Formula One's Forgotten Treasure and the Leap Day Gazette

Strap in for a rollercoaster ride of oddities and laughs with yours truly, Matt, as the Weird World Variety show throws another curveball your way. Imagine a world where the humble hot dog becomes a projectile, leading to the downfall of a Philadelphia Phillies tradition, or a French newspaper that plays hide-and-seek with its readers, showing up just once every leap year. From Philly's frankfurter fiasco to satirical snapshots covering AI's educational coup and the ludicrous notion to dismantle the Eiffel Tower, we've got your ticket to a cavalcade of the peculiar and chuckle-worthy happenings that make our world a wacky wonderland.

Rev up your engines for the tale of a Ferrari that vanished for decades, only to surface in a tale worthy of a detective novel, complete with international intrigue and Formula One star Gerhard Berger's legacy. Then, we'll raise our pints to the unsung heroes of the UK’s community-owned pubs, celebrating tales of unity and resilience, and shine a spotlight on the Old Forge in the Scottish Highlands, where every local is as much an owner as a patron. Join me for a journey through the weird, the uplifting, and the outright comical, and remember, my partner-in-crime Jesse will be back to add his own spice to the mix next week!

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:03

How's it going? Everybody, how we doing, how we doing. Yeah, there it is, I see you. I see you. What's going on? Let's go. How's everybody doing today? Man, it's been one heck of a week, hasn't it? Yeah, like it's been crazy. What do you guys think? Yeah, it's been nuts. So I am here this week. Yeah, so my name is Matt.

Speaker 1: 0:55

If you haven't heard the show before, this is Weird World Variety. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. If you have heard the show before, you know how this works.

Speaker 1: 1:16

We are going to do weird and funny news every week. We've got some weird and funny news. Unfortunately, jesse is not here. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, we know, we know it's crazy, but we will see him next week. So don't worry, we will have Jesse next week. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. All right, we're going to go ahead and dive into our first section. We got some weird news for you this week, and things have always been weird, but we thought we'd bring you some crazy, weird news. So here we go. Let's get this going here, all right.

Speaker 1: 2:32

So, topping off at our first edition of Weird News this week is the Philadelphia Phillies are scrapping their $1 Hot Dog Nights. Yeah, I know, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, there's nothing I can do. There's nothing I can do. So why are they scrapping their $1? Hot Dog Nights? Hot Dog Nights? Well, let's find out. Here we go.

Speaker 1: 3:02

For more than a quarter century, phillies fans considered Dollar Hot Dog Night among the best ballpark promotions, but the team has now decided it was the worst, no pun intended. So why did they decide that it was the worst? Those dog days of April, when Philly weather is cold and the Weeners are a steal, are going, going, gone. The Phillies officially ended the popular promotion Thursday and replaced Dollar Dogs on select nights with a two for one deal at two April games at Citizens Bank Park. A statement from the team said the change was made based on the organization's ongoing commitment to provide a positive experience for all fans in attendance.

Speaker 1: 4:02

What wasn't positive about Dollar Dog Nights? Armed with projectile frankfurters, some unruly Phillies fans began chucking their favorite at field meat during a game last year and the dogs soared like cans of corn through the stands and onto the field. Wait, I think I have a sound effect for this. Hold on, here we go. So basically, they chuck the dogs, and it sounded a little bit like this. So, honestly, okay, you know, there's always one guy in the group who's got to ruin it for everybody. This is a perfect example of that. Not only did Dollar Hog Dog Night get ruined, but now they got to do some mother promotion so that unruly fans don't don't start throwing them. And what's the rule for that? If they tell them, hey, don't start throwing dogs, are there going to be signs that you cannot throw your dogs during the game? That would be a funny sign. Actually, don't throw your dogs and don't throw your pets either.

