Hello everybody, you're listening to
That's a Free Bee Sit back, relax,

actually I'll let the other guy do it.

As usual, I'm going to open up with an Ask
a Free Bee question.

This week's question comes from Malachi.

your favourite emoji?

Hmm, that's a good question.

I don't think I have a favourite emoji.

Well, obviously I have the favourite emoji
that everybody has, which is the poop

emoji.

That is clearly the best emoji.

But I don't...

have a favourite, I don't have one that I
particularly like to use a lot, however,

I've looked through my recent emojis, or
my most used I think it's actually called,

and it does seem to be the rolling around
on the floor laughing.

I didn't quite realise I used it so much,
but apparently I do!

If you would like to ask a question to
open up the show, the best way to do that

is to visit Vatsafreebie .com or you can
use the askafreebie hashtag on any social

media.

I will do my best to find it.

I do search fairly regularly.

So yeah, do that.

thought I would open the show this week
with a little bit of an apology for last

week's episode.

I had a lot of trouble recording last
week's episode.

I don't even know if it made it into the
episode, but I was having problems with my

internet connection last week and the
software that I used to record the podcast

requires an internet connection.

So it just kept cutting off and I recorded
an entire episode.

and then realized it had only recorded the
first 20 seconds of it.

And I was a little bit miffed, to say the
very least.

So I went back and I recorded what I could
in segments, just in case it kept going

down.

And it did.

I had to record some of the things many,
many times.

So I put an episode together of everything
that I had and I hope it works.

If you didn't notice, fantastic.

But there were a few things missing from
the episode that are usually there.

There were things I recorded that just
couldn't use and I just gave up.

It was getting frustrating.

I only have so much time in the day and it
took me two full days to put together what

I'd managed to put together.

So I just gave up in the end.

In response to that, though, I did.

Well, actually, I did this before I had
this problem, but it's because it will

combat a problem been having for a while.

Those of you watching the video may notice
that I'm wearing some shiny new.

in -ear monitors and those monitors allow
me to hear the sound coming out of my

microphone a little bit better.

So hopefully the audio problems that I've
been having as well for the last few weeks

will be solved because I'll be able to
tell the audio levels just by, well I can

hear it now.

Normally can't hear my microphone when I'm
recording because well obviously I have

hearing problems.

The headphones that I would use are
just...

weren't sufficient.

But I've bought these monitors and all my
word have been loud.

I'm really, really surprised.

I can hear more through these than I can
hear using my hearing aids, which is

bonkers.

If I could just walk around with the Shure
MV7 and these monitors in all the time, I

wouldn't have any hearing problems.

It's amazing.

But of course, it doesn't work that way,
does it?

And I suppose that would make everything
really, really loud as well and not just

the things that I need to hear.

So, yeah.

Hopefully the sound will start improving
and everything else will start improving.

Although this week I have noticed my
camera keeps twisting.

I don't know why it's doing that.

Well, actually, I do know why it's doing
that.

It's doing that because I took the case
off my phone because I use my phone with

continuity camera.

And I think the magnet that holds it to
the back of my computer is just not strong

enough to hold it in place with the
wiring.

So it keeps twisting ever so slightly so.

Those of you watching the video will get
to see me keep straightening it up, which

is great!

week I met somebody and got no if I said
wrong I didn't meet somebody I encountered

somebody in the The toilets in the local
shopping mall that sounds really bad

doesn't it?

Um, like right.

Let me start again.

I'd had my breakfast.

I needed the toilet.

I was really

early to go into work and I just I didn't
want to go in there and sit there.

So I thought to myself, you know, I'll go
to the bathroom in the food court of the

of the shopping mall.

So I did that as I walked through the
door.

There's a guy stood in the middle of the
room, completely naked.

It's still not sounding very good,
actually, is it?

I think about it.

So he stood there completely naked.

There are other people in there,
fortunately.

Or is that fortunate?

Yeah, it's fortunate.

All thinking you could see it in their
eyes like.

This is weird what's going on.

So I did a split second.

I stopped.

I looked and I thought, I just need to
turn around and leave.

But then at the same time, I was bursting
like I don't think I could have made it to

the next nearest bathroom.

So what I ended up having to do is just
ignore it.

Basically, I walked past.

I went to the toilet.

I did my thing.

And then so.

The whole time I was thinking, well, this
guy's got something going on, so I just,

you know, I need to be careful.

But at the same time, I reckon I could
have taken him if need be.

