According to @RachelCDailey, If you're on certain meds, those may be affected by activated charcoal which, I found out today, is used in some black food coloring. Good to know as we head in to delicious Halloween Candy Time!
Halloween reminder that activated charcoal which is often used as a black food or drink dye can mess with meds including: - birth control - antidepressants - copd meds - heart meds - methotraxate and other - arthritis meds - diabetes meds
— Rachel Charlton-Dailey 💖💜💙 (she/they) (@RachelCDailey) October 9, 2023
♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫ (this is an episode transcript) "Hi Friends, I'm Scott. Welcome to our What a Weird Week Halloween Special! Usually we have a Top Ten Countdown of weird news, but this episode is weird Halloween stuff. Link: https://www.shownotes.page Now, Our Halloweird for Season 4, Episode 57 first published on Friday Oct. 27, 2023..." ...
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❿ Kicking things off with a quick check-in on our last year headline:
"Halloween costumes that will be popular this year."
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!!
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!!!) https://www.localsyr.com/entertainment-news/halloween-costumes-based-on-pop-culture-that-will-be-popular-this-year/ UPDATE: how'd that work out? At my work, a bunch of people dressed up, but they were mostly "Yellowstone" and ambiguous creature with horns or hat. For 2023, Google Frightgeist says the Top Three costumes are 1) Barbie, 2) Princess, 3) Spider-Man https://www.visualcapitalist.com/most-popular-halloween-costumes-2023/
❼ Some tips on Candy Hangovers...🍬 If you end up with a candy hangover the day after Halloween, consider eating pineapple... The article we link to says "The tropical fruit contains enzymes that aid digestion and break down proteins that usually cause bloat and also contains 180 milligrams of bloat-busting potassium per cup. Researchers have also found that pineapple can reduce colonic inflammation that may be leading to that distended stomach." https://www.eatthis.com/reduce-bloating-tips/ Other things to try if you have a candy hangover include: 1) have more candy and 2) try someone else's candy to see if it has healing properties. *citation needed*
rendering
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"Thanks for checking out the What a Weird Week Show. This is our Halloween Special. See more at Shownotes dot page!"
❻ Looking back, here are the Most Popular Pet Halloween Costumes For 2022 according to Canine Journal... #8 Ghost #7 Spider #6 Lion #5 Witch #4 Bumblebee #3 Bat #2 Hot Dog #1 Pumpkin ... Canine Journal https://www.caninejournal.com/dog-halloween-costumes/ ... This year, for 2023, Canine Journal updated the list to include these stats from the National Retail Federation https://nrf.com/media-center/press-releases/halloween-spending-reach-record-122-billion-participation-exceeds-pre ... - Pet costume sales are projected to be $700 million in 2023... - Pumpkin and Hot Dog continue to be a favourite dog costume... Here are the most popular Halloween costumes for pets in 2023 according to Canine Journal ... #10 Witch #9 Ghost #8 Lion #7 Cat #6 Devil #5 Spider #4 Bumblebee #3 Bat #2 Hot Dog #1 Pumpkin.
(So this year, witch and cat have moved up the list... but not much change all-in-all.)
❺ In June we talked about the Ohio lady who made news for refusing to remove a nine foot tall werewolf statue... - Mary Simmons says Phil the werewolf has sort of become a mascot in her yard...
- it went up as a Halloween decoration but after October was over, she started to really enjoy having Phil up as a year-round decoration... - Mary began to dress Phil for different seasons...
- somebody complained and the city sent Mary a warning... but... then they said they're not gonna follow up or enforce the werewolf removal! So at the time, it sounded like Mary won the neighborhood werewolf fight...
* UPDATE: Still going strong you guys. Check out Phil the Wolf on Facebook!
"Welcome back to Weirdoween, the What a Weird Week Show Halloween Special. See more at Shownotes dot page!"
