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Products That Were Really Uncomfortable · Be Amazed

• 0:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: These days, we consumers can get our claws on just about any product the mind can conjure.
• 0:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: And while the internet is certainly riddled with strange purchasable items, in this episode, we'll be exploring some seemingly ordinary products that had incredibly strange and uncomfortable beginnings.
• 0:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: From treacherous toothbrushes to the peculiar reason Australians used to sit inside whale carcasses.
• 0:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: All will be revealed in time.
• 0:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: So join me as we discover products.
• 0:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: You'll be thankful to have come a long way.
• 0:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: If there's one item you definitely want to be comfortable, it has to be your pillow.
• 0:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: After all, we spend an average of thirty-three years in bed over our lifetimes, so a good pillow is probably a worthwhile investment.
• 0:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: However, it seems our ancestors weren't all too bothered about comfort.
• 1:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: The original pillow was not much more than shabby slabs of concrete that had little to do with softness.
• 1:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: In a practical sense, they were used to elevate the head to keep critters from having a party in the ears, nose, and mouth.
• 1:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: The earliest dates back to seven thousand BC in early Mesopotamia, and only the wealthy would have the privilege of resting their heads on this luxurious rock.
• 1:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: Boy, those peasants must have been so jealous.
• 1:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: The same idea was adopted by the Egyptians, except theirs were mostly made from materials such as wood and ivory.
• 1:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: Images of gods would also be carved into the pillows to ward off bad spirits, because everyone knows hellish demons are no match for adequate next support.
• 1:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: Eventually the Greeks and Romans saw sense as they stuffed cloth with materials such as cotton, reeds and straw, fashioning what we modern folk might consider a pillow.
• 2:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: However, due to the nature of these materials, none have stood the test of time, though artwork and sculptures depict the soft furnishing they would lounge around on.
• 2:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: It wouldn't be until the nineteenth century during the Victorian era that pillows would become common in every home.
• 2:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: Thanks to the Industrial Revolution, pillows could now be made on mass from comfortable cotton material and polyester later in the twentieth century, making them more affordable than ever.
• 2:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: So much so they could now not only be used practically, but decoratively.
• 2:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: Thus, birthing the modern desire for excessive scatter cushions.
• 2:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: We now live in a time where many of our aches and pains are nothing a quick trip to the drugstore can't alleviate.
• 2:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: And with statistics showing sixty-five million Americans complain of back pain in particular, it's just as well that we have a variety of lotions and potions to relieve our achy brachy backs.
• 2:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: Products like icy hot can temporarily relieve aches and pains by making the skin feel cool and then warm, which distracts from the aching sensation, but what did people do for achy backs and joints before innovations like this?
• 3:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, I'm not sure you really want to know the answer to that.
• 3:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: As with many a great tale, this one starts with drunken shenanigans.
• 3:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: During the eighteen nineties a group of Australian men from the Whaling Town of Eden were having a whale of a time drinking on the beach when they crossed paths with a dead beached whale.
• 3:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: For reasons that remain unknown, one of them proceeded to willingly plunge himself into a decayed hole in the whale and didn't re-emerge for quite some time.
• 3:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: When he finally did resurface in a peculiar turn of events, he professed how his stint in the stale whale had performed miracles that had cured him of his arthritis.
• 3:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: And with that, it wasn't long until the ached and pain hobbled from far and wide to the town of Eden to claim their dose of dead whale.
• 4:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: Whales began being specifically hunted to be used for this purpose, and had holes cut into them where patients would be plopped in.
• 4:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: The longer they spent inside, the better, as some would stew in the stinky carcass for up to thirty hours.
• 4:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: And all because of some drunk man's delusions?
• 4:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: Well oddly enough, there may be some merit to this utterly bizarre practice.
• 4:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: Think about it like this.
• 4:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: Part of the reason I see hot or hot bath relieves aches due to the heat?
• 4:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: Heat encourages blood circulation, which in turn loosens muscles and provides them with oxygen and nutrients that can aid healing.
• 4:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: In fact, a two thousand eighteen study found that regular dry sauna bathing can be quite beneficial to people suffering from rheumatic diseases such as arthritis.
• 4:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: So, realistically, the heat generated inside the well-insulated decomposing whale surrounding participants' bodies likely worked in a similar way.
• 5:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: relaxing tense muscles and encouraging the body's natural relief and healing processes, but would I recommend it?
• 5:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely not, and I'm sure the whales of the world would also agree.
