That Time the U.S. Military Launched a Half a Billion Needles to Space for Reasons...

[@TodayIFoundOut]

Please do go check out Star Conflict free here: str.link/brainfood You'll not only get to play a fun game, but also help supply our research and writer monkeys with bananas and coffee :-)

[@sparky6086]

C'mon. Everyone knows, that British Satellite failed, because it had Lucas electrics!

[@rogerrabt]

They forgot to include a few extra jars of Lucas smoke, just in case.

[@KellSeraph]

Unfortunately it appears your link does not work if you already have a Gaijin account =/

[@Sonikkua]

The autogenerated captions got ya. imgur.com/a/fyCXjl9

[@CapoKhan]

Do a video regarding the potential impact of quantum computing available to the general population. Not sure this is the right channel as you have a few

[@charlesdeens8927]

The world: WTF happened to our satellites?! USA: My bad.

[@deanrobert8674]

Oops sorry. we cool

[@zeusathena26]

Look at how much the US of their own equipment, & people they have blown up! No one's immune. Lol

[@doc_sav]

To be fair, the number of satellites owned by "the world" outside of the US and Russia was pretty low at that time, and all of those were put there by one of the superpowers so their less capable allies could feel like they were participating.

[@seymourbutts9085]

What's a few satellites among nations ? You can trust us.

[@graham2631]

@@doc_sav you know how to cure world hunger? Tell the yanks it can be weaponized.

[@O4C209]

Let's talk about America sending millions of needles into space, side note, we nuked space.

[@Jolis_Parsec]

*‘Murica theme song intensifies*

[@PacesIII]

We didn't nuke all of it. Just the parts most important to us.

[@lunacouer]

Oh ho, we didn't just do it once. We nuked space 14 times, from 1958-1962. Then the USSR got in the game, exploding three high-altitude nukes, each a week apart, in October 1962. You know, during the Cuban Missile Crisis. After almost starting the apocalypse, we, the USSR and the UK signed the Partial Test Ban Treaty of 1963. No more underwater or space nuking, please and thank you. The Outer Space Treaty wasn't until 1967, but it got a lot of help getting passed after all these shenanigans.

[@Madhouse_beatz]

Orion Foresee they were trying to break through the dome.

[@PacesIII]

@@Madhouse_beatz ---- I hope you're kidding.

[@TracksideViews]

Alien parents: Kids lock the doors and roll up the windows we’re passing by earth.

[@scottmantooth8785]

Alien offspring: Oh....THAT place again...

[@dak4465]

We are the space ghetto

[@scottmantooth8785]

@@dak4465 not so much the space ghetto but more like the really cheesy alien space tourist trap with attractions that no one would ever pay money for apart from feeling sorry for the natives that rely on the income generated for their pumpkin spiced meth

[@calichef1962]

Proud to be NC_29 North's 100th like!

[@skyluke9476]

Alien dogs... Earth Squirrel!! *jumps out window*

[@jaspr1999]

I bet Stewart had such a blast delivering that "To Boldly Go..." message! Having Captain Picard and Captain Kirk waking you up in space has got to be one very cool moment!

[@jaspr1999]

@Darth Wheezius - THAT IS PRICELESS!!! I love that!!! You are SO right, that would be AWESOME!!!

[@dennismokry258]

I think Simon did a pretty good impression of Sir Patrick.

[@joeds3775]

Id prefer 7 of 9.....

[@jonathonboshears6281]

@@joeds3775 sadly 7 ate 9

[@fatherofdragons4880]

@@jonathonboshears6281 no! 9 ate 7! Get it bloody right.

[@Bcarr122391]

I’m convinced he keeps making lizard people references with that sense of humor to throw us off his trail.

[@geraldfrost4710]

...may they live for ever.

[@leewilkinson6372]

You mean off his tail....hehe

[@Bcarr122391]

Lee Wilkinson lol. I wanted to be clever, but didn’t have the energy

[@jasoncaldwell8199]

More like "off his tail."

[@Gothead420]

Sarcasm and irony are among the best types of humour...^^

[@Ivymichael1994]

"We're going to spare you some of the complexities" *** "The sun goes missing at night"

[@fredlougee2807]

Maybe it goes walkabout. Zips off to orbit Betelgeuse for a few hours.

[@suzannehartmann946]

Yeah , sorry that was us, you know US again. We are working on voting the morons out. They keep having dead people vote.

