On Today’s Show
LIFESTYLE
While searching for evidence of a huge planet lurking beyond Pluto’s orbit, astronomers have made a surprise discovery: a previously undetected dwarf planet, which has been nicknamed “the Goblin.” Astronomers hypothesized there must be a roughly Neptune-sized world far, far away in the solar system which affects the orbits of nearby space rocks. They called this world “Planet Nine.” They still haven’t found Planet Nine, if it exists, but they did find “TG387”. They were inspired by the “TG” to nickname it “the Goblin.” The Goblin takes 40,000 years to complete a single orbit of the sun.
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A guy tried to break into a restaurant in Suitland, Maryland a few weeks ago. He managed to get inside, and his plan was to throw a brick through the window in front of the counter, so he could get back there and rob the place.
But he didn’t realize the window was made out of BULLETPROOF GLASS.
So when he threw the brick, it bounced right off the window . . . and hit him square in the FACE.
He went down immediately, and stayed down for a few minutes before he ran away empty handed.
The cops just released the surveillance video of him getting knocked out . . . and they’re trying to track him down by asking people to report someone with a, quote, “suspicious head injury.”
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ENTERTAINMENT
Freddy Krueger is coming back to terrify teens one more time. But this time it will be on TV. Robert Englund will bring his razor-clawed serial killer to “The Goldbergs” for its Halloween episode on Oct. 31.
- “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” (ABC): Charlie Brown is finally invited to a Halloween party; Snoopy engages the Red Baron in a dogfight; and Linus waits patiently in the pumpkin patch for the Great Pumpkin.
- “Toy Story OF TERROR!” (ABC): The toys go on a road trip and get detoured to a roadside motel, where one of them vanishes and the others fear they may meet with the same misfortune.
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Peter Dinklage was on the Late Show and says he’s friends with Jamie Dornan, and helped him rehearse for “50 Shades of Grey” by reading the Dakota Johnson parts.
TODAY IS……………….
- “Alaska Day”, commemorating the formal transfer of Alaska from Russian to USA control on this date in 1867, one of the sneakiest real estate deals ever. The US paid $7.2 million, less than 2 cents an acre. Alaska currently produces about 600,000 barrels of oil per day.
1977 [41] In Game 6 of the World Series vs LA Dodgers, NY Yankees slugger Reggie Jackson (‘Mr. October’) hits 3 home runs off 3 consecutive pitches from 3 different pitchers (Yankees win the game and the series, the team’s first since 1962)
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COUNTRY MUSIC NOTE
OCTOBER 18TH, 1988 Randy Travis was back at #1 on the country chart with Always & Forever, his second album. Released from this album were the singles “Too Gone Too Long”, “I Won’t Need You Anymore (Always and Forever)”, “Forever and Ever, Amen” and “I Told You So”, all of which reached #1
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RANDOM REPORT
- People first started saying “God bless you” after someone sneezed back in the 14th century, as a prayer to protect them from the plague.
- The first CD to hit the market was the Billy Joelalbum “52nd Street”. It went on sale in Japan in October of 1982.
- There are four countries in the world where the national anthem doesn’t have lyrics: Spain, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, and San Marino.
- The people who created the mp3 used the same song over and over to test their compression: “Tom’s Diner“by Suzanne Vega. They picked it because, quote, “a warm, acapella voice” is the hardest thing to compress.
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TODAY’S GOOD NEWS
Kevin Boyer works as a school counselor at an elementary school in Lancaster, Ohio, which is about 30 miles southeast of Columbus.
And he tries to spend part of each day on personalized, handwritten notes that he gives out to ALL of his students.
His school has about 600 kids. And last year, he wrote at least one note to every single one of them. Then he either handed them out in person, or left them on their desk before school.
He writes that he’s proud of them, or congratulates them when they do well in school. And when a new student moves to town, he writes them a welcome note.
He’s doing it again this year, and plans to write at least one note for every kid again. But he also pays special attention to kids having issues at school, or at home.
He says he was lucky to have really great parents. And they used to put a note in his lunchbox every day that always made him feel good. So that’s where he got the idea.
The response so far has been pretty good. And he says it’s also kept HIS spirits up, because he’s gotten a ton of handwritten notes back from kids who want him to know how much they appreciate him.
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BIRTHDAYS
[80] Dawn Wells, actress (‘Mary Anne’ on “Gilligan’s Island” 1964-67)
[58] Jean-Claude Van Damme, action movie actor
[30] Zac Efron, actor
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THINGS THAT MAKE YA GO HMMM……
• 67% of people who are sick go to work anyway.
- 50% of us keep a ‘backup’ gift on hand in case someone gives us an unexpected Christmas present.
- 39% of us admit we’ve re-gifted a gift from someone else (top candidates for re-gifting include home décor, gift cards, wine or champagne, books, and perfumes & colognes).
- 38% of men take a vitamin every day.
- 37% of us are planning to work until the day we die.
- 2% of us say that our favorite sport to watch is … bowling.
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DOG DAYS:
When you arrive home, who is the first to greet you? The dog, of course. Did you ever wonder why your furry friend is always so happy to see you?
