The Bananas Podcast (2025)

01/03/2025

(UPI) -- A North Carolina llama was officially declared the oldest in the world at the age of 27 years and 250 days old.

Whitetop the llama, who has lived since 2006 at the Victory Junction camp for children with serious illnesses and chronic medical conditions in Randleman, was officially named the oldest living llama in captivity and oldest llama in captivity ever by Guinness World Records.

"He is so good with our campers that as soon as our camp days start, he just lays down, and he doesn't get up until lunch. He'll just lay there, and he lets kids run up to him and love on him," Billie Jo Davis, the barn director at Victory Junction, told Guinness World Records. "He treats it like a job -- it is his job!"

Whitetop spends his days surrounded by children at the year-round camp, as well as nine horses, two goats, two rabbits, two miniature donkeys and a miniature highland cow.

The cow, named Gus-Gus, is Whitetop's closest companion.

"Because they played so much together, Gus-Gus thinks Whitetop is a cow," Davis said.

"He likes to try to jump on him and play with him, and we're like, no, he's old, leave him alone! But Whitetop is just too sweet with them."

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26/02/2025

Let's have some fun for once.
Link in bio and stories.
The Banana Boys honor you.

25/02/2025

Oh baby! Karen Kilgariff is back on Bananas! We get into it about a doctor who gave his cat a cat scan at the hospital, a mom gives birth in a Krispy Kreme parking lot and names kid Glaze, what happened to Elvis’ teddy bear and cars keep hitting the same house!

23/02/2025

NDTV - A student who burned his inflatable doll “girlfriend” in a panic after his roommate returned early sparked a fire on a university campus in China. The bizarre story has shocked mainland social media and led to the fire-starter being disciplined but school authorities. On February 10, a student at Hefei University of Technology in Anhui province, central China, revealed that a fire broke out in a dormitory after another student set his inflatable girlfriend on fire.

According to the Chinese media outlet Owl Video, a male student, whose personal information has not been disclosed, was "using" an inflatable doll in his dormitory when his roommate returned unexpectedly.

In a panic, the student tried to hide his actions by setting fire to the doll.

Initially, he tried to burn it in the dormitory hallway, but the fire quickly spread, igniting the dormitory floor, and triggering the campus fire alarm.

Fortunately, the fire was extinguished in time, and no casualties were reported. The student has been reprimanded. “The inflatable doll was burned in the dormitory hallway. The security guard immediately contacted the fire department, and the situation has been handled,” said a member of staff from the university.

Besides the burnt doll, “There were no property losses or casualties, and we have already communicated with the student involved.”

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22/02/2025

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO KURTY B!!!!!!

Let's all give a bunch of birthday wishes for being the best banana, friend, dad, and comedian in the whole damn world!!

22/02/2025

NERDIST - One of the most ridiculous Pokemon collectibles of all time is fetching bids in the thousands after first going viral years ago when it was discovered in a pack of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.

Back in 2024, 1st and Goal Collectibles in Georgia revealed they had been doing some cleaning when they uncovered their “Cheetozard” in the back.

The Cheetozard is literally just a Cheeto shaped like a Charizard, but the orange snack was so cool that they decided to preserve it and add a Pokemon card frame.

Eventually, as per Polygon, Arena Club acquired the Flamin’ Hot Cheeto after seeing how a Pikachu-shaped Cheeto sold for $26,000. They then included it as a mystery card pack prize where one lucky buyer ended up getting their hands on the item – which probably turned their fingers orange.

On February 10, the Cheetozard resurfaced, this time on the Goldin auction block – and fans are bidding big bucks for the non-official piece of Pokemon history.The auction is set to end on March 1, but it’s already generated some significant bids from Pokemon fans.

On February 20, the Cheeto’s top bid eclipsed the $1,000 mark and then jumped all the way to $1,500, with a few more bids coming after.

At the time of writing, the highest bid is a whopping $2,100, which is a lot to pay for a single Cheeto, even with inflation. This isn’t even the highest-selling Cheeto. Back in 2017, a Harambe-shaped one made headlines after hitting $100,000 on eBay.

We’ll have to see how much the Cheetozard ends up finally selling for, and it ends up beating out some of the most expensive Pokemon cards in existence.

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16/02/2025

BBC - Police bodycam footage shows the moment officers used a capybara costume to carry out a drug raid in Peru's capital Lima.

The Escuadron Verde (Green Squad) police group is a specialised unit of the Peruvian National Police who often disguise their agents in fancy dress during festivities such as Valentine's Day, Halloween and Christmas.

The head of the unit, Col Pedro Rojas, has said: "On this occasion, Valentine's Day, lover's day, we sought to camouflage ourselves with the character of the capybara."

Peruvian police have previously dressed their officers up as Marvel characters Spiderman, Captain America, Thor and Black Widow to carry out a drug raid.

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15/02/2025

OUTDOOR MAGAZINE - Sometimes, your eyes are bigger than your stomach. That’s what happened to a very relatable opossum in Omaha, Nebraska, after it stuffed itself on a Costco chocolate cake. It turns out the furry cake queen’s overindulgence may have also saved her life. Wildlife doctors discovered she was suffering from unrelated lead toxicity and are now treating her for both the cake feast and the lead.

Real estate agent Kim Doggett and her family discovered the opossum on their deck furniture. The family ran out of space to store a Costco chocolate mousse cake. “I always have a house full and we cook a lot and when you run out of room in the fridge you just sit it on the table outside in the winter,” Doggett says over a Facebook chat.

Doggett’s son went to put some homemade peanut butter balls outside to set up and found the opossum with the mostly eaten cake. Chocolate-y footprints pointed to the thievery. The family tried to move the animal along, but Doggets says “it just didn’t look right.” “We googled chocolate with possums because I know with dogs it’s poisonous and thought this would not be good for this little girl.”

Wildlife rescue organization Nebraska Wildlife Rehab took charge of the cat-sized mammal after it was taken in by the Nebraska Humane Society. “We assume that chocolate would be toxic to opossums and other wildlife, but we don’t know of any published studies confirming that,” says executive director Laura Stastny over email. The opossum received activated charcoal and fluids on intake and got a full health checkup, including X-rays and bloodwork.

The opossum has recovered from the sweet repast, but the checkup revealed a serious health problem—lead toxicity. “This is a common issue in wildlife, with different causes for different species, and it will take several weeks of treatment and supportive care to chelate the lead from her body,” says Stastny.

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11/02/2025

is on Bananas today! Go watch her new special MARK YOUR TERRITORY out tonight! And listen to Bananas to hear us talking crocodiles that impersonate drowning humans to lure people into water, a woman’s fake social media wedding turned out to be real and the viral women only artwork returns to view after supreme court win!

09/02/2025

WALLETHUB - While the Chiefs and Eagles battle it out on the gridiron, we'll be battling it out in the kitchen trying to decide which snack food to tackle next.

While Christmas is known as 'the most wonderful time of the year', the Super Bowl is known as ' the most gluttonous time of the year'! Thanks to all the pizza, chips and dips, wings, and veggie trays that will be in abundance during our Big Game parties.

WalletHub examined the Super Bowl and determined that nearly 114 million parties will be held, with an average of 14 guests attending.

At each of those parties, guests will consume about 6000 calories each! Those calories will be consumed from pre-game all the way through the trophy presentation.

Collectively we'll be consuming these snack foods:
1.45 billion chicken wings
10 million pounds of ribs
11.2 million pounds of potato chips
304 million pounds of guacamole
eating 41% more pizza than on a normal Sunday.

Food isn't the only thing WalletHub looked at. On Super Bowl Sunday, 54 million cases of beer will be sold totaling about $1 billion in sales.

With another $517 million on soft drinks and $226 million on whiskey.

With all of the beer and mixed drinks being served during the game, 16.1 million people plan on calling in to work sick on Monday according to WalletHub.

08/02/2025

CNN - A California-based hot-air balloon company is offering mile-high flights – with amorous Mile-High Club privileges – over the Temecula countryside.

Guests can enjoy the views with a whole basket to themselves – and a privacy screen separating the pilot compartment from the passenger cabin.

