Sign Spinning Isn’t Just A Job, It’s A Sport (Cool Weird Awesome 927)
Tomorrow in Las Vegas, the 2023 AArrow Sign Spinners competition begins, with elite-level sign spinners showing off their best moves.
Now Hiring Non-Stupid People
Turning now to the economy...
Salvador Dalí Used To Draw Christmas Cards For Hallmark (Cool Weird Awesome 678)
The history of Christmas cards has taken some strange turns over the years, but maybe none stranger than when Surrealist icon Salvador Dalí made Christmas cards for Hallmark.
An Email Mixup Led To A Very Strange Welsh Road Sign (Cool Weird Awesome 645)
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.
Is your chimney ready?
I have to think at least a few passersby wondered why it looked like his campaign was so focused on chimneys and stoves.
Can AI Bring Extinct Languages Back To Life? (Cool Weird Awesome 406)
A project out of MIT is using artificial intelligence to scan lost languages and find rules and conventions that may help us figure out what all those words from years ago might mean. Plus: historic signs in South Nyack, New York are using QR codes to tell us something timeless - a message that's never gonna give us up.
Why Does A Water Tower In Kentucky Say “Florence Y’All”? (Cool Weird Awesome 368)
What's In A Name Week continues with the story of a water tower in northern Kentucky that was supposed to be an advertisement, but ended up becoming a local landmark. Plus: we'll explain one version of how Chicken Dinner Road in Idaho got its name.
A Rock Painter In New Hampshire Really Loves A Chicken Farmer (Cool Weird Awesome 300)
We explore one of the great mysteries of our time: why is there a rock in Newbury, New Hampshire, with the words "CHICKEN FARMER I STILL LOVE YOU" painted on it? Plus: why is there a giant statue of a chicken eating burgers on top of a restaurant in Wisconsin? Lots of chicken mysteries out there, I guess.
Made Sign For More Beer
The 93 year old with the “I Need More Beer” sign is the hero we need.
“Ghost Signs” Show What Buildings Used To Be (Cool Weird Awesome 242)
If you’ve ever driven past a building and seen a faded advertisement on the side of the brick, or spotted a neon sign for a restaurant where a real estate office now sits, those are ghost signs. A new book called The Ghost Signs of NYC tours these signs and advertisements and tells the stories of how they got where they are. Plus: meet the world's largest paint ball!