On Today’s Show

McKamey Manor in Tennessee is said to be the scariest haunted house in North America.  It’s so intense that you have to sign a FORTY-page waiver, pass a sports physical and drug test, prove you’re 21-years-old, provide medical insurance, and watch a two-hour video of previous visitors quitting before the end.   You get a $20,000 prize for finishing, but no one has ever finished.

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Don’t underestimate how much your old sneakers could be worth. Dave Russell of Sacramento, California got $50,000 for his “funky, old shoes” that happened to be a pair of extremely rare prototype Nike running shoes from 1972. Russell said he was given the shoes, now known as Nike Waffle Racing Moon Shoes, at age 25 when he participated in the 1972 Olympic trials in Eugene, Oregon. Only 12 of the prototypes, designed by Nike co-founder Bill Bowerman, were ever made, and ten of those pairs were given to athletes trying out for the Olympic team. Russell said he only decided to sell the shoes a few months ago, and got an offer from The Graduate Eugene Hotel, which is building a Nike museum in Eugene.

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ENTERTAINMENT

• “The Current War” (PG-13, Drama):  The dramatic story of the cutthroat race between electricity titans Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse to determine whose electrical system would power the modern world.

(Tom Holland, Benedict Cumberbatch)

• “Countdown” (PG-13, Horror):  When a young nurse downloads an app that claims to predict exactly when a person is going to die, it tells her she only has three days to live. With time ticking away, she must find a way to save her life before time runs out. (Elizabeth Lail, Jordan Calloway)
• “The Lighthouse” (R-Rated, Drama/Horror, Wide):  The hypnotic and hallucinatory tale of two lighthouse keepers on a remote and mysterious New England island in the 1890s. (Willem Dafoe, Robert Pattinson)

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Last night on “The Tonight Show”, Jimmy was talking to Michael Douglas about all the people he’s played golf with and said he’d love to play with him.  Michael said they’d get together but Jimmy doesn’t think he was being serious.  (From “The Tonight Show” on Wednesday, October 23, 2019)

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TODAY IS……………….

• “Frankenstein Day”, honoring Mary Wollenstone Shelley, the author of “Frankenstein”. Frankenstein was first published anonymously in 1818.

SATURDAY-
• “Pumpkin Day”, celebrating the orange member of the squash family best known for being carved into jack-o-lanterns or made into pie filling. Did you know that pumpkins are 90% water? At one time, they were recommended for removing freckles and curing snake bites.

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COUNTRY MUSIC NOTE

The Dixie Chicks made their chart debut with “I Can Love You Better” in 1997

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‘JOKER’ HAS CREATED A NEW TOURIST ATTRACTION IN THE BRONX– LOCALS ARE NOT HAPPY

Some people will do anything for a “like” on social media.

A staircase in New York City has become an unlikely landmark after it was featured in the movie “Joker.” Fans are flocking to the location, in the Bronx, to recreate scenes from the movie, and locals are taking to social media to remind people the area might not be the safest.

The stairs are located at 167th Street in the Bronx, and were also heavily featured in promotional materials for the film.

One Twitter users wrote, “Those awful stairs on 167 are now renamed ‘the joker stairs’ [on Google Maps] so I just want to remind everyone that the Bronx is not a friendly place for tourist attractions you will get robbed beloved.”

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RANDOM REPORT

1.  A&W tried to one-up McDonald’s in the ’80s by selling a third-pound burger, but it flopped . . . because people didn’t realize a third-pound burger was bigger than a Quarter Pounder.

2. The three largest countries in North America are Canada . . . the United States . . . and Greenland.

3. In early drafts of “Star Wars”, Yoda had a first name:  Minch

4. The Eiffel Tower was almost demolished in 1909. What saved it? Its potential use as a radio tower.

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GOOD NEWS

An eight-year-old girl from Chatham is using her love for knitting as a way to help others.

