A Message from Earth and Flappy Gloves: Citation Needed 2x04

[@cameronwebster6866]

1:45 I would like to point out that, in 2015 [after this video was posted] it was discovered that Beagle 2 successfully landed, however some of the solar panels didn't deploy, blocking the antenna.

[@RAFMnBgaming]

so we can confirm the CD made it?

[@jero37]

Hey Tom, did you realize Chris meant Parsecs as distance when he said that? His expression of disappointment is priceless.

[@jeffgoldblunt]

1:11

[@Acela2163]

His disappointment was about the same as mine.

[@helloludi3100]

@@Acela2163 which is similar to your parents' i presume

[@HeyItsKora]

sén né why even bother commenting

[@helloludi3100]

@@HeyItsKora because

[@pmyou2]

"We are the Knights who say 'Glee'!"

[@skippy9214]

No, you are the knights who say eke eke eke ptang zoo wang

[@smeggerknee2448]

And they demand a shrubbery.

[@CatsMeow_]

@@smeggerknee2448 And a second one too!

[@rattrap1009]

Points: Chris: 2 Gary: 4, 1 MB Matt: 1 Winner: Gary (but Tom gives it to Chris.) • Totals: Chris: 39 points 2 Mystery Biscuits 4 Wins Gary: 34 points 7 Mystery Biscuits 4 wins Matt: 32 points 4 Mystery Biscuits 4 Wins SEASON 1 WINNER: Chris by points; Matt by wins; Gary by Mystery Biscuits. Band names / albums so far: Furious Strumpets, SimpleHuman, Wallaby Butler Material.

[@postmasterspecific]

Gods work

[@Majorite]

Oh

[@PQRDG]

Granted, Chris had fewer points than Gary, but he did just come up with a solution to world peace, so it’s fair that he won

[@yarnmonster5157]

My very tired brain just got very confused as to how Gary got 4.1 megabytes of points this episode

[@myladycasagrande863]

I've long since given up trying to understand how points correlate to winning in this game. Tom's just making it up as they go!

[@rofljohn23]

That joke about the Ukranian space agency suffering budget cuts suddenly got very, very real :P

[@rin_etoware_2989]

imagine, in the future, everyone's deadly busy fighting over time machine blueprints or something, then we just hear that an alien delegation has come to answer the transmission we made way back when

[@yuvalne]

+

[@joltz..2042]

7 years later

[@SwimmingPanda]

Listening to it I just presumed this was a recent video

[@philipwhiuk]

At the time it was just after the Crimean Peninsula annexation.

[@sub2willne52]

Intergalactically potentially sexted is the most interesting sentence i have ever heard

[@adammullarkey4996]

And that makes "Intergalactically potentially sexted is the most interesting sentence i have ever heard" the most interesting sentence I've ever read.

[@Killercreek]

Except this would simply be interstellar, as it's still within out galaxy

[@cozy_is_punk]

r/BrandNewSentence

[@marshallr.8121]

one year after this comment, i scroll down to the comments just in time to read and hear that sentence at the same time by random..

[@harrytodhunter5078]

The best sentence is “Toblerone Rolo Combo”

[@klaxoncow]

I'd send Brian May as Earth's ambassador. That is, Professor Brian May, as he is a qualified astrophysicist (which makes him an expert on aliens). But he's also a brilliant guitar player, so he can dazzle the aliens with his axe playing and hypnotise them into giving us all their advanced tech. And if all else fails and the aliens are hostile, then he can start playing "Flash" by Queen, in order to invoke Flash Gordon to save every one of us. Well, we're buggered otherwise, so it's worth a shot. Or, at least, he could invoke Brian Blessed to bellow "Gordon's alive!" at the aliens and that should scare them off.

[@klaxoncow]

p.s. I hadn't reached the bit where they actually did mention Brian Blessed when I posted that. But, hey, that's a nomination and it's been seconded, so it's settled. We send Brian Blessed to meet the aliens.

[@meesguyy]

Glad I’m not the only one who thought of him 😂

[@clockworkkirlia7475]

We need to send The Brians Three: Brian May, Brian Cox and Brian Wecht. Three PHD physicists with expertise in the universal languages of maths and music, and one of them's even a ninja! Operation: BLESSED is the backup plan.

[@dominichines9996]

Doesn't even matter if he's referring to flash gordon or gordon freeman!

[@skippy9214]

Astrophysicist is not the same as astrobiologist, given that professional astrobiologists don’t really exist yet. However, the people probably most qualified to understand alien life would be people who study extremophiles or the most remote cultures, so microbiologists and anthropologists.

