Cool Weird Awesome with Brady Carlson

Today in 2010, a big sale in Washington state: a woman sold a couple an entire town. And it turns out that owning an entire town, even a small, unincorporated community, can be a challenge. Plus: oday in 1743, the birthday of Thomas Jefferson. You can tour his home, Monticello, today in Virginia - or if you’re in or near Somers, Connecticut, you can see a replica of the third president’s house. To...

This month in 1928, a West Virginia family found what would eventually be recognized as the largest alluvial diamond ever discovered in North America.  But for a while, the finders of that gem just put it in a box and left it in place. Plus: starting today in Stamford, Connecticut, it’s the 45th Annual American Crossword Puzzle Tournament. The Jones Diamond, the largest alluvial diamond in North A...

Today in 1949, one of the biggest names in TV helped usher in a big part of TV history. Before the famous Jerry Lewis telethons, Milton Berle hosted a televised fundraiser for 16 straight hours in New York. Plus: coming up this weekend, it’s the Chicago Tea Festival. Hollywood Flashback: Milton Berle Hosted the First Star Telethon in 1949 (Hollywood Reporter) Chicago Tea Festival 2026   We don’t d...

Cambodia just put up a statue to honor someone who made a great contribution to public safety.  His name was Magawa, and he was an African giant pouched rat who just happened to be trained to detect land mines. Plus: a "simulated skylight" is a recessed ceiling fixture that uses LEDs to make it look like you're seeing in the sky, even in rooms where you can't. Cambodia unveils st...

These times aren’t exactly easy for farmers, especially ones who grow in water-limited areas. But there’s a new project out of the University of California - Riverside that might help - and I’m pleased to tell you that it involves robots. Plus: the Facebook page Anonymous Works just featured a Star Trek fan's labor of love. ‘More crop per drop’: New UC Riverside irrigation robot is adorable —...

Parts of England celebrated the Monday after the holiday with a special custom of picking strangers up off the ground for money. Sure, why not. Plus: today in 1909, the Peary expedition reached what they believed to be the North Pole, which wound up bewildering then-President William Howard Taft a bit. Lifting and Heaving: An Easter Custom (University of Leicester via Archive.org) GIVES NORTH POLE...

It's Easter weekend. Many people my age will fondly remember getting Cadbury Creme Eggs this time of year… or is it that they fondly remember those TV commercials promoting the eggs? Plus: in Buffalo, New York, many Polish Catholics in Buffalo, New York have another tasty and delicious Easter tradition, the butter lamb. A Brief History of the Cadbury Egg (The Kitchn)  Behold the Butter Lamb of...

Today in 1951, a 19 year old sent three words out into the world on the shell of an egg: “Please write me.” Her message simple and effective… though it took a long time for the reply to come in. Plus: starting this Saturday in Brighton, Missouri, the Tulip & Baby Animal Festival. ‘Please write me,’ she scribbled on a random egg in 1951. Someone just did. (Washington Post) Tulip & Baby Anim...

Today in 2019, the world learned about a time when a TV host got some medical help from a viewer at home. Plus: the parent company of KitKat warns chocolate lovers in Europe that they may run into a few shortages, after a 12-ton chocolate bar heist!?! Inside Edition's Deborah Norville to Undergo Surgery for Cancerous Thyroid Nodule After Viewer Spotted Lump (Inside Edition) Nestlé says 12 tonn...

Reforestation is a big part of the world's efforts to curb global warming, but a new study finds it isn’t just the number of trees that makes the difference for the earth, it’s where you plant them. Plus: in Surrey, British Columbia, a cat named Louis is flaunting international law and convention by crossing the US-Canada border to chase mice. Not every forest cools the Earth (ETH Zurich) Cat...

Ever get excited when a class or a meeting gets canceled and you have an extra hour? Researchers have shown that we actually get more excited about the time we gain back than time that was never filled up to begin with. Plus: the AllStrum guitar can help people with disabilities play chords and rock out. Why a Canceled Meeting Feels so Liberating (Rutgers University) An innovation that strikes a c...

Major League BASEBALL is back. And there's a device that can help blind or visually impaired baseball fans follow all of the action with more detail than ever, and in real time, too. Plus: the St. Petersburg, Florida Museum of History is home to Schrader's Little Cooperstown, which has the largest collection of autographed baseballs in the world. onecourt’s haptic device lets the visually...

