1 00:00:01,320 --> 00:00:04,280 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff you missed in History Class, A production 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:14,400 Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio, Hello and Happy Friday and Holly Frye and 3 00:00:14,440 --> 00:00:16,919 Speaker 1: I'm Tracy V. Wilson. I'm going to confess that this 4 00:00:17,160 --> 00:00:23,160 Speaker 1: entire John VN episode was really inspired by Eddie Hazard. Yeah. Yeah, 5 00:00:23,360 --> 00:00:26,480 Speaker 1: because I was remembering when she did the thing. I 6 00:00:26,520 --> 00:00:28,560 Speaker 1: think it's a dressed to kill. I'm trying to remember 7 00:00:28,560 --> 00:00:32,920 Speaker 1: which special talking about what Ven must have been like 8 00:00:32,960 --> 00:00:35,720 Speaker 1: as a child and doing the father. I'm not only 9 00:00:35,760 --> 00:00:39,040 Speaker 1: in the kitchen, I'm also in the hallway, like straddling rooms. 10 00:00:39,360 --> 00:00:41,800 Speaker 1: And I don't know why. It's always been so charming 11 00:00:41,840 --> 00:00:44,160 Speaker 1: and I love it so much, and it just popped 12 00:00:44,159 --> 00:00:47,320 Speaker 1: in my head recently, and I was like, John Vin 13 00:00:47,400 --> 00:00:50,280 Speaker 1: gets invoked a lot like Ven. Diagrams get talked about 14 00:00:50,320 --> 00:00:53,599 Speaker 1: all the time, but we don't really know that much 15 00:00:53,600 --> 00:00:56,200 Speaker 1: about him. And I had known that he had invented 16 00:00:56,240 --> 00:00:59,520 Speaker 1: the bowling machine, which I'm like, this is a wonderful 17 00:00:59,640 --> 00:01:02,120 Speaker 1: human who's like I could do lots of logic and 18 00:01:02,200 --> 00:01:05,399 Speaker 1: math problems. I also like to write about history, and 19 00:01:05,440 --> 00:01:10,319 Speaker 1: I invent cricket machines. That's a cool combination of things. Yeah, 20 00:01:11,240 --> 00:01:14,120 Speaker 1: So I was delighted to dig into his story a 21 00:01:14,120 --> 00:01:18,200 Speaker 1: little bit. I feel like as I looked at diagrams 22 00:01:18,200 --> 00:01:21,960 Speaker 1: that got more and more complex, like past the syllogisms, 23 00:01:22,840 --> 00:01:25,800 Speaker 1: my brain was like, no, ma'am, we have no maps 24 00:01:25,800 --> 00:01:27,800 Speaker 1: for these territories. I can't do it. Even as you're 25 00:01:27,840 --> 00:01:31,640 Speaker 1: reading the explainer, I cannot parse this information. Yeah, Like, well, 26 00:01:31,640 --> 00:01:38,640 Speaker 1: there's where my limit is, I guess. Yeah. But I 27 00:01:38,680 --> 00:01:40,880 Speaker 1: do also love the other thing that I really like 28 00:01:40,920 --> 00:01:45,280 Speaker 1: about him, and the reason that I read that kind 29 00:01:45,319 --> 00:01:48,800 Speaker 1: of longer piece and that other quote from his intro 30 00:01:48,960 --> 00:01:51,720 Speaker 1: to the first the first edition of his first book 31 00:01:52,280 --> 00:01:56,280 Speaker 1: is that idea of like, we can't just talk about 32 00:01:56,320 --> 00:02:00,440 Speaker 1: these heady things amongst ourselves fellow people in this field. 