Cool Weird Awesome with Brady Carlson

This month in 2023, a big moment in the life of an eagle named Murphy, who had become internet famous for raising a rock. Plus: starting tomorrow in Rockwall, Texas it’s the annual Texas Pie Fest. An Eagle Who Adopted a Rock Becomes a Real Dad (New York Times) Here’s How to Get in on the End of Day Pie Fight at the Texas Pie Fest (Eater) Help this show soar like an eagle as a backer on Patreon

There’s a new way to find out whether fresh water is actually fresh and clean: a set of glowing orbs in the Netherlands called POND. Plus: starting this Saturday, it's the Wamego, Kansas Tulip Festival. These glowing orbs can tell you if water is clean or polluted (Fast Company) Tulip Festival 2024   Make the future of this podcast even brighter as a backer on Patreon

Today was the birthday in 1794 of George Merryweather, the inventor of his era’s most fascinating leech-based weather predicting contraption: the tempest prognosticator. Plus: today in 1953, a phone company director pretty much predicts the smartphones of today. A Council Of Leeches Used To Predict Storms Inside The "Tempest Prognosticator" (IFL Science) Is This Cellphone Prediction from...

Today in 1887 (or, by some accounts, 1888), the birthday of a composer who’s really only now getting the acclaim she deserves: Florence Price. Plus: did you know that it was a violation of iTunes terms of service to use it to build weapons? As Her Music Is Reconsidered, a Composer Turns 135. Again. (New York Times) 8 Ridiculous EULA Clauses You May Have Already Agreed To (MakeUseOf) With help from...

A study from Japan's Tohoku University says that if current trends continue, everyone in the country will eventually end up with the same surname - though it might take a while to get there. Plus: some residents of Luna Pier, Michigan were apparently so concerned about eclipse tourists that the mayor says they asked him to stop the eclipse.  Everyone in Japan will be called Sato by 2531 unless...

This month in 1941, a dog in the UK became a hero in a very strange way, stopping a bomb by answering the call of nature. Plus: starting today in Darien, Georgia, it’s the Blessing of the Fleet.  Urinating WWII Great Dane's medal sold (BBC) Dog cocked leg to extinguish Nazi bomb (Telegraph) The Blessing of the Fleet  You can be a hero for our show as a backer on Patreon

It's International Carrot Day. If you want to see a really unique carrot, try Melbourne, Australia, where a guy named Nathan walks around town with a very large papier mache carrot. Plus: this weekend in Sebring, Florida, it's the Sebring Soda Festival. ‘There he goes with the carrot’: how walking the streets with a giant papier-mache vegetable made Nathan a Melbourne legend (The Guardian)...

Today in 1919, one of the strangest moments in the history of professional baseball, when major leaguer Ping Bodie took on an ostrich in an eating contest and won. Plus: a ketchup giant is installing dispensers on the sidewalks outside some of Chicago’s best-loved (and often ketchup-free) hot dog places.  A Yankee, an ostrich and 22 plates of pasta (MLB.com) Ping Bodie (Society for American Baseba...

Today in 1978, the premiere of the iconic TV show “Dallas.” It was originally just supposed to be a miniseries, but it just kept winning over audience after audience - even some audiences that were behind the Iron Curtain. Plus: all month long in and around Mount Vernon, Washington, it's the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. How 'Dallas' Won the Cold War (Washington Post) J. R. Ewing Shot...

It was probably more elaborate than your standard April Fools Day joke: today in 1906, the Chicago Tribune put together a two page "report," complete with pictures, about swarms of dinosaurs wrecking the city. Plus: it’s Easter Monday, and in the village of Hallaton, Leicestershire, England, it's the day for a competition known as Bottle Kicking. April 1, 1906: Chicago invaded by hor...

This week we’re replaying some of our finest episodes about some of the finest works ever created. In this episode from November 2019, we take a trip through the website Weird Universe's Gallery of Art Hung Upside Down. Plus: a 9 year old who can't stop doodling, even in class, is now a professional artist. He's paid to doodle.  ⁠The Gallery of Art Hung Upside-Down⁠ (Weird Universe) ⁠9...

This week we’re replaying some of our finest episodes about some of the finest works ever created. In this episode from October 2021, the story of sculptor Edmonia Lewis. She was born in the 1840s to a Black father and a Chippewa mother, and became the first Native American and Black woman to become an acclaimed sculptor. Plus: the exhibit known as Little Canada features miniature versions of some...

This week we’re replaying some of our finest episodes about some of the finest works ever created. In this episode from September 2020, why even researchers run into challenges in verifying whether a Rembrandt is really his work or just a simulation. Plus: an interactive online map of continental drift can show you where a town or city used to be hundreds of millions of years ago.  ⁠The Rembrandt...

This week we’re replaying some of our finest episodes about some of the finest works ever created. In this episode from December 2022, the story of 19th Century English miniaturist Sarah Biffin, a renowned artist who was born without full arms or legs and whose life and work are the subject of an exhibition now running in London. Plus: British Columbia-based artist Elspeth McLean turns round stone...

This week we’re replaying some of our finest episodes about some of the finest works ever created. In this episode from October 2021, a look at the research into how pigeons take in and process visual information, like art. Apparently it's pretty complex. Plus: in Detroit, a local news reporter does a story about a local skateboard park, and flawlessly rides a skateboard in the middle of his r...

Today in 1931, the birthday of William Shatner, Captain Kirk from the original “Star Trek” series. Of course, if a different show he was supposed to star in had gone ahead, Shatner might not have ended up as Captain Kirk at all. Plus: tomorrow in Chicago, it’s St. Ryan’s Day, where anyone and everyone named Ryan is invited to come by and celebrate being a Ryan.  The failure of one toga-clad TV pil...

It's our show's fifth birthday! It's also the birthday in 1962 of the first Taco Bell restaurant, which had a "chili burger" on its original menu. Plus: for National Fragrance Week, a visit to San Francisco's Aftel Archive of Curious Scents.  Was the 'Bell Beefer' Burger Among Taco Bell's First Offerings? (Snopes) This San Francisco Bay Area museum stinks (Boi...

Today we’re looking at the song that a lot of us sing over a birthday cake: “Happy Birthday To You.” And does this song ever have a wild history. Happy Birthday to You  (Quartz) This episode was exclusive to our Patreon backers until March 21, 2025. Want to hear bonus episodes when they're released?  Back this show on Patreon  for just $1 a month!

Today in 1967, a Japanese athlete Shizo Kanakuri, finished a Olympic marathon that he’d started in 1912. Better late than never! Plus: a college student asks a professor a question and gets a reply long after graduation. Better late than never for Japan's first, "slowest" Olympian (Japan Times) Hannah Jung For all the people that think they are bad at responding to emails (Hannah Jun...

Today in 1963, the opening of a bridge in Longview, Washington. that wasn't for cars, or bikes, or even pedestrians. It was a bridge for squirrels. Plus: Milan's Palazzo Morando is hosting an exhibit of photos featuring the colorful street fashions of people in the Congo and other African countries.  Nutty Narrows Bridge opens in Longview on March 19, 1963. (HistoryLink) African Street Sty...

Today in 1941, the birthday of Wilson Pickett, a legend of soul and R&B music, and one who had an engineer save one of his future hit songs from a very hungry tape machine. Plus: today in 1970, the birthday of musician and actor Queen Latifah, who is known for a very specific requirement in her movie contracts. "Mustang Sally" at 45 (Interview) – Sir Mack Rice and Spooner Oldham Tell...

It’s Sleep Awareness Week, and today we’re talking about the part of sleep people usually like the least: the part where the alarm clock wakes us up. Or, in the time before alarm clocks, the part where the local "knocker-up" pounded on the doors to get people out of bed. Plus: the story of how rock singer Bret Michaels asked to adopt a huskie named Bret Michaels. A 2,000-Year History of...

For Alfred Einstein's birthday, the story of how he and fellow prominent physicist Leo Szilard co-designed a unique kind of refrigerator in the 1920s. Plus: the letter Einstein wrote in 1936 for a time capsule that would be opened in a thousand years. Einstein’s Little-Known Passion Project? A Refrigerator (WIRED) Missive (Futility Closet) It would be an Einstein-level genius move to back our...

Danionella cerebrum is a completely transparent fish that's only 10-12 millimeters long. And researchers have just figured out how it can produce sounds that reach 140 dB or higher. Plus: a resident of Salem, Ohio has one of the largest ever collections of PEZ dispensers, around 4,000 in all.  A 12 mm fish produces 140-decibel sound to communicate in turbid waters (Phys.org) Salem PEZ collecto...

Today in 1832, the birthday of Charles Boycott, whose name has been used for over a century anytime people decide to deliberately take their business away from a group or a company. Plus: this month in Worcester, Massachusetts, you can cover the fees for lost or missing books and DVDs by sending the library a cat picture. Charles Boycott: The Man Who Became a Verb (Amusing Planet) Act meow: Cat pi...