Category: DailyShorts

During the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union competed in almost every arena: space, sports, and of course the military. Everything they competed in was designed to show the superiority of their respective systems. In 1972, one of the greatest cold war rivalries came to a head in Reykjavík, Iceland. It didn’t take place at a sporting event or on a battlefield. Rather, it took place over a period of two months on a chessboard.

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In 1949, a young inventor by the name of Norman Woodland was sitting on the beach in Florida. While drawing some lines in the sand, he had an idea that would revolutionize the world of retail and logistics. In fact, his invention might be found somewhere around you or on your person at this moment. Learn more about bar codes, and the closely related Universal Product Codes, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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One of the fundamental questions of humanity is where did we come from? How did life on Earth come about?  While there have been many theories as to how this could have happened, in 1952, two men decided to actually run an experiment to see if they could replicate the early conditions on Earth.  The results were eye-opening. Learn more about the Miller-Urey Experiment and how it changed our ideas on the genesis of life, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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In the year 1184 in the Dutchy of Thuringia, in what is today the country of Germany, a conflict raged between the Count of Thuringia and the Archbishop of Mainz. To resolve this dispute, the German King Henrich VI called the parties to the city of Erfurt to settle their outstanding issues. Things did not go as anyone planned. Learn more about the Erfurt Latrine Disaster on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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At the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918, the Great War came to an end. In the preceding four years and four months, the world saw the greatest bloodletting history up until that point. Even after the announcement of the armistice, the war continued for several hours. During that time, soldiers still died. One, in particular, died at the very last minute of the war.

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The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you’d like to directly support this show and independent media, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate.

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

• Pollen by H.Takahashi and, later, Photosynthese.

• The New York Herald Tribune by Martial Solal

• Trying Something Again, Again by Lullatone

• Wiffle Ball from Joel P. West’s score for Short Term 12

• The title theme to Cani Arrabbiati

• Increase by David Lang and Alarm Will Sound

• Nijuichi by Sylvain Chaveau

• Occam II for Violin by Eliane Radigue

• Drunken Aviator by the (great, truly) Ida.

• Eyes Closed and Travelling by Peter Broderick

Notes

• If you are looking to read more about Betty, I’d suggest Rosanne Montillo’s terrific book, Fire on the Track.

When I mention the Kingdom of the Netherlands, you are probably thinking of the country in Europe that is really flat, where they ride bikes, have windmills, and grow tulips. Well, that is only partially correct. Well, technically 98% correct. There are other parts of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and they are actually located closer to Miami than they are to Amsterdam. Learn more about the Kingdom of the Netherlands on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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After the first world war, many Australian veterans settled in the Campion district of Western Australia to become farmers on land provided by the government. It was there they encountered an enemy far more cleaver than any which they encountered in Europe. They fought this enemy with state-of-the-art weapons and vehicles, yet it still wasn’t enough. Learn more about the Great Emu War on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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