33 00:02:01,040 --> 00:02:04,680 Speaker 1: We need to be able to communicate these concepts and 34 00:02:05,080 --> 00:02:08,400 Speaker 1: share them with other people, because that's really where their 35 00:02:08,520 --> 00:02:13,120 Speaker 1: value lies is in being able to share information. And 36 00:02:13,200 --> 00:02:17,040 Speaker 1: I do feel like that is I mean, at the time, 37 00:02:17,120 --> 00:02:21,079 Speaker 1: it was considered quite brazen on his part to basically 38 00:02:21,120 --> 00:02:24,720 Speaker 1: call to account all of his fellow logicians and people 39 00:02:24,720 --> 00:02:26,640 Speaker 1: that worked in mathematics and say like, yeah, but what 40 00:02:26,680 --> 00:02:29,360 Speaker 1: we're doing is no good if we can't tell the 41 00:02:29,400 --> 00:02:33,360 Speaker 1: average person how any of this works. Why we're doing it. 42 00:02:33,400 --> 00:02:37,000 Speaker 1: And I love that idea, you know, of someone being 43 00:02:37,600 --> 00:02:43,480 Speaker 1: an educational communicator. It's just cool. I hope he wasn't 44 00:02:43,520 --> 00:02:45,680 Speaker 1: secretly horrible in a way I didn't discover in my 45 00:02:45,720 --> 00:02:50,000 Speaker 1: own That does happen. Sometimes it does. Someone will pop 46 00:02:50,080 --> 00:02:51,640 Speaker 1: up and be like, yes, but did you find the 47 00:02:51,680 --> 00:02:54,359 Speaker 1: thing about where he You know, I was about to 48 00:02:54,400 --> 00:02:56,720 Speaker 1: do another edizard and I poked a badger with a spoon, 49 00:02:56,840 --> 00:03:02,600 Speaker 1: But I don't believe he ever did. So. I also 50 00:03:02,680 --> 00:03:06,360 Speaker 1: do really love the idea of taking on somebody's invention 51 00:03:06,520 --> 00:03:10,160 Speaker 1: and trying to recreate it. Yeah, and especially because it 52 00:03:10,200 --> 00:03:13,560 Speaker 1: seems very much in the spirit of John Van's own 53 00:03:13,600 --> 00:03:16,280 Speaker 1: work to be like, no, you guys, math is how 54 00:03:16,320 --> 00:03:19,120 Speaker 1: a lot of fun things happen here. We will show you. 55 00:03:19,200 --> 00:03:22,200 Speaker 1: This is an obvious, demonstrable way we can use math, 56 00:03:22,720 --> 00:03:25,440 Speaker 1: which is just cool. It's very much in the same 57 00:03:25,480 --> 00:03:30,040 Speaker 1: ideology he seemed to write about, so math. I don't 58 00:03:30,040 --> 00:03:33,760 Speaker 1: know why I keep taking on subjects I don't understand. Like, 59 00:03:33,880 --> 00:03:36,640 Speaker 1: let's talk about physics. I don't really get physics. I 60 00:03:36,800 --> 00:03:38,800 Speaker 1: struggle with it. I try very hard. I don't know 61 00:03:38,880 --> 00:03:41,400 Speaker 1: if I'm trying to like re educate myself as I go, 62 00:03:42,560 --> 00:03:45,080 Speaker 1: But there are certainly a lot of people I admire 63 00:03:45,080 --> 00:03:47,280 Speaker 1: in these fields, so it's worth kind of doing the 64 00:03:47,280 --> 00:03:49,480 Speaker 1: breakdown for me. But there are times when I also 65 00:03:49,520 --> 00:03:52,640 Speaker 1: am like, uh oh, yeah, I think there are a 66 00:03:52,680 --> 00:03:56,040 Speaker 1: lot of subjects where like I reach a sort of 67 00:03:56,120 --> 00:04:00,920 Speaker 1: ceiling on my understanding. So like they I can do 68 00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:05,360 Speaker 1: pretty well with things like biology and chemistry and physics 69 00:04:05,480 --> 00:04:09,200 Speaker 1: up to a point, yeah, and then when crossing that line, 70 00:04:10,320 --> 00:04:15,440 Speaker 1: I don't understand anymore. Things I've had a big, big 71 00:04:15,520 --> 00:04:20,720 Speaker 1: challenge trying to explain on the show before have included philosophy. Yeah, 72 00:04:20,760 --> 00:04:23,440 Speaker 1: and sometimes I'm like, I just I don't understand what's 73 00:04:23,520 --> 00:04:29,159 Speaker 1: happening right now. And then some of it is stuff 74 00:04:29,240 --> 00:04:34,600 Speaker 1: like we've talked about. I studied literature in college my 75 00:04:34,880 --> 00:04:40,839 Speaker 1: entire degree, but when