See https://www.shownotes.page or search "What a Weird Week" where you get podcasts.
Turkish Woman Sets World Record for Watermelon Crushing
https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2025/01/17/turkish-woman-crushes-watermelons-using-thighs/6221737129404
Most watermelons crushed with the thighs in one minute (female) - 5 achieved by Gözde Doğan 🇹🇷 pic.twitter.com/X6jyAJQCGi
— Guinness World Records (@GWR) January 17, 2025
Swedish Duo Sets New Record for Longest Table Tennis Rally
https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2025/01/16/guinness-table-tennis/9561737044067/
Contagious Urination in Chimpanzees
https://www.popsci.com/environment/chimpanzees-peeing-contagious/
The superpower you didn't know you had! National Archives Seeks Citizen Archivists to Transcribe Historical DocumentsThe superpower you didnt know you had! National Archives Seeks Citizen Archivists to Transcribe Historical Documents.
https://www.popsci.com/technology/cursive-national-archives/
HANDWRITING!
Staten Island Beautification Squad
https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/staten-island-speed-cameras-flowers/
@ml_buckley The new attempt to avoid getting speeding tickets—blocking speed cameras with fake flowers zip tied onto the traffic poll. The “Staten Island Beautification Squad” is apparently behind it #nyc #mta #dot #statenisland #newyorkers #whatisnewyork #speedcamera #ny ♬ take a moment to breathe. - normal the kid
Rats Infest Houston Police Evidence Room, Consuming Large Quantities of Marijuana
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/16/houston-rats-drugs-police-evidence-room
Dream Ads: The Commercialization of Dreams and its Ethical Implications
https://studyfinds.org/your-dreams-are-for-sale-and-companies-are-already-buying/
Sparkling Water and Weight Loss: A Modest Effect
https://www.sciencealert.com/a-modest-weight-loss-boost-might-be-hiding-in-your-glass-of-water
Unsweetened Coffee Linked to Lower Dementia Risk: A UK Study
https://www.sciencealert.com/study-finds-coffee-linked-to-lower-risk-of-dementia-but-theres-a-catch
Scientists have discovered a new species of giant isopod, Bathynomus vaderi, off the coast of Vietnam, named for its resemblance to Darth Vader's helmet, measuring 12.8 inches long and weighing 2.2 pounds.
https://nypost.com/2025/01/15/science/massive-new-bug-species-is-so-horrifying-its-been-named-after-darth-vader/
Taiwanese Surgeon Performs Self-Vasectomy
https://nypost.com/2025/01/21/lifestyle/surgeon-father-of-three-performs-vasectomy-on-himself-for-his-wife/
YouTube stream
transcript:
00:00
10 more weird things from the news. What a weird week. Hi, everybody. It's Weird. This is like Crazy Boom Hill. Weird. Really weird. Damn. Bigfoot eat out of my trash. Well, I got a great joke for you. It was so wonderful. Weird stuff. Hi, friends. I'm Scott and this is What a Weird Week, a lighthearted look at the odd, interesting, weird stories from the news.
00:22
If you want our show notes, if you want to get links, look at pictures, subscribe to the podcast, get in touch. Everything is at show notes dot page, show notes dot page. Now, season six, episode four, first published on Friday, January 24th, twenty twenty five. Ten weird things from this week's news. Number ten, Turkish woman sets world record for watermelon crushing. All right, this is a world record where you have one minute on the clock and you're crushing
00:52
with your thighs. Start the clock. Imagine you're there in this scenario. You didn't pay for the watermelons. You don't care that you're crushing them. And how many could you do in a minute? This lady, five watermelons in one minute. I'm thinking to myself, I'm like, yes, thank you. Receiving the watermelon. Thank you so much, watermelon handler. And now I'm trying to situate the watermelon correctly. And what? Time's up. What do you? Hold on. I wouldn't get any crushed.
01:22
The old record was three, a fella had in 2017 had crushed three watermelons. And now this lady, congratulations, the Guinness World Record, five watermelons thigh crushed in one minute. Is thigh crushed a real thing? For something to be thigh crushed, I think it sounds legit. The thigh crushing watermelon world record. Go!
01:46
My good heavens, that is a bit of the video. We'll link to that if you go to shownotes.page, but usually I try to describe the video in case you don't have a chance to click. I'm not going to this time. It is a very strong athlete squishing watermelons with her thighs in a record amount of time. There, that's all the description I'm doing. Number nine. Number nine, another world record. Swedish duo sets new world record for longest table tennis rally, so.
02:15
Table tennis, ping pong, is there a difference? I don't know. I'm a novice, but congratulations, Emil and Frederick. Known as the spin duo. So they're big enough in ping pong, table tennis, that they have a nickname, the spin duo, you guys. That's impressive. So first, let's imagine, I don't ping pong that much there. We have a ping pong table, but you know, it served as a Christmas gift wrapping station over the holidays.
02:43
I don't know how long a good ping pong rally is supposed to be. I would think if it's longer than a movie, wow. Fantastic. So, you know, 90 minutes. Let's say 90 minutes. I'm winded. I've lost some streaks on my social media app. I'm probably thinking world record at this point. I'm calling around the international news. Well, the spin duo went for 13 and a half, more than 13 and a half hours, ping ponging back and forth, you guys.
03:12
13 hours and something. Like, what? Imagine the focus. They had to eat while they were still, they didn't stop to eat, they just kept rallying, kept ping ponging, they ate their meals. I assume they answered some emails, whatever, but that's quite impressive.
03:32
Okay, next is number eight. It is a chimpanzee story. You know, how do you like chimpanzees? Can't go wrong with a chimpanzee story. So, next. You're listening to What A Weird Week, 10 Weird Things from this week's news. Number eight. Number eight is the, I don't know, do we need earmuffs or earmuffs, maybe kids? If you think the kids are gonna giggle, this is about chimpanzees and something to do scientific research about how they pee.
04:01
This maybe you didn't see this one coming, but it is contagious in chimpanzees. According to a study, the social dynamics of your chimpanzee community, when a chimpanzee needs to pee, it's like yawning sort of, you know, when you yawn and other people yawn, it's a similar thing. That's how I as a non-scientific, non-chimpanzee expert, non-pee expert, that's how I would describe it. Like yawning. When a chimpanzee needs to pee, it is contagious.
04:31
I feel like that's all we have to say on this. I'll link to the whole scientific study if you want to do a deep dive into it. You can find the link at shownotes.page. Kind of a weird one though, you guys. Hey? And somebody got paid to, you know, study that. Number seven. Number seven is about the superpower you didn't know you had. The National Archives United States of America made headlines this week. They are looking for volunteer citizens who can read cursive.
04:59
to help them translate some documents. They have 200 years of handwritten historical documents, Revolutionary War era documents, that sort of thing. And AI can't, you know, is having a hard time transcribing the handwriting. So if you can read cursive, you can swoop in there and be a hero. And again, it's cursive, it's skills in cursive, not cursing. So if you're skilled in cursing, I mean, congratulations on that. That is also a skill, but this is not your time.
05:28
It's cursive, so if you can read, if you learned handwriting. It went away for a while. I know my kids in school didn't really learn handwriting. It was more printing or typing things out. Maybe making a comeback in some areas, but that's the situation. Your superpower, reading cursive.
05:50
Next number six a great idea if you hate getting speeding tickets and you have access to some plastic flowers a ladder and you're not worried about getting thrown in jail. Wait, there's a lot. There's a lot of layers. Anyway, the Staten Island Beautification Squad. Next. You're listening to What A Weird Week. We are a show about the weird news of the week. Number six. Number six is the Staten Island Beautification Squad. Making headlines this past week.
06:18
It's a group or perhaps a lone individual. I'm not sure they've been identified yet, but at time of recording, here's what we know. The Staten Island Beautification Squad have been putting fake flowers and leaving notes on speed cameras across Staten Island, United States of America. So it obstructs the camera that would normally take a picture of your license if you were speeding. So that camera cannot catch you speeding. Instead, it captures a picture of some beautiful artificial flowers.
06:47
Authorities are saying number one don't speed, you know, be safe. That's why those cameras are there. And then, you know, I'm paraphrasing, but also authorities are saying it's against the law to obstruct one of those cameras. And that is vandalism. So if you hear this story and you're inspired by it in some way, please do not break the law and please drive safely. Many people are saying yay to the Satin Island beautification squad. Imagine if you're a safe driver, but you're maybe going 10 over the speed limit and you.
07:15
narrowly avoided getting a speeding ticket because of the Staten Island Beautification Squad. You know, in that scenario, you probably like the Staten Island Beautification Squad. But again, it's against the law. Please be safe. Where I am, my neck of the woods here, East Coast Canada, it's a situation where probably six months of the year you could throw snowballs at those cameras and obstruct them that way. But again, you know, hypothetical. Do not attempt.
07:43
Number five is a story similar to ones we've had before, but it's always nice to check in on the rats getting high on the marijuana at the police station. This time around headlines from Houston, Texas, where rats have overrun the evidence room and have gotten into confiscated drugs. Officials had a press conference about it. The district attorney was there. And I don't know how you feel about all of this. I mean, this is a debate for the ages. I'll just say it this way.
08:11
The rats have moved on from marijuana now. They are getting into shrooms, seized shrooms, is one of the things mentioned in the article. I don't know, you guys, I mean, this is all wacky and that, but you gotta figure at some point, somewhere evidence is gonna get lost. You know, some case is gonna be affected when they go to the evidence locker and all they find is a, you know, a rat who is high AF.
