0:00

Somebody which is no the best way for you

0:03

as a rate based on you with asking that

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one based on the driver who treats the highway

0:07

like a racetrack and the shoulder like a passing

0:09

lane. why pay rate based on anyone else? get

0:11

one based on you with Dr was for mostly

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not available in Alaska California started to terms of

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conditions. Rates are determined by several factors which vary

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by state and some states. Participation in driveways allows

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us to to use your driving data for purposes

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of rating. Well in some states are rate could

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increase with I was driving generally safer drivers will

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save with driveways. Also earned cash. An insurance company

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in really sort of pick Illinois. Message

0:40

We are Ken Jennings.

0:42

And John Roderick We speak to

0:44

you from our present which we

0:46

can only assume is your distant

0:49

past, the turbulent time that was

0:51

the early Twenty First century during

0:53

the Great Catechism. The will surely

0:55

before civilization we begin this monumental

0:57

reference of strange and obscure human

0:59

knowledge. These recordings represent our attempt

1:01

to compile and preserve wonders and

1:03

esoterica that would otherwise be lost.

1:05

So whether you're listening from an

1:07

advanced civilization or produced reinvented the

1:09

technology to decrypt are transmissions. This

1:11

is our legacy to you. This

1:14

is our time capsule. This is

1:16

the bus. You

1:44

have access to entry Nine

1:47

Eight Seven.i S Six Zero

1:49

Two Two Certificate Number Six

1:51

Six One One The Principality

1:53

of See Land. everything

1:57

belong to nobody so when we took it over

2:00

We were in a perfect position to declare independence,

2:02

which is what my father did. Are

2:04

you a, um, a lot

2:07

of Americans fetishize

2:10

the royal family and,

2:13

uh, and the

2:15

aristocracy of Europe. Are

2:18

you somebody that imagines

2:21

himself, for instance, learning

2:24

that the Jennings castle passes

2:27

to you because some distant uncle

2:29

cousin died and you're that suddenly

2:31

I have a Scottish or Welsh

2:34

castle somewhere. Has that

2:36

ever appealed to you? I think

2:38

as a child there's a lot of romance to

2:40

it. You know, dukes and earls

2:43

and vicounts, marquises

2:45

even in a pinch. Um,

2:48

now it just seems kind of silly, especially when

2:50

you look these guys up and you see who

2:53

the, who the last duke of whatever

2:55

actually is. And he's just like a pet

2:57

food millionaire or something. Yeah. Or just, yeah.

2:59

Right. Some playboy douche. Yep. Um,

3:02

so I think the magic is

3:04

gone. But do you think some

3:07

of that is that we naturally

3:09

side with the anti monarchists who,

3:11

who, who say,

3:13

why do we even have a queen?

3:15

And we naturally side with them because

3:17

it's compatible with Marxism. Well, it's compatible

3:19

with America. I mean, America's built on

3:21

the founding principle that, uh, enough, enough

3:24

with the Kings already. Remember when Ben

3:26

Franklin famously said enough with the Kings

3:28

already. Yeah. Come on already. Uh, Patrick

3:31

Henry was like, give me less

3:33

Kings or give me death. Or give

3:35

me. He,

3:39

he died in the middle of the sense.

3:41

He gave me liberty or give me, uh,

3:43

he said death, but I don't know. Did

3:45

he, was he sincere? He wouldn't write. Uh,

3:49

but, um, you

3:51

know, I would, you could transcribe me

3:53

and I would say, um, every, see

3:55

that's, that's a podcasters. That's a podcaster

3:57

skill, you know, like I'm gonna. Like

4:00

when I die, I will actually say I will

4:02

write because I'm such a broadcaster,

4:04

you know, I'm with it

4:06

right up to the end but I think

4:09

we also during the like

4:12

the royal family of Monaco was

4:15

in the American papers all the time because

4:17

Because the we actually have like I

4:20

had a glamorous fairy princess. That's

4:22

right American monarch with a kind of I mean

4:24

Not a rags-to-riches story. She was the biggest movie

4:26

star in the world but you

4:28

know like a like kind of a blonde

4:30

all-american girl becoming a Glamorous

4:32

Riviera princess. It's as close

4:35

to Cinderella as you're gonna get it

4:37

is although unfortunately Prince Rainier not exactly

4:39

Clark Gable That's the thing. I

4:41

assumed he was good-looking And

4:43

maybe Grace Kelly did too. Maybe she

4:45

had never seen a picture No, neither

4:48

tall nor nor good-looking but weirdly we

4:50

were really fascinated with her children, right?

4:52

Princess Stephanie Caroline they were

4:54

in the newspaper way more than even

4:57

I feel like they got more of

4:59

her jeans than his luckily Yeah,

5:02

well, they certainly spent a lot of time naked on

5:04

the beach But yeah, they were I mean,

5:07

I guess the Sun ended up bolder

5:09

then but you know, they dated Rob

5:11

Lowe I mean they were constantly getting

5:13

in car wrecks That's

5:15

the dream right there because you ask any any any

5:17

American girl like hey, what do you want to do

5:19

in your life? They will always say I want

5:22

to date Rob Lowe and I want to get

5:24

in a lot of cars No

5:26

downside to either of those things. I'm gonna go to

5:28

the 1988 Democratic

5:30

National Convention with Rob Lowe and

5:32

then I'm gonna go Formula One racing on

5:34

the Riviera. What could happen? I

5:37

think I have Was

5:40

pretty impressed with the

5:42

idea of European royalty, especially all

5:45

those those like Petite

5:47

don't the dukes that

5:50

were disenfranchised by the revolutions of

5:52

1849 or You

5:55

know the sort of I mean

5:58

you don't want to like praise Weimar

6:01

Germany too much, but you

6:03

know there were a lot of French

6:05

aristocrats and German

6:07

aristocrats that don't

6:09

actually have any

6:13

rights or privileges anymore, but they're

6:15

still... What didn't we do on

6:17

Omnibus about the Las Habsburg? Yeah. We've

6:20

done a few of these shows about these questionable...

6:22

Yeah, and I think I always... Tail end of

6:24

royalty guys. Just this sort

6:26

of romantic longing

6:28

for that kind of lifestyle,

6:31

just because it's like getting

6:33

a PhD or it's like going to an

6:35

Ivy League school. You can lead with it.

6:38

It's like being a firefighter. You lead with

6:40

it. Even if you

6:42

don't say it yourself, like your reputation

6:44

precedes you. If you're... I

6:47

just like the fairy tale cachet of princes and princesses, but

6:49

as a young man you're thinking, I wish I had this

6:51

on my resume. Yeah, because I

6:54

sucked for a lot of my youth. I

6:57

didn't achieve all the things that would give

6:59

you entree to where I hoped to be,

7:02

which was...

7:05

You're in a job interview at Red Robin and you're thinking, if

7:07

I could just tell this guy that I was the Duke of

7:09

Strasbourg. Yeah, right. I would immediately

7:11

become a waiter and not have to start as

7:13

a busser. I

7:16

wonder, I think I still carry

7:18

some of that where I

7:20

wish I had one unimpeachable

7:24

fact about myself

7:27

that no one could take away. I

7:30

mean, I've won a few phony

7:32

awards for my podcast appearances. You

7:34

have a band? Isn't that pretty

7:36

good? No. I mean, you know... Is

7:39

it because... There's no short way to say it in such a way

7:41

that it's not like me and all my buddies or have

7:43

a bar band. You could say Grammy

7:46

nominated. See, that's good. But I

7:48

haven't been. Grammy

7:50

nominated song writer. No. The

7:53

song was Grammy nominated. See, here's what you do.

7:55

You say, I'm a Grammy nominated song writer. I

7:58

wrote a song on a Grammy winning record. Good.

8:00

But. All I got was certificate I

8:03

didn't get like he can't I can't

8:05

claim to be grammy winning. I did

8:07

when a jew know award. Know.

8:09

A So Can award which is a comedian but

8:12

is a Ram is it will be You know

8:14

is the Canadian guy is so can like. kind

8:16

of the read for this in know it's like

8:18

the Sunnyvale Burden Grams fits the to maybe and

8:21

song writing a war Oh I see so I've

8:23

been here I won a portion of around so

8:25

much like a petrochemical company has forever right? I

8:27

mean you know the best I have is or

8:30

that I was King Neptune of See Fair but

8:32

nobody outside of the pit to to sound is

8:34

ever heard of. See I think it's still a

8:36

good conversation start the ah yes but it may

8:38

not get. You. I'm. And mean

8:41

I get you into the. Library.

8:43

Of Congress archives or something. I don't know where you're

8:45

trying to get to, you know they give you the

8:47

little a pin. That. Says that he's aware

8:49

on your lapel. That says you know I'm. To

8:53

Neptune see at royalty but I don't know

8:55

if this is true for you. I can't

8:58

keep pins on jackets. I don't know we're

9:00

supposed to do gloom on their like they're

9:02

always popping up for his existence thing. other

9:04

work it works. but then he comes unfastened.

