It’s Flag Week on Cool Weird Awesome
This week we’re replaying some of our favorite episodes about flags and those who fly them.
Two Countries Showed Up At The 1936 Olympics Flying Identical Flags (Cool Weird Awesome 1288)
At the 1936 Summer Games, Liechtenstein and Haiti showed up flying identical blue and red striped flags. Fortunately they found a solution.
Whitney Smith Flew The Flag For Studying Flags (Cool Weird Awesome 1190)
Today in 1940, the birthday of the world’s number one flag expert: Whitney Smith, who not only studied flags his entire life, he invented the word for studying flags.
When Domino’s Tried To Have Reindeer Deliver Pizza (Cool Weird Awesome 1133)
Domino's Japan once tried to send its pizzas out by reindeer, but they had to backtrack after a week because, well, you can probably figure out why.
The Star-Spangled Banner That Inspired “The Star-Spangled Banner” (Cool Weird Awesome 1026)
It's Flag Day here in the US, and a good time to tell the story of the American flag that led to the writing of what is now our national anthem.
Betsy Ross May Not Have Made The First Flag, But She Really Did Make Flags (Cool Weird Awesome 917)
Today in 1752, the birthday of the woman known today as Betsy Ross. The legend goes that after meeting with General George Washington, Mrs. Ross put together the very first version of what would become the flag of the United States. Historians are pretty sure that’s just a legend, but there are reasons why the story came to be.
The Ferris Wheel Was Designed To Show Up The Eiffel Tower (Cool Weird Awesome 906)
Today in 1892, an engineering team working on Chicago’s Columbian Exposition approved a design for a giant metal wheel that could give rides to passengers. Here's the story of the Ferris wheel and how it was partly intended to one-up a certain iconic structure from the previous World's Fair.
Growing Bone Tissue With Sound Waves (Cool Weird Awesome 724)
Researchers at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology took stem cells and treated them with high-frequency sound waves, which was enough to convert them into bone cells.
Bob Heft Designed The 50-Star U.S. Flag In High School (Cool Weird Awesome 698)
Today in 1942 was the birthday of Bob Heft, who designed a 50-star US flag for a high school class project as Alaska and Hawaii were on their way to statehood.
Caught Falling Cat With American Flag
In America we can do anything. Even catch a falling cat with our flag.