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Stunning

Released Thursday, 30th December 2021
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Stunning

Stunning

Stunning

Stunning

Thursday, 30th December 2021
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Episode Transcript

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0:04

Welcome to Aaron Menkey's Cabinet of Curiosities,

0:06

a production of I Heart Radio and Grim and

0:08

Mild. Our

0:13

world is full of the unexplainable,

0:16

and if history is an open book, all

0:18

of these amazing tales are right

0:20

there on display, just waiting

0:22

for us to explore. Welcome

0:26

to the Cabinet of Curiosities.

0:36

When Western Union sent their first half

0:38

tone photograph over telephone lines

0:40

in it wasn't

0:43

the first time the world had seen photos sent

0:45

by phone. The same holds true for the boom

0:47

in the travel trailer industry in the nineties.

0:50

Many had already been there, seen that. This

0:53

and many other examples is true

0:55

because of the exploits of one Tom Swift,

0:58

the heroic young adult prodigy created

1:00

by writer and publisher Edwards Strada

1:02

Meyer. In Tom Swift

1:04

and his Photo Telephone, the idea

1:07

of sending pictures by telephone predates

1:09

the actual invention by thirteen years.

1:12

Similarly, Tom Swift and his Wizard

1:14

Camera, featuring a portable movie

1:16

camera, was eleven years ahead of its time.

1:19

And one more for good measure, Tom Swift

1:21

and his Diving Sea Copter, which sounds

1:23

like science fiction today but came

1:25

true with the creation of the Flying Submarine,

1:28

produced by the Department of Defense four

1:30

years after the book was published. Either

1:33

Edward strada Meyer was actually a genius

1:35

or he had friends in all the right places. Whatever

1:38

the case, reading any Tom Swift novel

1:40

became like seeing the future, albeit

1:43

in the hands of a stalwart sixteen year

1:45

old hero. Strada Meyer

1:47

modeled Tom Swift after some of the best inventors

1:49

of the era, such as Thomas Edison

1:51

and Henry Ford. And while some people

1:53

may have seen Swift's toys and gadgets

1:55

as outlandish, maybe even impossible,

1:58

history shows us that he was something of

2:01

a visionary. In fact, more than a few

2:03

scientists and engineers have cited Swift

2:05

as an inspiration for their own works.

2:08

But there is one Tom Swift invention that took

2:10

a bit longer to formulate. When

2:12

pressed with the imprisonment of his friends

2:15

in the African Savannah, Swift

2:17

unleashed his new gizmo, the electric

2:19

Rifle. Never mind the fact that in this same

2:21

book his airship is called the black Hawk,

2:24

which is now a very recognizable military

2:26

helicopter. Name Tom's Electric

2:28

Rifle is a Swiss army of lethal and

2:31

non lethal tricks and widgets, It

2:33

can shoot through walls without leaving a hole. It

2:35

can stop a charging whale because apparently

2:38

whales openly charged ships. And it could

2:40

even simply light up the night with a hovering

2:42

glowing ball to make it easier to see

2:44

and stop more rampaging animals

2:46

in the dark. Given the implausibility

2:49

of this rifle, though, it's understandable why

2:51

some aspiring inventors may have simply picked

2:54

up a different Tom Swift novel and tried

2:56

that instead. Putting wheels on a home

2:59

sure, portable cameras, that's

3:01

easy. But creating an electric rifle

3:03

that can stop a whale, oh, that's

3:05

something else. Enter Jack

3:07

Cover, a NASA contractor, scientist,

3:10

and physicist. As a child, Cover,

3:12

like so many of his peers, found inspiration

3:15

in the adventures and inventions

3:17

of Tom Swift. For Cover, it

3:19

was the electronic rifle that claimed his attention

3:22

the most, and it quickly became the apple

3:24

of his scientific eye. This apple,

3:27

like many that fell from the Tom Swift

3:29

tree, would revolutionize the world

3:31

that landed in this time, the world

3:33

of law enforcement, which hadn't seen this

3:35

kind of innovation since the introduction of fingerprinting

3:38

in nineteen o two. In nineteen

3:40

seventy, Cover developed the first working model,

3:42

and by two thousand eleven it had made the rounds

3:44

to more than fifteen thousand law enforcement

3:47

agencies in the US. Of course,

3:49

at some point in development, Cover had created

3:51

a brand name for his product, as

3:53

all good companies tend to do. He

3:55

wanted to call it the Thomas a Swift

3:58

Electronic Rifle, but that was a bit

4:00

of a mouthful, so instead he

4:02

just went with the initials Taser.

4:18

These days, when two people are at odds, they

4:20

have a number of peaceful ways to handle their

4:22

conflict. They could talk it out or

4:24

go through a mediator to help them solve their problems.

4:27

The fact is we've come a long way from the days when

4:29

settling a grudgement walking to the middle of

4:31

a field, taking ten paces and

4:34

then firing a gun at the other person. But

4:36

for hundreds of years, duels were

4:38

an everyday part of life. During

4:41

the medieval era, nights, squires and

4:43

other offended parties would take up swords

4:45

against each other in battle for honor. The

4:47

losing side was then executed if they

4:49

didn't die during the fight. Later

4:52

on, duels evolved they were seen as civilized.

4:54

Yes, civilized outlets for aggrieved

4:57

individuals so that they wouldn't make scenes

4:59

in public. A showdown in a private

5:01

location was preferred to a knockdown,

5:03

drag out fight in the middle of the street. Perhaps

5:07

no duel is more famous than that one that occurred

5:09

in July of eighteen o four between Alexander

5:12

Hamilton's and Vice President Aaron Burr.

5:14

Hamilton's was killed after throwing away

5:16

his shot, a tragedy that changed the course

5:18

of history. But there was another duel,

5:21

albeit a less violent one, that should

5:23

be equally as well known as the Hamilton's

5:25

Bird duel. For one, it involved

5:27

one of the greatest authors who ever lived, Alexander

5:30

Duma. Before he introduced

5:32

us to the Count of Monte Cristo and the Three

5:35

Musketeers, Duma worked as a

5:37

magazine writer and playwright. He was

5:39

eighteen twenty five, and the twenty three year

5:41

old had recently arrived in Paris. He

5:43

was dining out with his friends at the Palais

5:45

Royal, a literal royal palace that

5:47

had been built for a high ranking cardinal

5:50

in the mid sixteen hundreds, and after

5:52

the meal, Duma and his companions headed

5:54

to the cafe near the palace. He was considered

5:56

a dandy at the time, and on this night

5:59

he wore an outfit prized of a cloak and

6:01

top boots, which were tall boots with heels

6:03

that collecked when he walked. This

6:06

apparently upset a soldier playing

6:08

billiards nearby, who made a snide

6:10

remark at Duma's expense. Alexander

6:12

didn't take it well. He chose to retaliate

6:14

by grabbing another queue and disrupting

6:17

the arrangement of the balls on the table, ruining

6:19

the man's game. One thing

6:21

led to another, and Duma and the other man

6:23

agreed to a duel to be held on January

6:26

five, a few days later. His friends

6:28

didn't think it was a good idea, after all,

6:30

he was a writer, not a fighter, but

6:32

Duma wanted to establish himself as

6:35

a romantic someone who took action

6:37

and fought for what he believed in. Plus

6:39

it would help him with his stories. He

6:42

began practicing his shooting in preparation

6:44

for the duel. He turned out to be a pretty

6:46

good shot too. On the day of the showdown,

6:48

Duma arrived at the location before the

6:50

soldier, who did not show up

6:53

at all. The man had slept in, and

6:55

so the face off was rescheduled for the following

6:57

day. Oh and their choice of weapons

7:00

changed too. No longer would they use

7:02

guns, but swords instead.

7:04

Duma had some skill as a fencer,

7:07

but he was more comfortable with the pistol.

7:10

The next day, both men came to a local quarry

7:12

to carry out their duel. They hunted for

7:14

a long while looking for the right spot. It

7:16

was freezing out and there was snow on the ground,

7:18

making the scouting process difficult. Eventually

7:21

they found a suitable location, but

7:23

then came the problem of Duma's sword. He'd

7:26

taken his father's sword, which was considerably

7:28

shorter than the soldiers. He agreed

7:31

to press on, though refusing to let anyone

7:33

else handle it. Duma

7:35

removed his coat at the soldier's request.

7:37

He also took off his waistcoat and shirt

7:40

underneath, as well as his suspenders.

7:42

That last item was probably a

7:44

bad idea, though, as without them he

7:47

couldn't keep his pants up. They fell

7:49

around his ankles, eliciting laughter from

7:51

the quarry workers standing by. Duma

7:53

hoisted them back up and tied the suspenders

7:56

around his waist like a belt. Angry

7:59

and Humilia did he jabbed his sword into

8:01

the man's shoulder. The soldier fell

8:03

backward, startled by how cold the

8:05

blade was against his skin in the winter

8:07

air. He held immediately and Duma

8:10

was declared the victor. The fight lasted

8:12

all of a few minutes, and nobody

8:14

had died. The young author

8:16

later used his experience as inspiration

8:19

for key moments in his novels, such

8:21

as The Three Musketeers. Of course,

8:23

he was probably smart to leave out the part

8:25

where his pants fell down and everyone

8:27

else laughed. I

8:32

hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of

8:34

the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe

8:36

for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn

8:38

more about the show by visiting Curiosities

8:41

podcast dot com.

8:43

The show was created by me Aaron

8:45

Manky in partnership with how Stuff

8:47

Works. I make another award winning

8:50

show called Lore, which is a podcast,

8:52

book series, and television show, and

8:54

you can learn all about it over at the World

8:57

of Lore dot com. And

8:59

until next time, stay curious.

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