Do Go On - 559 - The Transit of Venus part 2: Back in the Habit

Episode Date: July 8, 2026

Following on from last week's episode, we hear of more adventures undertaken by scientists in the 1760's in the effort to track the transit of Venus! Intrepid astronomers this week include Frenchmen Alexandre-Gui Pingré and Jean-Baptiste Chappe d'Auteroche and Englishmen Jeremiah Dixon and Charles Mason (who we mistakenly call Wilson through a lot of the episode sorry)!This is a comedy/history podcast, the report begins at approximately 08:09 (though as always, we go off on tangents throughout the report).For all our important links: https://linktr.ee/dogoonpod Check out our other podcasts:Book Cheat: https://play.acast.com/s/book-cheatPrime Mates: https://play.acast.com/s/prime-mates/Listen Now: https://play.acast.com/s/listen-now/Who Knew It with Matt Stewart: https://play.acast.com/s/who-knew-it-with-matt-stewart/Jess Writes A Rom-Com: https://shows.acast.com/jess-writes-a-rom-comOur awesome theme song by Evan Munro-Smith and logo by Peader ThomasDo Go On acknowledges the traditional owners of the land we record on, the Wurundjeri people, in the Kulin nation. We pay our respects to elders, past and present. REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING:http://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/~pogge/Ast161/Unit4/venussun.htmlChasing Venus: The Race to Measure the Heavens by Andrea Wulfhttps://theconversation.com/transit-of-venus-a-tale-of-two-expeditions-7246https://www.iflscience.com/in-1761-and-1769-intrepid-voyagers-had-a-once-in-a-century-chance-to-measure-the-solar-system-83712A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Brysonhttps://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/why-should-you-care-about-transit-venushttp://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/observing-news/transits-of-venus-in-history-1761/   https://www.nytimes.com/2000/02/13/books/the-war-to-begin-all-wars.html#:~:text=Winston%20S.,Africa%2C%20India%20and%20the%20Philippines. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's 2026. It's June and I'm excited because who knew it with Matt Stewart is celebrating 200 episodes with a big live show here in Melbourne, Matt. Yeah, at the basement comedy club here in Melbourne and it's a full 75 minute show. Oh, wow. Wow. We're the longest we've done with guests, Dave Warnocky. That's me. Jess Perkins. That's me.

Mish. Big Wet Wittrip and one more to be announced. Who could it be? Whoa. And we are also coming with Dugo on to Canada. Oh, Canada, etc. I still don't fully believe this is real. I'm so excited.

You'll believe it when we touch down. David is like, if this is like one of your fucking pranks. No, I'm not going to punk you. I swear we are going to Canada in September 26. We're going to be hitting up Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal and Toronto. And if you want tickets to the Who Knewet or the Canada tour, visit our website, do go onpod.com. And if you sign up at patreon.com slash dogo on pod, you can get discount codes for all. all those shows. I mean,

you know what I mean. Welcome to another episode of Do Go On. My name is Dave Warnocky and as always I'm here with Matt Stewart and Jess Perkins. Whoa! That's so good to be here. And I know a little while ago I said to you, Jess, this is my favourite day of the week and you were really mean about it. No. I stand by it. No. You didn't say it's my favorite day of the week. You said this is your favorite thing to do. That's very different. Thursdays are my favorite day of the week. And that's fine, that's a normal reaction.

Okay, yeah. My favourite thing to do. I might have phrased it weird. Sorry about that. But I do love doing it. And I missed an episode a few weeks ago, maybe next week actually in recording release. Who knows?

From, with sickness. And so it's so good to be back. You missed us. You missed us. Is what you're hearing. Yes. How confusing do you want me to start this episode? And we miss that confusing element that you bring to the show.

Was it? Everything runs too smoothly when you're not here. We need a bit of chaos, particularly you after a coffee, which is you now. Right now. Jess, can you explain to new listeners, and me, how this show works? Absolutely. So each week, one of the three of us, research is a topic, usually suggested to us by our fantastic listeners,

and they bring that information back to the other two who listen very politely and never interrupt. Now, normally we get onto the topic with a question, and the other two don't know what the topic is, but this is a part two. But I'm not going to break with tradition. I'm going to get on a topic with the question. Are we still playing for points here? Yeah, we're playing for pinks. Well, Bob, we've got a listener name Bob who does keep track of this.

And I reckon Bob this is up for grabs. Okay. Okay, thank you, Bob. All right. Hands on Bob's. Everyone gets one Bob. Dave, get your hands off Bob, please. All right, question is, what is the name of the American tennis player won Wimbledon five times

between the year 2008? Venus. Full name? Williams. Correct. That's right. But this week we are still talking about the transit of Venus of 1761 and 1769. Before we said the years, I was like, I wonder how he's going to get Pete Sampras involved here.

Okay, after 2000. Okay, this, all right. Well, there could have been one of the characters from today's show. His nickname was Pistol. I just had, I had a moment of like, I forgot almost what the topic was where I was like, tennis player. Hmm, and then I, yeah. Then you remembered? Then I remember.

Oh, I was going to say, because, like, if you go to Williams' Venus over Serena, she'd love to hear that. I agree. It's amazing. She's fourth, like, just reading about it before. She's fourth on the all-time money winners list. Oh, yeah. And it's so funny to be, like, one of the absolute greatest of all time, but not in your family. Yeah.

Still one of the greatest in her family. We've got to say. Oh, no, she is one of the greatest. One of the greatest. But, yeah, obviously, a trailblazing player as well. So, yes. topic still is suggested by Victor Jimino de Manuel from Madrid at Spain. And last week we heard about the 18th century's quest to track the transit of Venus in 1761 and 1769.

Because when it comes, it comes very rarely, but when it comes, it comes in pairs of eight years. But when it comes, it comes big. Well, it doesn't come very often, but when it does, it comes twice. Eight years apart. And then there's gaps of over 100. years. But so people like, Edmund Halley, I've given him Sertim, I should probably add that. So, yeah, he was one of the ones who really noticed how important it would be to track this. But his whole life occurred. His 85 years on Earth, it didn't happen once.

But do you think him not being able to see it that made him want it even more? Like, if he'd just seen it on his, like, 21st birthday, would he have been like, whatever? You know what I mean? Probably, yeah. Because it's like, that's something he can't have. Distance makes a heart grow fonder. And he wanted to figure out what is the distance? That's true.

And also he's cursed us with, say cursed, with what, how this comment that only comes what every 80 years or something. So he's probably stoked that some people live and die without having to see his comment. It's named after him. It was named after him after his life. And he wasn't the one who discovered it. He was just, a few people had noticed it.

I think he just noticed that it was the same. same one maybe or something like that. But we'll talk about that when I eventually get around to doing a sir, in my words, not the Kings, Edmund Halley. Anyway, yeah, so after Halley died, a French scientist named Joseph Nicholas de Lale, a delicious man from head to toe, he took up the gauntlet and he sent scientists from around Europe out across the world in the name of science. Him and his crew.

He's posse. Which was the Academy of Science in the Paris. I would believe you're French. If I met you at a tourist attraction and I said, excuse me, would you mind taking a photo of me please? Yes, ma'amé. I've made a beautiful mademoiselle. as such as yourself, it would be my pleasure.

As soon as someone... Now, take off your top. What are you waiting for? Did you not want to me to take a picture of Zanipi, is it? No? Shout out to our French listeners. Absolutely going, yes, he has nailed it. Take off your top.

What are we doing? So the belief, the reason for all this was that they thought tracking the transit would unlock some of the mysteries of astronomy, especially the distance from Earth to the Sun, also known as one astrological unit or astronomical unit? Probably. Astronological. Yeah, astrological. Whatever the real one is. Yeah, yeah.

You're looking at us. We don't know. That's an old bit of all where I'll be like, I don't know. a few times. I go astronomical or astrological, whatever the real one is. Very fun. Always get the laugh. I would normally carry out of, you know, out of the stadiums.

Wow. They go, whoa, comedy has changed here tonight forever. That's because you streaked at a football game. Yes, the police who had taken me out of the stadium. Also, I didn't buy a ticket. He's got a lifetime ban. He turned up naked. No tip.

I was like, oh, where are you screaming okay with it? mate i'm not going to put it in i've got one one natural pocket and i'm using that for my water bottle um so we're just full of vodka oh no it's too much dress code some clothes fucking hell yeah it said no flip flops no worries i'm not wearing flip flops no torn jeans yeah yeah can you see a tear on me Stop looking So yeah Last week we heard about

How do you say Gouliam Guillaume? Guillaume Joseph Hayes Jean-Baptiste Le Gentile de la Galesori Okay Le Gentile

And his absolute cursed attempt To track the transit We heard how he was thrown off course By a world war Bad weather Distrusting foreign

Rivals And multiple bouts of dysentery. Yeah, he really, he shat a lot. And that was, I mean, that was just some of the stuff. But anyway, I'm assuming most of you will listen last week's episode, if not, stop here. Go back and listen, I reckon. Enjoy.

But he wasn't the only astronomer who had a bad time of it. Oh. Yes. I'm going to tell you about a few other guys today. Okay. How about another Frenchman, who was sent by Delicious Delisle, and the Academy de Science in Berl. A guy called Alexander Gweir, P-I-N-G-R-E with a little hat on top.

Ping. Bing. Could you call it Pingu? Yes. And what's the rest of the name? Alexander. It's like Alexander, but they are in the air switch. Yes.

And G-U-I. Is that G-U-Y? What do they spell G-G-U-Y? Because there was a tennis player when I was a kid. This is coming, here we go. Called. It was his... Ge-for-ge.

Yeah. Guy forget. Yeah, it just looked like as an Australian kid's like, Go I forget, lots of bloody bonkers name. Anyway, Pingu, let's call this guy. Pingu, yes. I'm sure, that's...

What a beautiful tribute to the Frenchestron. So he was sent out... He was keen to get involved as well. Took a while for them to pick a spot for him, but the Academy sent him to a place called Rodriguez. an island near Madagascar and also near Mauritius, so even, I think, technically, part of Mauritius. And, funnily enough, last week, we heard a lot about a guy being stationed in Mauritius.

And Mauritius wasn't good enough. It wasn't good enough, but yeah, Rodis. But this small island nearby is far. Why did now, guy just go there? He did try to. He applied. He said, they're like, we've already got Pingu. It was a confusing thing.

He was almost going to go there and then he found a way to go to his Indian destination again. So he didn't. He didn't know there was a guy going there. There was it, at one point, they were both going to be going there to Rob Regers. I need a group chat. Yes. Absolutely. How's the weather where you are?

Not great. Okay, I'm coming over. Exactly. That's why. Actually, no, you come over to me. It makes more sense. The way this went. That's how they would go.

Oh, bad weather. Great. I'll be there in five. Oh, I can't see shit. Great. Have we done an episode about Crackatoa? We've talked about it. Yeah.

Yeah. I feel like you've talked about going to do an episode. It'd be one of the loudest event. Why would we have talked about? That year, that 18, the year without. Oh, the year without some, was that because of Crackator? I think you mentioned Cracketowas the loudest, not the biggest. I was calling a different one the biggest.

The biggest. Actually, it wasn't the loudest, and you googled it. And I was probably wrong. And you were right. But anyway, quick fun fact, the eruption of Cracketaur in 1883 was heard at Rodriguez Island, which at almost 4,800 kilometers away was the furthest point at which the explosion was heard. I mean, that's some bang.

That's quite a bang. Anyway, as I said last week, in researching the story, I read a book by Andrea Wolf, titled Chasing Venus, The Race to Measure the Heavens. And in it, Wolf writes, the 48-year-old Pingu,

who suffered from gout. Remember last week I told you about how she was, I'm only talking a little bit about it, but she really talked about this guy's weight and how he loved food. Oh, this is this guy, yeah, great. He suffered from gout and was an unlikely candidate for such a dangerous expedition. His heavy frame and chubby face hinted at his jovial nature and sensuous joy in the good things in life. But she doesn't describe anybody else's appearance.

Yeah, it probably does a few, which I did. But this one, I don't know, it really stuck out to me. I'm like, you've really got to be in your bonner about this. But this is one of the guys that there's like a bust being made of him. And, you know, there's a few pictures. So I guess she's like, like you said, just run a book. I'm going to extrapolate a bit here. At one point describing, she lists all the food that he knew was going to be on the ship.

It's like, okay. All the food he knew was going to be on the ship. But he was really disappointed. She said that he found out that it was only going to be one meal a day. I'm like, anyone's disappointed by that. That's not just because this guy likes food. That's a reasonable disappointment. I'm pissed off of.

That's not enough. What kind of cruises this? You did say that she also had a list of all. the alcohol, so on it? Is it just a lot of lists? There's a few lists in there. So he was a polymath and an ordained priest who had studied and taught theology as well as writing about linguistics, music, poetry and of course astronomy. Apparently he was a bit controversial in the church and at one point he pissed off

the powers that be and he was sent off to some little shithole but eventually worked his his way back just with brilliance and stuff. Is the powers that be God? I guess so. I think it's somewhere between him and God. I think there was like a human power. Yeah, right. Man, if God tells you to go, you'd be like, yeah. No worries.

You know, I'm like, I'm meant to be here. I'm not going to work my way back to town. Like I said, most of the astronomers I read about, he didn't mind the booze either. He's quoted as saying, Liquor gives us the necessary strength for determining the distance from the earth to the sun. Back in November, when Le Gentile was. I was ill with dysentery and Mauritius. That could have been many different times, but one of the times.

Pingre, Pingu, was having a boozy farewell dinner with friends before setting off the journey the following day. He was the guy who was like, I was really flattered to be asked, I was really excited. And then at this going away party, I could tell that my mates were everyone's sort of having fun, but they're like, oh, good luck. Are you sure? And it was sort of just like. They're all crying because they're like, this is a farewell.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're having a wake here. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, when he's like, asked around the party and not a single person has heard of where he's going. God, I really thought all these educated friends of mine, you'd know where this is. Well, one of you. Yeah. Yeah.

This geography professor, I thought, would know. Rodriguez on Ireland, that doesn't exist. So, yeah, the next day when he arrived at his ship things, got off to a bad start, would you believe? Because he arrived with his luggage, and like we talked about last week, They had to pack a bunch of stuff. There's a few crates, you know, big luggage with important things for viewing the transit of Venus, the whole point they were leaving. And he was accused of overpacking.

He was furious saying that all of his luggage, telescopes, quadrant and a large pendulum clock, as Dave Coles, the grandfather clock. I was obsessed for them, carting this thing around. He said they were all essential. Wolf writes, despite Pingray's protestations, the dispute rumbled on for weeks. The local clerks seemed determined that his adventure was not going to interfere with their rules and regulations. In the end, the academy in Pali had to intervene and after weeks of waiting, so he's there. He's on the dock.

