Too Bad!

“The devil has come among us, and has begun by taking possession of all the cleverest fellows.”—Mr Toobad, in Thomas Love Peacock's Nightmare Abbey (1818)

Once to be dumb was to be dense.

For every whither, there was a whence,

More information, more inflammation,

Compensating hyperinterdepend

–dence.

We enjoyed it in the age of whithers,

Whences, and rambunctious hithers.

But where is the trash of yesteryear,

Since speculation screwed the nation?

I came from nothing and to naught I go.

You must suppose I wish it so:

There’s little reason to persist

If commonsense does not exist.

It’s not been seen of late, I fear—

The clever fellows can't resist!

Monday, August 10, 2026