“The persistence of this affliction — and the fact that it seemed to be heritable — posed a serious challenge to Darwin’s new evolutionary theory. If depression was a disorder, then evolution had made a tragic mistake, allowing an illness that impedes reproduction — it leads people to stop having sex and consider suicide — to spread throughout the population. For some unknown reason, the modern human mind is tilted toward sadness and, as we’ve now come to think, needs drugs to rescue itself.

The alternative, of course, is that depression has a secret purpose and our medical interventions are making a bad situation even worse. Like a fever that helps the immune system fight off infection — increased body temperature sends white blood cells into overdrive — depression might be an unpleasant yet adaptive response to affliction. Maybe Darwin was right. We suffer — we suffer terribly — but we don’t suffer in vain.”

Read more at The New York Times

“Critics say displaying dwarfs is at best misguided and at worst immoral, a throwback to times when freak shows pandered to people’s morbid curiosity.

…

But there is another view, and Mr. Chen and some of his short-statured workers present it forcefully. One hundred permanently employed dwarfs, they contend, is better than 100 dwarfs scrounging for odd jobs. They insist that the audiences who see the dwarfs sing, dance and perform comic routines leave impressed by their skills and courage.”

Read more at the New York Times

Throughout the article, the authors refer to “dwarfism” as a disability and “persons of short stature” as “the disabled”. I found this strange while reading because I never considered “persons of short stature” to be disabled. After checking Wikipedia and performing a Google search, dwarfism is considered a medical condition under the American with Disabilities Act.

The question at debate in the article is, “Is the ‘Kingdom of the Little People’ in China degrading or empowering?”

“And then, just as my mind turns itself off, I twitch awake. I’m filled with disappointment. I was so close to a night of sweet nothingness, but now I’m back, eyes wide open in the dark. I dread the hours of boredom; I’m already worried about the tiredness of tomorrow.”

Read more at the New York Times

Telling the brain to perform an act where it puts the body to sleep but also build in a mechanism to check up on that act, which causes it to be in its “awake” state, is not only ironic but also the funniest joke that the universe could pull on us. It’s ingenious. But, it sure is mean when we’re laying awake at night.

What is the answer to sleep then? To not think about it? That’s probably part of the equation. How do you get to that point is the next question.

After reading an article about Joe Biden and the work that he’s been doing regarding US-international relations, I have more confidence in him and the direction that the current administration is taking to improve those relations. Today, while having lunch, I turned on the television and caught a Daily Show episode that had an interview with Joe Biden. The interview was conducted on November 17, 2009.

Part 1

Part 2