9:06

I don't know if it's just that I

9:08

am such a rumble. That.

9:11

That you don't have enough? You're not wearing

9:13

a flare today. So I know because I

9:15

don't know. It's not like a sleep in

9:18

cars anymore. Why can't I keep buttons and

9:20

pins on jacket? So anyway, I don't put

9:22

my Seafarer regalia on my normal. Outerwear

9:25

because and one. And

9:27

would only last six hours. I have an Emmy at

9:30

home and I'm think me embarrassed by it. You are

9:32

not. It's right there right behind your desk. it's sitting

9:34

on a mentor to the that's a fun place to

9:36

put but like I would never dream of being like.

9:39

Well. You know I am an Emmy winning so

9:41

I feel like it's fake. I was sister. Be.

9:44

As producer credit will you can

9:46

like a So Can award but

9:48

he knows something untoward is real.

9:50

It's just comedian. Who are you

9:53

know? Hundred of your name procedures.

9:55

Ten Jennings, The Goats. You're the

9:57

greatest Jeopardy Winner of all time.

9:59

That's like. A thousand Phds. I

10:01

guess it's true that when you imagine I

10:03

wish I was the Marquess of something, what

10:05

you're really thinking is, I wish I had

10:08

just some fully formed adults Identity That was

10:10

is unquestionable. Yes, And it's true that winning

10:12

on a games are actually does that slightest.

10:14

I do kind of feel like I'm more.

10:17

Confident. Version of myself because nobody

10:19

can be like or who knows if this

10:21

guy's gonna jeopardy at a minimum. Now be

10:23

like wow. This. Guy Factory's pretty

10:26

good. It's different. I mean even if

10:28

you one jeopardy once sir, that's the

10:30

top line of your Wikipedia page. Probably.

10:33

But if you win Jeopardy, Whatever. seven hundred

10:35

times or whatever the hell I keep forgetting

10:37

home seventy four times in couldn't make it

10:40

all the way to seven years as except

10:42

for the championship ones on. that puts the

10:44

over age. I was in game seventy five

10:46

and I lost it. So I always thought

10:48

of myself as yes, seventy five games but

10:51

know people want the wind seventy four abou.

10:53

But still I think that makes you America

10:55

smartest boy And that's put you in Dutch

10:57

with a couple of my other friends who

11:00

wish they were America smartest boy A man

11:02

is. Kind. Of of that's example

11:04

as you be know any reason why we're

11:06

friends his know like a c really have

11:08

to really annoys. Wire Fair just antagonizes a

11:11

couple of other friends litter upon their high

11:13

horse. but I saw it in real life.

11:15

Royalty would have so many downsides. Are

11:19

especially royalty that comes with no money

11:21

exact. I think if you royalty earth

11:23

you're some kind of a you know

11:25

aristocrat and you and it comes with

11:27

some land and a title. And.

11:29

You can waste away or used in. In

11:32

Ghosts Discos you can marry someone

11:34

who's got money but no title.

11:36

See. That often happens, that's not bad.

11:38

I was the you know if I could

11:40

marry him as Tally in Air Us. But.

11:43

Bring to the table or she has minor.

11:45

doesn't she have the money on the title

11:47

In the scenario what are you what are

11:50

never be Pretty nice Super she also had

11:52

of the villa somewhere that been or family

11:54

for nine hundred years. It's hard to see

11:56

what what you're bringing her song writing out

11:58

Canadian award winning Canadians on right the argument

12:00

That's what I'm saying. I don't have. You.

12:03

Know I won the Seattle Weekly award for

12:05

best tweet of two thousand and eight. Congratulations

12:07

that that's a Me goes up in the

12:10

bathroom on the bathroom wall with my other

12:12

of water certificates A certain things none of

12:14

my words have a thorough as you do.

12:16

Yeah, they're all certificates through. What you want

12:18

is a three deal. New I do. that's

12:21

the best kind I do and I've said

12:23

before that above your head you holy symbol

12:25

the certificate above your ideas about your am.

12:28

I. Don't know near you can

12:30

enjoy your waving some sort of

12:33

the in the nobody can read.

12:35

I've had span send me statuettes.

12:38

For. Various awards that they've made up for

12:40

me. But. Even the Kentucky Colonels

12:42

ah they sent us was I was a repel pin

12:44

in a piece of paper. Why? What you need is

12:46

a three D printer. Because then you

12:48

can just make and on a freebie version

12:51

of all your awards know? But that's like

12:53

that's like chains year on Wikipedia page. He

12:55

did. You want to actually be the be

12:57

that? be the ball? See the ball. I'm

12:59

going to sit on my hand until it's

13:01

numb and then I'm going to make myself a

13:03

three. The awards and maybe part of this is

13:05

that my Wells Grandfather. Have

13:08

felt that being wells was

13:10

shameful. And he commercial

13:12

with He told everyone that he was

13:15

Scottish. And. In telling everyone

13:17

he was god is because he was

13:19

of a liar and a panda. And.

13:21

Malfeasance. He.

13:24

Had to bump it up a notch and say

13:26

that he was Scottish royalty. And from

13:28

a lot of I have a mice While

13:30

many Scottish feel so much Scottish royalty. So.

13:33

My father and his siblings

13:35

grew up. thinking. That

13:37

they were descended from some father

13:39

says yes and it was only

13:41

in the eighties when they went

13:43

to Scotland. The three of them

13:45

who ago at the time were

13:47

in their fifties when to Scotland

13:49

to track down their heritage and.

13:52

All the Scots said. Further,

13:55

Isn't the never heard of

13:58

it? Isn't a specialist? The

14:00

name when was only to have a little

14:02

for for a limit and number do those

14:04

access and that was when they discovered i

14:06

think the from as they never heard of

14:09

yeah and they had a so my folks

14:11

had to take the train down to Wales

14:13

and then realized oh we're not. Tell

14:16

me on the herald pot to piss him. I mean there's

14:18

are you could see of this always Ireland see to still

14:20

feel good about yourself. Wales. About

14:22

the end of our own. well in the

14:24

problem is where who move with turned out

14:26

when we did a twenty three a me

14:29

that we're actually Irish and had come to

14:31

Wales I because it was a step up

14:33

with aware of the whale part with the

14:35

upwardly mobile suit leaves Wales has a lease,

14:37

Wales has coal mining with Stephen in a

14:39

with Ireland can put together Ireland. Ireland runs

14:42

out of potatoes. You gotta either choose. A.

14:44

Coal mines of whales or that sentiments

14:46

about. Them. Can.

14:49

We encourage people to support the show

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as you know like am told a

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just start spoiling the whole episode. You can say,

18:02

ha ha, they don't get to the topic until

18:04

40 minutes in. Hey Thursday people, I know who

18:07

the killer is. Lawl,

18:10

and there's nothing they can do to stop you.

18:12

No, Thursday people are powerless. They could

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don't want to just start calling all

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the, like, the

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shirkers Thursday people, but

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coinage. It might become a meme. Instead

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You give a bad tip at a restaurant and the server will

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be like, look at this Thursday guy. What

18:35

the hell, Thursday people? You know, why don't you try

18:37

and be a Tuesday people for once? Be a little

18:40

bit Tuesday. You're a Thursday person in

18:42

a Tuesday world, man. That's the thing. The vibes are

18:44

off. They're going to be like, you

18:46

get a bad tip and somebody's going to be like,

18:48

you're giving Thursday. Yeah, or they might even be, you

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go to patreon.com/omnivus project

18:59

and become a better person,

19:01

a Tuesday person, if you will. Yeah,

19:04

that's right. Be a Tuz, not a Thurs. But

19:08

you remember the fashion, or not

19:10

fashion, the fad of being able

19:12

to buy a Royal title in

19:15

the UK or in Europe? Was it real?

19:17

I always thought it was fake, like one

19:19

of those star registries or whatever. Yeah, I

19:22

mean, there's a

19:24

website called royaltitles.net. That's

19:27

how you know it's real. royaltitles.net. An

19:30

AI-generated site called royaltitles.net. And

19:32

there are, apparently,

19:35

you can buy land

19:37

that comes with a title in

19:39

Eastern Prussia, a place

19:41

that's been through a lot of

19:43

different incarnations since there was... Fine,

19:46

it's Poland. Yeah, exactly. We're going to call

19:48

it Eastern Prussia. Pomerania and Livonia. Oh, it's

19:51

a certain... I'm scrolling down, it's a certificate, John.

19:53

Yeah, it is. That's the problem. It can be

19:55

the Baron or Baroness of Pomerania and Livonia. Let's

19:58

see what that costs here. uh...

20:01

you would... what do we see here for?

