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BIRTHDAYS
• Richard Dreyfuss is 73
• Kate Jackson (Charlie’s Angels) is 72
• Dan Castellaneta (The Simpsons) is 63
• Winona Ryder (Stranger Things) is 49
• Tracee Ellis Ross (black-ish) is 48
• Gabrielle Union (Bring It On, Being Mary Jane) is 48
• Ben Foster (Hell or High Water, 3:10 to Yuma) is 40
IT HAPPENED TODAY
• 1390: The first trial for witchcraft was held in Paris.
• 1886: The ticker-tape parade was invented in New York City when office workers spontaneously throw ticker tape into the streets as the Statue of Liberty is dedicated.
• 1969: The first-ever computer-to-computer link was established on ARPANET, the precursor to the Internet.
• 1998: Space Shuttle Discovery blasted off with 77-year old John Glenn on board, making him the oldest person to go into space. He became the first American to orbit Earth on February 20, 1962.
• 2004: The Arabic news network Al Jazeera aired an excerpt from a video of Osama bin Laden in which the terrorist leader first admitted direct responsibility for the September 11, 2001 attacks and referenced the 2004 U.S. presidential election.
• 2007: In Athens, Greece, two thieves ambushed a supermarket employee as he was taking cash to the bank. The men were armed only with ketchup. Police say the thieves jumped out of the bushes and threw two big bags of ketchup on the front window to stop the car. The man fought with his attackers, who managed to flee on a motorcycle with only a fraction of the money he was carrying.
• 2019: A woman in Wisconsin made a 911 call on herself. She told a dispatcher, “Somebody’s really drunk driving.” The dispatcher asked if she was behind the drunk driver, to which she replied, “No, I am them.” The dispatcher asked, “Okay, so you’re calling to report you’re driving drunk?” The woman replied, “Yes.” The dispatcher told her to pull her vehicle over and she complied.
SPECIAL EVENTS
• Internet Day
• Cat Day
• Oatmeal Day
• World Psoriasis Day
• World Stroke Day
NUMBER FOR THE DAY
40,000: Americans injured by toilets each year.
NEWS ATTACK!
A poll says that American workers’ number one complaint about their bosses is that they don’t acknowledge their achievements. [They just keep harping about that silly lawsuit you cost the company.]
Researchers say a shot of alcohol can help an irregular heartbeat. [So I suggest every one of us take a shot next Tuesday night.]
Police in Russia stopped a speeding hearse, and discovered that it was smuggling illegal caviar. [The police were immediately suspicious because why would a passenger in a hearse be in a hurry?]
NASA’s Perseverance rover is halfway to Mars. [It spent last night at a Best Western and will be back on the road before noon today.]
A survey shows women prefer shoes over men. [Which is why I’m changing my name to Birkenstock.]
Halloween is Saturday. [Halloween teaches children a very important lesson: It’s okay to take candy from strangers as long as you give your parents half.]
Halloween is Saturday. [I had a tough childhood. On Halloween, neighborhood parents would send their kids out looking like me.]
Stock took a big fall again on Wednesday. [Jeff Bezos is still the richest man in the U.S. because I just got my winter supply of TP and masks yesterday.]
Sonic is testing broccoli cheddar tots. [I appreciate this. When you add broccoli to tater tots you’re doubling my daily servings of vegetables.]
NEWS & NUGGETS
💀 SKULL ON FIREPLACE MANTEL FOR YEARS LINKED TO MISSING PERSON _ Just in time for Halloween comes this creepy murder-mystery. A human skull that had been used for years to decorate a Tennessee fireplace mantel actually belonged to a man who had been missing since 2012. An unidentified person found the skull near the town of Gobey, Tennessee, and put it on the mantel — where it sat for more than a year with sunglasses on.
… Someone eventually told the local sheriff’s office about the skull, and investigators pulled a DNA sample from it. The office matched DNA from the skull to family members of Junior Willie McCann, who disappeared in 2012. Local authorities believe McCann may have been killed by a family member who is now also dead, but are asking anyone with information to contact them.
TIKTOK WILL DISPLAY LIVE ELECTION RESULTS _ Come Election Day, TikTok users will see official voting results in their For You feeds, thanks to a partnership with the Associated Press. TikTok is working with the AP to provide access to their interactive map which shows live results for races. The map will appear among user-generated videos as folks swipe up through their feeds.