According to a neurologist – who wrote the book “How Dogs Love Us” – one big reason is that dogs don’t have the capacity to store memories the way humans do. They mostly just live in the moment. In other words, if you scolded him that morning, he isn’t going to hold a grudge. All they care about is: “Do I like my human friend or not?” And if the answer is “yes,” the reward centers in a dog’s brain will fire in a way that makes them excited to see you.
He says they’re either happy to see us, or they’re not… there’s NO middle ground. And no, dogs don’t love us just because we feed them, dogs know that we’re different from them and they’ve evolved to have a special place in their brain just for us. It stores everything from our scent, to the sound of our voice. And Dr. Berns says any time that brain area gets triggered, your dog will instantly feel happy and come running.
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A WAFFELLY BAD STORM:
When Hurricane Michael was devastating parts of the Florida Panhandle, it reached near category-5 status.
But there is another, perhaps more practical method of categorizing storms . . . The “Waffle House Index” is a phrase coined by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which uses the Waffle House chain as an indication of which areas have been hardest hit by a disaster.
There are three colors on the index — green, yellow and red. When a Waffle House closes, it’s a code red on the index. The longer it takes for a location to reopen is a sign of just how powerful a storm is, because let’s face it, if a Waffle House is closed after a natural disaster, that’s a bad sign.
The Waffle House has made it policy to be open for emergency workers and customers to eat when there’s nowhere else to turn. When they are open during a natural disaster, they may serve a limited menu typically due to limited power and water.
The company even has a “storm center” where they can assess the status of Waffle Houses in a storm’s path.
Although these efforts cost the company more than the money they make from being open during an emergency, they say the idea is “more about marketing and building goodwill than profits.”
THURSDAY OCTOBER 18TH
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS
[80] Dawn Wells, actress (‘Mary Anne’ on “Gilligan’s Island” 1964-67)
[58] Jean-Claude Van Damme, action movie actor
[30] Zac Efron, actor
- In the National League Championship Series last night, the Brewers pulled starting pitcher Wade Mileyafter ONE BATTER. He threw five pitches, walked the guy, and got yanked. Ultimately, the Dodgers won 5 to 2, and are now up 3 to 2 in the series.
- In the American League Championship Series, the Red Sox held off the Astros by a score of 8-6 to take a 3-1 series lead.
Jose Altuve of the Houston Astros could’ve tied the game with Boston last night in the first inning, when he hit what appeared to be a home run over the right field fence. Boston’s Mookie Betts almost caught the ball . . . but his glove was pushed closed by a fan’s hand, behind the fence line. The rules state that if there’s fan interference in the field of play, it’s an out. In this case the fans were behind the yellow padding of the outfield wall. After a review, Altuve was called out. And Houston ended up losing the game by two runs. Now Boston leads the series 3 to 1. Game 5 is tonight.
- “Orange is the New Black”is coming to an end after its next season, which will be its last. There’s no word yet when the show is coming back, but it’ll probably be sometime next summer.
- An 85-year-old guy in Ohio named Delbert Holsinger made it look like a plane had crashed in his front yard for Halloween, with fake skeletons in the cockpit. And it looked real enough that at least one person called 911. Delbert says it’s about laughing and having a good time.
GARTH BROOKS SHARES NEWS OF THREE-YEAR STADIUM TOUR, CBS-TV SPECIAL
Garth Brooks had a lot of news to share during a press conference at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville yesterday (Wednesday, October 17th), not the least of which are his plans to head out on a three-year tour of stadiums for the first time in his career.
The idea for the tour sprung from Garth’s upcoming concert at Notre Dame Stadium, the venue’s first-ever concert. The sold-out show, which takes place on Saturday (October 20th), will now be a televised event. Garth: Live from Notre Dame! will air on December 2nd at 8 PM ET on CBS.
The concert presents a new opportunity for Notre Dame students, they’re doing something called Student Sound check on Friday night, before Saturday, they’ve opened it up to anybody with a student ID it’s free. Also open to faculty, staff but they to pay to get in, but every penny goes to a scholarship for the college
LORETTA LYNN BOWS OUT OF CMT ARTISTS OF THE YEAR SPECIAL DUE TO ILLNESS
Illness forced Loretta Lynn to cancel her scheduled appearance at last night’s (Wednesday, October 17th) CMT Artists of the Year special where she was being honored as the Artist of a Lifetime.
Actress Sissy Spacek was there to present the honor and accepted the Artist of a Lifetime award on Loretta’s behalf. Sissy played Loretta in the 1980 film Coal Miner’s Daughter, ultimately winning an Oscar for her portrayal. Sheryl Crow, Dierks Bentley and Martina McBride also payed a musical tribute to Loretta featuring a medley of her songs.
Tim McGraw Has Two Stress Fractures and Is Wearing a Walking Boot
TIM MCGRAW’s sculpted physique might be headed to “dad bod” territory. He posted a photo of a medical walking boot on his right foot, and captioned it, “Too much spearfishing and beach volleyball. Two stress fractures.”
Stress fractures can take six to eight weeks to heal. Even worse, they’re an “overuse injury” so I bet the doctors are yelling at him to pull back on his workouts and stop acting like he’s still a 20-year-old. Tim’s 51.
One more thing about Tim. On Monday, he’ll be releasing the lyric video to his song, “Neon Church” . . . and it’s interesting. He posted a teaser clip that looks like artists painting with neon . . . and then it says, “Lyric video made only with light.”
