We are Ken Jennings and John Roderick. We speak to you from our present, which we can only assume is your distant past, the turbulent time that was the early 21st century.

Fearing the great cataclysm that will surely befall our civilization, we began this monumental

reference of strange and obscure human knowledge.

These recordings represent our attempt to compile and preserve wonders and esoterica that would otherwise be lost.

So whether you're listening from an advanced civilization or have just reinvented the technology to decrypt our transmissions,

this is our legacy to you.

This is our time capsule.

This is the omnibus. Oh, You have accessed entry 501.1c1312, certificate number 526., the Franel lens.

It's a resle dazzle day, a lifetime of joy in just a few hours.

It's almost a palindered.

Frénel lens, earth.

That's the palinder I just mean.

Snow lens, snarf. I mean it. Snirf.

I mean it does kind of hinge on earth being a thing you might say when somebody shows you.

Maybe if a Franel lens fell on you, you would say, that's like the last thing a lighthouse keeper says

Franel lens erf. Erf surf.

Yeah that look at that lens snell lens would be a palindrome it's true if only a guy named

snell had come up with a you're so good at that seeing palindromes

uh... not a thing i would ever see. It's really, you know, evolutionary biology provided that skill to our hunter-gatherer ancestors.

Like if you can see, if you can see a palindrome in the wild,

Yeah, right.

Think about how much easier that makes foraging for food.

...