1 00:00:00,740 --> 00:00:05,200 The comedy4cast Network. Let's dog ear that for now. 2 00:00:07,320 --> 00:00:13,580 Oh hi, Clinton here. Welcome to the Dog Days of Pumpkin Spice Season. 3 00:00:14,000 --> 00:00:20,460 Yes, August got away from me because life. So this is my unofficial extension of Dog Days. 4 00:00:20,760 --> 00:00:25,300 For more information on that, go to dogdaysofpodcasting.com. 5 00:00:25,300 --> 00:00:30,060 I always use Dog Days to give you 31 episodes full of some interesting, 6 00:00:30,320 --> 00:00:32,820 yet totally useless, odd news. 7 00:00:33,140 --> 00:00:37,120 And this year, to celebrate the Platinum Anniversary of comedy4cast, 8 00:00:37,320 --> 00:00:44,080 or PAC for short, I'll end each Dog Days episode with part of a classic comedy4cast episode. 9 00:00:44,320 --> 00:00:46,640 So, let's get started with... 10 00:00:47,299 --> 00:00:48,760 Odd News PAC! 11 00:00:49,940 --> 00:00:54,800 Chicago is known as the Windy City. A book has been written about wind in the 12 00:00:54,800 --> 00:00:59,880 willows, and some caution about candles in the wind, yet claim it is beneath 13 00:00:59,880 --> 00:01:03,520 their wings, even if there is some dust blown in it. 14 00:01:03,680 --> 00:01:08,400 But all that talk about the breeze pales in comparison to a claim being made 15 00:01:08,400 --> 00:01:12,580 by the CEO of the Dutch Weather Forecasting Service, Whiffle. 16 00:01:13,020 --> 00:01:18,540 CEO Remco Verzijlbergh is calling Belgium a wind thief. 17 00:01:18,800 --> 00:01:21,060 But is he just full of hot air? 18 00:01:21,640 --> 00:01:26,060 Verzijlbergh says the Belgian wind farms in the North Sea have an advantage over 19 00:01:26,060 --> 00:01:28,480 Dutch ones because of their placement. 20 00:01:28,980 --> 00:01:34,540 Wait, are the Dutch ones in upside down? To be fair, those blades do look like roots. 21 00:01:35,060 --> 00:01:41,000 Hmm, a quick check tells me no. The Netherlands has followed the manufacturer's 22 00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:41,960 installation instructions. 23 00:01:42,930 --> 00:01:47,350 So what's all this about? The CEO explained how, as we already know, 24 00:01:47,690 --> 00:01:51,070 a wind turbine is designed to extract wind from the air. 25 00:01:51,430 --> 00:01:56,030 But if you measure the wind speed after it passes the turbine, 26 00:01:56,550 --> 00:02:00,070 it, to quote Verzijlbergh, blows less hard. 27 00:02:00,310 --> 00:02:05,190 When you have a whole turbine farm, you really see lower wind speeds exiting the setup. 28 00:02:05,510 --> 00:02:09,850 Now, Belgian wind farms are located southwest of the Netherlands arrays. 29 00:02:10,090 --> 00:02:14,790 And it just so happens that the wind itself often blows from that same direction, 30 00:02:15,030 --> 00:02:19,530 the southwest, which means the wind gusts the Dutch get are, 31 00:02:19,690 --> 00:02:23,310 without getting too technical here, not as gusty. 32 00:02:23,510 --> 00:02:30,690 In fact, the wind intensity is lower by as much as 3%. This byproduct of wind 33 00:02:30,690 --> 00:02:36,410 turbines is well documented and known as wind shadow or the wake effect. 34 00:02:36,930 --> 00:02:41,230 Verzijlbergh was quick to point out that the phenomenon is purely accidental 35 00:02:41,230 --> 00:02:44,530 in this case, because of the location of the wind turbines. 36 00:02:44,889 --> 00:02:49,310 But he is pleading for better coordination between countries in the near future, 37 00:02:49,310 --> 00:02:54,030 because this kind of wind theft will become a bigger issue as more wind farms 38 00:02:54,030 --> 00:02:59,070 get installed across the North Sea in an international race to become carbon neutral. 39 00:02:59,350 --> 00:03:03,310 So what's the important lesson in all of this? What's our takeaway? 