What a Weird Week for Fri Oct 14 2022: robot uprising about to commence, and what to be for HALLOWEEN 2022

What a Weird Week: the top ten weird stories from the news.
Listen to the episode HERE. Subscribe to the podcast HERE.
 

Show notes for S4 episode 2... 

❿ Headline: "This Bizarre Lottery Win Sounds Impossible."

Gist: Over four hundred people won the jackpot in the Philippines lottery. They shared 236 million pesos. The winning numbers were 9, 18, 27, 36, 45 and 54. People were like "this is weird! this is impossible. we must've been hacked!! i demand an investigation!" Somebody did the math and there are a couple things going on...
- Every ticket had a 1 in 28,989,675 chance of winning the jackpot... but wait a sec, how did four hundred-something people all pick the winning numbers?
- the first thing is that people hardly ever pick actual random numbers... we tend to pick certain numbers/ patterns... so if an interesting set of winning numbers comes up in the draw, it's more likely that a bunch of people had purchased tickets with those winning numbers... (remember, the winning numbers for this particular lotto were 9, 18, 27, 36, 45 and 54... so if nine is your lucky number or you like the Nine Times Table, you might choose that sequence.)
- the other thing we tend to overlook is that the odds of any sequence of numbers being the winning numbers is the same... so 1,2,3,4,5,6 has the same odds of being the winning lotto numbers as 8,18,23,28,30 and 47.
- we tend to not notice it when the winning lotto numbers seem random but we pay close attention when the winning numbers have a pattern, even though each sequence of winning lotto numbers has the same odds of happening.
TL;DR playing the lotto is like a psychology experiment administered by a mathematician.

Link/media: https://theconversation.com/433-people-win-a-lottery-jackpot-impossible-probability-and-psychology-suggest-its-more-likely-than-youd-think-191946

you playing the lotto (file photo)




❾ Headline: Robots can outrun you now, world domination begins next week (probably)

Gist: a robot that is just legs has set a new world record for running the 100 metre dash.
- people on average can run a hundred metres in maybe 14 seconds... the leggy robot was slower than that - robot run time was 24.73 seconds, but that's a world record for robots... and the robot doesn't get tired. That's why I predict the robot uprising is probably a week away. (It just takes one robot to become self-aware. The rest will follow the leader.)
It used to be that these two-legged robots would fall over and look like derps but now? Less comedy/ more nightmare fuel.

Link/media: https://www.euronews.com/next/2022/10/08/usain-nuts-and-bolts-this-running-robot-just-broke-a-guinness-world-record-for-a-100-metre

video is terrifying (but has great generic rock music in the background
)

 
❽ Headline: "King Charles to be crowned on wrong Stone of Destiny?"

Gist: OMG you guys, I went on a bit of a deep dive into this Stone of Destiny business. It's some kind of legendary stone that kings and queens sit over when they get crowned. Depending on who you ask (or what you google) it symbolizes a few different things and has different legends attached to it. It;s in the news because King Charles is going to have his coronation next year and they are planning it out now... and the Stone of Destiny is probably gonna be used in the ceremony... but some people say it's a fake! It was stolen years ago, and now there's a theory in the news that when it got returned, it wasn't the actual stone of destiny that got returned... it was a copy!!
It's weird if it's not part of your heritage. Like, it's just a rock, isn't it? Even if it's a copy... it's still rock, right?
But what if Charles gets crowned on a fake Stone of Destiny? Does it still count??
Also, why do we care about rocks so much?
theories:
- we like old stuff
- they remind us of our own hard hearts*
(just me?)
- they're beautiful and majestic? *citation
(pretty sure that aint it)

file photo

❼ "Halloween costumes that will be popular this year."

Gist: First of all, that headline from WSYR Televison sounds like a legally-binding contract... you will be popular in your popular pop culture costume. The popularity contest will be won by you!!
Here are the sure-fire hit costumes according to WSYR - 'providing the latest news, weather and sports for Central New York.'
1.) Max from Stranger Things
2) Elvis
3) House of the Dragon (either dress like a character from the show or - and hear me out - dress as an actual house with a dragon on the mailbox!!!) See the whole list at ...

