Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More

There are some subjects that are perceived to be mind-numbingly dull and boring. One such subject is accounting. Yet, believe it or not, accounting and bookkeeping have not only have been around since the dawn of human civilization, but they also had a hand in shaping it. Without it, the world would be a very different place today. Learn more about accounting and bookkeeping, and how they really aren’t as boring as they seem, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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Most people are probably aware of the events which took place on December 7, 1941. As Franklin Roosevelt said, “it was a day that would live in infamy.” However, the events of December 7 weren’t limited to Hawaii, and they weren’t even limited to December 7. It was part of a much larger operation, the other elements of which are often overlooked today. Learn more about the events of December 8, 1941, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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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 as well as 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.

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On December 6 every year, countries all across Europe celebrate Saint Nicholas Day. The way they celebrate can vary dramatically from place to place, but what they all have in common is honoring a man with a long white beard who gives presents to children. If all that sounds familiar, it should. Learn more about St. Nicholas, St. Nicholas day, and how it is celebrated around the world, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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According to the records of the Catholic Church, there have been 266 men who have been pope. However, for centuries it was thought that there was another pope not on the list that was different from all of the others. What made this pope different is that the pope was a woman. Learn more about the legend of Pope Joan, both the fact and the fiction, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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One of the technologies which have helped make the modern world is the internal combustion engine. Without it, the world would be a very different place today. Yet it wasn’t a technology that appeared fully formed. It was developed incrementally over a century. To get it to a point where it was viable for use in vehicles took numerous innovations.

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Hosting the Olympics can be a huge honor for the city that hosts the event. Cities from around the world have competed for the privilege. However, some cities which have hosted the Olympics have come to regret the decisions. In fact, they paid for the privilege of hosting the event decades after the fact. Learn more about Olympic boondoggles and the very complicated economics behind hosting the Olympic games on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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The term “banana republic” is often used pejoratively to describe small, poor, unstable developing countries. Being called a banana republic is never a good thing. However, that term has a very real origin which involved actual bananas, mercenaries, corporate money, and the American government. Learn more about Banana Republics, where the name comes from, and the history behind them, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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The Swedish King Gustavus Adolphus oversaw the rise of Sweden as one of the great powers in Europe. In 1626, he ordered the construction of a warship that would be the most powerful floating platform in Northern Europe. Its maiden voyage in 1628 was one of the most memorable of any ship in history. Learn more about the Vasa, its incredible maiden voyage, and its status today, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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The planet Neptune was discovered in 1846. Ever since then, astronomers have felt there had to be another planet beyond the orbit of Neptune. Everyone assumed they found it with the discovery of Pluto in 1930, however, something still wasn’t quite right. 90 years later, the mystery planet hasn’t been found, but astronomers might be getting close. Learn more about Planet Nine, sometimes known as Planet X, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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Located in Vatican City, just off St. Peter’s Square lies one of the plainest and most uninteresting buildings you might ever find. It has no adornments and it is just a solid beige color. However, inside that bland structure, you will find one of humanity’s greatest artistic achievements, and to enjoy it you just might get a sore neck. Learn more about the Sistine Chapel, the building, the art, and its history, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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You’ve probably heard of artificial intelligence systems which have gotten so good that they can beat the best humans at Go, chess, and even Jeopardy. However, over 200 years ago one Hungarian engineer created a mechanical device that could defeat the world’s greatest chess players. Sort of. Learn more about The Mechanical Turk and how it convinced people for over 80 years that it could play chess, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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The Sahara desert is by far the largest desert in the world. It evokes images of sand dunes, camels and just being really really dry. However, it didn’t always use to be that way. Quite recently, at least geologically speaking, it was a place with grasslands and forests. While it disappeared and became a desert, some think a green Sahara might return. Learn more about how the Sahara desert wasn’t always a desert, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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The United States has created many cultural institutions which have spread around the world. People all over the Earth have enjoyed and benefited from rock and roll, Hollywood films, and the Internet. However, we’ve also created some things that have spread to other countries which, to be totally honest, are probably not our best look. Learn more about Black Friday, the surprising history of the term, and how it manifests around the world today, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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On the fourth Thursday in November every year, American’s celebrate the holiday of Thanksgiving. It is a holiday that originated in the Americas but has subsequently spread to many countries around the world. It is a holiday that is actually secular, but with some religious overtones, and has a unique set of traditions that aren’t really shared with any other holiday. Learn more about the history and traditions of Thanksgiving on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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If you are an American, you probably grew up hearing the story of Thanksgiving. How the pilgrims came to America to escape religious persecution to establish a new life. But who were the pilgrims really? Were they really persecuted? Why did they decide to cross the ocean? And how did they end up where they did? Learn more about the pilgrims and everything that happened before the first Thanksgiving, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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On April 28, 1789, the crew of the HMS Bounty engaged in a mutiny against their despotic captain, William Bligh. After being sent out on a rowboat, the rest of the crew sailed to an uninhabited island, sank the ship, and set up home. The descendants of those mutineers are still living on that island today. Their home has become one of the most unique and remote communities in the world.

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It covers 70% of the Earth’s surface and is one of the most common substances on Earth, and it makes up 97% of the water on the planet. Despite being so common, it is also one of the most complex substances you’ll ever encounter. You can swim and surf in it, but you can’t drink it. Learn more about seawater, and why there is a whole lot more to it than you probably realize, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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Despite what you might have been told, Christopher Columbus and his expedition were not the first Europeans to reach the Americas. Almost 500 years earlier, a small group of Norse settlers arrived on what is today the Island of Newfoundland. Yet, their presence on the continent was short-lived and no one ever came after them. Learn more about what Vinland, Vikings, and lactose intolerance might have shaped history, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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In the 1980s, two superpowers battled each other for global supremacy. Across the world, the two goliaths collided on almost every front. In the end, it left a landscape littered with millions dead…..tired of listening to their commercials. Learn more about the Cola Wars and how they changed economics, culture, and soft drinks, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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In 1778, in the middle of the Revolutionary War, while camped outside New York City, General George Washington and Major Benjamin Tallmadge hatched a plan. They created a network of spies that would provide information about British military effort, which could be used by the colonists in fighting the war. It turned out to be pivotal in the war for independence. Learn more about the Culper Ring, and America’s first spy network, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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Back in July of 2020, a man in the middle of a pandemic decided to launch a new podcast. It would be a daily podcast that would cover, well, everything. It was an ambitious project that everyone told him was crazy to do, but it pushed ahead and did it anyhow. Today, 16 months later, that podcast is celebrating its 500th episode. Learn more about Everything Everywhere Daily on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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If you’ve been around long enough, you might have noticed that things are more expensive than they used to be. If you’ve really been around long enough you know that things are a lot more expensive than they used to be. This is of course known as inflation. It is an economic condition that has been around throughout history, almost everywhere on Earth. In a few cases, it has gotten so bad that it strained the limits of imagination.

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After World War II, the American forces in Germany implemented a program of de-Nazification in the parts of the country which they administered. The goal was to remove anyone who was a member of the Nazi party from any position of authority. However, some of those Nazis were considered valuable, and the Americans wanted them all to themselves. So they implement a secret program to bring them to the United States. Learn more about Operation Paperclip on this episode of Everything Everywhere.

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Believe it or not, one of the most valuable elements on the Periodic Table was also the first one that was discovered by humans. Since then it has held a prominent spot in almost every culture on Earth. We use it to signify first place, we use it as a metaphor for important rules, and for thousands of years, it was the basis of money. It was even the obsession of James Bond’s greatest villain.

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In the year 52 BC, the Roman General Julius Caesar fought the last major battle in the conquest of Gaul. The implications of the battle have reverberated throughout history and can still be felt in the world today. But the real story isn’t the implications of the battle, but how it was won. It was one of the most audacious gambles in military history, and it worked. Learn more about the Battle of Alesia on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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In 1911, a Dutch physicist named Heike Kamerlingh Onnes was experimenting with ultra low-temperature metals. He was measuring the electrical resistance of mercury to find out what would happen What he found was shocking and totally upended everything we know about physics and electricity. Learn more about superconductivity, how it works, and its applications, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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History is full of battles and conflicts. Most of them are forgotten over time as they don’t really impact history. Whether one king or another wins a battle usually doesn’t matter in the big scheme of things. However, there are moments that truly change world history. When civilizations clash and the outcome can affect the world for centuries. Such a moment occurred on May 29, 1453.

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On November 11th, 1918, the first world war came to an end. Or to be more precise, the fighting stopped. For the next eight months, a final peace treaty was hammered out, and hanging over the negotiations was the very real threat that fighting could break out again. In the end, the treaty ended the world’s greatest war and might have been the starting point for an even worse one. Learn more about the Treaty of Versailles on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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Have you ever met someone who couldn’t pronounce the name nearby town, or they just spoke different enough that you could tell that they were from somewhere else? If so, you have probably learned about shibboleths without even knowing it. These differences in speech have been used to identify people for centuries. Learn more about shibboleths, what they are and how they have been used throughout history, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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Africa is big. Really big. And for thousands of years, people have dreamed of a way to cut through the narrowest part of the Siani Peninsula to connect the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. In the 19th century, that dream was actualized. Since then, the canal has had its own history and has played a major role in the global economy. Learn more about the Suez Canal, its shockingly ancient history, and its current role in global shipping, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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During World War II, allied soldiers would often spend their time listening to the radio. They could, at least for a little while, be transported back home by listening to popular music with the soothing sounds of a female radio host with a flawless American accent. Along with the music, the troops would also get a healthy dose of enemy propaganda. Learn more about Tokyo Rose and Axis Sally on this Episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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2,500 years ago, the Greek philosopher Zeno posed a question. If you want wanted to travel from one place to another, you first have to go half the distance, then you have to go half the distance again, and then again. You can do this infinitely and never reach your goal. This was one of the first paradoxes known to history. Since then, there have been many many others, which often leave people scratching their heads.

