Cool Weird Awesome with Brady Carlson

Today in 1856, the steamboat Arabia sank in a river - and it wouldn't be seen again until 1988, when it showed up in a cornfield in Kansas. We'll explain how sometimes ships lost at sea are found somewhere else. Plus: Floating Motors is a company that converts vintage autos into seaworthy vessels. How a Champagne-Laden Steamship Ended Up in a Kansas Cornfield (Atlas Obscura) Floating Motors Turns...

Today in 1859 the night sky was about as bright as it's ever been, thanks to a massive geomagnetic storm known today as the Carrington Event. Plus: this weekend the Denver Chalk Art Festival gets underway in Colorado.  Telegraphs Ran On Electric Air in Crazy 1859 Magnetic Storm (WIRED) Colorado's Most Colorful Event -  Denver Chalk Art Festival   We're listener powered, support us o...

It's back to school season, and while some classrooms will have their own pets this year, none will be quite like Room 8, a stray cat turned classroom cat turned legend. Plus: the Michigan State Fair gets underway today, and hopefully goes better than the botched attempt at a fair back in 1839.  Room 8, The Cat That Adopted An Echo Park School, Died 50 Years Ago Today (LAist) The Michigan Sta...

We've known for years that there are ways to turn our movements into energy. A new project out of Singapore wants to turn clothes into high-tech batteries powered by our movement. Plus: meet the Garbage Shirt, made partly from recycled plastic bottles.  Scientists Found a Way to Turn Your Body Into a Battery ... With Your Clothes (Popular Mechanics) This Shirt Is Made From Garbage (Urbandaddy...

At the Minnesota State Fair, there's a contest to choose a new ambassador for the state's dairy farms. And for almost 50 years, a sculptor made butter likenesses of the contestants. Here's a little about how Linda Christensen and her colleagues did it. Plus: the Instagram account push.pushbuttons showcases some of the coolest and most pushable buttons in the world around us.  For nearly 50 ye...

MIRA is a small robotic surgery system that's set for testing on the International Space Station - and could end up helping astronauts prepare for long-term missions to the Moon as part of the Artemis project. Plus: cold brew takes a long time to brew, except when you brew it with lasers!  SURGICAL ROBOT COULD PERFORM SURGERIES BY ITSELF ON SPACE STATION (Futurism) Cold brew coffee—pew, pew,...

It's National Dog Day, so it's a good day to tell the story of Bobbie a dog who once walked home more than 2,500 miles after being separated from his family. Plus: it’s day one of the three-day Mackinac Island Fudge Festival. Bobbie, The Wonder Dog Who Walked 2,500 Miles to Home (Amusing Planet) Mackinac Island Fudge Festival   We would walk 500 miles for our Patreon backers, and we would wal...

Today in 1944, the birthday of Pat Martino, a jazz guitar great who once had to relearn the instrument that had won him so much acclaim. Plus: Today in Deming, New Mexico, it’s the 43rd Annual Great American Duck Race.  Pat Martino discusses relearning to play guitar after a near-fatal brain aneurysm left him with amnesia (Lehigh Valley Live) Jazz Guitar After Brain Damage (Discover Magazine)...

Today in 1919, one of the strangest moments in the history of baseball: a pitcher won a game in which he was struck by lightning! Plus: today in 2006, the International Astronomical Union redefined what a planet was, leaving poor cold little Pluto in the lurch and leading to a new verb.  A lightning strike fueled baseball's most electrifying performance (Accuweather) Aug. 24, 2006: Pluto Depl...

Today in 2021, a very long wait was over. Researchers harvested three bunches of dates from trees that had sprouted from seeds over two thousand years old. Plus: today in 1989, the biggest human chain of all time, stretching hundreds of miles through three countries.  After 2,000 Years, These Seeds Have Finally Sprouted (The Atlantic) A Chain of Friendship: Reflections on the Baltic Way and I...

Today in 1893, writer Dorothy Parker was born. Those who knew her say nobody had a sharper wit - and we have the one-liners to prove it. Plus: a design studio in Tokyo may have a solution for all the waste styrofoam out there.  10 Things You Might Not Know About Dorothy Parker (Mental Floss) we+ recycles styrofoam waste into dark, monolithic furniture collection (designboom) Join our sharp, w...

For National Photography Day, here’s a remarkable photographic story from the 1890s: a guy in Norway made his own candid camera. Plus: today in 1935, the birthday of Story Musgrave, the only astronaut to serve on missions on all five space shuttles. 19-Year-Old Student Hides Spy Camera In His Clothing To Take Secret Street Photos In The 1890s (Bored Panda) Veteran Astronaut Story Musgrave (Smithso...

