1 00:00:04,240 --> 00:00:07,240 Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff, a production of I Heart Radios 2 00:00:07,320 --> 00:00:13,840 Speaker 1: How Stuff Works. Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. 3 00:00:13,840 --> 00:00:17,159 Speaker 1: I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with 4 00:00:17,320 --> 00:00:19,120 Speaker 1: I Heart Radio and How Stuff Works, and I love 5 00:00:19,160 --> 00:00:22,959 Speaker 1: all things tech. And today I was feeling a little 6 00:00:22,960 --> 00:00:26,760 Speaker 1: bit silly, probably because I didn't get enough sleep last night, 7 00:00:27,040 --> 00:00:31,920 Speaker 1: and so to honor that silly feeling I have, I 8 00:00:31,960 --> 00:00:35,680 Speaker 1: thought perhaps we would do an episode about odd inventors 9 00:00:35,760 --> 00:00:40,600 Speaker 1: and inventions, the silly, the unnecessary, the wacky, sometimes just 10 00:00:40,680 --> 00:00:44,400 Speaker 1: the unexpected. So not everything on this list is truly 11 00:00:45,200 --> 00:00:48,640 Speaker 1: weird and bizarre. Some of them people have thought about 12 00:00:48,640 --> 00:00:52,880 Speaker 1: as being odd, and in some cases they were purposefully 13 00:00:52,920 --> 00:00:55,080 Speaker 1: made that way. And there are a lot of gadgets 14 00:00:55,120 --> 00:00:58,080 Speaker 1: and technologies out there that you could describe as useless 15 00:00:58,280 --> 00:01:03,120 Speaker 1: or counterproductive, or ineffective or just playing dumb. But I 16 00:01:03,160 --> 00:01:06,679 Speaker 1: want to celebrate inventors who came up with gadgets or 17 00:01:06,720 --> 00:01:11,440 Speaker 1: technologies that are, at least on first glance, just playing goofy. 18 00:01:11,480 --> 00:01:15,400 Speaker 1: So in other words, I'm not out to skewer some 19 00:01:15,600 --> 00:01:18,880 Speaker 1: sincere but failed effort to make a cool product. I 20 00:01:18,880 --> 00:01:21,680 Speaker 1: don't want to hold something up and say, look, at 21 00:01:21,720 --> 00:01:23,679 Speaker 1: what they tried to do and see how they failed. 22 00:01:23,720 --> 00:01:26,280 Speaker 1: Ha ha ha. No, I really want to highlight stuff 23 00:01:26,520 --> 00:01:30,120 Speaker 1: that was ingenious, perhaps in its entertainment value, if not 24 00:01:30,319 --> 00:01:34,360 Speaker 1: in actual utility. So I think there's no better person 25 00:01:34,400 --> 00:01:38,080 Speaker 1: to talk about when you're looking at silly inventions than 26 00:01:38,280 --> 00:01:44,039 Speaker 1: Ruben Garrett Lucius Goldberg, better known as Rube Goldberg. And 27 00:01:44,080 --> 00:01:47,480 Speaker 1: if you've ever heard about a Rube Goldberg device, this 28 00:01:47,560 --> 00:01:50,880 Speaker 1: is the guy that that is named after. And if 29 00:01:50,960 --> 00:01:54,720 Speaker 1: you haven't heard of a Rube Goldberg device, you've probably 30 00:01:54,840 --> 00:01:58,040 Speaker 1: seen one in some shape or form. I'll talk about 31 00:01:58,080 --> 00:02:01,560 Speaker 1: a few famous pieces of meat you that feature Rube 32 00:02:01,560 --> 00:02:07,200 Speaker 1: Goldberg devices in a bit. But first, who was Rube Goldberg? Well. 33 00:02:07,240 --> 00:02:10,600 Speaker 1: He was born on the fourth of July in eighteen 34 00:02:10,840 --> 00:02:15,160 Speaker 1: eighty three in San Francisco, California. As a kid, he 35 00:02:15,240 --> 00:02:18,320 Speaker 1: loved to draw, and he showed signs of wanting to 36 00:02:18,320 --> 00:02:22,519 Speaker 1: be an artist. He first started tracing pictures using thin 37 00:02:22,680 --> 00:02:27,320 Speaker 1: trace paper on top of existing comics and drawings. Then 38 00:02:27,320 --> 00:02:29,919 Speaker 1: he started to make his own drawings, but his father 39 00:02:30,080 --> 00:02:32,480 Speaker 1: had other ideas for him. His father was a police 40 00:02:32,480 --> 00:02:35,639 Speaker 1: officer and a fire commissioner in San Francisco, and he 41 00:02:35,680 --> 00:02:39,919 Speaker 1: thought his young son, Ruben would make an excellent engineer. 42 00:02:40,360 --> 00:02:45,160 Speaker 1: So after Reuben graduated high school, young Goldberg would enroll 43 00:02:45,280 --> 00:02:49,559 Speaker 1: in the University of California at Berkeley and major in engineering. 44 00:02:50,080 --> 00:02:53,000 Speaker 1: He graduated with a bachelor's degree in the field, and 45 00:02:53,000 --> 00:02:55,679 Speaker 1: he went to work for the City of San Francisco 46 00:02:55,840 --> 00:03:00,120 Speaker 1: as an engineer. And his day job had him designing 47 00:03:00,240 --> 00:03:03,720 Speaker 1: and working on maintenance for sewer systems, and to say 48 00:03:03,720 --> 00:03:07,079 Speaker 1: that he found the work unfulfilling would be an understatement. 49 00:03:07,480 --> 00:03:09,000 Speaker 1: I guess he could say he thought it was a 50 00:03:09,040 --> 00:03:13,000 Speaker 1: crappy job. He also was a witness to how politics 51 00:03:13,160 --> 00:03:17,400 Speaker 1: works from the inside, and he saw city officials making 52 00:03:17,440 --> 00:03:19,800 Speaker 1: deals with contractors in a way he found to be 53 00:03:19,880 --> 00:03:23,840 Speaker 1: dishonest and corrupt, and that really rubbed him the wrong way. 54 00:03:23,840 --> 00:03:26,080 Speaker 1: He did not want to work in that environment anyway. 55 00:03:26,200 --> 00:03:28,880 Speaker 1: After only a few months of working as an engineer, 56 00:03:29,240 --> 00:03:33,000 Speaker 1: Rube decided to make a massive career change. He applied 57 00:03:33,040 --> 00:03:36,000 Speaker 1: to work for the San Francisco Chronicle as a sports 58 00:03:36,080 --> 00:03:39,960 Speaker 1: writer and a cartoonist. Then he jumped ship to the 59 00:03:40,040 --> 00:03:43,680 Speaker 1: San Francisco Bulletin. Again, working as a cartoonist, he would 60 00:03:43,720 --> 00:03:47,080 Speaker 1: often illustrate articles that were about sports and things of 61 00:03:47,080 --> 00:03:51,640 Speaker 1: that nature, and he created several long running cartoons, most 62 00:03:51,680 --> 00:03:54,800 Speaker 1: of which have been largely forgotten today. He did create 63 00:03:54,800 --> 00:03:57,640 Speaker 1: a comic strip called Mike and Ike, but today I'd 64 00:03:57,720 --> 00:04:00,320 Speaker 1: argue that when people mentioned Mike and Ike there talking 65 00:04:00,360 --> 00:04:02,960 Speaker 1: about the candy, and the candy may or may not 66 00:04:03,080 --> 00:04:05,800 Speaker 1: have been named after the comic strip. The comic strip 67 00:04:05,840 --> 00:04:08,680 Speaker 1: was already out of print by the time the Mike 68 00:04:08,760 --> 00:04:11,520 Speaker 1: and Mike candy became a thing, so it may have 69 00:04:11,600 --> 00:04:15,680 Speaker 1: just been true coincidence and not some a case where 70 00:04:15,720 --> 00:04:17,560 Speaker 1: they named a candy after a comic strip. It's not 71 00:04:17,600 --> 00:04:19,840 Speaker 1: likely the comic strip was super famous and beloved at 72 00:04:19,880 --> 00:04:26,040 Speaker 1: that point. By seven, Goldberg was creating comics with absurd, bizarre, 73 00:04:26,680 --> 00:04:31,200 Speaker 1: and sometimes very dark jokes and gags in them. Starting 74 00:04:31,200 --> 00:04:36,960 Speaker 1: in nineteen fourteen, he also illustrated scenarios involving complicated contraptions 75 00:04:37,279 --> 00:04:41,800 Speaker 1: designed to carry out some relatively simple task, and this 76 00:04:41,839 --> 00:04:45,760 Speaker 1: would become his real claim to fame. Goldberg might start 77 00:04:46,120 --> 00:04:49,400 Speaker 1: with a very simple action, such as pouring water from 78 00:04:49,440 --> 00:04:52,920 Speaker 1: a water picture into a glass. Then he would concoct 79 00:04:53,040 --> 00:04:57,599 Speaker 1: a series of improbable and complex actions that would lead 80 00:04:57,720 --> 00:05:02,360 Speaker 1: to that conclusion. Sort of a very very complicated sequence. 