536: The Worst Year Ever

[@iforgot8376]

“At least we’re aren’t dealing with a permanent eclipse” Don’t. Jinx. It.

[@BBulletin]

Exactly my thought!

[@forsaken841]

here i am expecting the biblical apocalypse to kick off any day now

[@Greg3070]

@@forsaken841 I think we can fix most things today (except C19), but at what cost? No sun, we can make that. But who's paying for the sunlamps, electricity and generators if needed

[@bikerdude923]

Hmmm... all I hear is "powder skiing in August anyone?" I'll just ignore the skyrocketing food prices... 😅

[@applesandgrapesfordinner4626]

Yellowstone Caldera: 👀

[@Mr_JollyRoger]

This took "It could always be worse" to epic proportions.

[@artman2oo3]

I think those years got worse and worse because some people kept saying after each bad thing “Well at least it can’t get any WORSE.”

[@EyMannMachHin]

Yeah, the typical "Mad science" excuse... what can possibly go wrong?

[@Shellshock39]

2020: I was the worst year ever! 536: *Pats 2020 on the head.* Sure you are, son. Sure you are.

[@kennethross786]

Ice core samples from Antarctica also have the 535 AD sulfuric acid spike, which points to a mid-latitude eruption. Ilopango Caldera is in the mid-latitude area and carbonized tree samples in the ash date the eruption to around 520-540 AD. It was also a VEI 6+ eruption, far larger than Krakatoa in 1883, easily able to cause a volcanic winter.

[@Caldwing]

More recent findings put the eruption at Ilopango about a 100 years earlier, making it an unlikely candidate for causing this event.

[@terryhunt2659]

@Fred Nurke Victoria C. Smith; et al. (2020). "The magnitude and impact of the 431 CE Tierra Blanca Joven eruption of Ilopango, El Salvador". PNAS. doi:10.1073/pnas.2003008117.

[@willythemailboy2]

@Fred Nurke The world's most disastrous chili-eating competition? Flatulence so noxious it blocked out the sun!

[@notmaireelneim]

Yeah, nah. It didn't happen like that.

[@kennethross786]

My source: kzbin.info/www/bejne/emjJg2WQbZ1jsJo

[@harlequinems]

I don't think our level of preparedness for global health crises is the scary thing... I think the level of sheer idiocy, fear mongering, cries of conspiracy and "world leaders" more interested in finding someone to blame rather than stepping up and fixing the issues, is the truly terrifying thing 🙄

[@misterflibble6601]

Spot on!

[@andersjjensen]

"Against stupidity the very gods themselves contend in vain." - Friedrich Schiller

[@jakeg3126]

You know it’s my fault the

[@thomashart1560]

But what about the garbage abalanches?? You got it bro!

[@missesmew]

Absolutely right sir. What we need is a way to instantly know how much iq is in individual people. Segregation shouldn’t be because of race. No, not at all. It should be by how brain power you have. Religious, no matter what religion should be criteria for separation. Put all the dumb ones in one area. They can live with their invisible men. That’s what’s holding the human race back. Religion and stupidity. They go hand in hand.

[@garmrbanalras2579]

its acctualy believed that the "fimbulvinter" which is the winter that heralds the coming of ragnarokk in norse mythology was inspired by this period of time. so this was absolutely something that stuck in the memory of people and turned into myth over 400 years

[@JohanAndersson78]

Yeah, this is what came to my mind immediately as well. Three years without summer. Fimbulvinter.

[@kktt725]

Huh I wonder if fimbulvinter inspired george r r Martin for the long night

[@meh.7640]

just like it is believed (by some) that cataclysmic events around the year 9500 BC are the actual source of the flood myths of various religions today. and that those events could well have put an end to humanity. that was probably a bad year (or century) too ...

[@DarthBigBen]

Jesus Christ.

[@ladykoiwolfe]

Three winters without a break between...yep, sounds like Fimbulvinter to me.

[@Chris.Pontius]

Let's be honest: 2020 in a first world country is nothing compared to the horrors our grandparents had to go through during WW2 (or any other war for that matter). A lockdown during a time where the internet and streaming services are a thing is a joke.

[@pikmaniac2643]

WWI would probably be more apt given the influenza pandemic that swept through the trenches and homefronts during that timeframe.

