Author: Gary Arndt

I’ve done several episodes pertaining to Ancient Rome. The reason is that so many of the foundational things in our world, from our alphabet to our calendar, to the names of our months, all can be traced back to Rome. During these episodes, I’ve often talked about the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. However, many people might not realize what the difference is between the two. When did the republic become an empire, and why? Learn more about the Roman Republic and Empire.

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Soccer, aka football, is the most popular sport in the world. Of all the professional leagues in the world, there is one that has achieved a level of success and competition above all others. Spain’s Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, otherwise known as La Liga. Learn more about La Liga, and the history of football in Spain, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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Far above the Arctic Circle on the Norwegian island of Spitzbergen, built into the side of a mountain which is permanently frozen, is humanity’s greatest insurance policy. There lie genetic backup copies for much of the world’s agricultural crops. These seeds are stored for a day which hopefully will never come. Learn more about the Svalbard Global Seed Vault on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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Even if you aren’t a fan of classical music, you are probably at least familiar with what an orchestra is. But have you ever wondered why orchestras use the instruments they do? Or why they have them in that combination, or why it is even called an orchestra at all? And what exactly is a symphony or a philharmonic? Learn all about orchestras on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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World War II was the first major conflict that saw the use of strategic bombers. In the months immediately after the war, the US saw the need for an advanced bomber to replace the bombers which were developed during the war. Moreover, they wanted something bigger, faster, and that used newly developed jet engines. The end result of the process was the B-52 bomber which had its first flight in 1952. Learn more about Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, the plane which is still in service today.

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In 1967, war broke out between Israel and Egypt. It was the beginning of what would be known as the Six-Day War. As Israeli forces raced across the Siani Peninsula, Egyptian forces took measures to ensure that the Suez Canal wouldn’t be captured. They scuttled ships on either end of the canal to prevent it from being used. Unfortunately, there were ships still in the canal and they got stuck…..for a long time. Learn more about the Yellow Fleet and crews that sailed to nowhere.

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Every March 17th, St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated. Everyone wears a lot of green, there are parades, shamrocks, and a whole lot of drinking. But who exactly was St. Patrick? Why do we celebrate his day? And what does any of this have to do with shamrocks, drinking, and wearing green? Learn more about St. Patrick’s Day and why we celebrate it on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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The United States Constitution spells out a very specific process for how to amend the document. First, Congress must vote to approve the amendment. Then the amendment is sent to the state legislatures for ratification. Most amendments never make it through congress. But what happens when an amendment makes it through congress but then doesn’t get approved by the states? Learn more about unratified amendments, and how some of them have become immortal.

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Every so often, you see lottery jackpots that grow to enormous levels. Lotteries such as Powerball and Mega Millions have on occasion grown to have prizes over $1 billion dollars. However, they all pale in comparison to the annual lottery which takes place in Spain every year. The total amount of money given away in this lottery is over double the cash prize given out in the biggest American lottery. Learn more about El Gordo, the Spanish Christmas Lottery.

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Every year, around this time, people who live in northern latitude countries turn their clocks ahead one hour. Then, months later, we do the exact same thing in reverse, setting all of our clocks back. Why do we do this? Is there a good reason for it? Should we continue to do it? Learn more about the history and future of Daylight Savings Time on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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