WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.199 --> 00:00:04.919 Welcome. This is Rebecca Shore for Radio Eye, and today 2 00:00:05.000 --> 00:00:08.240 I will be reading the Smithsonian Magazine dated March twenty 3 00:00:08.279 --> 00:00:12.359 twenty six. As a reminder, RADIOI is a reading service 4 00:00:12.400 --> 00:00:15.919 intended for people who are blind or have other disabilities 5 00:00:15.919 --> 00:00:19.399 that make it difficult to read printed material. Please join 6 00:00:19.440 --> 00:00:22.239 me now for the first article, which is the second 7 00:00:22.280 --> 00:00:26.879 part of When Coyotes Threatened livestock on Central Texas Ranches. 8 00:00:27.039 --> 00:00:30.559 The solution was to unlock an ancient ability in dogs. 9 00:00:31.320 --> 00:00:34.320 Killing the predators is not nearly as effective as the 10 00:00:34.359 --> 00:00:38.600 intimidating presence of well trained guardians, a role some breeds 11 00:00:38.600 --> 00:00:44.520 have played for five thousand years. By Chris Pomorski. In 12 00:00:44.560 --> 00:00:48.159 the first part, we learned how rising coyote predation has 13 00:00:48.200 --> 00:00:52.119 threatened sheep and goat ranching on Texas's Edwards Plateau, and 14 00:00:52.200 --> 00:00:57.320 how traditional predator killing methods ultimately proved insufficient through the 15 00:00:57.359 --> 00:01:01.560 story of multi generational rancher Robin Giles and later his 16 00:01:01.679 --> 00:01:05.840 son Grant. Part one showed how decades of trapping, poisoning, 17 00:01:05.879 --> 00:01:10.280 and fencing failed to keep pace with expanding predator populations 18 00:01:10.319 --> 00:01:14.879 as ranching communities fragmented and land use changed. By the 19 00:01:14.920 --> 00:01:19.040 early twenty first century, coyotes and other predators were causing 20 00:01:19.079 --> 00:01:23.200 catastrophic livestock losses, pushing many ranchers to the brink of 21 00:01:23.280 --> 00:01:27.200 financial collapse and endangering a way of life deeply tied 22 00:01:27.239 --> 00:01:31.519 to Texas history and identity. In response, we traced the 23 00:01:31.560 --> 00:01:36.760 rediscovery and refinement of livestock guardian dogs, an ancient solution 24 00:01:37.040 --> 00:01:42.200 largely neglected in the United States. Rancher Bob Buckholtz emerged 25 00:01:42.200 --> 00:01:45.680 as a central figure who revived and perfected breeding and 26 00:01:45.719 --> 00:01:50.040 training methods that emphasize early bonding between dogs and livestock, 27 00:01:50.439 --> 00:01:55.640 careful management, and selective culling. Drawing on traditions thousands of 28 00:01:55.719 --> 00:02:00.359 years old, Buckholts and others demonstrated that guardian dogs deter 29 00:02:00.599 --> 00:02:05.560 predators primarily through presents, scent marking, and barking, rather than violence. 30 00:02:06.200 --> 00:02:11.639 Their success has reshaped modern ranching practices, inspired academic research 31 00:02:11.960 --> 00:02:15.280 and extension programs such as those at Texas A and M, 32 00:02:15.719 --> 00:02:19.599 and helped restore guardian dog's reputation as one of the 33 00:02:19.719 --> 00:02:25.680 most effective sustainable tools for protecting livestock and predator rich landscapes. 34 00:02:26.560 --> 00:02:31.879 Here now is part two. The next morning, we drove 35 00:02:31.919 --> 00:02:35.680 to another least property outside El Dorado. We got out 36 00:02:35.719 --> 00:02:38.520 of the truck beside a trough where a flock of 37 00:02:38.599 --> 00:02:42.400 views had gathered with their lambs, attended by several dogs. 38 00:02:43.199 --> 00:02:46.080 I shivered in the wind, and Buckholtz fingered my fleece. 39 00:02:46.520 --> 00:02:51.719 A skeptical merchant appraising an inferior product. You're wearing polyester, 40 00:02:51.879 --> 00:02:54.759 he said, it's a lot cheaper to the American public. 41 00:02:55.520 --> 00:02:59.960 His son, he noted, approvingly, war wool. That's pretty unusual. 42 00:03:00.439 --> 00:03:03.560 Most your age where polyester. At the same time there 43 00:03:03.639 --> 00:03:07.719 saying the environments being ruined by all these microfibers, Well, 44 00:03:07.800 --> 00:03:12.000 welcome to reality, Bubba. The Buckholtzes left the wool and 45 00:03:12.080 --> 00:03:16.439 mohair business years ago, despairing of vanishing profits and labor. 