Cool Weird Awesome With Brady Carlson

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

It's a very odd anniversary in the history of the US presidency. Today in 1979, President Jimmy Carter got into a fight (of sorts) with a swamp rabbit. Plus: today would normally be a big day in Zurich, when participants in the annual Sechselauten bring on spring by blowing up a snowman! In 1979, Jimmy Carter was attacked by a giant swimming rabbit (AV Club) The History of Sechseläuten (Zuerich.com) Patreon backers are always welcome in Cool Weird Awesome's boat --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Some health experts suggest that when the world gets back to normal we should do away with the handshake. It is an effective way to spread germs, but it's also had some pretty useful functions in its long history. Plus: since it's the anniversary of the first episode of "Game of Thrones," we visit a guy in California who installed a 15-foot-tall dragon in his front yard.  Why do we touch strangers so much? A history of the handshake offers clues (National Geographic)  When Did Shaking Hands Become a Standard Way of Greeting Someone? (Mental Floss) ‘Dragon House’ in Imperial Beach Turning Heads (NBC San Diego) We'd like to shake the hands of our backers on Patreon - if that were an OK thing to do these days --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Falls on hard pavement can be very, very dangerous for some of us. That's why a research group called SAFERUP is trying to make safer, bouncier pavement. Plus: the Rakuten Monkeys baseball team in Taiwan is planning to have robot mannequins in the stands to cheer them on until fans can return to the ballpark.  Ground-Up Tire Pavement Could Be Safer for Pedestrians and Athletes (Popular Mechanics) Taiwanese Baseball Team Will Use Dressed-Up Robots Instead of Fans When Season Begins This Weekend (12up) Support from Cool Weird Awesome's Patreon backers is even better than support from robot mannequins! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Artist Itsuo Kobayashi has been keeping an illustrated food diary since 1980, drawing and describing each meal, the ingredients, the price and how it made him feel. Plus: for National Banana Day, we go to - where else - the International Banana Museum in California. For Over 30 Years Itsuo Kobayashi Has Been Keeping an Illustrated Food Diary (Spoon & Tamago) Opening a Banana Museum next to a toxic desert lake makes absolutely no sense—but that’s part of its a-peel (Roadtrippers) Cool Weird Awesome's Patreon backers make every episode of this show possible!  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Today's the day in 1828 that Noah Webster went to the copyright office to register his work “An American Dictionary of the English Language.” This work, no pun intended, defined American English as people actually spoke it, but it also included some words that haven't exactly stayed with us. Plus: there are perhaps no words for the mulletty goodness that resulted when a woman in New Zealand tried to cut her hair with a kitchen knife.  Happy Birthday, Webster's 1828! (Merriam-Webster) An A to Z of Noah Webster’s Finest Forgotten Words (Huffington Post) 'Don't have any scissors': Hamilton woman cuts own hair with kitchen knife (Stuff.co.NZ) Cool Weird Awesome's backers on Patreon are the very definition of amazing --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message