we get into literary forms from 76 00:04:41,120 --> 00:04:47,279 Speaker 1: outside of like the English language tradition, Oh, sometimes I'm like, 77 00:04:47,279 --> 00:04:50,480 Speaker 1: I have no idea what this is. I'm very lost. 78 00:04:51,400 --> 00:04:54,600 Speaker 1: Why does this structure work this way? Yeah, I understand 79 00:04:54,600 --> 00:04:57,200 Speaker 1: completely what you're training about. Uh yeah, But that's sort 80 00:04:57,200 --> 00:04:59,359 Speaker 1: of like I mean to me, that's that is for 81 00:04:59,440 --> 00:05:01,839 Speaker 1: me personal. One of the great benefits of this job 82 00:05:02,600 --> 00:05:04,839 Speaker 1: is that I can put myself in a position where 83 00:05:04,839 --> 00:05:08,200 Speaker 1: I'm like, girl, you better learn this. You got to 84 00:05:08,279 --> 00:05:10,280 Speaker 1: learn it now. You gotta figure this out enough that 85 00:05:10,320 --> 00:05:13,360 Speaker 1: you can communicate it in a way that hopefully makes 86 00:05:13,360 --> 00:05:17,120 Speaker 1: sense of everything. I don't know. That's a good I 87 00:05:17,440 --> 00:05:19,880 Speaker 1: feel like if I didn't have a job where I 88 00:05:19,920 --> 00:05:24,160 Speaker 1: had to do that, I might get a little stagnant. Yeah, 89 00:05:24,240 --> 00:05:26,640 Speaker 1: I mean I would hope not, because I am a 90 00:05:26,640 --> 00:05:29,400 Speaker 1: curious person and I want to know things. But I 91 00:05:29,440 --> 00:05:31,679 Speaker 1: also know it's really easy to just be like tootling 92 00:05:31,760 --> 00:05:34,240 Speaker 1: along in your life, especially in our very complex and 93 00:05:34,279 --> 00:05:36,719 Speaker 1: stressful world. It'd be like, I don't have time for 94 00:05:36,720 --> 00:05:39,120 Speaker 1: that right now, Yeah, and then that time never comes. 95 00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:42,520 Speaker 1: So that is my hope in talking about people like 96 00:05:42,600 --> 00:05:47,080 Speaker 1: John Vin, especially because he seemed to be perpetually curious 97 00:05:47,120 --> 00:05:49,560 Speaker 1: and want to do new things that were maybe not 98 00:05:49,640 --> 00:05:52,119 Speaker 1: what you might have expected of him. That's a little 99 00:05:52,120 --> 00:05:56,760 Speaker 1: inspirational to me, and hopefully other people keep learning new things, 100 00:05:56,880 --> 00:06:00,479 Speaker 1: keep doing new things. He was quite a match man 101 00:06:00,520 --> 00:06:04,080 Speaker 1: when he was like, I'm gonna inventive pitching machine. I yeah, 102 00:06:05,080 --> 00:06:06,800 Speaker 1: and I love it, And he seemed to find great 103 00:06:06,880 --> 00:06:11,200 Speaker 1: joy in such things. So may we all continue to 104 00:06:11,279 --> 00:06:14,479 Speaker 1: learn and explore new ideas and challenge ourselves and find 105 00:06:14,560 --> 00:06:28,960 Speaker 1: joy in that. Fingers crossed, we talked about the Lackey 106 00:06:29,040 --> 00:06:33,640 Speaker 1: Fisher eruptions. Yes, uh, so you and I have each 107 00:06:33,680 --> 00:06:37,680 Speaker 1: been to Iceland. Man, I love Iceland. Yeah, me too, 108 00:06:39,000 --> 00:06:42,839 Speaker 1: I asked. I had no recollection of hearing anything about 109 00:06:42,839 --> 00:06:46,400 Speaker 1: this at all ever before, including when Patrick and I 110 00:06:46,440 --> 00:06:49,800 Speaker 1: were in Iceland on our honeymoon. So while I started 111 00:06:49,839 --> 00:06:51,440 Speaker 1: working on this, I texted him and I was like, 112 00:06:51,440 --> 00:06:54,159 Speaker 1: do you remember hearing about something called the Lackey Fisser 113 00:06:54,320 --> 