What a Weird Week Fri Sept 27 2024: Toad Salad and Cocaine Bananas

What a Weird Week gets you caught up on the weird news of the week.  https://www. 
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Hi friends, I'm Scott and this is What a Weird Week, a show about the weird stuff in the news. See below for a transcript of the podcast episode. To subscribe to the podcast or for social media and more links, you can get everything at www.shownotes.page. These are the shownotes for Season 5, Ep 39 first published on Friday Sept 27, 2024. Here are this week's stories...
 

The Kraft-Heinz plant in Lowville, New York, successfully reclaimed the Guinness World Record for the world's largest cheesecake at the annual Cream Cheese Festival, with a massive dessert weighing in at 15,008 pounds
https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2024/09/24/Guinness-World-Records-largest-cheesecake/2271727195952/


David Rush reclaims chopstick throwing world record with 28 hits in one minute
https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2024/09/23/Guinness-World-Records-David-Rush-chopsticks/3931727105593/


Chinese zoo sparks controversy with dogs disguised as pandas
https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2024/09/20/Shanwei-Zoo-pandas-dogs/7791726861083/



National Toy Hall of Fame Announces 2024 Finalists
https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2024/09/19/National-Toy-Hall-of-Fame-finalists/8891726764795/

German supermarket finds €7 million worth of cocaine in banana crates
https://www.dw.com/en/german-supermarket-finds-7m-of-cocaine-in-crates-of-bananas/a-70303810


Ancient Cheese Discovery Rewrites History of Kefir Origins
https://studyfinds.org/oldest-cheese-smeared-mummies/



AI's Impact on Jobs: Study Reveals Vulnerable Occupations and Highlights Potential for Labor Shortage Solutions
https://studyfinds.org/which-jobs-will-ai-replace/


Moderate Coffee Consumption Linked to Lower Risk of Multiple Cardiometabolic Diseases
https://studyfinds.org/3-cups-of-coffee-diseases/


Close Encounter with the World's Most Dangerous Bird: A Cassowary's Visit to an Australian Beach
https://www.unilad.com/news/us-news/police/woman-encounters-worlds-most-dangerous-bird-457604-20240923


Man claims to have encountered the Loch Ness monster while swimming in the Scottish lake
https://metro.co.uk/2024/09/17/loch-ness-monster-brushes-man-swims-21622610/

Trending this Halloween: Sexy Ozempic Halloween Costume
https://nypost.com/2024/09/24/lifestyle/now-you-can-dress-up-as-a-sexy-ozempic-shot-for-halloween-is-anyone-surprised/





Episode Transcript:
00:00
Toads in the salad. What a weird week. Hi everybody, it's Weird. This is like crazy, really weird, weird. Well, I got a great show for you today. It was so wonderful. Weird stuff. Hi friends, I'm Scott and this is What a Weird Week. It's a show where we go back, we look at the news, we dig out some of the weird stuff. Maybe you missed it. Maybe you just wanna relive it through this show.

00:27
You can get everything we talk about links to the stories and that if you go to show notes dot page also subscribe to our podcast through show notes dot page or wherever you get podcasts. What a weird week. Hey, here we go. This is season five episode can't remember for Friday, September 27. Starting things off at number 10 is the toad found in a bagged salad purchased from a grocery store. The toad was discovered inside a salad purchased in England from a weight rose.

00:57
supermarket a reptile rescue group the Berkshire reptile rescue took custody of the toad and The toad apparently is isolating doing. Okay, one of the things I learned earlier we had a similar story on this show and If you discover wildlife inside a salad or whatever You're not supposed to just let it go Let it roam free because it could be some sort of invasive species also could be perhaps enemy technology disguised as a

01:24
toad in a salad. You just never know you guys. So in this case, they contacted somebody who could take care of the toad, make sure the toad is all right. And the toad is currently comfortable with the Berkshire Reptile Rescue Group. I've got to say the story leans more towards how is the toad doing through all of this, which you know, that's important. Sure. We're all God's creatures, but what about if you bought a salad and you opened that thing up and there was a toad in there, a living creature that is staring back at you?

