INTERPREP ★ JUNE 10, 2019

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Audio • Bits & Breaks • Country Prep • Datebook • Datebook Tomorrow • Entertainment • Fun & Games • News & Nuggets • News Attack • Number for the Day • Television • Wacky-But-True • User’s Guide Facebook Group

DATEBOOK: JUNE 10, 2019

BIRTHDAYS

• Gina Gershon is 57

• Kate Flannery (The Office) is 55

• Elizabeth Hurley is 54

• DJ Qualls (Memphis Beat, Hustle and Flow) is 41

• Leelee Sobieski is 37

IT HAPPENED TODAY

• 1682: The first tornado recorded by settlers in North America was sighted near New Haven, Connecticut.

• 1776: The Continental Congress appointed a committee to write a Declaration of Independence.

• 1793: Philadelphia ceased to be the capital of the United States when all federal government offices moved to Washington DC.

• 1943: The Ball Point Pen was patented by Lasalo Biro of Budapest, Hungary.

• 1965: Subway owner Fred DeLuca opened his first sandwich shop.

• 2002: A man in Hanau, Germany, was charged with assaulting a police officer with his underpants. Arrested for traveling on a train without a ticket, the suspect was waiting the police station when he suddenly stripped and began hitting an officer repeatedly in the face with his underpants, which were listed in the charge as a weapon.

• 2007: The final episode of The Sopranos aired on HBO.

• 2014: Donald Sterling, the owner of the L.A. Clippers who was banned from the NBA after racist remarks, changed his mind on allowing sale of the team to Microsoft ex-CEO Steve Balmer; instead, Sterling revived his $1 billion lawsuit against the NBA.

SPECIAL EVENTS

• Automotive Service Professionals Week

• National Flag Week

• Ball Point Pen Day

• Iced Tea Day

• Herb and Spices Day

UPCOMING

• June 16: Father’s Day
• June 19: Juneteenth, the oldest-known celebration of the end of slavery
• June 20: NBA draft
• June 21: NHL draft
• June 26: First Democratic debate, in Miami
• July 1: Wimbledon starts
• July 4: Independence Day
• July 5-6: World Wife Carrying Championship
• July 6: Tour de France starts
• July 8: MLB All-Star Game
• July 30: Second Democratic debate, in Detroit
• August 2: Sturgis Motorcycle Rally begins
• September 2: Labor Day

NUMBER FOR THE DAY

88 million: Fake Facebook accounts.

NEWS ATTACK!

A Utah-based Internet provider is offering a prize of $1,000 to someone willing for one week to downgrade to a flip phone. [Downgrade? That would be an upgrade from what I’m using now.]

NASA announced that it’s opening up trips to the International Space Station to tourists. [Of course, there are a few details to work out. For example, how to keep flip flops on your feet in zero gravity.]

In Italy, the city of Rome has announced a new get-tough policy toward tourists who behave badly. [If you get caught, you can’t even get out of trouble by paying a fine. Instead, they make you fight wild animals in the Colosseum.]

The Spanish city of Barcelona has finally granted a construction permit that was applied for in 1885. [It would have taken longer but fortunately someone stamped it “Priority.”]

This month, Jupiter is unusually close to the earth and showing off its moons. [Kinda like the Kardashians.]

Surgeons in New York opened a woman’s skull expecting to find a hard-to-remove tumor but, instead, found a tapeworm. [Does this mean that the woman is eligible for a hospital discount?]

In a CBS TV interview a hunter says that she turned a dead giraffe into decorative pillows. [Well, as long as the death served a higher purpose.]

Letters written from prison by the late longtime organized crime lord Whitey Bulger praised Donald Trump. [Game recognizes game.]

In South Africa, 14 lions escaped an animal park. [Disguised as tourists.]

Spirit Airlines has banned a man after catching him vaping during a flight. [Of course, this also puts into doubt his continued career as a pilot.]

