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Charles Strite, The Inventor Who Made Toasters Pop (Cool Weird Awesome 1191)

Today was the birthday in 1878 of a guy who changed breakfast forever: Charles Strite, the inventor of the pop-up toaster. Here's how the idea popped up.

By |2024-02-27T08:52:18-05:00February 27, 2024|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , |

Whitney Smith Flew The Flag For Studying Flags (Cool Weird Awesome 1190)

Today in 1940, the birthday of the world’s number one flag expert: Whitney Smith, who not only studied flags his entire life, he invented the word for studying flags.

By |2024-02-26T07:30:15-05:00February 26, 2024|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , |

When Missouri Banned Schools For Black Students, John Berry Meachum Started A School On A Riverboat (Cool Weird Awesome 1189)

Today in 1847, the state of Missouri put a significant obstacle in front of a civil rights activist's efforts to educate Black students in St. Louis. But he found a way around it. 

The Blackwell Family Tree Traces Black History Through Centuries (Cool Weird Awesome 1188)

For Black History Month, the story of the Blackwell Family Tree, a genealogy project that traces on Black family's history back through thousands of people and hundreds of years.

By |2024-02-15T06:51:14-05:00February 15, 2024|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , , |

Haters Used To Give Out “Vinegar Valentines” To Push People’s Buttons (Cool Weird Awesome 1187)

The whole idea of Valentine's Day is to show a little love, right? Not always. In the old days, some people sent out nasty-grams known as "vinegar valentines" to their least favorite people. 

By |2024-02-14T06:57:28-05:00February 14, 2024|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , |

How Ski Ballet Ended Up At The Olympics In The 80s And 90s (Cool Weird Awesome 1186)

Today in 1988 the Winter Olympics began in Calgary, Alberta. There were plenty of eyes that year on the demonstration sport known as ski ballet. 

By |2024-02-13T08:51:13-05:00February 13, 2024|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , , , , |

The “Hairy Eagle” Is A Decoration Made Partly With Abraham Lincoln’s Hair (Cool Weird Awesome 1185)

It's Abe Lincoln's birthday, and if you want to see a small bit of the man himself, you could try heading to Syracuse, New York, where there’s a bit of Abe Lincoln’s hair in a very unusual decoration known as the Hairy Eagle. 

Snowflake Bentley Showed The World Just How Amazing Snow Can Be (Cool Weird Awesome 1184)

Today in 1865, the birthday of Wilson "Snowflake" Bentley, who gave the world a close-up view of the beauty and variety in snowflakes.

By |2024-02-09T08:45:08-05:00February 9, 2024|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , |

ELIZA Was An AI Chatbot Decades Before ChatGPT (Cool Weird Awesome 1183)

For all the talk these days about the potential of generative AI, the systems still have a long way to go. For example, some recent research finds that some human users think ChatGPT comes off as less realistic than a famous chatbot from the 60s known as ELIZA.

By |2024-02-08T08:45:42-05:00February 8, 2024|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , |
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