RARE BLUE MOON WILL RISE ON HALLOWEEN _ A blue moon — by definition a rarity — will rise on Halloween. The lunar event means simply that a second full moon will rise in the same month. The first one, a harvest moon, lit up the sky on October 1. It also happens to be a blood moon, meaning a full moon that happens in October, in the midst of spooky season. It won’t actually be blue unless there are dust and smoke particles of a certain size, which can scatter red light and make the moon take on a bluish hue. This year’s Halloween full moon will rise at 10:49 AM that day — which guarantees visibility across all times zones. The next blue moon will hit skies on August 30, 2023.
SCRATCH-AND-SNIFF CAMPAIGN MAILER _ Be thankful this political campaign idea never took off. Back in 2010 a Republican running against a Democratic California representative sent out a flier with a scratch-and-sniff “stench of Washington.” Van Tran, who was running against Loretta Sanchez, sent out a flier to some Orange County voters with the scratch-and-sniff section labeled, “something smells rotten about Loretta. It’s the stench of Washington.” Tran’s campaign manager said the scratch-and-sniff section was supposed to smell like trash. Tran lost to Sanchez.
QUEEN ELIZABETH’S ‘SECRET BODY DOUBLE’ HAS BEEN REVEALED _ There have been rumors of Queen Elizabeth using a body double for years, but as it turns out, the situation is a bit more complicated than that. In reality, Elizabeth uses a stand-in — and now that stand-in is speaking out about what working with the royal family as the Queen’s substitute is really like.
… Queen Elizabeth has a stand-in named Ella Slack. Ella isn’t really a body double — she doesn’t look like Elizabeth enough to serve that purpose. Instead, for the past 30 years, she’s worked as her stand-in. Because she’s a similar height and weight to the Queen, she’s able to be there for rehearsals for big events — especially to help figure out blocking and lighting for events that will be televised and feature the monarch. • PHOTO
NEW APP WILL ALERT YOU WHEN YOU MOVE TO TOUCH YOUR FACE _ Since the start of the pandemic, public health officials have advised people to avoid touching their face — but the recommendation is easier said than done. A new app hopes to drive the message home by alerting users when they touch their eyes, nose or mouth. Called Face Touch Aware, the technology pairs with an Apple Watch and uses the device’s gyroscope to track how you move your hand. The app alerts users with vibrations and sounds when it detects the watch moving towards their face, with the hopes they will fight the urge. Developers hope it will help cut down the 23 times an hour the average person touches their face.
MAN WITH MOST DWIs IN MINNESOTA PASSES AWAY _ 67-year-old Danny Lee Bettcher has passed away. Bettcher is known for having at least 28 DWI arrests during his lifetime and it’s thought he holds the record for most DWIs in Minnesota.
TENNESSEE TITANS PAY HOA FINE FOR FAN _ Homeowners Associations are funny things. Before you move into a neighborhood that has an HOA you’re given the HOA rules and have to sign them. Among other things, HOA rules very often forbid signage of any kind — which is quite a nice thing during an election season. But every once in awhile homeowner will either forget they agreed to the HOA rules, or just ignore them. Such is the case in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, where a Titans football fan was told by his HOA to take down his fan sign.
… John Causley was told by the HOA to take down his “Tennessee Tough” yard sign or face fines. Luckily, the Titans had a little bit of a surprise for Causley. The team sent its mascot and the Titans cheerleaders to deliver an even bigger sign to Causley’s front yard. And they also gave him a check to cover the fines from his HOA.
NASA’S PERSEVERANCE ROVER IS MIDWAY TO MARS _ NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover mission has logged a lot of flight miles since being lofted skyward on July 30: 146.3 million miles to be exact. Turns out that is exactly the same distance it has to go before the spacecraft hits the Red Planet’s atmosphere like an 11,900 mph freight train on February 18, 2021.
STORE EMPLOYEE CLOCKS OUT, WINS $72,796 LOTTERY JACKPOT _ A North Carolina man earned more than expected in a single work day when he scored a $72,796 lottery prize at the store where he works. Adam Roberts of Burlington told North Carolina lottery officials he had just finished his shift as a customer service manager at a Harris Teeter store when he decided to try his luck with a scratch-off ticket. Roberts’ $2 ticket earned him $72,796.
