2026-01-25 Sunday - A Worthy Meditation in these Dark Times - The Diary of Anne Frank

 

 

 

 

A reading by Winona Ryder...

 

2026-01-24 Sat - Winter Storm Fern

Today's meditations:

01:00 

It is 6F outside, as I write this... 

For the many who are hunkered down during Winter Storm Fern this weekend, many experiencing sub-zero temperatures...I just have this one thought to share with you: 
 

It is 28F at McMurdo Station, Antarctica. 
 

I am questioning my life choices - and wondering why the hell am I not in Costa Rica - on the deck of a sailboat, or at least sipping some adult beverages on a beach. 

 

A fitting quote for starting the 2026 new year...

 I don't know what this year holds in store, but as Matthew Quigley so eloquently said: 

"I don't know where we're going, but there's no use being late." 🤣

IMDB: Quigley Down Under (1990)

Librivox: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - by Edward Gibbon

Links to audio recordings via Librivox, on archive.org

The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (volumes 1-6)

by Edward Gibbon

 

1. The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Vol. I 
2. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol. II 
3. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol. III 
4. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol. IV 
5. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Vol. V 
6. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Vol. VI 

 

The Kindle version of the book is avaialble on Amazon for $0.99 (as of 2026-01-05 Mon)

•  The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

Quotes:

• https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_History_of_the_Decline_and_Fall_of_the_Roman_Empire 

 

There is a 1964 film, The Fall of the Roman Empire

• https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058085/ 
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fall_of_the_Roman_Empire_(film) 
• https://www.amazon.com/Fall-Roman-Empire-Anthony-Mann/dp/B0DH8JT7TK/

 

Noteworthy: 

• Winston Churchill:
• https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_History_of_the_Decline_and_Fall_of_the_Roman_Empire#About 
• "I set out upon...Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire [and] was immediately dominated both by the story and the style....I devoured Gibbon. I rode triumphantly through it from end to end and enjoyed it all." 
• Winston Churchill, My Early Life: A Roving Commission (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1958) ,also quoted in "Winston Churchill: Sketch for a Portrait" in George Lichtheim,Thoughts Among the Ruins: Collected essays on Europe and beyond. (Transaction Publishers, 1973) 
• https://winstonchurchill.org/the-life-of-churchill/young-soldier/1896-1900/winter-1896-97-age-22/ 
• In his 20s, Winston Churchill devoured Edward Gibbon's monumental work,The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, as a young officer in India. 
• https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/edward-gibbon-and-empire/winston-churchill-and-gibbon/10FF682F1FC3DFC5124F1B890FF71B23 
• "Winston Churchill decided to read The decline and fall of the Roman Empire at the age of twenty, in 1895. At that time he was a cavalry subaltern at Aldershot and he thought it would be more agreeable to read Gibbon than to pile up statistics. His resolve was strengthened by the advice of his old headmaster at Harrow: ‘Gibbon is the greatest of historians, read him all through.’ Churchill began reading Dean Milman's eight-volume edition of Decline and fall in the summer of 1896. He was then posted, with his regiment, to Bangalore, in India, where he read Gibbon lying on his champoy during the after lunch siesta" 

 

 

Chivalry is Not Dead - nor Forgotten

"One For All." 

"And All For One."

"So Say We All"

 

The first two lines are from 'The Three Musketers', by Alexandre Dumas (Novelist · playwright, 1829–1869; published in 1844).  The story takes place between 1625 and 1628.

The 1993 film adaptation is a favorite.

The last line is from Battlestar Galactica (2004-2009) a science fiction series - which was ad-libbed by Edward James Olmos, in his role as Commander Adama. 

The test that always applies: "Is the cause just?"

Are you perhaps familiar with the story of 'Quentin Durward'?
A historical novel by Sir Walter Scott (Scottish novelist · poet ·  historian, 1771-1832; published in 1823). The story takes place in the year 1468, as the age of chivalry is passing away,

The 1955 film adaptation is a favorite.

By a happenstance of the greatest serendipity...just before I was about to shutdown my computer for the night, I came across this brief video, which contains this brilliant wisdom from Terry Pratchett:

"You need to believe in things that aren't true... how else can they become?"  

These are words that I needed to hear, now, in this moment...