Thomas Edison & Who Is Temple Grandin

all those things you said are true. Well, I definitely want to hear how this happens, and I'm sure audience wants to to then buckle up your braid because I'm about to tell you the most amazing story you've ever heard. I can't wait. So there, I was watering the flowers in my neighbor's garden when suddenly, right there, we don't have time for whimsical adventures. You've got a much more important story to tell the story of me, genius inventor

Thomas Edison. Oh right, hi, Mr Edison. Yeah, you're one of our two historical figures today, alongside another news inventor, Temple Granded, but mostly me. Okay, but what are you doing here? In the opening sketch, this is my special time to annoy Elliott and do silly things. Not after all the work I put into being a subject on this podcast. I tell you, getting onto the Who Was Podcast was one percent inspiration in perspiration, right, like you're

famous saying about genius being one percent inspiration perspiration. Yeah, but I just said that. Now start the show. My watch says it's Thomas time. But I wanted to hear these amazing story Yeah, Elliott didn't even notice that I'm holding a baby alien Goo goot gps. It is sixty eight degrees with a thirty percent chance of raining. About it, Pacho cheese, you babies, no time. We have to start my episode. Eric, play us the theme song. Now, buddy,

think you know about the great story? The game is on. To get some energy and buckle up your brain because it's signed to play whose podcast? Because it's sound to play who Live from Top the Land or so called so Cattle? Los Angeles, Welcome to Who Was? The history quesh show that gives contestants the chance to win mega prizes and podcast Glorie, I'm your announcer, be and my favorite Beatles song is let It Me. And here's your host, a guy who can tell you all the presidents in

order whether you want him to or not. It's Elliot's Galen. Thank you be and welcome everyone to the Who Was Podcast. The show is like Jeopardy, only with surprise guests, silly games, and a pretty melty suit of chocolate armor. Yeah. It's a lot warmer here than on Fluto, which is where I picked up this little guy. Go oh, I wish I could hear that story, but no time. Our contestants were sent who Was books about two great figures from history. Now they're here to show off their knowledge and the

hopes of winning fantastic prizes. Prize Words pod. Today we're talking about who was Thomas Edison and who is Temple Granded, two inventors who changed the way people look at cows. Edison invented the light bulb. Why did that change the way people look at cows? Well, now they can look at them on the door. Oh boy, okay, let's meet our contestants. Hey, y'all, my name is Thomas. I'm a hundred seventy five years old Aquarius and my hobby is

being a genius. Edison, you're still here. Can't be the subject of the show and a contestant, you know, that's small minded? Small minded people already telling geniuses they can't do things the Can you introduce our real contestants? Alright, first up, we have Natalie Natalie. Please introduce yourself. Hello. I am Natal Natalie. Do you have a fun fact you'd like to share with our listening audience. I am on an executive board with a couple of other students

in eighth grade. Oh wow? And um, do you do official things like you take notes at your meetings? Um? Stuff like that. Yes, we do generally have to take notes, and the executive board is usually heads of separate committees that we have. And what committee are you the head of? I am on the food Drive Committee, the Book Drive committee, and a be the Good Committee. That's amazing. That sounds like such a huge amount of responsibility. I'm really impressed.

When I was your age, I think I was mostly responsible for not losing the television remote and not getting too much popcorn on the couch when I was watching television. That was about right, And you failed at both of those things, if I if I'm remembering that it was not a responsibility that I upheld. Yeah, it was. I was found to be wanting in the in maintaining that responsibility, but I tried my best. I certainly tried. But right, thank you so much for joining us badly. And Iva,

would you please introduce yourself? Um, I'm Ava, and uh I look fake swim and my favorite season is winter? Now what is your favorite thing to bake in the winter after you've had a swim? Any coin? Swimming in the winter? But alright, alright, my hav thank to fake is cookies? Are you a chocolate chip cookie person? Or are you like one of these oatmeal raisin? Um? You know outliers gingerbread, I like, I like sugar coak. And let's talk shapes. Are you Are there any kinds of

special shapes, stars, trees, dinosaurs, castles, anything like that. It's just regular round cookie. Tans cookie would be nice, but I usually make just round one. Okay, okay. Thanks to both of our contestants for being here, and thank you to Eric, our musician, for providing that lovely meet the contestants music and all the music on the show today. So that's who is. Now let's find out who was

Thomas Edison with four fast facts cospects. Thomas Alva Edison was born in eighteen forty seven and died In nineteen thirty one, he invented the light bulb, the phonograph, and even an electric pen. He received one thousand and ninety three patents. In three he started America's first movie studio. He was a successful businessman since childhood, when he worked on a train selling his own newspaper, Fospects. Now, Eva and Natalie were curious, have you ever invented anything? Um? Eva?

