A duck walks into his local bar after work. He sits at the bar, takes his hat off, orders a drink, and starts reading his newspaper. The bartender's never seen anything like this before, so naturally he strikes up a conversation.
"Say, fella. I've never met a talking duck before." "I get that a lot", he replies without looking up from his newspaper. "If you don't mind me asking, where do you get the money to buy your drinks?" "Work."
The bartender took the hint that the duck didn't want to talk, but he couldn't help himself. "What do you do?" "I'm a drywaller", said the duck as he lowered his glass from his bill, his eyes still never leaving his paper. "That's a strange profession for a duck," replied the bartender. "You get a lot of work?" The duck said, "I do alright. I'm always looking for the next job though." as he turned the page.
The bartender decided that was enough, and that he had work to do. The duck became something of a regular at that bar, always sitting in the same spot, almost never looking up from his newspaper.
One day, a new patron walked in. He was wearing a bright yellow suit with blue stripes. His mustache was styled into an old-fashioned handlebar style, with the tips tapered to a perfect point. Once again, the bartender is curious.
"Hey, fella. And what do you do?", he asked. "Oh, I work with the circus! We just rolled into town and we'll be setting up shortly." "Well, I know someone who's always looking for work! And I think he'd be a great fit. He's a talking duck."
The bartender and the new patron exchanged numbers, and he promised him that when he next saw the duck, he would refer him to the circus. The next day, the duck comes back to his usual spot. After he orders his drink the bartender starts conversation.
"You said you're looking for work right? Well good news, the circus is in town." "The circus?", replied the duck, still reading his newspaper. "You mean that big canvas tent in the middle of town?" "That's the one!" said the bartender. "The one where they keep the animals in those steel cages?", he asked, with the turn of a page. "Yep!" "And they travel from town to town in horse-drawn carriages, sleeping under the stars?" "Yeah," replied the bartender. "You know. The circus." The duck paused briefly, and looked straight up from his newspaper, staring blankly at the wall in front of him. "What the fuck do they need a drywaller for?"
17-Year-Old Charged with Attempted Murder After Striking Juvenile and Crashing into Dollar Tree in Bishopville
May 11, 2025 Dollar Tree, 618 Sumter Highway, Bishopville, Lee County, South Carolina
Facts: On May 11, 2025, at around 2:00 p.m., a fight in the parking lot of a Dollar Tree in Bishopville escalated when a 17-year-old juvenile got into a car and intentionally struck another juvenile, causing non-life-threatening injuries.
The vehicle then rolled away, crashing into another occupied vehicle in the parking lot and causing structural damage to the Dollar Tree storefront, leading to a temporary closure.
Lee County Sheriff Daniel Simon reported that the incident involved two adults and three juveniles, with deputies responding to reports of the parking lot altercation.
The 17-year-old suspect, charged as an adult under a 2016 South Carolina law, faces charges of attempted murder, disorderly conduct, malicious injury to property totaling $10,000 or more, and malicious injury to property totaling $2,000 or less.
The suspect is being held at the Sumter-Lee Detention Center pending a bond hearing.
Two adults, Celvin Hickman, 19, and Shamirah Blyther, 24, both from Bishopville, were charged with disorderly conduct, and Hickman also faces a charge of malicious injury to property.
Two other juveniles involved were charged with disorderly conduct and released to their legal guardians.
An SG reader is struggling with the idea that only a small percentage of the population are emotionally exosynaesthetic:
I’m struggling with the idea that only a small portion of the population has that capacity.
Why? Have you talked to any actual humans lately? It’s much more likely that you simply don’t understand what empathy actually is.
Note that these five examples below are not definitions that cover the entire meaning of the terms and set limits on their applications, they are just explanatory examples meant to help you understand the differences between the concepts.
Empathy: I know how you feel in your situation. Chrysopathy: I know how I would feel in your situation. Sympathy: I feel bad about your situation. Apathy: I have no feelings about your situation. Antipathy: I feel pleased about your situation. Now think about how few people even bother to know what someone else’s situation actually is, much less have basic sympathy for it. Chrysopathy is the best that most people can do; because women are solipsistic they have absolutely no empathetic ability whatsoever and it is a very good thing that they do not.