46 00:03:17.159 --> 00:03:20.599 An operation of their size might once have employed twenty 47 00:03:20.639 --> 00:03:24.159 five people. Like the other ranchers I spoke to, they 48 00:03:24.199 --> 00:03:29.360 now rely almost entirely on family. Instead, their live stock 49 00:03:29.439 --> 00:03:32.360 are raised for meat, though more than seventy percent of 50 00:03:32.400 --> 00:03:36.199 the lamb consumed in the US is now imported. Think 51 00:03:36.280 --> 00:03:39.199 of the high end cuts whose origins in Australia and 52 00:03:39.199 --> 00:03:42.680 New Zealand are advertised on menus and in whole foods 53 00:03:42.680 --> 00:03:46.759 display cases. Texas lamb and mutton often end up on 54 00:03:46.879 --> 00:03:49.680 the coasts, where they are sold in markets that cater 55 00:03:49.800 --> 00:03:53.759 to emigrants. That demand has kept the Buckholtzes in business. 56 00:03:54.879 --> 00:03:57.639 We're trying to learn more about our consumer how to 57 00:03:57.680 --> 00:04:01.240 make a better product for them. Robert said. He worries that, 58 00:04:01.400 --> 00:04:05.319 like the descendants of Texas ranchers, second and third generation 59 00:04:05.479 --> 00:04:09.240 immigrants will abandon tradition, that they too will order grub 60 00:04:09.319 --> 00:04:12.319 hub rather than a whole goat from the halal butcher. 61 00:04:13.599 --> 00:04:17.560 When Grant and Misty Guiles of Hillingdon Ranch reached Buckholtz 62 00:04:17.560 --> 00:04:20.759 in twenty seventeen, he had a year's long wait list 63 00:04:20.800 --> 00:04:24.480 for puppies. Grant couldn't afford the delay and bought a 64 00:04:24.560 --> 00:04:28.480 number of guardian dogs from breeders and other ranchers. The 65 00:04:28.600 --> 00:04:32.199 results were not what he had hoped for. Feral and 66 00:04:32.279 --> 00:04:36.319 distrustful of people, the Gileses first dogs refused to accept 67 00:04:36.360 --> 00:04:39.759 food from them. The dogs also frequently went a wall. 68 00:04:40.319 --> 00:04:43.240 Grant and Misty found themselves spending a lot of time 69 00:04:43.560 --> 00:04:48.040 replacing the batteries for their collar GPS trackers. One day, 70 00:04:48.199 --> 00:04:52.120 their four dogs crossed onto an adjacent property and attacked 71 00:04:52.160 --> 00:04:56.399 the owner's chickens. The neighbors shot two of them. The 72 00:04:56.480 --> 00:04:59.920 Gileses finally got their first Buckholts dogs in twenty twenty fe. 73 00:05:01.120 --> 00:05:04.800 Today they have fourteen plus one dog they adopted from 74 00:05:04.800 --> 00:05:08.360 a rancher who was going out of business. They all 75 00:05:08.399 --> 00:05:12.120 have the behaviors were looking for. Robin Giles, now eighty three, 76 00:05:12.600 --> 00:05:16.240 said on a recent morning their live stock had adjusted 77 00:05:16.279 --> 00:05:20.560 to the dog's presence and having drastically reduced predation. Giles said, 78 00:05:20.879 --> 00:05:25.680 we are in charge of our own destiny. Later, Grant, Misty, 79 00:05:25.720 --> 00:05:29.639 and I toured the property on a rugged four wheeler. Grant, 80 00:05:29.759 --> 00:05:33.120 in forest Camo, pushed the vehicle full throttle, up and 81 00:05:33.160 --> 00:05:37.839 down steep grades over saplings and dense brush. Stones and 82 00:05:37.920 --> 00:05:41.079 dust flew in through a hole in the floor. Grant 83 00:05:41.120 --> 00:05:47.079 described passing scenery with encyclopedic intimacy, a hidden spring, variations 84 00:05:47.120 --> 00:05:53.680 in soil, a catalog of plants in their uses post oak, blackjack, escarpment, sherry, 85 00:05:53.759 --> 00:05:58.600 he said, indicating ash, juniper, live oak, texas, per simmon, 86 00:05:58.959 --> 00:06:04.040 king ranch, blues, little blue stem yellow, Indian grass, eastern 87 00:06:04.079 --> 00:06:09.319 gamma grass, Spanish oak, wild grape. He explained, if you 88 00:06:09.399 --> 00:06:13.000 don't know what's supporting your livestock, how the land responds 89 00:06:13.040 --> 00:06:17.160 to grazing pressure you're behind. I'm never bored driving through 90 00:06:17.199 --> 00:06:21.720 a pasture. Every plant is telling you a story. We 91 00:06:21.800 --> 00:06:25.000 stopped at dog feeding stations where Misty checked the attached 92 00:06:25.040 --> 00:06:29.519 cameras and replenished feed. The Galleses go through one hundred 93 00:06:29.519 --> 00:06:32.959 and fifty pounds of dog food a week, a major expense. 94 00:06:33.720 --> 00:06:36.839 The stations were made from metal cages that once housed 95 00:06:37.040 --> 00:06:41.680 oil industry fuel bladders. Effective at repelling deer and hogs, 96 00:06:41.959 --> 00:06:45.879 they're accessible to smaller critters. Traps were set beside them. 97 00:06:46.360 --> 00:06:50.759 One contained a mournful raccoon. In addition to dog food, 98 00:06:50.920 --> 00:06:54.079 Grant said, raccoons will eat the lips and noses off 99 00:06:54.160 --> 00:06:58.399 live baby goats. He withdrew a pistol, inserted its muzzle 100 00:06:58.439 --> 00:07:04.160 into the trap, and fired Texas stockmen often openly hostile 101 00:07:04.160 --> 00:07:09.240 toward animal rightists sometimes make unlikely and persuasive Advocates for 102 00:07:09.319 --> 00:07:13.279 non lethal predator control. Guardian dogs is the first line 103 00:07:13.279 --> 00:07:17.319 of defense, rather than poison traps and helicopter hunts, But 104 00:07:17.639 --> 00:07:20.920 like most of the ranchers I talk to, Grant emphasize 105 00:07:20.920 --> 00:07:25.079 that even with guardian dogs, lethal methods are sometimes necessary. 