[@sheevone4359]

@@fredlougee2807 as long as it skips Magrathea we're fine

[@fencserx9423]

“Accidentally nuking a satellite” is one of those “oops moments” that makes me proud to be an American

[@Greg-yu4ij]

Yeah, we need to needle our allies every so often to keep them on their toes

[@JammastaJ23]

USA USA

[@sergeantpeppers8858]

This is for all involved with "Today I Found Out", you do an amazingly great job in research, script writing, videoing, and telling the stories/material. 👍👍

[@TodayIFoundOut]

Thanks :-) -Daven

[@sergeantpeppers8858]

@@TodayIFoundOut you're welcome, but my name isn't Daven. 🤣🤣🤣 And don't call me Shirley.

[@Trouchy]

@@TodayIFoundOut Thanks :-) Daven

[@MaYkO-WWH]

When Simon was reading the Patrick Stewart line and said, "make it so", I can genuinely see him playing Captain Picard in a reboot he has the voice and the haircut 😁 MAKE IT SO!

[@Joe-po9xn]

"We'll get those 99 Red Balloons now!" - The Pentagon

[@nyctotheory]

You , sir, owe me a new keyboard...

[@davidbesant]

What, with that many needles around?

[@fruduboggins4295]

🤣

[@JesseSwaney]

Haha!!

[@legomangamesnetwork1151]

If it’s Red We’ll make it dead!

[@J8n3eyr3]

Science. Science. Science. "Sun goes missing for a little while."

[@TodayIFoundOut]

Can't explain it. ;-) -Daven

[@alisaurus4224]

It’s tired and has to sleep

[@jking1948]

When I was a kid we knew of this radio wave bouncing calling it skip. We didn’t know how it worked but we did know that at night with good “skip” we could talk to Japan from the west coast of Washington.

[@komerwest3748]

Nothing like a good ham unit

[@mikemcleroy8265]

@@komerwest3748 and a flat earth to use it on!

[@Arrows_tip]

I have talked to coworkers in Louisiana from Indiana. It was kinda strange.

[@strgazerlilly]

Back when I was a kid (a long time ago) we picked up Canada and England from South Carolina as well as Brazil (being the farthest) and several other South American Countries.

[@davidslattery5168]

Shout out to my shape-shifting, time travelling lizard people from space

[@GreasyBeasty]

Hail Nimrod my fellow Space Lizard

[@waverider69420]

Thanks bro 💕

[@reptilez]

Yo

[@JohnSuave]

Way to keep a secret Dave.

[@theboyoofoly]

Good boy bojangles

[@rafterrafter1227]

Legend has it, that whenever there's a tear on astronauts space suits those needles come very handy.

[@kairyss4285]

"For reasons" sums up a lot of things we do, actually...

[@TodayIFoundOut]

Literally almost everything :-)

[@indenial3340]

@@TodayIFoundOut What about the needles. What happened to them. Are they going to come down and puncture my pool or stick my dog on the ass, or perhaps fall on china killing Godzilla and the lizard people at the same time then President Trump can take credit for saving the world. I hope it's the last one. Would look awesome in history books.

[@RillianGrant]

@@indenial3340 We've still got 3 months of 2020 left...

[@disbeafakename167]

Only if you don't understand how logic works. Or motivation. Its something dumb people say when they don't understand something.

[@blackhat4206]

@@indenial3340 Depending on what they were made of (just started the video), they would likely disintegrate due to the heat of atmospheric re-entry before causing serious harm. Unless it brings down something as big as a satellite with it, then who knows. Just a hunch, though.

[@seanpeacock4290]

When you have a new hammer, everything looks like a nail. Nukes are big hammers and the U.S. had alot of them.

[@flappy7373]

Man, waking up to a personal greeting from Sir Patrick Stewart must have been the coolest thing they ever heard! That alone would have made all the hard work and dedication worth it for me.

[@johnknapp952]

Oh Boy, a brief lecture on Radio Wave Propagation in the Ionosphere. Just the thing to awaken dead brain cells of my time in Navy C school in the 70's.

[@williamwilson6499]

Corry Station...1979.

[@danb9312]

Corry Station... 1986/CTT

[@thebrocialist8300]

That’ll do, boomer... That’ll do...

[@suasponte8363]

Cut that doublet antenna and start tapping....kind of sucked being the 18E on a mountain during winter.

