February 4, 2025 • 50 mins
Have you ever embarked on a home improvement project only to find out that painting is not your forte? Well, you're not alone—we're in the same boat! Join us, Kate and Bradley, as we bumble through the joys and pitfalls of painting Kate's closet a bold teal. Though it left us feeling as sluggish as a tortoise on a lazy afternoon, the result was a vibrant splash of color that brightened her room and our moods. And for those wondering, yes, two wrongs don't make a right, but they do make for some colorful banter and big podcast energy!
On the flip side, we took a lighthearted trip down memory lane with a nod to the legendary film "The Ten Commandments," complete with jokes about baby Moses and epic treks through Egypt. Kate also takes a bold sip into the world of tequila seltzer cocktails, trying out a zero-carb, gluten-free strawberry margarita concoction that promises a new twist on refreshment. Curious how this cocktail stacks up or just in need of some good laughs? We've got your history and humor fix right here.
https://www.icoe.org/news/story-louis-braille-inventor-braille-code
https://www.inclusivecitymaker.com/history-braille-writing/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2012/08/18/this-digital-age-why-isnt-it-a-paradise-for-braille-readers/#:~:text=With%20only%20a%20tiny%20proportion,dangled%20in%20front%20of%20you.
https://museelouisbraille.com/en/biographie
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Oh, hey there.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Oh, hey there.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
I am Kate.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
And I am Bradley.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
And we are the History Buffoons.
Hello Kate, how are you?
I'm good.
How are you?
Um, I'm a little tired.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
I am Bradley and we are the History Buffoons.
Hello Kate, how are you?
I'm good.
How are you?
Speaker 1 (00:26):
I'm a little tired.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
I am as well I feel a little lazy.
Yeah, I do as well, Sluggish.
Sluggish is an understatementat this point, uh-huh.
So we're going to turn itaround with some Humor.
Big podcast energy.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Big podcast, energy, don't you think?
Speaker 2 (00:44):
yes, I mean so do you want to tell him why we're
tired?
Speaker 1 (00:48):
so I have um coerced him into coerced.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
I mean, that is a perfect word for it uh, we are
painting my closet we are.
Yeah, I was easily coercedbecause you helped me paint the
pot loft at my house.
I don't like painting Same, butI said yes.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Two wrongs don't make a right.
But here we are.
It's a cool teal color.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
I really like the color you picked.
I think it looks awesome.
It's kind of nice to have alittle accent piece to your room
, because you didn't have a lotof color on the walls.
In terms of the paint color itwas pretty neutral so it would
be nice to have that nice pop ofcolor.
And yes, sometimes you havebecause it's a closet and you
just use curtains, you don't usedoors, and sometimes you have
(01:43):
them closed.
You won't see it as much, butso what, it's still going to be
nice.
So I think it'll be kind ofnice, a little fresh spot to
your room.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
But I mean, how long were we working on just the
closet?
Speaker 2 (01:55):
It was a decent amount A couple hours.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Was it a couple hours , I would say so.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
At least two Nah yeah close.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
I'd say a little under.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
This felt like longer , it felt like days.
It's felt like moses walkingthrough egypt or whatever but,
uh, but no, it looks nice, Ilike it I recently watched.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
okay, recently, as in several months ago.
Wow, I watched the Ten.
Commandments.
Yeah, and because it's so long.
I literally tried watching itlike 20 different times because
I'm like all right, where did Ileave off?
Speaker 2 (02:34):
It's very hard to do in one sitting.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
And they always play it around Easter of course,
because of that.
So usually I'll watch it aroundthat time.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
And the last few years I've put it on, but I
don't really pay as muchattention.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Yeah, it's very well done for how old it is.
Well, yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
I was there for filming, but were you one of the
extras I might have been.
I was baby Moses, but RamessesAnyways, I'm going to interrupt
this conversation.
Moses, but Ramazes anyways.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
I'm going to interrupt this conversation.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
No, you're going to end it.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
And bring it around to what I'm drinking today.
What are you drinking today?
It is something very differentthan what I would normally
choose.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
I was against this for you, I, I, I was against
this for you.
Uh, but to each their own.
I mean, because didn't you say,someone suggested you try it
too?
Speaker 1 (03:31):
yes.
Um, so this, I have a co-workerand she is a white claw fan,
that kind of stuff, and uh, Isaid, well, I've never tried it.
She goes carbless is better.
Right in my opinion.
So I was like, okay, I'll trycarbless, so that's what I have.
Um, it is a tequila cocktailand it is in the flavor
(03:52):
strawberry margarita.
Five percent alcohol, zerocarbs, zero sugars, 100 calories
and gluten-free, which is whyshe can drink it, because she
actually has celiacs, that'sright.
And um, it just says bestserved chilled or over ice, and
in mind is most definitelychilled canden des moines des
(04:15):
moines.
Well, I know what no, des moinesit's right past illinois's what
are you drinking?
Speaker 2 (04:24):
kate's having a delicious carbless that she
can't stop talking about.
I am having a beer from youngblood beer company from madison,
wisconsin, called heelys andjorts.
I don't know what the fuckheelys are.
I know what jorts are jeansshorts, jean shorts, yeah it's
like jeggings, like like jeanleggings no.
I know.
(04:44):
I said I know what shorts are.
I don't know what Heelys are.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
I don't know what Heelys are.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
All right, all right.
So I have a Hazy India Pale Alewith Lemon Drop Mosaic and.
Wakatou, wakatou.
It's 6.5%, so We'll see if Billmade a good beer.
Don't fuck it up, bill.
I used to work with Bill.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
You said that yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
So Cheers, yeah, drink yours too.
It's bad etiquette not to cheersomeone a drink.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
It tastes like cleaning fluid.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Oddly enough, so does .
I'm just kidding.
No, it's not bad.
You can definitely taste thelemon drop in it.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
So I don't really have a question for you today,
because I kind of forgot toformulate one oh shoot.
However, yes.
Have you ever, like, gone ontoan elevator, or you're waiting
for an elevator, or you'restanding outside like a big
classroom door and you seebraille on the walls and you
(05:50):
like run your fingers over it.
Do you ever do that?
I mean, I probably have in mylife, yeah, yeah I've done it a
couple times just to liketechnically feel I'm pretty sure
you probably did it a coupletimes today.
Well, we're going to talk aboutthe history of Braille.
Oh, there you go, yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
There was a baseball team that had Braille on their
jersey.
I didn't understand that,because it's not like they let
the blind people come up andtouch them out of the field.
That is odd.
I don't remember what team itwas.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Yeah, it's a very visual.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
A little bit.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Yeah, interesting.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Yeah, I mean I get where they're going with it.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
Inclusivity.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Well, whatever, supporting those people, but,
yeah, I always liked the driveup ATMs with Braille on it.
It's like, yeah, those thosepeople.
But yeah, I always like the thedrive up atms with braille on
it it's like why are thosepeople driving?
Makes me nervous, I get it.
It could also be just somewhatimpaired.
It's not just blind yeah Iunderstand, but just your first
thought is like those peopleshould not be driving cars
(06:55):
anyways um well, we are going tostart with Valen.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Okay, so this is all French names, oh dear.
So my apologies, I took Spanishand German and I'm still
working on English, clearly Okay.
So we're going to start firstwith Valentin.
Ahui, ahui, ahui, ahui, we'regoing to hell.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Are we, though, Um Valentin?
Speaker 1 (07:21):
Ahoui Ahoui, ahoui Ahoui.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Ahoui.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
We're going to hell, Are we though?
He was born November 13th 1745in France.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Okay, I'm not even going to tell you what the name
of the town was, because wedon't need to, like make your
ears bleed.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
Was that not part of your research?
Speaker 1 (07:38):
It was, but I deleted it oh dear so I don't have to
make your ears bleed?
Speaker 2 (07:43):
is it because you couldn't pronounce it?
Speaker 1 (07:48):
there's a couple of times I did that.
I was like I don't know how tosay that I'm gonna get rid of it
.
No one will ever know have youever done that when you're like
trying to spell something,you're like I don't know how to
spell it and you don't have aspell trick or whatever, so you
just like erase it and come upwith a different word I've done
that before, where, like Iliterally will pull up something
and I'll I'll type it in liketwo or three times.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Like fuck it, I need a new word.
Yep, yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
So I've totally done that before so all we was born
into a family of weavers.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
That's fitting oh weaver.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
His father was a loom operator who also served as a
bell ringer at a local abbey.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
For some reason that just made me think of the song
Smooth Operator, Loom Operator.
All right, anyways.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
So the abbey monks provided Alwi with an education
and nurtured his linguistictalents.
Okay, he became proficient in10 languages Holy shit,
including ancient Greek andHebrew.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Wow, yeah, I can barely speak one, I know.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
Same, in 1783, he achieved the prestigious
position of interpreter to theking.
Oh wow, louis XVI Jesus.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
Christ, Hold please, while I count.
What the hell.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
Interpreter of the king.
So Alvete dedicated his toassisting the blind starting in
1771.
So it was kind of a chanceencounter.
He was dining at a cafe inParis and he witnessed a group
of blind individuals who camefrom a hospice.
So I'm not sure of their age,but hospice was the term that
(09:37):
was used.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
Okay.
Um but uh, they were actuallybeing mocked during a street
festival that was going on sopeople saw them, they were
making fun, yeah, and he noticedthis and was like yes, yeah, so
their humiliating.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Their humiliation included like wearing dunce caps
and oversized glasses, and itreally affected all we.
So in in may 1784, all we met ayoung boy who was begging on
the streets, and he decided toteach the boy how to read and
write okay and he came up with aspecial way to do this, by
(10:11):
using raised letters yeah solike literally the letter a, but
like raised.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
So makes sense yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
So the kid learned pretty quickly and all we was um
excited and he wrote about itin the newspaper.
He got support from umdifferent academies and, with
the help of some additionalpeople, we started a school for
blind children in february 1785so that that beggar kid was
(10:39):
blind.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
Yeah, oh, I gotcha Okay.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
So the school was built on the idea of helping
blind people learn a trade likespinning or printing.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
Sure.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
But they also taught them how to read and write the
best that they could with thetools that they had.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
And their disability, if you will, okay.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
So, and King Louis 16th also supported the school
and he and it then became aroyal institution.
Oh, wow, yeah, nice.
So during the french revolution, um, the government took over
the school in 1791 and it wasmoved to an old monastery and
became known as the nationalinstitute for Blind Workers.
Wow, and Aloui was involved inpolitics and he worked as a
(11:22):
secretary during the FrenchRevolution and he served as a
government official and he wasactually arrested several times
because of his involvement inthese politics.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Oh really.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
Yeah, he was later also accused of being a
terrorist what yeah?
And he lost his job at theSchool for the Blind.
Yeah, he was later also accusedof being a terrorist what yeah?
And he lost his job at theschool for the blind.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
So what were the allegations for him?
Being a terrorist.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
So always, primary focus was on education and
improving the lives of the blindand there's actually no reason
to suggest that he was violentin in any way or even
participated right inrevolutionary like activities.
Sure, but um so like itwouldn't warrant that label of
like terrorism.
(12:08):
But it was likely onlypolitically motivated to just
discredit him.
That's too bad yeah so, um,despite this setback, he opened
his own private school and hetraveled to Russia and opened up
a school there at the requestof the Russian Emperor Alexander
.
I, oh, wow, yeah.
So Alwi returned to Paris in1817 and lived with his brother
(12:31):
and he died March 19, 1822, at76 years old in Paris.
All right, so he's like thevery beginning of braille, okay
so by doing the raised letters.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
So that's where it started.
And then someone yes, adaptyeah, adapted.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
Yeah, let's find out yes, so next we're going to talk
about francois barbier barbierit looks like barbier, like
b-a-r-b-i-e-r.
Okay, but it's pronounced bobby.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
A well, clearly, yeah so he was born, know that may
18th, 1767.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
okay, he was also born in france, coincidence, um.
He served as a soldier in thefrench army for several years,
okay, and he was an artilleryofficer alongside Napoleon
Bonaparte.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
Oh, wow.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
And Barbier witnessed a lot of the horrors of war
firsthand.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
Well, I would imagine .
So.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
So a lot of what he saw was happening at night.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
And what was happening is soldiers would have
to read and write their ordersin the dark, so they would light
candlelight, which is a verybright beacon for snipers.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Yeah, I mean they didn't really have sniper rifles
back then, but they still couldfind you and shoot you.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
Yeah so he came up with an interesting idea to help
combat those deaths.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
He called it knight writing.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
Knight writing.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
And he used it on the battlefield.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
So he basically used a grid to represent the letters
and the grid is like a five byfive, so five rows by five
columns.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
And each letter had its own unique position on the
grid makes sense and you couldfigure out the letter by its
grid coordinates.
So the row number and thecolumn number so it's like all a
bad battleship, right?
Yeah, yeah, like9 sunk you sunkmy word take a shot take a shot
(14:41):
uh, yeah, no, that makes sense.
I mean because so they wouldhave to like memorize the
columns for sure.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
Yeah, that's a good way to do it, though and I heard
that w is very rarely used okayso that wasn't even on the grid
well, that would make sense,because they only had five by
five, which is 25 if memoryserves me right.
That's not the how many lettersare in the alphabet, so so is
it also because w starts with ad?
Speaker 1 (15:12):
so he got even more creative by assigning different
symbols to represent each number, sure.
And then he startedexperimenting with dots.
So imagine pressing dots into apaper with like an all right um
, and that's how they wouldwrite essentially and barbie a
specifically designed this forblind people to read by the
(15:34):
touch of the the impression, theimpression yeah the breakage of
the paper Right.
So he also came up with a wayto represent letters using
finger positions, kind of likesign language but for letters,
gotcha.
So Barbier was pretty excitedabout his invention and wrote to
the school for blind childrenin Paris to tell them about it
(15:56):
Always school.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
Oh, there you go.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
Unfortunately, the director of that school at the
time wasn't interested.
Oh, that's sad but a newdirector took over in 1821 and
his name was alexandra reneepinier and he was.
He was open to new ideas and hehad a student try out barbie's
method and then they showed itto the other students and the
(16:19):
school board and it was a hugesuccess.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
Well, yeah, because I mean look how much easier that
probably had to be for them tobe able to figure that out.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
Yeah.
So the students who alreadyknew the alphabet quickly picked
up Barbier's grid system.
Okay, and then, even thoughBarbier preferred using sounds
instead of letters, the studentsfound it helpful that the grid
was made with the regularalphabet.
Sure, so before Barbier'smethod, the students used books
with the raised letters and theywere really hard to read and
(16:51):
they took up a ton of space.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
I bet.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
And then they couldn't quite write for other
blind people to read.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
So with Barbier's system they could take notes in
class and easily read them later.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
So barbie system wasn't perfect well, of course
there's gonna be some learningcurve so it didn't have symbols
for punctuation or numbers.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Oh, I suppose yeah, and you couldn't tell the
difference between uppercase andlowercase letters.
Okay, um, and it couldn't beused for music yet how come?
Because it's he didn't createthe grid to have musical notes
in it okay did I convince you um, consider me convinced.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
Okay, great okay um.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
So it was a really big first step, and it showed
that blind people could be,could read, based on these
raised dots that represented acode, right, sure so, and it was
easy to use the tools thatBarbie 8 invented, and then he
donated a lot of his sets to theschools over the years.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
But it was essentially like a tablet with
an awl Right and they would likepoke holes into a tablet with
an all right and they would likepoke holes into the tablet
because that's how they wrote,right, yeah right.
So barbie spent the rest of hislife trying to promote his
ideas um for easier ways tolearn to read and write.
He wrote books and tried to getum his simplified writing
systems, into schools for younglike younger children, but they
(18:20):
weren't very successful okay sohe died on april 22nd 1841 at 73
years old in paris oh, wow
Speaker 2 (18:28):
then enter braille lewis braille is that where they
got the?
Lewis I knew it was named afteryes, a person.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
yes, yes, so Louis Braille was born in France.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
Weird, I did not see that coming.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
It's like Couvray, couvray.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
Couvray.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
France In 1809.
And it's about 20 miles fromParis.
Okay, so he was the youngest offour children, oh dear.
He was the youngest of fourchildren, oh dear.
His father was a successfulleather and maker of horse tack.
Okay, sure you know what horsetack is.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
I do Tell me Horse tack is basically just all the
stuff you use for a horse, abridle, the reins, bits, bits.
Even the saddle technically isconsidered tack.
Yeah yeah, I used technicallyis considered tack.
Yeah yeah, I used to have ahorse.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
Yeah, so he made all of that Nice.
And when Braille was just threeyears old, his parents were
making saddles in their workshopand little Louie was curious
and he grabbed an awl andaccidentally poked himself in
the eye.
Oh shit, ouch, really, yeah,it's's like I wonder what this
(19:42):
does I think he was like tryingto push the all through a piece
of leather and he was like tooclose.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
He was three and it basically ricocheted, if you
will, yeah, yeah, so that sucksyeah um, so one eye got infected
and then the other guy gotinfected oh, really.
So, even though he pokedhimself in one eye.
Both eyes, yeah, holy shit yeahit traveled to his other eye.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
Oh, and his.
His parents were pretty on topof like getting him to the
doctor etc.
But by the time he was five hewas completely blind.
Oh, that's too bad, yeah.
So lewis didn't reallyunderstand that he couldn't see
okay, but he did often ask hisparents why it was always dark.
Oh yeah, that's weird, yeah, sopoor kid but his parents did
(20:29):
like everything they could toraise him like any other child.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
Well, which is, I think, the right way to do it,
because otherwise he's.
I mean yeah, you have adisability now, but don't want
to treat them any different kindof thing, so that's good.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
So they encouraged him to explore.
They would give him specialcanes that his father would make
.
They would go around thevillage and the countryside and
Louis seemed to accept hisblindness and he actually grew
into a really happy, bright kid,Good.
So his teachers and the localpriests were impressed by how
smart and imaginative he was.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
And they made sure that he got a chance to like
continue his education.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
See, that's nice, because a lot of people,
especially the timing that he'sgrowing up here, would just be
like, well, you're useless, yeah, and just give up on you.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
So, because of his intelligence, braille was
permitted to attend one of thefirst schools for blind children
in the world, the RoyalInstitute for Blind Youth, which
is now named the NationalInstitute for Blind Youth in
Paris.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
Oh nice.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
And the children learned to read using Always
system.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
There you go, okay.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
So Louis benefited from Always books, but he soon
realized they weren't quiteenough okay um.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
The books were bulky, limited, holding very little
information is it because theywere so bulky, you just couldn't
put a lot in it?
Yeah, all right.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
Yeah makes sense um, and it was a time consuming
process.
Sure, I bet it was so.
The those raised letters werecreated by pressing wet paper
against copper wires.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
And it was a technique that made it kind of
impossible for blind children towrite.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Well, yeah, using that system For sure.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
So to help Louis stay in touch with his family, his
father made him an alphabetusing thick pieces of leather.
It was a slow and awkward thingto try to do, but it allowed
Lewis to trace letters and beginhis own messages.
Oh, that's good, so it was alllike cut out and he would just
trace the letters Sure.
So um handmate books by all wewere pretty heavy and awkward
(22:34):
for children, um, they weredifficult to make, um easily
damaged, expensive and all weschool when they, when it first
opened, they only had threebooks in braille really yeah so,
despite this, all we was superpassionate um and he believed in
educators would embrace it.
(22:54):
At the time, however, lewis andthe other children quickly
realized that seriouslimitations going on here.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Yeah, I mean it's a good idea, the thoughts there,
but not good execution.
Yeah, we'll just say that.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
Yeah, so Braille was a really good student and he
read all these books carefullyand paid close attention to his
teachers and he became liketheir top student.
He paid close attention to histeachers and he became like
their top student and once hefinished the program they
actually asked him to startteaching at the school.
Oh really, yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
How old were you then , like, when you finished the
program?
Speaker 1 (23:30):
So I think he was in his 30s, like 20s or 30s,
something like that.
Oh wow, let's see, he was bornin nine and he became a
professor in 33.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
Oh, so, so he's only 24 twenties yeah.
Jeez, that's impressive yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
So he spent most of his teaching life teaching
history, geometry and algebra atthat Institute.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
So Braille was also a musician.
He played cello and organ.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
Oh nice.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
Yeah, and later in life he also played organ at a
couple of churches all overFrance.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
Oh really.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
Mm-hmm, nice.
So in 1821, louis Braillelearned about Barbier's way of
communicating.
Yeah, and that's when theraised dots kind of came into
play and inspired Braille tocreate his own system.
Okay, so Braille was reallydetermined to create a system
where blind and sighted peoplecould easily communicate with
(24:28):
each other.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
Because, sighted people can see the dots the
raised dots, like we were justtalking about Right, right we
were just talking about rightright.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
So he believed that being able to communicate meant
having access to knowledge,which was absolutely crucial for
blind individuals well, yeah,because otherwise they're pretty
left out of the picture.
Yeah, so so he said, if we can'tcommunicate freely, people will
continue to look down on us ortreat us like we're helpless.
We don't need pity.
We don't want people toconstantly remind us that we're
different.
We don't need pity.
We don't want people toconstantly remind us that we're
different.
We deserve to be treated asequals, and communication is the
(25:05):
key to making all that happen.
So Braille improved Barbier'ssystem by making it simpler and
more efficient.
He made each letter use thesame number of dots and reduced
the total number of dots to six.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
So the biggest letter has six is what you're saying
or not?
The biggest letter, but themost within a letter is six.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
Okay, yes, so his first version used both dots and
dashes.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
Oh really.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
But he later removed the dashes because they were a
little bit too hard to read.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
And Braille's smaller cells, because it's no longer a
five by five grid Now it's onlysix, so it can easily be felt
with a single, like a finger pad.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
Sure, you know.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
Um.
So Braille used the same toolsthat Barbie a had donated to the
school like the tablet and theall.
Um, and he started creating hisown system of raised dots.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
So um Braille system quickly expanded to also include
music so how did he includemusic with that?
That was not part of myresearch.
Oh seriously, no oh dear it wasa new musical code good thing
you're talking to a musician sonow we have dr alexandra
(26:30):
francois renee pinier okay, okayhe was the head of the school
yeah and he supported braillesystem right, okay so he started
teaching the the whole likestudent population this um.
But then a new teacher namedpierre Armand Dufault took over
and he didn't like Braillesystem.
(26:51):
Why?
Because he's a dick.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
Did it say that in your research?
Huh, he didn't like it becausehe was a dick, he was a dick.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
So Dufault forced Dr Pignet to leave.
What a dick.
And the Braille system willstop for a while, but then
another teacher comes along,joseph godet and he supported
braille.
Well, there you go and thesystem was brought back in 1844
and the skate and the schoolmoved on to new horizons.
What a dick that other guy.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
It was just like a little blip in history, yeah
it's just like yeah, no, I don'tlike it, fuck you.
Yeah, you drove the other guyoff.
What the hell man.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
so braille was always kind of a sickly child and his
health got worse as he got olderand he had a respiratory
illness, probably tuberculosisor something Okay.
And he lived with that forabout 16 years.
Oh wow, and no care.
At the time, when he was 40, hestopped teaching because he was
too sick.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
And in the end he became very ill and had to go to
the infirmary infirmary at theschool and he passed away there
in 1852.
Oh wow, just two days after his43rd birthday.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
So he was.
How old was he, Did you say?
Speaker 1 (27:58):
he it was.
He died two days after his 43rdbirthday after Okay, yep, that
sucks so finally in 1854, twoyears after Braille died, the
school agreed to use his systembecause the students kept asking
for it.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
Well, I mean, there you go.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
Yeah, so Braille's system quickly spread throughout
French-speaking countries, butit took longer to catch on
elsewhere.
Okay however, at a meeting ofteachers of the blind in 1873,
dr thomas rhodes armitagestrongly supported braille and
(28:35):
he started to notice that it or,excuse me, he, his use started
to grow rapidly around the worldthen.
Oh, yeah, so by 1882, drarmitage uh reported that almost
every school for the blind inthe world now uses braille.
That's crazy except for a fewin north america, because we
slow, hey speak for yourselfnebraskan but eventually even
(28:56):
those schools started usingbraille.
So it was officially adopted inthe united states in 1916 and a
universal braille code code forenglish was created in 1932 okay
so there are many new ways thatbraille is used today.
There's braille computerterminals, email services, a
(29:20):
special service system for mathand sciences sure so after 200
years sorry, 200 years afterbraille invented it, yeah, it's
still incredibly important,right?
Yeah, so the braille institutethat we have now has over 32,000
paper braille books in theirlibrary that's wild.
(29:41):
I know that's a lot of braillebooks, yeah so there there are
some challenges that blindBraille readers face.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
I would imagine.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
Yeah, so in an increasing like digital world,
it seems like Braille bookswould like.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
Go away.
Speaker 1 (29:59):
No, it seems like it would be like much more
available to them.
Sure they don't have access toa wide range of literature.
So they have the Bible, theyhave some Shakespeare, you know,
but nothing that wascontemporary, nothing that was
like age appropriate.
Speaker 2 (30:18):
Right.
Speaker 1 (30:19):
So, um, there, there is like systems where you can
they can convert the text fromstandard print to braille oh
really, and it's a relativelylike, straightforward process,
but a lot of systems have tohave this software to perform
this task sure makes sense and,logically, there should be a
(30:40):
huge library available, rightright, but there's not less than
one% of published books areavailable in Braille.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
That's wild actually.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
Yeah.
You would especially think someof the bestsellers and all that
would get literally translatedinto anything Exactly Translated
yeah, so it seems that with thelimited availability of Braille
books, it was actually a highcost to the readers.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
Oh, why is that?
Speaker 1 (31:10):
So the software that converted the text into Braille
requires specialized hardwaresoftware whatever.
Either way, these devices arepriced between $3,000 and
$15,000.
Wow, okay, wow okay yeah, andit's very disproportionate,
because the it would allow massproduction, which drives down
(31:33):
the cost of each book.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
Well, right and that's the thing, like the
initial investment, yes, is high, but ultimately you would be
able to mass produce, like yousaid.
Then I want to drive down costbecause you can mass produce
them.
That's how it works.
Yeah, and then you'd be able tomass produce, like you said.
Then I want to drive down costsbecause you can mass produce
them.
That's how it works.
Yeah, and then you'd be able tohave more books out there.
But apparently no one justwanted to take the leap of faith
(31:56):
and invest in that in thebeginning so that's too bad, but
there's also a limited marketwell, yeah, so I just thought of
a question.
I don't know if this is part ofyour research what is there like
a percentage of the like?
What is there?
8 billion people now on thisplanet?
Is there a percentage that notjust blind but obviously seeing
(32:18):
impaired people of the world?
Speaker 1 (32:22):
I don't think I read anything like that Of the world.
Speaker 2 (32:25):
Do you have like North America or something
America or?
Speaker 1 (32:28):
something English speaking.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
Sure.
Speaker 1 (32:30):
It might be around a hundred thousand Braille readers
.
That's like the statistic Ihave.
So the people who know Braille,sure.
It's about a hundred.
A hundred thousand.
That's not a lot of people,it's not so okay, so I can
understand, though, why a lot ofpeople it's not so okay.
Speaker 2 (32:45):
So I can understand, though, why a lot of people
wouldn't invest that money for ahundred.
It still sucks, but I canunderstand it at least, because
that isn't actually not a lot ofpeople right.
Speaker 1 (32:55):
So, assuming a typical reader, their lifespan,
this would translate intomultiple different tablets or or
devices whatever to read thatbraille right.
Um, and the annual demand forthese readers.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
Just aren't enough.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
Yeah, it's not there yeah, so, um, you could probably
receive like a new device every10 years or so.
Super tiny market and making10,000 of these would be like a
test run for a random keyboardjust a regular keyboard.
Speaker 2 (33:33):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (33:34):
Yeah, it's just a.
It would act like a small trailrun.
Speaker 2 (33:38):
Do they have Braille keyboards?
Yes, they do.
Yes, okay.
Speaker 1 (33:42):
So this kind of explains why the digital age
hasn't really come up with a wayto accommodate, yeah, yeah.
So, but the total cost ofgetting a book to a blind reader
is still really, really high,right, and when the main tool
that they need costs thousandsof dollars because it's
(34:02):
basically handmade and verylimited, it's hard to make a
profit.
Sure, and I get that, and theworld's about making profits.
If they can't, they it's hardto make a profit.
Speaker 2 (34:07):
Sure, now I get that, and the world's about making
profits.
If they can't, they just go onto the next thing.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
So today, those who do not know Braille use text to
audio, audio books, screenreaders, things like that.
Speaker 2 (34:22):
Braille is still taught, but not many like
adapted that, yeah, learningstyle I guess I can imagine, but
like you and I like to listento audiobooks, so obviously
that's a huge way to get to alot of these people yeah so I
mean it's nice that there'sother avenues instead of just
having to read a bunch of dots,because, I'll be honest, I can't
(34:46):
read it.
But I feel like, oh man, thissucks.
But obviously it's different forthem because that's how they
have to read it yeah so it'sjust, it's just wild to think
that, but at least there's otheravenues for them to uh, hear
the books and so on and whatever.
So that I guess, with thatbeing said, it also makes sense
why they're not investing thismoney to make braille books
because it's logical, but it isit does suck, though, because
(35:10):
you'd like to have thatavailable for these people,
because you know they're theyhave limitations, unfortunately
and you want to make it soeverything's readily available
for them.
Speaker 1 (35:19):
But yeah that's too bad so whenever we go to france,
coupe ray or whatever, 20 milesoutside of paris, let's do it.
There is a Louis Braille museum.
Speaker 2 (35:29):
Oh, is there really, oh nice.
It was his hometown and itmight even be his home period
the house he grew up in, Rightright.
Speaker 1 (35:37):
But there is a museum there that you can visit.
Okay, but that is the historyof Braille.
Speaker 2 (35:44):
That's wild.
Yeah, I don't remember whatbaseball team it was, but they
literally had the dots for theirname.
Speaker 1 (35:51):
Yeah, I want to show you this picture real quick and
maybe you can kind of describeit for people.
Speaker 2 (35:58):
I'll try, I'll do my best.
I can't see that far, oh dear.
Okay, so the two dots is A.
Speaker 1 (36:07):
My hip popped.
Speaker 2 (36:08):
Oh, dear, dear, that was awkward, I bet um yes.
Speaker 1 (36:11):
So we've got letters a and z on the computer screen
right now so that's the barbie a, and then that's the braille so
yeah, so explain what you'reseeing so I see the letter a and
z and that's uh.
Speaker 2 (36:24):
What does that say, hayley?
That's um how all we how we, oh, all we, all, we, that's.
Oh, that's how you spell, okayit's spelled h-a-u-y h-a-u with
umlauts, yeah, yeah, um, all, weall, we all right, fair enough
so the letters a and z areraised.
Those are the raised ones.
Speaker 1 (36:43):
I see it now.
Okay, yes, I got you, I got you.
So then what's this next onehere?
Speaker 2 (36:47):
the bobby a.
Those are just the dots wherehe.
Speaker 1 (36:52):
Those are the raised dots that he did yes, but look
how many like are listed here.
Yeah, for like z there'sfreaking nine dots yeah, that's
a lot and there's just two for aand, like your fingers, aren't
that big to hold nine dots on asingle finger pad.
Speaker 2 (37:07):
Well, and it's crazy too, because when you're looking
at the Barbie A1, you haveliterally it's just two columns,
yeah, so, whereas the Braillewhich is right below is more.
I don't want to say like theletter, because that doesn't
look like a Z to me, but it's ina certain position so that they
know that's a Z.
(37:27):
So it's a lot different,because it's, it's it's in a
certain position so that theyknow that's a z.
So it's a lot different becauseit's only a lot more compact
very well, it's only got fourdots too this is a six by six by
two.
Grid correct rails and you cantell and that makes more sense,
seeing that now what you meantby that, because you can see
where the other two would go ifthere was six there.
So yeah, that's quite different, yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:49):
So this is just a comparison photo, so I will make
sure to have that on our socialmedia as well.
Speaker 2 (37:54):
So you can kind of see that comparison between the
three.
Yeah, that's quite different.
Speaker 1 (37:57):
Yeah, so that is the history of Braille.
What do you think?
Speaker 2 (38:02):
I think that's interesting because, again, it's
a limited number of people thatare affected by it.
But it's still very importantto them because they still want
to read, they still want to beable to write and communicate
and so on, whatever it is.
So, yeah, that's got to betough.
I couldn't even imagine,because I am a lover of music.
(38:23):
I have been my whole life.
But if I had to pick one one,I'd pick losing my hearing over
being blind.
so yeah I could not not want tosee.
I'd much rather not be able tohear which I just took another
drink, you did took another sipof your beverage which you are
enjoying thoroughly.
Speaker 1 (38:44):
Yeah, I'll just stick to beer and hard liquor like
gin and tonics, like that's goodcan I ask a question?
Speaker 2 (38:51):
real quick after shock wow, can I ask a question
real quick?
Yeah, who told you not to getthat?
Speaker 1 (39:01):
do you have an idiom for me today?
Sure do let's move right oninto the idiom portion of this
episode along all right so thiswas.
Speaker 2 (39:10):
I don't remember who you said gave you this one, but
I did pick uh when in rome oh,okay because you had just
brought this up to me not thatlong ago.
Yeah, like we should do that.
One was it?
That wasn't nathan, was it?
I don't know might have been, Idon't know, might have been, I
don't remember.
Thanks, nathan, if it was you,if it wasn't.
Thanks anyway for being you.
So when in Rome, the idiom whenin Rome do as the Romans do is
(39:35):
like the full thing, Means tofollow the customs of a place
you visit.
It can also mean to follow thelead of those who are familiar
with the situation.
Never really heard that before,but I understand.
The first part is like do asthe locals do basically is what
it is.
So it's often used by travelersto express the need to adjust
(39:56):
to the customs of a new place.
So you go to Paris and you gotto go oh, we, we you know we
wouldn't do that.
Oh, we in Paris, sorry.
You, we in town, sorry.
You need to stop.
It can apply to any country orcity, not just Rome, it's just.
Yeah that's where it kind oforiginated from.
It also can be used to describeadapting to the actions of
(40:21):
people who are, who arecomfortable in an unfamiliar
situation.
So if you're like new to thesituation, just kind of read the
room and do as the Romans do,finish it.
I'm just kidding.
Speaker 1 (40:36):
Finish the drink that tastes like cleaning liquid.
Speaker 2 (40:40):
You have to finish that alcohol abuse.
If you don't, I'm pretty sure.
I'm going to save you a drink,save you a sip so you can
partake.
So of course it does also alsosay, like I said, idiom is often
shortened to when in Rome, yeah, so the origin is attributed to
St Ambrose, the former bishopof Milan.
(41:01):
Good salad.
Speaker 1 (41:04):
Wow, the former bishop of Milan is a good
salad's I've never heard of thatone, or is it ambrosia?
Speaker 2 (41:14):
I don't remember.
I think it's ambrosia, notambrose.
Speaker 1 (41:16):
Maybe it came from ambrose, ambrosia came from
ambrose.
Speaker 2 (41:20):
Oh dear um.
The story goes that saintaugustine asked saint ambrose if
they should fast on saturdaysas romans did, and ambrose
advised him to adapt to thehabits of the local people.
So that's where the origin ofthat came in.
It morphed into the do as theromans do and all that stuff.
So yeah when, in rome, do asthe romans do, which is
(41:45):
apparently murder people in abig coliseum.
Speaker 1 (41:49):
Shout out to our Nero episode Hell yeah.
Speaker 2 (41:52):
Let's play that liar Lear and just watch the city
burn.
That's what we're supposed todo, so yeah, so it was
interesting because you broughtthat up, so I figured the next
time we need an idiom, I just goahead and do that one because
it's fresh in the mind.
So I gotta, you know, up my gamea little bit, though I feel
(42:15):
like I need to get a little moredeeper in some of these meaning
.
It's a very easy one, it wasvery easy to find some stuff,
but I just I want to find one.
That's really fucking weird.
Speaker 1 (42:28):
I don't know how to describe it.
Yeah, I mean, we have a list ofidioms.
Speaker 2 (42:32):
We certainly do.
We, we have a list of idiomsand, um, I constantly uh, kate
will tell me one, Nathan willtell Kate one and she'll pass it
along.
Uh, another friend will mentionthem.
Some of my family has mentioneda few uh, or or.
I've just overheard.
So I have a list that I justkeep adding to.
(42:54):
Yeah, and basically, um, Icheck them off when, when we use
them.
So, yeah, I can now check offwhen in room when in room but
yeah, I always like that onebecause it's one I've known, I
feel, like my entire life.
So that's also why I kind ofwanted to do that one, because I
just I I've literally said itnumerous times throughout- my
(43:15):
life.
So anyways, but uh but yeah, sohistory of Braille, that's.
That was different.
I liked that cause I had.
I knew it was named after a guywith the last name Braille,
right, that's pretty much all Iknew about it, right, right, so
no, that was interesting.
Speaker 1 (43:30):
I thought it was pretty cool that they were all
kind of in the same time frameas each other.
Like it adapted really quickly.
Speaker 2 (43:37):
That actually was very wild.
I didn't realize that, and Imean, if you look at it, it
wasn't far off from each othereither.
Basically, Braille justperfected all we.
Speaker 1 (43:48):
Right.
And he already had a good ideawith the raised letters.
Speaker 2 (43:53):
It's a fantastic idea .
It's just hard because with howmuch is there feeling that I
can imagine was very difficult.
And then going to the dots wasBarbier, smart but a little
cumbersome.
Yes, with all the dots all thedots.
Yeah and then braille, justlike I like this, but I'm just
(44:15):
gonna tighten it up basically,yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (44:18):
The rapid succession and then the fact that we're
still using that system today iswell.
Yeah, I mean, it's basicallywhat?
Almost 200 years later right,yeah, almost right, almost right
.
Speaker 2 (44:28):
Yeah, 1840,.
What was?
Speaker 1 (44:31):
it.
Oh, he Mid-40s, right.
Yeah, he died in the 40s, yeah.
Speaker 2 (44:35):
Yeah, so 1840s.
So we're almost at frickin' 200years of using that system.
Speaker 1 (44:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (44:42):
So I really don't think a better one's going to
come along.
I mean, could one withtechnology?
Speaker 1 (44:47):
Yes, I mean could one with technology?
Speaker 2 (44:49):
Sure, obviously, but I mean it's a very universal
system to use.
I was going to ask so, like,obviously, English, which we
speak and write and everythingis that, and with lettering, I
mean I know the alphabet's thealphabet, but like, how do you
read Braille in?
Like Chinese?
Speaker 1 (45:06):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (45:07):
Is it different?
Speaker 1 (45:08):
That's a good question, is it?
Speaker 2 (45:09):
even used.
I just I was curious and Ididn't know if that was
something you would even comeacross.
Speaker 1 (45:13):
But you would just think like because a lot of the
characters right are like a fullword correct, and they actually
have that in braille as well oh, do that, so there will be
specific sequences of the wordthe oh, oh, that makes sense.
And yeah, because.
Speaker 2 (45:32):
Very regularly used words kind of thing.
That makes total sense, Yep.
But as you were going throughit, I'm like well, how do I use
Braille and Russian?
Speaker 1 (45:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (45:43):
Or whatever you know, pick whatever language you want
here.
But I just I wonder if ifthey're able to use that in some
fashion form or whateveradapted right way or is it just
a more?
But I mean, the french startedit so and again, I know the
alphabet is the same for a lotof different languages, but it
(46:05):
just I don't know especiallylike, like you said, the symbols
and stuff with Chinese.
It's like can you use Braillefor that?
So that'd be kind ofinteresting to find out.
Speaker 1 (46:14):
That would be really interesting.
Speaker 2 (46:15):
But no, that was pretty cool because, again, I
didn't know the origins ofBraille.
So yeah, very cool.
Speaker 1 (46:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (46:26):
So, kate, tell me about your delicious beverage
that you've been partaking in soI don't want to dismiss it.
Speaker 1 (46:31):
This has a place for people, just not you people,
just not in my stomach that'sfantastic so it is a strawberry
margarita tequila cocktail bycarbless yes and uh, it honestly
does taste like a cleaningsolution, like if you're
(46:53):
spraying like windex and some ofit just kind of like the wind
got you a little bit land onyour tongue.
It tastes like strawberrywindex oh gross it's really
bizarre and I can't wait for youto try it.
Actually, let's try it on theair right now.
Speaker 2 (47:07):
Hold, please Do we have to do this.
Speaker 1 (47:11):
It's for our fans.
Speaker 2 (47:15):
I'm glad you pluralized that.
Oh gross, just smelling it isfucking terrible.
Oh fuck why.
Speaker 1 (47:33):
Why would someone drink?
Speaker 2 (47:33):
that again to each their own, but good lord can you
taste the cleaning solution?
That's all I tasted.
Where's the rest of it?
Speaker 1 (47:46):
so bizarre, isn't it?
But at least it's gluten-free.
Speaker 2 (47:49):
Got that going for me zero carbs, zero sugar.
Speaker 1 (47:53):
Yeah, um, I have um the gin and tonic waiting for me
after this, so I'm excitedabout that.
Speaker 2 (47:59):
I do know I like that tell me about your beer.
Speaker 1 (48:01):
How was it?
Speaker 2 (48:01):
uh, so the the young blood beer company healy's and
jorts hazy into India Pale Alewas very good.
Good, good job, bill.
I don't know your friends whoyou made this with, but I like
what you did.
So.
I like the can.
It's very colorful, with someblue background and some trees,
so I dig that.
But no, I enjoyed it.
(48:22):
It was very good yeah, so Iwould definitely have this again
.
Speaker 1 (48:30):
Cool, I'd put this at a three and a half four on my
out of five I'm gonna say mineis uh zero one.
I will not repeat again.
So yeah, I'm gonna say zero.
I mean, like I could, I couldget it down like, that's not the
issue.
So do I give it a one then,because I technically can drink
it our scale is one to five.
Speaker 2 (48:48):
We can alter it to zero to five.
I give it a 0.5 because I canget it down and that's, that's
all it's getting is because youcould literally imbibe it.
So yeah, sorry, carbless well,you know there is a place,
people do drink it, so againbeing in the beer business, like
(49:08):
I was in the past.
I I used to sell White Claw.
I never sold Carbless.
There's tons.
I mean, that shit sells crazy,and I believe it's from
Wisconsin, right?
Did you say that?
Des Moines?
Yeah, or Des Moines, that'swhere it's.
From which one am I thinking of?
Never mind, something different?
Yeah, that's right, des moines.
(49:31):
Um, anyways, I'm thinking ofsomething different.
Anywho, uh, that shit sells alot though.
Yeah, so clearly there's plentyof people out there and maybe
it's just that flavor that youdon't like too yeah you that's
the first one you've tried ofcarbless right ever, so maybe
there's another flavor out therethat you might like.
I am just not a seltzer person,yeah, so I instantly shy away
(49:52):
from those.
Like White Claw to me.
Could I drink one?
Yeah, of course.
Speaker 1 (49:56):
But TV static.
Speaker 2 (49:59):
Exactly so on that note, well, I suppose.
All right, buffoons, that's itfor today's episode.
Speaker 1 (50:07):
Buckle up, because we've got another historical
adventure waiting for you.
Next time Feeling hungry formore buffoonery, or maybe you
have a burning question or awild historical theory for us to
explore.
Speaker 2 (50:19):
Hit us up on social media.
We're History Buffoons Podcaston YouTube X, instagram and
Facebook.
You can also email us athistorybuffoonspodcast at
gmailcom.
We are Bradley and Kate.
Music by Corey Akers.
Speaker 1 (50:33):
Follow us wherever you get your podcasts and turn
those notifications on to stayin the loop.
Speaker 2 (50:38):
Until next time, stay curious and don't forget to
rate and review us.
Speaker 1 (50:41):
Remember the buffoonery never stops.
Love it, love it, Love it.
Oh, hey there.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Oh, hey there.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
I am Kate.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
And I am Bradley.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
And we are the History Buffoons.
Hello Kate, how are you?
I'm good.
How are you?
Um, I'm a little tired.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
I am Bradley and we are the History Buffoons.
Hello Kate, how are you?
I'm good.
How are you?
Speaker 1 (00:26):
I'm a little tired.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
I am as well I feel a little lazy.
Yeah, I do as well, Sluggish.
Sluggish is an understatementat this point, uh-huh.
So we're going to turn itaround with some Humor.
Big podcast energy.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Big podcast, energy, don't you think?
Speaker 2 (00:44):
yes, I mean so do you want to tell him why we're
tired?
Speaker 1 (00:48):
so I have um coerced him into coerced.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
I mean, that is a perfect word for it uh, we are
painting my closet we are.
Yeah, I was easily coercedbecause you helped me paint the
pot loft at my house.
I don't like painting Same, butI said yes.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Two wrongs don't make a right.
But here we are.
It's a cool teal color.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
I really like the color you picked.
I think it looks awesome.
It's kind of nice to have alittle accent piece to your room
, because you didn't have a lotof color on the walls.
In terms of the paint color itwas pretty neutral so it would
be nice to have that nice pop ofcolor.
And yes, sometimes you havebecause it's a closet and you
just use curtains, you don't usedoors, and sometimes you have
(01:43):
them closed.
You won't see it as much, butso what, it's still going to be
nice.
So I think it'll be kind ofnice, a little fresh spot to
your room.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
But I mean, how long were we working on just the
closet?
Speaker 2 (01:55):
It was a decent amount A couple hours.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Was it a couple hours , I would say so.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
At least two Nah yeah close.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
I'd say a little under.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
This felt like longer , it felt like days.
It's felt like moses walkingthrough egypt or whatever but,
uh, but no, it looks nice, Ilike it I recently watched.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
okay, recently, as in several months ago.
Wow, I watched the Ten.
Commandments.
Yeah, and because it's so long.
I literally tried watching itlike 20 different times because
I'm like all right, where did Ileave off?
Speaker 2 (02:34):
It's very hard to do in one sitting.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
And they always play it around Easter of course,
because of that.
So usually I'll watch it aroundthat time.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
And the last few years I've put it on, but I
don't really pay as muchattention.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Yeah, it's very well done for how old it is.
Well, yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
I was there for filming, but were you one of the
extras I might have been.
I was baby Moses, but RamessesAnyways, I'm going to interrupt
this conversation.
Moses, but Ramazes anyways.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
I'm going to interrupt this conversation.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
No, you're going to end it.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
And bring it around to what I'm drinking today.
What are you drinking today?
It is something very differentthan what I would normally
choose.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
I was against this for you, I, I, I was against
this for you.
Uh, but to each their own.
I mean, because didn't you say,someone suggested you try it
too?
Speaker 1 (03:31):
yes.
Um, so this, I have a co-workerand she is a white claw fan,
that kind of stuff, and uh, Isaid, well, I've never tried it.
She goes carbless is better.
Right in my opinion.
So I was like, okay, I'll trycarbless, so that's what I have.
Um, it is a tequila cocktailand it is in the flavor
(03:52):
strawberry margarita.
Five percent alcohol, zerocarbs, zero sugars, 100 calories
and gluten-free, which is whyshe can drink it, because she
actually has celiacs, that'sright.
And um, it just says bestserved chilled or over ice, and
in mind is most definitelychilled canden des moines des
(04:15):
moines.
Well, I know what no, des moinesit's right past illinois's what
are you drinking?
Speaker 2 (04:24):
kate's having a delicious carbless that she
can't stop talking about.
I am having a beer from youngblood beer company from madison,
wisconsin, called heelys andjorts.
I don't know what the fuckheelys are.
I know what jorts are jeansshorts, jean shorts, yeah it's
like jeggings, like like jeanleggings no.
I know.
(04:44):
I said I know what shorts are.
I don't know what Heelys are.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
I don't know what Heelys are.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
All right, all right.
So I have a Hazy India Pale Alewith Lemon Drop Mosaic and.
Wakatou, wakatou.
It's 6.5%, so We'll see if Billmade a good beer.
Don't fuck it up, bill.
I used to work with Bill.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
You said that yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
So Cheers, yeah, drink yours too.
It's bad etiquette not to cheersomeone a drink.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
It tastes like cleaning fluid.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Oddly enough, so does .
I'm just kidding.
No, it's not bad.
You can definitely taste thelemon drop in it.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
So I don't really have a question for you today,
because I kind of forgot toformulate one oh shoot.
However, yes.
Have you ever, like, gone ontoan elevator, or you're waiting
for an elevator, or you'restanding outside like a big
classroom door and you seebraille on the walls and you
(05:50):
like run your fingers over it.
Do you ever do that?
I mean, I probably have in mylife, yeah, yeah I've done it a
couple times just to liketechnically feel I'm pretty sure
you probably did it a coupletimes today.
Well, we're going to talk aboutthe history of Braille.
Oh, there you go, yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
There was a baseball team that had Braille on their
jersey.
I didn't understand that,because it's not like they let
the blind people come up andtouch them out of the field.
That is odd.
I don't remember what team itwas.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Yeah, it's a very visual.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
A little bit.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Yeah, interesting.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Yeah, I mean I get where they're going with it.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
Inclusivity.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Well, whatever, supporting those people, but,
yeah, I always liked the driveup ATMs with Braille on it.
It's like, yeah, those thosepeople.
But yeah, I always like the thedrive up atms with braille on
it it's like why are thosepeople driving?
Makes me nervous, I get it.
It could also be just somewhatimpaired.
It's not just blind yeah Iunderstand, but just your first
thought is like those peopleshould not be driving cars
(06:55):
anyways um well, we are going tostart with Valen.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Okay, so this is all French names, oh dear.
So my apologies, I took Spanishand German and I'm still
working on English, clearly Okay.
So we're going to start firstwith Valentin.
Ahui, ahui, ahui, ahui, we'regoing to hell.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Are we, though, Um Valentin?
Speaker 1 (07:21):
Ahoui Ahoui, ahoui Ahoui.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Ahoui.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
We're going to hell, Are we though?
He was born November 13th 1745in France.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Okay, I'm not even going to tell you what the name
of the town was, because wedon't need to, like make your
ears bleed.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
Was that not part of your research?
Speaker 1 (07:38):
It was, but I deleted it oh dear so I don't have to
make your ears bleed?
Speaker 2 (07:43):
is it because you couldn't pronounce it?
Speaker 1 (07:48):
there's a couple of times I did that.
I was like I don't know how tosay that I'm gonna get rid of it
.
No one will ever know have youever done that when you're like
trying to spell something,you're like I don't know how to
spell it and you don't have aspell trick or whatever, so you
just like erase it and come upwith a different word I've done
that before, where, like Iliterally will pull up something
and I'll I'll type it in liketwo or three times.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Like fuck it, I need a new word.
Yep, yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
So I've totally done that before so all we was born
into a family of weavers.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
That's fitting oh weaver.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
His father was a loom operator who also served as a
bell ringer at a local abbey.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
For some reason that just made me think of the song
Smooth Operator, Loom Operator.
All right, anyways.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
So the abbey monks provided Alwi with an education
and nurtured his linguistictalents.
Okay, he became proficient in10 languages Holy shit,
including ancient Greek andHebrew.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Wow, yeah, I can barely speak one, I know.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
Same, in 1783, he achieved the prestigious
position of interpreter to theking.
Oh wow, louis XVI Jesus.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
Christ, Hold please, while I count.
What the hell.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
Interpreter of the king.
So Alvete dedicated his toassisting the blind starting in
1771.
So it was kind of a chanceencounter.
He was dining at a cafe inParis and he witnessed a group
of blind individuals who camefrom a hospice.
So I'm not sure of their age,but hospice was the term that
(09:37):
was used.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
Okay.
Um but uh, they were actuallybeing mocked during a street
festival that was going on sopeople saw them, they were
making fun, yeah, and he noticedthis and was like yes, yeah, so
their humiliating.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Their humiliation included like wearing dunce caps
and oversized glasses, and itreally affected all we.
So in in may 1784, all we met ayoung boy who was begging on
the streets, and he decided toteach the boy how to read and
write okay and he came up with aspecial way to do this, by
(10:11):
using raised letters yeah solike literally the letter a, but
like raised.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
So makes sense yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
So the kid learned pretty quickly and all we was um
excited and he wrote about itin the newspaper.
He got support from umdifferent academies and, with
the help of some additionalpeople, we started a school for
blind children in february 1785so that that beggar kid was
(10:39):
blind.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
Yeah, oh, I gotcha Okay.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
So the school was built on the idea of helping
blind people learn a trade likespinning or printing.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
Sure.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
But they also taught them how to read and write the
best that they could with thetools that they had.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
And their disability, if you will, okay.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
So, and King Louis 16th also supported the school
and he and it then became aroyal institution.
Oh, wow, yeah, nice.
So during the french revolution, um, the government took over
the school in 1791 and it wasmoved to an old monastery and
became known as the nationalinstitute for Blind Workers.
Wow, and Aloui was involved inpolitics and he worked as a
(11:22):
secretary during the FrenchRevolution and he served as a
government official and he wasactually arrested several times
because of his involvement inthese politics.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Oh really.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
Yeah, he was later also accused of being a
terrorist what yeah?
And he lost his job at theSchool for the Blind.
Yeah, he was later also accusedof being a terrorist what yeah?
And he lost his job at theschool for the blind.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
So what were the allegations for him?
Being a terrorist.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
So always, primary focus was on education and
improving the lives of the blindand there's actually no reason
to suggest that he was violentin in any way or even
participated right inrevolutionary like activities.
Sure, but um so like itwouldn't warrant that label of
like terrorism.
(12:08):
But it was likely onlypolitically motivated to just
discredit him.
That's too bad yeah so, um,despite this setback, he opened
his own private school and hetraveled to Russia and opened up
a school there at the requestof the Russian Emperor Alexander
.
I, oh, wow, yeah.
So Alwi returned to Paris in1817 and lived with his brother
(12:31):
and he died March 19, 1822, at76 years old in Paris.
All right, so he's like thevery beginning of braille, okay
so by doing the raised letters.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
So that's where it started.
And then someone yes, adaptyeah, adapted.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
Yeah, let's find out yes, so next we're going to talk
about francois barbier barbierit looks like barbier, like
b-a-r-b-i-e-r.
Okay, but it's pronounced bobby.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
A well, clearly, yeah so he was born, know that may
18th, 1767.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
okay, he was also born in france, coincidence, um.
He served as a soldier in thefrench army for several years,
okay, and he was an artilleryofficer alongside Napoleon
Bonaparte.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
Oh, wow.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
And Barbier witnessed a lot of the horrors of war
firsthand.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
Well, I would imagine .
So.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
So a lot of what he saw was happening at night.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
And what was happening is soldiers would have
to read and write their ordersin the dark, so they would light
candlelight, which is a verybright beacon for snipers.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Yeah, I mean they didn't really have sniper rifles
back then, but they still couldfind you and shoot you.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
Yeah so he came up with an interesting idea to help
combat those deaths.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
He called it knight writing.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
Knight writing.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
And he used it on the battlefield.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
So he basically used a grid to represent the letters
and the grid is like a five byfive, so five rows by five
columns.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
And each letter had its own unique position on the
grid makes sense and you couldfigure out the letter by its
grid coordinates.
So the row number and thecolumn number so it's like all a
bad battleship, right?
Yeah, yeah, like9 sunk you sunkmy word take a shot take a shot
(14:41):
uh, yeah, no, that makes sense.
I mean because so they wouldhave to like memorize the
columns for sure.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
Yeah, that's a good way to do it, though and I heard
that w is very rarely used okayso that wasn't even on the grid
well, that would make sense,because they only had five by
five, which is 25 if memoryserves me right.
That's not the how many lettersare in the alphabet, so so is
it also because w starts with ad?
Speaker 1 (15:12):
so he got even more creative by assigning different
symbols to represent each number, sure.
And then he startedexperimenting with dots.
So imagine pressing dots into apaper with like an all right um
, and that's how they wouldwrite essentially and barbie a
specifically designed this forblind people to read by the
(15:34):
touch of the the impression, theimpression yeah the breakage of
the paper Right.
So he also came up with a wayto represent letters using
finger positions, kind of likesign language but for letters,
gotcha.
So Barbier was pretty excitedabout his invention and wrote to
the school for blind childrenin Paris to tell them about it
(15:56):
Always school.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
Oh, there you go.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
Unfortunately, the director of that school at the
time wasn't interested.
Oh, that's sad but a newdirector took over in 1821 and
his name was alexandra reneepinier and he was.
He was open to new ideas and hehad a student try out barbie's
method and then they showed itto the other students and the
(16:19):
school board and it was a hugesuccess.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
Well, yeah, because I mean look how much easier that
probably had to be for them tobe able to figure that out.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
Yeah.
So the students who alreadyknew the alphabet quickly picked
up Barbier's grid system.
Okay, and then, even thoughBarbier preferred using sounds
instead of letters, the studentsfound it helpful that the grid
was made with the regularalphabet.
Sure, so before Barbier'smethod, the students used books
with the raised letters and theywere really hard to read and
(16:51):
they took up a ton of space.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
I bet.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
And then they couldn't quite write for other
blind people to read.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
So with Barbier's system they could take notes in
class and easily read them later.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
So barbie system wasn't perfect well, of course
there's gonna be some learningcurve so it didn't have symbols
for punctuation or numbers.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Oh, I suppose yeah, and you couldn't tell the
difference between uppercase andlowercase letters.
Okay, um, and it couldn't beused for music yet how come?
Because it's he didn't createthe grid to have musical notes
in it okay did I convince you um, consider me convinced.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
Okay, great okay um.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
So it was a really big first step, and it showed
that blind people could be,could read, based on these
raised dots that represented acode, right, sure so, and it was
easy to use the tools thatBarbie 8 invented, and then he
donated a lot of his sets to theschools over the years.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
But it was essentially like a tablet with
an awl Right and they would likepoke holes into a tablet with
an all right and they would likepoke holes into the tablet
because that's how they wrote,right, yeah right.
So barbie spent the rest of hislife trying to promote his
ideas um for easier ways tolearn to read and write.
He wrote books and tried to getum his simplified writing
systems, into schools for younglike younger children, but they
(18:20):
weren't very successful okay sohe died on april 22nd 1841 at 73
years old in paris oh, wow
Speaker 2 (18:28):
then enter braille lewis braille is that where they
got the?
Lewis I knew it was named afteryes, a person.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
yes, yes, so Louis Braille was born in France.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
Weird, I did not see that coming.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
It's like Couvray, couvray.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
Couvray.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
France In 1809.
And it's about 20 miles fromParis.
Okay, so he was the youngest offour children, oh dear.
He was the youngest of fourchildren, oh dear.
His father was a successfulleather and maker of horse tack.
Okay, sure you know what horsetack is.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
I do Tell me Horse tack is basically just all the
stuff you use for a horse, abridle, the reins, bits, bits.
Even the saddle technically isconsidered tack.
Yeah yeah, I used technicallyis considered tack.
Yeah yeah, I used to have ahorse.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
Yeah, so he made all of that Nice.
And when Braille was just threeyears old, his parents were
making saddles in their workshopand little Louie was curious
and he grabbed an awl andaccidentally poked himself in
the eye.
Oh shit, ouch, really, yeah,it's's like I wonder what this
(19:42):
does I think he was like tryingto push the all through a piece
of leather and he was like tooclose.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
He was three and it basically ricocheted, if you
will, yeah, yeah, so that sucksyeah um, so one eye got infected
and then the other guy gotinfected oh, really.
So, even though he pokedhimself in one eye.
Both eyes, yeah, holy shit yeahit traveled to his other eye.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
Oh, and his.
His parents were pretty on topof like getting him to the
doctor etc.
But by the time he was five hewas completely blind.
Oh, that's too bad, yeah.
So lewis didn't reallyunderstand that he couldn't see
okay, but he did often ask hisparents why it was always dark.
Oh yeah, that's weird, yeah, sopoor kid but his parents did
(20:29):
like everything they could toraise him like any other child.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
Well, which is, I think, the right way to do it,
because otherwise he's.
I mean yeah, you have adisability now, but don't want
to treat them any different kindof thing, so that's good.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
So they encouraged him to explore.
They would give him specialcanes that his father would make
.
They would go around thevillage and the countryside and
Louis seemed to accept hisblindness and he actually grew
into a really happy, bright kid,Good.
So his teachers and the localpriests were impressed by how
smart and imaginative he was.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
And they made sure that he got a chance to like
continue his education.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
See, that's nice, because a lot of people,
especially the timing that he'sgrowing up here, would just be
like, well, you're useless, yeah, and just give up on you.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
So, because of his intelligence, braille was
permitted to attend one of thefirst schools for blind children
in the world, the RoyalInstitute for Blind Youth, which
is now named the NationalInstitute for Blind Youth in
Paris.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
Oh nice.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
And the children learned to read using Always
system.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
There you go, okay.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
So Louis benefited from Always books, but he soon
realized they weren't quiteenough okay um.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
The books were bulky, limited, holding very little
information is it because theywere so bulky, you just couldn't
put a lot in it?
Yeah, all right.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
Yeah makes sense um, and it was a time consuming
process.
Sure, I bet it was so.
The those raised letters werecreated by pressing wet paper
against copper wires.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
And it was a technique that made it kind of
impossible for blind children towrite.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Well, yeah, using that system For sure.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
So to help Louis stay in touch with his family, his
father made him an alphabetusing thick pieces of leather.
It was a slow and awkward thingto try to do, but it allowed
Lewis to trace letters and beginhis own messages.
Oh, that's good, so it was alllike cut out and he would just
trace the letters Sure.
So um handmate books by all wewere pretty heavy and awkward
(22:34):
for children, um, they weredifficult to make, um easily
damaged, expensive and all weschool when they, when it first
opened, they only had threebooks in braille really yeah so,
despite this, all we was superpassionate um and he believed in
educators would embrace it.
(22:54):
At the time, however, lewis andthe other children quickly
realized that seriouslimitations going on here.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Yeah, I mean it's a good idea, the thoughts there,
but not good execution.
Yeah, we'll just say that.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
Yeah, so Braille was a really good student and he
read all these books carefullyand paid close attention to his
teachers and he became liketheir top student.
He paid close attention to histeachers and he became like
their top student and once hefinished the program they
actually asked him to startteaching at the school.
Oh really, yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
How old were you then , like, when you finished the
program?
Speaker 1 (23:30):
So I think he was in his 30s, like 20s or 30s,
something like that.
Oh wow, let's see, he was bornin nine and he became a
professor in 33.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
Oh, so, so he's only 24 twenties yeah.
Jeez, that's impressive yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
So he spent most of his teaching life teaching
history, geometry and algebra atthat Institute.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
So Braille was also a musician.
He played cello and organ.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
Oh nice.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
Yeah, and later in life he also played organ at a
couple of churches all overFrance.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
Oh really.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
Mm-hmm, nice.
So in 1821, louis Braillelearned about Barbier's way of
communicating.
Yeah, and that's when theraised dots kind of came into
play and inspired Braille tocreate his own system.
Okay, so Braille was reallydetermined to create a system
where blind and sighted peoplecould easily communicate with
(24:28):
each other.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
Because, sighted people can see the dots the
raised dots, like we were justtalking about Right, right we
were just talking about rightright.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
So he believed that being able to communicate meant
having access to knowledge,which was absolutely crucial for
blind individuals well, yeah,because otherwise they're pretty
left out of the picture.
Yeah, so so he said, if we can'tcommunicate freely, people will
continue to look down on us ortreat us like we're helpless.
We don't need pity.
We don't want people toconstantly remind us that we're
different.
We don't need pity.
We don't want people toconstantly remind us that we're
different.
We deserve to be treated asequals, and communication is the
(25:05):
key to making all that happen.
So Braille improved Barbier'ssystem by making it simpler and
more efficient.
He made each letter use thesame number of dots and reduced
the total number of dots to six.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
So the biggest letter has six is what you're saying
or not?
The biggest letter, but themost within a letter is six.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
Okay, yes, so his first version used both dots and
dashes.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
Oh really.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
But he later removed the dashes because they were a
little bit too hard to read.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
And Braille's smaller cells, because it's no longer a
five by five grid Now it's onlysix, so it can easily be felt
with a single, like a finger pad.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
Sure, you know.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
Um.
So Braille used the same toolsthat Barbie a had donated to the
school like the tablet and theall.
Um, and he started creating hisown system of raised dots.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
So um Braille system quickly expanded to also include
music so how did he includemusic with that?
That was not part of myresearch.
Oh seriously, no oh dear it wasa new musical code good thing
you're talking to a musician sonow we have dr alexandra
(26:30):
francois renee pinier okay, okayhe was the head of the school
yeah and he supported braillesystem right, okay so he started
teaching the the whole likestudent population this um.
But then a new teacher namedpierre Armand Dufault took over
and he didn't like Braillesystem.
(26:51):
Why?
Because he's a dick.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
Did it say that in your research?
Huh, he didn't like it becausehe was a dick, he was a dick.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
So Dufault forced Dr Pignet to leave.
What a dick.
And the Braille system willstop for a while, but then
another teacher comes along,joseph godet and he supported
braille.
Well, there you go and thesystem was brought back in 1844
and the skate and the schoolmoved on to new horizons.
What a dick that other guy.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
It was just like a little blip in history, yeah
it's just like yeah, no, I don'tlike it, fuck you.
Yeah, you drove the other guyoff.
What the hell man.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
so braille was always kind of a sickly child and his
health got worse as he got olderand he had a respiratory
illness, probably tuberculosisor something Okay.
And he lived with that forabout 16 years.
Oh wow, and no care.
At the time, when he was 40, hestopped teaching because he was
too sick.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
And in the end he became very ill and had to go to
the infirmary infirmary at theschool and he passed away there
in 1852.
Oh wow, just two days after his43rd birthday.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
So he was.
How old was he, Did you say?
Speaker 1 (27:58):
he it was.
He died two days after his 43rdbirthday after Okay, yep, that
sucks so finally in 1854, twoyears after Braille died, the
school agreed to use his systembecause the students kept asking
for it.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
Well, I mean, there you go.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
Yeah, so Braille's system quickly spread throughout
French-speaking countries, butit took longer to catch on
elsewhere.
Okay however, at a meeting ofteachers of the blind in 1873,
dr thomas rhodes armitagestrongly supported braille and
(28:35):
he started to notice that it or,excuse me, he, his use started
to grow rapidly around the worldthen.
Oh, yeah, so by 1882, drarmitage uh reported that almost
every school for the blind inthe world now uses braille.
That's crazy except for a fewin north america, because we
slow, hey speak for yourselfnebraskan but eventually even
(28:56):
those schools started usingbraille.
So it was officially adopted inthe united states in 1916 and a
universal braille code code forenglish was created in 1932 okay
so there are many new ways thatbraille is used today.
There's braille computerterminals, email services, a
(29:20):
special service system for mathand sciences sure so after 200
years sorry, 200 years afterbraille invented it, yeah, it's
still incredibly important,right?
Yeah, so the braille institutethat we have now has over 32,000
paper braille books in theirlibrary that's wild.
(29:41):
I know that's a lot of braillebooks, yeah so there there are
some challenges that blindBraille readers face.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
I would imagine.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
Yeah, so in an increasing like digital world,
it seems like Braille bookswould like.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
Go away.
Speaker 1 (29:59):
No, it seems like it would be like much more
available to them.
Sure they don't have access toa wide range of literature.
So they have the Bible, theyhave some Shakespeare, you know,
but nothing that wascontemporary, nothing that was
like age appropriate.
Speaker 2 (30:18):
Right.
Speaker 1 (30:19):
So, um, there, there is like systems where you can
they can convert the text fromstandard print to braille oh
really, and it's a relativelylike, straightforward process,
but a lot of systems have tohave this software to perform
this task sure makes sense and,logically, there should be a
(30:40):
huge library available, rightright, but there's not less than
one% of published books areavailable in Braille.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
That's wild actually.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
Yeah.
You would especially think someof the bestsellers and all that
would get literally translatedinto anything Exactly Translated
yeah, so it seems that with thelimited availability of Braille
books, it was actually a highcost to the readers.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
Oh, why is that?
Speaker 1 (31:10):
So the software that converted the text into Braille
requires specialized hardwaresoftware whatever.
Either way, these devices arepriced between $3,000 and
$15,000.
Wow, okay, wow okay yeah, andit's very disproportionate,
because the it would allow massproduction, which drives down
(31:33):
the cost of each book.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
Well, right and that's the thing, like the
initial investment, yes, is high, but ultimately you would be
able to mass produce, like yousaid.
Then I want to drive down costbecause you can mass produce
them.
That's how it works.
Yeah, and then you'd be able tomass produce, like you said.
Then I want to drive down costsbecause you can mass produce
them.
That's how it works.
Yeah, and then you'd be able tohave more books out there.
But apparently no one justwanted to take the leap of faith
(31:56):
and invest in that in thebeginning so that's too bad, but
there's also a limited marketwell, yeah, so I just thought of
a question.
I don't know if this is part ofyour research what is there like
a percentage of the like?
What is there?
8 billion people now on thisplanet?
Is there a percentage that notjust blind but obviously seeing
(32:18):
impaired people of the world?
Speaker 1 (32:22):
I don't think I read anything like that Of the world.
Speaker 2 (32:25):
Do you have like North America or something
America or?
Speaker 1 (32:28):
something English speaking.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
Sure.
Speaker 1 (32:30):
It might be around a hundred thousand Braille readers
.
That's like the statistic Ihave.
So the people who know Braille,sure.
It's about a hundred.
A hundred thousand.
That's not a lot of people,it's not so okay, so I can
understand, though, why a lot ofpeople it's not so okay.
Speaker 2 (32:45):
So I can understand, though, why a lot of people
wouldn't invest that money for ahundred.
It still sucks, but I canunderstand it at least, because
that isn't actually not a lot ofpeople right.
Speaker 1 (32:55):
So, assuming a typical reader, their lifespan,
this would translate intomultiple different tablets or or
devices whatever to read thatbraille right.
Um, and the annual demand forthese readers.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
Just aren't enough.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
Yeah, it's not there yeah, so, um, you could probably
receive like a new device every10 years or so.
Super tiny market and making10,000 of these would be like a
test run for a random keyboardjust a regular keyboard.
Speaker 2 (33:33):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (33:34):
Yeah, it's just a.
It would act like a small trailrun.
Speaker 2 (33:38):
Do they have Braille keyboards?
Yes, they do.
Yes, okay.
Speaker 1 (33:42):
So this kind of explains why the digital age
hasn't really come up with a wayto accommodate, yeah, yeah.
So, but the total cost ofgetting a book to a blind reader
is still really, really high,right, and when the main tool
that they need costs thousandsof dollars because it's
(34:02):
basically handmade and verylimited, it's hard to make a
profit.
Sure, and I get that, and theworld's about making profits.
If they can't, they it's hardto make a profit.
Speaker 2 (34:07):
Sure, now I get that, and the world's about making
profits.
If they can't, they just go onto the next thing.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
So today, those who do not know Braille use text to
audio, audio books, screenreaders, things like that.
Speaker 2 (34:22):
Braille is still taught, but not many like
adapted that, yeah, learningstyle I guess I can imagine, but
like you and I like to listento audiobooks, so obviously
that's a huge way to get to alot of these people yeah so I
mean it's nice that there'sother avenues instead of just
having to read a bunch of dots,because, I'll be honest, I can't
(34:46):
read it.
But I feel like, oh man, thissucks.
But obviously it's different forthem because that's how they
have to read it yeah so it'sjust, it's just wild to think
that, but at least there's otheravenues for them to uh, hear
the books and so on and whatever.
So that I guess, with thatbeing said, it also makes sense
why they're not investing thismoney to make braille books
because it's logical, but it isit does suck, though, because
(35:10):
you'd like to have thatavailable for these people,
because you know they're theyhave limitations, unfortunately
and you want to make it soeverything's readily available
for them.
Speaker 1 (35:19):
But yeah that's too bad so whenever we go to france,
coupe ray or whatever, 20 milesoutside of paris, let's do it.
There is a Louis Braille museum.
Speaker 2 (35:29):
Oh, is there really, oh nice.
It was his hometown and itmight even be his home period
the house he grew up in, Rightright.
Speaker 1 (35:37):
But there is a museum there that you can visit.
Okay, but that is the historyof Braille.
Speaker 2 (35:44):
That's wild.
Yeah, I don't remember whatbaseball team it was, but they
literally had the dots for theirname.
Speaker 1 (35:51):
Yeah, I want to show you this picture real quick and
maybe you can kind of describeit for people.
Speaker 2 (35:58):
I'll try, I'll do my best.
I can't see that far, oh dear.
Okay, so the two dots is A.
Speaker 1 (36:07):
My hip popped.
Speaker 2 (36:08):
Oh, dear, dear, that was awkward, I bet um yes.
Speaker 1 (36:11):
So we've got letters a and z on the computer screen
right now so that's the barbie a, and then that's the braille so
yeah, so explain what you'reseeing so I see the letter a and
z and that's uh.
Speaker 2 (36:24):
What does that say, hayley?
That's um how all we how we, oh, all we, all, we, that's.
Oh, that's how you spell, okayit's spelled h-a-u-y h-a-u with
umlauts, yeah, yeah, um, all, weall, we all right, fair enough
so the letters a and z areraised.
Those are the raised ones.
Speaker 1 (36:43):
I see it now.
Okay, yes, I got you, I got you.
So then what's this next onehere?
Speaker 2 (36:47):
the bobby a.
Those are just the dots wherehe.
Speaker 1 (36:52):
Those are the raised dots that he did yes, but look
how many like are listed here.
Yeah, for like z there'sfreaking nine dots yeah, that's
a lot and there's just two for aand, like your fingers, aren't
that big to hold nine dots on asingle finger pad.
Speaker 2 (37:07):
Well, and it's crazy too, because when you're looking
at the Barbie A1, you haveliterally it's just two columns,
yeah, so, whereas the Braillewhich is right below is more.
I don't want to say like theletter, because that doesn't
look like a Z to me, but it's ina certain position so that they
know that's a Z.
(37:27):
So it's a lot different,because it's, it's it's in a
certain position so that theyknow that's a z.
So it's a lot different becauseit's only a lot more compact
very well, it's only got fourdots too this is a six by six by
two.
Grid correct rails and you cantell and that makes more sense,
seeing that now what you meantby that, because you can see
where the other two would go ifthere was six there.
So yeah, that's quite different, yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:49):
So this is just a comparison photo, so I will make
sure to have that on our socialmedia as well.
Speaker 2 (37:54):
So you can kind of see that comparison between the
three.
Yeah, that's quite different.
Speaker 1 (37:57):
Yeah, so that is the history of Braille.
What do you think?
Speaker 2 (38:02):
I think that's interesting because, again, it's
a limited number of people thatare affected by it.
But it's still very importantto them because they still want
to read, they still want to beable to write and communicate
and so on, whatever it is.
So, yeah, that's got to betough.
I couldn't even imagine,because I am a lover of music.
(38:23):
I have been my whole life.
But if I had to pick one one,I'd pick losing my hearing over
being blind.
so yeah I could not not want tosee.
I'd much rather not be able tohear which I just took another
drink, you did took another sipof your beverage which you are
enjoying thoroughly.
Speaker 1 (38:44):
Yeah, I'll just stick to beer and hard liquor like
gin and tonics, like that's goodcan I ask a question?
Speaker 2 (38:51):
real quick after shock wow, can I ask a question
real quick?
Yeah, who told you not to getthat?
Speaker 1 (39:01):
do you have an idiom for me today?
Sure do let's move right oninto the idiom portion of this
episode along all right so thiswas.
Speaker 2 (39:10):
I don't remember who you said gave you this one, but
I did pick uh when in rome oh,okay because you had just
brought this up to me not thatlong ago.
Yeah, like we should do that.
One was it?
That wasn't nathan, was it?
I don't know might have been, Idon't know, might have been, I
don't remember.
Thanks, nathan, if it was you,if it wasn't.
Thanks anyway for being you.
So when in Rome, the idiom whenin Rome do as the Romans do is
(39:35):
like the full thing, Means tofollow the customs of a place
you visit.
It can also mean to follow thelead of those who are familiar
with the situation.
Never really heard that before,but I understand.
The first part is like do asthe locals do basically is what
it is.
So it's often used by travelersto express the need to adjust
(39:56):
to the customs of a new place.
So you go to Paris and you gotto go oh, we, we you know we
wouldn't do that.
Oh, we in Paris, sorry.
You, we in town, sorry.
You need to stop.
It can apply to any country orcity, not just Rome, it's just.
Yeah that's where it kind oforiginated from.
It also can be used to describeadapting to the actions of
(40:21):
people who are, who arecomfortable in an unfamiliar
situation.
So if you're like new to thesituation, just kind of read the
room and do as the Romans do,finish it.
I'm just kidding.
Speaker 1 (40:36):
Finish the drink that tastes like cleaning liquid.
Speaker 2 (40:40):
You have to finish that alcohol abuse.
If you don't, I'm pretty sure.
I'm going to save you a drink,save you a sip so you can
partake.
So of course it does also alsosay, like I said, idiom is often
shortened to when in Rome, yeah, so the origin is attributed to
St Ambrose, the former bishopof Milan.
(41:01):
Good salad.
Speaker 1 (41:04):
Wow, the former bishop of Milan is a good
salad's I've never heard of thatone, or is it ambrosia?
Speaker 2 (41:14):
I don't remember.
I think it's ambrosia, notambrose.
Speaker 1 (41:16):
Maybe it came from ambrose, ambrosia came from
ambrose.
Speaker 2 (41:20):
Oh dear um.
The story goes that saintaugustine asked saint ambrose if
they should fast on saturdaysas romans did, and ambrose
advised him to adapt to thehabits of the local people.
So that's where the origin ofthat came in.
It morphed into the do as theromans do and all that stuff.
So yeah when, in rome, do asthe romans do, which is
(41:45):
apparently murder people in abig coliseum.
Speaker 1 (41:49):
Shout out to our Nero episode Hell yeah.
Speaker 2 (41:52):
Let's play that liar Lear and just watch the city
burn.
That's what we're supposed todo, so yeah, so it was
interesting because you broughtthat up, so I figured the next
time we need an idiom, I just goahead and do that one because
it's fresh in the mind.
So I gotta, you know, up my gamea little bit, though I feel
(42:15):
like I need to get a little moredeeper in some of these meaning
.
It's a very easy one, it wasvery easy to find some stuff,
but I just I want to find one.
That's really fucking weird.
Speaker 1 (42:28):
I don't know how to describe it.
Yeah, I mean, we have a list ofidioms.
Speaker 2 (42:32):
We certainly do.
We, we have a list of idiomsand, um, I constantly uh, kate
will tell me one, Nathan willtell Kate one and she'll pass it
along.
Uh, another friend will mentionthem.
Some of my family has mentioneda few uh, or or.
I've just overheard.
So I have a list that I justkeep adding to.
(42:54):
Yeah, and basically, um, Icheck them off when, when we use
them.
So, yeah, I can now check offwhen in room when in room but
yeah, I always like that onebecause it's one I've known, I
feel, like my entire life.
So that's also why I kind ofwanted to do that one, because I
just I I've literally said itnumerous times throughout- my
(43:15):
life.
So anyways, but uh but yeah, sohistory of Braille, that's.
That was different.
I liked that cause I had.
I knew it was named after a guywith the last name Braille,
right, that's pretty much all Iknew about it, right, right, so
no, that was interesting.
Speaker 1 (43:30):
I thought it was pretty cool that they were all
kind of in the same time frameas each other.
Like it adapted really quickly.
Speaker 2 (43:37):
That actually was very wild.
I didn't realize that, and Imean, if you look at it, it
wasn't far off from each othereither.
Basically, Braille justperfected all we.
Speaker 1 (43:48):
Right.
And he already had a good ideawith the raised letters.
Speaker 2 (43:53):
It's a fantastic idea .
It's just hard because with howmuch is there feeling that I
can imagine was very difficult.
And then going to the dots wasBarbier, smart but a little
cumbersome.
Yes, with all the dots all thedots.
Yeah and then braille, justlike I like this, but I'm just
(44:15):
gonna tighten it up basically,yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (44:18):
The rapid succession and then the fact that we're
still using that system today iswell.
Yeah, I mean, it's basicallywhat?
Almost 200 years later right,yeah, almost right, almost right
.
Speaker 2 (44:28):
Yeah, 1840,.
What was?
Speaker 1 (44:31):
it.
Oh, he Mid-40s, right.
Yeah, he died in the 40s, yeah.
Speaker 2 (44:35):
Yeah, so 1840s.
So we're almost at frickin' 200years of using that system.
Speaker 1 (44:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (44:42):
So I really don't think a better one's going to
come along.
I mean, could one withtechnology?
Speaker 1 (44:47):
Yes, I mean could one with technology?
Speaker 2 (44:49):
Sure, obviously, but I mean it's a very universal
system to use.
I was going to ask so, like,obviously, English, which we
speak and write and everythingis that, and with lettering, I
mean I know the alphabet's thealphabet, but like, how do you
read Braille in?
Like Chinese?
Speaker 1 (45:06):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (45:07):
Is it different?
Speaker 1 (45:08):
That's a good question, is it?
Speaker 2 (45:09):
even used.
I just I was curious and Ididn't know if that was
something you would even comeacross.
Speaker 1 (45:13):
But you would just think like because a lot of the
characters right are like a fullword correct, and they actually
have that in braille as well oh, do that, so there will be
specific sequences of the wordthe oh, oh, that makes sense.
And yeah, because.
Speaker 2 (45:32):
Very regularly used words kind of thing.
That makes total sense, Yep.
But as you were going throughit, I'm like well, how do I use
Braille and Russian?
Speaker 1 (45:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (45:43):
Or whatever you know, pick whatever language you want
here.
But I just I wonder if ifthey're able to use that in some
fashion form or whateveradapted right way or is it just
a more?
But I mean, the french startedit so and again, I know the
alphabet is the same for a lotof different languages, but it
(46:05):
just I don't know especiallylike, like you said, the symbols
and stuff with Chinese.
It's like can you use Braillefor that?
So that'd be kind ofinteresting to find out.
Speaker 1 (46:14):
That would be really interesting.
Speaker 2 (46:15):
But no, that was pretty cool because, again, I
didn't know the origins ofBraille.
So yeah, very cool.
Speaker 1 (46:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (46:26):
So, kate, tell me about your delicious beverage
that you've been partaking in soI don't want to dismiss it.
Speaker 1 (46:31):
This has a place for people, just not you people,
just not in my stomach that'sfantastic so it is a strawberry
margarita tequila cocktail bycarbless yes and uh, it honestly
does taste like a cleaningsolution, like if you're
(46:53):
spraying like windex and some ofit just kind of like the wind
got you a little bit land onyour tongue.
It tastes like strawberrywindex oh gross it's really
bizarre and I can't wait for youto try it.
Actually, let's try it on theair right now.
Speaker 2 (47:07):
Hold, please Do we have to do this.
Speaker 1 (47:11):
It's for our fans.
Speaker 2 (47:15):
I'm glad you pluralized that.
Oh gross, just smelling it isfucking terrible.
Oh fuck why.
Speaker 1 (47:33):
Why would someone drink?
Speaker 2 (47:33):
that again to each their own, but good lord can you
taste the cleaning solution?
That's all I tasted.
Where's the rest of it?
Speaker 1 (47:46):
so bizarre, isn't it?
But at least it's gluten-free.
Speaker 2 (47:49):
Got that going for me zero carbs, zero sugar.
Speaker 1 (47:53):
Yeah, um, I have um the gin and tonic waiting for me
after this, so I'm excitedabout that.
Speaker 2 (47:59):
I do know I like that tell me about your beer.
Speaker 1 (48:01):
How was it?
Speaker 2 (48:01):
uh, so the the young blood beer company healy's and
jorts hazy into India Pale Alewas very good.
Good, good job, bill.
I don't know your friends whoyou made this with, but I like
what you did.
So.
I like the can.
It's very colorful, with someblue background and some trees,
so I dig that.
But no, I enjoyed it.
(48:22):
It was very good yeah, so Iwould definitely have this again
.
Speaker 1 (48:30):
Cool, I'd put this at a three and a half four on my
out of five I'm gonna say mineis uh zero one.
I will not repeat again.
So yeah, I'm gonna say zero.
I mean, like I could, I couldget it down like, that's not the
issue.
So do I give it a one then,because I technically can drink
it our scale is one to five.
Speaker 2 (48:48):
We can alter it to zero to five.
I give it a 0.5 because I canget it down and that's, that's
all it's getting is because youcould literally imbibe it.
So yeah, sorry, carbless well,you know there is a place,
people do drink it, so againbeing in the beer business, like
(49:08):
I was in the past.
I I used to sell White Claw.
I never sold Carbless.
There's tons.
I mean, that shit sells crazy,and I believe it's from
Wisconsin, right?
Did you say that?
Des Moines?
Yeah, or Des Moines, that'swhere it's.
From which one am I thinking of?
Never mind, something different?
Yeah, that's right, des moines.
(49:31):
Um, anyways, I'm thinking ofsomething different.
Anywho, uh, that shit sells alot though.
Yeah, so clearly there's plentyof people out there and maybe
it's just that flavor that youdon't like too yeah you that's
the first one you've tried ofcarbless right ever, so maybe
there's another flavor out therethat you might like.
I am just not a seltzer person,yeah, so I instantly shy away
(49:52):
from those.
Like White Claw to me.
Could I drink one?
Yeah, of course.
Speaker 1 (49:56):
But TV static.
Speaker 2 (49:59):
Exactly so on that note, well, I suppose.
All right, buffoons, that's itfor today's episode.
Speaker 1 (50:07):
Buckle up, because we've got another historical
adventure waiting for you.
Next time Feeling hungry formore buffoonery, or maybe you
have a burning question or awild historical theory for us to
explore.
Speaker 2 (50:19):
Hit us up on social media.
We're History Buffoons Podcaston YouTube X, instagram and
Facebook.
You can also email us athistorybuffoonspodcast at
gmailcom.
We are Bradley and Kate.
Music by Corey Akers.
Speaker 1 (50:33):
Follow us wherever you get your podcasts and turn
those notifications on to stayin the loop.
Speaker 2 (50:38):
Until next time, stay curious and don't forget to
rate and review us.
Speaker 1 (50:41):
Remember the buffoonery never stops.
Love it, love it, Love it.
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