Not Yet A Buddha

Ain’t Too Proud To Beg…

by

by hilzoy The Koufax Awards are open for voting, and we’re honored to be nominated for some of them. You can vote for us in the following categories: Best Blog (non-pro) Best Writing (um, me) Best Post (Failures Of Will, As If She Wanted To Change Her Skin, Requiem) Best Series (for the Graham Amendment … Read more

Personal Status Update

by

I just now got the MRI results from my doctor: normal.  Which rules out some of my worst fears; that I had something structurally wrong up there, or that the mice had chosen that site to put up a playground (I’m picturing an exercise wheel, here). All of which is good news, in that it … Read more

Patrick Fitzgerald

by

by hilzoy “Fontenelle says, “I bow before a great man, but my mind does not bow.” I can add: before a humble common man in whom I perceive uprightness of character in a higher degree than I am conscious of in myself, my mind bows, whether I want it or whether I do not and … Read more

The Incredibly Edible Open Thread

by

By Edward NOTE: Sincere apologies for the previous version of this post with Moe’s signature. I was in the system earlier clearing out spambots and only noticed after I posted that I was logged in as Moe. Then, to make matters worse, I only noticed folks had commented when I tried to quickly delete it. … Read more

Armed Dolphins On The Loose

by

by hilzoy Via Ezra Klein: this story is from the Guardian, not the Onion: “Armed dolphins, trained by the US military to shoot terrorists and pinpoint spies underwater, may be missing in the Gulf of Mexico. Experts who have studied the US navy’s cetacean training exercises claim the 36 mammals could be carrying ‘toxic dart’ … Read more

Pork: It’s not just for dinner

by

I’ve got a couple of free moments on hand, and at the same time I saw this (via Glenn Reynolds): Bloggers, too have latched onto this theme. A coalition of bloggers have launched a website called “porkbusters.” The site lists every member of the House and Senate by the name and has a column next … Read more

To the Old Gray Whore: Anti-MSM Open Thread

by

There are few things I loathe more than people who seem to be altruistic but end up demonstrating that they were merely pretending in order to screw someone over down the road. I’ve been around…I know how the world works, but even crooks have integrity, so long as they admit they’re crooks. Here’s a letter … Read more

September 11, 2005

by

It is, once again, a stunningly beautiful day here in New York City, this September 11th. Folks are making their way through the streets, Sunday paper and a coffee in hand, walking their dogs, pushing strollers, riding bikes, holding hands, and turning their faces upward to soak up the rays of the glorious September sun. … Read more

Open Thread: Neither Fair Nor Balanced

by

by hilzoy I think we are in need of an open thread. As I have nothing particularly interesting to say myself, I’ll just cite some quotes that I love. “Are we all living like this? Two lives, the ideal outer life and the inner imaginative life where we keep our secrets? … The Buddhists say … Read more

Random Acts Of Kindness

by

by hilzoy

BitchPhD, who is always worth reading, has a great post called: “Open letter to the woman working at the K-Mart snack bar”:

“Thank you so much for your kindness. I was having a sh*tty day. First I had to pour my entire change jar into the CoinStar so I would have enough money to buy gas to get home. Then I was feeling incredibly stressed and anxious, no good reason, just the depression coming on again after a couple of days of exerting myself to be social and good company. So the fact that I was having to do an eight hour drive with a little kid and no money was feeling really scary to me, and when Pseudonymous Kid fell asleep I spent two hours sobbing while I drove. Then he woke up and I stopped, and then the car overheated, which is why I pulled off the road and ended up at your K-Mart.

So thanks for seeing me pulling out the $3 I had left in my pocket in order to buy Pseudonymous Kid, who was hungry after his nap, and hot, because our car doesn’t have a/c, something to eat. And thanks for undercharging us so that I could afford to buy him a hot dog AND an icee. And thanks for telling us “not to rush” when I realized that you were ready to close up and we were still sitting in the snack area. And thanks for sitting at the next table and engaging PK in conversation and offering to get him some more ketchup so he could finish his hot dog. And thanks for telling me where a phone and a gas station were, and for asking kindly how much further we had to drive, and for wishing us luck and expressing sympathy when I said that the car had overheated. Thanks for pretending to believe me when I pretended for PK’s sake that this was no big deal and it would be fine and I wasn’t worried about it at all.

I know you couldn’t have had any idea what was going on behind all of that (…) You don’t know me, and I don’t know you. And I’ll never see you again. But you really helped me out today. Thanks.”

It’s so easy to be nice to total strangers when it looks as though they need it, and also so easy to forget and just not bother. Why don’t we do this all the time? I have no idea. However:

Read more