Cool Weird Awesome With Brady Carlson

It was on this day in 1857 that the first commercial elevator began operating at a department store in New York City. And once elevators took off, they started shaping the world around us in some pretty big ways. Plus: a city in Oregon is home to an elevator that is technically a street! March 23, 1857: Mr. Otis Gives You a Lift (Wired) Oregon City is home of America's steepest street (Offbeat Oregon) Our Patreon backers give us a lift every day - join them! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

In northeast Georgia, there are giant stone slabs inscribed with ten rules to lead the world toward "an Age of Reason." But the reason for the rules - and who had them installed there - remain a secret. Plus: a new exhibition features works by acclaimed artist Jackson Pollock and his brother and fellow painter Charles Pollock, the first time their art has been shown together.  Nobody Knows How to Interpret This Doomsday Stonehenge in Georgia (Smithsonian) Jackson Pollock’s Older Brother Charles Was the Family’s First Artist. Now, an Exhibition Brings Their Work Together for the First Time (Artnet) No mystery about who makes this show possible: it's our Patreon backers! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

This was a bonus episode for our Patreon backers, who make the show possible! It was exclusively available to them on Patreon for one year. If you want to hear future bonus episodes before that, join us for just $1 a month. Today we tell the story of a man who was all about getting people together. Over 40+ years, Jim Haynes brought thousands and thousands of people to his place in Paris to have Sunday dinner and mingle together.  Jim Haynes: A man who invited the world over for dinner (BBC) Inviting The World To Dinner (NPR) --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/support

It's our 500th episode! We're celebrating with a visit to the Compass Festival in Leeds, which will feature an art installation that will ring many of the community's pay phones at exactly the same time. Plus: did you know the first race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway wasn't a road race? This is why every phone box in Leeds will ring in unison on the same day at Compass Festival 2021 (Yorkshire Evening Post) 1909 National Balloon Race (Indianapolis Motor Speedway) Thanks to our Patreon backers for keeping us going through 500 episodes! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

In Scotland's Shetland Islands, on the island called Unst, a 7 year old's request for a new bus stop led to a community tradition of making the space comfortable and colorful. Plus: a museum in South Bend, Indiana is showcasing cars of the 1970s, a time when cars were cars - sometimes a car was multiple cars.  Waiting in Style (Futility Closet) Website for Unst bus shelter is ‘essential reading for future generations’ (Shetland Times) Disco Decade Rides: Cars of the 1970s (Studebaker National Museum) Our Patreon backers keep this show moving forward every day --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

A big problem in food waste is that people often refuse to buy fruits or veggies because of how they look. But a new study finds that grocers can sell misshapen or odd-looking produce if they market them as "ugly." Plus: if you're weary of remote meetings, a new web tool called Zoom Escaper may help you get a break.  Why calling food 'ugly' makes us want to buy it more (Vancouver Is Awesome) Zoom Escaper lets you sabotage your own meetings with audio problems, crying babies, and more (The Verge) Our Patreon backers make beautiful things happen on our show --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Today in 1980, the big U.S. TV networks began regularly using closed caption technology to serve Deaf viewers as well as hearing ones. That alone was a game-changer, but closed captioning has proven useful in some other big ways as well. Plus: in Russia, fans of a certain TV show set in a galaxy far, far away have built a replica of a certain ship that's home to a certain adorable baby puppet.  How Deaf Advocates Won the Battle for Closed Captioning and Changed the Way Americans Watch TV (Time) Closed captioning (Quartz) Star Wars fans ‘land’ Mandalorian’s Razor Crest spaceship in Russia (South China Morning Post) Let's join forces on Patreon like Mando and Carl Weathers do --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Mary Fields was the first Black woman to receive a Post Office contract to deliver the mail, and in the Wild West, no less. Here's a little more about a pioneer who definitely made some history. Plus: the story of a sibling who found a practical use for her identical twin.  The Life and Legend of Mary Fields (Montana Women's History) Stagecoach Mary Fields (National Postal Museum) Fields, Mary – aka Stagecoach Mary (Amazing Black History) More women’s history on Cool Weird Awesome I’m not a twin but... (Reddit) --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Welcome to the world of electroceuticals! That's the word for treatments that involve electricity, and a new study finds steady current applied to wounds can actually get healing agents to the site more quickly. Speaking of quick: the "tossed rice art" of Maria Lynn may only last an instant, but what an instant it is.  Electricity could help speed wound healing, new study shows (Ohio State University) Artist Tosses Colorful Rice To Create 3D Portraits of Pop Culture Characters in Mid-Air (My Modern Met) Our backers are the most electrifying backers in all of Patreon --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Blueswarm is a school of autonomous robot fish who scan their surroundings and calculate how they can swim together without colliding, like a school of actual fish. And the technology modeled on "implicit coordination" may be useful for lots of other high-tech devices in the future. Plus: GLYPHS is a project to develop new perfumes based on typology. No, there isn't a Comic Sans scent just yet.   Meet Blueswarm, a Smart School of Robotic Fish (IEEE Spectrum)  Love typography? Now you can smell like it! (Creative Boom)  Our Patreon backers make this show run swimmingly --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Scientists have spotted three species of sharks near New Zealand that give off a faint blue light while in darkness. Yes, our world is home to glowing sharks. Plus: artist Calvin Nicholls is making extremely detailed sculptures of animals out of paper. Glowing sharks found near New Zealand (Inhabitat) Intricate Paper Animals Spring from Textured Sculptures by Artist Calvin Nicholls (Colossal) Our Patreon backers are a bright light all over the internet --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

