Cool Weird Awesome With Brady Carlson

We explore one of the great mysteries of our time: why is there a rock in Newbury, New Hampshire, with the words "CHICKEN FARMER I STILL LOVE YOU" painted on it? Plus: why is there a giant statue of a chicken eating burgers on top of a restaurant in Wisconsin? Lots of chicken mysteries out there, I guess.  You Asked, We Answered: What's Up With That 'Chicken Farmer I Still Love You' Rock? (NHPR)  Merrill, Wisconsin: Chicken Holding Burger, Beer (Roadside America) We owe all of our 300 episodes to our backers on Patreon! Join us now and help us make even more!  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Imagine a unicycle, but there's no seat, the wheel is much bigger and you ride inside it. That's a monowheel, and while it may not be a casual rider's cup of tea, extreme sports people are way into them. Plus: how would you like to recreate a piece of art in your house that's made of fortune cookies?  Rise of the Monowheel (Mashable) Want a Gigantic Pile of Cookies in Your Home? 1,000 People Are Being Asked to Hoard Fortune Cookies as Part of an Ambitious Global Art Show (Artnet) Our backers on Patreon are the real works of art! Join us for just $1 a month! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

A new Harvard study finds those systems that suggest words to us when we type on our smartphones are actually shaping the way we write sentences and messages. The new app Drive + Listen can take you on the most realistic virtual road trip of our time.  Predictive text systems change what we write (Harvard) Listen to local music as you 'drive' through your favourite city with this new app (Lonely Planet) I predict that our Patreon backers will make this the coolest podcast ever --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Otters are known to choose favorite rocks to carry around and juggle - it's a real sight to see. Researchers at the University of Exeter have been trying to figure out why otters juggle. Meanwhile: Juneau, Alaska just set up a joke hotline for residents looking for a laugh while staying at home. Otters juggle stones when hungry (Science Daily) City of Juneau started a joke hotline to cheer people up. High demand might have knocked it offline. (Anchorage Daily News) Our Patreon backers have to juggle being amazing and being awesome at the same time.  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

The moon waxes and wanes in its phases month after month, and it always comes back. Except for that time in 1110, when records indicate that the moon vanished for months, or maybe even a year or longer. Scientists finally think they know what happened. Plus: a Japanese newspaper has a secret message about social distancing - but you have to be social distancing to read it.  In 1110, The Moon Vanished From The Sky. We Might Finally Know What Caused It (Science Alert) A Japanese Newspaper’s Secret Social Distancing Message (Spoon + Tamago) Our backers on Patreon shine as bright as stars, or something  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Chris Sedden was looking at scans of a site near where he lived, and spotted something “a bit odd, and a bit round.” It might be a lost henge! Plus: the community of Dorset finds a way to hold the annual "knob"-eating contest even while everyone's staying home.  Lost henge? Digging archaeology online during lockdown (The Guardian) World-famous 'Knob-eating contest' held online for the fist time ever (Times Now News) Our Patreon backers are doing great things online too! Join them today! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Colleges and students are trying to make the best of the current difficulties - like with virtual commencement ceremonies, for example. But there are still some traditions that are hard to replicate online, like Meredith College's annual presentation of a class doll at the end of the year. Plus: meet Graham Walters, who rowed his way across the Atlantic Ocean, only to find the world had changed considerably since the start of his trip.  Beyond Fashion: The Story Behind Meredith College’s Class Dolls (Walter Magazine) A 72-year-old UK man has completed a solo trans-Atlantic rowing trip in 96 days (CNN) Each year Patreon backers make Cool Weird Awesome possible. Join them!  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

There's been a surge in popularity for jigsaw puzzles lately - not bad for an idea that was originally meant to teach kids in London about the countries of Europe. Plus: today marks the 10th anniversary of the world record for the largest group hug. Anyone want to try to break that record next year?  Here’s How Those Hot Jigsaw Puzzles Are Made (New York Times) Piecing together the history of jigsaw puzzles (CBS News) Ottawa sets the world’s record for largest group hug (Guinness World Records) Sending virtual hugs to our backers on Patreon. Join us today! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

The city of Pompeii was buried by Mount Vesuvius almost 2,000 years ago. And yet something there may sound very familiar to us today: the community had a pretty elaborate recycling system. Plus: why staff at the Sumida Aquarium in Tokyo are encouraging people to video chat with their eels. Did the Ancient Pompeiians Invent Recycling? New Research Suggests They Used Trash to Build City Walls (and Much More) (Artnet) Japanese aquarium urges public to video-chat eels who are forgetting humans exist (The Guardian) Back Cool Weird Awesome on Patreon for just $1 a month! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Missing the sounds of a full restaurant on a Saturday night? Several well-known ambient sound apps and platforms feature a wide range of soundscapes, including restaurants, that might bring those familiar sounds back to you. Plus: the story of a dude in Wisconsin who woke up the neighborhood with his guitar shredding.  The Sound of Silence (Eater) Miss Reading in Public? Bring the Sounds of the Library to Your Home (Electric Literature) Waukesha blotter (Waukesha Freeman) Backing Cool Weird Awesome on Patreon sounds like a pretty good idea --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Authorities in Belgium are calling on citizens to do their duty and help the country's potato farmers by ordering frites twice a week - fitting, since Belgium is home of the world's only Frietmuseum and considers itself the birthplace of the fried potato. Plus: today in 2008, the passing of the man who made the Pringles can possible. And he included that iconic tube of chips in his final wishes.  Belgians asked to eat fries twice a week (Brussels Times) The Humble Origins Of The French Fry Might Surprise You (Food Republic) Can Belgium Claim Ownership of the French Fry? (BBC) The Man Buried in a Pringles Can (TIME) Back Cool Weird Awesome for just $1 a month - just as good for your ears as fries are for your appetite --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

