1 00:00:04,519 --> 00:00:12,320 Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, Bill Courtney, welcome to the shop. Oh that 2 00:00:12,440 --> 00:00:15,920 Speaker 1: was an extended belt shop talking number eighty two. 3 00:00:16,079 --> 00:00:18,200 Speaker 2: And Alex, Hey, do you know any eighty two numbers? 4 00:00:19,040 --> 00:00:22,560 Speaker 1: Do I have any eighty two numbers? No? Eighty two? 5 00:00:22,720 --> 00:00:25,040 Speaker 1: There's got to be a tight end that played. That's 6 00:00:25,079 --> 00:00:29,320 Speaker 1: really good at eighty two. Lynn Stalworth, maybe John Stalworth, 7 00:00:29,520 --> 00:00:31,240 Speaker 1: John Stalworth, that's pretty good. 8 00:00:31,400 --> 00:00:31,960 Speaker 2: That is good. 9 00:00:32,040 --> 00:00:33,320 Speaker 1: Yeah. 10 00:00:33,360 --> 00:00:35,560 Speaker 2: And then I didn't know him, but I didn't know 11 00:00:35,560 --> 00:00:36,559 Speaker 2: I played. 12 00:00:36,360 --> 00:00:38,400 Speaker 1: For Pittsburgh's receiver. He's good. 13 00:00:38,640 --> 00:00:42,519 Speaker 3: And another one I didn't know also played for Pittsburgh. 14 00:00:43,280 --> 00:00:43,880 Speaker 1: I don't know. 15 00:00:43,880 --> 00:00:44,839 Speaker 2: Antoine Randall L. 16 00:00:46,080 --> 00:00:51,120 Speaker 1: Antoine Randall L. But trust me, Stalwarth that's Hall of 17 00:00:51,120 --> 00:00:51,960 Speaker 1: Fame stuff. 18 00:00:51,960 --> 00:00:52,840 Speaker 2: He has a Hall of Famer. 19 00:00:52,960 --> 00:00:56,600 Speaker 1: Yeah, Randall LL not so much. Randall L is just 20 00:00:56,680 --> 00:00:58,240 Speaker 1: a neat name. 21 00:00:58,320 --> 00:00:59,760 Speaker 2: I guess it's a cool name. 22 00:01:00,080 --> 00:01:04,160 Speaker 1: Yeah. How about we should come up with an all 23 00:01:04,280 --> 00:01:11,280 Speaker 1: named team like pac Man Jones, Precious but my favorite 24 00:01:11,360 --> 00:01:15,480 Speaker 1: kool Aid McKinstry. Who names your kid kool Aid. 25 00:01:15,480 --> 00:01:17,400 Speaker 2: That's his actual name, not the adopted name. 26 00:01:17,440 --> 00:01:22,440 Speaker 1: No, kool Aid McKinstry, Precious Oshawa and Pacman Jones. Those 27 00:01:22,480 --> 00:01:24,360 Speaker 1: are the three that come to the top of my mind. 28 00:01:24,840 --> 00:01:27,919 Speaker 1: We'll come up with the all name team. All right, Uh, 29 00:01:28,040 --> 00:01:33,440 Speaker 1: today's shop Talking I'm Brady two. Is the eye pencil story. 30 00:01:34,240 --> 00:01:37,520 Speaker 3: The we are going to tell you the story, the 31 00:01:37,560 --> 00:01:40,160 Speaker 3: story of a pencil, how it came to be. 32 00:01:40,560 --> 00:01:45,600 Speaker 1: Yeah, I have done this before and it is great, interesting, 33 00:01:45,640 --> 00:01:48,200 Speaker 1: and I can't wait to do this. Yeah, it's and 34 00:01:48,240 --> 00:01:50,920 Speaker 1: the pencil is actually something as simple as a pencil. 35 00:01:51,240 --> 00:01:53,760 Speaker 1: Everybody that's touched it, where it comes from. All of 36 00:01:53,800 --> 00:01:56,400 Speaker 1: that to show connectivity, I. 37 00:01:56,320 --> 00:02:00,160 Speaker 3: Guess yes, the invisible hand connectivity. 38 00:01:59,760 --> 00:02:02,520 Speaker 1: All of the steps it takes to make something so 39 00:02:02,560 --> 00:02:08,800 Speaker 1: simple work correct. Can't wait. So the I pencil story, 40 00:02:10,720 --> 00:02:14,840 Speaker 1: it's absolutely worth listening to. Right after these brief messages 41 00:02:14,919 --> 00:02:35,399 Speaker 1: from our general sponsors, welcome back, shop Talking Numb Brady two. 42 00:02:36,400 --> 00:02:42,320 Speaker 1: So the perspective of the way Leonard Reid wrote the 43 00:02:42,480 --> 00:02:52,200 Speaker 1: ipencil story is the pencil is the first person in 44 00:02:52,240 --> 00:02:58,880 Speaker 1: this thing, and Leonard reads writing it as if the 45 00:02:58,919 --> 00:03:01,800 Speaker 1: pencil wrote to I think, is that? How there? 46 00:03:02,480 --> 00:03:05,480 Speaker 3: Okay, the pencil tells its own genealogy. 