Kids In Canada Went On Strike Over The Price Of Candy Bars (Cool Weird Awesome 995)

Today in 1947, the start of a big moment in the history of sweets: kids in Canada protested a hike in chocolate bar prices with what would eventually become known as the Candy Strike.

By |2023-04-25T07:56:00-04:00April 25, 2023|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , |

Every Year The Netherlands Sends Thousands Of Tulips To Canada (Cool Weird Awesome 771)

The Canadian Tulip Festival is getting underway in Ottawa. Here's the history of the annual event, which (pun intended) has its roots in the history of World War II.

By |2024-01-29T09:54:29-05:00May 13, 2022|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , , , |

Edmonia Lewis, A Sculptor Who Brought Her Subjects To Life (Cool Weird Awesome 631)

On Indigenous Peoples Day, here's the story of sculptor Edmonia Lewis. She was born in the 1840s to a Black father and a Chippewa mother, and became the first Native American and Black woman to become an acclaimed sculptor.

How Ethel Merman Helped Get America To Use ZIP Codes (Cool Weird Awesome 564)

Today in 1963, the US Postal Service officially started using ZIP codes as a way to quickly sort huge amounts of mail and get it to where it needed to go. How did they get Americans to adopt ZIP codes? A mascot named Mr. Zip and a jingle sung by Broadway legend Ethel Merman.

By |2024-02-23T09:16:49-05:00July 1, 2021|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , |

Why People Watch For The Ogopogo When They’re In Canada (Cool Weird Awesome 547)

If you know the story of the Loch Ness Monster, the story of the Ogopogo in Canada's British Columbia might sound familiar. But there's a whole other side to this story that comes from the Okanagan/syilx people, who first lived in the area. Plus: a town in Lithuania built a real-time video "portal" to a town in Poland, so they could see each other even when they couldn't travel. 

By |2021-06-01T08:08:57-04:00June 1, 2021|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , , |

Buy A Box Of Cereal, Get A Square Inch Of Land In The Yukon (Cool Weird Awesome 468)

It was on this day in 1955 that began a promotional campaign for the ages: where you could buy a box of cereal and find a deed to some land inside each specially marked box.

By |2024-03-07T07:52:43-05:00January 27, 2021|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , |

Canada Was Almost Named “Borealia” (Cool Weird Awesome 332)

Today is Canada Day, marking the 1867 confederation of three provinces then known as Canada, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. But Canada was only one name out of many that were suggested for the new country. Plus: this week got weird at several Canadian Tire stores, thanks to a computer glitch that made every item show up in the scanner as a Mr. Potato Head.

By |2021-06-28T11:53:46-04:00July 1, 2020|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , |

The Canadian Town That Built A Landing Pad For UFOs (Cool Weird Awesome 312)

Today in 1967, the town of St. Paul, Alberta officially opened the world’s first UFO landing pad. So why is there a UFO landing pad in east central Alberta? Plus: on this date in 1941, a man called Richard Burgess received a patent for exercise wings - but don't worry, they weren't intended to get their users to fly.

By |2021-09-22T07:38:27-04:00June 3, 2020|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , |

There’s A Hair Freezing Contest In The Yukon (Cool Weird Awesome 258)

This weekend voting gets underway for one of the most unusual contests you’ll find anywhere in the world: the Takhini Hot Springs Hair Freezing Contest.

By |2024-03-13T07:59:38-04:00March 13, 2020|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , , |
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