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This Black Friday one could find excellent deals on those little machines that measure sadness. Why would one build or purchase a machine which measures sadness? Because otherwise one would have sadness without measure. I’m a tragedian. But, in my defense, I do write delightful poems about Arabian one-humped camels. If I met a dromedary\/ I would never make him carry\/ packs or parcels here nor there\/ nor set him up with a polar bear. http:\/\/davidraffin.com <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-my-books","category-writing"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3u13S-7G","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4183,"url":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/the-apple-of-buddhas-eye\/","url_meta":{"origin":476,"position":0},"title":"The apple of Buddha’s eye","author":"David Raffin","date":"October 13, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The Buddha sat under a tree. An apple fell on his head. It was the wrong tree. He ate the apple. The Buddha sat under a tree. An apple fell on his head. It was Buddha-nature. The Buddha sat under a tree. An apple fell on his head. He said,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Writing"","block_context":{"text":"Writing","link":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/category\/books\/writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/cropped-IMG_5669.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/cropped-IMG_5669.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/cropped-IMG_5669.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/cropped-IMG_5669.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1853,"url":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/the-marketing-of-desires-unfulfilled\/","url_meta":{"origin":476,"position":1},"title":"The marketing of desires unfulfilled","author":"David Raffin","date":"February 5, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Scene from a pornographic film in 8 millimeter, silent: A title card read: \u201cOh, Eros! God of Love! Forgive me!\u201d There are street scenes of people of all ages walking alone in the city. At the park. Eating alone in a restaurant, an act Rain considered the impetus for the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Books"","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/category\/books\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"art by Richard F. 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The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Writing"","block_context":{"text":"Writing","link":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/category\/books\/writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/asteroid.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/asteroid.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/asteroid.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/asteroid.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1225,"url":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/its-about-time-i-wrote-a-love-story\/","url_meta":{"origin":476,"position":3},"title":"It’s about time I wrote a love story","author":"David Raffin","date":"June 11, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"so this is chapter 1 of Sex Robots at the Edge of Infinity \u201cYou\u2019re interested in sex robots,\" said the manual. \"And who wouldn't be?\u201d It was a rhetorical question. Who wasn't interested in sex robots? \u201cFifty years ago they were the wave of the future and today they are\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Books"","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/category\/books\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/wpid-140317_193933.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/wpid-140317_193933.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/wpid-140317_193933.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1112,"url":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/do-not-tell-em-show-em-or-tother-way-round-whatever\/","url_meta":{"origin":476,"position":4},"title":"Do not tell ’em Show ’em. Or t’other way ’round. Whatever.","author":"David Raffin","date":"July 7, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Due to the heat I have written you a poem: All the fishes in the sea have sent a letter addressed to me. Mostly they were just interested in saying \"hi\" but also expressing a wish that we eat more pie. For the best pies are made from the fruit\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Writing"","block_context":{"text":"Writing","link":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/category\/books\/writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The cock crows at the sun, via Momentcam","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/IMG_1488-202x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":702,"url":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/the-taoist-farmer\/","url_meta":{"origin":476,"position":5},"title":"The Taoist Farmer","author":"David Raffin","date":"May 22, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"A man who lived on the northern frontier of China was skilled in interpreting events. One day, for no reason, his horse ran away to the nomads across the border. Everyone tried to console him, but his father said, \"What makes you so sure this isn't a blessing?\" Some months\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/category\/info\/links\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=476"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":478,"href":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476\/revisions\/478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}