Cool Weird Awesome With Brady Carlson

Maker and woodworker Tim Sway built a guitar out of reclaimed nails - which he calls the "Tetanuscaster." Plus: the It's A Wonderful Life Festival is in full swing in Jimmy Stewart's hometown!  Guitar Made of Nails (Tim Sway on YouTube) So Metal: An Electric Guitar Made Out Of Reclaimed Nails (Geekologie) It’s A Wonderful Life Festival  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Researchers at Penn State University have created liquid-entrenched smooth surface, or LESS. Why? To coat our toilets. Why? So stuff can't stick to them. Why? To save water, which we use by the tens of billions of gallons each day just to re-flush that stuck stuff. Why? Because life is unfair sometimes. Plus: Twitter minus words, videos, pictures and links is a pretty amazing thing, judging by the project called Emoji Storm!  New, slippery toilet coating provides cleaner flushing, saves water (Penn State University) Emoji Storm (Metafilter) --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

The busiest travel season of the year is getting underway, so here's a story about a vehicle right out of Richard Scarry’s Busytown: the Big Banana Car, which is a 15 foot long banana with four seats on the frame of a Ford F-150. Plus: the Volkspod is a motor scooter made with upcycled parts from old-school Volkswagen Beetles!  BigBananaCar.com Michigan trooper pulls over banana car, gives driver $20 (WTHR) Designer Transforms Vintage Volkswagen Beetles into Adorable Minibikes (My Modern Met) --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Some research suggests those plastic tops for disposable coffee cups make up five percent of the millions of tons of plastic waste that end up in the ocean each year. The Unocup aims to do something about that. It's a paper cup that folds up to become its own top! Plus: there's goat yoga and alpaca yoga, but Zoo Miami may top them all with its new Yoga With The Rhinos program. The coffee cup gets a radical, desperately needed redesign (Fast Company) Yoga With the Rhinos (Zoo Miami)  Back Cool Weird Awesome on Patreon for less than the price of a cup of coffee!  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

The nefarious filbertworm is trying to infest our hazelnut supply! Researchers at the University of Oregon think the solution might lie with pigs. Plus: the Ebo is a little ball-shaped robot that will play with your cat when you're not home.  Biology Major Recruits Hogs to Help Hazelnuts (University of Oregon) This Smart Robot Is Designed to Keep Your Cat Happy and Healthy While You’re Gone (My Modern Met) It's a smart move to back Cool Weird Awesome on Patreon! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

This week marks 50 years since the Apollo 12 mission, the second time humans went to the moon and the first time we launched an artificial earthquake there. Plus: one of the two moonwalkers painted a picture that included their command module pilot on the lunar ground.  Crash Site Of The Apollo 12 Ascent Module Possibly Found After Almost 50 Years (Bad Astronomy)  Conrad, Gordon and Bean: The Fantasy (Art USA)  Help launch the next great podcast episode when you back Cool Weird Awesome on Patreon --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Today is the 60th anniversary of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends, so in their honor, here's a real life moose who inadvertently helped foil a crime. Plus: a woman in Sacramento puts out a public call for her missing domesticated squirrel, Squeakers. Wandering moose stolen vehicle (CBC) ‘I just need my baby’: Sacramento woman offers reward for missing squirrel, Squeakers (Sacramento Bee) All alumni of Wossamotta U should back Cool Weird Awesome on Patreon! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

November 18, 1883 is when railroads across the United States adopted a uniform system of time, more or less getting all of us in sync with each other. But what was time like before then? Plus: Japan has had cat cafes, hedgehog cafes and bunny cafes. Now there's a minipig cafe!  Time! (Library of Congress) Standard Time Zones In U.S. Mark 100 Years (New York Times)   The Adoption of Standard TimeIan R. Bartky (Technology and Culture)  Mipig Harajuku: We visit the new micro pig cafe in Tokyo (Sora News) It's definitely time to back Cool Weird Awesome on Patreon  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Underwater photos are usually greenish or blueish and the brighter colors are washed out. An engineer and oceanographer has come up with an algorithm she calls Sea-thru that can bring those colors back into the image. Plus: the Las Vegas Pizza Festival is about to get underway.  Sea-thru Brings Clarity to Underwater Photos (Scientific American) Las Vegas Pizza Festival Brighten your day when you back Cool Weird Awesome on Patreon! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Who knew the Twilight Zone was a dimension not only of sight and sound but of canned laughter?!? The episode "Cavender is Coming" features Jesse White, Carol Burnett, and a laugh track the network thought might help lead to a spinoff series. (It didn't.) Plus: anybody want to fly in an airplane where the whole interior looks like a giant window?  Dimensions Behind the Twilight Zone: A Backstage Tribute to Television's Groundbreaking Series by Stewart Stanyard The Twilight Zone: A 60th Anniversary Celebration  Windowless planes: is this the future of flying? (The Telegraph via YouTube) Back Cool Weird Awesome on Patreon today! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Stella the dog lives with a speech-language pathologist and has been using a soundboard to "say" several dozen words, raising hopes that someday the show "Dog With A Blog" may come to life. Plus: Quilty the cat likes to spend his nights freeing the other cats at the animal shelter.  A speech pathologist taught her dog Stella to 'speak' (CNN) Sly Escape Artist Shelter Cat 'Quilty' Who Will Not Be Contained Keeps Freeing His Cat Comrades (TIME) Backing Cool Weird Awesome on Patreon is animal-friendly. So to speak.  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

