WEDNESDAY, Mar 16 – DAILY PREP TEXT VERSION

MORNING SIDEKICK DAILY PREP TEXT VERSION FOR WEDNESDAY, March 16, 2022
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COMEDY MP3s POSTED ON OUR PREP SITE FOR TODAY: A & M AUTOLAND – Lucky the Leprechaun; THE ONLY MORNING SHOW IN TOWN

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.)

EVERYTHING YOU DO IS RIGHT DAY
The Holiday Insights website says this:
“Everything You Do is Right Day just might be a perfect day. Life is filled with ups and downs. Some days are good days. Some days are bad days. Most often, there’s both good and bad in any given day. You take life’s ups and downs with a grain of salt. Every once in a while, a day comes along where everything you do goes well … the perfect day! Today is going to be your day … a good, er, make that great day! We hope everything you do goes right today and every day.”

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION DAY
The Holiday Insights website says this:
“Freedom of Information Day celebrates and recognizes a valuable concept in American rights. March 16th is the birth date of James Madison, the 4th president of the United States of America. James Madison is recognized as the ‘Father of the Constitution,’ and the chief author of the ‘Bill of Rights.’ Freedom of information and individual rights was very important to James Madison. Did you Know? The Freedom of Information Act was passed into law in 1966. It opened up a wealth of information to American citizens. James Madison would be very pleased!”

GODDARD DAY
The NASA website says this:
“On March 16, 1926, Robert Goddard successfully launched the (world’s) first liquid-fueled rocket in Auburn, Mass. The first-of-its-kind rocket flight reached an altitude of 41 feet, lasted 2 seconds and averaged about 60 miles per hour.”

LIPS APPRECIATION DAY

NATIONAL ARTICHOKE HEARTS DAY

NATIONAL PANDA DAY

March is:

Adopt a Rescued Guinea Pig Month
American Red Cross Month
Employee Spirit Month
Expanding Girls’ Horizons in Science and Engineering Month
Gender Equality Month
Irish-American Heritage Month
National Craft Month
National Frozen Food Month
National Professional Social Worker’s Month
National Women Inventors Month
National Women’s History Month
Read an E-Book Month

THE BUZZ

WEIRD SNACKS

Reddit asked: “What’s a weird little snack you like making for yourself?” Some of the responses:
– “A glass of whole milk and an ungodly amount of frozen blueberries in a tall glass. The milk freezes to the blueberries. Also, eat it with a spoon.”
– “Vanilla ice cream, maple syrup and cinnamon. I call it French Toast Ice cream.”
– “When there are only a few tortilla chips and crumbs at the bottom of the bag, I crush them all really well and pour them into a small bowl. Then I add a couple spoonfuls of salsa, stir, and begin shoveling.”
– “Croutons. Just croutons. Maybe I’ll dip them in some ranch if I’m feeling fancy.”
– “Take a tortilla, put pizza sauce on it, add Italian seasoning, apply 6 pepperoni. Roll a cheese stick in all of that. Throw it in the microwave for 25-30 seconds. I call it The Italian War Crime.”
– “I dip nacho cheese Doritos in cottage cheese.”
– “Peanut butter and Mrs. Butterworth syrup.”
– “Vanilla wafers with slices of cheese on it.”
– “PB&J except it’s peanut butter spread between 2 toasted strawberry poptarts.”
– “I have put a whoopie pie with milk in a blender and then drank the results.”
* Sorry to anybody listening right now who’s eating breakfast.
* Only Americans would be unsatisfied with the selection of snacks we already have.
* You can see where some of these are borne out of just being too lazy to go to the store.
* They really ought to get back to teaching people how to cook on The Food Network.
* PHONE TOPIC: What weird snack do you make?

U.S. NEWS

MAN SWINDLES WALMART WITH SLEIGHT-OF-HAND

A man has been swindling Walmart cashiers out of thousands with a slight-of-hand trick.The suspect stopped by a Walmart store in Seguin, Texas, twice — on January 10 and February 12. Police say the man pays for an inexpensive item with a large bill, forcing the cashier to hand back a large amount of change. He then uses sleight of hand to pocket some of the cash, making it appear as if he’s been short-changed. The cashier pays him the difference, and the thief walks away with extra cash. So far, the man has made off with $2,700. Police provided photos of the suspect and urges anyone who recognizes him to call them.
* Work your magic, officers!
* It’s sad to see David Copperfield has fallen on tough times.
* Is this worse than the Walmart “Disappearing Cashier” trick I always see when I’m in a hurry?
* They need to catch him, to see if he’s also an escape artist.