He's on the dock going, we got to go and they're like, no, you're not allowed to have this much luggage. You know, like a jet stop. I was going, you're going to have to pay overs for this. Yeah. That's half a kilo over. So, yeah, the academy had to get involved. and finally he left on January the night. So he arrived in November.

He didn't leave because they're like too much luggage, mate. They just like delayed the whole trip because of this one guy. Did he end up just like wearing all his telescopes? Stuff in his pockets full. He was like flavor-flavor-stalled his clocker at his neck. Yeah. Yeah, guys, I've got it down to small suitcase. He's got a piano with his pants. Don't worry about that chord you can hear when I'm walking.

Ding-tong, ding-ting-tong. So, yeah, finally he leaves, and there's only four months and 28 days until the transit. You're thinking about Legintel how much time he left. He's already leaving it a bit finer, just leaving. But, you know, having heard Legendill story, like, yeah, if you're going to, if it's going to be a disaster, spend that time at home before you go. Yeah. Have Christmas with your family, which he did.

Once on the Open Sea, didn't take long for the British warships to terrorise them. Remembering this is back for the first transit when the seven-year war was still raging, especially between France and Britain, but there was a bunch of other European countries involved. But yeah, like Les Gentile, they were able to escape again. It seemed like it was tight again and they were just able to get away, but zigzagging just to sort of hoping that the wind gets them away and sort of like a Sydney to Hobart race, you know? They go, fuck.

If the wind doesn't pick up here, we're going to be canon to death. Crazy. Just like the... Sydney to Hobart. Just like it. Putting in a terms you understand. Once free of the enemy, life at sea became monotonous, and he hated it.

He was normally jovial, but Pingue, Pingre did not have a good time. He hated the other passengers. He found them dull and boring. And at one point he said, I prefer no company at all than the company of these fucking losers. He didn't say like that, but basically like that.

I mean, honestly, same. He was like not enough space, couldn't really walk around. It was just, you know, just long days sitting and waiting. He was also like, he had a temporary partition. as his wall for his little sleeping quarters, which is tiny.

And on the other side of the wall were the cannons and stuff. So every time British ships were nearby, they had to get ready for the thing. So the wall got stripped away and the cannons were all there. So he's like, no privacy. I better shut out, guys. I was wanking. Do you mind? There was a little bit of a highlight in his journey, though.

Apparently. Was it the wanking? The wanking and when they neared the equator. Oh. Wolf writes, the most memorable day was their equator crossing. The old sailors prepared the equator baptism for days, dressing up as the so-called leperile la ling. How do you say line in?

L-I-G-N-E? Ling. Yeah, I haven't come across that on Juerre or whatever it is. It translates to the father of the equator. So they all dressed up as the father of the equator, it's an old tradition, I guess, and practiced pranks that they could play on those who had never crossed the line before. And then, yeah, there was this ceremony with sort of very silly jokes and that sort of stuff. But apparently there was just something majestic about the moment,

especially for an astronomer, because once they sailed across the equatorial line, they entered the southern hemisphere with a sky that displayed a glittering dome of that Pingwe had never seen before. Wow. So he was like, holy shit, now we're fucking talking. Yeah. Well, here we go.

Uh-huh, look at this. Uh-huh. Southern Cross, he got the tattoo. He was loving it. Things are all going according to plan. You know, they're making good time from now and things are looking okay. Until the 8th of April 1761, when the ship was ordered to accompany another French vessel that had been damaged by British fire. There was this sort of vessel that had heaps of food and different stuff

that was needed to get to another French destination, you know, to feed the army in one. So the captain of the damaged ship told the captain of his ship, you got to come with us. We're limping here. We need you to tag along to sort of help protect us and our precious cargo. This meant they were going off Pingue's intended course. And this is when you sort of remember. Pingray, it wasn't the Pingray ship.

You know, he would have had a much better bedroom if it was. This was just a ship that happened to be going on this route anyway, and he was tagging along. So if the war took the ship out in a different direction, it was kind of bad luck. And he was really pissed off by this. He's got this letter. It's written by the Powers of B.

It's got like the king might have even signed it, you know, this says... It's important. It's important. I'm doing signs. I've got to go and look at a planet. Oh, look, can you read? Don't make me unfurl this again. Yeah.

Fully, like fully. So Wolf explains like this. Pingray grew increasingly exasperated. They would never make it to Rodriguez in time if they didn't head straight there. He argued, begged and pleaded and even threatened the captains with legal proceedings. One evening, he wrote a formal letter of complaint. It's so funny to be like complaining in person and then going, oh, I don't know what I'll do. I'll write a couple letter.

Went back, wrote it down and they go, here, this. It's basically a lot of the things I've been saying. Yeah, but now you could read it at your own leisure. And I've underlined some words. It made me feel better to get off my chest. His letter reminded the captain that he was traveling in the name of the French king, the Academy de Sciences and the Companie de Indies with explicit orders to sail to Rodriguez. It was the holiest of his duties, he wrote, and the whole of Europe was watching

because his observations were important, not only for France, but for science. And they're like, yeah, we're just trying to get food to some people who are really hungry. The police fell on deaf ears, and the captain of the damaged ship apparently initially tried to placate him. He's like, he has some more food. But apparently eventually he got so annoyed by Pingray and his attitude that he threatened to throw him overboard if he didn't shut the fuck off. Okay. So first he's like, look, mate, I think he's just hungry. Yeah.

Will you have an extra steak for dinner? Hangary bingo, then you'll be happy. And then when they go, all right, mate, I'm going to throw you off the fucking shit. I've tried the carrot now I'm using the stick. Skip over a few more weeks of bad luck. Shit times on the seas. He sort of, he bounced back and forth. I think maybe they ended up back at Mauritius.

And then he did somehow end up making it to the island of Rodriguez. So things started just going his way. and he gets there. The island, no wonder that his friends hadn't heard of it, there was no infrastructure. What do you call it? Whatever the French leader of the island, and they didn't have many people there.

So there's a real, the governor, I guess. Sure. He lived in like a hut, and that was the best and really only building on the island. Pingray had to sleep, him and his. assistant out to sleep in the shed next door, which had a dirt floor. Okay, you said there's no infrastructure. Yeah, okay.

There's a shed. This guy's used to a partition next to a cannon. Yeah, that's true. At least he can wank in peace now. Well, his assistant is, they're on the dirt. Oh, assist, it could assist. And every time the governor needs to mow the lawn, he's going to go in there. Sorry, man.

He's got the whippers. It's a weed hornet. And then. I'm fucking out and just knock, all right? No, the lawn. I pull my pants up. Apparently, like, yeah, it was a bit rat infested as well. So, you know, there's company.

There are occupants. Little mice and rats and stuff. He's just fucking contradicting himself. Yeah. This guy's, he's got stuff happening. This sounds like a bustling metropolis. So France had taken this island, you know, like, you know, we're talking about last week. Colonising European countries going around and going, I love that, I'll have that.

Yeah. So they take it in Cuba, they didn't really build anything on it because they didn't see it as that valuable. That's not one else having it. Yeah. And the reason for that was it had a great turtle population. Why would they want an island that's just good for turtles? Well, apparently, at the time, they thought of turtles as some sort of cure for scurvy. Oh, okay.

So they'd have all these turtles, so they were breeding, and they're all that's all full of turtles. It's like turtles, fucking mecca for turtles. Oh, my gosh, so many turtles. And every now and then they'd grab a few turtles. and I don't know what bits of them or whatever they did or if they just had to lick them or what but yeah they go here you go I guess this is before they realised oranges would do the job

or maybe oranges weren't that common or just get some vitamin C tablets Yeah that's good yeah You're gonna multi-vitamin have everything. Yeah true yeah You probably end up pissing a lot of it out Yeah but that's alright

I find the same when I have turtle stew Piss it out My piss is green Yeah Most of the nutrients of the turtle just goes straight. I think it's mostly in the shell. I like turtles, but only some of them. Okay.

Oh, which turtles do you not like? I don't like those ones with like red and stuff on them. Is that what you're talking about? Like, I love a sea turtle. Oh, yeah. But other type of turtles, I'm like, mm. Okay. You're fine.

I think I like most turtles. Yeah, I'm a turtle, man. Yeah. I'm having a look. Maybe I like turtles. Most of that are coming up are sea turtles. And I'm like, fuck yeah. What do you remember years ago we talked to, I didn't an episode,

it was actually it was a two-parter. about Floriana Island. The first half was about people that had sort of been shipwrecked around there. And their big thing was that they took a bunch of like Galapagos tortoises with them because they kept them alive in the hull and then when you needed to eat one,

like they'd swim around under that. And then you grab one out, eat it, and then they're in a really made bowl. Flip them over. Grab a north and forth. And you think that they're getting into scurvy. Like these kind of like, that's a snake-necked turtle.

Like the little, the small turtles? I don't like the small girls. They're fine. What about the tiny little ones that are about the size of a matchbox? Okay, that's kind of cute. They're very moorish, I find. But a sea turtle? Oh, man, I love a sea turtle.

Yeah, I love a sea turtle. Yeah, but I love a sea turtle. And what about tortoises? I think tortoises. Which one is? A turtles, tortoises, tortoises, or tortoises turtles? Because one of them is like... All everything.

Yeah. And then... Doesn't matter, though, does it? Tortises, I think, are the ones with the legs. And the turtles with the flappers. Yes. Correct. Anyway, that's why Rodriguez the island was under French control.

Because they have a great stop off and you can feast on turtles. And Pingu, Pingre, he's there. He's at this spot, which is meant to be another one of the good spots, an important spot for them to track the transit. Things are looking good. He made it in time too? Even though he's like, yeah, in time. I think with like a week or something, he didn't have lots of.

time, but he was there beforehand. Wolf rights, he found a location in the north of the island from where to view the transit. But it was too late to build a proper observatory. Instead, he placed some big boulders in a circle and constructed a small hut to house the instruments. It was so crudely built that it gave little protection from the wind, dust and animals. The instruments had already suffered from the long sea voyage, with some being eaten by rust, Pingray moaned. Hectically polishing and greasing them with, you better believe it, turtle oil,

which was the only lubricant available. He was like, I've got to get these as ready as I can, because they're all sort of a bit a bit manky now. Lucky the shed was full of that lube, though. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Lucky for at least two reasons. Over the next few days, the French astronomer prepared his instruments and observed the movements of Jupiter's satellites.

He had to set the clock. So it's such a wild thing, you know, to go, I'm going to set the clock. All right, where's Jupiter? So I was imagining for some reason that they've got to keep this clock going the whole time because it's set when they leave. But no, it's more like they do have a way to rejig it. That's right. And they've got to get there, figure out where they are based on.

You go, all right, so there's Jupiter there. Satellites, we know where they are at this specific. Like, just to me, super impressive stuff. Yeah, it sounds like another language, doesn't it? All right, if Jupiter's there and I'm here, then that meant, yeah. What? What? So he's able to set the clock, but this was made all the harder because rats had chewed through one of the pendulums in the clock, which were one of the key bits of the clock.

There's a pendulum clock. They don't put pendulum in the name if it's not important. But luckily, he's still got clock. Like alarm clock. Yeah. The important part is alarm. Alarm. Yeah.

Uh, kookoo clock. Doomsday clock. It's crazy. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Et cetera. Uh, but despite everything, when transit day came around, he was ready. Sitting there amongst his boulders.

It's all like a real Fred Flintstone style of observatory. Uh, but unfortunately, Rodriguez's weather was not kind. It was rainy and overcast, which is bad because he can't see it, but also bad because his shelter sucks. So he's in there, like, getting rained on. And he was not able to see Venus begin its transit, but in the hours that passed, the clouds cleared, and he was able to view and record its exit.

Okay, something. Something. Pretty, and so far in 1761, the best we've heard so far. Yeah, that's true. He's got something. But yeah, so in the end his transit was great. After that, not so great. This is from, I found this great professor, Richard Podgy,

or Dick Pogg, as I think we called him last week at times, from the Ohio. You did. Oh, I thought we did collectively. I would never. I have a great respect for Professor Podgi. I just go on the prof. Professor. Professor.

Professor. Very professional. Yes, he's a profession, isn't it. He pumped out professional scientists. Wow. And he, I mean, he works at the great state of Ohio State University. And in a lecture on this topic, he said, during his post-transit work on the island,

a British ship shelled and sacked Rodriguez multiple times. So he's there just trying to do some post-work. He's going to tidy up a few details, a few more, recording a few things. All of a sudden, he's getting... Cannons are being shot. Yeah, the British are opening fire on these turtles. On turtles.

They've lost it. Yeah, that'll show them. Take that. Go on, mate. You just killed 38 turtles. Yeah, congrats. Yeah, right. And they're like our French turtles.

Yeah. Ah, okay. The king's like, okay, well, you're going to leave with that. Take you from service. And then we conquered them, and now they're English turtles. He did survive, and he finally managed to catch a ship back to France, like all these people. He's just waiting for the right ship in the middle of a war. You're like, how you go?

He's going, you know, his thumbs up at the port. Hey, you're going. He's holding a sign that says. England way? France. Yeah, or France, sorry. Going France way? Probably doesn't want to go to England, does he?

No, it probably really doesn't want to go there. What a mistake you made. He's been spent too much time with the turtles. Why do you write the wrong country on his board? That's ridiculous. Is he scientists or not? Oh, wow. So, yeah, but things didn't get any better because the ship he caught home was beset by,

a British warship again and this time they did have to battle it out cannon fire and whatnot. Again he was just trying to have the lake. Oh my God, the partition's been pulled down. He's like, fuck's sake. I needed like two more minutes.

Come on. I was nearly there. For real this time. And yeah, this time battle didn't go well. He was captured. Him and the crew were captured. So he became a prisoner of war.

and was transported to Lisbon. He's just trying to look at a fucking planet. He'd done that bit. He's like, I just want to go home. I'm just trying to get out of your way. Yeah, honestly. And you can keep warring. But apparently he didn't hate it.

He enjoyed it more than the other ship probably. Being a prisoner, he enjoyed more. Yeah, he just thought the British warship was a bit better. The other people sounded really boring. Because he said he quite enjoyed the company of the ship's doctor. and also the fact that the doctor had a stock of, quote, medicinal alcohol. Okay, okay. That's a brain of prison.

This guy's my best friend. I love this doctor. Hey, cheers. Got any more doses for me, doctor? Doc, I'm feeling a little sick, let me tell you. That guy was not a doctor. Yeah. He was just another prisoner and this guy was pissed.

I love this guy He's got glasses I must be a doctor Hey Yeah anyway That's the end of his tail A beautiful tale I think

He was He survived beyond there He was eventually not a prisoner anymore Yeah yeah yeah Okay great Happy to hear it Yeah And he kind of

He contributed the exit at least Yeah he got something He was involved More than our other guy He lived He lived till 17996 Look at this beautiful bust of him that got made. Wow.

