TUESDAY, Feb 18 – DAILY PREP TEXT VERSION

MORNING SIDEKICK DAILY PREP TEXT VERSION FOR TUESDAY, February 18, 2025
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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 – 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.)

COW MILKED WHILE FLYING IN AN AIRPLANE DAY
The A Year of Holidays website says this:
“Today is Elm Farm Ollie Day, also known by the more descriptive title, Cow Milked While Flying In An Airplane Day. On February 18, 1930, a Guernsey cow named Nellie Jay or Elm Farm Ollie was flown 72 miles from Bismarck, Missouri to St. Louis for the International Air Exposition. The flight, besides being a great publicity stunt, was intended to let scientists study the effect of flight on animals. While in the air, Elm Farm Ollie was milked. Then the milk was sealed in paper cartons attached to miniature parachutes and dropped on the people of St. Louis.”

DRINK WINE DAY

EAT ICE CREAM FOR BREAKFAST DAY

NATIONAL BATTERY DAY

NATIONAL CRAB STUFFED FLOUNDER DAY

PLUTO DAY
Once named the ninth planet of our Solar System, but downgraded to “dwarf planet,” Pluto was discovered by Clyde W. Tombaugh on February 18, 1930, at the Lowell Observatory in Arizona.

February is:

Adopt a Rescued Rabbit Month
African American History Month
Celebration of Chocolate Month
International Boost Self Esteem Month
International Friendship Month
National Bird Feeding Month
National Snack Food Month
National Sweet Potato Month
Spunky Old Broads Month
Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Month

THE BUZZFRANKLY, IT WASN’T THAT BIG A DEAL

Reddit asked, “What’s something you found out was hugely exaggerated once you saw it for yourself?” Some of the responses:
– “Mount Rushmore”
– “The Alamo. Were people just smaller then?”
– “Buckingham Palace. You just stand outside it. Might as well be looking at a TV.”
– “Hamilton musical.”
– “Lobster.”
– “Graceland.”
– “A ride in a Corvette. I just didn’t get the allure.”
– “How short George Clooney is.”
– “The air puff glaucoma test. Its really not bad at all, and people make it sound like they’re shooting you in the eyeball.”
– “Beignets in New Orleans. It’s just funnel cake from the county fair.”
– “Plymouth Rock.”
– “Colonoscopy prep.”
* PHONE TOPIC: What thing did you find out was not nearly as good or as bad as everybody told you?

U.S. NEWS

WILD HONEY DROVE MAN MAD

A Fremont, Michigan, man thinks he has found out what made him have a psychotic break three years ago. Tony Cirigliano and his family disappeared following a bizarre call to 911. They were later found safe at a Wisconsin hotel 600 miles from home. Tony was acting very strangely. He now believes he knows what happened. He was poisoned by honey. After receiving help through a mental health clinic, they gave him the diagnosis of “substance-induced psychosis,” triggered by the over-consumption of ‘mad honey,’ which contained brain-altering neurotoxins. Mad honey is produced when bees collect nectar from rhododendrons that contain poisonous compounds called grayanotoxins. Symptoms range from slow heart rate and low blood pressure to vomiting, dizziness and, in high doses, hallucinations. Tony put a teaspoon or two into the yogurt he ate once or twice a day. That’s when he started having vivid dreams and strange behaviors. Since throwing it away, had not had any additional episodes of psychosis.
* Though he still makes little buzzing sounds as he moves about the house.
* It also didn’t help that he was eating “magic mushroom flavor” yogurt.
* So we’ve had recalls of broccoli, tuna, donuts … but poison honey is okay? What the heck, Michigan?
* The lesson here, as Carl Perkins once told us, is “Honey Don’t.”
* Dizziness and hallucinations due to overconsumption of mad honey is maybe not the warning he thinks it is.
* Folks, I think we have the sequel to “Cocaine Bear.”

