Cool Weird Awesome with Brady Carlson

Today in 1939, the opening of the World's Fair in New York. One of the inventions featured there was a way that newspapers could broadcast newspapers over the radio and have special receivers print out a copy of the paper for customers. Plus: Michigan State University's Abrams Planetarium is also home to the Moist Towelette Museum?!? A Look Back at the Radio Newspaper of the Air (Radio Wor...

Today in 1933 the birthday of Willie Nelson, a country music legend who once put out an album so that he could send royalties to the IRS to pay some overdue taxes. Plus: today in 1970, the birthday of Andre Agassi, who once figured out how to read a rival's serve in an unusual way. Poor Willie (Texas Monthly)  WATCH: The amazing story of how Andre Agassi read Boris Becker’s serve by watching h...

For Arbor Day, the story of the Tree of 40 Fruit, a real tree in Syracuse, New York that shows just how many different fruit you can graft onto a single tree. Plus: starting tomorrow in Hawaii, it’s the Waikiki SPAM Jam. Sculptor Sam Van Aken’s Tree of 40 Fruit (Syracuse University) Waikiki Spam Jam  Back our show on Patreon and your gift will definitely bear fruit

On today's show we’re uncorking a new method to treat oil spills with cork and lasers, an unexpected and potentially greener combination. Plus: tomorrow is day one of the three day Vermont Maple Festival in St. Albans. Trash to titan: Scientists create laser-treated cork that absorbs oil spills (Interesting Engineering)  VERMONT MAPLE FESTIVAL   Uncork the potential of this show as a backer on...

Washington State University researchers have come up with another e-tongue, and this one can quickly sense the compounds that show up when wine is spoiling. Plus: this weekend in Mansfield, Indiana, it’s the Mansfield Mushroom Festival. E-tongue can detect white wine spoilage before humans can (Washington State University) Mansfield Mushroom Festival  Backing our show on Patreon will leave a good...

For International English Language Day, the story of the most unusual guide to the language ever published, the one called “English As She Is Spoke.” Plus: this weekend in Mount Olive, North Carolina, it’s the North Carolina Pickle Festival. English As She Is Spoke (1884) (Public Domain Review) North Carolina Pickle Festival  Keep the English language version of this podcast coming as a backer on...

There’s a new development under the sea: a smart glove that could help scuba divers help each other steer clear of danger. Plus: the website After the Beep is an online answering machine, where you can leave your own anonymous voice message for the world to hear.  New e-glove could allow scuba divers shout ‘shark’ attack underwater (Interesting Engineering) After the Beep is a website where users...

Around this time in 2012, Tampa, Florida declared that “The Historic Tampa Cuban Sandwich” was the city’s signature sandwich. People in Miami weren't thrilled about this, because they insist their Cuban is the historic one. Plus: starting today in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, it’s the 2024 Artisan Guitar Show.  Tampa vs. Miami: The Fight for the Cuban Sandwich (Delish)  Artisan Guitar Show   A ta...

Today in 1981, the Pawtucket Red Sox and Rochester Red Wings started playing a minor league game, and it just kept going and going and going, eventually becoming the longest ever. Plus: starting Saturday in Greenville, North Carolina, it’s Piratefest.  The Most Incredible Performance In Baseball’s Longest Game (Heard It From Hoard) Piratefest in Greenville, NC   Backing our show on Patreon just ta...

There's a story you see online about how Ford stashed some surplus cars in an underground cave to preserve them until they could sell. We can't verify that entire story, but there is an underground business park in Kansas City that Ford has used for decades. Plus: the Ford Maverick may have had the grooviest set of paint color names in automotive history. Doing business 100 feet undergroun...

Today was the launch date in 1972 of Apollo 16, a mission that tried to pay tribute to that year's Summer Games with a "lunar Olympics"... only the astronauts almost had a disaster on their lunar-suited hands. Plus: for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's birthday, the story of why he took a role in a famous comedy movie. An Apollo astronaut explains how he nearly killed himself 'horsing a...

Today in 1452, the birthday of Leonardo da Vinci, the painter of the Mona Lisa, namesake of a code (and a ninja turtle) and, according to Fast Company, the inventor of the resume. Plus: the Mona Lisa gets fan mail through its own mailbox. Learn to write a résumé like the person who invented it—DaVinci (Fast Company) Mona Lisa: Facts & Related Content (Britannica) Back us on Patreon and togethe...

