FRIDAY, Jan 5 – DAILY PREP TEXT VERSION

MORNING SIDEKICK DAILY PREP TEXT VERSION FOR FRIDAY, January 5, 2024
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COMEDY MP3s POSTED ON OUR PREP SITE FOR TODAY: THE FRIDAY CLUSTERFLICKS

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 BIRD DAY
(Not to be confused with Bird Day – May 4th, or International Migratory Bird Day – the second Saturday in May.)
The Holiday Insights website says this:
“People love birds. Bird watching is a favorite pastime of millions of people. It is the most popular of hobbies, and can be enjoyed by everyone regardless of age. With this popularity, it comes as no surprise that there is more than one day established to recognize, appreciate, and enjoy birds. We suggest you celebrate all of these days. Now, let’s help to take some of the confusion around a number of distinctly different ‘bird’ days: Bird Day is the oldest of the days set aside to recognize birds. According to the U.S. Library of Congress, Bird Day was first observed on May 4, 1894. It was started by Charles Almanzo Babcock, superintendent of schools in Oil City, Pennsylvania. By 1910, Bird Day was widely celebrated, often in conjunction with Arbor Day. Bird Day and Arbor Day events are focused upon conservation training and awareness. National Bird Day was established by bird activists. It calls upon people to recognize the plight of captive birds. It also draws attention to exploitation of birds in the U.S. pet industry. On this day, organizers suggest we reflect upon the conditions of birds held in captivity. International Migratory Bird Day celebrates the incredible journey that migratory birds take each year. They travel thousands of miles between breeding grounds in North America, and their winter homes in Central and South America. Organizers say this is a day to both support, and to increase awareness of conservation efforts in support of migratory birds. They also suggest a field trip into a woods to look for and enjoy migrating birds. On each of these Bird Days, we encourage you to take a few minutes to watch and observe birds, as well as to feed them.”

NATIONAL WHIPPED CREAM DAY
The National Day Calendar website says this:
“There is that little something that adds a final touch to ice cream sundaes, cake, milk shakes, hot cocoa, pie, pudding and many other desserts and it is annually recognized on January 5. This is National Whipped Cream Day. This holiday falls on the birthday of Reddi-wip founder Aaron “Bunny” Lapin. Aaron, who invented Reddi-wip in 1948, was born on January 5, 1914 and died on July 10, 1999. National Whipped Cream Day celebrates whipped cream’s contribution to the dessert world. Often sweetened and sometimes flavored with vanilla, coffee, chocolate, orange and other flavors, whipped cream is also sometimes called Chantilly cream or creme Chantilly. Recipes from the 16th century included whipped cream that was sweetened and aromatised. The names ‘milk snow’ and ‘snow cream’ were used. In these recipes, naturally separated cream is whipped, typically with willow or rush branches, then the resulting foam on the surface would from time to time be skimmed off and drained, which was a process taking an hour or more. The English name ‘whipped cream’ found its beginning in 1673. The name ‘snow cream’ continued to be used throughout the 17th century.”

January is:

Adopt a Rescued Bird Month
Be Kind to Food Servers Month
Family Fit Lifestyle Month
Financial Wellness Month
Get Organized Month
National Candy Month
National Clean Up Your Computer Month
National Hobby Month
National Skating Month
National Train Your Dog Month
Walk Your Pet Month

THE BUZZ

SWEETHEARTS CANDY HEARTS FIGURED OUT A WAY TO SELL ITS DUDS

You know the Valentine’s Day Sweethearts candy hearts, with the printed messages – Love U, UR Mine, Bite Me… etc? Well, not all of them print cleanly at the factory – sometimes the ink smears, or the candy breaks, or the message is blurry. The manufacturer – Spangler Candy – has found a way to make money on the duds. They’re going to box them up and label them as Sweethearts “Situationships,” full of “blurry, misprinted candies that are as hard to read as Gen-Z relationships.” A “situationship” means an arrangement with a romantic or sexual partner that is not or has yet to be defined by labels. The company says, “This is our way of embracing those imperfections in a way that taps into pop culture.”
* Fine, whatever, shut up and give me the candy.
* Can’t you just see the dollar signs go ‘ka-ching’ in their eyes when somebody suggested this at the weekly meeting?
* “Sweethearts Situationships,” because “Sweethearts Fear of Commitments” wasn’t very upbeat.
* “Situationships.” Fifteen years ago we called it “Friends with Benefits,” but go ahead, Gen-Z, make your own cute little name.
* So they’re embracing their mistakes, yet still selling them on the open market. Like Tesla.
* Is this what Gen-Z’s do? Give their companions defective candy? Irregular clothing? Scratch-n-dent jewelry?