He didn't get caught up in the French Revolution, did he? Oh, is that that year? Yeah, it's kicking off then. He continued publishing his work until his death in 1796, so I guess. Okay, it did all right. It doesn't say necessary. This is, that's from Catholic Encyclopedia. And I'm pretty happy with that as a source.

So yeah, let's just say he lived a long and happy life. And he was fine. Everything was fine. Yes. So next guy. Can I tell you about another one? Yeah. The final of our Frenchies.

This guy was a purve. All right. Okay. Spoilers. He did tease a perv though, didn't you? I did last week. Yeah. I've been waiting for the perv.

I've been edging you towards this perth. That's right. I mean, this guy, wanking on the ship. but I was like, is this what he meant? Come on. And I never said that. That was both of you guys. Don't give him credit for my joke.

It was me. I was the gross one. Okay. Yeah, you sicker. So next up, we got another Frenche astronomer named Jean-Baptis chap daturus. But we'll call him chap or chapet. Okay. CH-A-P-E, Dave.

How would you say that? Shap. Shap. Shap. Shap. In the name of love. Shap to the heart. Yeah.

Take your pick. Shap. Like shaft. I don't know how the rest of that goes. Okay. I'll get one more. Shep, shep, shep, shep, shap, shap, shap, shap, shap, shab. Shep, shep, shep, shop, shop.

I knew if I gave him one more, he'd finally absolutely. Knock it out of the park. I'd got to the rule of three, but you pushed the four and it really fucked me. I thought the rule of four is what landed that bit. Otherwise, I'd have said AJ edit that out. So yeah, Sharper. Let's call him that. He was a 38-year-old and a very talented scientist and purve.

As we'll hear soon. A talented perv? Well, I don't know. He purved very scientifically. I'll tell you about that in a second. I'll stop sizzling it. But he was the son of a baron. So he didn't really have the same financial reasons to take such a risky job as some of the other ones.

Instead, it's been suggested he just loved the infamy and the fame and, you know, it's like, I'm out there doing dangerous stuff. And he was sent on another dangerous, perilous mission. His destination was Tabolsk in Siberia. Wolf rights, it would be an exhausting 4,000 mile journey from Paris, Pawi to Tabusk, Tabulsk. 4,000 mile journey, Dave, what's that in proper length? Like 6,500K or something?

That's long. That's pretty long. Wolf says the beginnings did not bode well. When Shapp left Paris, it was raining incessantly, turning the roads into channels of deep mud. So he's going just across Europe. So he doesn't have to go by, say. He's heading a horse and cart.

WRX? Yeah. Oh, man, that would have been smarter if he had a four-wheel drive. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, he went for a horse and car. Yeah. Use a rally car.

He said he liked the infamy. He wanted to be the first person to do that outside of WRX. Yeah, probably, that's it. Yeah. They said you can have one of them. You can have a tank. W.R.X or a horse and cart. And he goes, let's be a laugh.

Yeah. I love horse power. Give me the horse. This one's got two. So, yeah, all the rain turned the roads around Paris in the channels of deep mud. And by the time he got to Strasbourg in, in France or is that in Germany? It's near the border, isn't it?

Don't worry about it. Maybe it changed a few times. It doesn't matter. You got there eight days later and his carriage was already beyond repair. You had to fix and repair his carriage a lot. Great. I'd purchase a new one and also had to replace the thermometers and barometers which have been damaged in accidents. Those telescopes had emerged intact.

Oh, they telescoped? They telescope for trouble. Finding the road's too slow, we change modes of transport to boat on the denube. Is it on land, though? The horse was pulling the boat. It's a drag on sparks flying up behind it. Don't worry, I've got a speed boat. But apparently there was really thick fog and it was just not safe to travel.

He would have travelled like many hours a day if he could have, but he couldn't travel at all at night safely and through most of the day. There's only a couple hours a day you could travel. I can't travel the night or during the day. I can float here. I've been here for weeks. Despite the troubles,

he has said to have remained positive. He had a really positive outlook, apparently. Wolf talks about a time he saved a man's life while he was waiting. At another point, he returned to his boat and there was like a teenage girl there and he's like, what's going on? She's like, oh, my uncle's trying to make me join the nunnery. I don't want her.

And he's like, oh, let me take you back to your parents. Like, what? This is nearly nothing else mentioned about it. Like, okay. He had time. This guy had time to just do errands. It sounds like, was he trying to do like an episodic show where he had an adventure every episode? And was he aiming for the next transit?

Did he give himself eight years for this journey? Is that why it's taking so long? No, he's a bit annoyed, but he's just a positive guy that he's, He's looking for the bright sides of the north. I hop in, all right. In Vienna, he again changed transport back to the horse and car. But again, found a very tough going. And on the 10th of January, so this is like, this is middle of winter.

And so it's very rough conditions. And his carriage crashed into a ditch somewhere in what is today's Chechia. Czech Republic. Is it Chechia? I think I say Chequier. Sorry, Chequier. With icy water. seeping into his clothes and shoes and those around him as well.

He and his team recovered the luggage from the stacked carriage. They couldn't move the carriage with the luggage. They didn't have to take the luggage out. Then they were able to get the carriage back onto the road, get it repaired, then put the luggage back in. Oh my gosh. All with like freezing feet. Yes, exactly.

But it sounds absolutely awful. This one maybe. They're all awful in different ways. Yeah, good question. Jess, would you rather because you hate being on the seas? But at least you're going somewhere. I guess, like near the equator, but or would you rather go across the icy? And I guess this one you're stopping in major cities along the way as well.

More probably frequently than you would be at sea. Yeah, but I do hate the cold. It's so cold. It's like Russian cold. And you're just like, you know, in a carriage is rocking. Yeah, and rocking in the carriage is a much better. Yeah. I'd probably, I'd probably prefer to kill myself, I think.

Oh, that's not an option. Yeah, I think I'd be... I will say, you know, I didn't put it into these terms, but saying as Jess has been pretty cavalier with that kind of language, the guy he saved was a guy who was trying to kill himself. Oh, I see. He was trying to, like, he was trying to jump into the denube, and he stopped him.

Sure, yeah, so he's got all the, the team's got all the luggage back on. Wolf Wright's hearing the clinking sound of glass as he moved the luggage back on. He knew something was broken. And that night, Shep, who was usually gregarious and optimistic, allowed himself for the first time to contemplate defeat, saying, I begin to fear that we should not reach Tibolski in due time. This is his writing, dear diary. But they repaired the carriage and they forged on through the icy cold conditions. Multiple more crashes. Like all these little stories could have easily been hour and a half reports on themselves.

So I'm sort of skipping over, but it just knows that every little bit, it's like, I'm just skipping over many, many stacks. It feels like everyday sucks. Yeah, 100%. As the descendants once saying. Yeah, multiple more crashes occurred as the weather deteriorated. Like it was horrible. And he's getting closer to Siberia.

So, you know, the weather's getting frostier. Wolfrights, much of the way through the mountains, they had to walk. Because the horse and cart just wasn't working on the road. So they had to sort of walk and trail. it. They would often slip and fall and were soon covered in bruises. Sometimes strong winds blasted clouds of snow high up in the air, whipping the flakes into frozen pellets. The coachman, the guy like at the fronting the horse and cart, was external and so he was copying it all. And apparently, this is what written in his diary, apparently in the end, could not stand it and he

ran away. Just off into the snow. It just feels like a comical way for someone to quit their job. I'm just going to run away. I'm just having a piss. He's running. Yeah, I might be sometime. God, he's really trying to get some distance. Obviously, I need some privacy. Nope.

No, he's jumped the fence. He's not coming back. Maybe, yeah, just warming up the limbs with a little jog. Yeah, sure. He's getting smaller and smaller. Eventually, it was just a small dot. I'm sure he'll be back any moment. So, yeah, I reckon that would be pretty disheartening.

Watching your driver run away. Yeah. Oh, fuck. But yeah, I'm skipping through a lot of the arduous details. It was fair to say it was brutal. At times, apparently the snow was so deep that you could only see the heads of the horses bobbing at the top. Oh, my God.

I bet if the horses could, they would have run away as well. That is awful stuff. I think they're trying to. Yeah. I'm like, oh, that's this thing. He's following me. Can't lose them. So how did Shappbe?

deal with the frustration of all the delays. Well, apparently, he basically scientifically studied local women. Wolf writes that he would examine the women he met along the way with the taxonomic precision of a scientist. He's got a t-shirt that says FBI. Yeah. He's a body inspector. Hey, ladies, just doing a routine check.

Quit boards out. What are we at here? He's got a measuring tape out. What are the measurements? Okay. This falls under my jurisdiction. He compared, examined and categorised. In one village, he measured their petticoats and in another,

I don't know if he's actually going up to them or if he's doing it by eye long. I thought this is just a euphemism, but he's actually scientifically studying these people. Yes, yes. Yeah, he's not just going around. Somehow this is even weirder. Yeah, it is really. It's one of the weird things I've come across. Yes, he measured.

the petticoats in one village and another in his story he declared the ladies strictly virtuous. No matter how cold or exhausted he was, he remained a connoisseur of the female sex and remarked appreciatively of their sparkling eyes and their quote, slenderness of their waists. Yuck. Anyway, I am a connoisseur. Of looking at women.

Okay. Anyway, when are you right? Like, it's such a, it's like, bro, just talk to him. Or don't. Yeah, I mean, I think, probably, might even be much preferable. Maybe he tried at one point. He's like, yeah, I don't want to. Anyway, I'm a son.

It's not something weird. I just want to study you. I don't want to mess your skirt. What? And your tiny little waist and your sparkly eyes. What? What? What?

Oh, now I'm weird. Yuck. When he arrived in St. Petersburg, you found out that due to a miscommunication two Russian astronomers had already headed out to document the transit from Siberia. Oh, no. So initially, though, Russia, which was, I think, ruled by Catherine the Great at the time. And who's the other great? Someone the Great had set it up a couple of decades earlier, the Russian science equivalent of their Academy of Sciences.

Right. But they were trying to get involved, but there was a lot of foreigners were running at Germans and stuff. Is it Peter the Great? Might have been Peter the Great. So that's on Petersburg. Ah, we, I see. And he, so initially they couldn't get any Russians to be keen on it. So that's why, that's why Ping, no, he's not Pingoo, Shappi.

That's why Shappi was sent out there from France. They're like, all right, we'll send a guy. But apparently they'll let, France's letter saying, we're sending a guy, didn't get there. So Russia's like, we don't want to let the team down. We'll send a couple out. And they sent out a couple of brief. brilliant guys as well, which I'm not going to talk about it all, but they sent out a couple of brilliant guys.

So they didn't need Chappie. He didn't really need Chappie. But thankfully, he's doing science along the way, studying the women. Yeah, that's right. We know a lot about women because of his work. They love it when you're lear at him. Yeah. Some figured out, like, secrets of mygrines and stuff, but we know, we kind of know.

Oh, who gives a fuck. How tight their waists can be. He's the one we have to thank for cat calling. He came up with that. Yeah, yeah. He's like, they love it when you yell at them from the carriage. Yes. I tried dog calling.

I tried the hyena laughing. But what I found was a beast, is a cat, coal. What do you call it? Lockette. No, it's dog. It's a, it's a cat. La Gato. Yeah.

La Gato, Cole. That was the hyena. Not very successful. No, no, no. It's shot. Shat. Is it? Le shat.

Do you think it was Gato, which is in cat, which is in Italian, which is in cat, Jesus Christ. Oh, I'm just going to pipe down for a bit. No, it made me feel better because I was doing bad stuff and I'm like, okay, we're all on similar level here. Oh, we're all losing our minds, yeah. Okay, great. Were you right about Peter the Great? Yes. Because I had a moment, because he said, was it Peter the Great?

And I was like, he's going to look this up because he can't be wrong. I mean, I can't be wrong. Oh, wait, but then he didn't open his laptop and I thought, oh, it's a progress. And then I heard him go, we'll look that up. The cogs are going. You can see him wearing. I only look it up so I can say, all right, everyone, I don't have to send the tweets, because I just looked it up.

And that guess was wrong. But that guess was wrong. Oh, that was right. He was the one who set it up about 20 years earlier. Oh, I just looked up Peter the Great. He's like one of their famous emperors. Yeah, yeah. He is the namesake for St. Petersburg.

Right. But I think he was a lot earlier than Catherine the Great. So maybe this. How many greats can one country have? Hmm. I mean, anybody could just call themselves the great. Do you think about that? Oh, my God.

But for it to catch on, it's hard to give yourself a nickname. Yes. But if you pay a sycophants around you to start saying, I was like, oh, Catherine's pretty great. You thought about paying people? Okay. Do people like to be paid? I think so.

I don't think they mind it Okay, I'll do it Yeah Pay people to call you Cobra Where do I get the money to pay? That's up to you Okay

I can't I can't spoon feed Everything to you You can figure You gotta figure something out But I do love to be spoon fit I know And I enjoy it too

But sometimes I've got to let you fly a little Push you out of the nest You know what I mean? I've just lost Matt for a bit What are you looking up there? I'm just trying to figure out what I thought was

Rosa Peter the Great established the Academy in 1724 with guidance from Gottfried Leibniz so yeah

hopefully hopefully what we said was right enough to not be annoying to anyone that's never been true of a single episode we've done true

right enough so why now would we give a shit. Well, I think, I think just a few less people will be annoyed just because they know. Like, I think it's more annoying when people say stuff and don't even seem to consider that they could be wrong. But if you're at least gone, I know I'm not always perfect. They go, okay, as long as he knows.

Because he really comes across like a guy thinks he's always perfect. Yeah. They're talking about Dave in that case. Too real. Sorry about that, Dave. I don't sink. I know. It's a quote of manual.

There's two Russians already out there who'd gone a little bit ahead of the time that he got to St Petersburg. That is annoying. But at least you don't want to get all the way there across Siberia and then go, what? You've already built the fucking planetarium. But remember? Observatory. Guys, you built a planetarium.

We need an observatory. That's the wrong thing. Oh, but this project is pretty good. Yeah, it's pretty sick in here, actually. I can show you the transit any time you like. No, we can do it any minute of the day. You want to look? Or do it later, because I can do it whenever.

Yeah, you let me know. You have a sleep whenever you wake up a door. Lie down on one of these beanbags. Oh, God, it's so relaxing. Enjoy. So, yeah, due to the fact that two others were already going to Siberian spots, the Academy back in Paris saw his journey is superfluous. But he was like, yeah, he's the guy who wants to do it.

He wants to fame. He's like, I want to be involved. And I think this one particularly is important. They're not going to my spot in Tobolsk, Tobrosk, to Bols, whatever it was. They're going different places. I want to go here. Let me do it. And he stayed in St. Petersburg rallying support, talking to important people, pressing the flesh.