What about you? If you invented anything ever in your life? No? Not really, not really? Okay, alright, you're young yet if you there could still be an inventor's time now, uh that Natalie, You're you've already got a lot on your hands being part of the governing council of an entire school. But have you found the time to create any inventions? I don't think so. Now, if you were going to

invent something, what would it be? Probably something that would make it so I could read books faster but still be able to enjoy them. Interesting. Okay, that's good, um Elliott. If you could invent something, what would it be? I think I would invent probably like a robot bird. Okay, would it be able to fly? No? Pet birds are very messy and they're hard to contain, so and I

don't want to keep it in a cage. So I just maybe be like a robot ostrich, but they just kind of walk around, maybe sit down, you know, be great pet, but easy to take care of, easy to take care of, all right, very good? And even what about you would you what if you could invent something? What would you invent? I already said robot bird, So you can't do that, okay, Um, I would probably make

I'm probably invent like a self in a car. And like I know there's like kind of self driving cars, but a car where you don't have to do anything. What if you have invented car you don't even have to get into for to drive you someplace. You just stay at home, you send the car somewhere, suddenly you're there. Yeah, there's so much time and uh and be what would you invent? You know, I was trying to think about that.

You know what I would actually invent. I would invent something where every time you um boil an egg, like a six minute egg, that it would get the shell off perfectly and you wouldn't end up with like divots and um little pieces of shell when you eat and egg because I have an egg almost every day, and it's so it's such a struggle to get the shell off without ruining the outside of the egg. It's a real struggle for me. So that's hard, and it's every day.

And you know what invention would really help you with that? What a robot bird. That's true every time. It's designed. The perfect egg every time, the perfect robot egg every time. Thank you of both. Those were fantastic answers. I think you know it's time to move on to our first game. It's called Backpack from the Past, Back from the Best. For this game, I found Thomas Edison's original backpack. Hey, how did you get my backpack? I'll sue you for that. Edison.

We thought you wanted to be on this show. I knew I should have invented some kind of backpack theft arm. Anyway, you will take things out of this backpack and describe them to you. Then you'll choose the answer that best explains what it had to do with Thomas Edison's life. Okay, Natalie, this first item is for you. M It's a cup of some sort of mashed up gunk. These are worms. I know the smell of mashed up worms anywhere. Don't ask me why anyway. Why would Thomas Edison have all

this gross stuck? Was it because a as a boy, he became ill with the mysterious sickness that could only be cured by mixing worms or be As a boy, he once gave a cup of mashed worms to a girl in the hope that it would make her fly. I'm pretty sure it is b You are pretty sure, because you're right. The answer is the Even as a young child, Thomas Edison was curious about the world. After watching a bird eat a worm and then fly away, he decided to test whether worms were the secret to flight.

So he mashed up some worms and gave them to a neighbor girl to drink to see if she would gain the ability to fly too. But it only made her sick and Edison gotten a lot of trouble. Luckily he didn't let that stop his love of science, or we'd be recording this show in the dark. The next item is for Eva. Oh weird. It's like a huge collection of stuff, bamboo, spider webs, tissue, paper, even human hair. There's like three thousand of these things. Why would Thomas

Edison have all this junk in his attack. Is it because A He and his workers tested over three thousand different materials to find the right filament for a lightbulb or b. Edison was afraid of throwing anything out, even human hair, because he might need it later. I think that was a You're right. The answer is a lightholds need of the filament literally the part of the bulb, but electricity heats up, causing it to glow, and Edison

wanted a filament that would last a long time. He and his employees tested over three thousand types of material until they found the right one sewing thread baked in carbon. I don't know about you, but I probably would have quit after the first two thousand materials. That's why I'm Thomas Edison and you're just some schmore reading questions to children. Hey, not fair. He is the schmow reading the questions. Yeah, thanks for sticking up for me, Elliott. And our next

question is for Natalie Gross. It's a dirty tissue. This is the worst backpack from the past we've ever opened. Why did Thomas Edison have a boogery tissue in his backpack? Was it because A one of the early movies he produced was called the Sneeze, or because B. Edison experimented with the superglue made out of mucus. The answer is A.

