Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More

The American constitution was written in 1788, but there was a mechanism built in to adapt and change the document. Since 1788 the Constitution has been amended 27 times, most recently in 1992. The most recent amendment, however, had a path to ratification which was far different than any other of the 26 before it. Learn more about the 27th amendment and the very circuitous route it took to ratifi...

American politics has been called a two-party system. While there are two major parties today, and those two parties have been around a long time, they weren’t always the only two parties. In fact, there was a political party in the US that, took its name from a British political party, had four US presidents, and even held control of Congress for several years. Today, they are all but unknown to...

Somewhere over your head, right the moment is an artificial satellite. Many of them actually. They beam television and radio signals down to Earth. They can tell us our exact time and location, and they can also help us predict the weather and they are now even providing broadband internet. But how do they work? How do you get something to wiz around in space without crashing down? Learn more abou...

On the morning of November 1, 1755, the citizens of Lisbon, Portugal set out to go to church for the feast of All Saints Day. Little did they know that moments later, their lives and the lives of everyone in Lisbon were about to be turned upside down and that the city of Lisbon would almost cease to exist. Learn more about the Great Lisbon Earthquake, one of the most devastating earthquakes in his...

You’ve seen it in your science classrooms, and there was probably a copy of it on the inside cover of your chemistry book. Maybe if you are a real nerd, you might even have your own personal copy. Yet its very creation was a revolutionary breakthrough that helped scientists and generations of students understand the very things which make up our world. Learn more about the Periodic Table of the El...

The modern Olympics have been celebrated for over 100 years. Since their beginning in 1896, there have been over 100,000 athletes who have competed at the Olympics and thousands of medals have been awarded. At every Olympics, just like clockwork, the same debate is initiated: who is the greatest Olympian of all time? Join me as I try to answer this unanswerable question, on this episode of Everyth...

Robert Smalls was born a slave in 1839 in Beaufort, South Carolina. From that humble beginning, he went on to become a war hero, a ship captain, a presidential advisor, and a member of the US House of Representatives. However, he is best known for one of the most daring exploits of the entire Civil War. Learn more about Robert Smalls on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Learn more about...

Ever since the cease-fire which ended the Korean war, the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea has been a tense stand-off. Standing only a few meters from each other, soldiers from North Korea stand on one side with soldiers from South Korea and the United States on the other. On August 18, 1976, the two sides came as close as they ever have to igniting another war. Learn more about th...

Throughout human history, people have killed, robbed, and put their lives at risk in the pursuit of power. In fact, almost all of history can be thought of as people, tribes, and nations all competing for power. However, occasionally there are those who have the ability to seize power but refuse to do so. One man, in particular, did so twice. Learn more about Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, on this...

The term Dark Ages has been used to refer to a period in European history when culture supposedly regressed and civilization was in decline. The idea of a Dark Ages is one that was prevalent amongst historians for centuries. But lately, historians have been reconsidering the idea of a Dark Age and questioning if there really was a Dark Age. Learn more about the Dark Ages and if they were really th...

You’ve probably heard the stories of many titans of industry. People like John D. Rockefeller, Sam Walton, Bill Gates, and Jeff Bezos grew their companies to become large enterprises and then became fantastically wealthy. To be sure, having intelligence, skill and foresight can certainly lead to success in business. But sometimes, it is far better to be lucky than good, and no one embodies this mo...

Almost everyone has a black sheep in their family. Someone who maybe gets in trouble with the law and doesn’t follow rules. But what if you had the misfortune to be related to someone truly horrific? What if you had a relative who was in the upper echelon of the Third Reich? For a handful of people, they had to live with the legacy of parents who were responsible for the murder of millions. Learn...

Every element on the periodic table has a completely different story. They behave differently, they exist in different abundances, and humans have totally different uses for them. One of the most controversial elements, if that is in fact a thing, is uranium. Uranium can provide power, it can use destruction, and most people really don’t understand it. Learn more about uranium, the last of the nat...

Wars can start with a bang but end with a whimper. Often an attack or an invasion will begin a war, but even one when one side surrenders, it can take days, weeks, or months for word of the capitulation to get out to everyone. While the European theater of World War II officially ended on May 8, 1945, the word didn’t reach everyone right away. Learn more about the last Germans to surrender on this...

Almost 2,800 years ago the Ancient Greeks held a sporting event every four years on Mount Olympus. The festival was part competition, part religious celebration, and it was considered so important that wars would come to a halt in honor of the games. Then in the 19th century, one man came up with the idea of bringing the games back to life. Learn more about the Modern Olympic Movement on this epis...

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 o...

In 1949, a young inventor by the name of Norman Woodland was sitting on the beach in Florida. While drawing some lines in the sand, he had an idea that would revolutionize the world of retail and logistics. In fact, his invention might be found somewhere around you or on your person at this moment. Learn more about bar codes, and the closely related Universal Product Codes, on this episode of Ever...

One of the fundamental questions of humanity is where did we come from? How did life on Earth come about? While there have been many theories as to how this could have happened, in 1952, two men decided to actually run an experiment to see if they could replicate the early conditions on Earth. The results were eye-opening. Learn more about the Miller-Urey Experiment and how it changed our ideas on...

In the year 1184 in the Dutchy of Thuringia, in what is today the country of Germany, a conflict raged between the Count of Thuringia and the Archbishop of Mainz. To resolve this dispute, the German King Henrich VI called the parties to the city of Erfurt to settle their outstanding issues. Things did not go as anyone planned. Learn more about the Erfurt Latrine Disaster on this episode of Everyth...

At the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918, the Great War came to an end. In the preceding four years and four months, the world saw the greatest bloodletting history up until that point. Even after the announcement of the armistice, the war continued for several hours. During that time, soldiers still died. One, in particular, died at the very last minute of the war. L...

When I mention the Kingdom of the Netherlands, you are probably thinking of the country in Europe that is really flat, where they ride bikes, have windmills, and grow tulips. Well, that is only partially correct. Well, technically 98% correct. There are other parts of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and they are actually located closer to Miami than they are to Amsterdam. Learn more about the King...

After the first world war, many Australian veterans settled in the Campion district of Western Australia to become farmers on land provided by the government. It was there they encountered an enemy far more cleaver than any which they encountered in Europe. They fought this enemy with state-of-the-art weapons and vehicles, yet it still wasn’t enough. Learn more about the Great Emu War on this epis...

The biggest thing there is and the biggest thing there can be is infinity. It literally has no bounds. In fact, thinking about infinity can quickly give you a nosebleed because our finite minds can’t really grasp just how enormous it really is. However, what if I were to tell you that there is something even bigger than infinity? Or, to be more accurate, there are infinities that are bigger than o...

In 1889, a new exhibit was constructed for the Paris World’s Fair. It completely dominated the Paris skyline. Most people considered it an eyesore and an architectural abomination. The only redeeming thing about it in their mind was the fact that it was only temporary and was going to be torn down after the fair was over. But it never was, and today it has become the iconic symbol for the city. Le...

Every government had objects which central to their functioning. These are items, physical objects, usually steeped in history and tradition which are involved in the mythology of the state. In most countries, these objects are often given the status of religious relics, and in some countries, they might actually be religious relics. The United States is no exception. Learn more about the American...