Michael Rank's Blog, page 15
May 26, 2014
HFM 071 | What Archeology Tells us about Old Testament Jericho
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And the walls came tumbling down! Or did they? Today we step into the world of archeology and look at the evidence for and against the Biblical account of Israel’s conquest of the city of Jericho.
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May 19, 2014
HFM 070 | Marozia of Rome: The Woman who Ruled the Papacy
Despite what most people think about the Catholic Church in the Middle Ages, the pope wasn’t all that powerful. In fact — it was easy to manipulate him for your own ends. One such woman who did just that was Marozia of Rome: Mother to one pope, lover to another, grandmother to yet another.
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May 12, 2014
HFM 069 | Why People on the Fringes and Borderlands of Empires Mattered Just as Much as Those Living in the Hinterlands
The Varangians, Cossacks, and inhabitants of Ryukyu lived in very different places and times. The Varagians were Vikings that controlled trade between Arabia, Byzantium, and Europe during the 1000s and lived on the borders of Byzantium. The Cossacks lived on Russia’s frontier and formed the core of the military. Ryukyu island became a trade hub between Japan and China before the modern era. Find out why it paid to be an outsider of an empire.
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May 5, 2014
H5M 068 | How Iowa Conquered the World, Part 5: Why Iowa Standardized the English Language
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Why is it that all news broadcasters talk with a Midwestern accent? For many reasons, but partly because Iowa standardized the English language by sending lots of talent to California during Hollywood’s golden age.
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April 28, 2014
HFM 067 | How Iowa Conquered the World, Part 4: Why Iowa Controls Your Political Destiny, Wherever You Live on Earth
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Iowans have more political power proportionally than anyone else on earth. Do you want to be the U.S. president? Prepare to spend months in all of Iowan’s 99 counties, meeting groups of 20 at Pizza Ranches, and shaking hands with factory works at 6 a.m., in -10 F weather.
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April 21, 2014
HFM 066 | How Iowa Conquered the World, Part 3: Why Iowa is the Multicultural Center of the World
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ou don’t think of diversity or multicultural when you think of Iowa — more likely, thoughts of middle aged white farmers in Carhartt overalls come to mind. But in this podcast, I will show that not only is Iowa more exotic than most people realize, it is has been an engine for developing unique cultures in America throughout its history.
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April 14, 2014
HFM 065 | How Iowa Conquered the World, Part 2: The State that Created the Global University System
Did you graduate from college? Whether it was in America, the UK, Turkey, Brazil, or Kazakhstan, there is a strong chance that the direct inspiration for your university is Iowa State University — considered by coastal elites as a forgettable farm college.
How did this university — which literally started out as a large farm house that housed two dozen students who split their time between tilling the soil and learning about crop rotation — create the global system of higher education?
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April 7, 2014
HFM 064 | How Iowa Conquered the World, Part 1: The State that Saved Billions of Lives in the 20th Century
You probably didn’t know that Iowa saved over a billion lives in the 20th century. You also probably didn’t that Iowa is the greatest cultural force in the world. This is the first part of a podcast series in which I will make a case for just that.
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March 31, 2014
HFM 063 | Explorers that Pushed the Boundaries of the Known World, Part 5.5: Ernest Shackleton’s Daring Anatarctic Rescue of His Stranded Crew
Ernest Shackleton set out in a tiny 22-foot-long lifeboat with a few helpers to brave an 18-day voyage across open Antarctic sea in order to save his stranded crew. How did he manage to succeed despite the terrible odds against him?
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March 24, 2014
HFM 062 | Explorers that Pushed the Boundaries of the Known World, Part 5: Ernest Shackleton’s Frozen March at the Bottom of the World
Ernest Shackleton’s attempted crossing of Antarctica and the disaster that befell the expedition led to one of the greatest moments of bravery in the 20th century. Find out about the terrible conditions his crew faced, and their daring rescue attempt in this episode.
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