[@aDifferentJT]

I’ve just noticed that 15 days after this was released it was confirmed that the MRO had found Beagle 2 and confirmed that it had in fact landed safely, and just failed to deploy.

[@DIEGhostfish]

"UKIP In Space. Exploring the Universe so we can tell them to stay where they are."

[@PTBP-CB]

i still love that brannon doesn't know how tinder works because left is no and right is yes.

[@lizzyb.8009]

"who would you pick as the epitome of evil?" oh, such a simpler, more innocent time... (by which i mean both 2008 and when this episode was made)

[@joshuaevans6295]

Genuinely frightened of whoever it is who will come next and make our current situation seem tame by comparison.

[@MatthewDoel32]

@@joshuaevans6295 Senator Tom Cotton from Arkansas.

[@dbseamz]

@@iykury Emperor Nero, then?

[@beth12svist]

​@@joshuaevans6295 Welcome to the global situation in 2023.

[@JoshSweetvale]

6:40 Excuse you?! Tom Scott's the Mass Production model of Brian Cox! Skinny soft-spoken British ageless science-explainey bloke.

[@thelastcube.]

13:31 OMG I just had the best moment of my Citation Needed history every, I spat out "Theremin" as soon as Tom said "Instrument", "Russians" (the inventor) and "Space" (it's sound is weiredly space-Y) And it got the biscuits! I've really peaked rn in this series' binge watch

[@qwertzy2610]

5 years later (actually since short after the recording) we know that Beagle 2 landed at a perfect velocity but could not open the solar panels

[@Lutranereis]

Oh, the Wow! Signal. It could be nothing, it could be the most important discovery of any time in human history. We'll never know.

[@snowfloofcathug]

Until we does

[@gwenynorisu6883]

It was probably one of those still-puzzling Fast Radio Burst things... maybe an exocivilisation powering a light-sail ship somewhere in our direction...

[@timothymclean]

Recent analysis suggests it's just this side of nothing.

[@undergroundish3135]

And yet, even more rexent analysis suggests that A)yes it is a SFRB (Super Fast Radio Burst) and it bears close resemblance to other FRBs that they have found recently (apparently they are everywhere) and there are those that theorize they may be the detectable sign of communications over super long distances, as the quantum world tells us, it can be done and astrobiologists tell us that IF exolife exists, then they HAVE all the technology we do and then some so they would be able to use the quantum laws and theories much more masterfuly than us, simply because they have had more time to do so, literally speaking relatively (in the einstien and hawking sense) please forgive my typos. the keyboard has taken quite a beating and has gone swimming in coffee lately, among other things

[@GumSkyloard]

Wow!

[@requiembeeblebroxx]

@ 1:15 The first invader from the alien death fleet is actually right behind you, disguised as a fancy lemon juicer.

[@otherssingpuree1779]

Thank you for the playlist. I have watched it twice now.

[@dbseamz]

Is that what that thing is? I thought it was the theremin they keep talking about, since I have only a vague idea of what a theremin looks like.

[@samuelmelcher333]

I'd like it if there was a list of links to Wikipedia pages or such like explaining all of the either obscure or extremely British references in the description.

[@lawrencecalablaster568]

Samuel Melcher Yeah; I still have no idea why they don't like Daz Sampson.

[@entropyzero5588]

+Samuel Melcher Sooo… You're saying that Citation Needed needs citations? ;)

[@patrickbeart7091]

I'd love that on American stuff in general

[@lawrencecalablaster568]

They actually posted a link in the description of a Daz music video, it was funny.

[@TJForceIX]

We now know that that Blur CD is perfectly fine as the Beagle 2 did actually make it to the surface but it's communications array never deployed.

[@EdwardCree]

So what you're saying is, Ming the Merciless is terrible at hitch-hiking the galaxy... He doesn't know where his towel is.

[@Poppamunz]

Well, at least we're mostly harmless.

[@odyseya]

I think we should be avoided at all costs

[@DevilboyScooby]

"you're forgetting something here, this isn't television, this is meeting an alien death fleet." Not something I expected to hear today.

[@dulcian3230]

The Ukraine Space Agency thing Hits differently in 2022

[@micayahritchie7158]

Not really I didn't even notice it. When was it

[@HKlink]

@@micayahritchie7158 Ukraine is kind of in a bit of a war right now. Or do you mean in the video? About 2:17

[@micayahritchie7158]

@@HKlink I meant in the video

[@jasonisbored6679]

Keep in mind - 2014

[@dulcian3230]

@@jasonisbored6679 r/Tungsten Oxygen Oxygen Oxygen Oxygen Sulfur Hydrogen

[@s6th795]

If there are aliens out there searching for extraterrestrial intelligent life, this signal isn't going to help our case.