81 00:05:02,960 --> 00:05:06,320 Speaker 1: In a way, it's similar to elaborate Domino setups, where 82 00:05:06,360 --> 00:05:09,599 Speaker 1: someone has created a really intricate design that a series 83 00:05:09,640 --> 00:05:12,720 Speaker 1: of falling domino's reveals. In fact, there are typically some 84 00:05:12,760 --> 00:05:16,080 Speaker 1: parallels between Rube Goldberg machines and Domino setups, and a 85 00:05:16,120 --> 00:05:20,480 Speaker 1: lot of Rube Goldberg machines include Domino sequences in them. 86 00:05:20,520 --> 00:05:25,600 Speaker 1: In nine, Goldberg created a character named Professor Lucifer Gorgon 87 00:05:25,760 --> 00:05:30,920 Speaker 1: Zola Butts a k. This character would become the genius 88 00:05:30,960 --> 00:05:35,200 Speaker 1: inventor of many of the zany designs Goldberg imagined to 89 00:05:35,360 --> 00:05:38,680 Speaker 1: either accomplish a simple task or otherwise make some sort 90 00:05:38,760 --> 00:05:44,920 Speaker 1: of social commentary. For example, in one fairly ghoulish illustration, 91 00:05:45,040 --> 00:05:48,280 Speaker 1: Goldberg created a system to test someone to see if 92 00:05:48,279 --> 00:05:51,440 Speaker 1: they had the right metal to invest in the stock 93 00:05:51,480 --> 00:05:53,720 Speaker 1: market are they the right kind of person to take 94 00:05:53,720 --> 00:05:57,400 Speaker 1: that gamble. The system included a pistol pointed at the 95 00:05:57,440 --> 00:06:00,560 Speaker 1: back of the head of the would be investor, as 96 00:06:00,600 --> 00:06:03,920 Speaker 1: well as a glass that would slowly get filled with poison, 97 00:06:04,600 --> 00:06:08,840 Speaker 1: and should the person survive this experience, Professor Butts wrote, 98 00:06:09,120 --> 00:06:11,800 Speaker 1: then that person would be suitable to act as an 99 00:06:11,800 --> 00:06:15,919 Speaker 1: investor if they had a disregard for their own personal safety. 100 00:06:15,960 --> 00:06:19,400 Speaker 1: So little social commentary there. Not all the inventions were 101 00:06:19,520 --> 00:06:23,240 Speaker 1: quite so grim or packed with that kind of social commentary. 102 00:06:23,360 --> 00:06:26,800 Speaker 1: Many were just plain silly, and people enjoyed the comics. 103 00:06:27,080 --> 00:06:30,440 Speaker 1: Goldberg became so well known for these ideas that didn't 104 00:06:30,440 --> 00:06:33,080 Speaker 1: take long for his name to become an adjective for 105 00:06:33,160 --> 00:06:37,960 Speaker 1: such devices. In ninety one, the Miriam Webster Dictionary included 106 00:06:38,120 --> 00:06:41,560 Speaker 1: Rube Goldberg and used as an adjective to describe any 107 00:06:41,560 --> 00:06:46,560 Speaker 1: system of unnecessary complexity designed to complete and otherwise simple task. 108 00:06:47,040 --> 00:06:49,200 Speaker 1: I find it pretty impressive that took less than two 109 00:06:49,200 --> 00:06:52,560 Speaker 1: decades from the first invention cartoon for Goldberg's name to 110 00:06:52,600 --> 00:06:58,640 Speaker 1: become officially associated with this general idea. Some people enjoyed 111 00:06:58,640 --> 00:07:01,159 Speaker 1: the cartoons to the point of holding their own ridiculous 112 00:07:01,200 --> 00:07:05,160 Speaker 1: complex devices to complete a simple task in real life. 113 00:07:05,600 --> 00:07:09,560 Speaker 1: Physically building these things. They were bringing this philosophy into 114 00:07:09,600 --> 00:07:12,160 Speaker 1: the real world, and the goal wasn't really to do 115 00:07:12,360 --> 00:07:15,320 Speaker 1: whatever it was the machine did. It was to show 116 00:07:15,400 --> 00:07:19,920 Speaker 1: off creative ingenuity as well as to celebrate this peculiar 117 00:07:20,000 --> 00:07:24,320 Speaker 1: human desire to avoid having to do certain things. It's 118 00:07:24,320 --> 00:07:26,480 Speaker 1: a bit of a cliche, but it's also true that 119 00:07:26,560 --> 00:07:29,840 Speaker 1: many people would spend much more effort finding ways to 120 00:07:30,040 --> 00:07:34,520 Speaker 1: avoid doing something then it would require if they just 121 00:07:34,720 --> 00:07:37,360 Speaker 1: took the time to do the thing in the first place. 122 00:07:37,800 --> 00:07:40,920 Speaker 1: Goodness knows, I'm guilty of this. I found creative ways 123 00:07:41,000 --> 00:07:43,760 Speaker 1: to avoid having to do certain things that involved doing 124 00:07:43,840 --> 00:07:46,680 Speaker 1: way more work than it would have been for me 125 00:07:46,760 --> 00:07:50,160 Speaker 1: to just do the thing to begin with. Goldberg described 126 00:07:50,200 --> 00:07:54,560 Speaker 1: it as quote man's capacity for exerting maximum effort to 127 00:07:54,640 --> 00:08:01,440 Speaker 1: accomplish minimal results in the quote. In nine at Perdue University, 128 00:08:01,520 --> 00:08:06,880 Speaker 1: to engineering fraternities called Triangle and Theta Tao would compete 129 00:08:06,920 --> 00:08:10,520 Speaker 1: with one another to build actual physical machines following the 130 00:08:10,560 --> 00:08:15,360 Speaker 1: Rube Goldberg esthetic as part of their Engineers Ball, which 131 00:08:15,400 --> 00:08:19,000 Speaker 1: was a social event organized by those two fraternities over 132 00:08:19,040 --> 00:08:21,840 Speaker 1: the course of the next few years. Until the Engineer's 133 00:08:21,920 --> 00:08:25,800 Speaker 1: Ball was discontinued in nineteen fifty five, the competitions would 134 00:08:25,840 --> 00:08:29,760 Speaker 1: happen annually, and the competitions were spirited, to say the least, 135 00:08:29,880 --> 00:08:32,240 Speaker 1: and at one point the fraternities had to agree to 136 00:08:32,280 --> 00:08:35,640 Speaker 1: a set of rules that would disqualify any team guilty 137 00:08:35,720 --> 00:08:39,680 Speaker 1: of attempting to sabotage the other team. But after nineteen 138 00:08:39,720 --> 00:08:42,960 Speaker 1: fifty five, the competition was set aside and largely forgotten 139 00:08:43,000 --> 00:08:47,120 Speaker 1: about until nineteen eighty three. That's when some members of 140 00:08:47,160 --> 00:08:50,680 Speaker 1: the Theta Tao Phi chapter did some cleaning around the 141 00:08:50,720 --> 00:08:55,360 Speaker 1: old frat house and they came across a rather odd trophy. 142 00:08:55,480 --> 00:08:59,000 Speaker 1: After some research, they learned about the original competitions and 143 00:08:59,080 --> 00:09:03,199 Speaker 1: decided that they should be revived. The first competition, sponsored 144 00:09:03,200 --> 00:09:06,240 Speaker 1: by the fraternity, set the task as filling a cup 145 00:09:06,440 --> 00:09:09,920 Speaker 1: with eight ounces of water. That was the end goal. 146 00:09:10,400 --> 00:09:13,280 Speaker 1: You could get to that end goal, however, you liked. 147 00:09:13,880 --> 00:09:17,160 Speaker 1: Once again, the competition became an annual event, and it 148 00:09:17,200 --> 00:09:22,040 Speaker 1: began to attract attention beyond Perdue. University. Television personalities like 149 00:09:22,160 --> 00:09:26,280 Speaker 1: David Letterman featured segments on the odd inventions, and by 150 00:09:26,360 --> 00:09:31,360 Speaker 1: night a guy named Mike Barrett decide the celebration in 151 00:09:31,679 --> 00:09:36,840 Speaker 1: Ridiculous and Unnecessary Inventiveness should really be a national competition. 152 00:09:37,240 --> 00:09:39,840 Speaker 1: Since then, it has grown to become the biggest media 153 00:09:39,880 --> 00:09:43,080 Speaker 1: event at Perdue, pulling in more media coverage than any 154 00:09:43,120 --> 00:09:46,640 Speaker 1: sporting event held at the university. While the machines are 155 00:09:46,640 --> 00:09:50,920 Speaker 1: supposed to be absurd and silly, they're also supposed to work. 156 00:09:51,400 --> 00:09:55,000 Speaker 1: That is, ultimately they are meant to accomplish whatever the 157 00:09:55,120 --> 00:09:58,560 Speaker 1: end task happens to be. This makes designing a good 158 00:09:58,640 --> 00:10:02,480 Speaker 1: Rube Goldberg machine challenging. How can you create a level 159 00:10:02,520 --> 00:10:06,679 Speaker 1: of complexity, perhaps one bordering on chaos, and still get 160 00:10:06,760 --> 00:10:09,800 Speaker 1: the result you wanted by the end of it. It 161 00:10:09,840 --> 00:10:14,000 Speaker 1: requires not just an understanding of engineering, but also physics. 