The Psychology of Pessimism

ChatGPT Image Sep 26, 2025, 10_47_39 AM
ChatGPT Image Sep 26, 2025, 10_47_39 AM

If the universe had a mood, it would be Monday. Entropy marches, coffee cools, batteries drain, and socks vanish into an event horizon behind the washing machine. Against this cosmic backdrop, optimism can feel like a form of bad arithmetic. Yet here we are—hairless apes who invented anesthesia and sourdough starters—still arguing about whether the glass is half full, half empty, or a … Read the rest

Noon To Noir

By Eric Le Roy

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Content 18+ As we study history together, I often show documentary films to my students. When these films are about the distant past, there is a voice (or person-moderator) who walks us through the information, using whatever illustrations can be mustered. But as we get nearer to modern times the documentaries come to life: actual human action in black and white. From the late 19th … Read the rest

Who You Are And Who They Think You Are

By Eric Le Roy

.Content 18+ I remember working in a pub in Crawley, near Gatwick airport in London. Many years ago. I was by then probably in my early 30s. Yet, as they say, ‘everybody gets old, but you can stay immature forever.’ That would have been me back then.

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I had lived in Bath during the 1970s, returned to the US to do a Master’s degree Read the rest

Donald Trump And The Yellow Brick Road  

By Eric LeRoy

Content 18+ I have always wondered why some people make a powerful impression on us and others don’t. Of course the effect can vary from person to person, and that’s a good thing: for example, it would be a real mess if every man fell in love with the same woman – to the exclusion of all others.

Just imagine it: the longed-for Wench-Princess-Nymphette standing on the Read the rest

All-Night Diners and Eternal Darkness

Контент 18+ There is a famous painting by the American Edward Hopper called “Nighthawks” which I ran across on the internet a couple of days ago. I love the frigid melancholy of much of Hopper’s work and suggest to my readers that you check him out if you have never heard of him before.

“Nighthawks” depicts a late night diner-cafe in New York City in 1942. Four people are in … Read the rest