MONDAY, Dec 2 – DAILY PREP TEXT VERSION

MORNING SIDEKICK DAILY PREP TEXT VERSION FOR MONDAY, Dec 2, 2024
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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.)

BUSINESS OF POPPING CORN DAY
The National Today website says this:
“Business of Popping Corn Day celebrates Charles Cretors and his invention — the first large-scale popcorn popping machine. In the 19th century, most people made popcorn by holding long-handled wire boxes filled with kernels over fires that, although effective for home consumption, were inadequate for commercial success. Cretors powered his popcorn machine with a steam engine which moved the gears, shaft, and an agitator that stirred the kernels. The fresh popcorn was caught in a storage bin. Additionally, steam was diverted to a whistle, which caught the attention of customers. He applied for a patent for his invention on August 10, 1891, and it was granted on October 10, 1893. The same year, he took his invention to the World’s Columbian Exposition where the wider public could sample his machine’s popcorn for the first time, sparking its widespread popularity.”

CYBER MONDAY

NATIONAL FRITTERS DAY
The Holiday Insights website says this:
“Today is National Fritters Day. Before you can begin to celebrate this very important day, you need to know what a ‘fritter’ is. Many people do not know, making it all the more fun to eat your first fritter today. A fritter is fried cake or dough with fruit or meats inside. Whatever you do, do not fritter this day away without eating at least one fritter. Happy National Fritters Day!”

NATIONAL MUTT DAY
The National Mutt Day website says this:
“National Mutt Day was created in 2005 by Celebrity Pet & Family Lifestyle Expert and Animal Welfare Advocate, Colleen Paige, (also founder of National Dog Day, National Cat Day, National Puppy Day & many more) and is celebrated on both July 31st and December 2nd. National Mutt Day is all about embracing, saving and celebrating mixed breed dogs. National Mutt Day was created to be celebrated on two dates per year to raise awareness of the plight of mixed breed dogs in shelters around the nation and to educate the public about the sea of mixed breed dogs that desperately await new homes. Mixed breed dogs tend to be healthier, better behaved, they live longer and are just as able to perform the duties of pure bred dogs – such as bomb and drug sniffing, search and rescue and guiding the blind. There are millions of loving and healthy mixed breed dogs sitting in shelters, who are desperately searching for a new home.”

NATIONAL SPECIAL EDUCATION DAY
The National Day Calendar website says this:
“National Special Education Day marks the anniversary of our nation’s first federal special education law which was signed by President Gerald Ford on December 2, 1975. This law is the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). IDEA made education available to all American children and this day honors the progress that has been made in special education.”

PLAY BASKETBALL DAY

December is:

Exotic/Tropical Fruits Month
National Egg Nog Month
National Fruit Cake Month
National Stress-Free Family Holiday Month
National Write a Business Plan Month
Safe Toys and Gifts Month
Tomato Month
Winter Squash Month

ENTERTAINMENT & CELEBRITIES

WHAT TO WATCH – New and Returning Shows and Movies
Premiering Monday through Wednesday
Listings sourced from the TV Guide, EW and other websites

TUESDAY, December 3

“Bad Actor: A Hollywood Ponzi Scheme”
Hulu – Documentary
Synopsis: Profiles aspiring movie star Zachary Horowitz and the infamous multi-million Ponzi scheme he ran. Through interviews with his victims, the film digs into the psychology of this scheme and also prompts viewers to examine why we believe what we believe.

“CMA Country Christmas”
ABC – Music Special

“Fortune Feimster: Crushing It!”
Netflix – Comedy Special
Synopsis: Feimster humorously recounts her marital experiences, personal growth, and the comedic aspects of daily life, offering a relatable and entertaining perspective.

“Girls Gone Wild: The Untold Story”
Peacock – New Docuseries
Synopsis: Digs into the porn franchise that objectified young women on spring break in Panama City Beach, Florida, in the late ’90s and 2000s, including interviews with former employees and several women who said they were exploited in Girls Gone Wild productions.

“Jack in Time for Christmas”
Prime Video – new Movie
Synopsis: Jack Whitehall finds himself stranded in the USA with just four days to make it back to the UK for Christmas. With time ticking away, Jack embarks on an incredible journey involving planes, trains, huskies, and bobsleighs. Along the way, some of his famous friends join the fun as Jack navigates the chaos of Christmas and tries to make it home in time.

“Jung Kook: I Am Still the Original”
Disney+ – New Docuseries from Korea
Synopsis: Discusses BTS member Jung Kook’s solo single “Seven (feat. Latto)” and his promotional activities for his solo album, “Golden.”