YEAR-ROUND DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME BILL PASSES IN SENATE

The Senate on Tuesday approved the Sunshine Protection Act, a proposal to make daylight saving time permanent, which if passed in the House and signed by President Biden, would mean Americans would never again have to set their clocks back an hour and lose an hour of afternoon daylight in the fall and winter. Here’s an example of what you would see:
In New York, for example, under current law the sun will rise at 7:15 a.m. on Dec. 21, the shortest day of the year. If the Sunshine Protection Act becomes law, New Yorkers won’t see the sun rise until 8:15 a.m. that day. On the other hand, instead of the sun setting at 4:31 p.m. in late December, it will set at 5:31 pm — giving people a little more daylight to enjoy in the afternoon.
Proponents believe the benefits of daylight saving time include reduced crime as there is light later in the day; decrease in seasonal depresssion; and it would also give school kids more time to play in the daylight after school.
* Yeah, more daylight to play their video games.
* Sunrise at 8:15 a.m.? What are we, Norway?
* Blah, blah, blah – but how would this affect vampires?
* Sure, it puts the sunrise right at the peak of morning rush hour, and the sunset in the middle of afternoon rush hour, but what’s a few hundred dozen car accidents?
* I’ve never understood how humans are able to tell the sun when to rise and set.

STARBUCKS WANTS TO PHASE OUT PAPER CUPS

Starbucks is starting to seriously look at phasing out their paper cups. By 2025, the company wants every customer to be able to either use their own mug or borrow a ceramic or reusable to-go mug from their local Starbucks. Starbucks is planning, by the end of next year, to let customers use their own personal mugs at every Starbucks in the United States and Canada, even if they order ahead or use the drive-thru. As for the borrow-a-mug plan, this would mean putting down a deposit on a durable cup that you take with you and drop back off after use, and then get your deposit back. The company is testing a number of different borrow-a-cup programs. One such test, in Seattle, has customers paying a $1 deposit, and returning the cup to a smart bin located in the store to get their dollar back.
* So, who’s the lucky Starbucks barista that get to wash out the old cups for re-use? The barista dish-ta?
* And how much hot water will it take to wash the reuseables? And energy to run the dishwashers? And who can be bothered to bring back a reusable cup for a lousy buck? It’s easier to just toss it.
* Are the paper cups just too recyclable?
* On the bright side, you can spell your name correctly on your reuseable mug.
* I’m living for the day I can just hand them my Big Gulp cup and say, “Fill ‘er up!”

DENTIST GUILTY OF FRAUD

A Grafton, Wisconsin dentist was found guilty of telling patients they needed unnecessary crowns and then breaking their teeth with a drill to convince their insurance carriers to pay for the cost of the crowns. Federal prosecutors said that, between 2015 and 2019, Dr. Scott Charmoli, 61, would tell patients they needed crowns. Trusting his expertise, they would agree to his dental-care recommendations. He would use a drill to break a patient’s tooth and then instruct his assistant to take an X-ray of the damage, which he would submit to the insurance company as proof a crown was necessary. In some years, he performed more than 1,000 such procedures on patients. He was accused of submitting $4.2 million in bogus claims to insurance companies. Last week, Charmoli was found guilty or fraud and now faces up 60 years in prison.
* … where “cavity search” takes on a whole new meaning.
* Like we don’t have enough fear of dentists.
* I blame toothpaste. It does such a good job of protecting teeth these days, a dentist could go broke from lack of work.
* Good to see Wisconsin taking a bite out of crime.
* That’s the thing about dentists. Who knows what the hell they’re doing in there? “I’m gonna poke your gums with this pick. Oh – hey, look, you’ve got bleeding gums!” Yeah, no kidding.

