A police major in Russia dies falling out of a window, adding another tragic event in the strange pattern of Russians mysteriously dying in the same manner. A 100-year old home in Pennsylvania begins leaking honey. Scientists have finally determined just how many hot dogs a person can eat in 10 minutes -- or have they? Join Ben Bowlin and Dylan Fagan for more Strange News Daily, and share your stories on Twitter: #strangedaily.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Strange News Daily. It's a production of I heart Media.
In a world full of bizarre events, unsolved mysteries, and
a billion stories from all corners of the globe, some
(00:22):
news gets lost in the shuffle. This is your gateway
to the stories on the fringe of the mainstream map.
These are your dispatches in the dark. I'm Ben Bolan,
and this is the Strange News Daily, our first story today.
(00:44):
Hearkens back to an earlier report about a strange series
of deaths and injuries in Russia, when multiple medical professionals
died due to falling out of windows. Uh In many
cases these were ruled accidents or suicides, but just this week,
(01:06):
a police major in far eastern Russia fell to her
death from a window after testifying against her boss in
a criminal extortion case. Security cameras captured the body of
criminal investigation officer Yeka Tarina Mishkina, who was thirty seven,
near a nine floor apartment building in the city of Kabarovsk,
(01:29):
more than eight thousand kilometers east of Moscow. At this point,
it was unclear what mis Kinna, who was dressed in
plain clothes at the time, had been doing, and she'd
been pursuing someone. What were her activities before she plunged
to her death from what appears to be a window
on the fifth floor. Various domestic news websites reported that
(01:54):
security cameras showed Miskena unsuccessfully trying to get access to
the building's rooftop and then descending a few further flights.
There are also anonymous sources in local law enforcement agencies
who say that Maschino was a witness in a criminal
case against her one time boss. This boss was suspected
(02:19):
of extorting subordinates. Miskina was reported to have testified against
him at some point before her death. Authorities opened that
criminal extortion case after Miskena's former boss retired. The regional
police have launched an internal inspection into Michkena's death, and
(02:40):
there's an interesting line here. The spokesperson for the police,
Yaka Tarina Tarasova, told local news that the investigator assigned
to the case was on quote yet another vacation at
the time. Another unnamed source close to the investigation claims
that a shoals found a note in Miskin's purse listing
(03:03):
a set of key tasks she had to complete until
a certain point This note leads this anonymous source to
believe there was pre meditation involved here, saying quote this
indicates that what happened was not spontaneous. Mosquito was divorced
and she leaves behind a fourteen year old daughter. As
(03:25):
we noted at the top of this story, this death
follows at least five other separate incidents of Russian healthcare
workers falling from windows at the height of the coronavirus
pandemic this spring, as well as two young journalists back
in two thousand eighteen to two thousand nineteen, before the
pandemic began. Our second story today is a bit surreal,
(04:00):
or some people it may be the stuff of nightmares.
Imagine you're like any other homeowner, and one day your
walls start leaking. They're not leaking water, They're not leaking
some kind of coolant from the air conditioning system. No,
(04:20):
your walls are leaking honey. This is what happened to
Andrea and Justin Isabelle, a Pennsylvania couple who did not
know that unexpected house guest until they saw fresh honey
dripping down the walls of their home. The isabel family
has lived in their one year old home in Pennsylvania
(04:42):
for five years, and so far they haven't had any
major issues, apart from the regular wear and tear that
comes with owning an older home. Andrea reported that her
neighborhood had received heavy rain from tropical Storm Fade, so
at first she and her husband thought these streams coming
(05:03):
down the wall of their mud room were from water storage.
That weekend, the couple took a closer look and realized
the liquid was actually fresh honey. We've never heard any
buzzing or anything, says Andrea, when we saw this stream
coming down the wall, we just kind of worked our
way up. Isabel has made it to their bedroom window
(05:27):
and looked outside, and that's where they found honeybees entering
and exiting and opening along the roof of the house.
In a video posted on social media, Justin Isabel offered
a sketch comedy like homeowner tutorial called how to Tell
if you have a b issue. The honey streams have
traveled from the attic, through the second story, the main floor,
(05:50):
and now down to the basement. Alan Lazani, who was
a general contractor and has been an apiarist for eight years,
looked at the home on weekend and estimated the bee
colony was anywhere from twenty thousand to thirty thousand strong.