“Star Wars: Skeleton Crew”
Disney+ – Yet Another Star Wars Spinoff Series
Synopsis: Follows a group of youngsters on an adventure after they discover an ancient relic on their home planet, leading them to cross paths with a mysterious character played by Jude Law.

Season Premiere:
HBO – “Hard Knocks: In Season With the AFC North”

WEDNESDAY, December 4

“Christmas in Rockefeller Center”
NBC – Holiday Special
Synopsis: The 72nd annual tree-lighting features appearances by U.S. Olympians, Hilary Duff, Kenny Chesney, Clay Aiken, Jessica Simpson, Nick Lachey, Chris Isaak, Michael Bublé, Vanessa Williams, the Radio City Rockettes, and hosts Al Roker and Nancy O’Dell.

“Churchill at War”
Netflix – New Docuseries
Synopsis: Examines Winston Churchill’s pivotal role in World War II and the formative events that made him an ideal leader for the era.

“Light Shop”
Hulu – New series from Korea
Synopsis: The living and the dead intersect as this world and the afterlife are connected through a store selling lighting.

“Pop Culture Jeopardy!”
Prime Video – New Game Show
Synopsis: Hosted by Colin Jost, eighty-one teams of three compete in the first ever Pop Culture Jeopardy! tournament for the grand prize of $300,000.

“Tomorrow and I”
Netflix – New Series from Thailand
Synopsis: Reimagines Thailand in a dystopian future where technology scrapes at the surface of old customs, exposing rips in the fabric of culture.

Season Premiere:
Netflix – “The Ultimatum: Marry or Move On”

THE BUZZ

AUDIO: THE EARWORM ERASER

Do you ever get a song stuck in your head and it just keeps looping around and around? That’s known as an earworm. It’s usually a section of a song that’s particularly memorable – what’s known as a “hook” – a predictable series of notes and chord progressions that are designed to make you remember the song. Like the Baby Shark song, or a TV theme song, or pretty much anything by Taylor Swift. Kelly Jakubowski, a professor of music psychology at Durham University in the United Kingdom has come up with the Earworm Eraser – a 40-second audio track designed specifically to squash earworms. Every few seconds, it switches between fast and slow tempos, different time signatures and musical styles. The Earworm Eraser has been posted on YouTube for a while, it’s had more than 100,000 hits.
* Now I have the phrase “Earworm Eraser” repeating in my head.
* Usually I just listen to Imagine Dragons and that puts me off music entirely for the rest of the day. (or: Cardi B, Lil Pump, Bhad Bhabie, 6ix9ine)
* I’d be afraid that the Earworm Eraser would lay little music eggs in my brain, and then when they hatch my head would be crawling with all these little song snippets I can’t get rid of.
* Now I’m worried about the rest of the songs I’m gonna play this morning.
* Have everybody on your team, and your listeners, get a song in their head, then play the Earworm Eraser below, and see if it works.
CLIP: The Earworm Eraser.
CLIP URL: morningsidekick(dot)(com)/prep/wp-content/uploads/EarwormEraser(dot)mp3

THINGS I DIDN’T NEED TO LEARN IN SCHOOL

Reddit asked, “What’s something you learned in school that you’ve never needed?” Some of the responses:
– “Square dancing.”
– “The recorder.”
– “French.”
– “My high school didn’t offer German, which I wanted to learn. They told me to take Spanish because I’d never need to speak German. Got stationed in Germany for a few years afterwards.”
– “Sentence diagramming. Clauses, prepositions, gerunds, interjections, articles, prepositions, determiners and the like.”
– “The first 20 elements of the periodic table. Although SOMETIMES it comes in handy when I’m watching Jeopardy.”
– “Math. I remember my 4th grade teacher repeatedly saying, “it’s not like you’ll be walking around with a calculator in your pocket!” Joke’s on you Mrs. Bartman.”
– “Sine, cosine tangent, cotangent, and whatever the hell secant and cosecant is.”
– “The Dewey decimal system. It was already out of date when they taught it.”
– “Frog dissection.”
– “Cursive. I can’t even remember how to do some of the letters.”
– “Quadratic equations.”
– “Climbing a rope in gym class. Not even once have I ever had to do that.”
– “How to open a combination lock. Now it’s just my nightmare.”
– “Abstinence.”
* PHONE TOPIC: Is there something you learned in school that you actually DO use often?