Today in 1976, another history making moment for Queen Elizabeth II. En route to becoming the longest-reigning monarch in world history, she became the first royal to send an email. Plus: today in 1859, inventor William Redgrave received two patents in the UK for what he called a "pillow traveling cap." On This Day in Royal History: Queen Elizabeth Sent the First-Ever Royal Email in 1976...

Today in 1968, a big encounter in Cleveland, Ohio, when a rock legend got to hang out with a Star Trek icon. Plus: Alliance, Ohio is home to The Troll Hole, a museum and shop that has the world’s largest collection of troll dolls. When Jimi Hendrix met Spock: the incredible story of the guitar legend's encounter with a sci-fi icon (Guitar World) The Troll Hole Museum   Hang out with us on our...

The “Course des Cafés,” or the waiters’ race, is an old Parisian tradition meant to celebrate the hardworking servers in a city famous for its restaurant culture. And yes, they compete in their formal work clothes. Plus: authorities in Minnesota want you to know that a "Get Out Of Jail Free" card from Monopoly does not work in a real traffic stop. The Great Parisian Waiters Race (Messy N...

Today in 1929, the birthday of Roger Bannister. He was the first athlete to run a mile in under four minutes… and he did it on a work day. Plus: the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center in Montana has a program where their bears serve as testers for companies that make "bear-proof" food storage containers. A tribute to Sir Roger Bannister (NHS Imperial College Healthcare) PRODUCT TESTING...

This week we're replaying some of our favorite episodes about signs, captions and other adaptations. In this episode from April 2020, the University of Virginia's Disabilities Studies Symposium produces a version of a 1950s opera called “Dialogues of the Carmelites,” with both singers and ASL performers. Plus: Theremin Cat goes viral for putting its head and paws in just the right places t...

This week we're replaying some of our favorite episodes about signs, captions and other adaptations. In this episode from October 2019, we find out about the Soundshirt, a high-tech piece of clothing that can help deaf people feel music. Plus: a trombonist in England lets loose in the middle of the music with the most musical sneeze of all time. The Soundshirt lets deaf people feel music on th...

This week we're replaying some of our favorite episodes about signs, captions and other adaptations. In this episode from March 2021, we mark the day in 1980 when the major broadcast networks began regularly providing closed captioning for their shows, serving Deaf viewers along with hearing ones. Plus: some fans of The Mandalorian create a 46 foot long, 13 foot high replica of the main charac...

This week we're replaying some of our favorite episodes about signs, captions and other adaptations. In this episode from August 2022, two Deaf climbers describe their system for communicating when they’re up high. Plus: an island way out in the ocean that's only reachable for part of the time has a very appropriate name. How Two Deaf Mountaineers Thrive on High Peaks  (Outside) The Questi...

This week we're replaying some of our favorite episodes about signs, captions and other adaptations. In this episode from July 2020, the story of the time several decades ago that Deaf students at a school in Nicaragua created their own language. Plus: in 2017, two divers off the coast of Mexico found a flooded cave that research concludes was a mine for ochre pigment thousands and thousands o...

This week in 1911, a telephone operator in Oklahoma, Rose Coppinger, became a local hero. During a massive fire in the downtown district, she took it upon herself to call everyone in town that she could to get them to safety, while also calling for help in stopping the fire. Plus: coming up, a really rare find at an antique store in East Durham, New York. Telephone operator warns citizens of fire...

If this Thursday had taken place in the 1970s or 80s, people in Iceland would've been doing just about anything other than watching television. That's because the country's public broadcasting service only broadcast six days a week; on Thursdays there were no shows. Plus: another thing you wouldn’t find in Iceland for many years was boxing, though that had an unintended side effect. Ic...

Today is National Dream Day. While our dreams can have a lot in common with those of people in other parts of the world, there can be some big differences between those dreams too. Plus: did you know that a percentage of people dream in black and white? The Most Common Dreams By Country (Brilliant Maps) Dreams can vary across cultures and environments, UTM anthropologist finds (University of Toron...

It's National Landline Telephone Day, so we're talking about a phenomenon from the early landline days, when being a little too well understood on the phone was apparently considered kind of girly. Plus: North Korea has called off a marathon in Pyongyang for reasons. No, really, that's pretty much how the official statement put it. When the Telephone Was Considered Feminine (JSTOR Dail...