A couple of years ago I was about to propose to my girlfriend.

Ring in hand. Speech prepared. Everything ready.

My roommate Joseph burst through the door out of nowhere, tripped over absolutely nothing, and fell face first through a glass table.

Me: (ring still in hand)

Me: (staring at Joseph on the floor)

Me: (staring at the shattered table)

Me: (staring at my girlfriend)

Mood: gone.

Joseph got a large piece of glass in his eye. Was walking around with a cotton pad over it for two months. I put the proposal on hold and helped him through the whole thing because that's what you do.

Then one day Joseph was gone.

My girlfriend was also gone.

Together.

Apparently they bonded during his recovery. Eloped without leaving a single note. I tried to find them. Never could.

So if you've ever wondered why I'm not married right now.

It's because if it hadn't been for cotton eye Joe I'd have been married a long time ago.

Where did you come from.

Where did you go.

Where did you come from cotton eye Joe.

"We are living through exactly what we read about in periods like summer 1914 — a structural blindness of dominant political-media-academic elites about core features of the system they participate in all day. We read history books about summer 1914 and ask ‘how could the entire Cabinet week after week not probe exactly what our military commitments to Belgium were, what exactly the plans were, and expose that there was no actual plan or institution to cope with the crisis’. We’re in a worse situation than they were.

"It’s a disaster and an opportunity. And studying this chronology can help you see how to create opportunities from disasters. In 2015 I thought the structure of the system was a disaster but the referendum was an opportunity and I tried to apply some of the things I’d learned. This proved unexpectedly successful. And, in keeping with the point above about people struggling to learn, the same happened in 2019 even though powerful forces really wanted it not to happen."