Solo Rescue

stealing something. Of course, this sort of moralizing has not prevented crime from happening. Thievery is a profession as old as the very concept of ownership. And since we no longer hang thieves for taking things, and most petty theft happens too fast to notify police, merchants have found themselves in need of alternate ways to deter criminals. United States banks, for example, are armed with a dummy wad of cash

that conceals a trap for potential robbers. Inside this innocuous looking wad of tens and twenty dollars bills, there is a small explosive triggered by radio to detonate when brought out of the doors of the bank. This explosion releases tear gas and sometimes a colored paint that marks the bank robber and more importantly, the stolen money. Any cash marked in this way would be unusable to the criminal in question. This bank robber deterrent is known as an

intelligent banknote neutralization system or IBNS. The first prototype was developed in nineteen eighty two, using colored smoke rather than paint. After a decade in development, the modern system was fully finalized and her remains in common use to this day. But this was not the only crime deterrent that took on in the nineteen eighties. On the other side of the globe, the country of Japan was facing an interesting crisis. They were running low on eggs. This wasn't because people

were stealing eggs at increased rates. It was because people were refusing to pay at toll booths.

consequences on the drivers. But this practice gave someone the bright idea of replacing the eggs with something more permanent, because egg can be washed off fairly easily, after all. Sometime in the early nineteen eighties, someone developed a suitable egg replacement, a plastic sphere about the size and shape of a baseball, filled with bright orange paint. Toll workers, who presumably had plenty of practice with eggs, could use them to tag a fleeing vehicle, providing a more useful

mark for policemen to find the perpetrator. These plastic paintballs eventually became known as bohan yokara buru or anti crime color balls. In the years following their invention, they would expand from toll booths to banks and even convenience stores. Even today, when you step into a convenience store in Japan, you're likely to see a small pile of these orange balls waiting by the cash register. Of course, they're rarely used.

In fact, studies have shown that even in cases of store robbery, the owners rarely turned to the paintballs for assistance. Their benefit, it is said, is more psychological than physical. If someone enters a store and sees these innocuous plastic oranges, they will think twice about shoplifting. It's impossible to say how many potential crimes were deterred with the mere threats of getting painted, but one thing is for sure, anti crime color balls make a much stronger statement than raw egg.

Cody Klausen was starting to get scared. It was the summer of two thousand and one, and the thirteen year old boy scout had been hiking for hours. He began the day excited to be venturing into Yellowstone National Park, one of the most beautiful natural areas in the country. As part of his scout training, he had spent hours navigating with a map, hiking through brush, and orienting himself with the stars. He even had the badges to prove it, so he felt comfortable as he set out for a

short walk down the trails. That morning, he had wandered for a bit, hoping to see some wildlife, and then he would be home in time for lunch. But he must have taken a wrong turn somewhere. For some reason, the trails didn't seem to match the trail that he thought he was following. Nothing looked familiar no matter how many times he doubled. A few hours passed his scheduled return,

Cody was shivering as he struggled through the brush. He figured if he picked a direction and headed towards where he thought the trailhead was, he would stumble upon a marker or another hiker soon enough. But as the hours racked up and no savior materialized, he began to really worry. Cody was woefully unprepared for his long hike. He was wearing sandals, shorts, and a thin T shirt, which was

doing nothing to cut the cold. As the sun dipped below the horizon, any snacks or water that he'd brought with him were long gone by then. He needed to find his way back soon or he would really be in trouble. A rumble sounded from overhead, and Cody looked up to see his problems had just gotten worse. It was starting to rain as he continued walking, soaked to the skin, the rain turned colder in the night, air, freezing into sleet that stuck to his skin. Cody looked

for cover and managed to find a cave nearby. He spent a long night shivering in the cold, wondering how on earth he would fight his way home. When Cody woke up, it was to the sound of helicopter blades beating the air above the forest. Still cold and groggy, he struggled to his feet with just one thought on his mind, rescue. But when he emerged from the cave, he saw that there was a problem. The trees were so thick the helicopter, flying back and forth overhead couldn't

see him through the canopy. He had to think fast before it moved on to the next area. That's when he remembered his belt and its shiny metal buckle. Cody whipped the belt off and used it to catch the sunshine. He reflected a beam of light back at the helicopter, hoping the pilot would see him, and miraculously it worked. The pilot set the chopper down in a clearing close

to the caves. Cody ran to the pilot as he stepped out of the chopper, but froze when the man pulled his helmet off, his desperate joy turned to star struck wonder because the man standing in front of him wasn't just any pilot. It was the one who had made the kessel run in less than twelve parsecs Han Solo himself, Actor Harrison Ford. Harrison had been flying since the nineteen sixties and often volunteered with the Teton County

Search and Rescue Team. He'd been flying nearby when the call came over the radio asking pilots to look for lost Cody Clawson. He'd heeded the call and quickly found the missing scout. Surprisingly, this wasn't even Harrison's first rescue mission in the area. Just a year before, he had rescued another lost hiker, Sarah George, who thanked him by promptly vomiting inside his helicopter. Harrison flew the starstruck Cody to a nearby search and rescue place after eighteen hours

in the wilderness, he thankfully wasn't worse for wear. Before flying off, Cody reported that the actor knelt down to tell him one last thing that after all he had been through, he certainly deserved a merit badge. Now I'm no scout master. In fact, I might just be a half witted, scruffy looking nerve herder. But if Han Solo says you've earned a badge, he probably has a point. 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 Mankey in partnership with how Stuff Works. I make another award winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television show, and you can learn all about it over at the Worldoflore dot com. And until next time, stay curious.