[@Shaggrtoon]

Agreed

[@harrypadarri6349]

So true! Especially now that you just have to step out of the door to get a shot. I know someone who is crying around because he is not allowed to go into bars because he is not vaccinated and who complains about how hard life’s during the pandemic. I am like: “Dude, stfu! Take the underground train to the inner city and get a shot at a vaccination centre.” It doesn’t even take an hour until you’re back home. While people in other countries haven’t even got a chance. The most stupid first world problem ever! As if that was the kind of problem for people during the flue pandemic after WW1.

[@maxbracegirdle9990]

@@pikmaniac2643 Not really a fair comparison, imo. We don't have to live in super close proximity with added combat. I think likening it to WWII would be more apt as the majority of us aren't living through two horrible events at once, just one.

[@stanleyrogouski]

1931 (the height of the Great Depression) was much worse than 2020. I used to notice, for example, that my grandparents' generation had a lot of very tiny people. Why were there so many men born in the early 1930s who were under 5'5"? Then I realized it. Childhood malnutrition.

[@Ruckus45]

536 would be a great movie. Two hours of being engulfed in that semi darkness while seeing the hell they had to go through would be something

[@WhiteCamry]

As long as it's funny.

[@kiwi_commander]

I love how Brain/Business Blaze is slowly taking over all of Simon's channels. Am I right, Peter?

[@epkesel]

The Legends™️ are taking over... AM I RIGHT PETER?

[@ilajoie3]

I'm saddened there's no Business/Brain Blaze today, we've been pampered this last week with one every day

[@kathybell616]

I love it lol

[@toddlerj102]

Why yes, yes it is. I'm not peter though.

[@toddlerj102]

@@ilajoie3 and Boom! There it is, latest brain blaze just hit!

[@rickrose5377]

There were shortages in all of the grocery stores and Amazon deliveries fell behind by as much as two days. The NFL season in 536 was shortened to 12 games, and the MLB All-Star game was cancelled. A lot of musical tours were canceled because of the volcanic eruption, and the movies that year were disappointing, as well.

[@T0pMan15]

Frank Gore got drafted too

[@sheltongolden4394]

@@T0pMan15 🤣

[@bjornsvalling1066]

AD 536 is what probably led to the legend of "winter of Fimbul" in old Norse mythology. Three severe winters with no summers in between....

[@ledjon]

2020 was slightly inconvenience compared to the vast majority of all human existence. Even the best years in the pre 20th century were worse than 2020.

[@victoriawhite3662]

Yes!

[@marcusporciuscato6404]

2020 was made shit by governments and epidemiologists not a lame (fake) pandemic.

[@cagedstuntmanpc2419]

Living in California since I was born and with the last couple years being especially bad with the wild fires constantly bellowing smoke over our area. It’s sucks when it’s blackening us for days at a time and you can’t see anything because of it. I can only imagine what a year would be like.

[@johnchedsey1306]

I was just thinking that sure, the year plus of generally sticking to my house and watching KZbin was a bit of a drag, but there were also many sunny warm days to go play in the mountains. Had we also had volcanic haze, my seasonal affective disorder might have been more than I could have taken.

[@bh7940]

Leave California. I lived there in the early 2000’s. The government fucked it up. Just leave and move back when all the loonies leave to ruin another state

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

And now imagine to the at home staying and darkness add no food and crazy taxes...

[@Mochrie99]

"I love bread." Me too, Simon. Me too.

[@qilorarv4999]

Bread is life

[@paddor]

Starch in almost any form 🤤

[@cas4040]

I wonder how many great works of art and science actually did happen in the dark ages and just were never recognized, or lost to time. At the same time, it seems like “ain’t nobody had time for that”

[@AnyoneCanSee]

I saw a documentary that concluded that Krakatoa was responsible for the extreme weather events of 536AD. This documentary also quoted records of roaming gangs attacking and killing others for their food reserves. Former peaceful communities across Europe turned into Mad Max style post-apocalyptic landscapes with violent raiders moving from place to place killing people and taking what they could to survive. It was pretty much hell on earth.

[@AnotherPointOfView944]

Well that cheered me up. Relatively speaking.

[@misterflibble6601]

Yeah, me too. A bit of schandenfreude perhaps.

[@jonathanrobertson3406]

I've also heard from a couple of History professors that the dark ages were referred to as "dark" because we simply don't know much about them because, for any given reason(s), very little in terms of the written word was produced and/or survived compared to the previous centuries of Greek and Roman society, who were highly prolific in their writings. In other words, to historians, it is "dark" because there is little in the way of useful primary documents to study. This is not incompatible at all with the reasons you mentioned as well. On the contrary, it lines up nicely.

