Mardi Gras, Shrove Tuesday, Pancake Tuesday, etc is typically the day a community in central Mexico has a somewhat notorious festival in which people put homemade explosives on top of sledge hammers and slam the hammers into stuff to make big explosions. If you go, don't blame us for anything that happens. Plus: a town in Kansas marks Pancake Day with a pancake flipping race. 

The explosive festival of San Juan de la Vega (La Silla Rota Guanajuato) 

Annual 'exploding hammer' festival might be the most dangerous event in Mexico (Mashable) 

Liberal pancake race (Kansas Historical Society)

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Most years February is 28 days long. Every fourth year it has 29. But one time, in one country, for one year, there was a February 30th. Plus: today in 1903, the oldest sound recording made in Japan is made. 

February 30th (Now I Know)

118 Years Later, Japan’s Earliest Sound Recordings Still Resonate (Atlas Obscura) 

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This week we're replaying some of our favorite episodes about presidents. In this show from February 2020, we remember the time in 1862 that President Abraham Lincoln said thanks, but no thanks, to an offer of elephants from the king of Siam, now Thailand. 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)

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This week we're replaying some of our favorite episodes about presidents. In this show from February 2020, we recall the time Lyndon Johnson visited the Pentagon on Leap Day 1968 - and became the first President of the United States to get stuck in an elevator. Plus: Graceland hosts the third annual Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist Weekend.

LBJ Stuck In An Elevator (Atlas Obscura)

Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist Weekend at Graceland (Memphis Travel)

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This week we're replaying some of our favorite episodes about presidents. In this show from February 2020, we remember the time in 1974 that Gerald Ford became president, spending the first 10 days of his term living not at the White House but at his family home in Alexandria, Virginia. 

Gerald R. Ford House (BradyCarlson.com)

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This week we're replaying some of our favorite episodes about presidents. In this show from January 2021, we tell the story of Rebecca the raccoon, who definitely left her mark on the White House during Calvin Coolidge's presidency. Plus: a company in the UK makes a 500-plus pound protein bar. 

When Rebecca the Raccoon Ruled the White House (Library of Congress)

Calvin Coolidge’s Reuben (Presidential Pet Museum)

British company creates world's largest protein bar (UPI)

Our Patreon backers deserve any pet they like, even a presidential raccoon

This week we're replaying some of our favorite episodes about presidents. In this show from April 2020, we mark a very odd anniversary in the history of the US presidency: the day in 1979 that Jimmy Carter got into a fight (of sorts) with a swamp rabbit. Plus: the annual Sechselauten brings on spring by blowing up a snowman!

In 1979, Jimmy Carter was attacked by a giant swimming rabbit (AV Club)

The History of Sechseläuten (Zuerich.com)

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A team at MIT has come up with a new substance that do-it-yourselfers will love: a surgical "duct tape" that can help seal up wounds and tears in the body's gastrointestinal system. Plus: a guy in Minnesota uses the snow in his front yard to build a life-size Tyrannosaurus Rex. As one does.

Engineers develop surgical 'duct tape' as an alternative to sutures (Science Daily)

Someone Built A Life-Sized Tyrannosaurus Rex Out Of Snow In His Front Yard And Won The Hearts Of The Internet (Digg)

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Taxiing accounts for about 5 percent of a jet's fuel consumption, so one way to make flying greener is making taxiing greener, like through an all-electric towing system. Plus: if you’re in the market for a new couch, Sara Hayat's Tetris Couch might help you put the pieces together, so to speak. 

A Boeing 747 burns one ton of fuel while taxiing. This electric towing system could help (Fast Company)

The Tetris Couch by Sarah Hayat (Cool Material)

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Today in 1923, King Tut's tomb was opened and entered. That may not have been the afterlife the young pharaoh had hoped for, but it could have been worse: for centuries artists used a paint called Mummy Brown, which was made with actual mummy parts. Plus: the time musicians tried to play the trumpets found in Tut's burial chamber and almost ruined them. 

Mummy Brown (Florida State University Department of Art History) 

A Pigment from the Depths (Harvard Art Museums)

Tutankhamun’s ‘cursed’ trumpet that stirs ‘deadly conflict’ has arrived in London (ClassicFM)

Our Patreon backers will be hailed as heroes for centuries and centuries