Leslie Cockburn was among the second class of women ever admitted to Yale University, studied anthropology, graduated early, and then lived in Kenya for a year before graduate school in London.
Where this was said
At 20:51 · chapter starts 18:00
This chapter is the biographical heart of the episode. Olivia describes her parents as war correspondents who would take separate planes to Baghdad and stay in different hotels, meeting in secret in the middle of the night before going out to work in bulletproof vests — a life she describes as 'sexy' and 'role-playing.' Her mother Leslie, she reveals, was the first Western journalist to interview Saddam Hussein's sons, gaining access partly because subjects underestimated a woman. Leslie also smuggled a hidden camera under a burqa into Taliban-controlled territory. Despite these consuming careers, Olivia says her parents bridged the gap by treating the home as a salon, inviting interesting people over and including the children in adult conversations — a practice Olivia actively tries to replicate with her own kids.
Olivia Wilde's mother Leslie Cockburn strapped contraband video cassettes under traditional Afghan robes to smuggle out forbidden footage of the Taliban regime. Her secret weapon: being a woman in rooms where men assumed she was no threat.
Olivia Wilde's mother Leslie Cockburn was the first Western journalist to interview Saddam Hussein's sons, gaining access by going to places other journalists wouldn't and once smuggling a camera under a burqa.
Olivia Wilde holds triple citizenship — British, Irish, and American — having grown up spending every school holiday in Ireland and feeling equally Irish and American as a child.
Joel de la Garza noted that the CISO role is a relatively recent invention, with Steve Katz widely credited as the first-ever CISO.
Superficial adoption of electricity gave factories only 6% efficiency gains; fully redesigning factories around it delivered a 3x productivity improvement that powered 20th-century US growth.
Harold Ramis recounted that during Caddyshack filming, storms kept the cast cooped up in a Florida hotel for days, during which they partied and did drugs all day and night.
In the 1820s, China accounted for 25% of global economic output, making it the world's largest economic machine — a historical precedent for its current AI superpower ambitions.
66 Americans held hostage at the US Embassy in Iran were released after 444 days, within hours of Reagan's inauguration.
In the first round of the secret arms deal, 508 TOW missiles were transferred from Israel to Iran in exchange for hostage releases.
America secretly transferred 2,000 missiles and missile parts to Iran across 8 separate shipments over just over a year.
Despite all the missile sales, only 3 of the 7 American hostages held by Lebanese terrorists were ultimately released.
The CIA supply plane that blew open the scandal was flying at only 2,500 feet in broad daylight when it was shot down on October 5, 1986.
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