WEBVTT - Toys, Part 1 0:00:04.840 --> 0:00:09.959 Santa Talos is invincible, bronze bodies coursing I Corps and 0:00:10.240 --> 0:00:14.240 Christmas cheer. I saw three ships. He is here to 0:00:14.360 --> 0:00:17.520 hurl presents and goodies, and you are three ships as 0:00:17.560 --> 0:00:22.159 they come sailing on Christmas Day, on Christmas Day, On 0:00:22.440 --> 0:00:31.880 Christmas Day in the morning, initiated Defense Vertical Ho Ho Ho. 0:00:38.560 --> 0:00:45.199 Welcome to Invention, a production of I Heart Radio. Hey, 0:00:45.240 --> 0:00:48.159 welcome to Invention. My name is Robert Lamb and I'm 0:00:48.240 --> 0:00:50.239 Joe McCormick. Can you know what we were doing right 0:00:50.280 --> 0:00:53.440 before we started recording? We were listening to the Smashing 0:00:53.479 --> 0:00:58.040 Pumpkins Christmas song. We were yeah, which wasn't bad I did. 0:00:58.160 --> 0:01:01.520 I didn't dislike it, No, I actually kind of love it. 0:01:01.520 --> 0:01:05.840 It's hilarious though, hearing Billy Corgan gushing breathlessly about how 0:01:05.880 --> 0:01:09.920 there are toys for everyone on Christmas Day, Uh, which 0:01:09.959 --> 0:01:12.679 is funny because like you can totally believe it, like 0:01:12.880 --> 0:01:15.080 you know, he's in I guess I wouldn't normally think 0:01:15.120 --> 0:01:18.440 of The Smashing Pumpkins as music for children, but like 0:01:18.520 --> 0:01:21.840 the the obsession, Like even as an adult, I can 0:01:21.880 --> 0:01:25.920 remember what it felt like to to believe that toys 0:01:26.000 --> 0:01:29.280 were incoming. Like how exciting that was that you would 0:01:29.280 --> 0:01:33.480 have new objects to play pretend with incoming presence hurtling 0:01:33.560 --> 0:01:37.360 towards your ship as they're thrown by the Bronze Age 0:01:37.520 --> 0:01:40.319 Automaton tell us, well, you know, I would say that 0:01:40.480 --> 0:01:43.360 even as an adult, I still know what it's like 0:01:43.400 --> 0:01:48.640 sometimes to want things. But there's nothing as an adult 0:01:48.680 --> 0:01:50.960 that I feel that is equivalent to the way that 0:01:51.080 --> 0:01:54.400 I wanted toys as a child. Oh yeah, I mean 0:01:54.440 --> 0:01:56.640 I've I've spoken on the show before about how you know, 0:01:56.680 --> 0:01:59.320 you would want a toy so badly they would dream 0:01:59.360 --> 0:02:01.680 about it and see it in your bed with you 0:02:01.720 --> 0:02:04.000 when you woke up in the morning. And uh yeah, 0:02:04.080 --> 0:02:08.120 it's a it's a different realm of of of wants 0:02:08.120 --> 0:02:11.359 and needs when you're that age. But toys are fascinating, 0:02:11.600 --> 0:02:14.840 you know, they've they've been with us since very ancient times. 0:02:14.880 --> 0:02:17.639 We have evidence of you know, toys dating back to 0:02:17.840 --> 0:02:20.400 so you know, have things like the wonderful horse toys 0:02:20.480 --> 0:02:23.720 of ancient Egypt. Uh. And they speak to the timeless 0:02:23.800 --> 0:02:26.640 nature of play and the use of physical objects in 0:02:26.720 --> 0:02:29.240 our play, and not only in our play, also in 0:02:29.240 --> 0:02:32.800 our instruction. But they also fit very much into uh, 0:02:32.840 --> 0:02:37.240 into the archaeological picture of ancient technology. The earliest physical 0:02:37.280 --> 0:02:40.200 evidence of wheels I think in the Western hemisphere, definitely 0:02:40.200 --> 0:02:43.720 in the America's is wheeled toys like you know, like 0:02:43.800 --> 0:02:47.840 little statuettes of of horses and stuff found in ancient 0:02:47.880 --> 0:02:50.679 Mesoamerica and South America. I believe that have wheels for 0:02:50.800 --> 0:02:54.160 moving around on yeah, and then you know, also they 0:02:54.160 --> 0:02:56.600 have often have dual purposes as well. I was when 0:02:56.639 --> 0:02:58.920 I was in Hawaii most recently, I went to a 0:02:59.000 --> 0:03:03.680 few different museums that were devoted to you know, you know, 0:03:03.720 --> 0:03:09.040 oceanic technology and oceanic culture, and they pointed out that 0:03:09.280 --> 0:03:13.240 model ships were essential to ship builders. You know, they 0:03:13.280 --> 0:03:17.120 showed in miniature what the larger product would be and 0:03:17.160 --> 0:03:19.520 helped you instruct others in how to build it. And 0:03:19.520 --> 0:03:21.800 in the reverses, you've also kind of made a wonderful 0:03:21.840 --> 0:03:25.400 toy in the process. But also I think toys are 0:03:26.080 --> 0:03:28.600 we shouldn't think of them as frivolous as far as 0:03:28.639 --> 0:03:33.000 inventions go, because play is not frivolous. The play that 0:03:33.160 --> 0:03:36.520 children do shapes the I mean, it's like the most 0:03:36.600 --> 0:03:39.240 important part of a child's education, I think, far more 0:03:39.280 --> 0:03:42.200 even than the technical subjects they learn as they grow up. 0:03:42.280 --> 0:03:45.320 I mean, you've got to be able to explore the 0:03:45.360 --> 0:03:49.400 physical world and manipulate things. Uh, And and toys are 0:03:49.440 --> 0:03:51.880 an important part of that. Yeah. In some cases toys 0:03:51.880 --> 0:03:55.640 are are actually training you know, young bodies and young 0:03:55.680 --> 0:03:59.240 minds for the manipulation of important tools. You know. Other times, 0:03:59.320 --> 0:04:03.040 especially in modern age, they can be more specifically educational. 0:04:03.360 --> 0:04:06.160 Though generally when you look at the history of toys, 0:04:06.240 --> 0:04:08.120 that is is kind of like the history of how 0:04:08.120 --> 0:04:10.720 we think about children, right. The idea that this is 0:04:10.760 --> 0:04:12.640 a time to educate them when toys is more or 0:04:12.720 --> 0:04:17.640 less uh, you know, a modern uh discovery if you will. 0:04:18.160 --> 0:04:20.000 But but also you know, there are always to think 0:04:20.040 --> 0:04:22.800 about toys, such as you know, thinking about them as products. 0:04:23.080 --> 0:04:27.120 I was reading an article by Edward a Newmark titled 0:04:27.200 --> 0:04:29.720 British Toys, which is just all about British toys. But 0:04:29.800 --> 0:04:32.800 he points out that you know, these are unique as 0:04:32.920 --> 0:04:37.200 items created for sale. Most toys are aimed at an 0:04:37.200 --> 0:04:40.760 individual who will not be a repeat customer, not until 0:04:40.839 --> 0:04:43.200 some twenty years later when they perhaps buy the same 0:04:43.240 --> 0:04:46.120 toy again for their own children. Most toys have an 0:04:46.120 --> 0:04:48.640 active life of a mere you know, a couple of years, 0:04:48.720 --> 0:04:51.080 and the test of a great toy is whether it 0:04:51.120 --> 0:04:53.960 will still be on the market a decade after its release. 0:04:54.520 --> 0:04:57.680 And so many toys pass into history only to to 0:04:57.720 --> 0:05:00.880 only possibly be resurrected twenty years light or on an 0:05:00.960 --> 0:05:05.440 updraft collective nostalgia. And yet other toys have become true 0:05:05.480 --> 0:05:08.280 classics and stand the test of time. They are the 0:05:08.360 --> 0:05:12.080 sort of iconic toys that you'll see Santa Claus bringing 0:05:12.080 --> 0:05:15.560 to children in um, you know, in cartoons and whatnot. 0:05:15.600 --> 0:05:19.960 The kind of toys that even modern Santa Claus fictions 0:05:20.320 --> 0:05:25.200 will will show Santa Claus making in his workshop. Yeah, 0:05:25.240 --> 0:05:28.080 totally this year, in twenty nineteen, Santa will not be 0:05:28.160 --> 0:05:32.080 bringing children POGs mostly, and will not be bringing children 0:05:32.080 --> 0:05:35.760 tickle me elmos unless there's some strange revival. But lots 0:05:35.760 --> 0:05:37.359 of kids all over the place are probably gonna be 0:05:37.360 --> 0:05:42.560 getting toy trucks and dolls and blocks. I mean, there 0:05:42.560 --> 0:05:46.120 are certain toy forms that stand the test of time. Yea, 0:05:46.200 --> 0:05:50.159 the sort of generic classic toys that that still show 0:05:50.240 --> 0:05:52.080 up under under the Christmas tree. There're still part of 0:05:52.080 --> 0:05:55.560 our our lives. Um see how we've touched on some 0:05:55.600 --> 0:05:58.839 of the roles that toys play, you know, they you know, 0:05:59.240 --> 0:06:02.479 we sometimes they educate. Sometimes it's a it's about tool use. 0:06:02.800 --> 0:06:05.080 Other times there you just see toys emerged sort of 0:06:05.120 --> 0:06:08.880 peeling off from technological advancements of the day, and uh, 0:06:08.920 --> 0:06:11.720 you know, and others are examples of specific designs intended 0:06:11.760 --> 0:06:15.480 to teach. So history is full of philosophical toys, educational toys, 0:06:15.680 --> 0:06:21.480 sports toys, war toys, adult toys, pointless toys, and more. Right, 0:06:21.560 --> 0:06:23.440 and for that reason, we thought it might be fun 0:06:23.560 --> 0:06:25.920 to do a couple of episodes here where we just 0:06:26.000 --> 0:06:29.440 look at a series of different toys throughout history, where 0:06:29.440 --> 0:06:32.960 they came from and what made them so popular. Right, 0:06:33.040 --> 0:06:36.760 And this will be great because these are inventions. These uh, 0:06:36.880 --> 0:06:40.640 these are things that people created and they're part of 0:06:40.640 --> 0:06:44.479 our our technico history, but they're not necessarily items that 0:06:44.960 --> 0:06:49.080 benefit from an entire episode's treatment. So let's let's throw 0:06:49.120 --> 0:06:52.880 open uh Santa Talos's bag and see what kind of 0:06:52.920 --> 0:06:55.559 toys we have to discuss here today. All right, First, 0:06:55.600 --> 0:06:58.040 it looks like we've got before some kind of strange 0:06:58.160 --> 0:07:02.080 lament configuration of box, except it's got a handle you 0:07:02.120 --> 0:07:04.280 can crank. Ye, I don't know what what is this year? 0:07:04.360 --> 0:07:07.080 It's a delightful little clockwork box. And and if I 0:07:07.120 --> 0:07:09.440 open it it has such sights to show me. It is, 0:07:09.480 --> 0:07:13.440 of course the Jack in the Box a classic toy. Again, 0:07:13.480 --> 0:07:15.760 this is one of those that you see in Santa 0:07:15.760 --> 0:07:18.560 Claus cartoons. You see Santa Claus making an old timey 0:07:18.600 --> 0:07:21.760 Santa Claus movies, and and indeed it still shows up 0:07:21.880 --> 0:07:25.520 under the tree, sometimes with a franchise character jumping out 0:07:25.560 --> 0:07:28.800 of it instead of kind of a generic old timey clown. Okay, 0:07:28.800 --> 0:07:30.640 so how does the Jack in the Box work for 0:07:30.720 --> 0:07:33.840 those those youngsters who have never actually held one. Well, 0:07:34.040 --> 0:07:37.080 one winds a crank on the side of the box 0:07:37.120 --> 0:07:40.720 to power a music box inside, generally playing something like 0:07:40.800 --> 0:07:45.760 pop goes the Weasel, you know something that's do and 0:07:45.760 --> 0:07:47.560 it means the faster you crank at, the faster the 0:07:47.600 --> 0:07:49.840 song goes. That's still under copyright. Are we gonna get 0:07:49.840 --> 0:07:53.160 in trouble? Uh? Actually, that's fair, you see even if 0:07:53.200 --> 0:07:57.560 it were. But at any rate, um, eventually it's going 0:07:57.600 --> 0:08:00.200 to trigger the box to pop open, generally at the 0:08:00.280 --> 0:08:02.640 end of the song. And when it pops open, a 0:08:02.640 --> 0:08:07.400 coiled spring is going to launch a clown puppet into action. 0:08:07.480 --> 0:08:10.720 And generally it is the equivalent of a small hand puppet, 0:08:10.840 --> 0:08:13.760 very much in the style of Punch and Judy, uh, 0:08:13.840 --> 0:08:16.200 the the old timey puppets. They have different names in 0:08:16.280 --> 0:08:20.360 different languages, but this would be the street puppet show 0:08:20.480 --> 0:08:23.720 to amuse children and adults, where Punch and Judy kind 0:08:23.720 --> 0:08:25.640 of just beat the crap out of each other and 0:08:25.680 --> 0:08:30.640 also encounter of various authority figures they encounter the devil. Um. 0:08:30.880 --> 0:08:34.959 It's often been compared like Punch is basically scratching aging 0:08:35.000 --> 0:08:37.559 Scratchy and pun. Punch is also kind of Homer Simpson. 0:08:37.600 --> 0:08:41.240 It's more violent Homer Simpson. Um, maybe it's more of 0:08:41.240 --> 0:08:44.400 a bender. I don't know. But but also in fact, 0:08:44.840 --> 0:08:48.160 I've read that Punch in a Box was a predecessor 0:08:48.200 --> 0:08:51.120 where you would actually just have Punch himself jump out 0:08:51.160 --> 0:08:54.480 of the box once you're done cranking it. This, according 0:08:54.520 --> 0:08:59.360 to Antonia Fraser, is a history of toys, but a 0:08:59.400 --> 0:09:02.600 history of to is by Fraser also stresses that the 0:09:02.640 --> 0:09:06.280 exact origins of the Jack in the box are unknown. 0:09:06.640 --> 0:09:09.959 Now I'm trying to think about categorizing this toy, like 0:09:10.160 --> 0:09:14.760 does it count as a toy? I mean, I guess it, 0:09:14.920 --> 0:09:18.120 I guess it must. But like how does one play 0:09:18.280 --> 0:09:20.959 with it? Right, Like, what is the act of playing? 0:09:21.600 --> 0:09:23.680 Once the thing is already popped out once and you 0:09:23.679 --> 0:09:25.400 know what's going to happen. Yeah, it's a it's a 0:09:25.400 --> 0:09:29.160 clockwork amusement, right, It's it's not necessarily something that I 0:09:29.160 --> 0:09:34.000 imagine factors into a lot of children's imagination play. It 0:09:34.440 --> 0:09:37.520 is kind of a spectacle that is unleashed, that is surprising, 0:09:37.920 --> 0:09:41.120 and it's also kind of a trick. Another toy item 0:09:41.440 --> 0:09:44.440 that that is very similar is, of course the canister 0:09:44.559 --> 0:09:46.600 of peanuts. That's what I was going to bring up. Yeah, 0:09:46.679 --> 0:09:49.720 the spring snakes again, to go back to the Simpsons, 0:09:49.720 --> 0:09:52.080 the can of beer nuts, all beer nuts. But then 0:09:52.120 --> 0:09:54.600 of course you lift the lid and the snakes pop out, 0:09:54.840 --> 0:09:57.040 and it's still hilarious. I just watched an episode of 0:09:57.040 --> 0:10:00.040 Stephen Colbert where he goes to New Zealand and he 0:10:00.400 --> 0:10:02.400 gives this to I think he gives it to Lord 0:10:02.679 --> 0:10:06.600 the Musician, telling her that it is an American tradition 0:10:06.679 --> 0:10:08.960 and she opens it and the snake scares her and 0:10:08.960 --> 0:10:10.920 it's delightful. Part of the joke being that there are 0:10:10.920 --> 0:10:13.360 no snakes in New Zealand. Oh, in New Zealand, Okay, 0:10:13.440 --> 0:10:15.319 well I've been thinking Australia and I was like, what's 0:10:15.360 --> 0:10:18.160 gonna happen The funnel web spider comes out. Now we'll 0:10:18.160 --> 0:10:20.920 get a little into possible origins here, but basically this 0:10:21.000 --> 0:10:23.360 is this has been with this for quite a while. 0:10:23.920 --> 0:10:27.240 Um and improve materials and technology made the toy a 0:10:27.240 --> 0:10:31.640 more widespread success in the eighteenth century, meaning that you know, 0:10:31.679 --> 0:10:33.480 it wasn't just going to be the uh, you know, 0:10:33.559 --> 0:10:37.280 something that would m please very wealthy children. It wasn't 0:10:37.320 --> 0:10:40.560 like this, this clockwork philosophical toy that the children would 0:10:40.600 --> 0:10:42.840 get to look at occasionally. But it does seem to 0:10:42.840 --> 0:10:47.320 emerge from this world of of of clockwork ingenuity. Yes, 0:10:47.400 --> 0:10:49.679 so we talked about this in our episode on the 0:10:49.760 --> 0:10:53.200 Canard de Gierra Tour The Pooping Duck um or the 0:10:53.240 --> 0:10:55.440 digesting Duck. I guess we put a lot of emphasis 0:10:55.440 --> 0:10:57.720 on the poop for some reason. But yeah, it was 0:10:57.760 --> 0:11:00.520 this era where there were people who were becoming increasingly 0:11:00.520 --> 0:11:03.880 good at mechanical engineering and creating these clockwork devices that 0:11:03.960 --> 0:11:07.480 had complex inner workings and thus could generate complex outward 0:11:07.520 --> 0:11:10.240 behaviors based on things that were hidden. You know, you 0:11:10.240 --> 0:11:12.160 couldn't see what was going on inside, but it was 0:11:12.200 --> 0:11:15.440 doing complex stuff. And this was part of a history 0:11:15.480 --> 0:11:19.520 of philosophical debate about whether, in fact living things were 0:11:19.559 --> 0:11:24.600 somehow like this, we're living things somehow machines in which 0:11:24.640 --> 0:11:29.040 all the individual parts could be identified and stuff, or 0:11:29.080 --> 0:11:32.439 were there sort of indivisible and ineffable elements that made 0:11:33.040 --> 0:11:36.560 actual life forms in nature different from the machines built 0:11:36.600 --> 0:11:39.760 by the clockmakers. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And and part of 0:11:39.760 --> 0:11:42.120 this whole effort, this whole movement was was the the 0:11:42.120 --> 0:11:46.520 emergence of music boxes, which were tremendous uh success and 0:11:46.600 --> 0:11:50.199 uh and still are are very popular. Also self playing instruments, 0:11:50.200 --> 0:11:53.559 which we got into a little bit in our saxophone episode. 0:11:53.679 --> 0:11:56.520 There are part of this this whole world as well. 0:11:56.640 --> 0:11:58.880 But essentially you can also think of the jack in 0:11:58.880 --> 0:12:03.079 the box as a is a music box that packs 0:12:03.080 --> 0:12:07.280 some punch, sometimes literally. Uh. Now, in terms of where 0:12:07.360 --> 0:12:10.600 it this actual technology that like, like where the first 0:12:10.679 --> 0:12:13.199 jack in the box arises from, I've seen some i 0:12:13.240 --> 0:12:16.679 would say shaky sources attributing the invention to a German 0:12:16.720 --> 0:12:21.240 clockmaker of the sixteenth century named Klaus, just Klaus Klaus 0:12:21.320 --> 0:12:23.800 or Clause perhaps, which of course has leaved a little 0:12:23.840 --> 0:12:27.240 suspect because of Santa Claus. But I can't I cannot 0:12:27.240 --> 0:12:29.600 find a firm source on this. Perhaps it's out there, 0:12:29.720 --> 0:12:32.280 perhaps somebody can can bring it to my attention, but 0:12:32.360 --> 0:12:36.000 in my research I cannot find a firm source saying yeah, 0:12:36.160 --> 0:12:39.080 we think that a sixteenth century German clockmaker made the 0:12:39.120 --> 0:12:42.040 first Jack in the box. In fact, as previously mentioned, 0:12:42.080 --> 0:12:45.280 some sources state the origin is unknown. And I've noticed 0:12:45.320 --> 0:12:48.640 several toy history books that seemingly don't explore the history 0:12:48.640 --> 0:12:51.200 of the Jack in the Box at all. But in 0:12:51.280 --> 0:12:55.880 looking at Gary Martin's excellent phrase finder website, which which 0:12:55.920 --> 0:12:58.160 is is wonderful, I do recommend people check it out. 0:12:58.559 --> 0:13:00.680 He has an entry on the back in the Box. 0:13:00.960 --> 0:13:03.000 And I also was looking at a at a book 0:13:03.120 --> 0:13:08.520 titled Gothic Effigy by Saved Unwin Jones, and uh, and 0:13:08.640 --> 0:13:11.520 something becomes increasingly clear. The toy seems to have been 0:13:11.640 --> 0:13:15.240 named after some turn of phrase that pre existed it. 0:13:16.200 --> 0:13:18.480 So jack in the box you might have what called 0:13:18.520 --> 0:13:20.360 somebody a jack in the box before there was a 0:13:20.440 --> 0:13:24.240 Jack in the box toy exactly. Martin points to usages 0:13:24.280 --> 0:13:27.679 of the phrase jack in the box and sometimes lack 0:13:27.760 --> 0:13:31.000 in the box from the sixteenth century. That suggests that 0:13:31.160 --> 0:13:33.320 Jack in the box or lack in the box was 0:13:33.360 --> 0:13:36.200 sort of like pig in the poke. Now, if you're 0:13:36.240 --> 0:13:38.200 not familiar with that, pig in the poke means like 0:13:38.240 --> 0:13:41.040 a pig in a bag, and the idea is don't 0:13:41.080 --> 0:13:43.400 buy a pig in the bag. You know, don't buy 0:13:43.559 --> 0:13:46.400 a pig site unseen, because you don't know what you'll get, 0:13:46.480 --> 0:13:49.520 something might be wrong with it. Yeah, this seems to 0:13:49.559 --> 0:13:54.200 have negative implications for the Jack in the Box restaurant. Yeah. 0:13:54.240 --> 0:13:56.120 I don't know if they really did, you know, like 0:13:56.160 --> 0:13:59.160 a full history. They just thought about the pleasant surprise, 0:13:59.200 --> 0:14:02.480 I guess the box. But yeah, so the ideas that 0:14:02.600 --> 0:14:04.960 Jack in the box would would mean, you know, something 0:14:05.080 --> 0:14:08.920 unpleasant that was purchased site unseen, or indeed, it might 0:14:09.000 --> 0:14:12.200 mean the swindler who sells boxes they either don't contain 0:14:12.280 --> 0:14:15.439 what they're supposed to contain or contain nothing at all. 0:14:15.600 --> 0:14:17.360 And that seems to play pretty well with the basic 0:14:17.480 --> 0:14:19.680 experience of the Jack in the box, right. The box 0:14:19.760 --> 0:14:23.800 contains a fright rather than any kind of material goods. 0:14:23.920 --> 0:14:25.840 It's and and again it's not even something you can 0:14:25.840 --> 0:14:27.960 play with inside. It's just a puppet that jumps out 0:14:27.960 --> 0:14:30.360 at you and startles you, and you know it is 0:14:30.400 --> 0:14:33.080 again not unlike its toy, Ken the snake in the 0:14:33.120 --> 0:14:36.040 canister of nuts. Now, by asking that question earlier though 0:14:36.040 --> 0:14:38.240 about whether it's a toy, I didn't mean to undermine 0:14:38.280 --> 0:14:40.960 its role. I guess I was just asking, like, what 0:14:41.080 --> 0:14:45.080 actually constitutes a toy. I think it's clear that these 0:14:45.480 --> 0:14:47.800 the Jack in the boxes as a toy or whatever 0:14:47.800 --> 0:14:50.280 you want to call it, are popular with children, have 0:14:50.440 --> 0:14:52.720 been for a long time, and they do even after 0:14:52.760 --> 0:14:57.320 they've been surprised once repeat the experience. There's something intellectually 0:14:57.320 --> 0:15:01.000 interesting going on there, developmentally interesting that they've already had 0:15:01.000 --> 0:15:03.240 it pop out once, they're not going to be surprised, 0:15:03.560 --> 0:15:05.880 but they'll still keep playing with it. They'll crank the 0:15:05.880 --> 0:15:10.400 handle again and like manipulate the speed of playback and stuff. Yeah. 0:15:10.400 --> 0:15:13.400 And let's face it, if you came into work one 0:15:13.480 --> 0:15:15.720 day and there was a Jack in the Box closed 0:15:15.880 --> 0:15:18.360 on your desk, what would you do. You'd have to 0:15:18.400 --> 0:15:21.160 crank it and see what pops out? Right, Yeah, So 0:15:21.480 --> 0:15:24.280 it does continue to have liked. Any anybody that's new 0:15:24.320 --> 0:15:26.280 to the Jack in the Box will have to invoke 0:15:26.360 --> 0:15:29.360 the experience and then they might invoke it again. Now, 0:15:29.400 --> 0:15:32.400 there is another potential origin story that sometimes makes the 0:15:32.480 --> 0:15:35.960 rounds um and that is the tale of a thirteenth 0:15:36.040 --> 0:15:40.160 century Norfolk Christian saint like figure, not an actual saint, 0:15:41.040 --> 0:15:44.800 but an individual by the name of Sir John Shorn, 0:15:45.400 --> 0:15:47.840 who is said to have captured the devil in a 0:15:47.920 --> 0:15:51.640 boot um and he was also said to be blessed 0:15:51.720 --> 0:15:54.360 in the healing of gout. And of course this is 0:15:54.360 --> 0:15:57.560 where it gets kind of complicated, right, because the um gout, 0:15:57.600 --> 0:16:00.320 of course, is an inflammatory arthritis that might well be 0:16:00.400 --> 0:16:03.880 described as a devil in the boot and has been illustrated, 0:16:03.960 --> 0:16:06.360 you know, various times through history as a monster or 0:16:06.480 --> 0:16:09.880 devil that choose on a person's foot. The idea that 0:16:10.040 --> 0:16:12.400 the gout can affect multiple parts of the body, but 0:16:12.480 --> 0:16:16.200 it often manifests in like somebody's big toe, right, yeah, 0:16:16.400 --> 0:16:18.960 but you could also get it in your elbow or whatever. Right, 0:16:18.960 --> 0:16:20.920 And then of course there's like pseudo gout as well, 0:16:20.960 --> 0:16:23.680 which is which is different. But but classic gout has 0:16:23.760 --> 0:16:27.360 long been been with with humans and uh, and so 0:16:27.400 --> 0:16:29.800 that's kind of complicated because on one hand, he this 0:16:29.840 --> 0:16:32.920 particular individual was sometimes shown as having a boot with 0:16:32.960 --> 0:16:35.120 the devil peeking out of it. And so the argument 0:16:35.200 --> 0:16:37.080 is like, this is kind of the basis for the 0:16:37.160 --> 0:16:41.560 box that contains uh a what might have actually been 0:16:41.560 --> 0:16:44.400 a devil in some cases, but then becomes a clown 0:16:44.680 --> 0:16:47.920 or other figures as the you know, as it is 0:16:47.960 --> 0:16:52.360 adapted more for children. But I should point out that Martin, 0:16:52.640 --> 0:16:56.040 in looking at this, thinks that the historical historical connective 0:16:56.040 --> 0:16:58.640 tissue between Shorn and the Jack in the Box is 0:16:58.640 --> 0:17:01.560 pretty much non existent, so there's there's not a lot 0:17:01.600 --> 0:17:04.160 to actually go on there. But he he does point 0:17:04.200 --> 0:17:07.480 to a firework of the seventeen hundreds known as Lack 0:17:07.560 --> 0:17:10.280 in the Box. And uh, and this was mentioned in 0:17:10.440 --> 0:17:15.879 John Babington's Pyrotechnia, which was published in Sive And and 0:17:15.920 --> 0:17:18.680 this this, uh, this might well be be where the 0:17:18.800 --> 0:17:21.000 name comes from as well. So would this be a 0:17:21.040 --> 0:17:23.640 firework that pops out of a box in some way 0:17:24.080 --> 0:17:26.840 or at least is a it is a I get 0:17:26.880 --> 0:17:29.199 the the idea that maybe it had some sort of box, 0:17:29.320 --> 0:17:30.560 or maybe it was just the idea that it was 0:17:30.600 --> 0:17:34.080 a surprise that it it pops at all. And uh 0:17:34.160 --> 0:17:36.720 and therefore, you know, this could be something they got 0:17:36.760 --> 0:17:40.040 the name for this firework from the pre existing phrase, 0:17:40.520 --> 0:17:43.159 and then both of these helped to inform the naming 0:17:43.240 --> 0:17:46.080 of this strange box that has a puppet that jumps 0:17:46.080 --> 0:17:48.199 out of it, because again it is a shock and 0:17:48.280 --> 0:17:51.439 it is also literally a lack in the box, right, 0:17:51.520 --> 0:17:53.480 Jack in the box? Is a jack in the box 0:17:53.560 --> 0:17:56.800 supposed to be scary? Is it supposed to kind of 0:17:57.280 --> 0:18:00.159 startle the child? I think it is supposed to art 0:18:00.160 --> 0:18:02.600 all the child now and now is it scary as 0:18:02.640 --> 0:18:05.200 well as startling? I think that depends on what jumps out. 0:18:05.720 --> 0:18:10.800 Is it a clown which is delightful? Yes, clowns are delightable. 0:18:10.800 --> 0:18:13.880 Clowns are for children. It's only adults by and large 0:18:13.880 --> 0:18:17.119 who think the clowns are scary. But if it's a devil, 0:18:17.400 --> 0:18:19.600 then I think you could definitely make the argument that 0:18:19.680 --> 0:18:22.679 isn't it is intended to frighten the child or the 0:18:22.880 --> 0:18:26.960 or humorously frightened the adult that opens it. Now and 0:18:27.040 --> 0:18:30.639 looking at that book gothic effigy by Jones, Jones, however, 0:18:30.680 --> 0:18:33.640 contends that the devil is still present in the Jack 0:18:33.640 --> 0:18:37.119 in the box as quote horned jack bursting from his 0:18:37.240 --> 0:18:41.160 side of confinement unquote is the key idea toned down 0:18:41.800 --> 0:18:45.280 to a clown in the toy, and this would Their 0:18:45.400 --> 0:18:47.760 argument here is that this UH would have emerged from 0:18:47.800 --> 0:18:52.320 Gothic fascination with devils. Ornamental boxes UH, such as one 0:18:52.359 --> 0:18:56.919 that puts out was in Sheridan LeFanu's Wilder's hand In 0:18:56.960 --> 0:18:59.480 from eighteen sixty four, and he ties all of this 0:18:59.560 --> 0:19:03.760 in with the the ongoing influence of Gothic traditions on 0:19:03.920 --> 0:19:08.200 culture and children's costumes, toys, books, and more. Okay, so 0:19:08.359 --> 0:19:12.320 some intentional scary elements here or associate or at least yes, yeah, 0:19:12.400 --> 0:19:15.960 that's that's the argument. But then again, those scary elements 0:19:16.000 --> 0:19:19.159 may have been removed to make it just merely startling 0:19:19.240 --> 0:19:22.480 to the child. But it is, I think, without a doubt, 0:19:22.760 --> 0:19:25.679 it is meant to be a startling toy. It is 0:19:25.720 --> 0:19:27.960 meant to be something you give to a small child 0:19:28.000 --> 0:19:31.200 and watch their faces. They are shocked, surprised, and then 0:19:31.240 --> 0:19:34.679 hopefully they will laugh because of course it was it 0:19:34.720 --> 0:19:37.639 was startling, But then there is no actual threat present. 0:19:38.040 --> 0:19:40.640 You know, my thinking has developed over the past few 0:19:40.680 --> 0:19:43.879 minutes when asking why is it that you see a 0:19:43.960 --> 0:19:46.800 child playing with the jack in the box repeatedly cranking 0:19:46.800 --> 0:19:49.560 it over and over and having the thing pop out 0:19:49.600 --> 0:19:51.879 even after they've already done it, you know, once or twice, 0:19:51.960 --> 0:19:54.640 they know what's going to happen. I wonder if these 0:19:54.640 --> 0:19:57.959 are sort of like experiments with object permanence, much the 0:19:58.000 --> 0:20:01.760 same way the game of he Kaboo plays a developmental 0:20:01.840 --> 0:20:05.240 role with children, like establishing that an object or a 0:20:05.280 --> 0:20:08.359 person can be hidden but will emerge again when the 0:20:08.400 --> 0:20:11.879 barrier division is removed. That's a good point. Another thing 0:20:11.920 --> 0:20:14.960 that I'm thinking about is that the second time you 0:20:15.000 --> 0:20:18.560 do it, especially, the child is probably more aware that 0:20:18.680 --> 0:20:23.280 they have control over when the startling moment occurs. They 0:20:23.280 --> 0:20:25.359 know it's going to occur at the end of that song, 0:20:25.480 --> 0:20:29.160 for instance, and there's probably something empowering there and realizing 0:20:29.160 --> 0:20:31.280 that they are the master of the fright they're about 0:20:31.280 --> 0:20:33.720 to receive exactly, and I would see that. I would 0:20:33.760 --> 0:20:35.840 say that really comes through in the way that you 0:20:35.880 --> 0:20:39.160 see children manipulate the speed of the crank when they 0:20:39.320 --> 0:20:42.800 do it, like they will often either speed way up 0:20:42.880 --> 0:20:45.680 or slow way down right towards the end of the song, 0:20:45.880 --> 0:20:48.440 as the song lets you know how much more time 0:20:48.560 --> 0:20:51.600 is left before the thing emerges, Like rushing towards the 0:20:51.680 --> 0:20:54.960 thrill and then maybe backing off a little bit. Uh, yeah, 0:20:54.960 --> 0:20:57.560 it's interesting. It makes me kind of want to pick 0:20:57.640 --> 0:20:59.480 up a Jack in the box. We don't. I don't 0:20:59.480 --> 0:21:01.600 think we have one in an household right now anyway, 0:21:02.160 --> 0:21:04.080 but I almost I want to find like a good 0:21:04.080 --> 0:21:06.520 one one with one with a devil inside, or a 0:21:06.600 --> 0:21:09.800 cramp us that would be nice, or a quartet of cinemabites. 