01:54
That would be traumatic. The company did apologize, the grocery store company apologized to the customer who found the toad. And there's not a lot about the toad finder in this story. We assume they're okay and they will eat salad again, but these are just, you know, conclusions based on not a lot of evidence right now. Boy, oh boy, the photo, we'll link to the photo in the show notes. It is one freaky looking toad, you guys.

02:19
Number nine is a delicious one you guys. New York's cream cheese festival and a world record cheesecake. A 15,000 pound cheesecake made news. The Kraft Heinz plant in Lowville, New York reclaimed the Guinness world record for the world. So they had it before right and then you lose that record and you're like it's just gnawing away at you. Somebody else has our record. We got to get that record back and you know cheesecake employees, cheesecake plant employees are a passionate bunch.

02:49
and they were like, let's do this thing. They got the world record for the largest cheesecake at 15,008 pounds. After, you know, you love to hear this, after they did the world record, the photo ops and everything, that was donated to help feed hungry people. Went to food banks, made the world a better place. By the way, if you were curious, 15,000 pounds, your average elephant, African elephant, is over 12,000 pounds. So we're getting into elephant territory there with the biggest cheesecake in the world.

03:18
They say a Tyrannosaurus Rex would have been about as heavy as the world's largest cheesecake. Hang on, up next, a world record you might want to try to break this weekend. Do you have some chopsticks around? You don't? Well, first order some delicious food and ask, you know, for chopsticks. And then let's go. Let's get it. That world record coming up next.

03:45
This is what a weird week we do the weird news of the week. In case you missed anything, we got the weirdness. Number eight is David record breaker rush. The man may have some sort of thing going on where he can't stop himself from setting world records. Now you guys, because he has the world record for the most world records, the most concurrent

04:15
That is David record breaker rush. He's the fellow who always likes to shine a light on STEM education when he sets the world records, his social media on fire with world records, sometimes literally on fire, but most of the time, you know, it's more figurative. The new world record, David record breaker rush is the most metal chopsticks thrown into an archery target in one minute.

04:40
28 chopsticks. I guess that's the secret. It has to be metal chopsticks, you guys. I thought you could just order some food, get some chopsticks, and go to town on breaking a world record, but they gotta be kind of more fortified than your average chopstick. So 28 chopsticks into an archery target in one minute, that is the world record. Oh, you gotta be 13 feet away from the target. That's not easy, but I believe in you. And if you don't set the record, you still have that delicious.

05:09
Take away food that you ordered. So it's a win. Seven. Number seven is the Chinese zoo that made headlines this week. We had a story like this before. This is a zoo where a clip went viral after folks went to see pandas at the zoo and the pandas started to bark. They weren't pandas. They were pooches. Panda impersonators, pooches, impersonating pandas. The Chinese zoo made headlines and a lot of people.

05:37
Watch the clip, you know, it got shared around quite a bit the controversy I think stems from one of the things the zoo said well, you see if this makes sense the zoo said hey kind of I'm paraphrasing here, but Hey, we don't have pandas and people want to see pandas. What are we supposed to do? that's kind of one of the things they said anyway, not the first time we've heard one of these stories and

06:05
I'm glad the zoo is getting some attention. It seems like the dogs were happy. They were very photogenic. They just weren't pandas. In case you missed it, the National Toy Hall of Fame announced the finalists for the toys that get to go live in the museum and be cherished forever. Some of them are weird. We'll get into that next.

06:36
This is What a Weird Week. It's a show about the weird news that happened this week. Six. Number six, the National Toy Hall of Fame has announced their 10 finalists. So they whittle it down from a whole bunch of toys to some finalists. After the voting, some of those toys go to the museum. Some of them go to the Hall of Shame and do not win accolades. A couple of things here. The Toy Hall of Fame only has 84 toys in it right now. Only 84 toys have made it to the Hall of Fame.