This is Geography Awareness Week, and on our  fascinating planet Mount Everest is the tallest mountain - but it's not  actually the highest point on earth. That's actually Mount Chimborazo,  in Ecuador. Plus: the community of New Baltimore, NY gets a spooky  purple makeover thanks to Google Maps. Mount Chimborazo is Actually the Highest Point on Earth (CN Traveler) The 20 Scariest Google Street View Images (Mashable) Ain't no mountain high enough for our backers on Patreon --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

For Veterans Day, we have the story of Claude and Ruth Hensinger, who used the parachute that saved Claude's life during World War II to help build their lives and their 49 year marriage together.  The Wedding Dress That Dropped From The Sky (Patch) Dress, 1-Piece (Smithsonian Museum of American History) --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Patti Page, aka the “Singing Rage,” was one of the biggest-selling pop singers of the 1950s. But later, she lived part-time on a farm in New Hampshire where she and her husband sold maple syrup. The bottles didn't just have her name on them; they included her voice! Plus: Skyline Chess turns the buildings in world cities into chess pieces and pits them against each other.  Patti Page: A Singing Rage, Who Had Her Own Singing Syrup Bottle (NHPR) Patti Page Singing Maple Syrup Cap (NH Magazine on YouTube) Beautiful Chess Sets Based on Iconic City Skylines (Laughing Squid) We'll sing your praises when you back Cool Weird Awesome on Patreon!  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

This meringue is just about the lightest dessert ever made. Based on the lightest substance in the world, Aerogel, it's about 96 percent air and a serving weighs about a gram. We guarantee you won’t think it's too filling. Plus: the story of a light-emitting fungus gnat in Brazil, which is maybe not as appetizing as the first story. World’s Lightest Dessert Is 96 Percent Air, Weighs Just One Gram (Oddity Central) First South American insect that emits blue light is discovered (Eurekalert!) Light up your day as a Cool Weird Awesome backer on Patreon! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Jeremy John Kaplan is the artist behind the Gold Nets Project, which has replaced hundreds of broken or missing nets with shiny golden ones, and encouraged local basketball players to think about stepping up and maintaining the courts too. Plus: the northern Georgia city of Dahlonega says it had a gold rush decades before the '49ers all raced to California.  An Artist Is Installing Hundreds of Golden Nets on Community Basketball Courts (Hyperallergic) Dahlonega Gold Museum (Roadside America) Backing Cool Weird Awesome on Patreon is an idea that's worth its weight in gold. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

A great painting can turn your world upside down, especially if the painting is also upside down. We take a trip through the website Weird Universe's Gallery of Art Hung Upside Down. Plus: a 9 year old who can't stop doodling, even in class, is now a professional artist. He's paid to doodle.  The Gallery of Art Hung Upside-Down (Weird Universe) 9-Year-Old Kid Who Kept Getting In Trouble For Doodling In Class Gets A Job Decorating A Restaurant With His Drawings (Bored Panda)  Backing Cool Weird Awesome on Patreon is great. But is it art? --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

It’s time to celebrate 70 years of Clue, the invention of musician Anthony Pratt, who used to play piano for murder mystery nights at big mansions and thought, this would make a good board game! Plus: the movie "Clue" is well known for the on-camera antics of its amazing cast. But what did the actors do when the cameras weren't rolling?  The Game Clue Was Borne of Boredom During WWII Air-Raid Blackouts (History.com) The Crazy Story Of How "Clue" Went From Forgotten Flop To Cult Triumph (Buzzfeed) I backed Cool Weird Awesome on Patreon... SO... MUCH... flames... on the side of my face...  heaving breaths... --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Today in 1800 President John Adams moved into the White House, the first chief executive to live in what was then called the President’s Mansion. One of the house's most adorable stories - though possibly an apocryphal one - is the time in 1862 that Abraham Lincoln supposedly helped a couple elope. Plus: the New England WizardFest gets underway this weekend in Massachusetts. Mischief managed! Adams moves into the White House, Nov. 1, 1800 (Politico) Did you know that Abraham Lincoln was supposedly a wedding planner? (White House History on Twitter) The New England Wizardfest Back Cool Weird Awesome on Twitter and you can solemnly swear that you are up to something good  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

This isn’t just Halloween. It’s also the anniversary of the passing of the legendary illusionist and escape artist Harry Houdini, who they say wanted to make the greatest escape of all time... from mortality. Hence why Bess Houdini held seances every Halloween, trying to pick up whatever signals her late husband might be sending out from the hereafter. Plus: the creepiest hike of all time!  The Successful Séance: Houdini May Have Spoken From Beyond the Grave, But No One Bothered to Listen (Week in Weird) Atlanta's Doll's Head Trail May Be the Creepiest Hike in the Country (Mental Floss) Nothing spooky about how this show gets made. It's from our backers on Patreon! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message