FRIDAY, June 2 – DAILY PREP TEXT VERSION

MORNING SIDEKICK DAILY PREP TEXT VERSION FOR FRIDAY, June 2, 2023
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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 BUBBA DAY
The Holiday Insights website says this:
“National Bubba Day honors anyone named or called Bubba. To qualify to be honored today, your name can be formally, or informally ‘Bubba.’ You can even take on the name Bubba for just the day. That way everyone can celebrate this day. There’s a lot of ways to celebrate National Bubba Day. Acting like a Bubba is your starting point. Cards, parties and other celebrations are definitely in order. Gift giving is optional. Did you Know? Bubba is the Yiddish word for grandmother. Famous Bubba: A character in the movie Forrest Gump made the name Bubba famous.”

NATIONAL DONUT DAY – First Friday in June

NATIONAL LEAVE THE OFFICE EARLY DAY

NATIONAL ROCKY ROAD DAY
The Holiday Insights website says this:
“National Rocky Road Day is all about eating ice cream … specifically Rocky Road ice cream. Want to make your own Rocky Road Ice Cream? Just add nuts (almonds and/or pecans), mini marshmallows, and chunks of semisweet chocolate to your favorite ice cream recipe. Today would be the perfect day to make, and certainly eat, a batch of Rocky Road ice cream. If you aren’t into making ice cream, or just don’t have the time, you can buy Rocky Road ice cream at any grocery store. Or, visit your favorite ice cream store for a cone (large today).”

June is:

NATIONAL DJ MONTH – Yeah!
National Adopt a Cat / Adopt a Shelter Cat Month
African-American Music / Black Music Appreciation Month
Corn Month
Great Outdoors Month / National Camping Month
International Men’s Month
Lemon Month
LGBTQIA Pride Month
National Candy Month
National Fresh Fruit & Vegetables Month
National Iced Tea Month
National Rose Month
National Seafood Month
Women’s Golf Month

ENTERTAINMENT & CELEBRITIES

TODAY’S TAYLOR SWIFT/PEOPLE ARE IDIOTS STORY: DAUGHTER GAVE AWAY MOM’S TICKET

A woman named Sharon shared her story on a radio show on Boston’s Country 102.5. Sharon had bought two Taylor Swift tickets for $4,500 as a birthday present for her 19-year-old daughter. The plan was for them to go together. Apparently, her daughter didn’t know this, and gave away her mom’s ticket to her best friend. Sharon got mad and refused to drive her daughter to the show, so her daughter had to rely on Ubers each way, which with surge pricing added up to $400. Her daughter then asked for money to pay for the Ubers, which made Sharon furious. She is now also considering asking her daughter to replace the full $4,500 as well.
* The answer here is soooooo obvious: Go to Daddy and get him to pay. He’s a sucker, he’ll do it.
* Why wouldn’t a 19-year-old want to go to a Taylor Swift concert with her mom? That isn’t cringy at all.
* Sure, the daughter could have asked her friend to return the ticket to please her mom, but c’mon, which is the more important relationship here?
* Taylor Swift: tearing families apart in the new millennium.
* Are they sure she said her name was “Sharon,” and not “Karen”?
* PHONE TOPIC: What would you have done? Demanded the ticket back? Let your daughter go with her friend?

THE BUZZ

THE MOST LOVED/HATED BRANDS IN THE U.S.

The 2023 Axios Harris Poll of Brand Names With The Best Reputations has been released. The poll asked more than 16,000 Americans which two companies stand out as having the best reputation today and which two have the worst. Categories taken into consideration include “character,” “trust,” “ethics,” “vision,” “culture,” “citizenship” (assuming this means ‘American values’), “products and services.”
Here are the Top Ten Brands With The Best Reputations In America:
1. Patagonia (outdoor clothing retailer)
2. Costco
3. John Deere
4. Trader Joe’s
5. Chick-fil-A
6. Toyota
7. Samsung
8. Amazon
9. USAA insurance
10. Apple
* Could we have Patagonia run for president with Costco as the VP?
* No one says anything bad about Amazon because if you do, they’ll screw up your deliveries.
* I don’t think about stuff like character, vision and culture when I’m trying to get the best price on toilet tissue at Costco. Does that make me weird?

