Cool Weird Awesome With Brady Carlson

A team at the University of Guelph has developed a substance that can generate electricity and could help in a multitude of medical situations. What is it? High-tech slime. Plus:tarting Saturday in Phoenix, Arizona, it’s the World Championship Hoop Dance Contest.Walking could soon generate electricity with new slime that powers up when stepped on (Interesting Engineering)World Championship Hoop Dance ContestPower up our podcast as a backer on Patreon

Today in 1809, the birthday of Abraham Lincoln. The 16th President has been called the Great Emancipator, Honest Abe, The Railsplitter… and if you go far enough into his backstory, you could call him "Bartender In Chief." Plus: this Saturday in Clear Lake, Iowa, it’s the Color The Wind Kite Festival.Bartender-In-Chief: Abraham Lincoln Owned A Tavern (Chicagoist)Annual Clear Lake Kite Festival Backing our show on Patreon costs less per year than a bottle of cheap wine (we checked)

Today in 1833, the birthday of Melville Fuller. He would eventually become Chief Justice of the United States, but not before the country asked whether a member of the US Supreme Court could be fair and objective if he has a mustache (!) Plus: this Saturday in Devils Lake, North Dakota, it’s ShiverFest.Chief Justice Melville Weston Fuller and the Great Mustache Debate of 1888 (W&L Law Scholarly Commons)  ShiverFest We once again mustache you to back this show on Patreon

This week in 1945, a fascinating fact for anyone who didn’t have to live it firsthand: wartime airplane mechanic Margaret Horton accidentally ended up airborne on the tail of a plane. Plus: today is National Umbrella Day, so you could head to Portland, Maine and the Umbrella Cover Museum.Riding a Spitfire: the story of Margaret Horton (Royal Air Forces Association) The Umbrella Cover Museum Come fly with us as a backer on Patreon

Football fans will be watching this weekend for some of those spectacular passes that can change the course of a game. Amazingly, there was a time when the forward pass was against the rules of the sport. Plus: tomorrow in Morristown, New Jersey, it’s Mac & Cheese Mayhem. How the Forward Pass Saved Football (History.com) Mac & Cheese Mayhem Don’t pass up the chance to back our show on Patreon

There’s new research that shows just how powerful music can be: it found that classical music can have a positive physical effect on a baby before it’s born. Plus: a guy lost his watch, but four years later another guy found it and got it back to him. Music can touch the heart, even inside the womb (EurekAlert) Fratello Exclusive: Rolex Submariner Found By Australian Surfer In Pacific Ocean Is Reunited With Its Original Owner (Fratello Watches) Let’s all calmly go over to the Patreon page to see what positive effects backing this show has

Today in 1969 was the premiere of Turn-On, a show that the ABC network more or less turned off during its first episode. Plus: today in 1974, a really big game for a teenage basketball player in Sweden.  Turn-On’s Turning Point (Tedium) Facts, Oddments for the Book (Los Angeles Times) Keep our show running far into the future as a backer on Patreon

Today in 2004, an important historic designation for a historic district in Wichita Falls, Texas. One of the buildings that makes that district so historic is the Newby-McMahon Building, also known as the "world’s littlest skyscraper." Plus: the story of an 18-foot tall statue of a hand holding a Cheeto. Legend of the World’s Littlest Skyscraper (Texas Co-op Power)  Cheetos statue unveiled in Canada, an homage to Cheetle, the orange dust's official name (Boing Boing) Help our show grow by feet, not inches as a backer on Patreon

Today in 1932, the start of a road trip you don’t see too often: a nine year old and his horse set off through Australia by themselves for more than 600 miles. Plus: around this time in 2020, an artist in Berlin decided to do a high-tech trick of sorts on Google Maps. The nine-year-old who rode a pony 1000km to Sydney (Sydney Morning Herald)  Man Uses 99 Phones and a Handcart to Create a "Virtual Traffic Jam" on Google Maps (Interesting Engineering) Help this show keep moving as a backer on Patreon

The birth of André-Jacques Garnerin, a man who helped bring about the modern parachute. And his vision came to him at a very unusual time. Plus: tomorrow in Scottsdale, Arizona, it’s the Parada del Sol Parade & Trail’s End Festival. 1797 - The modern world's first parachute jump (Fédération Aéronautique Internationale)    Scottsdale Parada del Sol  Jump into our Patreon community and support the show