That's right. The answer is A. Shortly after inventing an early movie viewing machine called a kinetoscope, he decided to open a movie studio so people would have something to watch on their kinetoscopes. Edison movies were very short, and one of the earliest was called The Sneeze because it was just a movie of one of his workers sneezing. It doesn't sound like much, but it's not like unboxing videos are so amazing either. And the last item of

the round goes to EVA. It's a bunch of clock springs. Does Thomas Edison have these in his backpack? Because A. Edison spent his later years trying to invent springy shoes so he could finally fly. Or B he took the springs out of his factories clocks so his work first wouldn't know how much time they were working. I'm pretty fair.

That's that's right. The answer is be Edison life working long hours without going home for a rest, and he expected as workers to do exactly the same, so he took the springs out of the factory clocks so that the workers couldn't keep track of how many hours they've spent testing filaments or sneezing or whatever. Not cool Edison. Hey Elliott, you don't let me know how many hours I've been working either. I tried to be. You just can't tell time. Well, sure I can, I just don't

know what to tell it. Give camera adorable look. Oh boy, and that's the end of Backpack from the Past. From the past, by right round everybody. You kids certainly know a lot about me, which is not a surprise. Unfascinating. How I sneeze our way over to producer Jane for the scores. Oh well, he didn't be. Everybody's getting everything right. We're all tied up with two points each. Yes, thank you, Jane. You know I could replace Jane with a score keeping machine.

It would be very easy to invent. You just have to oil it three times an episode. No, let's keep Jane. She really needs oiling once an episode. And on that confusing note, we're off to a short break. We'll be right back with our next game, so don't go anywhere. Eric, Please play us some Fashtepans music. Please, m. Pure. Welcome back to the Who Was Podcast. Today we're learning all about who was Thomas Edison and who is Temple Granded And now back to your host, Elliott Klin. Thank you be.

Our scores are currently Natalie with two points and Eva with two points. That's right, it's all tied up. These are fused competitors, so let's get right to it by finding out more about who is Temple Grandin with four fast facts. Temple Grandon was born in nine and is still alive today. Temple Grandon was born with autism, making her sensitive to loud noises and unfamiliar situations. She created a new field of science, the study of how farmers

affect the feelings of farm animals. She invented better farm equipment that keeps cow's calmer and happier. Fools. Now, let's calmly and happily move on to our next game. It's something we call true or false. True or false? Is a true false? Is it false? Or is a true? Is a true that it is false? It was true or true? True or false. In this game, be will read a statement about Temple Grandon, and you'll tell her whether that statement is true or false, not true in

other words of false. And since this is our second game, each question is worth two points, even your first true or false. Temple Grandon's first inventions traps and franks. True. Yes, the answer is true. As a kid, Temple's first inventions were all solid goutchas. She raked up a web of strings to drop on anyone who walked into a room without her remission. And when she was bullied at school, she made it so that when the bully opened their desk,

the window blinds crashed down right next to them. Luckily, she always used her trap and prank abilities for good and not for evil. And the next question is for Natalie. As a child, Temple's autism made it difficult for her to understand people's facial expression, but easier for her to understand the emotions of horses. Is that true or false? It is true. That is also true. Yes. Some people with autism life, Temple had trouble reading the facial expressions

of others. Temple was fifty years old, that's right, five zero before she learned what it means when someone rules their eyes. This made it hard for her to make friends. But another aspect of her autism is that it helps her notice small details of things. She noticed the ways horses reacted when they were nervous, and she used that to team horses other people had trouble riding, and of course, reading the emotional signals of cows would become her life's work. Okay, Ava,

