Category: DailyShorts

You probably heard the expression that something is “the greatest thing since sliced bread”. Well did you ever wonder what the greatest thing was before sliced bread? Or why we measure greatness in terms of sliced bread? Well, there's an answer to these questions.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you wanted to know how many countries there were in the world it should be a pretty easy thing to find out. Go to a map, count all the countries, and voila!  However, it isn't even remotely close to being that simple. Defining what is a country is extremely difficult and has been a point of contention in many wars and conflicts. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You probably couldn’t think of two things which are further apart than the character James Bond and the vegetable broccoli. Yet, in a not so roundabout way, there is a very direct connection between the two. In fact, if it wasn’t for broccoli, we might never have had any James Bond movies.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The 3rd Olympic Games held in 1904 in St. Louis, Missouri was unquestionably the greatest train wreck of an Olympics ever held. In fact, the Olympics in ancient Greece were probably better organized and better attended than the 1904 Olympics. Nothing quite exemplifies the hot mess which was the St. Louis Olympics quite like the 1904 Olympics Marathon, which was such a disaster, it almost killed several competitors, and almost permanently removed the marathon as a competitive event.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Every year on July 4th Americans celebrate their independence. The fireworks, parades, and cookouts have been a tradition for over 200 years. But why do we celebrate it on July 4th and did America really even become independent on July 4th, 1776? Have we been celebrating on the wrong date this entire time? Learn more about the real date of American independence on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia, a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts.

A note on shownotes. In a perfect world, you go into each episode of the Memory Palace knowing nothing about what's coming. It's pretentious, sure, but that's the intention. So, if you don't want any spoilers or anything, you can click play without reading ahead.

Music

• Peri Banu vid Sjon (VERSION) by Dungen

• In a Landscape by John Cage

• Quartet for Four Percussionists IV: Fast by John Cage

• Dream by John Cage

• Completely Gone by Ludwig Gorannson

• The Introduction and Chi C’e Per Farmi i Rici from The Girl of the Golden West

• L’approche Du Nuage by Sylvain Chaveu

Notes

• The story of John Cage in the anechoic chamber was first told to me maybe twenty years ago by my friend Dave Panosky one night while walking around Providence. It was precisely the type of story that I wanted to one day make a show to tell. You can find it in a lot of places including in Cage’s own writing.

• I first came across the second silent room in Alex Ross’ wonderful, The Rest is Noise.

• I also tapped into Puccini and the Girl: History and Reception of Girl of the Golden West by Annie Randall and Rosalind Gray Davis.

Question: Who is the most dominant athlete of all time? It's an interesting question and one which has started endless pub debates. Is that a basketball player like Michael Jordan, a baseball player like Babe Ruth, or a soccer player like Lionel Messi? Or maybe it's an athlete in an individual sport like Tiger Woods, or Serena Williams. My answer to the question of who is the most dominant athlete of all time might surprise you.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How a man born 230 years ago still has living grandchildren in the year 2020.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices