For Earth Day we talk about an idea by designer, artist and architect Henry Glogau. He's designed a skylight that can turn seawater into clean drinking water, and then power LEDs with solar energy and the leftover salt brine. Plus: this weekend in Chicago, it's "Golden-Con," a convention for fans of "The Golden Girls." 

Designer Creates Solar Desalination Skylight as Low-Tech Way to Produce Drinking Water (My Modern Met)

Golden Girls Fan Convention, ‘Golden Con,’ Is Planned For 2022 (WRAL)

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Today in 1986, I was one of millions of people who watched Geraldo Rivera host the infamous live TV special "The Mystery of Al Capone's Vault." How did it come to be, and why did it go so far off course? Plus: today is day one of the 2022 Association of Lincoln Presenters Conference. 

Oral History: When Geraldo Rivera Opened Al Capone's Vault (Mental Floss)

Capone Vault-Cracking An Unrewarding Blast (Toledo Blade via Google News Archive) 

The Association of Lincoln Presenters 2022 Conference 

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Today in 1962, the community of Artesia, New Mexico formally opened an unusual elementary school: it was built entirely underground just in case the Cold War turned hot. Plus: this week in Vidalia, Georgia, the Vidalia Onion Festival. 

Abo Elementary School and Fallout Shelter (National Park Service)

Vidalia Onion Festival 

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Today in 1900 a newspaper in Ohio ran a story about how three towns in Indiana had used fence wire as makeshift telephone lines, at a time when phones were more often found in cities. Some of these ingenious systems ran for decades. Plus: in Kansas City, the City of Fountains, it's Fountain Day.  

Barb-Wire telephone line (Insulators.info) 

Barbed Wire Telephone Lines Connected The Old Frontier (Successful Farming podcast) 

Everything You Need To Know About Fountains In Kansas City (VisitKC) 

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If you have any friends that you first met as a roommate or dorm neighbor at college, this show is for you. Research from Ohio State University finds bats can become close when they’re made to live together too. Plus: today in 1930, a newscast like no other. A BBC news announcer declares "there is no news." 

Like college roommates, vampire bats bond when randomly paired (Ohio State University)

#OnThisDay 1930: the BBC's news announcer said, "there is no news" (BBCArchive on Twitter)

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National Record Store Day is this weekend. Music has always been a big deal; in fact, in the 1940s and 50s, some people in the Soviet Union broke the law and produced makeshift records on old X-ray plates just to hear Western music that the government censored. Plus: this weekend it’s the Great Delaware Kite Festival.

Soviet-era bootleg music recorded on discarded X-ray plates (New Scientist)

2022 Great Delaware Kite Festival (Visit Delaware)

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Today in 1865, Abraham Lincoln went to Ford's Theater, and we all know how badly that ended. But five years later, William Mumler "photographed" the spirit of Honest Abe comforting his widow Mary Todd Lincoln. Here's the story of Mumler and his very controversial "spirit photography." Plus: how one of the survivors of the Titanic disaster (today in 1912) ended up having a very surprising and successful career in sports. 

When a 19th-Century ‘Spirit Photographer’ Claimed to Capture Ghosts Through His Lens (History.com)

The Titanic survivor who won Olympic gold at Paris 1924 (Olympics.com)

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Even the freshest baseballs aren't completely fresh. They've been treated with a grip-improving mud that's been provided by one family's company for decades. Plus: if you like to fall asleep to the sounds of a baseball game, the podcast Northwoods Baseball Sleep Radio can help even in the offseason. 

Mud Maker: The Man Behind MLB’s Essential Secret Sauce (Sports Illustrated)

Harvesting baseball's 'magic mud' (CNN)

Northwoods Baseball Sleep Radio is a full-length fake baseball game designed to help you fall asleep (Super Punch)

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This month in 1907 waiters in Paris went on strike. Yes, they wanted better pay and improved working conditions, but their most high profile demand: they wanted the right to grow mustaches. Plus: engineers at Kawasaki have created maybe the best way to get from here to there, a walking robotic ibex.

The Great Paris Moustache Strike of 1907 (The History Guy)

Kawasaki's Rideable Robotic Goat Is the Electric Car for Wandering Cowpokes (Gizmodo)

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For National Board Game Day, we look at the history of Candy Land. That game was designed by a schoolteacher who was trying to help kids in a polio ward pass the time. Plus: a research program finds today in 1954 the most boring day of all. 

Candy Land Was Invented for Polio Wards (The Atlantic)

The Most Boring Day In History Was April 11, 1954 (Gizmodo)

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