this next statement is for you, tue or false. Ava. Temple was inspired by a machine for calming down walruses to invent a human calming machine she called the squish machine. That is false, Yes, that is false. Temple was inspired by a machine for calming cows to invent what she called the squeezes machine. When she was fifteen, Temple began having panic attacks when she noticed how putting cows in

the tight space calmed them down. So she tried it on herself and created a machine that squeezed her gently until she stopped feeling overwhelmed. Now known as a hug machine, people all over the world use it to be a safer and more relaxed and Natalie, the final statement of the round goes to you true or false. When she was asked to find a way to help cows who were infested with itchy bugs called gabies, she looked at the prob lum from the scabies point of view, false, Yes,

you're right, that is bals. She looked at the problem from the cow's point of view. It turns out the only way to get scabies off of cows is to dip the cow's body in bug using. Sometimes the cows would panic and drown while being dipped. Temple observed the situation from the point of view of the cows and realized it was scary for a cow to walk down a slippery ramp into a deep pool of poison. So she redesigned the ramps to make him less slippery and hid how deep the pool was. The cows felt safer

and dipping them became much easier. Now only Temple would invent something to make it easier to give be her scabies medicine. Nope, you're just gonna have to keep hiding my pills in ice cream. And that's the end of the game. True, True, True Horror Falls another great game. Everybody. Now, let's walk down a ramp to producer Jane, who's currently in a deep pool of the scores. Jane, that's right, O, yet I'm drowning in sixes. We have a tie game with six points each. Be careful, be safe in that

pool of six goos. Thank you very much, Jane. This tie game continues to be exactly that, a tie game. Before we go to our next round, I'm very excited to announce we have a very special guests with us. That's right, we're joined live in the studio by Temple Grandin's favorite cow, Butter Scotch. Butter Scotch, thank you so much for being with us today. Wow, your favorite podcast. That's an honor coming from such an illustrious cow. Okay, okay,

enough flattery, Butter Scotch. We're not here to talk about us. We're here to talk about you and you're years of work with Temple grand Tell us, how did you first meet Temple Uh huh, No, way at the same restaurant. That's hilarious. I bet that was a lunch The President isn't likely to forget. Now my next question, stop stops, shut it down. You cannot be serious. Excuse me, Thomas Edison. We were in the middle of interviewing an extremely delightful cow. Yeah,

what's your problem? Alva if that is your real middle name, Yes, Alva is my real middle name. Like if you started saying Alvin and then forgot how it ends. And my problem is that you have met America's greatest event genius on your show, and yet you're wasting time with a cow. Don't worry about the Scotch. Mr Edison does not represent the views of the Who Was Podcast, which is very pro spending time with cows. Come on, you've got the Wizard of menlo Park here, the first person in history

ever to record their voice and put it back. Wow. Really, what did you say in the recording? Mm hmm, Mary had a little lamb. Its fleece was whitest snow. Oh, I get it. So we can't talk about cows, but you can flap your gums about lambs all day. Look, Mr Edison, you're a very important person, but this episode isn't just about you. It's also about Temple Brandon, and it's also about having fun. Boh, fun. You don't sell

light bulbs by having fun. It takes work and long hours and never seeing your family and sleeping on an uncomfortable work bench in your clothes. I think he's crying. Be oh, Mr Edison, seems like you're really stressed out. You want to go take a turn in the squeeze machine. Well, I have spent the last for hours trying to come up with a way to make electric socks. Maybe a little squeeze would do be good. I think so. All right, I'll be back to interrupt the show again later. Wow,

who new famous inventor? This could be so emotional, Scott. I don't think I could say it any better than that. It's time for us to take a break, But we'll be right back with the final game of the episode and the crowning of today's champion. Eric, Could you please play us some squeeze machine music? Please exqueez me Sally? Who was Marie? You may remember me from winning multiple Nobel Prizes, or perhaps from my episode of the Who