Speaker 1: 5:18

The demand for the discount dogs also led to clog lanes, if not arteries. On the concourse in the cramped spaces led to security and safety concerns. Who needs snowballs In April? 11th game last season turned into a Philly food fight when fans, largely good nature, toss their ballpark franks in several sections, leading to multiple ejections. Come on, guys. Do we have to act like this? Come on, like this. First of all, if you're throwing your hot dog, it's just you know what your activity is, sus to begin with. But to do it during a baseball game when everybody's having a good time come on, come on like that's just ridiculous. So maybe next time let's not throw our hot dogs, otherwise they're going to have to ban hot dogs from baseball games and, let's be honest, it is honestly the best thing to have during a baseball game. So please do not throw your hot dogs, all right? So next on the news, we have something fun for you. I don't know how this is going to turn out, so please don't hurt me about this. I'm just now reading this myself.

Speaker 1: 6:55

All these stories are from AP newscom slash oddities. If you guys want to follow along looking for a leap year lift, check out this silly French newspaper that only publishes on February 29. That's right, we have a leap year only newspaper. This ought to be interesting, and the fact that it's French is great too. That's awesome. So Paris, read all about it right now. So you'll have to wait another four years if you don't. So basically, if you don't buy the newspaper that day, you're going to be waiting a long time for the next one. You know what I'm saying? It's a leap year only publication filled with cringe worthy puns. Yeah, kind of like this show and commentary on the events of the past four years. So they cover four years worth of events in this one newspaper. That's pretty talented.

Speaker 1: 8:02

The 2024 edition includes an article suggesting France doesn't need schools anymore thanks to artificial intelligence, ai. Okay, they might be joking about that and again they might be serious, and I'm going to tell you the reason why. Ai has definitely taken over. If you've heard our podcast before, you know that we've done some reporting on some AI technology and it is off the charts. It is not perfect. It is not perfect it's far from it but the progress is astounding. To think, like 30 years ago that we would be talking about AI today, nobody saw it coming. It's crazy. It was just like a fantasy and some science fiction movie to us, but now it's real. It's nuts.

Speaker 1: 8:56

Another floats the idea of dismantling the Eiffel Tower during the Paris Olympics to reduce security risk. Now, that's an interesting proposal because the Olympics brings in millions of people, so Paris is going to be crowded as ever, and also, like we said before, there's always people in the group that ruin it for everybody else, and that includes the Eiffel Tower. I feel like somebody would do something crazy or stupid or beyond belief and it would ruin it for everybody. That's an interesting proposal. Don't know how much time it would take to dismantle the pair or the Eiffel Tower, because the thing is huge. If you ever seen the Eiffel Tower, it's insane. The let's say, let's see, and having IKEA produce a manual for rebuilding it. Oh my gosh, yeah, we're going to take down the Eiffel Tower, but don't worry, though, we will have an IKEA manual so you can start building it on Monday when the Olympics are gone. Don't worry, you'll need something to do anyway. Yeah, like that's going to work. You can imagine sitting in your living room. What are you building? The Eiffel Tower again. Really, how are you supposed to do that? Oh, I got an IKEA manual. This is hilarious.

Speaker 1: 10:36

Some friends started the newspaper as a joke in 1980, naming it after a comic book figure who was born on February 29. The last edition in 2020, as the world went into COVID-19 lockdowns, sold 120,000 copies. That's right, 120,000. New from newsstand sales goes mainly to charity for people with developmental disorders developmental disorders including autism. That is awesome. That is awesome. If anything, we need more stuff like this, don't you agree? Yeah, I agree, that's awesome.

Speaker 1: 11:25

Its editors are proudly politically incorrect and some articles seem rather well dated. But I mean, if you're covering four years in news, come on now. But that's the point and that, and lifting the mood a bit. Yeah, I like this idea. This is pretty cool when the world goes out of whack, reads, reads it once. Whoever this is not spelled right or something Reads it once in a four years editorial. Sometimes you have to laugh about it. That's right, dude.

