Speaker 1: Welcome to Invention, a production of I Heart Radio. Hey,
Speaker 1: welcome to Invention. My name is Robert Lamb and I'm
Speaker 1: Joe McCormick, and we're closing out the year here with
Speaker 1: your own voices another episode of Invention. Listener mail, But
Speaker 1: I gotta say before we get into the emails, Robert
Speaker 1: and I were just talking about how we had to
Speaker 1: address probably the largest thread that's ever happened in our
Speaker 1: in our Facebook discussion group, which was people reacting to
Speaker 1: the idea of microwaving water and and saying like, why
Speaker 1: don't they have electric kettles in the United States. Yeah, So,
Speaker 1: you know, we have a lot of international listeners, and
Speaker 1: I think part of it is something is mundane and
Speaker 1: every day is heating water. Uh, it's something you don't
Speaker 1: think about. You don't think about how do they heat
Speaker 1: water in other countries. And then outside the United States,
Speaker 1: you might be listening to the show. You might hear
Speaker 1: us talking about the usefulness of microwaving water to heat
Speaker 1: it up for things, and they might think and apparently
Speaker 1: some people have interpreted this as being an admission that
Speaker 1: we do not have electric kettles. Now, a little known
Speaker 1: fact in Tennessee we only heat up water with a blowtorch. Um, incorrect, Uh,
Speaker 1: stop spreading misinformation show about American water heating practices. But
Speaker 1: but now the truth of the matter is, I know
Speaker 1: from my own standpoint, I use an electric kettle every day. Uh.
Speaker 1: It is just you know, a kettle with plugs into
Speaker 1: this little stand. The stand itself plugs into the wall
Speaker 1: and I instantly get hot water, which we use around
Speaker 1: the house to make tea, to make coffee, I make
Speaker 1: my coffee using an aero press, which, as far as
Speaker 1: inventions goes, is a fabulous coffee brewing invention. I've been
Speaker 1: begging us to get advertising from them from from that
Speaker 1: company for a while. I've also wanted to get coffee money.
Speaker 1: If we can get kim X as a sponsor, I
Speaker 1: think that'd be great. If you're listening coffee companies, Um,
Speaker 1: we're down. I just need to cash. But anyway, I
Speaker 1: use I use hot water for that and also for
Speaker 1: other incidental uses, such as adding a little hot water
Speaker 1: to the cat's food so that it is even wetter
Speaker 1: to try and keep this desert creature from drying out
Speaker 1: and dying on us. But weirdly enough, there are other
Speaker 1: times in places where I don't use the electric kettle
Speaker 1: even though it's there, Like if I need to heat up,
Speaker 1: say a honey syrup for a cocktail, for some reason,
Speaker 1: I never think to use the kettle. I always use
Speaker 1: the microwave for that. Uh. You know, I gotta say
Speaker 1: I don't have an electric kettle, and this has made
Speaker 1: me think maybe I need to get one. It seems
Speaker 1: like it's a it's a very fast way to heat
Speaker 1: up water, hopefully, very efficient to write, and it's also
Speaker 1: great for me if I'm making coffee of the house.
Speaker 1: It's probably a day when I'm working from home. So
Speaker 1: I'll go through this ritual where I'm like, all right,
Speaker 1: I think I need some more coffee. Turn on the kettle,
Speaker 1: let it heat up. I'll work a little more while
Speaker 1: it's working, while it's heating up, and then I'll get
Speaker 1: carried away of what I'm working on. Now the water
Speaker 1: has heated up, and now it's getting cool again, so
Speaker 1: I have to turn it on again. So second or
Speaker 1: third time I actually remember to make coffee. If you're
Speaker 1: if you're heating up your kettle on the stove, uh, screaming,
Speaker 1: and you don't stop screaming at you and or forgetting
Speaker 1: that it's there can have disastrous effects. So all great
Speaker 1: reasons to have an electric kettle in your life in
Speaker 1: my opinion. Anyway, all that to say, we actually do
Speaker 1: have electric kettles here in the United States. They're they're
Speaker 1: not something that's hard to find, though I will say
Speaker 1: I don't know if they're extremely popular at least not
Speaker 1: in the way they seem to be in like England
Speaker 1: that or in the UK. Right, and well, one of
Speaker 1: our listeners on the discussion module the Stuff to blok
Speaker 1: my discussion moledule, they chimed in. Well, you know, coffee
Speaker 1: is more popular in the United States than tea is. Again,
Speaker 1: it's not to say that people don't drink tea. Lots
Speaker 1: of tea drinkers in the United States. Tea is very
Speaker 1: very popular. Um, but I don't know, maybe that is
Speaker 1: part of it. Like there's not not that there's not
Speaker 1: a tea culture, but tea culture is not as predominant
Speaker 1: and all encompassing as one would find, say in the
Speaker 1: United Kingdom. Okay, have we sufficiently beaten the electric kettle
Speaker 1: beating it to death? Well, and until we actually do
Speaker 1: an episode on the electric cattle and discuss where this
Speaker 1: invention came from. You know what's an actually I think
Speaker 1: very interesting electric cooking device we could come back to
Speaker 1: is the rice cooker. Oh yes, I'm a big chance. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think we've discussed that that before as well. Uh
Speaker 1: we would you use one all the time? All right,
Speaker 1: maybe we should look at this first message from Melissa,
Speaker 1: Melissa says, hello, invention pod people on a recent Stuff
Speaker 1: to Blow your Mind listener mail special. Of course, that's
Speaker 1: our other podcast, Stuff to Blow your Mind. If you're
Speaker 1: not already listening, check it out, Melissa writes. Roberts seemed
Speaker 1: excited about the idea of an invention episode on knives.
