Podcasts about World War II

On 11 September 1985 in Mangualde, central Portugal, an express train collided head-on with a regional train killing an estimated 150 people.The impact destroyed both engines and the leaking diesel caught fire. Many of the bodies were unidentifiable after passengers who survived the collision were trapped in the wreckage and unable to escape the blaze and toxic fumes. An inquiry found both trains had been allowed to use the same single track line when the express should have had priority. A station master who realised the mistake was unable to contact the drivers in time. Most of the victims' remains are buried in a mass grave near the disaster site and a small chapel has now been built where memorial services take place every year.Jacqueline Paine speaks to former voluntary fire station Commander Américo Borges who was one of the first on the scene.Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by and curious about the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from how the Excel spreadsheet was developed, the creation of cartoon rabbit Miffy and how the sound barrier was broken.We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: the moment Reagan and Gorbachev met in Geneva, Haitian singer Emerante de Pradines' life and Omar Sharif's legendary movie entrance in Lawrence of Arabia.You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, like the invention of a stent which has saved lives around the world; the birth of the G7; and the meeting of Maldives' ministers underwater. We cover everything from World War Two and Cold War stories to Black History Month and our journeys into space.(Photo: Monument in memory of the Alcafache accident. Credit: Vitor Oliveira)

Inside London is a one-square-mile entity older than Parliament itself. It has its own mayor. Its own police. Its own flag. And a permanent representative embedded inside the British legislature who has never been elected.This is the City of London Corporation — and for centuries, it financed the British Empire.But when that empire collapsed after World War II, something unusual happened. The land empire ended. The financial empire didn't.In 1957, a quiet regulatory decision birthed the Eurodollar market — and the City reinvented itself as the center of global offshore banking. Using jurisdictions like Jersey, Cayman, and the British Virgin Islands, it built what researchers call "the spider's web": a hidden empire for moving capital outside normal regulation.The old empire ruled territory. The new empire rules liquidity.This episode investigates:• The medieval charter that still protects the Square Mile• The Remembrancer — the City's unelected agent inside Parliament• How the Eurodollar market rewired global finance• The birth of offshore banking and the spider's web• Why the British Empire didn't disappear — it went underground

Children grew up reading Roald Dahl's tales of giant peaches and chocolate factories. Adults know about the controversy surrounding the antisemitic statements he made in his later years. But before becoming one of the most successful children's authors of all time, Dahl worked for MI6, seducing Washington socialites and cozying up to the First Family. He did this to gather intelligence and exert influence for Winston Churchill in the early days of World War II. Writer Aaron Tracy delves into Dahl's complicated life in his new podcast, The Secret World of Roald Dahl, and sat down with Sasha to discuss Dahl's forays into espionage. Subscribe to Sasha's Substack, HUMINT, to get more intelligence stories: https://sashaingber.substack.com/ For more information about the International Spy Museum, visit:  https://www.spymuseum.org/ And if you have feedback or want to hear about a particular topic,  you can reach us by email at spycast@spymuseum.org. This show is brought to you by N2K Networks, Goat Rodeo, and the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC. This episode was produced by Flora Warshaw and the team at Goat Rodeo. At the International Spy Museum, Mike Mincey and Memphis Vaughan III are our video editors. Emily Rens is our graphic designer. Joshua Troemel runs our SPY social media. Amanda Ohlke is our Director of Adult Education and Mira Cohen is the Vice President of Programs.

A revolutionary hero or a brutal despot? Mao Zedong has one of the most recognisable portraits on Earth. How did he rise to become the founder of the People's Republic of China?  ** Binge all six episodes of the series on Chairman Mao by joining the Empire Club today at empirepoduk.com. ** A child born in a rural village, Mao hated the Confucian traditions he grew up with. He read profusely and rebelled against his father. But how did his early life shape him into the dictator he would become? William and Anita are joined by the brilliant Rana Mitter, author of A Bitter Revolution: China's Struggle with the Modern World, Modern China: A Very Short Introduction and China's War with Japan 1937-1945, The Struggle for Survival (or Forgotten Ally, China's World War II) to discuss the origin story of Mao Zedong.  Join the Empire Club: Unlock the full Empire experience – with bonus episodes, ad-free listening, early access to miniseries and live show tickets, exclusive book discounts, a members-only newsletter, and access to our private Discord chatroom. Sign up directly at empirepoduk.com  For more Goalhanger Podcasts, head to www.goalhanger.com. Email: empire@goalhanger.com Instagram: @empirepoduk Blue Sky: @empirepoduk X: @empirepoduk Editor: James Clayden Researcher: Imogen Marriott Assistant Producer: Alfie Norris Producer: Anouska Lewis Executive Producer: Dom Johnson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In 1960, as he headed home from military service, the King of Rock 'n' Roll made an unexpected stop at Prestwick Airport.It's believed to be the only time Elvis Presley is known to have set foot on British soil.It was only a brief visit, but for 16 year old Anne Murphy, watching him walk down the airplane steps is a memory that has never faded. More than six decades later, she tells Megan Jones what it was like to see Elvis up close.Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by and curious about the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from how the Excel spreadsheet was developed, the creation of cartoon rabbit Miffy and how the sound barrier was broken.We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: the moment Reagan and Gorbachev met in Geneva, Haitian singer Emerante de Pradines' life and Omar Sharif's legendary movie entrance in Lawrence of Arabia.You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, like the invention of a stent which has saved lives around the world; the birth of the G7; and the meeting of Maldives' ministers underwater. We cover everything from World War Two and Cold War stories to Black History Month and our journeys into space.(Photo: Elvis at Prestwick Airport, with Anne Murphy looking up at him. Credit: The Hollywood Archive via Alamy)

