Cool Weird Awesome With Brady Carlson

It's the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drough, so it's a good time to check in on the Great Green Wall, a multi-country project in and around Africa’s Sahel region to re-green areas that have turned to desert because of overuse, expanding desert and climate change. Plus: a retired couple in China's Gobi Desert have been running their own regreening project for nearly 20 years, planting tens of thousands of drought-resistant trees by themselves!  More than 20 African countries are planting a 8,000-km-long ‘Great Green Wall’ (ZME Science) Fighting desertification: A man's mission to make the Gobi desert green (CGTN) Keep this show growing as a backer on Patreon! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Summer in California can mean drought, so every drop of water counts. A research project there says putting solar panels over the state's many miles of water canals could save tens of billions of gallons of water a year. Plus: a museum in Rochester, New York is going to host the National Archives of Game Show History... if the price is right.  Solar canals create renewable energy and save water at the same time (Popular Science) Game Show History to Be Preserved With National Archives at Strong National Museum of Play (Variety) Our show is powered by our backers on Patreon! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

The man now known as “First Guide & Explorer of Mammoth Cave," had been enslaved in the 19th century and sent to explore what was becoming a hot tourist site. He set the bar for every guide who came after him. Plus: today in 1976, a baseball game at the Houston Astrodome was called off... due to weather?!? Enslaved Tour Guide Stephen Bishop Made Mammoth Cave the Must-See Destination It Is Today (Smithsonian) Hoffman: Astros made history with a rainout (Houston Chronicle) Help make more episodes of this show as a backer on Patreon! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

For Flag Day, we present the story of Superflag, a 505 foot long, 255 foot tall American flag that was once flown over Hoover Dam (because they don't make flagpoles that large). Plus: a Durham University study finds people can use click-based echolocation effectively in the real world after just 10 weeks of practice!  Was the World’s Largest U.S. Flag Displayed at Hoover Dam? (Snopes) Echolocation: People trained to hear like bats in a study that could help those with vision loss (Science Focus) Our Patreon backers are pretty super, join them today! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

The event has been cancelled for 2021, but this was supposed to be the time when some adventurous types headed to Switzerland to take part in a race like no other: a run up a world record staircase known as the Niesen Stairway Run. Plus: a lot of us have been doing video calls and meetings more than ever, but the technology isn't totally new. In fact, Sony made a video phone back in the late 1980s!  Niesen flight of stairs (Niesen) Video phone (Techmoan on YouTube) Our Patreon backers always help us reach new heights --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

The National Geographic Society has recognized a fifth ocean, the Southern Ocean, on earth. How the oceans got their names - and why we don't think of them as one big ocean, which is what it is - is a long and fascinating story. Plus: a designer in South Korea has invented a "third eye" to warn people looking at their phones while walking before they collide with someone or something (or, maybe, to get them to look up more often).  How many oceans are there? (NOAA) Dividing the Ocean Sea by Martin W. Lewis (Geographical Review via JSTOR)  National Geographic recognizes new, 5th ocean (WFLA) A Wearable Robotic Third Eye That Alerts People to Look Up From Their Phones to Avoid Obstacles (Laughing Squid) We'd sail on any of the oceans with our Patreon backers --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

We use a lot of energy to ship goods, but it's not always very efficient. With pasta, for example, most of what we're shipping is the air in the box. So a team at Carnegie Mellon University found a way to make flat-packed pasta that changes shape as it cooks. Plus: the New York Times briefly published a story that claimed "Fields of Watermelon Found on Mars, Police Say." It was almost certainly a test page, but still, maybe the Mars rover should do a quick check.  Mighty morphin’ flat-packed pasta takes on 3D shapes as it cooks (Ars Technica) New York Times Publishes Then Deletes Article Claiming Watermelons Were Found on Mars (Futurism) Our Patreon backers keep this show in great shape every day --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Today would have been the 93rd birthday of the great actor and comedian Jerry Stiller. He was perhaps best known for playing the overbearing and incomprehensible loudmouth dad Frank Costanza on "Seinfeld," but according to his real-life kids, he was a pretty nice dad. Plus: a new textile exhibit in New York uses fragrances to evoke the artist's childhood in Bangalore, India.  How Ben Stiller Will Remember His Father (The New Yorker) Ben Stiller shares sweet childhood story about Jerry Stiller trying to catch a bike thief (Yahoo) Thread Infused with Scent Embellishes Embroidered and Woven Textiles to Stimulate Memories (Colossal) Our Patreon backers are extra nice too!  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

The 1934 US Open was a prestigious but kind of strange golf tournament. The guy who won it, Olin Dutra, was sick as a dog the whole time. And another top player reportedly knocked himself out of contention after accidentally hitting himself in the head with a club.  Bobby Cruickshank - the war hero who became one of Scottish golf's nearly men in United States (The Scotsman) Olin Dutra overcomes bout of food poisoning to win by one stroke over Sarazen at Merion (U.S. Golf Association) Our Patreon backers always help us reach the green --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

