Cool Weird Awesome – Brady Carlson

Pigs Are On A Mission To Save Hazelnuts (Cool Weird Awesome 176)

The nefarious filbertworm is trying to infest our hazelnut supply! Researchers at the University of Oregon think the solution might lie with pigs. Plus: the Ebo is a little ball-shaped robot that will play with your cat when you’re not home.

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Apollo 12 Crashed Its Lunar Module On Purpose (Cool Weird Awesome 175)

This week marks 50 years since the Apollo 12 mission, the second time humans went to the moon and the first time we launched an artificial earthquake there. Plus: one of the two moonwalkers painted a picture that included their command module pilot on the lunar ground.

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In Honor Of Rocky And Bullwinkle, We Have Stories About Moose And Squirrel (Cool Weird Awesome 174)

Today is the 60th anniversary of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends, so in their honor, here’s a real life moose who inadvertently helped foil a crime. Plus: a woman in Sacramento puts out a public call for her missing domesticated squirrel, Squeakers.

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What Time Was Like Before Time Zones (Cool Weird Awesome 173)

November 18, 1883 is when railroads across the United States adopted a uniform system of time, more or less getting all of us in sync with each other. But what was time like before then? Plus: Japan has had cat cafes, hedgehog cafes and bunny cafes. Now there’s a minipig cafe!

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Finally, Cameras Can Truly See The Sea (Cool Weird Awesome 172)

Underwater photos are usually greenish or blueish and the brighter colors are washed out. An engineer and oceanographer has come up with an algorithm she calls Sea-thru that can bring those colors back into the image. Plus: the Las Vegas Pizza Festival is about to get underway.

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That Time There Was A Laugh Track On “The Twilight Zone” (Cool Weird Awesome 171)

Who knew the Twilight Zone was a dimension not only of sight and sound but of canned laughter?!? The episode “Cavender is Coming” features Jesse White, Carol Burnett, and a laugh track the network thought might help lead to a spinoff series. (It didn’t.) Plus: anybody want to fly in an airplane where the whole interior looks like a giant window?

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Stella The Dog Uses A Soundboard (Cool Weird Awesome 170)

Stella the dog lives with a speech-language pathologist and has been using a soundboard to “say” several dozen words, raising hopes that someday the show “Dog With A Blog” may come to life. Plus: Quilty the cat likes to spend his nights freeing the other cats at the animal shelter.

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The Mountain That’s Higher Than The Highest Mountain (Cool Weird Awesome 169)

This is Geography Awareness Week, and on our fascinating planet Mount Everest is the tallest mountain – but it’s not actually the highest point on earth. That’s actually Mount Chimborazo, in Ecuador. Plus: the community of New Baltimore, NY gets a spooky purple makeover thanks to Google Maps.

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How To Turn A World War II Parachute Into A Wedding Dress (Cool Weird Awesome 168)

For Veterans Day, we have the story of Claude and Ruth Hensinger, who used the parachute that saved Claude’s life during World War II to help build their lives and their 49 year marriage together.

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The Singing Maple Syrup Bottle With Patti Page’s Voice (Cool Weird Awesome 167)

Patti Page, aka the “Singing Rage,” was one of the biggest-selling pop singers of the 1950s. But later, she lived part-time on a farm in New Hampshire where she and her husband sold maple syrup. The bottles didn’t just have her name on them; they included her voice!

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