Hey guys, it's Kevin Bacon.

My podcast, Six Degrees with Kevin Bacon, is out now!

Join me as I kick back with the likes of Mark Ruffalo, Matthew McConaughey, Jewel, and

many more as we talk about their favorite nonprofits doing amazing good in the world, highlighting

some of the most pressing social issues of our time.

The time is now.

Listen to Six Degrees with Kevin Bacon on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever

you get your podcasts.

Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio.

Hi, my name is Robert Lamb, and this is The Art Effect, a short form series from Stuff

to Blow Your Mind, focusing on particular objects, ideas, and moments in time.

In our recent Stuff to Blow Your Mind series, Oil and Trouble of Water, we discussed 18th

century American Polymath, Benjamin Franklin's experiments with oil, experiments which inspired

him to carry a small quantity of oil on him at all times, hidden in a special compartment

of his bamboo walking stick.

This detail can't help but add to the mystique of America's weirdest founding father, and

it ties directly into the larger topic of special items hidden in canes or walking sticks.

As Michelle Dubcheck explored in a 2017 mental floss article, one can find various antique

walking sticks in canes with all manner of special gadget features, ranging from the

possibly practical to these somewhat ridiculous.

There's a 19th century cane with a coin-waying gadget built into the handle.

There's a magical lantern projector cane, a cider-press walking stick, an architect's

...