Speaker 1: If somehow you find you don't have enough material already,
Speaker 1: you might be interested to mention the special knives used
Speaker 1: by medieval scribes to erase mistakes made on parchment by
Speaker 1: gently scraping it before the ink sets. In medieval illuminations
Speaker 1: of scribes always depict them holding a pin in their
Speaker 1: right hand and a knife in their left. The knife
Speaker 1: was multi functional, and the scribe could use it to
Speaker 1: sharpen their quill, hold down the parchment, or, as I said,
Speaker 1: erase errors. Thanks Melissa, Yeah, that's a good point. I
Speaker 1: think that, you know, scraping of manuscripts has definitely come
Speaker 1: up on stuff to about your mind in the past,
Speaker 1: talking about Grimore's and perhaps about you know, unfinished works.
Speaker 1: But certainly I don't think we don't. We did a
Speaker 1: deep dive into the tools that were used, and just
Speaker 1: to the extent that the knife would be in one
Speaker 1: hand and the uh, the writing apparatus would be in
Speaker 1: the other. I don't think I knew about this, so
Speaker 1: this is interesting. Yeah, it's also a great idea for
Speaker 1: dungeons and Dragon's character. You know, they could have the
Speaker 1: paint they're there, there's their their paintbrush or what have you.
Speaker 1: And on the other hand, they have their special um
Speaker 1: scraping knife which you can also be used to stab cobalts.
Speaker 1: All right, here's another one and uh, this one comes
Speaker 1: to us from Sam and also concerned sharp objects. Sam rights.
Speaker 1: I have to say your episode about scissors was one
Speaker 1: of my favorites. As a sower by trade, I have
Speaker 1: great appreciation for scissors. I gotta say sower here is
Speaker 1: spelled the same way sewer is. I assume that this
Speaker 1: means not a sewer, but that that was my impression
Speaker 1: as well. Anyway, Sam continues onto scissors as a weapon.
Speaker 1: You seem during your podcast to be stuck on somehow
Speaker 1: using the mechanical advantage of scissors when using them as
Speaker 1: a weapon, insisting that you would want the long handle
Speaker 1: short blade style to get more force out of them.
Speaker 1: This is nuts. How on earth are you going to
Speaker 1: actually use them like scissors as a weapon. Imagine someone
Speaker 1: coming at you trying to cut you with a pair
Speaker 1: of scissors like that. It would not work. The reason
Speaker 1: that long tailor sheer style scissors are used as movie
Speaker 1: weapons is because they are a great stabbing weapon other
Speaker 1: than throwing loose scissors like weird Ninja stars. This is
Speaker 1: my personal active shooter defense strategy dream. This seems like
Speaker 1: the only practical way to use scissors as a weapon. Anyways,
Speaker 1: keep it up. One item I would be super interested
Speaker 1: in hearing the history of is the Mighty seam Ripper.
Speaker 1: Thanks Sam, uh I gather your correct Sam, And now
Speaker 1: we I don't think we were dwelling much on like
Speaker 1: how to use scissors as a weapon. We were commenting
Speaker 1: on like use of scissors as a weapon in media,
Speaker 1: like in movies and stuff. Uh, and how they're always
Speaker 1: like those long blades, and yeah, I guess you know what.
Speaker 1: You're correct, they're pretty much always used for stabbing, not
Speaker 1: for sharing as a weapon, unless, let's see what would
Speaker 1: be an exception to that. I think the Exorcist three,
Speaker 1: that's true. Yeah, otherwise you just need to be a
Speaker 1: giant crab or something to really get your your your
Speaker 1: scissoring action on. You've clearly thought way more about using
Speaker 1: scissors as a weapon than we have, so we uh,
Speaker 1: we give you that one. But either way, thank you
Speaker 1: very much, Sam. Uh. Should we move on to we
Speaker 1: got a bunch of messages about the microwave. Maybe maybe
Speaker 1: we should do that next. Yeah, yeah, since we we stopped,
Speaker 1: we started the episode off by talking a little bit
Speaker 1: about it. Now. We specifically asked h if anybody out
Speaker 1: there had ever tried to cook a turkey in the
Speaker 1: microwave like those old horrible recipes, and boy what we
Speaker 1: heard from a few of you. So this first message
Speaker 1: comes from Sharon, subject line high mind ms Sharon, and
Speaker 1: I once cooked a turkey in a microwave oven. The
Speaker 1: year was seven. My husband, infant son, and I were
Speaker 1: going to be moving soon, and one of my jobs
Speaker 1: was preparing meals with the contents of the fridge and freezer.
Speaker 1: I hit a roadblock in the freezer as it contained
Speaker 1: a turkey, a gift from the recent holidays. With a
Speaker 1: non working oven, I was left with the stovetop or
Speaker 1: the microwave oven as options to cook the turkey. The
Speaker 1: microwave had been an extravagant gift from a former employer
Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty two and came with an extensive manual,
Speaker 1: which of course included directions for cooking a turkey. After
Speaker 1: an encouraging long distance call with my mom, I prepped
Speaker 1: that turkey for the microwave. I don't recall all of
Speaker 1: the details, but I do remember being pretty excited about
Speaker 1: actually using the temperature probe that was a standard issue
Speaker 1: with microwaves of the day. Per directions, the turkey was
Speaker 1: cut up and cooked in pieces temperature probe inserted. I
Speaker 1: think that's a good move instead of trying to cook
Speaker 1: a whole. The end product was very tasty, not of course,
Speaker 1: like an oven listed turkey with that yummy brown skin
Speaker 1: and drippings for gravy, but definitely edible. Thanks for jogging
Speaker 1: my memory on this culinary adventure from long ago, and
Speaker 1: I do wonder now why I didn't just move the
Speaker 1: turkey across town and roasted in an oven. Thank you
Speaker 1: for invention and stuff to blow your mind podcast which
Speaker 1: make my commute painless, Sharon, That is that is exactly
Speaker 1: the kind of story I wanted to hear about the
Speaker 1: cooking of the turkeys. Though it does raise the question
Speaker 1: who gives a whole turkey as a gift like this?
