Fried dough cakes have been around seemingly forever, but for National Doughnut Day, we have the story of an innovation that helped make this treat the icon that it is today: the invention of the doughnut hole.
The Paper House of Rockport, Massachusetts has a wood frame, but otherwise owner Elis Stenman made the place almost entirely out of old newspapers. And you can still read the stories in the walls today.
Today in 2000, Dr. Anna Bågenholm's body temperature fell to the lowest level ever survived by a human being. Here's the story of how she faced extreme hypothermia and came back to life. Plus: tomorrow in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, it’s the Kielbasi Festival/Heritage Day.
Today is National No Homework Day. For many years in the US, every day was a no homework day - but then Sputnik happened. Plus: this weekend in North Carolina, it's the Smithfield Ham and Yam Festival.
Today in 1962, the community of Artesia, New Mexico formally opened an unusual elementary school: it was built entirely underground just in case the Cold War turned hot.
Today is the birthday President John Tyler. He was born in 1790, and he served as US president in the 1840s. And he has a grandson who is alive in 2022.
Mardi Gras, Shrove Tuesday, Pancake Tuesday, etc is typically the day a community in central Mexico has a somewhat notorious festival in which people put homemade explosives on top of sledge hammers and slam the hammers into stuff to make big explosions.
Traffic jams are becoming more and more common on the roads heading to ski country. A new app called Treadshare could help people carpool to and from the mountains.
It's our 500th episode! We're celebrating with a visit to the Compass Festival in Leeds, which will feature an art installation that will ring many of the community's pay phones at exactly the same time. Plus: did you know the first race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway wasn't a road race?
Today in 1947 was the first performance of the Weeki Wachee Mermaids, professional mermaids in Florida who put on choreographed shows for hundreds of thousands of visitors a year, completely underwater. Plus: the Oklahoma Banjo Fest is now underway, completely virtual and still completely banjo-ey.
![Portrait of John Tyler by Matthew Brady - United States National Archives: Identification Number : 528302 [1], Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=47807392](https://www.bradycarlson.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/20220329tyler-80x32.jpg)
