On Today’s Show

April 20, 2020 9:35 am Published by

➢ The COVID-19 pandemic has forced the cancellation of some blood donor clinics in Chatham-Kent because they are unable to meet social distancing rules.

The regional manager of donor relations, Marisa Gatfield, said Canadian Blood Services is following orders from the Public Health Agency of Canada about social distancing and mobile services like the one in the Chatham area will put people too close to each other while donating blood. Gatfield said the following Chatham-Kent blood donor clinics are cancelled: April 21 and  April 25 in Chatham, May 5 in Dresden, and May 12 in Ridgetown.

 

➢ The Bluewater Recycling Association near Exeter said in a Facebook post titled “Most Unwanted — April Edition” that someone put a metal sword into a “blue box” recycling bin. The post said the sword “was found before going through our machinery or it could have caused damage to our machines and serious safety issues for our employees.” The association said the sword’s former owner might have been better off turning the weapon over to a second-hand store. “Just because something is made of metal and may be perfectly recyclable at a local scrap yard, does not mean it is acceptable in the blue box for recycling,” the post said.

 

➢ There’s a guy in San Francisco who lives on the ground floor, and his kitchen window faces the street.  So he’s been making coffee and handing it out to essential workers for free.  He even stole his kid’s gorilla claw toy to use, so people don’t have to get too close when he hands them their cup. (clip)

 

➢ Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, and Stephen Colbert hosted the “One World: Together at Home” concert on Saturday night.

Performers included Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Lizzo, the Rolling Stones, Elton John, Billie Eilish, Celine Dion, Keith Urban, Kacey Musgraves, Camila Cabello and Shawn Mendes, and TONS more.

You can watch individual performances here . . . or watch all EIGHT HOURS of it here.

 

➢ A man is apparently upset after his girlfriend buried his beans. The account of what happened has been seen on Twitter, but it may have been originally posted on Reddit. According to the post, the author bought 30 cans of beans and 15 cans of chickpeas in preparation for the lockdown.

The story goes that he was making chili and discovered his beans were missing. He says his girlfriend told him she buried the beans in the woods with the intention of saving them for “if things get bad.” Apparently, the argument escalated and the couple stopped speaking to each other. Their story has garnered over 23 thousand responses.

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TODAY IS……………….

  • “420” or “Pot Smokers Day”, the unofficial holiday of potheads. A few facts, man:
    ☞ ‘Four-twenty’ became an emblematic number for dopers in the 1970s. It comes from the time 4:20 pm, the secret ‘burn time’ originated by a group of pot-smoking students at California’s San Rafael High School in 1971.
    ☞ Marijuana is the most lucrative domestic crop in the USA, worth $52 billion … more than corn and wheat combined. Of that, 87% of sales are on the black market.

2010 [10] ‘Deepwater Horizon’ drilling rig explodes in the Gulf of Mexico, killing 11 workers and beginning an oil spill that lasts 6 months (“Deepwater Horizon”, a movie version of the disaster

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COUNTRY MUSIC NOTE

 

The Glen Campbell hit “Southern Nights” went gold in 1977

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“Doomscrolling” Is When You Read Depressing News for Hours . . .

There’s just NOTHING mentally healthy about reading depressing pandemic news all day long.  So why are so many of us ADDICTED to it?

 

There’s a new term that describes sitting around, scrolling through your phone, reading depressing news for hours and hours:  “Doomscrolling.”

 

So what can you do instead?

 

A new survey asked people what they’re doing to stay mentally healthy right now.  And here are the top five answers . . .

 

  1. Checking in with family, 60%.

 

  1. Trying to exercise more, 35%.

 

  1. Limiting news consumption, 30%.

 

  1. Making plans for once the pandemic is over, 30%.

 

  1. Doing nice things for other people, 29%.

 

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FOUR RANDOM FACTS

  1.  The Ernest character from the “classic” films like “Ernest Goes to Camp”and “Ernest in the Army”started as a character in TV commercials.

The ad agency turned him into a movie character when he got popular, but they couldn’t use him in nationwide ads because of exclusive local deals.

 

  1. The most watched episode of a TV series last decade, not counting one-off events like the Super Bowl, was . . . the series premiere of “Undercover Boss”in 2010 with 38.7 million viewers.  Probably because it came on right after Super Bowl 44.

 

  1. The mortar used in the Great Wall of China included sticky rice . . . and that’s one of the reasons it’s held together so well.

 

  1. Napkins were invented by Leonardo da Vinciin 1491.

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GOOD NEWS

For 12-year-old South Dakota student Rylee Anderson, the algebra concept of graphing a function just didn’t make sense. Since her classes are now all remote due to the coronavirus pandemic, Anderson emailed her teacher for help. She expected some emails, or maybe even a phone call from her teacher, Mr. Chris Waba.

 

But then the doorbell rang — and she saw Waba, standing on her porch, holding a whiteboard and marker, ready to teach. “My mom got all the questions wrong when she helped me before,” she said and when her teacher received her email, he responded — but could tell she was still struggling with the lesson.

 

Knowing that she lived just right across the street, Waba picked up his whiteboard and headed over for a special one-on-one lesson, one that still complied with social distancing rules. For 10 minutes or so, Waba squatted on Rylee’s porch as he went through three math equations.

 

Rylee stood on the other side of the screen door, nodding her head as she followed along and took notes. “He made it easier to understand,” Rylee said. “I appreciated him coming over.”

 

Rylee’s dad, Josh Anderson, who is the head coach of Dakota State University’s football team, shared the moment on Twitter. His post has since garnered hundreds of retweets and thousands of likes. “The picture just shows the length that which teachers will go to help their students at any cost during these times,” Josh Anderson said.

 

Waba, who has been teaching at Madison Middle School for 27 years, said it was a spur-of-the-moment decision. “I’m a better communicator face-to-face than (on) the telephone and I think students learn better that way,”

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BIRTHDAYS

[83] George Takei, actor (“Mr. Sulu” on Star Trek 1966-69 and in 6 movies)/over 10 million Facebook followers

 

[71] Jessica Lange, actress (Oscars-“Blue Sky”, “Tootsie”)/(“American Horror Story” 2011-2018)

 

[50] Shemar Moore, actor (‘Derek Morgan’ on “Criminal Minds”)

 

[44] Joey Lawrence, (“Blossom” 19910-1995)

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Tips from People Who Are Used to Working from Home

Working from home takes some getting used to, unless you were ALREADY doing it.  A new survey talked to over 3,000 people who worked from home before the crisis hit.  Here are eight pieces of advice they had for newbies . . .

 

  1. Don’t forget to take breaks.  It was the most common piece of advice they gave.

 

  1. Develop a routine.  Don’t just drift through every day without a plan.

 

  1. Create a home office space.  It doesn’t have to be a separate room.  Even your kitchen table is better than working from bed.

 

  1. Get up and move around.  Don’t stay on your computer when you take breaks.  Give your eyes a rest, and your muscles a chance to stretch.

 

  1. Set clear boundaries between work and play.  Do your best to separate your free time from your work hours.  Meaning specific start and end times.

 

  1. Get dressed.  It’s hard to get in the right mindset if you’re always in pajamas.

 

  1. Keep in touch with co-workers.  Take time to call and email people, even if it’s just to say hi and catch up.

 

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EXPERTS: DON’T SHARE YOUR YEARBOOK PHOTO ON FACEBOOK (04/17/2020)

You may have noticed a trend of people sharing their high school senior yearbook photos on social media. Most say they’re doing so in support of the class of 2020, whose proms and graduations have been cancelled or postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

 

But you might want to resist the urge to do so yourself. The Better Business Bureau and cybersecurity experts are warning that the information people provide with these photos could be used by hackers to steal people’s identities.

 

This is because the name of the high school you attended and the year you graduated are answers to common security questions that hackers can use to gain access to your bank account and credit cards. With that information it then only takes an internet search to find out more about you, such as your date of birth and where you live.

 

Anthony Townsend, professor of information systems at Iowa State University says, “People don’t realize how much they may be damaging themselves by providing that kind of information. There would be enough there to encourage some malicious person to try to cozy up to you and try to extract even more information from you.”

 

People who don’t like to take risks should allow only people they trust to view their posts and should not allow search engines to link to their profile.

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PROMISING THE MOON:
Here’s an interesting way to spend some of that spare time that your kids suddenly find at their disposal: NASA and the International Space Station National Lab have developed a range of programs and activities for children who are stuck at home these days – including a training program to become an astronaut.

 

The free educational activities were created to help students from kindergarten through 12th grade explore subjects such as health, robotics, maths and life sciences. Kids can also join projects, like combing through images to search for new planets and can even help choose which plant astronauts will next grow in space.

