The Bizarre Story of the Man Who Sold the Moon
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- čas přidán 9. 07. 2024
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In this video:
Back in the halcyon days of the 1980s, when all people of the world had to worry about was total annihilation via widespread nuclear war, an American called Dennis Hope made international news when he revealed that after exploiting a loophole in the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, he had become the sole owner of our nearest celestial neighbour, the Moon. Since then, Hope has made a small fortune selling off pieces of the satellite’s surface.
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Sources:
www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/ourwork...
www.lunarregistry.com/info/emb...
iislweb.org/about-the-iisl/int...
www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/ourwork...
discovermagazine.com/2007/jul/...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunokho...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extrate...
www.usnews.com/news/articles/2...
www.atlasobscura.com/articles...
moonsayles.net16.net/
www.lunarembassy.com/head-cheese/
www.vice.com/en_uk/read/ive-ow...
www.todayifoundout.com/index.p...
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The story of the man who sold the world. czcams.com/video/fregObNcHC8/video.html
It is actually a Chilean lawyer who owned the moon, and left it to the people of his country.
His claim is backed up by the fact that president Nixon asked for and got permission for the apollo astronauts to land on the moon in 1969 (albeit somewhat tongue in cheek).
There are better sources, but most are in Spanish and this one has some entertaining details like how he avoided paying property taxes...
www.google.com/amp/s/gringagold.wordpress.com/2014/09/09/chileans-own-the-moon/amp/
a more comical story would be that of the fuck nut who bought it lol
Space lawyers! My finger was hovering ready to type a witty comment then, BOOM!! it's an actual thing!!! Even better.....
So from man who owns the moon to farting this channel gets better and better
"Space Lawyer" is officially the coolest job title out there.
Space shuttle door gunner.
Space Pirate sounds way cooler
What about 2nd 2nd Assistant Space Whale Scrubber?
The difference between the original comment and the replies is that a space lawyer is apparently actually a real thing. The others are not. So then it stands: Space lawyer is still officially the coolest job title out there.
I be a DOCTOR alright asshole, before you claim that those other job titles are “not real” you should probably know that I have been working as a 2nd 2nd Assistant Space Whale Scrubber for 17 years and I love my job.
42%?.....42!!!! This guy's sense of humor knows no bounds.
*_Don't Panic!_*
Yeah Hitchikers an all that.
“The mattress just squibbled & quaffelled away., smulching heavily. Arthur shrugged”
The moons tidal forces contributes to earthquakes.
And the suns energy powers hurricanes.
Can we sue that guy for damage compensation?
I just went to this guy's website he's selling Pluto the entire dwarf planet for 250k if anybody is interested. I would set up a penguin preserve like futurerama because why the hell not.
Buy it dude someone else will grab that penguin saving glory if U don't slacker
When I was a kid (like 12), I bought a moon acre from a kiosk in the mall for $15Cad. I still have it for some reason. 20 years later it's still entertaining me. Lol.
That's the definition of good entertainment value.
you could make at the very least a $5 profit if you were to resell
@@bigtoke9456 Yes, the secondary market for moon property is much stronger than the secondary market for time shares on earth. Crazy? Crazy like a fox!
Haha me too! I bought my dad one too 😆
Amanda B yikes lol
*Some Guy :*
_"Hey, would you like to buy a plot of land in an area over which it has been almost universally agreed no-one has ownership rights?"_
*Hollywood Celeb :*
_"Quick, where's my cheque book?"_
american president: take my money!
Today I Found Out. You can spell Check this way too. Cheque.
If American Presidents are buying it, then it does make you wonder if his claim is legally sound and in the future will he will legally be the the sole owner of these plots of land unless you buy from him. Get in early - bit like Bitcoin lol
It'll never hold up on the international stage. Other countries won't recognize the claims and I seriously doubt he'd fight them that hard on it since he seems well aware of that, going so far as to put disclaimers on the item. Sure, he stated that it follows the definition of being something fun and interesting rather than the implication that it's not real, but it's all rather tongue-in-cheek.
If anyone actually makes it to these celestial surfaces as a private citizen or entity (like a corporation) they _might_ have some claim to it, but it would likely have to be recognized by the UN for them to 'own' it. More likely they could get some limited rights to the resources, and it wouldn't be looked to kindly upon if they were too destructive and the claim such as it is would probably expire if they left the location in a permanent way (e.g. returned to Earth, moved to another case and left behind no active personnel or property, etc.).
LMAO... I have a very simple solution to end this nonsense...
