COUNTRY February 23, 2015

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Audio • Bits & Breaks • Country Prep • Datebook • Datebook Tomorrow • Entertainment • Fun & Games • Image of the Day • Joke of the Day! • Last Minute Items • News & Nuggets • News Attack • Number for the Day • Television • Video of the Day • Wacky-But-True 

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DATEBOOK: FEBRUARY 23, 2015

This is day 54 of 2015. There are 3111 days remaining.

BIRTHDAYS

• Actor-director Peter Fonda is 75

• Patricia Richardson (Home Improvement) is 64

• Brad Whitford of Aerosmith is 63

• Author/voice actor/radio host Tom Bodett (Motel 6 commercials) is 60

• Kristin Davis (Sex and the City) is 50

• Dell computers founder Michael Dell is 50

• Daymond John (Shark Tank) is 46

• Josh Gad (Frozen, Jobs) is 34

• Aziz Ansari (Parks & Recreation) is 32

• Emily Blunt (The Devil Wears Prada, Edge of Tomorrow) is 32

• Dakota Fanning is 21

IT HAPPENED TODAY

• 1685: Composer George Frideric Handel was born in Germany.

• 1822: Boston was granted a charter to incorporate as a city.

• 1836: The siege of the Alamo began in San Antonio, Texas.

• 1861: President-elect Abraham Lincoln arrived secretly in Washington to take office after an assassination plot was foiled in Baltimore.

• 1942: The first shelling of the U.S. mainland during World War II occurred as a Japanese submarine fired on an oil refinery in Ellwood, California.

• 1954: The first mass inoculation of children against polio with the Salk vaccine began, in Pittsburgh.

• 1991: President George H.W. Bush announced that the allied ground offensive against Iraqi forces had begun.

• 1997: Scientists in Scotland announced they had cloned an adult mammal, producing a lamb named Dolly.

• 2000: Carlos Santana won eight Grammy Awards for his album Supernatural, tying the record set by Michael Jackson in 1983 for Thriller.

• 2005: In Berlin, Germany, an unidentified man broke into a car. He was hard at work trying to pry the car’s radio out of the dash but it turned out to be an exhausting job and before long he was sound asleep. And that’s how the cops found him, still clutching his screwdriver. They woke him up and arrested him.

• 2010: Twitter announced it had reached more than 50 million tweets a day.

SPECIAL EVENTS

• National FFA Week

• National Engineers Week

• National Entrepreneurship Week

• Curling is Cool Day

• Dog Biscuit Day

• Play Tennis Day

UPCOMING

• March 8: Daylight Saving Time begins (Sunday)

• March 15: College Basketball March Madness Selection (Sunday)

• March 17-April 6: March Madness

• March 17: St. Patrick’s Day (Tuesday)

• March 20: Spring begins (Friday, 6:45p ET)

• April 1: April Fool’s Day (Wednesday)

• More holidays

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NUMBER FOR THE DAY

1,009: Weeks the Bollywood romantic comedy Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge ran at a single theater. The run at the Maratha Mandir in Mumbai, India, began in October, 1995.

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NEWS ATTACK!

The Academy Awards were held last night. [They should be ending by the time you get to work.]

Kim Kardashian and her sisters were in a minor car accident. [I don’t think the airbags deployed. After all, they would have been redundant.]

According to a new study, you can beat the workday blues by using your lunchtime to go for a walk. [From which you never return.]

Scientists have mapped the loudest and quietest place sin America. [The quietest was any theater showing Hot Tub Time Machine 2.]

Fifty Shades held on to the top spot at the box office. [“Held on?” More like handcuffed itself.]

Bill O’Reilly’s stories about covering a war have come under question. [Especially the part about holding the president’s hat while he delivered the Gettysburg Address.]

A well-to-do couple in India announced that they have made their pet monkey their sole heir. [Unlike children, monkeys never slam the door and scream, “I hate you!”]

New research shows that if a person is hungry, he will buy more, even when it’s non-food items. [So that explains why they sell lottery tickets at the same place they sell Doritos.]

A tanker truck dumped 300 to 400 gallons of raw sewage onto a highway. It was six inches deep. [I’ll never complain again about getting road salt on my car.]

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NEWS & NUGGETS

DO REAL RUNNERS TAKE WALKING BREAKS? _ Real runners don’t take walking breaks, do they? Jen A. Miller, the author of Running: A Love Story, says they do. She tells the New York Times that when a friend suggested she run her first distance race by adding walk breaks, it startled her. She felt like a failure after racing in five marathons and walking for periods in four of them. Then she did her research. A study in the Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport that found those taking regular walking breaks during a race can finish at the same time as those who run the whole way. And the ones who didn’t run the whole way suffered far less wear and tear of their bodies. The study followed 42 runners as they trained for three months for their first marathons.

