Cool Weird Awesome with Brady Carlson

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...

Today in 1987, the community of Gouverneur in northern New York placed on its town green, a giant roll of Pep-O-Mint Life Savers. It was a tribute to a local man, Edward John Noble, who ended up making Life Savers one of the best known candies in the world. Plus: a cat in Tokyo drops by a Buddhist temple garden, walks into the gravel patterns and takes a big old nap. 10 Things You Might Not Know a...

Vox recently asked scientists what they thought Earth life might be like in a million years. And the answers are pretty wild. Plus: today's the first day of a City Climb at Edge, a program in New York City where thrillseekers can climb until they’re close to the top of a skyscraper, over 1,200 feet up. The animals that may exist in a million years, imagined by biologists (Vox) Now You Can Climb Ou...

Today in 1978, the New Jersey Nets lost to the Philadelphia 76ers. But part of the game would be replayed the following March, and when it was, several of the players on each team had been traded to the other, and ended up playing in the game! Plus: two artists have built a "stairway to heaven" in Taiwan. Someone let Robert Plant know please.  In 1978-79 season, deal like no other happened at...

Today in 1781, the first U.S. president, John Hanson, was elected. Of course, being a U.S. president in 1781 was very different from the job George Washington, the first president under the U.S. Constitution, would hold eight years later. Plus: the University of British Columbia has a robot named Robby to paint all the lines on its sports fields.  Forget Washington; it's Hanson or Huntington...

Today in 1879, a bar owner in Ohio received a patent for an invention that changed the way we buy and sell things: the cash register. He did it to thwart his bartenders, who he suspected of putting money meant for him in their own pockets. Plus: a professor in South Korea reveals one place from which you probably shouldn't give an online lecture.  Nov. 4, 1879: Ka-Ching! The World's First Cas...

Today in 1892 a phone system that made automated calls - no switchboard operator - began operating in Laporte, Indiana. The first automatic dial network happened, as the story goes, because of a business dispute between two undertakers. Plus: today in 1882, the birthday of John Baxter Taylor, Jr, the first Black American to win an Olympic gold medal. Almon B. Strowger: The undertaker who revolutio...

Today in 2000 that a post appeared on an online forum for the Time Travel Institute from someone who claimed he was a time traveler from the year 2036. Here's the story of John Titor, whoever he actually was. Plus: Build the Earth is an effort to recreate every single spot on our planet, but in the Minecraft universe.  The Oral History of John Titor, the Man Who Traveled Back in Time to Save...

Today in 1816, the US military awarded to built a contract for a fort next to Lake Champlain, near the border with Canada. For years crews worked to make the fort strong, until one day when they realized there was a big problem. Plus: people on Tumblr say today is the 1000th birthday of a medieval monk's brother named Werner.  Fort Blunder, America’s Most Embarrassing Gun Battery (New England...

This week in 2008, local officials in Swanzey tried to get English-to-Welsh translation for a road sign they wanted to put up. They got a Welsh sentence in response, but it wasn't what they thought. Plus: today in 1969, the first network message on ARPANET goes through, though without a few key letters.  The man responsible for the most infamously bad Welsh road sign translation (Wales Online...

Today in 1886, the U.S. dedicated the Statue of Liberty in New York. It was hard times when Lady Liberty first arrived in the country, but eventually a 19th century-style crowdfunding efforts raised enough money to raise the statue onto a pedestal. Plus: the statue came from France, and if you head to Paris you'll see that city has a Lady Liberty too!  How crowdfunding brought the Statue of L...