What a Weird Week 10 May 2024: Spiders and Hula Hoops!

What a Weird Week gets you caught up on the weird news of the week.  https://www. 
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(BEGIN  EPISODE TRANSCRIPT) Cuddling cows and backwards tornadoes. What a weird week. Hi friends, I'm Scott. This is What a Weird Week where we catch you up on all the weird things that happened in the news the past week. You can get show notes and a transcript and all that jazz... go to show notes dot page. Here we go. Season five episode can't remember for Friday, May the 10th. Mother's Day weekend, you guys. 
*see www.shownotes.page! This is actually Season 5, Episode 19 first published on Friday May 10th, 2024 
 
❿ Look, we've all been through some sort of pandemic situation, right? And then you hear about this bird flu in the news. It's not fun. It's not funny, but it is weird. As a matter of fact, it's stressful and all you want to do is cuddle a cow when you hear about the bird flu outbreak. And in a sad irony.
Our lead story this week from Sky News is how bird flu, as it infects cows, is cutting into the lucrative cow cuddling market. People pay money and cuddle cows. I didn't know that, but they call it, Sky News calls it a US craze. Our friends in the United States of America, is it a craze? A cow cuddling craze? And now, you know, instead of getting therapeutic comfort from cows, officials are urging farmers to limit outside visitors.
So you're stressed about the headline and then you can't even cuddle the cow and you get more stressed and it is a vicious circle. I'm sorry you guys, this one is not a light story. I try to keep it light but let's keep it down to one bird flu story per week. How about that?

Results may vary
 
❾ Headline from Smithsonian Mag. Rare tornado spinning the wrong direction forms over Oklahoma. Another serious story. But weird. First of all, I didn't know see where I live.
We get one tornado every 10 years, maybe. I don't know, estimating. So I don't know from tornadoes. Maybe The Wizard of Oz. There, that's... That is the only primer I've had on tornadoes. The Wizard of Oz. And apparently, that movie isn't factual. I never even thought about tornadoes spinning one direction all the time. Of course they spin one direction all the time. Well, no. They recorded in Oklahoma this anti-cyclonic tornado spinning the wrong way.
unusual tornado action in Oklahoma. The National Weather Service describes it in the article, for a while was nearly stationary. That also would be freaky. I feel like even if you lived in tornado alley and you saw a tornado spinning the wrong way, standing still, that's pretty freaky. Side note, should we change the name of this show to, what a freaky week? Or just freaky week, it has a ring to it. Let me just double check, freakyweek.org. Oh wait, no, don't, don't click that.
God bless you folks in Oklahoma. They say this particular tornado episode did property damage, but no injuries were reported. I'll put a link in the show notes, ways you can help folks impacted by tornadoes. Hang on, next, not as serious a story. Well, it involves a serious amount of money, I guess. $14,000, that's a serious amount.
"TORNARD WARNING!" file photo

♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫This is What a Weird Week, a show about the weird stuff in the news. 

❽ So this one is not quite as serious as the first two stories we had this week, but it involves a serious amount of money. And I'm curious to know if you like this one or maybe this story disturbs you. The headline from ABC7, Man snags $14,000 Cartier earrings for $14 after website price glitch.
This is about a fellow who was surfing on a Cartier website and saw earrings that were $14,000 value on for $14. Obviously, a typo or a mistake of some sort. Now, what would you do? This fellow bought two pairs of the earrings for $14 each. And then Cartier, according to the article, Cartier reaches out to the fellow and they were like, oops, listen, um, how about instead of buying the earrings for $14, we give you some champagne? A nice bottle of champagne and we'll call it even. That's me paraphrasing. Well, this fellow has a quote in the story. He says he has the worst luck in the world and he's never made any money. So he stood firm and he posted a video. We'll link to this in the show notes. He got his earrings, his $14 earrings, one of the pairs of earrings going to his mom just in time for Mother's Day. So how do you feel about this one? I'm sorry for Cartier losing that money on the earrings a little, but I can't help it. This is the dream. You're looking through a website, you're going through a flyer, you're at the store and the price is wrong and you know it's wrong. But you were so clever to spot that wrong price and snatch up that item. It's the dream, isn't it you guys?
you spent $14 dollars on those earrings?! #MomsDay

❼ From our buddy Hoops. Future buddy? I don't know, are we buddies yet Hoops? Come on, reach out man. Ben Hooper from United Press International, he's the weird news guru over there. Our number 7 story is one he had about a badger in a skate park. Cornwall, England. Badger down in the skate bowl. It's called a skate bowl. It's like the swimming pool part of the skate park, whatever, skate bowl. The badger got down there and couldn't get back out. Uh... Little help here? Thank you. So when I first heard the story, I liked the idea of a bunch of skaters, you know, helping this badger and maybe teaching the badger to skateboard. Um, the actual rescue, I mean, God bless the skaters, and I'm sure they're open to teaching a badger a few tricks, but... The Cornwall Badger Group got the call for the rescue and used the blanket and the determination and the piece of wood and the badger was able to be freed. Thank you. There should be badger ladders at these skate parks, don't you think you guys? I'll put a poll on the show notes. Should there be badger ladders? Hang on, up next, well wait, if you're hungry this one could set you over the edge.
We have a world record baguette in the news, that story next!

