Aug. 30, 2026

Bottle of Guiness from 1864 Found

Show Notes
Transcript

Johnny Mac shares five good news stories, including a TikTok-viral baby sea turtle named Franklin in Barbados that safely reached the ocean after onlookers let nature take its course, with a marine biologist explaining the beach crawl’s developmental importance. Two former teenage pen pals, Jo Ellen and Eiko (Agnes), reunite after 50 years when Jo Ellen uses Google to find her in Illinois and they meet for brunch. In suburban Chicago, Wheaton’s Buddy Baseball program pairs volunteers with players with disabilities to make baseball accessible and fun. In Idaho, record-setter David Rush clears Hungry, Hungry Hippos solo in 9.03 seconds using one finger. A diver finds an 1864 Guinness from an English shipwreck, and scientists explore recreating the beer, while Johnny recalls saving an unopened 1990s Guinness bottle. He plugs his Daily Comedy News podcast and notes names including Tim Dillon, Marcello Hernandez, and Gianmarco Soresi.
00:00 Welcome and Setup

01:15 Pen Pals Reunited
03:15 Buddy Baseball Inclusion
03:58 Solo Hippos Record
04:45 1864 Guinness Discovery

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Hi there, I'm Johnny Mac with five good news stories.

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A tiny sea turtle named Franklin has become an internet

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star after a couple in Barbados decided the best way

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to help Franklin the sea turtle was to leave him alone.

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A TikTok video posted at the end of July has

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racked up more than 16 million views. You see, a

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couple was vacationing in Bridgetown and they spotted a newly

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hatched sea turtle struggling across the beach. The woman watching

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Franklin's difficult journey Wanted to help him, but a man

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stopped her and said, you can't. You're interrupting with nature.

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The turtle kept struggling. She said, this is so sad

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to watch. And the guy was like, it's not sad.

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He's going to live. And then they named the turtle Franklin.

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They started cheering him on. They're like, you're going to live, Franklin.

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Let's go, Franklin. And Franklin made it to the ocean.

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According to marine biologists, that's what you're supposed to do.

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Catherine works for Defenders of Wildlife. She said the crawl

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from the nest across the beach isn't just an obstacle

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the turtle has to overcome. It's actually an important part

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of its development. They need the imprinting on their native

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beach so they can determine when to come back to nest,

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or depending on the species, forage in the future. Hopefully

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Franklin's having a nice swim right now. Two women who

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became pen pals as teenagers found each other again after

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more than 50 years. Each had wondered what happened to

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their pen pal, and it turned out they lived about

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an hour away from each other. Joe Allen in Illinois

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became friends with Ako in the early 1960s. Joellen had

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an aunt working at the American Embassy in Taiwan who

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knew her niece enjoyed having pen pals. Through an international

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rotary program, she connected Joellen with Aiko, who was living

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in Taipei. Both girls were born in 1945, and they

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were about 16 when they became pen pals. Aiko, went

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by the American name Agnes, eventually traveled to the U.S.

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She attended Kent State University in Ohio for graduate studies

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because she already knew the area through Joellen, who had

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grown up near Cleveland. Aiko visited Joellen's family and attended

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her brother's wedding in 1967 and her sister's wedding in 1969. Then,

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you know, life gets in the way. Both women married.

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They moved around. Joellen met her future husband while traveling

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in West Berlin in 72. They married two years later.

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Aiko married a Japanese man she met in the U.S.,

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moved to Japan. The pen pals corresponded for a while. Then,

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in 1975, Joellen got a letter from Aiko and wouldn't

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hear from her for 50 years. Joellen couldn't make out

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the return address on the envelope. Aiko had known her

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friend as Joellen Martin and didn't remember that her married

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name was now O'Brien. Meanwhile, Aiko and her husband moved

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from Japan to Malaysia, back to Japan, then to England.

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And in 1988, they moved to Illinois. Then Joellen came

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across that old 1975 letter again. But by now, we

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had this cool thing, Google. Said, I thought maybe I'd

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Google her name with the word Japan. See what comes up.