Scientists once thought stingrays were silent, but a recent recording project found out they make noise after all. Now they want to know why they make noises - and for who? Plus: today in 2018, Jessie the parrot may have said way too much.  Stingrays recorded making sounds for the first time—but why is a mystery (MSN for Kids) Parrot swears at London firefighter trying to rescue it from roof...

The new 3D printing project called To Grow A Building is working on a method to 3D print the components of structures out of dirt, with the goal of reducing the significant amount of emissions that come from using standard building materials. Plus: if you want to take a unique spin through geography, try the website Notable People. These 3D-printed dirt walls grow a garden when you water them (Fas...

For mountaineers, success and safety can depend on good communication. A piece in Outside magazine featured two Deaf climbers who have their own system when they’re climbing, and they plan to use that system in climbing the highest peaks on each continent. Plus: if you like vacations in remote locales, this island in the south Atlantic Ocean is about as remote as it gets.  How Two Deaf Mounta...

It was around this time in 1975 that Gary Dahl dropped by a gift show in San Francisco with the idea for the pet rock. It would make him a millionaire. Plus: on Liechtenstein National Day, we have a few small facts about this small European nation.  The story of Gary Dahl and the pet rock: From the archives (Mercury News) Hard Sell: A History of the Pet Rock (Mental Floss) LITTLE LIECHTENSTEI...

If you’re a Jetsons fan on the internet these days, you’re probably living the dream right now. Because, if you look really closely at the futuristic cartoon show’s backstory, the main character, George Jetson, may have just had his birthday. Plus: for World Elephant Day, a visit to Mister Ed’s Elephant Museum and Candy Emporium in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.  Fine, let's think too damn hard ab...

Researchers at MIT have created a high-tech device that’s about one square inch in size and just a few millimeters thick, and can do ultrasounds for as long as 48 hours. Plus: today in South Haven, Michigan, it’s day one of the National Blueberry Festival. This Stamp-Sized Ultrasound Patch Can Image Internal Organs (WIRED) The National Blueberry Festival  Our Patreon backers make our show hig...

On this day in 1943, an interesting headline in the New York Times: “Sicily Vying With Hawaii To Become 49th U.S. State.” Of course, neither Sicily nor Hawaii became the 49th state; Alaska did. But there really was an effort to bring Sicily into the Union. Plus: a guy lost his cellphone in a river... and almost a year later, another guy found it. And it still worked!  Sicily Vying With Hawaii...

It was around this time in 2017 that people in Arlington, Virginia spotted what looked like a grey Ford passenger van with no driver. And then things got even weirder. Plus: today in 1943, the birthday of boxing champion and actor Ken Norton, who was so good in high school track and field his home state had to change the rules.  Car Seat Camouflage: Man Wears Bizarre Costume In Automatic Vehi...

There's a phenomenon in art history where some paintings feature dogs with lit flares in their mouths. They're not committing arson or leading Indiana Jones through a dark cave... but what are they doing? Plus: when YouTuber Mathieu Stern came across old film dating back to the year 1900, he developed it to find pictures of something you see plenty of on the internet today.  Wait, Why Are So...

This week we're replaying some of our most caffeinated episodes. In this episode from September 2019, a look at our annual time to consume and/or complain about products flavored with pumpkin spice. It was in the mid-90s that this blend of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice and cloves started its rise to power, and there's no stopping it now, really. Plus: did you know that hundreds of years ago p...

This week we're replaying some of our most caffeinated episodes. In this episode from November 2019, the Unocup aims to do something about all those plastic tops for disposable coffee cups that end up as waste in the ocean each year. It’s a paper cup that folds up to become its own top! Plus: there’s goat yoga and alpaca yoga, but Zoo Miami may top them all with its new Yoga With The Rhinos progra...

This week we're replaying some of our most caffeinated episodes. In this episode from July 2019, coffee grounds can be recycled in all kinds of ways, including lots of products. And the most meta product of all is from KaffeeForm, which uses coffee grounds to make coffee cups. Plus: if you can’t wait a couple years for the Little Mermaid remake, why not head to Sacramento for the California Mermai...

This week we're replaying some of our most caffeinated episodes. In this episode from June 2020, scientists at the University of California – San Diego try to help robots walk better on uneven terrain – and, amazingly, coffee is part of the solution. Meanwhile, a robot in Australia is learning how to lay bricks, and it’s got a very appropriate name for its job. Scientists Invent Coffee-Filled Feet...