man cave

BLDGBlog shares an interesting feature article on the system of subterranean warehouses and supply-dens that the US has catacombed in Norway and other places on the periphery of the American Military Empire and the challenges for accounting for all these hidden stashes, that allow the military to deploy anywhere in the world at a moment’s notice with front-loaded equipage. In characteristic fashion, BLDGBlog also shares some clever and insightful commentary on the exercise, speculating that it is akin to the pharaohs including all the comforts and luxury of the living in their tombs—or of a back-up copy of France being created in China.
Formerly, during the land-grabs and claim-jumping of the colonial powers, control of remote lands, like Diego Garcia, Saint Helena, Tristan da Cunha, the Falklands, Gibraltar, Hawaii, Alaska and countless guano-islands for refueling, shore-leave and to maintain a sphere of influence—all of which seems a bit more adoring (if less invasive) than something hidden and under perpetual lease.

it happened on the way to the forum: opiate for the masses

After the divine disappearance of Rome's founder and first king, the quite polar-opposite figure of Numa Pompilius was elected as monarch.

This tradition of nominating kings, though absolute rulers for life, and sometimes reluctant ones, is a marked statement in the fable of Rome, as opposed to hereditary rule and divine-right, which seemed to court disaster among other nations. Numa's vastly different vision and direction also offers some explanation for the Romans' pathetic beginnings. Sabine by birth, maybe as an apology for abducting the tribe's women and compared to Romulus, Numa was an a disciplined æsthetic soul. Being called out of retirement and much content to take long walks in the countryside and converse with the gods, the new king sought to turn the fledgling city away from battle and towards peace and introspection, culling a concord that lasted throughout his reign until the posture of Rome suffered another inversion.

Drawing from influences from the Greeks and the Etruscans to the north, Numa created the Roman religion and embellished the panoply with superstition and ritual that were to endure throughout the Roman civilisation. To occupy the standing-army that Romulus had created and to placate the populace, Numa invented a host of obligations and prestigious offices, including that of the the chief priest, Pontifex Maximus (the great bridge-builder, which is a title that the popes of Rome carry to this day), calendar reform and the cults of useful gods, like Terminus, the god of boundaries, and Janus, the two faced deity of war and peace that looked forwards and backwards.  Numa's institution were enduring and the following semi-legendary kings of Rome, seven in all, contributed to the Roman ideal and waxed between war and peace, until Lucius Tarquinis Superbus (the Proud) whose abuses caused the citizenry to reject all monarchs and spurred the creation of the republic, though far from democratic in its practices—though kept together in part due to inherited piety.

know thy selfie

Writing for Aeon magazine, philosopher Simon Blackburn delivers a thorough and thoughful analysis on the differences among vanity, narcissism and self-esteem and the interplay that too often results from the misapprehension of one for another. Bravery to do the needful is one thing—else we would too easily wither away from those challenges that we ought to confront, but the hubris that comes with never courting any real resistance or dissent is quite another, and particularly treacherous when it comes to assaying those things that are not instantly condemned or applauded, like leadership and relationships. Rather than acknowledging that pride and over-confidence has made us prone for a fall, praise for ourselves and for those kindred—who'll echo that praise, quickly turns into arrogance. If the first few sentences were not scathing enough, the spectres of all the great thinkers of the past become an absolute haunt, hopefully to disabuse us from our vanities—not for accomplishment but for admiration. What do you think? Does the medium rather make something harmless—or even invert them into something of a vulnerable catharsis?

everything zen

Free to download, there is an engaging application meant, rather than provide another distraction, to sharpen one's focus and induce relaxation—perhaps mindfulness, through zen exercises in the form of bio-feedback. I think that this is something worth a try. ॐ