Speaker 1: 12:05

I would totally buy this newspaper. Let me know in the comments if you had a leap year newspaper, let's say here in the United States, would you buy it? And I bet you would be hilarious. What we need is more comedy in the news and more positivity. So come on, dude, this would be perfect. Whoever wants to start this venture in the United States? I could say for one, I would be willing to invest in this venture, because this is awesome, and the fact that all the proceeds and everything go to charity even better, even better. I think sometimes we take life too seriously and we don't have enough positive and funny news out there, which is the reason why I started this podcast in the first place. So I say, go for it. All right, let's go on to our final Weird news of the week.

Speaker 1: 13:06

We have some positive news, mainly fast car, slow return. Ferrari stolen in 1995 from a Formula One driver is recovered by the UK police. Finally, man, if you were waiting from 1995 for your stolen car. They finally found it. I'm not going to make any suggestions that the UK police you know there's a lot of suggestions about their speed but they finally found it. I would be so excited if I was the owner of this and presumably I would imagine the owner still alive. Hopefully the owner is still alive, but that is awesome. Yeah, Formula One driver. Ok, yeah, so they probably keep he's. Yeah, he's definitely probably still alive. I would hope that would be kind of sad. If you like found it and then the person that owned the Ferrari from 1995 wasn't here anymore. That would be crazy, but doesn't sound like that's the case. Let's figure this out and find out what happened. A very fast car has made us very slow return.

Speaker 1: 14:25

British police said Monday that they have recovered a Ferrari stolen from an Austrian Formula One driver, gerard Berger. I'm sorry, gerard, if I said your name wrong, gerard Berger. In Italy almost three decades ago, the red Ferrari F512M was one of the two sports cars taken while their drivers were in a mola Somebody tell me if I'm getting that wrong for the San Marino Grand Prix in April 1995. Neither was found until London's Metropolitan Police Force was tipped off by the manufacturer in January that a Ferrari in the process of being sold to a US buyer by a UK broker had been flagged as a stolen vehicle. Yeah, no matter what you do, you know you take those stolen vehicles. When it comes down to the Venn number and the actual number of the vehicle and description and everything, it will flag you out, I'm sure, because if it's a stolen car it's hard to hide a Venn number. I mean, it really is.

Speaker 1: 15:36

The forces organized vehicle crime unit investigated and found the car had been brought to Britain from Japan Japan in late 2023. Officers seized the car, which the force said is valued at close to 350,000 pounds, roughly for my US listeners, $444,000, which not a bad price for a Ferrari if you've been pricing for ours. Our inquiries were painstaking and included contacting authorities from around the world, said Constable Mike Pilbeam, who led the investigation. We were quickly with partners, including the National Crime Agency, as well as Ferrari and international car dealerships, and this collaboration was instrumental in understanding the vehicle's background and stopping it from leaving the country. No one has been arrested and the second stolen Ferrari still remains missing.

Speaker 1: 16:41

How can they not trace man? That's the only bummer about this is like how can you not trace it to the person who took it. I feel like there should be a way. Of course, not every case gets solved, I understand that, but I feel like there should be a way to trace that. Ferrari manufactured 501 of the F512M model between 1994 and 1996.

Speaker 1: 17:07

The car has a top speed of 315 kilometers an hour, or, like I said for my US listeners, that's a top speed of 196 miles per hour, and from the picture it is a gorgeous car. It looks like it has been kept in great condition. So on the offhand, honestly, the worst case scenario is you get the car back and, yeah, then it's tore up, but it looks like from the pictures here that the car was kept in great condition and everything was fine. I would be kind of mad, though, if there's a ton of miles on it now. You got it years later, like say, you had your car stolen and then you get it back and you're thankful to have it back, but then there's a ton of miles on it and it's been driven to all high heaven. So now you got to take the time to go through and fix it. But good news, the car has been returned and everything is set right.

Speaker 1: 18:21

So for our next little section today I want to transfer over. We're going to do some positive news today. I thought you guys could use some positive news. What do you guys think? Yeah, that's what I thought too. All right, so here we go, let's start into our positive news of the week. Let's get to it All right. So our positive news of the week, let's get to it.

