WEBVTT - Don’t Be a Schmo Yo, Try a Yoyo! 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:28.560 Ridiculous History is a production of iHeartRadio. Yo Yo Yo Yo. 0:00:28.840 --> 0:00:31.920 Welcome back to the show, fellow Ridiculous Historians. Thank you, 0:00:31.960 --> 0:00:35.279 as always so much for tuning in. Let's hear it 0:00:35.360 --> 0:00:38.440 for the Man, the Myth, the Legend. I'm gonna pull 0:00:38.440 --> 0:00:43.160 a random one here, Noel h Max Plastic Whip Williams. 0:00:43.280 --> 0:00:50.199 Whoa the Man, the Myth, the Mystery, Max Shmo Yo 0:00:50.320 --> 0:00:51.280 Yo Yo Williams. 0:00:52.240 --> 0:00:56.000 Now, that is none other than the legendary Noel Brown. 0:00:56.080 --> 0:00:59.680 They called me Ben Bullen in this neck of the woods. 0:01:00.480 --> 0:01:04.400 We tease this episode. A few weeks back. We were 0:01:04.480 --> 0:01:09.560 talking about pong, which led us to exploring ping pong analog. 0:01:10.760 --> 0:01:14.319 Right right, right, right right, And now Noel, you are 0:01:14.319 --> 0:01:18.160 our research associate for this episode, and thank you so much. Man. 0:01:19.760 --> 0:01:24.080 It turns out we're both pretty into yo yo's. Did 0:01:24.120 --> 0:01:25.839 you have that phase as a child. 0:01:26.040 --> 0:01:29.679 I was never any good at it, always fascinated by it. 0:01:29.880 --> 0:01:33.559 Definitely have owned a yo yo or two in my day, 0:01:33.720 --> 0:01:36.360 but I never really could master any of the tricks. 0:01:36.360 --> 0:01:38.920 And it was kind of similar to my fascination with 0:01:39.000 --> 0:01:42.240 stage magic. You know, it's a I don't know, I. 0:01:42.280 --> 0:01:45.920 Like a trick, Ben, I like a trick that's very 0:01:46.000 --> 0:01:46.800 hip hop of you. 0:01:46.880 --> 0:01:49.160 Well, your intro is very hip hop, and let's just 0:01:49.280 --> 0:01:51.200 think we're talking about hip hop. 0:01:51.240 --> 0:01:55.919 Though yo yo ing has become cool again, it would seem. 0:01:56.000 --> 0:02:00.800 And there's some very zeitgeiste figures that are into yo 0:02:00.880 --> 0:02:03.080 yo's that are in these days and they're bringing it back. 0:02:03.080 --> 0:02:06.320 But that's not really anything new because the history of 0:02:06.520 --> 0:02:09.880 the humble yo yo is littered riddled. Dare I say 0:02:09.919 --> 0:02:11.359 to take a page out of the stuff they don't 0:02:11.360 --> 0:02:16.640 want you to know intro with celebrity endorsements and you know, 0:02:17.440 --> 0:02:23.919 very spectacular displays of yo yo prowess. So whether you 0:02:23.919 --> 0:02:27.040 yourself cut your teeth walking the dog in the yo 0:02:27.120 --> 0:02:30.320 yo parlance or rocking the baby also in the yo 0:02:30.360 --> 0:02:32.359 yo parlance, I might be getting that a little bit 0:02:32.680 --> 0:02:33.200 mixed up. 0:02:34.040 --> 0:02:36.000 That's the one where you hold it up and you 0:02:36.080 --> 0:02:39.560 have the streams swing, yes, trying like a pendulum. 0:02:40.360 --> 0:02:43.720 You could also maybe rock the dog or walk the baby, 0:02:43.840 --> 0:02:47.359 depending or you might even have then correctly learned that 0:02:47.360 --> 0:02:49.880 the yo yo was used as an ancient hunting weapon 0:02:50.560 --> 0:02:54.840 for like clubbing seals or something. The humble yo yo 0:02:55.080 --> 0:02:58.800 has likely crossed your radar in one fashion or another. 0:02:59.160 --> 0:03:02.640 But the history of the ooyo, as we often come 0:03:02.840 --> 0:03:05.840 around to in topics we discuss on ridiculous history and 0:03:05.840 --> 0:03:08.240 stuff they don't want you to know, is the story 0:03:08.280 --> 0:03:11.760 of genius marketing as much as it is one of 0:03:11.840 --> 0:03:16.160 invention and some pretty rad tricks. So today we bring 0:03:16.200 --> 0:03:19.600 you the ridiculous history of the yo yo or don't 0:03:19.600 --> 0:03:22.320 be a shmo yo, Try a yo yo? 0:03:29.400 --> 0:03:32.440 Before we go on. I really like the title of this, 0:03:32.639 --> 0:03:36.400 and I'm a fan of giving people flowers while they're 0:03:36.440 --> 0:03:40.360 still around to get the flowers. This title is awesome. 