[@timothymclean]

"They're smart enough to figure out radio, but good space god do they have terrible taste!"

[@TonyHammitt]

Thanks guys, that was quite good. Often I've been embarrassed by our feeble attempts to communicate, but never realized the depths to which we've actually sunk. "Let's tune into that Earth channel, it's always good for a laugh..."

[@sjeses]

I actually enjoy this show of yours more than I do QI. I'm very thankful a mate of mine made me aware of your channel, so a heartfelt thanks from the Netherlands!

[@joheyjonsson2825]

UKIP would never go to space. Too many aliens.

[@mirzaahmed6589]

Farage loves a bit of probing, though.

[@theswaff699]

It'll be kinda hard to tear gas an alien space ship though

[@alasdairhamer8006]

they would just complain about them immigrating

[@kathrynblodgett1969]

You've "been Tom Scott"?. Are you OTHER people on other occasions?

[@joshuahadams]

Kathryn Blodgett sat one point, he was a pirate politician.

[@thelastcube.]

@@joshuahadams _ahem_ you mean MAD CAP'N TOM SCOTT?!

[@avakining]

_YAAARRRRRRRRRRR_

[@jacobbass6226]

Thanda Paani *PLUNDER ASUNDER*

[@Muzer0]

It's how people traditionally sign off on radio comedies/etc. in Britain, for some reason. And since Tech Diff started out on the radio this makes sense.

[@epicsnail14]

congratulations, you win a traditional Japanese bathrobe made from lizard skin and decorated with an extinct bird that belongs to John Lennon's wife its yoko Ono's camodo dodo kimino

[@beaniepollard8290]

well done

[@charliecooper2664]

Why have i seen you on every single Tom Scott video recently haha.

[@KettuKakku]

Yoko Ono's komodo dodo kimono?

[@tunasorority]

Bathrobe?

[@AvaFayIliza]

I agree. As well done as that was, a Kimono was not a bathrobe. It might be argued that a Yukata could be a bathrobe, but a Kimono was something that was/is worn through daily life and as somewhat formal wear.

[@xpehkto]

In 2021 Wikipedia article about this message is already just a redirect to the Active SETI article, and there are no details about content of that message anywhere on Wikipedia now, so with a gradual link rot of news articles we really can lose all information about it long before we will get a response.

[@Somerandomdude-ev2uh]

imagine getting the response our offices are now closed, please call back when we are open.

[@edengleback872]

at least the messages weren't chosen by KZbin comments

[@atl3300]

I heard Tom say Ukraine and actually had a stroke

[@Piper_____]

The message: "By all known laws of aviation..."

[@cameronjadewallace]

🤣

[@DarrenLandrum]

Gary, all you really needed to say to the "You know about Tinder?" inquisition is, "I can read."

[@Brannersatlarge]

Damn! Add that to the excuse-a-tron!

[@bioLarzen]

In 2050 the reply message will be "Didn't read you clear, please repeat".

[@kathrinehmunk]

"To figure out what on earth we have sent them" 😂 probably an unintentional pun

[@glitchxero4687]

I'm so glad I found this show. Ended up coming to Tom's channel from my KZbin recommendations, I assume as a result of my subscription to Computerphile. This is better than 90% of American television.

[@purpledevilr7463]

2:30 topical. From 2022.

[@singerofsongs468]

Believe it or not, this is not the episode with the phrase “moon theremin” in its title.

[@hotelmario510]

Fun fact: Beagle 2 didn't actually crash on Mars, it was found in one piece the same year this video went out. Its solar panels just failed to deploy so they couldn't talk to it.

[@DJVLDN]

Bebo was very popular in the UK but it was actually an American company, founded in San Francisco and currently owned by Amazon.

[@violagreene4643]

And we wonder why our entry in the Hitch Hiker's Guide just says "Mostly Harmless".

[@HaydenX]

Interesting you bring up the strange pronunciation of Earth at the beginning. In Old English, it was spelled "Eorð" and was pronounced roughly as "ehYorth" with the "ð" being a voiced "th" as in "then" and the "eh" being a very short sound, enough to make the whole thing one syllable as it is today.

[@williammeadows2210]

The WOW signal is thought to be from a nearby microwave.

[@mastersoftoday]

perhaps you're thinking of the so-called _perytons_ - they were signals observed by the Parkes telescope in Australia until they realized a microwave being opened while its still on gives off a radio signal similar to a fast radio burst

[@3seven5seven1nine9]

"We're gonna communicate with aliens, what's the most important thing they should know about us?" "Politics. Let's show them that not only do we believe others are evil, but that we have the evil in our hearts to hate them for it"

[@LaMaisondeCasaHouse]

I think "obscure Star Wars reference" is an oxymoron...

