The Time Paul Newman Really Didn’t Want People To See A Paul Newman Movie

Today was the birthday in 1925 of actor and entrepreneur Paul Newman, who made some very popular and very acclaimed movies. But there was one movie he made that he loathed so much, he actually took out ads to convince people not to watch it.

By |2024-12-10T09:18:27-05:00January 26, 2022|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , |

When A Saturday Night Live Fan Got To Host Saturday Night Live

Today in 1977, the Not Ready For Prime Time Players were joined by perhaps the most unusual guest host ever: Miskel Spillman, an 80 year old grandma from New Orleans and the winner of the "Anyone Can Host SNL Contest."

By |2024-12-10T09:11:16-05:00December 17, 2021|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , |

The First Skywriting Was, No Surprise, For Advertising

On or around this day in 1922, a pilot wrote the first skywriting message in the United States. It was a way to demonstrate an advertising technique that would be a big part of business for the next few decades.

By |2024-12-01T12:19:24-05:00December 1, 2021|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , |

Donald J. Sobol’s Encyclopedia Brown Books Taught Young Readers To Solve Mysteries

Today's the birthday of a mystery author known to millions of kids, Donald J Sobol. He wrote the Encyclopedia Brown series, about a 10 year old detective who solved cases because he knew, as his nickname suggested, all sorts of unusual and obscure facts in the era way before the internet.

By |2024-12-10T07:50:27-05:00October 4, 2021|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , , |

Two Families Escaped East Germany In A Homemade Hot Air Balloon

Today in 1979, a story that sounds like it came straight out of a movie: two families in Communist East Germany escaped to the West by making and flying a hot air balloon.

By |2024-12-14T09:54:31-05:00September 16, 2021|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , , |

Bioprinting Clothes (And More) Out Of Algae

A research team at the University of Rochester and the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands has found a way to bioprint a strong, flexible and eco-friendly material that could one day serve as fabric for t-shirts, energy storage for space missions and much more.

By |2024-12-16T07:14:15-05:00May 6, 2021|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , , , |

Jessica Anderson, A Record-Setting Marathon-Running Nurse

Today in 2019 a runner in the London Marathon set a world record, though it wasn’t recognized as such right away. Here's the story of Jessica Anderson, who was looking to break the world record for fastest marathon run in a nurse’s uniform.

By |2024-12-16T10:17:36-05:00April 28, 2021|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , |

When A Raccoon Lived At The White House

Champ and Major are the new White House dogs, but there have been lots of pets at the president's house over the years, including Rebecca the raccoon, who definitely left her mark on the place during Calvin Coolidge's presidency.

What Do Video Game Playing Monkeys Have To Do With The Sunk Cost Fallacy?

The sunk-cost fallacy - when we keep at something even when it’s really not worth it anymore, just because we’ve already put so much time or effort in - is a part of human nature. But new research shows it's also a part of the nature of - this is the best part - video game playing monkeys.

By |2024-12-13T06:58:52-05:00January 11, 2021|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , |

Eco-Friendly Latex Could Keep A Lot of Gloves Out of Landfills

We use hundreds of billions of latex gloves a year, for a lot of important reasons. Scientists at Cranfield University in the UK are developing an eco-friendly latex glove that uses less energy to produce and will biodegrade in weeks rather than centuries.

By |2024-12-01T12:20:28-05:00December 1, 2020|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , , |
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