NEWS & NUGGETS

WHICH MAJOR CITIES EXPERIENCE THE MOST STRESS _ America’s most stressed citizens are, perhaps not surprisingly, those who live in Los Angeles. A new poll on the stressors of city life polled people from Los Angeles, New York, Dallas, Miami, and Chicago and found that 76 percent of Los Angeles residents surveyed are at least somewhat stressed on a typical day, barely edging out New York City.

… Percentage of people at least somewhat stressed every day:

LA – 76%
NYC – 72%
Chicago – 65%
Miami – 64%
Dallas – 48%
San Francisco – 44%

YOUR ONLINE DATING PROFILE SHOULD BE HONEST _ If you’re using a dating app to meet someone new, know this: honesty is one of the most attractive traits. According to a new study (by Badoo), the most right-swiped people were those who said they lived with their parents or claimed to be heavy drinkers. Also, being honest about whether or not you want to have children one day was seen as a positive.

… It turns out the personal things that we leave off our profiles are the exact things that are most endearing and memorable about us. Research shows that being honest — and even polarizing — in dating is beneficial because the people who then like you will really like you, which is better than having someone who is only half-interested in a ‘softened’ version of you.

RESTAURANT OFFERS FREE PIZZA TO DINERS WHO LOCK AWAY PHONES _ A California pizza place is offering free pizza — but customers have to be willing to lock their phones away during their meal. Curry Pizza Company in Fresno is offering a “Talk to Each Other Discount.” When a group of at least four people comes into the restaurant, they have the option to lock their smartphones in one of the establishment’s lockers. If they can make it through the entire meal without checking their phone, they either get a free pizza to take home or one for their next visit.

… The restaurant posted about the promotion on Facebook, saying, “Our goal is to get families/friends to stop using their phones while eating and talk to each other and communicate more.”

FAMILY SAYS COWS BROKE INTO THEIR NEW HOUSE IN MONTANA _ A family was shocked to discover that cows moooved into their new house in Montana. A user on Reddit’s “Well That Sucks” section shared pictures of a new home that was taken over by cattle. He captioned the photo with: “This big guy and three of his friends got into our newly built Montana house and proceeded to live there for a month before being found.”

… The Reddit user added that there was a bad storm in the town “and we think the cows were looking for coverage. They either got in by nudging a lever door or the wind might have blown the door open.”

Start it on Facebook, take it to the phones: What uninvited animal invaded your home?

SURGEONS OPEN SKULL TO REMOVE A TUMOR, FIND TAPEWORM _ Doctors had broken the disheartening news to Rachel Palma, explaining that the lesion on her brain was suspected to be a tumor, and her scans suggested that it was cancerous. Palma, a newlywed entering a new chapter in her life, said she was in shock, unwilling to believe it was true. So surgeons in an operating room at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City opened Palma’s cranium and were prepared to find a malignant brain tumor. But instead, they saw an encapsulated mass resembling a quail egg. The surgeons removed it from Palma’s brain and placed it under a microscope to get a closer look. Then they sliced into it — and found a baby tapeworm.

… Palma said she had long been struggling with insomnia and, when she could sleep, nightmares. She said she had also experienced hallucinations, imagining that things were happening when they were not.

… By January of last year her symptoms had worsened. Palma said she started having trouble holding things. She started having trouble texting people, so she resorted to calling them. She started experiencing confusion — locking herself out of the house, showing up for work without her uniform and staring at her computer screen, unable to make sense of the words.

… How’d Palma get a baby tapeworm on her brain? One possibility: someone had an adult tapeworm in their gut; it shed microscopic eggs which enter the victim’s stool; if they don’t properly wash their hands, they can pass on the tapeworm to others. The food touched by the tapeworm victim would have eggs on it, which would be consumed, travel to the small intestine, hatch into larvae, penetrate the bowel wall and get into the bloodstream, where they can migrate throughout the entire body, including the brain.

VAPING PASSENGER SETS OFF SMOKE ALARM ON SPIRIT AIRLINES FLIGHT _ Spirit Airlines has banned a man from life from its planes. The 30-year-old Florida man was traveling from Detroit to New Orleans. A flight attendant told deputies she saw him pull out an e-cigarette, inhale from it then blow the smoke into his bag. She told the man that smoking wasn’t allowed on the airplane. A few moments later, she spotted him heading towards the restroom. While the man was in the restroom, the plane’s smoke alarm began sounding in the cockpit.