❹ We had a pretty fantastic Halloweenish story the other day when that Chucky Doll was placed in handcuffs, arrested, and booked for crimes in Mexico... - At the time I wholeheartedly supported this move because if the scary Chucky movies have taught us anything, it's that you cannot trust evil Chucky...
- icymi, here's the story we had in a past episode... there was a series of attempted robberies in Mexico and authorities traced the crime back to a couple of suspects... one was a Chucky doll and the other was the owner of the Chucky doll.
- witness reports seem to indicate that the human suspect got arrested after making Chucky hold a large knife to scare people into handing over their money...
- suspect is believed to have been high at the time... - at the time, media reports said that the police officer who put Chucky in cuffs got in trouble for not taking their job seriously...
- *UPDATE* There's not a lot of followup, still unanswered questions... the human suspect has been released but it doesn't seem like Chucky was released, and now the doll's whereabouts are unknown! This is how it all starts you guys. We need a Chucky BOLO!!
❸ A little while back we sent out congratulations to Steve from Missouri who broke the Guinness World Record for longest journey by pumpkin boat! It took almost 11 hours to paddle his 1200 pound pumpkin 38 miles on the shark-infested* Missouri River. (*citation needed. River may not be shark-infested. Sounded good though.)
*Update to this one... it's fairly recent but the update is that it turns out the Missouri River is not shark-infested. It is home to thousands of piranha though. *citation needed.
"This is the What a Weird Week Halloween Special. Thanks for being here!"
❷ A few episodes ago we talked about that Big Ol' Pumpkin that broke the world record... over a ton!
- 2749 pounds!
- a farmer from Minnesota and his enormous pumpkin won the World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-off in California...
- congratulations to Farmer Travis and the pumpkin he named Michael Jordan... (Travis is also a horticulture teacher at a college in Minnesota)
- btw, Farmer Travis says it cost about $15,000 to raise up Michael Jordan the pumpkin... but he won $30,000 in prize money...
- also btw, Farmer Travis has grown prize-winning pumpkins before, and last year's pumpkin got into the Guinness World Records book as the world's largest jack-o'-lantern... #Halloween!- ever wonder how competitors get their giant pumpkins to the weigh-off in California? Travis and his driving team of his dad and his father-in-law drove 35 hours to California inside the pumpkin! JK, they used a pickup truck you guys.
artist rendering. actual ceremony will be fancier.
❶ Headline from @GWR "Farm celebrates Halloween with giant Jack Skellington pumpkin mosaic" ... it's a giant mosaic using different colored pumpkins on the side of a hill and these pumpkins form a scene from the movie The Nightmare Before Christmas. It's almost the size of a tennis court... 2081 square feet in case you want to get going on beating that record... they think there's around 10,000 pumpkins in that thing!
"Happy Halloween from the What a Weird Week Show!"
Bonus Halloweenery! Some more Halloween World Records...
- Most people dressed in certain costume... largest group of zombies was 15458 zombies... scarecrows was 2495... then there were the 2018 skeletons... and the 1607 witches... 1580 superheroes... 1369 vampires... 1275 angels... 878 fairies... 560 ghosts... and 252 dinosaurs. *editor's note: what if a zombie apocalypse broke out while you were trying to set the zombie record?
world record attempt. artist rendering. or zombie apocalypse?
- Fastest pumpkin carving record belongs to Stephen Clarke who carved one regulation size pumpkin in 9.4 seconds... and also carved a ton of pumpkins in 3 hours, 3 minutes, and 49 seconds!
- most pumpkins smashed in a minute is 52!
- The oldest ghost in the world is a little bit controversial because... some people don't believe in ghosts... but the oldest ghost, unofficially, is 220 million years old. There's a ranch in New Mexico where people reported seeing this sort of snake-like ghost... people reporting sightings... then in 1947 a paleontologist discovered fossils of an animal that looks like the ghost. The animal is phytosaur.
- Most TP Mummies within a 3 minute time limit... In 2015, in London, 51 people got wrapped as toilet paper mummies in three minutes.
