The Unbearable Sadness of Adorable Kittens

NPR's Scott Simon ran a short piece on Baghdad Girl, the 14 year old Iraqi girl who posts endless pictures of adorable kittens on her blog, who we've mentioned a couple of times here (and where the picture of the kitten with a sniper rifle takes on another light entirely.)

There is really no point in elaborating more on the complete, nearly absurd poignancy of it.

And then I clicked on her aunt's site, a dentist in Mosul.

Usually I know better. In case you're wondering exactly how we're losing on the ground, this post on her blog is how. And perhaps the exact truth of it doesn't really matter.

The U.S. military is also investigating U.S. Marines that may have recently murdered 23 people. The WaPo's take is here.

Scratch the skin of the world and an infinity of suffering will bleed from the cut. Knowing this, it is difficult to remember the infinity of joy in the breath and in the air. This can only be done within the limits of our perception, and in balance, and it is always incomplete.

After 9/11, they read the names of the victims. This took two or three days. I worked how long it would take to read the names of everyone who was alive on earth on that day: roughly an ordinary lifetime. Someone should be hired for this task.

I also once worked out that the pallette full of Reese's Cups sitting next to me in line at Costco was about enough calories for a year, but I did not dare estimate how long it would actually sustain you.

Every day there is a new unknowable tragedy. There is an unknowable joy. There is also one less Reese's Cup in the 4-pack than you thought you had.