106 00:07:25.800 --> 00:07:31.319 Certain especially shrewd coyotes can circumvent even seasoned livestock. Guardians 107 00:07:31.360 --> 00:07:34.759 and large boar hogs often aren't intimidated by the dogs, 108 00:07:35.000 --> 00:07:38.439 which will fight to the death defending their flocks. Such 109 00:07:38.560 --> 00:07:43.319 situations argue for mounting up heavily armed or temporarily paddocking 110 00:07:43.879 --> 00:07:48.040 the herds and setting traps at the same time. Once 111 00:07:48.120 --> 00:07:52.839 guardian dogs establish an equilibrium, ranchers are well advised not 112 00:07:52.879 --> 00:07:56.279 to upset it. Killing a coyote that's not preying on 113 00:07:56.360 --> 00:08:00.000 livestock will create a vacuum which might be filled by 114 00:08:00.079 --> 00:08:03.560 one that's unfamiliar with the local order and thus inclined 115 00:08:03.560 --> 00:08:07.480 to look on livestock as food. Adapting to this reality 116 00:08:07.519 --> 00:08:11.360 can be challenging. Ten or fifteen years ago, when Bob 117 00:08:11.399 --> 00:08:14.639 Buckholtz would say something like that if you have a coyote, 118 00:08:14.680 --> 00:08:17.959 don't kill it. That sounded like crazy talk, Grant said, 119 00:08:18.480 --> 00:08:20.959 it doesn't really sink in when you haven't got guard 120 00:08:21.000 --> 00:08:25.920 dogs on your place. Hillingdon Ranch today has about thirty owners, 121 00:08:26.279 --> 00:08:29.959 all of them related to its founders. Homesteads, including the 122 00:08:29.959 --> 00:08:32.679 one where Grant and Misty live with their two young sons, 123 00:08:33.039 --> 00:08:36.799 are scattered across the property, but many of Hillingdon's more 124 00:08:36.840 --> 00:08:40.480 than three hundred potential heirs live in other states, and 125 00:08:40.559 --> 00:08:43.360 the Guleses are the only professional ranchers in the group, 126 00:08:43.759 --> 00:08:47.279 managing most of the original thirteen thousand acres through a 127 00:08:47.320 --> 00:08:52.759 combination of partnerships, leases, and diplomacy within the family. Selling 128 00:08:52.759 --> 00:08:56.519 out is severely frowned upon. Once that happens, it's never 129 00:08:56.559 --> 00:09:00.200 going to be converted back into rangeland Grant said, want 130 00:09:00.240 --> 00:09:05.279 to give ourselves the best chance of survival. Robin Giles's house, 131 00:09:05.279 --> 00:09:09.000 which belonged to his father Palmer before him, serves as 132 00:09:09.039 --> 00:09:15.039 a headquarters and a gathering place for events, holidays, baptisms, weddings, funerals. 133 00:09:15.159 --> 00:09:17.679 Several members of the extended family have asked to be 134 00:09:17.720 --> 00:09:21.720 buried on the ranch. Others already are at a cliff 135 00:09:21.799 --> 00:09:25.080 side lookout. We watched golden eagles crews below us over 136 00:09:25.120 --> 00:09:29.360 a deep rocky canyon where ram lambs were pastured among 137 00:09:29.480 --> 00:09:35.240 lounging cattle. It was a high, flat, beautiful place. Palmer 138 00:09:35.279 --> 00:09:38.240 had asked to be interred there, but the ground proved 139 00:09:38.279 --> 00:09:41.200 too hard and the family went to plan b careful 140 00:09:41.240 --> 00:09:45.279 to follow Palmer's instructions that his grave be unfenced, so 141 00:09:45.320 --> 00:09:49.120 that livestock could always tread over it. On the way 142 00:09:49.159 --> 00:09:53.480 back to headquarters, two guardian dogs, George and Reba, bounded 143 00:09:53.519 --> 00:09:57.440 onto our path. Both were tall and slim, cream colored 144 00:09:57.639 --> 00:10:01.600 with slightly matted fur and large dark eyes. Their sheep 145 00:10:01.759 --> 00:10:05.960 were nearby, audible but out of sight. The dogs were benign, 146 00:10:06.080 --> 00:10:09.240 but aloof Once they were satisfied we weren't a threat, 147 00:10:09.600 --> 00:10:14.240 their interests clearly lay elsewhere. It's an oddity of livestock 148 00:10:14.279 --> 00:10:18.039 guardian dogs that their owners almost never observed them interact 149 00:10:18.080 --> 00:10:22.159 with the predator. Their art is practiced mostly unseen in 150 00:10:22.200 --> 00:10:24.679 the low