- Largest collection of haunted dolls in the world is at the Island of the Dolls, Mexico. Imagine thousands of broken, scary-looking dolls and doll pieces hanging from trees. The article I read says it started in the 1950s and the dolls were placed around the island to appease a ghost... also the legend is that these dolls come to life at night... I will not be investigating that one so no need to hit up our patreon for that.
nope
- Largest Ouija board in the world was 3158 square feet... record was set in 2019... unveiled in Salem, Mass. they called it "Ouijazilla"... the planchette alone weighed 400 pounds!
This Halloween, eat candy instead of summoning spirits. Fewer curses.
And finally... not sure what you're expecting for Halloween this year... but the National Retail Federation says spending for Halloween 2023 will surpass pre-pandemic numbers... we'll spend $12.2 billion on Halloween this year. Great news! Right?
That's the What a Weird Week Show! For Shownotes and more go to ShowNotes Dot Page. A big thanks to you friends on the stream... every weekend we are one of the things you can hear on Fun House Radio. Ask your smart speaker to play Fun House Radio or see the link on our Shownotes Page. See you next Friday for another countdown of weird news on What a Weird Week!
Here's the Listen Now Stream, thanks for scrolling all the way down!
Boo at the Zoo has Halloween fun for everyone! Thrills and/or Chills! Food! Zoo stuff! More! *If the Scare-O-meter says:
- Scaredy Cats Level 1 that means not scary (for kids 7 and under)
- Scaredy Cats Level 2 that means a little scary (for kids 8-13)
- Scaredy Cats Level 3 that means blood curdling! (for ages 14 and up)
Event happens on Sat Oct 28 and Sun Oct 29 from 10a to 4p (Halloween activities end at 5p)
Headsup! The Wildcats play Friday night and Saturday night at Avenir Ctr. The Saturday night game is also a Halloween celebration. Friday details here. Saturday event info here. Halloween stuff Saturday includes a costume contest and Trick-or-Treating!
* artist rendering. Batman and Batzoni may not appear.
National Croc Day you guys!!!! If you're a Crocs holdout, today is a great day to join us!!!!!!!
Crocs enthusiasts Scotty and Tony
Crocs History Primer: 2002 = The first Croc 2007 = Pres. George W Bush wears Crocs and socks 2008 = Crocs golf shoes are a thing 2018 = High heel Crocs 2023 (Last Monday) Tony talks about those Croc Cowboy Boots
icymi, the Mobile Eco Depot is like a good-ol' fashioned neighborhood Junk Pickup, except YOU take your junk to THEM (at the Coliseum parking lot, 377 Killam Drive).
It's hoped that with these events, all the junk that is dropped off can be disposed of properly, and in many cases recycled, or used to construct a wonderful and fun sliding hill of garbage for the children of Southeastern NB! When completed, it'll be the highest summit in the province and might be called Mount Junkenyertrunk. *also might be named after a sponsor like the Pepitos Hawt Sauce Fun Mountain or the Hawkins Cheezies Sliding Summit.
Hours are Wednesday 25 Oct from noon to 8p and Thursday 26 Oct from noon to 8p.
Here's what you can bring:
- fridge, stove, freezer, dishwasher, water cooler, microwave, water heater, humidifier, dehumidifier, washer, dryer, BBQ, etc. (limit of 1 of each type per client).
- TVs, monitors, hard drives, DVD players, gaming consoles, anything that plugs in or requires batteries.
- couch, chair, mattress, box spring, dresser, table and chair, etc.
- snow blower, lawn mower, whipper snipper, chain saw, etc. (remove oil and gas first).
- construction waste like drywall, wood, decking, windows, doors, shingles, heat pump, water pump, etc.
- car and truck tires, (maximum of 20” diameter, limit 8 per customer) branches and yard waste, ashes, glass (sorted), cardboard and paper, cooking oil, metal
Want to plan to go to the next one? HERE's the sched.
