What a Weird Week Year End Special for Dec 31st 2021: What a Weird Year! Weird Food. UFOs. Bobcat Attack on Muffin Day!

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Welcome back to What a Weird Week, the countdown of Weird stories from the news. 
See (Shownotes.page) for shownotes and podcast links. This is our Weird Year In Review Special!
Here are some of the Stories that made 2021 Weird... What a Weird Week Podcast episode 3.15 Shownotes:

10 Weird Weather! Like Donut-shaped hail... or as you will see by my annotations... I believe there is a marketing team at work here...
(https://weather.com/news/news/2021-12-08-strangest-weather-2021)

9 Weird UFO Report!
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentagon_UFO_videos#June_2021_UFO_report)
In June, the United States government put out a report on UAPs which we use to call UFOs.
All the UFO researchers predicted that there wouldn't be much to the official report...  and that was pretty much the case. Not a lot of answers, just more questions... one UFO was officially classified as a weather balloon but the other cases are in the "we don't know" category. The takeaway is that the government acknowledges something... but what is the something?!
via https://www.navair.navy.mil/foia/documents

8 the Headline: "Police break up exorcism at Pa. Home Depot"
(https://www.pennlive.com/news/2021/06/police-break-up-exorcism-at-pa-home-depot.html)
In the Summer of  
2021 the story came out about a Home Depot in Pennsylvania where something happened in the lumber aisle... the police were called because of the disturbance... it got reported as an exorcism... was not officially sanctioned by Home Depot or the Catholic Church... the people involved later said that they were doing it for the trees that gave their life to become lumber... full credit to article writer Steve Marroni who didn't lean too much into "everybody's crazy" and also barely touched on the insane price of lumber angle. Just a nice straightforward story. 

7 Cupcake Day: ruined! *may have been muffins*
(https://www.outdoorlife.com/survival/rabid-bobcat-attacks-woman-video/?amp)
Maybe you remember this one because the video got shared a LOT... the guy who comes out of his house with the cupcakes/ muffins... and a coffee travel mug... he's obviously going to work and bringing in cupcakes or muffins! Then the bobcat jumps on his wife's back and the fella grabs the bobcat and throws it across the yard... the story came out in the Spring... 
6 Bernie's mittens... Trump Twitter Ban... Macron egged (tie)
(https://www.wionews.com/trending/weird-ender-the-strangest-whackiest-most-viral-stories-of-2021-438811/amp)
There've been some weird stories involving politicians this year... I try to stay outta politics because there are experts on the case already... so as kind of an amalgam of all the poltical stories here are three that happened in the weird year that was... Bernie Sanders wore knitted mittens... they were large and unique and made with love and people started photoshopping his mitten photo onto google maps locations everywhere... remember that early this year? This is a good reminder that if you ever don't understand a meme or don't find it funny and it seems like everyone is getting in on it, just wait, it'll go away and you'll be fine. Also early in 2021, Donald Trump got banned from twitter after the US Capitol riots. The violence and the political fighting from early 2021 was a serious story for the serious media... but the getting kicked off of twitter while you're still president story has earned a spot on our top ten. Then there was the thing where someone egged the President of France in the Summer. President Macron got slapped by someone earlier in the Summer... out for a walk talking to folks and got slapped in the face! Then late-Summer/ early Fall he got egged by somebody at a food expo. Maybe he wasn't egged... is it  still an egging if the egg doesn't actually break? This egg bounced off the shoulder.

5 Giant Ship gets stuck in Suez Canal...
In March, one of the largest container ships in the world (the Ever Given) got stuck in the Suez. btw, It's like a quarter-mile long give or take. For a week there was a ship traffic jam which contributed to supply chain problems and supply/ demand issues that maybe you felt as recently as this holiday season? It wasn't just that ships were getting backed up behind the Ever Given waiting for the all- clear... it was that once the Ever Given got loose, the Egyptian government impounded it until they could be paid hundreds of millions in damages. That was a slow process... they finally came to an agreement in July... 
Notes: may have contributed to shortages in semiconductors, a rise in oil prices, and a shortage in Garden Gnomes. 

