Mark Twain once said, 'There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.' The reason why he placed statistics into its own category is because it is possible to use numbers to misrepresent the truth, distort reality, or outright lie. However, if you know what to look for, you can catch misuses of statistics, and if really pay attention, you can find these misuses almost everywhere. Learn more about how you can lie with statistics on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Sp...
Jul 06, 2024•14 min•Ep. 1461
The month of July is named after Julius Caesar. In 44 BC, after his assassination, the Roman Senate renamed the month of Quintilis after him in honor of the month he was born. The fact that he was appointed dictator for life probably had something to do with it. All the emperors that came later never changed it, so instead of Quintilis, we have July. So stay tuned for the Quintilis episode of questions and answers on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Sponsors Available nationally, loo...
Jul 05, 2024•17 min•Ep. 1460
On July 4, 1776, the Continental Congress of the 13 British colonies in North America issued a document addressing their grievances with the British Crown and stated to the world why they considered themselves to be a free and independent country. That document and its legacy have had a much bigger impact than its signatories could have ever imagined almost 250 years ago. Learn more about the Declaration of Independence, how it came about, and its legacy on this episode of Everything Everywhere ...
Jul 04, 2024•14 min•Ep. 1459
One of the leading destinations for live stage performances is Broadway. The term Broadway, derived from the street in New York City, is not just a name. It's a rich history of notable theaters and a style of performance that has become synonymous with it. But why did theater develop on that particular street in that particular city, what divides Broadway from off-Broaday, and how exactly does Broadway work as a business? Learn more about Broadway, its history, and how it functions as a business...
Jul 03, 2024•15 min•Ep. 1458
Located in the 90th place on the periodic table is the element Thorium. Thorium, as with every element, has unique properties, making it useful in certain applications. However, Thorium’s best days might still be ahead of it and might move it to the front of the list of the world’s most important elements. Learn more about Thorium, how it was discovered, and its potential uses on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Sponsors Available nationally, look for a bottle of Heaven Hill Bottled-...
Jul 02, 2024•15 min•Ep. 1457
In December 1936, the United Kingdom underwent its greatest constitutional crisis of the 20th century. The king, Edward VIII, abdicated the throne to marry an American divorcee. This might not seem like a scandal today, but at the time, it threatened to collapse the entire British government when Europe was on the brink of war. The aftermath of the abdication crisis saw the rise of a new king and the birth of an entirely new royal line, a legacy that endures to this day. Learn more about the abd...
Jul 01, 2024•14 min•Ep. 1456
In 1961, at the Green Bank observatory in West Virginia, a small conference was held for astrophysicists. The meeting was organized by Cornell University professor and astronomer Frank Drake. The subject of the conference was the search for extraterrestrial life. In preparation for the conference, he jotted down his thoughts in the form of an equation. An equation that has changed how we think about life on other worlds. Learn more about the Drake Equation and the variables that make it up on th...
Jun 30, 2024•11 min•Ep. 1455
Before the Allied invasions of Normandy or Sicily in World War II, the ground war against Germany and Italy was first fought in North Africa. The reason why there was even a conflict in Africa was a combination of geography and history. Even though it doesn’t get the attention the war in Asia or Europe receives, the war in North Africa was pivotal to the ultimate resolution of the war in Europe. Had things gone differently, the entire course of the war would have changed. Learn more about the No...
Jun 29, 2024•14 min•Ep. 1454
The biggest agricultural crop in the world today, by total weight, is corn. Also known as maize, corn is a crop of the New World. The ancients in China, India, Mesopotamia, and Rome never knew about corn. Yet, since the Columbian Exchange, it has become one of the world’s most important commodities as a source of food, animal feed, and the basis of many manufactured food products. Learn more about corn, aka maize, where it came from, and how it revolutionized the world of agriculture on this epi...
Jun 28, 2024•15 min•Ep. 1453
One of the most audacious scams in history took place in the early 19th century in Britain. A man sold thousands of people a dream of land in the New World. His claims attracted large investments, encouraged hundreds of people to move around the world, and even suckered in members of the royal family. However, his promises were empty, and in the end, shiploads of people were stranded in the middle of nowhere, and many people lost their life savings. Learn more about Gregor MacGregor and one of t...
