The History of Stocks and Stock Exchanges

The History of Stocks and Stock Exchanges

Podcast Transcript A little over 400 years ago, a group of Dutch investors had a revolutionary idea.  They were embarking on an incredibly risky endeavor, and to spread the risk, they were going to share ownership of the new venture.  Even better, each part of the ownership in this venture could be bought and sold …

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Young Julius Caesar

Young Julius Caesar

Podcast Transcript Before the Ideas of March, before he crossed the Rubicon, and before he became Rome’s dictator for life, Julius Caesar had led a very interesting existence.  We know more about his early life than most Romans simply because of his accomplishments later in life, but what he did and experienced clearly shaped the …

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Homing Pigeons

Homing Pigeons

Podcast Transcript Before the development of electricity and electronic communications, the fastest information could travel was the speed of a horse. Maybe a ship might have been a bit faster depending on the route, but for the most part, the speed of information was limited to the speed of a human.  However, there was one …

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The History of the CIA

The History of the CIA

Podcast Transcript The United States federal agency charged with gathering foreign intelligence is the Central Intelligence Agency or the CIA. The CIA is tasked with gathering, processing, and analyzing national security information as well as conducting covert action and clandestine operations.  It was created in the shadow of the Second World War and became one …

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The Domain Name System

The Domain Name System

Podcast Transcript Behind almost every web page, email address, and podcast is a system that translates addresses understandable by humans to something that can be understood by computers.  The system is one of the foundations of the Internet, yet its origin was in a handmade list that was placed on a single computer.  Unbeknownst to …

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The History of Military Ranks

The History of Military Ranks

Podcast Transcript Every military in the world is a hierarchal organization. There are people at the top who make decisions, people down below who follow those orders, and people in between who make it happen.  Today, most militaries have an elaborate rank structure with multiple ranks in the chain of command.  However, it wasn’t always …

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What’s the Deal With Daylight Savings?

What's the Deal With Daylight Savings?

Transcript Every year, around this time, people who live in northern latitude countries turn their clocks ahead one hour. Then, months later, we do the exact same thing in reverse, setting all of our clocks back.  Why do we do this? Is there a good reason for it? Should we continue to do it?  Learn …

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The Legend of Ned Kelly

The Legend of Ned Kelly

Podcast Transcript In the late 19th century, the American frontier became famous for its outlaws and gangsters. Men like Billy the Kid and Jesse James became notorious for their criminal exploits. While this was happening in the American West, there were similar outlaws in the Australian bush.  One, in particular, has captured the imagination of …

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