Cat Lover's Month, Snowstorm Slam, and a Super(man) Surprise

10 Things You Need to Know: Episode 617

1. National Cat Lover's Month 😻

2. World Wildlife Conservation Day 🌎

3. Pairing Up for Philanthropy 🫶

4. The Town Behind Stranger Things 📍

5. Big Box Office Weekend 🍿

6. 2025 Word of the Year 📖

7. A Million Dollar Makeover 🏈

8. Wild Winter Weather 🌨️

9. The World's Largest City 🏙️

10. Superman Comic = 🤑

RESOURCES

• https://nationaltoday.com/national-cat-lovers-month/

• https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/pets/g69020271/shocking-facts-about-cats-you-never-knew/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=mgu_ga_ghk_md_pmx_hybd_mix_us_19597983321&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=19597985697&gbraid=0AAAAADA2MErwMZbL0_RBPYO90KUl0igXU&gclid=CjwKCAiA55rJBhByEiwAFkY1QN3XB834WFHhGmpFd49eb2WK_MA62K7TxIX7MckO85RBk80oHa3mXRoCp7EQAvD_BwE

• https://nationaltoday.com/world-wildlife-conservation-day/

• https://apnews.com/article/mrbeast-jimmy-donaldson-rockefeller-foundation-18f75839ecf7276a14bfcaf7caba07ba

• https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/tv/stranger-things-final-season-premiere-real-hawkins-rcna245454

• https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/movies/zootopia-2-box-office-record-rcna246580

• https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rage-bait-word-of-year-2025-oxford-university-press/

• https://www.foxnews.com/media/rob-gronkowski-helps-deliver-1m-surprise-small-town-arkansas-high-school-football-stadium-makeover

• https://www.nbcnews.com/weather/winter-weather/winter-storm-slams-midwest-holiday-travel-rcna246533

• https://katv.com/news/local/dierks-high-school-awaits-t-mobile-friday-night-5g-million-dollar-decision

• https://www.nbcnews.com/world/asia/jakarta-worlds-largest-city-tokyo-most-populated-dhaka-new-un-report-rcna245798

• https://apnews.com/article/superman-comic-world-record-auction-eadabeaadbb12e114623756ef0757244

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TRANSCRIPT

INT. TEN NEWS STUDIO 

PAM: Happy Holidays, Ry!

RYAN: Pam, can you guess what holiday I’m currently celebrating?

PAM: (RAPID FIRE) Christmas?

RYAN: Nope. PAM: Hanukkah?

RYAN: Nope.

PAM: Kwanza?

RYAN: Still nope.

PAM: Festivus?

RYAN: No, but that is for, the rest of us…c’mon— <SFX meow>

PAM: Is that Rigby…? WAIT! Is it National Cat Lovers’ Month?!

RYAN: GOT ‘EM! Now we can start the show. I’m Ryan Willard <SFX Meow from Rigby> That’s Rigby the Rocket.

PAM: And I’m Pamela Kirkland, it’s– <SFX Meow Meow Meow! From Midnight> Oh hi! I’m sorry, that’s Midnight, the OFFICIAL Ten News Cat. <SFX Meow from Midnight> It’s Thursday, December 4th.

RYAN: This is Ten Things You Need To Know!

RYAN: December is finally here, which means it’s FINALLY time for… National Cat Lovers’ Month! This cat-astic month is a time to show our pet cats a whole lot of extra love and feed them extra treats. <SFX Midnight AND Rigby meows> But… Midnight and Rigby requested that we start with five fun facts about felines:

1. Every single cat’s nose print is different! Just like a human’s finger print is one-of-a-kind.

2. Cats can’t taste sweetness because they don’t have sugar receptors. Which is likely why your cat is never begging for a cookie, but a tuna sandwich, definitely!

3. Is your cat ever busy making biscuits? Whenever a cat is kneading their paws it means they feel comfortable and safe!

4. Cats also have a super power! Their whiskers act like a radar making it easy for them to move swiftly and safely in the dark or small spaces. 

5. And number 5: unlike their canine companions, when a cat wags its tail, it doesn’t mean it's happy. Instead, it might mean your furry friend is irritated or overstimulated. 

