Years ago I preserved and posted a thoroughly insane
HOWTO for PostgreSQL. The author, a very earnest madman, begins talking about the philosophy of open source software and goes straight down the rabbit hole into discussions of quantum physics and the nature of matter.
Today I received this message from the mailing list for open source software I use on my Mac. The writer begins with what could be an interesting analogy between the problems of the pharmaceutical industry and those of the software and media industry, and then another rabbit hole appears and down he goes. Soon he's telling the mailing list about his cholesterol level, discussing the possible merits of tannins in tobacco leaves, his own career and CV, and the benefits of Calorie Restriction for longevity. There's a dab of left-wing politics in there too.
The sad part is that he has a really good point about openness of information and its value for science and free societies. And he's smart and well-educated. But wow, does he write like a bus crazy or what?
( screed )