… Another passenger notified the flight attendant that the man had been “hiding under his jacket” and drinking from several bottles of alcohol that he brought on board. The flight attendant told the man that, too, was not allowed on an airplane. FAA rules state that passengers may drink alcoholic beverages only if served to them by the “certificate holder operating the plane.”

… After landing, as the man we being placed under arrest, he told a deputy he didn’t know smoking was forbidden on an airplane.

MOVERS DELIVER ONLY HALF OF FAMILY’S BELONGINGS, DUMPS THE REST _ It was bad enough the moving company arrived hours late to a family’s new home in Toronto, Ontario, delivered only a portion of their belongings, and that many items were broken. The ultimate kick in the pants was a $452 invoice for illegal dumping the family received after many of their missing items were found discarded almost 20 miles away in a Mississauga, Ontario, business park. Now Jens Casten and his family are issuing a public warning about Big Boys Movers of Halifax after losing thousands of dollars worth of items.

HACKERS MAY GET YOUR PASSWORD BY LISTENING TO HOW YOU TYPE _ What if scammers could learn your password not from a massive cyberattack or taking control of your device, but from listening in as you type? That’s the conclusion of a recent study (Cambridge University and Linkoping University) by researchers who were able to glean passwords by deciphering the sound waves generated by fingers tapping on smartphone touch screens. Malicious actors can decode what a person is typing by using a spying app that can access the smartphone’s microphone. Researchers showed that the attack can successfully steal PIN codes, individual letters and whole words.

MAN WITH STAGE 4 CANCER COULD BE GOING TO PRISON _ Imagine knowing that you very likely only have a handful of days left in your life because you have stage 4 cancer that eats away at your body and makes every single day torture. Imagine trying to limit the pain and torment by purchasing some marijuana edibles. Now imagine the government sentences you to four years in prison for buying weed and not having a doctor prescribe morphine, fentanyl, or other opioids. You don’t have to imagine because this is a true story. Thomas J. Franzen is suffering from stage 4 testicular cancer that has since spread to his lungs and abdominal cavity. To deal with the pain of his cancer and chemotherapy treatment, Franzen ordered THC-infused chocolates. Sadly for Franzen, he lives in Montgomery, Illinois, and purchased the edibles from a cannabis dispensary in California. Franzen ordered 42-pounds of THC-infused chocolates so that he could self-medicate. In 2014, the 37-year-old cancer patient from the suburb of Chicago was caught buying the weed products and now faces a prison sentence of four years.

… Franzen, who does not have any previous criminal arrests, pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of possession of more than 5,000 grams of cannabis, a felony that has a prison term of between four to 15 years. The charge is also eligible for probation. The judge sentenced Franzen to four years in prison. Franzen must return to court on June 14 where Judge Clint Hull will examine his medical records and rule on when he will begin serving his prison sentence.

WACKY-BUT-TRUE

WACKY-BUT-TRUE: GIRL’S HAIR-EATING HABIT PUTS HER IN HOSPITAL _ After suffering several bouts of severe stomach pain, an eight-year-old girl in China was rushed to the hospital where it took doctors four surgeries to remove a half-pound hair ball. The girl has had the habit of eating hair for about five years — over half her life.

WACKY-BUT-TRUE: DEPUTY SHOT AFTER MAN SHOOTS AT WIFE’S ALEXA DEVICE _ Pasco County, Florida, officials say one of their deputies was shot in the leg early Saturday morning during a domestic violence call. The deputy is currently recovering in the hospital. Deputies were called to the home when the couple’s daughter called 911 after she says the husband got into an argument with his wife and shot at the wife’s Amazon Alexa.

WACKY-BUT-TRUE: MAN CHARGED WITH POURING KETCHUP ON GIRLFRIEND _ A Florida man is facing a misdemeanor charge for allegedly pouring ketchup on his girlfriend while she slept. The woman told police they had been arguing over her infidelity before she went to sleep.

