EARLY EPISODE: The Great Panjandrum
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A British engineer attempts to create a weapon for breaching the Atlantic wall. He does not succeed.
Sources:
Brian Johnson. The Secret War.
Comments (76)
The word "blivet" was in use at least as far back as WWII. One old-time definition was "ten pounds of shit in a five-pound sack."
Having recently visited Holland, I can say most folks were not as deferential to the Handhaving patrols as Joe is in this one... Those fools would get roasted so hard every time they'd try to give anyone shit. It was refreshing for someone used to US policing
Joe is clearly a Twunk.
Akshually, the Nazis brought raccoons to Germany for fur farming and they escaped and now there are over a million of them living in the wild and they are a significant problem. And I've done the math, I don't have it right on me, but I've done it, and you could fit two of them into your butt.
Long term punishment for Nazism is Germany being filled with these little bandits.
The boys would love goon of fortune
Honestly this is less of an Ork weapon and more of a Skaven weapon
Refueling my MRAP with a giant gas Juicero
This is because of the beyblade bit, isn't it
me, listening to this episode on the way into my engineering job: 🧍 👁️👄👁️
Joe is playing video games for a podcast?
One of the greatest rewards of listening to this podcast for going on 5 years is the subtle increase in queer content, to the point that I now recommend y'all as "the history podcast that's really gay bro-coded." Truly, thank you for twink discourse.
I really did not expect this amount of twink discussion
As someone who listens to this podcast on the way to their engineering job; I'm here for the gay shit too.
I made my wife listen to this on a road trip. She said it was somehow the gayest and straightest podcast she ever listened to.
We use blivets for water when fighting wildfire in remote areas.
Maybe I missed it while listening, but Nevil Shute also deserves a mention as the author of one of the great early nuclear apocalyptic fiction novels with "On The Beach". Not only is it a good (CN: and very bleak) read, but in its 20 minutes into the future (from the mid-fifties) setting, WW3 was started by Albania of all places. Yes, Enver Hoxha launched the first nuke!
Also author of A Town Called Alice, but not the similarly titled song by The Jam.
My Truth or Consequences, NM memory is that time my sister caused my mom to have a seizure there when I was a teenager.
I'm listening to this at my engineering job and i appreciate the bear/twink discussion
Tom, you inspired me to make a poll for gay people to tell me what kind of ships they are: https://the-golden-vanity.tumblr.com/post/767643130242727936/in-the-most-recent-episode-of-a-history-podcast-i
"This isn't a democracy, this is a dictatorship; and I rule it with an iron dick!"
Ngl, Tom's Steve-O accent sort of sounded like Robert Evans's Boston accent.
A weird British idea that DID work out is Operation Mincemeat—Maybe my favourite WW2 operation.
I'm a delivery driver in mostly suburban San Diego and Fat Bikes are the bane of my existence. There's like 10- 13 year old kids riding around super dangerously at like 40 mph like idiots, not a license in sight. Like if you have to get a separate motorcycle license, why can people ride these who don't have any license? It's ridiculous. It's only a matter of time til a lot of kids start getting hurt.
Dammit, Nate! The British couldn't get Ryu; he's Japanese! They would get Fei Long from Hong Kong!
I would consider Joe to be an otter if anything
Can you guys put out one podcast of random nonsense and one where Joe reads his script without 5 minute twink tangents?
Never
Nevil Shute wrote "On the Beach!"
The skaven in warhammer fantasy have a weapon just like this, but I don't think it intentionally explodes. Have the British outdone the Skaven in terms of wacky weapons?
Japanese mosh style 2 is an important historical document.
Real ones know
Hi, I'm on my way to my engineering job and love the gay shit chat.
Europe is mid west coded?
Laughing my ass off on the way to my engineering job at beating the brakes off of Santa Claus
This episode was as dumb as the weapon discussed in it.
Did anyone else feel like Thom‘s Steve-O accent sounds more like Miss Roz from Monsters Inc. I love your accent, Thom. I just happen to notice
Joe‘s limit break would just be pulling out a 24 page script about a time something horrible that happened in history and traumatizing the enemy. It’s more like poison damage or a debuff to morale or attack stats but if you have a long boss fight, it’s highly effective.
And it is called "You are going to need animal facts."
As a environmental engineer who listens to this while driving to work, I had never questioned the origin of the term twink
Idk why but the word twink always makes me think of that Dead Kennedys' cover of I Fought the Law, "The law don’t mean shit if you’ve got the right friends That’s how this country’s run, Twinkies are the best friend I ever had, I fought the law and the law one".
