Everything Everywhere Daily

History remembers the rulers and the leaders. We know of Napoleon, Caesar, Elizabeth, Ghengis Khan, and Captain Picard. However, for every one of the people I just listed, their success was due in large part to the people who worked underneath them. The ones who carried out their orders and made sure things got done. They had to have a competent number two. In this episode, I will put forward that the greatest number two in history was Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa.

Every so often you need to step back and take an assessment of where you’ve been and where you are going. This is the 100th episode of the podcast, so I figured now is a good time to take a one episode break from the normal content to give you the backstory of how the show came about and how it works. Learn more about Everything Everywhere Daily on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

The Earth's Most Extreme Places

The Lockheed SR-71, nicknamed the Blackbird, holds the record for the fastest airplane ever. A record which it set in 1976 and has held for 44 years. It also set a record for the highest altitude ever recorded for a sustained flight. Even though the plane hasn’t flown in over 20 years, it is still high in the consciousness of many aviation enthusiasts. Learn more about the SR-71 on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

The US one-cent coin has been a part of American currency since the country started issuing money in 1793. As inflation has continued to creep up, the cost of making a one-cent coin is now more than it is worth. Unsurprisingly, people have been starting to question if we should continue using the penny. Learn more about the past, present, and future of the United States penny in this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

In the late 50s and early 60s, the US space program wasn’t doing great. The Soviets had beaten the US to almost every major first in space, and American rockets kept blowing up on the launchpad. According to declassified CIA documents, one night the American’s did their best to get back, even if it was a bit underhanded. Learn more about how the CIA managed to kidnap a Soviet Lunar probe on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

Sometimes the best way to win is simply not to lose. This strategy is called the Fabian Strategy and was given its name from an ancient Roman General and has been used throughout history, not just in warfare, but in many other areas as well. Learn more about the Fabian Strategy on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

Sometimes the smallest things can make the biggest impact. There is no better example of this in the modern world than the Intermodal Container, aka the shipping container. You’ve probably seen them on ships, trains, and trucks, and believe it or not, these rectangular metal boxes are responsible for the entire modern economy. Learn more about shipping containers on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

Here is a question I’m pretty sure no one listening to this has ever bothered to ask: Who is the current Roman Emperor? Obviously, the Roman Empire doesn’t exist, but if it did, who would be the claimant to the Imperial throne? Explore with me the very convoluted answer to this very meaningless questions on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

On March 23, 1989, two electrochemists from the University of Utah, Martin Fleischmann and Stanley Pons, took part in a press conference where they announced to the world that they had achieved sustainable, tabletop nuclear fusion. The events which followed were what is called in scientific circles: a dumpster fire. Yet, despite everything, thirty years later, there is a small but growing community in the world of physics who are sure that something happened.

In most sports, there are always debates about who is the greatest of all-time. Baseball can argue about Babe Ruth vs Willie Mays. Basketball can argue about LeBron James vs Michael Jordan. However, there is one sport where there is absolutely, positively no doubt who is the greatest of all-time. When it came to Greco Roman wrestling, there is one name that unquestionably stands above all others: Aleksandr Karelin.

If you are from Hungary, you have probably heard the story of Károly Takács. If you aren’t from Hungary, you probably haven’t, but probably should. His story is remarkable not only for what he had to overcome but how he managed to overcome it. Learn more about this remarkable Olympic Medalist on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

On May 8, 1980, officials from the World Health Organization announced that smallpox, the disease which had ravaged humanity across the world for millennia, had been eradicated. Over the last century before the eradication of smallpox, it is estimated to have killed half a billion people. Learn more about humanity’s deadliest disease and how it was eradicated on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

In 1908, in the middle of the Siberian wilderness, near the Tunguska River, an explosion took place which was equivalent in size to the detonation of a 5 megaton nuclear bomb. But it wasn’t a nuclear bomb. Such things didn’t even exist then. It was a mystery that scientists are still trying to figure out today. Learn more about the Tunguska Event on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

The Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey is one of the largest, oldest, and most significant buildings in the world. It has served as a holy place for three different religions and has been the focal point for two different empires. Almost, 1,500 years after its construction, it is still making headlines today. Learn more about the Hagia Sophia on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.