40 00:03:03,750 --> 00:03:08,110 I think it's this. If you don't want a sudden gust of wind blowing your hat 41 00:03:08,110 --> 00:03:10,169 off your head, visit the Netherlands! 42 00:03:10,790 --> 00:03:12,890 They know which way the wind blows. 43 00:03:15,110 --> 00:03:20,330 And now, let's celebrate 20 years of comedy4cast with this classic clip. 44 00:03:20,550 --> 00:03:24,690 In this commercial, Miss Abby Falmacher prepares for a trade war. 45 00:03:24,930 --> 00:03:30,190 Taken from an episode released in July of 2018, here's the clip. 46 00:03:33,080 --> 00:03:39,960 Hello, I'm Abby Falmacher, owner of the Little Wicker Basket Company. 47 00:03:40,280 --> 00:03:44,280 Little Wicker Baskets, they're everywhere. 48 00:03:44,900 --> 00:03:49,720 As a business owner, I don't like to get involved in politics. 49 00:03:49,820 --> 00:03:52,960 I let my money take care of that. 50 00:03:53,220 --> 00:04:00,560 But recently, there have been threats of a trade war that could affect my supply of wicker. 51 00:04:01,520 --> 00:04:05,920 While nothing is certain, I've decided not to take any chances. 52 00:04:06,600 --> 00:04:10,220 I've gone out and secured some additional resources. 53 00:04:10,640 --> 00:04:17,540 That's why I'm proud to announce the introduction of these new Rubber Baby Buggy Bumper Baskets. 54 00:04:17,820 --> 00:04:23,940 They're stylish, on point, and they bounce when you drop them. 55 00:04:24,520 --> 00:04:30,460 And because we here at Little Wicker Baskets believe in saving the planet, 56 00:04:30,560 --> 00:04:38,980 Every bumper in a rubber baby buggy bumper basket is made from old shredded baby buggy bumpers. 57 00:04:39,180 --> 00:04:46,540 That's right. These are genuine recycled rubber rubber baby buggy bumper baskets. 58 00:04:47,200 --> 00:04:54,360 Now, I know what you're thinking. Abby, what happens if your supply of recycled 59 00:04:54,360 --> 00:04:57,700 rubber rubber baby buggy bumpers runs out? 60 00:04:58,420 --> 00:05:04,600 Don't worry. I went around the country and bought a ton of baby buggies when 61 00:05:04,600 --> 00:05:06,820 Toys R Us was going out of business. 62 00:05:07,100 --> 00:05:12,520 I guess that means you could call these bankruptcy, buyout, recycled rubber, 63 00:05:12,680 --> 00:05:14,740 rubber baby buggy bumper baskets. 64 00:05:15,930 --> 00:05:22,390 Well, it looks like it's time to get back to the live wake. I mean live show. 65 00:05:22,750 --> 00:05:28,550 This is Abby Falmacher reminding you little wicker, that is, 66 00:05:28,970 --> 00:05:31,649 rubber baby buggy bumper baskets. 67 00:05:32,190 --> 00:05:34,010 They're everywhere. 68 00:05:34,870 --> 00:05:40,370 Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go find Clinton and break his keyboard for 69 00:05:40,370 --> 00:05:41,630 writing this commercial. 70 00:05:48,910 --> 00:05:52,089 That about wraps it up for today's Odd News PAC. 71 00:05:52,290 --> 00:05:55,950 But first, a shout-out to the comedy4cast Patreon patrons, 72 00:05:56,290 --> 00:06:01,010 including our producer-level patrons Paul Barrie from the A Window to the Magic 73 00:06:01,010 --> 00:06:06,190 podcast and Kirby Bartlett-Sloan from the 20-megabyte Doctor Who podcast. 74 00:06:06,630 --> 00:06:11,149 You, too, can support comedy4cast and get episodes before everyone else 75 00:06:11,149 --> 00:06:15,670 for as little as $2 a month. Just search for comedy4castt, 76 00:06:15,850 --> 00:06:19,930 all one word with the number 4, on Patreon.com. 77 00:06:20,230 --> 00:06:24,830 Lending their voice in this episode was Bonnie Kenderdine. Additional voices, 78 00:06:25,210 --> 00:06:30,150 story, and original music by me, Clinton Alvord. Copyright 2025. 79 00:06:30,790 --> 00:06:34,630 All rights reserved. Talk to you again next time. But for now, 80 00:06:34,850 --> 00:06:37,790 that's it. We're done, done, done, done, done. Bye-bye.