[@robertstoneking7916]

@@thebrocialist8300 boomers have long been decommed nowadays we have T-hulls.

[@brkr78]

"...planned to nuke the moon, more or less just because they could" ... ahrm, yeah, that sound about as 'murican as it gets.

[@Pining_for_the_fjords]

I thought it was just a comedy sketch. kzbin.info/www/bejne/fYWtZH9_dpp_o6M

[@dak4465]

The moon will join our coalition!

[@yondaime500]

"We came in peace for all mankind... lol jk"

[@vinny5638]

Imagine actually considering wrecking nuclear havoc on random constellations just to be like "yea we did that" wtf america

[@john-paulsilke893]

I sincerely doubt blasting the moon would do anything as far as lasting radiation fallout. After all the moon is consistently bathed in unfiltered gamma/beta radiation from the sun.

[@theangelbelow88]

The 50s US military was having a blast, at the cost of everyone else

[@allangibson8494]

As was Russia and a yard long list of other minor players.

[@davidmcguire6043]

Yeah we definitely weren't the only ones and we weren't even the worst we were just the loudest and the worst to covering of our tracks

[@allangibson8494]

@@davidmcguire6043 There were rumours of the Russians detonating a really big hydrogen bomb behind the moon. A reflection of the blast was seen on Mars. The US was more public with their screw ups - the Russian ones were much bigger but more secret.

[@allangibson8494]

@Zachary Hawkins The down side of secrecy is you get people repeating the same horrible mistakes over and over again. Learning from your own mistakes is good but expensive - learning from someone else's mistakes is better.

[@allangibson8494]

@Jim Shue The Russians certainly are. Their latest whoopsy with a nuclear jet engine confirms that. Keeping a secret is also easy if you are killed in the test.

[@DiscoR53]

Imagine being an astronaut on a EVA and getting hit by a swarm of these needles.

[@floydlooney6837]

In the 50's?

[@ErrynStamp]

Not in the 50s. Now. Many of them are still there. We track them.

[@damien4197]

@@floydlooney6837 It was... literally in the video.

[@Abdega]

The space bees are attacking! - Astronaut probably

[@trene6559]

We are such technological toddlers. I can imagine the alien observatory in our solar system has seen more than it's fair share of palm meeting face.

[@MosoKaiser]

Assuming the observing aliens have had cases of palm (or whatever equivalent they might have) meeting face occasions, it'd be interesting to hear how they solved the issue of needing to receive the transmissions of their probes at faster than light speeds.

[@simplyhuman3982]

Lol. You are probably right

[@appletree8441]

But they are also being observed. And they be the ones who are childish. You are at the bottom of humans

[@boho3785]

They’re probably laughing at us as we keep launching thousands of things into orbit. “They’re gonna lock themselves out of space”

[@InsanoBinLooney]

@mosokaiser, They solved the problem by abandoning their biology and uploading themselves into a virtual world within the computer in the observatory where they can control they're perception of time passing, therefore negating the need to have FTL comms. The "slow clap" in this case is really slow.

[@bamcr1218]

Hear ye hear ye! May they reign FOREVER!

[@StopChangingUsernamesYouTube]

Nuking the Van Allen belts? "Well, crap." Planning to nuke the moon? "WHAT." Tons of needles in space? "Stop, or I'll sew!"

[@alisaurus4224]

BOOOOOOO

[@Demonai_Warrior]

Undersea cables? I feel like that alone deserves a video! The sheer scale of that has to be pretty crazy.

[@asherdie]

Google

[@WoodStoveEnthusiast]

It's a bit of a...... Megaproject.

[@jamesslick4790]

Undersea telegraph cables existed before the US Civil War.

[@Demonai_Warrior]

@@jamesslick4790 Changes nothing, still cool. If not more interesting!

[@jamesslick4790]

@@Demonai_Warrior I wasn't trying to "change" anything. I was just bringing it up because it's pretty cool that they were there before radio or even the telephone were invented.

[@maximeprometheas]

15:03 - Ok, so today I found out that Simon's not a David Bowie fan. Because it's "Space Oddity", not "Space Odyssey"...

[@MasterMalrubius]

Maxime Prometheas Maybe he’s just being a Rebel Rebel.

[@niccolom]

I heard that and came to the comments section to see who else caught it.

