Vacuums vs. Lawn Mowers

Today’s debate is a match between two mean cleaning machines. One is a weekend cut up, while the other is a buster of dust! It’s vacuums vs. lawn mowers! 


Top Hats vs. Flip Flops

We hope you’re ready for some fashion bashin’, because today’s debate is a rumble between the tips of your toes and the top of your head! One protects us from the sun and the other makes tan lines that are so much fun. It’s Top Hats vs. Flip Flops! 


First Things First: Camping Edition!

Hey Smarty Pals! Forever Ago Host Joy Dolo is trying to pack all her camping gear for her big Memorial Day camping trip! Trouble is, Joy hates packing almost as much as she loves camping. Lucky for her, fellow camper and Brains On host Molly Bloom makes camping a breeze with our favorite Forever Ago game: First Things First!

Smash Boom Best - First Things First: Camping Edition! - Lesson Plan

Listen to our debaters face off. Who will be crowned the Smash Boom Best?

CREW: Now entering, Brains On headquarters. 

[BEEPING, WHIRRING] 

JOY DOLO: Oh, hey, smarty pal, Joy Dolo from Forever Ago here, and I am stressing. I'm trying to pack for my big Memorial Day camping trip with Molly Bloom, and I've lost my favorite travel spork. And I can't find my stuffed unicorn, Eloise. I just want to roast marshmallows, breathe some fresh air, stare at the clouds. 

MOLLY BLOOM: You could do that when we're camping, Joy. 

JOY DOLO: Oh, hey, Molly. I'm packing. I'm pack-a-lacking the tacken. You see? 

MOLLY BLOOM: Well, Joy, do you need some help? 

JOY DOLO: No, I'm fine. Ouch. Totally fine. Out of my way, volley ball. You are not coming camping. What is my typewriter doing under my foot? I'm caught in a fishing net. Why is packing so hard? 

MOLLY BLOOM: I know, Joy, packing can be stressful. 

JOY DOLO: It's like pulling teeth. 

MOLLY BLOOM: It's like putting a turtleneck sweater on your cat. Tricky, but necessary. We made a deal, though, remember? You'd pack the camping supplies, and I'd pack the food. 

JOY DOLO: I was just a girl when I made that promise. Everything seemed so easy back then, so simple, and carefree. 

MOLLY BLOOM: Joy, you made that promise 20 minutes ago. 

JOY DOLO: Minutes or eons? 

MOLLY BLOOM: Wow. OK, here's an idea. What if we make packing fun? Instead of just grabbing what we need, we could play first things first with the things we need to pack. 

JOY DOLO: Ooh, that could be fun. First things first is one of my favorite games. It's where we try to guess the order things came in history, and then we find out the real order of events. 

MOLLY BLOOM: It'll kick start the packing process. 

JOY DOLO: OK, you've convinced me. Molly, let's play-- 

GROUP: First things first. 

MOLLY BLOOM: All right, we've got a flashlight, a folding chair, and a sleeping bag. OK, Joy, which do you think was invented first, which popped up second, and which was created most recently? Is it the flashlight, the folding chair, or the first sleeping bag? What are you thinking? 

JOY DOLO: Well, you know, I feel like these are all really great items, perfect for camping. First and foremost, let's start there. 

MOLLY BLOOM: Yeah. 

JOY DOLO: But you know, I think that you put them in this order to fool me. So I'm actually going to work against you, Molly Bloom. I think that the first thing was a sleeping bag because people have been sleeping since I can remember for, at least, 20, 30, 40 years now. 

MOLLY BLOOM: Truly. I don't know the answer either, so we're doing it together. 

JOY DOLO: Oh, that's true. That's true. OK. Well, my first guess would be sleeping bags because I just feel like that's the most essential. 

MOLLY BLOOM: I'm with you, yeah. 

JOY DOLO: And then a folding chair, probably, after that because that also seems like-- what is it, like plastic and metal you can fold around. And I remember seeing that in a bunch of old-- 

MOLLY BLOOM: I've seen wooden ones, too, though. 

JOY DOLO: You've seen a wooden folding chair? 

MOLLY BLOOM: Yeah. 

JOY DOLO: Oh, yeah, so, maybe that's from 1500s or something? 

MOLLY BLOOM: Maybe. 

JOY DOLO: King Charles sitting in a folding bed. 

MOLLY BLOOM: Probably, Ben Franklin invented it. He invents everything. 

JOY DOLO: He does everything. Well, then, the flashlight makes the most sense as the last one because of batteries, right? So it's like battery-operated. 

MOLLY BLOOM: Yeah. 

JOY DOLO: So I think I'm going to go sleeping bag, folding chair, flashlight. 

MOLLY BLOOM: I agree with you. 

JOY DOLO: Final answer. 

MOLLY BLOOM: OK. Shall we see what it is? 

JOY DOLO: Yeah. Oh, I'm nervous. 

MOLLY BLOOM: OK, here's the big reveal. The answer is-- oh, we were wrong. The oldest thing is-- 

JOY DOLO: Folding chairs. What? More than 4,000 years ago. So, wood, probably. 

