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Hi Friends, I'm Scott. This is What a Weird Week, a show where we count down the Weird News of the Week from 10 to 1. Like and subscribe to the podcast, see the shownotes blog and check us out on YouTube. Find everything at Shownotes.page.
Latest video episode...
Headline from CBC "Invasive crabs are thriving in BC waters... can we eat our way out of the problem?"
This is referring to European Green Crabs. They are an invasive species, but apparently they don't taste too bad. So problem solved? Not everyone is on board with this idea but it is in the news and gaining momentum in a lot of places where these crabs have invaded. I'm no scientist/ nutritionist/ medical doctor, marine biologist. I'm just hungry. I enjoy eating things... so, I love this movement towards eating seafood to save the planet. Maybe we could start eating other things that are problematic also? The mortgage? If the interest rate has got you down, maybe eat your mortgage documents. *may not be legally-binding.
See https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/crab-food-environment-1.6900845
❾ What is Barbenheimer/ Barbieheimer? In case you missed it, Barbenheimer has its own Wikipedia entry. It is this social media trend that is taking off... from Wikipedia, "Barbenheimer is an internet phenomenon that began circulating ahead of the theatrical release of two films diametrically opposed in genre, Barbie and Oppenheimer."
People have jumped on it and they're sharing memes and mashups and it's generally been fantastic. It was mentioned by Tom Cruise in a tweet. He held up tickets to Barbie and Oppenheimer and referred to the two films as a double feature. He is saving the movie theater industry, Tom Cruise. With his films, and through buying tickets to OTHER MOVIES!
Now some cinemas are planning special double features featuring Barbie and Oppenheimer... they're already selling tickets! More of this, internet. You too, world... more of this fun stuff please!
❽ Quick Question: Is the Ice Sword the perfect weapon? ... This amazing ice cream from Japan that looks like a sword. It got some attention this week as the longest ice cream in Japan... headline on the Japan Today website said it best: "Ninja Sword Ice Cream." Now, what they call ice cream, I think here we'd call it a Popsicle, maybe, or if that's a brand name, then some sort of cicle, some sort of flavored icicle, sword-shaped flavored icicle. Anyway, it's like a sword, but it's delicious and cools you off on a hot day. And it's not too sharp, which is good because it comes in contact with your tongue and mouth. You wouldn't want it to be sharp like a sword... I have this thing where I will eat a Popsicle and for some reason, maybe it's the heat signature of my mouth, the Popsicle will become sharply pointed. Like an ice dagger. Maybe you could do that with a delicious ice sword also. Sharpen it with your tongue. Give it a tongue-sharpening.
BTW, it's 45 centimeters long... It's a foot and a half of dangerously delicious icy swordy goodness.
Now some cinemas are planning special double features featuring Barbie and Oppenheimer... they're already selling tickets! More of this, internet. You too, world... more of this fun stuff please!
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbenheimer ...
and also https://www.ign.com/articles/internet-embraces-barbenheimer-memes-mashups-more ...
and https://www.gamesradar.com/greta-gerwig-margot-robbie-barbie-oppenheimer-double-bill/
and also https://www.ign.com/articles/internet-embraces-barbenheimer-memes-mashups-more ...
and https://www.gamesradar.com/greta-gerwig-margot-robbie-barbie-oppenheimer-double-bill/
❽ Quick Question: Is the Ice Sword the perfect weapon? ... This amazing ice cream from Japan that looks like a sword. It got some attention this week as the longest ice cream in Japan... headline on the Japan Today website said it best: "Ninja Sword Ice Cream." Now, what they call ice cream, I think here we'd call it a Popsicle, maybe, or if that's a brand name, then some sort of cicle, some sort of flavored icicle, sword-shaped flavored icicle. Anyway, it's like a sword, but it's delicious and cools you off on a hot day. And it's not too sharp, which is good because it comes in contact with your tongue and mouth. You wouldn't want it to be sharp like a sword... I have this thing where I will eat a Popsicle and for some reason, maybe it's the heat signature of my mouth, the Popsicle will become sharply pointed. Like an ice dagger. Maybe you could do that with a delicious ice sword also. Sharpen it with your tongue. Give it a tongue-sharpening.
BTW, it's 45 centimeters long... It's a foot and a half of dangerously delicious icy swordy goodness.
BTW, these cost around a thousand yen or $7 bucks.
See https://japantoday.com/category/features/new-products/ninja-sword-ice-cream-the-longest-ice-cream-in-japan-looks-like-a-single-edged-sword
See https://japantoday.com/category/features/new-products/ninja-sword-ice-cream-the-longest-ice-cream-in-japan-looks-like-a-single-edged-sword
❼ Never Send a Thumbs Up Emoji to Anyone Ever!
That's the takeaway lesson. Ever. Never. Just don't use emojis anymore, you guys. Here's the CBC headline: "Texting thumbs up emoji in response to a question costs Saskatchewan farmer $82,000 in contract case."
