Cool Weird Awesome with Brady Carlson

Today in 1979, two guys in Canada dreamed up one of the most popular board games of all time: Trivial Pursuit. Here's how it all went down. Plus: it's said today was the birthday of Emperor Nero. Legends claim he fiddled while Rome burned but archeologists found evidence that he rotated while eating dinner.  The High School Dropout Who Co-Created Trivial Pursuit (Today I Found Out) Nero’s Rot...

Today in 1901, the first table tennis tournament concluded in London. It's also known as ping pong, and there were plenty of other proposed names back in the early days. Plus: in St. Paul, Minnesota, a theater company is putting on a stage version of “It’s A Wonderful Life” with a twist that the Federation might not like.  The Rise of Table Tennis and Ping Pong Diplomacy (VICE) History of Tab...

Back about 120 or so years ago, in Berlin, Germany, you might have encountered a strange sight: a man named Wilhelm Von Osten asking math questions of a horse named Clever Hans. Was the horse actually solving the problems, or was something else at work? Plus: Today in 1989, the town of Avesta, Sweden created the world’s largest Dala horse. Clever Hans: The Horse Who Could Do Math (Amusing Planet)...

This week we're replaying some of our favorite episodes that take place up in the air. In this one from July 2019, the story of Larry Walters, who entered aviation history as the pilot of a craft called Inspiration I. That craft was a lawn chair attached to 42 large weather balloons. Plus: some high school students in Toronto, Ontario use a weather balloon to launch a Lego figure into near space....

This week we're replaying some of our favorite episodes that take place up in the air. In this one from April 2019, two researchers go back through old CIA surveillance photos, not for their Cold War history, but for archaeology. And it turns out, these photos showed a lot. Plus: in Woodstock, Illinois, the Great Lakes Steelpan Festival gets underway. Declassified U2 spy plane images reveal bygone...

This week we're replaying some of our favorite episodes that take place up in the air. In this one from March 2020, we marked the birthday of Jerrie Cobb, who could have been the first woman in space but ended up flying to great heights nonetheless. Plus: it was on this day in 2011 that a museum in the Netherlands first put on exhibit a work called “Peanut Butter Floor," which was exactly what it...

This week we're replaying some of our favorite episodes that take place up in the air. In this one from July 2019, Patrouille Swiss, the official aerial acrobatics team for Switzerland, flew over the community of Langenbruck for a festival honoring a local aviation hero... or tried to. They weren’t actually over Langenbruck. Plus: New York City  is now home to Poster House, the first Ame...

This week we're replaying some of our favorite episodes that take place up in the air. In this one from June 2020, we mark the anniversary of a pretty unusual moment in the history of human flight: the time an airplane flew over the English Channel that was entirely powered by its pilot. Plus: watching the heaviest airplane ever built take off is a sight to see. Pedal-Driven Plane Flies Channel (W...

Happy Hanukkah! For this holiday we're replaying a show from 2019 about a growing sport in New York City. Major League Dreidel takes the Hanukkah favorite and turns the intensity way, way up. Plus: an agency in Nova Scotia decided people needed a break from ads during the holidays, and released some ad-free ads. Competitive Dreidel-Spinning Is a Thing. Here's How Major League Dreidel Got Started....

Today in 1952, PEZ received a US patent for its famous dispensers, which, like the candies they contain, were first intended to help people quit smoking. Plus: researchers in Germany can now make eco-friendly, cost-effective insulation out of popcorn.  The History of PEZ (PEZ.com) Researchers Make Insulation Board Out of Popcorn (Treehugger) Our Patreon backers are so, so sweet 

On or around this day in 1922, a pilot wrote the first skywriting message in the United States. It was a way to demonstrate an advertising technique that would be a big part of business for the next few decades. Plus: today in 2019, fans at a Hershey Bears’ hockey game set a record for most stuffed animals tossed onto the ice. How Skywriting Works (How Stuff Works) Watch: Hershey Bears’ teddy bear...

Today in 1954, a woman in Alabama, Elizabeth Hodges, became the first person in modern history to be hit by a meteorite. Here's some of her story. Plus: for Mark Twain's birthday, the time he answered a very long question in a print column with just three words.  In 1954, an Extraterrestrial Bruiser Shocked This Alabama Woman (Smithsonian) Asked and Answered (Futility Closet) Our Patreon back...

