WEDNESDAY, Feb 28 – DAILY PREP TEXT VERSION

MORNING SIDEKICK DAILY PREP TEXT VERSION FOR WEDNESDAY, February 28, 2024
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COMEDY MP3s POSTED ON OUR PREP SITE FOR TODAY: A & M AUTOLAND – Slide Into Savings

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.)

INTERNATIONAL PANCAKE DAY

NATIONAL PUBLIC SLEEPING DAY
The National Day Calendar website says this:
“Are you tired? If you are (and it’s February 28), go ahead a take a nap. February 28th is National Public Sleeping Day. It is a day for anyone and everyone to take a nap on a blanket at the beach, at the park, in the movie theater, on a bus, train, or subway or any other public place that may work for you. However, it may not be a good idea to take that nap at your desk during work!”

NATIONAL TOOTH FAIRY DAY

SPAY DAY USA / WORLD SPAY DAY

February is:

Adopt a Rescued Rabbit Month
African American History Month
Celebration of Chocolate Month
International Boost Self Esteem Month
International Friendship Month
National Bird Feeding Month
National Snack Food Month
National Sweet Potato Month
Spunky Old Broads Month
Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Month

THE BUZZEVERYBODY SHOULD DO THIS ONCE

Reddit asked, “What do you think every person should experience at least once in their lifetime?” Some of the responses:
– “Looking at a clear sky full of stars.”
– “Riding a motorcycle.”
– “Everyone needs to go to the Grand Canyon.” (* Yeah, honey, I was there that day when EVERYONE was at the Grand Canyon.)
– “A restaurant job.”
– “A customer service position at Wal-Mart.”
– “Being fully alone. When I moved to a new city alone and didn’t know anyone it was the loneliest I’ve ever been, but that time taught me so much.
– “Being dirt poor. Having some money now compared to barely making it the first part of my life, makes me really appreciate my current situation and use my money wisely.”
– “A punch in the face. Provides clarity, and an abject lesson that no matter how big you think you are, you can still be taken-down a notch by just about anyone.”
– “Drink Bailey’s from a shoe.”
– “Shaving their head. I firmly believe this. Even if your hair is your pride and joy. Chop it off. Just once.”
– “Skinny dipping.”
– “A bad break up.”
– “A good nap.”
– “The McGriddle, humanity’s greatest invention.”
* All these suggestions, and not one person mentioned seeing Taylor Swift live.
* Some of these you can do at the same time, like working a restaurant job and being dirt poor.
* “Drink Bailey’s from a shoe.” Did some of these people just string random words together?
* This morning, I was thinking the slow guy in front of me should try driving in the right lane for once.
* PHONE TOPIC: What cool thing do you think everyone should experience? (Morning Sidekick was once on a tour of a gold mine and they had an old dynamite plunger box you could try out. No actual dynamite, though. But how often in life do you get to use a dynamite plunger?)

THE HAPPIEST CITIES IN THE U.S. – 2024 EDITION

WalletHub has come up with their annual list of the Most Happy Cities in the U.S. The company looks at 29 metrics in three main categories: emotional and physical well-being; income and employment; and the community environment.
Happiest cities:
1. Fremont, California
2. Overland Park, Kansas
3. San Jose, California
4. Madison, Wisconsin
5. Irvine, California
6. Honolulu, Hawaii
7. San Francisco
8. Pearl City, Hawaii
9. Columbia, Maryland
10. Scottsdale, Arizona
Least happy cities:
173. Akron, Ohio
174. Mobile, Alabama
175. Jackson, Mississippi
176. Toledo, Ohio
177. Huntington, West Virginia
178. Shreveport, Louisiana
179. Birmingham, Alabama
180. Montgomery, Alabama
181. Cleveland
182. Detroit

U.S. NEWS

WOMAN HAS RECORD-SETTING TONGUE

An Oregon woman has earned a Guinness World Record for her unusually sized tongue. Portland resident Jenny DuVander’s tongue has a circumference of 5.21 inches. DuVander always knew she had a large tongue. She was reading the 2023 Guinness Book of World Records with her son when she saw there was a category for largest tongue circumference. She asked her dentist about it, and he performed the official measurement by wrapping dental floss around her tongue and then measuring the length of the floss. She said her massive tongue comes in handy when she is playing fast notes on the flute.
* Except when she flicks her tongue the wrong way and the flute ends up across the street.
* I bet it comes in handy when you want to lick out a ice cream cone in one slurp.
* How did it get so big? Did she build it up with exercise, like a bicep? Does she do pushups with it?
* Does she have problems holding her licker?
* Wait – how is there enough room left in her mouth for food?

