On Today’s Show
FRIDAY DECEMBER 28TH – WHAT’S HAPPENING
Delta Airlines cabin crew Pierce Vaughan, from Mississippi, was rostered to work Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, away from family.
But thanks to her employee benefits, her Dad Hal was able to join her on six flights over both days, even finding a seat in first class from Florida to Detroit, which Pierce called a Christmas miracle.
Delta employee benefits include free or reduced travel for spouses, dependent children and parents.
Pierce shared two photos that had been taken by another passenger, Mike Levy, who was seated next to Hal on his flight to Detroit.
“What a fantastic father,” Levy wrote in the post, “I had the pleasure of sitting next to Hal on my flight back home. His daughter Pierce was our flight attendant”
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A 71-year-old Frenchman set sail across the Atlantic on Wednesday in a barrel-shaped orange capsule, hoping to reach the Caribbean within three months thanks to ocean currents alone.
Jean-Jacques Savin worked on his vessel for months.
Measuring three metres (10 feet) long and 2.10 metres across, it is made from resin-coated plywood, heavily reinforced to resist waves and potential attacks by orca whales.
Inside the capsule, is a six-square-metre living space which includes a kitchen, sleeping bunk and storage.
A former military parachutist who served in Africa, Savin has also worked as a pilot and a national park ranger. Along the way, Savin will be dropping markers for the JCOMMOPS international marine observatory to help its oceanographers study the currents.
And he himself will be the subject of a study on the effects of solitude in close confinement.
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ENTERTAINMENT
HOLMES & WATSON
Opened – Christmas Day
WHO’S IN IT: Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly, Rebecca Hall, Kelly McDonald, Ralph Fiennes, Hugh Laurie, Pam Ferris, and Steve Coogan
WHAT IT’S ABOUT: Holmes and Watson must investigate a murder at Buckingham Palace.
VICE
Opened – Christmas Day
WHO’S IN IT: Christian Bale, Amy Adms, Sam Rockwell, Steve Carell, Jesse Plemons, Tyler Perry, Alison Pill, Lily Rabe, and Justin Kirk
WHAT IT’S ABOUT: Vice President Dick Cheney uses his power to help in reshaping the United States and the world.
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TODAY IS……………….
NATIONAL CARD PLAYING DAY….
1952 Detroit Lions beat Cleveland Browns 17-7 in NFL championship game
2008 Detroit Lions crash to a 31-21 loss to Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field; first team in NFL history to go winless in a 16-game season
2009 Charlie Daniels played fiddle in a GEICO insurance commercial which made its TV debut
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COUNTRY MUSIC NOTE
DECEMBER 28TH, 1993 Shania Twain married music producer Robert John “Mutt” Lange in Timmins, Ontario. The couple divorced in 2010 after Lange allegedly had an affair with Twain’s best friend, Marie-Anne. On December 20, 2010, Twain’s manager confirmed that Twain was engaged to Frédéric Thiébaud (the Swiss ex-husband of her former best friend).
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RANDOM REPORT
- People argued over wishing you a “Merry Christmas” even 100 years ago. A cartoon from a 1916 copy of the “Chicago Tribune”made the argument that we should wish people a CHEERY Christmas instead of a MERRY Christmas . . . because merriment was associated with drunkenness, noise, and other bad behavior.
- Nobody knows for sure how the traditions of hanging Christmas stockings or drinking eggnog got started.
- Christmas trees used to be lit up with real candles. It seems insanely dangerous today, but people used to put actual candles on their tree.
- Oyster stew was a common dish at Christmas dinner. Oysters were plentiful and cheap in the 19th and early 20th centuries . . . so a typical Christmas dinner would usually include some kind of oyster dish.
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TODAY’S GOOD NEWS
A plan to give dogs at a Winnipeg animal shelter some company for Christmas proved to be a resounding success, and may even end with some pups finding a forever home.
Typically animals at Winnipeg Animal Services spend most of the holiday alone, except for when staff clean the kennels and take the dogs out for a bit of play time in the yard.
But this year, workers posted a Facebook event inviting the public to stop by in the afternoon on Christmas Day to hang out with the pooches — and hundreds of people accepted the invitation.
The department says some of the visitors said they plan to return to adopt a dog when the facility opened for regular hours yesterday.
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BIRTHDAYS
Actor Denzel Washington 64
Country singer Joe Diffie 60
Late night host Seth Myers 45
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GROWING NUMBER OF HOTELS ARE OFFERING FREE PERKS TO GUESTS
If you can get through your whole vacation without checking your cell phone you could be rewarded by your hotel. Some resorts are offering perks like snorkeling tours and free snacks, to guests who manage to give up their phones for a few hours.
Others have phone-free hours at their pools and others are banning distracting devices from public spaces altogether.
Back in October, Wyndham Grand’s five U.S. resorts began offering prime spots by the pool, free snacks, and the chance to win return visits when guests put their phone in a soft, locked pouch– the phone stayed with the guests, but only hotel staff can unlock the pouches.
Though hotels that limit cellphone use risk losing valuable exposure on Instagram or Facebook, they say the policies reflect their mission of promoting wellness and relaxation.