This week we talk about Anthropic, the Department of Defense, and OpenAI.We also discuss red lines, contracts, and lethal autonomous systems.Recommended Book: Empire of AI by Karen HaoTranscriptLethal autonomous weapons, often called lethal autonomous systems, autonomous weapons systems, or just ‘killer robots,' are military hardware that can operate independent of human control, searching for and engaging with targets based on their programming and thus not needing a human being to point it at things or pull the trigger.The specific nature and capabilities of these devices vary substantially from context to content, and even between scholars writing on the subject, but in general these are systems—be they aerial drones, heavy gun emplacements, some kind of mobile rocket launcher, or a human- or dog-shaped robot—that are capable of carrying out tasks and achieving goals without needing constant attention from a human operator.That's a stark contrast with drones that require either a human controlled or what's called a human-in-the-loop in order to make decisions. Some drones and other robots and weapons require full hands-on control, with a human steering them, pointing their weapons, and pulling the trigger, while others are semi-autonomous in that they can be told to patrol a given area and look for specific things, but then they reach out to a human-in-the-loop to make final decisions about whatever they want to do, including and especially weapon-related things; a human has to be the one to drop the bomb or fire the gun in most cases, today.Fully autonomous weapon systems, without a human in the loop, are far less common at this point, in part because it's difficult to create a system so capable that it doesn't require human intervention at times, but also because it's truly dangerous to create such a device.Modern artificial intelligence systems are incredibly powerful, but they still make mistakes, and just as an LLM-based chatbot might muddle its words or add extra fingers to a made-up person in an image it generates, or a step further, might fabricate research referenced in a paper it produces, an AI-controlled weapon system might see targets where there are no targets, or might flag a friendly, someone on its side, or a peaceful, noncombatant human, as a target. And if there's no human-in-the-loop to check the AI's understanding and correct it, that could mean a lot of non-targets being treated like targets, their lives ended by killer robots that gun them down or launch a missile at their home.On a larger scale, AI systems controlling arrays of weapons, or even entire militaries, becoming strategic commanders, could wipe out all human life by sparking a nuclear war.A recent study conducted at King's College London found that in simulated crises, across 21 scenarios, AI systems which thought they had control of nation-state-scale militaries opted for nuclear signaling, escalation, and tactical nuclear weapon use 95% of the time, never once across all simulations choosing to use one of the eight de-escalatory options that were made available to them.All of which suggests to the researchers behind this study that the norm, approaching the level of taboo, associated with nuclear weapons use globally since WWII, among humans at least, may not have carried over to these AI systems, and full-blown nuclear conflict may thus become more likely under AI-driven military conditions.What I'd like to talk about today is a recent confrontation between one AI company—Anthropic—and its client, the US Department of Defense, and the seeming implications of both this conflict, and what happened as a result.—In late-2024, the US Department of Defense—which by the way is still the official title, despite the President calling it the Department of War, since only Congress can change its name—the US DoD partnered with Anthropic to get a version of its Claude LLM-based AI model that could be used by the Pentagon.Anthropic worked with Palantir, which is a data-aggregation and surveillance company, basically, run by Peter Thiel and very favored by this administration, and Amazon Web Services, to make that Claude-for-the-US-military relationship happen, those interconnections allowing this version of the model to be used for classified missions.Anthropic received a $200 million contract with the Department of Defense in mid-2025, as did a slew of other US-based AI companies, including Google, xAI, and OpenAI. But while the Pentagon has been funding a bunch of US-based AI companies for this utility, only Claude was reportedly used during the early 2026 raid on Venezuela, during which now-former Venezuelan President Maduro was taken by US forces.Word on the street is that Claude is the only model that the Pentagon has found truly useful for these sorts of operations, though publicly they're saying that investments in all of these models have borne fruit, at least to some degree.So Anthropic's Claude model is being used for classified, military and intelligence purposes by the US government. Anthropic has been happy about this, by all accounts, because that's a fair bit of money, but also being used for these purposes by a government is a pretty big deal—if it's good enough for the US military, after all, many CEOs will see that as a strong indication that Claude is definitely good enough for their intended business purposes.On February 24 of 2026, though, the US Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth, threatened to remove Anthropic from the DoD's stable of AI systems that they use unless the company allowed the DoD to use Claude for any and all legal purposes—unrestricted use of the model, basically.This threat came with a timeline—accede to these demands by February 27 or be cut from the DoD's supply chain—and the day before that deadline, the 26th, Anthropic's CEO released a statement indicating that the company would not get rid of its red lines that delineated what Claude could and could not be used for, and on the 27th, US President Trump ordered that all US agencies stop using Anthropic tools, and said that he would declare the company a supply chain risk, which would make it illegal for any company doing business with the US government at any level and in any fashion to use Anthropic products or services—a label that's rarely used, and which was previously used by the Trump administration against Chinese tech giant Huawei on the basis that the company might insert spy equipment in communications hardware installed across the US if they were allowed to continue operating in the country.Those red lines that Anthropic's CEO said he wouldn't get rid of, not even for a client as big and important as the US government, and not even in the face of threats by Hegseth, including that he might invoke the Defense Production Act, which would allow him to force the company to allow the Pentagon to use Claude however they like, or Trumps threat that the company be blacklisted from not just the government, but from working with a significant chunk of Fortune 500 companies, those red lines include not allowing Claude to be used for controlling autonomous weapon systems, killer robots, basically, and not allowing Claude to be used for surveilling US citizens.The Pentagon signed a contract with Anthropic in which they agreed to these terms, but Hegseth's new demand was that Anthropic sign a new version of the contract in which they allow the US government to use Claude and their other offerings for ‘all legal purposes,' which apparently includes, at least in some cases and contexts, killer robots and mass surveillance.So the Pentagon tried to strong-arm a US-based AI company into allowing them to use their product for purposes the company doesn't consider to be moral, and that led to this situation in which Anthropic is now being phased out from US government use—it'll apparently take about 6 months to do this, and some analysts speculate that timeline is meant to serve as a period in which further negotiation can occur—but either way, it's being phased out and it may even have trouble getting major clients in the future as a result of being blackballed.As all this was happening, OpenAI stepped in and offered its products and services to fill the void left by Anthropic in the US government.OpenAI's CEO has been cozying up to Trump a lot since he regained office, and has positioned the company as a major US asset, too big to fail because then China will win the AI race, basically, so this makes sense. Its CEO released several statements and press releases in the wake of this further cozying, saying that they believe the same things Anthropic does, and that they're not giving up any credibility for doing this because they have the same red lines, no killer robots, no mass surveillance of US citizens.But this is generally assumed to be bunk, because why would the Pentagon agree to the same terms all over again, and with a company that provides, for their purposes and right now, anyway, inferior services instead of the one they just chased out and blackballed, and which was helping them do purposeful, effective things, like kidnapping a foreign leader from a secure facility, today?Instead, what it sounds like is OpenAI is trying to have its cake and eat it too, saying publicly that they don't want their offerings used to control autonomous weapons systems or mass surveil Americans, but instead of writing that into the contract, they've got some basic guardrails baked into their systems, and they are assuming those guardrails will keep any funny business from happening. So it's a sort of gentleman's agreement with their clients that OpenAI products won't be used for mass surveillance or killer robots, rather than something legally binding, as was the case with Anthropic.The response to all this within the tech world has been illustrative of what we might expect in the coming years. Many people, including folks working on these technologies, are halting their use of OpenAI tech in protest, and in some (at this point at least) fewer cases, people are quitting their OpenAI jobs, because they are strongly opposed to these use-cases and would prefer to support a company that takes a strong stand on these sorts of moral issues.Some analysts also wonder if this will ensure the Pentagon only ever has access to inferior AI models because they intentionally threatened and disempowered a key AI industry CEO in public, saying that they had final say over how these tools are used, and many such CEOs are both unaccustomed to such stripping down, but are also doing the work they're doing for ideological reasons—they have beliefs about what the future, as enabled by AI technologies, will look like, and they believe they will play a vital role in making that future happen.The idea, then, is why would they want to work with the Pentagon, or the US government more broadly, if that means no longer being in charge of the destiny of these tools they're putting so much time, effort, and resources into building? Why would they take on a client, even a big, important one, if that means no longer having any grain of control over the future of the world as shaped by the systems they're building?We'll know a bit more about how all this plays out within the next handful of months, as this could serve as a moral differentiator between otherwise near-match products in the AI category, allowing companies like Anthropic to compete, both in terms of clients and in terms of employees, with the likes of OpenAI and xAI by saying, look, we don't want killer robots or mass surveillance and we gave up a LOT, put our money where our mouths are, in support of that moral stance.That could prove to be a serious feather in their cap, despite the initial cost, though it could also be that the pressure the US government is willing and able to apply to them instead serves as a warning to others, and the likes of OpenAI and Google and so on just get better at speaking out of both sides of their mouths on this issue, creating sneakier contracts that allow them to say the same on paper, seeming to take the same moral stance Anthropic did, while behind closed doors allowing their clients to do basically whatever they want with their products, including using them to control killer robots and to mass surveil US citizens.Show Noteshttps://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/artificial-intelligence-under-nuclear-pressure-first-large-scale-kings-study-reveals-how-ai-models-reason-and-escalate-under-crisishttps://www.axios.com/2026/02/26/ai-nuclear-weapons-war-pentagon-scenarioshttps://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/27/technology/openai-agreement-pentagon-ai.htmlhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lethal_autonomous_weaponhttps://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/885963/anthropic-dod-pentagon-tech-workers-ai-labs-reacthttps://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/886816/openai-reached-a-new-agreement-with-the-pentagonhttps://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/02/trump-moves-to-ban-anthropic-from-the-us-government/https://apnews.com/article/anthropic-pentagon-ai-dario-amodei-hegseth-0c464a054359b9fdc80cf18b0d4f690chttps://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/whats-really-at-stake-in-the-fight-between-anthropic-and-the-pentagon-d450c1a1https://openai.com/index/our-agreement-with-the-department-of-war/https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/artificial-intelligence-under-nuclear-pressure-first-large-scale-kings-study-reveals-how-ai-models-reason-and-escalate-under-crisishttps://www.axios.com/2026/02/26/ai-nuclear-weapons-war-pentagon-scenarios This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letsknowthings.substack.com/subscribe

