WEDNESDAY, Dec 11 – DAILY PREP TEXT VERSION

MORNING SIDEKICK DAILY PREP TEXT VERSION FOR WEDNESDAY, December 11, 2024
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COMEDY MP3s POSTED ON OUR PREP SITE FOR TODAY: A & M AUTOLAND – Christmas Trees

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.)

INTERNATIONAL MOUNTAIN DAY
The United Nations website says this:
“The increasing attention to the importance of mountains led the UN General Assembly to declare 2002 the UN International Year of Mountains. On this occasion, the UN General Assembly designated 11 December, from 2003 onwards, as International Mountain Day.”

NATIONAL HAVE A BAGEL DAY

NATIONAL NOODLE RING DAY

UNICEF BIRTHDAY
The National Today website says this:
“Around the world on December 11, people celebrate UNICEF Birthday, commemorating the day the charity was created in 1946. UNICEF, or the United Nations Children’s Fund, was initially created to provide emergency food and healthcare to children and mothers in countries that had been devastated by World War II. Now, the reputable and trustworthy charity has helped save more children’s lives than any other humanitarian organization by providing healthcare and immunizations, clean water and sanitation, nutrition, education, emergency relief, and more.”

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

THE MISTAKES STUPID PEOPLE MAKE WHEN GOING TO DISNEY PARKS

Remember when you’d go to a theme park, ride the rides and have a few laughs? If you haven’t laid out a detailed plan of attack before going to a Disney park, you’re an idiot. According to “experts,” here are the major mistakes people make when going to a Disney park:
– Only Buying A Ticket, without confirming that the day they wish to go has park pass availability. You need to have a valid ticket and a park pass for the park of your choice for the same day.
– Not Downloading The ‘My Disney Experience’ App so you can use it to pre-plan every second of your experience.
– Not Making Advance Reservations For Everything
– Missing Out On Prime Fireworks Views By Not Booking Your Spot
– Not Having A Photo Strategy
– Planning An Overly Rigid Itinerary
– Thinking You Can See Everything In A Few Days
– Forgetting To Take Downtime
– Paying For Water
– Waiting In Line For Food
– Going Without A Stroller
– Being Unprepared For Rain
– Visiting During Peak Season
– Not Staying At An On-Property Hotel
* So the mistakes are: not planning enough, planning too much, scheduling everything you want to do, and not taking time to not do everything you wanted to do. And not expecting rain. Got it.
* Dammit, I forgot to have a photo strategy!
* And that second mortgage you have to take out to go to a Disney Park? With the Fed lowering interest rates, consider getting an adjustable rate mortgage.
* No, you don’t have to pay for water. There’s plenty in “It’s a Small World.” Just dip an empty soda cup in.
* If you want to avoid peak season, the best time to go is February 6th, 3:30 – 7:45.
* Three words to make your family vacation fun and carefree: “Local water park.”

THE BUZZ

I BOUGHT IT BECAUSE I WAS DENIED IT AS A CHILD

Reddit asked, “What did you buy as an adult because you were denied it as a child?” Some of the responses:
– “I bought an ice cream cake for no reason once. The freedom is palpable.”
– “Box of 64 Crayola crayons, the one with the sharpener.”
– “Andes mints. My first paycheck I bought a whole pack of them and it was glorious.”
– “Feeding the giraffes at the zoo. ‘It’s just a second and it’s over, it’s not worth it,’ my mom said. I feed all the animals at the zoo now.”
– “Beverages in restaurants. We only ever got water.”
– “Red lipstick. My mom let me wear makeup starting at 13, but I was not allowed to wear red lipstick ever. ‘Only whores wear red lipstick.’ Now I wear red lipstick all the time, it’s my thing.”
– “For me it was that thing that sits on the counter to hold a roll of paper towels. I was always told as a kid that we couldn’t afford to waste money on one.”
– “I haven’t let the ice cream truck pass by without running out for a cone since I moved out of my parents’ house.”
– “When I was little my grandma bought one of those fiber optic flower lamps. I was obsessed with it and always asked her to turn it on. She ended up putting it in an empty fish tank so I couldn’t touch it. I now own three of them and I turn them on whenever I want.”
– “I finally bought a house and have left it largely empty because I grew up in a hoarding household. So I guess I technically bought space.”
– “I painted my walls! We always rented and were never allowed to paint it. But now that we own a house I can paint my walls whatever I want!”
– “I couldn’t eat fast food as a kid so when I became an adult I ordered a ton of it all the time and that was a mistake”
– “Therapy.”
* PHONE TOPIC: What did you buy as an adult because you were denied it as a child?

U.S. NEWS

UTAH MAN RETURNS USED SUBARU BY DRIVING IT THROUGH DEALER’S FRONT DOOR

A Utah man purchased a 2008 Subaru Outback from Tim Dahle Mazda Southtowne in Sandy, Utah. Just hours later he called the dealer and asked to return it, for reasons unknown. But the dealer – and remember that was Tim Dahle Mazda Southtowne in Sandy, Utah – told him the car had been sold as-is and would not take the car back. The man returned the car anyway, by driving the Outback straight through the dealer’s glass front door and into the showroom. Again, that would be Tim Dahle Mazda Southtowne in Sandy, Utah.
* Just look for the building with the plywood on the front windows.
* Forget that insurance CEO shooter. America has a new folk hero!
* Maybe the problem was with the brakes.
* Next time, ask for a test drive.

