Weird World Variety with Matt and Jesse
A Podcast for every traveler. Funny and Family Friendly stories and news from around the world that just might make you smile.
Weird World Variety with Matt and Jesse
LEGO Lineups & Parisian Waiter Olympics
Get ready to crack a smile and scratch your head in equal measure—this week on Weird World Variety, Matt and Jesse whisk you away on an adventure through some of the most delightfully odd stories our planet has to offer. Imagine the stir when the Marietta Police Department's mugshot lineup got a LEGO makeover, sparking debates on privacy with a side of humor, or the competitive spirit of Paris with its Olympic Games for waiters, celebrating the unsung heroes who keep the city buzzing. Our conversation weaves through the fun and the serious, proving that the world is truly a tapestry of the strange and the wonderful.
But the weirdness doesn't stop there. Picture Daisy, a curious yellow Labrador, who gets a dramatic rescue by New Jersey's bravest firefighters, entangled in a tale that involves a spare tire and a plasma cutter. Then, feel the tug on your line as we recount a Tennessee fisherman's unexpected catch—an alligator that surely didn't appear in his fishing guidebook. As we wrap up, we're not just saying goodbye; we're inviting you to join the peculiarity parade. Share your bizarre experiences with us, as Matt and Jesse are ever eager to hear what's got you giggling or gaping in amazement. Until next time, keep embracing the weirdness that makes our world a variety show of its own.
What's going on, world? What's going on? Hey, how you doing, how you doing? Hey, welcome back, welcome back. Oh, I see you, I see you, I see you. Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. Let's shut it down. Hey, dj, cut the music. All right, here we go. So, how are we feeling today? How are we feeling today? Everybody feeling good, perfect, perfect. Welcome back to Weird World Variety with matt and jesse. This week it is again me. You're gonna have to put up with me and only me. Hopefully that doesn't hurt you too much. Welcome back everybody.
Speaker 1:If you don't know this podcast, this podcast, uh, takes weird and funny news and kind of like the positive side Sometimes we get into serious stuff, but mostly the positive side from around the world, and we report it to you guys and we kind of have fun with it. And today is no exception. We got plenty of weird news. So is everybody ready to drop? Is everybody ready to dive in? All right? All right, here we go, starting with our first news story of the week. We've had a lot of strange and funny things happening. If you don't know this story, this happened recently. We've had a lot of strange and funny things happening. If you don't know this story. This happened recently and I assume it's probably going to sound familiar to you. It was on all over the place and it was an interesting caveat to some policy review and some different things that they needed to review. In short, lego yes, I said the word Lego, lego head, mug shots. Add to California's debate on policy and privacy. Now, let's see, do I have a Lego sound effect? That would be kind of funny. I think I used to hold on there we go, there we go. Let's add that to the roster. I think that one's a good one. But yeah, so with this, what had happened was what? See, see how I started that. What had happened was here. I'll just dive into it. Here we go, ready.
Speaker 1:A Southern California police department has been handcuffed by Lego after the toy company asked the agency to stop adding Lego heads to cover the faces of suspects in its images on social media. So here's a picture of a guy who got arrested I'm assuming a guy who knows a picture of a guy who got arrested, and over their face they put a funny Legogo head. Now it is pretty funny, it's. It's hilarious, but lego did not think too kindly of this. So now the police department is in hot water. Here we go, marietta. Marietta police department has been using lego heads and emojis to cover people's faces and posts on social sites since at least early 2023. But the altered photos went viral last week after the department posted a statement about its policy, promoting several news articles and later the requests from Lego. Let me see if I can get into that.
Speaker 2:Why the covered faces? The department wrote March 18th in an Instagram post that featured five people in a lineup, their faces covered by Lego heads with varying expressions. The post went on to reference a California law that took effect January 1st, limiting departments in sharing mugshots on social media. The Marietta Police Department prides itself in its transparency and oh its oh transparency with the community, but also honors everyone's rights and protection as afforded by the law, even suspects. The department wrote.
Speaker 1:Across the US. Law enforcement agencies have often posted galleries of photos for Mugshot Mondays and Wanted Wednesdays to social media in efforts to bolster community engagement. But experts increasingly point to the harmful effects of putting such images online. For people awaiting trial, mugshots can carry a presumption of guilt and for anyone seeking to move past criminal conviction, the images can make it hard to get a job and haunt them for the rest of their lives. This is true. So basically, my take on this is, if you were going to post a mugshot of myself, me personally I would rather see the Lego head because, unlike most cases you know, I would not want my identity out there. Now, do I want my picture out there in the first place? No, but if you were going to post a picture, I think Lego heads is pretty epic myself, and it also covers your identity a little bit. But again, lego did not take too kindly to this and now the police department is in hot water. So what happened with it? Let's see I'm scrolling down through the article here lego did not respond to multiple emails requesting comment. The california law's primary sponsor assembly member, cory jackson, said that while the lego heads protect people's privacy, he wonders how murrieta residents see it. Do they want people who are being paid with their tax dollars be paid to put lego faces on them so it can be shown on social media, while they could be doing other things that could be protecting them? Jackson told the Associated Press that's for them to decide. So, while Marietta's use of Lego heads does follow the law, jackson said other agencies are trying to find loopholes by posting images showing suspects in the back of police cruisers or handcuffed at crime scenes, arguing that they are not the same as booking photos. He said his staff is seeking a legal opinion from the State Department of Justice. If the law enforcement wants the public to trust them and wants to support them, as they say they want to implement law and order, how does their active gamemanship on trying to skirt the law themselves help them in achieving that? He said yeah, so maybe just don't post photos at all, in my opinion. But you know who am I? All right, here we we go. That was the weird lego trivia.