PAM: Well we love our furry friends, and today is actually World Wildlife Conservation Day! Did you know that humans are actually the most invasive species on Earth? That’s why today, and every day really, it’s so important to spread awareness about preserving Earth’s endangered plant and animal life that surrounds us! For years, animals have been hunted, and forests have been cleared, endangering or even pushing wildlife to extinction. In that time, though, conservationists and hunters have come together to form organizations to support hunting laws and wildlife restoration. We also have the Endangered Species Conservation Act that protects threatened and endangered species. You can even make a difference, whether you’re making a point to stay informed, choosing to donate to local wildlife causes, or spreading the word. Every action, big or small, means a lot! 

RYAN: Kind of like what Beast Philanthropy and the Rockefeller Foundation are teaming up to work on! As you might have guessed, Mr Beast, also known as Jimmy Donaldson, one of the world’s most famous creators, is the founder of the Beast Foundation, and the Rockefeller Center is one of America’s most distinguished philanthropies. Together, the two organizations aim to spark youth philanthropy and inspire the younger generation to care about the world's most vulnerable populations. They’ve not shared the exact issues that they plan to tackle as a team, but we’ll keep you posted on what comes next and how you can get involved! 

RYAN: Stranger Things is finally back for its final season and I am HYPED. Sure, the Upside Down is totally freaky, but have you ever wanted to hang out in their town, Hawkins? Yes, Hawkins is fictional, but there’s a real town that they film in: Jackson, Georgia. Before Stranger Things, Jackson was a struggling community facing crime issues and empty businesses. But today, the town is buzzing as fans visit from all over. Once barren, Jackson is now filled with coffee shops, restaurants, an ice cream parlor, and even a local shop that runs daily Stranger Things tours. And during the years the show is actively streaming, Butts County, where Jackson is located, sees a 12% jump in tourism. And yes, it’s really called Butts County.

PAM: While the Box Office has had its ups and downs this year, this weekend was one for the books thanks to Zootopia 2. The film had a record-setting opening, bringing in $96 million in North America and earning $156 million over the five-day Thanksgiving period. It also scored $556 million globally since opening weekend, according to studio estimates. Zootopia 2 is now the top opener of 2025, the highest international opening ever for an animated movie, AND the fourth highest global debut of any kind. But the film wasn’t alone in making Thanksgiving weekend a success for the box office; Wicked: For Good earned $62.8 million in North America in its second weekend for Universal Pictures, and has brought in $393 million internationally. 

RYAN: Not gonna lie, those movies were AWESOME. And sequels aren’t usually that good! 

PAM: I haven’t seen either of them…maybe we should take a quick break, so I can watch the trailers!

RYAN: Hey Ten’ers, so, <SFX CAT ZOOMING BY> whoa, okay, ummmm, <SFX CAT ZOOMING BY>...Midnight, Rigby, slow down! Ummm, we have our next deep dive coming up and we’re curious: What was your favorite thing that happened this year? Leave us a comment on Spotify, or an Apple Review and we might shout you out on the show! Speaking of… <SFX CAT MEOWING AND ZOOMING BY> <SFX CAT MEOWING AND ZOOMING BY> Back to the show!

PAM: The vote is in, and Oxford University Press has picked its 2025 word of the year… "rage bait". Lexicographers, who write, compile, or study dictionaries at Oxford University Press, select the word of the year by analyzing new and emerging words, as well as changes in the use of language, to identify words of cultural significance. And this year's winner, rage bait, captures the growing trend of social media content designed to spark outrage and keep people clicking, sharing, and arguing. It's pretty similar to clickbait, where a headline makes someone want to read an article or watch a video, but rage bait content makes people angry and that rage, often tricks people into posting comments and engaging with the post. 

RYAN: Runner-ups for the word of the year are "aura farming," which means to cultivate a public image by presenting oneself in "a way intended subtly to convey an air of confidence, coolness or mystique, and "biohack," an attempt to improve or optimize one's physical or mental performance, health, or longevity. That is, umm, definitely how grownups would define it, kinda like how they defined 6-7…

PAM: Up next, a former NFL player is helping one high school football team’s dream come true. Rob Gronkowski showed up to Dierks High School as a complete surprise in rural southwest Arkansas with a check for $1 million after the school won T-Mobile’s Friday Night 5G Lights competition. The nationwide contest for schools competes for votes to win a full football stadium makeover. And the students at Dierks High School won by rallying their community, the state, and even landing celebrity support to get the most votes in the nation. Their high school football field has certainly seen better days as the slope drops nearly 8 feet from one end zone to the other. With the money, they’re going to revamp the playing area and invest in new stands for the fans, a new locker room for the athletes, and larger training facilities. 

