The game of chess is not supposed to be a realistic simulation of a battle. But, on one point, it may provide a fundamental hint: wars are mostly a question of command and control. Killing or neutralizing the leader (the king) may cause the collapse of the country’s military forces…

I received several comments on my post “The Shanghai Lockdown: a Memetic Analysis,” and I think that some were so interesting to be worth reproducing in a full-fledged post. The first comment comes from an anonymous commenter living in China. It seems to me believable, and also consistent with my…

Propaganda and the Fall of the Western Empire This painting by Konstantin Vasiliev (1942–1976) celebrates the great patriotic war of 1941–1945 (Вели́кая Оте́чественная война́). It is a good example of Soviet propaganda at its best: sometimes it could produce stunningly beautiful images. But, on average, propaganda in the Soviet Union…

From “The Seneca Effect” US Secretary of the Treasury, Henry Morgenthau Jr., (1891–1967). He was the proposer of the “Morgenthau Plan” that would have turned post-war Germany into a purely agricultural region, exterminating tens of millions of Germans in the process. …

Meeting the Goddess Gaia in a Supermarket, Italy. Frankly, as a mystical experience, it left much to be desired. ________________________________________________ The Martyrdom of Cyprianus On September 13, 258, Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, was imprisoned on the orders of the new proconsul, Galerius Maximus. …

An Italian fighter plane (note the “fasci” symbols on the wings) shot down in England in November 1940 during the bombing campaign mounted by the Italian Air Force during WW2 (source). Sending obsolete biplanes with open cockpits against the modern British Spitfires is one of the most glaring examples of…

What is religion, exactly? Hieratic monks singing their hymns? Fanatics performing human sacrifices? Old ladies praying the rosary? Pentecostals speaking in tongues? It is all that and more. Religions are not old superstitions, but part of the way the human mind works. They are communication tools designed to build empathy…

This painting by Konstantin Vasiliev (1942–1976) celebrates the great patriotic war of 1941–1945 (Вели́кая Оте́чественная война́). It is a good example of Soviet propaganda at its best: sometimes it could produce stunningly beautiful images. But, on average, propaganda in the Soviet Union was primitive and heavily based on censorship, eventually…

Liliana Lippi, my mother in law, died last month at 101. You see her in a picture taken for her 101th birthday, last July. with her two daughters and her son. She also had four grandchildren and two great-granddaughters. What was the secret of her long life? …