Daily Report – Saturday, July 14, 2018
Sparrow enjoys a quiet day at The Shire before heading in for an evening shift at the retailer and a night at the hotel on today’s edition of The Diary of a Nobody. Included in his day are watering pretty much everything inside and outside that isn’t made of steel, plus he gets some reading in and even completely loses his mind and does the dishes.
Chairman Mao is featured in The Thought for the Day. Mao has a lot to answer for, of course, but dictators have the same traits that nice people who are successful have. Today Mao talks about the blank page that is everyone’s life, and how that blank page is rife with possibilities.
On This Date:
In 2015 – Man visits Pluto for the first time when NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft comes within 7,800 miles of what was once the ninth planet in the Solar System. New Horizons had lifted off from Earth in 2006 and reached Jupiter in 2007 and it took 16 months after its flyby for all of New Horizons’ data to be transmitted back to Earth.
In 2005 – The San Francisco Giants defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-3, to become the first team in major league (ML) history to win 10,000 games. They had won their first game on May 5, 1883, when, as the New York Gothams, they defeated the Boston Beaneaters – now the Atlanta Braves – 7-5. To date, the Giants now have 11,090 wins, still the most wins by a ML baseball team.
In 1984 – Prince is at #1 on the Billboard Hot 1oo for the second week with When Doves Cry, the first of five #1 songs for Prince. When Doves Cry would spend five weeks at #1 and was Billboard’s #1 song for 1984. It also went to #1 in Australia and Canada and hit #1 on Billboard’s Black Singles and Dance/Disco charts. It returned to the Top 10, peaking at #8, after Prince died in 2016.
Many thanks for reading, please consider subscribing, and have a good day.
Gaylon
The Thought for the Day – Chairman Mao
On a blank page anything is possible. – Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong(1893-1976) commonly known as Mao or Chairman Mao, was a Chinese dictator, serving in that capacity from 1943 until he died. Like all dictators, he ruled by force, from fear and with repression. He had his successes and his failures, his greatest success being he managed to ensure his people ate regularly, something that had not always been the case in China, even during his regime.
Click Here For The Rest Of Today’s Thought
Daily Report – Friday, July 13, 2018
Because he was never too far away from his desk Thursday, Sparrow presents today’s edition of The Diary of a Nobody in exciting chronological order. From rising at his usual Thursday morning time of 7:30am, to the mid-morning power outage straight through to the evening’s elk burger BBQ, Sparrow has the drivel you demand.
Accomplished Los Angeles session musician and songwriter Mike Deasy has The Thought for the Day. We try to avoid quoting music lyrics here, but we think we’ve established sufficient credibility over the years to get away with it from time to time. Today’s Thought is from Deasy’s song The Wings of an Eagle, a couple of lines talking about the talents we are all issued at birth.
On This Date:
In 1973 – Alexander Butterfield, then head of the FAA and previously a member of President Nixon’s staff, reveals the existence of a taping system in the Oval Office in sworn testimony before a US Senate committee. Previously, the existence of the system had been a closely guarded secret, known only to two other Nixon staff members, plus the handful of Secret Service technicians who had installed it. Butterfield would later say he presumed the committee already knew about the system. Butterfield had no role in the Watergate coverup.
In 1930 – The first soccer World Cup begins in Montevideo, Uraguay when France defeats Mexico 4-1 and the United States defeats Belgium 3-0. 13 nations entered the tournament – there was no qualifying process, FIFA accepted everyone who could find their way to Uraguay – and Uraguay defeated Argentina 4-2 in the finals.
In 1974 – George McCrae tops the Billboard Hot 100 for the only time as Rock Your Baby is #1 for the first of two weeks. The song also went to #1 in Austria, Belgium, Canada, Holland, West Germany Italy, Norway, Sweeden, Switzerland and Great Britain. Rock Your Baby was written by Harry Casey and Richard Finch of KC and the Sunshine Band and was intended for them, but no one in the band could hit the really high notes and McCrae, hired only for backing vocals, ended up recording vocals for the entire song.
As always, many thanks for reading,
Gaylon
The Thought for the Day – Mike Deasy
He never made no dream/Without the way to get her done. – Mike Deasy, The Wings of an Eagle
Mike Deasy is an American singer, songwriter and musician who has built a successful career as a session musician in Los Angeles, including, among other things, work on the seminal Beach Boys album Pet Sounds. His wife Kathie also sings on this song, which we came across while watching a 1970’s era documentary on San Quentin State Prison. This song is used in the opening credits and we were immediately struck by the lyrics which are meant to inspire the listener to chase their dreams, a familiar theme for this feature.
Click Here For More Of Today’s Thought
Daily Report – Thursday, July 12, 2018
Boy, Sparrow is whining like a four-year-old in today’s edition of The Diary of a Nobody. Blame a lack of sleep, usual for Wednesdays. His whining is county-wide, too, from the retailer to his treasured small town diner. A subscription is required to read The Diary of a Nobody. Click here to get yours.
American journalist Heywood Broun, one of that industry’s more useful people, has The Thought for the Day, his quote inspired by a 1921 boxing match. It concerns how sometimes our very best isn’t enough. However, in our usual witless commentary, we wonder if this is really such a tragedy at all. As always, The Thought for the Day is offered with our compliments.
On This Date:
In 1862 – The United States Congress authorizes the Congressional Medal of Honor, the descendant of earlier awards of individual services. It would first be awarded in March 1863 and to date has been awarded 3,519 times to 3,500 men. 19 men have been awarded the Medal of Honor twice. Five were awarded both the Army and Navy Medal for the same action and 14 men were awarded two Medals for separate actions.
In 1979 – Chicago disc jockey Steve Dahl of WLUP-FM hosts the now-infamous Disco Demolition Night at Comiskey Park. Fans had been invited to bring disco records to the stadium to be destroyed between games of a doubleheader against the Detroit Tigers and the ensuing explosion and chaos rendered the field unplayable and the White Sox forfeited Game 2.
In 1969 – Zager and Evans begin a six-week stretch at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with In The Year 2525. Zager and Evans remain one of the few true one-hit wonders of the Rock Era, an act with one number one single and no other chart records. They also turned this trick in Great Britain and Zager and Evans remain the only act in chart history to have #1’s in both the US and Britain and no other chart singles in either country.
Have a good day, and thank you for reading.
Gaylon
The Thought for the Day – Heywood Broun
The tragedy of life is not that man loses, but that he almost wins. – Heywood Broun
Heywood Broun (1888-1939) was an American journalist. Broun started out as a sportswriter, but was also a drama critic, editor and columnist. Broun later helped found the American Newspaper Guild, now the News Guild, the union representing newspaper reporters. This quote is sometimes attributed to his son Heywood Hale Broun, but we found it in a book about the father. The quote was inspired the 1921 boxing match between Georges Carpentier and Jack Dempsey, where Carpentier got off the punch of a lifetime that merely staggered, but did not defeat, Dempsey. It also broke his hand and Broun noted how Carpentier’s best was not enough.
Click Here For More
