What Did Moon Starers Do? | QI

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This clip is from QI Series M, Episode 5, 'Maths' with Stephen Fry, Alan Davies, Aisling Bea, Susan Calman and Sandi Toksvig.

[@crazyjoe1540]

I like how Sandi is already doing her future job here

[@starjake]

Their admiration for the night sky and those who observe it is so wholesome.

[@PercivalBlakeney]

@starjake "My sense of God, is my sense of wonder at the Universe." - Einstein. 😉

[@bantam700]

This reminds me of one of my favorite moments in my life so far. Out at a park with my telescope at dusk and just find Saturn to kill some time until it gets darker and next thing I know there is a line of people from an event going on asking if they can see. The reaction when people see a planet with their own eyes for the first time never gets old.

[@momentarilylapse]

I'm glad you shared that experience with them! Hope I get an opportunity to look through a telescope one day.

[@tonyshaw7420]

That was a beautiful public service 👏

[@korbell1089]

Nothing as impressive as that, but when I was in the army, I would put on my night vision goggles and watch the satelites whizzing by overheard.

[@thehellyousay]

Has your first moment of seeing a planet, or watching the moon glide past, ever gotten old? I feel it anew every time I get a chance to.

[@Guitar1nHand]

I love watching these episodes and realising how obvious a choice Sandi was as Stephen's replacement 😂

[@ErgonBill]

Being paid 6o% less than Stephen is a crime though. Well done BBC.

[@alansmithee419]

On top of Sandi's "correction" (it wasn't one, it was just more precise), "aptagram" seems to be a portmanteau of "apt" and "anagram."

[@DrZaius3141]

"aptagram" is also an anagram for "at grampa", but that wouldn't be an aptagram.

[@snr0n]

@@DrZaius3141 Maybe if grampa was a twitter account for sharing aptagrams? 😄

[@wdwerker]

An evening on the big island of Hawaii at a remote resort with no moon watching the stars was incredible. We could see satellites and the Milky Way , there were so many stars visible it was difficult to pick out constellations.

[@Chuckf66]

The idea of turning out the street lights & doing a radio lecture once a month is FANTASTIC! This should be compulsory.

[@jwvandegronden]

I love the story of Sandy about Reykjavik where the local government worked together with a radio show to share knowledge in a beautiful and municipal way! What a great example what we could do to lift each other up!

[@wintersdream2341]

I grew up in a dark sky city, we had rules about porchlights and had no street lamps. I remember being gobsmacked when a friend visited from Seattle. She told me it was the first time she had seen the stars in person

[@rachelcookie321]

@@wintersdream2341 she’d never seen the stars? Ever? What? My city has street lights and stuff but you can still easily see the stars at night. It sounds miserable to live somewhere that at night it’s still so bright from artificial light that you can’t see the stars.

[@henryaung7229]

I want to be on this show so bad. I love people who are fascinated with learning or sharing cool facts. It creates really unique conversation

[@rachelcookie321]

British comedians are so lucky, they have such fun jobs. They get to go on all these fun shows like QI and Taskmaster and just have fun. I wish I was just naturally funny so I could do that too. My friends and family find me very funny but i’m not funny enough to be a professional comedian. I want my job to just be chatting and having fun with my friends.

[@klaxoncow]

I like Aisling's thinking. "Ars Magna" obviously means "big arse".

[@FutureDeep]

Magnificent arse.

[@marycanary86]

sandi and alans saturn/uranus exchange is always golden

[@JimC]

All aptagrams are anagrams. An aptagram is a specific type of anagram.

[@Ilovethebush]

love that part about dimming the lights to listen to star radio

[@LeornianCyng]

And that’s why Sandi took over hosting duties from Steven. This definitely is one of the greatest QI questions. 2:50 - That exchange between Sandi, Alan and Steven was magnificent. Also, I agree with Sandi, I would love to have a weekly live radio broadcast here about the night Sky, it would be marvellous.

[@Taricus]

I know, I was thinking about how cool it would be to have that in my city too. We have so much light pollution in my area. It's extremely obvious where our city is in satellite photos, even though we're not a huge city. It makes it harder to do astronomy around here. To have the lights go out and a radio lecture where people can look up and see what they are talking about would be so much fun to do like once a year in the summer.

[@Hiya_There13667]

I remember buying a cheap telescope in my teens, and looking at stars in the sky at random. I stumbled on Jupiter and what I think is Saturn by complete accident, and it was such a thrilling surprise to see them. You can even see one of Jupiter's moons, or maybe more but I don't remember.

