Podbit · Fin vs History
In the 1850s, Francis Galton travelled to what is now Namibia and was stunned by the indigenous women's proportions. Unable to speak the language, he hid at a distance and used a naval sextant to measure their buttocks, then walked to the spot to calculate exact dimensions. He then came home and built an attractiveness map of Britain.
Where this was said
At 39:10 · chapter starts 34:36
This is the episode's centrepiece. Fin walks through Galton's 1850s tour of Southern Africa: stunned by the proportions of indigenous Namibian women, unable to speak the local language, Galton hid at a distance and used a naval sextant to measure their buttocks. He then walked to the spot and used geographic distance instruments to calculate the exact proportions — the hosts marvel that pornography has robbed us of this level of dedicated ingenuity. Back in Britain, Galton invented an early pin-clicker to rate women on the streets of various cities as 'attractive', 'neutral', or 'repellent'. He never published the full map, but his diaries note London topped the rankings and Aberdeen was the most repellent. Inspired, the hosts break out calipers for the episode's first phrenology segment. Paddy Young's skull is measured: small forehead relative to his overall head size, meaning animalistic drive without great intellectual capacity. The diagnosis is delivered with solemnity: Paddy is a himbo — enthusiastic, puppyish, energetic, but not a scholar.
Victorian women swallowed tapeworm eggs in pill form to stay thin. They also used belladonna eye drops for a dreamy, dilated look — with side effects including hallucinations, diarrhoea, dementia, and potentially death. Heroin chic had nothing on this era.
Victorian women used belladonna (nightshade) eye drops to create a dreamy, dilated look, with side effects including extreme dryness, blurred vision, constipation, high body temperature, confusion, and hallucinations.
Francis Galton covertly used a naval sextant to measure the buttocks of indigenous Namibian women from a distance in the 1850s, then walked to the spot to calculate exact proportions using geographical instruments.
Francis Galton walked the streets of British cities with an early clicker device, rating women as 'attractive', 'neutral', or 'repellent'. He concluded London was most attractive and Aberdeen most repellent, though he never published the full map.
Galton invented an early clicker device to covertly rate women on the streets of British cities as 'attractive', 'neutral', or 'repellent'. He never published the full map, but noted London topped the rankings and Aberdeen was the most repellent city in Britain.
In the spirit of their idol Francis Galton, the hosts produce calipers and measure Paddy Young's skull live. The verdict: small forehead, large overall head — meaning Paddy has an animalistic, puppyish drive but limited scholarly intellect. A himbo, in clinical terms.
Kierkegaard lost five of six siblings and his mother before adulthood, grew up under a shame-ridden father, fell in love, proposed, then mailed back the ring and fled to Berlin. His inability to live up to his own most important commitment became the engine of his entire philosophical project.
Casanova escaped from Venice's inquisition prison, met Voltaire, Catherine the Great, Benjamin Franklin, and Mozart — then died completely alone in a Slovak castle, broke, telling stories to children who thought he was a crazy old man. His 2,000-page memoir sat unread for decades. A life full of fireworks that meant nothing.
Factories that replaced coal engines with electric ones in the early 1900s got only 6% efficiency gains. Those that redesigned their entire factory around electricity got a 3x productivity improvement. Swapping AI tools into your existing structure will give you 6%. Rebuilding around AI will give you 10x.
Lebanese terrorists backed by Iran were holding American hostages throughout the Reagan presidency. Reagan had loudly campaigned against negotiating with terrorists — putting him in an impossible position that his team quietly decided to ignore.
During the Iran-Iraq War, the US openly supplied Iraq with weapons, training, and intelligence. At the same time, Oliver North was secretly funneling missiles to Iran. The US was playing both sides of a shooting war.
Oliver North traveled to Iran under the alias 'William P. Goode' with a fake passport. CIA Director William Casey allegedly gave him cyanide pills so he could kill himself rather than be tortured if captured. He returned safely and the deal moved forward.
The Pentagon sold missiles to the CIA for $3,700 each. The CIA sold them to Richard Secord at cost. Secord sold them to Iranian middleman Ghorbanifar for $10,000 each. Ghorbanifar charged Iran even more. The profit — including $3 million in interest in one Swiss account — was diverted directly to fund the Nicaraguan Contras.
America secretly transferred 2,000 missiles and missile parts to Iran in 8 shipments over more than a year. Only 3 of 7 hostages were released. Three more were taken. The net result was zero freed hostages and a full-blown constitutional scandal.
On October 5, 1986, a CIA Contra supply plane flew a weapons drop at 2,500 feet in broad daylight. A Sandinista soldier shot it down. The only survivor, Eugene Hasenfuss, had borrowed a parachute from his skydiving brother. He was captured, paraded in front of cameras, and told the Sandinistas everything he knew.
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