Jun 27, 2024•16 min•Ep. 1452
The death of a British monarch is a very big event. Thousands of people may take part in the funeral and procession, with millions more lining up to pay their respects and billions more watching on television. This didn’t always use to be the case, however. In particular, there was one English King who not only didn’t get an elaborate funeral, no one knew exactly where his body was for over 500 years. Learn more about the body of King Richard III and how it was lost and then discovered on this e...
Jun 26, 2024•13 min•Ep. 1451
One of the biggest problems that humanity has faced for thousands of years is heat. Excessive heat made it difficult to work in the middle of the day. Heat was especially problematic in the tropics, where a shockingly large percentage of humanity lived. As cities became more developed, excess heat, all year round, became a limiting factor in how tall buildings could get. All of this was solved with one invention. Learn more about air conditioning and how it helped usher in the modern world on th...
Jun 25, 2024•14 min•Ep. 1450
In the midst of the Second World War, the Allied powers began planning ahead for what the post-war world was going to look like. The Legion of Nations had failed to prevent World War II. If they were to prevent another major war from breaking out in the 20th century, they needed something else. Learning from the lessons from the past, they created a new organization that would ultimately be run by the winners of the war. Learn more about how and why the United Nations was formed on this episode ...
Jun 24, 2024•15 min•Ep. 1449
In most academic disciplines, there is often a single idea or discovery which makes everything fall into place. All of the things which didn’t make sense before suddenly do when looked through this new lens. These eye-opening discoveries usually occur in the hard sciences, but one such advancement also took place in the field of economics. Learn more about the Marginal Revolution and how it changed economic through on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Sponsors Available nationally, lo...
Jun 23, 2024•13 min•Ep. 1448
A popular topic of films has been the French Foreign Legion. The French Foreign Legion was supposed to be an organization where someone could get a new identity and a new start on life, even if they were criminals. They were often stationed in hot, desolate places, where they served out their tour of duty before starting a new life. But how much of the legend surrounding the French Foreign Legion story is really true?? Learn more about the French Foreign Legion, how it was formed and how it work...
Jun 22, 2024•14 min•Ep. 1447
Dogs and cats are both domesticated, four-legged, fur-bearing mammals. Beyond that, they really don’t have much in common. One of the things that they don’t have in common is how they wound up in the lives of humans. Cats established their relationship with humans at a totally different point in history and for a totally different reason. Learn more about the domestication of cats and how these wild animals wound up as pets on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Sponsors Available natio...
Jun 21, 2024•13 min•Ep. 1449
If you were to pick a single visible icon to represent the 20th century, it would probably be the skyscraper. Skyscrapers didn’t really even exist before the 20th century, but by the end of the century, they became ubiquitous in major cities around the world. The skyscraper didn’t just appear out of nowhere. They wouldn’t have been possible if it wasn’t for multiple technical innovations. Continued innovations have allowed skyscrapers to get taller and taller. Learn more about skyscrapers, how t...
Jun 20, 2024•15 min•Ep. 1447
About 384,400 km or 238,900 miles above the surface of the Earth is our planet's only natural satellite, The Moon. Every culture and civilization on the planet has had the moon play a role in its legends, and they have also used the moon to keep track of time, plant, and harvest. Scientists have wondered where the moon came from and how it was formed, and with data gathered over the last several decades, we now have a better understanding of its origin. Learn more about the Moon, its origin, com...
Jun 19, 2024•14 min•Ep. 1444
Alexander the Great was one of the most famous people from the ancient world. He defeated a vastly larger Persian Empire and conquered everything from Egypt to India. Yet, what Alexander achieved wouldn’t have been possible without his father. In fact, if Alexander hadn’t accomplished what he did, his father would probably be the one given the title “great.” Learn more about Philip II of Macedon and how he changed the world of Ancient Greece and laid the foundations for his son on this episode o...
Jun 18, 2024•14 min•Ep. 1443
In January 1920, an Italian American businessman in Boston started a new company. In order to raise money, he took $100 investments from 18 people and offered them a fabulous return on their money in only 45 days, and he delivered on his promise. Soon people were lining up to give him their money and everything worked great…. …until it didn’t. Learn more about Charles Ponzi, the man whose name is synonymous with fraud, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Sponsors Available nationally...