47 00:03:05,320 --> 00:03:09,720 Speaker 1: The pencil tells its own genealogy. But it's really interesting, 48 00:03:09,880 --> 00:03:14,600 Speaker 1: So stick with us, you'll love it. I am a 49 00:03:14,680 --> 00:03:18,480 Speaker 1: lead pencil the ordinary wooden pencil, familiar to all boys 50 00:03:18,480 --> 00:03:21,880 Speaker 1: and girls and adults who can read and write. Writing 51 00:03:22,040 --> 00:03:27,240 Speaker 1: is both my vocation and my avocation. That's all I do. 52 00:03:27,760 --> 00:03:30,880 Speaker 1: You may wonder why I should write a genealogy. Well, 53 00:03:30,960 --> 00:03:33,680 Speaker 1: to begin with, my story is interesting, and next I 54 00:03:33,720 --> 00:03:37,080 Speaker 1: am a mystery, more so than a tree, or sunset, 55 00:03:37,240 --> 00:03:40,800 Speaker 1: or even a flash of lightning. But sadly I'm taken 56 00:03:40,880 --> 00:03:44,600 Speaker 1: for granted by those who use me as if I 57 00:03:44,640 --> 00:03:49,440 Speaker 1: were a mere incident. And with that background, the supersillous 58 00:03:49,600 --> 00:03:53,640 Speaker 1: attitude relegates me to the level of commonplace. Let me 59 00:03:53,640 --> 00:03:58,400 Speaker 1: tell you something. This dispensul has quite a vocabulary. Is suluous. Yeah, 60 00:03:58,720 --> 00:04:01,640 Speaker 1: this is a species of the grievous error in which 61 00:04:01,720 --> 00:04:06,920 Speaker 1: mankind cannot too long persist without peril. For the wise GK. 62 00:04:07,160 --> 00:04:12,520 Speaker 1: Chesterson observed, we are perishing for want of wonder, not 63 00:04:13,080 --> 00:04:18,560 Speaker 1: for want of wonders. I pencil simple, though I appear 64 00:04:18,640 --> 00:04:22,159 Speaker 1: to be merit your wonder and all a claim I 65 00:04:22,160 --> 00:04:26,840 Speaker 1: shall attempt to prove in fact, if you can understand me, No, 66 00:04:27,400 --> 00:04:30,400 Speaker 1: that's too much to ask of anyone. If you can 67 00:04:30,440 --> 00:04:34,840 Speaker 1: become aware of the miraculousness which I symbolize, you can 68 00:04:34,880 --> 00:04:39,719 Speaker 1: help save the freedom mankind is so unhappily losing. I 69 00:04:39,760 --> 00:04:42,679 Speaker 1: have a profound lesson to teach, and I can teach 70 00:04:42,720 --> 00:04:46,240 Speaker 1: this lesson better than can an automobile, or an airplane 71 00:04:46,440 --> 00:04:52,240 Speaker 1: or a mechanical dishwasher, because well, because I am seemingly 72 00:04:52,680 --> 00:04:56,839 Speaker 1: so simple, simple, yet not a single person on the 73 00:04:56,839 --> 00:04:59,640 Speaker 1: face of the earth knows how to make me. This 74 00:04:59,680 --> 00:05:03,360 Speaker 1: sounds that fantastic, doesn't it, especially when I realize that 75 00:05:03,400 --> 00:05:08,120 Speaker 1: there are about one and one have billion of mankind 76 00:05:08,320 --> 00:05:12,160 Speaker 1: produced every year in the United States. Pick me up, 77 00:05:12,200 --> 00:05:15,080 Speaker 1: Look me over. What do you see? Not much meets 78 00:05:15,160 --> 00:05:19,839 Speaker 1: the eye. There's some wood, lacquer, the printed labeling, graphite, lead, 79 00:05:19,920 --> 00:05:23,520 Speaker 1: and a bit of metal and an eraser. Just as 80 00:05:23,560 --> 00:05:26,359 Speaker 1: you cannot trace your family tree back very far, so 81 00:05:26,760 --> 00:05:29,719 Speaker 1: it is it impossible for me to name and explain 82 00:05:29,960 --> 00:05:34,280 Speaker 1: all my antecedents. But I would like to suggest enough 83 00:05:34,320 --> 00:05:37,520 Speaker 1: of them to impress upon you the richness and complexity 84 00:05:38,040 --> 00:05:42,600 Speaker 1: of my background. My family tree begins with what, in 85 00:05:42,640 --> 00:05:45,719 Speaker 1: fact is a tree, a cedar of straight grain and 86 00:05:45,800 --> 00:05:50,000 Speaker 1: growth in northern Californian organ Now contemplate all the saws 87 00:05:50,040 --> 00:05:53,120 Speaker 1: and trucks and rope, and the countless other gear used 88 00:05:53,120 --> 00:05:56,560 Speaker 1: in harvesting and carting the cedar logs to the railroad siding. 89 00:05:57,160 --> 00:05:59,839 Speaker 1: Think of all the persons and the numberless skills that 90 00:06:00,200 --> 00:06:03,440 Speaker 1: into their fabrication. The mining of war, the making of 91 00:06:03,480 --> 00:06:08,640 Speaker 1: steel and it's refinement and assaws, axis motors, the growing 92 00:06:08,680 --> 00:06:11,240 Speaker 1: of hemp and bringing it through all the stages to 93 00:06:11,360 --> 00:06:15,679 Speaker 1: heavy and strong rope. The logging camps with their beds 94 00:06:15,720 --> 00:06:18,240 Speaker 1: and mess halls, the cookery and the raisings of all 95 00:06:18,279 --> 00:06:22,400 Speaker 1: the foods. Why, untold thousands of persons had a hand 96 00:06:22,440 --> 00:06:26,440 Speaker 1: in every cup of coffee the loggers drink. The logs 97 00:06:26,440 --> 00:06:30,240 Speaker 1: are shipped to a mill in San Leonardo, California. Can 98 00:06:30,279 --> 00:06:34,200 Speaker 1: you imagine the individuals who make flat cars and rails 99 00:06:34,240 --> 00:06:38,320 Speaker 1: and railroad engines, and who construct and install the communication 100 00:06:38,560 --> 00:06:44,719 Speaker 1: systems incidental there too. These legions are among my antecedents. 