Can Buzzfeed quizzes, Myers-Briggs Types, and Enneagrams tell us anything valid about who we are? In episode 163 of Overthink, Ellie and David discuss personality. They talk through the Big Five personality test and its legitimacy, the history of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator test (MBTI), and how the concept of personality emerged out of abnormal psychology. Why did the concept of personality replace using literature to understand the self? How does the concept of personality presuppose a fixed concept of the self? And what is the connection between MBTI and World War II? In the Substack bonus segment, your hosts think about how personality tests might be susceptible to the Barnum effect and their reduction of the self to egos. Works Discussed:Theodor Adorno, The Authoritarian PersonalityMerve Emre, What's Your Type? The Story of the Myers-Briggs, and How Personality Testing Took Over the WorldColin Koopman, How We Became Our Data: A Genealogy of the Informational PersonEnjoy our work? Support Overthink via tax-deductible donation: https://www.givecampus.com/fj0w3vJoin our Substack for ad-free versions of both audio and video episodes, extended episodes, exclusive live chats, and more: https://overthinkpod.substack.com/See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Because so many questions were sent in for the first Questions episode, I had to make another. If you have First or Second World War Questions send them to historyofthesecondworldwar@outlook.com. Contact advertising@airwavemedia.com to advertise on History of the Second World War. History of the Second World War is part of the Airwave Media podcast network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the sands of North Africa, Erwin Rommel became a battlefield legend. His bold manoeuvres and audacious tactics captured the imagination of friend and foe alike. But how did he become that commander? Does he deserve his reputation for tactical brilliance, and how should we think about his legacy today?This is the first episode of our "Commanders" series, where we dig into the lives and decisions of five legendary WWII commanders. To guide us through the story of Rommel, we're joined by Saul David, historian and author of "Tunisgrad: Victory in Africa".Produced by James Hickmann and edited by Dougal Patmore.Dan Snow's History Hit is now available on YouTube! Check it out at: https://www.youtube.com/@DSHHPodcastSign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.You can also email the podcast directly at ds.hh@historyhit.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

March 2, 1939. Shortly before World War II, a new pope is elected in Rome and must find a way to protect the Church during the most violent conflict in history. Support the show! Join Into History for ad-free listening and more. History Daily is a co-production of Airship and Noiser.Go to HistoryDaily.com for more history, daily.

What if the biggest secret in UFO history isn't alien… it's angelic? Or demonic. Or somewhere in that awkward in-between where rockets and ritual candles share shelf space.This week, we plunge headfirst into one of the strangest rabbit holes in modern conspiracy lore: the alleged “Collins Elite” — a rumored faction inside the U.S. government that supposedly concluded UFOs aren't extraterrestrials at all, but deceptive spiritual entities. We unpack where the story comes from, what believers claim insiders discovered, and why some say disclosure could be less about little green men and more about theological shockwaves.But that's just the warm-up.Did Allied intelligence really brush shoulders with a British occultist during WWII? Was Aleister Crowley pitching magical countermeasures against Nazi symbolism? And how does rocket pioneer Jack Parsons' sex-magic rituals tie into the birth of the modern UFO era?We explore the full fringe narrative — demons disguised as aliens, ritual “doorways,” Cold War psychic programs, and secret spiritual warfare in the Pentagon — while also laying out the documented history, the skepticism, and the very human tendency to mythologize the unknown.Is this a hidden chapter of national security history… or a masterclass in how conspiracies evolve when secrecy meets symbolism?Strap in. It's rockets, rituals, remote viewing, and Revelation — this week on Hysteria 51.Special thanks to this week's research sources:Congressional & Government RecordsU.S. House Committee on Oversight and Accountability. “Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Exposing the Truth.” Hearing, November 13, 2024.https://oversight.house.gov/hearing/unidentified-anomalous-phenomena-exposing-the-truth/U.S. Congress. “Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Exposing the Truth.” 118th Congress Hearing Record.https://www.congress.gov/118/chrg/CHRG-118hhrg57440/CHRG-118hhrg57440.pdfShellenberger, Michael. Written Testimony. U.S. House Oversight Committee, November 13, 2024.https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Written-Testimony-Shellenberger.pdfCentral Intelligence Agency. “STARGATE Collection.” CIA FOIA Electronic Reading Room.https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/collection/stargateCentral Intelligence Agency. “An Evaluation of the Remote Viewing Program.”https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP96-00791R000200180005-5.pdfCentral Intelligence Agency. “Project MKULTRA.” CIA FOIA Reading Room.https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/06760269U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. “Project MKULTRA, the CIA's Program of Research in Behavioral Modification.” Hearing, August 3, 1977.https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/sites-default-files-hearings-95mkultra.pdfU.S. Department of Defense. FOIA Reading Room Release referencing MKOFTEN and related research.https://www.esd.whs.mil/Portals/54/Documents/FOID/Reading%20Room/NCB/02-A-0846_RELEASE.pdfCollins Elite & Demonic UFO ClaimsRedfern, Nick. Final Events: Demonic UFOs, Alien Abductions, the Government, and the Afterlife. Anomalist Books, 2010.“Final Events.” Wikipedia.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_EventsMilburn, F. “The Pentagon's UAP Task Force.” BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 1,836, 2020.https://besacenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/183-Milburn-study-final.pdfOccult & WWII ContextCrowley, Aleister. Biographical overview.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleister_Crowley“V sign.” Wikipedia (Crowley and WWII ‘V for Victory' claims).https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V_signParsons, Jack. Biographical overview.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Parsons“Sex-Cult Rocket Man.” JSTOR Daily.https://daily.jstor.org/sex-cult-rocket-man/Goodrick-Clarke, Nicholas. The Occult Roots of Nazism. NYU Press.https://nyupress.org/9780814730607/occult-roots-of-nazism/Media CoverageMedill on the Hill. “UAP Hearing Coverage.” November 2024.https://medillonthehill.medill.northwestern.edu/2024/11/uap/Email us your favorite WEIRD news stories:weird@hysteria51.comHelp Support the Show:Get exclusive content & perks as well as an ad and sponsor free experience at https://www.patreon.com/Hysteria51 from just $1Shop:Be the Best Dressed at your Cult Meeting!https://www.teepublic.com/stores/hysteria51?ref_id=9022See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Outraged by the Christmas bombings of Hanoi in 1972 by the USA during the Vietnam War, the Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme made a critical speech. He compared the US's actions to several massacres from history, including the killing of hundreds of thousands of Jews at the Treblinka Concentration Camp by the Nazis. President Richard Nixon and National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger reacted by recalling their ambassador and refusing to accept the Swedish counterpart. Jan Ellisson was the first person to see the speech in the Swedish embassy in Washington and spent the next 15 months working to re-establish relations.He has been speaking to Tim O'Callaghan. Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by and curious about the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from how the Excel spreadsheet was developed, the creation of cartoon rabbit Miffy and how the sound barrier was broken.We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: the moment Reagan and Gorbachev met in Geneva, Haitian singer Emerante de Pradines' life and Omar Sharif's legendary movie entrance in Lawrence of Arabia.You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, like the invention of a stent which has saved lives around the world; the birth of the G7; and the meeting of Maldives' ministers underwater. We cover everything from World War Two and Cold War stories to Black History Month and our journeys into space.(Photo: Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme, who made the speech about the Hanoi bombings. Credit: Sjöberg Bildbyrå/ullstein bild via Getty Images)