FLORIDA WOMAN’S DATE CANCELS, SHE ATTACKS HIM WITH GARDEN HOE

A Florida woman is behind bars after she allegedly attacked a man with a garden hoe for canceling plans with her. Police say Melanie Davis, 47, had plans to “hang out” with a man last week but he canceled. Upset by his decision, Davis allegedly went to his home in Frostproof, Florida, at around 3 a.m. last Tuesday and began yelling at him from outside, then climbed a fence to his property, pushed through a door, and began punching him. At some point, she grabbed the hoe and hit him with it, which caused a serious cut on his arm. The man was taken to a hospital while Davis was taken to jail and charged with armed burglary with battery, aggravated battery and criminal mischief. Davis has a long history with the Polk County Sheriff’s Office. She was most recently jailed in March 2024 when she was charged with domestic violence, and before that in 1997, when she was first charged with battery at age 19.
* Yeah, I don’t think the anger management classes are working.
* The guy keeps a hoe in the house? How dirty are HIS floors?
* 28 years is a long time to be cranky. Sounds exhausting!
* I have a feeling that for Melanie, “hanging out” means going to the gym for a boxing session.

IDAHO MAN BREAKS JUGGLING RECORD

An Idaho man broke a Guinness World Records for “the most juggling tricks performed in one minute.” David Rush, who already holds several juggling world record titles, successfully beat the previous record of 39 tricks in one minute during a visit to Guinness World Records headquarters in London. Mr. Rush performed 49 tricks in one minute.
* And coming from Idaho, he did it with potatoes.
* I’d be more impressed if it was chainsaws.
* Would it be rude to ask him what’s the point?
* 49 tricks in one minute. Sounds like a speed record in a Nevada brothel.
* By the way, David Rush gets laid, like, never.

OKLAHOMA MAN COLLECTS BRICKS

An Oklahoma man also now has a Guinness World Record for his large collection of 8,882 different bricks. Clem Reinkemeyer, 87, has been collecting bricks for 40 years. One of them is a Roman brick from A.D. 100, but most of the other ones date from the last few hundred years. He said some of his most valuable bricks are those with misspellings, such as one that reads “Tulsa” with a backward “s.” He says, “I think Oklahoma has a history for the most misspelled bricks.” (* I’ve got a theory on that, but we’re not getting into it today.) Mr. Reinkemeyer said bricks interest him because of the history they hold.
* …and the unconditional love they give in return.
* He loves bricks, but hates rock music. Go figure.
* I’d say he was one brick short of a load, but actually, with 8,882 bricks he’s got more than 17 loads. (about 500 bricks to a pallet is a “load”)
* When he found out he held the world record, it hit him like a ton of — aw, never mind.
* He also has a record for the most hernias.
* 8,882 bricks in 87 years. A life well lived.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

PLANE TURNS UPSIDE-DOWN IN CRASH LANDING

Thankfully, there were no deaths but there were at least 15 injuries, possibly three critical, in the Delta plane crash in Toronto on Monday. It is believed there were 80 passengers and crew on the flight. There are no reports on why the plane flipped, but strong winds had been impacting Toronto’s Pearson International Airport all day. Images from the scene showed the mangled, upside-down airliner smoldering on the snowy runway as dazed passengers scrambled out.
* The plane landed in one big metaphor.
* They’re examining the plane top to bottom. Or maybe in this case it’s bottom to top.
* I bet you there was one guy on the plane who didn’t turn off his phone or other electric devices.
* And yes, it was scarier than the Upside Down in Stranger Things.