MAN SAYS ‘I DRIVE BETTER WHEN I DRINK’ ON FACEBOOK LIVE — MOMENTS BEFORE FATAL CAR CRASH _ A 47-year-old Houston man was seen on Facebook Live sipping a beer while behind the wheel. Minutes later, he reportedly crashed into another vehicle, and all three of his passengers, including his girlfriend, died. Camilo Morejon was being recorded by his girlfriend, who was sitting in the passenger seat, for Facebook Live Sunday morning. He’s seen on video saying, “I drive better when I drink.” Moments later his Honda reportedly crashed into a pickup truck. The video ended before the accident occurred. Morejon and the driver of the pickup truck he hit are both in the hospital in critical condition.
104-YEAR-OLD RENTS CHOPPER FOR FAMILY VISIT _ What is a 104-year-old woman to do if she wants to visit family members but can’t sit in a car for a long period of time? Margrethe Hansen, who lives in a Denmark retirement home over 100 miles from her 82-year-old son and her grandchildren, decided to go by helicopter. She told local TV: “I thought it was the fastest way to get away.” A grandson picked up Hansen from her retirement home and drove her to a nearby field where a private helicopter waited. He lifted his grandmother onto the aircraft and sat her next to the pilot, and then took a backseat together with a nurse. The flight took roughly one hour. Hansen saw her relatives’ houses from the sky and visited with them on the ground before taking the chopper home the same day.
POLICE OFFICER KILLED BY ROOSTER WHILE BREAKING UP COCKFIGHT _ A police officer in the Philippines was killed by a rooster while attempting to break up an illegal cockfight. The officer was struck by the rooster’s gaff — a metal blade attached to the bird for a fight. The gaff hit the officer’s femoral artery as he was confiscating the bird. He was rushed to a hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival due to heavy blood loss.
CIGARETTES REALLY COST $150 A PACK _ A pack of cigarettes may set you back $8 to $12 in wallet money, but the true cost because of premature death is closer to $150 per pack. Smoking shaves an average of 7.13 years off the life expectancy of a man and 4.5 years for a woman. The study’s calculation relies on the Value of a Statistical Life (VSL). As an estimate of the tradeoff between monetary cost and safety, VSL can be used to describe the amount a person, or government, is willing to spend to reduce the cost of death.
A YEAR AGO THIS WEEK: THE BEST WAY TO GET RID OF YOUR KID’S EXCESS TOYS _ Your kids have too many toys. You know it, your spouse knows it, your friends know it. Only your kids think they need more. It’s time to thin the pile of toys, and Lifehacker has a good idea:
Step 1: Box up all their toys while they’re asleep.
Step 2: Return the toys they specifically ask for by name.
Step 3: After one month, donate the rest to charity.
WACKY-BUT-TRUE
WACKY-BUT-TRUE: POLICE CALLED TO HOUSE WITH GRUESOME HALLOWEEN DECOR _ There are some folks that do it up big for Halloween — and then there is a Texas artist who is on a whole other level. Steve Novak is on a first name basis with the Dallas Police Department after squads have been sent to his house on multiple occasions because front yard looks like a scene out of a Rob Zombie movie. Novak has no lights or fog machines — instead he’s got a few dummies and 20 gallons of fake blood in his front yard. The dummies met their demise in a variety of ways: a machete through the skull, ahead smashed by a safe, a body in a trash bag, limbs in a wheelbarrow. Cops have been called a few times but Novak says his original plans were “were way worse on paper.” • IMAGES
WACKY-BUT-TRUE: MAN IN BEEKEEPER’S SUIT ASKED TO LEAVE STORE _ Management at an Aldi grocery store in Ohio (Lyndhurst) asked a man in a beekeeper suit to stop video recording customers and employees. The man left the store before police arrived.
WACKY-BUT-TRUE: MAN ATTEMPTS TO ROB ATM WITH DRINKS _ A guy in China attempted to rob some automated teller machines by using a method he’d seen in movies. The guy tried to short-circuit the ATMs by pouring beverages into them. He was caught and is charged with causing over $20,000 in damage to three ATMs.
