Interesting Things with JC #248: "The Space Coast" is a region in the U.S. state of Florida around the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. One reason rockets are launched in Florida has to do with the Earth's rotation. From rockets to surfing, salt to searching for the fountain of youth, the SpaceCoast of Florida is a treasure to behold. Click to Listen!

Interesting Things with JC #247: "Melbourne Florida”. Originally known as Crane Creek, this area was inhabited in 1878, and shortly afterward the community got renamed to Melbourne. Melbourne continued to thrive economically and the early 1950s saw the city get to even newer heights. A space complex was constructed to the north at Cape Canaveral and subsequently, there was an influx of other aerospace industries. There's the world renown historic bone bed and the childhood home of Jim Morrison is also in Melbourne!

Interesting Things with JC #246: “The Sullivan Brothers” - The five Sullivan brothers were World War II sailor brothers of Irish American descent who, serving together on the light cruiser USS Juneau, were all killed in action in and shortly after its sinking around November 13, 1942.

Interesting Things with JC #245: “42 Round Boxing Match” - April 17, 1860 — The first “world championship” boxing match took place on this day – not in a grand stadium like New York’s Madison Square Garden that was to host later famous battles, but in an open field…in southern England!

Interesting Things with JC #244: "Alfred Levy and the Invention of Hold Music” - Music on hold was born out of an accidental discovery by factory owner Alfred Levy in the early 1960s. The phone lines in his factory were somehow picking up a radio signal from the radio station nearby, and callers could hear music when they were put on hold.

Interesting Things with JC #243: "Shrek the Sheep" - After evading humans for years, on April 15th 2004 in a cave in New Zealand, Shrek the Sheep was finally caught. The merino sheep had grown an amazing 27kg or 60lbs worth of fleece during this time.

Interesting Things with JC #242: "Charles Lightoller" was trapped underwater after helping save people as the Titanic sank. A boiler exploded and sent him rushing back to the surface where he helped 30 more people. In WW2 he helped save another 127 people at Dunkirk.

Interesting Things with JC #241: “The Flying Scotsman” - Mr. Alan Pegler brought the "Flying Scotsman" with a train of three British passenger cars, to the United States in 1968, traveling from Coast to Coast as an exhibition to promote global British exports. The details of the trip would forever change Pegler, as the fate of the train was unknown at the time!

Interesting Things with JC #240: “Belgian Waffles” - There are many different types of Belgian waffles, there is no such thing as a singular Belgian Waffle. The two most popular types of waffles that you'll find are Brussels waffles and Liege waffles.

Interesting Things with JC #239: "Traffic Lights" - Most common traffic lights operate based on timers. In areas that are not as congested, timers are not the best idea, as rural drivers may be sitting at a red light for an extended period of time. This is where sensor based traffic lights are more of an advantage. The actual sensors used can vary greatly per location, they could be lasers, rubber hoses filled with air, video cameras or inductive loops.

Interesting Things with JC #238: "Player Piano”. The player piano system was invented by Edwin Votey in 1895, & the first player piano was introduced by Melville Clark in 1900. It was driven by song specific piano rolls, which are continuous rolls of paper with holes punched into them. The holes let air get sucked into the system, & when the roll goes over a hole on the tracker bar, a specific note is played.

Interesting Things with JC #237: "Lee's Legendary Marbles" is in the amazing and quaint town of York Nebraska and is one of the most unique places to visit. Lee started the collection in 1954, and even has uranium glass marbles from the early 20th century.

Interesting Things with JC #236: "Locked-in Syndrome and the Miracle Microchip”. Locked-in Syndrome is a rare neurological disorder characterized by complete paralysis of voluntary muscles in all parts of the body except for those that control eye movement. Emerging technology provides a brain-computer interface to help people who are locked-in communicate freely again.

Interesting Things with JC - #235: “Sea of Okhotsk” is at the same latitude as the Gulf of Alaska, but unlike the Gulf, the sea freezes between October and March. At 611,000 square miles (1,583,000 sq km) the sea is considered one of the richest north temperate marine ecosystems in the world, and one of the most biologically productive of the world’s seas.

Interesting Things with JC #234 - on April 6th 2016, the first baby born with DNA from 3 parents through mitochondrial transfer happened in Mexico. The technique is designed to help couples who carry rare genetic mutations have healthy children.

Interesting Things with JC #233 - On April 5th, 1722 Jacob Roggeveen discovered Easter Island. Jacob was a Dutch explorer who was sent to find Terra Australis and Davis Land. He planned the expedition along with his brother Jan Roggeveen, who stayed in the Netherlands.

Interesting Things with JC #232: “The NATO Treaty" - On April 4th, 1949 the 14-article North Atlantic Treaty was signed in Washington, D.C., by representatives of 12 countries, the United States, Britain, Canada, Belgium, Denmark, France, Norway, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Portugal. According to the treaty’s preamble, NATO’s member countries were determined to safeguard the freedom, common heritage and civilisation of their peoples by uniting their efforts for collective defence and for the preservation of peace and security.

Interesting Things with JC #231: "US Strategic Petroleum Reserve” or "SPR" is a U.S. Government complex of four sites with deep underground storage caverns created in salt domes along the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coasts. The SPR was filled to its then 727 million barrel authorized storage capacity on December 27, 2009.

Interesting Things with JC #230: "ZAZEL - The Human Cannonball". On Easter Monday, April 2nd 1877 the first human cannonball act was performed by 16 year old Rossa Matilda Richter known as Zazel at the Royal Aquarium in London. Interestingly just before her birthday on April 7th.

Interesting Things with JC #229: "The Spaghetti Trees of Switzerland". The BBC pulled off one of the best April Fools’ Day pranks, convincing the British population that not only did spaghetti grow on trees, but that they could grow their own by sticking dry spaghetti into cans of marinara sauce…is this even real?!