00:06:58,159 Speaker 1: eruptions or the like the Scott defires, And he said no, 114 00:06:58,480 --> 00:07:03,440 Speaker 1: I remembered hearing about Katla and that one that had 115 00:07:03,560 --> 00:07:08,440 Speaker 1: just erupted, whose name I can't pronounce. I say, I 116 00:07:08,480 --> 00:07:11,160 Speaker 1: can't pronounce it because I wrote it into the script 117 00:07:11,240 --> 00:07:13,720 Speaker 1: the last time we had an episode that was relevant 118 00:07:13,760 --> 00:07:17,440 Speaker 1: to volcanoes in Iceland. And I practiced and practiced and 119 00:07:17,480 --> 00:07:20,760 Speaker 1: practiced and practiced for so long, and then when I 120 00:07:20,800 --> 00:07:24,400 Speaker 1: got on Mike, I couldn't do it anymore. But it 121 00:07:24,520 --> 00:07:26,400 Speaker 1: was the one that had the massive ash cloud that 122 00:07:26,440 --> 00:07:29,440 Speaker 1: cut down on like just put air travel to a 123 00:07:29,520 --> 00:07:32,760 Speaker 1: standstill for a long time. It's possible that we did 124 00:07:32,800 --> 00:07:34,880 Speaker 1: hear something about this and just didn't retain it. I 125 00:07:34,880 --> 00:07:38,320 Speaker 1: didn't see any like signs about it in any of 126 00:07:38,360 --> 00:07:43,520 Speaker 1: our photos. But Patrick and I stayed in Cloister. We 127 00:07:43,600 --> 00:07:47,040 Speaker 1: stayed at the Iceland Air Hotel in Cloister, nice it. 128 00:07:47,840 --> 00:07:51,080 Speaker 1: The way that we did our our trip was that 129 00:07:51,120 --> 00:07:55,040 Speaker 1: we took the Ring Road and we went east and 130 00:07:55,160 --> 00:07:58,679 Speaker 1: that was the part that was like our easternmost point 131 00:07:58,680 --> 00:08:01,559 Speaker 1: where we stopped, and then we turned around and drove 132 00:08:01,680 --> 00:08:06,160 Speaker 1: back to Reykievic to go home from there. And something 133 00:08:06,240 --> 00:08:09,080 Speaker 1: I didn't know existed until working on this episode is 134 00:08:09,080 --> 00:08:13,920 Speaker 1: that there is a chapel in Cloister that is dedicated 135 00:08:14,000 --> 00:08:18,920 Speaker 1: to Jan Steinkerson. Today we did not see that. I 136 00:08:18,920 --> 00:08:20,600 Speaker 1: did not know it was. There was not a thing 137 00:08:20,600 --> 00:08:22,320 Speaker 1: that I knew to look for. We did go to 138 00:08:22,600 --> 00:08:26,360 Speaker 1: a really pretty waterfall that's right in that area. There's 139 00:08:26,440 --> 00:08:30,600 Speaker 1: also a park that has some of the naturally occurring 140 00:08:31,000 --> 00:08:34,920 Speaker 1: I think hexagonal basalt formations. We missed that entirely too, 141 00:08:35,640 --> 00:08:39,560 Speaker 1: So it would not really surprise me if we had 142 00:08:39,679 --> 00:08:41,920 Speaker 1: seen or heard something about that while we were there, 143 00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:46,839 Speaker 1: But like I really have no memory of it. The 144 00:08:46,880 --> 00:08:51,319 Speaker 1: whole landscape of that whole region of Iceland was dramatically 145 00:08:51,400 --> 00:08:56,960 Speaker 1: changed by this eruption. A lot of it became lava 146 00:08:56,960 --> 00:09:00,520 Speaker 1: fields covered with that moss that covers a lot of 147 00:09:00,600 --> 00:09:04,160 Speaker 1: the lava fields in Iceland, which I think is really 148 00:09:04,160 --> 00:09:07,080 Speaker 1: a like in it is very pretty. Please don't touch it. 149 00:09:07,080 --> 00:09:13,320 Speaker 1: It's very delicate. I said in my caveat about how 150 00:09:13,320 --> 00:09:18,000 Speaker 1: difficult I find Icelandic to pronounce that there