Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More

From the years 59 to 53 BC, three high-ranking Romans conspired to control the Roman political system for their own benefit. They called this system a triumvirate. A decade later, Rome found itself under the control of three more men and yet another triumvirate.  This one was very different than than the first. It was given actual legal authority, and it was far more deadly.  Learn more about the...

In 1957, two chemists at the Clinton Corn Processing Company of Clinton, Iowa, developed a system for converting the glucose found in corn starch into fructose.  Over 60 years later, the product they created can be found in a dizzying array of food products worldwide. Learn more about High Fructose Corn Syrup, how it is made, how it is used, and the controversy surrounding it on this episode of Ev...

By the age of 32, Alexander the Great had conquered most of the world, which was known to him.  This episode is not about any of that. This is about what happened after his death.  After he died, his corpse became a political football, and his tomb became the centerpiece of the city in Egypt that bared his name. Within a century, it became the largest city on Earth.  …and then at some point, his b...

On Christmas Eve, 1914, something remarkable happened on the western front during the First World War.  Soldiers in the trenches on both sides of no man’s land ceased fighting. Not only did they stop fighting, but they came out of their trenches to meet each other to celebrate Christmas.  It has become one of the most mythologized events of the war and one of the oddest events in military history....

Every year, people around the world celebrate Christmas on December 25. In many countries, it is the biggest single holiday of the year.  Why is it celebrated on December 25? Is there any historical basis for this date and if not, then why do we celebrate it on this date? Learn more about why we celebrate Christmas when we do on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.  Sponsors BetterHelp Vis...

On December 21, 1968, a Saturn V rocket was launched from Florida that did something that had never been done before. It took three men outside of the orbit of the Earth.  They didn’t just leave the Earth's orbit; they orbited the moon, and while they were in the orbit of the moon, they sent a message to Earth, which was the most widely listened to broadcast in human history up to that point.  Lea...

In the 1920s, Christmas was becoming a big deal. Christmas was becoming highly commercialized, and the Santa Claus that we know today was being established.  It was during this time one man saw an opportunity. He was able to fill a gap in the market and in answering the letters that children sent to Santa.  It was an incredible success, it was incredibly popular, and it was ultimately a giant scam...

If you live anywhere away from tropical latitudes, you might have experienced snow. In fact, depending on where you live, you might have experienced a whole lot of snow at various points in your life.  As a substance, snow has some very unique properties. On the one hand, it is very simple; it is just ice, but on the other hand, it is also extremely complex.  Snow can be very beautiful, but if you...

If anyone has taken some basic mathematics, you are probably familiar with Euclidian Geometry. Euclidean geometry is what most people just call geometry.  It is the study of shapes like triangles and circles in a simple plane. This type of geometry was developed over 2000 years ago, and it is based on certain set axioms. However, later mathematicians challenged one of those axioms, and it complete...

Every major city in the world has its own unique story. Some cities have an ancient history, and others have a more recent founding. Madrid, the capital city of Spain, has a history that is unlike any other.  It went from nothing to being the capital of the world’s largest empire and today is one of the largest cities in Europe.  Learn more about the history of Madrid, Spain’s capital and largest...

When Europeans began sailing the high seas on extended voyages, the most deadly thing they encountered wasn’t enemy navies, starvation, or even shipwrecks.  It was a painful disease where your body would literally start falling apart, and it killed more than 2,000,000 sailors between the voyage of Columbus to the middle of the 19th century.  Learn more about scurvy and how it was eventually conque...

On the evening of April 14, 1865, the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, was shot while attending a play in Washington DC. The assassination wasn’t a random act. It had been planned for weeks, multiple people were involved in the conspiracy, and he was ultimately one of the final casualties of the war.  The weeks after the assassination saw the greatest outpouring of grief the c...

Ever since humans began writing down information, there has been a desire to compile all known information into one single source.  For over two thousand years, people have attempted to compile all of the knowledge of their era and civilization.  Some of these attempts were little more than lists, and others were mind-bogglingly comprehensive.  Learn more about the history of encyclopedias and the...

Beginning in the 16th century, French settlers crossed the Atlantic to settle in a French colony located in the New World. That colony wasn’t modern-day Quebec, however. The colony was known as Acadia.  When the British took control of Acadia in 1713, the Acadians were allowed to stay, but eventually, that privilege was revoked by the British, and those people were scattered to the winds.  Today,...

The dictionary defines a coincidence as “A sequence of events that, although accidental, seems to have been planned or arranged.” We have probably all experienced coincidences of some type or another. However, there are coincidences, and then there are coincidences. There are cases that are so mind-bogglingly improbable that it would seem that they were fabricated.  Yet, they are indeed true.  Lea...

When humans first learned how to work with metal, the very first metal they used was copper.  Copper was easy to shape, easy to find, and relatively abundant.  Since those early humans began using copper, usage of the metal hasn’t diminished. It's just that its modern usage is for purposes that the ancient never could have imagined.  Learn more about copper and its many uses throughout history on...

In the year 356 BC, a son was born to the King of Macedon, Philip II, and his wife, Queen Olympias. While no one could have known it at the time, that boy would grow up to fundamentally change the map of the ancient world. Multiple ancient kingdoms and empires would fall to his armies.  However, just as he reached the zenith of his success, he died, leaving chaos and confusion in his wake. Learn m...

There was a time when languages had no punctuation. Not only did they not have punctuation, but they also didn’t even have spaces between words, and in some cases, they didn’t even use vowels.  It was extremely confusing if you were trying to read something, so eventually, people began inserting marks and characters into text to make it easier to read.  Learn more about punctuation marks and how a...

During the Second World War, the Germans used what they thought to be an uncrackable encryption system.  It was a really good encryption system, and for the longest time, the Allies had a difficult time cracking the code.  However, thanks to brilliant code breakers, a powerful computing machine, and German mistakes, the British were able to break the code.  Learn more about the Enigma Code and how...

In the big scheme of things, the United States is a rather young country. Yet, during its history, it has managed to declare war on a shockingly large number of European countries, including Britain, Spain, Germany, Italy, Austria, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria.  Yet, through all the turmoil, there is one country the US has never gone to war with….France. Except for that time when we sort of, kin...

English is a very strange language. It is a Germanic language where half of the words come from a Romance language. We have a host of words that make absolutely no sense in terms of spelling or pronunciation.  Perhaps strangest of all, some of the greatest literary works in the English language are filled with words that aren’t even in the language anymore.  Learn more about the English of Shakesp...

Every December, members of the Jewish faith celebrate the festival of Hanukkah. Hanukkah is one of the best-known Jewish holidays and is associated with various popular symbols and objects. However, most people don’t know the story behind why the holiday exists or the background beyond the many items associated with it.  Learn more about the celebration of Hanukkah, its history, and how it is cele...

On December 7, 1941, the United States and the rest of the world were shocked by a surprise attack by the Japanese Empire on the American Navy stationed in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.  However, in its aftermath, there have been people who have wondered and speculated that the American government knew about the attack and did nothing to prevent it as an excuse to get the United States into the war.  Lear...

Formerly located in the territory of Hong Kong was arguably the most densely populated place on Earth. In fact, it might have been the most densely populated place in human history.  Not only was it packed with people, but it also had a unique political status. No government controlled it, which made it lawless, which in turn made it a magnet for organized crime. Learn more about the Walled City o...

The woman the world would know as Josephine Baker was born into abject poverty in 1906 in Saint Louis, Missouri.  Despite her humble background and numerous obstacles in her way, she became one of the most significant entertainers of the first half of the 20th century. However, the way she found success was unlike any of her contemporaries.  She later used her fame and celebrity as a highly effect...