162 00:10:14,559 --> 00:10:17,800 Speaker 1: Many of these machines rely on careful timing that is 163 00:10:17,840 --> 00:10:21,280 Speaker 1: determined by things such as the length or steepness of 164 00:10:21,280 --> 00:10:24,640 Speaker 1: a ramp, the weight or size of a marble, or 165 00:10:24,679 --> 00:10:28,040 Speaker 1: other physical factors. If you put a machine together without 166 00:10:28,160 --> 00:10:31,800 Speaker 1: consideration for these factors, it might not work. You might 167 00:10:31,840 --> 00:10:35,959 Speaker 1: find that one element isn't heavy enough or moving forcefully 168 00:10:36,080 --> 00:10:39,320 Speaker 1: enough to activate the next part of the sequence. To 169 00:10:39,440 --> 00:10:42,079 Speaker 1: use the Domino's analog, it would be like setting out 170 00:10:42,080 --> 00:10:44,360 Speaker 1: a domino course and finding out you had spaced a 171 00:10:44,400 --> 00:10:47,040 Speaker 1: couple of the dominoes too far apart from one another, 172 00:10:47,360 --> 00:10:49,680 Speaker 1: so that they failed to make contact and the whole 173 00:10:49,720 --> 00:10:53,920 Speaker 1: sequence just stops. Now. I have no clue how most 174 00:10:53,960 --> 00:10:57,960 Speaker 1: engineers go about this, but I would probably start with 175 00:10:58,000 --> 00:11:01,319 Speaker 1: whatever the end goal was and decide how I was 176 00:11:01,360 --> 00:11:05,160 Speaker 1: going to achieve that very last step, and then work 177 00:11:05,200 --> 00:11:08,720 Speaker 1: backward what action or event would do whatever it was 178 00:11:08,880 --> 00:11:10,920 Speaker 1: I was trying to do. Then how could I make 179 00:11:11,120 --> 00:11:14,480 Speaker 1: that action happen? And so on. I think of it 180 00:11:14,600 --> 00:11:17,079 Speaker 1: sort of like writing a murder mystery. You might want 181 00:11:17,080 --> 00:11:19,160 Speaker 1: to start with the end and then work your way 182 00:11:19,160 --> 00:11:21,600 Speaker 1: back to the beginning to make it a real mystery, 183 00:11:21,880 --> 00:11:23,600 Speaker 1: as opposed to just trying to make it up as 184 00:11:23,600 --> 00:11:26,119 Speaker 1: you go along. You can see a lot of examples 185 00:11:26,160 --> 00:11:29,640 Speaker 1: of Rube Goldberg devices in the media. Peewee's Big Adventure, 186 00:11:29,880 --> 00:11:32,960 Speaker 1: the film that Tim Burton made ages ago, opens with 187 00:11:33,000 --> 00:11:35,880 Speaker 1: such a device that uses everything from models of dinosaur 188 00:11:35,920 --> 00:11:39,360 Speaker 1: skeletons to a large mannequin in the guise of Abraham 189 00:11:39,440 --> 00:11:43,160 Speaker 1: Lincoln to cook breakfast for the main character. Likewise, the 190 00:11:44,200 --> 00:11:47,280 Speaker 1: movie Back to the Future includes several devices, all triggered 191 00:11:47,280 --> 00:11:49,920 Speaker 1: by a timer to do everything from start a coffee 192 00:11:49,920 --> 00:11:53,000 Speaker 1: pot to open and empty a can of dog food 193 00:11:53,040 --> 00:11:55,920 Speaker 1: into a bowl. So clearly Doc Brown has better things 194 00:11:55,920 --> 00:11:58,640 Speaker 1: to do with his time than take care of menial tasks, 195 00:11:59,280 --> 00:12:04,080 Speaker 1: you know, are things like stealing plutonium from terrorists. On 196 00:12:04,080 --> 00:12:08,120 Speaker 1: one of several versions of the music video for Okay Goes, 197 00:12:08,320 --> 00:12:12,640 Speaker 1: This Too Shall Pass, an incredibly impressive Rube Goldberg system 198 00:12:12,679 --> 00:12:16,240 Speaker 1: is set in motion and in apparent synchronization with the music, 199 00:12:16,640 --> 00:12:20,280 Speaker 1: activates numerous effects and even provides some of the musical 200 00:12:20,360 --> 00:12:23,640 Speaker 1: notes for the song itself. It's one of my favorite 201 00:12:23,720 --> 00:12:27,400 Speaker 1: examples of the Rube Goldberg design philosophy, and it doesn't 202 00:12:27,480 --> 00:12:30,720 Speaker 1: hurt that I was already a fan of that particular band. 203 00:12:31,480 --> 00:12:35,120 Speaker 1: The Guinness Book of World Records certified in twenty sixteen 204 00:12:35,520 --> 00:12:38,840 Speaker 1: that an enormous Rube Goldberg machine designed to light the 205 00:12:38,920 --> 00:12:42,280 Speaker 1: Christmas tree for the town of Riga in Latvia was 206 00:12:42,400 --> 00:12:46,480 Speaker 1: in fact the world's largest Rube Goldberg machine. It takes 207 00:12:46,520 --> 00:12:50,040 Speaker 1: about four minutes from initiating the sequence for the entire 208 00:12:50,160 --> 00:12:53,400 Speaker 1: process to complete, and it's a fun watch on YouTube 209 00:12:53,440 --> 00:12:56,520 Speaker 1: as well. When we come back, I'll cover other odd, 210 00:12:56,760 --> 00:13:00,679 Speaker 1: silly and useless inventions, but first, let's say a quick 211 00:13:00,760 --> 00:13:10,839 Speaker 1: break switching gears for a moment. I thought I'd talked 212 00:13:10,880 --> 00:13:13,880 Speaker 1: about another inventor who came up with some ideas that 213 00:13:14,320 --> 00:13:18,720 Speaker 1: turned out to be sort of the punchline for a 214 00:13:18,800 --> 00:13:22,120 Speaker 1: lot of jokes. They were simultaneously successful from a sales 215 00:13:22,160 --> 00:13:27,439 Speaker 1: standpoint and also the subject of ridicule by many. That 216 00:13:27,480 --> 00:13:32,480 Speaker 1: inventor was Samuel J. Pope, Peel, father of the famous 217 00:13:32,640 --> 00:13:36,079 Speaker 1: Ron Pope Peel now Ron Pope Peel, became known as 218 00:13:36,120 --> 00:13:39,520 Speaker 1: the head of a company called Ronco that sold lots 219 00:13:39,520 --> 00:13:43,600 Speaker 1: of kitchen gadgets, mostly for the kitchen itself, and Ron 220 00:13:43,720 --> 00:13:47,120 Speaker 1: served as the host of many and infomercial coining phrases 221 00:13:47,160 --> 00:13:51,240 Speaker 1: like but wait, there's more. He was a master of 222 00:13:51,280 --> 00:13:54,400 Speaker 1: direct marketing, and we can thank him and his father 223 00:13:54,559 --> 00:13:59,319 Speaker 1: for popularizing the suffix oh matic such as veggio madic. 224 00:14:00,120 --> 00:14:02,679 Speaker 1: While Ron Popel is who a lot of folks think 225 00:14:02,720 --> 00:14:05,360 Speaker 1: about when you hear the name Pope Heal, it was 226 00:14:05,440 --> 00:14:09,000 Speaker 1: his dad who invented many of those weird devices in 227 00:14:09,160 --> 00:14:11,800 Speaker 1: ron Co's early days, though Ron himself would go on 228 00:14:11,920 --> 00:14:14,680 Speaker 1: to invent some of his own later on. Anyway, the 229 00:14:14,679 --> 00:14:17,480 Speaker 1: story of the Pope Heals is one filled with an 230 00:14:17,520 --> 00:14:21,560 Speaker 1: incredible amount of drama, which I think is already kind 231 00:14:21,600 --> 00:14:25,160 Speaker 1: of unusual. Sam Popeal was born in New York in 232 00:14:25,280 --> 00:14:28,240 Speaker 1: nineteen fifteen, and many of the men and his family 233 00:14:28,360 --> 00:14:31,600 Speaker 1: worked as product demonstrators who would set up in various 234 00:14:31,640 --> 00:14:35,480 Speaker 1: department stores to give personal demonstrations of different products that 235 00:14:35,520 --> 00:14:38,880 Speaker 1: were for sale. At age seventeen, Sam was asked to 236 00:14:38,920 --> 00:14:40,920 Speaker 1: fill in for one of his uncles to do that 237 00:14:41,120 --> 00:14:44,480 Speaker 1: very gig and apparently didn't go so well. He apparently 238 00:14:44,520 --> 00:14:48,160 Speaker 1: cut his finger badly on a vegetable slicer. But something 239 00:14:48,240 --> 00:14:49,920 Speaker 1: must have made him feel like that was the right 240 00:14:49,960 --> 00:14:52,040 Speaker 1: line of work for him. So as he got older, 241 00:14:52,240 --> 00:14:55,239 Speaker 1: he began to come up with ideas for his own products, 242 00:14:55,600 --> 00:14:58,640 Speaker 1: and he and his brother Raymond founded a company they called, 243 00:14:58,680 --> 00:15:03,200 Speaker 1: appropriately enough, the Pope Peel Brothers. One of Sam Popil's 244 00:15:03,320 --> 00:15:06,440 Speaker 1: first inventions was what he called the chopp O Matic, 245 00:15:06,840 --> 00:15:10,800 Speaker 1: later known as the Veggio Matic. It's a manually operated 246 00:15:10,840 --> 00:15:14,200 Speaker 1: food processor, and there have been many variations in the 247 00:15:14,280 --> 00:15:18,360 Speaker 1: years since its introduction. The basic design had a pedestal 248 00:15:18,720 --> 00:15:21,920 Speaker 1: with a round hole in the top surface of the pedestal, 249 00:15:22,280 --> 00:15:24,800 Speaker 1: and in that round hole you would place the cutting 250 00:15:24,840 --> 00:15:27,360 Speaker 1: blades for the vegeo maatic, so it might be a 251 00:15:27,480 --> 00:15:31,600 Speaker 1: great might be a line of blades, and then positioned 252 00:15:31,640 --> 00:15:35,080 Speaker 1: above this platform of blades was another surface that acted 253 00:15:35,120 --> 00:15:37,960 Speaker 1: as the handle. So you would have a press essentially, 254 00:15:38,600 --> 00:15:42,040 Speaker 1: and you would put the vegetable on the blades, and 255 00:15:42,200 --> 00:15:44,480 Speaker 1: it would be essentially in between the blades and the 256 00:15:44,520 --> 00:15:47,520 Speaker 1: top of the press. And uh or I guess you 257 00:15:47,560 --> 00:15:50,640 Speaker 1: should say, the bottom side of the press, and so 258 00:15:50,720 --> 00:15:53,520 Speaker 1: then you would push down on the handle side of 259 00:15:53,560 --> 00:15:57,760 Speaker 1: the press and create enough pressure to push