This is a case in Western Canada where somebody wanted to buy some grain.
That's the takeaway lesson. Ever. Never. Just don't use emojis anymore, you guys. Here's the CBC headline: "Texting thumbs up emoji in response to a question costs Saskatchewan farmer $82,000 in contract case."
This is a case in Western Canada where somebody wanted to buy some grain.
Note: the buyer has texted inquiries before, and done deals over text... buyer was doing that in this case also... essentially they offer to buy however much grain at a certain price point.
So a text message was sent to a grain farmer... it said something like "Contract attached, please confirm contract"... The contract WAS attached... and the farmer texted back a thumbs-up. Well, the buyer never got his grain... and ended up in court against the farmer who had sent the thumbs-up. The judge ruled that a thumbs up emoji is just like saying yes, affirmative... so the thumbs-up emoji meant that the buyer and the farmer had a contract... and the farmer then didn't fulfill his end of the deal... so the farmer had to pay $80-something thousand bucks!
You guys, we're sending these emojis and sometimes we're not talking the same language! Let's be careful with those emojis.
see https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/thumbs-up-emoji-costs-sask-farmer-82-thousand-1.6898686
❻ McDonald's Wedding Package is getting some attention... official wedding package offered by McDonald's in Indonesia... a McDonald's wedding package with 100 chicken burgers, and 100 four piece nuggs... that deal will cost you around $230 US. When I put that in the app... if I wanted a hundred chicken nuggets Happy Meals (which is an amazing idea for your next wedding... everybody gets a Happy Meal...) if you tried to cater your own wedding with Happy Meals it would be like 600 dollars! So this wedding package from McDonald's (even if you only get the nuggs and burgs and a booth to sit down in) ... it's still a great value at these price points. People are gonna get married some weekend just because they're hungry... that's how low these prices are. And what memories you'll have throughout your marriage.! The nuggs, the booth, maybe a souvenir tray.... good memories.
See https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mcdonalds-wedding-catering-package-indonesia/
You guys, we're sending these emojis and sometimes we're not talking the same language! Let's be careful with those emojis.
see https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/thumbs-up-emoji-costs-sask-farmer-82-thousand-1.6898686
❻ McDonald's Wedding Package is getting some attention... official wedding package offered by McDonald's in Indonesia... a McDonald's wedding package with 100 chicken burgers, and 100 four piece nuggs... that deal will cost you around $230 US. When I put that in the app... if I wanted a hundred chicken nuggets Happy Meals (which is an amazing idea for your next wedding... everybody gets a Happy Meal...) if you tried to cater your own wedding with Happy Meals it would be like 600 dollars! So this wedding package from McDonald's (even if you only get the nuggs and burgs and a booth to sit down in) ... it's still a great value at these price points. People are gonna get married some weekend just because they're hungry... that's how low these prices are. And what memories you'll have throughout your marriage.! The nuggs, the booth, maybe a souvenir tray.... good memories.
See https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mcdonalds-wedding-catering-package-indonesia/
❺ The Twenty Slices of Cheese Burger from Burger King Thailand...
It has twenty slices of cheese!? like a Whole Package of cheese slices? Mama!
Also noteworthy, it has no beef. it's a no-beef cheeseburger with just bun and cheese. One person quoted in the story said it was good but maybe a bit too much cheese... that person could only finish half a burger... like ten slices of cheese, not the full twenty slices. Burger King posted on social media that it wasn't a joke... because people must've thought it was a joke, right?
❹ Headline from BBC... police search for screaming woman, find pet parrot. We've had stories like this before on this podcast, a parrot sounds so convincingly like someone in trouble that the police show up. Well the person who owned the parrot is a retired police officer himself, he has 22 parrots, but someone called the cops because it sounded like there was a woman in distress. Here's the thing though, no arrests were made, everything was fine, the police had a chuckle about it, and then you read through the story and you're like wait this fellow has 22 parrots? I say arrest him, arrest that man, he has 22 parrots, that seems like there ought to be a law is all I'm saying... seems like there should be more regulations. I'm a little bit scared of birds you guys, so maybe that's where this is coming from... from a place where I'm scared of birds.
❸ Giant Space Tubes in the News!
From the TLDR newsletter which is pretty great, an article about $10 space travel which seems pretty weird...
- Longshot Space is a company working on cheap space travel... maybe as cheap as $10 per kilogram (so about $5 per pound) to launch a payload into space via their giant space tube. (other systems will launch a payload for thousands and thousands of dollars per pound.)
The newsletter describes the system (which is not really called a giant space tube but whatever,) as a "multiple-kilometer-long horizontal concrete tunnel that is basically a vacuum chamber."
So it's like an airgun that shoots stuff into space...
From the TLDR newsletter which is pretty great, an article about $10 space travel which seems pretty weird...
