A Teen Got To The “End” Of NES Tetris, And People Figured Out How To Hack The Software And Keep Playing

For the birthday of Tetris, the story of a 13 year old who played so deep into the NES version of the game that it crashed - and the gamers who found ways to keep playing even past that "end" point.

By |2024-12-12T21:04:11-05:00June 6, 2024|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , |

Gaming Prosthetics Are Making Minecraft More Inclusive (Cool Weird Awesome 950)

Engineering students at Johns Hopkins University have been building adaptive controllers to make the Minecraft universe more accessible.

By |2024-02-15T06:59:33-05:00February 15, 2023|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , |

Before Play-Doh Became A Childhood Icon, It Was Known As Kutol Wallpaper Cleaner

Today in 1956, the US issued a patent for Play-Doh. Millions of kids have built bazillions of things with this colorful stuff, but in its first life, Play-Doh had a very different job: cleaning soot off wallpaper.

By |2024-12-12T20:38:13-05:00January 26, 2023|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , |

The Dunce Cap Was Once A Hat Worn By Great Scholars

School is back in session, and fortunately teachers aren't using dunce caps to shame their students. How did a hat that was once worn by prominent thinkers end up as the hat of choice for teachers trying to brand students as dopes?

By |2024-12-15T15:53:18-05:00September 27, 2022|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , |

Queen Elizabeth II Had A Bunch Of Birthdays

The late Queen Elizabeth II once said being a royal meant your life was full of tradition. And there was a lot to tradition to keep track of - like how her birthday was celebrated more than once each year.

By |2024-12-08T17:16:15-05:00September 9, 2022|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , |

Anybody Can Be An Olympic Star, At Least In A Video Game

The Summer and Winter Games are typically held once every four years, but for decades the rest of us have been getting into the Olympic spirit through video games. Here are a few of the most unusual ones.

By |2024-12-02T08:49:13-05:00July 30, 2021|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , |

The Original Olympic Flag Went Missing For Over 70 Years

The original Olympic flag flew over the Games for the first time in 1920, in Antwerp, Belgium, but before it could be passed to the next host city, the “Antwerp flag” disappeared - for over seven decades.

By |2024-12-14T10:37:14-05:00July 28, 2021|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , |

Keith Richards Started Writing “Satisfaction” In His Sleep

It was this week in 1965 that Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards got up in his sleep, started up a portable tape recorder, and recorded a guitar riff and an opening line that would soon be iconic: "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction." Here's more of how the song came together.

Go to Top