the vegetable 260 00:15:58,160 --> 00:16:01,640 Speaker 1: through the blades, and thus the vegetable would be chopped 261 00:16:02,360 --> 00:16:05,520 Speaker 1: or sliced or diced or whatever. It's classic, and I 262 00:16:05,560 --> 00:16:08,760 Speaker 1: guess it's not really that crazy of an invention, although 263 00:16:08,760 --> 00:16:11,840 Speaker 1: you could argue the amount of labor it's saved might 264 00:16:11,880 --> 00:16:15,240 Speaker 1: be somewhat trivial depending upon what you were actually trying 265 00:16:15,280 --> 00:16:20,640 Speaker 1: to do, so there was arguable effectiveness of this. The 266 00:16:20,680 --> 00:16:24,240 Speaker 1: Popio brothers and later Ronco would produce lots of different 267 00:16:24,240 --> 00:16:28,400 Speaker 1: inventions of debatable usefulness. My favorite has to be the 268 00:16:28,440 --> 00:16:32,000 Speaker 1: pocket fisherman. This is a small fishing rod and reel. 269 00:16:32,480 --> 00:16:34,480 Speaker 1: The base looks kind of like the handle for an 270 00:16:34,520 --> 00:16:38,000 Speaker 1: appliance like a food mixer or a dustbuster vacuum cleaner, 271 00:16:38,320 --> 00:16:40,680 Speaker 1: kind of has that shape to it, and it has 272 00:16:40,760 --> 00:16:44,200 Speaker 1: a rod that folds down against this handle. So you 273 00:16:44,320 --> 00:16:46,720 Speaker 1: unfold the rod from the base and then you have 274 00:16:46,760 --> 00:16:50,200 Speaker 1: your little fishing pole. There's a compartment inside the handle 275 00:16:50,280 --> 00:16:52,920 Speaker 1: on the base that could hold stuff like tackle and 276 00:16:53,000 --> 00:16:56,000 Speaker 1: lures and bobbers and that kind of stuff, and yep, 277 00:16:56,120 --> 00:16:58,880 Speaker 1: you can still buy these today. If you're so inclined, 278 00:16:58,880 --> 00:17:02,320 Speaker 1: you could actually purchase Pocket Fisherman right now. I've seen 279 00:17:02,360 --> 00:17:04,840 Speaker 1: some videos of it in action, and while it's one 280 00:17:04,880 --> 00:17:07,960 Speaker 1: of those gadgets that made as seen on TV a 281 00:17:08,040 --> 00:17:11,320 Speaker 1: household phrase, it actually seems to hold up pretty well. 282 00:17:11,560 --> 00:17:16,040 Speaker 1: The reviews I've seen have been maybe not glowing, but 283 00:17:16,119 --> 00:17:19,600 Speaker 1: not negative either. In other words, it just it works 284 00:17:20,280 --> 00:17:23,800 Speaker 1: for what it is, and so if you have a 285 00:17:23,840 --> 00:17:27,400 Speaker 1: desire to have a fishing rod stuffed in your backpack 286 00:17:27,800 --> 00:17:30,199 Speaker 1: so it's not taking up too much space just in 287 00:17:30,280 --> 00:17:33,359 Speaker 1: case you have the opportunity to fish, it's not necessarily 288 00:17:33,359 --> 00:17:35,600 Speaker 1: a bad choice. In fact, I think a lot of 289 00:17:35,600 --> 00:17:39,000 Speaker 1: the inventions from the Popeils probably hold up for the 290 00:17:39,040 --> 00:17:42,960 Speaker 1: most part. You could argue they are unnecessary, but most 291 00:17:42,960 --> 00:17:45,960 Speaker 1: of them seem to work at least as advertised. Apart 292 00:17:46,000 --> 00:17:49,400 Speaker 1: from the more outlandish claims you'll typically see on infomercials 293 00:17:49,400 --> 00:17:52,040 Speaker 1: about how the right product is going to transform your 294 00:17:52,119 --> 00:17:55,199 Speaker 1: life forever and turn it into a Disney musical, that 295 00:17:55,280 --> 00:17:57,639 Speaker 1: part still seems like it might be a bit of 296 00:17:57,680 --> 00:18:01,840 Speaker 1: a reach. Ron Bobile's company, Ronko, went bankrupt in two 297 00:18:01,880 --> 00:18:04,320 Speaker 1: thousand seven, so he can still find the products he 298 00:18:04,400 --> 00:18:07,840 Speaker 1: made famous for sale on sites like Amazon, and I 299 00:18:07,880 --> 00:18:09,760 Speaker 1: don't want to end on a sad note, so I 300 00:18:09,760 --> 00:18:12,560 Speaker 1: thought i'd explain why I wanted to include the Pope 301 00:18:12,560 --> 00:18:16,760 Speaker 1: Pels in this section. It's because of a particular person. 302 00:18:17,119 --> 00:18:20,480 Speaker 1: That person is weird Al Yankovic. Now, for those of 303 00:18:20,480 --> 00:18:23,600 Speaker 1: you who are unfamiliar with weird Al, he's a comedian 304 00:18:23,640 --> 00:18:26,840 Speaker 1: who writes humorous songs, and about half his songs are 305 00:18:26,880 --> 00:18:32,000 Speaker 1: outright parodies of existing music. The other half our original songs, 306 00:18:32,160 --> 00:18:35,119 Speaker 1: though some of them are what you might call style parodies, 307 00:18:35,480 --> 00:18:38,919 Speaker 1: and that Yankovic is mimicking the sound of an established 308 00:18:38,920 --> 00:18:42,600 Speaker 1: band or artist, just not picking a specific song to mimic. 309 00:18:43,000 --> 00:18:45,840 Speaker 1: On his Weird Al in three D album, he has 310 00:18:45,840 --> 00:18:48,479 Speaker 1: a song called Mr. Pope Peel that's done in the 311 00:18:48,520 --> 00:18:51,720 Speaker 1: style of the B fifty twos. The song references some 312 00:18:51,960 --> 00:18:55,720 Speaker 1: of Sam Pope Peel's memorable inventions, and that album was 313 00:18:55,760 --> 00:18:58,000 Speaker 1: one of my favorites when I was a kid, which 314 00:18:58,080 --> 00:19:02,240 Speaker 1: I'm sure surprises absolutely ly none of you out there, 315 00:19:02,960 --> 00:19:05,760 Speaker 1: but it's why I decided to choose Mr pope Peel 316 00:19:06,000 --> 00:19:10,800 Speaker 1: to be included in this particular episode. Ron Popeil Samuel's 317 00:19:10,920 --> 00:19:14,119 Speaker 1: son was really the TV personality who would pave the 318 00:19:14,160 --> 00:19:18,520 Speaker 1: way for other famous spokespeople like Billy Mays and Tony Little, 319 00:19:18,600 --> 00:19:21,840 Speaker 1: among others. And he owed a lot to the pitchman 320 00:19:21,840 --> 00:19:24,800 Speaker 1: who came before him as well, people like Crazy Eddie. 321 00:19:25,200 --> 00:19:28,160 Speaker 1: But yeah, you could kind of trace the lineage of 322 00:19:28,160 --> 00:19:32,080 Speaker 1: television spokespeople, and Ron Popel would be a very important 323 00:19:32,160 --> 00:19:36,600 Speaker 1: part of that lineage. Now, there are a few inventions 324 00:19:36,920 --> 00:19:40,960 Speaker 1: that aren't really inventions, nor are they really tech, but 325 00:19:41,040 --> 00:19:43,840 Speaker 1: they tend to end up on lists about odd or 326 00:19:43,960 --> 00:19:46,479 Speaker 1: useless inventions, and I want to spend a little time 327 00:19:46,520 --> 00:19:49,760 Speaker 1: talking about a couple of those. One is the famous 328 00:19:49,880 --> 00:19:53,520 Speaker 1: pet rock, which had a strong run for a good 329 00:19:53,560 --> 00:19:57,240 Speaker 1: part of nineteen seventy five. It was the brainchild of 330 00:19:57,280 --> 00:20:01,239 Speaker 1: a copy editor named Gary Doll, who, when listening to 331 00:20:01,280 --> 00:20:04,560 Speaker 1: his friends complain about how high maintenance their pets were, 332 00:20:05,040 --> 00:20:08,240 Speaker 1: bragged that he had the perfect pet. It was rock. 333 00:20:09,040 --> 00:20:10,480 Speaker 1: You didn't have to feed it, you didn't have to 334 00:20:10,520 --> 00:20:12,880 Speaker 1: walk it, you know, to clean after it. It was perfect. 335 00:20:13,359 --> 00:20:16,600 Speaker 1: So Doll would then go on to sell pet rocks, 336 00:20:17,440 --> 00:20:21,280 Speaker 1: and yes they were rocks, but they were packaged and 337 00:20:21,320 --> 00:20:25,040 Speaker 1: what looked like a small pet carrier and more importantly, 338 00:20:25,320 --> 00:20:28,679 Speaker 1: they came with a pretty decent book of instructions on 339 00:20:28,720 --> 00:20:31,600 Speaker 1: how to care for the pet rock. And the book 340 00:20:31,640 --> 00:20:34,719 Speaker 1: was really just a joke book that was filled with 341 00:20:34,800 --> 00:20:38,840 Speaker 1: jokes and puns. So really, ultimately you were buying a 342 00:20:38,880 --> 00:20:41,800 Speaker 1: book of jokes that happened to have a rock that 343 00:20:41,920 --> 00:20:44,359 Speaker 1: came with it. And it was a cute idea and 344 00:20:44,520 --> 00:20:48,359 Speaker 1: it was a successful one. It made Doll into a millionaire, 345 00:20:48,720 --> 00:20:52,000 Speaker 1: so you can't really knock it. And yeah, that's not 346 00:20:52,080 --> 00:20:54,800 Speaker 1: really tech, but hey, how about how about a USB 347 00:20:55,000 --> 00:20:59,040 Speaker 1: pet rock? I think Geek sold these, and uh, it 348 00:20:59,160 --> 00:21:03,120 Speaker 1: was a pet rock with a USB port, didn't do anything. 