[@lawrencecalablaster568]

Tell that to Darth Talon…

[@pkmntrainermann4476]

Parsec is an actual scientific unit though... So obscure astronomy reference?

[@chillinlikeaphilin]

I don't know, the Extended Universe is rather obscure-ish.

[@rosiefay7283]

1:10 Star Wars reference as in misusing "parsec" as if it were a unit of time rather than of distance?

[@DerplingKing]

@@rosiefay7283 The Kessel run goes around a black hole so the faster you go the closer you can go to the black hole and the straighter and shorter the route is?

[@nanardeurlambda]

2:34 ... welp. that's certainly something I just heard that's somehow truer right now than at the time...

[@arielendsley3181]

I always look forward to the look of concerned anticipation on the winner's face as he tries to figure out what the prize will be.

[@AndrewWilsonStooshie]

Someone suggested to Carl Sagan that the disc on voyager should contain Bach. He pointed out that that would just be showing off.

[@halyoalex8942]

"Send Stephen Hawking" *Sad future viewer noises*

[@KongoDub]

Relevant

[@halyoalex8942]

@@KongoDub what happened

[@KongoDub]

@@halyoalex8942 The island visits edit: "Alleged"

[@mountnstream]

"I can only assume [the Ukraine national space agency] has had some budget cuts recently." Still relevant and topical almost 9 years later...

[@Faithy2386]

This video is older now than 2008 was when this video was recorded.

[@vkillion]

Well, most people out of Britain would have had no idea who Nigel Farage was when this was made. However, re-watching this in 2017, everyone knows the architect of the Brexit disaster. I rather like the idea of him in space. Maybe he can take Trump with him.

[@chrisoddy8744]

Boris Johnson as well?

[@samreid6010]

@@chrisoddy8744 plus the remains of Maggy Thatcher just to be sure

[@cameront011]

@@chrisoddy8744 you must be happy with the recent news hahaha

[@ensignphil]

8:00 Imagining Morgan Freeman in all gold and Hawking with a bin over his chair.

[@rattlesnake2345]

Dude said Steven hawking and I was like "how old is this?" Then I realized....6 years ago

[@GoodLizardlicks]

"We're going to include a representation of evil and send a recording of W. Bush" Trump in 2016: "Hold my beer."

[@simonfrohlich7766]

And now earth is well knowen in the Galaxy as being just a giant communication troll :D

[@MBA2804]

forget trolling the internets we've trolled the universe

[@robertwilloughby8050]

Remember, if we get "Good Vibrations" back, they have got the theremin, and they're (relatively) benign!

[@matthewharris-levesque5809]

Alien race receives message, can't decode it. Suddenly fearful that there are other races out there, decides they must adapt from an Agrarian Community to a War-Defense government, leads them into expedited technology breakthroughs, and they evolve to exist beyond physical bodies - by the time we get there, all that's left is the remains of a great civilization, and we realize that we've missed our one chance at making interstellar friends, all because we sent them an episode of The Flintstones.

[@eternalsummer8409]

Cosmic ordering? These days we just call that Amazon

[@FamusJamus]

Someone do a radio drama about UKIP in Space. It _has_ to be done!

[@Admiralhall2000]

Nillie yes. Excellent idea

[@TrollingAround]

Nillie Better still, let's send them out there and totally ignore/forget them?

[@elmondo-s1e]

“Bebo is what people younger than us used when MySpace wasn’t cool enough” hahahah I was one of those younger people. Bebo was weird and all I really remember from it is the popularity contest element. You had something like (1 then it went up to) 3 hearts to give to other Bebo profiles per day, and your “received heart count” was displayed on your profile. Looking back it was kind of brutal when you consider a group of teenagers who are all friends with each other constantly comparing Hearts 😂😂

[@TallOldOak]

I wonder if they played that Bush quote, "our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we, they will stop at nothing to harm America... And neither will we!" or that gem, "Most of our imports come from other countries " or "boarder relations between Mexico and Canada have never been better " or "fool me once, shame on... shame on... Uh shame on you... Uhh fool me twice... Uhhh... You can't get fooled again!"

[@Kurtea00]

2:25 this didn't age well.

[@MontyD]

can we make David Attenborough ambassador for earth?

[@lagronion]

This is sad since Stephen hawking has passed

[@hnyii]

True.

