Joined January 2012
- Tweets 16,620
- Following 325
- Followers 54,906
- Likes 27,060
1,326 Photos and videos
Pinned Tweet
22 Apr 2022
If I can ask you sweet people for 3 minutes of your time, please listen to this insanely beautiful version of the classic WWII partisan song 'Bella Ciao' arranged by the great @ulisesbella and sung by my daughter. Please 'like' and 'subscribe.'
#25aprile
youtube.com/watch?v=MISZDPuT…
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May 27
Often, successful people pontificate about the hard work, talent and discipline at the roots of their success. All those things are certainly important, but they are far from sufficient. 1/2
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May 27
But, of course, it’s hard to peddle self-help books or a motivational speaking gig if we acknowledge this reality
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May 27
When Jack London was asked how he had managed to become so insanely popular, he had the honesty to put something else at the top of the list. Number one on his list was: “Vast good luck.” Without this key ingredient, as Metallica would say, nothing else matters. 2/2
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May 22
My daughter has a new single out! If you could do me a favor and give it a listen on Spotify, it'd be deeply appreciated:
open.spotify.com/track/3k5gr…
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May 18
New episode of History on Fire is out:
This is a story about politics, faith, paranoia, betrayal and conspiracy theories. More specifically, this is about the origin of the French wars of religion. 1/5
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May 18
We’ll consider the fate of Count Sebastiano de Montecuccoli, who was accused of poisoning the heir to the throne so he was tied to four horses sent running in opposite directions. 4/5
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May 18
We’ll chat about Henry II who sent his 13-year-old to marry an enemy of the country, and then managed to die at a joust during her wedding celebrations. And of course, much, much more. 5/5
historyonfirepodcast.com/epi…
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May 12
At times I stumble on a review mentioning how much they hate my accent. I'm 99% sure their friends made fun of them as kids because they sucked at playing Super Mario. Or their mama had a thing going with the Pizza Man. And listening to me brings back those painful memories
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May 10
New essay on Substack about heroic literature, and the power of storytelling. Link in comments
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May 8
Video of the week. Evil tourist throws a giant rock at a monk seal in Hawaii. One of the locals appropriately points out to him the error of his ways: instagram.com/reel/DYBckxMPX…
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May 4
Current plan:
1. A translation of the Tao Te Ching by yours truly coming out in June
2. A historical fiction about the life of Caravaggio coming out in Italy in September and in English in November
3. A new podcast about Roman history making its debut probably in September.
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May 1
Currently doing a deep dive about the insanity that was the history of the Philippines in the late 1500s. 1/4
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May 1
Then, you have Portugal and Spain nearly clashing. Spaniards (and all their various allies) clashing with the Islamic Sultanate of Brunei, which received help from the Ottoman Empire in the form of soldiers from Egypt, Sudan, Turkey, India and a bunch of other places. 3/4
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Apr 27
Bonus episode for the sweet people supporting my work financially on my Substack and Patreon. 1/3
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Apr 27
The murder of the father of Japanese pro-wrestling, the tale of a dueling dwarf in the 1600s, and a peculiar form of bare-knuckle dueling very popular in the south of the U.S. in the 18th and 19th centuries which included biting, eye gouging and… ouch… testicle ripping. 3/3
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Apr 27
Recently, I was working on a full-length episode about the history of duels, and the culture surrounding them. Today, I’d like to share with you some stories that didn’t make it into the final episode, but are too good not to use. 2/3
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