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I can see the opening now: Black screen with off-white Greek script that spins into English. "In the time of Marcus Aurelius, the Roman writer Lucian of Samosata wrote A True History. This is that story." The black fades to the wine-dark sea near Gibraltar and sounds of a creaking wooden boat.

Gruel is a truly unfortunate name for a chef.

My summer treat recently has been a decaf breakfast tea with a good amount of soy milk shaken over ice to give it a little froth. In other news, I'm reaching a frumpy middle age where mainlining sugar and caffeine causes me problems.

This is true, even if it has only been in the last decade or so that scholarship has begun to take the breadth of the overlaps seriously. There are differences in terms of how the concerns manifest, but that's no the same as saying they don't exist.

There are very few cheeses I don't like and what makes a cheese great is contextual, but a sharp, aged (Vermont) cheddar will alway be my number one.

I can't really blame the Romans in Ben Hur who interpret the roof tiles coming down on them as an attack. It might have been an accident, but we have quite a few accounts of people being killed by women throwing tiles from the top of buildings.

Truth, for students and for everyone else.

I'm always struck by the casts that films about antiquity can attract. Clive Owen and Kiera Knightley (coming off Pirates) headline, but also Mads Mikkelsen, Joel Edgerton, Stellen Skarsgård and a bunch of others who became more famous subsequently (Ray Stevenson, Stephen Dillane, etc.).

Antoine Fuqua's King Arthur (2004) is a thoroughly ridiculous film, but one of the funniest bits that the characters have their familiar Arthurian names from childhood, which is how you end up with a bunch of Scythians yelling "Lancelot!"

The Singularity as a individualized phenomenon. For Altman and OpenAI, yes. For most people, no.

I love that one of the vignettes of life in Alexandria in Agora (2009) shows three characters sitting in a Roman-style latrine, one of whom is idly holding the tersorium (sponge on a stick).

One thing I believe about Sam Altman is that AI intelligence may be outstripping his, but this says a lot more about him than it does about AI. Everything I read about the man suggests he’s eager to let AI outpace him, which creates a self-fulfilling prophecy.

"Before you touch me I must give you a warning. There is a reason why the Goddess of Love takes the form of a cat." "When I look at you I care nothing for cats or gods." "Look, Sinuhe. A cat's paws are soft, but they hide claws. A cat takes pleasure in tormenting its victims."

Judith Evelyn is pretty great as the queen mother Taia in The Egyptian—a sassy old lady who tells Sinuhe that she's been drinking beer since before he was born.

Being carried in a litter doesn't seem like a comfortable mode of travel. Too much jostling and swaying.

I reflect on my year without a summer break in my latest varia post, plus a roundup of Odyssey reviews, thoughts about technology, education, and more. joshuapnudell.com/2026/07/26/w...

Weekly Varia no. 192, 07/25/26My year without a summer, plus a round up of Odyssey reviews and thoughts about technology and education.joshuapnudell.com

Up to 91 degrees with a dew point of 81. I'll be spending most of today in my basement, I think.

We're back to vile weather after a reprieve of a few days. A short walk with the pup while it was still in the 80s and I'm drenched in sweat. Dew point is at 79, with the forecast calling for temps to climb to 98.