Let the U.S. make an offer for acceptance of his "ownership" of the moon with the tiny condition that all Lunar land is to be taxed as his own private property; and at the same state property tax rate as New Jersey.
Your definition of what a library is was incredible haha that will now be added to my collection of pretentious yet funny quips!
Hahahaha!
i had to pause i was laughing so hard at that. i have no idea how he keeps a straight face when delivering gems like that!
The look you gave when you said "some clerk actually replied to" literally made me LOL. What may have seemed like a joke to them will likely be used in a court case one day and I love that he covered all of his bases like that.
Well.. now you definitely need to do a video about Space Lawyers.
They told me: "Get a degree and find yourself a job". They told me "You need to work hard to succeed"..
Don't work hard. Work smart.
Naw man.. you just gotta lay back and let it happen man... just relax.. let the universe find you. Then you can write some killer $h!T down on paper and make a lot of money.
They lied. Just declare yourself sole owner of the oort cloud or kuiper belt and you're golden.
@@NoName-fc3xe ..Or the 🌞..
@@nyyotam4057 Good luck planting a flag there. Lol
Could you do an episode on how long it took and how much it cost to build a Roman road, and compare it to modern road building methods? Looking to compare our roads that last 5 years compared to roads that last centuries.
The reason our modern roads don't last as long as roman roads is because we are still building roads on the roman model, i.e. high quality roads designed for pedestrians and horse carts, putting 4,000 lb cars and 40,000 lb trucks on it.
@@regularfather4708 was about to say that and we travel on ours alot more i would think
@Amanda B stop being a bitch. You didn't have to answer. You're what's wrong with the world.
@@automaticninjaassaultcat3703 address?
@@automaticninjaassaultcat3703 I'm kicking your ass
This is such an interesting video. My husband and I bought 2 moon deeds and 1 Mars deed about 20 years ago for our eldest son’s space themed nursery. I love these. They came with the certificate and a map showing you where your land is located. Back then, the plots were way bigger than an acre.
You're face, to face, with the man who sold the moon.
@@sacul199021 the commas reprisent the pauses in the song, you should have probably thought about that before you tried to be a smarmy prick.
@@user-nr6gy5lh6b What song?
@@xzonia1 the man who sold the world, specifically midge ure's version which spaces out the sentence a lot.
@@sacul199021 I don't see any grammar problems. Could you be more precise please? You must be an English major.
@@user-nr6gy5lh6b I thought you were referring to Nirvana.
Sir, is that legal?
The Senate: I will make it legal.
I am the senate
Ironic.
@Thomas Darby : 4:07 Learn to pay attention please.
1:29 the description of a “house of plant death” is absolutely hilarious
Even worse is parchment isn't plants, parchment is made from untanned animal skins.
@@kbowler9266 But no library has parchment books just lying around except in a safe or something like that.
Hahahaha!
A Uranus pun from a guy named Smallwood? Yup, that tracks. 👍😀
It tracks even more after watching his channel
House of plant death is the most metal description of a library ever and I'm so happy about it
Oh Karl Smallwood. You would write up a script just to make a joke.
a fart joke
Back in the day... (50's... and yes I'm old) there was a cereal company (forget which one) that enclosed a "deed" to one square inch of the moon in each box. Even told you geographically where it was. Ate a lot of cereal back then. Which is probably why I hate cereal today.
That's your moon inch, dammit
Take a piece of cereal, plant it where your property is, and let it grow.
David Hannum "There's a Sucker Born Every Minute".
I thought Harriman was "The Man Who Sold the Moon" ( Robert A. Heinlein )
Yes, D. D. Harriman. He even has the same initials (D. H.) as this guy.
@@bxdanny which question which cam first 8)
Do The Man who Sold the World next
You're all Diamond Dogs now.
@@CashelOConnolly Covered well enough for David himself to call it a Nirvana song
@@CashelOConnolly No argument there I just feel like "reasonably" undersells how good the cover is particularly when like I said the man himself is willing to (symbolically) share credit.
biohazard724 Don’t forget Lulu! 😆
WHOA-HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAA
How on earth you kept a straight face during the bonus section is beyond me.
IRS should just send a tax bill for the property tax for all of the moon.
The IRS has no power to collect property taxes.
@@tncorgi92 Exactly, that is up to the local jurisdiction to determine property tax. Since the United States has no jurisdiction on anything but US territories there's nothing to tax. One of the myriad bits of fail this guy runs into. No legal right of claim.
He does of course have to pay taxes on his business. :)
@@brianreddeman951 If he did in fact get recognition (which he didn't, according to the video, but *IF* ) from the US government, than that means the government is in fact staking a claim on the moon, and can levy taxes on it just like any other property.
