On Today’s Show
DALE EARNHARDT JR. was involved in a plane crash yesterday.
Dale, his wife Amy, and their 15-year-old daughter were on one of those smaller Cessna aircraft when it rolled off the end of a runway in Tennessee and caught fire but apparently, there were no serious injuries.
Earnhardt retired from racing in 2017 and is an analyst for NBC. He was scheduled to cover Saturday night’s Cup Series event in Bristol, Tennessee, but NBC says he’s taking the weekend off to be with his family.
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A man enjoying a day at the beach off the coast of Maryland, had his fun cut short after attempting to pet one of the park’s wild horses, in spite of multiple signs warning against interacting with the animals. The horse was just trying to mind its own business — and let the man in a Speedo know it was not interested in his advances by giving him a swift kick in the groin. He collapsed before others nearby came to his aid.
Wild horses have inhabited the island since the 17th century when they were first brought over by settlers, and have existed undisturbed for centuries thanks to federal protections.
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A lady confessed to her Uber driver that she wasn’t going to be able to buy certain things she needed until Christmas time. So, after dropping the lady off at work, the Uber driver went and bought her one of the items and a Visa card for the rest and dropped it off through the drive-thru.
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ENTERTAINMENT
BLINDED BY THE LIGHT
The lyrics of Bruce Springsteen run heavily throughout this story about a Pakistani British teenager in the ’80s who’s struggling with racism and a sense of hopelessness . . . until he discovers Springsteen and finds the courage to be himself.
Bruce loved the script so much that he actually gave them permission to use 17 of his songs in the movie.
THE ANGRY BIRDS MOVIE 2
Jason Sudeikis returns as angry bird hero Red, and Bill Hader is back as Leonard, the leader of the island of green pigs. In this one, they forge a reluctant truce and team up to stop Leslie Jones from hurling ice balls at them from her island fortress.
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TODAY IS……………….
ROLLER COASTER DAY
1956, horror film star BELA LUGOSI died of a heart attack at the age of 73. He was buried in his “Dracula”costume. (Legend has it, during the funeral, PETER LORRE turned to VINCENT PRICE and said, quote, “Do you think we should drive a stake through his heart, just in case?”) (True.)
1977, ELVIS PRESLEY died at the age of 42, in his Graceland Mansion.
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COUNTRY MUSIC NOTE
August 16th, 1972 Emily Robison is born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. She co-founds The Dixie Chicks, and they quickly won Entertainer of the Year, only to see their career unravel after a 2003 comment about the president.
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RANDOM REPORT
- If the sun exploded, it would take eight minutes and 20 seconds before we knew it . . . when all of the energy hit Earth and killed us all.
- Jason Stathamwas once a world-class diver who competed as part of Britain’s national diving team in the 1990 Commonwealth Games.
- The theme music for the TV show “Alf”was composed by a guy named Alf Clausen. No relation.
- ASICS running shoes are made by a Japanese company, but the name is an acronym for the Latin phrase ‘anima sana in corpore sano.’ It means “a healthy soul in a healthy body.”
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GOOD NEWS
There’s a 30-year-old guy in Waco, Texas named Chris Barrington who has a lot of special needs. He only functions at about a six-year-old level. And he’s never had a great home life either.
The only person who took any care of him was his father, who died of leukemia earlier this month. And police recently found Chris wandering down a highway all alone.
He doesn’t have any immediate family now. So when cops talked to him, one of the names he gave them was Michell Girard . . . a teacher he hadn’t talked to in YEARS.
Michell had him as a student for four years in junior high. And he remembered how nice she was. So the cops talked to her. And she agreed to take him in while they figured out a more long-term solution.
But then she found out he’d probably end up in an institution of some kind. So she just filed paperwork to take PERMANENT custody of him.
She also found out he’d never celebrated Christmas or gotten a birthday gift before. So she just threw him his first birthday party, and says the rest of the year is all about new experiences.
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BIRTHDAYS
Dan Smyers is 32. country duo Dan + Shay.
Emily Robison is 47. TheDixie Chicks!!!
STEVE CARELL is 57
James Cameron is 65. Writer and director of “Avatar”, “Titanic”, “Terminator” and “The Abyss”. He also created “Dark Angel”
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This Week in Science
Here’s a quick rundown of this week in science . . .
- SpaceX sent a bunch of supplies up to the Space Station, including some Nickelodeon GREEN SLIME. The crew plans to post videos showing kids how it behaves in microgravity.
- Engineers at the University of Massachusetts accidentally created the first LIQUID MAGNETS. It happened by mistake while they were playing around with 3D printer ink.
- Researchers in Utah debuted a new prosthetic arm that mimics the sensation of touch. People who use it can actually feel the things they’re picking up.
- A study in Switzerland found global warming is happening faster right now than any time in at least the past 2,000 years.
- A new study has revealed that the availability and variety of fast food restaurants along your commute route has a direct association with your weight. Which means, the more opportunities you have for quick, unhealthy meals, the higher your weight will be.
- A researcher at the University of Illinois conducted a study on 3,500 adults and found that those who are the most optimistic tend to sleep better. The study showed that optimists are able to, quote, “reduce worry and ruminative thoughts when they are falling asleep.”
- Scientists in Korea and the United States have invented a device that can control your brain circuits through an implant controlled by a smartphone. This could dramatically improve conventional methods of drug delivery, by making it significantly less bulky and wireless. And in doing so, hopefully speed up what we know about Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, depression, and pain.