TERMINALLY ILL K-9 GETS ONE FINAL SALUTE _ “Judge” the police dog, a terminally ill K-9 officer for West Deptford Township, New Jersey, wasn’t “just a dog.” Judge saw 280 deployments and the apprehension of 152 suspects. On Friday, Judge was given his “last bite” by partner Michael Franks, a corporal for West Deptford’s police department. The “last bite” involved Franks donning the department’s training sleeve one last time and allowing Judge to latch on. Judge suffered from Cushings Disease, an ailment that causes vomiting, bleeding, and hair loss, as it takes the animal’s body toward eventual shutdown. It can last for several months, so in case any of you are wondering why the police dog had to be euthanized, it’s because every day for Judge was suffering.

IF YOUR TEACHER LIKES YOU, YOU MIGHT GET A BETTER GRADE _ Were you ever the teacher’s pet? Or did you just sit behind the teacher’s pet and roll your eyes from time to time? A newly published paper suggests that personality similarity affects teachers’ estimation of student achievement. In other words, how much you are like your teacher contributes to his or her feelings about you — and your abilities. This study looked at a group of 93 teachers and 294 students in eighth grade in Germany. The study found that when teachers and students were peas in a pod, the teachers overestimated the students’ general abilities. Conversely, students who were dissimilar from their teachers were judged less positively.

BREASTFEEDING PUTS CHILDREN AT LOWER RISK FOR ALLERGIES, ASTHMA _ A new series of studies (Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit) shows that an infant’s immune system development and susceptibility to asthma and allergies may be influenced by breastfeeding. The study finds that babies who were breastfed at 1 and 6 months had specific gut microbiome compositions, which the researchers say may affect immune system development for the better.

WALKING WITH SMARTPHONES MAY HAVE CHANGED PEDESTRIAN ETIQUETTE _ The phenomenon of ‘distracted walking’ — pedestrians who walk while using smartphones — has raised civic attention in the last few years, with Utah issuing fines and cities in China creating dedicated ‘smartphone lanes’ for walkers who need to keep up with texting friends while on the move. The environmental safety department at Stanford university notes a 300% increase between 2004-2010 involving phone-distracted pedestrians in the United States. Pedestrian injuries in the US have risen by 35% since 2010.

… And researchers have noticed over the past few years the reluctance of pedestrians to engage in negotiation for right of way. Time was we all engaged in collision detection. But researchers say that’s decreasing. An increasing number of people will not ‘give way’ any longer, up to (and occasionally including) the point of actual collision.

RICH WHITE PEOPLE SLEEP BETTER AT NIGHT THAN POOR PEOPLE _ According to a new study (Colombia University), rich people in America get a better night’s sleep than people on low incomes. According to the study ethnic minority students, as well as students from lower-income families or those living in urban areas, get less sleep compared to wealthier white people. The research was carried out on 270,000 American students, from both public and private schools between 1991 and 2012, where they were asked how often they slept for more than seven hours a night. While the reasons for the difference in sleep times is unclear, it could be due to housing quality, obesity, and conditions that disrupt sleep, as well as worrying about money, of course.

WAS JESUS A GINGER? _ If a stained glass window in a church in England (Sunderland) is to be believed, then Jesus was a ginger. The east window of Holy Trinity Church in Sunderland, England, is believed to be the only depiction of Jesus Christ with red hair in the UK. It was designed in Venetian stained glass in 1857 by one of England’s most prolific stained glass artists (William Wailes). Only 4% of the world’s population have red hair, and most of the world’s redheads live in the UK, Ireland and Australia.

MAN SETS BACON EATING WORLD RECORD _ Matt ‘Megatoad’ Stonie, one of Major League Eating’s top two eaters in the world, has set the bacon-eating record by downing 182 slices in five minutes. Stonie estimates that he ate more than six pounds of cooked bacon, which had more than 28,000 milligrams of sodium. He accomplished his feat at an eating competition in Daytona, Florida.

SLINKY COLLECTOR NOW HOLDS WORLD RECORD _ Susan Suazo of New Mexico hold the world record for most Slinkys. Her stash is made up of 1,054 Slinkys, the coiled spring toy that can flip and flop down a flight of stairs. Although she won’t be in the actual 2015 publication of the Guinness Book of World Records because it went to print before she was accepted, she has plans to add to her collection before the next publication. She jokes that she should be banned from eBay, which she scours for unique or vintage Slinkys to add to her collection. She keeps her collection in a Slinky Room in her home.

BOSTON CYCLISTS BUILT A 40-FOOT-LONG SNOW TUNNEL FOR COMMUTING _ Boston cyclist Ari Goldberger temporarily solved a commuting nightmare by living out a child’s snow-day dream. Goldberger, a 29-year-old guitar technician, was bicycling from work on the night of February 11 when he noticed that the bike path ahead was blocked by what he later described as a “15-foot mountain of snow,” presumably the result of plows piling up the city’s ceaseless snowfall. After carrying his bike over the giant mound, Goldberger posted a photo to his Facebook page, and asked for leads on public transportation contacts that he could call to deal with the issue. Instead, Goldberger received a suggestion from his former coworker that he couldn’t turn down: “Get some friends together and tunnel through it.” So last Monday Goldberger began digging with a handful of members of the Boston Bike Party, a community for group bike rides. It took a few days but finally the cyclists had created a 40-foot snow tunnel. Unfortunately the tunnel was destroyed not long after, perhaps by someone with the city of Boston who was concerned with the lack of safety of a 40-foot snow tunnel.