Speaker 1: 19:36

First off, I wanted to address some things. This is from positivenews. It's actually a pretty cool site, if you get a chance. They updated it very recently. This article was actually done and updated March 5th of 2024. So if you want to get some positive news of the week from around the world, this is a great site. Another good thing flowing around this is quite a few creators from TikTok and Facebook that are doing their own spin on positive news, and I'll tell you what. Like I said before, we need more of it, so the fact that people are doing it is just fantastic.

Speaker 1: 20:19

All right, let's dive into this first one. All hands to the pumps the colorful rise of community owned pubs. Now this is coming straight from the UK. So here we go. In a remote part of the West Highlands of Scotland, a pub sits on the shore of the Noidart Noidart I gotta see what the name of this is here. Noidart Okay, if I'm saying that wrong, please let me know. So of the Noidart Peninsula, with views over the blue waters of Loch Nivis and the surrounding hilly, lush landscapes.

Speaker 1: 21:11

The old forge is the beating heart of the village of Invery, it closed-knit community with around 120 full-time residents. So remote is this pub that if you live outside the village, it's only accessible by a 30-minute ferry from the nearest port or, for the more hardcore, a two-day hike. But this isn't the only unusual thing about this local watering hole. Since March 2022, the old forge has been a community-owned pub. Exactly what it sounds like. A community pub is owned and run by locals who all have an equal say in how the businesses run. Interesting concept. I kind of like this. After finding out that the old forge was going up for sale in January 2021, locals discussed buying it under the community ownership. They decided to go for it and, after months of hard work, they opened in April 2022. We live in a small community with not a lot of places to go, so the pub is an important place for people to come together, says the pub's business development manager, stephanie Harris. And as for the views, it's probably one of the best pub beer garden views. The landscape is all around you.

Speaker 1: 22:29

While the forge is certainly unique in some ways, it's also part of a swelling trend when it comes to community-owned pubs. According to the Plunkett Foundation, a charity that helps people set up community-owned businesses, there are 174 community-owned pubs in the UK as of January 2024. Research from the trade body cooperatives UK found that the number of community-owned pubs in the UK has increased by 62.6% over the last five years. This comes at a time when pubs are increasingly under threat, following the struggles of the pandemic they are facing, rising energy costs and inflation and if you're in the US, you know all about this inflation as well. It seems like it's a worldwide thing right now. In 2023, 509 pubs closed down and the UK has lost 6% of its pubs in the last six years, according to the British Beer and Pub Association.

Speaker 1: 23:31

And for those in the US who can't quite understand, like you got to understand with the UK, pubs are a community thing, like they are bringing communities together. It's not just oh, here's another bar. It's literally how communities thrives and how they just support each other. It's fantastic. It's a wonderful atmosphere If you get a chance to visit the UK, go. It's insane. Wildtimes are tough for pubs.

Speaker 1: 23:57

Community pubs seem to be thriving. Data from the Plunkett Foundation indicates that they have a 99% success rate. There you go. My point exactly. The number of community pubs is on the rise, but it's not a totally new concept. The first pub of this kind was in Britain, in the was. The red was in Britain was called the red line in Preston, hertford, hertfordshire, pardon me which has been run this way since the early 1980s. In London, the city's oldest community owned pub, the Ivy House and Nunhead, which opened in 2013,. The Rising Sun and Woodcraft CHEPSTO won the campaign for Real Ales pubs saving award in 2023. But to get to that point, the community faced a 10 year tussle with developers. They finally opened in October 2022. So here we go.

