Sunday Fun: All the Great Scientists Celebrate at Dairy Queen!

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Kathleen, meteorologist Cat Taylor, and I at DQ 
after documenting the May 19, 2013, tornado near
Clearwater, Kansas. 

Photographer Jaime Green and I after bagging a 
tornado near Larned, Kansas, 2012.

When the National Severe Storms Laboratory/University of Oklahoma storm chasing program began in 1972, a question came up: Where to celebrate if a tornado was found and documented?

In the Oklahoma of the early 70's, there were very few McD's or Wendy's in rural areas where tornadoes were most likely to be found (no one wanted to chase in cities: too dangerous due to the risk of being trapped by traffic). So, a trip to Dairy Queen -- which was found in nearly every small town in Oklahoma at the time -- became a tradition if you bagged a tornado. 

I've continued that tradition. We have many photos like the ones at the top of the page with great people with whom we've had the honor of chasing. BTW: I almost always get a chocolate dipped ice cream cone. 

Why am I bringing this up?

I had been reading Eric Berger's terrific Reentry, which is the story of Elon Musk's Space-X's revolutionary reusable spacecraft. I was reading ahead and was struck by this photo:
Turns out the richest man in the history of the world goes to Dairy Queen to celebrate his rocket's success and ordered a chocolate dipped cone!

It is often said that a key to success is to imitate successful people. Given that Elon is 20 years younger than I, I'm glad he has been imitating my DQ tradition to achieve success in science ;-) . 

Hey Elon: if you ever want to send me a few bucks for my DQ ice cream fund, it would always be appreciated.

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