Transcript
Gary (0:00)
The months of the year are named after Roman gods, and some are named after their placement in the calendar. However, the first month to be named after an actual person was the month of July, which was named after Julius Caesar. What's surprising isn't that the name of the month has stuck around for over 2,000 years. It's that more rulers didn't try to name months after themselves. Well, many rulers might have done this if they had just taken the time to answer their subjects questions. Join me for volume 32 of Questions and Answers on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
Sponsor (0:47)
This episode is sponsored by Fiji Water. You've probably heard of Fiji Water and have seen it in stores. Well, Fiji Water really is from the islands of Fiji. Drop by drop, Fiji Water is filtered through volcanic rock 1600 miles away from the nearest continent. In all its pollution, protected and preserved naturally from external elements. In this process, it collects a unique profile of electrolytes and minerals, resulting in more than double the electrolytes as the other top two premium bottled water brands, giving Fiji Water its smooth taste. Fiji Water's electrolytes are 100% natural and this water even has a perfectly balanced pH of 7.7. I've recently been trying to reduce my consumption of diet soda and I've found Fiji Water to be a great alternative. Visit your local retailer to pick up some Fiji Water today for your next backyard party, beach day hike, or even your home office. Fiji Water is Earth's finest water.
Gary (1:47)
This episode is sponsored by Quints. No one is ever going to confuse me with someone fashionable or trendy. That being said, if I'm going to buy something, I want it to look good, be of high quality and ideally be affordable. That is where Quint's comes in. Quince is the kind of stuff you'll actually wear, like breathable flowknit polos, crisp cotton shirts and comfortable, lightweight pants. In addition to clothing, they also offer a range of great items for the home and travel. Everything with Quints is half the cost of similar brands. By working directly with top artisans and eliminating the middleman, Quintz offers luxury pieces without the markup.
Sponsor (2:22)
And I've told you all about the.
Gary (2:24)
Great items that I've purchased, from Quince. From towels to blankets to a duvet, Quince has become my go to source. Stick to the staples that last with elevated essentials from quince. Go to quince.com daily for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. That's qU-N-E.com daily to get free shipping and 365 day returns quince.com daily let's jump right in with the first question that comes from Gentleson on the Discord server. They ask, do you ever do alternative history episodes? Here's a primer for how would the world be different in 1766 if the British Parliament had agreed with Benjamin Franklin and granted representation to the American colonies? I asked chatgpt, and the ramifications were enormous, including the likelihood that I wouldn't exist because my ancestors wouldn't have been able to immigrate to New York. Well, Gentleson, I've thought about it, but I've decided not to because doing an alternate history show would basically just be me making stuff up because it isn't real and wouldn't require any actual research. I just figured that I'd stick to episodes on stuff that actually happened that would be more informative for people. And that isn't to say I'll never do it, but if I did, I would probably do it on a much smaller scale. Also, with respect to the particular scenario you brought up, it wouldn't just be you who wouldn't be alive. Everyone on the planet would be different. The butterfly effect would assure that every act of conception would have been slightly different, resulting in totally different genetic people. Frank Saldano asks, I loved your most recent podcast. How about more that feature African nations? Well, Frank, I absolutely will be doing more episodes on Africa. There are a lot of countries in Africa and each one has a unique story. We have several episode ideas already lined up about former African empires as well as African countries. Just off the top of my head, some interesting ones would include Botswana, Eswatini, as Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia and Eritrea. Beyond that there's the MAU MAU uprising, IDI Amin, the Rwanda genocide, and Timbuktu, and a host of other topics. So the answer is yes. Expect more African content. Matthew Coleman asks Gary, in your estimation, what early influences in your life led to your entrepreneurship, traveling and now podcasting? How was curiosity stoked within you? And how, in your estimation, can this curiosity be similarly stoked in the youth of today? Well, Matthew, I'm not really sure. There is no history of entrepreneurship in my family, nor any extensive traveling. I was the first person in my family to go to college. My house growing up didn't even have any books yet. I taught myself how to read before kindergarten by watching shows like Sesame street and the Electric Company. My first day of kindergarten. The teachers did not know what to do with me because I was the only kid who could read. I have Only ever applied for one real job in my life. After graduating from college, I applied for a job with Cargill, which is a pretty low level position that involved going out to grain elevators. I didn't get hired and after that the idea of working for someone else never even crossed my mind. I believe entrepreneurship is a mindset more than anything else. I've met many people who are very smart who I think could have been quite successful. However, they were hesitant to go off on their own. They could find every excuse for why they didn't want to do that, which is fine, but in the end I think it was just fear. One of the fundamental principles of economics is that there is a trade off between risk and reward. I personally am far more open to risk taking than most people. I've had businesses that weren't successful and it isn't a pleasant experience to go through. But in the end I came through it okay. Some people are willing to risk failure and other people want more security. Both are perfectly acceptable. But opting for security means you limit your downside at the expense of your upside. As for encouraging curiosity in kids, I think that's actually quite easy. Everyone early on is curious. Kids ask tons of questions. Every seven year old goes through a phase where they're interested in dinosaurs, for example. The key is just to let them run with their interests wherever it takes them. Let them build a fort or take them to a museum. It might be a very chaotic path as they jump from one interest to the next, but that's perfectly fine. In the course of that journey, they'll naturally come across topics in science, math and history. More importantly, because they're interested and they care, they will retain a tremendous amount of what they learn. There's a news story I read several years ago about a kid in Iowa who was obsessed with vacuum cleaners. He developed a collection of over a hundred vacuum cleaners. This might seem odd, but consider what this involves. Understanding how vacuum cleaners work involves understanding how electrical motors and pumps work. He would open them up and tear them apart and eventually develop the ability to fix old vacuum cleaners. And if you can fix a vacuum cleaner, then you can probably fix a whole host of small electrical appliances. No one taught him how to do any of that. He just figured it out himself. So the biggest thing is not to inhibit curiosity, as that will eventually kill it. And that is the problem that most people have in the world today. The curiosity they had as a child is eventually snuffed out. Mary Milby asks. Spencer, age 11, wants to know if you'll be doing episodes on more recent history current events for your 2000th 2000 25th episodes. When I get around to the present day in my series of what was happening in the world in various round number years, I'm going to focus more on things like demographics and economics that people might not be aware of, rather than trying to catalog all the various news events that everyone is probably already aware of because they hear about it every day.