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

OWNERS HAVE TO REBUILD PUB THEY DEMOLISHED (AND PROBABLY BURNED)

One of England’s quirkiest pubs is the 260-year-old Crooked House in the town of Himley. The place had leaning walls and a slanted floor. The pub was sold in July of last year, and 9 days later it was gutted by suspected arson. Less than 48 hours after the fire, the new owners of the Crooked House demolished it without a permit, to much local outcry. Now, six months later, three people have been charged with arson, and the owners have been ordered to rebuild the pub “brick by brick” to the original crooked specifications.
* The walls weren’t the only thing crooked about the place.
* The big pub game was seeing who could be the fastest to drink enough beer that they could walk a straight line on the slanted floor.
* Locals loved working there ’cause even on a slow night, they’d get tipped.
* This time, drink at the end of the work day, not the beginning.

WILLY WONKA WONDERLAND JUST A WANK

In Glasgow, Scotland, the internet ads went out for something called “Willy’s Chocolate Experience,” an immersive indoor wonderland of candy forests, a jellybean waterfall, flying horses, giant mushrooms and live Oompa Loompas, all based on the most recent Willy Wonka movie. There was also to be an Enchanted Garden, an Imagination Lab, and a Twilight Tunnel. Tickets were £35 (about $45) for an afternoon of activities. Hundreds of parents arrived with their children, some traveling for hours. What they found was – now imagine this – a large, empty factory space, with a couple of rented Christmas decorations, like one giant candy cane, a large plastic lollipop, a couple of large mushrooms, a little fake green hedge, and a few 8×10-foot painted scrims hung up on the bare factory walls – things you would find at a shopping mall Santa display. Decorations that wouldn’t fill the average bedroom space were randomly scattered throughout the warehouse. The “whimsical” Oompa Loompas turned out to be struggling actors reciting scripts that they had received the night before the event. Upon entering, many kids burst into tears, and the parents called police. The organization behind the event, which call themselves House of Illuminati, reportedly offered 850 customers full refunds and canceled the event before the end of the day.
* Yeah, good luck finding them.
* I’ll bet nobody got a Golden Ticket, either.
* I knew the Illuminati were evil. Apparently they’re also very mean.
* In case you’re wondering what that Fyre Festival guy is doing now, this is it.
* I bet the Oompa Loompas didn’t get paid squat either, just like in the movies.
* PHONE TOPIC: This is apparently a fairly common thing, at least in the UK. A company will advertise a fantastic event on the internet with artistic renderings and a fancy sales pitch, and in the end it’s just an empty warehouse. Have you ever been suckered into a bad roadside attraction or tourist trap?

TRENDING

KELSEA BALLERINI RETURNING AS HOST OF CMT’S

CMT announced Tuesday that Kelsea Ballerini will return for the fourth consecutive year to host the CMT Music Awards, which will air live on Sunday, April 7, on CBS. The 2024 CMT Music Awards will be held at Moody Center in Austin, Texas. Unlike previous years, in 2024, Ballerini will host the show alone. She will also perform.

DJ KHALED HAS BODYGUARDS CARRY HIM OVER BEACH SO HE WON’T DAMAGE HIS SNEAKERS

DJ Khaled is facing backlash for making two security guards carry him so that he didn’t “mess up” his Nike Air Jordan sneakers while walking over sand. He posted the incident to his Instagram Monday while promoting his upcoming album. In the clip, Khaled opened up his car door, looked down at ground and then waved over his security personnel, saying, “I don’t want to get my Jordans dirty. Can I get everybody to help me?” Two men then carried him from the back of his limo and into the back of a pick-up truck, which took him to the stage on the beach. They then lifted him out of the pickup and carried him to the stage’s steps. Commenters were not forgiving. Wrote one, “That’s the stupidest thing I have seen! Get off your high horse.” Another wrote, “Lifting 400 pounds wasn’t in the resume. Guards don’t get paid enough for that.”