There are also training programs in hovercraft building and rocket launching.
LINK:  https://www.nasa.gov/stem-at-home-for-students-k-4.html

 

 

 

MONDAY APRIL 20TH

 

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS

[83] George Takei, actor (“Mr. Sulu” on Star Trek 1966-69 and in 6 movies)/over 10 million Facebook followers

[71] Jessica Lange, actress (Oscars-“Blue Sky”, “Tootsie”)/(“American Horror Story” 2011-2018)

[50] Shemar Moore, actor (‘Derek Morgan’ on “Criminal Minds”)

[44] Joey Lawrence, (“Blossom” 19910-1995)

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  1. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said there are multiple victims including one of their officers following a shooting rampage in rural Nova Scotia on Saturday evening.

The RCMP in N.S says the investigation is still in its early stages. 16 people are dead and police say there could be more victims as they continue to gather information.

During a press conference on Sunday evening, police confirmed that Constable Heidi Stevenson was killed during an exchange of gunfire. Stevenson had served with the force for over 23 years. Police also reported that another officer was injured and is in the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

Officers also confirmed that the suspect, 51-year-old Gabriel Wortman is dead.

RCMP said their focus right now is to gather as much information as they can. No other details including Wortman’s motive have been released.

 

  1. The border between the United States and Canada will remain closed to non-essential travel for at least another month.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau started off his daily briefing on Saturday morning by announcing that Canada and the U.S. have agreed to extend the border measures that are currently in place by another 30 days.

Trudeau originally announced on March 18th that the border would be closing to all non-essential travel, including tourism and recreation, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

  1. Jim Gaffigan jokes that vegetarians seem to go out of their way to eat vegetables in the forms of meat.

 

  1. Kanye West is building something, coronavirus leads to weight gain, no more picking up produce, Jada Pinkett Smith’s celebrity crush.  (From David Spade, Jimmy Fallon, and Bill Maher, the weekend of April 17, 2020)

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THOMAS RHETT HOPES ‘BE A LIGHT’ IS SOURCE OF ENCOURAGEMENT FOR LISTENERS

Thomas Rhett is racing toward the top of the country charts with his latest hit, “Beer Can’t Fix,” but people can’t stop talking about the song he released last week called “Be A Light.”

He tapped his friends Keith Urban, Hillary Scott from Lady Antebellum, Reba and contemporary Christian singer Chris Tomlin to join him on the track, and  Thomas tells us the message needed to be heard right now.

[“I’ve been wantin’ to release ‘Be A Light’ since the day that I wrote it, and when all this stuff happened – I mean from the tornadoes in Nashville now to the COVID-19 / coronavirus – I feel like now there is no better time to release a song like ‘Be A Light.’  I just feel like the world was in darkness for a minute, and so I think a song like this can be really encouraging for people, and I am so proud of this song and really hope that this song can be an encouragement to people who are really going through kind of a tough time right now.”]

 

 

SAM HUNT RELEASES CINEMATIC NEW VIDEO

Sam Hunt has released a cinematic new music video for “Young Once,” a track on his brand new album, Southside. The clip follows a young couple as they escape the confines of their lives in search of freedom and excitement.

Sam co-wrote “Young Once,” which he tells us is a fresh take on an old theme. [“Reflecting on your younger days is a theme in country music that you see all the time. So, it’s like how do you do that in an original way?  How do you write that song in an original way? And for some reason, God has just put ideas in front of me that sometimes when these ideas come into a room, whether I come up with ’em or a cowriter, it’s like ‘How’s this not been written yet?’ And this is one of those ideas that I thought how has nobody flipped this hook and written this song this way before?”]

Sam sits inside the Top 15 and climbing on the country charts with his latest hit, “Hard To Forget.

 

 

Enjoy Brad Paisley Helping His Wife Kimberly Color Her Hair

I’m starting to think BRAD PAISLEY and his wife KIMBERLY are trying to get our attention with their “quarantine life” videos.  A couple of weeks ago she had him tied up like a hostage, and this time she made him color her hair.

They posted the clip on Instagram.  They’re in the kitchen with the coloring kit that she “normally uses.”  He mixes up the dye and gives it a few shakes, then goes to work applying it to her hair.

He cracks a few jokes about her “grey hair” and pretends to notice a “head tattoo” for the first time.  He adds, quote, “This is gonna ruin everything I’ve worked towards in my image. Everything.”

At the very end you see a photo of the finished job and she kinda seems okay with the results.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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This post was written by Dave Palmer