FRIDAY, Jan 28 – DAILY PREP TEXT VERSION

MORNING SIDEKICK DAILY PREP TEXT VERSION FOR FRIDAY, January 28, 2022
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COMEDY MP3s POSTED ON OUR PREP SITE FOR TODAY: AMISH FURNITURE WORLD; FRIDAY CLUSTERFLICKS FOR 1/28

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.)

CHRISTA MCAULIFFE DAY
Wikipedia says this:
“Sharon Christa Corrigan McAuliffe was an American teacher from Concord, New Hampshire, and was one of the seven crew members killed in the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion. In 1985, she was selected from more than 11,000 applicants to participate in the NASA Teacher in Space Project and was scheduled to become the first teacher in space. As a member of mission STS-51-L, she was planning to conduct experiments and teach two lessons from Space Shuttle Challenger. On January 28, 1986, the shuttle broke apart 73 seconds after launch. After her death, schools and scholarships were named in her honor, and in 2004 she was posthumously awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor.”

FUN AT WORK DAY
The Holiday Insights website says this:
“Fun at Work Day is a day to have fun at work for once. Ideally, work should be fun. But normally, work is not intended to have fun. It’s intended to get work done. You’re a very lucky person, if you if you can get work done and have fun doing it. The lucky souls in this situation, love their job. Unfortunately, all of us are not lucky enough to have a job that’s fun to do. If that’s you, then today is a day just for you! Think of ways to make your job more fun and exciting. Look to do some fun things at work today, even if it takes away from production just a wee bit. Please Note: If you do fun things today that is counter-productive, or takes you away from the job, make sure you get your boss’ permission first. Better still, get him or her involved.”

NATIONAL BLUEBERRY PANCAKE DAY

NATIONAL DATA PRIVACY DAY

NATIONAL KAZOO DAY
The Holiday Insights website says this:
“People young and old love Kazoos. Kazoo Day celebrates the the joy of this musical instrument. Alabama Vest of Macon Georgia made the first Kazoo in the 1840’s. Actually, he conceived the Kazoo, and had Thaddeus Von Clegg, a German clockmaster, make it to his specifications. Commercial production of the Kazoo didn’t occur until many years later in 1912. Manufacturing was first started by Emil Sorg in Western New York. Sorg joined up with Michael McIntyre, a Buffalo tool and die maker. Production moved to Eden, NY where the factory museum remains today. Kazoos are easy to play. Simply hum a tune into the kazoo, and you’re an expert. Kazoos can be played solo, or in groups. It plays a great tune both ways. What do you do on National Kazoo day? Why, play the kazoo, of course.”

THANK A PLUGIN DEVELOPER DAY (WORDPRESS)
The WMPU DEV website says this:
“In 2009, when the WordPress repository passed the 4,000 plugin mile marker, online social media entrepreneur Matt Mullenweg declared January 28 to be ‘Thank a Plugin Developer Day.’ It’s an official WordPress holiday. If you have a few minutes, please join in recognizing the hard work that makes WordPress a platform that can literally do anything.”

January is:

Adopt a Rescued Bird Month
Be Kind to Food Servers Month
Celebration of Life 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

ENTERTAINMENT & CELEBRITIES

“BEST FUNERAL EVER” REALITY STAR SUED OVER BAD FUNERALS

Celebrity funeral director John Beckwith Jr. — the star of the TLC reality show “Best Funeral Ever” — is being sued by 17 families for desecrating their loved ones’ remains. The families say Beckwith – the flamboyant owner of Golden Gate Funeral Home in Dallas, Texas – mishandled their late relatives’ bodies, returned the wrong ashes, disposed of remains without permission and, in one case, filled an urn with what appeared to be tiny white pebbles.
– In one case, Jackie Carlisle, one of the plaintiffs, fainted when she saw the body of her mother at Golden Gate the day before a scheduled viewing. Her mom’s body had partially decomposed, with a severely bloated stomach – which is caused by lack of refrigeration – and dark splotches and discoloration on her face. This came after Carlisle had first been shown the wrong corpse.
– Another plaintiff, Nekeya Webster, alleges that the ashes of her father were secretly disposed of in a cemetery belonging to a second branch of Golden Gate in Tallulah, Louisana — 340 miles from Dallas.
– Other allegations against the funeral home involve some families receiving the wrong remains, or none at all. Some families were sent multiple urns “when the person had been small and their ashes could not have filled more than one urn.”
Beckwith and his staff starred on the “Best Funeral Ever” reality show in 2013 and 2014. His company is known for staging over-the-top ceremonies. Beckwith currently hosts YouTube videos titled “Ask The Undertaker.”
* But first, make sure he’s under oath.
* If you think these stories are bad, remember – these were his BEST funerals.
* Now there’s a phrase you never thought you’d hear: “Celebrity funeral director.”
* Then again, I never thought I’d hear the phrase “Celebrity Worm Dung Farmer,” but then along came Mike Rowe with his “Dirty Jobs” show, so there you go.
* You don’t usually hear complaints from funeral home clients, if you know what I mean.

THE BUZZ

WHAT’S THE MOST PETTY REASON YOU STOPPED DATING SOMEONE?

