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Porto De Galinhas And Maragogi
We recently visited the beach areas of Porto de Galinhas and Maragogi. Porto de Galinhas is a major tourist beach destination, and is located about 60 km. south of Recife, in the state of Pernambuco. Maragogi is a greater distance away; it is located in the state of Alagoas. Both of these places are known…
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Some Views Of Olinda, Brazil
Olinda is located in the greater Recife area in Brazil’s state of Pernambuco. It is considered one of the best-preserved of the old colonial cities. We visited the city today, and the result is the collection of photos below. The city is about a 25 minute drive from downtown Recife.
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Recife, Brazil At Night
We took a boat ride in Recife last night. It was really just a short ride from one part of the city to the historic downtown area, which was surprisingly alive, considering that it was Christmas Day. I sampled a lot of the street food, as is my usual habit. One interesting thing I noticed…
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Andrei Martyanov’s “The Real Revolution In Military Affairs” (Review)
Reading the works of American military pundits and the vast US media commentariat that amplifies their voices often feels like entering an alternate universe. Weaknesses are touted as “strengths”; self-congratulatory propaganda and delusion are seen as substitutes for hard analysis; belligerent, callous jingoism passes as the norm; and American “exceptionalism” is taken for granted almost…
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Thoughts On Surrealist Painting (Podcast)
What is surrealist painting? What are its underlying rationales? In this podcast, I offer a few thoughts on surrealism in painting, and name a few of my favorite surrealist painters. This is a vast subject, but a lot can be gained by looking at the work of the very best artists: Giorgio de Chirico, Yves…
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On Each Side Swords, And On Each Side Corpses
The Battle of Zama essentially concluded the Second Punic War, that terrible contest waged by Rome and Carthage for control of the western Mediterranean. It took place in 202 B.C. near the town of Zama in what is now Tunisia. The commanding generals were Hannibal on the Carthaginian side, and Publius Cornelius Scipio on the…
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Thoughts On Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman” (Podcast)
In this podcast we discuss some aspects of Martin Scorsese’s movie The Irishman. This movie seems to divide people into proponents and detractors. I think it is a great film, and very much worth seeing, as long as we approach it from the right perspective.
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On Obedience And Disobedience
We spend most of lives in obedience to one form of authority or another. Rarely, if ever, is it counted as a virtue worthy of discussion by us moderns. On the contrary: we are expected to applaud disobedience, disorder, and challenges to authority, as if such disobedience were automatically exempt from scrutiny.
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Some Recommended Movies And Programs (Podcast)
In this podcast we discuss some good movies and programs I’ve seen recently. “Dark Waters” (2019) is a legal drama dealing with corporate malfeasance, and “The Confession Killer” (2019) is a gripping documentary about how the Henry Lee Lucas serial killer investigation was handled. In some ways, the message of both of them is the…
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Selfish Leaders Are The Ruin Of A Nation
We have previously discussed the Book of Kalila and Dimna in these pages. Its source material can be traced to the Indian classic The Panchatantra of Vishnu Sarma. And it is from this book that the following fable originates.
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Enlarged Curiosity: The Observational Powers Of Charles Darwin
A period of travel and overseas residence can transform a man from a plodding conformist to a free-thinking iconoclast. Travel is the expediter of dreams, the elixir of mental health, and the abolisher of parochial preconceptions. Nowhere is this truth more clearly demonstrated than in the life and career of scientist Charles Darwin, whose five-year…
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Another Michael Porfirio Tweet Reading (Podcast)
If you are not laughing, you are not fully enjoying life. It’s been a while since I’ve done a G Manifesto (Twitter: @MichaelPorfirio) tweet reading. But popular demand can’t be ignored, so I decided to put another podcast out with some of his most recent tweets. The laughter is nonstop…listen for yourself.