If You want your own Praesidus Iwo Jima Watch then check out my sponsor here Welcome to Iwo Jima, the Marines' Hell on Earth. In February 1945, 70,000 U.S. Marines stormed the black volcanic sands of a tiny, seemingly insignificant island in the Pacific. What they faced was a fortress, an 8-square-mile island honeycombed with 11 miles of underground bunkers, tunnels, and firing positions defended by over 21,000 of Japan's most fanatical Imperial troops. The battle was supposed to take a few days. It lasted for 36 of the most brutal days in American military history. This video breaks down the strategic nightmare, the horrific fighting conditions, and the incredible acts of valor that defined the struggle for Iwo Jima. We explore why this island was so critical, the unbreakable Japanese defense, and the iconic story behind the famous flag-raising on Mount Suribachi. Join us as we delve into one of the most pivotal and costly battles of World War II. Watch the ⁠⁠⁠podcast⁠⁠⁠ Fight me at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠war of the barons⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Travel to Croatia with me ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Travel to Greece with me ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Travel to Thailand with me ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Check out our sister podcast the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Mystery of Everything⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Coffee Collab With The Lore Lodge ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠COFFEE⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Bonus episodes as well as ad-free episodes on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Find us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Join us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Discord⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Submit your relatives on our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, historian Dr. Albert Thompson joins Aaron Renn for a deep, honest discussion on race in America—from its English colonial roots through slavery, the Civil War, Jim Crow, civil rights victories, and today's challenges. They explore how history shapes identity, why progress has been real yet uneven, the impact of WWII on black human capital, post-1960s cultural shifts, talent migration, networks, and why national unity is essential for America's future in a competitive world.CHAPTERS:0:00 - Introduction4:10 - America's English Origins and the Slow Establishment of Slavery9:50 - Founding Fathers, Contradictions, and the Devil's Bargain of Race Over Religion14:30 - The Civil War: Nationalism, Union, and the Destruction of Slavery20:45 - Post-Civil War Reinvention: Republican Dominance, Jim Crow, and Northern/Southern Divide28:00 - 20th Century Shifts: Great Migration, Depression, and WWII as a Turning Point35:15 - Civil Rights in the 1960s: Successes Amid Cultural Upheaval and the "Great Awokening"42:20 - Talent, Networks, Migration, and Building Human Capital in Black Communities50:30 - Rethinking DEI, Seeking Untapped Talent, and Why Unity Matters to Compete Globally55:00 - Addressing Real Problems as Fellow CitizensDR. ALBERT THOMPSON LINKS:

Today’s episode is a classic from the archives, a conversation from 2019 with Brandon Shimoda about his book The Grave on the Wall. While the book centers on an exploration of Shimoda's grandfather's internment at Fort Missoula during World War II, it is really an interrogation of America that extends both directions in time from that moment. Forts such as these, that imprisoned Japanese and Japanese-Americans during the war, were also previously used to fight the Indian wars that established white dominance over Native lands, and are now today being used as detention centers/concentration camps for the refugees and immigrants from our southern border. The Grave on the Wall is also an engagement with photography and (mis)representation, memory and memorialization and asks the question of what it means to memorialize something that is ongoing, that has never ended. For the bonus audio archive Brandon Shimoda contributes a reading from Etel Adnan’s long poem “Fog,” a poem she dedicated to him. This joins contributions from everyone from Isabella Hammad to Dionne Brand, Natalie Diaz to Kaveh Akbar and more. To learn how to subscribe to the bonus audio and about all the other potential rewards and benefits of joining the Between the Covers community as a listener-supporter head over to the show’s Patreon page.

In 1942, on the heels of the Pearl Harbor attack as the US entered the war, Canada and the U.S. agreed to form a special top-secret military commando unit – nicknamed by the Nazis as “The Black Devils” for their stealth, bravery and skill. Designed to work as a nimble, highly conditioned unit of ‘super-fighters' with special skills, selected servicemen from the two nation's forces became one and trained for eight-and-a-half months in Helena, Montana before being shipped overseas to Europe.Bill Woon's dad, Dave Woon, was a Canadian national who was recruited to the unit. Dave ultimately married a Montana girl, and raised his family there, and never discussed the details of his adventures with his son. Bill relates the history of the group, trained initially for cold-weather fighting in Norway, but ultimately deployed in Italy where they knocked the German mountain stronghold of  of Monte La Difensa and  held a key strategic position during the Battle of Anzio, before being deployed to France and Germany. Bill later worked to get his dad's unit a special gold Congressional Medal in 2005. Notably, the First Special Service set the paradigm for the Green Berets and other tier-one fighting gro The FSSF Service originally recruited about 1800 soldiers, won all 22 battles they engaged, had a casualty rate of 134%, and captured over 30,000 enemy soldiers.Heroes Behind HeadlinesExecutive Producer Ralph PezzulloProduced & Engineered by Mike DawsonMusic provided by ExtremeMusic.com

Keeper of Lost Children is the latest work of historical fiction by Sadeqa Johnson. The novel is told from three vantage points and follows the story of mixed-race children orphaned in Germany after WWII. At the heart of the novel is Ethel Gathers, a character based on a real-life woman named Mabel Grammer. In today's episode, Johnson tells NPR's Emily Kwong about the Google search that inspired her novel and how she views the responsibility of writing historical fiction.To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookofthedayTo manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Join host Lionel on "The Other Side of Midnight" for a wild, unfiltered ride through culture, history, and the downright absurd. From lamenting the death of serious news anchors to debating modern politics and religious annulments, this show covers it all. Tune in as Lionel and his colorful callers swap hilarious stories about surviving strict 1950s Catholic school nuns, marvel at WWII soldiers who held out for decades, and dive into bizarre historical footnotes—like a man who biked from India to Sweden for love, and a husband who gave his wife the silent treatment for 20 years. Cap it off with late-night existential dread about lab-grown brains, and you get a thoroughly entertaining, unpredictable conversation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What if we told you that your weird grade-school hyperfixation could help countless people? Well that was the case for Bessie Blount Griffin who, thanks to some draconian teaching practices, revolutionized care for WWII veterans! Then, Kelley wines about Princess Cecelia of Sweden, a HAWT MESS of a princess who dabbled in saucy sexcapades, royal relations, and just a bit of piracy. Keep your hohos close to your heart and start brainstorming your death tattoo because we're wining about herstory! Join the Funerary Cult: https://www.patreon.com/winingaboutherstorySponsor a Glass of Wine: https://buymeacoffee.com/wahpodGet Merch: https://wining-about-herstory.myspreadshop.com/ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Josh and Trav finish off the three episode series featuring WWII books. DANIEL ACUÑA and Rick Remender team up for a war book that embraces the brutal action of war…but there is a twist… there are no humans in this book. What will the boys think of this off-center take?