WACKY-BUT-TRUE: CONNECTICUT MAN STABBED IN BUTT OVER GAME OF CHESS _ Police in Stamford, Connecticut, were called to an apartment on the report of an assault early Saturday morning. The 51-year-old victim said he knew only the first name of the man who stabbed him, and refused to give police any more information. A police spokesman said, “They were playing chess. They got into a small argument and somehow the victim got stabbed in the butt.”
🎧 WACKY-BUT-TRUE: POLE-DANCING SKELETONS DEEMED ‘INAPPROPRIATE’ FOR TEXAS NEIGHBORHOOD _ A Texas woman is in trouble with her homeowner’s association because of her skeleton strip club Halloween decorations, a theme that’s being called “inappropriate.” Angela Nava posed her Halloween skeletons as adult entertainers and eager patrons at a skeletal strip club. She says all the feedback she’d gotten has been positive until the homeowner’s association sent her a letter calling the display “inappropriate” and asking her to take it down. Nava says that’s an overreaction and calls her decorations “creative”. Nava says she was given until mid-November to remove the skeletons, which is fine by her. She planned to take them down after Halloween anyway.
WACKY-BUT-TRUE: BANK ROBBER ID’d BY EX GIRLFRIEND _ In Austria a man put on a mask and held up a bank. And, of all the rotten luck, the teller turned out to be an ex-girlfriend who recognized him by his baby blue eyes. She identified him to the cops and gave them his home address.
WACKY-BUT-TRUE: BATHTUB DROP-IN _ A Russian couple had a narrow escape when their naked neighbor dropped in. The neighbor had been relaxing in her bathtub when the floor gave way, dropping her and the bathtub into the apartment below. The woman, her bathtub and gallons of water landed in the middle of her neighbors’ living room.
WACKY-BUT-TRUE: CAT RUNS OFF WITH TOE _ A man in Germany is missing a toe after he dropped a large kitchen knife onto his bare foot, chopping off his second toe, and his cat ran off with it.
WACKY-BUT-TRUE: GUY IN POLICE CHASE STOPS FOR GAS _ In California KNBC’s Newschopper 4 was following a chase in rush-hour traffic where the suspect vehicle was able to get well ahead of the police — so well ahead that the driver, wanted for theft from a Home Depot store, took the time to stop for gas as the news helicopter crew televised it live. He even paid inside. The driver returned to the freeway, where police caught up with him, but he apparently escaped.
WACKY-BUT-TRUE: IS THAT A LOBSTER IN YOUR PANTS? _ Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers were doing routine inspections (in Conch Key) when they noticed something odd about the man on a boat: a significant bulge in his pants. When they confronted the man he allegedly admitted he had stuffed several lobsters down his pants when the officers weren’t looking. He was arrested and charged with theft — possession of lobster tails, and possession of one undersized lobster tail.
ON TELEVISION
CITY SO REAL (7p ET, National Geographic) — This new docuseries looks at the city of Chicago, set against the backdrop of its history-making 2019 mayoral election, and the tumultuous 2020 summer of COVID-19 and social upheaval following the police killing of George Floyd. Three more episodes follow.
SEASON PREMIERE: SUPERSTORE (8p ET, NBC) — In the season 6 premiere, Amy and Jonah try to bring order to the chaos during the pandemic while being pulled in multiple directions. The episode jumps through time, revealing how everyone has been coping with the chaotic year. America Ferrera is back for two episodes this season before saying goodbye.
SEASON FINALE: CELEBRITY FAMILY FEUD (8p ET, ABC) — New. Boxers face off against mixed martial artists.
NFL FOOTBALL (8p ET, FOX) — Atlanta Falcons at Carolina Panthers.
SUPERNATURAL (8p ET, CW) — New. Dean hits the road with Jack, who needs to complete a final ritual in the quest to beat Chuck.
CONNECTING (8:30p ET, NBC) — New.
EVERY VOTE COUNTS: A CELEBRATION OF DEMOCRACY (9p ET, CBS) — Alicia Keys, Kerry Washington and America Ferrera host this new special, aiming to spur voter turnout. Performers include Keys, Shawn Mendes, Dan + Shay, Offset and more. Appearances include John Kasich, Condoleezza Rice, Chris Rock, Jennifer Lopez, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Leonardo DiCaprio, Eva Longoria, Kelly Clarkson, Natalie Portman, Shaquille O’Neal, Tan France, Wilmer Valderrama, Amy Schumer, Cobie Smulders and Coldplay.