You know how some couples have their own song? There’s actually psychological research into what are known officially as “couple-defining songs," and there are legitimate benefits to the relationship to choosing a tune to share. Plus: next time you're in Japan, drop by Neko Neko Shokupan and share one of their famous cat-shaped breads with someone special. Do You and Your Partner Have an "Our Song"? (Psychology Today) Japanese Bakery Makes Cat-Shaped Breads And They’re Just Too Adorable (Bored Panda) We'd like to dedicate this next song to our backers on Patreon --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

It would be understandable if you felt a little cut off from the rest of the world these days. Hopefully it won't be as challenging as it was for Dr. Leonid Rogozov, who on this day in 1961 had to remove his own appendix while stationed in Antarctica. Plus: today in 1970, Pink Floyd played a concert for public TV in San Francisco. Silence in the studio!  The Soviet Doctor Who Cut Out His Own Appendix (Flashbak) EXCLUSIVE: Unseen Footage of Pink Floyd Playing in 1970 (KQED) How I wish, how I wish our Patreon backers were here --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Physical distancing has hopefully made us all appreciate the sense of touch a little more. Scientists in Ohio may have found a way to bring that sense back to people with spinal cord injuries. Plus: an octopus may have brought back a family heirloom to a woman in British Columbia, which is a pretty nice thing for an octopus to do.  Brain-decoding computer can restore this important human sense (Inverse)  This woman lost her engagement ring in the ocean. A baby octopus helped get it back (CBC) My sense is that our backers on Patreon make Cool Weird Awesome what it is. Join them!  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

This month marks 50 years since the world learned The Beatles were calling it a day. So we're telling the story of the American Beetles - a knockoff band that toured South America, without quite telling everyone they weren't the genuine article. Plus: Spanish artist Bichopalo is not only making beautiful music, he's making beautiful musical instruments, too.  How the fake Beatles conned South America (BBC) Beautiful Musical Machines Perform Otherworldly Tunes (Geeks Are Sexy) Please back us on Patreon, oh yeah, like we back you, oh yeah  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Lead, unfortunately, is something that lingers, as was proven by scientists who used lead pollution from centuries ago to track the ups and downs of European monarchs. Plus: the story of a Japanese chef so good with a knife that he's created what's probably the world's thinnest sandwich.  Lead pollution in ancient ice cores may track the rise and fall of medieval kings (Science) Making the World’s Thinnest Sandwich (Laughing Squid) Cool Weird Awesome probably has the world's greatest Patreon backers! Join us! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Today is Arbor Day, and so we’re going to talk about the Friendship Oak, a remarkable tree in Mississippi that just keeps on keeping on. Plus: we'll visit Joe Bagley, who has 1,400 house plants in his apartment and for whom it might be said that every day is Arbor Day.  Friendship Oak (University of Southern Mississippi) Houseplant Enthusiast Turns Apartment into Urban Jungle with Over 1,400 Potted Plants (Oddity Central) Cool Weird Awesome is growing like a tree, thanks to our Patreon backers. Join us for just $1 a month!  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Music scholars at Cambridge University studied musical manuscripts without modern notation and after years of detective work, reconstructed what they would have sounded like. Plus: on this day in 1982 Key West, Florida declared independence from - and war on - the United States. For not very long.  First performance in 1,000 years: ‘lost’ songs from the Middle Ages are brought back to life (Cambridge University) That Time the Florida Keys Tried to Secede from the US by Dropping Conch Fritter Bombs (Vice) On this day in 2020 Patreon backers made another great episode of Cool Weird Awesome happen. Join them!  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Like people in other industries who have the means to do so, the scientists who operate the Curiosity Rover are working away from their office at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in southern California. Though technically when you run a craft that's on another planet, you're always working remotely. Plus: artist Greg Olijnyk makes intricate sculptures of robots, telescopes, ships and more out of plain old cardboard.  NASA's Curiosity Keeps Rolling As Team Operates Rover From Home (NASA) Greg Olijnyk Makes Incredibly Detailed Sculptures out of Cardboard (Cool Material) Patreon backers make Cool Weird Awesome fly through the solar system, or at least the podcast universe --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

The University of Virginia's Disabilities Studies Symposium has produced a version of a 1950s opera called “Dialogues of the Carmelites" featuring both traditional opera singers and Deaf actors performing together and living up to the name of their workshop, "Breaking the Sound Barrier." Plus: a cat played a Theremin on the internet, because why not.  Singing and Signing: ‘Deaf Opera’ Comes to Grounds (University of Virginia) Cat Plays With A Theremin And Is Completely And Utterly Befuddled (Digg) Cool Weird Awesome sounds great because of its backers on Patreon --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message