Eden Koomans received a knitting loom kit last Christmas and according to her mother, Cathy Koomans, the young girl quickly fell in love with the hobby. After knitting a hat for herself and sister, Eden wanted to continue making hats but wasn’t sure what to do with them. That’s when she got an idea.

“We went over to the Chatham-Kent Hospital and went over up to the pediatric ward, remembering that when my girls were little they each received a hat from the hospital,” said Cathy. “So, [Eden] asked if they wanted to get some hats that she was making and they said they would be interested. That’s kind of where it started.”

Eden first got an interest in knitting when she saw her aunt making socks. Since receiving her own knitting kit nearly a year ago, Eden has been working on creating the hats and recently finished her 20th one, which was the goal she had set for herself. On Sunday, Eden and Cathy went to the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance to deliver the hats to newborn babies in the pediatric wing.

Cathy said it wasn’t totally shocking to see her daughter take on such a big initiative to give back to others, but she was still amazed to see someone so young remain dedicated and passionate to a goal.

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BIRTHDAYS

[91] Marion Ross, actress (‘Marion Cunningham’ on “Happy Days” 1974-1984)

[62] Nancy Cartwright, really rich voice actress (‘Bart Simpson’ and others on “The Simpsons” since 1989)

[48] Craig Robinson, actor

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THE APPS ON YOUR PHONE ARE KEEPING YOU UP AT NIGHT

You’ve likely heard that the blue light emitted by your phone and other electronic devices with screens can potentially make it harder to fall asleep at night.

But now researchers say it’s not so much the light, but the amount of time people spend on their phones, that could ruin sleep quality. Professor Russell Foster says, “The amount of light that you get from screens is relatively low. […] for most people it is not going to have a big effect. […] It seems unlikely that it is the light effects versus the alerting effects of these devices.”

Also, keeping your phone on dark mode or using a screen filter won’t really help anything either– you’ll need to unplug more often if you want to sleep better.

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AIR (CHARGING) PORTS:
Have you ever been at an airport, waiting and waiting for your flight, and slowly seeing your phone battery’s charge dwindling down, down, down…and then you see it!  An airport charging station!

It’s like a modern-day lifeline.  Well, not so fast. Security experts are warning travelers to think twice about using airport charging stations., because of a new scam called “juice jacking.”

That’s when hackers secretly modify the USB ports to install malware on your phone or steal your data. Just by your plugging in, hackers can steal data, text messages, pictures, and email from your phone. And IBM security expert Charles Henderson says that unless you are very technically savvy, it is very difficult to detect such an attack.

It is recommended that you bring your own charger or portable battery with you to the airport so you can avoid using public USB ports.

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FRIDAY OCTOBER 25^TH                                             

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS

[91] Marion Ross, actress (‘Marion Cunningham’ on “Happy Days” 1974-1984)

[62] Nancy Cartwright, really rich voice actress (‘Bart Simpson’ and others on “The Simpsons” since 1989)

[48] Craig Robinson, actor

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1. MLB

• “2019 World Series” (FOX): Game 3. Houston Astros at Washington Nationals

SATURDAY-
• “2019 World Series” (FOX): Game 4. Houston Astros at Washington Nationals
SUNDAY-
• “2019 World Series” (FOX): Game 5. Houston Astros at Washington Nationals (if necessary)

NHL

SJS 4 – MTL 2               NYI 4 – ARI 2      NYR 6 – BUF 2    CBJ 4 – CAR 3 OT

STL 5 – LAK 2                 NSH 4 – MIN 0   PHI 4 – CHI 1      DAL 2 – ANA 1

CGY 6 – FLA 5 SO          EDM 4 – WSH 3 OT

2. Jimmy Fallon read a new batch of thank-you notes last night.  (From “The Tonight Show” on Thursday, October 24, 2019)

3. A drunk driver in Phoenix, Arizona ran a red light and was about to HIT a couple pushing a baby in a stroller . . . until another car came through the intersection and T-boned it.  The family wasn’t hurt and the “hero” driver suffered injuries, but none serious.  In an interview the wife admitted she didn’t even see the car running the red light.  And the husband said when the crash happened it crossed his mind that “this might be it.”  A police officer said he shudders at the thought of what could have happened.

