Pearls Before Breakfast

Via one of my lefty blogs, I saw the pointer to this article in the Post magazine. They set up world famous violinist Joshua Bell at the L'Enfant Plaza metro stop during morning rush hour in a crude experiment to see if raw talent in a street performer could induce people to stop and listen. I'll leave it to you to read the article to see how it works out.

The author is Gene Weingarten, among whose accomplishments was giving Dave Barry his start at the Miami Herald.

Weingarten instructed Barry to come up with a definition for "sense of humor." Barry disappeared from the office for a few days. He came back with this: "A sense of humor is a measurement of the extent to which we realize that we are trapped in a world almost totally devoid of reason. Laughter is how we express the anxiety we feel at this knowledge."

Surprisingly insightful.