What did the first Chinese Emperor Qin, Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great, Gengis Kahn, the Queen of Sheba, and all their contemporaries who lived when they did have in common?
None of them ever ate a potato.
The potato is a rather new addition to the diets of the old world, and one which revolutionized civilization.
Learn more about the potato and how changed world history, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
This weekend on BEST OF THE GIST, we unearthed a 2016 interview with Chuck Klosterman, the author of The Nineties and a dozen or so other books. In this archival gem, Mike and Chuck discuss what counts as a great American novel, and how we decide who’s smart. And we’re also listening back to the Tuesday spiel about how a Harvard sleep researcher changed Mike's position in the battle over Daylight Saving Time.
Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara
Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com
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Since Russia invaded Ukraine, there has been intense focus on Russian oligarchs - elites with enormous wealth and close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The United States and international allies have imposed travel bans and economic sanctions on the billionaires, freezing accounts and impounding yachts and private jets. The goal is to disrupt the covert money funneled to Putin and his regime and to make the oligarch's lives difficult enough that they might pressure Putin to loosen his grip on Ukraine.
Now President Biden's KleptoCapture task force faces the difficult and time consuming task of tracking down assets hidden in intricate webs of financial secrecy - many created by US regulations - that allow the oligarchy to hide their money and maintain power.
We speak with Paul Massaro, a congressional foreign policy adviser who specializes in sanctions and illicit finance.
In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what's going on in your community.
We’re a little late this week, but it’s worth it, as we are able to report on a lengthy conversation that our (returning) guest, Dean Vik Amar of the University of Illinois School of Law, had with the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, just hours before our podcast taping. He offered Vik and his students a truly inside look at the Supreme Court Confirmation Hearings just conducted, as well as his perspective on confirmations in general, and some truly surprising perspectives and possible ideas for reform - and now, our listeners have this early access to them.
Today on the “Weekly Recap,” NLW looks at two old bitcoin FUDs that came roaring back with a vengeance. The “crypto is for criminals” narrative was built into the assumption that led the European Parliament to vote in favor of advancing strict new anti-money laundering (AML) rules with regard to crypto wallets. Meanwhile, Greenpeace, funded by the chairman of Ripple, decided to start a campaign to get Bitcoin to change its code to be more environmentally friendly.
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Consensus 2022, the industry’s most influential event, is happening June 9–12 in Austin, TX. If you’re looking to immerse yourself in the fast-moving world of crypto, Web 3 and NFTs, this is the festival experience for you. Use code BREAKDOWN to get 15% off your pass at www.coindesk.com/consensus2022.
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“The Breakdown” is written, produced by and features Nathaniel Whittemore aka NLW, with editing by Rob Mitchell, research by Scott Hill and additional production support by Eleanor Pahl. Adam B. Levine is our executive producer and our theme music is “Countdown” by Neon Beach. The music you heard today behind our sponsor is “I Don't Know How To Explain It” by Aaron Sprinkle. Image credit: Zephyr18/Getty Images, modified by CoinDesk. Join the discussion at discord.gg/VrKRrfKCz8.
Today we’re taking another deep dive into the human impact of the war in Ukraine and sharing the stories of some refugees you may not have heard about yet. Among the millions of people fleeing are tens of thousands of people who aren’t from Ukraine, but still need a safe place to go. Their stories suggest they’re facing additional obstacles because of their race, citizenship, or both.
We’re joined by award-winning journalist, author and former CNN International correspondent, Isha Sesay. She’s also the host of the new podcast “The Accidental Activist” and she’s a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador.
Isha shares the stories of African students living in Ukraine, explains why she feels some of the news coverage of what’s happening has been offensive and offers a way for everyone to get involved — even if it’s as simple as posting on social media.
This Saturday edition of "The Daily Signal Podcast" features a discussion with Andy Smarick, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, on how education is evolving after the COVID-19 pandemic.
School lockdowns, masking, and other restrictions have affected how parents across America think about their children's education. COVID-19 accelerated certain trends that already were afoot, such as the demand for increasing school choice opportunities outside public schools.
Moreover, parts of America have been the scene of tremendous battles over the content of curriculum, particularly regarding critical race theory, which parents were shocked to find in their children's instruction.
So what's next?
Smarick observes that COVID-19 launched "small learning communities really oriented around the needs of families and kids" because restrictions during the pandemic resulted in "50 million students [who] suddenly had to find something different because their schools were shut down."
"And that's when we saw the rise of pods, hubs, and hybrid homeschooling and also microschooling," he says. "This is just a wonderful Tocquevillian response, spontaneous order to a calamitous situation where all these parents were saying, 'Heavens, we just need new options for our kids because they're not getting anything and I still have to work.'"
The real question is whether this revolution in education will continue.
As the Russian Invasion of Ukraine continues, the effects ripple around the rest of the world. One concern involves the wheat harvest. There have been claims that Ukraine and Russia supply 25% of the worlds wheat and that as a result we?re facing a global wheat crisis. We look into this misleading figure to determine what the real impact might be.
