Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More

Over 10,000 years ago, humans began to cultivate and raise crops. Back then, a single farm could maybe grow enough food to feed a family and perhaps a little more. Today, a farmer in a developed country can grow enough food to feed hundreds of people.  The path from agriculture’s ancient roots to a modern mechanized farm wasn’t a straight line, and it relied on several major innovations throughout...

Obituary for Thor Thompsen. https://falconerfuneralhome.com/tribute/details/324826/Thor-Thomsen/obituary.html Sponsors BetterHelp Visit BetterHelp.com/everywhere today to get 10% off your first month ButcherBox Sign up today at butcherbox.com/daily and use code daily to choose your free steak for a year and get $20 off."  Subscribe to the podcast!  https://link.chtbl.com/EverythingEverywhere?sid=S...

When most people think of World War II, they think of the Allied powers of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union, versus the Axis powers of Germany, Italy, and Japan.  However, this wasn’t always the case. At the start of the war in Europe, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union actually coordinated with each other to invade their neighbors. Learn more about the Ribbentrop-Molotov...

Sometime during the reign of Ptolemy I or Ptolemy II, the Egyptian state decided to build an institution dedicated to accumulating all human knowledge in the City of Alexandria. As the city grew, this institution grew along with it to become the greatest knowledge repository in the ancient world. …and then Julius Caesar burned it down. Maybe Learn more about the Library of Alexander, how it was cr...

Winston Churchill once said, “Democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.…” Churchill was on to something. While I’m sure the vast majority of people listening to this would support the idea of democracy in theory, how a democracy is implemented can be tricky.  Change the rules, and you can totally change the outcome, even if t...

Located approximately 1.8 billion miles or 2.9 billion kilometers from the sun is the seventh planet in the solar system, Uranus……or Uranus.  Uranus is unlike any other planet in the solar system in several important ways, and its discovery was unlike the discovery of any planet up until that point.  Since its discovery, our understanding of the planet has increased by leaps and bounds, and we are...

The surface of the Earth is 70 percent water.  If you just looked at a map and saw a sea of blue, you might think that the water is just sitting there, but it's not.  The oceans are constantly moving, and it isn’t just waves and tides that move. There are enormous rivers of water flowing through the oceans, near the surface, and near the seafloor, which influence the Earth’s climate and its weathe...

King Arthur is one of the most popular and widely known characters in literary history around the world. Tales have been told about him for almost 1,000 years.  However, many people have wondered if King Arthur was a real person or if he at least was based on a real person or a composite of people.  Learn more about the historicity of King Arthur and if he really existed on this episode of Everyth...

In the 19th century, the British and the Chinese went to war on two separate occasions—the reasons why they went to war are both simple and complicated.  The more complicated reason has to do with the trade policies of the British Empire and centuries-old entrenched attitudes on the part of the Qing dynasty.  The simple reason had to do with pushing drugs as a matter of national policy.  Learn mor...

Back in the 19th and early 20th centuries, several European countries had colonies all around the world.  Today, all of the empires have broken up, but some countries still have tiny remnants that can be found overseas. One of those countries is France. However, France’s overseas possessions are organized very differently from those held by Britain, the Netherlands, or Denmark.  Learn more about F...

In the Spring of 1846, a group of intrepid pioneers set out from Springfield, Illinois, to cross the Oregon Trail to seek a better life in the fertile Oregon Territory.  However, almost nothing went according to plan for this group. They got a late start, took a devastating wrong turn, and were delayed by many natural obstacles.  They ended up being stuck in the mountains during the winter in one...

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 histor...

For about a month, from the end of November to the end of December, every year, one of the most popular animals in North America is the turkey.  Turkeys are the traditional meal served at Thanksgiving and Christmas. However, it is a tradition that is found almost nowhere else in the world.  This is mostly due to the fact that turkeys are found nowhere else in the world.  Learn more about the turke...

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 Thanksgivin...

When the United States became independent in the late 18th century, it didn’t have much of a foreign policy. Their primary concern was creating the framework of a country that hadn’t existed before.  However, after a few decades, the United States grew in confidence and eventually asserted its own unique foreign policy objectives.  The objectives eventually coalesced during the administration of P...

Since the dawn of human history, humans have been aware of a seemingly miraculous substance. It was a substance that had the same color as silver, but unlike silver, it wasn’t a solid. It was a liquid.  Ancient people used this substance as a medicine and as an elixir for long life, something which they got absolutely wrong.  Learn more about the element mercury, its history, and its unique proper...

For centuries, the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire were able to conquer and force their will on other people around the Mediterranean Sea. The success of Rome was built on its army, and its army was able to sustain its dominance for so long because of its system of superior organization and logistics.  It was this system which allowed them to excel in ancient warfare for so long. Learn more ab...

On March 1, 1932, one of the most famous men in the world, Charles Lindbergh, found that his 20-month-old son had been taken from his crib.  It was the biggest news story of the era and has been called the crime of the century.  Ninety years later, people are still enthralled with the crime and are searching for clues. Learn more about the Lindbergh Kidnapping on this episode of Everything Everywh...

Centuries ago, someone decided jumping from a great height and trying to land without being injured would be a good idea.  …and in a few cases, it actually worked….although in many more cases, it didn’t.  Once humans figured out how to actually fly, they realized that there might be an actual use for this stunt.  Learn more about parachutes, parachuting, and how and why this particular technology...

During the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union competed in almost every arena: space, sports, and of course the military. Everything they competed in was designed to show the superiority of their respective systems.  In 1972, one of the greatest cold war rivalries came to a head in Reykjavík, Iceland.  It didn’t take place at a sporting event or on a battlefield. Rather, it took place...

The First World War was the most horrific war the world had ever seen at that time. When the conflict ended, there was an effort to make sure that such a thing never happened again.  To that end, a deliberative body was created where nations could come together to debate and discuss matters before starting an armed conflict. While having some success, this deliberative body ultimately failed at it...

There is a good chance that sometime in the last few days, weeks, or months, you might have enjoyed a slice or two of pizza. Pizza has become a near-ubiquitous food which can be found in almost every country.  However, there is no one pizza. There are vehement disagreements about what pizza is best and what sort of toppings are acceptable.  Learn more about pizza, where it came from, and its varia...

In a previous episode, I went through a list of eponymous laws. These were laws, general rules, or sometimes even scientific laws that were named after people. However, the eponymous laws I went through only scratched the surface of the eponymous Laws that are out there. There are all sorts of laws, rules, and dictums which bear someone’s name.  So, because it was so popular the first time, hang o...

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...

In the year 330, the Roman Emperor Constantine decided that the capital of the entire Roman Empire should be moved.  The location he selected was a small Greek town by the name of Byzantium, located in the middle of the Bhosperous Straits, approximately 500 miles or 800 kilometers from Rome.  From there, it grew into one of the largest and wealthiest cities in the world and was the seat of more th...