Van Gogh: A man unlike everyone else

“All living things contain a measure of madness that moves them in strange, sometimes inexplicable ways. This madness can be saving; it is part and parcel of the ability to adapt.” – Yann Martel, Life of Pi.

Nuts in a world gone nuts

California supplies nearly half of all fruits, vegetables, and nuts (of the non-gun-toting kind) to the US market. But the state is in the throes of a grave drought and on track to experience the driest year of the past 50 decades.

Mighty oaks from little acorns grow

Vincent van Gogh might never have become a painter. Intending to become a preacher he studied Latin and Greek in preparation for theological examinations. But an unexplained crisis caused him to abandon that plan and to pursue a different calling.