0:03:40.480 --> 0:03:42.440 Can you see it one more time? Oh, don't be 0:03:42.480 --> 0:03:44.720 a shmo yo, Try a yo yo. 0:03:45.800 --> 0:03:48.120 Got a comma in there, just to make sure shmo 0:03:48.160 --> 0:03:50.320 yo isn't one where I Also, I've been rewatching a 0:03:50.360 --> 0:03:53.000 lot of curb lately, and he loves he calls people 0:03:53.040 --> 0:03:57.200 a shmo yo sometimes, if I'm not mistaken LD. 0:03:57.760 --> 0:04:00.280 So let's just jump right into the origin of the 0:04:00.360 --> 0:04:01.720 yo yo. We're not quite sure. 0:04:01.960 --> 0:04:05.200 Historians differ, and there's a lot of miss info out 0:04:05.240 --> 0:04:07.480 there that may also itself be the product of some 0:04:07.600 --> 0:04:11.640 marketing spin. Not quite sure how far the yo yo 0:04:11.840 --> 0:04:16.080 dates back. What we do know is that there were 0:04:16.480 --> 0:04:18.559 as far back as four hundred and five hundred PC 0:04:18.920 --> 0:04:24.240 Greece images depicted in various you know, frescoes and the like, 0:04:24.720 --> 0:04:27.240 depicting the use of something resembling the yo yo. 0:04:27.800 --> 0:04:33.160 Okay, so we're looking at carving's right, not written descriptions. 0:04:32.480 --> 0:04:37.000 Were carving frescoes, you know, not cave paintings, but the 0:04:37.120 --> 0:04:39.120 visual visual depictions. 0:04:39.279 --> 0:04:41.799 Okay, So a circle and a line. 0:04:41.880 --> 0:04:44.880 Something along those lines, that's right, something along both circles 0:04:44.880 --> 0:04:47.880 and lines. Yoyo's do exist in the Metropolitan Museum of 0:04:48.000 --> 0:04:53.920 Arts Fletcher Fund collection from this period. But a lot 0:04:53.920 --> 0:04:57.440 of countries have claimed to have invented this thing, and there, 0:04:57.640 --> 0:04:59.719 as we often see in history, seems to be a 0:04:59.720 --> 0:05:04.680 lot of parallel thinking around a little circular thing with 0:05:04.760 --> 0:05:07.000 an axle in the middle and a string attached to 0:05:07.040 --> 0:05:10.560 it that you can fling around in various ways. Some 0:05:10.760 --> 0:05:15.000 historians argue about multiple sites of origin, like I was 0:05:15.040 --> 0:05:17.640 just saying currently. However, the most accepted theory as that 0:05:17.720 --> 0:05:24.120 it originated in Asia around one thousand BCE. Although there 0:05:24.120 --> 0:05:26.680 aren't any records of the yo yo in Asia during 0:05:26.760 --> 0:05:28.840 this period. The yoyo as we know it today, there 0:05:28.880 --> 0:05:33.560 is something called the diabolo, the Chinese yo yo as 0:05:33.560 --> 0:05:37.480 it is known in English, and you're our Chinese expert here, Ben, 0:05:37.800 --> 0:05:39.840 maybe you can help with these pronunciations. It goes by 0:05:39.839 --> 0:05:40.919 two different names. 0:05:41.880 --> 0:05:46.479 I am definitely not an expert. This is definitely Chinese. 0:05:46.520 --> 0:05:49.560 We can confirm that the two different names would be 0:05:49.560 --> 0:05:53.800 a sell lib and omu go my man. 0:05:54.440 --> 0:05:58.200 Both of these terms refer to the same object and 0:05:58.279 --> 0:06:02.480 can be interchangeable depending on the region. So it literally 0:06:02.520 --> 0:06:07.159 does translate to pulling bell or pulling ring, which is 0:06:07.279 --> 0:06:10.359 very descriptive of the action of pulling the string to 0:06:10.520 --> 0:06:11.839 make this object spin. 0:06:11.960 --> 0:06:13.600 So this is maybe a little more Ben. 0:06:13.640 --> 0:06:16.880 You've probably seen these like a top where you sort 0:06:16.880 --> 0:06:18.960 of wind it up and rip the cord and then 0:06:19.000 --> 0:06:22.480 the thing spins on its end. I'm thinking that's rings 0:06:22.520 --> 0:06:23.880 about theolo. 