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Sunday Movie Roundup (1/22/2017)
Not a bad week for film, especially science fiction. Here is the tally.
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Why Did The Reds Defeat The Whites In The Russian Civil War of 1917-1922? (Podcast)
The former Russian Empire was torn apart by chaos and civil war from 1917 to 1922. On one side were the Bolshevists, seeking to impose a revolutionary communist society on the people; and on the other were the so-called “White” Russians, a collection of nationalists and traditionalists trying to dislodge the Red regime. Why did…
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A Fool Is Put In His Place
The following anecdote is related in Ibn Khallikan’s short biographical profile of the philologist and rhetorician Al-Said. His full name was Abu al-Said Ibn al-Hasan Ibn Isa Al-Raba’i. Verbal abilities are highly prized in cultures with rich literary traditions, and this tale bears testament to this fact.
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The Song Of Roland: Duty And Sacrifice
As Europe took shape in the early medieval period, the vernacular languages found their voices in popular epics and ballads. This was not an accident; access to Latin and its literature required literacy, and this was something not easy to come by at that time. But the lay audiences of Europe began to develop their…
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Sunday Movie Roundup (1/15/2017)
I had a chance to see a few movies while aboard ship during the past couple of weeks. Here are some of the results.
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Some Impressions On Travel In Central America (Podcast)
This podcast was recorded several days ago but I was only now able to upload it. In it we talk about some impressions gained from brief visits to Panama, Costa Rica, Colombia, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Mexico.
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Some Requirements For Political Stability
In recent weeks I have had a chance to visit for a short time a few of the republics in Central America: Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama, Colombia (South America, but close enough), Guatemala, and Mexico. I have been trying to upload a podcast I recorded on the subject, but internet connections are so slow that…
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Machiavelli’s Three Key Concepts
If a political scientist were asked who might be the most misunderstood writer of political theory, he would probably have the name of Machiavelli high on his list. To his name have been ascribed sinister motivations and calculated duplicity; and unscrupulous cherry-picking of his quotes has fashioned him into an ogre in the popular mind.
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A Retreat Can Spur Creative Energy: Machiavelli’s Letter To Francesco Vettori
Sometimes being away from the fray and the fracases of life can allow us to compose our thoughts and regenerate our spirits. This has the effect of spurring the creative soul on to higher amplitudes of output. We forget just how distracting it is for the mind to be bombarded with invasive stimuli; and while…
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Through The Panama Canal
I am on a ship that will transit through the Panama Canal tomorrow. For me this is a big moment: to be able to see one of the great engineering marvels of the world; to experience the incarnate will of one of my idols, President Theodore Roosevelt; and finally, to see the natural tropical beauty…
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Harry Truman’s Presidential Retreat In Key West: Thoughts And Observations
A couple days ago I had a chance to tour the vacation retreat of former president Harry S Truman. The experience prompted some thoughts and observations on the value system of our current political elites.
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Video Review Of “On Duties” Translated By Quintus Curtius
Today Mr. Andrew Vittoria released a very detailed and cogent You Tube video review of my On Duties. Readers seeking an in-depth and reasoned commentary will no doubt find this video useful. I have embedded the video below.
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Seek It, And It Recedes; Ignore It, And It Comes To You
The biographer Ibn Khallikan relates the following anecdote about a man named Abu Amir Orwa Ibn Uzaina, a scholar and poet who died around A.D. 736. Not much is known of his life except that he was a member of the Iraqi tribe of al-Laith. It illustrates the importance of not chasing things in…
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The Ship Of Aeneas: A Unique And Mysterious Vessel
In life and in history, there are a great many things we do not know, and will never know. Corporeal images recede slowly into the mist: some to return, some to glimmer faintly without revealing tangible form, and some never to be seen again. It is the way with things.
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Sunday Movie Roundup (12/25/2016)
If you find yourself with free time on your hands during the next few days, you might want to check out a few of these titles. As always, I try to focus on the films that get little mainstream attention. You can decide whether you want to see them.
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The Chilling Origins Of The “Sardonic Laugh”
One of the great things about history, literature, and philosophy is that these subjects have the ability to take us down dark rabbit-holes every now and then. I think H.P. Lovecraft once said something like “seekers after knowledge haunt strange and dark places.” I can’t remember the exact quote, but it was along these lines.…
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Instilling A Sense Of Security By Taking Action
Captain Adolf Von Schell was a veteran German officer of the First World War. In 1914 he first served in Belgium, then saw extensive action on the eastern front in both Romania and the Russian border. After the end of the conflict in 1918, he stayed in the army; he was even sent to one…
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You Need Redundancy And Back-Up Systems
From the years 540 to 562, the Eastern Roman Empire under Justinian was engaged in a drawn out struggle against the Sassanid Persians under Chosroes (Khosrow). This contest is usually called the “Persian War.” Many illuminating incidents that happened during this conflict I have used in previous articles here. Another one highlights the need for…
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The Vengeance Of The Wife Of Orgiago
This story is found in Giovanni Boccaccio’s On Famous Women (De mulieribus claris). The same qualities of greatness of soul (magnitudo animi and munificentia animi) and moral character that make men great also serve the same purpose for women, as I have recounted in these pages many times before. It is right, then, for us…
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The Shortness Of Life, And The Second Death
There is a passage in Cicero’s treatise Tusculan Disputations I was thinking about today while driving home from work. The passage begins as a parable, then closes with a glorious invocation to action. Cicero makes an analogy from nature observed near the River Hypanis, then draws some conclusions from that analogy. He says:
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The Ointment Of Abu Ayyub
It is unwise to incur the wrath of a powerful man if such a situation may be avoided. Sometimes it can; other times it cannot. Even being in the proximity of power can be perilous, as authority has a way of coloring everything in its field of vision with suspicion. An illustration of this principle…
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Sunday Movie Roundup (12/4/2016)
I haven’t seen many movies since my last roundup post here, but I did catch a few. Here are the details. The overall results are good, with one misfire starring George Clooney.
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The H2 Sierra From Delta2Alpha: A Very Impressive Knife
Last week I was excited to have delivered to my office Delta2Alpha’s premier folding blade, the H2 Sierra. My first impression after unpacking it was this: this is an impressive, serious blade. What I mean is that you can just tell this knife was made by serious people, for serious people. It is not some…
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James Webb On The Fighting Abilities Of The Viet Cong And NVA
Veterans of the Vietnam War have strong opinions of the fighting qualities of their adversaries. Some of them are open in their admiration for the enemy; other less so, even to the point of contempt. Some veterans consider them to be masters of deception, discipline, and skill; others scorn such talk as propaganda fueled by…
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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