[@AshenDruid]

"At least we're not having to deal with a permanent eclipse situation" Careful Simon, there's still plenty that could go wrong and there aren't any signs things will get better anytime soon, don't jinx it

[@brianpayne4549]

Sounds like he’s inviting it to descend on us… lol

[@HeavyTopspin]

You're supposed to knock on wood when you say something like that, damnit. Future history book: "In 2021, KZbin personality Simon Whistler was held personally responsible for the eruption of the Yellowstone supervolcano. During his trial at the international court in The Hague, he claimed his earlier videos detailing this potential disaster and how it might be brought about were simply scientific data and not an actual admission of his dastardly plot. Nonetheless, in the centuries since he's come to be known as the Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse, particularly after the following year's alien invasion caused by his refusal to acknowledge the Sacred Episodes of Ancient Aliens."

[@daerdevvyl4314]

War, Plague, Pestilence, Death and Simon.

[@ferociousgumby]

I love it when a scientific fact BLOWS SIMON AWAY. It's one of the things that makes him worth watching.

[@walley2637]

2020 could actually be the push that businesses needed to re-evaluate the need for everyone to migrate into office towers instead of working remotely. i believe it is only a matter of time that rush hours traffic will be a thing of the past. it's actually ridiculous if you think about the millions of people in each city that drive from home to sit in front of a computer all day in an expensive office building. maybe it takes a pandemic to start the ball rolling in the right direction?

[@adambielen8996]

One can hope.

[@ExestentialCrisis]

It's amazing to hear about all the companies that survived for months with all their employees WFH and then decided to force them back into offices. So glad I work for a company that didn't! A ton of positions have been opened up to those from other geographical areas, expanding the pool of qualified candidates. Corporate travel went from millions a year to virtually zero. Definitely some 'good' came from the pandemic.

[@walley2637]

Full disclosure, my job is one that i can never work remotely. I never missed a day through the entire pandemic. I just want you all off the roads!

[@Greg3070]

@@ExestentialCrisis it seems like a power thing to me. You can't control peeps as easily if they aren't at your office. Of course you can still measure productivity, but you know you can't issue write ups for food at their desk, threatening them for the extra 5 minutes they took for lunch or warn them about to much personal chit chat. You also miss out on the brown nosers bowing to management's every desire. All those important things that make the modern office what it is today.

[@ExestentialCrisis]

@@Greg3070 Count my lucky stars every day that I work for a company that is exactly the opposite of all those things. Wish everybody could!

[@birdielein9636]

Recovering from surgery with Simon! Thanks man! You make so much awesome content that I'm able to zone out, feel better and learn shit! You rock! I hope when you were getting better from your collarbone surgery that you had something as awesome to take your mind off things!

[@branon6565]

You! Sure do love! Your exclamation points! Don't you?!

[@birdielein9636]

@@branon6565 Oh...so sorry that my recently cut open self used too many exclamation points for your delicate sensibilities.

[@caeserromero3013]

536...why didn't they just give up their cars and holiday flights, go net zero and live on Soy? Sorted 😂😂

[@briankoval3368]

Simon - you’re right on the “at least we’re not dealing with a permanent eclipse situation” but you left out… “yet”

[@historybuff7491]

Reading some of the annals for those years is really sad. The translated words have phrases like "great dying", or "great pestilence". The words are so matter of fact, that it seems shocking when you realize what the words are really saying.

[@I.am.Sarah.]

2020 might have been the worst year in my lifetime but looking at just the reasonably recent past I'd say any year during WW1 or WW2 would easily be worse

[@johnchedsey1306]

1996 is still my worst year. I worked in a lame restaurant.

[@cashkitty3472]

Especially if you was Russian because they even sure kids not to starve

[@cashkitty3472]

@@johnchedsey1306 yeah that's comparible not

[@applesandgrapesfordinner4626]

@@johnchedsey1306 Sorry brother

[@STho205]

It may have been the worst for you Sarah, but we are in a bubble. I'm sure the entire 25 or 30 years of your past was far worse for billions of humans. Billions

[@not-a-raccoon]

We need "The Past Was The Worst" shirts. Like.. right meow. Thanks.

[@phforNZ]

purchthemerch has them

[@NotHPotter]

I already have one. Lol.