This month in 2023, a big moment in the life of an eagle named Murphy, who had become internet famous for raising a rock. Plus: starting tomorrow in Rockwall, Texas it’s the annual Texas Pie Fest. An Eagle Who Adopted a Rock Becomes a Real Dad (New York Times) Here’s How to Get in on the End of Day Pie Fight at the Texas Pie Fest (Eater) Help this show soar like an eagle as a backer on Patreon

There’s a new way to find out whether fresh water is actually fresh and clean: a set of glowing orbs in the Netherlands called POND. Plus: starting this Saturday, it's the Wamego, Kansas Tulip Festival. These glowing orbs can tell you if water is clean or polluted (Fast Company) Tulip Festival 2024   Make the future of this podcast even brighter as a backer on Patreon

Today was the birthday in 1794 of George Merryweather, the inventor of his era’s most fascinating leech-based weather predicting contraption: the tempest prognosticator. Plus: today in 1953, a phone company director pretty much predicts the smartphones of today. A Council Of Leeches Used To Predict Storms Inside The "Tempest Prognosticator" (IFL Science) Is This Cellphone Prediction from...

Today in 1887 (or, by some accounts, 1888), the birthday of a composer who’s really only now getting the acclaim she deserves: Florence Price. Plus: did you know that it was a violation of iTunes terms of service to use it to build weapons? As Her Music Is Reconsidered, a Composer Turns 135. Again. (New York Times) 8 Ridiculous EULA Clauses You May Have Already Agreed To (MakeUseOf) With help from...

A study from Japan's Tohoku University says that if current trends continue, everyone in the country will eventually end up with the same surname - though it might take a while to get there. Plus: some residents of Luna Pier, Michigan were apparently so concerned about eclipse tourists that the mayor says they asked him to stop the eclipse.  Everyone in Japan will be called Sato by 2531 unless...

This month in 1941, a dog in the UK became a hero in a very strange way, stopping a bomb by answering the call of nature. Plus: starting today in Darien, Georgia, it’s the Blessing of the Fleet.  Urinating WWII Great Dane's medal sold (BBC) Dog cocked leg to extinguish Nazi bomb (Telegraph) The Blessing of the Fleet  You can be a hero for our show as a backer on Patreon

It's International Carrot Day. If you want to see a really unique carrot, try Melbourne, Australia, where a guy named Nathan walks around town with a very large papier mache carrot. Plus: this weekend in Sebring, Florida, it's the Sebring Soda Festival. ‘There he goes with the carrot’: how walking the streets with a giant papier-mache vegetable made Nathan a Melbourne legend (The Guardian)...

Today in 1919, one of the strangest moments in the history of professional baseball, when major leaguer Ping Bodie took on an ostrich in an eating contest and won. Plus: a ketchup giant is installing dispensers on the sidewalks outside some of Chicago’s best-loved (and often ketchup-free) hot dog places.  A Yankee, an ostrich and 22 plates of pasta (MLB.com) Ping Bodie (Society for American Baseba...

Today in 1978, the premiere of the iconic TV show “Dallas.” It was originally just supposed to be a miniseries, but it just kept winning over audience after audience - even some audiences that were behind the Iron Curtain. Plus: all month long in and around Mount Vernon, Washington, it's the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. How 'Dallas' Won the Cold War (Washington Post) J. R. Ewing Shot...

It was probably more elaborate than your standard April Fools Day joke: today in 1906, the Chicago Tribune put together a two page "report," complete with pictures, about swarms of dinosaurs wrecking the city. Plus: it’s Easter Monday, and in the village of Hallaton, Leicestershire, England, it's the day for a competition known as Bottle Kicking. April 1, 1906: Chicago invaded by hor...

This week we’re replaying some of our finest episodes about some of the finest works ever created. In this episode from November 2019, we take a trip through the website Weird Universe's Gallery of Art Hung Upside Down. Plus: a 9 year old who can't stop doodling, even in class, is now a professional artist. He's paid to doodle.  ⁠The Gallery of Art Hung Upside-Down⁠ (Weird Universe) ⁠9...

This week we’re replaying some of our finest episodes about some of the finest works ever created. In this episode from October 2021, the story of sculptor Edmonia Lewis. She was born in the 1840s to a Black father and a Chippewa mother, and became the first Native American and Black woman to become an acclaimed sculptor. Plus: the exhibit known as Little Canada features miniature versions of some...

This week we’re replaying some of our finest episodes about some of the finest works ever created. In this episode from September 2020, why even researchers run into challenges in 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...