[@smoothrocky1847]

With the ‘current’ situation in the UK there maybe many opportunities for Dark Sky events this winter…

[@hunterG60k]

Came here to say this, don't let the tories hear about the idea or they'll be rebranding the blackouts

[@gailebsworth3453]

Love the idea that all the lights could be turned and we could have talks about what is available. Once a team in winter great.

[@Celeste-in-Oz]

Wow …I wish my city would do the turning off lights thing that sounds like the geekiest fun I can imagine 🤩

[@robertoproz]

Moon starer... just stand there staring at it

[@stuartkent383]

Begging for klaxon

[@meetaverma8372]

sandy is a perfect successor to stephen

[@john.premose]

Which moon? Cruithne?

[@alansmithee419]

Well, they're astronomers, so all of the discovered ones.

[@rosiefay7283]

But Cruithne isn't a moon...

[@alansmithee419]

@@rosiefay7283 Indeed, but some have taken to calling it one, and I would not put it past QI to do the same.

[@alfnoakes392]

@@rosiefay7283 Don't start that again ...😉

[@Ravendarkwytch]

I would love to have a time of year when all ambient lights were turned off in the UK and we could look at the stars. I have been places in the countryside where ambient light isn’t so great and the night sky looks so beautiful

[@christopherdean1326]

I get that quite easily most nights. I live in a small town (2,500 people, more of a large village) and I don't have to go that far to get away from most of the light pollution.

[@frankster200]

we had a power cut that lasted around 3 hours a good few years ago. Just being able to see the milky way was incredible and word soon spread. There was around 40 people wandering around the estate looking up at the sky and then an almighty groan when the power finally came back and the lights blocked out the sky.

[@AnonymousCaveman]

My partner lives on the outskirts of a small town in a woodland and when it's a clear sky, it looks breathtaking

[@jordivermeulen2519]

Sadly for most of us, the "best" night sky is in the southern hemisphere, as that's where you can see towards the galactic nucleus. I've been on a sailing ship near the Whitsunday islands, the night sky there was truly fascinating. It also helped to have a captain with good knowledge of stars and a decent set of binoculars. That said, I've also seen some really good skies from the Isle of Wight.

[@lilymarinovic1644]

Even if it were once a week or something- like a min Earth Hour. World can stop for a few hours and good for the hip pocket and the environment too.

[@rockets4kids]

Another anagram/aptagram for "Apple Macintosh" is "Heap complaints"

[@theUnforgiven48]

Recently the South-African government has taken notice of this phenomenon of turning off the ambient light to observe to night sky. Every night for 2 hours, sometimes even during the day, the power would be turned off across the entire country at various intervals for each region, to allow an entire nation to take the time and observe and learn the night sky.

[@peterfireflylund]

The ANC is ever so considerate.

[@jamesheadgierre6276]

I must remember to thank them. How considerate!

[@peterclarke7240]

I wouldn't be surprised if our Dear Leaders in the UK adopt such a measure here. Nothing at all to do with them shafting the entire economy, dear me, no! 😂

[@prashp143]

In India, we’ve already done it. And it went from 4 to 8 hrs. Making sure absolutely no one misses anything astronomical.

[@laupernut]

Ah yes, the random darkness of star observation is a national pastime in Ghana and Nigeria. In fact, citizens of both countries often dispute which country has the greatest number of days of moon gazing.

[@Monkofmagnesia]

I am half Irish but I 100% love Aisling Bea,

[@AlbertaGeek]

People of all nationalities 100% love her.

[@mikdavies5027]

Monkof Magnesia. Which half? (BTW. so do I!)

[@Monkofmagnesia]

@@mikdavies5027 Matrnal. My great-grandparents imigrated from County Clare.

[@mikdavies5027]

@@Monkofmagnesia Good for them, BTW, I like your name, Mr. Monk!

[@yugitom]

I thought it might be somebody planning to build a staircase to the moon

[@FeelRossly]

Let that dear have her moment. Sandi: “It’s *not* an anagram.” Sandi five seconds later, “An aptagram is an anagram…” Then why’d you say it wasn’t one? Play nice.

[@ofmanynicknames]

To be fair, Sandi and Susan tend to have a Stephen and Alan dynamic going, so the occasional slap on the wrist, even if (or especially when) overly pedantic, isn’t out of character.

[@FeelRossly]

@@ofmanynicknames well said :)

[@harsimaja9517]

@@ofmanynicknames Yeah but if you’re going to be pedantic and look smug at least be correct and don’t contradict yourself seconds later. Or failing that she could have at least made it funny.

[@tristanridley1601]

Sounds like a very poor choice for a host...