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Her name and photo came up. There she was living

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in Lake Forest, Illinois. There was even a phone number.

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Joellen called, left a message. Joellen said, I got her

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on the phone and we talked and everything came back

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to us. The whole thing about being pen pals, my

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Aunt Judy, the time we spent together, all of it.

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In July, they got together for brunch in Arlington Heights.

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Joellen said, we couldn't believe it. We were hugging each

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other and thinking, what were the chances we'd ever meet again?

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That is fantastic. In suburban Chicago, a baseball program is

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making sure that anyone who wants to play gets the chance.

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It's called Buddy Baseball. The Wheaton Junior Women's Club started

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the program back in 91 with seven players and 11

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volunteer buddies. This summer, it had had around 80 players

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and more than 100 young volunteers. Deanna is one of

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the organizers. She says it's really low stakes, low pressure,

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and it's all about having fun. And if we learn

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baseball along the way, that's great. Buddy Baseball welcomes players

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with disabilities beginning at age five. No upper age limit.

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Players are paired with volunteer buddies who help them participate

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safely and successfully. Over the years, the program has included

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players using wheelchairs and walkers, players accompanied by guide dogs.

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Head coach Greg said, we take anybody and everybody. One

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of the founders said, I didn't tell you the best

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part of it. They all get a walk-up song and ads.

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They are so cute. That is awesome. In Idaho, a

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man has set a world record by playing Hungry Hungry

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Hippos by himself. Yeah, it's David Rush. He loves setting

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these records. What'd he do this time? He is good

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at finding different things to sucker me into talking about.

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I'll give him credit for that. All right, he decided

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he would set the record for playing by himself. He

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was allowed to use all four hippos, but there was

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a catch. He could only operate them using one finger

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from one hand. He explained his technique. The goal wasn't

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to mash the lever. It was precision, rhythm, and eliminating

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wasted movement. Faster hits weren't faster at clearing more hippos.

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Well-timed hits to the right hippo was the key. He

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managed to clear the entire game in 9.03 seconds, and

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that was fast enough for the world record. Here's my

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kind of story. A diver exploring a shipwreck off the

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coast of England surfaced with a bottle of Guinness from 1864.

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Stefan is an underwater photographer. He found the bottle last

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year while diving near Dover. He rinsed it off, discovered

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the Guinness label in the year 1864. The bottle appears

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to have come from a case of 24 Guinnesses or Guin-I.

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I don't know what the plural of Guinness is. Now,

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scientists in Belgium are studying whether they can recreate the

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beer using material recovered from the bottle. The goal was

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to do a re-brew of the exact beer from the 1860s.

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What did Guinness taste like 162 years ago? We may

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be able to find out. Brewing historian Edward Burke said

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that because the bottle was stored upside down, trapped air

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may have created enough pressure around the cork to keep

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the seawater out. There's a possibility it's still drinkable. Folks

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at Guinness are interested too. They say discoveries like this

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provide a fascinating window into our past and help build

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a deeper understanding of our heritage. I have right here

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In the studio, I have this bookcase. I have a

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bottle of Guinness I bought in the early 90s. So

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back in those days, I was going on a trip

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to Puerto Rico, and I was known for liking buffalo

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wings and a pint of Guinness. And it might have

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been my mom who said, good luck finding that combination

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in Puerto Rico. Well, challenge accepted. I have a picture

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of me. in front of a Buffalo Wings joint, holding

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a bottle of Guinness. I must have gone to every

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bodega and liquor store in San Juan trying to find Guinness,

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but I found a bottle of Guinness, and I brought

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it home, never opened it, still have it. So if

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anyone's interested in a 36-year-old bottle of Guinness, let me know.

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And those are your five good news stories for today.

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Don't forget, I also host daily comedy news seven days

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a week. We talk about comedians. It's a lot of fun.

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Kind of like SportsCenter for comedy, but with some gossip,

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and I'm kind of loose on that show. It's a

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good time Check out Daily Comedy News wherever you found

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this podcast. Have an awesome day.