Cool Weird Awesome With Brady Carlson

A small device created in China could turn anyone of out for a walk (and probably their dogs, too) into small scale power plants, just from the breeze they cause by walking! It's all thanks to what's called triboelectricity. Plus: a Swedish company wants to create OceanBird, a full-size cargo ship that runs on wind power.  This tiny device can scavenge wind energy from the breeze you make when you walk (TechXplore) Oceanbird – wind powered cargo vessel is a revolution in the making (Red Ferret Journal) Cool Weird Awesome is listener powered, so back us on Patreon today for just $1 a month! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Shaving dates back tens of thousands of years, and it's gone in and out of fashion more times than we can count. And for a time in 1945, there was an idea to replace razors with a series of hair treatments involving X-rays (!) Plus: Hannah Grace is a makeup artist in the UK who has won lots of fans by turning herself into optical illusions.  The History of Shaving and Beards (Old Farmer's Almanac) Shaving with X-rays (Weird Universe) Woman Spends Up to 11 Hours Turning Herself Into the Most Stunning Optical Illusions (Oddity Central) Keep Cool Weird Awesome smooth by becoming a backer on Patreon! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

This week in 1960, Richard Nixon campaigned at a cookout in Sullivan, Illinois, eating some of a Buffalo barbecue sandwich before giving his speech. A young Boy Scout, Steve Jenne, took the rest of Nixon's sandwich home and has kept it in the freezer for the last 60 years! Plus: if you're missing cubicles and conference tables these days, there's a new soundscape, Calm Office, that might help.  Watch now: Richard Nixon ate a sandwich in Sullivan 60 years ago. Here's the story of the man who kept it. (Decatur Herald&Review) Because People Miss The Office Sounds (Neatorama) Keep us going for (maybe) 60 years as a backer on Patreon! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

UCLA scientists have made little thermoelectric coolers that are only 100 nanometers wide, so small the eye can't see them on its own. They're not quite refrigerators yet, but if you have little sodas or bags of grapes, maybe reach out anyway. Plus: on the International Day of Sign Languages, we celebrate the amazing world of sign language interpreters at heavy metal concerts. UCLA scientists create world’s smallest ‘refrigerator’ (UCLA) 10 Epic Sign Language Interpreters at Metal Shows (YouTube) International Day of Sign Languages (United Nations) Rawk out as a Cool Weird Awesome backer on Patreon --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Nobody likes being stuck at a stoplight, but before there were systems in place to make drivers take turns, the roads were not good. Here are a few of the inventions that helped us (mostly) stop crashing into each other. Plus: why did Syracuse, New York set up an upside-down stoplight, with green on top?  A Brief History of the Stoplight (Smithsonian) There’s No Other Traffic Light In America Like This One In New York (Only In Your State) Go, go, go to our Patreon page and back this show --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

The Disgusting Food Museum in southern Sweden has a new exhibit on the strangest alcoholic drinks of all time, proving that people will drink some truly revolting concoctions in pursuit of a buzz. Plus: remember how Asbestos, Quebec was going to choose one of four replacement names for the town? Those plans are on hold, cause apparently the people of Asbestos aren't big fans of the new names.  Squirrel beer, ant gin and poop wine are served up in Disgusting Food Museum's new exhibit (LiveScience) Town of Asbestos back to the drawing board after lacklustre response to renaming options (CBC) We raise our glasses to the Cool Weird Awesome backers on Patreon! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

The community of Asbestos, Quebec has decided to rename itself. Now it's up to the residents to decide whether the town should be named Trois-Lacs, Apalone, Phénix or - wait for it - Jeffrey. Plus: on this National Cheeseburger Day, did you know there's an 1,800 pound burger on the menu at a place in Detroit?  Asbestos in Quebec Shortlists Four New Names to Get Fresh Start (Bloomberg) World's Largest Burger Costs $8,000 (Food and Wine) Our well-named backers on Patreon make this show happen --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

A sensor developed at MIT uses a set of microneedles to push through packaging and determine whether the food inside is safe to eat, which could prevent food waste and help head off outbreaks of salmonella. Plus: did you know China is apparently home to several thousand glass footbridges, where you can walk across and see what's underneath?  Velcro-like food sensor detects spoilage and contamination (MIT) Would You Walk on the World’s Longest Glass Bridge? (Hyperallergic) Listeners can sense that our Patreon backers are making this show more special every day --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

44 years ago today, Shavarsh Karapetyan, a finswimming champion in Armenia did something extraordinary, saving at least 20 passengers who were trapped in a trolleybus that had gone into a lake. Has anybody done a biopic about this guy yet? Plus: meet Mieko Nagaoka, who in April 2015 became the first 100-year old swimmer to finish the 1,500 meter freestyle.  The Plunge (Grantland) 100-year-old Japanese woman sets her own 1,500-metre freestyle swim record (The Guardian) The champions who make this show possible are our backers on Patreon! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

The Cold Tube cools people off, similar to air conditioning, but using half the energy. Which sounds pretty cool. Plus: an experimental musician makes a delicious and funky new keyboard out of watermelon and kiwi.  Innovative personal cooling system uses half the energy of traditional AC (Anthropocene) This is the Funkiest Sounding Watermelon You Will Ever Hear (The Sifter) Our backers on Patreon put the Cool in Cool Weird Awesome  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