SUBURBAN CHICAGO P.D. HELD HOSTAGE BY RANSOMWARE _ The police department in the suburban Chicago community of Midlothian, Illinois, had to pay a ransom of over $500 to a hacker after a malicious code took over the computer’s files and denied access to them. The Midlothian Police Department was hit with a virus known as Cryptoware. The virus makes the files on a computer inaccessible to the user, and they can only be retrieved if the user pays money to the hacker who wrote the program. Such programs are collectively referred to as “Ransomware,” and Cryptoware isn’t the only one.

… In Ransomware attacks, the victim will be required to pay in a crypto-currency such as Bitcoin. Such currencies are all but impossible to trace, meaning that the hackers can expect to get away with their crimes scot-free. Fortunately for the Midlothian Police Department, the Ransomware attack only infected one computer, and not the entire department’s computer system at large.

BURGER KING FRANCHISEE CASHES IN PRIZE CORVETTE TO PAY BONUSES TO WORKERS _ When the Arizona-based owners of two dozen Burger Kings were given the “Franchisee of the Year” award from the folks at Burger King headquarters for their restaurants’ high marks on service and cleanliness, they could have just kept the new Corvette and Rolex watch they received for the honor. Instead, the owners turned those prizes into cash that they then paid out to more than 100 employees. Some longtime employees were rewarded with bonuses as high as $5,000.

A NEW SHERLOCK HOLMES MYSTERY _ A mystery that might have intrigued the great detective himself has unfolded in Scotland with the discovery of a previously unknown Sherlock Holmes story. Is it or is it not by Arthur Conan Doyle? The unsigned, 1,300-word story is part of a pamphlet printed in 1903 to raise money to restore a bridge in the Scottish border town of Selkirk. The story sits alongside prose and poetry by local people, and was published as part of a three-day fund-raising bazaar. Conan Doyle was guest of honor on the final day of the bazaar.

HERE’S ANOTHER REASON TO ALWAYS BE KIND _ Being kind will get you far in life. Often an act of kindness comes back around and you’re repaid when you least expect it. The same thing can happen when you’re rude or mean — it can come back to bite you in the rear. In London a hiring manager tweeted last week that a guy pushed him on the Tube and swore at him. Matt Buckland, the recruiter, said, “I was on my way into work on the Tube on Monday morning during rush hour. I stood to one side to let a lady get by, and ended up blocking a man momentarily. He shoved past me, almost knocking me over, and shouted.” Despite a bad start, the day carried on as normal for Buckland. He had an interview scheduled for 5:30pm. At 5:15pm the interviewee turned up. Lo and behold, it was the man who’d been so un-charming earlier in the day.

… Buckland stepped away briefly to tell his Twitter followers about it and went back into the interview room. At this point the interviewee still hadn’t made the connection. Buckland reminded the interviewee of the experience on the Tube earlier in the day. The guy didn’t get the job, but not because he’d been a jerk. Buckland says the man simply wasn’t right for the job. In fact, during the interview Buckland says the two “laughed it off and in a very British way I somehow ended up apologizing.”

TEEN WHOSE CAT-AND-LASERS YEARBOOK PHOTO WENT VIRAL DIES _ Draven Rodriguez, the upstate New York teen whose love for his cat Mr. Bigglesworth — and lasers — captured the hearts of many, died on Thursday at his home. His parents say Rodriguez committed suicide. In September, the teen was asking his school, Schenectady High School, to use a photograph showing himself, his cat Mr. Bigglesworth and lasers for the school yearbook. The school refused but the principal compromised and ended up taking a photograph with her dog. His online petition for the photograph gained over 7,500 signatures and was mentioned by Ellen DeGeneres and Jimmy Fallon on their shows.

HAPPY ENDING AFTER NOBODY SHOWS UP TO BOY’S BIRTHDAY PARTY _ When not a single person showed up to 6-year-old Glenn Buratti’s Florida birthday party, his mother was devastated. Mom Ashlee said, “From the minute he woke up that day he wanted to know how many minutes until his friends came.” None of the kids’ parents RSVP’d, but she was still holding on to the hope that some of them would show up. It never crossed her mind that zero kids would come. When Buratti broke the news to her son, who is autistic, he couldn’t believe it. She posted on Facebook that not a single child came to her son’s birthday party. Then the magic happened. Word spread and by afternoon 15 kids and 25 adults showed up. One woman brought her son a new bike. One guy brought his camera and spent most of his time snapping pictures of the family, which he gave to them.

CHIPOTLE EXECS SAY IT’S YOUR FAULT IF YOU OVEREAT _ When it comes to “healthy” fast food, Chipotle tends to earn extra brownie points for their abundant selection of fresh veggies and commitment to serving only responsibly-raised meats. But a recent study conducted by The New York Times revealed that the average Chipotle order (a meat burrito with all the fixin’s, including cheese, salsa, lettuce, sour cream, rice, and beans) has more than 1,000 calories, about a full day’s worth of sodium, and 75 percent of a day’s worth of saturated fat.

