Author: Gary Arndt

The ancient Egyptian civilization was one of the oldest civilizations that we know of on Earth. While there is much we know about them, knowledge of their system of writing, known as hieroglyphics had become lost by the middle ages. Where there were different theories as to what the writing meant, no one was really sure how to read hieroglyphics. All of this changed in 1799 when French troops under Napoleon Bonaparte discovered a stone that unlocked the secrets of the language.

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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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Back in the day, sending letters was slow and potentially confusing. Nothing could travel faster than the speed of a horse or a ship, and addressing letters could be confusing if there were multiple people in a city. Over time, the postal system developed systematic methods to deliver the mail quickly and more efficiently. Learn more about ZIP codes and postal codes, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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If you happen to be in Valencia, Spain, on a Thursday, at noon, in front of the cathedral, you might be able to witness the oldest surviving democratic tradition on Earth. For over 1000 years the Valencia Water Tribunal has been adjudicating water disputes among the farmers of the region. Learn more about the Valencia Water Tribunal, the oldest continuous democratic body in the world, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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Born in 1849 in Poitiers, France, Balance Monnier was a beautiful young woman who was born into an aristocratic family. When she was 25 she suddenly disappeared. When people inquired as to her whereabouts, her family told them she had moved away. That was not what happened. Learn more about the terrible fate of Blanche Monnier on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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Hundreds of years ago gold and silver were rare and valuable, and today they are rare and valuable. Iron and tin were cheap and plentiful and today they are cheap and plentiful. However, there is one metal that was once the rarest and expensive metal in the world, and today it is one of the cheapest and most plentiful. Learn more about aluminum, how it was once rare and then became abundant, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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Have you ever heard a science story on the news where they mention how old something is then ask yourself “how do they know that?” How is it possible to tell the age of something with any degree of certainty when there was no one around millions or billions of years ago? Well, there are answers to those questions. Learn more about radiometric dating, and how we can measure the age of objects and the Earth, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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On February 10, 2013, in what began as a rather innocuous assembly, Pope Benedict the XVI stunned the world by announcing that he would be retiring. Not only were people stunned, but to paraphrase King George in the Musical Hamilton, most people weren’t even aware that was something a pope could do. Yet, it is something popes can do, and the precedent was set over 700 years earlier. Learn more about Pope Celestine V, the man who really didn’t want to become pope.

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There are lots of stories about lost technologies and techniques of the ancients which have been lost to us through history. In reality, most things were figured out independently by modern people, and we have better modern versions of almost everything the ancients had, including things like Damascus Steel. That is, except for one thing. Learn more about Roman Concrete, the stuff which has lasted over 2,000 years, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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Have you ever looked at a map and said to yourself “Wow, Greenland is really big!”, only to then look at a globe and realize, that Greeland wasn’t actually that big? If so, then you have discovered the Mercator Projection. A map that was originally created in 1569 and is still with us today. Learn more about the Mercator Projection, its problems, and its benefits, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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