Speaker 1: 24:59

But that's the thing. No matter what these guys are facing and this is a pretty long article if you'd like to read more, go ahead and go to positivenews, and that way we can support them too. I would love to support them and I know you guys would love to support these awesome news channels. So go there, check out the article yourself. It was updated, like I said, march 5, 2024. So it's brand new. It's amazing. They have pictures and different things and quotes and telling what these pubs are doing right now, and it's amazing to see communities come together when, like something like this, that's a standard is in trouble and they're all supporting it together. It's fantastic. We're going to move right along to our next bit of news right now. Here we go, all right. So, along the lines of the pub movement, here's another thing that's actually quite fun and I thought that you guys would appreciate this, because right now we have a booming economy of technology, a booming like area of technology. That's insane right now and it's getting out of hand in a lot of places around the world. So this article should reach out to some people and you might think that this is pretty cool. So here we go.

Speaker 1: 26:31

Our kitchen has become the hub of an exploding movement of parents. What do they mean? Well, here we go. Three weeks ago, I accidentally started a movement. It all began with a conversation with my friend, claire, where we railed against the impossible situation we found ourselves in as mothers of kids on the brink of smartphone age. Either we give our children access to something that opens the door to you know and pat images, bullying, grooming, an anxiety machine. You know all kinds of stuff that are not okay. We risk alienating them from their peers by the time they're 12, 97% of British count. British British counts. British kids own a smartphone. When children started getting them barely 15 years ago, there was no research about the impact. Now there is, and it's overwhelming. The first generation of kids to be given a smartphone are now adults, and for every year younger they got that phone, the higher their incidence of mental illness. Not surprising If you look at the internet and technology and what we have nowadays. A lot like probably 80 90% of the internet is extremely toxic, so it's not good for mental state. It's definitely not good. I've been spending less and less time online and I've been happier for it. So me personally I can attest to. This. Regulation hasn't caught up with the technology, though, so right now it's parents and kids that lose out. So Claire and I decided to start a WhatsApp group to support each other on the lonely road of the smartphone refusal we felt we had to take for our kids. We called it parents united for a smartphone freed childhood, and for two days it was just the two of us, mostly silent after a conversation with a parent at my kids school in which they said they not get their. They did not get their eight year old one yet because she had an ass. I posted about our group on Instagram in a fit of maternal fever and went to bed. When I woke up in the morning the group had maxed out at the WhatsApp limit of 1023 people. First of all, I'd even know a limit. Second, that's impressive. So we started a second one which also maxed out. We were not alone, far from it. There were thousands of parents who felt the same, from pediatric consultants to CEOs, to taxi drivers and teachers. Some are, yeah, people from all walks of life across Britain desperately wanted to talk about the problem, share their experience, experiences and offer each other support and work up to come, or work to come up with a solution. And it's a real twist to my life and sleepy so folk our kitchen became the hub of an exploding movement of parents. Claire, my husband, joe and I have spent the past two weeks trying to best trying our best to harness this momentum in between the usual juggle of working kids, with half term holiday thrown in for good measure. Yeah, so this has become a booming movement and I can see why that the regulation.

Speaker 1: 29:57

If you do anything for your kids, I'm going to tell you right now, limit their technology use. And the reason why is not because technology is is inherently bad. It's just because that there is so much stuff online that is so toxic and so horrible for kids and for for adults and for development. I mean, why is it that we get so many reports of people having a great life once they put down their phone and once they get offline for a while and once they? Because everything online is nothing but stress and anxiety and, honestly, the algorithms are meant to sell that. If something is upsetting or if it's something is stressful, and all that, the algorithm, the algorithms, the algorithm, the algorithms are meant to sell that and they will keep pushing that on you as far as you can go. So, yeah, I encourage everybody here to just wake up, smell the coffee and occasionally put down your phones, because you know what. You'll be better off for it and I think everybody here agrees. You guys agree.

Speaker 1: 31:22

All right, that's all we have for our show today. If you guys enjoyed it, please let us know at Facebook, instagram or our email our Facebook, instagram and we have a YouTube. Now is a weird world variety with Matt and Jesse. Please let us know. If you guys got funny or weird stories, or if you got some positive news, please send it to us. We'd love to report about it and have it on the show. So please let us know any comments, questions concerns as well. So, guys, thank you for an awesome show and we'll see you next time right here.