Midnight Facts for Insomniacs

World’s Fairs: A Legacy of Weirdness and Innovation

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What do touchscreens, electrical outlets, color televisions, and fax machines have in common? They were all revolutionary technological breakthroughs that debuted at World’s Fairs. Also from World’s Fairs: powdered root beer, portable bathtubs, and Elektro the Smoking Robot. Hey, they can’t all be winners.


This week, join the guys for a grand tour of the most sensational hits and misses from the storied history of International Expositions. 

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In this episode:  

  • Fairs vs. Expositions
  • Prague in 1791
  • France in 1798 et al
  • The Crystal Palace in Hyde Park (https://www.royalparks.org.uk/whats-on/the-great-exhibition-virtual-tour)
  • Monkey Closets and George Jennings
  • Thomas Crapper
  • Spending a Penny
  • The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations
  • Prince Albert
  • Karl Marx, Shade Thrower
  • Schweppes 
  • The Mountain of Light
  • Cyrus McCormick's Steam-Powered Reaping Machine
  • The Fax Machine
  • Leeches and the Tempest Prognosticator
  • Charles Hobbes and the Parautoptic Lock
  • Linus Yale
  • The Bureau Internationale De Expositions
  • Specialized Expos, World Expos, Horticultural Expos, and the Milan Triennial
  • Donald Rumsfeld and the Known Unknowns
  • The Space Needle
  • The Chicago 1893 World's Columbian Exposition
  • H.H. Holmes
  • William Cody
  • Buffalo Bill's Wild West and Congress of Rough Riders of the World
  • George Washington Gale Ferris Jr. and the Ferris Wheel
  • X-Rays, Zippers, and AT&T's Picture Phone
  • RCA and Color Television
  • The Knoxville Tennessee World's Fair
  • Samuel Hurst and the Touchscreen
  • Cherry Coke
  • The Eiffel Tower
  • The Paris Colonial Exposition
  • The "Truth on the Colonies"
  • Elektro the Smoking Robot, and Sparko
  • The New York World's Fair of 1964
  • The Bell Rocket Belt
  • The Suboceanic Resort
  • It's a Small World
  • The Festival of Gas
  • Philadelphia's Centennial Exposition of 1876
  • The Statue of Liberty's Hand
  • Ethelbert Watts and the Portable Bathtub (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008XSXQIO/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_i_ADHM9NHG1NVP9Q2X13H5)
  • Expo '86
  • The Challenger Disaster and Chernobyl

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    Midnight Facts for InsomniacsBy Shane Rogers
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