The ashtray says you've been up all night, or that's what the song on the stereo whispers in my ear as 4am rolls past on a newsreel of distant events. For better or worse there are places in the world where the events of the day are so overwhelming that I imagine people simply don't have the time or bandwidth to consume themselves. Lemmings over the cliff, ghoulish puppets jerking to a dog whistle...these predawn moments are the moments of epistemic despair. Optimism will return with the light.