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❻ Thanks for checking out the program, this is What a Weird Week.
A very long baguette has made the news. If you haven't heard about it, just imagine a long baguette. Like you know, baguettes are fairly long anyway. Now imagine a very long baguette. What are you picturing? Twice the size? Three times the size? Is it so big you have to put the seats down in your car to get it home from the bake shop or grocery store? Now the biggest baguette in the world is 461 feet you guys. Enormous! Sometimes you hear of these world records like somebody grew a very large tomato and you're like yeah that's seems like a very large tomato. But this one blew my mind! A baguette that's 461 feet! The Great Pyramid of Giza is 430 feet. So this baguette would tower over the Great Pyramid of Giza. There are baguette shows? 18 bakers were involved, a place near Paris. They had a mobile oven, so they decided where this would be. The baguette was going to be on display at a certain area, and they brought the baguette baking oven to that area, and they baked it on the spot. 461 feet of magnificent baguette.  

❺ Weird things in the sewer made news this week. We linked to the story from the Daily Gazette, but a lot of people picked this one up. It kind of seems custom made for our weird news podcast. Weird stuff from the sewer. Um, Sewer Ken was one of the things. I think that one was even trending as a hashtag. Hashtag Sewer Ken. Sewer Ken is a Ken doll who, I mean, looks like he's been living in the sewer. When you look Ken in the eyes, there's something going on or maybe there's absolutely nothing going on. Ken has this vacant stair. disheveled hair. He's barely there. He ain't no square. Sorry. He got carried away. A company named Severn Trent in Coventry, UK. Well, they're referred to in the article as a water firm. Is that different than a company? Company? Firm? Severn Trent. They published this list of weird things they found in the sewer to raise awareness that, Hey, you know, let's not put stuff in the sewer anymore. You guys is kind of the thing. False teeth is on the list. I mean, that one, you could see that happening. An accidental sneeze.
You lose your teeth. The ol' flusharoo. Dora the Explorer. You know, some little gaffer flushed that one to see what would happen. The sewer can. I'm not sure. Once you're old enough to play with Barbie and Ken, it seems like maybe there was some intent in the Ken flushing incident. How about this one? I love a good mystery. The bed frame that they found in this sewer. Now, that's a good mystery. I want to know that story. Probably not flushed. Maybe. I mean, if you have the right attitude.
The can-do attitude and the hard work and the right plunger, maybe you're able to flush a bed frame. I wouldn't recommend it. You can read the whole list of weird sewer stuff if you click the show notes. Hang on, more weirdness coming up next.
https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2024/05/03/Severn-Trent-sewer-finds/1051714751072/

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❹ This is What A Weird Week, we catch you up on the weird news of the week.
Before we get into this one, how are you with spiders? Do you love spiders? Great, we've got a great story for you. Oh, if you do not love them. Oh, if they give you nightmares. Well, you're gonna hate this one. Here's the headline from the Mirror UK. Fish eating giant spider spotted again after almost going extinct in Britain. It's about a giant spider. You guys, this one.
They describe it in the article as being able to fit in the palm of your hand a palm of your hand sized spider Which has the ability to eat fish as do we you could look at it that way you guys We have this in common with those freaky spiders Anyway, this story is it gets into a bit of how the spider almost went extinct Perhaps you were hoping for that not a fan of the spider. Maybe you're like what's so bad about a spider going extinct ... But this article with the freaky spider that eats fish is leaning into how it's a triumph of the ecosystem or environment. You know, it's good news that the spider is making a comeback. Not terrible, terrible, terrifying news. The fish eating spider is making a comeback. It's good news. Not good news for the fish, I guess. It's a bit of a complicated story, isn't it? A complicated web, if you will.
If you want to see a photo of this spider, see some spider swimming, fish eating spider images, by all means, click our show notes. Guess we'll stop there on that one. 

is this illustration easier to look at than the real thing? our sources say yes!
 
