A Guy Who Snagged Richard Nixon’s Half-Eaten Sandwich Still Has It 60 Years Later (Cool Weird Awesome 388)

This week in 1960, Richard Nixon campaigned at a cookout in Sullivan, Illinois, eating some of a Buffalo barbecue sandwich before giving his speech. A young Boy Scout, Steve Jenne, took the rest of Nixon's sandwich home and has kept it in the freezer for the last 60 years! Plus: if you're missing cubicles and conference tables these days, there's a new soundscape, Calm Office, that might help. 

By |2023-11-30T09:10:19-05:00September 24, 2020|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , |

The US Almost Had A 49th State Called Absaroka (Cool Weird Awesome 369)

In 1939 some ranchers in the West proposed taking parts out of Wyoming, South Dakota and Montana and creating a new state, called Absaroka. It never won approval from Congress but it did have its own license plates and beauty pageant. Plus: how come a spot in Tulsa is known as the center of the universe?

By |2022-06-20T09:07:27-04:00August 28, 2020|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , , |

When Steel Wire Was The Hip New Way To Record Sound (Cool Weird Awesome 363)

Before there was digital recording, we had cassettes, reel to reels, phonographs, and even wire recordings! That's a little-known system that was invented at the very end of the 19th century. Plus: meet a building in Italy that's been designed to replicate the shape of an orchestra.

By |2020-08-20T07:57:05-04:00August 20, 2020|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , |

Record Your Own Song Into A Paper Cup (Cool Weird Awesome 309)

Most audio these days (including this show) is recorded digitally, but there are lots of ways to document sounds, including one that's built around a paper cup-turned-microphone. Plus: a programmer has designed a face mask with a lit up, virtual mouth!

By |2020-05-29T08:17:11-04:00May 29, 2020|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , |

If You Miss Eating At Restaurants, Maybe These Ambient Sound Playlists Will Help (Cool Weird Awesome 291)

Missing the sounds of a full restaurant on a Saturday night? Several well-known ambient sound apps and platforms feature a wide range of soundscapes, including restaurants, that might bring those familiar sounds back to you. Plus: the story of a dude in Wisconsin who woke up the neighborhood with his guitar shredding.

By |2021-02-26T10:27:42-05:00May 5, 2020|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , |

Can This Device “Hear” Disease? (Cool Weird Awesome 266)

A team Purdue University developed a device that uses sound waves that can help determine if and when a disease has started to invade our body cells. That SOUNDS like a good idea (see what we did there?)

By |2024-03-24T09:40:04-04:00March 24, 2020|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , |

The Moths That Absorb Sound To Hide From Bats (Cool Weird Awesome 251)

Some moths are built to essentially cancel sound - and it's a pretty effective defense mechanism against bats and echolocation. Plus: a heart-shaped work of art made by bees!

By |2020-03-04T06:38:36-05:00March 4, 2020|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , , |

The Loudest Thing Anybody Ever Heard (Cool Weird Awesome 237)

Some sounds are pleasing, others not so much. And a few can actually be destructive, like the sound ZME Science identified is probably the loudest sound humans have ever heard.

By |2024-02-13T09:07:51-05:00February 13, 2020|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , |
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