0:06:24.080 --> 0:06:27.000 Okay, yeah, yeah, for the pulley bell or the shit. 0:06:28.480 --> 0:06:33.159 That's that seems accurate. It reminds me a little bit 0:06:33.200 --> 0:06:36.880 of those toys that may have been before your time, 0:06:37.240 --> 0:06:39.880 the ring fighter things. I can't remember the name, but 0:06:40.000 --> 0:06:42.919 you you pulled the string or you pulled like a 0:06:42.960 --> 0:06:47.240 plastic tab and they rolled around in a little arena. Yeah, 0:06:47.240 --> 0:06:48.839 that's right. I think those are. 0:06:50.400 --> 0:06:53.960 Gosh, hold on a second, there's something Matt like Matt's 0:06:54.000 --> 0:06:57.000 Kid like those, or there was a more modern version. 0:06:58.279 --> 0:07:00.320 It was like, I think, out of Japan, and it 0:07:00.400 --> 0:07:02.279 had a lot of trading cards associated with it and 0:07:02.320 --> 0:07:04.320 a lot of culture. Now I'm totally spacing on the name, 0:07:04.360 --> 0:07:07.200 and I know people out there are screaming their podcast device. 0:07:07.240 --> 0:07:10.080 It's okay, you're don't have to scream, folks, We'll figure 0:07:10.120 --> 0:07:13.680 it out. We also know the second meaning that you 0:07:13.760 --> 0:07:19.040 alluded to for dia bolo is hung shot, which is. 0:07:19.440 --> 0:07:24.720 Empty bamboo, empty bamboo, which likely refers to the hollow nature. 0:07:24.560 --> 0:07:25.720 Of the objects. 0:07:25.720 --> 0:07:27.240 And this is coming to us from a really great 0:07:27.400 --> 0:07:31.240 blog post by Lingo Ace all about Chinese yoyo tradition's 0:07:31.320 --> 0:07:35.680 history and tricks. And so when we see folks demonstrating 0:07:35.760 --> 0:07:40.040 what the da bolo would have been, it typically is 0:07:40.080 --> 0:07:44.200 more like two sticks with strings attached to it, looped 0:07:44.240 --> 0:07:48.360 around a large item which has got the rounded shape 0:07:48.360 --> 0:07:50.960 on either side that tapers in the middle, and then 0:07:51.000 --> 0:07:53.040 you kind of use it to make the thing dance 0:07:53.120 --> 0:07:54.080 across the stro. 0:07:54.280 --> 0:07:58.000 This is like a rave, it's a little it is 0:07:58.040 --> 0:08:02.600 a still devil. Sticks coded I'm not gonna hacky sack. 0:08:02.800 --> 0:08:04.480 Well yeah, well hackey sack of Jason. 0:08:04.560 --> 0:08:06.600 I think the yo yo, we can all argue, definitely 0:08:06.680 --> 0:08:09.280 falls squarely into that camp. But during the l parallel 0:08:09.800 --> 0:08:12.720 parallel thinking, to be sure, Ben, But during the late 0:08:12.760 --> 0:08:16.800 eighteenth century we start to see examples of this popping 0:08:16.880 --> 0:08:20.280 up in France. Of course, as they do in France, 0:08:20.280 --> 0:08:23.000 they had to fancify it, so these versions were made 0:08:23.000 --> 0:08:27.600 out of glass or ivory and were called the de Normandy. 0:08:28.120 --> 0:08:31.840 We've got some citations from Britannica on that one, and 0:08:32.320 --> 0:08:35.840 Duncan Toys you may know as kind of the king 0:08:35.880 --> 0:08:38.600 of the yo yo, or at least the popularizer of 0:08:38.679 --> 0:08:41.079 the yo yo. And they've definitely come back into their 0:08:41.120 --> 0:08:44.760 own as far as the modern types and spin no 0:08:44.840 --> 0:08:45.719 pun intended on. 0:08:45.720 --> 0:08:46.160 The yo yo. 0:08:46.320 --> 0:08:49.320 But they have a great section on their website talking 0:08:49.320 --> 0:08:51.680 about the history of the yo yo, and they talk about. 0:08:51.440 --> 0:08:54.559 A picture of King Louis the XVIII. What's that one, Ben? 0:08:54.640 --> 0:08:58.720 Is that thirteenth twelfth, fourteenth? You know me and them Roman. 