If I'm not mistaken, don't helicopters have an equivalent to "gliding" as long as the rotors can still spin freely to generate lift? I thought that's why Osprey can be such deathtraps because they're not aerodynamic enough to glide and the rotors aren't big enough to create lift unpowered. I could totally be wrong about that.
Can't remember if they said that on the Well There's Your Problem episode about the osprey, but I'm always up for a relisten anyway.
I beg your unbelievable pardon….did I hear the words “tactical sounding”?... I audibly gasped 🤣
My grandpa rode on the skids of one of those erector set helicopters in Korea as ballast to even it out with a guy who was more injured on there other side. He said it was terrifying lying on his front going over all those mountains and trees. His supply truck was mortared out from under him while going through some rice patties. He ended up breaking his rib on "the only damn rock in that rice patty" when he dove in after the first mortar missed his truck.
I bought my escooter for $499 directly from the Chinese manufacturer because I couldn’t afford a car or an e-bike. Intro prebuilt e-bikes cost at least $1000. Rode that thing into the ground from Jan 2021 to Nov 2023 when I FINALLY had a decent enough credit score to get a used car. Yes the scooter sucked. Yes I felt like a dipshit riding it. But was it better than walking and within my price range? 1000% and I’d do it again. Better than nothing but I was convinced I was gonna die eventually if I didn’t get a car. The number of times I nearly died trying to ride in my city were too many to count. Portland Oregon. The drivers here have a vendetta on bikes and pedestrians and/or are extremely stupid non aware drivers. Yes we have bike lanes but I’ve been side swiped twice in those bike lanes by cars that can’t maintain there lanes. Ps all the bike shops I’ve been to WILL NOT work on e-bikes that have broken there governor and go faster than 25mph. Seems to be the only deterrent to making them go as fast as cars
PNW drivers are the worst I've ever seen, and I've lived/driven all over.
I remember seeing this contraption on a infomercial for ww2 world at war vhs/dvd set
WW2 the best time to be alive, if your are a guy with a shed in the back garden
Also applies to kids in Michigan in the ‘90s building nuclear reactors
I need Nate’s Atlantic Wall Beach Boys song to be titled “Calais-fornia Girls”
I feel attacked by Nate. I’m an engineer on my way to work, and I don’t know the origin of the word twink but I know what it means.
Apostrophe gang, rise up!
Oh yes we do have racoons in Europe. There's a whole bunch of them in Germany.
There are also a bunch in the Netherlands as well
Da Vinci would’ve been the dude to photograph Kim Kardashian popping the champagne bottle while a glass is balanced on her yams.
Any chance you fine fellows would/will be covering Hobart’s Funnies?
I feel like the "full of cream" etymology of twink is just a joke made after the term already caught on. Twinks are glittery little guys, they twinkle in the bars like stars.
I think that's a very justified thought, though I can't speak on the sparkliness of twinks.
There was a ye olde YouTube video of a dog that grabbed a lit Roman candle like a stick and was running around the yard. The sparks and lights were spewing everywhere and the humans were frantically chasing the dog. The dog seemed like he was having a great time.
British People [Comical] [Mad Science] [Dude Fucking What?]
As someone listening to this on the way to my engineering job, we need to figure out a way to deploy the tactical twink.
Twinktical
As a mid-40s geotechnical engineer who finished his drive to the office with the twink discussion; no, I had not looked up the etymology of twink, but the folk etymology in my brain linked the two. Just imagine post-stroke President Trump slurring, demanding his twinkies, and the young aides are like 'wtf' and start bringing him nubile young men which makes him even more enraged until the fatal brain aneurysm.
“Oh my god we love your playlist” they said as the fatal clot made itself known. “It’s so cool and retro!” *thud*
Speaking of insane bicycles that guy who built a pulse jet engine on the back of his bike.
Bell H-13 Sioux is the Korean War glass bubble skeleton helicopter, compliments of MASH.
I need to see Daedalus and Icarus jousting in their wing suits
Bring back the cold open!
Since it obviously wasn’t Schengen, Anyone know what visa did Nate use to move to Switzerland? I assume it was for being a business owner / producer like what Joe did in DAFT
Had no idea the acclaimed author Nevil Shute was involved in this wacky stuff during the war. Surprised it wasn’t brought up in the episode given the military subjects in his novels. His best known one, ‘On The Beach’ is a rather grim look at post-WW3 remnants of society and the US Navy hanging out in Melbourne awaiting radiation clouds and inevitable death
On The Beach (is where I test my silly rocket wheel)
Been waiting for this episode for years.
Yes. YES. I have been hoping you would cover this!
Yeah as a guy living in Zürich but who also travel's a lot to Lausanne to visit friends I've also noticed the scooters Nate was talking about. It's definitely more of a thing in the french speaking part. You see them very rarely in Zürich