WACKY-BUT-TRUE: TEEN SAID HE WAS SPEEDING BECAUSE HE NEEDED TO USE BATHROOM _ In Canada, a 17-year-old caught driving at 106 mph told the cops he was speeding because he needed to get to a bathroom after eating too many hot wings.

Start it on Facebook, take it to the phones: How fast have you gone? Have any luck with an excuse?

WACKY-BUT-TRUE: ROBBER’S NAME IS ON HIS HELMET _ In England a guy chose to dress in full motorcycle gear, with helmet and leather jacket, when he held up a store. After handing over the cash, the clerk noticed something written, in one-inch letters, on the man’s helmet: his full name.

WACKY-BUT-TRUE: DANDRUFF DNA HELPS COPS CAPTURE THIEF _ In the UK a man broke into a home, stealing $10,000 in jewelry, cash and a baseball cap. He wore that cap at his next burglary but lost it when the residents returned home and chased him away. He was arrested after DNA experts identified him from the dandruff found inside the cap.

ON TELEVISION

PREMIERE: ARE YOU SMARTER THAN A 5TH GRADER? (7p ET, Nickelodeon) — John Cena hosts this all-new version of the quiz show. Newly-added elements include an additional “cheat” option and new ways contestants can ask the help of their grade-school classmates.

JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE: GAME NIGHT (8p ET, ABC) — New.

NBA FINALS (9p ET, ABC) — The Raptors and Warriors head back north for Game 5 of the NBA Finals. Toronto leads the series 3 games to 1.

THE CODE (9p ET, CBS) — New. Abe and Harper’s investigation into a Marine recruiter’s alleged misconduct may be derailed when the key witness refuses to testify.

SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE (9p ET, FOX) — New. The auditions continue.

SERIES PREMIERE: KATE + DATE (10p ET, TLC) — Joined by her 18-year-old twin daughters Mady and Cara, Kate Gosselin jumps back into the dating world in this new reality series.

SEASON FINALE: GENTLEMAN JACK (10p ET, HBO) — Season one wraps up. The show has been renewed for a 2nd season.

ENTERTAINMENT

TOP TEN MOVIES _ The animated adventure The Secret Life of Pets 2 is the No. 1 movie in North America with $47.1 million taken in. Dark Phoenix debuted in second with $33 million — the lowest open for any X-Men film.

… Overseas Dark Phoenix earned $107 million for a global debut of $140 million.

The Secret Life of Pets 2, $47.1 million
Dark Phoenix, $33 million
Aladdin, $24.5 million
Godzilla: King of the Monsters, $15.5 million
Rocketman, $14 million
Ma, $7.8 million
John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, $7.4 million
Avengers: Endgame, $4.8 million
Pokemon Detective Pikachu, $2.9 million
Booksmart, $1.5 million

… One year ago this week the number one movie was Ocean’s 8
… Five years ago this week: The Fault in Our Stars
… Ten years ago this week: The Hangover
… Twenty years ago this week: Star Wars: Episode I – the Phantom Menace

… In theaters Friday: Men in Black: International (PG-13); Shaft (R); Late Night (R)

AUDIO – DO A ‘WHEN HARRY MET SALLY’ FAKE ORGASM _ When Harry Met Sally hit theaters July 12, 1989, and it combined many good things: writer Nora Ephron’s wit, Central Park in the fall, Billy Crystal in a sweater, and, of course, Meg Ryan performing an elaborate, fake orgasm at the historic Katz’s Deli in Manhattan.

… To celebrate three decades of the gorgeous film Katz’s Deli is holding a search for a person who can fake an orgasm as well as Meg Ryan did in the iconic scene in the movie. Heavy breathers of any gender can simply show up at the 131-year-old deli on Wednesday (July 12) and wait their turn to sit at the exact table where Meg Ryan displayed, on behalf of all women, the power of acting. A panel of judges will decide which fake orgasm is best.