U.S. NEWS

FIRED CEMETERY WORKERS DESTROY HEADSTONES

Three just-fired graveyard workers in Tennessee went on a rampage, hopping in a company truck and knocking down 170 tombstones. It happened last Monday at New Park Cemetery in Memphis. The three men caused tens of thousands of dollars in damage. Jeff Roberts, the owner of the cemetery, did not say why the three employees were fired. (* Taking a guess here… poor anger management?), Roberts declined to press charges because he was concerned they could do more damage in the moment.
* Same reason you don’t want to charge a murderer, I guess.
* Too bad. He had them dead to rights.
* Police at the scene say it was awful, there were bodies everywhere.
* Why were they fired? The just didn’t dig working there.
* Talk about a dead-end job.

L.A. MALL CHARGES A LOT TO SEE SANTA

An upscale Los Angeles shopping mall is charging for visits with Santa Claus. The Westfield at Century City is selling timed-entry passes to their Santa’s North Pole Adventure experience at various price levels: $109 for the “Elf Pass,” $125 for the “Reindeer Express,” and $165 for the VIP pass, which allows privileged kiddies into “Santa’s Inner Circle,” which includes complimentary cookies. The 30- to 45-minute experience features a scavenger hunt in the Christmas village, a postcard station, and a train car mock up for photo ops. The kids get three minutes with Santa in his little Santa house. Local media reported lines around the block when the attraction first opened last week.
* $165! Geeze, it’s Santa Claus, not Disneyland.
* ‘Tis the Season to be Gouged.
* For $165 I’d want Santa to valet my car around to the entrance when we’re done.
* Does Santa’s Inner Circle promise that he’ll look favorably on your North Sea drilling proposal?
* For shopping malls, It’s the Most Profitable Time of the Year.

THE NASA ROCKET ENGINE FIREPLACE YULE LOG

It started with the Yule Log, a video you could play on your VCR at Christmastime and give your room a little winter ambience. Then came the “Christmas Dumpster Fire yule log,” the “Florida Beach Fire yule log,” the “Nick Offerman Drinking Whiskey yule log,” the “Joe Pesci From Home Alone 2 With His Head On Fire yule log,” and many more. This year, NASA has released its own take on the classic yule log: an eight hour video of rocket engines. Imagine the holiday warmth you’ll feel as your TV broadcasts a cozy fireplace with four RS-25 rocket engines exerting 512,300 pounds of thrust, burning 175,000 gallons of super-cooled liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. If you want to light up your holidays, just go to YouTube and search for NASA Rocket Engine Fireplace.
* Buy the DVD and give it to that weird nephew in your family who’s always flicking his lighter.
* Fourteen NASA rocket engineers died making this video, you know.
* Houston, we have a problem… keeping these IN STOCK!
* Big deal. The SpaceX Rocket Yule Log returns itself to its plastic bin of Christmas stuff after you use it.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

ACTOR DIES ON STAGE DURING “A CHRISTMAS CAROL”

An actor at Edmonton, Canada’s Citadel Theater died on stage during a performance of “A Christmas Carol.” Popular local actor Julien Arnold, 60, was midway through the play last Sunday when he suddenly collapsed. Paramedics arrived on the scene at 8:28 p.m. and attempted to resuscitate him, but Mr. Arnold died inside the theater. He had been playing the roles of Mr. Fezziwig and Marley’s ghost.
* Wow, now THAT’s method acting.
* Did anybody shout, “Is there a doctor in the house?”
* Like they say in the theater, comedy is hard, dying is easy.
* Good thing he wasn’t playing Scrooge, or his maids and servants would have sold all his stuff before he was even cold.
* And now they have to reprint the Playbills.

DRIVER STOPPED FOR USING SHOELACES TO MANUALLY MOVE WINDSHIELD WIPERS

In Staffordshire, England, a driver was pulled over for using a shoelace to manually operate the car’s broken windshield wipers. Police spotted the driver of the Nissan Micra pulling the wipers back and forth with a shoelace tied to one of the blades, which then ran around into the driver side window. Police charged the 31-year-old man with driving without a license and using a vehicle in a dangerous condition.
* Besides, I think Elon Musk has that method patented for his crappy Cybertruck, no?
* Too bad they’ve already given out the Nobel Prize for Physics this year.
* “Sorry, sir, we don’t reward ingenuity over here. That’s an American thing.”
* It’s a British car. Did he get the shoelace from the car’s boot? (That’s a joke for all you Britons out there.)