THE FOOTLONG OREO COOKIE IS COMING TO SUBWAY

The Subway sandwich chain is famous for its footlong subs (that were never actually a foot long) but now they are introducing a footlong Oreo cookie. According to pictures, it looks like a long, chocolate sandwich roll-shaped cookie with Oreo creme and crumbled chocolate Oreo cookies inside. Subway’s footlong Oreo is expected to hit locations in January of 2025.
* That’s how I like my sugar: by the inch.
* Cookie Monster just soiled himself.
* That marketing director is one sharp cookie.
* It better come with a Big Gulp-sized cup of milk.

“MOST DANGEROUS TOY IN HISTORY” IS UP FOR AUCTION

A kids’ toy from the 1950s, famous for being “The Most Dangerous Toy In History,” is up for auction. The Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Laboratory was a home science kit that actually contained samples of real uranium. The kit comes with a small Geiger counter and an electroscope to measure radiation levels, and you’d better believe there’s real radiation in the thing. Only about five thousand of them were ever sold, and they were discontinued in 1951 because of poor sales, but they’ve since become a collector’s item. Now one of the vintage kits is up for sale at RR Auction, and the current bidding price is up to $4,400.
* They could have gotten three times as much if they had timed this with the release of “Oppenheimer.”
* This one even surpasses Baby’s First Chainsaw.
* The first clue that it was dangerous was when you’d give it to your kid for Christmas and all his baby teeth would fall out by New Year’s.
* How rad! Or maybe I should say “How many rads?” (‘Cause a “rad” – “radiation absorbed dose” – is a unit of measurement of exposure to radiation. But you knew that.)
* Still not as dangerous as loose Legos, though.

NEW COSMETIC TREND: DESIGNER NIPPLES

The new trendiest cosmetic procedure is a nipple augmentation, also known as “designer nipples.” Ladies want their nipples popping out through their shirts. Bella Hadid, Florence Pugh, Charli XCX and Emma Corrin are among the celebs rockin’ the nip. New York City plastic surgeon Dr. Norman Rowe says it’s a minimally invasive procedure that involves injecting hyaluronic acid into the nipple to “enhance projection.” He says the procedure cost around $5,000 and usually entails 1 cc of filler per nipple.
* Your man will say, “Well, howdy, fillers!”
* Let me just make two points here. Yes, I know, that’s what she said, but let me say this: 1) Some people find it udderly ridiculous, but 2) I like mamilla wafers.
* Remember when it was “not polite to point”? Here’s a hint: It was pre-puberty.
* Just don’t overdo it, ladies. You could put somebody’s eye out.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

AUSTRALIAN MAN’S LAST WORDS: “HOLD MY BEER”

An Australian man died at a popular Gold Coast beach. His last words were, literally, “Hold my beer.” 29-year-old Jake Brown made the fateful decision to jump over a shark net barrier at Paradise Point Parklands, which sits close to the beach and forms a safe swimming enclosure at the beach. One witness said he saw Brown and a friend sitting on the net’s float before Brown told his friend “Hold my beer” and jumped over the edge. The witness said Brown was quickly taken by an ocean current and swept out to sea, surfacing briefly before being dragged under the net and drowning. His body was recovered after police and divers searched for four hours.
* But the beer, man! What happened to the beer? It should be enshrined in some sort of Hall of Fame.
* “Hold my beer” was the last thing he said to anybody else. I’m sure he had some choice words when the current grabbed him.
* Because the water is… wetter?… on the other side of the safety net?
* Maybe they shouldn’t put the ocean so near the current.

AUSTRALIA MCDONALD’S SQUID GAME MEALS

McDonald’s Australia is doing a promotional tie-in with the popular Korean TV series “Squid Game.” That’s the show about poor, desperate people competing against each other in wacky competitions, and the losers are killed. Doesn’t that sound like a lot of McFun! The McDonald’s version is called ‘Macca’s Squid Game Meal’ (‘Macca’ is a common Australian nickname for McDonald’s). As part of the meal, you get to compete in the Dalgona Challenge — that’s the fun game where Squid Games contestants have to use a toothpick to cut a shape out of a cookie without breaking the shape. If they do, they get a bullet to the head. The McDonald’s version gives you a similar cookie, only you’re supposed to nibble around the shape. And even if you break the shape, well, they still let you leave McDonald’s alive.
* And that’s about the best you can hope for when eating there.
* After that E.coli incident in the U.S., McDonald’s has become its own little survival show, hasn’t it?
* Sure, it’s dumb, but at least it means the promotional tie-ins for “Wicked” are over.
* At least they didn’t go with actual squid burgers.
* Arby’s tried tying into a streaming TV show. Unfortunately, it was “Nobody Wants This.”

