Cool Weird Awesome With Brady Carlson

On this day in 1973, something happened aboard the Skylab space station. Depending on who you talk to, it was somewhere between a "sensitivity session" between astronauts and ground crew, and a full-on space mutiny. Plus: Japanese Lego artist Jumpei Mitsui just created an all-brick version of Hokusai's famous print "The Great Wave off Kanagawa." The Real Story of the Skylab 4 “Strike” in Space (NASA) Did Skylab 4's Astronauts Really Go On Strike? (Atlas Obscura) Column: The day when three NASA astronauts staged a strike in space (Los Angeles Times) Japanese LEGO Artist Reimagines Hokusai's 'The Great Wave off Kanagawa' (Interesting Engineering) It's all for one and one for all with our backers on Patreon, join us! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Ever tried to re-gift a present you didn't need? Two brothers-in-law kept giving each other the same pair of pants for decades - and in increasingly complicated wrappings. Plus: ever hear about the time Alex Trebek walked onto the Jeopardy! set without pants?  Brothers Traded Moleskin Pants as an Annual Christmas Gift (Snopes) Jeopardy! Flashback: Alex Trebek Without Pants (Jeopardy!) --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Why does NORAD watch Santa Claus on Christmas Eve, while watching for missiles and bombers the rest of the time? It all started when an ad for a Santa Claus hotline accidentally published a military hotline number during the Cold War. Plus: a gag gift known as the "Nothing Box" was maybe one present that wasn't supposed to travel through the skies at Christmastime.  NORAD Santa Tracker: 64-year-old tradition started with wrong number (KKTV) The Nothing Box (Weird Universe) Hope you have a Christmas Eve that's as great as our Patreon backers!  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

In 1843, British civil servant Henry Cole wanted a way to send holiday greetings to friends, colleagues and loved ones without having to write letter after letter. And that's where commercial Christmas cards began. Plus: did you know that chili pepper plants were once considered just as festive as poinsettias? Dear (Whoever You Are), Here’s the First Christmas Card (Library of Congress) Intriguing stories served fresh daily When the Christmas Plant Was a Pepper, Not a Poinsettia (Atlas Obscura) Our Patreon backers are definitely holiday card-worthy --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

For centuries, mistletoe has been a symbol of holiday love, renewal and fertility. Even though it's actually a parasite that steals nutrients from trees. Plus: a poinsettia in the suburbs of Montreal has gone from half-dead to entirely huge!  This Is Why We Kiss Under the Mistletoe (Readers Digest) 'Crappy half-dead' poinsettia from grocery store just won't stop growing (CBC) Our backers on Patreon are the ones who make this show grow! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

It was today in 1913 that the first modern crossword puzzle was published in the New York World newspaper, eventually leading to a craze that cruciverbalists all over the world have been enjoying ever since. Plus: an invention that didn’t last as long as the crossword - though it was designed to.  100 years of crosswords: the first appeared in New York on 21.12.1913 (The Guardian) Crossword Puzzles (Quartz Obsession) The Doomsday Diet (Eater) The seven-letter word that makes this show possible: Backers --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

It's Full Color Week, where we’re replaying some of our favorite episodes about color. In this episode from October 2020, scientists at Purdue University have a way to help keep us cool to the point that  we might not even need air conditioning, and all it takes is a fresh coat of a special paint. Plus: the town of Asbestos, Quebec has finally chosen a new name! New 'Super-White' Paint Can Cool Down Buildings and Cars (Interesting Engineering) Goodbye Asbestos, hello Val-des-Sources: Que. town changing infamous name (CBC) Our backers on Patreon are really, really bright --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

It's Full Color Week, where we’re replaying some of our favorite episodes about color. In this episode from October 2020, we look at the days when auto workers spray painted new vehicles, and excess paint would harden and accumulate into a substance that looked like colorful gemstones. Jewelers have been making works of art out of "fordite" ever  since. Plus: ever wanted to make a bread bowl that looks like your own face? Now you can! Your Earrings Remind Me of Grandma’s Gran Torino (New York Times) How To Make A Bread Mold Of Your Own Face (Make) Together, Cool Weird Awesome and our backers on Patreon can make great art - join us! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

It's Full Color Week, where we’re replaying some of our favorite episodes about color. In this episode from August 2020, chemists at Indiana University and the University of Copenhagen have found a way to make the brightest fluorescent materials ever made. Plus: for World Elephant Day, meet Lucy, the elephant-shaped hotel on the Jersey Shore. Chemists create the brightest-ever fluorescent materials (Phys.org) World Elephant Day Stay Overnight in Lucy, an Elephant-Shaped Hotel on the New Jersey Shore (Untapped Cities) Bright idea: join us as a Cool Weird Awesome backer on Patreon --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

It's Full Color Week, where we’re replaying some of our favorite episodes about color. In this episode from July 2020, we're talking about Vantablack, a color that’s so black it absorbs almost all of the  light nearby. There’s new research out about a “vantafish” that does  almost the same thing to avoid its hungry bioluminescent neighbors.  Plus: you’ve heard of drive-in theaters; Paris is going to have a  “float-in” theater featuring “socially distanced boats” on the Seine. Vantablack? Meh. Meet the Ultra-Black Vantafish (Wired) Floating Movie Theater With Socially Distant Boats Set for Paris (Interesting Engineering) Back the only podcast that can make a Spinal Tap reference AND a Rebecca Black reference in its first 30 seconds! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

