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? Probably not a…

Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth…

One of the 16th century reliefs still existing at the monastery of “San Vivaldo,” in Tuscany. It is an example of purely image-based communication: an attempt to tell complex concepts, the stories of the gospels, to people who couldn’t read. It was a failure, but also a remarkably innovative approach…

I have no objections to the idea that God (or the Goddess) can speak to people. And maybe the Lord really spoke to the apostles the day of Pentecost. But if you plan to fool other people, then “speaking in tongues” (known also as “glossolalia” in modern terms) can be…

You probably saw the Hitler clip from the 2004 movie “Downfall.” And you may have noticed the detail of Hitler’s left hand trembling out of control. It is based on historical data: Hitler’s hand was really trembling in that way, a typical symptom of Parkinson’s disease. And he was also…

We are not in the Holocene Anymore, Toto….. — From: “The Proud Holobionts,” July 27, 2021 An image from the 2006 movie “The Meltdown,” the second of the “Ice Ages” series. These movies attempted to present a picture of Earth during the Pleistocene. Of course, they were not supposed to be paleontology classes, but they did show the megafauna…