❸ The woman with the world's biggest lips. Back in the news this past week, she is getting some more cosmetic surgery and that made headlines. The reason for getting more procedures, the quote in the article is the lady wants to even things out. So the lady is in the Guinness Book of World Records for the biggest lips in the world. It's an on purpose thing. Lady named Andrea, she spent more than 20,000 British pounds filling out her lips, filling up her lips, whatever it is, in bigging her lips. And they're big. They are world record size big lips. That's what she went for. That's what she wanted. And that's what she got. But now...
You can't just rest on that, I guess. She wants to even things out a bit by getting another procedure so that the area adjacent to the lips, she wants things to look more in proportion. And I don't know how to feel about this. I mean, it ain't none of my business. She wants the world's biggest lips and the stick-to-it-iveness to make that happen. I mean, I don't know the implications of having the world's biggest lips. Probably paper straws would be a nuisance, right? I don't know, I got a few different thoughts going on.
By the way, if you want to see photos of the lady with the world's biggest lips, you can check the show notes. Alright, up next, if you have a bald spot, or maybe somebody you know has a bald spot, bald spots in the news, that story is next.

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❷ Hey you guys, this one is all about weird news. This is a show called What a Weird Week. Thank you for listening. This one from Adweek about Burger King, this portion of the show not sponsored by Burger King but they are home of the Whopper, the hamburger sandwich known as the Whopper. They had one of these publicity stunts or marketing campaigns involving people with a bald spot. Free Whoppers if you have a bald spot. This marketing campaign comes from Brazil? People were encouraged to go to Burger King if your bald spot looked like a drive-through. It's one of the hairstyles that we can develop as we develop a bald spot. I never thought about it before, but it seems like a pretty apt name for a certain type of balding, the drive-through. Perhaps you or someone you know is developing a drive-through on top. So Burger King Brazil described this receding hairline where the receding hairline and the bald spot meet. They called it a bald through and then said come by the drive through with your bald through and you can get a free delicious hamburger sandwich I would worry about fraud a little bit on this one if you could get a free hamburger sandwich Wouldn't you maybe if you don't care about your what you got going on on top when you maybe alter your own hair in some way Shave your head so that you had a drive-through bald spot a bald through I don't think the folks behind the marketing campaign would care though... generates traffic, gets attention, whether you're a natural bald through or you created that thing. Doesn't matter. I think the campaign worked. I like this one on a couple of different levels you guys. First of all, the positive image. You know, embrace whatever you got going on with your hairstyle. Embrace it. Let's own it. But also I like the message of free food. Embrace your weirdness. Do not shy away from your weirdness and enjoy free food.
That's a message I can lean into. Ooh, note for the editing team, write down, embrace your weirdness. That would look good on a t-shirt when we do our merch drop, embrace your weirdness. Also, cut this part out. This doesn't have to go on the show, unless you hate me. Leave it in if you hate me.
Embracing the Bald-Thru, artist unknown

🍅 Honorable Mention... 
Headline from NDTV, Ghana Man sets world record for most trees hugged in one hour. This was at the Tuskegee National Forest, Alabama, United States of America. A 29-year-old fellow who loves trees got in the Guinness Book of World Records for hugging 1123 trees. Over 1000 trees, full on hugs. Just walking up to a tree, embracing that tree and doing that for an hour and getting 1123 trees.
A lot of hugging, a lot of tree hugging, and it's kind of the whole story. I mean, if you want to read the article, it gets into this fellow's past a bit. Why does he love trees? But I mean, the real story here is it's a lot of hugging the trees. That's a lot of embracing the bark. Perhaps you want to take a drive out to the country forest somewhere where there are plenty of trees and you want to break that record this weekend. You're aiming for 1124 trees. Good luck. Watch out for bears. Serious bear time.
Don't hug the bears. Duh bears. All right, hang on. We have our number one story next. It's a weird world record involving hula hoops and a human belt.
 
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❶ Thank you for listening. This is What a Weird Week. It's about the weird news.
Our number one story this week is a weird world record involving hula hoops. At first you hear hula hoops and that's pleasant. Who doesn't love a hula hoop? Imagine a lady with hula hoops on each arm swinging those hula hoops like you do when you're a kid. Arm hula hoops. She gets 79 arm hula hoop swings in 30 seconds. That's pretty fast. I mean, when you think about it, you hold your arms out and you're trying to imagine how many swings you could get.
That's a lot, 79 in 30 seconds. But as the hula hoop lady is doing that part, there's also a contortionist lady and she is a human belt. She is the human belt part of the scenario and that's a world record. Hula hooping while wearing a human belt, contortionist human belt. I've never heard of that world record and that is not one that I am going to be able to ever attempt. I like to at least kid myself and believe that, hey, maybe I could set that world record.
Maybe I could eat that many jelly beans or whatever. But this one, no, it's an ope. If you have a chance, you can click the thing, watch the video, be inspired by it all. Okay, we're going to end there. This program has been what a weird week. Thank you for listening. You can like and subscribe. I don't know if you can like follow something. You can do all that. If you go show notes dot page, you can get everything we talked about and all the podcast stuff show notes dot page and you can stream us every weekend on fun house radio, ask your smart speaker to play.
Fun House Radio. Catch you next week for more weird stuff. (Mother's Day Song plays)

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