On Today’s Show
A new study has found that women sleep BETTER when they’re sharing their bed with their DOG than they do when they share it with another person.
The researchers found that women who shared their bed with dogs went to bed earlier, kept a better sleep schedule, AND got disturbed and woken up less often during the night.
They didn’t study whether men sleep better with dogs or other people.
But they DID find one other detail: Sleeping in bed with a CAT does NOT have the same effect. Women who had a cat in bed got worse sleep than women who had a dog or a person with them.
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Not everyone feels holly and jolly this time of year, and new research finds the odds of a heart attack jump nearly 40 percent on Christmas Eve. The risk overall during Christmas [Day] was 15 percent higher than a regular December day.”
After looking at data of more than 300,000 heart attack patients, researchers determined that the risk was highest at 10 p.m. on Christmas Eve. So what
is it about Christmas Eve? Researchers say it could be emotional distress, anger, anxiety, sadness, grief, and stress coupled with excessive food intake, alcohol, and distance travel.
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ENTERTAINMENT
PENNY MARSHALL died of complications from diabetes on Monday. She was 75. Penny starred as Laverne on “Laverne & Shirley”, but she was also a successful director in the ’80s and ’90s. She did the Whoopi Goldberg movie “Jumpin’ Jack Flash”, the Tom Hanks movie “Big”, the Robin Williams movie “Awakenings”, “A League of Their Own” . . .
The Danny DeVito comedy “Renaissance Man”, the Whitney Houston movie “The Preacher’s Wife”, and Drew Barrymore’s “Riding in Cars with Boys”.
Penny broke a lot of ground as a director . . . in fact, she became the first female director to gross more than $100 million at the box office with “Big”.
Four years later, “A League of Their Own” also cracked $100 million.
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Dora the Explorer has found her villain. Benicio del Toro has closed a deal to voice “Swiper” the thieving fox, in a live-action feature based on the character from the popular Nickelodeon TV series.
The signing is a late-in-the-game development, as the movie wrapped production in Australia two weeks ago. That isn’t as strange as it sounds, as voice casts for CG characters often aren’t required until post-production begins. Isabela Moner of “Instant Family” fame is starring as Dora, and Michael Pena and Eva Longoria will play her parents.
TODAY IS……………….
- “Look for an Evergreen Day”, saluting people for whom only a fresh-cut real tree will do for Christmas.
- “Oatmeal Muffin Day”, a day to enjoy the cholesterol-lowering benefit of oatmeal in your muffins … then slather on a ton of butter and enjoy!
1997 [21] “Titanic” opens in theaters. It becomes the top-grossing movie of all time ($2.2 billion), with a soundtrack that sells about 15 million copies, thanks mostly to the Celine Dion hit, ‘My Heart Will Go On.’
1917 [101] 1st ‘National Hockey League’ games played (5,500 fans watch Montréal Canadiens beat Ottawa Senators 7-4, while 700 soldiers get in free to see Montréal Wanderers defeat Toronto Arenas 10-9)
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COUNTRY MUSIC NOTE
DECEMBER 19TH, 1992 Alan Jackson goes #1 with “She’s Got The Rhythm (And I Got The Blues)”
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TODAY’S GOOD NEWS
Two famous Newfoundlanders stepped in to help an elderly veteran whose guitar went missing earlier this month. Edward Sheppard, 82, was devastated after his guitar — a gift from his late wife — was stolen from his home in Stephenville Crossing, N.L
His daughter says “She saved for years, she rolled a lot of change to save it. And when she had enough, I helped her out and we went and got dad a guitar. It wasn’t fancy, but it was all she could afford.”
After Edward’s story received media attention, comedian Mark Critch send out a tweet on Friday asking if his any of musician friends had a guitar they could spare for him.
Musician Alan Doyle, most famous for his work with Canadian folk band Great Big Sea, responded: “I got one he can have for sure.”
On Saturday morning, he hand-delivered the guitar to Sheppard, who was staying at his son’s home in St. John’s.
The two had an impromptu jam session, and Doyle tweeted out a short video of Edward playing the new guitar and whistling. While Edward is “very, very excited” to be strumming again, Yolanda said she hopes the missing guitar finds its way back to her father, since it holds a lot of sentimental value for him.
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BIRTHDAYS
[55] Jennifer Beals, actress (“Flashdance”, “The Book of Eli”)
[46] Alyssa Milano, actress
[38] Jake Gyllenhaal, actor
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GOOGLE SEARCHES IN CANADA
Canadians were gripped by tragedies and triumphs, with the World Cup and Winter Olympic Games at the top of the overall most searched list, followed by the Humboldt Broncos bus crash.
The Winnipeg Jets cracked more than one category after a long playoff run, and Leafs forwards William Nylander and John Tavares were the third and fourth top-searched Canadians respectively.
Searches
- World Cup
- Winter Olympic Games
- Humboldt Broncos
International News
- World Cup
- Winter Olympic Games
- Royal Wedding
Canadian News
- Humboldt Broncos
- Winnipeg Jets
- Ontario Election
- Canada Post Strike
- Cannabis
How…
- How old is Prince Harry?