Reddit asked the question, “What’s The Most Petty Reason You Stopped Dating Someone?” Some of the answers:
– “They tried to play ‘TGIF’ as a word in Scrabble.”
– “He rearranged stuff in my house while I was asleep.”
– “Took him to a concert and he tapped his knee off beat.”
– “Her voice was in the same register as Fran Drescher from the ‘Nanny.’ Like daggers in my ears. Could not get over it. After the third date I had to back off and tell her I was way too busy right now to date.”
– “I broke up with this guy in high school because he ate so gross. I’ve never seen someone have their entire hands covered in ketchup after eating a hamburger. I had to sit next to him because I could not watch him eat.”
– “He took the pickle off my plate without asking at dinner.”
– “When she slept, her eyes didn’t close all the way. She looked like X-Men’s Cyclops, always got her eyeballs on me. Very unsettling.”
– “Her apartment only had street parking.”
– “I hated the way his Chapstick smelled.” (* Oh, like your Chapstick smells any better.)
– “He made me meatballs one night and he had tiny hands. I couldn’t look at him the same after seeing his itty bitty hands rolling those meatballs.”
– “Farted in front of me too soon.”
– “I dated a smoking hot guy, then I found that he was a clown for children’s parties and had a collection of clown artwork. No one is hot enough to consider integrating a clown collection into my home, much less a clown.”
* This is like reading a list of episode summaries from “Seinfeld.”
* Gee, it seems like only yesterday most of these would have included the word “Trump.”
* It may just be a pickle, but you could write a doctoral thesis on people who steal food off of other people’s plates and the psychological implications of what that means.
* I wonder how many years of dating there are between “being too picky” and “settling.”
* Articles like this go along way in explaining the popularity of sex dolls.

U.S. NEWS

IDENTICAL TWIN CONFESSES TO CRIME HIS BROTHER WENT TO JAIL FOR

A man who spent nearly 20 years in prison for murder has just been released after his identical twin brother turned himself in for the crime. Kevin Dugar was released from Chicago’s Cook County jail on Wednesday. In 2003, Dugar was convicted for a gang-related murder in Chicago. But his identical twin brother, Karl Smith, confessed to the crime 10 years later in a letter he wrote to Dugar. At the time, Smith was – and currently is – serving his own 99-year prison sentence for involvement in a 2008 home invasion and armed robbery that left a 6-year-old boy shot in the head. It has taken this long to get Mr. Dugar released for the crime his brother admitted to in 2013.
* Typical twins – they always finish each other’s sentences.
* It took 13 years? Either the wheels of justice turn slow or the Cook County jail has a horrible paperwork system.
* This was going to be a storyline on “Days of Our Lives” back in the 90s, but they decided it was too crazy.
* Identical twins with different last names. How does that work exactly?

FLORIDA TEACHER HAS SNOWMAN MAILED TO HER CLASS

A Florida kindergarten teacher found out that most of her students had never seen snow. So, she had her sister, who lives in Danville, Kentucky, mail the class a little snowman. Robin Hughes, who teaches at SouthShore Academy in Tampa, asked her sister to make a small snowman, and overnight it to her. Her sister, Amber Estes, wrapped it up in insulated foil, added ice packs, and sealed it up inside Styrofoam inside a box. The little guy, dubbed “Lucky,” made it. Hughes said she was gratified to see the looks of “pure joy” on her students’ faces when they opened the box. Hughes said she is saving the water as Lucky melts so he can be part of another lesson – watering a new plant for Earth Day.
* And the carrot nose is going to the class hamster.
* Now the kids want someone to mail them a penguin.
* Given the climate change we’re having, most Florida kids, if they want to see snow, have to go all the way to Alabama.
* You just know there’s some politician in Florida who’s going to want Critical Snowman Theory banned from the schools.

BALD EAGLE SMASHES INTO HOME’S FRONT WINDOW

A bald eagle crashed into the large plate glass front window of a family’s home Tuesday night in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, completely shattering the glass. Police responded and found the eagle on the ground. Officers called a wildlife expert but by the time she arrived, the bald eagle had flown off.
* In the direction of the giant wind turbines.
* This has been your American Metaphor of the Day.
* The bald eagle: America’s national derp.
* There’s a reason the saying is “Wise as an owl,” not “Wise as an eagle.”
* That eagle was a real cuckoo.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

20,000 COCAINE-FILLED COCONUTS

A huge shipment of 20,000 coconuts filled with liquid cocaine has been discovered at a Colombian port en route to Italy. Anti-drug teams found the coconuts hidden in 500 canvas bags on a container due to leave the Caribbean port of Cartagena for Genoa, Italy. Airport scanners showed unusual density inside some of the coconuts. A small hole had been bored into the coconuts and their water had been extracted with a syringe and replaced with liquid cocaine, before being resealed with brown resin. Authorities are investigating exactly who was due to receive them in Genoa.
* Who knew Genoa was suck a rockin’ place? I mean, Florence, sure, and maybe Naples … but Genoa?
* All I can think is, 20,000 coconuts – boy, that’s a lot of work.
* You know how they have drug-sniffing dogs? This is a job for a drug-sniffing monkey.
* Smart plan. Coconuts are the basis for so much classic Italian cooking.

