TODAY IS WEDNESDAY - JULY 15, 2009

THE MORNING SHOW
with
JIM & KAREN
on SPIRIT FM

THIS IS YOUR LIFE:

Lots of people are going to their class reunions this summer. I read about them all over FB. I went to my class reunion a few years back and they weighed all of us and collectively we all gained enough weight to add 33 more people to our graduating class.

TODAY IS:

Today is St. Swithin’s Day. According to English legend, if it rains today, it will rain for the next 40 days. The St. Swithin Society’s annual celebration is held in Toronto. But I wouldn't bet on it -- at least not until we check with our personal psychic meteorologist, Mike “Swami” Roberts.

Today is Cow Appreciation Day

Today is National Get Out of the Dog House Day.

Today is Be a Dork Day and Gummi Worm Day.

National Rabbit Week begins today, paying tribute to the rabbit as a house pet

Amedeo Obici was born on this day in 1877. Amedeo founded the Planters Nut Company; but more important, he discovered how to roast peanuts so they could be skinned without breaking in half. Thus, the U.S. became the first nation to produce whole nuts while the rest of the world was still half nuts.

Remember, July is Avoid Boredom Month. Here's how to do it:

Sneak into McDonalds and dump ten pounds of popcorn into the French fryer.
Attend a Weight Watchers meeting dressed like a hot fudge sundae.


Sunday is National Ice Cream Day, which it says here is observed "on behalf of all the dairy farmers who produce all the milk and all the cream. Which should come as quite a shock to all the cows. My favorite ice cream flavor is mulberry almond fig. But only because persimmon pepperoni is soo hard to find.


IN THE NEWS…..

McCartney Shows
Paul McCartney is set to play two shows at Citi Field this week. McCartney should feel right at home there because just like the Mets, he hasn't had a decent hit in 23years.

Shuttle Delays
Bad weather has delayed the launch of the shuttle Endeavor for the third time. All Nasa has to do is lose the astrounauts' luggage and it'll be just like flying on Delta.


The confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Nominee Sonia Sotomayor got underway. President Obama has another nominee in the news — his nomination for surgeon general is a doctor who practices in rural Alabama and still makes house calls. Of course, in Alabama, a house call is when the patient drives his house to you.


Joe Biden’s wife Jill is had surgery yesterday to relieve pain in her shoulder. Apparently, it’s a repetitive stress injury from elbowing Joe every time he says something stupid.


More than 10,000 competitors have been taking part in events from watermelon-seed-spitting to armpit-squelching at this year's Redneck Games.

The most popular contest of the games, which take place in East Dublin, Georgia, is the mud-pit belly-flop. Fully clothed contestants throw themselves into a vat of red mud clay with points awarded for beauty of form and the size of the splash produced.

YOU MIGHT BE A REDNECK IF…
Your kid takes a siphon hose to show-and-tell.
You've been on TV more than 5 times describing the sound of a tornado.
Your wife's best shoes have steel toes.

YOU KNOW YOU’RE A REDNECK IF…
Your lifetime goal is to own a fireworks stand.
Your mother keeps a spit cup on the ironing board.
Your gene pool doesn't have a "deep end".


In Chicago, a truck crashed on a busy highway and spilled 9,000 pounds of Chinese food. Nobody was hurt. Although three people standing nearby were chow meined -- and one little old lady was foo yunged.

Bid'ness is Bid'ness:
Don't be surprised if you see a BILLY MAYS infomercial today. The spots for Mighty Putty’s new Superpack of epoxies hosted by Billy begin again today, and if you're offended because it's just two weeks since his death, Billy's business associates say it's OK — because it’s what he would have wanted.

And the NY Times says we can also look forward to:
• another ad for Mighty Putty,
• a new infomercial for a wireless speaker phone called Jupiter Jack,
• and perhaps the older ones as well. Billy's family has signed off on using his commercials (possibly since they still get the royalties from the pitches), although at least one company — Church & Dwight, the makers of OxiClean and the cleaning solution Orange Glo — say they still haven't decided.
So if you see Billy pitching the Awesome Auger or any other product again, you needn't worry about it being in bad taste — at least the family doesn't think so.



Tips on raising well-adjusted, entitlement-free children:
• Emphasize the importance of family. No matter how far removed or alienated your kids may seem to be, it helps if they have a strong sense of family.
• Demonstrate unconditional love and balance. Strive to seek a healthy balance between being a child-centered family and a parent-focused family.
• Consciously define fundamental values. Actively educate children by pointing out and explaining interactions and behaviors. Use teachable moments with yourself, your child and others as examples.
• Constantly re-evaluate normalcy. Every once in a while, find a way to step back and gain the perspective you need to stay calm and resist getting swept up in doing something simply because most people are doing it.
• Practice active parenting. Kids need active parents to help them navigate their access to the world and excess of information and "things." Your strong presence attests to your love and helps you thwart the power of negative techno-social influences on your children.

• Model behavior consistent with moral character. Children will surprise. Even when you think they are not paying attention, they are picking up on your most subtle traits.
• Keep pace with technology and the youth culture. Being complacent about the effects technology and culture have on your children is risky and dangerous. If you are lagging behind in the discussion, you are sure to fall behind in your parenting as well.
• Establish and maintain appropriate limits. Without limits and boundaries, the world becomes a scary and unsafe place. If you establish and maintain limits, your children will be less likely to ask for things excessively and more likely to have self-discipline, positive self-esteem, a good work ethic and respect for authority and themselves.
Source: Adapted from "Generation Text: Raising Well-Adjusted Kids in an Age of Instant Everything" by Dr. Michael Osit, a New Jersey-based clinical psychologist.


Pet Airways Hits The Skies
NEW YORK – One trip for their Jack Russell terrier in a plane's cargo hold was enough to convince Alysa Binder and Dan Wiesel that owners needed a better option to get their pets from one city to another.

On Tuesday, the first flight for the husband-and-wife team's Pet Airways, the first-ever all-pet airline, took off from Republic Airport in Farmingdale, N.Y.

All commercial airlines allow a limited number of small pets to fly in the cabin.
Others must travel as checked bags or in the cargo hold — a dark and sometimes dangerous place where temperatures can vary wildly.

Binder and Wiesel used their consulting backgrounds and business savvy to start Pet Airways in 2005. The last four years have been spent designing their fleet of five planes according to new four-legged requirements, dealing with FAA regulations and setting up airport schedules.

The two say they're overwhelmed with the response. Flights on Pet Airways are already booked up for the next two months.

Pet Airways will fly a pet between five major cities — New York, Washington, Chicago, Denver, and Los Angeles. The $250 one-way fare is comparable to pet fees at the largest U.S. airlines.

For owners the big difference is service. Dogs and cats will fly in the main cabin of a Suburban Air Freight plane, retooled and lined with carriers in place of seats. Pets (about 50 on each flight) will be escorted to the plane by attendants that will check on the animals every 15 minutes during flight. The pets are also given pre-boarding walks and bathroom breaks. And at each of the five airports it serves, the company has created a "Pet Lounge" for future fliers to wait and sniff before flights.

The company will operate out of smaller, regional airports in the five launch cities, which will mean an extra trip for most owners dropping off their pets if they are flying too. Stops in cities along the way means the pets will take longer to reach a destination than their owners.

A trip from New York to Los Angeles, for example, will take about 24 hours. On that route, pets will stop in Chicago, have a bathroom break, play time, dinner, and bunk for the night before finishing the trip the next day.