WEDNESDAY, Dec 6 – DAILY PREP TEXT VERSION

MORNING SIDEKICK DAILY PREP TEXT VERSION FOR WEDNESDAY, December 6, 2023
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COMEDY MP3s POSTED ON OUR PREP SITE FOR TODAY: A & M AUTOLAND – Day Two; THE ONLY MORNING SHOW IN TOWN

TODAY IS …
(All days repeat annually on today’s date unless otherwise noted; days may or may not be called “National”/”International”/”World” depending on source; sources listed often have additional info. We generally do not list special days which were created by commercial companies for the purpose of marketing, or the hundreds of disease awareness listings which occur each year.)

NATIONAL GAZPACHO DAY

NATIONAL MICROWAVE OVEN DAY

NATIONAL MINER’S DAY
The National Day Calendar website says this:
“This day was created as a day of reflection when we can show appreciation for the sacrifices, honor the accomplishments and remember the tragedies that these hard working individuals experienced. Mining is one of the most dangerous jobs in America and the miners put their lives at risk each and every day as they contend with health and safety issues as well as their uncertainty of the future. The worst mining disaster in American History occurred in the community of Monongah, West Virginia on December 6, 1907, when 362 men and boys lost their lives. Some say the number is closer to 500.”

NATIONAL PAWNBROKERS DAY

MITTEN TREE DAY
Commemorating the children’s story The Mitten Tree, by Candace Christiansen.

ST. NICHOLAS DAY
The Holiday Insights website says this:
“Yes, there really was a Christian Saint Nicholas. He lived in the country of Greece, just a couple hundred years after the birth of Christ. This day is in honor of Saint Nicholas and his life. Saint Nicholas became a priest, and later, a Bishop of the early Catholic Church. True to the Christian concept of giving up belongings and following Christ, St. Nicholas gave up all of his belongings. He was well known for giving to needy people, especially children. There are many stories and tales of him helping out children in need. The practice of hanging up stockings originated with Saint Nicholas. As the ancient legend goes, Saint Nicholas was known to throw small bags of gold coins into the open windows of poor homes. After one bag of gold fell into the stocking of a child, news got around. Children soon began hanging their stocking by their chimneys ‘in hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.’ It wasn’t until the 1800’s that the spirit of St. Nicholas’ life evolved into the creation of Santa Claus. And, this happened in America. Santa Claus emerged (or evolved) from the stories and legends of St. Nicholas, being kind and generous to children. Unlike ‘St. Nick,’ Santa Claus is effectively a non-religious character.”

December is:

Exotic/Tropical Fruits Month
National Egg Nog Month
National Fruit Cake Month
National Stress-Free Family Holiday Month
National Write a Business Plan Month
Safe Toys and Gifts Month
Tomato Month
Winter Squash Month

ENTERTAINMENT & CELEBRITIES

“YELLOWSTONE” COFFEE DRAMA

Can there BE any more drama on the TV show “Yellowstone”? Yes,there can, and it’s all about coffee. A coffee brand called Free Rein Coffee Company – owned by Yellowstone actor Cole Hauser, who plays Rip – is being sued over its logo. The Free Rein Coffee logo is the letters F and R assembled together so that it looks like a cattle brand. It turns out the logo is similar to that of a company called Bosque Ranch – a B and an R assembled into a brand – and what’s more the Bosque Ranch brand is owned by Yellowstone creator, producer and writer Taylor Sheridan. Sheridan uses the Bosque Ranch brand for his various business and personal endeavors. Sheridan is suing Free Rein Coffee for trademark infringement, among other issues.
* Well, say goodbye to Rip in the first new episode of Season 5 next year. Beth is gonna tear him apart.
* They should settle this the Yellowstone way: rattlesnakes at 20 paces.
* Frankly, all the characters on Yellowstone could stand a little less caffeine. It might cut down on the body count.
* This kind of crap never happens with tea. It’s just so much more mellow.