TRENDING

ERIC CHURCH OPENING SIX-STORY BAR

Country star Eric Church is joining the ever-growing list of country singers who have opened bars and entertainment venues in the heart of downtown Nashville. Church has partnered with an investment group to open a honky-tonk called Chief’s, located on Nashville’s Lower Broadway. Chief’s is slated to include a six-story bar, a music performance venue with seating and a Whole Hog BBQ restaurant. The building formerly housed Cotton Eyed Joe. Big & Rich star John Rich previously owned the building.

EATING PIZZA

A new survey of 2,000 U.S. adults from pizza chain Donatos finds:
– 28 percent eat pizza tip-first
– 18 percent go crust-first
– 17 percent fold it in half
– 8 percent eat pizza with a knife and fork

ALMANAC

NOTABLE DATES, UPCOMING U.S. OBSERVANCES

February 1, Tuesday – Chinese New Year (The Year of the Tiger)
February 2, Wednesday – Groundhog Day
February 12, Saturday – Lincoln’s Birthday
February 14, Monday – Valentine’s Day
February 21, Monday – Presidents’ Day / Washington’s Birthday
March 1, Tuesday – Shrove Tuesday/Mardi Gras
March 13, Sunday – Daylight Saving Time Begins
March 17, Thursday – St. Patrick’s Day
March 20, Sunday – Spring begins, Spring Equinox is 11:33 a.m. EDT
March 21, Monday – First full day of Spring

BIRTHDAYS

Ariel Winter (actress, “Modern Family”) … 24
Yuri Sardarov (actor, “Chicago Fire”) … 34
Elijah Wood (actor, “Lord of the Rings”) … 41
Nick Carter (singer w/ The Backstreet Boys) … 42
Angelique Cabral (actress, “Life in Pieces”) … 43
Joey Fatone (singer w/ ‘N Sync) … 45
Mo Rocca (humorist, journalist and actor, “CBS Sunday Morning”) … 53
Sarah McLachlan (singer/songwriter) … 54
Alan Alda (actor, “The Blacklist,” “The West Wing”, “M.A.S.H.”) … 86

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

“I’m a fruit.”

(A) Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson
(B) Vin Diesel
(C) Elijah Wood

ANSWER: (C) Elijah Wood

THIS DAY IN HISTORY

COVID 19 – ONE YEAR AGO:
– Mexico’s COVID-19 death toll of 155,145 became the world’s third highest, overtaking India’s.

1986 – The space shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after liftoff from Cape Canaveral, killing all seven crew members.
* Suddenly the engineering joke about “close enough for government work” wasn’t funny any more.

1878 – The first telephone switchboard went into service in New Haven, Connecticut. Operators were instructed to answer calls by saying, “Ahoy!”
* And if you refused because it sounded stupid, they made you walk the plank.

1807 – London’s Pall Mall street became the first street to be lit by gas.
* Previously, if you wanted to see at night, you had to light your OWN gas.

THIS DAY IN MUSIC HISTORY

2016 – Guitarist, singer and songwriter Paul Kantner died in San Francisco at the age of 74 due to multiple organ failure and septic shock after he suffered a heart attack days earlier. He was known for co-founding Jefferson Airplane, the leading psychedelic rock band of the counterculture era, and its more commercial spin-off band Jefferson Starship. With Jefferson Airplane, Kantner was among the performers at the Monterey Jazz Festival in 1966, the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967, and the Woodstock Festival in 1969.

2015 – Funk legend Sly Stone was awarded $5 million in unpaid royalties by a Los Angeles court. The singer claimed his former manager, Gerald Goldstein, and lawyer, Glenn Stone, had cheated him out of earnings dating back more than 20 years. In 2011, it was reported he was homeless and living in a camper van after falling on hard times and fighting drug addiction problems.

2009 – Lynyrd Skynyrd keyboard player Billy Powell died at the age of 56 of a suspected heart attack in Florida.

2008 – Madonna topped the list for the richest female musician, according to Forbes.com. Its first-ever list focusing on women in the music industry estimated the 49-year-old banked $72m between June 2006 and June 2007. Barbra Streisand came second, with $60 million followed by Celine Dion with $45 million.

1999 – 20th century crooner Pat Boone formed the Gold Records label, which would only sign artists 45 years old and up. One of the first performers to be signed was two-time Grammy Award winner Jack Jones.

1996 – Diana Ross performed as the featured halftime act during Super Bowl XX in Tempe, AZ.

1991 – At The American Music Awards in Los Angeles, Gloria Estefan made her first live performance since injuring her back in a bus accident while on tour.

1985 – More than 40 artists gathered at A&M’s Hollywood studios to record “We Are the World” under the collective name “USA for Africa.” Proceeds from the single went toward worldwide hunger prevention.

1980 – The original Ants split with Adam.

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 American throws out about THIS many pounds of garbage each day. How many pounds is it?
Ten

2. THIS takes up the most space in landfills. What is it?
Paper

3. THIS item of garbage takes 80 to 100 years to decompose. What is it?
An aluminum can

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