We Sometimes Encounter People, Even Perfect Strangers, Who Begin To Interest Us At First Sight, Somehow

untitled by bleue marine on Flickr.

Fascism is psychologically far sounder than any hedonistic conception of life … Whereas Socialism, and even capitalism in a more grudging way, have said to people “I offer you a good time,” Hitler has said to them, “I offer you struggle, danger, and death,” and as a result a whole nation flings itself at his feet … We ought not to underrate its emotional appeal.

George Orwell Cited in The Atlantic's 'What ISIS Really Wants?'

Yvan Feusi - Media Overdose

Meursault does not find–as a humanitarian would–that other people's lives are as important as his own, but, on the contrary, that his life is as unimportant as that of anyone else's. He thus reaches the state of self-detachment, coupled with love of life, advocated in Sisyphus, and becomes a true hero of the absurd, conscious of being an outsider, the hate-free target of everybody's cries of hate. ... "the only Christ we deserve."

Lev Braun Witness of Decline

Wooded valley, probably Bolton Woods Lovers in a woodland clearing a pair, John Atkinson Grimshaw

Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

Ernest Hemingway (via scribnerbooks)

Peter Bialobrzeski

Where are the limes, and what is to be done?

The Great North American Lime Shortage of 2014 has people panicked. As the heat of the summer looms, the national media is running frenzied articles, families are being ripped apart, bartenders are at each other's throats and lime hoarding is rampant.

Consumption (of limes) has risen dramatically since the 70s, and people have been living beyond their means, delaying the inevitable reckoning with citrus-fueled bacchanalias.

Globalization and the destruction of lime farming in the U.S. now means that most limes here come from Mexico. And this production has been severely damaged by a combination of bad weather (probably caused by global warming), bacterial infection (no doubt drug resistant) and, of course, drug cartels[1], who are supposed to be hijacking supply.

We will not inquire further into the ultimate causes of the lime shortage and simply discuss coping mechanisms (or, if you prefer, routes to salvation).

  [1] If the war in Iraq did not guarantee cheap oil, and the drug war in Mexico does not guarantee cheap limes, then what is war good for? Also, at least according to the New York Times, drug cartels are taking over the avocado business too, so we should all be concerned. Maybe United Fruit will step in to save us all.

- Rishidev Chaudhuri

Peel 201208 by den dzjow on Flickr.

Vanessa Stockard

"Another Day, Another Chair"