SERENA WILLIAMS: BREAST MILK FOR SUNBURN

Tennis legend Serena Williams uses her own breast milk to cure sunburn on her face. Williams demonstrated in a TikTok video posted over the weekend, noting that she has sensitive skin and had been using a retinol skincare product. She says, wiping it on her face, “They say put breast milk on everything and I have a lot of extra. It already feels better, because it hurts.”
* You’d better have good aim.
* I’ll pause for a minute while you all go to TikTok to see how much she shows.
* Wait’ll you hear her recipe for homemade yogurt.
* Someone’s been spending way too much time with Gwyneth Paltrow.

THE BUZZ

THE TOP 25 THINGS PEOPLE GOOGLED THIS YEAR

Here are this year’s top 25 articles searched for on English Wikipedia:
1. ChatGPT (the Artificial Intelligence program): 49,490,406 pageviews
2. Deaths in 2023: 42,666,860 pageviews
3. 2023 Cricket World Cup: 38,171,653 pageviews
4. Indian Premier League: 32,012,810 pageviews
5. Oppenheimer (film): 28,348,248 pageviews
6. Cricket World Cup: 25,961,417 pageviews
7. J. Robert Oppenheimer: 25,672,469 pageviews
8. Jawan (film): 21,791,126 pageviews
9. 2023 Indian Premier League: 20,694,974 pageviews
10. Pathaan (film): 19,932,509 pageviews
11. The Last of Us (TV series): 19,791,789 pageviews
12. Taylor Swift: 19,418,385: pageviews
13. Barbie (film): 18,051,077 pageviews
14. Cristiano Ronaldo: 17,492,537 pageviews
15. Lionel Messi: 16,623,630 pageviews
16. Premier League: 16,604,669 pageviews
17. Matthew Perry: 16,454,666 pageviews
18. United States: 16,240,461 pageviews
19. Elon Musk: 14,370,395 pageviews
20. Avatar: The Way of Water: 14,303,116 pageviews
21. India: 13,850,178 pageviews
22. Lisa Marie Presley: 13,764,007 pageviews
23. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3: 13,392,917 pageviews
24. Russian invasion of Ukraine: 12,798,866 pageviews
25. Andrew Tate: 12,728,616 pageviews
* India loves its Google.
* Barbie got 6 million more searches than the Ukraine invasion. Good to know the world’s priorities are straight.
* 14 million searches for Elon Musk. What makes me think 12 million of those were done by Elon?
* Add ’em all up and man, that’s a lot of pop-up ads!
* Meanwhile, Bing and Duck Duck Go just sit in the corner and mope.

YOU’RE HIRED, BUT FIRST DO SOME PUSHUPS

A woman recently posted to an ALDI Facebook group,saying that a relative of hers had interviewed for a job at an ALDI grovery store, and then later that day she had to join in a Zoom meeting in her home and was asked to do push-ups, sit-ups, and starjumps to show her fitness level. “Is this normal?” she asked. Many people wrote back saying that, yes, it was. One wrote, “My housemate interviewed and currently works for ALDI, and this is legit. The Zoom call is with their physio to be able to determine that you can perform certain duties and you aren’t hiding any existing injuries so later you can’t pin them with work cover or a lawsuit.” Another added, “Started at ALDI a year ago now, and I had to do a Zoom medical assessment. Thought it was weird at the time, but now I realize how necessary it is. You definitely need a certain level of fitness to be competent in the job… Part of the process.”
* You think those gallon water jugs get up on the top shelf out of reach themselves?
* The few, the proud, the ALDI cashiers.
* One more place I’ll never work.
* What they ought to check for is judo training, to deal with irate customers.
* Relax. By this time next year, you’ll be able to have AI make a video of you doing exercises.
* PHONE TOPIC: Have you have to prove your physical fitness for a job? Did you have some other kind of weird test before you were hired?

