Today is World AIDS Day

…a day to focus attention on the fight against HIV/AIDS.

It is also National Pie Day.  What’s your favorite?

Pecan growers in the Mesilla Valley appreciate your vote.

And finally, it’s “My Husband's Strung the Christmas Lights and Now I Can't Open the Garage Door Day”, commemorating an alleged actual event described by a radio listener named Mary Jo.

History 101: December 1st, 1955: Seamstress Rosa Parks was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama, for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white man. The arrest sparked a year-long bus boycott by blacks.

Music History 101: December 1st, 1958: This performer became the first rock ‘n’ roller to appear on the cover of Life Magazine: Ricky Nelson:

The 101 number one song of the day was hated by the lead singer of the group that recorded it– not because he didn’t like the melody but rather because it hit much too close to home.  Dennis Edwards remembers the first time he heard the song, he got terribly upset. Eventually, he grew to love the song but not until it got to number one and won a Grammy to boot. The original problem was a particular lyric: “It was the third of September/That day I’ll always remember/Cause that was the day my daddy died.” As it happened, that was the day Dennis’ father actually did die, although he was a real preacher, not the kind portrayed in the song which reached number one on this week in December, 1972 for the Temptations (Papa Was a Rolling Stone)

Other stuff:

Is your Facebook account stressing you out? In a new study, psychologists say about a third of the people on the social media site feel pressure to be in constant contact with their social media connections. Another 35% say they feel pressure to respond quickly to messages. And it turns out women feel two times the pressure that men do.

The head of the Washington State Potato Commission just completed his 60 day diet – eating nothing but potatoes for two months. And interestingly – he lost 21 pounds and his cholesterol level fell 67 points. He says that proves potatoes are healthy food…even though they are the only vegetable that you can’t buy on the WIC program…and some school districts have stopped serving potatoes to school kids.

-Do they call him ‘the head of the Washington State Potato Commission’…or just ‘Mr. Potato Head’ for short?

By the way, thanks to Dean who called in to tell us that if you’re worried about starch/sugar in potatoes, soak them in water for four hours before cooking them.

This is one of those – what was he thinking? stories. A guy from California was arrested on a Holland American cruise ship in Mexico. Here’s what he did. Apparently he got drunk – snuck into a restricted area…put on gloves…and dropped the ship’s anchor – while the ship was sailing!! The FBI said the anchor could have torn a hole in the ship’s hull – causing it to sink. Yeah – so he’s in a lot of trouble.