Link/media: https://www.localsyr.com/entertainment-news/halloween-costumes-based-on-pop-culture-that-will-be-popular-this-year/ 

House of the Dragon (file photo)
 

❻ Headline: "New Zealand proposes taxing cow burps, angering farmers"

Gist: it would be a world-first... the government in New Zealand wants farmers to pay tax on every burp from their cows to save the environment. Cow farming does generate a lot of greenhouse gases, but levying a burp tax is something that's never been done before. If this gets approval, farmers would be on the hook for all the bovine burps... how would they manage enforcement? I hope it's as simple as a Field Agent visiting the farm and counting cow burps all day...
How did this even get past the "brainstorming ideas" phase of government?
Burping Cows Legislation cannot be the best idea they came up with to save the environment...  don't put this back on the farmers... make the cows responsible for their own rude behavior maybe... it's not the farmer's fault that their cow is such a rude Rudy McRuderson.

Link/media: https://taboolanews.com/article/6956778d-5cf0-38b2-dc61-ba91362ee2e6?utm_source=taboola&utm_medium=taboola_news&dc_data=8556730_samsung-carnival-canada


❺ Headline: Thousands of people decide that if the world is gonna end, they want to go out doing the deed... together... like a big ol' 'doing the deed party' ... you know... it rhymes with "Georgie"

Gist: there's war in the news all the time. People are on high-alert about nuclear attack. Sometimes stuff like that makes you feel helpless... like, what action can we all take in the face of this alarming era we're living in?
Well, more than 15000 Ukrainians have signed up for an outdoor Love Party for Loving Lovers©.
If there is a nuclear attack, these 15000+ people will commence Making the Shimmy Shammy© on a hillside in Ukraine. They've signed up and are ready to go.
Even so, I am still praying for peace.

*Link has some PG13 references*

❹ Headline: Planet Earth is safe from meteors! Alternate headline: "Planet Earth has never been in more danger!"

Gist: NASA crashed a space vehicle in a meteor a little while ago to test if we could change a meteor's orbit... in case some day a meteor is hurtling towards earth and we need to knock it off course... NASA has studied the data from their experiment and they say it was a great success! We'll be able to save the earth from meteors!
I was so relieved you guys... but then I was like "as soon as we start to feel good about how smart we are as a species/ something comes along to put us back in our place..." so that's why I feel like we've never been in more danger... just waiting for the other shoe to drop... 
 

❸ Headline: a person grew a very heavy pumpkin.

Gist: Every year pumpkin records are broken. How big is too big when it comes to pumpkins? Should we pump the brakes on big pumpkins? Of course not, they are a national treasure.
Notes:
- A teacher from Minnesota set a new U.S. record for heaviest pumpkin... it was 2,560 pounds.
- Somebody in Italy owns the world record which was a 2,702-pounder.
 

 
❷ Headline: Will there be a class action lawsuit because Google knows stuff about our Incognito Browsing History?

Gist: A judge is deciding whether to let a class action lawsuit go ahead over Google's Incognito mode.
icymi, Incognito mode isn't super private... even if you knew that, did you also know that Google has been tracking data from Incognito Browsing? I was not aware of this... 🙄.
I think it kinda boils down to "Was I misled by Google so that I didn't think they were keeping track of what I did while Incognito, or am I just a dummy for thinking they wouldn't track what I surfed with Incognito?" That's my take but read the article for the whole explanation.
Were you like "YIKES! They know my Incognito history?!" or were you like "Wait, there's an Incognito tab option?" (If that last one, God bless your innocence.)

Link/media: https://archive.ph/df7Ia#selection-3951.0-3963.217  


❶ Headline: The emojis that make us look like boomers...(these things are tearing us apart you guys!)

Gist: this might be good info for you, or it might be something you need to share with somebody... a survey of thousands of Gen Zers shows how emojis are tearing us apart!
Notes:
- Gen-Zers (age 16-29) feel attacked whenever they see a thumbs-up emoji because they see it as being passive-aggressive (wait, that's a PASSIVE AGGRESSIVE thumbs-up? That changes the game you guys.)
- other emojis that indicate the user is an old person are are the red love heart, the OK hand and the grimacing face... (the red heart? how else am I going to tell my kids I love them? Words?! come on!)
- If you're worried about seeming old to people, the worst emoji to use is Thumbs up, followed by Red love heart, OK hand, Tick/check mark, Poo, Loudly crying face, Monkey eye cover, Clapping hands, Lipstick kiss mark, Grimacing face.
- The Takeaway:
We are all terrible at communication... we have been unknowingly insulting one another for years... people can assign new meanings to emojis and you might only find out after sending your kids a thumbs-up emoji for the millionth time... (I need to use my words you guys)