The Daily Dose/February 14, 2022
By Gaylon Kent – America’s Funniest Guy™

Leading Off
Notes from around our human experience. 

Leading Off is still running intermittently. 

Today At The Site
Writing worth reading. Usually. 

The Diary of a Nobody – Sparrow has a great day in the sack. Today’s Diary. 

0930 Sunday until 2130 Sunday…12.0 hours for the day, the best possible start to the sleep week (SW) outside of a coma. 

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On This Date
History’s long march. 

In 1990 – The US spacecraft Voyager 1 takes what History refers to as the Pale Blue Dot photograph, a picture of Earth from over three billion miles away. The picture shows Earth as a dot amongst bands of sunlight reflected by Voyager I’s camera and is actually a combination of three photos taken with different filters. Due to other missions having priority to use the Deep Space Network, Voyager didn’t send its pictures back until spring, the images taking over five hours to travel the 3.7 billion miles to Earth. 

In 2019 – Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma City Thunder has a triple-double in his NBA-record eleventh and final consecutive game in a 131-122 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans. Westbrook had 44 points, 14 rebounds and 11 assists in the game and the streak would end in his next game, on February 22 against the Utah Jazz. In his previous game on February 11, Westbrook had broken the record of nine consecutive triple-doubles established by Wilt Chamberlain in March 1968 

In 1976 – The White Knight by Cledus Maggard & The Citizen’s Band is at #1 on Billboard’s country chart – then known as the Hot Country Singles chart – for the only week. Cledus Maggard was the stage name of Jay Huguely, an advertising salesman who wrote the song as part of a CB radio ad campaign. The song also peaked at #19 on Billboard’s Hot 100 and remains his only Top 40 appearance on either chart. The song was one of three #1 country songs that year capitalizing on the CB radio craze, following Convoy by CW McCall and preceding Teddy Bear by Red Sovine. 

Some Philosophy Crap
The wisdom of the ages. Whatever.

Every man is to be respected as an absolute end in himself; and it is a crime against the dignity that belongs to him as a human being, to use him as a mere means for some external purpose.
Immanuel Kant

Answer To The Last Trivia Question
Knowledge is power.

Germany has won three medals – one silver (2018) and two bronze (1932, 1976) – in Olympic ice hockey. The 1976 bronze medal was as West Germany. 

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

Russell Westbrook is the NBA’s all-time leader in career triple-doubles with 193. Who is second on the career list among active players? – Answer next time!  

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The Daily Dose/February 13, 2022
By Gaylon Kent – America’s Funniest Guy™

The Sunday Bottom 5
A ranking of some things.

1. Russia– Just do whatever the hell you want, guys: hack our elections, cheat at the Olympics, poison opposition, invade Ukraine, it doesn’t matter as SB 5 pollsters remain “pretty sure” no one’s going to stop you…You and China can fight it out to decide what America’s national language is going to be after we collapse in a few years. 

2. Kurt Zouma/NFL Pro Bowl – Rare European soccer player/professional all-star game joint entry…Yeah, kick a cat big European soccer star…You bad, you bad…The lousy cat probably had it coming to her by daring to be cute and loyal…SB 5 pollsters strongly suspect there are marriages with more hitting than occurred in NFL all-star game. 

3. Donald Trump – The 3-hole staple, Trump remains a lying sexual predator who believes that 1) the moon is part of Mars and that 2) the Revolution was won by Continental Army securing British airports, ignorance almost beyond comprehension in anyone older than five…SB5 pollsters still curious as to which of these elements continues to impress adherents and secure their support. 

4. Bob Saget– Autopsy revealed noted comedian died following head-bashing that doctor said was likely caused by falling backward and hitting head…No, this isn’t suspicious at all…Like you, SB 5 pollsters wondering if hooker paid to smack him around will ever be caught. 

5. NFL – In change of policy, Commissioner/Head Shill Roger Goodell announces league “will not tolerate racism” after a century of tolerating it…Thanks, Roger Goodell!!!

Today At The Site
Writing worth reading. Usually. 

Per policy, it’s Read Free Sunday (RFS) at The Diary. Enjoy.

The Diary of a Nobody – Sparrow buys some hair care stuff. Today’s Diary. 

Regular readers of this crap may – or they may not – recall ol’ Sparrow has been letting his grow out and the stuff on top is still standing straight up but soon its sheer weight will cause it to fall down…In anticipation of this, some Brylcreem was procured and, just for funsies, I bought some guy hair spray, too…Just to test it out…I’m happy with Brylcreem, but you’ve got to liven things up from time to time. 