ALMANACNOTABLE DATES, UPCOMING U.S. OBSERVANCES

March 4, Tuesday – Shrove Tuesday/Mardi Gras
March 9, Sunday – Daylight Saving Time Begins
March 17, Monday – St. Patrick’s Day
March 20, Thursday – Spring begins, Spring Equinox is 5:01 a.m. EDT
April 1, Tuesday – April Fools Day
April 15, Tuesday – U.S. Tax Day
May 11, Sunday – Mother’s Day
May 26, Monday – Memorial Day

BIRTHDAYS

Molly Ringwald (actress, singer) … 57
Dr. Dre (rapper, rap mogul, Andre Romelle Young) … 60
Matt Dillon (actor) … 61
Jayne Atkinson (actress, “Bluff City Law,” “Madam Secretary,” “House of Cards” … 66
Vanna White (Wheel of Fortune TV game show letter-turner) … 68
John Travolta (actor) … 71
Cybill Shepherd (actress) … 75
Dennis DeYoung (singer with Styx) … 78
Yoko Ono (“musician,” “singer,” second wife of Beatle John Lennon) … 92

Today’s Birthdays grade: If you like “Wheel of Fortune,” you’re going to love today’s birthdays. If you like The Beatles, maybe not so much. Were you a fan of “Moonlighting,” the show that launched Bruce Willis? How about “Saturday Night Fever” or even further back to “Welcome Back Kotter”? Do you never, ever have to hear the songs “Lady” or “Come Sail Away” ever again? If you’ve never heard of these, you’re excused from class today. If you have, hopefully Medicare is treating you well. Grade: C. Would have been a B, but … y’know. Yoko.

[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 know if I want to go back to working on movies that don’t have the upper level of quality to them.”

(A) Adam Sandler
(B) Nicolas Cage
(C) John Travolta

ANSWER: (C) John Travolta

THIS DAY IN HISTORY

2013 – $50 million worth of diamonds were stolen in an armed robbery at Brussels Airport, Belgium.
* Whoever pulled that off had a lot of stones.

1979 – Snow fell in the Sahara Desert.
* Not a great day for the Global Warming people.

1930 – Pluto was discovered.
* He’d run away from Mickey Mouse two days before.

1885 – Mark Twain’s “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” was published.
* The story of an adventurous, excitable boy who, if he was around today, would be put on a prescription of Ritalin.

THIS DAY IN MUSIC HISTORY

2012 – An invitation-only memorial was held for Whitney Houston at the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, New Jersey. Among those who performed at the funeral were Stevie Wonder, Alicia Keys and R. Kelly. Kevin Costner read a moving and personal eulogy.

2006 – In Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, the Rolling Stones gave a free concert before a crowd of over 1 million people at Copacabana Beach.

2005 – Britney Spears attacked “US” magazine after it published photographs of her honeymoon without permission. The weekly publication printed five pages of pictures of Spears and husband Kevin Federline on holiday in Fiji. A statement from US said: “Britney should start her own magazine if she’d like to dictate her own coverage.”

2004 – A court case accusing Marilyn Manson of sexual assault was dismissed after the two sides reached an undisclosed settlement. Security guard Joshua Keasler had sued Manson after the star allegedly put his legs around Keasler’s neck and gyrated against him on stage at a gig in Detroit, Michigan in 2001 while wearing only a leather thong and panty hose.

1999 – Pop star turned disc jockey Bob Geldof, organizer of Live Aid, won substantial but undisclosed damages from the Sun newspaper in London in a libel case over a story in which it falsely alleged that he had “groped, fondled and kissed” a nightclub stripper.

1998 – Robert Smith of the Cure did battle with the forces of musical evil as embodied by a monstrous Barbra Streisand on the animated television show South Park.

1990 – Freddie Mercury made his final public appearance on stage when he joined the rest of Queen to collect the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music, held at the Dominion Theatre, London, England.

1969 – Lulu, best known for her hit single “To Sir with Love,” married Maurice Gibb of the Bee Gees.

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. About 40% of us have one of THESE in our home that does not work. What is it?
An air freshener

2. About 1% of homes in America have THIS in common. What is it?
They have Christmas lights up all year

3. 83% of American homes have one of THESE. What is it?
A barbecue

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