CHRIS PRATT AND KATHERINE SCHWARZENEGGER ARE MARRIED _ Chris Pratt and Katherine Schwarzenegger are married. The couple tied the knot on Saturday. In a Sunday Instagram post Chris wrote, “Yesterday was the best day of our lives! We became husband and wife in front of God, our families, and those we love. It was intimate, moving and emotional. We feel so blessed to begin this new chapter of our lives.”

… The couple, who began dating in the summer of 2018, tied the knot on Saturday at the San Ysidro Ranch in Montecito, California — a venue known for its intimate ceremonies, which is a favorite among many celebrities. Other celebrities who have tied the knot at the venue include Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin, who wed there in 2003; and Jessica Simpson and husband Eric Johnson, who wed there in 2014.

BRADLEY COOPER AND IRINA SHAYK SPLIT AFTER FOUR YEARS _ Bradley Cooper and Irina Shayk have called it quits after four years of dating. People Magazine first reported news of the split Thursday night, but Page Six reported earlier last week that Cooper and Shayk’s relationship was “hanging by a thread.” They welcomed daughter Lea de Seine Shayk Cooper in March 2017.

CELINE DION WRAPS UP LAS VEGAS RESIDENCY _ Celine Dion wrapped up her residency at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas over the weekend. In a statement Dion said, “I’m both proud and humbled by what we’ve accomplished at The Colosseum since we began 16 years ago, when René and I first shared this dream. This entire experience has been a huge part of my show business career… one that I will cherish forever.”

… The show began in 2003 and was seen by 4.5 million fans over the course of 1,141 performances. Her first residency played 717 shows from March 25, 2003 through Dec.15, 2007 and her second premiered in March 15, 2011.

… Saturday’s finale featured the debut of Dion’s new song, Flying on My Own. The track is from her album, Courage, which is due for release in November.

BINGE-WATCHING TV VIEWERS SPEND MORE THAN EIGHT HOURS GLUED TO FAVORITE SHOWS _ A survey of television viewing habits reveals that half of all viewers have spent more than eight hours glued to the box watching the same show.

… 80 percent of TV watchers have lost sleep in order binge watch a series, while almost one in five admitted calling into work sick in order to continue with a binge.

GWYNETH PALTROW AND HUSBAND DON’T LIVE TOGETHER FULL-TIME _ Gwyneth Paltrow is all about keeping her personal space. The actress and Goop mogul revealed that she and husband Brad Falchuk, who tied the knot in September, only live together four nights a week, after which he goes back to his own house. Paltrow says “All my married friends say that the way we live sounds ideal and we shouldn’t change a thing.”

HALLMARK’S CHRISTMAS IN JULY 2019 _ Are you ready for Hallmark’s Christmas in July? Holiday favorites will be airing on the Hallmark Channel from July 12 to July 28. And on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, you can watch Christmas movies from June 28 to July 14. That means you can catch up on all your favorite Christmas movies for most of the month of July between the two channels. Right now, Hallmark is already airing Christmas movies every Friday night, plus every Thursday night on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries.

… What about a brand new movie? Christmas Camp will premiere on July 7 on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries. The movie is about an advertising executive who is bringing in a toy company as a new account. She attends Christmas Camp to learn more about the company and meets the camp owner’s son.

… A Merry Christmas Match will premiere on the Hallmark Channel on July 13. It’s about Corey, a woman who lives in a ski village and works in her mom’s antique shop. She puts on a children’s Christmas pageant every year in her late dad’s honor. She meets Ryder when he visits her store and she wonders if she made the right decisions in life.

WILL SMITH AND CARDI B ARE BIG FANS OF THEIR NEW DEEPFAKE _ A new deepfake video combing actor Will Smith and rapper Cardi B has gone viral — and both stars love it. Uploaded to YouTube Friday by deepfake creator Myster Giraffe, the clip shows Smith’s face on the body of Cardi B during a 2017 interview on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. In the video, Cardi B discusses how she acquired the now-household name. • VIDEO

… Smith reacted to the deepfake in a post on Instagram over the weekend, describing the video as “so good” to his nearly 33 million followers. Cardi B also shared the clip on multiple social media accounts.