[@zacharymclemore6307]

There's one in Seattle! we like to call it the Seattle space needle.

[@joeypriolo]

"So I don't go full textbook on you..." **proceeds to go full textbook**

[@wendychavez5348]

This is why we love Simon!

[@panda4247]

Actually, it was too little for my taste

[@mugwump7049]

Nah, that was the Reader's Digest version.

[@stevengordon3271]

The textbook (and true understanding) requires a lot of math.

[@MrSnowflake]

New to this channel really enjoy learning new stuff :)

[@MrSnowflake]

Henryk Gödel just discovered him recently really good channel though

[@ilarious5729]

If you like this you might also like geographics, it's another Simon channel, and I was pleasently surprised that he managed to make geographics interesting, I never was into that stuff before. Well it's not so much geography like tectonics etc as much as just history of interesting and important places all over the world 🗺

[@ilarious5729]

.. I managed to make it sound boring, really go check it though 🤔😅

[@MrSnowflake]

Anssi_Ilari haha I will thank you very much

[@bLackmarketRadio]

"Learning." FTFY.

[@mjordan812]

Memories! I was a US AIr Force Communicator from the early '60s through the early '80s. Remember well searching through the Ionosphere for a usable frequency from the list of permitted frequencies - changing frequencies up and down as needed, following the sun.

[@BytebroUK]

Hello, the idea of zillions of needles orbiting around and perhaps randomly smashing through stuff that's already up there got me thinking about a proper 'ablation cascade' or 'Kessler Syndrome'. Have you guys done a vid on that yet? If not, perhaps that would be an interesting one!

[@raydunakin]

I want to hear the song sung by Darth Vader.

[@mugwump7049]

According to this post: thecantina.starwarsnewsnet.com/index.php?threads/darth-vader-sang-a-beatles-song-to-nasa-astronauts-in-1988.57804/ there is no recording of the song at NASA, but the author speculates that the radio station might still have an archived copy. Check the link anyway, there's a video for a super cheesy "Star Wars" themed german commercial featuring Mark Hamill in a golden costume and Vader playing some kazoo. Don't ask why.

[@paulwilhelmsen6586]

“May they reign forever” I love this guy. I needed a laugh.

[@Raiche58]

This reminds me of the shipment of a billion dollars the US shipped to the middle east which was immediately disappeared.

[@panda4247]

You mean those for training and arming Afghani rebels against the Russians? I think some of those guys came back to the US later...

[@darenyoung1872]

Lol I love the reference to the lizard overlords I like that Simon

[@Newidhan]

14:35 Last time Japanese was murdered this hard it was 1945

[@BitwiseMobile]

When I studied RF in the Navy they called it "skipping". It works best with lower frequency waves. That's why FM seems to have less range than AM. FM tends to work through the ionosphere and you don't get skipping. AM, on the other hand, is low enough frequency to get a skip. That's why you can pick up AM stations from around the world sometimes.

[@sparky6086]

C'mon. Everyone knows; that British Satellite failed, because it had Lucas electrics!

[@O4FUXACHE]

Yup, all the smoke leaked out of the wiring :)

[@1WillyK]

I can remember sitting at night in the cockpits of various C-5's at Dover AFB while stationed there years ago listening to AM radio stations from all over the country.

[@hughjass2640]

I love being an American.

[@sahhull]

Bouncing radio waves off the ionosphere was an entertaining feature in the old days of C.B. Radio. We called it 'skip'

[@IntrepidFraidyCat]

I'm using my extra hour this Sunday to watch Simon.♥️♥️♥️👍

[@amdreallyfast]

One does not simply begin a quote by Patrick Stewart without ending it in one's best emulation of his voice

[@seonaelizabethcoster8465]

I'm extremely certain that it's illegal to not do that...

[@eze316wow]

Is there a recording of Patrick Stewart wake up call ? I can't seem to find it

[@draketungsten74]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/haixlY2so5ybqqs

[@MaineCoonMama18]

This brought back fun memories of hearing some of the special messages to astronauts on the news as a kid. I grew up about an hour away from Cape Canaveral.

[@matthewmoser1284]

Anybody else concerned that there are literally HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS of tiny needles just chilling up in our atmosphere....?

[@allangibson8494]

Not a problem everything below geostationary orbit drops to the ground eventually.

