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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…
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Honoring One’s Word, And The Power Of Fate
The minister Al Rabi’ Ibn Yunus (الربيع بن يونس) lived from about A.D. 730 to 785 and served the Abbasid caliphs Al Mansur and his successor Al Mahdi. Amusing and instructive anecdotes have come down to us from the medieval Arabic historians about the interactions of the minister with his sovereigns. We will relate two…
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An Epitaph For Fidel Castro: The Failure Of Self-Mastery
He was from youth a strong-willed and charismatic man, certain of the correctness of his ideas and the importance of his mission. It is probably true that in the beginning he genuinely wanted the best for his country, and he was possessed of a burning desire to right the wrongs he saw all around him. Cuba…
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Homesickness And “Saudade” (Podcast)
We deal with two related subjects in this podcast. One is the topic of homesickness. What is it? How can it be dealt with? We also discuss the elusive concept of saudade, and how it can be a powerful emotional force.
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An Unexpected Consequence Of The Crusades
On the subject of the results of the Crusades, much has been written. The effects were profound and stimulating, practically too numerous to be mentioned here. At that time, Europe was behind the East in arts, knowledge, and refinement. Edward Gibbon tells us:
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The Three Things That Deflect Us From Love
Several days ago I received a warm email from a young guy in Brooklyn who had read one of my recent articles here. The story, told in the form of a fable, underscored the importance of taking the initiative in matters of love. His questions were these: How do I know when to take the…
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The Fate Of A Collaborator
At one point in the Gothic War during the reign of Justinian, the Romans (or as we would now call them, “Byzantines”) under Belisarius were besieging a Gothic garrison at the town of Osimo in Italy. The blockade of the town was very effective, and the inhabitants had been reduced to eating almost anything to…
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A Bit Of Bedroom Wisdom
The biographer Ibn Khallikan tells the following amusing anecdote about the Abbasid caliph Al-Mu’tadid (المعتضد بالله). He lived from about 860 to 902 A.D. The story makes the point that one must be decisive in matters of love and seduction. To hesitate with a beautiful woman can be ruinous.
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Herman Melville’s “The Confidence Man: His Masquerade”
The Confidence-Man was Herman Melville’s last novel. By some weird cosmic joke it was (perhaps suitably) published on April Fools’ Day in 1857. It is a difficult and in some ways ambiguous work, but yields up rich rewards for those willing to stay in the race to the end.
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Unusual Battle Injuries In Ancient Combat
The historian Procopius relates some unusual combat injuries of the Gothic War, which took place from 535 to 554 A.D. as part of the emperor Justinian’s attempt to bring back the Italic peninsula and its environs back into the Roman fold. A few incidents stand out as worth of relation here. In our modern age…
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Sunday Movie Roundup (11/13/2016)
I didn’t post any reviews last week because I didn’t have any time to watch movies. I did have some time this week. Here are the results.
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We Don’t Know The Struggles That Other People Have (Podcast)
A recent experience reminded me that we often don’t appreciate the struggles that others have gone through, or the burdens that they may be carrying. Perspective is one of the first lessons of philosophy, and we should make an effort to get outside our own skin and see things from the perspectives of others. Being…
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Any City Can Be Taken
Any fortress can be stormed, and any city can be taken. It is a matter of using the correct tactics, combined with daring and imaginative leadership. Some citadels fall to guile, and others to brute force; still others yield to a combination of the two. We will consider the fall of Naples, an event that…
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Essential Clam Chowder
There are two foundational chowder recipes to be familiar with: fish chowder and clam chowder. We have already dealt with fish chowder in an earlier article, and will now talk about its sibling relation. The clam chowder I know best is the classic New England clam (or quahog) chowder; this recipe was adapted from one…
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How To Foil A Psychic
Abu Ma’ashar al-Balkhi (A.D. 787-886) was a Persian philosopher and astrologer who flourished during the time of the Abbasid Caliphate in Baghdad. Educated in the usual manner of his day with logic, jurisprudence, rhetoric, and the religious sciences, he turned to astrology late in life at the age of 47. We cannot quite call him…
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“Vanity Of Vanities, All Is Vanity”
Gelimer lived from about 480 to 550 A.D. and was the ruler of the Vandal kingdom in North Africa for four years from 530 to 534. The emperor Justinian aspired to restore Roman control over the region, and to this end sent his general Belisarius to expel the barbarian trespassers. This he did. Gelimer was…
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On Chowder
I grew up in southeastern Massachusetts. I’ve heard now that they have some hifalutin name for the area; they call it the “south coast.” Christ. What a lot of marketing nonsense. In the early 1980s nobody used “south coast” for anything. Anyone trying to would probably gotten smacked on principle alone. But that’s where I’m…
Original copy of Cicero’s De Officiis (On Duties) published in Holland in 1642. From the collection of Fortress of the Mind.
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