Speaker 1: It's a strange because it's a production to U to
Speaker 1: deal with this turkey. Uh, you're you're basically giving somebody
Speaker 1: a project and making demands on their freezer space. It's
Speaker 1: halfway there to my favorite kind of gift, which is
Speaker 1: a really unmanageable pet. Oh. Yes, yes, like Merry Christmas,
Speaker 1: here is your Komodo dragon? Yeah? Or just I mean
Speaker 1: you didn't even have to be exotic just to anytime
Speaker 1: you see somebody, especially if it's like a romantic situation
Speaker 1: where perhaps the the bond is not completely um uh,
Speaker 1: you know, gol together for two individuals, for one to
Speaker 1: give the other a puppy, That always just seems terribly inappropriate, uh,
Speaker 1: for all concerned, including the puppy. Now, we don't want
Speaker 1: to smear puppies that were given that way. I know
Speaker 1: some great puppies that were exactly in that situation. But
Speaker 1: but you have to have doing it. Were these gifts
Speaker 1: entirely thought out? I don't know, But then again, it
Speaker 1: is the acquisition of a puppy, ever entirely thought out.
Speaker 1: I guess. I guess. It's a decision you make, you know,
Speaker 1: partially with your brain, but also with your heart. Okay, Now, strangely,
Speaker 1: we just read an email about somebody cooking a turkey
Speaker 1: in a microwave oven in nineteen seven. Guess what our
Speaker 1: next email is about from a totally different listener. Um,
Speaker 1: what has to do with the turkey? But what's the
Speaker 1: year seven? Something was in the air? Do you want
Speaker 1: to read Trish or Shire. Okay, hey, guys, I love
Speaker 1: the show as well as stuff to blow your mind.
Speaker 1: I just finished the Microwave series and I have a
Speaker 1: relevant story. When I was four, my mom and I
Speaker 1: moved across the country to a new city. Are apartment
Speaker 1: was older, complete with a totally probably haunted, claw footed
Speaker 1: tub and a hulking metal beast of a microwave. The
Speaker 1: safety of the aging gas stove was questionable, but Mom
Speaker 1: was totally comfortable with the microwave. So on Thanksgiving she
Speaker 1: cooked an entire turkey in that microwave. I called her
Speaker 1: to ask, and she recalls it taking about an hour
Speaker 1: to cook. I remember it being tasty, if a little
Speaker 1: less brown than subsequent oven turkeys. In all, it's a
Speaker 1: nice childhood memory. Just thought i'd share my anecdote. Cheers, Trish,
Speaker 1: Thanks Trish. Yeah, what was going on in seven? I
Speaker 1: don't know. I mean, maybe it goes deeper. You know,
Speaker 1: these are both tales two of people moving right. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, maybe that was a year of new beginnings.
Speaker 1: I don't have to consult the astrological chart on that one, right,
Speaker 1: But but yeah, both of these cases where people were like,
Speaker 1: we have a turkey, we need to cook it, we
Speaker 1: have limited resources. We were kind of forced into the
Speaker 1: scenario that that microwave. Early microwave marketers anticipated the idea
Speaker 1: that this would be your go to cooking instrument, though
Speaker 1: instead of being by choice, it was by circumstance, and
Speaker 1: in both cases it seemed to have worked all right.
Speaker 1: This next message comes from Scott. Scott says, when I
Speaker 1: was a young marine back in the late seventies, I
Speaker 1: was assigned to the computer center at the Marine Corps
Speaker 1: Finance Center in Kansas City. This was the main administrative
Speaker 1: and financial hub for the entire Marine Corps, and we
Speaker 1: collected data from all units for reporting and record keeping.
Speaker 1: Given the state of computer tech at the time, much
Speaker 1: of that data arrived in the form of paper documents.
Speaker 1: We received boxes of paper forms daily which had to
Speaker 1: be entered into the computer system. This was achieved by
Speaker 1: scanning them via optical character recognition scanners. Whoa in seventies.
Speaker 1: I didn't even know that that was around back then. Um.
Speaker 1: Each page was fed under a scanning head which read
Speaker 1: the typewritten reports and turned them into a text file.
Speaker 1: The achilles heel of any machine which has to move
Speaker 1: pieces of paper is the paper itself, and unless the
Speaker 1: paper is in ristine condition, it will jam and cause
Speaker 1: all manner of hate and discontent for the human operating
Speaker 1: the machine. Quite often the reports we got were definitely
Speaker 1: not in pristine condition, generally because they've absorbed humidity during transport.
Speaker 1: How is this related to the microwave episode. Well, The
Speaker 1: accepted solution for fixing feed problems was to dry out
Speaker 1: the forms by taking them down to the break room
Speaker 1: and nuking them for a few minutes in the same
Speaker 1: microwave machine everyone used for heating up their lunches. Thanks
Speaker 1: for the podcast, Scott, Well that that is that is interesting.
Speaker 1: I hadn't thought about that. We I think we touched
Speaker 1: briefly on the idea that there are industrial uses for microwaves.
Speaker 1: I think it was with lumber right right, Yeah, that
Speaker 1: was the example of the walk in microwave. Yes, yes,
Speaker 1: that that made the events of whatever that movie was
Speaker 1: possible with one of the kids, spy hard kick ass.
Speaker 1: That's it. The seth Are producer just told me, alright,
Speaker 1: we have another microwave missive here. This one comes to
Speaker 1: us from Evan. Hey, Robert and Joe. I wanted to
Speaker 1: let you know of a fascinating microwave application that you
Speaker 1: didn't mention on your recent microwave shows. It's called microwave
Speaker 1: induced centering and is being used in the production of
Speaker 1: metal parts using a three D printer that's centering s
Speaker 1: I N T E R I n G, which I
Speaker 1: believe that the word came up in our episode on
Speaker 1: the one ring on stuff to blow your mind. Anyway,
Speaker 1: it continues. These printers use a plastic binding agent to
Speaker 1: help shape metal powder into a specific part. Yes, we
Speaker 1: definitely talked about this, and um gosh, which metal was
Speaker 1: it that we were talking about? Tungstens, I don't know.
Speaker 1: Go back and check out that episode if you want
Speaker 1: more centering action anyway continues. The plastic is later burned
Speaker 1: off and the remaining metal powder is heated just enough
Speaker 1: for the metal to form metallic bonds, but not enough
Speaker 1: for the metal to become a liquid and lose its shape.
Speaker 1: This process is called centering and is currently being done
Speaker 1: with convection ovens. The downside is that centering can take
Speaker 1: over twelve hours to complete, but in recent years, companies
Speaker 1: are starting to come out with microwave based ovens that
Speaker 1: can center these metal powder parts in thirty minutes or less.
Speaker 1: This speed increase happens because microwaves induce an electric field
Speaker 1: on the surface of each metal particle. Current then flows
Speaker 1: between the metal particles quickly and efficiently, heating that region
Speaker 1: so that the metal bonds can form. This is the
Speaker 1: same effect that makes putting bulk metal objects in the
Speaker 1: microwave dangerous. The electric field on the surface of the
Speaker 1: objects can severely shock you or burn your food, but
Speaker 1: it can be an effective way to heat metal powders
Speaker 1: too high temperatures. The technology isn't perfect just yet and
Speaker 1: may take a few more years to really make an
Speaker 1: impact in manufacturing. By the way, I love both of
Speaker 1: your shows and look forward to hearing them every week.
Speaker 1: Keep up the good work, sincerely, Evan. Very interesting things absolutely.
Speaker 1: By the way, if you do end up possessing the
Speaker 1: one ring, do not put it in a microwave. Horrible effects. Alright,
Speaker 1: let's look at one last message about the microwave oven.
Speaker 1: This comes from Joseph. Joseph refers back to our discussion
Speaker 1: about the irradiation of food in the microwaves episode. You know,
Speaker 1: we talked about bombardment of food items with actual ionizing
Speaker 1: radiation unlike microwaves. Uh, and how you know that's regularly
Speaker 1: done and is considered safe. It's both done to image
Speaker 1: the food to make sure there are no like say,
Speaker 1: metal screws or other contaminants in it. But then it's
Speaker 1: also done to sterilize food in some cases, like irradiating
Speaker 1: spices to kill microorganisms or insects or whatever. So Joseph says,
Speaker 1: I love invention and stuff to blow your mind. I
Speaker 1: travel a lot for work, and these are two of
Speaker 1: my favorite podcasts to listen to on the road. There
Speaker 1: is a food purposely irradiated that I didn't here mentioned
Speaker 1: in part two of the Microwave episodes. At least for
Speaker 1: a while, you could purchase irradiated ground beef. The radiation
Speaker 1: would kill any living organisms, making the meat sterile. I
Speaker 1: miss being able to eat a juicy, rare hamburger safely.
Speaker 1: Oh that's interesting. Yeah. Um, I've not seen it in
Speaker 1: a store in years. I think people were afraid to
Speaker 1: eat the meat, or they were afraid the meat was
Speaker 1: radioactive and it didn't sell. Well, well, maybe that's going
Speaker 1: to change because enough people are playing the Fallout games
Speaker 1: to know that the glowing green meat is is ideal.
Speaker 1: Always pick the glowing green meat out of your kills.
Speaker 1: Uh though, actually did look this up and it looks
Speaker 1: like yeah, I think there are some efforts to bring
Speaker 1: back the radiation of of ground meats for food safety
Speaker 1: reasons and uh yeah, and they tried it before. I
Speaker 1: think there was just like some consumer hesitancy about it.
Speaker 1: They they need a new adjective. I think they need
Speaker 1: to branded slightly differently. Shiny meat. Shiny shined meat like
Speaker 1: sunshine is radiation it has been shined, it's it's been,
Speaker 1: it's undergone the shining um so u. Joseph continues. On
Speaker 1: a recent toy episode, you discussed why a Jack in
Speaker 1: the box would keep a child fascinated. I think, at
Speaker 1: least in my own case, I used it to learn
Speaker 1: to control my startle reflex. I tried not to react
Speaker 1: when it popped. I still do a similar thing as
Speaker 1: an adult. Interesting, Please tell me I'm not the only
Speaker 1: person who stares down at the toaster and tries not
Speaker 1: to flinch when the toast is ready. Plus watching the
Speaker 1: nichrome wire glow and watching and smelling the myard reactions
Speaker 1: occur our bonuses to my grown up Jack in the box,
Speaker 1: I guess that's the toaster. Keep those shows coming, sincerely, Joseph.
Speaker 1: Oh wow, Yeah, I don't know that I stare a
Speaker 1: lot and do a toaster. Now, I don't. I don't
Speaker 1: actually have a pop up toaster, but I do remember
Speaker 1: having a similar experience as a kid, like you really
Speaker 1: want to see what's going on in there, and there's
Speaker 1: all sorts of cool glowing that's happened. I I know
Speaker 1: what you're talking about, Joseph. I have stared at the
Speaker 1: heating element. I mean, like a resistance based heating element
Speaker 1: is beautiful. I think so at least. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I think I was. I was talking with my mom
Speaker 1: actually about early memories, like what SMI earliest memories, And
Speaker 1: she was talking about staring at a like an electric
Speaker 1: heater that has some sort of a heating element, and
Speaker 1: you know, it's like it's yours, irresistible to the hold.
Speaker 1: But she was also told like, don't you dare touch it.
Speaker 1: It's the most dangerous thing in the world. So that
Speaker 1: also helped the memory like really take holds in her mind.
Speaker 1: All right, Uh, should we take a quick break and
Speaker 1: then come back for more. It sounds good. Let's do it.
Speaker 1: Let's shut the door in the microwave and then come back.
Speaker 1: All right, we're back, and uh, let's talk a little
Speaker 1: bit about bubble wrap, which comes to us from Matthew.
