Everything Everywhere Daily

One of the greatest battles in Roman history was one of its greatest losses. It was a defeat that shook the city to its core and could have very well ended the Roman Republic. ...but it didn’t. The reason why it didn’t is a story of determination and the difference between tactics and strategy. Learn more about the Battle of Cannae, one of the greatest battles in ancient history, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

What do you get when you take one part religious cult and one part Harlem Globetrotters and one part Troy Polamalu’s hair and put them all together? You wind up with the House of David Baseball Team. One of the most popular baseball barnstorming acts of the early 20th Century. Learn more about the House of David, both the religion and the team, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

In June 1940, with the conquest of France, Nazi Germany and Italy had conquered almost all of Western Europe. The map of Europe was one solid color reflecting the domination of the Axis Powers. Except for one small hole in the donut: Switzerland. Switzerland’s neutrality didn’t guarantee anything. In fact, the Nazis desperately wanted to invade Switzerland. Learn more about Operation Tannenbaum, the planned German invasion of Switzerland, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

Clair Patterson was a geochemist who worked at CalTech from the 1940s through the 1990s. His work involved studying the age of rocks and the age of the Earth. His greatest discovery, however, was one that was totally by accident and ended up directly impacting the lives of every person on the planet. Learn more about the remarkable Clair Patterson and how he helped get the lead out on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

Although you probably never heard of him before, American George Eyser is one of the most decorated Olympians in history. At the 1904 Olympics in St. Louis, he put on one of the greatest single-day performances of the modern Olympics. Yet, his real claim to fame is not what he accomplished, but how. Learn more about the incredible Geroge Eyser on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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 history and traditions of Thanksgiving on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

For centuries the Holy Grail has been a metaphor for ultimate achievement. The quest for the Holy Grail is likewise considered a metaphor for an unobtainable goal. However, the Holy Grail might be more than a metaphor. It might really exist and you can go see it yourself. Learn more about the Holy Grail, what it is, and what it isn’t, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

Let’s say you have a brand new country. You want to take it out of a spin and make some new laws. What is the first thing you do? Maybe ratify a treaty? Perhaps something about the economy. Well, if you were the United States back in 1789, you didn’t do anything nearly that exciting. Learn more about the very first law in the United States on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

Of all the world’s co-principalities, there is one which stands out due to its sheer size. This enormous co-principality dominates all other co-principalities in every measure: land area, population, and GDP. Every other co-principality could fit inside this co-principality with room to space. Learn more about the nation of Andorra, the world’s largest co-principality, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

At some point in the future, a phone call will be placed by the private secretary of the Queen to the British Prime Minister. In this call, he will utter the phrase “London Bridge is down”, which will set off a preplanned series of events following the death of Queen Elizabeth II. As it has been over 65 years that the monarchy has changed hands in the United Kingdom, it will be something that most people in the commonwealth have never experienced.

I’m sure everyone has heard of such famous places as the Great Pyramids, the Colosseum, the Great Wall of China, and the Taj Mahal. Besides all being famous landmarks, they have something else in common. They are all UNESCO World Heritage Sites. What is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and how does a site become one? Learn more about the UNESCO World Heritage Site program on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

In October 1984, nine members of the Pintupi Tribe in Western Australia met some long lost relatives they hadn’t seen in years. The significance of this event is that those nine people, two women with four boys and three girls, were the last aboriginal people in Australia to have contact with the outside world. Up until 1984, they had lived their lives the same as their ancestors had for tens of thousands of years.

I’ve done several episodes on close and interesting US presidential elections throughout history. Mainly they were to put current events into perspective, so you can realize that the controversies of today are really not all that new. However, there was one election that might be considered the closest and most interesting in history, but the lessons for today are much less, simply because they changed the rules after the election, and there was never another one like it again.

Many communities around the world hold local festivals. They might have some food stalls, a stage for musical acts, and some rides for the kids. Pretty standard stuff. But in Spain, they do things differently. Really different. Learn more about the unique Spanish festivals which aren’t like those anywhere else in the world, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

Every so often, adults may be asked to perform a civic duty by sitting on a jury. Usually, the commitment might be nothing more than a few hours or a few days. Occasionally, some juries might get a case that lasts years. Why do we have juries, and where did this notion come from? Do most countries have juries? What does “a jury of your peers” really mean? Learn more about the history of the jury system on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.