The 2022 Winter Olympics are right around the corner, so to prepare we are bringing you a conversation with skier Lindsey Vonn. Her new memoir, Rise, looks at her road to becoming a ski champion and Olympic medalist. Spoiler alert: it was not all sunshine and roses. Vonn told NPR's A Martinez that she's lucky she is wired in a way that makes negativity a driving force because she has seen the pressure and stress of being an Olympic athlete derail other people's careers.
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A note on notes: We’d much rather you just went into each episode of The Memory Palace cold. And just let the story take you where it well. So, we don’t suggest looking into the show notes first.
Music
Time Beat by Ray Cathode
Rabbits of the Void by Tomaga
Weightless by the Neil Cowley Trio
Scenes from the Poet’s Dreams I: Racing Through the Stars by The Lark Quartet
Switchcraft by Chilly Gonzalez
Sky Breaking, Clouds Falling by Mason Lindahl
Notes
There’s a ton written about The Crash at Crush but the one I’d recommend is Train Crash at Crush, Texas: America’s Deadliest Publicity Stunt, by Mike Cox
It can be consumed blocks or wheels, strings or curds, slices or cubes.
It can be soft or hard, fresh or old, and it can even be consumed if it smells bad and has mold on it.
Pizza, hamburgers, and crackers depend on it, yet it can also be eaten by itself.
I am of course talking about cheese. Learn more about cheese, how it was discovered, and how it is made, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
On January 15, 2022, one of the biggest geologic events in the last 30 years occurred.
The Hunga Tonga–Hunga Haʻapai volcano in the nation of Tonga erupted. It wasn’t just a volcanic eruption, however,
It was an event that actually had repercussions all around the world.
Learn more about the Hunga Tonga–Hunga Haʻapai eruption, why it happened, and what it means for Tonga and the world, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
Throughout the history of the Roman Empire, there were 96 men who are considered to have been Roman Emperors from August to the fall of the western emperor.
Most of them came to power via being appointed by their predecessor, or through military conquest, or through good old-fashioned scheming and treachery.
However, there was one man, however, who ascended to the title of emperor in a totally unique way.
Learn more about Didius Julianus, and how he became Roman Emperor in an auction, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
The first interview today, Build Your House Around My Body, is by debut novelist Violet Kupersmith and it's about a young Vietnamese woman who disappears; ghosts are involved. She told NPR's Ari Shapiro that she was "attracted to the ghost as a way of getting revenge." The second novel is also about a young woman's disappearance, this time in Haiti. Award winning author Edwidge Danticat's Claire of The Sea Light involves the sea instead of ghosts, though. Danticat told NPR's Rachel Martin that the sea is very important in Haitian Creole.
Today marks one year since Joe Biden was sworn in as president. It's no secret that politics have become — well...messy in the U.S. — so we thought today would be a good opportunity to take a deep dive into democracy. How much staying power does it have, and why has it started to crumble in countries around the world? Author Anne Applebaum looks at how the world has changed over the past 20 years in her book, Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure Of Authoritarianism. She told NPR's Steve Inskeep in 2020 that authoritarianism isn't outside the realm of possibility for the U.S.
During the Cold War, many Americans were convinced that the end was near, building concrete bunkers to protect themselves from a nuclear attack. Whatever happened to these fallout shelters around Chicago? In this episode Curious City goes underground to find out.
In the mid-19th century, a Hungarian physician 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.
Learn more about Ignaz Semmelweis and how no good deed goes unpunished, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