[@okerhrh4139]

Imagine chilling and boom a needle falls next to you

[@matthewwilliams2709]

oke rhrh lol none will survive reentry vapored many miles above the ground

[@LizardVideoDude]

@@okerhrh4139 He said a few dozen clumps, so probably there's only a small number (maybe hundreds or a few thousand?) left. And as @Matthew Williams said, they will burn up on reentry long before reaching you.

[@ThatOneAlbinoMofo]

@@LizardVideoDude Wtc 7 was hit by space needle?

[@Springman1996]

One good thing about working nights was being able to listen to AM stations across the country and get Canadian stations. Weird to get Red Eye or Coast to Coast on stations across the dial.

[@ralphlongo1975]

The rest of the world: We should have some say what you put in the sky above us. The U.S.: I'm sorry, what did you say? I was busy being bad ass! Did you guys ever want to nuke the moon!? The rest of the world: Wait, what!!?!

[@floydlooney6837]

Do they ask us before they launch stuff?

[@phatmanxxxl]

Merica owns the skys......and the moon.

[@joshuarichardson6529]

That's America for you. We can't do anything without there being an explosion involved. Movies, need more explosions. Holidays, get out the fireworks. Space Exploration, we need more 'splodies!

[@trikstari7687]

To be fair, what would it actually hurt? Not like it would just blow apart, and it's already irradiated. There'd be no point, but what would it actually hurt?

[@Abdega]

Space belongs to everyone US: So… free real estate? No not like that *NOT LIKE THAT!*

[@Bananaboy994]

I love space episodes. I love episodes with the title "That time...". I loved this episode

[@juliefultz4781]

Check out his Podcast The Brainfood Show. He has six episodes about space. All the podcasts are great, but if you like space he has you covered.

[@helloSanders]

Space needles? We really didn't need any more beyond the one.

[@jmmahony]

13:50 "Capcom" is "capsule communicator", not "capsule commander". Capcom is a person on the ground at mission control. The mission commander is in the spacecraft.

[@BooBaddyBig]

@8:40 Wait, what. We told you not to tell them.

[@geraldfrost4710]

long may our beloved lizard overlords live!

[@eloujtimereaver4504]

I really want to hear that Vader - Beatles collaboration.

[@RoguishlyHandsome]

Detonating nuclear weapons in high atmosphere. Now why would anyone think this is not a good idea?

[@pelleoh]

Typical American "logic" sadly. They don't care about anyone else but the rich in that mafia state.

[@micfail2]

@@pelleoh yeah, ensuring the safety of European countries so they haven't had to spend money on their own militaries for the last half a century was such a selfish thing to do. 🙄 You're welcome for keeping the Russians and Chinese from taking over the world while at the same time not taking it over ourselves even though we could. I know, it's *so* selfish not to take over the world. Sorry about that.

[@johnsmith2797]

@@micfail2 dont forget that when a natural disaster hits anywhere in the world like the earthquake in haiti or the tsunami in indonisia its always american navy and christian groups first on the scene to help.

[@christopherconard2831]

Everything is theoretical until someone does it. Hence experiments.

[@pelleoh]

@@micfail2 LOL US terror armies still occupy Germany, Italy and Japan even though the war ended more than 70 years ago. Europe doesn't need US "safety" as that equals to being puppet states to the D.C. tyranny. Russian is better people than the Americans and the entire world outside the US already know that. You're even worse than ISIS and by keeping SYRIAN oil you just prove that to the whole world. A terror empire that need to end.

[@gpetheri]

8:47 Needle less to say... Very clever Simon.

[@tomduke1297]

OMG, that patrick stewart bit made me tear up a little just immagining it. must have been mindblowing to get that message!

[@taiwanjohn]

Error at 13:49 - CAPCOM stands for _Capsule Communicator_ (not "commander").

[@StephanieElizabethMann]

Interesting and somewhat alarming and disappointing to find out the cavalier attitude of one nation and their "experiments in, on and above our collective home.