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KEEP THE CHANGE YA FILTHY ANIMAL
The gangster movie Macaulay Culkin watches in Home Alone isnt real.
That fact came as a revelation to many on the Internet on Christmas after Seth Rogen tweeted about Angels with Filthy Souls, the black-and-white movie within the classic holiday flick.
My entire childhood, I thought the old timey movie that Kevin watches in Home Alone(Angels with Filthy Souls) was actually an old movie, the actor tweeted.
The observation that the film parody was not an actual movie came as a shock to many Home Alone fans, including Chris Evans, who, like Rogen, had apparently labored under the false impression that the movie Kevin McAllister watches in the 1990 film and its 1992 sequel was real.
But while there is a classic crime drama called Angels with Dirty Faces, neither Angels with Filthy Souls nor its sequel, Angels with Even Filthier Souls, are real films a fact that seemed to come as a shock to many on the internet this holiday season.
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70 IS THE NEW 40:
A new study has determined that septuagenarians — those are people who are in their 70s — who have been exercising regularly for decades are about as strong and have the heart and lung capacities of healthy people in their 40s.
Researchers compared seniors who cranked cardio about five days (seven hours average) per week to those with similar health habits in their 40s, and found that some who are even 75-years-old have similar cardiovascular health to a 40- to 45-year-old.
That’s important because an efficient heart and lung combo can decrease your risk of multiple chronic diseases and…of dying. For most, maximum oxygen consumption declines by about 10 percent per decade after 30, but not so for those who continue to do cardio.
Lead author and director of the Human Performance Laboratory at Ball State University Dr. Scott Trappe says that the take-away from the study is that people who exercise throughout their lives have better overall health.
While that might seem fairly obvious, he points out that 30 to 60 minutes of exercise a day may be the key to a healthy life.
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FRIDAY DECEMBER 28TH
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS
Actor Denzel Washington 64
Country singer Joe Diffie 60
Late night host Seth Myers 45
- World Junior Hockey
Canada 3 Switzerland 2
Canada plays against the Czech Republic on Saturday night at 8
Russia 4 Denmark 0
Finland 5 Kazakhstan 0
Sweden 5 Slovakia 2
NHL
Pittsburgh 5 Detroit 2
Calgary 4 Winnipeg 1
Vancouver 4 Edmonton 2
Tonight….
Toronto vs Columbus
Montreal vs Florida
Ottawa vs NYI
- A transformer explosion at a power plant in western Queens turned the sky over New York City an eerie blue for several minutes last night (December 27th). The light came as part of a brief electrical fire, with some people in the area having also felt an explosion and experienced brief power outages. People quickly began tweeting about the blue sky, which could also be seen in Manhattan and as far away as New Jersey, concerned about what it was and joking that aliens had landed. The New York Police Department tweeted: “No injuries, no fire, no evidence of extraterrestrial activity.”
- Plunging world oil prices have delivered a Christmas miracle of lower gasoline prices across most of Canada but a fuel price expert says motorists should fill up now because prices are expected to be volatile in 2019.
Dan McTeague, a senior petroleum analyst at Gas Buddy.com, says gasoline prices are at near-18-month lows because of global oil prices that have tumbled over the past two months on worries of an economic downturn, a U.S.-China trading tiff and concerns that members of the OPEC oil cartel won’t live up to production cuts.
McTeague says “extreme volatility” in oil markets are expected to continue to wreak havoc on gasoline prices in Canada in the early part of 2019. Where gas prices could wildly jump 10 cents or more on any given week.
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GARTH BROOKS & TRISHA YEARWOOD TO HONOR DOLLY PARTON
Dolly Parton will be honored at the next Music-Cares Person of the Year Gala.
Several artists will be there to honor Dolly including Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood, they’ll sing a duet as part of the program.
A few of the other artists participating include, Katy Perry, Vince Gill, Don Henley and Willie Nelson.
Dolly is an eight-time Grammy winner, and the first member of the Nashville music community to earn this honor. The Gala will take place February 8 in Los Angeles.
FAST FACTS
Dolly is being recognized not only for her creative achievements, but also for her extensive philanthropic work through her Dollywood Foundation.
One of her biggest contributions has been via her Imagination Library, which has provided more than 100 million books to children in need over the past two decades.
BRANTLEY GILBERT: DECEMBER MARKS 6 YEARS SOBER – (12/28/2018)
Brantley Gilbert is celebrating his sixth year of being alcohol and opioid free. So, when it comes to setting goals, he says he takes it one day at a time.
FAST FACTS
Brantley and Lindsay Ell have a duet out called “What Happens in a Small Town.”
The single will be on his next album due in 2019.
MITCHELL TENPENNY ACHIEVES COUNTRY MUSIC’S BIGGEST NEW ARTIST DEBUT
One of Mitchell Tenpenny’s best gifts this year wasn’t under the tree.
On Christmas Eve he was told that he achieved country music’s biggest new artist debut of 2018.
Released on December 14, his album, Telling All My Secrets, had the best first-week showing for a major label country debut album this year.
SIDE NOTES
Mitchell’s grandmother Donna Hilley was the first female CEO of Sony/ATV Music Publishing.
