32: The London Coffee House Robberies & the 1803 Zodiac Back

On today’s episode, Valerie covers the caffeinated and silly story of a mysterious young gentleman with claims of membership in the Most Ancient and Honourable Society of Bucks, who shook up the popular London coffee house scene during the early 19th century. Detailing how his undoing began when he was spotted returning to the scene of a previous crime, which prompted multiple other claims of theft, we learn how the court bent the rules to save his life. Amy Jo’s Zodiac Back presents the intricate details and somewhat mysterious lifecycles of cicadas - how do they know when to “burrow up”? Also brood cycles, cringy cicada poems, and how much the founding fathers dug (burrowed?) astrology; plus Jefferson’s quest to create an American way of calculating longitude, leaving behind the old-school method of “taking the lunars”, and lastly how longitude was key to the Louis and Clark Expedition. Mom always said don’t take your chronometer on your transcontinental journey!