08:38
Up next is number four. It's a story about advertisers invading your dreams. You guys, it's pretty wild. We catch you up on all the weird news that happened this week. This is What a Weird Week. Number four. Number four is about your dreams and commercials invading them. New study, it's kind of a modest study. It's out of the United States of America, 1,100 and some people. And the majority of people
09:08
surveyed had dreams about products and you could say like I'm not a scientist there you could argue well We're exposed to more advertisements through the day. We're always looking at a screen. I'm sure there's some merit there, but Advertisers want you to dream about their products. That is also a thing definitely more research is needed in this but One-third of people who dreamed of a product acted on their dream One-third of people surveyed made a purchase
09:37
based on dreaming about a product. I mean, who hasn't dreamt of donuts and then gone out for delicious donuts, right? Me right here, 100% of the time I dream of donuts, I'm getting some donuts. I've been hacked, haven't I? My brain's been hacked, you guys, by big donut. Number three. Okay, number three, fresh off of the story where I admit I dream of donuts, let's get into this weight loss story. Now.
10:03
please consult your physician, your dietician, your sparkling water professional, maybe also. Sparkling water and weight loss, a modest effect. There's some research into carbonated water and it seems to indicate that carbonated water might contribute slightly to weight loss. And I'll link to the thing, the mechanics of it all. You know how the carbon dioxide switches to bicarbonate in your red blood cells. I mean, I'm in over my head on this, but that's kind of a...
10:32
why we put the link. You can do a deep dive. You might have sparkling water, carbonated water in your fridge right now. And you could try this with minimal effort. Also, I'm not gonna say the brand name, but you know the thing that you put on your counter and you make your own carbonated water? If I'm that company, I am funding this research pronto. Our product can help you lose weight also. You know, something like that. Anyway, the link is in the show notes or click shownotes.page.
10:58
Up next we have some more coffee research that has made headlines. It's not bad. You're listening to what a weird week we catch you up on all the weird news of the week. Honorable mention. This one and honorable mention. It's not that weird, but it's, you know, more good coffee news after we've been drinking coffee for, I don't know what, a couple of years at least. I don't know my coffee history. I'm going to say 18 months people have been drinking coffee and it's been popular.
11:26
The unsweetened coffee study, unsweetened coffee linked to lower dementia risk. This is a UK study, you can do a deep dive. It's quite a big study, 200,000 some UK residents, a significant association between normal consumption of non-sweet caffeinated coffee. So it's gotta be, you know, like black coffee or unsweetened and it's gotta have the caffeine in it. If you have that regularly, there seems to be.
11:55
a reduced risk of developing Alzheimer's disease or other related dementias, Parkinson's as well. I'll link to that study if you click the show notes or go show notes dot page. Maybe you want to share it with somebody who's interested in these topics. Also, maybe you're in a situation where you could support your local chapter of the Alzheimer's Society or the Parkinson's Society. Perhaps you could help them out. Number two.
12:20
Number two, I always like it when science finds new things. I like it that we're still discovering stuff. I mean, we've been here a couple of days. You know what I'm talking about? As human beings, we've been strolling around, strutting our stuff on planet Earth for a couple of days, and we're still discovering new things. Scientists have discovered off the coast of Vietnam a new giant isopod. So it looks like a bug, but it's in the water, you know. It's more than a foot long and over two pounds. It is called something Vaderie.
12:49
or vei deri because it looks like Darth Vader. So they're having a little fun with it. You know, it's nice when you can have some fun at work. I misled you a little bit. I gotta say, when I talked about how scientists discovered it off the coast of Vietnam, because that's its origin, but scientists actually discovered it at a seafood market. Then later on, they were like, hey, this is not something we've seen before. We've got a new thing that looks like Darth Vader.
13:17
High fives, everyone. I imagine scientists high five. If you wanna see a photo, you could click the show notes. Show notes dot page. Don't you think that scientists high five after a major discovery? I bet they have the most accurate high fives going. Perfect amount like they're studying the angles and the vectors. Number one. Number one, we're gonna need ear muffs and I'm sorry, I'm gonna try to keep it as I'm gonna just muscle through this, but it is a weird one and it involves a surgeon and.
13:46
fellow getting the big V, you know, the big, uh, the big gentlemen's surgery. Okay, here we go. Earmuffs kids. Dr. Chen, who is a plastic surgeon and father of three in Taiwan, made headlines after he performed a vasectomy upon himself and then put the video on Instagram. He said it was a gift to his wife and That's let's stop there. I mean he did the thing
14:16
It got a lot of views on social media. And we'll put a link if you want to read more. Hey, did I bail too quick on that story? You guys, I was uncomfortable. So that's it. You can. This has been what a weird week. My name is Scott. You can get everything we talk about if you go to show notes dot page. All the show notes are at show notes dot page. Different ways to listen, how to get in touch with us. And also you can click the fun house radio button. Find out more about fun house radio. All right, we'll catch you in a week.
14:46
With more weird stuff on what a weird week. Tell a friend.