ROLLER SKATING AT ROCKEFELLER CENTER

For the first time since 1940, the famous ice skating rink at Rockefeller Center in New York City will be turned into a roller skating rink for the summer. Once the ice rink closes for the season this Sunday, its enclosing walls will be lifted out of the plaza by crane, to be stowed away until the return of the ice skating season next winter, and a smaller rink will take its place. The new rink is scheduled to open on April 15; tickets will be $20 for adults.
* That’ll probably get you 10 minutes.
* 30 Rock & Roller!
* RockeFALLING Center!
* Add a mirror disco ball and some Donna Summer and it’s 1978 all over again.
* It could become permanent, when global warming finally takes over.

INTERNATIONAL

WEIRD CANADIAN CRIME

Police in Victoria, British Columbia on Monday arrested a man on rollerblades Monday. The man was on rollerblades, not the cops. The skating man had been hitting garbage cans and the windows of a downtown business with a hockey stick. A woman said the man chased her down the sidewalk and stole the toque off her head, then fled on his roller blades. Officers then tracked down the man to Trounce Alley, where he attempted to evade them by roller blading around the police car (* While the Benny Hill theme was playing, no doubt). He was eventually caught, taken to the ground and arrested without further incident.
* You wonder why he was on rollerblades, but in Canada that’s how they commute to work.
* The man is expected to be sentenced to play for the Montreal Canadiens.

TRENDING

CRAIG MORGAN HAS A BOOK COMING OUT

Country star Craig Morgan will recount some of his life’s most memorable stories in a new memoir, “God, Family, Country: Soldier, Singer, Husband, Dad — There’s a Whole Lot More to Me.” While many of the stories come from his country career, others come from parts of his life that fans know less well, such as his time in the military. For example, according to a press release, the book details the time he worked as an undercover agent in Thailand fighting sex trafficking, and another story focuses on his experience as a soldier in Panama working alongside the CIA. The book is due out on Sept. 27.

STARBUCKS SECRETS REVEALED

A former Starbucks barista in the UK revealed some secrets from his time working at the world-famous franchise. Shabaz Ali, 28, took to TikTok to share his experiences after allegedly spending several years working part time at a Starbucks in England.
– Ali alleges that managers told him to deliberately misspell people’s names on their Starbucks cups, in the hopes that the person would post it on social media and give the chain even more free publicity.
– He said Frappuccinos contain a fake flavored syrup, as opposed to real coffee. If you want real coffee, you have to ask for an espresso shot.
– Ali alleges that he was told to pretend that something wasn’t in stock if it would hold up a line. “Frappuccinos would usually take a long time to make, so on a busy day, I would tell them some syrups were out of stock or the ice machine was broken.”
– He also claims that if you ask for a medium drink, but want it in a large cup, chances are the barista will fill the cup for you because they always make a bit extra – so you get a large drink for free.

BRANDI CARLILE, BROTHERS OSBORNE TO PLAY AT THE GRAMMYS

Country stars Brothers Osborne and Brandi Carlile will be live at the Grammy Awards on Sunday, April 3.
– John and T.J. are nominated for their song “Younger Me” in the category for Best Country Duo/Group Performance.
– Carlile has five nominations: She’s up for Record of the Year for her song “Right on Time,” and she has two nominations for Song of the Year — one for “Right on Time” and another for her work on a collaboration called “A Beautiful Noise,” which features Alicia Keys. “Right on Time” also received a nod for Best Pop Solo Performance. Her fifth nomination is for Brandy Clark’s “Same Devil,” on which Carlile is featured. That song is nominated for Best American Roots Performance.

TOP DOG BREEDS

According to the American Kennel Club, here are the Top Ten Dog Breeds in the U.S.:
1. Labrador retriever
2. French bulldogs
3. Golden retrievers
4. German shepherds
5. Poodles
6. Bulldogs
7. Beagles
8. Rottweilers
9. German shorthaired pointers
10. Dachshunds

ALMANAC

NOTABLE DATES, UPCOMING U.S. OBSERVANCES

TOMORROW – St. Patrick’s Day
March 20, Sunday – Spring begins, Spring Equinox is 11:33 a.m. EDT
March 21, Monday – First full day of Spring
April 1, Friday – April Fools Day
April 17, Sunday – Easter
April 15, Friday – U.S. Tax Day
May 8, Sunday – Mother’s Day
May 30, Monday – Memorial Day

