LANE: Welcome back to Touring History, where we make the past slightly less boring than your high school textbook. I'm Lane.
DAVE: And I'm Dave, still processing that people used to drill holes in their heads for medical reasons. Modern medicine is looking pretty good right now.
LANE: Today we're exploring July 25th, a date that's brought us world-changing inventions and some truly spectacular displays of human overconfidence.
DAVE: Speaking of July 25th, we got a voice memo from a listener. Sezso, what've you got for us?
SEZSO (as listener): [Excited, slightly breathless voice] Hey guys! July 25th is my lucky day because it's when I won $500 on a scratch-off lottery ticket in 2019. I immediately bought 500 more tickets because I thought I'd cracked the system. Spoiler alert: I had not cracked the system. Lost it all plus another $200. But hey, for about ten minutes I felt like a mathematical genius! Still love that rush. Keep up the great work!
LANE: That's... that's not how probability works.
DAVE: But it IS how gambling addiction works! Educational content, folks.
LANE: Let's celebrate some July 25th birthdays. We've got Matt LeBlanc, who spent ten years teaching us that "How you doin'?" is apparently a valid pickup line.
DAVE: Also born today: Iman, supermodel and David Bowie's wife, proving that some people just win at life completely. And Estelle Getty, who played the sassiest grandmother in television history on The Golden Girls.
LANE: Can't forget Rosalind Franklin, born July 25th, 1920. Her X-ray crystallography work was crucial to discovering DNA's structure, though she didn't get proper credit until way too late.
DAVE: Ah yes, another "men taking credit for women's work" situation. History's greatest hits.
DAVE: Time for scandal! July 25th, 1952, Puerto Rico became a U.S. commonwealth, which sounds boring until you realize it was basically America's way of saying "You're ours, but also not really, but also pay taxes."
LANE: That's more political than salacious, Dave.
DAVE: The salacious part is that it was supposed to solve Puerto Rico's political status, but 70 years later, they're still having the same debate! It's like the world's longest, most expensive commitment issue.
LANE: So it's political relationship drama?
DAVE: Exactly! America wanted all the benefits of having Puerto Rico without actually calling it a state. It's like telling someone you're "Facebook official" but refusing to change your relationship status.
LANE: That analogy is disturbingly accurate.
LANE: Innovation time! July 25th, 1978, Louise Brown was born - the world's first "test tube baby" through IVF. This completely revolutionized reproductive medicine and gave hope to millions of families.
DAVE: Plus it probably confused a lot of people who thought babies were literally grown in test tubes.
LANE: The real innovation here wasn't just the science - it was proving that humans could basically outsmart biology when we put our minds to it. Louise Brown's birth opened the door for countless families who couldn't conceive naturally.
DAVE: And now IVF is so common that "test tube baby" sounds like something from a 1950s sci-fi movie.
LANE: Speaking of innovation, July 25th, 1909, Louis Blériot became the first person to fly across the English Channel in an airplane. 37 minutes of pure "I hope this contraption doesn't kill me" energy.
DAVE: Flying across water in 1909 basically required the confidence of a golden retriever and the engineering skills of... well, someone much smarter than a golden retriever.
DAVE: Quick word about Duluth Trading Company, who make gear tougher than explaining the Electoral College to your relatives.
LANE: Right now they've got 50% off clearance items, 25% off summer gear, and Buy 3, Get 1 Free across the board. That's more deals than a politician makes during election season.
DAVE: Duluth Trading: Because life's too short for clothes that quit before you do.
LANE: Deep thoughts time. Dave, what's July 25th telling you about humanity?
DAVE: July 25th shows that humans are basically really ambitious toddlers. "I'm going to fly over water!" "I'm going to make babies in a lab!" "I'm going to create a new type of political relationship!" We just do stuff and figure out the consequences later.
LANE: My deep thought is that July 25th proves innovation often comes from people willing to try things that seem impossible. Whether it's IVF or flying across the Channel, someone had to be the first to say "let's see what happens."
DAVE: So your deep thought is just "humans are weird but in a good way"?
LANE: Pretty much. Your deep thought is "humans are toddlers with engineering degrees."
DAVE: And somehow we've made it this far! That's either inspiring or terrifying.
LANE: That's July 25th - proving that yesterday's impossible is today's Tuesday.
DAVE: Thanks for touring with us! Like, subscribe, and send us your voice memos about why dates matter to you. Even if it involves questionable lottery strategies.
LANE: Until next time, remember: history is just humans saying "hold my beer" in different languages.
DAVE: This has been Touring History. I'm Dave.
LANE: I'm Lane.
BOTH: See you in the past!