THE DEADLIEST ANIMALS IN THE WORLD

StatsPanda ranked the deadliest animals in the world, based on the number of humans they kill per year. Here we go:
1. Mosquitos, which kill an estimated one million people a year with malaria, dengue, West Nile virus and yellow fever.
2. Humans. We kill around 475,000 of ourselves each year.
3. Snakes, which cause roughly 50,000 deaths each year.
4. Dogs (* Aw, dogs!) – 25,000 human deaths
5. Tsetse Fly – 10,000 deaths
6. Assassin Bug – 10,000 deaths
7. Freshwater snails – 10,000 deaths (* Those bastards! Always sneaking up behind you.)
8. Roundworm – 2,500
9. Tapeworm – 2,000
10. Crocodile – 1,000
11. Hippopotamus – 500
12. Elephant – 100
13. Lion – 100
14. Wolf – 10
15. Shark – 10
* Great. Now sharks are gonna try harder.
* If you’re wondering why these creatures have such an attitude, check out the numbers on how many of them WE kill.
* We could cut the number of deaths way down if we could convince these animals to eat each other.
* Just curious – how much does an Assassin Bug charge to knock somebody off?

U.S. NEWS

WOMAN SHOPLIFTS DURING ‘SHOP WITH A COP’ EVENT

A 62-year-old woman was caught shoplifting from a Walmart in Ann Arbor, Michigan, during a “Shop with a Cop” event on Saturday. There were 75 police officers present at the event, which gives area children an opportunity to partner up with a police officer and shop for themselves and family for the holidays. Walmart staff notified a trooper who was participating in the event that the woman was attempting to steal $700 worth of merchandise. The trooper followed the woman out to her vehicle, which was parked next to all the patrol vehicles of the officers participating in the event, and arrested her.
* A plan so stupid it’s actually… stupid.
* She was charged with shoplifting and felony bad timing.
* What she should have done, see, is gone over to Target, since all the cops were at Walmart.
* Shop With a Cop, Hook a Crook.
* The hard part of Shop With as Cop is the cops keep leading the kids over to the bakery section.

CHRISTMAS TREE POSSUM

A Texas woman found a possum hiding in the branches of her Christmas tree. A video posted to TikTok by brettbratt359 shows the possum hiding inside the decorated tree inside the woman’s home. She does not know how the critter got inside her home; no doors had been left open. She said she heard noises around the tree but thought they were coming from one of her three dogs or her cat. Then she saw a “long rat tail” sticking out from her tree, and then the possum’s face. The woman put on rubber gloves and after a little chase around the living room she was able to “tackle him like an NFL football player,” and carry it outside.
* Tackling lessons are a required course in Texas public schools, you know.
* It’s kind of like a furry Elf on the Shelf, with fleas and ticks.
* Check its pouch for stolen presents.
* “Mom, why does my present smell like possum pee?”
* Nice to know the three dogs are doing their job.
* ♫ “O-possum tree, O-possum tree / Why did you give me rabies.” ♪♫

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

MISS UNIVERSE AND THE PLOT TO OVERTHROW THE NICARAGUAN GOVERNMENT

Nicaraguan police are looking to arrest the director of the Miss Nicaragua beauty pageant, accusing her of intentionally rigging contests so that anti-government beauty queens would win the pageants as part of a plot to overthrow the government. The plot started becoming apparent on Nov. 18, when Miss Nicaragua, Sheynnis Palacios, won the Miss Universe competition. Many Nicaraguans used the win as an opportunity to illegally celebrate in the streets. Social media sites celebrated Palacios’ win as a victory for the government opposition. It also emerged that Palacios had posted photos of herself on Facebook participating in mass anti-government protests in 2018. The government believes the pageant director, Karen Celebertti, rigged the contest so Palacios would win and encourage citizen unrest. Celebertti disappeared after the pageant; government officials want to arrest her and charge her with plotting to overthrow the government.
* They also say Sheynnis Palacios has been a naughty girl, and they want to give her a spanking.
* The plan is so obvious!!!
* It’s so much sexier than Putin killing everyone who gets in his way.
* Sandra Bullock, contact your agent. She has a script for “Miss Congeniality 3.”
* The first clue was during the talent portion, when Sheynnis Palacios assembled a Kalishnikov rifle in 18 seconds while singing opera.

