Cool Weird Awesome With Brady Carlson

It’s 150 years to the day that the presidents of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroads drove a ceremonial golden spike into the first railroad line to cross North America. That's the big event of the weekend - oh, there's also a thing called Mother's Day? Okay, well for you all let's pay tribute to the Mom For A Minute Subreddit, which provides a virtual Reddit mom for you when your own maternal relationship is unresolved. Plus: the story of writer Dave Wain, who's paying tribute to his recently departed mum by live-tweeting her amazing collection of raunchy e-books using the hashtag #MumsKindleOdyssey.  The golden spike turns 150 (Visit Salt Lake)    Visit This Subreddit When You Need a Mom but Don't Have a Supportive One (Lifehacker)   Mum’s Kindle Odyssey (Dave Wain on Twitter)  Help make Cool Weird Awesome as a backer on Patreon!  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Ralph Baer invented home video games from his workshop in Manchester, New Hampshire - and now the city is honoring this gaming pioneer with a "Baer Square," complete with a statue, in a city park. Plus: this weekend, a place called the Maritime Republic of Eastport in Annapolis is holding "the least challenging athletic event ever conceived." It's a race that's one-twentieth of a kilometer long.  The Father of the Video Game: The Ralph Baer Prototypes and Electronic Games (Smithsonian Museum of American History)  Tomorrow Ralph Baer gets his own park in Manchester NH (GraniteGeek)  World’s Least Challenging Athletic Event Ever (The Travel 100)  Cool Weird Awesome is listener powered. Back us today on Patreon!  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

The story of the whale wearing a GoPro that might be some kind of Russian surveillance agent is pretty wild, but it's not even close to the first time governments have turned to animals for surveillance purposes. In the Cold War, the CIA tried to train a cat to infiltrate the Soviet Embassy in DC - sadly, they did not name it Felis Leiter. Plus: the audio phenomenon known as the "cocktail party effect" is not just for humans. Dogs have it too! Which means dogs should come to cocktail parties way more often.  That Time the CIA Bugged a Cat to Spy on the Soviets (The Atlantic)  The ‘Russian spy whale’ has plenty of historical company (Financial Times) Dogs can tune out noise, just like people at cocktail parties (National Geographic) You can support Cool Weird Awesome on Patreon!  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

The new film “Recorder: The Marion Stokes Project" tells the story of a Philadelphia librarian and activist who spent decades recording every TV program she possibly could. She left 70,000 videocassettes in all, which is now being digitized to help us fill in some fascinating gaps in mass media history. Plus: the story of a man whose windshield was smashed by a flying turtle. And no, it wasn't a real-life game of Mario Kart.  Tribeca Film Review: ‘Recorder: The Marion Stokes Project’ (Variety)  'It just flung into my windshield': Turtle smashes into car in South Carolina (WAVY) Support Cool Weird Awesome with $1 a month on Patreon! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Today is the 25th anniversary of the formal opening of the Channel Tunnel, a 31.4 mile long, mostly undersea rail tunnel connecting the city of Calais in northern France with the English town of Folkestone, Kent. The commemoration ceremony was a diplomatic coup but an engineer's nightmare: they had to run a train carrying Queen Elizabeth II and a train with French President Francois Mitterand toward each other... on the same track. Plus: a look at how the designers of the world's longest road tunnel -  the Laerdal Tunnel in Norway - made sure drivers wouldn't get bored and nod off on their 15 mile journey underground.  The Channel Tunnel: 20 fascinating facts (Telegraph UK)  10 Strange Structural Engineering Marvels: Laerdal Tunnel (HowStuffWorks)  Back Cool Weird Awesome for $1 a month on Patreon! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

The Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles is about to open a new exhibit called “Hollywood Dream Machines: Vehicles of Science Fiction and Fantasy." If you’ve ever wanted to get close to the coolest rides the big screen ever shared with us - like, say, the DeLorean in "Back to the Future" - this is your chance.  Plus:  a guy in Arizona tries to skirt the carpool lane rules with a scheme that could have come straight out of one of the "Mannequin" movie franchise.  Check out Batman’s and Marty McFly’s rides at the Petersen Museum (Ars Technica)  Man busted driving with mannequin in carpool lane (WJBF) Cool Weird Awesome is listener powered. Back this show on Patreon! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

The Louisiana Pirate Festival is getting underway in Lake Charles, which is as good a reason as any to talk about two of the most remarkable stories in pirate history: Cheng I Sao, a Chinese pirate queen who commanded 400 ships and 70,000 men and never lost a battle; and Ireland's Grace O’Malley, who, as the story is sometimes told, gave birth to one of her four children - and then, just hours later, grabbed her gun and successfully drove off a group of raiders.  Louisiana Pirate Festival   Cheng I Sao, Female Pirate Extraordinaire (JStor Daily)  Grace O'Malley: 12 fascinating facts about Ireland's fearless Pirate Queen (Irish Post) Back Cool Weird Awesome on Patreon! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

In Dickson, Tennessee, a movie theater showing a certain movie about a certain bright red dude with horns decided the name was a little too brash to put on a marquee facing a church, and decided to clean it up a little and advertised a showing of, and I quote, “Heckboy.” Swearing is not for everyone, of course, but it does have one really big backer: science. Swearing is still mostly a no-no on TV, which leads to weird TV-friendly versions of expletive-filled movies where characters call each other "casserole." Movies don't get any more magical than that.   What the Heckboy: Dickson theater near church avoids 'Hellboy' title  Swearing is Good for You (EmmaByrne.net) Comically Bad TV Dubs and Edits (Mandatory.com) Support Cool Weird Awesome on Patreon! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

 Bob Dylan still doesn’t like cell phone cameras at his concerts, judging by the admonition he gave a crowd this month. And yet, one of the most famous images was a concert photo taken by a random guy in the crowd!  Plus: a group of poppy-fueled wallabies has been getting doped up and making crop circles. Every wallaby must get stoned?  Five Of Bob Dylan’s Photographers Share Their Best Dylan Stories (Stereogum)  Stoned wallabies are making crop circles in Tasmania (ABC Australia) Help make Cool Weird Awesome! Just search for Cool Weird Awesome on Patreon and support the show for as little as $1 a month!  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

A team at the University of British Columbia has developed a coating that has something called low interfacial toughness - in short, instead of ice building up on your car until it’s almost impossible to scrape off… it collapses under its own weight and just slides to the ground. Not all heroes wear capes. Plus: some heroes do wear capes, they just get turned away from the scene by the Mounties.  Clearing an icy windshield is about to get easier, says UBC engineer (University of British Columbia) Okanagan ‘Batman’ offers helping hand, but RCMP call his presence a distraction (Global News)  Cool Weird Awesome is listener powered! Search for us on Patreon and support the show for as little as $1 a month!  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

A new study led by a researcher from Duke University has spotted female sand tiger sharks returning to the same shipwrecks, sometimes over months or even years. Are they taking a rest stop on their migration routes? Are they mating there - like a pirate-themed make-out spot for sharks? Plus: sand sculpture artisans are returning this weekend to Port Aransas, Texas, for the Texas SandFest. Sand Tiger Sharks Return to Same Shipwrecks Off N.C. Coast (Duke University)   Texas SandFest  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Japanese designer Kazuhiro Yamanaka has just released a flying drone lamp - this little light of yours will fly around the room with you as you move. Imagine how cool an episode of Ghost Hunters would be if they had one. Plus: what would an exercise video be like if the celebrity host wasn't really into exercise? Debbie Reynolds made exactly that video and it's amazing.  Flying Drone Lamp By Kazuhiro Yamanaka Uses Sensors To Follow Your Movements (designboom)   Watching Shelley Winters Go Rogue in Debbie Reynolds’s 1983 Exercise Video, “Do It Debbie’s Way” (The New Yorker)     --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Passwords are totally out of control and no one’s happy about it. On the plus side, the security studies about how bad we are at passwords are pretty funny to read - like the new one from the UK that says one of the most common breached passwords is... Blink 182. Plus:  the worldwide phenomenon that is "Baby Shark" has been welcome news for aquariums, if not for many parents.  Millions using 123456 as password, security study finds (BBC)  It’s a girl! (National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium)  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Thirty years ago today was the last regular season game of one of the greats on and off the court. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar scored more points than any NBA player ever - and he may have set the record for most kinds of post-basketball success, from doing fight scenes with Bruce Lee to writing on the reboot of Veronica Mars. And he's an airplane pilot - he's got clearance, Clarence. Plus:  a hospital in Modesto, CA is trying out a new way to help its youngest patients get ready for the operating room: the kids get to drive to their surgeries in a child-sized Mercedes Benz convertible. Legends profile: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (NBA.com)  Modesto hospital offers young surgical patients sleek, new ride to help reduce anxiety (KTVU)  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Being an astronaut is hard work - not only are you floating up in space, away from the rest of the world, you have a lot of cleaning to do. But there are plans for a new system that would disinfect the interiors of spacecrafts and space stations with ultraviolet lights. Best of all, it would be autonomous. Plus: the Monday after Easter is the Polish holiday with the unforgettable name: Dyngus Day.  This Space Roomba Could Clean the ISS While Astronauts Sleep (Futurism) Not Polish? Don't worry - here's how to celebrate Dyngus Day (The Buffalo News)   --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

 Frank Zappa is back out on tour, doing nine shows in the US and seven more in Europe.  Now if you’re scratching your head here and saying, wait, isn’t Frank Zappa dead - well, yes, but this is the era of hologram concert tours, there's no reason a dearly departed musician can't step out on stage! Plus: let's celebrate Passover and/or Easter weekend the way the ancients intended: with the circle of concrete rabbit statues known as Bunnyhenge.  No industry is weirder than the dead celebrity hologram industry (Vox)   It’s Official: Dead Musicians Are Now Touring as Holograms (Philadelphia magazine)  Bunny Henge (Weird California)  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Everything is connected to everything else - and there's no better example of that than this week's news that a song by Ariana Grande is putting money into the state pension program in Michigan. And speaking of Michigan, did you know the state is home to the American Museum of Magic, which boasts the largest publicly viewable collection of magical artifacts in the world?  Michigan can say 'thank u, Ariana Grande'; Her hit '7 Rings' boosts state pension funds (Detroit Free Press)   American Museum of Magic --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Tired? Smoke breaks. Inspired? Scent breaks.   Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh and Brown University are looking at whether pleasant smells can help curb cravings for nicotine. Plus: for the new short film  NYC Textures, director Ynon Lan took over a thousand still images of sidewalks, sides of buildings, subway tiles, grass and more. It’s a unique perspective on what you actually see when you move through New York City.   Pleasant Olfactory Cues Can Reduce Cigarette Craving (Journal of Abnormal Psychology via APA.org)  NYC Textures (Ynon Lan)  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

If you’re mourning Notre Dame cathedral today, well, you’re not the only one.  Here’s a story from its long history that might make you feel a little more hopeful, a story of stone heads that disappeared - and reappeared hundreds of years later. Plus: a few examples of how cathedrals are full of surprises, and not always high-minded ones.  After 184 Years, a Cousin of the French President Finds Notre Dame’s Missing Stone Heads (People)  13 Facts About Notre-Dame Cathedral (Mental Floss)  What you didn’t know about Britain’s churches and cathedrals (Telegraph UK) --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message

Tax Day gives a lot of us the blues - which, as it turns out, actually kind of works. April 15th is the birthday of one of the greatest singers of all time: the Empress of the Blues, Bessie Smith. As for taxes, we have some news you can use - at least if you're an unsavory character. According to US tax law, stolen property must be reported as income.  Forebears: Bessie Smith, The Empress Of The Blues (NPR Music)  It’s True: You Must Report Income from Thievery on Your Tax Form (Tax Foundation)    --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coolweirdawesome/message