On average, Mercury is the closest planet to ALL the other planets.

Oh, Anthony (if that is your real name!), when I read your comment I just exploded with laughter!! As a kid at school I saw another 8 yr old rolling thermometer mercury around in the palm of his hand as he squealed with delight! Lost track of him shortly thereafter.....

Materials science is incredible! 🤓 also neat how light they appear to be. You should get one! Not a shill just a nerd

I can relate!

I was in Balmorhea State Park of Texas. For 3 successive mornings several years ago the sky was crystal clear and Mercury was a sight to see. It paid off to get up early.

I’m older than dirt but I’ve only seen Mercury once with the naked eye whereas I’ve seen all the others known to the ancients countless times. 😢

Thank you!

Please have a notebook and a sharpened, #2 pencil. 😎

@@JeffreyGlover65 I see you there in the front row Jeff.

Didn't Ry Cooder sing that one as well?

@@joefin5900 , yes, Ry recorded "On a Monday" on his classic record "Into the Purple Valley", but it's originally a Leadbelly song, and unlike, say Led Zeppelin, Ry always strove to give credit where credit is due, and cash too, wherever possible (he used to hand-deliver royalty checks to Sleepy John Estes). Ry also recorded Leadbelly's "Bourgeois Blues" and "One Meatball"; and Woody Guthrie's "Vigilante Man". If not for Ry, I would've known little to nothing about many such early folk and blues musicians. I certainly never would have heard of Blind Alfred Reed and his song "How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live?", which is still valid today.

​@@goodun2974 Maybe it was Peter Grant(RIP) who approved such things? Either way, LZ did own their issues, albeit a bit tardy. I believe that in the grand scheme of written music, the 'sampling' that Zep was guilty of does rise to the level of high crimes and misdemeanors! Many musicians from history of old have been found guilty of or freely admitted to 'sampling' random passages written and or performed by someone else.

@@roberthevern6169 , Song publishing isn't typically determined by management, unless the band's contract signs over that function to a manager and gives him a percentage of the publishing rights and royalties. Jimmy Page spent a lot of years as a session musician before forming Led Zeppelin and you can bet your bottom dollar he knew all about the importance of retaining publishing rights. Unfortunately, many of the early blues artists were paid in cash for their recording sessions, or perhaps given a car, and any paperwork they signed wasn't checked over for them in advance by a lawyer. The name of the musician would still appear on their records but after that initial up front recording fee oftentimes they wouldn't get any money for record sales nor for covers of the material by others.This was a less common problem for white artists, although it did happen occasionally, John Fogerty's legal dispute with former manager Saul Zaentz being a particular odious example (it was a long period where Fogerty couldn't, and therefore wouldn't, perform his own songs because he'd have to pay royalties to Zaentz). Anyway, this kind of song theft was a much more common occurence for black blues and early rock and roll artists, however, such as Bo Diddly. David Lindley wrote a song about it: "well the record man gave him a ragtop car/said, 'boy you're gonna be a rock and roll star'/he didn't know he was doing anything wrong/when he signed away all of his songs....pay Bo Diddly /pay Bo Diddly.....call the FBI/call the IRS/ call BMI/call Leonard Chess"!

@goodun2974 Possibly a topic worthy of its own THE History Guy episode? 😅😂😎

I wrote this script. Yes, it was a lot of information.

THG is a great salesman.

That rings a bell in my 69 yr old head.... Did the Steve Miller Band ever do a song like that??,

@@roberthevern6169, the song was written by KC Douglas, and , yes, Miller recorded it, as a slow bluesy shuffle. Lindley's electric version with ElRayo-X is fast and thunderous, with booming bass and cavernous drums, andoutrageous slide guitar; he also played a quieter solo version on acoustic lap steel (both styles can be found live on KZfaq). Alan Jackson did a tame countrified version; Roy Rogers (slide guitar) and the late Norton Buffalo recorded a great live version (he was a phenomenal blues harmonica player who played and wrote songs with Steve Miller for years).

You’d think, but the etymology comes from astrology.

@@TheHistoryGuyChannel - That makes sense. The word is probably older than the meteorological instruments.

The etymology derives from astrology.

It's not difficult...just 2 days drive by modern cars

@@Enolagay1945 depending on where a person lives

The element was named after the planet. In medieval alchemy the metals were each associated with a planet. Previously the element was generally referred to as quicksilver or water-silver.

Lol no, it is Judy Garland

@@TheHistoryGuyChannel Thanks, I’ve been wondering! 😊

No, there isn’t a line.

Sorry- that is not the case. Mercury is not tidally locked, although its rotational period is tidally coupled to its orbital period, thus rotating only one and a half times during each orbit. Rather, Mercury is able to sustain ice near the surface due to its axis of rotation, which keeps the polar areas in permanent shadow.

@@TheHistoryGuyChannel Thanks for the correction. I'll edit my comment.