Notes: Episode 49, Conspiracy Theories (Part 1)

As with every show, I’ll list any corrections or clarifications here. If there’s anything I’ve overlooked, please contact me by email or in the comments and I’ll edit the notes to reflect the new information.

 

10:43 – “Millennialism” is correct as I present it here. What was throwing me off here is something “millenarianism”, which is a less specific belief that there will be societal upheaval of some sort every 1,000 years, and of which millennialism is a specific type. I just got a bit tripped up on which one I wanted.

12:46 – The Charlemagne episode can be found here.

25:46 – Easter fell on March 23rd in 2008, though I thought it was more recent than that; however, I was also incorrect about it being the earliest possible date for Easter. If the full moon falls on the same date as the equinox and it happens to be a Saturday, the next day – March 22nd – can be Easter. That hasn’t happened since 1818, though, and won’t again until 2285. The latest possible date is April 25th. I should also note that I neglected to mention that the computation doesn’t use the astronomical full moon, but rather one calculated from a lunar calendar based on but independent from the Hebrew calendar kept for the express purpose of determining the date of Easter. If you’re interested in this convoluted and arcane process, this is a good place to start.

44:14 – Here’s a link to a video of Buzz Aldrin punching a guy for saying that the moon landings were fake.

46:48 – And that woman’s name, which I embarrassingly could not recall while recording, is Katherine Johnson. As of this recording, she’s actually still alive at 97 years old. It’s a little ridiculous how little recognition she’s been given for her work in science and mathematics, given her importance to NASA’s early achievements.

48:34 – It was actually Pete Conrad of Apollo 12 that I was thinking of, who said “Whoopie! Man, that may have been a small one for Neil, but that’s a long one for me.” He was apparently notably short, a bit of a clown, and may have made a bet to someone that he couldn’t prove the first words weren’t scripted.

48:50 – The Space Race episodes can be found here.

55:58 – Apollo 1 was a test of the Apollo capsule, not of the Saturn V rocket. It was being launched by a Saturn 1B, which was an earlier, smaller variant of the Saturn series used for LEO launches. Apollo 1, 5, and 7 used the rocket, and leftovers were used to launch Skylab components among other things.

57:08 – Nixon’s speech prepared for the possibility of Apollo 11 failing can be found here.

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