Cool Weird Awesome with Brady Carlson

This week in 1920, a federal law enforcing the Constitution's Prohibition Amendment took effect. But there were loopholes, and one of the most clever way to use those loopholes was through something known as the "grape brick" or "wine brick." Plus: today in 1922, the birthday of TV legend Betty White, who spent almost all her life on screen but also took time away to serve...

Cars have had airbags for years; there are even inflatable airbag pants for motorcyclists. Now there are inflatable airbag clothing that can protect people who fall. Plus: a 19th century dress came with a strange coded message, but that message has now been decoded. Wearable Airbags Instantly Protect The Elderly When They Fall (DesignTaxi) A Woman Hid This Secret Code in Her Silk Dress in 1888—and...

It's Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and today we remember the time Dr. King won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 and how his home city gave him a warm welcome after he received the honor - though putting that warm welcome together got complicated.  How Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1964 Nobel Peace Prize challenged Atlanta’s tolerance (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) Nobel Peace Prize (The Martin Luther Ki...

Today in 1912, the birthday of actor House Peters Jr., the first live action Mr. Clean on TV commercials. We'll explain how the character got his name, his look and his worldwide reputation. Plus: tomorrow in and around Fargo, North Dakota and Moorhead, Minnesota, it's day one of Frostival. Search for new Mr. (or Ms.) Clean is on (Toronto Sun) MR. CLEAN AT 40 (Chicago Tribune) Frostival Ma...

On this day in 1992, John Thompson of North Dakota lost his arms in a farm accident. He then got himself emergency care in time so that he got his arms back! Plus: today in 2023, a family in Bloomington, Illinois started hearing noises in the garage. It was an endangered ring-tailed lemur. Whatever happened to John Thompson, the ND farm kid who had his arms ripped off in a 1992 farm accident? (Ag...

In our time there are lots of apps and other programs that help people who are looking to date. Back in the 1920s, some clubs in Berlin let singles flirt using pneumatic tubes and tableside telephones! Plus: a cement company in Peru is trying to help blind and visually impaired people more easily find their destinations.  Flirting in the Club Was Much Easier in the 1920s (VICE) sidewalk tiles with...

Today in 1913, the birthday of President Richard Nixon. In addition to being a politician, Nixon was a capable piano player who once said on tape that he would've gone into music "if there had been a good rap group around in those days." Plus: the time the 37th president sent a thank you letter to one of the wildest outsider musicians of all time. Richard Nixon, wannabe rapper (Washi...

Today in 1978 the Chicago Sun-Times newspaper started publishing a series of stories that reporters still talk about today: reporters bought a dive bar in Chicago, named it the Mirage Tavern, and worked undercover as bartenders to catch corrupt city inspectors. Plus: today in 1935, the birthday of Elvis Presley - or at least the best known Elvis Presley. One of his impersonators, who legally chang...

This week in 1973, the premiere of Schoolhouse Rock! We'll explain how this show got kids singing and learning every Saturday morning. Plus: today in 1893, the birthday of folk great Elizabeth "Libba" Cotten, who only started performing in her 60s but wrote her signature song decades before. Happy Anniversary “Schoolhouse Rock!” (Library of Congress) Syracuse folk legend Libba Cotten...

Twenty years ago today, Channel Four in the UK first aired "Shattered," a show where contestants tried to stay awake the longest to win a grand prize. Plus: this month in 1970, German artist Wolf Vostell unveiled a work in Chicago in which he'd taken a 1957 Cadillac and encased it in concrete.  Shattered: legacy of a reality TV experiment in extreme sleep deprivation (The Guardian) ...

Today in 1959, Alaska became the 49th state in the Union. It’s unique in so many ways, like how a large part of one Alaskan community lives in a single 14 story building. Plus: a town in Romania is offering free bus passes to those who do a little exercise. Begich Towers, home to about half the population of Whittier, gets a much-needed overhaul (Anchorage Daily News) Can You Get a Free Bus Ticket...

For the first six days of the year in a small city in Ecuador, it's the Diablada de Píllaro, with people dancing in the streets in very colorful devil costumes. Plus: the website CryOnceAWeek.com wants to help you feel better by getting the tears flowing. Dancing With Devils: Latin American Mask Traditions (Ohio State University Libraries) In Píllaro, the Year Begins with Dancing Devils (Neato...

Each year New York City hosts huge crowds hoping to see the famous ball drop. But once the giant party is done and the revelers have headed home, the giant cleanup effort begins. Plus: the story of an Alabama man who quietly helped his neighbors in need for years. HOW DOES NYC CLEAN UP AFTER THE NEW YEAR'S EVE BALL DROP IN TIMES SQUARE? (Untapped New York) Farmer dies; town learns he secretly...