349 00:21:03,160 --> 00:21:05,640 Speaker 1: You could just you can plug a USB cable into it. 350 00:21:06,240 --> 00:21:08,960 Speaker 1: But then you had a rock on a USB cable 351 00:21:09,240 --> 00:21:12,639 Speaker 1: and that was it. This is the joke. And just 352 00:21:12,680 --> 00:21:14,239 Speaker 1: for the heck of it, I check to see if 353 00:21:14,240 --> 00:21:17,040 Speaker 1: you can still buy pet rocks and I found one 354 00:21:17,040 --> 00:21:21,080 Speaker 1: on Amazon that claims it was approved by Gary Doll himself, 355 00:21:21,640 --> 00:21:24,640 Speaker 1: and the price on it is prepare yourself for this 356 00:21:25,600 --> 00:21:29,760 Speaker 1: twenty bucks. And also it did not include the thirty 357 00:21:29,760 --> 00:21:33,919 Speaker 1: two page care manual. I'd now like to introduce you 358 00:21:34,160 --> 00:21:39,800 Speaker 1: to my brand new idea, the pet paper weight. Order now. 359 00:21:41,240 --> 00:21:44,200 Speaker 1: But yeah, I think without the Book of Jokes, it's 360 00:21:44,200 --> 00:21:47,640 Speaker 1: really just a rock. Now, I never could have predicted 361 00:21:47,680 --> 00:21:50,639 Speaker 1: the success of the pet rock, But do you know 362 00:21:50,720 --> 00:21:54,119 Speaker 1: someone who might have predicted that success? This is my 363 00:21:54,160 --> 00:21:58,200 Speaker 1: playful way to introduce a duo, that of Albert or 364 00:21:58,359 --> 00:22:03,040 Speaker 1: maybe it was Alfred Harder at abe Bookman. Now I 365 00:22:03,080 --> 00:22:06,800 Speaker 1: say Albert or Alfred because about half the sources I 366 00:22:06,840 --> 00:22:09,960 Speaker 1: looked into on this story had it as one, any 367 00:22:09,960 --> 00:22:13,639 Speaker 1: other half had it as the other. So we'll just 368 00:22:13,720 --> 00:22:16,840 Speaker 1: call him al Anyway, these are the two guys largely 369 00:22:16,880 --> 00:22:20,680 Speaker 1: responsible for the invention of the magic eight ball. So 370 00:22:21,040 --> 00:22:24,800 Speaker 1: let's tell the story of this low tech novelty item. 371 00:22:25,720 --> 00:22:29,679 Speaker 1: So Albert or Alfred again conflicting reports. There was the 372 00:22:29,840 --> 00:22:33,560 Speaker 1: kid of a mother who did something pretty special for 373 00:22:33,600 --> 00:22:38,720 Speaker 1: her profession. Carter's mother claimed to be clairvoyant. Now, I'm 374 00:22:38,760 --> 00:22:41,720 Speaker 1: a skeptic and I do not believe in such things 375 00:22:41,760 --> 00:22:46,440 Speaker 1: as clairvoyance or psychic powers, or telekinesis or anything of 376 00:22:46,480 --> 00:22:50,159 Speaker 1: the sort. But never mind that Ma Carter was bringing 377 00:22:50,200 --> 00:22:53,639 Speaker 1: in clients for her sessions in the nineties. One of 378 00:22:53,640 --> 00:22:57,960 Speaker 1: the items she used was reportedly a container that had 379 00:22:58,040 --> 00:23:02,120 Speaker 1: a slate and some chalk inside the container, and her 380 00:23:02,160 --> 00:23:06,159 Speaker 1: clients would ask questions and the answers would reveal themselves 381 00:23:06,480 --> 00:23:08,600 Speaker 1: on the slate. She would open up the container and 382 00:23:08,640 --> 00:23:12,080 Speaker 1: the slate would have something written on it by the chalk, 383 00:23:12,640 --> 00:23:14,960 Speaker 1: as if by magic. This is, by the way, a 384 00:23:15,040 --> 00:23:19,040 Speaker 1: pretty popular gimmick was stage magicians who accomplished this task 385 00:23:19,480 --> 00:23:23,560 Speaker 1: without the dreadful responsibility of being psychic. So, in other words, 386 00:23:24,280 --> 00:23:27,160 Speaker 1: if there's a way you can do it by trickery, 387 00:23:27,160 --> 00:23:33,760 Speaker 1: that indicates that any quote unquote real version of the 388 00:23:33,880 --> 00:23:38,080 Speaker 1: phenomena is questionable at best. If there are ways to 389 00:23:38,119 --> 00:23:42,480 Speaker 1: do it without it being from some supernatural source, chances 390 00:23:42,480 --> 00:23:46,160 Speaker 1: are it was a perfectly normal source. Anyway, This gave 391 00:23:46,200 --> 00:23:49,560 Speaker 1: her son Al an idea. Al wanted to build something 392 00:23:49,880 --> 00:23:53,080 Speaker 1: that he could sell to folks, and his first version 393 00:23:53,280 --> 00:23:56,760 Speaker 1: of the gimmick was a cylinder look a bit like 394 00:23:56,800 --> 00:24:00,639 Speaker 1: a soda can or a beer can, a little narrower 395 00:24:00,800 --> 00:24:03,080 Speaker 1: than what you would see with a soda can, and 396 00:24:03,119 --> 00:24:07,240 Speaker 1: the two ends of the can were transparent, so the 397 00:24:07,320 --> 00:24:10,000 Speaker 1: top and the bottom of the can had these transparent 398 00:24:10,080 --> 00:24:14,280 Speaker 1: discs there instead of solids. Inside the cylinder was a 399 00:24:14,320 --> 00:24:19,320 Speaker 1: syrupy liquid uh largely described as molasses in the reports 400 00:24:19,359 --> 00:24:22,320 Speaker 1: I read, and inside were a couple of dice that 401 00:24:22,440 --> 00:24:26,960 Speaker 1: had different phrases written on the face of the dice. 402 00:24:27,400 --> 00:24:30,159 Speaker 1: So you would ask a yes or no question, you 403 00:24:30,160 --> 00:24:32,920 Speaker 1: would give the cylinder a shake, and you would wait 404 00:24:32,920 --> 00:24:35,159 Speaker 1: for one of those dice to float up to the 405 00:24:35,200 --> 00:24:38,920 Speaker 1: surface and you would see your answer. And he called 406 00:24:38,960 --> 00:24:43,960 Speaker 1: it the Psycho sear s Y c O S E 407 00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:47,320 Speaker 1: E R. Carter brought his invention to a store owner 408 00:24:47,400 --> 00:24:50,760 Speaker 1: named Max Levinson, who thought it was a pretty clever gimmick, 409 00:24:51,080 --> 00:24:54,879 Speaker 1: and he contacted his own brother in law, the aforementioned 410 00:24:54,920 --> 00:24:58,879 Speaker 1: Abe Bookman, who had an education in engineering. So Bookman's 411 00:24:58,880 --> 00:25:02,639 Speaker 1: task was to you take Carter's invention and figure out 412 00:25:02,680 --> 00:25:05,920 Speaker 1: a way that they could mass produce it in order 413 00:25:05,960 --> 00:25:09,679 Speaker 1: to sell it to a wider audience. Bookman simplified the 414 00:25:09,720 --> 00:25:13,920 Speaker 1: design somewhat, making only one end of the cylinder transparent 415 00:25:14,119 --> 00:25:16,879 Speaker 1: so the other one was solid, and he also switched 416 00:25:16,920 --> 00:25:20,040 Speaker 1: the molasses out for water with ink inside of it, 417 00:25:20,440 --> 00:25:24,399 Speaker 1: and he renamed it the Psycho slate. Bookman and Carter 418 00:25:24,560 --> 00:25:28,399 Speaker 1: formed a company called a Labe Crafts. A Labe was 419 00:25:28,440 --> 00:25:32,639 Speaker 1: the combination of Al and Abe's first names. Carter had 420 00:25:32,680 --> 00:25:35,480 Speaker 1: applied for a patent for his invention, calling it a 421 00:25:35,560 --> 00:25:39,760 Speaker 1: liquid filled dice agitator, which also describes some of the 422 00:25:39,840 --> 00:25:43,119 Speaker 1: Dungeons and Dragons players I know. But he would pass 423 00:25:43,240 --> 00:25:46,840 Speaker 1: away before the patent office would grant the patent in 424 00:25:48,160 --> 00:25:51,600 Speaker 1: There's not much info on how al Carter passed away, 425 00:25:51,640 --> 00:25:54,720 Speaker 1: though it seems like alcoholism may have played a part. 426 00:25:55,440 --> 00:25:59,399 Speaker 1: The next evolution of the idea involved changing the shape 427 00:25:59,400 --> 00:26:02,080 Speaker 1: of the gimmick so that you had a crystal ball 428 00:26:02,359 --> 00:26:06,359 Speaker 1: surrounding the cylinder, make it more like a fortune teller 429 00:26:06,480 --> 00:26:10,480 Speaker 1: type of gimmick. This got the attention of a company 430 00:26:10,520 --> 00:26:15,159 Speaker 1: called Brunswick Billiards, which saw the opportunity for promotional tie in, 431 00:26:15,400 --> 00:26:18,040 Speaker 1: so they had Bookman make a version of the crystal 432 00:26:18,080 --> 00:26:22,720 Speaker 1: ball fortune telling device that was, and they had him 433 00:26:22,760 --> 00:26:26,040 Speaker 1: painted like an eight ball and billiards and it did 434 00:26:26,280 --> 00:26:30,480 Speaker 1: very well, so well that once this promotional contract was over, 435 00:26:30,920 --> 00:26:34,440 Speaker 1: Bookman started making these magic eight balls on his own. 436 00:26:34,800 --> 00:26:38,080 Speaker 1: He found that marketing it as a toy got him 437 00:26:38,160 --> 00:26:40,640 Speaker 1: the most success, Like if you called it a toy 438 00:26:40,760 --> 00:26:44,879 Speaker 1: rather than some sort of psychic aid, you could do 439 00:26:44,920 --> 00:26:49,439 Speaker 1: really well. In nine Bookman sold the Labe Crafts Company 440 00:26:49,440 --> 00:26:52,800 Speaker 1: to another company called the Ideal Toy Company. That's the 441 00:26:52,840 --> 00:26:56,480 Speaker 1: same company that would later produce the Rubik's Cube. Eventually, 442 00:26:56,840 --> 00:27:00,840 Speaker 1: Mattel would end up with the i he for the 443 00:27:00,880 --> 00:27:03,320 Speaker 1: Magic eight ball, so they didn't end up with all 444 00:27:03,359 --> 00:27:05,840 Speaker 1: the stuff from Ideal Toy Company, but they do own 445 00:27:05,880 --> 00:27:09,160 Speaker 1: the rights to the Magic eight ball, a modern eight ball. 446 00:27:09,840 --> 00:27:13,160 Speaker 1: Magic eight ball that is, has a twenty sided die 447 00:27:13,200 --> 00:27:18,439 Speaker 1: in it, which you could also call an icosahedron. That 448 00:27:18,480 --> 00:27:22,000 Speaker 1: means there are twenty different phrases inside of Magic Eateball. 