SEASON FINALE: PRESS YOUR LUCK (9p ET, ABC) — New.
DATELINE (9p ET, NBC) — A new, 2-hour edition.
THE OUTPOST (9p ET, CW) — New.
METALLICA: S&M 2 (9p ET, PBS) — This concert special features the heavy-metal band performing their hits with the San Francisco Symphony.
STAR TREK: DISCOVERY (10p ET, CBS) — New.
SEASON FINALE: MATCH GAME (10p ET, ABC) — New. Panelists are Joel McHale, Jane Krakowski, Jermaine Fowler, Caroline Rhea, Skylar Astin and Retta.
SEASON PREMIERE: DEUTSCHLAND 89 (11p ET, Sundance) — The third and final season of this international spy series picks up after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. This time, the world is in a new place, and Martin (Jonas Nay) is forced to reinvent himself once more. He is pursued by Western spy agencies as well as the KGB, but he remains determined to finish his final job for his new and mysterious superiors.
THAT ANIMAL RESCUE SHOW (CBS All Access) — This 10-episode documentary series goes behind the scenes of the animal rescue community in and around Austin, Texas.
ENTERTAINMENT
BIG BROTHER RENEWED FOR SEASON 23 AT CBS _ The 23rd season of Big Brother has been announced and will air next summer. Julie Chen Moonves will return as host.
BEBE REXHA’S ACTING CAREER IS MEANT TO BE _ After lending her voice to the animated film UglyDolls, Bebe Rexha will make her feature film acting debut in Queenpins, alongside Kristen Bell and Vince Vaughn. Queenpins was inspired by the true story of the largest coupon counterfeit scam in U.S. history. It’s about a suburban housewife who starts an illegal coupon club, cheating big corporations out of millions of dollars while enriching her fellow coupon clippers. Bebe plays Tempe Tina, a computer hacker who helps the woman pull off her scam.
BRAD PITT AND GIRLFRIEND NICOLE POTURALSKI BREAK UP _ Brad Pitt and German model Nicole Poturalski have split. A source says the couple, who were first spotted together in August, are “totally over.”
NICOLE KIDMAN TO STAR IN AMAZON DRAMA SERIES THINGS I KNOW TO BE TRUE _ Nicole Kidman will star in and executive produce the drama series Things I Know to Be True, which has been ordered to series at Amazon Based on the play of the same name (by Andrew Bovell), the series is said to be about the resilience of an enduring marriage and the evolving nature of a family’s love, as Bob and Fran Price watch their adult children make unexpected decisions which change the course of their lives.
TINY TOONS IS BEING REBOOTED _ Babs, Buster Bunny and the rest of the Tiny Toons gang will be back for a reboot of the ’90s three-season syndicated animated series Tiny Toon Adventures. The new series will air on HBO Max.
CRAIG ROBINSON TO HOST FOX’S THE MASKED DANCER _ The Office’s Craig Robinson has signed on to host The Masked Singer spinoff The Masked Dancer.
ELLEN POMPEO SAYS GREY’S ANATOMY MIGHT END THIS SEASON _ Grey’s Anatomy star Ellen Pompeo is in the last year of her current contract and says this season could be the hit drama’s last. Pompeo says, “We don’t know when the show is really ending yet. But the truth is, this year could be it.
… (CAUTION) The Grey’s star and co-producer also hopes that post-COVID, TV shows will maintain their less stressful production schedule. Pompeo says that the pandemic should serve as a wake-up call that long hours hurt the actors: “Nobody should be working 16 hours a day, 10 months a year — nobody … it’s just causing people to be exhausted, pissed, sad, depressed. It’s a really, really unhealthy model. And I hope post-COVID nobody ever goes back to 24 or 22 episodes a season…”
MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY REVEALS HOW HE BATTLES HANGOVERS _ Matthew McConaughey has revealed more life-changing Matthew McConaughey wisdom: how to battle a hangover. McConaughey shared on Dax Shephard’s podcast the the secret is to be honest with himself the night before. McConaughey said: “I get my mind right. I’ll … look in the mirror and go, ‘Hey buddy, this is going to suck tomorrow morning. Now we’re going to bulldog through this. We’re not going to make any excuses, we’re gonna get up an hour and a half early, we’re gonna go run and sweat this thing out and tomorrow is gonna be hard… but are you in?’ … And then the next morning just go, ‘Here we go man, ride the baseline.'”