light of dusk and dawn, when their enemies 151 00:10:24.679 --> 00:10:27.919 are most active. The proof of their value is the 152 00:10:27.919 --> 00:10:32.360 simple absence of death. Misty, whom all the dogs like best, 153 00:10:32.799 --> 00:10:36.879 disembarked and poured some kibble. After a few cautious bites, 154 00:10:37.039 --> 00:10:40.279 George fled, running across the trail and into the trees 155 00:10:40.960 --> 00:10:43.960 his sheep. Misty said, We're getting too far away for 156 00:10:44.039 --> 00:10:48.159 his liking. Reba lingered a little longer over her food, 157 00:10:48.720 --> 00:10:55.080 then she too was gone. Fun fact, dogs have long 158 00:10:55.080 --> 00:10:59.960 guarded livestock and people. Our canine friends have protected livestock 159 00:11:00.120 --> 00:11:03.320 from predators for at least five thousand years, but they 160 00:11:03.320 --> 00:11:08.639 have possessed symbolic powers too. Clay figurines of large guard dogs, 161 00:11:08.679 --> 00:11:13.840 possibly Assyrian mastiffs, from around six fifty BCE, were unearthed 162 00:11:13.879 --> 00:11:18.080 from a place in Neneveh in modern day Iraq, believed 163 00:11:18.080 --> 00:11:21.559 to be placed there to ward off evil. Each dog's 164 00:11:21.639 --> 00:11:25.360 name was carved in cuneiform into its side, loud as 165 00:11:25.399 --> 00:11:30.279 his bark, biter of his foe, don't think bite, catcher 166 00:11:30.360 --> 00:11:36.799 of the enemy, expeller of evil. Next, get your red 167 00:11:36.840 --> 00:11:40.200 hot History lesson how the hot dog rose from Coney 168 00:11:40.240 --> 00:11:45.000 Island carts to platters at presidential picnics. A simple sausage 169 00:11:45.000 --> 00:11:48.519 from Germany overtook ballparks and back yards to become the 170 00:11:48.600 --> 00:11:55.120 quintessential handheld meal that is decidedly all American. By Rebecca Toy, 171 00:11:56.440 --> 00:12:00.000 It was hardly a typical state dinner. On June eleventh night, 172 00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:03.279 eighteen thirty nine, George the sixth of England attended a 173 00:12:03.320 --> 00:12:07.840 picnic retreat at President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's residence in Hyde Park, 174 00:12:07.919 --> 00:12:10.320 New York, where the king, for the first time in 175 00:12:10.360 --> 00:12:14.360 his life, tasted a hot dog. The treats arrived on 176 00:12:14.440 --> 00:12:18.720 silver platters after polishing off his first dog, the king 177 00:12:18.759 --> 00:12:21.879 went back for a second, and Washington, d Cy's Times 178 00:12:21.919 --> 00:12:26.919 Herald celebrated this expression of Anglo American solidarity. To day, 179 00:12:27.120 --> 00:12:30.639 we can bellow down the Coney Island Boardwalk, our voices 180 00:12:30.759 --> 00:12:34.080 uplifted in pride that the hot dog truly makes the 181 00:12:34.159 --> 00:12:38.840 whole world kin. The hot dog's great success has always 182 00:12:38.840 --> 00:12:42.720 transcended class, wrapping the modern history of the United States 183 00:12:42.720 --> 00:12:46.279 into a portable bun. It all began with the five 184 00:12:46.320 --> 00:12:49.799 million Jewish immigrants who arrived in two large waves from 185 00:12:49.879 --> 00:12:53.360 eighteen thirty to eighteen ninety during one of the Industrial 186 00:12:53.399 --> 00:12:58.480 Revolutions periods of rapid urbanization. The first hot dogs, then 187 00:12:58.559 --> 00:13:02.679 called Frankfurters or wis Wursts, likely emerged in the mid 188 00:13:02.759 --> 00:13:07.279 nineteenth century, when German immigrants started selling bun wrapped sausages 189 00:13:07.320 --> 00:13:10.720 from push carts with coal fed fire boxes in New 190 00:13:10.799 --> 00:13:15.879 York's Bowery. These summered or steamed sausages had that special 191 00:13:15.919 --> 00:13:19.799 old world snap, finely ground pork or beef stuffed into 192 00:13:19.840 --> 00:13:23.480 natural casing that popped with the first bite, a sensation 193 00:13:23.639 --> 00:13:29.559 that hot dog purists still seek. Portable and tantalizingly inexpensive, 194 00:13:30.080 --> 00:13:34.480 these street eats were designed for teeming city scapes. By 195 00:13:34.519 --> 00:13:37.679 the eighteen seventies, more than twenty five thousand week end 196 00:13:37.799 --> 00:13:42.480 visitors flocked to sunny beaches, hand carved carousels and vaudeville 197 00:13:42.519 --> 00:13:46.960 performers on Coney Islands, sandy paths, and later board walks. 