March 24, 2026

Ghostbusters Firehouse Honored, Fish-Inspired Microplastic Filter, and a Package-Stealing Dog

Show Notes
Transcript

Johnny Mac shares five good news stories: the Smithsonian names the Ghostbusters New York City firehouse (Hook and Ladder 8) among 250 places to visit as America approaches its 250th anniversary, with the full list at smithsonianmag.com; German scientists develop a fish gill-inspired wastewater filter that removes up to 99% of microplastics by rolling particles along a cone-shaped mesh into a separate chamber; a Ryanair passenger buys all 68 onboard scratch-card packets and wins nothing, amid reports that jackpot winners enter a separate envelope draw with long odds; an Oxfordshire cash-only “five penny” Swinford toll bridge, founded by an act of parliament in the 1700s, earns about £500 a day and polarizes reviewers; and Oklahoma City police share footage of a dog stealing a porch package, which is recovered.

00:11 Ghostbusters Firehouse Trip
01:10 Fish Inspired Microplastic Filter
01:54 Ryanair Scratch Card Bust
02:57 Britain’s Five Penny Bridge
03:44 Porch Pirate Dogs Caught

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Caalaroga Shark Media. Hey there, I'm Shoinning Mack with five

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good news stories. Good news for you like Ghostbusters. The

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Smithsonian has named the Ghostbusters New York City Firehouse among

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two hundred and fifty places to visit to celebrate America.

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I don't know if you're heard. America turns two hundred

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and fifty years old on July fourth. They point out

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that TriBeCa's Hooking Latter eight is still a fully functioning firehouse,

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but you might recognize it more as the home of

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the Ghostbusters. Yeah. If you head on over to smithsonianmag

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dot com, there's a travel website with all two hundred

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and fifty places. The categories include witness to history. There

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you'll find things like Philadelphia's Independence Hall, NASA's Mission Control

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Center in Houston. For Oddball Americana, there are things like

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the International Cryptology Museum in Maine and Connecticuts must visit

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Pest Visitor Center. Any food category. It's the very first

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Sonic drive in in Stillwater, Oklahoma, the birthplace of the

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Buffalo Wing in Buffer, Hello, Been there, and Peaquad's Pizza

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for some classic Chicago deep dish. Good list. I am

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bookmarking this one for myself. I like a good summer

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road trip. Good news. Ancient fish anatomy may hold the

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key to tackling one of today's most overlooked sources of

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plastic pollution, washing machines, yees, stay with me. Inspired by

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the filter feeding mouths of fish like mackerel or sardines,

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scientists in Germany have developed a new filtration system that

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can move up to ninety nine percent of microplastic particles

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from wastewater that's neat. The design mimics the comlike gill

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structures that fish used to trap microscopic plankton while allowing

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clean water to pass through. The new device uses a

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cone shaped funnel lined with a mesh surface. And that's

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not easy to say. That was take three you just heard.

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Instead of particles slamming directly into the filter, microplastics rolling

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along its walls, preventing build up. The plastics are diverted

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into a separate chamber that can be emptied periodically, like

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a dryer's lint trap. Good news for an airline, Bad

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news for the man who bought every scratch card available

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on a RYE air flights. Not one single lottery ticket

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paid Ethan was on a plane and he decided to

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see whether buying out the entire onboard supply of lottery

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tickets would improve his chances of winning. It did not.

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According to a video, Ethan purchased sixty eight packets of

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scratch cards. During the flight. Other passengers pitched in and

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helped clear the pile. No one won anything at all,

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that seems I do. I'll get in trouble with the lawyers.

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You make your own conclusion. Ethan's friend Vick, was on

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TikTok and said, we have not won a single thing.

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We've won nothing. You're supposed to match three. I can't

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even match two. We are told the controversy around Brian

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air scratch cards is not new. A twenty sixteen report

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revealed that so called jackpot winners are entered into a

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separate draw for the chance to win the headline one

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million euro prize. Winners must choose from one hundred and

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twenty five envelopes, with only one containing the top of mount.

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At that time, the odds of winning the jackpot were

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estimated at roughly one point two billion to one. People

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are baffled by a cash only toll bridge that has

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shown up in the middle of the countryside. It costs

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five cents to cross. A social media user came across

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the fivepenny bridge in Oxfordshire. They wrote, cutting through the

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countryside near Oxford. I suddenly came upon the Swinford toll Bridge,

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with chors behind me and no room to turn around.

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I had to press on. I assumed it was just

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one of our quaint British acronisms and a bit of

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fun for the two old geezers in the booth. But no,

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they were there for the fivepence and it was cash only,

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no exceptions. You're even expected to come back later if

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you don't have the money. I looked it up later.

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As founded by an Act of Parliament in the seventeen hundreds,

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it's privately owned and generates an average of five hundred

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pounds a day. The person continues, I looked it up.

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Got a few five stars and a boltload of one stars.

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People who will love it or hate it, most ate

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it well. Good news, we found out who's been stealing

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your packages off your porch. The Oklahoma City Police Department

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shared security camera footage revealing who's been stealing your stuff

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off the porch. It's a dog. The video posted a

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Facebook shows a dog approach the front of a home,

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pick up a package in his mouth, and fleeing the

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scene with a second dog. More interestingly, the police wrote

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evidence shows clear, intense, flawless teamwork and zero remorse, just

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pure tail wagon confidence. The package was recovered. The police

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said these thieves were no bark all bite. There were

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charges pinning against the thieves. Charges include conspiracy to commit

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snack theft, positively impersonating master thieves, and being ferociously adorable boy.

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These PD social media teams have a lot of fun.

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And those are your five good news stories for today.