Speaker 1: Matthew says, we love your show. You were talking about
Speaker 1: bubble wrap. I was in the Marine Corps returning from
Speaker 1: a deployment in nine. Again we're in the eighties here
Speaker 1: and again we have another marine writing in uh. And
Speaker 1: at the and at the welcome back ceremony, all the
Speaker 1: families were their spouses, kids, et cetera. In a rare
Speaker 1: moment of brilliance, they had rolled out large rolls of
Speaker 1: bubble wrap and sheets on the floor of the hangar
Speaker 1: to keep the kids busy. My son was only three
Speaker 1: and that is all he remembers of the day topping
Speaker 1: the bubbles. He's thirty three now and has been in
Speaker 1: the Marine Corps himself and returned from a deployment. I
Speaker 1: was there, and the bubble wrap is still the main
Speaker 1: feature for the kids. That's so great. So much changes
Speaker 1: while the basics never do. Oh, that's wonderful. Thank you
Speaker 1: so much, Matthew. Alright, this next message comes to us
Speaker 1: from Olivia, also about bubble wrap. I think this is
Speaker 1: in response to us talking about why it is so
Speaker 1: fun to pop the bubbles? Uh, and so Olivia says, Hello,
Speaker 1: Robert and Joe. In the most recent Invention episode, in
Speaker 1: the last five minutes or so, you'll discussed squeezeballs, fidget spinners,
Speaker 1: and just the human inclination to be messing with stuff.
Speaker 1: I'm not aware of any research at the moment that
Speaker 1: I can point you to, but I can give some
Speaker 1: anecdotal information on the topic. I don't know if you
Speaker 1: all plan to do an episode. This may provide some
Speaker 1: background as to what to look into. So for one,
Speaker 1: these items can be categorized as STEM toys or fidget toys,
Speaker 1: and within some of the FRING groups I run in,
Speaker 1: they're super popular, especially within groups where a lot of
Speaker 1: us are neuro divergent, specifically having either a d h
Speaker 1: D or autism. I have a d h D myself,
Speaker 1: and I find that it can be very difficult at
Speaker 1: times to concentrate without having something to do with my hands.
Speaker 1: As this feeling can be common to the two conditions
Speaker 1: listed above, many of us turned to fidget toys as
Speaker 1: a convenient way to keep our hands busy. As a
Speaker 1: side effect of this, my neurotypical friends those without a
Speaker 1: d h D, autism, or any other such effect, have
Speaker 1: had the chance to be exposed to these toys when
Speaker 1: they wouldn't normally, and often they find they love them
Speaker 1: and we'll go out and purchase their own. But if
Speaker 1: you want to see more examples of the types of
Speaker 1: toys that exist out there, I'll oh and she links
Speaker 1: a STEM selling website below. Many many people will fidget
Speaker 1: with whatever they have, but there can be a stigma
Speaker 1: around using items specifically designed for it. Back when fidget
Speaker 1: spinners were at the height of their popularity, there was
Speaker 1: some controversy within the neuro divergent communities about it, specifically
Speaker 1: that because of their popularity, spinners and many other toys
Speaker 1: were getting banned from classrooms. This was due to the
Speaker 1: fact that toys that are very active with lots of motion,
Speaker 1: like spinners, can work different for different kids. Neurotypical kids
Speaker 1: will tend to be more distracted by these toys instead
Speaker 1: of aided by them in concentration like they like they
Speaker 1: do for neuro divergent kids. So on one hand, while
Speaker 1: these items were becoming more normalized and making them easier
Speaker 1: to get into the hands of kids who could benefit
Speaker 1: from them, they were also being banned from the environments
Speaker 1: where they would specifically be the most useful. Anyway, the
Speaker 1: one toy that prompted me to write in is the
Speaker 1: Infinite bubble Wrap key chain. I'll attach the video below
Speaker 1: of someone using it. I haven't had the chance to
Speaker 1: use one myself, but some of my friends absolutely love them.
Speaker 1: While the experience isn't identical to bubble wrap proper, my
Speaker 1: friends say that it scratches the same itch tactically as
Speaker 1: the classic product. Plus it's small and reusable, so it's
Speaker 1: always convenient. Also, I'd just like to say thanks so
Speaker 1: much for making both Invention and Stuff to Blow Your Mind.
Speaker 1: I've been listening since the first episode of Stuff from
Speaker 1: the Science Lab and have been a loyal listener since.
Speaker 1: At the time, I was in seventh grade in middle school,
Speaker 1: and now I'm a recent college grad with a degree
Speaker 1: in engineering. I can honestly say that without your podcasts
Speaker 1: and a few of the other Stuff podcasts, I would
Speaker 1: not be who I am today. My friends and family
Speaker 1: all poke fun how I seem to know something about everything,
Speaker 1: and that is all thanks to these podcasts. I've learned
Speaker 1: so much over the years. So seriously, thanks so much
Speaker 1: for making all these Stuff to Blow Your Mind has
Speaker 1: long been one of my favorites, and Invention has quickly
Speaker 1: become a new favorite too with most sincere thanks Olivia
Speaker 1: up there. Yeah, yeah, I mean it will be uh
Speaker 1: next month in January, it'll it will be ten years
Speaker 1: since the first episode of of a show launched a
Speaker 1: titled Stuff in the Science Lab, which was then rebranded
Speaker 1: into Stuff to Build Your Mind. So yeah, we're coming
Speaker 1: up on for me a decade of podcasting here. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I know it's been a heck of a journey for you.
Speaker 1: It's been a heck of a journey for me, the
Speaker 1: part of it that I've been here. And um, yeah,
Speaker 1: and so thank you so much for getting in touch Olivia.
Speaker 1: This is this was wonderful. Now. I loved all that
Speaker 1: she had to say though about fidget toys in general
Speaker 1: and helping some people focus serving as a distraction to others.
Speaker 1: I think that's very insightful. I know we've talked before
Speaker 1: on the show about our own personal experience with things
Speaker 1: like this. Um. I think it was the episode of
Speaker 1: stuff to blow your mind about imaginative worlds and daydreaming
Speaker 1: and even maladaptive daydreaming. And I spoke how on help
Speaker 1: when I was a kid, especially, I would need to
Speaker 1: have a rubber band in my hand and twiddle with
Speaker 1: their other band, especially when I was daydreaming like that
Speaker 1: it would aid in my daydreaming. It was like a
Speaker 1: talisman almost. Yeah. Yeah, And and I was also very
Speaker 1: specific about the color it needed to be green or red. Uh.
Speaker 1: You know, I would have probably settled for orange as well,
Speaker 1: but brown and gray we're not going to cut it. Uh,
Speaker 1: And I don't need those anymore, but I do still
Speaker 1: find myself, especially in the podcasting booth here, I need
Speaker 1: something for my hands. Uh. So, like right now it
Speaker 1: is a partially torn apart sharpie, an orange sharpie and
Speaker 1: clear and weirdly enough, it has to be orange. Um.
Speaker 1: I get a little perturbed if I don't have an
Speaker 1: orange sharpie to use. But but ideally I need to
Speaker 1: have like a squishy sand bag. Uh. That's better because
Speaker 1: of I drop it, it it makes less noise. But I
Speaker 1: can definitely still at this point in my life. Um,
Speaker 1: you know understand the need to have something in your
Speaker 1: hand to fiddle with in order to keep your mind
Speaker 1: focused on something. Oh yeah, yeah, I understand the feeling.
Speaker 1: It's it's powerful, all right. What are we looking at
Speaker 1: next here? Oh, let's see we have one from Amy
Speaker 1: and it looks like this one is going to mention
Speaker 1: a bubble rap but also a little science fiction. Amy
Speaker 1: rides high Robert and Joe. I just listened to the
Speaker 1: bubble Wrap episode on Red Dwarf season three, episode five.
Speaker 1: The episode Time Sliders, Rumor goes back in time to
Speaker 1: tell his younger self to invent quote tension sheets. Bubble
Speaker 1: wrap that is meant to be popped for its therapeutic
Speaker 1: effect because a kid he went to school with dead
Speaker 1: and became wealthy. While he tells himself about it, the
Speaker 1: other kid listens, but the younger him ignores the idea genius.
Speaker 1: This episode is all about photography too, so it ties
Speaker 1: in with your recent episodes. You guys have to watch it.
Speaker 1: I enjoy invention and stuff to blow your mind, Live
Speaker 1: long and prosper amy. This is not the first bit
Speaker 1: of listener mail we've gotten about the show Red Dwarf,
Speaker 1: which I've never watched, but it seems like it dovetails
Speaker 1: with a number of things that come up on our podcasts. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I vaguely remember seeing catching a little of it back
Speaker 1: in the days, you know, on cable. I don't know
Speaker 1: if it was on Sci Fi or maybe even on
Speaker 1: one of the comedy channels, but I remember catching part
Speaker 1: of it but never really getting to dive into it.
Speaker 1: I have friends who are really into it though. We
Speaker 1: also heard from a listener named Prudence who had had
Speaker 1: some stuff to share about bubble rap, but I think
Speaker 1: more importantly said a topic suggestion. I would love to
Speaker 1: hear the history of autopsy. That would be interesting get
Speaker 1: into autopsy the section, Uh, just sort of general anatomical
Speaker 1: explorer ration. I think this may have something to do.
Speaker 1: I don't want to mind read prudence, but it may
Speaker 1: have something to do with our our talk in the
Speaker 1: Caskets episodes about the needs for human cadavers in order
Speaker 1: to do medical dissections. Um. But yeah, yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: there's gotta be taboos that come and go about that
Speaker 1: through through history, and like, how are the standard practices
Speaker 1: first created? Totally? All right, let's look at an email
Speaker 1: we got about our episode on the telescope. This comes
Speaker 1: from our listener, Dimitri Dmitri. Says, Hi, Robert and Joe.
Speaker 1: I was listening to Invention since episode one. You announced
Speaker 1: it on Stuff to blow your mind, and I love it.
Speaker 1: Finally you touched a topic that I'm passionate about astronomy
Speaker 1: and the telescope, so I decided to write in first
Speaker 1: one curious observation. Up until recently, to be precise, we
Speaker 1: have only seen the universe using the electromagnetic spectrum, different
Speaker 1: wavelengths of it, yes, but still a single type of information.
Speaker 1: But then came LEGO, the laser interferometer, gravitational Wave Observatory
Speaker 1: in sixteen, for the first time we could see the
Speaker 1: world through the eyes of gravitational waves. I guess that
Speaker 1: for early telescope users like Galileo, it was similarly eye opening.
Speaker 1: I definitely can compare this Ligo to the first telescopes
Speaker 1: coming online. By the way, all of the human senses
Speaker 1: have to do with electromagnetic force. I was trying to
Speaker 1: think for a second, they're like, wait a minute, like
Speaker 1: touch and smell. But yeah, I guess chemistry, you know,
Speaker 1: chemistry and physics is that's electromagnetic fields and forces, and yeah,
Speaker 1: so yeah, Dmitri continues, second to your discussion about the stars.
Speaker 1: I've lived in different cities my entire life and don't
Speaker 1: see many stars very often. But I photographed the night
Speaker 1: sky recently. I went to the darkest sky place within
Speaker 1: a two hour drive from my home with my family,
Speaker 1: and I saw the Milky Way with naked eyes. You
Speaker 1: can find the image, and then he links to his
Speaker 1: Instagram page to find the image with the center of
Speaker 1: the galaxy. He says, it's definitely at least surreal to
Speaker 1: lie on your back and see all those stars. Moreover,
Speaker 1: and then Knee links to another image you can even
Speaker 1: see a faint spot of Andromeda, a galaxy two point
Speaker 1: five million light years away. Uh. This is another level
Speaker 1: of excitement that I discovered at home later. Uh. And
Speaker 1: oh boy, Andromeda's we gotta date with Destiny, end up
Speaker 1: with Andromeda and the far future, and that's going to
Speaker 1: be exciting. Yeah, if you could, if you could live
Speaker 1: long enough, that image would definitely come into sharper focus
Speaker 1: for you. All Right, on that note, we're going to
Speaker 1: take one more break, but we'll be right back with
Speaker 1: more invention listener mail. Alright, we're back, all right. This
Speaker 1: bit of listener mail comes to us from Irene. Irene
Speaker 1: writes in about canning. We did an episode dealing with this,
Speaker 1: and I'm not going to read the entire email. First
Speaker 1: part of the email is basically Irene expressing how much
Speaker 1: she loves canning, which is all wonderful. We love to
Speaker 1: hear about people's enthusiasm for a particular invention. But then
Speaker 1: she goes on to discuss our interest in canning, or
Speaker 1: potential interest in canning. She says, I believe it was
Speaker 1: Joe or maybe both of you who expressed some interest
Speaker 1: in trying your hand at canning. I highly encourage you
Speaker 1: to try it. There is no more gratifying sound than
Speaker 1: that of the lid popping down when you pull the
Speaker 1: jars from the canner and they begin to cool and seal.
Speaker 1: That pop is the sound of success, and I never
Speaker 1: tire of it. I usually shout yes for each jar
Speaker 1: lid that successfully pops for me. You can improvise almost
Speaker 1: everything you need for canning except for one tool, and
Speaker 1: that's the jar lifter a k a. Canning tongs. There
Speaker 1: is no substitute for canning tongs, and you'll risk injury
Speaker 1: if you try to pull a hot jar out from
Speaker 1: the water with anything other than canning tongs. Uh. This
Speaker 1: comes from the horse's mouth, as one who suffered a
Speaker 1: nasty burn trying to retrieve an arrant jar from the
Speaker 1: boiling water using a regular pair of tongs. Don't even try. Fortunately,
Speaker 1: canning tongs are very inexpensive and can be found at
Speaker 1: most grocery and discount stores. Fire there is an element
Speaker 1: of danger in canning with all the hot water in
Speaker 1: the canner and usually another pot of hot syrup, brine, parade, apples,
Speaker 1: and other and other items. With two large pots of
Speaker 1: boiling something I've gotten burnt cut and nearly set wooden
Speaker 1: spoons and pot holders on fire. So the danger thing
Speaker 1: adds a little bit of fun. The pop of the
Speaker 1: lids ceiling successfully is the payoff for the heat, the work,
Speaker 1: and the danger. The real joy is giving people something
Speaker 1: delicious in a jar, especially when they don't expect it.
Speaker 1: Jump in and give it a try. Thanks again for
Speaker 1: and exploring an odd topic. Near and dear to me.
Speaker 1: Keep up the good work and keep the episodes coming.
Speaker 1: I'm almost always listening to podcasts while i'm canning. Best regards,
Speaker 1: irene Um. Yeah, I'm glad she brought up the canning
Speaker 1: tongs because I remember I honestly don't remember it was
Speaker 1: my mom or my grandma. They definitely had the canning
Speaker 1: tongs around, and I guess you know, if you can't
Speaker 1: picture him, you need to look them up. But they're
Speaker 1: a pair of tongs looks generally like sort of doubled
Speaker 1: h you know, wide enough so they can grip a
Speaker 1: can in. But I remember as a kid they were
Speaker 1: really fun to play with because you know, they're essentially
Speaker 1: this right size to grab your own arm or someone
Speaker 1: else's arm, uh, and or pick up toys in a
Speaker 1: way that normal tongs, um you know, don't do as well.
Speaker 1: You know how much we love a tool the devils
Speaker 1: as a toy, especially a kind of dangerous toy. Yeah, uh, Robert,
Speaker 1: we actually had just had one come in recently that
Speaker 1: I thought you might like. So do you mind if
Speaker 1: I read this one from Jeremy here? Yes, go for it. Okay,
Speaker 1: Jeremy says, I just finished your third Toy episode, and
Speaker 1: I wanted to let you know how much I've been
Speaker 1: enjoying your podcast. I listened since the first episode, and
Speaker 1: I'm a fan. Ironically enough, as you finish up this
Speaker 1: episode on Toys, I am putting together a miniature of
Speaker 1: my game of choice, Age of Sigma. I understand Robert
Speaker 1: plays forty K. I think that refers to Warhammer forty
Speaker 1: k or right, yeah, yeah, he's referring to to my
Speaker 1: painting of Warhammer forty figures, and he's talking about what
Speaker 1: was originally knows just Warhammer or were fantasy. Uh, he says,
Speaker 1: I understand Robert plays that, but nobody's perfect. I don't
Speaker 1: know if miniature war gaming is the topic you guys
Speaker 1: can cover on Invention or not, but I would love
Speaker 1: to hear something on it. Not only is it enjoyable
Speaker 1: for the obvious reasons, but it's phenomenal for getting into
Speaker 1: a community of like minded people that are not just
Speaker 1: into playing games, but it's they're also hobbyists and in
Speaker 1: many cases amazing artists. Additionally, you find that there are
Speaker 1: some pretty famous people that enjoy the same hobby. Great
Speaker 1: examples are Peter Cushing and Robin Williams. I didn't know
Speaker 1: about Peter Cushing being into miniature gaming. Uh. I had
Speaker 1: read that Robin Williams had gotten into it, possibly because
Speaker 1: one of his one of his sons was interested at
Speaker 1: some point, but but that's all I really knew about it.
Speaker 1: There are some other interesting historical figures that pop up
Speaker 1: in the history of miniature war gaming and the you know,
Speaker 1: especially sort of the definitely the pre Dungeons and Dragons
Speaker 1: era of gaming and sort of like class English gaming.
