This week in 1837, Michigan became the 26th state in the Union. Michigan is famous for having an upper peninsula and a lower peninsula, but it also has a Lost Peninsula. Plus: a soupmaker is now offering the flavor of chicken noodle soup in the form of a cough drop. 

The story of Michigan's Lost Peninsula (Michigan Radio)

‘Progresso Soup Drops’, The Comforting Taste of Chicken Noodle Soup Captured in a Hard Candy Form (Laughing Squid)

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Today in 1999, a moment in the golf world that you don’t see everyday: a bunch of people moving a boulder for golf star Tiger Woods in the middle of a tournament. Plus: a movie star's new marriage comes apart in just days because of breakfast foods?

Throwback Thursday: That time Tiger Woods had his gallery perform manual labor and move a boulder (Golf Digest)

Refused $2,000,000 to Return to Her Husband - and Yet She Loves Him (Omaha Sunday Bee-News via Newspapers.com)  

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Today in 2011, Rebecca Sharrock of Brisbane, Australia got a medical diagnosis: Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory. It's a rare condition in which people can vividly remember virtually everything they've ever experienced. Plus: this Saturday in Florida, the Dade City Kumquat Festival.

The woman who can’t forget (BBC)

Dade City’s Kumquat Festival 

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Today in 1925, a telegram sets off one of the most remarkable crossings of its time: the famous Serum Run to Nome, Alaska. Plus: this Saturday in New York, the Downtown Schenectady Soup Stroll.

The 1925 Serum Run To Nome (AlaskaWeb)

Downtown Schenectady Soup Stroll

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For Squirrel Appreciation Day, we visit a town in northeastern Kansas where black squirrels are number one. It's the law. Plus: Cedar Creek, Texas, is home to Ms. Pearl, a 14 foot tall squirrel statue.

From circus attraction to protected mascot to art project: How black squirrels took over a small Kansas town (Roadtrippers)

Ms. Pearl (Atlas Obscura)

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There are lots of ceremonies and events in honor of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. today, and there are lots of monuments you can visit too. Though some of Dr. King’s biggest fans might steer you away from some of those monuments.

In the city where the Kings met, ‘The Embrace’ memorializes their love and struggle (Boston Globe)

A Stunning New Boston Memorial Will Celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King (Architectural Digest)

AirFarm is an inflatable container farm that could help people grow crops where there’s not a lot of water. The idea - pun intended- blew up at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Plus: today in 1931, the birthday of James Earl Jones. He did a little bit of everything in his long and distinguished career, though one of his most famous roles only took a short time. 

World’s first inflatable farm uses 99% less water to grow vegetables in deserts (Interesting Engineering)

James Earl Jones Only Needed One Day to Change Star Wars Forever (Inverse)

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This week in 1964, the US Atomic Energy Commission presented a report to Congress on an eye-opening idea: clearing land for a highway in southeast California with nuclear bombs. Plus: the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Saskatchewan release their annual list of the weirdest reasons people have called 911 there.

America Almost Made a New Route 66 With 22 Nuclear Bombs (The Drive)

Mean cats, fox on the loose, math problems among calls to Sask. RCMP that 'missed the mark' (CBC)

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This month in 1920, the start of a slightly strange criminal case in which the jury didn’t just weigh the evidence… they drank it. Plus: a contractor in Illinois gets a very late Christmas present during a renovation project at his parents' house.

Prohibition: The jury tasted the evidence and found defendant not guilty (Delmarva Now)

46-year-old Christmas surprise: Lombard man finds decades-old gift hidden inside wall of childhood home (WGN)

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Today in 2020, Wausau, Wisconsin's long-running and notorious ban on snowball fights was finally off the books! Though there was actually more to the story than the uproar suggested. Plus: The Public Domain Review looks back through the history of snowball fights in art, going all the way to the year 1400!

Snowball fights are legal in Wausau after more than a century. You can thank the viral stories. (Wausau Daily Herald) 

Snowball Fights in Art (1400–1946) (Public Domain Review)

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