449 00:27:22,440 --> 00:27:25,639 Speaker 1: Ten of the phrases are versions of yes or in 450 00:27:25,680 --> 00:27:30,000 Speaker 1: the affirmative, five are versions of no, and five are 451 00:27:30,119 --> 00:27:33,719 Speaker 1: versions of beats me or just beat a kid. You're 452 00:27:33,760 --> 00:27:37,879 Speaker 1: bothering me, so like ask again later. Essentially, there are 453 00:27:37,920 --> 00:27:40,399 Speaker 1: lots of variations of the Magic eate ball. For instance, 454 00:27:40,400 --> 00:27:43,639 Speaker 1: I have a licensed Simpson's version of one at home. 455 00:27:44,000 --> 00:27:48,359 Speaker 1: For example, we have a few more weird, odd and 456 00:27:48,480 --> 00:27:51,919 Speaker 1: useless inventions to cover, but first let's take another quick break. 457 00:27:59,560 --> 00:28:03,520 Speaker 1: I can't let this episode go by without an entry 458 00:28:03,760 --> 00:28:08,199 Speaker 1: from Japan. Invention and creativity in Japan is celebrated on 459 00:28:08,240 --> 00:28:12,639 Speaker 1: a grand scale, and there are countless technological entries that 460 00:28:12,760 --> 00:28:15,919 Speaker 1: we could focus on. In this episode, but one of 461 00:28:15,960 --> 00:28:20,280 Speaker 1: my favorites was a promotional gadget created by a juice 462 00:28:20,320 --> 00:28:26,280 Speaker 1: company called Kagome. The invention was Tomaton, a robot that 463 00:28:26,320 --> 00:28:29,960 Speaker 1: would ride piggyback on a human and feed that human 464 00:28:30,119 --> 00:28:34,200 Speaker 1: a steady supply of tomatoes. You never knew you needed 465 00:28:34,200 --> 00:28:37,479 Speaker 1: a robot to do that, did you, So stick with 466 00:28:37,480 --> 00:28:41,160 Speaker 1: me on this Tomaton looks like a very odd child 467 00:28:41,840 --> 00:28:45,000 Speaker 1: that has a tomato for a head. It's designed to 468 00:28:45,120 --> 00:28:48,479 Speaker 1: rest on the shoulders of the person wearing it. On 469 00:28:48,520 --> 00:28:51,280 Speaker 1: the back of the robot is a clear container holding 470 00:28:51,400 --> 00:28:54,880 Speaker 1: a series of tomatoes, and it has a switch on 471 00:28:54,920 --> 00:28:57,240 Speaker 1: the bottom of one foot. When you flick that switch, 472 00:28:57,480 --> 00:29:01,200 Speaker 1: it puts the robot in action, so it's arms reach 473 00:29:01,640 --> 00:29:05,840 Speaker 1: back over its head, rotating all the way back behind 474 00:29:05,960 --> 00:29:08,920 Speaker 1: to the base of that clear container on the robot's back, 475 00:29:09,680 --> 00:29:12,920 Speaker 1: and then it picks up the tomato that's at the 476 00:29:12,960 --> 00:29:16,840 Speaker 1: base of that container, and then lifts the tomato back 477 00:29:16,960 --> 00:29:19,320 Speaker 1: over the back of the robot, over the robot's head, 478 00:29:19,400 --> 00:29:22,920 Speaker 1: over the wearer's head, and then positions it in front 479 00:29:23,000 --> 00:29:27,120 Speaker 1: of the wearer's mouth, so then you can just lean 480 00:29:27,200 --> 00:29:31,520 Speaker 1: forward and start chewing on a nice juicy tomato. Finally, 481 00:29:31,560 --> 00:29:33,520 Speaker 1: you don't have to spend all that time feeding yourself 482 00:29:33,560 --> 00:29:36,440 Speaker 1: tomatoes on your daily jog. You can have a robot 483 00:29:36,480 --> 00:29:40,280 Speaker 1: do it for you. And yes, I realized hearing about 484 00:29:40,320 --> 00:29:42,920 Speaker 1: this is bizarre, but trust me, guys, you need to 485 00:29:42,920 --> 00:29:46,880 Speaker 1: find the video of this thing, tomaton. It will change 486 00:29:46,880 --> 00:29:50,400 Speaker 1: your life. Just go to YouTube and look for robot 487 00:29:50,880 --> 00:29:53,800 Speaker 1: tomatoes jogging and that'll be enough for you to be 488 00:29:53,800 --> 00:29:56,680 Speaker 1: able to see this thing. Um. Obviously, this was a 489 00:29:56,680 --> 00:30:00,479 Speaker 1: promotional gimmick. It wasn't meant to be like a actual 490 00:30:01,360 --> 00:30:04,320 Speaker 1: practical product that everyone would go out and buy. It 491 00:30:04,400 --> 00:30:08,760 Speaker 1: was meant to get attention and generate conversation, and it worked. 492 00:30:09,280 --> 00:30:13,360 Speaker 1: I'm talking about it now. And some inventions didn't start 493 00:30:13,360 --> 00:30:17,080 Speaker 1: out with the intent to be really useless or just 494 00:30:17,240 --> 00:30:21,800 Speaker 1: to grab attention. They might have had an intended use 495 00:30:21,880 --> 00:30:27,280 Speaker 1: that you know, just didn't work out. Such is the 496 00:30:27,360 --> 00:30:31,240 Speaker 1: topic of our next tail, which begins in World War Two. 497 00:30:31,720 --> 00:30:35,440 Speaker 1: The United States government's War Production Board was searching for 498 00:30:35,520 --> 00:30:38,920 Speaker 1: ways to meet the demands of a modern military at war, 499 00:30:39,480 --> 00:30:43,600 Speaker 1: and that included getting hold of basic production materials as 500 00:30:43,680 --> 00:30:49,560 Speaker 1: quickly and cheaply as possible. One holdout was rubber, so 501 00:30:49,680 --> 00:30:53,520 Speaker 1: rubber can be found in nature. You probably heard about 502 00:30:53,680 --> 00:30:58,400 Speaker 1: rubber trees. They are in parts of Southeast Asia in abundance. 503 00:30:59,680 --> 00:31:06,000 Speaker 1: So rubber trees produce this elastic substance, typically in a 504 00:31:06,000 --> 00:31:09,720 Speaker 1: form of latex, and it comes from tree sap. Some 505 00:31:09,760 --> 00:31:12,360 Speaker 1: tree SAPs have more of this elastic material in them 506 00:31:12,400 --> 00:31:15,360 Speaker 1: than others, particularly trees that are in the Haya and 507 00:31:15,440 --> 00:31:20,200 Speaker 1: Ficus genera. You gather this stuff by making an incision 508 00:31:20,440 --> 00:31:23,240 Speaker 1: in such a plant, and then you place a cup 509 00:31:23,640 --> 00:31:28,040 Speaker 1: below that incision, and sap slowly fills the cup, and 510 00:31:28,080 --> 00:31:30,280 Speaker 1: then you have to take that sap and refine it 511 00:31:30,440 --> 00:31:33,680 Speaker 1: to get usable rubber. And rubber is useful in all 512 00:31:33,720 --> 00:31:39,240 Speaker 1: sorts of stuff. It's resilient, it's flexible, it's stretchable, it's waterproof. 