On Today’s Show
WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 23RD – WHAT’S HAPPENING
➢People will buy just about anything. A company called My Baggage is selling bottles of Air from various places in the U.K. for about $34 each. They’re being marketed as the perfect gift for homesick British folks and feature air captured on the London Underground and from inside a Norfolk fish and chip shop, as well as other places. The company also says it’s willing to fulfill special customer requests by bottling air “from any UK location.”
➢Sometimes scary stories end up being kind of cute. A County Sheriff’s Office in Oregon investigated a report of a cheetah on the loose near the Oregon Zoo, only to find the animal was just a stuffed toy. The police contacted the zoo first, which confirmed all its animals, including cheetahs, were accounted for. Police note that big cats are not uncommon in the area.
➢If you feel like you could sleep through winter it might be because our ancient ancestors did just that. Researchers recently analyzed ancient bones from a cave in Spain, and found evidence suggesting early humans hibernated, or something close to it, through the winter. They note the humans in the area could have faced severe food scarcity and frigid temperatures throughout the winter, so hibernation may have seemed like a good way to survive.
➢Real Christmas trees increased in popularity this year, but you might be allergic to them. Signs you might be suffering with allergies related to your tree include nasal congestion, sneezing, runny nose, headache, coughing, wheezing, and chest tightness.
Some people may also experience itchy skin rashes such as eczema or hives. Real trees can collect molds, while fake trees can collect dust, or you may react to one of the products used to make artificial trees. To help with this, make sure you give your tree a good shake before bringing it home, you could also hose down your tree, but be sure to make sure it dries out before bringing it inside to prevent more mold growth.
➢Chadwick Boseman will posthumously make a number of appearances as his “Black Panther” character ‘T’Challa’ in Disney’s “What If…?”. Marvel boss Kevin Feige has revealed the late actor, who passed away in August following a secret battle with colon cancer, recorded “numerous episodes” of the Disney+ show, and says, in hindsight, they are “very moving”. Boseman played an animated version of his iconic character in the anthology series, which is due to drop on the streaming service next year.
TODAY IS……………….
- “Festivus”, created in 1966 but little-known until it was mentioned in a “Seinfeld” episode in 1997. It’s dedicated to celebrating the season without the pressure and commercialism of traditional holidays. (Can we start with the airing of grievances?)
2007 [13] Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant (aged 29 years, 122 days) surpasses Wilt Chamberlain to become the youngest player in NBA history to reach 20,000 career points
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COUNTRY MUSIC NOTE
1974 John Denver was at #1 on the US country album chart with Back Home Again. The multi-platinum album contained the hit singles “Annie’s Song”, “Back Home Again” and “Sweet Surrender”. In addition, the studio version of “Thank God I’m a Country Boy” appeared on this album.
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CHRISTMAS FACTS:
✓ The tallest Christmas tree ever cut was a 221-foot Douglas fir that was displayed in 1950 at the Northgate Shopping Center in Seattle, Washington.
✓ In Slovakia, it is a tradition to keep “Christmas Carp”, which live in the family bathtub for a few days before they are eaten.
✓ Christmas carolling is based on the English custom of ‘wassailing’, which was a tradition to toast to someone’s good health and fortune. St. Francis of Assisi converted it to the modern form of carolling.
✓ Tiny Tim in Charles Dickens’ classic story ‘A Christmas Carol’ was almost named “Little Fred.”
✓ ‘Silver Bells’ was called ‘Tinkle Bells’ until co-composer Jay Livingston’s wife told him “tinkle” had another meaning.
GOOD NEWS
When you were a kid, were you told that a spoonful of honey (whether served in tea or on just on the spoon…) would sooth a cough? And does Grandma’s old trick work? Well, yes!
Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease specialist at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, says that while honey isn’t a cure for a cough, it can decrease its intensity. A study showed that children given a tablespoon of honey before bedtime to help with cough symptoms got as much, or more, relief than they did when given dextromethorphan (a common ingredient in cough medicines).
And several studies have shown that honey can bring the intensity level of coughing fits way down by reducing airway inflammation in the lungs, and it might also break up mucus, and relieve irritation of the mucus membranes in your mouth.
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BIRTHDAYS
[77] Harry Shearer, TV voice actor (voices of ‘Mr. Burns’, ‘Smithers’, ‘Ned Flanders’, “Principal Skinner” and others on “The Simpsons” since 1989)
[74] Susan Lucci, TV actress, (‘Erica Kane’ on “All My Children” 1970-2011)
[18] Finn Wolfhard, Vancouver BC, TV actor (‘Mike Wheeler’ on “Stranger Things”)
COMING UP…”Ghostbusters: Afterlife”, 2021
LAST WEEK IN SCIENCE
- A Chinese spacecraft returned with a bunch of Moon rockslast Wednesday. They’re the first new Moon rocks we’ve brought back to Earth since 1976.
- This is pretty creepy: There’s a new satellitethat uses something called “synthetic aperture radar” instead of normal cameras. So it can see through clouds . . . see at night . . . and sometimes see through CEILINGS AND WALLS like X-ray vision. There’s only one of them up there so far, but they’re launching six more next year.
- A study in Sweden found that if your dog has diabetes, you’re more likely to develop it too. Probably because people who overfeed their dogs also overfeed themselves.