AUDIO

Find these audio files on the PRO AUDIO PAGE.

• SLEEPY DOG STILL SINGS: A guy on YouTube tried to get his dog up and moving, but the dog wasn’t having it. So the owner started singing Old Macdonald Had A Farm. • VIDEO

• WHEN HARRY MET SALLY: The movie was released 30 years ago this week.

• DROP: There you go again.

• FATHER’S DAY: A package of funny Father’s Day TV-movie drops.

BITS & BREAKS

AUTHOR IN THE UK SHARES A FUNNY CEMETERY STORY

An author in the UK tweeted a short, funny story over the weekend.

FUNNY AND CRINGEWORTHY WAYS PEOPLE GOT PROPOSED TO

Start it on Facebook, take it to the phones: What was the funny, weird or cringeworthy way you were proposed to?

BuzzFeed recently asked its community to share the the funny and cringeworthy ways they got proposed to.

• “My ex-husband proposed to me in the parking lot of a Burger King where he thought he met me. This was not where we met and it had no significance in our relationship. It was actually where my best friend flashed him and his friends for the first time.”

• “My cousin’s girlfriend loved blue-and-yellow macaw birds, so he decided to propose while dressed in a giant (homemade) macaw costume in front of the whole family. Somehow the suit got ripped and he didn’t realize there was a gaping hole in the rear end…and he wasn’t wearing underwear.”

• “We went to a park and I was too busy playing Pokémon Go to pay attention to what he was trying to do — which was propose to me.”

• “My dad proposed to my mom by dumping cold water on her while she was in the shower. He ran away and hid because he knew she would run out all upset and angry, so he left a ring with a single rose on her pillow.”

• “He proposed to me in an email.”

• “I had to pee really bad while on a walk with my boyfriend back to our hotel on vacation. I wanted to stop, but he insisted I wait. I had to pee so bad I was in pain and started arguing with him saying I was glad we weren’t getting married anytime soon! When we got back, I shoved him out of the way and took the longest pee of my life. I was so sweaty, I couldn’t even get my jeans pulled back up, so I walked out with them around my ankles and laid on the bed to cool off. I looked over and saw him holding a ring and he proposed. I asked for a redo and he just shrugged and said, ‘Moment’s over. Besides, what just happened is VERY us.’”

• “My husband kneeled down literally right next to a huge pile of dog poop outside my house. It was distracting and not very romantic.”

• “While working at an Italian restaurant, a guy asked if we could bring a ring and flowers out to his girlfriend on a tray for him to propose during dinner. My manager excitedly came out and placed it on a couple’s table. The woman was ecstatic, but the man was shocked. It was the wrong table. We all had to awkwardly watch as the correct groom walked over and claimed his ring from a very upset woman.”

• “My husband proposed to me on a cruise ship and I got so drunk I had to be pushed around in a wheelchair after throwing up everywhere. I then was banned from drinking on board for 24 hours.”

• “My now-husband texted me while I was at work. It said, ‘Hey, do you wanna get married?’ I said, ‘yes’ and we have been married seven years now!”

• “We were just sitting around watching TV, and he looked at me and said, ‘Wanna get married? We can totally write it off on taxes. It’s extra money.’ So that’s how I was proposed to.”

HABITS THAT ANNOY YOUR SPOUSE THE MOST

The Way You Chew — Neuroscientists suspect that some people are enraged by the sound of other people’s chewing, slurping, and other unpleasant sound-making because their brains are especially sensitive to those noises. The condition is known as misophonia and it may affect as much as 20 percent of the population.

Looking at Your Phone — People who seem more into their phones than their spouses are going to suffer many dinner table arguments. “Phubbing,” or phone snubbing, depletes marital satisfaction and can lead to depression, studies suggest. Just having a phone on the table makes people feel less connection and compromises the quality of conversation.

Bragging About Yourself — Braggers tend to do it to either impress others or get sympathy from them, and they underestimate how much other people might be put off by that. Although this particular study focused on social media bragging, other studies have found that when people brag in person, it similarly conveys a lack of empathy and an inability to read the room.