A lock of Abraham Lincoln's hair just sold for $81,000 at auction, a reminder that a) people will pay lots of money for lots of things, and b) hair was a pretty important keepsake in the 19th century - people back then even made it into art. Plus: a couple in England decides to upgrade their garden, which the husband decides means installing a 12-foot statue of a T. rex.  The Curious Victorian Tradition of Making Art from Human Hair (Artsy) Lock of Abraham Lincoln's hair sells for more than $81,000 (ABC News) What a disat-saur! Husband shocks wife who suggested he liven up their garden by installing a 12-ft replica T-REX on the patio (Daily Mail) Back this show on Patreon for just $1 a month (but please don't sell your hair to come up with the money) --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

A study out of Ohio State University found that people who take acetaminophen, one of the most common over-the-counter painkillers, are apparently more willing to take risks. Plus: the story of a guy who ended up taking quite a risk by setting up a tent - he just didn’t know it at the time. A pain reliever that alters perceptions of risk (Ohio State University) How this Nova Scotia man ended up accidentally camping in the Atlantic Ocean (CBC) Forget risk, how about getting the rewards of being a Cool Weird Awesome backer on Patreon? --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

John Cage once wrote a score with the instructions that it be played "As Slow As Possible." So that's what an organ is doing in Germany, for more than 600 years. Plus: a YouTuber trains his cat to put out fires, sort of.  John Cage musical work changes chord for first time in seven years (BBC) I Trained My Cat To Put Out Fires (William Osman on YouTube) Joining our community of backers on Patreon is quick and easy and won't take 639 years --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

On this day in 1947, a team working on a computer at Harvard University discovered the first computer bug: a moth that had gotten trapped in the electronics. Plus: today in 2005, a guy writes to Major League Baseball to get that expressed written consent they always talk about to rebroadcast or retransmit a game.  Sep 9, 1947 CE: World’s First Computer Bug  (National Geographic) Making Sure You Have Your Expressed Written Consent (Deadspin) Help keep our show running smoothly as a backer on Patreon! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

A research project has built a handheld device modeled on Nintendo's Game Boy that gets its power from solar panels and the energy created by pushing buttons - no batteries necessary. Plus: a programmer has recreated the classic video game Doom inside an electronic pregnancy test. Technology is pretty versatile, isn't it?  Battery-free Game Boy runs forever (Northwestern University) Programmer makes original Doom playable on pregnancy test (CNet) Cool Weird Awesome is powered by its backers on Patreon, join today! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Computers and the Internet have changed so much of the world, but older technology that still has a home in the world and there are still people who still make it all work, like the family that runs the Gramercy Typewriter Company in Manhattan. Plus: sitting in a box of ice up to your shoulders may or may not be a job, but the guy who set the world record last week definitely worked.  Inside One of NYC’s Last Typewriter Stores (Untapped New York) Chilling out: Austrian breaks record for standing in box of ice (Reuters) Keep this show as cool as ice as a backer on Patreon --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Research at the University of Oslo shows that humans have an almost unstoppable urge to start moving when the music starts - though, of course, some kinds of music and other factors can lead to more moving than others. Meanwhile, in Austin, Texas, you can (virtually) move through some of the city's most unusual houses through a virtual Weird Homes tour.  Not moving to dance music is nearly impossible, according to new research (University of Oslo via Medical Xpress) 2020 Austin Weird Homes Virtual Tour Cool Weird Awesome backers on Patreon make this show move forward, so join us!  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

The strangeness of this year has been messing with our internal clocks and our sense of how days, weeks and months go. But sometimes it's good to rethink how we understand time, like though Tahoe Timescape, a project to take photographs over one thousand years. Plus: New York City is where King Kong ran wild in the movies, but a new statue could help rebuild the relationship between NYC and big apes. Artist tries 1,000-year time lapse photo of Lake Tahoe (US News & World Report) Photos: King Nyani, the Largest Bronze Gorilla Statue Arrives in NYC (Untapped New York) Help keep this show going for years to come as a backer on Patreon --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Decades ago researchers announced a Rembrandt painting was not actually by Rembrandt at all. But on Sunday, researchers said they'd looked again and the painting probably was an actual Rembrandt. There are lots of challenges to verifying whether a Rembrandt is really his work or just a simulation. Plus: an interactive online map of continental drift can show you where a town or city used to be hundreds of millions of years ago.  The Rembrandt Research Project: Past, Present, Future  A Supposedly Fake Rembrandt Might Just Be Real (Vanity Fair) Map Lets You See How Your Hometown has Moved Across 750 Million Years of Continental Drift (Good News Network) --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

As a very unusual school year gets underway, here's the story of the Trapper Keeper, a school supply that made binders cool - at least for my generation. Plus: a 10 year old in Northern Ireland digs up some history before the school year even starts.  The History of the Trapper Keeper (Mental Floss) Beginner's luck for 10-year-old metal detectorist (BBC) Back this show on Patreon and you'll be as cool as a fifth grader in the 80s with a brand-new Trapper Keeper --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message