Book of July: Cyril Kornbluth
Cyril Kornbluth was a popular science fiction writer of the 50’s and 60’s, and a frequent collaborator with the somewhat better known Frederick Pohl.
Category: Access
The Prince: Conclusion
Machiavelli had to walk a thin and twisting line, balancing his love of republican liberty with the practical realities of an Italy engulfed in strife between the regional powers and the periodic invasions of Barbarians.
Tuscan Convivium
Our next program abroad is scheduled to begin roughly, for Oct 16/17 and will last 7 days with the possibility of additional days in Rome.
History of Florence, I: Beginnings
The history of Florence, as rich in deeds of violence as in creative works of imagination, affords serious people much food for thought, not all of it of the pleasant sort that encourages optimism about human nature
Wednesday’s Child: The Diogenes Conjecture
Of the many, possibly apocryphal, stories about Diogenes, I like the one where he came to visit Plato bearing a basket of figs, which everybody in Athens knew were the man’s favorite snack. Diogenes meant to treat him to a few figs in the basket, but instead Plato wolfed down the lot, leaving none for Diogenes and leading him to exclaim: “You just can’t control the animal in you! And you call yourself a philosopher?”
Learn Italian Lesson 4
In this lesson we learn how to talk about things around the house, review definite article and the verb to be, and get introduced to some descriptive adjectives that should be immediately useful.
Bidendämmerung: Twilight of the Biden: Meltdown at Debate vs. Trump: #swapJoeout
His performance confirmed this was a setup. His handlers set this earliest debate ever to display his decrepitude. The NY Times headlined online just a couple hours after the event, “Democrats Talk About Replacing Biden on the Ticket.”
Siena III: The Legacy
But beyond commercial rivalry and the Guelph/Ghibelline feud, there is the fact that all these little Tuscan cities–especially Siena–were ferociously competitive, both internally and with rival cities. They competed not just for commercial domination and military might, but also for beauty.
