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

One of my dirty secrets is that I’m a fan of pro wrestling. Whenever I tell people this the first thing I inevitably hear is, “you know it's fake right?” This idea that people think professional wrestling is real comes from the concept that wrestling insiders call kayfabe. Learn about the history of kayfabe and how this concept from professional wrestling can be used to navigate the modern world on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pablo Escobar was the biggest drug lord the world has ever known. At the height of his power, he had a near-monopoly on cocaine trade in the United States. He had a peak inflation-adjusted net worth of $60 billion dollars. He was personally responsible for thousands of murders and dozens of acts of terrorism in Colombia. Today in Colombia, there are approximately 100 hippopotamuses roaming wild. What do these two things have to do with each other? Well, everything. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Traditionally, the royal families of Europe would arrange marriages amongst their children to establish alliances and bonds between their houses. While this really isn’t done that much anymore, it also wasn’t that long ago that it was done. One monarch, in particular, Queen Victoria, was really good and marrying off her children. So good in fact that almost every royal house in Europe can trace their ancestry back to her. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Boxing used to be one of the most popular sports in the world. A world championship bout would draw millions of people to their radios or televisions and could pack the largest stadiums. Since then, it has waned in popularity in no small part due to the confusing array of titles and organizations which now exist. The WBA, WBC, IBF, WBO, IBO, WBF, and IBA and many other organizations all with their own set of initials, all hand out titles. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Have you ever been told to follow the chain of command or else? In most organizations with a hierarchy or with a bureaucracy, there is a set way in which things have to be done. If you have a suggestion or a complaint, you have to go to your immediate superior, and not jump over anyone’s head. If it wasn’t for one man jumping over the heads of his superiors and jeopardizing his job, we might never have landed on the moon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For many people, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is the measure of the health of the overall stock market. In reality, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is really just the performance of a collection of 30 blue-chip stocks. The index was created in 1896 and back then there were only 12 stocks in the index, and most of them are no longer household names. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The highest and most prestigious award in the United States military is the Medal of Honor. It is awarded for only acts of extreme valor and bravery. Established during the Civil War in 1863, it has been awarded 3,506 times. If you read through the list of Medal of Honor recipients, you will read stories of heroism, honor, and sacrifice. Of all of the Medal of Honor winners, there was one recipient’s story that really stood out to me. It went beyond bravery and valor to just genuine badassery. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The greatest fire in American history, in terms of loss of life, occurred in the town of Peshtigo, Wisconsin in 1871. Most people haven’t heard of it, and even people who live in the region today aren’t aware of the disaster which happened in their own backyard. 150 years later, there is speculation that the cause of the fire might have come from a highly unusual source, and some data from other fires might help solve the mystery. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At its peak, the British Empire covered 23% of the world’s population and 24% of the Earth’s landmass. By either measure, it was the largest empire in the history of the world. Since then…..well, let’s just say the Empire has seen better days. While the vast majority of the Empire is gone, there are still assorted crumbs of the empire that exist around the world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For years a story had circulated that the rock and roll group Van Halen had a contract that required that a bowl of M&Ms be left backstage wherever they performed, with all the brown M&Ms removed. If there were any brown M&Ms in the bowl, they would use it as an excuse to trash the room. Is this just an urban legend, or was there something behind the story? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1927, Professor Thomas Parnell of the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia created an experiment to demonstrate to his students the concept of viscosity and how some substances which appear to be solids are actually liquids. That experiment is still running 90 years later. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a single 6 second period in 1968, Bob Beamon completely rewrote the record books in track and field. His gold medal-winning long jump at the Mexico City Olympics not only set a world’s record, but it added a new word to the English dictionary. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nigel Richards is unquestionably the greatest Scrabble player in history. The 52-year-old Kiwi is a five-time world champion, and the only player ever to win more than once. He is a five-time United States Champion and has won more major tournament titles than anyone else. However, all these accolades are probably not his greatest Scrabble accomplishment. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After the end of WWII in Europe, General Dwight Eisenhower was appointed the military governor of the American Zone in Germany. During his travels around Germany, he noticed that the German autobahn was really good. His respect for the German highways later became the impetus for passing legislation for the United States Interstate Highway System. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Poor Pluto. It was totally unknown, then it was a planet, and now it’s not a planet anymore. This change in the status of planets isn’t the first time such a thing has happened. Since the dawn of history, the number of things we call a planet has gone up and down. Find out why Pluto got demoted from a planet, and learn about our human history with planets on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What would happen if a world leader were to totally disappear? As in, the leader of a major country was to just vanish into thin air, without a trace? Such a thing actually happened 50 years ago when a nation’s prime minister disappeared and his body was never found. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you answer that question, most likely you are giving an answer based on a calendar that goes all the way back to one put in place by Julius Caesar. Caesar’s calendar, aka the Julian Calendar, was pretty good, but it developed problems over time, so it was modified in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII. This calendar, the Gregorian Calendar, what we’ve been using for the last several hundred years, and it works pretty well. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the aftermath of the horrors of WWI, many people in Europe wanted to find a better future going forward. A future of peace and prosperity, where energy, food, and jobs would be available for everyone. One man from Germany named Herman Sörgel had a VERY ambitious idea. An idea which would literally change the map of the planet Earth, and was the biggest proposed engineering project ever put forward. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a previous episode of the podcast, I touched on how it was difficult to pin down the date in which the United States actually became independent. In the case of the United States, it was a matter of pinning down when we wanted to define independence. Was it at the start of the rebellion, the act of declaring independence, or was it the end of the war? In the case of Canada, trying to pin a date on independence is a lot more complicated, and extends over a much longer period of time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Everyone knows who Neil Armstrong is and why he is famous. Being the first person to set foot on the moon has placed him in a unique position in world history, and he is a name that people will probably remember for thousands of years. But Apollo 11 was not his first spaceflight. His first flight aboard Gemini 8 was, in many respects, far more exciting and impressive than his exploits on Apollo 11. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the world of sports, most people enjoy very close fought, exciting games that go down to the wire. If you were to take a poll on what the best games or matches in history were in any given sport, it would probably involve a close score with a last-second victory to put one team over the edge. However, there are times when a team gets whooped so bad, you just have to sit back and admire the shellacking they received. This is the realm of the blowout. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The British Crown is unquestionably the best-known monarchy in the world. As with all monarchies, there is a strict line of succession featuring many names you’ve probably heard of: Prince Charles, Prince William, and little Prince George. However, the rules regarding succession are more elaborate than most people realize, and the number of people in the line of succession now goes into the thousands. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you look at the list of officer ranks in the United States armed forces, there are 10 ranks listed which are held today They go from Second Lieutenant all the way up to the rank of General, which is the four-star variant of the rank. There is a rank above general, a five-star general, which hasn’t been awarded in 70 years. Most people are familiar with these generals as having served in WWII. However, there is still one more rank above that of five-star general in the United States Military. ========= Sign up for the Travel Photography Academy: http://TravelPhotographyAcademy.com Book your G Adventures tour today! http://bit.ly/EEgadventures -------------------------------- Executive Producer James Makkyla Become a supporter on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/everythingeverywhere Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/everythingeverywhere/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/everywheretrip Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/EEDailyPodcast/ Website: https://everything-everywhere.com/everything-everywhere-daily-podcast/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There have been 5 acknowledged presidential elections in US history where the winner of the popular vote did not win in the electoral college. However, there is a very good argument to be made that there is a sixth election that should be added to that list. The conventional wisdom holds that John F. Kennedy narrowly beat Richard Nixon in the 1960 popular vote by 112,827 votes. However, to get to this number, you have to put a tortured spin on the numbers from one state in particular. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jessie Ownes was the world record holder in the men’s 100m dash and won the gold medal at the 1936 Olympics. Usain Bolt is the current world record holder in the men’s 100m and won 3 gold medals in the event. This episode is going to try and answer an impossible, yet interesting question: who would win in a race between Jessie Owens and Usain Bolt? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode is about nothing. Not in the sense that Seinfield was a TV show about nothing, but rather this is literally about nothing. It is about the number zero. A number that few people bother to give much thought to, yet without it, modern mathematics wouldn’t exist and neither would any of the technologies we’ve developed over the centuries. Learn more about the fascinating history of zero, and why it took so long to develop on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. ================== Sign up for the Travel Photography Academy: http://TravelPhotographyAcademy.com Book your G Adventures tour today! http://bit.ly/EEgadventures -------------------------------- Executive Producer James Makkyla Become a supporter on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/everythingeverywhere Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/everythingeverywhere/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/everywheretrip Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/EEDailyPodcast/ Website: https://everything-everywhere.com/everything-everywhere-daily-podcast/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bluffing is one of the most important aspects of playing poker. In any strategic game, in fact, deception can be critical to success. Warfare is no different. Deceiving an enemy can often mean the difference between winning and losing. Between life and death. During WWII, the allied forces unleashed the largest and most complicated deception in military history. A deception which resulted in the success of the Allied invasion of Europe, and saved thousands, if not tens of thousands of lives. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Before we created time zones, every village, town, and city had their own local time. You’d set the town’s clock according to when the sun was at its highest point each day, and everything was fine. Eventually, life got faster. Trains began moving between towns and small differences in time began to cause problems. This eventually led to the creation of time zones, so we could get everyone in the world on the same page as far as what time it is. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rutherford Birchard Hayes was the 19th president of the United States. He is famous for being the second person to win the presidency without winning the popular vote, and he won in the electoral college by a single vote. The whole election was so shady, he earned the nickname Rutherfraud. Beyond that, there isn’t a whole lot that people remember about the Hayes administration. However, in Paraguay, Rutherford B. Hayes is a really big deal. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode is the story of a man, who if you don’t know his name, you probably should: Joe Medicine Crow. Joe Medicine Crow was a scholar, an author, a historian, a spokesperson, and a warrior. In fact, he was the last person to have earned the title of War Chief in the Crow Nation, and he earned that title in a way you probably wouldn’t imagine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Major League Baseball has a long history of bad marketing ideas. From 10 cent beer night to baseball bat night, to giving fans balls they can throw on to the field as they entered the stadium, baseball has a long list of horrible ideas to bring people into the stadium. However, the absolute worst idea, by far, occurred on July 12, 1979, when the Chicago White Sox decided to blow up a crate of disco records on an evening which would forever be known as Disco Demolition Night. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Every so often, an idea comes along that is so simple, yet so profound that you smack yourself in the head for not having thought of it yourself. Even more rare is such an idea that can have global implications. An idea that can create empires, topple kingdoms, and establish economic orders which can last for centuries. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Mona Lisa is unquestionably the most famous painting in the world. Heck, it is probably the most famous work of art in the world. Yet the reason why it is so famous is due to an event which happened on the 21st of August 1911. It was wasn’t for the events of that day, the Mona Lisa would probably just be another painting hanging on the walls of the Louver. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

2,000 years ago the Han Empire in China and the Roman Empire in Europe were the two greatest empires in the world. Between them, they covered an enormous amount of the Earth’s land and a large percentage of the world’s population. But were these two great empires even aware of each other? If so, was there any contact between them? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You probably heard the expression that something is “the greatest thing since sliced bread”. Well did you ever wonder what the greatest thing was before sliced bread? Or why we measure greatness in terms of sliced bread? Well, there's an answer to these questions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you wanted to know how many countries there were in the world it should be a pretty easy thing to find out. Go to a map, count all the countries, and voila! However, it isn't even remotely close to being that simple. Defining what is a country is extremely difficult and has been a point of contention in many wars and conflicts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You probably couldn’t think of two things which are further apart than the character James Bond and the vegetable broccoli. Yet, in a not so roundabout way, there is a very direct connection between the two. In fact, if it wasn’t for broccoli, we might never have had any James Bond movies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The 3rd Olympic Games held in 1904 in St. Louis, Missouri was unquestionably the greatest train wreck of an Olympics ever held. In fact, the Olympics in ancient Greece were probably better organized and better attended than the 1904 Olympics. Nothing quite exemplifies the hot mess which was the St. Louis Olympics quite like the 1904 Olympics Marathon, which was such a disaster, it almost killed several competitors, and almost permanently removed the marathon as a competitive event. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Every year on July 4th Americans celebrate their independence. The fireworks, parades, and cookouts have been a tradition for over 200 years. But why do we celebrate it on July 4th and did America really even become independent on July 4th, 1776? Have we been celebrating on the wrong date this entire time? Learn more about the real date of American independence on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Question: Who is the most dominant athlete of all time? It's an interesting question and one which has started endless pub debates. Is that a basketball player like Michael Jordan, a baseball player like Babe Ruth, or a soccer player like Lionel Messi? Or maybe it's an athlete in an individual sport like Tiger Woods, or Serena Williams. My answer to the question of who is the most dominant athlete of all time might surprise you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How a man born 230 years ago still has living grandchildren in the year 2020. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Byzantine Empire was one of the greatest empires in world history, yet at no point was there ever an empire which went by that name. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices