Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More

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Organized crime wasn’t always so organized.  In the early 20th century, in New York, what we would call the mafia was rather unorganized. There were competing groups, and while the individual groups had an organization, there was anarchy among them.  There was a war between some of the crime organizations, and when the dust settled, all of the major mafia groups in New York City had found a way to...

On October 15, 1991, a cosmic ray detector in Utah observed something that had never been seen before or since.  It was a cosmic ray with more energy than anything ever observed and more energy than most scientists thought possible.  When one of the first researchers saw the data, they responded simply, “Oh, my God!” Learn more about the OMG particle, what it was, and what it means on this episode...

One of the most popular categories of beverage in the world today is soft drinks. Soft drinks can be found almost everywhere in every country, from corner stores to restaurants to vending machines.  Unlike other popular beverages, soft drinks are a rather recent invention, despite there being early antecedents to soft drinks that go back to antiquity.  Learn more about soft drinks, their origins a...

On November 4, 1979, a group of Iranian Revolutionaries stormed the American Embassy in Tehran, Iran, and took 66 American diplomats and citizens hostage.  Over the next 444 days, the hostage crisis dominated the news and became the single biggest foreign policy issue for both the United States and Iran.  Even after the hostages were released, it has affected US/Iranian relations for the last four...

Since its creation, the Central Intelligence Agency has been tasked with gathering intelligence on foreign adversarial governments.  Exactly how they were to go about doing this was not exactly spelled out in advance.  This gave them an enormous amount of leeway and creativity in how to go about their mission. Some of their ideas were truly inspired, and others were, how shall we say, odd.  Learn...

In the early 12th century, a military monastic order developed in the Middle East with the express intent of protecting Christian pilgrims traveling to the Holy Land. Despite its rather modest mission statement, over the next 200 years, this organization became one of the most powerful entities throughout the Middle East and Europe.  However, its success and power eventually planted the seeds of i...

Airplanes are wonderful things. They fly through the air and move people and goods at rapid speeds around the world.  However, they have some downsides. In order to take off and land, an airplane requires an enormous amount of land for runways.  So, for over a century, aeronautical engineers have been trying to create a vehicle that has all the strengths of an airplane but could take off and land...

Malaria is one of the oldest known infectious diseases, with a history spanning thousands of years. It has shaped human civilization, influenced wars, and driven scientific advancements in medicine and public health. However, humanity has been making strides against this ancient disease over the last 250 years. We have learned what causes it and how it is transmitted, and we might be close to erad...

Every twelve years, one of the greatest gatherings of people on Earth takes place in India.  As many as a hundred million people will converge on four different locations on sacred rivers to engage in one of the most important rites in the Hindu Religion. But what are the reasons so many people undertake the pilgrimage, and how exactly do you handle the logistics of so many people going to the sam...

One of the biggest controversies in the world of sports over the last several decades has been the use of performance-enhancing drugs and substances, or PEDs.  It seems as if there hasn’t been a single sport that hasn’t been touched in some way by the use of PEDs.  But what exactly are PEDs, and how do they give athletes an advantage? Do they really work, and if they do, just how big of an advanta...

Humanity has seen a lot of bad things throughout history. There have been horrific wars, natural disasters, and pandemics that have killed millions of people.  Many of these awful events were awful over a period of weeks, months, or years.  It raises the question, what was the worst single day in history? What day was the absolute worst when all the horrible things were punctuated in one twenty-fo...

Located in Northern China is not only one of the largest cities in the world but also the capital of the largest country in the world, Beijing.  Like many great cities, Beijing has had its ups and downs. It has gone from a sleepy village to a global city. It has seen its share of wars, revolutions, and historical events.  Not only has it had a front-row seat to history, but it has also changed its...

Every four years on January 20th, the United States holds a ceremony for the inauguration of the President of the United States. There are traditions for the inauguration, some of which have been passed down since the very first. Why do we use January 20th as the date, and how did many of these traditions get started? Learn more about the history and traditions of the Presidential Inauguration on...

After the Allied landing in Normandy in World War II, the Allies made progress pushing back the Germans. However, by September, things had slowed down. One allied commander devised a plan that he thought would end the war in one fell swoop. The plan was bold, audacious, and highly risky, and in the end, it was ultimately a failure. Learn more about Operation Market Garden and the attempt to quickl...

In 1880, the Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was commissioned to compose a work in honor of the completion of a new cathedral.  What he wrote became one of the best-known, over-the-top, and difficult-to-produce pieces of music in history. Despite its popularity almost 150 years later, the composer actually thought it was one of his worst works.  Learn more about the 1812 Overture, how it...

In the year 60 BC, a very unlikely alliance was formed between three of Rome’s most powerful men.  Gaius Julius Caesar, Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, and Marcus Licinius Crassus agreed to put aside their differences for mutual gain.  For many years the alliance worked, and the three men were able to run the Roman Republic….until it eventually fell apart. Learn more about the First Triumvirate on this ep...

Imagine a device that could supply an unlimited amount of energy. It would solve many of the world’s problems in one fell swoop.  Unfortunately, such a device is impossible to build, but that hasn’t stopped people throughout history from trying.  In fact, to this very day, people still claim that they have created perpetual motion machines, and they keep getting proven wrong. Learn more about perp...

One of the most devastating disasters that has afflicted humanity are famines.  Unlike other natural disasters, famines do not have a single cause. They have happened all over the world for a wide variety of reasons; some of them have natural causes, and others are man-made.  Famines are typically much worse than natural disasters and are rivaled only by pandemics and wars.  Learn more about famin...

In the early 20th century, the Schlitz Brewing Company of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was the largest brewery in the world.  However, by 1980, the company had fallen on hard times and was purchased by a competitor in a hostile takeover. The company was so bad that it eventually killed the company that bought them.  However, the demise of Schlitz wasn’t one of changing tastes or bad luck. It was a series...

One of the most popular foods in the world is tomatoes.  Tomatoes are grown almost everywhere in the world today, and they have become the basis of several international cuisines.  However, just a few hundred years ago, very few people were eating tomatoes as we know them today. In fact, even after they were cultivated, there were people terrified to actually eat them. Learn more about tomatoes an...

In the first and second centuries, a Christian sect found a wide following throughout the Roman world.  They weren’t your normal run-of-the-mill Christians. They had beliefs that were nothing like those of any Christian sect today, and they drew the ire of many Christian leaders at the time.  What we knew about them was limited to the writings of their critics until a stunning find in the mid-20th...

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, there was a problem that stumped even the best minds in physics. Eventually, one man, Max Planck, solved the problem, but his solution was one that was out of left field. While the math worked, he didn’t actually believe that the mathematics explained reality. It turned out his discovery was more true than he realized and it ushed in a revolution in t...

Some of the most beautiful things in the world of mathematics are fractals.  Fractals are unique geometric objects that are both easy to comprehend and have complicated mathematics.  Moreover, fractals are not just a theoretical mathematical construction. Fractals can be found everywhere in nature, including trees, beaches, and even your own body.  Learn more about fractals, what they are, and how...

In July 2017, the International Olympic Committee did something unprecedented. It awarded not one, but two cities Olympic games at the same time. The 2024 games to Paris and the 2028 games to Los Angeles.  However, this decision wasn’t a stroke of genius. It was an act of desperation.  That is because no one really wants to host an Olympics anymore. Learn more about the economics and politics of h...