U.S. NEWS

MAN LEADS POLICE CHASE DOWN A BOAT RAMP INTO LAKE MICHIGAN

A 23-year old man drove a truck straight into Lake Michigan while fleeing police on Saturday in Traverse City, Michigan. The Ford F-150 had been driving erratically and a deputy tried to pull it over for a traffic stop, but the driver sped away. At one point, that driver got out of the truck, and his passenger slid over and kept the chase going. He drove into the Clinch Park Marina, then down a boat ramp right into Lake Michigan. which ended up submerging the pickup in West Grand Traverse Bay. Arrested were the two 23-year olds who had been driving the pickup truck.
* That idea worked a lot better in that James Bond movie.
* This is why The Fast and the Furious has never done an underwater chase.
* Next comes the fine for illegal diving.
* Always go swimming with a buddy. Or, at the least, an accomplice.
* The the piranhas attacked.

ROBBER TRIED SETTING STORE CLERK ON FIRE

Police in Santa Ana, California, are asking the public to help identify a man who tried to rob a meat market by setting the clerk on fire. Security tape from back on Oct. 25 shows the suspect approaching the counter and squirting lighter fluid on the clerk. The suspect tried to light a fire with a handheld lighter. That didn’t work, and the suspect was forced to flee empty-handed on a Razor scooter.
* Look out – he’s got a Bic!
* The clerk almost got fired, in a really bad way.
* Well THAT was a flame out.
* This happened three months ago. I guess the cops figure he can’t have gotten too far on that scooter.
* Time to bring back those Covid sheets of plexiglass for the customer counter.

SUBWAY TRAIN STOLEN

New York police are looking for two guys who took a New York City subway train for a joyride. Last Saturday afternoon in Queens, two unidentified individuals went into the operators compartments of two lead train cars parked at the Forest Hills-71st Ave. station. They managed to operate the trains and went northbound out of the station. They traveled a short distance, then jumped out of the trains and took off on foot.
* I don’t think you can call a ride on New York transit a ‘joyride’ in any sense of the word.
* It must be pretty hard to fence those things.
* It sounds like some model train club initiation prank.
* Or a really dumb mission in Grand Theft Auto.
* YouTube Challenge?
* That’s it – no more leaving the keys in the ignition.

DUNKIN’ SUED OVER EXPLODING TOILET

A Florida man has filed a negligence lawsuit against Dunkin’, claiming he was injured by an exploding toilet at one of their locations in Winter Park, Florida a year ago. Paul Kerouac is seeking more than $100,000 after, he claims, the toilet exploded, leaving him covered in human excrement and debris. When he walked out of the men’s room seeking help from workers, an employee told him that they were aware of the “problem with the toilet” since there had been previous incidents. The lawsuit says Kerouac suffered “bodily injury,” and he has required mental health care and counseling since the incident in January 2022.
* Not to mention the hot water bill from the two-week long shower.
* For six months, he would only poop in the back yard.
* Boy, that’ll make you wake up and smell the coffee.
* This is what happens when you buy food to go.
* Dunkin’? I would have expected something like this at Taco Bell.

LETTER DELIVERED AFTER 80 YEARS

A letter mailed to an Illinois couple in 1943 was finally delivered to a family member 80 years later. The letter, addressed DeKalb residents Louis and Lavena George, was discovered recently at the DeKalb, Illinois, Post Office, and a worker decided to try to track down family members. The letter was finally delivered to Grace Salazar, a relative who lives in Portland, Ore., and she shared the piece of mail with Jeanette George, who is Louis and Lavena George’s now-elderly daughter. The letter, mailed in 1943, was authored by a cousin expressing condolences to the Georges, whose first-born daughter, Evelyn, had died of cystic fibrosis. Jeannette George said “I got emotional about it. I mean, losing a child is always horrific. It just sort of put me in touch with my parents’ grief and the losses my family went through before I was even born.” The post office employee who tracked down the George family said the letter likely remained undelivered for so long because the mailing address had a street name, but no house number.
* Another sad part of the story? The cousin advised them to buy stock in Coca-Cola … but of course, they never did.
* “We know it’s the Georges, and we know which street they live on. But, gosh darn it, there’s just no house number, so how can we be sure it’s the right George family? Better not deliver it.”
* Good to know that postal workers of 1943 had the same above-and-beyond-the-call-of-duty attitude as today.
* The letter, of course, came with 64 dollars postage due.
* So they only clean up around the DeKalb Post Office every 80 years? Yuck!

