Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More

Have you ever looked at a map and said to yourself “Wow, Greenland is really big!”, only to then look at a globe and realize, that Greeland wasn’t actually that big? If so, then you have discovered the Mercator Projection. A map that was originally created in 1569 and is still with us today. Learn more about the Mercator Projection, its problems, and its benefits, on this episode of Everything Eve...

For a professional musician, their instrument is their livelihood. If making music is your career, it isn’t surprising that many top musicians will pay the equivalent of a new car on their instrument. However, there is a class of musician which have instruments which are far more valuable than a car. They are the price of a mansion. Learn more about the world of extremely expensive musical instrum...

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 conquered...

Comeback stories are some of the best stories in sports. Whether it is coming back from a huge deficit, or being on the brink of elimination in a series, these are often some of the most dramatic moments in sports history. They don’t happen that often because once you are down by a large amount, the odds of a comeback become minuscule. There was one comeback, however, which stands out above all ot...

In 1941, a young artistic prodigy released his first motion picture. It had enormous anticipation, received incredible reviews, and earned nine Academy Award nominations. However, the film was a financial failure because the vast majority of theaters refused to show it. In the 80 years since its release, it has been named the greatest film of all time on multiple lists by critics and directors. Le...

If you’ve done your share of flying, you are probably familiar with the three-letter airport codes which identify every commercial airport in the world. Airports like DFW, LGA, and HOU are easy to figure out. However, why is there an X in LAX? How did Washington Dulles wind up with IAD? And what is the deal with almost every airport code in Canada? Learn more about airport codes and the weird logi...

In the process of doing research, I often come across various stories which are interesting but might not be worthy of a full episode. They often are more like facts than stories. Every so often I save up those stories for a special episode because I really hate to let things go to waste. So without further ado, here is the Spanish potpourri episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Learn more about...

Located in the Tower of London are a collection of objects, some of which date back 800 years, which are the physical symbols of the British Monarchy. These objects have a value that would almost be impossible to measure given both their intrinsic and historical worth. They are the physical embodiment of the British Monarchy. Learn more about the British Crown Jewels and their role in the British...

Henrietta Lacks was a mother of five who died of cervical cancer in 1951 at the age of 31. Before she passed, a tissue sample of her cancer cells was taken. Those cells have been the basis for decades of cancer and biological research, and have also been at the center of one of the greatest medical ethics controversies in modern times. Learn more about the immortal Henrietta Lacks on this episode...

I’m guessing that almost everyone listening to this podcast has, within the last day, used a zipper. They are ubiquitous at this point and most people have never given them much thought. Yet, its invention was a rather inspired leap of creativity and required the development of several other technologies before it could even become a thing. Learn more about the zipper, how it was invented and how...

Randomness is all around us. Many of you probably think that this podcast is pretty random given that you have no clue what each day’s episode is going to be about. However, true randomness is a very different thing than something being seemingly random. While randomness is actually all around us, harnessing it for our purposes, especially in computing, can be rather difficult. Learn more about ra...

The rise of civilization is sometimes defined as the urbanization of humanity. The transition from hunter-gatherers to living in settlements was a fundamental transformation of human society and allowed for advanced social institutions such as kings, priesthoods, and standing armies. Since then, our settlements have gotten larger and larger, resulting in the megalopolises we have today. Learn more...

For years people believed that there was a part of the Atlantic Ocean where ships and planes would disappear called the Bermuda Triangle. It turned out that ships and planes didn’t disappear there at any higher rate than they did elsewhere, and it just wasn’t a thing. However, researchers did find a place where the vessels which traveled into it had a far higher rate of catastrophe. This area was...

When I was growing up I was taught like so many people that Ferdinand Magellan was the first person to circumnavigate the Earth. The problem with this is that is it isn’t true. In fact, Magellan never circumnavigated the Earth at all. Who should get credit then? Learn more about Juan Sebastián Elcano, and how he is still remembered today, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Learn more...

Every year, on the second Sunday in May, 96 countries around the world celebrate Mother’s Day. Dozens of other countries celebrate the same thing on different days throughout the year. Mother’s Day wasn’t always a thing, however. Its creation was due to a small number of very determined people...and of course greeting card companies. Learn more about Mother’s Day and how it became a holiday on thi...

During World War II, the United States had a fleet of over 1,200 combat ships. Each of them had a unique story and service record. With so many ships, there would be many stories of heroism, stories of tragedy, and some stories of total incompetence. One ship, in particular, was so bad, it became the but of jokes throughout the Navy, because they almost killed the President of the United States. L...

Historically, in the aftermath of a battle, there was nothing formal in place to take care of injured or captured combatants. There was nothing formally or informally that dictated how such people should be treated. One man in the 19th century, having seen the horror of war, decided to do something about it. It led to the creation of a movement that would go on to save millions of lives. Learn mor...

In the United States, there are awards given in many fields of entertainment. For Broadway productions, they have the Tony Awards. Television has the Emmy Awards. Music has the Grammy Awards, and Movies have the Oscars. To win one award is a lifetime accomplishment for most. However, a rare few have won one of each. Learn more about EGOT on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Learn more a...

In 1173, the Italian city of Pisa was on top of the world. They were a significant commercial power in Italy, commanded a sizable Mediterranean fleet, and wanted to demonstrate their power to the world. It had built a marvelous cathedral, and comparable baptistry and they decided to complete the complex by building a bell tower. However, that didn’t quite go as planned. Learn more about the Leanin...

In October 1970, a blind woman accidentally walked into a Los Angeles County welfare office with a child in tow. The staff in the office immediately noticed the odd girl with the woman. She walked funny, was emaciated, drooling, didn’t make a sound, and when asked, the woman mentioned that the girl was 13. The staff thought she looked like she was seven. This began one of the saddest cases of chil...

She was never intended to be a queen. She wasn’t the firstborn and the rules of the time didn’t support her as a woman. Yet through cunning and guile, she managed to take power. As a queen, she was at the center of many of the most significant and notorious events in European history, and she was largely responsible for the creation of the country which became Spain. Learn more about Isabella I of...

In the year 480 BC, one of the most famous battles in history took place on the shore of the Malian Gulf in the Aegean Sea. Several thousand Greeks held back several hundred thousand Persians, in a battle which is still remembered 2,500 years later. While the Greeks lost the battle, they did ultimately win the war. Learn more about the Battle of Thermopylae and the 300 hundred Spartans, on the 300...

Every year of May 1st, people all around the northern hemisphere celebrate the arrival of spring. A day we call May Day. But it is also the day that communist countries held military parades, and the Soviets would show off all of their military strength in public. Mayday is also the international distress signal for radio. How are these very different things all related? Learn more about May Day o...

In 1815, one of the most catastrophic and deadly events in recorded human history occurred in Indonesia. A volcanic explosion took place which was larger than anything, any human had ever witnessed in over 10,000 years. The total death toll from the event might have been as high as a quarter-million people. Learn more about the Mount Tambora explosion on this Episode of Everything Everywhere Daily...

Many people have an idealized view of how science works. They think that someone makes a discovery or publishes a paper, then everyone acknowledges their discovery, and everyone moves on to the next thing. Science! However, that isn’t quite how things work in reality. The real advancement of science can be quite messy. One man learned this the hard way. Learn more about J Harlen Bretz and how he c...