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Death's Icey Grip · Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities

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  Speaker 1: Welcomed Aaron Manky's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of I
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  Speaker 1: Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world is full
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  Speaker 1: of the unexplainable, and if history is an open book,
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  Speaker 1: all of these amazing tales are right there on display,
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  Speaker 1: just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet
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  Speaker 1: of Curiosities. Despite existing for hundreds of thousands of years,
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  Speaker 1: we humans have only scratched the surface of what we
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  Speaker 1: know about our planet. There remain lands that have gone untouched,
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  Speaker 1: depths that we have not reached, and mountains that we
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  Speaker 1: have not climbed. The Earth is still keeping secrets after
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  Speaker 1: all this time. But the more we explore and investigate,
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  Speaker 1: one thing becomes clear. There are places that humans we're
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  Speaker 1: not it to go, like Swalbard, located in the Arctic
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  Speaker 1: Ocean between Norway and the North Pole. Small Bard is
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  Speaker 1: an archipelago that was first discovered by Dutch explorer William
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  Speaker 1: Barrens back in fifteen ninety six. Barrens had set out
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  Speaker 1: in search of the Northern Sea Route, a shipping path
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  Speaker 1: through the Arctic waters that wasn't officially conquered until eighteen
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  Speaker 1: seventy eight, but he had high hopes. During his journey,
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  Speaker 1: he spotted Spitzbergen, the largest of SMaL Bard's islands, which
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  Speaker 1: made up over half of the archipelago. Nine years later,
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  Speaker 1: an English ship made contact with another island in the cluster,
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  Speaker 1: called Bornoja. It became a hot spot for walrus hunting.
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  Speaker 1: After several more years, Spitzbergen turned into a major whaling
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  Speaker 1: hub for the Dutch, the English, the Danish and the French.
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  Speaker 1: But getting too small Bard is no easy feat. Its
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  Speaker 1: climate is severe since it resides north of the Arctic Circle.
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  Speaker 1: In the summer, the sun remains visible at midnight, while
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  Speaker 1: the islands experienced almost permanent midnight during the winter. Say
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  Speaker 1: steep percent of s Balbard has covered in glacial ice.
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  Speaker 1: The remaining land is comprised of thirty rock and only
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  Speaker 1: ten percent vegetation. It is a hostile part of the
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  Speaker 1: world that has been responsible for hundreds, even thousands of deaths.
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  Speaker 1: Even the guy who discovered the place, William Barrens, was
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  Speaker 1: no exception. He had been on a return trip home
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  Speaker 1: when his ship got trapped near the archipelago. Barrens, as
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  Speaker 1: well as many of his crew, did not survive the winter,
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  Speaker 1: but that didn't stop whalers and walrus hunters from traveling
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  Speaker 1: to the islands. There was good money to be made
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  Speaker 1: and they felt that the risk was worth it. Over
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  Speaker 1: the next few hundred years, however, it was clear that
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  Speaker 1: the opposite had been true. Whalers had come in search
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  Speaker 1: of fortune but never left. Many, it was later revealed,
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  Speaker 1: had succumbed to scurvy, the result of a vitamin C deficiency.
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  Speaker 1: Ironically enough, whale meat is known to be high in
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  Speaker 1: vitamin C today, but the whalers didn't think it was
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  Speaker 1: edible at the time. A good number of men also
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  Speaker 1: lost their lives due to the extreme cold, hunger, and
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  Speaker 1: the occasional polar bear encounter. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
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  Speaker 1: The waters in that area of Smalbard had become a
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  Speaker 1: base of operations for whalers from all over Europe, and
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  Speaker 1: those of them who were unlucky enough to die there
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  Speaker 1: were buried in graves along the shores of Lichnesset on
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  Speaker 1: the northern coast of Spitzbergen. Now, thanks to the frigid
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  Speaker 1: temperatures and relatively low humidity, their bodies were well preserved
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  Speaker 1: these last three to four hundred years. Their nails and
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  Speaker 1: hair had remained intact, and many of the deceased had
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  Speaker 1: not decomposed at all. They looked like they had died
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  Speaker 1: only yesterday. Unfortunately, their eternal slumber along the coastal cliff
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  Speaker 1: side has been disturbed. In recent years, beginning in scientists
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  Speaker 1: have been keeping an eye on Smalbard due to the
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  Speaker 1: effects of climate change. You see, rising temperatures have shrunk
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  Speaker 1: the perma frost that once covered so much of the
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  Speaker 1: island and preserved the whalers bodies. Coffins have been exposed,
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  Speaker 1: and how teams of researchers are traveling to Smalbard to
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  Speaker 1: exhume the bodies and what they found is mind boggling.
