The auto industry is pleased to report that last year was the best year for new car sales since 2019. That means a lot of people are breathing in the scent we call new car smell, which… well, what the heck is that smell anyway? Plus: this weekend, Farmers Branch, Texas formally opens what is says will be the first glow in the dark playground in the US.

A Day in the Life of Nissan’s Smellmasters Who, Yep, Smell Nissans for a Living (The Drive)

The Science of the New-Car Smell (Car and Driver)

Texas city to open nation’s first glow-in-the-dark playground in the new year (KXAN)

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This week in 1920, a federal law enforcing the Constitution's Prohibition Amendment took effect. But there were loopholes, and one of the most clever way to use those loopholes was through something known as the "grape brick" or "wine brick." Plus: today in 1922, the birthday of TV legend Betty White, who spent almost all her life on screen but also took time away to serve during World War II.

Rare Prohibition ‘grape brick’ that turns into wine on show (The Drinks Business)

Betty White's shoulder bag is a time capsule of World War II (National Museum of American History) 

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Cars have had airbags for years; there are even inflatable airbag pants for motorcyclists. Now there are inflatable airbag clothing that can protect people who fall. Plus: a 19th century dress came with a strange coded message, but that message has now been decoded.

Wearable Airbags Instantly Protect The Elderly When They Fall (DesignTaxi)

A Woman Hid This Secret Code in Her Silk Dress in 1888—and Codebreakers Just Solved It (Popular Mechanics)

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It's Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and today we remember the time Dr. King won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 and how his home city gave him a warm welcome after he received the honor - though putting that warm welcome together got complicated. 

How Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1964 Nobel Peace Prize challenged Atlanta’s tolerance (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Nobel Peace Prize (The Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute, Stanford University)

Today in 1912, the birthday of actor House Peters Jr., the first live action Mr. Clean on TV commercials. We'll explain how the character got his name, his look and his worldwide reputation. Plus: tomorrow in and around Fargo, North Dakota and Moorhead, Minnesota, it's day one of Frostival.

Search for new Mr. (or Ms.) Clean is on (Toronto Sun)

MR. CLEAN AT 40 (Chicago Tribune)

Frostival

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On this day in 1992, John Thompson of North Dakota lost his arms in a farm accident. He then got himself emergency care in time so that he got his arms back! Plus: today in 2023, a family in Bloomington, Illinois started hearing noises in the garage. It was an endangered ring-tailed lemur.

Whatever happened to John Thompson, the ND farm kid who had his arms ripped off in a 1992 farm accident? (Ag Week)

An Illinois family heard a noise in their garage. It was an endangered ring-tailed lemur. (Yahoo!)

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In our time there are lots of apps and other programs that help people who are looking to date. Back in the 1920s, some clubs in Berlin let singles flirt using pneumatic tubes and tableside telephones! Plus: a cement company in Peru is trying to help blind and visually impaired people more easily find their destinations. 

Flirting in the Club Was Much Easier in the 1920s (VICE)

sidewalk tiles with numbered lines let the visually impaired know the shop they’re passing by (designboom)

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Today in 1913, the birthday of President Richard Nixon. In addition to being a politician, Nixon was a capable piano player who once said on tape that he would've gone into music "if there had been a good rap group around in those days." Plus: the time the 37th president sent a thank you letter to one of the wildest outsider musicians of all time.

Richard Nixon, wannabe rapper (Washington Post)

He hunches in Heaven. Hasil Adkins dead at 67. (WFMU)

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Today in 1978 the Chicago Sun-Times newspaper started publishing a series of stories that reporters still talk about today: reporters bought a dive bar in Chicago, named it the Mirage Tavern, and worked undercover as bartenders to catch corrupt city inspectors. Plus: today in 1935, the birthday of Elvis Presley - or at least the best known Elvis Presley. One of his impersonators, who legally changed his name to that of the King, ran in 2014 for Arkansas commissioner of state lands. 

A toast to undercover journalism’s greatest coup, when reporters bought a bar (Columbia Journalism Review) 

THE MIRAGE TAVERN (WTTW)

Elvis runs for office in Arkansas (Arkansas Online)

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This week in 1973, the premiere of Schoolhouse Rock! We'll explain how this show got kids singing and learning every Saturday morning. Plus: today in 1893, the birthday of folk great Elizabeth "Libba" Cotten, who only started performing in her 60s but wrote her signature song decades before.

Happy Anniversary “Schoolhouse Rock!” (Library of Congress)

Syracuse folk legend Libba Cotten to be inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (Syracuse.com)

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