He's like, I need a little cash, I need you. Most of all, I need permission. And I need, you know, let me do this. Because he also, he needed locals help to, he was going out to a pretty remote spot. and he'd need some protection or whatnot there as well. Apparently packs of wolves were after him at certain points. What did he do to the wolves? He measured them.

That went, all right, this is too weird. He measured some of the lady wolves. He said, no, no, no, no, we're not standing for that. I tried to put on a small petticoat on Zy Wolf. I thought it would look very cute. So, yeah, he spent four weeks in St. Petersburg rallying support. He's like, I've come too far to stop now. I've got to do this.

And the Russians were going to different spots in Siberia, Siberia, and the Siberian viewing was important. It was so important that why not have a few fail safes? Why not? We know that, like, there could be weather. Yeah, someone might. There could be weather. Why not have? I guarantee there'd be weather.

Yeah, in Siberia? What is this, Melbourne? Also, like, you know, one of them might have a sleep in or something. Yeah, there's all sorts of reasons. Like, oh, they might just write down the. wrong thing, you know? Yeah. So he did, he was able to convince the powers of B,

and he forged on for the final 1,800 miles of the journey to bolst. He's like, I'm basically there. I'm in Russia. How far could it be? How big could Russia be? Yeah. And this next bit's probably the last bit, so it's the easy bit. I got momentum.

Yeah. So there were kind of two options, because it's still winter. obviously if he left four weeks earlier, it would have been easier because winter's moving on and the ice is starting to thaw, which you think would be good, but it just leads to slop.

Yeah. And rather than travel on the roads, which were a mess, they found it quicker to travel on the frozen rivers. Oh, right. There's like highways, and you could really fly along those, but they need the winter to hold.

Yeah. Because as soon as, the last starts thawing, you're fucked. Especially because is he still on a horse and cart? Horse and cart, yeah. That's pretty heavy. Yeah. Yeah, and he's carrying a heavy load.

Yeah. Blue balls. Wolf rides, sorry about that. Thank you for your apology. I don't forgive you, but. Well, I just meant in cold, the coldness. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Blue everything, I reckon.

And all those petticoat measurements on his mind. He's just every night he's looking at this thing. Ooh, look at these. Look at the hem length. Ooh. Anyway, he's getting there now via icy rivers. Perfect. Wolf rights, for part of the journey, they traveled on the Volga River across the service as smooth as glass, he wrote.

The sledges are gliding with inconceivable swiftness, he wrote. Shapp was so invigorated by the speed that he climbed out of his cabin to feel it properly, standing upright on the sledge's roof with the icy wind blasting around him. His joy did not last, though, sadly, because accidents continued to delay them, like skipping over them, but they're stacking all the time. It's weird, horses, I guess, on ice. What, are they not natural ice skaters? Yeah, I assume they put their chains on the horse hooves. No, blades.

Oh, skating. Oh, yeah, they'll glide with beauty. Beautiful. You'd be fanging along. The sledge is constantly overturned. a horse almost drowned, they hit overhanging trees, and they fell again and again into deep snowdrifts. But Wolf continues, he still found time to continue his survey of Russian women, noting those who were, quote, lively, quote, taller, quote, very pretty and, quote, had better complexions or a, quote, very disagreeable figure. As far as now has been negative.

All very scientific. It is very scientific language. This one's quite nice. On the nice scale, I'd probably give it a seven. Dave, remember he's French. Cervant. They don't do numbers on dueling? Troy Cervant.

Set. Unfortunately, as the journey went on, the ice did begin to thaw. And Wolfwrights, they were getting so close. On the 9th of April, the ice had become. so thin that the coachman, I guess they got a new one, refused to cross the last river. They were really close, only 15 miles away from Tobolsk. Oh, wow. About a 12-hour sled ride.

So it's like it's... That shows how slow it is. But they, but if they failed to cross now, they couldn't cross, you know, like it would be a long way to go around for a bridge. Yeah. So I was like, he's like, it's now or never. But if we, he dramatically said, if we don't go there now, we may as well be trying to get to Venus itself, you know? Wow.

That's how hard it'll be to get there. And the driver's like, yeah, I'll probably go with Never then. I don't know, I'm not going to die for this. The whole crew's like, we're not keen on me. I don't really give a shit. Yeah. You're going to see a dot? I don't fucking care about a dot on the sky.

You want to sit from over there? What's the fucking end? You're paying me per day. I reckon I'll just not get paid the last day and not drown, okay? Apparently, for summary, it was really important in part because he was going to have protection there. And it was just he knew that he would have help setting up his observatory and stuff. So it's really important that he got there. So he is badgering everyone else.

They're like, no, we're done, mate. And he's like, come on. Guys. Wolf puts it, he cajoled, threatened, bantered and bullied, trying to talk his companions into taking the risk. Oh, seven stages of grief. But he finally did. convinced them with the help of copious amounts of brandy. It was night and so dark that they could only see a faint glimmer of the stars reflected

in the treacherous ice. Although water had started to seep out over its thawing ice, Shapp hurried his drunken man along. So he gozed him up and it would be really fun actually. That's why I can do it. Yeah, the only way to make this safer is get the driver drunk and do it at night. Yeah, that makes the most sense to me. Apparently, you know, as you're hearing the, oh, that's breaking, and he stood on the roof again, you know, urging everyone.

Let's do. Come on horses, we got this. Shit. And somehow they made it. They made it across. Wow. I thought that were going to die. Oh, no.

It just seems ridiculous. But they made it to Tobolska, mere six days before the transit. It's funny how they all left so much time. Yeah. And different delays, including just being like, come on, let me go for four weeks. Yeah. Oh, please, come on, let me. Six days.

And, like, it was great timing because it just made it before Venus dream, but also just even shorter than that, the rivers completely thawed, leading to some of the biggest floods ever experienced in the area. Whoa. These floods, and it sort of ended up being a bit surrounded. by floodwater. It sort of fucked the whole area. And the locals didn't like that and blamed him. Oh, he brought this upon them.

Yeah, yeah. I guess they were, you know, they didn't have all, they didn't fully know weather yet. Like, you know, a Melbourne in my... Sure. Four seasons one day. Yeah, we got a born with this innate understanding of weather. Yeah, that's right.

I've never seen this flood before. Never seen you before either. Yeah. Funny coincidence. So, Podji writes, while setting up his equipment, to be physically protected by a cordon of armed Cossack guards because the local peasantry was convinced that the unusually severe spring floods

were being caused by this strange foreigner using his bizarre instrument to mess with the sun. They're like, this is magic man. He's done this to us. Let's get him. Yeah, let's get the magic man. So it had to be constantly guarded, like by armed guards. But yeah, finally some good news. The Dirty Purve did see the transit.

it. He saw him in clear conditions and he was able to record it. Oh my God. It was all worth it. First person. Yeah. Yes. So pretty good.

Hey, good on your purve. That was for you, Matt. Thanks, mate. Great report, Perv. I'm approved. You know that. We all know. I'm on 10th, Perv.

I don't know. I can't even imagine what a pettico would look like. So, yes. of this first attempt at seeing the transit, this is the last expedition I'll tell you about. And the only British ones I'm going to tell you about it. There are other British guys. There were heaps of people, Swedish, Russians, all sorts of other people.

But can't talk about them all. You can't. But these two are also quite famous. The British expedition of Jeremiah Dixon and Charles Mason. The 31-year-old Mason, and 26-year-old Jeremiah Dixon were selected by London's Royal Society to head to Ben-Coolan, modern Ben-Culu in Sumatra. The Royal Society, London's Royal Society is basically the English equivalent of the Paris's Academy of the Sciences. Wolf rides, both men saw the expedition as an opportunity to improve their professional standing,

but there was also the lure of fame and fortune and an escape from the monotony of an astronomer's life. Unfortunately, their journey got off to a horrible start. It's a bit of a pattern, isn't there? I actually haven't ever heard that before. We haven't talked about it much, but the war's still. The war's on. Like, I'm going back and forth.

We're going back to, you know... Back to the start. Back to the start. Wars was raging. They bought their ship, the HMS Seahorse in late November, similar time to Pinkham's. goo. But they were stuck in port much like he was. He was stuck there because of his luggage. They were stuck there due to bad weather in, I think it was in Portsmouth they were heading

out from. Only finally setting sail on the 6th of January 1761. Things only got worse from there. We talked about the war getting involved. They really copped it and strayed away. Day four 8 a.m. They were fired upon by a friendship. Okay. And imagine, like, imagine you're trying to have a bit of a, you're still in bed, 8 a.m, you're getting shot at,

and you're like, oh, come on. I was having a wang! Oh, my God. Wait until at least 9 a.m. For God. You say to everyone, but the weird purve, a wanker? Because there's nothing wrong with wanking. And they're doing it privately.

There's nothing, exactly. Okay. He's... It's actually very natural. He's leering at women. That's unnatural. Women are hideous. Yeah.

Don't look at him. And I like, he had to leer at him to figure that out in the end. What is that beast? Oh, it's unpleasant to the eye. I might measure that down. I better measure that beast. Day four is brutal, but also like, I guess turn back. Well, that's what happens.

But before they got to turn back, they were in a brutal fight. Wolfwrights. Within two hours, the French were close enough for Mason and Dixon to see their faces. They were in pistol shot. Pistol Pete. Stampras. It all coming in. Soon enough, battle began. The smell of gunfire filled the air. But in the ensuing chaos of shots and screams, Mason and Dixon couldn't tell who had the upper hand. Their mask came crashing down, hit by a French cannon, and another was badly damaged. They're like, we're just here to go look at a planet. So they're not involved in the fighting at all, I know. They're sort of just like, e.

I'm trying to look for it now. I'm in the fucking pirates of the Caribbean. What's happening here? What's happening here? Splendid wood, torn sails and jumbled ropes covered every surface. Suddenly, the first Frenchman was standing on the deck of the seahorse, so they were fully breached and their crew was being attacked. The planks, which had been scrub clean in Portsmouth, just a few days earlier, were now stained with blood.

Whoa. And they're just standing there. their letter going, hey, we're not with them, we're cool, we're cool, we're cool. And they just wanted to get away from the monotonous life of an astronomer. And they've gone, we've gone too far. I actually wouldn't mind the monotonous life. I love my boring wolf. I've overcorrected, I hate this, this is too full on.

As the fighting rage back and forth between the French and the British, Mason and Dixon were certain that their lives were over. Wolf continues, though the French had at least double the number of men, the British were not giving up easily. Pressing forward one by one, they regained control. of their ship, driving the French back to their own vessel. At noon, after a battle that had lasted little more than an hour, the French retreated. Their commander was dead, along with half of his crew.

So it was a super bloody battle. But Wolf says there was little cause for celebration on the English ship either. 11 men lay dead and 42 were wounded, many of which mortally. So it was a very bloody battle and a lot of people died on both sides. But you understand this. What both sides gained was nothing at all. Yeah. So I think some people sometimes talk about, oh, whoa, what's it good for absolutely nothing?

Well, I mean, I'd tell them this story and say, what about this? Yeah, sometimes heaps of people on both sides die for absolutely no gain. And both of their things get damaged. Yeah. Sometimes we damage a lot of property and take each other's lives. Yeah. And that's enough. Yeah, isn't that enough?

Come on. People don't get water. I don't think they get war. What are they there for? Yeah. Absolutely nothing. There's more to it than that. It's got to be something and that was something.

Yeah. Edmund Star, what is your song good for if that's your name? With the ship so damaged, the captain decided to head back to Portsmouth for repairs. I mean, the other option was like, no, we'll forge on. We keep going. Oh, what? We needed a mast. We needed a mast.

What, do we need a crew? A functioning crew. Just throw them over the side and let's keep going. Yeah. No, this captain was a coward, I'm afraid. Captain coward, oh dear. So, yeah, back to Portsmouth for repairs, four days into their journey. Oh, no.

Their family's like, oh, they're back. Well, some of them are back. We got probably 1% of the way to Samatra. Are we going to throw that all in now? Mason and Dixon were traumatised by this. Yeah, I would not be getting back on the second boat. Dave, you have a real Mason and Dixon energy about you, because that is exactly how they were feeling.

They wrote letters to the Royal Society being like... Fuck this. Yeah, obviously we're done. No thank you. But thank you though for having us involved. This is us. Yeah, it turns out that fame and adventure is not for us. We're good.

It's just so good. They said, probably one of the letters. They're like still happy to be involved and they suggested, why don't they record the transit from a certain spot in the Mediterranean? I'm surprised we're even still happy to go. somewhere else and not just like from my backyard. Yeah, because the war's still going on. How about we do it from a nice comfy hotel?

But I guess they go overland to the Mediterranean maybe. No offence to the rest of the world, but is there any spot in Europe or England that they could measure it from? I think there are, there is... Everywhere that they don't live is... People are measuring it from there as well. Like, there are a bunch of people also. But they just don't have a cool adventure to write about us.

Yeah. Yes. They need it. They need it very. That was a big thing. And a variation wasn't big enough to be like, you know, one in Derby and one in Manchester. Yeah. Now they're like, no, we'll just have a backup one from London, I think.

Yeah, just in case. I'll head down the Cotswolds. Yeah, I'll do it from the Cotswolds. Oh, put my hand up. Yeah, I'll go to Cotswolds. Sorry, I'll get a little cottage in the Cotswolds. I'll got a little sublet there. I don't talk about this, but there was one English guy in modern day.

US where he went up to Newfoundland or something because nearly none of... That's Canada. North America. Yeah, he started in what is now USA and went up to what is now Canada. Because that was like one of the only little bits that could see some of it. A lot of it happened nighttime in North America. Right. So there were also limitations on some areas you just couldn't see because of it happening

in the middle of the night. Yeah. So why can't you just look at the sun in the middle of the night? It feels like it'd be easier to see. Oh my God. Yeah, be less hurtful on your eyes. Yeah, if you just look at it at night. I guess, yeah, just thinking about where,

if you think of the world as like a globe. Okay. And you're thinking of, you can't think of it's not, because the sun, the earth itself is sort of blocking the sunlight for you. So, I guess, turn around. Turn around or you just, I don't know why they just didn't think about,

just in the wrong way, man. Fucking out. Turn around, or maybe just like going to the other side of the globe. Yeah, exactly. Why don't they do that? Why don't they do that? Why are they traveling so far when they could just go to the other side of the globe? Just go to the other side of the globe.

Yeah. Oh my God, they're so dumb. Science was pretty primitive back then. Instead of getting a horse to drag a speedboat, just go to the other side of the globe. Yeah. It's a fucking idiot. It's so embarrassing.

Think of it like a globe. That's like a ball. The ball could be a small giant, a marble. Yeah. Pick a spot on the ball. Yeah, easy. Go to the other spot of the ball.