It's Full Color Week, where we’re replaying some of our favorite episodes about color. In this episode from September 2019, we look at how paintings made with Day Glo paint are losing their glow over time. Conservationists don’t yet  know how to solve this puzzle, but we do at least know how Day Glo got started. Plus: meet a color that absorbs 99.995 percent of incoming  light. Even Nigel Tufnel would say that’s pretty black. Day-Glo masterpieces are fading. A conservator and her team are racing to save them (Los Angeles Times) How DayGlo Went From Utility Pigment to Design World Darling (AIGA Eye on Design) Engineers Just Unveiled a New Blackest-Ever Material, Even Darker Than Vantablack (Science Alert) Make life more colorful when you back Cool Weird Awesome on Patreon --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

A Spanish tech startup called Bioo has built an installation in which plants serve as the keys of a kind of "green piano." Plus: for International Mountain Day, a look at some of the peaks with more down-to-earth names.  Ethereal Sounds Are Emanating From the World’s First ‘Piano’ Made From Plants (GoodNewsNetwork) 11 Summits with Outrageous Names (Backpacker) Climb every mountain, ford every stream as a Cool Weird Awesome backer on Patreon! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Today's the birthday of Ada Lovelace, known as the first computer programmer. She also dreamed up the idea of generating music through a computer program, so if you've ever made music with a synthesizer, you're following in her footsteps. Plus: today's the anniversary of the day Wyoming passed its first-of-a-kind law guaranteeing women could vote and hold office.  Remembering Ada Lovelace, computer-music prognosticator (Boston Globe) Wyoming marks 150 years since first US law empowering women to vote (Travel Wyoming) Back our show on Patreon for just $1 a month!  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Today in 1953, two NHL teams racked up a then-record 204 penalty minutes, in a game that’s officially 60 minutes long. Hockey is a rough sport. Plus a guitarist in Japan can play blues riffs with a cheerful little parakeet on his hand!  This Day in Hockey History – December 9, 1953 – Canadiens Rhubarb Leafs (The Pink Puck) Guitarist Plays a Rockabilly Riff With Bird on His Hand (Laughing Squid) An exclusive bonus episode is coming soon for our Patreon backers, join today! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

A California company is building an all-electric platform designed specifically to keep classic and vintage cars with gas engines on the road, with much smaller carbon footprints. Plus: ever heard a jazz solo on the bagpipes? No? You might be missing out.  Thanks to Zero Labs, Any Classic Car Can Transform Into an Electric 'Clean Energy Hero' (Designboom) Jazz Bagpipes Exists and Is Amazing (Neatorama) The best combination of all is this show and its Patron backers!  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

A team out of New Curtin University in Australia has found that pilot whales appear to imitate one of their predators, tricking them away from the hunt. And in equally clever but much more irritating news, a neighborhood in Ottawa, Ontario reports squirrels are stealing the LED lights out of their holiday displays.  Pilot whale study reveals copycat calls to outsmart predators (Science Daily) Red squirrels going nuts for Ottawa couple's Christmas lights, but reason remains a mystery (CBC) Join us on Patreon for $1 a month! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

For National Cookie Day, we take a closer look at the amazing and frequently disturbing history of gingerbread, including how one of the most famous royals of all time helped bring gingerbread people into the world. Plus: a lesson in patience from a musical great who made herself into a cookie-baking expert.  The History of Gingerbread (PBS) 5 Facts You Probably Don't Know About Christmas Cookies (Food and Wine) Neko Case: Pet Sounds (Spin) There's nothing sweeter than our backers on Patreon --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Some galleries showcase works of art; others show you what it's like when there's nothing on the canvas. Today we pay a virtual visit to a museum where all the works explore the concept of nothingness. Plus: the Chic!ken photo project aims to show that chickens can be the subjects of fine art.  A Museum of Nothing (Metafilter) Portraits of “Most Beautiful Chickens on the Planet” Capture Their Underrated Beauty (My Modern Met) We've got something special going with our Patreon backers, be a part of it --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Hyundai is now working to develop what it calls "ultimate mobility vehicles." When they encounter rough terrain the wheels can't pass through, these cars will be able to stand up on robotic legs and walk through. Plus: a guy on TikTok is winning fans with his four-wheel-drive off-road lawn mower.  Hyundai gets serious about unstoppable, four-legged 4x4 robo-cars (New Atlas) This Off-Road Lawn Mower on 38-Inch Mud Tires Can Flex with the Best (The Drive) We'd drive just about anywhere with our backers on Patreon --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

We use hundreds of billions of latex gloves a year, for a lot of important reasons. Scientists at Cranfield University in the UK are developing an eco-friendly latex glove that uses less energy to produce and will biodegrade in weeks rather than centuries. Plus: today in 1997, Kenny G set a world record for longest single note played on a saxophone.  How a new type of glove can reduce environmental damage (BBC) World's Longest Note Held on Saxophone (Complex) Kenny G Plans To Hold One Note On The Sax For An Entire Flight (Huffington Post) Our backers on Patreon are like our songbirds, join them today --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message