0:08:58.559 --> 0:09:02.880 Nomes things I appreciate. So he wasn't the son king, 0:09:02.920 --> 0:09:06.040 he was a couple kings. Later shows him playing with 0:09:06.640 --> 0:09:10.319 a yo yo as a child. We also have historical 0:09:10.360 --> 0:09:13.240 documents showing the yoyo was popular to pass the time 0:09:13.360 --> 0:09:16.800 during the French Revolution, like they needed something to do 0:09:16.920 --> 0:09:20.360 to pass the time. I guess in between stormings, right. 0:09:21.720 --> 0:09:26.600 Right, Well, not everybody can own a full working guillotine, 0:09:27.040 --> 0:09:29.920 so you gotta you gotta have something to do with 0:09:29.960 --> 0:09:31.640 your hands, right, God has something to do you with 0:09:31.679 --> 0:09:32.880 your hands while you still got him. 0:09:33.800 --> 0:09:36.480 You did start to see the depictions of this and 0:09:36.600 --> 0:09:40.480 paintings into the eighteen hundreds. And I believe our buddy 0:09:41.040 --> 0:09:45.280 who was scared of rabbits, Napoleon was tossed it around 0:09:45.280 --> 0:09:47.439 a yo yo before the Battle of water I guess 0:09:47.480 --> 0:09:48.520 he wasn't scared of rabbits. 0:09:48.559 --> 0:09:53.400 He was just sort of mobbed by rabbits. He was unprepared. 0:09:53.520 --> 0:09:58.160 He was unprepared historically on many levels. But also he 0:09:58.480 --> 0:10:02.240 wasn't a dumb guy. And what a flex to walk 0:10:02.280 --> 0:10:05.720 around before you go into Waterloo. I know you just 0:10:05.760 --> 0:10:09.199 have a yo yo. No, that's that's an intimidation. 0:10:09.480 --> 0:10:11.120 I think it's a bit of a power move ben 0:10:11.640 --> 0:10:15.760 In England, according to Britannica, it was referred to as 0:10:15.800 --> 0:10:18.600 the bandalore or I love this one because it just 0:10:18.640 --> 0:10:21.600 kind of makes like an automatopoia a quiz. 0:10:22.120 --> 0:10:25.640 Okay, so you would say, oh, let me have my quiz. 0:10:25.800 --> 0:10:28.120 I love that it's so English, and I think Jonathan 0:10:28.160 --> 0:10:33.040 strictly aka the Quizzer would approve an illustration depicted the 0:10:33.080 --> 0:10:37.400 Prince of Wales. Later, George the Fourth got that one 0:10:37.480 --> 0:10:41.400 right playing with his yo yo, and so it became 0:10:41.440 --> 0:10:43.600 a hit with the jet seestying. I guess they didn't 0:10:43.640 --> 0:10:45.640 have jests, but you know what I mean, fashionistas of 0:10:45.720 --> 0:10:49.000 the time. Uh, the popularity of the toy a lot 0:10:49.080 --> 0:10:52.840 like I guess lawn tennis, which preceded table tennis or 0:10:52.840 --> 0:10:56.520 ping pong, started to enter the ranks of the nobility, 0:10:56.880 --> 0:11:00.480 leading to a lot of references during this period, a 0:11:00.520 --> 0:11:03.680 lot of them in political cartoons. 0:11:03.559 --> 0:11:08.120 Showing this as a bit of a pastime of the swells. Now, 0:11:08.280 --> 0:11:14.520 in your research yournal, you've included some drawings of the time, 0:11:14.679 --> 0:11:19.480 some political cartoons, and I think we love to describe them. 0:11:20.040 --> 0:11:23.679 What are the first is? I love it is a 0:11:25.000 --> 0:11:30.040 unfortunate situation with an older school marmed type and she's 0:11:30.120 --> 0:11:34.600 been a sailed two boys, she's been menaced sailed by 0:11:34.679 --> 0:11:40.880 two boys. Children throwing yo yo's, and it's called The 0:11:41.320 --> 0:11:42.560 caption reads. 0:11:42.520 --> 0:11:48.040 The sensation boll wow, the laziest pleasantry in the public streets. 0:11:48.360 --> 0:11:53.560 Yo yo as the rage in the sixties, rude boys perhaps. 0:11:53.040 --> 0:11:54.760 Doing around the world. 0:11:54.840 --> 0:11:58.120 I think that's an eighteen pretty basic that's right, the eighteens, 0:11:58.679 --> 0:12:00.719 pretty basic trick A lot of people might be familiar with, 0:12:00.800 --> 0:12:03.200 where you take the thing, you fling it out and 0:12:03.240 --> 0:12:04.720 then you pull it and you kind of do a 0:12:04.760 --> 0:12:06.280 loopy loop with it, and then you pull it back 0:12:06.320 --> 0:12:10.000 into your hand. We would be remiss if we did 0:12:10.040 --> 0:12:12.040 not point out that the reason all of this works 0:12:12.120 --> 0:12:15.120 is because of centripetal force and gravity. 0:12:15.640 --> 0:12:20.800 Ah yes, gravity, our old nemesis, and energy which can 0:12:20.880 --> 0:12:22.679 neither be created nor destroyed. 0:12:22.920 --> 0:12:25.719 And it's it's basically, if I'm not mistaken, then it's 0:12:25.800 --> 0:12:29.199 kind of preserved in the motion of the of the 0:12:29.320 --> 0:12:31.280 yo yo and when you kind of yank it, that 0:12:31.520 --> 0:12:34.440 energy allows it to travel back up the string. 0:12:35.160 --> 0:12:38.559 Nailed it hold of one, just so, I mean, if 0:12:38.600 --> 0:12:41.000 we walk the dog out here, though, I've got a 0:12:41.080 --> 0:12:46.320 question for you, Noel. It sounds like parallel thinking teaches 0:12:46.440 --> 0:12:51.840 us that the Mediterranean and parts of East Asia discover 0:12:52.520 --> 0:12:56.920 the yo yo discovered that centrepetal force on their own, 0:12:57.200 --> 0:13:00.920 and that it became popularized in Europe. But how did 0:13:00.960 --> 0:13:02.520 it get to the United States. 0:13:03.240 --> 0:13:05.360 Yeah, it's a good question, Ben, And we do have 0:13:05.440 --> 0:13:08.280 a couple other fun images kind of showing these very 0:13:08.320 --> 0:13:11.240 bougie French folks playing with their toys. 0:13:11.600 --> 0:13:12.400 And it's funny. 0:13:12.840 --> 0:13:15.960 The article that I referenced earlier are actually let me 0:13:16.240 --> 0:13:20.480 reference this one specifically. I haven't yet doc Lucky's History 0:13:20.559 --> 0:13:24.079 of the yo yo Lucky Meisenheimer, MD, who wrote a 0:13:24.080 --> 0:13:27.720 book called Lucky's Collector's Guide to twentieth century Yoyo's histories 0:13:27.720 --> 0:13:30.640 and Values. He's also the former chairman of the American 0:13:30.720 --> 0:13:34.440 Yoyo Association's History and Collecting Committee, so he knows a 0:13:34.480 --> 0:13:36.640 thing or two about the yo yo. And he points 0:13:36.679 --> 0:13:38.839 out that a lot of these images from the period 0:13:38.880 --> 0:13:42.480 that we're talking about here in Europe depicted adults playing 0:13:42.520 --> 0:13:46.000 with this, and it sort of trickled down to the kids, 0:13:46.040 --> 0:13:48.640 because you mentioned the one with the young whipper snappers 0:13:48.720 --> 0:13:51.520 or the rude boys messing around with this older lady. 0:13:51.760 --> 0:13:55.160 But most of the images did show old folks, older folks, 0:13:55.200 --> 0:13:57.480 adults playing with these as a sign of kind of 0:13:57.559 --> 0:13:59.960 like this was a pastime of the well to do 0:14:00.280 --> 0:14:03.520 who were able to exercise their leisure time in this way. 0:14:04.960 --> 0:14:09.040 Now you're too worried about the war, my friend, you 0:14:09.120 --> 0:14:12.600 should do what I do. Take us slow constitutional in 0:14:12.640 --> 0:14:17.199 the afternoon, go to the Angerrarium and witness your rented 0:14:17.240 --> 0:14:22.320 pineapple and dangle quiz Tangle your quiz perfect. 0:14:22.440 --> 0:14:24.440 We got there, so you asked about how it kind 0:14:24.440 --> 0:14:27.440 of got to what we know today. November of eighteen 0:14:27.520 --> 0:14:31.080 sixty six, we've got James el Haven and Charles Hittrick 0:14:31.320 --> 0:14:35.960 of Cincinnati, Ohio, who get the first patent for a 0:14:36.040 --> 0:14:38.920 yo yo in the United States, and it was described 0:14:39.560 --> 0:14:42.800 It described the patent a yo yo as coupled together 0:14:42.960 --> 0:14:45.640 or as being coupled together at their centers by means 0:14:45.720 --> 0:14:48.640 of a clutch. It was also the first time a 0:14:48.680 --> 0:14:53.040 method called rim waiting was mentioned in the patent, and 0:14:53.080 --> 0:14:55.920 it specifically said, it will be observed that the marginals 0:14:56.000 --> 0:14:59.840 swell sea. The sea is being the exhibit in the patent. 0:15:00.040 --> 0:15:04.040 Magery exercises the function of a flywheel. Flywheel being kind 0:15:04.080 --> 0:15:07.640 of like a Pulley system of ropes and gears that 0:15:07.680 --> 0:15:12.560 you would use to maybe operate scenes in a scenery 0:15:12.600 --> 0:15:15.160 in a play, or you know, part curtains and things 0:15:15.240 --> 0:15:15.640 like that. 0:15:16.000 --> 0:15:18.840 Right, And so what we're saying here, folks, is that 0:15:19.040 --> 0:15:23.600 for thousands of years, various civilizations came up with something 0:15:23.760 --> 0:15:26.920 like this, but the rubber hits the road, right, or 0:15:26.960 --> 0:15:32.360 the stream hits the yo When we talk about the 0:15:32.440 --> 0:15:34.360 idea of patenting. 0:15:34.240 --> 0:15:38.720 Design and the Yo Yo Museum as a piece titled 0:15:38.720 --> 0:15:40.600 the Brief History A Brief History of the yo Yo 0:15:40.720 --> 0:15:43.760 and got some really fun info from that one as well. 0:15:43.920 --> 0:15:46.400 They point out that the real importance of the patent 0:15:46.960 --> 0:15:50.120 is that it suggests the very first use of patents 0:15:50.160 --> 0:15:54.640 to protect design improvements from what we know more as 0:15:54.680 --> 0:15:58.760 the historical version of the yoyo in the manufacturing of 0:15:58.800 --> 0:16:03.360 a yo yo. So that's pretty neat. We start to 0:16:03.360 --> 0:16:07.880 see the aforementioned haven and hetrick really entering into the 0:16:07.960 --> 0:16:10.000 business of mass producing yoyos. 0:16:10.560 --> 0:16:15.080 So for thousands of years, different civilizations figured out something 0:16:15.640 --> 0:16:18.800 like a yo yo, and then later it gets patented 0:16:19.000 --> 0:16:22.880 and enters mass manufacture. I think a lot of us 0:16:23.120 --> 0:16:27.080 listening tonight are going to be wondering if the yo 0:16:27.160 --> 0:16:30.080 yos of the past were like the fidget spinners or 0:16:30.120 --> 0:16:31.600 the rosaries of today. 0:16:31.920 --> 0:16:32.160 Right. 0:16:32.280 --> 0:16:35.000 We've also often asked the question about how come there's 0:16:35.040 --> 0:16:36.960 not one person credited. 0:16:36.520 --> 0:16:38.440 With like the fidget spinner. 0:16:39.200 --> 0:16:42.400 We do know that patents can't expire as well and 0:16:42.480 --> 0:16:47.040 get entered into the public domain as well as you know, trademarks. 0:16:47.640 --> 0:16:50.880 It's a question for another day, but I think you're 0:16:51.200 --> 0:16:54.280 getting at something. We also tease this idea of was 0:16:54.320 --> 0:16:57.600 this thing used as a hunting implement? 0:16:58.120 --> 0:17:01.600 Right, That's that's something he alluded to at the top. 0:17:01.720 --> 0:17:04.720 I say we dive in because no, I don't know 0:17:05.040 --> 0:17:11.639 much about this. I remember vaguely hearing stuff about Southeast Asia. 0:17:11.280 --> 0:17:15.040 That's right, the Philippines in particular, a famous This is 0:17:15.520 --> 0:17:17.720 a really I'm gonna pull a lot from this, or 0:17:17.720 --> 0:17:21.280 we're gonna pull a lot from Lucky's the history of 0:17:21.280 --> 0:17:24.480 the yo yo. Because this guy really is, I would argue, 0:17:24.520 --> 0:17:26.760 probably the pre eminent yo yo scholar. 0:17:27.160 --> 0:17:28.160 He's on the committee. 0:17:28.200 --> 0:17:30.479 He's on the committee, and he also points out that 0:17:30.680 --> 0:17:34.480 he himself is responsible for spreading some of the misinformation 0:17:34.840 --> 0:17:35.760 that we're talking about. 0:17:35.880 --> 0:17:37.639 He owns up to that. 0:17:38.040 --> 0:17:39.800 I would go ahead and just find this whole article 0:17:39.840 --> 0:17:43.560 and read Lucky Meisenheimer MD's piece where He goes into 0:17:43.640 --> 0:17:47.239 a lot of these various conflicting histories of the yo 0:17:47.280 --> 0:17:50.480 yo and the way he himself may have contributed to 0:17:50.520 --> 0:17:54.800 some of that. But he points out that the claim 0:17:54.960 --> 0:17:56.600 that the yo yo I'm just going to quote directly 0:17:56.640 --> 0:17:58.520 from his writing was used as a weapon in the 0:17:58.560 --> 0:18:01.320 Philippines isn't new. This has been the subject of much 0:18:01.320 --> 0:18:04.199 debate over the last several decades. The Duncan Yo Yo 0:18:04.359 --> 0:18:09.000 Company also used the weapon narrative as a promotional gimmick, 0:18:09.520 --> 0:18:12.960 but behind the scenes they themselves recognized that this was 0:18:13.640 --> 0:18:17.080 likely not true. We're going to get into Duncan in 0:18:17.080 --> 0:18:18.240 a little bit, but I just thought we'd get this 0:18:18.280 --> 0:18:19.720 part out of the way because it's a lot of fun. 0:18:20.920 --> 0:18:25.160 One early yo yo demonstrator for the Duncan Company claimed 0:18:25.440 --> 0:18:27.520 that he was the one who made up the story 0:18:27.560 --> 0:18:30.200 in the first place. However, there is good evidence to 0:18:30.280 --> 0:18:34.040 support that the yo yo was a weapon in the Philippines, 0:18:34.080 --> 0:18:43.680 however not necessarily used in the way you might think so. 0:18:43.720 --> 0:18:46.920 The story, as it goes the idea of this being 0:18:46.960 --> 0:18:52.119 a century's old Filipino hunting device, describes a hunter, you know, 0:18:52.200 --> 0:18:55.359 finding a refuge or a secret spot in a tree, 0:18:56.040 --> 0:18:58.240 fortifying himself as so he can like kind of hide 0:18:58.240 --> 0:19:02.360 from his target, holding a heavy, oversized yo yo, waiting 0:19:02.400 --> 0:19:05.280 for his prey to pass below, and at the critical moment, 0:19:05.680 --> 0:19:08.919 the yoyo would be flung, hurled, and balk the animal 0:19:09.000 --> 0:19:12.359 right on the head, presumably killing it or knocking it out, 0:19:12.640 --> 0:19:16.760 and then allowing it to return to the hunter, especially 0:19:16.760 --> 0:19:19.840 if he missed and needed a second. 0:19:19.520 --> 0:19:22.440 Shot, a boomerang on a string a bit of that. 0:19:23.160 --> 0:19:25.679 However, Meisenheimer points out that the physics of the yoyo 0:19:25.800 --> 0:19:30.080 make this pretty improbable that that would work. However, there 0:19:30.119 --> 0:19:32.399 is no question that something like a yoyo existed in 0:19:32.400 --> 0:19:34.720 the Philippines for quite a long time. There isn't any 0:19:34.800 --> 0:19:37.320 documented evidence that it was used as a hunting tool 0:19:37.600 --> 0:19:40.639 in this exact way. There is, however, evidence that the 0:19:40.720 --> 0:19:44.000 Duncan Company popularized this themselves as a bit of a 0:19:44.040 --> 0:19:48.000 gimmick in promoting the yo yo, it would seem Meisenheimer 0:19:48.040 --> 0:19:50.240 says that the hunting origin is pure fantasy. It was 0:19:50.280 --> 0:19:52.760 a memorable story and helped to sell yo yo's. The 0:19:52.800 --> 0:19:55.320 hunting origin of the toy was printed so often, as 0:19:55.400 --> 0:19:58.920 is often the case, that it has become an urban legend. However, 0:19:59.400 --> 0:20:02.720 he also points out that it is there is evidence 0:20:02.800 --> 0:20:05.280 that it was used as a weapon in some fashion, 0:20:05.560 --> 0:20:08.160 though not the way we might think or the way 0:20:08.160 --> 0:20:11.439 that was just described, Ben, think of think of it 0:20:11.480 --> 0:20:13.840 as a way to like hide a string like a garrot. 0:20:14.080 --> 0:20:17.280 Remember those where you like you got the creepy assassin 0:20:17.359 --> 0:20:19.760 coming up behind you and strangling you with piano wire 0:20:19.960 --> 0:20:20.440 after like. 0:20:20.400 --> 0:20:23.040 Hey, might be a great guy. You know, true that 0:20:23.200 --> 0:20:26.760 all assassins are creepy. No, it's true, just getting situations 0:20:26.840 --> 0:20:29.160 and not all creeps are assassins. Max, what you got 0:20:29.400 --> 0:20:30.160 to jump in here? 0:20:30.240 --> 0:20:32.440 I'm not sure if you can get a yo yo. 0:20:32.560 --> 0:20:35.360 But in the hit Man series, the video game where 0:20:35.359 --> 0:20:37.200 you you know, play as an assassin, Oh, I love 0:20:37.240 --> 0:20:40.359 that one, you can get very You can get a 0:20:40.359 --> 0:20:42.359 garat obviously it comes like pretty standard. But you can 0:20:42.359 --> 0:20:45.560 get like you know, like ear bud cables and stuff 0:20:45.600 --> 0:20:46.160 like that. 0:20:45.920 --> 0:20:47.320 You can use for that. I don't know if you 0:20:47.320 --> 0:20:49.679 can get a yoyo though. Okay, all right, well we 0:20:49.800 --> 0:20:53.679 have some notes for you creators of hit Man. We 0:20:53.760 --> 0:20:56.720 also know again it goes back to what you're saying 0:20:56.760 --> 0:21:03.320 about parallel thinking, right, and about corporations wanting to sell stuff. 0:21:05.200 --> 0:21:09.080 When I'm hearing this myth perpetrated by Duncan, which, as 0:21:09.119 --> 0:21:12.119 you said, we'll get into in a moment, it reminds 0:21:12.200 --> 0:21:16.879 me of those back pages of old school comic books 0:21:16.920 --> 0:21:20.400 and you know, boy Scout type magazines where they would say, 0:21:20.800 --> 0:21:24.080 we'll sell you a pair of nun Chucks and will 0:21:24.119 --> 0:21:28.040 train you in the agent art. And right next to that, 0:21:28.400 --> 0:21:31.679 I sound elderly now, but right next to that sometimes 0:21:31.720 --> 0:21:35.639 there would be an ad for the Filipino art of 0:21:35.720 --> 0:21:36.199 the yo yo. 0:21:37.000 --> 0:21:40.040 Sure well, speaking of that man or to that point, 0:21:40.960 --> 0:21:43.960 I'd mentioned that our expert here pointed out that there 0:21:44.080 --> 0:21:48.120 is written evidence that it was used as some kind 0:21:48.200 --> 0:21:50.440 of weapon, and that comes from an eighteen eighty eight 0:21:50.520 --> 0:21:55.600 letter by doctor Jose Rizol, a Filipino national hero, who 0:21:55.640 --> 0:21:59.000 wrote of his transatlantic voyage from America to England. Quote, 0:21:59.040 --> 0:22:01.480 I am barked for your aboard the city of Rome, 0:22:01.800 --> 0:22:04.320 said to be the second largest steamer on earth. At 0:22:04.320 --> 0:22:06.800 the end of the voyage, a periodical is printed on board. 0:22:06.880 --> 0:22:09.159 I met many people here, and as I had with 0:22:09.240 --> 0:22:12.160 me a yo Yo, the Europeans and Americans were astonished 0:22:12.160 --> 0:22:14.119 to see how I used it as a weapon of attack. 0:22:14.720 --> 0:22:15.919 I think he's being cute. 0:22:16.000 --> 0:22:18.320 I think he may well be ben but it is 0:22:18.520 --> 0:22:21.359 it is evidence we can point to. Meisenheimer goes on. 0:22:21.400 --> 0:22:23.120 So unless you want to dispute one of the most 0:22:23.200 --> 0:22:26.560 famous Filipino historical figures writing, the question becomes not was 0:22:26.600 --> 0:22:28.719 the yoyo used as a weapon in the Philippines, but 0:22:28.920 --> 0:22:31.159 how was it used? So this is a point of 0:22:31.240 --> 0:22:34.240 much speculation. I think we pointed out one possible use. 0:22:34.720 --> 0:22:39.440 Another would be the thick leather cord of a particular 0:22:39.600 --> 0:22:42.800 design of yo yo, perhaps used like a sarong in 0:22:42.880 --> 0:22:45.760 martial arts, which is sort of that garat kind of situation, 0:22:46.440 --> 0:22:49.080 and the suggestion that this mechanism allowed it. 0:22:49.040 --> 0:22:49.959