101 00:06:45,560 --> 00:06:49,760 Speaker 1: Consider the millwork and San leonardro am, I saying that right, 102 00:06:49,880 --> 00:06:54,080 Speaker 1: San Leonodro. Yeah. The cedar logs are cut into small 103 00:06:54,120 --> 00:06:57,360 Speaker 1: pencil length slats less than one fourth of an inch 104 00:06:57,440 --> 00:07:01,839 Speaker 1: in thickness. These are the kil dride and then tinted 105 00:07:01,920 --> 00:07:04,680 Speaker 1: for the same reason women put rouge on their faces. 106 00:07:05,480 --> 00:07:08,600 Speaker 1: People prefer that I look pretty, not a pallid white. 107 00:07:09,000 --> 00:07:13,240 Speaker 1: The slats are waxed and kiln dride. Again, how many 108 00:07:13,280 --> 00:07:16,080 Speaker 1: skills went into the making of the tent and the kilns, 109 00:07:16,120 --> 00:07:19,320 Speaker 1: and displaying the heat, the light, and the power, the belts, 110 00:07:19,480 --> 00:07:22,880 Speaker 1: motors and all the things a mill requires. Sweepers in 111 00:07:22,920 --> 00:07:27,080 Speaker 1: the mill among my ancestors, Yes, and included are the 112 00:07:27,120 --> 00:07:30,480 Speaker 1: men who poured the concrete for the dam of Pacific 113 00:07:30,560 --> 00:07:35,239 Speaker 1: gas and electric hydroplan which supplies the mill's power. Don't 114 00:07:35,240 --> 00:07:38,280 Speaker 1: overlook the ancestors present and distant who have had a 115 00:07:38,440 --> 00:07:41,760 Speaker 1: hand in transporting sixty car loads of slats across the 116 00:07:41,840 --> 00:07:46,440 Speaker 1: nation once in the pencil factory, four million dollars in 117 00:07:46,520 --> 00:07:50,800 Speaker 1: machinery in building, all capital accumulated by thrifty and saving 118 00:07:50,920 --> 00:07:54,520 Speaker 1: parents of mind. Each slat is giving an eight grews 119 00:07:54,560 --> 00:07:58,600 Speaker 1: by complex machine, after which another machine lays lead in 120 00:07:58,680 --> 00:08:03,520 Speaker 1: every other slat, applies glue and places another slat atop 121 00:08:04,120 --> 00:08:07,400 Speaker 1: a lead sandwich. So to speak. Seven brothers and I 122 00:08:07,440 --> 00:08:12,720 Speaker 1: are mechanically carved from this wood clinched sandwich. My lead itself. 123 00:08:12,840 --> 00:08:16,000 Speaker 1: It contains no lead at all. As complex the graphite 124 00:08:16,080 --> 00:08:23,080 Speaker 1: is mined, and where's the mind? Saline sea lion. Huh, 125 00:08:23,240 --> 00:08:27,000 Speaker 1: the graphite is mined in another country. Consider these miners 126 00:08:27,000 --> 00:08:29,360 Speaker 1: and those who make their many tools, and the makers 127 00:08:29,360 --> 00:08:32,000 Speaker 1: of the paper sacks in which the graphite is shipped, 128 00:08:32,600 --> 00:08:35,000 Speaker 1: and those who make the strings and the ties and 129 00:08:35,040 --> 00:08:37,400 Speaker 1: the sacks of those who put them aboard ships, and 130 00:08:37,400 --> 00:08:40,760 Speaker 1: those who make the ships. Even the lighthouse keepers along 131 00:08:40,760 --> 00:08:44,440 Speaker 1: the way assisted my birth and the harbor polts. The 132 00:08:44,480 --> 00:08:48,679 Speaker 1: graphite is mixed with clay from Mississippi, which is ammonium 133 00:08:48,800 --> 00:08:53,160 Speaker 1: hydroxide is used in the refining process. Then wedding agents 134 00:08:53,160 --> 00:08:57,760 Speaker 1: are added, such as sulfonated tallow animal fats chemically reacted 135 00:08:57,800 --> 00:09:02,000 Speaker 1: with furic acid I think, through numerous machines. The mixture 136 00:09:02,080 --> 00:09:07,000 Speaker 1: finally appears as endless extrusions as from a sausage grinder, 137 00:09:07,200 --> 00:09:10,080 Speaker 1: cut to size, dried and baked for several hours at 138 00:09:10,120 --> 00:09:13,880 Speaker 1: eighteen hundred and fifty degrees fahrenheit to increase their strength 139 00:09:13,920 --> 00:09:17,120 Speaker 1: and smoothness. The leads are then treated with the hot mixture, 140 00:09:17,120 --> 00:09:22,640 Speaker 1: which includes candelia wax from Mexico, paraffin wax, and hydrogenated 141 00:09:22,720 --> 00:09:28,040 Speaker 1: natural fats. My seedar receives six coats of lacquer. Do 142 00:09:28,080 --> 00:09:30,920 Speaker 1: you know all the ingredients of lacquer. Who would think 143 00:09:30,960 --> 00:09:33,520 Speaker 1: that the growers of castor beans and the refiners of 144 00:09:33,600 --> 00:09:37,520 Speaker 1: castor are part of it? There are why even in 145 00:09:37,520 --> 00:09:41,000 Speaker 1: the process by which lacquers made a beautiful yellow involve 146 00:09:41,120 --> 00:09:46,079 Speaker 1: the skills more persons than one can enumerate observe the labeling. 