Author: Gary Arndt

On the week of July 1, 1946, there were two explosions that shook the world. One was a physical explosion and the other was cultural. These two events, seemingly unrelated, are now linked forever due to the circumstances of that week. Learn more about what an atomic bomb test and a two-piece swimsuit have in common, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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The Earth is pretty old. Our current, best estimate is that it is 4.54 billion years old, plus or minus 50 million years. Since then, however, a lot has happened. To help clarify the Earth’s timeline, geologists have divided the Earth’s history into various eras and periods. Each division of time represents a change in something, which happened on the planet. Learn more about the Earth’s history and geologic time scales, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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It is the American Revolutionary War. A rider on horseback sets out on an all-night ride to warn the militia of nearby towns that the British were coming. I am of course talking about the ride of Paul Revere, right? Nope. I’m talking about the ride of Sybil Luddington. Learn more about Sybil Luddington and her role in the Revolutionary War, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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The era of presidential aviation began on October 11, 1910 when former president Theodore Roosevelt took to the skies in a Wright Brothers Flyer at a county fair in Saint Louis. The flight only lasted a few minutes. Fast forward 110 years, and the President of the United States has one of the sweetest rides on the planet. Learn more about Air Force One, the airplanes which have served presidents, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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On September 1 and 2 of 1859, people all over the world were treated to something quite rare. Auroras were seen in the skies as far south as the Caribbean and as far north as Brisbane, Australia. However, some astronomers and telegraph operators experienced something different. If this same event were to happen today, it might bring out society to its knees. Learn more about the Carrington Event and what it means for our modern world, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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In a previous episode, I spoke about the Drake equation and the odds of there being intelligent extraterrestrial life. Many people have used the Drake equation to argue that it is almost impossible for there not to be intelligent life in our galaxy. However, in the summer of 1950, physicist Enrico Fermi pushed back against this by asking a very simple question: if there are so many intelligent civilizations, where are they? Learn more about the Fermi Paradox

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In 1844, the Philological Society of London began investigating the creation of a new English dictionary. This initial foray would lead to a dictionary that would be unlike any other dictionary ever created. It would not just give the definition and spelling of a word, but a complete history of each word and where it came from. It would be one of the most ambitious literary projects in history. Learn more about the Oxford English Dictionary on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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What did the first Chinese Emperor Qin, Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great, Gengis Kahn, the Queen of Sheba, and all their contemporaries who lived when they did have in common? None of them ever ate a potato. The potato is a rather new addition to the diets of the old world, and one which revolutionized civilization. Learn more about the potato and how changed world history, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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Beginning in 1801, the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, the Earl of Elgin, began a project to document the sculptures located at the Parthenon in Athens. He then took it one step further and took half of the sculptures at the Parthenon and shipped them back to England. It has been a source of controversy and diplomatic conflict ever since. Learn more about the Elgin Marbles on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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In the mid-19th century, a Hungarian physician named Ignaz Semmelweis advocated for an incredibly simple technique that would go on to save millions of lives. However, when he first proposed it, his idea wasn’t just ignored, it was vehemently rejected by the very people who could have used it to save lives. Not only was the idea rejected, but he was ridiculed to a point that might have led to his early death.

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