🎃 Monster Trot Info Sheet: - What: This is a DRESS UP AND GO TRICK-OR-TREATING INDOORS EVENT for kids. - Where: Moncton Coliseum Agrena C. - When: Sat Oct 21, 2023 with three different sessions ... 11:30a, 12:30p, and 1:30p. - Why: Support Atlantic Wellness! They offer free mental health services for young people aged 12-21. - Tickets: book your time slot online here: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/11th-annual-monster-trot-tickets-715474311927 - Cost: for Trick-or-Treaters is $15, anyone not trick-or-treating gets in for free. *** PLEASE BRING YOUR OWN TRICK or TREAT BAG!!!
*UPDATE VIDEO FROM THIS YEAR...
Here's what some of us wore to the 2023 Monster Trot...
* Scotty
note: Serious News is not my beat, but here's a link if you want to learn more about the war https://www.cfr.org/
Now the countdown... Here's the Weird News Top Ten for Season 4, Episode 56 first published on Friday Oct. 20, 2023... "Mosquitos in the Tubes" ...
❿ Space Probe that may destroy the Global Economy has Successful Launch! - We talked about this potential mission before, now it has begun. NASA launch a billion-dollar space probe the other day... it's six year mission is to get to the 16 Psyche asteroid and double-check that it contains enough precious metals to ruin (or fix?) our global economy. - Just to recap... It is a scientific space exploration that involves an asteroid that might be so valuable because of the rare metals its made of, that whoever owns this asteroid would become our wealthy overlord... - there is a lot of talk in the articles about how exciting it will be to learn how planetary cores are formed/ stuff like that... but come on, you guys, it is made of precious metals (they think) - re 16 Psyche asteroid: it is shaped like a potato... it was discovered in 1852... because of the metal it's made of, the value of 16 Psyche has been estimated to be as high as $10 quintillion! - Now the experts are walking that money part back... kind of... like, it might still be worth that much money, but the experts are saying they could never bring the asteroid back to earth, and even if they did, it would flood the precious metals market and instantly render all precious metal worthless, essentially destroying the world economy. - How would we measure our self-worth then? If we can't flaunt how much precious metal we have, what? Are we gonna have to start having talent or something? People skills? Good Lord, what a nightmare dystopia. Thanks NASA, for making this about the science, and not the 10 quintillion dollars!
- in case you can't check out the photo... picture a piece of charcoal that is kind of in the shape of a scroll... a shriveled up charcoal scroll that's all rolled up... that's what it looks like to me... they can unroll the thing or it'll just crumble, so they have to find another way to figure out what it says...
- the article doen't get too detailed about how Luke did it... seems as though he used a program that employed machine learning... that's my guess but I aint had much machine learnin' myself...
- another description: like it was a scene from the movie Jumanji... - Let me pass the question off to you: would you rather have a flight that's several hours late departing, or an on-time flight infested with mosquitos??
❼ Huffpost Headline was "GEORGIA MAN STUNNED BY $1.4 MILLION SPEEDING TICKET" ... - Who wouldn't be stunned by that much of a fine for speeding? Like, how fast would you need to go before you said, "1.4 million seems fair... I figured somewhere around a 1.4 million dollar fine... you got me, officer." ?? - maybe if you flew a rocket through a construction zone during rush hour... MAYBE then you wouldn't be stunned by a 1.4 million dollar speeding ticket... but then how would they even catch you in your rocket?
- this was obviously a typo...
- a fellow in Georgia (USA) got pulled over for doing 90 mph in a 55 zone ... or metric, for doing 145 KMs instead of the speed limit of 89KMs.