147 00:09:46,360 --> 00:09:50,079 Speaker 1: That's a film formed by applying heat to a carbon 148 00:09:50,120 --> 00:09:53,920 Speaker 1: black mixed with resins. How do you make resins? And 149 00:09:54,000 --> 00:09:57,720 Speaker 1: what prey is carbon black? My bit of metal, the 150 00:09:57,800 --> 00:10:01,080 Speaker 1: ferrell is brass. Think of all the persons who mind 151 00:10:01,200 --> 00:10:03,440 Speaker 1: zinc and copper, and those who have the skills to 152 00:10:03,480 --> 00:10:07,079 Speaker 1: make shiny sheets brass from these products of nature. Those 153 00:10:07,120 --> 00:10:10,840 Speaker 1: black rings on my ferral or black nickel? What is 154 00:10:10,880 --> 00:10:13,840 Speaker 1: black nickel and how is it applied? The complete story 155 00:10:13,880 --> 00:10:16,120 Speaker 1: of why the center of my ferrial has no black 156 00:10:16,240 --> 00:10:20,120 Speaker 1: nickel on it would take pages to explain. Then there's 157 00:10:20,160 --> 00:10:23,760 Speaker 1: my crowning glory, and elegantly referred to in the trade 158 00:10:23,840 --> 00:10:27,120 Speaker 1: is the plug the part man uses to erase the 159 00:10:27,200 --> 00:10:31,880 Speaker 1: errors he makes with me. An ingredient called fectus is 160 00:10:31,920 --> 00:10:35,400 Speaker 1: what does the erasing. It's a rubber like product made 161 00:10:35,480 --> 00:10:40,800 Speaker 1: by reacting rape seed oil from the Dutch East Indies, 162 00:10:40,840 --> 00:10:44,960 Speaker 1: which sulfur chloride. Rubber, contrary to the common notion, is 163 00:10:45,000 --> 00:10:49,439 Speaker 1: only for binding purposes. Then too are the numerous vulcanizing 164 00:10:49,480 --> 00:10:52,720 Speaker 1: and accelerating agents. The pumis comes from Italy, and the 165 00:10:52,760 --> 00:10:57,160 Speaker 1: pigment which gives the plug its color cadium sulfide. Does 166 00:10:57,200 --> 00:11:00,400 Speaker 1: anybody wish to challenge my earlier assertion that no single 167 00:11:00,440 --> 00:11:02,160 Speaker 1: person on the face of the earth knows how to 168 00:11:02,160 --> 00:11:06,840 Speaker 1: make me? Actually, millions of human beings I've had a 169 00:11:06,920 --> 00:11:10,400 Speaker 1: hand in my creation, no one of whom even knows 170 00:11:10,640 --> 00:11:13,200 Speaker 1: more than a very few of the others. Now, you 171 00:11:13,240 --> 00:11:15,720 Speaker 1: may say I go too far in relating the picker 172 00:11:15,760 --> 00:11:19,480 Speaker 1: of a coffreeberrier in far off Brazil and food growers 173 00:11:19,880 --> 00:11:23,760 Speaker 1: elsewhere to my creation. If this is an extreme position, 174 00:11:24,440 --> 00:11:27,240 Speaker 1: I shall stand on my claim. There isn't a single 175 00:11:27,280 --> 00:11:29,800 Speaker 1: person in all of these millions, including the president of 176 00:11:29,800 --> 00:11:34,040 Speaker 1: the pencil company, who contributes more than a tiny, infinitesimal 177 00:11:34,080 --> 00:11:37,440 Speaker 1: bit of know how. From the standpoint of know how, 178 00:11:37,760 --> 00:11:40,920 Speaker 1: the only difference between the miner of graphite and Salem 179 00:11:41,360 --> 00:11:44,720 Speaker 1: and the longer and organ is the type of know how. 180 00:11:45,240 --> 00:11:48,000 Speaker 1: Neither the miner nor the longer can be dispensed with 181 00:11:48,240 --> 00:11:50,599 Speaker 1: any more than can the chemist at the factory or 182 00:11:50,640 --> 00:11:53,840 Speaker 1: the worker in the oil field, paraffin being a byproduct 183 00:11:53,880 --> 00:11:58,319 Speaker 1: of petroleum. Here's the astounding fact. Neither the worker in 184 00:11:58,360 --> 00:12:01,400 Speaker 1: the oil field, nor the chemist, the digger of graphite 185 00:12:01,559 --> 00:12:04,719 Speaker 1: or clay, nor any man who makes the ships or 186 00:12:04,760 --> 00:12:07,480 Speaker 1: trains or trucks, nor the ones who runs the machines 187 00:12:07,520 --> 00:12:10,200 Speaker 1: that does the neuraling