RYAN: From sports to travel, major winter weather swept across parts of the United States over the holiday weekend. Roughly 25 million people were under winter weather alerts as parts of the Midwest saw more than a foot of snow, paired with strong winds and bitter cold. Milwaukee, Wisconsin, even declared a snow emergency. In Vigo County, Indiana, a 45-car pileup occurred on Interstate 70, though thankfully no injuries were reported. 

PAM: In Iowa, a Delta Air Lines flight slid off the end of a runway after hitting ice, requiring first responders to plow the aircraft out of the snow. Beyond accidents, the storm disrupted travel nationwide, with more than 11,000 flight delays and over 800 cancellations affecting the busy post-holiday rush. 

RYAN: A lot of people travel over the holidays, so we at the Ten News hope you all travel comfortably and safely if you’re going anywhere!

PAM: Know where I want to go, Ry?

RYAN: Flavortown? 

PAM: Yes, but no. 

RYAN: Tokyo, Japan?

PAM: I mean, I do want to go to Tokyo... But I was actually thinking about going to the world’s brand new, largest city... After ranking 33rd in 2018, Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, has soared to the top as the world’s most populous city, with an estimated population of nearly 42 million residents. Not far behind in second is Dhaka, Bangladesh, with 36 million people, and it is expected to become the world’s largest city by mid-century. Both of these cities are located on the continent of Asia, which is home to nine of the ten most populous cities in the world!

RYAN: And for the last thing you need to know, let’s go to our Trivia Master, Owen. 

OWEN: Thanks Ry. James Gunn’s Superman was one of my favorite movies of the Summer… but do you know what made the original comic book ‘Superman No. 1’ so special? Is it:

1. First comic devoted to one superhero

2. First appearance of Lois Lane

3. First comic in color

4. First Superman team-up

The answer is… A! The Superman No.1 issue was the first comic book featuring just one superhero! One copy of this comic book became extra special recently as it was auctioned off for more than $9 million. After sitting in the attic of their late mother’s home, three brothers came across the comic book beneath a stack of old newspapers, dust, and cob webs. It was sold at exactly $9.12 million, making it the most expensive comic book ever sold. 

PAM: And that was Ten Things You Need to Know!

RYAN: <SFX shakes cat treat box> Ummm, have you seen Rigby and Midnight? I’m supposed to be loving them and showering them with treats right now but I can’t find them—

PAM: Shhhh, look Ry! <SFX Two Cat Purrrrs> 

RYAN: Oh my gosh, they’re both sleeping in your desk drawers?!? That is so cute! We should take naps too! 

PAM: I actually love that idea. We should give Ten News Snaps to one of our listeners though…

RYAN: But first, here’s a quick note for the grownups. 

<AD BREAK> 

RYAN: Time for Ten News Snaps!

PAM: Simone left us a comment on Spotify about your Thanksgiving pies… she said, “The mango broccoli pie…”

RYAN: YES! I knew someone else would dig that one!

PAM: And then she said, “butterflies rule, Ryan. Idk why you hate them.” 

RYAN: WHUT.

PAM: And Catlover left us an Apple review and said, “I would like to try the Pepperoni Pizza Pie.”

RYAN: YES! That’s another winner.

PAM: And also left a bunch of butterfly emojis.

RYAN: C’mon! 

RYAN: Okay last one…someone said, “I would try your beef nacho pie.” The Ten’ers know WHAT’S UP. That review was left by… Billy the Butterfly. NO NO NO NO! 

PAM: And two extra notes for the grown-ups, you can now get ad-free versions of our episodes when you join the Ten’ers Club on our website. 

RYAN: And if you want to help support the Ten News, you can make a tax-deductible donation at the link in our show notes. The whole team thanks you for your support!

PAM: “The Ten News” is a co-production of Small But Mighty Media and Next Chapter Podcasts, and part of the Airwave Podcast Network.

RYAN: The Ten News creative team is making biscuits and zoom zooming with their feline friends and includes Tracey Not a Crooks, Adam the Great Bambino Bernard, Brian Not Ryan Douglas, the Duke of Earl Davis, and Carson Not So Harry Potter. Big thanks to Owen, Not Slowin Down for Anybody. 

PAM: Our Production Director is Jeremiah “On Fyaaah” Tittle, and our Executive Producers are Donald “Albright, Albright, Albright!” and show creator Tracy Takes the Leeds Kaplan. I’m Pamela Kirkland.

RYAN: And I’m Ryan Willard, thanks for listening to the Ten News.