This week in 1819 was probably the first European sighting of Antarctica. It’s different from all the other continents in so many ways - including how, from a certain point of view, a big chunk of Antarctica is “ruled” by a guy who’s never even been there. Plus: today in Tomah, Wisconsin, it’s the annual Freeze Fest. How a Pennsylvania man started an imaginary country in Antarctica and got 2,300 people to join him (The Times Leader)  Freeze Fest  Backing Cool Weird Awesome on Patreon is really cool

First responders in Kent, England have a powerful new tool: a remote-controlled robot for fighting fires. This is a slowly growing trend in firefighting, sending devices into a fire scene so there are fewer human firefighters at risk. Plus: starting tomorrow in Richmond, Indiana, it’s the Meltdown Winter Ice Festival. Britain’s firefighting robot that can spray 2,000 litres of water a minute enters service (Interesting Engineering) Meltdown Winter Ice Festival    It’s hot to back Cool Weird Awesome on Patreon

We’re learning more about how bees do what they do, and it’s thanks to a new study from Penn State that used bee-friendly QR codes. Plus: today in 1957, TIME Magazine reported on a newspaper in Ontario that put typos in the copy on purpose. Scientists Strapped QR Codes Onto Thousands of Bees to Learn How Far They Actually Fly (Gizmodo) Miscellany, Jan. 28, 1957 (TIME) Build some buzz with us, as a backer on Patreon

This week in 1837, Michigan became the 26th state in the Union. Michigan is famous for having an upper peninsula and a lower peninsula, but it also has a Lost Peninsula. Plus: a soupmaker is now offering the flavor of chicken noodle soup in the form of a cough drop.  The story of Michigan's Lost Peninsula (Michigan Radio) ‘Progresso Soup Drops’, The Comforting Taste of Chicken Noodle Soup Captured in a Hard Candy Form (Laughing Squid) This show would be lost without its backers on Patreon

Today in 1999, a moment in the golf world that you don’t see everyday: a bunch of people moving a boulder for golf star Tiger Woods in the middle of a tournament. Plus: a movie star's new marriage comes apart in just days because of breakfast foods? Throwback Thursday: That time Tiger Woods had his gallery perform manual labor and move a boulder (Golf Digest) Refused $2,000,000 to Return to Her Husband - and Yet She Loves Him (Omaha Sunday Bee-News via Newspapers.com)   Backing our show on Patreon is as good as a hole in one in golf

Today in 2011, Rebecca Sharrock of Brisbane, Australia got a medical diagnosis: Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory. It's a rare condition in which people can vividly remember virtually everything they've ever experienced. Plus: this Saturday in Florida, the Dade City Kumquat Festival. The woman who can’t forget (BBC) Dade City’s Kumquat Festival  Don’t forget to drop by our Patreon page and back the show

Today in 1925, a telegram sets off one of the most remarkable crossings of its time: the famous Serum Run to Nome, Alaska. Plus: this Saturday in New York, the Downtown Schenectady Soup Stroll. The 1925 Serum Run To Nome (AlaskaWeb) Downtown Schenectady Soup Stroll Why not travel over to our Patreon page and back the show

For Squirrel Appreciation Day, we visit a town in northeastern Kansas where black squirrels are number one. It's the law. Plus: Cedar Creek, Texas, is home to Ms. Pearl, a 14 foot tall squirrel statue. From circus attraction to protected mascot to art project: How black squirrels took over a small Kansas town (Roadtrippers) Ms. Pearl (Atlas Obscura) Don’t be squirrelly about visiting our Patreon page

There are lots of ceremonies and events in honor of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. today, and there are lots of monuments you can visit too. Though some of Dr. King’s biggest fans might steer you away from some of those monuments. In the city where the Kings met, ‘The Embrace’ memorializes their love and struggle (Boston Globe) A Stunning New Boston Memorial Will Celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King (Architectural Digest)

AirFarm is an inflatable container farm that could help people grow crops where there’s not a lot of water. The idea - pun intended- blew up at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Plus: today in 1931, the birthday of James Earl Jones. He did a little bit of everything in his long and distinguished career, though one of his most famous roles only took a short time.  World’s first inflatable farm uses 99% less water to grow vegetables in deserts (Interesting Engineering) James Earl Jones Only Needed One Day to Change Star Wars Forever (Inverse) Help our show grow as a backer on Patreon