Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography, & More

You’ve seen it in your science classrooms, and there was probably a copy of it on the inside cover of your chemistry book. Maybe if you are a real nerd, you might even have your own personal copy. Yet its very creation was a revolutionary breakthrough that helped scientists and generations of students understand the very things which make up our world. Learn more about the Periodic Table of the Elements and how it helped explain the natural world, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The modern Olympics have been celebrated for over 100 years. Since their beginning in 1896, there have been over 100,000 athletes who have competed at the Olympics and thousands of medals have been awarded. At every Olympics, just like clockwork, the same debate is initiated: who is the greatest Olympian of all time? Join me as I try to answer this unanswerable question, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Robert Smalls was born a slave in 1839 in Beaufort, South Carolina. From that humble beginning, he went on to become a war hero, a ship captain, a presidential advisor, and a member of the US House of Representatives. However, he is best known for one of the most daring exploits of the entire Civil War. Learn more about Robert Smalls on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ever since the cease-fire which ended the Korean war, the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea has been a tense stand-off. Standing only a few meters from each other, soldiers from North Korea stand on one side with soldiers from South Korea and the United States on the other. On August 18, 1976, the two sides came as close as they ever have to igniting another war. Learn more about the Korean Axe Murder Incident on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Throughout human history, people have killed, robbed, and put their lives at risk in the pursuit of power. In fact, almost all of history can be thought of as people, tribes, and nations all competing for power. However, occasionally there are those who have the ability to seize power but refuse to do so. One man, in particular, did so twice. Learn more about Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The term Dark Ages has been used to refer to a period in European history when culture supposedly regressed and civilization was in decline. The idea of a Dark Ages is one that was prevalent amongst historians for centuries. But lately, historians have been reconsidering the idea of a Dark Age and questioning if there really was a Dark Age. Learn more about the Dark Ages and if they were really that dark, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You’ve probably heard the stories of many titans of industry. People like John D. Rockefeller, Sam Walton, Bill Gates, and Jeff Bezos grew their companies to become large enterprises and then became fantastically wealthy. To be sure, having intelligence, skill and foresight can certainly lead to success in business. But sometimes, it is far better to be lucky than good, and no one embodies this more than Lord Timothy Dexter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Almost everyone has a black sheep in their family. Someone who maybe gets in trouble with the law and doesn’t follow rules. But what if you had the misfortune to be related to someone truly horrific? What if you had a relative who was in the upper echelon of the Third Reich? For a handful of people, they had to live with the legacy of parents who were responsible for the murder of millions. Learn more about the children of Nazis on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Every element on the periodic table has a completely different story. They behave differently, they exist in different abundances, and humans have totally different uses for them. One of the most controversial elements, if that is in fact a thing, is uranium. Uranium can provide power, it can use destruction, and most people really don’t understand it. Learn more about uranium, the last of the natural elements, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Wars can start with a bang but end with a whimper. Often an attack or an invasion will begin a war, but even one when one side surrenders, it can take days, weeks, or months for word of the capitulation to get out to everyone. While the European theater of World War II officially ended on May 8, 1945, the word didn’t reach everyone right away. Learn more about the last Germans to surrender on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Almost 2,800 years ago the Ancient Greeks held a sporting event every four years on Mount Olympus. The festival was part competition, part religious celebration, and it was considered so important that wars would come to a halt in honor of the games. Then in the 19th century, one man came up with the idea of bringing the games back to life. Learn more about the Modern Olympic Movement on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