on my bit of metal, nor 188 00:12:10,240 --> 00:12:13,840 Speaker 1: the president company performs a singular task because he wants me. 189 00:12:15,040 --> 00:12:18,520 Speaker 1: Each one wants me less, perhaps than does a child 190 00:12:18,559 --> 00:12:22,760 Speaker 1: in first grade. Indeed, there are some of among the 191 00:12:22,880 --> 00:12:26,199 Speaker 1: vast multitude who never saw a pencil, or would they 192 00:12:26,320 --> 00:12:29,360 Speaker 1: know how to use one. Their motivation is other than me. 193 00:12:29,920 --> 00:12:33,319 Speaker 1: Perhaps it is something like this. Each of these millions 194 00:12:33,400 --> 00:12:36,560 Speaker 1: sees that he can thus exchange his tiny nohow for 195 00:12:36,600 --> 00:12:39,439 Speaker 1: the goods and services he needs or wants. I may 196 00:12:39,520 --> 00:12:42,920 Speaker 1: or may not be among these items. There is, in fact, 197 00:12:42,960 --> 00:12:47,160 Speaker 1: still more astounding the absence of a mastermind, of anyone 198 00:12:47,360 --> 00:12:51,400 Speaker 1: dictating or forcibly directing these countless actions which bring me 199 00:12:51,440 --> 00:12:55,920 Speaker 1: into being. No trade of such a person can be found. Instead, 200 00:12:56,360 --> 00:13:03,720 Speaker 1: we found the invisible hand at work. Will be right back. 201 00:13:23,040 --> 00:13:26,120 Speaker 1: That is the mystery to which I referred earlier. It 202 00:13:26,160 --> 00:13:28,679 Speaker 1: has been said that only God can make a tree. 203 00:13:29,400 --> 00:13:31,880 Speaker 1: Why do we agree with this? Isn't it because we 204 00:13:32,040 --> 00:13:36,240 Speaker 1: realized that we ourselves could not make one. Indeed, can 205 00:13:36,320 --> 00:13:40,400 Speaker 1: we even describe a tree? We can't, except for in 206 00:13:40,559 --> 00:13:44,120 Speaker 1: superfluous terms. We can say, for instance, that a certain 207 00:13:44,160 --> 00:13:48,880 Speaker 1: molecular configuration manifests itself as a tree. But what mind 208 00:13:48,960 --> 00:13:52,240 Speaker 1: is there among men that could even record, let alone direct, 209 00:13:52,280 --> 00:13:55,920 Speaker 1: the constant changes of molecules that transpire in the lifespan 210 00:13:56,000 --> 00:14:00,640 Speaker 1: of a tree. Such a feed is unthinkable. I pencil 211 00:14:01,160 --> 00:14:06,320 Speaker 1: I am a complex combination of miracles, a tree, zinc, copper, graphite, 212 00:14:06,320 --> 00:14:10,000 Speaker 1: and so on. But to those miracles which manifest themselves 213 00:14:10,000 --> 00:14:13,600 Speaker 1: in nature, an even more extraordinary miracle has been added, 214 00:14:14,080 --> 00:14:18,800 Speaker 1: the configuration of creative human energies, millions of tiny no howls, 215 00:14:18,920 --> 00:14:23,760 Speaker 1: configurating naturally and spontaneously in response to the human necessity 216 00:14:23,760 --> 00:14:28,080 Speaker 1: and desire and the absence of human masterminding. Since only 217 00:14:28,160 --> 00:14:31,040 Speaker 1: God can make a tree, I insist only God could 218 00:14:31,080 --> 00:14:34,360 Speaker 1: make me. Man can no more direct these millions of 219 00:14:34,400 --> 00:14:36,920 Speaker 1: no hows to bring me into being than he can 220 00:14:36,960 --> 00:14:40,520 Speaker 1: put molecules together to create a tree. The above is 221 00:14:40,560 --> 00:14:43,200 Speaker 1: what I'm meant when writing. If you can become aware 222 00:14:43,360 --> 00:14:47,360 Speaker 1: of the miraculousness which I symbolize, you can help save 223 00:14:47,440 --> 00:14:53,160 Speaker 1: the freedom of mankind as so unhappily losing. Four. If 224 00:14:53,200 --> 00:14:57,200 Speaker 1: one is aware that these no hows will naturally, yes automatically, 225 00:14:57,320 --> 00:15:01,000 Speaker 1: arrange themselves into creative and productive pass in response to 226 00:15:01,120 --> 00:15:05,120 Speaker 1: human necessity and demand, that is, in the absence of 227 00:15:05,280 --> 00:15:11,600 Speaker 1: government or any other coercive masterminding, then one will possess 228 00:15:11,640 --> 00:15:16,280 Speaker 1: an absolutely essential ingredient for freedom of faith in free people. 229 00:15:16,720 --> 00:15:20,960 Speaker 1: Freedom is impossible without its faith. Once government has had 230 00:15:21,000 --> 00:15:24,640 Speaker 1: a monopoly of a creative activity, such as, for instance, 231 00:15:24,960 --> 00:15:28,640 Speaker 1: as the delivery of males, most individuals will believe that 232 00:15:28,680 --> 00:15:32,200 Speaker 1: these males could not be efficiently delivered by men acting freely. 