Best News on Depression Ever

Siberian scientists believe that addiction to alcohol and narcotics, as well as depression, suicidal thoughts and psychosomatic diseases occur when an individual loses his or her interest in life.
Genius! As James Taranto says, what would we do without the experts?

Doctor of Biological Sciences, Sergei Speransky, is a very well known figure in Novosibirsk. The doctor became one of the authors of the shocking whipping therapy. The professor used the self-flagellation method to cure his own depression; he also recovered from two heart attacks with the help of physical tortures too.

”The whipping therapy becomes much more efficient when a patients receives the punishment from a person of the opposite sex. The effect is astounding: the patient starts seeing only bright colors in the surrounding world, the heartache disappears, although it will take a certain time for the buttocks to heal, of course,” Sergei Speransky told the Izvestia newspaper.

This is what I've been saying all along: men love to be pussywhipped.

”People might probably think of me as a masochist,” Dr. Speransky said. “But I can assure you that I am not a classic masochist at all,” he added.

The revolutionary method may take the Russian healthcare to a whole new level.

So now we all understand why men pay such big money to all those dominatrix women: The effect is astounding: the patient starts seeing only bright colors in the surrounding world, the heartache disappears.

Thanks to Instapundit for blogging this story. I feel better already!

Great Questions

The search engine worketh in mysterious ways, bringing me visitors with most inquisitive minds, capable of original, non-standard thinking. Welcom, komrades!

Why didn't anyone stop Ivan the terrible evil behavior?
Yes, why?

And here's the winner:
How do you grow armpit hair without buying anything?

One dog outsmarts four humans

Simon says

Come root for me!

Tomorrow, I will compete here.

MR LOWER EAST SIDE PAGEANT

bands, men's junk, old friends, new enemies.
21 and over
$3 "BONES"
WITH
special musical performance by THE NEW YORK HOWL

It's probably the craziest and most hilarious show I know. I've competed twice in the past, but didn't win - my rivals were really talented! And quite motivated, I should add. If you are a woman or a gay man, you get to vote. But even if you're neither, you should come - if nothing else, it will be something to remember.

Says the blog PAYOR
This annual audience-judged title comes with a crown, a custom bong, a slice of pizza and a six-pack of Budweiser. Yes, this is primarily a straight event. The Bud gives it away.

However, straight or not, it promises to be a real treat. The competition includes swimsuit, Les2 evening wear, talent, Q&A, best man boobs and the main reason to go? Best Nutsack.

Politkovskaya Murder

Instapundit quotes this, titled "Putin grows ever more thuggish".

Sigh.

I am no supporter of Putin. I think he is a thug, I think his way of running Russia is terrible for the Russian people in the long run, and I have no reason to think he's above resorting to murder for personal gain of power.

The question with Politkovaksya murder, that I wish Glenn had asked himself before accusing Putin, is simple: What the hell does he gain from it? More chaos? More problems with the West?

To think that Politkovskaya was a real danger to Putin is laughable. Those who complain about lack of freedom of press in Russia (and I'm among them, I do complain about it) should remember that Kremlin inteference has been only one part of the equation. It's only one reason why there is no viable opposition to Putin. The other reason for that is the people who head the opposition: not unlike in Belarus, thet are either incompetent, or dishonest, or both: these people profiteer from their opposition work, while having no ability or intention to win any elections. All these parties like Yabloko and SPS have discredited themselves even before Putin came to power, and since then, they've done nothing but cry 'fascism'.

People like Yavlinksi, Hakamada, Kasparov, all these human rights activists have been acting like clowns: they have nothing to offer to the Russian people. They claim to stand behind the kind of principles I support (private property, liberty, human rights, bla-bla-bla) But the way they stand for these principles has not gone beyond talking. All anti-Putin journalists combigned can't do enough damage to Putin for this scandal to be worth it. So far, I've seen Putin's loud critics benefit more from this scandal than Putin himself. And to those who think that murder of journalists has been introduced by Putin, should remember Vladislav Listiev, who was murdered in 1995, and was a far more famous and powerful figure in Russia than Politkovskaya.

Those who ordered this murder were most likely politically motivated, and it's very possible they are pretty high up in Putin's administration. But this event is so much more likely to destabilize Putin's regime than strengthen it, I find it hard to believe Putin is behind this. It's a crazy world, especially in Russia, and anything is possible; but concluding flat out that he's behind this, to me seems like a really bad idea. It is very possible that that's exactly what the murderers wanted. The question we need to ask is "Cui prodest?", and Putin is very unlikely to gain anything out of it.

UPDATE: Welcom Instapundit readers, and thanks Glenn for linking, and for pointing out a language error in the post.

Look at me!

You can say I look sad and ugly, but you can't say the picture is not beautiful.

UPDATE: NO, I don't really think I look ugly, thank you those who e-mailed :) It was just a plot to get compliments. "Pensive" is the word that the photographer used, and I agree.

Performace Blooging

Rev. Jen's Antislam open mike has moved, at least temporarily, to Downeast Arts Center in the East Village, and I attended last night. After a pretty long break in performance, I went to sive my newly written motivational speecj, and sing a new motivational song.

I got a late spot - in fact, I got pulled out last. But I was determined. I went in and out buying beer and going for food (first I had pizza, and then sushi, believe it or not). There were some nice performances. My old-time friend Margaret Dodge told her story about being bitten in the face by a crazy rotweiler bitch. Go to her blog for pictures and testimonies. She managed to make this rather horrifying story quite hilarious - such is the power of Dodge. She's a master of dark humor, and you gots to appreciate.

There were other funny performances, some by people I'd never seen before. There was this supposedly Russian dude Vladimir - Vladimir Lenin he calls himself, no less. He was actually very funny, I thought he was smart and subtle.

There was also this girl who I hope is not reading this. She said she was an actress, and she had the most trite and ways of saying things. She said she was 26, but she looked more like 36, representing everything I don't like about aspiring actors. She was actually good looking, but her terribly unnatural facial expressions made her...well, whatever.

By the time I got to perform everybody was drunk and tired, including me. So I decided to skip the speech, and cut straight to the song. I was very satisfied. I must say, performing a set gives me energy for days to come, so here's to that.

Depression blogging

It's been a while since I blogged about depression. And there is a reason for that. And the reason is I no longer see myself as depressed.

Yes, I still take pills. Yes, I still get so down sometimes, I think my life is over. The last girl I was in love with once told me, "I think you'd be a dashing old man". And that's how I sometimes see myself: an old man, whose emotions have burnt him down, through all that "chasing women and drinking".

Papa was a rolling stone
Wherever he laid his head, was his home.

Sometimes I feel like there is nothing left in me. Sometimes I just want to give up, like, really really want to give up. And, as the last girl who was in love with me said, I have given up on almost everything. Well, not so fast.

I've decided, a few months ago, not to see myself as a sick, depressed man, even though it might be an accurate description. It's like in that drawing in which you can see either a young woman or an old woman. There is a lot of pain I have to deal with, but I also have a lot of blessings to count. You really have to count them and know what they are, because they are the points in the spacetime continuum of your life that you can lean on. Those are the only levers you can use to pick yourself up.

It's hard to identify them. It's hard to know what you want. It takes time, commitment, effort - just like about everything that's worth gaining. I still feel very confused. Clarity - that's what I'm after these days. I can't see exactly where I'm going, but I know I want to go there. I don't want to stand still or look back, so help me God - and give us more money.