BIRTHDAYS

Tim Kang (actor, “Magnum P.I.,” “The Mentalist”) … 49
Alan Tudyk (actor, “Resident Alien,” “Doom Patrol,” “Suburgatory,” “Firefly”) … 51
Lauren Graham (actress, “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist”, “Parenthood”, “Gilmore Girls”) … 55
Flavor Flav (William Jonathan Drayton Jr., reality TV star, rapper formerly of Public Enemy) … 63
Nancy Wilson (singer-guitarist of Heart) … 68
Ray Benson (singer-guitarist w Asleep at the Wheel) … 71
Erik Estrada (actor, “Ponch” on “CHiPS”) … 73

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

“Being taken seriously was always the biggest challenge.”

(A) Kermit the Frog
(B) Dennis Rodman
(C) Nancy Wilson

ANSWER: (C) Nancy Wilson

THIS DAY IN HISTORY

COVID-19 in History:
2020 – According to John Hopkins University, global infections and deaths from COVID-19 overtook those in China for the 1st time, with 86,000 global infections vs 80,860 in China, and 3,241 global deaths vs 3,208 in China.
France ordered a national lockdown, while the U.S. recommended restricting gatherings to 10 persons or less, and 6 counties in San Francisco and surrounding counties were told to “shelter in place.”

1994 – Tonya Harding plead guilty to felony attack on Nancy Kerrigan.
* Prosecutors felt a conviction was a lead-pipe cinch.

1950 – The National Book Awards were given for the first time.
* For you youngsters, “books” were these bunches of pages of paper that told stories without pictures, soundtracks, or explosions. Weird, huh?

1926 – Robert Goddard launched the first liquid fuel rocket.
* A nearby Army official asked, “Could we put a bomb on that thing?”

1888 – The first used car was sold.
* Probably the first and only time a used-car dealer told the truth when he said “just one previous owner.”

1830 – The New York Stock Exchange had its slowest day ever with just 31 shares traded.
* Of course in 1830 there were probably only 100 shares in the entire market.

1621 – A Native American chief visited the colony of Plymouth Mass. He brought pelts, venison, and corn.
* Boy, did WE ever turn out to be the guests who stayed too long!

THIS DAY IN MUSIC HISTORY

2012 – A series of “medical mishaps” forced Morrissey to cancel the rest of his forthcoming concerts in the US. The ex-Smiths frontman had suffered a number of illnesses including a bleeding ulcer, Barrett’s oesophagus and double pneumonia. The 53-year-old had already called off 21 gigs this year due to poor health.

2005 – Billy Joel checked into a rehabilitation center for alcohol abuse. A statement blamed his problems on “a recent bout of severe gastrointestinal distress.”

1996 – The Ramones performed what they claimed would be their last ever date in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

1992 – During a Metallica gig at Orlando Arena fans dangled an usher by his ankles from the balcony as trouble broke out at the concert. The band was charged $38,000 for repairs and cleaning after the audience trashed the building.

1991 – All seven members of Country star Reba Mcentire’s band were killed when their plane crashed near San Diego. McEntire was on a separate plane.

1989 – MTV launched a contest to give away Jon Bon Jovi’s childhood home.

1977 – After being with A&M Records for just six days, The Sex Pistols were fired from the label due to pressure from other label artists and its Los Angeles head office. 25,000 copies of “God Save The Queen” were pressed and the band made $127,500 from the deal.

1974 – Barbra Streisand started a two-week run at No.1 on the U.S. album chart with “The Way We Were,” her second No.1.

1972 – John Lennon lodged an appeal with the U.S. immigration office in New York, after he was served with deportation orders arising from his 1968 cannabis possession conviction.

1968 – The posthumously released Otis Redding single “Sittin’ On The Dock Of The Bay” started a five-week run at No.1 on the U.S. chart. Otis was killed in a plane crash on December 10th, 1967, three days after recording the song.

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. One in six Americans under the age of 20 have never done THIS. What is it?
Ride a bicycle

2. Half of us have someone else do THIS for us, 37% of us do it ourselves, and 14% of us never do it. What is it?
Wash our own car

3. One in three adults will forget to do THIS today. What is it?
Put on deodorant

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