233 00:15:32,680 --> 00:15:36,440 Speaker 1: And here's the reason. Each one acknowledges that he himself 234 00:15:36,520 --> 00:15:38,560 Speaker 1: doesn't know how to do all of the things to 235 00:15:38,840 --> 00:15:42,840 Speaker 1: male delivery. He also recognizes that no other individual could 236 00:15:42,880 --> 00:15:47,320 Speaker 1: do it. These assumptions are correct. No individual possesses enough 237 00:15:47,360 --> 00:15:51,840 Speaker 1: no form nation's male delivery, any more than any individuals 238 00:15:51,880 --> 00:15:55,200 Speaker 1: possess them know how to make a pencil. Now, in 239 00:15:55,200 --> 00:15:58,320 Speaker 1: the absence of a faith in free people and the 240 00:15:58,520 --> 00:16:03,160 Speaker 1: unawareness that millions of tiny nohows would naturally miraculously form 241 00:16:03,240 --> 00:16:08,000 Speaker 1: and cooperate satisfy this necessity. The individual cannot help but 242 00:16:08,080 --> 00:16:11,920 Speaker 1: to reach the erroneous conclusion that mail can be delivered 243 00:16:11,960 --> 00:16:17,800 Speaker 1: only by the government masterminding. If I pencil were the 244 00:16:17,840 --> 00:16:20,880 Speaker 1: only item that could offer testimony on what men and 245 00:16:20,920 --> 00:16:24,440 Speaker 1: women can accomplish when free to try, then those with 246 00:16:24,520 --> 00:16:28,000 Speaker 1: little faith would have a fair case. However, there is 247 00:16:28,120 --> 00:16:33,000 Speaker 1: testimony glore. It's all about us, and on every hand, 248 00:16:33,560 --> 00:16:37,280 Speaker 1: mail delivery is an exceedingly simple when compared, for instance, 249 00:16:37,320 --> 00:16:41,440 Speaker 1: to the making of an automobile, or calculating machine, or 250 00:16:41,600 --> 00:16:46,040 Speaker 1: grain combine or milling machine, or to tens of thousands 251 00:16:46,040 --> 00:16:49,640 Speaker 1: of other things. Delivery why in this area where men 252 00:16:49,680 --> 00:16:52,440 Speaker 1: have been left free to try. They deliver the human 253 00:16:52,520 --> 00:16:55,400 Speaker 1: voice around the world in less than one second. They 254 00:16:55,440 --> 00:16:58,600 Speaker 1: deliver an event visually and in motion to any person's 255 00:16:58,600 --> 00:17:01,520 Speaker 1: home when it's happening. They deliver one hundred and fifty 256 00:17:01,560 --> 00:17:04,760 Speaker 1: passengers from Seattle to Baltimore in less than four hours. 257 00:17:05,119 --> 00:17:08,400 Speaker 1: They deliver gas from Texas to one's range or furnish 258 00:17:08,440 --> 00:17:12,359 Speaker 1: in New York at unbelievably low rates and without subsidy. 259 00:17:12,880 --> 00:17:15,720 Speaker 1: They deliver each four pounds of oil from the Persian 260 00:17:15,760 --> 00:17:18,960 Speaker 1: Gulf to our eastern seaboard, halfway around the world, for 261 00:17:19,080 --> 00:17:22,280 Speaker 1: less money than the government charges for delivering a one 262 00:17:22,320 --> 00:17:26,800 Speaker 1: ounce letter across the street. The lesson have to teaches 263 00:17:26,880 --> 00:17:32,359 Speaker 1: this leave all creative energies uninhibited, merely organized society to 264 00:17:32,480 --> 00:17:36,960 Speaker 1: act in harmony with this lesson. Let society's legal apparatus 265 00:17:36,960 --> 00:17:41,240 Speaker 1: remove all obstacles the best it can permit these creative 266 00:17:41,320 --> 00:17:44,760 Speaker 1: no hows freely to flow. Have faith that free men 267 00:17:44,800 --> 00:17:48,320 Speaker 1: and women will respond to the invisible hand. The faith 268 00:17:48,359 --> 00:17:53,320 Speaker 1: will be confirmed. I pencil seemingly simple than I am, 269 00:17:54,000 --> 00:17:57,720 Speaker 1: all of the miracle of my creation as testimony that 270 00:17:57,800 --> 00:18:01,720 Speaker 1: there's practical faith, as practical as the sun, the rain, 271 00:18:02,000 --> 00:18:06,080 Speaker 1: a cedar tree, the good earth. I remember reading that. 272 00:18:06,280 --> 00:18:08,120 Speaker 1: I think I read it in college. It's either high 273 00:18:08,119 --> 00:18:15,000 Speaker 1: school or college. Some professor had us read it. It is, oh, 274 00:18:15,160 --> 00:18:17,480 Speaker 1: you don't want me to get political. But it does 275 00:18:17,720 --> 00:18:24,120 Speaker 1: speak to how important our freedoms are, how important free 276 