Cool Weird Awesome With Brady Carlson

Disappearing People is a computer program that can make us invisible on our computer’s cameras! Plus: the story of something that cannot be unseen, the world record longest salami.  This Program Will Make You Invisible (to Your Webcam) (Motherboard) Salami larger than the Statue of Liberty has broken a world record in Argentina (Mirror UK) See something amazing happen when you back Cool Weird Awesome on Patreon! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

A project run by researchers at the University of Sheffield, is using foam taken from discarded mattresses to help Syrian refugees start hydroponic gardens in Jordan. Plus: why were there two Miss Sasquatch Queens in Saskatchewan back in 1969?  Scientists using old mattresses to grow food for Syrian refugees in Jordan (iNews) Miss Sasquatch Queen (Weird Universe) No title better than the title of Cool Weird Awesome backer on Patreon! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

The technology I like best is the technology that helps people do what they couldn’t do before, like a new brain implant that can put images from a camera in front of blind people. Plus: Rita Ebel is making the German town of Hanau more accessible for wheelchair uses, by using LEGO. A new implant for blind people jacks directly into the brain (MIT Technology Review) One Woman and Thousands of Lego Bricks Are Building a Town Much-Needed Wheelchair Ramps (Gizmodo) Join us as a Cool Weird Awesome backer on Patreon - you'll like what you see  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Washington State University has a Sensory Science Lab that tests all the ways we encounter what we eat and how that can affect how we think it tastes. Now they’re testing whether different kinds of music can affect how we think about chocolate. Plus: this weekend in Charlotte, North Carolina, there’s a chance to go out on a bar crawl that’s like none other. Exploring links between music and our perceptions of chocolate (Washington State University) Charlotte's 8th Annual Banana Bar Crawl  Backing Cool Weird Awesome on Patreon makes everything seem sweeter! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

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, two tons of paint hanging out in Alexandria, Indiana.  The Ghost Signs of NYC: Uncover the Secrets to New York’s Past in New Book (Untapped New York) The World's Largest Paint Ball!  Today's show is a sign you should back Cool Weird Awesome on Patreon! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

It was on this day in 1914 a family in Grangeville, Idaho sent a four year old through the mail to her grandmother in Lewiston, 73 miles away. And she wasn’t the only kid to travel this way after the US Postal Service began the parcel post. Plus: the group Electronicos Fantasticos is making some fascinating music with bar code scanners! A Brief History of Children Sent Through the Mail (Smithsonian) We Used to be Able to Send Children in the Mail (KQED) Barcoders Jamming (Electronicos Fantasticos on YouTube) Backing Cool Weird Awesome on Patreon is just as great as getting a birthday check in the mail! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Toss an item into TrashBot and the system’s internal sensors figure out what the item is, and whether to recycle it or toss it out. No more recycleables in the trash, no more trash in the recycleables. Plus: officials in Prichard, Alabama missed a typo when sending out their new trash bins for residents.  This robot trash bin automatically sorts your recyclables for you (Fast Company) Embarrassing typo on new Prichard trash cans (NBC 15) Don't throw away your shot at being a Cool Weird Awesome backer on Patreon!  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Since 1800, presidents have made the White House their home base. But there have been a few times when new presidents took office unexpectedly and the world's most powerful address wasn’t yet available to them. For Gerald Ford in 1974, that meant he spent the first 10 days of his presidency living at his family home in Alexandria, Virginia.  Gerald R. Ford House (BradyCarlson.com) Thanks to Cool Weird Awesome backers on Patreon for supporting the show!  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

For Valentine's Day, the story of the olm salamander, who will basically sit around and do nothing… unless it’s time for love. Plus: people in Rangeley, Maine gear up for the annual World Record Snowmobile Ride. A salamander didn't move for seven years – and that's not that unusual (USA Today) Rangeley World Record Snowmobile Ride (Visit Maine) Cool Weird Awesome's Patreon backers will do anything for love - but they won't do that --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

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. Plus: how about some loud applause for an octopus who managed to escape four octopus escape rooms?  The loudest sound in mankind’s history (ZME Science) Octopus Escape Room Challenge (Octolab TV via YouTube) Cool Weird Awesome's Patreon backers make beautiful sounds, every day  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Orchards in the US and elsewhere have been trying to head off a disease called citrus greening. Research shows that dogs can sniff out this disease better and more quickly than any other method we have. Plus: if you're out riding a horse in Australia, and you get a call, put the phone in hands-free mode.  Dog sleuths sniff out crop disease hitting citrus trees (KCRA) Man riding horse stopped by police for using phone (Weekly Times Now) Outside of a dog Cool Weird Awesome's Patreon backers are a person's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to back anything.  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

