Yeah but in 2000, I still felt like shit roughly made sense. We entered clown world long about the time the LHC fired its first high energy collisions.

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) was first "fired high energy" when it achieved its first high-energy particle collisions on March 30, 2010. On that date, proton beams collided at a combined energy of 7 TeV, setting a new world record and officially beginning the LHC's research program.

I remember hearing that that was going to happen and, you know, being mildly concerned. Then it came and went and I forgot about it. But I distinctly remember 2012. A series of truly bizarre things happened in my personal life. I sold a condo I owned at the time and moved away to try and put some distance between myself and what was happening. It was pants-on-head stupid, like I just couldn't believe what was going on, but it was personal, not earth-shattering, just truly, deeply bizarre.

Shortly thereafter, Trump happened, then covid - and the whole world began being truly, deeply bizarre. Now things have progressed so far that where I used to think I knew a bit about how the world works and where it's going, I am now utterly adrift. I don't even try to make sense of it anymore, just to accept it and roll as best I can.

I'm not saying correlation is causation but when I first heard the LHC theory it made me stop and think.