TRENDING

SING-ALONG “WICKED” COMING OUT DECEMBER 25

If you love the movie “Wicked” but hate that you can’t sing along, Universal Pictures announced that there will be a sing-along version of Wicked at over 1,000 theaters on Christmas Day, Dec. 25. The lyrics to the songs will be shown on the screen.

MORE ROCKIN’ ADDED TO DICK CLARK’S ROCKIN’ NEW YEAR’S

ABC has announced additional performers for its Dick Clark’s Rockin’ New Year’s Rockin’ Eve Rockin’ special. Alanis Morissette, Reneé Rapp, Dasha, Ja Rule, Fat Joe, Slick Rick & Doug E. Fresh, Ernest, Hardy, Kesha, Laufey, Natasha Bedingfield and T-Pain have joined the West Coast Party lineup. Also in the show: Blake Shelton, Lenny Kravitz, Teddy Swims, Tinashe, Cody Johnson and Thomas Rhett, and Carrie Underwood. (* They must have thought, “Hey – this year, let’s drive all the young kids away.”)

ALMANAC

NOTABLE DATES, UPCOMING U.S. OBSERVANCES

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

Karla Souza (actress, “How to Get Away With Murder”) … 38
Nikki Six (bass guitarist with Motley Crue, real name Frank Ferrano) … 66
Jermaine Jackson (singer) … 70
Brenda Lee (singer) … 80
Lynda Day George (actress, TV’s “Mission: Impossible) … 80
Donna Mills (actress, “Knot’s Landing”) … 84
Rita Moreno (actress, “Fast X,” “West Side Story”) … 93

Today’s Birthdays grade: You’d have to be a Boomer to appreciate today’s birthdays and we weren’t too excited. Then we took a closer look at Rita Moreno. She was in the original “West Side Story” in 1961, AND the remake made 60 YEARS LATER in 2021, AND she was in “Fast X” in 2023, AND she’s was just in this year’s Halloween episode of “Lopez vs Lopez” … Folks, she turns 93 today! Remember that next time you feel too tired to get out of bed and let’s give Rita an A+ for tenacity.

[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!

“You can paint a garbage can platinum but it’s still a garbage can.”

(A) Kim Kardashian
(B) Miley Cyrus
(C) Nikki Six

ANSWER: (C) Nikki Six

THIS DAY IN HISTORY

2014 – The world’s first penis transplant procedure was performed by a team from Stellenbosch University and Tygerberg Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa.
* The worst part is removing the stitches.

2009 – Tiger Woods announced on his website that he was taking an indefinite leave from golf to try to save his marriage to Elin Nordegren.
* Sounds crazy, but remember – this was back when everybody thought he only cheated with ONE other woman.

2008 – Financial manager Bernard Madoff was arrested and accused of running a multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme that destroyed thousands of people’s life savings and wrecked charities.
* It was the biggest pyramid scheme since the Pharoahs.

1998 – The House Judiciary Committee approved three articles of impeachment against President Clinton.
* They thought it was CRIMINAL how much fun he was having!

1941 – Germany and Italy declared war on the United States.
* America’s response: “Yeah, bring it on, baby. Bring it on!”

1844 – Nitrous oxide was first used in dentistry.
* Technically, it was first used on a patient on this date, but I’ll bet the dentists had already been experimenting with it for weeks.

THIS DAY IN MUSIC HISTORY

2016 – Bob Dylan said it was “truly beyond words” to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature. In a speech read on his behalf at the ceremony in Sweden, he said he thought his odds of winning were as likely as him “standing on the moon.”

2003 – Bobby Brown was charged with battery after allegedly hitting wife Whitney Houston in the face. Brown turned himself in to the police three days after a reported domestic dispute at the couple’s home in Atlanta, Georgia. Houston, who accompanied her husband to court, said they were trying to work out their problems “privately.”

1998 – During a gig in Tuscon, Arizona, a bottle thrown from the audience hit Black Crowes singer Chris Robinson. A security guard was then stabbed trying to eject a man from the crowd.

1989 – The Recording Industry Association of America certified four Led Zeppelin albums as multi-platinum: “Presence” (2 million), “Led Zeppelin” (4 million), “Physical Graffiti” (4 million) and “In Through The Out Door” (5 million).

1976 – KISS guitarist Ace Frehley was nearly electrocuted during a concert in Florida when he touched a short-circuited light. He was carried from the stage but returned 10 minutes later to continue and finish the show.

1964 – Soul singer Sam Cooke was shot to death at the Hacienda Motel in Los Angeles. Bertha Franklin, manager of the motel, told police that she shot and killed Cooke in self-defense because he had attacked her. Police found Cooke’s body in Franklin’s apartment-office, clad only in a sports jacket and shoes, but no shirt, pants or underwear. The shooting was ultimately ruled a justifiable homicide.

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. In a recent survey, 24% of women said they keep THIS in their purse. What is it?
A toothbrush

2. According to a recent survey, about 76% of women do THIS each day. What is it?
Make their bed

3. More than 25% of women say THIS can have a negative effect on their mood. What is it?
Underwear that is ill-fitting or unattractive

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