… In response to the burrito-shaming that followed, a Chipotle spokesperson (Chris Arnold) spoke up, saying that food is “something to be enjoyed. Not a science experiment aimed at engineering away calories or grams of fat. People can pick and choose exactly what —  and how much — they eat. We let them put those ingredients together in whatever way makes sense to them.”

HUMAN KINDNESS CAME BEFORE INTELLIGENCE _ Researchers says early humans carried pebbles shaped like babies’ faces and appeared to care for disabled children — a sign they developed kindness and compassion millions of years before intelligence. Evidence has been found that humans living more than 3 million years ago may have looked after and even helped each other to survive before they learned to speak, and these emotions may have actually helped intelligence and reasoning evolve. Researchers point to a skull, dating back 1.5 million years, found with no teeth, suggesting people in the group may have helped this early human find soft food to survive. And evidence of tracks found in east Africa — dating back 3.5 million years — appear to show adults being followed by a child.

TO AVOID FALLING ON ICE, DO AS PENGUINS DO _ If anyone’s an expert at walking in icy conditions, it’s penguins — so it only makes sense that we should follow their example to stay safe. Here’s how we should do it. Prevent slipping by focusing your center of gravity “over your front leg.” That’s instead of dividing your weight between two legs at angles that increase the risk of slipping. Widening your stance a bit will help, too. In other words, waddle.

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WACKY-BUT-TRUE

WACKY-BUT-TRUE: MAN GETS FLORIDA TURNPIKE TICKET 20 YEARS AFTER HIS DEATH _ Jo-Lee Manning thinks about her stepdad all the time. He died in 1995 after a battle with lung cancer. But this week, she got something she never expected. Manning picked up the mail and found a $5.62 ticket from the Florida Turnpike in her late stepfather’s name. It was given out January 15 of this year and came complete with pictures of a semi running through a toll booth. After a few calls, she thinks she figured out the problem. She thinks the machines may have misread the 8 from her stepfather’s old plate, when it was really probably the letter B. But getting rid of the ticket wasn’t as easy as a phone call. She tried to explain that he passed away 20 years ago but was told her late stepfather is still responsible. A spokesperson for the Florida Department of Transportation said they are looking into it.

WACKY-BUT-TRUE: MAN’S OBITUARY CLAIMS HE DIED AT THE HAND OF BATMAN _ Stephan Merrill died suddenly and the family didn’t have an official cause of the death when they went to a Florida funeral home to make arrangements. And when family and friends reached the point writing the obituary, they still didn’t have a cause of death. A long-standing policy of the local newspaper stated that obituaries had to include a cause of death in order to be published. A friend joked, “Say the cause of death was an ‘uppercut from Batman.’” Everyone in the room including Merrill’s family, fiancée and close friends, all started laughing. Merrill’s dad agreed: “Yeah, the cause of death was an uppercut from Batman.” The family decided to go with it.

WACKY-BUT-TRUE: MAN ACCIDENTALLY SETS FIRE TO HOUSE AFTER PROPOSING TO GIRLFRIEND _ A New Jersey man proposed to his girlfriend and then set their house on fire. After proposing, he wanted to celebrate by making her a meal. Isaiah Cox was preparing the breakfast Thursday morning when he heard his 1-year-old son crying. He went to check on the boy, but then returned to find the kitchen ablaze.

WACKY-BUT-TRUE: MOVIE THEATER SHOWS FIFTY SHADES INSTEAD OF SPONGEBOB _ A theater in Colorado was supposed to show SpongeBob to a theater full of kids but accidentally showed Fifty Shades.

WACKY-BUT-TRUE: LAZY SHOPPER USED HIS DRONE TO DELIVER CIGARETTES _ Could the pioneers of unmanned aerial vehicle technology have anticipated that this is what their creation would be used for? For one Turkish man, the idea of leaving his apartment to buy cigarettes was made even worse by the location of his apartment, which is many floors up from ground level. A video on YouTube shows the man accepting delivery of a pack of cigarettes by drone. In the video we see the drone come closer and the man snagging it as it nears his apartment window. | VIDEO

WACKY-BUT-TRUE: LAWMAKER: TIGHT UNDERWEAR MADE ME MISS VOTE _ A Canadian lawmaker says left his seat in the middle of a procedural vote because his underwear was too tight. Pat Martin later explained: “I can blame it on a sale [at Hudson’s Bay Company] — they had men’s underwear on for half price. I bought a bunch that was clearly too small for me and I find it difficult to sit for any length of time. I apologize if it was necessary for me to leave my seat briefly, but I did not mean to forfeit my right to vote.” | VIDEO

WACKY-BUT-TRUE: PRIEST DIES, COMES BACK TO LIFE AND CLAIMS GOD IS FEMALE _ A Catholic priest from Massachusetts was officially dead for more than 48 minutes before medics were able to miraculously re-start his heart. During that time, Father John Micheal O’Neal claims he went to heaven and met God, which he describes as warm and comforting. And a woman. The declarations of the priest caused quite a stir in the archdiocese over the last few days, causing the Archbishop to summon a press conference to try and calm the rumors. Despite the disapproval of his superiors, Father O’Neal says that he will continue dedicating his life to God and spread the word of the “Holy Mother”.