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  Speaker 1: Many of the deceased were buried wearing hats, socks, even wigs,
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  Speaker 1: which have been well preserved all this time. Several of
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  Speaker 1: the coffins were lined with fabric, and quite a few
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  Speaker 1: corpses were wrapped in blankets for extra protection from the elements.
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  Speaker 1: Those who had dug the graves had struggled to reach
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  Speaker 1: the appropriate depths for burial, although they certainly did try
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  Speaker 1: to keep polar bears and other predators away. They covered
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  Speaker 1: the graves with rocks and stones. These seventeenth century whalers
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  Speaker 1: have been teaching the rest of the world what times
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  Speaker 1: were really like back then. Unfortunately, preservation teams don't have
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  Speaker 1: much longer to learn. Though. Not only has climate change
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  Speaker 1: eroded the grave sites, it has also sped up the
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  Speaker 1: rate of decay for the corpses themselves. And that's the
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  Speaker 1: side of climate change that often gets ignored. Not only
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  Speaker 1: is it putting our future in jeopardy, but it's also
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  Speaker 1: erasing our past. Life is full of hardships. From the
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  Speaker 1: time we're born, we are faced with all kinds of adversity.
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  Speaker 1: We may not be popular in school, or we might
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  Speaker 1: not make much money, and we might eventually trade in
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  Speaker 1: those bullies from school for bad bosses at work. But
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  Speaker 1: as the old adage says, when life gives you lemons,
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  Speaker 1: make lemonade. Although whoever came up with that saying might
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  Speaker 1: want to change it, because, as the British learned, when
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  Speaker 1: life freezes your river, throw a party. The River Thames
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  Speaker 1: measures two d fifteen miles long and runs from Shrewsbury
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  Speaker 1: Mead in Gloucestershire to the North Sea on England's southeastern coast.
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  Speaker 1: Throughout its history, the Thames has been everything from a
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  Speaker 1: maritime trade route to a massive sewer full of human waste.
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  Speaker 1: Its waters have been responsible for cholera outbreaks during the
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  Speaker 1: eighteen hundreds, as well as a stench so foul that
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  Speaker 1: Parliament was unable to carry out official business at the
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  Speaker 1: House of Commons. Unsurprisingly, London was the source of much
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  Speaker 1: of the river's pollution due to its population and changing
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  Speaker 1: urban landscape, and a good number of the buildings that
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  Speaker 1: affected the water supply had been built around the city's
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  Speaker 1: major crossing, London Bridge. There were no zoning laws during
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  Speaker 1: the seventeenth and eighteen centuries, people erected homes and shop
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  Speaker 1: fronts in close proximity to the bridge, and after some
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  Speaker 1: time those structures began to falter as pieces of brick
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  Speaker 1: and wood broke off into the Thames. The debris would
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  Speaker 1: form small islands that would get trapped in its arches
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  Speaker 1: and dam up the water flow. And as anyone who's
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  Speaker 1: ever had a pipe burst in the winter can attest,
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  Speaker 1: when water stops moving in cold weather it freezes. Large
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  Speaker 1: sheets of ice formed during the coldest months of the year,
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  Speaker 1: until eventually the whole river had frozen solid. This affected
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  Speaker 1: the transportation of goods in and out of the city,
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  Speaker 1: reducing the amount of food and supplies available for the
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  Speaker 1: people who lived there. But something strange happened. Once the
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  Speaker 1: Thames froze over, people started to enjoy it. They would
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  Speaker 1: step onto the ice and marvel at the wonder of
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  Speaker 1: a massive body of water that had turned into yet
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  Speaker 1: another road for them to walk on. Eventually, enterprising beer
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  Speaker 1: slingers and store owners took to the ice to set
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  Speaker 1: up shop. Literally, they erected tents and pop up outlets
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  Speaker 1: along the swath of the river where they sold everything
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  Speaker 1: from fruit to fish, even shoes. Bowling contests were held,
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  Speaker 1: and barbers set up chairs to handle shaves and haircuts.