THE BABY-SITTERS CLUB RENEWED FOR SEASON 2 AT NETFLIX _ Prepare for another meeting of The Baby-Sitters Club — Netflix has renewed it the series for Season 2.
BITS & BREAKS
TRY THIS TEXT PRANK ON A FRIEND
Audio for air, then encourage listeners to email, text or comment to a social post their friends’ replies.
🎧 “Comedian Tig Notaro has a fun text prank to play on friends. Let’s give it a listen and then I have an idea…”
… “So do this, then take a screenshot of your friend’s replies and share them as a comment.”
FACEBOOK THIS
Pulled this one off Reddit:
If you could telepathically say something that all 7.8 billion people on Earth could hear at once what would it be?
Some of the better replies…
• We know what you did. If you confess, we will be lenient. Otherwise you will pay for your misdeeds.
• Jump on the count of three!
• Watch out! Behind you!
FACEBOOK THIS
The last YouTube video you’ve watched gets sent to all your contacts. What are they about to watch?
TURN YOURSELF INTO A ZOMBIE
Upload a pic, turn yourself into a zombie and share it with your listeners.
WEIRD AND WACKY OCCUPATIONS BY STATE
Over 147 million people in America are holding a job. While most jobs are quite conventional, some are definitely less so. Whether it is a professional smeller or a rattlesnake farmer, each state is home to a very unusual, and often bizarre way of earning a living.
24/7 Wall St. reviewed job listing sites, online databases, and occupational data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics to identify the weirdest job or job opening in every state.
• Arizona: Bingo manager — Bingo is big in Arizona. It is legal as both a recreational activity and for the purpose of fundraising for some organizations. In 2019, Gila River Hotels & Casinos in Phoenix broke two Guinness World Records, hosting a game with the largest bingo balls and the largest bingo card.
• Hawaii: Golf-ball diver — The Island State of Hawaii has dozens of golf courses, many near the ocean. Golf balls are bad for underwater ecosystems, so people are needed to dive and retrieve the errant balls.
• Kansas: Dog food taster — Since dogs can’t tell us what they think of their food, humans are needed to make sure nothing is amiss before pet food is shipped to stores. Kansas is one of the largest producers of pet food in the country.
• Michigan: Furniture tester — Thanks to its access to lumber, Grand Rapids, Michigan, was once known as “Furniture City.” With La-Z-Boy Furniture headquartered in Michigan as well as other furniture makers, the state has many furniture testers who ensure sofas, chairs, couches, and more are comfy.
• Missouri: Dice quality inspector — To ensure that anyone playing a dice game has the same odds of winning, dice are inspected before going to casinos or stores to ensure the cubes are equally weighted on all sides. Kearney, Missouri, is home to a manufacturer of casino-quality dice.
• New Jersey: Gum buster — Stepping in gum is frustrating and gross. Fortunately, GumBusters of New Jersey and New York have the tools and the skills to make sidewalks safe from sticky discarded gum.
• North Carolina: Face feeler — Face feelers are product testers who check personal care items to ensure they are safe? They test everything from razor blades to beauty products. Hampstead, North Carolina, is home to Fore Sense + One, a company that focuses on sensory properties.
• South Carolina: Kazoo Factory worker — Beaufort, South Carolina, is home to the Kazoobie Kazoo Factory. The Factory is complete with a museum and an interactive tour, during which visitors can make their own kazoos.
WHAT’S THE KEY TO A HAPPY MARRIAGE?
Start it on Facebook, take it to the phones: In your opinion, what’s the key to a happy marriage?
OUR BIGGEST SUPERSTITIONS
In a study of nearly 15,00 people…
10. Stepping on cracks
9. Black cats
8. The number 13
7. Opening an umbrella inside
6. Spilled salt
5. Broken mirror
4. Egyptian tombs
3. The number 7. Not all superstitions are bad, and more than half of those surveyed believe that 7 is a good number.
2. Jinxes. More than half of those surveyed refuses to tempt fate by discussing a future event or outcome before it happens.
1. Negativity. Way more than half of the people surveyed believe that thinking negative thoughts can cause bad things to happen.
