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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
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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
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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
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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
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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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