[@philipbyrnes7501]

Or you could have listened to Everything that she said in that sentence and not just the first half and you wouldn’t have posted that comment

[@clockworkkirlia7475]

Beautiful love for those who watch and listen to the songs of the spheres.

[@davidgillies620]

I'm surprised Stephen Fry didn't quote Keats when Sandi Toksvig mentioned how thrilling it must be to see something for the first time through a telescope.

[@irrichman]

hmmm Sandy, "That's not a dog that is a Labrador..."

[@danquaylesitsspeltpotatoe8307]

A show so good the host cant even be used to advertise it!

[@DrWhoFanJ]

She was, though. 🤷‍♂️🙄

[@lala-dodo]

"It's not an anagram" "what is an aptagram?" "It's an anagram"

[@333Saffie]

"Strap on" is an aptogram of "no parts".

[@aidangriffiths5075]

Wonder why the got Sandy to host this after Stephen..... 😂

[@wanderlustwarrior]

0:36 Do Sandi and Stephen share a brain, or something? How are they that quickly in sync? I should note that the correction wasn't entirely necessary, since it was still an anagram.

[@sunmeet]

Sandi is showing off, while being wrong: aptagram is by definition a subset of anagram which the person claimed.

[@adrianscarlett]

3:35 that should happen everywhere, it would be amazing.

[@BlazingMichael]

the moon folk

[@FreakyRufus]

In all fairness, it is an anagram, since the very definition of aptogram includes it being an anagram.

[@davidguthary8147]

Of course, none of this answers the question of how many moons they would be staring at.

[@medievalist]

Two, obviously. The main one, plus Cruithne. Pronounced Rich Hall-style - "CrooITHnee".

[@RubyDoobieScoo]

Seeing wasn't wrong about it being an anagram though, it's just a specific kind.

[@Xlomid]

"It's not an anagram, it's an aptagram." "What's an aptagram?" "An aptagram is an anagram where the word means roughly the same." So it is an anagram, after all 😋

[@komodosp]

Sandi: It's not an anagram it's an aptagram! Aisling: What's an aptagram? Sandi: It's an anagram....

[@neon9999]

They couldn't get all londoners to consistently turn off their lights at night during World War Two's German air raids, there's no way people would do that just to stare at the night sky...

[@ianfromcalifornia2215]

The church took a dim view because they forgot to remove the lens cap.

[@krishnajain4391]

Seems to me that aptagram is a subset of anagram. So moon-starer is still an anagram.

[@obi-wan-jacobi840]

I take issue with Sandi’s correction here. Just because it’s a more specific thing doesn’t make it not an anagram. She didn’t need to take the wind out of Susan’s sails like that.

[@krishnajain4391]

Yup. Aptagram is a subset of anagram. It's BOTH an aptagram and an anagram.

[@dorothyhansen4374]

I remember the awesome night sky camping in Montana 30 years ago. It does seem like now that when all the lights go out, looting seems to be the recreation of choice.

[@John_Ridley]

Sandy's wrong to say "it's NOT an anagram, it's an actogram" - it's both.

[@alansmithee419]

*Aptagram It seems to be a portmanteau of "apt" and "anagram." But yes, I agree, I do get a bit more annoyed than I perhaps should when someone "corrects" someone by simply being more precise. What they said was not wrong, why are you telling them they are?

[@MarkLewis...]

An actogram is a bio-record. "I am Lord Voldemort"

[@TheLemonCobweb]

Can anyone tell me what episode this is? Been looking through iPlayer and can't seem to find the right one...

[@gwishart]

Series M, episode 5 "Maths". It's on the BBC iPlayer now.

[@TheLemonCobweb]

@@gwishart Perfect, thanks!

[@John_Smith_60]

For future reference, the episode information is often in the description. (It is there as I write this, but I don't know if it was when you wrote your question.)

[@JK-vp2ux]

So Sandy has ALWAYS given Susan a hard time.

[@roylcraft]

Just heard we now see 10% less starlight than just 10 years ago!

[@mbirth]

3:30 ... now please look up "Wanderers - a short film by Erik Wernquist" here on KZbin. "Wanderers" basically has a double meaning there.

[@Mark-lj1dj]

Fun fact: the ape who throws the bone into the sky in 2001: a space odyssey was called moon watcher

[@CaptChrispy]

It'd be hard to work in the hospital without the lights treating all the car crash victims!

[@John_Ridley]

In the US people would get mad at the lights going out and a lecture - they're trying to make me learn something!

[@waynemarvin5661]

You're apparently judging all Americans by You Tube commenters.