00:18:24,160 --> 00:18:29,320 Speaker 1: trade is, because the pencil can't exist without parts and 277 00:18:29,359 --> 00:18:38,080 Speaker 1: places from all over the world tariffs. And it also 278 00:18:38,200 --> 00:18:43,439 Speaker 1: speaks to what an army of normal folks can do 279 00:18:44,520 --> 00:18:53,520 Speaker 1: when energized and running things versus the mastermind of an 280 00:18:53,600 --> 00:18:59,880 Speaker 1: all too powerful centralized government that somehow we convince ourselves 281 00:19:00,080 --> 00:19:05,119 Speaker 1: we can't live without. The greatest line there is that 282 00:19:06,880 --> 00:19:10,439 Speaker 1: we can deliver oil from the Persian Gulf to the 283 00:19:10,480 --> 00:19:18,440 Speaker 1: Eastern Seaboard by volume cheaper than the government can deliver 284 00:19:18,520 --> 00:19:24,600 Speaker 1: a one ounce envelope across the streets. That we have 285 00:19:24,720 --> 00:19:28,520 Speaker 1: to get our minds around what an army of normal 286 00:19:28,600 --> 00:19:31,160 Speaker 1: folks left free to operate and do what they do, 287 00:19:32,640 --> 00:19:37,200 Speaker 1: can create against the backdrop of some all powerful big brother. 288 00:19:37,960 --> 00:19:39,359 Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it really makes the case for an 289 00:19:39,440 --> 00:19:41,879 Speaker 3: army of normal folks. Obviously he's mostly talking about the 290 00:19:41,920 --> 00:19:43,800 Speaker 3: economy there, but I think the same thing with all 291 00:19:43,800 --> 00:19:44,840 Speaker 3: of our social problems. 292 00:19:44,920 --> 00:19:47,800 Speaker 1: Sure, it's the same thing, It's absolutely the same thing. 293 00:19:47,840 --> 00:19:50,480 Speaker 3: And even put the government aside, like my new colleagues 294 00:19:50,480 --> 00:19:54,760 Speaker 3: will even often talk about like large distant nonprofits aren't 295 00:19:54,840 --> 00:19:56,440 Speaker 3: likely going to solve these problems either. 296 00:19:56,720 --> 00:19:58,240 Speaker 2: It's often going to be top down. Two. 297 00:19:58,440 --> 00:20:01,560 Speaker 3: If it's just a program, right as in normal folk, 298 00:20:01,680 --> 00:20:03,720 Speaker 3: like a member in your local community helping out one 299 00:20:03,720 --> 00:20:06,640 Speaker 3: other person, they're going to have way more knowledge about 300 00:20:06,640 --> 00:20:07,760 Speaker 3: what that person needs. 301 00:20:08,440 --> 00:20:10,440 Speaker 2: You know, versus some distant bureaucrat. 302 00:20:11,280 --> 00:20:15,080 Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean, honestly, the etymology of a pencil is 303 00:20:15,320 --> 00:20:20,159 Speaker 1: a bottom up idea. It's all of these itty bitty 304 00:20:20,359 --> 00:20:27,600 Speaker 1: little subskill sets, each person doing what they can, not 305 00:20:27,640 --> 00:20:32,240 Speaker 1: even the understanding, many of whom will not even understand 306 00:20:32,320 --> 00:20:36,080 Speaker 1: that their work will lead to a pencil, but doing 307 00:20:36,119 --> 00:20:38,879 Speaker 1: what they can, and all those little subskill sets coming 308 00:20:38,880 --> 00:20:45,560 Speaker 1: together from an array of different places that end up 309 00:20:45,640 --> 00:20:52,280 Speaker 1: being a pencil. The metaphor, I think is if each 310 00:20:52,320 --> 00:20:54,240 Speaker 1: of us in the army could just do what we 311 00:20:54,359 --> 00:20:57,800 Speaker 1: can where we can. We may not even can see 312 00:20:57,880 --> 00:21:00,439 Speaker 1: what the big picture looks like down the road, but 313 00:21:00,520 --> 00:21:03,840 Speaker 1: we're all vital and integral to the creation of a 314 00:21:03,840 --> 00:21:04,720 Speaker 1: better society. 315 00:21:05,640 --> 00:21:07,200 Speaker 2: I think it's good humility too. 316 00:21:07,320 --> 00:21:09,920 Speaker 3: I'm sure you had a similar realization, but somewhere around 317 00:21:09,960 --> 00:21:13,199 Speaker 3: twenty two or twenty five I had the thought like, man, 318 00:21:13,280 --> 00:21:17,200 Speaker 3: I know nothing. There is just like so much to 319 00:21:17,200 --> 00:21:19,800 Speaker 3: know out there. Yeah, and even this thought, when you're 320 00:21:19,800 --> 00:21:21,800 Speaker 3: reading it, like thinking about your business out here, think 321 00:21:21,800 --> 00:21:24,199 Speaker 3: about the tens of millions of people involved with creating 322 00:21:24,240 --> 00:21:25,320 Speaker 3: all the parts in your. 323 00:21:25,200 --> 00:21:27,240 Speaker 1: Facility, right, I mean, it's just incredible. 