are some 151 00:09:18,040 --> 00:09:21,360 Speaker 1: things that I really love about the Icelandic language. Yeah, 152 00:09:21,840 --> 00:09:25,440 Speaker 1: And one of them is that so many names for 153 00:09:25,559 --> 00:09:30,600 Speaker 1: things are basically broken into parts, and each of those 154 00:09:30,679 --> 00:09:34,400 Speaker 1: parts have has a meaning. And so there are so 155 00:09:34,480 --> 00:09:38,920 Speaker 1: many things with names in Icelandic that sound really complicated, 156 00:09:39,440 --> 00:09:45,120 Speaker 1: but they end in something that means waterfall or river 157 00:09:45,600 --> 00:09:49,800 Speaker 1: or any of that. So, like the very long full 158 00:09:49,880 --> 00:09:53,440 Speaker 1: name of Cloister, which Patrick and I had been pronouncing 159 00:09:53,480 --> 00:09:55,600 Speaker 1: wrong the whole time, because it is spelled as though 160 00:09:55,640 --> 00:09:59,680 Speaker 1: you would say it clouister in English means something like 161 00:10:00,240 --> 00:10:03,760 Speaker 1: farm cloister or farm church cloister. I forget what order 162 00:10:03,840 --> 00:10:06,880 Speaker 1: it is, and I love that. That was one of 163 00:10:06,880 --> 00:10:09,000 Speaker 1: the things when we realized that that was the case, 164 00:10:09,920 --> 00:10:12,360 Speaker 1: we would immediately be like, Oh, this site is for 165 00:10:12,400 --> 00:10:15,959 Speaker 1: a waterfall, let's go check this waterfall out because we didn't. 166 00:10:16,880 --> 00:10:22,760 Speaker 1: We didn't make a very comprehensive itinerary. We had our 167 00:10:22,840 --> 00:10:25,440 Speaker 1: lodging taken care of every night, we had our travel 168 00:10:25,480 --> 00:10:27,640 Speaker 1: to and from Iceland. We had a list of things 169 00:10:27,640 --> 00:10:31,320 Speaker 1: that we absolutely must do, and then everything else was 170 00:10:31,440 --> 00:10:35,679 Speaker 1: just explore love, which I liked a lot. I love 171 00:10:35,720 --> 00:10:40,920 Speaker 1: everything about Iceland. My list is hot dogs. Yeah, I 172 00:10:40,960 --> 00:10:43,679 Speaker 1: missed the entirety of hot dog culture in Iceland when 173 00:10:43,720 --> 00:10:45,200 Speaker 1: we were there. I did not know that was a thing. 174 00:10:45,400 --> 00:10:48,000 Speaker 1: It's so well, now that you say you were not 175 00:10:48,800 --> 00:10:51,760 Speaker 1: so much in Reykievic, that makes more sense to me. Well, 176 00:10:51,800 --> 00:10:54,200 Speaker 1: we spent three days in Reykievic, then we drove east. 177 00:10:54,320 --> 00:10:56,839 Speaker 1: Now I don't know then. Yeah, because what I love 178 00:10:56,880 --> 00:11:00,000 Speaker 1: about Reykievic is that it is other than the fact 179 00:11:00,080 --> 00:11:05,119 Speaker 1: that it's completely walkable, it's not that big. Yeah, it'll 180 00:11:05,760 --> 00:11:09,040 Speaker 1: so it's I'm like, you must have walked by that 181 00:11:09,080 --> 00:11:13,520 Speaker 1: famous hot dog place. I think probably we did. It 182 00:11:13,679 --> 00:11:15,600 Speaker 1: was is kind of like a little just stand that 183 00:11:15,640 --> 00:11:17,760 Speaker 1: people line up at. It's very small, but it's a 184 00:11:17,760 --> 00:11:22,280 Speaker 1: free standing little building. Yeah. I love everything about Iceland. 