Dec 19, 2014
AsiaExpert provides an overview of the politics and social unrest of South Korea since the end of the Korean War. Starting from the meteoric rise of Syngman Rhee and continuing up to the establishment of the 6th Republic, this episode covers everything from the April Revolution, to Park dictatorship, to the...
Dec 5, 2014
Jasfss continues our examination of the Mongols, this time on the Eastern side of Asia. We start with the socio-political -- even artistic -- state of China on the eve of the Mongol advance before moving on to Kublai's establishment of the Yuan Dynasty and the final fall of the Song. We then move on to how the Mongols...
Nov 21, 2014
Rakony discusses the Ilkhanate, the portion of the Mongol Empire in Persia and the surrounding areas. The reasons for the Mongol push into the area, why it did not go farther, and how the local peoples and the Mongols accomodated to each other, somewhat ironically leading to a resugence of Persian culture. Also,...
Nov 7, 2014
Bemonk, host of the History of Alchemy Podcast (among others), speaks on how the practices and concepts of alchemy relate to the development of modern scientific methods and ideas. Covered in the talk are some basic pointers about what alchemy is, how long it has been around, differences between "Western" and "Eastern"...
Oct 24, 2014
l_mack relates the strange tale of the Principality of Outer Baldonia, a micronation founded off the coast of Nova Scotia in the mid-20th Century by an American businessman seeking freedom from "question, nagging, shaving, interruption, women, taxes, politics, and monologues," as well as the right to stay up all night...