Thought on 10/22/06 postfact

Remember how the world would've imploded if Marty McFly changed anything in the future or the past in the Back to the Future flics? The whole paradox thing. Well, dear reader, today I bring you our own little spooky paradox, not based on time travel, but instead a much simpler, more elegant paradox...

One of these pumpkins was carved by yours truly. One, by Slate.

Of course, we know that I have dedicated much of my life and a fair amount of my spare time to words (and yes, at times, even the looks of them), and that Slate is a fan of a certain company's cartoons and cute things in general. But wait! Dun-Duhhh! What about the fact that I have chosen to remain unemployed for several months while Slate, alternatively, has put quite a bit more effort into her work, using her Master's degree to aquire a 9-hour-a-day job (working mostly with government, nonetheless)? In my personal experience, one of these pumpkins certainly took more effort than the other. Ah, dear reader, if the world implodes when you read this, at least I'll have about two pounds of pumpkin seeds to eat on the way out.