513 00:31:39,760 --> 00:31:43,640 Speaker 1: But the collection and processing of natural rubber is inefficient 514 00:31:43,680 --> 00:31:45,960 Speaker 1: when you need to make a lot of rubber for 515 00:31:46,080 --> 00:31:50,040 Speaker 1: a lot of military gear during wartime, stuff like tires 516 00:31:50,080 --> 00:31:54,160 Speaker 1: and boots and tons of other stuff. Plus, the Japanese 517 00:31:54,160 --> 00:31:57,680 Speaker 1: military had either outright attacked or was in position to 518 00:31:57,720 --> 00:32:02,160 Speaker 1: attack many rubber producing regions, which meant the supply chain 519 00:32:02,320 --> 00:32:06,640 Speaker 1: was interrupted. Well. Since the nineteenth century, engineers had been 520 00:32:06,680 --> 00:32:10,680 Speaker 1: experimenting with ways to make synthetic rubber with varying degrees 521 00:32:10,720 --> 00:32:15,520 Speaker 1: of success, but even the successful attempts were still fairly 522 00:32:15,600 --> 00:32:19,840 Speaker 1: inefficient and slow, plus at least some of the ingredients 523 00:32:19,880 --> 00:32:23,840 Speaker 1: in most of the existing approaches were equally hard to 524 00:32:23,880 --> 00:32:27,880 Speaker 1: get hold of, particularly in wartime. So the War Production 525 00:32:27,960 --> 00:32:31,760 Speaker 1: Board tasked an engineer named James Wright to come up 526 00:32:31,800 --> 00:32:35,040 Speaker 1: with an alternative to the synthetic rubber of the day, 527 00:32:35,320 --> 00:32:37,840 Speaker 1: and Right got to work. His lab was set up 528 00:32:38,040 --> 00:32:42,280 Speaker 1: in New Haven, Connecticut as part of General Electric In 529 00:32:42,320 --> 00:32:46,840 Speaker 1: One of Right's experiments could combine boric acid and silicone oil. 530 00:32:47,320 --> 00:32:50,400 Speaker 1: Boric acid is a kind of wonder material. It can 531 00:32:50,400 --> 00:32:55,400 Speaker 1: be used in stuff like flame retardants, antiseptic insecticide, tons 532 00:32:55,440 --> 00:32:59,160 Speaker 1: of stuff. Silicone oils are used in stuff like hydraulic 533 00:32:59,240 --> 00:33:03,520 Speaker 1: systems or as an industrial lubricant. Combined, they make a 534 00:33:03,560 --> 00:33:09,160 Speaker 1: substance that consists of long chain polymers. These different things 535 00:33:09,200 --> 00:33:11,840 Speaker 1: can come together. Sometimes they can be in liquid form 536 00:33:12,080 --> 00:33:15,760 Speaker 1: and they form a solid. It has many remarkable properties. 537 00:33:16,000 --> 00:33:18,720 Speaker 1: You can shape it. You can bounce it against a 538 00:33:18,760 --> 00:33:22,080 Speaker 1: hard surface. You can stretch it. If you strike it 539 00:33:22,160 --> 00:33:25,160 Speaker 1: hard enough, it will actually shatter instead of bounce. You 540 00:33:25,200 --> 00:33:27,640 Speaker 1: can actually leave it out forever and it won't rot 541 00:33:27,760 --> 00:33:30,760 Speaker 1: or have mold form on it. It could do so 542 00:33:30,800 --> 00:33:36,000 Speaker 1: many amazing things, but one thing it couldn't do was 543 00:33:36,120 --> 00:33:39,280 Speaker 1: stand in for rubber, so the military had no real 544 00:33:39,400 --> 00:33:42,560 Speaker 1: use for it. In fact, for a while there was 545 00:33:42,760 --> 00:33:46,440 Speaker 1: no use at all for rights invention, but Right decided 546 00:33:46,480 --> 00:33:49,440 Speaker 1: to market it as a consumer product. He called it 547 00:33:49,720 --> 00:33:53,200 Speaker 1: nutty putty when he started selling it in the nineteen forties, 548 00:33:53,640 --> 00:33:57,120 Speaker 1: but when a marketing consultant named Peter Hodgson brought the 549 00:33:57,240 --> 00:34:01,080 Speaker 1: rights to nutty putty, he renamed it silly putty, and 550 00:34:01,120 --> 00:34:03,760 Speaker 1: he introduced it around Easter, which might be why the 551 00:34:03,800 --> 00:34:06,640 Speaker 1: stuff found its way into plastic eggs, which became the 552 00:34:06,720 --> 00:34:10,520 Speaker 1: classic packaging for the material. Now, according to most histories, 553 00:34:10,680 --> 00:34:12,680 Speaker 1: in the early days, the focus was to try and 554 00:34:12,760 --> 00:34:16,920 Speaker 1: sell silly putty as a practical putty. Practical to what purpose, 555 00:34:18,160 --> 00:34:20,440 Speaker 1: I don't know, but it found its way into the 556 00:34:20,480 --> 00:34:24,240 Speaker 1: market as a toy. It didn't immediately succeed even in 557 00:34:24,280 --> 00:34:29,040 Speaker 1: that context, but a New Yorker article mentioned silly putty 558 00:34:29,120 --> 00:34:31,920 Speaker 1: and that got things moving pretty quickly for the stuff. 559 00:34:32,560 --> 00:34:35,000 Speaker 1: Now that being said, people would come up with a 560 00:34:35,000 --> 00:34:37,840 Speaker 1: few practical uses for silly putty for one thing. It 561 00:34:37,840 --> 00:34:41,160 Speaker 1: can be used to remove lent from clothing for another. 562 00:34:41,560 --> 00:34:44,720 Speaker 1: Astronauts apparently took the stuff with them up into space 563 00:34:45,080 --> 00:34:47,600 Speaker 1: so that they could stick silly putty to walls of 564 00:34:47,640 --> 00:34:51,759 Speaker 1: the spacecraft and then hold various tools in place in microgravity. 565 00:34:52,040 --> 00:34:54,399 Speaker 1: So you're working with a tool, you put it, push 566 00:34:54,400 --> 00:34:56,279 Speaker 1: it against the silly putty that's on the wall, and 567 00:34:56,280 --> 00:34:58,360 Speaker 1: it will stay there instead of just floating off. It 568 00:34:58,400 --> 00:35:00,440 Speaker 1: makes sense. You don't want your thing, a jig, to 569 00:35:00,440 --> 00:35:02,920 Speaker 1: go floating off a mid job. But it's not exactly 570 00:35:02,920 --> 00:35:05,560 Speaker 1: the practical use case that we can all identify with 571 00:35:05,719 --> 00:35:08,600 Speaker 1: down here on Earth. It's rare that we need to 572 00:35:08,640 --> 00:35:11,719 Speaker 1: make such considerations. Now. One other person I should mention 573 00:35:11,760 --> 00:35:14,920 Speaker 1: in this episode is someone dedicated to coming up with 574 00:35:15,040 --> 00:35:20,160 Speaker 1: ridiculous inventions that solve precisely zero problems, and this is 575 00:35:20,200 --> 00:35:24,400 Speaker 1: all on purpose. His name is Matt Benedetto, and I 576 00:35:24,440 --> 00:35:28,200 Speaker 1: have never met Matt Benedetto. I do not know Matt Benedetto, 577 00:35:29,120 --> 00:35:31,920 Speaker 1: but I admire him and his ingenuity. He has the 578 00:35:31,960 --> 00:35:37,160 Speaker 1: Instagram account Unnecessary Inventions, and I think he's kind of brilliant. 579 00:35:37,680 --> 00:35:41,800 Speaker 1: His inventions range from the chuckle inducing silly like gloves 580 00:35:41,840 --> 00:35:46,840 Speaker 1: that mimic crocs sandals to potentially disastrous such as his 581 00:35:47,200 --> 00:35:50,840 Speaker 1: Right Round Cone device, which is an ice cream cone 582 00:35:51,000 --> 00:35:53,920 Speaker 1: holding drill bit that you would put on the end 583 00:35:53,920 --> 00:35:57,040 Speaker 1: of a power drill. It's got a place where you 584 00:35:57,040 --> 00:35:59,480 Speaker 1: would then slot in an ice cream cone. That way 585 00:35:59,520 --> 00:36:01,640 Speaker 1: you can get perfect coverage. When you're licking the ice 586 00:36:01,640 --> 00:36:05,360 Speaker 1: cream cone, you just pull the trigger on your power drill. 587 00:36:05,640 --> 00:36:09,000 Speaker 1: It'll spin the cone as you lick the ice cream. 588 00:36:09,040 --> 00:36:13,360 Speaker 1: As you can imagine, this would create disastrous but potentially 589 00:36:13,440 --> 00:36:17,600 Speaker 1: hilarious results. Other inventions include a pizza Fannie pack so 590 00:36:17,640 --> 00:36:19,760 Speaker 1: that you can have slices of pizza at the ready 591 00:36:20,080 --> 00:36:23,720 Speaker 1: you wear them on a belt, or the text Bumper 592 00:36:23,880 --> 00:36:27,520 Speaker 1: t x T bumper, which is a headband with a 593 00:36:27,560 --> 00:36:30,960 Speaker 1: bumper built into the headband so that you can look 594 00:36:30,960 --> 00:36:32,959 Speaker 1: on your phone while you're walking around and not worry 595 00:36:33,000 --> 00:36:36,240 Speaker 1: about bumping into stuff like street signs and telephone poles 596 00:36:36,280 --> 00:36:39,440 Speaker 1: and trees and other stuff. I could definitely use one 597 00:36:39,480 --> 00:36:43,799 Speaker 1: of those. Or the sweat gutters, another headpiece you would 598 00:36:43,840 --> 00:36:46,919 Speaker 1: wear that collects the sweat dripping down from your head 599 00:36:47,320 --> 00:36:51,239 Speaker 1: and funnels it into gutters, complete with down spouts so 600 00:36:51,320 --> 00:36:54,680 Speaker 1: that the sweat doesn't get in your face. How thoughtful. 