[@TheJwbooth]

And we are far from the dumbest or most venal culture on earth. Very scary

[@gnarthdarkanen7464]

Well... in defense of the "cavalier attitude"... At the time, some lout went off half-cocked and proclaimed we were going to put a man on the moon in a decade... some blah-blah-blah... We'll do them not because they are easy, but because they are hard..." Stick a fire under the collective ass of scientists across the country, and some cavalier antics are BOUND to ensue. ;o)

[@StephanieElizabethMann]

@Coldern Ice Yes. I agree. It seems the larger the country and the more full of themselves the more a country feels free to do as it pleases. Russia has Vladimir pussygalore hater. Xu ping in China. Trump in the US now. Even the French blowing up the rainbow warrior. Japan ramming sea shepherd. And good old Scott Morrison of Australia kisses everyone's arse. Not to mention nth Korea. What is it with people (and I use the term loosely) that have the ability to make their country safe, free and prosperous and all they do is wave their metaphoric dicks around while the screw their nation's populous and the world's environment.

[@baigandinel7956]

Except it was a bipolar world. Thanks for blaming our "one" nation for such things.

[@StephanieElizabethMann]

@@baigandinel7956 unfortunately I did give the US a hard time. I corrected that after my first comment. In reality we are all complicit by our tacit consent. By not saying no we all say yes.

[@williamsteele]

FYI, CAPCOM is a position in the mission control center... it doesn't stand for Capsule Commander... it stands for "Capsule Communications"... it is the person responsible for relaying all human messages between the ground controllers and the capsule itself. It's usually manned by a fellow astronaut trained with the same systems so that they understand the communications.

[@tawon1984]

7:06 R2D2’s Great great great grandpa 🤖

[@jamesslick4790]

Actually, it would be the other way around. "Star Wars" takes place in the distant PAST, Not the future.

[@Guytron95]

Love the lizard lord shout-out!

[@theecherokeerose]

space needles on november 3 - very funny

[@Darryl_Frost]

AM Radio at night goes a long way due to ground wave, that is the low frequency 'hugs' the ground and that results in long distance communications. I guess it is now a bit of a lost art maintaining HF Radio Military communications circuits, but it is interesting and fun to do.

[@joshriles84]

I spend most of my time watching your hands. How much thought do you put into your hand movements? Ive noticed tree same thing watching the channel thaughty2

[@dominic5356]

as a hand gesturer myself I can tell you that personally I don't really think about it they just sorta go while I talk at least some of the time. while a conscious effort can be made to make gestures with the hands while talking, some people either because they train themselves to do it or because they just naturally move while they talk do it more or less subconsciously.

[@cplmpcocptcl6306]

deathninja Just don’t do that in court. I was considered hostile because I too gesture a lot.

[@theangryaustralian7624]

It's called gesticulating and it can be an art form

[@anthonycaruso1781]

He probably puts no thought into the hand movements he does while talking. I do the same whenever giving a speech or presentation and usually don't even notice in doing it while it happens, when I talk my hands just wave about as they please with no conscience input from my brain.

[@beware_the_moose]

Thoughty2s hands are saying "help me, this guy is talking rubbish" Seriously most of his content is...to put it politely... badly researched.

[@JT-cloverbottomt]

Simon....without missing a beat or phrase “...Draconian Overloards, long may they reign...”. I don’t think Simon even took a breath before beginning the next sentence! 😂. Great video.

[@eugenew2]

When a human is born in space(such as the moon) would these international rules still apply to this person?

[@krishnar1182]

Eugene Weltzer II I’m not sure if I understand your question completely. Presumably, in terms of citizenship and legal obligations, the citizenship of the child would be determined, like it is now, based on the citizenship of the child’s parents. If you mean about restrictions on doing certain things in space (like putting nukes in space), those restrictions are on countries, not citizens. The country of which this human born in space is a citizen who prohibit him/her from doing the Outer Space Treaty restricted activities.

[@dak4465]

Talk about being countryless. Can you imagine not having a home *PLANET?*

[@DARisse-ji1yw]

If a baby is born on a ship in international waters, the citizenship of the parents determine citizenship & hence legal jurisdictions..... Now.... a test tube baby born on an interstellar mission.... I dunno !

[@WintrBorn]

D.A. Risse The genetic material is still donated by people, in one way or another, and a "test tube baby" still must be placed in a uterus to gestate. Therefore, the (minimum) 3 people involved would be used to determine the citizenship. So, surrogate, genetic mother or father would be used to determine home country.

[@josephteller9715]

@@WintrBorn citizenship doesn't work the same way in all countries. There is no international standard for such things. There are people who are alive who were born in countries that no longer exist, and who have had children born in countries that do not recognize birth within their borders as meaning automatic citizenship. It gets very messy.

