[The powerful in Europe often decorated their rooms with a human skull, positioned in a way to get their attention, so that they might be reminded of death and refocused on more important considerations in life. The bad news of our day can function as the modern version of those skulls.]

[Hearing about a plane crash that doesn’t affect anyone we know can still transform us into a panicked relative or air accident investigator: we want to research details and receive regular updates (which media organizations will happily use for their purposes]