In the old days, tennis balls were white, but when documentary film legend David Attenborough pushed the BBC to carry the Wimbledon tournament in color, the tennis world realized those balls weren't showing up very well for home viewers. Plus: the community of Fitzgerald, Georgia is hoping to attract tourists with - what else - a giant steel topiary chicken.  The reason tennis balls are yellow -- or maybe green (CNN) 'New balls, please' for mice homes (BBC) ‘This is not a model kit’: 62 ft. Fitzgerald chicken starts to take form (WALB) Support our show as a backer on Patreon for just $1 a month! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Today in 1769 Captain James Cook and his crew observed the transit of Venus from Tahiti, a big deal for astronomers then; only his French colleague Guillaume Le Gentil had spent years preparing to do the exact same thing, and had much worse luck on his expedition. Plus: for World Bicycle Day, a visit to a giant bicycle sculpture in South Dakota.  Transit of Venus: a tale of two expeditions (The Conversation) 7 Strange Spots In South Dakota That Will Make You Stop And Look Twice (Only in South Dakota) Everywhere we go, whatever we do, our Patreon backers go with us --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Sometimes it’s not just what you’re communicating, it’s how you communicate it. Pausing for effect can help get your point across. Humans know this, but according to researchers, so do some kinds of fish. Plus: a sculpture made only of "air and spirit" sells for 15,000 Euros. That's definitely not nothing.  Electric fish -- and humans -- pause before communicating key points (Washington University in St. Louis) The Invisible statues of Salvatore Garau (Weird Universe) Power this show as a backer on Patreon! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

If you know the story of the Loch Ness Monster, the story of the Ogopogo in Canada's British Columbia might sound familiar. But there's a whole other side to this story that comes from the Okanagan/syilx people, who first lived in the area. Plus: a town in Lithuania built a real-time video "portal" to a town in Poland, so they could see each other even when they couldn't travel.  Canada's mysterious lake monster (BBC) ‘Pretty creepy’: Okanagan man believes he’s captured ‘definitive Ogopogo sighting’ on video (GlobalNews) Vilnius, Lithuania built a ‘portal’ to another city to help keep people connected (The Verge) Join our backers on Patreon and help make new episodes of our show! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

In our Memorial Day episode from 2019, we look at the many places with Memorial Day origin stories. Officially, the community that started Memorial Day is Waterloo, New York, but it's not the only one.  How Waterloo, NY, became the birthplace of Memorial Day (New York Upstate) Birthplace of Memorial Day? That Depends Where You’re From (New York Times) Memorial Day History (VA.gov) --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

DARPA’s Information Innovation Office and researchers at the University of Central Florida taught a deep learning algorithm to spot sarcasm by feeding it back articles of The Onion and snarky threads from Twitter and Reddit. I'm so excited. Plus: it's National Road Trip Day, how about a visit to a town with a very road trip friendly name?  Big Whoop: DARPA Makes Oh-So-Clever Online Sarcasm Detector (Interesting Engineering) These 8 Kansas Towns Have The Silliest Names But Are So Worth A Visit (Only in Kansas) No snark to detect when we say our Patreon backers are the best --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

On the anniversary of the opening of San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge, here's the story of another one of the city's icons: Norton I, a man who proclaimed himself emperor of the United States and people went along with it. Plus: a Chinese millionaire has bought a soccer team and has added himself to the roster, and people are going along with it.  Emperor Norton I (American Heritage) The truth about Chinese football club owner’s 126kg son viral story (South China Morning Post) Our Patreon backers make our show feel like royalty!  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Today in 1977, Marvel Comics publishes a KISS Super Special - and what was really unusual was that the band members had each added a little of their blood into the ink. Plus: a fire-breathing pipe organ that wouldn't be at all out of place at a KISS concert.  Did KISS Mix Their Blood in the Ink of Their Comic Book? (Snopes) Flamethrower Pipe Organ (The Awesomer) We wanted the best, we got the best - our Patreon backers --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Today in 1977, "Star Wars" premiered in movie theaters, and became a movie, pop culture and merchandising phenomenon. But how is it that, in one scene, an Imperial Stormtrooper walks helmet-first into an overhead door? Plus: in Kent, Ohio, there's a restaurant with a large-scale replica of an X-wing fighter out front. If you visit, stay on target!  ‘Star Wars’ Head-Banging Stormtrooper Explains the Classic Blunder (Hollywood Reporter) STAR WARS Book Explains Why that Stormtrooper Hit His Head in A NEW HOPE (Nerdist) The Quirkiest Restaurant In Ohio That’s Impossible Not To Love (Only In Your State) The Force is strong in our Patreon backers  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

In northwestern Russia, on the Kola Peninsula, there's a metal cap covering a hole that scientists dug 7.5 miles down. Here's the story of the Kola Superdeep Borehole project. Plus, a classic rock band finds out what it's like to be in the financial hole, on a resource-intensive US tour.  Beneath this Metal Cap is the World's Deepest Hole (Slate) Greg Lake (The Times) Our Patreon backers are really, really deep, man  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Next week many of us will be watching for the Super Blood Moon, which is actually three moon phenomena all happening at the same time, thus earning its memorable and maybe kind of terrifying nickname. Plus: this month marks 20 years since the world’s first pizza delivery in space. The Largest and Brightest Supermoon of the Year Is Happening This Month (Travel + Leisure) Pizza sets new delivery record (BBC) Our Patreon backers are even more super than a Supermoon --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message