The Daily Dose/September 15, 2021
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy

Leading Off
Notes from around out human experience. 

Leading Off will return. We are working on a project. 

Today At The Site
Writing worth reading. Usually. 

The Diary of a Nobody – Sparrow is unable to be of service to a guest. Today’s Diary. 

About 0100 a guy wanders up with a technical question: how can he get his gaming device to hook up to the hotel’s WiFi???…Hell, I don’t know, so it should not be the Upset of the Year that I was of some zero help here…I said the device should hook up automatically or at least provide a place to enter the access code and he said it wasn’t and after that I stopped bothering and admitted I knew nothing about this…

The Bottom Ten/NFL Week 3 – And they’re off! The race for the most coveted trophy in sports, The Dan Henning trophy – symbolic of NFL Bottom Ten supremacy – begins.

8. Gotham City (0-2; NY Jets: lost to Carolina 19-14; NY Giants: lost to Denver 27-13 ) – Holy opening week, Batman!!!…With teams not meeting in 2021, Ed Koch Cup – symbolic of Big Apple football ineptitude – could come down to Giants loss in preseason opener…Next Loss: NY Jets: New England; NY Giants: Atlanta

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It’s easy reading on any device. 

Columns, books, shopping lists, click here to get in on the laughs.
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On This Date
The long march to today. 

In 1935 – Germany’s Nuremberg Laws take effect, stripping Jews of their German citizenship and prohibiting marriage and extramarital relations between Germans and Jews. Emigration was difficult for Jews, whose wealth was taxed at 90% when leaving the country and those that were willing to pay it had trouble finding a country willing to take them. A plan by Germany to resettle Jews in Madagascar failed and Germany began exterminating Jews in 1941.  

In 1990 – Bobby Thigpen of the Chicago White Sox becomes the first major league player to save 50 games in a season in a 7-4 win over the Boston Red Sox. Thigpen finished the season with 57 saves, a major league record that is now held by Francisco Rodriguez of the Los Angeles Angels, who had 62 saves in 2008. It was, by far, Thigpen’s best season, his previous high for saves being 34, done twice, in 1989 and 1988. 

In 1962 – The Four Seasons are at #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 for the first of five consecutive weeks with Sherry. The song also went to #1 in Canada and New Zealand, peaked at 38 in Great Britain and in October spent a week at #1 on Billboard’s soul chart. It was the first chart single for the group, their first of three consecutive #1 songs and six overall. The original members of the group were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1990 and lead singer Franki Valli still tours with the group. 

Some Philosophy Crap
The wisdom of the ages. Whatever. 

Oh, what low joke was Fortuna playing on him now? Arrest, accident, job! Where would this dreadful cycle ever end?
John Kennedy Toole
A Confederacy of Dunces

Answer To The Last Trivia Question
Knowledge is power.

The NCAA all-division record for most rushing yards in a game is 465, by Cartel Brooks of Division III Heidelberg, in 2013

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

Who recorded the first save in major league history? – Answer next time!

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The Daily Dose/September 14, 2021
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy

Leading Off
Notes from around out human experience. 

Leading Off will return. We are working on a project. 

Today At The Site
Writing worth reading. Usually. 

The Diary of a Nobody – At the hotel, Sparrow has some moderate sundry stand action. Today’s Dairy.

The sundry stand may well be the prime mover of snacks in town after midnight…All the convenience stores in town are closed – either because they always are or because they can’t find anybody and the first guy was a guy apparently driving thru town…He got three candy bars, some chips and two sodas, enuff sugar to ensure he could drive strait thru to Mongolia…

The Bottom Ten/NCAA Week 3 – The tightest race for the ESPNCup in ages continues and New Mexico State continues to set the pace. – Cheapskates take note: The Bottom Ten goes behind a paywall next week. Get out your Visa cards and click here to get in on the laughs. 

A Lutheran school, [Thiel College] team trainers pointing to pregame meals of hotdish, Jello mold as not providing required calories for extended effort on football field.

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

Columns, books, shopping lists, click here to get in on the laughs.
4Ever & Ever ($8.99) and monthly ($2.99) plans available.

———

On This Date
The long march to today. 

In 1901 – Vice President Theodore Roosevelt becomes president of the United States following the death of President William McKinley, who had been shot on Sept 6. Roosevelt would be elected to a full term in 1904 and declined to run in 1908 when William Howard Taft defeated William Jennings Bryan. He was the Progressive (Bull Moose) Party presidential nominee in 1912, an election won by Woodrow Wilson and was a fifth cousin of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and an uncle of Eleanor Roosevelt. 

