What a Weird Week Show: Weird Things Keep Happening! Fri Oct 13th!!

What a Weird Week is a show about the weird stuff from this week's news. Links:
1) Shownotes Page https://www.shownotes.page
2) Audio Podcast https://kite.link/weird
3) Video Podcast https://www.youtube.com/@weirdweekpod

Scotty note: I don't report on serious news with this show, and there is a lot of serious news happening. I leave that reporting to the experts. Here's a link if you want to learn more https://www.cfr.org/

OK, Here's the Top Ten for Season 4, Episode 55 first published on Friday Oct. 13, 2023... FRIDAY THE FREAKIN' 13TH! ... The Chair that captivated the World! and Why?!
 
❿ If that chair could talk! (It's probably seen a lot of rear ends.)
- Shoutout to Hoops/ Ben Hooper the weird news reporter at UPI... 
- this piece of news may have been inspired by a slow news day, you be the judge...
- there is an old house that is falling apart in Dennisville, New Jersey (pop. 800 and some as per https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennisville,_New_Jersey) and the roof is missing/ you can see into the attic...
- somehow, an old wooden chair has become balanced on top of this house where the roof would meet the side of the house... it's kind of dangling/ perched there...
- people (probably people stuck in traffic) have started to notice this chair...
- someone started a Facebook group based around chair appreciation... (https://www.facebook.com/groups/1434160430714378/)
- now it's being reported on by the local news... (https://youtu.be/pgRUhW5j494?feature=shared)

❾ Teenager makes news, success is built on a house of cards... but how big is the biggest house of cards in the world?
- a 15 year-old from India has made the biggest playing-card-structure in the world...
- used 143,000 regular-sized playing cards...
 - it's all free-standing (no glue/ tape)
- it's a replica of four famous buildings from where he lives and it is 40 feet long (over 12 metres) ... 11 feet tall (3 and a half metres-ish) ... over 16 feet wide (5 metres and change) ...
- took 41 days... 
- the video and photos are impressive! One is a cathedral, one is a stadium... https://youtu.be/zg4OkrefKDs?feature=shared 
- the story talks about how they had a collapse at one point ... do you think you'd have the patience for something like that?
https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2023/10/teen-stacks-143-000-playing-cards-to-create-worlds-largest-card-structure-759373


❽ Mushy Chestnuts linked to scandal in world championship Conkers...
- hello to you friends in the UK... if I describe this wrong please do reach out (weirdweekpod@gmail.com)
- I had a friend in grade school who used to play conkers and as near as I can tell based on my limited involvement at recess in grade three... it's this thing where you try to smash each other in the chestnuts until somebody busts a chestnut... does that seem accurate?
- you each have a chestnut on a string and you take turns smashing... eventually someone is crowned the chestnut champion...
- here's the controversy... at the world championship level they had to change the rules about eligible chestnuts... because this year's crop of chestnuts were squishy... they allowed chestnuts to be baked and hardened... unheard of!! (that used to be cheating!)
- Congratulations Jasmine Tetley who won the women's title, and Mark Hunter who took the men's.
- BTW, they raise a lot of money for charity doing this competition, see link to learn more!
https://vigourtimes.com/controversy-erupts-at-world-conkers-championships-due-to-waterlogged-chestnuts/ and https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-northamptonshire-67046823 and also https://www.worldconkerchampionships.com/ 

 
❼ 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...
- this made the National news here in Canada and made headlines internationally too... there is a road in Ontario named after a person and that road is called Harry Dick Road...
- it made news because the town in charge of Harry Dick Road (Bonnechere Valley near Eganville, Ontario) is tired of replacing the street sign... it's gotten annoying and expensive...
- the road sign is stolen about 4 times per year...
- they tried everything! ... greasing the pole to stop thieves from climbing up... but the slippery pole just seemed like it presented a new fun challenge for the Harry Dick sign thieves... they've tried a security camera aimed right at the Harry Dick street sign... but thieves stole that too! ... they also tried reinforcing the Harry Dick sign to make it harder to steal... that didn't work...
- The article we link to has quotes from the man himself! Harry Dick is not amused by all the thievery and wishes the pranksters would just grow up!
- it looked like the town was just gonna go ahead and change the name of the road... but then they realized that everybody living of Harry Dick Road would have to change all their legal ID and it would be a big ol' hassle... so that's where we're at... this one is on hold for now... https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/harry-dick-road-name-sign-change-bonnechere-1.6981502