RANDOM HALLOWEEN FACTS
• Phasmophobia is the fear of ghosts.
• A cup of candy corn has fewer calories than a cup of raisins.
• It’s illegal to sell a haunted house in New York without informing the buyer.
• The first jack-o’-lanterns were made of turnips.
• Samhainophobia is the morbid fear of Halloween.
• The Scots believed in Samhanach, a goblin who came out only on Halloween and stole children.
• Pumpkins are fruits, not vegetables.
• Fifty-one percent of all American adults believe in ghosts.
• According to studies, the smell of pumpkin pie is the most arousing to women.
FUN & GAMES
TRIVIA: 41,000 people go to the emergency room in the U.S. each after being bitten by what? (Another human)
TRIVIA: The average man uses up 60 hours a year doing this. (Shaving)
TRIVIA: I’m something you eat, you know may name, or else my description, they’re on in the same. What am I? (An orange)
HOLE IN THE HEADLINE
Guess the word that’s missing from this real news headline: “MAN ATTEMPTED TO ROB MULTIPLE ATMs WITH ______!”
A guy in China attempted to rob some automated teller machines by using a method he’d seen in movies. The guy tried to short-circuit the ATMs by pouring beverages into them. He was caught and is charged with causing over $20,000 in damage to three ATMs.
PUMPKIN FACT OR FICTION
• A championship pumpkin can grow as much as 40 pounds in a day. (FACT)
• In colonial Connecticut, pumpkin halves were used as guides for haircuts (FACT)
• Wisconsin produces more pumpkins than any other U.S. state. (FICTION. That would be Illinois.)
• The very first jack o’ lantern was made out of a turnip. (FACT)
• Pumpkins are 90 percent air. (FICTION. They’re 90% water)
COUNTRY DATEBOOK: OCTOBER 29, 2020
• 1955: GEORGE JONES made his chart debut with Why, Baby Why.
• 1971: DOLLY PARTON’s hit Coat Of Many Colors charted.
• 1982: ALABAMA debuted on the Grand Ole Opry.
• 1994: ALAN JACKSON topped the country charts with Livin’ On Love.
• 2009: A six-mile stretch of N.C. 103 was renamed the Donna Fargo Highway. The road runs north from her hometown, Mount Airy.
• 2016: LUKE COMBS made his Grand Ole Opry debut.
COUNTRY MUSIC NEWS
KANE BROWN will be the halftime performer at the Dallas Cowboys’ NFL game on Thanksgiving Day (November 26 against Washington Football Team). It’s a tradition that the Dallas Cowboys play a late-afternoon home game on Thanksgiving each year. It’s also a tradition that the halftime show kicks off the Salvation Army’s Red Kettle Campaign for holiday-time donations that help provide shelter, food, Christmas gifts and social services for those in need.
LUKE COMBS has once again made history with the release of his new deluxe album, What You See Ain’t Always What You Get, setting new records on multiple streaming platforms.
… On Apple Music, the album reached No. 1 on their overall U.S. Top Albums chart — making Luke the only country artist in history to top the chart, doing so twice in the past 12 months — and enjoyed the most first day streams ever for a country album on the service.
… On Spotify, Luke achieved the biggest all-time first day streaming record for a country album — also breaking the record that he’s held since the release of What You See Is What You Get.
GARTH BROOKS and TRISHA YEARWOOD have a message for BLAKE SHELTON and GWEN STEFANI following their engagement — well, more for Gwen. Trisha jokes: “We’re all saying good luck to Gwen!” Garth adds: “I imagine they’re getting inundated, especially him. Nobody’s congratulating her, but him…”
BRETT YOUNG fans won’t have to wait much longer for a new full-length album — and it should be coming at the end of this year or in January. Brett says he originally thought about putting out an EP of new music earlier in 2020, but ultimately decided against it.
WYNONNA JUDD has a half-sister, actor Ashley Judd, but it turns out she also has a half-brother. After learning about her biological father’s son, the singer recently called him up to meet over the telephone. Wynonna Judd was born Christina Claire Ciminella, and for years she thought her father was Michael Charles Ciminella, the biological father of her sister Ashley (birth name: Ashley Tyler Ciminella). However, Wynonna says she learned in the early 1990s that her father was actually a man named Charles Jordan, the boyfriend of her mother, NAOMI JUDD, who left after Naomi became pregnant with Wynonna. More than 15 years later, Wynonna now knows more of her family’s story: Jordan also fathered a son with a different woman. His name is Michael, she says, and he is 53 years old and lives in Kentucky. Wynonna, also a Kentucky native, is now 56, making the half-siblings about three years apart.