07:05
This year it could be Apples to Apples, the game. Doesn't seem that old to me. I remember playing that with my kids. You always think of the toy hall of fame as like classic toys or whatever, but Apples to Apples in there. Balloons have been around forever. Balloons might finally get their day. The Choose Your Own Adventure books, toy trucks, My Little Pony. I can't believe My Little Pony isn't already in the Hall of Fame. Pokemon cards, remote control vehicles. So, so fun. The game sequence.

07:35
Trampolines might make it to the toy Hall of Fame. Transformers, another one that should already be in there, you would imagine. And the stick horse, you know, that stick with the horse head that, are they hobby horses? Weren't they called hobby horses? I might have that wrong. But anyway, stick horse could get into the Hall of Fame. The voting is supposed to be wrapped up now and we're waiting on the results of what toys will make it into the Hall of Fame. Freaky, freaky horse head on a stick.

08:04
Maybe. Number five is that German supermarket. They opened up their crates of bananas. They're a supermarket. They've got bananas to unpack, right? And hidden amongst the bananas, seven million euros worth of cocaine. So what they think is the shipment came from South America, was not meant to go to the supermarket. That was a mistake. You could see how that could happen, right? Like it's a crate of bananas.

08:32
When in doubt, deliver the bananas to the produce place. Can you imagine if that cocaine spilled, got into the bananas somehow, and those bananas were put on the shelf and sold at the supermarket, the German supermarket, and people got all hopped up on bananas and cocaine. People would be lined up around the block to buy these bananas. The grocery store doesn't know what's going on.

08:58
Maybe even the people enjoying the banana, they might just think these are the best bananas. I feel great. These are the best bananas I've ever had. I can't stop talking. Anyway, that didn't happen. And let me just wrap up by saying, and I'm sorry, but that story is bananas. Hang on. Number four next. Ancient cheese, the oldest cheese in the world, you guys. What are they doing at the grocery store? Why do they keep coming back for more?

09:28
They afraid to slip on a peel Cocaine bananas

10:03
This is what a weird week it's a show about the weird news that happened this week. Four. Number four is ancient cheese. They just found the oldest cheese in the world. They say it rewrites cheese history you guys. Cheese history. Feel like it should be hyphenated or maybe one whole word. Cheese history. Scientists have discovered cheese dating back 3,600 years. Something they discovered in a cemetery in China. At first they didn't even know it was cheese.

10:32
It was a mysterious white substance on mummy's heads. And then they ran it through CODIS. No, I don't know. One of those things, DNA analysis. And they were like, wow, this is cheese. This is cheese, y'all. That's me paraphrasing the scientists. I'll stop there, but we'll put a link in the show notes if you wanna do a deep dive. Why were the mummies buried with cheese? How delicious is that cheese? Will we ever be able to eat that cheese?

11:02
Maybe you're a fan of old cheese. Maybe this is one you want to do a deep dive. You can click the link, shownotes.page. Three. Number three is a scary story at first about AI. I mean, we always talk about AI and everybody panics. AI, all the headlines, you know, or the robot uprising is coming. This one starts out scary though, because it has to do with jobs that they think will be replaced by AI.

11:27
That's how it starts and the headline, so you know, that grabs you because they're getting into like nuclear medicine and cardiovascular technology. And we need all the heart doctors we can get. If you hear a headline that AI is replacing the cardiologists, who's going to go into debt, go to med school, graduate to a job that's already been taken by AI, right? So that's scary. And please, medical professionals, we need you.

11:55
The article, when you get to the bottom talks about, it's probably gonna be more like AI is a tool and the cardiologist maybe can see more patients because AI is helping in that particular field. That's kind of my paraphrase of it, but you can do a deep dive and see all the jobs they think will be impacted by AI. Right now it's a wait and see situation. Just about every list that's come out like this, one of the things they say though, blue collar jobs are safe. If you can work a pile driver,

12:25
Your job will not be replaced by AI. If you can load a cargo onto an airplane, your job will not be replaced by AI. Anyway, do a deep dive on the article. If you want to click the show notes or go shownotes.page. Next, our number two story, it's more good coffee news. ["The Daily Show"]

12:55
Bye!

