Category: DailyShorts

I’m guessing that almost everyone listening to this podcast has, within the last day, used a zipper. They are ubiquitous at this point and most people have never given them much thought. Yet, its invention was a rather inspired leap of creativity and required the development of several other technologies before it could even become a thing. Learn more about the zipper, how it was invented and how it is used today, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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Randomness is all around us. Many of you probably think that this podcast is pretty random given that you have no clue what each day’s episode is going to be about. However, true randomness is a very different thing than something being seemingly random. While randomness is actually all around us, harnessing it for our purposes, especially in computing, can be rather difficult. Learn more about randomness and why some things that seem random are not, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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The rise of civilization is sometimes defined as the urbanization of humanity. The transition from hunter-gatherers to living in settlements was a fundamental transformation of human society and allowed for advanced social institutions such as kings, priesthoods, and standing armies. Since then, our settlements have gotten larger and larger, resulting in the megalopolises we have today. Learn more about the cities which held the distinction of being the largest in the world.

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For years people believed that there was a part of the Atlantic Ocean where ships and planes would disappear called the Bermuda Triangle. It turned out that ships and planes didn’t disappear there at any higher rate than they did elsewhere, and it just wasn’t a thing. However, researchers did find a place where the vessels which traveled into it had a far higher rate of catastrophe. This area was in outer space. Learn more about the South Atlantic Anomaly

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When I was growing up I was taught like so many people that Ferdinand Magellan was the first person to circumnavigate the Earth. The problem with this is that is it isn’t true. In fact, Magellan never circumnavigated the Earth at all. Who should get credit then? Learn more about Juan Sebastián Elcano, and how he is still remembered today, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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Every year, on the second Sunday in May, 96 countries around the world celebrate Mother’s Day. Dozens of other countries celebrate the same thing on different days throughout the year. Mother’s Day wasn’t always a thing, however. Its creation was due to a small number of very determined people...and of course greeting card companies. Learn more about Mother’s Day and how it became a holiday on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.

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:

• Rosee by Piano Novel

• Eyes Closed and Traveling by Peter Broderick

• Future Waves by Uther Moads

• Go Home by h. hunt

• Juneau from Danny Bensi and Saunder Jurrians score to Wildlike

During World War II, the United States had a fleet of over 1,200 combat ships. Each of them had a unique story and service record. With so many ships, there would be many stories of heroism, stories of tragedy, and some stories of total incompetence. One ship, in particular, was so bad, it became the but of jokes throughout the Navy, because they almost killed the President of the United States. Learn more about the USS William D. Porter, The Unluckiest Ship in WWII.

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Historically, in the aftermath of a battle, there was nothing formal in place to take care of injured or captured combatants. There was nothing formally or informally that dictated how such people should be treated. One man in the 19th century, having seen the horror of war, decided to do something about it. It led to the creation of a movement that would go on to save millions of lives. Learn more about the International Red Cross and Red Crescent on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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