The Daily Dose/April 1, 2024
By Gaylon Kent – America’s Funniest Guy™

Leading Off
Notes from around the human experience.

QUOTE THAT SUCKER: Today’s Thought for the Day (see below) inspired today’s Leading Off segment. It’s from the book American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House by Jon Meacham. 

There was nothing foreordained about the future of democracy in the Jackson years. 

USA! USA!: It’s not uncommon nowadays to hear talk of America’s democracy being at stake – more at least at a crossroads – and it got us to thinking. We concluded that rare was the time when the American Experiment wasn’t too far from being felled. 

USA! USA! II: It came pretty close during the Jan 6 insurrection and would’ve succeeded if Trump were courageous and evil, but Donald Trump is neither of those. He is a coward whose only goal is to draw attention to himself. He’s stupid, intellectually lazy, and morally bankrupt, but he is neither courageous nor evil. 

We The People: Even the most casual reading of US history shows that the first years of the republic were rather tenuous. If President Washington had been less weary after decades of service to his country, he may well have reigned as King George I, and who knows where we’d be now because he never bothered to reproduce.  

Dry, Technical Matter: Other times in American history have been fraught with peril, too. A listing of all of them is, thankfully, beyond the scope of this column. 

USA! USA! III: Democracy has always had to earn its keep in America, and freedom’s never-ending mortgage is again due this Election Day. It’s a lousy time for an election in America because we are a partisan, fractured, and bickering mess. We were unable to respond to the great challenge of COVID and we haven’t done anything great since since Apollo. Our last election was contentious and there is no reason to think this one won’t be, too. 

The Bottom Line: We’re on record as saying our perpetual wars will destroy this country, perhaps before this half-century is out. There is still time to avoid this, of course, but we must make the next installment on America’s never-ending mortgage this November by taking charge at the ballot box and demanding better government than we are getting now.  

Today At The Site
Writing worth reading. Usually. 

The Diary of a Nobody – Sparrow deals with a woman wearing only a towel and sneakers. Today’s Diary. 

The question, of course, is why in thee hell she was out of her room in only a towel and sneakers???…

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On This Date
Extra, extra, read all about it. 

In 1984 – Singer Marvin Gaye, 44, is shot to death by his father at the family home in Los Angeles. Gaye had intervened in a fight between his parents and had started hitting and kicking his father, Marvin Gay (correct), Sr. Gaye had been shot with a pistol he had bought for his father to protect him from intruders and testimony from his mother, Alberta, had said that violence was common in the Gay(e) household. Gay, Sr. was charged with first-degree murder, though he later accepted a no-contest plea to involuntary manslaughter and was given a suspended sentence and probation. 

In 1997 – The first major league baseball neutral site game since 1969 takes place at Cashman Field in Las Vegas, with the Toronto Blue Jays beating the Oakland A’s 9-6. It was the first of six games the A’s played in Las Vegas while renovations to the Oakland Coliseum were completed. The last major league neutral site games took place in 1969 when the Chicago White Sox played eleven games in Milwaukee. 

In 1978 – The Bee Gees are at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the third of eight consecutive weeks with Night Fever. The song went to #1 in five other countries, including Spain and Great Britain, peaked at #8 on Billboard’s soul chart, and was Billboard’s 2nd-biggest song of the year. It was the sixth of nine #1 songs for the group. 

Some Philosophy Crap
The wisdom of the ages. Whatever.

There was nothing foreordained about the future of democracy in the Jackson years.
Jon Meacham
American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House

Answer To The Last Trivia Question
Knowledge is power.

The Vancouver Canucks and the Buffalo Sabres are the oldest NHL expansion teams never to win the Stanley Cup. They both played their first game in 1970.  

Today’s Stumper
Match wits with Gaylon. It’s not that hard.

What was the first #1 song on the Hot 100 for the Bee Gees? – Answer next time!

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The Daily Dose/March 31, 2024
By Gaylon Kent – America’s Funniest Guy™

The Sunday Bottom 5
A ranking of some things.

1. Donald Trump – Good gravy, a man of no declared religious conviction who probably cannot name the first five (5) books of the Bible without divine intervention now in such dire financial straits he is now pandering to his base by hawking Bibles…Fortunately for him, his base believes everything he says and he’ll probably sell a few. 

2. Leap Second – Unprecedented increase in Earth’s rotational speed may – or it may not – force some very dull people to subtract a second from world clock…Leap seconds – to account for the slowing of the Earth – have been added since 1972, but this would be the first leap second to be subtracted…Thrilling, unprecedented change is due to shifts in Earth’s inner core 

3. Mass Shootings – The 3-hole staple…2024 mass shooting numbers – defined as a shooting with at least four (4) or more casualties – continue to trend lower, with only six (6) shootings, five (5) deaths – a figure which includes one (1) suspect – and 23 (23) injuries, this past week…2024 numbers so low entry in danger of losing treasured “3-hole staple” status. 

4. Shohei Ohtani – SB5 pollsters “pretty sure” Ohtani didn’t actually bet on baseball games -though only he knows for sure – and realize he doesn’t actually control his finances but are curious to know as to how in the hell $4.5 million leaves your bank account without someone in your inner circle wondering what in the hell was going on. 

