Most Popular Stories of 2016 By Ben Ostrowsky, originally posted to Flickr as Reading couple (statue) at UNC-Chapel Hill, CC BY 2.0, Whether you regard 2016 as a kidney stone of a year, an annus mirabilis

Thomas Edison tried two thousand different materials in search of a filament for the light bulb. When none worked satisfactorily, his assistant complained, “All our work is in vain. We have learned nothing.”

This parable is told of a farmer who owned an old mule. The mule fell into the farmer’s well. The farmer heard the mule praying or whatever mules do when they fall into wells. After carefully assessing