13:02
Hi friends, I'm Scott. This is What a Weird Week, a show about the weird stuff that was in the news this week. List two. Number two is the good coffee news. If you drink coffee, it's good for you. Moderate coffee consumption is linked to a lower risk of multiple cardio metabolic diseases. Moderate consumption, how much is that? Three cups a day. It seems to be linked to less likelihood of type two diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. This is a big study.

13:31
500,000 people with studies like this, you know, they have to go through all the data and make sure. So right now it just seems that way. It seems like there is an association between the good outcomes and moderate coffee consumption. But to be continued, we got to let the science, the scientists do the science. Honorable mention. Had to throw the honorable mention in because.

13:58
Loch Ness monster, first of all, that's always going to get clicks, you guys. So we've got to. We have to. But also this fellow, this Duncan fellow, an Australian who was swimming in Loch Ness got in the news because he was swimming in Loch Ness. And then he felt like he something bumped into him. He felt like he had an encounter. And because it was Loch Ness, obviously, it must have been the Loch Ness monster.

14:29
Duncan is quoted in the story as saying, the water was pitch black, deep. And it messes with your mind, you guys. Now I'm paraphrasing a bit. It messes, it plays tricks on your mind. And he felt a significant thud against his chest. And now he believes he may have, he may have encountered the Loch Ness Monster. This is from Metro UK, and they printed it, you guys. So I got to give Duncan credit.

14:58
and he gets an honorable mention. Hey, listen, I'm a true believer. Don't get me wrong. But this fellow goes swimming and then says, Hey, guess what, newspaper? I encountered the Loch Ness Monster, pretty sure. And then somebody was like, well, let's write it up. All right, our number one story is next. It's about Halloween.

15:32
Two

15:37
Every weekend we do a top 10 of the weird news of the week. This is what a weird week. One. All right. Number one is a Halloween theme story. We're going to have a few of these probably leading up to the big day. The big day being Halloween. You know, the candy is in the stores. The costumes are out. The decorations are all out. The giant things at the hardware store. Now the eyes follow you. That one is freaky. You guys was into the hardware store the other day and this freaky Halloween thing.

16:05
kept looking at me and the eyes followed me. How do they do that? Amazing technology. Anyway, sidebar, the number one story is from the New York Post. This is Ben Cost writing for the New York Post about the hottest Halloween costume this season. And it is sexy ozempic. We've talked about the sexy costumes before, I think. It is a trend whereby you wear a bikini and a hat.

16:32
And depending on the hat, the color of the hat, or sometimes the style of the hat, you are a sexy train engineer or a sexy skipper, sexy chef, you know that kind of stuff. So the sexy ozempic costume is actually more than a bikini. It is a form fitting syringe costume, basically. Also, sexy hamburger is one of the top costumes this Halloween season.

17:01
That one is bikini themed. You're basically a bikini and I guess you hold a hamburger. Your bikini maybe looks like lettuce. I don't know. I'm not, I'm uncomfortable having the browser open. Even though it's, it's for work. I don't want anyone to walk by and wonder what I'm doing. I'll put a link in the show notes. Perhaps this will inspire your Halloween costume this year. You can be modest Ozempic too. Let's not rule that one out. Does it, not everything has to be saucy.

17:28
Right? All right, that's that. This has been what a weird week. 10 weird news stories from the past week. If you want the stories in more detail or you wanna subscribe to our podcast or get our social media and all that, you can go to shownotes.page, shownotes.page. Shout out to our friends at Fun House Radio. Thanks for running our show as part of your weekend programming. Look for Fun House Radio online or ask your smart speaker to play Fun House Radio.

17:58
Catch you next weekend with 10 more weird things on What a Weird Week.

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