The internet and social media don't do a great job making the very visual world of meme culture accessible to blind users. The new podcast "Say My Meme" describes those memes so everyone can enjoy them. Plus: Madagascar is home to the "nano-chameleon," believed to be the smallest lizard in the world.  This delightful new podcast describes memes for people who are blind or visually impaired (Fast Company) 'Smallest reptile on earth' discovered in Madagascar (BBC) Keep our podcast growing for just $1 a month as a backer on Patreon! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

A team of German developers may have just made the pool safer, by developing a water-based lifeguard robot that can rescue swimmers in distress. Plus: today in 1969, musical history, as "Happy Birthday To You" becomes the first song ever performed in outer space.  New Robot Lifeguard Will Save People from Drowning (Interesting Engineering) 50 Years Ago: Apollo 9 Completes its Mission (NASA) Together with our Patreon backers we can make beautiful music --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Today in 1963 the Hula Hoop was patented, although by that point it had already become a worldwide phenomenon. And toy hoops go way, way back even before the toys we know today first became popular. Plus: how a very unusual photographer won the Ocean Art Underwater Photo Competition.  How Hula Hoops Work (HowStuffWorks) Octopus steals camera and wins underwater photography competition (SCUBA News) Join our Patreon backers and keep this show spinning round and round --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

On this day in 1928, the start of the Trans-America Foot Race, aka the "Bunion Derby," in which about 200 runners in Los Angeles set out to run all the way to New York City. Only 55 of them made it through the entire grueling route, which could be called a spectacle, boondoggle and landmark all at once. Plus: in honor of Vermont becoming a state today in 1791, a look at the state's famous Long Trail hike from one end to the other.  Endurance Racing: First Leg, the Bunion Derby (New York Public Library) The 1928 Bunion Derby: America’s Brush with Integrated Sports (BlackPast) The Long Trail (Green Mountain Club) We've got some big plans with our Patreon backers this month (but don't worry, none of them are cross-country foot races) --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

A study out of Rutgers University-Camden finds people who order cold sandwiches instead of hot ones also pick up chips, cookies and other sides much more often. Why? Plus: today in 1912, an unusual performance of a classic opera outside one of the great wonders of the world.  Consumers Buy More Food When They Order Cold Meals and Drinks, Reports Rutgers‒Camden Researcher (Rutgers-Camden) Today in 1912 ‘Aida’ opens in open-air production beneath the Great Pyramid (Victorian Masculinity) It would be fun to go out for a hot sandwich, chips and a drink with our Patreon backers --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

You know about the Echo and the Google Home, but do you know about the Butler In A Box? It was a voice-controlled smart home device in the 1980s, and could do many of the same things our smart speakers do today. Plus: it's the birthday of Dr. Mark Dean, a computing pioneer who helped create some of the most important technology we have, and also saw the future of technology quite a few times.  Butler In A Box (Popular Mechanics via Google Books) Magician's Versatile Box Gives New Meaning To "Butler Did It" (Deseret News) Mark Dean designed the first IBM PC while breaking racial barriers (Engadget) Maybe with help from our Patreon backers, we can stream this show on a Butler in a Box --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

People like to collect all kinds of things, but Mark Davis had a collection that even he thought was a little unusual: cassettes containing the music and announcements that Kmart stores used to play over their speaker systems, complete with announcements from "KMRT - Kmart Radio." Plus: on National Pig Day, a story about a pig in the 70s who had an unusual job.  Hear that? It's the sound of Kmart's glory days, saved from the trashcan (Detroit Free Press) Attention K-Mart Shoppers (Internet Archive) Guard Pig (Weird Universe) Attention Cool Weird Awesome shoppers, say thanks to our Patreon backers, who make the whole show possible --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

In warm months, we can open the window and let in fresh air - only that can also let in a lot of outdoor noise, too. A special sound-absorbing window design from a team at the National University of Singapore might let the air in without all the extra noise. Plus: firefighters in Medina, Ohio, rescue turtles and tortoises with some special equipment.  Novel window design reduces outdoor noise and improves ventilation (National University of Singapore) Medina Ohio Shed Fire (Medina Fire Dept.) Our backers on Patreon keep all the good episodes coming without any extra noise --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Physarum polycephalum is pretty smart for a slime mold. It can find its way back to the places where food had previously been even though it doesn't have a nervous system. Researchers in Germany have just figured out how this organism does it. Plus: American Beatlemania may have begun in February 1964, but George Harrison made a nice, quiet trip to southern Illinois the previous fall.  A memory without a brain (Science Daily) The Charming Story of George Harrison's Vacation In Small Town America (Smithsonian) We know you're smart, so join our smart backers on Patreon to keep this show strong! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message