We meet two women who have forged an unconventional friendship after meeting by chance more than four years ago. Neena found Carol's lost subway card in New York and they went on to build a close intergenerational bond. They say their 58 year age gap allows them to learn from each other, slow down and appreciate what's important.Also: How decades of work have brought giant tortoises back to an island in the Galapagos for the first time in nearly two hundred years. The Floreana Tortoise became extinct after the arrival of humans, but now dozens of young reptiles bred from a closely related species have been released there.Across the Pacific, we meet the Gen Z women working to restore damaged coral reefs on an Indonesian archipelago. The underwater gardeners recover broken fragments and help them grow.Plus, the science behind why getting out into nature can boost our well being; the veterans reunited more than eighty years after they fought together in World War Two; and how an unwanted bike in Scotland has opened up new possibilities for para-cyclists in Kenya.Our weekly collection of inspiring, uplifting and happy news from around the world.Photo: Neena and Carol, who became friends after Neena returned Carol's lost subway card. Credit: Neena Roe

Liza Mundy discusses Mary Bancroft's WWII OSS work in Switzerland, highlighting her vital intelligence gathering and the era's dismissive treatment of highly capable female spies. 1.GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC

Pearl Harbor is often remembered as a stunning Japanese success, a perfectly executed surprise attack that changed the course of the Second World War. But what if that familiar story is wrong? In this episode, I am joined by now regular of the podcast Mark Stille to rethink one of the most famous events of the war. His book Pearl Harbor: Japan's Greatest Disaster argues that the attack was not a masterstroke at all, but a tactical disappointment, an operational failure, and ultimately a strategic catastrophe for Japan. Mark's book is also available on Audible and Spotify.   patreon.com/ww2podcast  

Air Week: March 2-8, 2026 The Moonglows, Pt. 2 – 1956-61 Much has been written about the great R&B vocal groups of the 1950s. Many of the classic groups were either great musicians and vocalists and never had the recognition or record sales to back it up or these groups were thrown together, they couldn’t sing very well and scored one, solid hit that still spins in the eternal jukebox of public consciousness. The Moonglows were one of the few groups to come out of the post World War II, pre-Elvis era, who were extremely talented and had the sales figures and notoriety to back it up. Originally called The Crazy Sounds, Harvey Fuqua and Bobby Lester led The Moonglows to a #1 R&B smash in 1954 with “Sincerely” on Chess, but that was after a somewhat bumpy start on Alan Freed’s Champagne Records and Chicago’s Chance Records. This week, Matt The Cat presents part 2 of a 2 part feature on the fantastic Moonglows, covering their career from 1956 through their breakup in 1958 and the singles that followed through the end of 1961. An interview with the late Reese Palmer reveals how Harvey Fuqua came to hire his group, The Marquees as the “new” Moonglows. This week’s “Juke In The Back” shares the rest of the story on this influential and important 1950s vocal group. LISTEN BELOW

In this episode of *The Bullshit Filter*, Cameron and Ray dissect a world seemingly gone mad under the pressure of the Trump administration's “maximum pressure” foreign policy. The duo explores the unfolding humanitarian disaster in Cuba, where a modern fuel blockade has pushed the island's socialist experiment to the brink of collapse and triggered a “mini Bay of Pigs” skirmish. Beyond the Caribbean, they analyze the “Board of Peace”—a privatized, multibillion-dollar alternative to the UN Security Council run by Trump and a circle of luxury real estate developers. Finally, the conversation shifts to the global stage as the BRICS nations and the EU accelerate their “de-dollarization” efforts, launching digital payment systems like Wero to escape the reach of American financial weaponization. It's a deep dive into an era defined by “grifts within grifts” and the slow-motion collapse of the post-WWII global order. The post Sharks with Laser Beams – BS Filter 144 appeared first on The BS Filter.

Hear about travel to Northern France (and a day in Flanders) as the Amateur Traveler talks to Craig Anderson about his trip into the historic towns and sites of the Pas-de-Calais region. Why should you go to Northern France? Craig describes an itinerary that includes the Hundred Years' War, the Napoleonic Wars, WWI, and WWII history, historic monasteries, gothic cathedrals, chalk cliffs, and wonderful old walled towns. Craig's Recommended Northern France / Flanders Itinerary Overview: Base yourself in northern France (Craig used Boulogne-sur-Mer) with a rental car, explore outward in loops, and start by pairing the trip with nearby Belgian WWI sites.  Day 1 — Ypres & Flanders Fields (Belgium) ... https://amateurtraveler.com/travel-to-northern-france/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Russia is responsible for the largest “systematic child abduction operation” since World War II, according to European Union Ambassador to the U.S. Jovita Neliupšienė.   “This is actually a civilization erasure, when you actually try to destroy the future of your neighboring country,” Neliupšienė says.   It is estimated that more than 20,000 children have been abducted from Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion four years ago, according to the ambassador. Some of the older children who were taken are now being trained to fight for the Russian army, she explains on this week's edition of “Problematic Women.”   “They will try to start to train them as little soldiers, in a way, to go through the brainwashing,” she said. First Lady Melania Trump has become an outspoken advocate for Ukraine's children and has called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to return the abducted minors.   Neliupšienė joins the show to share the stories of Ukrainian children who have been abducted, and some who have been returned. She also explain why Russia is targeting a generation of young people.   Also on today's show, the ambassador addresses U.S. concerns that Europe is losing its culture amid a growing migrant population that struggles to, or chooses not to, assimilate into Western culture.   Enjoy the show! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. Our guest, gemmologist James Evans discusses the creation of synthetic diamonds.We begin with the trial of the former President of Liberia, Charles Taylor. It was claimed that he traded in arms and ammunition in return for so-called blood diamonds.Next we head to Syria where a group of young men in the besieged town of Darayya came together to build a secret library during the civil war. Plus the start of the Second World War in the Pacific when Japanese troops landed in what was then northern Malaya. We hear about a meeting between two of the most prominent figures in history from around the turn of the last century. Florence Nightingale and the Aga Khan, Sir Sultan Muhammed Shah.Our sporting story takes us back to the summer of 1952 when the first Olympics of the Cold War era took place. Czechoslovakian army officer Emil Zatopek achieved a unique feat.And finally, the moment when Spain's fledgling democratic government appeared to be under threat.Contributors: Brenda Hollis - Chief prosecutor at the Charles Taylor trial. Malik Alrifaii - Volunteer who helped run the Syrian library. Dorothy Variyan -Lived under Japanese rule during the occupation of the Malay peninsula. Aga Khan III, Sir Sultan Muhammad Shah - BBC archive interview from 1950. Richard Asquith - Emil Zatopek's biographer. Joaquin Almunia - Former Vice President of the European Commission.(Photo: Charles Taylor (rear C) appears in court in 2006. Credit: Rob Keeris/AFP via Getty Images)

The power struggle between the Legion and King Carol II continues to play out, with deadly consequences. Meanwhile, the upending of the status quo in Europe in the run up to the Second World War gives the Legion a chance to avoid total annihilation. Email me: perspectivesinhistorypod@gmail.com Podcast Website Follow me on Twitter Facebook Page Buy Some Used Books Bibliography Clark, Roland. Holy Legionary Youth: Fascist Activism in Interwar Romania. Cornell University Press, 2015 Codreanu, Cornelieu Zelea. For My Legionaries. Black House Publishing Ltd, 2015 Hitchins, Keith. A Concise History of Romania. Cambridge University Press, 2014 Ioanid, Radu. The Sword of the Archangel: Fascist Ideology in Romania. Columbia University Press, 1990 Iordachi, Constantin. The Fascist Faith of the Legion “Archangel Michael” in Romania, 1927-1941: Martyrdom and National Purification. Routledge, 2023 Kaplan, Robert D. Balkan Ghosts: A Journey Through History. Picador, 2005. Nagy-Talavera, Nicholas. The Green Shirts and the Others: A History of Fascism in Hungary and Romania. Hoover Institution Press, 1970.  Tiu, Ilarion. The Legionary Movement after Corneliu Codreanu. Columbia University Press, 2009 Sturdza, Michel. The Suicide of Europe: Memoirs of Prince Michel Sturdza, Former Foreign Minister of Rumania. Islands Publishers, 1968. Sima, Horia. The History of the Legionary Movement. The Legionary Press, 1995 Cover Image: Romanian prime minister Ion Antonescu and deputy prime minister Horia Sima at a demonstration memorializing Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, the late founder of the Iron Guard. (Bucharest, Romania. October, 1940.) Closing Theme: “Sfanta Tinerete Legionara,” (Hymn of the Legionary Youth) 

"Before we're through with them, the Japanese language will be spoken only in hell." –  Admiral William F. “Bull” Halsey upon seeing the aftermath of the attack on Pearl Harbor. In 1958, US Admiral Chester W. Nimitz wrote a controversial article titled “Our Good Luck at Pearl Harbor.”  It was a surprising revelation that prompted Nimitz to explain and defend himself for the rest of his life.  To his credit, he remained firm in his conviction and was always willing to explain his reasons.  In this episode, we ask whether or not Nimitz's controversial statement made over 60 years ago is sustainable, given just how destructive the Japanese surprise attack was on December 7, 1941. 