The pilot, who Magical Adventure Balloon Rides promises will be wearing protective hearing gear and focused solely on flying, ascends the balloon to 5,280 feet (about 1,610 meters), which is about 2,000 feet higher than a typical recreational flight.

While intimate clinches are usually thoroughly discouraged in the skies, the company invites you to bring your own bedding and music playlist. A complimentary Champagne breakfast is included to fuel your frolics, of whatever sort.

Pricing for two passengers starts at $1,400. If your mantra is “the more the merrier,” each additional adult in the larger 10-person basket is $159.

The Mile-High Club flight is just one of a host of packages on offer, from wine tours to company picnics, the rest of which are considerably more family-friendly.

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07/02/2025

Global News – Police in Pennsylvania are scrambling to crack the case after 100,000 organic eggs were stolen from the back of a trailer over the weekend, as egg prices in the U.S. continue to skyrocket.

The poached eggs, estimated to be worth US$40,000 (nearly C$57,276), were in a distribution trailer outside Pete & Gerry’s Organics in Greencastle, Pa., when someone broke into it around 8:40 p.m. ET on Feb. 1, according to reports.

“We take this matter seriously and are committed to resolving it as quickly as possible,” Pete & Gerry’s said in a statement.

An investigation is underway into the huevos heist and the Pennsylvania State Police Department is urging anyone with information regarding the theft to call the Chambersburg bureau.

Police did not say how someone was able to take 100,000 eggs without anyone noticing or if they have any potential leads in the hard-boiled case.

According to the egg company’s website, Pete & Gerry’s Organic sets “a higher standard for farming practices and animal care across an entire industry,” which “doesn’t happen without ruffling a few feathers — we squawk the squawk and walk the walk.”

The company works with more than 200 independent, family-owned and operated farms located across New England, the Mid-Atlantic and Midwest.

The egg theft comes as egg prices in the United States continue to rise in price following a relentless outbreak of bird flu that is devastating poultry farms and forcing farmers to kill millions of chickens.

The average cost of a dozen large eggs was US$4.15 in December 2024, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This marks a 37 per cent increase from the previous year. Egg prices could go even higher, with the United States Department of Agriculture predicting costs to rise 20 per cent in 2025.

06/02/2025

NEW BANANAS OUT NOW!!

Kurt and Scotty talk about how China’s first corgi police dog loses bonus over misconduct, a woman taken to court for aggressively farting at boyfriend’s ex, and a man in Ohio accidentally buys an entire street!

04/02/2025

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) - In November, a Savannah man did what hundreds of millions of Americans do every year: he bought something online. But Sylvester Franklin did not get what he paid for.

Franklin decided it was time to some new tools, so he logged onto AliExpress, and ordered a drill.

“They sent me this. A picture is what they sent me,” Franklin says.

That’s right: Franklin ordered a drill from AliExpress- and what he got was a printed photo of the drill he ordered. But it gets worse.

“I paid $22.47 for a pressure washer, and this is what I get,” Franklin says. “It’s a screw.”

Franklin has been going back and forth with AliExpress since he ordered the items in November, still hasn’t received a refund.

WTOC Investigates started looking into AliExpress. We found the company is a subsidiary of AliBaba, sometimes referred to as the Amazon of China.

In 2021, the Office of the United States Trade Representative added AliExpress to its list of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy. The website has a D- rating from the BBB, and in 2024, the State of Georgia’s Consumer Protection Division (CPD) received three complaints against the company.

One of the people who complained, saying they “never received the item purchased.” Another, saying they were out over $400 after their item was sent with a “fake tracking number” that was never delivered to them. In all three instances the shoppers said they tried to get their money back from AliExpress, but none of them did until they reported their stories to the CPD.

Franklin has tried to get his money back from AliExpress, and tried to get a chargeback from his bank, without any success. He says he only spent around $40, but wants others to take a lesson from his story: this picture may be worth a thousand words but not the 40 bucks he paid.

“This is not good. This is real bad. All this is bad, you know what I mean? Don’t scam nobody. I don’t like to get scammed, because you spend your money, you want to get what you paid for,” Franklin says.