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ON TELEVISION

SEASON PREMIERE: THE VOICE (8p ET, NBC) — Season 8 begins with the blind auditions. Adam Levine, Blake Shelton, Christina Aguilera and Pharrell Williams are this seasons coaches. Carson Daly again hosts.

THE BACHELOR (8p ET, ABC) — Chris and the three remaining women travel to Bali for overnight dates in this new, 2-hour edition.

2 BROKE GIRLS (8p ET, CBS) — Valerie Harper guest stars in this new episode.

GOTHAM (8p ET, FOX) — New

THE WORLD DOG AWARDS (8p ET, CW) — Repeat

MIKE & MOLLY (8:30p ET, CBS) — New

SCORPION (9p ET, CBS) — New

SEASON FINALE: SLEEPY HOLLOW (9p ET, FOX) — The second season comes to an end. The show has not yet been renewed for a 3rd season.

NCIS: LOS ANGELES (10p ET, CBS) — Ernie Reyes, Jr. (Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull) and Parminder Nagra (ER, The Blacklist) guest star in this new episode.

CASTLE (10p ET, ABC) — Sterling K. Brown (Army Wives) guest stars in this new episode.

SEASON PREMIERE: THE NIGHT SHIFT (10p ET, NBC) — The Night Shift is back for a second season.

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ENTERTAINMENT

AND THE OSCAR GOES TO _ A light drizzle in Hollywood couldn’t dim the stars shining at the Oscars tonight. Neil Patrick Harris hosted a shameless love letter to the movies and proved that he’s the best host around — even stripping down to his underwear for a Birdman joke. John Legend and Common took the night with their Oscar-winning song Glory from Selma and and John Travolta continued to make everyone feel uncomfortable. The Grand Budapest Hotel ruled in the more artsy categories while Birdman took home the biggest awards.

• Best Picture: Birdman

• Best Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu — Birdman

• Best Actor: Eddie Redmayne — The Theory of Everything

• Best Actress: Julianne Moore — Still Alice

• Best Supporting Actor: J.K. Simmons — Whiplash

• Best Supporting Actress: Patricia Arquette — Boyhood

• Original Screenplay: Birdman

• Best Animated Movie: Big Hero Six

• Best Original Song: Glory

FIFTY SHADES OF GREY WHIPS THE COMPETITION FOR A SECOND WEEKEND _ The big-screen adaptation of E.L. James’ erotic bestselling novel Fifty Shades of Grey is the No. 1 film at the North American box office for a second weekend. The movie made $23.2 million in the United States and Canada.

… Coming in at No. 2 was Kingsman: The Secret Service with $17.5 million, followed by SpongeBob Squarepants: Sponge Out of Water at No. 3 with $15.5 million. McFarland, USA debuted at No. 4 with $11.3 million.

EMMA WATSON RESPONDS TO RUMORS SHE’S DATING PRINCE HARRY _ British actress Emma Watson tweeted a gentle reminder about the reliability of online gossip after media reports claimed she is dating Prince Harry. The Harry Potter actress was recently linked with the prince through a gossip site. Certain corners of the Internet immediately exploded with excitement. Never mind that the only evidence was an Australian gossip article about their “secret dates.” Watson tweeted: “WORLD: Remember that little talk we had about not believing everything written in the media?!”

MICHAEL PHELPS IS ENGAGED _ 22-time Olympic medalist Michael Phelps is engaged to marry girlfriend and former Miss California Nicole Johnson. They were engaged over the weekend.

RUMER WILLIS REVEALED AS FIRST CONTESTANT FOR DWTS 20 _ The first contestant for the upcoming twentieth season of Dancing with the Stars has been revealed. A photo of Rumer Willis rehearsing at the Millennium Dance Complex in Studio City, California hit the Internet over the weekend. From the photos it seems the oldest daughter of Demi Moore and Bruce Willis will be partnered up with Val Chmerkovskiy.

FEUD ESCALATES BETWEEN BOBBI KRISTINA’S FAMILY AND HER BOYFRIEND _ While Bobbi Kristina Brown remains on life support, the fighting between her father, Bobby Brown, and her boyfriend, Nick Gordon, is intensifying. After Gordon took to Twitter on Saturday to plead with Brown to allow him to visit Bobbi Kristina, Brown has fired back, issuing the following statement through his lawyers: “Let me be very clear, Mr. Gordon was offered an opportunity to potentially visit Bobbi Kristina and he declined to meet the terms of any possible visit. Obviously Mr. Gordon is not as desperate to visit Bobbi Kristina as he wants the world to believe.”