Dovey Johnson Roundtree grew up in the Jim Crow era South and carried her grandmother's philosophy of "find a way or make one” as her armor into every challenge she faced. She became one of the first Black women in the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps during World War II, then earned her law degree at Howard and built dual careers as a civil‑rights attorney and as a minister in the AME church. In 1955, she helped win a landmark bus‑desegregation case before the Interstate Commerce Commission, which was a quiet but powerful blow to the concept of “separate but equal.” She spent decades fighting for justice in Washington, D.C., and lived to 104, leaving behind a legacy of unshakable purpose and inspiration for future generations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Join Sandra for the ultimate collection of afterlife proof! From a toddler who remembered being a WWII pilot to a miraculous phone call from an empty hospital room.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

February 27, 1943. During the darkest days of World War Two, more than a thousand Jews are released from Nazi detention after their non-Jewish wives and family-members stage a protest on the streets of Berlin. This episode originally aired in 2025. Support the show! Join Into History for ad-free listening and more. History Daily is a co-production of Airship and Noiser.Go to HistoryDaily.com for more history, daily.

Our Deputy Head of Global Research Michael Zezas and Stephen Byrd, Global Head of Thematic and Sustainability Research, discuss how the U.S. is positioning AI as a pillar of geopolitical influence and what that means for nations and investors.Read more insights from Morgan Stanley.----- Transcript -----Michael Zezas: Welcome to Thoughts on the Market. I'm Michael Zezas, Morgan Stanley's Deputy Head of Global Research.Stephen Byrd: And I'm Stephen Byrd, Global Head of Thematic and Sustainability Research.Michael Zezas: Today – is AI becoming the new anchor of geopolitical power?It's Wednesday, February 27th at noon in New York.So, Stephen, at the recent India AI Impact Summit, the U.S. laid out a vision to promote global AI adoption built around what it calls “real AI sovereignty.” Or strategic autonomy through integration with the American AI stack. But several nations from the global south and possibly parts of Europe – they appear skeptical of dependence on proprietary systems, citing concerns about control, explainability, and data ownership. And it appears that stake isn't just technology policy. It's the future structure of global power, economic stratification, and whether sovereign nations can realistically build competitive alternatives outside the U.S. and China.So, Stephen, you were there and you've been describing a growing chasm in the AI world in terms of access to strategies between the U.S. and much of the global south, and possibly Europe. So, from what you heard at the summit, what are the core points of disagreement driving that divide?Stephen Byrd: There definitely are areas of agreement; and we've seen a couple of high-profile agreements reached between the U.S. government and the Indian government just in the last several days. So there certainly is a lot of overlap. I point to the Pax Silica agreement that's so important to secure supply chains, to secure access to AI technology. I think the focus, for example, for India is, as you said; it is, you know, explainability, open access. I was really struck by Prime Minister Modi's focus on ensuring that all Indians have access to AI tools that can help them in their everyday life.You know, a really tangible example that really stuck with me is – someone in a remote village in India who has a medical condition and there's no doctor or nurse nearby using AI to, you know, take a photo of the condition, receive diagnosis, receive support, figure out what the next steps should be. That's very powerful. So, I'd say, open access explainability is very important.Now, the American hyperscalers are very much trying to serve the Indian market and serve the objectives really of the Indian government. And so, there are versions of their models that are open weights, that are being made freely available for health agencies in India, as an example; to the Indian government, as an example.So, there is an attempt to really serve a number of objectives, but I think this key is around open access, explainability, that I do see that there's a tension.Michael Zezas: So, let's talk about that a little bit more. Because it seems one of the concerns raised is this idea of being captive within proprietary Large Language Models. And maybe that includes the risk of having to pay more over time or losing control of citizen data. But, at the same time, you've described that there are some real benefits to AI that these countries want to adopt.So, what is effectively the tension between being captive to a model or the trade off instead for pursuing open and free models? Is it that there's a major quality difference? And is that trade off acceptable?Stephen Byrd: See, that's what's so fascinating, Mike, is, you know, what we need to be thinking about is not just where the technology is today, but where is it in six months, 12 months, 24 months? And from my perspective, it's very clear. That the proprietary American models are going to be much, much more capable.So, let's put some numbers around that. The big five American firms have assembled about 10 times the compute to train their current LLMs compared to their prior LLMs, and that's a big deal. If the scaling laws hold, then a 10x increase in training compute to result in models are about twice as capable.Now just let that sink in for a minute, twice as capable from here. That's a big deal. And so, when we think about the benefit of deploying these models, whether it's in the life sciences or any number of other disciplines, those benefits could start to get very large. And the challenge for the open models will be – will they be able to keep up in terms of access to compute, to training, access to data to train those models? That's a big question.Now, again, there's room for both approaches and it's very possible for the Indian government to continue to experiment and really see which approach is going to serve their citizens the best. And I was really struck by just how focused the Indian government is on serving all of their citizens. Most notably, you know, the poorest of the poor in their nation. So, we'll just have to see.But the pure technologist would say that these proprietary models are going to be increasing capability much faster than the open-source models.So, Mike, let's pivot from the technology layer to the geopolitical layer because the U.S. strategy unveiled at the summit goes way beyond innovation.Michael Zezas: Yeah, it's a good point. And within this discussion of whether or not other countries will choose to pursue open models or more closely adhere to U.S. based models is really a question about how the United States exercises power globally and how it creates alliances going forward.Clearly some part of the strategy is that the U.S. assumes that if it has technology that's alluring to its partners, that they'll want to align with the U.S.' broad goals globally. And that they'll want to be partners in supporting those goals, which of course are tied to AI development.So, the Pax Silica [agreement], which you mentioned earlier, is an interesting point here because this is clearly part of the U.S. strategy to develop relationships with other countries – such that the other countries get access to U.S. models and access to U.S. AI in general. And what the U.S. gets in return is access to supply chain, critical resources, labor, all the things that you need to further the AI build out. Particularly as the U.S. is trying to disassociate more and more from China, and the resources that China might have been able to bring to bear in an AI build out.Stephen Byrd: So, Mike, the U.S. framed “real AI sovereignty” as strategic autonomy rather than full self-sufficiency. So, essentially the. U.S. is encouraging nations to integrate components of the American AI stack. Now, from your perspective, Mike, from a macro and policy standpoint, how significant is that distinction?Michael Zezas: Well, I think it's extremely important. And clearly the U.S. views its AI strategy as not just economic strategy, but national security strategy.There are maybe some analogs to how the U.S. has been able to, over the past 80 years or so, use its dominance in military and military equipment to create a security umbrella that other countries want to be under. And do something similar with AI, which is if there is dominant technology and others want access to it for the societal or economic benefits, then that is going to help when you're negotiating with those countries on other things that you value – whether it be trade policy, foreign policy, sanctions versus another country. That type of thing.So, in a lot of ways, it seems like the U.S. is talking about AI and developing AI as an anchor asset to its power, in a way that military power has been that anchor asset for much of the post World War II period.Stephen Byrd: See, that's what's so interesting, Mike, [be]cause you've highlighted before to me that you believe AI could replace weaponry as really the anchor asset for U.S. global power. Almost a tech equivalent of a defense umbrella.So how durable is that strategy, especially given that some countries are expressing unease about dependency?Michael Zezas: Yeah, it's really hard to know, and I think the tension you and I talked about earlier, Stephen, about whether countries will be willing to make the trade off for access to superior AI models versus open and free models that might be inferior, that'll tell us if this is a viable strategy or not. And it appears like this is still playing out because, correct me if I'm wrong, it's not like we've received some very clear signals from India or other countries about their willingness to make that trade off.Stephen Byrd: No, I think that's right. And just building on the concept of the trade-offs and, sort of, the standard for AI deployment, you know, the U.S. has explicitly rejected centralized global AI governance in favor of national control aligned with domestic values.So, what does that signal about how global technology standards may evolve, particularly as in the U.S., the National Institute of Standards and Technology, or NIST, works to develop interoperable standards for agentic AI systems.Michael Zezas: Yeah, Stephen, I think it's hard to know. It might be that the U.S. is okay with other countries having substantial degrees of freedom with how they use U.S.-based AI models because they could use U.S. law to, at a later date, change how those models are being used – if there's a use case that comes out of it that they find is against U.S. values. Similar in some way to how the U.S. dollar being the predominant currency and, therefore, being the predominant payment system globally, gives the U.S. degrees of freedom to impose sanctions and limit other types of economic transactions when it's in the U.S. interest.So, I don't know that to be specifically true, but it's an interesting question to consider and a potential motivation behind why a laissez-faire approach might be, ultimately, still aligned with U.S. interests.Stephen Byrd: So, Michael, it sounds like really AI is becoming the new strategic infrastructure globally.Michael Zezas: Yeah, I think that's actually a great way to think about it. And so, Stephen, if that were the case, and we're talking about the potential for this to shape geopolitical competition, potentially economic differentials across the globe. And if that is correlated, at least, to some degree with the further development and computing power of these models, what do you think investors should be looking at for signals from here?Stephen Byrd: Number one, by a mile for me, is really the pace of model progress. Not just American models, but Chinese models, open-source models. And there the big reveal for the United States should be somewhere between April and June – for the big five LLM players. That's a bit of speculation based on tracking their chip purchases, their power access, et cetera. But that appears to be the timeframe and a couple of execs have spoken to that approximate timeframe.I would caution investors that I think we're going to be surprised in terms of just how powerful those models are. And we're already seeing in early 2026, these models that were not trained on that kind of volume of compute have really exceeded expectations, you know, quite dramatically in some cases. And I'll give you one example.METR is a third-party that tracks the complexity, what these models can do. And METR has been highlining that every seven months, the complexity of what these models are able to do approximately doubles. It's very fast. But what really got my attention was about a week ago, one of the LLMs broke that trend in a big way to the upside.So, if the scaling laws would hold, based on what METR would've expected, they would expect a model to be able to act independently for about eight hours, a little over eight hours. And what we saw was, the best American model that was recently introduced was more like 15. That's a big deal. And so, I think we're seeing signs of non-linear improvement.We're also going to see additional statements from these AI execs around recursive self-improvement of the models. One ex-AI executive spoke to that. Another LLM exec spoke to that recently as well. So, we're starting to see an acceleration. That means we then need to really consider the trade-offs between the open models and the proprietary. That's going to become really critical and that should happen really through the spring and summer.Michael Zezas: Got it. Well, Stephen, thanks for taking the time to talk.Stephen Byrd: Great speaking with you, Mike.Michael Zezas: And thanks for listening. If you enjoy Thoughts on the Market, please leave us a review wherever you listen. And share the podcast with a friend or colleague today.

