If we’re ever going to get to a world of self-driving cars we’re going to need ways to make sure that world is safe - and one way to keep pedestrians safe near autonomous vehicles may be… googly eyes. Seriously. Plus: this weekend in Pittsburgh, it's the Dirty Dozen Bike Race, which sends riders up the steepest hills in the city.

Animated Googly Eyes Could Make Autonomous Cars Safer For Pedestrians (Gizmodo)

Pittsburgh Dirty Dozen 2022 

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A New York company has developed a process called Inflatable Flexible Factory Formwork that can quickly build inexpensive, sturdy and affordable houses. This may be the one type of inflation people in 2022 want to see more of. Plus: this weekend in Nashville, a literal presidential race at the home of our seventh chief executive. 

Structure-inflating construction tech could give 3D printing a run for its money (New Atlas)

7th President 7k Run 

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Today in 1924, the University of Illinois dedicated Memorial Stadium, which holds some 60,000 football fans and, legend has it, one bulldozer. We'll look at what really happened. Plus: this weekend in Crowley, Louisiana, it’s the International Rice Festival.

Campus Mythbusting: Is there a bulldozer buried beneath Memorial Stadium? (University of Illinois Archives) 

Crowley International Rice Festival

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It's National Pasta Day, and here’s a pasta fact that you might have guessed: Fettucine Alfredo comes from an actual guy named Alfredo. Plus: this month in 1990 that a swarm of so-called "killer bees" crossed into the US for the first time on record. The south Texas community of Hidalgo had a big reaction. 

The Real Alfredo (Saveur)

Hidalgo, Texas's, Killer Bee Statue, a nod to a historical moment in October 1990 when the first known swarm of these "Africanized" bees was documented to have crossed into the United States from Mexico and into this little Rio Grande River community in far-south Texas (Library of Congress's Public Domain Archive)

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This month in 1964 that the country first began using its world-famous bullet trains, so we've got a few, well, fast facts about them. Plus: today in Bridgeville, Delaware, the Apple-Scrapple Festival is starting.

Shinkansen about more than speed (Japan Times via Archive.org)

15 Things You Didn't Know About Bullet Trains (Thrillist)

How Japan's Shinkansen bullet trains changed the world of rail travel (CNN)

Tracing the History of Railways in Japan Through Art (Spoon and Tamago)

Bridgeville Apple-Scrapple Festival

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Back braces for scoliosis haven't always been the most comfortable or fun to wear in public. But Airy, the newest prototype back brace, could even be called stylish. Plus: today in 1960, Pittsburgh Pirates second baseman Bill Mazeroski hit a World Series-winning home run, and the only video of that landmark moment came because a big star was too busy (or too nervous) to watch live. 

'airy' scoliosis brace is designed for young girls to wear with comfort and confidence (designboom)

Pristine film of '60 Series Game 7 found (ESPN)

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Aerial Additive Manufacturing is a new process in which a team of drones 3D print while still flying, and then scanning drones fly by to make sure the job was done right. Plus: the story of a bridge in Ireland that shows sometimes a very little thing can keep a very big thing from doing its thing. 

Drone Swarms that Can 3D Print While Flying (Core77)

The Celtic Tiger bridge that wouldn't open because of a lost remote control (The Journal)

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If you watched any of the funeral for Queen Elizabeth II, you know the UK has lots of traditions. Here's another one: once a year, sometime between about now and mid November, the city of London pays rent to the Crown for several pieces of land in what’s called the Ceremony of Quit Rents. Plus: around this time in 2013, a big typo on some coins struck for the Vatican. 

The Ceremony of Quit Rents (Historic-UK.com)

Vatican pulls papal medal which misspelt name of Jesus (BBC)

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October is National Stamp Collecting Month, and there are perhaps no more collectible stamps than the ones out of the small Asian country of Bhutan - like the "talking stamps" that were also vinyl records. Plus: a choice selection from some of the strangest responses to questions on geology tests.

Little Ambassadors of the Country (Works That Work)

“Coal Is Decayed Vegetarians" (Futility Closet)

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Today in 1916, a college football game that was about as one-sided as it gets: Georgia Tech 222, Cumberland College 0. Here's how this absolute squash of a game played out. Plus: today in Smithfield, North Carolina, day one of the Ava Gardner Festival.

Revisiting Georgia Tech 222, Cumberland 0 and how it may have saved the school (CBS Sports) 

220-0-THE INFAMOUS CUMBERLAND GAP (Chicago Tribune)

Ava Gardner Festival 

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