• 5:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: Let's stick to icy hot and a nice warm bath.
• 5:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: Whether you're after a quick pick me up or just enjoy the sensation of a gurgling gut, energy drinks have got your back.
• 5:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: Sure, their high caffeine content can increase alertness, but consuming over the recommended four hundred milligrams of caffeine can result in some pretty nasty side effects, including irregular heartbeat seizures and in rare cases, death.
• 5:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: But that's pretty tame considering the original energy drink pretty much guaranteed death.
• 5:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: The idea of an energizing drink has been around for millennia, if you consider that Roman chariotiers would apparently grind down goat poop and boil it with vinegar for a tasty boost of energy.
• 5:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: Whether that actually works or not, I'll let you experiment to find out.
• 6:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: But the real beginnings of boost juice was in nineteen eighteen, when American inventor and salesman William Bailey created a concoction called Rada Thor.
• 6:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: Not only could his miracle formula boost your energy, but it could allegedly heal many ailments including impotence.
• 6:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: But what was this miracle formula?
• 6:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, it was, put simply, radium dissolved in water.
• 6:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: You know, radium, the radioactive element that causes anemia, cataracts and cancer, and slowly deteriorates human bones after long exposure?
• 6:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: The chemical element is, however, naturally occurring on Earth, so a little exposure to it is an exactly lethal.
• 6:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: However, puzzling the stuff by the bottle, ultimately is.
• 6:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: But that wasn't to stop Bailey who, unaware of the long-term effects, ironically believed the power of radium's alpha particles would aid people suffering from anemia, cancer, depression, among many other diseases.
• 7:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: Boy was he wrong.
• 7:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: In nineteen twenty seven ebbin buyers injured his arm and was recommend rathor by the doctor before long he was hooked and swigging as many as two bottles a day believing it gave him a toned up feeling
• 7:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: In nineteen thirty he put an end to his three-year-long bench, but having already knocked back around one thousand four hundred bottles, the damage was done.
• 7:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: The radium had caused him to develop bone cancer, which resulted in his teeth and bones slowly deteriorating.
• 7:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: So much so he even lost half of his jaw and a developed holes in his skull.
• 7:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: In nineteen thirty two and age fifty one that rate of thore habit spelled by by for ebb and buyers just like countless others who bought into this lethal pseudo science so all things considered i guess the high levels of caffeine sugar and tarn and modern energy drinks aren't so bad
• 8:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: Personally, I don't usually drink energy drinks.
• 8:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: I get all my energy from entertaining you guys.
• 8:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: So why don't you give me the boost I crave by following my podcast and leaving a five star rating.
• 8:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: Stiles keep a change in, but, surprisingly, humans pursuit of beauty is rooted less in vanity and more in evolution.
• 8:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: We're evolved to desire a potential mate and defined ways of maximizing our chances.
• 8:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: In order to indicate health and fertility, we've had a helping hand from cosmetics for around six thousand years since the ancient Egyptians.
• 8:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: And like many women today, our ancient Egyptian pals were quite religious about their brows.
• 8:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: Literally.
• 8:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: Men and women would elongate their brows with carbon and black oxide as an homage to the God Horace.
• 8:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: But over the millennia, eyebrows became more purely a fashion statement, and with the invention of the eyebrow pencil in the nineteen twenties, people have only got more creative.
• 9:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: But great brows haven't been so easily attainable for all of the more industrialized periods of history.
• 9:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: At one time, you had to hunt your makeup.
• 9:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: Back in the eighteen centuries, citizens of Georgian Britain believe the bush year the brow, the fairer the maiden.
• 9:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: So they devised a foolproof way to guarantee big brows every time.
• 9:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: It was super simple.
• 9:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: All you needed to do was catch a mouse, skin it, carve eyebrow shapes out of its hide, and stick them onto your brow when you're looking hot to trot.
• 9:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: In fact, Irish writer Jonathan Swift wrote in a seventeen thirty one ode, it reads like this.
• 9:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: Her eyebrows from a mouse's hide.
• 9:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: Stuck on with the art on either side.
• 9:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: That was just so beautiful.
• 9:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: Anyway, those less concerned by their eyebrow boosiness could simply burn the end of a clove, making for a great eyebrow pencil.
• 10:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: Plus, it meant that you didn't have to walk around with dead mouse on your face.
• 10:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: A house isn't a home without its own unique identity.
• 10:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: In fact, archaeologists believe that even cavemen, five thousand years ago, painted inside their caves to brighten up the place, using ground up minerals and rocks held together with spit or animal fat.