0:21:10.200 --> 0:21:14.040 Sure no, surely somebody has made a lament configuration Jack 0:21:14.080 --> 0:21:16.600 in the box that would be That's perfect. It's so perfect, 0:21:16.640 --> 0:21:19.159 it has to have been done already. Right if you haven't, 0:21:19.320 --> 0:21:21.520 If that doesn't exist, whoever's got the right at c 0:21:21.640 --> 0:21:24.080 shop out there, you get on it. Yes, yeah, I 0:21:24.119 --> 0:21:26.639 know there have been people have adapted Rubik's cubes into 0:21:26.680 --> 0:21:29.239 the limit configuration, but Jack in the Box is just 0:21:29.320 --> 0:21:31.320 a must have. All right, I think maybe we should 0:21:31.359 --> 0:21:32.800 take a quick break and the when we come back 0:21:32.880 --> 0:21:41.399 we can discuss the flying disc. All right, we're back. 0:21:41.480 --> 0:21:44.960 What is this marvelous flying disc that that it now 0:21:45.000 --> 0:21:48.560 emerges from Santa Talos's sack? Well, of course it is 0:21:48.640 --> 0:21:51.280 to use the semi branded term the frisbee. Robert, were 0:21:51.280 --> 0:21:53.159 you a frisbee kid? When you were a kid, I 0:21:53.200 --> 0:21:56.360 mean we always had frisbees. You know, I never got 0:21:56.359 --> 0:21:58.880 into like frisbee golf or anything like that, but if 0:21:58.920 --> 0:22:02.240 a frisbee as a must have and still do today, 0:22:02.280 --> 0:22:05.320 Like we I threw frisbee or on a Robie maybe 0:22:05.359 --> 0:22:08.080 some variation on the frisbee design with my son, like 0:22:08.160 --> 0:22:10.960 literally just this weekend. So yeah, the I feel like 0:22:11.000 --> 0:22:15.920 the family the family tossing cliche is like the father 0:22:16.040 --> 0:22:19.360 and the son throwing the baseball right with the baseball gloves. 0:22:19.840 --> 0:22:21.960 I don't think that happens all that much except among 0:22:22.040 --> 0:22:25.880 like dedicated people who are actually into baseball. Well, I'm 0:22:25.880 --> 0:22:28.960 not into baseball, and I've done it because it's such 0:22:29.000 --> 0:22:32.040 a cliche. I'm like, you feel that your resistible tug 0:22:32.080 --> 0:22:34.919 off it, uh, and you and I and so we 0:22:35.000 --> 0:22:38.199 ended up getting the baseball glove the softball and we 0:22:38.240 --> 0:22:39.639 threw it back and forth, and I'm like, yes, I 0:22:39.640 --> 0:22:42.960 feel like a Norman Rockwell painting. This is great. You know, 0:22:43.000 --> 0:22:44.960 we don't. We've only done it, like, you know, two 0:22:45.040 --> 0:22:47.280 or three times, but I'm still it was it was 0:22:47.359 --> 0:22:49.879 neat to be a part of that Norman Rockwell experience. 0:22:50.000 --> 0:22:53.400 Well maybe my impression is mistaken, but I generally think 0:22:53.480 --> 0:22:56.360 that that you've got this cliche of people throwing the baseball, 0:22:56.400 --> 0:22:58.520 but what what is actually way more common is throwing 0:22:58.560 --> 0:23:01.600 the frisbee. The frisbee, in my opinion, is far more fun, yes, 0:23:01.800 --> 0:23:04.200 and less likely to break a window, though I remember 0:23:04.240 --> 0:23:07.080 from my childhood that somehow I always ended up getting 0:23:07.119 --> 0:23:10.800 hit in the mouth with a frisbee. But that's great 0:23:10.840 --> 0:23:12.840 that you're throwing a frisbee instead of a baseball. There 0:23:12.920 --> 0:23:15.720 because the frisbee is nice and lightweight and its modern 0:23:15.720 --> 0:23:18.720 plastic form. So the frisbee is a toy that has 0:23:18.760 --> 0:23:23.480 both ancient and uniquely twentieth century origins. As for the 0:23:23.520 --> 0:23:27.359 ancient origins, we know that humans have been throwing circular 0:23:27.640 --> 0:23:30.879 disc shaped objects for sport for thousands of years, at 0:23:30.920 --> 0:23:34.400 least at least as far back as the eighth century BC. 0:23:35.119 --> 0:23:38.080 For instance, we know that the discus throw was one 0:23:38.119 --> 0:23:41.800 of the five sports of the ancient Greek pentathlon, which 0:23:41.840 --> 0:23:45.760 consisted of a foot race, a javelin throw, a discus throw, 0:23:46.080 --> 0:23:49.560 a long jump, and finally wrestling. And I think training 0:23:49.600 --> 0:23:53.320 for this multi event competition held some association with military training. 0:23:53.359 --> 0:23:55.480 You can see how there would be some overlap with 0:23:55.520 --> 0:23:59.960 the skills on display there, but the discus competition seemed 0:24:00.000 --> 0:24:04.399 to involve athletes throwing a heavy, circular disc, not in 0:24:04.480 --> 0:24:06.879 the way we generally throw a frisbee today with a 0:24:07.000 --> 0:24:10.359 flick of the arm, but by flinging it through a 0:24:10.440 --> 0:24:14.440 whole body twisting or spinning motion where you would spin 0:24:14.480 --> 0:24:16.920 the body around or twist the body around, and then 0:24:17.040 --> 0:24:21.359 transfer the angular momentum of the spinning body into a 0:24:21.480 --> 0:24:24.560 throw when you release the disk, and so physically the 0:24:24.600 --> 0:24:27.960 discus throw sort of turns the body into a sling, 0:24:28.119 --> 0:24:31.080 you know, like the weapon traditionally associated with shepherds, where 0:24:31.119 --> 0:24:34.120 you would generally generate momentum and a rock or something 0:24:34.160 --> 0:24:36.239 by spinning it around in a circle. You do this 0:24:36.280 --> 0:24:39.040 with your whole body for the discus. There are mentions 0:24:39.119 --> 0:24:43.200 of disc throwing events in Homer's Iliad. Sometimes it's used 0:24:43.200 --> 0:24:45.800 as a measure of distance, so like you could just 0:24:45.840 --> 0:24:48.400 say that something was as far away as a young 0:24:48.440 --> 0:24:50.879 man can fling a discus. That's in there, which is 0:24:51.080 --> 0:24:54.080 a great unit of measure. Uh. There also appears to 0:24:54.080 --> 0:24:56.880 be a reference to some form of discus throwing as 0:24:56.920 --> 0:24:59.880 one of the funeral games after the death of Patroclus. 0:25:00.080 --> 0:25:03.159 It's a Patroclus burns on the funeral Pyre, and then 0:25:03.200 --> 0:25:06.520 they have games in his honor. Uh, And so I 0:25:06.520 --> 0:25:08.840 wanted to read this section. This is in the Samuel 0:25:08.840 --> 0:25:11.880 Butler translation, though in the translation I'm about to read 0:25:11.920 --> 0:25:14.640 from the thing being thrown is not called a frisbee 0:25:14.680 --> 0:25:17.680 or a discus. It's called a quoit, which can mean 0:25:17.840 --> 0:25:19.760 like a disc, but can also I think mean a 0:25:19.920 --> 0:25:22.520 ring rather than a solid disc. But anyway, the account 0:25:22.520 --> 0:25:26.120 goes like this. Then uprose the two mighty men, Polypoides 0:25:26.240 --> 0:25:30.600 and Leontius, with Ajax, son of Telemon, and noble Epius. 0:25:30.960 --> 0:25:33.920 They stood up one after another, and Epius took the quoit, 0:25:34.119 --> 0:25:36.840 whirled it, and flung it from him, which set all 0:25:36.880 --> 0:25:40.440 the Achaeans laughing after him, through Leontius of the race 0:25:40.480 --> 0:25:43.800 of mars A jax son of Teleman through third, and 0:25:43.840 --> 0:25:46.600 sent the quite beyond any mark that had been made yet. 0:25:46.960 --> 0:25:49.840 But when mighty Polypodies took the quoit, he hurled it 0:25:49.840 --> 0:25:52.399 as though it had been a stockman stick, which he 0:25:52.440 --> 0:25:55.720 sends flying among his cattle when he's driving them. So 0:25:55.760 --> 0:25:59.800 far did his throwout distance those of the others. Again, 0:25:59.800 --> 0:26:02.439 with point of comparison that it's not very helpful to me. 0:26:02.520 --> 0:26:04.360 I don't know what you do with the stockman stick, 0:26:04.400 --> 0:26:06.360 but apparently that means you could throw it really far. 0:26:06.640 --> 0:26:08.760 And then of course it shows up again in the 0:26:08.800 --> 0:26:11.160 works of Homer, like in the Odyssey, there's a section 0:26:11.160 --> 0:26:14.639 where Odysseus embarrasses some dudes, I think the Phaeacians, by 0:26:14.680 --> 0:26:17.360 throwing a huge discus farther than any of them can. 0:26:18.240 --> 0:26:20.919 Uh so. The discus throw is also depicted in a 0:26:20.960 --> 0:26:25.480 famous bronze sculpture from classical Grease, the disco Bolus, which 0:26:25.520 --> 0:26:28.480 just means disc thrower by the sculptor my Run of 0:26:29.320 --> 0:26:32.399 luther Ae and the The original work is lost, but 0:26:32.440 --> 0:26:34.720 there are a ton of copies from the Roman period, 0:26:34.840 --> 0:26:37.720 and it's the famous post. You've probably seen it depicted 0:26:37.760 --> 0:26:40.640 somewhere where the discus thrower is sort of leaned over 0:26:40.680 --> 0:26:44.040 with the body twisted with the arm out, and of 0:26:44.080 --> 0:26:46.600 course most people probably know. The discus throw is also 0:26:46.720 --> 0:26:49.040 part of the modern Olympic Games, and they use sort 0:26:49.080 --> 0:26:52.399 of a lens shaped disc of about two kilograms or 0:26:52.440 --> 0:26:55.760 about four point four pounds for the men's competition and 0:26:55.880 --> 0:26:58.320 a discus of about one kilogram or two point two 0:26:58.320 --> 0:27:01.360 pounds for the women's event. Know, when I was thinking 0:27:01.400 --> 0:27:03.800 about the Olympics, I started thinking like, well, what is 0:27:03.840 --> 0:27:07.480 it that makes the discus special as a thing to throw? 