Welcomed erin men. Keys cabinet of curiosity is a production. If I hurt radio and grim and mild our world is full of the unexplainable and of history is an open book. All of these amazing tales are right there on display just waiting for us to explore, welcome Do the cabinet of curiosities when western union center first halftone photograph over telephone lines in nineteen twenty one, it wasn't the first time the world had seen photos sent by phone. The same holds true The boom in the travel trailer industry in the nineteen thirties. Many had already been there seen that this and many other examples is true because of the exploits of one tom.

swift, the heroic young, adult prodigy, created by writer and publisher, edward strata meyer in tom swift and his photo telephone. The idea of sending pictures by telephone predates the actual invention by thirteen years. Similarly, tom swift and his wizard camera featuring a portable movie. Camera was eleven years ahead of its time and one more for good measure. Tom swift and his diving see captor, which sounds like science fiction today, but came true with the creation of these. line submarine produced by the department of defense. Four years after the book was published, neither edward strata Meyer was actually a genius or he had friends in all the right places. Whatever the case reading any Tom swift novel became like seeing the future, albeit in the hands of a stalwart six

in your old hero, stratum ire, modeled tom swift. After some of the best inventors of the era such as thomas edison and henry ford, and while some people may have seen swift toys and gadgets as out landis, maybe even impossible. History shows us that he was something of a visionary. In fact, more than a few scientists and engineers have cited swift as an inspiration for their own works, but there is one tom swift invention that took a bit longer to formulate when pressed with the imprisonment of his friends in the african savannah swift unleashed his new gizmo, the electric rifle. Never mind the fact that in this same book, his airship Called the black hawk, which is now a very recognisable military helicopter name Tom's electric rifle is a swiss army of lethal and non lethal tricks in which its it can shoot through walls without leaving a whole new can stop a charging whale because, apparently, whales openly chart

ships and it could even simply light up the night with a hovering, glowing ball to make it easier to see and stop more rampaging animals in the dark? Giving the employees ability of this rifle, though its understandable. Why some aspiring inventors may have simply picked up a different tom swift, novel and tried that instead putting wheels on a home, sure portable cameras, that's easy, but creating an electric rifle that can stop a whale. Oh that's something else enter jack cover, a nasa contractors, scientist and physicist as a child cover, like so many of his peers, found inspiration in the adventures and inventions of tom swift for cover. It was the electronic rifle that claimed his attention the most and it quickly became the apple of his scientific eye. This apple, like many that fell from the Tom swift tree, would revolutionize the world that landed in this time, the world of law enforcement, which hadn't seen

kind of innovation, since the introduction of fingerprinting in one thousand nine hundred and two and one thousand nine hundred and seventy cover developed the first working model and by two thousand and eleven it had made the rounds to more than fifteen thousand law enforcement agencies in the us. Of course, it's some point in development cover had created a brand name for his product, as all good companies tend to do. He wanted to call it the thomas, a swift electronic rifle that was a bit of a mouthful, so instead he just went initials taser. These days. When two people are at odds, they have a number of peaceful ways to handle their conflict. They could talk it out or go through a mediator to help them solve their problem. The fact is: we've come a long way from the days when settling a grudge men walking to the middle of a field taking ten paces and then

firing a gun at the other person, but for hundreds of years duels were an everyday part of life, During the medieval era. Knights, squires and other offended parties would take up swords against each other in battle for honor. The losing side was then executed if they didn't die. During the fight later on, duels evolved, they were seen as civilised guess: civilized outlets for aggrieved individuals, so that they would it make scenes in public a showdown in a private look. Haitian was preferred to a down, drag out fight in the middle of the street. Perhaps no duel is more. Miss than that one that occurred in july of eighteen, o four between alexander hamilton and vice president aaron burr hamilton, was killed after well in a way, his shot, a tragedy that changed the course of history. But there was another dual, albeit a less violent one. There should be equally as well known as the hamilton verdure

for one. It involved one of the greatest authors who ever lived alexander dumas before he introduced us to the count of monte cristo and the three musket Do my worked as a magazine, writer and playwright. He he was eighteen. Twenty five and the twenty three year old had recently arrived in paris. He was dying, not with his friends at the palais royale a literal royal palace that had been built for a high ranking cardinal in the mid. Sixteen hundreds and after the meal Duma And his companions headed to the cafe near the palace, he was considered a dandy at the time and on this night he wore an outfit comprised of a cloak and top boots which were tall boots with heels that collect when he walked. This apparently upset a soldier playing billiards nearby, who made a snide remark at dumas, thence alexander that and take it well. He chose to retaliate by grabbing another q and disrupting the arrangement of the balls on the table, ruining the man's game. One thing led to.

another and dumont, and the other man agreed to a duel to be held on January. Fifth, a few days later, his friends didn't think it was a good idea. After all, he was a writer not a fighter, but do wanted to establish himself as a romantic. Someone who took action and fought for what he believed in plus it would him with his stories. He began practicing his shooting in preparation for the dual. It turned out to be a pretty good shot. Two on the the show down Duma arrived at the location before the soldier who did not show up at all. The man had slept in, and so the face off was rescheduled for the following day, o and their choice of what The change to no longer would they use guns with swords. Instead, do my head some skill as offensive, but he was more comfortable with a pistol the next day both men came to a local quarry to carry out their dual. They hunt

for a long while looking for the right spot, it was freezing out in their snow on the ground, making the scouting process difficult. Eventually, they found a suitable location, but then came the problem of do my sword. He'd taken his father sword, which was considerably shorter than the soldiers he agreed to press on no refusing to let any one else handle it. Duma removed his coat at the soldiers request. He also took off his waistcoat and shirt underneath as well as his suspenders. That last item was probably a bad idea, though, as without them he couldn't keep his pants up. They fell around his ankles, eliciting last year from the quarry workers standing by due ma hoisting them back up and tied the suspenders around his waist like a belt angry and humiliated he jabbed his sword into the man's shoulder. The soldier fell backward startled by how cold the blade was against his skin in the winter

or he yelled immediately and Duma was declared the victor. The fight lasted all of a few minutes and nobody had died. The young author later used his experience as inspiration for key moments in his novels, such as the three musketeers. Of course, he was probably smart to leave out the part where his pants fell down and everyone else laughed. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the cabinet of curiosities subscribe for free on apple podcasts or learn more about the show by visiting curiosities, podcast dot com. The show was created by erin monkey in partnership with how stuff works I make another award winning show called lore, which is a podcast book series, and television show, and you can learn all about it over at the world of lore dot com and until next time, stay curious.