Visit the Country Quickies page to search past stories.
COUNTRY DATEBOOK: OCTOBER 30, 2020
• 1982: HANK WILLIAMS JR. set a record with nine albums on the Top Country Albums chart at one time.
• 1990: GARTH BROOKS’ No Fences was certified platinum for sales of 1 million copies. Since its release it’s sold over 23 million.
• 2008: Eligible for the first time, 18-year-old TAYLOR SWIFT voted early in the presidential election in Sumner County, Tennessee. She signed autographs during her 90-minute wait in line.
• 2009: LUKE BRYAN kicked off his first-ever headlining tour at Germain Arena in Estero, Florida.
• 2016: CHRIS LANE lost numerous possessions when his tour bus went up in flames.
T. GRAHAM BROWN is 66. Born Anthony Brown in Atlanta, Georgia, T. had 15 top ten songs on the Country Singles chart from 1985-1991.
SHEDAISY member Kassidy Osborne is 44.
DATEBOOK: OCTOBER 30, 2020
BIRTHDAYS
• Henry Winkler (Happy Days) is 75
• TV journalist Andrea Mitchell is 74
• Harry Hamlin (L.A. Law, Clash of the Titans) is 69
• Kevin Pollak is 63
• Cash Cab host Ben Bailey is 50
• Nia Long (Are We There Yet?) is 50
• Matthew Morrison (Glee) is 42
IT HAPPENED TODAY
• 1969: The first connection was made on what would become the internet. The first two computers linked were at UCLA and the Stanford Research Institute — part of a Defense Department program called ARPANET. Within a year, 10 sites were connected.
• 1974: Muhammad Ali knocked out George Foreman in the eighth round of a 15-round bout in Kinshasa, Zaire (“Rumble in the Jungle”) to regain his world heavyweight title.
• 1985: The Space Shuttle Challenger lifted off for mission STS-61-A, its final successful mission.
• 2005: The body of Rosa Parks arrived at the U.S. Capitol, where the civil rights pioneer became the first woman to lie in honor in the Rotunda.
• 2008: A historian discovered the oldest known recipe for German sausage, a list of ingredients for (Thuringian) bratwurst nearly 600 years old. German historian hobbiest Hubert Erzmann found the ancient recipe, inscribed with pen and ink in a heavy tome of parchment while doing research in an archive in a small town in eastern Germany.
• 2012: George Lucas sold Lucasfilm Ltd. to the Walt Disney Company for $4.05 billion; the sale included the rights to the Indiana Jones and Star Wars franchises.
SPECIAL EVENTS
• Checklist Day
• Create A Great Funeral Day
• Devil’s Night or Mischief Night
• Frankenstein Friday
• Haunted Refrigerator Night
• Bread Sticks Day
• Candy Corn Day
DATEBOOK WEEKEND
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 31
• Dan Rather is 89. Deidre Hall (Days Of Our Lives) is 73. Jane Pauley is 70. Director Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings) is 59. Dermot Mulroney is 57. Rob Schneider is 57. Country singer Darryl Worley is 56. Mike O’Malley (Glee, Survivor’s Remorse) is 55. Vanilla Ice is 53. Piper Perabo is 44.
• Halloween. Books For Treats Day. Magic Day. Knock-Knock Jokes Day. Caramel Apple Day. Carve a Pumpkin Day.
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 1
• Country singer Bill Anderson is 83. Music producer David Foster is 71. Lyle Lovett is 63. Country singer Big Kenny of Big and Rich is 57. Toni Collette is 48. Jenny McCarthy is 48. Matt Jones is 39. Natalia Tena is 36. Penn Badgely is 34.
• Daylight Saving Time Ends. All Saints’ Day. Author’s Day. Cinnamon Day. Forgiveness & Happiness Day. Hockey Mask Day. Authors’ Day. Calzone Day. Deep Fried Clams Day. Family Caregiver Day. Go Cook For Your Pets Day. Sports Fan Day. World Vegan Day. Zero Tasking Day. Bison Day.