You may know about Pisa's world-famous leaning tower, but the city of Bologna has one too - and officials are planning to spend some big money to keep it from leaning too far and falling over. Plus: a year marks one Earth trip around the Sun. But then there's the Great Year or Platonic Year, which is... a whole lot more.  ‘Leaning tower’ in Italy on ‘high alert’ for collapse (CNN) The Platonic Yea...

This is our very last episode of 2023, so we’re telling the story of the final stop in our 26 letter alphabet: here’s where Z came from. Plus: the oldest known developed photo has been developed, but there's still a lot of mystery around it. Why Was Z Once Removed From The Alphabet? (Dictionary.com) Why Do Americans Say “Zee” but the British Say “Zed”? (Readers Digest) World’s Oldest Known Pho...

If this time of year is a little too drab and grey for your tastes, head to Puerto Rico’s northern coast for Festival de las Máscaras de Hatillo: the Festival of Masks. Plus: today in 1894, the birth of Burnita Matthews, the first woman to serve as a federal district judge in the US. In 1919 she managed to make silence speak volumes. Festival de las Máscaras de Hatillo (Discovering Puerto Rico)  B...

Today in 1935, a military mission you sure don’t see every day: at the direction of then-Lieutenant Colonel George S. Patton, American planes carried out a series of bombing runs in Hawaii to stop a volcano. Plus: this week in 2015, Vogue Magazine published a correction for the record books. 27 December 1935 (This Day In Aviation) Miscues That Made News (Robert Rector on Blogspot)  Keep this show...

Today in 2004, a 10 year old managed to save a lot of people from a massive tsunami because she remembered a lesson she’d learned in school about what happens right before a tsunami hits. Good thing she was listening. Plus: Asheville, NC's Omni Grove Park Inn is displaying the very fancy entries from the 32nd Annual National Gingerbread House Competition.  How Paying Attention in Elementary Sc...

Santa Claus may be the man with the bag in the US today, but in other parts of the world there are some very different gift givers. We'll ride with a few of them to celebrate the many ways people celebrate December 25. Merry Christmas! Around the world, kids’ Christmas gifts include KFC, books and ‘pooping logs’  (CNN) Christmas gift-bringers of Europe (JakubMarian.com)

Winter is officially here in the Northern Hemisphere. If it doesn't feel like it yet, grab a snow globe - we'll tell you how they got their start. Plus: in Newburgh in Fife, Scotland, they turn sketches by local kids into a set of holiday light sculptures. Was the Snow Globe Invented by Accident? (Snopes) A Scottish Town’s Annual Competition Invites Its Youngest Artists to Design ‘Wonky’ H...

No meeting has ever been bigger than the one that happened today in 1970, when the King of Rock and Roll met the President of the United States. We'll explain how it happened. Plus: around this time of year, animal lovers in New York City gather at a mostly secret spot inside Central Park to decorate a pet memorial tree. December 21, 1970: Elvis Presley Meets President Richard Nixon (National...

Today in 1946, the release of the movie “It’s A Wonderful Life.” It took a while for the movie to win its spot in the top ranks of holiday films - and the story on which the movie is based also took a little while to make its way into the world. Plus: that pool built under the gym floor in the movie? That's real. It’s a Wonderful Life was Based on a “Christmas Card” Short Story by Philip Van D...

Today in 1972 Apollo 17 returned from the moon. One of the lunar samples was sliced up and shared with every American state and hundreds of countries... except that we aren't quite sure where some of those rocks are now. Plus: if you’re anywhere near Cocoa Beach, Florida this holiday weekend, watch for the Surfing Santas! Louisiana’s missing moon rock found by Florida man recycling wooden plaq...

Today in 1778, the birthday of Joseph Grimaldi, the guy who basically invented clowning as we know it today. Here's some of his story. Plus: congratulations to the winner of the 2023 International Wedding Photographer of the Year Contest, and to the bird who helped make the winning photo happen. Here We Are Again!—How Joseph Grimaldi Invented the Creepy Clown (JSTOR) 10 STRANGE LONDON MEMORIAL...

For drivers in very snowy places, winter is time to put snow chains on car tires. It’s neither easy nor fun - but a new concept from two automakers could change that, by embedding snow chain-like paddles right into the tires. Plus: St. Charles, Missouri now has its own Soda Museum and Arcade! Hyundai’s New Push-Button Snow Chains Are Right Out of a James Bond Movie (The Drive) Massive soda memorab...