@@HiddenWindshield Boy would that open up a massive can of worms if any one country laid claim to the moon.
@swimingbird88 He did register it as property in the US according to himself so it should certainly be taxable in the US.
He should share the profits with Robert A.Heinlein(his estate, that is). He invented the idea of selling the moon in a story back in the 1950s.
Thank you!! I was just coming through the comments thinking "I can't be the ONLY one that reads Heinlein!"
@@tonysmith3232 Does anyone read anymore? I blame video games.
Yay! Love the shoutout to Karl! Between his channel and yours, I learn all sorts of random stuff on a daily basis. I love how you both mix humor with educational content (fact fiend, more like random trivia, but still technically learning). You two are among my favorite youtubers, along with Ethan and Hila Klein, and the Angry Video Game Nerd. Not a long list of current youtubers. Quality videos are becoming a rare thing on this platform in recent times, with your channel(s) being one of the few exceptions. I have to say, I still absolutely love the comment you made in a previous channel regarding accents, referring to Karl as being "nearly unintelligible". It was one of the few times I actually laughed out loud at one of your videos. I'm sure you don't read most of your comments, but if you do see this one, I want to thank you and your entire production team for all that you do. A good percentage of comments are either trolls or criticism, so I hope you see this one. We love you Simon (your voice, combined with your particular accent and speech patterns is literally soothing), so don't let the haters get you down. I hope that your channel stays commercially viable, and that I keep getting notifications for years to come!
Simon, you are one of the few on youtube who makes both videos and your sponsorships sound exciting.
Absolutely brilliant way to describe a library :)) loved that
Your description of a library is going to stay with me for a long, long time 😂
Glad I’m not the only one who read it to the tune of Man Who Sold the World!
Simon: Gives farts facts.
Me: Huh, I didn't know I stumbled into SciShow Tangents here...
@6:46.
Love it when people who adamantly argue that "Language is constantly evolving. All words are made up and therefore are open to interpretation/fluidity" are also the same people who gleefully point out spelling and grammar errors to indicate someone's intelligence or validity.
When I was in grade school, back in the 50's I got several deeds to square inches in Alaska. This was a promotion for a breakfast cereal and IIRC was in the box, not requiring a mail-in. If it was even valid, it probably reverted to the state for nonpayment of property taxes.
That’s officially the most metal description of a library ever
So he coined the term "Many Men Online Role Playing Girls?" As a WoW player, I've always wondered.
Coined tah!
Thanks for teaching me what a library is - I had always wondered
Hearing Simon go from dropping knowledge to sharing fart studies steps on the thin line of hilarious yet slightly demeaning... I love it.
Awesome video, thank you for the great content. Also, after being subbed to both of your channels and fact fiend for a few years now I will say that reasoning of why this topic was chosen is totally believable. Thanks again, keep all the awesomeness going. Peace
Auditing this guy's taxes would be the highlight of any accountant's dream. 🤣🤣
This reminds me of the old science fiction short story by Robert A. Heinlein, "The Man Who Sold the Moon".
What a Brazen Conman, that's going further than "Do You Want To Buy A Bridge?"
During the 1950s, the (now defunct) airline Pan American proclaimed that they would eventually develop tourist flights to the Moon. One could buy (for some nominal fee) a reservation on the first commercial flight, and somehow or another this also included ownership of one square inch of the Lunar surface. I was a totally space-mad little kid at the time, and my parents bought me one of these packages for my birthday one year. I wish I still had the documents, but they vanished as I grew up. Incidentally, this is why in the movie "2001: A Space Oddysey" Pan Am was represented as providing service from Earth to a space-station transfer point, and eventually to the Moon base - the authors and producers of the film had also gotten their little pre-sold Pan Am tickets.
Absolutely delightful Simon!! Thanks for cheering up an otherwise boring Monday!!!
Loved the definition of a library. LOL
That's the greatest description of a library I have ever heard.
Love the description of what a library is
Great description of Libraries!
Thank you Simon and team.
And thank you Karl.
13:25.
That must have been one hell of an office party!
I have been trying to find a way to describe to my children what a library is when they get older... this is the absolute best description of an library I have ever heard
Okay, the Moon and otherworldly real estate notwithstanding I must say that I am very much impressed by Simon's ability to keep a (mostly) straight face during the fart bits. Well done!
The bit about libraries... damn it I'm dying lol
Just FYI & to close the circle, Lord British, in whose name Garriott claimed the moon, is the name of an important character in a series of RPGs (including an MMORPG version) that he invented. Garriott's fans also call him that. It stems from a childhood nickname.