- so the speeder got his 1.4 million dollar e-citation, called the court because, as the headline from Huffpost mention, he was stunned... and the speeder was told "either pay the fine or show up to court" *paraphrase. - It turns out that if you go to court for something like this in Savannah, Georgia, the judge decides what your actual fine will be... and it can't be more than a thousand dollars... which is still a lot of money btw... - so do you think they automatically issue the million dollar fine so people will be like "Pay a thousand bucks instead of a million?! Yes, please!" Or maybe they're hoping some rich people will just pay the million-four and not even think twice. - Officials say that the e-citation software just generated the 1.4 million fine as a placeholder, and it was never the actual fine. *paraphrase https://www.huffpost.com/entry/georgia-speeding-ticket-scare_n_652cd3fde4b03b213b066ef5
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❻ New World Record for Cereal Box Dominoes... If you wanted to beat the record for knocking over cereal boxes, you'd need to beat ...
- 12952 cereal boxes! ... old record was 6391...
- it was for charity again... usually you hear about cereal box dominoes because food is being collected to help people who don't get enough to eat, and that was the case here... the charity Move for Hunger had their Topple Hunger Challenge at the Henry Ford Detroit Pistons Performance Center in Michigan and they tried for a cool fifteen thousand boxes, but seemingly not every box went over, so the final tally was just under thirteen thousand... but enough to set a new world record...
- More: I can see a LOT of Frosted Flakes in the event photos and also Flakes Spokesmodel, Tony the Tiger. It's nice that he found the time to be there in-between appearing in commercials with people who don't even care that he's a talking tiger. These commercials just have him showing up at the ski hill or whatever to help Bobby and Janie fuel up with a nutritious breakfast before the Junior Ski Jump competition. Bobby and Janie are cool with this tiger-who-has-the-power-of-speech providing ski jump guidance and delicious cereal. I dream of a time when we can all be like Bobby and Janie.
❺ Rubber Ducks: Why and How Much?!! - The Guinness folks posted an article about Charlotte Lee the other day...
- from the article: "Charlotte Lee and her rubber ducks have waddled their way into the record books. With over 5,631 rubber ducks to her name (and counting!), the Seattle, Washington, USA, native has achieved the record title for the largest collection of rubber ducks.
- idk if it's like this where you live but around here, you'll see rubber ducks everyday on the dashboard of cars, or in the back window of a car, or in the office kitchen... it was a slow invasion that I didn't really notice... but the rubber duck invasion has happened...
- Charlotte is 54 now... she got her first duck in 1996 to decorate the bathroom a little bit... then it was a slow invasion... get a couple here, get a couple there... I imagine Charlotte's friends saw what was happening and - you know how it goes- the rubber duck becomes the easy gift to get Charlotte for every occasion... and now, kablammy, 5 thousand six hunder and something rubber ducks and Charlotte is the duck queen.
❹ Bungee Jumping World Record has its Ups and Downs (thanks dad, for that headline) - a fella named Mike, who is from New Zealand, has set the unofficial world record for most bungee jumps in a day. - how many is the record? 941 times. and he did it for charity.
- still has to be stamped by the Guinness World Records folks but that seems like a formality...
- he set the record earlier this month on the Auckland Harbour Bridge and live-streamed it...
❸ New World Record for solving the Rubik's Cube before crashing into the earth at terminal velocity... - a fella broke a skydiving/ Rubik's Cube world record...
- if they rigged it up so that your chute only opened if you solved the Rubik's Cube, that would really up the drama/ incentivize the process... also would be a pretty good plot device for the next SAW movie maybe... - A 17-year-old named Sam, who's from Australia, set the Guinness record for "fastest time solving a rotating puzzle cube in freefall." - how fast? 28.25 seconds to solve that thing... while falling at around 200 KMs per hour according to the article...
- Sam says it's hard to focus on solving the Cube while you're plummeting to the earth...
BTW, there was another speed cubing record set recently for fastest solve while blindfolded... which is pretty great also, but the guy falling to earth with a cube story kind of won out this episode...
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❷ from LiveScience: "Horrifying parasitic wasp with a giant head is one of more than 100 newfound species discovered in the Amazon" ...
- discovered in the rainforest of Peru...