0:27:07.640 --> 0:27:10.240 Like there are other types of throwing competitions, I mean, 0:27:10.480 --> 0:27:13.080 just competitions of people seeing how far they could throw 0:27:13.119 --> 0:27:16.080 a rock or a javelin or something. Go way back 0:27:16.080 --> 0:27:18.560 into history, there's the shot put event where you're just 0:27:18.600 --> 0:27:21.439 throwing a heavy ball. What is it that makes the 0:27:21.520 --> 0:27:25.360 discus special as a thrown object? And it turns out 0:27:25.400 --> 0:27:27.400 that the discus actually does have a lot of very 0:27:27.440 --> 0:27:31.280 interesting unique properties that they're based on its shape. So 0:27:31.560 --> 0:27:33.520 to get into those from moment, I was reading an 0:27:33.560 --> 0:27:36.520 article by the North Carolina State Professor of Mechanical and 0:27:36.560 --> 0:27:40.720 Aerospace Engineering Larry Silverberg, talking about the physics of the 0:27:40.720 --> 0:27:43.720 Olympic discus throw event, and he mentions that a lot 0:27:43.720 --> 0:27:47.119 of the skill in the discus throw is actually controlling 0:27:47.280 --> 0:27:50.320 the release of the discus. You know, it's not it's 0:27:50.359 --> 0:27:52.840 not all in just like how hard you can whirl 0:27:52.920 --> 0:27:56.720 your body, how strong you are. It's very tightly controlling 0:27:56.880 --> 0:28:00.159 how the disc is oriented and what what happened is 0:28:00.200 --> 0:28:02.919 when it leaves your hand. And I would say the 0:28:02.960 --> 0:28:05.320 same thing is actually very true of throwing a frisbee. 0:28:05.320 --> 0:28:07.240 I don't know how experienced you are with trying to 0:28:07.359 --> 0:28:10.639 like aim a frisbee super carefully or get it to 0:28:10.680 --> 0:28:13.639 sail as far as possible, But like I think a 0:28:13.680 --> 0:28:16.160 lot of the skill actually comes down to what's happening 0:28:16.240 --> 0:28:19.800 right when you release it from your fingers. Yeah, I 0:28:19.800 --> 0:28:22.680 feel like, you know, I'm not one that is usually 0:28:22.800 --> 0:28:25.360 especially skilled at throwing things, but I feel like there 0:28:25.440 --> 0:28:28.000 is there's something about throwing, you know, a frisbee or 0:28:28.040 --> 0:28:32.960 frisbee like toy that feels very intuitive. You know. I again, 0:28:33.000 --> 0:28:35.440 I haven't played frisbee golf and try like that level 0:28:35.520 --> 0:28:38.760 of accuracy, but I find that when I throw a 0:28:38.800 --> 0:28:42.800 frisbee to someone, I have a much better ability to 0:28:42.920 --> 0:28:45.280 actually get it get it to them. You know what 0:28:45.320 --> 0:28:47.640 I'm saying. Well, yeah, I know exactly what you mean 0:28:47.920 --> 0:28:51.040 this intuitive property, which is funny because at the same time, 0:28:51.440 --> 0:28:54.320 I think, more so than like a javelin or a 0:28:54.320 --> 0:28:58.400 baseball or a shot put, the discuss is it's fickle. 0:28:58.520 --> 0:29:02.560 It's dependent on air and wind conditions. You know that 0:29:02.640 --> 0:29:05.160 they can be the discus or the frisbee can be 0:29:05.280 --> 0:29:08.680 unpredictable in how it travels in ways that these other 0:29:08.760 --> 0:29:11.479 objects are not, even though in some ways it feels 0:29:11.600 --> 0:29:15.440 very gentle and easy and intuitive to throw it somewhere, right, 0:29:15.440 --> 0:29:17.840 Like if you're just throwing the shock put or or 0:29:17.880 --> 0:29:20.720 a larger rock, you probably don't have to account for 0:29:20.760 --> 0:29:23.200 wind all that much. Yeah, I mean maybe a little bit, 0:29:23.200 --> 0:29:24.960 but not nearly to the extent that you would with 0:29:25.000 --> 0:29:28.160 a flat object like a discus or a frisbee. Uh. 0:29:28.200 --> 0:29:31.120 And silver Bird writes that it's really important to control 0:29:31.240 --> 0:29:33.880 the angle of release, like you want to get it 0:29:33.920 --> 0:29:37.080 at the perfect angle to make it travel the farthest. 0:29:37.440 --> 0:29:41.080 He identifies a range between thirty seven and forty two 0:29:41.160 --> 0:29:45.080 degrees as optimal. And just think about like trying to 0:29:45.160 --> 0:29:48.560 find tune the release of a discus while you're whirling 0:29:48.560 --> 0:29:51.320 your whole body around to get it to an like 0:29:51.360 --> 0:29:54.760 a slice of the angle that's small. And then of 0:29:54.800 --> 0:29:56.960 course you have to, as we were saying, account for wind, 0:29:57.040 --> 0:29:59.240 like if the head wind is blowing in your face, 0:29:59.640 --> 0:30:02.600 you want throw it probably flatter, which makes sense, right, 0:30:02.600 --> 0:30:05.800 because you don't want the headwinds blowing the like catching 0:30:05.880 --> 0:30:08.400 under it and blowing it back towards you. You want 0:30:08.400 --> 0:30:11.440 to maximize the angle at which it gets lift but 0:30:11.560 --> 0:30:14.520 doesn't get blown back in the opposite direction. I was 0:30:14.560 --> 0:30:17.040 also reading a good twelve article in re Reuters by 0:30:17.040 --> 0:30:20.760 Sharon Begley which summarizes some of the basic aerodynamics uh 0:30:20.800 --> 0:30:24.520 and some recent sports biomechanics research about the discus event. 0:30:25.120 --> 0:30:27.840 So a few key takeaways. Because of its shape, throwing 0:30:27.840 --> 0:30:30.400 a discus is different from throwing a round object like 0:30:30.440 --> 0:30:33.880 a baseball or throwing a javelin. A discus is at 0:30:33.880 --> 0:30:37.800 its core a wing. It's an aerofoil it as it travels, 0:30:38.080 --> 0:30:41.520 it stays aloft by generating lift, similar to how the 0:30:41.560 --> 0:30:44.680 wings of an airplane generate lift to keep the plane 0:30:44.680 --> 0:30:48.120 in the air. And like with airplane wings, the physical 0:30:48.200 --> 0:30:51.800 design of the discus matters. A flatter design with more 0:30:51.920 --> 0:30:55.800 surface area generates more lift. But once you've already picked 0:30:55.800 --> 0:30:58.840 out your discus, you know you can't like bring a 0:30:58.920 --> 0:31:02.560 huge different shape discus to the Olympic event. As you know, 0:31:02.640 --> 0:31:05.920 once you've got the physical dimensions of the discus lockdown, 0:31:06.240 --> 0:31:08.440 in order to generate maximum lift, you need to mess 0:31:08.440 --> 0:31:11.120 with a couple more main variables. One is that you 0:31:11.160 --> 0:31:13.360 want to maintain a high speed of the throw, and 0:31:13.360 --> 0:31:16.160 this is also the same way that an airplane needs 0:31:16.200 --> 0:31:19.760 horizontal speed to maintain lift via its wings. Right. If 0:31:19.760 --> 0:31:22.920 an airplane slows down, it will lose altitude, right because 0:31:22.960 --> 0:31:26.280 it can't generate as much lift under the wings. A 0:31:26.400 --> 0:31:29.920 discus needs to maintain horizontal speed to maintain that lift 0:31:30.000 --> 0:31:32.959 under its body as it slows down due to drag. 0:31:33.080 --> 0:31:35.640 As it travels through the air, the lift it generates 0:31:35.640 --> 0:31:39.240 will decrease and it will fall. But then also again 0:31:39.320 --> 0:31:43.160 what's super important is getting just the right angle. You 0:31:43.200 --> 0:31:46.520 want the front edge of the discus raised slightly higher 0:31:46.560 --> 0:31:49.320 than its back edge to generate the most lift, and 0:31:49.360 --> 0:31:51.840 you also want to keep the disc rotating, of course, 0:31:51.880 --> 0:31:55.640 to stabilize the angle. The faster the discus is spinning, 0:31:55.680 --> 0:31:58.960 the flatter and more stable its angle will stay. And 0:31:58.960 --> 0:32:01.160 you might think about why that be, But I bet 0:32:01.160 --> 0:32:03.680 a lot of people have done the physics experiment in 0:32:03.680 --> 0:32:06.840 like a high school physics class, where you hold a 0:32:06.920 --> 0:32:10.280 spinning bicycle wheel by a little handle on its hub, 0:32:10.720 --> 0:32:13.520 and then you try to rotate the wheel against its 0:32:13.600 --> 0:32:16.320 plane of against the plane on which it's spinning, you know, 0:32:16.400 --> 0:32:18.920 trying to twist your wrist or something. There's a huge 0:32:18.920 --> 0:32:21.880 amount of resistance it's like really hard to turn it 0:32:22.600 --> 0:32:27.120 because rapidly spinning objects resist changes to the plane of 0:32:27.160 --> 0:32:30.760 their rotation, like the angular momentum of the spinning wants 0:32:30.800 --> 0:32:34.000 to keep it flat. It's interesting to apply that to 0:32:34.120 --> 0:32:37.160 some of like the fictional spinning weapons you see sometimes 0:32:37.280 --> 0:32:41.040 utilized in films on things specifically One of the Three 0:32:41.080 --> 0:32:44.440 Storms and Big Trouble and Little China, as these spinning 0:32:44.480 --> 0:32:47.440 gadgets that are like spinning blades, and granted that's a 0:32:47.480 --> 0:32:51.440 blender hands. Yeah, granted that's a sorcerer, so you know, 0:32:51.480 --> 0:32:53.120 we can we can give them a little credit. But 0:32:53.120 --> 0:32:56.760 in reality, like that would be difficult to actually use 0:32:56.800 --> 0:33:00.240 a weapon like that, right because it's spinning. Oh yeah, yeah, Jine. 0:33:00.240 --> 0:33:02.360 If the spinning very fast, you would get some resistance 0:33:02.400 --> 0:33:05.760 to trying to move your hands around. Likewise, I think 0:33:05.800 --> 0:33:08.160 other examples here you can see a robot using one 0:33:08.200 --> 0:33:12.840 like Maximilian in the Black Hole. But again, high powered robot. 0:33:12.920 --> 0:33:15.800 We can cut it some swack, I guess. Yeah. So, 0:33:15.800 --> 0:33:18.280 so you want the right angle, you want high speed, 0:33:18.600 --> 0:33:22.120 you want rapid spinning to stabilize the angle. And also 0:33:22.160 --> 0:33:25.400 in this article, there's a counterintuitive finding that's conveyed by 0:33:25.440 --> 0:33:28.040 somebody named Mont Hubbard who's a director of the Sports 0:33:28.120 --> 0:33:32.200 Biomechanics Lab at the University of California, Davis. And basically 0:33:32.280 --> 0:33:34.640 what this person says is that you can actually get 0:33:34.640 --> 0:33:39.360 the farthest possible throw by throwing into a slight headwind. 0:33:39.640 --> 0:33:42.080 That seems you wouldn't think that, but this is because 0:33:42.120 --> 0:33:45.440 you can maximize the relative wind speed and generate more 0:33:45.640 --> 0:33:48.640 lift that way, which means more lift means it stays 0:33:48.720 --> 0:33:51.880 higher in the air longer and travels farther. Now it's 0:33:51.920 --> 0:33:55.080 clear that the Olympic discus is a competition instrument. It's 0:33:55.080 --> 0:33:58.160 made for solo distance throwing and of course made for 0:33:58.280 --> 0:34:03.160 humiliating your inferiors in ancient Caspotamia. So it's rather different 0:34:03.200 --> 0:34:06.160 from the frisbees or throwing discs that that kids toss 0:34:06.200 --> 0:34:09.280 around for fun. The East tendu in in the twentieth 0:34:09.280 --> 0:34:12.279 century to be made of plastic. They're much lighter. They're 0:34:12.280 --> 0:34:15.520 designed to glide softly and generate tons of lift for 0:34:15.680 --> 0:34:18.680 long distance travel with minimal throwing force. You don't have 0:34:18.800 --> 0:34:21.799 to be really strong or spin your whole body around 0:34:21.880 --> 0:34:24.920 and generate the angular momentum to throw a frisbee right 0:34:25.000 --> 0:34:27.720 and then it'll it'll generally bounce off of a window 0:34:27.760 --> 0:34:29.759 instead of going through it. That sort of thing. Yeah, 0:34:29.880 --> 0:34:32.400 or you know, as often happened hitting me in the mouth. 