[@Nipplator99999999999]

When did trash pandas start to meow?

[@not-a-raccoon]

@@Nipplator99999999999 it's a secret. Besides, I'm definitely NOT a trash panda. As you can plainly see 😏

[@leofluth7755]

@@not-a-raccoon nope just a cat that looks like one.

[@craigcpowell]

It feels weird and kinda wrong clicking "like" on this video but...I support all of Simon's 136 channels so no amount of depressing topics will stop me!

[@JohnWilliams-hw9yn]

I think I’d take plague and nuclear winter over that cover of Imagine.

[@tncorgi92]

I'm curious as to how much the Southern hemisphere was affected, whether the pall of smoke or the plague germs made it that far.

[@BMoney8600]

I just can’t wait to guilt trip my future kids and tell them “Well I lived during a plague Jimbo!”

[@JAPANattacks]

Please do. 👏

[@samrevlej9331]

If you name your kid Jimbo you'll have my eternal respect for the epic troll move.

[@jon-michaelharris5840]

thank you for Simon. 2020 wasn’t perfect, but anyone who thinks it was bad from a human experience is ignorant of history.

[@BobSmith1980.]

Unfortunately most people are very ignorant of history

[@dickdastardly4236]

2020 was mostly bad luck which is unfortunate. But, I'd prefer falling into a grave than digging my own.

[@paddor]

To me, 2020 was the best. I got really in shape again.

[@stevie-ray2020]

Last year was a good year for me, well at least a better one, as I finally had spinal-fusion surgery because about 35 yrs ago I injured my back causing years of severe back-pain, & then 18 mths of sheer agony while waiting for the operation (when I could barely walk & was 'locked-down'!). Didn't help that for some years now I've had been diagnosed with Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), Fibromyalgia, & Arthritis! When you look at what people have been through in the past, & are enduring currently (eg; Haiti, Afghanistan, etc., along with Covid19 hot-spots) most of us shouldn't complain about our lives!

[@btetschner]

Very, very interesting. It is just easier to understand when Simon Whistler explains it (I have watched another video about this year). Thank you for the video.

[@raagtop363]

I was so young in 536 that I can barely remember just how bad it was then.

[@surters]

Then you should have tried 1177 BCE now that was bad!!!

[@ferociousgumby]

So where did you live back then?

[@shaz2761]

TV was much better back then.

[@ravenhill_the_crusader_1968]

simon whistler is great man, in my opinion he should have joint ownership of youtube.

[@peterthompson1462]

🤣😂🤣

[@GlenHunt]

You of course mean the gracious allowance of someone sharing Simon's domain and not because he has any need to share, right?

[@briant7265]

He's working on it.

[@banditnige]

Wow!

[@joycejames8461]

@@briant7265 He won't stop till he owns it.

[@tonypintarelli877]

Kinda like how 2021 is really still just 2020.

[@OzMate79]

We have been through worse and still we go on! Humans are a resilient species

[@Fozzedout]

Imagine converting your power supply entirely to solar and then a volcano blocks out the sun for a year or so...

[@ajstevens1652]

Exactly why we should be going with nuclear power to be a backup measure for solar energy.

[@Fozzedout]

@@ajstevens1652 completely agree

[@Greg3070]

How about a bad storm? Better have a generator ready to take over.

[@Greg3070]

@@ajstevens1652 I thought the efficiency of nuclear was so intense that anything else added was kinda silly. If we could find a way to not have biblical level threats when an accident happens we could probably successfully bring it back.

[@johnnyazer5779]

@Kirk Oglesby Nothing surprises me, when I was young we thought COVID would only happen in sci fi horror movies.

[@christopherkaylor2940]

2020 "Worst Year Ever" 536 "Hold my beer!"

[@surters]

Doesn't beat 1177 BCE.

[@TRAINAlytics]

@@surters or 1250 BCE. Or 1220 BCE. or 1190 BCE. We don't know exactly when the Collapse began.

[@hetalianotaku7103]

"The past was the worst. Always." Chronological snobbery.

[@msmoniz]

Human beings are amazing at doing so many things as evidenced by our current level of technology, but maintaining perspective, even with the benefit of historical records, isn't one thing we really really suck at!

[@c3920]

The cover of “Imagine” made 2020 in the top five worst years.

[@PhilJonesIII]

William Shatner's version of 'Lucy in the sky with diamonds' is memorable in that you can't' unhear it. Left me scarred for life.