20:04

uh... let's go wow you get like a

20:06

little uh... like a blue max style

20:10

what covers a picture of Neuschwanstein which is not

20:12

near any of these places and is also 19th

20:14

century and is not like

20:18

a local barony so this says for 219 euros you

20:20

can be uh... and

20:24

then for 319 you get a pair so you and your lady

20:29

friend i think Mindy would like to be a

20:31

Marchianess wouldn't that be kinda

20:33

cool like you know to be i mean maybe not

20:35

something to do on the first date but

20:38

like hey hey honey i

20:40

made us both the Baron

20:42

and Baroness of Pomerania haha it

20:45

is Valentine's Day as we're recording this is this too

20:47

late for me to make

20:49

it's too late by the time this airs. Mindy

20:52

a Marchianess am I even saying that right? there

20:55

are eco benefits John they will plant one

20:57

new tree in the forests of

20:59

eastern europe if you become the the

21:02

Baron of Pomerania. Wow you

21:04

can become a prince-elector and

21:07

have a say in who is the holy

21:09

Roman emperor wow if

21:11

that ever comes back that's pretty hot

21:14

uh... but anyway i think there is

21:17

some fascination with that. There's like an FAQ section

21:19

and the first one is basically is this real?

21:22

and they say yes yes the

21:24

people who are advertising this attest to its

21:26

realness I

21:29

don't know we've done

21:31

a few different episodes on

21:34

micro nations I

21:37

don't remember what they were well you did

21:39

one in Sudan. Oh right the place that

21:41

no one can own because if Sudan

21:44

claims that they lose a better part of Egypt

21:46

and vice versa right I remember. Beer to will

21:48

and uh... well

21:51

I did I

21:53

did an episode on four small

21:56

countries but you know actually on my list

21:58

for a long time has been Andorra Liechtenstein,

22:00

I guess

22:03

Luxembourg. I once pitched a book on these. I

22:05

think I told you this before, like and I'll

22:07

go to all of them and it'll be all

22:09

comic, you know how quaint these little places are

22:11

and all the weird things, you know, a three-person

22:13

navy, it'll be fun. Random House did

22:16

not want to buy it. Really? The

22:18

world was deprived of, I just wanted

22:20

a free trip to Liechtenstein that I

22:22

could deduct. You know, like there's the

22:24

principle, the principality of Seborgia, um...

22:27

These all seem fake. I think, well, you

22:30

know, and I often say I'm from Slobovia

22:32

just to get out of trouble and it

22:35

never gets me out of trouble. That's the title that will

22:37

get you your Italian heiress, is telling them

22:39

you're from Lower Slobovia. I'm from Slobovia and I

22:41

think I got that from a... We love a

22:44

Lil' Abner reference on this show. I

22:46

got that from a Judd

22:49

Nelson movie from

22:52

the 80s, Slobovia. But you know, I

22:54

think San Marino might be the oldest

22:56

continuous nation in Europe. Yeah, oldest constitution,

22:59

I think they say. Yeah. Good job,

23:01

San Marino. Hey, well done, San Marino.

23:04

And Dan Marino's maybe the oldest guy

23:06

in a Super Bowl ad this year. No.

23:09

There were a lot of old guys in Super Bowl

23:11

ads this year. Dan Marino is in a lot. Um,

23:15

but our show today is

23:18

on the principality of Sealand, which

23:21

is, uh... It

23:23

can't be Sealand land, can it? Sealand

23:26

land. Pick a lane. Well, interestingly, I

23:28

mean, where... When

23:30

land goes into the sea, at

23:33

what point does it stop being land and

23:35

start being sea? Oh, well, by

23:37

Washington State law, I think it's the

23:39

high tide mark. The high tide mark. And

23:43

I would say the low tide mark

23:45

is where it really... I

23:47

mean, there is a kind

23:50

of in-between, an

23:52

interstitial state. Sure. But

23:55

at the low tide line, it's really... Smells like

23:57

seaweed. Smells like seaweed. Not land weed. That's

23:59

how you know it's... That's the high tide mark. Oh, land weed

24:01

versus sea weed. Because the beach isn't covered with land weed.

24:04

Covered with seaweed, that part. That's why it

24:06

smells. But it's interesting, when the land goes

24:08

into the sea, we stop thinking

24:10

of it as land, although it is land.

24:12

I mean, it's rock. It's, well,

24:15

not a land. It's dry land. It's sand.

24:17

It's dry land. That's what we're talking about.

24:19

And this is sea land that

24:21

we're talking about. What kind of land is that? Well,

24:23

sea land originally, let's

24:27

set the way back machine to where we

24:29

really love to be in omnibus, or at

24:32

least I do, which is World War II.

24:34

Finally. World War II! Yay! Is that the

24:36

sound effect of World War II? Yeah, it's

24:39

one piece of notebook paper being rattled into

24:41

a mound of sand. World War

24:43

II. Is that like Dresden burning or something? Oh,

24:46

wow, too soon. It sounded like fire.

24:50

Well, there was a lot of fire

24:52

in World War II, and in our

24:54

story begins with an attempt to concentrate

24:56

fire on incoming

24:58

bombers in the form

25:00

of anti-aircraft guns that

25:03

were placed on

25:05

emplacements. That's where

25:08

you would place them. That's where you placed

25:10

them. And these emplacements were emplaced out

25:13

at sea. You've

25:16

seen the maps of Europe

25:20

during the ice age when the seas were lower.

25:22

Doggerland or whatever. You could walk to Normandy if

25:24

you were into that? Yeah, you could walk across.

25:27

The UK was connected to Europe.

25:30

Boy, the British must have hated

25:32

that. Well and also, think about

25:34

all the archaeological sites, all the

25:36

castles, and dug out embankments and

25:42

frozen knights. D-Day would

25:44

have been easier. A lot easier. Although, maybe

25:47

you just get shot at sooner. But it

25:49

means that the English Channel is not that

25:51

deep for a lot of it. So

25:54

you can just build from the sea floor?

25:56

Yeah, the way that... So, or do they

25:58

have to find like a... some kind of a

26:01

promontory that was almost above the waves and then

26:03

putting emplacement on that. There are seven sea forts.

26:07

They were designed by an Englishman by the

26:09

name of Guy Monsel, who,

26:11

and they're known as the Monsel

26:14

Sea Forts, and there

26:16

are seven of them that were

26:19

placed in the English Channel on

26:22

sand bars that were shallower

26:25

portions, that, you know, that there

26:27

would have been buoys there saying,

26:29

like, watch out, sandbar here. But

26:32

they were like six

26:34

or seven nautical miles off the

26:37

coast of the UK

26:39

proper. And the

26:41

idea of just being that you'd

26:43

have some radar stations and anti-aircraft

26:46

emplacements out there that, as

26:48

the nazis were coming over to BOM

26:51

London, you could have a little advance warning and a

26:53

little bit of a shot to

26:56

protect the harbor. Did it work?

26:59

Well, yeah, they were active

27:01

all through the war. You

27:03

know, I'm not sure... They

27:06

never shut down a single flight. I'm not

27:08

sure how many stamps of swats because they

27:10

had on the side of the fort. And

27:12

they actually shut down some RAF jets too.

27:14

Yeah, I mean, they were just... It was

27:16

just blind shooting in the night, really. But

27:19

they were designed... They were, you know, concrete

27:22

structures that were

27:24

floated out, pulled

27:26

by tugboats. They were built on

27:28

land, poured on land. But built in a dry dock, floated

27:31

out behind tugs, and then the

27:35

bottom portion was flooded with

27:37

water, and they sank down onto

27:39

the sandbar. But they were enormous. They

27:42

were 4500... I'm sorry, yeah, 4500 tons. And so

27:44

once they were flooded with

27:49

water and sank to the sea floor, they remain

27:52

a permanent

27:55

emplacement. They were designed sort of Similarly

28:00

to the original offshore oil platforms,

28:02

although offshore oil platforms now are

28:05

much different. Holler and more

28:07

elaborate. But it looks like when you look at a picture of

28:09

these things, it does kind of look like a mini oil platform.

28:12

It does, although the big towers

28:14

that hold them

28:16

erect are really fat, big, round towers.