And what I started to realize is he was
surrounded by bags from JD Sports that had

all new clothes in them.

He had about four boxes of new trainers
and he was just casually changing into the

clothes that he'd just bought.

But then taking them off again and trying
new ones.

So essentially, it was almost like he was
just trying them all on.

I think the weirdest thing he did, like
other than being stood completely naked,

and I do mean completely naked, he didn't
have any underwear on or anything.

Other than being stood completely naked in
there, the weirdest thing that he did is

he needed to put deodorants on at one
point and he went into a cubicle to do it.

So he wanted privacy to put deodorant on,
but not to get changed.

It was really, really strange.

Now,

In my head I've said that he's probably
done that because he didn't want to spray

everybody with the deodorant and I think
that was really respectful of him so thank

you for not gassing us with your
deodorant.

Not quite so thank you for showing us your
bare ass.

do have quite a bit of follow -up this
week.

As, you know, regular listeners will know,
we've been having an ongoing saga with my

daughter's hearing appointments where they
tell her she needs hearing aids.

She goes back a few days later and they
say, no, you don't need them now.

And then don't give them...

So if you remember the last time we spoke
about this, we were talking about that

she'd been, they told us she needed
hearing aids and that they'll have them

ready for her at the next appointment.

All she'll need to do is go and have a
test and they will fit the hearing aid.

Guess what happened?

Yep, as you would suspect, they didn't fit
a hearing aid.

They did a test and said, oh no, you're
fine.

You're just on the cusp of needing it, so
we'll we'll not give it to you this time.

Come back in a few months again.

So, yeah, we're back to stage one.

Needless to say, she was a little bit
upset about this.

It sort of offset her for the whole day,
really.

But hey, she's learned to deal with it now
because it's pretty much all that ever

happens to her.

She did also in that same week.

have an appointment with an ADHD
specialist where they essentially they

interviewed her and asked her questions
about her life and how she manages day to

day, going through certain tasks, falling
asleep at night, managing her emotions,

all that kind of stuff.

So this was like the big conversation
where a consultant gathered as much

information from her as possible.

And that information has been sent on to a
doctor.

So we should hopefully get a diagnosis of
some kind.

within the next few weeks really.

So I'll give you an update when we know
more there.

She also, big week for her this week, she
has had a few big weeks lately actually,

she saw an educational psychologist which
is something she's done many times before.

She sees him sort of every, maybe once a
year it seems to be, although I think it's

been two years since he last saw her this
time.

He's pointing out all the same things,
basically the gist of it is that

Intellectually, she is absolutely fine.

She can.

She knows everything that she should know.

She's just she struggles to get everything
down on paper.

And she just has no confidence in herself
when it comes to things like reading.

So as much as she can do it, she thinks
she can't do it.

So does it really put the effort in that
she needs to?

And she's still got memory issues as well.

So she struggles with short term memory.

So you give her a list of instructions and
she's only going to be able to remember

the first one or the last one.

More often than not, it's the last one.

She won't remember the little bits in
between.

It's been I've spoken about that before.

It's that's been like an ongoing problem
for her.

So, yeah, time will tell with that one as
well.

And it was also parents evening this week.

They both, as always, to be honest, did
really, really well improvements in both

areas.

The boy in particular has done amazing.

He has been having a bit of difficulty
with.

with dyslexia and with reading and
writing.

But the interventions that they put in at
the start of the year seem to have paid

off.

He's caught up on everything now and he's
back doing the same work as the rest of

the class, which is great.

So beautiful improvements there.

Just a quick note to let you know that the
school holidays are coming up for me.

Now, interestingly, because I'm about two
weeks ahead on the recording of this

podcast, I am probably two weeks in the
future right now, sat recording an episode

of this very podcast, talking about what
happened during the school holidays.

Is that for my bending?

Yep.

So I don't know what I'll be saying.

Hopefully it was great.

And here's me saying, I hope we have a
good two week school holidays.

I am off work for the full two weeks.

Well, actually, that's not entirely
accurate.

Apart from one day, I think I'm in work on
a Saturday in between the middle Saturday

because, well, like an idiot, I didn't
book it off.

I wasn't really thinking about it at the
time.

So, yep, give you an update on that in a
couple of weeks.

Just thought it was worth letting you
know, just in case I don't get to record

an episode and I end up missing an
episode.

But.

I don't think that'll happen.

It's not happened to me yet and like I
say, I'm two weeks ahead.

