MONDAY, Oct 28 – DAILY PREP TEXT VERSION

MORNING SIDEKICK DAILY PREP TEXT VERSION FOR MONDAY, October 28, 2024
(Print button is at bottom of post. To print with larger type, cut and paste content into a document, and print that document.)

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 ANIMATION DAY
The Days of the Year website says this:
“This special day marks the anniversary of the first-ever public performance of animation. On October 28, 1892, French inventor Charles-Émile Reynaud debuted his Luminous Pantomimes at the Fantastic Cabinet of the Grévin Museum in Paris. The show featured three animated films: ‘Poor Pierrot!,’ ‘A Good Beer,’ and ‘The Clown and His Dogs.’ Reynaud projected the films using his Optical Theater system, which was the first known use of film perforations. The show was accompanied by a piano player, Gaston Paulin, who wrote the music specifically for the performances.”

NATIONAL CHOCOLATE DAY

NATIONAL FIRST RESPONDERS DAY

PLUSH ANIMAL LOVER’S DAY

WILD FOODS DAY
The Punchbowl website says this:
“Wild Foods Day is a celebration of wild plants, fruits, and vegetables. Humans have been eating plants and harvesting food from the wild for thousands of years. Due to a popular trend, wild plants now often appear on healthy food menus in gourmet restaurants and raw food restaurants. Wild foods are free of preservatives and pesticides, and eating them is part of an eco-friendly lifestyle.”

October is:

Adopt a Shelter Dog Month
American Cheese Month
Car Care Month
Child Health Month
Consumer Information Month
Cookbook Month
Country Music Month
Fire Prevention Month
National Pizza Month
National Popcorn Month
National Service Dog Month
Vegetarian Awareness Month

ENTERTAINMENT & CELEBRITIES

WHAT TO WATCH – New and Returning Shows and Movies
Listings sourced from the TV Guide and EW websites
Only two listings!

TUESDAY, October 29

“Olivia Rodrigo: GUTS World Tour”
Netflix – Music Special
Synopsis: Gives fans an exhilarating look inside Rodrigo’s massive, sold-out arena tour.

WEDNESDAY, October 30

‘Wizards Beyond Waverly Place”
Disney+ – New Series
Synopsis: Now an adult, Justin Russo has chosen to lead a normal, mortal life with his family, Giada, Roman and Milo. When Justin’s sister Alex brings Billie to his home seeking help, Justin realizes he must dust off his magical skills to mentor the wizard-in-training while also juggling his everyday responsibilities – and safeguarding the future of the Wizard World.

THE BUZZ

ANSWERING SPAM CALLS

Reddit asked, “What’s a funny way to answer a spam call?” Some of the responses:
– “You’re caller 5 you’re live on the air.”
– “I just say random words, mostly to determine if I am talking to a person or some robot: rutabaga. tobasco. aviation. diet soda. cheez whiz. spackle…”
– “Are you my Uber driver?”
– “I wait five seconds to answer every question, makes it sound like there’s a time lag, especially when you answer the previously question as they are asking their next question.”
– “An Indian co-worker taught me how to say something in Hindi that basically means ‘you have sex with your sister.’ So I use that one now.”
– “In a bad foreign accent I say, ‘Hello this is Microsoft tech support.'”
– “I tell them to hang on just a second then I put the phone down. Sometimes I lead them on like I’m interested then keep putting it down. Had one on for almost 30 minutes.”
– “I answered a spam call saying ‘rerrroooow?’ like Scooby Doo. It turned out to be my eye doctor telling me my glasses were ready to be picked up.”
– “I had a caller ask to speak to the person who makes the decisions in the household. I put the phone on speaker and handed it to my 4 year-old daughter. I heard him say to someone in the background, ‘What is wong with these people!?!’ and he hung up.”
* PHONE TOPIC: Have you got a particularly odd way of answering spam phone calls?

BEST HALLOWEEN CITIES

WalletHub has ranked the best cities for Halloweening. They looked at the different factors that make a city tops for the holiday, including walkability, weather, and what kind of spooky entertainment people can find. Here are WalletHub’s Top Ten Halloween cities:
1. New York City
2. Jersey City, New Jersey
3. Miami
4. Las Vegas
5. Chicago
6. Los Angeles
7. Washington, DC
8. Anaheim, California
9. Boston
10. Gilbert, Arizona
* Gilbert, Arizona, America’s spooky little secret.
* How is Hershey, Pennsylvania not on this list?
* How do you trick or treat in New York City? By the time you hit all the apartments on your floor in one of those skyscrapers, Halloween’s over.
The Bottom Five Halloween cities:
96. Birmingham, Alabama
97, Anchorage, Alaska
98. Nashville, Tennessee
99. Baton Rouge, Louisiana
100. Memphis, Tennessee
* Anchorage, Alaska doesn’t have good “walkability”? Go figure.