[@PantheraOnca60]

The song itself makes every year in which _anyone_ sings it a bad year.

[@francispitts9440]

Science is amazing. You nailed it when you described how they figured out when things happened and within a month for accuracy. Yeah it’s truly incredible.

[@bjdon99]

The really big volcanic eruption (how big is the question) is probably the one bad event from history that could actually happen in our own time with more than a miniscule probability. The Tabora and Krakatoa erruptions of the 1800s were memorable. If one the size of Tambora cooked off today, it could lead to serious turmoil on earth.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

And then the uncertainty of Yellowstone

[@wvnovello]

Glass half full...Hagia Sophia in Constantinople was competed in 537. That's pretty impressive that one of the most influential buildings ever built was finished in the heart of the worst year ever! (Hagia Sophia would be a bomb ass Side Project I think)

[@vitalspark6288]

Justinian was an awesome emperor in general. My favourite Roman Emperor. You should do a video on him.

[@mosheschwartzberg4375]

This channel is a mix of serious Simon and BB Simon... I love it 😍

[@robobop3721]

I was literally eating raisin toast when Simon said he loves bread!

[@clabood]

I have been catching up on my watch later list this week. I think I have legit watched 15 videos on volcanos and earthquakes. All by Simon 😂

[@lukefeenan2499]

Well that certainly brightened my day, sort of....I don't feel like what we're going through to be so bad at all now, but then there is 536......well a slight amount of depression has crept into my otherwise sunny day of lockdown.....lol......keep up the good work Simon 🙂

[@skittlezthatkittlez]

idk this video does put things in perspective in the sense of "yeah..i guess it could be worse..." but at the same time i feel like this helps us rationalize/downplay serious contemporary issues we all face

[@Greg3070]

I don't think we have serious issues like they did in the past. Remember the last time your kid got cut playing? Did you put it under water, then put on some antibiotic liquid? Perhaps a band aid to finish. Yea. Think 1650. What running water, unless you had a jug handy. Antibiotic? They didn't know what germs were. No, they just wiped it off. Then be confused when their kid got a fever and died. They had issues.

[@nuyabuisness7526]

I like content like this, would you want to do a similar piece on either the little ice age, or the renaissance warming period?

[@lathumpipe]

Simon Whistler is my favorite history reporter of all time. Also, his choice to go with a beard is his 2nd best life decision.

[@grapeshot]

Well like they always say, if you are having it bad somebody's having it worse.

[@Sideprojects]

You could always be being tortured to death.

[@gh8447]

@@Sideprojects Sure, but someone could be being tortured in a more painful manner, in which case someone's still having it worse!

[@raylouis7013]

Yeah we've been playing "Apocalypse bingo" for the last 2 years here in Australia... Drought, fire, flood, massive hail storms, pandemic....I could go on but sometimes you just need to embrace the darkness.

[@gensaikawakami341]

@@Sideprojects You could also be tortured, and kept alive...so you can be tortured, and kept alive... Not you though, Simon, you are sacrosanct.

[@sheltongolden4394]

Sad reality is that one unfortunate somebody who really _is_ having it the worst.

[@TobesterGaming]

As someone who’s studied Justinian and the 6th century over the last year or so for my university thesis, it’s incredible how he was able to create such a golden age in a really difficult time

[@BearsTrains]

Yep, taxing the dead can allow you to do wonderous things

[@Maibuwolf]

Yea, accomplishing great things is so much easier when you tax the absolute fuck out of everyone causing a lot of them to die from no longer being able to afford food. Please never become a leader of anything.

[@dracphelan]

There are still 3 years left in 2021. It can get much worse.

[@Ginrikuzuma]

lol no it won't. modern medicine is so much better than the past. we are never going to have another Black Death or Spanish Flu type of pandemic with dozens of millions of deaths. Covid has killed less than 5 million and that's cause over 200 million have been infected around 195 million have recovered from it

[@dracphelan]

@@Ginrikuzuma another giant volcano could blow, an unseen asteroid could hit the planet, with current world leadership WW3 is a distinct possibility, the list is long. There are many ways that a year could suddenly become the worst in history.

[@misterflibble6601]

@@dracphelan Love your optimistic outlook. Must be horrible living in constant fear of such implausible disasters. And how can there be 3 years left in 2021?