So if anything, it's only going to be a
case of I'll be recording the episode the

same week that I'm releasing it, which is
not a bad thing at all.

actually mentioned this in the last
episode I recorded, but like I said, it

didn't it didn't record very well.

And it's something that has bugged me so
much that I've decided to actually bring

it back up.

I should have done it as a gripe of the
week, actually, but I have another gripe

of the week this week.

And.

I don't want to get rid of that one.

And then I considered having two and then
I was like, no, you know what?

I'll just throw it in with the regular
this week stuff.

So I've been rewatching the X -Men movies.

You might remember them from the early
2000s.

And basically, they're exactly as I
remember them to a degree.

The third one is terrible.

I always watched the third one and think,
ah, it was all right.

You know, it wasn't that bad.

And then when I really start thinking
about it and sort of analyzing it in my

mind, I'm like, no.

No, it was really, really bad.

But there is something that really, really
bugs me in the second one, and it's such

bad writing.

Like, I think I've come up with a reason
why they did it, but it's honestly it and

it's right at the very start as well,
which it just makes me want to cringe when

I watch it and it ruins the whole film for
me.

So at the end of the first X -Men movie,
Professor X says to Wolverine,

All of your questions will be answered at
I think it's Alkali Lake.

I think it's called Alkali.

You go to Alkali Lake and at wake Alkali
Lake and all of your questions will be

answered because that's, you know, where
you came from.

And he's like, awesome.

Thanks.

Steals a motorbike, drives away into the
sunset towards Canada.

At the start of this movie, like the very,
very start, it shows him driving along on

his bike.

He pulls over, he gets to the location.

He walks up to this huge facility like
there is something there.

There's a facility.

There's a doorway.

He walks up to the doorway.

peers in the doorway and then goes, no,
nothing here.

Oh, well, and just drives back.

Right.

It just drives back and he gets back and
he says, Professor, you were wrong.

You told me that I got to go to Alkali
Lake and everything would be fine.

That was my Hugh Jackman voice, by the
way, just in case you were wondering.

And he goes, Oh, no, there's definitely
something there, mate.

Right.

And then the rest of the movie is set in
that location.

Professor X is like, did you look
downstairs?

He's like, what?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Did you actually walk through the door and
then look downstairs?

It's an underground facility.

Was that not obvious?

And it turns out that Wolverine just went
up to the doorway.

It's like it's like an Amazon delivery
driver.

He knocked on the door and ran off.

Like, what was that about?

Let's do a bit of what goo talking about.

First of all, I'll answer the question.

Yes, I did.

I did go to the gym this week, but I'm
going to come back to that later.

The first thing I wanted to mention in
this section is...

Did you all hear about the Willy Wonka
Chocolate Factory fiasco thing in

Scotland, in Glasgow?

I'm sure you did, I don't need to explain
it, but I will very briefly.

There was basically a Willy Wonka themed
experience that people went to and it

turned out to be an absolute shamble.

There was...

Nothing there.

Actors have been hired that were given
scripts that were generated by AI and they

were terrible and people didn't even know
what they were supposed to be doing.

The kids were given a jelly bean, like a
single jelly bean, you know, all kinds of

crazy stuff.

If you don't know about it, then do go
look it up because it's, well, it's

interesting.

And a few of the actors who were hired
there, I've noticed, have started popping

up on Cameo.

doing shout outs to people and things like
that.

So, I mean, fortunately, people are
actually able to sort of earn some money

from it that they were expecting to earn
from the experience, because it's not the

actors fault, it's the organizers fault
who created the situation.

So, yeah, anyway, the reason I bring this
up is, well, I'm just going to read the

headline from New York magazine because it
sums it up really, really well.

Glasgow's Willy Wonka flop is getting the
musical treatment.

Yep, that's right.

So I'm not going to read this entire
article, but here's the start of it.

When life gives you meth lab memes, make a
musical.

It's been less than a month since
Glasgow's Willy Wonka immersive experience

went viral for being so underwhelming that
children were left in tears and some

parents called the police.

Now, the fiasco involving rationed jelly
beans and AI generated scripts for actors

is being adopted adapted into Willy Fest,
a musical parody.

I don't think I need to stop.

I don't stop.

I don't think I need to go on, really.

Yep.

They're apparently making a musical on the
whole situation.

And they actually point out in the article
that it is going to have a proper budget

and everything.

So, yeah, not too sure how that's going to
go.