TRENDING

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE (Five days – 11/27-12/1)

1. Moana 2: $221 million
2. Wicked: $117 million
3. Gladiator 2: $44 million
4. Red One – $18 million
5. Best Christmas Pageant Ever – $4.8 million

ALMANAC

NOTABLE DATES, UPCOMING U.S. OBSERVANCES

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

Britney Spears (singer) … 43
Joe Lo Truglio (actor, “Brooklyn Nine-Nine”) … 54
Lucy Liu (actress, “Red One,” “Presence,” “Elementary”) … 56
Nate Mendel (bassist, Foo Fighters) … 56
Richard “Rick” Savage (bassist, Def Leppard) … 64
Today’s Birthdays grade: Britney kept us entertained in the 00s, had problems, landed on her feet, A; Lucy Liu, great work for over 30 years, A; Joe Lo Truglio, fun on Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Reno 911, B; today gets a respectable A-minus.
[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 know not everyone will like me, but this is who I am, so if you don’t like it, tough!”

(A) Kanye West
(B) Will Smith
(C) Britney Spears

ANSWER: (C) Britney Spears

THIS DAY IN HISTORY

2014 – Physicist Stephen Hawking claimed that Artificial Intelligence could be a “threat to mankind” and spell the end of the human race.
* Well, the end of a lot of our JOBS, anyway.

2014 – Comedian Bill Cosby resigned from the board of trustees of Temple University – an institution he was long associated with – following renewed sexual assault allegations.
* Not funny.

2001 – Enron filed for Chapter 11 protection in one of the largest corporate bankruptcies in U.S. history.
* Largest? Oh, just wait …

1998 – Bill Gates donated $100-million of his Microsoft fortune for a worldwide immunization program for children.
* He loses that much behind the cushions of his couch each month.

1982 – In the first operation of its kind, doctors at the University of Utah Medical Center implanted a permanent artificial heart in a human being. Barney Clark, a retired dentist, lived 112 days with the device.
* So they didn’t quite get the “permanent” part working right.

1970 – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency came into being.
* Big industries needed a centralized location to send their bribes and payoffs.

1969 – Boeing’s 747 jumbo jet made its inaugural flight from Boeing Field in Seattle to New York City.
* I think I flew in that same jet over Thanksgiving.

1942 – Scientists at the University of Chicago produced the first atomic chain reaction.
* They were so happy, they absolutely glowed.

1816 – The first savings bank in the United States, the Philadelphia Savings Fund Society, opened for business.
* “Do I get a free toaster when I open an account?”
“What’s a ‘toaster’?”

THIS DAY IN MUSIC HISTORY

2023 – Rock band KISS concluded their farewell “End of the Road” tour at Madison Square Garden, NYC; the encore was performed by the premiere of digital avatars of the group.

2016 – Duran Duran said they were “outraged and saddened” at losing a legal fight to reclaim U.S. rights to some of their most famous songs. “Girls on Film,” “Rio” and “A View to a Kill” were among the disputed tracks.

2012 – Led Zeppelin received a prestigious award from U.S. president Barack Obama for their significant contribution to American culture and the arts. Dressed in black suits and bow ties, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and Jimmy Page were among a group of artists who received Kennedy Center Honors at a dinner event at the White House. In his tribute to the band, Mr. Obama said: “When Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and John Bonham burst onto the musical scene in the late 1960s, the world never saw it coming.” The president thanked the former band members for behaving themselves at the White House given their history of “hotel rooms being trashed and mayhem all around.”

2007 – Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne made more than $800,000 for charity after they sold off some of their possessions from their former US home. Items sold included the family’s custom pool table for $11,250 and a pair of Ozzy’s trademark round glasses went for $5,250. The beaded wire model of the Eiffel Tower that adorned the kitchen fetched $10,000, while skull-adorned sneakers worn by Ozzy sold for $2,625.

2000 – Thieves broke into the London home Madonna shares with Guy Ritchie. The raiders forced their way in through a basement door then took a set of car keys before loading up Guy Ritchie’s car with some of the couple’s possessions and driving off.

1997 – A man died after falling from a balcony during a Rolling Stones concert at Pontiac Silverdome, Michigan.

1997 – Whitney Houston pulled out of a concert sponsored by the Moonies two hours before she was due on stage. The religious group said they had no intention of suing providing the singer returned the $1 million fee she had received.

1986 – Jerry Lee Lewis checked into the Betty Ford Clinic to overcome his addiction to painkillers.

1983 – MTV aired the full 14-minute version of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” video for the first time.

1976 – While photographing the cover of their “Animals” LP, Pink Floyd’s giant inflatable pig got loose and drifted over a power station – the photo of that incident went on to become the album’s cover.

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. When it comes to buying THESE, 20% of us buy the wrong size. What are they?
Gloves

2. Studies have shown that falling snow has THIS effect on a majority of people. What is it?
It makes them more romantic

3. THESE are used in December more than any other month of the year. What are they?
Credit cards

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