Cool Weird Awesome

A Town In South Dakota Saw Winter Weather Turn Mild In Minutes

It set an all-time record for the fastest temperature change ever documented.

Károly Takács Was A Right Handed Sport Shooter, But Won Olympic Gold Left-Handed

An injury meant he couldn't compete using his dominant hand, so he retrained himself to compete with his other hand.

A 1960s Computer Simulated A “Super Fight” Between Two Heavyweight Legends

As legendary boxing trainer Angelo Dundee put it, “To err is a machine.”

After The “Miracle On The Hudson,” Captain “Sully” Sullenberger Had To Deal With A Lost Library Book

The story of the famous airplane landing has quite a postscript for book and library lovers.

A Woman Applied For A Job In 1976, And Got A Reply In 2024

Hopefully this wasn’t a job where they needed someone to start right away.

The YMCA Once Sued The Village People Over The Song “YMCA”

The YMCA warmed to the song later, but at first it wasn't loving the Village People hit.

It’s Basketball Week on Cool Weird Awesome

This week we’re replaying some of our favorite hoops-related episodes.

How The Laugh Track Made TV Jokes Seem Funny Even If They Really Weren’t

Today in 1910, the birthday of Charlie Douglass, who popularized the use of prerecorded laughter to help TV comedies seem more funny. Amirite folks?
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John Thompson Lost His Arms In A Farm Accident, Got Himself Help And Got The Arms Back

On this day in 1992, John Thompson of North Dakota lost his arms in a farm accident. He then got himself emergency care in time so that he got his arms back.

The Really (Expletive) Complicated History Of Swearing On TV

Today in 1965, a landmark moment in the history of televised profanity: an f-bomb live on the BBC! We'll look back at some choice moments where people used choice words on the air.

Emma Schols Saved Her Six Kids From A Burning House

Today in 2019, a woman in Sweden rose to an unthinkable occasion: she rescued all six of her children, including three under 5 years old, while their house burned down.

The Legend Of James Bartley, Who Was Supposedly Swallowed By A Whale

Supposedly this month in 1891 a sailor named James Bartley was swallowed by a whale and lived! But The Straight Dope took a closer look and found this story was almost certainly too good to be true.

Why Did The Fonz Jump The Shark In The First Place?

The phrase “jump the shark” is now a shorthand we use for the moment a show or a story turns absolutely ridiculous and keeps heading downhill. But why the heck did it happen at all?