May 3, 2024 • 48 mins
Unlock the enigma of human behavior as Katie Mode and I embark on a captivating exploration of sex, gender, and their profound influence on history and innovation. Prepare to be enthralled by groundbreaking research that paints a vivid picture of the early developmental differences between males and females, setting the stage for a lifetime of unique perspectives and interactions. We'll take you on a historical adventure through the gendered evolution of beer brewing, where women once reigned supreme, revealing how the tides turned with the commercialization of the industry. Our narrative stitches together the fabric of our past with the threads of relational behavior and problem-solving tactics that have been woven distinctly by men and women over centuries.
Join us as we celebrate stories of grit and genius with tales of entrepreneurs like the indefatigable engineer Fisher, whose relentless drive birthed the ballpoint and Space Pens. Discover how his innovations revolutionized not just writing instruments, but also the dynamics of space exploration, offering a fresh perspective on the power of persistence and the role of ego in the creative process. We'll also pay homage to Hiram Maxim, whose inventive prowess echoes from the hushed reports of silenced gunfire to the rustle of disposable diapers, highlighting the diverse and profound impact of innovation. Each anecdote serves as a testament to the indomitable human spirit and the myriad ways in which our individual approaches to challenge and creation can leave lasting marks on the world.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
And I'm joined as I am most episodes by my co-host,
katie Mode, and today we'regoing to talk about sex.
We're going to talk about thedifferences between men and
women and how men and women seethe world differently.
And a lot of times we see aproblem, we may see a different
problem, we may see the sameproblem and come up with a
(00:21):
different solution and come upwith a different solution.
Men and women, chemically,socially, biologically, are so
different that we see differentproblems and different solutions
.
And it starts at a very youngage.
There is a study done in, Ithink, 1979, called Sex
Differences in Neonatal EyeContact Time by Joan Hiddleman
and Robert Dix, and what theytalk about is in neonatal
(00:45):
development, females,specifically in that early,
early stage of development,their eye contact, just their
eye contact, spikes around 400%improvement of how much time
they're spending looking attheir parents, versus boys,
where their eye contact in thatI think, five months their eye
(01:07):
contact improves zero.
So females, biologically, fromday one are relational are
relational, they're social.
The the social interactionmatters.
Men care more about grouphierarchy than they do about
anything else.
Right right, Men have all theseterms alpha male, beta male,
(01:28):
omega male and we use thosethings.
When we're together in a group,we naturally compete to figure
out where we land.
Women are about socialconnection.
Women don't care who you are,where you're from, how much you
do or don't do at work.
They care about can I connectwith you socially?
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Women are also more naturally dyadic in
relationships, meaning we willbranch off and pair off
naturally, which is why womentend to put more pressure on
themselves to have a best friend, because we're more dyadic in
nature where men can kind ofexist in a group and not feel as
much competition.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Yeah, and women crave that one-on-one time.
Men almost from day one.
Little boys even don'tunderstand why women want to go
to the bathroom together, butwomen get that solo time, that
uninterrupted, quiet time wherethey can have conversation.
And so if you think of it interms of a problem, so let's
imagine we're walking along apath and there's a fallen tree
(02:24):
or there's a rock in the way.
Men are going to man up andthey're going to move that
object right, or they're goingto chop that tree or they're
going to push that rock and rollit off their path.
They're more likely to see thatproblem and say, well, I
physically can't move that or Iwouldn't want to, I might hurt
myself.
(02:44):
Let's go get other peopletogether and we'll move this
rock together.
It's a natural instinct Menwill, even if they do need help.
They'll often try alone for alittle bit to just try and power
through that problem.
And so if we look into theworld of innovation, that's what
we're going to do today.
We're going to open the door tosome innovations and some ideas
(03:07):
, and most of mine areintentionally geared in the 40s
and 30s and 60s and some of theearlier ages of our country.
Intentionally, because safetywasn't especially pre and you
know slightly, pre and post warsafety wasn't that big of a deal
.
There's people dying all overthe place.
There's lots of war happening.
(03:28):
No one really cares if thisguy's jumping off a building by
himself.
Now we've been in a period ofpeace for long enough that
safety is this huge thing.
And you'd probably be arrestedif you were jumping off your
roof with a little paragliderand people saw you.
They'd probably call the police.
This guy's trying to killhimself.
Back in the 40s it was justyeah, some guy's jumping off his
roof.
Hope he doesn't die andeveryone moves on with their
(03:50):
lives.
So we're going to focus in onsome specifics of how men and
women have identified problemsand solved them.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
And the differences between them.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Yeah, and the differences between them.
So do you want me to start, ordo you would you?
Speaker 2 (04:06):
like to start.
I'd like to start ladies firstladies, first, let's go first I
actually this is gonna be alittle bit off topic a little
bit, because I think it's veryinteresting and it plays into
the just the differences of menand women and it plays into the
just the differences of men andwomen and it has to do with beer
(04:28):
, Beer, Beer.
I'm in, I figured.
So you know, when you think ofbeer today you think of it's a
man, it's a man's sport, right,Like, pubs are typically dark.
They're not feminine placesLike I don't think I've, I can
say I've rarely been like let'sgo for a beer, Usually it's
let's go for a drink and I'mgoing to a martini bar.
(04:51):
It's just marketed towards men,it's a masculine drink.
However, beer, it predates thewritten language and back when
beer was getting its I guess,its start, or when it was, you
know, back in the ancient world,it was largely a domestic task.
(05:11):
So women were in charge ofbrewing and distributing beer,
when it became distributable, Iguess.
But women were brewing, theywere owning breweries.
That was what they did becauseit was considered domestic,
which I think is so interesting,because the change happened
(05:33):
when it became commercializedand then women started to get
pushed out of the role of abrewer or a business owner by
men.
Like you said, we're not goingto go into all of that like
politically or you know, sexismetc.
But it's just so interestingbecause I don't think many
people realize that women usedto have such a pivotal role in
(05:57):
brewing or in the beer cultureand where the final push like
they started being pushed outwhen beer started to become
commercialized, but that finalnudge out the door was in the
16th and 17th century, during.
Do you know what was really bigduring those centuries?
I know those are not yourfavorite, that's not your
favorite era, so I'm going toput you on the spot for five,
(06:19):
four, three, two.
It's not even the Victorian era, but I love the effort.
The 16th and 17th centurieswere known for witch hunts, so
women were often couldn't beseen brewing you can't be seen
brewing.
But also they were often blamedfor spoiled beer.
Must have been that witch overthere that we want to, you know,
(06:40):
we want to nail so.
Women were officially shovedout of that industry during the
16th 17th century because of thewhole witch hunt craze, and
from then on the beer industryhas become regulated and
controlled by men.
So I wanted to set the stagethere, because a lot of the
examples I'm going to discuss inthis episode of women inventors
(07:00):
have to do with you know, nothave to do with, but uh, are
great examples of women who hadan idea and were really, really
patient, or designed somethingand then just walked away Like I
had an idea or you know, thiswould improve this problem or
solve this problem, and thenwhen they were hit with you know
, negative feedback, they kindof just moved on.
(07:21):
And I think that's reallyinteresting.
And going back to this beerexample, women were doing
something and then they justkind of kicked out and we just
kind of like, okay, we'll dosomething else.
So I wanted to set the stagewith that.
It's just a fascinating littlestory.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Interesting.
So the first thing I think ofthat's interesting is when you
think of a brewer a brewer, amaster brewer you automatically
a man with a big beard, totallyRight, like kind of a I would
say 5'8", 185, 190 pounds, bigbeard.
You know kind of that Sam Adamsguy.
Right, you always think ofbeards and men when you think of
(07:54):
a brewmaster, but when youthink of a bartender or someone
who's serving the alcohol in apub, it's always a woman.
I mean historically, it'salways you think of a female.
Matter of fact, a malebartender almost seems kind of
weird, with the exception of avery small kind of men's type
(08:15):
space like a whiskey lounge.
You almost want a man with abrag, but for the most part when
you think of a macro bar,females are who you think should
be serving to you.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
I think that's a commercialization of sex, though
, like, women are easier to lookat.
If a brewery is going toattract men, you want women
behind the bar.
I think that's more of amarketing ploy.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
It could be, but also when you think of the
differences in men and women,women are better listeners.
If you're going to pour yourheart out or you're gonna drown
your sorrows, you probably wannatalk to a woman about that.
You want the advice from thewoman.
You want to talk about what'sailing you, preferably to
someone who's good atcommunication.
Because, again to our pointabout that, men are gonna tend
(09:02):
to just okay, man cool, let meknow if you need another beer to
forget about that.
Men are going to tend to justokay, man cool, let me know if
you need another beer to forgetabout that one.
The classic argument.
There's a comedy sketch aboutthat.
Specifically, one guy just hada baby and the guy goes and
plays four hours of golf withhim and then the wife is like so
how's the baby?
And he goes.
We didn't talk about that.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Oh yeah, I can attest to that.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Yeah, so I feel like there's some tie into that Now
when you talk about men andwomen.
So I'll venture into my firstone here.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
Yeah, let's hear about your first.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
So when you talk about men and women and women
being willing to let an idea go,I'm going to go to the Fisher
Space Pen.
So when you think of the SpacePen, you think of oh, it's the
pen that can write upside down,it can do all these things.
And the inventor specificallywanted nothing originally quote,
unquote nothing originally todo with the ballpoint pen.
(09:55):
So Fisher is an engineer who'sbrought in during early World
War II to help a ball bearingmanufacturer get back on track.
We're in this period whereprivate companies have gone from
producing whatever good theymade into wartime goods, and so
(10:16):
this particular factory isworking on ball bearings for
airplane parts, and there'sairplanes waiting to be built.
All they need are these ballbearings and then they can go
off and fight the war.
And so the army actuallycontacts this private company I
don't remember the name of thecompany off the top of my head
and tells them if you don't geton track, we're going to take
over this company and we'll doit ourselves, like you have to
(10:38):
get on track.
So they contract Fisher.
He comes in and he quicklyidentifies areas where they can
improve and gets them on onschedule.
And he's identified as thisengineer, this fixer, this guy
who can problem solve, um, hekind of makes a name for himself
and so in an entrepreneur after.
So, after he leaves the ballbearing factory after the war,
(11:00):
an entrepreneur approaches himthat owns a pen company and he
says this guy, laszlo Bureau outof Argentina, has invented this
ballpoint pen and I want tobasically make my own version.
So I want to reverse engineerit, make my own version of this
ballpoint pen.
Here are some samples of hispen Can you help me manufacture
this?
And we'll sell it.
(11:20):
And Fisher goes home with thepens, comes back the next day,
throws them all on the desk andsays this is an absolute piece
of trash.
It's mechanically flawed in amillion different ways.
This thing is garbage, I won'tdo it.
And he refuses to be part ofthe project, stay along.
And so he sticks in with thispen company, makes some
improvements to the design,designs that little piece of,
(11:50):
that little bit of glue thatgoes in the back of the
cartridge, that keeps it fromleaking.
He designs that.
He makes some improvements tothe overall design and reduces
the cost of manufacturing.
So he does a couple differentlittle things to kind of help
this pen be slightly better, andthe ballpoint pen is this new
fangled thing, and so there is aline, a block long out the back
of the building to return thistrash pen, but there's a line
(12:14):
two blocks long on the front tobuy this trash pen, and so
they'll swap them out.
Yeah, so they're.
So they're basically looking atthis like, okay, people want
this thing and and over the nextyear or two basically becomes
known that this pen is garbageand they can't sell it for cost,
they can't give these thingsaway, and so the company goes
(12:35):
out of business.
And this is where the man thingcomes in right.
So you're talking about womenwho are willing to just come up
with an idea and just give itaway.
Right, it's social.
They want.
I wouldn't say give it away butor walk away from their idea,
right.
So they're willing to walk awayfrom this idea.
And on the other side of men,you talk about social hierarchy
or group hierarchy.
(12:55):
So Fisher waits.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
I feel like men Well dig in.
In my personal experience ofmen they dig in.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
Well, experience of men, they dig in.
Well, fisher waits for thiscompany to go out of business,
and then he asks permission fromthe original company owner.
Hey, would you mind if I startmy own pen company?
Okay, and within months hecomes up with what he calls the
one-for-all refill, which is asingle refill that will fit any
of the ballpoint pens.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
Refill for ballpoint or refill for fountain.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
No refill for ballpoint pen.
So up until this point now theballpoint pen market has
expanded and there's a lot ofpeople making better versions of
this pen.
So he comes out with a one forall refill almost immediately,
because he had the designalready done.
He already knew what he wantedto do.
He was just withholding it fromthat company because he wanted
it to be his.
So instead of helping this guywho brought him in be successful
(13:42):
, he waits until this guy goesout of business and then starts
his company and releases allthis really cool patented stuff
he's been coming up with andbecomes one of the biggest pen
manufacturers on the planet.
And then we talk about so hecomes up with these solutions
and he comes up with thesepatented ideas that make him a
huge pen company.
And then we talk about the kindof ego of men.
(14:04):
So here's where history gets alittle interesting.
Now we're in the 60s or late50s, early 60s and, according to
Fisher, nasa approaches him andsays hey, we'd like you to make
this space pen.
We want to go to space.
We have some concerns aboutgraphite.
The Russians are using pencils.
(14:24):
We have some concerns aboutwood shavings and graphite
floating around this oxygen-richenvironment about causing
explosions, so we don't want touse pencils.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Has that ever happened?
Speaker 1 (14:34):
So there is an instance where they say the
Russians did have a fire as aresult, but I couldn't find any
consistent issues.
There's more of a concern thanan issue.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
No sharpening your pencil on board the space
station.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
Well, but even just writing with your pencil, little
bits of graphite floating intothe air, no sharpening, no
sharpening.
The Dixon Ticonderoga sharpenedperiod.
So he says, nasa approaches himand says hey, you're this
amazing pen manufacturer, canyou make us a pen for space?
Nasa says that he approachedthem after he had spent a
(15:07):
million dollars developing a penFor space.
Well, he originally wasdeveloping a pen, so what he
came up with was, if I add alittle bit of resin, and classic
male miscommunication.
He said rosin to his engineerwho spent like 100 days testing
out different rosins.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
I don't even know what rosin is.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
It's like a tree sap.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
That he wanted to.
He's trying to figure out a wayto incorporate rosin into ink
to make the ink thicker, andafter he comes back he's like we
can't use this rosin.
They come back and say, no, Isaid resin, he goes, are you
kidding me?
And within like 50 days he hasa gel ink that doesn't leak.
Nice, basic miscommunication,but afraid to ask right
(15:50):
Hierarchy mail.
And so he comes up withbasically a pressurized tube
with a resin-infused ink and acap on the end, and so when you
push the ballpoint pen, the inkrolls onto the little ball and
the little ball writes on thesurface and it can do all kinds
of amazing things.
Go Google the Space Pen, gonuts.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
I think I've seen a couple videos of it.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
Yeah, so the Space Pen can write underwater, it can
do all these things and becauseof that resin, that thicker ink
, it'll stick even underwater.
Yeah, because it's pressurized.
Yeah, because it's pressurized,right.
And so he comes up.
Nasa orders several.
But NASA is in the middle of abit of a pickle.
Of these $4,000 pencils theyhad been ordering and there was
a I wouldn't call it aconspiracy theory, but there was
(16:32):
a political anti-NASA campaignsentiment happening at the
moment of NASA's wasting allthis, all these tax dollars, on
these really, really expensivethings.
And pencils got targetedbecause they don't know anything
about.
You know titanium fixtures andthings, but everyone knows what
a pencil is and how much pencilcosts.
So they see $4,000 pencils andyou're wasting our tax money,
(16:52):
and so they.
Actually, the original order ofthe pens was a very small order
for a very cheap price, becauseNASA was afraid that people
would go bananas if theyoverpaid for pencils or pens
again.
So they buy these space pens.
Goes incredibly well, and thenthe Russians end up ordering
space pens as well and then webecome the space pen, right.
But what I think is interestingon that male versus female
(17:14):
thing is the fact that hewithheld his idea so he could be
the man.
It could be the alpha in theroom, right, so he holds it back
.
Let's like watches this poorguy go out of business and have
all the ideas to make himsuccessful, but I'm not going to
right, it's less about gettingthe product to market and more
about him getting the productcorrect.
(17:35):
It's more about his status inthe group, and that's what
matters.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
Yeah that is so interesting because I want to
talk about.
I have two really fascinatingstories.
I'm not sure which one I shouldlead with, but we're going to
start.
I think you know you're talkingabout the war and NASA, so I
think that'll segue us reallynicely into a woman named I hope
this is right Hedy, or HedyH-E-D-Y Lamar, and she is.
(18:03):
She has given the title of themother of Wi-Fi, and so a little
background on who she was.
She was an Austrian born andraised and an actress.
But she grew up in a home whereshe was really indulged for the
time by her mother and father,and her mother was a woman of
the arts, which is why shebecame an actress.
She was pushed into theater byher mother, but her father was
(18:24):
very curious and veryintelligent, so he spoke to her
at an early age about the innerworkings of things and how
engines worked and he just kindof inspired this curiosity in
her and she would tinker, evenas like a five-year-old, to take
apart her jewelry box.
And she just had this knack foreverything mechanical in her.
I don't know whether it wasinnate or it came from her
(18:45):
father or a little bit of bulk.
She just had this ability butbecause of the time and you know
she's a woman, she was kind ofpushed into the arts from her
mom and she was beautiful.
So she became an Austrianactress who attracted the eye of
a man named Fritz Mandl, whowas her first husband, and they
(19:06):
got married and he basicallyexpected her to sit still and be
pretty.
So she was acting but shecouldn't exhibit her mind at all
.
She was supposed to playhostess, don't speak, etc.
And she picked up a lot ofinformation during dinner table
conversations overhearing herhusband talk to his colleagues
(19:27):
about wartime weaponry, becausehe was a munitions dealer and
this was the beginning of WorldWar II, like the very, very
beginning.
So she picked up a lotlistening to them discuss the
war and all the weaponry and allthat.
So she ended up migrating to theUS to get away from her husband
because she was completelystifled and her career took off
(19:48):
in Hollywood.
She was a star, she was doingvery, very well and there was a
couple of colleagues that shehad in the industry who picked
up on her mechanical brain andkind of indulged her and would
give her science equipment kitsthat she could tinker with in
her trailer and just flex thatmuscle that she had that was
(20:08):
dormant for so long.
And right when the US wasentering the war, she expressed
to a friend that she felt bad,that she wasn't doing anything
to help the war effort.
She's making all this money,she's this famous actress, but
what is she doing?
And so she began working withhim.
I'm not gonna name him becausewe're talking about women
inventors.
(20:29):
She started working with him onco-developing the frequency the
frequency hopping technology,which basically predates wi-fi
and gps, and the point of it wasto help guide torpedoes to
their targets.
It was cutting-edge technology.
They patented it.
They got a patent in 1942.
They approached the Navy.
(20:50):
The Navy thought it was great,and then they never implemented
it.
They never, ever implemented it.
And so what did she do?
She pivoted to selling wartimebonds.
That was it.
She helped develop this reallyinsane technology, got the stamp
, and then no one wanted to useit.
So she was like, okay, we'lljust go ahead and help support
(21:11):
by selling these bonds.
She never saw a penny for thatpatent.
Her patent expired and then, in2014, she was posthumously
inducted into the NationalInventors Hall of Fame and today
is credited as the mother ofWi-Fi.
So zero credit while she wasalive, zero money while she was
alive.
To her, it was less about liketo what you're saying, less
(21:33):
about fame and status, and oh, Icame up with this and it can do
great things.
She didn't shop around.
I came up with this and it cando great things.
She didn't shop around, shedidn't approach other branches
of the military, she didn't tryto start a company that could
utilize this technology in someway.
She did something and then shekind of just moved on with her
life, which I find really,really fascinating.
It was more about the journey ofinnovating something which we
(21:53):
now, like we use frequencyhopping technology as the basis
of a lot of our technology.
Don't ask me how I did not gothat deep into the research, but
I think that's crazy and Ithink maybe I would be the same
way.
There's a lot to think aboutand a lot to do and we're
relational and she probablyreally enjoyed the process of
(22:15):
developing this technology withher business partner.
And then, okay, fine, I'll dosomething else that's going to
benefit this new country thatI'm developing this technology
with her, with her businesspartner, and then you know, okay
, fine, I'll do something elsethat's going to benefit, you
know this new country that I amnow a citizen of, and etc.
Etc.
I'm not rambling well.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
So what I find interesting is so I'll piggyback
off of that a little bit we'retalking about a first things
first.
I think a man probably wouldhave been like, no, you will use
my technology.
Would have been bullheaded ascan be, and been like well, I'm
going to design my own bombswith my own technology and
you're going to have to use myreceiver.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
Well, wasn't there a pilot who developed his own
plane?
That was like revolutionary.
It turned into a big turningpoint in the war because he
could go further.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
The Mustang.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
Wasn't he like doing something really outlandish?
And he was like I'm just gonnado it and prove it probably I
don't.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
I gotta go back.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
We can, we can yeah we can research that you're
gonna be like.
Oh yes, let me give you all thedetails and no, no, but I, I,
I'll, I'll look into that.
We'll see what we have on ourwebsite yeah, I'll post it on
the web, the.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
So let's look into.
Now.
We're talking about a femalewho's whose father involved is
it peaks her interest?
Her father peaks her interestin these things and kind of the
social pressure of being asocialite right Of her mother is
no, you need to go into thearts.
So let's go the other direction.
So let's talk about Hiram Maxim, hiram Percy Maxim and his
(23:42):
father, hiram.
Something else Maxim.
Middle name last name.
Maxim the last name Maxim, firstname Hiram where the father is
is a an avid inventor andtinkerer and engineer and he
actually came out with the Maximmachine gun.
It's like the first portablemachine gun.
(24:03):
His son grows up in this homewhere his dad's an inventor, an
engineer, a tinkerer and he alsoinvents I mean, a ton of things
.
I mean he's got all kinds offirearms patents.
He was involved incommunications, he did a lot of
different things, but he grew upin this world where his father
promoted it and he was like, hey, you should be what I am.
(24:26):
And the son following in thefootsteps of the father, and
because he's in this world andbecause he's thinking about
these things, he's out.
Hiram Maxim is hunting and hecan't help but notice how dang
loud guns are.
You fire one shot, you get onechance to shoot at a deer, and
(24:48):
then all of them flee if youmiss, and then you have to sit
there and wait and wait and waitfor them to come back or move
and and find a new space to kindof attract them once again.
So he gets a little bitfrustrated with this and so he
goes back home and he says, okay, let's look into some of let's
use my existing knowledge ofleveraging the principles of
(25:09):
sound and let's develop thischamber that slows down the
gases that are leaving thebarrel will slow the gases down,
which is gonna make itinherently quieter.
So he invents the firstsilencer, the early stage
silencer that would go over thebarrel of the firearm and slows
down the gases by cooling themand therefore reduces the
(25:30):
overall volume of the shot.
This invention right goes on tobe used by hunters and military
and in personal use and allthese things, but it's just an
example of the same situationgrowing up and instead of
stifling it, we amplify it andwe allow that person to run off
and be what they kind of want tobe, what they're good at, which
(25:52):
I think is interesting.
We've talked about firearms andbeer and all this stuff.
What do we have?
That's a little bit morefamily-friendly, yeah for our
family listeners.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
I guess I have the perfect family-friendly example
the disposable diaper.
Okay, Good one, right?
Speaker 1 (26:12):
Man's best friend.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
Woman's best friend, marion Donovan, is the inventor
of the disposable diaper and shealso was a socialite.
She was highly educated.
After she got married she movedto Westport, connecticut.
This was in the 1940s.
She grew up in also a veryinnovative home.
(26:34):
Her father and uncle wereinventors and she grew up around
machinery and manufacturing.
So we're a trend here right ofwomen who are exposed really
really early to tinkering,creating manufacturing.
Can't wait to see what mydaughters are gonna make I know
it's inspiring me to like makethem be more creative.
So, marion, she she actuallystarts her journey with the
(26:58):
first patented and highlysuccessful leak-proof,
waterproof diaper cover, andthis is important, okay, so up
until this point all diaperswere just cloth.
So every time your baby wouldhave an accident you'd have to
deal with the diaper, but alsowhatever that baby was sitting
on or in.
So lots of bedding, just lotsof laundry, and it was a pain
(27:20):
and she was done with it.
Every time she put her baby ina new cloth diaper they would
soil themselves all the sheetsand she was just lost in this
revolving door of laundry.
And back then laundry was verydifferent.
We're not going to go into that.
But it wasn't as easy justthrowing it into the machine.
So she wanted to come up with asolution, not to slow down the
(27:45):
number of soiled diapers, but toprotect her linen so that every
time the baby had an accidentshe wasn't having to wash all
the linens on top of the diapers.
So she patented this waterproofshell or cover that would go
over top of the diaper, whichwas called the boat because it
kept babies afloat.
(28:05):
Super cute and it was really,really successful.
People loved it.
It flew off the shelves.
So then she decided to take it astep further and she came up
with the first truly disposablediaper that would wick away the
moisture, because a big problemin the 40s and 30s and 20s was
(28:26):
diaper rash.
So when these innovations camearound, the first diaper cover
was made of rubber and thatreally irritated the skin.
So there was a really bighurdle of solving this moisture
wicking you know, coming up witha moisture wicking technology
that would not irritate thebaby's skin.
(28:47):
And she did it and it was likea nylon and she went to market
and she was mocked.
She was criticized and this wasa very male-dominated industry
and she was basically told thather invention was impractical
and completely unnecessary.
So it took her 10 years toactually find someone to invest
(29:12):
essentially in her idea, and theperson that she found was
Victor Mills, who would laterbecome the creator of Pampers.
So you're talking about aninvention that changed the
entire industry, right?
You'd be hard-pressed to findfamilies who don't use
disposable diapers.
(29:33):
They're out there.
Some families do use reusablediapers, but by and large most
families are buying disposablediapers.
But it took her 10 years toconvince the industry that this
was a risk worth taking, thatpeople would actually buy this
product.
And in the meantime she moved on.
She is a serial inventor, soshe went on to other projects
(29:54):
and focused on other things andshe did a lot of great work.
And so I think that Marion's agood example of a woman who
didn't just kind of abandontheir idea.
She kept going and she kepttrying to find someone who would
bring it to market with her andshe did.
But it's just, she definitelydidn't put.
(30:16):
It wasn't her only focus, shewas doing other projects on the
side.
It was kind of like if thisdoesn't go where it's going to
go, it just won't and we'll moveon.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
When was the disposable diaper made?
Speaker 2 (30:30):
This was in the 50s, 60s, I didn't, you know, I
didn't write down the actualdate that she, that she, that
victor mills picked it up, butshe was a new mother in 1940s
and 10 years I'm assuming the60s, because it took 10 years
for victor to pick it up andprobably there's another 10
years in there for developingour, you know, research and
(30:52):
development.
Actually, you know, bring,bring her patent to market.
So I find it.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
I just find it interesting that in the
mid-1990s, uh, john halldevelops the first diaper pail.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
So you got the women throwing away disposable diapers
what do we do if all thesediapers are piling up?
Speaker 1 (31:09):
well now?
Now it's become mainstream andall the guys are taking out the
trash.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
Yeah, this thing is so, and I can attest to how bad
they smell well I think I thinkit's interesting that and I
think this is worth talkingabout she is solving a very
female problem, especially inthe mid 20th century, like men
are changing diapers in the mid20th century.
So she's solving a femaleproblem.
(31:32):
She knows that this is going tobe a successful innovation
problem.
She knows that this is going tobe a successful innovation and
yet when she goes and she talksto men about it, they're like no
, they don't get it Because theydon't understand the problem
and she's pushed off and againmocked and told that it's
completely unnecessary whenshe's sitting there going.
You're not sitting at homechanging diapers.
Speaker 1 (31:52):
Of course it's necessary, so I think that's
really interesting it isinteresting and you know what a
problem that men do get.
So we're gonna, we're gonna gointo the titleless golf ball.
Every, every man in the world.
In the world knows the title ispro v1.
Right, that's the the creme dela creme of of golf balls and
the title is golf ball is afascinating story.
(32:16):
You've got this gentleman, philYoung, and Phil Young is out
playing golf with a buddy and hehits a putt and he's, you know,
gets it right on the green.
He hits this putt that he knowsis going in.
He is that confident in hisskills and putt misses, and he
does what every man.
Speaker 2 (32:35):
It was the ball, not me.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
It was the ball, it was the ref, it was the Like.
I know that was good, right.
So he takes it a step farther.
He doesn't just say it wasdefinitely the ball.
He takes the ball to a localhospital and x-rays it to prove
that it was the ball.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
I want to be in the room, for when he showed up at
the hot like, did he have aconnect?
Speaker 1 (32:56):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (32:56):
Like he's walks in with his golf ball and he's like
I need an extra of my golf balland they're like no problem sir
.
Speaker 1 (33:01):
But he, he takes the guy he's playing golf with, he
takes his buddy.
Speaker 2 (33:04):
This is a wild story in itself.
Speaker 1 (33:06):
Yeah, he.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
so this guy shows up they must have known what do you
call an x-ray tech?
X-ray tech I feel like that's adoctor that's deep, deep,
finally capped in my brain.
That's not going to surfaceright now, but he must have
known someone who did that yeah,so.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
So he walks in with the guy he's playing golf with
and it is in, wants time on anx-ray machine to x-ray this ball
to prove that the the coreinside that ball is inconsistent
and that's why he missed theputt and they find out that by
golly it is.
It's inconsistent.
I mean, it was a lopsided coreinto this ball.
So he stops everything, startsa golf ball business, comes up
(33:46):
with a way to make that insideof the golf ball perfectly round
so it's going to roll the right, the right way and it's not
going to wobble at all when it'shit.
And he starts a process at theend of every golf ball.
Speaker 2 (34:01):
Like when it's created.
You mean?
Speaker 1 (34:02):
After it's created, at the end of the line it is
x-rayed to make sure that thecenter of that golf ball is
circled how it's supposed to be.
He comes up with a Titleistgolf ball and to this day
Titleist still x-rays everysingle golf ball to make sure
that the internals are the rightshape.
And he starts an entire companybased off of a missed putt and
(34:22):
it's it's such a non-problem.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
Well, I mean time out this is where we get into the
differences.
Speaker 1 (34:33):
It is certainly a problem, but it is the.
It's the moment that every mancraves.
When you say it's definitelythe ball, that was not me and it
ends up not being you, and youcan prove it with data.
Men crave that moment of beingthat that's your.
That's your kind of quote,unquote alpha male moment.
(34:53):
Right, I can prove to all themen that I'm on the mountaintop
and I would have made that puttif that ball was right.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
But not only did he prove, he could have left it at
proving right.
I went to what a great dinnerstory.
Like.
I went to the hospital, I gotthis ball, I tried it and look
it's right there.
I had the x-rays.
They're framed.
You can go look at it, is it me?
(35:19):
But he keeps going and there'sno way he doesn't keep that ball
.
Like there's no way to get thex-rays.
They've got to be framed, likein the in the office of this,
what is it?
Titleist?
Yeah, I just think it's sofunny that he went that extra
mile.
Like it's not.
Like sure, it's understand thatit's a problem, but it's not a.
But it's not a problem, right?
He's not.
Like he's not solving worldhunger, is what I'm trying to
(35:40):
say.
He's not curing cancer.
He's making better golf balls.
Speaker 1 (35:44):
Yeah well, which is important?
Again, it's important, it'simportant overall.
And the funny part is you stillpay $65 for 12 Titleist Pro V1s
.
They're still a very expensivegolf ball and there are YouTube
channels all over the place thatcut all the balls in half and
show you that it's really nobetter than anything else.
It is the status of that ball.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
Well, I'm sure the industry has caught up and now
most golf balls are prettybalanced on the end, but they're
just the first to do it, and soyou're buying the badge and the
x-ray at the end.
Speaker 1 (36:15):
make sure well, you're, you're buying that.
They all that, that almostelitism of the ball right, it's
the best ball in the market,which again, there's plenty of
proof that says it's probablynot all that much better than
anything else.
But I just think it's aninteresting, interesting spin on
on what we're.
We're talking about.
Right is is a man's problem,right, I mean that's.
(36:36):
There's no world in which that.
Speaker 2 (36:38):
And I bet you, if he brought his idea to an industry
dominated by women, they wouldmock him and tell him his
invention is completelyunnecessary.
Speaker 1 (36:47):
Oh 100, 100%.
Speaker 2 (36:49):
So to throw men a bone?
I don't think it's really fairto like going back to the story
about the diapers, right, likethey didn't understand the
problem.
I still don't understand theproblem of this, of the golf
ball, like I understand it, sureon a very fundamental level,
but like, come on, do we reallyneed to like stop our lives to
read on the golf ball?
Speaker 1 (37:10):
I don't think so, yes .
Speaker 2 (37:12):
I don't think so.
All right, I have one morestory for you what you got got
this one's super light thewindshield wiper, the windshield
wiper, the windshield wiper.
Did you think that that wouldhave been invented by a woman?
Speaker 1 (37:26):
No.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
No, I wouldn't either .
Speaker 1 (37:28):
Because women don't Drive Drive.
Speaker 2 (37:30):
Wow, I saw that coming across your face before
you even opened your mouth.
Speaker 1 (37:35):
Kidding, but go ahead .
Speaker 2 (37:36):
So in the beginning of the 20th century, when
automobiles were very new,safety features not really a
thing, right, they werebasically like lawnmowers on
chassis.
So you know, seat buckles,blinkers, air mat, like no, you
just, you just was, it is whatit was, it wasn't what it was
(37:57):
and you didn't even have.
No, you just, you just was itis what it was, it wasn't what
it was and you didn't even havea license.
You just buy all these things.
And see ya, Mary Anderson wastraveling, traveling to New York
City.
She was from the Midwest, shewas traveling in the city and
she was on a streetcar, and astreetcar of that age would have
looked a lot like a tram, togive you a visual and was
(38:18):
snowing and the driver kepthaving to stop every few minutes
, get out of the tram and, likemanually with his hand, clear
the windshield.
And she was like this isinefficient, there's got to be a
better way.
So when she went home shestarted working on prototypes of
the first windshield wiper.
And if you look at theprototype it's pretty much the
(38:40):
same as far as the wiper right,like when you look at the wiper
blade.
That's what she drew.
The difference was it wasn'telectrical.
It was maneuvered by a pulleysystem that the driver could
grab inside the tram, pull downand the wiper would move back
and forth.
That way he wouldn't have toget out and clean it.
(39:00):
So she went back, she made thispatent, she went to the
manufacturers a bunch ofmanufacturers to try to get a
prototype built and she was shotdown and told it had zero
commercial value.
Speaker 1 (39:16):
Zero.
Speaker 2 (39:17):
Zero, wow, no one would make this thing for her.
Decades later again we have atheme, at least amongst these
women I'm not saying all womeninnovators and inventors just
like try once and abandon shipand then don't get credit.
I'm not saying that, but inthis episode this is a theme.
Decades later, the carmanufacturing industry has now
(39:40):
implemented Mary's design likeout of the gate, right Like cars
come standard with a windshieldwiper.
They followed her design.
It comes standard and guesswhat?
Her patent has expired.
So she created this thing.
No one said it had any value.
So she okay, whatever, moved on, didn't keep her patent, you
(40:04):
know, updated because she wastold it was worthless.
And then when it expires, itbecomes standard equipment and
every vehicle on the road I mean, that is the thing is not, but
I feel like if Mary was Matt, hewould have been like I disagree
and he would have pushed,pushed, pushed or at the very
least probably held on to thatpatent.
(40:26):
So eventually he would havegotten some type of feedback.
That's just my hunch.
Nothing against Mary, but Ithink that as women we have more
of a tendency to just kind ofmove on, move along, move along.
And men, because of thatcompetitiveness, the nature is
more to fight for what you knowis a good innovation or a good
(40:48):
product.
Speaker 1 (40:50):
Yeah, but also, I mean, I think there's something
to be said for the socialimplication.
You've been told by so manypeople that this is not valuable
, sure, and you're like allright, well.
I guess the world's not readyand don't get me wrong, there's
plenty of instances where menhave done the same thing.
But I think in a lot of caseswhen there's an idea that good,
(41:14):
I would promote everyone to notgive up on it.
And I think that's part offinding that that promoter,
finding that that cheerleader,that kind of will push you to
continue and keep going.
And I think that's to me that,speaking of cheerleaders, we're
going to go into John's finds ofthe week.
Speaker 2 (41:32):
This is my favorite part.
It's the only reason I'm here.
Thanks the, so You're welcome.
Speaker 1 (41:35):
This is my favorite part.
It's the only reason I'm here.
Speaker 2 (41:37):
Thanks, you're welcome.
Speaker 1 (41:38):
That was a compliment , speaking of a design that was
made by a female, made by awoman.
There is a product called theLoud Cup, and it is easily a
social invention.
So mothers, these two mothers,realize that when their son is
competing in his sports, theydon't want to yell and scream
(41:58):
and make all kinds of noise, butthey want their son to hear it.
And so what they did is theymade this cup that looks an
awful lot like your Stanley mug,and they put a fitting inside
the one side of the mouth of thecup that, when you blow into it
, reverberates the cup and makesthis loud air horn type sound.
Even when the cup is full sound,even when the cup is full even
when the cup is full, so theycan blow into the, into this,
(42:21):
into this mouthpiece, and createthis loud noise to promote like
a stanley kazoo, yeah like astanley kazoo mixed with an air
horn.
It's loud, it's got some gotsome volume on.
The harder you blow, obviously,the louder it gets, but it
sounds a bit like a conk.
You're blowing into a conkshell and it's this invention
that these ladies have made andit's called the Loud Cup.
Speaker 2 (42:40):
What a goofy invention that I would totally
use.
Speaker 1 (42:42):
I know it's super, super cool, but it's awesome
because now you can have arelatively peaceful conversation
and then oh, whoops, we'regoing to be celebrating and then
blow into this cup and make aloud noise.
So I'll share that on thesocial media, all the social
media stuff and the other thisweek's other.
The other invention of the week, I suppose, is called the half
(43:05):
bike, and the half bike is apiece of exercise equipment that
was invented by a man who didnot want to.
He wanted the exercise and thecardio of running without the
impact and grew tired oftreadmills and bicycles and all
these things, and so he came upwith this thing called the half
bike, and what it is isbasically you do kind of a stand
(43:28):
up biking type motion and itmoves fairly quickly.
Speaker 2 (43:31):
Like a unicycle.
Speaker 1 (43:32):
No, it's not like it's got three wheels.
So the half bike is it's gottwo wheels in the back and one
wheel in the front.
Speaker 2 (43:40):
Okay, it looks like a tricycle with a.
It looks like if a tricycle anda Segway had a beat, kind of
yeah.
Speaker 1 (43:48):
I can see that and you pedal and it's apparently
the cardio is as good as jogging.
Speaker 2 (43:55):
You stand up while you pedal.
Speaker 1 (43:56):
Yeah, you stand up while you pedal.
Yeah, you stand up while youpedal and you kind of lean to
steer.
Speaker 2 (43:59):
Yeah, it's a Segway and a tricycle for our listeners
.
Speaker 1 (44:02):
A Segway-cycle.
It's a Segway-cycle.
It's a Segway-cycle, but thehalf bike is apparently a really
neat cardio thing.
It's one of those things whereI saw it and I was like it looks
ridiculous.
This looks like something Iwould see a cloud on it does
look kind of silly, and I willagree with that.
But what I like about it is isthey they've got some a lot of
(44:22):
science backing the uprightstanding position with the
cardio, with the low impactbeing incredibly beneficial and
giving you a lot of low impact,high resistance training.
But it's also balanced training, which I thought was really
neat, and because you're leaningand you're engaging your core,
it's a full body workout.
It's one of those that I sawand I was like how ridiculous.
And the more I looked into it,I was like that's a really neat
(44:44):
idea.
Speaker 2 (44:45):
So it's almost like taking an elliptical, yeah, and
putting it on wheels yeah, it'sa little balance element and you
have an elliptical on wheelsyeah, but but I'm a big fan of
being outside, of promoting theoutdoors and just doing that.
Your exercise outside Becauseit's half a bike.
Is it half the price of a?
Speaker 1 (45:05):
bike.
No, I don't believe it's halfthe price.
Let's see, it's $899.
Speaker 2 (45:09):
I don't know what bikes cost.
Speaker 1 (45:11):
I mean, there are bikes that are $5,000,.
So I suppose yeah bikes thatare $5,000.
Speaker 2 (45:14):
So I suppose, yeah, all right, I would say, that's
not that much money to set on abike.
Speaker 1 (45:17):
No, but it's certainly.
I don't think it's half of thebike.
I mean it's about in line withthe bike, but I think it's.
It's twice the engineering tomake the the same type of feel.
So that's John's marketingshould be half bike full price.
Half bike, full price.
Speaker 2 (45:31):
Don't do that, so I am available for contracting for
marketing.
I'm available for contracting.
Speaker 1 (45:34):
Sure Anyone at Half-Bike Marketing contracting
for Half-Bike.
Speaker 2 (45:37):
I've got some ideas.
I'm just saying I had fun and Ithink we should do this again.
Maybe next time I can representthe men and you can represent
the women.
Speaker 1 (45:44):
Well, actually so let's do a quick wrap-up,
actually, before we take off.
Just to recap our men inventedour silencers, our men invented
a space pen, a titleless golfball, and the women were
disposable diapers, windshieldwipers.
Speaker 2 (46:00):
And the Wi-Fi.
Speaker 1 (46:02):
And Wi-Fi.
Speaker 2 (46:02):
You forgot Wi-Fi yeah , and Wi-Fi.
Speaker 1 (46:03):
How did I forget Wi-Fi?
Speaker 2 (46:06):
And I'm crediting women with beer.
Speaker 1 (46:08):
And women with beer.
So Wi-Fi and beer are probablytwo of men's favorite things.
I don't think silencers andgolf balls go the same way, but
that's okay.
So basically, women haveinvented men's favorite things.
I would say women probably wonthis round.
Speaker 2 (46:22):
I think women in this lineup, I think the women
inventions were way moreimpactful.
Speaker 1 (46:28):
I'll do better next time, okay.
And I'm joined as I am most episodes by my co-host,
katie Mode, and today we'regoing to talk about sex.
We're going to talk about thedifferences between men and
women and how men and women seethe world differently.
And a lot of times we see aproblem, we may see a different
problem, we may see the sameproblem and come up with a
(00:21):
different solution and come upwith a different solution.
Men and women, chemically,socially, biologically, are so
different that we see differentproblems and different solutions
.
And it starts at a very youngage.
There is a study done in, Ithink, 1979, called Sex
Differences in Neonatal EyeContact Time by Joan Hiddleman
and Robert Dix, and what theytalk about is in neonatal
(00:45):
development, females,specifically in that early,
early stage of development,their eye contact, just their
eye contact, spikes around 400%improvement of how much time
they're spending looking attheir parents, versus boys,
where their eye contact in thatI think, five months their eye
(01:07):
contact improves zero.
So females, biologically, fromday one are relational are
relational, they're social.
The the social interactionmatters.
Men care more about grouphierarchy than they do about
anything else.
Right right, Men have all theseterms alpha male, beta male,
(01:28):
omega male and we use thosethings.
When we're together in a group,we naturally compete to figure
out where we land.
Women are about socialconnection.
Women don't care who you are,where you're from, how much you
do or don't do at work.
They care about can I connectwith you socially?
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Women are also more naturally dyadic in
relationships, meaning we willbranch off and pair off
naturally, which is why womentend to put more pressure on
themselves to have a best friend, because we're more dyadic in
nature where men can kind ofexist in a group and not feel as
much competition.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Yeah, and women crave that one-on-one time.
Men almost from day one.
Little boys even don'tunderstand why women want to go
to the bathroom together, butwomen get that solo time, that
uninterrupted, quiet time wherethey can have conversation.
And so if you think of it interms of a problem, so let's
imagine we're walking along apath and there's a fallen tree
(02:24):
or there's a rock in the way.
Men are going to man up andthey're going to move that
object right, or they're goingto chop that tree or they're
going to push that rock and rollit off their path.
They're more likely to see thatproblem and say, well, I
physically can't move that or Iwouldn't want to, I might hurt
myself.
(02:44):
Let's go get other peopletogether and we'll move this
rock together.
It's a natural instinct Menwill, even if they do need help.
They'll often try alone for alittle bit to just try and power
through that problem.
And so if we look into theworld of innovation, that's what
we're going to do today.
We're going to open the door tosome innovations and some ideas
(03:07):
, and most of mine areintentionally geared in the 40s
and 30s and 60s and some of theearlier ages of our country.
Intentionally, because safetywasn't especially pre and you
know slightly, pre and post warsafety wasn't that big of a deal
.
There's people dying all overthe place.
There's lots of war happening.
(03:28):
No one really cares if thisguy's jumping off a building by
himself.
Now we've been in a period ofpeace for long enough that
safety is this huge thing.
And you'd probably be arrestedif you were jumping off your
roof with a little paragliderand people saw you.
They'd probably call the police.
This guy's trying to killhimself.
Back in the 40s it was justyeah, some guy's jumping off his
roof.
Hope he doesn't die andeveryone moves on with their
(03:50):
lives.
So we're going to focus in onsome specifics of how men and
women have identified problemsand solved them.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
And the differences between them.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Yeah, and the differences between them.
So do you want me to start, ordo you would you?
Speaker 2 (04:06):
like to start.
I'd like to start ladies firstladies, first, let's go first I
actually this is gonna be alittle bit off topic a little
bit, because I think it's veryinteresting and it plays into
the just the differences of menand women and it plays into the
just the differences of men andwomen and it has to do with beer
(04:28):
, Beer, Beer.
I'm in, I figured.
So you know, when you think ofbeer today you think of it's a
man, it's a man's sport, right,Like, pubs are typically dark.
They're not feminine placesLike I don't think I've, I can
say I've rarely been like let'sgo for a beer, Usually it's
let's go for a drink and I'mgoing to a martini bar.
(04:51):
It's just marketed towards men,it's a masculine drink.
However, beer, it predates thewritten language and back when
beer was getting its I guess,its start, or when it was, you
know, back in the ancient world,it was largely a domestic task.
(05:11):
So women were in charge ofbrewing and distributing beer,
when it became distributable, Iguess.
But women were brewing, theywere owning breweries.
That was what they did becauseit was considered domestic,
which I think is so interesting,because the change happened
(05:33):
when it became commercializedand then women started to get
pushed out of the role of abrewer or a business owner by
men.
Like you said, we're not goingto go into all of that like
politically or you know, sexismetc.
But it's just so interestingbecause I don't think many
people realize that women usedto have such a pivotal role in
(05:57):
brewing or in the beer cultureand where the final push like
they started being pushed outwhen beer started to become
commercialized, but that finalnudge out the door was in the
16th and 17th century, during.
Do you know what was really bigduring those centuries?
I know those are not yourfavorite, that's not your
favorite era, so I'm going toput you on the spot for five,
(06:19):
four, three, two.
It's not even the Victorian era, but I love the effort.
The 16th and 17th centurieswere known for witch hunts, so
women were often couldn't beseen brewing you can't be seen
brewing.
But also they were often blamedfor spoiled beer.
Must have been that witch overthere that we want to, you know,
(06:40):
we want to nail so.
Women were officially shovedout of that industry during the
16th 17th century because of thewhole witch hunt craze, and
from then on the beer industryhas become regulated and
controlled by men.
So I wanted to set the stagethere, because a lot of the
examples I'm going to discuss inthis episode of women inventors
(07:00):
have to do with you know, nothave to do with, but uh, are
great examples of women who hadan idea and were really, really
patient, or designed somethingand then just walked away Like I
had an idea or you know, thiswould improve this problem or
solve this problem, and thenwhen they were hit with you know
, negative feedback, they kindof just moved on.
(07:21):
And I think that's reallyinteresting.
And going back to this beerexample, women were doing
something and then they justkind of kicked out and we just
kind of like, okay, we'll dosomething else.
So I wanted to set the stagewith that.
It's just a fascinating littlestory.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Interesting.
So the first thing I think ofthat's interesting is when you
think of a brewer a brewer, amaster brewer you automatically
a man with a big beard, totallyRight, like kind of a I would
say 5'8", 185, 190 pounds, bigbeard.
You know kind of that Sam Adamsguy.
Right, you always think ofbeards and men when you think of
(07:54):
a brewmaster, but when youthink of a bartender or someone
who's serving the alcohol in apub, it's always a woman.
I mean historically, it'salways you think of a female.
Matter of fact, a malebartender almost seems kind of
weird, with the exception of avery small kind of men's type
(08:15):
space like a whiskey lounge.
You almost want a man with abrag, but for the most part when
you think of a macro bar,females are who you think should
be serving to you.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
I think that's a commercialization of sex, though
, like, women are easier to lookat.
If a brewery is going toattract men, you want women
behind the bar.
I think that's more of amarketing ploy.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
It could be, but also when you think of the
differences in men and women,women are better listeners.
If you're going to pour yourheart out or you're gonna drown
your sorrows, you probably wannatalk to a woman about that.
You want the advice from thewoman.
You want to talk about what'sailing you, preferably to
someone who's good atcommunication.
Because, again to our pointabout that, men are gonna tend
(09:02):
to just okay, man cool, let meknow if you need another beer to
forget about that.
Men are going to tend to justokay, man cool, let me know if
you need another beer to forgetabout that one.
The classic argument.
There's a comedy sketch aboutthat.
Specifically, one guy just hada baby and the guy goes and
plays four hours of golf withhim and then the wife is like so
how's the baby?
And he goes.
We didn't talk about that.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Oh yeah, I can attest to that.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Yeah, so I feel like there's some tie into that Now
when you talk about men andwomen.
So I'll venture into my firstone here.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
Yeah, let's hear about your first.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
So when you talk about men and women and women
being willing to let an idea go,I'm going to go to the Fisher
Space Pen.
So when you think of the SpacePen, you think of oh, it's the
pen that can write upside down,it can do all these things.
And the inventor specificallywanted nothing originally quote,
unquote nothing originally todo with the ballpoint pen.
(09:55):
So Fisher is an engineer who'sbrought in during early World
War II to help a ball bearingmanufacturer get back on track.
We're in this period whereprivate companies have gone from
producing whatever good theymade into wartime goods, and so
(10:16):
this particular factory isworking on ball bearings for
airplane parts, and there'sairplanes waiting to be built.
All they need are these ballbearings and then they can go
off and fight the war.
And so the army actuallycontacts this private company I
don't remember the name of thecompany off the top of my head
and tells them if you don't geton track, we're going to take
over this company and we'll doit ourselves, like you have to
(10:38):
get on track.
So they contract Fisher.
He comes in and he quicklyidentifies areas where they can
improve and gets them on onschedule.
And he's identified as thisengineer, this fixer, this guy
who can problem solve, um, hekind of makes a name for himself
and so in an entrepreneur after.
So, after he leaves the ballbearing factory after the war,
(11:00):
an entrepreneur approaches himthat owns a pen company and he
says this guy, laszlo Bureau outof Argentina, has invented this
ballpoint pen and I want tobasically make my own version.
So I want to reverse engineerit, make my own version of this
ballpoint pen.
Here are some samples of hispen Can you help me manufacture
this?
And we'll sell it.
(11:20):
And Fisher goes home with thepens, comes back the next day,
throws them all on the desk andsays this is an absolute piece
of trash.
It's mechanically flawed in amillion different ways.
This thing is garbage, I won'tdo it.
And he refuses to be part ofthe project, stay along.
And so he sticks in with thispen company, makes some
improvements to the design,designs that little piece of,
(11:50):
that little bit of glue thatgoes in the back of the
cartridge, that keeps it fromleaking.
He designs that.
He makes some improvements tothe overall design and reduces
the cost of manufacturing.
So he does a couple differentlittle things to kind of help
this pen be slightly better, andthe ballpoint pen is this new
fangled thing, and so there is aline, a block long out the back
of the building to return thistrash pen, but there's a line
(12:14):
two blocks long on the front tobuy this trash pen, and so
they'll swap them out.
Yeah, so they're.
So they're basically looking atthis like, okay, people want
this thing and and over the nextyear or two basically becomes
known that this pen is garbageand they can't sell it for cost,
they can't give these thingsaway, and so the company goes
(12:35):
out of business.
And this is where the man thingcomes in right.
So you're talking about womenwho are willing to just come up
with an idea and just give itaway.
Right, it's social.
They want.
I wouldn't say give it away butor walk away from their idea,
right.
So they're willing to walk awayfrom this idea.
And on the other side of men,you talk about social hierarchy
or group hierarchy.
(12:55):
So Fisher waits.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
I feel like men Well dig in.
In my personal experience ofmen they dig in.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
Well, experience of men, they dig in.
Well, fisher waits for thiscompany to go out of business,
and then he asks permission fromthe original company owner.
Hey, would you mind if I startmy own pen company?
Okay, and within months hecomes up with what he calls the
one-for-all refill, which is asingle refill that will fit any
of the ballpoint pens.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
Refill for ballpoint or refill for fountain.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
No refill for ballpoint pen.
So up until this point now theballpoint pen market has
expanded and there's a lot ofpeople making better versions of
this pen.
So he comes out with a one forall refill almost immediately,
because he had the designalready done.
He already knew what he wantedto do.
He was just withholding it fromthat company because he wanted
it to be his.
So instead of helping this guywho brought him in be successful
(13:42):
, he waits until this guy goesout of business and then starts
his company and releases allthis really cool patented stuff
he's been coming up with andbecomes one of the biggest pen
manufacturers on the planet.
And then we talk about so hecomes up with these solutions
and he comes up with thesepatented ideas that make him a
huge pen company.
And then we talk about the kindof ego of men.
(14:04):
So here's where history gets alittle interesting.
Now we're in the 60s or late50s, early 60s and, according to
Fisher, nasa approaches him andsays hey, we'd like you to make
this space pen.
We want to go to space.
We have some concerns aboutgraphite.
The Russians are using pencils.
(14:24):
We have some concerns aboutwood shavings and graphite
floating around this oxygen-richenvironment about causing
explosions, so we don't want touse pencils.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Has that ever happened?
Speaker 1 (14:34):
So there is an instance where they say the
Russians did have a fire as aresult, but I couldn't find any
consistent issues.
There's more of a concern thanan issue.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
No sharpening your pencil on board the space
station.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
Well, but even just writing with your pencil, little
bits of graphite floating intothe air, no sharpening, no
sharpening.
The Dixon Ticonderoga sharpenedperiod.
So he says, nasa approaches himand says hey, you're this
amazing pen manufacturer, canyou make us a pen for space?
Nasa says that he approachedthem after he had spent a
(15:07):
million dollars developing a penFor space.
Well, he originally wasdeveloping a pen, so what he
came up with was, if I add alittle bit of resin, and classic
male miscommunication.
He said rosin to his engineerwho spent like 100 days testing
out different rosins.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
I don't even know what rosin is.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
It's like a tree sap.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
That he wanted to.
He's trying to figure out a wayto incorporate rosin into ink
to make the ink thicker, andafter he comes back he's like we
can't use this rosin.
They come back and say, no, Isaid resin, he goes, are you
kidding me?
And within like 50 days he hasa gel ink that doesn't leak.
Nice, basic miscommunication,but afraid to ask right
(15:50):
Hierarchy mail.
And so he comes up withbasically a pressurized tube
with a resin-infused ink and acap on the end, and so when you
push the ballpoint pen, the inkrolls onto the little ball and
the little ball writes on thesurface and it can do all kinds
of amazing things.
Go Google the Space Pen, gonuts.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
I think I've seen a couple videos of it.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
Yeah, so the Space Pen can write underwater, it can
do all these things and becauseof that resin, that thicker ink
, it'll stick even underwater.
Yeah, because it's pressurized.
Yeah, because it's pressurized,right.
And so he comes up.
Nasa orders several.
But NASA is in the middle of abit of a pickle.
Of these $4,000 pencils theyhad been ordering and there was
a I wouldn't call it aconspiracy theory, but there was
(16:32):
a political anti-NASA campaignsentiment happening at the
moment of NASA's wasting allthis, all these tax dollars, on
these really, really expensivethings.
And pencils got targetedbecause they don't know anything
about.
You know titanium fixtures andthings, but everyone knows what
a pencil is and how much pencilcosts.
So they see $4,000 pencils andyou're wasting our tax money,
(16:52):
and so they.
Actually, the original order ofthe pens was a very small order
for a very cheap price, becauseNASA was afraid that people
would go bananas if theyoverpaid for pencils or pens
again.
So they buy these space pens.
Goes incredibly well, and thenthe Russians end up ordering
space pens as well and then webecome the space pen, right.
But what I think is interestingon that male versus female
(17:14):
thing is the fact that hewithheld his idea so he could be
the man.
It could be the alpha in theroom, right, so he holds it back
.
Let's like watches this poorguy go out of business and have
all the ideas to make himsuccessful, but I'm not going to
right, it's less about gettingthe product to market and more
about him getting the productcorrect.
(17:35):
It's more about his status inthe group, and that's what
matters.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
Yeah that is so interesting because I want to
talk about.
I have two really fascinatingstories.
I'm not sure which one I shouldlead with, but we're going to
start.
I think you know you're talkingabout the war and NASA, so I
think that'll segue us reallynicely into a woman named I hope
this is right Hedy, or HedyH-E-D-Y Lamar, and she is.
(18:03):
She has given the title of themother of Wi-Fi, and so a little
background on who she was.
She was an Austrian born andraised and an actress.
But she grew up in a home whereshe was really indulged for the
time by her mother and father,and her mother was a woman of
the arts, which is why shebecame an actress.
She was pushed into theater byher mother, but her father was
(18:24):
very curious and veryintelligent, so he spoke to her
at an early age about the innerworkings of things and how
engines worked and he just kindof inspired this curiosity in
her and she would tinker, evenas like a five-year-old, to take
apart her jewelry box.
And she just had this knack foreverything mechanical in her.
I don't know whether it wasinnate or it came from her
(18:45):
father or a little bit of bulk.
She just had this ability butbecause of the time and you know
she's a woman, she was kind ofpushed into the arts from her
mom and she was beautiful.
So she became an Austrianactress who attracted the eye of
a man named Fritz Mandl, whowas her first husband, and they
(19:06):
got married and he basicallyexpected her to sit still and be
pretty.
So she was acting but shecouldn't exhibit her mind at all
.
She was supposed to playhostess, don't speak, etc.
And she picked up a lot ofinformation during dinner table
conversations overhearing herhusband talk to his colleagues
(19:27):
about wartime weaponry, becausehe was a munitions dealer and
this was the beginning of WorldWar II, like the very, very
beginning.
So she picked up a lotlistening to them discuss the
war and all the weaponry and allthat.
So she ended up migrating to theUS to get away from her husband
because she was completelystifled and her career took off
(19:48):
in Hollywood.
She was a star, she was doingvery, very well and there was a
couple of colleagues that shehad in the industry who picked
up on her mechanical brain andkind of indulged her and would
give her science equipment kitsthat she could tinker with in
her trailer and just flex thatmuscle that she had that was
(20:08):
dormant for so long.
And right when the US wasentering the war, she expressed
to a friend that she felt bad,that she wasn't doing anything
to help the war effort.
She's making all this money,she's this famous actress, but
what is she doing?
And so she began working withhim.
I'm not gonna name him becausewe're talking about women
inventors.
(20:29):
She started working with him onco-developing the frequency the
frequency hopping technology,which basically predates wi-fi
and gps, and the point of it wasto help guide torpedoes to
their targets.
It was cutting-edge technology.
They patented it.
They got a patent in 1942.
They approached the Navy.
(20:50):
The Navy thought it was great,and then they never implemented
it.
They never, ever implemented it.
And so what did she do?
She pivoted to selling wartimebonds.
That was it.
She helped develop this reallyinsane technology, got the stamp
, and then no one wanted to useit.
So she was like, okay, we'lljust go ahead and help support
(21:11):
by selling these bonds.
She never saw a penny for thatpatent.
Her patent expired and then, in2014, she was posthumously
inducted into the NationalInventors Hall of Fame and today
is credited as the mother ofWi-Fi.
So zero credit while she wasalive, zero money while she was
alive.
To her, it was less about liketo what you're saying, less
(21:33):
about fame and status, and oh, Icame up with this and it can do
great things.
She didn't shop around.
I came up with this and it cando great things.
She didn't shop around, shedidn't approach other branches
of the military, she didn't tryto start a company that could
utilize this technology in someway.
She did something and then shekind of just moved on with her
life, which I find really,really fascinating.
It was more about the journey ofinnovating something which we
(21:53):
now, like we use frequencyhopping technology as the basis
of a lot of our technology.
Don't ask me how I did not gothat deep into the research, but
I think that's crazy and Ithink maybe I would be the same
way.
There's a lot to think aboutand a lot to do and we're
relational and she probablyreally enjoyed the process of
(22:15):
developing this technology withher business partner.
And then, okay, fine, I'll dosomething else that's going to
benefit this new country thatI'm developing this technology
with her, with her businesspartner, and then you know, okay
, fine, I'll do something elsethat's going to benefit, you
know this new country that I amnow a citizen of, and etc.
Etc.
I'm not rambling well.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
So what I find interesting is so I'll piggyback
off of that a little bit we'retalking about a first things
first.
I think a man probably wouldhave been like, no, you will use
my technology.
Would have been bullheaded ascan be, and been like well, I'm
going to design my own bombswith my own technology and
you're going to have to use myreceiver.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
Well, wasn't there a pilot who developed his own
plane?
That was like revolutionary.
It turned into a big turningpoint in the war because he
could go further.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
The Mustang.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
Wasn't he like doing something really outlandish?
And he was like I'm just gonnado it and prove it probably I
don't.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
I gotta go back.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
We can, we can yeah we can research that you're
gonna be like.
Oh yes, let me give you all thedetails and no, no, but I, I,
I'll, I'll look into that.
We'll see what we have on ourwebsite yeah, I'll post it on
the web, the.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
So let's look into.
Now.
We're talking about a femalewho's whose father involved is
it peaks her interest?
Her father peaks her interestin these things and kind of the
social pressure of being asocialite right Of her mother is
no, you need to go into thearts.
So let's go the other direction.
So let's talk about Hiram Maxim, hiram Percy Maxim and his
(23:42):
father, hiram.
Something else Maxim.
Middle name last name.
Maxim the last name Maxim, firstname Hiram where the father is
is a an avid inventor andtinkerer and engineer and he
actually came out with the Maximmachine gun.
It's like the first portablemachine gun.
(24:03):
His son grows up in this homewhere his dad's an inventor, an
engineer, a tinkerer and he alsoinvents I mean, a ton of things
.
I mean he's got all kinds offirearms patents.
He was involved incommunications, he did a lot of
different things, but he grew upin this world where his father
promoted it and he was like, hey, you should be what I am.
(24:26):
And the son following in thefootsteps of the father, and
because he's in this world andbecause he's thinking about
these things, he's out.
Hiram Maxim is hunting and hecan't help but notice how dang
loud guns are.
You fire one shot, you get onechance to shoot at a deer, and
(24:48):
then all of them flee if youmiss, and then you have to sit
there and wait and wait and waitfor them to come back or move
and and find a new space to kindof attract them once again.
So he gets a little bitfrustrated with this and so he
goes back home and he says, okay, let's look into some of let's
use my existing knowledge ofleveraging the principles of
(25:09):
sound and let's develop thischamber that slows down the
gases that are leaving thebarrel will slow the gases down,
which is gonna make itinherently quieter.
So he invents the firstsilencer, the early stage
silencer that would go over thebarrel of the firearm and slows
down the gases by cooling themand therefore reduces the
(25:30):
overall volume of the shot.
This invention right goes on tobe used by hunters and military
and in personal use and allthese things, but it's just an
example of the same situationgrowing up and instead of
stifling it, we amplify it andwe allow that person to run off
and be what they kind of want tobe, what they're good at, which
(25:52):
I think is interesting.
We've talked about firearms andbeer and all this stuff.
What do we have?
That's a little bit morefamily-friendly, yeah for our
family listeners.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
I guess I have the perfect family-friendly example
the disposable diaper.
Okay, Good one, right?
Speaker 1 (26:12):
Man's best friend.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
Woman's best friend, marion Donovan, is the inventor
of the disposable diaper and shealso was a socialite.
She was highly educated.
After she got married she movedto Westport, connecticut.
This was in the 1940s.
She grew up in also a veryinnovative home.
(26:34):
Her father and uncle wereinventors and she grew up around
machinery and manufacturing.
So we're a trend here right ofwomen who are exposed really
really early to tinkering,creating manufacturing.
Can't wait to see what mydaughters are gonna make I know
it's inspiring me to like makethem be more creative.
So, marion, she she actuallystarts her journey with the
(26:58):
first patented and highlysuccessful leak-proof,
waterproof diaper cover, andthis is important, okay, so up
until this point all diaperswere just cloth.
So every time your baby wouldhave an accident you'd have to
deal with the diaper, but alsowhatever that baby was sitting
on or in.
So lots of bedding, just lotsof laundry, and it was a pain
(27:20):
and she was done with it.
Every time she put her baby ina new cloth diaper they would
soil themselves all the sheetsand she was just lost in this
revolving door of laundry.
And back then laundry was verydifferent.
We're not going to go into that.
But it wasn't as easy justthrowing it into the machine.
So she wanted to come up with asolution, not to slow down the
(27:45):
number of soiled diapers, but toprotect her linen so that every
time the baby had an accidentshe wasn't having to wash all
the linens on top of the diapers.
So she patented this waterproofshell or cover that would go
over top of the diaper, whichwas called the boat because it
kept babies afloat.
(28:05):
Super cute and it was really,really successful.
People loved it.
It flew off the shelves.
So then she decided to take it astep further and she came up
with the first truly disposablediaper that would wick away the
moisture, because a big problemin the 40s and 30s and 20s was
(28:26):
diaper rash.
So when these innovations camearound, the first diaper cover
was made of rubber and thatreally irritated the skin.
So there was a really bighurdle of solving this moisture
wicking you know, coming up witha moisture wicking technology
that would not irritate thebaby's skin.
(28:47):
And she did it and it was likea nylon and she went to market
and she was mocked.
She was criticized and this wasa very male-dominated industry
and she was basically told thather invention was impractical
and completely unnecessary.
So it took her 10 years toactually find someone to invest
(29:12):
essentially in her idea, and theperson that she found was
Victor Mills, who would laterbecome the creator of Pampers.
So you're talking about aninvention that changed the
entire industry, right?
You'd be hard-pressed to findfamilies who don't use
disposable diapers.
(29:33):
They're out there.
Some families do use reusablediapers, but by and large most
families are buying disposablediapers.
But it took her 10 years toconvince the industry that this
was a risk worth taking, thatpeople would actually buy this
product.
And in the meantime she moved on.
She is a serial inventor, soshe went on to other projects
(29:54):
and focused on other things andshe did a lot of great work.
And so I think that Marion's agood example of a woman who
didn't just kind of abandontheir idea.
She kept going and she kepttrying to find someone who would
bring it to market with her andshe did.
But it's just, she definitelydidn't put.
(30:16):
It wasn't her only focus, shewas doing other projects on the
side.
It was kind of like if thisdoesn't go where it's going to
go, it just won't and we'll moveon.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
When was the disposable diaper made?
Speaker 2 (30:30):
This was in the 50s, 60s, I didn't, you know, I
didn't write down the actualdate that she, that she, that
victor mills picked it up, butshe was a new mother in 1940s
and 10 years I'm assuming the60s, because it took 10 years
for victor to pick it up andprobably there's another 10
years in there for developingour, you know, research and
(30:52):
development.
Actually, you know, bring,bring her patent to market.
So I find it.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
I just find it interesting that in the
mid-1990s, uh, john halldevelops the first diaper pail.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
So you got the women throwing away disposable diapers
what do we do if all thesediapers are piling up?
Speaker 1 (31:09):
well now?
Now it's become mainstream andall the guys are taking out the
trash.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
Yeah, this thing is so, and I can attest to how bad
they smell well I think I thinkit's interesting that and I
think this is worth talkingabout she is solving a very
female problem, especially inthe mid 20th century, like men
are changing diapers in the mid20th century.
So she's solving a femaleproblem.
(31:32):
She knows that this is going tobe a successful innovation
problem.
She knows that this is going tobe a successful innovation and
yet when she goes and she talksto men about it, they're like no
, they don't get it Because theydon't understand the problem
and she's pushed off and againmocked and told that it's
completely unnecessary whenshe's sitting there going.
You're not sitting at homechanging diapers.
Speaker 1 (31:52):
Of course it's necessary, so I think that's
really interesting it isinteresting and you know what a
problem that men do get.
So we're gonna, we're gonna gointo the titleless golf ball.
Every, every man in the world.
In the world knows the title ispro v1.
Right, that's the the creme dela creme of of golf balls and
the title is golf ball is afascinating story.
(32:16):
You've got this gentleman, philYoung, and Phil Young is out
playing golf with a buddy and hehits a putt and he's, you know,
gets it right on the green.
He hits this putt that he knowsis going in.
He is that confident in hisskills and putt misses, and he
does what every man.
Speaker 2 (32:35):
It was the ball, not me.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
It was the ball, it was the ref, it was the Like.
I know that was good, right.
So he takes it a step farther.
He doesn't just say it wasdefinitely the ball.
He takes the ball to a localhospital and x-rays it to prove
that it was the ball.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
I want to be in the room, for when he showed up at
the hot like, did he have aconnect?
Speaker 1 (32:56):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (32:56):
Like he's walks in with his golf ball and he's like
I need an extra of my golf balland they're like no problem sir
.
Speaker 1 (33:01):
But he, he takes the guy he's playing golf with, he
takes his buddy.
Speaker 2 (33:04):
This is a wild story in itself.
Speaker 1 (33:06):
Yeah, he.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
so this guy shows up they must have known what do you
call an x-ray tech?
X-ray tech I feel like that's adoctor that's deep, deep,
finally capped in my brain.
That's not going to surfaceright now, but he must have
known someone who did that yeah,so.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
So he walks in with the guy he's playing golf with
and it is in, wants time on anx-ray machine to x-ray this ball
to prove that the the coreinside that ball is inconsistent
and that's why he missed theputt and they find out that by
golly it is.
It's inconsistent.
I mean, it was a lopsided coreinto this ball.
So he stops everything, startsa golf ball business, comes up
(33:46):
with a way to make that insideof the golf ball perfectly round
so it's going to roll the right, the right way and it's not
going to wobble at all when it'shit.
And he starts a process at theend of every golf ball.
Speaker 2 (34:01):
Like when it's created.
You mean?
Speaker 1 (34:02):
After it's created, at the end of the line it is
x-rayed to make sure that thecenter of that golf ball is
circled how it's supposed to be.
He comes up with a Titleistgolf ball and to this day
Titleist still x-rays everysingle golf ball to make sure
that the internals are the rightshape.
And he starts an entire companybased off of a missed putt and
(34:22):
it's it's such a non-problem.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
Well, I mean time out this is where we get into the
differences.
Speaker 1 (34:33):
It is certainly a problem, but it is the.
It's the moment that every mancraves.
When you say it's definitelythe ball, that was not me and it
ends up not being you, and youcan prove it with data.
Men crave that moment of beingthat that's your.
That's your kind of quote,unquote alpha male moment.
(34:53):
Right, I can prove to all themen that I'm on the mountaintop
and I would have made that puttif that ball was right.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
But not only did he prove, he could have left it at
proving right.
I went to what a great dinnerstory.
Like.
I went to the hospital, I gotthis ball, I tried it and look
it's right there.
I had the x-rays.
They're framed.
You can go look at it, is it me?
(35:19):
But he keeps going and there'sno way he doesn't keep that ball
.
Like there's no way to get thex-rays.
They've got to be framed, likein the in the office of this,
what is it?
Titleist?
Yeah, I just think it's sofunny that he went that extra
mile.
Like it's not.
Like sure, it's understand thatit's a problem, but it's not a.
But it's not a problem, right?
He's not.
Like he's not solving worldhunger, is what I'm trying to
(35:40):
say.
He's not curing cancer.
He's making better golf balls.
Speaker 1 (35:44):
Yeah well, which is important?
Again, it's important, it'simportant overall.
And the funny part is you stillpay $65 for 12 Titleist Pro V1s
.
They're still a very expensivegolf ball and there are YouTube
channels all over the place thatcut all the balls in half and
show you that it's really nobetter than anything else.
It is the status of that ball.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
Well, I'm sure the industry has caught up and now
most golf balls are prettybalanced on the end, but they're
just the first to do it, and soyou're buying the badge and the
x-ray at the end.
Speaker 1 (36:15):
make sure well, you're, you're buying that.
They all that, that almostelitism of the ball right, it's
the best ball in the market,which again, there's plenty of
proof that says it's probablynot all that much better than
anything else.
But I just think it's aninteresting, interesting spin on
on what we're.
We're talking about.
Right is is a man's problem,right, I mean that's.
(36:36):
There's no world in which that.
Speaker 2 (36:38):
And I bet you, if he brought his idea to an industry
dominated by women, they wouldmock him and tell him his
invention is completelyunnecessary.
Speaker 1 (36:47):
Oh 100, 100%.
Speaker 2 (36:49):
So to throw men a bone?
I don't think it's really fairto like going back to the story
about the diapers, right, likethey didn't understand the
problem.
I still don't understand theproblem of this, of the golf
ball, like I understand it, sureon a very fundamental level,
but like, come on, do we reallyneed to like stop our lives to
read on the golf ball?
Speaker 1 (37:10):
I don't think so, yes .
Speaker 2 (37:12):
I don't think so.
All right, I have one morestory for you what you got got
this one's super light thewindshield wiper, the windshield
wiper, the windshield wiper.
Did you think that that wouldhave been invented by a woman?
Speaker 1 (37:26):
No.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
No, I wouldn't either .
Speaker 1 (37:28):
Because women don't Drive Drive.
Speaker 2 (37:30):
Wow, I saw that coming across your face before
you even opened your mouth.
Speaker 1 (37:35):
Kidding, but go ahead .
Speaker 2 (37:36):
So in the beginning of the 20th century, when
automobiles were very new,safety features not really a
thing, right, they werebasically like lawnmowers on
chassis.
So you know, seat buckles,blinkers, air mat, like no, you
just, you just was, it is whatit was, it wasn't what it was
(37:57):
and you didn't even have.
No, you just, you just was itis what it was, it wasn't what
it was and you didn't even havea license.
You just buy all these things.
And see ya, Mary Anderson wastraveling, traveling to New York
City.
She was from the Midwest, shewas traveling in the city and
she was on a streetcar, and astreetcar of that age would have
looked a lot like a tram, togive you a visual and was
(38:18):
snowing and the driver kepthaving to stop every few minutes
, get out of the tram and, likemanually with his hand, clear
the windshield.
And she was like this isinefficient, there's got to be a
better way.
So when she went home shestarted working on prototypes of
the first windshield wiper.
And if you look at theprototype it's pretty much the
(38:40):
same as far as the wiper right,like when you look at the wiper
blade.
That's what she drew.
The difference was it wasn'telectrical.
It was maneuvered by a pulleysystem that the driver could
grab inside the tram, pull downand the wiper would move back
and forth.
That way he wouldn't have toget out and clean it.
(39:00):
So she went back, she made thispatent, she went to the
manufacturers a bunch ofmanufacturers to try to get a
prototype built and she was shotdown and told it had zero
commercial value.
Speaker 1 (39:16):
Zero.
Speaker 2 (39:17):
Zero, wow, no one would make this thing for her.
Decades later again we have atheme, at least amongst these
women I'm not saying all womeninnovators and inventors just
like try once and abandon shipand then don't get credit.
I'm not saying that, but inthis episode this is a theme.
Decades later, the carmanufacturing industry has now
(39:40):
implemented Mary's design likeout of the gate, right Like cars
come standard with a windshieldwiper.
They followed her design.
It comes standard and guesswhat?
Her patent has expired.
So she created this thing.
No one said it had any value.
So she okay, whatever, moved on, didn't keep her patent, you
(40:04):
know, updated because she wastold it was worthless.
And then when it expires, itbecomes standard equipment and
every vehicle on the road I mean, that is the thing is not, but
I feel like if Mary was Matt, hewould have been like I disagree
and he would have pushed,pushed, pushed or at the very
least probably held on to thatpatent.
(40:26):
So eventually he would havegotten some type of feedback.
That's just my hunch.
Nothing against Mary, but Ithink that as women we have more
of a tendency to just kind ofmove on, move along, move along.
And men, because of thatcompetitiveness, the nature is
more to fight for what you knowis a good innovation or a good
(40:48):
product.
Speaker 1 (40:50):
Yeah, but also, I mean, I think there's something
to be said for the socialimplication.
You've been told by so manypeople that this is not valuable
, sure, and you're like allright, well.
I guess the world's not readyand don't get me wrong, there's
plenty of instances where menhave done the same thing.
But I think in a lot of caseswhen there's an idea that good,
(41:14):
I would promote everyone to notgive up on it.
And I think that's part offinding that that promoter,
finding that that cheerleader,that kind of will push you to
continue and keep going.
And I think that's to me that,speaking of cheerleaders, we're
going to go into John's finds ofthe week.
Speaker 2 (41:32):
This is my favorite part.
It's the only reason I'm here.
Thanks the, so You're welcome.
Speaker 1 (41:35):
This is my favorite part.
It's the only reason I'm here.
Speaker 2 (41:37):
Thanks, you're welcome.
Speaker 1 (41:38):
That was a compliment , speaking of a design that was
made by a female, made by awoman.
There is a product called theLoud Cup, and it is easily a
social invention.
So mothers, these two mothers,realize that when their son is
competing in his sports, theydon't want to yell and scream
(41:58):
and make all kinds of noise, butthey want their son to hear it.
And so what they did is theymade this cup that looks an
awful lot like your Stanley mug,and they put a fitting inside
the one side of the mouth of thecup that, when you blow into it
, reverberates the cup and makesthis loud air horn type sound.
Even when the cup is full sound,even when the cup is full even
when the cup is full, so theycan blow into the, into this,
(42:21):
into this mouthpiece, and createthis loud noise to promote like
a stanley kazoo, yeah like astanley kazoo mixed with an air
horn.
It's loud, it's got some gotsome volume on.
The harder you blow, obviously,the louder it gets, but it
sounds a bit like a conk.
You're blowing into a conkshell and it's this invention
that these ladies have made andit's called the Loud Cup.
Speaker 2 (42:40):
What a goofy invention that I would totally
use.
Speaker 1 (42:42):
I know it's super, super cool, but it's awesome
because now you can have arelatively peaceful conversation
and then oh, whoops, we'regoing to be celebrating and then
blow into this cup and make aloud noise.
So I'll share that on thesocial media, all the social
media stuff and the other thisweek's other.
The other invention of the week, I suppose, is called the half
(43:05):
bike, and the half bike is apiece of exercise equipment that
was invented by a man who didnot want to.
He wanted the exercise and thecardio of running without the
impact and grew tired oftreadmills and bicycles and all
these things, and so he came upwith this thing called the half
bike, and what it is isbasically you do kind of a stand
(43:28):
up biking type motion and itmoves fairly quickly.
Speaker 2 (43:31):
Like a unicycle.
Speaker 1 (43:32):
No, it's not like it's got three wheels.
So the half bike is it's gottwo wheels in the back and one
wheel in the front.
Speaker 2 (43:40):
Okay, it looks like a tricycle with a.
It looks like if a tricycle anda Segway had a beat, kind of
yeah.
Speaker 1 (43:48):
I can see that and you pedal and it's apparently
the cardio is as good as jogging.
Speaker 2 (43:55):
You stand up while you pedal.
Speaker 1 (43:56):
Yeah, you stand up while you pedal.
Yeah, you stand up while youpedal and you kind of lean to
steer.
Speaker 2 (43:59):
Yeah, it's a Segway and a tricycle for our listeners
.
Speaker 1 (44:02):
A Segway-cycle.
It's a Segway-cycle.
It's a Segway-cycle, but thehalf bike is apparently a really
neat cardio thing.
It's one of those things whereI saw it and I was like it looks
ridiculous.
This looks like something Iwould see a cloud on it does
look kind of silly, and I willagree with that.
But what I like about it is isthey they've got some a lot of
(44:22):
science backing the uprightstanding position with the
cardio, with the low impactbeing incredibly beneficial and
giving you a lot of low impact,high resistance training.
But it's also balanced training, which I thought was really
neat, and because you're leaningand you're engaging your core,
it's a full body workout.
It's one of those that I sawand I was like how ridiculous.
And the more I looked into it,I was like that's a really neat
(44:44):
idea.
Speaker 2 (44:45):
So it's almost like taking an elliptical, yeah, and
putting it on wheels yeah, it'sa little balance element and you
have an elliptical on wheelsyeah, but but I'm a big fan of
being outside, of promoting theoutdoors and just doing that.
Your exercise outside Becauseit's half a bike.
Is it half the price of a?
Speaker 1 (45:05):
bike.
No, I don't believe it's halfthe price.
Let's see, it's $899.
Speaker 2 (45:09):
I don't know what bikes cost.
Speaker 1 (45:11):
I mean, there are bikes that are $5,000,.
So I suppose yeah bikes thatare $5,000.
Speaker 2 (45:14):
So I suppose, yeah, all right, I would say, that's
not that much money to set on abike.
Speaker 1 (45:17):
No, but it's certainly.
I don't think it's half of thebike.
I mean it's about in line withthe bike, but I think it's.
It's twice the engineering tomake the the same type of feel.
So that's John's marketingshould be half bike full price.
Half bike, full price.
Speaker 2 (45:31):
Don't do that, so I am available for contracting for
marketing.
I'm available for contracting.
Speaker 1 (45:34):
Sure Anyone at Half-Bike Marketing contracting
for Half-Bike.
Speaker 2 (45:37):
I've got some ideas.
I'm just saying I had fun and Ithink we should do this again.
Maybe next time I can representthe men and you can represent
the women.
Speaker 1 (45:44):
Well, actually so let's do a quick wrap-up,
actually, before we take off.
Just to recap our men inventedour silencers, our men invented
a space pen, a titleless golfball, and the women were
disposable diapers, windshieldwipers.
Speaker 2 (46:00):
And the Wi-Fi.
Speaker 1 (46:02):
And Wi-Fi.
Speaker 2 (46:02):
You forgot Wi-Fi yeah , and Wi-Fi.
Speaker 1 (46:03):
How did I forget Wi-Fi?
Speaker 2 (46:06):
And I'm crediting women with beer.
Speaker 1 (46:08):
And women with beer.
So Wi-Fi and beer are probablytwo of men's favorite things.
I don't think silencers andgolf balls go the same way, but
that's okay.
So basically, women haveinvented men's favorite things.
I would say women probably wonthis round.
Speaker 2 (46:22):
I think women in this lineup, I think the women
inventions were way moreimpactful.
Speaker 1 (46:28):
I'll do better next time, okay.
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