0:34:32.440 --> 0:34:34.080 I mean, if you can imagine getting hit in the 0:34:34.120 --> 0:34:36.080 mouth with a four and a half pound discus, that's 0:34:36.120 --> 0:34:38.560 not good. So where did the frisbee come from? This 0:34:38.719 --> 0:34:41.879 different variation on the model? Uh? For that, we need 0:34:41.920 --> 0:34:45.600 to meet a dude named Walter Frederick Morrison, known as Fred, 0:34:46.080 --> 0:34:48.120 and I'm gonna use as a few sources here. One, 0:34:48.320 --> 0:34:52.040 uh an obituary for for Morrison from twenty in the 0:34:52.160 --> 0:34:55.279 l A Times by Dennis McClellan, UM, an article I 0:34:55.280 --> 0:34:59.120 found in Time by Jennifer Latson, and also a summary 0:34:59.200 --> 0:35:01.560 of his life I found by somebody named Phil Kennedy 0:35:01.560 --> 0:35:04.319 who was a co author with Fred Morrison of an 0:35:04.360 --> 0:35:07.880 autobiographical account of the creation of the frisbee. But so. 0:35:08.040 --> 0:35:11.040 Fred Morrison was born in the town of Richfield, Utah, 0:35:11.040 --> 0:35:14.480 on January twenty third, nineteen twenty. At the age of eleven, 0:35:14.560 --> 0:35:17.640 his father, who was an optometrist, moved his practice and 0:35:17.640 --> 0:35:21.440 thus the whole family, to California. As an adult, Morrison 0:35:21.520 --> 0:35:24.560 worked as a carpenter and later as a building inspector 0:35:24.600 --> 0:35:27.480 in the l A area. But in nineteen thirty seven, 0:35:27.760 --> 0:35:30.680 when Fred Morrison was around the age of seventeen, he 0:35:31.080 --> 0:35:34.200 and his girlfriend Lucille, who would later become his wife, 0:35:34.360 --> 0:35:38.160 were at a Thanksgiving celebration at the house of Lucille's uncle. 0:35:38.840 --> 0:35:42.560 And at this party, guests just started throwing a popcorn 0:35:42.680 --> 0:35:45.279 can lid around, uh, tossing it to each other in 0:35:45.320 --> 0:35:48.320 the backyard, which somehow sounds like either a very awesome 0:35:48.360 --> 0:35:50.719 party or a horrible party, Like how do you end 0:35:50.800 --> 0:35:52.800 up that way? You're either having a really good time 0:35:53.239 --> 0:35:57.359 or things are going terribly just desperately searching for fun. 0:35:57.719 --> 0:36:00.800 Either way, it fits perfectly with the in the spirit 0:36:00.840 --> 0:36:04.000 of Thanksgiving. But but I I guess I'm imagining like 0:36:04.000 --> 0:36:05.839 one of those big tins of popcorn like we still 0:36:05.840 --> 0:36:09.400 have today, and you know, sometimes there's different flavors of popcorn. 0:36:09.440 --> 0:36:11.239 You pull the lid off of it, sucker, and yeah, 0:36:11.239 --> 0:36:13.759 it's kind of a perfect frisbee. And apparently Fred and 0:36:13.840 --> 0:36:16.600 Lucille had so much fun they kept throwing the popcorn 0:36:16.719 --> 0:36:18.920 lit around for the following weeks. They played with it 0:36:19.040 --> 0:36:21.000 so much that it suffered a lot of wear and 0:36:21.000 --> 0:36:23.719 tear and eventually got some kind of sharp edges and 0:36:23.760 --> 0:36:28.560 became dangerous, so they retired the popcorn can lid. They 0:36:28.560 --> 0:36:31.960 stole a cake pan from Fred's mother's kitchen and started 0:36:31.960 --> 0:36:34.680 throwing that around instead, and it looks like this started 0:36:34.719 --> 0:36:38.280 a cake pan tossing tradition. About a year later, Fred 0:36:38.320 --> 0:36:40.840 and Lucille took the cake pan to the beach in 0:36:40.880 --> 0:36:43.640 Santa Monica, where they were just tossing it for fun. 0:36:44.280 --> 0:36:47.799 But apparently on this beach trip, somebody else thought that 0:36:47.840 --> 0:36:49.719 what they were doing looks like fun and came up 0:36:49.760 --> 0:36:51.719 to them and offered to pay a quarter for the 0:36:51.760 --> 0:36:54.000 cake pan so they could have it, take it and 0:36:54.000 --> 0:36:57.160 toss it with their friends. And Fred Morrison, i think, 0:36:57.160 --> 0:37:00.520 speaking to the Virginia Pilot said quote that got the 0:37:00.520 --> 0:37:03.600 wheels turning, because you could buy a cake pan for 0:37:03.680 --> 0:37:06.560 five cents, and if people on the beach were willing 0:37:06.600 --> 0:37:08.840 to pay a quarter for it, well, there was a 0:37:08.880 --> 0:37:13.080 business ding ding dang flipping the cake pans. So first 0:37:13.080 --> 0:37:15.560 they just straight up bought cheap cake pans from the 0:37:15.600 --> 0:37:17.520 store took him out to the beach to flip for 0:37:17.560 --> 0:37:20.360 a profit. So I guess there's really originally no value 0:37:20.400 --> 0:37:23.160 add here, right, except perhaps for the insight that it 0:37:23.239 --> 0:37:26.439 might be fun to throw a cake pan. Uh and 0:37:26.560 --> 0:37:28.800 maybe you know, that might not have occurred to people otherwise, 0:37:28.800 --> 0:37:30.880 so maybe there is an added value there. Yeah. I 0:37:30.880 --> 0:37:33.840 mean it's kind of like selling overpriced umbrellas on a 0:37:33.960 --> 0:37:38.200 rainy day for people who forgot their umbrella. It's it's 0:37:38.280 --> 0:37:41.120 very convenient, and yes you get to overcharge them, right 0:37:41.280 --> 0:37:44.239 or you know, selling bottles of water on a hot 0:37:44.280 --> 0:37:46.399 parking lot or something. You know, people just didn't think 0:37:46.440 --> 0:37:49.399 to bring their own. Uh So Fred and his father 0:37:49.480 --> 0:37:53.279 apparently considered designing a custom metal disc for throwing, but 0:37:53.360 --> 0:37:56.040 this never came to fruition and they kept selling cake 0:37:56.080 --> 0:37:58.600 pans at the beach until Fred Morrison went away to 0:37:58.640 --> 0:38:01.279 serve in the Army Air Corps or during the during 0:38:01.320 --> 0:38:03.839 World War Two in the European Theater, where he flew 0:38:03.880 --> 0:38:07.839 bomber missions over Italy. He was ultimately captured and held 0:38:07.880 --> 0:38:10.439 as a prisoner of war, and after being freed and 0:38:10.480 --> 0:38:13.719 returning home, Morrison came up with a design for a 0:38:13.800 --> 0:38:17.520 new kind of throwing disc, which he called the Whirlow Way. 0:38:17.560 --> 0:38:19.360 And I think this was named after some kind of 0:38:19.480 --> 0:38:22.319 racing horse. He was a fan of horses the whirlow way. 0:38:22.400 --> 0:38:26.640 That's what the Freeman used to overturn the rule of 0:38:26.760 --> 0:38:30.840 ar harconins the yeah yeah, the wording way. So I 0:38:30.920 --> 0:38:33.839 must assume Fred Morrison consumes some spice and saw over 0:38:33.880 --> 0:38:37.239 the sands of time. Yeah. But so, Over the next 0:38:37.239 --> 0:38:41.719 few years, together with a partner named Warren Franscioni, Morrison 0:38:41.760 --> 0:38:44.440 worked on a number of different designs and prototypes for 0:38:44.560 --> 0:38:48.360 disks made out of that most wonderful of twentieth century 0:38:48.360 --> 0:38:53.120 consumer materials, plastic. So now instead of metal discs, you've 0:38:53.160 --> 0:38:56.880 got plastic discs. And because of the sudden UFO craze 0:38:56.920 --> 0:39:00.399 that gripped America beginning in nineteen forty seven, they called 0:39:00.440 --> 0:39:05.080 their product the Flying Saucer. Apparently Morrison was a great salesman, 0:39:05.120 --> 0:39:09.080 and he would attract crowds during flying saucer demonstrations at 0:39:09.239 --> 0:39:12.920 fair grounds, like demonstrating how far the disc would glide 0:39:12.920 --> 0:39:16.000 with a gentle toss. Apparently they would make jokes about 0:39:16.160 --> 0:39:18.320 you know, uh, you know, how could it really travel 0:39:18.360 --> 0:39:20.640 so far? Are there hidden wires? Can you see the 0:39:20.680 --> 0:39:23.759 hidden wires? And they were able to sell some of 0:39:23.800 --> 0:39:26.520 the toys, but not enough to justify the business, and 0:39:26.680 --> 0:39:30.919 Morrison and Fransky only parted ways around nineteen fifty. Well, 0:39:31.000 --> 0:39:34.480 you know, I'm I'm realizing just how ingenious this product 0:39:34.600 --> 0:39:37.080 is now that I think about my own usages of 0:39:37.120 --> 0:39:40.080 the frisbee, because there are other products and other toys 0:39:40.120 --> 0:39:42.160 that are very much in line with that. Uh, you 0:39:42.160 --> 0:39:44.120 know those stats we gave earlier about you know, one 0:39:44.200 --> 0:39:47.080 to two years of play life and then it's shelved 0:39:47.120 --> 0:39:48.840 and then if you don't sell another one to that 0:39:48.920 --> 0:39:52.400 individual until they're grown up. But the frisbee can be 0:39:52.520 --> 0:39:55.800 used by children and adults alike. And even though frisbee 0:39:55.840 --> 0:39:58.560 is probably pretty durable, you can break a frisbee, and 0:39:58.600 --> 0:40:00.840 more to the point, you can land of frisbee in 0:40:00.880 --> 0:40:04.000 a place from which you cannot retrieve it. Yes, and 0:40:04.040 --> 0:40:05.480 then what do you have to do either way? You 0:40:05.480 --> 0:40:08.680 have to buy any frisbee? Right, Well, the the unpredictability 0:40:08.680 --> 0:40:10.360 of frisbee is the way they can get caught on 0:40:10.400 --> 0:40:13.040 a breeze or sail off into the neighbor's yard. That 0:40:13.120 --> 0:40:15.160 sort of makes you, yeah, it makes it more likely 0:40:15.200 --> 0:40:16.560 that you'll end up having to buy a new one, 0:40:16.840 --> 0:40:18.719 right And then, of course that's not even getting into 0:40:18.800 --> 0:40:20.880 the fact that you can print your company's logo on 0:40:20.920 --> 0:40:23.720 it and hand it out. So good. I just wonder 0:40:23.760 --> 0:40:27.520 how many like Dow Chemical Frisbees and Raytheon Frisbees are 0:40:27.600 --> 0:40:31.480 out there. But so around nineteen fifty four, Fred Morrison 0:40:31.760 --> 0:40:34.280 wanted to get back into the game. He was interested 0:40:34.360 --> 0:40:38.200 in giving the flying saucer another try, So the following 0:40:38.280 --> 0:40:41.279 year Morrison had a new model that he renamed the 0:40:41.360 --> 0:40:44.839 Pluto Platter, again going with the space theme. I think 0:40:44.840 --> 0:40:47.680 he was like, Pluto, that's the most recently discovered planet. 