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Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff you Should Know fromhouse Stuff Works dot com. Hey,

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Speaker 1: and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. There's Charles W.

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Speaker 1: Chuck Bryant, Jerry over there, and this is the Lighthouse

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Speaker 1: episode Take one. Uh. Can I just go ahead and

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Speaker 1: say that I love lighthouses? Do you love love already before?

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Speaker 1: Like you fell in love with them and researching both

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Speaker 1: like if I'm I grew up going to Honey Island,

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Speaker 1: South Carolina, not every year, but we went quite a

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Speaker 1: few times here Buford and they have a lighthouse and

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Speaker 1: it was one of my favorite things to do as

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Speaker 1: a kid, was climbing the lighthouse. And I would I

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Speaker 1: if I'm near a lighthouse now ever, I will go

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Speaker 1: climate but outside. I will seek it out and then

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Speaker 1: shimmy up the outside like Spider Man. Um. No, I

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Speaker 1: will seek it out and go look at it and

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Speaker 1: then climb it and um this article just made me

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Speaker 1: love it even more. I have a precious memories lighthouse

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Speaker 1: to marble Head Lighthouse near Kataba Island, which is where

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Speaker 1: what state by Sandusky in Ohio on Lake Erie. And

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Speaker 1: it was the same thing when I was a kid.

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Speaker 1: We used to go vacation on Kataba Island, and um,

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Speaker 1: we would go to that lighthouse every once a while.

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Speaker 1: I don't remember ever going inside, though it might not

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Speaker 1: have been open, because there's no reason why you would

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Speaker 1: go to a lighthouse more than once and not go

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Speaker 1: inside climb it up. I don't remember every going in,

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Speaker 1: or maybe you're just like, yeah, it looks nice from

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Speaker 1: down here. Yeah, I would have climbed it. I was

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Speaker 1: a climber. Yeah, me too. Um. But I think the

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Speaker 1: other thing that factors in for me is I found

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Speaker 1: I really love antiquated systems that could still be viable. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: like post apocalypse, you could fire up lighthouses again, you

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Speaker 1: know fire yeah, and it would work. Yeah, it would.

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Speaker 1: And I think that's a weird thing with me that

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Speaker 1: I love. I love stuff that's still around that you

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Speaker 1: could use if if need be. You know, I've never

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Speaker 1: really looked at my environment that way, like to see

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Speaker 1: what it was going to be standing after an apocalypse.

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Speaker 1: Maybe I should. Well I don't know about standing, but

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Speaker 1: let's just let's say there was some weird domino effect

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Speaker 1: type thing like that movie where electricity and internet and

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Speaker 1: everything went out and people turned on each other. You

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Speaker 1: could still light a lighthouse and fos could find their

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Speaker 1: safe harbor. What movie are you talking about the domino effect? Oh? Really,

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Speaker 1: there's a movie like that called that. Yeah, I didn't

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Speaker 1: know that. I think it was called with Elizabeth Shoo

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Speaker 1: and agent Agent Cooper from Twin Peaks Kyle what's his face? McLaughlin?

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Speaker 1: And he is so great? Is the mare um Portlandia? Yeah?

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Speaker 1: He is good. I love that guy. I think it's

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Speaker 1: called a domino effect. If not, that was the you know,

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Speaker 1: essentially what happened there was a domino effect like a blackout, right, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: that just like and it created a domino effected things

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Speaker 1: kind of spun out of control. You're talking about Fury Road, right,

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Speaker 1: So uh, Chuck. I love lighthouses too, but I knew

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Speaker 1: virtually nothing about them until researching this. And um, if

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Speaker 1: you think about them though, it's like you were saying,

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Speaker 1: after the apocalypse, you'll still they'll still be standing. You

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Speaker 1: just need to replace the electricity with a fire and

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Speaker 1: then you'd have basically what lighthouses have always been, which

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Speaker 1: is some sort of highly visible signal. For most of

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Speaker 1: the time, it was a fire, either a wood fire,

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Speaker 1: coal fire, tar fire. Um that you could see that

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Speaker 1: was meant to signal to ships that hey man, there's

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Speaker 1: some treacherous waters around here. It's one of the main

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Speaker 1: things that they did. And as the light got better

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Speaker 1: and better. One of the roles that um, lighthouses play

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Speaker 1: was not just to say careful in this area. We

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Speaker 1: went to the trouble building a lighthouse here because it's

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Speaker 1: so treacherous. But also check out these rocks. See this

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Speaker 1: with this light, there's some rocks there. Yeah, like literally

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Speaker 1: lighting up a harbor. Yeah. Um, well, because there was

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Speaker 1: no light otherwise. Right. And then um, the other role

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Speaker 1: that they play is in the daytime, right, because lighthouses

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Speaker 1: I don't think that they actually keep them on twenty

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Speaker 1: four hours a day, highly inefficient. On a cloudy day,

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Speaker 1: if it's foggy, they'll turn it on and start sounding

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Speaker 1: the fog horns, which we'll talk about. But um, for

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Speaker 1: the most part in the daytime, it's off. But a

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Speaker 1: lighthouse still serves a purpose during the day because they

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Speaker 1: don't decorate them the way that they decorate them just

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Speaker 1: for looks. They do it so you can differentiate one

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Speaker 1: lighthouse from another. Yeah, Like this one looks like a

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Speaker 1: barber pole. So I'm near north Carolina is exactly right.

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Speaker 1: And there's like a whole book called the light List

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Speaker 1: where it has pictures of them and if you get

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Speaker 1: your hands on that. I meant to look it up

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Speaker 1: but ran out of time. I'll bet it's neat. I

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Speaker 1: bet it's neat too. By the way, that movie is

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Speaker 1: called the Trigger Effect. I have heard of that one.

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Speaker 1: There was a movie called the Domino Effect, but it's

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Speaker 1: not the same one. What about the butterfly effects? Remember

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Speaker 1: that garbage that was the couch? Right? Yeah? Man? Why

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Speaker 1: does he haunt us? I don't know. It comes up

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Speaker 1: a lot, all right. Where were we were we in

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Speaker 1: the lighthouse? We were talking about the day mark? Yeah, yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 1: pretty neat. But there's also what's called the light signature, right, yes,

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Speaker 1: where that's um, that's we're going back to nighttime again.

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Speaker 1: Ye sorry version the sun's going up and down, the

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Speaker 1: lights off. It got weird. It is a little weird. Sorry, Jerry,

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Speaker 1: are you still here? So? Um? At night the light

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Speaker 1: has its own flashing signature, light signature, and that's also

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Speaker 1: in the light book too, And there's actually a number

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Speaker 1: of different ways that a light can flash, right, who knew?

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Speaker 1: I didn't know you've got the fixed and that is,

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Speaker 1: of course, if you just have a light on saying

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Speaker 1: we're open. Yeah, it shines continuously, come on in, it's

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Speaker 1: the waffle house. You have the occulting light. I love

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Speaker 1: this one, the creepiest of all lights. Uh. It has

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Speaker 1: longer periods of light than dark. Um. And then the

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Speaker 1: flashes six six six uh, And a flashing light has

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Speaker 1: longer periods of dark than light. So occulting and flashing

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Speaker 1: or just sort of inverse of one another, there are

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Speaker 1: two sides of the same coin. That's right. I can't

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Speaker 1: have light without the dark is the whole premise. And

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Speaker 1: then you have the isophase light that's equal light and

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Speaker 1: dark with its uh signature blips, and then a group

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Speaker 1: flashing light super seventies. Yeah, it has a regular repeating

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Speaker 1: number of flashing lights. It's the same pattern, right. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: And there's actually really famous one of those, um, the

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Speaker 1: Minnot's Ledge light in Boston. It was very famously known

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Speaker 1: as I think it still is that I Love you

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Speaker 1: light because of a flash one, then we flash four,

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Speaker 1: and then we flash three, so I l O V

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Speaker 1: E y O U. So it was like a very

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Speaker 1: romantic light. That's how people took it. I didn't make

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Speaker 1: that up. Oh see, I thought it was I hate

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Speaker 1: cal it could. That's the secondary way that it's known.