❻ a great day for salted meats and cheese! #WorldRecord
- a mail-order cheese company called Boarderie has set a new world record for Largest Charcuterie Board... it's 769 lbs!
- this happened in Palm Beach, Florida earlier this month and news of the massive charcuterie soon traveled around the world!
- btw, Boarderie's press release describes them as "the premium direct-to-consumer cheese and charcuterie brand"
- if you don't have a chance to check the photos, the record-breaker is described as a "breathtaking charcuterie board that measured 20 feet by 14 feet" and is a replica of the most popular charcuterie board they sell...
- "board featured an impressive array of premium artisan cheeses, cured meats, flatbread crackers, nuts and dried fruits... gourmet chocolates..." btw, they donated the food to charity afterwards...  
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/boarderie-shatters-guinness-world-records-title-for-the-largest-charcuterie-board-weighing-769-lbs-301948299.html
 
 
❺ Grade 4 kids shown "Winnie the Pooh, Blood and Honey" movie by mistake. School offers counseling.
- This happened at the Academy of Innovative Education in Miami Springs...- icymi, "Winnie the Pooh, Blood and Honey" is extremely not kid-friendly... the article in goes into detail about how much swearing and decapitation there is... 
- it seems like maybe the kids chose the movie themselves somehow and no one check if it was appropriate or not for around a half-an-hour...
*viewer discretion advised https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/winnie-the-pooh-horror-movie-shown-to-children-in-florida-school-18006345
 

 
❹ *Warning: PG 13. Earmuffs for the kids! OK, here's the story ... Crocodiles doin' it has made headlines...
 - This is such a wild story... they think that helicopters flying low to try to get photos of crocodiles may have accidentally set-off a crocodile lovefest...
- happened in Central Queensland, Australia and the experts think it has something to do with the type of noise/ vibration that helicopters make...
- that noise really does it for the crocodiles apparently...
- that's kind of the whole story... the article has a lot more detail about the mating habits of crocodiles but... helicopters are a crocodile aphrodisiac is the takeaway on this one... who knew?!
https://www.iflscience.com/crocodile-sex-bonanza-triggered-by-low-flying-chinook-in-australia-70971 
 
 
❸ Guy who worked at museum decides to act out some kind of heist movie plot, buy Rolls Royce...
- A 30-year-old man who worked at a museum in Germany switched out a painting for a fake version and sold the real one at auction for around $74,000.
- the painting involved is Franz von Stuck's 'The Tale of the Frog Prince'.
- he's been given a 21-month suspended sentence and has to pay back the museum about $64,200... (the article mentions that the fellow has a lot of remorse... )
- btw, other paintings were stolen too... the money was used to pay off debts and to live a life of luxury which included driving around in a Rolls Royce... 
https://edition.cnn.com/style/german-munich-museum-stolen-paintings-sold/index.html

"Frog Prince Buys a Nice Car" (artist unknown)
 
❷ Chucky Doll placed in handcuffs, arrested for... robbery?- If you go by those terrifying movies, Chucky is evil and can't be trusted. 
- 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...- btw, media reports say that the police officer who put Chucky in cuffs got in trouble for not taking their job seriously...
- Chucky had a mugshot taken too...
- I, for one, am glad that they took no chances around this (maybe) haunted doll... https://bnn.network/breaking-news/crime/chucky-doll-handcuffed-and-arrested-in-mexico-after-series-of-robberies-a-bizarre-tale-of-crime/
 
 
HONORABLE MENTION... 
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.)
 


❶ Big Pumpkin Makes News Ahead of Halloween... how big is the biggest pumpkin in the world?
- 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.
see https://www.kare11.com/article/news/local/anoka-mans-world-record-pumpkin/89-b829f565-3933-4942-b7ae-04016a456822 and also https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2023/10/10/Guinness-World-Records-largest-pumpkin-Half-Moon-Bay/8671696948687/



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!

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