4. Jim Gaffigan jokes about when the leaves change colors in the fall.  He says it’s weird that we love to look at it, because it’s basically a bunch of leaves on their deathbeds.

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LADY A GET THEIR STAR ON MUSIC CITY WALK OF FAME

Lady Antebellum was honored with a star on Nashville’s Music City Walk of Fame yesterday (Tuesday, October 22nd), along with Clint Black, Chet Atkins, Mac McAnally and DeFord Bailey. Theirs is one of 89 stars recognizing artists for their “significant contributions to preserving the musical heritage of Nashville, as well as their creative endeavors.”

This is a really big deal for the group, particularly Lady A’s Hillary Scott, who is a Nashville native. Charles Kelley, Hillary and Dave Haywood tell us: [“Born and raised in Nashville . . . (Hillary) Born and raised here I’m like it honestly hasn’t quite sunk in . . .  sunken in?  It hadn’t quite sanked in.  I mean, we are in such great company that day with Mac McAnally and Clint Black and . . . (Dave) Chet Atkins. (Hillary) Chet Atkins. I mean . . . (Charles) Wow. (Hillary) So, it’ll be a really, really special day for family.  You know, I’ll definitely bring my littles out there to see that.  And then we’ll just have people stepping all over our name out there. (Charles) I love it! (Hillary) So, we’re excited. It’ll be awesome. (Dave) Walking all over us. (Charles) It’s really super cool. (Hillary) Walkin’ all over us, and we love it.  It’s the biggest honor in the whole wide world.”]  Tim McGraw showed up to present Lady A with their honor.

FAST FACTS

Lady A will release their new album, Ocean, on November 15th.

OLD DOMINION RELEASE SELF-TITLED ALBUM TODAY

Old Dominion has released their third studio album today (Friday, October 25th). The 12-song self-titled project includes their latest single, “One Man Band,” as well as their recent chart-topping hit, “Make It Sweet.” This is Old Dominion’s first time to serve as co-producers.

Seems odd that the group would wait until their third album to self-title it, but as Trevor Rosen tells us, it made perfect sense. [“We had already named the first two albums something quirky and I think everybody expected a quirky title for the third one but once this album kind of shaped up it didn’t feel in character to name it something like that and it just felt like we were really proud of this album. We felt like it really represented who we are as a band and who we are as songwriters so it felt right to name it Old Dominion.”]

Old Dominion was just nominated for Favorite Country Duo or Group at the American Music Awards. They are also up for Vocal Group of the Year at next month’s CMA Awards.

BRETT YOUNG AND WIFE WELCOME BABY GIRL

Brett Young and his wife, Taylor, welcomed their first child, daughter Presley Elizabeth, on Monday (October 21st) in Nashville.

The baby weighed at 8 lbs., 2 oz. and measured 20.75 inches long.

Brett says that he had a wonderful example of how to be a good dad in his own father and he hopes to be just like him. [“I think the one thing about my dad aside from being supportive of everything that I’ve ever done no matter what it was is his genuine excitement. There are people you’re going to meet in your lives where they’re excited and pleasant all the time and it feels really fake and kind of contrived, and my dad borders on that. He’s so excited and pleasant all the time but it’s genuine every single time. He’s uplifting and encouraging and so that trait in him is what always made me believe I could do anything I wanted to do because he always told me I could and it seemed like he believed it so it made me believe it, so I hope that that’s something that I have for her.”]

Brett has a few days off to enjoy his new daughter before returning to the road on October 31st in Indianapolis, IN.

Categorised in: Mornings

This post was written by Dave Palmer