198 00:13:47.840 --> 00:13:51.279 In the next decade, as factories and mills joined banks 199 00:13:51.279 --> 00:13:56.240 and department stores in offering workers a half holiday on Saturdays, 200 00:13:56.240 --> 00:13:58.799 more and more folks came to enjoy the sea side 201 00:13:58.879 --> 00:14:03.080 on weekends, and they required cheap eats. It was on 202 00:14:03.200 --> 00:14:05.840 the board walk that the hot dog began to secure 203 00:14:05.879 --> 00:14:10.200 its spot on the American menu. Charles Feltman, a baker 204 00:14:10.240 --> 00:14:14.240 and street cart vendor, is widely credited with popularizing the 205 00:14:14.279 --> 00:14:18.360 sausage in a bun formula. The eighteen ninety three World's 206 00:14:18.399 --> 00:14:22.639 Columbian Exposition in Chicago, better known as the World's Fair, 207 00:14:23.320 --> 00:14:26.679 introduced millions to this handy treat, and by the end 208 00:14:26.679 --> 00:14:30.080 of the century, hot dog vendors were bustling about racing 209 00:14:30.159 --> 00:14:35.480 tracks and America's beloved baseball fields. While there's heated debate 210 00:14:35.639 --> 00:14:38.840 over the origins of the name, and though doxins are 211 00:14:38.879 --> 00:14:44.200 often invoked, historian Bruce Craig argues persuasively that it's actually 212 00:14:44.240 --> 00:14:48.320 a result of the sausage's popularity among the youth. Hot 213 00:14:48.320 --> 00:14:51.720 dog was already slang for a swaggering young man who 214 00:14:51.799 --> 00:14:55.960 loitered with other flashy dandies around public amusements and gobbled 215 00:14:56.039 --> 00:14:59.679 up sausages from vendors. The slang spread, and by the 216 00:14:59.720 --> 00:15:05.120 time Nathan Handwerker Feltman's Coney Island Protegee started Nathan's famous 217 00:15:05.159 --> 00:15:10.399 in nineteen sixteen, hot dog was ubiquitous by the turmoil 218 00:15:10.480 --> 00:15:13.240 of the nineteen thirties. The hot dog conjured the sense 219 00:15:13.320 --> 00:15:16.960 of a simple but satisfying life that might lie within reach, 220 00:15:17.440 --> 00:15:22.080 even amid the Great Depression. On February tenth, nineteen thirty one, 221 00:15:22.679 --> 00:15:26.919 National Papers printed Walt Mason's Owed to the Lowly Life, 222 00:15:27.200 --> 00:15:30.799 in which the columnist declared, in verse, I find life 223 00:15:31.000 --> 00:15:34.480 far more delicious in my humble hot dog stand for 224 00:15:34.600 --> 00:15:39.320 the men in lofty places stir resentment. Everywhere. Someone longs 225 00:15:39.360 --> 00:15:42.639 to punch their faces, someone yearns to pull their hair. 226 00:15:43.840 --> 00:15:48.159 The hot dog also nourished American ideals amid the patriotic 227 00:15:48.240 --> 00:15:52.399 fervor of World War II. In November nineteen forty one, 228 00:15:52.559 --> 00:15:55.440 a reporter for the Detroit Free Press marveled at the 229 00:15:55.480 --> 00:16:00.000 Wiener's journey. The hot dog may have a long Teutonic ancestor, 230 00:16:00.759 --> 00:16:04.720 but from white house to hovel, he's a thoroughly naturalized American, 231 00:16:04.879 --> 00:16:10.519 now without a single Nazi sympathy. Post war prosperity meant 232 00:16:10.600 --> 00:16:14.679 carnivorous Americans could and did turn to other meats, and 233 00:16:14.759 --> 00:16:18.480 the Hamburger muscled in as the new diner darling. Yet 234 00:16:18.519 --> 00:16:22.440 hot dogs remained at the center of American open air rituals, 235 00:16:22.799 --> 00:16:26.960 from new suburban backyard barbecues to nights at the drive in. 236 00:16:27.559 --> 00:16:31.320 And there was always baseball. A proverb coined by one 237 00:16:31.360 --> 00:16:35.080 of the era's biggest movie stars, Humphrey Bogart, captures an 238 00:16:35.120 --> 00:16:39.000 American truth. A hot dog at the game beats roast 239 00:16:39.039 --> 00:16:43.320 beef at the ritz. The hot dog has proved infinitely 240 00:16:43.360 --> 00:16:47.960 adaptable as baseball traveled south of the border. The classic 241 00:16:48.039 --> 00:16:51.960 ballpark Dog took a trip to Hermacillo, Mexico in the 242 00:16:52.039 --> 00:16:56.080 nineteen seventies and returned a decade later as the Snorin Dog, 243 00:16:56.559 --> 00:16:59.720 now wrapped in bacon and buried under pental beans, onions 244 00:16:59.720 --> 00:17:04.319 to tomatoes and jalapagos. Even the meat was not sacro sanct, 245 00:17:04.720 --> 00:17:08.359 with tofu pups and soy boy knot dogs widely hitting 246 00:17:08.400 --> 00:17:11.680 markets early in the nineteen eighties for the rising health 247 00:17:11.720 --> 00:17:17.279 conscious movement. In the nineteen nineties, Hollywood's famous Pink's Hot 248 00:17:17.279 --> 00:17:23.279 Dogs restaurant introduced topping combinations based on celebrities preferences, like 249 00:17:23.319 --> 00:17:27.799 the Rosy O'Donnell chili mustard, onion and sauerkrat, or the 250 00:17:27.880 --> 