Sometimes the rise of a hot new technology comes with growing pains. In the case of TV, there was a risk of literal pains - which is why early sets came with “implosion guards." Plus: an airport group in India puzzles people with its choice for a customer satisfaction award.

The Cover-Up (Tedium)

No planes, no problem: India's 'no 1 airport' Khajuraho has zero flights (Times of India)

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For decades, St. Mary's, Newfoundland, has been smelling decades-old tanks of fish sauce when the wind blew toward town. But at long last that's starting to change. Plus: a couple in Ohio welcomes two new babies into the world, on the perfect day.

Decades in the making, work begins to remove rotten fish sauce from St. Mary's plant (CBC)

Northeast Ohio twins born on the same day as both parents (Cleveland 19)

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Today in 1891, the US government gave an explosive idea a try: they wanted to bring rain by putting dynamite in the air and then blowing it up. Plus: today in 2023, the Los Angeles Times reported on the popularity of climbing Yosemite's Half Dome, including the park's black bears (!)

When the U.S. Government Tried to Make It Rain by Exploding Dynamite in the Sky (Smithsonian)

Black bears are also scaling Yosemite’s Half Dome: What to do if you meet up (Los Angeles Times)

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Today in 1935, President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law. When there's confusion about whose Social Security Number is whose, it can get messy. Just ask one Hilda Witcher. Plus: starting tomorrow in North Carolina, it’s the Woodleaf Tomato Festival.

Social Security Cards Issued by Woolworth (Social Security Administration)

Woodleaf Tomato Festival 

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Western New York has some extremely beloved culinary traditions, and one of the most beloved is in Rochester, New York, where it's known as the Garbage Plate. Plus: yodelers in Switzerland have come up with some clever and effective ways to beat the heat this summer.

How the Garbage Plate surpassed Kodak as Rochester's signature thing (Rochester Democrat and Chronicle) 

Swiss yodellers rehearse in public fountains as Basel swelters (MSN) 

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Today in 1990, scientist Sue Hendrickson famously spotted several vertebrae on a bluff in South Dakota. The dinosaur found that day, named Sue in Hendrickson's honor, has become as one expert put it, the Rosetta Stone of Tyrannosaurus Rex. Plus: in the garden of physicist Erwin Schrödinger (born today in 1887) there's a cat-like feature. And depending on the way the light hits that feature, the cat looks alive or not so alive. 

SUE the T. rex (Field Museum)

Schrödinger's Cat Zurich (Spotted By Locals)

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This month in 1817, residents of Gloucester, Massachusetts saw something quite out of the ordinary: a sea serpent who just hung around the coast for days and days. Plus: authorities in Colorado say they arrested a man for allegedly breaking into a locomotive and then, like, surfing on top while it was moving.

Regaling tales of the Gloucester Sea Serpent, a forgotten legend of cryptozoology (GBH)

Man arrested after surfing naked on top of moving locomotive (KDVR)

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Today in 1984, two athletes at the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles tried one of the oldest tricks in the book… they tried to pull a switcheroo. Plus: for World Lion Day, the story of one of the all time great lion photos, with six male lions all chillaxing together on a hill in Tanzania. 

In 1984, These Puerto Rican Twins Hatched an Insane Plan to Switch Places at the Olympics (Remezcla)

The Story Behind the Perfectly Unposed Shot of Six Lions Relaxing Together in Tanzania (My Modern Met)

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This week we're replaying our favorite shows about beating the heat. In this episode from March 2021, a surprising research finding: choosing a hot sandwich instead of a cold one might help keep you from ordering extra food. Plus: an unusual performance in 1912, of Guiseppi Verdi’s opera Aida at the base of the Great Pyramid in Egypt!

Consumers Buy More Food When They Order Cold Meals and Drinks, Reports Rutgers‒Camden Researcher (Rutgers-Camden)

Today in 1912 ‘Aida’ opens in open-air production beneath the Great Pyramid (Victorian Masculinity)

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This week we're replaying our favorite shows about beating the heat. In this episode from August 2020, a fabric with its own built-in cooling system suggests we maybe wouldn’t need to cool rooms, if the people in those rooms were already cool. Plus: for National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day, the story of the biggest chocolate chip cookie of all time, in Flat Rock, North Carolina.

New fabric could help keep you cool in the summer, even without A/C (Science Daily)

Largest biscuit / cookie (Guinness World Records)

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