- Longshot Space is a company working on cheap space travel... maybe as cheap as $10 per kilogram (so about $5 per pound) to launch a payload into space via their giant space tube. (other systems will launch a payload for thousands and thousands of dollars per pound.)
The newsletter describes the system (which is not really called a giant space tube but whatever,) as a "multiple-kilometer-long horizontal concrete tunnel that is basically a vacuum chamber."
So it's like an airgun that shoots stuff into space...
Right now they're testing how fast they can get stuff going... to be continued...
See https://techcrunch.com/2023/07/10/longshot-space-wants-to-make-space-launch-dumb-and-really-cheap-too/
See https://techcrunch.com/2023/07/10/longshot-space-wants-to-make-space-launch-dumb-and-really-cheap-too/
❷ Survey out of England says Small Talk is really important, so don't screw it up??
- From the Study Finds website: research from University of Warwick seems to indicate that those first impressions we make during small talk has a big impact later on...
- small talk is important even when it seems like we're just saying unimportant/ dumb stuff because our brain is filing away information about the other person's personality... leading to better interactions (or dealings?) in the future.
- so even if you hate small talk, it's better to do that than just jump into work talk...
Note: to me this doesn't seem earth-shattering, but it's a good reminder for me not to roll my eyes when someone at work starts talking about the shoes they bought on the weekend... I hate small talk so much... this is terrible news, social scientists!
See https://studyfinds.org/first-impressions-small-talk/
- From the Study Finds website: research from University of Warwick seems to indicate that those first impressions we make during small talk has a big impact later on...
- small talk is important even when it seems like we're just saying unimportant/ dumb stuff because our brain is filing away information about the other person's personality... leading to better interactions (or dealings?) in the future.
- so even if you hate small talk, it's better to do that than just jump into work talk...
Note: to me this doesn't seem earth-shattering, but it's a good reminder for me not to roll my eyes when someone at work starts talking about the shoes they bought on the weekend... I hate small talk so much... this is terrible news, social scientists!
See https://studyfinds.org/first-impressions-small-talk/
❶ Would you take $10,000 to be a toilet paper spokesmodel/ influencer? It's been awhile since we featured one of these publicity stunts... I always say it aint easy being on the toilet paper marketing team trying to come up with a way to get some toilet paper publicity to stand out from the rest... but I don't think I'll be taking part in this contest...
From Marketing Dive:
"Cottonelle is getting to the bottom of how consumers talk about their “down there” situations with a comical effort that seeks not ambassadors or influencers, but assvertisers." Can I say that?
The article quotes the North American VP of Cottenelle as saying “Many consumers don’t understand that they can find solutions to their down there situation in the toilet paper aisle... Cottonelle has a full suite of products that speak to the various situations all of our down theres have, whether we are steamy, sensitive, hard to clean, or swampy, and we hope our first-ever Assvertisers can help us normalize the conversation around down there care and shine light on the solutions.”
My sweet Lord, what?!
BTW, This contest has already started and goes until late July... maybe it's showed up in your feeds... it started showing up for me this week...
If you want a crack at that $10,000 prize, you send them a video message about what you got going on 'down there' and if it's not vulgar, you could win $10,000 and a pair of Cottonelle joggers... you'll have to wear these joggers in public and in your social media posts, because it's not exactly a contest, it's more like you could win a job promoting TP. Then everyone will know you from your 'down there' situation and you will be famous for toilet paper! Good luck!!!!
From Marketing Dive:
"Cottonelle is getting to the bottom of how consumers talk about their “down there” situations with a comical effort that seeks not ambassadors or influencers, but assvertisers." Can I say that?
The article quotes the North American VP of Cottenelle as saying “Many consumers don’t understand that they can find solutions to their down there situation in the toilet paper aisle... Cottonelle has a full suite of products that speak to the various situations all of our down theres have, whether we are steamy, sensitive, hard to clean, or swampy, and we hope our first-ever Assvertisers can help us normalize the conversation around down there care and shine light on the solutions.”
My sweet Lord, what?!
BTW, This contest has already started and goes until late July... maybe it's showed up in your feeds... it started showing up for me this week...
If you want a crack at that $10,000 prize, you send them a video message about what you got going on 'down there' and if it's not vulgar, you could win $10,000 and a pair of Cottonelle joggers... you'll have to wear these joggers in public and in your social media posts, because it's not exactly a contest, it's more like you could win a job promoting TP. Then everyone will know you from your 'down there' situation and you will be famous for toilet paper! Good luck!!!!
and to enter (US only) https://www.cottonelle.com/en-us/assvertiser
and here's celebrity spokesperson Ken Jeong https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtqGbTuI6pk
If you scrolled this far, you're my favorite. Here's the Stream...
and here's celebrity spokesperson Ken Jeong https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtqGbTuI6pk
If you scrolled this far, you're my favorite. Here's the Stream...
❿❾❽❼❻❺❹❸❷🏆❶