There's evidence humans have been building figures out of snow for centuries. But they haven't always been called "snowmen" and they haven't always looked the way they look now. We'll explain how we got the shape and the name. Plus: if you’re looking to liven up your Black History Month, you can head to Baltimore, Maryland, home to the National Great Blacks in Wax Museum. 

Illinois Snow Sculpting Competition 

The Snowman: A brief history of a winter entertainment (Obscure Histories)

Baltimore’s National Great Blacks in Wax Museum teaches visitors that knowledge is power (Roadtrippers)

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Today in 1984, two US astronauts walked in space. And, for the first time, they weren’t connected to anything. Plus: the New York Historical Society features an exhibition through early April on the history of the city's Jewish delis.

35 YEARS AGO: FIRST UNTETHERED SPACEWALK (Kennedy Space Center)

In Pictures: A New York Exhibition Celebrates the Delicious History of Jewish Delis, Matzo Balls and All (Artnet)

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Supposedly this month in 1891 a sailor named James Bartley was swallowed by a whale and lived! But The Straight Dope took a closer look and found this story was almost certainly too good to be true. Plus: this week in Saranac Lake, New York, near Lake Placid, it’s the Saranac Lake Winter Carnival.

The Straight Dope (Chicago Reader)

Saranac Lake Winter Carnival

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Today is Take A Cruise Day. Cruise ships aren’t for everybody, but some of us really take to them, especially Clara MacBeth, who spent entire decades on cruise ships sailing around the world. Plus: today in South Haven, Michigan, the first day of the Ice Breaker Festival.

Sail away from the January blues (Evening Standard via Archive.org) 

29th Annual Ice Breaker Festival

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Rechargeable batteries like the ones in our smartphones typically last a few years, but a new project out of Australia could lead to batteries that last nearly a decade. And that's thanks in part to sound waves. Plus: February is Black History Month, and few people spent as much time collecting artifacts from Black history as Elizabeth Meaders.

Australian tech could triple phone battery life and solve e-waste crisis (The New Daily)

Why a Schoolteacher Spent 70 Years Collecting Thousands of Black History Artifacts (Smithsonian)

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On this day in 1790 the US Supreme Court held its first session. Back then, the Court didn't have its own building, but now it does, and that building includes a basketball court. Plus: on the birthday of Rick James, the story of how the funk legend once got a special gift from none other than Salvador Dalí. 

The Highest Court in the Land (Sports Illustrated)

From Dali to Bestiality: The 10 Craziest Stories in Rick James’ Memoir (Rolling Stone)

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Today in 1971, Apollo 14 launched. It may be best known today for the moment when astronaut Alan Shepard hit golf balls on the surface of the moon, but that wasn’t the only landmark from this mission. Apollo 14 also gave us the “moon trees.” Plus: Brian Moore's LOL Verifier only lets your keyboard type the famous acronym if it notices that you are actually laughing out loud.

The "Moon Trees" (NASA)

A Clever Device That Only Lets You Type LOL When You’re Actually Laughing Out Loud (Laughing Squid)

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Today in 1882, the birthday of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He wound up being America’s longest serving president, but at one point FDR had a very different destiny in mind for himself: he wanted to write screenplays for movies. Plus: we mark the birthday in 1951 of musician Phil Collins with a story of a statue that unintentionally looked just like him. 

Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Patriot, Statesman, and Would-Be Hollywood Screen Writer... (Old Magazine Articles)

The President’s Mystery (Futility Closet)

Church builds huge baby Jesus statue — that looks like Phil Collins (New York Post)

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If you’re trying to eat healthier in the new year, maybe by cutting back on salt, here’s something that might help: cutlery that can make food seem saltier without the added salt. Plus: this Sunday at Terhune Orchards in Princeton, New Jersey, it's Wassailing the Apple Trees.

electric spoon, bowl, and chopsticks trick taste buds by making food 'saltier' (designboom)

Wassailing the Apple Trees (Terhune Orchards)

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Today in 1956, the US issued a patent for Play-Doh. Millions of kids have built bazillions of things with this colorful stuff, but in its first life, Play-Doh had a very different job: cleaning soot off wallpaper. Plus: a mom in Chicago finds a clever way to get her gamer daughter to take food out of the freezer. 

Why Play Doh Stays Hugely Popular, 60 Years Later (Fortune)

Made in Jersey: Play-Doh is a Dover teacher's handiwork (NJ.com)

Mother Goes Viral After She Pulled Up on Daughter on Roblox, Told Her To Sit ‘Lasagna Out’ (Black Enterprise) 

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