Are these people supposed to be scientists? I think they're supposed to be. They're like some of the great minds of the time. It's so funny. It's so funny that like now. Now, obviously, everyone on Earth is smarter than these people. Yeah. Yeah.

Like, I don't know anything about science. I don't know more than them. Clearly. Obviously, I would just go to a different spot on the globe. Yes. Oh. Yeah, I don't know. Why are you getting a boat involved?

Jesus Christ. Oh, it's night time. Okay, we'll wait for the daytime. Yeah, wait a little bit. Okay? That's how it works. Inferiorating. So, yeah, they've written letters.

We're not going to go to Samarch after all. Okay. To put a plot, you can fuck off. We've just remembered we have some. something on. Apparently they... Possibly. Oh, it's a clash.

Brothers getting married. Yeah, I've got a clash. But apparently it's like they did the equivalent. They were so freaked out that they did the equivalent of of bombarding with texts and calls that weren't getting answers because they were letters. So they're writing multiple letters to the... Police write back. Yeah, to the academy.

They're now, you know, they're in the not too far. Oh, not the Academy, sorry, the Society of Royal Society. We're in Britain now. Yes. But they're, you know, they're back. in Portsmouth writing letters to London, not that far away. Yeah. But just hecticly do anyone they can think of panicking.

Oh, and another thing. I just had a lot of thought. Yeah. In one letter, they wrote that they wouldn't go anywhere else. Let the consequence be what it will. They're like, you just can't make it. They're obviously also like in a hotel room like gee in each other up. Yeah.

That was fucked. Yeah, that was really. I thought it was going to die. I thought you were going to die. They can't make us go. I don't even care what they want to do. Consequences be damned. Yeah.

It is us. Write that down. Write that down. Getting ourselves really worked up. You're right. You've got the right to be scared. We went through a traumatic event. I think they'd already been paid and they had...

Okay. The perfect situation. Yeah, probably maybe you just give the money back. Basically, like a contract, you know, like they were kind of locked in and the Royal Society saw their crazy letters as mutiny, basically, and insisted they're so. Like, sorry guys, you got to go. The Seahorse, HMS Seahorse is now repaired. You've got to go.

Okay, you know what I'm doing? You know what I'm doing? Yeah. Okay. Faking your own death. Oh, my God. That was my thought too. Oh, that's pretty good.

What's yours? I was going to make, I was going to get, what are they called, scarecrows, put our clothes on it. Oh, yeah. And then set the house on fire. Oh, no. I'm setting them off on the ship. Like, yeah, yeah, off they go. Great one.

And then I'm faking my death. And one of you, scarecrows, have. a bomb on board so that as soon as it's off the shore of Portsmouth. Yeah. Yeah. Kill everyone else. Kill your who cares by them. And then the ship goes down and obviously they assume you train with it.

I'm shaving my mustache. I'm a new person now. Mustacks. Who the hell's that? Honestly, it's weird. Yeah. Don't like that top lip. Yeah.

It'd be strange. She got a weird bit in the middle there. I know. Cover that up. They're still, they're still in Portsmouth there. HMS, uh, sea horse has now been fully repaired. They're like, we're good to go. And they're sending them.

us the Royal Society going, hey, your boys, Mason and Dixon, they're saying they're not getting on the ship, who's making this call? Because we want to go. But we're not sure if we can't go until they're on board. They're refusing to get on board. Oh, you fucking shut up. And then, so, yeah, the Royal Society was basically like, you got to get back on the seahorse or you face drastic consequences. They do say that. You got to get back on the seahorse. They do say that. And the faster the better, honestly. this way to get over something that traumatic is back on the seahorse. They said, apparently the society said that their unwillingness to do so would provide, quote, fatally to themselves.

But this is back in the, this is the 1700s. It's not like they have CCTV and like they're tracking your phones. Just fucking make up a new name and live a different life. They're not going to find you. CCTV spelled SCA, SCA. A sailor went to CCTV or something like that. Yeah, I think so. Yeah, something there.

I reckon there was a riff so similar to this on a Who Knewan episode last month. Or, or we've just come up with something so beautiful brand new. Honestly, just fuck. Just fuck off. Yeah, I mean, people didn't appreciate how easy it was to, like, fake your death or change your identity or disappear back then. It's so hard now. I've tried. Oh, my God, they got my fingerprints.

Yeah. Back then, they just fucking just say, yep, no worries. And people do. I mean, we've had stories of people just going, hey, they go to somewhere else and go, hey, I'm royalty where I'm fronings. Yeah. Okay, you don't even have to go that hard. Just say, I'm Robert. You'd actually be smart not to.

Hey, guys, I'm Rick. Okay. But the problem is, if you slip, Ricky. Yeah, I'm Ricky. Back then you slip from where they're used to being pretty cushy. It's a steep drop off to the most of the people below them, guessing. But yeah, so anyway, for whatever reason, they were like, oh, shit. And I don't know.

It would sound like fate, it would prove fatally to themselves, it may as it sound like they would hang them or something. But I don't know if that was. the case, but they were definitely saying you'll be going to court if you'll be charged if you don't get on that ship. I think they're going to kill them. Yes. Anyway, after a lot of back and forth, the duo reluctantly boarded the ship once again to set sail. And they were like, basically, they were saying, like, well, really, sorry if that sounded like we were mutineering or anything. We never really meant it like that. You were sort of taking us out of context.

They were backlining it, back stepping. So they jumped on. set sail once again. Would you believe their journey was perilous and whatnot over time at different times? Oh, you don't say. Skiven past different bibs and bobs there. They make it of the Cape of Good Hope for a stopover, but they realise with all the delays and whatnot, they're like, there's no way they're going to make it to Sumatra. If they did, it would be really tight.

They're like, it's a Cape of Good Hope's not as good in terms of it won't be able to see the whole crossing, but we'll be able to see some of it. Let's take the bird in the hand. Let's set up here. We've got, we'll have weeks to set up a whatever. And so that's what they did. They're like, we're going, and like you said before, Dave, they're going, yeah, they won't mind if we.

It's still from here. Break their. It's fine. Yeah, they've asked to see that, but this is pretty close. This is all right. Yeah, we go. This is great. So, yeah, it was a gamble going against the direct orders of heading to Samarrow.

of heading to Sumatra. And, yeah, they were nervous because they were like, if we really need this to work somewhat, if we get overcast stuff and we, like, didn't even try to go to where we were going to. But if we get some data here, it's like, hey, look, hey? Matt?

Good instincts. You're welcome. So they really needed to get something. We need the sky to be clear. Yes. Because otherwise, my theory was, what have you to say you went to Samatra? sorry guys it was cloudy as that day

no one could see shit can you believe it God just our life we were there for ages and then we hit the pool and it was really great it was lovely beautiful spot

but something you forget about overcast weather doesn't mean you shouldn't be wearing sunscreen and we got really burnt that's why we're burnt not because it was sunny because it was overcast yeah that's right

that's when it gets you yeah because you know what you get complacent you get complacent you get cocky that is genuinely when I've had

one of the worst burns I've ever had A dream world of all places. More like nightmare world. That was great during the day and then late it was. It was very painful. So yeah, they stay and they got a bit of time on the Cape. Cape of Good Hope.

I mean, what a positive name for them. But they did find it to be a frustrating time with the local Dutch. The Dutch had that as one of their spots at the time. Okay. And annoyingly, this is how frustrating is this? It was so frustrating for Mason and Dixon. The Dutch didn't speak any English. What?

And they were like, and they were writing their letters home. They're like, they don't speak any English. They were annoyed. Despite this, they eventually were able to organise some carpenters who built them a schmick observatory.

It sounded so good. Beautiful timber, domed roof. It was awesome. Could open up to any part of the sky. It was just like, that was set up. Beautiful, mate. We got this absolutely.

Oh, my God. Oh, you're going to love it, guys. Not a day of a budget Not a day of a budget Oh my not a day of a budget In fact it's a day under budget It's a day one day under budget That day's for you

That day you can have that day back They keep the train Three day weekend I'm alright They're like Can you speak English These guys cannot speak English They're just like chill builders Guys these people can't bloody speak English

So yeah Now they're holding their breath waiting. First, you know, they're doing their measurements. They're getting fully ready. Yeah. But... I was looking for the picture of my...

Well, Jess has shown me that is some gnarly sunburn. You are like lobster reg. That would have hurt for days. Yeah, it really did. Yes. That is just skin cancer. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Isn't that so, like, looking back around, like, I know the days that melanoma were born. Oh, yeah, yeah. I haven't found them yet, but they're coming. I was there for the conception. Ouch. So yeah, they're waiting, preparing, and fingers crossing for some good weather. And they weren't feeling too positive because the weather had been awful. Their six-week stay leading up to it, it was just no good.

And like I say, they're extra nervous because if it didn't go well, they're like, we disobeyed orders and have nothing to show for it, knowing that they'd really be in the shit then. Weather continued to be dicey right up until the moment they needed to be clear and the heavens opened up. Get fucked. Right up like they were sort of seeing the dog, so they were never going to see the start of it. Yeah. They were just wanted to see the end.

They wanted to see it leaving the sun. And that cloud would cover and they'd be like, oh no, it's happening. We saw a spot, but the clouds went back. But just before it exited, the cloud all cleared and they were able to get some... Put down the majito. Oh, shit, it's transit time. Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit. I was just really into my book.

So good. Love a holiday read. So, yeah, it cleared. They were able to take what were and now seen as the best recordings of the first crossing, the 17161 crossing of the southern hemisphere. Okay. But being the best in one of the hemispheres is super important. That should be, that's like the clarification we say when we say,

it's the biggest shopping in the southern hemisphere. Yeah, yeah. As an aside, Podgy writes, have you heard, does the name Wilson and Dixon ring a bell, or the Wilson and Dixon line? It's sort of vaguely familiar to me, I didn't know why. No, I don't think so. So it's just a little, a brief aside.

In America, they're more famous for this thing, the Wilson and Dixon line. Podgy writes, Wilson and Dixon worked so well together that in 1763, the British government dispatched them to the American colonies. In his book, The Short Story of Nearly Everything,

Bill Bryson writes, sorry, Jess, I think this is the only reference to Bryson in this episode. I know you're a hater, Jess. You get one per episode, so. Well. Yeah, Bryson writes, they set off for four long and often perilous years

surveying their way through 244 miles of dangerous American wilderness to settle a boundary dispute between the estates of a guy called William Penn and a guy called Lord Baltimore. Those names ring bells. They were there when they were. So they had these sort of estates. One became Pennsylvania, the other became Maryland with the capital of Baltimore. So they were disputing their boundary.

And Wilson and Dixon was sent there by the British to settle the dispute. And it took them years to measure it. It took them years to figure out exactly what the line should be. See that bit of inhospitable terrain? That's yours. Yes. This bit here that you can do nothing with, that's yours. And the result is now known as the Mason-Dixon line,

which is still the boundary between those two states. And it also took on the symbolic importance as the dividing line between the slave and free states. Ah. So, yeah. It's not just an interesting little aside. Bryson writes that although the line was their principal task, they also contributed to several astronomical surveys while they were there, including one of the century's most accurate measurements of a degree of meridian,

an achievement that had brought them much acclaim in England. So they're probably more famous in England for that sort of stuff. But in America, they're more famous for just really for having the name on that line. There you go, that's pretty interesting. Three sort of impressive things on different content. Yeah, exactly. And these are the two guys that I don't think they know what they look like. Oh, yeah, you said.

And I assume they're hunks. Do you think you've done an impressive thing on three continents? Live podcast. Yeah, live podcast. Are you done that on three continents? Yeah. Eat pies. I think I'm up to five.

Oh, okay. That's really rough. Is that impressive? I'm asking you. Eating a party. All right. I'll set up for one impressive thing I'm wanting haunted now. I'm waiting for my time.

Yeah. So, so yeah, that kind of wraps us up from 17861. And, yeah, there were so many others that I'm not talking about. But how did the project go overall? It's fair to say it was a mixed bag.

Okay. As we've already kind of heard. Some observers noted that Venus seemingly trembled, which made precise measurements difficult. There are all these things that were unforeseen. They're like, it's almost like it's shimmering. And people gave different reasons for that, including perhaps Venus has an atmosphere like Earth.

There's also the black drop phenomenon, which Podji writes, most observers noted that when Venus is just inside the limb of the sun at the start and end of the transit, The silhouetted disc, the little black dot of Venus, appears to be connected by a thin meniscus between the planet and the limb of the sun. It's almost like it sticks to it as its party. What?

Yeah, just visually. Obviously, it's not like there's not a big meniscus. Yeah, obviously. Yeah, that would be crazy. Googling. What is meniscus? Podgy rods. It almost gives it the appearance of a black drop of liquid ooble.

oozing. The effect is an optical illusion caused by the smearing of the image of Venus by turbulence in the Earth's atmosphere. The black drop makes it very difficult to judge the exact moments of interior contact. Don't really need to know what it means. I mean, look into it more if you want to. But the main thing is it made it hard because it wasn't like crisply outside, inside. There was this sort of bit in between. I was like, wait, is that touching or not?

Yeah, it's a line ball. And everyone's looking at it. And people are, you know, using different judgments to say when it's over them. They really wanted it to be, you know, having like a, about two seconds of error maximum, but it ended up being more like because of things like that, about 10 seconds. And Podgi says this was because of the introduction of an irreducible and difficult to measure amount of systematic error in the timings. Wolf Wright said only in recent years

Has the true reason for the black drop effect being discovered It is now believe that it is an optical effect caused by atmospheric conditions on Earth And telescopic diffraction So I hope that clears that up And I'll be taking no further questions Yeah, great, it does actually clear it up for me, yes Telescopic refraction

Yes, well that... As soon as I said that, you were like... Oh, honestly, I was thinking it before you said it It was just great to have that validated. It's nice to know you're right. It is sometimes, yeah, most of the time I assume I am, but it is good to just have someone confirm it. We hear Professor Podge.

That's right, and I say, thank you, Podge. So all this, guys, all around the world are sent through their data. Everyone's sharing the data around so everyone can try and make sense of it. Papers were published, papers were revised and republished. People were revising their own data saying, someone's saying, that can't make sense. Oh, yeah. I'll change those numbers a bit. It's like, well, it's starting to sound not super scientific.

And unfortunately, in the end, there were just too many discrepancies found in the numbers. and part of the problem was perhaps some say there was too much data. And it just contradicted itself too much. They were like, we can't get too precise to get a conclusive answer for the problem that we're looking for. What is an astrological astronomical? I've done astronomical. Astronomical.

Pisces in retrograde. The astronomical unit problem. But don't worry. There's another transit of mere eight years later in seven. 1769 and also don't worry. I'm not going to go into it with as much detail. There's no seven years war to get in everyone's way for starters. That's good. Okay. And some people have already left and stayed there. Yes. So I don't have to worry about journey. Yeah, that's right.