0:40:47.800 --> 0:40:50.560 Let's name the name the toy after it. Uh And 0:40:50.600 --> 0:40:53.320 you can see a patent for Morrison's model that you 0:40:53.360 --> 0:40:55.920 can actually look up from I think filed in nineteen 0:40:55.960 --> 0:40:59.240 fifty seven, awarded in nineteen fifty eight. But it looks 0:40:59.280 --> 0:41:01.440 a lot like a frisbee you would see today. It's 0:41:01.480 --> 0:41:04.240 sort of a plastic disc with a lip that curves under. 0:41:04.560 --> 0:41:08.839 But in nineteen fifty seven Morrison struck gold because that 0:41:08.920 --> 0:41:11.040 was the year he sold the rights to the Pluto 0:41:11.080 --> 0:41:15.960 Platter to a toy company called Wammo. Wammo Inc. And 0:41:16.120 --> 0:41:19.280 Wammo from this point on took care of the manufacturing 0:41:19.280 --> 0:41:21.720 and sales. I think they also helped him secure his patent, 0:41:22.080 --> 0:41:25.960 and then Morrison collected royalties on his design. But of 0:41:25.960 --> 0:41:29.520 course we don't call these things pluto platters today, So 0:41:29.520 --> 0:41:32.799 so what happened already? In nineteen fifty seven, the toy 0:41:32.880 --> 0:41:35.000 had come to be known as a Frisbee, a name 0:41:35.040 --> 0:41:38.239 which Morrison apparently originally hated, but he warmed two over 0:41:38.280 --> 0:41:41.560 time as he collected his millions. Uh so where did 0:41:41.560 --> 0:41:44.279 the name come from? Well, it turns out Fred and 0:41:44.360 --> 0:41:47.480 Lucille were not the only kids throwing baking pans at 0:41:47.520 --> 0:41:51.680 each other. In eighteen seventy one, in Bridgeport, Connecticut, a 0:41:51.719 --> 0:41:55.200 guy named William Frisbee spelled f r I s b 0:41:55.600 --> 0:42:00.200 i E, not b E open the Frisbee Pie comp Any, 0:42:00.280 --> 0:42:03.560 which amazingly sold pies, and apparently it was something of 0:42:03.600 --> 0:42:08.040 a local tradition for students at various East Coast universities 0:42:08.080 --> 0:42:12.080 like Yale, which is also in Connecticut, to throw Frisbee 0:42:12.160 --> 0:42:15.920 pie tins at each other and yell. Frisbee and the 0:42:15.960 --> 0:42:19.560 Wammo Company learned about this tradition and named their new 0:42:19.600 --> 0:42:23.040 acquisition after it. So that's where the name comes from. 0:42:23.080 --> 0:42:26.520 It's a pie company. Uh and uh. And once Frisbee 0:42:26.640 --> 0:42:30.520 the frisbee belonged to Wammo, it underwent some more design improvements. Crucially, 0:42:30.560 --> 0:42:34.520 in nineteen sixty four, a WAMMO employee named ed Headrick 0:42:34.640 --> 0:42:37.800 added a series of ridges or grooves on the surface 0:42:37.840 --> 0:42:41.280 that helped the thrower grip the plastic and also increase 0:42:41.360 --> 0:42:44.040 the weight of the rim to help the frisbee fly 0:42:44.239 --> 0:42:46.480 with greater stability. And this is actually a thing in 0:42:46.520 --> 0:42:49.640 the design of of discus or frisbee. If you distribute 0:42:49.680 --> 0:42:52.400 more of the weight to the outer edges, that helps 0:42:52.440 --> 0:42:56.000 it spin faster, have more angular momentum in spinning, which 0:42:56.040 --> 0:42:59.120 again is good for helping it maintain a stable angle. 0:42:59.800 --> 0:43:03.319 And that that Time article I mentioned earlier includes an 0:43:03.320 --> 0:43:06.600 amazing quote from an earlier Time article, one from nineteen 0:43:06.680 --> 0:43:11.960 seventy two about frisbee groupies of the period a k a. Frupies. 0:43:12.520 --> 0:43:15.000 And I've got no words for this. It goes quote. 0:43:15.480 --> 0:43:19.480 Dr stancl Johnson, a long haired Santa Monica psychiatrist who 0:43:19.560 --> 0:43:24.040 serves as Frisbee's official historian, has an apparently sober explanation 0:43:24.160 --> 0:43:27.680 for the discs popularity they are. He says, quote the 0:43:27.760 --> 0:43:31.880 perfect marriage between man's greatest tool his hand and his 0:43:31.960 --> 0:43:36.759 greatest dream to fly. That seems like he's kind of 0:43:36.760 --> 0:43:38.880 reaching a bit there. But then again, I don't know 0:43:39.000 --> 0:43:41.600 waxing poetic a little bit about the frisbee, but it's 0:43:41.640 --> 0:43:46.120 possible we could catch ourselves saying something like that. So, 0:43:46.160 --> 0:43:48.680 of course, now we know that frisbee is not just 0:43:49.239 --> 0:43:51.360 a toy to toss with your family and your friends. 0:43:51.360 --> 0:43:53.759 But there's all this, you know, frisbee sports of a 0:43:53.800 --> 0:43:58.160 million different kinds. There's ultimate frisbee. There's frisbee golf, which, 0:43:58.920 --> 0:44:01.799 uh that I admit that I've played these sports and 0:44:01.840 --> 0:44:04.239 actually kind of enjoyed them. And yeah, I mean I 0:44:04.360 --> 0:44:07.520 frisbee golf looks fun. Is there frisbee sports stigma? I 0:44:07.920 --> 0:44:10.920 sent stigma? I don't know why. Um, I mean, I 0:44:11.280 --> 0:44:15.640 think it's just they're varying individuals who engage in frisbee golf, 0:44:15.680 --> 0:44:19.959 and some are undoubtedly going to be um, you know, miscreants, sure, 0:44:20.320 --> 0:44:22.920 just but others are going to be you know, fine 0:44:23.120 --> 0:44:26.759 frisbee enthusiasts. Well, I confess I've played frisbee golf and 0:44:26.800 --> 0:44:29.799 I liked it. All right, We're gonna take another break. 0:44:29.800 --> 0:44:32.440 When we come back, we will reach once more into 0:44:32.719 --> 0:44:40.359 the gift bag, all right, we're back. I'm gonna reach 0:44:40.360 --> 0:44:44.200 into the bag once more and Wammo, here's another one. 0:44:44.440 --> 0:44:49.480 This is a hula hoop. You mean the Wammo toy company. Yes, yeah, okay, yeah, 0:44:49.480 --> 0:44:53.000 because they're gonna factor into this invention as well. So 0:44:53.120 --> 0:44:56.120 this is a really fun toy to discuss. Actually wrote 0:44:56.120 --> 0:44:58.360 an entire how stuff Works article about this back in 0:44:58.400 --> 0:45:00.640 the day, how hula hoops work. And I'm not going 0:45:00.680 --> 0:45:03.960 to blow through all the info in that article because 0:45:03.960 --> 0:45:05.239 in that I got to get into a lot of 0:45:05.239 --> 0:45:08.960 fun things like performance art with barbed wire hula hoops 0:45:09.000 --> 0:45:12.359 and so yeah, flaming hula hoops. The role of who 0:45:13.440 --> 0:45:14.880 it was it was it was really cool, and it 0:45:14.920 --> 0:45:16.360 was one of those where it was assigned to me 0:45:16.680 --> 0:45:18.279 and I kind of groaned a little at first, and 0:45:18.320 --> 0:45:19.640 then by the end of it in the but I 0:45:19.680 --> 0:45:23.000 was like, oh, yeah, hula hoops are amazing. It also 0:45:23.040 --> 0:45:25.879 gets into the physics far more than I'm not really 0:45:25.880 --> 0:45:28.839 gonna get into the physics here today, but I'm gonna 0:45:28.920 --> 0:45:32.200 touch on the key history. So hoop toys themselves are 0:45:32.360 --> 0:45:36.280 quite ancient, uh, just lost in the midst of history. 0:45:36.320 --> 0:45:39.680 Because all you need are some dried vines uh, in 0:45:39.719 --> 0:45:41.920 the ability to sort of you know, loop them together 0:45:41.960 --> 0:45:44.600 and to make a loop. And as such, you know, 0:45:44.640 --> 0:45:48.279 the ancient Egyptians had hoop toys. Now I understand that 0:45:48.280 --> 0:45:51.760 a lot of the ancient hoop toys were used for 0:45:51.760 --> 0:45:55.439 for vertical rolling. Yes, yeah, and then granted we still 0:45:55.480 --> 0:45:56.960 do that today. One of my favorite things to do 0:45:57.000 --> 0:45:58.640 with the hula hoop is to do the trick. I 0:45:58.640 --> 0:45:59.960 don't know if you know that it has a name 0:46:00.400 --> 0:46:03.520 where you take it and you fling it out vertically 0:46:03.560 --> 0:46:05.440 but in a way so that it will be rolling 0:46:05.480 --> 0:46:07.720 back to you. Yeah, you put backspin on it, tossed 0:46:07.760 --> 0:46:09.839 it with backspin and it rolls too. I love that too. Yeah, 0:46:09.880 --> 0:46:12.120 it's a fabulous trick. I feel like I'm I'm performing 0:46:12.160 --> 0:46:14.000 magic every time I do it, and I'm a little 0:46:14.040 --> 0:46:17.919 shocked that everyone around me isn't isn't commenting on how 0:46:17.960 --> 0:46:20.640 marvelous this trick is. But of course we all know it. 0:46:21.440 --> 0:46:23.520 We all we all know the trick. And then of 0:46:23.560 --> 0:46:25.960 course they're simply too. You know the act of rolling 0:46:25.960 --> 0:46:28.600 a hoop around, usually using a stick to propel it, 0:46:29.200 --> 0:46:31.920 which I often think is being kind of the kind 0:46:31.920 --> 0:46:33.920 of thing you would see in a film or a 0:46:34.000 --> 0:46:38.880 TV show like you would see Opie Taylor or Tom 0:46:38.920 --> 0:46:41.840 Sawyer doing this. Yeah, kind of just an old timey, 0:46:41.920 --> 0:46:44.560 simple toy, but something that would be fun to do. 0:46:45.120 --> 0:46:48.800 And so hoop rolling and hoop games were popular amid 0:46:48.840 --> 0:46:52.239 the ancient Greeks and the ancient Romans. The hoop is 0:46:52.239 --> 0:46:57.240 also a potent as a physical symbol representing cyclical, yawnick 0:46:57.719 --> 0:47:01.799 and cosmic concepts. The hero Ganymede is often depicted with 0:47:01.920 --> 0:47:05.640 a hoop, and in North America, the Taos Peblo people 0:47:05.680 --> 0:47:08.840 of what is now New Mexico used hoops and sacred 0:47:08.920 --> 0:47:12.280 dances and rituals to represent, you know, the cilical nature 0:47:12.320 --> 0:47:17.319 of life. Various cultures, including the ancient British and the 0:47:17.360 --> 0:47:20.719 Cahokia people of the Mississippi River Valley. These are the 0:47:20.760 --> 0:47:24.560 mound builders who reached their peak in the thirteenth century 0:47:24.560 --> 0:47:27.839 and declined before the coming of Europeans. They engaged in 0:47:28.040 --> 0:47:32.000 what we often referred to as kill the hoop games. 