From the depths of history, Vasily Grossman once again:

One of the most astonishing human traits that came to light at this time was obedience. There were cases of huge queues being formed by people awaiting execution – and it was the victims themselves who regulated the movement of these queues. […] And it wasn’t merely tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands, but hundreds of millions of people who were the obedient witnesses of this slaughter of the innocent. Nor were they merely obedient witnesses: when ordered to, they gave their support to this slaughter, voting in favor of it amid a hubbub of voices. […] What does this tell us? That a new trait has suddenly appeared in human nature? No, this obedience bears witness to a new force acting on human beings. The extreme violence of totalitarian social systems proved able to paralyze the human spirit throughout whole continents. A man who has placed his soul in the service of Fascism declares an evil and dangerous slavery to be the only true good. Rather than overtly renouncing human feelings, he declares the crimes committed by Fascism to be the highest form of humanitarianism; he agrees to divide people up into the pure and worthy and the impure and unworthy. The instinct for self-preservation is supported by the hypnotic power of world ideologies. These call people to carry out any sacrifice, to accept any means, in order to achieve the highest of ends: the future greatness of the motherland, world progress, the future happiness of mankind, of a nation, of a class. […] The violence of a totalitarian State is so great as to be no longer a means to an end; it becomes an object of mystical worship and adoration. […] Another fact that allowed Fascism to gain power over men was their blindness. A man cannot believe that he is about to be destroyed. The optimism of people standing on the edge of the grave is astounding.

No, I’ve been afraid before.

🎶 What’s love but a second hand in motion. 🎶

Very difficult to immerse yourself into these, though, because of their density being about 2x that of the human body.

You’ll completely float on mercury, and cesium does no good to your body. Like, at all.

At least early Christianity is in many ways socialism. Remember the feeding of the 5000 with “five loaves” and “two fish”?
The true meaning is that there will be plenty if everyone shares. That’s the real miracle.

When the true king’s murderers are allowed to roam free, a thousand magicians arise in the land.
Where are the feast we are promised?

(Jim Morrison, An American Prayer)

Kinda like H2S, I guess. You can sense its putrid smell it in the range of 0.47 ppb to 100 ppm, then your olfactory nerve becomes paralyzed. Just when you think the gas is gone, there’s a 50% chance of you dying at 800 ppm. Years ago, I read about a “mysterious deaths” case in which H2S was the main suspect because of this stealthy property.

Moving rapidly, more like.

Thank you for the clarification, SatansMaggotyCumFart.

W.T.F.

I agree with everything you wrote, but I don’t think they carved up only Ukraine in that phone call. At least all of Europe, possibly the entire world.

Amazing book, btw. Like one long fever dream.

• Your former school teachers die. At this point, I think the majority of mine is gone.
• Your gum recedes, and there’s nothing you can do about it except to stop smoking. On a larger scale, your circulation gets worse because your erythrocytes become less elastic, for reasons still unknown. Add to this the most damaging impact of UV light and our atmosphere’s oxygen - an objectively very aggressive chemical - and you start shriveling, just withering away from the outside. Molecular bonds are simply getting broken faster than they get repaired. Your insides last a bit longer, but their days are numbered, too.
• On the plus side, you’ll get to learn new words for body parts you didn’t even know you had.

Ain’t it brutal? They say if you haven’t started balding at age 40, you probably never will, but I’ve known several people with a full head of lush hair at 40, and in their early fifties, it’s all gone to hell.

Someone needs bigger pants.

awk-ward

Bottom left guy has a hairpiece, I’m sure.

Pick up the receiver, I’ll make you a believer.

My dentist sez flossing is on it’s way out, everybody should start using these really small interdental toothbrushes anyway.