the public body[1]) have the same root causes -- the purported politics and manifestos are just window dressing; the ideological last straw.

Sad people without identity or purpose, lacking hope, but bearing a heavy grudge and a simmering rage. If you want to make it stop, you've got to address the root; and at the root are tough issues of social justice, economic development, and civic organism.

[1] school shootings, workplace shootings, baseball shootings, mass stabbings, concert bombings, church shootings, train knifings, etc.

It *wasn't* in

This is becoming something of a theme in the playoffs. It really was obviously a high stick.

Importing Crime

They're not sending us their murders; their rapists. If anything we get the best.

Post-factual World

The only thing more notable than watching a panel of people realize they don’t know whether or not something is true is watching a panel of people realize they don’t particularly care, because it feels true enough.

Flaccid Election

Vacuous Business Speak; Scourge of The Modern Professional

Not all of them are entirely terrible, but most are.

The 400 mile walk

The metaphor is a bit overblown, but still accurate.

A Story No One Told

picture life etched in stone
life sketched in poems
on sidewalks in dry chalk next to homes
picture all you’ve left alone
and kept in reflections shown
your dome sketched in subjective tones
picture life on a sidewalk
frame it - so all view
all you’ve ever felt
try to name it - its called you
picture it
in the space between steps
it’s the grace between breaths
and the message in this make-believe text

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