Looking at you, Giam. Yeah, we won't need to tell you about him, but we have heard how it went for him. Not great. But yeah, the seven years war ended after seven years, nominative determinism, maybe. and it concluded with the Treaty of Paris being signed by Great Britain, France and Spain on the 10th of February 1763. The treaty heavily favoured Britain. It really set up that big, you know,

that British Empire sort of being the dominant force and Australia probably being like us speaking English, stuff like that. Apparently a lot of that was set in motion here. Yeah, the POMS gained all of France's North American territories east of the Mississippi plus Canada. It's also why America speaks English mainly, as well as nearly all of France's trading ports in India. They're allowed to keep some, as we heard last week, like Pondicherry,

as long as they didn't fortify them. Britain also received Spanish Florida and Spanish Louisiana, west of the Mississippi in exchange for returning Havana and Manila to Spain. Yeah, but I'm so pumped to go to Montreal. just for the, just like it's such an interesting city that all that history is so deep, like it's so on the surface here as well. I assume, having never been there, just the fact that it's French speaking, I guess. I've extrapolated a little from there.

There was also the Treaty of Hubbetsburg, I'm sure that's how it's pronounced, which was signed five days later between Austria, Prussia and Saxony. And this agreement basically restored pre-war borders in central Europe. So what? Once again, war proved that sometimes nothing changes. Yeah. It's just good to have something to do for seven years. Let's fight for seven years and then put it back the way it was.

Got everything back where it was, please. All right, let's briefly go through some stories from the 1769 transit. And, yeah, I'm keeping this shorter by referring more to Podgi's lecture than Wolf's book. So, firstly, old mate Jean-Baptis Shabdorot de Rolsch. Shappy, as we called him. Shappy's back, we heard of him. Had him? Know this guy?

Yeah. Love the Shab. Yeah. Love the Shab. He was the Siberian ice. Yes. Measuring scurts. Got some measurements, though.

Did all right, but had to be protected because people thought it was a magic man. But most of the measurements were of like a woman. And he was also the purve of, I forgot. Sorry. Most importantly. He was sent in a very different direction. this time. He was sent to Mission San Jose del Cabo on the tip of Baja, California, then a Spanish territory. His trip down and set up went smoothly and he got excellent timings on transit day.

Another good resolve for him. Two from two. Two from two. Last time everything was shit beforehand. Yeah. And then went okay on the day. This time, unfortunately, everything went well up to and including but turned a shit straight after. Things went pear shape quickly. Oh, he'd love that. A new shave. Pear shape. He's an ass man.

Yeah. Sadly, things, yeah, things went badly. Surely after the transit. Yeah, bad pear shaped, I'm afraid. Oh, I see. I guess more like a gnashy pair. Yeah. I never know what you're going to get.

So, yeah, Podgie. rights that an epidemic swept through the region straight after the transit. Shapp also trained as a physician, nursed the sick as well as he could. So he was, you know, it's a perv, but he's also doing great work. Not this can be perves. Yeah, of course. I mean, I think there's quite a few on record, but he, you know, putting his own health on the line to save lives. And sadly, that, that did come back for him because he did get the sickness as well and died only a few days later. Oh, man.

But his records were sent in. Well, this is the thing. It really was devastating the region. Roughly three quarters of all inhabitants of the tiny village died. Three quarters? And all but three of the French... His expedition died, the French Academy expedition died. Just three.

But luckily those three were able to get out with his data. Wow. But it wasn't the end of the three. Only one made it back alive with the data. So two more died on the journey back to France. A guy called Pauli, who returned in 1770 with Shep's notebooks. His name was Pauli, but ironically, he was the only one who was well. That's really good.

Oh man. If this was radio, we'd be thrown to Wicamish. Oh, that's straight to a song. Now it would have to laugh, into a song. Here's P. Here's phoom. And so he died, a lot of people died, but his data is seen to be the best made of either trans. So the data, the data.

I think both. Okay, good. And both sets of data made it out. Yeah. Oh, thank God. His dying breath was... Make sure you get the pear dada. Next up, very quick one.

Just talking about this guy because of his great name. I love it. He's an Austrian man named Father Maximilian Hell. Father Hell. Father Hell. A priest, a Jesuit priest called Father Hell. I feel like you don't want to confess to him, but you also would need to confess. Yeah, he has to turn up to church on a motorbike.

Yeah. Father hell. In German. had made something like quite innocuous, like maybe even positive light or something. So probably to them they're like, oh my God, what a beautiful, perfect name for priests.

But over here, he's a badass. Father, and his first name would be Max, Max Hell. He's like telling the altar boy to get fucked. So he's also hot as shit. He's always drinking the altar wine.

Yeah, and like the church is packed. People are like, like really, they've put on their best. He's got a quiff, you know, he's hot as shit.

He walks in like, what's up? How are you doing? Welcome to church. All right. Sorry, I'm like, or not. The women are fainting in the aisles. And I'm going to introduce you to the gospel of ACDC. What song was that?

That was supposed to be. Thunderstruck? Yeah, it was a little bit of that. Yeah, it did not sound like it. For copyright reasons, I had to change a slightly. Wow, I think you might have changed a little too much. Do you remember how it gets non-structed was all this? I thought it was the shit-to-shore theme.

But for copyright reasons, I need to change it. Let me introduce you to the gospel of ship to shore. Hermes in darkest. Real niche stuff there. One of the great TV shows. Anyway, so he's a Jesuit priest. Father Max Hell was sent to Norway to a spot that was located a couple of degrees above the Arctic Circle. and he was able to also get some good data on the transit.

Also, just a quick fun fact from Podji, Father, Father Max Hell, was also an early exponent of magnetic healing and apparently coined the term animal magnetism. Oh, of course he did. Oh, yeah. Max Helly, you fucking fox. Oh, my God. How do I describe me?

Wow. No, it's like, oh. Podgi says that a fellow Austrian, an infamous crank named Franz Anton Mesmer, Later, sort of stole the term from him. But interestingly, again, mesmer's the guy. We got the word mesmerized from. Wow.

Bit of fun there. A couple of hotties. So, yeah, that's just a quick one. But you can't skip over a guy called Father Max Hellel. No, absolutely. That's an all-time. That's incredible. All right.

Last one. I reckon you might have heard of this guy. Captain James Cook of Britain. Any relation? Yeah. Same guy. Really? to Chris Cook that I went to school with

Any relation to the footballer James Captain Cook played for maybe Fitzroy in the 90s? Podgy writes, Captain Cook set sail from Plymouth in 1768 on the HMS 1768? Okay. Yes, what did I say? He said 7068. Which one is it?

Yeah, this guy in the future. Any relation to the original cook? Because this guy's like, so many generations down the line. Yeah, his ship was a spaceship. No, his ship was the HMS Endeavour ever heard of it? The Endeavour's mission was to second navigate the globe and explore the southern Pacific Ocean. On the way, they were to put in at the South Pacific Island of Tahiti to observe the transit of Venus. On board, the Endeavour was a team of scientists, including the naturalist Joseph Banks,

maybe most famously known here for his Banksia plants, or actually just for his... No, the buildings that keep money. Yeah, the big four. They were also one of his. And there was also an astronomer named Charles Green. After more than seven months at sea, they dropped anchor at Matavia Bay on the island of Tahiti. The expedition astronomers, with help from a detachment of Royal Marines, set up an observatory on a high point of ground above the bay,

still known to this day as Point Venus. And they settled down there to prepare for the transit. His whole crew apparently spent a lot of their time, exchanging nails for sex with locals. Anyway, Podji goes into that in more detail than I will. Yeah, weird. Okay, so Podji continues. Green and his companions, including Captain Cook,

got excellent transit timings. Sadly, Charles Green did not live to enjoy the fruits of his labours. He died in Batavia, modern Jakarta, on the return voyage. Cook and his crew completed their circumnavigation of the earth and reached England safely and in triumph. He became a big star. The expedition was a terrific success. They mapped a bunch of Australia, didn't they, I think, around then.

And, yeah, it established Cook's fame as a mariner and explorer. Cook's probably another guy that is maybe a topic worthy some day. He's a very divisive figure here in Australia and the Pacific Island regions, because, you know, he's like a very symbolic of white European... Colonization. But we don't only talk about good people on the show. No, that's right. Talk about a lot of really bad people.

Yeah, that's what I'm saying. And I'm thinking. And spoilers, he gets murdered by a bunch of Hawaiians. Yes. It's pretty good. And he did, like, apparently was, like, a super brilliant at the things he did. Right, yeah. And, of course, history is littered with people who are both awful in some ways and brilliant in others.

Yep. Well, the people that you remember are one of the two or both. Yes. And in, you know, a... Colonial days. If they were brilliant at something, they were probably also awful in another way. Correct.

Anyway, just because, you know, things were awful. Finally, Podji writes, the analysis of the transit data proved to be worth the great price paid by the astronomers. So the first one alone was not much worth it, but once it was added together with the second one. Because you'd be losing faith after the first time to be like, well, we've had eight years to look at it

and it means nothing. Do we go again? Like, we lost lives and stuff. That was a lot of sake. We really needed something to show for it. Podji writes, while the infamous black drop proved the limiting factor in the precision of the timing,

Hallie's plan paid off handsomely. In 1771, the French astronomer, La Lande used la la la la la la la lande. I think that's how it's pronounced. Use the combined 1761-1769 transit data to derive a distance of 150, 53 million kilometers, plus or minus one kilometer, which means the combined transit data calculated an astronomical unit

to within 1% of the modern value. Like they got it, even now with like modern technology, they're like, they were within a, yeah, they were really close. To put it more simply, the Smithsonian rights, they found a distance of about 153 million kilometers or 95 million miles, while modern radar observations, again using Venus, pin the distance down at 150 million. I think the exact one is slightly less than that,

but basically 150 million kilometres or 93 million miles. So pretty good. Yeah, they're only 2 million miles off. That's pretty good. It's all relative, isn't it? It's all relative, but it sounds funny. Two million miles. God, we're that close.

Yeah, we're nearly there. Two million miles to go. Great. I might have been finished the audiobook. Finally, just a bit of a reminder. Why was this number so important? Well, according to the Smithsonian, and the transits of the 18th century provided the yardstick, Halley's word for it,

upon which much of modern astronomy is based. The German astronomer Johannes Kepler had worked out the relative positions of the planets in 1619, but no one had made an accurate measurement of the absolute distance between the Earth and the Sun. Without understanding this fundamental distance, astronomers could not grasp the enormous size of the Sun nor start to measure the distance to the nearest stars. So yeah, figuring out this distance was a real game changer and set the groundwork for so much of... I've written astrological again.

Astronomical advancements that have come since. In conclusion, in terms of the greater good of science, I agree with Podji, it definitely made all the death and devastation worth it. Yeah. The end. Well, those people would have died anyway. Yeah. Yeah.

Come on. We're all going to die anyway. May as well be in the pursuit of science. Yeah. Just like the amount of stories within this story, I feel like this could be a podcast. You know, the podcast is stories from this. Yeah. I don't necessarily want that to be our future, but... Well, luckily, I sort of got through a lot of it. You nailed it all in one. Now, Matt, just to clarify before you get the tweets, I was thinking about astrological is the correct word you were meaning to reach for because it relates to the... I was thinking about, astrological, I think you can describe that.

And the dictionary definitions relates to the study of how the positions of celestial bodies Like the sun, moon and planets supposedly Oh no! I just didn't read the second half of the sentence. Read it now. Yeah, read it now. And IJ, leave it in. Oh my God, it's actually, it's just trailed off here.

But I reckon it can. It probably can't. I don't know. Worth it for that laugh That was beautiful Deep down from within your soul Letting something big out there While you're still murmuring yourself Dave

I'm trying to For new listeners Giving them some Previous episodes If they like today's they might like It's a good idea And I wasn't like There's so much in this one

But I picked out these five Episode 523 Hidden Figures NASA's human computers That was all about You know Advancements in Science And it's really interesting stories.

382, the Frederick Escape, if you like more, the perilous journey part of it and just the adventures on the high six. These prisoners escape Tasmania before it was called Tasmania, I think, via a ship they sort of built themselves. 220, the eruption of Mount St. Helens, I think maybe Dave or Jess told that story. And it was, yeah, it was a very intense episode. in history where a volcano went off when people were not necessarily safe. Episode 124 I mentioned this week or last about Sir Isaac Newton, Andy Matthews told us about.

And I think maybe a really good one, if you haven't listened to any other episodes, go back and listen to Episode 68, Shackleton's Endurance. Because that was somewhat of a scientific expedition. Expedition. I think they also did a lot of their navigation with stars, right? Right, yeah. It's a big part of how they were able to, in a tiny boat, travel many thousands of kilometers and, spoiler, save themselves. Oh, great.

No, I don't have to listen to that one. You don't have to worry about it. I mean, I'm sure you remember that episode very much. I remember very well. I read a book recently that was about, like, I've already forgotten it was another sort of lost expedition. I was like, this would be a good topic. We've done it. Oh, is it the one where the cans had lead in them?

I don't know. It doesn't matter That's not ringing out That many bells for me I don't know That was really mysterious Why they all died And then they reckon

Now that maybe it was Like poisoned from the food tins Is that not ringing any bells? Yeah that's sounding Is it arctic Or something? Something I don't know

See, this is a book I really enjoyed very recently And do you remember the name of it? Well yeah But it was a fiction Oh okay Yeah Was it about like a big bosomed woman

And a Yeah And like a ship pan Yeah Ironically with only one hand And the other had a hook But my God What he could do with it

Anyway Great story Maddie Great story I can't believe that All those people came together For like a pretty crazy endeavour really To go all the way across And they obviously believed in the mission

So much that they would risk their lives Yes which I think is A lot of that goes down to Hallie and Delisle For You know just spreading the men and getting people into the idea. Yeah. And yeah, I should say if anyone wants to see the next one, yeah, I think it's about 100

years from now. Oh, great. Pop it in the calendar. Oh, great. If you listen to this in utero, you might make it. You might? Yeah, with advances in science. Yeah, we're living longer and longer.

Yeah. I'll be observing it from my position inside a glass jar. Just point the jar on the right direction. Yeah, so I guess that brings us to everyone's favorite section of the show. Well, that brings us to everyone's favorite section of the show, Dave. Is that fair to say? I'd absolutely agree with that. And the people at home on Patreon who were watching the video may notice that our faces have disappeared.

Unfortunately, we've had to move to the second studio for just this end part of the podcast. There's no cameras in here. So unfortunately, there's no video. But the video will be back next week. Will it? Well, no, I might be a live episode next week. But anyway, it'll be back. Back soon.

