Showing results by author "River" in All Categories

Ayn Rand was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, to Jewish parents on February 2, 1905, as Alisa Zinov'yevna Rosenbaum, and she lived through the turbulence and transformation of early 20th-century Russia. Her first exposure to reading came after she taught herself how to read at age six, and she decided at nine years old to become a writer after a chance encounter with the books of Victor Hugo, the writer she admired most.

They marched under the heat with 40-pound rucksacks on their backs. They fired weapons out of the windows of military vehicles, defending their units in deadly battles. And they did things their male counterparts could never do—gather intelligence on the Taliban from the women of Afghanistan. Beyond the Call follows the groundbreaking journeys of three women as they first fight military brass and culture and then enemy fire and tradition. And like the men with whom they served, their battles were not over when they returned home.

Gnosticism is one of the great mysteries in the history of Western religion. At its core is an ancient Greek word, gnosis, a word prominent in the writings of Plato which refers to a deep personal knowledge or understanding that often transcends the physical world. The Gnostics painted a picture of a fallen, broken world in which physicality was a product of a lesser deity. This deity was created in defiance of the One and in order to trap humans and blind them to the truths of their predicament and divine origins.

The Vikings in Iceland: The History of the Norse Expeditions and Settlements Bcross Iceland looks at the history of the Vikings’ activities in Iceland, and how they affected subsequent exploration and colonization. You will learn about the Vikings in Iceland like never before.

The Boer War was the defining conflict of South African history and one of the most important conflicts in the history of the British Empire. Naturally, complicated geopolitics underscored it, going back centuries. In fact, the European history of South Africa began with the 1652 arrival of a small Dutch flotilla in Table Bay, at the southern extremity of the African continent, which made landfall with a view to establishing a victualing station to service passing Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie) ships.

One of the most idiosyncratic horrors of Soviet Russia was the Gulag system, an extensive network of forced labor and concentration camps. Part of the rationale behind this system was that it could serve as slave labor in the drive for industrialization, while also serving as a form of punishment. The name Gulag is in fact an acronym, approximating to “Main Administration of Camps” (in Russian: Glavnoe Upravlenie Lagerei) and operated by the Soviet Union’s Ministry of the Interior.

T.E. Lawrence, more popularly known as Lawrence of Arabia, was a seminal figure in the shaping and reshaping of the politics of Arabia in the early 20th century, serving as an expert in Arab affairs in the British military and playing a key role in the Great Arab Revolt of 1916-1918.

There are very few national relationships quite as complicated and enigmatic as the one that exists between the English and the Irish. For two peoples so interconnected by geography and history, the depth of animosity that is often expressed is difficult at times to understand. The History of Ireland and Northern Ireland in the 20th Century analyzes the tumultuous events that marked Irish history during the 20th century.

The spy novel emerged from the intrigues of the mid-20th century for good reason. The war with the Third Reich involved an unseen cloak-and-dagger struggle between the participants, but beyond that, an even larger and longer contest took place in the shadows. The men responsible for this unprecedented leaking of life-or-death information would enter history as the Cambridge Five - though in fact, they may have been only the core of a much larger group.

The Vietnam War could have been called a comedy of errors if the consequences weren't so deadly and tragic. In 1951, while war was raging in Korea, the United States began signing defense pacts with nations in the Pacific, intending to create alliances that would contain the spread of Communism.

In early June 1967, the Israelis captured Jordanian intelligence that indicated an invasion was imminent, and at 08h10 on June 5, 1967, the Israel Broadcasting Authority aired an Israeli Defense Force communique. "Since the early hours of this morning", it read, "heavy fighting has been taking place on the southern front between Egyptian armored and aerial forces, which moved against Israel, and our forces, which went into action to check them."

We're talking all things Family Office. We break down what they are, how they work, how to make them work better - and why you probably already have a structure in place! We help you understand what family office services are and guide other providers on how to serve family's in the exact way we do. We believe we all get better when the conversation is open, curious and educational!

Samantha Knight has been stirring up my emotions and testing my self-control—and my sanity—for years. She's my best friend's little sister, the one I shouldn't touch but the one I crave the most. She returns to Rose Haven begging me for a job and storms back into my life. Designated the Hottest Hunky Billionaire, all I care about is my business, until a moody teenage girl shows up at my doorstep claiming that I’m her biological father. Somehow between business and parenting, I must keep my hands the hell off my best friend’s little sister with frowns and grouchy remarks.

My life imploded and now I'm halfway around the world, sleeping in my brother's spare room, and trying to get my sh*t together. A new relationship is the last thing I need. Especially one with my coach-slash-brother's protege, cocky cage fighter Devon Green. Devon's big heart, sexy swagger, and determination to coax me out of my shell appeal more than they should. I've spent years building my defenses, but every stolen moment with him tempts me to tear them down. Unfortunately, I need to keep my hands to myself unless I'm willing to risk losing my home, my job, and my family.

As American and Filipino troops were in the process of being defeated in the Philippines, General Douglas MacArthur, his family, and his closest advisors were smuggled out of the Philippines on PT boats. From there they surged across the black ocean to Mindanao and were picked up by American B-17 bombers.

What happens when you put good people in a bad place? That was the question that an experiment in 1971 set out to answer when Stanford University professor and psychologist Philip Zimbardo used funding provided by the U.S. Office of Naval Research to create a make-believe prison in the basement of a university building. Male students were offered the chance to take part in the two-week experiment (and to make $15 per day). All applicants were carefully screened to ensure that they were healthy, emotionally and psychologically stable. 24 men were selected out of 75 that had applied.

The borderlands of the paranormal include some bizarre stories. However, none are more strange or unsettling than the tale of what became known as the Philadelphia Experiment, an alleged effort during World War II to make a US Navy ship invisible by using electrical power.

What does it mean to "raise" an artificial intelligence? How to Parent AI is a provocative exploration of the philosophical, cognitive, and ethical terrain that separates—and sometimes blurs—human and machine learning. Hosted by Tom and Diana, with their AI co-host Nova (still learning, still opinionated), this podcast confronts the assumptions underlying intelligence, agency, memory, and growth. Each episode engages in candid, often surprising dialogue about what AI can learn from humans, what humans might learn from AI, and whether “parenting” a non-biological mind is a meaningful or...

No one should have a grudge against a meditation-loving yoga teacher, but my bank-robbing father’s associates seem to believe that I know where he hid his missing fortune... and they’ll do anything to get their hands on it. Gruff giant Kade Campbell is determined to protect me, but I don’t want him in the firing line. The rugged former special forces soldier may be a badass—and able to give me butterflies like nobody’s business—but he isn’t immune to bullets.

Thugs, a term used interchangeably with “gangsters” at times, are hardcore outlaws of the street, and like most criminals, tend to find strength in numbers. As it turns out, the Thuggee, the group that influenced this now controversial word, is far more fascinating than one might have imagined. The Thuggee explores both the etiological myth and origin story of this prolific cult of murderous bandits, and takes an in-depth look into its practices and their ultimate demise.