I thought it was just worth pointing out
that that whole situation just keeps

getting worse.

Now, I thought because this episode is
going to be going out, well, just before

April Fool's Day, I thought it would be
good to have a look at a few articles on

some of the best April Fool's Day jokes
and actually found a few articles about

April Fool's Day jokes in history.

And I thought I'd go through them with you
because some of them are quite humorous.

So April Fool's Day dates back over 400
years.

It's even older than Thanksgiving, which
means there have been lots of chances for

good mischief.

And here's a history of the day.

In 1582, Fool's Gold, in 1582, Pope
Gregory XIII introduced the Gregorian

calendar, moving the start of a new year
to January from April.

Those who kept celebrating the old New
Year were ridiculed as April Fools, which

is what led to the unofficial holiday,
historians suggest.

In 1698, a wild start, the first
documented April Fools prank took place in

London.

A clever Brit announced a special event at
the Tower of London.

see the lions washed.

No such public cleansing of jungle cats
was planned, but the announcement drew a

crowd.

Wow.

In 1796, new jokes in the New World, the
earliest recorded American April Fool's

prank took place in Middleton,
Connecticut, where a handbill promised a

marketplace for fool's coats.

It said sellers could bring coats of
various colours, yellow to predominate,

with lots of timbells and tazzles.

In 1974, an explosive prank, when
residents of Sitka, Alaska awoke to see

smoke rising from Mount Edgecombe,
officials responded to a possible volcanic

eruption.

But really, a group of people had just
piled hundreds of tyres and greasy rags in

the crater and set them on fire and spray
painted April fools in the snow.

Wow.

That's...

bit excessive really.

In 1980, the meaning of hat hair.

The magazine of the British Army reported
that its guards' fur helmets needed

trimming because the bear pellets were so
thick that their hair continued to grow.

I said pellets, then bear pelts were so
thick that their hair continued to grow.

The London Daily Express reprinted the
prank story as fact.

Oh my word.

Perhaps it suggested the bear hormone.

Could be a baldness cure Wow What if that
was one of the first ever fake news?

No, I'm pretty sure fake news was around
way before 1980 1983 some meta -mischief

when an Associated Press reporter asked
Boston University history professor Joseph

Boskin about the origins of April

he jokingly cited a fictitious King Kugel
the name inspired by a noodle dish who was

shocked that the reporter had run the gag
as a fact

1985, a false pitch.

A pitcher who can hurl a baseball 168
miles per hour.

What?

That's what writer George Plimpton claimed
about supposed New York Mets prospect, Sid

Finch in Sports Illustrated.

Fans fell for the gag, which some called
the greatest April Fool's prank in sports

history.

And in 2001...

a groundbreaking hoax.

For earth -shattering impact, a few
pranksters can beat the British DJs who

said a replica Titanic could be seen from
the cliffs of Beachy Head in East Sussex.

crowds flocked to the view of the made -up
ship, and part of the fragile cliffs

cracked and then later crumbled.

Oh

And then just as a little bonus, here's
some of the corporate April Fool's Day

pranks we've seen over the years.

In 1998, Burger King took out a large,
full -paid ad in USA Today, explaining

that Southpaws could order a lefty
whopper, with condiments rotated 180

degrees, creating a left -handed taste.

Wow.

In 2015, America has spoken.

And we at Cottonelle have listened read an
announcement for toilet paper for lefties.

In 2019, Audi Australia announced the
B-Tron a vehicle that runs on honey, a

sustainable, naturally acquired fuel
harvested from Rabina flowers in Bavaria.

The car was to include an on board toaster
for sweet morning treats.

In 2019, McDonald's in Australia announced
the pickle burger.

Juicy flavoursome pickles laying between
melted cheese, ketchup and sauce and

toasted sesame buns.

And in 2023, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines
unveiled a recline alert system saying

we've developed a sound effect that
notifies passengers when the seat in front

of them reclines.

I mean, that actually would be a good
idea.

I don't know why they didn't follow
through with that.

week's AI question of the week, which was
actually generated this week by Claude3 as

opposed to the usual chat GPT -4.

I just thought I'd give something else a
try for a change.

Claude3 came up with, what's the most
interesting job you've ever had?

I think my most interesting job was
working at a spinning mill.

I did several jobs inside of said spinning
mill, but one of them was a job called

card mining.

This is something you can probably look up
online.

I'll try and, if I remember, I will pop a
few links in the description to take you

to maybe a Wikipedia article on it and
some pictures.