ALMANACNOTABLE DATES, UPCOMING U.S. OBSERVANCES

Dec. 21, Thursday – Winter begins, winter solstice occurs at 10:27 P.M. EST
Dec. 25, Monday – Christmas
Dec. 31, Sunday – New Year’s Eve
Jan. 1, Monday – New Year’s Day 2024

BIRTHDAYS

Judd Apatow (producer, writer, director, actor, comedian) … 56
Nick Park (stop-motion animator, “Wallace and Gromit”) … 65
Peter Buck (guitarist with R.E.M.) … 67
Steven Wright (droll comedian) … 68
Bill Lloyd (country singer, Foster and Lloyd) … 68

BIRTHDAY QUOTE QUIZ – Ask your listeners “Who said it?” HINT: Today’s their birthday!

“I always felt as a kid that I was under-appreciated, invisible or weird, but I’ve always secretly thought people would one day appreciate what is different about me.”

(A) Lady Gaga
(B) Elon Musk
(C) Judd Apatow

ANSWER: (C) Judd Apatow

THIS DAY IN HISTORY

2006 – NASA revealed photographs taken by the Mars Global Surveyor suggesting the presence of liquid water on Mars.
* The news made a splash!

1964 – “Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer” first aired on TV.
* Never seen it.

1957 – America’s first attempt to launch a satellite failed when a Vanguard rocket blew up.
* On the bright side, the explosion looked really cool.

1905 – The Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen discovered the true Magnetic North Pole after a 2-year trip.
* And thanks to his discovery, we can now … that is, it’s possible to … er, we can all … uh, what exactly is the Magnetic North pole good for again?

1884 – The construction of the Washington Monument was completed by Army engineers, after 34 years.
* And you thought that road work by your house was taking a long time.

1877 – Thomas Edison demonstrated the first gramophone, with a recording of himself reciting Mary Had a Little Lamb.
* The “B” side featured “Little Miss Muffet” and a hip-hop re-mix of “Mary Had A Little Lamb.”

1768 – The Encyclopedia Britannica made its debut.
* And the following day was the debut of the door-to-door salesman.

THIS DAY IN MUSIC HISTORY

2013 – The electric guitar played by Bob Dylan at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival was sold at auction in New York for a record $965,000. The Fender Stratocaster had been in the possession of a New Jersey family for 48 years after Dylan left it on a private plane.

2003 – Elvis Costello married jazz artist Diana Krall in a ceremony at Elton John’s UK mansion. About 150 guests, including Sir Paul McCartney, attended the wedding. It was Costello’s third marriage.

1995 – Michael Jackson collapsed while rehearsing for an HBO special on a Manhattan theater stage. Tests showed that the entertainer was suffering from low blood pressure.

1988 – Singer Roy Orbison died of a heart attack.

1975 – Paul Simon went to No.1 on the U.S. album chart with “Still Crazy After All These Years,” his first U.S. No.1 solo album.

1975 – Rev. Charles Boykin of Tallahassee, Florida organized the burning of Elton John and Rolling Stones records, claiming they were sinful. Boykin was reacting to the results of a survey that said 984 of the 1,000 local unmarried mothers had sex when listening to rock music.

1969 – Led Zeppelin made their debut on the U.S. singles chart with “Whole Lotta Love.” It went on to reach No. 4 and was the first of six Top 40 singles for the group in the U.S.

1969 – One hit wonder Steam started a two-week run at No.1 on the U.S. singles chart with “Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye.”

1969 – The Rolling Stones played a free festival at Altamont in California, along with Jefferson Airplane, Santana, The Flying Burrito Brothers and Crosby Stills Nash & Young. Rolling Stones fan Meredith Hunter was stabbed to death as the group played, by Hell’s Angels who’d been hired to police the event. It was claimed Hunter was waving a revolver. One other man drowned, two men were killed in a hit-and run accident and two babies were born.

X-TREME TRIVIA CHALLENGE

Every installment of X-Treme Trivia Challenge includes three mystery factoids. Create your own “Impossible Question” contest – great for listener giveaways and phone interaction starters! Also a perfect sponsorship opportunity!

1. 72% of women carry one of THESE, 59% of men do. What is it?
A library card

2. Men spend 3 times as much money on THIS as women. What is it?
Tipping

3. THIS product is purchased by men over 76% of the time. What is it?
Potato chips

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