Speaker 1: So that would be something that could finish to potentially
Speaker 1: be fun to discuss because you're you have a few
Speaker 1: different things coming together in miniature war gaming, right, I mean,
Speaker 1: you have you have hobbyists, you have the creation of miniatures,
Speaker 1: who have the utilization of miniatures in either a strategic
Speaker 1: form that is entirely about the the puzzle of strategy
Speaker 1: and games of skill, and to a certain extent extent chance.
Speaker 1: But then there's also the whole idea of simulating a
Speaker 1: battle scenario to some extent, and and and that would
Speaker 1: be something to look at as well too. You know where,
Speaker 1: where in the history of of war gaming in particular
Speaker 1: does it tie in with actual military strategy. Oh yeah, well,
Speaker 1: I think we could definitely look at the history of
Speaker 1: inventions for simulating conflict. Anyway, Jeremy continues, thanks for all
Speaker 1: your work, and I hope to hear it in perpetuity.
Speaker 1: That's a strange sentence. Does that mean forever we have
Speaker 1: to keep going forever? I guess so. Oh, I don't
Speaker 1: know if I can do that. As for the Wicked,
Speaker 1: all right, Well, as long as we're talking about pastimes
Speaker 1: and games, we should talk a little bit about toys.
Speaker 1: Here's a listener mail we received from Steve, Robert and Joe.
Speaker 1: I thoroughly enjoyed Toys Part one, particularly the segment on
Speaker 1: the frisbee. It reminded me of being a kid around
Speaker 1: kindergarten age when my parents came home from Saturday grocery
Speaker 1: shopping with a brand new red Frisbee, and not only
Speaker 1: had the ridges uh and thicker outer rim you mentioned
Speaker 1: as new features in the nineteen sixty four model, but
Speaker 1: the center was made to look like the bridge of
Speaker 1: a flying saucer, inspiring my older brother to paint the
Speaker 1: windows silver. The segment on the origins of the Frisbee
Speaker 1: also made me think of a story my dad told
Speaker 1: me when he was getting up there in years. In
Speaker 1: the late forties and early fifties, he worked at the
Speaker 1: National Film Board of Canada and Ottawa. Oh that's great.
Speaker 1: I'm a big fan of the National Film Board of
Speaker 1: Canada and their their work there is short films because
Speaker 1: I think some of them played Sorry, is that what
Speaker 1: Boards of Canada is named after? Yeah? Yeah, the musical
Speaker 1: like Boards of Canada is is a reference to the
Speaker 1: National Film Boards of Canada. Amazing. Yeah. And and so
Speaker 1: I lived in Canada for a little bit when I
Speaker 1: was much younger, and I believe that the CDC station
Speaker 1: would air a little National Film Board of Canada shorts
Speaker 1: such as one fabulous piece in which you had these
Speaker 1: stop motion uh sand creatures forming out of the sand
Speaker 1: and building a sand castle. It's it's wonderful if you
Speaker 1: look it up, it's It's hosted online, as are all
Speaker 1: of the films I think. Anyway continues, Uh, The office
Speaker 1: was on a bluff above the Ottawa River, and to
Speaker 1: dispose of the many empty film cans their work generated,
Speaker 1: he and his colleague would fling the tops and bottoms
Speaker 1: out of the window frisbee style and try to get
Speaker 1: them to the river. He said. They mostly landed on
Speaker 1: the rocks of the bluff, but they had great fun
Speaker 1: doing it. Looking forward to part two, a little bit
Speaker 1: of lighthearted littering in the post war period. Yeah, forties
Speaker 1: and fifties. You know, it was a different time. But
Speaker 1: interesting too about the National Film Board of Canada being
Speaker 1: around back then. I say, I'm a big fan of
Speaker 1: their films, but I've never really looked too much into
Speaker 1: their history, so so I had no idea how back
Speaker 1: it went. Evidently to the forties and fifties at least. Uh.
Speaker 1: We got one message from Vivian that was actually one
Speaker 1: of a couple of messages we got about. When we
Speaker 1: we asked, hey, is anybody still making like wooden jigsaw puzzles?
Speaker 1: Vivian says, Hi, Robert and Joe, and one of your
Speaker 1: toys podcasts. You were talking about puzzles. You're wondering if
Speaker 1: wooden puzzles are still being made. Um, one of you
Speaker 1: said they knew about wooden puzzles for small children. Here's
Speaker 1: a link to a company in Canada who makes wooden puzzles.
Speaker 1: They are even fun for adults. I have a link
Speaker 1: to one below, and so I looked this up. This
Speaker 1: company is called stump Craft, and uh, they make extremely
Speaker 1: elegant looking, artistic kind of creation puzzles. Robert, I've got
Speaker 1: an image for you here that looks awesome. Yeah. It's
Speaker 1: a very colorful fantasy imagery with like a third eye. Uh, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'd be into that. Here's another one they got looks
Speaker 1: like some who kind of like an alien landscape or
Speaker 1: so I guess it's supposed to be the bad Lands. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I like it. All right, We're gonna go ahead and
Speaker 1: close up the mail bag with that one. But obviously
Speaker 1: we would love to hear more from invention listeners as
Speaker 1: we roll into the new year here and consider all
Speaker 1: new inventions to visit. Inventions, big invention, small inventions that
Speaker 1: are clearly game changing, inventions that also have you know,
Speaker 1: a you know, a less pronounced effect on on life,
Speaker 1: but still change the shape of human life as we
Speaker 1: know it. So by all means, reach out to us
Speaker 1: let us know what you would like to hear. Huge
Speaker 1: thanks as always to our excellent audio producer Seth Nicholas Johnson.
Speaker 1: If you would like to get in touch with us
Speaker 1: with feedback on this episode or any other, to suggest
Speaker 1: topic for the future, to maybe get a piece of
Speaker 1: listener mail featured in a future episode, or just to
Speaker 1: say hi, you can email us at contact at invention
Speaker 1: pod dot com. Invention is production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the i
Speaker 1: heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
Speaker 1: your favorite shows. M