What do touchscreens, electrical outlets, color televisions, and fax machines have in common? They were all revolutionary technological breakthroughs that debuted at World’s Fairs. Also from World’s Fairs: powdered root beer, portable bathtubs, and Elektro the Smoking Robot. Hey, they can’t all be winners.
This week, join the guys for a grand tour of the most sensational hits and misses from the storied history of International Expositions.
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In this episode:
- Fairs vs. Expositions
- Prague in 1791
- France in 1798 et al
- The Crystal Palace in Hyde Park (https://www.royalparks.org.uk/whats-on/the-great-exhibition-virtual-tour)
- Monkey Closets and George Jennings
- Thomas Crapper
- Spending a Penny
- The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations
- Prince Albert
- Karl Marx, Shade Thrower
- Schweppes
- The Mountain of Light
- Cyrus McCormick's Steam-Powered Reaping Machine
- The Fax Machine
- Leeches and the Tempest Prognosticator
- Charles Hobbes and the Parautoptic Lock
- Linus Yale
- The Bureau Internationale De Expositions
- Specialized Expos, World Expos, Horticultural Expos, and the Milan Triennial
- Donald Rumsfeld and the Known Unknowns
- The Space Needle
- The Chicago 1893 World's Columbian Exposition
- H.H. Holmes
- William Cody
- Buffalo Bill's Wild West and Congress of Rough Riders of the World
- George Washington Gale Ferris Jr. and the Ferris Wheel
- X-Rays, Zippers, and AT&T's Picture Phone
- RCA and Color Television
- The Knoxville Tennessee World's Fair
- Samuel Hurst and the Touchscreen
- Cherry Coke
- The Eiffel Tower
- The Paris Colonial Exposition
- The "Truth on the Colonies"
- Elektro the Smoking Robot, and Sparko
- The New York World's Fair of 1964
- The Bell Rocket Belt
- The Suboceanic Resort
- It's a Small World
- The Festival of Gas
- Philadelphia's Centennial Exposition of 1876
- The Statue of Liberty's Hand
- Ethelbert Watts and the Portable Bathtub (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008XSXQIO/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_i_ADHM9NHG1NVP9Q2X13H5)
- Expo '86
- The Challenger Disaster and Chernobyl
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Episode Transcript