[@autooctavia133]

In 100 years aliens are going to see this and are going to be very unhappy

[@FlintTD]

Brian Cox. I was hoping for Brian Blessed or Jesse Cox.

[@lawrencecalablaster568]

FlintTD I thought they meant the actor Brian Cox.

[@schucker88]

This is a great show, Tom! Keep it up and I'll watch every single one!

[@rexstauss]

the moog theremini auto snaps to note frequencies. it's pretty cool!

[@Anthaghoull]

The power of Greyskull :))) Imagine an alien race who monitored us and sends back the Flinstones theme to try and hint at us that we are still their equivalent of stone age.

[@rhyleymaster]

Gary and Chris never fail to make me laugh. Keep on doing what you do :D

[@Leffrey]

Well the lenght of the line between landing and impact really comes down to the skid marks

[@TheLonelyPeople314]

Poor hawking died before he could be an Earth ambassador of the TechDif space message

[@hansolo4017]

16:11 did anyone else automatically finish that off in their head

[@williamrose3413]

Theoretically our radio pulses used to do things like measure the distances to planets if they go far enough could act exactly like the wow signal for other systems

[@BleuSquid]

Have these all been recorded in one go, or does everyone just always wear the same shirts, and always have the same cloudy weather?

[@TomScottGo]

Aaron Haviland We record in batches: this is the last one filmed on the first day of the shoot -- hence the "off for curry" comment at the end! There are three more left in this run, filmed on day two in different clothes. Although my camera will still be pointed vaguely the wrong way...

[@aDifferentJT]

Aaron Haviland just to clarify, yes it is always cloudy

[@ash.l2175]

Aaron Haviland welcome to Britain

[@barakeel]

I am a bit late and I don't get all the jokes but it's a really good show!

[@cosmicpolitan]

I thought it would be obvious Patrick Stewart should be our Earth Ambassador 😁

[@entropiCCycles]

11:02 It took me a bit to hear the "attendant" part of that statement, and the mental image I had before then was hilarious because of that misunderstanding.

[@2dividedby3equals666]

I have just now realized Matt said Orkut at 5:07... I'm so old...

[@satin227]

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh i googled daz sampsom now my brain is exploding in pain

[@Haights]

+LAN Master (sirswears) I must be using the wrong Google then because all I'm getting is the guy from Bus Stop and I have no problem with that. (why yes I am DDR trash why do you ask)

[@Haights]

+Haights oh derp, forgetting the target audience here Why yes I am Dancing Stage trash, why do you ask

[@JamesLee-rn7hs]

Me too!

[@seenbelow]

A years' rent to Nigel Farage's Space Garage should be a prize in a future episode.

[@Nanakoglasgow]

RIP Hawking

[@CraniumOnEmpty]

Dang it! The answer to that win was "I have the POWER!"

[@Zelmel]

"Was it UKIP?" Oh you sweet, innocent children.

[@benjamingeiger]

Beagle 2 didn't crash, it merely performed a lithobraking maneuver.

[@TheInternetHelpdeskPlays]

back once again for my yearly playthrough of the Citation needed playlist. Party on Tom.

[@diynevala]

I just realized the intro/outro -sound is actually the whole Friends theme compressed into 2 seconds!

[@georgedoty-williams2085]

Really??

[@diynevala]

@@georgedoty-williams2085 Sure, if you take it with a load of sarcasm. But the sound is there.

[@xerozoo]

a parsec is 3.26156378 light years

[@somecunninglinguist]

This show keeps me on my toes. Sometimes I know all the questions sometimes none

[@michal2788]

After re-watching this for the 20th or so time I wish Tom said "joining us in the kitchen today"

[@elikorn8777]

Watching in 2021. All the M class planets we have found

[@jamietus1012]

Richard Dean Anderson would be the ambassador for earth

[@penfold-55]

wow this show was incredibly geeky! i love it!

[@nathanstack3312]

That Ukraine joke is more true in 2022

[@legendofFranktheTank]

stephen hawking and morgan freeman for earths ambassadors. that joke did not age well

[@timothymclean]

And the Ukraine one aged better?

[@jesarablack1661]

Worst thing about sending a 4 hour message, if we got a message of that length (assuming we even detected all of it), we wouldn't be certain how much was lost or if it was really random or not unless it repeated for so much longer

[@BippyTheGuy]

Update from the Future: Beagle 2 actually survived!

[@darthbob88]

12:30 I mean, the Voyager probes have a golden plaque showing a) two nude humans, and b) the location of Earth, and c) a record containing traditional music from Earth, as well as some greetings. "Hey, spaceman, why don't you come on over some time and we can test my hi-fi?"