[@christinebenson518]

@@misterflibble6601 I was thinking the commenter meant months, but that's not right either. Four months left in 2021.

[@mihai7192]

it's amazing that w/all the disasters and tyrants talked about in this channel that there are any ppl on earth at all

[@perstaunstrup3451]

If it really was a volcano in Iceland that erupted/exploded, pretty sure there were no immediate casualties as the Norse only got there around 830. But the collateral damage elsewhere 😳

[@garymaidman625]

Just started watching the video and thought this time period coincided with the Justinian plague. This plague was actually the bubonic plague that was the same as the Black Death. It's also thought that the Plague of Athens during the Peloponnesian War was also the bubonic plague.

[@juneclark263]

"Because the past was the worst, always. " 🥰

[@stephenkwasek1933]

Superb. Classic Simon. This why you the man

[@jamescarrico1233]

We’re so lucky to be alive right now. The past was shit.

[@shrimpflea]

Except the 1980's

[@jayispainting]

Hey Simon & team. Just watched Chappie last night again & there's quite of it filmed in & around the Ponte Tower in Johannesburg. Might even be Megaprojects worthy because it has a bunch of Mega in regards to Africa... But if not, still interesting. Like 5 floors of the center atrium were filled with debris when it was overrun by gangs. .

[@fiction-]

"At least we don't have to deal with a permanent eclipse." Me, softly: don't

[@ignitionfrn2223]

1:10 - Chapter 1 - It was a very bad year 6:35 - Chapter 2 - Results & consequences

[@ziggy8253]

Well, we’re gradually receding back into the past, so we’ll all learn firsthand just how awful the past is.

[@AaronSmith-kr5yf]

Yeah 2020 wasn't shit compared to what my grandparents endured(im 37 fyi) Grandpa on my dad's side, he grew up in southwest Virginia in the hollar during the depression. Couple of mules to plow the fields and then drag their wagon to Bristol 10-15 miles away to sell the potatoes, tomatoes, etc Raised hogs as well, it was basic subsistence farming, no electricity, no running water, outhouse, then the freaking war. Joined the navy and became one hell of a mechanic working on them new fangled 2 cycle Detroit Diesels, something he turned into a nice career after the war

[@bluegold1026]

People keep saying that 2016 or 2020 were the worst years ever. I'm here like "Ummm...that's nothing compared to years past."

[@SlocketSeven]

2021 is gonna steal the crown from 2016 to 2020 and it's only going to be 4 months out of the whole year that did it.

[@harrypadarri6349]

@@SlocketSeven That really depends on where you live. I know that I’m very privileged as I am fully vaccinated and live in the EU. Things seem to get back to normal. In autumn university opens up again, I can go out in safety and live a fairly normal life because unvaccinated people are more or less prohibited from going to university, bars, fitness studios and so on - or at least it’s annoying and expensive. People in other parts of the world are sadly not so privileged.

[@albatross1688]

@@SlocketSeven Do tell. Things seem to be getting more or less back to normal where I live. The only people who are going to have a problem are those who refuse to get vaccinated, and that's a choice. I'm actually looking forward to the coming months because pretty much everything will be open to me.

[@albatross1688]

Yeah, imagine being locked down in one's home during a plague in the past. There was no KZbin back then, and that's not even the worst of it. Generally speaking, if a household was locked down, it was because someone in that household had the plague. So, not only would there not have been any entertainment or much in the way of stimulus, but entire families were essentially condemned to death that way.

[@DeWolfCIC]

Glad I watched this prior to attending a funeral. Now gonna attend in a much cheerier disposition

[@owenshebbeare2999]

"Imagine" was Lennons song of hypocrisy.

[@christopherwebb3517]

No lie detected.

[@branon6565]

Imagine was trash written and performed by a hippie who never showered, and who treated people horribly, like they were beneath him...

[@tonybates7870]

@@branon6565 Lennon never showered? Where did you get that from?

[@thebonesaw..4634]

5:56 -- *"Human sacrifice; dogs and cats living together! Mass hysteria!"*

[@Bubbaist]

Isn’t there also a theory that a massive eruption of Krakatoa occurred that year that was so tremendous that it separated Java and Sumatra? I remember a documentary about it that pointed out that the royal chronicle of Java gave a date that pretty much corresponded to this time.