It's a massive machine, essentially, that
basically cuts up a load of raw material,

weaves it together in a fine web, and then
splits it off into bobbins.

that are then taken to a different machine
and they are spun into a tightly defined

material.

Essentially, they make wool out of it and
that wool is then used to make carpets.

Yeah, it was actually a really interesting
job.

It was a hard job.

It was tiring.

It was long hours.

But it was actually really interesting
seeing all the different components of

making essentially a carpet, because
that's what we did.

We made a carpet.

Although...

Technically, we made the yawn to make the
carpet

All right, so here it is.

This week's gripe of the week is is
actually at the gym, which is why I said

earlier, we'll get back to the gym.

So I was there a couple of days ago and.

The only way I could describe it is there
was an absolute ass in there.

So I'm on a machine just essentially just
lifting weights.

It was working on my arms and he gets on
the machine at the side of me and instead

of just, you know,

being a sensible normal person, he decided
that what he would do is he would

basically put the weight quite high and I
don't even know how to describe it in

words, I could show you on the video, but
basically he just pumps the handle up and

down really, really fast, slamming the
weights up and down on top of one another,

over and over again.

So he's just going bang, bang, bang, bang,
bang.

The whole gym at this point stops and
looks at him thinking that he was in some

sort of trouble, but no, and he's...

He's using the machine that's designed to
be used for two hands with one hand.

He's essentially he's trying to show off
because I get the feeling his entire like

personality was about showing off.

So what he'd do then, he'd he jumped up
out of the chair and he got, whoa, really,

really loud.

And then and then, believe it or not, he
started dancing around.

And I don't mean like, you know, just a
little bit of a bop because he was

listening to music.

He was listening to music, but he was full
on dancing around, like doing a proper

dance routine around the gym.

He kept tripping over people, he kept
standing on people's stuff.

He was really loud because he was
obviously listening to really loud music.

I mean, you know what?

You work out however you want.

That's fine.

But don't interrupt others.

Oh, it was awful.

I could tell that everybody was getting
very, very annoyed.

I don't know what happened as well.

But at one point, a guy just walked up to
him, tapped him on the shoulder, he took

his headphones off, he said something in
his ear and then he went home.

So I could only imagine that he said calm
it down in a nice way, obviously.

But yeah, he just he disappeared that he
went into the changing room and was never

seen again.

So one would assume that the guy said
you're being an ass.

So for the pick of the week this week, I'm
going to point to some more puzzles.

Now I know I did the movie scene one,
which actually I got right first scene

this morning, first frame even this
morning.

So quite happy with that one.

But there are a few puzzles that I play
each day.

I do quite enjoy the occasional word
puzzle.

These ones in particular I do enjoy.

I'm not going to play the puzzle now
because...

It's quite hard to show you, really, but I
will leave a link to this in the show

notes because it's probably the easiest
way to point you towards it, really.

But there's basically there's someone I
listen to on a few podcasts.

It's called Lex Friedman, and it's not the
Lex Friedman who does like all the AI talk

and everything.

It is a different guy.

And it really irritates him that he's got
the same name as him.

So this is the nice Lex Friedman.

And he basically makes puzzles and they
all have a little bit of it.

Well, actually, we don't All but one have
a like play on his name like there's

collections and there's lexicogs and
there's Bay of Owl.

They're basically all word games.

Collections, you have to work out the...

There's essentially a grid of words and
you have to work out which groups of four

belong together in some way, shape or
form.

It makes sense when you see it.

It's actually based on the New York Times
puzzle connections.

It's the same thing to a degree.

So, yeah, yeah, for really good.

Like I say, I'll leave a link.

I do like a good puzzle and these are
always good ones to do because they're

fairly similar each day in the way they
work.

So it means that you start to get a feel
to heavy work and you feel quite good when

you work out like how his brains worked
when he's made this particular puzzle.

So yeah, do check them out.

I'll leave a link in the description.

The reason why I say to check them out now
and I haven't done them earlier is because

he's actually just started a subscription
and he's been making these for free for

years and he's made loads of them.

So I would say if you can just throw a bit
of money his way.

It's really good.

People should be paid for the work they do
and it's very entertaining.

I use it every day.

So I subscribed immediately.

Yeah, worth having a look at.

So quite recently, I thought it'd be funny
to play a little trick.

So I switched over labels on the spice
rack.

My wife hasn't actually realized yet, but
the time is coming.