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Speaker 1: The people Boston are known for their soft side. I know.

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Speaker 1: So that's why I love you. Yeah, they're prone to

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Speaker 1: break into sobs and the public on the street frequently

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Speaker 1: just walking around thinking about the beauty of life. That's right,

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Speaker 1: And hey, Boston, we'll see you this fall at the

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Speaker 1: Wilbur Theater. I think it's still available. I just want

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Speaker 1: to work that in nice um. And then finally we

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Speaker 1: have our alternating I'm sorry. We have the Morse code um,

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Speaker 1: which is what it sounds like. It It mimics Morse

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Speaker 1: code with stats and dashes, stats and dooshes. That's Marist

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Speaker 1: code dots and dashes man um to spell out, you know,

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Speaker 1: things like I love you. But that's not when Mino's

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Speaker 1: ledged does. It's it's just it's just one, four and three,

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Speaker 1: and people took it that way. I hate and when

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Speaker 1: its ledge, Actually it's pretty awesome to begin with. It's

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Speaker 1: it's under ten ft of water at high tide and

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Speaker 1: they had to build it I think in the nineteenth century,

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Speaker 1: whenever the tide was out, so they only had like

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Speaker 1: X amount of hours and the day during low tide

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Speaker 1: when the ledge was exposed, it's still there. It's tough cookie,

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Speaker 1: but josh, these are all sort of modern modern is

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Speaker 1: modern ish, but um, although old, they can go back

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Speaker 1: to uh what comers Iliad? They mentioned a lighthouse. Yeah, crazy,

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Speaker 1: and I mean like we're talking basically a huge bonfire

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Speaker 1: on a cliff more exactly, you know, not like a well,

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Speaker 1: not like Minot's ledge or anything. But the still qualifies

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Speaker 1: as a lighthouse. It was the premise behind it, Yeah, exactly.

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Speaker 1: I founded weirdly defensive just now about that still lighthouse. Yeah. Uh,

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Speaker 1: like you said, you would have like either wood or

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Speaker 1: coal burning on a long pole. Uh. And then finally

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Speaker 1: in the eighteenth century, um, they started using lanterns, which

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Speaker 1: is a little more probably controllable. Yeah. The problem was

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Speaker 1: that they kept running into, um was that the oil

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Speaker 1: or coal would smudge the lantern, the glass around the lantern,

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Speaker 1: and the so the glass top, the whole thing where

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Speaker 1: the light is that you can walk around, and that's

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Speaker 1: the lantern of the lighthouse. And if you're burning a

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Speaker 1: coal fire in there, it's gonna get sooty. Pretty quick. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: One of the that's one of the main jobs of

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Speaker 1: the lighthouse keepers to watch windows. Um. The problem is

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Speaker 1: in between washings, which they did at least once a

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Speaker 1: day normally, UM, the light would degrade as the soot

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Speaker 1: built up. Uh. So they figured out, oh, we need better,

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Speaker 1: better fuel than coal or tar. We thought they used tar.

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Speaker 1: Let's burn the dirtiest thing on the plane. Inside. They

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Speaker 1: were working with what they had at the time. So

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Speaker 1: they figured out, especially in New England, that they could

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Speaker 1: um use things like blubber and lard, which they did

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Speaker 1: from Wales, burns a lot cleaner. Uh. And then they

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Speaker 1: also figured out, hey, you know what this flame is okay,

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Speaker 1: but wouldn't it be great pre electricity if we had

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Speaker 1: something like electricity to beam this thing out there? For

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Speaker 1: miles and miles and a very smart physicists from France

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Speaker 1: named Augustine Fresnel. For Nell, I like, Fresnell, that's cool.

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Speaker 1: For Nell said, all right, take my lens and do

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Speaker 1: with it what you will, and he invent at the

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Speaker 1: Fornell lens. He did and nineteen I'm sorry, eighty two,

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Speaker 1: and it's like what you would think it would be.

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Speaker 1: It's a bunch of prisms. Um through that through magic

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Speaker 1: can cast a beam like twenty something miles out to

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Speaker 1: the ocean. It's amazing. They concentrate in the the gather

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Speaker 1: light from the top and the bottom and in the

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Speaker 1: middle and basically just shoot it all back to a

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Speaker 1: single magnifying point. It just goes miles. Yeah. Yeah, and

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Speaker 1: that really that changed everything and did a great job

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Speaker 1: of handling the load until electricity would come around. And

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Speaker 1: that's when everyone was like, you know what, we don't

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Speaker 1: need these silly flames anymore. Let's just plug in a light.

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Speaker 1: But you can still use it for nell lens with

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Speaker 1: the light and it's even brighter like today's modern lighthouses.

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Speaker 1: Use um or have produced lights between ten thousand candelas

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Speaker 1: and a million Candelas's candela? Did you see this reference? Like,

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Speaker 1: this is the worst analogy I've ever run across. What

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Speaker 1: did it say? A candela is one two d the

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Speaker 1: brightness of a fifty watt light bulb. Oh okay, yeah,

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Speaker 1: I know exactly how much a candela is. I also

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Speaker 1: saw that it's roughly the brightness of a candle, which

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Speaker 1: makes sense, and that's a much better frame of reference.

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Speaker 1: So the brightness of a million candles burning in the

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Speaker 1: same place. That's how bright modern lighthouses are, not one

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Speaker 1: two bulb. Let's take a break. Yeah, seriously, let's go

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Speaker 1: find out who wrote that and write a strongly worded letter.

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Speaker 1: Well that got ugly, So we're I feel like we're

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Speaker 1: still talking about the history of lighthouses, right yeah, um,

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Speaker 1: well what they were, they were made of wood early

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Speaker 1: on um. But the problem with a wooden lighthouse and

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Speaker 1: a massive burning fire of tar is that they can

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Speaker 1: burn down and be washed out to see, or in

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Speaker 1: rough weather it can just be knocked plumb over by waves.

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Speaker 1: And but like I said, they used what they had

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Speaker 1: at the time, and over the years they got sturdier

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Speaker 1: and sturdier with steel and concrete and stuff like that. Well,

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Speaker 1: even over even before, over the years before, over the years. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: The Pharisa Alexandria, one of the seven Wonders of the

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Speaker 1: ancient world, was this um lighthouse at the mouth of

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Speaker 1: the harbor to Alexandria, Egypt. And it was around I'm

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Speaker 1: not quite sure when it was around. I think the

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Speaker 1: which one the pharaohs of Alexandria to seventy BC. My friend,

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Speaker 1: that thing was pretty sturdy it took a massive earthquake

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Speaker 1: to bring it to It was made of masonry, it

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Speaker 1: wasn't made of wood, you know. So it looks like

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Speaker 1: lighthouse construction got dumber as the years went on, and

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Speaker 1: then it got smart again. Then it got smart again.

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Speaker 1: It just dipped down in the wood era and then

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Speaker 1: came back up. Well. Um, what you you normally have

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Speaker 1: is a lighthouse, which can be just a lighthouse, or

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Speaker 1: there might be uh a fog signal building. There might

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Speaker 1: be a boat house. You might have a little house

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Speaker 1: or apartment attached to it, and you might live there

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Speaker 1: with your family on in a very remote part of

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Speaker 1: the world. Um, all by yourself for with a couple

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Speaker 1: of other dudes. Yeah, and take turns and take shifts.

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Speaker 1: That's called a stag station. Yeah. And I think the

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Speaker 1: other thing that appeals to me about lighthouses is I

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Speaker 1: could have lived that life. Oh yeah, yeah I can.