Here are the Bottom Ten Brands With The Worst Reputations In America, according to the survey:
91. Balenciaga (luxury clothing company)
92. BP
93. Bitcoin
94. TikTok
95. Spirit Airlines
96. Meta (formerly Facebook)
97. Twitter
98. Fox Corporation
99. FTX (the bankrupt currency exchange)
100. The Trump Organization
* What were those categories again – “character,” “trust,” “ethics,” “vision,” “culture,” “citizenship” (assuming this means ‘American values’), “products and services.” Thanks, just checking.
* Guess who wants a recount of the vote? C’mon, guess!!!
* Spirit Airlines is fifth from the bottom – not Southwest? Has anybody who took the poll traveled in the last three years?

U.S. NEWS

BOY WALKS TWO HOURS TO GRADUATE 8TH GRADE, IS GIVEN FULL COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIP

An eighth grade boy named Xavier Jones wanted to attend his middle school graduation, but he didn’t have a ride to the ceremony at Harris-Stowe State University in St. Louis. He asked his brother and a friend to walk with him the six miles to attend — a two-hour journey. When he arrived, he contacted his teacher, Darren Seals, to let him know he was there. During his speech, Mr. Seals stopped to let the audience know of Xavier’s feat. They all applauded the boy. And then, learning of Xavier’s dedication to school, the president of Harris-Stowe State University, Dr. LaTonia Collins Smith, offered him a full-ride Presidential scholarship to cover four years of housing, books and fees. The 14-year-old later said, “I remember something Mr. Seals told me. He said, ‘If I want it, I got to go get it.’ I wanted to graduate, so I was going to go to my graduation.”
* The brother and the friend who walked with him got a free bottle of water, I’m guessing.
* His mom and dad also got a certificate naming them Most Uninvolved Parents Ever.
* When do you learn to take a bus? 9th grade? Is that a 9th grade thing, learning bus schedules? Yeah, probably.
* Or imagine if there was a phone app where you could type in a destination, and someone would arrive in a car and take you there.
* I don’t mean to joke. I can’t get my kid to walk to the curb to bring the trash cans back.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

POTATOES DUMPED ON DANISH BRIDGE IN TAX PROTEST

In Denmark, near Copenhagen, a 57-year-old truck driver was detained Thursday after loads of potatoes were found spilled on a bridge linking two Danish islands. The driver was held on suspicion of dumping the potatoes, causing reckless endangerment to life. A first spill was reported on the westbound side of the Storebaelt bridge at 6.35 a.m. Then, another potato spill on the eastbound side a short time later. A third incident of potatoes on the road was reported near the town of Kolding, which is near the aforementioned Storebaelt bridge. Police said the roads had become slippery and dangerous. Officials noted that the potato spills occurred on the same day as the Danish parliament passed a law to tax diesel trucks transporting heavy loads.
* Potatoes. Why couldn’t it have been kale?
* Reckless endangerment to life? ‘Cause of all the carbohydrates?
* As crimes go, this isn’t small potatoes.
* What au gratin thing to do.
* Is it po-tay-to or po-tah-to? Is it car crash or car crahsh?

CANADA TO PRINT WARNING LABELS ON INDIVIDUAL CIGARETTES

Don’t know if you’re aware of this, but smoking is bad for you. And Canada has announced that it will begin requiring a warning label on each individual cigarette and other tobacco products in an effort to further reduce their appeal, becoming the world’s first country to use such a measure. Beginning on August 1, Canada will require cigarette companies to put individual health warnings on their products by the end of April 2025. The warnings will read, “Cigarettes Cause Cancer,” “Poison In Every Puff,” and “Tobacco Smoke Harms Children.”
* And then “… Your lucky numbers are 5, 18, 26, 29 and 44.”
* And you just know commercial sponsorship of each individual cigarette will follow close behind. “This cigarette will kill you. Drink Molson!”
* That’s gonna be some small printing. How ’bout having every pack of cigarettes come with reading glasses?
* Just in case that’s not scary enough, when the ink the messages are printed in burns, that smoke is also super-poisonous.
* Look, smokers know it’s dangerous. Why not put useful warnings they can use, like: “You Really Need to Make a Will” or “Check Now If Your Health Plan Covers Chemo.”
* Imagine if Pop-Tarts came with a warning message written in frosting. If Mac&Cheese had, instead of macaroni, little pasta skull and crossbones. If Alpha-Bits only had three letters – D, I and E.

