it was the sun

Albert Camus's The Stranger has this quotation, which I remember from high school when I read it:

...it was because of the sun.

And there you have it. This is why Meursault killed the Arab. I think of this whenever I hear the song "Here Comes the Sun," which I hate. However, today I did not hear that song. I thought of the quote when I saw this image:



which is a fearsome thing to behold. That's all.

P.S. The bag is gone.

the stanford smugglers

And so. I began running again today, after several weeks hiatus. I came back to my apartment, and witnessed a brown bag drop off. Apparently, sweaty joggers stretching are invisible. Van drives up. Short guy with backward cap and low-rider jeans runs up to a bench, and puts down a bag. Then he runs back to the van and it seems to drive away, but I wasn't sure. I couldn't see. I then realize I have seen a brown bag sitting on that bench several times. I just thought it was the same bag. I thought somebody left their moldy, disgusting, decaying lunch in a sack on a bench. But no. The bag changes. I thought about waiting around to see who picked it up, or sneaking over to look in the bag, but decided not to play detective. The van man may have been lurking...

I wonder if the bag will be there tomorrow. Ooooo.

the maxims of stupidity

To be stupid, selfish, and have good health are three requirements for happiness, though if stupidity is lacking, all is lost.
~ Gustave Flaubert

To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid, you must also be well-mannered.
~ Voltaire

It is dangerous to be sincere unless you are also stupid.
~ George Bernard Shaw, Maxims for Revolutionists

Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.
~ Unknown, Hanlon's Razor

Hmm. Yes, hmm. Let us think on this. How stupid are we? One cannot deny that there are many people that seem stupid. In fact, every person will at one time or another do a stupid thing. But one cannot say whether said person will realize what they have done is stupid. Smart people do stupid things. I regularly do and say stupid things. I could quote many people I know who have said stupid things to me in particular. Let me quote myself from a conversation two days ago, "Oh yeah, Lindsay bought a house. She has carpet in her basement. (silence) Now, I know that sounds like a stupid thing to say," etc. At this point the other party (who was male) bursts out laughing. It seemed stupid anyway, which was enough to make it stupid, whether there was a point to stating the obvious or not. Oscar Wilde believes stupidity is a sin.

There is no sin except stupidity. ~ Oscar Wilde, The Critic As Artist, Pt. II

But I think there are worse things than being stupid.

There are entire books about stupidity:

Amazon.com says this: "Matthijs van Boxsel believes that no one is intelligent enough to understand their own stupidity. In The Encyclopedia of Stupidity he shows how stupidity manifests itself in all areas, in everyone, at all times, proposing that stupidity is the foundation of our civilization."

If no one is intelligent enough to understand their own stupidity, then the aforementioned Libby and I must be semi-intelligent to have concluded weeks ago: The answer to every question is, "Yes, I am stupid."

What else can I say? I can spend my whole life trying to be non-stupid and most people wouldn't notice. We are all condemned as such, one in the same, by many a stupider person.