WEBVTT - Olympic Torches: Remember Those? 0:00:00.640 --> 0:00:03.559 Hey, everybody. I don't know if you've heard, but we 0:00:03.680 --> 0:00:07.040 have a book coming out finally, finally, after all these years. 0:00:07.520 --> 0:00:10.120 It's great, it's fun. You're gonna love it. It's called 0:00:10.119 --> 0:00:14.600 Stuff You Should Know Colon, an incomplete compendium of mostly 0:00:14.840 --> 0:00:19.760 interesting things. Ye, and it's twenty six jam packed chapters 0:00:19.800 --> 0:00:22.640 that we wrote with another guy named Knowls Parker, who's 0:00:22.640 --> 0:00:27.720 amazing and is illustrated amazingly by our illustrator Carl Manardo. 0:00:28.120 --> 0:00:30.560 And it's just an all around joy to pick up 0:00:30.600 --> 0:00:32.960 and read. Even though we haven't physically held in our 0:00:32.960 --> 0:00:35.360 hands yet, it's like we have Chuck in our dreams 0:00:35.360 --> 0:00:38.480 so far. I can't wait to actually see and hold 0:00:38.520 --> 0:00:41.040 this thing and smell it. And so should you, so 0:00:41.120 --> 0:00:43.760 pre order now. It means a lot to us. The 0:00:43.880 --> 0:00:46.720 support is a very big deal, So pre order anywhere 0:00:46.720 --> 0:00:50.240 books are sold. Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a 0:00:50.320 --> 0:00:58.800 production of My Heart Radios How Stuff Works. Hey, and 0:00:58.920 --> 0:01:01.280 welcome to the podcast. So I'm Josh Clark and there's 0:01:01.360 --> 0:01:04.039 Charles w Chuck Bryan over there, and this is Stuff 0:01:04.080 --> 0:01:16.640 you Should Know. Don't don't do it, Dad, What is 0:01:16.680 --> 0:01:21.000 this gonna do with the Olympics. It's it's it's equally stirring. 0:01:22.040 --> 0:01:24.320 I thought you would have done the Olympic Games song. 0:01:25.720 --> 0:01:27.800 That's what I started out doing, and then about two 0:01:27.959 --> 0:01:30.600 duns into it, I realized they could not bring it 0:01:30.640 --> 0:01:33.760 to mind. So I just wanted the Rocky theme instead. Uh, 0:01:33.840 --> 0:01:36.920 you know. The Olympics, well, I don't know if they would. 0:01:36.920 --> 0:01:40.280 They still be going on right now. I don't know. 0:01:40.360 --> 0:01:43.440 They could have just wrapped up. Actually, it's kind of sad, 0:01:43.600 --> 0:01:47.559 you know. It's sad for now. It will be encouraging later. 0:01:47.760 --> 0:01:51.200 I think the Tokyo Olympics, whenever they happen, are going 0:01:51.240 --> 0:02:00.400 to be a global coming together and celebration of beating coronavirus. Yeah, 0:02:00.600 --> 0:02:05.080 totally those ceremonies, yes, but from what I read, the 0:02:05.080 --> 0:02:08.480 Olympic flame is still alive and well in Tokyo. What 0:02:08.560 --> 0:02:12.399 if the opening ceremonies had little, you know, corona crowns 0:02:13.240 --> 0:02:16.360 running around and people smashing them with like big inflatable hammers. 0:02:16.360 --> 0:02:19.840 And that's right. They tell the story of the of 0:02:19.960 --> 0:02:23.520 the coronavirus pandemic through interpretive dance. It just has like 0:02:23.560 --> 0:02:27.720 a big giant bat at the beginning, and exactly it's 0:02:27.760 --> 0:02:31.520 the villain. Maybe plenty of villains in that one. That'd 0:02:31.520 --> 0:02:35.800 be fun for sure, for sure. Um, so we're obviously 0:02:35.840 --> 0:02:39.080 talking Olympic torches. If you hadn't guests or hadn't bothered 0:02:39.120 --> 0:02:42.240 to look at the title of this episode, everybody. And 0:02:42.280 --> 0:02:44.560 I'm kind of excited about this because it's it's a 0:02:45.480 --> 0:02:48.280 just died in the wool s y s K episode 0:02:48.720 --> 0:02:52.359 and that it's very niche. It's about one specific thing 0:02:53.160 --> 0:02:56.040 that's a part of a much larger thing which we've 0:02:56.240 --> 0:02:59.400 not yet done an episode on. Yeah, and the kind 0:02:59.400 --> 0:03:01.560 of thing where one day, when you're watching an Olympic 0:03:01.600 --> 0:03:06.000 ceremony again you see that flame. Yeah, you'll have that 0:03:06.000 --> 0:03:09.360 that insider knowledge. Yeah, you'll think didn't did it, didn't 0:03:09.360 --> 0:03:18.160 did do? Goodness. So, um, chuck, I didn't know much 0:03:18.160 --> 0:03:21.920 about Olympic torches. I've seen a torch lighting or two 0:03:21.919 --> 0:03:26.960 in my time on television only. Um, but there's a 0:03:27.000 --> 0:03:30.600 pretty it's pretty interesting actually, the kind of the history 0:03:30.639 --> 0:03:32.920 of it and how the things are made. I was 0:03:32.960 --> 0:03:36.120 reading over like, um, I guess you'd call it like 0:03:36.160 --> 0:03:41.920 a request for proposal PDF from like the London Olympics 0:03:41.920 --> 0:03:45.840 Committee from years ago. Um, basically saying hey, this is 0:03:45.880 --> 0:03:47.800 a call out all designers who want to try their 0:03:47.800 --> 0:03:52.240 hand at at UM designing the London Olympic torch. Here's 0:03:52.240 --> 0:03:53.960 all the details you need to know. It was really 0:03:54.000 --> 0:03:58.920 fascinating stuff, and we're going to convey that fascination post 0:03:59.000 --> 0:04:03.520 taste of that RFC or of just torches. Maybe a 0:04:03.600 --> 0:04:07.160 little bit of both actually, so uh, the history of 0:04:07.160 --> 0:04:09.080 the torch we're talking. You know, you've got to go 0:04:09.120 --> 0:04:11.200 back to Greece if you're going to talk about anything 0:04:11.280 --> 0:04:14.920 Olympic history wise, and if you go back far enough, 0:04:14.960 --> 0:04:18.600 you're gonna hear a story about Prometheus stealing fire from 0:04:18.680 --> 0:04:21.159 Zeus giving that to humans. That's how they say we 0:04:21.240 --> 0:04:26.960 got fire. And in order to commemorate that, the Greeks 0:04:27.000 --> 0:04:29.680 had these relay races like we all know and love, 0:04:29.760 --> 0:04:33.159 except instead of passing a little aluminum baton, they would 0:04:33.400 --> 0:04:37.960 pass live fire and flame via torch. Yeah, they would 0:04:38.000 --> 0:04:40.440 set a cow on fire, push it to the next person. 0:04:41.920 --> 0:04:44.160 I actually the one thing on Prometheus. I was looking 0:04:44.240 --> 0:04:48.279 him up. So he was punished by Zeus um for 0:04:48.440 --> 0:04:51.800 stealing fire and giving it, being a bad boy for 0:04:52.600 --> 0:04:56.960 a naughty monty and Um he had his liver eaten 0:04:57.000 --> 0:04:59.960 out by an eagle every day and because he was 0:05:00.040 --> 0:05:03.120 an immortal titan. His liver would grow back each night 0:05:03.279 --> 0:05:06.680 and then it would be eaten now even by an 0:05:06.720 --> 0:05:09.480 eagle again the next day. That's so when I feel 0:05:09.520 --> 0:05:13.400 these days and eagles eating your liver every day, yeah, 0:05:13.400 --> 0:05:17.880 it is kind of yeah. So, but I mean, the 0:05:18.120 --> 0:05:20.080 I guess the the upshot of all this is that 0:05:20.160 --> 0:05:24.480 the fire was extremely important to the Greeks and they 0:05:24.520 --> 0:05:26.920 showed it off as much. So when they started having 0:05:26.960 --> 0:05:31.200 Olympic Games UM back in I guess seven seventies six 0:05:31.279 --> 0:05:35.320 BC UM, they wanted to make fire kind of a 0:05:35.360 --> 0:05:40.400 prominent part of it, and so they they they celebrated 0:05:40.440 --> 0:05:45.239 this theft of fire from Zeus by Prometheus by having 0:05:45.240 --> 0:05:48.600 a torch relay where there was basically like um, like 0:05:48.800 --> 0:05:52.920 today's baton relay marathons or runs or whatever you call them, 0:05:53.120 --> 0:05:56.039 but it was with the torch and whoever reached the 0:05:56.160 --> 0:05:59.440 end with their lit torch one that that relay race. 0:05:59.520 --> 0:06:03.520 And that's how kind of the Olympic torch was born. Yeah, 0:06:03.600 --> 0:06:05.880 And you know, the games back then were a very 0:06:05.920 --> 0:06:10.200 big deal and that they would stop war, which is 0:06:10.240 --> 0:06:13.400 something they loved to do, just to take part in 0:06:13.440 --> 0:06:15.680 these games. And they had these runners. They call them 0:06:15.720 --> 0:06:18.920 heralds of Piece that would go all through Greece saying, 0:06:19.000 --> 0:06:21.839 you know, truce everybody, right, and they would hope they 0:06:21.880 --> 0:06:26.240 don't get speared, and if they made it through, that 0:06:26.279 --> 0:06:30.200 truce would remain all during the Olympics until the flame 0:06:30.320 --> 0:06:33.760 is extinguished, and then they started spearing again immediately. Yeah. 0:06:33.880 --> 0:06:36.359 And the point was so that anybody who wanted to 0:06:36.400 --> 0:06:40.200 go watch the Olympics could make it through Greece um 0:06:40.279 --> 0:06:43.920 unkilled to go watch and then make it back home unkilled, 0:06:43.920 --> 0:06:48.200 hopefully too unkilled. Yea. Uh So, if you go back 0:06:48.200 --> 0:06:52.640 to Olympia, there was an altar there dedicated to Hera, 0:06:52.800 --> 0:06:55.400 who was the goddess of birthen marriage. And at the 0:06:55.400 --> 0:06:59.480 beginning of those first Olympic Games, they would ignite a 0:06:59.600 --> 0:07:02.839 called in at Harrah's altar and they would light it 0:07:02.880 --> 0:07:07.320 with with a parabolic mirror. They call it a scaffia, 0:07:08.040 --> 0:07:10.160 and it's sort of like you know an Archimedes deathray 0:07:10.200 --> 0:07:12.680 where you are a magnifying glass or something where you 0:07:12.760 --> 0:07:15.920 focus the sun down to that you know, single spot. 0:07:16.080 --> 0:07:18.920 If you're a sadistic child, you burn ants that way. 0:07:19.240 --> 0:07:23.280 Should never ever do that. It's not nice. No, we 0:07:23.440 --> 0:07:25.480 leave the ants alone, leave the ants alone, but they 0:07:25.480 --> 0:07:28.720 would that's how they would ignite that initial flame, and 0:07:28.840 --> 0:07:30.960 that flame the idea is that it stays lit throughout 0:07:31.000 --> 0:07:35.200 the Olympics. Yeah, so this is a pretty cool tradition 0:07:35.240 --> 0:07:37.480 if you think about it. I mean, just because the 0:07:37.560 --> 0:07:41.400 Olympics have been around for so long today, the modern Olympics, 0:07:41.680 --> 0:07:44.640 we kind of take this whole thing for granted. But like, 0:07:44.680 --> 0:07:47.840 this is a pretty neat tradition that I guess just 0:07:47.920 --> 0:07:50.640 came up out a whole cloth among the Greeks. And 0:07:50.680 --> 0:07:52.280 so they were like, we're going to keep this going, 0:07:52.320 --> 0:07:54.880 and they did for another thousand years while they did 0:07:54.880 --> 0:07:57.720 the Olympics. But then when the Olympics kind of died 0:07:57.760 --> 0:08:04.600 out after a millennia, um, no millennium, the torch and 0:08:04.640 --> 0:08:07.400 all of that stuff died out with it. Fortunately, the 0:08:07.400 --> 0:08:10.040 Greeks were a highly literate society and they wrote a 0:08:10.040 --> 0:08:15.080 lot of this stuff down and um it was rediscovered 0:08:15.520 --> 0:08:19.840 when the Olympics were revived in the nineteenth century by 0:08:19.840 --> 0:08:24.640 a guy named Baron Pierre de Kubertan, and he um 0:08:24.680 --> 0:08:27.840 one of the things that he did was to say, um, 0:08:27.880 --> 0:08:31.640 I really loved the Olympic Games. I'm not necessarily aware 0:08:31.720 --> 0:08:35.320 that there was a torch relay or anything like that. So, um, 0:08:35.360 --> 0:08:39.480 we're gonna wait another thirty years or so before we 0:08:39.559 --> 0:08:42.760 introduced the torch again. That's right. That came in n 0:08:43.760 --> 0:08:48.080 and amstra Dam and there they had the cauldron on 0:08:48.240 --> 0:08:53.520 fire on purpose, but there was they weren't relaying that torch. Still. 0:08:53.559 --> 0:08:58.400 It took till ninety six in Berlin when Carl Deem 0:08:58.880 --> 0:09:01.959 he was the Secretary gener role of the Organizing Committee 0:09:02.000 --> 0:09:05.400 of the of the Games there and he said, hey, guys, 0:09:05.760 --> 0:09:07.959 we gotta bring this back to to the O g 0:09:08.240 --> 0:09:11.840 S and we gotta get that torch relay going, and 0:09:11.880 --> 0:09:14.240 we gotta light it in Olympia and get it here 0:09:14.280 --> 0:09:17.080 to Berlin. We gotta do it right. Yeah, he definitely 0:09:17.160 --> 0:09:20.040 did it right for sure. I mean, not only was 0:09:20.120 --> 0:09:23.000 like the whole thing revived, like the idea of the 0:09:23.040 --> 0:09:28.000 torch relay, but igniting that torch in Greece and then 0:09:28.080 --> 0:09:30.840 make having it make its way all the way to Berlin. 0:09:31.360 --> 0:09:33.679 That's pretty cool stuff. And from what I read that 0:09:33.760 --> 0:09:37.680 was also right up the Nazis alley and that it 0:09:37.760 --> 0:09:41.840 kind of connected the Third Reich to the Great Greek 0:09:41.880 --> 0:09:46.240 and Roman Empires. Um of your which they were super 0:09:46.280 --> 0:09:50.360 into to try to legitimize themselves. UM, so they went 0:09:50.480 --> 0:09:55.120 for it. Fortunately, that first Olympic torch, which we'll talk 0:09:55.160 --> 0:09:58.400 more about the torches, um it did not have a 0:09:58.440 --> 0:10:01.640 swastika anywhere on it, which is wonderful that they managed 0:10:01.679 --> 0:10:04.199 to keep that off of there. I know that's kind 0:10:04.200 --> 0:10:07.760 of surprising too, Huh. It is extremely surprising, but I 0:10:07.760 --> 0:10:11.600 mean it really is genuinely surprising, and I'm like very pleased. 0:10:11.600 --> 0:10:13.720 I was really pleased. I looked at pictures of that 0:10:13.760 --> 0:10:18.280 torch with like one eye closed, just trying to find no, no, 0:10:18.440 --> 0:10:20.600 just I was afraid I was gonna see it. I 0:10:20.600 --> 0:10:22.800 couldn't believe it, and little by little I was like, 0:10:22.880 --> 0:10:25.880 it's not there. So I was pleased by that. You 0:10:25.960 --> 0:10:30.360 have been my eyes eyes. I just turned into tothe 0:10:30.440 --> 0:10:32.640 from the end of Raiders that lost dark and melt. 0:10:33.440 --> 0:10:38.240 So h the relay at the Winter Olympics. I think 0:10:38.280 --> 0:10:42.040 it took until nineteen fifty two to introduce it at 0:10:42.080 --> 0:10:44.960 the Winter Games, and they did not light it in 0:10:45.000 --> 0:10:47.439 Olympia that year. They lit it in Norway because that's 0:10:47.600 --> 0:10:50.400 where the skiing was born, so they thought they would 0:10:50.440 --> 0:10:54.600 honor Norway in that way. But finally, finally, in nineteen 0:10:54.640 --> 0:10:58.840 sixty four in Austria at Innsbruck, they said, we gotta 0:10:58.880 --> 0:11:01.080 get it together, every addie, we gotta get on the 0:11:01.120 --> 0:11:04.880 same page. We gotta go winter and summer and started 0:11:04.880 --> 0:11:08.080 out in Olympia and relay that thing to wherever the 0:11:08.080 --> 0:11:11.600 heck We're gonna have these games, that's right, And they did. 0:11:11.640 --> 0:11:14.599 And I actually looked a little bit into the I 0:11:14.640 --> 0:11:18.920 guess the nineteen fifty two games where um they lit 0:11:18.920 --> 0:11:22.360 it in Norway. They lited it in the heart of 0:11:22.400 --> 0:11:28.360 the home of nineteenth century Norwegian skiing legend Sandra Norheim. 0:11:28.400 --> 0:11:32.080 It's either Sandra or Sandr so n d r E. 0:11:32.800 --> 0:11:35.280 And he was apparently quite the daredevil skier. I saw 0:11:35.320 --> 0:11:38.280 a quote about him that he was fearless and daring. 0:11:38.679 --> 0:11:41.640 He ran straight down the most dangerous and challenging hills, 0:11:41.960 --> 0:11:46.640 rudely waving his cap, which is made me love that 0:11:46.679 --> 0:11:50.000 guy immediately. And I think those games ended up in Helsinki. 0:11:51.000 --> 0:11:53.280 But well, there's a little nugget I'll drop in the 0:11:53.320 --> 0:11:57.000 next uh segment here after we break. Oh, I can't wait. Well, 0:11:57.000 --> 0:11:59.760 I've got another segment or another nugget on that this 0:12:00.200 --> 0:12:03.360 there's one other time in history, when the Winter Olympic 0:12:03.520 --> 0:12:06.680 torch was lit in the heart of the home of 0:12:06.800 --> 0:12:11.200 nineteenth century Norwegian skiing legend Saandr Norheim was in Squa 0:12:11.320 --> 0:12:14.920 Valley in nineteen sixty. Because the Olympic committee couldn't get 0:12:14.920 --> 0:12:18.640 their act together fast enough to organize the lighting ceremony 0:12:18.800 --> 0:12:22.640 in Greece, so Norway stepped in again and said, she's 0:12:22.679 --> 0:12:26.120 got a fireplace. We've seen it in action. He he yeah, 0:12:26.240 --> 0:12:31.160 party at Sundry's house. I'm sure we're mispronouncing it, probably 0:12:31.160 --> 0:12:35.360 so rudely waving his camp. Do you want to take 0:12:35.360 --> 0:12:37.920 a break yet, Let's do it, all right, everybody, We're 0:12:37.920 --> 0:12:39.520 gonna take a break and we're gonna come back and 0:12:39.520 --> 0:13:17.240 guess what we're gonna talk about Olympic torches some more, alright, chuck, 0:13:17.320 --> 0:13:20.920 So let's talk about um, those r fps that thrilled 0:13:20.920 --> 0:13:26.520 me so fully. Yeah. If you want to be the firm, 0:13:26.559 --> 0:13:30.040 the design firm that builds, designs and builds the torch, 0:13:30.840 --> 0:13:33.640 you gotta get in there and you've gotta submit your proposal. 0:13:34.240 --> 0:13:39.200 You gotta Greece and palms. You gotta gotta tip the 0:13:39.280 --> 0:13:41.600 right doorman, if you know what I mean. You have to. 0:13:41.840 --> 0:13:45.800 You have to spread many goats around. That's right to 0:13:45.920 --> 0:13:48.000 the right people. No, I think. You just submit a 0:13:48.040 --> 0:13:51.480 proposal and the Olympic Committee looks at it and they 0:13:51.520 --> 0:13:54.240 sort of sit there like at the beginning of planes, 0:13:54.280 --> 0:13:58.640 trains and automobiles, for three hours in silence, kind of 0:13:58.640 --> 0:14:02.240 twiddling their thumbs, looking, looking, looking, and finally they say, 0:14:02.400 --> 0:14:05.640 the bid goes to you. You win the assignment. You've 0:14:05.640 --> 0:14:09.360 got to have a torch that looks great, of course, 0:14:09.480 --> 0:14:11.880 and you've got to have a torch that works, because 0:14:11.880 --> 0:14:14.840 this thing has gotta it's gotta stay lit under any 0:14:14.880 --> 0:14:18.120 condition it can be. You can get this thing through 0:14:18.160 --> 0:14:21.960 a hurricane, supposedly, and it'll have to stay let. Yeah, 0:14:22.000 --> 0:14:25.720 I mean they're pretty serious about this thing not going out. Um, 0:14:26.040 --> 0:14:30.160 So they build in redundancies. UM. Oftentimes there's a couple 0:14:30.160 --> 0:14:33.760 of different flames working in conjunction to to make this 0:14:33.840 --> 0:14:40.400 thing work. Um. But in addition to the actual feel 0:14:40.480 --> 0:14:41.760 of it and the look of it, like, you want 0:14:41.760 --> 0:14:44.960 to make it so that anybody, anybody basically alive on 0:14:45.000 --> 0:14:47.640 Earth could carry it. So it's gotta be lightweight typically 0:14:48.240 --> 0:14:51.880 UM I saw usually about a pound or so. UM. 0:14:51.960 --> 0:14:57.400 It has to all most of the ones in that RFP, 0:14:57.720 --> 0:15:00.840 the Golden RFP for from the London to Olympics. It 0:15:00.880 --> 0:15:03.960 had a list. Actually, you gotta look this up, everybody 0:15:04.120 --> 0:15:10.440 I cannot remember. Just search um London Olympic Torch Proposal 0:15:10.760 --> 0:15:14.040 Design Proposal. I'll bet that would bring up this PDA anyway, 0:15:14.480 --> 0:15:17.760 some sleepy corner of the internet worse. Yeah, I found it, 0:15:17.760 --> 0:15:20.800 and I'm proud as punch about that. But um, I 0:15:20.880 --> 0:15:23.000 had a list of like some of the specs of 0:15:23.160 --> 0:15:26.280 past torches, and most of them seem to be around 0:15:27.360 --> 0:15:30.040 one to two pounds. This article from How Stuff Works 0:15:30.080 --> 0:15:33.200 is three to four, but I saw one to two pounds. 0:15:33.240 --> 0:15:38.160 Maybe that's without being fully loaded with fuel. Sure, And hey, 0:15:38.200 --> 0:15:40.080 if you can carry something this two pounds, you can 0:15:40.080 --> 0:15:44.880 probably put two hands on it and manage the four pounds, 0:15:44.920 --> 0:15:47.960 although they like you to hold it with one one hand. Yeah, 0:15:48.120 --> 0:15:52.040 just because it looks cooler. Uh. These these modern torches 0:15:52.040 --> 0:15:55.160 that we're looking at, we're sort of originated at those 0:15:55.200 --> 0:15:57.880 Squall of Valley games in nineteen sixty when a Disney 0:15:57.960 --> 0:16:03.160 artist named John Hinch designed this, you know, sort of 0:16:03.160 --> 0:16:05.800 the first modern torch that everyone else said, yeah, that's 0:16:05.800 --> 0:16:07.640 a good idea. That's what we should do. We should 0:16:07.680 --> 0:16:11.240 have fuel inside of it, and we should have some 0:16:11.320 --> 0:16:14.960 backup flame inside of it. And they kind of function 0:16:15.120 --> 0:16:19.680 like a like a camp stove. Sure, a fancy camp 0:16:19.680 --> 0:16:21.800 stove basically is what it is. And then and we'll 0:16:21.800 --> 0:16:23.560 get into the fuels and stuff. But in that there 0:16:23.600 --> 0:16:27.040 is a liquid fuel that becomes a gas. Uh you know, 0:16:27.040 --> 0:16:28.720 it's under pressure and then it comes out these tiny 0:16:28.760 --> 0:16:32.160 little holes just like a camp stover, like a Colman lantern. Yeah, 0:16:32.200 --> 0:16:35.080 and I didn't know this. This is pretty cool. Um. 0:16:35.120 --> 0:16:37.720 There are two two things that have to be designed 0:16:37.760 --> 0:16:39.960 into it, well, a couple of things that have to 0:16:39.960 --> 0:16:44.480 be designed into it. UM. In addition to being um 0:16:44.680 --> 0:16:47.640 easy to carry by, basically anybody has to be very light, 0:16:47.720 --> 0:16:51.440 has to be aerodynamic. Ergonomic, I think is another. If 0:16:51.440 --> 0:16:53.680 you threw that word around in your bid, they would 0:16:53.680 --> 0:16:57.560 probably be like, oh, this guy knows what he's talking about. UM. 0:16:57.640 --> 0:17:00.760 But you you also have to at least as far 0:17:00.760 --> 0:17:02.840 as London was concerned. But I got the impression that 0:17:02.880 --> 0:17:07.720 this was a standard thing that you have to design 0:17:07.760 --> 0:17:10.720 in a way to permanently deactivate it after it's one 0:17:10.720 --> 0:17:13.240 time use, so that it can never be lit again. 0:17:13.600 --> 0:17:15.240 Which I thought was kind of cool. I bet you 0:17:15.240 --> 0:17:19.000 could hack that though. Funny enough, I found another weird 0:17:19.040 --> 0:17:23.080 corner of the Internet researching this one at Olympic Torch 0:17:23.160 --> 0:17:28.760 Repair dot Com, which is possibly the most niche retail 0:17:28.800 --> 0:17:31.879 website I've ever seen in my life. They sell one 0:17:32.000 --> 0:17:36.000 part and it is a part design to fix the 0:17:37.320 --> 0:17:41.080 Atlanta Olympic torch. And they don't use the words that 0:17:41.119 --> 0:17:44.240 you will be lit again, But just from the pictures, 0:17:44.280 --> 0:17:47.479 from the text, from everything that I'm seeing, I believe 0:17:47.560 --> 0:17:53.600 this is a rogue website dedicated to making Atlanta Olympic 0:17:53.680 --> 0:17:57.879 torches burn again after they've been purposefully disabled. Well, and 0:17:57.960 --> 0:18:01.639 you might be laughing saying how much could this person 0:18:01.720 --> 0:18:05.440 be making off this? But here's another little fun fact. 0:18:06.200 --> 0:18:09.200 There are anywhere from ten to fifteen thousand of these 0:18:09.240 --> 0:18:12.520 torches that are built. Uh if you'll notice when you 0:18:12.520 --> 0:18:15.320 see these, you know, and they don't cover all of 0:18:15.359 --> 0:18:18.439 this thing, or maybe they do in some dark corner 0:18:18.480 --> 0:18:21.520 of the Internet. I'm sure somebody does cover might end 0:18:21.600 --> 0:18:23.919 up doing it in the future as a hobby. Covers 0:18:24.000 --> 0:18:26.080 each and every passing of the torch, but they don't 0:18:26.080 --> 0:18:29.240 actually pass the torch. They light the other person's torch 0:18:30.119 --> 0:18:32.639 and then they run away, and then you never the 0:18:32.680 --> 0:18:35.199 camera doesn't hang on the person who just you know, 0:18:35.359 --> 0:18:38.199 standing there with their torch, and you think, what happens 0:18:38.200 --> 0:18:41.080 to those things? Well, you're allowed to buy it if 0:18:41.080 --> 0:18:44.800 you want. The one from Japan this year was gonna 0:18:44.840 --> 0:18:49.560 cost about six hundred, six hundred fifty bucks American. That's 0:18:49.560 --> 0:18:52.399 a steel. Have you seen that thing? Yeah, it's good looking. 0:18:52.640 --> 0:18:55.000 They're beautiful. Have you seen the overhead shot where it 0:18:55.000 --> 0:18:59.000 looks like a cherry blossom. It's wonderful too. And that 0:18:59.119 --> 0:19:02.280 is a price that's basically at cost. Because the a 0:19:02.800 --> 0:19:07.480 the IOC nor the AOC can profit from the sale 0:19:08.160 --> 0:19:11.320 of Olympic torches. That is not a side hustle for her. No, 0:19:12.320 --> 0:19:16.760 so don't believe what the right says. She can't actually 0:19:16.800 --> 0:19:21.000 make any money off of Olympic torchi. So um, that's 0:19:21.040 --> 0:19:24.560 basically cost. And it turns out there's quite an aftermarket 0:19:24.600 --> 0:19:27.800 for these things too. I think they're right now too, 0:19:28.600 --> 0:19:32.920 complete collections for individuals in the world and another guy 0:19:32.960 --> 0:19:36.720 that's close, and they cost anywhere from fifteen hundred four 0:19:36.800 --> 0:19:40.679 thousand for the newer ones, fifteen to seventy grand for 0:19:40.760 --> 0:19:44.439 older ones. And I think the pricest ever was that 0:19:44.560 --> 0:19:48.560 nineteen fifty two Helsinki one eight hundred and eighty thousand 0:19:48.640 --> 0:19:51.879 dollars because they only made twenty two of them, so 0:19:51.920 --> 0:19:55.159 obviously rarity is is going to drive that price up. 0:19:55.760 --> 0:19:57.919 The highest I saw was less than that is two 0:19:58.400 --> 0:20:01.919 fifteen thousand for the ninet in sixties Squaw Valley one 0:20:02.080 --> 0:20:05.240 that Disney designer made um and I think I saw 0:20:05.359 --> 0:20:07.840 like they made a hundred of them, so you'd have 0:20:07.880 --> 0:20:10.320 to have some coin to to have a complete collection. 0:20:10.920 --> 0:20:14.640 And that's a very niche collection as well. I mean, 0:20:16.480 --> 0:20:18.600 and I have to say, like a lot of them, 0:20:18.640 --> 0:20:22.120 you just they're not very pleasing to the eye. There's 0:20:22.160 --> 0:20:28.199 some ug Olympic torches out there. I mean Mexico City is. 0:20:28.760 --> 0:20:31.800 If it's not a hand whisk, I don't know what 0:20:31.880 --> 0:20:36.200 it is. Well it is and it was cool it 0:20:36.320 --> 0:20:39.960 actually according to the two thousand twelve London Olympics UH 0:20:40.440 --> 0:20:47.359 Torch RFP PDF, that is the longest I'm making t 0:20:47.480 --> 0:20:50.960 shirts out of different pages. That is the longest burning 0:20:51.080 --> 0:20:54.800 Olympic torch in the history of Olympic torches. Most of 0:20:54.800 --> 0:20:57.720 these things are designed to burn ten or fifteen minutes 0:20:57.840 --> 0:20:59.840 which is alarming if you're like, well, wait a minute, 0:20:59.840 --> 0:21:02.600 we want the Olympic flame to burn out. But as 0:21:02.600 --> 0:21:06.000 we'll see, these relays are actually super short. Um, this one, 0:21:06.080 --> 0:21:11.240 the Mexico City torch, could burn up the thirty minutes. Dude. 0:21:11.240 --> 0:21:15.000 I like this torch, the whisk. I think it looks great. 0:21:16.000 --> 0:21:17.560 I think it looks like a whiskey. I don't think 0:21:17.600 --> 0:21:19.800 it looks bad. I just think it looks like a 0:21:19.880 --> 0:21:22.119 kitchen whisk and I can't think of anything else but 0:21:22.560 --> 0:21:25.240 whipping cream when I look at it. I'm looking at 0:21:25.280 --> 0:21:29.080 two different torches though, for Mexico, one looks like a 0:21:29.119 --> 0:21:33.479 whisk and one looks like sort of like an Aztec club. 0:21:34.760 --> 0:21:37.680 So there's two torches. Well, I don't know. I'm gonna 0:21:37.680 --> 0:21:39.280 have to I'm gonna have to get to the bottom 0:21:39.320 --> 0:21:42.200 of this because I'm seeing let me know what you find, 0:21:42.240 --> 0:21:43.880 because I'm gonna have to add it to my niche 0:21:43.960 --> 0:21:50.200 website about Olympic torches. Oh goodness, so um, I don't 0:21:50.240 --> 0:21:52.200 remember where we were going with that. Oh, you're talking 0:21:52.200 --> 0:21:54.520 about the Tokyo one where you can buy it. So 0:21:54.800 --> 0:21:57.280 when you when you have the torch, when your torch 0:21:57.320 --> 0:22:00.840 relay is done. It's taken from you this able, put 0:22:00.840 --> 0:22:03.080 in its packaging and then presented to you. If you've 0:22:03.119 --> 0:22:05.080 vindicated you want to buy it, and if not, they 0:22:05.080 --> 0:22:09.840 throw it into the nearest river. But I think that's 0:22:09.840 --> 0:22:11.879 pretty cool that you can you get to buy it 0:22:11.920 --> 0:22:14.120 if you want to, and it's disabled so you can 0:22:14.119 --> 0:22:16.640 never let it again unless you know the guy who 0:22:16.720 --> 0:22:19.800 runs Olympic Torch Repair. But one of the other things 0:22:19.840 --> 0:22:22.400 too that they they has become kind of a thing, 0:22:22.520 --> 0:22:25.480 especially in the last like thirty thirty years, maybe more 0:22:26.160 --> 0:22:31.080 is sustainability built into these and you want to it's 0:22:31.119 --> 0:22:35.600 not a requirement, but I get the impression that's exactly 0:22:35.640 --> 0:22:38.879 where I got it from, that you you're probably doing 0:22:38.920 --> 0:22:42.400 nothing but helping your bid if you have figured out 0:22:42.440 --> 0:22:46.840 some sort of sustainable angle to it. Like the Tokyo torch, 0:22:47.080 --> 0:22:50.760 which again it's just gorgeous rose gold looking, but it's 0:22:50.800 --> 0:22:56.720 actually aluminum, and the aluminum is made from former temporary 0:22:56.840 --> 0:23:00.919 housing that was used after the Fukushi a disaster to 0:23:01.000 --> 0:23:03.480 how some of the residents who have been displaced the 0:23:04.560 --> 0:23:08.040 strings there. Yeah, yes, I'm sure the person who designed 0:23:08.040 --> 0:23:09.800 that was like, I got it. I got the thing 0:23:09.840 --> 0:23:12.200 that's going to get we're gonna win this bid with 0:23:12.240 --> 0:23:14.359 this and is it true now? But they don't know 0:23:14.600 --> 0:23:18.360 I made no I shoot down airplanes in my spare time. 0:23:18.400 --> 0:23:20.640 I have a bunch of them in my backyard. Now 0:23:20.680 --> 0:23:21.960 I know what to do with I like to be 0:23:22.080 --> 0:23:26.200 from the top better. Yeah, it's Gord's on the side. Yes. 0:23:26.440 --> 0:23:28.240 And one of the things I mean we talked about 0:23:28.320 --> 0:23:33.440 flames and then being redundant um the the you don't 0:23:33.480 --> 0:23:36.679 want that flame to go out. So one of the 0:23:36.840 --> 0:23:40.280 things that that that torch has is from each of 0:23:40.280 --> 0:23:43.000 those rounded petals that looks like the petal of a 0:23:43.080 --> 0:23:47.040 cherry blossom flower, provides a flame and they all come 0:23:47.080 --> 0:23:51.840 together to to build one big flame. But because you 0:23:51.880 --> 0:23:54.199 have five different smaller flames, that big flame, even if 0:23:54.200 --> 0:23:56.200 it flickers or wins, it's never going to go out. 0:23:56.520 --> 0:24:01.600 You've got five redundancies exactly. So the fuel they've used 0:24:01.640 --> 0:24:03.320 a bunch of things over the ears, because you want 0:24:03.359 --> 0:24:07.040 something to burn bright, something that you can see during 0:24:07.040 --> 0:24:11.440 the daytime. You want something that's not dangerous. But there 0:24:11.640 --> 0:24:13.840 have been some dangerous torches over the years. They they've 0:24:13.920 --> 0:24:17.240 used gunpowder, they've used olive oil, they used to use 0:24:17.320 --> 0:24:21.800 something called hexamine, which is formaldehyde and pneumonia can't be 0:24:21.840 --> 0:24:27.840 safe and uh, naphthaline. So in our soap episode, Chuck, 0:24:27.880 --> 0:24:29.440 one of the things I didn't get to talk about 0:24:29.480 --> 0:24:33.520