Carrie gets a no-prize locked in a penthouse hotel somewhere on the Vegas strip for bringing us this nice summary of the archtypical rich kook, Howard Hughes. Interesting to me is the implication Hughes's psychosis was perhaps drug-induced. Until now, everything I'd ever read tended to indicate the classic signs of adult-onset schizophrenia. Of course, it could simply be that his adult trauma and drug addiction broke whatever tenuous hold he'd managed to impose on his miswired brain, but unfortunately we'll never know for sure.

It's been said that while money doesn't buy happiness, it makes misery more comfortable. I think Hughes's story throws a rather stark light on the logical, and horrific, conclusion of this particular axiom.