[@John_Ridley]

@@waynemarvin5661 Well, I've lived here all my life. Going by a hell of a lot of people I've met. Personally I'd love it but there are people who would be mad if someone tried to put some majesty in their lives got in the way of a berder and fries.

[@JimC]

You think there are *not* a lot of people just like that in the UK? Or anywhere else?

[@John_Ridley]

@@JimC Don't know. I've never lived there and don't want to judge. I mean, probably though.

[@ianfromcalifornia2215]

They became lunatics.

[@Tao_Tology]

Virginia Bottomley -> 'I'm an evil tory bigot'

[@lazylad8544]

I know exactly when they started to stare at the moon.....night time...

[@John_Smith_60]

I'm sorry, but I hear/read comments like this so often that I have to respond; You _do_ know that the Moon can be seen during the day sometimes, don't you. And when you _can_ see it during the day (and some of the time that you _can't_ see it during the day - when it's too close in the sky to the Sun), the Moon _can't_ be seen at night.

[@lazylad8544]

@@John_Smith_60 it's called sarcasm. If you live in the uk you'll get it.

[@John_Smith_60]

@@lazylad8544 I know it was sarcasm. I am of Italian descent. I fully understand sarcasm. That's why I included the first phrase of the comment. Unfortunately, there are a frighteningly large number of people who are not aware that the moon can be seen during the day (and not just flat Earthers, either). I've witnessed people unsarcastically question how a solar eclipse can happen if the Moon is only out at night.

[@drewlovelyhell4892]

I'm aching for Stephen to correct guests about the pronunciation of "Uranus". (It's Yerr-Ah-Nus, not Yoor-Ay-Nus).

[@AndrewTBP]

Nope.

[@drewlovelyhell4892]

@@AndrewTBP Yup. kzbin.info/www/bejne/iYK3fHqOoq6HkMk

[@Adam-lt4fx]

An aptagram is still an anagram.. Classic case of trying to be smart but actually saying a dumb thing.

[@ConstantChaos1]

I saw potential saturna and simurellion so I would have gotten the point but I don't think he was refrencubg tolkein

[@ioioioioio6026]

"its not an anagram it an anagram where" actually insufferable

[@Caroleonus]

Lovely idea but I wouldn't recommend getting rid of all the streetlights in London for one adverstised night...

[@NewMessage]

Staring is rude! Starring, though?

[@itsamindgame9198]

The church did NOT take a dim view of what Galileo Galilei did. The church, at the time, was THE great promoter of scientific endeavour and it was authorities within the the church that funded Galileo. A particular authority (and presumably his own cohort) did indeed take a dim view of something Galileo did, which was publish work putting actual statement of the authority into the words of a character named "Simplicio" (simpleton). Galileo tried to play dumb and claim surprise at the offense - but, really, he was a very clever man with an ego of his own. Individuals within the church agreed with Galileo while other individuals within the church disagreed with him and argued against his hypotheses. This is how science has long worked, and at the time the church was the home of science. But QI in general and Fry in particular never let the truth get in the way of bashing the Christian church.

[@protocol6]

Huh. So Sandi thinks corgis aren't dogs?

[@IndigoIndustrial]

The Icelandic people have moved beyond there Viking adolescence to become civilised moon-gazers.

[@a_loyal_kiwi88]

I dislike the idea of turning off all public lighting so that people can stargaze. Public lighting helps as a crime deterrent and with public perceptions of the safety of their community. Even if its only for an hour, one night per month or something seemingly harmless like that. Within densely populated areas the effects could be disastrous. If you want to stargaze, you should invest in living in a more rural area.

[@greeneaglz2573]

So Sandy says it is an aptagram and not an anagram...then proceeds to describe an aptagram as an anagram...she is so 'smart'....

[@Maya_Pinion]

Gallileo..I said it.i said that!; Butt I couldn't f*g spell it correctly ...😒 I would've answered that dudes 3 rings code..... Huh?

[@Maya_Pinion]

Turns out I am a blond for real,from Polish decent,sooooo when people still had a sense of humor at work.....the young guys would say to me:" then,u can park in the handicapped space girl!" Hahahah.i loved it.

[@eltzrothm1]

You can see the milky way. But you have to go so far away from civilization and be in total darkness for so long to let your eyes adjust.

[@devilsadvocate1597]

Men at any age are so childish! Not on my shift, but a guy brought in a pair of binoculars, then when told his boss was on his way back he carfully covered the eyecups with engineering blue.... and like taking candy from a baby, the 1st thing the Supervisor did on seeing the binoculars was to use them!

[@JoeZUGOOLA]

I hate anagrams

[@okeycokey2000]

Go away sandy