No, no, we've already recorded next week. I know what it is. Oh, yeah, great. Yes. That is back next week. That's definitely back next week. So enjoy our logo for the next little bit. So the first thing we like to do in this section of the show is, well, I mean, the whole part of the show is all about thanking our great supporters.

If you want to be one of them, sign up at patreon.com slash do you go on pod. And if you're, I mean, Dave, do you want to quickly run down some of the things they can get involved in there? Well, the first part is that keeping the show alive and action. That's the first thing you do. That's number one. Number one. Number two, you'll be getting something back for yourself, including four bonus episodes a month.

There's over 320 in the back catalogue now, and every week we add an extra one. You can also be part of the Facebook group, vote on topics. You get to hear about live shows before anyone else. I get discount codes. And also, you get maybe shouted out on an episode. It's coming off in a second, but also you could possibly be part of the fact quote or question section

if you're on the Sydney-Shanberg deluxe memorial package. And if I may be so bold, I think it may have a little jingle that sounds something like this. Fact quote or question. Ding. Dong. He always remembers the dong. And they both always remember the song. He remembers the dong.

Okay. Now, the way this works is if you're on the Sydney-Sharmberg, we get to give us a fact-quoted question or bragger or suggestions or really would have you like. And then I'll read them out. I don't read them out until I read them out. So that's just to excuse me for any sort of fumbles on pronunciations or if they've written something crook. If it's still in the editor afterwards, that's because AJ the editor deemed it okay. I've got to say, we haven't had crook things said, have we?

No. Which is nice. And it's certainly not a challenge for you to rise to. True. That is not, I did not think that through when I said that. The first one this week comes from Matthew Whittingham. And you also get to give yourself a title. And Matthew's title is Head of Marketing.

comma apparently. Okay. We're doing a pretty good job. Yeah. Some people know about us. So Matthew's giving us a quote this week writing, Given I'm dying and have just the one pen, let's motor through the pleasantries.

My name is Ernest Cunningham. This is the first sentence of the new novel, Everyone in the Bank is a thief, which was revealed on the day I'm submitting this. And one month before the book's release in Australia, by the time you're reading this, it's probably already out, as I've been meaning to submit these books as a recommendation for a while. So this has given me the push to actually do it.

Written by Australian author and one half of the comedy duo, The Stevenson Experience, Benjamin Stevenson. I know those guys. Ernest Cunningham series, everyone in my family has killed someone. Everyone on this train is a suspect and everyone this Christmas has a secret. A fair play murder mysteries in the same vein as Agatha Christie, but set in modern day Australia.

The detective character makes his living selling style guides for murder mystery novels, which informs the way the story is told and how he solves the mysteries. The books are carefully constructed, darkly humorous and extremely fun to read. I highly recommend the series to all of you and anyone listening. Also, Stevenson might make a good guess for book cheat. Great. I did a couple of gigs for those guys back in the day, and those team isn't experienced. Yeah, they're twins, and it's like,

That sort of, you know, a bit of back and forth. Back and forth. Back and forth with music. What do you, well, yeah, you would say that, you loser. I'm not the loser you are, that sort of stuff. That kind of thing. I can't think of any specific. Similar to our schick.

Yeah. You loser. I'm not the loser, you bitch. Yeah, it's actually been amazing to see that he's, uh, Benjamin Stevens and has this, like, amazing career as a right. Did you know about it? Did not know about it? I didn't know.

That's so cool. I was selling over two million copies. Wow. Google. Incredible stuff. They sound really fun. Really impressive. And you were aware? Yeah.

Yeah. Which one to say is he the likable one or the asshole? I don't know. I don't really know. I'm sorry. A bit of fun there though to think that identical twins would have such different personalities. We all know they're the same. They're exactly the same.

And they're freaks. Or medical marvels. I can't remember what I said. That sounds so far up my alley, though. Yeah. Great chat for a book cheat. Yes. That's a good one.

on things. Thank you so much, Matthew Whittingham, who's, I've made a bunch of times. Yeah. It comes to the Brisbane shows and he is from Grafton or something, wherever the, there's a certain tree festival. Anyway, he gave me a hat. Jackaranda. That's right. I think it's the same town as Zoe Coombs-Miles from, maybe.

Anyway, thank you so much, Matthew Whittingham. Looking at up, Jackaranda Festival. Grafton. Grafton. What did I say? You said grafted. Okay, great. He's already forgotten he was correct.

I'm not doing well. Given I'm dying and have just run back. That's a great opening line. It's got real classic book cheat vibes about it. Yes, because you love to read the first line. Yeah, that's what gets me in. And then he doesn't read the rest. Dave's just rich in the rest.

The last line as well. Oh, true. First and last. First and last. Then I make up the rest. It should be called bookend podcast. Oh, that's much better. It is much better.

Books are bookend. That's much worse. Yeah. Okay. But I like worse. I'm going with it. Dave's already just emailing Stevenson. Yeah, money.

It's so cool. It's so cool. The next one comes from Kevin West, whose title is conniving little shit who doesn't answer his own question. Oh. Okay. Now, Kevin's written a question.

Be nicer to yourself, Kevin. Kevin writes, a friend of mine was a few days out from a trip to Hawaii, when a normal, normal, I'm losing it, normal dog sitter had to pull out due to an emergency. She almost had to cancel her own trip, but at the last minute, through a friend of a friend, she found someone who could stay at her house and watch her two pups for the week she was gone. Upon her return, she was thrilled to find that not only were a dog's happy and well looked after, but her house had been spotlessly cleaned.

When she first went into her bedroom, however, she practically jumped out of her skin at the sight of something furry slightly visible under her bed. Had one of her dogs caught a rat or a squirrel? She got the broom and tapped on the furry object. It didn't move. She slowly swept it out from under the bed to her horror. It was a long fluffy tail attached to a stainless steel butt plug.

Oh! My question to you is... I did not see that coming. Who watches your pets while you? you're away. Pet sitters. Oh my God. Does that make you?

What are they sitting on though? That is a good question. Yeah, Martin. Humphrey's off to the grandparents when we go away. Yeah. Off to my mum and dad usually because they're the Melbourne-based ones. But what, so Jess, does that scare you? When this comes out, I'm overseas.

Right. So there's a butt plug. There are pet sitters in my house. Butt plugs being used to run now. But butt plugs in my house. Well, there always are, but different. months being used. No, I mean, I'm like, you do you, whatever, I don't care.

Well, that's someone who's never used a butt plug. Do you need to have something attached like a tail to it in case it goes in so you can retrieve it, like pull out? Is it a safety device? I have no idea. I couldn't tell, I couldn't say. I mean, I also don't know, but I think in that case it's also part of like a furry play. But they've dressed up a safety device as something. Yes.

Some people might have a dragon tail or whatever. Yeah, that's not where tails come out, though. It's above the butt, really, isn't it? Yeah. I'm actually... But they cleaned the apartment. That's nice. Which doesn't that make it sound like they've left that to be found?

Like if you've cleaned that thoroughly. Or they've cleaned the apartment because they were having crazy sex in every room. And needed to be cleaned. Yeah. Which obviously, like you say... You do you. You do you. Clean my apartment.

Yeah. Thank you. I bought plugs for sex. Like, or they just like a thing just like a fashion thing. And it's just a convenient spot to sort of have a tail. Have it attached. Even if it's obviously not accurate. Because otherwise you've got to use adhesives and stuff.

But you've got a little... Yeah. What is the ass if not an adhesive? Yeah. An adhesive. Square peg and a round hole sort of thing. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

For fun. Mm. You know, suction. Interesting. It brings up a lot of questions. When we last had a pet sitist come and stay, um, we arrived home and she'd stripped the bed. Like, she'd taken sheets.

that she was using off the bed, but she'd, like, made the bed for us because we were getting home late after 12 hours of driving from Sydney, and she was like, oh, you'll be tired. I'll put fresh sheets on the bed for you. That's a nice touch. That's very nice.

It's very nice. This is an nice touch. Especially when they're, like, because of all the butt plug stains on the bed. Yeah, that's fine. Like, are you wondering what she's covering for? No, I just thought that was nice, but now I'm thinking about it.

Thank you, Kevin. You didn't answer your question. You caniving little shit. But we'll move on the next one. From Kayla Dice slash Macquarie, open bracket, ratwave, closed bracket. Okay. With the title, none of that was the title, the title being amateur juggler of last names. That makes sense.

I see. Also asking a question writing, hi, hey, hello. Hi, hey, hello. Back to you. I have a question inspired by a previous question. On an episode this year, you're asked, if you could see a film for the first time, what would it be? I can't remember whose question it was. Sorry.

We can't remember our answers either. That helps. This made me wonder, is there a film or album or book or whatever that you wish you could have seen for the first time at a different age? Oh. I'm not sure I've explained that well. I'll answer my own question and that might help. I first saw The Labyrinth, the Jim Henson, David Bowie film as an adult. I think I'd seen it when I was a child.

It would have been the main film I was obsessed with growing up. On the other side, I saw before sunrise and before sunset when I was only 17. and I really love them but kind of wish I'd held off until I was the age the characters were. Loving the show. And then there's another paragraph. Wait, I feel like I should explain my name because Patreon now shows my created page name. So Macquarie is my real last name and I performed stand-up under it. I used Dice as a pseudonym when I started writing RPGs because I was a teacher at the time and I wanted a name they couldn't find.

And I was doing less comedy then. Now I'm not a teacher, but I'm stuck with the name for RPGs because I did so much under it. And I've also decided to try going back to comedy. And so I'm using my real last name as well again, but I don't have the energy to manage separate accounts. So all of my names and things are in one place. Rat Wave is the label for games. Sorry for the life story. Cool.

It's so funny that Dice. Dice. I think of Dice. I think of Andrew Dice Clay. Yeah. But that's not the comedy name. I think of RPGs. That's the RPG name.

Oh, yeah. Big in the RPG world. Yeah. I wonder if, I wonder if Kayla's comedy is dice clay-esque. Hickory dickory dock. Some chick was sucking my, etc. But it is a bit of fun. She was sucking your etc.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, that's what I call it. Good get. Et cetera, et cetera. Extramity, et, yada, yada. Lower, lower. I've got an answer for this. Yes.

From the last few months, Jess, I had you and Cameron James on bookchete. The clock struck to a drop my goo. He does a full, I've never seen. He's the kind of guy that I see, I know the image of what it looks like. I've never seen any bits. Yeah, I listen to one of his albums a lot in high school. I have no idea who this is. Sounds terrible.

You had me and Cameron James on a book sheet. Is that right? I know. We did On the Road. No. I was not available, I think. Oh, who was that? You did ask.

I did on the road in uni, in uni. I had Irvie. Hervey. She was fantastic. She was the first time. Oh, yes, I listened to some. Oh, yes. She studied creative writing at uni, so brought a great perspective and also about, like,

thinking about your art. Anyway. But then maybe the week after I had you just. But on the road was Cameron James' favorite book. Like as a teen really influenced him. I read it for the first time at 35, and I was like, if I'd read this when I was 18, I would have been like, this guy's cool as shit. But now I'm like, what a goddamn looser?

And it was actually a really tough read in parts. Because I was like, just get it together, man. I read it 18. And you liked it? Yeah, I liked it enough. I can't remember much of it. It was like a stream of consciousness sort of thing, right? Yeah, and it's just like one story about it.

And then I did this. And then I did this. And it's like, yeah, no one has any cares or responsibilities. Yeah. Yeah. So I would have loved it as a teen, I reckon. and even, yeah, it was interesting to hear Cam's perspective, like, looking back on it, looking back on it too. And he's probably similar.

Probably doesn't, wouldn't love it now if you read it for the first time, but it has great memories for him. So I was a bit like, ah, I wish I'd got to this younger. That comes up a lot, doesn't it, with like the nostalgia element, like the movies I loved as a kid, if I watched them now for the first time, I'd be like, ugh. I'd hate Wayne's world now, I think. Really? Yeah, I think so. Showing. I'd be like, this is dumb, but I love it because I watch it.

watched it so much as a kid. I can't think of an example of something I like, I go, oh, I wish I'd watched this at another time. I do remember, I think I'd seen parts or most of Jurassic Park as a kid and was like, too scary. Or I think I'd, I'd seen little bits and gone, I don't want to watch that because I don't like to be scared. And then I saw Jurassic Park in full, like, in the last 10 years for the first time, like properly. And when, this movie fucking rules. I loved it so much. And I was Like, why have I never watched dressing? No, I've seen all of them. Like, I love them.

As a clever girl, you do, it makes sense to me that you'd be into it. I ask you to call me that, but not on the pod. Because on the pod, people think you and I are always, like, kind of swiping at each other. Do you know what I mean? We have that kind of on pod episode. But yeah, I shouldn't be so positive to you. Yeah, don't be so cutesy. Yeah, yeah.

On pod. It'll ruin the reveal that you call me clever girl. Who's my clever girl? Coffee for the clever girl. It tiggles my belly. Yeah. Hey. Do you have an answer for that question,

maybe it's a good question. I do you have an answer for that question. It's a tough one without notice. Yeah. Yeah, I'm not sure. I mean, in a bonus episode we recorded just before I was saying how I didn't watch Top Gun Till as an adult. Yeah.

I thought it sucked. Yeah. Or I didn't, you know, whatever. I didn't enjoy it. And I probably, if I watched it younger, I might have. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, there's probably movies like that,

but I'm also not that upset that I don't, you know. Yeah. I'm happy to not. And I don't need that. I don't need that. War propaganda movie to be a favorite necessarily. Yeah, yeah. But there's probably, there must be heaps.

Yeah, there would be. You know, there's movies I tried to watch when I was younger that, I think I probably should be trying again now. Like Citizen Kane, I remember just falling a season. I try to watch in my early 20s. I watched Blair Witch Project too young. I wish I'd, well, I wish I'd never watched it, let alone, but probably as an adult. It would be now, probably.

True. Well, it would be now probably. Yeah, it wasn't there and it was just scary. Just terror. Yeah. I never saw that. But yes, I did, I read that recently. Interesting more than enjoyable.

The Blair Witch Project made a lot of people feel motion sickness. I just think that would be. Oh, particularly in a cinema? Yeah. Too big. Yeah, it's just the handicam. Yeah, what is this? What is this, the second Jason Bourne movie?

But that's a really good question. Great question. Thank you so much, Caller Dice slash Macquarie brackets, rat wave. Now, the next thing we like to do is shout out to some of our more recent supporters on the shoutout level or above. Jess normally comes up with a game. What do you think in this week? That's true. That's true.

Last week, I think we sent them to where they'd maybe view the transit or something like that. Maybe now, what about something else? What are you viewing it, something else crossing the sun? Yeah, what's crossing the sun that you're watching? All right, you two do the names and things. I'll just say an object. Okay. Oh, great, fantastic.

Because I love that you set that challenge for yourself. Yeah, no, because I said it, I'm like, this is too hard for you two guys. It needs a bigger brain. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So just go one for one here, yes? I'll kick it off, if you like. From, if you like. Yeah.