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62 miles north of Los Angeles in the city of Palmdale, California, lies one of the most secretive aircraft design and production centers in the world: Lockheed Martin's Advanced Development Program. From this location, some of the most famous and important military aircraft in the 20th and 21st centuries were created….and they are still working on new aircraft today.

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In 1605, members of the Catholic resistance in England hatched a plot that would have completely changed the political landscape of the country. They wanted to blow up the entire parliament and the king on November 5, which they thought would return a Catholic monarch to the throne. The plotters got caught, and their demise has been celebrated for the last 400 years. Learn more about Guy Fawkes, the Gunpowder Plot.

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In 1860, the United States was as divided as it ever had been. The issue of slavery had been growing more and more contentious over the decades and by 1860, things were nearing a breaking point. The presidential election of 1860 literally would determine the future of the country, or if there would continue to even be a country. Learn more about the presidential election of 1860, the most important presidential election in American history, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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In 2008, researchers searching for fossils in the Denisova cave in Siberia came across something interesting. It appeared to be the bone from an ancient hominid species. Subsequent DNA analysis on this bone has revolutionized everything we know about the origin of humanity. Had this bone been discovered a few decades beforehand, we might never have known about it. Learn more about the Denisovans and how they affect humanity today, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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In 1941, after the German invasion of the Soviet Union, a 24-year-old woman in Ukraine volunteered to join the Red Army. She was initially pressured to become a nurse like most women who volunteered, however, that wasn’t what she wanted to do. She wanted to be on the front lines. Within a year, she was to become one of the most lethal soldiers in all of the second world war. Learn more about Lyudmila Pavlichenko, aka Lady Death, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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At the start of the American Revolution, a young American major general was one of the brightest stars of the war. He was responsible for several major campaigns and he had a great future ahead of him in his new country. By the end of the war, he was a British General fighting against the United States and his name would forever be spoken by Americans as a synonym for traitor. Learn more about Benedict Arnold and why he decided to turn on his country, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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Vampires have been been a part of folklore for centuries. Perhaps no mythical vampire is more famous than Count Dracula. While Count Dracula might be fictional, believe it or not, he was based and named on a real person who lived in 15th century Romania. While he might not have been a vampire, he was still plenty deadly. Learn more about Vlad the Impaler, also known as Vlad Dracula, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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On October 31 every year, we celebrate Halloween. It is especially popular in the United States where we use the holiday as an excuse for kids to dress up and ask for candy, and for adults to dress up and drink. But why do we dress up, and what’s the deal with pumpkins, how does this have anything to do with monsters and bats? Learn more about the history of Halloween and how so many unrelated things got lumped together on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily

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Casinos are fascinating places. They can make tons of money, but they don’t really have a product. While it is often called entertainment, unlike other forms of entertainment, no one is entertaining you. In fact, the entire business is really nothing more than applied mathematics. With the proper application of mathematics and a liberal dose of high-tech security and proper management, a casino can become a cash machine.

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One of the rarest and most expensive substances in the world is actually pretty disgusting. The way it is created is pretty gross, it looks pretty gross, and smells even worse. Despite how disgusting it is, there are people who will pay as much for it on a per gram basis as gold, yet when you get right down to it, no one really needs it. Learn more about ambergris, the treasure of the sea, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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I’ve had many episodes where I talked about a country being a “republic”. In fact, we often use the word but many people have a mistaken idea about what exactly a republic is. So what exactly is a republic, and how does it differ from a monarchy or other forms of government? What many people think a republic is isn’t necessarily wrong, but it also isn’t exactly right. Learn more about monarchies and republics and the differences between them on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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Located in the heart of Paris, along the banks of the River Seine, lies the Louvre. It has over 750,000 square feet of gallery space, it has over 615,000 items in its collection, and in a non-pandemic year, gets over 10 million annual visitors. Yet, it wasn’t always a museum, and the way it acquired its collection wasn’t always above board. Learn more about the Louvre, the world’s greatest museum, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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Weddings are full of traditions. Almost every aspect of a traditional western wedding involves customs that may date back hundreds or thousands of years. However, most people have no idea where these customs or traditions come from. They simply do them because that’s what you do when you have a wedding. Learn more about wedding traditions and learn where they came from, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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Have you ever filled out a form online where you had to select a country and you noticed that one of the country options was the “United States Minor Outlying Islands”? If you have you might have wondered, what are these island? Who lives there? And why are these islands considered minor? Learn more about the United States Minor Outlying Islands and how they ended up on almost every drop down list of countries on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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The year 1972 saw two epic contests between the United States and the Soviet Union. The first was American Bobby Fischer defeating Soviet Grandmaster Anatoly Karpov for the world chess championship. The other took place on a basketball court in Munich in the gold medal game of the Olympics. It was one of the most controversial moments in Olympic history, and the ramifications of that game are still reverberating today.

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1902, the French governor of Indochina faced a huge problem in the city of Hanoi. They were suffering from a massive infestation of rats and the rats could carry diseases, including the plague. The governor implemented a plan to get rid of the rats. Thousands of people were recruited in the effort. However, the program had a serious flaw. Not only didn’t it solve the problem, but it made things worse. Learn more about The Great Hanoi Rat Massacre of 1902/

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