4 The Jamaican Sprinter who took a cab and won Gold!
(https://www.wionews.com/world/jamaican-athlete-thanks-tokyo-2020-volunteer-who-paid-his-taxi-money-404958)
In August at the Tokyo games, runner Hansle Parchment of Jamaica ended up at the wrong venue for his race! He thinks the bus dropped him off at the Aquatic Event Center. Too late to go back to Olympic Village and catch the correct bus, Hansle was losing hope... then an Olympic volunteer gave him money for a taxi... he got to the track on time, and won gold in the 110 hurdles! Then he went back and found the volunteer to say thank you. This story is better because he went back. Always go back to say thanks if you can... it's a better story.

3 Couple of vaccine stories (tied)...
Note: Cards-on-the-table I am happily vaccinated but I hate talking about vaccines because some people get super angry just hearing the word vaccine. And it turns ugly fast! So whether you're fully-vaccinated or vaccine hesitant, I hope that you avoid getting sick and that no one close to you gets sick. Not even your enemies. I hope your enemies fall in poop, but not that they get sick. Here we go, a couple of vaccine stories...
According to police, a nurse in Germany has been giving pretend vaccines to people who thought they were getting real vaccines. 8600 people who had gone to the vaccine clinic ended up getting saline solution instead of actual medecine because the nurse (allegedly)  was against vaccines. That's pretty sneaky.  How did she keep that going for 8600 people? (https://www.wionews.com/world/nurse-in-germany-suspected-of-injecting-8600-with-salt-solution-instead-of-covid-19-vaccine-404700)... then there's the story of the guy in Italy who got charged after he wore a fake arm to the vaccine clinic (https://www.wionews.com/world/anything-to-get-vaccine-certificate-50-year-old-man-uses-fake-arm-to-dodge-covid-19-jab-434050) he didn't want to get the vaccine, but he did want his vaccine passport* (may not be what they call it in Italy but you know what I mean)... he tried to get an injection into a realistic rubber arm. He got charged with fraud. 
(He didn't have a leg to stand on?)

2 All of the rich people who went to space...
I am trying hard to not do any serious news because there are real newspeople and thinkers of big thoughts who will do that... but I will say that one of the biggest stories of the year is the juxtaposition of rich people going to space for fun versus everything else that is happening. There is nothing wrong with being rich. There is nothing wrong with going to space. But there is something weird about going to space for a fun thing to do and everyone acting like it's a great accomplishment. That's weird... when you think about it, the accomplishment is buying a ticket. That's all... paying for something... and let's face it, how many personal assistants actually did that part - prolly a lot right? The quest for space clout (which should be the name of a documentary) was one of the weirder stories of 2021. 
(https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2021/11/2/celebrity-space-tourism/#:~:text=Celebrities%20such%20as%20Tom%20Hanks,on%20an%20upcoming%20space%20flight.) 

1 (tie) All The Weird food publicity stunts...
I feel like there aren't a lot of podcasts supporting the weirdo publicity stunts pulled by the big food brands. We always do. I;m always saying like 'Hey, those PR people  have to get attention... that's a tough job' ... but it's getting PLENTIFUL out there you guys. Here are a few from the year that was...
- Kraft Pink Mac and Cheese (candy flavoured) MMMmmmmgross (https://www.scottyandtony.com/2021/02/what-weird-week-mon-feb-1-2021-one-with.html)


-  Hot Dog Flavoured candy canes (https://nerdist.com/article/archie-mcphee-hot-dog-candy-canes/?amp) *made from candy, not hot dogs **let's get that going next year you guys - hot dogs in the shape of candy canes

- Arby's French Fry Vodka (https://www.scottyandtony.com/2021/11/what-weird-week-39-for-nov-12th-2021.html) 
- Hidden Valley Ranch Nog (https://nerdist.com/article/hidden-valley-ranch-eggnog-holiday-drink/?amp) *might be an improvement to egg nog*
- Grey Poupon Mustard Wine (https://nerdist.com/article/grey-poupon-mustard-wine/?amp) ... I'd post a photo, but just imagine a bottle of white wine that may or may not be really gross...

There's more in our archives but you get the idea. (archives are at https://www.scottyandtony.com/search/label/podcast)

Happy New Year! For show notes and links to share or subscribe go to (www.Shownotes.Page)