• 10:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: Wallpaper meanwhile can be dated back to two hundred BC when the ancient Chinese would glue rice paper to their walls.
• 10:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: But no one was to expect that some innocent interior design could become a deadly killer.
• 10:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: Thanks to the Industrial Revolution, the public of Victorian England was able to embrace the idea of home and houses transformed into treasure troves of trinkets and elaborate decor.
• 10:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: But hidden amongst all this clutter, a deadly green monster lurk.
• 10:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: Its name was Sheelie's Green.
• 10:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: In seventeen seventy-five Swedish chemist Carl Schiele created a vivid shade of green pigment, one that he would name after himself no less.
• 11:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: This green beast would eventually wade the waters over to Victorian England, where it would be used in wallpaper manufacturing, notably by the famous textile designer William Morris.
• 11:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: Only Schiele's green had a secret ingredient, arsenic.
• 11:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's now common knowledge that arsenic is one of the most toxic elements derived from the natural world, and while I'd like to say the Victorians were oblivious to this, they kind of knew.
• 11:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: Their thinking was, so long as no one ate the wallpaper, then everything would be hunky dory, right?
• 11:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, how wrong they were.
• 11:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: The truth was, moisture and contact would release deadly vapors from the wallpaper, meaning the toxins would be inhaled or absorbed through the skin.
• 11:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: Over a short period of time, arsenic poisoning may entail vomiting, abdominal pain, and diarrhea.
• 12:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: But through long-term exposure to it, such as having it decked out all over your home, the consequences can include patchy, darkened skin, heart disease, and various cancers.
• 12:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: So it was only a matter of time before many a lady and gent would pop their clogs thanks to arsenic poisoning all on account of their home decor.
• 12:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: This truly made Sheila's green a color to die for, but even with all these fatalities, notable textile producers continued to use it until around eighteen eighty.
• 12:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: Thankfully modern-day green pigments tend to be made from non-toxic ingredients such as malachite, cobalt oxide, and zinc oxide, meaning the wallpaper grass really is greener here in the modern day, and less likely to kill you.
• 12:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's no secret that a gleaming grin can increase a person's attractiveness.
• 12:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: In fact, some even liken our teeth to a peacock's tail, a sign of health and genetic quality used to capture the attention of a potential mate.
• 13:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: And while modern dentistry can easily replace a missing tooth in days gone by, people would beg, borrow, and steal.
• 13:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: due to the increasing popularity of sugar during the eighteenth century, wealthy Europeans and Americans began indulging in more sweet treats.
• 13:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: This newfound sugar rush came with some bitter consequences, as instances of tooth decay began to rapidly increase.
• 13:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: Ivory Dentcher seemed like the solution, except these would eventually rot too.
• 13:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: In fact, there's a common myth that George Washington wore wooden dentures, which we're also a thing, but the more likely truth is he actually had ivory dentures that were so stained they looked wooden.
• 13:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: So without a suitable substitute, people got to thinking, what better to replace teeth with than with real teeth?
• 13:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: This mentality was on show after fifty thousand young and healthy men died in the eighteen fifteen battle of Waterloo in Belgium, leaving behind pearly whites ready for the taking.
• 14:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: So with pliers and hand, people reportedly scoured the battlefields pulling the teeth to cast into ivory molds.
• 14:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: Unfortunately though, the ivory would still rot eventually.
• 14:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: What's more, these dentures were expensive took up to six weeks to make and were made to be one size fits all.
• 14:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't take a genius to figure out that one size does not fit all, meaning most dentures were incredibly uncomfortable to wear.
• 14:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: Later down the line in the eighteen forties, a type of rubber known as Vulcanite started to be used.
• 14:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: This material made the dentures much easier to eat with more comfortable and much more durable, meaning they could last a whole lifetime.
• 14:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: But regardless of physical comfort, there was still the revolting reality that folks were often chopping down with a random dead folks tea.
• 15:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: Fortunately, modern-day dentures are made from acrylic and porcelain, which are pretty good doops for teeth.
• 15:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: The best part is, you don't have to worry about the teeth previous owner coming back to haunt your dentures.
• 15:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: Nowadays, we can counteract some of the rotting effects of our disgracefully high sugar diets thanks to the high quality toothpaste and toothbrushes we have available.
• 15:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: But to whom do we owe the pleasure for the dental hygiene gift that is the simple toothbrush?