185 00:11:22,400 --> 00:11:27,720 Speaker 1: I shout out to my friend Adam that I made 186 00:11:27,720 --> 00:11:30,160 Speaker 1: when I was there because he is a listener to 187 00:11:30,200 --> 00:11:32,880 Speaker 1: the show Okay, and he was one of the guides 188 00:11:32,920 --> 00:11:38,959 Speaker 1: on our tour, and we were part of a tour 189 00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:40,960 Speaker 1: that had quite a number of people, so we were 190 00:11:41,000 --> 00:11:43,880 Speaker 1: in a few different buses and he had told me 191 00:11:44,480 --> 00:11:46,320 Speaker 1: he had seen me on one of the other buses 192 00:11:46,360 --> 00:11:48,640 Speaker 1: and was like, that can't be Holly Fry, what on 193 00:11:48,679 --> 00:11:51,640 Speaker 1: earth was should be doing on this tour. Then I 194 00:11:51,800 --> 00:11:54,040 Speaker 1: was on his bus after that and we had a 195 00:11:54,040 --> 00:11:56,599 Speaker 1: great time and he was wonderful. So shout out to 196 00:11:56,640 --> 00:11:58,559 Speaker 1: Adam who told me one of my favorite jokes of 197 00:11:58,600 --> 00:12:02,960 Speaker 1: all time. What do you do if you're lost in 198 00:12:03,000 --> 00:12:09,800 Speaker 1: the forest in Iceland? What stand up? Because there is 199 00:12:09,840 --> 00:12:17,040 Speaker 1: not a lot of tall foliage. Yeah, there is a sign, 200 00:12:17,760 --> 00:12:20,520 Speaker 1: a symbol that is used on signs in Iceland that 201 00:12:20,640 --> 00:12:24,400 Speaker 1: looks like like sort of a little I can't if 202 00:12:24,400 --> 00:12:28,200 Speaker 1: it's called a flurtally like the little loopy square that 203 00:12:28,320 --> 00:12:33,800 Speaker 1: is on mac keyboards as the mac. I knew it 204 00:12:33,840 --> 00:12:35,480 Speaker 1: was wrong as I was saying it, but I can't 205 00:12:35,480 --> 00:12:39,480 Speaker 1: remember what that shape is called anyway, that shape that 206 00:12:39,679 --> 00:12:44,599 Speaker 1: basically designates there's something interesting here. And so sometimes we 207 00:12:44,640 --> 00:12:46,319 Speaker 1: would just see that shape on a sign and we 208 00:12:46,360 --> 00:12:50,439 Speaker 1: would go see what it was. And one time when 209 00:12:50,520 --> 00:12:52,880 Speaker 1: we did this, it turned out to be a museum 210 00:12:53,000 --> 00:12:57,040 Speaker 1: that was called something like the Land Reclamation Center that 211 00:12:57,160 --> 00:12:59,360 Speaker 1: turned out to be a place that was really only 212 00:12:59,400 --> 00:13:03,520 Speaker 1: opened for school groups. But some people who worked there 213 00:13:03,559 --> 00:13:06,200 Speaker 1: showed up while we were in the parking lot and 214 00:13:06,320 --> 00:13:09,000 Speaker 1: they were like, we're normally only you know, the kind 215 00:13:09,040 --> 00:13:12,040 Speaker 1: of place that school kids come, but we will let 216 00:13:12,080 --> 00:13:17,160 Speaker 1: you in for free if you will QA the English 217 00:13:17,280 --> 00:13:22,040 Speaker 1: version of our audio tour for us, and we said sure, great. 218 00:13:23,920 --> 00:13:27,840 Speaker 1: And it was an incredibly interesting museum because it was 219 00:13:27,880 --> 00:13:31,520 Speaker 1: all about how in the process of settling and establishing 220 00:13:31,520 --> 00:13:34,960 Speaker 1: farms on Iceland, a lot of the tall vegetation like 221 00:13:35,000 --> 00:13:37,679 Speaker 1: trees was cut down and this had a cascading effect 222 00:13:37,840 --> 00:13:40,520 Speaker 1: of the trees that were there. Something that they had 223 00:13:40,600 --> 00:13:44,840 Speaker 1: done in the role of ecology in Iceland was when 224 00:13:44,840 --> 00:13:50,480 Speaker 1: the lava flows come slow that down right, So without 225 00:13:50,520 --> 00:13:54,160 Speaker 1: the trees there, the lava destroyed a lot of other vegetation, 226 00:13:54,880 --> 00:13:59,199 Speaker 1: led to a huge problem with erosion and dust storms. 