Dear Dr. Hare,
yesterday, I browsed a Time photo essay on the ‘Chilean Miners.’ Portraits are posted alongside quotes that capture the miner’s new outlook on life, triggered by living deep underground under life threatening conditions for almost three months. After thinking about the pervasive carpe diem theme in the miner’s quotes for a while, I wanted to send the link to a friend. But I couldn’t find it anymore. Immediate conspiracy theory: millions of readers, after browsing the essay, impulsively quit their dull jobs, and started doing the things they always wanted to do in life, thus following the examples of most of the rescued miners. With world economy immediately starting to crumble, and after government intervention, Time editors decided to take the photo essay offline.
Well, I was wrong (at least about the offline part), the link is still working (here). But I keep finding my theory credible.
Jens