Podcast Transcript In 259 BC, a boy named Ying Zheng was born in the state of Qin in modern-day China. He was born into the royal family of the kingdom and ascended to the throne at the age of 13. For most people, becoming king would be the pinnacle of their achievements. However, this was …
Podcast Transcript In the 19th century, New York City was one of the fastest-growing cities in the world. However, it was still a very young city, and as such, the city’s leaders were able to take a step back and plan what exactly they wanted to future of the city to be. What they decided …
Podcast Transcript The universe is big. Really, really big. So big that it is hard to intuitively grasp its size because we have nothing in our lives that we could compare it to. Not only is the universe big, but within it are things that really big as well. The discovery of these big things …
Podcast Transcript The English language has evolved organically, gathering words and phrases from different languages, countries, and communities. It should come as no surprise that many of the words in English have come from the military. For centuries, soldiers have developed their own way of speaking and created words to describe their unique circumstances. Some …
Podcast Transcript The odds are quite good that somewhere around you right now as you listen to me speak these words, is a battery. Whether it is in your smartphone, earbuds, automobile, smoke detector, or laptop, batteries have become ubiquitous in the modern world. The origins of chemical batteries go back thousands of years before …
Podcast Transcript Located in Northern Europe, along the Atlantic coast, is the relatively small nation of Belgium. Belgium is like other countries in most ways, but its history and founding are very different from those of its neighbors. How it was founded had important implications for all over Europe and may still impact the country’s …
Podcast Transcript Sandwiches are one of the most popular types of food in the world. They are incredibly easy to make, can be incredibly cheap, and they come in numerous varieties. Yet, the humble sandwich is also the subject of a great deal of controversy. What type of sandwich is best? Where did sandwiches come …
The Isle of Man (also known as the Isle of Mann) is one of the most unique bits of Europe and the British Isles. It’s culturally, historically, linguistically, and geographically different from all the other islands surrounding it and there are a lot of interesting facts many don’t know about it. Outside of the UK …
Yucca House National Monument is one of the most unique sites in the entire U.S. national park system. Despite being a declared a national monument by Woodrow Wilson in 1919, the site has had absolutely no development. There is no visitor center, no ranger, and no staff dedicated to the site. In fact, in one …