Was Podcast where I played myself. I wanted to take a moment to read one of my favorite reviews about the Who Was Podcast. This is from Shaken Bay and it reads loved this Me and my little sister love this show more. Please ease our faith is Aman. If you want to hear your review read on the app, make sure to subscribe, like, and review to the oas podcasts in the I Heart Radio up or wherever you get your podcasts. Revoir or shoul Let's Day Abio. We're

back on the Whoas podcast. When we last left off, Natalie had six points and Eva at six points. It's a tie, and now back to your host, Ellie Calin, thank you be Before Thomas Edison can jump in and yell at us again, let's get to our last game, Converge of Greatness. In this game, we will ask you multiple choice questions about the places where Temple Brandon and Thomas Edison connect, overlap, or converge metaphorically, they don't actually

connect in real life physically. And because we're in the third round, each question sin is worth three points. Ready, the first queston goes to Natalie be take it away. Temple Grandin was expelled from school because her teachers didn't know how to recognize her autism and just thought she was disruptive. Thomas Edison also left school early because a teacher didn't understand his needs. Was it because A He couldn't hear at the teacher because he'd lost some of

his hearing to scarlet fever. B He never bought his textbooks to class because they were on a shelf too high for him to reach or see. He was allergic to peanuts, and they made him sit right next to George Washington Carver. A. That's right. The answer is a young Thomas loved learning. He had trouble paying attention in school and it didn't help, and he'd lost someone's hearing to illness. When he was eight, his teacher called him quote adult, and Thomas's mother was so insulted she decided

to teach him herself. He raced through science textbooks, but he didn't stay at home school for long. For the time he was twelve, he was already working on the railroad all to live long day. And the next question is for Avon Thomas Edison would stay in his laboratory, working for days at a time, sleeping on a bench without changing his clothes. Temple Grandon also had some questionable

grooming habits as a young adult. Did her boss need to tell her to a stop flipping her fingernails during meetings, be dust her hair regularly, or see start wearing deodorant? Uh? See yes, it's see. Temple had trouble recognizing how her actions effective the people around him. At her first job, she impressed people with her amazing work, but one day her boss put a can of deodorant on her desk. Temple was embarrassed, but she got the message never forget kids.

Sometimes the truth can be embarrassing, but it's better not to ignore it. And also never forget grown ups are stinking. The next question is for Natalie Temple. Grandon designed feed lots and farm equipment that helped calm cows down, something cal ranchers didn't even know they needed. How it Thomas Edison feel about new ideas for inventions. A he wanted to create totally new things people didn't even know they needed. B he only wanted to invent things people already wanted.

Or see, he didn't want to invent things, but had been cursed by a witch to be haunted by ideas or inventions forever. As fun as she sounds, I think it's you made the right choice. That's the responsible uh student Council's word member decision, and I appreciate it. The answer is B. Thomas Edison's first invention was an electronic voting machine. There was only one problem. Nobody wanted to use it, so Edison decided he would only make inventions

that he was sure people already wanted. As a result, a lot of his work was in making better versions of things that already existed, rather than coming up with incredibly original ideas like temples. And the last question is for Eva. Thomas Edison was a famous public figure who often gave interviews about his inventions. Temple grand and also

became a public speaker. But instead of talking about her inventions, she talks about a how to live more like a cow, be the importance of deodorant, or see how the world needs many kinds of minds. I think that is C. You're right, the answer is C. After writing her autobiography, Temple became famous. Since then, she's given lectures to thousands of people, who speaks about the need to recognize all

the different ways people think and experience the world. She advises kids with autism to follow their strengths rather than be seen in only for their struggles. Meanwhile, most of Thomas Edison's public speaking was about how great Thomas Edison is and what's wrong with that? I am great? What are you still doing here? And that's converge of greatness right round everybody. It's almost time for the big moment. But before we converge on the greatness of producer Jane

to find out our winner. I had a final question for our contest, sus this one for no points at all. What was something that surprised you to learn about either Thomas Edison were temple granted Natalie, did anything really surprise you about either one of them? Before I read the book, I had no idea that Thomas Edison was hard of hearing. Yeah, a lot of people, um did not know that. Uh, it's not something that's so widely talked about when people

discussed Thomas Edison. But yeah, that's true. And by the end of his life he could barely hear anything at all. I think in the book, don't they talked about him having to put his head up next to a piano to hear the vibrations of the music, which is a real dedication to piano music. Let me tell you, when you're willing to just lay your head on top of it, well, let's blame Yeah, they don't. They don't look kindly on that.

