Ice and Easy

Strata barius. A strata various violin is widely considered to be the finest string instruments ever made. Some experts attribute the quality to the method of their construction. More recent findings suggest the cool temperatures at which the trees grew between sixteen forty five and seventeen fifty led to their superior sound. For Antoni Strativari, it was his love of music and woodworking, which he poured into every instrument he crafted,

that made them so coveted. Born in Cremona, Italy around sixteen forty four, Strativari was apprenticed to the notable instrument maker Nicola Amadi. By the time he was just twelve years old. Under Amadi's tutelage, Strativari learned how to shape wood into curves and carve ornate headstocks for his violins. Over time, he honed his techniques manufacturing musical instruments under

his own unique style. Early Strativarious violins were a bit smaller in size compared to his later works, which were not only larger but more ornate and deliberate in their design. They featured deep bevels along their edges and richer colorings thanks to a darker varnish. His violins and cellos earned him fame around Italy and all throughout Europe. In sixteen eighty two, a banker from Venice ordered one of every instrument Strativari had ever made, with the intention of gifting

them to King James the Second of England. They were never given away, and nobody knows what happened to them. At the time of his death in seventeen thirty seven, Strativari was thought to have built over a thousand string instruments, spanning violins, cellos, and violas, but there was another model

in his repertoire. Though he didn't make many of them, its roots could be traced back as early as the eighth century to an instrument with a large wooden body, a long neck, with a fingerboard and strings that ran almost its whole length. It then evolved into the loots of the Middle Ages to become what the Spanish called the viola. Today we call it the guitar. Its body style changed over hundreds of years, as well, shedding the bulbous back of the loot to accommodate to more tapered look.

During the Baroque era, it shrunken size to not much larger than a ukulele. The maker's inlaid ornamental filigrees and accents onto its face and fretboard. The guitar are became a work of art in and of itself, except where Stratavarry was concerned. The Rawlins strata Varius was a different kind of Baroque guitar. Created in seventeen hundred, the rawlins Stratavarius bore very little ornamentation on its front or frets.

It featured a mother of pearl inlay around a carved rose in its circular sound hole, which was about as fancy as Strativari was willing to get. He focused his work on shaping the instrument as well as the materials used. He modeled it after his violins, with gentle curves that sloped inward towards the center. It's back and sides were made of maple, a unique choice for such an instrument,

which was typically constructed of harder woods like ebony. For the front or top, he chose spruce, which is still used on guitars made today. Those strata Varry made several guitars early on in his career, only four still exists today. The Rawlins Strata Varius is now on display at the National Music Museum, part of the University of South Dakota. Strataverry was better known for his violins rather than his guitars, but his contributions to the instruments development have become the norm.

As of the eighteen fifties, the guitars form and function have been fairly standardized, though it comes in different shapes and sizes, electric or acoustic. The guitar has become a standard part of almost every band and orchestra in the world. In fact, it's importance was recognized by Congress even before

the formation of the United States. One man saw the guitar as a gateway to new and better music, someone who had fostered a love of music early on in his life, spending money he'd gotten for Christmas one year on a fairly price eat whistle. While his older brothers made fun of him for it, That whistle sent him on a path of musical discovery. As he got older, he started playing more complicated instruments, such as the harp,

the violin, and, yes, the guitar. He became proficient at all of them, even going on to invent his own, but the guitar was the only one he was known to have taught to others. His writings and contributions to American independence may have made him a historical icon, but musicians everywhere can tip their hats to this early American guitar teacher for tuning the world into the beauty of the instrument. Who was he? Benjamin Franklin. When a nation wants to show the rest of the world what it's

made of, it holds an exhibition. The Olympics are a demonstration of athletic ability and stamina. Other types of exhibitions are comprised of booths, pavilions, and arenas designed to give each country the chance to both witness and present wondrous new ideas and technologies. In America, these events were known by a catchier name than international exhibitions. They were called

world's fairs. Putting on a World's Fair cost millions of dollars and required the work of multiple architects and teams of builders. Together, they would change the landscape of a city by paving new walkways and installing elaborate features. Massive lagoons, for example, would allow guests to tour the fair by rowboats. In nineteen o four, one of the biggest and most impressive fairs came to Missouri, featuring almost fifteen hundred buildings

across twelve hundred acres. The St. Louis World's Fair was open for eight months and welcomed nearly twenty million visitors through its gates. It was a feast for the senses to Listeners who walked into the festival hall could hear the blaring sounds of the world's largest pipe organ, whose construction led to the bankruptcy of its maker, the Los

Angeles Art organ Company. A natural history fossil exhibit by the Smithsonian put dinosaur skeletons and a full sized model of a blue whale on display, while the Palace of Horticulture featured a jumbo elephant made entirely of almonds, which, when you think about it, it's just nuts. The fair was also the launching pad for countless inventions and ideas that flooded American popular culture. It inspired the hit song Meet Me in St. Louis, which in turn led to

a feature film starring Judy Garland. Forty years later, ragtime composer Scott Joplin wrote a song about the waterfalls outside the festival hall called Cascades. It was a venue for the innovations of the era and provided audiences with glimpses into the future. The X ray machine, an early wireless phone, and the precursor to the fax machine all wild audiences and had them talking long after they'd left the Palace

of Electricity. But perhaps the most important developments to come out of the fair were the ones the guests could taste. In fact, it's been said that the World's Fair in St. Louis marked the debut of the food court, and although they had been invented several years earlier, Culinary delights such as the hamburger, the hot dog, and cotton candy became

big hits after appearing at the fair. One food, however, not only appeared for the first time at the nineteen o four World's Fair, It said that it was invented right there on the spot by a man named Ernest Hamley. Ernest was a Syrian baker who ran a modest pastry booth at the fair, Operating among the other food stands. He was selling a Persian style of an Indian and Arabic dessert known as Zalabia. Zalabia was made by frying dough in hot oil and then coating it in syrup

and rose water. Ernest was doing well for himself, especially given the variety of foods available to fair goers. However, his next door neighbor was doing a lot better, selling a sweet treat of his own, ice cream. There was just one problem. People couldn't get enough of the ice cream. He did so much business on one day that he ran out of paper cups, so the vendor panicked. Without cups, he would have nothing to scoop his ice cream into

for his customers. Ernest couldn't let the man flounder, so he stepped in with the solution. He took a thin layer of piping hot Zalabbia dough, rolled it into a cone shape and told his neighbor to drop his ice cream into it. The ice cream cooled the dough, quickly hardening it into something customers could hold upright. Everyone loved the delicious new creation, so much so that it took off like a rocket throughout Missouri and eventually the rest of the country, and it became a regular way for

people to enjoy their favorite treat. Ernest Ham, we had stumbled onto a much more lucrative business than selling pastries from booth, which led to a whole new company instead, the Corner Copia Waffle Company their number one product the ice cream cone. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created by me Aaron Manky

in partnership with how Stuff Works. I make another award winning show called Lord, which is a podcast, book series, and television show, and you can learn all about it over at the World of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious. Yeah,