00:17:33.319 Drew Barrymore Jalapeno dog chili mustard, onions, cheddar, and three 251 00:17:33.359 --> 00:17:37.920 slices of bacon. While modern purists balk at such liberties, 252 00:17:38.200 --> 00:17:41.960 doubling down on arguments about the acceptability of skinless dogs 253 00:17:41.960 --> 00:17:44.799 in ketchup, there's always a place for the dirt cheap 254 00:17:44.839 --> 00:17:48.440 hot dog. Costco built a whole business model around that 255 00:17:48.599 --> 00:17:52.880 very nostalgia. Its quarter pound all beef hot dog served 256 00:17:52.880 --> 00:17:56.559 with a large drink, has famously stayed inflation proof at 257 00:17:56.599 --> 00:18:01.279 a dollar fifty, though it wasn't easy. Twenty eighteen interview, 258 00:18:01.440 --> 00:18:05.720 then CEO Craig Jellinik recounted a showdown with the company's 259 00:18:05.720 --> 00:18:10.000 co founder, Jim sinegal. I said, Jim, we can't sell 260 00:18:10.039 --> 00:18:12.720 this hot dog for about fifty We are losing our 261 00:18:12.759 --> 00:18:18.279 rear ends. Sinegal purportedly responded that if Jelinek raised the price, 262 00:18:18.799 --> 00:18:22.680 I will kill you. Figure it out. They switched from 263 00:18:22.720 --> 00:18:26.799 Hebrew National and started making their own Kirkland signature dogs, 264 00:18:26.799 --> 00:18:32.680 and the problem was polished off. Accompanying this article What's 265 00:18:32.799 --> 00:18:37.279 in a hot Dog? How the sausage gets made. Early 266 00:18:37.319 --> 00:18:41.440 hot dogs were generally made from finely ground pork, sometimes 267 00:18:41.480 --> 00:18:45.039 mixed with beef, along with simple spices, all encased in 268 00:18:45.119 --> 00:18:49.920 animal intestines, usually from sheep or hogs. Some vendors were 269 00:18:49.960 --> 00:18:55.279 suspected of including subpar trimmings and fats. Today, most commercial 270 00:18:55.279 --> 00:18:59.119 hot dogs are packed with emulsified trimmings of beef, chicken, 271 00:18:59.200 --> 00:19:04.279 and or pork. The pulverized meat is mixed with preservatives, coloring, 272 00:19:04.440 --> 00:19:10.440 and spices. Next, this helmet kept an Air Force pilot 273 00:19:10.519 --> 00:19:14.400 safe as she was soaring through the glass ceiling. When 274 00:19:14.440 --> 00:19:18.519 a young Nicole Malachowski was dreaming about becoming a fighter pilot, 275 00:19:18.920 --> 00:19:22.279 she couldn't have imagined. The heights sheet fly as part 276 00:19:22.319 --> 00:19:28.519 of the Elite Thunderbirds by Elana Cher, from the earliest 277 00:19:28.559 --> 00:19:33.079 bronze armor to today's lightweight carbon fiber lids. A helmet's 278 00:19:33.200 --> 00:19:36.279 job has always been simple to protect the head of 279 00:19:36.319 --> 00:19:39.440 the person wearing it, but it can also tell us 280 00:19:39.640 --> 00:19:45.039 thrilling stories of technological imagination and sheer human grit. The 281 00:19:45.160 --> 00:19:49.480 gentechs HGU fifty five slash P is a standard issue 282 00:19:49.519 --> 00:19:52.319 flight helmet for pilots in the United States Air Force, 283 00:19:52.799 --> 00:19:56.400 but the one we're talking about here comes from a 284 00:19:56.440 --> 00:20:02.200 specialized squadron, the elite Precision Flying Aerial Demonstration team known 285 00:20:02.240 --> 00:20:07.119 as the Thunderbirds, famous for their acrobatic air shows. Membership 286 00:20:07.160 --> 00:20:11.200 in military demonstration teams is highly competitive, and any one 287 00:20:11.200 --> 00:20:14.039 who makes the cut is forgive us a rare bird. 288 00:20:14.759 --> 00:20:17.759 But this helmet belonged to a standout even among those 289 00:20:17.839 --> 00:20:21.240 top shelf pilots. The first woman to perform with the 290 00:20:21.240 --> 00:20:28.079 Thunderbirds Colonel Niko Malachowski. In nineteen seventy nine. When Malachowski 291 00:20:28.160 --> 00:20:31.079 was a five year old in Santa Maria, California, she 292 00:20:31.240 --> 00:20:34.440 decided she wanted to be a military pilot, but there 293 00:20:34.440 --> 00:20:38.319 weren't any women in combat positions. In sixth grade, I 294 00:20:38.359 --> 00:20:41.160 stood up in front of my whole class and I said, 295 00:20:41.599 --> 00:20:44.799 I'm going to be a fighter pilot. She tells Smithsonian 296 00:20:45.400 --> 00:20:49.359 and everybody started laughing, and my teacher said, sit down 297 00:20:49.359 --> 00:20:51.960 and come back next week when you have something more realistic. 