In 1991 – Marshall Faulk of San Diego State establishes a new NCAA record for most rushing yards in a game in a 55-34 win over Pacific. Faulk rushed for 386 yards to break the record of 377 yards held by Anthony Thompson of Indiana, set in 1989. His record was broken by Tony Sands of Missouri who would rush for 396 yards on Nov 23 and is now held by Samaje Perine of Oklahoma, who rushed for 427 yards in a 2014 game. Faulk also scored seven touchdowns, an NCAA record for freshmen that still stands. 

In 1985 – John Parr is at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the second and final consecutive week with St Elmo’s Fire (Man In Motion). It was Parr’s third chart single, his second and final Top 40 hit and remains his only #1 song. The song also went to #1 in Canada and peaked at #6 in Parr’s native Great Britain. Parr co-wrote the song with David Foster and the song spent 22 weeks on the Hot 100, 14 weeks in the Top 40 and seven weeks in the Top 10. 

Some Philosophy Crap
The wisdom of the ages. Whatever. 

What is common to many is taken least care of; for all men have greater regard for what is their own than for what they possess in common with others.
Aristotle

Answer To The Last Trivia Question
Knowledge is power.

The Pointer Sister’s biggest hit on the Hot 100 was Slow Hand, which spent three weeks at #2 in 1981. 

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

Who holds the NCAA all-division record for most rushing yards in a game? – Answer next time!

Share Gaylon! Go!

The Daily Dose/September 13, 2021
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy

Leading Off
Notes from around our human experience. 

Leading Off will return. We are working on a project. 

Today At The Site
Writing worth reading. Usually. 

The Diary of a Nobody – At the hotel, Sparrow graciously accepts a thank you, though he is not entirely certain what it is for. Today’s Diary. 

About 0630 a nice, older lady comes to the front desk to check out, noting she was very appreciative of what the hotel did for her family…I had some zero clue what these things were, however, there’s a display in the lobby consisting of a couple of pictures of a young man along with a printed out sheet of paper and altho ol’ Sparrow couldn’t be bothered to read it, you don’t have to be an undertaker to figure out it’s a tribute to someone who died entirely too young and that she was in town for the funeral…So if you aren’t a complete dolt you don’t ask what exactly the hotel did…So even tho you may not be entirely clear, you smile warmly, bow slightly and say it was your pleasure as if you’d supervised every detail.  

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

Columns, books, shopping lists, click here to get in on the laughs.
4Ever & Ever ($8.99) and monthly ($2.99) plans available.

———

On This Date
The long march to today. 

In 1971 – Marshal Lin Biao, vice chairman of the Chinese Communist Party and designated successor to Chairman Mao Zedong, and members of his family are killed in an airplane crash in Mongolia after he fled Peking. The Chinese government claimed Biao fled after a failed coup attempt against  Mao though some Western historians say Biao – who had fallen out of favor with Mao – was fleeing to avoid his own execution. 

In 1907 – What would become the Canadian Football League forms when rugby/football teams in Hamilton, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal form the Interprovincial Football Rugby Union (IRFU). The teams would start competing for the Grey Cup in 1909 and the name Canadian Football League was adopted in 1958. In 1961 they began playing teams from the Western Football Conference, though the two conferences did not completely merge into one league until 1981. 

In 1975 – The Pointer Sisters are at #1 on Billboard’s soul chart – then known as the Hot Soul Singles chart – for the second and final week with How Long (Betcha’ Got a Chick on the Side). It was the third of 30 soul chart singles for the group, their first of six Top 10 soul hits and remains their only appearance at #1 on a major Billboard singles chart. The song also peaked at #20 on the Hot 100. 

Some Philosophy Crap
The wisdom of the ages. Whatever. 

The knowledge that I didn’t have the courage to do what was necessary made me feel terrible.  
Charles Bukowski
Ham on Rye

Answer To The Last Trivia Question
Knowledge is power.

The longest losing streak in major league history is 26 games, by the Louisville Colonels (American Association) in 1889. The longest in modern major league history is 23, by the 1961 Philadelphia Phillies. 

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

What was the Pointer Sisters’ biggest hit on the Billboard Hot 100? – Answer next time!

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The Daily Dose/September 12, 2021
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy

The Sunday Bottom 5
A ranking of some things.

1. COVID-19 – Could you imagine an American under FDR or Reagan where only a bit less than half of Americans haven’t gotten vaccinated???…Your Sunday Bottom 5 pollsters can’t either…Both would have inspired us to not only get vaccinated, but would have met the problem head on in the first place and COVID deaths would be a fraction of what they are now…Get vaccinated, people, you’re holding up progress. 

2. COVID Vaccine Mandates – Libertarians at heart, Sunday Bottom 5 pollsters “pretty sure” it would’ve been best had President Biden not been obliged to mandate vaccinations for some, but partisan, bickering, fractured US unable to unify to defeat a common enemy anymore because anyone who dares believe differently than us is now the enemy. 

3. Lauren Daigle – Back home in 3-hole…Three (3) records have spent at least 100 weeks at #1 on a Billboard chart and Daigle has two (2) of them: single ‘You Say’ which is working its way down Hot Christian Singles chart after 132 non-consecutive weeks at #1…Other is album ‘Look Up Child’ which recently spent 100th non-consecutive week at #1 on Billboard’s Christian Album chart…First was Wendy Carlos, then Walter Carlos, who spent 110 non-consecutive weeks atop Classical Albums chart (‘Switched-On Bach, 1969-72). 

4. Really Capsule Book Review: Georg Letham, Physician and Murderer by Ernst Weiss – Novel about doctor who kills wife but is too dumb to get away with, is imprisoned on South American island and manages to help find cause of yellow fever…Translated from original, thrilling German, has a lot of what you pay us writers to do: provide insights into our human experience…Sunday Bottom 5 pollsters tough graders, only giving it B grade. 

5. Donald Trump Supporters – Despite being bumped from usual #3 spot, former president remains a lying sexual predator who believes the moon is part of Mars…And that the Revolution was won by the securing of British airports…Sunday Bottom 5 pollsters remain “pretty sure” asking Trump supporters which of these elements continues to solidify their support still reasonable question. 

Today At The Site
Writing worth reading. Usually. 

The Diary is on the house today. It’s Read Free Sunday (RFS), after all.

The Diary of a Nobody – Sparrow is obliged to enforce hotel policy. Today’s Diary.

Well, no ID, no room, especially when you’re pulling a debit card out of your pocket because you don’t have to be Joe Friday to wonder exactly where in the hell it came from…Plus, I check the card and it’s an Italian name ending in an “o” and this guy’s about as Italian as a tortilla…

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

Columns, books, shopping lists, click here to get in on the laughs.
4Ever & Ever ($8.99) and monthly ($2.99) plans available.

———

On This Date
The long march to today. 

In 1857 – The SS Central America, carrying 30,000 pounds of gold and sailing from Panama to New York City, sinks about 200 miles off the Georgia coast after suffering damage in a hurricane. In 2000, gold from the ship was raised by a group led by American Tommy Thompson. Thompson won a lawsuit brought by insurance companies that had paid claims on the original loss, but then disappeared with the proceeds and later lost a lawsuit from investors and since 2015 has been jailed for contempt of court in the matter. 

In 2017 – The Cleveland Indians tie the American League record for most consecutive wins in a 2-0 victory over the Detroit Tigers. It’s the 20th consecutive win for the Indians, tying the mark established by the 2002 Oakland Athletics and the Indians would extend the mark to 22 consecutive wins before losing to the Kansas City Royals on Sept 15. The streak remains the longest winning streak in major league history that does not include a tie, trailing on the 1916 New York Giants 26-game win streak that did include a tie. 

In 1987 – Los Lobos is at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the third and final consecutive week with La Bamba. The song went to #1 in nine other countries including Spain and Great Britain and also peaked at #57 on Billboard’s country chart. It was their third chart single, their second and final Top 40 hit and remains their only #1 song. An old Mexican folk song first recorded in 1939, a version by Ritchie Valens peaked at #22 on the Hot 100 in 1959.

Some Philosophy Crap
The wisdom of the ages. Whatever. 

The past does not cease because you ignore it.
Gore Vidal
Julian

Answer To The Last Trivia Question
Knowledge is power.

Two secretaries of the treasury have later served as chief justice of the United States: Roger Taney and Salmon P Chase. 

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

What is the longest losing streak in major league history? – Answer next time!

Share Gaylon! Go!