Okay. My pause was content Well, it's just good to double check Yeah, no, thank you. From Allermont in New York, it's, would we say Cirissa C? Carissa C. Cic C, I think we'd also say,

Altamont. What did I say? Alamont, but that's okay. I might zoom in, because that's very small font for me. Altamont in New York, Carissa or Sarissa C. All right, what are we thinking about? Sarissa C. Traveling and viewing what cross the sky.

Sputnik. Oh, wow. Wow. Cross the sun. Cross the sun. It's still up there. Shputnik. Sputnik.

Wow. Yeah. Next. Next up from... Thank you so much to Sarissa. Thank you so much. From Coralville in Iowa. Oh, my God.

It's Emily Hignite. Don't think of Coral when I think of Iowa, but more cobble, cobs, corn. Emily Hignite. Okay. Yes, so far. from the ocean. Higgs boson, aka the gods particle,

I think. Oh, geez, watch that go past. Yeah, it's very, you really need quite a powerful.

Wow. What did this? It escaped the Hadron Collider and is now floating through the ether. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You guys are nerds. I didn't know what any of that was. Super busy. Well, you got to have a Nick Cave song, basically. You got a Higgs Bosen Blues by Nick Cave in the bed seats.

Is that the one that talks about Hannah Montana? Montana crosses the African Savannah. I was like, that's peak. That's good stuff. Yeah, that was the one that you were like, when you hadn't really, you were still like, this guy's silly.

That was one of the ones who are like, this proves our silly this fellow is. He's silly. I like, it's a pretty good song, though. I love that song, love that album. But I think that that is just such a fun. I think it was because they show the recording of any one of the docos about him. And he's just, he's delivering it so seriously. And he's like, that's so funny.

It was like a parody of himself. Okay. Incredible stuff. from Augusta in, I want to say Maryland. I think it's Maine. I've just looked it up here's Maine. Augusta in Maine. Excuse me.

It's James Tyner. Oh, James Tyna sees Augustus Gloop. Oh, crossing the sun. Flying across, yeah. Come back, Augustus. He's like so full of chocolate. Is that him? Is he the one?

Yeah, he's the one. Augusta, saves up for later. He gets so full that he's pierced, you know, on like a balloon, losing its air. Yep. Those kids have brutal deaths. They don't die. Don't they?

No, the oompa's look after them. They're all fine. They're all fine. They're all fine. We don't see them again at the end of the movie, but they're all fine. Next up from Bristol in Pennsylvania. Thank you to Stash or Stash. It's like you spell at the end of mustache.

Stash. Stash sees Slash's guitar flying across the sun. You know when sometimes like rock stars will throw their guitar to a roadie? Yeah. When they want to change of the guitar. He threw it out of orbit. Wow. So slash it over there.

And the road is like, and it's arcing across the sun. The roadies like, oh, here it comes. Any second now. All right. It's getting gloves ready. It's going back with that sort of red. You know, that's going through the atmosphere.

It's like heating up. It's burning up. Unfortunately, it's a flying V and it's absolutely going to pier someone. Yeah. That roadie has been exploded. Okay, this is going better than I thought. Me too, I'm loving it. From Fresno in California, it's Jesus.

Again, I've got this font too small. Villa Senor. Oh, Jesus. Yeah, it was an excellent than me, Villa seigneur. Jesus is witnessing the second coming of Jesus. Oh, wow. Via the sun. So it's a much slower transit,

and it's rather than, you know, from west to east, it's going north to south as he's sort of lowering himself, Mary Poppins top. Wow. With a big, you know, Christian umbrella. That's cool. Yeah. Next up from a location that is unknown to us, which means they're probably listening right now in the fortress of the moles. And hello and thank you to Luke, so it's difficult for them to see, but there's probably a gap to see. Oh, yeah.

It's Luke J. Wood. Luke J. Wood. Luke J. Wood. I've met a Luke Wood before. I think Dave, you and I and him and a few others had ice cream and beers after our first Perth show, if I'm thinking of the right guy. Great night out. And he was a big Eagles fan.

So, I mean, whether or not it's the same Luke Wood. Either way, it is a beautiful Australian eagle. Oh. I don't know what they're actually told. West Coast Eagles, not the Eagles. Oh, yeah. Oh, no. Or is it cousins back on a meth bender?

Bend cousins across the sun. This is back in the day when he was still. He really sent himself out into the university. He was avoiding a hair test. But you remember he like he jumped out of his car once when he saw a breathalerze or something. And he swam across a lake to a restaurant to avoid getting a drug test. He's like, what?

And then the next thing you knew he'd shaved his head. so they couldn't do a hair test. Bill, there's the idea of them approaching him sopping wet at a restaurant. Yeah, what? What? What? What?

What? Just waiting for a palmer. What? Yeah, it's real. Just waiting for a pape. What? It's the whole time. It's so funny.

I've been soaked the whole time. Yeah. I've been sopping wet the whole time. Ask the waiter. Ask the waiter. That's no big deal. Whatever. He said, Steelers spark for me.

I said, well, I'm already wet, man. No, no, I'm good. Next up from Rancuncoma. In New York, it's Peeps. It's Peeps, Peeps, Peepers, Peep, it's Peep, Peep, Seas is Kermit the Frog. Oh, okay, good one. Why are there so many? He's following a rainbow to the other side.

Nice. Of the sun. Yeah. That's cool. Yeah, really cool. Actually, really cool. Actually, really cool. Next up from Kusan Koski in Finland.

Great to have you listening all the way over there. Olly tea. Olly tea. Olly T. I sees an Earl Grey tea bag. Yeah. like a really posh a person, like the poshest person you can think of,

is dipping a tea bag violently. They're really, in an uncouth way, just honestly, they've lost their mind. And on the dip down, it splashes so much. The hand gets hit by some of the hot water. So they fling it instinctively, straight out of the orbit,

arcing across the face of the sun. Yeah. And yeah, luckily, the OLL-T as they're to witness it and tracks it and is able to extrapolate that down. Right, and they'll help us with the astronomical unit. Secrets of the universe, yeah. Yeah, great. Thanks, Olly T. in Finland.

Huge. And finally, from Dun Craig in Western Australia. Or Dun Craig for the Americans. Dun Craig. But, yeah, that's why I double-checked the W-A was Australian. It was Washington. It's Craig. Yeah, yeah.

Dun- Craig, it's Rachel Titmiss. Oh, Rachel Titmeth. saw a busty mouse Now where does he get his idea? A musty mouse. You pre-write all of these. I pre-write all of these. Far out, he's good.

If you think, if you can see any sort of correlation to anything else. That means you're twisted. Yeah. You're sick. Yeah, just a really bodacious. Is that what that means? Absolutely. Bazungas.

Bodacious bozungers. Borsatious bozongas. New nickname of the chasmus. Like this mouth has a back issue. But yeah, they weren't that, and they're not natties. No. They're not fat natties. And that's fine.

As Jess. Is that a choice? Michelle coined that term. Fat naturals. But she said it so often. Much like the, I wasn't on that episode, but I still hear it referenced. And then, you know, like that scientist would put an ear on a mouse's back once? Yeah.

Yeah, it's like that. And there's a really horny scientist put fat natties, no, fat unnatties onto a mouse. What? It's science. It's for science. And then catapulted it into the sky just to see what would happen. And Rachel, yeah, tracked that. Well on, Rachel.

From St. Elena. Yeah. So thank you so much to Dave. You want to go back through these names? We've got Rachel, Ollie, Peeps, Luke, Hazus, Stash, James, Emily and Sirissa. Now, the final thing we need to do is welcome some people in the Tripitch Club. This is for our great Patreon supporters on the shout-out level. or above who've been signed up for three straight years.

We also have now amazingly a triple triptage club for those who have been signed up for nine straight years. No inductees into that special club this week, but we do have a bunch into the triptych club, which is a bit of a theatre of the mind thing. It's whatever the club, you know, however you picture it, I personally pictured it as like the kind of bar that Frank Sinatra might have sang in. A lot of velvet people like with whiskeys and tumble. or whatever, or whiskey glasses probably. And, yeah, Jess is behind the bar.

She's calling everyone Tuts and stuff like that. Yeah. And also, in a hot way. Yeah. Did you come up with a transit of Venus cocktail? Oh, I've got a food special this week. Yeah, great. What's that?

It's like a chakudery board type thing, but it's called the Venus board. Yeah. And so, like, every letter of Venus that I've got food. Veal. Veal. Elephant. Egg. Egg, sorry.

Nuggets read that. Nuggets. Nugget, nutnuggets. Urchin. And snacks. Snacks, yeah, various snacks. It's good. It's clever to have something like that because you can just chuck in whatever pretzels or whatever I got.

Yeah, I chuck in pretzels or like, uh, or just some crumbs. You really, you actually thought it was spelled VIN up and you had all these P things for ready. Yeah. It's a bit likely you thought quick and you went, all right, I could just go on. I'll re-badge of snacks. Yep. And Dave, you normally book a band for the after party.

You are never going to believe for. I'm your VN up. Sign the pre-nup, bean up. Well, they are open to editing their classics because banana-rama aren't you? No way. They're going to be singing VIN-Up. Oh, that's great. They're actually doing a special warm-up show for us.

I've just looked up in August they're doing a show in Essex where it's them, the Cizzer Sisters and also the TV presenter, fashion consultant, Gok Juan. Oh, great. What's Gok to? Who's Gokwarn? You should be on that show. how to look good naked. Oh, I like Gok.

I tell you what, I could use a class or two. Well, I don't think so. Maybe hosting. Yeah. Oh, that's fantastic. I get along 6th of August. It's his or sister sister. I'm keen on that.

I'd go to that show. Special guest, Bonarama and Gok Juan. So good. Well, I'm very excited for that. Now, hang around for the after party, all these inductees. And everyone who's already in, which is, we're up over 1,100 people now, which is wild. And once you join, you can ever leave. But why would you want to this place?

Place is absolute heaven on earth. We have anything here. What do you need? Why are you trying to leave? What do you need? It's got everything. I've got it. Whatever you just said then?

Just got it. No problem. And if she doesn't got it, she'll get it. Relax. I got it for you. She'll say, don't know. I got it. Now I'm on the door.

I'm going to read some names. When you hear your name, jog on in, Dave's on the stage. He's going to hype up the crowd. 1,100 people chanting your name. Oh, that's so good. It's electric. First week, it was difficult. Yeah.

It was exclusive. It was just the three of us were chanting your name. Now you've got 1100 people. So, no. There's a great vibe. And then obviously, Bananaama playing later. And let's say, should we say that Gokwan is also introducing them? Yeah.

He's warming up his bit too. Yeah, yeah, Gok one, Gok one. Check, check Gok one. That's really good. That's really good. Check Gok one. While you're going, I don't know. He's going, that's really good.

Check Gok one. Come on. You can't write this stuff. And why would you? Why would you? You'd never put that down. I'd never put my name after that. Like, God, no.

All right, so we've got a bunch of inductees. Are you ready, Dave? I'm so ready for these people up with a bit of a weak wordplay. Come on. And Jess, you're there to support Dave. I've got him. Do not embarrass me in front of Gok. I've got the tiny tush in my tiny hands.

All right. Which is great for Dave. It makes him feel like he's got a big butt. It makes me feel like I've got a normal butt. Yeah, like he's got a fat mat. All right. So, are we ready? Yeah.

All right, I'm so excited to welcome these people into the Triptitch Club from Derby or probably Derby because it's in Kansas in the United States, I think. Please welcome into the club, Emily Gilhahn or Gilhane. I was Gillyhan. Gillyhan. I was going to say, Emily, give me some ham. And then reach for a high five. That's good stuff, yes. Give me some skin.

And Emily's not an island. Gillyhan's island. Is that anything? From, sorry about that. Sorry, Jess, sorry, Dave. From Fredericton in NB. Nebraska? But it's in Canada.

Oh, not Nebraska. New Brunswick. New Brunswick. Hey, we're an old Brunswick. No, I think our Brunswick. Shut up. Shut up. From Frederikton.

Hopefully we'll see you soon in Canada. Please welcome into the club. Mikey Colborne. I'm so glad you were Marky Colborn. Yes. You're not dead. Also from Canada, from Vancouver. Hoover and BC in Canada.

Jesus. We're really trying to get Canada in this episode. Welcome in Zach Tillapal. More like Zach Thrillipole. From Barmira in South Australia. Welcome in Lauren Van Dyck. I'm feeling Lauren Van Scyke. Yeah.

Say how to dick for us. From Cambridge in Cambridge, she here in Great Britain. And welcome in Tim Wright. Hey. Don't want to be, don't want to be Tim wrong. Yeah, that's what I was going to say. Shut the fuck up.

Let me think of something different now. Shut up. Matt, shut up. Dave, you got that. Let him cook. Come on, Dave. Yeah, my goodness. Do you want me to do this one?

What about, let me, what about it? Tim Wright. I'm so glad that Mr. Wright has finally come along. Yeah. Woo, woo, woo, from. Fuck you, Matt. Skelmersdale in maybe Lancaster, in Lan, anyway, in Great Britain. It's Rowan D.

Rowan D. Throwing the tea. Throwing the tea. Throwing the tea. Whip. Whipo. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

From, oh, address and I can only shame from deep within the fortress of the malls. Please welcome in Aylcliffe. Maybe Alex Cliff, but names written as Ayl Cliff. I'll drink to that. Yeah. Chit gin. Big beer. Really big beer.

No, I get it. Thank you. It was very clear. From Johnson City, real sausage fest there in Tennessee and the United States. Welcome. Jordan de Jong. Oh my God, that is a great day. Jordan de Jong.

Oh my God. You know what, Jordan. Ain't Jordan de wrong. Woo! Jordan de right. And finally, from Seattle, baby, I hear the blues of call. In Washington and the United States, welcome in. Oh, my God.

Pope Brack. Pope Brack. Oh, my goodness. Oh, man. sexual active question mark there's no pope welcome into de clurb pope jordan ael rowan tim lawrence zack markian and emily like i say there's no one in the triple triptage club this week

so that brings us to the end of the episode just is there anything we need to tell people before we go that we love them so much that we thank them from from listening and if you would like to suggest a topic we would love to hear from you there's a link in the show notes you can also go to our website which is do Go onpod.com and you can find us on social media at do go on pod or do go on podcast on Tiki-toki. Tiki-toki, Ricky-T-Dee. Dave, Buda's home.

Hey, we'll be back next week with another episode. But until then, I will say thank you so much for listening and goodbye. Later. Bye. Don't forget to sign up to our tour mailing list so we know where in the world you are and we can come and tell you when we're coming there. Wherever we go, we always hear six months later, oh, you should come to Manchester. We were just in Manchester.

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