- how giant is the head of this horrifying wasp? idk, I mean I have to trust the scientists on this but we've all seen those murder hornets... so maybe I'm desensitized? This new big-head wasp can get to 0.7 of an inch (1.7 centimeters) long. - they are still horrifying because they do what parasites do... they kill the heck out of the the bugs they eat... and the details are like a horror movie for sure... the photo in the story looks to me like this new wasp has a head that is in proportion to its body... I just don't see the giant head aspect... - still, it's always interesting when they find new stuff in the Amazon, and a horrifying wasp is a great addition to lexicon of things to have nightmares about...
LWR/ ICYMI Here's the Top Ten from last week. Episode is still online at https://www.shownotes.page/podcast ... 10 If that chair could talk! (It's probably seen a lot of rear ends.)
9 Teenager makes news, success is built on a house of cards... but how big is the biggest house of cards in the world?
8 Mushy Chestnuts linked to scandal in world championship Conkers...
7 I'm just gonna muscle through this one like it's a news story and nothing else... Harry Dick Road is not a road you want to go down...
6 a great day for salted meats and cheese! #WorldRecord
5 Grade 4 kids shown "Winnie the Pooh, Blood and Honey" movie by mistake. School offers counseling.
4 *Warning: PG 13. Earmuffs for the kids! OK, here's the story ... Crocodiles doin' it has made headlines...
3 Guy who worked at museum decides to act out some kind of heist movie plot, buy Rolls Royce...
2 Chucky Doll placed in handcuffs, arrested for... robbery?- If you go by those terrifying movies, Chucky is evil and can't be trusted.
1 Big Pumpkin Makes News Ahead of Halloween... how big is the biggest pumpkin in the world? 2749 pounds!
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Honorable Mention! The headline from the New York Post is "Woman ate 48 oysters on a date - what happened next was shocking..."
- Not that shocking though... I mean if you had to guess what happened next you'd probably think of a few possibilities... like, stomach trouble... some sort of aphrodisiac-related experience, or maybe bad date?
- it was bad date you guys... she met a guy for drinks at this oyster bar... she decided to try the oysters... they were so good that she ordered more... she ended up having 48 oysters because they were so darn good... her date got up to go to the washroom and when he came back... just kidding, he didn't come back. He took off because as far as he was concerned, they were going out for drinks... not a hundred-and-something dollars worth of oysters. - lady posted the whole thing on TikTok, Oyster restaurant confirms the story... the guy eventually did eventually offer to pay for the drinks...
❶ Lady accused of stealing car from Dealership to get to her Exotic Dancing Job Interview according to police...
- the lady allegedly stole a Kia from a dealership in Indiana and drove that stolen car to a job interview... it was an exotic dancer job interview that she needed to get to...
- it seems like it was the ol' take it for a test drive/ and just don't bring it back situation...
- interesting twist... when she was done with the car, allegedly, she left it in a mall parking lot with the keys inside... and it was stolen by somebody else... a double steal!
- arrest has been made but no court stuff yet so, to be continued... I can't find anything in the article about whether she got the dance gig!? That might make a difference to the judge... if you're chasing your dream of being a dancer and you're so passionate that you "borrow" a car and get there just in time for the audition... and you dance so exotically that the entire dance company gives you a standing ovation and you're hired as the lead dancer for some kind of exotic Guys and Dolls revival!! That's a story that might get you probation, don't you think? The alternative... that you stole a Kia to get to Pole Daddy's Cabaret Club to work the Free Soup Thursday rush... I mean, still an interesting story I guess... anyway... no info on whether the dancer got the job...
That's the What a Weird Week Show! For Shownotes and more go to ShowNotes Dot Page. A big thanks to you friends on the stream... every weekend we are one of the things you can hear on FunHouse Radio. Ask your smart speaker to play FunHouse Radio or see the link on our Shownotes Page. See you next Friday for another countdown of weird news on What a Weird Week!
Here's the Listen Now Stream, thanks for scrolling all the way down!