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DIET FIZZY DRINKS ‘INCREASE RISK OF HEART ATTACK, STROKE, AND DEMENTIA’
You might think you’re doing your health a favor if you sip on a diet pop as opposed to a regular one, but think again.
Research from earlier this year found that drinking two or more cans of diet pop each day increases the risk of stroke by 25 percent, and increases your risk of heart disease by 33 percent.
In general, the risk of early death is 16 percent higher among those who drink diet pop, compared to people who never drink them.
A different study found a link between drinking artificially sweetened beverages and dementia, and another found drinking the stuff put people at three times the risk of suffering the most common form of stroke compared to non-drinkers.
In addition, artificial sweeteners have been found to increase appetite.
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WHY YOU SHOULD LIE TO YOURSELF ABOUT YOUR AGE
You likely know somebody who is perpetually 39, and it turns out that’s not just denial, it’s actually helping that person feel younger.
University of Virginia researchers found once we pass age 25, we start to think of ourselves as younger than we actually are. Medical Xpress reports that this discrepancy grows as we get older.
But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. They note, “It turns out that this phenomenon may have rather important implications. […] People with a younger subjective age are less likely to suffer from diabetes, hypertension, depression, cognitive impairment and dementia.”
Another study found those who thought they were younger than their actual age had a lower death rate than those who felt their own age or older.
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FRIDAY AUGUST 16TH
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS
Dan Smyers is 32. country duo Dan + Shay.
Emily Robison is 47. TheDixie Chicks!!!
Steve Carell is 57
Happy birthday to everyone’s favorite boss, Steve Carell! The TV and movie star known for his roles in “The Office”, “Anchorman”, and “The 40 Year Old Virgin” turns 57 years old today.
James Cameron is 65. Writer and director of “Avatar”, “Titanic”, “Terminator” and “The Abyss”. He also created “Dark Angel”
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- MLB
Seattle 7 Detroit 2
Toronto had the night off
- BLINDED BY THE LIGHT
The lyrics of Bruce Springsteen run heavily throughout this story about a Pakistani British teenager in the ’80s who’s struggling with racism and a sense of hopelessness . . . until he discovers Springsteen and finds the courage to be himself.
Bruce loved the script so much that he actually gave them permission to use 17 of his songs in the movie.
THE ANGRY BIRDS MOVIE 2
Jason Sudeikis returns as angry bird hero Red, and Bill Hader is back as Leonard, the leader of the island of green pigs. In this one, they forge a reluctant truce and team up to stop Leslie Jones from hurling ice balls at them from her island fortress.
- Who got the greatest break in their career for playing WOODSTOCK fifty years ago today? Santana. Here’s why. They were unknown on the east coast, hadn’t even released an album yet, but were featured as a favor to legendary concert promoter, Bill Graham, in lieu of payment for his help. Introducing “Soul Sacrifice” was keyboardist, Gregg Rolie.
He and fellow band mate Neal Schon would later form Journey. Drummer Michael Shrieve was Woodstock’s youngest performer, only 20 at the time. Here’s an edited version of the song that would launch the career of Carlos Santana.
- New Coca-Cola flavors, Star Wars Barbie, fake Nikes, and a cat selfie device. (From Jimmy Fallon, David Spade, and Seth Meyers on Thursday, August 15, 2019)
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LADY ANTEBELLUM’S SINGLE ASKS SOME UNIVERSAL QUESTIONS
Lady Antebellum‘s latest single, “What If I Never Get Over You,” is the group’s first duet of sorts in quite a while and it’s remiscent of their career-changing hit, “Need You Now,” in so many ways. The trio liked the song immediately for those reasons and because it addresses such natural thoughts after a breakup. Dave Haywood tells us: [“To me this song just stands out so much because it asks so many great questions that are unanswered. What if time doesn’t do it supposed to do? What if I never get over you? What if I’m trying and I just can’t get over you? I think we’ve all been there and I think that’s the relatability. And again, telling both sides of the story, I don’t know, just to be able to tell both sides of the male and female perspective is just something that I feel like we just got away from a little bit. And so, it’s exciting to be back doing that again and it felt like us, and somehow this one feels like something we wrote more than some of the other ones we have written.”]
BLAKE SHELTON IS ‘SUPER PUMPED’ TO BE SHARING STAGE WITH GEORGE STRAIT –
Blake Shelton will join George Strait at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, MA tomorrow night (Saturday, August 17th). Although Blake opened for George on tour in the mid-2000s, he tells us he is just as stoked to share the bill with the superstar. [“To be able to now flash forward many, many years to get that call that . . . I don’t know if it was George himself. I like to tell myself it was that asked for me, but I’m just happy to be doing it, and we did one already and just like I hoped I got that invitation to go up on the bus and hang out with him and I literally don’t remember leaving his bus, and it wasn’t very long. It was just like, ‘Really? (slurping noise) Oh, seriously George Strait? (drinking noise)’ I was so excited I was just drinking my face off, let’s be honest. I was super pumped about it and hopefully I’ll get a chance to do that again in Boston.”]
FAST FACTS
The new season of NBC’s The Voice returns on September 23rd with Blake, Gwen Stefani, John Legend and Kelly Clarkson.
This weekend is the 50th anniversary of “Woodstock”. If you’ve never seen the movie, they show guys taking down the chain-link fence so they can all easily enter the grounds.
One of the many was Kent Blazy, who twenty years later co-wrote “If Tomorrow Never Comes” with Garth Brooks. It was their first #1 song. Here’s Kent talking about being there, as an 18 year-old from Kentucky. He says in his entire musical career, he’s never met anyone else who was there