28:18

And in fact, they are full of

28:21

compartments, living compartments. That's where all the

28:23

bunk rooms are. They have... Those aren't

28:25

below the water line, I assume. Some of them are. Oh,

28:28

yeah? They're on floors within

28:30

the tower. So the water

28:32

out there on those sandbars

28:34

is... You're

28:38

in 30 or 40 feet of water, but

28:41

those towers were 60 feet high,

28:44

and they're on a concrete buttress

28:47

or a concrete base. So

28:51

they sit fairly high up off of the surface

28:53

of the water, and then they have a big

28:56

platform built on top of it. And

28:58

on top of the platform, then,

29:00

you can build another superstructure, a

29:02

building that houses

29:05

the officers' quarters and the radar station

29:07

and all the stuff. And

29:09

then up there is also the anti-aircraft

29:12

gun. I guess today you would land

29:14

helicopters up top, but I mean, World

29:16

War II, maybe no, right? They

29:19

had a little dock, a little... You'd have to

29:21

take a dinghy out to your fort? Yeah, take

29:23

a dinghy or a little boat out there, and

29:25

there was a crane that you could lift stuff

29:27

up. And after the

29:30

war, there

29:32

wasn't any reason to take them down, but

29:35

at the time, the English, or

29:38

rather United Kingdom territorial

29:41

waters did not

29:43

extend all the

29:46

way out to encompass these forts

29:48

that were 11 kilometers off of the... They're

29:51

in international waters. They're in what at

29:53

the time were international waters. And

29:57

so the Royal Navy

29:59

can... to sort of occupy them

30:01

and use them for various purposes, radar

30:04

stations and, you know, I don't know

30:06

what. I don't think prison barges,

30:08

although that would have been cooler. They

30:11

were still army installations. Until

30:13

the 50s. And in, you

30:15

know, the mid-50s they, advances

30:18

in other technology, probably

30:22

explicitly ballistic missiles, made

30:25

them mostly obsolete and

30:27

so they were decommissioned. During

30:31

their heyday, during the war, they

30:33

had as many as 300 occupants,

30:36

Royal Navy soldiers. On a single one? On

30:38

a single one. Because they don't look that

30:40

big. They don't. Yeah,

30:43

but I mean in those big towers, and I

30:45

don't know how you would need even 200 people

30:49

to man a handful

30:51

of anti-aircraft guns in a radar station.

30:53

It's a James Cameron movie though. A

30:56

bunch of smelly guys in close quarters on the

30:58

water. Yeah,

31:00

it doesn't seem necessary,

31:03

but I guess when they built them,

31:06

they probably thought, this

31:08

is the, these are

31:10

installations, these are, this

31:13

is a system that we should

31:15

overbuild. And maybe it's going to be attacked. Maybe

31:17

you need to defend it. Like if this really

31:19

is valuable, this becomes the first battle. Right.

31:22

If they're shooting down so many bombers

31:25

that the Nazis have to

31:27

surmount them before they can stage

31:29

the rest of their invasion. Yeah, right. You'd

31:31

need a bunch of Marines. Apparently they were

31:33

not shooting down that many bombers because the Nazis never

31:36

tried to take them out. And that's the thing. I

31:38

mean, these were built after the Battle

31:40

of Britain, and at a certain

31:42

point, the Germans realized that they were not going to

31:44

take the UK in this war. And

31:47

I think... I like that optimistic take. Yeah.

31:50

It could still happen. Yeah. Could

31:52

still happen. We don't know. I mean, Germany is

31:55

very prosperous. Wouldn't put a pass in. You know?

31:58

It would put them in a little bit. trouble

32:00

with the rest of us. Yeah, I feel like that

32:04

would be some shockwaves in

32:06

NATO if Germany invaded Britain. When

32:08

the UK left Europe, they

32:11

put themselves in a variety of Jeopardy's. Their

32:16

risk of German invasion probably tripled. I

32:19

mean, it was very low. It was low at the time.

32:23

And in the 1950s and early 60s, as we know from 1,000 other media,

32:25

it was a time in the

32:32

UK where it took a long time to recover

32:35

from the privation of the war. It

32:38

was not the... Nobody had coffee for 20 years.

32:40

They were all just drinking dirt in water.

32:42

Princess Anne did, or Princess

32:44

Margaret did. Does Margaret got the only coffee? And

32:49

this was also... During

32:51

the rise of rock and

32:53

roll, there

32:56

was... This

33:00

is a time when the BBC

33:03

broadcast media, record companies,

33:06

they were all real institutions that

33:08

had been established under a government

33:11

umbrella and radio

33:13

waves, which we've talked about in the

33:16

United States quite a bit. They were...

33:19

You had restricted access to

33:22

radio frequencies even now. But

33:26

in Europe, the restricted

33:29

access, there wasn't a

33:32

public component. Most of the radio

33:34

stations were controlled by

33:36

the government and their programming

33:39

came directly from

33:41

the big recording

33:44

companies. They were exclusive to... The

33:47

Playlists were not open to whatever a DJ

33:49

wanted to play. So A lot of light

33:51

entertainment, a lot of light orchestras playing light

33:54

dance music long after. That's what kids wanted.

33:56

And That's why you get stories of all

33:58

these rock and roll era... The censorship

34:00

stories of well. The. Bbc could

34:02

never played this hit song because it

34:05

mentioned Levi's Or and Ice and Russia

34:07

or Something Price and in particular mention

34:09

The Queen and anything but a Positive

34:11

Light Six The Source and Get On

34:13

Bbc And so that was the dawn

34:16

and and as I'm gonna I'm gonna

34:18

refer to pirate radio as little as

34:20

possible in this story because they'll believe

34:22

in other words has play a role.

34:24

Know because I just don't wanted to

34:27

inspire another Decemberists process of but ah

34:29

or a class song you know, even

34:31

worse. But pirate radio

34:33

was. Ah was a

34:35

a workaround a lot of what

34:38

of them in well lot of

34:40

D J's and people that were

34:42

called serb agitators said we're going

34:44

to start broadcasting illegally. From.

34:47

Various. Locations.

34:49

Where we were outside. Uk.

34:52

Territorial Waters? Yeah, they're up. There are

34:54

all these frequencies that aren't being used

34:57

that we could broadcast. We could get

34:59

a big enough transmitter that we could

35:01

hit the major population centers of the

35:03

Uk from a boat. Wix

35:06

we could. Park. Offshore, I guess

35:08

we cover this and the goat glands. So

35:10

how? the American equivalent was big Mexican transmitter

35:12

right right across the border. I

35:14

think get around I don't get around regulations

35:17

and about about bounce. So.

35:19

Pirate radio was a was a

35:22

mid sixties phenomenon. And.

35:25

On. A ship out in the middle of

35:27

the of international waters. There wasn't a

35:29

ton. I mean that there was. There

35:31

were attempts to prosecute. People

35:34

that were invading the airwaves, but I

35:36

think it was pretty exciting for the

35:38

kids and then they would broadcast to

35:40

Europe. And

35:43

there were, you know, a handful

35:45

of pirate radio types that would

35:48

be recognizable. even to

35:50

generation z are many generations the fans and

35:52

what do you mean us naya i don't

35:54

mean as i am for i mean what

35:56

do you mean russian oh just in the

35:58

sense that they were ads They

36:00

were you know, they were a nonconformist

36:03

equivalent of kind of underground hip-hop

36:05

scenes today. Yeah, exactly I mean any kind

36:07

of any kind of world that has a

36:10

monoculture is gonna have a An

36:13

alternative culture and now that we

36:15

have 1 million alternative cultures and

36:17

no monoculture. There's still room for

36:21

micro Alternative cultures

36:23

within even alternative cultures. That's

36:26

about all there is right? Yeah,

36:28

right I mean we are an

36:30

alternative micro Culture like

36:33

this podcast. Yeah, you and I Wouldn't

36:35

say we're not part of the mainstream

36:38

podcast culture. I think there are a lot of

36:40

podcasts just like this I would not have thought

36:42

of us as a Brave

36:45

truth telling Iconic class. Oh

36:47

boy. Well, I don't know about any of those

36:49

things but no, I mean we're in the we're

36:51

outside the system Yeah, we have a we have

36:54

a ship. It's it's in territorial water We're not

36:56

on Podfork or whatever the big

36:58

network. No, and I mean you're right There

37:00

are 400,000 podcasts, but they're out in dinghies.

37:03

All right, nobody can hear

37:05

them You know, they have they have 60

37:07

listeners, but we're broadcasting with 200 watts of

37:09

so you have to be sufficiently

37:11

powerful to be an alternative Culture to be

37:13

heard in London, right? Which is

37:15

what's happening here? Some

37:18

people just know the best way for you is a

37:20

rate based on you with all stuff Not

37:22

one based on the driver who treats the highway like

37:24

a racetrack And the shoulder like

37:26

a passing lane Why pay

37:29

a rate based on anyone else get one based

37:31

on you? Not

37:34

available in Alaska, California subject to terms and conditions They're determined

37:36

by several factors which vary by state and some states participation

37:38

in drive-wise allows all state to use your driving data for

37:40

purposes of rating While in some states your rate could increase

37:42

with high-risk driving Generally safer drivers will save the drive-wise all

37:44

state baron casually insurance company in the Philly, North Park, Illinois

37:47

so there were there

37:50

were There are quite a

37:52

few sort of pirate radio stations But the

37:54

star of our show is

37:56

a man by the name of Patty

37:58

Roy Bates Patty PADD an

38:00

Irish surname, an

38:03

Irish forename, Patty.