0:47:32.040 --> 0:47:35.000 This is kind of a combination of two different throwing acts. 0:47:35.000 --> 0:47:37.600 Someone will roll a hoop and then someone will throw 0:47:37.640 --> 0:47:40.239 a spear or some other object, but often it's a 0:47:40.280 --> 0:47:43.160 spear through the hoop. So it's you know, you're gonna 0:47:43.280 --> 0:47:47.000 hit an artificial moving target with your weapon or thrown object. 0:47:47.480 --> 0:47:50.560 Kind of skei shooting. Yeah, yeah, kind of like an 0:47:50.560 --> 0:47:54.200 early version of ski at a skeat shooting. But most 0:47:54.239 --> 0:47:57.400 agree that in playing with hoops like this, the discovery 0:47:57.400 --> 0:47:59.680 of what we think of as as hula hooping was 0:47:59.760 --> 0:48:03.040 sure early experimented with. So if you have children, even 0:48:03.080 --> 0:48:06.400 ancient children, uh, in any of these cultures we've discussed 0:48:06.640 --> 0:48:09.600 messing around with hoops, killing the afternoon with a hoop, 0:48:10.280 --> 0:48:13.719 undoubtedly somebody is going to realize that you can put 0:48:13.719 --> 0:48:15.839 it on your arm and spin it around, you can 0:48:15.840 --> 0:48:17.840 put it on your neck and spin it around, and 0:48:17.880 --> 0:48:20.120 you can put it on your waist and spinning around. 0:48:20.200 --> 0:48:23.719 It's just how we we were curious creatures and in 0:48:23.760 --> 0:48:27.200 our tool use, we're going to get there. Uh, We're 0:48:27.239 --> 0:48:29.960 going to spin that hoop around our body at some point. 0:48:30.120 --> 0:48:32.360 And we also know that from just from military history, 0:48:32.400 --> 0:48:35.239 the concept of a hoop weapon in the form of 0:48:35.280 --> 0:48:37.919 the Chockram weapon of India, which we have an older 0:48:37.960 --> 0:48:40.480 episode of stuff to blow your mind about. Uh, you 0:48:40.480 --> 0:48:42.600 know this is something that is sometimes spun around a 0:48:42.640 --> 0:48:46.719 finger before launching. Kind of like a sharp roby toy, 0:48:46.840 --> 0:48:49.440 but used as a shock weapon on the front lines. 0:48:49.840 --> 0:48:52.960 And I believe it still remains a a ritual weapon, 0:48:53.280 --> 0:48:58.360 like a holy item for the sikhs Uh. You'll sometimes 0:48:58.360 --> 0:49:01.239 see it presented as such. But but that in that 0:49:01.400 --> 0:49:04.360 we see like the idea of spinning a hoop type 0:49:04.600 --> 0:49:08.319 item around your body was already known now. According to 0:49:08.440 --> 0:49:12.200 Charles Penalates extraordinary origins of everyday things, there was a 0:49:12.280 --> 0:49:16.560 medieval hoop craze, apparently during the fifteen hundreds, an Edwardian 0:49:16.640 --> 0:49:19.799 craze that resulted in the reports of dislocated backs and 0:49:19.920 --> 0:49:23.839 heart failure, and then hula itself for hula hoop, because 0:49:23.840 --> 0:49:26.640 again these were not called hula hoops. Hula enters the 0:49:26.640 --> 0:49:29.000 Western world in the seventeen hundreds with the knowledge of 0:49:29.000 --> 0:49:33.640 Polynesian cultures. Hoop dancing for fitness became a European craze 0:49:33.640 --> 0:49:36.640 in the late eighteen hundreds, in early nineteen hundreds, and 0:49:36.680 --> 0:49:40.720 then in nineteen fifty eight Whammo enters. The picture gives 0:49:40.800 --> 0:49:44.400 us the hula hoop as created by Richard near an 0:49:44.440 --> 0:49:47.040 author Spud that Melon, who were said to have been 0:49:47.080 --> 0:49:51.719 inspired by tales of Australian children playing with bamboo hoops. 0:49:51.760 --> 0:49:54.000 But this one, of course, the Whamo hoop is a 0:49:54.040 --> 0:49:57.439 plastic hoop, and it cost uh I was reading something 0:49:57.480 --> 0:50:01.000 like a dollar ninety eight and in and it's sold 0:50:01.040 --> 0:50:03.719 something like twenty five million units in two months and 0:50:03.760 --> 0:50:05.840 by the end of fifty eight and made forty five 0:50:05.840 --> 0:50:09.000 million dollars. So it was a colossal hit for Wammo. 0:50:09.719 --> 0:50:13.279 But it was also a craze, so it did not 0:50:13.800 --> 0:50:16.800 last as long like the hula hoop. Sometimes the hula 0:50:16.840 --> 0:50:20.400 hoop and a human engage in a lifelong relationship. You 0:50:20.440 --> 0:50:23.000 know that you really get into it, you're performing hula 0:50:23.040 --> 0:50:26.439 hoop dances, etcetera. Other times, the hula hoop is something 0:50:26.480 --> 0:50:28.239 you play with a little bit and then it gets 0:50:28.239 --> 0:50:31.560 thrown in the garage and forgotten about. And and also, 0:50:31.680 --> 0:50:35.000 unlike the frisbee, uh, it's it's harder to destroy a 0:50:35.080 --> 0:50:38.360 hula hoop. You've really got to you've really got to 0:50:38.360 --> 0:50:40.400 try to destroy who. I don't have you ever destroyed 0:50:40.400 --> 0:50:42.919 a hula hoop? Not destroyed one. I'm just not sure. 0:50:42.920 --> 0:50:45.680 It's harder. Oh, you're you're much less likely to lose 0:50:45.840 --> 0:50:48.880 a hula hoop into a neighbor's yard or something. Yeah, 0:50:49.200 --> 0:50:51.920 so I can't help but think that also attributed the 0:50:51.920 --> 0:50:55.200 fact that sales of the hula hoop really fell off. 0:50:55.560 --> 0:50:59.320 But luckily this was exactly the same time when WAMO 0:50:59.440 --> 0:51:02.799 moved on to the Frisbee. Uh so they really had 0:51:02.800 --> 0:51:07.160 a one to punch on inventions or reinventions that they 0:51:07.200 --> 0:51:11.640 could target towards the uh know, the toy hungry American consumer, right, 0:51:11.760 --> 0:51:17.320 making tens of millions off of just basic round objects. Yeah, 0:51:17.640 --> 0:51:20.000 recreate it, give it a fancy name, and market it. 0:51:20.040 --> 0:51:22.279 That's something we see time and time again. And in fact, 0:51:22.320 --> 0:51:24.320 when we do our next episode, which will be another 0:51:24.440 --> 0:51:28.200 reach into the toy bag, we'll see this again where 0:51:28.320 --> 0:51:32.160 something ancient and well known simply gets a new name 0:51:32.320 --> 0:51:36.040 and gets marketed a whole lot and it becomes this 0:51:36.160 --> 0:51:40.760 new invention. Um as for the hula hoop. Again, sometimes 0:51:40.800 --> 0:51:42.880 we forget about the hula hoop, but it has remained 0:51:42.920 --> 0:51:45.560 with us. You can still buy a hula hoop, but 0:51:46.080 --> 0:51:48.719 you know, wherever you are, there's a store around you 0:51:48.760 --> 0:51:51.680 where you can buy one, probably, and it even is 0:51:51.719 --> 0:51:54.000 as far as holidays go. It even factors into our 0:51:54.080 --> 0:51:58.359 Christmas songs. There's the which one is that horrible chip 0:51:58.360 --> 0:52:02.359 monk monk song? Uh? Me, I want a hula hoop? Yeah, 0:52:02.360 --> 0:52:04.200 I want to plan that loops the loop Me, I 0:52:04.239 --> 0:52:06.719 want a hula hoop. There you go, Classic toy. I 0:52:06.719 --> 0:52:09.160 would think a chipmunk is too small to use a 0:52:09.239 --> 0:52:11.719 hula hoop. Yeah, now we'd have We definitely would have 0:52:11.719 --> 0:52:14.320 to get into the physics of it, because a small 0:52:14.360 --> 0:52:19.239 hoop is going to be far more um energy intensive. 0:52:20.080 --> 0:52:22.359 And I'm not sure that a chipmunk. As much as 0:52:22.360 --> 0:52:24.840 I love chipmunks and squirrels, and I know our listeners do, 0:52:24.960 --> 0:52:27.840 to wait a minute now now that I'm thinking about it, 0:52:27.840 --> 0:52:31.880 aren't the chipmunks in the Chipmunks not regular chipmunks size? 0:52:31.920 --> 0:52:34.239 They are more the size of human children that they 0:52:34.239 --> 0:52:36.920 are the size of human children, which is that's a 0:52:36.960 --> 0:52:41.040 grotesque blasphemy against nature. But still that might make them 0:52:41.280 --> 0:52:45.040 more able to use an actual hula hoop. All right, 0:52:45.160 --> 0:52:47.600 So we're gonna go ahead and call this episode here, 0:52:47.880 --> 0:52:51.000 but we will be back next week with more toys, 0:52:51.440 --> 0:52:54.720 generally like classic toys, I think, and we'll will explore 0:52:54.800 --> 0:52:57.600 their history where they came from. Do they have ancient roots, 0:52:57.640 --> 0:53:00.600 they have modern roots? Inevitably do they have both. In 0:53:00.640 --> 0:53:03.120 the meantime, we'd obviously love to hear from anyone who 0:53:03.120 --> 0:53:07.160 has thoughts on these various toys. And also, are you 0:53:07.200 --> 0:53:10.200 a discus thrower? Have you experience with the sport of 0:53:10.239 --> 0:53:14.000 throwing a discus? Do you have thoughts on Joe's commentary 0:53:14.080 --> 0:53:16.960 on on on the physics of throwing the discus? What's 0:53:17.000 --> 0:53:19.759 your experience with those physics? We would love to hear 0:53:19.800 --> 0:53:22.759 from you, absolutely please share, all right, If you want 0:53:22.760 --> 0:53:24.719 to listen to more episodes of Invention, head on over 0:53:24.760 --> 0:53:27.520 to invention pot dot com. That's the uh, that's that's 0:53:27.560 --> 0:53:30.279 the I guess the homepage for the show. But of 0:53:30.320 --> 0:53:33.040 course you can find this podcast anywhere you get podcasts, 0:53:33.080 --> 0:53:36.080 wherever it is. Make sure you've subscribed that way you 0:53:36.080 --> 0:53:39.600 will definitely get part two of our toy exploration and 0:53:39.920 --> 0:53:41.680 leave us a nice rating if you have the power 0:53:41.719 --> 0:53:44.040 to do so, you know, whatever the page is, because 0:53:44.040 --> 0:53:46.480 that helps us out in the long run. Also, be 0:53:46.520 --> 0:53:48.239 sure to check out Stuff to Blow your Mind. That 0:53:48.360 --> 0:53:51.120 is our other podcast and uh and there's you know, 0:53:51.280 --> 0:53:53.879 years and years worth of great content there as well. 0:53:54.320 --> 0:53:57.520 Huge thanks as always to our excellent audio producer Seth 0:53:57.600 --> 0:54:00.160 Nicholas Johnson. If you would like to get into for 0:54:00.320 --> 0:54:02.880 us with feedback on this episode, to suggest a topic 0:54:02.920 --> 0:54:05.600 for the future, just to say hello, you can email 0:54:05.680 --> 0:54:13.040 us at contact at invention pod dot com. Invention is 0:54:13.080 --> 0:54:15.799 production of I Heart Radio for more podcasts for my 0:54:15.840 --> 0:54:18.560 heart Radio because the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or 0:54:18.560 --> 0:54:20.120 wherever you listen to your favorite shows.