Episodios

  • S8 Ep115: Dallas, Magpies, and Cockatoo Villains Jeremy Zakis Jeremy Zakis reports that his 11-year-old spoodle, Dallas, continues to be a friend to magpies and other birds, whose non-threatening demeanor makes them comfortable. Meanwhile, the "villain" cockatoos r

    S8 Ep115: Dallas, Magpies, and Cockatoo Villains Jeremy Zakis Jeremy Zakis reports that his 11-year-old spoodle, Dallas, continues to be a friend to magpies and other birds, whose non-threatening demeanor makes them comfortable. Meanwhile, the "villain" cockatoos r
    Nov 23 2025
    Dallas, Magpies, and Cockatoo Villains

    Jeremy Zakis

    Jeremy Zakis reports that his 11-year-old spoodle, Dallas, continues to be a friend to magpies and other birds, whose non-threatening demeanor makes them comfortable. Meanwhile, the "villain" cockatoos remain nearby, having recently ripped nails out of a neighbor's roof. The neighbor repaired and reinforced the roof, but the cockatoos watched, seemingly sizing up the new protection as a challenge.
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    8 m
  • S8 Ep115: The Ashes Cricket Debate Jeremy Zakis Australia decisively won the first Ashes test by eight wickets against England in Perth. England's aggressive "Baz" batting strategy, aimed at hitting long balls, spectacularly backfired on the quick, hot pitch, resul

    S8 Ep115: The Ashes Cricket Debate Jeremy Zakis Australia decisively won the first Ashes test by eight wickets against England in Perth. England's aggressive "Baz" batting strategy, aimed at hitting long balls, spectacularly backfired on the quick, hot pitch, resul
    Nov 23 2025
    The Ashes Cricket Debate

    Jeremy Zakis

    Australia decisively won the first Ashes test by eight wickets against England in Perth. England's aggressive "Baz" batting strategy, aimed at hitting long balls, spectacularly backfired on the quick, hot pitch, resulting in the quickest English team exit in Ashes history. Australia secured the win by shifting to a conservative, defensive style of play.
    1928
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    8 m
  • S8 Ep115: DIY Snake Catching Classes Emerge Jeremy Zakis Due to a massive snake population boom and a forthcoming shortage of retiring professionals, a new industry offering DIY snake wrangling training has emerged in Australia. Courses, like one run by Dr. Christi

    S8 Ep115: DIY Snake Catching Classes Emerge Jeremy Zakis Due to a massive snake population boom and a forthcoming shortage of retiring professionals, a new industry offering DIY snake wrangling training has emerged in Australia. Courses, like one run by Dr. Christi
    Nov 23 2025
    DIY Snake Catching Classes Emerge

    Jeremy Zakis

    Due to a massive snake population boom and a forthcoming shortage of retiring professionals, a new industry offering DIY snake wrangling training has emerged in Australia. Courses, like one run by Dr. Christina Zenck in Queensland, teach people to safely handle dangerous species, such as brown snakes, using specialized snare poles. This training is crucial because killing protected snakes is illegal.
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    8 m
  • S8 Ep115: Cyclone Fenina Headed for Darwin Jeremy Zakis Cyclone Fenina, described as a one-in-twenty-year monster with 160 mph winds and a 200-mile width, is tracking toward Darwin, Northern Territory. Evacuation advice has been issued but not a mandatory order. Af

    S8 Ep115: Cyclone Fenina Headed for Darwin Jeremy Zakis Cyclone Fenina, described as a one-in-twenty-year monster with 160 mph winds and a 200-mile width, is tracking toward Darwin, Northern Territory. Evacuation advice has been issued but not a mandatory order. Af
    Nov 23 2025
    Cyclone Fenina Headed for Darwin

    Jeremy Zakis

    Cyclone Fenina, described as a one-in-twenty-year monster with 160 mph winds and a 200-mile width, is tracking toward Darwin, Northern Territory. Evacuation advice has been issued but not a mandatory order. After hitting the coast, it is expected to dissipate rapidly over the sparse interior. This weather system is pushing hot, humid, stormy air down Australia's east coast, including New South Wales.
    1915 DARWIN
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    9 m
  • S8 Ep114: The Fall of Communism: Top-Down Collapse and the Legacy of Violence in Modern Russia Professor Sean McMeekin The final segment discusses the collapse of communist regimes in 1989, contending that these regimes generally did not fall because of a rising f

