MONDAY, Aug 18 – DAILY PREP TEXT VERSION

MORNING SIDEKICK DAILY PREP TEXT VERSION FOR MONDAY, August 18, 2025

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 – including “holidays” created by the National Day Calendar and Wellcat websites to drive traffic to their websites – or the hundreds of disease awareness listings which occur each year. We present only those specially designated days we feel your listeners would find most interesting or significant.)

NATIONAL COUPLE’S DAY

NATIONAL FAJITA DAY

NATIONAL ICE CREAM PIE DAY

PINOT NOIR DAY

August is:

Black Business Month
Family Fun Month
International Peace Month
National Back to School Month
National Catfish Month
National Crayon Collection Month
National Goat Cheese Month
National Golf Month
National Panini Month
National Peach Month
National Sandwich Month

ENTERTAINMENT & CELEBRITIES

WHAT TO WATCH – New and Returning Shows and Movies
Premiering Monday through Wednesday
Listings compiled from multiple sources

TUESDAY, Aug 19

“America’s Team: The Gambler and His Cowboys”
Netflix – New Docuseries
Synopsis: From a trio of Super Bowl triumphs to a string of controversies, this documentary series relives the wild ride of the ’90s Dallas Cowboys dynasty.

“Songs & Stories with Kelly Clarkson”
NBC – New Limited Series
Synopsis: In four weekly episodes, Clarkson interviews the Jonas Brothers, Gloria Estefan, Teddy Swims, and Lizzo.

“Stalking Samantha: 13 Years of Terror”
Hulu – New Docuseries
Synopsis: Tells the story of what happened to a woman who was stalked for over a decade and then kidnapped and chained in a soundproof bunker.

WEDNESDAY, Aug 20

“The Map That Leads to You”
Prime Video – New Movie (Amazon, Original Movie Premiere)
Synopsis: When a young woman crosses paths with a magnetic and mysterious stranger while on a European adventure with her best friends, their immediate connection sparks an emotional journey neither expected.

“The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox”
Hulu – New Limited Series
Synopsis: Explores the story of Knox’s wrongful conviction for the murder of Meredith Kercher and her fight for freedom.

Season Premieres:
Netflix – “Fisk”

THE BUZZ

HOW MANY MILES DO YOU SCROLL?

A company called Toll Free Forwarding, a virtual phone system, has done the math and come up with the distance we scroll on our phones each year. Here’s how they figured it: The average American spends 6 hours and 35 minutes a day on screens, adding up to 2,403 hours annually. They converted the average screen time into seconds, then multiplied each figure by 6.3 inches (the length of an iPhone 16 Pro Screen) over 10 (the frequency of a scroll, in seconds), resulting in the distance traveled in inches per day. The resulting figure was then divided by 12 to get the distance in feet per day. The figure was then divided by 5,280 to get the distance in miles per day, and then multiplied by 365 to get the final figure. (* I was told there would be no math.) The result: We scroll an average of 86 miles per year.
Here are the Top Ten distances by state:
1. Arizona / 8h 50m / 115.37 miles
2. Washington / 8h 17m / 108.18 miles
3. Kentucky / 8h 3m / 105.18 miles
4. Missouri / 7h 49m / 102.17 miles
5. New Mexico / 7h 20m / 95.90 miles
6. Texas / 7h 19m 9/ 5.77 miles
7. Maryland / 7h 14m / 94.59 miles
8. Louisiana / 7h 9m / 93.42 miles
9. S. Carolina / 7h 6m / 92.76 miles
10. Georgia / 6h 8m / 91.7 miles
* Let your fingers do the walking – Yellow Pages!
* You know somebody right now is thinking, “How can I monetize this? Can we charge by the distance scrolled? How about scrolling plans: $5 per every 10 miles scrolled?”
* And that person thinking that must be killed.
* What I get from this is that Toll Free Forwarding may as well go down to a four-day workweek, ’cause they clearly have a lot of free time.

FIVE BODY PARTS FUTURE HUMANS WILL NOT HAVE

Scientists say future humans will evolve into losing five body parts due to the way we live today. Changes in diet, technology, and environment could drive these evolutionary shifts over thousands of years.
1. Hair. Humans are already shedding plenty of hair, and scientists predict that humans may continue to lose it all. Modern clothing, heated homes, and technological comforts also mean natural insulation is no longer vital.
2. Wisdom teeth.
3. Tailbone. The tailbone, or coccyx, is a leftover from our primate tails and originally helped with balance and supporting a tail. Today, it serves little purpose, though it still supports some pelvic muscles. Modern lifestyles — with flat surfaces, chairs, and less need for climbing or gripping — mean the coccyx is largely redundant. (*Also, no one can spell it, so who needs it?)
4. Appendix: Once used for digesting tough, fibrous material, today, it’s mostly redundant. Modern cooked and processed diets mean we no longer need this little organ to break down food.
5. Ear muscles. Once they were used to swivel our ears toward sounds, just like cats and dogs do. Now, they serve little to no practical purpose.
* Pffff – like humans are going to evolve. Like we’re going to be around long enough to evolve.
* I’m deducting 20 points because they forgot to mention tonsils.
* What a great job, making predictions nobody can check, like “The sun will explode in 5 billion years.” So much easier than, say, trying to cure cancer.
* Why can’t we lose things like, oh, boogers or hangnails?

U.S. NEWS

TEACHER ARRESTED FOR DUI IN BETWEEN CLASSES, SECOND DAY OF SCHOOL

A Florida elementary school teacher has been arrested after he was involved in a drunken car crash in a campus parking lot. It happened on just the second day of classes at Explorer K-8 in Spring Hill, Florida. Deputies said they found eighth-grade language arts teacher Philip Scire, 32, just before 11.45 a.m. unconscious behind the wheel of his vehicle in the aftermath of a “single-vehicle collision” in the school’s rear parking lot, where he had driven his car into a fence. He was surrounded by several empty single-serve alcohol containers, and his vehicle was still in gear. He was described by a former student as “an amazing teacher. I hope he gets the help he needs.”
* 8th Grade! Well, there ya go. Case dismissed!!!
* OK, who had “Second Day Of School” in the Teacher Goes Crazy Office Pool?
* One clue was his bumper sticker that said “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere.”
* Obviously, elementary school teaching is not for him. Looks like a college professorship is more his style.
* Today’s assignment: an essay, “How I Spent My Detox Vacation.”

NEW JERSEY PARENTS FACE JAIL TIME IF KIDS BREAK LAW

Parents in a New Jersey town will now face fines or jail time if their children break any laws, ranging from drunkenness to felonies. The Gloucester Township Council has announced that any parent who fails to prevent their child from committing a crime will face up to 90 days in jail or fines totaling $2,000. The council has identified 28 crimes that could result in parents being fined or jailed, including:
– Disorderly conduct
– Associating with thieves
– Gambling
– Idly roaming the streets. (* Loitering? Really?)
– Incorrigibility
– Immorality
– Begging
* Hey, kids – wanna get back at your parents for making you do your homework?
* Wanna spend more time with grandma, who gives you cookies and takes you fun places?
* “Mom, Dad – Buy me an e-bike or I’m robbing a liquor store!”
* Every one of these things – that’s my childhood right there.
* It sounds like 90% of the residents of Gloucester are 70 years or older.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

MAN ARRESTED FOR KIDNAPPING HIMSELF

A 29 year-old Nigerian man was arrested for allegedly staging his own kidnapping with the intent to extort money from his parents and acquaintances. Bello Azeez had earlier requested the sum of $500,000 Nigerian nairas, which is the equivalent of $326, from his father to repay a debt. When his father refused, he began placing distress calls to his parents and friends, alleging that he had been kidnapped. They believed him and created a GoFundMe account, through which they successfully raised the 500,000 Nigerian nairas, which, again, is the equivalent of $326. They caught on when the ‘kidnapper’ asked for the ransom to be transferred directly into Azeez’s personal bank account. This prompted his family to alert police. Mr. Azeez was arrested and confessed to the crime.
* The hardest part of kidnapping yourself is convincing yourself to get into the trunk of the car.
* Now he’s thinking he really shouldn’t have sent his family his left ear as proof of life.
* How did Dad not put two and two together? Either Dad is an idiot, or he and the rest of the family don’t talk to each other very much at the dinner table.
* From GoFundMe to GoScrewMe.

THE ROBOT OLYMPICS

More than 500 humanoid robots in 280 teams from 16 countries competed at the first World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing, China, over the weekend. There were 26 events ranging from soccer and boxing, to track and field, to sorting medicine and cleaning up. These are robots that resemble humans: arms, legs, a head. The robots crashed into each other and toppled over repeatedly. Others fell over mid-sprint during running events. One of the fastest robots finished a 1,500-meter race in 6 minutes and 29 seconds — well off the current human record of 3:26. Said one German engineer, “The games are a chance to test the robots. If it doesn’t work, we lose the game, but it’s better than investing a lot of money into a product that fails.”
* God forbid America fall behind in the ping-pong robot race.
* One robot set a new record for robot pole vault: It jumped five and three-quarter inches and when it landed it fell over and broke.
* I like the idea of athlete robots that compete, and then have to clean up the stadium after everyone leaves. Such indignity.
* The robot winners get a medal and a case of 10W40.
* The losers get sent to factories to assemble iPhones.