Jun 17, 2024•14 min•Ep. 1442
Located in Central and Eastern Europe is one of the continent's longest and most rivers: the Danube. For thousands of years, the Danube has been a vital river for commerce and agriculture, and it has served as a natural boundary for empires and kingdoms. Today, it is still vitally important to ten countries and has become one of the top tourist attractions in Europe. Learn more about the Danube River and the important role it has played in history on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. ...
Jun 16, 2024•14 min•Ep. 1441
It is one of the most important inventions in history. Almost everyone listening to this has one. You use one almost every day, and if we didn’t have them, the world would be a very different place. I am talking about toilets. It isn’t something we like to talk about in public, but the sanitary removal of waste has been one of the critical components of allowing the development of the modern world. Learn more about the history of toilets and how this simple invention helped shape the modern worl...
Jun 15, 2024•14 min•Ep. 1440
In the very long history of China, it has had exactly one female ruler. She was a woman who managed, against all odds, to inch her way closer to power over a period of years until she reached a point where she could claim power for herself. By all accounts, she was beautiful, brilliant, cunning, and absolutely ruthless. Learn more about Wu Zetian, China’s only female emperor, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Sponsors Available nationally, look for a bottle of Heaven Hill Bottled-i...
Jun 14, 2024•14 min•Ep. 1439
The Philippines is one of the largest countries in the world. With a population of 115 million people, it is the 14th largest country in the world in terms of population. However, for a period of 48 years, it was a colony of the United States. That half-century was one of the most important in the history of the Philippines. It saw two major wars, profound social and cultural changes, and laid the foundation for full independence. Learn more about the period of American occupation of the Philipp...
Jun 13, 2024•15 min•Ep. 1438
For thousands of years, wine has been one of the most important beverages in the world. It has been consumed by common folk and by emperors, and it can be made in a surprisingly wide variety of geographies. It can be made by backyard vintners as well as by megacorporations. It is so important that it plays a central role in some religions, yet it is completely banned by others. Learn more about the history of wine and winemaking and how it has changed over the centuries on this episode of Everyt...
Jun 12, 2024•15 min•Ep. 1437
After the American War of Independence, Britain recognized the United States, but it didn’t necessarily make them close allies. Each country had its own agendas, and a generation later, they were butting heads again over a host of issues. The result was another war, but unlike the Revolutionary War, everyone claimed victory, and no one really won anything. Learn more about the War of 1812, its causes, and its resolution on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Sponsors Available nationall...
Jun 11, 2024•16 min•Ep. 1436
Books are one of the foundational tools of civilization. They allow us to pass knowledge and information between people who don’t know each other, and their compact form allows knowledge to be transported across vast distances. Their permanence allows information to be sent across time such that centuries might separate a writer from a reader. But how did books develop, and in the modern world, is a book still a book if it's purely digital? Learn more about books, where they came from, and how t...
Jun 10, 2024•15 min•Ep. 1435
In the 19th century, several American universities began to compete with each other in several sporting events in friendly intercollegiate competitions. Fast forward over a hundred years, and college sports in the United States is a multibillion-dollar business. How did institutes of higher education become some of the biggest sports organizations in the world? And how did this situation come to be, and why does it only exist in the United States? Learn more about college sports and how it becam...
Jun 09, 2024•15 min•Ep. 1434
Ninjas are awesome. They’re silent, they can turn invisible, and they can totally flip out and kill people, especially their mortal enemies…pirates. …or at least that is what popular culture would like you to believe. Were ninjas really as powerful as they are made out to be? Were they the ultimate silent assassins? Learn more about ninjas, real ninjas, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Sponsors Available nationally, look for a bottle of Heaven Hill Bottled-in-Bond at your local st...
Jun 08, 2024•13 min•Ep. 1433
Depending on how you define it, there were approximately 70 Roman Emperors. They were a mixed bag ranging from philosophers to the insane, from generals to children. Some were truly horrible, but some were actually pretty good at their job. In particular, there were five consecutive emperors who reigned during the peak of Pax Romana. Learn more about the Five Good Emperors on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Sponsors Available nationally, look for a bottle of Heaven Hill Bottled-in-B...
Jun 07, 2024•15 min•Ep. 1432