38:05

Yes. Right? There's Patrick. Yeah, but there's

38:07

not gonna be anyone that isn't Irish

38:09

who goes by Patty, is there? Seems

38:11

very unlikely. Also the only, and I

38:13

think all Patties are Patricks, right? Like

38:15

nobody in Ireland is naming their kid

38:17

Patty on their first certificate. Probably

38:19

not. Patty Bates had

38:22

a pirate radio station called Radio Essex that

38:26

broadcast from a ship. It was not in Essex. It was

38:28

not in Essex. It was off the

38:30

coast of Essex. Was Radio Luxembourg in Luxembourg, or was

38:32

it also a ship? I think it was probably a

38:34

ship. But look, I told you we're not gonna do

38:37

pirate radio, because I'm gonna save that for another show.

38:39

Okay, got it. It's a good show, because there's a

38:41

lot of pirate radio, but that's not what we're doing

38:43

here. By 1966, the UK authorities

38:46

were really

38:52

working hard to shut down

38:54

pirate radio. And

38:58

Patty Bates, who had

39:00

a pirate radio station named Radio

39:02

Essex, along with

39:05

another Irishman, Ronan O'Rahili,

39:08

or Riley, but spelled

39:10

R-A-H-I-L-L-Y, who

39:15

had a pirate radio station called

39:17

Radio Caroline, they realized that this

39:20

tower off the coast of Essex,

39:25

which had been known as HM

39:27

Fort Roughs, because it was on

39:30

some sand roughs. It

39:34

was just sitting out there, and rather than

39:36

bobbing along with their radio stations

39:38

on these ships, which increasingly were being

39:40

brought to heel by the British regulatory

39:44

agencies, they

39:46

took over Fort

39:49

Roughs. That

39:51

seems even worse. I

39:54

guess if they've been decommissioned, it's not Her

39:56

Majesty's property anymore? Yeah, there's nobody there. Maybe

39:58

A... A caretaker

40:01

or to. And

40:03

in the case of for

40:06

Ruff, there actually was some

40:08

radio equipment. I'm.

40:10

Just left over from the Us. Air

40:12

Force that was capable of broadcasting. Some.

40:15

Big big radio at the.

40:18

You. Know at London and so the

40:20

unions. The idea was that these

40:22

guys were guns will band together

40:25

and start a a new pirate

40:27

radio station that was outside of

40:29

Uk jurisdiction and their this Uk

40:31

was in the process of. I'm.

40:34

Passing. What became?

40:37

Known. As the marine. Ah,

40:40

Broadcasting. Offenses Act Of

40:42

Nineteen Sixty Seven that made

40:44

it a criminal offense. To.

40:47

Play music, supply,

40:49

commentary, advertising, Or.

40:51

To supply any sip that was

40:53

doing this. To the Uk.

40:56

The and that explicitly included offshore. World

40:59

War Two. Four slices of the act

41:01

mentioned it. yet they had already realized

41:03

this could be a problem, but there

41:06

there were lots of offshore for it's

41:08

but only these seven were off. Of

41:11

offshore. Far enough that they were outside

41:13

of. The. Territorial Waters of the

41:15

Uk. Up

41:17

Patty and Ronin quickly fell

41:20

afoul of one another. And

41:23

A and had a little. Like

41:26

battles. Are they living out

41:28

on the on yet for go out and

41:30

they seize the forward and a been it

41:32

becomes the lighthouse and they go crazy, try

41:34

to kill each other's basically right away and

41:36

m face right up. I don't the idea

41:38

that are ya the first day lights by

41:40

evening, they're already seeing mermaids and you know,

41:42

gotten not really. Within a year. And

41:46

and then the beads family takes

41:48

over. Of

41:51

takes over for Rust's having

41:53

ousted Ronan's Yeah and renames

41:55

at Sea Lions. Ah,

42:00

But. It. Never really.

42:03

activate. The. Transmitter.

42:05

Or. At any point, subsequent.

42:09

Broadcast. Any sort of pirate

42:11

radio to the Uk immediately

42:13

lost interest. He immediately. Lost

42:15

interest and start and and started to

42:17

is the most relate of honor this

42:19

guy ever Sarkozy well I got my

42:22

process off the ground of know. He

42:25

started the Captain Bligh a little bit

42:27

and get a and lose the plot.

42:31

At one point some workmen

42:34

timeouts. To. Repair a

42:36

buoy that was nearby. And

42:39

patty son Michael. Of

42:41

fired some warning shots at them.

42:44

Only. Stereotypes are virus or not, he's under

42:46

in the money savers. Well.

42:48

No. Ah. And. In

42:51

fact, them in that inspires a

42:53

group of Royal Marines to come

42:55

out and arrest them both. Oh

42:57

for firing shots at these these

42:59

holy war we repair guys. But

43:02

when they're arraigned in the Uk,

43:04

it's determined by the court that.

43:06

There. Is no jurisdiction. To

43:09

punish them because they're outside territorial

43:11

waters night? I can't. Know.

43:14

And we one can never know. We can

43:16

never know. How much. The

43:19

judges. Just. Didn't want to deal

43:21

with it that they didn't want to deal with

43:23

the larger question, right? How

43:26

Nobody really thought that this

43:28

was any kind of serious

43:30

matter, but. This. Proclamation

43:32

or this judgment that they

43:35

were outside territorial waters and

43:37

therefore. We. In a

43:39

let go of. School.

43:43

You know, tacitly endorsed. As far

43:45

as Patty Bates was concerned, the

43:47

idea that he was independent of

43:49

Uk law outside of Uk. just

43:52

it. Sir seems like a bunch of

43:54

other people would have come rushing into that vacuum.

43:56

you know, like. Never. know

43:58

activities criminal on these

44:01

seven forts. Well, right.

44:03

They didn't all become lawless casinos overnight.

44:06

No, they didn't. And I think it was Patty Bates and

44:08

his son Michael who were

44:11

actually willing to settle and hold the ground of

44:13

sealant. I guess that's how unpleasant it must be out

44:15

there, that nobody else considered doing

44:18

this. Yeah, I mean, if you

44:20

think about living in Hull and

44:23

then take away even the grocery stores that

44:25

Hull has and,

44:27

you know, and relocate to... Hull

44:29

without... Or heritage. Without the pub.

44:32

Yeah. And without the Tesco. You have to build your

44:34

own pub. What do you have? So

44:37

the Bates family declares sealant

44:41

a principality. And

44:43

they... Who's the prince? It is

44:45

Patty Bates. He is the

44:47

prince of sealant and Michael,

44:49

his son, is the prince regent of

44:52

sealant. And they have

44:54

a constitution. They have a flag.

44:56

Is this guy married? Like, is

44:58

his spouse out there? I

45:01

wonder, maybe he's not by this time? I

45:03

don't know. Well, I'm not... No, I think

45:05

that there were... I think that there were

45:07

ladies of sealant. He's married to

45:09

the former Joan Collins, I presume not the same one.

45:12

But she has kind of a glamorous

45:14

character. So, yeah, he's

45:17

making a family of it out there.

45:19

Yeah, that's right. I mean, he does

45:21

have grandchildren, as we'll see. And

45:25

so they're out there in sealant

45:27

and they're in

45:31

defiance of the Marine Broadcasting Offences

45:33

Act, even

45:36

though they're not broadcasting. Yeah. And

45:39

they have multiple instances

45:42

where their independence from British law, or

45:44

their separate status from British law, is

45:48

reinforced by various

45:50

rulings. And the... One

45:53

of the key... So they're,

45:55

at this point, issuing passports for

45:59

a fee. As a

46:01

principality. Just as a novelty or does anybody want

46:03

to visit? Well, it must be hard to get

46:05

there. As a novelty, but

46:07

also it's smacks of

46:09

sovereign citizenship. That

46:12

if you travel on your sealant

46:14

passport, you would somehow be

46:17

circumventing duties and... This

46:20

was at a time when the UK had like,

46:23

onerous taxes for show business

46:26

people. Before Maggie

46:28

Thatcher solved all those problems. Right,

46:30

before she returned UK to its

46:32

natural capitalist free market state.

46:35

This is why the Rolling Stones are in France. They don't

46:37

want to pay their taxes. That's exactly right. There

46:40

is like, yeah, it's always

46:42

these libertarians that do this. There's one of these

46:44

right now in Czech Republic. And it's

46:46

always just some guy who's like, I'll have

46:48

my own, well now, cryptocurrency and

46:50

I'll write my own anthem and anybody can

46:53

do whatever they want. Well,

46:56

and it's hard to know how much

47:00

Patti Roy Bates, who

47:02

at this point was going by Roy

47:04

or rather Prince Roy. Do you

47:07

think people called him that? I mean, it's better

47:09

than Vice Roy. It's

47:11

better. Vice Roy Roy. I think a lot

47:13

of people called him Prince Roy because

47:16

people love this kind of thing. And it's

47:18

hard to know how much

47:20

Prince Roy was really into this

47:22

to begin with or whether establishing

47:24

this, then fighting for

47:27

it, he became more and more touched

47:29

and actually, you know. Started to think

47:31

he was the best. Yeah, knew who

47:34

he was and what he was doing.