601 00:36:55,640 --> 00:37:01,040 Speaker 1: These are all jokes, obviously, and they are pretty amused ing. Also, 602 00:37:01,239 --> 00:37:04,080 Speaker 1: there aren't really that far off from some of the 603 00:37:04,160 --> 00:37:07,719 Speaker 1: stuff we've seen on television or in stores, whether those 604 00:37:07,719 --> 00:37:11,239 Speaker 1: stores were selling stuff as novelties or genuine products. So 605 00:37:11,360 --> 00:37:14,800 Speaker 1: I recommend you take a look at the Unnecessary Inventions 606 00:37:14,880 --> 00:37:17,879 Speaker 1: Instagram account to see his work, because there's a lot 607 00:37:17,920 --> 00:37:21,200 Speaker 1: of stuff. I actually saw one of his videos up 608 00:37:21,239 --> 00:37:25,279 Speaker 1: on Facebook the day that I'm recording this podcast, probably 609 00:37:25,360 --> 00:37:29,040 Speaker 1: because the Facebook algorithm is super creepy and pays attention 610 00:37:29,080 --> 00:37:32,160 Speaker 1: to what I'm browsing so they can serve up related 611 00:37:32,239 --> 00:37:36,360 Speaker 1: content on my feed. But that's a topic from a 612 00:37:36,400 --> 00:37:39,400 Speaker 1: different show. Anyway. I once did an episode about a 613 00:37:39,400 --> 00:37:44,319 Speaker 1: guy named Marvin Minski. He's an artificial intelligence pioneer, or was, 614 00:37:44,360 --> 00:37:47,680 Speaker 1: I should say he passed away in two thousand and sixteen. Uh, 615 00:37:47,880 --> 00:37:50,359 Speaker 1: he's he was an artificial intelligence pioneer. He was also 616 00:37:50,400 --> 00:37:55,200 Speaker 1: a cognitive scientist. Minsky helped establish the AI laboratory at 617 00:37:55,320 --> 00:37:58,240 Speaker 1: m I T. He created the first head mounted display 618 00:37:58,360 --> 00:38:01,200 Speaker 1: back in nineteen sixty three. His work lead to the 619 00:38:01,200 --> 00:38:08,840 Speaker 1: development of sophisticated artificial neural networks. He made numerous contributions 620 00:38:08,880 --> 00:38:13,720 Speaker 1: to science and technology, and he also made a truly 621 00:38:14,160 --> 00:38:19,200 Speaker 1: useless machine on purpose. He spent some time at Bell 622 00:38:19,320 --> 00:38:23,000 Speaker 1: Labs along with Claude Shannon, another important figure in the 623 00:38:23,040 --> 00:38:25,839 Speaker 1: world of technology. I've done an episode about Shannon as well, 624 00:38:26,680 --> 00:38:30,160 Speaker 1: and he amused himself by inventing all sorts of different gadgets, 625 00:38:30,160 --> 00:38:33,600 Speaker 1: and one of those was the Useless machine. And it's 626 00:38:33,800 --> 00:38:37,560 Speaker 1: pretty simple in concept. The machine looks like a box. 627 00:38:37,640 --> 00:38:39,960 Speaker 1: The original was about the size of a cigar box. 628 00:38:40,320 --> 00:38:43,080 Speaker 1: The top of the box has a trap door or hatch, 629 00:38:43,640 --> 00:38:47,880 Speaker 1: and a single toggle switch. Turning the switch on activates 630 00:38:47,880 --> 00:38:51,719 Speaker 1: the machine. The hatch pops open, a small mechanical arm 631 00:38:51,800 --> 00:38:55,799 Speaker 1: pops out, hits the switch to the off position, then 632 00:38:55,840 --> 00:38:59,560 Speaker 1: retracts back inside the box, which then shuts. So in 633 00:38:59,640 --> 00:39:04,120 Speaker 1: other word, it's a machine that only turns itself off. 634 00:39:04,640 --> 00:39:08,600 Speaker 1: That's all it does. But it's incredibly amusing to see. 635 00:39:09,080 --> 00:39:11,719 Speaker 1: I had a commercial version of this gadget once upon 636 00:39:11,719 --> 00:39:15,839 Speaker 1: a time, and it certainly was an amusing piece of technology, 637 00:39:15,880 --> 00:39:18,360 Speaker 1: and it also got me thinking about how it worked. 638 00:39:18,960 --> 00:39:22,480 Speaker 1: In another reality, perhaps I would have pursued that feeling 639 00:39:22,560 --> 00:39:25,480 Speaker 1: of curiosity I had, and maybe I would have ended 640 00:39:25,560 --> 00:39:28,840 Speaker 1: up an engineer. The gadget has inspired lots of people 641 00:39:28,960 --> 00:39:32,280 Speaker 1: to make similar devices, many of which you can find 642 00:39:32,400 --> 00:39:35,880 Speaker 1: on YouTube. Some of them have different behaviors set up 643 00:39:35,920 --> 00:39:39,080 Speaker 1: as a sequence so that the box appears to behave 644 00:39:39,120 --> 00:39:41,880 Speaker 1: in a way that implies it is growing frustrated or 645 00:39:41,920 --> 00:39:45,839 Speaker 1: exasperated with the user's efforts to flip the switch, so 646 00:39:45,960 --> 00:39:48,719 Speaker 1: it continues to turn itself off, but it does so 647 00:39:48,760 --> 00:39:51,920 Speaker 1: in different ways as the sequence continues. One of my 648 00:39:52,000 --> 00:39:56,200 Speaker 1: favorites has a sequence that's perhaps twenty different behaviors long 649 00:39:56,719 --> 00:39:59,560 Speaker 1: until you get to the twentieth one, where flipping the 650 00:39:59,600 --> 00:40:03,040 Speaker 1: switch makes the hatch pop up, and then a little 651 00:40:03,080 --> 00:40:06,560 Speaker 1: white flag comes out, indicating the machine has given up 652 00:40:06,840 --> 00:40:09,759 Speaker 1: in the face of the user's persistence, and then the 653 00:40:09,800 --> 00:40:14,360 Speaker 1: sequence starts over again. Minsky has had an incredible impact 654 00:40:14,360 --> 00:40:16,920 Speaker 1: on technology in general, and it would be easy to 655 00:40:17,000 --> 00:40:21,319 Speaker 1: dismiss this particular device as just a whimsical exercise, but 656 00:40:21,400 --> 00:40:25,400 Speaker 1: I maintain it also gets people interested in tinkering and engineering, 657 00:40:25,760 --> 00:40:28,399 Speaker 1: thus playing a very important role of its own. So 658 00:40:28,840 --> 00:40:32,880 Speaker 1: arguably the useless machine isn't so useless after all. I 659 00:40:32,960 --> 00:40:36,799 Speaker 1: think there's a real place for silly inventions. In some 660 00:40:36,840 --> 00:40:40,399 Speaker 1: cases they may be practical, though in very narrow scenarios. 661 00:40:40,960 --> 00:40:44,400 Speaker 1: At times they might serve to inspire others, either to 662 00:40:44,600 --> 00:40:48,799 Speaker 1: use ingenuity and creativity to build something whimsical, or to 663 00:40:48,840 --> 00:40:52,839 Speaker 1: investigate how stuff works and to become more mechanically knowledgeable. 664 00:40:53,360 --> 00:40:56,640 Speaker 1: Sometimes they might just make us laugh, which I'd argue 665 00:40:56,840 --> 00:41:00,680 Speaker 1: is an incredibly valuable service all in its own. This 666 00:41:00,760 --> 00:41:03,360 Speaker 1: is just a small sample of some of the ridiculous 667 00:41:03,400 --> 00:41:06,440 Speaker 1: things that have been made in the past, and there 668 00:41:06,440 --> 00:41:10,640 Speaker 1: are obviously countless others that have come out. The ones 669 00:41:10,680 --> 00:41:13,319 Speaker 1: I focused on were from the modern age, but there 670 00:41:13,360 --> 00:41:17,600 Speaker 1: are also plenty of ridiculous inventions throughout all of history, 671 00:41:17,880 --> 00:41:23,120 Speaker 1: some of which were supposed to do something actionable and 672 00:41:23,239 --> 00:41:27,640 Speaker 1: useful but either failed to do that, or maybe they 673 00:41:27,640 --> 00:41:30,280 Speaker 1: were never really made to do it, but we're sold 674 00:41:30,800 --> 00:41:33,319 Speaker 1: as if they were a solution. In other words, in 675 00:41:33,320 --> 00:41:36,439 Speaker 1: other words, they were a con. These cases that I'm 676 00:41:36,480 --> 00:41:41,799 Speaker 1: talking about, they're not cons. They weren't created that would 677 00:41:41,800 --> 00:41:44,400 Speaker 1: by somebody who knew it didn't work but was selling 678 00:41:44,400 --> 00:41:47,480 Speaker 1: it as if it did work. So that's something I 679 00:41:47,520 --> 00:41:49,680 Speaker 1: could do a full episode on cons and I've talked 680 00:41:49,680 --> 00:41:52,000 Speaker 1: a little bit about some in the past, but yeah, 681 00:41:52,000 --> 00:41:54,920 Speaker 1: I wanted to kind of focus more on the fun 682 00:41:55,120 --> 00:41:59,160 Speaker 1: elements then not so much on the let's trick people elements. 683 00:42:00,120 --> 00:42:04,200 Speaker 1: Do you guys have any favorite, weird, odd, or completely 684 00:42:04,360 --> 00:42:07,719 Speaker 1: useless inventions that tickle your funny bone. I'd love to 685 00:42:07,760 --> 00:42:09,880 Speaker 1: hear about them. You can send me a message. The 686 00:42:09,920 --> 00:42:14,280 Speaker 1: email address is tech stuff at how stuff works dot com, 687 00:42:14,400 --> 00:42:16,680 Speaker 1: or you can pop on over to our website that's 688 00:42:16,719 --> 00:42:19,480 Speaker 1: tech stuff podcast dot com. There you'll find an archive 689 00:42:19,520 --> 00:42:21,799 Speaker 1: of all of our past episodes, as well as the 690 00:42:21,840 --> 00:42:24,719 Speaker 1: links to where we are on social media, and you'll 691 00:42:24,760 --> 00:42:27,479 Speaker 1: also find a link to our online store, where every 692 00:42:27,480 --> 00:42:30,200 Speaker 1: purchase you make goes to help the show and we 693 00:42:30,360 --> 00:42:33,360 Speaker 1: greatly appreciate it, and I will talk to you again 694 00:42:34,040 --> 00:42:40,120 Speaker 1: and really soon. Text Stuff is a production of I 695 00:42:40,200 --> 00:42:43,160 Speaker 1: Heart Radio's How Stuff Works. For more podcasts from my 696 00:42:43,280 --> 00:42:46,919 Speaker 1: Heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 697 00:42:47,000 --> 00:42:49,000 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.