Cancel your unwanted subscriptions and reach your financial goals faster with Rocket Money. Go to https://www.rocketmoney.com/ninjas  #ad Head to FactorMeals.com/ninjas50off and use code “ninjas50off” to get 50% off and free breakfast for a year. #ad In Episode 183 of Ninjas Are Butterflies, we explore the eerie Sicily Catacombs and the mystery of the perfectly preserved bodies inside the Capuchin Catacombs of Palermo. How are these mummies still intact centuries later? Then we dive into a wild World War II legend — the story of Saint Menas who rode in on a camel and allegedly attacked Nazi forces. Miracle, myth, or battlefield psychology? And finally, we tell the incredible true story of a Vietnam veteran who saved a hockey goalie's life, proving hero instincts don't disappear after war.Strange history. Supernatural war stories. Unbelievable true events. Get MORE Exclusive Ninjas Are Butterflies Content by joining our Patreon:  https://www.patreon.com/NinjasAreButterflies NEW EPISODES EVERY FRIDAY @ 6AM EST! Ninja Merch: https://www.sundaycoolswag.com/ Start Your Custom Apparel Order Here: https://bit.ly/NinjasYT-SundayCool Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A group of young men in the besieged town of Darayya came together to build a secret library during the Syrian civil war, which started in 2011 and ended in 2024. Braving snipers and bombardment, they rescued thousands of books from bombed-out buildings to rehouse. The library was a symbol of hope for a community fractured by war. Surya Elango speaks to Malik Alrifaii, a young volunteer who helped run the library.Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by and curious about the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. (Photo: Books. Credit: Maskot via Getty images)For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from how the Excel spreadsheet was developed, the creation of cartoon rabbit Miffy and how the sound barrier was broken.We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: the moment Reagan and Gorbachev met in Geneva, Haitian singer Emerante de Pradines' life and Omar Sharif's legendary movie entrance in Lawrence of Arabia.You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, like the invention of a stent which has saved lives around the world; the birth of the G7; and the meeting of Maldives' ministers underwater. We cover everything from World War Two and Cold War stories to Black History Month and our journeys into space.

Congratulations to author Zeeva Bukai for winning a National Jewish Book Award from the Jewish Book Council for her novel The Anatomy of Exile. On our episode, we spoke about her new book, The World Between, which is a slim, powerful narrative about a woman who travels to Tel Aviv to the home where she first started her marriage and revisits later in her life. It's about mental health, the after-effects of World War II, recovery, mistakes, lost love, shame, survival, and healing. It's really short and definitely worth reading: immersive, thought-provoking, soulful. I can't stop thinking about it — and was thrilled to hear she won the award! Share, rate, & review the podcast, and follow Zibby on Instagram @zibbyowens!** Check out the Z.I.P. membership program—Zibby's Important People! As a Z.I.P., you'll get exclusive essays, special author access, discounts at Zibby's Bookshop, and more. Head to zibbyowens.com to subscribe or upgrade and become a Z.I.P. today!** Follow @totallybookedwithzibby on Instagram for more about today's episode. (Music by Morning Moon Music. Sound editing by TexturesSound. To inquire about advertising, please contact allie.gallo@acast.com.) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of The Paragould Podcast, we sit down with John Bland to talk about the history and legacy of his father, Francis Bland, a man whose influence is still woven into the fabric of our city. From the widening of 8 Mile Creek to help prevent flooding, to Bland Baseball Park, to the Dr. Pepper plant that employed hundreds of local families, the Bland name has played a meaningful role in shaping Paragould. We also explore the lesser-known story of Francis Bland as a chemist who was interviewed for the Manhattan Project during World War II and how life unfolded from there. More than a history lesson, this is a conversation about family, leadership, work, and the quiet ways one life can leave a lasting impact on a community. If you love Paragould and the stories behind the people who helped build it, this episode is for you.

