Today in 1978, pro basketball player Clifford Ray got to lend his extra long to help a dolphin named Mr. Spock caught in an odd situation. Plus: hot sauce maker Sauce Shed is partnering with Atari for a line of hot sauces inspired by (or at least sharing graphic design with) games from the old 2600 console.

Ray’s Flipper Saved a Dolphin (New York Times)

Atari Sauce Hot Sauces (The Awesomer)

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This week we’re replaying some of our favorite episodes about the stuff painters use. In this episode from October 2020, the story of Fordite, a substance that looks just like the stuff of colorful jewelry, but it’s actually a byproduct of the automaking process. Plus: Make.com posts plans for how to make a special mold of your own face, and then use that to make your own face into a bread bowl.

Your Earrings Remind Me of Grandma’s Gran Torino (New York Times)

How To Make A Bread Mold Of Your Own Face (Make)

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This week we’re replaying some of our favorite episodes about the stuff painters use. In this episode from October 2020, scientists at Purdue University find a way to help keep us cool even without air conditioning, and it starts with a fresh coat of paint. Plus: the community of Asbestos, Quebec, chooses a new, less carcinogenic-sounding name.

New ‘Super-White’ Paint Can Cool Down Buildings and Cars (Interesting Engineering)

Goodbye Asbestos, hello Val-des-Sources: Que. town changing infamous name (CBC)

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This week we’re replaying some of our favorite episodes about the stuff painters use. In this episode from September 2019, paintings made with Day Glo paint, some made by well-known and influential artists, are losing their glow over time. Scientists are trying to keep the glo for as long as possible. Plus: a research team in Massachusetts figures out how to make a color that absorbs 99.995 percent of incoming light.

Day-Glo masterpieces are fading. A conservator and her team are racing to save them (Los Angeles Times)

How DayGlo Went From Utility Pigment to Design World Darling (AIGA Eye on Design)

Engineers Just Unveiled a New Blackest-Ever Material, Even Darker Than Vantablack (Science Alert)

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This week we’re replaying some of our favorite episodes about the stuff painters use. In this episode from September 2022, a school near Atlanta finds a partial solution to scorching hot asphalt playgrounds, and it’s as simple as getting a fresh coat of paint. Plus: for National Bunny Day, a visit to southern California's Bunny Museum.

Thanks to an innovative new paint, this school’s playground just got 12 degrees cooler (Fast Company)

LA’s Bunny Museum will redline your rabbit-o-meter (Boing Boing)

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This week we’re replaying some of our favorite episodes about the stuff painters use. In this episode from February 2022, the story of Mummy Brown, a pigment made by combining white pitch and myrrh with the ground-up bits of actual mummies. Plus: seventeen years after the opening of King Tut's tomb, a musician played a trumpet found there for a radio broadcast.

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)

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Today in 1964, Elvis Presley donated a historic ship to help a Memphis hospital raise money. That ship had once been a favorite hangout for President Franklin Roosevelt. Plus: today in 2018, authorities in Australia found a very odd situation involving a man, a pipe organ, and "remnants of a cheeseburger." 

USS Potomac History 

Former Brisbane Freemason Glenn Langford apologises after being found naked in broken pipe organ, surrounded by cheeseburgers (The West Australian)

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A team at the University of Guelph has developed a substance that can generate electricity and could help in a multitude of medical situations. What is it? High-tech slime. Plus:
tarting Saturday in Phoenix, Arizona, it’s the World Championship Hoop Dance Contest.

Walking could soon generate electricity with new slime that powers up when stepped on (Interesting Engineering)

World Championship Hoop Dance Contest

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Today in 1809, the birthday of Abraham Lincoln. The 16th President has been called the Great Emancipator, Honest Abe, The Railsplitter… and if you go far enough into his backstory, you could call him "Bartender In Chief." Plus: this Saturday in Clear Lake, Iowa, it’s the Color The Wind Kite Festival.

Bartender-In-Chief: Abraham Lincoln Owned A Tavern (Chicagoist)

Annual Clear Lake Kite Festival 

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Today in 1833, the birthday of Melville Fuller. He would eventually become Chief Justice of the United States, but not before the country asked whether a member of the US Supreme Court could be fair and objective if he has a mustache (!) Plus: this Saturday in Devils Lake, North Dakota, it’s ShiverFest.

Chief Justice Melville Weston Fuller and the Great Mustache Debate of 1888 (W&L Law Scholarly Commons)  

ShiverFest 

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