For guitar though, as I found out, if you try to lay your head on the strings, they're like, get out of here. Yeah, they threw you right out of that concert, And I I feel bad. I feel bad that I was telling them throw her out, throw her out. I shouldn't have done that best. Yeah, I just love blue grass. What can this thing? And Eva? Is there anything that surprised you about either of our history figures? Um? Something that surprised me about Thomas Edison was that he

was called the Wizard of Menlo Park. That's right. He was so famous that he was called that. People thought of him as a wizard for the amazing scientific inventions he had. And of course he was in Menlo Park, New Jersey. Uh. I'm always trying to figure out, as someone who grew up in New Jersey, were there any other wizards in Menlo Park? Because if there were, maybe there they can teach me their secret magic. Well, isn't m. Bruce Springsteen the Wizard of Atlantic City? Is that true?

I don't think anyone calls him that, But they couldn't the Wizard of Asbury Park. They might call him because that's really not parks home area. But my apologies to the Boston and the people of New Jersey the Garden State. What is Elliott Klin the wizard of which town is Elliot Killen? The Wizard of Ellie Killen is the Wizard of Milburn New Jersey. But Anne Hathaway was also from Melbourne, New Jersey, so she wins and I'm more of the

I'm the associate wizard. Yeah, yeah, there you go. Yeah, I'm the jester in the court of Northern New Jersey. Thank you so much for those glowing insights, Eva and Natalie, and now it's time for that big moment. Jane, please announce our winner. Ohio didn't be I was a little bit of a wizard myself. And although you said not to add any points for their question, the extra one at the end we had a tie which was twelve each, so I did a door. I did add points on

and they both got a hundred. We still have a tie hundred and under and grow. What an amazing its producer Jane is. She's fiddling with the point totals, but it's still a tie. It was so close she is. She is unethically ethical, that producer Jen amazing to both of you. We love ties here on the show because we love it when people win. You both get ten seconds for shoutouts to those who want to thank Natalie go for it first. Who would you like to thank?

I would like to thank my family should be awesome. Oh that's so sweet. And my mom for letting me if you're on the show. Fantastic. We would like to thank your mom. Is fine. And Eva, who would you like to shout out to? Uman to shout out to have my three cats Fern, Tulip, and Apple because they all obviously wanted to see it on. For those at home, a lot of you's had a lot of cats passing in front of the camera. Today we're just one cat, but that Apple kept going back and forth, so I

was like, is that one cat? Is that multiple cats? There's no way of knowing our winner and their library of choice while we receiving a selection of Who Was books, And I'm going to give a shout out to intern Zack Jane, Eric Devin Coleman for being our Thomas Edison and being and a big thank you to both of

our contestants for playing such an amazing game today. This is our last episode for season one of Who Was Podcast, So I also want to give a big thank you to you are fabulous audience from everyone here at Who Was for making our first season so much fun. Thank you from the bottom of our history loving hearts. This is Ellie Kalin saying a thing saying We're history. Goodbye

everybody Hey. The Who Was Podcast is produced by Radio Point, I Heart Media and Anguin Workshop and is based on the best selling who h Q series published by Penguin. This show was hosted by Elliott Calin with co host Megan O'Neill as Be. It also starred Jane Baker as Jane, Eric Shackney as Eric, and Devin Coleman as Thomas Edison. Executive producers are Richard Corson, Alex Bach, Elliott Calin, Megan O'Neil,

Daniel Powell, and Houston Sniper. Executive producer for Penguin Workshop is Francesco Sadita, and the executive producer for I Heart Media is Lindsay Hoffman. This episode was written by Megan O'Neil, Elliott Calin and Devin Coleman, who was produced by Bernie Kaminsky and Taylor Kowalski. Our talent producer is Jane Baker. Our theme song and all of our music was composed and performed by Eric shack This show was edited and

mixed by Kate Moldenhower, recorded by Alison Worth. Special thanks to Zach Timpson Charlotte Danda, Daniel Goodman, and Michael Lewis Howard, who was podcast was reported at the I Heart Studios in Los Angeles, California. Sound services were provided by Great City Posts Podcast because it's standard, favorit