… Gordon’s lawyer responded with his own statement on Sunday: “Bobby Brown has consistently prohibited Nick, who Bobbi Kristina would want by her side, from being there. Per his own words, Mr. Brown has only ‘offered an opportunity to potentially meet with Bobbi Kristina’ if Nick were to meet certain conditions, conditions that we, his attorneys, have advised him not to meet, particularly in light of Mr. Brown’s inability to guarantee access. But in an effort to do all he can to visit, Nick has repeatedly offered to meet with Mr. Brown privately to discuss his request in person, rather than through lawyers. Those offers have also been rejected. We hope Mr. Brown has a change of heart.”

… The terms of those conditions have not been made public.

RIHANNA GETS FLIRTY WITH LEONARDO DICAPRIO AT HER BIRTHDAY PARTY _ Rihanna reportedly cozied up to Leonardo DiCaprio in Los Angeles Friday night during a party celebrating her 27th birthday. A source says “they weren’t couple-y but they would flirt and dance so definitely a little magic there. They were definitely flirty and dancing, but not over the top.” The bash was held at a friend’s private residence. The guests reportedly included Mick Jagger, Jim Carrey, Bill Murray, Naomi Campbell, Paris Hilton, Beyonce Knowles, and Jay-Z.

JACK OSBOURNE AND WIFE EXPECTING SECOND CHILD _ Jack Osbourne is having a new addition to his growing family with his wife Lisa Stelly. The soon-to-be mother of two announced online that she’s pregnant with their second child together. She also proudly showed off her baby bump by uploading a picture with her adorable daughter Pearl. Jack and Lisa welcomed their daughter in April 2012.

BILLY BOB THORNTON SECRETLY MARRIES GIRLFRIEND _ Billy Bob Thornton married his longtime girlfriend Connie Angland are married. It’s been revealed they were hitched back in October. This is Billy Bob’s sixth marriage.

TABLOID: GEORGE CLOONEY DUMPED AMAL ALAMUDDIN ON HER BIRTHDAY _ George Clooney is featured on the latest cover of In Touch Weekly and the magazine is trying to sell a story on how the actor has dumped his wife Amal Alamuddin on her birthday. Alamuddin turned 37 years old on February 3 and the magazine states that Clooney called time on their marriage just 143 days after they said “I do”.

KIM KARDASHIAN HAD A CRUSH ON JOHNNY DEPP _ Considering their global fame, it’s difficult to imagine any Kardashian/Jenner sister having a crush on another celebrity. But Kim Kardashian used to be exactly like the rest of us because, once upon a time in a land far, far away from Kanye West, she reveals she was totally obsessed with and physically attracted to one famous man. In a recent interview (Sunday Life) Kim reportedly confessed that she was hot for Johnny Depp in the ’90s, when he was a bad boy who dated Kate Moss and Winona Ryder.

KIRK CAMERON AND CAMERON DIAZ AMONG WINNERS FOR 2015 RAZZIE AWARDS _ Before the best in film were recognized at the Oscars, the worst were announced at the 35th annual Razzie Awards. This year, Kirk Cameron and his movie Saving Christmas cleaned up the Golden Raspberry Awards.

• Worst Picture: “Kirk Cameron’s Saving Christmas”
• Worst Director: Michael Bay – “Transformers: Age of Extinction”
• Worst Actor: Kirk Cameron – “Kirk Cameron’s Saving Christmas”
• Worst Supporting Actor: Kelsey Grammer – “The Expendables 3”, “The Legends of Oz”, “Think Like a Man Too”, and “Transformers: Age of Extinction”
• Worst Actress: Cameron Diaz – “The Other Woman” and “Sex Tape”
• Worst Supporting Actress: Megan Fox – “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”
• Worst Screenplay: “Kirk Cameron’s Saving Christmas” written by Darren Doane and Cheston Hervey
• Worst Remake, Sequel, or Rip-Off: “Annie”
• Worst Screen Combo: Kirk Cameron and his ego – “Kirk Cameron’s Saving Christmas”
• Redeemer Award: Ben Affleck – From Razzie Winner for “Gigli” to Oscar darling for “Argo” and “Gone Girl”

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AUDIO

Audio Archives

AWARD SHOW CLIPS

A package of drops for use when talking about the Oscars and other award shows. Create an intro or bumpers with them. » download

SHOW OPENS

A package of drops to use in show opens. » download

WAKE UP!

A package of “wake up” clips for show intros, bumpers, etc. » download

WHAT DID YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GREW UP?

What did you want to be when you grew up? Share the story with your co-hosts and listeners and then open the phones. Here are three calls to help with the phones. » download

HOW DID YOU PICK YOUR CHILD’S NAME?