5. California Minimum Wage – New law giving state’s fast food workers a raise to $20/hour takes effect Monday…Yay for raises, but this is something that should’ve been collectively bargained and not mandated by the government, who should butt out of what employers pay employees. 

Today At The Site
Writing worth reading. Usually. 

It’s Read Free Sunday at The Diary. 

The Diary of a Nobody – Sparrow is the only one at the gym. Today’s Diary. 

I don’t know if everyone stayed home to watch the NCAAs or were outside taking advantage of the cloudy, cool, and wet weather, but we had the place to ourselves…

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Would you like 4Ever & Ever access to Gaylon’s crap?
Of course you would.
Click here. It’s only $24.99.

Click here for complimentary chapters of all of Gaylon’s books.
It’s easy reading on any device. 

———

On This Date
Extra, extra, read all about it. 

In 1966 – The Soviet Union’s Luna 10 is launched from the cosmodrome in what is now southwestern Kazakhstan. On April 3, Luna 10 entered lunar orbit, the first spacecraft to do so, and the spacecraft spent two months analyzing various aspects of the moon. Radio communications ceased on May 30 and Luna 10 is presumed to have later crashed into the lunar surface. 

In 2018 – The Vegas Golden Knights become the second NHL expansion team to win a division title in their first year in a 3-2 win over the San Jose Sharks. It was the Golden Knights’ 50th win of the season and they would later lose the Stanley Cup Finals to the Washington Capitals. The first NHL expansion team to win their division was the St Louis Blues, who won the West Division in 1967-68, which consisted of six expansion teams. 

In 2001 – Shaggy featuring Rayvon is at #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 for the only week with Angel. It was the third and final Top 10 hit and second and final #1 song for Shaggy and remains the only #1 song for Rayvon and only a #94 hit prevented him from being an ultimate one-hit wonder: an act whose only chart single went to #1…The song went to #1 in twelve other countries, including the Netherlands, Norway, and Great Britain, peaked at #46 on Billboard’s soul chart, and was Billboard’s 17th-biggest song of the year. 

Some Philosophy Crap
The wisdom of the ages. Whatever.

The cost of partisanship for partisanship’s sake was, [Edward] Livingstone said, too high a price for a free society to pay.
Jon Meacham
American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House

Answer To The Last Trivia Question
Knowledge is power.

Four US presidents have been assassinated: Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, William McKinley, and John Kennedy. 

Today’s Stumper
Match wits with Gaylon. It’s not that hard.

Which are the oldest NHL expansion teams never to win the Stanley Cup? – Answer next time

Share Gaylon! Go!

The Daily Dose is taking a more or less well-earned day off.

Click here to read today’s entry in The Diary of a Nobody.

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The Daily Dose/March 28, 2024
By Gaylon Kent – America’s Funniest Guy™

Leading Off
Notes from around the human experience.

Leading Off will return.

Today At The Site
Writing worth reading. Usually. 

The Diary of a Nobody – Sparrow enters a chat vortex. Today’s Diary. 

…the CV is the area – entered at your own risk – where you engage in conversation with the senorita and are pounded with chatter. 

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Would you like 4Ever & Ever access to Gaylon’s crap?
Of course you would.
Click here. It’s only $24.99.

Click here for complimentary chapters of all of Gaylon’s books.
It’s easy reading on any device. 

———

On This Date
Extra, extra, read all about it. 

In 193 – Didius Julianus becomes Roman emperor, winning a bidding war with several others following the murder of Pertinax. Rome’s Praetorian Guards had put the throne up for auction after killing Pertinax and ultimately accepted Julianus’ bid of 25,000 sesterces for every Roman soldier. He would rule until he, too, was murdered on June 2 in a year History refers to as the Year of Five Emperors. Pertinax had ruled since the first of the year. 

In 1976 – The Delta State Lady Statesmen win the women’s college basketball national championship, defeating the Immaculata Might Macs 69-64 in the championship game of the AIAW tournament at Penn State. It was the second consecutive and final championship for Delta State and the second consecutive runner-up finish for Immaculata, to go with three national titles (1972-74). The AIAW conducted tournaments through the 1986 season when the NCAA held its first tournament.

In 1942 – Glenn Miller & His Orchestra with Ray Eberle & the Modernaires is at #1 on Billboard’s National Best Selling Retail Records chart – a predecessor to the Hot 100 – for the fifth of ten consecutive weeks with Moonlight Cocktail. Starting in December 1941, Miller held the top spot for 21 of 22 consecutive weeks with four different songs.  The song was recorded on December 8, 1941, the day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and was the 14th of 16th #1 songs for Miller in a chart career that began on the Your Hit Parade chart in 1938.  

Some Philosophy Crap
The wisdom of the ages. Whatever.

…motion was life. All men must climb, particularly those born at the top who must make the fascinating but perilous journey down.
Gore Vidal
Washington, D.C. 

Answer To The Last Trivia Question
Knowledge is power.

Joe Louis won the world heavyweight boxing title when he defeated James Braddock in 1937,

Today’s Stumper
Match wits with Gaylon. It’s not that hard.

The AIAW’s forerunner was the Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (CIAW). In 1969 and 1970 it held a basketball national championship featuring teams with six players. Who won these tournaments? – Answer next time!

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