    S8 Ep114: The Fall of Communism: Top-Down Collapse and the Legacy of Violence in Modern Russia Professor Sean McMeekin The final segment discusses the collapse of communist regimes in 1989, contending that these regimes generally did not fall because of a rising f
    Nov 23 2025

    1. The Fall of Communism: Top-Down Collapse and the Legacy of Violence in Modern Russia
    Professor Sean McMeekin

    The final segment discusses the collapse of communist regimes in 1989, contending that these regimes generally did not fall because of a rising from the bottom. Instead, the collapse was largely top-down, driven by the disappearance of Soviet coercion or inside palace coups, such as the one that overthrew the Ceaușescus in Romania or the mutiny that lined the armed forces up behind Yeltsin in Russia. In modern Russia, there is a hybrid system that includes statism, control of media, and nostalgia for the Soviet period and Stalin's legacy as a "builder" and "conqueror," but it has jettisoned Lenin and full communism. The core thesis reaffirmed is that extreme violence is the predicate for the communist vision.
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    8 m
  • S8 Ep114: The conversation moves back to the USSR with Nikita Khrushchev's 1956 Secret Speech, which led to disruption in Eastern Europe. The Cuban Missile Crisis (1962) is analyzed as an act of traditional great power politics driven by the desire to prove Soviet

    S8 Ep114: The conversation moves back to the USSR with Nikita Khrushchev's 1956 Secret Speech, which led to disruption in Eastern Europe. The Cuban Missile Crisis (1962) is analyzed as an act of traditional great power politics driven by the desire to prove Soviet
    Nov 23 2025
    The conversation moves back to the USSR with Nikita Khrushchev's 1956 Secret Speech, which led to disruption in Eastern Europe. The Cuban Missile Crisis (1962) is analyzed as an act of traditional great power politics driven by the desire to prove Soviet superiority and overturn the strategic balance in intercontinental ballistic missiles. The 1979 invasion of Afghanistan is highlighted as a remarkable mistake that undermined détente and gave the United States an opportunity to pressure the USSR. Mikhail Gorbachev attempted to reform and reinvigorate Soviet communism based on a close reading of Marx and Lenin, but failed because he did not understand that the system was not popular and rested entirely on force.
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    12 m
  • S8 Ep114: The Nihilism of the Red Guards and Mao's International Maneuvers Professor Sean McMeekin

    S8 Ep114: The Nihilism of the Red Guards and Mao's International Maneuvers Professor Sean McMeekin
    Nov 23 2025
    1. The Nihilism of the Red Guards and Mao's International Maneuvers
    Professor Sean McMeekin
    This segment explores the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (1966) and the Red Guards, characterized by a "radical cult of youth" and a nihilistic side of communism involving the destruction of urbane, literate civilization and turning against education, books, professors, the elderly, and foreigners. During this time, there was severe tension between Moscow and Beijing in the Sino-Soviet split. Mao utilized the Soviet Union as a useful enemy to demonize and scapegoat opponents internally, while using geopolitical maneuvering—such as coziness with Romania and the eventual opening to the United States—to punch above his weight internationally.
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    6 m
  • S8 Ep114: The focus shifts to Mao Zedong and Chinese communism, which was highly influenced by sharp anti-imperialism and xenophobia, blending the Marxist binary struggle with resentment of foreign exploitation. After Stalin's death, Mao began to "experiment," resu

    S8 Ep114: The focus shifts to Mao Zedong and Chinese communism, which was highly influenced by sharp anti-imperialism and xenophobia, blending the Marxist binary struggle with resentment of foreign exploitation. After Stalin's death, Mao began to "experiment," resu
    Nov 23 2025
    The focus shifts to Mao Zedong and Chinese communism, which was highly influenced by sharp anti-imperialism and xenophobia, blending the Marxist binary struggle with resentment of foreign exploitation. After Stalin's death, Mao began to "experiment," resulting in the Great Leap Forward, which aimed to rapidly "catch up and surpass the West" by radically overturning agriculture and simultaneously industrializing. This chaotic effort, including the collectivization of agriculture and communal organization, led to a vast famine that caused the deaths of tens of millions of people.
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    11 m