Superstar singer Carrie Underwood is having a baby (in April) and says she and husband Mike Fisher can’t agree on a name. Share the story of how you got your name, or how you named your child, then open the phones. Here are two calls to help. » download

SNOW CLIPS

Here’s an updated package of snow-related clips. » download

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BITS & BREAKS

TOP TEN MOVIES

1. Fifty Shades of Grey, $23.2 million
2. Kingsman: The Secret Service, $17.5 million
3. The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, $15.5 million
4. McFarland, USA, $11.3 million
5. The DUFF, $11 million
6. American Sniper, $9.6 million
7. Hot Tub Time Machine 2, $5.8 million
8. Jupiter Ascending, $3.6 million
9. The Imitation Game, $2.5 million
10. Paddington, $2.2 million

… One year ago this week the number one movie was The LEGO Movie.

… Five years ago this week the number one movie was Shutter Island.

… Ten years ago this week the number one movie was Hitch.

… Twenty years ago this week the number one movie was Brady Bunch Movie.

IN THEATERS FRIDAY

FOCUS (R)  score/reviews

• In the midst of veteran con man Nicky’s latest scheme, a woman from his past – now an accomplished femme fatale – shows up and throws his plans for a loop.
• Will Smith, Margot Robbie

THE LAZARUS EFFECT (PG-13)  score/reviews

• A group of medical students discover a way to bring dead patients back to life.
• Olivia Wilde, Donald Glover, Evan Peters

WEEKLY HOT LIST

Courtesy of morning show talent coach Steve Reynolds. The Hot List is made up of the topics everyone knows about.

1. The Oscars
2. The Razzies
3. Daytona 500
4. Neil Patrick Harris
5. 50 Shades of Grey
6. Cold Weather
7. Obamacare
8. Kanye West
9. Jay Z Has a Son?
10. Bruce Jenner
11. Pierce Brosnan Fire
12. American Sniper Trial
13. Kurt Busch
14. Spring Training
15. Walmart Raise
16. Girl Scout Cookies
17. Bobbi Kristina
18. Michael Phelps Engaged

BIZARRE-BUT-TRUE PHOBIAS PEOPLE ACTUALLY HAVE

• Ablutophobia – The fear of baths

• Philophobia – The fear of love

• Hypnophobia – The fear of sleep

• Heliophobia – The fear of the sun

• Ecophobia – The fear of a home or the content of a home

• Trypophobia – The fear of holes

• Pogonophobia – The fear of beards

• Neophobia – The fear of new things or experiences

• Nomophobia – The fear of being out of mobile contact

• Panphobia – The fear of everything

 Start it on Facebook, take it to the phones: What’s your strange phobia?

KEEPING BASEBALL FANS INTERESTED

Those who think baseball is about as exciting as watching an ice cube melt will be happy to know that Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association have plans to speed things up. Four rule changes will be implemented in the 2015 season:

1. Managers will be required to request instant replay challenges from the dugout. The delays resulting from managers gabbing on the field while coaches and video coordinators decided whether a play was worthy of replay will be eliminated.

2. Batters will be required to keep one foot in the batter’s box between pitches, unless a special exemption is granted.

3. No delays after coming back from TV commercials.

4. Timed pitching changes; violations will incur fines.

And I’ve come up with a few other ideas that could make baseball more interesting…

• The seventh-inning stretch should be replaced with the seventh-inning P90X workout.

• Each stadium ticket could double as a lottery scratch-off.

• Instead of a game going into extra innings, the final score will be determined by Carrie Ann Inaba, Bruno Tonioli and Len Goodman.

• All umpires will be armed with paintball guns.

• Auto-tuned National Anthem.

• Since everyone hates them anyway, the New York Yankees should be permanently banned from Major League Baseball.

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FUN & GAMES

TRIVIA: 38% of Americans possess one of these. (Passport)

TRIVIA: Every hour the world produces 28 miles of what? (Zippers)

WHICH ONE WON THE OSCAR?

• Avatar or The Hurt Locker*

• Erin Brockovich or Argo*

• The King’s Speech* or Brokeback Mountain

• The Social Network or Million Dollar Baby*

• Gladiator* or Moneyball

• Titanic* or Pulp Fiction

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JOKE OF THE DAY

Two men are out on a frozen lake ice fishing. One man has been out on the lake for over two hours and hasn’t gotten a single bite. The other man, only ten feet away, has been on the lake for about half an hour and already has a bucket full of fish. This upset the other man, so he walks over to him and ask, “I’ve been out here for a mighty long time and I ain’t caught nothin’. How do you catch all them fish?” The other man looks at him and says, “Mummmummhummmummhummhmummm.” “What did you say?” the man says? “Mummhummmummhummmumnmunhumm,” mumbles the busy fisherman. So the guy says, “Sir, you got a speech impediment? I can’t understand a darn word your saying!” The fisherman holds up a finger, indicating to wait a minute. He pulled and reeled in his line and pulled and reeled in, and he caught another fish. “OK, darn it. Either tell me now or else,” said the guy. As the expert fisherman removes the fish from the hook, he looks at the unfortunate man standing beside him. He puts the fishing pole down, takes a large wad of something out of his mouth and says, “You have the keep the worms warm.”

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VIDEO OF THE DAY

Random places to stick your GoPro.

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IMAGE OF THE DAY

It’s Monday.