U.S. NEWS

MAN PRETENDS TO BE CAR SALESMAN

A man was arrested earlier this month at an auto dealership in Bowling Green, Kentucky, for pretending to be a car salesman and attempting to sell a car. Police were called to R&M Auto Sales regarding a suspicious person at the dealership. They found Dustin Cardwell, 34, looking at a vehicle with a couple in the market for a car. When police asked Cardwell whether he worked at the dealership or had any business there, Cardwell reported stated he owned the business. As police spoke with Cardwell, the actual owner of R&M Auto Sales joined them. Security camera footage from the dealership showed Cardwell earlier grabbing keys and stacks of titles and other paperwork and then getting into a 2017 GMC Sierra and leaving the lot. He told police he drove it to a gas station down the road and then back to the lot.
* He wants to sell cars, and he knows how to bend the truth. Offer this guy a job, pronto!
* I guess “I was practicing for a movie role” doesn’t work in Kentucky.
* Maybe this is one of those “Catch Me If You Can” things – guy pretends to be a doctor, a pilot, a lawyer… though pretending to be a car salesman is pretty lame.
* Then when they got him to the police station he pretended to be his lawyer.

VANDALS CAUGHT ATTEMPTING TO T.P. TOWN CENTER WITH 1,000 ROLLS

In the early hours of last Sunday morning, police In Rindge, New Hampshire arrested two people, took an additional three juveniles into protective custody and seized more than 1,000 rolls of toilet paper. The group was attempting to vandalize the Rindge town center with the toilet paper. Police said they had previously received information that the vandalism was planned, and were performing a targeted surveillance of the area.
* Police crackdown!
* And Rindge sounds like such a Charmin’ place.
* That’s one way to get rid of all that toilet paper your parents hoarded during the pandemic.
* TP-ing the town with 1,000 rolls. They would have gone down in Rindge history, had statues erected in their honor, and THOSE would get TP’d.
* Why did they want to do it? That’s just the way they roll.

AIRLINE SUED OVER COLD ICE CREAM

A New Jersey woman is suing JetBlue over an ice cream sandwich she claims was “dangerously cold.” On August 20, Karla Quinonez and her partner were flying from JFK to Paris, when, during the meal service, Quinonez was given a “chomp size” strawberry shortcake ice cream sandwich. Biting down, she cracked a tooth. This necessitated an emergency tooth extraction immediately upon landing in Paris, a subsequent implant, and continuing care upon returning to the United States. The complaint says JetBlue was negligent for “serving food at a temperature below what is reasonable or safe for consumption,” and “failing to warn her of the dangerously cold temperature and solid state of the ice cream sandwich she was served.”
* It was either that or sue her mommy for not staying by her side through life to watch out for stuff like this.
* At least she didn’t have to worry about brain freeze, because there isn’t one.
* To apologize, they gave her a complimentary flight home, and sat her in the special seat next to the plug door.
* Next time, get the pudding.

AUDIO: WOMAN WANTS TO BE PAID FOR VOICE WORK IN 1971

A woman in Wildwood, New Jersey named Floss Stingell is looking to be paid for a voice job she did back in 1971. If you ever go to Wildwood, there’s a tram that runs up and down the boardwalk, and as a warning to pedestrians the tram blares out, “Watch the tram car, please.” Stingell claims she is that voice, it’s been a fixture on the boardwalk for 50 years now, and she never got paid for it. She said she was dating a guy who worked for the tram owner at the time, and she just spoke the line into a recorder. According to her lawsuit looking for compensation, the tram company makes $2.5 million a year, and the recording has been used to promote tourism and sell memorabilia, including toys that play the phrase. She doesn’t ask for a specific sum but it seeks compensation “attributable” to the profits made.
* And you can’t begin to put a price on all the lives she saved by keeping people from getting run over by the tram.
* Jeeze, how could her boyfriend ever let her get away with a beautiful voice like that.
* I would pay her a ton of money just to get that voice out of my head right now.
* You might remember Floss Stingell from her other fine work, “The number you have reached is not in service.”
* “Watch the tram car, please” is okay I guess, but it’s no “You’ve got mail.”
CLIP: The Wildwood tram says “Watch the tram car please.”
CLIP URL: morningsidekick(dot)com/prep/wp-content/uploads/WatchTheTramCarPlease(dot)mp3

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

ZAMBONI DRIVER DUI

In Celsea, Quebec, a Zamboni driver has been arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated after he crashed the machine into the ice rink boards last Monday. It happened while the 25-year-old man was resurfacing the ice between two games. Several people witnessed the event and one of them called police after seeing signs that the driver was impaired. Police administered a sobriety test and then arrested the rink employee. Police say nobody was hurt, but a door onto the rink was damaged.
* I would have blamed icy conditions.
* Sounds like he caused a dozen dollars worth of damage.
* Did they require him to skate a straight line? List the names of all the teams in the Canadian Hockey League while standing on one foot? Recite the alphabet backwards, from Z to A, eh?
* Now the Zamboni driver’s on ice.