47:36

And Prince Roy, he'd been a major

47:38

in the British army. He was not just

47:40

some hippie pirate radio guy.

47:43

He'd fought in North Africa and

47:45

in Italy. He was like a, you

47:49

know, he was a legit sort

47:51

of sort

47:54

of eminence enough

47:56

that he could appear as Prince Roy and

47:58

be someone who was a great fighter. credible, right?

48:02

He had a little bit of a... He has

48:05

a kingdom. He does. But it's very small and it's

48:08

made of concrete. It's very small and it's made of

48:10

concrete. Well, by the 70s

48:12

he was starting to be

48:14

approached by business people and other

48:17

Europeans with the idea,

48:19

as you suggested, that it

48:22

become a casino, that all of

48:24

this outside of state

48:26

regulations that he had, you

48:28

know, he had mostly established

48:31

by this precedent of not being prosecuted.

48:34

Like, why don't we turn this into

48:36

a place where prostitution is legal or

48:38

whatever, you know, whatever the ideas were.

48:41

And a German by the name of

48:43

Alexander Ackenbach started

48:46

negotiating with him on behalf of a

48:49

coalition of business people to

48:51

buy sealant and

48:54

presumably also buy for 295 pounds

48:56

the printship. Do you know what he wanted

49:02

with it? Did he also just want it as a novelty thing

49:04

or were they actually going to put a casino in? No, I

49:06

think their plan was to put a casino and put a, you

49:10

know, and make it

49:12

a profitable business center in taking

49:15

advantage of its

49:17

outsider status. But

49:19

rather than... Untaxable, I guess, right?

49:22

Untaxable, exactly. I don't know what

49:24

income you're making there. Well,

49:27

and it was potential income

49:29

more than whatever income there was

49:31

at first. Gambling probably is what

49:33

it would have been. But

49:36

rather than actually

49:38

buy the principality of

49:41

sealant from the Bates

49:43

family, Alexander Ackenbach

49:46

staged or, you

49:48

know, invited the Bateses to Austria

49:50

to negotiate this purchase. And

49:53

while the Bateses molded

49:55

in some Austrian hotel

49:58

lobby, Ackenbach. In

50:00

a team of Commandos? What? Seems.

50:04

To. Be.

50:06

A the Principality of Sealants invaded the

50:08

country, invaded the country and Michael Bates

50:11

were was there as Prince regent

50:13

and they captured. Took

50:16

the crown prince prisoner. They did. Two

50:19

brothers know towers to put him in. So.

50:21

And end at that point. I

50:24

think the bases had granted Alexander

50:26

off back though as the prime

50:28

Ministership of See Ones as part

50:30

of their process negotiating with him.

50:33

And so he. Claimed.

50:35

To have. To.

50:37

Have some. Like that.

50:40

this was a coup de tal. And

50:42

not just a system of an

50:44

invasion on the with a bunch

50:46

of Dutch mercenaries. I don't

50:49

want to keep harping on this, but it

50:51

really does. So the limits of Libertarianism is

50:53

a philosophy your like. This is amazing. I

50:55

have no government oversight whatsoever. Until you're put,

50:57

your son gets sucked up by Dutch mercenaries,

50:59

and then you're like. Hey my

51:02

man, Oversight Nine does

51:04

Men, men, or dollars

51:06

or to an end

51:08

and crazily. Abates

51:10

returned and staged of.

51:14

A. Recount are a bit of

51:16

a counter invasion wow overthrew the

51:18

Dutch ministers and because. Alexander.

51:21

Option box had a C

51:23

Wind passport. As.

51:25

Prime Minister. They. Retained him

51:27

and prosecuted him. According to the Principality of

51:29

Zealand law, it's own judicial system. That's what

51:31

does it have one? Well as it did

51:33

it did in this to command big do

51:36

whatever they want to get thrown when they

51:38

come from in the arse. I've read by.

51:40

Sark. Yeah, I think that the constitutional

51:42

monarch in this case. Of

51:44

Prince Roy. Said I

51:47

mean it's a constitutional monarchy, course

51:49

they. but he still has been.

51:51

Rules: With. An Iron Fist. I

51:53

don't think there was a parliament. Ah

51:56

web, where were they sit? While.

51:59

a while that one of the towers, you know. At

52:03

which point the German government, on

52:08

behalf of Alexander Akenbach, a

52:11

person the Germans felt was

52:13

a German citizen, they

52:16

sent a diplomat to England requesting

52:19

that England intervene in

52:22

releasing the German citizen from

52:25

captivity and prosecution, whatever

52:27

life sentence they handed him, from

52:30

the UK government demured. They're

52:35

like, we're not our problem. This is not our

52:37

problem. This is off of our

52:39

jurisdiction and so you're going to have

52:41

to deal with this. At this point,

52:44

West Germany invaded the UK. Like

52:48

what a twist out of the history of

52:50

Helmut Schmidt's government, or Billy Bronner, whoever it

52:52

is decided to invade the UK. They

52:55

did not invade the UK, but

52:57

they did send the diplomat to

52:59

the Principality of Zealand to negotiate

53:01

Alexander Akenbach's release. The

53:04

diplomat was successful in

53:06

securing his release. I think they

53:09

just had to write a check

53:11

or something. But the Bateses used

53:13

that then as a precedent for

53:15

all of Europe recognizing Germany and

53:17

then Europe to follow, recognizing the

53:19

autonomy of Zealand. So Germany

53:21

had to sign something being right? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

53:24

Germans absolutely refused to acknowledge that

53:26

they had recognized the autonomy of

53:29

Zealand. And in fact, Akenbach

53:31

then established a government

53:34

in exile called

53:37

the Philandic Rebel Government. Are these

53:39

guys aware they're doing something funny, do you think,

53:41

on any level? Or are they dead

53:43

serious about this series of coups and counter coups

53:45

they're doing? Because how can you have a shadow

53:47

government of a country the size of two tennis

53:49

courts? Yeah. There's

53:52

no sense that they know it's funny. I

53:54

definitely... Are they trying to sell the book

53:56

rides? I definitely think it's funny. It's very

53:58

funny. But they're... really think the

54:02

law was fuzzy enough that

54:05

if you could claim to have

54:07

your own country and

54:11

you could hold it and

54:13

get diplomatic recognition, at a certain point that would

54:16

have quite an advantage.

54:18

I mean, that's how geopolitics works. I mean,

54:20

it's just, it's very small, but

54:22

this is what happened. That's right. You

54:25

take over some bit of real estate and you hold

54:27

it and you get recognized.

54:29

Well, and they were

54:31

selling passports

54:33

and selling other privileges.

54:36

They could claim citizenship. Right.

54:40

But and they retained, the

54:43

Bates family retained, Sealand and

54:46

maintained their privileges all

54:49

through the 80s and 90s, although

54:52

the family eventually decamped

54:55

from the actual nation of Sealand because it

54:57

didn't have a pub or

54:59

a grocery store. It's a huge bummer out there.

55:01

There's no off license. And the family itself got

55:04

most of its money from

55:07

a seafood business. Were

55:09

they fishing from the, from

55:12

their platform? No, I think they had ships or boat,

55:14

you know, fishing boats. Their company was

55:16

called the Fruits of the Sea. And

55:18

so that was their real income source. And

55:21

Sealand, you know, was, was

55:24

their territory that gave them special

55:26

rights and privileges. But at that point you kind of

55:28

feel like, oh, this

55:31

is a somewhat

55:34

now settled law or, or somewhat,

55:36

you know, they're, they are acknowledging

55:39

that it's kind

55:42

of a joke. In 1987, the UK

55:45

extended its territorial

55:48

waters to 12 nautical miles

55:50

off the coast, which

55:52

incorporated, it reabsorbed Sealand and

55:54

there wasn't any, the

55:57

precedent of their independence did not then end.

56:00

I mean, sort of, they weren't

56:02

able to be then an enclave

56:04

within the UK that some

56:06

San Marino that hadn't been

56:09

incorporated. Well, I have two questions. One,

56:11

countries can just unilaterally decide where their

56:13

territorial waters are, or is there a

56:15

UN limit that the UK was within?

56:17

So originally territorial waters were

56:21

established basically three nautical miles

56:23

around a nation, which was...

56:26

Not far. It was based on

56:29

how far you could fire a cannon,

56:31

essentially. But even in ye

56:34

olden times of the British Empire, nations

56:37

like Iceland and Norway

56:39

and Sweden, typical Norse

56:41

mentality, claimed six

56:44

nautical miles. But

56:46

as the

56:48

years went on, there

56:51

was more and more recognition

56:54

that the

56:56

coastal waters were rich with

56:59

the plenitude of the sea, with

57:01

the fruits of the

57:03

sea, if you will. And

57:06

so nations got

57:09

pretty offended if you were

57:11

fishing three miles off the coast, we

57:13

could see your boats and you're out

57:15

there taking all the fish. So gradually

57:17

12 nautical miles became

57:20

sort of universally accepted.

