Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More

Most children growing up are admonished not to take candy from strangers.  It is good advice, but it isn’t advice that comes from nowhere. It comes from a particular incident 150 years ago that shocked the world and changed how we view children’s safety. It was an event, the echos of which can be seen today in efforts to find abducted children. Learn more about the kidnapping of Charley Ross on th...

Every few years, somewhere on Earth, is witness to one of the planet's greatest sights: a total eclipse. A total solar eclipse is rare, but it can be calculated centuries in advance.  However, that wasn’t always the case. For thousands of years, solar eclipses were rare events that were considered to be bad omens.  Learn more about solar eclipses, how they work, and how people have dealt with them...

You have questions and I have answers Sponsors Available nationally, look for a bottle of Heaven Hill Bottled-in-Bond at your local store. Find out more at heavenhilldistillery.com/hh-bottled-in-bond.php Sign up today at butcherbox.com/daily and use code daily to choose your free offer and get $20 off. Visit BetterHelp.com/everywhere today to get 10% off your first month. Use the code EverythingEv...

On April 15, 1947, a young, promising second baseman took the field for the Brooklyn Dodgers.  All eyes in the world of baseball, and indeed the United States, were focused on this player and this game. However, this wasn’t the normal debut of a rookie player.  This game marked the breaking of the long-standing color barrier that had kept hundreds of the greatest baseball players out of the major...

Long before Europeans arrived in North America, native people told stories of large hairy men who lived in the woods.  For the last several centuries, periodic reports of such creatures have appeared all over the United States and Canada.  In the late '60s and early '70s, photos and movies started to appear that seemed to provide evidence of these creatures…..seemed. Learn more about the legend of...

Ever since the discovery of the planet Neptune in 1846, astronomers have noticed that something was not right. The orbit of Neptune was being gravitationally influenced by some other, unknown body that was dubbed Planet X. In 1930, it was thought that this body had been discovered with the discovery of Pluto, but that couldn’t have been the object that was influencing Neptune because it was too sm...

One of the most important gods in the Roman pantheon was the goddess Vesta.  Vesta was the goddess of the hearth and home, and her temple was one of the most important in ancient Rome. It was attended by six women who were some of the most important in all of Roman society. They were given privileges that few in Rome were allowed, but it also came at a very steep price. Learn more about the Vestal...

One of the most popular fruits in the world is apples.  Apples are associated with the Garden of Eden, buttering up your teacher, and the story of Snow White. They play a role in Greek and Norse mythology, and they have lent their name to famous record and computer companies. However, apples are unlike almost every other fruit in that there are thousands of different varieties. The reason why ther...

Every year, Christians around the world celebrate Easter.  However, when they celebrate Easter can vary dramatically. In fact, the possible dates of Easter can vary by over a month. What most people don’t know is that setting the date for Easter was one of the biggest controversies in the early Christian church. In fact, it was a major reason behind one of the most important councils in history. ...

When humans first managed to harness heavier-than-air flight, they did so by using piston engines and propellers.  Several decades later, a more efficient means of propulsion was developed. It could make planes travel faster and higher and could use less fuel over longer distances.  In addition to transforming civilian and military aviation, new modes of it still have the potential to revolutioniz...

He was one of the greatest thinkers of the ancient world. He was a philosopher, a mathematician, and had some unique views on diet and religion.  You probably know him best for the theorem which bears his name.  However, if you asked anyone 2,600 years ago, they might have known him for something else entirely. Learn more about Pythagoras, his ideas, and the cult that he led on this episode of Eve...

Throughout history, there have been some truly remarkable people who have done some truly remarkable things.  One such person was Adrian Carton de Wiart. If you don’t know who he is, thanks, ok, because by the end of this episode, you surely remember his story, if not his name.  He was courageous, a little bit insane, and extremely hard to kill.  Learn more about Adrian Carton de Wiart and his inc...

In the late 19th century, several of the world’s foremost investors engaged in a public battle for the future of electricity. The battle was fought in boardrooms and newspapers, and there was seemingly nothing that was off-limits.  The battle eventually took the lives of several people…..and several dogs. Learn more about the current wars between George Westinghouse, Nikolai Tesla, and Thomas Edis...

Over the last 200 years, railroads have been one of the most important methods of transportation. Railroads helped make the modern world. They are capable of transporting people and goods quickly over long distances at a low cost.  However, most people would be shocked to learn that railways predate the development of locomotives. In fact, the earliest evidence of using some sort of premade track...

Located on a peninsula and series of islands off the southeastern coast of China lies what is today called the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong.  Hong Kong didn’t play a central role in the thousands of years of Chinese history. However, it has played a pivotal role in the region for the last 200 years.  It went from being a backwater to becoming one of the most important financial and b...

In the early 17th century, Japan was witness to a samurai who was arguably its greatest warrior.  He wasn’t just one of the greatest swordsmen in history; he was a philosopher, a writer, an artist, and, in contravention to the samurai code at the time, he was a vagabond.  Today, he is considered a saint of Japanese martial arts, and he has been portrayed in Japanese movies and books. Learn more ab...

For thousands of years, rice has been one of the most important agricultural crops in the world.  It has fed billions of people, has been crossbred into tens of thousands of variants, and is now grown in every continent except Antarctica. The importance of rice has not diminished over time and in fact, might grow in the future.  Learn more about rice, and how it was domesticated and spread around...

It is one of the most simple machines that most people use, yet incredible amounts of engineering go into their design.  They are used by billions of people around the world and it is one of the only forms of transportation available to children.  They can make humans incredibly efficient and their development was in many ways surprising. I am of course talking about bicycles. Learn about the hist...

Available Nationally, look for a bottle of Heaven Hill Bottled-in-Bond at your local store. Find out more at heavenhilldistillery.com/hh-bottled-in-bond.php Subscribe to the podcast!  https://link.chtbl.com/EverythingEverywhere?sid=ShowNotes -------------------------------- Executive Producer: Charles Daniel Associate Producers: Benji Long & Cameron Kieffer   Become a supporter on Patreon: https:/...

On the morning of August 27, 1883, one of the most destructive natural disasters of the 19th century occurred on the island of Java, in what is today the nation of Indonesia.  After weeks of low-level rumblings, a volcanic eruption totally obliterated the mountain that it had formed.  The devastation wasn’t limited to the immediate area around the volcano. The blast's effects literally affected th...

Cutting across the state of Arizona is one of the wonders of the national world: The Grand Canyon.  The Grand Canyon draws attention not only for its overwhelming size and intricate and colorful landscape but also for the deep and exposed layers of Earth's history that are visible in its walls.  The history of the Grand Canyon is a fascinating combination of its geologic origins and its history of...

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 import...

A little over 400 years ago, a group of Dutch investors had a revolutionary idea.  They were embarking on an incredibly risky endeavor, and to spread the risk, they were going to share ownership of the new venture.  Even better, each part of the ownership in this venture could be bought and sold to other investors. Their innovation is one of the most powerful economic forces in the world today. Le...

Before the Ideas of March, before he crossed the Rubicon, and before he became Rome’s dictator for life, Julius Caesar had led a very interesting life.  We know more about his early life than most Romans simply because of his accomplishments later in life, but what he did and experienced clearly shaped the person he became. As such, they indirectly shaped the fate of the entire Roman Republic. Lea...

Every year on March 14, the world celebrates one of the most important mathematical constants: pi.  It is a number which appears all over nature, even in places you wouldn’t expect it. It is also a number that has been known, or at least had been approximated, by civilizations for thousands of years.  Today there are still more we are discovering about this number with the help of supercomputers. ...