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Click here to get in on the laughs.
4Ever & Ever ($8.99) and monthly ($2.99) plans available.

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

———

On This Date
History’s long march. 

In 1935 – Bruno Hauptmann, charged with the 1932 kidnapping and murder of the 20-month-old son of Charles and Anne Lindbergh, is found guilty of first-degree murder by a jury in Flemington, New Jersey. Hauptmann had come under suspicion when he used a bill that had been used in the ransom at a gas station and the clerk – admirably suspicious -had written Hauptmann’s license plate number down. Hauptmann was executed at New Jersey State Prison in April 1936. 

In 1932 – Canada wins the hockey gold medal at the Lake Placid Winter Olympics, earning a 2-2 tie with the United States in the final game of the four-team, double round-robin tournament. Canada finished the tournament with a 5-0-1 record, one game better than the US, who earned the silver medal with a 4-1-1 mark, its only loss to Canada in the opening game. Germany earned the bronze medal and Poland finished fourth. It was the fourth consecutive Olympic hockey gold medal for Canada. 

In 1954 – Guitar Slim is at #1 on Billboard’s R&B Juke Box chart – a predecessor of today’s soul chart – for the third of 14 consecutive weeks with The Things That I Used To Do. It was the only appearance on a Billboard chart for Guitar Slim and the 14 weeks at #1 established a Billboard major chart record for most weeks at #1 for an act’s only chart single. The mark that was tied in 2012 by Wanz, who was credited on Thrift Shop by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, which spent 14 weeks at #1 on the soul chart.  Guitar Slim was born Eddie Jones in Mississippi and died at age 32 in 1959. 

Some Philosophy Crap
The wisdom of the ages. Whatever.

…[Jefferson] so deftly explained the peculiar, inexplicable institution [slavery] that to this day no one can figure out exactly what he meant.
Henry Wiencek
Master of the Mountain

Answer To The Last Trivia Question
Knowledge is power.

Billboard’s #1 soul song of 1983 was Sexual Healing by Marvin Gaye, which spent ten weeks at #1. 

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

How many Olympic hockey medals has Germany won? – Answer next time!  

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The Daily Dose/February 12, 2022
By Gaylon Kent – America’s Funniest Guy™

Leading Off
Notes from around the human experience. 

Leading Off is still running intermittently for the time being. 

Today At The Site
Writing worth reading. Usually. 

The Diary of a Nobody – After more than a year, the cat returns to her bed on Sparrow’s desk. Today’s Diary. 

She didn’t stand in it immediately, tho…After pawing it for a minute or two, she walked around the desk again before going and standing in it and when that didn’t produce immediate catastrophe she laid down and started grooming herself…After an extended session of this, she finally curled up and went to sleep. 

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Click here to get in on the laughs.
4Ever & Ever ($8.99) and monthly ($2.99) plans available.

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

———

On This Date
History’s long march. 

In 1914 – Groundbreaking for the Lincoln Memorial is conducted in Washington, DC. Congress first authorized a memorial to Lincoln in 1867, but a bill paying for it wasn’t passed until 1910 and the memorial was completed in 1922. The statue of Lincoln sitting is 19 feet high and if he were standing Lincoln would be 28 feet tall. The memorial has been on the reverse side of the $5 bill since 1929 and was on the back of the penny from 1959-2008. The first monument to Lincoln in Washington, DC was a statue in front of city hall in 1868. 

In 1878 – Frederick Thayer, a third baseman and captain of the Harvard University baseball team, receives a patent for a catcher’s mask, referred to in the patent as “… a new and useful Face-Guard or Safety-Mask for Base-Ball Players”. Thayer had been inspired by both the curveballs Harvard pitchers were starting to throw and the masks fencers carried around campus and his mask had actually debuted the year before, worn by Harvard catcher James Tyng. The patent number is 200,358

In 1983 – Michael Jackson is at #1 on Billboard’s soul chart – then known as the Hot Black Singles Chart – for the first of nine consecutive weeks with Billie Jean, his fourth of 13 #1 soul songs. In the spring, the song would spend seven consecutive weeks at #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 and was both Billboard’s 2nd-biggest soul song and pop hit of the year. The song returned to both charts for a week in 2014 and was one of six Top 10 hits from the album Thriller.  

Some Philosophy Crap
The wisdom of the ages. Whatever.