MOLLY BLOOM: Not Ben Franklin. 

JOY DOLO: Not Ben Franklin. He wasn't around then. Folding chairs, just like the ones we use today, were used in Mesopotamia. That was an ancient civilization in the Middle East, which includes parts of Iraq and Turkey. Ancient Egyptians also used folding chairs, mostly, as mobile Thrones for royalty. I want to go for one of those. Archeologists even found two folding chairs in the tomb of King Tut. 

MOLLY BLOOM: OK, so the second one is sleeping bag, invented in 1876. 

JOY DOLO: I don't believe it. 

MOLLY BLOOM: It seems like it's got to be older than that. But people have been using rolled up animal skins to stay warm at night for thousands of years. OK. OK. OK. 

JOY DOLO: All right, I'll take that. 

MOLLY BLOOM: But the sleeping bag, as we know today, was relatively recent. The first patent for a sleeping bag was issued in 1876 to a Welsh inventor named Pryce-Jones. It was basically a folded over wool blanket with a rubber inflatable pillow sewn in. So it's like the pillow that gets the patent, I guess? 

JOY DOLO: Yeah, the pillow gets the patent. 

MOLLY BLOOM: Otherwise, it seems like you're patenting a blanket. 

JOY DOLO: Yeah, because blankets have been around for a longer time. I don't know if I buy those. I don't know about this. 

MOLLY BLOOM: We're going to quibble. We're quibbling. 

JOY DOLO: I'm quibbling, ultimate quibble. The last is flashlight, and we were right about that-- 1898. The first flashlight was invented, then, in 1898. And it actually looked a lot like the flashlights we have today. It wouldn't have been possible without another invention a few years earlier-- dry cell batteries, which is what I said. Batteries. 

These are batteries that could work in any position without leaking. Leaky batteries. These made all sorts of portable electronics possible. And one of the most obvious things to portablelize was light. Can't see in the dark. I used to be afraid of the dark. 

MOLLY BLOOM: Me, too. 

JOY DOLO: How old were you when you-- 

MOLLY BLOOM: Really old. 

JOY DOLO: Like a few weeks ago? Like it just happened. The American electrical novelty and manufacturing company sold some of the first flashlights which they called electric hand torches. The nickname flashlight came around because these batteries weren't very strong, so the light could only stay on for a few seconds. In other words, you just got flashes of it, so flashlights. 

MOLLY BLOOM: Like a dig. It's like, it's a flash light. 

JOY DOLO: It's a flash of light. That's just a quick flash. 

MOLLY BLOOM: Interesting. 

JOY DOLO: Look at that. Well, we were wrong, but you know? 

MOLLY BLOOM: But we have a lot of heart. 

JOY DOLO: We have heart. We have hope. We have promise. I just-- I love first things first. 

MOLLY BLOOM: Me, too. 

JOY DOLO: Now, all we have to pack is our dinner. I love dinner. 

MOLLY BLOOM: Wait, but I thought I was packing the food. I already packed the best snacks. 

JOY DOLO: The last time you said that, we ended up eating pickled crickets. I do not believe you. 

MOLLY BLOOM: Pickled crickets are full of fiber and taste great. 

JOY DOLO: Gross. 

MOLLY BLOOM: Plus, I packed a bunch of other really yummy stuff. I promise. I wonder where is Marcus. He was supposed to pick us up in the Explorer. 

JOY DOLO: It's not personal, but I have very high snack standards, Molly. Anybody that knows me knows that I love snacks. They don't call me the snack queen of the Midwest for nothing. And it's not just my mom who calls me that. Other people call me that. How about we play just one more round of first things first while we wait? 

MOLLY BLOOM: OK. Good idea. Where is my cooler? 

JOY DOLO: No, no, it's my turn to be game master. With the foods, I pick. I present to you, hotdogs, potato chips, and s'mores. What do you think came first, which came second, and which came most recently? OK, Molly, which one is oldest in your mind? 

MOLLY BLOOM: I'm going to go hotdogs. 

JOY DOLO: Hotdogs? 

MOLLY BLOOM: A tubed meat, I feel like. 

JOY DOLO: It's a classic. 

MOLLY BLOOM: A few Germans, they love that. It must have been around for a long time. 

JOY DOLO: Good. Good. Hot dogs, OK. 

MOLLY BLOOM: I want potato chips. So you just have to slice up a potato. 

JOY DOLO: Easy-peasy. Potatoes have been around like sleeping bags. 

MOLLY BLOOM: Exactly. And then, s'mores because, I feel like, those marshmallows are probably newer. It seems like you had to have some technology to make those fluffy puffy Jet-Puffed marshmallows. 

JOY DOLO: Some kind of weird energy. 

MOLLY BLOOM: Exactly. 

JOY DOLO: That's what's in that. 

MOLLY BLOOM: So that's what I'm thinking. Hotdogs, potato chips, and s'mores, which is the order it was given to us. You gave it to me, so I don't know. I don't know. 