- Lucid dreamingis when you know you’re in a dream and can even control it. And a new study found you can train yourself to do it using virtual reality.
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What Is The Best Streaming Service?
Disney Plus reached a new milestone, just over a year after its debut, hitting 86.8 million paid subscribers worldwide as of Dec. 2.
That’s within shouting distance of the high end of the 90 million customers Disney originally expected to land Ñ in year four of the streaming services life.
The new sub count is up 13.1 million from the last reported number of 73.7 million paid subscribers globally for Disney Plus as of Oct. 3.
The service has become an even more critical pillar for Disney, especially as the COVID crisis has depressed box office and theme park revenue.
WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 23RD
- A massive winter storm dumped up to 40 centimetres of snow on Calgary and at least 70 centimetres in other parts of southern Alberta, causing cancelled flights and chaos on the roads with dozens of collisions and stuck cars and buses.
The storm has passed but a wide area of the province’s north is under an extreme cold warning.
The agency said the snowfall and winter storm warnings that were issued on Monday remained in effect Tuesday morning all through southern Alberta and well into the central region of the province.
- Mark Hamill tweeted that Jeremy Bulloch was “the quintessential English gentleman.” The actor who starred as bounty hunter ‘Boba Fett’ in the original “Star Wars” trilogy, has died in a London hospital at the age of 75. According to a statement from his agents, Bulloch died from complications of Parkinson’s disease. Boba Fett became a cult favourite and eventually emerged as one of the most beloved figures in the Star Wars galaxy, making Bulloch a big draw on the convention circuit. He also appeared in a pair of James Bond films, 1981’s “For Your Eyes Only” and 1983’s “Octopussy.”
- • “Jimmy Kimmel Live” (ABC/Global): Emily Blunt, Kyle Chandler, Sturgill Simpson (R)
• “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” (CBS/Global): Meryl Streep, Chris Stapleton (R)
- “Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town” (ABC): A mailman (the voice of Fred Astaire) explains why Santa has whiskers, lives at the North Pole and brings presents once a year.
- “A Holly Dolly Christmas” (CBS): Dolly Parton presents personal Christmas stories and performs hymns and light-hearted holiday classics.
- “The Great Christmas Light Fight” (ABC): Season 8 finale
- • Alabama – singer Randy Owen has been named as one of the co-chairs of the World Games, which are coming to his home state in 2022. “The World Games 2022 Birmingham”, which marks the 40th anniversary of the event, will take place July 7-17.
- Brett Eldredge – has finally met his duet partner, Kelly Clarkson. While the 2 recently made musical magic with the release of their holiday duet ‘Under the Mistletoe’, which was recorded remotely, they had never been the same room together until he recently guested on “The Kelly Clarkson Show.” Of course, they performed the song, backed by the show’s house band.
CHRIS YOUNG’S FIRST GUITAR WAS FROM SANTA
Chris Young loves Christmas. He made that clear 4 years ago when he released his album, It Must Be Christmas. It was also this time of year that he learned a craft that would help pave the way for his music career. Chris explains: [“I actually got my first guitar as a Christmas gift. So, that’s one that’s always going to stand out in my mind as a gift that, you know, I picked up and was like so excited to have. And, then realized it was going to take me a really long time to learn to play it. But, it’s obviously brought me a lot of joy over the years being able to sit down and kick up and instrument and just, uh, sing and play. So, that was pretty special.”] SOUNDCUE :25 (OC: that was pretty special)
One of his favorite things to do at Christmas is to drive around looking at lights and decorations.
BRANTLEY GILBERT CELEBRATES SOBRIETY
On Friday, Brantley Gilbert celebrated nine years of sobriety. The 35 year old posted a photo on Instagram and wrote, “9 years drink-free today, and couldn’t have done it without my family, my brothers, my road family, and the BG Nation… If y’all pop a top today, drink one for ya boy.”
Fans and friends chimed in with support. Notable comments included Jake Owen posting: “Proud of ya.” And Cole Swindell adding: “Awesome brother!”
Two years ago when Brantley first shared his story with People.com, he said: “Knowing where I am now, looking back – almost makes me sick to my stomach. To go back to that frame of mind now is hard. What was I thinking?”
On Friday, Dec. 30, Brantley will host a livestream from his home in Georgia. It will mark his last performance for the year.
MATTHEW RAMSEY RECORDS A CHRISTMAS SONG FOR CHARITY
Old Dominion front man, Matthew Ramsey has recorded and released a solo holiday song for charity. 100% of the profits from “It’s Christmas and We’re Still Here” will be donated to the My Hometown Fund. Matthew and his wife Sara created the initiative to help with the Community Foundation serving Western Virginia.
Through a press release, Matthew said “I created this fund to help support rural communities like the one I grew up in. By working with non-profit organizations, we are able to bring music, art, and basic needs to areas where such opportunities are hard to come by.”
If you’d like to help… Matthew has posted information on his social media pages.
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K.T. OSLIN
K.T. Oslin – died on Monday at the age of 78. The Grammy, ACM, and CMA-winner was best known for songs including “Come Next Monday”, ‘80s Ladies’ and ‘Do Ya’ but had many other hits during the late 1980s and early ’90s. Her official cause of death has not been revealed, but reports say that both COVID-19 and Parkinson’s disease played a role.
