The phrase "fake it till you make it" is so deeply ingrained into the fabric of modern pop culture, that it stands as a mantra and battle cry for millions of people. One only has to look at the countless influencers, hustlers, so-called experts (from crypto bros, to NFT bros, to now AI bros) and the millions of dollars flowing into the industry of influencer marketing to see this reality in practice. However only one man can be considered the G.O.A.T. (greatest of all time) to ever have faked it till he made it. He is a man whose reputation has not only persisted but also grown in the century since his time, whose death seemed too impossible to have actually occurred, and whose actions had ramifications not just in his country, but in the actual history of the world. The man's name was Rasputin. A note from the writer: this is a pre-pandemic tale. Grigori Rasputin was born on January 21, 1869 in the remote Siberian village of Pokrovskoye. To gauge how far that village is...

Europe in the 1700s was a time of extravagance. The various royal houses of Europe were pretty much consolidated and stable within their borders, and while wars did break out between the major powers, some of the more interesting fighting happened in the realms of prestige and grandeur.  This was a period when royal courts competed over the best scientists, artists, entertainers, and philosophers to come and pretty much hang-out in their respective palaces. And this certainly was the period when they argued over who had the best, most "fabulous" home in the whole continent. * Thus this is the story of the Peterhof Palace and Gardens, a palace complex commissioned by Peter the Great. A note from the writer: this is a pre-pandemic and pre-Russia-Ukraine-War tale. * Which he ordered built, after his visit to the Palace of Versailles in France, widely regarded as the most beautiful palace of its time in Europe. * Peter the Great, renowned for bringing the i...