[@VUbukata]

I am always a fan of your little quips and/or your overlord comments. Keeps me hooked as well as educated.

[@dak4465]

The answer: *BECAUSE REASONS*

[@geraldfrost4710]

You will find that most thing boil down to "because".

[@dak4465]

@@geraldfrost4710 indeed

[@zeusathena26]

Look at how many satellites, astronauts etc if our own we have blown up. Nothing is for sure when going to space!

[@esra_erimez]

We get it Simon, you don't like the US.

[@JoseAbell]

He freaking adores the US! So much content.

[@semiramisbonaparte1627]

lol right!

[@nateborck4577]

He loves the US! He puts out so much content on us. It’s not his fault we like to fail in the flashiest or most explosive way possible.

[@SANibbler]

All those needles for the Great Sweater Knitter in space. Going to be a stupendous sweater, just as soon as the wool is sent up as well.

[@michaelc.]

Hey guys, love this one though I kinda had to skip forwards after getting thoroughly bogged down and confused even in the depth of the ionosphere conversation. Just one correction - CAPCOM isn't the CAPsule COMmander (as the script read by Simon suggests) - it's the CAPsule COMmunicator. The idea was that only one person would be the main verbal communications conduit between mission control and the in space flight crew, mainly to avoid multiple lines of communications being sent to the ship, and this person was also an astronaut trained for a similar mission (it started during the Mercury series) so they had an in depth understanding of what the crew might be doing, and would be able to communicate that effectively within Mission Control. Love all your series!

[@AlyssaNguyen]

So like Uhura's job

[@oberstul1941]

Getting a wake up call from captain Jean Luc Picard has got to be the best thing in the world; the 2nd best would be a wake up call from Simon impersonating Patrick Stewart :P

[@rherman9085]

You left out Ham Radio Operators use AM band.... a lot! 73

[@badhippo]

When I was using CB Radio in the 90s, we used to call this bouncing radio technique "Skip", and it enabled me (in Aberdeen, Scotland) to speak (every so often) with people in Spain, Turkey, and sometimes Russia.

[@diyeana]

This is why you don't let a bunch of men get into a room together to plan things. One thing leads to another and they decide to blow stuff up!! 😂

[@JoseAbell]

Sometimes were alone and bored and still decide to blow stuff up. Videogames help us cope with this impulse safely.

[@gnarthdarkanen7464]

@@JoseAbell EXCEPT that some of us just prefer private model rocketry. ;o)

[@diyeana]

@@JoseAbell that is true. I am a woman and really love a good killing now and again...in a video game.

[@geraldfrost4710]

Beer, ego, testosterone, and ignorance. We can do anything!

[@scooterdogg7580]

as a kid I remember a neighbour had a c.b.radio sometimes he would be speaking to people thousands of miles away but only as he said "when the skip was right" meaning atmospheric conditions for bouncing signal it was cool

[@ryana7536]

Still no comments, huh

[@KarstenJohansson]

Anybody remember the CRRES experiment in January 1991? They released barium and lithium at elevations of between 21000 and 9000 miles mainly to see what colour they'd produce at each elevation. Basically you got a couple weeks of different auroras even in places you normally wouldn't ever see them. On the ground, it was quite spectacular. Seeing the sky pulsing at night is a bit freaky besides.

[@sweet_root]

The answer? Russians!

[@divergentevolution8114]

Gotta have a bad guy to justify that defense budget.

[@Cjnw]

@@divergentevolution8114 *Billie Eilish has entered the chat*

[@lurchibold]

love the back handed dig at david ike & co. Reptillian overlords, brilliant!!

[@roblena7977]

"Just because they could" is an unfair assessment, it's a little more uncommon these days but a lot of discoveries were made by doing random experimentation with little to no expectation.

[@writerconsidered]

True however nuking the moon is a very bad idea, it would have the potential of knocking the moon out of orbit. You nor anyone else would want to see the effects of earth without a moon.

[@demandred1957]

@@writerconsidered ................ you obviously have no idea about the mass of the Moon. Maybe you should look that up first

[@zachdemand4508]

@@writerconsidered You watch way too many scifi movies.

[@dexterstudio480]

nah scientist should be guided by principles of science not just random experiment them nuking lower earth atmosphere means they knew what nucl;ear does its just carelessness

[@roblena7977]

Dexter Studio if we were always guided by scientific principles the church would be our universities.