He continued saying, I think water got into the colony
and washed the nectar out of the comb and made
(06:12):
it more liquefied, and that's what was running down the wall.
The isabel say their children think the stream is crazy,
and the family dog certainly seems to be into the
idea of fresh, free honey literally oozing from the walls.
Zanni plans to extract the colony from the home and
take it to a b yard on his own property.
(06:34):
The Isabel's say, we know bees are endangered. We want
to be able to save the colony and re home
them appropriately and carefully. But the damage done to the
house to extract it was concerning. The repairs will cost
an estimated three thousand dollars, and homeowners insurance, which is
famously terrible at covering stuff like this, is probably not
(06:56):
going to cover the unwanted b squads. The Isabels are
quick to add, by the way that no one has
been stung, and when you consider the damage that insects
living in the home could do to the structure, it's
understandable why people would want them to leave. But still,
(07:17):
a beehive is pretty cool. Maybe just move it to
the backyard. Our third story today is inspiring. Maybe it's
(07:37):
about humanities, constant exploration of our own limits. How far
can we push ourselves? Well, it's sort of about that.
You see. Scientists may have just figured out how many
hot dogs people can eat in ten minutes. This is
a huge deal for part of the population, competitive eaters
(08:01):
and fans of competitions like Nathan's famous Coney Island hot
dog eating contest. Before we give you the answer, let's
let's tell you a little bit about how we arrived
at it. Our story starts with a physiologist named James Smoliga.
James works at the High Point University in North Carolina,
(08:23):
and last year he was watching the Nathan's hot dog
eating contests when an idea struck him like a bolt
of competitive eating lightning. Could we, he thought, apply the
mathematical equations used to estimate the limits of athletic performance
to feats of competitive eating. This set him off on
(08:45):
his journey. He analyzed nearly forty years of the hot
dog eating contests. The current record of seventy five hot
dogs is an improvement over the competition's early days, where
winners were crowned after eating as few as a dozen
hot dogs. So, based on this data from a hundred
(09:05):
and fifty two competitors over thirty nine years, Smolega calculated
what he calls an upper hot dog limit of about
eighty three dogs in ten minutes. That translates to a
consumption rate of about eight hundred and thirty two grams
per minute and more than whenty three thousand calories total,
(09:26):
at least according to his report published just yesterday in
Biology Letters. Hey quick, note, this is producer Dylan fig
In here. We just felt it was important to point
out that this breaks down to almost nine packages of
hot dogs and eleven packages of buns. Eating anything above
that would be, according to this superhuman otherworldly or perhaps
(09:49):
a t rex in a human suit. But let us
know if you break the record, dinosaurs will be disqualified.
He goes on to write that whether or not competitive
eat or has ever reached that limit, the scale of
improvement completely dwarfs other athletic achievements. It sounds unbelievable, but
keep in mind that record performances in sports like track
(10:12):
and field have improved approximately since record keeping began. In contrast,
hot dog eating prowess has improved approximately seven hundred percent.
In fact, human beings even hold our own pound for
pound against other meat eating mammals when normalized for body mass.
(10:35):
Competitive hot dog eaters have a consumption rate that's higher
than that of grizzly bears and coyote, although to be fair,
wolves still have a higher consumption rate. And it makes
sense when you think about it, eating large quantities of
food very quickly can be a tremendously helpful strategy for
carnivores when food is scarce, and Smiliga says human me's
(11:00):
capacity for a relatively high consumption rate may have been
crucial at some point in our evolutionary past. However, nowadays,
inhaling six or seven hot dogs a minute for ten
minutes mostly is just going to lead to pretty hilarious
digestive problems. And then maybe, of course, if you're lucky
(11:24):
first prize in the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating contest. But
there you have it something to think about, especially if
you're one of those people we mentioned earlier, the fans
of both sports and gambling who can't wait to bet
on competitive eating contest that's all for now. We've been
(11:46):
asking you to chime in with suggestions for stories you
think your fellow listeners should learn more about. To hit
us with your best or worst dad jokes, as well
as your personal experience with strange stories going on in
your neck of the global woods. Let us know by
tagging hashtag Strange Daily on Twitter, or reach out to
me directly. I'm at Ben Bullin hs W on Twitter
(12:07):
or at Ben Bollin on Instagram. Thanks as always to
our super producer Dylan Fagan, our research associate Sam T. Garden.