298 00:20:52.720 --> 00:20:54.880 I did not know that it was against the law, 299 00:20:55.240 --> 00:20:57.759 and it would be against the law until nineteen ninety 300 00:20:57.799 --> 00:21:01.599 two for women to be fighter pilot. That might have 301 00:21:01.720 --> 00:21:04.319 been the end of it, but Malachowski wasn't going to 302 00:21:04.319 --> 00:21:08.000 be kept from the skies. She started flying lessons when 303 00:21:08.039 --> 00:21:11.519 she was twelve and made her first solo flight at sixteen. 304 00:21:12.559 --> 00:21:15.039 She might have become a commercial pilot, but for a 305 00:21:15.039 --> 00:21:19.839 well timed family visit to the Smithsonian during summer vacation. There, 306 00:21:19.960 --> 00:21:24.480 Malachowski learned about the Women Air Force Service Pilots aka 307 00:21:24.559 --> 00:21:29.960 the WASPS, the civilian female squad who ferried aircraft, transported cargo, 308 00:21:30.039 --> 00:21:33.279 and assisted with training and support during World War Two. 309 00:21:34.279 --> 00:21:37.039 In a dark, dusty corner was a very small picture 310 00:21:37.119 --> 00:21:40.359 of the Women Air Force Service pilots. I had never 311 00:21:40.400 --> 00:21:44.240 heard of them. Women were flying military aircraft. They weren't 312 00:21:44.279 --> 00:21:47.039 flying in combat, but they were training men to go 313 00:21:47.079 --> 00:21:53.640 to combat, and that reinvigorated my goal. Malachowski's focus paid 314 00:21:53.680 --> 00:21:56.680 off in nineteen ninety two when she was accepted into 315 00:21:56.680 --> 00:21:59.519 the Air Force Academy, just in time to see the 316 00:21:59.559 --> 00:22:04.480 band lit on women flying combat missions. Malachowski flew twenty 317 00:22:04.519 --> 00:22:09.519 six such missions during Operation Iraqi Freedom before being chosen 318 00:22:09.559 --> 00:22:13.000 for the Thunderbird's assignment in two thousand and five. Over 319 00:22:13.000 --> 00:22:15.839 the next two years, she performed at more than one 320 00:22:15.920 --> 00:22:20.039 hundred and forty events, sometimes maneuvering her playing mere inches 321 00:22:20.079 --> 00:22:24.440 from her teammates as they soared in tightly coordinated formations 322 00:22:24.519 --> 00:22:28.319 designed to show off the Air Force's finest pilots and equipment. 323 00:22:29.559 --> 00:22:32.400 The helmet, which now resides at the National Air and 324 00:22:32.440 --> 00:22:38.240 Space Museums Stephen f Udverhesy Center in Chantilly, Virginia, also 325 00:22:38.359 --> 00:22:42.000 tells a story of innovation about the forces that each 326 00:22:42.119 --> 00:22:45.759 generation of jet pilot has faced in the cockpit. You 327 00:22:45.799 --> 00:22:48.839 can study the transition from the very beginning of aviation 328 00:22:49.319 --> 00:22:51.960 and see how the stresses and strains on a pilot 329 00:22:52.000 --> 00:22:55.240 have changed over time, just based on the flight clothing 330 00:22:55.319 --> 00:22:59.640 that they wear, says Alex Spencer, curator of the Flight 331 00:22:59.680 --> 00:23:03.799 Materialerial Collection and the British and European Military Aircraft Collection 332 00:23:04.240 --> 00:23:07.519 at the National Air and Space Museum, which holds three 333 00:23:07.599 --> 00:23:10.480 hundred and eighty six flight helmets from the first days 334 00:23:10.480 --> 00:23:14.799 of pilotry to the present. In early planes with open cockpits, 335 00:23:15.319 --> 00:23:18.720 pilots were mostly concerned about staying warm in the rushing wind. 336 00:23:19.599 --> 00:23:23.039 They wore snoopy helmets, as Spencer puts it, just a 337 00:23:23.079 --> 00:23:25.559 little leather cap to keep the wind out of their hair. 338 00:23:26.519 --> 00:23:29.960 By the time F sixteen supersonic jets entered the picture 339 00:23:30.319 --> 00:23:33.640 in the late nineteen seventies, pilots had a whole different 340 00:23:33.640 --> 00:23:38.000 set of physical needs. By the nineties, when Malachowski started 341 00:23:38.039 --> 00:23:42.240 flying for the Air Force, helmets featured padding, air hoses 342 00:23:42.279 --> 00:23:47.160 to provide oxygen, radio connections for in flight communication, and 343 00:23:47.279 --> 00:23:51.759 visors to protect from sun and, if the worst should happen, debris. 344 00:23:52.799 --> 00:23:56.559 It's also a proud showpiece designed to flaunt prestige and 345 00:23:56.640 --> 00:24:00.960 attract new recruits to the Thunderbirds. While most standard issue 346 00:24:01.000 --> 00:24:05.920 Gentech's helmets are interchangeable, the Thunderbird's helmets are each custom 347 00:24:06.000 --> 00:24:09.599 painted with nicknames and team logos, then polished to a 348 00:24:09.640 --> 00:24:13.839 mirror shine. When Malachowski received her helmet at the end 349 00:24:13.880 --> 00:24:16.359 of training, it came with a note from the artist 350 00:24:16.440 --> 00:24:20.839 who decorated it. As Malachowski recalls, the note said, I've 351 00:24:20.880 --> 00:24:24.400 been polishing and designing these helmets for many Thunderbird teams. 