There's a whole world of sustainable materials for clothing that will have less of an impact should they end up in landfills - some don't just have low carbon footprints, they have negative carbon footprints! Plus: an art student in Japan puts on a fashion show in which the lead materials in the clothes are rubber bands.  Do you have it in green? The living fabrics that can help clean the air (The Guardian) Rubber Collection: Garments Made From Knitted Rubber Bands (Spoon and Tamago) Backing Cool Weird Awesome on Patreon is always in season --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Here’s one instance where the doctor really CAN say “this won’t hurt a bit.” 4D-printed microneedles could perform of the medical functions of hypodermic needles - giving us vaccines and medicines, taking blood samples - except no shots. Plus: the story of a cat and her 3D-printed titanium paws.  High-Tech Printing May Help Eliminate Painful Shots (Rutgers) Surgeons Gave This Adorable Can Four Amazing 3D-Printed Paws (Futurism) Patreon backers keep Cool Weird Awesome healthy! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

There's a project out of the University of Maine that's found that wild blueberries can help us heal cuts and other wounds. Plus: this weekend the 3rd annual Hawaii Island Steel Guitar Festival gets underway. Wound-healing treatment using wild blueberries receives MTI grant (University of Maine) The 3rd Annual Hawaii Island Steel Guitar Festival (This Week Hawaii) Backing Cool Weird Awesome on Patreon is like making beautiful music --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Sounds like good news for the millions affected by heart disease: a nanoparticle that can target the plaque inside those blood vessels and actually reduce it! Plus: an animal rescue in Leesville, SC, needs piggy cuddlers!  Nanoparticle chomps away plaques that cause heart attacks (Science Daily) Sanctuary seeks 'piggy cuddlers' to socialize rescued swine (UPI) Full heart, can't lose as a Cool Weird Awesome backer on Patreon --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Researchers at UCLA have developed a coating that can take care of persistent ice in winter, and amazingly, it’s all due to fish. Plus: Kendall Diwisch of Edmonton, Alberta. who helped three kittens get unstuck from an icy situation.  Hydrogel coating is first to prevent ice formation in 3 different ways (UCLA) WATCH: Man Rescues Kittens Stuck In Ice By Pouring Warm Coffee On Them (CBS Seattle) Patreon backers keep Cool Weird Awesome warm on the coldest days! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Kryptos is a puzzle sculpture that’s been on the grounds of CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia since 1990. Three of its four coded messages have been solved - and now we have a clue that might reveal the fourth. Plus: the story of the J.W. Westcott II, the only ship that has its own ZIP code.  Kryptos (CIA.gov) This Sculpture Holds A Decades-Old C.I.A. Mystery. And Now, Another Clue. (New York Times) A Look at J.W. Westcott Co.: The Detroit Business That Delivers Mail Via Boat (Hour Detroit) No codes here, our message is clear: Cool Weird Awesome is made possible by our backers on Patreon! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

On this day in 1862, President Abraham Lincoln wrote to the king of Siam, now Thailand, to say thanks, but no thanks, to the king's offer of a herd of elephants. It was a gracious letter, which was appropriate because elephants themselves have lovely manners.  Lincoln Rejects the King of Siam's Offer of Elephants (American Battlefield Trust) Elephant Emotions (PBS Nature) We graciously invite you to back Cool Weird Awesome on Patreon! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

A growing number of hockey fans are paying attention to blind hockey, where players have either full blindness or 10 percent vision or less. That puts the emphasis on sound. Plus: introducing the Telecaster guitar that's been signed by 16 Navajo code talkers!  ‘It’s Freeing’: Hockey League Gives Visually Impaired Players An Opportunity To Hit The Ice (CBS New York) They can’t see, but blind hockey players can pass, shoot and score (Washington Post) Fender Telecaster signed by 16 Navajo Code Talkers (Indian Country Today) Backing Cool Weird Awesome sounds like a pretty good idea --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Of all the great breakthroughs we’ve made in outer space, there are none sweeter than this: last month, astronauts on the International Space Station baked chocolate chip cookies. But baking cookies in space is a little different than baking them on Earth. Plus: a new device called the Exolung can keep air flowing for virtually as long as a diver likes.  Space-baked cookies not chips off old block (The Columbian) The Exolung gives divers an 'unlimited' underwater air supply (Designboom)  Backing Cool Weird Awesome on Patreon is sweet  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message