JOY DOLO: Maybe it's my trickery coming out again. I am an Aquarius. All right, let's reveal which of our first things first is actually the oldest. Oh, my gosh, Molly, you nailed it. 

MOLLY BLOOM: Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh. 

JOY DOLO: Molly Bloom for the win. You're going to be the snack queen of the Midwest soon. 

MOLLY BLOOM: We can share. Joint queens. Joint Snack Queen. 

JOY DOLO: We can share for a while, but I do need my own throne. So hotdogs in the late 1400s, they were made, the tubed meat. Making sausages goes back almost 2,000 years to the ancient Roman Empire, which, legend has it, a cook had the idea of stuffing pig intestines with meat and spices. 

But the modern hot dog has its roots in Germany, like you said, so you're right. Two different German towns claim to be the birthplace of this delicious doggy. Frankfurt claims the Frankfurter was invented there in 1484, whereas, Vienna or Wienen or Wien, Wien in Germany claims they invented the Wiener wurst, the Wiener wurst around the same time. 

MOLLY BLOOM: It sounds like universe, Wiener wurst. 

JOY DOLO: All in the Wiener wurst. 

MOLLY BLOOM: That's the next Marvel Empire, the Wiener wurst. 

JOY DOLO: The Wiener wurst. Either way, we know that German immigrants began selling sausages out of pushcarts in New York City in the 1860s. Hot dogs, get your hot dogs! 

MOLLY BLOOM: All right, so then, next, we got potato chips. We still, like hot dogs, don't know who the true inventor is. But there's a story that in the 1850s, a chef named George Crumb was working at a restaurant in Saratoga Springs, New York. 

Local legend claims that the classic snack was invented there in 1853 when a grumpy restaurant customer sent their French fries back for being too thick. Crumb was feeling sassy, so he cut them super thin as a sort of, I'll show you. But guess what, everyone love them because potato chips are delicious. 

JOY DOLO: Bless you, customer. Bless you. 

MOLLY BLOOM: But some people think the inventor was maybe a British doctor named William Kitchener, who, in 1817, published a recipe for potatoes fried in slices or shavings. 

JOY DOLO: I don't care how potato chips got here. I'm just so grateful that they're here. 

MOLLY BLOOM: As long as they're in my mouth. 

JOY DOLO: As long as they're in and around my mouth, I'm all good. And last, and certainly not least, is s'mores. And those were invented in 1927. There is some disagreement about who exactly came up with the recipe, but we do know the s'more dates back to, at least, 1927. That's when the first recipe was published in a Girl Scout Guide. It was written by troop leader Loretta Scott Crew, and it was originally called some more-- s'more. Some more, do you get it? Do you get it? 

MOLLY BLOOM: Some more. I want some more. 

JOY DOLO: S'more, some more. It's unclear exactly when the name was shortened to s'more, but you can find references of the treat being called some more until 1971. Yum. 

MOLLY BLOOM: OK. Thank you, Girl Scouts, for your amazing cookies. 

JOY DOLO: Forever. And s'mores. I have so much to thank them for. 

MOLLY BLOOM: Incredible. Also, I have to say, the fact that we don't know who invented any of these snacks feels like there might be an opening here for a snackologist. 

JOY DOLO: Oh. 

MOLLY BLOOM: Maybe a field of snack studies to be established. 

JOY DOLO: A doctor of snacks. 

MOLLY BLOOM: Yes. And Joy, as the queen of the Midwest, maybe you should. 

JOY DOLO: Maybe I should open up my reign to the medical community. 

MOLLY BLOOM: It's snack studies. 

JOY DOLO: Snackologies out there, yeah. 

MOLLY BLOOM: OK. Joy, you've sold me. I'm very excited for these traditional camping foods. But seriously, you don't even want one pickled cricket? 

JOY DOLO: All right, let me just try one. 

[CRUNCHING] 

Oh, wow. You were right. They're tangy, and salty, and not as crickety as I thought they'd be. 

MOLLY BLOOM: Oh, there's the Explorer. Marc's here. We got to go. 

JOY DOLO: That's it for the Smarty Pals episode. It was produced by a Aron Woldeslassie, Molly Bloom, Joy Dolo, Rosie DuPont, Shayla Farzad, Nico Gonzalez Wisler, Ruby Guthrie, Sanden Totten, Marc Sanchez, and Anna Weggel. 

MOLLY BLOOM: We had sound design by Rachel Breeze, and special thanks to Alex Simpson. Our executive producer's Beth Perlman, and the executives-in-charge of APM studios are Chandra Kavati, Joanne Griffith, and Alex Stafford. Brains On is a nonprofit public radio program. Thank you, Smarty Pals friends. Bye. 

JOY DOLO: Bye. 

Baths vs. Showers

Turn on the tap, and grab your shower cap… cuz it’s baths vs showers! 



Naps vs. Exercise

Today’s debate is all about snoozin’ and groovin’. It’s naps vs. exercise!


Household Activities