Jan. 6, 2026

The Scrapple Champion

Show Notes
Transcript

The Royal Botanic Garden's Millennium Seed Bank in England has stored over 2 billion seeds from 40,000 species to preserve genetic diversity. A fisherman named Ian found a way to recycle discarded fishing nets into raw plastic. In Rome, the Colosseum has reopened the passage used by Roman emperors. In Philadelphia, a scrapple sculpture contest saw a tribute to the Philadelphia Eagles win first prize. Lastly, Lila's Hair Museum, a collection of over 3,000 pieces of hair art, is being rehomed after its founder passed away.

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Callaroga Shark Media. Hey there, I'm Johnny mag with five

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good news stories in England. At the Royal Botanic Gardens,

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scientists and volunteers have collected over two billion seeds from

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forty thousand species of plants from across more than one

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hundred countries. It's the Millennium Seed Bank. Seeds are cleaned,

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dried and stored at minus twenty degrees celsius just in

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case we need them. Biologist Dale Sanders said, within species

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there's incredible genetic diversity which protects against disease, climate change,

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and other threats, maintaining that diversity is essential if we

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want to preserve the diversity of life itself. The team

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is trying to do some fundraising. They even got Cate

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Blanchett to tell their story in a new podcast called

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Unearthed The Need for Seed Like that title, Ian as

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a fisherman, he got tired of seeing discarded nylon fishing

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nets all over the place, so he figured out how

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to recycle them. He explains, a skipper will replace his

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nylon fishing that every six months, and most of the

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time they're buried in the landfill, burned or abandoned in

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the ocean. A strangle fish and other wildlife. He started

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a company called Orca with a zero at the front.

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He can now turn old nets into raw plastic again,

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used for everything from lampshades to razor handles. He says

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the beauty of it is it all fits in a

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shipping container and pretty much anyone can operate it, so

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he could have one of these at every harbor around

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the world, converting a costly and hazardous waste into a

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profitable raw material. Good news if you're heading to Rome

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and the Colosseum. I was there about sixteen months ago

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and loved it. They have opened up the commonest passage,

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the passage used to allow Roman emperors to slip into

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the Colosseum unseen, getting them straight to their skybox. Commonist

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who is the same emperor from the movie Gladiator, And

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apparently one time he was trying to get to the

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skybox and someone tried and failed to assassinate him. Barbara

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and azarro Is, the architect who oversaw the restoration, said

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visitors can now have a taste of what it was

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like to be an emperor entering the arena with a

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little effort of imagination and the help with virtual reconstruction.

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They can appreciate the decorations stuccos, frescoes and marbles to

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cover the walls. When I was there, I was amazed

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how similar it is to a modern stadium. Just absolutely amazing.

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In Philadelphia, contestants tried to win best scrapple sculpture. It

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was the mush pushed Patrick was the winner. He did

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a tribute to the Philadelphia Eagles, toush push. You know

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where they line up and they just move forward one yard. Yeah,

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everybody met up at the reading terminal market. He had

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to make something out of five pounds of scrapple in

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ninety minutes. The lump of indistinguishable football players won a

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trophy and a one hundred dollars gift card. And sad news,

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Leela's Hair Museum has come to an end. The hair

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Museum was filled floor to ceiling with Reith's jewelry and

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artwork made entirely from human hair. There were necklaces and

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watch bands made from the hair of the dead, hair

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from past presidents, hair from Marilyn Monroe. The collection was

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more than three thousand pieces strong. Unfortunately, the museum's founder

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and a lifelong hair addresser, Layla passed away a year

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ago at age ninety two. Granddaughter Lindsay rehomed the pieces

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to places like the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the

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National Museum of Women in the Arts. Lindsay said, this

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place is her and I feel the process of rehoming

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her collection has helped me grieve in a way that

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I didn't even realize it really needed. It all started

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back in nineteen fifty six. Leela was shopping for Easter

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shoes and spotted an antique gold frame filled with hair

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twisted and flowers. Leela then became a rescuer of forgotten art,

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including the style from the eighteen when women made jewelry

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and reads from their loved one's hair as memorials. Her

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granddaughter said, if it had hair, she got it. And

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those are your five good news stories for today. You

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have a great day.