227 00:14:00,040 --> 00:14:02,800 Speaker 1: And so this is an effort to plant a type 228 00:14:02,840 --> 00:14:04,880 Speaker 1: of grass that I've forgotten the name of that has 229 00:14:04,920 --> 00:14:10,320 Speaker 1: an incredibly long and really tangly root system, Like once 230 00:14:10,360 --> 00:14:15,280 Speaker 1: the grass is planted and established, that stabilizes the soil, 231 00:14:15,720 --> 00:14:19,160 Speaker 1: and then they can start planting bigger things, including trees 232 00:14:19,280 --> 00:14:22,760 Speaker 1: to hopefully slow the flow of lava when eruptions happened, 233 00:14:22,760 --> 00:14:26,120 Speaker 1: which I thought was really cool, Love it, love it. 234 00:14:26,920 --> 00:14:32,080 Speaker 1: We had a great time with that. I ran across 235 00:14:32,120 --> 00:14:35,320 Speaker 1: something that was so interesting to me during this but 236 00:14:35,440 --> 00:14:40,080 Speaker 1: also wasn't really related exactly to the subject at hand, 237 00:14:40,160 --> 00:14:41,760 Speaker 1: so I just put it here in the behind the 238 00:14:41,800 --> 00:14:44,720 Speaker 1: scenes instead, which is that one of the things that 239 00:14:44,800 --> 00:14:47,480 Speaker 1: was happening in Europe during all of this was a 240 00:14:47,600 --> 00:14:50,760 Speaker 1: lot of really intense thunderstorms and a lot of lightning, 241 00:14:51,800 --> 00:14:55,760 Speaker 1: and a lot of people who died during the aftermath 242 00:14:55,800 --> 00:14:58,920 Speaker 1: of all of this. In German speaking countries were bell 243 00:14:59,040 --> 00:15:03,520 Speaker 1: ringers who were in the bell tower, oh, during the thunderstorm, 244 00:15:05,160 --> 00:15:11,720 Speaker 1: because it's a lightning rod well right still in these places, 245 00:15:11,760 --> 00:15:14,240 Speaker 1: like lightning not well understood yet, and in a lot 246 00:15:14,280 --> 00:15:16,920 Speaker 1: of these places it was traditional to ring the church 247 00:15:17,000 --> 00:15:23,400 Speaker 1: bells to try to deter the thunderstorms. And like this 248 00:15:23,520 --> 00:15:26,120 Speaker 1: was a belief that was still pretty widespread in a 249 00:15:26,120 --> 00:15:29,200 Speaker 1: lot of German speaking areas in the late eighteenth century, 250 00:15:29,800 --> 00:15:33,520 Speaker 1: and there was kind of a superstition that if the 251 00:15:33,560 --> 00:15:37,560 Speaker 1: bell ringer got struck by lightning and killed during the thunderstorm, 252 00:15:37,880 --> 00:15:41,000 Speaker 1: it was because he was not doing enough a good 253 00:15:41,120 --> 00:15:44,960 Speaker 1: enough job. Wait, there's a good blame the victim set up. Yeah, right, 254 00:15:45,760 --> 00:15:49,480 Speaker 1: And a lot of church bells were inscribed with this 255 00:15:49,680 --> 00:15:53,720 Speaker 1: inscription that was translated as I call the living, I 256 00:15:53,880 --> 00:15:59,320 Speaker 1: mourn the dead, I break lightning. I found all of 257 00:15:59,360 --> 00:16:03,960 Speaker 1: this fascinating and also that it felt like a big 258 00:16:04,000 --> 00:16:09,560 Speaker 1: digression in the rest of the episode. I'm very excited 259 00:16:09,600 --> 00:16:14,240 Speaker 1: to go back to Iceland. I am too too. Just 260 00:16:14,280 --> 00:16:19,680 Speaker 1: in case anyone listening is wondering that is currently full. Yeah, 261 00:16:19,760 --> 00:16:22,320 Speaker 1: there is a wait list. Yes, you can join the 262 00:16:22,320 --> 00:16:27,160 Speaker 1: wait list and we'll see if space opens up. Yeah. 263 00:16:27,720 --> 00:16:30,440 Speaker 1: I peek over there from time to time, and occasionally 264 00:16:30,520 --> 00:16:32,880 Speaker 1: I see it that it's like two spaces left, and 265 00:16:32,880 --> 00:16:34,760 Speaker 1: then it goes back to being sold out. So it 266 00:16:34,760 --> 00:16:39,560 Speaker 1: seems like a known thing with international trips like this 267 00:16:39,640 --> 00:16:42,120 Speaker 1: is that sometimes people cancel. Stuff comes up in life, 268 00:16:42,200 --> 00:16:49,440 Speaker 1: circumstances change, whatever, wedding schedules. Yeah, stuff happens. Yeah, So 269 00:16:49,920 --> 00:16:53,440 Speaker 1: there there's definitely a wait list, may or may not 270 00:16:53,520 --> 00:16:58,160 Speaker 1: be space that opens up. I'm glad. I randomly stumbled 271 00:16:58,200 --> 00:17:01,440 Speaker 1: across this topic while just trying to figure out what 272 00:17:01,480 --> 00:17:04,879 Speaker 1: to do as a Saturday Classic, because I found it 273 00:17:04,920 --> 00:17:08,440 Speaker 1: really interesting, and I found that so many written things 274 00:17:08,520 --> 00:17:12,560 Speaker 1: to get to read. We could not read directly from 275 00:17:13,560 --> 00:17:18,280 Speaker 1: Steinerson's account because translation into English is still under copyright protection, 276 00:17:18,400 --> 00:17:22,640 Speaker 1: but a ton of public domain stuff written originally in English. 277 00:17:22,840 --> 00:17:25,959 Speaker 1: I will close our little behind the scenes with something 278 00:17:26,000 --> 00:17:30,719 Speaker 1: that William Cowper wrote on June twenty ninth, seventeen eighty three. Quote, 279 00:17:30,800 --> 00:17:33,439 Speaker 1: so long in a country not subject to Fogg's we 280 00:17:33,520 --> 00:17:35,800 Speaker 1: have been covered with one of the thickest I remember. 281 00:17:36,480 --> 00:17:40,000 Speaker 1: We never see the sun, but shorn of his beams, 282 00:17:40,359 --> 00:17:44,040 Speaker 1: the trees are scarce discernible at a miles distance. He 283 00:17:44,119 --> 00:17:47,560 Speaker 1: sets with the face of a red hot salamander and 284 00:17:47,800 --> 00:17:53,520 Speaker 1: rises with the same complexion that was written in a letter. 285 00:17:54,440 --> 00:17:57,919 Speaker 1: That's a final note for our Friday behind the scenes. 286 00:17:58,560 --> 00:18:03,360 Speaker 1: Whatever's happening this weekend for you? If it involves volcanoes, 287 00:18:03,480 --> 00:18:06,960 Speaker 1: I hope it is not a danger to you volcano, 288 00:18:07,160 --> 00:18:11,959 Speaker 1: but maybe a curiosity and study of volcano done in 289 00:18:12,000 --> 00:18:18,800 Speaker 1: a safe way. There's been a number of volcanic eruptions 290 00:18:18,800 --> 00:18:21,000 Speaker 1: in Iceland since we decided we were going to go 291 00:18:21,040 --> 00:18:23,080 Speaker 1: there for our next trip. So hopefully I haven't just 292 00:18:23,119 --> 00:18:26,400 Speaker 1: caused a major Jinks situation by recording this here on 293 00:18:26,800 --> 00:18:30,399 Speaker 1: July seventh, twenty twenty four. Dang, dang it, Tracy, I 294 00:18:30,480 --> 00:18:33,879 Speaker 1: know right, So to drop us a note if you like, 295 00:18:33,920 --> 00:18:36,680 Speaker 1: We're at History Podcast at iHeartRadio dot com and we'll 296 00:18:36,720 --> 00:18:39,320 Speaker 1: be back with a Saturday classic tomorrow and something brand 297 00:18:39,359 --> 00:18:47,000 Speaker 1: new Monday. Stuff you missed in History Class is a 298 00:18:47,000 --> 00:18:51,399 Speaker 1: production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the 299 00:18:51,440 --> 00:18:54,959 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 300 00:18:54,960 --> 00:18:57,639 Speaker 1: favorite shows.