ALMANAC

NOTABLE DATES, UPCOMING U.S. OBSERVANCES

January 15, Monday – Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
January 26, Friday – Int’l Holocaust Remembrance Day (UN)
February 2, Friday – Groundhog Day
February 10, Saturday – Chinese New Year (The Year of the Dragon)
February 12, Monday – Lincoln’s Birthday
February 14, Wednesday – Valentine’s Day
February 19, Monday – Presidents Day / Washington’s Birthday
February 13, Tuesday – Shrove Tuesday/Mardi Gras
March 10, Sunday – Daylight Saving Time Begins
March 17, Sunday – St. Patrick’s Day
March 19, Tuesday – Spring begins, Spring Equinox is 11:06 p.m. EDT
March 20, Wednesday – First full day of Spring

BIRTHDAYS

January Jones (actress, “The Last Man on Earth,” “Mad Men”) … 46
Bradley Cooper (actor, director) … 49
Marilyn Manson (shock rocker, real name Brian Warner) … 55
Chris Stein (guitarist/co-founder of Blondie) … 74
Diane Keaton (actress) … 78
Robert Duvall (actor) … 93

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

“When I was a kid, I was always mistaken for a girl.”

(A) The Rock
(B) Jason Momoa
(C) Bradley Cooper
ANSWER: (C) Bradley Cooper

THIS DAY IN HISTORY

2004 – After 14 years of denials and being permanently banned from Major League baseball, Pete Rose publicly admitted that he’d bet on games while manager of the Cincinnati Reds.
* He says the odds of him being reinstated are 7:1.

1998 – Sonny Bono, the 1960’s pop star-turned-politician, was killed when he struck a tree while skiing in South Lake Tahoe, California.
* Thanks, I’ll stick to water skiing.

1988 – Madonna served estranged husband Sean Penn with divorce papers.
* He won custody of the acting ability.

1957 – In England, the first ever broadcast of “The Benny Hill Show” was shown.
* Offended Brits responded by chasing the TV network managers around in fast motion to the tune of “Jackety Sax.”

1949 – In his State of the Union address, President Harry S. Truman labeled his administration the “Fair Deal.”
* Not good, not great … just “fair.”

1931 – The first woman to purchase a baseball team, Lucille Thomas, purchased the Topeka franchise in the Western League.
* Her reason? “It was on sale.”

THIS DAY IN MUSIC HISTORY

2015 – Taylor Swift was at No.1 on the U.S. album chart with her fifth studio album “1989,” which was the best-selling album of 2014 in the U.S. market with over 5.5 million copies sold.

2008 – Josh Groban was at No.1 on the U.S. album chart with his Christmas album “Noel” – the best selling U.S. album of 2007 selling over 3.5 million copies in 10 weeks.

2004 – Kinks singer Ray Davies was shot in the leg while on a holiday in New Orleans. The 59-year-old singer-songwriter was shot when running after two men who stole his girlfriend’s purse at gunpoint. Davies was admitted to the Medical Center of Louisiana but his injuries were not considered serious. The suspect was released when Davies twice failed to appear in court to testify.

1997 – No Doubt went to No.1 on the U.S. album chart with “Tragic Kingdom.”

1991 – Madonna went to No.1 on the U.S. singles chart with “Justify My Love,” co-written with Lenny Kravitz.

1980 – Donna Summer scored her third U.S. No.1 album with “On The Radio – Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 & II.”

1980 – KC and the Sunshine Band had their 5th U.S. No.1 single with “Please Don’t Go.”

1979 – Prince made his live debut at the Capri Theatre, Minneapolis.

1978 – The Sex Pistols started a U.S. tour in Atlanta, Georgia before an estimated audience of 500 people.

1974 – The Carpenters went to No.1 on the U.S. album chart with “The Singles 1969-1973.”

1973 – Bruce Springsteen’s debut album, “Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J.,” was released.

1968 – Jimi Hendrix was jailed for one day in Stockholm, Sweden on drinking charges after going berserk and destroying everything in his room at the Goteberg Hotel.

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. The average person has 38 of THESE. What are they?
Online accounts

2. If you’re average, you have about 60 of THESE. What are they?
Bad days every year

3. 5% of people aren’t sure if they have any of THESE. What are they?
Life goals

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