[@wireflight]

Blunders might be insanely expensive, but that Starfish Prime thing is effin *hilarious!*

[@jacobmortimore]

Ahh I would pay to hear that Patric Stewart recording and I don't even like Star Trek

[@draketungsten74]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/haixlY2so5ybqqs

[@timothyneiswander3151]

@mort I take payment in cash, check, money order, credit card, gift card and most importantly bitcoin.

[@jeffmccrea9347]

BONUS FACT: Sky wave or ground wave propagation does NOT depend on AM or FM. AM broadcasts are on the 530 Khz to 1710 Khz band where FM broadcasts run from 88Mhz to 108 Mhz over 100 megahertz or megacycles higher in frequency than AM. Lower frequencies propagate better by skywave "skip" than higher frequencies although VHF skip is not unheard of. Some ham radio operators bounce signals off the moon and even the ion trails of fallen meteorites.

[@natman2211]

To vaccinate *space*

[@graham2631]

The mentality of the American military never ceases to amaze me.

[@YouVSMeTV]

Space grandmas for knitting. Its could out there in space.

[@CMBell1985]

"At night.. the sun goes missing for a little bit" Your delivery is great

[@wesleytownsend8214]

Oh dear... The conspiracy theorist didn’t hear the sarcasm in Mr Simon’s voice. Be ready to have this clip included in lots of strange paranoid videos... All the best to you and yours!

[@andrewyoung-n8ary]

Technically, you could use Amplitude modulation on the same frequencies as the FM band. The two bands behave differently, because one of them is on the medium frequency band, and the other one is on the very high frequency band. The type of modulation does not influence the propagation much.

[@rileyemery925]

No views. Well i guess this confirms that im in fact no one.

[@imgoodbye9252]

Riley Emery Creative and Unique. This comment was a good 7/10.

[@d4mdcykey]

I didn't think it was possible, but I now like Patrick Stewart even more than before after hearing about the message he created especially for our brave Space Walkers.

[@JoaniesJourney]

Seriously...you can NOT get distracted for even a second cause this guy talks so fast you miss entire chapters!!! I had to rewind several times...lol

[@cameronsmith3047]

That's the style of channel he runs, if you're looking for a similar channel that goes through information slower id recomend fact fiend

[@lilycollins4616]

Loved this information , was waiting for this.😸🐾🐾🐾🐾💕

[@Wistful77]

I love your content, your delivery, and your voice. But all the hand waving is a bit distracting. Just sayin'. 🙏👆👈🖖 Very interesting subject!!

[@Morsa.B.Alto1]

Gesticulation is an unfortunate but often necessary form of human expression and communication. I say we nominate Simon to be one of the first humans to have their consciousness uploaded into a computer so that he'll have no hands to wave around and have access to even more fascinating information, while retaining that lovely personality!

[@Wistful77]

"...envoys of mankind" a lovely phrase.

[@Wistful77]

@@Morsa.B.Alto1 I do love him, & watch daily! It was just a bit much this time., especially in the beginning.✌

[@Morsa.B.Alto1]

@@Wistful77 I know what you mean, I usually put videos on and just listen to them, making sure to check when an important image is referenced. At least the content is interesting though!

[@Wistful77]

@@Morsa.B.Alto1 I couldn't focus my mind on the images they showed as his hands moved around. I have no real crituque to make. He's so good at this it really makes no difference...

[@markstover7064]

I and several friends living on the coast of Washington state grew up in the 70s listening to broadcasts each evening of CBS Radio Mystery Theater from KFBK in Sacramento California as that Ionic bounce was perfect for us to pick it up crystal clear.

[@MrNick-og4qm]

First boom!

[@stephjovi]

Sry you were second by 8 seconds 🤣.

[@balreadysaid]

I'm from the future... you were 3rd

[@LadyWhinesalot]

no point in being first as there are no comments to comment on

[@stephjovi]

@@balreadysaid I know I didn't say that I was second or thirst. 🤣. It's just that after a few minutes Noone sees the seconds anymore so just for fun I quickly wanted to mention that this was the second one because yes Musical monster s still no comments, was 8 seconds faster 🤪

[@DarientheG]

@@stephjovi no this guy was first refresh the video and sort by newest first and then scroll all the way down. Boom! First

[@chrissilsby4312]

Thanks, Today I found out way you can AM Radio Waves better at night from far away, even better than closer stations ones.