Cool Weird Awesome with Brady Carlson

A Harvard study finds that the thousands of dams humans have built over the last couple centuries have locked up so much water it's actually affected Earth's poles! We'll try to explain. Plus: starting today in Michigan City, Indiana, it’s the Singing Sands Sand Sculpting Festival. Water storage in dams has caused minute shifts in Earth’s poles [https://news.agu.org/press-release/water-storage-in-dams-has-caused-minute-shifts-in-earths-poles/] (Harvard's Advancing Earth and Space Sciences)  The Singing Sands Sand Sculpting Festival [https://michigancitylaporte.com/events/singing-sands-sand-sculpting-festival/]  It would be a dam shame if you didn’t back our show on Patreon [https://www.patreon.com/Bradycarlson]

Today in 1972, a break-in at the Watergate hotel that kicked off a huge political scandal... and also, somehow, gave a gelatin dessert the name "Watergate salad." Plus: in 2022, the National Portrait Gallery in Washington hosted an exhibit called “Watergate: Portraiture and Intrigue.” Jell-O Journalism: Investigating the Origins of Watergate Salad [https://www.mentalfloss.com/posts/watergate-salad-recipe-history] (Mental Floss) Watergate: Portraiture and Intrigue [https://npg.si.edu/exhibition/watergate] (National Portrait Gallery) This podcast is not a crook, but it is backed by our listeners on Patreon [https://www.patreon.com/Bradycarlson]

There's a new musical work that is, maybe, kind of, sort of from a composer who’s been gone three years. Plus: rice farmers in Gyoda, Japan turn their paddies into large-scale works of art. Musical Composer’s Brain Matter Is Still Making Music Three Years After His Death [https://mymodernmet.com/alvin-lucier-brain-matter-revivification-installation/] (My Modern Met) Tanjiro Emerges in the Fields as Gyoda Unveils 2025 Rice Paddy Art [https://spoon-tamago.com/tanjiro-gyoda-rice-paddy-art/] (Spoon + Tamago) Our show is powered by our backers on Patreon [https://www.patreon.com/Bradycarlson]

Today in 1923, the birthday of Cordell Jackson, a guitarist who rocked out exactly the way she wanted to for over half a century. Plus: today in 2023, a Florida woman apparently took a fire truck out for a ride. Jackson, Cordell [https://www.womeninrockproject.org/reference/jackson-cordell/] (Women In Rock Project)  Woman accused of impersonating firefighter after stealing firetruck, Florida cops say [https://www.miamiherald.com/news/state/florida/article277435088.html] (Miami Herald) Help our show rock out every day as a backer on Patreon [https://www.patreon.com/c/Bradycarlson]

A decade before Mariner 4 got to Mars (on this day in 1965), a company famous for its advertising jokingly offered its customers a chance to go to the Red Planet - and a very serious customer tried to get them to follow through. Plus: a design studio in France builds a walk-through installation out of nearly 800 old baguettes. Did Burma-Shave Offer to Send a Contest Winner to Mars? [https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/the-read-planet/] (Snopes) 780 leftover baguettes turn into public pavilion by MERO studios in montpellier [https://www.designboom.com/art/780-leftover-baguettes-public-pavilion-mero-studios-montpellier-paysage-de-pain-07-04-2025/] (designboom) Help this show keep keeping on / as a backer on Patreon [https://www.designboom.com/art/780-leftover-baguettes-public-pavilion-mero-studios-montpellier-paysage-de-pain-07-04-2025/]