Speaker 1:Now on to the next one olympics taster. Paris race celebrates the servers who nourish the city's life and soul. Paris race celebrates the servers who nourish the city's life and soul. Paris, I assume. France, yep, paris, france, usain Bolt sprint world records were never in danger. Then again, even the world's fastest ever human likely wouldn't have been so quick while balancing a tray with croissants, a coffee cup and a glass of water through the streets of Paris and without spilling it everywhere.
Speaker 1:Now, that that's talent. No, seriously, though, that is talent Like you can run like a waiter or a waitress and have a tray of stuff and keep it from falling. You can do more than me. I have just enough trouble just trying to run. So other than that, um, this is definitely talent.
Speaker 1:They do have a video here. I'm going, I'm going to play the video and, uh, I will describe to you what's going on video and I will describe to you what's going on. So here we go. We got to get past the advertisement here, all right. So, just like the article says, this is an actual race. The waiters are all balancing the same stuff on their tray, so they all have the exact same object. It's a ton of waiters in their work clothes, might I add, and they are racing, balancing their trays across the city. This is hilarious. Now, it's not like a run like you would imagine a race would be. It is kind of a fast walk that they're doing because they also have to balance this tray which has the cup, the croissant and other things on it as they go. One guy was running. He was holding the cup. I don't know if that's legal, but the whole point is a historical race and this is pretty cool. There's hundreds, hundreds of waiters and waitresses at this event. This is so cool. It seems like the whole city came out. It's like in the middle of downtown Victorian-style buildings and it seems like the whole city came out to enjoy this race. Let's hear some more about it.
Speaker 1:France, france's capital, resurrected a 110-, ten year old race for its servers. On Sunday, the dash through central Paris celebrated the dexterous and yet, by their own admission, sometimes famously moody men and women, without whom France wouldn't be France. That's true. Be France, that's true. Why, you may ask? Because they make France's cafes and restaurants tick. Without them, where would the French gather to put the world to rights over drinks and foods? Where would they quarrel and fall in and out of love, and where else could they simply sit around and let their minds wander? They have penned songs and poems about their bistros, so attached are they to their unpretentious watering holes that for generations, have nourished their bodies and souls here.
Speaker 2:That is where you find the population's finest flowers, sang songwriter poet George Brassens, but also all the miserable down on their luck. So drumroll please for Pauline Van Wernemisch and Sammy Lamras, paris' newly crowned fastest servers, as such ambassadors for an essential French profession, and one which has a big job ahead, taking the food orders and quenching the thirst of millions of visitors who will flock to the Paris Olympics this July.
Speaker 1:That's right. This July, the Olympics is coming to none other than Paris, france. Millions of people will be there. So this is really just a warm up for Paris' waiters and waitresses. That's pretty cool. The article goes into greater detail. If you want to check it out APnewscom slash oddities. There's a lot of really cool pictures, there's a video, there's all kinds of stuff and this is really neat. It supports the restaurants, it supports the waiters and waitresses, it it gets the community out. And also, like I said, there's a warm up because the Olympics you know, when the Olympics comes to town, it gets crazy.
Speaker 1:So there you go, our first two weird news of the week. Next, we have an animal section. I know you guys love your animal section, yeah, so we've got a cool, positive animal section coming up. Let me see, do I have a dog in here? Let me, let me check. I have a dog. Let me, uh, let me check I'm a dog. Um, let me see this. Yeah, it's kind of a dog. That might work, I don't know. It's, it's okay, but uh, anyway, there we go, there we go, there's our dog. So, yeah, we've got some interesting animals coming right up after this.
Speaker 2:Hey, everybody and we're back how?
Speaker 1:you doing, how you doing, we're back, we're back. How you doing, how you doing, we're back. So if you left last thing, we left on, if you left during the break or if you're just coming in during the break, we are doing a weird news section on animals. This is kind of interesting. It's always fun, it's always inspiring and it's always kind of cool to see some animals at work in the animal kingdom or not at work, it just depends on what the article is. So here we go with our first one. All right, this animal is caught in a little bit of a pickle.
