What a Weird Week Show: Butter Cows and Salad Frogs, Fri Aug 18 2023

Salut les amis, Je m'appelle Scott. This is What a Weird Week, a show where every week we count down the top ten Weird Stories from the news. You can Like and Subscribe to the podcast, see the shownotes blog and check out the YouTube channel. Find everything at Shownotes.page.
This is Season 4, Episode 47 first published on Friday Aug 18, 2023:

... btw, here's the latest video episode...
 
Here's the Top Ten, Scroll Down to Stream this Episode 👇:
❿ Sticky, Gooey, World Record!
- the other day, on National S'mores Day, the folks at Smoresapalooza were officially awarded a Guinness World Record for most people S'moring at the same time...
- 891 people in Grapevine, Texas put Graham Wafers, chocolate,  and toasted marshmallows together to make this record... so sticky... yes delicious,  but so darn sticky! #heroes
- btw, they used 500 fire pits to do this b/c everybody had to do their own s'more at the same time.. 
- This bookstore in Baltimore had an old old safe without a combination...  they couldn't get into it and of course they wanted to... if you have a 75 year  old safe and you DON'T want to get that thing open, you might be a psychopath *consult your physician*.
- the bookstore put the challenge out on social media... "Hey safe crackers, we've got one for ya" (paraphrase)...
- a fella named Rick from Winnipeg who is a lock-picking and safe-cracking enthusiast (not a professional) did some crowdfunding and had enough money to travel to Baltimore within three or four days... so Rick got to go and try what a bunch of other safe crackers tried and failed at... and he got the safe open!
- the deal from the bookstore was that you could split whatever was inside the safe 50/50... but it turned out that the only thing in there was a pay stub from the 1920s
- I get the feeling it was never about the treasure for Rick, it was about the adventure...
See the CBC report 
https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2255109187975

❽ Riding a bicycle backwards for 500 miles is not impossible? *citation needed
- Hoops Hooper at UPI filed this one the other day... a guy from Alaska who can ride his bike backwards needed more of a challenge, I guess, and so he entered a 500 mile bicycle race and did the whole thing riding backwards!
- they think that's a world record, now we just wait for the folks at Guinness World Records to make it official...
- byw, his name is Walker... Will Walker... but he bicycles... backwards... idk why that's messing with me but it is... a guy named Walker who is famous for a 500 mile race but he didn't walk it... or use a walker, that also would've made more sense to me... 
- this was picked up by a lot of news sources and I'm glad because I had never heard of the Illinois Butter Cow before...
- If you're like me and extremely disappointed in yourself because you are only now learning of the Butter Cow phenomenon, let's promise each other that we'll live each day to the fullest from now on, OK?
- according to MyStateLine.com, "The Butter Cow has been a tradition at the Illinois State Fair since the 1920s. This year’s edition was created by sculptor Sarah Pratt, and can be viewed via a webcam housed within its refrigerated display." (See link below.)
- I don't know art, but I know what I love... and it's 800 pounds of delicious buttery goodness made to look like a glorious cow.
❻ Live Frog in Package of Spinach! 
- a lady in Detroit has been in the news after she bought a plastic container of spinach at the grocery store and when she and her daughter opened that container up, there was a live frog inside! 
- it was a sealed package of Earthbound Farm brand spinach.
- Amber Worrick is quoted as saying, “Just thank God I didn't eat the frog.”
- she took the package, frog and all, back to the grocery store and got a refund... also the workers at the grocery store let the frog go which apparently you're not supposed to do because now that don't know if it was an invasive species... or maybe a magical frog... a prince who's under a spell... we may never get those answers...
❺ The Sock Monkey World has a new Champion... 
- Illinois with a second entry in this week's show... the Sock Monkey Museum of Long Grove, Illinois has a world record-setting  2,098 sock monkeys.The biggest collection of  handmade sock monkeys on planet earth!
- btw,  the article has some interesting history about sock monkeys and how they became popular as a kid's toy during the great depression...
❹ I have had it with these snakes in a shopping cart!
- someone found a snake in the shopping cart of a Target store in Sioux City, Iowa. 
- it was a six foot long boa constrictor.
- the investigation continues buy as of recording time they're not sure how a boa constrictor ended up in a Target shopping cart. Target doesn't sell boa constrictors and the snakes aren't native to Iowa icydk. According to the  Newsweek article, it would be illegal to have a boa withing city limits. 
- animal control were called and the snake is in custody. He's not talking though. 
❸ Dunkin' Booze is coming in September...
This week Dunkin' (which I still call Dunkin' Donuts btw) announced that soon you'll be able to buy Dunkin’ Spiked Iced Coffees and Iced Teas, with malt-based booze in them. 
- scheduled to come out in early September...
- eight flavors to choose from
- experts say they are going after Twisted Tea...
- for flavours and more details see the link... do you think Tim Hortons is all over this for us Canadians??
❷ Intoxicated Tourists spend a night trapped in the Eiffel Tower...
- two American guys visited the Eiffel Tower Sunday night and according to the authorities quoted in the CNN story, they were too drunk to find their way down? ...
- They were found asleep by staff on Monday morning...
- just to be clear, there are no overnight stays permitted at the Eiffel Tower... those fellows were carted off by authorities...
- because of this incident, the Eiffel Tower was late opening on Monday...
- because the fellows did no damage and it seemed to be an honest (drunken) mistake, the charges were dismissed. 
See https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/travel/article/eiffel-tower-us-tourists-drunk-intl-scli/index.html

❶ Eggo's Brunch in a Jar booze is making news this week...
- Eggo's had a booze nog last year which sold out... now it's delicious brunch,  in a jar, that can get you drunk...
- "combines the flavor of toasted Eggo waffles covered in sweet maple syrup with rich butter and “hints” of smoky bacon"
- it's 80 proof... the 750 mL bottle looks like a box of Eggos. 
 
If you scrolled this far, you're my favorite. Here's the Stream...

❿❾❽❼❻❺❹❸❷🏆❶ 
on