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Speaker 1: I have seen myself dropping out and you got a

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Speaker 1: neck beard. Yeah, so you needs like a cable net

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Speaker 1: sweater and living up there all by myself corn cob

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Speaker 1: pipe really yeah, throw my own crops and just sit

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Speaker 1: up there and be quiet, no one bugging me. It's

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Speaker 1: like it appeals. I did not know that. I did

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Speaker 1: not picture you as a lighthousekeeper. I could totally do it,

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Speaker 1: or a lightkeeper for short um and um. This is

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Speaker 1: another thing that I thought was remarkable in this article.

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Speaker 1: You might as well mention it is it. If there

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Speaker 1: is a lighthouse near you that nobody operates, it is

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Speaker 1: possible that you could own that lighthouse. Yeah. On the

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Speaker 1: National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act of two thousand, it got

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Speaker 1: a process together where the coast Guard, which is what

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Speaker 1: runs the lighthouse, biz now a lighthouse racket. Um. They

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Speaker 1: you can basically start a nonprofit or have a nonprofit

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Speaker 1: and at no cost they will give you a decommissioned

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Speaker 1: lighthouse if you maintain it and keep it open to

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Speaker 1: the public. Yeah. For the most part, it's like preservation

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Speaker 1: society in this. But if nobody wants it, they put

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Speaker 1: it up for auction and then you can do what

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Speaker 1: you want to. You can live out my dream and

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Speaker 1: I wouldn't have to do the windows either. I could

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Speaker 1: just live up there and be a crusty old hermit.

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Speaker 1: You know, we could do a Kickstarter to help you

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Speaker 1: live out your dream. Chuck, Well, let's let's do a

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Speaker 1: few more years of stuff. You should know first though,

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Speaker 1: before you go. Okay, okay, um, all right, so back

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Speaker 1: to more modern times. Um, we're building them out of

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Speaker 1: concrete and steel. At this point they're a little more sturdy.

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Speaker 1: You got your little keeper's house. You're not getting paid

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Speaker 1: much money. How much money, dude? Not much? So this

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Speaker 1: article says that they earned about two annually in the

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Speaker 1: late nineteenth century. I went on to the g wiz

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Speaker 1: west Egg inflation calculator for eight in eight that was

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Speaker 1: five grand. Today your provisions are covered though, right, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: but at the very least your room is. I don't

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Speaker 1: know about board. I bet you they all the whale

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Speaker 1: ard you can eat. Yeah, no, imagine they take care

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Speaker 1: of stuff because you can't like leave and go shopping

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Speaker 1: like imagine you just have everything shipped to you and

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Speaker 1: um again ideal. I love that. Don't have to go out,

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Speaker 1: you don't have to spend any money. It's like web van, yeah,

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Speaker 1: coming to you. You're just you're banking that five five

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Speaker 1: grand a year essentially. Wow. Man, when you get into

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Speaker 1: like lighthouse mode, you're lower in the standards like germanously

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Speaker 1: you're like, man, I'm making five grand. People are bringing

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Speaker 1: me food I don't have to talk to anybody. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: that's awesome. It's like your fantasy. That's hilarious. Um. So

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Speaker 1: that lens we were talking about, we we didn't use

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Speaker 1: that in the United States for a while because the

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Speaker 1: way I read this is we kind of cheaped out

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Speaker 1: when it was being run um by this guy Stephen

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Speaker 1: pleasant from for thirty years eight eighteen fifty two, thirty

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Speaker 1: two years he ran an efficient, some might say chintzy

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Speaker 1: program to where he was like, you know, we don't

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Speaker 1: need those fancy French lenses. Um, take these creddi versions.

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Speaker 1: They probably wouldn't even a lens. It's like a mirror,

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Speaker 1: reflector or something. Maybe if that, yeah, maybe a piece

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Speaker 1: of metal at somebody had to just stand behind the

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Speaker 1: light with the reflected you're my mute assistant, right quiet.

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Speaker 1: But then finally the US government got involved and said,

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Speaker 1: you know what, we need to regulate this. Well, they

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Speaker 1: were involved. That's why, Yes, from seventeen sixteen to seventeen

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Speaker 1: eighty nine, that was not run by the US government. No,

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Speaker 1: it wasn't until alex Andrew Hamilton's almost got in a

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Speaker 1: shipwreck off the coast of I think North Carolina, and

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Speaker 1: he went back and said, hey, I think we need

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Speaker 1: some lighthouses. The federal government needs to get involved. And

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Speaker 1: so I think the nineteenth piece of legislation the US

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Speaker 1: Congress ever passed was to establish the Lighthouse Board. Uh,

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Speaker 1: the U S Lighthouse Establishment initially is what it was called.

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Speaker 1: And you know, socialist program. He said that the federal

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Speaker 1: the federality is going to run this thing, uh and

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Speaker 1: in charge now. And you know what, things um went downhill? Yeah, improved,

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Speaker 1: proved everyone who's critical big government, right. Yeah, But there

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Speaker 1: were a lot of lighthouses at the time. By nineteen hundred,

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Speaker 1: we had about a thousand lighthouses well, and by nineteen

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Speaker 1: hundred government had reformed its reputation, Like seriously, the world

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Speaker 1: ground for the mid nineteenth century, the US governed, the

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Speaker 1: US lighthouse system was second rate at best. They just

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Speaker 1: had a terrible reputation. And I guess it sounds like

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Speaker 1: they got rid of Stephen Pleasant, whose name is basically

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Speaker 1: mud these days, and the quality went up. Yeah, and

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Speaker 1: that's when they established the Lighthouse Board, which is I

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Speaker 1: think what you were thinking to shape things up. In

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Speaker 1: eighteen fifty two, they said let's get some for now

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Speaker 1: lenses for all these lighthouses. Finally, Yeah, we can be

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Speaker 1: like the rest of the world pleasant stead. Uh. Did

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Speaker 1: you know the Statue of Liberty was a lighthouse. I

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Speaker 1: don't know if I knew it, but when I've read it,

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Speaker 1: I'm like, well, yeah, but I don't know if it

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Speaker 1: unlocked some memory or if I'm just like that's just

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Speaker 1: too obvious. Yeah. I was like, surely I knew that, right, right,

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Speaker 1: that was it. For fifteen years it was a lighthouse

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Speaker 1: in New York Harbor, which is pretty neat. And then

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Speaker 1: by nineteen thirty, when electricity was effective and rampant, UM,

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Speaker 1: you didn't need these fires burning or candles burning or

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Speaker 1: whale blubber. No, but there were a lot of lighthouses

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Speaker 1: where that were on like islands or on offshore like

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Speaker 1: ledges like Minnow's Ledge or Eddie Stone in England. UM

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Speaker 1: that were just like the technology to run electricity out

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Speaker 1: there just was not around. UM. So they were still

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Speaker 1: using oil of various types to to fuel these things

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Speaker 1: well into the twentieth century, into the sixties, UM easily Yeah,

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Speaker 1: and they were um still had people working there, um

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Speaker 1: living in the lighthouse or on the property. Uh. Into

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Speaker 1: the nineteen sixties, it was definitely more rare, but um

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Speaker 1: and night. Uh. That's when the Coast Guard brought about

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Speaker 1: their lighthouse automation and modernization program, and that pretty much

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Speaker 1: dwindled by the end of that decade. It dwindled it

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Speaker 1: down to sixty that still had people working there. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: sixty out of a thousand. Today, there's one in Boston,

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Speaker 1: the Brewster Island, one little bruster, little Brewster Island was

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Speaker 1: refusing him a big Brewster. Well, there might be one

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Speaker 1: Brewster's Millions Island, little Brewster. That's right. It was the

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Speaker 1: first one in the United States. Uh, seventeen sixteen was

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Speaker 1: when it was built, and then that one was replaced

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Speaker 1: in Sight three and it's the second oldest working one

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Speaker 1: behind Sandy Hook, New Jersey. Is the right, and the

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Speaker 1: person that lives there is basically living there as a

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Speaker 1: tour guide, not necessarily like guiding boats into harbor, although

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Speaker 1: they may do both. No, I think it's still working. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: well then I guess they do both. I saw modern

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Speaker 1: marvels on lighthouses, and they interviewed one of the light

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Speaker 1: keepers on Brewster Island, little Brewster Island, and he he

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Speaker 1: was They showed him like polishing the glass and everything. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: but it's automated. I got delight itself. I see, I see,

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Speaker 1: so they up keep into our guided right. Okay, but yeah,

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Speaker 1: he's still I mean, he's providing a function there. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: that's not just show. Maybe I could That's what I

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Speaker 1: could do. That think you should have heard that guy.

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Speaker 1: He's like, I can't even begin to do it. But

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Speaker 1: he was like a hardcore light keeper in Boston. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I can imagine, although I wouldn't be the best person,

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Speaker 1: because Chuck silent lighthouse story isn't really You're just like

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Speaker 1: you just sweep your arm in and turn out quietly.

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Speaker 1: People ask questions, I just wrap them on the knuckles out.

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Speaker 1: All right. I'm getting all excited thinking about the prospects

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Speaker 1: of living in a lighthouse. So I'm gonna go do

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Speaker 1: some push ups and we'll come back right after this. So, Chuck,

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Speaker 1: say that you did live your life as a lightkeeper,

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Speaker 1: what would you what would it be like? Mm hmm.

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Speaker 1: First of all, what's what's your family background? Uh? Well,

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Speaker 1: my dad was a fisherman. Probably actually my my great

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Speaker 1: great grandfather was a fisherman. My grandfather was a lightkeeper.

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Speaker 1: My dad was a son of a lightkeeper and the

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00:24:25,760 --> 00:24:32,159
Speaker 1: mom was Akeeper, pirate captain, pirate captain. Like, Gina Davis, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: that was a good movie. She's awesome. Yeah she uh.

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Speaker 1: Jesse Thorne interviewed her recently on his Bull's Eye show.

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Speaker 1: She's just like the best, and they were all excited

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Speaker 1: in the office. Everyone was like, oh, man, Gina Davis

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Speaker 1: is the coolest she uh. Supposedly was known for bringing

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Speaker 1: cookies to that she baked herself two interviews. Yeah, she's

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Speaker 1: a MENSA member. Yeah, I got a lot going on there.

398
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Speaker 1: Julius Smith, who works at the maximun HQ and produces

399
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Speaker 1: Judge Don Hodgman, said on her Facebook she was like,

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Speaker 1: Gina Davis is like the coolest aunt of all cool aunts. Yes,

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00:25:08,280 --> 00:25:10,159
Speaker 1: she was in Beetle Juice. I mean like, yeah, it

402
00:25:10,200 --> 00:25:12,280
Speaker 1: didn't get much cooler than that. She could she could

403
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Speaker 1: just be a total jerk and she was still awesome

404
00:25:14,920 --> 00:25:19,760
Speaker 1: and Beetle Juice. Um. So, anyway, hats off to Eugena Tavis.

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Speaker 1: How'd that come up? I don't even remember now your

406
00:25:22,480 --> 00:25:25,760
Speaker 1: mom was a pirate captain alright, Gina Davis? Was that

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00:25:25,800 --> 00:25:30,840
Speaker 1: a shout out to Cutthroat Island? I guess the movie.

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Speaker 1: You're the one that said it. I guess. Yeah, was

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Speaker 1: that cut Throat Island? Huh? Is it the name of it? Yeah,

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Speaker 1: it was that bad pirate movie. I loved it. That

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Speaker 1: wasn't bad. It got bad pressed, it wasn't bad. It's

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Speaker 1: funny you like some of the most legendarily bad movies

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Speaker 1: of all times. It wasn't that bad. As far as

414
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Speaker 1: just like critics and you're like, yeah, man Ishtar, I've

415
00:25:58,440 --> 00:26:00,919
Speaker 1: actually stayed away from his star. Also stayed away from

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Speaker 1: Rock the Kasbo because I saw that it was basically

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Speaker 1: an updated Ishtar. Did I even see that? I can't

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Speaker 1: remember if I watched it one night Rock the Kasba, yeah,

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Speaker 1: or if I wanted to and didn't like. That's how

420
00:26:14,520 --> 00:26:16,760
Speaker 1: little of an impact it made. It's on Netflix. I

421
00:26:16,760 --> 00:26:18,439
Speaker 1: think I actually did watch it, and it was just

422
00:26:18,440 --> 00:26:21,600
Speaker 1: sort of like, yeah, not very good. Yeah, No, Ishtar

423
00:26:21,720 --> 00:26:24,560
Speaker 1: is a pretty good code word to stay away from him.

424
00:26:25,000 --> 00:26:27,919
Speaker 1: I never saw Ishtar. What else do I like? That

425
00:26:28,040 --> 00:26:31,919
Speaker 1: was bad? It was supposedly bad. I mean, like, just

426
00:26:32,000 --> 00:26:37,959
Speaker 1: have you have you seen cuts Rhode Island? Sure, it's terrible,

427
00:26:38,040 --> 00:26:42,720
Speaker 1: it's not um all right. So we were talking about

428
00:26:42,720 --> 00:26:45,200
Speaker 1: the lineage, what might get you into the light keeping business.

429
00:26:46,119 --> 00:26:48,720
Speaker 1: We were being coy and role playing, but that is true. People.

430
00:26:49,080 --> 00:26:52,240
Speaker 1: It's a family business for the most part. Uh your

431
00:26:52,359 --> 00:26:54,960
Speaker 1: parents or your father might have done it, or you

432
00:26:55,040 --> 00:26:58,760
Speaker 1: come from a long line of uh seafaring types. At

433
00:26:58,800 --> 00:27:02,440
Speaker 1: the very least you feel close to the sea. Yeah,

434
00:27:02,600 --> 00:27:03,879
Speaker 1: Like if you want to spend your time out there

435
00:27:03,880 --> 00:27:07,560
Speaker 1: on a rocky point overlooking the waves all day long,

436
00:27:07,680 --> 00:27:11,200
Speaker 1: like you probably didn't come from Kansas to do so,

437
00:27:12,680 --> 00:27:18,800
Speaker 1: you know. Yeah, there they have wheat watchers. They just

438
00:27:18,800 --> 00:27:21,600
Speaker 1: sit in the tower and watch the wheat and the

439
00:27:21,600 --> 00:27:25,480
Speaker 1: flatness and they stand up all of a sudden they're like,

440
00:27:25,480 --> 00:27:31,120
Speaker 1: oh my god, there's a wheat missing. There's a wheat. Um.

441
00:27:31,240 --> 00:27:34,440
Speaker 1: One thing we keep saying is men. That's because most

442
00:27:34,480 --> 00:27:38,120
Speaker 1: of the lighthousekeepers were men, but not all. No, not all,

443
00:27:38,160 --> 00:27:40,480
Speaker 1: and not all of them were necessarily white men either.

444
00:27:40,560 --> 00:27:44,040
Speaker 1: There were some very famous legendary African American lightkeepers and

445
00:27:45,280 --> 00:27:50,320
Speaker 1: um light life savers as well. Surfmen is what they

446
00:27:50,320 --> 00:27:54,640
Speaker 1: were called to because supposedly you're just there to provide

447
00:27:54,720 --> 00:28:01,000
Speaker 1: light and signal, but when the s hits the f right. UM,

448
00:28:01,160 --> 00:28:03,919
Speaker 1: I think you can say a fan fan when the

449
00:28:04,000 --> 00:28:07,400
Speaker 1: essets a fan. Brave lightkeepers were known to go out

450
00:28:07,440 --> 00:28:10,440
Speaker 1: there and provide rescue. Yeah. Um, and one of them

451
00:28:10,520 --> 00:28:14,000
Speaker 1: was a woman named Ida Lewis, actually American hero. She

452
00:28:14,040 --> 00:28:18,560
Speaker 1: grew up on Lime Rock Island, uh, near Newport Rhode

453
00:28:18,600 --> 00:28:21,760
Speaker 1: Island in Newport Harbor, and her dad was a lightkeeper,

454
00:28:22,080 --> 00:28:24,920
Speaker 1: so she followed that tradition and she actually started taking

455
00:28:24,960 --> 00:28:27,840
Speaker 1: over the duties after her father had a stroke. Um

456
00:28:28,160 --> 00:28:31,880
Speaker 1: and uh, she just became a lightkeeper, but a very

457
00:28:31,920 --> 00:28:35,200
Speaker 1: famous one for her life saving skills. Rescued a dozen

458
00:28:35,200 --> 00:28:39,840
Speaker 1: men over the years. No, actually eighteen affirmed. They think

459
00:28:39,840 --> 00:28:43,240
Speaker 1: it's as high as twenty five. They're I'm gonna say dozens.

460
00:28:43,280 --> 00:28:49,240
Speaker 1: She Uh, she rescued her last person at age sixty three. Yeah.

461
00:28:49,280 --> 00:28:52,920
Speaker 1: She's quite a lady, that's but for the most part,

462
00:28:53,200 --> 00:28:55,200
Speaker 1: and and she's not the only one who saved lives,

463
00:28:55,240 --> 00:28:57,640
Speaker 1: like there were plenty out there that did. But it

464
00:28:57,760 --> 00:29:02,760
Speaker 1: was not an expected role of a lightkeeper because the

465
00:29:02,840 --> 00:29:08,880
Speaker 1: Coastguard had a life saver house usually nearby a lighthouse,

466
00:29:09,120 --> 00:29:11,440
Speaker 1: because the lighthouse was there in the first place too,

467
00:29:11,600 --> 00:29:14,480
Speaker 1: because there was a treacherous area, so it just makes

468
00:29:14,520 --> 00:29:17,160
Speaker 1: sense to also put a life saving House there because

469
00:29:17,480 --> 00:29:21,040
Speaker 1: even with the light the lighthouse itself, ship may still

470
00:29:21,120 --> 00:29:24,000
Speaker 1: run the ground and there may be rescuing. And if

471
00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:26,320
Speaker 1: you want to be thrilled, there's a really neat um

472
00:29:26,440 --> 00:29:29,800
Speaker 1: article that's posted on this podcast page about the p

473
00:29:30,040 --> 00:29:35,480
Speaker 1: Island Um life Saving House. It was, um. But by

474
00:29:35,480 --> 00:29:38,080
Speaker 1: the way that pre Coastguard, we had the U S

475
00:29:38,120 --> 00:29:41,440
Speaker 1: Life Saving Service, which is what that term comes from. Yeah,

476
00:29:41,480 --> 00:29:47,680
Speaker 1: and then they merged everything together under Roosevelt, and the

477
00:29:47,680 --> 00:29:52,080
Speaker 1: the lighthouses and the life saving Service all came under

478
00:29:52,120 --> 00:29:56,200
Speaker 1: the purview of the Coastguard. Right, we should do one

479
00:29:56,200 --> 00:30:01,360
Speaker 1: on the Coastguard. Remember that married couple that were both Coastguards. Yeah,

480
00:30:00,480 --> 00:30:04,360
Speaker 1: that lobby dosts for many years until they gave up.

481
00:30:05,200 --> 00:30:07,880
Speaker 1: We're still thinking about you guys, and we're still gonna

482
00:30:07,920 --> 00:30:13,040
Speaker 1: do a Coastguard podcast eventually years and years later. Um. So,

483
00:30:13,400 --> 00:30:17,560
Speaker 1: pre nine when they made the Coastguard is where you

484
00:30:17,600 --> 00:30:20,680
Speaker 1: really can't find a whole lot of written history now

485
00:30:21,000 --> 00:30:24,000
Speaker 1: while that has been lost to time and um they

486
00:30:24,000 --> 00:30:26,440
Speaker 1: say here in this article that what we have now

487
00:30:26,440 --> 00:30:31,280
Speaker 1: our stories from families that remain lower. Yeah. Lore, it's

488
00:30:31,280 --> 00:30:34,440
Speaker 1: pretty neat Yeah, and then chuck, um, so if you're

489
00:30:34,480 --> 00:30:37,960
Speaker 1: in a lighthouse, even as remote and cut off as

490
00:30:37,960 --> 00:30:41,120
Speaker 1: they are, if you hated it, you would still be like,

491
00:30:41,240 --> 00:30:44,400
Speaker 1: at least I'm not working on a light ship. Yes,

492
00:30:44,520 --> 00:30:47,680
Speaker 1: So before they had booies like modern booies. Today there's

493
00:30:47,760 --> 00:30:51,360
Speaker 1: there's booties out there. They're basically like floating lighthouses in

494
00:30:51,440 --> 00:30:54,920
Speaker 1: areas that require some sort of warning but are just

495
00:30:55,000 --> 00:30:58,680
Speaker 1: too far off land to build the lighthouse. They put

496
00:30:58,680 --> 00:31:01,520
Speaker 1: booties out there. And today the booies are like sometimes

497
00:31:01,560 --> 00:31:07,080
Speaker 1: something like forty feet in diameter. They're huge, massive things. Um.

498
00:31:07,160 --> 00:31:10,800
Speaker 1: But before booies even they would use something called light ships.

499
00:31:10,880 --> 00:31:12,960
Speaker 1: And it's exactly what it sounds like. It's a lighthouse

500
00:31:13,160 --> 00:31:16,400
Speaker 1: on a ship and it's in a very remote area.

501
00:31:16,840 --> 00:31:20,000
Speaker 1: You are out there for months at a time. Yeah,

502
00:31:20,040 --> 00:31:22,360
Speaker 1: you just sail out and anchor down and live there

503
00:31:22,640 --> 00:31:25,240
Speaker 1: right um, and the boats anchored all the time. You

504
00:31:25,240 --> 00:31:27,760
Speaker 1: would have to like go to and from the boat

505
00:31:27,800 --> 00:31:30,840
Speaker 1: to the to shore. Um. But while you're working there,

506
00:31:31,040 --> 00:31:35,240
Speaker 1: it's just mind bogglingly awful. There was a lot of

507
00:31:35,280 --> 00:31:39,400
Speaker 1: like insanity. Yeah, that would happen, like when the fog

508
00:31:39,480 --> 00:31:43,160
Speaker 1: rolled in before the evan of foghorns, you would have

509
00:31:43,240 --> 00:31:49,160
Speaker 1: to yank the bells rope the fog bell rope um

510
00:31:49,200 --> 00:31:52,080
Speaker 1: every ten seconds, twenty four hours a day, for as

511
00:31:52,080 --> 00:31:55,040
Speaker 1: long as the fog was around. Every ten seconds you

512
00:31:55,040 --> 00:31:57,280
Speaker 1: had to ring about. That was your job, and if

513
00:31:57,280 --> 00:32:00,680
Speaker 1: you didn't then you were risking the lives of anybody

514
00:32:00,720 --> 00:32:03,520
Speaker 1: passing by in the area. So not cool, man, not

515
00:32:03,560 --> 00:32:06,840
Speaker 1: cool at all. But the lightships, apparently we're just about

516
00:32:06,880 --> 00:32:12,040
Speaker 1: as bad as it it got. As far as boredom, loneliness, isolation,

517
00:32:12,640 --> 00:32:17,400
Speaker 1: hatred of bells, the lightship had it all. You hate bells.

518
00:32:17,720 --> 00:32:20,480
Speaker 1: I didn't. I never worked on a lightship, but I'll

519
00:32:20,520 --> 00:32:23,320
Speaker 1: bet they hated bells. You would hear that in your sleep.

520
00:32:23,360 --> 00:32:26,280
Speaker 1: If you rang a bell every ten seconds for hours

521
00:32:26,280 --> 00:32:28,680
Speaker 1: at a stretch, you're not going to get that out

522
00:32:28,720 --> 00:32:31,480
Speaker 1: of your head. And even if you did, when you

523
00:32:31,520 --> 00:32:33,480
Speaker 1: tried to go to sleep, one of the guys on

524
00:32:33,560 --> 00:32:36,000
Speaker 1: the next ship would be out there ringing the bell anyway. So,

525
00:32:37,520 --> 00:32:41,240
Speaker 1: dregy nuts, let's talk about some famous lighthouses. Well, we

526
00:32:41,320 --> 00:32:48,760
Speaker 1: already talked about the the Pharos of alexandria Um, which

527
00:32:48,840 --> 00:32:53,880
Speaker 1: is the oldest known lighthouse and at the time they

528
00:32:54,000 --> 00:32:57,680
Speaker 1: contend might have been the tallest thing on the planet.

529
00:32:57,680 --> 00:32:59,920
Speaker 1: That's super tall. Yeah, and it was masonry to the

530
00:33:00,120 --> 00:33:05,320
Speaker 1: found it in underwater ocean. They found pieces of it

531
00:33:05,360 --> 00:33:09,440
Speaker 1: and in Alexandria Harbor. I guess you mentioned Eddie Stone

532
00:33:09,560 --> 00:33:13,160
Speaker 1: Light already in Plymouth, England, which is I guess that's

533
00:33:13,160 --> 00:33:17,240
Speaker 1: where the fine gin comes from. Yeah, still hitting Plymouth

534
00:33:17,320 --> 00:33:19,760
Speaker 1: up if anyone out there works for Plymouth. Oh man,

535
00:33:19,760 --> 00:33:26,200
Speaker 1: it's such good gin. It's delicious. So is Leopold's Leopold Gin. Yeah,

536
00:33:26,200 --> 00:33:29,640
Speaker 1: it's American gin really good, too good. That's that's my

537
00:33:29,800 --> 00:33:33,400
Speaker 1: go to American gin. Nice, although I like most American gin's,

538
00:33:33,440 --> 00:33:37,720
Speaker 1: but that's if you had st George. I love that stuff. Yeah,

539
00:33:37,760 --> 00:33:39,160
Speaker 1: there's three of them. One of them I do not

540
00:33:39,320 --> 00:33:41,360
Speaker 1: care for it all really, but the other two I like.

541
00:33:41,640 --> 00:33:43,680
Speaker 1: I'll bet it's the terror terr War. You don't like

542
00:33:44,160 --> 00:33:46,480
Speaker 1: it's so got a weird taste, yeah, but love it.

543
00:33:46,520 --> 00:33:51,000
Speaker 1: But its own thing, the fact that it doesn't have

544
00:33:51,080 --> 00:33:54,280
Speaker 1: its own classification of gin like Old Tom or Jennifer

545
00:33:54,360 --> 00:33:57,000
Speaker 1: or something like that. It should have its own thing. Yeah,

546
00:33:57,080 --> 00:34:00,320
Speaker 1: like foot gin. I love that stuff. It's weird, dude,

547
00:34:00,360 --> 00:34:01,880
Speaker 1: it's really good. You know what it's really good with?

548
00:34:01,960 --> 00:34:06,520
Speaker 1: Have you ever had um fever tree bitter lemon. No,

549
00:34:07,360 --> 00:34:12,520
Speaker 1: it's like a lemony lemon, limy, citrusy drink, but without

550
00:34:12,600 --> 00:34:18,160
Speaker 1: much sweetness. Um that with the territory war gin and juice.

551
00:34:18,680 --> 00:34:23,160
Speaker 1: Yeah you know, but it's it's knock your socks off. Yeah,

552
00:34:23,160 --> 00:34:24,359
Speaker 1: I don't care for it. And you know what, I'll

553
00:34:24,360 --> 00:34:26,759
Speaker 1: just go ahead and bring you my bottle because I've

554
00:34:26,760 --> 00:34:28,680
Speaker 1: had like two drinks out of it, so I did

555
00:34:28,680 --> 00:34:30,719
Speaker 1: wrap my head around. I will you just can't do it.

556
00:34:30,760 --> 00:34:33,000
Speaker 1: I will email you tonight as a reminder, say, hey,

557
00:34:33,040 --> 00:34:36,560
Speaker 1: I'll bring in that st George. Thanks man. And also,

558
00:34:36,960 --> 00:34:38,799
Speaker 1: by the way, I am now on because you know,

559
00:34:38,840 --> 00:34:41,920
Speaker 1: I drink the dirty martini, but I don't eat olives,

560
00:34:41,920 --> 00:34:45,640
Speaker 1: which is a little weird, just like the juice. Yeah

561
00:34:45,680 --> 00:34:49,680
Speaker 1: the brine, okay, um with a twist, it's a little different,

562
00:34:50,080 --> 00:34:54,319
Speaker 1: I know that. And um, for years I would have

563
00:34:55,120 --> 00:34:58,719
Speaker 1: empty jars of dry olives in my fridge and very

564
00:34:58,719 --> 00:35:00,719
Speaker 1: little juice you know in there. Oh, I know what

565
00:35:00,760 --> 00:35:02,879
Speaker 1: you're talking about. Now. So now I bought dirty sue

566
00:35:03,160 --> 00:35:05,600
Speaker 1: yeah olive juice, uh, and you can buy it in

567
00:35:05,600 --> 00:35:08,120
Speaker 1: a bottle, and I bought a box of it, and

568
00:35:08,120 --> 00:35:10,879
Speaker 1: it just sits in the cabinet my house, nice and

569
00:35:11,160 --> 00:35:16,880
Speaker 1: so big. Shout out to Dirty Sue Olive brine, really dirty,

570
00:35:16,920 --> 00:35:19,000
Speaker 1: is up your Martini? What's your gin that you used

571
00:35:19,040 --> 00:35:21,799
Speaker 1: for this? Well? I mean I love Plymouth, I love

572
00:35:21,920 --> 00:35:26,640
Speaker 1: Hendrix and our friends at Spring forty four. Gin dude

573
00:35:26,960 --> 00:35:29,759
Speaker 1: sent us gin from a They said it's all about

574
00:35:29,800 --> 00:35:32,200
Speaker 1: the water, and they have like the best water on earth.

575
00:35:32,520 --> 00:35:35,040
Speaker 1: They made some old tom gin. Yeah, and it is.

576
00:35:35,480 --> 00:35:39,160
Speaker 1: It is delicious like it it made. I love Martinez.

577
00:35:39,239 --> 00:35:47,600
Speaker 1: Is it's um old tom gin. Uh um, marischino liqueur,

578
00:35:48,320 --> 00:35:50,839
Speaker 1: not the cherry stuff, but like the real liquor, and

579
00:35:50,880 --> 00:35:54,879
Speaker 1: then um some sweeter mouth. It's like probably the most

580
00:35:54,880 --> 00:35:58,160
Speaker 1: perfect drink anyone's ever made. It's very old um that

581
00:35:58,280 --> 00:36:02,799
Speaker 1: maybe maybe the best Martinez of overhead. That was good stuff. Well,

582
00:36:02,880 --> 00:36:05,040
Speaker 1: for a while lately I've been stirring. I got a

583
00:36:05,080 --> 00:36:09,640
Speaker 1: little martini picture or a cocktail picture to stir um.

584
00:36:09,719 --> 00:36:11,879
Speaker 1: But I'm back to shaking now because I found out

585
00:36:11,880 --> 00:36:15,359
Speaker 1: that bruising gin is a total myth. So James Bond

586
00:36:15,440 --> 00:36:18,279
Speaker 1: wasn't cuckoo. No, you can't bruise gin. Yeah, that's all

587
00:36:18,440 --> 00:36:22,759
Speaker 1: just garbage. Do you use orange bitters? In yours. No,

588
00:36:23,360 --> 00:36:28,040
Speaker 1: really brightens it up, straight up dirty sue gin. I

589
00:36:28,120 --> 00:36:30,280
Speaker 1: do use a little vermouth like I know that people

590
00:36:30,280 --> 00:36:33,399
Speaker 1: don't like vermouth at all anymore. Really, Yeah, I see

591
00:36:33,400 --> 00:36:37,279
Speaker 1: bartenders now don't use any vermouth. That's that's not a martini.

592
00:36:37,480 --> 00:36:42,480
Speaker 1: Well agreed, that's a gin a child gin up with

593
00:36:42,520 --> 00:36:49,160
Speaker 1: some um. Just the one in the green Italian bottle?

594
00:36:49,239 --> 00:36:53,319
Speaker 1: Is that Dolan Blanc? Yeah, that's good stuff. But I

595
00:36:53,360 --> 00:36:56,680
Speaker 1: also found out recently that that vermouth is a wine

596
00:36:57,440 --> 00:36:59,279
Speaker 1: and you don't just keep it on your shelf for

597
00:36:59,320 --> 00:37:02,160
Speaker 1: two years. Uh, you keep in the fridge for maybe

598
00:37:02,160 --> 00:37:03,879
Speaker 1: a month. Yeah, I didn't know that. So I've been

599
00:37:03,960 --> 00:37:06,920
Speaker 1: drinking this old old vermouth. You still can, It's not

600
00:37:06,960 --> 00:37:10,239
Speaker 1: like you can't, but just for the best possible impact,

601
00:37:10,840 --> 00:37:13,080
Speaker 1: you want to just get that small bottle. I learned

602
00:37:13,080 --> 00:37:15,399
Speaker 1: that the hard way. I'm gonna start doing that. Man,

603
00:37:15,440 --> 00:37:18,800
Speaker 1: we we should have our own cocktail show. We should

604
00:37:18,920 --> 00:37:21,200
Speaker 1: because we've just talked. We talked about booze a lot.

605
00:37:21,600 --> 00:37:23,640
Speaker 1: We don't need to. Let's drink about it. Has that

606
00:37:23,719 --> 00:37:26,520
Speaker 1: covered a good friends that let's drink about it. Yeah,

607
00:37:26,560 --> 00:37:29,920
Speaker 1: and thanks also to Ben who sent us um some

608
00:37:30,480 --> 00:37:37,319
Speaker 1: ambler smooth ambler. Uh what was it called contradiction? That

609
00:37:37,400 --> 00:37:41,680
Speaker 1: stuff is good too, that's right, man, booze talk on lighthouses.

610
00:37:41,719 --> 00:37:43,799
Speaker 1: Who knew? Oh, I bet you there's a lot of

611
00:37:43,800 --> 00:37:47,440
Speaker 1: boozeing that goes on at lighthouses to time. They're not

612
00:37:47,520 --> 00:37:52,399
Speaker 1: making amazing drinks with St. George and bitter lemon. They're

613
00:37:52,440 --> 00:37:54,200
Speaker 1: just drinking that stuff straight out of the deer skin.

614
00:37:54,400 --> 00:38:00,600
Speaker 1: Yeah exactly. Um, Where were we, Eddie Stone Lighthouse, Plymouth, England? Oh? Yes,

615
00:38:00,880 --> 00:38:05,640
Speaker 1: this gut started. Um. This thing is. It's a it's

616
00:38:05,640 --> 00:38:09,080
Speaker 1: a very rough area to have a lighthouse, and it

617
00:38:09,120 --> 00:38:11,319
Speaker 1: seems like nature doesn't want a lighthouse there because over

618
00:38:11,360 --> 00:38:14,439
Speaker 1: the years it has been knocked down and burned down

619
00:38:14,480 --> 00:38:18,440
Speaker 1: many many times. This dude, basically um went out there

620
00:38:18,440 --> 00:38:23,000
Speaker 1: by himself, Harry Harry or Henry Winstanley in sixteen sixty

621
00:38:23,239 --> 00:38:27,000
Speaker 1: six six and just started building this wooden lighthouse out

622
00:38:27,160 --> 00:38:30,799
Speaker 1: and these rocks off the coast of Plymouth. Himself got

623
00:38:30,840 --> 00:38:35,400
Speaker 1: captured by a French pirate, released and lit the thing

624
00:38:35,440 --> 00:38:39,400
Speaker 1: in and he actually died. He deconstructed it and rebuilt

625
00:38:39,400 --> 00:38:42,960
Speaker 1: it and died in the second version of it. It

626
00:38:43,080 --> 00:38:45,400
Speaker 1: got swept away with him inside but he was a

627
00:38:45,400 --> 00:38:47,880
Speaker 1: pretty cool cat. That was seventeen o three. Then another

628
00:38:47,880 --> 00:38:50,719
Speaker 1: one in seventeen o eight was built that burned down

629
00:38:50,880 --> 00:38:53,920
Speaker 1: in seventeen fifty five. And then a guy named John Smeaton,

630
00:38:54,000 --> 00:38:57,040
Speaker 1: he was an engineer. He built one that was built

631
00:38:57,040 --> 00:39:00,279
Speaker 1: to last for a little while. He actually came up

632
00:39:00,280 --> 00:39:02,719
Speaker 1: with what you think of as the modern lighthouse. It's

633
00:39:02,920 --> 00:39:04,759
Speaker 1: stick at the bottom, tapers at the top, and then

634
00:39:04,760 --> 00:39:07,400
Speaker 1: it flares out right below the lantern. And the reason

635
00:39:07,440 --> 00:39:10,120
Speaker 1: most lighthouses flare out right below the lantern is when

636
00:39:10,160 --> 00:39:12,560
Speaker 1: a wave comes up and the waves can get that big,

637
00:39:13,200 --> 00:39:15,520
Speaker 1: it won't ride up into the lantern. It will be

638
00:39:16,120 --> 00:39:18,480
Speaker 1: thrown back out to see when it hits the flare.

639
00:39:18,640 --> 00:39:21,400
Speaker 1: It's a water guard. Pretty much interesting. I did not

640
00:39:21,480 --> 00:39:24,200
Speaker 1: know that here's a smart dude. Um So that one

641
00:39:24,280 --> 00:39:26,200
Speaker 1: lasted for a hundred and twenty three years, which was,

642
00:39:26,880 --> 00:39:28,960
Speaker 1: you know, as far as the Eddy Stone light is concerned,

643
00:39:29,320 --> 00:39:34,279
Speaker 1: an eternity. But eventually, uh the Trinity House, which is

644
00:39:34,320 --> 00:39:40,239
Speaker 1: England's version of the coast Guard of the lighthousehouse, they said, no,

645
00:39:40,360 --> 00:39:44,799
Speaker 1: let's let's tear that thing down. It's this long, but

646
00:39:45,239 --> 00:39:47,680
Speaker 1: we think it might not for much longer. But then

647
00:39:47,680 --> 00:39:50,880
Speaker 1: they built another one. This one actually they used almost

648
00:39:50,920 --> 00:39:56,160
Speaker 1: a jigsaw puzzle foundation. Yeah, so when a wave hits it,

649
00:39:56,160 --> 00:39:59,680
Speaker 1: it actually compresses together and becomes stronger when a wave

650
00:39:59,719 --> 00:40:03,560
Speaker 1: s kicking into it. So that was there for good, wonderful.

651
00:40:04,360 --> 00:40:07,280
Speaker 1: We talked about Boston Light. There's also the Cape Hatteras

652
00:40:08,160 --> 00:40:11,000
Speaker 1: on the outer banks of North Carolina, which is I

653
00:40:11,000 --> 00:40:14,680
Speaker 1: believe the tallest one in the United States two feet

654
00:40:14,840 --> 00:40:16,799
Speaker 1: and it's one of the most famous as well. It's

655
00:40:16,800 --> 00:40:20,160
Speaker 1: the one with the black and white barber pole design. Yeah,

656
00:40:20,280 --> 00:40:23,359
Speaker 1: that's sixty three for our friends everywhere else in the world.

657
00:40:23,480 --> 00:40:26,319
Speaker 1: Did you know that one was in trouble The sea

658
00:40:26,560 --> 00:40:30,280
Speaker 1: was encroaching upon it, and they got some money together.