Most importantly, thanks to you. I'm Ben Bollin. We'll see
you tomorrow. Until then, stay strange
Strange News Daily. It's a production of I heart Media.
In a world full of bizarre events, unsolved mysteries, and
a billion stories from all corners of the globe, some
(00:22):
news gets lost in the shuffle. This is your gateway
to the stories on the fringe of the mainstream map.
These are your dispatches in the dark. I'm Ben Bolan,
and this is the Strange News Daily, our first story today.
(00:44):
Hearkens back to an earlier report about a strange series
of deaths and injuries in Russia, when multiple medical professionals
died due to falling out of windows. Uh In many
cases these were ruled accidents or suicides, but just this week,
(01:06):
a police major in far eastern Russia fell to her
death from a window after testifying against her boss in
a criminal extortion case. Security cameras captured the body of
criminal investigation officer Yeka Tarina Mishkina, who was thirty seven,
near a nine floor apartment building in the city of Kabarovsk,
(01:29):
more than eight thousand kilometers east of Moscow. At this point,
it was unclear what mis Kinna, who was dressed in
plain clothes at the time, had been doing, and she'd
been pursuing someone. What were her activities before she plunged
to her death from what appears to be a window
on the fifth floor. Various domestic news websites reported that
(01:54):
security cameras showed Miskena unsuccessfully trying to get access to
the building's rooftop and then descending a few further flights.
There are also anonymous sources in local law enforcement agencies
who say that Maschino was a witness in a criminal
case against her one time boss. This boss was suspected
(02:19):
of extorting subordinates. Miskina was reported to have testified against
him at some point before her death. Authorities opened that
criminal extortion case after Miskena's former boss retired. The regional
police have launched an internal inspection into Michkena's death, and
(02:40):
there's an interesting line here. The spokesperson for the police,
Yaka Tarina Tarasova, told local news that the investigator assigned
to the case was on quote yet another vacation at
the time. Another unnamed source close to the investigation claims
that a shoals found a note in Miskin's purse listing
(03:03):
a set of key tasks she had to complete until
a certain point This note leads this anonymous source to
believe there was pre meditation involved here, saying quote this
indicates that what happened was not spontaneous. Mosquito was divorced
and she leaves behind a fourteen year old daughter. As
(03:25):
we noted at the top of this story, this death
follows at least five other separate incidents of Russian healthcare
workers falling from windows at the height of the coronavirus
pandemic this spring, as well as two young journalists back
in two thousand eighteen to two thousand nineteen, before the
pandemic began. Our second story today is a bit surreal,
(04:00):
or some people it may be the stuff of nightmares.
Imagine you're like any other homeowner, and one day your
walls start leaking. They're not leaking water, They're not leaking
some kind of coolant from the air conditioning system. No,
(04:20):
your walls are leaking honey. This is what happened to
Andrea and Justin Isabelle, a Pennsylvania couple who did not
know that unexpected house guest until they saw fresh honey
dripping down the walls of their home. The isabel family
has lived in their one year old home in Pennsylvania
(04:42):
for five years, and so far they haven't had any
major issues, apart from the regular wear and tear that
comes with owning an older home. Andrea reported that her
neighborhood had received heavy rain from tropical Storm Fade, so
at first she and her husband thought these streams coming
(05:03):
down the wall of their mud room were from water storage.
That weekend, the couple took a closer look and realized
the liquid was actually fresh honey. We've never heard any
buzzing or anything, says Andrea, when we saw this stream
coming down the wall, we just kind of worked our
way up. Isabel has made it to their bedroom window
(05:27):
and looked outside, and that's where they found honeybees entering
and exiting and opening along the roof of the house.
In a video posted on social media, Justin Isabel offered
a sketch comedy like homeowner tutorial called how to Tell
if you have a b issue. The honey streams have
traveled from the attic, through the second story, the main floor,
(05:50):
and now down to the basement. Alan Lazani, who was
a general contractor and has been an apiarist for eight years,
looked at the home on weekend and estimated the bee
colony was anywhere from twenty thousand to thirty thousand strong.
He continued saying, I think water got into the colony
and washed the nectar out of the comb and made
(06:12):
it more liquefied, and that's what was running down the wall.
The isabel say their children think the stream is crazy,
and the family dog certainly seems to be into the
idea of fresh, free honey literally oozing from the walls.
Zanni plans to extract the colony from the home and
take it to a b yard on his own property.
(06:34):
The Isabel's say, we know bees are endangered. We want
to be able to save the colony and re home
them appropriately and carefully. But the damage done to the
house to extract it was concerning. The repairs will cost
an estimated three thousand dollars, and homeowners insurance, which is
famously terrible at covering stuff like this, is probably not
(06:56):
going to cover the unwanted b squads. The Isabels are
quick to add, by the way that no one has
been stung, and when you consider the damage that insects
living in the home could do to the structure, it's
understandable why people would want them to leave. But still,
(07:17):
a beehive is pretty cool. Maybe just move it to
the backyard. Our third story today is inspiring. Maybe it's
(07:37):
about humanities, constant exploration of our own limits. How far
can we push ourselves? Well, it's sort of about that.
You see. Scientists may have just figured out how many
hot dogs people can eat in ten minutes. This is
a huge deal for part of the population, competitive eaters
(08:01):
and fans of competitions like Nathan's famous Coney Island hot
dog eating contest. Before we give you the answer, let's
let's tell you a little bit about how we arrived
at it. Our story starts with a physiologist named James Smoliga.
James works at the High Point University in North Carolina,
(08:23):
and last year he was watching the Nathan's hot dog
eating contests when an idea struck him like a bolt
of competitive eating lightning. Could we, he thought, apply the
mathematical equations used to estimate the limits of athletic performance
to feats of competitive eating. This set him off on
(08:45):
his journey. He analyzed nearly forty years of the hot
dog eating contests. The current record of seventy five hot
dogs is an improvement over the competition's early days, where
winners were crowned after eating as few as a dozen
hot dogs. So, based on this data from a hundred
(09:05):
and fifty two competitors over thirty nine years, Smolega calculated
what he calls an upper hot dog limit of about
eighty three dogs in ten minutes. That translates to a
consumption rate of about eight hundred and thirty two grams
per minute and more than whenty three thousand calories total,
(09:26):
at least according to his report published just yesterday in
Biology Letters. Hey quick, note, this is producer Dylan fig
In here. We just felt it was important to point
out that this breaks down to almost nine packages of
hot dogs and eleven packages of buns. Eating anything above
that would be, according to this superhuman otherworldly or perhaps
(09:49):
a t rex in a human suit. But let us
know if you break the record, dinosaurs will be disqualified.
He goes on to write that whether or not competitive
eat or has ever reached that limit, the scale of
improvement completely dwarfs other athletic achievements. It sounds unbelievable, but
keep in mind that record performances in sports like track
(10:12):
and field have improved approximately since record keeping began. In contrast,
hot dog eating prowess has improved approximately seven hundred percent.
In fact, human beings even hold our own pound for
pound against other meat eating mammals when normalized for body mass.
(10:35):
Competitive hot dog eaters have a consumption rate that's higher
than that of grizzly bears and coyote, although to be fair,
wolves still have a higher consumption rate. And it makes
sense when you think about it, eating large quantities of
food very quickly can be a tremendously helpful strategy for
carnivores when food is scarce, and Smiliga says human me's
(11:00):
capacity for a relatively high consumption rate may have been
crucial at some point in our evolutionary past. However, nowadays,
inhaling six or seven hot dogs a minute for ten
minutes mostly is just going to lead to pretty hilarious
digestive problems. And then maybe, of course, if you're lucky
(11:24):
first prize in the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating contest. But
there you have it something to think about, especially if
you're one of those people we mentioned earlier, the fans
of both sports and gambling who can't wait to bet
on competitive eating contest that's all for now. We've been
(11:46):
asking you to chime in with suggestions for stories you
think your fellow listeners should learn more about. To hit
us with your best or worst dad jokes, as well
as your personal experience with strange stories going on in
your neck of the global woods. Let us know by
tagging hashtag Strange Daily on Twitter, or reach out to
me directly. I'm at Ben Bullin hs W on Twitter
(12:07):
or at Ben Bollin on Instagram. Thanks as always to
our super producer Dylan Fagan, our research associate Sam T. Garden.
Most importantly, thanks to you. I'm Ben Bollin. We'll see
you tomorrow. Until then, stay strange
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