• 15:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, the earliest form of toothbrush can actually be dated back to three thousand five hundred BC in the ancient city of Babylon.
• 15:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: The Babylonians would use something called a chew stick, which was a twig, usually from an aromatic tree, frayed on one end, and used for brushing.
• 15:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: But it seems the earliest modern-style toothbrush was like many modern-day equivalents made in China.
• 15:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: Created within the Chinese Tang Dynasty sometime between six one eight and nine zero seven CE, the brush fundamentally resembled the modern toothbrush, except the handle was made from bone or bamboo, and the bristles were the coarse hairs of wild hogs.
• 16:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: The Chinese had also devised their own idea of toothpaste by brewing poria fungus into an abrasive paste.
• 16:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: Fast forward to seventeen seventy, Englishman William Addis was imprisoned for inciting a riot in London.
• 16:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm sure you're thinking, what has this got to do with toothbrushes?
• 16:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, while in carcerated, Addis grew tired of having to clean his teeth with a rag and charcoal.
• 16:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: So, he fashioned his own brush with a bone from his meals and some bristles of bore hair, which he somehow acquired from one of the guards.
• 16:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: After his release in seventeen eighty, William founded the Addis Company, where he developed his toothbrush idea and sold a version with bristles made of horse hair to huge success.
• 16:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: Much later in the nineteen thirties nylon was invented which proved a much more suitable and let's be honest hygienic bristle alternative to hog and horse hair along with the addition of a plastic handle and the occasional handful of waterproof electronics nylon bristles are still used today but if you've got a hankering for the true vintage experience just swap your plastic toothbrush for a broomstick
• 17:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: One of the most essential products we have for our well-being is sunscreen.
• 17:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: While the sun is a great source of vitamin D, which aids bones, teeth and muscles, it's harmful ultraviolet rays can not only cause sunburn, but also skin cancer.
• 17:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: Sunscreen can prevent this by creating a protective barrier on the skin that blocks and reflects the UV rays.
• 17:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: And while it's a modern day staple, sunscreen wasn't officially invented until nineteen forty six.
• 17:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: Before that, people had some pretty interesting ideas about protecting skin from the sun.
• 17:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: Egypt is a pretty hot place, so it's no surprise that like most things the ancient Egyptians had a solution for sun damage.
• 18:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: They would down their skin with extract from rice bran, jasmine and lupine, which are actually effective ingredients still used in modern day sun screens.
• 18:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: Despite the genius of our ancient Egyptian predecessors, a not so smart idea for sun protection came about during the nineteen twenties.
• 18:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: They had a weird swimming mass designed to protect the whole head from sun damage.
• 18:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: Though, if you ask me, it looks more like someone who needed to rob a bank at three p.m.
• 18:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: but had a pool party at four p.m.
• 18:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: Hair hygiene is completely a personal choice.
• 18:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: There is almost no medical reason to shampoo or condition your hair.
• 18:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: But with shampoo's ability to effectively remove dirt, debris, odors and oil, many of us lather our locks up with the stuff at least every two to three days.
• 18:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: But with modern shampoo having only been around for ninety or so years, people beforehand had some pretty uncomfortable methods in keeping their mobs looking tipped off.
• 19:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: During the Middle Ages, daily bathing was regarded as somewhat of an oddity.
• 19:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: In fact, some even considered it unhealthy.
• 19:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: But nevertheless, on the occasion bathing did occur, women still attempted hair care, and they'd use some bizarre concoctions.
• 19:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: A popular ingredient was vinegar, and while it hardly smells like a fresh meadow, it has since been scientifically proven to enhance hair strength and shine.
• 19:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: During the Renaissance Italian women would use ly soap to wash their hair, but bizarrely conditioned it afterwards with bacon fat to give it a lustrous shine.
• 19:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: Meaning they probably looked more like Danny Zuko than a fair maiden.
• 19:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: Fast forward to nineteenth century America, where another unique approach to hair care emerged.
• 19:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: Cody's lady's book and American Women's Magazine actually recommended that women routinely crack an egg on their head at least once a month.
• 20:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: They'd rather the gooiness into their scalp and then simply rinse it out with water.
• 20:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: Sounds crazy, right?
• 20:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, it's not entirely nuts, it seems their eggy approach was no joke after all.
• 20:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: Exerfull of nutrients, namely B vitamins, as well as vitamins A and D, which all just so happen to be extremely beneficial for hair.
• 20:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: So, infusing your follicles with some eggy goodness can actually promote stronger hair, less prone to damage.
• 20:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: Man, I don't know about you, but all this talk of eggs and bacon is making me hungry.
• 20:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: These days, shampoo contains more manufactured chemicals than it does breakfast ingredients, typically made from compounds like sodium laurel sulfate and cukamito propel butane.
• 20:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: And honestly, these new ingredients may give you volume and shine, but they do not make for a good sandwich.
• 21:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: A quick Google search may lead you to believe that mouthwash was first created in eighteen seventy-nine by Dr. Joseph Lawrence.
• 21:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: But the truth is that the stuff has been around for thousands of years in various forms and has a much more disturbing origin.
• 21:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: In fact, the ancient Romans would argue that we all have our own personal fountain of mouthwash.
• 21:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: Credit where credit is due, the Romans were responsible for some of the greatest innovations.
• 21:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: I mean modern plumbing, aqueducts, Roman numerals, it's all chef's kiss, but not all of their ideas were quite as timeless.
• 21:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: To illustrate this point, let's take a trip to your cleaning cupboard.
• 21:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: Now, if you go take a gander at the ingredients in your cleaning supplies, you'll likely see a commonality.
• 21:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: You'll see ammonia.
• 21:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's able to neutralize dirt and grease which are slightly acidic, making it an effective component to remove stains.
• 21:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: You know what else contains ammonia?
• 22:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: P. And in the land before disinfectant and detergent, the Romans took full advantage of the yellow stuff.
• 22:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: So much so that they would even place jars on streets so that people could so kindly come and leak their loyalties.
• 22:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: These containers would then be taken to the fullenica, aka the Laundret, and poured over dirty clothes, where someone fortunate worker would splash around in the town's collective pital to clean the clothes.
• 22:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: But what's all this got to do with mouthwash?
• 22:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, as if it wasn't bad enough that their clothes were saturated with urine, they figured urine might also be an effective way to brighten their smile.
• 22:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: So Romans regularly knocked back the laws and swilled it between their cheeks, as to whether it's a suitable replacement for Listerine or not.
• 22:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, it might be to an extent.
• 22:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: ammonia is an effective bleaching agent and since your pee is filled with the stuff it could trigger some whitening over time, but it what costs to have a pee breath.
• 23:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: at what cost.
• 23:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: These days, mouthwash thankfully includes no bodily fluids nor any of the harmful bacteria found in urine.
• 23:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: Just mental, eucalyptal, thymal, and my personal favorite alcohol.
• 23:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: Even so, the same is true now as it was in the Roman peace willing times.
• 23:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: Don't swallow your mouth wash.
• 23:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: Now let's talk about socks.
• 23:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: They may seem fairly insignificant, but in reality, they not only protect your feet from blistering, but also provide the ideal environment for your footsies by aiding temperature and moisture control.
• 23:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: Not just that, but research suggests there potentially the oldest form of human clothing as they're thought to have existed in the Stone Age.
• 23:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: Long before short skirts and t-shirts, but back then, socks were quite different from the stretchy nylon variety we wear today.
• 23:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: While no full stone age socks remain today, fabric fragments and archaeologists' interpretations of cave paintings suggest that these ancient folks likely wore animal skins wrapped around their feet for protection on rough surfaces.
• 24:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: In two thousand ten researchers found more solid evidence of what is believed to be the oldest known shoe.
• 24:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: Discovered in an Armenian cave, the five thousand five hundred year old shoe is around a U.S.
• 24:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: size seven and is made from a single piece of cow hide laced with a leather cord.
• 24:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: Given its lack of a sole, it's pretty sock-like in itself, but if we fast forward to the ancient Egyptian era, we find the first true prototype of the modern sock.
• 24:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: Sox seemed to be quite popular in Ancient Egypt and would be worn by all ages and with an array of colors and patterns.
• 24:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: They also had a weird split in the middle, and that's because Egyptians' feet hadn't yet evolved from their dinosaur ancestors.
• 24:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: I kid.
• 24:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: I kid.
• 24:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: The real reason for this split is actually much worse.
• 25:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: Egyptians would wear socks with sandals.
• 25:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: Someone call the time travel fashion police.
• 25:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm sorry, ancient Egyptians, but when the cost of comfort is that high, you've got to ask yourself if it's really worth it.
• 25:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: And on that note, we come to a comfortable end to this ride through history.
• 25:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: Which product do you think had the weirdest most uncomfortable origin?
• 25:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: Thanks for listening, see you next time.