659
00:40:30,880 --> 00:40:37,359
Speaker 1: Congress did and moved it. Moved this lighthouse feet back

660
00:40:37,480 --> 00:40:40,920
Speaker 1: inland over the course of twenty three days. They slowly

661
00:40:40,920 --> 00:40:44,120
Speaker 1: moved it on tracks. It was pretty amazing. It was

662
00:40:44,160 --> 00:40:49,920
Speaker 1: on that modern marbles one. It's like fitz CARLDO. Sure, um,

663
00:40:49,960 --> 00:40:51,719
Speaker 1: I got a few more fast facts unless you have

664
00:40:51,760 --> 00:40:54,960
Speaker 1: something else, No, I'm done. Uh. Six hundred and eighty

665
00:40:55,040 --> 00:40:59,480
Speaker 1: lighthouses remaining in the US estimated out of that original

666
00:40:59,560 --> 00:41:04,360
Speaker 1: thousand plus thirty seven states have lighthouses, just not Kansas.

667
00:41:05,280 --> 00:41:07,480
Speaker 1: Michigan has the most, don't they have all the states?

668
00:41:07,920 --> 00:41:10,200
Speaker 1: Undred and twenty in Michigan because of the Great Lakes,

669
00:41:10,480 --> 00:41:14,839
Speaker 1: I would imagine makes sense. The East Coast says three one,

670
00:41:14,880 --> 00:41:18,000
Speaker 1: West Coast only has ninety four. I guess there's just

671
00:41:18,000 --> 00:41:20,120
Speaker 1: a lot more shipping and stuff. Huh, need to step

672
00:41:20,160 --> 00:41:24,080
Speaker 1: it up West coast um and worldwide. Uh. We estimate

673
00:41:24,400 --> 00:41:27,440
Speaker 1: seven more than seventeen thousand lighthouses in two d and

674
00:41:27,440 --> 00:41:33,000
Speaker 1: fifty countries. M and the brightest one Oak Island in

675
00:41:33,040 --> 00:41:37,120
Speaker 1: North Carolina, fourteen million candle power. You can see it

676
00:41:37,800 --> 00:41:42,440
Speaker 1: twenty four miles. Great. Yeah, that's a lot. Fourteen million

677
00:41:42,480 --> 00:41:45,120
Speaker 1: candles all burning. And what's pretty neat? It sounds like

678
00:41:45,160 --> 00:41:53,560
Speaker 1: a new religion. The Candela's really a million is one

679
00:41:53,760 --> 00:41:56,600
Speaker 1: lighting their candle and I think you just established it

680
00:41:56,719 --> 00:42:02,040
Speaker 1: reciting the the candela's prayer. Nice. See we just started

681
00:42:02,040 --> 00:42:04,839
Speaker 1: a religion. Yeah that easy? Well you did? I just

682
00:42:04,840 --> 00:42:06,759
Speaker 1: bore a witness. That's all right. You can be my

683
00:42:06,760 --> 00:42:11,520
Speaker 1: faithful assistant. Thanks can baptize you sure? Okay? Uh. If

684
00:42:11,560 --> 00:42:15,320
Speaker 1: you want to know more about lighthouses, you can type

685
00:42:15,320 --> 00:42:17,640
Speaker 1: that word into the search part house too. Horse dot com.

686
00:42:17,680 --> 00:42:20,200
Speaker 1: And since I talked about baptizing Chuck, it's time for

687
00:42:20,239 --> 00:42:26,040
Speaker 1: listener man. Since you talked about baptizing Chuck, that must

688
00:42:26,080 --> 00:42:32,719
Speaker 1: mean it's hey, guys. I recently discovered your podcast and

689
00:42:32,760 --> 00:42:35,520
Speaker 1: immediately fell in love. I'm thirsty for knowledge. Find it

690
00:42:35,560 --> 00:42:39,439
Speaker 1: quite impressive that you've become quasi experts. Not really, yeah,

691
00:42:39,520 --> 00:42:42,719
Speaker 1: but I'm writing in to respond to the controlled burn episode.

692
00:42:43,280 --> 00:42:45,200
Speaker 1: I used to work for my local county park system

693
00:42:45,280 --> 00:42:48,319
Speaker 1: doing habitat and wildlife management, and controlled burns took up

694
00:42:48,320 --> 00:42:51,600
Speaker 1: many days in the early spring for us. Our department

695
00:42:51,640 --> 00:42:54,080
Speaker 1: only consist of about six to seven people, three of

696
00:42:54,120 --> 00:42:58,359
Speaker 1: which were licensed burn bosses by the state. They make

697
00:42:58,719 --> 00:43:01,200
Speaker 1: the burn plan, they light the fire, and basically coordinate

698
00:43:01,440 --> 00:43:04,600
Speaker 1: and oversee the entire operation. I would make everybody call

699
00:43:04,680 --> 00:43:09,680
Speaker 1: me burn boss totally. Um. Additionally, local fire departments volunteer

700
00:43:09,680 --> 00:43:13,239
Speaker 1: personnel and sometimes equipment. Uh so they lend out their

701
00:43:13,239 --> 00:43:15,960
Speaker 1: stuff which is nice, and people such as water trucks

702
00:43:15,960 --> 00:43:18,239
Speaker 1: to assist. We also had quite a large number of

703
00:43:18,239 --> 00:43:20,920
Speaker 1: park volunteers that go through our training and help on

704
00:43:21,120 --> 00:43:23,719
Speaker 1: fire line. On the fire line as well, that would

705
00:43:23,719 --> 00:43:27,000
Speaker 1: be neat. I would do that, yeah, like a Saturday afternoon.

706
00:43:28,080 --> 00:43:30,960
Speaker 1: I'm sure it's different for each state and agency um,

707
00:43:31,000 --> 00:43:33,759
Speaker 1: but our burn bosses go through training put on by

708
00:43:33,800 --> 00:43:36,600
Speaker 1: the state in order to get certified. I can't recall

709
00:43:36,719 --> 00:43:39,600
Speaker 1: this is mentioned, but another advantage of controlled burns is

710
00:43:39,640 --> 00:43:43,960
Speaker 1: that the charred earth absorbed light because it's black in color,

711
00:43:44,880 --> 00:43:47,560
Speaker 1: more than it normally would, causing the soil to heat

712
00:43:47,600 --> 00:43:51,280
Speaker 1: more quickly and thus early germination for the desired species.

713
00:43:51,400 --> 00:43:53,839
Speaker 1: I had not considered that we didn't mention that good

714
00:43:53,840 --> 00:43:58,760
Speaker 1: factoid there. Thanks for satisfying my wondering mind, Tracy comp

715
00:43:59,120 --> 00:44:02,840
Speaker 1: and since that, Ohio, thanks a lot, Tracy. We appreciate that.

716
00:44:03,880 --> 00:44:05,920
Speaker 1: We always love to hear from people who know what

717
00:44:05,960 --> 00:44:10,200
Speaker 1: they're talking about. Burn Boss Colma. If you want to

718
00:44:10,239 --> 00:44:12,160
Speaker 1: get in touch with us, you can tweet to us

719
00:44:12,160 --> 00:44:14,160
Speaker 1: at s y s K podcast or hang out with

720
00:44:14,239 --> 00:44:16,920
Speaker 1: us on Instagram s y s K Podcast. You can

721
00:44:17,000 --> 00:44:19,440
Speaker 1: join us on Facebook dot com slash stuff you Should Know.

722
00:44:19,800 --> 00:44:22,239
Speaker 1: You can send us an email to stuff Podcast at

723
00:44:22,239 --> 00:44:24,480
Speaker 1: how stuff works dot Com. Has always joined us at

724
00:44:24,520 --> 00:44:32,160
Speaker 1: our home underweb stuff you Should Know dot Com for

725
00:44:32,280 --> 00:44:34,600
Speaker 1: more on this and thousands of other topics. Does it

726
00:44:34,640 --> 00:44:43,000
Speaker 1: how stuff works dot Com