During the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union competed in almost every arena: space, sports, and of course the military. Everything they competed in was designed to show the superiority of their respective systems. In 1972, one of the greatest cold war rivalries came to a head in Reykjavík, Iceland. It didn’t take place at a sporting event or on a battlefield. Rather, it took place over a period of two months on a chessboard. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1949, a young inventor by the name of Norman Woodland was sitting on the beach in Florida. While drawing some lines in the sand, he had an idea that would revolutionize the world of retail and logistics. In fact, his invention might be found somewhere around you or on your person at this moment. Learn more about bar codes, and the closely related Universal Product Codes, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One of the fundamental questions of humanity is where did we come from? How did life on Earth come about? While there have been many theories as to how this could have happened, in 1952, two men decided to actually run an experiment to see if they could replicate the early conditions on Earth. The results were eye-opening. Learn more about the Miller-Urey Experiment and how it changed our ideas on the genesis of life, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the year 1184 in the Dutchy of Thuringia, in what is today the country of Germany, a conflict raged between the Count of Thuringia and the Archbishop of Mainz. To resolve this dispute, the German King Henrich VI called the parties to the city of Erfurt to settle their outstanding issues. Things did not go as anyone planned. Learn more about the Erfurt Latrine Disaster on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918, the Great War came to an end. In the preceding four years and four months, the world saw the greatest bloodletting history up until that point. Even after the announcement of the armistice, the war continued for several hours. During that time, soldiers still died. One, in particular, died at the very last minute of the war. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When I mention the Kingdom of the Netherlands, you are probably thinking of the country in Europe that is really flat, where they ride bikes, have windmills, and grow tulips. Well, that is only partially correct. Well, technically 98% correct. There are other parts of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and they are actually located closer to Miami than they are to Amsterdam. Learn more about the Kingdom of the Netherlands on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After the first world war, many Australian veterans settled in the Campion district of Western Australia to become farmers on land provided by the government. It was there they encountered an enemy far more cleaver than any which they encountered in Europe. They fought this enemy with state-of-the-art weapons and vehicles, yet it still wasn’t enough. Learn more about the Great Emu War on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The biggest thing there is and the biggest thing there can be is infinity. It literally has no bounds. In fact, thinking about infinity can quickly give you a nosebleed because our finite minds can’t really grasp just how enormous it really is. However, what if I were to tell you that there is something even bigger than infinity? Or, to be more accurate, there are infinities that are bigger than other infinities? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1889, a new exhibit was constructed for the Paris World’s Fair. It completely dominated the Paris skyline. Most people considered it an eyesore and an architectural abomination. The only redeeming thing about it in their mind was the fact that it was only temporary and was going to be torn down after the fair was over. But it never was, and today it has become the iconic symbol for the city. Learn more about the Eiffel Tower on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Every government had objects which central to their functioning. These are items, physical objects, usually steeped in history and tradition which are involved in the mythology of the state. In most countries, these objects are often given the status of religious relics, and in some countries, they might actually be religious relics. The United States is no exception. Learn more about the American objects of state in this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What do you do when you are facing a crisis? Perhaps you might consult a friend, or maybe some sort of expert? Well, the ancient Romans had a go-to source for advice whenever they a major problem. And the advice they got was…...different. Learn more about The Sibylline Books, and how they gave the Romans advice during times of crisis, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Every so often you might hear something on the news about a record high or low temperature being set. Usually, these might be records for a particular month, or maybe for a particular place. Temperature records, especially global records, can be very contentious and there are rigid rules surrounding how such recordings are taken. Some temperature records might take years to be verified. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One of the brightest things in the universe is caused by one of the most powerful explosions in the universe: a supernova. While they don’t happen very often, they were known to ancient peoples and their appearance would often be recorded because they were such a rare and special event. Today, astrophysicists have a much better understanding of what supernovas are and how they can help us better understand the rest of the universe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Almost as soon as Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in 1947, people began thinking of ways to transport passengers at supersonic speeds. However, the challenges in creating a passenger aircraft that could travel at supersonic speeds were much greater than making a fighter aircraft that could do the same. In 1976, a British/French consortium launched the inaugural flight of the most successful supersonic passenger aircraft in history. Learn more about the Concorde Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On August 4, 1997, Jeanne Calment passed away in Arles, France. At the time, it was reported that she was 122 years and 164 days old. No one else has ever been verified to have ever even lived to the age of 120. However, in the years since her passing, many people have begun to question her story. Not only might she not have been a supercentenarian, but she might not have even been a centenarian at all. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the 7th century, the world saw the rise of one of the most important religious and political forces in history: Islam. Springing forth from the Arabian Peninsula, within a matter of months, the Islamic Caliphate had become one of the largest empires on Earth. Much of that growth was due to one man. He wasn’t a religious leader, and he wasn’t the head of the empire. He was one of the greatest military leaders in history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey is one of the largest, oldest, and most significant buildings in the world. It has served as a holy place for three different religions and has been the focal point for two different empires. Almost, 1,500 years after its construction, it is still making headlines today. Learn more about the Hagia Sophia on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Amelia Earheart was a pioneer in the early days of aviation. She became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic. She was the first person to fly solo from Hawaii to California. In 1937, she set out on her greatest adventure ever. It would be the longest single flight in history and it would take her around the world. However, on July 2, 1937, she took off from Papua New Guinea and was never seen again. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From the very founding of the United States, there was a debate that took place amongst the representatives from the 13 states. Where should be the capital of the new country be located? A compromise was eventually reached where the states of Maryland and Virginia would donate a total of 100 square miles of land along the Potomac River for the new Federal Capital. Learn more about Washington DC, its past, present, and possible future, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One of the saddest things in the modern world is that with all of our technology, and with all of the information in the world at our fingertips, there are more people today who think the Earth is flat than there were 20 years ago. While most people don’t subscribe to this, thankfully, most people have never really given the idea much thought. They know the Earth is round, but they can’t really articulate why. Thankfully, I’m here to help. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the middle ages, a legend persisted among Europeans that there was a Christian ruler in Asia, or Africa, who would come to join with European Christians to help fight Moslems. The only problem was, the distant Christian ruler didn’t exist. Yet, while the ruler was a fable, the story was actually based on some facts. Learn more about the legendary Prester John, and how Europeans pinned their hopes on him, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On July 1, 2020, a world traveler who was grounded by an international pandemic made the business and personal decision to launch the podcast he wanted to listen to. One year later, he’s celebrating the one-year anniversary of his podcast. Learn more about years, anniversaries, and the Everything Everywhere Daily podcast on the one-year anniversary episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Earth takes a year to go around the sun, and a day to turn on its axis. It is tilted 23.5 degrees which is what causes the seasons. All of these facts which you learned in school are true, but they are not permanent. They change, very slowly, over time. One astrophysicist in the 1920s figured out that all of these cycles could interact with each other, affecting the long term climate of the Earth. Learn more about Milankovitch Cycles on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean is one of the smallest countries in the world. The country has only one proper hotel and that has just 9 rooms. Once you visit the country, there is no car rental service, there isn’t an ATM machine anywhere in the country, and the entire country doesn’t take credit cards. Oh, and good luck trying to get online. Learn more about Tuvalu, the least visited country in the world, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Unquestionably, the most popular clothing innovation of the last 150 years has been blue jeans. They can be found all over the world, yet they have become synonymous with American culture. While the modern blue jeans are definitely American, their origin actually goes back centuries earlier to Europe. Learn more about the history of blue jeans and how they became so popular on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On July 20, 1976, Viking 1 became the first robotic lander to land on Mars. On September 3, its sister Viking 2 followed suit. Both of them carried experiments to test for biology on Mars, something which no subsequent Mars lander since has replicated. The results from these chemical experiments have divided researchers for decades and have been the cause of one of the greatest debates in planetary science. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1990, filmmaker Peter Brosnan set out to find a legendary Egyptian city that was lost to time and buried by sand dunes. After years of battling local officials, he finally was given the approval to begin an archeological dig. What he found were 35-foot tall statues of the Pharoah Ramses II and enormous sphinxes weighing over 5 tons. Where did they make this discovery? Near Santa Barbara. Learn more about the lost city of Cecil B. DeMille on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One of the interesting things about temperature is that no matter how cold you’ve ever been, or how low of a temperature anyone has ever achieved, you can always get colder, if only by a little bit. That is because temperature has an absolute barrier that can never be broken. Learn more about absolute zero and the attempts to get ever close to the impossible temperature on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There is an old saying that one person’s trash is another person’s treasure. But sometimes, one person’s treasure is just another persons’ treasure that they can’t afford. I’m talking about the realm of ultra-expensive items which would be more than most people would make in a lifetime. Items so expensive, that they usually make no financial sense to buy them whatsoever. Learn more about the world’s most expensive things on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On August 31, 1901, in Buffalo, New York, the President of the United States, William McKinley was shot twice in the torso. Seven days later, he passed away due to an infection. For the third time in only 36 years, a US president had been assassinated. Yet, few people remember this event, or even the president himself. Learn more about the assassination of President William McKinley on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Video games have become almost ubiquitous in today’s world. Most of us probably have some sort of computer game on our smartphone, as well as games on our desktop computer, and you might even have one or more dedicated computing devices dedicated solely to playing games. The massive $100 billion dollar computer game industry had very humble beginnings, however. Learn more about the history of computer games on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the early 15th century, just before Europe began its Age of Exploration, China was embarking on a series of voyages that put to shame anything anyone in Europe would do for centuries. These voyages were led by a man who was the greatest admiral in history up to that point and the ships in his fleet were the largest wooden ships that the world would ever see. Learn more about the voyages of Admiral Zheng He on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1908, in the middle of the Siberian wilderness, near the Tunguska River, an explosion took place which was equivalent in size to the detonation of a 5 megaton nuclear bomb. But it wasn’t a nuclear bomb. Such things didn’t even exist then. It was a mystery that scientists are still trying to figure out today. Learn more about the Tunguska Event on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When the space race first began, scientists didn’t even know if it was possible for humans to eat in a zero-gravity environment. Once they figured out it was possible, it didn’t mean that it wasn’t without problems. There was a host of issues with eating in a zero-g environment that had to be overcome. Some foods were able to be made edible in space, and some never were. Learn more about what astronauts eat in space and how they do it, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Have you ever known someone who was really cheap? Like they would wear clothes until disintegrated? Or they would never pick up the tab? Or maybe they are horrible tippers? Well, there is cheap and then there is cheap. Some people are so cheap that they appear to live in destitute poverty, even though they actually be quite wealthy. This is the world of misers. Learn more about some of the world’s most famous misers on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The second Roman emperor was Tiberius. His right-hand man was the leader of his Praetorian Guard, Lucius Aelius Seianus, known to us as Sejanus. Over the years, Sejanus slowly gained power and influence and a host of enemies throughout Rome. Eventually, however, all of his social-climbing and power acquisition eventually came to an end in one spectacular and disastrous day. Learn more about Sejanus and his spectacular downfall, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Located on a peninsula off of Southern Spain, best known for the massive rock which dominates its landscape, Gibraltar is one of the most strategic locations in the world. It has been fought over for millennia, been the focus of many sieges, and is still the subject of diplomatic disputes in the 21st Century. It also has the only population of wild monkeys in Europe. Learn more about Gibraltar on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

According to legend, in 1945 an engineer by the name of Perry Spencer was working in front of an active radar installation. As he was working, he noted that a candy bar that he had in his shirt pocket started to melt. His investigation into the phenomenon resulted in a new technology that has radically change how we cook and live. Learn more about microwaves, how they were invented, and how they work, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

World War II was unquestionably the greatest bloodletting in world history. Never before had so many people lost their lives in such a short period of time. Of all of the many tragedies during the war, one of the largest actually took place after the war. It was the largest single migrations of people in human history, it resulted in millions of deaths, and almost no one knows about it. Learn more about the Post-WWII German Expulsions on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices