1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:27,320 Speaker 1: Ridiculous History is a production of I Heart Radio. Welcome 2 00:00:27,360 --> 00:00:30,680 Speaker 1: back to the show Ridiculous Historians. Thank you, as always 3 00:00:30,800 --> 00:00:35,920 Speaker 1: so much for tuning in. Listen, folks, We're a family show, 4 00:00:36,080 --> 00:00:38,159 Speaker 1: but we've got a lot of feelings about this when 5 00:00:38,159 --> 00:00:40,720 Speaker 1: it's a long time and coming, so it might be 6 00:00:41,240 --> 00:00:44,440 Speaker 1: uh might get a little explicit. Luckily, we got our 7 00:00:44,479 --> 00:00:49,000 Speaker 1: super producer Mr Max Williams here on the buttons to 8 00:00:49,120 --> 00:00:53,279 Speaker 1: help us, to help us uh beep and as always, 9 00:00:53,320 --> 00:00:57,600 Speaker 1: to watch out for uh for all sorts of unwelcome 10 00:00:57,680 --> 00:01:00,200 Speaker 1: noises that might occur when you're trying to folks us, 11 00:01:02,000 --> 00:01:07,280 Speaker 1: Who are we talking about here, ben, Oh no, we're 12 00:01:07,319 --> 00:01:10,760 Speaker 1: talking about We're talking about a noise that has become 13 00:01:10,959 --> 00:01:16,880 Speaker 1: a recurring villain in the rogues gallery of the Ridiculous Universe. 14 00:01:17,240 --> 00:01:21,280 Speaker 1: Look we you guys, don't We are huge fans of 15 00:01:21,360 --> 00:01:26,160 Speaker 1: a lot of things and Noel, Max and I love inventions. 16 00:01:26,319 --> 00:01:31,600 Speaker 1: We love heist, we love food history. We three acknowledge 17 00:01:31,640 --> 00:01:36,800 Speaker 1: the technology can fundamentally change the world, not always for 18 00:01:36,840 --> 00:01:40,560 Speaker 1: the better. So in today's episode, we're diving into the 19 00:01:40,560 --> 00:01:46,119 Speaker 1: origin story of a strange, cartoonishly specific invention that only 20 00:01:46,160 --> 00:01:48,840 Speaker 1: has a few uses. It's not everywhere on the planet. 21 00:01:49,000 --> 00:01:52,760 Speaker 1: You won't find one in every single household. Thankfully. To 22 00:01:52,920 --> 00:01:57,520 Speaker 1: some people, landscapers primarily is the origin story of a hero. 23 00:01:58,000 --> 00:02:00,720 Speaker 1: To others, nol, it's the origin of a super villain. 24 00:02:02,640 --> 00:02:05,200 Speaker 1: I didn't buy others. I believe we were very specifical. Well, 25 00:02:05,240 --> 00:02:08,240 Speaker 1: I mean many, but you you've got a better You've 26 00:02:08,240 --> 00:02:11,120 Speaker 1: got an interesting relationship with the leaf blower man who 27 00:02:11,120 --> 00:02:15,480 Speaker 1: comes round usually Monday's which is when we sits recording this, 28 00:02:15,600 --> 00:02:19,519 Speaker 1: this very moment. Yeah, sometimes called the lazy man's rake, 29 00:02:20,120 --> 00:02:25,320 Speaker 1: the devil's hair dryer. Uh. Without further ado, we loudly 30 00:02:25,600 --> 00:02:35,680 Speaker 1: present the leaf blower episode. Now. So I went on 31 00:02:35,720 --> 00:02:40,280 Speaker 1: Twitter earlier and said we were finally recording this and 32 00:02:40,639 --> 00:02:44,560 Speaker 1: just wanted to be honest and tell everyone this is 33 00:02:44,600 --> 00:02:47,560 Speaker 1: definitely a hit piece, and it's an objective hit piece, 34 00:02:47,680 --> 00:02:51,359 Speaker 1: valid with good reason. No, could you tell us a 35 00:02:51,440 --> 00:02:54,160 Speaker 1: little bit about your personal take on leaf blowers, your 36 00:02:54,200 --> 00:02:57,640 Speaker 1: experience with them. Well, you know, aside from like the 37 00:02:57,720 --> 00:03:02,840 Speaker 1: odd landscaper landscaping company, you know that maybe you hire 38 00:03:02,880 --> 00:03:05,359 Speaker 1: occasionally to do a little work for you more the 39 00:03:05,440 --> 00:03:10,240 Speaker 1: law and trim the topiaries, you know, on your palatial estates. Uh, 40 00:03:10,360 --> 00:03:14,000 Speaker 1: that's your personal overlook hotel. My experience has always been 41 00:03:14,040 --> 00:03:18,400 Speaker 1: at least with the family leaf blower of the electric variety, 42 00:03:18,440 --> 00:03:19,880 Speaker 1: which I think, you know, is a bit of a 43 00:03:19,960 --> 00:03:23,640 Speaker 1: pain because it requires a very long chord that you 44 00:03:23,639 --> 00:03:26,320 Speaker 1: have to plug in and maybe constantly kind of move around. 45 00:03:27,200 --> 00:03:30,720 Speaker 1: They still are noisy, but they certainly don't, you know, 46 00:03:30,800 --> 00:03:34,880 Speaker 1: have the same polluting power as a gas leaf blower, 47 00:03:34,960 --> 00:03:36,480 Speaker 1: which I think is sort of at the center of 48 00:03:36,840 --> 00:03:41,440 Speaker 1: part of the controversy. The other part, uh is irrespective 49 00:03:41,520 --> 00:03:45,200 Speaker 1: of electric versus gas, which is just noise pollution, a 50 00:03:45,240 --> 00:03:50,320 Speaker 1: different kind of pollution entirely. But I've always been fascinated 51 00:03:50,360 --> 00:03:53,160 Speaker 1: by the things because of their place in sort of 52 00:03:53,280 --> 00:03:57,040 Speaker 1: low fi Hollywood special effects. If theever you see a 53 00:03:57,120 --> 00:04:01,600 Speaker 1: scene where maybe someone's experiencing g forest or something, or 54 00:04:01,600 --> 00:04:04,640 Speaker 1: maybe there's a giant explosion and their faces go all 55 00:04:04,680 --> 00:04:08,520 Speaker 1: wibbly wobbly. Oftentimes it is something along the lines of 56 00:04:08,560 --> 00:04:12,720 Speaker 1: a humble leaf blower or industrial strength air horn air, 57 00:04:13,080 --> 00:04:16,599 Speaker 1: you know, blowing device that causes that effect. It's nothing 58 00:04:16,640 --> 00:04:18,320 Speaker 1: more than that. So I do think, you know, the 59 00:04:18,400 --> 00:04:22,279 Speaker 1: power of compressed air, the power of propelled air is 60 00:04:22,360 --> 00:04:25,960 Speaker 1: fascinating within pop culture you know, outside of the whole 61 00:04:26,279 --> 00:04:30,160 Speaker 1: the leaf blower debate and next what about you? Oh, 62 00:04:30,240 --> 00:04:33,120 Speaker 1: so I'm from uh, you know, Don't originally, which is 63 00:04:33,360 --> 00:04:35,960 Speaker 1: for those who don't live in Atlanta, on the outskirts 64 00:04:36,000 --> 00:04:40,159 Speaker 1: of Atlanta, and it is the land of vast lawns 65 00:04:40,240 --> 00:04:43,160 Speaker 1: and lots of law and care. It's pretty affluent areas. 66 00:04:43,200 --> 00:04:49,159 Speaker 1: So my entire life has been spent listening to just um, 67 00:04:49,200 --> 00:04:54,320 Speaker 1: you know, landscaping crews with their backpack gasoline powered leaf 68 00:04:54,360 --> 00:04:58,360 Speaker 1: blowers just constantly going. Personally, my family has always been 69 00:04:58,640 --> 00:05:03,400 Speaker 1: to North Point all about the electric leaflower It just 70 00:05:03,600 --> 00:05:06,280 Speaker 1: you know, it's way less loud and it's also way 71 00:05:06,320 --> 00:05:10,040 Speaker 1: better for the environment. But you know it, you'll see 72 00:05:10,200 --> 00:05:13,080 Speaker 1: like three people at a time just in a yard 73 00:05:13,160 --> 00:05:15,320 Speaker 1: with those giant ones going on, and then that's all 74 00:05:15,400 --> 00:05:17,800 Speaker 1: you hear. I actually have a friend who his form 75 00:05:17,839 --> 00:05:22,880 Speaker 1: of misophoonia is uh leaf blower adjacent. He loses his 76 00:05:23,000 --> 00:05:28,760 Speaker 1: mind when people are using leaf flowers, which is quite 77 00:05:28,800 --> 00:05:31,200 Speaker 1: common up here in the burbs. I'll say, yeah, I 78 00:05:31,240 --> 00:05:33,320 Speaker 1: want to see something. Possibly, So I grew up with 79 00:05:33,680 --> 00:05:38,160 Speaker 1: both gas and electric powered leaf blowers, and one thing 80 00:05:38,240 --> 00:05:41,360 Speaker 1: that I can say that is a positive that really enjoyed. 81 00:05:41,520 --> 00:05:44,799 Speaker 1: Is if you're hauling one of those bad boys around, 82 00:05:44,920 --> 00:05:48,520 Speaker 1: especially if it's not backpack, if it's the the more 83 00:05:48,720 --> 00:05:52,120 Speaker 1: like residential leaf flower that's handheld and just sort of 84 00:05:52,320 --> 00:05:56,960 Speaker 1: kind of heavy on one side. Uh, the vibrations of 85 00:05:57,120 --> 00:06:00,360 Speaker 1: using a leaf blower make it really interest seem to 86 00:06:00,440 --> 00:06:04,640 Speaker 1: touch different surfaces after after you put it down, like 87 00:06:04,880 --> 00:06:08,320 Speaker 1: putting your hands through your hair. It feels but I know, 88 00:06:08,440 --> 00:06:11,160 Speaker 1: my center stay is just coming out, but it feels amazing. 89 00:06:11,600 --> 00:06:15,719 Speaker 1: It's it's um almost mossy. But Okay, So we're describing 90 00:06:16,200 --> 00:06:19,720 Speaker 1: something that a lot of people in Canada and the 91 00:06:19,839 --> 00:06:24,719 Speaker 1: US and Australia properly are familiar with. But if we 92 00:06:24,839 --> 00:06:30,040 Speaker 1: wanted to explain a leaf blower, like paint a picture 93 00:06:30,360 --> 00:06:33,240 Speaker 1: for people who've never seen one, how would we how 94 00:06:33,480 --> 00:06:36,400 Speaker 1: how would we describe it? What does it look like? Yeah, 95 00:06:36,480 --> 00:06:40,039 Speaker 1: I mean it's essentially just a motor with a fan 96 00:06:40,320 --> 00:06:43,560 Speaker 1: in it with a little handle or again, this is 97 00:06:43,640 --> 00:06:45,720 Speaker 1: let's just go from the most simple version and then 98 00:06:45,720 --> 00:06:48,160 Speaker 1: we'll obviously take it to the like proton pack kind 99 00:06:48,160 --> 00:06:51,000 Speaker 1: of variety. UM. But the simple version is just a 100 00:06:51,040 --> 00:06:56,400 Speaker 1: handheld UM fan that is directly funneled into a plastic 101 00:06:56,440 --> 00:07:01,560 Speaker 1: tube much like a oversized dustbuster, let's say, um, and 102 00:07:01,680 --> 00:07:05,560 Speaker 1: it usually terminates in some sort of kind of slit 103 00:07:05,920 --> 00:07:08,960 Speaker 1: so that the air is funneled and sort of hyper focused. 104 00:07:08,960 --> 00:07:11,200 Speaker 1: And you can also kind of use it to direct 105 00:07:11,600 --> 00:07:14,360 Speaker 1: the flow in such a way that like piles of leaves, 106 00:07:14,400 --> 00:07:17,360 Speaker 1: sort of you're like a sheep, you're like a sheep 107 00:07:17,440 --> 00:07:20,640 Speaker 1: dog for leaves, sort of hurting them in an appropriate 108 00:07:20,680 --> 00:07:23,920 Speaker 1: direction using this device, And that would be pretty much 109 00:07:23,960 --> 00:07:25,880 Speaker 1: the same for either an electric powered one or a 110 00:07:25,880 --> 00:07:29,520 Speaker 1: gas powered one that you know, power strength level or 111 00:07:29,560 --> 00:07:33,160 Speaker 1: whatever UM upgrade. From that you get the backpack variety 112 00:07:33,160 --> 00:07:34,840 Speaker 1: that you were talking about that which is more for 113 00:07:34,880 --> 00:07:38,360 Speaker 1: commercial landscaping, and also you know, for people that need 114 00:07:38,400 --> 00:07:40,240 Speaker 1: to be able to use it for extended periods of 115 00:07:40,280 --> 00:07:43,200 Speaker 1: time and don't want to be tethered to an electrical outlet, 116 00:07:43,360 --> 00:07:45,800 Speaker 1: or maybe they don't even have access to an electrical outlet. 117 00:07:45,840 --> 00:07:47,480 Speaker 1: You know, if they're having to do the rounds in 118 00:07:47,480 --> 00:07:50,280 Speaker 1: the neighborhood, they wouldn't want to have to keep figuring 119 00:07:50,280 --> 00:07:52,560 Speaker 1: out where to plug the thing in. So for a 120 00:07:52,640 --> 00:07:55,360 Speaker 1: home owner makes sense to have the electric one because 121 00:07:55,400 --> 00:07:58,040 Speaker 1: you're probably just hanging around your perimeter. But for the 122 00:07:58,040 --> 00:08:00,760 Speaker 1: folks that are doing this professionally, gas one just makes 123 00:08:00,760 --> 00:08:04,000 Speaker 1: a whole lot more sense logistically. Yeah yeah, and it 124 00:08:04,120 --> 00:08:07,040 Speaker 1: saves time, which is one of the biggest arguments in 125 00:08:07,160 --> 00:08:11,240 Speaker 1: favor of this controversial invention. And then if you step 126 00:08:11,320 --> 00:08:15,720 Speaker 1: up one more notch you see even larger models. They're 127 00:08:15,760 --> 00:08:19,720 Speaker 1: like writing lawn mowers. They rest on wheels, they have 128 00:08:19,760 --> 00:08:24,320 Speaker 1: a motor that can propel them along the ground, and uh, 129 00:08:24,760 --> 00:08:28,559 Speaker 1: the only real differences. They blow stuff around, right, and 130 00:08:28,600 --> 00:08:30,760 Speaker 1: they sheep dog it or they heard it as you said, 131 00:08:31,000 --> 00:08:34,319 Speaker 1: instead of cutting cutting it like grass. And there are 132 00:08:34,840 --> 00:08:39,200 Speaker 1: various different versions that have arrived on the scene. Now 133 00:08:39,240 --> 00:08:42,960 Speaker 1: they are leaflowers that can not just blow stuff, but 134 00:08:43,160 --> 00:08:47,800 Speaker 1: suck up debris and then shred it into an attached bag. 135 00:08:47,960 --> 00:08:51,520 Speaker 1: But the basic principles, let's blow this around, let's pile 136 00:08:51,600 --> 00:08:56,080 Speaker 1: it faster, have been consistent since the beginning. You know, 137 00:08:56,200 --> 00:08:58,480 Speaker 1: the thing that gets me, I think maybe gets all 138 00:08:58,520 --> 00:09:01,560 Speaker 1: of us, is that the leaf blower is not a 139 00:09:01,840 --> 00:09:09,800 Speaker 1: necessary invention. You don't have to have a leafblower to survive, 140 00:09:10,320 --> 00:09:13,480 Speaker 1: you know what I mean. It's it's very specific. It's 141 00:09:13,520 --> 00:09:16,440 Speaker 1: for convenience primarily. That's what I would say, is a 142 00:09:16,480 --> 00:09:20,480 Speaker 1: snowblower the same essentially as a leafblower. It is. It 143 00:09:20,600 --> 00:09:25,040 Speaker 1: is snow and and snowblowers, as we'll see, came first. 144 00:09:25,320 --> 00:09:29,400 Speaker 1: So like, okay, let's let's imagine life without the leaflower. 145 00:09:29,480 --> 00:09:33,120 Speaker 1: This for all our landscapers out there who are saying, hey, 146 00:09:33,240 --> 00:09:36,240 Speaker 1: we're not the bad guys. Before the leaf blower, you 147 00:09:36,320 --> 00:09:40,520 Speaker 1: had to rake by hand, you had to clean gutters 148 00:09:40,559 --> 00:09:45,520 Speaker 1: by hand, and as all sorts of Norman Rockwell esque 149 00:09:45,559 --> 00:09:48,960 Speaker 1: things taught us, you could spend hours raking up a 150 00:09:49,000 --> 00:09:53,960 Speaker 1: pile of leaves, only for mischievous scamp to run along 151 00:09:55,920 --> 00:09:59,600 Speaker 1: and we into your leaves and and ruin hours of work. 152 00:10:00,120 --> 00:10:06,120 Speaker 1: So it's um, there is a there are good uses 153 00:10:06,200 --> 00:10:09,040 Speaker 1: for it. I'm really trying to be positive. I didn't 154 00:10:09,040 --> 00:10:13,480 Speaker 1: know this for a while, but NOL leafblowers have also 155 00:10:13,559 --> 00:10:16,840 Speaker 1: been used for some time to fight fires in the 156 00:10:16,960 --> 00:10:20,959 Speaker 1: United States. Huh, now that I did not know. I mean, 157 00:10:21,280 --> 00:10:25,800 Speaker 1: it certainly makes sense depending right, because as we know, 158 00:10:25,920 --> 00:10:29,120 Speaker 1: sometimes if you blow on a fire, you you give 159 00:10:29,160 --> 00:10:34,680 Speaker 1: it more oxygen. Right. Yeah. The thing that they can 160 00:10:34,840 --> 00:10:38,760 Speaker 1: do well is imagine you're at the fire line and 161 00:10:38,800 --> 00:10:42,760 Speaker 1: there's burning debris, right, So you can. It's too hot 162 00:10:42,840 --> 00:10:45,400 Speaker 1: for you to put a plastic brake to it, right, 163 00:10:45,440 --> 00:10:49,160 Speaker 1: so you can use the leaf blower to push that 164 00:10:49,240 --> 00:10:55,400 Speaker 1: burning material back toward and already burned area. So this 165 00:10:55,520 --> 00:11:00,960 Speaker 1: idea of using it for firefighting is pretty cool, right, Uh, 166 00:11:01,160 --> 00:11:05,360 Speaker 1: It's an idea that could save lives and into creative you. 167 00:11:05,600 --> 00:11:09,120 Speaker 1: So you know, regardless of all the negatives about leaf blowers, 168 00:11:09,160 --> 00:11:12,000 Speaker 1: which will be the majority of this episode, we can 169 00:11:12,240 --> 00:11:17,440 Speaker 1: also say that they have, um, they have been I 170 00:11:17,480 --> 00:11:21,160 Speaker 1: guess they have been utilized past the intent of their 171 00:11:21,160 --> 00:11:25,040 Speaker 1: original inventor, like you were talking about with practical effects 172 00:11:25,080 --> 00:11:27,240 Speaker 1: in phil Yeah. I mean not not as get hung 173 00:11:27,280 --> 00:11:28,520 Speaker 1: up on this because it really isn't the point. But 174 00:11:28,559 --> 00:11:30,640 Speaker 1: I just want to say I saw did a little 175 00:11:30,640 --> 00:11:34,439 Speaker 1: YouTube rabbit holing and recently discover the the little checkbox 176 00:11:34,440 --> 00:11:36,080 Speaker 1: where you can just have kind of keep playing you 177 00:11:36,720 --> 00:11:38,839 Speaker 1: stuff along the lines of what you were watching, and 178 00:11:38,840 --> 00:11:43,400 Speaker 1: and then up watching this really cool video about practical effects. 179 00:11:43,520 --> 00:11:47,160 Speaker 1: And remember that sequence in Terminator two where it shows 180 00:11:47,200 --> 00:11:51,320 Speaker 1: kind of like the nuclear destruction of Los Angeles. Um, 181 00:11:51,360 --> 00:11:53,480 Speaker 1: all of that was done with miniatures, as you can imagine, 182 00:11:53,640 --> 00:11:57,320 Speaker 1: and when you see the buildings kind of disintegrate. That 183 00:11:57,440 --> 00:11:59,360 Speaker 1: was all done with like what they described in the 184 00:11:59,440 --> 00:12:02,920 Speaker 1: video as like an army of air blowers, and they were. 185 00:12:02,960 --> 00:12:05,840 Speaker 1: Some of them were large with big kind of wide 186 00:12:06,280 --> 00:12:09,080 Speaker 1: mouths on those nozzles, and some of them were just 187 00:12:09,240 --> 00:12:14,120 Speaker 1: your average humble neighborhood leaf blowers. Also, I gotta I 188 00:12:14,120 --> 00:12:16,120 Speaker 1: got a fact for this about this, you guys know 189 00:12:16,160 --> 00:12:19,440 Speaker 1: in that movie when Robert Patrick first appears kind of ish, 190 00:12:19,760 --> 00:12:22,400 Speaker 1: he shows up and he makes a clone out of 191 00:12:22,440 --> 00:12:24,440 Speaker 1: the security guard and throws a spike at the other 192 00:12:24,480 --> 00:12:29,520 Speaker 1: guy's eye. Of course, that was actually twins that did it. 193 00:12:29,600 --> 00:12:32,520 Speaker 1: They had twin brothers playing that. There wasn't like a 194 00:12:32,559 --> 00:12:35,640 Speaker 1: duplicator something that I learned that from an episode of 195 00:12:35,679 --> 00:12:37,840 Speaker 1: Weird House Cinema for stuff to blow your mind. So 196 00:12:38,000 --> 00:12:41,679 Speaker 1: I wanted to incorporated here to further blur the lines 197 00:12:41,760 --> 00:12:45,080 Speaker 1: between podcasts out our network. Yeah yeah, we also it's 198 00:12:45,080 --> 00:12:58,520 Speaker 1: also time for the sound cute enough right now, fat 199 00:13:01,800 --> 00:13:07,040 Speaker 1: and big thanks to oh first one, big thanks to 200 00:13:07,080 --> 00:13:10,720 Speaker 1: our ride or Die, Mr Matt Frederick. Uh. Now, look, 201 00:13:11,120 --> 00:13:15,240 Speaker 1: we love credit where it's due, and that's where leaf 202 00:13:15,280 --> 00:13:19,880 Speaker 1: Blowers become a little mysterious, because, believe it or not, 203 00:13:21,400 --> 00:13:26,600 Speaker 1: today multiple people claim to have invented the leaf blower. 204 00:13:33,360 --> 00:13:35,640 Speaker 1: I think there are two possibilities of play here. No, 205 00:13:35,960 --> 00:13:40,040 Speaker 1: I think there's quite I think the most likely possibility 206 00:13:40,480 --> 00:13:44,839 Speaker 1: is parallel thinking, right the way multiple people invented something 207 00:13:44,960 --> 00:13:48,439 Speaker 1: like the typewriter because it fulfilled a common need. However, 208 00:13:49,559 --> 00:13:52,760 Speaker 1: after we walk through these inventors, I want to pitch 209 00:13:52,880 --> 00:13:57,360 Speaker 1: you a bit of a not quite a conspiracy theory, 210 00:13:57,720 --> 00:14:00,280 Speaker 1: but maybe we talked. We talked about the inventors first. 211 00:14:00,360 --> 00:14:03,199 Speaker 1: I love that you pointed out the snowblower has been 212 00:14:03,280 --> 00:14:07,800 Speaker 1: around way before the leaf blower, and it's basically the 213 00:14:07,920 --> 00:14:12,959 Speaker 1: same thing for a different I would argue more needful purpose. 214 00:14:13,280 --> 00:14:15,079 Speaker 1: That's why I brought it up, because I mean, to 215 00:14:15,160 --> 00:14:18,600 Speaker 1: your point, like leaves, no one's getting buried alive under 216 00:14:18,679 --> 00:14:21,240 Speaker 1: a pile of leaves or having leaves caused them not 217 00:14:21,320 --> 00:14:24,240 Speaker 1: to be able to leave their house. Um, it's really 218 00:14:24,280 --> 00:14:27,600 Speaker 1: more of an aesthetic thing. So you could argue on 219 00:14:27,720 --> 00:14:32,360 Speaker 1: the frivolous side compared to being quote unquote snowed in. Yeah, 220 00:14:32,760 --> 00:14:36,360 Speaker 1: just so. So. Here here are some of the big 221 00:14:36,560 --> 00:14:41,000 Speaker 1: candidates for the invention of the leaf blower. The one 222 00:14:41,080 --> 00:14:45,800 Speaker 1: that you will see probably most often on different blogs 223 00:14:46,000 --> 00:14:50,640 Speaker 1: and Wikipedia is sometimes quoted as fact is a semi 224 00:14:50,800 --> 00:14:56,240 Speaker 1: mysterious character named Dom Quinto sounds like a serious dude, 225 00:14:56,960 --> 00:14:59,160 Speaker 1: um Like, so you know, maybe it's just the Dom 226 00:14:59,680 --> 00:15:02,360 Speaker 1: maybe mimic think of Dawn, like some sort of mafio. 227 00:15:02,520 --> 00:15:04,560 Speaker 1: So I think it's easy for your mind to go there. 228 00:15:04,600 --> 00:15:08,240 Speaker 1: But yeah, um, he is one candidate, as you said, 229 00:15:08,320 --> 00:15:11,400 Speaker 1: given credit for inventing the leaf blower, but it really 230 00:15:11,480 --> 00:15:15,680 Speaker 1: could be argued that he didn't exactly invented He just 231 00:15:15,800 --> 00:15:18,680 Speaker 1: kind of repurposed it to a degree. Um. It was 232 00:15:18,800 --> 00:15:23,000 Speaker 1: created in the nineteen fifties, introduced as a method of 233 00:15:23,200 --> 00:15:28,240 Speaker 1: dispersing agricultural chemicals. Yeah, well you know in the nine 234 00:15:28,480 --> 00:15:35,440 Speaker 1: fifties were like bad right, but people didn't it but 235 00:15:35,520 --> 00:15:37,800 Speaker 1: they were just spraying that stuff Willie and or nilli 236 00:15:38,160 --> 00:15:40,800 Speaker 1: and um. So the makers of the device uh that 237 00:15:41,040 --> 00:15:45,120 Speaker 1: Quinto uh invented saw that a lot of their consumers 238 00:15:45,160 --> 00:15:48,200 Speaker 1: were actually using it, um and sort of doing a 239 00:15:48,280 --> 00:15:51,680 Speaker 1: little bit of of hacking on him um and and 240 00:15:51,800 --> 00:15:56,320 Speaker 1: removing the chemical dispersion, you know, element of it and 241 00:15:56,560 --> 00:16:01,120 Speaker 1: just using the blower part. Yeah. That's kind of weird, right, 242 00:16:01,520 --> 00:16:06,480 Speaker 1: That's like that's like buying a microwave, removing the part 243 00:16:06,560 --> 00:16:09,560 Speaker 1: that makes it a microwave and just saying look now 244 00:16:09,640 --> 00:16:13,240 Speaker 1: I have a weird lamp in a box. But but 245 00:16:13,920 --> 00:16:16,920 Speaker 1: but yeah, and also don't play with microwaves. Folks were 246 00:16:17,000 --> 00:16:20,080 Speaker 1: legally required to tell you that's dangerous. So people thought 247 00:16:20,160 --> 00:16:22,840 Speaker 1: this was a good maintenance tool for cleanup task. Like 248 00:16:22,960 --> 00:16:26,480 Speaker 1: you said, Noel, they said, we don't need to spray pesticides. 249 00:16:27,040 --> 00:16:30,480 Speaker 1: We just need to move stuff around more quickly. And 250 00:16:31,000 --> 00:16:33,960 Speaker 1: if we're in an area where we have to conserve water, 251 00:16:34,280 --> 00:16:37,400 Speaker 1: it makes more sense for us to use air. And 252 00:16:37,600 --> 00:16:42,200 Speaker 1: for this reason you could call dom quinto the accidental 253 00:16:42,520 --> 00:16:47,080 Speaker 1: inventor of the leafblower. But there's something tricky here. It's 254 00:16:47,280 --> 00:16:51,640 Speaker 1: very difficult to find solid sources for this claim. That's 255 00:16:51,680 --> 00:16:54,800 Speaker 1: why whenever you read a source, you want to try 256 00:16:54,880 --> 00:16:57,960 Speaker 1: to corroborate it. You want to find a primary account. 257 00:16:58,680 --> 00:17:02,040 Speaker 1: And in the case of don Quento, we will due 258 00:17:02,120 --> 00:17:05,639 Speaker 1: respect to Dudul, you've got to uh, you got to 259 00:17:05,680 --> 00:17:07,720 Speaker 1: take it with a grain assault and look at some 260 00:17:07,920 --> 00:17:12,320 Speaker 1: other candidates. That's right, and for that we journey to 261 00:17:12,600 --> 00:17:18,600 Speaker 1: Japan in nineteen forty seven. It also was there was 262 00:17:18,680 --> 00:17:21,680 Speaker 1: a version of this device that was created kind of 263 00:17:21,800 --> 00:17:26,080 Speaker 1: as a backpack chemical apparatus. Again a fogger made me 264 00:17:26,160 --> 00:17:30,639 Speaker 1: think of like a bug fumigator or whatever fogger. This 265 00:17:30,800 --> 00:17:35,600 Speaker 1: was invented by a Japanese based company called Kayitsu Noki 266 00:17:36,160 --> 00:17:39,240 Speaker 1: UM and this company followed up that design with a 267 00:17:40,160 --> 00:17:44,040 Speaker 1: more of a I guess power blower kind of missing 268 00:17:44,240 --> 00:17:47,399 Speaker 1: machine in nineteen fifty five, and then in nineteen six 269 00:17:47,600 --> 00:17:50,680 Speaker 1: eight they applied for a patent on a backpack blower 270 00:17:50,880 --> 00:17:55,320 Speaker 1: MR design, And in nineteen seventy two they established themselves 271 00:17:55,640 --> 00:18:00,080 Speaker 1: UH in the United States UM as another iteration this 272 00:18:00,160 --> 00:18:04,320 Speaker 1: company that they called Cures Corporation of America UH, and 273 00:18:04,480 --> 00:18:09,280 Speaker 1: that corporation is often given credit as inventing the first 274 00:18:09,440 --> 00:18:14,720 Speaker 1: official leaf blower. In nineteen seventy seven also changed its 275 00:18:14,800 --> 00:18:21,840 Speaker 1: name to the slightly sexier Echo. So this is UH Yeah. 276 00:18:22,040 --> 00:18:27,680 Speaker 1: So we're we already see two completely different origin stories. 277 00:18:28,240 --> 00:18:30,480 Speaker 1: And then we've got a third person to add to 278 00:18:30,600 --> 00:18:36,280 Speaker 1: the mix. H L deal Dale d I e h 279 00:18:36,440 --> 00:18:40,439 Speaker 1: L Uh. So in nineteen fifty nine, this guy who 280 00:18:40,640 --> 00:18:45,399 Speaker 1: was an ex engine technician for Pratt and Whitney, a 281 00:18:45,520 --> 00:18:49,080 Speaker 1: jet engine technician by the way, UH, he develops what 282 00:18:49,400 --> 00:18:54,760 Speaker 1: his company calls quote the first walk behind lawn vacuum 283 00:18:55,080 --> 00:18:59,440 Speaker 1: and leaf blower. So already we see that there are 284 00:18:59,800 --> 00:19:05,120 Speaker 1: three re possible candidates for something like the modern leaf blower, 285 00:19:05,760 --> 00:19:09,520 Speaker 1: and we know that whatever the case is, however you 286 00:19:09,640 --> 00:19:13,359 Speaker 1: want to delineate it, whomever gets the award for first 287 00:19:13,440 --> 00:19:17,480 Speaker 1: in the post. Uh. In the By the nineteen by 288 00:19:17,520 --> 00:19:21,840 Speaker 1: the very late nineteen forties and early nineteen fifties, leaf 289 00:19:21,880 --> 00:19:25,440 Speaker 1: blowers were a thing that people knew about around the world. 290 00:19:25,760 --> 00:19:30,000 Speaker 1: Other companies got quickly involved, especially if you're already manufacturing 291 00:19:30,160 --> 00:19:33,880 Speaker 1: you know, vacuums or long care equipment. It makes sense because, 292 00:19:33,880 --> 00:19:35,640 Speaker 1: I mean, what's a vacuum if not I mean there's 293 00:19:35,640 --> 00:19:38,760 Speaker 1: a you know, a circuit that you can reverse the 294 00:19:38,840 --> 00:19:41,520 Speaker 1: polarity of essentially, right, and then it can go from 295 00:19:41,640 --> 00:19:46,639 Speaker 1: suckage to blowage. Um. So it's hard to patent the 296 00:19:47,480 --> 00:19:51,760 Speaker 1: specific thing. You can patent to design, but you can't 297 00:19:51,760 --> 00:19:54,320 Speaker 1: really patent a thing that blows air. I think it's 298 00:19:54,359 --> 00:19:58,719 Speaker 1: a little too generic, right, Yeah, yeah, nailed it. Uh. 299 00:19:59,400 --> 00:20:04,560 Speaker 1: Nineteen six, these Dutch vendor Mullen begins manufacturing and exporting 300 00:20:04,720 --> 00:20:10,560 Speaker 1: a two stroke engine backpack blower, and then just a 301 00:20:10,640 --> 00:20:14,960 Speaker 1: few years later sixty six Uh. The company that hl 302 00:20:15,080 --> 00:20:19,440 Speaker 1: deal starts is rebranded Giant Vac, and they start making 303 00:20:19,480 --> 00:20:22,960 Speaker 1: a bunch of different variations of the leaf blower. Some 304 00:20:23,080 --> 00:20:26,199 Speaker 1: of the stuff also collects leaves instead of just blowing 305 00:20:26,240 --> 00:20:30,240 Speaker 1: it around. But the two stroke engine part is important. 306 00:20:30,320 --> 00:20:34,560 Speaker 1: It's common to so many push lawnmowers in the United States, 307 00:20:35,080 --> 00:20:38,840 Speaker 1: and it's not the same as a four stroke engine. 308 00:20:39,400 --> 00:20:43,879 Speaker 1: Because a two stroke engine mixes air and fuel in 309 00:20:44,000 --> 00:20:49,640 Speaker 1: a way that gets contaminated with the oil lubricating the mechanism, 310 00:20:50,200 --> 00:20:53,240 Speaker 1: and that fuel and oil gets mixed with the exhaust. 311 00:20:53,359 --> 00:20:58,119 Speaker 1: We're setting up a problem. But but here's the thing, No, Max, 312 00:20:58,920 --> 00:21:04,000 Speaker 1: When these were originally introduced, people with nuts. Everybody who 313 00:21:04,040 --> 00:21:06,480 Speaker 1: could afford a leaf flower was buying a leaf floor. 314 00:21:06,800 --> 00:21:10,359 Speaker 1: The Dunwoodie suburbs of the world were like, this is 315 00:21:10,480 --> 00:21:14,280 Speaker 1: a better way or rake. By the nineteen seventies, these 316 00:21:14,359 --> 00:21:20,480 Speaker 1: things were commonplace. By nine we're talking sales in excess 317 00:21:20,600 --> 00:21:26,680 Speaker 1: of one million leaf blowers per year, exactly, leaf blower 318 00:21:26,840 --> 00:21:30,119 Speaker 1: for everyone there. Everyone gets a leaf blower for for 319 00:21:30,240 --> 00:21:33,080 Speaker 1: a price. And you know, pretty much like you said, 320 00:21:33,200 --> 00:21:39,400 Speaker 1: been along with innovation oftentimes comes controversy or comes h irritation. 321 00:21:40,200 --> 00:21:43,720 Speaker 1: Innovation breeds irritation at times, so as soon as the 322 00:21:43,840 --> 00:21:49,080 Speaker 1: things became widespread, Uh, people started complaining pretty much right away. 323 00:21:49,480 --> 00:21:52,399 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, okay, and here's so now we have our 324 00:21:52,520 --> 00:21:58,440 Speaker 1: our unsolved list of inventors. This leads us to a theory. 325 00:22:00,040 --> 00:22:04,800 Speaker 1: Ridle me this. No, is it possible that no one 326 00:22:05,359 --> 00:22:08,480 Speaker 1: is admitting to being the one true inventor of the 327 00:22:08,600 --> 00:22:12,480 Speaker 1: leaf flower because they don't want to be associated with 328 00:22:12,640 --> 00:22:22,800 Speaker 1: the enormous controversy max cute suspensible music. Yeah, and again again. 329 00:22:22,840 --> 00:22:26,840 Speaker 1: I think the whole no one's exactly clamoring to to 330 00:22:27,000 --> 00:22:30,399 Speaker 1: to take credit, you know, after all these years. Uh. 331 00:22:30,480 --> 00:22:32,200 Speaker 1: And I think part of that is the sort of 332 00:22:32,560 --> 00:22:37,080 Speaker 1: generic nature of of the invention. Um. But also, yeah, 333 00:22:37,400 --> 00:22:42,719 Speaker 1: there's sort of kind of a public new sense, you know. Yeah, Okay. 334 00:22:42,840 --> 00:22:46,600 Speaker 1: Not every invention is gonna appeal to everyone, Believe it 335 00:22:46,720 --> 00:22:51,040 Speaker 1: or not. There are people who don't drink coffee. This, Uh, 336 00:22:51,520 --> 00:22:55,560 Speaker 1: the leaf flower is pretty remarkable in the amount of 337 00:22:55,640 --> 00:23:00,600 Speaker 1: controversy it's called. People who don't like leaf blowers tend 338 00:23:00,680 --> 00:23:04,879 Speaker 1: to have two primary issues with the invention. First, a 339 00:23:05,000 --> 00:23:08,080 Speaker 1: lot of them are still gas powered the modern day, 340 00:23:08,359 --> 00:23:12,760 Speaker 1: which immediately raises concern about pollution and emissions. And you 341 00:23:12,880 --> 00:23:17,280 Speaker 1: can't easily dismiss this. Mixing gasoline with oil in a 342 00:23:17,400 --> 00:23:21,040 Speaker 1: two stroke engine means that a third of the mixture 343 00:23:21,520 --> 00:23:26,800 Speaker 1: is not burned. It doesn't help the thing blow the leaves. 344 00:23:27,240 --> 00:23:31,320 Speaker 1: It goes out and creates exhaust, and it creates way 345 00:23:31,440 --> 00:23:36,440 Speaker 1: more exhaust than you could reasonably assume. The facts are astounding, 346 00:23:36,800 --> 00:23:40,639 Speaker 1: no question. And you found this this data, um, that 347 00:23:40,800 --> 00:23:43,600 Speaker 1: is something that I never would have considered. So how 348 00:23:43,680 --> 00:23:45,840 Speaker 1: much pollution are we actually talking about here? I study 349 00:23:46,440 --> 00:23:49,840 Speaker 1: that you found Ben for eleven found that running a 350 00:23:50,000 --> 00:23:54,120 Speaker 1: leaf blower for about a half hour creates as much 351 00:23:54,440 --> 00:23:57,840 Speaker 1: pollution in the form of n m HC is a 352 00:23:57,920 --> 00:24:03,639 Speaker 1: subset of non methane volatile organic compounds hydrocarbons as a 353 00:24:03,800 --> 00:24:06,919 Speaker 1: Ford F one fifty, you know the ones um. Driving 354 00:24:07,080 --> 00:24:12,840 Speaker 1: from Texas to Alaska, that's insane. How far even is that? 355 00:24:13,400 --> 00:24:17,360 Speaker 1: It doesn't make sense. We gotta ask, though, what part 356 00:24:17,400 --> 00:24:21,680 Speaker 1: of Texas to what's part of Alaska. Look, let's just 357 00:24:21,800 --> 00:24:24,080 Speaker 1: we're speaking in broad strokes here. And even if you know, 358 00:24:24,240 --> 00:24:27,160 Speaker 1: given the size of Texas and the distance of Alaska, 359 00:24:28,000 --> 00:24:30,639 Speaker 1: I don't care if it's from the northernmost tip you know, 360 00:24:30,760 --> 00:24:35,000 Speaker 1: I mean that's still alarming just as a basic kind 361 00:24:35,040 --> 00:24:38,760 Speaker 1: of you know, metric to I mean, I had no idea. 362 00:24:39,040 --> 00:24:42,200 Speaker 1: I mean, think of all the leafblowers we've seen in 363 00:24:42,280 --> 00:24:46,680 Speaker 1: the past month. That's a lot of road trips that 364 00:24:47,040 --> 00:24:51,480 Speaker 1: that's an insane amount of emissions overall. And it doesn't 365 00:24:51,520 --> 00:24:56,000 Speaker 1: stop there. So leafblowers are made to blow leaves, but 366 00:24:56,320 --> 00:25:01,720 Speaker 1: this invention can't magically differentiate between being different objects in 367 00:25:01,800 --> 00:25:04,640 Speaker 1: the path of the air. That means that if you're 368 00:25:05,440 --> 00:25:08,920 Speaker 1: going back to our boy don quinto, that means that 369 00:25:09,040 --> 00:25:12,320 Speaker 1: if you're just aiming a leaf blower at something, it's 370 00:25:12,359 --> 00:25:16,800 Speaker 1: gonna blow whatever is in its path. That includes pesticides, mold, 371 00:25:17,400 --> 00:25:21,920 Speaker 1: feces like that gets blown around two. It is, for 372 00:25:22,000 --> 00:25:25,240 Speaker 1: the record, a quick Google map search of just Alaska 373 00:25:25,359 --> 00:25:30,280 Speaker 1: to Texas with no specifics gives you two roots. One 374 00:25:30,359 --> 00:25:33,359 Speaker 1: of them is sixty three hours, three thousand, eight hundred 375 00:25:33,359 --> 00:25:36,439 Speaker 1: and sixty seven miles. The other is sixty five hours 376 00:25:36,760 --> 00:25:40,159 Speaker 1: three miles. And we're talking make sure and check this 377 00:25:40,240 --> 00:25:44,480 Speaker 1: bend thirty minutes of use here. Bonkers, it's bonkers. And 378 00:25:44,560 --> 00:25:49,160 Speaker 1: that's all in one spot. You know this, The emission 379 00:25:49,280 --> 00:25:53,280 Speaker 1: generated by that f one fifty making this heartwarming family 380 00:25:53,359 --> 00:25:57,760 Speaker 1: journey of discovery. UM is spread out over a very 381 00:25:57,840 --> 00:26:00,040 Speaker 1: large area. Also, I want to point out that and 382 00:26:00,160 --> 00:26:03,520 Speaker 1: bents that feces both me and all left. You know why, 383 00:26:04,280 --> 00:26:06,080 Speaker 1: because I forget what movie is from, But there's a 384 00:26:06,160 --> 00:26:08,359 Speaker 1: joke in a movie where someone asked the feces or 385 00:26:08,400 --> 00:26:12,159 Speaker 1: baby mice. I can't remember. I think it's a I 386 00:26:12,160 --> 00:26:14,480 Speaker 1: can't remember, but I was working on I feel like 387 00:26:14,600 --> 00:26:20,520 Speaker 1: feces is so is so ready for some good pun banter, 388 00:26:21,040 --> 00:26:23,560 Speaker 1: you know, like the feces of the species is more 389 00:26:23,680 --> 00:26:26,600 Speaker 1: deadly than the something. I don't know. We'll work on it, 390 00:26:26,680 --> 00:26:29,240 Speaker 1: put a pin in it. But this the thing is, 391 00:26:29,480 --> 00:26:43,280 Speaker 1: the actual emissions pollution isn't even the largest problem. There's 392 00:26:43,320 --> 00:26:48,080 Speaker 1: another type of pollution. And way before the public was 393 00:26:48,240 --> 00:26:53,439 Speaker 1: worried about emissions and air pollution, they were upset about 394 00:26:53,520 --> 00:26:57,200 Speaker 1: the noise pollution, even before they called it noise pollution, 395 00:26:57,359 --> 00:27:00,440 Speaker 1: even before they had a term to hang that complaint, antonin. 396 00:27:01,400 --> 00:27:04,680 Speaker 1: They hated the sound. You know you had mentioned earlier 397 00:27:04,840 --> 00:27:11,080 Speaker 1: that UM, shortly after leafblowers became popular, people started complaining. 398 00:27:11,480 --> 00:27:15,760 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, So by the nineteen seventies, UM, you had 399 00:27:15,800 --> 00:27:21,080 Speaker 1: two different cities in California that had outright banned leaf blowers, 400 00:27:21,480 --> 00:27:25,040 Speaker 1: and admittedly they are two pretty boogie communities. You got 401 00:27:25,119 --> 00:27:30,720 Speaker 1: Carmel by the Sea Hyen and Beverly Hills, UM. Carmel 402 00:27:30,840 --> 00:27:33,080 Speaker 1: was first to the jump in seventy five with the band, 403 00:27:33,119 --> 00:27:35,840 Speaker 1: and then Beverly Hills and seventy eight. But you know, 404 00:27:36,160 --> 00:27:38,840 Speaker 1: I would argue that the while the noise pollution part 405 00:27:38,920 --> 00:27:42,359 Speaker 1: is certainly annoying, kind of pales in comparison now that 406 00:27:42,440 --> 00:27:45,199 Speaker 1: we know these these details to the to the actual 407 00:27:45,600 --> 00:27:48,480 Speaker 1: you know, emissions part event. But you know, people like 408 00:27:48,600 --> 00:27:52,480 Speaker 1: their their people, people like they're quiet beach beach front communities, 409 00:27:52,720 --> 00:27:56,639 Speaker 1: so the noise is so undesirable. Then more than a 410 00:27:56,720 --> 00:28:00,679 Speaker 1: hundred cities across the United States, including One's New Jersey, 411 00:28:00,840 --> 00:28:06,679 Speaker 1: New York, UH, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, Texas, Alaska, though UH 412 00:28:06,760 --> 00:28:11,440 Speaker 1: and Vermont UM had some flavor of either a complete 413 00:28:11,600 --> 00:28:17,240 Speaker 1: or partial band placed on leaf book leafblowers, and Governor 414 00:28:17,600 --> 00:28:21,880 Speaker 1: Gavin Newsom over in California also signed a bill meant 415 00:28:21,960 --> 00:28:25,840 Speaker 1: to phase out gas powered leaf blowers entirely, along with 416 00:28:25,920 --> 00:28:28,760 Speaker 1: a lot of other gas powered lawn equipment. UH. The 417 00:28:29,000 --> 00:28:32,520 Speaker 1: majority of those bands that that we just mentioned that 418 00:28:32,560 --> 00:28:38,560 Speaker 1: you just mentioned or specifically for gas powered leaf blowers, 419 00:28:38,840 --> 00:28:42,800 Speaker 1: almost as if the emission concern is a way for 420 00:28:43,040 --> 00:28:48,200 Speaker 1: people to rationalize their problems with the noise right, which 421 00:28:48,280 --> 00:28:52,920 Speaker 1: is an unpleasant noise and uh. In Seattle, Washington, for instance, 422 00:28:53,280 --> 00:28:56,200 Speaker 1: it's illegal to use any leaf blower at all, no 423 00:28:56,320 --> 00:29:00,800 Speaker 1: matter how it's powered battery, electric, cord, gas, us. You 424 00:29:01,000 --> 00:29:04,400 Speaker 1: can't use it if it's louder than sixty five decibels 425 00:29:04,800 --> 00:29:09,520 Speaker 1: before seven am or after seven pm. Places like New 426 00:29:09,640 --> 00:29:14,520 Speaker 1: Jersey have bands between eight and six and they also 427 00:29:14,680 --> 00:29:18,920 Speaker 1: have It's weird. It's almost like blue laws. Blue laws 428 00:29:19,040 --> 00:29:22,440 Speaker 1: are those moral laws the pretty common in the South 429 00:29:22,560 --> 00:29:25,920 Speaker 1: and places like Utah, like for a long time here 430 00:29:26,200 --> 00:29:30,880 Speaker 1: in Georgia, home to ridiculous history. What was it? There 431 00:29:31,000 --> 00:29:33,400 Speaker 1: was no there was something with alcohol on Sunday, like 432 00:29:33,520 --> 00:29:37,040 Speaker 1: you couldn't buy it before noon or it's before noon 433 00:29:37,120 --> 00:29:39,600 Speaker 1: even like it brunches, they won't serve you a momosa 434 00:29:39,720 --> 00:29:42,960 Speaker 1: until noon. And I think twelve thirty something like, yeah, 435 00:29:43,040 --> 00:29:49,520 Speaker 1: twelve exactly, which is right. I think that that was 436 00:29:49,760 --> 00:29:51,640 Speaker 1: there was a vote on that that we just did, 437 00:29:51,880 --> 00:29:54,280 Speaker 1: or at least it was about alcohol being available for 438 00:29:54,440 --> 00:29:56,880 Speaker 1: sale on Sundays, and it kind of changed the timing. 439 00:29:56,960 --> 00:30:00,080 Speaker 1: But yes, these laws that are sort of based in 440 00:30:00,760 --> 00:30:04,560 Speaker 1: religious sort of morality are are always very interesting and 441 00:30:04,720 --> 00:30:07,480 Speaker 1: apply to leaf blowers. I also don't point out until 442 00:30:07,480 --> 00:30:11,280 Speaker 1: it was like early two thousand's when they changed the laws, 443 00:30:11,440 --> 00:30:15,560 Speaker 1: you actually could buy alcohol on Sundays at all. Remember, Yeah, 444 00:30:15,560 --> 00:30:17,040 Speaker 1: it used to be a no go. You go to 445 00:30:17,160 --> 00:30:19,880 Speaker 1: a restaurant and get loaded, but you couldn't go get 446 00:30:19,960 --> 00:30:24,000 Speaker 1: anything at a store. There we go, which seems counterintuitive 447 00:30:24,080 --> 00:30:27,120 Speaker 1: considering that I would say, outside of any kind of 448 00:30:27,240 --> 00:30:30,720 Speaker 1: religious you know, hang ups, the most important part about 449 00:30:30,960 --> 00:30:35,720 Speaker 1: alcohol prohibition would be having people not drunk driving. So 450 00:30:36,040 --> 00:30:38,000 Speaker 1: I would think it would be a better move to 451 00:30:38,120 --> 00:30:40,920 Speaker 1: have it available to buy and take home than to 452 00:30:41,040 --> 00:30:43,840 Speaker 1: get loaded, because that's the only place you can get 453 00:30:43,880 --> 00:30:46,640 Speaker 1: it and then drive home and cause some sort of 454 00:30:47,080 --> 00:30:51,520 Speaker 1: horrific traffic. You know. Maybe maybe it's something with a 455 00:30:51,600 --> 00:30:55,360 Speaker 1: restaurant lobby we've got to do. Maybe we we get 456 00:30:55,440 --> 00:30:58,120 Speaker 1: into the history of blue laws in a future episode. 457 00:30:58,640 --> 00:31:02,840 Speaker 1: Let's let's just amat Cinema of the mind, folks, the 458 00:31:03,040 --> 00:31:06,840 Speaker 1: countless tensions created by leaf flowers, maybe in your very 459 00:31:06,920 --> 00:31:10,800 Speaker 1: own neighborhood. They often operate pretty early in the morning 460 00:31:11,000 --> 00:31:15,920 Speaker 1: or midmorning. Sometimes they operate later in the evening. Countless 461 00:31:16,040 --> 00:31:21,000 Speaker 1: people across the United States have called law enforcement on 462 00:31:21,160 --> 00:31:25,800 Speaker 1: their neighbors for leaf flowers. This is not hyperbole. They've 463 00:31:25,880 --> 00:31:30,120 Speaker 1: called nine one one saying this person has to be stopped. 464 00:31:30,760 --> 00:31:34,480 Speaker 1: But if we exercise empathy, we have to realize that 465 00:31:34,680 --> 00:31:38,360 Speaker 1: leaf flowers, in terms of noise pollution, are much more 466 00:31:38,480 --> 00:31:41,560 Speaker 1: dangerous for the people operating them than they are for 467 00:31:41,640 --> 00:31:45,080 Speaker 1: the people nearby. Like this, Okay, so we all three 468 00:31:45,160 --> 00:31:50,400 Speaker 1: of us have various backgrounds in musical spheres. The sound 469 00:31:50,560 --> 00:31:53,880 Speaker 1: level for a person holding and operating a leaf flower 470 00:31:54,040 --> 00:31:58,880 Speaker 1: often exceeds one hundred decibels. I mean, how do you 471 00:31:58,920 --> 00:32:02,800 Speaker 1: see the people operating them wearing those sound proof headphones 472 00:32:03,160 --> 00:32:05,720 Speaker 1: or whatever, the ear muffs whatever they call them, the 473 00:32:05,800 --> 00:32:09,080 Speaker 1: same ones you might use in a rifle range. Yeah, yeah, no, 474 00:32:09,280 --> 00:32:12,480 Speaker 1: that's a good point. And uh they're doing so for 475 00:32:12,880 --> 00:32:19,640 Speaker 1: good reason. The World Health Organization says that if you 476 00:32:19,800 --> 00:32:23,680 Speaker 1: want to be safe for your hearing long term, you 477 00:32:24,120 --> 00:32:28,120 Speaker 1: need to keep things under fifty five decibels for up 478 00:32:28,160 --> 00:32:33,000 Speaker 1: to eight hundred feet for on the ground comparison, that's 479 00:32:33,040 --> 00:32:36,160 Speaker 1: more than two blocks away. In a lot of neighborhoods. 480 00:32:36,520 --> 00:32:40,479 Speaker 1: So while the noise maybe an irritation to you if 481 00:32:40,520 --> 00:32:43,640 Speaker 1: you're sleeping in one Saturday, you have to realize that 482 00:32:43,760 --> 00:32:47,000 Speaker 1: the person operating a leaf blower, who by the way, 483 00:32:47,120 --> 00:32:51,320 Speaker 1: properly isn't excited to do it. Uh, they are at 484 00:32:51,440 --> 00:32:55,880 Speaker 1: risk of permanent hearing loss. It is like being a 485 00:32:56,040 --> 00:33:00,440 Speaker 1: drummer in a touring rock band without any album sales. 486 00:33:01,080 --> 00:33:04,560 Speaker 1: That's that's a swindle. That's a grift. I don't know 487 00:33:05,000 --> 00:33:08,400 Speaker 1: future leaf blowers. It seems like they're probably here to 488 00:33:08,600 --> 00:33:12,760 Speaker 1: stay for a while, but they're they're getting banned increasingly 489 00:33:13,480 --> 00:33:16,920 Speaker 1: in different in different cities. It's starting on like a 490 00:33:17,040 --> 00:33:20,400 Speaker 1: municipal level in a lot of places. I don't know, 491 00:33:20,520 --> 00:33:22,200 Speaker 1: what do you what do you guys think should the 492 00:33:22,480 --> 00:33:27,960 Speaker 1: leaf blower be banned entirely? Landscapers love them, yeah, because 493 00:33:28,040 --> 00:33:33,200 Speaker 1: it optimizes their ability to get more houses in on 494 00:33:33,320 --> 00:33:37,280 Speaker 1: their routes. And I get that. Um, I'm just shocked 495 00:33:38,240 --> 00:33:42,400 Speaker 1: by the pollution oh angle. That is something that I 496 00:33:42,480 --> 00:33:45,600 Speaker 1: was not you know, obviously, this this all started for 497 00:33:45,800 --> 00:33:49,040 Speaker 1: us because of the noise pollution angle, but um, the 498 00:33:49,120 --> 00:33:51,560 Speaker 1: actual pollution angle. I just had no idea and you know, 499 00:33:51,680 --> 00:33:53,560 Speaker 1: when I was doing a little bit of extra research 500 00:33:53,640 --> 00:33:55,960 Speaker 1: on on this, uh, this one that you really lead 501 00:33:56,000 --> 00:33:59,080 Speaker 1: the charge on, Ben for obvious reasons, it I was. 502 00:33:59,240 --> 00:34:01,440 Speaker 1: I was amazed that how many articles come right up, 503 00:34:01,520 --> 00:34:04,000 Speaker 1: literally just by googling history of the leaf blower, about 504 00:34:04,040 --> 00:34:07,480 Speaker 1: all of these petitions and bands and and discussions around 505 00:34:08,239 --> 00:34:12,000 Speaker 1: all of that horrific pollution. I just had no idea. Well, 506 00:34:12,400 --> 00:34:15,000 Speaker 1: you know, I agree with you know, and one thing 507 00:34:15,120 --> 00:34:19,120 Speaker 1: we can take away from this is humans are amazing 508 00:34:19,200 --> 00:34:22,320 Speaker 1: and inventing things, and not every invention is going to 509 00:34:22,440 --> 00:34:26,120 Speaker 1: be a winner. Also, before we get out of here, 510 00:34:26,120 --> 00:34:29,320 Speaker 1: I got a question, Yeah, what do y'all think Julia 511 00:34:29,400 --> 00:34:32,520 Speaker 1: Barnett Rice's opinion of the leaflower would have been? Remember 512 00:34:32,560 --> 00:34:35,400 Speaker 1: her the one who got so mad at the tugboats 513 00:34:35,440 --> 00:34:38,640 Speaker 1: behind her house. She uh she started passing selling laws 514 00:34:38,680 --> 00:34:43,480 Speaker 1: and everyone. Uh huh oh. Yeah, she would have absolutely 515 00:34:44,600 --> 00:34:47,320 Speaker 1: hated this. She might have gone vigilante. She might have 516 00:34:47,360 --> 00:34:49,320 Speaker 1: been in the streets with a cape, you know what 517 00:34:49,440 --> 00:34:53,160 Speaker 1: I mean, and a mask. Uh. Yeah, I think I 518 00:34:53,280 --> 00:34:57,080 Speaker 1: think that's a great question, Max. And also, you know, yes, 519 00:34:57,280 --> 00:35:02,120 Speaker 1: this is a hit piece on leaf blow words unapologetically. Uh, 520 00:35:02,239 --> 00:35:05,800 Speaker 1: it's an invention that does not necessarily need to exist 521 00:35:06,760 --> 00:35:10,800 Speaker 1: outside of a few very creative uses that we outlined earlier. 522 00:35:11,400 --> 00:35:17,640 Speaker 1: But we're very clearly not disparaging people who rely on 523 00:35:17,800 --> 00:35:21,400 Speaker 1: leaf blowers for their livelihood. Like nol, you raised the 524 00:35:21,440 --> 00:35:25,760 Speaker 1: excellent point that it might be impractical for commercial landscapers 525 00:35:26,080 --> 00:35:29,840 Speaker 1: to have a leaf flower that is less powerful, that 526 00:35:30,040 --> 00:35:33,920 Speaker 1: relies on an electric cord, right or a set of batteries. 527 00:35:34,440 --> 00:35:38,600 Speaker 1: It might it might put them underwater to have to 528 00:35:38,680 --> 00:35:42,200 Speaker 1: spend that extra hour and a half braking leaves that 529 00:35:42,239 --> 00:35:47,360 Speaker 1: would have only taken thirty minutes earlier. But with that 530 00:35:47,480 --> 00:35:52,360 Speaker 1: being said, do we really need the leaf blower as humanity? 531 00:35:53,080 --> 00:36:00,200 Speaker 1: I think no, Yeah, for sure, the pictures speak being 532 00:36:00,960 --> 00:36:03,480 Speaker 1: I say, for sure we do not, because once again, 533 00:36:04,440 --> 00:36:07,320 Speaker 1: it is a cosmetic thing, you know, um, and it 534 00:36:07,520 --> 00:36:11,640 Speaker 1: is something that certain municipalities and neighborhood associations and stuff 535 00:36:11,760 --> 00:36:14,200 Speaker 1: would consider an eyesore. And you will get like, you know, 536 00:36:14,440 --> 00:36:16,879 Speaker 1: a finger wag if not a fine if you don't 537 00:36:16,920 --> 00:36:20,360 Speaker 1: get that taken care of. But is it, you know, 538 00:36:20,680 --> 00:36:24,320 Speaker 1: like many things in our society, is the convenience worth 539 00:36:24,680 --> 00:36:29,560 Speaker 1: the uh, you know, the potential you know, pitfalls of 540 00:36:29,680 --> 00:36:32,879 Speaker 1: the technology, And I would say, you know, to whom 541 00:36:33,280 --> 00:36:37,200 Speaker 1: um you know, because you definitely do sometimes see cues 542 00:36:37,239 --> 00:36:41,759 Speaker 1: of landscapers raking still, but it takes like three or 543 00:36:41,800 --> 00:36:46,120 Speaker 1: four individuals to do the job of maybe what to 544 00:36:46,440 --> 00:36:49,840 Speaker 1: leaf blowers would do. So you know, I think professional 545 00:36:49,960 --> 00:36:54,080 Speaker 1: landscapers would would argue that they need it for their livelihood. 546 00:36:54,800 --> 00:36:56,719 Speaker 1: But it's a trade off, you know. So I you know, 547 00:36:56,840 --> 00:37:01,080 Speaker 1: I'm gonna be in camp no leafblowers, and I mean, 548 00:37:01,400 --> 00:37:04,280 Speaker 1: I'm gonna jump in here if that's okay. It seems 549 00:37:04,320 --> 00:37:07,799 Speaker 1: to be okay, so I'm jumping in here. I mean, 550 00:37:07,880 --> 00:37:09,719 Speaker 1: it's one of these things where it's just like the 551 00:37:10,239 --> 00:37:14,000 Speaker 1: drawback the leaf flowers is just so horrifically bad compared 552 00:37:14,040 --> 00:37:17,680 Speaker 1: to what it does. I mean, I don't think it's 553 00:37:17,960 --> 00:37:20,840 Speaker 1: ideal to like go full blow and blue law and 554 00:37:20,960 --> 00:37:23,399 Speaker 1: just outlaw these things and as we said, put these 555 00:37:23,440 --> 00:37:27,680 Speaker 1: like landscaping companies under water. But the thing we cannot 556 00:37:27,719 --> 00:37:31,840 Speaker 1: do is just say, well, the landscapers are gonna be 557 00:37:31,960 --> 00:37:33,959 Speaker 1: in trouble if we do something like that. So we're 558 00:37:34,000 --> 00:37:37,200 Speaker 1: gonna allow these things for literally a cosmetic thing to 559 00:37:37,600 --> 00:37:41,080 Speaker 1: pollute the air and pollute our ears and stuff. I mean, 560 00:37:41,200 --> 00:37:43,840 Speaker 1: something has to be done. And I will say electric 561 00:37:43,880 --> 00:37:47,600 Speaker 1: powered leaflowers have gone a lot better. Yes, that I 562 00:37:47,680 --> 00:37:52,080 Speaker 1: will say is significantly better. That is true. And who knows, 563 00:37:52,239 --> 00:37:57,799 Speaker 1: perhaps one day someone will invent an affordable silencer attachment 564 00:37:57,920 --> 00:38:01,439 Speaker 1: for a leaf blower, and that that would that would 565 00:38:01,560 --> 00:38:06,360 Speaker 1: change the game in such a strange way. But just 566 00:38:06,480 --> 00:38:08,640 Speaker 1: to be a bit of a nerd, like, the only 567 00:38:08,800 --> 00:38:13,160 Speaker 1: way to silence something that is is literally generated by 568 00:38:13,280 --> 00:38:16,880 Speaker 1: air moving would be to slow down the flow of 569 00:38:17,000 --> 00:38:22,160 Speaker 1: the air uh and and or have the generator part 570 00:38:22,480 --> 00:38:25,320 Speaker 1: farther away, you know, where you're not actually hearing it. 571 00:38:25,680 --> 00:38:28,800 Speaker 1: So it's two things that would render the whole affair 572 00:38:29,000 --> 00:38:32,400 Speaker 1: kind of moot anyway, because it just wouldn't It wouldn't 573 00:38:32,440 --> 00:38:34,359 Speaker 1: do the job. It's slowing down the moving of the air. 574 00:38:34,440 --> 00:38:37,359 Speaker 1: Like in recording studios, to get rid of air conditioning noise, 575 00:38:37,400 --> 00:38:40,200 Speaker 1: you install these little baffles, these buffers kind of in 576 00:38:40,400 --> 00:38:42,840 Speaker 1: the UH and the thing because you're not depending on 577 00:38:43,400 --> 00:38:46,239 Speaker 1: fast moving air. If to f air condition you just 578 00:38:46,360 --> 00:38:49,360 Speaker 1: need a constant flow of cool air. But with the 579 00:38:49,480 --> 00:38:53,239 Speaker 1: leaf blower it absolutely has to be fast moving, high 580 00:38:53,680 --> 00:38:57,200 Speaker 1: powered air. UM. So therefore you know the motor would 581 00:38:57,200 --> 00:38:59,920 Speaker 1: have to be like inside a truck and then isolate 582 00:39:00,040 --> 00:39:01,279 Speaker 1: in and then you have to have some sort of 583 00:39:01,440 --> 00:39:04,799 Speaker 1: giant hose that would come off of it, and then 584 00:39:04,880 --> 00:39:08,759 Speaker 1: you know, yeah, I just I'm just yeah, I'm with you. 585 00:39:08,920 --> 00:39:13,160 Speaker 1: Let's brainstorm, alright. So, so much of innovation isn't just 586 00:39:14,080 --> 00:39:17,360 Speaker 1: answering a question, it's figuring out the right question to ask. 587 00:39:17,960 --> 00:39:21,640 Speaker 1: So I want to take a I want to take 588 00:39:21,680 --> 00:39:25,640 Speaker 1: a moment in homage to our pal Scott Benjamin of 589 00:39:25,719 --> 00:39:29,680 Speaker 1: car Stuff fame, and say, why don't we find some 590 00:39:29,920 --> 00:39:33,960 Speaker 1: animals that will eat the leaves, replace the leaf blower 591 00:39:34,160 --> 00:39:38,400 Speaker 1: with a very focused petting zoo. Cows, l buffalo, buffalo 592 00:39:38,440 --> 00:39:41,640 Speaker 1: are probably too big. Also elks also cows, goats? Why 593 00:39:41,719 --> 00:39:44,040 Speaker 1: not goats? Get the goats to eat the leaves? Well, 594 00:39:44,160 --> 00:39:47,319 Speaker 1: goats eat everything. Will work on rent a goat, did 595 00:39:47,360 --> 00:39:50,160 Speaker 1: you talk about? Yeah, of course that's that came from 596 00:39:50,200 --> 00:39:53,520 Speaker 1: a Scott story. You can hire a goat to to 597 00:39:53,800 --> 00:39:57,279 Speaker 1: clean up your yard. Yeah. I like the idea. Like 598 00:39:57,440 --> 00:40:00,840 Speaker 1: the goat doesn't have a human intermediary. You hire the 599 00:40:00,880 --> 00:40:08,560 Speaker 1: goat a man cans. So with that, uh, we are 600 00:40:08,800 --> 00:40:12,120 Speaker 1: going to call it a day. And we cannot wait 601 00:40:12,239 --> 00:40:15,799 Speaker 1: to hear your opinions folks. Leaf flowers, as they would 602 00:40:15,840 --> 00:40:17,600 Speaker 1: say in the South, are your firum or again? Hum? 603 00:40:18,080 --> 00:40:21,200 Speaker 1: And why what do you think the world would look 604 00:40:21,280 --> 00:40:25,040 Speaker 1: like without leaf blowers? I feel like we'll we'll touch 605 00:40:25,080 --> 00:40:27,760 Speaker 1: a nerve with a lot of people who are listening 606 00:40:27,840 --> 00:40:31,320 Speaker 1: to this podcast despite a leaf flower operating their vicinity 607 00:40:31,480 --> 00:40:35,560 Speaker 1: right now. Find us on Facebook, where we are ridiculous historians. 608 00:40:35,680 --> 00:40:39,719 Speaker 1: You can also find us on social media. I'm at 609 00:40:39,840 --> 00:40:43,480 Speaker 1: Instagram and Twitter, Twitter at them Bowling hs W and 610 00:40:43,880 --> 00:40:47,920 Speaker 1: Instagram and a burst of Creativity at ben Bowland for 611 00:40:48,040 --> 00:40:51,839 Speaker 1: behind the scenes adventures. Big big win for you. If 612 00:40:51,840 --> 00:40:55,319 Speaker 1: you're on Instagram, you can also find my colleague Mr 613 00:40:55,520 --> 00:40:59,120 Speaker 1: Noel Brown. Can I am at how now? Noel Brown 614 00:40:59,600 --> 00:41:03,120 Speaker 1: exclud visibly on Instagram, where I post lots of memes 615 00:41:03,239 --> 00:41:07,120 Speaker 1: and you know, pictures of me and the recording studio 616 00:41:07,280 --> 00:41:11,000 Speaker 1: doing nerds stuff and and you know, things of that nature. 617 00:41:11,160 --> 00:41:14,960 Speaker 1: So check it out, how about you, Mr Max? Yeah, 618 00:41:15,040 --> 00:41:19,160 Speaker 1: I am exclusively on Twitter for some odd reason at 619 00:41:19,480 --> 00:41:22,200 Speaker 1: at l Underscore Max Williams. I'm thinking of getting an 620 00:41:22,280 --> 00:41:25,640 Speaker 1: Instagram and moving over to Instagram because Twitter is kind 621 00:41:25,719 --> 00:41:30,200 Speaker 1: of uh, I don't know. Post apocalyptic nuclear waste land 622 00:41:30,239 --> 00:41:36,759 Speaker 1: at this point, but nothing's starting yet. And uh, in 623 00:41:37,040 --> 00:41:41,680 Speaker 1: these uncertain times, we want to thank you as always 624 00:41:41,760 --> 00:41:45,440 Speaker 1: for tuning in, fellow ridiculous historians, thanks to our superproducer, 625 00:41:46,080 --> 00:41:50,160 Speaker 1: Mr Max Williams. Thanks to all those people. You know, 626 00:41:50,320 --> 00:41:55,160 Speaker 1: despite the fact that leaflowers just they absolutely blow, they 627 00:41:55,200 --> 00:41:58,799 Speaker 1: absolutely suck. They're they're just the worst. Despite certainly do suck, 628 00:41:58,920 --> 00:42:06,920 Speaker 1: ben su it sucks. Yes some uh you know, despite 629 00:42:07,120 --> 00:42:12,839 Speaker 1: despite the fact that these are cartoonishly stupid inventions, Uh, 630 00:42:12,920 --> 00:42:15,920 Speaker 1: there are a lot of people who are using them 631 00:42:16,080 --> 00:42:19,080 Speaker 1: for their livelihoods. We respect that. We got your back. 632 00:42:19,440 --> 00:42:23,560 Speaker 1: We want to hear your take on leaf blowers and uh, 633 00:42:24,080 --> 00:42:26,800 Speaker 1: let's see, who else should we think? Oh, thanks to 634 00:42:27,080 --> 00:42:30,640 Speaker 1: our leaf blower guy. We actually recorded a little later today, 635 00:42:31,080 --> 00:42:34,359 Speaker 1: So thank you leaf blower guy for not making an 636 00:42:34,400 --> 00:42:38,799 Speaker 1: appearance in today's episode. Who else should we think? Nope? Oh? Man, Um, 637 00:42:39,440 --> 00:42:46,359 Speaker 1: what's the guy's name? Mr dom Dom the don guess? Yeah, yeah, 638 00:42:46,960 --> 00:42:50,839 Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland, our personal leaf blower of a human. Um, 639 00:42:55,840 --> 00:42:58,480 Speaker 1: keep it no, no, no, no, no, we love we 640 00:42:58,520 --> 00:43:04,200 Speaker 1: obviously loved love. Hey, it's a very complicated relationship with that. Um. Yeah. 641 00:43:04,360 --> 00:43:07,239 Speaker 1: Thanks to Christoph rociotis here in spirit, he's Jeff Coke 642 00:43:07,480 --> 00:43:11,319 Speaker 1: wandering this wide world of sports, doing great things out there. 643 00:43:11,360 --> 00:43:15,000 Speaker 1: And of course to you, Ben for for taking us 644 00:43:15,040 --> 00:43:18,520 Speaker 1: on this journey, this journey of discovery, much like that 645 00:43:19,280 --> 00:43:24,319 Speaker 1: hypothetical drive from Texas to Alaska. Um, I'm so hung 646 00:43:24,440 --> 00:43:27,359 Speaker 1: up on this, you guys, that it's that much. I mean, 647 00:43:27,680 --> 00:43:30,680 Speaker 1: good gracious, I literally was about to just you know, 648 00:43:30,880 --> 00:43:32,600 Speaker 1: die on the hill right there and say these things 649 00:43:32,640 --> 00:43:37,000 Speaker 1: should be outlawed. Well, it's true that a lot of 650 00:43:37,080 --> 00:43:40,480 Speaker 1: people have been trying to get them outlawed. And as 651 00:43:40,560 --> 00:43:43,600 Speaker 1: we're talking about trying things, let's do a little tease. 652 00:43:44,080 --> 00:43:47,240 Speaker 1: Tune in for our next episode when we talk about 653 00:43:47,640 --> 00:43:51,160 Speaker 1: several people who tried to be president. Let's see your 654 00:43:51,160 --> 00:44:00,719 Speaker 1: next step books. For more podcast from my Heart Radio, 655 00:44:00,800 --> 00:44:03,360 Speaker 1: visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever 656 00:44:03,560 --> 00:44:05,080 Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.