- How old is Dolly Parton?
- How old is Meghan Markle?
- How many medals does Canada have?
- How many ends in curling?
Recipes
- Scalloped Potatoes
- Beef Stroganoff
- Chicken Parmesan
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DIMMING THE SUN:
Scientists think they may have come up with an unorthodox way to tackle climate change: spraying chemicals into the atmosphere which would “dim the sun”.
Research by scientists at Harvard and Yale university’s proposes using a technique known as “stratospheric aerosol injection”, which they say could cut the rate of global warming in half.
It would involve spraying large amounts of sulfate particles into the Earth’s lower stratosphere at altitudes as high as 12 miles. The sulfates would be delivered by specially designed high-altitude aircraft, balloons or large naval-style guns.
They estimate the cost of launching the system in 15 years’ time at around $3.5 billion, with running costs of $2.25 billion a year over a 15-year period. Although there is currently no existing aircraft suitable for the job, researchers say that developing one “would neither be technologically difficult nor prohibitively expensive.”
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YOU’VE BEEN BURNING CANDLES WRONG YOUR ENTIRE LIFE
You get a new candle and want to use it, but it’s unlikely you do what you’re supposed to do first and foremost– trim the wick.
Yankee Candle’s website states, “Keeping their wicks trimmed properly will help your candles burn fully and last longer. Specifically, your candle’s wick should be trimmed after every four hours of burn time.”
And it’s not just a ploy to get you to buy more candles. Vogue recently interviewed candle-maker Alia Raza, who says you should first cut your candle’s wick to about a third of an inch, and that the first time you burn a candle it should be for “about two hours or more” so that “the whole surface of will burn evenly so it won’t create those dips.”
This two-hour rule ensures the entire top layer of wax melts, so it dries smoothly instead of creating a hole that your wick can get lost in.
WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 19TH
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS
[55] Jennifer Beals, actress (“Flashdance”, “The Book of Eli”)
[46] Alyssa Milano, actress
[38] Jake Gyllenhaal, actor
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- PENNY MARSHALL died of complications from diabetes on Monday. She was 75. Penny starred as Laverne on “Laverne & Shirley”, and she also directed “Big”, “A League of Their Own”, and “Awakenings”
- • “The Wonderful World of Disney: Holiday Special” (ABC): Christmas is celebrated in Arendelle when Anna and Elsa open the gates for the first time in years. But the sisters find themselves alone when others leave to observe their own holiday customs, so Olaf searches for traditions to bring to the girls.
- “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer” (CW): Elmo Shropshire narrates this animated interpretation of the offbeat Yule tune, as Jake tries to find his grandma and save her Christmas shop. It’s in danger of being sold by his greedy cousin, Mel.
- During the contestant interviews last night on Jeopardy, Alex asked the current champion about her rocking past. It turns out Jackie Fuchs was Jackie Fox in The Runaways, a 70’s band that also had Joan Jett, Lita Ford, and Cherie Currie.
She won again last night, making $58,689 after three nights
- Someone broke into a house in Dallas on Friday while everyone was at work and stole jewelry, money, and all of the Christmas presents from under the tree.
And if that’s not bad enough . . . they also stole the family DOG.
The cops are trying to track down the burglar.
GARTH BROOKS WILL GO BACK TO VINYL NEXT YEAR – (12/19/2018)
When Garth Brooks released his first 3 albums, they were on vinyl, but that changed when CDs came out. He now has plans to go back to vinyl. On Facebook Monday night, Garth didn’t offer a lot of detail, but he made it clear that vinyl is in his future.
FAST FACTS
Garth’s self-titled debut album, as well as No Fences, and Ropin’ the Wind were originally released on vinyl.
Garth’s Stadium Tour kicks off March 9 in St. Louis, Missouri.
CHRIS LANE’S FAMILY IS ‘BUZZING ABOUT MARRIAGE’ – (12/19/2018)
When you take your girlfriend home for Christmas to meet the family, that’s a big deal and Chris Lane is doing just that. Chris told People.com, “I’m actually a little nervous because I know how my dad is. I’ve already given her the pre-warning. He’s just a funny guy. He’ll probably ask her some tough questions.”
He said his family is excited about meeting her, “So excited, in fact, that the family is already buzzing about marriage! “I’m just like … when it happens, it happens.”
Chris’ girlfriend, Lauren Bushnell was engaged to Ben Higgins in the 2016 season of ABC’s The Bachelor.
Following Lauren’s engagement on ABC’s The Bachelor to Ben Higgins, the couple also starred in their own reality show together called Ben and Lauren: Happily Ever After? They broke up last year.
Chris Young – revealed on social media last week that his next single is going to be ‘Raised on Country’. To promote it, he is running a contest which he describes this way: “I reference a whole lot of artists that I grew up listening to in the song by name, so I’m going to post this link, you guys can go vote, and every week, whoever gets the highest number of votes, artist-wise, I will go record one of my favorite songs of theirs that I grew up on and really made me raised on country.”