CHEESE SWIPED

Somebody stole tons of cheddar cheese worth more than $380,000 (£300,000) from a London cheese distributor. The company, Neal’s Yard Dairy, delivered 22 tons of cheddar to a person posing as wholesale distributor for a big French retailer. Around 950 cloth-wrapped artisan cheeses were delivered before it was discovered the person was a fraud. More than 22 tons of artisan cheddars, including Hafod Welsh, Westcombe, and Pitchfork were taken. All the cheeses are award-winning and have a high monetary value.
* Yeah, when you add “artisan” to the description, you can immediately jack up the prices 30%.
* Come on, even a half-blind hound dog could follow that trail.
* Grocery retailers are being warned to keep an eye on their cracker supply.
* Who needs that much cheese? Is there an omelet festival happening in the vicinity?
* Award-winning cheese worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. Nice. Last night I had a grilled cheese made with Velveeta.

TRENDING

THE GAME HAS $100,000 WORTH OF JUNK STOLEN OUT OF HIS CAR

Rapper The Game reportedly lost around $100,000 in stolen belongings after his car was burglarized in the San Fernando Valley last Wednesday. Mr. Game had parked his car outside and upon returning to the vehicle, discovered that it had been broken into, and then realized that $100K worth of designer bags and jewelry had been stolen from the car. The Los Angeles police department is investigating the incident.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE (Oct. 25-27)

1. Venom: The Last Dance – $51 million
2. Smile 2 – $9.4 million
3. Conclave – $6.5 million
4..The Wild Robot – $6.5 million
5. We Live In Time – $4.8 million

ALMANAC

NOTABLE DATES, UPCOMING U.S. OBSERVANCES

Oct. 31, Thursday – Halloween
Nov. 3, Sunday – Daylight Saving Time Ends, turn clocks back 1 hour
Nov. 11, Monday – Veterans Day
Nov. 28, Thursday – Thanksgiving
Dec. 21, Saturday – Winter begins, winter solstice occurs at 4:21 a.m. (EST)
Dec. 25, Wednesday – Christmas
Dec. 31, Tuesday – New Year’s Eve
Jan. 1, Wednesday – New Year’s Day

BIRTHDAYS

Nolan Gould (actor, “Modern Family”) … 26
Matt Smith (actor, “House of the Dragon,” “Last Night in Soho,” “The Crown,” ″Dr. Who”) … 42
Justin Guarini (singer, actor, “American Idol” runner-up, Dr. Pepper’s “Lil Sweet”) … 46
Joaquin Phoenix (actor) … 50
Brad Paisley (country singer) … 52
Julia Roberts (actress) … 57
Andy Richter (actor, sidekick on Conan) … 57
Bill Gates (co-founder of Microsoft, on of planet’s richest men) … 69
Caitlyn Jenner (American media personality and former Olympic gold medal-winning decathlete known then as Bruce Jenner) … 75
Dennis Franz (actor, “NYPD Blue”) … 80

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

“When people are stupid, it frustrates me.”

(A) Neil deGrasse Tyson
(B) Bill Nye the Science Guy
(C) Julia Roberts

ANSWER: (C) Julia Roberts

THIS DAY IN HISTORY

1980 – Republican nominee Ronald Reagan asked voters during a debate with President Jimmy Carter in Cleveland “are you better off than you were four years ago?”
* And that line continues to work, administration after administration!

1962 – The “Cuban Missile Crisis” ended when Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev ordered the dismantling of Russian nuclear missile bases in Cuba.
* Why not dismantle them? In a few years, Russia would have nuclear missiles sitting right off our coast in submarines.

1919 – For a few years, America outlawed the sale of alcoholic beverages during a period known as “Prohibition,” when the US Congress passed the Volstead Act over President Woodrow Wilson’s veto.
* Y’know, there’s not a lot you can say about Woodrow Wilson, but he sure did like to party.

1886 – The first confetti and ticker tape parade in New York City was given, celebrating the dedication of the Statue of Liberty.
* Afterwards, immigrants who admired the Statue during their arrival to this country had the honor of sweeping up the confetti for 2 cents an hour before reporting back to their sweatshop jobs.

THIS DAY IN MUSIC HISTORY

2016 – Elvis Presley broke the record for the most No.1 albums by a solo artist. The late singer’s new album “The Wonder Of You” beat competition from Lady Gaga and Michael Buble to become his 13th album to top the chart. Previously, Elvis and Madonna were tied record holders with 12 No.1 albums each.

2004 – Courtney Love was ordered to stand trial on a charge of assault with a deadly weapon. Kristin King told a Los Angeles court Ms. Love threw a bottle and a lit candle at her after turning up at the home of a former boyfriend in the early hours. She later entered a plea deal with prosecutors agreeing to anger management classes, random drug tests, and three years’ probation.

1997 – R.E.M. drummer Bill Berry announced that he was leaving the group after 17 years.

1986 – Marie Osmond married producer Brian Blosil.

1958 – Buddy Holly made his last major TV appearance when he appeared on American Bandstand.

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. 3% of American workers say they do THIS. What is it?
Walk to work

2. Most people will do THIS more in the first two hours of their workday than they will the rest of the workday. What is it?
Work

3. About 35% of people say they would never do THIS at work. What is it?
Take a promotion without a raise

(c) 2024
MORNING SIDEKICK RADIO SHOW PREP & COMEDY
8062 West Massey Circle
Littleton, CO 80128
USA
morningsidekick(at)gmail(dot)(com)
Tel: 303-727-9111