Join Sandra for the ultimate collection of afterlife proof! From a toddler who remembered being a WWII pilot to a miraculous phone call from an empty hospital room.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Humanities West explores Ansel Adams' legendary six-decade career as a conservationist, teacher, musician and, above all, photographer, bringing you the stories behind the famous images to reveal the infectious enthusiasms, fervent battles, and bountiful friendships of a truly American original.  Two of Ansel Adams' best friends, Georgia O'Keeffe and Edward Weston, criticized him for being too involved with the world. They advised that his activism—for the environment, for the rights of American citizens, for the recognition of photography as a creative art—all came at a grave cost to his art. To be a serious artist, they agreed, one must focus only on one's art. Ansel Adams proved them wrong. But too often, Adams' photographs are appreciated only for their aesthetic appeal, without consideration of the social and political circumstances of their making.  On what would have been his 123rd birthday, how do we celebrate this great artist and American citizen? Mary Street Alinder and Dr. Jasmine Alinder will place Adams' artistic work and political convictions in conversation, not as opposing forces, but as mutually supporting objectives.  Mary Street Alinder first studied with Adams in 1967, eventually becoming his chief assistant from 1979 until his death in 1984. During those years she worked very closely with him and completed his autobiography posthumously. She will share her very personal experiences with this great San Franciscan.  Jasmine Alinder is an interdisciplinary, community-engaged scholar and teacher of public history, the history of photography, and the history of Japanese-Americans during World War II. In her talk, she will focus on Ansel Adams' 1944 project Born Free and Equal: The Story of Loyal Japanese-Americans. A Humanities Member-led Forum program. Forums at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums. In association with Humanities West. Organizer: George Hammond  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 2007, while serving with the British Army in Germany, one soldier was assigned a routine task in the cellar of an aging barracks — a former Luftwaffe station dating back to the Second World War.The underground layout was identical in every building: a long concrete corridor, heavy metal doors, fluorescent lights buzzing against thick, shadowed walls. It was old, but it was familiar. Until it wasn't.Alone at the far end of the corridor, the atmosphere shifted without warning. The air grew heavy. Silence pressed in. And he was struck with the unmistakable certainty that he was no longer by himself.What happened next sent him running for the stairs — something no training had ever prepared him for.Years later, one question still lingers: Was that cellar empty at all?#RealGhostStories #HauntedBarracks #Hauntings #ParanormalEncounter #HauntedGermany #MilitaryGhostStory #TrueParanormal #UnexplainedCold #Paranormal #UnexplainedPhenomenaLove real ghost stories? Want even more?Become a supporter and unlock exclusive extras, ad-free episodes, and advanced access:

Audrey Hepburn was a famous actress known for her kindness, grace, and timeless style. She starred in popular movies like Breakfast at Tiffany's and Roman Holiday. Before becoming an actress, Hepburn lived through World War II as a child in Europe, which shaped her compassion for others. Later in life, she worked with UNICEF to help children in need around the world. Audrey Hepburn is remembered not only for her acting, but also for her generosity and desire to make the world a better place.

February 26, 1935. Scottish physicist Robert Watson-Watt demonstrates how radar can detect aircraft, a breakthrough that proves decisive in World War Two. Support the show! Join Into History for ad-free listening and more. History Daily is a co-production of Airship and Noiser.Go to HistoryDaily.com for more history, daily.

In 2008, the former President of Liberia, Charles Taylor, faced a courtroom in the Hague accused of war crimes.His trial would last more than three years at the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone, and involve witness appearances by the supermodel Naomi Campbell and the Hollywood actress Mia Farrow.The 11 charges included rape, murder, violence and the use of child soldiers during the Sierra Leone civil war. It was claimed that Taylor traded in arms and ammunition in return for so-called blood diamonds.Chief prosecutor Brenda Hollis speaks to Jane Wilkinson about the trial which ended when Taylor was jailed for 50 years for aiding and abetting crimes against humanity. It's a story that includes descriptions of violence and sexual assault.Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by and curious about the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from how the Excel spreadsheet was developed, the creation of cartoon rabbit Miffy and how the sound barrier was broken.We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: the moment Reagan and Gorbachev met in Geneva, Haitian singer Emerante de Pradines' life and Omar Sharif's legendary movie entrance in Lawrence of Arabia.You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, like the invention of a stent which has saved lives around the world; the birth of the G7; and the meeting of Maldives' ministers underwater. We cover everything from World War Two and Cold War stories to Black History Month and our journeys into space.(Photo: Charles Taylor in court, 2010. Credit: Vincent Jannink/AFP via Getty Images)

On this episode of The Jason Jones Show, Jason speaks with Rev. Dr. Fadi, an Anglican minister in Ramallah, about the history and identity of Palestinian Christians. He discusses the deep Christian roots in the land, the impact of Christian Zionism, and the historical relationship between Palestinians and Jewish refugees after World War II. Rev. Dr. Fadi also offers perspective to American audiences on Zionism, antisemitism, and the political use of ideology in today's debates.

Send a textTrey Morriss is a retired U.S. Air Force colonel with thirty-one years of service, serving and supporting the legendary Eighth Air Force. His love of aviation runs deep―shaped by stories of his grandfather and uncle, who flew combat missions over Europe in World War II. Early in his career, Morriss took part in a top-secret, record-setting strike that opened Operation Desert Storm―the longest combat mission of its time and a turning point in modern warfare. He later flew 32 combat missions over Iraq and Afghanistan following 9/11.  He's a decorated veteran and sought-after keynote speaker. He lives in Louisiana with his wife, and they cherish time with their five adult children and three grandchildren.Instagram: @treymorrissColonel Morriss's book, Doom 34: https://www.amazon.com/DOOM-34-Firsthand-Top-Secret-Operation/dp/1493093614If you are interested in being a guest on the podcast, please email us at info@vsompodcast.com, or follow us on social media: @veteranstateofmindSupport the show

In 1946, Orson Welles, the director of Citizen Kane, was at the height of his fame. At the time, he had a national radio show called Orson Welles Commentaries on ABC. After a year on the radio, discussing politics and Hollywood, Welles heard of a shocking crime. It was the end of World War Two. A Black soldier, heading home, was brutally beaten by a white police officer in South Carolina. No one knew the identity of the police officer. No one even knew the town where it happened. Welles pledged to solve the mystery… on the air... Today, we’re bringing you a special episode from the Radio Diaries Podcast and their new series, Orson Welles and the Blind Soldier. It’s the story of a crime in a small, southern town…that became a spark for the budding civil rights movement. To find out more, go to radiodiaries.orgSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hemp used to be a staple of life in America. King James I demanded that colonists produce it. Hemp rope and fabric were ubiquitous throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. The USDA even produced a WWII newsreel called “Hemp for Victory.” But other materials came to replace hemp – wood pulp for paper, and cotton and synthetics for fabric. Why? For that matter, what is hemp? Is it different from weed? And does it actually have 25,000 uses as its proponents claim? Featuring Hector “Freedom” Gerardo, David Suchoff, John Fike, and Danny Desjarlais. Note: This episode originally aired in April, 2024. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the darkest hour of WWII, as bombs threatened Europe's historic cities, a small unit was sent to the front lines – not to fight, but to save art history itself. The 'Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives' section of the US Army, known as the Monuments Men, was tasked with protecting Europe's centuries of culture from destruction.And then, when Hitler was cornered, the Monuments Men had a new mission: track down the vast hoards of looted Nazi treasure, and stop them from blowing it all up.–Patreon - Ad-free & Bonus EpisodesYouTube - Full-length Video EpisodesTikTok / InstagramSources and more available on redhandedpodcast.com

Our world is shaped by decisions — bold, reckless, and often irreversible. And nowhere did choices matter more than in the Second World War, the deadliest conflict in human history. In our new mini-series starting on Monday March 2nd 2026, we step inside the war rooms where history was made by six towering commanders.With leading historians, Dan Snow unpack the strategies that reshaped continents — from Zhukov's relentless Eastern Front offensives to Montgomery's iron-tight control in the West.Make sure you follow Dan Snow's History Hit to get new episodes every Monday in March! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.