S5.17 “This is just doing biz.”
The Devil's Broker: Seeking Gold, God, And Glory In 14th Century Italy
By Frances Stonor Saunders
This is the bold story of Sir John Hawkwood, English knight turned mercenary general, who alternately besieged and protected Italy’s richest city states in the late fourteenth century, leading the Italians to conclude that “the Devil is an Englishman.” Brilliant and drivingly readable, The Devil’s Broker recreates a complex man and a fascinating era.
Lord of War (film)
A crime-drama film by Andrew Niccol. The plot follows an unscrupulous Ukrainian-American man named Yuri Orlov (portrayed by Nicolas Cage) as he participates in the global arms trafficking industry in the years preceding and succeeding the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
“Putin's chef”
Yevgeny Prigozhin was a Russian oligarch who led the Wagner Group and was a close confidant of Putin until launching a rebellion in June 2023. He died in a “suspcious” plane crash in August 2023.
Photo via Ul Pravda TV
Battle of San Romano by Paolo Uccello
A triptych depicting the Battle of San Romano in 1432, was a major breakthrough in the history of art. It appears on about a million books about medievalism, and in the background of The Borgias.
The Steerswomen Series by Rosemary Kirstein
It is sooooooo frustrating that this was planned to be a 7 book series and there's still only 4 books.
The Integral Trees
By Larry Niven
Five hundred years after abandoning an intersteller ship, the descendants of the Discipline crew living on the Smoke Ring no longer remember their origins. Earth is more myth than memory.
The Cyberiad by Stanislaw Lem
First published in 1965, a brilliantly funny collection of stories for the next age, from the celebrated author of Solaris.
Labyrinths by Jorge Luis Borges
A collection of short stories and essays, including “The Garden of Forking Paths”, which inspired actual hedge mazes in San Rafael and Venice. Maybe even more in alternate timelines?
The Mona Lisa Curse
The Mona Lisa Curse presents art critic Robert Hughes’ perspective on the transformation of the art world over the past half-century. Hughes argues that the 1963 American tour of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa marked a pivotal moment in art history, initiating what he terms a “curse” on the art world.
Internet Archive
“The Wayback Machine” is non-profit library of millions of free texts, movies, software, music, websites, and more.
“It's not the fall that kills you...”
Falling is a 1998 simultaneous/real-time card game. The last player to hit the Ground wins.