Cool Weird Awesome With Brady Carlson

This week we’re replaying some of our favorite feline-themed episodes. In this episode from August 2019, Dean Nicholson leaves his job and started a bike trip across the world. While riding through Bosnia, he heard a “desperate meow." So, instead of riding solo, he decided the cat would come along. Plus: if a continental bike trip with a cat isn’t your cup of tea, how about a boat trip with a chicken? ⁠Cat travels the world on a bicycle after backpacker adopts the stray kitten and customises bike to take her with him⁠ (The Daily Mail) ⁠Boat trip with a chicken⁠ (The Guardian) ⁠Ride with Cool Weird Awesome as a backer on Patreon! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/coolweirdawesome/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/coolweirdawesome/support

This week we’re replaying some of our favorite feline-themed episodes. In this episode from March 2020, we learn about how music can help cats relax during their visits to the vet. But would music specifically made for cats be even more helpful than music made for humans? Plus: a museum in Justin Bieber's hometown that features all the stuff from his career that his proud grandparents saved!  ⁠This music calms cats the best, study finds⁠ (Treehugger) ⁠How a small-town Canadian museum became a shrine to Justin Bieber⁠ (The Outline) ⁠Patreon backers are to Cool Weird Awesome as Beliebers are to Justin Bieber --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/coolweirdawesome/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/coolweirdawesome/support

This week we’re replaying some of our favorite feline-themed episodes. In this episode from October 2021, the story of a black and white cat from the streets of France became the first cat to go into space. She didn't choose to go, of course, but she's a pioneer just the same - and until a few years ago, a greatly underappreciated one. Plus: back in 1922, a girl in Illinois made it to school after being run over by a train?!?  ⁠Félicette, the First Feline in Space, Finally Got Her Due⁠ (How Stuff Works) ⁠Et si Félicette, le premier chat dans l'espace, avait bientôt sa statue ?⁠ (Le Parisien)   ⁠Today in 1922: a six year old in Illinois made it to school after being run over by a train (!!!!!!!)⁠ (New York Tribune via Twitter) ⁠Our Patreon backers are podcasting pioneers  --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/coolweirdawesome/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/coolweirdawesome/support

Today in 1907, the birthday of Callum deVillier, who once won a dance marathon with partner Vonnie Kuchinski after more than five months of steps. Plus: today in Indiana, the start of the Shipshewana Ice Festival and the Shipshewana Chili Cook-off. The bleak story behind the birth of dance marathons (MPR News) Shipshewana Ice Festival/Chili Cookoff Backing us on Patreon is no marathon, it just takes a couple minutes --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/coolweirdawesome/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/coolweirdawesome/support

The auto industry is pleased to report that last year was the best year for new car sales since 2019. That means a lot of people are breathing in the scent we call new car smell, which… well, what the heck is that smell anyway? Plus: this weekend, Farmers Branch, Texas formally opens what is says will be the first glow in the dark playground in the US. A Day in the Life of Nissan’s Smellmasters Who, Yep, Smell Nissans for a Living (The Drive) The Science of the New-Car Smell (Car and Driver) Texas city to open nation’s first glow-in-the-dark playground in the new year (KXAN) Keep the new podcast smell coming as a backer on Patreon --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/coolweirdawesome/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/coolweirdawesome/support

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 during World War II. Rare Prohibition ‘grape brick’ that turns into wine on show (The Drinks Business) Betty White's shoulder bag is a time capsule of World War II (National Museum of American History)  Whatever you do, definitely don’t back us on Patreon or you’ll make more episodes of the show possible --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/coolweirdawesome/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/coolweirdawesome/support

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 Codebreakers Just Solved It (Popular Mechanics) Keep this show on its feet by backing Cool Weird Awesome on Patreon --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/coolweirdawesome/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/coolweirdawesome/support

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 King Jr. Research and Education Institute, Stanford University) --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/coolweirdawesome/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/coolweirdawesome/support

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 Make this show as big as Mr. Clean as a backer on Patreon --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/coolweirdawesome/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/coolweirdawesome/support

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 Week) An Illinois family heard a noise in their garage. It was an endangered ring-tailed lemur. (Yahoo!) Do your part for this show as a backer on Patreon --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/coolweirdawesome/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/coolweirdawesome/support

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 numbered lines let the visually impaired know the shop they’re passing by (designboom) You can always match up with our show as a backer on Patreon --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/coolweirdawesome/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/coolweirdawesome/support

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 (Washington Post) He hunches in Heaven. Hasil Adkins dead at 67. (WFMU) Fresh beats always available for backers on our Patreon page --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/coolweirdawesome/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/coolweirdawesome/support

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 changed his name to that of the King, ran in 2014 for Arkansas commissioner of state lands.  A toast to undercover journalism’s greatest coup, when reporters bought a bar (Columbia Journalism Review)  THE MIRAGE TAVERN (WTTW) Elvis runs for office in Arkansas (Arkansas Online) There’s no mirage here, our Patreon backers make this show happen! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/coolweirdawesome/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/coolweirdawesome/support

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 to be inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (Syracuse.com) Let’s make more great music together, back our show on Patreon! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/coolweirdawesome/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/coolweirdawesome/support

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)  VOSTELL CONCRETE 1969–1973 JANUARY 1 (Smart Museum of Art) Sleep better knowing that you’ve backed this show on Patreon --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/coolweirdawesome/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/coolweirdawesome/support

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 by Doing 20 Squats in Romania? (Snopes) Help us build the Cool Weird Awesome community on Patreon --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/coolweirdawesome/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/coolweirdawesome/support

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 (Neatorama) cry once a week Join our community of backers on Patreon, it’s kind of like a nonstop celebration --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/coolweirdawesome/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/coolweirdawesome/support

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 Year (Oxford University Press)

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 paid strangers’ pharmacy bills (Washington Post) Backers, there’s an exclusive bonus New Year’s episode for you on the Patreon page --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/coolweirdawesome/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/coolweirdawesome/support

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 Photo to Ever Be Developed Reveals Two Mysterious Figures (My Modern Met) Thanks to our Patreon backers for supporting our show throughout 2023! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/coolweirdawesome/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/coolweirdawesome/support