…deep in your belly you know what is right as well as any gentleman…{righteousness} involves two things: consideration for others and loyalty to others.
Gore Vidal
Creation

Answer To The Last Trivia Question
Knowledge is power.

Alabama’s biggest hit on Billboard’s Hot 100 was Love in the Third Degree, which spent two weeks at #15 in 1982. 

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

What was Billboard’s biggest soul song for 1983? – Answer next time!  

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The Daily Dose/February 11, 2022
By Gaylon Kent – America’s Funniest Guy™

Leading Off
Notes from around the human experience. 

WELL, LOOK WHAT THE CAT DRAGGED IN: Thursday in the On This Date segment we ran an item on how, in 1945, the Andrews Sisters and Vic Schoen & His Orchestra were the first act to have two songs tie for the #1 spot on a Billboard chart,  a phenomenon that happened on assorted Billboard charts of the era. 

Oh, Jesus H: We came across this choice tidbit by accident and its evolution from first discovery to an actual On This Date item is almost interesting. 

Dry, Technical, Matter: We were farting around our chart archive and noticed the tie, something we’ve come across before, actually. 1945 was the fifth year of the Billboard pop charts and we got to wondering if this was the first time there’d been a tie at the #1 spot and it was a simple matter to find out it was. Lewis and Clark, however, didn’t stop when they came to the Missouri River headwaters, though, and we didn’t stop either: we searched every #1 song on a Billboard pop chart, right up through the most recent Hot 100 survey and found there had been three other ties for #1, all before the Hot 100 debuted in 1958. 

And You Wonder Why You Don’t Get Invited To More Parties: Well, there was no reason not to find out if it had happened earlier on the country and soul charts and it soon enuff it was discovered that this had happened occasionally on both of them and it was not the Upset of the Year to discover it still happens from time to time on assorted other Billboard charts. 

The Bottom Line: This was, frankly, first-class trivia, the kind of crap our readers have come to know and love – or at least tolerate – over the years. There will be more; don’t worry. 

Today At The Site
Writing worth reading. Usually. 

The Diary of a Nobody – Sparrow blows over $150 on an oil change. Today’s Diary. 

First, the new ride cops an attitude and only takes purely synthetic oil…Then both the passenger cabin and engine air filters were filthy and were changed, plus they installed the windshield wipers I bought last month…Installing these, tho simple, is always a pain in the ass for ol’ Sparrow and he thought it best to take advantage of the opportunity for professional installation.

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Click here to get in on the laughs.
4Ever & Ever ($8.99) and monthly ($2.99) plans available.

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

———

On This Date
History’s long march. 

In 1812 – What would become known as the first gerrymandered apportionment plan is signed into law by Massachusetts governor Elbridge Gerry. The phrase – a combination of Gerry and the salamander one particular district resembled – would be first coined by the Boston Gazette in March. The plan worked, too, as Gerry’s Republicans won 29 seats in the state legislature while the Federalist Party won eleven. The word caught on almost immediately and was originally pronounced with hard “g” – as Gerry pronounced his last name – but eventually became pronounced with the soft “g” we use today. 

In 1990 – Buster Douglas, a 42-to-1 underdog, wins the undisputed heavyweight title with a 10th-round knockout of champion Mike Tyson in Tokyo, a result widely regarded as one of the biggest upsets in sports history. Douglas had come into the fight with a 29-4-1 record and was the 7th-ranked heavyweight in the world, while Tyson was 37-0 with 33 knockouts. Tyson had dismissed Douglas’s chances and had stayed out late the night before. Douglas would lose the title in his first defense to Evander Holyfield in October. 

In 1989 – Alabama is at #1 on Billboard’s country chart – then known as the Hot Country Singles chart – for the only week with Song of the South. It was the 24th of 33 #1 country songs for the group and the song also went #1 country in Canada. Earlier in the decade versions by Johnny Russell (#57, 1981) and Tom T Hall and Earl Scruggs (#72, 1982) had also charted. The song was written by Bob McDill, one of 31 country #1 hits he wrote in his career. 

Some Philosophy Crap
The wisdom of the ages. Whatever.

If you are acquainted with the principle, what do you care for a myriad of instances and applications?
Henry David Thoreau
Walden

Answer To The Last Trivia Question
Knowledge is power.

The two US vice presidents nominated by the president and confirmed by Congress under the terms of the 25th Amendment to the US Constitution were Gerald Ford (1973) and Nelson Rockefeller (1974).

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

What was Alabama’s biggest hit on the Hot 100? – Answer next time!  

Share Gaylon! Go!