Today in 1915, the birthday of an inventor who would change our viewing habits for the better: Eugene Polley, who created the first wireless remote control system for TVs. Plus: today in 2000, CNN reported on a hairstylist in Colombia who claimed he'd cured baldness by having cows lick his bald customers. Zenith Flash-Matic, the First Wireless TV Remote (Vintage Everyday) Eugene Polley, Conjuror o...

Today in 1942 the landmark movie "Casablanca" was released. And once it became an unexpected hit, Hollywood tried a couple times to make a sequel. Plus: in the great city of Buffalo, New York, the Saturday after Thanksgiving is home to a one of a kind event called the World’s Largest Disco. Every Unmade Casablanca Sequel & Remake: Why They Didn't Happen (ScreenRant) World's Largest Disco &nbsp...

For some people it can be hard to think of anything to be thankful for in this screwy year. But maybe this can help: the story of Wanda Dench and Jamal Hinton, who accidentally ended up together on Thanksgiving and became good friends. Plus: a rainy Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade leads to a very weird situation for one of the iconic giant balloons.  Young man who was accidentally invited to '...

Today in 1868, at least on paper, Scott Joplin was born, though his actual birth date is probably a different day. He's best known for his groundbreaking ragtime works like "Maple Leaf Rag" and "The Entertainer," but Joplin also wrote two operas. Plus: today in 2013, musician Dave Mustaine of Megadeth composed an unforgettable tweet about a "cool building" in Wisconsin.  Scott Joplin wrote op...

Our wireless, hands-free, automatic, smart device era may be about to get even smarter, thanks to high-tech smart fabric that can send out signals to devices or turn itself into a health monitor. Plus: a trash barrel from the US goes on holiday, traveling all the way across the ocean to end up in Ireland.  Invention lets people pay for purchases with a high-five (Science Daily) Traveling Tras...

With a little help from a Chilean scientist, Leptospirillum ferriphilum can dissolve old iron nails in just a few days, a process that previously took months. That could help deal with the water pollution that comes from metal left over from old mines. Plus: a few Taylor Swift fans have been playing their 45 rpm LP versions of "Red (Taylor's Version)" at 33 rpm, and it sounds... different.  T...

Dance clubs can get hot when things are in full swing. So why not turn that extra heat into green energy? A nightclub in Glasgow is teaming up with a geothermal power company to use the energy dancers put out to heat and cool the place. Plus: when Apollo 12 reached the moon, astronaut Pete Conrad said some stirring words... that helped him win a bet.  This Glasgow nightclub is turning your da...

It's called the Intrepid Benthic Rover II, and its five year (or more) mission is to explore the deep ocean, most of the time by itself. Plus: in a new book artist Marina Luz paints the covers of books where people are trying to describe a book when they can’t remember the title. This deep-sea rover will autonomously explore the mysterious abyss for over five years (designboom) ‘A Library of Misre...

Today in 1978, George Lucas's least favorite part of the Star Wars universe, "The Star Wars Holiday Special," aired on TV. It's not everyone's cup of tea, but it's the only one that has a Jefferson Starship video, a Bea Arthur-owned cantina and opening dialogue that's entirely in Wookiee. Plus: today in 1968, NBC cuts away from the final minutes of a nail-biter football game because it was time to...

It's Geography Awareness Week, so we wanted to find the furthest points in each direction that are part of the United States, along with the geographical center. Plus: the story of a boundary with Morocco that just sort of popped up one day.  The Surprising Easternmost Point in the US (Wendover Productions) Geographic Center of the United States (NOAA) The last remains of the Spanish empire (...

There are countless efforts underway to bring more green energy into the world, and some of them are in some unusual places. Like a project in Massachusetts that’s going to try mounting solar panels on those sound-absorbing barriers on the sides of the highway. Plus: today in 1859, New York City is host to what's believed to be the first ever baseball game between two Black teams.  Massachuse...

A University of Oregon study on what's called the “perceiver-elicited similarity effect" finds that when you’re nice, that can lead to more niceness around you! Plus: today in 1910, what’s believed to be the first movie stunt took place. And it was quite a stunt.  It's true: Be nice and others are more likely to be nice to you (University of Oregon) How Hollywood killed the movie stunt (Salon...

For Veterans Day, we have the story of the "Left-Armed Corps," Civil War veterans who'd lost right arms in battle and were re-learning to write left-handed. Poet and newspaper publisher William Oland Bourne organized penmanship contests to encourage their writing, which he believed would help them find jobs and support themselves and their families as they returned to civilian life. Plus: you can...