TRENDING

BILLY JOEL TO END 10-YEAR MONTHLY RESIDENCY AT MADISON SQUARE GARDEN

Rock ‘n’ roll legend Billy Joel has announced he will end his 10-year, monthly residency at New York’s Madison Square Garden in July 2024. The Piano Man will have played 150 sold-out shows at the venue during his lifetime by the time he ends the residency, and sold more than 1.6 million tickets by the time he wraps up his run.

ALMANAC

NOTABLE DATES, UPCOMING U.S. OBSERVANCES

June 14, Wednesday – Flag Day
June 18, Sunday – Father’s Day
June 21, Wednesday – Summer begins (The June solstice occurs at 10:58 a.m. EDT)
July 4, Tuesday – U.S. Independence Day
Sept. 4, Monday – Labor Day
Sept. 11, Monday – Patriot Day
Sept. 23, Saturday – Fall begins (Autumn Equinox is 2:50 a.m. EDT)

BIRTHDAYS

Dan Cahoon (country singer with Marshall Dyllon) … 40
Zachary Quinto (actor, “The Boys in the Band,” “NOS4A2,” Spock in “Star Trek” reboot films) … 46
Wentworth Miller (actor, Captain Cold on “DC’s Legends of Tomorrow”) … 51
Wayne Brady (comedian, actor, “Real Husbands of Hollywood”) … 51
Dana Carvey (Ex-SNL cast member, comedy actor) … 68
Michael Steele (bassist with The Bangles) … 68

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

“I would love to be a voice in this maelstrom of chaos and obsessive celebrity infatuation that says, ‘Let’s talk about something that matters.'”

(A) Kanye West
(B) Kim Kardashian
(C) Zachary Quinto

ANSWER: (C) Zachary Quinto

THIS DAY IN HISTORY

1997 – Timothy McVeigh was convicted of murder and conspiracy in the Oklahoma City bombing, and was later executed.
* No matter how hot it gets this summer, it ain’t nothin’ compared to where he’s at.

1993 – Apple Computer lost its court battle against Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard. Apple had argued that the companies stole the look and feel of the Macintosh.
* And Apple’s been sour ever since.

1924 – Congress granted U.S. citizenship to all American Indians.
* “Welcome to our country!”

1910 – Pygmies were discovered in Dutch New Guinea.
* They were quickly put to work making tiny little Nike sneakers.

1896 – Guglielmo Marchese Marconi received a patent for the radio.
* To his credit, he didn’t name it after himself, or today we’d all be listening to the Guglielmo.

1875 – Alexander Graham Bell made a mistake that led to the development of the telephone. While trying to send two telegraph signals through a wire simultaneously, he accidentally adjusted a screw too tight, which allowed him to hear audio coming down the wire. Within a year, he turned his mistake into the telephone.
* Gee, all those people who thought he had a screw loose – were right!

THIS DAY IN MUSIC HISTORY

2002 – It was reported that Paul McCartney threw his fiance Heather Mills’ engagement ring out of a hotel window during an argument. Guards at Miami’s Turnberry Isle Resort combed the grounds using metal detectors and later found the $25,500 ring.

1995 – Stone Roses’ John Squire smashed his collarbone in a cycling accident, causing the band to pull out of major gigs.

1989 – Rolling Stone Bill Wyman, 52, secretly married 19-year-old Mandy Smith. Wyman’s 28-year-old son was best man. All other four Stones attended. The marriage lasted 17 months.

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. 75% of us eat THIS once a week – 5% of us eat it every day. What is it?
Pasta

2. Most people consume more of THESE on a Saturday than on any other day of the week. What are they?
Calories

3. 5% of people say they eat THIS after a bad day. What is it?
Mac and cheese

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