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  Speaker 1: Pretty soon, the frozen Thames looked like any other busy
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  Speaker 1: London street. The Great Winter of sixteen eighty three and
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  Speaker 1: sixteen eighty four saw printers haul their presses onto the
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  Speaker 1: ice so that they could print up souvenir tickets for
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  Speaker 1: fair goers. Kids sat around and giggled at puppet shows,
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  Speaker 1: while folks went for sleigh rides around the fair. They
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  Speaker 1: were also less than wholesome events for discerning adults too. Unfortunately,
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  Speaker 1: the fun and merriments couldn't last forever. In seventeen thirty nine,
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  Speaker 1: the Frost Fair was cut short when a massive sheet
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  Speaker 1: of ice broke away and took numerous tents and attendees
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  Speaker 1: with it, and as time passed, the winters grew increasing
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  Speaker 1: the warmer. Eighteen fourteen marked the last Frost Fair the
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  Speaker 1: Thames ever saw, although nobody knew that at the time,
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  Speaker 1: that year saw one of the largest turnouts in fair history,
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  Speaker 1: with thousands of Londoners flocking to the Thames for five
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  Speaker 1: days of frivolity. They had everything to dancing, food vendors, booksellers,
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  Speaker 1: and even an elephant tramping across the ice. In eighteen
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  Speaker 1: thirty one, the existing London Bridge and its small archways
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  Speaker 1: were torn down to make way for a bridge with
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  Speaker 1: much wider arches. The new design meant that the river
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  Speaker 1: could flow more freely underneath it, and the additional salt
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  Speaker 1: content coming in from the sea increased the river's freezing point.
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  Speaker 1: Nearly thirty years later, any chance of the Thames freezing
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  Speaker 1: over again were dashed when the city introduced the greatest
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  Speaker 1: threat the river had ever seen. Indoor plumbing. Sewage from
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  Speaker 1: home toilets and factories now flowed straight into the Thames,
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  Speaker 1: and during the summer months, when the sun cooked everything
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  Speaker 1: in its path. The stench coming off the river was
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  Speaker 1: almost as bad enough to peel the paint and wilt
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  Speaker 1: the trees. Eventually, Parliament put forth a plan to fix
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  Speaker 1: the Thames and in turn eliminate the smell, but it
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  Speaker 1: was also the last nail in the coffin for any
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  Speaker 1: more frost fares going forward. Today, climate change is thawing
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  Speaker 1: out parts of the world that had once been covered
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  Speaker 1: in ice. Storms are getting worse, Coastal areas are being
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  Speaker 1: consumed by the ocean, and bodies of water are drying up.
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  Speaker 1: But four years ago, when winters were cold enough to
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  Speaker 1: freeze the seas around England, Londoners wouldn't let the weather
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  Speaker 1: get them down. They simply walked out onto the Thames,
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  Speaker 1: poured themselves a steaming cup of cider, and partied like
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  Speaker 1: it was I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of
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  Speaker 1: the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts,
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  Speaker 1: or learn more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast
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  Speaker 1: dot com. The show was created by me Aaron Manky
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  Speaker 1: in partnership with how Stuff Works. I make another award
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  Speaker 1: winning show called Lore which is a podcast, book series,
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  Speaker 1: and television show and you can learn all about it
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  Speaker 1: over at the world of Lore dot com. And until
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  Speaker 1: next time, stay curious, Yeah,