Don't Look Now

The Voynich Manuscript is a roughly 240 page hand written and illustrated manuscript that appears to be from the early renaissance which appears to be filled with information about plants, biology, astronomy, and other subjects but has proven completely impossible to decipher.  Originally purchased by Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph II, it has been eluding the best cryptographers ever since.  Will someone ever crack the code, or is the manuscript possibly just a giant nonsensical joke?  Take a listen and see what you think.

In 2016 the Tromp family living on a farm near Melbourne, Australia appeared to suffer a group delusion and went on an impromptu family road trip.  The disappeared suddenly, leaving behind, money, vehicles with keys still in the ignition, and many other strange things.  Within a few days all were located.  Some had left the group and tried to make it home, others seemed to exhibit strange paranoid behavior and were hospitalized.  None of them know why they left home or why they suddenly feared for their lives.  

When you think of Western philosophy, science, and thought, almost everything traces back to the philosophers of ancient Greece.  Take a listen as we discuss Socrates and friends.

Today's episode is about the history of automobile safety.  From improvements in roads and signage, to improvements in driver training, to improvements in crash survivability, we recount the long (sadly slow) march of progress from the days of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride to the modern roadway.

The Third Man Syndrome or Third Man Factor is a phenomenon wherein a person in extreme duress will suddenly feel the presence of another that helps guide them through the ordeal.  Is this an example of a common mental disassociation that occurs under extreme stress or some sort of guardian angel or other paranormal event?  Take a listen and see what you think.

In 1970 a the remains of a woman were found in the Isdal valley near Bergen, Norway.  She was burned over the front of her body and unrecognizable and strangely all of the tags on her clothing were removed as well as any other identifying marks on any personal items.  Police have speculated about her identity for over 50 years, slowly piecing together strange facts that lead many to think she was a spy.  The investigation into her identity has recently been reopened using modern technology that has yielded some new clues, but the mystery remains.

 

Charles Babbage was a 19th century inventor and polymath who is most famous for inventing the programmable digital computer in a purely mechanical as opposed to electrical form.  He was joined by Ada Lovelace, daughter of Lord Byron, who was an early visionary with ideas about the application of computers beyond mere calculation.

Gather your pocket full of posies and plague doctor's mask, it's time to discuss the Black Death.  The bubonic plague struck Europe in the 1340s and resulted in one of he most devastating pandemics in human history.  We discuss a bit about the disease itself, the history of the pandemic, how it lead to the Renaissance and the fall of Feudalism, and how it is still with us today, virtually unchanged.

King Tutankhamun or King Tut is probably the most well known Egyptian pharaoh due to his unspoiled tomb being found and unsealed by Howard Carter in 1923.  Learn a bit about his life, when he reigned, what ailments he suffered from (hint, Royal Incest was def. a thing), and how his tomb was discovered and opened over 3000 years after his death.  Is there really anything to the supposed Curse of Tutankhamun? 

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson was an Oxford mathematician and photographer with a knack for telling stories and entertaining the children of his friends.  At the request of Alice Liddell he wrote down the stories he told of her imaginary adventures underground, and the work became famous as Alice's Adventures in Wonderland with Dodgson adopting the pseudonym Lewis Carroll.  Come learn the history behind his adventures of Alice, his active hobby of photography, and how changing social norms resulted in a general smearing of his name in the 20th century.