[@kathyastrom1315]

That was from the David Keys’ book Catastrophe, which I have on my shelf. He goes into more of the worldwide impact the volcano had and extrapolates from the sheer coverage of disaster where the volcano eruption might have taken place. He also mentions an interesting lasting impact of the climate change-it led to the rise of a certain gentleman in what is now Saudi Arabia who was the grandfather of Mohammed.

[@danielkarlsson9326]

wasnt i Gunung Samalas ?

[@ikke12345]

That was in 1883

[@thirdenvoqation7735]

@@ikke12345 That was the second eruption, Krakatau has gone up several times often with devastating effect. The Dutchman Captain Ferzenaar was credited finding the original Caldera and realising far too late that Krakatau was going to blow and was there to witness that eruption. This is probably one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the region, and it's a ticking time bomb as to when it'll up again. The first major Krakatau eruption was supposedly around 416 from records, but there's no actual evidence of when it actually erupted so the theory is that it was 536. It should be noted the most recent evidence that this Dark Age indicates wasn't just one eruption, but rather two the second occurring around 540 contributing to the volcanic winter's effects. There are numerous volcanoes that's likely suspects for this eruption, leading to another hypothesis it wasn't just a singular eruption but a cascade of eruptions. One of the other likely candidates is Llopango in El Salvadore though fingers have been pointed at other volcanoes but Krakatau and Llopango have smoking guns in the form of Calderas and other evidence.

[@StuBobsGhost]

I've seen both Krakatoa and Ilopongo in El Salvador as candidates for the cause of this disaster. If I remember correctly, whichever volcano it was had to be near-ish to the equator, as the effects were felt in both northern and southern hemispheres, which would be less likely if the volcano is further north or south.

[@teng029]

9:27 Excellent point..

[@aaronsakulich4889]

"You might think that with all the misery and death around, people might pull together and start trying to make the best of things." Quick question my man which cave have you been living in for the last year and a half

[@JimBob-vb8oz]

No money to be made in people living in harmony. Gotta feed the tribal algorithm for our social media overlords

[@t.a.ackerman4098]

He did say "You might think".

[@aaronsakulich4889]

@@t.a.ackerman4098 I most certainly not think that! :)

[@mdr48371]

I wonder if anyone in 536 would go into work grumpy and then one of their coworkers would say "someone has a case of the Mondays"

[@CatsMeowPaw]

One day historians will write about Covid19, and how a good chunk of the population fought basic hygiene and vaccination measures. We like to think of ourselves as smarter than those in the past, but we're really not.

[@clamum9648]

If they're objective people with a brain they'll write about how we all lost our f'ing minds for two years (or a decade, as it looks like this hysteria will never end).

[@celticlass8573]

@@clamum9648 Well, certain parts of the world did anyway. :)

[@briant7265]

People blamed cats for the Plague and killed them en masse, allowing the rats that actually carried the disease to multiply and spread it even more.

[@JanSolo555]

The eruption could not have been in Iceland. There is an identical ash signature in ice cores from Antarctica. This means the volcanic eruption had to have been at or near the equator. The 535 eruption might have been Krakatoa in Indonesia, which has a incredibly massive eruption dated to that era. There are also contemporary accounts in the royal library in Indonesia from 535 that describe a massive eruption that separated the islands of Sumatra and Java, creating the Sunda Straight. The 541 eruption was probably Ilopongo in Central America.

[@DKboy001]

The past was the worst. Am I RIGHT Peter?!

[@TheEDFLegacy]

You LEGEND!

[@kiwi_commander]

aLEGENDly

[@TheEDFLegacy]

Alternate Title: The Past was the Worst: 536 AD - Brain Blaze ...Now I really want that episode. 😅

[@parkerbrewer1257]

I like how busin- I mean, brain blaze has steadily infected his other channels.

[@GlenHunt]

@@parkerbrewer1257 It was bound to happen. Simon reads scripts non-stop and substitutes Magic Spoon for sleep.

[@jordanbooth4470]

Wait now… one bad year to rule them all… we heard that Lord of the Rings reference Simon! Simon is a secret LOTR fan confirmed

[@RealSaintB]

In 2020 we at least had Simon's endless stream of educational entertainment to keep us going. They had nothing like that back then.

[@masterasia13]

OGBB!!!! I know i'm in the wrong channel, but when i see past is the worse. It makes me snort cocaine.

[@Dan19870]

Legend!

[@jedison2441]

People in 535 AD,, "this year is the worst!"