57:23

And really the UK was kind

57:25

of late in establishing

57:28

12 nautical miles. Nowadays

57:31

there are multiple zones. There's

57:33

the 12 nautical miles is

57:36

your territorial sea, and then

57:38

there's another 12 nautical miles that's

57:40

called your contiguous zone, but

57:43

then your exclusive economic

57:46

zone goes out 200 miles. And

57:49

you're allowed to keep other countries from fishing, nations from

57:52

fishing that? Is that right? Well,

57:54

yes, but this is often a

57:56

big part of the dispute between

57:58

China and other

58:00

nations in that area because

58:02

China will go out and

58:06

build islands out of dumped

58:08

sand and

58:10

then claim 200 miles around it. They're

58:14

gradually getting closer and closer to California. And

58:18

Peru claims that their

58:21

territorial waters out to 200 nautical miles and not

58:23

just their exclusive

58:25

zones. So this remains

58:27

a thing in real contention.

58:31

But you don't think there's any sense that the U.K. made this

58:33

legal change with Sealand

58:35

in mind, right? Well, maybe.

58:37

I mean, they were...the problem

58:39

with the whole selling titles

58:44

and passports from

58:46

Sealand is that

58:48

by the 90s, other

58:52

companies like fraudulent companies

58:54

had been selling Sealand

58:57

passports in

58:59

places like Russia and Hong Kong

59:02

and for like $1,000. That's

59:06

the problem with a kind of purely symbolic

59:08

joke product, right? That's right. It's hard to

59:10

keep a monopoly. And so by the 90s,

59:13

there were over 4,000 fake

59:16

Sealand passports out there and people were

59:19

using Sealand as a, you

59:23

know, trying to get immunity from drug

59:25

prosecutions. It was basically

59:27

having a Sealand passport was an opportunity

59:30

to also open a fraudulent business

59:32

of some kind. And so in 1997,

59:35

the government of Sealand, now being run

59:38

by Prince Regent Michael, revoked

59:41

all Sealand passports as

59:43

an attempt to, you know, put

59:45

the kibosh on using

59:48

Sealand fraudulently. It's like they have

59:51

a branding problem. Right. In

59:53

2006, there was a fire on Sealand that was that... Of

59:58

all the nations in the world that have a fire, I'm... the

1:00:00

least worried about sealant. It's like nearly

1:00:02

all concrete. Well, yeah, except there were

1:00:04

some caretakers there that had to be

1:00:06

removed, I think, at least worn by

1:00:08

helicopter. There are caretakers living there full

1:00:10

time. Yeah. And

1:00:12

who knows whether it's like a summer

1:00:15

job. I mean, it feels like being

1:00:17

a caretaker of sealant would be the

1:00:19

perfect job for some people I know.

1:00:21

Like, get the hell out of town and

1:00:24

go write your book of poetry out there. Fish

1:00:27

fishing, probably. Yeah, but

1:00:31

you're fishing in weeds. You're 30 feet above the

1:00:33

waves. Very long. Yeah, you'd need a reel. Like, it

1:00:36

takes half an hour to find out if you have

1:00:38

a boot or a tire. Is

1:00:41

that still a thing, people getting boots and tires when

1:00:43

they fish? Well,

1:00:45

I don't know how many boots are like seven

1:00:48

nautical miles off the coast of the UK, but

1:00:50

maybe not zero. That always seems a little unlikely

1:00:52

that people kept getting boots. Well, the thing is,

1:00:54

a lot of ships sank out there and probably

1:00:56

the boots, a lot of

1:00:59

those fishers or a lot of those Royal

1:01:01

Navy guys had boots. Yeah, you were being

1:01:03

confirmed. In

1:01:06

2007, Pirate

1:01:09

Bay, which

1:01:12

you remember was a Swedish, like,

1:01:15

black market website. Pirate

1:01:19

Bay tried to buy sealant

1:01:23

as an opportunity to, you

1:01:25

know, to escape the laws of

1:01:27

Sweden. Despite

1:01:30

the new British law that it's within

1:01:32

the territorial limit? Yeah, because I think

1:01:34

the bases were still, although they

1:01:36

had, most of the nations

1:01:39

of the world recognize the UK 12 mile

1:01:41

limit, the bases

1:01:43

were still holding out that they were

1:01:45

an independent nation and as far as

1:01:47

into the 2000, until the present day,

1:01:50

the Royal Navy has deemed

1:01:52

this a very minor issue. Nobody

1:01:54

wanted to enforce the, yeah. Yeah, I mean,

1:01:56

to go out there and take it over

1:01:58

seems like a lot of things. like who

1:02:01

cares. But Pirate Bay tried

1:02:04

to buy it for I think

1:02:07

the offer was 700 million pounds, 900

1:02:11

million pounds, but the deal fell through partly

1:02:13

because I think Pirate Bay did their due

1:02:16

diligence and realized that this was not the

1:02:18

solution to being prosecuted by the Swedes. The

1:02:21

world is too big now. Too small and flat.

1:02:25

Or too small, right. And

1:02:27

in October of 2012, Prince Roy finally died and

1:02:31

Michael became the prince

1:02:39

of Sealand. Is he a good and just

1:02:41

prince of Sealand and his population is zero?

1:02:44

I think that he is now getting

1:02:48

older and Sealand is

1:02:51

now run by the new Prince Regent, James,

1:02:56

who's the grandson of Prince

1:02:58

Roy. But they continue

1:03:00

to issue some noble titles.

1:03:07

I bet

1:03:10

they don't spend any time there, huh? But

1:03:14

probably they all go out on a

1:03:16

sunny day. But

1:03:20

no less than Ed Sheeran. Sudden

1:03:24

Ed Sheeran appearance. Has a

1:03:26

noble title from Sealand and

1:03:28

I think you could even now go

1:03:32

online and become a

1:03:34

Baron of Sealand. Let's see. Any

1:03:36

sufficiently pale personality

1:03:38

can do it. Do you have to be a UK citizen?

1:03:41

Well, Noah, you explicitly aren't a UK

1:03:43

citizen. Not anymore. And

1:03:46

unlike being a Duke of Pomerania,

1:03:50

you can become a Baron or Baroness

1:03:52

of Sealand for $59.99 US dollars. Yeah,

1:03:56

but you get what you pay for. I mean, I

1:03:59

don't know how phone. that Elector of Marburg

1:04:01

thing is, but at least

1:04:03

it sounds like a real place, you

1:04:05

know? Like, Sealand just sounds

1:04:07

like a theme park ride. I mean,

1:04:10

to be a Duke of Sealand

1:04:12

is a bigger, that's

1:04:16

a bigger check. A Duke of Sealand

1:04:18

is a $500. And

1:04:22

is this like a Kickstarter? Does it come with,

1:04:25

you know, do they get early access to Sealand

1:04:29

booking or anything? Well, apparently

1:04:32

the Queen of England, or

1:04:34

in this case, the King of England, is

1:04:38

a Duke

1:04:40

of Sealand because they're- He was honored

1:04:42

for honorary. Well, they are also Dukes

1:04:44

of Normandy and Dukes of Lancaster, and

1:04:46

so Sealand- Being in between. Being in

1:04:49

between becomes a- Is that how it

1:04:51

works? I'm not sure. If I'm the

1:04:53

King of England and the Duke of

1:04:55

Normandy, I get- Everything

1:04:57

in between? Yeah, it's a gradation in

1:05:00

between. Well, is the seabed also

1:05:02

part of- Yeah, I'm the King

1:05:04

of- Part of your duty? The King of

1:05:06

Atlantis also, if you control both sides of-

1:05:10

Yeah, France having both French Guiana and European

1:05:13

France probably has

1:05:16

some kind of dominion over Atlantis. If you buy

1:05:18

this noble title, it

1:05:20

will take five to 10 days to process. Oh.

1:05:25

To me, that's a deal breaker. So if

1:05:27

you need it right away- Yeah, this is

1:05:29

an impulse purchase for me. And you do,

1:05:31

you get a beautiful certificate. So I'm not

1:05:34

sure some of you are gonna be snobs

1:05:36

and wanna be a Duke of Pomerania, but

1:05:40

really you should gauge- You

1:05:43

look at the certificate. Which is funnier. What

1:05:45

do you wanna be above your toilet if

1:05:47

the weasel is ever out of style? And

1:05:51

that concludes the Principality of Sealand.