Spending Money Irresponsibly — People who thought their partners were bad with money feel less committed in their relationships and report a lower sense of well-being, one study shows. Researchers believe that this reaction has less to do with money and more to do with what money symbolizes — power and control. Although financial conflict can cause big problems in relationships, other research argues that money only plays a small role in breakups compared to other issues, like sexual dissatisfaction and a lack of compatibility. Overall, coming home with an unnecessary new pair of sneakers is mostly just annoying.

Keeping Score in the Relationship — Competitive couples who keep score tend to have less happy relationships than couples who roll with the punches, studies suggest. Psychologists caution against “bank-account relationships,” in which couples track their wins and compromises, because it conveys a lack of trust about how much effort they expect their partners to put in. That can make dealing with a sore loser understandably insulting and irritating.

MONSTROUSLY MARKED-UP PRODUCTS

• Razor blades. They cost as little as 10 cents to make but consumers are charged up to $4 a piece.

• Bottled water. For the price of a single bottle of Evian bottled water, you could pay for 1,000 gallons of municipal tap water.

• Wine in restaurants. The average retail markup on a bottle of wine in a restaurant is 300 percent.

• Diamonds. Retailers mark up diamonds between 50 and 200 percent, and 100 to 400 percent for gold.

• Wedding dresses. They retail for at least 100 percent more than the wholesale price.

• Coffee shop coffee. Why pay $3 to $5 for a cup at Starbucks when it costs between 25 and 50 cents at home?

• Eyeglasses. Some opticians charge 1,000 percent over wholesale for designer frames.

• Popcorn. When a consumer has no other option, he’ll pay the 1300% markup on a large tub of theater popcorn.

• Jeans. Everyone owns at least a few pair. A $29 pair of jeans from Kohl’s still has a 120 percent markup from wholesale.

• French fries at restaurants. A 30 cent potato can bring in about $1.75 for a restaurant.

FUN & GAMES

TRIVIA: Baghdad, Iraq, is home to the United States’ largest what? (Embassy. It’s 22 acres in size.)

TRIVIA: The average one of these lasts 4 days. (Diet)

TRIVIA: 22,000 people in the U.S. are injured by these each year. (Golf carts)

WHO SAID IT?

“I don’t consider myself sexy … I’m kind of a nervous person in general. I’m socially awkward. I’m not tall and sensuous. I usually wear sweats everywhere I go. Oh, and I burp a lot.”

• Carrie Underwood*

• Ruth Bader Ginsburg

• Lady Gaga

• Dolly Parton

DATEBOOK: JUNE 11, 2019

BIRTHDAYS

• Adrienne Barbeau (Maude) is 74

• NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Montana is 63

• Hugh Laurie (House) is 60

• Talk show host Dr. Mehmet Oz (The Dr. Oz Show) is 59

• Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones) is 50

• Joshua Jackson (Fringe, Dawson’s Creek) is 41

• Shia LaBeouf is 33.

IT HAPPENED TODAY

• 1776: The Continental Congress appointed Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston to a committee to draft a declaration of independence.

• 1962: Frank Morris, John Anglin and Clarence Anglin became the only prisoners to successfully escape from the prison on Alcatraz Island.

• 1982: Director Steven Spielberg introduced his classic science-fiction film, E.T., The Extra-Terrestrial.

• 1993: Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park premiered.

• 1998: Amazon.com expanded its product line from books only to add compact discs.

• 2002: Paul McCartney and Heather Mills were married in a remote Irish castle.

• 2002: American Idol premiered on the Fox Network. The talent show was based on a similar British program.

• 2002: Antonio Meucci was acknowledged as the first inventor of the telephone by the United States Congress.

• 2004: Former U.S. President Ronald Reagan’s funeral was held at Washington National Cathedral.

SPECIAL EVENTS

• Corn on the Cob Day

• Cotton Candy Day

• Pet Memorial Day

• Call Your Doctor Day

• German Chocolate Cake Day

UPCOMING