[@lerssilarsson6414]

Haven't seen my mother-in-law for ages - if paradise is half as nice as... ;-)

[@peterhughes7445]

Really cool video Simon.

[@CopyNPasteComments]

Back at it again for day #9 of my quest to get a hoodie version of the “Blazing Tee”. Surely the year that I am finally able to wear said Merch will be the best year in (my) human history

[@COYOTE_N8]

If that would be the best year in human history for you. I feel bad for you my friend..lol jkjk

[@the-chillian]

Just to illuminate Justinian's character a little further, that Procopius quote was from his "Secret History", so called because it remained unpublished during his lifetime. It was everything he knew as a court insider but dared not say while he was still around for the Emperor to torture, and paints Justinian, his wife the Empress Theodora, and the general Belisarius (among others) in the least flattering light possible.

[@lorettaolson8748]

Read the book 'Catastrophe' by David Keys about the same time period.

[@owenshebbeare2999]

There is a good Timeline video on it, available here on KZbin.

[@stevie-ray2020]

@@owenshebbeare2999 After seeing this Side-project I decided to re-watch that doco; kzbin.info/www/bejne/mXy4q2iMn9ZsY9U Definitely was not a good time to be a vegan!

[@oomiosi]

[Volcanic Winter] [Plague] [Boomalope self-tamed]

[@Theutus2]

I got this reference

[@evilwelshman]

So.... does this mean that the Simon Whistlers who had been alive in 536 would have been wrong when they insisted that "the past was the worst" amidst all that chaos going on? 😁😁 Also, while the time period might have been bad for the Gupta Empire, the Alchon Huns were having a grand ol' time meeting new friends. 😁😁

[@ajstevens1652]

Same thing with the Lombards lol. They were like "Thanks Justinian, we'll take Northern Italy."

[@Greg3070]

I think their past was better, the Romans had things going pretty well and who knows how far technology would have advanced, had they maintained the empire.

[@sheltongolden4394]

Ultimately everything is relative, I guess.

[@WalkenDead]

We're not having to deal with a permanent eclipse yet. There are many rather large volcanoes that are overdue to blow their top. Yellowstone is by all signs a super volcano and is also overdue.

[@theshadowman1398]

I really am having massive eye rolls when someone is saying 2020 was the worst. Get bloody over it you had to sit at home for several months oh the horror.

[@jasonwomack4064]

Hey man, it was exhausting rarely putting on pants, showering every third day (maybe), and using a global pandemic as an excuse to eat more fast food than usual. I need a nap just thinking about it.

[@rhov-anion]

BUT MY TOILET PAPER!!!!!!!!

[@Greg3070]

It did kinda suck for those of us in business. But nothing like the past. The past was a time of getting a simple cut and dying from the infection. Rulers having random heads cut off, and communication limited to letters being transported by horses. Imagine having to make your meals from scratch, and starting your stove meant putting wood in, lighting it and your only control was how far your pan was from the surface. And today we complain when the auto start goes out on a gas stove and we have to use a match. Oh how are ancestors must look down upon us and laugh at our problems.

[@jasonwomack4064]

@@Greg3070 that's true regarding business. But even that was heavily dependent on the level of retard your local government overlords were trying to achieve.

[@Greg3070]

@@jasonwomack4064 I have a very small trucking business and the govt didn't try to stop it, but things really slowed down for a while. But, Id still rather deal with that, then what our ancient ancesters did. No comparison. Lol

[@billybybee7220]

Simon! I love all your channels. One of the best KZbinrs out there. I highly recommend everyone check out his content. Its very well done and worth your time.

[@not-a-theist8251]

thats a long time without any bread. I love bread haha amazing did you know that there are 3000 different varieties of bread in germany?

[@canadasleftcoast.5744]

In the 18th century the English military used enough wheat flour to whiten their wigs to feed 500,000 people with bread for 1 year.

[@bradlevantis913]

Great video Simon

[@Heywoodthepeckerwood]

These last 2 years have been the best two years of my life. Seems a lot of people live very sheltered lives and or are very fragile.

[@mtndogrally]

Simon could literally start a whole new channel about this. I want to see it called Simon Versus The Past The whole channel will be him reacting to how bad the past was.

[@johanabrahamsen8129]

Simon, why didn’t you pronounce eyjafjallajøkull😅😂

[@itarry4]

Yhea the lack of bread was a tiny bit more annoying than losing something you love to eat when it's basically the only thing that you eat in much quantity...