1:05:53

Entry 987.IS6022. Certificate

1:05:58

number 6611. in

1:06:00

the omnibus As

1:06:03

always you are very unlikely to find us

1:06:06

at omnibus project at Ken

1:06:09

Jennings or at John Roderick depending on the

1:06:11

state of social media in your particular time

1:06:15

zone But you can't email

1:06:17

us People in our

1:06:19

time did all the time that the omnibus

1:06:21

project@gmail.com Somebody by the way

1:06:23

emailed me the other day who's a listen to

1:06:25

the show and as a Google employee saying didn't

1:06:28

you guys used To have omnibus project@gmail.com and whatever

1:06:30

happened there And would you like me to

1:06:32

try to salvage that account somebody from Google

1:06:35

said this yeah? I mean not not representing

1:06:37

Google, but right but somebody who apparently was

1:06:39

not above well They're poking into the gmail

1:06:41

user file did we didn't we have I thought we

1:06:44

were just a gmail though What happened how did we

1:06:46

lose that even do we just forget the past that's

1:06:48

what it was, but there's a password recovery Methods

1:06:51

we were just too lazy to use I don't

1:06:53

I don't even remember if I ever Well,

1:06:55

why didn't what did you reply did you say

1:06:57

yes, please help us? I said I think we

1:07:00

were omnibus project at gmail.com were

1:07:02

we should I see if our

1:07:04

man row back here you know I

1:07:06

realized here that the the Grand Duke

1:07:08

of Pomerania and Livonia as part

1:07:10

of your Title you

1:07:13

get you by nine square

1:07:15

feet of dedicated land So

1:07:17

you actually have nine square

1:07:20

feet. That's three by three

1:07:23

That I suppose you could Have

1:07:26

a coat of arms. I don't

1:07:28

think you get that with sealant

1:07:31

our Googler friend says This

1:07:34

can be done, but only while in communication with the

1:07:36

customer can we set up a phone call or Google

1:07:38

video? Oh, this is just an opera. This is just

1:07:40

an attempt to get a fake zoom call. This is

1:07:42

Amway I Like

1:07:45

it has to be Google video like if I

1:07:48

say no, it's got to be zoom or Skype

1:07:50

You would be like nope Google video. I Don't

1:07:53

think I have Google video I guess

1:07:55

the question is did we have omnibus

1:07:57

project@gmail.com we did can't remember do we

1:07:59

want? Yes, I think we do but

1:08:02

we're just gonna have two email addresses that

1:08:04

people will not remember Which is the correct

1:08:06

one then well, it's that one to forward.

1:08:08

No, it's that one to forward I I

1:08:10

recently saw a deal on the Chicago music

1:08:12

exchange Website and I

1:08:14

gave them my credit card number and it wouldn't go

1:08:17

through So I gave them on my other credit card

1:08:19

number and then I realized

1:08:21

too late that it was Chicago music

1:08:24

exchange dot sales Oh

1:08:27

Not com and

1:08:29

I had to immediately call my bank

1:08:31

and American Express and get New

1:08:34

credit cards because it was

1:08:36

a scam So we don't want somebody

1:08:38

else to have omnibus project at

1:08:40

gmail.com and be issuing like fake

1:08:42

titles Did I tell you I

1:08:44

almost lost my health insurance for my family once because

1:08:47

I one of these stupid things Oh, it

1:08:49

was the same kind of thing. My credit card company

1:08:51

was like we've got unauthorized activity in Xi'an

1:08:53

province China is that you and I said

1:08:56

no, but please don't change my numbers It'll

1:08:58

ruin my life and they're like too late.

1:09:00

We changed your numbers They sent

1:09:02

us all new cards and I you know, I

1:09:04

spent the next few weeks transferring over everything, you know

1:09:06

It dribbles on for months. You'll be like, oh shoot

1:09:08

Netflix is still on the old card Yeah And

1:09:11

the one thing I forgot was the last thing you want to

1:09:13

forget Which is my health insurance auto

1:09:15

payment and by the time they by

1:09:17

the time they finally send you a physical letter Three

1:09:20

months later. It was like you're closing

1:09:22

your account next week And by the time I opened that it

1:09:24

was it was a week ago and I was

1:09:26

like, ah They were like, yeah,

1:09:28

we don't have to give you insurance anymore. I mean you

1:09:31

can file a request in writing for us to to

1:09:35

To make an exception to our normally

1:09:37

ironclad policy, but you didn't pay for two months

1:09:39

How often I was like, you didn't tell me

1:09:42

I was They

1:09:44

were nice Nice. Yeah,

1:09:46

they were nice and let me have

1:09:49

my exorbitant self-insured Health

1:09:51

insurance and that's why it

1:09:54

can really ruin your life to get a new credit card That's

1:09:58

a fascinating story. So yeah Do we want

1:10:00

omnibusproject@gmail.com back? In the meantime, don't send

1:10:02

email there because we don't know if

1:10:04

we have it yet. We want you

1:10:06

to send mail to the omnibusproject@gmail.com. Pending

1:10:10

a review by our friend

1:10:12

in Mountain View. You

1:10:14

could also mail us things at PO Box 55744, Shoreline

1:10:18

Washington 98155, unless

1:10:20

we have any friend at the post office that wants to get us

1:10:22

a better box number the way our Google

1:10:25

friend is offering. Yeah. Can we get

1:10:27

the lucky, the lucky, whatever the

1:10:29

Dubai lucky number is for a PO Box?

1:10:31

Well, the problem with this is having talked

1:10:33

about it. I know right now there are

1:10:35

at least 100 of our listeners who

1:10:39

have lost access to some Gmail account

1:10:42

and are like, there's a way? Cause you know,

1:10:44

there's never a way, right? Google

1:10:46

has no interest in helping you. Google does not

1:10:48

have a giant service center. And

1:10:50

so now they're, now they're thinking, I'm

1:10:52

just going to write Ken and John

1:10:54

and they'll help me restore

1:10:57

access to my Google account and

1:10:59

we will not. We never should have

1:11:01

outed our friend who was offering to help

1:11:03

us. Yeah, we will not. And actually that

1:11:05

person does not exist. Ken is joking. No

1:11:07

good deed goes unpunished. Yeah. And

1:11:11

plus he has it hard enough. He has to work

1:11:13

for, he has to work for Google. Oh, burn, sick

1:11:15

burn. So they, even if they're evil now, do they

1:11:17

still have the breakfast cereals and stuff? I hope. Google

1:11:20

has breakfast cereal? Yeah, famously they

1:11:22

would want you to, they'd want you to spend all night

1:11:24

there. So they'd have kitchens stocked with

1:11:27

snacks. Oh, I thought you meant that. They

1:11:29

were not selling their own Google O's. That's

1:11:32

what I was thinking. Coors everywhere. Google O's

1:11:35

and the little logo of the two

1:11:37

O's is too, yeah. They're blue and

1:11:39

red or whatever. Then,

1:11:43

yeah, so get us a lucky, if you

1:11:45

work for the post office, get us a luckier,

1:11:47

cause our box number has two fours, which is

1:11:49

very bad luck. And in Chinese. And

1:11:51

once China takes over, they're not gonna want us to, they're

1:11:55

not gonna want to send us anything. So please give us PO

1:11:57

box 88888. at

1:12:01

no additional charge and find

1:12:04

futurelings online where they congregate. There's a

1:12:06

fun Facebook group. There's...

1:12:09

It was great! The other day I needed to... I

1:12:12

wanted to answer some question about a past entry without

1:12:14

actually listening to any second of the omnibus. Sure, sure.

1:12:16

And they just went and did it for me. It

1:12:18

was like TaskRabbit. I said I didn't pay them. You

1:12:21

can support the

1:12:23

omnibus the most direct way by

1:12:27

going to patreon.com/omnibus project.

1:12:29

No the. And

1:12:32

there you

1:12:37

will have the opportunity to find

1:12:39

a wealth of previously unimagined omnibus

1:12:41

content including 50 odd addenda shows.

1:12:43

This odd being an understatement. 50

1:12:47

odd ones and several normal ones. What

1:12:50

was that? What did the lusty lady used to say? Oh,

1:12:53

yeah. 50 pretty girls and one ugly one

1:12:55

or whatever. Was that the lusty lady? No,

1:12:58

I think that was the other one. The

1:13:01

showgirls. I

1:13:04

will yield to you in your knowledge

1:13:06

of downtown

1:13:09

Seattle topless parties. There

1:13:13

are so many perks and privileges available. It's

1:13:15

pretty much the equivalent of being the Prince

1:13:17

of Sea Land except instead of

1:13:19

sending you a lame certificate we send you cool

1:13:21

stuff. The perks and privs. You

1:13:24

want to check out the perks

1:13:26

short for prequisits and the privs

1:13:28

short for privsizits. Privsizits.

1:13:30

By going to patreon.com/omnibus

1:13:32

project and signing up

1:13:34

today. Futurelings

1:13:37

from our vantage point near distant past we

1:13:39

have no idea how long our civilization survived.

1:13:42

We hope and pray that the catastrophe we fear

1:13:44

may never come. But if the worst comes soon

1:13:47

this recording, like all our recordings, may have been

1:13:49

our final word. But if

1:13:51

the worst comes soon we wish you many good and

1:13:53

cheese. We hope to be back with you soon. With

1:13:56

another entry in the Opera. Some

1:14:09

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