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Only The Brave Will Find Redemption
There are two things that a man must learn to accept in life: the inherent ambiguities in choosing between alternatives, and the omnipresence of suffering. Consider the story told about Socrates in Diogenes Laertius’s Lives of the Philosophers (II.33): a young man asked the philosopher for his advice on whether he should get married. The…
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The Wisdom And Recklessness Of Ibn Al-Sikkit
The birthdate of the philologist and grammarian Yacub Ibn Al-Sikkit (ابو يوسف يعقوب ابن السكيت) is not known with certainty, but 800 A.D. is a reliable estimate. His father enjoyed notoriety and prestige in court circles, and may have conferred on his son some access to the corridors of power. The sobriquet “Al-Sikkit” was given…
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The Audiobook Of “Lives Of The Great Commanders” Is Now Available
The audiobook of Lives of the Great Commanders is now available on Audible, Amazon, and iTunes. This new, original translation of Cornelius Nepos’s Lives of the Great Commanders is the first to appear in nearly a century, and has been almost single-handedly responsible for renewing interest in this long-neglected classic.
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The Loss Of Confidence, And The Infliction Of Shame (Podcast)
There are two things that can be especially harmful to an individual or to a society: a loss of confidence, and the acquisition of a consuming sense of shame. How many people do we know who have been set adrift after losing their sense of purpose, or after acquiring a sense of guilt? The same…
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The Thief Who Stole The Pharaoh’s Money
One of Herodotus’s charms is that he is always willing to share a good tale. Some of these stories he apparently believes; others strike him as dubious. Either way, he considers them imporant, and dutifully records their details. “Those who find such things credible,” he warns us, “must make what use of them they will…
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What Do Young Men Want? (Podcast)
What do young men really want? What impulses and motivations drive their thoughts and actions? I offer four fundamental necessities.
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Francisco De Orellana’s Epic Navigation Of The Amazon
Francisco de Orellana Bejarano Pizarro y Torres de Altamirano was born in Trujillo, Spain, probably around 1511, although the precise date is uncertain. He seems to have been a relative of the conqueror of Peru, Francisco Pizarro; and this sanguinary connection, combined with opportunities for glory and wealth, may have provided the impetus for him…
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The Positivism Of Benjamin Constant
I made an effort today to visit the house and museum of Benjamin Constant in the Santa Teresa neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro. I had visited it some years ago and thought it would be a good idea to see it again to gain some perspective. The site was closed for renovations, unfortunately, so I…
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Selection And Supervision Are Critical In Any Great Enterprise
I have lately been rereading Candace Millard’s excellent River of Doubt, a narrative of Theodore Roosevelt’s ill-fated sojourn through the Amazon in 1914. As is well known, the expedition was plagued by a lack of adequate food supplies and equipment. This fact nearly caused the entire project to unravel once it was deep in the…
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Footprints Leading In, But None Coming Out (Podcast)
A reader is concerned that hanging around with a certain group of friends might get him into problems or trouble. He is unsure how to deal with the situation, and asks for some guidance on the best course of action. For some people, this is an easily-handled situation, but for others, it is not. We…
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The Pitfalls And Vices Of Old Age
We are afflicted by different vices in different periods of life. While much energy is spent in discussing the pitfalls and failings of youth, it is just as important to be mindful of the pitfalls of old age. It seems to me that these are especially difficult to correct if not identified for what they…
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Three Embalming Techniques Used In Ancient Egypt
Herodotus spends more time discussing Egypt than any other nation in his Histories. One gets the feeling that he very much enjoyed himself there. The amiable and curious Greek had a talent for getting along with nearly everyone; he seems to have fallen into conversation with priests and merchants in every country he visited.
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The Importance Of Thinking On One’s Feet: A Lucky Escape For Ibn Abi Muslim
We all know that the ability to think on one’s feet is an important skill. There may even be times when this ability makes the difference between survival and execution. The amusing anecdote that follows appears in Ibn Khallikan’s biographical sketch (IV.200) of a government official and administrator (مولى) named Yazid Ibn Abi Muslim, who…
Original copy of Cicero’s De Officiis (On Duties) published in Holland in 1642. From the collection of Fortress of the Mind.
Quintus Curtius 
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