324 00:21:27,280 --> 00:21:29,480 Speaker 3: There's no way you could know all the knowledge related 325 00:21:29,520 --> 00:21:31,760 Speaker 3: to that, right, I mean, so it's good humility for 326 00:21:31,840 --> 00:21:32,200 Speaker 3: us to. 327 00:21:32,560 --> 00:21:34,439 Speaker 1: I can't tell you how many times we have a 328 00:21:34,440 --> 00:21:39,560 Speaker 1: piece of machinery grow bro and finding the replacement parts 329 00:21:40,440 --> 00:21:43,920 Speaker 1: involves four or five or six different countries to find 330 00:21:43,960 --> 00:21:45,840 Speaker 1: all the parts that we have to get to put 331 00:21:45,880 --> 00:21:52,040 Speaker 1: machines back together. And it is It is just like 332 00:21:52,119 --> 00:21:59,240 Speaker 1: the pencil and some guy making a set of bearings 333 00:22:00,119 --> 00:22:04,720 Speaker 1: somewhere in Ohio that's going to go on a shaft 334 00:22:04,880 --> 00:22:12,439 Speaker 1: created in Mississippi, that's going to combine to a mechanical 335 00:22:12,480 --> 00:22:17,520 Speaker 1: board created by from in Italy, and then all of 336 00:22:17,520 --> 00:22:22,200 Speaker 1: that assembled in Memphis to be put on a drive 337 00:22:23,000 --> 00:22:27,160 Speaker 1: on a machine created in Quebec whose sole job it 338 00:22:27,240 --> 00:22:33,560 Speaker 1: is to put strapping on a pack of lumber to 339 00:22:33,640 --> 00:22:37,480 Speaker 1: keep the pack of lumber and the strap is extruded 340 00:22:37,520 --> 00:22:42,520 Speaker 1: in India. That all is simply to put a band 341 00:22:42,920 --> 00:22:45,600 Speaker 1: around a pack of lumber. When you think about it, 342 00:22:46,000 --> 00:22:46,760 Speaker 1: that's insane. 343 00:22:46,920 --> 00:22:49,400 Speaker 3: But it's easy to do one thing well, and it's 344 00:22:49,440 --> 00:22:52,720 Speaker 3: easy to love one person. Well, it's true, Well you 345 00:22:52,760 --> 00:22:55,520 Speaker 3: don't nothing else doing that. It's it can change the country. 346 00:22:56,000 --> 00:22:56,680 Speaker 3: That's awesome. 347 00:22:57,000 --> 00:23:00,840 Speaker 1: So yes, we just told a story about a pencil, 348 00:23:01,119 --> 00:23:04,200 Speaker 1: But that story is a metaphor for so much more. 349 00:23:04,240 --> 00:23:09,399 Speaker 1: And ultimately, the metaphor is each of us do really 350 00:23:09,400 --> 00:23:11,840 Speaker 1: well what we can, where we are, and what we're 351 00:23:11,840 --> 00:23:15,600 Speaker 1: passionate about, and create an army of normal folks. And 352 00:23:14,720 --> 00:23:20,080 Speaker 1: even your little bits of work, you may not even 353 00:23:20,359 --> 00:23:23,760 Speaker 1: see what the final product is or can even fathom 354 00:23:23,760 --> 00:23:27,520 Speaker 1: what it could be, but the etymology of a pencil 355 00:23:27,600 --> 00:23:33,159 Speaker 1: shows us that millions of efforts can make something incredible. 356 00:23:34,280 --> 00:23:40,240 Speaker 1: So that's shop Talk number eighty two two, and we 357 00:23:40,320 --> 00:23:44,360 Speaker 1: appreciate you joining us, Alex, What do we got to do? 358 00:23:44,520 --> 00:23:46,919 Speaker 1: If people like this, they need to rate it and 359 00:23:46,920 --> 00:23:47,359 Speaker 1: review it. 360 00:23:47,720 --> 00:23:50,640 Speaker 3: Join the podcast, subscribe to the podcast, Join the Army 361 00:23:50,680 --> 00:23:53,040 Speaker 3: of Normal Folks at us. If you live in these 362 00:23:53,040 --> 00:23:59,480 Speaker 3: six places Oxford, Memphis, Atlanta, Milwaukee which it's a Clinton, 363 00:23:59,480 --> 00:24:01,719 Speaker 3: New York. Join our local chapters, and if you want 364 00:24:01,760 --> 00:24:03,880 Speaker 3: to start one, let me know. My email is Army 365 00:24:03,920 --> 00:24:05,000 Speaker 3: at normal Folks dot us. 366 00:24:05,359 --> 00:24:08,040 Speaker 1: Yeah, and if you have any ideas for people to 367 00:24:08,840 --> 00:24:11,119 Speaker 1: interview on an Army of normal Folks or an ideas 368 00:24:11,119 --> 00:24:15,200 Speaker 1: for shop talk, please write us anytime at built normal 369 00:24:15,240 --> 00:24:17,960 Speaker 1: Folks dot us and hopefully it's a good idea we'll 370 00:24:17,960 --> 00:24:22,040 Speaker 1: take it up and I guess that's it. Shop Talking 371 00:24:22,080 --> 00:24:25,200 Speaker 1: number thirty two. Thanks for joining us. We'll see you 372 00:24:25,240 --> 00:24:33,600 Speaker 1: next week.