This week we’re replaying some of our finest episodes about some of the finest works ever created. In this episode from December 2022, the story of 19th Century English miniaturist Sarah Biffin, a renowned artist who was born without full arms or legs and whose life and work are the subject of an exhibition now running in London. Plus: British Columbia-based artist Elspeth McLean turns round stones from the ocean into colorful and extremely ornate mini mandalas.

⁠Who Was Sarah Biffin?⁠ (Philip Mould and Company)

⁠Sarah Biffin: the celebrated nineteenth-century artist born without arms or legs⁠ (Art UK)

⁠Found Ocean Stones Are Transformed Into Vibrant Mandalas You Can Hold in Your Hand⁠ (My Modern Met)

⁠Our Patreon backers help us make great art every day

This week we’re replaying some of our finest episodes about some of the finest works ever created. In this episode from October 2021, a look at the research into how pigeons take in and process visual information, like art. Apparently it's pretty complex. Plus: in Detroit, a local news reporter does a story about a local skateboard park, and flawlessly rides a skateboard in the middle of his report! 

⁠The Pigeon as Art Critic⁠ (Scientific American)

⁠Van Gogh, Chagall and pigeons: picture discrimination in pigeons and humans⁠ (NIH)

⁠Pigeons' Discrimination of Paintings By Monet and Picasso⁠ (Researchgate)

⁠News anchor ends local skatepark dispatch by shredding into the sunset⁠ (AV Club)

⁠Pigeons also recognize our Patreon backers as the best

Today in 1931, the birthday of William Shatner, Captain Kirk from the original “Star Trek” series. Of course, if a different show he was supposed to star in had gone ahead, Shatner might not have ended up as Captain Kirk at all. Plus: tomorrow in Chicago, it’s St. Ryan’s Day, where anyone and everyone named Ryan is invited to come by and celebrate being a Ryan. 

The failure of one toga-clad TV pilot completely altered the landscape of Sixties pop culture (MeTV)

Ryan Meetup 

Without our Patreon backers, this show would’ve ended up just like that failed TV pilot

Today we’re looking at the song that a lot of us sing over a birthday cake: “Happy Birthday To You.” And does this song ever have a wild history.

Happy Birthday to You (Quartz)

This episode was exclusive to our Patreon backers until March 21, 2025. Want to hear bonus episodes when they're released? Back this show on Patreon for just $1 a month!

It's our show's fifth birthday! It's also the birthday in 1962 of the first Taco Bell restaurant, which had a "chili burger" on its original menu. Plus: for National Fragrance Week, a visit to San Francisco's Aftel Archive of Curious Scents. 

Was the 'Bell Beefer' Burger Among Taco Bell's First Offerings? (Snopes)

This San Francisco Bay Area museum stinks (Boing Boing)

Our Patreon get an exclusive bonus episode today - it’s like a 2 for 1 deal at a fast food place!

Today in 1967, a Japanese athlete Shizo Kanakuri, finished a Olympic marathon that he’d started in 1912. Better late than never! Plus: a college student asks a professor a question and gets a reply long after graduation.

Better late than never for Japan's first, "slowest" Olympian (Japan Times)

Hannah Jung For all the people that think they are bad at responding to emails (Hannah Jung on Twitter via Bored Panda)

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Today in 1963, the opening of a bridge in Longview, Washington. that wasn't for cars, or bikes, or even pedestrians. It was a bridge for squirrels. Plus: Milan's Palazzo Morando is hosting an exhibit of photos featuring the colorful street fashions of people in the Congo and other African countries. 

Nutty Narrows Bridge opens in Longview on March 19, 1963. (HistoryLink)

African Street Style and Global Subcultures Celebrated in Retrospective Photography Exhibition (My Modern Met)

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Today in 1941, the birthday of Wilson Pickett, a legend of soul and R&B music, and one who had an engineer save one of his future hit songs from a very hungry tape machine. Plus: today in 1970, the birthday of musician and actor Queen Latifah, who is known for a very specific requirement in her movie contracts.

"Mustang Sally" at 45 (Interview) – Sir Mack Rice and Spooner Oldham Tell The Story (Rock Cellar) 

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson & 9 Other Actors With Bizarre Contract Clauses (ScreenRant)

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It’s Sleep Awareness Week, and today we’re talking about the part of sleep people usually like the least: the part where the alarm clock wakes us up. Or, in the time before alarm clocks, the part where the local "knocker-up" pounded on the doors to get people out of bed. Plus: the story of how rock singer Bret Michaels asked to adopt a huskie named Bret Michaels.

A 2,000-Year History of Alarm Clocks (Atlas Obscura)

Musician Bret Michaels to adopt dog who saved kitten's life (3 News Now)

Now is the time to support our show on Patreon

For Alfred Einstein's birthday, the story of how he and fellow prominent physicist Leo Szilard co-designed a unique kind of refrigerator in the 1920s. Plus: the letter Einstein wrote in 1936 for a time capsule that would be opened in a thousand years.

Einstein’s Little-Known Passion Project? A Refrigerator (WIRED)

Missive (Futility Closet)

It would be an Einstein-level genius move to back our show on Patreon