Storm damage isn't cool, weird or awesome, but the ways we spot storms and warn people about them are pretty great. And they've come a long way from the time when the US Army Signal Corps banned anyone from using the word “tornado” in forecasts so as not to scare the public! Plus: the story of an engagement between two storm chasers that will literally blow you away.

Illinois Tornadoes Prior to 1916 (Illinois State Water Survey) 

History of Tornado Forecasting (NOAA) 

Storm chaser proposes to boyfriend as Kansas tornado looms (NBC News)  

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Attractions - especially weird ones - are a time-honored way to drum up business from people who are at best casual baseball fans, and lately that's extended to team names, including the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp, the Vermont Lake Monsters, the Binghamton Rumble Ponies and the Rocket City Trash Pandas.  Plus: the tale of Peter Williams, who in 1972 won the Wisconsin state long jump championship "by accident." 

Minor League Baseball is swinging big and going weird with new team names (Mashable) 

Let's break down all 160 Minor League team names (MLB.com) 

Timber Rattlers to Play as Udder Tuggers June 20 (Ballpark Digest)

How an Oakfield farm boy won the 1972 state long jump title by accident, wearing a Mickey Mouse T-shirt (Fond du Lac Reporter) 

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A project to build a clock that will run for 10,000 years got us thinking about how we measure time - and amazingly, 10,000 years is more time than has passed since the invention of hours, minutes and seconds. Plus: a quick look at the shortest official measurement in science,  which is so short that, ironically, there isn't enough time to try to explain it on our show. 

Objects of Despair: The 10,000-Year Clock (The Paris Review) 

Why is a minute divided into 60 seconds, an hour into 60 minutes, yet there are only 24 hours in a day? (Scientific American) 

Planck Time (The SAO Encyclopedia of Astronomy)

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It's the 200th birthday of Walt Whitman, the poet best known for his landmark work Leaves of Grass... and the guy who anonymously wrote glowing reviews of his own writing in the newspapers of the day.  Plus: Plymouth, North Carolina is hosting the North Carolina Black Bear Festival, which makes sense because the city bills itself as the originator of National Black Bear Day. 

"Walt Whitman and His Poems" by Walt Whitman (Whitman Archive)

“Promoting Himself” (Library of Congress) 

North Carolina Black Bear Festival 

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We’re on the eve of this year’s biggest event in Fruita, Colorado - the Mike the Headless Chicken Festival, where people all gather to celebrate the miracle chicken who had his head chopped off, and carried on as if nothing had changed. Plus: residents of New York are gearing up for quite a show. Manhattanhenge is (weather permitting) happening today, with the sun perfectly positioned within the city's street grid. 

The Mike the Headless Chicken Festival  

Manhattanhenge: What It Is, and How to See It (Scientific American)

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Today’s show is about a series of earthquake aftershocks in the Hebgen Lake area of Yellowstone National Park measured in 2017 and 2018.  That’s not in and of itself unusual, except that the original earthquake happened in August of 1959. Plus: a dude repairs and cleans a vintage synthesizer and accidentally gets dosed with the leftover LSD residue from a half century before. 

Aftershocks of 1959 Earthquake Rocked Yellowstone in 2017-18 (University of Utah)  

Repair Of Iconic ’60s Era Synthesizer Turns Into Long, Strange Trip For Engineer (CBS San Francisco)  

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As much as we all like to consider ourselves straight talkers, we all use certain euphemisms when we’ve done something we wished we hadn’t.  Scientists are particularly good at this because they can envelop a faux pas in layers and layers of academic journal language - the phrase “unplanned rapid disassembly," for example, is a formal way to say “accidentally exploded." Plus: Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques made a video where he demonstrates the amazing attributes of honey in microgravity!  

Scientists Reveal How They Use Academic Language To Mask Their Mess Ups And It’s Hilarious (Bored Panda)

"If you read in a frog paper..." (Blue Electric Angels on Tumblr) 

Honey in Space (Canadian Space Agency)

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Officially, the community that started Memorial Day is Waterloo, New York - in May 1866, the community spent the entire day honoring those killed in the Civil War by placing wreaths and flowers at their graves, then holding a parade, giving speeches and flying flags at half staff.  But Waterloo is definitely not the only place with a Memorial Day origin story.

How Waterloo, NY, became the birthplace of Memorial Day (New York Upstate)

Birthplace of Memorial Day? That Depends Where You’re From (New York Times)

Memorial Day History (VA.gov) 

There’s nothing more fashionable than the jumpsuit - right? Right? Anyway, it was a century ago that the Italian artist Thayaht proposed a one-piece garment with buttons down the front as the next big thing in fashion. The jumpsuit hasn't quite become as universal as he hoped, but it _is_ the only outfit that connects  Rosie the Riveter, Evel Knievel, Amelia Earhart, David Bowie and the cast of Mystery Science Theater 3000. Plus: want to wear an Elvis jumpsuit but don't want to pay huge auction prices? Try the new Elvis jumpsuit-style hoodie! 

Jumpsuits (Quartz) 

Elvis Hoodie (GearHuman)  

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 May is Asian/Pacific-American Heritage Month, and a great time to talk about two exciting, important and sometimes underappreciated Asian-American performers. The dance team of Jew Wing Dong and Dorothy Takahashi, known professionally in their heyday as Toy and Wing. were often compared to Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers for their electrifying performances on stage and screen. Plus:  The Maryland Deathfest is starting in Baltimore, featuring some of the loudest, most aggressive dark metal bands in the world - according to their website, it's also an all-ages, family friendly event. “Bring the kids!” they say. 

The Chinese Fred Astaire (National Archives at Riverside)

The Story of a 99-Year Old Living and Dancing Chinatown Icon (AsAm News)

Maryland Deathfest

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