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LAST MINUTE ITEMS

• Two idea-packed books for sales, promotions and stunts in 2015. Here’s one, here’s the other.

• Power your radio show prep with Twitter Lists.

• Of the billions who have lived on Earth, where do you rank?

• Amazing Flow motion tour of Dubai.

• Smart Jock: Get more reach with native Facebook videos.

• Ford pranks dudes by setting them up on a blind date with a stunt driver.

• Help me quit shitty beer. He’s made over $800.

• Browse the pages of old Radio Shack catalogs.

• Dumb product: The Face Blanket.

• Remix: Taylor Swift’s Nine Inch Nails.

• Fun: Match the Sound.

• Fun with the Periodic Table.

• Discover the songs in your favorite TV show.

• What the world eats. (Click U.S. for a shocker.)

• A Navy SEAL Explains 8 Secrets To Grit And Resilience.

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COUNTRY DATEBOOK: FEBRUARY 23, 2015

• 1957: PATSY CLINE made her chart debut with Walkin’ After Midnight.

• 1957: PORTER WAGONER joined the Grand Ole Opry.

• 1978: KENNY ROGERS won a Grammy for his song Lucille.

• 1988: HANK WILLIAMS JR.’s album Born To Boogie was certified platinum.

• 1993: BROOKS & DUNN’s album Hard Workin’ Man was released. Hits included the title track, We’ll Burn That Bridge and She Used To Be Mine.

• 1996: GEORGE STRAIT’s collection Strait Out of the Box was certified triple platinum.

• 1999: GARTH BROOKS attended spring training camp with the San Diego Padres as a non-roster player. In lieu of salary, the Padres’ foundation contributed to Garth’s youth-oriented charity, The Touch ‘Em All Foundation.

• 2002: LONESTAR’s album Lonely Grill was certified double platinum. Hits included Amazed, What About Now and Smile.

• 2002: At the age of 19, LEANN RIMES married 21-year-old dancer Dean Sheremet at a ceremony in Dallas, Texas.

• 2006: BRAD PAISLEY’s duet with DOLLY PARTON, When I Get Where I’m Going, topped the country charts. It was Dolly’s first number one hit in 15 years.

STEVE HOLY (Brand New Girlfriend) is 43

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COUNTRY AUDIO

ZAC BROWN BAND’s Zac Brown on rock influences. » download

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COUNTRY MUSIC NEWS

BRAD PAISLEY has teamed with beer company Guinness to help support the Leary Firefighters Foundation with a T-shirt he helped design. Brad’s shirt and others are being sold for $20 to raise funds for the cause, which will provide financial assistance to firefighters across the country. More details can be found at guinnessgivesback.com.

RASCAL FLATTS made a visit to Miramonte School in California where they gave a $150,000 grant from the Country Music Association. The money will help pay for teacher training and instruments for the music program at the school as well as other schools across the state of California.

RASCAL FLATTS bassist Jay DeMarcus tells Forbes magazine he and his bandmates wish the process of putting out new material was a little slower. Jay says it seems like within 14-16 months of releasing a new album, the guys are expected to put out another project, which can be emotionally draining.

BLAKE SHELTON will compete for Favorite Male Singer at this year’s Nickelodean Kids’ Choice awards. He’s up against Bruno Mars, Justin Timberlake, Pharrell Williams, Nick Jonas and Sam Smith for the honor. The show will air March 28 and will be hosted by Nick Jonas.

A game of Would You Rather with People Country had LUKE BRYAN choosing to listen to BLAKE SHELTON’s 2002 hit Ol’ Red for 24 hours non-stop instead of Blake’s Boys ‘Round Here.

Want to start a TAYLOR SWIFT website? A fan site might fly, as long as you’re not making money off of her name. Ronnie Cremer owns ItaughtTaylorSwift.com and says Taylor’s lawyers have asked him to give up the domain name. Cremer says he hopes to turn the website into a landing spot for untold Taylor Swift stories, and is not looking to make money.

… Cremer has a history with Taylor. The story goes that Cremer visited the Swift household when she was 12. Taylor has shared that he was hired to fix a computer problem and ended up teaching her a few guitar chords. But Cremer says that’s not quite right. He says his brother brought Taylor and her mom and brother to his house to record a demo. They did the recording and then Taylor’s mom hired him for guitar lessons for the future superstar. Cremer, who’s a computer tech, did do some computer work for the Swifts but that’s not the reason they met.

BLACKBERRY SMOKE’s album Holding All The Roses has debuted at the top of the Country Albums chart after sales of 19,500 copies.

DOLLY PARTON’s Dixie Stampede dinner theater in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee has completed a $2.5 million upgrade that will allow this year’s shows to include stunts and music done on horseback as well as new music and 12½ million front lights.

CHRIS YOUNG has revealed his 14th Fan Club Party will take place June 10 at the Grand Ole Opry House. The event will include a concert performance, meet and greet, and a backstage guided tour of the Opry.

WEBSITE: If your audience wants to find out their “country music anthem” they can take the quiz here.