Speaker 1:Firefighters in New Jersey come to the rescue of a yellow Labrador stuck in a spare tire. Yeah, yeah. So here's what's going on. Firefighters in southern new jersey came to the rescue of a dog who got stuck in a spare tire. Don't ask me, I have no idea. You know, if I was a dog, I'd definitely be this guy stuck in a spare tire. Uh, it just feels like something I would do. Alright, firefighters come to the rescue.
Speaker 1:The Franklin ville volunteer fire company crew found Daisy, an 11-month-old yellow Labrador, when they responded to a Franklin Township home last Thursday. Her neck was deep in the middle of the tire rim and the firefighters worked quickly to devise a rescue plan while attempting to keep Daisy calm. Lieutenant Brandon Volpe told the Philadelphia Inquirer that the crew first used dish soap. Dish soap oh my gosh, I can't. I can't talk Dish soap. Everybody got it now Dish soap and water but couldn't free the dog, who was pretty stuck in there, quote unquote. They then tried vegetable oil and when that didn't work, they put plastic wrap around her neck, hoping the oil and soap would make it slippery enough for her to slide down. When that also failed, volp remembered he had plasma cutters used for cutting steel and metal at his home. So the crew put Daisy on a red wagon and headed to Volp's garage. Volp recalls the dog panicked a little bit quote unquote but a fire blanket was put around her head and neck for protection. Within five minutes Daisy was free.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there we go. So this dog, they have a video of it. Let me see what's going on here. And she is literally stuck in the middle of this ring. Yeah, yeah, I know, I know it's crazy and the actual. I mean, she's pretty stuck in there. I don't get how she got stuck in there, but they definitely needed to use the plasma cutters because there's no way, like you can see this video Again. Apnewscom slash oddities and when you see the video, I mean I don't know how the head got in there of the dog in the first place, but it is solidly stuck in there. There's no way they could have done it without cutting it. And she's out, looks like she's okay and she's all happy. There we go, there we go and they're bringing her home. Look at that. How would you love this. You know, if I was that dog's owner and I was caught, or I was caught wondering where my dog was, and next thing, you know, dog stuck, I'd be freaking out. So they got to the rescue, the dog's OK, everybody's OK and nobody got hurt. So there we go. What do you think audience? All right, got hurt. So there we go. What do you think audience? Alright.
Speaker 1:On to our final story of the week. Yeah, I know, I know, I know, here we go. A Tennessee fisherman reeled in a big one, and we're not talking about fish. It turned out to be an alligator. Yeah, yeah, here we go. Only in Tennessee, right?
Speaker 1:A fisherman at a lake in northeast Tennessee caught a surprise at the end of his line when he pulled up a three to four foot long alligator and they have a picture of this thing. It's a small baby alligator but it's big enough to definitely flip you out, especially if you're fishing. The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency said their Union County Wildlife Officer, rick Roberts that's a name, isn't it, rick Roberts? What's your name? My name is Rick Roberts Got a call from the angler on Monday describing an unusual catch at Norris Lake. When Roberts arrived, the angler had pinned the alligator to the ground behind its head and told Roberts he caught it on a swim bait.
Speaker 1:Alligators are not native to that part of Tennessee and are considered class one wildlife species, which are those that are inherently dangerous to humans and may only be possessed by permitted exhibitors or commercial or commercial propagators. In other words, you have to have a license. Matthew cameron, regional communications coordinator for twra, said the alligator was taken to little ponderosa zoo and rescue, an exotic animal rescue facility in Clinton, tennessee. While the origin of the alligator is unclear, it is evident that it was being illegally held in captivity and possibly released into Norris Lake, cameron said in an email. Cameron said the zoo doesn't normally house alligators, so the operators are looking for a permanent home for the alligator.
Speaker 1:There you go. I mean, how would you guys like to go fishing one day and then pull up an alligator, like that's just crazy. But yeah, there's no way. If I had an alligator pull up on the in the line, I'd be like this yeah, so I I don't think, yeah, that I'm glad the animal rescue got involved, cause I wouldn't know how to handle it, especially if there's an alligator. Um, I mean, I've seen in movies and in TV shows how to hold an alligator, but that doesn't mean I'm trained to handle an alligator. You know what I'm saying? So, there, there's no possible way that I'd be dealing with that.
Speaker 1:All right, guys, that's it for this week. So, yeah, I know, I know, I know, I know we ran out of time and we will see you all next week for some more Weird World Variety. And remember, there is a Facebook, a YouTube and an Instagram. Just look us up Weird World Variety with Matt and Jesse and if you've got a weird or funny story, send it to us, send us your comments, concerns and everything else we would love to hear from you. Thank you, everybody. All right, that's it. We're out of here. See y'all later. I'm sorry, breath.