352 00:24:24.799 --> 00:24:28.480 My young daughter never expressed any interest, but I told 353 00:24:28.519 --> 00:24:30.960 her this was for the first woman pilot, and she 354 00:24:31.079 --> 00:24:35.039 wanted to help me polish it. Malachowski knew what her 355 00:24:35.119 --> 00:24:39.079 joining the Thunderbirds might mean to future pioneers. It was 356 00:24:39.160 --> 00:24:42.039 never about me, she says. It's that a woman was 357 00:24:42.079 --> 00:24:44.640 doing it, and if she can dream big, any one 358 00:24:44.680 --> 00:24:50.400 can dream big. Why not blaze your own trail? Accompanying 359 00:24:50.400 --> 00:24:54.240 that article? Did you know what's the trail? A Thunderbird 360 00:24:54.319 --> 00:24:58.759 jet leaves? The famously dense jets of smoke that trail 361 00:24:58.839 --> 00:25:02.079 each Thunderbird come when pilots use a switch on the 362 00:25:02.160 --> 00:25:07.039 throttle to inject paraffin based smoke oil directly into the exhaust. 363 00:25:07.400 --> 00:25:11.079 When the oil hits the exhaust, it vaporizes and billows 364 00:25:11.160 --> 00:25:17.720 into the smoke that leaves spectators gaping. Finally, eating challenges 365 00:25:17.759 --> 00:25:20.119 are all the rage, But when was the last time 366 00:25:20.279 --> 00:25:23.920 you saw some one eat a mutton shoulder bone? Even 367 00:25:23.960 --> 00:25:27.240 before the Internet, over indulgence was something of a spectator 368 00:25:27.319 --> 00:25:32.319 sport for those who reveled in gastronomic glory by Sonya Andersen. 369 00:25:34.079 --> 00:25:37.720 Humans have long sought to turn gluttony into a virtue, 370 00:25:38.160 --> 00:25:42.519 leading to some remarkable episodes of competitive eating. Here are 371 00:25:42.680 --> 00:25:48.359 just a few. A hair raising appetite. In the seventeenth century, 372 00:25:48.400 --> 00:25:52.519 an English farmer named Nicholas Wood was seen devouring sixty 373 00:25:52.519 --> 00:25:55.319 eggs and a quarter of a lamb. It was a 374 00:25:55.400 --> 00:25:58.440 routine meal for Wood, who was known as the great 375 00:25:58.440 --> 00:26:02.519 eater of Kent. According to the poet John Taylor, Wood 376 00:26:02.599 --> 00:26:06.480 once consumed seven dozen rabbits in one sitting, a feast 377 00:26:06.559 --> 00:26:09.920 tailor estimated would have fed one hundred and sixty eight soldiers. 378 00:26:10.680 --> 00:26:15.039 Whenever Wood ate publicly at fairs and festivals, nobles delighted 379 00:26:15.079 --> 00:26:18.880 in betting on his stomach. By the end of Wood's life, 380 00:26:19.000 --> 00:26:22.039 he had just one tooth left. He'd lost most of 381 00:26:22.079 --> 00:26:25.400 the others while eating an entire mutton, shoulder bones, and 382 00:26:25.480 --> 00:26:32.119 all dogged efforts. In May nineteen seventy two, Nathan's famous 383 00:26:32.279 --> 00:26:36.200 Coney Islands renowned hot dog restaurant held its first hot 384 00:26:36.200 --> 00:26:40.680 dog eating contest. Local competitors stepped up to swallow as 385 00:26:40.720 --> 00:26:43.559 many wieners in buns as they could in three and 386 00:26:43.559 --> 00:26:47.000 a half minutes, and a Brooklyn College student named Jason 387 00:26:47.039 --> 00:26:51.720 Scheckter won by downing fourteen dogs. In the half century since, 388 00:26:52.039 --> 00:26:56.480 standards have skyrocketed. The current record belongs to Joey Chestnut, 389 00:26:56.720 --> 00:26:59.799 who took home Nathan's coveted mustard belt in twenty twenty 390 00:26:59.799 --> 00:27:03.519 one after eating seventy six hot dogs and ten minutes. 391 00:27:04.279 --> 00:27:07.480 Chestnut's method is to break each dog in half, dunk 392 00:27:07.519 --> 00:27:13.319 the bun in water, and establish a rhythm meat bun, swallow, breathe. 393 00:27:13.920 --> 00:27:17.799 Weight of the union. The late nineteenth century began colorful 394 00:27:17.880 --> 00:27:21.680 associations formed on the basis of poundage, which became known 395 00:27:21.759 --> 00:27:25.880 as fat men's clubs. These groups disallowed any man under 396 00:27:25.920 --> 00:27:31.559 two hundred pounds and hosted celebratory weigh ins and socials. Unsurprisingly, 397 00:27:31.720 --> 00:27:35.079 the organization spent much of the dews they collected on food. 398 00:27:35.880 --> 00:27:39.160 At one meeting, the New England Fat Men's Club feasted 399 00:27:39.200 --> 00:27:43.960 on oysters, cream of chicken, soup, boiled snapper, beef with mushrooms, 400 00:27:44.200 --> 00:27:50.920 roasted chicken, roasted piglet, shrimp, salad, fruit pudding, cheesecake, and 401 00:27:51.039 --> 00:27:56.640