Love the library definition 😅🤣😂😆
You should do a video on the history of "the devil's scale," just heard about it from first we feast, and it sounds interesting to learn about!
Love the way you noted His American Dream!
Okay, this one made me laugh out loud!! Would have been great if you interviewed this guy!
Love how the topic just completely changes in the video with barley a connection
The "Lunar Registry" is kept in an old shoebox on a shelf in his garage.
Head Cheese? It's widely known the Moon is made of cheese. Therefore, the story is true.
"Oh, no. Not me.
I never lost control.
You're face to face
with the man who sold the moon."
(awesome guitar riff)
Mr. Dennis Hope
looks at the moon
*It's free real estate*
"House of plant death." lol.
I used to live in the library in the 70s as a kid.
Now I'm surprised they still exist, or at least that they're publicly funded.
Hahaha. Love how it went to a moon related topic then into ass gas. Glad I'm subscribed xD
This guy got a hell of a head start on the "It's free real estate" meme.
If you want the novelty you can get a "fake deed" on Etsy for significantly cheaper.
Whoa, now that is so amazing it's truly out-of-this-world!
I guess he made an astronomical deal!😂😂😂😂
I absolutely love this guy.
"All that methane found in Uranus" - now that is rich. LMAO. You so funny TIFO
I would love to see the bloopers from that last bonus fact.
My mother bought me two plots of the moon from his website for Christmas 15 years ago. I still have them.
i never knew what libraries were, only heard whispers! thanks for the gist of it
I can honestly say I've never heard anyone say the word "fart" quite as elegantly as Mr. Whistler. He can actually say it in a way that you don't feel the normal urge to laugh.
I seem to recall about the time of the moon landings a Caterpillar dealer applied for and was granted a dealership for the moon. Apparently he has yet to build a sales office there.
Imagine if 'Married With Children' took this plot twist.
Gary Dahl, Inventor of the Pet Rock, Dies at 78
Gary Dahl, the man who became a millionaire by selling ordinary rocks, died on March 23, 2015, at the age of 78. Dahl, an advertising copywriter, thought up the Pet Rock in 1975, after listening to friends complain about having to care for actual pets.
But what about The Man Who Sold The World.
You should have had an insert of Karl doing his finger guns going "aaayyyy."
I broke a rib laughing so hard I'm going to have to rewatch it because I couldn't stop from seeing some people just now realizing they don't really own that lovely little acre of land in the tropics of the moon that they'd hoped to retire to soon
I had dinner with Dennis Hope a couple decades ago. I got the impression that he knew that he didn't *really* own the Moon but was just exploiting his claim - because that is the American way. He has made a living off this loophole and enjoys playing the part.
Hope turning down the sale of the entire Lunar North Pole could very well be because that's where most of the Moon's ice is thought to be. Someone was trying to monopolize it, and Hope was having none of that
Thank you for the long con, Karl :D
That man was Elon Musk after he invented a time machine.
Stolen comment, reported for spam
Wow, Justin's here.
@@cooliipie why is Justin so popular
God speed Justin! God speed!
Reported for unwanted commercial
Dammit I was about to lay claim the sun. All who use solar power would have to pay for using my nuclear fusion plant's energy. No more photosynthesizing freeloaders either...
Photosynthesising freeloaders?
Breathe in breathe out, who’s the freeloader.
1:32 The sad thing is that one day someone will actually have to explain what a library is because no one is going to know
Probably got the idea from Heinlein's "The Man Who Sold the Moon". Ohoh, I smell copyright infringement.
lmao i love this guy. he's completely off his rocker and it's awesome.
We went from talking about space lawyers and stuff and it's kind of funny that we're now talking about farts
On side note. That was the most metal discription of a library I've heard.
09:24 maybe he didn't want one single company to own all the frozen water deposits there that could be used to sustain humans on the moon?
*Man sold a moon
Elon Musk: Wait, that illegal
no u
Like the description of a library.
Maybe libraries should be a TIFO episode?
Regular PR Barnam of Space... you own it in your fantasy. 🤣
10:00 work it 👌🏾 🤣
I wonder when we're next going to land someone on the moon...if it will happen in my lifetime?
I saw that joke, coming a mile away.
Remember, if you have to explain the joke or your Halloween costume, you apparently did not do a good job.
10:00 YES. YES. Yeeeeees xD good boi!
You said "FARTS" 12 times!
NOICE!
"Psst, want to buy a moon."