04/02/2025

New Scientist – Male Amazon river dolphins have been documented rolling upside down and firing a stream of urine into the air. As if that isn’t bizarre enough, other males will usually seek out the urine as it arcs back down to the water, possibly to receive social cues in a similar way to how land mammals use scent marking.⁠
⁠
Claryana Araújo-Wang at CetAsia Research Group in Ontario, Canada, and her colleagues documented the unusual behaviour while studying Amazon river dolphins (Inia geoffrensis), or botos, in the Tocantins river in central Brazil.⁠

02/02/2025

THE GUARDIAN - Scientists have cast doubt on the reliability of America’s most celebrated rodent forecaster – whose apparent knack of predicting how long winter will last forms a hallowed tradition in the US.

Punxsutawney Phil, made famous by the 1993 film Groundhog Day, attracts thousands of visitors every 2 February to the Pennsylvania town from which he takes his name.

The US state’s tradition of using a large rodent to predict the seasons dates back to the Pennsylvania Dutch belief that if a groundhog left its burrow and saw its shadow, it would scurry back inside and winter would go on for six more weeks.

Professional forecasters have warned that Phil’s prediction on Sunday will probably be way off the mark. The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has concluded that only 35% of Phil’s forecasts have proved to be accurate – placing him at a lowly 17th compared with other rodent forecasters.

Staten Island Chuck, a New York-based groundhog, tops the rankings with an impressive 85% accuracy rate on his forecasts.

Phil and his predecessors, also called Phil, have been forecasting since 1887.

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01/02/2025

GIZMODO - If you are tired of Google’s AI-powered search results leading you astray with poor information from bad sources, there is some good news. It turns out that if you include any expletives in your search query, Google will not return an AI Overview, as they are called, at the top of the results page.

For instance, if you search “How large is the student body of Yale University?” the search results page will return a large AI-generated blurb above the blue links. If you instead search, “How large is the fu***ng student body at Yale University?” you will instead get a standard list of blue link results, sans-AI summary.

This is not the first time internet sleuths have discovered a way to disable Google’s AI-powered results. Other methods are more complicated, however, like adding a specific string of characters to the search results page URL. This method of swearing and pleading at Google to “just give me the fu***ng links” is much more cathartic.

When Google first introduced AI Overviews into search, it went viral for returning nonsensical responses, such as suggesting that one can prevent cheese from sliding off their pizzas by using glue or improve gut health by eating pebbles. It is believed Google’s model sourced the information from Reddit comments. AI does not know how to identify sarcasm or satire.

Ars Technica earlier reported on the new loophole, which, if we are speculating, is caused by Google’s overly cautious steering of its AI model. Whereas a bot like xAI’s Grok is more than happy to swear and discuss sensitive topics, Google’s Gemini keeps it PG. Google has likely trained Gemini to avoid repeating expletives, so it simply is disabled in search when a curse word is present in order to avoid that.

We imagine Google will close the expletive loophole eventually, but in the meantime, if you are sick of AI, you now know an easy way to avoid it. Just tell Google to give you the fu***ng links.

🍌 *ckingBananas *ckingChocolateMilkToFillaWaterBed

29/01/2025

Ars TECHNICA – Charlotte, a green sea turtle, suffered a boat strike in 2008 that left her with “bubble butt” syndrome, a condition causing trapped gas or air pockets that prevent diving. Most turtles with this affliction die at sea, unable to forage or avoid predators, but Charlotte was rescued and brought to Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut. There, she received care and became the focus of an innovative collaboration between Adia, Formlabs, and New Balance.

This team used 3D printing to create a customized harness with adjustable weight slots, replacing the labor-intensive Velcro-and-weight system traditionally used to manage buoyancy issues in non-releasable turtles like Charlotte. Starting with a 3D scan of her shell, New Balance designed the harness, which was then 3D-printed by Formlabs using carbon fiber-reinforced nylon for flexibility and durability. The harness helps Charlotte gradually regain use of her hind flippers while improving her mobility.

Charlotte’s success has inspired efforts to expand this approach, with plans to streamline the design and manufacturing process for other turtles with similar injuries. The goal is to create easily customizable harnesses, making advanced care more accessible to aquariums worldwide.

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