ALMANAC

NOTABLE DATES, UPCOMING U.S. OBSERVANCES

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
March 31, Sunday – Easter
April 1, Monday – April Fools Day
April 15, Monday – U.S. Tax Day
May 12, Sunday – Mother’s Day
May 27, Monday – Memorial Day

BIRTHDAYS

Geoffrey Arend (actor, “Madam Secretary”) … 46
Jason Aldean (country singer) … 47
Ali Larter (actress, “The Rookie”) … 48
Cindy Wilson (singer with the B’52’s) … 67
John Tuturro (actor, “Severance”) … 67
Bernadette Peters (stage, movie actress, singer) … 76

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

“I don’t think I really have any wisdom. Stay out of trouble. Good luck. Stay away from women because they will burn you, haha.”

(A) Leonardo DiCaptrio
(B) John Mayer
(C) Jason Aldean

ANSWER: (C) Jason Aldean

THIS DAY IN HISTORY

2013 – Benedict XVI resigned as pope. He was the first pope to resign since Gregory XII in 1415 and the first to resign voluntarily since Celestine V in 1294.
* It’s the giant hat. It’s murder on your neck.

1997 – New U.S. regulations required smokers to prove they’re over 18 to purchase cigarettes.
* Like, by saying “Honest, I’m really 18.”

1970 – Bicycles were permitted to cross the Golden Gate Bridge after 40 years.
* A lot of the bicyclists were so tired of standing there for that long, they couldn’t bike across.

1912 – The first ever parachute jump was made over America.
* Well, the first one where the guy lived to tell about it, anyway.

1883 – The first vaudeville theater opened.
* In vaudeville, you could hear smutty jokes and see nudity – it was the cable TV of its day.

1860 – The first electric tabulating machine was invented by Herman Hollerith.
* Early prototypes failed because something didn’t add up.

1759 – Pope Clement XIII allowed the Bible to be translated into various languages.
* He also made a fortune selling the movie rights.

THIS DAY IN MUSIC HISTORY

2016 – Adele was at No.1 on the U.S. and UK album charts with her third studio album “25.” The album was a massive commercial success, debuting at No.1 in more than 25 markets, and also won the 2017 Grammy Awards for Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album.

2008 – Boy George pleaded not guilty to falsely imprisoning a male escort by chaining him to a wall.

1998 – Celine Dion started a two-week run at No.1 on the U.S. singles chart with “My Heart Will Go On.”

1997 – Death Row Records boss Marion ‘Suge’ Knight was sentenced to nine years in prison for violating his probation for a 1995 assault conviction.

1986 – George Michael formally announced that “Wham” would split up in the summer.

1984 – Michael Jackson won a record seven Grammy awards including: Album of the year for “Thriller,” Record of the year and Best rock vocal performance for “Beat It,” Best pop vocal performance, Best R&B performance and Best R&B song for “Billie Jean,” and Best Recording For Children for “E.T The Extra Terrestrial.”

1977 – While appearing live on stage Ray Charles was attacked by a member of the audience who tried to strangle him with a rope.

1970 – In an interview, Fleetwood Mac’s Peter Green talked about his plans to give all his money away. The following year Green confronted his accountant with a gun after he was sent an unwanted royalty check. The guitarist went to jail briefly before being transferred to an asylum and was committed to a mental hospital in 1973. He re-launched his career in the 90’s.

1970 – Led Zeppelin played a gig in Copenhagen as The Nobs after Eva Von Zeppelin, a relative of the airship designer, threatened to sue if the family name was used in Denmark.

1970 – Simon and Garfunkel started a six-week run at the top of the U.S. singles chart with “Bridge Over Troubled Water.”

1959 – The music industry phrase “with a bullet” originated on this day when Cash Box magazine first used a small red dot, or bullet, next to songs moving rapidly up the record charts.

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. 80% of newly married couples say THIS was the most memorable part of the honeymoon. What is it?
Their first fight

1. According to a recent survey, almost half of married couples do THIS separately. What is it?
Laundry

3. If you’re married, there’s a 76% chance you’re doing THIS less than you should. What is it?
Exercising

(c) 2024
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