TRENDING

PINK FLOYD’S BURNING MAN DIES

Hollywood stuntman Ronnie Rondell Jr. has died at the age of 88. Besides the hundreds of falls and punches and jumps he performed in the movies, Rondell is perhaps best known as the man on fire on the cover of the classic Pink Floyd album “Wish You Were Here”, back in the golden era of album cover art. For the photo shoot, Rondell wore a fire-retardant layer underneath his business suit. He was dowsed with gasoline and lit on fire for a brief time before he dropped to the ground and was extinguished by the crew. The process was repeated 15 times. On the last take, he said, the flames ignited his real mustache and burned it off. (The concept for the image was, these are two music executives, and one of them is “getting burned” in a deal. If you say so.)

TRISTAN ROGERS, “SCORPIO” ON GENERAL HOSPITAL, DIES

Tristan Rogers, a longtime star of ABC’s daytime soap General Hospital, has died. He was 79. He played Robert Scorpio on General Hospital off and on over 45 years, and also had a run on CBS’ The Young and the Restless. Rogers died early Friday after a battle with lung cancer, though he had never been a smoker.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE (August 15-17)

1. Weapons – $25 million
2. Freakier Friday – $14.5 million
3. Nobody 2 – $9.2 million
4. Fantastic Four – $8.8 million
5. The Bad Guys 2 – $7.5 million

ALMANAC

NOTABLE DATES, UPCOMING U.S. OBSERVANCES

Sept. 1, Monday – Labor Day
Sept. 11, Thursday – Patriot Day
Sept. 19, Friday – National POW/MIA Recognition Day (The third Friday of September)
Sept. 22, Monday – Fall begins (Autumn Equinox is 2:19 p.m. EDT)
Oct. 13, Monday – Columbus Day
Oct. 16, Thursday – National Boss’s Day
Oct. 31, Friday – Halloween

BIRTHDAYS

Andy Samberg (comedian, actor, “Palm Springs,” “Brooklyn Nine-Nine”) … 47
Kaitlin Olson (actress, “Hacks,” “The Mick,” ″It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”) … 50
Edward Norton (actor) … 56
Christian Slater (actor, “Dexter: Original Sin,” “Dr. Death,” “Dirty John”) … 56
Denis Leary (comedian, actor, “Rescue Me”) … 68
Robert Redford (actor) … 89

Today’s Birthdays grade: All of today’s birthdays are in acting, and although it’s a big list, none ever won a Best Actor or Actress Oscar or Emmy. But that doesn’t mean they’re not good. Just not great. Grade: C-plus.

[Want to try something different with the daily birthdays? Try grading them! Some days have “good” celebs, some have “great” celebs, some have “lousy” celebs. For fun, give the group an arbitrary grade: A-plus through F-minus. Sidekick will give you our take on it; you can to take the concept and run with it.]

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

“I don’t have anything to prove to anybody, which is a lovely place to be.”

(A) Jeff Bezos
(B) Paul McCartney
(C) Edward Norton

ANSWER: (C) Edward Norton

1998 – Mrs. Field’s Original Cookies announced that they would acquire the Great American Cookie Co.
* Together with a gigantically huge glass of milk.

1960 – The first oral contraceptive was issued.
* It was called: “Talking about yourself when you’re drunk.”

1926 – A weather map was televised for the first time.
* Now you could actually SEE how wrong the forecast would be.

1919 – The “Anti-Cigarette League of America” was formed in Chicago.
* Their first official action was to join forces to buy chewing gum at bulk rates.

1840 – The American Society of Dental Surgeons was founded in New York City.
* They HAD to start there own club. Everybody else HATED them.

THIS DAY IN MUSIC HISTORY

1992 – Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love welcomed new daughter Frances Bean Cobain.

1986 – Bon Jovi released their breakthrough third studio album, “Slippery When Wet. The album topped charts around the globe – including in the U.S., Australia and Canada, and was certified 12x Platinum in the U.S.

1984 – Motley Crue gave its performance debut at the Monsters of Rock festival at Castle Donington, England.

1977 – The Police played their first official show at Rebecca’s Nightclub in Birmingham, UK.

1969 – Mick Jagger was accidentally shot in the hand during filming of “Ned Kelly” in Australia.

1962 – Ringo Starr made his debut with The Beatles at the Horticultural Society Dance in Birkenhead, England.

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. 26% of people surveyed say they have fallen asleep HERE while at work. Where is it?
In their car

2. When U.S. workers were asked to name the perk that would make them more willing to join or stay with a company, over 40% said THIS. What is it?
Half-day Fridays

3. More workers do THIS in the first 2 hours of the work day than at any other time of the day. What is it?
Actual work

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